The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-20

Neuva Gerona, Ifie or ftnes. Jan. is-
 Have you. In fancy, roamed the Span
 ish Main with Honest John Silver ant
 his pirate band? Would you like to gs
 to Treasure Island? would vou lik,
 to feel the spell of the near presence o
 buried gold--real pieces of eight
 Would you like to breathe the at
 mosphere of romance that attaches ts
 a sunny. tropical island which was fol
 centuries penal colony for patrio
 politicians. trading post for the deal
 CTS in black ivory? Would you lik.
 to rub elbows with the Seventeenth
 Century? ~ ~
 If you would like these things. thar
 up anchor and set sail for the Isle o
 Pines. All that romance is still there
 but when you have arrived you vii
 dnd that the Isle of Pines is just a,
 American and just as home-like, so fal
 as its people are concerned. as any
 prosperous settlement in osage County
 Kansas. The title of sovereignty over
 the Isle of Pines is in dispute. While
 the flag of Cuba flies over the public
 buildings. the Stars and Stripes decor ate the roof-tree of the owners of more than ninety per cent of all the proper ty Of the island. It is the southern most all-American agricultural com munity. but its hustle and prosperity
 III hV way eStface iEVh tts hseofic iu- terest.
 Pirates and buried treasure appeal strongly to the average mind. What boy has not flown the Jolly Roger from an imaginary masthead. while securing the back yard for possible Spanish gall Icons laden with the golden wealth of the Peruvian Incas? What boy has not planned expeditions in search of Cap tain Kidd's bank balance? The gooo ship Cristobal Colon which carries pas sengers from the Cuban port of Bata- hsno to the Isle of Pines Is by no means q "low. ral<ish craft" but 1t makes up for sits spick -and-span whiteness by having captain who is as nearly like an ideal pirate In appearance as even Robert Louis Stevenson could havs wished.
 The pirates who made the Isle of Pines their port of call and bank of deposit dId not belong to the ancient tribe of the days of Sir Henry Morgan. They were of later vintage, of the day of lean Lafitte. The ships they robbed were the Panama and. Mexico trans ports bound for Europe through the buried was in good gold coin, al- though there is whole outfit of gold and silver altar ornaments still buried on this Island, awaiting return to some old Mexican cathedral.
 Smile at these stories today as you will, you will not smile at them when you get to Nueva Gerona. For you can smell the gold then. and when Sam pearcy tells you about the south coast treasure cache. and whom everybody tells you about the mysterious iron chest and the old golden coin found on the beach only two years ago. and when everybody points out the A1calde who went over the Marble mountain poor man and comeback next morning laden with Rold-when you hear all these thinRs and you are right there on ths spot in the heart of Treasure Island In the Spanish Main, you will not srniIe You'u get a pick and try to SID o" from town at night to dig.
 Mir. Johnson. of PennsylvanIa, wa the last real treasure finder. he caue hare to Nueva Gerona about tnlrts years ago, when this island was . penal colony and this town the prison headouartars He stayed here for long time, and by and by he gained the con haence of an old prisoner. The prisoN. sI wan then more than four-score. ana he had been kept here since ne VIZ twenty. He was the last surviving p@ rate of the Spanish Main. Jult iikn Billy Bones, he had e map. He woui4n. let the 3pahish jailers have it-they nag been too cruel. But he gave IL 70 ar. Johnson of Pennsylvania. MT. Jonn. aoY, bided his time and made his plans with care--a little schooner. a few ne- wfoes, a silent sailing on a dark nignt from Nueya Gerona. The expedition eound tta way around 10 the wild ana south coast. which stlh is wild and uninhRbited. The map was as good and true as if the name Of Flint had been signed there.
 There were two whole barrels of gold. One was so heavy that 1t almost swamped the boat, and no attempt was made to find the other or the cache oi altar vessels. MT. Johnson of Pennsyi- vania- went away. There are stories of queer and exciting adventures with tne Spanish authorities. but he made his escape to Jamaica and went back 10 with his gold.
 Very mysterious was MT. Johnson, ot He never told anybody how he came by his riches and he guarded that little map even as Biliy Bones, except that MT. Johnson, or would never. never sing a song about fifteen men on a dead mans chest" nor would he yo-ho for A bottle of rum! Mir. Johnson. of Penn- sylvania was not that kind of man.
 By and by the war with Spain came along. The Isle of Pines became Amer lean territory. so MT. Mckinley and John Hay thought. Then MT. Roose- welt and EIihu Root changed the execu- tive American minds and said the Isle of Pines was Cuban territory. The Platt amendment had declared that the uues- ton of the title was to be kept open for future adjustment. That adjust rnent was attempted by the negotiations of a treaty giving Cuba a quit-claim deed to the island in consideration of