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Jean Laffite's Gold Fever An excerpt from the book "Jean Laffite, The Louisiana Buccaneer" by Nola Mae Ross There
have been many Calcasieu and Cameron Parish treasure hunters infected by “Jean
Laffite Gold Fever.” For years
deep holes were left by treasure hunters along Contraband Bayou, so named
because of the contraband supposedly buried there.
An
area along Contraband Bayou known as Hooky Hill, plus the nearby small island,
was supposedly the location of Laffite’s slave auctions.
This story, however, has never been officially confirmed.
And it was there that Laffite’s men, in about 1816, dug a small pass
through the bayou to gain easier access to the river.
This pass was filled in years later only to be reopened again by
residents living nearby. An
area along the lakefront near the old Charles Sallier cabin, which was another
of Laffite's hangouts, was also a favorite lure for the diggers and burrowers
hunting gold. Very little has been
found here, except a cannon ball believed to be from Laffite's cannons, shot
during a battle with a Federal gunboat in 1819. A
story concerning buried treasure was told by one of Jean Laffite’s ex-slaves,
named Wash, who was given his freedom and allowed to stay in Lake Charles.
Early Lake Charles news reporters had a field day interviewing old Wash
about his boss’s buried treasure. “One
day,” he told them, “three men came riding along the lakefront on three big
gray horses. It was near the old
Sallier cabin. I hid behind some
saw grass so they couldn’t see me. “They
had a curious instrument that looked like a broomstick with a sharp iron
pointer, so it would go in the ground easy.
On the other end of the stick was a little thing that looked like a
watch, only bigger. It had a
pointer that never wanted to keep still.
When they stuck the stick down in a grassy knoll the little pointer
commenced a-rustling every which way, like a dog hunting a rabbit in the brush!
They dug down about three feet and brought up an iron chest! I saw them open it. It
was chock full of bright gold coins! “They
put the gold in two sacks, tied the ends and slung them across the back of one
of the horses. Then they took
it down to Contraband Bayou. I followed at a safe distance.
I swear fore God that I saw three men go into the woods and never but two
came out. They were riding two
horses and the gold was across the back of the other horse. About a week later a boy went down there fishing.
He saw a lot of green bottle flies so he got help and they dragged the
bayou. They brought up the body of
a man with a bake oven tied around his neck.
That’s the God’s honest truth!” Pecan
Island and Lacassine Bayou have also been hot spots for gold diggers.
Treasure hunters have left strong evidence of their search for gold, all
over this island. Several stories
have been told of people finding gold there.
Early day treasure hunters also devastated spots along Hackberry Island;
Johnson’s Bayou and the Calcasieu River. People
from all over were consumed by Jean Laffite Gold Fever. One story concerns a New
Orleans dentist who was a pioneer in the use of hypnotism and chloroform.
Treasure hunting obsessed him. He
used young girls in his experiments. This
dentist took one of his young victims on a secret expedition to an island on the
Gulf Coast. There he hypnotized
her, thinking he could get her to point out the spot Jean Laffite had buried
treasure. She was unable to, so he
beat and tortured her. Then he took
her back to New Orleans and tried more experiments on her. He gave her chloroform to put her to sleep and it proved too
much. She died. When her body was
prepared for burial it was found to be covered with bruises and scars.
The dentist was charged with murder, found guilty and hanged.
Jean Laffite in his later life wrote about his buried treasure. “I have hidden silver and gold on sandy islands all along the Gulf Coast,” he stated. “But I haven’t the slightest idea of the exact spots, nor would I wish to waste time trying to recover buried treasure.”
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