One of the interesting things in old newpaper articles like these...
They all follow the same format..
Far off place (Oak Island, Wild West, Exotic Africa)
Exciting news (Hidden Treasure, tales of Indian wars, gunslingers, Tribes of cannibals, etc)
One or more 'hero's' that take off on an adventure the 'normal' guy reading the paper will never have the chance to do..
And of course..tons of embellishment to make for an exciting story...never let truth get in the way of a good story...truth won't sell the papers as well..so reporters/writers were required to add anything they could make up to sell sell sell! The more 'loose' with the facts the better...no proof needed
Back when everyone thought that there was pirate treasure there, the "finds" always hinted at pirates. Now that this theory is no longer in vogue, pirate stuff doesn't seem to turn up anymore.