In Part One, Compendium Investigations reviewed early reports of the 90FT Stone and the first eyewitness description that corresponded perfectly with the Tory Stone. James Lietchi was introduced as the prime suspect for being involved with the famous 90FT Stone cipher. It’s suspected that Lietchi was referred to the Creightons by their cousin James Creighton, who was a student of Lietchi’s at Dalhousie College. This brings us to another member of Dalhousie’s faculty at the exact same time.
The Lives of Dalhousie University
In 1872, James DeMille authored “Treasure of the Seas”. He writes this describing the 90FT Stone, “They went to work and dug away for a little distance, when they came to something hard. It was a stone hewn, - not very smooth, - a kind of sandstone, and on this they saw some marks that looked like strange letters. They were ignorant men, but they knew the alphabet, and they knew that this was no kind of English letters at all; but it seemed to them that they might be letters of some strange alphabet. They took this stone away, and it has been preserved ever since, and it is there yet on the island, built into the wall of a cottage there for safe keeping. That’s what I mean when I say I’ve seen the traces of Captain Kidd, for it’s my solemn conviction that he cut that inscription on the stone in some foreign letters, or perhaps some secret cipher.”…
Worthpoint
“Then there’s that stone with the mysterious inscription. It’s been seen by hundreds. No one has ever been found yet who can make out what it means. As I said before, it is either some foreign language, or else, as is quite probable, it is some secret cipher, known only to Kidd himself.”…“They have the impudence to say that it isn’t an inscription at all. Actually, because no one can decipher it, they say it ain’t an inscription! They say it’s only some accidental scratches! Now, I allow,” continued the landlord, “that the marks are rather faint, and irregular; but how can any man look at them, and say they are not an inscription – how can any man look at them and say that they’re accidental scratches – is a thing that makes me fairly dumb with amazement.”
The Curse of Oak Island - The History Channel
DeMille was a popular Canadian author and Professor of Rhetoric/English at Dalhousie College. DeMIlle was a colleague of Lietchi’s and both were hired together in 1865. Most of DeMille’s stories were fiction but many contained real people and real events. It’s clear that DeMille had knowledge of Oak Island, having lived in the area and spending summers in Chester. In “Treasure of the Seas”, Oak Island is mentioned prominently, and names the kind of stone found in the Money Pit as a type of sandstone. Amazingly, the Tory Stone was identified as Greywacke by Terry Matheson, which is a type of sandstone. DeMille writes that people say because the stone is undecipherable it’s not an inscription. They’re accidental scratches and have marks that are faint and irregular. But if you really look hard, it’s an inscription. This seems to be another dead-on description of the Tory Stone and mirrors modern day conversations about it. The Compendium believes it’s very likely that both DeMille and Lietchi inspected the markings on the Tory Stone.
National Cryptologic Foundation
A big influence on DeMille was Edgar Allan Poe. Research suggests that Poe knew information about Oak Island and incorporated some of its details in his work. “The Gold Bug” was published in 1843 and tells the story of a treasure hunt that involves three men, an oak tree, and a cipher on an island associated with Captain Kidd. DeMille would have undoubtedly noticed these similarities with Oak Island's story. DeMille mentions Captain Kidd in “The Treasure of the Seas” as the source of a secret cipher to which only Kidd knew the solution. In the “Old Dying Sailor” story that is often mentioned in relation to Oak Island it states, “... that many years before he has assisted that noted pirate and his followers in burying over two million (pounds) beneath the secluded island, east of Boston”. Two million pounds are the keywords that connect the 90FT Stone cipher to Captain Kidd, which was reportedly translated by Lietchi as, “Ten feet below two million pounds lie buried”. DeMille had experience with ciphers and featured them in his work. DeMille’s background, expertise, and knowledge make him a prime suspect for involvement with the stone and cipher along with Lietchi.
The North American Review Vol. 227, No. 6 (Jun., 1929)
According to, “The Oak Island Treasure'' by Charles B. Driscoll, 1929, the 90FT Stone was on display at Creighton’s Bookbindery, “It was then taken to the home of J. B. McCulley in Truro, where it was exhibited to hundreds of friends of the McCulley’s, who became interested in a later treasure company. Somehow the stone fell into the hands of a bookbinder, who used it as a base upon which to beat leather for many years. A generation later, with the inscription nearly worn away, the stone found its way to a book store in Halifax...” By 1867, the Oak Island Eldorado Company ceased operations and dissolved. The stone at Creighton’s was apparently moved to Truro, Nova Scotia by J. B. McCully. According to genealogical records, the Compendium noticed a Creighton family member with the middle name of McCully, as the families were friends and linked by Oak Island. At this point it appears the stone was no longer needed since A.O. Creighton didn’t have an ongoing interest in the treasure hunt. It wasn’t until 1893 when the Oak Island Treasure Company started their efforts that the stone strangely reappeared at Creighton’s.
Blockhouse Blog/Oak Island Compendium
On September 27, 1935, Harry Marshall states, “One of the Creighton’s was interested in the Oak Island Treasure Co. and had brought to the city a stone which I well remember seeing as a boy, and until the business was merged in 1919 in the present firm of Phillips & Marshall. The stone was about 2 feet long, 15 inches wide, and 10 inches thick, and weighed about 175 pounds. It had two smooth surfaces, with rough sides with traces of cement attached to them… The corners were not squared but somewhat rounded. The block resembled dark Swedish granite or fine grained porphyry, very hard, and with an olive tinge, and did not resemble any local stone…While in Creighton’s possession some lad had cut his initials ‘J.M.” on one corner, but apart from this there was no evidence of any inscription either cut or painted on the stone. Creighton used the stone for a beating stone and weight…When Marshall left the premises in 1919, the stone was left behind...”
The Curse of Oak Island - The History Channel
Collier’s Magazine, August 1911
The Oak Island Treasure Company began operations in 1893 when Harry Marshall was 13 years old. The 90FT Stone’s description at this time was very different from other descriptions. It’s certain that this stone was not the original 90 FT Stone. Captain H.L. Bowdoin states in Collier’s Magazine in 1911, “While in Halifax we examined the stone found in the Money Pit, the characters on which were supposed to mean: “Ten feet below two million pounds lie buried.” The rock is of a basalt type hard and fine-grained…There never were any characters on the rock found in the Money Pit. Because: (a) The rock, being hard, they could not wear off. (b) There are a few scratches, etc., made by Creighton’s employees, as they acknowledged, but there is not, and never was, a system of characters carved on the stone.” It appears this was a working stone that was used as a prop and substituted for the 90FT Stone. The absence of any inscriptions or evidence of any ever being on it, precludes it from being the original. The Compendium believes that the story of the beating of leather on the stone that wore off the inscription was contrived.
The Curse of Oak Island - The History Channel
Compendium Investigations believes that Doug Crowell found this last stone in the basement of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, the old Creighton Bookbindery, in 2018. The Compendium believes a total of three stones were involved in this Oak Island subterfuge. The Original (Tory Stone), 2nd (Cipher Stone) and 3rd (Working Stone). Join us next week for Part Three as Compendium Investigations digs deeper into the background of James Lietchi and the Reverend A.T. Kempton.
Good day from the Compendium!