New-York tribune., 1920-02-09
Gold Brick Artist
Deserts Broadway
For Mexican Line
Colorful Romance and Ad.
venture Now Adorn His
Work in Fleeing the Un-
wary; Results the Same
By Wilbur Forrest
Special Dispatch to Tho Tribune

1
Ell PASO, Tex, Feb. 8-An air of
mystery, a subtle something that
whispers adventure and great wealth,
buried treasure, mental "rade- ms" and
"fade-outs" of old Flint, Treasure
Island, Aztec temples with storehouses
OF precious metals and sparkling gems,
doubloons in crumbling. parnacle en-
crusted, iron-bound chests of the
Spanish Armada, it is here all over
again along this Mexican border.
Just now it is modern bullion bars
of yellow gold. the pure, refined prod
uct from the mines of Mexico, cached
where one would least expect to find
them by up-to- date, dry-Iand Captain
kidds roaming the sandy, cactus plains
and the rocky mountains of old Mexico.
Mental "movies" of mansions on
Riverside Drive, castles in Spain and
palaces all over the world are being
ance than in the real reels. And it
doesn't cost anything to listen. For
example:
An Old Friend Bobs Up
There is the secret map taken from
the dying hand of the last survivor of
the bandit band that massacred the
crew of the blankety- blank mine in
Chihuahua way back in 1914. Saddle
bags weighted down by the precious
bars of bullion, the band fled with the
loot hotly pursued by a detachment of
government cavalry. Forced to turn
and fight, the bandits bury the
treasure beneath the desert sands and,
hard pressed by the troops, they bite
the dust one by one until only two re-
main. They escape, and to reach hut
in the desert they drink tequila. In
murderous drunken moods they fight TO
the death. A lone survivor. in more
murderous mood than ever, rides
toward the American border.
u Engaged a!.,I ,n in cattle ;a g., russtling and
carries his secret for years. He
draws a crude map-the exact location
of the buried bullion-but one day a
bullet "gets" him. His slayer stands
over his quivering body. His story
his secret-comes in gasps while he
struggles for breath; then, with the
narrative almost finished, comes the
death rattle and he sinks back, dead.
But in his hand there is paper,
crinkled and torn. The death grasp is
loosened by eager fingers, and the
poPcH~-lC Is Cuc SeCIcL map, u CTuuc
drawing of river, mountain,
lines and circles. That is
where the treasure is buried, and no
one knows how to read the mystic
signs and characters but the man who
heard the dying narrative.
The fortunate possessor of the mystic
treasure map can be found along the
border to-day. He tells you the story
in subdued tones and lets you look at
the secret map. All he needs is few
thousand dollars to finance the expe-
dition across the river in search of the
treasure.
Prototype of Numerous Band
To some he is the "green goods" man
the "gold brick" artist of the Mexican
border. To others he is the adventur
GUS and picturesque chance acquaint-
ance who puts wealth within the grasp
Of one who believes the story. He is
not a single individual, but small
multitude Of individuals, all with the
"secret" in one form or another, Of
the buried treasure.
How much money flows into these
treasure-hunting expeditions back and
forth across the Rio Grande would be
as difficult to estimate as the assets
of Democratic administration. But
negative results persistently seem to
indicate that Barnum was right.