The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-11-04
CAPTAIN KIDD'S TREASURE.
SEARCHES THAT
 HAVE REVEALED
Use of the Mineral Rod-The Experi-
 ences of the Hunters.

Has the DuT1Gd treasure or OdpI Kidd been unearthed at last? This IS the question that is running riot all down the south side of Long Island. In a lonely spot near New Inlet, on Great Sound Beach, Demero RoGter1nas poor Italian clam digger, found half
 hidden in the white beach sand, a round metal canister. The contents c1anked suspiciously when he picked it up, and when he pried one end of 1t open a stream of gold and silver coins poured into his hands.
 Rosterina carried the canister and it's contents to his boat and rowed
 across the Great South bay and took the coins to New York. Some of them were Spanish doubloons, so well
 known in the fables of the pirates of
 history. Others were lesser coins.
 The total value was several hundred dollars. With the greatest haste Ros- teriI1a went back to the beach and re- newed a search for more of the treas
 ure. It was evident that the canister he had found, if it's contentss were wealth hidden by Kidd or other no. torious pirates, contained but small portion of the total sum that had
 been cached in the shifting sands of the beach.
 The fortunate clam digger believed that he would find more in the vt- cintty. For week he kept his dis covery secret; then it leaked out, and SCOT0S O1 men rndSC0n0d to lh0 D04CA and started digging for the rest of the treasure.
 They did not find it. Neither did Rosterina. The search kept up for several days, then interest died out and. the treasure hunters returned to their homes. Whether the copper can actually had been buried by one of the famous pirate chieftains, or whether it had found it's way into the sea by some other means years ago and had been washed up on the beach must remain a mystery. Some of the gold coins bear the date 1884. It. was 15 years later than this that Captain Kidd was supposed to have buried in Great South beach the booty he captured from the richly freighted Quedagh Merchant.
 | The finding of the copper can calls to mind countless other occasions on which Great South beach has been combed- by treasure hunters for pirate gold. Once, near Montauk point, a steam dredge dug up a few scattered coins, some ancient fint1ock musk cts, a dirk or two and a human skull with a bullet hole between the eyes. But that was all. Thousands of men and women f1ocSed to the scene, raking in the sand and mud with picks and shoveIs, but nothing more was found.
 On another occasion a jar with some gold in it was reported as picked up near Fire Island inlet.
 t''I- had been cIamming along the
 bay side of the beach, Rosterina said, Swhen I decided to take a walk over to the ocean side for glance at the surf, which was running high. I l walked down the beach and finally sat down on the stern post of a, wreck that had been washed up years ago. As sat there saw something gIint in
 the sand 8 few yards distant. It look
 ed like a piece of copper sheathing
 from the bottom of small boat.
 Thinking I might be able to use it
 some time I walked over and saw 1 that it was round can.
 Bending to pick it up, I was sur 1 prised at it's weight. A c1inking sound
 came from within as turned it over.
 It came upon me all at once that per 1 haps the can held money. carried
 it quickly back to my boat on the bay
 side got a clam knife and opened
 one end. Then sawa that my belief
 was correct.''
 Men, held by the lure of gold, began
 first to search the lonely sand Wastes 1 off Great South Beach as far back as 1920. The original inspiration of
 these generally fruit1ess hunts was
 Capt Kidd, though other notorious
 buccaneers were supposed to have us
 ed the desoIate beach as a ground
 on which to bury their booty.
 Great South beach runs all along | the south side of Long Island, a lnar-
 row rib of beach with sand dunes
 tumbeld raggedIy along it's center. and it's outward edge pounded by the sea
 and searched by winter gales. It is
 deserted save for government life
 saving stations at fve-mf1e intervals, a few fshermen's huts. and more re- l gently a scattering of summer settle ments. But when the first search CTS after gold began their quests in
 the early '20s it was as forIorn and d 1ofo ~ II
 the high seas.
 The original treasure hunters hailed from the now prosperous village of Is- lip, on the mainland. of Long Island.
 They went on the theory that Kidd when he buried his wealth intended taking no chances of it's being disturb
 ed during his absence and to preclude
 any such possibility had killed one of his men and inferred the body on top of the treasure chests. Of course, the spirit of the dead pirate, with cut lass in hand, stood guard over the gold until the return of his pirate
 chief
 The Islip searchers believed-a dream one of them had furnishing the authority-that the riches were bur-
 jed in a wild gully in the beach hills just east of Point O. Woods. To fino
 it they constructed a mineral rod a forked wand, with a slug of quick silver concealed in one end. The min
 eral rod operator walked along, grasp ing the two forks of the wand, the other end projecting downward before
 him. When the treasure chest was
 reached the wand was supposed to be drawn sharply down until it pointed to the exact spot to dig.
 The men from Islip went across tht bay at night-it was always necessary
 to work the mineral rod at night : and began to tramp the brier tan | gles in the beach hills Presently ths , rod jerked and was snatched sharpI, = downward. The treasure hunter: | . thrilled till their breath came in spas modic gasps and began to dig. TheA
 dug and dug. Finally they hit some e. thing. Was it the treasure chest Just at that crucial instant theil n er,ueS sha ken hz inc st1.a in l,,.oIr.