San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-11-09
TONS OF GOLD.
...,i, Search for a Hidden rreasury-A Min.
4 Roman 1rlyen Mad and Terrible Death.


% men whe have spent the past summer
y searching for the Lost Cabin"
about which there was so much dis
snssion in this Territory several years
400. 1t was built by party of four
'1ep who in 1868 made a wonderful
discovery of gold at point supposed
10 be somewhere near the line between
Montana and Wyoming. In less than
. week after the discovery was made
a marty of hostile Indians made de-
scent on the discoverers and killed all
Int one of them. The survivor, a
man named Thomson, made his'ap-
nearance in Alder Gulch and set the
camp on fire with the tale of the Won
derful discovery which he and his
companions had made. The discov-
ery was said to consist of a ledge of
onartz several feet in width, with
streaks of pure gold running through
it averaging from one to seven inches
wide. The story was marvellous and
if the public pulse had not been at
that time in a feverish condition on
account of the vast quantities of the
precious metal then being taken out
weekly from the placers of. Alder
Gulch, it's truth might have been ques-
toned. But under the circumstances
no one thought of doubling it for an
instant, especially when Thompson
exhibited several ragged chunks of
gold that had the appearance of hav-
ing been broken from a mass of the
glittering metel, and this Thomson
asserted was the case. The camp
went wild. A hundred men stood
ready and anxious to follow Thompson
to the spot if he would only lead them.
But Thompson suddenly disappeared,
and afterwards news came of his
death in the Big Horn country.
A MAD MINER.
81 had been in California several
years." said the last searcher to the
reporter yesterday, when, in COM
pany with friend, I visited the State
Lunatic Asylum, the Warden called
our attention to particular case in
his charge. 1t was of a man who
occupied all his time in drawing rough
maps OF diagrams on the wall of his
cell. These drawings were all alike,
and the walls and floor of his cell were
covered with them. They were of
some mountainous country, with a
river running through it from the
south and a smaller stream putting
into the river from the east in about
the center of the map. From the
point of junction of these two streams
a line was drawn due south to peak,
marked three miles, and thence it
continued in a zigzag line in a south
erly direction with the length of each
straight line marked. At the extreme
end of the line circle was drawn
with cross in the center. AS soon
as | looked at the crazy map-maker l
recognized him. 1t was Thompson.
| was subsequently told that after
going from Montana to California he
had lost all his money and then was
taken down with a fever. He was
adjudged insane and sent to the asy-
lum, where 1 found him. He had
been there three years.
We stepped into the cell. 1 ex-
amined the maps on the wall and asked
Thompson about them. He seemed
willing enough to talk about other
matters in a very disjointed manner,
however concerning his map he
would not say a word. On finding
that the man way Thompson it imme-
dlately occurred to me that the map
was intended to show the point at
which the Lost Cabin and the Won
derful deposit of gold were located,
and the questions which I asked were
propounded with view to getting
clew. After questioning him unsuc-
cessfuly for some time 1 put my finger
on the circle in the map and asked
him:
is that gold?"
His answer was to spring at me in
Wild rage. l knew from this that |
mad guessed his secret. We all with
drew from the cell and at the first
opportunity 1 had an interview with
one of the physicians of the institu-
non and told him what l knew about
thompson. / also told him that there
was little doubt of the existence of the
deposit of gold, and that Thompson
could lead us to it. The physician
mad previously informed me that the
patient was sometimes to all pur-
poses perfectly sane for weeks, and
now suggested that the next time
one of those lucid intervals occurred |