Omaha daily bee., 1884-08-13
A POT OF GOLD.
How 1t is Sought in The Rugged
Clutches Of The Divide with.
ont Result.
Supposed to Have Been Hidden
in the Fairly Days by a
Miner Who Died.
A Crank Who Has Made n I'fe's
Work of Seeking the Lost
Coffee Pot.

Denver News.
An old man, with a long grey beard,
sallow complexion, lustreless grey eyes
beneath shaggy eyebrows. clad in q rough
miners suit of clothes, and with a small
stiff felt hat on a large head, makes his
appearance on the streets OF Denver every
two or three weeks. He then disappears
only to reappear as from q crack In the
earth. When in the city he f~requents the
West Side, and Is often seen on Tenth
and Eleventh streets shutting along, eyes
bent to the ground as if searching for
something. He notices no one, and If
spoken to sometimes deigns to reply, and
again pays no attention to the speaker,
not even looking at him.
He was pointed out to a News reporter
yesterday as a man with a history. The
reporter had often seer the man, but took
him to be a harmless crank.
eyes" the person with the information
continued, ''that old fe low Is crazy on
the subject of recovering a lost treasure.
He has spent money and time In trying
to find
C~oFFEE-PoT FULL OF GOLD
dust, said to have been lost by an early
prospector for gold on Cherry creek"
"What is his name2"
"Harvey Simms. He is a carpenter,
but has not worked at his trade for a
number of years. Shortly after he came
to Colorado he learned that a miner
named Joslyn, who was with Green Rus
sells party, died in a little cabin on a
gulch in Douglas county. He was known
to have taken out a considerable guam
tity of gold dust, which he kepa in a tin
coffee pot. Miners supposed that he had
at least $40, ZOO. After his death a care
full search was made for the money, but
it could not be fonnd; In fact, 1t is more
than probable hat he never had gold dust
to amount to anything, but such was the
story.
"When Simms heard the stoiy he quit
work, and has been searching for that
lost coffee pot ever since. I'll bet he has
dug up enough ground to have dug a
ditch clear across the state, or had he ex-
pended the same amount of labor on the
great
hF'D A'ANiN N't'h
1t would now be completed"
GLOW does he procure money to carry
on his researcher"
"He works by the day in some mine
until he has secured enough money for a
good stake, then he starts out on his
search and keeps at 1t until his grub gives
out. A month or 80 ago it dawned upon
his clouded mind that he could wash out
enough gold to pay his expenses, and
now he never comes to Denver unless to
get a pointer"
"What do you mean?'
"Why, he Is dead struck on fortune
~tellers, and whenever he has q dollar OF
two ahead he comes to the city and con-
suits them. You know there are several
here who pretend TO be able to reveal
the whereabouts of hidden treasure.
About five weeks ago / met the old man.
Ae was highly elated, and actually talked
to me for al hour or more. / saw MIN
in front of the west Denver Turner hall,
when he came up and spoke to me. /
had met him an hundred times before
without being noticed. He told me that
he would be a rich man inside of q month
Il ilhu JubO EcJuIlcu Hull
A VISIT TO A FORTUNE TELLER,
who has given him explicit directions
how to find the gold, and he was positive
that the long sought dust would soon be
his.
81 drew the old man out and he in
formed me, very innocently, that he had
described the country where he was
working as accurately as he could to the
woman and then she drew him a diagram
of the spot whore the coffee pot was.
The old fellow grew communicative and
told me all about his searches for the
money. He has it located now at a spot
distant from Parker, on the Denver and
New Orleans railroad, about six miles, In
Reeds gulch. He said he had formerly
prospected for the location in several
other gulches but was now satisfied that
he was on the right track, and would moi
let up until the coffee pot and contents
were his.
81 learned from the old man a good
deal of his history. He came from Hook.
ensport, Ohio, where his wife and
W MARRIED DAUGHTERS
are still living. j tried to reason him
out of his wild scheme for amassing
wealth, but gave 1t up as a hard job, as |
saw he took me for tho fool of the two
"His being back In Denver goes to
prove that he didn't accomplish anything
by his last eifort2"
"No; he told me yesterday that he
was within fifty feet of the wealth, but his
tunnel caved in and he was forced to dis
continue work for awhile. 1t seems
that the woman, to throw IN air of mys-
terry around her divination, had told the
old fool he must dig a tunnel, and he
obeyed her. She knew she was sure of
another fec. The old fellows pertina.
city In his search has caused others to
follow his example, and l am told that
there are at least fifty persons now
searching for that lost coffee pot. Mr..
Simms, however, is confident that no one
can find it but himself. Some day he
will be found In a gulch, shovel In hand,
dead, nearer the golden gate than the
golden coffee pot"