Legends and Lore of the Mississippi Golden Gulf Coast Read Free Page A

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