The Greene County Republican. [volume] (Waynesburg, Pa.) 185?-1867, 1866-05-16
WAYNESBURG, Pa WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 1866

1t might be trick got up by my part
ners, to raise laugh at my expense --
No the place where it Was found, and
the purely accidental discovery, rendcr~
ed such surmise very improbable |
sat down on log, and turned the mat
ter over and over in my mind for some
time, At last | got up, and paced of
the required distance in the direction
mentioned in the letter, came to a
large tree. Carefully examining it, |
discovered Il scar, clearly indicating that
the tree had been "bazed" at some re-,
mote period. This was confirmation
strong as proof OF Holy Writ and |
Immediately undertook to discover the
locality of the ravinc. Here | was at
fault, Nothing Of the kind was to be
seen. To all appearances, stream OF
water never had passed in the neighbor>
hood OF the tree. This was not enoour.
aging and sat down on the ground
and red the letter again, TO see il | had
not mistaken some Of It's directions. No;
| was in the right place but where was
the rcvine
A tap on my shoulder aroused me
from my medtations, and on looking
up, saw my two partners, who loudly
berated me for having neglected the
preparation Of their supper. As an ex"
cusc, showed them the letter, and de-
tailed the manner Of my finding it. To
my surprise they were as much excited
10y its perusal as | had been, and we all
looked around perseyeringly for the ra'
vine, but without effect for some time,
AT last, Jack Nesbi,t, who had been a
miner since '4S, said
Il think there has been rayine here
but it has been filed up by the rains"
On close examination we decided that
his suppositon was correct, and after
somc consultation we determined that
we would commence digging the next
morning,
Morning came and we repaired to the
spot with pick and shovel Jack pro-
posed that we should follow the course
Of the ravine, which appeared to run in-
to the body of the hill, rather than to
dig down, for. as he said, we would be
more likely to find the bag in.thc bed
of the ravine, by following it up, than
by digging down in any one place. The
result was, that IN a few days we had
formed quite cave in the side OF the
hill.
We worked at this tunnel for foul
days without finding the bag, On the
fourth day, Jack proposed that he and
my other partner, Bill Jennings, Should
carry the dirt we had excayated down
b the river. and wash it, leaving me tC
ig in the tunnel. In that way, they
lought, we might at least make grub,
Ehile searching for the hidden money,
thought the idea foolish, but as they
ad entered 50 eagerly into my views
egarding the buried bag OF aust, | made
0 objection to the plan, and dug away
ilh ledoublod energy. In fact, had
ought so much about the object OF oui
arch, that had become utterly regard
IS OF almost everything else. l had
foamt Of it when sleeping, muscd on il
when waking, and it had obtained COM
plete control Of my mind. Day after
day we worked--l digging, my COM
panions Washing yet, strange to say,
did not become discouraged. They
said nothing about. the bag of gold dust
and asked them nothiog about the re-
suit of their washing the excavat &C
dirt.
We had worked about three weeks
and had formed a tunnel extending
about fifteen feet into the hill, when one
afterr oon, completely tired out sa
down to rest in the cave. I had onl,
intended to sit a little while, but fv,
minutes had not elapsed ere | was ias
asleep. / was awakened by crash
and found my feet and legs completed.
covered by a mass Of dirt and stones.-
The front part sof the tunnel had fallel
IN, and was in manner buried alive
' About ten teet of the tunnel remaine
, firm, and from my observation Of it
structure prior TO the accident, l wa
| convinced that had no reason to ap
, prehend any danger in that quarter, =
! My partners had carried dirt enough t
the river to keep them busy there for tn
. rest Of the day; so l had nothing
D hope from their assistance. The questo
that FIRST presented itself to my min
3 was, how long can life be sustained j
a this conGped state7 1had read, doze
# times, statistics in relation to the amour
0 of air consumed hourly by human b,