, 1892-03-26

an aha ~ -
Got Their Hands on Itr-Empty Boxss
Only Remained.
tCopyright lss, by Charles b. Lewis.l
In the year lso0-and some of you win
no doubt remember 1.-THE newspapers
had many paragraphs concerning old John
Swinton, OF Creston, La. He was an old
bachelor sixty years old. living IN a small
farm seven miles from the town Of Ores
ton, and he had neither kith nor kin in
America In January OF the year named
he received a legacy from England. / have
heard the sum named as low AS $1,000
al as high as s500,oo0, but ! have the best
of reasons for believing that the exact
figures wers 10000. He got his drafts
cashed in Chicago, and he would take
nothing but gold. This money he shipped
home In sheet iron boxes and buried in his
cellar. He wa5 a hoquacious old man, and
he made no secret of his wealth. On two
occasions he invited friends in and let
them inspect the contents of the boxes. 1t
got into the papers, and no doubt more
han one gang Of robbers laid plans to get
hold of the money.
To prevent being despoiled and perhaps
murdered, the old man surrounded him
self with ten large and savage dogs, and
he armed the house with half "A dozen guns.
After he got the dogs no one dared enter
upon his premises, and on several occasions
travellers on the highway were attacked
Litigation resulted and the old man be-
came Disguised and indignant and left the
state. One would naturally have expected
him to go east, and perhaps to England,
there he could ave fully enjoyed his
handsome fortune, but what did he do but
head for the westl He bought a span of
horses and a covered wagon. loaded up his
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his ten dogs along he made his way to
Council Bluffs to join an emigrnnt party.
He had his boxes OF gold In the wagon. and
PEOPLE along his route in Iowa turned out
TO gaze at his outfit as IL passed. Here and
there he even permitted strangers to look
at the gold. IL has always been n wonder
that he was not robbed, but perhaps those
who would have entered into such a scheme
did not credit the stories afloat and re-
garded him as a boaster or a lunatic.
Swinton Joined a caravan bound to Cali
fornia- / had relatives in the band, and
therefore can state that the party had not
been out two days before every one in 1t
knew Of the gold. Many efforts were made
TO persuade the old man to return to civil.
ration, but he was as obstinate as a mule,
He didn't intend to go to California, but
to stop whenever the country suited him.
There was hardly a tribe OF Indians not on
the warpath against the whites, and there
was no spot where Swinton would be safe
for a day. Arguments proved useless,
however, and he accompanied the party
for many weeks When It had reached a
point about fifty miles from South pass,
in the Wind River mountains Of Wyoming.
the old man found a spot to suit him and
announced that he would go no farther.
The party numbered 100 people, OF which
Orfy.efUht xUara fnan Thav ha1 haap
attacked by Indians no less than eight
times en- route. and had had three men
killed and four wounded. They were now
in n country occupied and overrun with
hostile red men, and n halt was made for
one day in hopes TO persuade Swinton to
keep on. He was as thickheaded and
mulish as ever, and next day was left to
his fate. Perhaps he should have been
forced to go on, but there was trouble
enough from the Indians without creating
more in tho party. He would not have
gone except as n prisoner.
The last white man who saw old John
Swinton alive was the guide of the party,
whose name was Mccall. He rode back a
distance of two miles 20 recover some ar
ticle left behind. and he found the old man
turning his horses out to Craze and look
ing for n site for a cabin. To a last invita-.
ton to accompany the party he waved his
hand and shouted a goodby.
1t was in the spring OF 1861 when the
story got back to Council Bluffs. The war
had then fairly begpn and was exciting
the country, and WI or three expeditions
which were planned to learn the old mans
fate were abandoned. At no time, from
1851 to 1865, could a party have reached
the spot where he halted, as the embold-
ened Indians had regained over 900 miles
NJ lost frpptiar md NVers npIanally yiu-
liant. Meanwhile the story had gone to
England, where Swinton had relatives,
and in March, 1865, jackson Thomas, act
ing for the next of kin, arrived at st. Jo-
seph to organize a party to fight its way
TO the spot n settle the question of
whether the old man was lead or alive.
AS / was one OF the members OF 1t l can
give you the particulars first hand.
There were thirty-six men In the party
as 1t finally got away, and all except
Thomas were veteran cavalrymen OF the
war. The leader was an ex-Confederate
captain named Wakefield, and we were
under strict military discipline from the
first Each man furnished his horse, arms
and ammunition, while Thomas furnished
W wagons loaded with provisions. The
agreement was to pay each man two dol
lars per day on our return, whether sue
cessful or not. II the money was recovered,
then each one was to have n thousand dol
lars as a present, 1t was an adventure
promising both excitement and profit, but
none of us mad the least hope Of securing
the slightest trace of the old man. II we
got his gold 1t would be because he had
buried it before the Indians had discovered
him, and some lucky circumstance would
direct us to the cache.
On the trip to and fro we encountered at
different points an aggregate Of 5000 In
dian warriors. We had fifteen fights with
them, suffering a loss of four men killed.
We spent three days searching the valley
where old John Swinton was last seen, but
not a sign that he had eve been there
could we turn up. We should have felt
the hopelessness of further search even
had the Indians left us to peacefully pur-
sne it. II was the general opinion, and it
was shared by Thomas, that the Indians
had captured the outfit and removed it
miles away before destroying the useless
wagon and killing their prisoner. II not
that, then the man had removed of his own
accord, and might be hundreds Of miles
away. We returned empty handed, were
paid of and d~isbanded. and It was general
ly considered that the search was ended.
In the spring OF the following year, while
] was at Fort Laramie, / met an old hunter
and trapper named Dunn. We got to yarn
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