Thankful for this useful advice Maximilian's four aids instantly hired this group of former boys in gray to guide them as well as guard them. All would be safe now-or would it?
A few days of traveling passed. Then one night one of the guards could no longer contain his curiosity. He had to know why a caravan of simple flour needed so much armed protection. Stealthily, as the rest of the camp slumbered, this lone guard broke into one of the flour barrels.
Maximilian's secret had been discovered and his trusted men did not live to see the next sun rise.
These ex-Confederate soldiers turned bandits knew they would never get all of their newfound riches safely past other bandits that lurked in the area. So, after stuffing their saddlebags with all that they could they buried the rest.
It is uncertain just how many of these soldiers there were or how they each died. It is believed that some of them were soon killed by other bandits. But none of them lived long enough to return to the hidden riches and claim them.
It is known that one of the Confederate bandits died in the presents of a doctor, and that as death took him he gasp out the story of the buried millions at Castle Gap. Many years later the doctor returned to the area to look for the wealth but found nothing. Over the many years since the burying of Maximilian's Millions many have searched for these buried riches. The final fact is that of all the searches made no one has found the treasure-or at least, no one has admitted to the finding of it.
As to the future of Maximilian, in 1865 the United States insisted that Napoleon III remove his French troops from Mexico. The republicans then quickly seized control of Mexico.
Maximilian was ordered to leave the country but refused to do so. He was sometime later captured at Queretaro. Following a court martial, he was shot by Juarez' troops on June 19, 1867.
His wife, Carlotta, made good her escape to Europe. Eventually, she lost her sanity and died near Brussels on January 19, 1927.
Recommended reading of other gold discoveries:
Source:
Collier's Encyclopedia, Volume 15. Crowell-Collier Educational Corporation, 1968.
Wallechinsky, David. Irving Wallace. The People's Almanac. Doubleday & Company, Inc. Garden City, New York, 1975.
