The Coolidge examiner., 1936-01-10
GOLDEN
PHANTOMS
Fascinating
Tales of ed;,,. w,,soo
LOSt mlHSS @w.N.U.
CATHEDRAL LOOT

IN THE shadow of Mount Taylor,
near the old road house and
stage station on the Butterfields
Central Overland route, a treasure
is hidden.
The old stage route dates back
still farther, to the days when Old
Mexico and New Mexico were one.
Don Gonzales was a Mexican. He
came north to live, and he built an
adobe house near what is now Blue
water. Here he settled down, raised
sheep, and made friends with the
Indians.
Just before the Don came UP into
that country, there had been trouble
in the south. One of the great cathe-
drals had been looted and bandits
were abroad. The story travelled a
little more slowly than the Don did,
but it reached his neighbOrhoOd
after while, and it, too, settled
down. 1t was said that Don Con
ZaleS had the loot from the church.
No one saw it, but rumOr persisted
that it was somewhere around that
| adobe ranchhOuse.
The Don finally died, and those
who lived nearby would doubtless
have investigated, but Apaches
swept down and across the land,
and everyone was too busy with the
invading hordes to hunt for treas
ure.
1t was in 1898 that a certain
rancher came into the country to
live, and he rode over to the old
Gonzales place one day. He went
into the adobe house out of curl
Osity, for there is always something
sort, and began looking about him.
The fireplace was choked with de-
bris, and rags hung down from the
chimney.
Why he pulled at the rags, the
rancher probably could not have
told. Why does one aimlessly pull
at such things? He was no doubt
prepared for a slide of dusty debris,
but certainly he did not expect what
he found-an oil painting rolled up
and hidden in the apparently solid
wall!
The rancher's appreciation of art
was not great. The painting was a
curiosity to him, and nothing more.
Accordingly he sold it to an In
dian trader for a few dollars. and
the trader, not much better in
formed. passed it on to an FL PasO
| dealer for few dollars.
The FL Paso man, however, knew
that he had valuable picture in
his hands. He sent it to New York.
where it was found to be a master
piece of religious painting, prod
uct of the golden age Of Spanish
art, and it finally was sold to a
wealthy man for his private collec-
ton, bringing price Of $4,000.
Rumor again flew to Bluewater.
Treasure hunters, convinced anew
that the church treasure was con-
cealed in or near the old adobe
ranch house, travelled from near and
far to search for it.
But the painting was all that has
ever been found, and the lost loot
of the Mexican cathedral still stays
hidden beyond the sight of man.
There is other hidden treasure
of the same sort in Arizona. Once
! in a while some fortunate person
accidentally finds some of it, to
prove that it really exists. For in
stance:
Joe Walsey, cowboy, was riding
after stray cattle on the Box Y
ranch in Graham county, Arizona,
in 1907. He happened to notice a
dead tree propped up by four large
rocks, with a shovel handle protrud-
ing from the trunk of the tree.
Walsey dug below this monu-
ment, and found an iron chest con-
tanning old Spanish coins, worth
$4,000, and gold vessels whose val
he could not be estimated on ac-
count of their exquisite workman
ship.