The Savannah morning news., 1904-01-09
SWINDLED SUPER
STITI0US OLD NEGRO.
But the Court Made SwindIer Pay
for His Trickery.

for His Trickery.
Cornelius George, whose smooth
tongue and mysterious manner SO
played on the superstitions of an old
negro that he extracted all of his
hard earned savings from him by
fraudulently representing that he
knew of the whereabouts of a pot of
golden treasure which he would deliv-
er for a specific sum, received two
sentences in the City Court yesterday
afternoon, one for cheating and swim
ding and the other for resisting an
officeS
Aaron Robinson, an old darkey of
the ante bellum type. charged young
educated negro" with robibng him of
a treasure pot containing $4,000 Rob-
inson claimed that the pot had been
dug up in his yard at the mid-hour Of
night and that he had been visited by
a spirit who informed him that this
treasure pot was hidden in his lot.
Soon after the visit of the spirit, he
said, a young negro named Cornelius
George called on him and Informed
him that he. too, had been in commu-
nication with the spirit and that he
knew the exact location of the treas
ure. This confirmed the old Negroes
superstition and he entered into con-
tract with George TO unearth the hid
den treasure.
The defendant is a smooth-looklng
young darkey and claims to be a grad
uate of the Howard University. He
was arrested on the charge of de-
frauding and swindlng Robinson
few days before Christmas, and while
Constable Constantine was escorting
him to Jail from Justice Jones court
he lodged behind a moving street car
and escaped. He was securely hand
cuffed. but when captured several days
later the handouts had been removed.
played on His SuperstitiOns.
Aaron Robinson, the old negro, who
had been swindled by George, was
placed on the stand, and gave very
interesting account of how the de-
PENDANT had played on his superstitions.
Il was laying about half sleep and
about half wake, when hears the
voice of a spirit through the window,
and it says to me: Robinson, Robin
son. listen to mel l did not answer
cause l knowed he'd call agin. so
kept quiet Sure enough. ne called
me agin and he said: Robinson, Rob-
inson, why don't you listen to me- it
said just so and l said, Yes. Then
the spirit it done tell me that there
am HAOtVVV III iiig Spi " pNh 80 - - ~
and that for me to dig it up and /
can have it,"
The solicitor then asked the old man
II he saw the spirit when it delivered
this message. The old darkey said:
Now, how's l gwine to see the
spirit he am as thin as air. see
through the window where he was.
There was some little blue lights run
min all round over the yard.
stCoOn a. faY tho Spirit tells ma This
this here man, George and Doc Brown
they come to see me and says to me:
We have talked with the spirit, and
there is a pot of money buried in your
yard George he takes me over be-
tween two big trees, and said to me
that the money was right there. We
got a hoe and dug there and then.
George he made five holes and poured
water in them and told me to pour
water there every day to keep the
gold down. Several nights after that,
George comes back to my house with
three other men and they dug up the
pot of gold"
showed where Gold Was Buried.
The old fellow insisted on getting
out in the floor and explaining to the
court the position where the gold was
buried. He was very much excited
and told the story, without Interrupt
ton, in his own language. He said
that a hole five feet deep was dug
between the trees. and that George
insisted that all parties go in the house
and leave the matter to him. In
few minutes. the old darkey declared
George and his pals called for him to
come out and view the treasure. He
says that when he reached the spot
that the pot was taken out of the hole
but that George took possession of
it and insisted that it would not DO
TO open the pot until the spirit COM
manded.
When the solicitor queried the old
negro as TO whether he really believed
that there was money in the pot, he
answered in very decided tones that
he was certain of the fact that the
pot contained a treasure of gold. He
gave as his reason the fact that he
had himself been told of the treas
ure by the spirit, and that he had
George take the money from the hole
Doc Brown. one Of the negroes who
helped George dig up the treasure
pot was placed on the stand, and told
of how he was able to look through
the earth and discover hidden treasures
with an instrument which he claimed
to have in his possession.
1t developed that Robinson had paid
to George the sum of $3.50 before
George would undertake the job of
digging up Nhe pot which ne claimed
held the hidden treasure of $4,000 and
of which amount he was to get one
half for locating the position where
the money was hidden.
When the case was concluded Judge
Norwood sentenced the prisoner to
twelve months on the changing or to
pay fine of $50 and the costs. In pass
ing sentence on George Judge Nor
wood took occasion to say that he in
tended to break up the practice of ex-
torting money from ignorant negroes.
declaring that in recent years it had
grown too prevalent in Chatham coun-
~. He called attention to the pension
ewindle which is so often practiced,
and declared that he was going to
make an object lesson of this case.
The negro George was also fined $40
and cost or twelve months on the
changing for resisting the officer who
placed him under arrest.