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INST1UTCTORS IN C1L.VRGK OF THE WORK AT 1HE. KORTIX PLATTH
JUNIOR NORMAL,
Der,
Names from left to right: T. A. Butcher. Kiss Ornro Orevw, W. II. hard
, president; Jamea K. Deliell, Joseph Sparks, Miss Elisabeth V. Burke.
Name from left to rlKht: O. W. Noulft, A. 8oftly, Wenley Trennler, Btata Su
perintendent W. K. Kowler. W. K. Smith.
BUPKH1NTKNDKNTS OP COUNTIKS TRIBUTARY TO THE NORTH rLATTB
JUNIOR NORMAL.
Pirate GoldThe Will-o'-the-Wisp of the New World
(Copyright. 1903, by E. B. Warner.)
. new world's wlll-o'-the wisp
r I pirate gold Is still luring muny
M a man to madneaa and de:ifh,
'AO many a fine ship to destruction.
.-.' u.. V .VUII1IUHI1J WU-
lng lilted out at ports along the Atlantic
seab: ard to search the palm-covered islands
and coral cays of Iho West Indies for tho
hoards of old Spanish gold and pirate booty
which aro supposed to be hidden there.
At this moment several expeditions are
searching for them nnd every year expedi
tions search, as they have searched for
many generations.
Not long ago a private yacht was se
cretly fitted out In New York for a Wtst
Indian treasure hunt. Other expeditions
have started recently from Philadelphia,
Boston, Newport News, New Orleans and
other ports. Nor is the hunt confined to
Americans. A year des not pass without
expeditions leaving London, Glasgow, Liv
erpool or other British ports, while the
West Indians themselves, living In the at
mosphere of treasure stories, arc niturally
the keenest of all the hunters of phantom
gold.
Sometimes thesa expeditions never return.
The ship is reported missing and another
Is added to the long roll of ocean tragediej
of which the public bears little or noth
ing. Years afterward a few bleachod
bones on a remote Islet or a derelict float
ing in the track of shipping tells a grim
tale of shipwreck, mutiny or death by
those diseases most dreaded by sea-faring
men yellow fever and beriberi.
Some months ago no fewer than five
treasure-hunting expeditions were reported
at Kingston, Jamaica. The earl of Craw
lord and Hal car res had brought hU mag
nificent yacht Into the harbor on a West
Indian cruise and It was said that he was
combining business with pleasure and
meant to search for a pirate treasure re
ported to be buried on tho Uny Island of
Anegada, in the Virgin group. His lord
ship apparently had no luck.
The second expedition was headed by an
English gentleman, who hoped to find tho
secret hoard left by King Christophe of
Ilayti. Tbe third was a small affair got
ten up by a Jamaican planter, who aimed
at locating the treasure" of that buccaneer
king. Sir Henry Morgan. This Is said to
be buried In a cave In Gun hill. Trelawny,
Jamaica, and to be guarded, like Captain
Kidd's, by the devil In person hoofs, horns,
tall, pitchfork and all.
The other two expeditions were working
In Santo Domingo and the Cayman
Islands.
This was a period of special activity In
the treasure-hunting lino, hut such enter
prises are so familiar to the Creoles th.it
they hatdly excite comment. Some men
waj-te their lives and fortunes (llttlriK all
over the Caribbean tea, from on reported
pirate haunt to another, ar:d digging for
buried gold. When the mnn'a once get
hold of a man It never seems to leave
him until It has soured his temper and
raUd his life.
Barbadoes is a favorite resort of the
treasure seekers. Several caches of doub
loons and pieces-of-elght have been found
there in digging among old ruins. Captain
Kldd once ran his ship ashore at Barbndoes
when chased by a cruiser. He left a paper
after his death describing a spot In a
small wood near Bridgetown, tho island
capital, whero ho said he had burled an
Immense treasure.
Whether this was a post-mortem Joke or
not It is Impossible to Fay. If Jt was, It
succeeded to perfection. 'F"or acres round
the spot indicated," says Hesketh Bell, a
colonial officiul, '"the soil has been perfect
ly honeycombed by the excavations of
treasure-seekers. No one knows whether
the booty was secured or not, as the Under
would In all probability have been most
careful to keep his success a secret, so as
not to have to share with the government
and tho owner of the land besides. Even
now, when any one is noticed to become
suddenly well off and Hush of money, ho is
at once set down to have discovered a
buried jar of gold, when, perhaps, the rea
son of his attluence may be much ruoro
Questionable."
In Haytl not long ago a hidden treasure
was brought to light In tho picturcsquo
town of Gonaives in a rulaer curious way.
A mulatto lived there who, as the saying
goes, was not worth 30 cents. He Inhabited
a desolate ruin which had once been a tine
old planter's chateau in the days when
the French owned the islands, and he eked
out a miserable existence by cultivating a
feeble yam-patch.
Suddenly this mulatto blossomed out as
a man of wealth. He bought a fine house,
a provision store, a rum shop, and horses
and mules galore. Little sums like a hun
dred dollars "cut no ico" wiv.i him. Every
body wondered where ho hud got his money
but only one man, anor.-r Haytlan mu
latto, had sense enough to figure the mat
ter out
"See here," said the second mulatto, Tvo
taken a fancy to that old mfn of youra
Kind of picturesque, isn't it? I'll give you
M0 for It."
The first mulatto jumped at the offer.
As soon as the deal had been perfected the
purchaser had the house carefully pulled
down, brick by brick, and the foundations
dug up. As the result, he found nine arrurll
Iron-bound chtsts filled with treasure. They
contained a great deal of J-Tench gold and
silver coin of the eighteenth century, gold
ami silver plate, jewelry, church ornaments
and other valuables. Altogether, the nine
chests were valued at over $.JD,000.
When the first owner heard of It ho was
furious. It then came out that one day
by accident ho had found a similar chest
hli'den In the wainscoting or the hall and
had realized upon It. It never struck him
that there might be more behind, so ho
gladly sold the house, foadly Imagining
that It was an empty shell rom which ho
had extracted the kernel. He raved llko
a madman when he heard tho news, but
the other mulatto poser-sac d political "pull"
and soon quieted hint by tbe slmplo ex
pedient of having him thrown Into Jail.
There Is a firm ' belief tnroughout the
West Indies that there are many other
hidden treasures of . the same character
In Haytl and Santo Domingo. When the
negroes roeo In Insurrection against thtlr
French nnd Spanish musters the latter had
to fly to the towns or To the woods for
refuge. In most cases they could not take
their valuables with them and they con
cealed them somewhero about their cha
teaux. These fine old mansions are now
mere ruins, overgrown by the rank luxuil
ance of tropical vegetation and Inhabited
only by the goats and tno vultures. If
a man must go treasure-hunting, these aro
the places ho should select, In preference
to mythical pirate lairs Vaguely indicated
by legend or by somo Incomprehensible
chart drawn In blood on a plcco of rag,
after the fashion of "King Solomon's
Minis."
In the Bahamas they tell a queer story
of a big haul recently made there by a
mysterious American. He arrived in his
own schooner oft West Calcos, an Islet
In the Bahama group, and dropped anchor.
There he stayed for some days, doing noth
ing and telling nobody his business. Ho
evidently had not come for salt or sponges
or coral or any of the oiner things that
seafaring men ordinarily visit the Calcos
for. Nobody could imagtne why he was
there, for West Calcos is tho last place a
man would think of visltfntr unless he had
business there.
Ono day tho American lowered a boat
from the schooner, hired a cotiplo of ne
groes from tho shore, and made them row
him to another Islet about four miles off.
According to the story which the negroes
tokl on their return, he walked straight
up to a lone palm on the Islet, measured
a distance by paces to Ihe southeast after
consulting a chart, nnd then made them
dig. morning, noon and night, all around
a largo circle he marked wot. When they
grew tired and stopped he foamed at the
mouth nnd threatened them with his rifle.
After two days' hnrd digging they found
a big pea chest, so heavy that the three
of them could hardly drag it to the boat.
They rowed back to the Bchooner, nnd as
soon as the chest had been hoisted aboard
the American weighed anchor end sailed
awny north.
There Is much speculation In West
Calces and throughout the Bahamas ns to
who tho American was, what he found
and how he 1 -arned that It was ther. It
Is supposed that ho got .1 big pirate treas
ure and Fome peoplo even think he se
cured the famous hoard of Captain Kldd,
but nol.ody has ever found out anything
about tho matter.
Ono of the queerest West Indian trrauro
8'orh s was told by the tkipper of a Grand
Cayman bchooner In Kingston, Jamaica.
The storr Is too wildly improbable, for any
writer of fiction, but Its absolute truth
can be attested to by hundreds of people
In Jarnvica and Grand Cayman.
A bark had been wrecked on a reef near
tb Cayman islands and tho skipper bad
taken his schooner there to hunt for sal
vage. While his men were busy on th
bark ho looked over the tdde of his vessel
and saw, ubout ilht feet below on a shelv
ing ledge of the reef, a curious yellow
gleam. Ho thought It was a piece of cop
per sheathing und told ono of his men to
dive for It. Tho man came up with hla
hands full of gold coin Spanish doubloon
and pleces-of- Ight, dating back to the
early days of the conqulstadore. The ledge
was simply covered with loose gold. All
day tho crew dived for It and when they
had skinned the place bare they found
they had over 2,000 gold pieces, besides a
few score of silver coins, all Spanish.' Th
skipper showed several of tho coins to
prove his story. They were all In a re
markably fine sate of preservation. He
sold tho lot afterward for nearly $20,00.) to
a Jamaican Jew.
How the coins came on the-reef nobody
known. A hundred explanaUons have been
suggested, but uuno of tueia quite meets
the case.
Thero is an Englishman now living la
a fishing hamlet In Kent, Englund, who
was driven road by his vain search for
treasure In the West Indies. Ho Is hope
lessly Insane. Formerly he was a colonel
In tho British army and served with dis
tinction in several wars. Late in life ho
caught the treasure-hunting fever and
sold all ho had In order to fit out a yacht
and hunt for a hoard burled, so legend
says, by Mansvelt, tho famous buccannecr,
on Angullla island. He searched for years,
until in the end disappointment turned his
brain.
In the British Vest Indies, more espe
cially In Barbndoes and Grenada, largo
holes dug in the earth apparently for do
purpose aro frequently seen. Inquiring tho
Peason of them, the reply Is that they havo
been made by the blacks digging for buriod
money.
It Is a curious fact that a West Indian
negro rarely, If ever, sets about looking
for treasure of his own accord.
An "obeahman" (witch doctor) cornea to
him and says:
"Obi, the all-seeing, has told me In a
dream there Is money burled beneath tho
roots of the old Cottonwood tree, which yon
are to dig up and keep. But hearken to my
warning! When that treasure was burled
the owner killed the slave who dug tho
hole and burled his body on top of tho
gold, fnless you pay me ten dollars to
put 'good obe-ih' on tho ground the 'duppy
(ghost) of that Hlave will go on sinking tho
money deeper and di epi r Into the earLh,
so that you will never find It." ,
It Is said that a West Indian negro wOl
believe anything except that which Is truo.
At any rate, he believes tho obeuhmiin nnd
parts with his ten dollars. It goes without
saying that tho obeahman Is the mly per
son who gets any treasure.
This Is a common Incident. It happens
every day In some of tho West Indian colo
nies. These Illiterate old African wltcft
(Continued on ragn Fifteen.)
