The Peddler's Lost Cache

Moishe Edelman, a peddler by trade, lay dying in a doctors office in Cleveland, Ohio, during the fall of 1933. He had suffered a massive heart attack and knew that the end of his life was near. Babbling in delirium and speaking in a barely audible voice, he asked the doctor to come nearer and to listen to what he had to say. There are thousands of dollars in coins hidden in four wooden chests, he whispered in a rasping voice. Where are they hidden? the doctor asked quietly.

In an area known as the Big Ugly, near the small town of Leet, West Virginia. Go up the Guyandotte River until it branches off at Laurel Fork. Then proceed up Laurel Fork about a mile until you come to a very large rock. The chests of coins are buried along the creek, right across from the rock.

Then Edelmans voice faded away and he closed his eyes forever in a restful peace. Several business asso­ciates of Edelmans were in atten­dance in addition to the doctor, and listened skeptically to Edelmans last words. No one placed much stock in what he said until the doctor closed up his office one day, packed up sev­eral suitcases of personal belongings, and headed for West Virginia. The doctor returned several months later, but had been unsuccessful in his search for Edelmans hidden wealth. Down through the years, many others, too, from West Virginia and nearby states have searched for the peddlers cache, but as far as anyone knows, it had never been recovered. If anyone did, it had never been re­ported.

Shortly after Edelmans death, some friends of his found a small life insurance policy in his personal be­longings. Agents from the insurance company could not locate the desig­nated beneficiary named in the policy or any live relatives of Edelmans, but their search did uncover a lot of information about Edelman.

Through a search of immigration documents, they found out that Moishe Edelman was born in a Jew­ish Ghetto in the Soviet Union. He had left Russia in 1898 and went to Great Britain where he had worked as a common laborer, putting in many long hours on the job, but earning very little pay.

Edelman saved a little bit of money out of each paycheck so that one day he could afford a steamship ticket to America. He had made the unfortu­nate mistake of putting his money in an English bank, and when the bank failed, he lost everything. In those early days there was no government agency that guaranteed peoples deposits, and when the banks would fail due to bad management or thievery, the depositors were the losers. Edelman was determined to get out of England, and found employment on a trans-Atlantic steamship, thus mak­ing his way finally to America.

It is not known as to how and when Edelman got into the peddling busi­ness, but during the Prohibition Era of the late I 920s, he showed up in West Virginia, traveling through the rugged mountains of Logan and Lin­coln counties in the southwestern part of the state. He did not travel by car or on horseback when he first arrived there, and preferred to make his rounds on foot. He carried his merchandise in backpacks and the smaller items in his pockets. Around his waist he car­ried an assortment of pots and pans that made a clanging sound as he walked along those rural country roads.

Although most of the country folks living in those mountains knew Edelman, many of them didnt com­pletely trust him. He was considered a Yankee because he had come down there from the north, and it was a common practice for the revenue agents of Uncle Sam to snoop around, looking for the bootleggers who made and sold illegal whiskey.

The 18th Amendment went into effect in 1920 making it a federal crime to manufacture, transport and sell intoxicating liquors. It had re­mained in effect until 1933, finally being repealed by the 21st Amend­ment. Billions of illegal dollars had been made during those thirteen years selling bootleg liquor, also known as moonshine. The West Virginia hills were full of stills, which was an apparatus for distilling liquor, and the government wanted to shut them down.

Several of the mountaineers who liked Edelman told him about this mistrust some of them had for him, and he did many things to regain their confidences. He gave fruit-flavored candies and toys to the farmers chil­dren while he displayed his merchan­dise to the parents. He even helped their wives with simple chores while the men were working in the fields, eventually gaining their trust in him.

Being a thrifty person by nature, Edelman soon amassed a fortune in coins and currency and kept them in several small chests that soon be­came filled with shiny new coins of various denominations. He eventu­ally spent some of it and bought an old roadster, making it easier to travel through the rugged mountainous ter­rain. While on the road he usually persuaded the hill country families to put him up for the night, and at other times he usually stayed in a cheap hotel in Logan, Huntington, Leet or Fry, all of them were small towns in Logan and Lincoln counties.

Since it was a known fact that Edelman didnt trust banks, many people started wondering what he did with all of his money also the fact that he always changed his bills into coins at the local stores prompted many folks to believe that he was burying it somewhere along his route outside of town in the hills.

One day during the summer of 1933, Edelman told everyone that he was driving up to Cleveland, Ohio, to purchase a large amount of supplies from a wholesale dealer there, and that he would return to West Virginia in a few weeks or so. It was while he was in Cleveland that he suffered a fatal heart attack and died in a local doctors office, telling his tale of bur­ied treasure just before death.

The exact amount of money bur­ied by Edelman in his four chests at Laurel Creek is unknown, but his words were an indication when he said, thousands of dollars in coins hidden in four chests. Also it is im­portant to know that in addition to copper and silver coins, they were still minting and using gold coins during the 1920s and 1930s, thus making this cache worth many times its face value if a portion of it was in gold coins. Even silver and copper coins in an extra fine or uncirculated condition would bring a tidy sum from coin dealers and collectors.

Edelmans hidden cache has eluded treasure hunters for over fifty years now. Will it forever remain in the ground where Edelman put it back in 1933, or will it at last be found by some lucky treasure hunter who waves his magic wand over the right spot?

To reach the site, take West Vir­ginia State Road #10 to the town of Chapmanville, a small community located between Logan and Ranger. Logan is the county seat of Logan County. and has a current population of about 2,200 people. Chapmanville is only about half the size of Logan, has one traffic light on Main Street, one motel, and is only a ten to fifteen minute drive from the Big Ugly turn­off. Watch for the road signs on S. R. 10 for the town of Leet and the Big Ugly camping grounds as you head north out of town. Laurel Fork emp­ties into the Guyandotte River not too far from there.

If you were not staying in the Big Ugly camping area, the Friendship Inn at Chapmanville would be the only place nearby to rent a room. You can call them for reservations at (304) 855-7182. Good luck and good hunting.

SOURCES:

West Virginia Federated Writers Guide.

West Virginia Place Names. Kiney & Hamil.