As Captain Kidd, according to legend, left more wealth on Long Island
than the vaults of Wall Street have measured, so Lafitte is reputed to
have secreted immense treasures on Galveston Island and the adjacent
mainland. Early inhabitants of Galveston can tell of many a midnight
quest for the hidden hoards of pirates; and in sundry places certain
mounds, with accompanying depressions on one side, were but recently
pointed out as “where they have been digging for Lafitte’s treasure.”
Unlike Captain Kidd, however, Lafitte left no screeching Hannahs to
guard his treasures. No such dog-in-the-manger spirit was his. On the
contrary, he seems to have desired that they should be found and put to
some useful service. I have an old letter purporting to reveal the
hiding place of this treasure. It was written in the late fifties by a
strong-headed old lawyer, who at one time held high office in the
Republic of Texas, to a scientist of considerable reputation in that
day. The letter is too long to quote, but it recounts in detail
Lafitte’s attempt through a medium at a “sitting” of spiritualists to
reveal the whereabouts of a ship-load of concealed treasure. According
to the lawyer, the Lafitte “influence” yearned to have the directions
corroborated so that the investigators might be filled with sufficient
faith to go after the waiting treasure.