A PIRATE'S GOLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 103, 5 May 1926, Page 9

A PIRATE'S GOLD.

CEHXIRY OLD TKEASTJRE. FOUNT) BY SPAXISH WORKMAN. A discovery with all the smack of oldfashioned romance, has been , made at the little Galician village of Moureira. j near the Bay of Pontevedra. in Spain. [ A eoTsiracter nansed Manuel Ponta! j was excavating the foundations of a new house when one of the workmen strock a hard, metallic object with his pick. It turned out io be a thick iron j trank liotnul tsith heavy hoops. a=d i= ; stated to contain a rich treasitre. The j j contractor took possession of it pending | ] the decision of the authorities. It is supposed to be one of the trunks , a=n ore at Pontev«ira in ApriL j 1-S2S. I>J the famous Galician pirate. \ Benito Soto. ■β-iio ■K'as hanged a few . years later at Gibraltar along with a number of other desperadoes. , According to official data published in 1892 by a ship captain named Lazaza. . Benito Soto had left Brazil towards the , end of 1827 ia a brigantine which , landed him near Pontevedra. The , pirate had amongst his belongings two . heavy trunks containing the gold and ! principal objects of valne of which he \ had robbed his victims. The trunks were never more heard of, and it is now presumed that they were s buried at Moureira, near a house which Soto had acquired, and where he some- " times passed a few weeks with his uncle. Benito 6cto apparently only remained ' ashore during the time the treasure 7 was being Iraried. and was not heard of * g!Tnrn m Galicia. His next adventure ' was a fight with some Salea pirates off Mogador. after which he fell into the hands of a British sloop which conveyed him and his crew to Gibraltar. J He evidently had no opportunit-r to convey to his friends the whereabouts 1 of the buried treasure, and his secret * d*d with. him.