Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1912-09-11


cotton, WIS sunk IN lse9. None OF Il
h''s ever been recovered.
There is a fascinating story about
an old barge that Is buried In the Mis-
souri, sand-nats near Fort Rice, North
Dakota. With II is buried silver worth
more than half a million dollars. At
the time when the unsuccessful pros
Dectors were toiling. empty handed,
back from the gold fields OF California,
a little band of men struck a rich find
near what Is now Virginia City, Mon
tana.
The built a rude camp and. with the
poor implements that they had. work
Cd feverishly for many months until
they had taken out all that their
packs could carry across the miles OF
uncivilized country they must cross to
the naVlgable rivers Of the upper Mis-
souri,. Toiling across the mountains,
always in danger OF massacre. facing
starvation and privatlons. breaking
roads in the frozen fats and blazing
trails through the forests. they finally
reached the river near Painted Woods,
and there built a rude barge and load
ed It to the waters edge with the rich
silver ora
Travelling By night. in constant fear
OF Indian outbreaks. they wended slow
~ down the partly frozen river, know
ing that soon they would reach the
frontier town and safety. II was In
"a and the few scattered settlements
had been deserted. No Indians had
been seen for days and, taking cour-
age. they travelled faster and with less
caution. When they were near Fort
Rice they were attacked by the In.
dams and all OF the little band were
killed with the exception Of one man,
Pierre Laselle.
Ignorant OF the wealth aboard, the
Redskins sunk the float, and Pierre
Laselle escaped to Fort Rice leaving
behind him no trace Of the expedition;
the secret OF the hardships and toll
and wealth were with the river and
with him. He told no one anything
about II for some time-not until be
had enlisted in the army and maneu-
vered 30 as to get back to be near his
treasure. Then he took an old Quak-
er. named Richard Pope, into his con-
| fidence and at the urgent request OK
the Quaker his son was also told the
secret.
Three months later the little party,
we'll armed and we'll provisioned, went
quietly to the spot that Laselle remem-
bered so we'll, only to find that the
river course had changed and bar
Of sand had formed over the barge.
Not dismayed, however, they dug I'M
til they found the Prov OF the old
scow and on the very eve Of success
they too were attacked by the Indians
and Laselle was killed! Pope and his
son, too badly frightened to work
again within the year, went back with
the secret to the town and while there
young Pope died
After many years the old Quaker
J took another man, named Emerson,
and with the drawings that Laselle
and he had made they went back to
the place Of trove and found that the
sand bar had grown and that the river
ran many hundreds Of feet away from
the spot where the fortune lay buried
in glistening sands. Where Pope said
the old diggings would be found a
young cottonwood tree was flourish
ing They spent weeks digging for
many feet around the place, but found
nothing. Some mistake had evidently
been made in following out the former
instructions, but the barge was there,
because Pope and LaseIle found 1t on
their first visit Pope is dead, but
Emerson is still alive and has the old
drawings, letters and records. Maybe
he can be induced to part with 1t, and
maybe not but somewhere In the fats
near Fort Rice is a snug little fortune
awaiting some finder.
Behind the city of st. Augustine, in
some likely spot, another rich treasure
is located. When It was a rich Span
ish town, favorite puttingin port fol
the heavily laden Spanish galleons
that we're coming through the Straits
of Florida to avoid sailing the waters
made dangerous by Peter the Terrible
and Sir Henry Morgan, its wealth at
tracted the attention of the free-boot
ers and word of their preparations t.
attack and loot the city was carriet
, to the captain-general.
For weeks the city was in state o.
, great perturbation and when some
English ships, probably privateers, ap
neared off the coast, the public treas
ure. the church treasure and the valu
, ables of the wealthy citizens we're as
sembled. removed inland and hidden
For months the state of suspense con
tinued until the Spanish Admiral Quin
tana appeared with his feet. Thel
the St. Augustlnians thought the!
, could safely bring back their wealth
To their horror the three prominen
? men entrusted with the secreting o
, II. either could not find 1t or pretend
; Cd they could not One fed to Spail
a before the anger Of his fellow-citizen
I and his flight cost the lives Of the 9th
er two. They we're assassinated a
soon as the flight became known.
The archives Of the Spanish admir-
atty have full record of the affair ant
!, the true key to the treasure trove cal
: best be found by searching the famil,
= papers Of the man who fed. He neve
; returned, but without doubt he lef
A. ,,n1,,nhln inflammation to his heirE