Rocky Ford enterprise., 1912-03-22

guarded this paper for 20 years. He
left 1t to his family as part of his es-
tate. the rest of which consisted of
two mules and hypotenuse Of nom
arabic land.
blue kind used during the Civil war.
1t was dated June IA. 1863: and
1t described the hiding place of ten
burro-loads Of gold and silver coin
valued at 100000. Old Rundle-grand-
father of his grandson. sam-was
given the information by Spanish
priest who was in on the treasure
burying. and who died many years
before-no. afterward-in old Rundle's
house. Old Rumble wrote It down
from dictation.
why didn't your father look this
up?" I asked young Rumble.
He went blind before he could do
So" he replied.
why didn't you hunt for 1t your.
SELF" I asked.
WELL" said he, I've only known
about the paper for ten years. First
there was the spring plowin' to do.
and then chopin the weeds out OF
the corn; and then come takin' fod-
der; and mighty soon winter was on
us. 1t seemed to run along that way
year after year."
That sounded perfectly reasonable
to me. SO took 1t up with young Lee
T., Rumble at once.
The directions on the paper were
simple. The whole burro cavalcade
laden with the treasure started from
! an old Spanish mission in Dolores
| county. They travelled due south by the
compass until they reached the Ala
mito river. They forded this. and
buried the treasure on the top of a
little mountain shaped like a pack
saddle standing in a row between two
higher ones. A heap of stones
marked the place of the buried treas
ure. All the party except the Span
ish priest were killed by Indians few
days later. The secret was q monop-
oily. 1t looked good to me.
Lee Rumble suggested that we rig
out camping outfit. hire surveyor
| to run out the line from the Spanish
mission, and then spend the 100000
seeing the sights in Forth Worth. But
without being highly educated. I knew
a way to save time and expense.
| We went to the state iand ONCE.
and had a practical. what they call
a working" sketch made OF all the
surveys OF land from the old mission
to the Atlantic river. On this map
drew a line due southwark to the
river. The length of lines of each sur
vey and section of land was accur-
ately given on the sketch. BY these
| ha ha nd
had a connection" made with 1t. and
an important, well-identified corner of
the Los Animos five-league survey-a
grant made by King Philip of Spain.
| BY doing this we did not need to
have the line run out by a surveyor.
1t was great saving OF expense and
time
| So. Lee Rumble and I fitted out a
two-horse wagon team with all the
accessories, and drove a hundred and
forty-nine miles to Chico. the near
est town to the point we wished to
reach. There we picked up a depu-
ty county surveyor. He found the
corner OF the Los Animos survey for
us, ran out the five thousand seven
hundred and twenty varas west that
our sketch called for, laid a stone on
the spot, had coffee and bacon, and
caught the mail-stage back to Chico.
1 was pretty sure we would get that
100000. Lee Rundle's was to be only
one-third because l was paying all the
expenses. With that 100000 knew
| could find May Martha Mangum II
| she was on earth. And with It I could
flutter the butterflies in old man Man
| gums dove-cot, too II could find
that treasure!
| But Lee and I established camp.
| Across the river were a dozen little
mountains densely covered by cedar
brakes, but not one shaped like 4
pack-saddle. That did not deter us.
Appearances are deceptive. A pack
saddle. like beauty. may exist only in
the eye of the beholder.
and the grandson of the treasure
examined those cedar-covered hills
with the care of a lady hunting for
a wicked flea. We explored every side.
top. circumference. mean elevation.
angle, slope and concavity Of every
one for two miles up and down the
river. We spent four days doing 30.
Then we hitched up the roam and the
dun, and hauled the remains Of the
coffee and bacon the 149 miles back to
Concho City.
As shortly as could be after our
empty return Goodloe Banks and
foregathered in the back room of Sny-
der's saloon to play dominoes and fish
for information. | told Goodloe about
my expedition after the buried treas
ure.
.If 1 could have found that three
hundred thousand dollars" / said to
him, II could have secured and sifted
the face of the earth to find May Mar
tina Mangum."