The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-10-13
SOUTHERN POTS OF GOLD.
WARTIME DEVICES TO CONCEAL
VALUABLEs FROM GUERRILLAs.
Gags of Money Hidden SO Securely
That They Haven't Been RecOv-
cred Yet-shifts 10 Escape Torture
nv PIundererS.

For a hundred years 70 come there Will
be tales of treasure trove from that large
section Of the mid-south which was for
three years OF the civil war a debatable
land. wherein. outside the army posts,
there was no security OF person or prop
erty The invaders themselves had a
pretty taste for looting, but they were
nothing like so rapacious as the guerril-
las, who plundercd imDartially men Of all
synpathies, and as often sported blue and
brass as the confederate gray. The guer-
rillas had. indeed. but a single active
principal pillagc Gold was at an enor-
nous premium. and nearly all the rich
agricultural country produced crops OF
cotton or tobacco. both equivalent to gold
in the controlling European marts. The
owners Of such crops were in a way be
tween the devil and the deep sea. 1t was
extra hazardous 10 sell and hoard the
proceeds. yet TO undertake to store the
produce was to invite the guerrilla s
ready torch. Then, too. the country
swarmed with traders. so facile of con-
science as not to turn hair in swearing
TO support both the contesting govern
ments three time 10 the same week. 1t
was only by such facility that they man
aged to get what they bought, either north
or south They gave liberal prices. enor-
nous. indeed on the face. when payment
could be made in greenbacks. If Ken
lucky bank notes were demanded by the
seller, there was something Of reduction.
but II the payment was in gold, prices
went down. almost out Of sight
stin vary many did insist on having
gold, and found life a burden after they
got IL. The writer remembers, as smaii
cnild, the weeks OF unrest that Followed
the coming into the house OF a TAT baS
OF double eagles Ia exchange Tor many
hogs neads OIL tobacco. IN that time anG
place. Sold was more dangerous than ~ -
Mantle All the household had heard win
curdlng blood tales Of the fortunes old
men had endured during attempts to
make them reveal the hiding place or
their money. one, family connection,
HAD been strapped to a board, ana AeId
with ms feet to a slow fire until they were
so crisped he never walked again. yet 10
the last he had kept stoutly silent. AM
other had been swung up by the thumbs
throughout long cod night, with noen-
ing on but the garments In which ne
had been dragged from bed. An old We
man miser had been beaten raw and her
wounds washed with vinegar Indeed, eN~
cry variety OF torture that fendish ingc-
nuity could devise was said to have been
practised toward the unhappy possessors
of hidden treasure.
So IL became a matter of first import
ance to be able 10 say truthfully that
you knew nothing of such thing. Heads
OF families, Of course bore the brunt OF
questioning, and IL was therefore deter
mined that the Smallest Of the family
should be intrusted with the task OF Sc
GREETING the gold. To this day it brings "A
thrill and creepy feelings up and down the
spine 10 recall going out into the big WOOD
alone, wandering there for an hour. ana
at last scrambilng up d big hollow o.,
into an upper cavity of which a heavy
sealed tin box was dropped, there to re-
main. untouched, unmatched. until its con-
tents could be sent by a sure hand to New
York city for investment. That was d
Na la n
chance sudden death had come. the money
would most likely be there yet as the tree
stood in the edge OF a bit of marsh land
that is unlikely ever 10 be cleared ana
cultivated.
Sudden death did come in many cases.
one old farmer, who had held three years
crops until prices were at their highest.
got $1,000 in the yellow metal, took 1t
home and gave il TO his WIFE bidding her
an easy-going, unthrifty sort of body, and
buried II in the garden in plain sight Of
everybody about the place, taking only
b ns pf on ton e set fstrasggng rose
above the gold bag of silver that she
herself had saved up. That was Friday
night. On Sunday the family all went
TO preaching. When they came home the
rose tree lay uprooted, the bag Of silver
was gone, an so were wagon and team,
besides a family Of negroes They had
taken all their belongings and so much
OF their masters, and run away to the
nearest federal outpost, which was twenty
have been foolish The farmer eyed the
rined hole q minute, then thrust his arm
down into 1t. scratched about furiousiy,
clutched something deeper down, and
brought up the bag of gold The silver
had saved the gold. The despoilers, finding
T. had not thought to dig deeper But
the owner was not satisfied to trust his
Wifes hiding further. He was a Cody
man, but, Sunday though It was, ne
swung the bag over his shoulder and
come back until the night was well on and
said nothing of what he had done with
the money. He never said awning In
fact. Six months later he was found dead
IN bed OF heart disease, and though his
heirs have hunted high and low have
sshsd ne nelp OF the divlning rop and con-
suited clalrVoyants, to say nothing of hav-
ing cleared up the woodland and dug over
almost the whole thousand-acre farm TO
thls Gay they nave never found trace of
Whether it waits for a luckier hand or
mas shared the fate of. another bag of
treasure. no man of them can say. This
second bag was buried by its owner and
ms son deep in the woods at the side of a
Ialen tree The place was far from any
road, but a footpath wound not twenty
yards away. Every night the head man
OF nelghboring plantation force passed
along It to his wife's house on an adjoin-
ing farm The negro was smart and
shrewd and had been marvelously faithful.
he was so stu TO his master. whose
touched, but something prompted him to
LOOK by the fallen tree When he had
found what was there. he gathered up wife
ana children, ran off to the fort and went
from there to Louisville. where he boughf
a house and lot and paid for them in gold.
But though the man who had lost the gold
came TO Know all these things he was
unable to say that the money in Inc
qarky' possession came out of his bag. SO
that astute person lived and died unmo-
Tested and left TO his children the incre-
ment of his find.
Still another old farmer who could
neither read nor write and had a Rooted
dlstrust OF all but the hardest of aard
money, found himself possessed of neariv
an his ready cash az once, as the peoDIe
90 whom he had lent in time of peace
seemed possessed of a sudden and stimuli
taneous desire to pay their debts Tho
uncertain Tenure by which money was
hfid perhaps contributed something tc
the access of honesty, but however II
came about the result was the same. tat
Qid man ana his wife had a heap more
money in hand than il was eF@sr sarf
or convenient 10 keep. Banks there were
none. and private borrowers of undoubtet
StaDillty were sCaFcer than white black
plfds. The old man was rheumatic a M
gould barely hobble about the house
ne could not bear 10 think of putfins
MS money so far away that he could no
Keep watchtover II, and yet 10 dig fresh.t
was 10 invite suspicion
"a hftrh .l~