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About The advocate. (Portland, Or.) 19??-19?? | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 1929)
P ortia ndA. dvoca te I Must ruled F e a tu r e Sectio n n /»ft « • » M ft I l M i U f n ilvflllaliii ftl (% !• • • • IM.US'I KATKI) KKATIJRK SKCTION, September 14. !9*J9 Illustrated F e a tu r e S e ctio n ■RN ► D 4 V IH it HlUr The Mouse of the Hidden Goid Wa IIKN liia ponn killed tint, Doctor Perry T albo tt, runKfd old MiHsourian, left In « money hidden no well, that it took many yearn to find even n trace of it.n whereabout*. t inly recen t ly han the myatery o f tho hidden Kold lieen partly n-markulilu .solved. The deductiomt of Mr. Charlt'a Martin, a aelf-educated Inn- ton aii. have been largely re* n|ioiinible for the partial no- lo tio n A shotgun exploded In the win- <li* of the Talbott farmhouse With it low imntn mul clutching tiMuuiiodk'allsr ui tiLrt breast. Dortor l!ciry M Talbott pitched h endlong to the tti»r, dratt Mu TaltaiM was Willi tier has- I* uni at thr tlmr and although i oiiipietrly unnerved, »he managed io tall a doctor AfieraiirtU »he aave a detailed account of tile hap pening. which, althotiiih vague. (urnuTiisI the authiirtlie» a clue I lie sheriff Immediately went to work Thu took place In the late SO*. cieaPsl a »(ale wide sensation and lineigned the Interest of the pub lic IP -tot Talbott'» two son». C lo ilri Martin, • lin e accou n l of the 1 alleitl mur der . ear war the nee, I Interestlnc »u i arrurate of live entire investl- » »Oort. they didn't ever intend to tell It: and furthermore, they wranted the detective to understand that if he leave tlierj away he'd never live to tell a second version of the story Besides. they had It on him. He had willingly, of his own accord, confessed to having killed a man and they thought they could send him to the chair If he tried to send them to the gallows. That was that. But the detective wav not satisfied and tried to get more Information. Did they know what had become of their father's enormous wealth, or did they know the total wealth? They said they didn't knowr a thing about the money, but wished they did They'd take It and get out. of the coun try. However, the gold had been care fully hidden end di-ad men did not tell tales They stated further that the old gentleman's wealth had amounted to more than fifty thousand dollars at tile time of his demise This, it was be lieved. was primarily In gold. After this, the detective was unable to obtain any more Information of a worth while nature The next morning he «addled las horse and rode to town The next tune the Talbott boys saw lam he appeared at the house with the sheriff and had undergone a remarkable trans formation in appearance, being neatlv and expensively attired In gray tweed with gold rimmed spectacles. The mo. liad destroyed the life of their father because of his extreme cruelty to their mother Tile authorities sought to drag the truth from the set lips ot the brothers and failed, only because the boys, realising that they had tulkr.l ton fleel) I n 111'' detective were determined to talk no more During the trial the following bits of evidence were forced from the defendants : They did no' know what Doctor Tultmtl had done with Ills money. Yes. they knew he had left considerable money somewhere iKissIbly In somr hidden place which would be dif- fteult to tlnd. They thought there was at least fifty tliou and dol lar». though they were not sure Their father had been exceptionally partial to gold They had seen many different kinds ot gold coins in Ills pos session He never kept any green backs als mt him and thought they were a ntistance. They refused to tell of their dis closures to the detective Hence. good looking, neat apiwarlng young men. kept up their tattler's work, gelling out the farm crop and doing whul they knew their futher would have wished Doctor Talbott wa. the community'! favorite physician, and was known to Is* worth considerable money However, when the time came foi a settlement "i lila debt the family encountered no little difficulty in raising the required amount of money, muklng It known at the moment that they knew positively nothing nlmut what hail become of Doctor Talbott's wealth They were barely able to meet the exix-nscn of the funeral after squaring D ik i Talbott's out-standing debts. Of course the public was mystified And to aggravate the matter, there had been no arrests made This provoked the rommunlty more than the dlsap|>earanre of Talbotts w 'sllli The people residing In the town of Arkoe. Missouri, when* the crime took place. Insisted upon the aulhorltlc making a more strenuous effort to apprehend the murderer At this particular stage of the game, several rumors were afloat One of these had to do with the evidence recently unearthed, that the Talbott boys were nrtlng "queer" The meaning of "queer” wus not obvious Next, a stranger had appeared at the farm, and was working as a hand Till, liullwdiiat was unknown Mrs. Talbott simply said he had appeared al the hark dour of the house one morning nut asked for employment: and berause her boys were behind with their work, she hud hired him on the spot Tilts merel caused further uncertainty The authorities made no effort to thoroughly Investigate the situation They seemed content to sit back and wad Nanus, made Eventually Interest In the 'nailer considerably diminished famous by Iter The killer had planned Ills crime well, and the authorities Dance of the were completely buMIcd ( linking! hains This was one side of the question On the other side llisptrcil l»y the several people were working frantically and religiously. to Ireisuie story. bring the mailer to a head They had certain .uspieums and were doing their best lo confirm them They had ■•veil employed a private detective, a mail with a splendid reputation for delecting crime nml unearthing obstinate clues tviiii surprised the ro;im.unity was the fact iliai rnl- I h i i L v hand and the private detective were one and the »ante Ol com e till , was not revealed until the detective came tot - ward wilh the evidence which caused the sheriff to make n dicta I trip to the Talbott farm, and to place the two bm ilot Undei arrest lor the murder of their father The pri iue InvestIgatoi disclosed the .startling fact that llte Tulboii In»’ . the latter had to make full revelation He had led the boys Into talking about their father one evening after becom ing well acquainted with them The con versation then was as follow», "We've got something to be careful about,” one of the brothers had said Tills when the detective pretended to be a fugitive from Justice, himself. We re like you. in the same boat What did you do back In New York that made you come here and hide?” Tlte detective told them that he had killed a man “Was It as bad as tliat?” one of the brothers Interroga ted “Every bit as bad." confess- i. rd the Investigator somberly. u In tart. It I were to go back to that state they would i send me to the clectrtc chair.” "What would you say 11 we were to tell you that we too. had committed a murder?" asked the oldest biother. "I'd sympathise with you.“ the detective proclaimed "I know what it msans "Well," said the oldest of the Talbott brothers, “we did. We killed our father. Shot him through the window with a sawed- off shotgun: and the sheriff has been out here several times looking around and acting F like he suspected some thing. But he ain't got a thing on us. There's noth ing lie can do without evi dence " "Did you ever tell tills to anyone else?" the Investiga tor Inquired They shook their heads simultaneously. They most tlarlln Talbott, playwright and producer, who ts writing a play around the "House of the Hidden GoM.* ment the brothers caught a sight of him they knew they ha' been trapped. They gave up without a struggle. . T*1* Talbott boys were convicted and sentenced fo be hang . Pd* They met their fate on the same gallows, when a doubl t\bt ',* io S ’ !!run* 11 w“s th? nrst Joublt* hanging in the state and it too plan In an open pasture, where hundreds of people could see the crue some spectacle. The boys met their death unflinchingly. The pcopl °* 'tie ct, mmtmlty claim today, ttiat the Talbott brother were lnnocen and died to protect the real killer mnocen 7 ,-<\ i1' rli i en up n!,d rarr" 'd 11 »way And it was not a dream for the house* ®° d * * * ther* He h* d pa,d one hundred dollars evei of Hldcfei®°CH»ldn° UKh- n° ° n< Uad eVer ex»mined the walls of the Hous' Mr. Charles Martin, influential colored citizen of the county seat also connected with the Parmer's Trust Company Bank f c i a m e a ! the CV ? ; Although he was only a small bov at the Urn VVliat had become of the hidden gold? Thai was the question and 7 ,. " ' » wj t to It The old Talbott place was caU«/ the Hou« rcM>Vtdd<n ° od : wh e ***rc,>M and excavation- were made there withou . » poor farmer while moving the house, heard something rattli to the floor and roll away, dropping Irom a hole In the unplastered watl When lie looked, he caught his breath A pile of gold coin burned hu eyes (Ctfntlaupd ftii »««e terea)