Show tJ teft l y ya a i 6 C H 0 r O 0 1 Y t. t Plymouth Ill HI Man Mart r r Unearths Ancient Ancient- Pewter full o of Coins r O s 7 to G G e En o 1 i t ti r i By V. V C. C HEINE S EORGE E E. familiarly known as Old Farmer Lawton Is a retired Y r. r business man who for forthe the past few years has haa 1 been living the dream dream- life lite In the village of Plymouth m and Incidentally Inci dentally looking after his his farm interests Just outside the city limits He lIe was passing through ugh a woOded pasture pastur mingling t with nature and mixing up with Ith the happy birds and squirrels when he I 1 saw something that glistened under under I the roots of a large oak tree near a email small brook where the heavy rains had washed out the soil Securing a pick Old Farmer who had hod spent forty years In Colorado soon had the object unearthed It proved to be an ancient pewter teapot of a design In use a century cen cen- y f. tury ago tt fi The teapot contained 01 11 In American Amen Ameri can gold in to twenties tens fives andr and nd r f dollars These bore dates from 1032 1932 I f to 1850 1856 There were ten ten dollars In silver sliver quarters and fifty cent pieces dated from 1823 to 1850 and a halt half dozen of the old large American copper copper copper cop cop- per cent pieces dated from 1828 to 1851 There were also a few English I copper pieces some bearing dates back Into the seventeen se hundreds and an silver sliver crown dated 1847 The Thet t most Interesting piece Is about the size of an American ten-dollar ten gold piece evidently brass or bronze and andIs andis andis is a souvenir of the coronation of Queen Victoria showing a picture of ot the the queen encircled by hy the letters In her ber name On the reverse side Bide appears appears appears ap ap- pears a gallant knight on horseback and find the words To Hanover 1837 As no coin Is dated later than 1850 1858 the pot must h have ve been burled ah ut that time The majority of the early plon pioneers ers who settled In this western central Illinois known as the Military Military Mili Mill tary Tract In 1835 to to 1840 were ere a adass class dass of ot sturdy and fairly well well-to-do I Immigrants with large families who migrated front from eastern states In wagons wag ons ens Ds the husbands being allotted farms 1 by y our government In recognition of ot their loyal loj al services in the Black Hawk war and War of 1812 Local histories show there was very little money In n circulation In these parts until the railroad made its appearance appearance appearance ap ap- ap- ap in 1850 1836 Up to then farmers farm tarm ers era raised their ow own n necessities of I life lite hauling any surplus 25 miles to the Mississippi river where It was ex ax- exchanged changed for tor store clothing or tea ies The fact that the teapot contained some English money would Indicate that whoever burled It had bad at some soma sometime time lime come from Europe and retained a few pocket pieces The most plausible theory Is that U was burled by one of the employees engaged engaged en en- In the construction of a new railroad railroad rail rail- road through Plymouth The company company was two two two- years 1854 1 and 1855 putting In a very deep fill till and building a large atone bridge over o a creek a mile south of If this village There a graders graders' camp was established and many Irish lately o 0 from the old country were employed A family of the name of kept the boarding house Among their boarders was one known as liS Dig Big Mike a most Industrious and parsimonious kind of fellow On pleasant Sunday afternoons he would take the l children up the creek bout about a rr I 7 w 4 S c 7 A mile always stopping at one particular tar lar place about where the Lawton farm Js Is now located Tl There ere he would lounge around on the grass while the children picked flowers or gathered nuts In celebrating the completion of the railroad the Irish colony got Into a pitched battle with knives and shU- shU Big DIg Mike was Staggering into the boarding house he d tOpp d dead in front of Mrs I Shilds His lIIs murderer followed packed his few tew personal belongings In a red rell bandanna and walked off ott down the railroad never to to be heard of again The excitement and Ind nd shock caused Mrs Shilds to give premature birth to a achild achild achild child that night The next day Big Mike and the babe were placed In two made hems coffins and burled buried at atthe atthe atthe the old Haggard burying grounds Just west of town and the sad event soon forgotten The laborers soon afterward afterward afterward after after- ward migrated and their town of huts was abandoned The family established a ahome ahome I home in Plymouth and never ne er gave up op I their belief that Big Dig Mike had burIed burled bur bur- led fed his savings in some wild spot Mr and his dog spent many days searching for the burled buried treasure I trove In 1803 1869 the Shilds were known I Ito to have suddenly come Into possession of considerable money moneY some mysterious mysterious mysterious mys mys- way Disposing of their humble bumble home they Journeyed back to their childhood home near Mar Hagerstown Hagers- Hagers town towa Md They only tarried there a year or two when they again came West settling at Marshall Ill where Mr Shilds was killed In a runaway accident and the t eldest son Samuel met his death while railroading out of Terre Haute Ind lad The he daughter Fannie made an unhappy marriage and soon died of a broken heart beart Theu Then In the late Seventies the younger son Merritt who had gone to railroading In Kansas was sent home a corpse In 1802 the mother then thel past eighty wrote Plymouth friends of the sad ending of her ber once happy family and how they were all then quietly sleepIng sleeping sleep sleep- ing in the Effingham Ill cemetery where she soon expected to follow them With these sad events still fresh In his memory Mr lIr Lawton is greatly worried over his find We know the same metal Is time after time ed and thus maintains main talus Its perpetual youth What hat What assurance have I said Mr lIr Lawton that some of these gold pieces that have been burled In this teapot for over half a century were not at one time worn In rings by Cle Cle- Cleopatra Cleopatra or used in the golden targets of Solomon Or that some of these silver r pieces did not form part of a pirates pirate booty from a scuttled galleon of ot the th Spanish Main Maln For aught I know It was current money In hi Nine eh and Babylon Perhaps some of It Is one of ot the pieces paid by Abraham to the children of Meth for the double rate e that looked towards towards towards to to- wards Mamre Damre or one of the pIe pieces es for which Judas betrayed be be- the Master The Gospel Goppel tells us that before Judas went out to destroy himself In his great at remorse at having betrayed U Innocent blood he cast down p the thirty pieces of silver before the tha chief priests prIest These pieces es were shekels J of the coinage of Simon the a high priest which authorized him him to Issue blue Th They bore th the pot manna manna ann i a 1 H Hand F and the rod of Aaron and he to whom they were given knew that they were the price of blood and was wal afraid and great tribulation came cameto cameto to him that bought and sold with the money of Judas How lIow do da I know continued Mr Lawton that the sad ending of the Shilds family was was not caused by them finding a portion of this hidden treas ure are containing more or less of the sliver silver sil sli- ver originally In the thirty pieces paid to Judas How V do I know that some of this that I have resurrected does not contain more of It Late figures res from Washington show that the United States In 1022 1922 produced produced produced pro pro- ounces or about 20 per cent of th the silver sliver output of ot the mines of the world But In 1860 1800 our share of the worlds world's production was wal only ounces or a fraction of 1 per cent So that previous to 1800 practically all our silver money was WOI coined from silver brought from other countries With all these facts staring him In Inthe Inthe the tie face Mr Lawton a most loyal loyol American citizen tracing his ancestors ancestors ances ances- ancestors tors back to New England In 1030 1630 says he will take no chances by retaIning retaining re re- re- re taming these old coins in his posses posses- sion Nor will he be pass them oft off here hereIn In the peaceful United States But after they have been on display at nt one of the local banks he Intends sending Bending I Ithem them to the Denver mint with willi the request request re re- rei i quest that they send him their equivalent equivalent equiv equiv- I alent In good clean mined American metal money They can and these tainted pieces pieces t if such they may be Into be-Into Into mone money they are occasionally coining for Old Mexico and som some of ot the South American republics republics re reo publics that are always at war and apparently never never happy only when In trouble |