Evening star., 1933-11-26
Boom in Buried Gold
Continued From First Page.)

El6Q ana ldDOTtQ GO CIOSS tll6 JlSdCIl'
erous wash ere the tide turned.
King John and few followers reach.
ed the farther shore in safety. but be.
fore the carts and carriers, the horse
and foot soldiers were more than hall
way across the estuary the tide came
sweeping in from the sea. Like the
hosts of Pharaoh, the army and the
baggage trains of King John were over
whelmed and swallowed up by the
rapidly rushing waters. Here and there
a man or horse struggled frantically
to swim to the shore Bodies Of hum
BILE servants and porterS who had not
worn armor f1oated on the surface OF
the sea that was Uttered with the
f1otsam of baggage. But, weighed down
with mail the soldiers were drowned
like rats, the treasure-laden carts and
pack animals sank deeper into the
ouicksands, and when at last the tide
receded and the wash again stretched
bare between the points of solid land
there was scarcely trace Of the tragedy
and no sign of the incalculable riches
that had vanished in the cleaning wet
sand.
No one can say what that lost treas
ure was worth or what it would be
worth today. History and tradition both
agree that King John had with him
the royal exchequer and the crown
jewels, as well as golden and silver YES
sells and utensils, the loot of battles and
conquest. Doubtless the intrinsic value
of his lost treasure would be million
or more: as antiques they would be
worth many times that.
Will the treasure be found? Can it be
recovered? Who can say? But there
d. ,,,l,y 80
be located and salvaged. To be sure,
700 years is long time, and winds and
tides and man have wrought great
changes In the wash where King Johns
treasure was lost. According to the
best authorities, among whom is Sir
William ST. John Hope, the exact spot
where the treasure sank was where there
close to the railway embankrnent be-
tween Sutton and Long Walpole.
During the seven centuries that have
passed since that fateful day in 1915
the coast of Norfolk has risen inch by
inch from the sea- Where there were
are now dry sand dunes.
If King Johns treasure lies intact
beneath these barren hills of wind
blown sand, it is merely a question of
steam shovels and dredges and the re-
moval OF countless tons of sand in order
to remove it. But, on the other hand,
the securing tides, the Winters storms,
the seas and the shifting sands may
have scattered the treasure far and
wide. 1t may have sunk slowly deeper
and deeper, until it now lies hundreds
of feet beneath the surface, or it may
have been carried far from the spot
where it was originally lost. So, after
all, the search for King Johns treasure
resolves itself into a gamble, fascinat-
ing game. And to make it the more
fascinating and romantic, the search
ers-lf reports be true-have resorted to
the ancient divining rod as a means of
locating the treasure.
Use Divining Rod.
Despite modern science and radio
detecting machines, core-drillS and
other means of locating hidden gold,
the immeaSurably ancient diNning rod
still holds its own and is relied upon
implicitly by many people. And,
strange and incredible as it may seem,
even hard headed scientists who have
carefully studied the divining rod have
been forced to admit that there are
certain mysterious and inexplicable
features Of the device or of its users
Not that such eminent men as Prof.
W. F. Barrett of the Royal College of
Science of Ireland believe that forked
hazel twig possesses occult power to in
dicate the presence of hidden gold or
underground water. On the contrary,
even the ''dowserS," as they call them
selves, freely admit that almost any
twig, or even piece of bent wire, will
serve as well as hazel or anything else.
But Prof. Barrett, and other scientists,
do believe that the dowsers possess some
instinct or subconscious knowledge
which affects their nerves when passing
over water or other matter for which
they are searching, and that this sub
conscious suggestion reacts through
their muscles to bend the divining rod
downward. In his long and voluminous
report on his investigations Of the SUBJ
ject Prof. Barrett says:
About 10 to Is per cent Of their (the
dowsersD successes cannot be explained
nor can they be accounted for by
chance or lucky hits, the proportion be-
ing larger than the doctrines of proba-
bllity would account for. This residue
no known scientific explanation can ac-
count for. Personally 1 believe the ex-
planation will be found in some faculty
sciences Of today do not recognize such
a faculty I prefer TO leave the explana-
tion to future investigators and to throw
on the skeptic the task of disproving
my assertions and giving his own ex-
plantations"
So perhaps the long lost treasure Of
King John may be revealed by the local
doWser and his divining rod, even If
the British scientists, the archeologists
and antiquarians, indignant at the use
OF such Childish" methods, have
washed their hands Of the undertaking
That such an immense and authentic
treasure should have remained practi-
cally unsought In country like Eng
land may seem amazing and incredible
to many. But strangely enough, there
are few, II any, countries In the world
where there are so many lost. hidden
and buried treasures the actual exist
ence of which are borne out by his
tory. And, In addition, there are
countless traditional lost treasures
many times more OF semi-fabulous or
legendary character.
River Men Has Secret.
Among the most noteworthy OF au-
thentic lost treasures In England is the
loot of Croyland and Peterborough. The
history of this vast treasure is very
similar, In Its way, to that of the
treasure of King John; it was lost in
attempting to ford the River Men. 1t
was nearly four centuries before King
Johns treasure-laden army was over
whelmed by the tides of Welland Wash
in the year $40. to be exact-that
raiding Vikings attacked and sacked
Croyland. Peterborough and other
towns. With two carts loaded to ca
pacity with their loot Of gems, silver
and gold, the Norsemen headed for the
coast where their long dragon-prowed
boats we're moored. But in fording the
Men the carts sank from sight in the
mud and silt of the river bed, and not
an ounce of gold nor single jewel has
ever been recovered.
Another English treasure whose ex-
istence is established by history is OF
more recent origin. This is the treas
ure hidden in the Money Coppice" on