It Broke my Heart

[Monty]

A close friend of mine lived in a small rural community. Across the street from his house was one of very few two story houses in the town. The owner of the house had died recently, a 90 year old man with no heirs. The County had taken it for back taxes. My friend told me that the old man had taken him up to the attic and showed him some Civil War Relics . There was a complete Confederate dress uniform mounted on a manequin or something similar. It was in good condition and even had a dress sword. There was also a Civil War era Rifle and a cap and ball revolver with a holster and gun belt, and a pair of well worn boots. There was also a bunch of pictures and documents, discharge papers, citations, medals, etc in an old trunk. He said he had got into the house and all the things were still in it although it had been boarded up and posted for demolition by the County. The old house looked dilapidated and was all grown up in weeds. He was contemplating going over there and removing the stuff before the county demolished the house. A few weeks later I was talking to my friend and he told me that the house had burned to the ground! The very night I was over there, some kids broke in and tried to build a fire in the fireplace and caught it on fire. Everything was destroyed in the fire. Every time I think about it I get heartsick just thinking about all those wonderful artifacts and what could have been if my friend had been just a little larcenous. Damn! Monty

[gldhntr]

i think i would detect the ash pile...sold an old barrel of a cap/ball double barrel from a fire for 225.00 after listing it for a buck on the bay....surely the old fellow had a coin stash around too.............gldhntr

[EDDE]

valor would has gotten the better over my discretion....

[Gypsy Heart]

That is a real shame.
I learned my lesson a long time ago when I let a house go undetected because I was waiting for permission and in the meantime I watched the local fire department burn it down, Furniture and all....never again. I also had ran all over the country ,trying to find the owner of a victorian playhouse that I wanted for my girls , that was in a back yard of a demolition house. They bulldozed that also, before I was able to get permission. Now when I see that about to happen ,I detect the house and yard.
I recently saw an old victorian with 2 lead glass windows,scheduled to burn.... so I stopped at the fire department and talked to the chief. He said he would send a couple of his boys over to the site to help me take the windows out.And I have no problem walking up to the contractors on the sites any more and asking for stuff or permission to hunt...because you snooze...you lose....I have made contact now with most of the construction contractors in town, and they all know I am on the lookout for stuff, so I get phone calls on where the tear downs or scheduled burns are going to be. I make furniture out of old lumber, so I am always interested in the Oak frames,pocket doors,cupolas,ironwork,shutters ...etc ...Wish I could find a use for those old window weights !

[EDDE]

i made a door closer in the garage for the outside door to the yard with some rope and a plastic pipe and a few eyelits keep the wind from blowing it open and raining in snow etc if the hound is outside..

[hollowpointred]

it broke your heart and now its breaking mine! what an unfitting end to some real pieces of american history. stuff like that is truely irreplaceable.