Samuel Jackson King lived an isolated life keeping a pack of fierce dogs and a loaded gun at his side. Signs leading to his home read "Keep Out", "Beware", and "This Means You". Samuel rarely ventured into town, choosing instead to remain on his farm. The 107 acre King Farm lay just ten miles away from Mt. Davis in Somerset County.
Samuel was found in a field with a loaded shotgun at his side and his favorite dog who had remained beside his masters body for three days. A search of the house by the sheriff revealed that King liked to hide his wealth. Nearly $18,000 in bonds, old currency, gold and silver coins were found stashed away in old jars, tin cans, ten gallon ice cream can, backs of pictures, etc. I have no record of anyone searching outside of the home, but local newspapers from the time might shed more light on the story. Mr. King passed away in August of 1952.
A records search at the Somerset County Court House should give you the exact location of the King Farm. Having hidden that much money inside the house, there's a good chance much more could be recovered outside of the farm house.
Good Luck and Good Hunting!
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3 comments:
Great post! Do we know if the farmland has since been taken over by new tenants or is it abandoned?
I think Mr. King had a brother at the time of his death but a records search should give you the current owners name.
I'm real late to this party, but having worked as a police officer in Somerset county (including Berlin and Confluence) I can assure you that finding this old farm is going to be a monumental undertaking. It's all mountainous terrain down there, and this old farm could be anywhere between Confluence and Myersdale. A 10 mile radius from the summit of Mt Davis means you have to pluck a 70 year old poorly cartographer farm out of 314+ miles of land. I hope if anyone reads this, you have the best of luck, and you find what you're looking for.
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