Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1913-11-27
AMisejr' sHoard
6y M. QUAD
Copyright, 1913. by Associated Lit
erary Press.
6y M. QUAD

him. He bought an old shack OF a
house and paid spot cash for it and
then opened business.
Once Il week Moses bought about
80 cents worth Of meat and groceries.
He was surly and had little to say to
men.
BY and by Moses Taylor became a
fixture and belonged to the town. No
one cared whether he lived or died,
and it was generally believed that he
had no relatives. The speculation
about him and his hoard never died
out. His wealth had been placed at
$4,000 in gold when he first came. If
it ever showed signs of reduction a
wire fence man would come along and
say:
Gentlemen. don't you fool your
selves. Moses Taylor has at least a
hundred thousand in bright yellow
boys planted in his CELLAR
Then there would be a higher respect
for Moses. and the wire fence man
would be looked upon as a sort of
hero.
The miser's shack was in a suburb.
The nearest house was forty rods
away. While it's inmates did not
neighbor with the old man. they got
into the habit of keeping track Of him.
They looked for the smoke Of his chin
ney in the morning and for the dis
appearance of bis lean candle at an
early hour in the evening. 1t was a
sort Of guardianship without meaning
to be. 1t had gone on for years and
years. when n November morning
there was no chimney smoke. Moses
had been seen the afternoon of the
day previous, and it was noticed that
he was very feeble.
After q wait of several hours men
went over to the shack and pushed
open the door and found the old man
dead in his chair. AS if he had plan
ned the thing to be a bit Grammatical.
his stiff fingers held a two dollar bill.
The proper authorities were notified
and took charge. At the c%oroner's in
quest the doctors gave it as their opin-
ion that the old man had died from
the want Of proper food and care.
If a Fourth Of July and a circus and
a presidential election had hit Mobiles
town on the same day there would
have been no more excitement than
" the taking off Of the old miser.
Exclamations and suggestions and
comments few fast.
HE must have made a will,' OBJ
served Rev. Barnes, land I have hopes
that he left a legacy to my church to
pay off the mortgage"
The Rev. Barnes had collected sew
eral hundred dollars for the heather,
but had never carried old Moses SO
much as a cracker.
A schoolmaster expected at least
$500 because he had once bowed to the
old man.
A certain widow expected that much
or more because she had looked over
her gate at him as she passed.
One Of the merchants had sold Moses
a pair of shoes at cost upon an occa-
sion. and he moved about whispering:
"Those old miserS never forget n
who has befriended them. I think |
a count on at least $4OO-I think |
can
1t had geen taken for a certainty
that Moses had no relatives: but. land
alive, how they came tumbling over
each other as soon as the newspapers
got to work:
1t took the full force of the sheriff
Of the county to hold the people off
whi1o tho nrcpov IA ~, 1o a.
old shack.
A three room shack. almost without
furniture. is soon searched. Of course
the first thing was to find the will.
No will-not even an old letter, not
even a memorandum. If will there was
or had been one of the two lawyers in
town must have drawn it. as old Moses
had never left the town after his ar
rival.
Neither of the lawyers had drawn a
will.
There was more talk about graft. and
one or two were bold enough to say
that the searchers had found the will
and pocketed it.
Now for the hoard. 1t was estimat-
ed by the villagers at $15O,OOO and by
the relatives at $250.OOO. Six or seven
fsticuff fights took place before the
crowd compromised on 100000
No gold! No g%reenbacks.
But there must be-" yelled the out
siders.
I'VE have made a careful search and
found only the 50 he had in his hand
when he died"
1T must be hidden in the walls"
Then come and find it."
Not a man got into that house with.
out being thumped. and not a man got
out until thumped some more. The
searchers We're searched. and then the
shack was torn limb from limb. so tC
say. Not a dollar-not a shilling-not
even a copper penny.
But where has it gomez was de
manded.
The answer didn't come then, but q
year later. when Il stranger visited No
blestown who had known Moses Taylor