The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1905-02-17

Ne-e-~-e~-e-e--o -e--o-e-S-S-S-S-e
American canal control at Panama is
giving rise to a new and unexpected ~,
dustry. 1t is that of hunting Tor DuIle4
treasure Within the last fortnight
have had a number of requests Tor IN
formation on this subject and also nave
received hints Of various important enter,
prises. Necessarily these are secret ana
mysterious
Panama is the natural center for many
Of these quests. Much of the wealth. OF
Spain poured across the isthmus ana
much of it was sacked by the buccaneers
The old-time pirate as a rule spent eYely-
thing that he gained and his booty was
distributed through the natural channels
of trade. Yet the hlibusters occasionally
did find it necessary to bury their plunder
and sometimes 1t happened that having
the misfortune to be strung up 20 tne
yardarm of a hostile ship they did not
come back to claim IT..
If all the stories which are among the
traditions Of Panama could be credlted
Sir John Morgan and his merry murder
ers hid enough gold along the shores OF
the Caribbean and on the Pacific coast to
keep the world supplied for a century.
Westerner's Efforts.
One of the most promising fields for
tho treasure hunter IS Cocos island,
which lies off the coast of the republic
OF Panama, though it is under the SOW
ereignty Of Costa Rica. Two years ago
an enthusiastic Westerner appeared at
San Jose, the capital Of Costa Rica. He
had been a sheriff in Colorado and a
great many other things. He claimed to
have been remarkably successful in To-
eating buried treasure He had a divin-
ing rod which may or may not have had
magnetic qualities. His plan was to
stick this strip Of iron and brass into the
soil and then get his bearings.
This ex-Colorado sheriff was plausible.
lie gave tests in San Jose and even con-
WINGED two or three Of his own country
men that there was something in his
scheme. They buried various metals, he
pushed his rod into the earth, waited a
lew moments and then started off and
dug up the find. OF course, something
an experienced mindreader working on
the muscles, but the men who formed
the company assured me that there was
no holding Of hands and that either 1t
must have been genuine telepathy or else
there must have been some virtue in the
diyining rod
pressed with the Colorado mans demonS
strations He had heard about Cocos
island. as had everybody else. The Of
cials gave him squad of soldiers and de-
tailed Mr.. Petier the Swiss scientist, who.
was In charge OF the government sur
veys, accompany him.
Cocos island Is not very easy, OF access.
but the expedition finally reached 1t. For
week the Colorado man led the scientist
and the soldiers a lively chase through
the swamps. They were nearly bitten 70
death by the mosquitoes and the other in
sects. Two or three times the diyining
proved too illusive The soldiers became
mutinOus and were threatening to hang
both the scientist and the treasure hun
ter In these circumstances Mr. PETER
return to the mainland. The Colorado
ex-sherin protested that he was getting
his bearings and that with time and pa
tience he would surely locate a lot of
| buried gold But when the choice was
given him of remaining alone or Of re-
turning with the expedition he returntd-
He protested that he had not been given
a fair chance, and he was disgusted that
the company which had been organized
declined to faFnish him further funds
/ He disappeared, and ! heard lie had re-
turned to Colorado to relocate some lost
/ suspect that some of the. secret expe-
/ ditions which are now being fitted out at
Panama or San Francisco are organized
with a view to expioiting Cocos island.
/ But the organizers probably are not ia
miliar with the search made there and
/ the exceptional opportunities given the
I buried treasure to disclose itself. Yet
/ t'ocos island was a rendezvous for the
| pirates. and they may, have left some or
their booty.
| OF the Ecuador coast are several treas
ure islanns, and most Of them appear on
/ the charts under the name Of Isla de
/ Plata or Silver island The one with
/ which l am familiar is pretty well Up the
! Guayas river. Capt. Macdonald Of the
steamship Imperial told me that this was
! the genuine treasure island trove and
| that The notions about the pirates having
made II their headquarters were correct.
/ But he always had been so busy plotting
I his ship out into the channel that he
never cousi find time to go ashore.
That is the experience of most of the
/ shin captains They get the reputation
/ of being skeptics. Notwithstanding that
everybody is welcome to their informa-
ton Once in srsst while one OF them
! =. r,.,frr a 0l1cGt
/ OF the plunder But with regard to Ecua-
/ dor coast it is possible that the confusion
as to which IS the real Silver island is
the reason why no buccaneers booty mas
In the interior. of Peru
In the interior of Norther nPeru are
many buried treasures Of which traces
have come down from the time of the
meas meas but the traces, never developed
! into actual finds. A few months ago II
| was reported that the very treasure OF
4 the Incas. which they hid from Pizarro,
had been located away on in the int.
rior Of Bolivia, 1000 miles from where i
| was supposed to be. This was $l6,OOO,O0O
! gold which mysteriously disappeared
1 when the greedy Pizarro broke his work
| with the Incas. Since this find was re-
ported have heaed no partieularA e
However IT does happen. occasionally
that small treasures are found in the In
\ terror OF the South American countries
At the time Of the struggle for inde-
| npndcncc from spain many wealthy fann-
j lies buried all their wealth. which was
i in gold and silver, and in some instances
those families We're swept out of exist
once. SO it might occur that gold and
silver in these days would be found IN
the most unlikely pieces.
The Incns treasure has a fascination
i that appeals TO many minds and to some
pockethookss Joint stock companies actu
ally have been organized TO prosecute
the search for it, A year and a half age
/ an Englshman in Peru was said to bs
very. successful in floating stock for his
companv in London He had adopted 2
cowboy habit and his appearance ir
Lima at first caused a sensation. Bu
when 1t was known that he was merely
the promoter of the company to hunt fol
the treasure Of the lncas interest in hin
ceased. That was too common to con
cern anybody I'm Peru.
Proposed Drainage OF "A Lake.
The Embellishments scheme, as explained
to me. was to drain some myateriOus lax,
and find the gold and silver at the bot
tom. A tradition is that the wealth lie,
AZ the bottom Of Lake Titicaca and i
may be that occasionally a canoe OF
straw boat known as the balsa. carrying
gold and silver, was upset But Lakl
'riticaca Is teo large to he drained and
moreover. there would he objections bl
the Bolivian and Peruvian governments
since much commerce Is carried on be
tween Its shores.
without betraying any confidence.
may hint that lake Titicaca never wa
the real object of the joint stock com
panY. There are two smaller lakes
and 1t is at the bottom of one or both o
tf,a.a fhat tba egn1d lies rrbaxr a "a haatttf