The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1879-05-17
The Gold Hunters.

W illC uoMH 1S llolittty, III you nave
any call to mention me; then any of the
old boys that may be around yet and see it
will know 1t is me. Holiday was sort of
purscr's name, you see, that wore OH the
Slope in 40"
Of stature, lean of ''ody and limb, wiry and
tough, somewhat sloy of speech and low
voiced, nearly SIXTY years DID, but active as
most men arc at half his aye But to his
story:
''Thcrc was lots Of money lost in the
mines in them days that wasn't spent for
whisky nor buckcd against game. We
had no safe-dcposit companies and no saw
ings banks. Every man hid his nuggets
and his dust just the best way he could
Sometimes it would be in hole deep un-
der the fire in the earth of his cabin, or
some other place in the earth floor; some
times in the ground under tree in some
lonesome, mlikely-lookin place /; or, may
be in the open, a certain number of feet
toward some pint Of the compass, from Il
little innoccnt-looking stick stuck down, or
big stone. 1t wasn't uncommon for them
caches to be lost by their real owners and
found by other fellows. l know'd of n
Frenchman that hid about $4,000 worth of
dust, and went on to the American River
prospcctin, and when he came back, three
months after, he couldn't find it, Some
body had kicked out the little stake he had
put down to mark it, and he was all at sea.
lie dug all around where he thought it
it might be, but never found it, and at last
went off heartbroken to Frisco. Then,
when he was gone, smart Chap that had
been watchin' him set to work and ground
sluiccd the whole place for two acres around
and got the pile,
''Fhcre was fellow on the Tuolumne,
where was, by the namc of IIanaford,
think; but | can't be certain now, it was so
long ago. Anyhow, they used to call him
Bill. Hc was III with two pards, and they
had good claim and was doin' well, when
his brother came out. Well, of course,
Bill couldn't take him in, sccin' us their
gang was full, so he advised him to strike
out prospcctin' for hissclf. The young
chap didn't take to it very kindly, for he
was grcenhorn in minin' ways, and didn't
think he stood much show; still he did the
best he could. One day when he was goin'
back to camp dead-bcat and disgrstcd, he
sat down under tree to rest hissclf, and
while he sat there the idea come to him
why the devil should the gold be all out
in the open, down in the bars, where the
sun is hot enough to blister n hair trunk?
Why mightn't it just as well be in the
shade, like under this tree, where a fcllGr
could work in comfort2 And who knows
but what it ISL So in a sort of Indifferent
way he set hisself to dig hole, thinkin' to
pan out some of the s'ilc, for lie was alto
gether green, you know; but when he got
down bit his pick struck somcthin of
metal, and in minute or two he had hooked
up tin can with more'n $4,000 in it., in
dust and little chunks and nuggets of pretty
good size. Of course he had sense enough
to know that gold didn't come naturally
that way in tin cans, put up like fruit or
turkey but he knew also that out there in
them times man hadn't much clear title
to anythin' he didn't have his hand on, and
'tindin's Is kcepin's' was the general rule.
SO he frozo to that big streak of luck and
took 1t into camp with him. Then he whis-
pered to his brother the rich find he had
made, and Bill took mighty lively interest
In It.
"Whorc did you find IT." says he. And
the young fellow described the place to him
as well as he could. 'Why, you unholy
buccaneer,' says Bill, that's my cache
you've been plunderin' and it's my gold
you've got' Thenhc went on, before look
ing at the gold, to describe some Of the big
gest nuggets, to identify it by. There's a
flat one biggcr'n my thumb nail, says he,
of the shape of an Irish harp, and another
like dumbbcll; two blobs with thin bit
between 'em, and half an inch long and
one like ham, with star Oh one side
'And so on. And, sure enough, when
they came to look, 1t was his gold, and Sec
in 1t was his brothers, the young fellow
gave 1t up.
''In '62 there was big excitement about
Australia, and a good many Of the chaps,
thinking they'd have better chance there,
the reports bein' so big, struck out from
California for the now Australia diggin's.
Among the rest, prize-fghting gang at
Murphy's camp, at Calaveras county, made
up their minds to go. There was Johnny
O'Brien, Sam Banty, Mike MCGEE, and one
they called Sir Lisle Ciccly---all pretty well
known names, that good many livin' now
Fast as well as West, will remember--that
were goin' They SGT day to start, and
O'Brien he went to dig up his gold, which
he had buried in the ground floor Of tho ca
bin, in q certain spot close down By the
wall He dug and dug and 1t wasn't there.
Hs shouted he was robbed, and there was q