The Midnight Treasure Hunt on Coffin Island

A fever of excitement regarding the digging for Captain Kidd’s buried treasure has been gripping a large number of persons in this region. The activity is largely interested in the prosperity of our island, and it was expected that the truth of the story would have been definitely determined by Friday, but difficulties in providing the ground have resulted in an adjournment until Friday, March 14th, when work will begin. The principal excavations have been made on the edge of the island, but since then a hole in the precise shape of a grave has been discovered in the center. Who dug this is undetermined. Mr. R. V. Miller, the signal officer, who keeps strict surveillance over the property, admits that he fired upon a man whom he discovered clandestinely digging some nights ago, and he simply states that he 'disappeared' and will probably never be heard of again. Considerable dissatisfaction is expressed over the action of one of the members, James N. Bergen, who has been visiting a score or more of friends and relatives, all of whom have heard of the buried treasure. Mr. Bergen was treated with such endless hospitality that when his relatives advanced the theory that their kinship entitled them to a piece of the findings, he consented, and carried away the mischief he had not thought of the same thing before. Within a radius of one hundred yards, more than fifty holes have been dug during the recollection of the oldest residents. Mr. Carhart declared that this stump, with the land immediately surrounding, should be considered a part of the property of the association, and he is carefully guarding it against disturbance. An appeal is made toward this particular spot that search shall be made only at midnight, in the full of the moon.