Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1919-08-28
CHAPTER II.
The Narrative of Henry p. Tobias,
ex-Pirate, as Dictated on His Death

The Narrative OF Henry p. Tobias,
ex-Pirate, as Dictated on His Death
bed, in the Year of Our Lord 1859.
The good John had scarcely made
his leisurely, distinguished appearance
at his desk on the morrow when l too
entered by one door and Charlie Web
ster by the other.
"Now for the document" we both
exclaimed in breath.
"Here it is" he said, taking up a
rather grimylooking 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 1859.
Feeling my end is near, 1 make the fol-
lowing statement of my own free will and
without solicitation. In full exercise of all
my faculties, and feel that am doing my
duty by SO doing.
was born in the city of Liverpool, Eng
land Con the 9Th day of December 17S4).
My father was seaman and when was
young l followed the same occupation.
And it happened, that when, on 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. I 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
Iy, but we would not, when they became
enraged and loaded three cannon ana
dashed each one of us before the mouth
of each cannon and told us to take our
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 l was
with them for more than two years, in
which time we collected a vast quantity
of money from different ships we captured
and we buried a great amount in two
different lots. / helped to bury 1t with
my own hands. The location of which it
is my purpose to point out, so that it can
be found without trouble in the Bahama
islands. After I had been with them for
more than two years, we were attacked
by large warship and our commander
told us to fight for our lives as it would
be death If 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
sinking too fast, SO she had to haul off
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 1 floated. The
next morning the ship was not seen. /
was picked up by passing vessel the
next day as a shipwrecked seaman.
And let me say here, I know that no
one escaped alive from our vessel except
| fhyselr 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
| 1t must be and is where we buried it until
today and unless you get it through this
| statement it will remain there always and
| do no one any good.
| Therefore, it is your duty to trace It up
and get it for your own benefit, as we'll as
| others, so delay not, but act as soon as
| possible.
| will now describe the places, locations,
| marks, etc., etc., SO plainly that it can be
| round, without any trouble.
| The first is sum of one million and a
half dollars ($1,5OO,OOO-
At this point John paused. We all
| took a long breath, and Charlie Web
ster gave a soft whistle and smacked
1
his lips.
"a million and half dollars. What
ho"
Then I, happening to cast my eye
through the open door, caught sight
of face gazing through the ironwork
Of the outer office with a fixed and
glittering expression, a face anything
but prepossessing, the face of halt
breed, deeply pockmarked, with a
coarse hook nose and evil-looking eyes,
unnaturally close together. 1t was
evident from his expression that he
had not missed word Of the reading.
There Is someone in the outer Of
fee" I said. and John rose and went
out.