Legends and Lore of the Mississippi Golden Gulf Coast (3 page)

Bayou on Back Bay Biloxi, near Bayou Porteaux.
Courtesy of Alan Santa Cruz Collection
.

Ocean Springs Hotel, along the shoreline.
Courtesy of Alan Santa Cruz Collection
.

The treasure allegedly came from a pirate by the name of Patrick Scott who would raid ships in the Gulf of Mexico. It was said that he would return to Biloxi Bay every three to four months to bury his treasure. As with all legends, there had to be witnesses to help add to the mystery. Supposedly some young individuals followed him and his crew, who were carrying three kegs suspended from poles. When the young intruders were seen, they had to make their escape. Of course, the escape was made before they knew the contents of the kegs or where they were eventually buried. As this tale was told over and over, it eventually turned into a legend.

The property was originally purchased in 1835 by William C. Simmons, who built a cabin there. About 1850, a brickyard was operated on the mouth's west point. Then about 1884, Captain Tiblier bought the land, but he said people were digging for gold on the property long before he built his home.

Captain Tiblier reported that in 1890, a man named Barlow came from Lake Pontchartrain by pirogue. He told Tiblier, “I have come here to give you a fortune.” He told Captain Tiblier he knew for a fact that pirates had buried treasure on his land. He told him to search for an oak stump and dig under it. Captain Tiblier stated that after a few years, “he came again in the same way and repeated his story.”

Captain Tiblier told the reporter that many individuals had come and requested permission to dig, and some had dug without his permission. He felt that the only place that had not been searched was under his home. Captain Tiblier even confessed that he had dug but did not put much faith in the legend.

Another local story indicates that an old man had come all the way from Louisiana on foot. Once on the property, he dug all night by himself with only the light of a lantern. For all the digging, there was no report of the pirate's treasure being found. Now, according to the legend, the pirate Patrick Scott and his crew were very productive, bringing treasure ashore every three to four months. If they worked the gulf for ten years, we should still be finding their hidden booty—unless, of course, someone removed it.

CHAPTER 3

C
ARVED
M
AGNOLIAS AND THE
P
IRATE
J
EAN
L
AFITTE

On December 27, 1896, the
Times-Picayune
ran an interesting article about Jean Lafitte, buried treasure and Ocean Springs. While we may never know what is fact and what is fiction in this story, it still makes for an interesting read. Stories, legends and tall tales have been around for many generations. Some legends are passed off as historical fact but are in reality just unverified stories or myths. With this in mind, let's look at the article titled “The Carved Magnolias.”

The writer of the article was Schuyler Poitevent, who was living in Ocean Springs in 1896. Schuyler was born in 1875 in Hancock County. The family was of French Huguenot descent, living in the Carolinas before migrating to Mississippi. At an early age, Schuyler showed an interest in history and archaeology.

Schuyler's father, June, married May Eleanor Staples in 1866. June worked in his father's sawmill on the Pearl River until 1868. He moved the family to Texas in 1870 before building a home in Ocean Springs. He also purchased land in Florida and Tampico, Mexico. Schuyler was well traveled and well educated. He attended Tulane University and the University of Virginia and was hired by the
Times-Picayune
as a book reviewer and reporter. It was at this time, at the age of twenty-one, that he wrote “The Carved Magnolias.” In 1906, he married Thomasia Hancock and moved to his father's farm in Tampico, Mexico. His son, Schuyler Jr., would be born there in 1911. The Mexican Revolution began in 1910 and would soon drive the Poitevent families back to Ocean Springs.

Magnolia flower and carved magnolia tree.
Edmond Boudreaux
.

The story begins with Baptist Fountaine, an old Creole fisherman who was well known by everyone in Ocean Springs. A Creole at this time was someone born outside of his mother country and descending from individuals born in their mother country. So you could have French Creoles, Spanish Creoles and African Creoles in Louisiana and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Baptist had what Schuyler indicates was a “quaint little shop on the front beach [that] stands at the far end of a long rickety wharf.” It was Christmas morning, and the tide had left no water beneath the wharf and shop.

Baptist was talkative with Schulyer about his good luck fishing the day before. The storytelling began with the Ring in the Oak legend from Biloxi, which is discussed later in this book. At the end of the tale, Schuyler complimented the telling of the legend but had one question. He said, “Perhaps you can tell me something about those two magnolia trees down in Spanish Point.”

It is here that we realize that a third party was present. “Dr. Herbert glanced up quickly at my question and made a motion as if to speak.” Baptist began to rattle in French, saying that he knew the trees Schuyler was referring to and stating that “a few old pirates have left their treasures under such large trees.”

Baptist continued that we can compare this story to the one of gold found at the mouth of Bayou Graveline. Baptist would give anything to make the same kind of discovery. Dr. Herbert disagreed, stating that the two stories are not alike. Schuyler felt the good doctor knew more of this story then he was telling, and even Baptist had stopped opening oysters and was “looking earnestly at the speaker.”

Schuyler then said, “Let's have the story, doctor.” Dr. Herbert indicated that it was a long story, but all the people at the center of the story “are all now dead, and no harm will come from my telling it.” Dr. Herbert said the trees were marked on Christmas Day.

So the story begins with the storyteller and his witnesses. Dr. Herbert had come to Ocean Springs many years prior, and the village had only one physician. Dr. Delmand was a very successful practitioner with “an enviable reputation and was always sent for in times of serious illness.” Doctor Delmand was getting up in age and seemed to resent Dr. Herbert settling there, though he always treated him courteously.

Dr. Herbert continued, “One day, however, he sent for me.” The good doctor found Dr. Delmand in poor health and began to treat him. As his health declined, Dr. Delmand became depressed. On the tenth day, he asked his family to leave him alone with Dr. Herbert. He confided in the doctor that he had no money to repay him. Dr. Herbert told Dr. Delmand he would not live long, only a few hours. Dr. Delmand said that he had something to tell him but “not till I was bound to secrecy so long as he lived.”

Washington Avenue, Ocean Springs, 1901.
Courtesy of Alan Santa Cruz Collection
.

Dr. Delmand was born an aristocrat in Versailles, France, and received his doctor of medicine degree at the University of Paris. Being an adventurer and fond of water, he decided to travel on a merchant vessel headed for Mexico. While the voyage across the Atlantic was uneventful, the Straits of Florida proved to be different.

His vessel was attacked and captured by pirates. The pirates began to have the crew walk the plank as the pirate captain watched nearby. As the Spanish captain of the captured vessel approached the plank, he managed to work his hands free. He then drew his hidden dagger and stabbed the pirate captain. The pirate crew shot the Spanish caption and hacked him to pieces.

Pierre, the brother of the pirate captain, realized that with no doctor in their crew, his brother's life was endangered. He told the prisoners whoever could save his brother's life would not have to walk the plank. Dr. Delmand stepped forward and offered his services. His skill as a doctor would save his life and the life of Jean Lafitte, the pirate lord.

Dr. Delmand's life was spared, and at Grand Terre Island in Louisiana, Jean Lafitte tried to recruit him as pirate surgeon. He declined and journeyed on to New Orleans to begin his career as a doctor. He was unsuccessful at building a practice and was soon out of money. Fate once more intervened with a chance encounter with Lafitte. Once again, Lafitte made the good doctor an offer to be pirate surgeon, and this time he accepted. He changed his name to hide his real identity and entered Lafitte's service aboard the
L'Hiroudelle
. He became close friends with Lafitte; Lafitte's older brother, Pierre; and Lafitte's first lieutenant, Grampo. The article stated that in December 1813, Lafitte was returning from a successful trip in the lower Florida Keys, near an island they called Sand Island (Alabama), and here they attacked two Spanish merchants. Sinking the first ship, Lafitte turned to the second but soon realized that it was a Spanish man-of-war. Lafitte then gave orders to “crowd on all possible canvas.” Realizing he could not make Barataria Bay, he headed toward Deer Island and the Biloxi Bay.

As the Spanish vessel edged closer, Lafitte reached the east end of Deer Island. Here he “crossed the bar and followed the inner, shallower channel into the calm water of the bay.” He then watched the Spanish vessel waiting for him to run aground. The Spanish vessel “steered off, gained the outer deeper channel, got the advantage of the wind, and came rapidly along” following Lafitte's vessel. Surprisingly, Lafitte ran aground with cannonballs splashing nearby. Acting quickly, Lafitte had a boat lowered and the treasure chest loaded in it. He instructed the second lieutenant to torch the
L'Hirondelle
.

Lafitte, Grampo, Dr. Delmand and two crew members rowed the few hundred yards to shore. This was the shore of Ocean Springs in the area of present-day Lovers Lane. On shore, Lafitte guided the group around the underbrush into the dense woods. He picked a spot and commanded the two crew members to dig a hole. On the trunk of a large magnolia tree, Lafitte carved the outline of his best and fastest boat. On a smaller magnolia tree, he carved “a crescent with points down and beneath it a star.” The chest was lowered into the hole and buried. Leaves were then piled over the burial spot. Dr. Delmand stated that “only the carved schooner, star and crescent remained to indicate the location.”