The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-04-17
QUANTRELL'S BOOTY
Probably Still Buried in a Mound on
Upton Greek, Kansas.
He Had $4,000 In Gold Taken During 4
Raid on Town Of Lawrence.

Lawrence. Kan, April 13.--It Is prob
able that large part of the treasure
taken by Quantrell and his raiders
from this city I'm September, 1868, now
lies buried i'm a mound on the left bank
OF Upton Creek, branch OF the Marias
des Cygnes River. In Bates County, Mo.
The mound is probably $50 feet high
from crest TO base and the top Is plt-
teau six TO eight acres in extent.
A member OF Quantrelps band INFORM
cd the correspondent that the day thd
Lawrence expedition disbanded Juan
trell and his most trusted leaders
Shepard, Tod, uphaze and Anderson
went TO this mound after the spoil waf
divided and gave orders that no man
should follow them on pain OF death
AS soon as the division OF spolls was
made and the separation effected, most
of the members OF the gang MA their
share. These small squads were over
hauled from time To time by Union
forces sent out TO capture Quantreli'
These squads when overhauled on such
occasions, claimed 20 be residents of
the section and were out looking for
stray cattle. or. hunting Quantrell, or
made any other plausible excuse that
suggested itself. Most OF these were
turned loose at once. as nothing could
be found indicating their guilt. After
the excitement cooled down the seVerai
caches were visited and the plunder
recovered I'm safety. Some, OF course,
was not recovered. Several years after
the war "A farmer in chopping down "A
tree I'm the river bottom near Hog ISL
and uncovered over 5000 i'm Mexican sill
yer and two watches.
Quantrel and his lieutenants for
their share of the booty took over s50,-
600 I'm gold coin and bullion, crossed the
river just at sunrise and took up thu
trail south. Their horses were jaded
and ready to drop. The men were just
beginning TO feel the reactionary effects
of their exciting and terrible deeds.
Tired nature was beginning to assert
itself and so, after going five miles on
Upton Creek. sometimes enormously
called Burnett's Creek. the mound was
reached, and the leaders went into
camp
Where they went or what they did
for the next few days is not known
positively, but the probability is borne
out by circumstances, that before leav-
ing they made what they expected to
be but "A temporary disposition of their
treasure. Had they been captured
with all this money. known to have
been taken from Lawrence, in their
saddlebags. that would have given then
captors prima facie evidence OF their
guilt. and they would have been either
shot or hanged. There are reasons for
believing that the treasure was buried
there that day.
In the summer of 1866, Colonel s. T.,
Cope hauled some sand rock from the
top Of this mound for building purposes.
=eTfe= =tffesa was the key of the hiding
place OF the buried treasure. He did
not notice anything peculiar about the
rock az the time, but later he observed
some letters on IL. The rock i'm ques-
tion is now part OF a storm cave, IL
14x2S inches In size and about six
inches thick and the lettering, evil
IDENTIFY done with a bowie knife or
bayonet by some one who was skilled
in stone carving. is as follows: