Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-01
RICH Is of Possession

Rights of Possession
IN the main, however, treasures are dis
covered by accident, in which case the
finders have no claim whatever to the hoard
until it is in their possession. If one knows
OF a treasure and goes and gets it, having
received description of its location, he is
much more secure in its possession than if
he merely happened upon it. Foreknowl-
edge indicates some kind of descent from
the one who hid the treasure indicates
some measure of inheritance that could not
fail to have its effect, for instance, in suit
for the diversion of the find among the
treasure seekers. The man who first knew
where to dig must inevitably have the lions
share, his companions having partnership
share at best, and at worst mere wage pay
ment as 1aborers.
Several things contribute to the hidden
treasures. War is, of course, the most en-
phatic compeller of hiding. Perhaps there
is no strip of country in America where
there is so much hidden treasure as along the
route of Sherman's march to the sea. The
strip of country, nearly five hundred miles
long and sixty miles wide, is dotted with
hidden gold, silver, and other treasures.
When the army had passed, many of those
who hid the contents of the great mansions
were dead or driven away. Many of the
marks by which the treasure could be located
were destroyed. Some of the gold coins so
hidden would now have a value many times
greater than at the time of the war. There
were Confederate gold coins, now, perhaps,
as rare as any gold coin known. A pot of
Confederate gold would be find indeed.
In the Mississippi
THERE are many tales of Mississippi
River gold. There are hulks in that
streams bed that must contain tens of thou
sands of dollars in gold. There were hun
dreds of steamers burned, snagged, and
otherwise sent to the bottom. Everyone
that went down had money on board 1t
was not uncommon for a river steamer to
have hundred thousand dollars for safe
keeping in the purser's possession. When
the boat sunk, the gold went with it. Mis-
sissippi River shanty-boaters, when the cur
rent throws up an old hulk, never fail to
search it, sometimes digging away the
drifted sand to get to the bottom. What
luck they have is problematical. A shanty-
boater throwing oldtime gold coin over sa-
loon bars is not unknown.
Strictly speaking, of course, this is not
"hidden" gold. 1t is gold lost to the world
through shipwreck, and comes under the
head of sunken treasure ships. Long searches
were made for some of the treasure in river
steamer wrecks. A good deal was recovered
by wreckers, among the most notable of
whom was James B. Eads, who built the
famous St. Louis Bridge. Captain Eads
rugged diving bell, by means of which he
was able to tramp along the bottom of the
Mississippi in his search for lost steamboats,
and their contents.
The largest amount ever lost in wreck
on the Mississippi was two million dol
lars, on its way to Grants army investing
Vicksburg. The steamer burned and the
money was lost; but none knows just how.
Some think it was rescued from the flames,
some that the boat was set on fire to cover
its theft, some that it was lost by a gam
bling officer, and some that it was burned
accidentally. It is not known whether the
money was all in paper or not.
Of hidden treasure, the Mississippi banks
have their share, and more. River pirates
buried and lost large sums. At Plum Point,
in Rowdy Bend, at Natchez- under-th Hill,
at Big Island, opposite Fort Pillow, at the