The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1909-05-23

PLACED IN ITS RESTING PLACE
DURING THE CIVIL WAR
UNDER STONE HEARTH-oLD
RESIDENCE NEAR PAINT LICK,
IN GERHARD COUNTY.

lit ulSIOAtIN III inOltEN anu Jew eli
ry valued at $4,000 or more beneath
a large stOn hearth in diiapidated
old residence on the farm of II. S.
HensIey, near Point Lick. in Gerard
county Ky has revived many thrill
ing stories OF the guerrilla period i'm
mediately subsequent to the Civil
/ War
Other rich finds that have been
! made from time TO time since those
uncertain days have been brought to
the minds of the older citizens. many
of whom had personal experiences
with the various guerrilla bands which
spread terror throughout central Ken
lucky.
The noted Miller brothers. of ranch
101 who recently sold their posses
sions to John w. Gates for sum re-
puted to have been S1,000,000 were
reared at Crab Orchard, few miles
southeast o. DsnvilIe. and their out
set on the road to wealth was brought
about by a rich discovery made by
their father beneath an old hearth in
a residence which is still standing
three miles east of Crab Orchard, on
the Sit. Nerroh road.
In these days George Miller father
of the uiHi0Ea;Te Miller brothers,
was Door auckStor In T-rairi,.S
me ECdIlll III the OiU lGS1uHnC6 WHICH
had been inherited by his wife from
her father. Jackson Fish, Miller found
2 small kettle containing $4,000. The
suPpositiOn is that the money had
been placed there by Fish about the
close of the war, and having died be-
fore quiet had been restored, the Sc
cTet was never divulged-
Gave Him Start.
This was in 1875. and gave Miller a
start in the world. Other large
amounts have been discovered from
time to time, buried at various places
about wartime homes. While large
percentage of those who buried their
treasures lived to claim them, still
many were either killed by the rob-
bers or died without making known
their secrets.
II is said that practically every
family of wealth buried their money
and jeWelry when Frank and Jesse
James made their wild dash through
Kentucky, spreading terror and blood
shed. When the bank of Columbia
waS robbed and the cashier killed. eX-
element became so intense that most
Of those who had money in the banks
through this section withdrew il and
sought out a secret hiding place for it.
At one time the soil of central Ken
lucky held within its bosom millions
of dollars in gold and silver, and much
of it still remains undisturbed. Pre-
ceding the raid of the James brothers
and their bard. One-Armed Sam Ber-
~. who had been a modest school
teacher at PerTyville, became enTaged
over what he thought was brutal
deeds committed by federal soldiers,
following the famous battle of Per-
ryville, quit his school and establish
ed headquarters at Bloomfield. Nelson
county, where he organized one of the
most desperate bands of guerTiilas
that ever traversed Kentucky soil.
Shortly after entering upon his new
vocation he made a raid on his adopt
ed town of Perryville and terroriZed
federal sympathizeTs and men who he
fancied were his personal enemies.
Dashing into the Guiet little village
yelling stand in line" Berry and
twelve of his men forced 125 stalwart
men to stand in line while their pock-
cts were Tified Old man Lawson re-
fused to follow suit and was shot to
pieces in the street.
The band was seeking Richard Les
sci. especially He was a strong fed
eraI sympathizer and had frequently
denounced the One-Armed. He was
in Wallace Green's drug store, and
Berry. suspecting his presence there,
rode into the store. Lesser jumped
out of a back window, landing in
Chaplain river and swimming to the
opposite shore. made his escape.
Wallace Green still runs his store
in the same building. and Richard
Lesser resides a short distance from
PerryviIIe being a highly respected,
substantial farmer From there Berry
went to Houstonyille, wBeTe several
men we're killed He continued on his
wild career through Kentucky and In
diana into Illinois where he was cap
rurrd and placed in the federal prison
al Joliet.
Tied to Stake.
He was tied to a stake and a small