Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-03-17

empty pack saddles. He had found the
stolen mules. He had been to the spot
where the thieves ran them OF, and found
them loose in the wood not far from the
road.
About this time the whole of the train
had been brought back. compared the
boxes on the floor with the freighbl list, and
ascertaIned what were the loads OF the 9TH
er mules. do not, OF course, remember
how many boxes were missing, but know
that the value OF their contents was about
100000.
The sun was getting pretty wen down to
the western horizon when a messenger
who had been sent on ahead arrived with
note for me from my partner. He beg
ged me to meet him and his party ON the
road, and to bring my escort OF soldiers
with me. After consultation with the
woodsman, he, /, and one OF his sons went
down the road to meet the party from
Panama. We met them a little beyond
the spot where the mules had been cap
tured. noticed as rode past this spot
that there was hole, perhaps about ten
feet long by half that breadth, just of the
road. The country here was clayey, and
the hole was filled with thick, muddy wa
ter of yellow, ochre tint. 1t had rained
heavily the previous night, and the clay
held the water. About half mile beyond
this place we met the cavalcade from
Panama. At the head OF it rode the Gov
ernor of Panama. Gen. Juan Diaz, and
alongside OF him my partner, Mr.. Nelson.
Close up with them were some forty or
fifty gentlemen, the leading merchants,
business men, and capitalists of Panama.
There We're besides some officers of Gov.
Diaz's staff and company of fifty men
Of the National Guard, with their Off
GERS.
The Governor wanted to go into the
woods at once, but the woodsman, who
was well known to both the Governor and
Mr.. Nelson, declared that he would lend
no hand IN the matter unless we waited
till the next morning. Common sense
prevailed, and the whole party proceeded
to the Guayabal.
The entire party of guest Is who were bill
leted on the house numbered not less than
140 or 100 men, and yet the house shelter
ed them all. 1t ralned during the night
as, think, 1t can rain only on the 18TH
mus. There was not much sleep that
night. The muleteers and the soldiers
seemNl to vie with each other in keeping
up an everlasting singsong refrain in verse
in which every man, woman, and child,
every animal from the growing IT,
ger to the growing cock was mention
ed, all to the low beating of a native
drum.
Daylight came at last. In the tropics
the sun does not rise laZily, but Jumps
out OF bed in jiffy, and is up for all day.
Our party rose in the same way, and in
fifteen minutes after sunrise we were on
the road. A few men and an officer were
left to guard the treasure in the house.
Once arrived at the spot where the mules
were stolen, we dismOunted. AS did so
/ saw the hole full of muddy water to
which I haUn nrnVipfralu rnfRTrnH
dered soldier who was standing along
side my mule to take off his shoes, tuck
up his trousers, and 90 into it. Why, l
don't know, put the idea was strong in me
that the thieves might have put one OF the
big boxes into it. The soldier went in.
The water was half way up his thighs.
He stepped all about it, and nothing
there. l was disappointed.
Then, led by the woOdsman, we entered
the forest. We had not gone over 500
yards into the woods when one of the
woodsman's boys spied the remnants Of a
white-pine box few yards on his right.
1t was smashed to pieces. Evidently its
weight was too great for any one of the
robbers to carry. 1t was one of those betes
llOireS of mine marked "a. a. Co.," and
consigned to Adams Express. The dis
coyery was most exhilarating; we were
positively ON the track
luCu VIC ptAoSSu Sub Vi Tue WOOub l0JO u
small open space, perhaps two acres in
extent OF a graYeHy soil. After the clear
ing we entered the woods again, and re-
member the ground descended sharply
and the walking In the wood was difficult,
so full was it OF moss-coYered, fallen and
rotting trunks of trees. just alongside
one of these fallen trees and half-hidden,
half-sunk in the yielding moss, shone a
small tin box, whose weight told its con-
tents. 1t was addressed to a woman living
at some town in Maine. The box was ev-
identity part Of the contents of the broken
ga. g. Co." box.
These boxes of Adams & Co., which al
ways caused me SO much annoyance by
reason OF their excessive weight, were
made up in their Office in San Francisco,
and enclosed the smaller packages in
trusted by the miners to the agents of the
express company in the various mining
districts. In those early days the miners
would send to their relatives in the East
the stuff they themselves had mined, and
deliver it to the agents Of the express
company, taking the cOmpany's bill OF
lading for it. They preferred this meth
cd of remittance to that of buying drafts
for the amounts from persons COMPARE
lively strangers to them. This accounts
for the small boxes enclosed In those mon
strosities which were shipped to US from
san Francisco.
After descending the hill we came to a
small ravine with steep sides. 1t must
have been roaring, rushing torrent the
night before, but il was on a sharp de-
cline, and now its bed was as dry as a
bone. The wOodsman kept all hands
back, and went down the bank alone. He
turned round suddenly, and, seeing me
on the top of the bank, called me by name
to come down alone / was at his side ia
a moment. He was kneeling down, ex-
aiming, as | thought, the top OF large
stone In the bed OF the gully.
"LOok here" be said; they have cross
ed here, just here, this morning"
Iknelt alongside him. The stone was a
large rough one, evidently washed down
by rain from one Of the adjoining banks.
At the side of the stone nearest the head
OF the gully the sand had been washed up
to it. Had been, / say. But now, be-
tween the stone and the sand, was an
opening the length OF the stone, and sepa-
rating it from the sand, which stood up
sharp. The opening was so narrow that
you could hardly pass the blade
of a table knife into it without moving
the wall OF sand. But 1t was proof enough
for my woOdsman that some person or
persons, and heavily weighted at that
{ for the stone was large one }, had step
ped across IL that morning after the rain
had ceased, and after II bad run out ofths
gully. All he said was: "They are close
by nowW
Just as be had reached the other side,
just OF the stones which lined the bottom
81 l.. . ~