King George X in NY?
Is There a Treasure?
Tiny, Georgetown New York sits peacefully between beautiful, green hills, and a thick forest preserve. Its population is a few thousand. Generational farms dot the landscape. Old Colonial homes with character stand proud. Testaments to a time gone by.
Like many small towns across America, Georgetown is not known for any importance. Motorists driving through the small hamlet do not pay much attention to the surroundings. However, there is more to Georgetown than meets the eye. A legend looms large. It’s a tale born in this small rural village two hundred years ago. Some of the local inhabitants of Georgetown and the surrounding towns say the story is, “just a rumor”. Yet others believe the validity of the strange tale. The legend begins in 1807.
1807 was the fourth year of Napoleon Bonaparte’s war across Europe. It was also the year that a distinguished-looking man, dressed in expensive clothing, stepped off the docks of New York City. Immediately, his presence elicited questions from everyone about his true identity.
He arrived from England with an entourage of servants. While workers unloaded his many large chests from the boat, the dignified-looking gentleman watched them with a critical eye. Those who stared at this stately man could tell he was “no commoner from England”. It was later learned that many of the chests were filled with gold and silver coins.
His age was assumed to be about forty years. He was of medium height. A scarlet vest draped his chest. Silk stockings covered his legs from ankles to knees. He wore a coat and breeches made of satin. Frills of lace dangled from his sleeves. And two ruby pendants on gold chains hung around his neck. Large ruby rings adorned his fingers. He walked straight and tall as he gave orders to his many servants. He demanded respect. People noticed that Lewis Anathe Muller was both rich and powerful.
Shortly after arriving in New York City, the true identity of Muller began to be suspected. Rumors spread that Muller was hiding from Napoleon.
Many assumed that he was a prominent Frenchman. Perhaps he was a Duke or a French aristocrat? Or that he could be King George X of France. Another story was Muller had claimed to be the last Dauphin, the son of executed King Louis XVI.
There were also questions about whether or not Muller was an officer in France. Or if he fought as a loyalist against Napoleon. Perhaps he was an officer in Napoleon’s army. He may have made remarks against Napoleon’s politics and war efforts. Those accusations could have infuriated Napoleon thereby Napoleon threatening Muller’s life. Thus the reason for Muller fleeing to America.
Muller and Adeline
Shortly after Muller arrived in New York City he met Adeline Stuyvesant. She was the cousin of Peter Stuyvesant. Peter Stuyvesant was once the Governor of New York. He married Adeline a few months later.
Muller was very protective of his secrecy and identity. He forced his paranoia upon his wife. Adeline began to think that her husband was living a secretive life. That he was afraid of being found. So Muller had a rule that Adeline had to follow. He told her she could never leave the home without a bodyguard. Nor could she tell others about the secret life she suspected Muller was living. Adeline often felt she was being held captive in her own home.
Muller also mentioned to Adeline and others that his middle name Anathe, meant “accursed.” And that he was being damned for his life.
It was said that Muller had a wife and children living in France. The story began when a nearby resident mentioned that he had been in France during Napoleon’s reign of terror. When he was in France he met Lewis Anathe Muller. It was at a time when Muller was trying to escape to America. After helping Muller plan his escape, the individual was invited to Muller's luxurious home in Paris. It was there he met Muller’s wife and children. After Muller had settled in America, the two kept in touch and became friends. The man, as he promised Muller, never told anyone who the real Lewis Anathe Muller was.
All of the questions regarding the identity of Lewis Anathe Muller remained even until Muller departed America and went to either England or France, leaving behind his wife and two children.
The Mystery of Muller Hill
High on a hill in Georgetown, in a secluded expanse of forested land, is an empty, stone cellar hole. It is the remains of what was once Lewis Anathe Muller’s large home. Many in the area called the home a “fortress.” The size and structure of the home indicated Muller’s need for secrecy and the concern for his safety.
Muller hired two hundred workers to build his home, prepare the property, and move the furnishings into the home. He paid them in silver and gold coins.
While living on the secluded hilltop, Muller never told anyone who he was. He was secretive about his past and displayed a paranoid existence. Rarely he ventured off his twenty-seven hundred-acre property. Anytime Muller was off his property bodyguards were with him. When he hunted or fished on his land, the bodyguards followed.
For security, Muller had a fence built surrounding three hundred acres of his property. He built a pond and stocked it with fish. He paid to have animals brought to his land because he loved hunting and was an expert marksman. Apple trees were planted, as well as oak, elm, and maple trees. The apple orchard is still there. Many of the old maple, oak, and elm trees have fallen and now lay on the ground rotted and decayed. However, old towering maple trees that Muller planted still line both sides of the long hard-packed driveway that leads to where Muller’s home once stood.
The home was seventy feet long and thirty feet wide. Logs twelve to eighteen inches thick were used for the outer walls. The only road to the home was a long, steep, narrow dirt road that snaked its way to the top.
Wagons Filled With Expensive Furnishings For The Fortress Type Home
The residents of Georgetown and the surrounding area marveled as they watched the half-mile-long line of ox-drawn wagons carrying expensive wood and furnishings move slowly up the winding narrow, dirt road to the Muller “castle”. As Adeline called it.
Seven large, marble fireplaces kept the large fortress heated during the long cold winters. Muller shipped the expensive marble as well as the timber and the home furnishings to Muller Hill from Europe. Oriental rugs and French tapestry, expensive paintings, statues, books, and the best French furniture adorned the home. A large piano was shipped to the “castle.”
The home had portholes for windows. Similar to the design of an Army Fort of that time. If attacked, the small windows would offer a space for a rifle to fire through.
Every room had two exits. The exits in each room were there in case Muller had to make a quick departure from the home.
Was Muller an Officer?
The story of Muller possibly being an officer in Naploeon’s army or an officer in the Loyalists' army became more likely a truth rather than fiction. Muller had a penchant for practicing military drills. Using his workers and close confidants who came to America with him, Muller trained them in attack and defensive maneuvers. His commands to them were commands of a highly skilled officer in the army.
He drilled his men as if he suspected that at some time, his home and family would be attacked by a faction of Napoleon’s army or one of Napoleon’s secret spies.
A Silver and Gold Coin Treasure?
Questions about a silver and gold coin treasure on the Muller property have been wondered throughout the years. Below are my ideas about those questions.
I first heard about the Muller Hill story from an older, professional treasure-hunting friend in the early 1970s. He told me he knew an individual who recovered dropped gold and silver coins from Muller Hill. That person used a metal detector to find them.
Muller Hill has been State Land and controlled by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) since the 1930s. It is off-limits to metal detecting and treasure hunting. I was told the individual received a permit from the DEC to metal detect the area of Muller Hill. That person knew someone of authority who helped him get a permit to search the area. Unless you know someone who can help. It is almost impossible to get a permit to metal detect or treasure hunt on any NYS Land. The beauacrats and archaeologists who are supposed to be the preservers of history would rather leave two hundred years of historical relics beneath the ground. Or steal it themselves to hide in their personal treasure vaults.
Having studied, researched, and participated in treasure searches for many years my spidey sense led me to the following question. Did Muller bury a treasure of silver and gold coins somewhere on his property? My reasoning follows.
When the Napoleonic Wars were over, it was no secret that Muller was preparing to go back to Europe. Muller would not want to travel across the unpopulated and dense forests of New York State to New York City to board a boat for Europe with his silver and gold. The fear of a robbery would have been on Muller’s mind. So he hid his treasure and entrusted it to a close friend. He intended to return in secrecy to Muller Hill at a later date to retrieve his treasure.
There is the possibility that Muller’s treasure was removed and re-buried by that friend after Muller left for Europe. This was an intent to steal the gold and silver from Muller.
Muller did return from Europe a few years later. He returned for the sale of the Muller Hill home and property. My question is whether or not Muller was able to retrieve his treasure. Here’s why I ask that question.
When Muller returned a few years later his home was in disarray. All of the expensive furniture, oriental rugs, and paintings were removed. The doors were off their hinges and the windows were broken. The landscape once in pristine condition, was now scrub brush and tall weeds.
It is true that the person he hired to watch over his property until he returned, did not do so. There are references the person in charge of Muller’s property fled the area and was never located. There are also rumors the person who helped Muller bury his silver and gold coins then retrieved them and re-buried them. He was then murdered by others who heard of the treasure and wanted it. He was killed for not giving information as to where the treasure was buried. If so, that treasure died in secrecy.
The End of Napoleon’s War
Napoleon’s Reign of Terror ended in 1814. Muller was relieved that Napoleon was defeated. After seven years of living in complete secrecy, and assured he was now safe, Lewis Anathe Muller left his wife and two young boys behind and sailed back to Europe.
There is no question that Lewis Anathe Muller was of high nobility. His expensive clothes, jewelry, silver and gold coins used to pay workers and to buy goods, and distinguished attitude were not as many said, “of the common man.”
However, Lewis Anathe Muller never existed. There are no records or accounts of that name in America, England, or France. So the questions remain. As research has shown he was most likely one of the following.
A Duke, or a French aristocrat. Or perhaps Louis-Philippe. A King of the French. Who reigned from 1830 to 1848.
Charles Ferdinand, the Duc de Berry, and the son of Charles X.
Or, was Lewis Anathe Muller, the “accursed”, The Comte d’Artois? The younger brother of Louis XVI. If so, he would have become Charles X, King of France, from 1824 to 1830.
The stranger of Muller Hill and a possible treasure remain historical secrets.
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Credit:
W. W. Ames, “The Mystery of Muller Hill”, Gleanor Press
Harriet Mcdoul Daniels, “Muller Hill”
Mrs. L.M. Hammond, “History of Madison County”
Edith Cornell, “A Romance and a Mystery in Madison County”
T. Wood Clarke, “Emigres in the Wilderness”
Robert J. Hubbard, “The Mystery of Muller Mansion”
Henry C. Maine, “An Unknown Exile” “Was He Charles X?”
Harold O. Whitnall, “The Mystery of Muller Hill”
Correspondence With Napoleon, “The Papers of D. R. Logan”
Henry Ritter, “Napoleon, The Revolution Years”
National Archives
Archives Nationales
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As mentioned in my story. I first heard about Muller Hill in the early 1970s. Since that time the story has taken me on a historical adventure. My inquisitive nature regarding history has been a motivator that has encouraged me to research the Muller Hill story further.
Wanting to know the truth about Lewis Anathe Muller and all of the names associated with him has propelled me on a fifty-year forensic journey that continues to this day.
Often I have hiked the Muller Hill area. The apple orchard is still visible. The original pond that Muller had built and fished is no longer there. However, the DEC increased the size of the pond to a small lake. It’s an area now used for fishing and picnics.
Having hiked most of the original twenty-seven hundred acres that Muller owned I have yet to find the area where the barns once stood. Nor have I found the well or the area that would have been used as a trash dump. There was no roadside garbage pickup back then. Family trash of that era was most often dumped in a pit on the owners' property.
On April 9, 1816, the Muller property was sold for $10,500. The buyer was Abijah Weston.
In 1906 a fire destroyed the Muller home.
WARNING To Anyone Thinking About Metal Detecting Muller Hill
The Muller Hill area is State Land and protected by the Department of Environmental Conservation, (DEC).
Anyone caught metal detecting or digging relics from that area could be arrested. A fine of up to $25,000 could be charged, as well as jail time imposed.
Permits to metal detect are offered but rarely given.
Excellent story, Frank. Fascinating. Love these kinds of tales.