The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-23
FORTUNE IN A GRAVE.
Long Search for the Hoard Left by
jacques Dupont.
From the Philadelphi Times.

rom the Philadelphi Times.
Everybody who has worked in the Maine
logging camps has heard the story of
Jacques Dupont and the great bag of gilt
tering diamonds which he hid away in his
daughters grave somewhere along the
headwaters of the Aroostook river. 1t Is
a creepy tale of cunning and covetousness,
such as the residents of Maine and Canada
like to tell a hundred years ago. 1t was
related so often that everybo believed it,
and it was handed down from generation
TO generation until it retains all its youth
full vigor to-day. Though few people of
the present generation take much stock
in the narrative, at least one diamond of
the hoard has been found within twenty
years. 1t was taken to a Boston ieweler
who offered $500 for the gem, but Jerry
Harper, the man who found it, suspected
the stone was worth more and carried it
until he had taken a few more glasses of
liquor and then left 1t in fremont street
bar room as security for drinks. When
he called later to recover his property the
| bartender had gone and taken the diamond
with him
According to all accounts-and they
agree remarkably weli-Jacques Dupont
was a gem merchant of Paris, who went
to Quebec about 1850 to sell diamonds and
| other precious stones to the French army
officers of the garrison. He sold a large
number of diamonds, taking his pay in
| gold and beaver skins, which were Just as
good. Later his daughter Lucy came
across, bringing more gems and a beauti-
full face, which latter set all the officers
| half wild with admiration 1t is claimed
| that Gen. Wolfe would never have climbed
| TO the Plains of Abraham in the darkness
| of a September morning in 1853 if the Of
| ficer of the guard had not been asleep
| with an overdose of wine, taken al a party
given in Lucy's honor the night before
After the fall of Quebec Dupont took his
| daughter and his diamonds and struck
south through the wilderness, hoping to
reach the Acadian settlements at Grand
! Falls and dispose of the balance of his
| stock. Though the woods were full of
| painted and warlike Indians at the time
they were all friendly to the French so
| the party Travelled the whole way under
| an escort of admiring savages. All went
well until they reached Edmundston, where
| Mile. Lucy was taken with smallpox
| Thereupon every redskin turned upon the
| old man and his daughter, drove them out
| of the settlement, forcing them into the
| unexplored woods along Aroostook river
Six months later Dupont came out to
| Grand Falls alone, saying that Lucy had
| died from exposure, and that he had bu-
| ried her in a stone tomb near a waterfall
| and had covered her body with gold coins,
| diamonds and beaver skins. Soon after
this he returned to France, where he
| died.
BY this time the Maine woods were full
of logging camps, which were occupied 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 campfire evenings. The
| songs went to Houlton and Bangor when
the lumbermen were paid off, and had a
famous run in the boarding houses and
bar-rooms. Men with money caught the
craze for Duponts wealth, and sent we'll
| equipped parties to all portions of North
ern 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 abso-
| lutey fearless, but he had no balance
wheel, they said, and was always getting
into debt or trouble, from which he sell
| dom had the wit to escape.
If Harper's story can be credited, he
found the diamonds by accident in the fall
OF 1885. He met a man in Houlton who
| hired him to go into the woods, telling
him to be at the old log bridge in Masar-
dis at o'clock in the afternoon four days
later Instead of finding a whole crew,
| as he had expected nobody but Har-
per's employer showed up. He looked Har-
per over, motioned for him to fall in be-
hind and started off at a brisk walk for
the woods. The man paid no attention to
logging roads or natural paths, but went
due northwest 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 lean-to camp.
as they had reached the end of the Jour-
ney.
Long after supper the strange man light
| ed a dark lantern and producing a long
rope told Harper to follow him. They
walked mile or more, and came to a high
ledgy HILL which they assembled. On top
of the hill was a round knob of ledge about
four rods in diameter, which was sur
mounted by a heavy fiat stone. Though
the ledge was of limestone, the capstone
was clay slate, indicating that it had been
brought thither al a later date The man
cut a short thornbeam stick and used II
to pry up this stone, while Harper chlnk
ed 1t in place by smaller stones. When
1t was halfway up the two men took hold
of 1t with their hands and stood IL on
edge. The removal of the stone revealed