Three grizzled prospectors — Arrin Thorpe of the U. S., Joanes Van Steck, a Frenchman, and Antonio Hill, a German— weary from months of prospecting, stopped their pack burros near the Piedra Candela settlement in the shadow of the Santa Maria Mountains on the Costa Rican-Panamanian border one day last week, prepared to lay out claims. Driving the first claim-stake, the ground beneath their feet gave way and the trio dropped into an abandoned mine shaft. Before their startled eyes stood 35 gold ingots, each weighing 50 lb., neatly stacked against the wall. Nearby lay equipment for panning gold and relics of the days of the Spanish conquistadors. Stumbling along the shaft, Van Steck came upon 45 additional bars, refused to share them with his partners, hurried to the settlement to file a claim, leaving native pack drivers on guard. The 80 bars, each stamped with the seal of the Spanish royal crown, are valued at $1,120,000. Dazzled by so much wealth, Hill intrigued with the native drivers, fired at Van Steck as he returned from the settlement, missed, fled into the mountains.
Authorities of Chiriqui Province chartered planes, flew to the mine to investigate the discovery while the Government, which under its buried treasure law is entitled to half the prospector's find, rushed a police guard to the scene to control a stampede of treasure-hunting natives. Authorities believe that the tunnel belonged to the almost-legendary La Estrella mine, worked by the Spanish conquerors. Fabulously rich, it became "lost" in the passing of four centuries. Indians, outraged by the cruel treatment of the Spaniards, are supposed to have ambushed a mule-drawn treasure train, killed the white men and buried them with their gold in the tunnel.
"Names make news." Last week these names made this news:
Returning belatedly from the Coronation of George VI, James Watson Gerard, Wartime U. S. Ambassador to Germany, commented, ''The Americans who wore knee breeches at the ceremony showed a fine set of legs. There wasn't a knocking knee or bandy leg in the whole outfit."
A Los Angeles private detective, Mrs. Pearl Antibus. sued Millionaire Thomas W. Warner, onetime General Motors director, for $510,000. Her story: Police hired by Mr. Warner had broken into her apartment, beaten her. Mr. Warner's reply: The police had gone to rescue his son who was being held captive by Mrs. Antibus and a Mrs. Jean MacDonald. Thomas W. Warner Jr.'s explanation: He had hired Mrs. Antibus to ascertain whether or not Mrs. MacDonald's romantic interest in him was sincere or mercenary. Assured, by a dictaphone which Mrs. Antibus had placed in Mrs. MacDonald's room, that Mrs. MacDonald was sincere, he had called on Mrs. Antibus at her apartment where Mrs. MacDonald had joined them and where police later found her dressed in shorts watching him shave.
While Los Angeles newspapers headlined young Warner as a "love captive," he disappeared on a yachting trip. Asked to clear up the confusion, Mr. Warner Sr. snapped: "I am.very much annoyed."
En route to the Salzburg Festival (see p. 37) Mr, 6 Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. stopped at a Caen hotel, registered as Mr. & Mrs. Frederick Hall.