Mara Louis; Girl of Mystery

by Timothy Paterson

something was peculiar about the stone for Joethe Smith.

  Mara researched courthouse files and she could find no record of a Joethe Smith, or Joseph or Joe Smith having died around June 1861. She even checked for the name Smiith, but could not find anything.

  One night, about a week later, Mara was watching the news with her parents and there was a story about the lost coins and the old cemetery.

  Mara listened to the story very carefully, hoping to find some new detail that she did not already know. Then she heard that one key piece of information that she was waiting for.

  The newswoman said that the date of the robbery was June 15, 1861. Mara ran upstairs to find her notebook. She knew that the robbery took place in June of 1861, but she did not know the exact day until now. June 15, was also the day that Joethe Smith died.

  All at once, something clicked in the back of her mind. After reading all of her notes again, Mara thought that she had solved the case.

  She ran down stairs and told her parents that she had found the answer to the mystery.

  The next morning, Mara called the curator of the historical society and told him that she had solved the mystery of the missing gold coins.

  She asked him to meet her at the cemetery with certain pieces of equipment. The curator agreed to meet Mara and her parents at the cemetery that afternoon.

  When Mara and her parents arrived at the cemetery, there were over 100 people there, including people from the local newspaper and the television station.

  Mara started feeling a little nervous. If she were wrong, she would look like a fool in front of thousands of people.

  Mara stood in front of the crowd and began to explain her theory about the missing gold coins.

  “Daniel Walker told his nephew that the coins were hidden in the cemetery,” Mara told the crowd of people. “He never said they were ‘buried’”.

  “When I was at the cemetery last week, I was intrigued by some of the old headstones, especially this one that is shaped like a house. I noticed the misspellings on the stone.”

  “Last night, while watching the news, I learned that the robbery took place on June 15, 1861. That is the same day that Mr. Joethe Smith died.”

  “I did some research and discovered that there is no record of anybody by the name of Joethe, Joe, or Joseph Smith or Smiith dying that day or anywhere near that date.”

  “I think that Daniel Walker engraved this stone as a message to his brother Joe, but he never got a chance to tell his brother about the secret message, because Joe died a year later at age 21 in an attempted robbery, leaving a wife and an infant son, Joe Jr.”

  “When Daniel told his nephew about the gold coins being hidden in the cemetery, he was old and a little senile. He forgot to tell him about the secret message he had left to mark the treasure’s location.”

  “Daniel had helped his father carve headstones and he had become very skilled at working with stone and cement. I am willing to bet that there is no ‘body’ buried in this grave.”

  A man brought out a large piece of sonar equipment and after passing it over the grave a few times very slowly, he said that there was nothing buried in the grave, no body, but here was no gold buried there either.

  Mara continued with her theory. “I don’t think that this headstone has to do with the death of anyone.”

  “If you notice, there is no date of birth, and the stone says ‘buried June 15, 1861’. It doesn’t say ‘Died’ before the date.”

  “There are no misspellings on the gravestone. It was a coded message for his brother, Joe. “If I am right, the message reads: ‘Joe, The Stolen Money Is In This House.”

  The curator interrupted Mara. “We have thoroughly searched the Grant House and have found no coins or hidden rooms or safes.”

  Mara continued: “The money is not hidden in that house, it is hidden in ‘this’ house” and she put her hand on the headstone shaped like a house.

  “I wondered why it was so deep and wide. I am certain that this headstone is hollow and that it is full of gold coins.”

  Using great care, some men started to chip away cement from both sides of the headstone.

  After 30 minutes, they heard a creaking and everybody stood back as the front of the headstone fell forward, revealing 50 bags of gold coins.

  The coins were all dated before 1850, and they were in almost mint condition.

  Everybody cheered for Mara because she solved the mystery, which made Mara felt very proud and a little embarrassed by all of the attention.

  The curator said that they would now have enough money to restore the Grant House and keep it running for many years to come. He offered Mara a reward for finding the money, but Mara turned down the reward.

  Mara looked around the cemetery, which had been neglected for many years. She said, “Instead of giving me a reward, how about using some of the money to restore this cemetery so that it will be a fitting memorial to all of the Civil War soldiers who are buried here.”

  The curator said that was an excellent idea, and as he shook Mara’s hand and said; “You are very mature and wise for your age. You’ve got yourself a deal”. The crowd cheered again for Mara.

  The curator insisted on giving Mara ten of the gold coins as an early gift for her 10th birthday. Mara accepted them reluctantly, but graciously.

  Mara closed her notebook and said “Another case solved by Mara Louis, Private Eye.”

  Everybody laughed and her parents hugged her and told her how proud they were of her. Then the three of them went out to get some ice cream to celebrate.

 

  The Case of the Missing Paintings

  Mara had become a celebrity of sorts. After she solved the mystery of the old cemetery in Maryland, the story was published in newspapers across the entire country.

  That was not the first case that Mara had ever solved, however. She had worked on several other investigations to locate missing items in her neighborhood, as well as solving many cases at school.

  About eleven months after she had found the gold coins in the cemetery, Mara received a letter, inviting her and her parents to visit the Marshall Museum in Charles City, Virginia, to help them solve a mystery.

  The museum was actually a very old Colonial mansion, dating back to 1695, that had recently become a museum.

  Several generations of the Marshall family had occupied the house, for a total of more than three hundred years.

  With each generation, the family grew smaller. In 2004, the last direct descendant of the family; John Marshall died at the age of ninety-four. He had no living relatives and he was the last of his line.

  When John Marshall died, he left the mansion, property, and all of his personal belongings, to the Charles City Historical Society.

  John Marshall had been a recluse for most of his life, and a very private person. Many people considered him somewhat eccentric.

  During his last few decades of life, he had carefully restored the mansion to its original condition.

  When the historical society received ownership of the house, it was ready for them to move in.

  The mansion became a museum, and the museum staff charged a small fee to patrons, to help defray the costs of maintaining the mansion.

  The curator of the museum read about Mara solving the case of the old cemetery mystery and thought that she might be able to help the museum solve its mystery as well.

  The Marshall family had been a very influential family in Charles City, over the years, and had become quite wealthy. There were rumors through the decades, that the family had accumulated a large collection of paintings over the years, and that all of the paintings were still in the mansion.

  When John Marshall died, a thorough search was conducted in the mansion, but only a few modern paintings were found. People speculated that over the las
t several decades, the family had sold the paintings to support their extravagant lifestyle.

  Mr. Anderson did not believe that theory. He believed that the mansion held clues to where the missing paintings were hidden. So far, no one had found those clues. He hoped that Mara might be able to help them.

  Mara showed the invitation to her parents, and after some discussion, they decided that they would drive to Charles City for the weekend.

  Mara’s mother called Mr. Anderson and told him that they would arrive Friday afternoon.

  Mara was very excited at the prospect of solving another mystery. She started packing a backpack with things that she might need at the mansion. The items included, were a notebook, pens, a magnifying glass, a measuring tape, a small tool kit, flashlight, a mini-tape recorder, and a mini-camcorder.

  Mara was so preoccupied with the mystery that her mother had to remind her to pack a suitcase full of clothes for the trip, as well.

  With just three days until the weekend, Mara started doing preliminary research on the case. In the evenings, after she finished her homework, she went on the internet to research Charles City, Virginia as well as the Marshall family. She printed out all of the information, and put it in her backpack.

  Friday afternoon finally arrived. After Mara got home from school, she and her parents started on their trip to Charles City. During the four-hour drive, Mara carefully read all of the information she had collected for the case, and then she reread it two more times.

  By seven p.m., they had arrived at their