Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-04
TREASURE TROVE
OF BALLERINO IS
UNDISCOVERED
REDLIGHT KING BELIEVED TO
HAVE BURIED $5OO,000
STATEMENT MADE THAT ESTATE
WAS WORTH 100000
Less Than a Quarter of That Amount
Has Been Found and Public
Administrator Is Making
Search
EoLLow1NG the discovery yester-

HOLLOWING the discovery yester-
| II day that Bartolo Ballerino late
Il king of the crib" district, buried
a large amount of money in a suburb
an lot, which afterward passed out
of his possession, a search has been
! begun by the disinherited sons and
| daughters of the redight czar, with
! Frank Bryson, administrator of the
estate, in charge of the hunt for hid
! den treasure.
| 1t is known that Ballerino had in his
| possession at the time of his death
property and money aggregating $780,
| 900 in value. OF this amount, less than
5000, 600 has been accounted for. Dur
| ing the last three years Ballerino made
! repeated attempts to open the hidden
! treasure troVe, but was restrained by
the purchasers of the lot in which it
| had been buried. No explanation has
! yet been given of the fact that Bal
! lerino allowed the lot to pass from his
| possession after he had buried the
money on it, but it is supposed that
! he intended to take 1t away secretly.
| Only one man, intimately associated
| with Ballerino for years, has the Sc
cret of the location of the cache and
refuses to reveal it, because it was
intrusted to him as professional
| secret.
Il know where the money is buried"
| he said last night, "and I know ap-
| proXlmately the amount.
1.-THE location is professional secret.
am no more at liberty to reveal it
pthan l would be if Ballerino were alive.
| We severed business relations about a
| year before his death, but 1 did not
| consider that this released me from my
obligation to keep the secret Only
| two other men knew of it besides Ba-
| llerlno, and they are both dead"
Attorney Edward L. Hutchinson, who
negotiated Ballerino's legal business
! for more than three years, said last
night that he knew that Ballerino had
| buried money, and that he knew ap-
proximately the place, but was not at
| liberty to give the location.
"Ballerino's estate was approximate
ly $S00,000 at the time of his death" ="
said Mr.. Hutchison. II know that he
| entrusted a large amount of his money
| to private bankers, and L also know
| that a large amount of it was under
ground. He was eccentric in his ways,
and during the last few years made
| three or four wills. He received about
$4,000 from the sale of his Pico
Heights property, and I know of sew
| eral other large amounts of money
which he secured, for which l saw no
| subsequent accounting"
Half Million Missing
| In his will, which as contested July
| % in the superior court by his widow
and nine sons, he left the bulk of his
| 100000 estate to Della Garrison Quien.
| After accounting for the property
mentioned in the will there still is
more than $500, 900 known to have been
in his possession. and which, it is de-
clared by those who had the most in
| innate knowledge of the dead mans
affairs, is buried on one of the three
of the suburban lots which he sold
several years before his death.
Frank Bryson, administrator for the
Bailerino estate, declared last evening
that he had strong reasons for be-
| lieving that the "redlight king" had
| buried the larger part of his for
tune. Mr.. Bryson bases his belief on
the fact that fifteen years ago Ballerino
buried a large amount of money on
one of his Pico Heights lots, which he
| later dug up and. showed to his sons.
Before his death, he quarreled with
| the Quien woman. which fact is de-
clared by Mr.. Bryson to strengthen
the theory that he made another will,
after the unsigned, typewriter docu
ment, which is now being contested in
court
Was Pioneer of '49
Ballerino, who was a Chilean, was
| so years old at the time of his death,
and had been notorious in the city for
years on account of his oddly eccen-
| trio habits and his evil connections.
He came to Los Angeles in 1S49 ami
was among the best known of the adj
venturers who settled the wilderness,
| engaging in various lines of business,
finally entrenching himself in the under
| world, with the sudden growth of the
| city in the last two decades, accumu-
! lating a fortune which, at one time.
amounted to considerably more than
| 81 600 700