Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-09-21
BORING FOR TREASURE.
Twenty nine Years of Misguided Per-
sistency in Quest OF a Fortune.

Twenty nine Years of Misguided Per-
sistency in Quest of Fortune.
In the year of 1851, Hiram Marble, OF
Lynn, Mass, under the guidance Of spir-
its, he said, began to exeavate in granite
hill, about three miles from there. Thls
elevation, which looks over the surround
ing country, the Lynn harbor, and the sea
beyond, is well known as Dungeon rock,
saws a correspondent of the New York
Sun. It's wild, secluded spot, strewn
with immense powders, covered with
growth of scraggy oak and towering pine,
and earpeted with thick bed of moss-a
primeval forest on the very outskirts OF
a large city, and as unbroken, with
the exception of one or two carriage
roads which had been cut through
it, as in the infancy of the Third Planta-
later Lin" was all that represented the
fiOurishing Shoe City. Mr.. Marble bought
Dungeon rock and about II acres around
it for a small sum from the city. He then
built a rude but among the shattered rock
and rank underground, part way down
the hill, and began to drill into the solid
mass of granite, of which the elevation is
composed, in search of a cave, wherein
tradition said was buried a large amount
of treasure by pirate robbers in the days
of Capt. Kidd. In 1854, Mr.. Marbles son,
a youth of 10. joined him in the work. Ten
years later, in 1864. the father died, and
the son scraped together enough
earth on the hillside to cover the body,
and then continued the work alone, until,
four years ago, he Joined the spirit Of his
father, which he always asserted had
urged him on in the work. These two
men have left behind them, as the result
nil rG3 10
son and thirteen for the father, simply a
hole in peculiarly close and hard gram
itH rock, and which is 10 feet in depth,
and about in diameter. This tunnel
was drilled by the two men entirely by
hand, and the pieces OF rock, as they
were Clipped off, were carried out in
baskets and deposited at the entrance.
Here to-day a great heap of broken stone,
containing many hundreds of tons, re-
mains as monument of the strange life
work of Mr.. Marble and his son.
From the mouth of one of the oldest in
habitants in this part of the country the
writer was told the traditions which first
drew the attention of Mr.. Marble to this
romantic locality.
In the year 1858, according to the most
trusted accounts, there was a severe
earthquake shock in New England, and
il is on this fact that the traditional his
kept by Obadiah Turner, one Of the first
settlers of sLin,' and which is still pre-
served, he says:
''I65S, December the Il. This year there
has been great and terrible earthquake;
such a one as was never before known
hereabOuts, The house shook and dishes
did fall from the shelves. Some being out
did feel the ground rock. The sea rOared
with a dismal roaring as if mighty
storm was coming on. And some being
near the shore said that the tide was
turned before the time. Some chimnies
were shook down, but not much mischief
done of which l have heard. But the
most mightie work done by the earth
quake hereabOuts was the splitting
Of a great rock in the woods. 1t hath by
some been called Dungeon rookie, because
there appeared TO be beneath the same a
dungeon cave. And it hath been said
that Thomas Veal, a crooked, grizzley,
and Unlocking shoemaker, did live in the
cave and do his shoemaking there. On
the splitting of the rock by the earth
quake, as some think, the old man was
shut up alive il the cave; and no great
loss to the world as they will have it, he
not being we'll thought of. Some say he
was only a pirate rCbber and did bury
treasure"
Some years previous to this disturbance
by nature the few settlers of Saugus saw,
one evening, a ship sail into the harbOr
and up the Saugus river a short distance.
A boat was then lowered, and, just before
dark, four men rOwed to the shore and
disappeared in the woods. The next morn
ing the vessel was gone and the settlers
were left to conjecture, as best they could,
her mission. In about a year, however,
the stranger again sailed up the harbOr
and cast anchor in the river, as she had
done before. But this time the movements
Of her crew were closely watched. After
dark a heavy chest was landed from the
ship and carried into the woods, but one
of the settlers venturing too near to the
party which had landed was seen, and the
strangers Immediately attacked him, so
that he and his companions had to run for
their lives. The strange crew was not
molested again that night. The next
morning boat and crew were gone. 1t
was now declared that the visitor was a
pirate. and search was made for the loca-
ton OF the supposed treasure. 1t was not
found, but III a deep ravine, not far from
the river, place shut in BY high cliffs and
steep rocks, and closely shrOuded by a
growth of thick uuderbrush, tall pines
and hemlOcks, four men were discovered
to have taken up their abode. They had
built a rough hut of branches and logs,
and had dug a shallow well, the appear
dQCeS OF WHICH are Sblll NlSlD1es y DIlIlsu
cruiser appeared of the coast about this
time, and the officers were informed of
what had occurred. A party was
Immediately organized, the IA
vine surrounded. and three of the
men captured and taken to England,
where they were probably executed as
pirates. The fourth, named Thomas Veal,
escaped. This man afterward took up his
abode in the cave under Dungeon rock
and commenced to make shoes when he
found he was not further molested. He
exchanged his shoes and at times pieces
OF Spanish money with the settlers for
provisions. After the earthquake shock
Of 1868 the man was never seen. and an
immense OYerhanging portion of Dungeon
rock was found to have been dislOdged
and to have fallen right over the entrance
to the cave. This mass of rock, a good
many feet in thickness, locks as if almost
recently it had been broken Off from the
main mass and had fallen down where it
now lies. So much for the tradition.
Both of the men who dug into the rock
were Spiriualists, and the elder Mr..
Marble prOfessed TO be guided by the
spirit of Thomas Veal, who told him that
he had buried large treasure in the
cave. When he died, the son claimed to
be guided and urged on by the spirit of
his father. Both men are now dead, and
the long-sought-tOr treasure, II 1t Is there,
still lies buried with the bones of the
pirate robber in the rocky bowels of the
granite hill. The father, in 1851, was
worth comfortable amount of property,
but he and his son spent it all in the
twenty-nine years that they worked under
directions from another world, as they
always claimed, and they even left the
property itself mortgaged for more than it
was worth. Those who best knew Mr..
Marble and his son say that they were
both unusually smart and intelligent men,
except in this one particular, and what
possessed them in this is beyond human
understanding.
ELECTRICITY FOR LION-TAOIERS