The Belding banner-news., 1919-06-25
CHAPTER u.
The Narrative Of Henry p. Tobias,
ex-Pirate, as Dictated on His Death


ex-Pirate, as Dictated on His Death
bed, in the Year Of Our Lord 1889.
The good John had scarcely made
his leisurely, distinguished appearance
at his desk on the morrow when 1 too
entered by one door and Charlie Web
ster by the other.
snow for the document" we both
exclaimed in a breath.
''Here 1t is" he said, taking up
rather grimy-looking roll of foolscap
from In front of him, which, as he
pointed out, was evidently the work
of a person of very little education,
and began to read as follows:
County of Travas. State OF Texas.
December 1853.
Feeling my end is near / make the fol-
lowing statement of my own free will and
without solicitation. In full exercise of all
my faculties, and feel that L am doing my
duty by so doing.
1 was born in the city of Liverpool. Eng
land ION the 5th day of December 17SD.
My father was a seaman and when / was
young / followed the same occupation.
And II happened that when, on a passage
from Spain to the West Indies, our ship
was attacked by free-traders, as they
called themselves. but they were pirates.
We all did our best but were over
powered. and the whole crew, except
three, were killed / was one of the three
they did not kill. They carried us on
board their ship and kept us until next
day when they asked us to join them.
They tried to get us to join them willing
ly, but we would not. when they became
engaged and loaded three cannon and
lashed each one OF us before the mouth
nf oah 90 ND fnld n f1L a lilr
choice to join them. as they would touch
the guns and that damn quick. 1t Is use
less to say we accepted everything before
death, so we came one of the pirates
crew. Both of my companions were killed
in less time than six months. but / was
with them for more than two years, in
which time we collected vast quantity
of money from different ships we captured
and we buried a great amount In two
different lots. l helped to bury IL with
my own hands. The location OF which IL
is my purpose to point out. so that II can
be found without trouble in the Bahama
islands. After had been with them for
more than two years, we were attacked
by a large warshp and our commander
told US to fight for our lives. as IL would
be death IL we were taken. But the guns
of our ship were too small for the war
ship, SO our ship soon began to sink.
when the man -of-war ran alongside OF our
vessels and tried to board us. but we were
sinking too fast. so she had to haul on
again, when our vessel sank with every
thing on board, and / escaped by swim
ming under the stern of the ship. as ours
sank. without being seen, and holding on
TO the ship until dark, when swan to a
portion OF the wrecked vessel floating not
far away. And on that fioated. The
next morning the ship was not seen. 1
was picked up by passing vessel the
next day as a shipwrecked seaman.
nd M III ho mn
one escaped alive from our vessel except
myself and those that were taken by the
man-of-war. And those were all executed
as pirates-so I know that no other man
knows of this treasure except myself and
II must be and Is where we buried II until
today and unless you get II through this
statement IL will remain there always and
do no one any good.
Therefore, II Is your duty to trace IL up
and get IL for your own benehf, as well as
others. SO delay not, but act as soon az
possible.
1 will now describe the places, locations.
marks. etc, ETC., so plainly that II can be
found. without any trouble.
The first is a sum of one million and .
half dollars g, ,50o0 0oo)-
At this point John paused. We all
took a long breath. ana Charlie weo-
ster gave a soft whistle and smacked
his lips.
"A million and half dollars. What
hor"
Then /, happening to cast my eye
through the open door, caught sight
of face gazing through the ironwork
of the outer ONCE with a fixed and
glittering expression, q face anything
but prepossessing. the face Of half
breed. deeply pockmarked. with .
CONTINUED on Page Seven)