The daily Alaskan., 1908-09-02
Origin of a Fortune.
LOrlrlnaLl

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 peace with Mexico AR soon as the war was ended he resigned his commission and engaged in min. Ing. becoming immensely rich. His fortune was left to my father and at my fathers death to me when l should come of age. My father left q letter for me, stating that | would find in q certain secret place information that ] was 10 transmit to my successors. I am today twenty-one and have SC cured a document containing the infor- nation This Is a copy The original was written by my grandfather:
 After the battle of Cerro Gordo l went over the field to give aid and comfort to the wounded. Among them found q young Mexican, or, rather, Aztec, who was in frightful condition. Re looked up at me pitt fully with his mild Aztec eyes, remind. ing me of pictures I had seen of the emperor of Montczuma. called some men with stretcher and had him re. moved to a field hospital, where he re- ceived attention. Then secured his removal to a permanent hospital where he fingered for awhile and died. Be. fore his death he told me that he was the last llncal male descendant Of Guatcmotzln, nephew of the Emperor Montczuma, whom he succeeded, You have been very kind to me- he said. and I am going to reward you, Then, taking a gold lockct from his neck, hn gave 1t to me, saying, Your reward iS in that Soon after he died.
 q did not examine the locket till peace had been declared, Then l opened it 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 trans laHon of the Aztec. knew enough Spanish to Gecipher It. It was dated 18th of August, 1521 and read:
 "Our city ls about to fall Into the handB of tho Spanlards. l, Guatcmotzin, cmpcr- or, have buried what is left of our trcas- ure under the northwest corner Of the Toocalu.
 "On the margin were number of notes succpSsIycly laid down intended to fix the spot after the Teocalli had been torn down by the conquerors, the last naming a house beside the cathc. dral which partly occupies the area on which the Teocalli, or pyramid sup porting the sacrifcial stone, formerly rested.
 "Whcn the City of Mexico fell into the hands of the Spaniards they tor. tured Guatcmotzln to force him to tell what he had done with this treasure, but did not succeed. Here was what purported to be his record, handed down through more than three cen tures. But why had not any of the family dug 1t up and used it? The secret had died with the last of the line, who gave me the record. My own eX. planation was that the treasure was in' tended to aid In driving out the hated Spanlards If ever the opportunity should arrive. confess at first l had no confidence in finding a treasure, but I was natural adventurer and re- solved to investigate.
 q found the house mentioned in the note of record, which was nothing but a dingy hovcl. It happened that the army had not beer paid for months md the paymastcr had just given Us all that was due us. My pay was more .han the hut was worth. and bought z. It Gll not require much time for
 b, family occupying it to move, rol
 hey had nothing. As soon as they
 al gone | bought a pick uul shovel
 ud the same night went to work Thu
 ,ly had originally been built oa lake,
 ud almost anywhere one can dig down
 trough a soft black soil But the
 ,oyumeut said the treasure was under
 corner of the sacrlhclal pyramid. At
 my rate, found a hard job, being
 blgrd to remove a mass of loose
 tone. worked for weeks without
 hiding anything and was about 10 give it up when my pick struck metal. I re moved the stones partly covering it
 nI pulled up q gold god.
 Prom this time forward worked with encouragement and soon came upon other articles My work was slow, as was obliged to remove the stones and earth had ex. cavated piecemeal. Finally I came upon one immense mass of gold and Jewclry that during three centuries had almost become welded together
 How l got this treasure out and disposed of lt without being discovered would require q great many pages to tell. melted the gold as fast as took 1t out and In this form 1t was not hard to dispose of The jewels were more difficult. owing to their cut ting, which would easily be recognized in Mexico. l sent them to other coun- tries, and many of them sold for fabu- lous sums. It was several years be-