Confederate Gold and Silver (50 page)

The comment Donna blurted out now caused the others to quiet down and reflect on what she had just said. They each seemed to realize if the people who had handled the coins from the time of the Civil War could talk to them or if just Captain Francis and his men could talk to them about what life was like during that period of time, perhaps they all would have a better appreciation for what life blesses us with these days.

“OK guys, I liked you better when you were laughing and drinking. I did not mean to throw a damper on the party with my comment. So what are the plans for all of these coins?”

Paul had been smiling as he watched Donna examine the coins and now he put his beer down on the table. Reaching behind his chair, he showed her the last bucket of coins. It contained the few handfuls the other buckets could not hold. “Well, to start with, after you feed us with one of your famous home cooked meals, we are going to bag these coins up and get them ready to take to the bank tomorrow. Chick is going to spend the night in one of the guest rooms and tomorrow morning we will get the coins to the bank. Don’t be mad, but I did not want to get you mixed up in this and draw any attention to you when your husband went into your bank asking for seven safety deposit boxes. So I called Kristy Thomas and asked her if they had any large safety deposit boxes available. When I told her I needed seven of them, she asked me if I had just robbed a bank. She doesn’t know why we need them, but she saved us seven of them. We just hope we can get all of these coins in them.”

Donna had gotten up to get a glass of wine and now sat down on a chair Pete had gotten for her. He placed it next to the buckets of coins so she could look at them while they all talked. “I cannot image what these coins are worth in today’s market. My goodness, it has to be millions!”

After Donna had been told about the discovery of the coins and about all of the other details regarding the discovery of the remains of three Confederate soldiers, a story which lasted until most of the beer had been gone through, she served her guests one of her special meals in the garage. The pizza which was delivered from Pizza Hut never tasted as good as it did when it was eaten with several pails of gold and silver coins sitting next to them.

******

The following morning, after the coins had been safely stored away in the seven safety deposit boxes of the Murrells Inlet National Savings and Loan, Paul went home and began the hunt for the next portion of the missing Confederate treasury he hoped to find. He started by reading and rereading the letter Captain Francis had written to President Davis. He was confident this letter contained the clues he was looking for, clues which would hopefully direct him to the rest of the missing money. But despite knowing the remainder of the missing money had apparently been hidden in two separate locations in South Carolina, some with the children of the late Governor Allston, Paul continued to struggle in his attempts at deciphering the hidden clues within the letter. Despite his lack of any immediate success, he read and reread each line of the letter over and over again, hoping to pull the clues he desperately needed from the words Francis had written.

After reading the letter several times, Paul thought a Google search of Governor Allston might be a means to unlock some vague clue hidden within the Francis letter. Easily finding Allston’s name when he Googled it, he learned Allston had served as South Carolina’s governor during the years of 1854 to 1858.

From his search for information, both on his computer and from a trip he made later in the day to the Socastee library, Paul found an additional wealth of information on Governor Allston. It was information beyond what he already knew about the governor. Besides being governor, he also learned Allston had been a well respected businessman, both prior to and after the Civil War. Allston had also served in both the South Carolina Senate and the House of Representatives. Paul also learned Allston had been a West Point graduate, serving as a colonel in the South Carolina militia for a period of time.

Paul’s research also showed Allston, who had been born in 1801, had fathered nine children before he died in 1864. He had been buried in Prince George’s Courtyard in Georgetown, South Carolina. The information regarding Allston helped him learn about his background, but his search went cold regarding the whereabouts of Allston’s children. Sitting at a table in the library, he could feel his frustration rising. “But which of his children had the gold and silver been left with? And what happened to these children? What did Francis mean when he wrote
‘they
are
resting
comfortably
with
the
money’
? Why can I not figure this out?”

After returning some of the books he had been reading to the library cart so they could be placed back on the shelves, Paul again focused his attention on the part of the letter regarding the children of Governor Allston. Despite his short time living in South Carolina, he had recognized the Allston name when he first read the letter, realizing the name must have belonged to a prominent family from years gone by.

Over the course of the next several days, sometimes with Donna accompanying him, Paul made visits to the greater Georgetown area, including a visit to the grave site of Governor Allston. He hoped those visits might lead him to clues regarding the whereabouts of the governor’s children. He also made a visit to the Allston family estate which was now open to the public to visit. They also made visits to the historical societies in several adjoining communities around Georgetown. During these visits he continued to learn more on Allston’s life, but learned little else regarding the governor’s children. Despite his efforts he came away without the one clue he needed to get him started. Paul did not know what the clue was he needed, but he believed it would only take one to make the other clues become obvious. He knew breaking those clues would lead him to at least some of the still missing Confederate treasury.

When his search had finally frustrated him enough after several days, Paul knew he needed a break from his hunt. After sleeping late on Sunday morning, Donna and Paul enjoyed a leisurely brunch at an
Eggs
Over
Easy
restaurant in Murrells Inlet. They had eaten breakfast at this local chain of restaurants on a couple of other occasions. It was a nice way to spend a lazy morning. After brunch they stopped to pick up the morning paper, a few groceries, and then headed home, planning on spending a casual day doing nothing.

When they returned home, Paul noticed the light was flashing on their answering machine. “Hey, y’all, it’s Sara, your favorite realtor. Stephen and I are going out on the boat this afternoon. Want to join us for some beers and fun? Call me on my cell if you want to join us. I’m headed out to pick up some adult beverages and I want to make sure I get enough. Call me back. See ya!”

Donna had walked into the kitchen as the message played. “Paul, you need to have some fun and I need a day in the sun, so let’s go! We can relax, have some beers, and just enjoy the day with them. You game?”

“Sounds good to me! You call Sara and tell her we are in. I’ll go pack the cooler. Find out where and when we are meeting them and we are out of here!”

Donna quickly called Sara and they made arrangements to meet at the Reserve Marina in Pawleys Island at 2 pm. “When you get to the security gate just tell the guard you are meeting us at the public boat launch. They know we have our boat stored there. We are thinking of heading down river to Georgetown for a late lunch. That work for y’all?”

“Sara, that works great for us. See you guys in a bit!”

The day was turning out just to be what Paul had needed as it gave him a break from the hunt for the missing Confederate treasury. It was a hunt that was starting to consume all of his energies.

With Sara and Stephen, Paul and Donna enjoyed a great day out on the river. After driving down to Georgetown on their boat, they enjoyed a late lunch at
El
Dorado
, an Italian restaurant on Front Street. They had eaten there twice before and it had become their favorite restaurant since moving south. The meal they enjoyed, as well as the company of two of their newest friends, turned the day into one they thoroughly enjoyed. It never took much for Paul and Donna to enjoy themselves and this day was proving to be one of the most enjoyable ones they had since moving to South Carolina.

Earlier in the afternoon Paul had made a comment to all of them about needing a day to clear his head of several thoughts. Sara and Stephen had interpreted his comment as meaning he did not want to talk about his recent discovery of the soldier. They both had been great about not bringing the subject up, except for one question Sara had asked him. For the rest of the day they talked about everything but Paul’s discovery. It was just what he had needed, a day of mental relaxation. Now as they made their way back up the Waccamaw River, Paul closed his eyes and allowed the sun to warm his face. As he relaxed during the boat ride, he silently thanked Sara and Stephen for not pestering him for any details regarding his discovery. “Good friends realize when certain subjects are not to be broached. I appreciate them not bombarding me with questions about the soldier. I owe them for that.”

As they arrived back at the marina, Stephen deftly maneuvered his boat into the small public boat launch area, easily steering around a large pontoon boat leaving the marina with a group of several couples. As he pulled alongside one of the wooden docks, Paul jumped onto the dock and grabbed the boat’s bow line to keep the boat from banging into the dock. As he did, Stephen cut the engine to the boat. Holding the boat close to the dock, Donna began unloading the coolers and towels they had all brought with them for the day. As she did, Sara walked to the parking lot to get her Jeep and the boat’s trailer so the boat could be towed out of the water. Stephen had made arrangements for the boat to be serviced the following day and then placed back inside the marina’s large boat house for safe keeping.

After helping Stephen fasten the boat to the trailer, Paul looked down the dock to check on Donna. By now she had gathered up their belongings and was walking to where he was waiting for her. As she did, Paul’s eyes casually scanned the grounds of the marina as this was only the second time he had been there. As he looked around, his eyes focused on two large black wrought iron gates and their accompanying brick walls. They appeared to form a large rectangle off to the far right side of the marina. Somehow he had not seen this area adjacent to the marina’s property before now. Looking at where the brick walls sat, he saw they were partially shielded from view by several large moss covered pine trees, as well as by a few large Southern Live Oaks. Wondering why he had not seen the brick walls before now, he figured the large trees had likely blocked his view in the past. The brick walls were a distance away from where he stood, but Paul could still easily see through the large wrought iron gates. He saw what appeared to be several large stones that had been erected within this small plot of land.

As Sara returned from parking her Jeep, she started to help Donna carry all of their gear back to the top of the boat ramp. “Hey, Sara, what’s that I’m looking at over there? Are they monuments of some kind or what?”

Turning around to see what Paul was pointing at, she stopped and answered him before making her way to her Jeep. “I believe that’s some old family cemetery, but I’m not sure. Don’t know, never really paid any attention to it. What’s the interest in that anyhow?”

“No reason, just my morbid curiosity I guess. Hey, Donna and I are going to take a look at whatever it is before we leave. Thanks for the great afternoon! Next time we will take my boat.” They said their goodbyes to Sara and Stephen; promising to get together soon for dinner. Collecting their belongings, they gave a quick wave to Sara and Stephen as they drove out the parking lot. After putting their cooler and towels in the back of his truck, Paul dragged a protesting Donna over to look at the area which had been fenced in by the brick walls and the black wrought iron gates.

As they got closer to the brick walls, Paul could tell it was a small cemetery he had seen. Moving closer, he could also see the two black wrought iron gates were locked by a thick steel chain and a large brass lock. Standing by the wrought iron gates, he could see several soft sandstone headstones, some of which dated back to around the time of the Revolutionary War. Some of the headstones had their wording on them partially erased by time. It was difficult to read what had been engraved into the headstones from where he stood by the closed gate, but he managed to make out the names on a couple of them. Besides the several weather-beaten headstones, he also saw a few small burial vaults that had been built above ground. They appeared to have been made of the same red brick and mortar used to construct the walls of the cemetery. As the headstones were, the burial vaults had also been worn by time as well. Several of the bricks had begun to crumble from their long exposure to the elements.

As he stood by the locked entrance, Paul had somehow not noticed the small sign displayed on the cemetery’s brick wall. It was mounted on the wall to the left of the two gates. Stepping back to inspect the exterior walls of the cemetery, he finally noticed the sign. It caught him completely off guard.

The sign was the one clue Paul had been looking for. Now he found it by sheer luck. He had almost missed it, even though it had been hanging there for him to see. As he started to read the sign, he had no idea of what it would soon lead him to regarding his search for the rest of the missing Confederate treasury. Slowly he read the sign out loud as a somewhat tired and obviously bored Donna stood near the cemetery gate.
“Turkey
Hill
Plantation,
Allston
Family
Cemetery,
1780
-
1847.”
Reading the first part of the sign caused him to momentarily stop from reading the rest of it. Silently now, he quickly reread what he had just read out loud.