The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1891-01-30
A GOLD NINE
N n0Bl z 60rsTf, ELissni.
Moss Pos hiss, jar %, 1851.

ItH i vas y p's "N''' 80
D old my father moved 10 Cottage III
! near Mobile, IL order that The nuaief
Gus Young Dces' might attend schoo
: at the Cottage Hill Academy. jus
north of our residence Iowcd Tor sew
rral miles A small creek known a
Milk House Branch. THIS creek run
into what Is known as Little DO!
River, near Mobile. On each side o.
this creek were deep valleys and higl
hills covered with rocky precipices
caves and gorges; some single rocks
towering above the groand as largo
as our Court-housc. Taese valleys
were covered with grass aud q favor
lie grazing place for our cows and
calves.
This wild country was ihcn Telnem'
bered as the favOrite rendezvous OF
the late gang of robbers kno"H as tho
copeland Clan Many times, while
hunting cows, | have admired these
huge rocks and their different shades
of color, and, in my imagination,
have cften seen robbers and runaway
negroes in the shades of the rocks.
This was in the fifties. Time passed
on, and twenty years later, or about
the wear 1873, | was a man, married,
a railroad contractor, and living al
/ Scranton. Miss.
1t Is well known TO many of your
readers that for years | lived at
Scranton. vet attended the Baptist
Church and Sunday-school at Moss
Point, a distance of four miles, tray-
cling over hve thousand miles going
IN and from said Sunday. school.
Previous TO This time The road from
Scranton to Moss Point passed around
The head of The branch ber ween Capt.
+. III. Ericks0n's store and Mr.. John
Delmas' present residence. About
this time our old friend Mr.. Dan
Price and others opened and straight
cned the road across the branch as il
now runs from where Erickson's
store now stands 10 Cnas. s. COllard's
rcd liquor saloon. This valley, or
branch, was much deeper thea than
now, and all around il was covered
with a dense forest of pine. A color
ed man, Amos White, now the well
known bricklaver of our town, then
lived neal the head of this branch in
what is now known as the Watkins
or Randall property. He had just
married his present wife, who had
come here from Alabama with
the Inflated DR.. Bradticld. At the
time of which | write Mrs. Whites
br1ther, a bright, intelligent yellow
man, was on a visit to see her. This
man, Amos White, IA constantly
working for me and seemed to have a
good deal of confidence in Inc, which.
of course, means that he had a good
deal of use for me, or fot what /
could do TO help him.
One Sunday morning | was coming
to Sumlay-school alone, and just as |
reached the branch or valley aow be-
tween Erickson's store and John Del
mas house, Amos White stepped into
the road aud brckoned me TO stop.
lie came up to my buggy, and while
there were no other persons in sight
or Tearing, he very lnwly said TO me
that he had found out something that
could make lie and [ rich. | asked
him what il was. After making me
pledge 10 him that he should share
with me the expected wealth, he took
from his pocket a white rag aud nm.
tied and opened l., and my ewes were
with the sight of The richest
looking ore | yer saw. II seemed TO
be crushed stone over half of which
bright aud sparkling yellow gold.
Amos sad that some time before an
old black mar with his old wife had
moved iuto a little house near him,
aud seemed 10 keen 10 themselves and
to be surrounded with a mystery.
Mrs. White brother being a kind of
preacher and a sharp and il qui>itive
had gained the confidence OF
these two old negroes and had learned,
piece at a time, part of their secret.
Soon after their freedom they had
as squatters on some land by a
greek that run into Little Dog River,
Mobile. They neither knew or
as to who the Land belonged to,
but built them Z small house thereon,
using some OF the many rocks found
here as house pillows or blocks,
They had no children, so II Sunday
they locked up their house and went
several miles away TO church. On
heir return they were Mortified t.
find their house burned down and all
their savings lost. They began To
search in The ashes to see if ans thing
had not been burned up, and were
surprised 10 find that something had
melted aud run along in the rock on
their house stood. As this was
very yellow and bright the old negro
thought it might be gold. He took
some OF it TO Mobile and showed il to
a jeweler, who tested it AMI al once
said it vas gold, aud begged The old
man to tell him where he had found
il.
This alarmed the old man, so he
be- an to reason with his wife and
himself that IL the owner of the land
as to fluid out their secret they would
lose all and possibly be killed. They
at once returned to where their house
had hcen and dug up several bushels
of the precious metal, put it into sacks
and proved out of Alabama into Mis-
aud Ia Moss Point, aud every
night slept with this bag of yellow orc
their bed, where it had been
TO Amos White and his wife's
brother. A small sample had been
given Amos and he gave me a small
part OF what be had.
The old negro could not be induced
to allow any white man TO know his
secret, nor tell within miles OF where
his house had been burned down, but
Amos thought they had picked him
enough to be able to find the place.
This information, in connection with
my own Enowle1ga of The counfry ro-