The Advocate
W.
B.
X I « C a . a a a D * m M h »» .
A A v a t iU I » «
B*| m * m i i U I I t * «
( kU a«a
B I X D A V IS , l a .
r K A I I a a
THE ILLUSTRATED M A T U R E SECTION
March 7, l i n i
li C le a n F i c t i o n ^
" H u m a n I n t e n t If
F ea tu re* ;! I
H
It
F * t » r » « t a H m lllu « tr « i* d F e a tu r e S e c tio n w ere p o te * .
a n d d o n o t d e p ic t p r in c ip a l« u a le a a t o c a p tio n e d .
H o w SKEPTICAL
MR. GREEN F o u n d
His L o st G o ld
D idn't B e lie v e in Fortune
T ellers, But This O ne Was
“D iffe r e n t” and Her Pre*
diction Cam e T rue
By EYE G. BILLINGS
The finding of hidden and lost
trea su re m akes a story th a t alw ays
ap p e als to the cupidity and ro m a n ­
tic instincts of the hum an race, and
th e fact th a t an unknown person or
persons had found a pot of jfold on
his farm in Bob Ituly bottom, which
lies in a bend of the Mississippi River
in Perry County, Missouri, was a
*** m a tter of special and personal in­
terest to Mr. William Green.
Awl» Kunor'a, the n An who r r lilr i
la VV llllsiu (irrfn, til a anrlrnl ilor;
•f how |tir filli ran » to »■■ burini
an tirarn'i lin n .
On* night, not so long ago. Mr Oreen
heard hla dug barking furiously. Suspecting
that thieves were raiding hi* chicken K use.
he got up and looked around rinding noth­
ing am tax, he returned to bed. ascribing the
exrltement of the canine to the challenge, or
other message, of some other dog acrcss the
field.
The nest morning, however. Oreen learned
that the dog had been more astute than
himself — that It had been belabor­
ing the night air with raucous noises
becauso some one had been taking a for­
tune from un­
der the very»
n o s e of Its
master
T
v
Mr. and Mrs. William
Green, from whose farm the pot o f p rlerlsu
gold was stolen.
G reen ronlinued his vl.
fee an hour and then he saw the two men approach an old
hollow stump hark o f the house.
S C e krned
Mr Oreen Is an early riser as befits an
Industrious farmer, and when he arose the
next morning thd actions of the dog, an
unusually Intelligent and useful animal, a t­
tracted his attention. The dog continually
ran toward a plot of woods land, thick with
underbrush. In a field near the house. The
dog was evidently! trying to tell him rome-
thing. so Mr. Urrdn lighted his lantern and
followed the faithful animal.
tire tract of wodds was about ten acres In
ext.’nt and the <Ugr led Its master to the
center of the tract.
Here were abundant signs of recent human
activity. A hole ab ut six feet square and
about three feet deep had been excavated.
On the bank of the excavation was the stump
of a hollow tree that had been felled. The
fresh siwduat an* the color of the exposed
wo d of the stiuitp indicated that the tree
had been sawed do4*n at the time the exca­
vation had been hiade. In the hole was
an Iron pot. rusty from being burled for
decades beneath the soil, in one corner
of the excavation pas a round hole the stzo
of the pot. The wall of the hole h id been
stained with rust (tom the pot.
Printed In the kvsh dirt were tracks of
human feet. They had evidently been made
by two perrons, Oreen concluded. The shape
of tlive tracks showed that they had been
made by dilapidated, run-down-ut-the-heel
slioes. Scattered around were the rotted
pieces of an aged gunny-sack which, Oreen '
decided, came from the old pot.
Holding (fils lantern so Its light would Illu­
minate all portions of tho bottom of the hole.
Oreen saw a little, round disk, different In
color from the fresh clay dirt. It proved
to bo a five dollar gold coin. Moving the
dirt around with his foot Oreen found
three other gold pieces, n double-eagle and
two five dollar pieces.
Naturally Oreen felt chagrined that some­
one had carried away a pot of gold from his
farm. He felt that he had been robbed.
The gold was his. All that was on the farm
went with the farm. No burtod-treasure
right or mineral right or oil right had been
retained by the man who had sold him the
farm.
T h ; coins had evidently been spilled, un­
seen. while the excavators were pouring the gold Into a better cor
talncr. Oreen thought, and after he had satisfied himself that n
more were to be found he went dejectedly to the house to eat break
fast.
While eating his breakfast. Oreen kept his mind busy In retro
spec non. Things which he h id heard years before, and which h
had disregarded, almost forgotten, returned to his memory.
He had bought the farm twelve years before. The sail v i
fertile and the farm contained a large log house, one of th* f.i
pioneer log houses left In the Mississippi Valley. Oreen had be i
too busy extracting substantial returns fr*m the farm t i spem
any time building air castles from vague and Incredible tales tha
he had heard, that money had been burled on the place. Now h
recalled the old stories.
While riding around looking for a farm ti buy. and after h
had inspected the farm he now owned but before he had closed thi
t ■
The pot that rontaliird the gold. To the right Is the hole from
which >1 came.
deal for it. Green had stopped to see Old Emily, famous over se\
era) counties for the things she could tell peopie. He did not be
lleve In "fortune telling" but he had heard so much about Ol
Emily that he thought he would stop and see her Just "for the fu
of the thing."
Very few people, especially well-educated people, nowadays, bt
lleve In fortune telling as fortune telling, but It seems to be a we
established fact that there are a few* eases on record of rare indl
vidua Is who could tell or foretell unaccountable things, old Emil
was one of these.
Continued on Page Four