Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-07-22
A GRECIAN TALE.
HGaxing in COrintIl.

Hoaxing in CorintIl.
Considerable commotion was lately
created LII Athens (Greece) on the re-
ported discovery of treasure in Corinth
The most exaggerated accounts, aided
by the Oriental imagination of this
lively people, were for several days
freely circulated among the denizens of
the city of Pallas, and the public curl
osity and excitement reached their
highest pitch when it was ascertained,
beyond doubt, that the Greek Govern
ment had actually sent to Corinth a COM
m1tee OF three engineers to examine and
report on this extraordinary affair. The
facts OF the case are briefly as follows ::
A peasant Of the neig hborhood Of
Corlnth, accompanied by two of his rel
atives, presented himself one day, in q
mysterious manner, to the Greek minis
ter OF finance, Mr.. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS,
and told him that one day, while tilling
the ground, not far from Corinth, he
found a curious-iooking flat stone,
which he lifted with some difficulty.
land was astonished (the peasant
sald), to see underneath large aper>
ture with marble steps. [ hesitated
first whether [ should risk my life and
go into the bowels Of the earth, but GU
r1os1ty carried the point eventually, and
l ventured to explore the subterranean
cave. l counted forty-four marble
steps, and then I found before me an
iron door, which I opened without
much difficulty. I found myself in a
large room containing four large empty
recepticles, and water was coursing
down from the roof without forming
any pool. l discovered here another
iron door, which I opened easily, and
was astonished to find this room per-
fectly lighted by a shining piece of
metal having the size and form of a
goose's egg, hung from the roof. In
the middle of the room there was a
marble table covered with fine golden
leaves III the form of grass. Round
the table were two golden statues, and
littlefurther there were five arm-chairs
ofmarble, on which five golden statues,
apparently representing family, were
seated. Opposite these there were
seven basins of large size, full of gold
OF the size Of Indian corn. In one cor
ner Of the room I saw some piles OF
golden coins, like dollars, having en-
graved on one side g Demetrius the Gold
en-" and on the other side the profile
OF man with beard. I took in my
hand some OF these coins, but the door
closed Immediately with a great bang,
as If an invisible hand pushed it VIC
lently. Twas terribly frightened, and put
back on the pile the gold coins which
l was holding in my hand, and the
door opened swiftly by itself [ hur-
ried out immediately, and communi-
Gated what [ had seen to these relatives
of mine pointing to his companions),
who went to the cave and Jared in the
same way. Evidently the treasure is
guarded by invisible power
The man was speaking with so much
earnestness that the Minister was per-
picked. The peasant saw his hesita-
ton, and said that if the Government
would give him some men he would de-
fray their expenses, and point to them
the place where the treasure was hid
den. To show that he was acting in
good faith, the peasant deposited with
the Minister 300 drachmas. ....
The curiosity of the Minister was
now thoroughly reused, and he ap-
pointed a committee of three to go to
Corinth, to make inquiries and report.
The public curiosity was raised to fever
heat, only to give place to open indig-
nation and sneers at the credulity of the
Government, when the tripartite COM
mittee returned to Athens few DAYS
afterwards and reported that they had
found absolutely nothing. The peas
ants were arrested and put in prison as
imposters. An investigation has been
opened to find out the details of this
most curious affair, which is still envel-
oped in mystery. The treasure has yet
many believers among the low classes
Of the people. sa