RC: Of course, he did not know. He thought it was something
else. That I figured. I told Arthur one time that before
he died we should go over there sometime and find it. But I
know that Nell does not seem to be interested, and Gary does
not seem to be interested. The Bible says let the dead
rest, but I said that if they ever get interested in finding
it, I believe that you and I can find it. I said, "We will
take one of these Geiger counters and find it." It is right
in the thickest of all those oak trees. They were little
oak trees when they put in old man John. There are cabbages
all around it.
E: Old man who?
RC: John, Nellie's father.
E: He is buried on Cayo Costa?
RC: That is where he is buried. That is where they put him when
he died.
E: Those people of the 1910 shipwreck: what nationality did you
say they were?
RC: Cubans. Most of them were put there. There used to be two
of them around on the west side of the island, further down
there near a buttonwood tree, pretty close to the gulf. I
used to know where they are, but I do not anymore. The
buttonwood tree is gone. I would not have the least idea
where they are at. But they are out there on the west side.
E: How are you related to the Padillas?
RC: You see, Dollie was my daddy's sister. She married old man
John Padilla.
E: Your father's name was Walter?
RC: Walter Coleman.
E: How many brothers and sisters did he have?
RC: He had Walter, Shelly [a male], Orlando, Dolly, and Gene.
Gene Coleman is buried on Cayo Costa. He was shot with a
.22 rifle right in here when he was young, about five years
old. He lived to be about twenty-one years old. It began
to give him trouble, and he went up to Arcadia. They
operated on him there. That night it seemed like a blood
vessel got busted, and he just bled to death. He died right
there in Arcadia hospital.
E: And he is buried on Cayo Costa?
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