The Washington herald., 1916-07-14
SEEN AND HEARD
BY GEORGE MINER

treasure hunting on the Spanish Main and can
tell the Spanish Main right now that it had bet
ter give up.
Steve Reynolds is just that kind of fellow.
He is going to do his treasure hunting in
SCIENTIFIC up-to-date twenty-frst century method.
NO digging around in the sand for chests OF dou-
BILE eights buried by Morgan, or La Monte, or
Kidd, or any of the of the free riders of the
sea who used to beat down the Windward Pas
sage.
Not at all One reason why Reynolds is not
looking for that far-famed buried gold is that
! the gentlemen of the black flag probably buried
mighty little of it. Instead of sinking it they
blew it The cafes of Trinidad and Havana and
Port au Prince know the way they blew it bet
ter than do. Reynolds argues that it is sure
thing that pirates were not in the habit of bury
ing money. They were not misers They were
spendthrltts. All they wanted of money was to
spend it. They not boarding it up in stout
oaken chests sunk between two palms and a
rock for the benefit of their heirs and assgnecs.
The chances of their having any heirs and as
signees was altogether too remote.
So Reynolds is going hunting for sunken
treasure ships and all know that plenty of
them have been sunk AMI not very far back
either. He is going to comb the rocks of the
Caribbean for the cargos of the old Spanish ships
that went down in storm and stress on those
coral reefs laden with the golden and silver sugs
from Central and South America. He says he
has some kind of scientific contrapton that will
locate these cargoes the same as good bird
dog will locate covey Of quail. Then when the
prize is located he has more scientific arrange
ments to extract the treasure from the coral en-
| tanglements and bring it to the surface.
According to Steve Reynolds somebody with
a lot OF money is back of the proposition so that
a boat, or rather steamer, has been engaged to
carry the treasure hunters away from here next
October. The ship is to be loaded down, in
addition to the scientific apparatus with college
professors and students and adventures known
as cranks. Only strong and healthy men will be
allowed to go, such men could live happily on
mobilization food. The pampered pets of ten
dollar-a-week boarding houses will be put on the
black list
Steve Reynolds has had career as check
cred as a gingham apron. He has been SOL
der under four flags. At one time he was a
member of the famous Coldstream Guards in
England. Not an officer, of course, but an en-
listed man. He got sick Of being sort of stable
boy at Windsor Castle and deserted. The French
Foreign Legion also had the honor of his pres
ence for while. but Africa was too hot and
monotonous for him, so he quit that without ask
ing permission to go out or even holding up his
hand Russia and Turkey proved equally tire
some to him.
So he came back to New York few wears
ago and began to write some pretty clever stories
for the newspapers and magazines Then he
set out to help the police in the detection of
criminals.
For year he did nothing but make the ac-
qaintance of crooks, particularly safe blowers
until he knew them all and their methods OF
work. He it was who tipped the police off to
all the newest kinks the crooks had in opening
safe noiselessy and expeditiousy
You may have noticed that there have been
very few safe robberies in the last four years
This tact is largely due to the inquirng mind
of Steve Reynolds. He kept the detective bu-
reau posted that the burglars couldn't keep
more than one lap ahead at any time, and that
IS too short headway for burglar
Meanwhile, bear in mind that Steve REYNOLDS
IS not member Of the detective force or of any
detective agency and l doubt very much if he
has ever received cent from either for the
almost invaluable services he has rendered.
doubt II the idea of the public veal entered
INTO his calculations very much either He did
1t for the knowledge he got which he could use
in his writings
He 1t was who showed George Doughertv,
the head of the detective force, how safe lock
could be melted out in ten minutes and also how
the back of safe could be blown off without
making any noise.
On account of all these past performances
am inclined to think that Steve Reynolds is not
talking through his hat when he says he knows
where there is sunken treasure and that he also
knows how to get it. That is why | say the
Spanish Main had better give up quick and make
no nonsense about it
oteves uncle, John Reynolds is running the
Brighton Beach Hotel at Coney Island this sum-
mer. He used to run the REYNOLDS Hous. in
boston, which at time had wide reputa-
ton. Subsequently he got tangled up in a Gu
ban speculation which landed him in England
and left him high and dry. He is now back on
his teet again in his regular business of hotel
keeping.