James Baquet I started this series on wars and battles with an article titled rhetorically, “War — what is it good for?” Well, one thing it’s good for is spoils, so good that stories have been fabricated about them. Take the case of Yamashita’s Gold. During World War II, Imperial Japanese forces supposedly stole valuables all over Southeast Asia, and hid them in caves in the Philippines. The treasure is named after the Japanese general Tomoyuki Yamashita, later executed for war crimes. Meant to finance the Empire’s continued war efforts, not a speck of it has been found in the over-seven decades since. True believers say the Americans found it and secretly confiscated it right after the war. Most experts agree it never existed. An older “war loot” story got its start in 1862, when the Union forces of the northern American states were preparing to invade the southern city of New Orleans. Millions of dollars from the Confederate (southern) treasury were moved to Columbus, Georgia (they say), to prevent it from falling into Union hands — and perhaps to be held in reserve to provide funds if “the South should rise again.” Legend says a Confederate general was commissioned to move it from Columbus; it was never seen again. Bolstering the “facts” of the case is that a one-time Secretary of the Confederate Treasury was twice arrested for embezzling Confederate funds. A third and still older story is that of the Lost Inca Gold. This one was not looted, but rather hidden to prevent looting — and never recovered. In 1532, in anticipation of the arrival of Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro and his troops, the subjects of Inca emperor Atahualpa hid a fabulous treasure in the mountains above modern Lima, Peru. Pizarro had captured Atahualpa and said he would release him for a “roomful of gold.” While the people were gathering it, and with only a fraction of the ransom in hand, Pizarro executed Atahualpa. The balance was diverted after Atahualpa’s death — and has never been found, though one English adventurer in 1886 claimed to have found it — and lost it again, a common motif in the world’s many lost treasure stories. Vocabulary: Which word above means: 1. made up, invented 2. stealing money put in one’s care 3. repeated theme 4. official monies of a government 5. moved in a different direction 6. strengthening 7. very small part 8. for effect, not for an answer 9. taken for public use 10. portion, not the whole | 