The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-13

saw anything that looked like a dia-
mond.
BY this time the Maine woods were
full of logging camps, which were Oc-
cupied by men of all nations. Among
these the tale spread rapidly Two or
three woodland poets put the story
into verses, which were sung around
the campfire evenings. The songs went
to HoultOn and Bangor when the lub-
bermen were paid off, and had a FAM
Gus run in the boarding houses and
barroOms. Men with money caught
the craze for Duponts wealth and sent
Well-eQuipped parties to all portions
of northern Maine. Still no diamonds
were found until Jerry Harper came
here from New Brunswick in 1888. The
men who knew Harper best said he
wasn't very bright. He was a good
man to work and absolutely fearless,
but he had no balance wheel, they said,
and was always getting into debt or
trouble, from which he seldom had the
wit to escape.
If Harpers story can be credited,
he found the diamonds by accident in
1885. He met a man in Houton who
hired him to go into the woods, telling
him to be at the old log bridge in
MaSardis at 4 o'clock in the afternoon
four days later. Instead of finding q
whole crew, as he had expected, no.
body but Harper's employer showed
up. He looked Harper over, motioned
for him to fall in behind and started
off at a brisk walk for the woods The
man paid no attention to logging roads
or natural paths, but went due north
west by compass for two days, making
no stop except to eat and sleep Near
the close of the third day he ordered
Harper to stop and put up a lean-to
their Journey.
Long after supper the strange man
lighted dark lantern and producing
q long rope, told Harper to follow him.
They walked mile or more and came
to high ledgy hill, which they as
cended. On top of the hill was a round
knob of ledge about about four rods
in diameter, which was surrounded by
a heavy fat stone. Though the ledge
was of limestone, the capstone was
clay slate, indicating that it had been
brought hither at a later date. The
man cut stout hornbeam stick and
used it to pry up this stone, while Har-
per chinked it in place by smaller
stones. When it was half way up the
two men took hold of it with their
hands and stood it on edge The re-
moval of the stone revealed a seam in
the ledge ten feet long and four to six
feet wide. The strange man then
turned to Harper and said:
Tie this line about you and take the
lantern and I'll lower you down"
The hole proved to be not more than
four feet deep, so that no line was
needed, which led Harper to believe
that his companion had never seen the
place before
Now" said the man. pick up all
the bright pieces Of glass and stone
which you see and pass them out to
me"
Harper turned the light Of the
lantern onto the bottom of the cave
and saw that it was covered with
bones, among which were piles of great
gems which almost made him blind.
He had picked up one stone and was
rising to hand it to the man above
when the fiat cover of slate rock fell
down, hitting him on the head and rem
der1ng him seEselesS. He was aroused
by blast Of cold air in his face.
Looking up ne saw three men staring
at the edge Of the hole waving torches
above him. Believing them to be his
late companion and two other employees
who had come later, Harper staggered
to his feet, held out the diamond, and
said:
Here's one of them, and there are a
lot more among the bones"
Instead of taking the proffered gem
the men began to yell with terror and
started off through the woods, running
for their lives. Harper. who still be-
Iieved them to be friends. gave chase,
following them until nearly daylight,
when he fell down exhausted He
passed a week in searching the WOODS,
but failed to find the open tomb or any
of his men. Then he concluded that
another party had come while he was
down ir Lne tomb, and having killed his
employer the men were about to &C.
seend for the spoils when they saw him
and heard him speak. and mistaking
him for a ghost. left the treasure with
out seeing a single diamond.
After he had failed to find the hiding
place of the gems, Harper went to
Bangor and shipped on a coasting
schooner for Boston, where Shreve,
Crump & Low, jewellers, of Washing
ton street, made him an offer of $500
for his diamond as has been told. For
the next two years Harper did nothing
but tell of his adventures in Dupont's
diamond cave and get up expeditions to
go and find it again. A dozen or more
men who knew him to be trustworthy
and believed him truthful. lent him
money to forward the work, and sew
eral men of wealth accompanied him on
his trips.
In the summer of 1889, as Harper was
conducting DlS party up the Little
AroostOok river, canoe was over
turned near Areostook Falls, and Har-
per and two companions were drowned
Since then scores of voyages have been
made after the buried wealth, which is
still undiscovered. Two parties have
gone into the woods from here this fall,
starting from the log bridge and going
northwest, the way Harper and his en-
pIoyer went twelve years ago.