The Elbert County tribune., 1912-06-07

eye could see that the strata had been
touched by instrument OF man. 1t lay 1t had
lain since paleozoic times. At last. when funds
were gone and the hole was an enormous affair
a law passed forbdding 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 dignitaries of the church have been gone
and over. II is certain that the treasure
never recovered. and 1t is certain that 1t 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 Rouvier
quest is at standstill
However, the hint promised in foregoing para
graph may give life to the search. In going
some old records recently found that there
considerable confusion arising out of mix
ture of merdans, and that at the time of the
burial of the treasure observations In
France were taken by the meridian of Greenwich
and others by the abandoned meridian OF Paris
while 1t is barely possible that the observations
made by the old meridian of Rome. 1t 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 of these would
be in the province of Lorraine, German ter
ritory and oddly enough formerly the property oi
the brother of the Marquis de Rouvier
Just such a speculation as this resulted in the
recovery of another Of a great French treasure
The exact facts not now obtainable. for the
French government has impounded all the papers
and records pertaining to the same and the Incl
dent. SO far 1t is concerned, Is closed The
loose tale is that previous the battle of Water
loo Napoleon Bonaparte. at the request of some
intimate friend who had premonition of disaster
took great quantity of treasure and buried 1t II
the garden of the Tuilleries, marking 1t down BY
counting certain number of ems from the enc
Of great row that stood in the nclosure Wher
time brought the Bonaparte family the oppor
tunity OF recovering the treasure, they could MOI
find it, and all Of the private searches that were
made resulted in the disclosure Of not much al
a
At one time after the FrancoPrussian war
some gardeners at work in the park dug ditcf
and were working late in the gloom, one wintel
day. laying some pipes The surplus soil wal
taken away in barrels, and In the pile the morn
ing light showed the corner of leaden caske
and some scattered goldpieces. Immediately the
entire trench opened up more but th<
remainder of the casket could not be found
though far more extensive excavations were con
Quoted.
Again the treasure was forgotten, and then 6
newspaper writer chanced to mention In a New
York paper that the cutting down of some of the
elms in the row to make roadway during
the Second Republic might have thrown the
searchers off in their calculations. The sugges
ton was reprinted In French weekly paper an(
shortly thereafter the government built a barrier
around section of the Tuilleries park large
force of sappers was put to work, and after abou
two weeks time the work abandoned, while
the word went forth that the great treasure hat
been found.
King Stanislas. during the famous siege o.
Nancy. believing time that the city was tS
fall. buried treasure that comprised both the
royal wealth and the combined wealth Of the citi
of the town. He chose a spot outside the
city but close to the gate that the dggeri
could not be by the besieging army hii
theory being that when the enemy came to Loo
the town they would not expect to find its treas
ures anywhere but within the walls. The roya
unfortunate had no opportunity of recovering the
treasure and the entire matter was neglected fol
three hundred years.
Only very slight efforts have been made tc
find it. The site of the gate has become mat
ter of some uncertainty, but from such plans ant
to me that little careful search would enabls
some intelligent investigator to reconstruct the
line of the citys wall pick out the proper gate
and, deducing from the contour OF the enemies
trenches, figure out just where King Stanislas
treasure lies.
During the reign Of Innocent VII, when tn,
popes were alienated from Rome and established
in the great chateau at Avignon in southern
France there were numbers Of free companies OF
mercenaries roaming the northern portions o
that country. and some Of them penetrated to the
southern district. In the year 1867 Of thes,
bands, undoubtedly the White company, appeared
in the valleys to the north OF the chateau ant
moved in the direction OF the affrighted papa
court.
1t had been the fixed policy of the popes durinl
their stay at Avignon to keep a large store o
gold and convertible valuables on hand lookin,
to an emergency such as might be presented t.