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New Bedford Daily Mercury, Saturday, September 9, 1893

A FAIRHAVEN MYSTERY.

A Singular Discovery at Riverside Cemetery.

PERHAPS A BURIED TREASURE.

An Excavation Made at Night Which Was the Work of a Gang of Men Who Obviously Worked With a Purpose.

Fairhaven has an interesting mystery. In Riverside Cemetery, between the south wall and the roadway, which encircles the Delano tomb, is a clump of birch and pine trees. Sometime during Wednesday night there was dug among those trees to a depth of about and about 10 feet in diameter. It was discovered by Mr. White, the sexton, on Thursday. The hole is of such size that Mr. White says that it must have been an all night job for two men, and possibly three. The excavation was so deep that the men had sawn down a tree, which they placed in the hole to enable them to get down and climb out. Mr. White notified selectman Bryant, and with Constable Delano a thorough examination of the locality was made. Upon the stone wall which divides the cemetery from the open field at the south, was found fresh dirt, which is proof that the gang made their exit from the cemetery in this way. Next the most interesting discovery of all was made. On a tree near the edge of the excavation a mark the shape of a triangle was found cut deeply into the bark of a birch tree. Then similar marks were found in three other trees and the excavation was made within the marked trees. No other marks were found on any other trees in the vicinity. The trees were marked several years ago as the appearance of the bark indicates. Moreover the appearance indicates that all were made at the same time and by the same instrument. Mr. Bryant’s theory is that stolen property was buried here several years ago and that the gang returned for the booty on Wednesday night As romantic as this theory seems, it is a difficult to explain the discovery in any other way. The size and depth of the excavation indicates that there must have two or three men at work in the cemetery on Wednesday night and that they were unquestionably working with a purpose. The large area of the hole is accounted for on the theory that the men did not find what they were searching for at the outset, and that they kept extending their operations. The dirt was left piled high about the hole. But the fresh dirt could have easily been covered with old leaves and have escaped detection inasmuch as the strip of land is by the side of the wall and it is only cleared up once or twice a year. There were marks of footprints upon the dirt piled about the excavation and at the bottom of the hole. Selectman Bryant recall that about three summers ago, Driver Card of the Oxford line of street cars, reported that for two nights he had seen, at a late hour, three men going toward the cemetery with bags, from which shovel handles protruded. Mr. Bryant with Constable Delano kept the watch the night Mr. Card made the report. They passed the men, who were sitting on the wall on Main St. just south of the cemetery. Mr. Bryant and the officers kept on and waited at the cemetery for them to come up, but they did not appear. It is believed that the men were in some way connected with Thursday’s discovery.

Illustration from New Bedford Evening Standard