The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-21
BLOOD-CURDl|NG
TALE OF TREASURE
Old Sea Captain Tells of
Trip to C0cOs Island
FOUND BURIED HOARD
Captain James Brown Says $4,000.
600 Buried by BenitO Bonito and
Bugs" Thompson, Famous
Pirates, Was Found
ii'roln the Rahimore sun.

i'roin the Baltimore Sun
The hoard of pirate gold buried on
Cocos by those old royers of the Spanish
Main, Benito Ronito and ',Bugs" Thomp-i
son. as fascinating old ocean bandits as
ever flew the Jolly Roger-s2s. 100000 in
plate, ingots, dotbloons, nieces-of-eight.
lous d'ors. snloidopes. sequlns and double
suiiieas, wealth beyond the potential
dreams of Monte Cristo-has been lifted
Yes, lifted, and more than 30 years ago
at that on the word OF that worthy old
scadoe, Captain James Brown of Cedar
Grove. Maine.
In 1851, sayst Captain Brown. II was
n sailor on Halifax ship lying at anchor
at Kingston, jamaica. Kingsto was the
Fort Royal of old times and used to be
the outfitting point of Sir Henry Morgan
fCllonois. Roche BraNilano Pierre lie
Grand and other noted gentlemen of for
tune in the days when those old freeboot-
ers sacked cities and looted galleons up
and down the Spanish Main. There was
another ship lying in the harbor which
was supposed to be bound for the pearl
fisheries in the South Pacific. | was Of
fered the berth Of first nj ate aboard her.
Ii was not until we had cleared from
south that the captain informed me we
were bound in a treas ure hunt to Cocos
Island. Our ship was armed with how
itzers and cannon and carried a crew of
81 men. as hard lot of cut -throats as
ever drank grog in ships company
Handed Down by Father
The captain was a rough old seadog
with livid knife scar that started on his
forehead, just missed his light eye, and
continued across his cheel. He said he
was the son of one of the pirates who had
sailed with Bugs Thonps0l and showed
me chart. yellow with age. greasy and
thumb-marked. which, he declared, his
father had handed down ~ him and
which showed the exact bea .ings of the
treasure cave on Cocos Islaisl.
With this old chart was a ragged piece
OF paper on which was scrawled these in
structions: You must so to the northeast
part of the island. and follow the coast
line of this bay until you find creek
From the high-water mark of this creek
YOU must climb along the bed of the
stream. measuring 20 PAGES in Il direction
west by south. You cannot mistake the
spot for from there YOU can sees standing
clear against the sky line and quite close
gap in the hills From anywhere else
the gap is invisible Turn to the north
and walk until You cross a strcam You
VIII then see a rock with a smooth face
like wall Examine it carefully. It
rises sheer up like a cliff. but at the
height of mans shoulder flom the
ground you will see II crevice hole in
which a man might insert his thumb.
Thrust an iron bar in this hole and lever
outward. You will open cave in which
are bars of gold and silver. money. church
images and golden crucifixes.'
eve rounded Cape Horn Captain
Brown continues, stood up for Cocos
and at last dropped anchor in Chatham
Bay. on the northeast coast of the noun
famous island. We landed in the boats
and had no difficulty in locating the cave.
1t was about 10 feet long by II wide and
high enough to permit man. to stand
upright. 1t was full Of bars of gold and
sacks of money. golden chalioes, cruel
fixes and church ornaments. A statue of
the Madonna lay upon the floor heavy
that 1t took four men to lift it. We car
rled the treasure to the beach and there
loaded it in the boats and rowed it out
to the ship The boats had to make many
trips before 1t was all got aboard and
battened downbeneath matches. We
made a clean sweep. We didn't leave a
Centayo behind.
Then we sailed away. 1 expected we
would head back for Kingston, but | was
surprised to find that our skipper set a
course southwest by south across the Pa
cific. In Gains and light winds we sailed
ior several weeks until we raised little
'sand. 1T was In lonely part of the
ocean several hundred miles from Aus
iialia and far to the south of the equator.
The exact bearings of this island are a
secret known only to me of all the men
IN the world today TIL tell later how I
came to be the sole possessor of this
secret.
Landed Treasures on Island
I'VE landed our treasure on this island.
carried 1t inland several hundred yards
beyond the possible reach of high tides
or or waves driven andward by typhoon
or tornado, and buried 1t at the foot of a
palm tree. After our treasure had been
hurled the captain ranged the crew about
MN and told them he was going to sail to
AUSTRALIA to rob treasure ship and that
ne would then return to the island and
divide ell our punder.
He left u number of the men on the
island and stood away for Malbourne
There he and his men managed to ship
as members OF the crew of a ship loaded
with gold bullion from the mines and
hound for England. Out at sea- the pirates
murdered all the other members of the
SHIPS company and sailed her back to the
Island where We were waiting for Them
we brought the bullion ashore and piled
II up. We planned to dig up our Cocos
Island treasure next day and divide all
our plunder share and share alike That
night after supper all hands except the