The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-10-23

to think Of putting his money SO far
away that he could not keep watch
over it, and yet to dig freshly was to
invite suspicion.
He had a big back yard with high
plank fence around it. All at once he
began to bemoan it's treeless condition.
1t was shame, he said, he had always
meant to set it out with elms and
naples. If it was to be done, he reck-
oned he had better get about it before
he died of old age. So there was
great pother Of men and wagons going
out to the woods and digging young
trees, which, little later, they plan
ted in straight rows all through the
grassy yard. Nothing went under the
| trees, of that the black men were posi-
| tive. They swore to the fact month
after when guerrilla captain sneered
suspiciously at the old man s sudden
desire for shade. In proof, their
master bade them take up tree or
two. Nothing was found, and the
guerrillas rode away grumbling, after
ransacking the house and taking a few
hundred dollars it contained. Two years
later, when peace had been restored,
and the world was going we'll, some
one came asking loan of the old man.
He sat on the little porch jealously
watching his young trees, which had
begun to grow vigorously. He sighed
as he looked, and said, without turn
| ing his head:
II hate ter kill 'em-but thar ain t
no other way" and then he told the
wondering borrower how in the war
time, after the trees were set, with
only his wife's help, he had dug up
half of them and put bags Of coin at
the root before replapting. The coin
was there still, and it cost him pang
to know that in reclaiming it he must
destroy the green sentinels who had
guarded it so we'll. :,
Another man buried a pot of gold
in rickety barn, then set fire to the
structure, being certain that nobody
would think Of rummaging in the
ashes. And still another put $4,000
in gold and greenbancks in the earthen
floor of his smokehouse, and letit stay
there five years, not daring to take it
out until reconstruction was pretty
well accomplished. One of his neigh
bors, the thriftiest man in the county,
was known to have put very large
sum in the rock walls of his cellar, but
! to have grown distrustful Of that hid
ing place, and so to have chosen
another. Where the other was located
never came out; the man who chose it
was secretive, and did not tell even his
only son. By and by he was stricken
speechless and motionless at time
| when he looked to be good for years
| Of life. He did live six months and
throughout them he made desperate
efforts to tell his secret, but all in
vain. It is still a except as
| to few thousand dollars which his
| grandson found twenty years after un-
der the rock pillars of an old corn crib.
In numerous cases money was hid
den in open fields, and the land plow-
| ed over to hide the fresh earth. Then
it was necessary in some unobtrusive
| way to mark the exact spot, or the
hider would be none. the better Of saw
| ing himself from robbery. Sometimes
the mark was a peculiarly shaped
stone, sometimes bit of iron, such as
q worn-out plow point or king bolt,
which might readily be left a-feld.
More commonly it was thin rod of
hard wood capped with metal, or, bet
| ter still, an old ramrod, driven into
the earth above pot or jar, and left
standing an inch above ground.
One wise woman raised several
broods of chickens which she declared
later ought to be called golden pleas
ants, as they were all hatched in the
fence corner nest under which she had
hidden by night half-gallon fruit jar
| full of gold. Another wore ragged
shoes and homespun frocks, and busted
herself with spinning and weaving
| more to save herself from the suspi-
cion of having money in hand, and all
the time had $3,OO0in belt around
her waist. It belonged to orphans for
whom her husband was guardian, and
while he was away fighting for the con-
federacy she had no mind he should
be made out faithless to his trust. A
third astounded her neighbors by de-
veloping great style in her hair dress
ing. She wore every day the cumber-
Gus cushions then known colloquially
as rats" and it was not until years
after that anybody came to know how
she had worn for so many months a
crisp new 500 greenback in the heart
Of each rat.
Caves and crannied banks abounded +,
but folks were, in the main, shy OF
| them. The black people knew them
by heart; besides, they were such like
ly hiding places that they were sure
Of search upon general principles.
Though the negroes were as a class
miraculously faithful to their owners.
there was taint Of suspicion against
them all. You could not trust any,
| indeed, in face of the fact that those
who were most trustworthy, judging
by the past, often ran off upon no pro-
vocation whatever, and those who were
trusted least staid and proved them
selves towers of strength and help.
Among the blacks it was certainly the
unexpected which happened. Cynical
owners came at the last to say, laugh
ing as they noted extra good conduct :
"Hallo, Ned, or Tom, or Jack, or
Bill, you must be fxin' to 90 to the
yankees never saw you SO smart be-
fore in your life"
Nobody thought Of hiding money in
a dwelling house above the cellar, for
| there was always the chance that
guerrillas might burn it to hide their
plundering, or soldiers, in retaliation
for bushwhacking shots. Watches,
plates, jewelry, valuable miniatures,
| and heirlooms Of small size were her.
metically sealed in glass or metal and
given in charge of some especially
trusted friend. Then the owner could
| take oath that be knew nothing Of
the sort. For the most part the plain
| people were so scrupulous and God
fearing that even the roughest Of the
| rough riders could not suspect them