Johnny Thomas was a big man.  After getting out of prison he was known to brag about how he could open any lock.  He was very good at it too.  He could open locks with just a paperclip and break a combination lock in a blink of an eye.

A few of the guys from Lennox Island thought it would be great to play a little trick on Johnny.  One of the four guys, John Andrew Francis, approached Johnny and told him of some gold that was buried down by the shore.  (Close to where the current bridge is today).  Johnny’s eyes lit right up and he was more than willing to go and dig for this gold.  The dig was planned for later that evening.

In the meantime, John Andrew and his friends had to prepare the area.  After two hours of digging a nicely squared out hole, they placed a metal plate down on the bottom and filled it in.

Later, a couple of the guys took Johnny to the spot where the gold was said to be.  They started whispering and told Johnny that they better talk in a different area because if the gold heard them, it would dig itself deeper into the ground.  So they moved out to a different spot to discuss the dig.

John Andrew was first to begin digging and then whispered and motioned to Johnny that it was his turn to finish the dig.  Johnny nodded his head in agreement and grabbed the shovel.   Pure excitement came over Johnny’s face when his shovel hit something metal.

Just at that moment, one of the guys who was hiding in the woods had put a white bed sheet over his head, and came running out of the woods holding a rifle and fired two shots in the air.  Well, poor Johnny was so scared he scrambled and clawed his way out of the hole as quickly as he could and he took off running as fast as he could.

The guys had a great laugh over this, but Johnny left Lennox Island at that very moment and never returned again.