Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1919-09-08
INDIAN MOUNDS AND ANCIENT
BURIAL. PLACE or WHITE MEN
HOLD uNWRiTTEN STORIES.
CEMETERY ENvlRoNs
ONCE HOME OF 6ANDiTc
Horse Thieves, Three of Whom Were
Lator Hung in Tama County, Had
Hiding Place For Loot and Them
selves in Natural Reeesses in High
Hills Along iowa River.

Special to Times Republican, =
Eidora sept. S--SomethIng less than
Il half mile apart and mile south and
east of this city, on the woodland hills,
are some half forgotten Indian mounds
and pioneer white mans cemetery.
When the first settlers came to this
region of country in the early fifties
they settled along the waters of the
Iowa river, believing that the wooded
tracts would serve for fuel and offer u
defense. TO the family and a shelter
to the stock.
The Indian mounds consist OF one
long ridge OF earth and two or three
feet high and n few nearby circular
mounds, the latter closely resembling
the circular mounds so common on the
cas-: bluffs of the river near Eldora. NO
trace of excavation exists near the
mounds Little has been found IN
these mounds except bits OF charreu
nuts, charcoal, some ashes and rev
crude implements of the stone age Oh
the Indian. To what use these MOUNDS
were intended is still a mystery. 80
far.the restless mind of the exploring
white man has failed to find the key
which has opened to any definite sure
ty whether their uses were reilgious
and sacrificial for burial purposes
for dwelling or for defense. On many
of them second growth timber now
abounds.
Ancient Burial Ground.
The, other spot Of interest is an al
most forgotten cemetery dedicated to
the pioneer dead of the white rage soon
after the first settlement in 1850. On
a sandy, knoll among a growth OIL
shrubs and trees, it received some nf'y
burials during the first twenty years
When the growth of Eldora made II
apparent that the Eldora cemetery was
destined to become the community
burial. possibly half of the bodies were
transferred here. The marble SLABS
that remain, dimmed by times touch,
! show that those still resting there are
mostly of the early families of Conger,
King, Ellsworth and Swift.
Just up the next hill and to the east
and north of the now practically aban-
dofled cemetery was the home OF the
| Bunker family, three members OF
| which were banged in Tama county IN
an early day, having been charged with
| horse stealing In the side hill neal
! the Bunker barn was the place of con-
cealInent for stolen property-the
scheme of the Bunkers being to hide
1.-THE settlers stock here during the da!
and in the cover OF night to transfer
J the property Of whatever nature to the
next place Of concealfnent, sale being
made there and the spoils divided later
among the gang of thieves which oper-
ated from here to Boone and Des
Moines. 1t IS now believed that the
fellows who in an early day robbed the
county treasury in Eldora secreted
| themselves in this cave in the hills and
| the loot was there divided. The three
| men SUSPECTED of knowledge of the
robbery were arrested, but were able
thru the testimony Of the Bunkers
| who were then not suspected of thieV-
cry, to establish an alibi and thus
went unpublished. Later one Of these
men moved to Texas, another to Chi
cago and the third to California. More
than fifty years have passed since the
sensational trial for burglary. but
evidence accumulates that before the
robbery there was an agreement
among the robbers that if any of them
were caught or were about to be con-
victed the arrested one should take
his own life rather than divulge any
secrets. The three men were born on
foreign soil and the compact entered
into between them set out that blood
was thicker than water and they
| would go to the penitentiary rather
than peach one upon the other. II
their graves today buried with them
| Is the secret they never divulged
An electric fan properly placed in ar