Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1904-02-27

Observation-Disclosures
chased by mob some hundreds strong
and finally shook them off by jumping
on an omnibus which, luckily, had only
one seat empty.
For the most part these gangs Of
"treasurehunters' have borne In mind
the newspapers warning that the
treasure is never buried on private
property, and so confined eheir efforts
to streets, cutters and the neighhorhood
of public buildings but In some dis
trlcts private flowerbeds have been
torn up fences knocked down and
lawns ruined by those who believed
that after all, the magic disks might
be found In this way.
The first public protest over this sort
OF thing was made by London house
holder. who wrote 10 the Times describ-
Ing his experience with the treasure
seekers"
f"Last evening"" he said, '"on return
Ing home. ! found a crowd of people,
some Of them actually engaged In dig
ging down to the pases Of The iron
columns supporting the rallings In front
OF my own and adjoining houses and
others looking on at the mischief In
progress colared one OF the disgers.
and, as he refused to give me his name
and address, / endeayored to take him
to n police station, but mob soon
gathered round us and demanded that
] should release my hold Of the man.
This, at considerable peril TO myself. |
refused to do and thereupon | was
hustled by several men, who enabled
my prisoner to slip out OF his coat, leav-
Ing It In my hands and to run away
amid the plaudits Of his companions.
The crowd grew so threatening that
the householder had to take refuge In
a chemists shop and, later, was taken
home under q police guard.
London districts outside the actual
business centers are literally being dug
up by folk In quest OF treasure and
arrests are being made wholesale every
day on charges OF damaging public
property. In one case It was declared
that the whole Of the channeing on
both sides OF a street had been dis
turbed, all the Joints scraped out be-
tween the curbstones and part Of the
asphalt broken. Paving stones have
been torn up all over London. on
Tuesday morning n boundary stone
Weighing 300 or 400 was dlslodged and
thrown into q roadway, and alongside
a canal that runs through the London
suburbs the towing path has been grub
bed up for more than two miles. In
the London parish OF Marylebone a man
was arrested for digging up the roots
Of tree. Referring to q street In the
Chelsea district, householder writing
TO one Of the newspapers says, pathetic
ally; White Horse Lane now looks
like q plowed field" Recently a man
was arrested and taken into court
charged with picking at the mortar on
q public building with corkscrew.
At Reading, a town not far from Lon
don two women were looking for
treasure" on the bank OF a river when
both fell In and came near being
drowned,
The assault on Woolwlch common,
however to check which mounted
troops had to be brought from the
local garrison, has about brought mat
tiers to n head. Early In the morning,
the Clues" that day having Indicated
the common as spot where treasure
had been buried, more than 1000 per-
sons descended on the locality and be-
gan to prod and dig In good earnest.
The more they hunted, too, the madden
they got, and when II became evident
that the whole common would be dug
up unless the thing was stopped the
officer In command at Woolwich bar
racks ordered a mounted force TO clear
the treasure-seekers away. At first II
really looked as II there would be
riot and blood shed, for the crowd was
angry and determined not TO be dis.
turbed, but finally the seekers after
gold we're made to see that the troops
meant business, and before long the
badly damaged field was clear
Meantime, every few days some lucky
wight hits upon either one OF the me.
dalllons or one OF the tubes OF SOW
ereigns. The names and addresses OF
these are published promptly and so
the excitement ls kept at fever heat,
The proprietors OF the two newspapers
responsible for II all are jubllant, es-
pecIally Alfred Harmsworth who said
I'm an interview the other day that by
means OF the hidden treasure" idea
he had 'resuscitated sheet which In
circles for years had been
considered a hopeless corpse The em-
poyes OF these journals, however, are
not so happy. Their lives are being
made miserable by all sorts OF IN
uulrles regarding the treasure At
the Offices Of both newspapers the tele-
phone bell II kept ringing from morn
Ing TIL night by folk all over London,
who are anxious to know II the medal
lion or tube hidden In their district
has been found,
A sort OF panic seems TO have seized
the whole staff OF the Weekly Dispatch,
the Journal which is responsible for
the buried medallions. You can pick
them out on Fleet street by the way
they SHY OF II stranger tries TO
speak to them. HAYDEN CHURCH,