The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1912-06-08
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eye could See that the strata had never been
touched by instrument Of man. It lay as it had
lain since paleozoic times. At last, when funds
were gone and the hole was an enormous affair,
law was passed forbiddng further operations
in that locality.
Since that time the papers found in the casket
and the privy letters and documents in the hands
OF the d1gnitaries of the church have been gone
over and over. 1t is certain that the treasure
never was recovered and it is certain that it was
buried at point where the twelve Royalist gen.
tlemen believed the lines of latitude and longi-
tude crossed. The most puzzling feature Of the
mystery had been the tradition of the peasants to
keep that one particular spot from being dis
turbed. At the present time the great Rouyter
quest is at standstill.
However, the hint promised In foregoing para
graph may give new life to the search. In going
over some old records recently found that there
was considerable confusion arising out of a mix
ture OF meridians and that at the time Of the
burial of the treasure some observations in
France were taken by the meridian of Greenwich
and others by the abandoned meridian Of Paris,
while it is barely possible that the observations
were made by the old meridian of Rome. It is
impossible to take the time and space here to
figure out the number Of other points where main
lines Of latitude and longitude would cross in
territory that was then strictly French. BY one
rough calculation find that one of these would
be IN the province of Lorraine, now German ter
ritory, and oddly enough formerly the property of
the brother Of the Marquis de Rouvier
Just such speculation as this resulted in the
recovery OF another OF great French treasure
The exact facts are not now obtainable, for the
French government has 1mpounded all the papers
and records pertaining to the same, and the Incl
dent, so far as it is concerned, is closed. The
loose tale Is that previous to the battle of Water
loo, Napoleon Bonaparte, at the request of some
intimate friend who had a premoniton Of disaster
took great quantity of treasure and buried it in
the garden of the Tuleries, marking it down by
counting certain number Of elms from the end
OF great row that stood in the inclosure When
time brought the Bonaparte family the oppor-
tunity of recovering the treasure, they could not
find it, and all of the private searches that were
made resulted in the disclosure of not so much as
a sou.
At one time, after the Franco-Prussian war,
some gardeners at work in the park dug ditch
and were working late in the gloom, winter
day. laying some pipes. The surplus soil was
taken away in barrels, and in the pile the morn
ing light showed the corner of leaden casket
and some scattered gold-pieces. Immediately the
entire trench was opened up once more, but the
remainder of the casket could not be found,
though far more extensive excavations were con-
Quoted.
Again the treasure was forgotten, and then
newspaper writer CHANGED to mention in New
York paper that the cutting down of some Of the
elms In the row to make new roadway during
the Second Republic might have thrown the
SuRR0S.
ton was reprinted in French weekly paper and
shortly thereafter the government built barrier
around a section Of the Tuilleries park, large
force OF sappers was put to work, and after about
two weeks time the work was abandoned while
the word went forth that the great treasure had
been found.
King Stanislas, during the famous siege of
Nancy believing one time that the city was to
fall, buried treasure that comprised both the
royal wealth and the combined wealth of the citi-
zens OF the town. He chose a spot outside the
city but so close to the gate that the diggers
could not be seen by the besieging army, his
theory being that when the enemy came to loot
the town they would not expect to find it's treas
ures anywhere but within the walls. The ROYAL
unfortunate had no opportunity of recovering the
treasure and the entire matter was neglected for
three hundred years. .-..
Only very slight efforts have been made to
find it. The site Of the gate has become mat
ter of some uncertainty, but from such plans and
descriptions as 1 have been able to find it seems
to me that little careful search would enable
some intelligent investigator to reconstruct the
line OF the city's WALL pick out the proper gate
ana, deducing from the contour of the enemies
trenches, figure out just where King Stanislas'
treasure lies.
During the reign Of Innocent VII. when the
popes were aHenated from Rome and established
IN the great chateau at Avignon in southern
France there were numbers of free companies or
mercenaries roaming the northern portions Of
that country, and some of them penetrated to the
southern district In the year 1867 one of these
bands, undoubtedly the White company, appeared
in the valleys to the north Of the chateau and
moved In the direction OF the anrighted papal
court.
It had been the fixed policy Of the popes during
their stay at Avignon to keep large store Of
gold and convertible valuables on hand looking
to an emergency such as might be presented to