The Daughters of Damien County

Copyright Elewis 3/2003

Waking up in his slightly reclined seat aboard the DC 10 heading for Fort Walton, Florida and home, Jake Thomas stretches to relieve some of the knots that comes from being tired and to many days on the road. Leaning over to find his carry on bag and to insure himself the books were still securely hidden deep in the bag Jake wondered why he was packing the useless books and papers back to his home.  He could feel the airplane start its approach to the Miami International Airport.  

 Being a hunter of antiques for other people he had through a lifetime of looking at old things learned what was real and what was a fake.  Trial and error had given him the best reputation in the country for seeking out objects other people wanted and most people could not find.  He had made a good living at searching the world for artifacts and antiques for the rich and had put enough aside from his own buying and selling to take some time to pursue curious and unusual legends of treasure and intrigue.

Jake was getting tired of all the traveling and spending his life alone.  He had been a loner since childhood even in his college years and a period of time he spent as a lawyer he preferred to work alone and did not try to cultivate friendships.  His family had decided he was going to be a lawyer after high school and he gave in to their demands simply because he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. 

After a couple of years trying to work his way up in a small law firm and hating the hours spent in a room filled with dusty books and stiff necked associates he made a decision to change his life.  He told no one of that decision until he had completely walked away from the legal profession. 

The last case he had worked on was the most satisfying thing he had done in his short legal career.  The firm had some clients that were dying off and their estates had to be cataloged and auctioned off.  Since the other associates knew working this type of caseload led to a dead end they made sure Jake had the chore of cleaning up the files.  He was not well liked at the firm anyway since he was such a loner and they welcomed the opportunity to throw some dirty work at him. They had no idea they were giving Jake the change to walk out on something he hated to so something he really enjoyed.

The estates were from some of the richer clients of the firm and Jake had worked on closely with the families during the final settlement of the estates. He had spent days making sure all of the personal affects were gathered up and sent to the family members and then he got into checking on the value of the antique furniture and other objects the clients had collected throughout their lives.  The time he spent working with the antiques was the most enjoyable time he had spent as a lawyer.  The time he did not enjoy was the hours of paperwork associated with the collections.

After the estates had been cleared up and everything had been sold and the families had signed off on the final accounting Jake made a decision that he would never regret.  He walked into the office one morning and turned in his resignation and never looked back. It took a few months to figure out exactly how he was going to make a living out of antiques but he finally got his first break when one of the family members contacted him about a set of antique guns found in the father’s estate.

There were supposed to be a set of four guns in the collection but one was missing.  The gentleman did not have the time to search for the missing gun or one that would fit in the collection so he asked Jake if he would try to find it for him. Jake was still looking for a way into the antique world he would be happy with and decided he would give it a try. The gun was found within three weeks giving Jake a nice commission and he was on his way.

The trip he was returning from was one of long hours and days of searching that had rewarded him with a fat commission and a change to take a long needed break.  He had been hired to find a desk for another of the rich who had the money but not the time to do the search which suited Jake fine. He had tracked the desk from the east coast to a small town in eastern Arkansas. 

The desk was one of a kind built for the Vanderbilt’s during the 1830s and had been sold upon its delivery to the Vanderbilt estate. Because of a difference of opinion on the color of the Walnut wood used in its construction it was not accepted by the Vanderbilt’s and sent back to New York.  The specifications should have called for black walnut but only stated walnut on the build sheet and the apprentice of the wood shop has taken it upon himself to use American walnut, which is red tinted instead of having a black or dark brown tint to it.  Needless to say the apprentice was led go and the wood shop owner sold the desk at a huge loss. 

The desk had a paper trail that made it easy to follow up to the mid 1950s were it was sold out of an estate that belonged to the last surviving member of the Jessup family of Little Rock, Arkansas. Jake had hit a brick wall at that point and due to the poor bookkeeping of the auction firm that had sold the desk he had to do a lot of footwork to get back on the trail.

He finally found the desk in a small local antique shop in a small town outside of little Rock called Alexander. 2 weeks of knocking on doors, searching the county records and making connections with all the antique shop owners for information had finally brought the search to a conclusion. Thankfully the desk had not left the state of Arkansas after being shipped there by Samuel Lowe. A person with lesser skills in digging up old information would have given up and wrote the search off and moved on to another project, but the search was the drink of life for Jake Thomas and he just did not know when to give up.

          The desk had been bought by Samuel Lowe, a man of wealth and standing in a small community in eastern Arkansas. He had come to New York with his new bride for their honeymoon and to purchase furniture for the new house he was having constructed for his bride.  This was the first marriage for Samuel Lowe and the first for his young bride. Lowe a man in his fifties who had lived for many years alone and had spent his time making money, not that he needed to make money for he came into that part of the country already a rich man.  He also brought with him a air of mystery as he keep to himself for the first few years he was in the state of Arkansas, improving the large sections of land he had purchased with cash money and never ventured into a situation that would allow folks to ponder where he was from or how be became rich.

The desk was one built for the rich and was designed to be placed in an office befitting the likes of the Vanderbilt’s.  Huge decorative corner posts were built into the desk with decorative rope hand carved completely around the top edge of the desk.  To say the top of the desk was enormous was an under statement.  Being over 10 feet long and 8 feet wide it was made to make a statement for the man who set behind it and to belittle the person who had to stand before it.

Finding the desk had been a problem but buying the desk was a worst one.  As with most antique dealers who work out of small town shops any item in their shop is worth more than any other shop and every piece of furniture has a colorful history. Jake had heard them all over the years and this was one time he had every intention of cutting the long-winded dealer short and just make an offer on the desk. He had a large budget to work with and decided to make an offer that would take up at least three quarters of that budget just to get the job done and head home to Florida for a few weeks of R and R.

The dealer was just about halfway through his tale of how the desk came to be in his shop when Jake held up his hand and motioned for the man to stop talking.

“ Look I am sure the desk is as old and as valuable as you say it is but what I want to know is how much are you asking for the desk?  I ‘m running short on time and have to get back east this week.”

The dealer taken aback by the rudeness of Jake thought he was going to lose a sale but also put out by Jake for not letting him finish his history on the piece.

“Well I have had several offers on the desk but no one has meet the price yet of six thousand dollars and if you are interested that is what it is going to take. I can just let it set here and it will finally sell.”

Jake knew the desk was worth ten times that much even if had to be reworked to bring it back to its original condition but he also knew if he had not been so abrupt with the dealer he could have gotten the desk for a lot less. Still he was going to buy the desk at a huge bargain which would please his employer and that was a plus.

“OK I don’t have time to argue the price and I want the desk so let’s finalize the deal so I can ship it tomorrow” Said Jake.

 Getting the deal settled took over an hour and Jake was out the door to find a shipping company to pick up the desk the next day and he could be on his way home.

…………

The next morning Jake was at the antique early to make sure the desk would be packed correctly and on its way.

‘Morning Mr. Dobson” Jake said as he entered the shop, How are things for you today?”

“Well things would be better if we had this desk packed and shipped out the door but you know this thing was a job getting in here and it is going to be worse getting out.”

“I know it is heavy but I have a moving company coming in a few minutes that will do all the packing and the heavy work. I just what to make a final inspection to make sure everything is ok before we pack it, I have to send a description of the desk as I found it to the new owner.”

Walking over to the back of the desk Jake started pulling out the drawers to make sure there was nothing in them. He pulled out each drawer and placed it on top of the desk. After all were out of their slots he kneed down with a small flashlight to inspect the inside frame of the desk. Moving the light from side to side inside the drawer areas he noticed that one side of the desk seemed thicker than the other side and decided he had better do some measuring to make sure it had not been damaged and repaired beyond restoration.

The inspection he had made yesterday apparently was not up to the standards he set for himself as he could tell the side of the desk toward the inside of the body well was at least 2 inches thicker than the outside wall of the desk.

“Mr. Dobson do you have a flat screwdriver around here?”

“Sure just a moment I have to get it out of the toolbox I keep in the back of the store.”

Jake took out his tape measure to do some more measuring while he waited on Mr. Dobson to return with the screwdriver.  He did not know what he was going to do with the screwdriver, as he did not want to damage the wood trying to find out why one section of the desk was thicker than the other sections.

Mr. Dobson returned with the tool and Jake took it and crawled completely under the desk to do some probing with the tool. As he crawled under the desk his knee hit the side of the desk causing him to yell out.

“Ouch! That hurt,” said Jake as he reach down to rub his knee the side panel fell lose and caused him to fall over on his side with the heavy wooden panel on top of him.

“Mr. Dobson could you help me get of here?”

“Hold on Mr. Thomas I will try to pull the panel off of you,” Reaching under the desk Mr. Dobson pulled the panel out of the body well and off of Jake and in doing so covered Jake with a hundred and fifty years of dust.

Jake came out from under the desk coughing and sputtering, holding his knee and trying not to let loose with a few choice words to held ease the pain and humiliation of the situation. 

“Well it appears as thought the maker of the desk played a trick on everyone and put in a secret compartment and did not mention it to anyone.”

Jake taking his flashlight moved the wood panel out of his way and crawled back under the desk to see if anything was inside the secret area of the desk no one had any knowledge of being there. The area behind the panel was about 3 foot long and 2 foot high and had a thick layer of dust laying in the bottom with stacks of papers and some small bags of coins at one end of the compartment.

Reaching into the bottom Jake started to remove the bags of coins first and hollered for Mr. Dobson to get a large empty box.

There were 6 small bags of coins in brown leather bags tied with a ribbon that had at one time been a bright pink now was faded almost brown.  The bags held only a few coins no more than ten each in the bags.

“Great now I have more work to do cataloging the contents, notifying my client and then hand carrying these to New York.” thought Jake.

“I am going to reach out some things and I want you to write down everything I hand out to you, OK?

“What did you find under there, Mr. Thomas?”

 “I don’t know for sure just make sure you write down everything I hand out then we will find out what everything is.”

Jake handed out the bags of coins first and then started with the stacks of papers. The papers where wrapped in parchment and there were 5 bundles of these. Then under the papers where three small hardback books again with the pink ribbon tied around each one.  Jake in a hurry did not take the time to really look at the books, just handing them out to Mr. Dobson so he could get out of the tight space and start breathing again.

Jake crawled out from under the desk covered with dust and wondering what he had uncovered in the secret compartment.

Mr. Dobson of course was wondering what he had sold and wondering if there was any way he could make claim on the items Jake had found hidden in the desk he now did not own as the payment had already been transferred into his bank account.

Jake getting his feet back under him with the pain still radiating from the bruised knee started getting his thoughts together. The one thing he had learned over the years dealing with people in antiques was that greed was the driving force in buying and selling antiques.  The person you were dealing with could be the most honest person in the world but a different side of a person comes out when it comes to discovering a treasure or discovering an item has a higher value than first thought.

Looking out the window of the shop Jake saw a large moving van pull up to the curb in front of the shop and knew he had a fast way out of the situation.

“Well it looks like the movers are here so we can get this thing loaded and on the way to its’ new home.” Taking the box of items Mr. Dobson had setting on top of the desk he put the paper with the list on it in the box and  folded down the flaps of the box and started for the door with the box in his arms.

“Mr. Thomas aren’t you going to look in the bags to find out what you

Have discovered?” Mr. Dobson saw he was loosing any change of keeping the treasure and was becoming highly distressed over the situation.

“Sorry Mr. Dobson but I don’t have time now the movers are here and I have a plane to catch out of Little Rock in less than two hours.” You are not having thoughts of keeping what I found in the desk are you?”

“Well no I guess they belong to you but I would sure like to know what you have found”

“ So would I but if I started looking now I would miss my plane and you would just feel worse if it was something really valuable and since the desk does belong legally to me now and that includes all contents as written up in the contract don’t you think it would be best to just forget about it?”

“Not really but I guess I don’t have any other choice.” replied Mr. Dawson as he slowly walked away from Jake toward the back of his shop knowing he would never get out of his mind the bags of money he had handled as Mr. Thomas reach them out from under the desk.

          Jake barely made the plane back to New York having to stop to be searched and then trying to explain the cardboard box he was carrying alone with his carry on bag.  He did not get pass the security force at the airport with the box.  Finally agreeing to place all the money bags, the bundles of papers and the three books in his carry on which made it twice as heavy he was allowed to move on to his plane.  Settling in his seat Jake forgot about the intriguing objects in his bag which was very unusual for him but it had been a nerve racking two weeks and he was mentally fatigued and the plane even with the noise of the passengers did not stop him from finally dropping off to a deep slumber that lasted until the plane touched down at LaGuardia airport.

          New York was as usual a place Jake did not particularly like to be in but most of his customers were there so it was a necessary evil of doing business.  He paid the cabbie for the ride from the airport to a small hotel he liked to stay in and was always welcomed personally by the manager.  He found the smaller hotels were easier to stay in when working larger cities and he made a point of having one certain hotel in each large city he worked in to stay at.

          Luckily he was able to get the same room he normally stayed in and was soon stripping off his travel-soiled clothing and heading for a long hot shower while waiting for the steak dinner he had ordered from room service.

The knock came as he was coming out of the shower; throwing on a hotel robe he answered the door.

To his surprise it was not his steak dinner but the man who had hired him to find the desk 2 weeks ago.

“Well Mr. Donaldson I did not expect to see you until tomorrow.”

“I know but I got your message this morning about finding some hidden objects in the desk and I could not keep myself away until tomorrow.”

“What did you find in the desk and where was the hidden compartment?”

Moving into the room Mr. Donaldson headed for the only chair and sat down looking eagerly at Jake.

          Jake not really wanting to have this meeting until tomorrow thought,” If I don’t get the story out he will be here all night and I will never get any rest.”

          “I was going to write up a report tonight and hand it in to your secretary tomorrow but if you want to know what I found I guess we can do it tonight and that will get me home a day earlier.”

          Jake walked over to his carryon bag and started pulling out the small leather bags of coins and tossed them on the bed in front of Mr. Donaldson.

Mr. Donaldson jumped out of his chair when he heard the clink of the coins as they landed on the bed and grabbed one of the small bags and untied the pink ribbon that held it together.

          Jake could see the greed take over the look on Mr. Donaldson as he poured the contents of the bag on the bed. Lying on the bed were 10 2 and one half dollar gold pieces with the familiar American eagle on one side. 

“Oh my god do you know what these are?” Mr. Donaldson asked never taking his eyes away from the pile of coins on the bed.

“Yes they are extremely rare 1848 two and one-half dollar gold coins in damn near mint condition minted in California.  I have never saw one before and without a doubt will never see one again.”  Said Jake.

          Mr. Donaldson grabbed the other four bags ripping the pink ribbon off of each and gently poured the coins onto the bed.

          “My God they are all 1848 coins and all the same value.”

          “There must be over a million dollars worth of coins here.”

Looking up at Jake Mr. Donaldson changed his look of greed to one of suspicion, “Have you opened up any of these bags?”

“Mr. Donaldson I am going to pretend you did not ask that question “

I took the bags out of the desk, placed them in a box and brought them straight here. Other than having to put them in my carryon at the airport they have not been touched or opened.”

“One more thing there are three old books and some bundles of papers here that were also in the desk with the money.”

Mr. Donaldson grabbed the books out of Jake’s hands and ripped off the ribbon, opening the books up he read for a few minutes and then threw the books down on the bed and looked at Jake.

“These are nothing more than diaries from a group of young women by the name of Lowe. They might have some value but I don’t want to be bothered with them.”

“You can have them as long as you don’t mention the coins to anyone along with a nice bonus.”

Jake knew he was looking at a man who was worth millions and could buy anything he wanted but the thought of having something only a hand full of people in the world could lay claim to was bringing out the greedy side that lay dormant in every man.

          Grabbing up one of the bundles of papers Donaldson removed the ribbon holding the yellowed papers together and started to look at the papers one by one.

”Jake open up the rest of the bundles and check for paper money, as far as I can tell this is just old wills, deeds, and receipts from farming.”

Jake did as he was told wanting to get the distasteful man out of his room and if possible out of his life forever.

Picking up the first bundle Jake pulled the ribbon loose and the bundle of papers fell apart upon the bed. Instead of looking through the papers he did the same to the other three bundles of papers until there was a large pile of old yellowed papers on the center of the bed. He quickly searched through the papers hoping there was no more money of any kind in the mess.

“Well it appears as if you aren’t going to be twice lucky tonight Mr. Donaldson.”

Gathering up the coins and placing ten of them in each bag Mr. Donaldson quickly placed them in his coat pockets and then reach over to shake Jake’s hand.

“Jake you really did a good job this time I am going to make sure you get that bonus and spread the word about you to my friends that is.” Squeezing Jake’s hand tighter he looked him straight in the eye and with a different tone of voice said, “Remember what I said about this being between you and me Jake?”  “Tonight never happened.”

Jake removed his hand from Mr. Donaldson’s and stuck it in his pocket rubbing it against the inside of his pants leg trying to remove the dirt he felt radiating from the greedy little man.

“You know my reputation depends on what I don’t say more than what I do so don’t worry tonight never took place but I really don’t want the papers there may be something of value in them, why don’t you take them and have someone study them at least for the historical value.”

“No I have what I want and you can have the rest, either throw them away or enjoy the reading yourself.” Walking to the door Mr. Donaldson quickly disappeared into the night with his plunder and leaving Jake with a bed full of old dusty papers and three diaries to deal with.