Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1906-05-21


recover the treasure lost by King
John nearly six and a half centuries
ago than seemed probable when some
mixing Of the project first leaked out.
The society of antiquaries is backing
the scheme with money and enthus-
iasm. It's 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 a 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, a 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 a 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
Passing these flats is taken by the
tide;
These Lincoln waves have devoured
them,
Myself, we'll mounted, hardly have
escaped.
According to some accounts, to
drown his sorrow, he went on a 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 overflows at every tide,
anu that in the course Of the cen
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 dIfT1cult as to
render the prospects of success 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 will
be necessary, and digging operations
are comparatively cheap. Mr.. Hope
has made a 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
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 ap-
proximate position Of the baggage
train when the onrushing waters COM
PEELED it's abandonment. This enables
him to reduce to still narrower di-
mansions the probable location of the
treasure His fellow-antiquarians
who have verified his ngures and re
searches, are convinced that the
search is well worth undertaking.
I 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-
tanned, so that the discoveries, if sue
.cessful, even if they have to give up
the best part Of their find, are assured
of a rich reward. The coins alone,
at this date, are immensely valu-
able What the crown jewels would
be worth it is impossible now even
to hazard a guess, but it Is certain
they would be appraised at big sum-
And historic associations would con-
fer a considerable price On small
articles that have no intrinsic value.