ailroad, along the track of which
they journeyed for some distance. The day was exceedingly warm, and the
valise in which they were carrying the stolen money became very heavy
and burdensome. Finding it impossible to proceed any further with such a
heavy load, they decided to take out all of the money but a few sacks of
silver, amounting altogether to about three hundred dollars. This they
did, concealing the money about their persons, and then hiding the
valise in a corn field which skirted the railroad track. Being furnished
with a description of the locality, William proceeded, in company with
the officers of the bank, to the place designated, and after a short
search, succeeded in finding the satchel which they had discarded. Upon
opening it, they found, as Edwards had said, three small canvas sacks
containing about three hundred dollars in silver coin. No trace,
however, was discovered of the sack supposed to contain the five
thousand dollars whose disappearance was still a mystery. Pearson
indignantly denied having taken more than six thousand dollars as his
share, and this had been found in the yard of his father's house.
Edwards was equally positive that he had not seen this sack, and yet the
fact remained that there were five thousand dollars in gold coin which
could not, as yet, be accounted for.

Numerous theories were now advanced to account for this mysterious
disappearance. One was that some outside party had found the valise, and
finding the gold, had left the silver in order to make it appear that
the satchel had not been disturbed. This was discarded at once, as the
position and condition of the valise when found was such that it could
not have been tampered with, or even opened. This was a surprising thing
to contemplate, for the ground for miles around had been thoroughly
searched by hundreds of people, and it was evident that no one had
discovered the hiding-place of this valise.

Another theory was that it was improbable that the two robbers would
overlook a sack containing that large amount of money. Its very weight
would have betrayed its presence, and added nearly nineteen pounds to
the burden which they carried, and therefore there were still some
grounds for entertaining a belief that Pearson had taken more than his
share of the booty. To this belief I was not inclined to give much
weight, as I felt convinced that Pearson had made a full confession of
what had taken place, and had made honest