The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-02-11
GIVE UP THE QUEST FOR PIRATES COLD Expedition Cost More Than
 Quarter Million Dollars OFFICERS ARE ALL SILENT One Charge of Dynamite Exploded on coeos Island, Injurlng Seven
 Men and Party Then Turned
 Around and Came Back.
OFFICERS ARE ALL SILENT

New York, February 11.-(Special)-Of all expeditions fitted out to seek for buried treasure none seems to have been so easily discouraged as that very costly and pretentious one which Lord Fitz- william took to Cocos Island.
 The lord and his party of twenty-six are now back in London, having arrived there some weeks ago by the Royal Mail steamship Orinoco, which embarked them at Colon The cables report them as be- ing very reticent about the expedition. The captain of the sumptuous yacht, which had rounded the Horn to take the party on board at Panama and convey them to the little freckle off the Costa Rican coast, arrived here yesterday. He is Captain E. w. Morrison. Accompany ing him was Dr. w. B. Ainger, surgeon of the expedition. The two arrived from Colon by the steamship City of Washing ton. They repairod to the Manhattan ho- tel, where they will remain until they sail for Liverpool by the Lucania on Sat- urday.
 Captain Morrison, who is tall man of forid face, leaned against a dresser and answered questions. pr. Ainger, who is youngish looking and slender, sat on divan and helped out with the narrative when apepaled to by the narrator.
 Captain Morrison's Story.
 q want to say first" Captain Morrison began, that all talk of our having row with the Gray party Is lie. We fell In with that party only once-that was at Punta Arenas and on Christmas day. We celebrated the day together. That was the first and only time we saw them. All talk of our meeting on the island and having a fight for the treasure Is rot.
 As the story of how Lord Fitzwilliam had been led to purchase a big ocean steamship and fit her out as yacht for this expedition, to send her around the Horn manned by crew of seventy-three men and to himself join the vessel at Panama with a party of twenty-six, is pretty well known, the captain was asked to take up the tale from the time the Veronique left Panama for Cocos to the time she returned from the futile search and with seven of her crew in improvised hospitals.
 Well" said the captain, i've started out from Panama and went to Punta Are mas ana lHeIt ltll III Wtth theit OhANA S%N petition, as I have just mentioned, and the went on to Cocos Island. After the expedition landed the yacht staid by a couple of days while provisions and im- plements were being put ashore, and then, under orders from Lord Fitzwilliam, put back to Punta Arenas for mall. 1 When I returned dsy or so later the surf boats came out with seven persons injured Now, I wasn't on shore at any time. but the doctor here was, and want to say right here, and be careful that you get It down ana make no mistake, that if it hadn't been fo. the great attention on the part of Dr. Ainger several of the wounded would have died. Now, doc | tor"--
 Silent About the Treasure.
 Dr. Ainger spoke up. T improvised hospitals for them on deck" he said, "and cared for them the best 1 could. There were seven in all The way they came to be injured was this: A dynamite cartridge had been exploded on the side of a cliff which was aoout 150 feet In height and whose top shelved sharply. The men were at work putting in another cartridge when the top slip off and buried them. When they were dragged out seven were found to be seriously injured. They were got on board as quickly as | pOSSlDle anu du are iloW III ihS NhSOii hospital on the isthmus."
 There ended the doctors statement The l captain resumed: We went straight back to Panama, and there Lord Fitz- william and his party crossed over to Colon and sailed by the Orinoco for Eng | land. After seeing our injured safe in the hospital we took passage for here, and that is all of the story.''
 l Attention was called to the fact that 1t had cost nearly a quarter of a million of dollars to fit out an expedition for this quest, and wonder was expressed that 1t should be abandoned after the explosion of one dynamite cartridge on the side of long-sufferng cliff, some dozens of other expeditions having previously plant ed pickaxes there. But of this phase the | captain would not talk. and the modest doctor remained modestly silent.