Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-01-13
STORY OF BURIED TREASURE.
Guarded BY Murdered Mems Bones
EIudes Generations Of Searchers.

EIudes Generations of Searohers.
Connected with almost all the small
islands in the Mexican gulf and the
Caribbean sea there Is some treasure
| story" but perhaps none so we'll au-
| thenticated as that of the Mugueres Is
| land.
Pirates exploits and their buried
piles Of gold and gems are the mex
| haustible sources Of all the romantic
stories that the fishermen love to tell
on moonlight nights, seated on the
bottom of some boat turned up on the
beach. They suspect that others dream
of treasures as much as they do, for
strangers are closely watched. Which
ever way we strolled some one kept us
| in view.
When we mentioned this to Don Pc
dro Pobedano one Of the oldest inhabi-
tants, he said: "They think you have
come for the treasure, which they
would never allow to be taken by a
stranger" So we invited Don Pedro
to tell US about 1t and he gave 1t to us
as follows:
Nearly all of us are from Yallahu,
on the opposite coast (Yucatan), but
we always come here to fish. was
little shaver when my uncle first
brought me. yet I remember every
thing. One morning a schooner hove
in sight; 1t soon cast anchor In the
bay. There were armed men on board.
They came ashore, but seemed not to
notice us. We watched and saw them
look all around. One evening when
| we returned to our camp we missed
some Mexican bread and could not find
out who had taken it. Next day the
same thing happened, and so the next;
then a boy was set to watch. He hid
| himself, saw an old man steal from the
| bush, snatch some bread and quickly
retreat.
MY uncle resolved to capture the
| thief. Next day we started In our
boats as usual, but soon anchored In
small cove near by and walked to
the camp, where we hid ourselves. We
| let the old man enter the hut, then we
surrounded him and learned that he
had come on board the schooner to
show the others where a treasure was,
he having seen 1t buried. Overhearing
| conversation to kill him when the
treasure was unearthed so that he
might not demand his share, he ran
away and hid in the woods, watching
| for our absence to procure food. He
seemed greatly afraid of the compan-
| ions he had left; so my uncle told him
he was welcome to share with us, but
he had better keep out Of sight until
the other schooner had gone. Very
| soon the treasure seekers went off In
| their ship, no richer than when they
came, probably believing the old man
dead: but he was hale and hearty with
all his wits about him, though 70 years
old. Concerning himself he said
When quite young was Kidnapped and
| taken on board a pirate ship, where /
was made cabin boy. One day the
crew entered a city on the coast and
sacked 1t, taking lots of gold coin and
precious things from the churches, and
the bishops Jewels. What glittering
| pile it was! They put 1t all In boxes
covered with lead and brought them
here, landing on the north end Of this
| island, where they dug trench in the
sand sixty steps from the waters edge.
In the trench they laid the treasure,
and covered 1t with piece Of tarpau-
lin and light coating Of sand. Then
the captain asked for volunteers to
guard 1t.
1.-Two negroes stepped forward and
| were instantly shot by the captain,
who ordered their bodies to be thrown
on the boxes, saying that they would
take better care Of them dead than
alive, because anyone finding bones
would look no further. The trench was
| then refilled, and on 1t three stones
| were placed forming triangle, a
crowbar being buried ten steps from
them. Our ship was soon afterward
captured, and everyone on board put to
death except me, because was young
and had been Kidnapped
After much persuasion" continued
Don Pedro, "he pretended to look for
the treasure, but think he feared to
| indicate the spot lest we should kill
| him, as the others had promised to do,
though we would not have hurt the old
man. We took him to our village, and
he went to Campeche, where he died.
Nothing was heard about the treasure
for several years, during which time
we formed this village, when one day
men arrived from Campeche, bringing
a government permit to dig for 1t. All
of the trenches back of the church were
| made by their order. They did not look
| at the north point Of the island, but
they were so sure Of finding the money
| that they paid the people here who
worked for them double the usual
wages, and spent many dollars, going
away much poorer, for they found
nothing. They had lost a map, they
said, that indicated the position of
high stone in front of which the boxes
| we're buried. Another party came to
search on the south side Of the village,
| and the last corners looked in vain on
the north point. In 1S47, when the first
settlers came. youth, looking for fire
wood, let fall his long knife, and 1t
struck something sounding like metal,
which proved to be a crowbar. The
youth took it away without marking
the spot for he had heard nothing
about the treasure and yet he was
within ten steps of it. 1t can only be
found by the one that 1t is intended
for. Once I thought I had it. Digging
to make the foundation of house we
came upon human bones; then had an
immense trench opened, but found
nothing more"
We thanked Don Pedro for the story.
but never had a chance to look for the
treasure though we had no difficulty in
finding the stone at the north point of
the island, and, so steps from it the
three stones forming triangle In