ROMANTIC ADVENTURE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2275, 8 November 1889, Page 2

ROMANTIC ADVENTURE

A correspondent of tha " James 1 QbZ'.tte" sends from J»inai<^ the followtng account of the finding tf a treasure *od the trr aabeco'da m^der o f moat of the Surfers, Tai», ooan^afle,. whioh happened In the latfcuc ywt of 1887, hag only recently been brought, to light ; and the' oorr.p/<ipoQd&nt a.aioa that ho has himself neen tt>» man who took a principal part In (ha tJbiOovery, and ho»nl the story fromfyim. It la as follow* *.— JoromUhjWilllami,. t Neg*o, w»n QspialQ^o! aaloop onl^d th|

Maud, with a crew of four hands. The eoane of their trade took them to tho Spanish Main, and finally they found thamselvea In the Rio Indlo, •boat thirty miles from Colon. Hay Ing disposed of their cargo, they wer* on the point of depattare, when, on endeavoring to weigh anoho*, they found it had potfo 1 of something at the bottom of the river, and it became neoeesary to dive down and clear it ; or. to me Williams' own words, " Thi> anchor wa? fonf, «nd wo o'uld not cay how. 1 tosk off my clolhr<n and wo- 1 down to tave tbe anchor. I foand that it was hooked Into a chain that was lying at the bottom. I felt round whore th>< oh tin was, and felt n foundation, fl*t, and the cha : n round it." Ho s^nt down tbe rest of the orew to see what he had found, and then mentioned the find to one Dtncz, the Governor of the Bio Indio settlement. Danez had never heard of anything being m the river ; so ho told them they had better stop and see what it Wai, and, that if it was of any value, they Bhould get tht ir share. Theython took steps to lift it off the bottom. They broke the chain and found thore wore foui iron chests bnnnd together by It. As desorlbed by WlMams : " We took our fore throat-halilard and mi^de a big strap, and went down and tried to dig trader the foundation bat aould not. Then we made a bight and got It sideways Over one of the eafei. We tried our lift, but found It waa too heavy ; so we put It on the windlass and hove on that. With the fore throat and jib halliards wo hove two streaks of the etwrboard Bide of tbe deck under water. Wo then pnt a breast line, one forward and one af', an "3 breasted tbo nloop Into tho 'ho-o till she stuok. Then we totk tackle from her and parbuckled one safe upon shore. Then I wanted to open It and see what was Inside ; but as >he others wanted to get It all up before eight we got tbe four out of the water. We then opened one on tbe river bank, and •foand that It was full of bars of gold. Danez sant Immediately to the Governor of Colon, and next day that fanotlon*ry arrived with some soldiers. As aoon »• Danes heard of their arrival be called 'William* on shore, saying that he had something to s»y to him b»foro the Governor saw hrn. Williams accordingly went to Danes a residence ; bot no sooner did he pat bis foot iotide the door thai) lie was struok on the bead with a machete (a kind of ontlasi m common uno In Ceatrai America and the West ladles). He orled oat for help, and tried to rue •way, but wan out down from behind. Hearing his cries, tho four mon ao the sloop roihed to help him, but were instantly shot dead by the soldiers who j had meanwhile come up. Williams, In a much wounded condition, was oarriedeff to Colon and Immediately imprisoned ; waloh was all the shar* m the treasure he bat ever got. In prison he remained for ft year btf ore effeotlng hto eaoape, and has only now snoooeded In teaching Jamaioa. There tbe authorities have ttken steps ; to sift the matter, and If Wllli*ms Is really speaking the truth, we are likely to heat more of it.