Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1878-01-16
NO. 3.
After Forty Years.

y correspondent, writing from Ham
ilTon, On. says: The papers record
what may be false. what may be true.
but what certainly is romantic. con-
cerning treasure trOve in the great
belt of marshy woods near where the
Great Western Railway now runs.
known TO the last generation as ''The
Beverly swamp" Forty years ago
the Dundas and Waterloo road was the
great highway from the then head of
navigation, Dundas, to the back coun-
try, and signs of its departed greatness
remain in its rickety toll gates, desert
eel wayside inns and half dead villages
and crossings. In those days life there
away was exciting. The movement of
passengers and goods along this turn
pike was really immense; settlers were
coming out seeking the West, men who
knew nobody, of whom nobody knew
anything, and usually timid foreign
folk with stores of coin; the swamp>
were full of wild animals-indeed, in
severe winters the wolves that then
roamed in frequent packs are still seen,
hungry and fierce is of yore; Outlawed
men from both sides of the frontier
found hiding places in the swamps and
added to their dangers, and those. you
will remember, were the days of the
coiners, of smugglers and OF rebels, for
the stormy period of William Lyon Nc
kenzie aud Papineau was already upon
the country. Sometimes, too, misan-
thrOpic hermit or a lunatic turned Or
son added to the whole an additional
element of romance or horror. OF
crimes, real or rumOred, there was no
lack, and should not like to say that
there were more of the first class than
of the second. The Spectator enumer-
ates few of the tragedies which never
made more than temporary or local
sensation. "A poor, foolish officer"
1t says, "whO had escaped, or. some say,
was eXiled from his native country, was
fOully murdered with an axe at Spring
and the story of his death was never
chroniceld in print. There, too, died a
brave old Pole who had escaped through
many a desperate battle for his country
unharmed. and came out to this land TO
meet a miserable death at the hands of
a murderer. Again, an old negro was
shot in the village of RoctOn some twen-
" years ago, and no arrests were made,
nor did the wild story of the crime find
its way into the columns of any paper.
But one of the most singular of these af-
fairs has just been brought to light, or,
rather, recalled. by the discovery in a
swamp which a farmer named Cornell
was having drained, of the wreck of a
stage coach. His son. in cutting
drain, dug up the thigh bone of a horse;
then further excavations brought To
light pieces of rotten woodwork, leath-
er and rusty bolts. and finally a small
iron box which, being opened with =
hammer and chi>el, yielded several rot
ting and mildcwed papers. They were
nearly all illcgible, the writing having
nearly faded away, hut some of them
much a. could be deciphercd from the
principal and largest paper:
Cole Cooley i desir-posed to be
i'm d-ith-kenSic. He is known To
arms i'm his house. Also--and
Carl Steimnits. who>e-tO the-Iier
Most Gracious Majesty is--cealed.
Make draft at once of every-in the
ghbOrhoOd-arms lying at CrOOk'
HOliow--COlOne Kirby will take
Ommlnd-Certiticat are inclOSed.
You are authorized tO-the sum
c5,OUO-on Mackenzie. dead or alive
or shoot him like dos-hi> body
shall be forwarded to the capital
In another parchment the following
words we're deciphered:
MADALE kEEFER, Preston.
-NADANE:
The bearer i an officer in the
cious Majesty, YOU will give him the
-your dwelling. 1t is well
not be known.
Signed Colonel KIRBY.
Adjutant-
of the 10th Mil
-yice-S3..