Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-04-19
THE DAILY
SHORT STORY.
A FIND OF
GREENBACKS

|
civil war. and one morning while 1
was wandering over piece CT woods
on the Indiana side OF the Ohio river, 1
found satchel which had been placed
between two powders so that it was
securely hidden from anything except
chance discovery. One might have
stood within three feet OF it and been
none the wiser. The satchel was lock-
ed but l used Il stone TO break it open,
and the first glance jumped my heart
| into my throat. The satchel was full
OF crisp. new greenbacks in packages
! of $1,000 each. Even after l took one
Of the packages in my hand and care
| fully inspected the bills / was not
| quite sure whether / was awake or
| dreaming. There were packages OF
ones, twos. fives and tens. and every
bill was fresh from the treasury at
/ Washington. l counted twenty-seven.
A week previous 10 the find l had
read an account in the papers of the
robbery of an army paymaster ut Mad
/ ison, and ! at once realized that this
money was II portion of the spolls.
| Nevertheless | was determined TO keep
the money We are all honest until
tempted. Some of us can be bought
for few hundred dollars, while 9TH
ers demand thousands. Replacing the
money in the satchel, started for
home. / didn't propose TO share the
secret of the find with any one even If
l shared the contents later on. | there
fore made my way TO the barn and put
the SatcheI I'm n safe place. / was fully
half an hour making up my mind
where To deposit it. There were sew
eral tons OF hay in the NOW, and |
finally climbed up and dug hole in
one corner and deposited my treasure.
On the third morning of my posses
sion, while we were eating breakfast.
my uncle, with whom / was tempo
rarily staying, mentioned the fact that
tramp bad come late in the evening
after / had gone to bed and had been
given shelter in the barn. He had. To
my uucle's great surprise. got up and
cleared out without asking for any
thing tn eat. Ii struck me all Of 4 sud
den that the tramp had found and car
ried off my prize, and. getting away
from the table as soon as | could. |
hurried to the barn to make an in
vestigation. Everything in the hay
NOW was as l had left II. but when
dug down in the corner it was 10 find
my worst fears realized. The satchcl
and money were gone.
The further adventures Of the Satchel
covered Il space of months. The tramp
took the highway for Jasper, in
southwest direction, and by getting n
lift with q teamSter lie made about
twenty-five miles that first day. While
he was dressed like Il tramp, the team
ster was satisfied that he was not one.
Perhaps the questions he asked fright
ened the man into doing what he did.
After leaving the teamster he entered
a country Schoolhouse and hid the mon
ey in the garnet. 1t was Il one story
structure. with n low garnet reached
by scuttle I'm the ceiling. About three
weeks after the money had been placed
in the garnet the chimney of the school
house was struck by lightning and
tumbled TO the ground. y farmer who
was also n bricklayer was employed To
rebuild the chimney. In so doing he
found the satchel, and not one dollar
Of the money was missing.
The farmer no sooner realized the
value of his find than he determined to
keep every dollar of it for himself. He
knew very we'll, though, that it was n
robbery of some sort, and he moved
carefully. He decided not to let his
wife know of the find. and the money
was removed after dark to the Eranary
i'm his barn. He had lot of oats in
one of the bins, and he hid the satchel
under them. He had in his employ Il
hired man named Oscar Davis. Davis
must have had his curiosity aroused
and played the spy on the farmer in
one OF his excursions to the granary.
On the eighth night of the farmers
possession of the treasure Davis left
his bed at midnight. went to the barn
and pried the lock off the granary door.
and be soon had his hands on the
satchel. ! cannot say whether he was
an honest man or not. If so. he no
doubt argued as the farmer and l had
done. He picked up the satchel and /
walked off. In the morning when the
farmer discovered his loss and follow
ed him he kept the trail through the
town of Jasper and for five miles be-
yond. Then Davis seemed to have
dropped suddenly out of sight.
After getting safe away the hired
man felt that he would be followed.
and he found hiding place for the
satchei where it had been hidden twice
before-in barn. 1t was an old, tum-
BILE down affair. however, i'm which
even tramp would not have sought
shelter. Having put away the money,
he applied for work on the farm and
secured it. There he remained for two
months. when the satchel was found
TO be missing. taken by whom no one
could say. Two weeks later. however,
as l was riding into Salem with my
uncle. we came upon tramp sitting
by the roadside with that very satchel
beside him, and as leaped out OF the |
wagon TO collar him he fed and left |
the money behind.
What followed? Why. I told you
long ago that / was an honest man.