The San Francisco call., 1906-05-05
KING JOHNS LOST
TREASURE SOUGHT
BY kNTIQUARIANS
Crown Jewels May
Be Found by
SedrCherS.
Army Pay Chest Is
Part of Buried
Wealth.
Special Dispatch to The Call

Special Dispatch to The Call
LONDON. May L-There is more
likelihood Of success rewarding the eff
forts that are soon to be made to re-
cover the treasure lost by King John
nearly six and q half centuries ago
than seemed probable when some ink
ling Of the project first leaked out. The
Society Of Antiquaries is backing the
scheme with money and enthusiasm. Its
members have great faith in the inves-
LEGATIONS and calculations made by the
learned assistant secretary, st. John
Hope, who has been quietly working on
the matter for several years. The search
viii be conducted under his directions.
Everybody knows-or rather is sup
posed to know-that King John lost his
baggage train when he was taking
short cut across the Wash to escape his
wrsthful barons who were in hot pur-
suit Of him. The Wash, it should be
explained for the benefit Of those read
ers who have forgotten much Of their
geography they learned at school, is a
wide and shallow estuary on the east
coast Of England between the counties
Of Lincoln and Norfolk John was
did contemporaries, he was ga knight
without truth, king without justice,
q Christian without faith." " He had
signed Magma Charta, the great bull
wark Of English freedom, only to re
pudiate it, and when war broke out be-
tween him and the barons again, he
knew that they would not give him an
other chance to break his word with
them. In his haste to make tracks, he
did not make sufficient allowance for
the tide and the quicksands swallowed
I'D his army chest and his Crown jewels
and a lot Of other paraphernalia, that
Is now worth vastly more than 1t was
IN his time. He had close shave Of
it himself, according to Shakespeare,
who thus refers TO the incident in
King john"
- tell thee, Hubert, half my power
this night,
Passing these fats is taken by the
tide,
These Lincoln waves have devoured
them,
Myself, wei mounted, hardly have es-
capped. 4"
According to some accounts, to drown
his sorrow, he went on a big spree
which brought on an attack Of dysen-
tery Of which he died He was buried
in Worcester Cathedral, wrapped in
monk s gown, and as a further protec-
tion against Vandal hands, was laid
between two Saxon saints.
Tt has been generally assumed that
King John s lost treasure was still bur-
led somewhere in the ouicksands that
the sea overfOws at every tide, and that
IN the course Of the centuries that have
since elapsed, the stuff must have sunk
many fathoms deep in the shifting
sands. Under such circumstances, its
recovery would be so costly and diff
cult as to render the prospects Of sue
cess well nigh hopeless. But Mr.. Hope
is able to state definitely that, owing to
the changes that have taken place in
the sea line and the reclamation Of
waste lands the treasure now lies some
distance inland In the search for it,
no diving viii be necessary and dig
ging operations are comparatively
, cheap.
Mr.. Hope has made map Of the dis
trict ss it was in King Johns time;
on that map he has drawn line, and
somewhere on that line be asserts, prob
GD4N dDOIL 4ecb D61OW the buIIdC6,
under e substratum Of silt, lies King
John Is crown jewels and army pay
chest and the rest Of the lost baggage.
He has calculated the condition Of the
tide at the time Of the disaster, and the
approximate position Of the baggage
train when the on-rushing waters com
PEELED its abandonment. This enables
him to reduce to still narrower dimen-
sions the probable location Of the treas
ure. His fellow antiquarians, who have
verified his figures and researches are
convinced that the search is well worth
undertaking.
OF course treasure trove belongs to
the Crown, but for many years it has
been the practice Of the Crown to pay
full market value for whatever it re-
tained, so that the discoverers, if sue
eessful, even If they have to give up
che best part Of their find are assured
Of rich reward The coins alone, at
this date, are immensely valuable. What
The crown Jewels would be worth, 1t is
impossible now, even to hazard a guess,
but 1t is certain they would be apprais-
ed at a big sum. And historic associa-
tions would confer a considerable price
on small articles that have no intrinsic
value.
Emergency Patients Cared For.
fha Of Anil