Excerpt

On George Washington’s birthday, 22 February 1954, we finally returned to the scene of the former treasure hunt. Needless to say our anticipation was running high and we got off to an early start. The morning was foggy and we were delayed somewhat at the outset, however the fog soon cleared and we were able to make fairly good time.

By 10 o’clock, we were once again entering the tunnel with high hopes. Even though the air in the tunnel seemed safe to us, we still decided to leave one man outside and the other two would work below ground. We would rotate one man every hour and that way there would be no danger of anyone being overcome by carbon monoxide from the Coleman lanterns we were using for light. We had brought only small entrenching shovels on this occasion as we did not plan to do any digging at this time. We were only going to clean out the one room in which the treasure had been found and see if anything of value were to be found on the floor or in the passageway of the big tunnel.

Mose and I immediately descended to the lower level and set to work. Pausing only to note; that apparently no one had been in the tunnel since our previous trip. The work progressed very slowly. The entire floor of the tunnel was covered with the remains of packing boxes, tar paper and excelsior. It looked like a hopeless task. The floor of the tunnel was of a clay consistency and being wet was muddy. We began work on one side of the room by clearing out the debris. Then we began searching through the clay and gravel a few inches at a time. We worked from one side of the room toward the other side. In all good treasure stories the search goes on until nearly the end and a great discovery is made. I am sorry to say that our hunt must change the tradition but, the truth is that almost immediately we began to find more of the blue Lapis Lazuli. We were thus very much encouraged and continued our search with more vigor and enthusiasm than before.

Since we were working up and down along the length of the room and thus were very close to each other we would discuss each find as it occurred and thus the time and work progressed rapidly. With each Lapis Lazuli we found we would comment, “Hey, here is another five dollar bill” thinking back to that time when Herr Walter told Mose the value of the little squares.

Mose had taken a break for a moment when I uttered an exclamation of surprise causing him to turn back. I had just found a length of yellow wire or what appeared to be wire and was holding it up for him to look at. I asked Mose what kind of metal could have stayed in this place this long without rusting or tarnishing. I could almost see the wheels turning in his head as his mind hastily ran through the metals he had worked with in chemistry and geology. Copper, maybe but copper would certainly have corroded in the eight years that this must have lain here. Also, cooper did not have that shade of yellow. Brass, it couldn’t be.

That left only one possible answer but Mose could hardly dare say it. GOLD! Yes it had to be. Further if it was gold it was an indication that there might be more in the pile of stuff I was working in. Trying to keep his voice steady and calm as possible he said “Floyd it’s got to be gold. There just isn’t anything else that would come through like that. Is there any more of it?” Our faculties seemed to be a little sharper after this find as we became more excited and we continued to work at an increased pace. The gold wire when examined closely was found to be of a triangular shape and not round as a wire would be, which we assumed had been used as an inlay in tapestry as Major Newkirk had said they had also recovered some inlaid tapestry. Shortly thereafter several more pieces of the gold wire were found until we had several ounces.

It was now that we suddenly remembered that on the surface Brown must be beginning to worry about us and that as it was almost one o’clock we should go up and eat lunch. I know that in the presence of treasure or in the search for it one is not supposed to get tired or hungry but I have to confess to being both. We climbed to the surface and found that Bill, far from being worried about us, was peacefully sleeping in the auto which being parked in the sunshine was comfortably warm even though the weather outside was below freezing. We acquainted Bill with our discoveries and while eating lunch decided that the tunnel and the rooms were so well concreted and the ventilation so good that there was no need for anyone to remain on the outside.

Wolfing down our lunch we opened the bottle of coffee. It was in a thermos and we were expecting to have a good hot cup of the brew that cheers but does not inebriate. But we were doomed for disappointment because the coffee was nearly as cold as the weather. However it was wet and as we couldn’t do anything about it, we drank it like it was. Mose and Bill were grumbling at the same time and making remarks about anyone who would bring cold coffee. I told them that at least I had thought to bring something and that I could mention the names of a couple of people who had not even thought to bring sandwiches, further that they didn’t have to drink the coffee or eat the sandwiches either. This was all said in good natured joshing and we soon were ready to go underground again to continue the search of five dollar bills and now GOLD.