The Portland daily press., 1893-08-03

tbe shape of a suoar loaf, standing nearly y!
s foot high but SO covered with the ME d
| blood of the men that only ,a Low
streaks indicated the metal peneaoni Il no
with it's red, cone-shaped mass mas. e. fra ,o
sembled a great, CORY heart oo alanbant
some monster larger than 'a1,,sa lpyes On
Some of the band crossed I Ield' IN cold
| seeing it muttering that piooo -
| portended bad luck. e+;.+
Inst then tbe mules became frantic at
the smell of blood; before any Jm@ o for
spring to their heads, they dasI l,,a,,r " -
| ward with the wagon over Jig w
| the hill A..
in making this turn at flll ~, speas, re-, onf
| animals swung the wagon Oh w o 80 -; ~
the garde on to the abrupt STONE, anu !; ~
| less time than it takes to deSciipo ~,
| wagon harness, mules, toge1ner Mio1
the dead body of the driver, were pul ltsa
in an inextricable mass alllouS o.e
powders of mountain Gofreno eiAoy
feet below.
Con first leaving the road the wagon
had upset, and dumped the lump u So1u
on to the Welding soil of the slope, 1t
lay half i'm bedded where it fell, ana as
we gathered round it some OF the sup
erstitious ones again started PACK III nor
ror, for all that was visible was
bloody cross lying nearly na1 upon cne
ground, tilted slightly toward US.
But the mystery was easily eAplaIL L ~,
The cross was merely frameWork, on
which the heavy bullion could De more
easily handled while in transit
@The mass Of gold was still nTHly ~
tached to the lower side and sJrlkldlg one
ground when it fell before me lra 5
work it half buried itself. LII had pe zen
set ON it's base at the intersection OIL Gne
two planks, and firmly bound TO us
place by thong after thong OF green raw
hide that continually contracted as IL
dried This was a great convenience 20
us, and while four of the men were us
patched to lead up the horses and secure
the arms and other valuables that were
now of no use to the victims on Top q
the hill, the remaining four Land nold
Of the four ends of the framework and,
struggling up the few yards OF sIeep
slope, set it down al the center OF Jhe
roadway.
"Here, when the horses had arrived, we
spread number of saddle blankets
around an open space about Two ieeI
square, and with pick and shovel thai
had been brought along as part OF the
captains plan we soon had a hole dug
about two feet in depth, into which,,
using two riatas, we lowered the treas
ure, framework and all.
"All the earth that we had taken from
the excavation had been carefully placed
on the outspread blankets, and now, at
| hole, we carried the remainder OF the
earth to little distance and scattered
it over the bank.
Now, muchachos!n said the captain,
| our work is DONE For three or four
months we will operate in another part
of the country, and when it is all forgot
ten we will come back some day with a
wagon and carry away our gold. Vama-
nos! before six months are passed we
shall he rich men,
"a month later, while operating in
distant part Of the State, we were sur
prised one evening while in camp by
large body of soldiers. / was badly hurt
at the first fire, and, unperceived, crawled
away among the rocks, where l lay TILL
daylight within hearing of the soldiers.
After they had gone managed to get
| back to the scene Of the battle, where
/ found every one of my late companions
lying dead and naked.
"At first, in thinking about the
felt dazzled with my riches. Then l
remembered the impossibility of moving
it and getting it out of the country
without others to help me-
FINALLY, brooding over the fate that
had overtaken all who had in any way
been connected with it except me, be-
came SuperStitlOus.
@Twelve men in all, and / was the thir-
tenth for whom death was surely await
ing whenever / again gazed on thai
blood-setained gold and the CORY cross to
which it was attached. / vowed a VOW
to myself never to go near it nor to dl-
vulge the place of it's burial.
II even feared to stay in the country
where it was, and working my way to
the Rio Grande crossed into Texas. ~
San Francisco Argonaut.