“A crowd of gabbling men and women on Execution Dock in the city of London grew quiet that twenty-fourth day of May in 1701 when the tall, handsome figure of Captain Kidd swung up above their heads.” So began a non-bylined story of buried treasure, “Captain Kidd and Money Island,” in the September 1964 issue of Coins magazine.
Stories of pirates and lost riches continually fascinate – whether true or cut out of whole cloth, it is sometimes hard to tell. The story of Kidd (who most sources say was hung on the 23rd, not the 24th) and the associated dreams of a “Money Island,” where he supposedly secreted two treasure chests, will always tantalize those among us who hold out hope of someday stumbling on such a treasure, winning the lottery or inheriting millions. Andrew J. Howell, Jr., in his 1908 book, Money Island (Commercial Printing Co., Wilmington, N.C.), upon which the Coins’ story and similar 20th century newspaper accounts are largely based, wrote:
“This is the story of the buried treasure on Money Island, which lies in Greenville Sound, not far from Wilmington, North Carolina. It was told by Mr. Jonathan Landstone many years ago, and is a part of another story which follows, and which will explain something further about the mysterious little island that
