Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1884-07-28
A SOUTHERN ROMANCE.
Che Contents of an Old safe Dis
covered and Given TO a Pennies
Girl.

A correspondent of one of the
! Cincinnati papers. in q recent letter
I from jamestown, Y. c., says: This
quaint old place. which lies in the center
Of one Of the Quaker settlements, was
during the war favorite resort of 'refu-
gees, By which name were designated
those persons who's. homes "a the eastern
section Of the state were inside the dan
ger line. or in coIaties already held by
the federal troops. la this sleepy town
these found a haven of refuge, and
made themselves comfortable, 10 remain
while the war lasted. They brought
here their money, and the old fashioned
bank stored Confederate bonds and cur
rency in great amounts, The crash came
in the fatal 1865, and Stoneman's raid
ers whirled down so near that most of
the refugees prepared to fly. A little later
the war ended. The big old safe, as
solemn as the grave and as chary of its
secrets, was shut But few of the de-
positors had withdrawn the now value
less currency II contained. Some of the
refugees had died; Others had been sud
denly called away; others at the last
moment, amid all the excitement of the
hour, left. The bank, dead corpora
ton, ceased SO exist, dying as it had
ived-lazlly. Years rolled by, each
making the old safe and its secrets more
solemn still, as it stood cobwebbed in one
of the lower rooms of the gloomy old
bank building. Rumors of its contents
being of value began to be created in the
fertile field-imagination and it was
whispered that in its deep recesses lay
piles OF solid silver, vast quantities of
bonds, jewelry worth princes
ransom, and, finally the contents
of the safe became mat
ter of daily conjecture Last
year the boom in Confederate bonds began
Sleepy old jamestown was insensible to
''boom." The word was too new What
of it? But nevertheless, one day two
hoary-headed old officers of the long dead
bank hobbled to it, opened the door and
entered the musty room, in q recess of
which sat the great safe. They tried the
lock; it would not open. A locksmith
was sent for, but even his efforts were UNI
successful. The old man gave up the at
tempt, but others took up the work
Keen spectators bent their hearts on get
ideas, said he would see that it was forced,
but kept his own counsel. On Wednesday
last another procession, if SO it might be
termed, entered the building, one of the
men who composed it being a man whose
bullet head and cropped hair gave him the
aspect of criminal. He looked at the
safe. The others retired. Half an hour
later there was an explosion. Returning,
the party found the door of the safe
open. The man, pardoned convict
from the penitentiary at Raleigh, who
in bygone DAYS had been 'cracksman.
had made speedy work concerning the
ANTIQUE safe The old man. ex-convict,
two spectators in confederate bonds
and a half-doZen other spectators were
in the room while outside were . curious
crowd Of perhaps a hundred. The safe
was ransacked From its capacious
depths were taken out quite So, 600, 900
in confederate bonds and nearly 81, 000,-
900 in State bonds, and as much in Con
federate and State currency. The bonds
were tied in rolls or in boxes, and the
names Of the owners could be found in
but one case. On large roll was found
the name Of Adam Exum, 1863 The
bundle was found to contain 1000
one-t thousand dollars Confederate bonds.
What the long dead owner had
paid full value for, and what
had been for years so much
waste paper, had become worth $3.50
per $1,000. But strange as past
events might seem, future ones were
even more curious. 1t was found that
Exum had gone to Charleston, S. c., in
October, 1868, and nothing had since
been heard of him. His son, soldier,
had been wounded, had married after
the war in Virginia, had come back to
North Carolina, died in 1871, his wife
following year after and their child,
girl, had been placed in an orphan asy-
lum The action Of the ex-bank officers
was prompt and just. When told about
the girl, so poor, so desolate, they sold
the bonds on which were her grand
fathers name, and sent the money they
brought ($S, 800 to a Raleigh bank, no.
tifying the superintendent Of the orphan
asylum, where the girl is being cared
for. The case is d curious one in all re-
spects, and is attracting much attention
IN the State wherever known. The girl
is intelligent and modest, and, though
no great fortune comes to her, yet the
strangeness of its coming gives to it an
interest which would not ordinarily at
tach to it. The girl has been sent to
leading school
The Iron Virgin.
In description of some of the appl-
aOrpc for1oarlv 11Sad IN CavmSnv IN ayaot