The Warwickshire Herald. — 1888-08-23 (Birmingham, West Midlands, England)

STRANGE TALE OF PIRACY.  The Japan Weekly Mail contains a report of the abrupt termination of a voyage from the port of Yokohama in search of hidden treasure. The British schooner Nereid had got from Japan as far as Guam, a small island belonging to the Marianne group. in the Pacific Ocean. Here the captain went on shore, intending to sail for Yap, in the Garolines, but on returning to where he had left his vessel he found it had been carried off either by his mate or two Japanese, or by all three. These were the only persons on board, and no trace of the vessel has since been found. The captain had sailed in search of a treasure which is alleged to have been lost under these circumstances : In 1823, during a revolution in Peru, a number of wealthy residents of Lima chartered a brig to convey their property to Spain. The treasure included doubloons to the value of two millions sterling, besides jewellery and a large quantity of monastic plate. When its owners, however, came down to the beach the vessel was gone. An Englishman, a lieutenant in the Peruvian Navy, hearing of the intended flight, had gone on board at night with a chosen band. He sailed to the Marianne Islands, where the treasure was buried, and a course was made for Honolulu. Before reaching this port quarrels broke out among the pirates ; and the lieu. tenant, with his two officers and a cabin boy, got into a boat and left the crew, having first set fire to the vessel. One of the officers was murdered and thrown overboard before the boat reached Honolulu, where the party represented themselves as the survivors of a shipping disaster. Before taking any further steps with regard to the treasure the lieutenant decided to send for a lady he loved in Lima. The cabin boy was despatched as his emissary to Lima, but on his arrival there he was seized and imprisoned, and the lady refused to have anything further to do with a man whom she styled • detestable pirate. The lieutenant and his sole remaining companion according:v chartered a small schooner, commanded by one captain Thompson, and proceeded to the Mariannes for his treasure. Thompson tried hard to get a charter for a specified port or ports, but the lieutenant insisted on a broad charter, including any or all the Mariannes. One evening, when they were in sight of the islands, the lieutenant, who was sitting on the lee-rail chatting with his companion, was, it is conjectured, tipped overboard by the litter and disappeared. Thompson at once overhauled the dead lieutenant's effects, and among them found a chart of the island on which the treasure was hidden, but with the name omitted. Soon afterwards he sighted another brig, with the master of which he was acquainted, and proposed to him to search for the treasure and divide it between them, giving the surviving pirate . share on candition that he consented to point out the spot, but with a threat that if he did not du so he would forthwith be handtsi over to the Spanish authorities. At a concerted moment the pirate was seized by both captains, and the conditions named. He nodded. They asked him if he would indicate the situation of the treasure, lie nodded. They asked if this was the island, pointing to the nearest of the group. He swain nodded. They invited him to step into a boat which had been lowered and guide then! to tile t 1,i14111.14. He nodded once more, went belaw, filled hii ekets with lead and iron, and then, going down o tie ladder, pushed off the boat with one toot from the side ttf the schooner, and dropped feet first I e 11l t ht. sea. This put an end to the treasure hunt i, the chart went into the possession of th lam.l hl..rities. Meanwhile the captain of the Nereid, ,e,liv or believes he holds the clue to the secret of this wealth, has lost everything.  Mrs. Etnily Jane Allen his en brought up at Marylebone poliee court eh • .% I Ii attenti,ting to drown heNelf :old her two y. • ,)iialren, one of them a baby, in the ornane•nta e. at Regent's Park, her tinsh old "'aid I here ss,t I.t wly troubles ti account for her t:t 'al.o•lii ii:-',, 1111Wer, ,iffered (nun melenetio;ia.. fl u. u ii I that -tie would never do such a tit ii ie pleaded 'lard to be allowed h. baek u.I, rll . bin the otigistrat.- /.:t i.l he e.m1.1 not -1%. at nrement. int. nowt be Collllllitte‘l for trial :Lke would be wedtalten care