Evening star., 1933-03-19

they neared the village Of Aktepa, fear of being
pursued suddenly seized upon them.
Noticing that a large common grave was
filled with dead soldiers, but not as yet closed.
they took the dead bodies out, dumped gold
and silver to the bottom, and covered the
treasure with the dead. After closing the ditch.
they went their way. remembering the site OF
the grave.
Later two of the men were killed in battles.
The survivor returned to Aktepa only to dnd
that q church was built over the grave. He
kept his secret for long time, but finally
divulged it before the village assembly.
The villagers, however, would not dig UNDER
Meath the church. They would not disturb the
dead in the grave Generally they did not be-
heve the man.
But Young King believed and dared. He
found the huge treasure under the skeletons
The Soviet authorities rewarded him with 20
per cent of the gold he found.
COME of the greatest finds since the Revo-
- luton were made in a secret room in one
Of Prince Youssoupof's palaces.
Prince Youssoupof is known abroad chiefly
for the part he had taken in the murder Of
Rasputin. the holy monk. But in Russia he
is remembered mostly as one Of the wealth1eSt
men Of the ex-emrdre.
were declared national property and placed
under the supervision Of the Academy of Arts.
Many priceless works of art were found in the
palaces but silverware and jewelry, known to
have belonged to the prince, were missing.
A most minute search failed to disclose any
trace Of those valuables and for time it was
thought that the prince had managed to trans
fer his collection to a territory occupied by the
Whites and thence to some foreign country.
But one fine morning q young man appeared
In the Offices Of the academy and volunteered
to guide the chief to secret room in one of the
palaces The room he said, was filled with
the princes treasures long lost to the state.
THE young guide brought the state officials
to the library Of the palace, and there be-
hind some musty bookcases. pointed to secret
DOORS The doors were forced and the search-
ers beheld spacious chamber full Of treasures.
At first the collection was appraised at some
81, 500 900, but later this figure was lowered,
as among the objects many worthless counter.
feits were found.
But how did the young know of the
princes secret? It was explained in this way:
When the prince decided to hide his silver
treasures he selected a few maSons from dis
tant province whom he considered reliable. Tho
masons built the wall for the secret room and.
indeed kept the secret But ut the time Of
their trip to the capital to do the special job for
the prince, the masons were accompanied by
boy Of IL as pet or helper Of the group.
When he grew up he came to Leningrad and
sought out the chief Of the Academy of Arts.
As his reward he received the sum Of 2,4O0
rubles (nominally about $4,000 and a good
job with the government
Digging for the treasures Of the Revolutions
some Russians come upon treasures Of older
times. These ancient caches would have per-
haps remained undistrbed were it not for the
Revolution and the digging it caused. -
In Central Russia. the famous Old-Riazan
ruins yielded the golden coats Of grand dukes.
also bracelets, rings, and other examples 0 the
goldsmiths' art Of the thirteenth century