The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-08-04
Origin Of a Fortune.
[oriHlnal.l


enormous wealth came into our family
How that wealth was acquired has
not been definitely known. My grand.
father when twenty-five years old was
| a captain In the American army that
conquered a peace with Mexico AS
soon as the war was ended be resigned
his commission and engaged IN mln.
ing, becoming Immensely rich. His
fortune was left to my father and al
my fathers death TO me when should
come of age. My father left letter
for me, stating that | would find In 4
certain secret place information that
was to transmit to my successors.
am today twenty-one and have Sc.
cured document containing the lufor.
nation. This is a copy. The original
was written by my grandfather:
after the battle OF Cerro Gordo |
went over the field TO give aid aud
comfort to the wounded Among
them | found young Mexican, or.
rather, Aztec. who was In a frightful
condition. lie looked up at me pitt.
fully with his mild Aztec eyes, remind.
ing me of pictures | had seen of the
emperor OF Monteznma. / called some
men with u stretcher and had him re.
moved to field hos, Jital. where he re-
celved attention. Then I secured bis
removal to permanent hospital. where
he fingered for awhile ana died. BE.
fore his death he told lle that he was
the last llneal male descendant Of
Guatemotzin. nephew Of the Emperor
MonteZuma, whom he succeeded. You
have been very Kind TO me- he said
and ! am going to reward you Then.
taking n gold locket from his neck. he
gave it to me, saying. Your reward is
in that Soon after he died.
"I did not examine the locket til
peace had been declared Then /
opened IL and took out small piece
of prepared skin. on which was writ.
ten something In the ancient Aztec
With 1t was some writing in Spanish
on paper, which proved to be a trans.
latlOn of the Aztec. knew enough
Spanish to declpher It, 1t was dated
18Th OF August, 1921, and read:
"Our city is about to fall into the handa
OF the Spaniards. /. Guatemotzin. emper-
or, have buried what is left of our treas
ure under the northwest corner OF the
TeoCalli.
"On the margin were n number OF
notes successfully laid down intended
to fix the spot after the Teocalli had
been torn down by the conquerors. the
last naming a house beside the cn the.
dral which partly occupies the area On
which the Teocalli, or pyramid sup.
porting the sacrlHclal stone. formerly
rested.
"When the City Of Mexico fell into
the hands OF the Spanlards they tor.
tured GuatemotZin to force him to tell
what he had done with this treasure,
but did not succeed. Here wns whit
purported TO be his record. handed
down through more than three cen
turtles. But why had not any OF the
family dug 1t up and used IL? The
secret had died with the last Of the line.
who gave me the record My own ey.
PLANTATION was that the treasure was In.
tended TO aid In driving out the hated
Spaniards II ever the opportunliy
should arrive. confess ut first | had
no confidence in finding II treasure. but
| was natural adyenturer and re-
solved TO investigate.
II found the house mentioned In the
note OF record, which was nothing but
II dingy hoyel. II happened that the
army had not beer paid for months
md tba nuvmostnr haI inSt ,,i,,,,, ~.
all that was due us, My pay was more
than the hut was worth. ana | bought
II. II did not require much time for
the family occupying 1t TO move, for
they had nothing. AS soon us they
had gone | bought pick and shovel
aud the same night went TO work The
city had originally been built OH II lake.
and almost anywhere one can dig down
through soft black soil. But the
document said the treasure was under
a corner Of the sacrlficial pyramid. At
any rate, ! found hard job. being
obliged to remove mass of loose
stone. worked for weeks without
finding anything and was about to give
It up when my pick struck metal. re-
moved the stones partly covering IL
and pulled up gold god.
From this time forward | worked
with encouragement and soon came
upon other articles. My work was
necessarily slow, as was obliged to
remove the stones and earth | had ex.
cavated plecemeal Finally | came
upon one immense mass of gold and
jewelry that during three centuries
had almost become welded together.
How | got this treasure out ana
OF 1t without being discovered
would require great many pages to
tell. melted the gold us fast MS
took 1t out, and in this form ii was
not hard TO dispose Of The Jewels
were more difficult. owing TO their cut.
Ting, which would easily be recognized
In Mexico. | sent them 10 other couu-
tries, and many of them sold for fabu.
ous sums. II was several years be-
tween the discovery of the first ard
last article When | was sure there
was nothing more ! relald tin floor
lf the house. which | had taken up.
md locked the premises.
In order TO account for my wealth |
purchased wornout Mexican mine |
and gave out that | was taking out !
gold in fabulous quantities, had