peculiar man who would
only visit certain of his neighbors, that is go in their homes, always
had. some money on hand and some time after his father was hung, he was
taken out and hung old, timers asserting that certain of his neighbors
were guilty of the
act. Eli had dinner with Jim Fuqua on Thursday, the last time he was
ever seen alive leaving Fuqua's to go up in the ridges and look for some
of his stock. His body had been striped of clothing and when found
were wadded up and his body had been mutilated by the wolves and wild
hogs. A hole in the ground near 3 trees
dimly marked was found with signs of iron rust on the dirt and it is
supposed that this is the trunk given him by his father. The little
homemade purse given him by his father was later seen in possession of B.
M. [Bill Massingill] by G. W. W. [George
Walker White}- -- J. L. made a remark in a saloon that he guessed B. M.
hung Ely and that Ely would never have spent his money but one thing was
certain old B. M. ... ... ... surely put it in circulation. Bill
Massingill married Ely's sister who was sick in bed and near death.
The talk is that if Ely Howard should die before Mrs. Massingill she would
come into possession of Ely's estate. He was hung near a salt ground
where any one would have an excuse to be near and accidentally stumble
upon the find. Subsequent grand juries tried to fasten the hanging
upon Bill Massingill, Bill Gainer, and one of Singing Miller's boys.
Three sets of tracks led away from the scene of the hanging--the tracks of
a very large horse (shod) and the tracks of a mule and a pony. At
that time Bill Massingill was the owner of the only large horse that was
shod. Mrs. Bill Massingill
[Amanda Howard] was the girl that spread the alarm that
Indians were in the country at the time Miss Ann Whitney was killed.
Three large post oak trees forming a perfect triangle with a hole exactly
35 steps from all three of the trees revealed the spot where Ely Howard
kept his treasure buried. Ely Howard objected to his sister's marrying
into the Massingill family, saying that "the Howard name was not
thought much of but that the Massingill name was a ... sight worse."
