When Captain Kidds Treasure Wasn't Found in Danville- The 1884 Hoax

 

The Danville Treasure Hoax, 1884

On Nov. 27 1884, the Berwick Independence carried the headline

"Finding $47,00, Great Excitement at Riverside over the Finding Of A Chest Of Money"

"On Saturday afternoon of last week, while Frank Lewis (better known as Major Lewis) and Jacob Gearhart were digging fern roots, on the  island three miles below Danville, they unearthed an iron box, which was completely covered with rust.

 It was solidly embedded in the sand, and required unusual amount of labor in prying it out.

 Mr Gearhart at once called Isaac Roks, who was ploughing on the island at the time, and with the aid of a plough hammer succeeded in opening the box.

To their utter astonishment they found it fitted with gold and silver coin of a very ancient date. It was soon noised over the country as a valuable find. 

Mr Kinter, the accommodating agent at the Riverside depot, immediately dispatched a hand oar to the place, and conveyed the box to the store of David Eckman, where an investigation took place.  The coin was found to be in a reasonably good state of preservation, although some of the smaller coins were slightly corroded.

Mr. Kinter, being and expert, took charge of the counting and after ten hours of steady work, he had the money counted out in one thousand dollar piles, amounting in all to forty-seven thousand dollars as follows:

$16,000 in Mexican Silver Dollars

$30,000 in gold doubloons & 

$1,000 in small silver coins which will need some polishing to make them passable.

Mr. Kinter assured Messrs Gearhart and Lewis that by strictly adhering to their usual temperate habits, they could lay by the "shovel and the hoe" for the rest of their lives, and live in ease and comfort.

The  general supposition is that the money was placed there by Captain Kidd, some time in the sixteenth century.  Being hard  pressed on the Chesapeake Bay, by other pirates, he entered the Susquehanna river and sailed to  Crooks Riffles, which at that time formed part of the island.  In order to save the money, he buried it, end  and was afterward killed in a battle with the pursuer."

The news was quickly picked up, and reprinted, in Newspapers across the Nation.

Chicago Tribune, Nov 1884

In 1975, the story was reprinted in the Standard Speaker, in an article titled "Lost Treasure Still Abounds".

The article opens with "Before you scoff at the idea that there might be lost treasure lying around for the taking, consider this story..."

The author goes on to say that the story was reprinted in 1934 by the enterprise, and that retired editor Fenstermacher had tried to find out more, but "it was so far back, I couldn't find anything.  From time to time we'd get inquiries on it, but nobody could ever come up with anything other than what was in that clipping."

OCR technology, and online newspapers, make it a bit easier to find information in 2023.
It took mere minutes for me to locate the rebuttal article, published the first week of December 1884.  

The Wilkes Barre  Record said  that from the start, they assumed it was a Hoax.  In their next issue, they confirmed it.

THE  DANVILLE HOAX

How It Came About, Some Facts About The People Concerned In It

ran in various papers, including the Carbondale Advance, and the Wilkes Barre Record.  The article states:

Our readers will recall that in yesterday's issue, in connection with the sensational story from Danville to the effect that an iron chest had been dog up on an island in the Susquehanna river, containing 47,000 in alleged ancient Spanish and Mexican coins, supposed to have be deposited there by the great pirate, Capt. Kidd, some time in the 16th century, we took it for granted the story was a hoax, 

Mr. Kinter, who occupied ten hours in counting the money into thousand dollar piles, was recognized as  the agent of the Pennsylvania road at  Riverside, and David Eckman, in whose store the counting took place, was equally well known, as were the finders, Frank Lewis and Jacob Gearhart. 

The circumstantial part of the hoax was well put together, but the writer entirely overshot the mark when be worked in Captain Kidd and his flight up the Susquehanna to escape other contemporary pirates.

An investigation by the Record shows that the hoax was perpetrated by one Oscar Mellon, a well known wag maker in Danville. He is an Inveterate joker and palmed off this story as a sell on his friend, Frank Lewis, who is a blower in the same brass band band with him, and in revenge for other practical jokes on himself. 

The story has not even the slightest foundation in truth.

Frank Lewis and Jacob Gearhart, the reputed discoverers  of the rusty chest while digging for roots on the island below Danville have nothing whatever, to common - 

 Lewis is a gardener and has a  green house in Riverside,  opposite Danville.  He was a drummer boy in the army and is an excellent manipulator of the sticks even yet.  He is a prominent member of the G. A R- and always wears a dilapidated uniform of the order.

 Jacob Gearhart, or Uncle Jake as he is  known, is a tall, raw boned Yankee well on in years, stoop shouldered, and with a mouth painted at the edges with tobacco juice.

 Mellon, whose joke has appeared in almost every newspaper in the United States, has a little wagon shop on Front street, is about 40 or 45 years old and is not only a chronic joker but a great choir singer. Even when in his cups - to which he is more or less addicted - he has been held up in the choir to which  he belong and under such circumstances has sung solos with such fervor as to melt to tears the hardest hearted sinner at a revival meeting. 

He is a jolly, happy go-lucky individual and probably bad no idea of his yarn making such a stir, but only spun it as a village joke.

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Note - This is only one of several such hoaxes from Danville, printed in local papers then picked up and printed in papers across the Nation.