ATLANTAN SAFE IN FALL FOR GOLD

An Atlanta sailor, Starling A. Hicks, 22, of 399 Mathewson Pl., SW, escaped injury but a Los Angeles man was killed Wednesday while searching for legendary buried treasure near Santa Susana, California.

Ronald Merton Fuller, a machinist, died in a fall down a 55-foot shaft, one of many he had dug searching for three chests of gold a Mexican bandit is supposed to have buried more than 75 years ago.

According to the Associated Press, Hicks and another sailor, Kenneth Gaston, both crew members of the USS Wasp in port at San Diego, were helping Fuller dig when the accident occurred.

Both Fuller and Hicks fell from a ledge inside the shaft. Gaston helped Hicks to the surface but when he returned to the bottom of the shaft he found Fuller's body wedged under rocks.

According to legend, a curse would fall on anyone finding the treasure. The treasure supposedly was buried by Tiburco Vasquez who took the chests of gold from a stagecoach and buried them.

Hicks is a graduate of Brown High School.

Back to Brown High Home Page