St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-07-21
FREE LEWIS TREASURE.
No One Knows Where This Intels
ligent Negro Buried 1t.

No One Knows Where This InteIs
ligent Negro Buried 1t.
Madisonian.
In the old ante-bellum days, when
our people lived in peace and plenty,
the village of Salem, Oconee county,
was flourishing little town of several
hundred inhabitants.
Forty or fifty years ago Salem was a
resort for the prominent men of all that
section contiguous to the place, cOni-
prising portions of Oconee (then Clarke),
Morgan, Greene and Oglethorpe. A
flourishing school OF several hundred
pupils was located there, and few of
the old men now living in that section
spent their young days at this school.
As the railroads were built in the
coantry. Salem's citizens followed the
wake of the iron horse, and her pOpu-
lation gradually decreased. AT period
just before the war there lived i'll this
quiet little village an old negro who
was known as Free Lewis" What
his real name was it is now hard to say,
as he is only remembered by few old
people as Free Lewis" He was an
honest, Woodworking negro, and had
the knack of making money and the
DULL SlOdtCI ldCuity VI odFiilS IL. lAO
had once belonged to MIR. Sweeney, OF
Salem. One day he carelessly asked
his master if he could buy himself free.
His master told him yes, and named the
price, 81, 200. Lewis then began saving
his money, earned at odd times, and at
the end of a few years he had accumu-
lated the amount Joyfuliy he went to
his master and paid the sum. Freed
from the letters of slavery, Lewis began
his trade, for he was carpenter and
blacksmith, and by hard work and close
living he soon had a small amount OF
money laid aside. This pile never
diminished, but daily increased as his
wages were added to it.
Just at the approach of the late war
Free Lewis had in actual gold $4,000.
This is said to be fact well known.
MY father" said Mr. Sweeney Smith
10 Madisonian reporter, chad counted
this money over time after time for old
Free Lewis and he had just $4,000 at
the beginning of the war;" As the war
was drawing nearer and while yet the
thunders of artillery were ready to beat
forth at Fort Sumter, Lewis was sud-
denly taken ill one day and died in
few hours after his attack. In his dy-
ing breath he tried to tell his white
friends where his money was, and all
they could catch of the dying mans
words were, ''mOney-in-gr0und
The thunders of war shook the heav-
ems, and Salem'S sons marched off to do
battle for their country. Calamity they
fought for the cause of the right, and
many lost their lives for the Southern
Confederacy. The war over, the war
riOrs returned to their desolate homes.
The men of Salem, stripped of their prop
erty, remembered the words OF Free
LeWis,n and at once began to work foe
the buried treasure. Knowing THAI
Lewis had not kinsman in the world.
and that the finder would be entitled to
the money, the men worked with all
their might and power. Acre after acre
of land was turned up by plough, shovel
and pick, and every rock was upturEedh
but the treasure was never found.
Years have passed away, whose flying
periods have witnessed other efforts on
the part of Salem's people to discover
the treasure, still the spot is unknown,
To-day $4,000 lie hidden In the quiet
little village of Salem, just beyond the
picturesque Appalachee river. in OcOnee
county, and "Free Lewis" secret Ia
sleeping in his humble grave with his.
Wondering remains. The memory OF
Stree Lewis" and his treasure only
exists in the minds Of few old people
of that section, and his name is rarely
ever heard. 4
That the treasure is buried in Salem
no one doubts, but the exact spot nd
one knows.