Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-03-29

| ing overtime at the old stand. 1t
thrives on "eXposure" and one dupc
seems to beget another to be 'stung'
by some new variety of mineral rod
graft.
Tradition of buried treasure. the
more potent, is the hand maiden of
this graft.
Good old Elder Jones. of Texas. sat
on his front porch reading THE Apos-
tolic Guide" when the II. f. d. cart
stopped at his box and the carrier mo-
toned him to come out.
What you got. a registered" called
the Elder.
Nav. something worse than that, If
I'm any Judge drawled the carrier
as ne handed him letter whose en-
velope carried in the upper left corner
the card of famous charity hospital
in st. Louis and the added direction
in red ink Deliver to the identical
person addressed
/ Got any pore kin up that "a way"
asked the carrier in a friendly tone.
But the Elder shook his head decisive
ly and walked away.
As soon as the carrier was round q
bend in the road where he could not
possibly see. the Elder opened the let
ter. which he confidently believed was
begging mission, and carefully
spelled out:
deer bro in the lord my days ar
nunDrd and rite to tel you a secret
that will max You ritch. I am "A old
soljer with a few days to liv. you no
that in the last yeer of the war the
united States agreed to sci Il lot of guns
and arms to the president of mexico
who was hidin in the hills with his
gang. a detale of his gang with 20 five
thousan dollars i'm silver crost the river
and went north TO meet gen. banks
and make the deel neer yure phase we
surrounded them and when they seen
thar was no hop they berried the
money and run. We ketched um and
the slaWter was awful, one before he
died told me whar the money was hid
but cud never find it. but it was near
or on whar yure phase is now. l hev
ben Their many times. but when il is to
lat l no how to find it rite to Jim mann
1193-streat, saint lewis and he will
find /; for you with a rod he has. if
he cant find it he wont charge a sent
when you get it You want to send me
few dolers to ese my last ours do SO
and j don't ask no NOR.
yours in crist on the squar and |
and t. lin blankenfe,t.
p. s. you best not tel that nu GUNNER
nabor of yurs for | wouldn't trust him
as fur as cud thro bul by the tale
/ meen that man WOO lives on skool 40
j. b.
As the Elder read this epistolary ef-
fusion he derived more pleasure from
it than he was ever to see again. for
he often chuckled: "Yaas, Mister T.
drop me another line when YOU sting
me-" And yet while he could not in
dorse hatred on deathbed the post
scrip abiding to his pestiferous neigh
Dor gave him strange pleasure.
one year before u stranger had come
into the neighborhood and bought the
only school forty" in that region
This neighbor in one short year had
shown himself to be cratic in his
movements. irascible in conduct and
in an insinuating way had attacked
the Elders most cherished traditions.
There was still another thing in the
letter that caused lin to take notice"
Mann. the divining rodist. did every
thing on guaranty.
There was comfort in this, for the
elder would lave submitted to an am
putation on a mo cure no pay" basis,
and as a result of his cogitations, in
ten DAYS there was a letter in his hand
from Mann that read as follows:
Sir: Please to remember that my
&c. hla 10 lot n
brief. ] have some knowledge of the
money buried by the hard pressed
Mexicans. but as it was only SIS 600
worth now about sil 900. and as l could
only claim one half of it, l throw the
transaction out of the realm of bust
ness and into that of charity for
Blankenfelt. a dying man You may
command me. Respectfully,
James Mann"
Now the elder VAS in the frame of
mind in which in days gone by he had
shook his head ut younger Joneses and
said:
stop, Daddy is in earnest now"
He went to Mann promptly. but the
divine rodist had another important
case, urgent in demand and rich in
possibilities. The elder was in fever
ish excitement at the delay and posi-
lively doWncast when his testy and
beiIigerant neighbor returned from one
of his erratic rambles two days before
Mann's arrival.
Manns bearing Was that of man
who Is financially solid and knows il,
and in his intercourse with his client
he observed the rules of punctilious
pOliteness that inspire confidence in
one who has reached the head of a
profession and beyond it.
To the elders feverish question:
How long do you think it will take to
find the treasurer" he replied that it
might take IL month. as he had con-
sumed that amount of time on an es-
tate in Virginia before he finally To-
Gated the family plate" that was
buried when the Federal army occu-
pied the plantation. In this case he
must course the region for several
day3--or nights he added IF the
neighbors were inqusitive.''
This last clause was a very aggra-
waiting t'y in the elders ",get-rich-
quick ointment.