The Prescott daily news., 1909-02-11
Buried Treasure.


 The death of James Norris of the viii lage of Colyille produced the first wave Of excitement the place had expert enced since the chimney of the Metho- dist church had burned out seven years previously. MT Norris was an old bachelor. He was a crank and a miser. It was sure that he had plenty to live on, and yet he lived alone and Tn squalor. He lent money where any one would pay him 10 per cent inter- est. and he was the owner of several pieces of real estate Among them was an old cider mill. It was in the rear end of this that the old man had his residence. In the fall he ground apples and made cider for all who would buy, and this was his only work
 Ii had been talked over d hundred times by the villagers that Norris had his money buried where robbers could not get it and that in case he died sud denly his heirs, if any came forward would have great trouble in finding it.
 
 many citizens. Some of them even went so far as to advise the old man to tell them the exact spot so as to save time in digging. When he re- fused to do so it was taken as another evidence of his meanness. On the morning that his death became known the village of Colville was as excited q .i1, I, the disputed point as to how much he was worth and how much money he had buried would be known to all There were some who would have gone hunting for that money right away had not the justice of the peace stepped in and taken charge
 Men came from d distance of fifty miles to help in that search. At one time the searchers numbered nearly thousand. and so many strangers had to be lodged and fed that Colville took on q boom. The first thing was to search the old mill Men fought each other as they crowded into it. Then the half acre of sterile soil around it must be explored, then the marsh and the piece of woods back of it. Most of the searchersSkav up after day or two but some continued on for a fort night At the end, however, nothing had been found
 Five years passed, and then came the next brain storm. A tin peddier drove into the village to remain over Sunday. On Sunday afternoon he wan dered down to the old mill to have a look at the ruins. A high wind on Sat urday night had brought roof and frame to the earth. In "mousing" around his eye was caught by the fiut- ter of piece of paper, and an hour later the village was seething. The peddler was no hog. He had found good thing, but was ready to divvy with the public. If he got $10,00O out of 1t the villagers might share the rest. That piece of paper was the key to the old miser's buried treasure. It must 1 have been concealed in hollow beam all the time. The writing on it ran as follows: oct 17th, 1SSS.-B one B of c today 7pw of the b o T.'' The town didn't think much of that | peddler when he entered it. He was looked upon as just common tin ped l dler who took paper, rags, sheepskinS, 1 old iron, beeswaX, butter and eggs and | such things in exchange for his tin | pans and dipperS. Before Sunday had | passed. however, men were taking off | their hats to him and wondering when | he would be governor of the state He | was the only one that could make any | sense of the paper, and he didn't give | it away until after he had been invited | to dinner by the justice. Then he read it off as:
 Buried one barrel of cash today | seven paces west of the big oak tree"
 It was evening when the puzzle was solved Lanterns were lit and bon fires built and the seven paces paced off. They struck at a spot where there had been no digging, and the justice appointed ten men to guard the place for the night. In the morn- ing the ruins would be searched for more papers. There must be others When miser begins to bury barrels of cash he does not stop at one. He goes right ahead and buries five or six in order to make the search after his death interesting.
 Nasty breakfasts or none at all were eaten next morning, and then the ruins were searched. Not an inch of beam or board escaped scrutiny twice over, Nothing further was found ex- cept an old tobacco box, and that was empty A groan of despair followed