Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1906-06-30

spot of which she had learned the.
were millions in gold, silver and jew
els, waiting only to be taken away.
At last accounts this vast treasure
trove had not been unearthed.
Familiar to every newspaper read
Of recent years is the story of the
famous Cocos island treasure. Dur
ing the last 70 years no fewer than
IS expeditions have set out to recover
this pile of gold and jewels. Indeed,
more than once parties have engaged
in deadly conflict. Search is in prog
ress there at the present time.
Cocos island is a patch of land, 16
square miles in extent, rising from
the Pacific ocean off the coast of Costa
Rica, to which country it belongs.
Two treasure plants" are supposed to
be located there, one of $6O,0OO,O00 and
the other of SIS, 100000.
The first is called the Bonita treas
ure, after the notorious pirate of that
name. For many years Bonita flew
the black flag and cross bones in the
Caribbean sea and accumulated great
stores of plumber
Wealth Buried by Bonita.
In 1921, after the surrender OF
Donaja to the Liberator Iturbide, vast
stores of government wealth were re-
moved from the City of Mexico.
Bonita, it is stated, managed to cap
ture the treasure and hurried with
his spoil to Cocos island, where he
buried it.
The other "plant," called the Mary
DER treasure, was committed to the
keeping of Cocos island by the crew
of the ship of that name, which hap
pened to be in the harbor of Cal
lao, Peru, during a war upheaval.
All the treasures and plate of the
cathedral and of the churches of Lima
and the surrounding country were
hurried to the Scotch ship Mary Dier.
In addition many wealthy citizens
placed their choicest possessions on
the vessel. In all it is stated that
the ships unexpected cargo amount
ed in value to over $4,000, 900.
This proved too much, tradition
states, for the officers and crew. The
guardians of the wealth were over
powered and the treasure was land
ed and buried on Cocos island until
such time as it could be recovered
and used.
Many Parties Hunt Treasure.
At present the island is guarded by
Capt. Matthews, its governor and part
owner. He is directing the search.
Harold Gray, of Ireland, claims the
concession to hunt the treasure, but
the claim is combated by others. An
armed expedition under Lord Fitz-
williams of England had a brush with
the Gray forces last year and the
Costa Rican government was COM
PEELED to send a gunboat to restore
order. AS far as known the Cocos
island treasure remains undiscovered.
Most treasure hunts are being con-
Quoted by companies which provide
capital as speculation. Now and
then, however, the story comes to
light OF some gold-dazzled individual
who sinks all his possessions in chas-
ing the golden will-o'-the-wisp.
One such man-Wflliam s. Meade
died recently, penniless and alone in
New York Early in life he made a
fortune through an invention, but
spent it all chasing the ignis fatuus
of hidden treasure
Meade asserted he had fallen heir
to maps and directions that would
lead to buried wealth that would run
up into the millions. He purchased a
large and expensive steam yacht,
manned 1t with large crew and ma
chinery for raising sunken galleons
supposed to be full of Spanish gold
and soop after the civil war set sail
for the south seas.
Disaster, wreck and prfvation fell
to tho lot of the first cruise and
Meade and his companions were
forced to return without a single find,
More money was sunk in fitting out
another expedition, but this, too, was
a failure that ended in q Ehipwreck.