The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1909-04-29
THE GHOSTS GIVE TIPS.
TELL TAR HEELS WHERE
BURIED TREASURE LIES.

And Now North Carolina Farmers
Are Digging Up the Whole Face
of the Earth.
High Shoals, n. c., April 2l.-
They've been hearing more strange
noises in the thin woods on the right
bank of the Catawba, northwest o.
here, and if you drive out that way
you will see a lot of fresh holes in the
ground. They were made by search
ers for hidden gold, for men live
hereabouts who think there are
spirits that tell where money, bushels
of it, has been buried. The new holes
tell of the Interpretation Of those
imaginary messages.
Digging was resumed a little way
back from the river about two
months ago and has been going on
spasmodically ever since. Mr.. Kale,
Superintendent of the cotton mill
here, was the first townsman to no
tice it.
A couple of weeks ago he drove out
to see some property the mill COM
pany owns some distance up the
stream. His horse SHE'D at some
thing at the side of what for con-
venience may be called the road,
though it was not much like one.
Kale, looking that way, saw a mound
of earth heaped up beside a deep
hole.
About twenty rods further on he
came across another hole just like
the first. On the other side of the
road was third hole. Then Kale
knew what he had encountered, for
he had seen the same thing in these
parts seven or eight years ago.
He told about it when he got back
to town-though not within the hear
ing of the mill hands, for he didn't
want any such exodus as might fol-
low the rekindling of the supersti-
tions of these people-and two col
lege boys, who had stopped here
while tramping across the State from
Chapel Hill, decided that they'd like
to see the workings of spirit so
powerful as to make the very indolent
farmer folk work hard at digging.
The Chapel Hill boys saw what they
wanted; and they don't want to see it
again.
ever see a man struggle and
sweat and pray for something you
know he can't possibly get?" one of
them asked the next day. "Well,
you don't want to. First it seems
awfully funny; then it gets pa
thetic.
Larry and I had the luck to strike
the scene of one of those gold hunt
ing operations. We climbed a tree
so as to be out of sight and waited.
eve thought they'd never show
up. It must have been 10 o'clock be-
fore they did. First there were three
men; it was dark and we couldn't
see them, for they had no lights, but
we could hear 'em talking. They
made 80 much noise at first that we
couldn't make out what they. said.
Then we caught:
"'You'all bettah set down there
now and stay STILL
when they had got settled it was
awfully still. We didn't dare move.
l guess it must have been half an
hour without a stir from those fel-
lows under the tree, and then Larry
reached over to feel as If was there.
I wasn't expecting 1t, and my nerves
were so taut that I started and came
near losing my balance.
"a small branch broke and
tumbled down. Larry said, Damn!
in sort Of whisper, and thought
sure we were in for trouble, for the
men under the tree jumped up and
one of them shouted, Did you heah?'
"'Yes,' another said in low tone.
1t said "dam," just as plain as could
be-
WELL said the first speaker,
that means towards the dam, I reck-
on. Light the lantern, Sales, and
we'll see if there's some other thing
around here to go by.'
"The lantern was lighted and the
three men began to scruntinze the
ground, one of them on his knees.
Here's the pointer!' shouted the
kneeling man, and they gathered
around the lantern tilted 50 the
light shone on the ground. This was