The St. Johns herald., 1893-09-07
IN AN UNEMPLOYED POOL.
Three Hundred Thousand Dollars whicl

Three Hundred Thousand Dollars Which
 Escaped Capture by Texas Bandits. ] In the early part of the present cen- tury, when San Antonio, Tex, was the home of many wealthy Spaniards and the commercial center of all north ern Mexico, mule train started for that I city from the City of Mexico. There were thirty mules, each loaded with eight thousand silver dollars and consid- erable amount of gold coin, the total amount being about three hundred thousand dollars, says the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. The caravan was in charge of Capt. Palacio Flores, prom inent and trusted employe of the gov ernment. In addition to the drivers of the mule train, there were about fifty wel1-armed and equipped guards. The old and well-worn highway | through San Luis Potosi and Monterey was taken and the dangerous noun tain defiles of South Saltillo were passed without any attack on the train being made. The Rio Grande river was crossed a few miles above La redo and the train made it's way rapid ly toward San Antonio. In those days the national highway passed through what is now Dimmit county, Tex, fol- lowing the bank of Pena creek for sev- eral miles. On the bank of that stream was faVorite camping place, which is now called Grand Rock water hole. This hole is located at a sharp bend in the stream, and is of an unfathomable 1 s,o f into any interior cavity. When this camping place was reached Capt. Flores decided to remain there a few days, resting the mules preparatory to making the one hundred miles still re- maining between there and San An tonic. He considered that all the dan gerous portion of the country had been passed through, and only left ten men on guard the first night. Even this number seemed unnecessary, as there were no signs of any attack, and no pickets were posted on the following day.
 It was about noon on that day when band of brigands suddenly rushed upon the unprotected camp out of dense live oak thicket. Capt. Flores and his men were taking their noon- day siesta when the attack was made, but they did not submit without des- perate struggle. The bags of gold and silver were piled in a heap near the deep water hole, and when Capt. Flores found that the brigands were about to get possession of the wealth he ordered the drivers to throw it all into the placid pool. The command was obeyed, and the brigands massa cred every member of the mule train party with the exception of driver named Alejandro Lajero, who succeed ed in making his escape, proceeded to San Antonio, where lie gave an ac- count of the terrible adventure, a rec ord of which was made at that time and is still in existence. His story was discredited until the parties to whom the money had been consigned made an investigation and found the bones of the victims and evidences that the bandits1lad made efforts to recover the wealth from the pool. Attempts were made to explore the hole, but without success. Heavy weights have been sunk to depth Of several thousand feet, but the bottom of the hole has never been reached. A few months ago James L. Morgan, an eastern cap italist and the owner of an extensive ranch in southwest Texas, was passing through Dimmit county, when he was told the story of the hidden wealth in the Grand Rock water hole. He vis- ited the mysterious spot and became so deeply interested in the remarkable tale that he decided to make supreme effort to explore the depth of the hole in search of the three hundred thou sand dollars and recover the wealth if possible. He is now in the east super intending the construction of devices and machinery to be used in the pro- posed work. e.-~sf-.ss5@ss