Last week in Part Two, The Compendium revealed the suspected involvement of Professor James DeMille with the Tory Stone, and the fact that his description of it matches the 90 ft stone perfectly in his book, “Treasure of the Seas”. The relationship between DeMille’s story and Captain Kidd being tied to Oak Island was shown. This is illustrated in the 90 ft stone cipher message that indicates “TWO MILLION POUNDS” being buried. We detailed the movements of the stone and what appears to be three different stones involved in this subterfuge.
The Oak Island Compendium - Blockhouse Blog
This leads us to the first appearance of the mysterious cipher that has been associated with the legendary 90Ft. stone. It can be traced to “Mysteries and Adventures Along the Atlantic Coast”, 1948, by Edward Rowe Snow. In his book Snow writes, “The mystery grew stranger and stranger, but when the ninety-foot mark was reached, the greatest mystery of all awaited the diggers. It was a round, flat stone, about three feet high and sixteen inches wide. On the face of the stone curious characters had been cut. (Cipher is shown) Reverend A. T. Kempton of Cambridge, Massachusetts, believes that an old Irish schoolmaster worked out the code and translated the inscription to read, letter for letter, as follows: Forty Feet Below Two Million Pounds Are Buried. However, it is only fair to state that there are many who claim that the above inscription was not the one found on the stone…”
Internet Archive
This warning about the cipher’s legitimacy was not included in the original story that was given to Edward Rowe Snow by Reverend A.T. Kempton. Was Snow giving a clue that this inscription was not the original one on the real 90ft. Stone? Frederick Blair was interviewed for Snow’s book and then contacted Reverend A.T. Kempton after reading it. Snow and Reverend Kempton were distant cousins that can trace their ancestry back to the Mayflower. Kempton wrote to Blair in 1949 and provided him with the original story that he acquired. He said that at one time he was going to write a book with various stories about Acadia. He goes on, “I wrote a Minister whom (that) I knew at the time and asked him if he knew of someone who would write me a good account of Oak Island. He got a school teacher long since dead. The Minister died years ago. He sent me the MSS. (Manuscript) and I paid him for it. I never wrote the book. I had never pub. (published) the Oak Island story. (…) The teacher who wrote my MSS. (Manuscript) did not give me any proofs of his statements-only that the (stone) was found and (several) characters were cut in the stone and a very bright Irish Teacher had worked out this statement as printed in Snow’s book. Several years after he sent me the MSS. (Manuscript) I went to Mahone Bay to find the teacher. But he had died. I learned that the stone was in the Historical society at Halifax. I went there several times but never found anyone who could tell me about the stone. So I let the matter drop until I showed it to Ed. Snow and he set it in his book. That is about all I can tell you. (…) A. T. Kempton.”
Frederick Blair wrote to Kempton on April 29, 1949, “Dear Mr. Kempton: Thank you very much for your recent letter with the story of Oak Island enclosed. It was very interesting, but considerable of it is far from the facts as I understand them to be, while there is confirmation to a considerable degree. Again thank you, I am yours truly, Frederick Blair.”
In reviewing Reverend A.T. Kempton’s story, it reveals that there is a remarkable correlation between it and Professor James DeMille’s “Treasure of the Seas”. In both stories it talks about a father and son finding the Money Pit. This detail is in no other version associated with the discovery of the Money Pit. If Professor Lietchi was in fact the author of Kempton’s story, then it seems very likely that he borrowed this detail from his colleague and collaborator Professor James DeMille. Edward Rowe Snow used only a small portion of Kempton’s story. Snow used the exact same description of the 90 ft stone being 3 feet long and 16 inches wide and the translation of the stone being, FORTY FEET BELOW TWO MILLION POUNDS ARE BURIED. This deviated from the long-held translation of TEN FEET being the distance. It should be noted that Snow deleted six characters from the cipher that Reverend A.T. Kempton sent him. This was never explained by Snow or Kempton. The identity of the schoolteacher, minister and old Irish school master were left anonymous by Kempton in his letter. Who were they? Kempton mentions that the minister was someone he knew who had found a schoolteacher that would write the story about Oak Island and Kempton paid them for it. Kempton never reveals the schoolteacher’s identity. Why? The most logical reason is that the schoolteacher asked to remain anonymous to the public. Why would they do that? To avoid publicity and people asking them endless questions? Perhaps. Maybe to hide something they were involved with in the past? Or maybe to protect someone else’s identity and reputation?
The Lives of Dalhousie University
We also know that the schoolteacher lived in the Mahone Bay area since Kempton states he went there many years earlier to see them and they were dead. We can also speculate that the minister was from the Mahone Bay area or very familiar with it. Perhaps the schoolteacher was a member of the minister’s congregation and that’s how they were identified to write the story? The prime suspect for the identity of the schoolteacher is Professor James Lietchi. According to “The Lives of Dalhousie University, Volume One, 1818-1925: Lord Dalhousie's College” by P.B. Waiteit, it states, “At the same time as De Mille was appointed, James Liechti was hired as tutor in modern languages. Liechti was Swiss, a Lutheran, who had taught French and German in the Halifax Grammar School for six years. He was liked by students, patient, kind, hardworking. In 1883 he became McLeod professor of modern languages. He survived longer than any of the original old guard; he retired in 1906 to Lunenburg and lived until 1925.” This piece of information is very important because we learn that Professor Lietchi was a Lutheran and lived in Lunenburg.
Find a Grave
In checking the Lutheran Churches in Lunenburg, we find Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, the oldest Lutheran church in Canada. In reviewing information regarding the church, it appears that their parishioners were usually buried in the Hillcrest Cemetery in Lunenburg. Upon checking, Lietchi was indeed buried at Hillcrest as was his wife, Minna Liddy Maria Cossman Liechti. Upon investigating Minna’s family, we learn that her father was Reverend Charles Ernst Cossman. Reverend Cossman was the leader of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church for 40 years, coming from Germany and taking the position in 1835. He retired from Zion Evangelical in 1876, but he remained active with the church and made guest sermons at various churches, including in Halifax. He was a very prominent figure in the religious community in Nova Scotia. Reverend Cossman passed away in 1897, so he wasn’t the minister that was contacted by Reverend A.T. Kempton. Although this explains why Professor Lietchi would want to keep his involvement with the Oak Island cipher very quiet for fear of embarrassing the family.
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church - Wikimedia Commons
The minister at Zion from 1901-1914 was William Marion Weaver. Weaver was from Pennsylvania and came to lead the church. He most certainly would have known Professor Lietchi. It is unclear if Pastor Weaver and Reverend A.T. Kempton knew each other. Weaver was a Lutheran and Kempton was a Baptist. Kempton states that the minister died years ago and that was in 1949. Weaver lived until 1958, this rules out Weaver as the initial minister who was contacted by Kempton. We would like to thank Pastor Rick Pryce of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lunenburg for sharing information regarding Pastor Weaver with us. Join us next week for who The Compendium believes was the minister who referred Professor Lietchi to Reverend A.T. Kempton.
Good day from the Compendium!