The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-06-01
Story of an Immense Amount of
Money Buried in Calvary
Cemetery.
MYSTERIOUS SEEKERS SEEN.
We're Observed to Leave for Town
Carrying a Heavily Laden
Sack.

AT no time in the history Of Richmond
has so much interest been taken IN the
widening of sidewalk as at present. The
Geary- street sidewalk is being widened
just beyond Central avenue, and the
citizens OF that quiet district hover in the
near vicinity and watch with eagerness the
result of each new blast the workingmen
under Contractor Broderick fire to loosen
the earth of Calvary Cemetery that over
lays Geary street at that particular point.
The reason of it all is that there are
rumors afoat of fabulous treasure buried
in the cemetery ground close to the Geary-
street fence.
Day after day the curious inhabitants
have watched the workmen as they tore
down the high bank of earth, expecting to
see box filled with gold roll down. But
they have waited in vain. The six work
days OF the week passed without an Incl
dent 1t remained for the seventh day to
bring to pass what has been so long and
earnestly looked for.
Yesterday two well-dressed men were
observed creating great landslides of sand.
They began early, almost before the sun
was up, but before half of the afternoon
had worn awav they were seen to take a
large sack from the excavation they had
made and bear it trium phantlv toward
town. The names of these men could not
be ascertained, but it was noted by these
same curious observers that the bag they
carried taxed their united strength.
Whether these unknown treasure
seekers were successful in unearthing q
veritable find is matter of speculation,
but it is a well authenticated fact that
there are strong grounds for believing a
large fortune is buried in the precise SCOT
where Contractor Broderick'5 men are now
at work.
Some twenty-eight or more years ago,
when Mike O'Brien owned what is now
called the avenue R. sort, at the corn er
of Central avenue and Geary street and
when the toll-gate was stationed just be-
yond in the direction of the Cliff House,
the Calvary Chapel, which now stands on
the southeastern end of the cemetery, then
stood directly opposite the Avenue Resort.
AT that time an old pioneer died who was
reputed to be possessed of great wealth.
He left no will, but tradition has de-
scendcd that he buried all his money in
tie plat where his family were buried, and
this was close to the site on which the
chapel originally stood.
This story had been forgotten, and
would probably have remained in oblivion
had not the Street Committe determined
to widen the sidewalk five feet north on
Geary street from Central avenue.
While the men were at work one day an
old Mexican drove past and said that in
the very place where they were at work
was buried at least $100, 600. He told the III
this same story about the old pioneer.
Since then Richmond has been on the
qui vive. Colonel Coakley, proprietor of
the Midwinter Fair Hotel directly oppo-
site, has watched the movements of'the
laboring men with consuming interest.
81 saw two men there to-day digging as
though their lives depended on it," said
be. ''They went away with sack, but
whether it was gold or dirt am not in q
position to tell. They were not laborers
either, but they handled the pick and
shovel in way that would have done
credit to the best laboring man ever saw"