National Republican., 1884-09-13
A POT OF GOLD.
Tho Curious Hallucination That Pos
sessed Camden nian-seeking I'm the
Streets for n Buried Fortune That
lie Never Found.

htc NeNer rouhus
Philadelphia Times.
"Old John" Eberhardt was found dead
last night on the Ferry road, near the
cemetery, in Camden. The man was only
40, but his beard has been white, his
figure bowed, his step tremulous, and his
wits obscured for so long that he has been
known since tho days at least of Andrew
Johnson's presidency as "Old john"
Since the year 1866 he has been looking
for fortune in place where only pas
senger railway company could find it
the streets of Camden. His mother, so
he thought, left it to him, and If she had
only lived five minutes longer he always
said that she would hav5 betrayed tho
whereabouts of the fortune for which he
has been looking since.
There is this much certain in proof of
"Old Johns" sanity and tine truth of his
story, that all through the war, at about
the beginning of which the family was
| first heard of in Camden, ,Eberhardt and
| his mother lived in comparative luxury
| on Linden street. and that almost imme-
diately after her death he fell into COM
pleto poverty. Ho then began at once to
| tell the story of the buried fortune, which
| he could not find and for which he has
been looking ever since.
For some weeks after his mothers death
| Eberbardt said nothing about his fortune,
but appeared uneasy and drank heavily.
One morning, about two months after her
death, he was seen closely examining tho
ground of the garden in front of the Lin
den street house where he and his mother
had lived. Tho lease ran out shortly
afterward and the landlord found to his
surprise that it could not be removed, as
his tenant could not pay the rent. Soon
afterward in his cups he told his story,
which has since been common property in
Camden.
Mother had queer notions" he said
about money. Although she had plenty,
which was left her by my faith, :, who
kept general store in Herkimer, New
| York, she was always afraid of becoming
poor. On this account she kept little
piece of land in tho outskirts of Oriskauy
until nearly the year of her death. 1t
was wholly unproductive, and the taxes
were an annual drain, but she said that If
we lost everything beside We could 30
there and raise enough from the soil to
live on.
"Finally, the year before she died she
lost all faith in Investments and securi-
| llto VI ull auug ho bSiAoNOt suh
verted all she had, amounting to about
$4,000 into cash. She hid that some-
where and drew from it for our household
expenses and what money l wanted, but
| where she did hide it / never knew, and
although she tried to tell me when she
died-she was taken very suddenly with
apoplexy and never spoke-l believe |
never will know. of course i looked all
through the house, in every closet and
desk and cupboard, not only for money
but for any paper that might give clew
to its investment If it were not hidden
about the house, but it was gone"
Ebenhardt's story was so.naturally and
forcibly told that at first many people
believed it. The owner of the house
George Q. Sears, permitted the digging
up OF the garden flower beds, gravel
walks, grass plats, and all in the search
for the buried treasure. The new tenant,
of the place also let Il long-haired seventh
son with divining rod loose over the
place at Eborhardt's request. 1t was NJ
use, the hazel rod wouldn't turn down
Some one else lent the man the $40 neces
sary for the divining. rod experiment.
After this, which was half n year after
his mothers death, the man seemed to
lose his mental hold on the great belief
of his lifo. His search was extended
from the garden into tho street
aud once, it is said, though it is 81
long ago that no one vOuches posi-
lively for the story, ho was arrested and
locked up, after weeks feeble excava
tion with stick, for digging hole IL
which butchers horse had broken hi
knee. His small means, his scant credit
and most of the charity called forth by
his story were exhausted in years time
and since then ho has been regarded gen
orally in Camden as q pauper idiot.
That there has boen much light on his
mind clouded by his great misfortune oil
hallucination, no one who has seen hin
of late years could believe. He wa
ragged and stopped with frowsy gra.
beard, and went about on q continua
poke with knotted stick, that foreve
scratched in the dust, mud, or snow 10
the buried treasure. His research ha
led him rs far out of town as Riverside
, How or whero no has lived Of late no on
: seems clearly to know.
: IIo was found dead, as stated above, oil
, Ferry road last night, very ragged thin
: and dirty. His stick lay near him, an,
/ beside il was n little furrow in the soil
/ the last trace of "Old Johns" fruitles
r search for his mothers fortune.
Precautions Against Cholera.
/ Surgeon General Hamilton spys tina
? tho most rigid quarantine precautions al
observed on tho Canadian frontier agains
) the importation of rags from there int
: this country. The Canadians themselve
! enforce stringent precautions Tho Eng
: lish ports from which reshipments ar
! made from infected districts,are rogarde
> by the Canadian authorities rs infeote
| thpnpa ia nrnh ih