The sun., 1895-05-18
WHATMR. PETERSEN FOUND
OR TEE BURIED TREASURE OF
BATTING HOLLOW.

Two and Hair Quarts OF silver In .
Pint BOX Besides Hair Pint OF Cold
OLD Mr.. Wells Discusses Buried Treas
ures aud the Virtues OF Mineral Rods.
When Petersen. tho mason, was digging
cistern In George wells's back yard at Batting
Hollow, L. L., ten days ago and came across an
iron box, the truthful citizens of the Hollow
filed 1t with gold and silver coin. They named
n moderate amount at first. Petersen didn't
deny It,
They kept increasing II until at last II reached
the modest sum OF $1,000. of which 5000 was
silver, despite the fact that the box was only six
inches long, four inches wide, and three and
e.half inches deep. outside measurement. 1t
would hold about pint; 5000 in silver would
be two and one-half quarts. Petersen in the
mean time never lost his head lie got up ut
o'clock every morning. did the chores, and put
| in the rest of the day working around. lie
| didn't deny tho stories, probably because 1t
| isn't his nature to deny anything. As matter
| OF fact, Petersen seldom talks Mt all. He pos
sesses that rare quality of never talking Mt all
| except when he has something to say, and he
| hasn't had anything to say about this find.
| Petersen Is a middle-aged man. lie Is OF
Swedish descent. and he has lived in Batting
Hollow n long while. lie is tall and lean.
Judging from his appearance. and not from his
conversation, he doesn't rank above the average
citizen of the Hollow for intelligence. Peter
sens story from his own lips begins with m
m" 1t continues with "m-ms," and concludes
| tho same way, and at its conclusion Petersen
walks off putting vigorously at a strong cigar.
| his face hidden under wide -brimmed straw hat
| George Wells. the village Postmaster. the vii
| lage storekeeper, shoemaker, tooth puller, har-
nessmaler. liquor and cigar dealer. hotel
| keeper. wall paper supplier and newspaper
| correspondent. in whose back yard the treasure
| was found. says he has obtained n more COM
| plete story from Petersen than the above. Heis
| the man who fixes the sum at $1,000, despite
the dimensions of the box. All there is of the
story as he tells it is this: Petersen was digging
a cstern and a man named Rudolph was
wheeling away the dirt. When Rudolph's back
was turned Petersen unearthed o box. which he
opened. Rudolph looked at him over his
shoulder and saw handful OF glittering coin.
pocket. Questions about the size OF Petersen's >
pocket and the weight Of the $500 worth of gold
Lest there there should be some once doubt about the truth
OF this story because of these Inconsistencies 1T
may be said positively that Peterson found
something. and it was at least enough to pay the
car fare between Batting Hollow and Long
oaR cS The ne of the sps 50
little to do with the story any way. The real in.
tss an deep and
exists in the minds Of Batting Hollowites that
the earth about them is Just full OF ,Sn treasures
that sonic day it will be found and every body in
Batting Hollow will be rich. Over on the blutf
and is called Money Rock. because it is sup-
that Kidds money is o buried somswheTe re
the the first ' mineral rod in Batting Hollow. and
%r ga as ws who
years old ian has has chopped GOO cord
says: Uncle Jonah he was the tarnelest man
bout money there ever war in tn Hollow. Why.
tn tn sand sand on mt tn beach each an not tell him Where.
an he'd 60 three days later an git it. never
take hs came an s .hoss
drys. but | warn't p cents worth, an that's
What ud I'D buried 1T
rock an drawin' circle, an then another
ss saa r. Ths frs, sus src. .n6na
leave t. an ali Ii, dirt that come on. . til hoIe
Ruf sa 1hos yo him Hse nn
down down five feet Then j oman he fslt the box an
III box slipped, He ict it slippin'; It went four
there. They couldn't Git near to it again. That's
what Uncle Jonah allus used t say. but never
'f "rd Say say IT. t him in ~ sometimes Well. Uncle
Jonah. let's 60 git it,, an, he'd shout No; sir.
Fe Nobody &
Jonah had another box o, gold an silver planted
ant .!s IT, '
bslisysitf Gidn5 Then he located an9tnsr n
said Mf i w. aT rim heIlow and sre war 4So
pounds O. gold an silver in it. But didn't be-
1ieve such stuff.
crcetcrs. an he wond have staked his cabbage
crop on that mineral rod o his. He kept ram
in skeleton Hollow. he says it begun jumpin'
an tearn around like mad. Uncle Jonah knew
somewhsro to make that rod carry on
like that, He kinder had a feelin', though.
s e'ens war yanked ay SS" "fes @
book that he , always carried in in his pocket
gold @ w Would be taken @ out O. him But at the the more
Uncle. Jonah prayed the more that mineral rod
Ass ,Ss roS while 4 an ID got nEs %d am
long to find it. an he dug it up. ,.,
Uncle Jonah war always a lsetle touchy
there war enough 10 buy the whole O. Rverhead
town. and it was all in an old. iron kittle, One
| o. Uncle .Ionah's superstitions was that IL war
bad luck to dig up gold except when tho moon
is in the last quarter. He Just happened 70
he do but put that Kittle back in the hole where
he found 1t. purposin' TO come back and git it
back in about ten days with Ills mineral rod,
but the blamed think wouldn't work any more,
Gnele % jonah stiF SAID but @ who'd Ssevo such
stuff? wouldn't.
sn yeaf. say Bs ooW had # Sn
sh' peoplo'a hunt for gold. Sow: % there % was Cal;
iiF FMards Thes Ruea
Money Rock an they might a got something
only the devil got after eni. That's what they
say. Henry says he heard the rattlin' o. chains
but who'd believe that? / wouldn't. l always
had IL in mind that Squire Dan Edwards rat
tied chains himself t. scare Henry. Anothe,
time was in a party. We hunted tn north side
o. Lisha Dayton's place an then out Z Winter
Hill. We struck charcoal at two feet but we
couldn't get tn gold"
Mr.. Wells went on and related the history OF
twenty or thirty gold-hunting expeditions, and
then branched out on the question of mineral
rods. A mineral rod, the kind that was used in
Batting Hollow ut least. Is a straight stick three
feet long IL Is reputed TO turn and point TO the
earth whenever the holder is on spot under
WHICH there Is any precious metal. my
give S., for 1t. and my opinion Is it want worth
three cents Now he ana some others 'ud take tha, @
never bend for me. I'd hold 1t tight and she'd
never bulge. They'd hold il an II ,ud 60 over
Tha, was because they we're weak ! always
thought. Any way, they near broke their back
diggin'. an they never got anything; so don't
}. think mineral rods are worth three cents