Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-01

mouth of the ST. Francis, and in several
other places there were pirate gangs. Iradl-
ton says that when the gangs divided their
booty from river boats some invariably
buried their own share, or large part of it.
Search for their lost wealth is made from
time to time, not always without avail.
The Old Mammy's Junk
THEN, too, war caused the hiding of much
silver, gold, and jewels. One of the
curious stories relates to the discovery of
one of these hidden boards. A shanty-boat
junker went among the negroes on planta-
ton below Red River landing a few years
ago. An old nanny said she had some old
truck which she would be glad to SELL She
told the junker about finding it in the corner
of chicken coop. She brought out about
forty pounds of old metal, and the junker
paid her the price of brass, five cents
pound. He dumped the load in the hold of
his boat with other pickings; but one piece
attracted his attention. 1t was curiously
wrought candlestick. He took it out and
used it with candles about the boat
When he sold the boat and cargo to a
iunker at New Orleans, he retained the can
dlestick and carried it to Evansville on the
Ohio. There a friend noticed its great
weight. When tested by jeweler, it was
found to be gold of about the purity used
by the old French in such articles. The
jeweler paid ninety-hve dollars for the can
dlestick.
Shanty-boaters do much specializing as to
what became of the other forty pounds.
Was it melted up with the rest of the load of
brass, or did some junker or founder dis
cover the true nature of the metal?
Found and Then Lost
DERHAPS as aggravating an instance of
buried treasure unearthed was the ex-
perience of an old riverman named Don
Bartlett. According to Bartlett's story, as
he told it before he was killed near Red
River he was at the time in the caving bend
below New Madrid on the west side of the
river. He had been driven in by threat of
storm, and his landing was in an eddy against
high sliding bank. While he was tied there
he heard a rumbling sound and recognized
it as one of the little earthquakes that strike
across the bottoms there four or five times
year. The earth began to tremble, and the
boat to rock.
Bartlett, fearing the bank, started out to
cast off; but as he did so he caught sight of
a huge iron kettle revealed by the sliding
away of the bank. The kettle was about
one-fourth out when he spied it. He sprang
to seize it. divining its contents; but as he
leaped the ground gave way, and the kettle
was slid out of its place, toppled over, and
the cover fell off. Out of it poured a cas-
cade of coins, all gold" For an instant the
sight gladdened the riverman's eyes; then
the bank leaned forward, a strip ten feet
wide Jumped over, and the bank, kettle,
gold, and all, were carried down into forty
five feet of water. Bartlett's boat was
swamped, and he was glad to escape with
his life.
Walter Buffers Loot
nF specific treasures there are probably
~ hundreds known to tradition. There is,
for instance, the story of Walter Buffers
loot Butler was the notorious Mohawk
Valley Tory raider. In 1882, at the end of
the Revolutionary War, he came to the Mo-
hawk Valley with a small army of soldiers