The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1909-03-11
Buried Treasure.
copyright, 1908, by T. c. McClure.l

| Iage of Colville produced the first wave
Of excitement the place had expert
enred si.ce tne chimney Of the Metho-
dist church had burned out seven
years previously. Mr.. 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
in 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. 1t 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.
It had been talked over a 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.
This was real cause Of worry to
| 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
as If a circus had come to town. Now
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 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 a 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 searchers gave up after a 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 flut-
ter Of a piece Of paper, and an hour
later the village was seething. The
peddler was no hog. He had found a
good thing, but was ready to divvy
with the public. If he got $4,000 out
Of it the villagers might share the rest.
That piece of paper was the key to the
old miser's buried treasure. 1t must
all the time The writing on it ran as
follows:
"Oct 18th, 1SSS-B one B of G today
7p w 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
dler who took paper, rags, sheepskins,
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
1t 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 PAGES west of the big oak tree"
1t was evening when the puzzle was
solved. Lanterns were lit and bon
fires built and the seven PAGES 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.
Hasty 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
the conclusion Of the search. The
miserable old man had buried only
one barrel of cash, after all, and the
tin peddler was to have $4,000 out Of
that. Four men began to dig at seven
PAGES due west cf the big oak tree
The ground had settled down as hard
as asphalt, but had 1t been cast iron
they would have stuck to the job.
There were 600 people in a circle
about them when the shout Of dis
covery went up. One Of the picks had
struck the barrel There was a great
rush, and 1t was quarter Of an hour
before it could be cleared Of dirt and
lifted out. Then there were more
cheers and more rushes. The barrel
was up ended at last, and as the head
was knocked in the price Of real es-
tate in Colville scared to the clouds
Next moment it fell with thud like
that of q brick house coming down.
The "b of CO was barrel of cider in
stead Of a barrel of cash. The old
tod Axfy,oo vNf