The Monmouth inquirer., 1923-10-25
WILL HUNT FOR
PIRATES COLD
Aged Resident of Lewiston, Me-,
Says He Saw Captain Kids
Chest in Sheepscot River.

Ha Sft1NPoSVt ntfGts
Lewiston. Me.-Moses King. Jr.
ninety-odd years of age, Of this civ.
has seen part of the lost treasure Of
captain Kidd and has now invented a
dredge with which he expects to re-
cover the lost gold from The mud Of
the Sheepscot river, Maine. The con-
struetion Of the dredge ana the pro-
posed expedition in search Of she bur
led treasure is being financed BIZ a DR..
Wing, whose place Of residence Mr..
King refuses to divulge at this time.
When was about twenty wears of
age tells Mr.. King, Il was one Of She
company which nay father tosk to the
S~heepscot river to hum for this pirate
gold Of Captain Kia1 Vista aim. be-
side myself, was a man named Tnask
and a professional diver. while
father was the head of the expedition.
n whole program originated from
the story .Trask told my parent.
Kin Of Buccaneers.
according to Trask, his great
grandfather was one of the bucca-
neers who sailed with Captain Kidd.
This elder Frask was one Of the crew
which helped Kidd to dispose Of the
loot they secured from their victims
In the ~Sheepscot river. He left q will
In which he gave the treasure TO the
fourth generation of his family. This
brought it down to the man who went
with father and me to hunt for IL
more than seventy years ago. Accord
ing to the map and will. or whatever
other directions Trask had, the spot
where the treasure was buried was
about four miles above the tswn Of
Wiseasset, Ne. in the bottom of the
river.
I'VE went te the place as near as
was possible and for a period Of about
two months the diver searched the
river bottom but without success.
Chest Found by Diver.
This diver, who was q Seotehman.
in addition TO hunting over the bottom
and probing inso the mud in the hope
of locating the treasure, used a device
which he had invented for locating
gold.
"At the end of two months he one
day located a great chest in the mud
Of the river bottom. It was such a
one as would be expected to be used
by a pirate in which to keep his gold.
Our expedition had no equipment
ready then with which TO hoist the
chest to the surface. so the spot was
marked by a keg buoy anchored there.
The ne1t day we returned with chains,
cables and windlasseS with which to
raise the chest. but the buoy was
gone and during the night the action
Of the water had so changed the sand
and mud Of the river bottom that the
diver was unable to locate the chest.
Hoisted Up on Anchor.
"A couple Of days later a vessel an
chored nea that spot and when her
anchor was heisted to the cat head.
there IN one Of the hukes was s great
chest. but it gave way inc sank TO the
bottom before it could be secured. Our
diver searched for a time longer and
then the quest was given up
According to Mr.. King, DR.. Wing
heard Of this story some four years
ago from a friend of the Lewiston man.
He was interested n sought Mr..
King and told him that he would
finance experiments in the building Of
a machine for graphing for this treas
ure and for an expedition to get it.
The offer was accepted and the ma
chine now being experimental with in
the vacant lot near the home Of Mr..
King In Lewiston's suburbs rs rhe re-
suit.
It is a seoop1ike arrangement. at
tached to a powerful de4risk. which
can be lowered inso the wateR, with
its several raks-like arms wide opsn
and then. when an the bottom. brought
to a close, in doing which Ii digs down
into the mud for some ten fest. over
a radius of more than 20 feet in diam
eter. bringing up any sizasle object
which may he there.
Already Mr.. King and DIR, Wing
have made a survey of the ~SheepscOt
river and Mr.. King has located the
points where his fathers expedition
worked more than seventy years ago
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