The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-03-01
A STORY OF TREASURE.
THE CINCINNATI DRUMMER TELLS
A WEIRD TALE.

From Its Hiding Place BIindfOId-
ed.
From the New York Mail and Express.
Here is weird story of buried treasure
that Bob Kennedy told me the other day."
said the Cincinnati drummer. Bob. you
know, is located at Golden. down in New
Mexico. working a placer Ever been in
Golden? Well, neither have /, and from
BoDD-s description of IL l don't care 10. It's
about fifty miles from nowhere, and seven
ty-odd from the nearest railroad. They
used to have a priest down there that they
trotted out every time they hanged a
greaser, just to be polite and show there
was no n-feelng, you might say. And as
the priest is authority for the buried treas
ure yarn there must be some truth in it.
Just before the priest died he told the
story to Bob as the only other civilized
man in the place, and that's how I come
to know it,
Mysterious Lights Appear.
About eighteen miles from Golden, Bob
says, always in the same general diree-
ton, but at different points, almost every
like distant camp fires Their glimmer
could be seen from in front of the Turk
ish bath, which was the only saloon in the
place and the boys used 10 sit there spec
ulating on the cause of them. Red Geoghan
held that it was a pure case of han't Inc
soul of a puir proshpector, who died OF
thorst in the hills Red would say cross
ing himself and proceeding to staVe OH d
similar fate for himself. college pro-
T.N1 nlr
shortly before he resumed his travels ana
the priest said Indians, and got the laugh.
To tell the truth, the boys were more OF
less inclined to agree with Reds hypothe-
sis. although they didn't like to say so.
srYou see almost every one OF them d.
some time or other had prospected III thost
hills and they had never seen -hNlle
soul. 1t turned out, though that ele
priest was right and that there were IN
dams there. He didn't say much' ehe
nr;est didn't but one day he turned up
missing, and his trail leo OUT across ~, "a,
desert toward the haunted hills 1ha'
nioht the citizens of Golden held an intor-
mai wake. The priest didn't die just then,
| though He showed up a year later Jus'
as suddenly as he had left, and one nAsht
| told Bob what he had learned ana seen
| That night the priest stepped on DIG
| rattler. and the next day the boys ieI'
their claims and gave him CHRISTIAN pu-
| rial. -. :
Before coming to Golden the priest nau
| snent many wears among the Mexican In
dians ana IL seems that he not only learn
ed their language, but heard many strange
| stories of hidden treasure. Such stories
| ore common enough down there, but there
was one especially that seemed 70 De less
| dreamy than he rest. 1t was to the eIlec'
that the Indians were secretly eXpectius
tba return of one of the ancient Monte
zunaas. who would give them pack tne
old-time power they had before the span
iards came Against their Messlahs re-
turn they had stored up fabulous ueas'
ure of gold and hidden it away IN some
hiIls ~ the north, where it was guarded
dav and night by some of their red-sklr
brethren.
His wish Was Gratified.
..r,,a nr;est had been knocking around a
number of years before coming to Gol1eh
He lived in the ramshackle remnant OF
on old monastery. He told Bob that ne
forgotten all about the stories ne mac
hoard in Mexico until one night wher
he was sitting on the roof of his 'dobe try,
ing to get cool, and now and then throW'
ING his eve in the direction of the mys'
terious lights He had seen them nun
dred times before. perhaps, and was Only
half wondering how they came to be there
when he reco.lected that tale about Mon
tezurna coming back. person "oule'n
want a fire to get warm by with the Their
r,ome<er at a hundred, and ii was funny
time for any one to be cooking, so he de-
cided to do some prospecting on his own
hook.
"Tbs priest beat around in the hills for
over a month before ne found the Indians
They were Aztecs, just as he had figured
| ii and he knew their language ana cus-
toms so well that it was not long before
| he was on the best of terms with them
He found out in short While that they
were the ones who made the lights and
| that the lights served as beacons to lei
| those who were off duty know that the
hidden treasure of gold was still safe IN
| their possession. This treasure, they tod
| him. was the gift of thousands of Indians
| who for years and years had deposited
nuggets to be held in a certain cave until
the return of Montezuma, their chieftain
| from the happy hunting ground.
"The priest said to the Indians that he
liked their religion and would accept then
| faith and discard his own, If he could
| but see the hidden treasure they talked
about. They couldn't see it that way al
| first. He played his cards well, though
| acted superciliously, and asked them II
| they thought he was a papoose.
| "At last, after many days, he was tod
by the chief that he was to be allowed to
! see The gold. They had perfect confidence
in him, and knew that he would hasten
with prayer the return of their prophet
So one dark night the priest was blind
| folded and put on a burro and, accom-
panied by the old chief and half a dozen
warriors, started out for the cave. The
ride lasted FIVE hours. The priest still dis.
believed but waited patiently.
How His Scheme Was Spoiled.
THE party halted finally. he was helped
from the burro and led, still blindfolded
down winding path. Then he was stop
ped, a rope placed about him under his
arms and he was carefully lowered into a
deep cave. He could hear his companions
scrambling down after him. For about
two minutes they walked him over a
| crooked course, and then the blinfold was
suddenly slipped off and-lo and behold
there was wealth Of gold beyond his
greediest dreams.
THE priest has been around the mines
too much 10 be deceived. II was gold, All
in nuggets and ingots, stored In little
stone jars. He told Bob that on a con.
| sentative estimate there was at least seven
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