I found this article in a newspaper clipping dated May 09, 1897, the newspaper was the Sun from New York city. The newspaper was operated 1833 to 1916.
After Buried Gold
A Maine man with a dividing rod thinks he can locate it on old Mallett’s Farm.
Springfield Me. As soon as the frost comes out of the ground enough to permit men with spades and pickaxes, a party will start from this village and explore the Mallett farm for buried gold. Frank Davis from Linneus has been there for a week using his dividing rod on different parts of the farm, and has found spots where, he is sure, some kind of valuable metal is concealed. Through Davis is a skilled manipulator of the witch Hazel wand, having located dozens of hidden springs of living water without making a single mistake, he cannot tell whether the metal is gold or silver, but he is inclined to think it is gold. Whenever he walks over one of the selected spots with the witch hazel wand held aloft in his hands the rod bends down violently and holds there without a quiver, through it continually shaking and wabbling about when held great above great streams of water. For these reasons he is certain that valuable minerals a wait the digger who will try his skill upon the Mallett Farm.
The story of old Abner Mallett and his hidden gold dates back to the closing days of the war. At that time Mallett was one of the richest men in Penobscot county, having made money from farming and stock raising as well as selling supplies to the crews of lumbermen. Through a law-abiding citizen, Mallett was an ardent Democrat of the copperhead class. He was not an agitator nor a politician, but he was opposed to the war and firmly believed that the south would win in the end. Some time in 1863, before the capture of Vicksburg and before the battle of Gettysburg turned the tide in favor of the northern armies, old man Mallett took $10,000 to Bangor and exchanged his greenbacks for $4000.00 in gold, paying a heavy premium for the sake of getting the precious money. He showed it to a storekeeper on his way home and called in several neighbors to see his purchase. The last time any outsider looked at his treasure was at a paring he held in October, 1863, when he brought out three bags of eagles and half eagles and poured them upon a table in the presence of about thirty neighbors.
“That’s enough to see me through and bury me” said the old man with a chuckle “ Gold is good no matter which side wins. I am going to hide it where nobody, but myself can find it, and then let them take my farm and confiscate all I got if they want to do so. They can’t get a hold of my money while I live”.
The price of gold kept advancing after that, so that Mallett might have sold at a profit and put his money in Government bonds if he had wished: but nobody ever heard him say he regretted the actor wished to make the exchange. The next winter while driving a yoke of steers home from the back smith shop he fell from the sled and a runner passed over him and left him dead in the road. After the funeral his two surviving children made a long hunt for the missing gold but fail to find it or any record of where it had been put. During the next three or four years a good part of the farm was ploughed up and thoroughly searched for the treasure with no better results. At the end of ten years the unprofitable quest was abandoned. Since then Mallet’s daughter, who lived on the farm has died, and his son has moved to another country, while the place has been sold to strangers. The story of Mallett and his buried gold was nearly forgotten when Davis came here to locate a well on the place and happen to hear the old tale
Through not a specialist in mineralogy, Davis believed he could find hidden money as well as hidden water. After making a few trails with a new hazel stick, he feels sure he has found something out of the common
At present the ground is soft and very wet for twenty inches on the surface, below which are ten inches of hard frost. When this thaws out, which will be about May 20th the diggers will begin work. Davis says the rod indicates that the treasure is buried about six feet underground and he believes the former diggers would have found it they had dug far enough.
Leave a Reply