The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-01-19
TIE EVENING STOR T
A Bliser's Hoard.

CASTLE. 1t was a farm of eighty acres,
and yet it produced few crops. ASIDE
from an acre or two of corn ana po-
tatoes for his own use. he planted moth
ing. He began with a little money,
and in the course of fifteen years he
was the capitalist of the county. II
anybody was willing TO pay his usurl-
Gus rates of interest he could borrow
from IS to $1,000 without trouble For
many years he did business with the
bank in the village. but finally became
suspicious and took care of his own
funds.
It finally became a matter OF gossip
for leagues around that Miser Van Cir
ten kept thousands of dollars in his old
farmhouse, and for once gossip was
right. OF course, there were men VINO
told him of the risks he ran and advised
him against it, but he smiled at tsseir
solicitude and made no change.
It was predicted that robbers would
come, and that he would be found muir
dered. And in due time robbers came
They came more than once, and they
tried several sorts of tricks on the old
man. The first pair of robbers simply
kicked the old door open in the dark
ness of midnight and rushed in to catch
the miser In bed. He wasn't in bed,
however. He WAS up and dressed and
armed with a shotgun, and he peppered
the fellows so thoroughly that there was
no trouble in arresting them when the
constable was notified
The next man who came along was
| in the guise Of an old woman. He
made call just at dark, hobbling on
a cane telling a story of want and des-
titution, but when he got ready to take
the old man by the neck Jake WASH
there. He lodged him and got hold of
that old shotgun and gave the stranger
4 dose that kept him in the hospital for
four months before he could be taken to
jail to await arraignment.
When the miser had reached what
might be called old age. the authorities
of the county insisted that he take bet
ter steps to protect himself. While they
could not legally compel him to do any
thing, the case was put to him so
/ strongly that he finally consented to
pay a sturdy young man small sum
weekly for sleeping in the house with
him at night and acting as guard
and defender. This service continued
for two years. and then the end came
The guard was not there in the day
time, and one evening when he made
his appearance at the usual hour ne
found the old man dead in his rocking
chair. He seemed to have passed away
while sleeping.
The proper authorities were notified
at once and took charge, and the curl
osity of a whole county was excited
over the question of how much money
would be found in the house When 1t
came to that, the guard. whose name
was Henry Davis, and who was known
to be honest and truthful stated that
during the two years he had been there
he had not seen the old man handle
more than SO in cash. He knew that in
that time he had loaned and received
thousands, but where he kept his hoard
was a matter than could not even be
fathomed. All money transactions had
been made i'll the daytime, when the
/ young man was absent.
People who borrowed and repaid had
always to give two hours notice. They
then found the old man ready to lend
/ or receive. 1t was judged from this rule
of his that he wanted time to dig his
money up. or to produce it from some
secret hiding place outside the house.
/ This theory which seemed quite plausi-
/ Bile. led to some funny results Every
farmer for two miles around began
searching his barn ami sheds, thinking
they might have been made the deposit
/ tory, and scores of men looked for hol-
/ low trees and stumps and went digging
/ in what they thought were likely places
In the meantime the old house was
/ submitted to the most careful and
thorough search. It was a cottage.
with parlor, bedroom and kitchen be-
4 low and a half garnet upstairs. The
TniSel. occupied the bedroom and the
/ guard the parlor both sleeping on the
/ floor on straw beds. The kitchen was
furnished with an old rusty stove and
! a meager supply of dishes. and Jake
cooked what he ate.
Beginning at the cellar bottom. the
/ searchers worked up. The bottom of
4 the cellar was dug over to a depth of
/ two feet. but nothing was found Then
/ the baseboards were torn off the
rooms above, the walls pierced here
land there and before the search
/ ceased the very shingles were taken
from the roof. One reason why the
| search was so keen and thorough was
/ because of the number of heirs who
4 came forward. Plenty of people had
heard old Jake declare that he was
the last of his race, and If he had any
1 blood relatives at all they were second
/ cousins living in some province in Ger
/ many but no sooner had news of his
death Travelled about than kinsmen
began showing up and filing their
/ claims.
Enelishmen. Frenchmen and Italians
came forward, to say nothing Of
/ Americans. and none of them, accord
/ ing to his account, was anything less
than first cousin All insisted on the
most rigid search, and although not al
/ lowed to participate in it the sheriff
did his whole duty. When he had
finished with the house it was q wreck.
and all agreed that a dollar bill could
not have been hidden away and es-
capped the search.
As nothing was found in the house.
! the heirs" insisted on the grounds be-
ing searched. Diggers threw up the
I earth at the foot of every tree, rocks
were rolled over and mounds burrow-
ed into. and another two weeks were
wasted in vain.
The searchers hated to let go. but
/ they had to. and then the only thing re-
manning was to sell the old mans per-
+ sonal property at auction and turn over
/ his real estate to the law and let the
! heirs prove their claims. The term
! personal goods and chattels" made
/ everybody smile. The straw beds and
dirty blankets-the two or three old
/ chairs-the rusty and broken old stove
ard the few cracked dishes were valued
/ at one dollar at a liberal estimate and
4 when a farmer named Robinson bid
1 them in for 20 cents he was made the butt
/ for many jokes He loaded up his bar
gain and carried it off and the case
was considered closed
MANY people continued to search for
a year. taking in woods and hills four