The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1925-11-27

For a few minutes King was petri-
fled with establishment, which was
followed by fear. He realized It was
a serious Offense to maltreat a United
States mail bag, and for a while the
vision Of a yaWning p~eniteRtiary
haunted him. There was a fortune
before his very eyes but he dared not
to touch a cent Of It for fear Of ser
iOus trouble. For e time he studied
his -predicament, and finally his ma
tural honesty asserted itself. With
out even trying to count the pack
ages to ascertain the value Of his
find, he closed his knife, and, gather
ing up the pouch, made his way to
Sun River Crossing.
At the stage station there, he en-
plOyed another driver to take his
freight outfit to its destination. He
l borrowed a saddle horse and lost
no time in covering the distance to
Helena. Here he told his story to
those whom he believed to be in au-
thOrity. Whether or not his tale
reached the proper parties, was new
er learned, as King did not know
Just to whom he should unfold the
tale of his great find.
With the understanding that he
was to be held blameless in the mat
ter Of Sitting open the registered
mail pouch, King was induced to de-
scribe infinitely the location Of this
cache. Then he was advised to flee
across the line into Canada and re-
main there until the special agent
of the postal department, who had
the matter Of the missing pouch in
charge, would have an opportunity
to investigate the matter and square
things for him. He at once sold his
freighting outfit FOR what he could
get for it and went to Canada. It ID
supposed that the men to whom King
impaired his information, found the
money; but, it 10 stated that there
is nothing on record in Washington
to show that it was returned to the
government.
It is supposed that Kings story
was not impaired to the proper au-
thOrities, and that the parties who
had thus procured the location OF
the cache, went on the theory that
the money had been reported as ir-
r~etrievably lost to the department.
1t would have been folly, they
evidently thought, to bring to light
d MotLOA WHICH, naA UGCOlAG 6U nCdA4J
forgotten, So, it is stated, the money
went into private circulation, and no.
into the Golfers Of the government
~pOstOffice treasury.
King was safe in Canada, held b.
the fear of a serious penalty if hC
returned, and those to whom he haC
told his story, realizing his ignOr
ance of the law at that time, wert
confident he would not return for {
long time. They further, doubtless
felt that few would believe the al
most impossible story Of his finding
the money on the river bank an'
then caching and abandoning it.
1t was many months before tn
soldiers Of Northern Montana
posts drew their long delayed pay
The postal authorities made an in
vestigatiOn, and then the war de
Ipartment took a hand in the matter
It was finally determined that tn
money was forever lost and a seconI
appropriation was made from the wa
department and the men were paid
This time, the pay roll was accom-
panied by a regular army paymastel
and the funds were securely store
" in a steel safe, and guarded by a fill
Il Of soldiers from the time they lei
the government depositary until tn
, cash was in the hands Of the troOI
p ers at the forts.
King, Obsessed with the idea thu
he had violated the postal laws an
was a fugitive from justice, rename
in Canada for more than a year. +
then returned to his old haunts an
took up his life where he had left
= off. He was laughed at by thO'
y crOnies to whom he told his stor
. It was not long, though, until
10 learned that the money had not bee
returned to the government.