Evening journal., 1921-08-10
STOLEN LOOT
IN SOUTH SEAS
Story is That Dying Thief
Told Friends of Hiding
Place
KILLED THE CREW
AND STOLE SHIP

PAPEETE. Tahiti. July (T7y Maii)
Romance is not yet dead. Tales OF
buccaneering, murder on the high
seas. buried gold in lonely. unin-
habited islands and charts and cryp-
tograms Of hidden treasure-trove are
not all inventions OF imaginative
minds or legends of day which is
long past
Such a tale is the story Of the
treasure Of the island OF Pinaki
whose hiding place, after a patient
search OF over seven years. has at
last been discovered. And now a
schooner from Tahiti has been dis
patched to bring away the gold.
A half century ago, four sailors
deserters from a coastwise vessel,
joined revolutionists in Peru and
learned Of a vast treasure Of Jewels,
plate and ingots. the property Of the
Church. which has been hidden in
Peru TO prevent it from falling into
the hands of one Of the warning fac
tions. Secretly the sailors searched
for the treasure, found it concealed
in a church building and moved It to
another hiding place on the coast.
Going to Panama, the seafarers, at
| night, boarded small schooner,
/ murdered the crew and, after put
ting the treasure aboard, set sail
across the Pacific, intending to make
some European port later to dispose
Of their wealth. Recalling that they
had no clearance papers and proba-
bly, could not enter a European port
safely they decided to hide the gold
on some unlnhebited island and ther
get it later in a vessel they would
charter at Sydney, n. S. w, FOL
trading purposes.
Across their path lay the island
/ OF Pinaki, in the Paumotu Archi.
pelago of the South Seas. and at thii
uninhabited spot they stopped and
+ hid their loot One native, who OBJ
served them from a neighboring is
. land and rowed across to see wha
j the men from the strange schooner
were doing, was killed and hi
tribal brothers, who crossed later
found only the empty canoe an'
. strange markings. on the trees.
! Sailing on to Australia, the fou
( scuttled their vessel when a fev
miles from shore and, rowing q
, land, told Of a storm at sea whicl
4 opened the seams OF their ship. No
D all believed them, for some resident
D had seen the ship approaching AM
had witnessed its mysterious sinking
I There were no police, however, II
< that section and as the four me-
b looked desperate they were per
p mitted TO strike out overland 70
< sydney unmolested.
Il Years later, in about 1914, MI
Howe was accosted on Sydney stree
by an aged beggar. When Howe CAV
the man a few shillings he was sur
a prised TO hear the beggar ask hi
j, name and address Some time late
. Howe received an urgent summon
- to go TO a Sydney hospital. Their
he found the beggar, who told q
how he and three others had burie
their treasure, had sailed on 10 Aus
tralia and had set out overland 70
Sydney. on their way blacks al
' tackled them and killed two Of III
sailors. The beggar and his surviN
. ing companion, Brown, tried Ic
! years 10 get ship to go for tn
2 treasure, but never obtained none
! enough. Brown finally disappeare
and he, Killrain, had fallen int
misfortune and knew his end wa
n near. Therefore he gave Howe n
u map Of the island. begged him to b'
y lieve the story true and to rearch fe
q the treasure. The following day II
u beggar died.
s. Since then Howe has been searci
ing for the treasure and lately al
g nounced that he had found it In
X shallow lagoon on Pinakl Lately
s- chartered a schooner at Papeete
S, go to lift the gold. after making
is contract with the Colonial Cover
r ment as to his rights in the matte
It is said the treasure is worth Sc
eral million dollars
4. -