Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1906-05-17
LOST Rr KING JOHN IN FLIGHT
FROM 6ARokS
BURIED FOR CENTURIES
This Money Box Has Been Hunted by
Adventures Since it Was Buried
Men of Science Now Takeup Work
for Historic WeaIth-Other Notes
of interest.

LoHuon. May I4.-Iner0 Is more
likelihood of success rewarding the
efforts that are soon to be- made to
recover the treasure lost by King
John nearly six and a half centuries
ago than seemed probable when some
inkling of the project first leaked out.
The society of antiquaries is backing
the scheme with money and enthus-
iasm Its members have great faith
in the Investigations and calculations
made by the learned assistant secre-
tary, st. John Hope, who has been
quietly working on the matter for
several years. The search will be
conducted under his directions.
Everybody knows-or, rather, is
supposed to know-that King John
lost his baggage train when he was
taking short cut across the Wash to
escape his wrathful barons, who were
in hot pursuit of him. The Wash, it
should be explained for the benefit of
those readers who have forgotten
much of their geography learned at
school, is wide and shallow estuary
on the east coast of England between
the counties of Lincoln and Nor
folk. John was a bad egg. Ac-
cording to one of his candid contem-
poraries, he was "a knight without
truth, king without justice, a Chris
tian without faith" He had signed
magma charter, the great bulwark of
English freedom, only to repudiate it,
and when war broke out between him
and the barons again he knew that
they would not give him another
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 up
his army chest and his crown Jewels,
and lot of other paraphernalia, that
is now worth vastly more than it was
in his time. He had close shave of
it himself according to Shakes
peare, who thus refers to the incident
in King John:
tell thee, Hubert, half my power
this night
L
tide;
These Lincoln waves have devoured
them,
Myself, well mounted, hardly have
escaped.
According to some accounts, to
drown his sorrow, he went on big
spree, which brought on an attack of
dysentery, of which he died. He was
buried in Worcester cathedral, wrap
ped in a monks gown, and as a fur
Their protection against vandal hands,
was laid between two Saxon saints.
Hopes Theory.
1t has been generally assumed that
King Johns lost treasure was still
buried somewhere in the quicksands
that the sea overfows at every tide,
anu that in the course Of the GEN.
turtles that have since elapsed the
stuff must have sunk many fathoms
deep in the shifting sands. Under
such circumstances, it's recovery
would be so costly and d1mcult as to
render the prospects of success we'll
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 will
be necessary, and digging operations
n ayoft
has made map of the district as it
was in King Johns time; on that map
he has drawn a line. and somewhere
on that line. he asserts probably about
40 feet below the surface, under a
substratum of silt, lies King Johns
crown jewels, the 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 APP
proximate position of the baggage
train when the onrushing waters COM
PEELED its abandonment. This enables
mansions the probable location Of the
treasure. His ellow-antiquarians,
who have verified his figures and re-
searches, are convinced that the
search is well worth undertaking.
or 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 1t re-
tanned, so that the discoveries, IL sue
cessful, even IL they have to give up
the best part of their IND, are assured
of rich reward. The coins alone,
at this date, are immensely valu.
able. What the crown jewels would
be worth 1t is impossible now even
to hazard a guess, but II Is certain
they would be appraised at big sum.
And historic associations would con-
fer considerable price on small
articles that have no intrinsic value.