Daily globe., 1879-03-16

Fl IteWtnaScence or GNerrtttG W0Tfdre--
Sdnty-1iUe Thousand Dollars IN Gold and
Silrer Oaearthed.
Cincinnati Enquirer.
MARRow-BoNE, Cumberland county, Ky.,
March 8.-During the last week sensation
of considerable interest came to the surface,
which l deem worthy of note for the En-
qa1s'er. 1t was nothing more or less than
the discovery and recovery of a vast amount
of gold, silver and precious stones which
have been buried since the beginning of the
war in small cave on the farm of Robert O.
Willis, one mile south of this town. The
treasure consists of about $65, 900 in gold and
silver coin, and about $4,000 present value)
rings, etc. It appears that Mr.. Willis placed
all these valuables in an old sugar kettle.
which he buried in the extreme end of the
cave, covering it over with boards and loose
rock from the side of the cave. His wife
alone he informed in regard to the precise
spot where tho treasure had been secreted.
OF course it would have been very imprudent
to have impaired such an important secret to
any other person or persons.
A few weeks after secreting all this treas
ure, MIR. Willis mysteriously disappeared. It
is supposed he was killed by guerrillas on the
Cumberland river, whittier he had gone with
several head of cattle to ship to Nashville.
He was never heard of afterward, and his
wife mourned for him until the day of her
death, which occurred last Saturday, March
l. Although she was well aware that there
was vast fortune buried in that cave, vet
she did not impart her secret to any person.
and, having good income from the farm,
and no particular need of any of the money,
SO she thought she would let it remain there,
as it was fully as safe as it could be else
where. Grief over the loss of
her husband, and having poor health COM
bined, rendered her somewhat careless and
Indifferent She lived all alone with an old
negro man and his wife as her servants and
companions. They were old slaves-be-
longed to her father-had nursed her in her
infancy, and she was perfectly contented.
She had no children or near relatives, and
few days before Death claimed her as his
own she impaired the secret of the hidden
treasure to these old servants, also to Rev.
John D. Hogan, her pastor, and Messrs.
Owsley and Gore, her attorneys, summoned
to execute her last will and testament.
The treasure was found according to direc-
tionsS all safe and sound and in first class
condition, and it was opened in her presence.
She bequeathed her jewelry and $4,000 to
her old servants, also the old homestead, q
rich farm of some two hundred acres. The
remainder she ordered to be invested in Sc
curities for her husbands benefit, should he
turn up alive in twenty years. If not, that
it be donated to Catholic charitable institu-
tions that may be greatly in need of it at
that time, in Louisville, KY, the
interest to be given from now
on yearly to the orphan asylums
there. This vast treasure was taken to
Glasgow, KY, yesterday, and shipped from
there to Louisville, where it will be deposit
ed for the present with the Safe Deposit
company. The old colored servants who
are thus abundantly rewarded for their de-
votion expressed the wish that their portion
of the treasure be invested for them, as they
did not wish to keep it in the house, fearing
they would be murdered for it,
The cave wherein the treasure has laid un-
disturbed for SO many years has been visited
the last few days by many curious persons,
and our citizens have been greatly excited
over an event of such extraordinary interest,
I forgot to add that Mrs. Willis bequeathed
$1 900 to her home paper, the GLASGOW, Ky.,
Tunes, which, she asserts in her will, was a
source of great comfort to her in her sorrow,
bringing weekly news from her old home in
Barren county, kentucky, and thus for once
in the history of the times, a newspaper is
kindly remembered in ga last will and testa-
ment."