OCR Text |
Show I Romance of Pioneer Michigan Unearthed I COREY. Mich., July . A romance of the dave whea murk of Michigan wa a wilifernee u brought to light today when boys of the South Bend, Ind.,' Y. M. O. A. rammer camp, while digging hole for a flagstaff, brought up a rnstv iron boa containing pistols, bonk ann sever! document. The lock could aot be opened so the bottom of the cheat was broken. First the discoverer found two rusty pistols of an ancient pattern, resting in a bed of flaa. Then followed a motley collection, col-lection, including a plain gold ring, ep-parentlv ep-parentlv the wedding pledge of some pioneer bride; a silver eased watch of Swiss manufacture; a small dagger and a rust stained hunting knife; leather bound books dating from 77 to 1819, among them a Bible, "Children "Chil-dren of the Ahhcv." snd the "Brink of Passion." There wers several school books and a number of pennies bear ins date from 1781 to 1854; samples of silver, lead and topper ores, arrowheads arrow-heads and a collection of pebbles. Deeds dating back aa far as 1739 related re-lated to property at Plymouth. Conn. A fetter found in the chest read is part aa follows: Ctory of the Burled Chest. "This chest is the property of Hs-ikia Hs-ikia Thomas, formerly .of New Kng laad, later of the Michigan wilderness, a spirituslist of God, believing: my spirit still roams over these lakes in the full moon seasons, guarding all my valuable deposited possession, for they are many and varied. God gave me many wonderful secrets, but because be-cause of the great sin be took them all away but one the least, of them the turning; of sable stones into gold. I have buried this secret by the body of old Duekwing in the big swamp. Ood rest my souL God has filled the earth with gold. Devils do not believe be-lieve it, but has he not promised 'Seek and findf' The blue heron ia wiss and the night owl, but man ia an ass, for he walketh not in the ways of the most high." A little of the story of the peculiar old hermit, Thomas, ia known here. George Knevels, who lives in a portion of a house built by Thomas, aaya that aa a bov he recollects finding carefully secreted collections of pebbles in the house. It ie said that Thomas' wife deserted jim and that his queernesa became be-came noticeable about the .same time. He roamed the woods "conversing' with trees and animals and believed he could transmute certain stones into gold. After selling his home here Thomas moved to an island in the Take, to which, in one part of his letter, he refer to the "abode of the seven devila." Looking for Other Caches. According to another letter found in the box there ia another chest buried on the Island. A map gives instrae-tions instrae-tions or directions for finding a third ehest, the key to which ia aaid to be hidden in tree. The whole neighborhood neighbor-hood ia exeited over the search, immediately imme-diately begun, for the remaining chests. Other parts of the letter in which Thomas revealed his secrets read: "The island i doomed forever as it hi the abiding place of the seven dev. Via. Beware! Fish die, birds drop as they pas and man disappears in the cavernous depth of the cave." Another excerpt of the letter pos stblv refer to hi recent spouse: "The luck stone saved her from the evil one. The knife ia that which drunk hi life's blood and is ruysed forever. The books were her possession posses-sion from the older days before the great shadow fell. The man may claim his papers; Duekwing knows bow 1 came by them. He died for lack of faith. The guns were his that were found on his body. He had obtained, the ring but the spirits bound him. "The gold pebbles were my own product of my genius. Place them ia the spring at midnight, as the blue heron passes the swamp all believing; nothing doubting. I will aid you. The spirit bids me hasten. I must be gone. Farewell." ' The man' body was found in the wood fifty years age. He had been (rosea to death. |