The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1904-03-04
HIDDEN TREASURE

attraction for the human race. On
the slightest hint from seer or fortune
teller some one is sure to dig where
the buried treasure is supposed to be,
and disappointment does not discour.
age another attempt when another"t p''
is received. Very few have ever
come upon hidden treasure, and the
few have found it unexpectedly.
Take for instance, that romantic un.
earthing of 100000 coins in the bed of
the River Dove, in Staffol dshire, sew
enty-two years ago. Some workmen
were engaged in removing mudbauk
which had formed in the center of the
river when one of them was amazed to
fnd on raising his spade that it gilt
tered with silver coins.
Attracted by the digger's exclama-
tion of astonishment and delight, his
fellow-workmen hurried up, and in a
moment half dozen men we're scramb.
ling and fighting for the treasure, few.
erishly filling their pocket, their hats
and beer cans with silver coin, which
were worth their weight in gold, for they
were of the time of the first two Ell
wards, and had lain in the river tor
five hundred years. That the bulk Of
the treasure trove was ultimately
claimed by the Duchy Of Lancaster
matters little, for its finders had al.
ready appropriated scores of thous-
ands of the precious disks.
Only two years later few village
boys were playing at marbles on Sun.
day afternoon in a field near Beaworth
in Hampshire, when one Of them
caught sight of a piece Of lead pro
jecting from cart rut in rough
road that crossed the pasture. Tug
ging at the strip of metal he disclosed
hole, and through the exposed open
ing be saw a pile of glittering coins,
bright as If fresh from the mint. To
ill bis pockets and those of his play
mates was the work of few moments,
and so little did the youngsters ap-
Dreciate the value of their discovery
that on their way home they amused
themselves by fiinging the coins into
the village pond.
Ultimately nearly seven thousand
coins were recovered from this buried
treasure chest, and they proved to be
of the reigns of William l and Will
liam II and in a wonderful state oil
preservation.
A similar discovery was made near
Wetherby, in Yorkshire, when heavy
cart passing over country road
stuck fast in rut, and on being re-
leased, disclosed number of silver
coins which had escaped from the
burst lid of chest hidden under the
roadway. 1t was assumed that the
chest of coins had been buried there in
the perilous days of the civil war, and
that the gradual sinking of the road
and the weight of the passing cart had
at last brought it again to the light OF
day.
In tue year 1916 most valuable
deposit of treasure revealed in the
strangest fashion at Cuerdale, near
Preston, in Lancashire. Some labor
ers were digging near the banks of the
River Ribble when the pickax of one
of them struck something harder than
car'' and more yielding than rock
On removing his pick he found trans
fixed at the end of it large ingot ol
silver. Plying his tool with renewed
vigor, he soon discovered wealth con
sisting of scores OF silver ingots
weighing in all over 1000 ounces.
Similar fortune befell couple of la
borers who were digging in a ditch
near glastonbury, in Somersetshire,
when they unearthed an ancient chest
full of coins of the days of the Stuarts.
They took samples of the coins to a
neighboring antiquary of wealth, who
not only paid the men large sum fol-
their treasure, but purchased a score
or more acres of land adjacent to the
lucky ditch. And here the irony Of
fortune is we'll illustrated, for although
the antiquary spent thousands Of
pounds in excavating his land, not a
single coin was discovered beyond
those which stroke of the spade had
revealed.
This is the kind of trick fortune
loves to play on designing man. Not
very many years ago, when the thatch
ed roof of an ancient cottage near Rip
on was removed rich nest of 5-guinea
gold pieces was discovered hidden
away under it. When the news of the
treasure trove came to the ears of q
neighboring land owner be was so fir.