Gold Discovered Near Crawford
Dallas Morning News
April 16, 1887
THE BIGGEST BOOM
McLennan County Has Gold Mines Producing Ready-Coined Metal of the Largest Lawful Denomination
WACO, Tex., April 15 -- The following story reaches this city from the Crawford Yeoman. Crawford is in this county about twenty miles west of Waco, and the parties named in the article are well known in this city:
"On last Sunday morning two men drove up to the residence of Mr. William Tubbs, Sr., living four miles north of Crawford, and asked Mrs. Tubbs if that was the Bibles' old place. Being answered in the affirmative they wished to see the man of the house. Upon being told that he was at the corn crib they repaired thither and made to him the following astonishing disclosure:
In 1865 an Indian woman, fearing that she would be plundered by Yankee raiders, buried in an iron vessel $1,000 in gold under a certain corner of the house now occupied by Mr. Tubbs. Upon moving away she concluded it was safest hid where it was, and she comforted herself that nobody would ever find it and that she could reclaim it when she wanted it. Upon her deathbed a short time ago, she revealed these facts to the two men just spoken of, and in return for kindness shown her by these parties she bequeathed to them the aforesaid buried treasure. And requesting Mr. Tubbs' permission to dig under his house, they all proceeded to the house and commenced to dig at the spot indicated by the Indian woman.
In a short while the iron pot was unearthed, and, strange to relate, in the vessel was found, in a canvas sack, a large amount of gold coin, exactly how much Mr. Tubbs is unable to state -- possibly $1,000 or $1,500. The men casually remarked that they had unearthed in Bosque County $2,000. After securing the treasure the two men left Mr. Tubbs without any more ado.
After the above facts had become generally known, Capt. Bewley, who lives near Mr. Tubbs, said on last Monday afternoon [April 11] while he (Bewley) was plowing a field near his house, and was cleaning off his plow with a small paddle, he perceived sticking in the dirt adhering to the plow a shining substance. Upon investigation it proved to be a $20 gold piece.
He thought nothing strange of this, since it was common for him to have his pockets filled with this kind of stuff; he thought it not unnatural that he might lose one occasionally. But as he plowed on he found more gold pieces upturned, and he was so aroused on the subject that he called his hired help, Mr. Ed Carpenter, from another part of the field, and with his assistance he commenced to work systematically and by nightfall they succeeded altogether in picking up 282 twenty-dollar gold pieces, which amounts to $5,640.
This startling discovery has set the country afire, so to speak, and every fellow that owns as much as ten acres of ground has gone to digging for gold. Zack Henson, who was in town Monday, says that he found $85 in Confederate money in an old Bois d'Arc stump on his place. The next day he was offered $100 an acre for his place, but he refused to sell.
Capt. Bewley, after corresponding with Major John Henry Brown, of Dallas, upon the subject says that that gentleman accounts for finding of the gold upon Capt. Bewley's premises upon the following hypothesis. Major Brown says in 1849 the Tonkawa Indians sold to the Texas government a part of their reservation for $40,000 in gold, and as the tribe was encamped for nine months about where Capt. Bewley's farm is, he thinks it is probable that the tribe hid a part or all this money where they then were.
At any rate Bewley thinks there is more gold hidden in his field so he has posted his entire farm and warns any and all persons upon pain of death not to come on his place with a pick. We do hope people will respect Capt. Bewley's injunction."
April 16, 1887
THE BIGGEST BOOM
McLennan County Has Gold Mines Producing Ready-Coined Metal of the Largest Lawful Denomination
WACO, Tex., April 15 -- The following story reaches this city from the Crawford Yeoman. Crawford is in this county about twenty miles west of Waco, and the parties named in the article are well known in this city:
"On last Sunday morning two men drove up to the residence of Mr. William Tubbs, Sr., living four miles north of Crawford, and asked Mrs. Tubbs if that was the Bibles' old place. Being answered in the affirmative they wished to see the man of the house. Upon being told that he was at the corn crib they repaired thither and made to him the following astonishing disclosure:
In 1865 an Indian woman, fearing that she would be plundered by Yankee raiders, buried in an iron vessel $1,000 in gold under a certain corner of the house now occupied by Mr. Tubbs. Upon moving away she concluded it was safest hid where it was, and she comforted herself that nobody would ever find it and that she could reclaim it when she wanted it. Upon her deathbed a short time ago, she revealed these facts to the two men just spoken of, and in return for kindness shown her by these parties she bequeathed to them the aforesaid buried treasure. And requesting Mr. Tubbs' permission to dig under his house, they all proceeded to the house and commenced to dig at the spot indicated by the Indian woman.
In a short while the iron pot was unearthed, and, strange to relate, in the vessel was found, in a canvas sack, a large amount of gold coin, exactly how much Mr. Tubbs is unable to state -- possibly $1,000 or $1,500. The men casually remarked that they had unearthed in Bosque County $2,000. After securing the treasure the two men left Mr. Tubbs without any more ado.
After the above facts had become generally known, Capt. Bewley, who lives near Mr. Tubbs, said on last Monday afternoon [April 11] while he (Bewley) was plowing a field near his house, and was cleaning off his plow with a small paddle, he perceived sticking in the dirt adhering to the plow a shining substance. Upon investigation it proved to be a $20 gold piece.
He thought nothing strange of this, since it was common for him to have his pockets filled with this kind of stuff; he thought it not unnatural that he might lose one occasionally. But as he plowed on he found more gold pieces upturned, and he was so aroused on the subject that he called his hired help, Mr. Ed Carpenter, from another part of the field, and with his assistance he commenced to work systematically and by nightfall they succeeded altogether in picking up 282 twenty-dollar gold pieces, which amounts to $5,640.
This startling discovery has set the country afire, so to speak, and every fellow that owns as much as ten acres of ground has gone to digging for gold. Zack Henson, who was in town Monday, says that he found $85 in Confederate money in an old Bois d'Arc stump on his place. The next day he was offered $100 an acre for his place, but he refused to sell.
Capt. Bewley, after corresponding with Major John Henry Brown, of Dallas, upon the subject says that that gentleman accounts for finding of the gold upon Capt. Bewley's premises upon the following hypothesis. Major Brown says in 1849 the Tonkawa Indians sold to the Texas government a part of their reservation for $40,000 in gold, and as the tribe was encamped for nine months about where Capt. Bewley's farm is, he thinks it is probable that the tribe hid a part or all this money where they then were.
At any rate Bewley thinks there is more gold hidden in his field so he has posted his entire farm and warns any and all persons upon pain of death not to come on his place with a pick. We do hope people will respect Capt. Bewley's injunction."
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