The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-09-11
ORIGIN OF A FORTUNE.


enormous wealth came into our fam
lily. How that wealth was acquired
has not been definitely known. My
grandfather when twenty-five years
old wa a captain in the American
army hat conquered q peace with
Mexico. AS soon as the war was end
ed he resigned his commission and
engaged In mining, becoming inn
mensely rich. His fortune was left
to my father and at my fathers
death to me when | should come of
age. My father left letter for me,
stating that would find in a certain
secret place information that ! was
to transmit to my successors. am
today twenty-one and have secured
document containing the informa-
tion. This is copy. The original
was written by my grandfather:
after the battle of Cerro Gordo
went over the field to give aid and
comfort to the wounded. Among
them I found young Mexican, or,
rather, Aztec, who was in fright
ful condition. He looked up at me
pltifully with his mild Aztec eyes,
reminding me of pictures | had seen
of the emperor of Montezuma. ] call
ed some men with a stretcher and
had him removed to field hospital,
where he received attention. Then
| secured his removal to a permanent
hospital, where he fingered for
awhile and died. Before his death
he told me that he was the last lin
cal 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
a gold locket from his neck, he gave
1t to me, saying, Your reward is in
that Soon after he died.
81 did not examine the locket till
peace had been declared. Then |
opened 1t and took out a small piece
of prepared skin, on which was
written something in the ancient
Aztec. With 1t was some writing in
Spanish on paper, which proved to
be translation of the Aztec. |
knew enough Spanish to decipher it.
II was dated 18th of August, 1921,
and read:
Our city is about to fall into the
hands of the Spaniards. |. Guatemot-
zin, emporer, have buried what is left
of our treasure under the northwest
corner of the Teocalli.'
"On the margin were a number OF
notes successively laid down intend
ed TO fix the spot after the Teocalli
had been torn down by the conquer
ors, the last naming a house beside
the cathedral which partly occupies
the area on which the Teocalli. or
pyramid supporting the sacriflcial
/ stone, formerly rested.
when the City of Mexico fell in
TO the hands of the Spaniards they
tortured Guatemotzin to force him "a
| 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 centuries. But why had not
/ any Of the family dug II up and used
it? The secret had died with the
last of the line, who gave me the
record.
Il found the house mentioned in
| the note of record. which was 10th.
/ ing but dingy hovel. It happened
that the army had not been paid for
, months and the paymaster had just
| given us all that was due us. My
pay was more than the hut was
worth, and | bought it. It did not
require much time for the family oc-
| Cupying it to move, for they had
nothing. AS soon as they had gone
| bought a pick and shovel and the
same night went to work. But
| the document said the treasure was
under a corner of the sacrifclal pyra-
| mid. At any rate, found hard joE
being Obliged to remove mass OF
loose stone. | worked for weeks
without finding anything and was
about to give 1t up when my pick
struck metal. | removed the stones
partly covering it and pulled up a
gold god.
From this time forward worked
with encouragement and soon came
upon other articles. My work was
necessarily slow. as l was obliged "a
I remove the stones and earth l had
excavated piecemeal. Finally / came
upon one immense mass of gold and
iewelry that during three centuries
had almost become welded togther
How | got this treasure out and
disposed of it without being discov-
cred would require a great many
pages to tell. | melted the gold as
fast as took it out. and in this form
it was not hard to dispose Of The
Jewels were more difficult, owing tc
their cutting, which would easily be
recognized in Mexico. | sent them tc
other countries. and many of them
I sold for fabulous sums. 1t was sew
| eral years between the discovery oi
the first and last article When
was sure there was nothing more
relaid the floor of the house. which
| had taken up and locked the
premises.