The Western advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1872-1874, 1874-04-25
Bread Upon the Waters.

ONE day, not long ago, while an En-
glish merchantmen was on voyage in the
Mediterranean, the Captain was called to
the hammock of dying sailor who had
asked to see him. The invalid seafarer
desired his commander to draw up for
him last will and testament, wherein
the sum of $1,000 in. English sovereigns
| was to be devised to a citizen of Memphis,
in Tennessee, U. S., and the uncontrolla-
BILE surprise of the Captain in his per-
formance of the request of the sinking
| man caused the latter to make the follow
ing explanation of the past circumstances
enabling him to bequcath such sum of
money: An Englishman by birth, he was
a mechanic in Memphis III the year 1861.
No matter about the causes Of his eXpa-
triation and humble foreign occupation.
Suffice it to say he had chosen to be a
mechanic in America. Only for short
time, though; for when the secession war
began he enlisted in one of the Tennessee
regiments, having been scarcely able to
earn living as an artisan, and being just
recovered from weary sickness of which
he must have died but for the generous
ministrations of family of strangers.
cents enlistment, and before his regiment
marched further southwark, he received
from his family in England the sum of
81 900 in gold, which had been left to him
by dying uncle. Instead of availing
himself Of this windfall, however, to with
draw from the army and devote himself
otherwise than as a soldier, it was his
eccentric whim to bury his whole treasure
under tree, in lot belonging to the
gentleman whose family had been so
kind to him in his sickness, and to neither
speak nor act as though he had ever re-
ceived any such money at ALL Leaving
the gold thus secretly placed he marched
away with his military comrades.
Not long was it though before his eccen-
trio character again displayed itself. Be-
coming speedily weary of the precarious
fortunes of war, he deserted from the
army into Mexico, and from thence en-
barked on an English vessel as common
seaman. Reaching England in due time,
instead of rejoiniDg his family there, he
at once became sailor on another vessel
for voyage around the world, and had
remained an obscure sailor until the fatal
sickness overlook him in the Mediterra~
mean and an expiring impulse Of gratitude
induced him to bequeath his gold yet
hidden in Memphis to those who had so
long ago befriended him in that city.
Such was the strange, scarcely credible
story which he told to the Captain in ex-
| planation Of his curious will; and, after
signing the latter with another name than
that by which he had been known on
shipboard, he carried the remaining mys-
terry of his career with him into the world
of shadows.
The Captain hardly knew whether to
regard either story or will as anything
more than the diseased fancy of a mad
man, but, upon reaching port, mailed the
document, as he had solemnly promised,
to the address of the Memphis gentleman
to whom the buried gold had been de-
vised. And, according to late issue of
the Memphis Register, that gentleman's
reception of the will, together with the
Captains explanation of the foregoing
circumstances, has been followed by a
realization proving that the dying wan
derer of land and sea spoke truly. The
gentleman in question "had some time
Before sold and delivered to another party
the lot on which the valuable sovereigns
were deposited. How to get at it now
without incurring opposition and per-
haps litigation was the question which
arose in his mind. After taking the
advice of counsel he concluded to de-
velop the whole matter to the pur-
chaser and owner of the place and
ask for the right to make search.
This was done, and the new pro-
prietor generously forwarded his wishes
and gave him every facility to possess
himself of the treasure. On digging at
the foot of the tree described in~the will
the gold, amounting to $1,000, was hap
PLY found and the new owner made glad
by the glittering heap" Who the de;
parted giver of this little fortune was in
his native personality is not known, and
the secret is buried with him beneath the
blue waves of the Mediterranean.-New
York Graphic.