Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-02-10


treasures which Henry Morgan, the
pirate, lost in Nuevitas and Puerto
Bello, Cuba, and in Panama; the papal
fortunes, estimated at $20,000,OOO
buried somewhere about the old castle
in Avignon; the amassed treasures OF
the little island of Cocos. where three
separate deposits are known to have
been hidden away amounting in al
to nearly s19,O00,00O; there is also the
lost city of Caracarum in Tartary
where untold millions are tabled to be
hidden under stairways, If we are to
believe Marco Polo; the wealth left by
the retreating Romans in various parts
of England, partially recovered py
King John and again lost; the wealth
of Genseric the Vandal, who CLEANED
the richest Of Italy and then went over
to Carthage and was buried with the
whole harvest; the vessels from the
temple in Jerusalem that lie at the bot
tom of the Tiber in deep layers OF yell
low mud; the ships full of treasure
that Sir Francis Drake sunk IN the
harbor of San Michaels. Azores. before
he came to the CHASTITY realization that
they had actually been full of good
gold. and the Broisel hoard in the ruin
ed abbey of Sa- Bavon al Gand.
None of these has ever been touched
In most cases it is actually enough
known where they lie-in some cases
there is no possibility Of conjecture,
but in the cases where the location OF
the treasure Is known the tides and
currents of the sea, depths of soft sand
and ooze battle the treasure hunter
and in the cases where the site is not
known all depends upon luck and for
tune, and as fortune seldom seems to
ship in the same craft with the gold
seeker. the great caches mock the hun
tiers.
In some little lake in Colombia, In
the days when dredging machines and
diving outfits were unknown, the Span
iards knew that billions of dollars lay
heaped on the bottom. For many gen.
erations the natives had made their
gold sacrifices by polling a raft to the
middle of the lake and casting the gold
overheard. For 200 years they looked
into the depths and considered it futile
to think of recovering the wealth, SO
they gradually forgot the location OF
the lake. and when it became possible
to take wealth up from the bottom OF
the waters the sons Of the men VINO
knew where Lake Guatovita was were
unable to find it, and they have been
searching for it ever since.
When the Spaniards threatened the
peace and prosperity Of the Aztecs the
natives brought at one time forty quln-
tails of gold and cast it all in the lake
that would amount to something like
s26, 6,46O, 900 at one time. This is Ell Do
RADIO of the Spaniards, for which whole
have starved to death I'm the
hills of Colombia and for which men
have staked their last to fit out expedi-
tions.
The peculiar feature Of this treasure
madness is that no one ever starts out
on the search for hidden wealth who is
not convinced that he Is at last the
man who will uncover it. He swears
by his intuition, and the bones that
have whitened in the desolate places
are token of the fallibility of his pres
cience.
cocos Hiding Place For Millions.
The pirate Bonita, according to the
confession of several Of his men, bur-
led about s2,OOO,00O on the little island
of Cocos at various times. Mexican
refugees deposited another million un-
der a stone arch on the island, and the
runaway crew Of the Mary Deer buried
s15,000,O0O of the Peruvian govern
ment's money on Cocos and then were
killed off before any one learned just
where the money was.
When it appeared in 1855 as if Chile
was going to overrun Peru the treas
ures at Lima were emptied and the
money taken to Callao. A nearer ap-
proach of the Chileans frightened the
guardians of the treasures and they
loaded them on a tramp steamer, the
Mary Deer. While the officers of this
ship were on shore the crew ran away
with the vessel and buried the treasure
on Cocos of Costa Rica. One of the
crew, a boy named Jack Thompson
made a map of the island, and he was
the only one who survived. The others
were hanged at the yardarm of Peru
Wan war vessel. His map, however
availed nothing when the searches
were undertaken, and while every eX-
pedition that lands on Cocos is certain
that on so small a plot of ground 1t
will be simply a matter of systematic
digging to recover the three caches, nc
one has ever seen the CLINT Of a gold
coin or even the rusty bands Of an iron
chest.
Captain Kidds career as a pirate
was comparatively short, but his fame
was boundless. 1t is scarcely possible
that he ever accumulated tenth of the
actual money that Sir Henry Morgan
collected on the high seas and from
Spanish American towns, and ye,
there is scarcely New England fish
erman or boatman who has not dream
ed of finding some of Kidd's fabulous
pots and chests of gold. The redoubta-
BILE William Kidd made few captures
along the East African coast and came
back to Boston to be hanged, but Nor
gan for years managed ar army of 49,
600 men and sailed into Spanish towns
with whole fleets of fully armed ships
Tactical Error on Part of Pirate.
His error lay in his mania for fright
ening a community. As soon as he
appeared on the horizon with all his
Haunting colors and braggadocio flags
and pennants the townspeople proceed
ed to bury everything they could gel
under ground and to flee to the hills
The towns of Nuevitas, Puerto Bello
in Cuba, and Panama are three of the