Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 November 1883 — Finding a Hidden Fortune. [ARTICLE]

Finding a Hidden Fortune.

“I have been sent for very often in my time,” said an elderly detective, “to search for money concealed by eccentric people. There was more of this hiding away of cash forty years ago than there is now, owing, probably, to the doubtful character of some of the old savings banks. “Some fifteen years ago I went up to a farm house in Orange county, at the request of tlid heirs, to look for money. The deceased had had no striking characteristics for my purpose, and, after trying several lines of search for three days, I grew doubtful. His riding saddle had been ripped open, his bootheels knocked off for diamonds, his shoes split up and his upholstery pulled to pieces. Bricks had been taken out, the hearth torn up, and the wainscotings pulled down. Even the backboards of picture frames had been taken out, and the boys had dug around the roots of every tree in the orchard, but still no money had been found. The reward was too large to be lost, but I was nearly at my wits’ end. Finally the thought came like a flash: ‘Where was the old gentleman in the habit of sitting?’ I asked. ‘Oh, he almost always sat by that window,’ said the brother; ‘but we’ve pulled everything to pieces around there.’ ‘Sit down just as he did.’ The man sat down. ‘ln which direction was he most apt to look ?’ ‘Nowhere in particular; out of the window generally.’ ‘Toward the barn?’ ‘No, this way.’ I followed the look; it was in the line of an old, usedup pump. ‘Which way did he walk when he went out to the field?’ ‘Over to the pump, and then made a bee line for the pond.’ These answers had a certain significance. Men like to have the place of concealment in sight, and it.is well-known that they will often walk over money they have buried to see that the sod is undisturbed. I had the pump taken up and excavations made—no money. The pump was replaced. I entered the room once more and stood by the window. Suddenly I saiv a faint, but peculiar-looking mark on the sill; it was a surveyor’s point. I “liped” it up to the pump, measured out to the exact center of the line, and the digging began. A two-inch steam pipe was struck at a depth of four feet. The end was plugged; I took home a SSOO bill that night.” —New York Sun.