East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1860-05-03


slumber of some three or four hours du
ration, we arose, as if by re-concert, t.
make examination of our treasure.
The chest had been full to the brim
and we spent the whole day, and th'
greater part of the next night, in scru
tiny of its contents. There had beer
nothing like order or arrangement
Everything had been heaped in promis
cuously. Having assorted all with care
we found ourselves possessed of ever
vaster wealth than we had at first sup
posed. In coin there was rather NOR,
than fonr hundred and fifty Thousand
dollars - estimating the value of the
pieces, as accurately as we could, by the
tables of the period. There was not a
particle of silver, All was gold of an
tique date and of great variety-French
Spanish and German money, with a few
English guineas, and some counters
of which we had never seen specimens
before. There were several large and
heavy coins, so worn that we could make
nothing of their inscriptions. There was
no American money. The value of the
Jewels, we found more difficulty in esti-
mating. There were diamonds-some
of them exceedingly large and fine-a
hundred and ten in all, and not one OF
them small; eighteen rubies of remark
able brillancy,-three hundred and ten
emeralds, all very beautiful, and twenty
one sapphires, with an opal. These
stones had all been broken from their
settings and thrown loose in the chest.
The settings themselves, which we picked
out from among the other gold, appeared
to have been beaten up with hammers, as
if to prevent Identification. Besides all
this, there was vast quantity of solid
gold ornaments; - nearly two hundred
massive finger and ear-rings;-rich chains
thirty of these, if remember,-eighty'
three very large and heavy crucifixes,-
fine gold censers of great value,-a pro-
digious golden punch bowl, ornamented
with richly chased vine-leaves and Bac-
chanalian figures with two sword han
dies exquisitely embossed, and many
other smaller articles which | cannot rec
ollect. The weight of these yaluables
exceeded three hundred and fifty pounds
avoirdupois; and in this estimate have
not included one hundred and ninety
seven superb gold watches; three of the
number being worth each five hundred
dollars, If one. Many of them were very
old, and as time-kecpers valueless, the
works having suffered moro or less from
corrosion-but all were richly jewelled
and in cases Of great worth. We esti-
mated the entire contents of the chest,
that night, at million and half of dol
lars, and, upon the subsequent disposal OF
the trinkets and Jewels, IA few being re-
tanned for our own use,) it was found
that we had greatly underyalued the
treasure.
When, at length, we had concluded
our examination, and the intense excite
ment of the time had, in some measure,
subsided, Legrand, who saw that | was
dying with impatience, for solution OF
this most extraordinary riddle, entered
into a full detail of all the circumstances
with it.
You remember said he, the night
when | handed you the rough sketch |
had made of the scaraJeus. You recol-
lect also, that became quite vexed at
you for insisting that my drawing resem-
bled a deaths head. When you first
made this assertion | thought you were
testing; but afterward | called TO mind
the peculiar spots on the back of the in
sect, and admitted to myself that your
remark had some little foundation in fact.
Still, the sneer at my graphic powers lr-
ritated me-for ! am considered good
therefore, when you handed
Inc the scrap of parchment, was about
to crumblc it up and throw it angrlly in
the fire..
The scrap Of paper, you mean, said |.
'No; it had much of the appearance
Of paper, and, at first, | supposed it to be
such, but when | came to draw upon it,
| discovered it, at once, TO be piece of
very thin parchment. 1t was quite dirty,
YOU remember. Well, as / was in the
very act Of crumbling it mp, my glance
rell upon the sketch at which you had
been looking, and you may imagine my
astonishment when | perceived in fact,
the figure of death's-head just where, it
seemed to me, had made the drawing of
the beetle. For a moment l was too
much amazed to think with accuracy. l
knew that my design was very different
N detail from this-although there was a
certain similarity in general outline
Presently l took a candle, and, seating
myself at the other end of the room, pro-
,eeded to scrutinize the parchment more
closely. Upon turning it over, saw my
,wn sketch upon the reverse, just as
,ad made it. My first idea, now, was
mere surprise at the really remarkable
similarity of outline-at the singular CO.
incidence involved in the fact, that un-
lnown to me there should have been
kull upon the other side of the parch-
ncnt, Immediately beneath my figure of
he scaraJe,s, and that this skull, not only
n outline, but in size, should SO closely
csemble my drawing. say the singu-
arity of this coincidence absolutely stu
,cfied me for time. This is the usual
fleet of such coincidence. The mind
truggles to establish connection--a Sc
luence Of cause and effect-and, being
lnable to do so suffers species of tenn
,orary paralysis. But, when recovered
rom this stupor, there dawncd upon me |