El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-11-02
HoaTds Of the Buccaneers.
Another treasure buried on 900

HoaTds Of the Buccaneers
Another treasure buried on Cocos is
/ said to have been left there bv William
Dampier, who blOckaded Panama in 1854
and took during the year following a big
treasure ship which was coming north
from Peru, intending to send its silver
and gold on horses across the isthmus
To Porto BellO and thence to Spain.
Ddmpier, it Is alleged, buried SIX boat
loads of silver on Cocos and made sew
eral trips there after that with smaller
freight.
There Is third story which says that
in 1921, during the revolution when the
Central Americana colonies broke away
from Spain, the native Spaniards living
here IN Costa Rica loaded a schooner
with gold gems and silver plate and sent
1t to CocOs to be kept there until the
troubles were over. They gave the treas
Ures over into the hands of six men,
each OF whom had a chart of the exact
place where the stuff was buried One
OF these men was killed during the revO-
luton and two others died from natural
causes before it was over. When peace
was restored the remaining three started
for COcOs to bring back the wealth. but
their boat was driven on the rocks of
the island and all on board persisted.
! That was about 1880.
hunung the treasure
These facts have long been current IN
this part of the world and many. people
I believe that the above-named treasures
still exist there. The government of
! Costa Rica has given a number of per-
mits to parties to hunt for them. and
not long ago a squad of soldiers and a
scientist IN charge Of the Costa Rican
government survey went to COcOs accom-
panied by a Colorado man who claimed
! that he could hold a stick in his hand
and that it would turn over and point
down when he passed over gold. I have
seen men looking for water in the noun
talns OF Virginia using the fOrked limb
of peach or apple tree in much the
same way. Well, the Colorado mans
charm did not work on CocOs. I don't
know what was the matter. He went
there, but claimed he had not a fair trial.
Another set OF treasure hunters came
here about i've years ago from England.
L was at Panama at the time their boat
was in the harbOr. That expedition was
headed by earl Fitzwilliam. who is said
to have an income of $1,000,000 a year
and to own 100000 acres of land in
ireland. He had bought yacht named
the VerOnique, and had come out with
admiral Palliser, who at one time was
the commander Of the British fleet on
the Pacific The admiral had been sent
to COcOs by the government some years
before to investigate the claims of a
man named Hartford, an Englishman,
who had a concession from Costa Rica
to hunt for this treasure. He was on
the Imperieuse at the time, and he and
his sailors did some digging and then
went away. Palliser, however. was con-
fident that the treasure existed. and
he got the earl to put up 100000 to
purchase this yacht and equipment.
They had a full corps bf men, including
sailors and diggers. They came around
through the Strait of Magellan and made
the island all right. In looking for the
treasure. however. they used dynamite,
and in the explosion which followed the
earl and the admiral were so badly in
lIred by rocks that. to make a long
story short, they went back to Panama
with nothing but disgust for their pains.
Another party started out to look for
this treasure was headed by a New
foundland woman. the widow of Il ship
chandler. She went over to the Pacific
and outfitted a ship from Victoria. Her
captain was a man named Fred Hackett,
and she had with her a transfer from
Hartford of his permission from the
Costa Rican government to search for
treasure on CocOs, the understanding be-
ing that the latter was to have half OF