The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1897-01-07

USTIN WEEKLY STATESMAN.
and dug under it until they
almost reached China, but it
was, was all to no purpose They couldn't tl
were well nigh desperate. They had to
work most of the day. and during the
night their treasure-hunting made them
work long and hard. 1t took money. too.
q The man that was making the regular
calls on the young lady, trying to get the
map, was going up in price. He was
! asking as much sometimes as $50 night
for his vain efforts at talking. The
crowd became desperate They went out
worked until daybreak. They were all
armed. They were determined that
nobody should get their treasure. They
fought shy of the many other treasure
hunters who were fairly lining the creek
bank and worked on in silence. They
could not have light for fear of expos
ing their localities, and they were ready
, to shoot on the slightest provOcation. One
night a harmless negro, wandering
! through the valley on short cut to his
home, came within an ace of being killed
by the desperate hunters. Many night
as they were hunting around they would
run up on some other treasure hunters.
They would invariably rout them and
/ capture all their tools. They hid so
many picks and shovels and so many
crow-bars up in the creek that a man
could start hardware store if he cared
to go up there and collect the various
articles that are hid away behind logs
and under the lodges of the cliffs.
Several months passed and still there
were no signs of the treasure. The secret
, was known to at least twenty-five now,
and every night men and gh0stly figures
were seen wandering to and fro in the
valley. They were all on the same mis-"
sion, and many of them were prominent
citizens of Austin who had become wild
on the subject of hunting the golden
/ treasure. a.
One night the party that had been call
ing on the young lady reported that he
had come to the conclusion that the
treasure was buried under some natural
steps that are near the triangle formed
by the trees. Search was made there,
but all to no purpose No treasure. BY
this time this party and others who were
! nightly prOwling up and down the creek
had succeeded in digging up the creek
bottom, and on both sides for distance
of some three miles. There were holes
that you could bury an OK wagon in, and
! varying in size from that on down to n
water bucket. Some of the more careful
diggers, after digging deep hole, would
cover it up again.
1t was about this time that one of the
| treasure-hunting crowds busted. 1t had
required great deal of money to run
the venture and as only two in the crowd
had the money it all fell on them to keep
the young man up in his visits to the
! lnn to- nt- In Of t1,a
search and to secure the necessary tools.
In fact, it was rather expensive crowd
at work. They were wild with excite
cent and reckless to a degree. During
the nights when they were drilling rocks.
as they did on many occasions, they had
no water and used instead a pint or so
of whisky that they had brought along
to drink and keep them up. Thus it was
that the money disappeared. They used
various other directions. AT this writing
one of the young men in this combination
had to skip town. He had been caught
taking money that didn't belong to him.
! In fact, he had taken something like
$500 that didn't belong to him. He
occupied Il position of trust in moneyed
institution and he had used everything
he could get his hands on to throw into
the scheme, and finally the time came to
ing him were disposed to be lenient, but
the fact that he was thief got beyond
! their knowledge and he had to jump the
town.
| Thus was one of the gang of treasure
seekers bursted up and still the treasure
was not found. This crowd was but one
of half dozen, however. The others
continued to dig. In fact, they have been
| digging for the past two years at
intervals There There are dozens now
! is treasure there. They are men of
prominence in this city, too. The publ
cation of their names would make the
welkin ring and would set the tongues
] of gossipers working right The dream
of securing this wealth has well nigh
driven half of them mad. Men who are
! generally considered sane men and reli-
able have for months past mixed up in
this wild scramble for hidden wealth
bottom and they have hired others to dig
for them. They are all searching for
| the hidden treasure. When the search
was first started about three years ago,
! every man expected to find the treasure
| the very next minute and accordingly
| every man was on the alert. Many and
many time has one partner caught an
other stealing away from him during the
| day to hunt for the treasure They
watched one another like cats and dogs
They couldn't trust one another. The
desire to get the gold was the one alb
| sorbing theme. AS time went by and
no treasure was Forthcoming, their selfish
desire waned some and they were will
ling to work in unison, but they never
for moment gave up hope.
As time flies by, the hunt for hidden
treasure has proven itself n great drag
net that pulls everything in that comes
within reach. until now at this particu-
lar moment there are not less than thirty
of Austin's most prominent people mixed
up in this gold hunting business.
Yet there is great secret behind all
this. Somebody is making money and
the question is, who is it? Several men
have so far been ruined financially by
this search. One man is an invalid from
exposure and several have killed them
selves. All because they were mixed up
in this search and took money that was
rot theirs and could not be replaced.
The death of County Treasurer A. J.
.Ternigan on Wednesday is due to this
hidden treasure. He went into it with
the negroes and somebody else that the
next few days will probably develope and
be took money that did not belong to him.