The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-12-06
The Old King Rose Bush.
BY WILL w. NELSON.

1 other citizens. When the war ended they returned and found their childhood home 1 in ashes. their erstwhile lovely flower garden destroyed, their father sleeping in 1 a soldiers grave, their slaves gone and l their money vanished. Edmond King was only boy then of tender years, but ! he remembered the story of his father having buried a large sum of money near
 large rose bush which stood in the 1 yard of their old home. This rose bush,
 however, like everything else had been 1 destroyed, seemingly, by the hoard of marching armies. Later the family
 built a house at the old place and made
 their home there and later on the rose
 bush grew up from the roots which had
 been left, the top only having been de- 1 stroyed. The armies left only four ] houses standing in Decatur viz, the Me Cartney hotel, which is now used as a
 private residence by Captain R. P. Baker: the Hinds house. still used as a private
 residence, and an old log house on Bank
 street, which has long since been torn ] down to give way to modern brick struc- l tures
 1 One of the greatest ambitions of Ed
 mond Kings life was to locate the treas
 ure but, after years of search, he gave . up the search And, now comes the most 1 ago a farmer, by th&tlame of Nelson
 Ball, who lived not far from this city,
 went to Edmond King and told him he
 knew where the treasure was buried, i and asked Mir King what he would pay ] if he recovered 1t for him. Mir. King 1 told him he would give him $l00 The i farmer said this was not enough and
 went away. Later. he returned again | one day, and, after sprinlkllng some un-
 known kind of liquid on the ground about
 the house, he told Mir King he had To- cated the very spot where he money was
 buried and stated he would unearth it
 for half the amount. MT. King declined ], the offer, and Ball went away again and
 was never seen any mora. Late that
 night Mir King was awakened by his. 1 dog barking He also heard some pecu-
 liar kind of noise in the yard. but upon | going to the door, could sec nothing. The l next morning. however he found the en- tire yard dug up. | This was about a year ago. and, 1t Is
 said Ball was a poor man then. Now. 1 it is reported he is quite wealthy and 1 living in the west. It Is believed by some that on the night in question. when MT.
 King heard the peculiar noise in the yard, that Ball discovered the treasure then and carried 1t away.
 Edmond King is said to have worried over the matter greatly, and it is thought that this hastened his death The whereabouts of Ball became known only few days ago, when. it is said, he was seen at a little town in the west where he is engaged in business and is quite well to do It would be Impossible. how eyer to prove that Ball got the treasure, from the fact that no one saw him get it.
 For nearly half century many lovers have sat under the spreading bows of this giant rose bush gazing at the southern moon and listening to the sweet notes of the birds as the waters of the beautiful Tennessee flowed on placdly to the gulf But, since the-story of the lost treasure has become known, this rose bush has become doubly famous. The sisters of Edmond King still reside in the old home. where they have gone through so many trying scenes of war and peace
 This is only one of the many treasures which was buried In this locality during the war between the states.