The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1869-02-19
FREMONT SANDUSKY COUNTY OHIO FRIDAY FEBRUARY 49, 1862

2 ONS NJ" OnLAO II tuOA0s n nOAo0 II
5 the earth! More wonder-struck thai
f ever we again went on. Not more thar
: four rods from where the horse lay wa
a large pile of charred wood cinder
} and ashes, bones, the antlers of deer
/ and other denotiDg human habitation
) and just beyond We were trilled to Sc,
, fight Of steps-rude, but unmistak
able stone step partly natural, partly
T chiselled by the hand of man, leading
up into ragged cleft in the wall.
} My excitement was now so great tina
J l could scarcely hold my lantern. Ma
) son looked at me and l at him, bu
} neither spoke. s
f Without a word we each spraug uI
} the steps, and found ourselves in vaul
ted room, perhaps twenty feet in di
} ameter. We did not stop to examine
| it in detail, but gave our whole attsn-
Z ton at once to the objects which it con.
tanned. Our eyes first rested upon foul
iron bound chests against the further
wall, the lids of which had been riven
open with violence. The wood was
split and the fastenings showed marks
.lof having been broken with heavy
blows. They were covered with mold
and fungous growth and were 50 rot
ten that we could crumble them with
our fingers. A number of small casks
with the heads gone lay near by and
the remains of others which had been
Isplit to pieces strewed the floor amongst
a mass of all kinds of iron vessels and
implements pots, pans, ladies, spoons,
knives, sword blades with the hits gone,
a marlinspike, several hatchets and
axes, stone chisels and hammers, a
bOrse's bit and the large buckles and
rings that had once belonged to a sad
Idle, pair of rude tongs, one or two
lshoyels, chain, spikes, broken iron
hoops, and numerous other smaller ar
ticles, all more or less rusted The re-
mains of ashes and cinders and the
blacken wall where the smoke had
passed up to crevice above, showed
where fire had once been. Over this
rude framework of iron held three
esrthen crucibles or smelling pots.
They all bore marks of usage, but alas !!
they contained nothing but dust and
cinders.
Disappointment now succeeded to
elation. We had found the hiding
place, but it was only too eviden. that
the treasure had been smelted and re-
moved. In desperation we began a
careful search of the room, We turned
over everything in it, chests, casks,
ashes and cinders, even the dry sand
upon the floor, with what seemed 10 us
little success. We found in ali forty
two pieces and perhaps pint cup full
of smaller silVer,al of the 10th and 18th
centuries, six gold pieces, (three doub-
looms, & Venetian zecehino, and two
English guiness, small stiIettO with
a silver hilt set with turqlfoises, a horses
silver bit, three large and two small
buckles-the former silver, the latter
silver gilt large brooch from which
the stones had been forced and a num-
Der Of small pieces of gold, evidently
parts of ornaments that had been broken
up for the melting pot. In the ashes
we found several jewels, but all destroy
ed by the action of fire. Among them
was one good sized emerald, lat least
| took it to such) but badly discolored.
Our disappointment may be better
imagined than described. We had
found, it is true, more than we actually
had reason to hope for; yet we had suf-
fered ourselves to hope for greater re-
suits. Completely worn out with the
'days's toll we collected our spoil in one
of the sacks and made preparation to
start homeWard, when Mason suggested
an examination of the wall Each arm
ed with a lantern and hammer, we
followed the wall around in opposite
directions carefully probing the crevices
and sounding the rock. A number of
rings and staples in the wall about eight
feet above the floor first attracted our
attention; but we soon found their
counterparts on the opposite wall and
concluded that they had been used for
swinging hsmmocks. Indeed, a part of
a rope twisted raw hide still hung from !
one of them. We were presently more
fortunate. My hammer at last brought
forth hollow sound. With eagerness
[ held my lantern close to the wall and |
was Overjoyed to find a straight joint
l called to Mason. We traced the
crack around and found that it enclosed |
a right-angled parallelogram about two
and half feet in length by eighteen
inches broad. Not doubling that it was
a stone set into the wall, we went to
work with the tools that lay at our
feet. In ten minutes we had succeeded
in loosening it and in five more thin
slab fell with crash, unfortunately
breaking in two as it struck the floor.
Again doomed to disappointment.
Nothing but charts and musty parch-
ments. The treasure, if it ever con
tained any, had flown.
The day was now well nigh spent
We crammed the contents Of the recess
without examination in our sack and |,
set out for home, with the determine
lion OF returning on the morrow for
still further search. Our candle had
ong before burned out and we had
some little difficulty in finding the eu-
rance; but success at last rewarded our
efforts and we reached the house a lit 4
lie after sundown, hungry and tired.
Since Sunday, the Sd of January, we
nave been in the cave several times and
nave explored a number of its passages s
'ut have found nothing noteworthy. s
The contents of the manuscripts and {
'harts decline to make public at pres :
mt, but will say this much: I kaou0 ]
hat the greater part of the treasure of
William Kidd was once concealed in t
his cave; that it was brought hither I
cross the country from a point on the 4
hudson River, near the present Rhine f
eek Landing; that it was here smelted 4
nd run into ingots and that after, the D
irate's death, in 17Ol, the most Of it a
,ss removed and appropriated by three u
t his associates WHO knew the secret. v
his can say without harm to any one. t,
n short time l may be enabled to tell d
lore. s
Respectfully yours, J.R \
P. S.-Mr Mason thinks that the a
pom where the chests were is at least Il
lirty feet in diameter, instead Of twenty a
J | have stated. 1t is of irregular En-
lape with the roof low on one side and g
- IL - L - m - - L.