Thorndale Treasure

MILAM COUNTY – There are two tales from Milam County that sound very similar. Both involve a group of Mexicans who are trying to protect their gold. Both events are said to have occurred in the vicinity of Thorndale, and both involve the murder of an uninvolved third party whose corpse is buried with the treasure so that its restless spirit can guard the hoard.
The best account involves an old timer named Snively who owned a large tract of land along the San Gabriel River. One night a group of Mexicans with nine jack loads of freebooted gold passed the Snively home, heading south for Mexico. At river’s edge, the Mexicans decided to bury the treasure since the road ahead had been plagued by highwaymen and Indians in recent months.
They dug a hole and deposited the hoard inside, covering it over with isinglass to prevent a mineral rod from discovering it. Believing the only way to truly protect the gold was to bury a man with the treasure, they returned to the Snively home and kidnapped him.
Snively was forced to ride to the cache site where he was murdered and his lifeless corpse tossed into the hole.
The excavation was then camouflaged and marked by the Mexicans, who then continued onto Mexico. Their plan was to recover the gold at a safer time, however, nothing more was ever heard of them.
In the second account, a priest is killed and buried with the treasure. Whenever anyone approaches the cache site the apparition of an angry bull appears with fire exploding from its nostrils chasing away any would-be fortune hunters.

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		Quote:			Posted by ArfieBoy
	I don't think that would scare me away.

I don't know, have you ever SEEN a bull with fire exploding from his nostrils (at least outside the cartoons)...... A mad bull, real or phantasmic, would definitely take some dealing with.

BA

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A real bull would scare the hell out of me no matter what was exploding from its nostrils!  Especially if it was headed in my direction in a hurry!  Bull riders have BIG ones, but Bull Fighters have even BIGGER ones!

I was also wondering about the isinglass.  When I was but a wee lad, it was used in stove doors to let the light out and protect from heat.  Interesting to hear it was believed to protect from mineral rods!  

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ArfieBoy

The first thing that came to mind is why bury a treasure you have to return for?

So they aquired the gold (from where?) and transported it to the middle of Texas give or take (or maybe it came from there?), then weren't sure they could make it across the border alive so they bury it.

If in thier shoes, why would you do that?

Did they bury it because they expected the road to be safer in the future? I think that is unlikely.
Perhaps they intended to aquire a hired force to help them retrieve it later?
Were they being pursued and needed to travel light and fast? Would it really be any safer from Indians?
Animals or men in poor repair or wounded?

I could see in some situations everyone taking what they could carry, bury the rest, and making a run for it.

hmmmm? 

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