Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1907-01-03

dig here for big spell. I want to
write lot, but the stage leaves in a
minute and I got to quit. Yours,
~. w.
"PS.-Mebbe 1t amt that house,
but what other big house could he
have meant?"
The purport of the letter is plain.
The money referred to is undoubt-
edly part of that paid to Black
Hawks tribe by the United States in
return for the lands sold by them,
either by the treaty of 1904, or of
1882 or some intermediate date.
| There is an old story in the neigh.
borhood where the letter was found
of how three Indian braves were ap-
pointed to bury this gold, the mum.
Der being chosen so that if one was
killed there would yet be some one
left to find the location. AS the irony
of fate would have 1t, however, a
tribal war followed, and every one
of the three in the secret was killed,
so that none of the tribe could locate
the missing treasure.
The map which was found with
the old letter gives fairly legible d.
rections for the search, and already
dozens are at work digging in the
various parts of the neighborhood in
search of the money. Of all the land
marks mentioned on the map, how
ever, but one tree remains, though
pioneers familiar with the neighbor-
hood say they we'll remember when
all Of those shown were standing.
The map shows line running dag
onally 400 feet southeast of the
cabin. This line is crossed by one
running due east. A line running
north and south crosses these two,
and the letter says to dig at the cen
tre of the triangle instead of the
crossing of the east-west and north
south lines, where all previous dig
ging has been done.
An even greater amount of gold
treasure lies buried $50 miles north
of where Mr.. Blint found his $45.000
and where the Fairfield residents are
digging for the $4,000 spoken of in
the Bonnifield letter. There is $780,
900 sent from st. Louis in 1880 to
Fort Mckay to the soldiers under
Col. Zachary Taylor, which was bur-
led until the Indian trouble should
blow over, and which has never been
discovered. Men and even women
have dug for this money for many
years, but the success of the search
ers in the southern part of the State
has inspired those in the northern,
and the search is being taken up
again as never before.
The story of the Taylor fortune is
interesting in the extreme.
One day in 1880 four bags of gold
were received at Fort Mckay, near
where the little town of North Nc
Gregor, Iowa. now stands. 1t was
the largest shipment ever sent out
from St. Louis to any of the frontier
posts and was to be used to pay off
the white soldiers who were valiantly
preserving order by holding the re-
bellous Indians in leash. Col. Tay-
lor, when apprized Of the safe arrival
of the money, took every precautfon
to safeguard 1t until the Indians had
been driven away or pacified, when
the men could be paid and allowed to
return to the white settlement to
spend their hard-earned money.
Calling together the command, Col.
Taylor chose four of the bravest and
most trustworthy men and, after in
forming them of the Importance of
the mission upon which he was about
to send them, he gave to each a bag
of gold with instructions to carry the
bags to some safe place, which they
should jointly select, and there hide
the treasure from the Indians. An
attack being feared at any moment,
the four men started at once. They
never returned.
Hardly had the four men left the
stockade when well-planned attack
was made by the Indians. The fight.
ing was fast and furious and extend
ed over several days. When at last
the Indians had been repulsed Col.
Taylor lost no time in selecting a
party and sending it out to rescue
the gold hunters. The party searched
for many hours before they came
across the four men lying dead and
entirely naked, the Indians having
murdered, scalped and stripped them.
Not the smallest suggestion of the
whereabouts of the gold could be
found about the place where the
men had lost their lives in defense
of their trust, but after thorough
search one of the members of the
party was rewarded by finding
scrap of paper near the body of one
of the men, known as Mercierre. II
is that scrap of paper which has In
spired three-quarters of century OF
digging. On it was scrawled:
-.
ON HIGHEST BLUFF ACROSS :
FROM FORT IN PILES !;