The Palatka news and advertiser., 1917-09-28

waters of the Gulf of Mexico, u,der-
took the little job.
The officers and crew susnoo.o .,
vaI wnas was being brought inf. tha uoa
%, son, IL IN heavy bound chest. ,.s ,nd
Somehow Son they learned that ! oon olN
poo 1 Of dollars in Mexican t oolI - 'Vvv'- w.
0eing started for Cuba s0'1 was
n,r+ 10 make long story short .
pf pf' = ~ ol tne crew conspired to disnose q
oro or Vhe bankers and the rest fptSe of tSe
uteiy unG~' as soon as the vessel should ',e he
SsusJ,e @rool, ID the n! ship, and report her.
wrecked exc. IN storm. "er
The conspiracy succeeded IT.
Gahkers ia and such of the crew as vone ne
1y l11kely to stand by the shin and thn;s Tets
tneerS tT,y Were 1e killed; after which the r1 mu.
Ilneers 1arS looked for a safe place lac mo tn
lahd and bury the gold p"ee 10
me coast line was none FOO wall
known IN those early days bnt c siaht Tsli
ing point that suited thar n"u emu
y pOSe, & the vessel was run ashore and
bH bHn; qu'cKly as possible the gold was
boI!eu' bo The point was studied and
bearings taken in order to find 4o +ho
spot when the time should come @ fnr fnr
of the gold ''' themselves
But when again out to sea. tbe
storm they had planned to renort
came IN good earnest, and the Hornet
needed no scuttling. When the tenn.
pest was over, two broken-spars with
d man lashed to each was all that
noated of the warship Hornet.
,One man, cut and bruised and NOT
much more than half alive, managed
10 Loosen himself from the spar. and
hnally got his comrade to the shore
Inc second man died in a few min
utes, He was buried by his comrade
ana the spot marked by broken
spar.
1.-The single surviving man who,
as time showed, had received fatal
injuries, made his way by slow de-
greeS to what is now Tampa, where
at that time there was government
station. From there he managed to
get transportation to New York.
Now, father Cooper said the
young man Brown, that injured man
was my father. He lived but two
weeks after his arrival in New York.
As death drew near he called my
mother and myself to his side and told
us this which | have just told you.
He enjoined on me that when
should be old enough, to go to the
spot he described and get the gold
whose hiding place no man knew but
himself. After giving me data and
landmarks by which | should be able
to find the spot, he died.
THAT was in the year 1929.
"'After his death my good mother
said if my fathers confession were
known he would be branded a mur-
derer, a robber and a pirate, She
begged me to tell no one of his con-
feSsion, and never to seek the ill.,
gotten gold, But | could not forget
it. You know the rest. Now. father
Cooper, will you 90 with me-"
The Mexican gold made its own
appeal, and the two men started to-
gether down the coast
Scarcely a days journey had they
gone, when a courier overlook them,
sent to warn them of an Indian up
rising. They well knew the only
safety for the families was to return
and get them into "tahby house" as
soon as possible. The "tabby house"
was the name that had been given to
a kind of old fort built of logs and
concrete. 1t was all the place Of
safety there was, and none too safe at
that.
Life is more than money, and the
two men. Brown and Cooner, turned
hack none too soon, for before another
dav every cabin in that little settle
mert on the Miakka was in ashes.
Not long after this the young man