St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1899-04-19
BURIED TREASURE.
Of n spnninrd regard
g.. a " box of money claimed 10 be hid
10 menr ~. JOsnsbury.

Iohn IL. Ryan OF this place received
letter a year ago last winter, that in the
l;obt of recent events, suggests so much
of interest that we publish it below.
The explanation contained therein re-
ouires no further introduction.
Valencia, February 1, 1898.
Ny dear sir: =
Some informations about your person
collected during my stay in your town
and the dreadful situation am in, cause
me to confde secret to you, which !
never did think | should be obliged to
con6de to anybody whomsoever, con-
cern;ng as it does, matter which can
NOT but place me in an awkward light.
But the thought Of my beloved daughter,
a child vet in her teens, and the only one
member that is left to me out OF my un-
fortunate family, are the reasons that
nhlige me to address you with the ques-
tion whether you will be wilingto assist
me in rescuing sum of 100000 francs,
which | was forced to hide in the neigh.
borhood Of your town about six months
ago.
NV motives for acting thus were the
following:
was captain treasurer of a horse
regiment here. when / received orders
from the chairman of the republican
committee, which faction / belonged to,
TO desert and take away with me the
100000 francs the cash-box of my regi-
ment contained. The committee aug
mented this money to the amount of
Len, aud t,,a oh -
buy arms and other implements of war
for it, as they intended promoting a
revolution in order to get the Republic
proclaimed here in Spain.
With this view | left for Marseilles
where was to expect further particulars
about how to carry out my mission, but
on arriving there was informed Of our
plot having been discovered through a
wretch of traitor. that part of my
associates had been arrested and the
rest forced to emigrate and that /, too,
had to put myself in safety because the
government had solicited my extradi.
ton and even dispatched couple OF de.
tectives to detain me.
70 escape their persecution / resolved
to leave Europe, but had scarcely been
month in your country when still worse
tidings reached meconcerning my daugh-
ter who was told had fallen gravely i'll
in her boarding school at Toledo. What
was to do? Could keep away from
my child while in peril Of her life? But
how was to return to Spain without
exposing my money? Was to deposit
it in a bank? And il the Spanish govern.
ment were informed Of my having made
so considerable deposition, what then
The mere suspicion OF it would suffice for
them to make Investigations, and the
money lost to me. My agony was horri-
BILE until the following thought struck
me, which l at once adopted as the most
prudent and secure expedient out OF my
dilemma. According to it, I sought out
iii the adjoining neighborhood of your
place, whittier nobody could suspect that
had penetrated, and digging hole in
the earth, there concealed in an iron
box the sum of $50 900 francs in French
bank notes, which fortune | now was
the sole proprietor of. them made
topographic plan of the spot with the
aid Of metric tape measure, and an
noted on separate sheet OF paper all
liz pal NOuoidSlSd HNSSoodiy III
the rescuing of the box. These docu-
ments hid in secret partition of my
trunk made on purpose and in such
way as to prevent anyone from finding
it by mere chance, and having done so,
sped upon his journey to Spain with the
intention OF taking my daughter abroad
with me as soon as her state OF health
would permit it. In spite of all my pre-.
cautions, however, was recognized and
detained in the very moment OF sallying
out from the boarding school at Toledo
and taken hither, where the court-martial
condemned me to Is years OF imprison-
ment, which are to be accomplished at
at the Isle OF Cuba. And now before
leaving here | must try and get the fu
ture OF my poor daughter secured, and if
you help me in so doing. | am willing to
cede you one-third of the whole sum on
the following terms:
1. To keep strict silence about all
that have revealed.
2. To become faithful guardian for
my child until regain my freedom and
to advance the money necessary for her
voyage and that of my confident from
Toledo to you, for wish my daughter
to be present at the act OF the discovery.
You see am sure of success Tor else
should not insist upon my daughters
making so long and trying journey.
And furthermore you must pay the debt
ofmy daughter to the school, that we
may be able to retire the trunk from
where it now is; for on reaching Toledo
left it with her, and now the directories,
on hearing how long an Imprisonment l
nave been sentenced to, has seized it
along with the baggage of my daughter
and refuses to deliver it up before getting
her bill paid. You may easily imagine
that | cannot dispose Of single penny
mere IN the prison, and as | am quite
alone in the world and all my friends are
either etained like myself or emigrated,
God knows where, there remains no
Other hope to ME than that OF your ad-
y,anclng the money. To be sure l were
IAN to make your expenses as small as
possible but the trunk is indispensable
because the documents that are needed
In rescuing the money lie hidden in it,
and without these the discovery would
De very difficult not to say impossible
and you obliged to make considerable
dtlggings, which might attract the atten-
tention of the people and undo the whole
affairs. Such way OF proceeding you
see cannot permit on any account
whatever, the more so as with the plan
and annotations in your hands, there
Will not turn up the least difficulty in
r,eentering into possession of the box.
And over and above all that you now
advance will be conscentiously restored: