The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1883-11-14
E F DAVIS JEWELS.
The Story of Their Burial in a Gar
den in Georgia
A MIsereant's Trick by which He
Gained Possession OF the Treas
ures from "a Dying
m

During the winter of "a and '65 the Con-
federnte government, on account OF their
railroad communications being destroyed in
50 many places, built a pontoon bridge across
Savannah river, a little over a mile below
old Petersburg, which Is at the mouth Of
Broad river. or, in other words, at the juno
ton Of tho two rivers. This pontoon was
about half way between Washington,
Georgia, and Abbeville, South Carolina. In
the early part OF '65 there was an almost con-
tinual stream Of soldiers going and coming
on that road. About three and one-half
miles from the bridge in Lincoln county,
Georgia, lived the widow of David Minis
Moss, with her three small children. They
owned a fine plantation, were prosperous.
One evening a larger crowd came to her
house than usual, finer teams, finer dressed
men, everything be~tokening some distin-
guished parsonage. At last a tall, fihe look
ing gentleman came up and introduced him
self as Gen. Breckenridge, asked for supper
and room, and said they would not stay the
night, but only wanted the room for a short
time. She opened the parlor to them, and
in a short time the room was full of gentle
men, also boxes of various sizes. Mrs. Moss
soon found out that she was entertaining
President Davis and his cabinet. Her health
mt that time was very bad, and she became
very much excited over all that WIS going
p"f @NA u hCb oAGtPs wv A O&AptA 81
III she heard knocking at the parlor door,
and answered it in person. She was met by
Gen. Breckinridge, who gave her $50 in gold,
and, turning around and looking at the con-
fused state of the parlor, the boxes, papers,
etc, lying liz every direction, said to her:
"We give you what we leave" was under
the impression that the last cabinet meeting
was held then, but Capt. McLendon says in
Washington. Maybe he is correct.
-
and the next morning she and a young sis
ter went into the parlor to clean up. They
commenced moving the boxes, but at last
they calne upon one that was very heavy.
They examined it, and found 1t was full of
the finest diamond jewelry and all other
kinds They secretly moved the box in
Mrs. Moss bedroom and put it under the bed,
and that night those two lone ladies carried
IL IN the garden and buried it. The garden
had just been freshly spaded up for the regu-
lar spring work., and it was not noticed. For
a short time things moved on very quiet.
At last several Yankees came up and made
inquiries about the box, but she told them she
knew nothing about it, and they left. Then
came on the gold excitement, and several of
the best people were taken and hanged by
the thumbs to make them toll about the gold.
All this excitement was too much for Mrs.
Moss already enfeebled system, and she was
compelled to take her bed. While lying
there, she brooded over her secret, and at
last concluded that she would tell everything
10 her pastor and act on his advice. She did
so. Her pastor was, If / remember correctly,
the Rev. L. w. Stephens, now of Hart. He,
after bearing her story, very wisely told her
to keep it it was certIi.lJ e.s, more SO
than any ones else. 1t was given her by Gen.
Breckenridge, and even If by mistake, it was
hers unril the nrOrar M rffpe calla1 fot. IL
This quieted her, and for a while things were
as usual. About this time l received a mes
sage from her to come and see her; that she
wanted to see me on important business: said
that she did not expect to live long. Circum-
stances over which l had no control pre-
vented me. never saw her any mora.
A few weeks, perhaps over a month be-
fore she died, some Yan,ee officers came
to her house, searched all over, took
her off her bed and searched it, also the
mattresses and everything connected
with it. As a matter of curse they
found nothing. About two weeks before
she died a fellow came and took a book from
his pocket and read to her a list of the arti-
cles, and told her that he was sent for them,
that they were overlooked that night In the
hurry Of departure, and l suppose he made
everything very reasonable. She was very
low. Nobody being about her but ladies
who knew nothing about the box, and no one
to give her advice, and this fellow being so
plausible, she told him where it was, and the
Internal miscreant, after getting all, had to
search everything to see if there was moth
ing else, and she a dying woman. After this
fellow and his squad left there were various
speculations about it. l put it up this way
at the time: The box contained the jewelry
of the ladies of the south, sent on by them
to assist the Confederacy, or it was jewelry
deposited by the ladies for safe keep
ing with the treasurer, and at
the capture of Richmond a memo
randum of the things was found, and
as they were not in Richmond they were
with Mr.. Davis, and when Mr.. Davis was
captured they were not with him, conse-
quently they had been left somewhere OIL the
road. This last fellow reaped his reward,
and he got n fortune.
To give you an idea of the value. there
was one brooch made like a humming bird
the eyes were diamonds, and the wings were
studded with the same, and 1t seemed to he
always in a trembling motion, and every
motion seemed to give additional brilliancy.
A few days after Mrs. Moss had given up
the box that noble-hearted Christian woman,
Mrs Julia Cade of Ebert, went over to see
Mrs. Moss. She then related to Mrs. Cado
all that / have stated above about this box,
and she also told her that she had sent me
word to come and see her; that she had
wanted to place the box in my possession
for the benefit of her children, as / was the
nearest relation OF her husband, he being my
uncle, and she thought l could dispose of il
better than any one else she could think OF.