The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1878-02-15

Miscellaneous.
The Romance OF Accident


trivial circumstances. The trial of two rob-
bers before the Court of Assizes of the Bass
es Pyreenes accidentally led to most inter-
esting archaeological discovery. The accus-
ed, Rivas shoemaker, and Bellier weay
er, by armed attacks on the highways and
frequent burglaries, had spread terror around
the neighborhood of Sisteron. The evidence
against them was clear; but no traces could
be obtained of the plunder, until one of the
men gave clue to the mystery. Riyas in
his youth had been shepherd boy near
that place, aud knew the legend OF the Trou
d'Argent, a cavern on one of the mountains
with sides so precipitous as to be almost in
accessible, and which no one was ever known
to have reached. The Commissionary Of
Police of S,steron, after extraordinary labor
succeeded in scaling the mountain, and pen.
etrated to the mysterious grUtto, where he
discovered an enormous quantity of plumber
of every description. The way having been
once found, the vast cavern was afterwards
explored by sdUants and their researches
brought to light a number Of Roman medals
of the third century, flint hatchets, ornamen
ted pottery, and the remains of ruminants
of enormous size. These interesting discov-
cries, however, obtained no indulgence for
the accused (inadvertant) pioneer of science,
who were sentenced to twenty years hard
labor.
The discovery of gold in Nevada was
made by some Mormon immigrants in 1850.
Adventureres crossed the Sierras and set up
their sluice- boxes in the canons but it was
gold they were after, and they never sus-
pected the existence of silver, nor knew it
when they saw it, The blush stuff which
was so abundant and which was silver ore,
interiered with their operations and gave
them the greatest annoyance. Two BROTH
ers named Grosch possessed more inteli.
g nee than their fellow-workers, and were
the real discoveries of the Comstock lode /;
but one Of them died from pickaxe wound
in the foot, and the other was frozen to
death in the mountains. Their secret died
with them When at last in the early part
of 1859, the surface groupings of the lode
were found, they were worked for the gold
they contained, and the silver was thrown
out as being worthless. Yet this lode since
1860 has yielded large proportion of all
the silver produced Throughout. the world
The silver mines of Potosi were discovered
through the trivial circumstances of an In
dian accidentally pulling up shrub, to the
roots of which were attached some particles
of the precious metal.
During the Thirty Years War in Ger
many, the little village of Coserow in the
island of Usedom, on the Prussan border of
the Baltic, was sacked 10y the contending
armies, the villagers escaping to the hills to
save their lives. Among them was a simple
pastor named Schwerdler, and his pretty
daughter was over, the villagers found them
selves without houses, food, or money. One
day, we are told, Mary went to the Streck-
elberg to gather blackberres but soon af-
terwards she ran back joyous and breathless
to her father, with two shining pieces of
amber each of very great size. She told her
father that near the shore the wind had
blown away the sand from vein of amber /;
that she straightway broke off these pieces
with stick that there was an ample store
of the precious substance and that she had
covered it over to conceal her secret. The
comfort; but these were superstitious times,
and legend goes that poor Mary was burn
ed for witchcraft. At the village of Stu
men, amber was first accidentally found by
a rustic who was fortunate enough to turn
some up with his plough.
A cooper in Carniola having one evening
placed new tub under dropping spring,
in order to try if it would hold water, when
he came in the morning found it so heavy
that he could hardly move it. At first, the
superstitious notions that are apt to possess
the minds of the ignorant made him suspect
that his tub was bewitched but at last per-
ceivng a shining fluid at the bottom, he
went to Laubach, and showed it to an apo
thecary, who Immediately dismissed him
with a small gratuity, and bid him bring
some more of the same stuff whenever he
could meet with it, This the poor cooper
frequently did, being highly pleased with
his good fortune till at length the afiail
being made public, several persons formed
themselves into society in order to search
farther into the quicksilver deposits, thus 81
une xpectedly discovered, and which were
in Europe.
Curious discoveries by ploughmen, quar-
rymen, and Others, Of caves, coins, urns auC
other Interesting things, would fill volumes
Many valuable literary relics have been pre-
served by curious accidents, often turning
up just in time to save them from crumbline
to pieces. Not only mineral but literary
treasures have been brought to light wher
excavating mother earth. For instance, in
the foundations of an old house, Luther's
Table 7dik was discovered "lyiIg in a deer
obscure hole, wrapped in strong linen cloth
which was waxed all over with beeswaS
within and without" There it had remain
ed hidden ever since its suppression of Pope
Gregory XIII. The poems of lPropertius, &
Roman poet, long lurked unsuspected il
the darkness of wine cellar, from whence
they were at length unearthed by accident
just in time to preserve them from destruc
tions by rats and mildew. Not only from
beneath our feet but from above our head
may chance reveal the hiding places 0
treasure.trove. The sudden falling in of ,
/, ceiling, for example, of some chambers il
D Lincoln's inn revealed the secret depositor!
e OF the Thurloe state papers. Other literar.
treasures have turned upin an equally curou
n manner. Milton's essay on the Doctrines Q
|. Christianity was discovered in bundle o
e old dispatches; monk found the onl