Brown County Newspaper of 1900 - Found a Bag of Money

PIECES OF A DECAYED SHOT SACK AND $16.30 IN MONEY UNEARTHED BY WILLIAM HOBBS THREE MILES SOUTH OF NASHVILLE - WAS DESCENDING A STEEP HILL WITH HEAVILY LOADED WAGON THE WHEELS OF WHICH TORE FROM MOTHER EARTH THE SHOT SACK AND HIDDEN TREASURE.

On Thursday evening, October 4, just as the sun was sinking in the western horizons, William Hobbs, son of the well known Benjamin Hobbs, whose home is about three miles south of Nashville in the vicinity of the noted Weed Patch Hill, was descending a steep hill on the old home farm with a heavy load of wood on his wagon, one wheel of which was “rough” locked, when his attention was called to pieces of decayed cloth and a peculiar stone which the wheel had unearthed, and upon closer examination $16.30 in old coins was found.

The road traversed by Hobbs was through “new” ground, which was very fertile and mellow, the wheel which was locked tearing up the soil for a depth of about eight inches. The money was unearthed near an old decayed log, and the stone above mentioned was embedded near, if not just over the coin. On the stone was some peculiar marks which, in the opinion of many, proves that it was used to mark the place where the money was buried.

William was in town Saturday exhibiting the money, thirteen dollars and thirty cents of which was pennies, bearing dates from 1830 to 1880. The remaining three dollars was in silver half-dollars, quarters, dimes, nickels, and half dimes. The oldest of these was a half dime which bore a date of 1838. The money had evidently been buried years ago in the shot sack and the stone used to mark its resting place. By whom or when it was buried is, of course, not known, but it is probable that some of the stave makers, who several years ago worked the timber in that section hid it. William said he spent about an hour in clawing the money out and did not leave until he was sure he had it all.
(Brown County Democrat, Oct. 11, 1900, page 1)

Half-Dime
The half dime was a silver coin valued at five cents, formerly minted in the United States. Some consider the denomination to be the first coin minted by the United States Mint under the Coinage Act of 1792. The introduction of the copper-nickel five-cent pieces made the silver coins of the same denomination redundant, and they were discontinued in 1873.
(from Wikipedia)