Gypsy Heart
Gold Member
The station building was erected for Pretz and Balliet by Mr. Elias Lentz, now of Allentown, Pa., and is not yet owned by the railroad company. Mr. Lentz also built the first hotel at Rockdale in 1856, of which he was the landlord for five years. Nearly every other building in the village is also the work of his hands, including the saw-mill above, which was formerly owned by Stephen Balliet, but afterwards became the property of Mr. Lentz.
In the spring of 1871 a post-office was established here, with Alfred Long as postmaster, in which office he has continued since.
In this connection it may not be out of place to speak of two discoveries made by Mr. Lentz during his residence at Rockdale, which, at the time, excited wide-spread comment, and awakened the liveliest curiosity. The first was as follows: In 1856, the year in which he moved to Rockdale, he and a laborer by the name of John Frederick were engaged in elevating a coal-bank, which lay so low as to be frequently flooded by the river. While digging into the side of the sloping bank of the creek, about sixty yards from the river shore, Mr. Lentz’s companion struck and turned up a coin with his pickaxe. This proved to be the top one of a pile of nineteen coins buried about two feet beneath the
surface. They were round and as large as a Bland dollar, and about as thick as a silver half-dollar. The substance appeared neither like gold nor silver, and gave out a clearer, more ringing sound than either of those metals. The spot where they were found was thickly overgrown with old beds of bushes, with tangled roots, and about eight feet south of it stood a large licorice-tree. No remains of any box or covering could be found about the coin, and they seemed to have been placed in the ground by design, just as found. Upon the coins, all of which were exactly similar in appearance, appeared inscriptions in what seemed to be Chaldaic characters. Much speculation was indulged in as to what they were, and how they came to be deposited there, but no one was found who could read the inscriptions. There was a great demand for them, and Mr. Lentz presented all of them except one to friends, among them Governor Asa Packer, Mr. Christian Pretz, and Hon. Henry King. The latter sent his to a distinguished Jewish rabbi, and it was returned with the information that they were a coin used by some nation contemporaneous with the second Hebrew king, about two thousand four hundred years before the birth of Christ. The last one of the coins Mr. Lentz had in
his possession for eighteen years. He then intrusted it to a gentleman for the purpose of sending it to a Philadelphia numismatist, and it was lost. Lately Mr. Lentz has obtained another of the coins from the late Christian Pretz, who, it seems, had received two of them.
About three months after the above discovery Mr. Lentz made a second one, abut sixteen feet from the spot where the money was found. It happened in this wise. Mr. Thomas Ruch was taking away coal with a four-horse team from the bank already referred to. After loading, and while driving away, the wagon-wheels sank deep into the made ground of the bank, which was, besides, soft from recent rains. One of the hind wheels turned up a stone of peculiar shape, about ten and a half inches
long and two and a half inches in thickness, the ends of which were perfectly round and smooth. At one of the ends, what had been an opening was sealed up with a solid composition made of some matter resembling crushed oyster-shells, which resisted all efforts made with a punch to pry it open. The stone was then broken into fragments on an iron rail, and at the other end, at the bottom of this composition, was found a substance, which, under the microscope, proved to be a coil of coarse,
black human hair. That the hair was designedly sealed up in this stone was clear, but for what purpose, and by whom, and whether by the same parties who deposited the coins in the vicinity, are all questions which will perhaps forever remain unsolved.
Notes :
Rockdale:
First called 'Sand Bank', it is at Kepps creek and the Lehigh River. In 1856 the name was changed to Rockdale, when it became a freight station. In the same year a hotel was started by Mr. Elias Lentz. He also owned other buildings, including a saw mill. By 1871 there was also a post office.
In the spring of 1871 a post-office was established here, with Alfred Long as postmaster, in which office he has continued since.
In this connection it may not be out of place to speak of two discoveries made by Mr. Lentz during his residence at Rockdale, which, at the time, excited wide-spread comment, and awakened the liveliest curiosity. The first was as follows: In 1856, the year in which he moved to Rockdale, he and a laborer by the name of John Frederick were engaged in elevating a coal-bank, which lay so low as to be frequently flooded by the river. While digging into the side of the sloping bank of the creek, about sixty yards from the river shore, Mr. Lentz’s companion struck and turned up a coin with his pickaxe. This proved to be the top one of a pile of nineteen coins buried about two feet beneath the
surface. They were round and as large as a Bland dollar, and about as thick as a silver half-dollar. The substance appeared neither like gold nor silver, and gave out a clearer, more ringing sound than either of those metals. The spot where they were found was thickly overgrown with old beds of bushes, with tangled roots, and about eight feet south of it stood a large licorice-tree. No remains of any box or covering could be found about the coin, and they seemed to have been placed in the ground by design, just as found. Upon the coins, all of which were exactly similar in appearance, appeared inscriptions in what seemed to be Chaldaic characters. Much speculation was indulged in as to what they were, and how they came to be deposited there, but no one was found who could read the inscriptions. There was a great demand for them, and Mr. Lentz presented all of them except one to friends, among them Governor Asa Packer, Mr. Christian Pretz, and Hon. Henry King. The latter sent his to a distinguished Jewish rabbi, and it was returned with the information that they were a coin used by some nation contemporaneous with the second Hebrew king, about two thousand four hundred years before the birth of Christ. The last one of the coins Mr. Lentz had in
his possession for eighteen years. He then intrusted it to a gentleman for the purpose of sending it to a Philadelphia numismatist, and it was lost. Lately Mr. Lentz has obtained another of the coins from the late Christian Pretz, who, it seems, had received two of them.
About three months after the above discovery Mr. Lentz made a second one, abut sixteen feet from the spot where the money was found. It happened in this wise. Mr. Thomas Ruch was taking away coal with a four-horse team from the bank already referred to. After loading, and while driving away, the wagon-wheels sank deep into the made ground of the bank, which was, besides, soft from recent rains. One of the hind wheels turned up a stone of peculiar shape, about ten and a half inches
long and two and a half inches in thickness, the ends of which were perfectly round and smooth. At one of the ends, what had been an opening was sealed up with a solid composition made of some matter resembling crushed oyster-shells, which resisted all efforts made with a punch to pry it open. The stone was then broken into fragments on an iron rail, and at the other end, at the bottom of this composition, was found a substance, which, under the microscope, proved to be a coil of coarse,
black human hair. That the hair was designedly sealed up in this stone was clear, but for what purpose, and by whom, and whether by the same parties who deposited the coins in the vicinity, are all questions which will perhaps forever remain unsolved.
Notes :
Rockdale:
First called 'Sand Bank', it is at Kepps creek and the Lehigh River. In 1856 the name was changed to Rockdale, when it became a freight station. In the same year a hotel was started by Mr. Elias Lentz. He also owned other buildings, including a saw mill. By 1871 there was also a post office.
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