The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1914-11-21
he Santa Maria
D6relict
By M QUAD
Copyright. 1914. by Associated Lit
erary Press.

Gone OF the Spanish merchantmen, the
Santa Maria. in the year 1862 1t was
published In the papers at the time,
bat only a partial account, and as we
had war and excitement at home the
Incident was soon forgotten.
One of the oldest business houses In
Mexico up to the date above named
was that of the Spanish house OF Ca
lera e. Co.. founded seventy-fve years
previously. The business OF the house
was banking. mining. merchandising
and cattle kSing. 1t had a dozen
branches In Mexico, and 1t had deal
ings with half dozen countries. In
a financial sense 1t was stronger than
the government, and its yearly profits
footed up an enormous sum. A son
of the founder had succeeded TO the
management. and when old age came
he turned over the active work TO
cOusyn named Alvarez. The new man.
ager was a young man Of twenty-five,
born In Spain Of fine family and had
keen educated for the priesthood. He
was a man without a vice. Such was
Ais probity that he was called Holy
Alvarez" even In his youth. At an
eAsrmous salary and with autocratic
powers young Alvarez took over the
management OF affairs I'm Mexico, and
almost as soon as he stepped foot on
North American soil a change took
place i'm his character. He began to
drink. gamble and play fast and loose.
OF course there was gossip about the
new manager, and there were those
who predicted that his extravagances
would ultimately bring ruin TO the old
house, but there were no official COM
plants. He knew little or nothing or
business, but he did know how to
spend money royalty, and in year
he had people guessing how much
longer It would take him TO bankrupt
the house. 1t was after the balance
sheets had proved to him that he was
spending more than the profits or the
house and was a debtor to an enor.
nous amount that he set about prepar-
ing grand coup. The Spanish mer-
chairman was loaded with consign-
ment OF gold. silver. copper, furs and
dyestuffs for Spain and the cargo In
sured to the last cent Alvarez took
into his confidence young man named
Prado, and when the Santa Maria sail
ed his confederate went with her as
supercargo.
, The ship was manned by a crew OF
fourteen men, all Spaniards. Thirty
days after her sailing to the southwark
the American bark Homeward left the
port OF Valparaiso homeward bound.
We had been out three days when we
ran into dead calm, with the weather
80 terribly hot that the deck planks
smoked In the sun. As we lay heaving
on the ground swell a small boat drift
ed into view. It seemed TO be empty,
and Il had been in sight for two hours
and was not over half a mile away
when the captain decided to pick 1t up.
"a boat was sent or, and when she re-
turned with the stranger we had a SAD
spectacle under Our eyes There was
dead man lying az full length under the
thwarts
About two days later wc came mp
with a derelict FROM which The nau In
me boat had nu Doubt escaprd On
board horrible >teht met Us tie bod
les OF fourteen dead men
The derelict was % great lind 10 us.
Her manifest showed cargo valued at
over $2,OOO.O0O and the ship was all
right above deck
h.. a "a
provisioned the boat IL must have been
after the others were dead. lie It was,
then, who had brought about the
wholesale death OF the crew. and he
must have had a strong motive. That
motive was discovered when some OF
Zine boxes OF treasure were hoisted out
OF the laZaret and broken open. Aside
from one or two boxes, the whole
treasure business was a fake. Lead
had been substituted for silver and
gold. The furs were cheat and a
fraud, and the value OF the dyestuffs
was not one-quarter Of the sum they
were insured for A second and closer
search OF the stateroom evidently oc-
cupied by Yhe supercargo gave us the
key to dNi0ck the whole mystery ne
had left behind n letter OF instruction
signed by Alvarez at the City OF Mexi-
co, and In that we learned that the
name OF the dead man was Prado.
With the anger hole plugged and n
part OF our crew on board the santa
Maria. we lad our course for the port
Of valdivia, and in due time both
craft arrived there in good shape. The
dead had been given burial. OF course
but there was no lack OF other proofs.
AS soon as the plot was unrayeied
steps were taken for the arrest or Al
varez In Mexico. and our claim for sal
wage was 6led Governments move
slowly In international matters. IL
was months before they got ready to
arrest the man who had plotted this
ltea tragedy lie had meanwhile con
JEtinued his career OF disSipation and ex'