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Rock as he remembered it many years ago. There was once quite 

 an excavation into the rock, so that a man could crawl in nearly 

 out of sight. On the 4th of July, 1834, a party of men from Saugus, 

 he believed, placed twenty-five pounds of powder in this excavation, 

 stopped up its mouth, set a train and fired the powder. The explo- 

 sion materially changed the appearance pf the rock, and opened a 

 fissure four feet wide, which was only one foot before. A bushel of 

 snakes, it was said, was blown out at the time, and the scene was 

 quite exciting. The Hutchinsons once made an attempt to dig for 

 treasure there, but soon desisted. The later operations have not 

 been altogether a delusion, as the prosecutor has made a good liv- 

 ing out of it. 



Mr. JACOB BATCHELDER of Lynn, told of an excitement created 

 many years ago, by some parties from Lynnfield who went to Dun- 

 geon Rock to search for treasure. It was reported that a chest had 

 been found there which contained thirty thousand dollars in coin. 

 One lady said she had seen another lady who heard that another lady 

 had seen the chest, which was all covered with rust, in the wagon. 

 But it turned out that she had only seen a wagon that looked^ as 

 though it had a rusty box in it.' One young man, however, reported 

 that he had got the money, and on the strength of it he cut quite 

 a dash for a time, with a horse and carriage and other extravagan- 

 ces. When, however, he failed to pay his bills, his credit suffered 

 and the humbug was exposed. Mr. B. said he had no great faith in 

 the stories about Dungeon Rock, but he should regret to lose the 

 romance that lingers around that and kindred localities on that ac- 

 count. Perhaps these old legends should not be dissipated too 

 rudely, for much that we call history rests on no better basis. 



Mr. F. W. PUTNAM of Salem, made some interesting statements re- 

 lating to the exploration of the shellheaps at Eagle Island in Ipswich 

 and on Plum Island. He further recounted the works of the party who 

 had been digging in Rocks Pasture. In this somewhat extensive 

 bed of shells and mould, covering an area of one-fourth of an acre, 

 a few inches in thickness, just beneath the sod, they had found to-day 

 the shells of the quahaug, common clam, great clam, cockle and scal- 

 lop ; also bits of charcoal and burnt stone. Two stone arrowheads 

 had turned up, with an implement of sharpened bone, like a bodkin, 

 gome fragments of pottery were found, also many bones, mostly 

 those of the red deer, but some perhaps of the moose, and others of 

 birds. A tooth of a small cetacean was found. Mr. P. further dis- 

 cussed the discoveries made in these explorations, in their bearing 

 on the age of prehistoric man. 



Dr. J. M. NYE of Lynn, expressed his satisfaction at the course of 

 this and other meetings of the kind. He thought their influence on 



