kenb
Bronze Member
Anyone here anything about this treasure?
22nd October
Fight For Gold In San Sal
By Stephen Gay
COCKBURN TOWN, San Salvador ā Authorities have ordered two local families to vacate a site on Fortune Hill where they have been digging for gold and other treasure they believe is buried at the site.
The order came down Friday afternoon from the islandās Chief Administrator Jordan Ritchie, who told the Bahama Journal that he asked a police inspector who had been assigned specifically to keep the peace as it relates to this matter to carry out that order.
In addition to having to vacate the digging site, members of the Black family were ordered to fill in the portion of land that they had excavated.
When the Bahama Journal visited the site on Friday, it observed that a hole between six and 10 feet deep had been dug, but due to a malfunctioning backhoe work had temporarily stopped.
According to Mr. Ritchie, the order to vacate Fortune Hill came after members of the Bethel family, who are descendants of Nimrod Newton [who reportedly owned the land], and the Black family came head to head on the property on Friday afternoon, where a heated argument over rights to the land erupted.
It got so heated in fact that the Journalās news team and a member of the Bethel family were threatened with physical harm if they reported what they saw.
Mr. Ritchie admitted that there are problems with regards to the search for treasure on the island.
"I understand that there are some people who are ready and willing to fight, and I want peace [on the island] and not war," Mr. Ritchie said.
"So what I have asked the police to do is clear the area. Right now as the chief administrator, I must protect everybody, but should anyone go back there after I have removed everybody they would be on their own."
The Bethels are claiming that the Black family was encroaching on their land in search of what some involved believe is a $4 billion treasure hidden in some 47 acres of land in Fortune Hill.
The land in question is the same parcel of land that was at the centre of a headline-grabbing dispute over a year ago between the Bethel family and the Watlings Archeological Research Company.
According to Dennis Bethel, spokesperson of the Bethel family, his family is the rightful owner of the land and that was proven in the legal dispute with Watlings.
Mr. Bethel said members of his family were alarmed when they learnt that an excavation crew lead by Dorothy Black-Beal was digging on the land.
But Mrs. Black-Beal, who was at the excavation site on Friday, told the Journal she had no comment on the whole matter.
Mr. Bethel claimed that at a town meeting on the island more than a month ago, the administrator had announced that a permit had been granted to the Black family to excavate for treasure in the area in question.
According to Mr. Bethel, the Blacks were granted permission to excavate on an area of the land they own, but he claimed the family ended up encroaching on the Bethelsā property.
Last month, Mr. Bethel wrote Mr. Ritchie; Dr. Keith Tinker, the director of the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation, and attorney Stephanie Wells saying he was advised that Mrs. Black-Beal was seeking a license to excavate and search for antiquities pursuant to the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Act 1998.
"I am further advised that Mrs. Beal and her associates are attempting once again to now enter onto our property, and claiming a portion of it to be that belonging to the āEstate of Edmund Blackā," he wrote.
"Therefore, I hereby officially object to the director of the Antiquities Monuments and Museums Corporation accepting any report to the claims by Mrs. Dorothy Black-Beal, her representatives or agents."
Mr. Bethel told the Journal that at the town meeting, officials gave him the name of the company that is supposed to be excavating for the Black family, but he said he and his brother searched for that name ā Arawak Trading ā at the companiesā registry and could not find it registered.
"But at the town meeting last month they (local officials) said that a permit had been granted and a month later no company has been registered in the Bahamas; how can that be?" he asked.
Mr. Bethel said his family has documentation to support its claim that the Blacks are on the wrong portion of the land. He has asked them to produce documentation stating otherwise.
A senior police officer on the island told the Journal that he was assigned by the commissioner of police to the island to keep the peace.
He also claimed that the permits had been cancelled.
However, when asked whether this was true, Mr. Ritchie said he had no knowledge of that. He told the Journal he didnāt issue any permits, so he could not have cancelled them.
"[The permits] came from Nassau, and so Nassau would have to cancel [them]," he said.
Mr. Bethel said it had been his intention all along to have digging at the site stopped.
He said that he believes that there are some unscrupulous dealings going on, on the island as it relates to the search for hidden treasure.
So what makes the families think treasure is buried on the land?
Mr. Bethel and other residents of San Salvador claimed that in the 1950s, a prominent Bahamian family removed a significant amount of treasure from Fortune Hill and used it to build the familyās wealth.
Now, the excavators and people connected to them are hoping for a similar fortune.
When the Journalās news team visited the site on Fortune Hill on Saturday afternoon, a boulder blocked the entrance to the trail to the digging spot to prevent any heavy machinery from entering the area.
The site where the hole was dug had been filled in after the order from the chief administrator for the digging to stop.
It appeared that all parties concerned had vacated the land.
Members of the Bethel family said they are willing and able to go any length to preserve what they say is rightfully theirs
http://www.jonesbahamas.com/?c=45&a=14549
kenb
22nd October
Fight For Gold In San Sal
By Stephen Gay
COCKBURN TOWN, San Salvador ā Authorities have ordered two local families to vacate a site on Fortune Hill where they have been digging for gold and other treasure they believe is buried at the site.
The order came down Friday afternoon from the islandās Chief Administrator Jordan Ritchie, who told the Bahama Journal that he asked a police inspector who had been assigned specifically to keep the peace as it relates to this matter to carry out that order.
In addition to having to vacate the digging site, members of the Black family were ordered to fill in the portion of land that they had excavated.
When the Bahama Journal visited the site on Friday, it observed that a hole between six and 10 feet deep had been dug, but due to a malfunctioning backhoe work had temporarily stopped.
According to Mr. Ritchie, the order to vacate Fortune Hill came after members of the Bethel family, who are descendants of Nimrod Newton [who reportedly owned the land], and the Black family came head to head on the property on Friday afternoon, where a heated argument over rights to the land erupted.
It got so heated in fact that the Journalās news team and a member of the Bethel family were threatened with physical harm if they reported what they saw.
Mr. Ritchie admitted that there are problems with regards to the search for treasure on the island.
"I understand that there are some people who are ready and willing to fight, and I want peace [on the island] and not war," Mr. Ritchie said.
"So what I have asked the police to do is clear the area. Right now as the chief administrator, I must protect everybody, but should anyone go back there after I have removed everybody they would be on their own."
The Bethels are claiming that the Black family was encroaching on their land in search of what some involved believe is a $4 billion treasure hidden in some 47 acres of land in Fortune Hill.
The land in question is the same parcel of land that was at the centre of a headline-grabbing dispute over a year ago between the Bethel family and the Watlings Archeological Research Company.
According to Dennis Bethel, spokesperson of the Bethel family, his family is the rightful owner of the land and that was proven in the legal dispute with Watlings.
Mr. Bethel said members of his family were alarmed when they learnt that an excavation crew lead by Dorothy Black-Beal was digging on the land.
But Mrs. Black-Beal, who was at the excavation site on Friday, told the Journal she had no comment on the whole matter.
Mr. Bethel claimed that at a town meeting on the island more than a month ago, the administrator had announced that a permit had been granted to the Black family to excavate for treasure in the area in question.
According to Mr. Bethel, the Blacks were granted permission to excavate on an area of the land they own, but he claimed the family ended up encroaching on the Bethelsā property.
Last month, Mr. Bethel wrote Mr. Ritchie; Dr. Keith Tinker, the director of the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation, and attorney Stephanie Wells saying he was advised that Mrs. Black-Beal was seeking a license to excavate and search for antiquities pursuant to the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Act 1998.
"I am further advised that Mrs. Beal and her associates are attempting once again to now enter onto our property, and claiming a portion of it to be that belonging to the āEstate of Edmund Blackā," he wrote.
"Therefore, I hereby officially object to the director of the Antiquities Monuments and Museums Corporation accepting any report to the claims by Mrs. Dorothy Black-Beal, her representatives or agents."
Mr. Bethel told the Journal that at the town meeting, officials gave him the name of the company that is supposed to be excavating for the Black family, but he said he and his brother searched for that name ā Arawak Trading ā at the companiesā registry and could not find it registered.
"But at the town meeting last month they (local officials) said that a permit had been granted and a month later no company has been registered in the Bahamas; how can that be?" he asked.
Mr. Bethel said his family has documentation to support its claim that the Blacks are on the wrong portion of the land. He has asked them to produce documentation stating otherwise.
A senior police officer on the island told the Journal that he was assigned by the commissioner of police to the island to keep the peace.
He also claimed that the permits had been cancelled.
However, when asked whether this was true, Mr. Ritchie said he had no knowledge of that. He told the Journal he didnāt issue any permits, so he could not have cancelled them.
"[The permits] came from Nassau, and so Nassau would have to cancel [them]," he said.
Mr. Bethel said it had been his intention all along to have digging at the site stopped.
He said that he believes that there are some unscrupulous dealings going on, on the island as it relates to the search for hidden treasure.
So what makes the families think treasure is buried on the land?
Mr. Bethel and other residents of San Salvador claimed that in the 1950s, a prominent Bahamian family removed a significant amount of treasure from Fortune Hill and used it to build the familyās wealth.
Now, the excavators and people connected to them are hoping for a similar fortune.
When the Journalās news team visited the site on Fortune Hill on Saturday afternoon, a boulder blocked the entrance to the trail to the digging spot to prevent any heavy machinery from entering the area.
The site where the hole was dug had been filled in after the order from the chief administrator for the digging to stop.
It appeared that all parties concerned had vacated the land.
Members of the Bethel family said they are willing and able to go any length to preserve what they say is rightfully theirs
http://www.jonesbahamas.com/?c=45&a=14549
kenb
