The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-21
SOUTH BEACR'S BURIED GOLD
TREASURE HUNTING POSSIBLE
NEAR NEW YORK.
Ir You Fail 90 sur Across Capt. Kidd's. Try
for Tom knights I'M Jack sIoane's
There's the Legend. Too. OF the Ship
That Left n Chest and q Dead Man.

There's the Legend. Too. OF the Ship
That Left n Chest and q Dead Man.
Every once In a while some one fits out
an expedition to search for hidden treasure.
and the world at large. reading Of IL in the
newspapers. smiles and wonders II the
adventurer will be successful. The world
would never for a moment think OF showing
the very real interest It takes In this sort
of thing.
OF course hunting rcasure In a really
scientific manner is an expensive business.
Still il there Ia any ono who would like 10
go on a treasure hunt at small expense
or live in a neighborhood where buried
treasure in said to exist he can do so by
making a little trip to the Great South
Beach Of Long Island. He will not be
likely to find much gold, but he ought
! to find excitement.
No less a person than Capt. Kidd 10 said
to nave buried gold on the Great South
Beach. There is very little likelihood
thai he did. but on the other hand there
ia some reason 10 believe that Tom Knight
and Jack Sloane. two minor buccaneers,
secreted a number Of jars Of doubloons
among the sandhills.
The Great South Beach lies to the south
Of Long Island. II varies in width from
a quarter to a third of a mile and 10 per-
haps fifty miles long, reaching from the
ocean channel and lighthouse at Fire Island
eastward to Quogue.
The beach il nothing more or less than q
huge sand bar and consists OF three parts.
There In the smooth, level. ocean shore.
from which the sand dunes rise abruptly:
low, rounded hills covered with a coarse
reedy gress. On the north side OF the beach
the dunes diminish gradually and sink
into the meadows where grows the meadow
grass the farmers cut for hay. Mingled
with the grass are stunted shrubs Of va
rious kinds, chiefly beach plum bushes.
Beyond the meadows to the north lies
the Great South Bay. a fine shallow BODY
Of water from three to seven miles In width.
which all sportsmen know. Ii 10 in such
a region tina pirates Of the eighteenth CEN
fury are said TO ave hidden money.
The tradition which associates Capt.
Kidd with the beach seems to a arisen
in tvo ways In the first place that re-
douhiuble sea rover actually did bury
loot on Gardeners Island, a little isle lying
of the eastern end Of Long Island and be-
longing in earlier days to the Gardner
family. Lyon Gardiner, proprietor OF the
manor, entertained Kidd and a part OF his
crew. Al Kidd's request Gardiner took
two negro boys and a negro girl ashore
and cared for them with the rest OF his SER
sheep and a barrel OF cider, In return for
these favore Kidd gave Gardiner two pieces
of Bengal muslin for his wife and to each
Of the servants four pieces OF gold; at the
Three days later Kidd ordered Gardner
to take and keen for him a chest and a Dor
of gold with some other things. The chests
were buried in a swamp near the manor
house.
It must not be thought for a
that Gardiner was an accomplice of Kidd.
He declared later hat she knew nothing OF
kidd's being proclaimed a pirate. and IL he
had he burst not have acted otherwise,
perfectly true. In those days-it was in
the 1905 the police general alarms did not
travel very fast. In 1901. after Kidd's execu-
ton, this treasure on Gardeners Island was
dug up and turned over to the represent
atives OF the English Government.
From this circumstance there probably
arose the story that Kidd cruised along the
southern coast OF Long Island and buried
treasure on the each-tradition says at
Watch Hill. a sand dune opposite Patchogue.
Another thing that lent color to the tale
was a legend hat oward the end Of the
eighteenth century three men who were
moving meadow grass on the beach on a
foggy day were frightened by the appear
ance of a ghostly looking ship that emerged
from the fog close of shore. By the for'srd
rail stood a woman as white and shostly
as the ship itself.
The ship. SC the story runs. manouyred
outside the beach for a whole week. Then
two men who CHANGED 10 be on the beach
one day saw her lower a yawl. From a dip
in the sand they watched the yawl come
ashore and five men land. The men went
to the top OF one OF the highest Of the sand
dunes and commenced TO dig.
They dug for q long time and then buried
something which they had brought ashore
with them. Thu watchers could not See
what il was. but there is no reason why IL
a chest il must have contained treasure.
Finally the men finished burying their
charge and returned TO the yawl. But only
four men returned.
The fifth man was a prisoner, captured
by the pirates. When they had lowered
the treasure chest into the pit they killed
him. The treasure was thus sealed with
human blood and his spirit guarded il from
disturbance.
At another time. perhaps a hundred years
ago. Tom Knight and Jack Sloane came
ashore on Long Island and travelled through
the eastern towns. They were free with
their money until a Long Island town
Magistrate got after them and sent ont
c~onstables with warrants for their arrest
The two buccaneers fed. but not before
they had divided up their gold into small
lots and sealed the doubloons in little earth
enware jars, which they buried at various
places on the beach.
Forty years later a jar Of the doubloons.
supposed 10 be some of Tom knights booty,
was found on the beach BIZ an old Long
Island captain. He had long remarked that
each day the contour OF the sandhills vas
changed by the wind and during a good
storm hundreds of tons Of sand were shifted.
laying bare places which were formerly
hidden. The captains philosophy was
sound. He had the patience to wait. and
in the course Of time his patience was re-
warded.
1t is interesting 20 remark the condition
OF the jar which the Captain found. IL
was of earthenware and black, and very
heavy IL was sealed with hard resin over
the cork which could be cut with difficulty
by a jackknife. When the thick CORK was
finally. pried out a curious thing was OBJ
served. Something that resembled either
lint or cotton lay on the top: and no sooner
had the air touched il than IL slowly dissolved
INTO a vapor. Beneath lay exposed 10 view
gold pieces OF Spain as bright and shining
as the day they were sealed in the jar.
The doubloons were all OF the reigns OF
Charles Ill. and Charles Nv. OF Spain. On
the one side were the royal arms, the image
OF a crown and under il, supporting a shield.
two lions ramDanf thair failm Our,yad into