Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1886-01-06
A LOST CHAPTER OF HISTORY
How q Pile of Gold Disappearcd-The
Last Meeting OF Davis Cabinet.

1866, writes an Abbeville, 8. c., CORE
spondent to the New York Sun, g. train
drew up at the depot here with a mys-
terious car attached. With it came
several agents, who busted themselves
in hiring teams for the transportation
of the contents of this car. Abbeville
is about twenty miles from the Savan-
nah River, which divides South Caro-
lima from Georgia, and is the terminus
of the branch of the Columbia &
sGreenville Railroad that runs of about
twelve miles from Hodges depot to
this village. Consequently. the only
way to reach the Georgia frontier is
by horse power.
By 10 o'clock that night enough
horse teams were secured, and they
began loading from the mysterious
car. The goods rolled out were in
stout little kegs of phenomenal weight,
and though the packages were small,
they taxed the strength Of the able
bodied negroes detailed for the work.
At length the loading was accom-
plished, and amid thef1ash of lanterns
and the cracks of whips and the cries
of drivers, the long line of teams pulled
out of the muddy railroad yard up
the steep, SLOPPY hill, through the vii
lage streets, where curious crowds had
gathered to watch them pass, and
disappeared in the darkness on the
winding ''snake-road" that leads to
Georgia.
When the teams had gone about ten
miles, forty or fifty masked men rushed
upon the astonished drivers and care
takers, held them mute under the
muzzles of pistols, and proceeded to
unload the wagons of their stout little
kegs. A cloth was spread upon the
ground, and around 1t assembled the
ring, with Pickering torches held allow,
while def hands stove in the heads of
the kegs and poured their contents in
to single heap. 1t was gold, bright,
yellow, glittering gold pieces by the
thousand! The hungry eyes behind
the masks cleaned with reflected
avarice. It was a weird, mystic scene,
like q page from some Arabian
romance. The abyssmal silence of the
forest, broken only by the rearing and
plunging of the affrighted mules, the
shriveling ring of light varying as the
torches were moved to and fro, the
surrounding gloom, the anxious faces
of the negro drivers gazing with start
ed eyes and gaping lips upon this fam
tastic spectacle, the eager circle of
masks, and last, the solid pile of SOW
ereigns, the center of the whole-all
formed q panorama which those who
saw will never forget.
With all possible haste the money
was divided up between the masked
men, and in fifteen minutes they were
gone. So was the gold. Nothing re-
manned but the empty kegs and empty
wagons, and the care-takers of this
last remnant Of the Confederate treas
ury, sent the teams back to Abbeville,
while they continued on their way to-
ward Georgia. What became of the
money and who got it remains to-day
a profound secret, and will probably
never DE learned. My information
about the forest scene was derived
from one of the negro drivers OF the
teams, to whom a mask had thrown a
tin bucket of gold in exchange for a
commodious carpet-b bag, and he
showed the gold in confirmation of
the story.
A few days after this stray squads
OF Wheeler's cavalry began to wander
through the town. Sherman's army
had passed through Georgia and
through part of South Carolina a
little lower down than Abbsville, and
was now sacking and burning Column
bia. The broken forces which op-
posed Sherman were taking the back
track a little higher up and seeking to
reach the pine-lands of Georgia.
One evening about shutdown Jeffer-
son Davis reached Abbeville. Judah
P. Benjamin was with him and two
other members of his cabinet, think,
but who they were | do not now re-
member. Abbeville is long, strag-
Cling town of one street, being built on
the crest of g. hill until it reaches a
point where it branches of into the
upper or western part. just In this
fork is situated what used to be the
residence of Armistead Burt, who was
before the war q congressman from
South Carolina. Mr.. Burt is dead
now, and the house is In strange hands.
The house itself is a square, stolid,
unpicturesque three-story building,
surrounded by what used to be lovely
grounds and gardens and orchards.
Jefferson Davis apd his cabinet pro-
ceeded to the house OF Mr.. Burt, where
they were Hospitality received.
A strange coincidence! Has it ever
been noted before? | believe not.
Here was about to be performed the
last official act of the Confederacy,
while hardly a stones throw from the
spot was Secession Hill, the grove
which gave birth to the war. Just
four years previous this ampitheatri-
cal hill, shaded by oaks and other
giant trees, was filled with sea of ex-
cited faces, all looking toward a stand
constructed against three tree trunks
and containing the leading men of the
state. 1T Sas the first of the Sc.
cession meetings. Speaker after speak.
er dilated in glowing terms on the ne
cessity of severing the relations of the
state with the Union, and every word
was cheered to the echo. At length