The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-21
AN OLD QUAKER TREASURE
sTEUBEx CITTsENs TO HUNT FOR
A aHOST-6 UlRDED CAVE.
Tho Cave rs Check Fsii OF silver, but Its spooh
Protectors Arc Suspected OF Having MADE
Away with Two Daring Treasure Seekers
The story an nndtan Told mn psppett.

Tho Cave IL Ciock Fuit of silver, but n, spooG
Protectors Arc Suspected of Having MADE
Away with Two Daring Treasure seeker.
The story an nnaiau Told nm psppett.
81 pool. poohcd 'em. and told EN- they
were chumps to try IT," said u protesting son OF
old Steuben, ''but when ! left my home up in
the town OF Woodruff day before yesterday,
some OF my fellow citizens declared they wero
bound to give II another whack. TIA all
about tho old Quaker treasure that's slowed
away somewhere along Bennetts Creek, up in
old Stcubon. Oh, I guess it's there all right.
Squire Hollis says II is and IL there's a man in
Old Steuben that has got things down fine, it's
Squire Hollis. But even he doesn't know ex-
actly where that treasure is slowed away. No
body has tried to give IL a whack for a good
many years now, and the way they've hap
poned to make up their minds to go forth on
the warpnth after II now is that Sid Har-
rington hns found another hunk of silver ore
along the creek, right in the ncighborhood of
where Squire Hollis says he thinks tho old
Quaker treasure is.
when the first settlers came into that will
dcrncss and began c~hopping at the garden
spot their fortunate p~osterity now occupies,
an Indian came along ono day and stopped at tho
cabin of n pioneer up along Benefits Creek.
That pioneer was Bill Bennett himself. The
Indian said he had strayed back from Canada
w iOoh DNeT MS Olu stamping ground, ana IN
eidentally, look up a silver mine that his tribe
had left behind thom when they went away
fre %Bii ih4 Ben 1SSsi4ity wasn't ,n 17I lingering in tOos. dim.
lit aislcs of the forest entirely for his health,
Srous sS9en nn, liz = gSs9f rd thing Hss, IN This his d Indian ho
DO YOU ever said he to the Indian, to
which the Indian unhesitatingly responded that
he did, and reached for the jug.
This rare hospitality of the pioneer was so
pleasing to the Indian that after he lot go the
that mine and the treasure cave. The way it
was handed down from that pioneer is that
the very earliest days OF way back. About the
time the French and Indian war broke out two
rr ohostoI HSl,s9S u td Grade ss9 %l'nitOs sf fnSj.n into af the
awhile the Indians thought they had struck so
many good bargains with the Quakers that one
mine away to the Qnakers, and told them to
help themselyes. Then the Indians went
do a thing but work that mine night and day.
The hunks and hunks of wealth they took out
existence Of which was known only to them.
SELVES rdne.rd it 10 being ppfEo their dnenti intention He \ n,tt to remove rem the
before the Indians came back.
These two Quekers had a brother in Phila.
them, but he had 'em down all right. There
was also with the Quakers in the wilderness an
enough or trusted enough, it would seem, by
he tenor of the story. to be taken into the secret
peared one day at the cabin of the Quakers,
MMe'' said Mai he en- w sas d a Ssssrt Par'f Gd the the %sld Freesh
sners being even then hard BY, but OF the scent.
Tho fact that he was pursued shows that he
must have been SO valuable a soldier that France
didn't want to lose him. for the French army
begged Tor food and shelter. which the open.
a after he e Ssd rstI EasdfltS 70 f ths c0 6lai Of ff bear n ;
prepared for him in one corner of the cabin, he
den treasure, and learned that they were going
TO start their old servant off next morning for
Pphhiiiadelphia with q message to their brother;
the land up there. SO that he could walk in and
put his finger, right on that cave full of silver
brothers, in the wilderness.
This kind thoughtfulness on the part Of the
benevolent old Quakers gave the fugitive
French soldier "a case of insomnia. and set MIN
to doing some thinking on his own account.
his benefactors any further anxiety in the mat;
ter of their treasure, and to relieve the faithful
periI ssrsA tra9 1l 'H through SssSSs'' Tie 'U %il tnas eSns The The
considcrate refugee decided that the surest and
t ~Sst o s'1fssaal them Mnyt d IL DO th this olG Ts ssrs sS sil as the he
wended Philadelphiaward, and kill him also.
Then the soldier would be at liberty to possess
himself OF the important message and all that
1t implied.
Early the next morning the old servant, with
q. fearful farewell to his masters and turned
his face toward the south. Later the French
Quakers for their hospitality, whipped a knife
from his boot or somewhere and stabbed them
s aG d so last d oRerto es h fHllo" Ge f burie e5d his fsT Enifs
in the faithful h%enchman's back. and without
Any Y apology or exclamation. stole the message,
tore open the paper that was to reveal to MIN
the storehouse Of untold wealth. From what
Frenchman, when he looked at that message,
was about the maddest man that that ever com;
It was written in cipher from start to finish.
Being a Frenchman. 1t is fair to assume that he
that primeyal forest until the green things
growing al turned blue, although haven't
net near doW Shat 1 TSs ie bSf1ed h sa,d Ihis W Iast 1 e1P6biessttS y
find any key that would solve the mystery of
he cipher and years a%fterward a grinning skele-
IT'S skull, where there had presumably at one
time been hair. sitting at q crumbling table in
paper, yellow with age, and inscribed with mys-
terious figures. The paper shook itself into
bones ratified like a ~castinet solo as they fell
to the cabin floor. The skeleton was accepted
paper was beyond all doubt, the cipher Of the
Quaker brother. Tho Frenchman had died
tRsyIns to ,b solve e. it. con R9t f ths Indian Ind n.H told ; Pm
ghosts Of the Quaker brothers guarded it, he
said A. but Mt they were p9oTerless against an In
Of its wealth, and then come back and lead to
Then the Indian reached for the jug again,
handed it back after q while with scarcely q
gurgle in II, told Bill to wait, and disappeared
in the forest. Bill waited. Did the Indian
come backi 20, the Indian diu not come back:
forth among the settlers and spread the story
Of the cave, guarded by, spo0ks; The Quaker
aah ian. H %SeS could whS S Ms' eom MEM a nhH'4 said Bill Il"
Nobody, In the settlements could think up
any way that the missing Indian could posi-.
v~entured to remark that he'd bet four shillin'
that II Bill Bennett cared to take a few days off
and go up into Canada he'd find the lnGian ly-
ing around there somewhere watching his
squaw hoe. corn. But the scorn with which
this individuals insinuation was received was
30 great that he must have moved out of that
neigh 5orhood, for tradition hasn't even pre-
served his name.
"While the early settlers were discussing the
best way Of locating that cave. laying the Quak'
err ghosts, and getting away with the treasure.
a stranger came among them. He said he was
from Bath. and wanted to look around q little
for a tract to settle on. He hadn't looked
around more than q week when he said to the
settler he was staying with:
.l-aA HInsA In