Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-07-20

TTTHEN was a boy I was told that there
w was pot of gold at the end of the
rainbow, and thereupon 1 became rainbow
chaser.
But 1 never found the pot, to say nothing
of the gold. And it was years before l found
the end Of the rainbow.
The day 1 first saw it is as memorable as
the day of a lost illusion. There had been
a summer shower The came out be-
tween the clouds and rainbow spanned the
valley. One end of it rested in a field where
1 had picked wild strawberries, the kind to
which Bishop Boteler referred in the famous
remark quoted by Izaak Walton, and the
other end was lost in the misty clouds.
could look through the f1lmy prsmatic veil
to the trees beyond, under which the anem-
ones twinkled in the early spring. And
Immediately beneath the bow was a large
rock that had not been moved since the melt
ing glaciers left 1t there in the dim back
ward and abysm of time. / knew there could
be gold beneath that piece of primeval
chaos and for me the rainbow ceased to be
a divining rod.
But faith in buried treasure? That is an
other matter.
1t is indisputable as the existence of
the rainbow itself that treasure has been
hidden in the earth From the man who
buried his talent in a napkin to Captain
Kidd, the records are full of instances. But
not all are so fortunate as he of the Pales-
tinian story, for many of them have not
been able to find the treasure again when
they searched.
The Cattleman's Gold
If the Iowa counterfeiters had been able
to remember the place in which they had
concealed the stockman's trunk of gold the
oP
cited by the arrest of four or five reputable
citizens, charged with murder.
According to the story that is told, a gang
of counterfeiters who operated near the ham
let of Siam heard that a cattleman was
coming that way with $4,000 to invest in
stock to be fattened for market They lay
in wait for him, killed him and his 15-year-
old boy. They threw the body of the man
into a well, which they filled up the next day,
and they buried the boy in locust grove,
and near 1t the trunk with it's precious con-
tents was concealed in deep hole and COW
cred with earth. No one knew what had
happened except the 14-year-old slster-in-
law of one of the gang She happened to
be awake caring for her sisters baby and
went out of the house when she heard the
men bringing the body OF the man to the
we'll This was in 1868,
And the cOunterfeiters were never suspected
of the double murder. But stories Of buried
treasure began to be circulated and men
began TO dig. Twelve years ago Samuel An
derson, Of Lucas, Ia, was hired to work in
a trench on the spot where tradition said
the trunk was buried. He suspected what
the trench was for. and during the lunch
hour while his employers were away. he
started to do some digging on his own ac-
count, but he had not progressed far when
some men rushed on him from the bushes
with drawn revolvers and drove him away
He believes that the money was found soon
after. But he did nothing until this sum
mer, when he brought suit for what he
claims his share OF the money namely
one quarter OF 100000. Then the story OF the
murder was told. The criminal oficers began
to investigate and the arrests followed. The
girl who says she saw the men carrying the
body has been found and has testified to
what she thinks happened on the fatal night
But the community at large regards the
whole affair with mingled amusement and
skeptieism. There are even some who doubt
that the trunk ever was buried and that
there was any money ever dug out OF the
ground in that part OF the State save In the
shape OF potatoes or beets And when the
court discharged the men accused OF mur-
der they said: Il told you So"
There are others, however, who sare as
trustful as the small boy who ehases rain
bows for the pot of gold. One OF the men
arrested has spent IS OF every $40 that he
could raise for many years past IN proddlne
IN the earth for the hidden treasure
The South Is Full Of Hidden Treasure
There are many men like him In the South.
where gold coin ana silver plate hidden from
tae Yankees is almost as plentiful A. Yan.
zee bullets. and they have spent their tinls
alzEInz O. geld Qlh.r ..i... - -.