August 11 1880 Mahanoy PA

[Gypsy Heart]

August 11 1880
Great excitement was in this city as Five Mahanoy boys found a great number of coins in a field adjacent to the borough. The coins are English and over 200 years old. The find spread like wildfire bringing hundreds of treasure seekers to the field.

In the year 1810 a Jewish Peddler, named Foulover was in the habit of peddling his wares from Reading to Sunbury.At this time an Inn stood in the central part of town and Foulover would stop there . One night while Fouliover was at the Inn, another peddler named Bailey stayed there also. Bailey was convinced that Foulovers saddlebags carried gold and decided to rob him. The next day Bailey went up the mountain and proceeded to lay in wait to ambush Foulover when he passed by.
As Foulover came into sight, Bailey shot and killed him ,then stole the saddlbags full of silver and gold and buried them . (Presumably in the field where the boys had found the scattered coins.)
Bailey was later caught and tried for this crime. He gave a confession and told where the saddlebags were buried, but they had never been found.

 

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[jeff of pa]

I could add Tons to this one But a Fellow Member is
Working on this one.

I will say the person who Wrote that got the dates Wrong

it was August 11, 1797 when the Murder Took Place.

I didn't Re read to see when the Finds were made

 

[tdc129]

Jeff - Where did you read about this story at It seems like an interesting story I'd like to read more about.

 

[jeff of pa]

Pottsville Republican newspapers, and History books

 

[Gypsy Heart]

http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/pa/schuylkill/history/local/munsell/hist0014.txt
In 1796 a log tavern was built, by an old hunter named Reisch,
on the spot where now stands the Mansion House of Mahanoy City.
August 10th, 1797, two travelers spent the night together at this
lonely hostelry; one a Jew peddler named Faulhover, the other a
hunter from New Jersey, named Bailey. The latter on the follow-
ing morning preceded the peddler to a place known as West House
run, lay in ambush for him and shot him through the heart. He
then robbed his saddlebags of the gold and silver they contained,
carried the bags, still laden with a quantity of copper coins, to
a point some distance from the scene of the murder, buried them
and disappeared. Passers by buried the unfortunate peddler. A
small mound marks the spot, which was pointed out for many years
afterwards. Bailey was afterwards traced to New Jersey, arrest-
ed, and captured, and was executed January 6th, 1798. august
6th, 1880, a party of five boys playing in a field near Lawton's
Patch picked up a large number of old copper coins, some of them
bearing a date two hundred years ago. The report of the discov-
ery spread rapidly, hundreds repaired to the place to search for
hidden treasure, and intense excitement pretiled until the story
of Faulhover's murder was remembered, and the place where the
coin was unearthed was found to correspond with the story of the
buried saddlebags, which could never be found, although they were
searched for at the time.

Here is the post from the New York Times Archives
OLD COINS FOUND IN A FIELD.; THE LUCK OF FIVE MAHANOY CITY BOYS-- THE TREASURE THE PROCEEDS OF A MURDER COMMITTED 70 YEARS AGO.

August 11, 1880, Wednesday

MAHANOY CITY, Penn., Aug. 10.--This community has been greatly exercised during the past few days over the fact that five boys, named Clinton C. Winters, Herbert Noakes, Henry and Philip Kline, and Herbert Enterhister, found a number of old coins in a field ... ....................http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E04E6DC153BE033A25752C1A96E9C94619FD7CF

 

[jeff of pa]

 

[bjw]

Thanks for the update and the picture, Jeff. Interesting story and I often read something like that and wonder how many other similar situations happened and the money was never recovered.
BJW