The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-10-26
A STRANGE STORY.
The EpshOt OF a Stage Robbery I'm Idaho
I'D Is6s-A Mysterious Gold Bar and n
. Laden Duplicate.

sOns <tIIeottu On complaint OF GeOTSc
!, R-Baley, of oakland, on a charge Of
grand larceny, waived examination in
the Police Court yesterday, by advice
of their counsel, and were held to an
, swer before the Grand Jury, with bail
faxed at $4,000 each. Bailey, the COM
pliining witness, was placed on the
stand to enlighten the Court as to the
larceny and the manner inw1ioh it was
committed, and in answer to a question
by the Court, he said $50 tell all j
Know about this case would take along
time, as it is very long story; but to
be brief, 7 can say that l had a sachei
4 which entrusted TO William F. Wilson
4 while TWAS goingsover to Oakland with
him. When we reached the, wharf, |
missed him, thesachel and its contents,
J Fran through the train, but was unable
: to find him, so I got off and photographed
| to the police here" 37sdl sLRa loiHnh
\ a, g What was IN the sachel9" asked
the Court. SD b. ,d51Dd - on6 I'l
81 don't know, replied the witness;
febut it was represented to me that it
contained bar of gold represented to
4 be worth Sc, $780," -i'''.''s o -" I'D 'l' d
,aC Counsel for one. of the defendants
then asked the witness where and how
he obtained the bar. "a ....s7. "a "a t.. az
The witness hesitated for a few mo-
ments, and then said, 81 obtained it by
advancing S775 on it. $3.50 a--, 10
Il ''Now, said 1he counsel, /" you
nights as we'll tel us all about this, as it
win have to come out some time. Now,
didn't you get this bar from these de-
PENDANTS and know that it was stolen7"
pa" No, SIR" answered the witness. He
twas then ordered to step aside, and an
other witness named S. Robertson was
examined, but tie testimony he gave
did not serve to- enlighten the Court. b
r. The counsel, who had eross-examined
fthe first witness, then stated that the
1 bar which was represented to be worth
4 SO, 800, was only lead, gold plated, and
was not worth $40. SD ..-- ~ y 80 v
j, The Court was at loss to understand
the status of this case, but as the ac-
euseds waived examination, they were
! sent before the Grand Jury. This body
/ will probably get at the bottom facts.
Afterithe examination Robertson was
interviewed, and following is the sub
stance of a statement he made: In the
summer of 1868 the stage running from
Boise City, Idaho, to Corinne, Utah,
was stopped by five stage-robbers, and
treasure intrusted to Wells, Fargo 81
! Co. to the amount of $4,000 stolen.
| The footpads divided the gold dust and
coin, buried the bullion, amounting to
about $50, 900, near the scene of the rob-
berry, and then fled in different drec-
tons, each one selecting his own course.
One of the robbers, with the design, of
1 cheating his fellows, returned to the
tfplant," unearthed and buried it about
four miles distant, and proceeded about
his business. A few days after he was
captured by the authorities, and with
two others of the gang, VINO were sub
sequently arrested, sent to the Nevada
State Prison at Carson, for eight years.
1t seems that the robber who trans
planted the treasure kept the secret for
some years, but fnaUytold his associ-
ates of the circumstances of the case,
and later, when taken down with a IA
tai illness, communicated the secret to
guard in the State Prison, who had
/ been uniformly kind to him. This
guard endeavored to find the So plant"
but the description of the place of bu-
rial was so Inaccurate that he
was unable to find it, and, after several
unsuccessful efforts to unearth it, con-
/ cluded to give the agents of Wells, Far
go & Co. the benefit of his information.
The result was that about a year ago
Wells, Fargo & Co. engaged S. Rob
ertson, of Oakland, to ''Work up'' the
case, offering him handsome per cent
age of whatever bullion he should re-
cover. Mr.. Robertson visited the spot
where Che plant was supposed to be,
and found conclusive evidence that he
had reached it, but unfortunately for
him the plant had been raised and re-
moved to another place, evidently by
the footpads who survived the original
mover Of the treasure, and who, it ap-
pears, short time before Mr. Robert
son reached the'spot, had been released
from the State. Prison. Investigation
convinced the detectiyez that portion
of the bullion, amounting to about S13,-
900 or S15 900, had been disposed of in
various places around Virginia City,
and itswas finally traced to the Carson
Mint, where it was runiinto coin. The
robbers, alarmed at the close, watch |
Kept upon their movements, separated |
and disappeared. In May last three of
the robbers, without any prearrange-
ment whatever, and without the faint |
est suspicion that they were within hum
dreds of miles OF each other, met in
a saloon in ,Panamint. None of the
Nar.rr.tH-
trio had cent, and while they were
discussing the feasibility of stopping
the Panamint stage, one of the party
said that if he were in San Francisco he
could easily obtain the means to take
hisl to the spot where the "plant". was
and raise it, Suggesting at the same
time that they had been away so long
from that section of the country that
the authorities had given up all hope of
either finding the bullion or obtaining
the evidence upon which to rearrest
them. To make long. story short,
they, found the means to reach this city.
Here wilson and Thompson became
involved in the case. and Bailey was
inducedto advance more money to goI
after the hidden treasure, A plated
bar, it is said, was substituted for a
gold one, and turned over to. Bailey,
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