In bold capital letters the caption in the June 12, 1895, edition of the Topeka State Journal read, “LIKE CAPT. KIDD.”

Like a trailer for one of today’s adventure movies the buildup continued, “Buried Treasure Said to Have Been Dug Up — Near Ancient Indianola, on the Old Military Road. — SEQUEL OF DAYS OF ’53.”

The buildup continued for another seven lines of sensational descriptions of what was waiting to be digested in what certainly would prove to be an exhilarating story of treasure a short distance beyond Topeka’s city limits.

Shawnee County Sheriff Dave Burdge was awakened early Sunday morning, July 9, by J. Q. A. Peyton, who had found a mysterious excavation a few miles north of Topeka. The remnants of the old military trail that connected Fort Leavenworth to Fort Riley could be identified in a pasture owned by W. W. Philips. At a fork in the trail an old elm tree had long been a landmark in the area, until two years before, in 1893, when it was cut down. But the large stump had already taken its place as a continuing landmark reminiscent of days of old.

Near the stump under what would have been the spreading branches of the old tree were four large holes, “five feet deep and nearly as many square.” The imprint of a “a very large demijohn,” was found in the dense subsoil at the bottom of one of the holes, and the imprint of an iron kettle was found in a tunnel that had been dug toward one of the other holes.

A demijohn is a glass container with a long neck, usually protected with a wicker covering. “Mr. Peyton explained to a JOURNAL reporter today that the earth was marked perfectly, showing that there had been really two kettles, turned one on top of the other.

A Mr. Wellman, who pastured cows in the Phillips pasture noticed the first hole in mid-April, followed by a second hole a few days later. The neighbors, out of curiosity, began to watch the place. Two weeks later a third hole was found and mysteriously no one had seen any strangers in the area.

Wellman found the fourth hole that contained a perfect mold of an old-fashioned demijohn of huge proportions on June 4. Being somewhat excited, Wellman called on several neighbors to view his find. It was decided to not speak of it any further, and watch for the diggers more closely.

Sunday morning, June 9, one of the neighbors, Pete Lawrence, discovered the beginnings of a tunnel and within, the imprint of the iron kettle. A blasting cap and evidence of sulfur on the ground indicated an effort to speed their work along. That was when Peyton went to Sheriff Burdge. Footprints were found in a nearby cornfield. In the woods on the other side of Soldier Creek disturbed ground indicated that a horse and buggy had been hitched there for several hours.

The Journal noted that “The people of the neighborhood have become very much excited over the discovery of these remarkable holes in the ground and the oldest settlers in that part of the county are connecting the disappearance of the $75,000 in gold in 1853 with the recent find.”

Capt. Jack Curtis, the father of then Congressman and future vice president of the United States, Charles Curtis, recalled hearing the story after he arrived in 1856. “... the half breeds and the people who were here at the time,” told of a robbery involving the United States Paymaster on his way to Camp Center (Fort Riley) west of Indianola, near St. Marys. The “road” was described by one traveler as “... an incessant crossing of creeks, sloughs, quagmires, swampy bottoms and rocky hollows, the entire route.”

Peyton added to the story, recalling two notorious Leavenworth gamblers at Indianola about the same time. Sam Harper, who worked as a teamster during that time once carried “an enormous demijohn of whiskey” from Leavenworth to Indianola for one of the gamblers named Ferrell. Harper later wanted to buy the demijohn, but Ferrell curiously replied, “Why we buried that demijohn a long time ago.”

Hundreds of people came out to see the diggings. After a few days, the excitement quieted down, and the location returned to its former pastoral serenity. But just as calm had returned, a visitor found a new excavation and evidence that a small box had been removed from the earth! The Journal playfully noted that the treasure watchers were kicking themselves over the box that could have been so easily found.

The July 21, 1895, report was the last account of Indianola gold printed in the Journal. There was no followup. Was it all a hoax? Who dug the holes? I could not find any evidence that the paymaster robbery of 1853 had taken place. Evidently the story of the robbery was just a story waiting to be retold on The Way West.

“The Cowboy,” Jim Gray is author of the book Desperate Seed: Ellsworth Kansas on the Violent Frontier, Ellsworth, KS. Contact Kansas Cowboy, 220 21st Road, Geneseo, Kan. Phone (785) 531-2058 or kansascowboy@kans.com.