Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1900-11-10


buried in the cave and gave her mir
ute directions how to find the none,
. The woman wrote the direction o
slips torn from the surgeons prescrlr
tion book, there being no other pape
at hand. There were marks on tn
trees at the mouth of the cave an
signs cut on the rocks that the prison
er had his mother note.
The guerilla died and his mothe
went back home. DR.. Chenewortl
kept the story of the treasure in hi
mind, and determined to go to tn
cave and search for the money, bu
the sudden changes in the fortunes o
war took him away from Springfield
and he went East, and finally, abJu
the close of the war settled in Boston
Shortly afterward the mother OF the
guerilla chieftan died and left the story
of the treasure cave and the written
directions to find the money as a le.
gacy to her younger sons.
Several years after the stick of the
Confederate rocket struck the eartN be-
hind the hills of Appomatox, on9 of
these heard of DR.. Cheneworth's DrAs-
ence in Boston, and went to see him
He showed the doctor the writer ac-
count of the hidden wealth, and the ex-
army surgeon remembered the story
we'll and recognized the leaves from
his old prescription book. The two
-, ereasNft
.-'y the wealth founi
whea tha time agreed upon for the
start to the cave the deetof could not
be found. Tho brother Of 4he guerilla
at once suspected that his partenr had
played him false, and he set out alone
for Southwest Missouri in quest of the
cave. He went down on Beaver creek,
east of Forsyth, and inquired for the
cave He stopped at Alec Klssees
the nabob of Aaney County and made
known the object of his visit Kissee
knew all the caves in the county and
told the stranger there was no sucn
cavern on Beaver creek. The cave
sought must be the noted Stone coah.
| ty bear den. The treasure hunter was
directed to the Bear Creek country.
Here he found an ola settler by the
name Of Weatherman, who had in
years gone by killed msay bears in
the cave He knew of the fight of the
guerillas and militia at the cave, but
had not heard of the hidden wealth.
The stranger was eager to get at the
cave and candid in telling his story.
He would divide any treasure found
with guide who would show him the
cave. The old bear hunter doubted the
truthfulness of the treasure tale, but
cheerfully agreed to conduct the ad-
venturer to the cave. 1t was nearly
dark by the time the stranger had told
his story to Weatherman, and yet he
could hardly wait until morning be-
fore setting out for the goal of his
journey.
Early the next morning they started
out and by nine o'clock were in the
gloomy entrance of the cavern. They
found all the marks and signs indi-
Gated by the dying guerilla S memoran-
dunn, took measures as directed, and
finally came to the place where an ex-
cavation had been made 1t was evil
dent that other searchers had antici-
pated them. After a little futile
search, the young man and Weather
man went to the house of a settler
near by and there learned that a party
of strangers had visited the cave some
weeks before, but as they made their
explorations at night, he could not say
what they had done nor whether they
had found anything. The young man
believed that the doctor had given him
the slip and had made search for the
treasure The money might have been
found.
The amount of the treasure was sup
posed to have been about $4,000 |
Since the story of the vave treasure
became common rumor many per-
sons have hunted for the money, and |
the settler, who lives near the cave,
has spent many a welcome dollar re-
ceived for lodging and boarding ad-
yenturers who have sought shelter at
his house while searching for the guer-
rilla's booty.