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PUBLIC

RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TLC.O. 885

10

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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me, the said coroner, and from our said Lady the Queen, and did not make known the said finding to any person or persons whomsoever lawfully authorised or empowered to receive the said old gold or the information respecting the finding thereof on behalf of our said Lady the Queen. And the said jurors do further say that the said William Butchers and Silas Thomas are now respectively in full life and living in the said parish of Mountfield, in the said rape of Hastings, and that the said Stephen Willett is also now in full life, and living at the town and port of Hastings aforesaid. In witness whereof as well I, the said coroner, as the jurors aforesaid, have to this inquisition set our hands and seals the day and place first above written,

CASE.

NATEL. P. KELL-

ΙΒΑΔΟ ΜΑΝΝΙΝΟΤΟΝ,

Coroner.

Foreman.

DANIEL OLNEY.

(LB.)

(L.B.)

(1.8.)

JNO. PINTON.

(L.B.)

THOMAS BUSS.

(L.B.)

GEORGE HAYWARD.

(L.B.)

ROBERT FULLER.

(L.B.)

THOMAS BADOOCK.

(L.B.)

JAMES CROUCH.

(L.8.)

RICHARD TEMPSON.

(L.B.)

JAMES MOON.

(L.8.)

ISAAC THOMPSON.

JOSEPH TEMPSON.

(L.B.) (L.B.)

The mark of X EDWARD

MUGGERIDGE.

(L.B.)

FALKLAND Islands.—Treasure TROVE.

The following is a copy of a Despatch from Her Majesty's Consul at San Francisco to the Foreign Office:—

(No. 20.) MY LORD,

I HAVE the honour to enclose a copy of declarations made before me, relative to a large amount of treasure said to be buried on one of the group of the Falkland Islands, and the departure of the American barque "Frances Palmer" in search of it. The barque which is a fast sailer, left this port yesterday morning, having cleared for Valparaiso, but I am satisfied the statement in the declaration as to her destination is

British Consulate, San Francisco, April 2, 1863.

correct.

It appears three or four different parties got the information from Wagener, and all intended to send an expedition, so satisfied were they of the truth of the story, but the company who chartered the "Frances Palmer" got hold of Wagener, and concealed him until the vessel was ready for sea. The barque sailed yesterday, and I suppose he is in her. I have been shown a letter, written by a man in Victoria corroborative in some measure of the statements of Wagener, inasmuch as the writer tells his friend here that a man had just arrived there from the Falkland Islands who was married to a daughter of the late Johnson, and he told the writer that he had often heard his mother-in-law speak of the buried treasure, and say that her husband had told a Dane the secret, but that the authorities had watched him so closely that he finally left the island and never returned. Wagener, I am told, accounts for not having before divulged the secret by stating that he hoped to have made money enough to At out an expedition of his own.

I sent a copy of the declaration to the Governor of the Falkland Islands direct, under care of Mr. Consul Rouse of Valparaiso, with a request that he will send it over- land to Monte Video, should a vessel not be going direct to the islands.

I have, &c. (Signed) W. C. Book.

Farl Russell.

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We, James Brandes, Frank Gill, William Hanford, and Michael Burke, all residents of this city of San Francisco, do solemnly and sincerely declare that a man named Wagener, a Dane, has made statements at different times to us, of which the following comprise the main facts:-

That said Wagener in or about the year 1853 was in the Falkland Islands, that whilst there he was acquainted with a man named Johnson, known as "Pirate John- ” that said Johnson told him in strict confidence that he had been on board a

Bon,

pirate vessel when a boy, that the treasure taken by the pirate was deposited in a vault in one of the group of the Falkland Islands about 40 miles from Port Stanley, that at the instance of the said Johnson he went to the place designated by Johnson in a small sloop, that according to Johnson's directions he made the two men who accompanied him as seamen in said sloop drunk, and having put them ashore near the place where the money was stated to be buried, he proceeded alone to the place with a pick and shovel, and that he dug a shallow hole in the peat and discovered the vault, but found he could not remove the treasure alone, that he accordingly returned to Port Stanley with the intention of proceeding again to the treasure, with such assistance as could enable him to remove it but that he was so closely watched by the authorities at Port Stanley, that he was unable secretly to return, that soon afterwards Johnson died, but before his death he made said Wagener declare that he would not disclose the secret to the Government, and that if he secured the treasure he would give a large portion of it to his, said Johnson's daughter, that the widow of said Johnson made a report to the authorities at Port Stanley about the treasure on finding that said Wagener would not reveal to her the secret, and in consequence Wagener shipped as a seaman for the port, and arrived several years ago, but said Johnson accounted for his being the only possessor of the secret by stating that whilst the pirate vessel was laying off the island, he, Johnson, being on shore, a Spanish ship of war arrived, and that the pirate vessel was sunk with all on board, when attempting to escape.

We further state that we know that the American barque "Frances Palmer" has been chartered by certain parties in San Francisco, to proceed in search of the treasure roferred to by the said Wagener, who is to go in er.

(Signed)

J. BRANDES. F. GILL.

W. 8. HANFord. M. BURKE.

Subscribed and declared before me at the office of the British Consulate, San Fran- cisco, March 31st, 1863.

(Signed) W. C. BOOKER,

Her Britannic Majesty's Consul, California.

This Despatch was sent by Earl Russell to the Duke of Newcastle, who transmitted it to the Secretary of the Treasury, with a request that he would move their Lordships to inform his Grace whether or not any claim should be put in on behalf of the Crown

to the alleged treasure if found, or what course it might be proper to take on the subject.

Their Lordships referred the Despatch of Consul Booker to their solicitor.

The solicitor adverting to the rule prevailing in this country and in the Colonies that the title of the Crown to escheat, and bona vacantia, in general, ought not to be asserted by prerogative process, until that title has been found by inquisition taken by a jury on oath on the examination of sworn witnesses, reported that he apprehended under the circumstances the treasure if found in this country would be the property of the Crown; and that the same rule would prevail as to the prerogative rights of the fevereign within the Falkland Islands. He therefore suggested that the Governor of the Islands should be instructed to take the proper steps for the discovery of the alleged treasure, and that if the same were found, proceedings should be immediately taken before the Escheator General of the island, or any other officer whose duty it might be to hold an inquest on the rights of the Crown to treasure trove, bona vacantia and other like particulars of the royal revenue, and that if the treasure under the circumstances should be found to belong to the Crown, that it should be forthwith seized by the proper officer for Her Majesty's use.

14378.----3532.

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