James Monroe Eddy of Johnston wasn't going to tell anyone his secret. But, once he did, word spread like wildfire. He had unearthed pirate treasure.

Born in Glocester on April 25, 1831 to Amasa and Mary (Owen) Eddy, James went on to own several hotels; the Elm House Hotel in Johnston and the Hotel Bon Vivant in Pawtucket among them. He was known as being an excellent innkeeper who went to great lengths to please his patrons. Fish and game dinners were served at any hour of the day or night and parties were entertained in high-class manner.

When James could take a break from business for a while, he enjoyed spending time with his wife Lizzie and their daughter Jennie at the Horseneck, Mass. farm which he owned and which had been in his family for four generations. The grandson of Amasa Eddy and great-grandson of Elisha Eddy, James had inherited an aged scroll in 1886, 12 years after his father’s death. The rolled up sheet of parchment paper with the map upon it was written by his grandfather Amasa, according to his father. The map depicted the area of the family farm and marked three areas where treasure was supposedly buried. Despite James’s father Amasa telling him the story associated with the scroll, Amasa never really believed there was any truth to it and never searched for the treasure.

The parchment was believed to be an old drum head with the map drawn using some kind of sharp stick. The starting point was a rock on Horseneck Point where the Eddy farm stretched out to meet the seashore, adjacent to a popular summer resort at Westport Harbor. According to the story Amasa passed along, James’s grandfather had sailed with the famous pirate, Captain Kidd, and had brought treasure back to the farm and buried it there. James was also told that his grandfather lived to be 94 years old.

The pieces of the story do not fit together. Captain Kidd’s life spanned from 1655 to 1701, his death being half a century before James’s grandfather was even born. It’s possible that an earlier great-grandfather might have sailed with Kidd, but none lived to the ripe old age of 94.

On Nov. 6, 1888, it was not easy to research history or ancestry so, going by what he had been told, James located the rock depicted on the map and began to dig that morning before breakfast. When nothing turned up, he moved on along the route scratched into the parchment. Suddenly his shovel struck something. He reached down and pulled an old iron kettle out of the ground. Inside were 1,550 well-worn silver coins. Bearing the date “1715”, 1,200 of the coins were Spanish dollars. The faces of the coins contained the inscription “Ferd. II. Dei. Gratia.” On the opposite sides was the inscription “Hispano E. Ind. Rex. M.E.R.I.P.”

The other 350 coins were not identifiable but were dated “1787” with the inscription “Sil Nomen Domins Benedictions”. On their opposite sides, the inscription read “Lud VVI.D.G.F.R. Et Nov. Rex.” As the coins were dated after Captain Kidd’s death, it proves that the Eddy family pirate story James was told cannot be the truth. But the buried loot came from somewhere and the treasure map was obviously genuine.

As he had found one buried stash and the map described three, James knew there were more riches to be found in the form gold coins, jewelry, diamonds and $100,000 in gold Spanish doubloons. He made a promise to himself that he would dig up the entire farm if he had to, then he took his secret back to Johnston that same day and, in his excitement, quickly spilled the beans by showing off the old coins.

Perhaps James returned to his idea of secrecy and dug up the farm until he located the rest of the buried treasure. Maybe he tried but never found it. James died on March 12, 1899. There is a chance that he unearthed the loot and never said anything. But there is also a chance that it’s still there.

Kelly Sullivan is a Rhode Island columnist, lecturer and author.