The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-10-06
ANcIeNr eupIAl OF CROWNS.
Many Have Undergone This Expert
enee, Others still Underground.

enoe, others Still Underground.
ST. Olafs crown, with which King
Haakon was invested at Drondheim,
in obedience to the demands both of
the National Constitution and of popu.
lar sentiment in the land of his adop.
tion, has undergone many strange
vicissitudes since the days, more thau
1000 years ago, when it surmounted
the leonine names of the earliest
/ Christian rulers Of Norway. It has
been lost, stolen and carried off
among the spolls OF war by foreign
invaders. IL has, on several occs
sions, been almost destroyed by FIRE;
has been shipwrecked and has been
s buried.
The latter, indeed, is an. experience
to which most of the older crowns Of
Europe have. at one time or another,
been Elected. The burial has usu
ally been for purposes of conceal.
ment, and there are several notable
instances where those who have thus
hidden this most important of all the
/ emblems of sovereignty have died
without revealing their secret, which
remains, TO this day, an unraveled
mystery. Many, indeed, are the chap
ters of fascinating romance contained
in the history of these European
crowns, two at least, of which have
been buried in America.
It Is interesting to call attention
TO this just at time when the
searches pursued throughout many
years for two of the missing crowns
of England seem TO be on the eve OF
a successful issue. One is the crown
of King Edward the Confessor, which
was worn in turn by King Harold, by
William the Conqueror, by his son.
Rufus, by Richard Occur de Lion ct
Crusader fame and by King John
whose principal claim to a place In
the history is to be found in the fact
that he granted that Magma Charta
which is the basis of the English
Constitution, and that he lost the
crown Of Alfred the Great with the
scepter. the orb, the Sword of state
and all the other insignia of royalty
i'm his disastrous journey from Kings
Lynn across the Wash on the east
coast of England. He was overtaken
by the tide and by a terrible storm
in the Wash, narrowly escaped with
his life and when, some days later
a search was made, no trace of the
missing treasures could be found.
II was taken for granted that they
had been swept out to sea by tho
storm. But this presumption now ap
pears 10 have been erroneous For
the discovery OF superb silver cup
bearing the name and sypher of King
John. near Gedney Drove End. on the
border of the Wash, has not only
served to demonstrate the fallacy OF
this belief. but also to indicate the
location of the missing treasures be
meath the sand, the mud and the
stones piled up over them during the
700 years that have elapsed since
their loss.
Americans are engaged in pursu.
ing the search for the other missing
crown of England which was con
structed for the coronation of King
Charles IT,, and which the notorious
Colonel Blood endeavored to steal dur.
ing the reign of the "Merrie Mon
arch" but which was eventually car
ried off by his brother, James H., TO
France. along with other treasures,
when derived of his throne and com.
PEELED to seek refuge at st. Germain.
The much-vaunted hospitality OF
Louis XIV. Of France to his eXiled
brother-sovereign was not OF such an
altogether chivalrous and generous
character as has been asserted. James
was more of a prisoner-of.state than
an honored and welcome guest, and Is
shown by letters and memoirs of that
epoch published I'm recent years, not
only to have cruelty resented the re-
strictions and the lack of liberty to
which he was subjected by lie Grand
MornarqGe, but also to have been i'm
bued with wholesome distrust and
even dread of the thoroughly unscru.
pulOus Bourbon King He realized
that We're Louis to become aware that
he had brought him some forty cases
of treasure, to the tune of $4,000, 600.
comprising a vast quantity of Jewels
and the Charles II. crown, His Gallo
Majesty would not only put stop 10
the pension grudgingly paid to the ex-
lied sovereign Of ST. Ge?main, but
would likewise take immediate steps
to possess himself of the valuables in
question. That King James had this
treasure in his possession is an his
torical fact. That he neither dis.
~
is equally well established. But what
has become of it is matter Of specu.
lation