Holy City (Jack Francis Novel)

by M Murphy

  “That’s correct.”

  “But I still don’t understand how he lost his fortune then.” I said a bit confused.

  “The war ended.”

  Chapter 8

  “The war ended.” I asked. “What did that have to do with anything? It seems to me that the Trenholms were in a pretty good position to survive past the war.”

  “They were, except George Trenholm was a traitor for participating in the Confederate Government as its treasurer. When the Confederacy surrendered everything was taken from him and he spent some time as a prisoner in Fort Pulaski down near Savannah.”

  “I guess that makes sense, but I would have thought a man like George Trenholm would have had prepared for such a thing.”

  “Some say he did. Within a year of being released from Federal captivity, he was as wealthy as ever.”

  “How did that happen?”

  “This is where the story becomes more rumor than truth. The answer could be simple, like the possibility that the Trenholms had deposited a vast amount of their wealth into foreign banks to protect it after the war. But the story most Charlestonians like to tell is a little more sinister.”

  “My kind of story.”

  “When Richmond was about to fall to Grant’s forces, President Jefferson Davis made evacuation plans for the capital. These plans included George Trenholm and the national treasury. The Confederate Government, with treasury in hand, retreated south until they reached the Carolina backcountry. It was there that Trenholm split from the rest of Davis’ party and headed back to Charleston.”

  “It seems reasonable with the war at its end.” I interjected.

  “Yes, very reasonable, but the question is who took the gold and silver held in the treasury, President Davis or Trenholm?”

  “Shouldn’t that be a matter of record?”

  “No there was no record and the fact remains that the gold and silver in the Confederate Treasury were never recovered after the war.”

  “What you’re telling me is that many people believe Trenholm took the money back to Charleston with him to pay off debts owed to him by the Confederacy, and then used the money to support himself after his own fortune was confiscated by the Federal Government after Appomattox?”

  “I’m not telling you that, it is simply what some people believe.” Mrs. Legare looked very pleased with her storytelling as she capped off our drinks from the pitcher. “The story goes that the money was split up into two parties. One was to head to Savannah where it was to be loaded onto a blockade runner and

  then sent to England. The other party was to head to Charleston with the same intentions. The idea was to send the money to Europe where it could be kept safe until the Confederacy could

  once again fight for their cause. The problem with this story is that both Savannah and Charleston were occupied with Union troops, and the blockade runners in both cities were owned by Fraser, Trenholm & Company.”

  “What you’re having me believe is that the Confederate treasure has been missing since the end of the Civil War and that all signs point to the Trenholm family as the number one suspect in its disappearance.”

  “Oh, my heavens, I would never suggest the Trenholms had anything to do with it, they are such a lovely group of people. All I am telling you is a story, in which many in this town believe has some truth to it.”

  “Of course, it is simply a little Charleston tale you wanted me to hear.” This city and their manners, I thought.

  “Exactly.”

  “You don’t suppose this was what Jason and Dr. Welsh might have been looking into. I mean, wouldn’t have Jason known all about this?”

  “I’m sure Jason knew about the story I told you, but I doubt many in the Trenholm family know the truth. The fact may be that no one knows the truth anymore. I am sure Jason was just as intrigued by the story as anyone else in this town.”

  “I guess then that it is a good possibility.”

  “I would think so, but you should ask Dr. Welsh to be a little more specific next time you talk to her.”

  “I plan on it.” I hadn’t gotten into details with her before because of the shock of Jason’s death, but I really liked

  the angle even though I wasn’t sure how it connected to Jason’s killing. “Thank you for the mint julep.” I said sitting down my glass and standing from my chair.

  “Going so soon?”

  “I have to get ready for dinner with Bryce. Thank you for talking to me. It was very informative.”

  “If you ever need some more information you know where to find me.” Mrs. Legare said with a smile.

  I had no doubts that if I needed a tid-bit of town gossip I could find it very quickly on Mrs. Legare’s piazza.

  Chapter 9

  We had dinner at Cypress, a new southern restaurant on East Bay Street. Once the wine had been finished, the check paid, and Sarah and her family departed back to their South of Broad home, Bryce and I headed back to my carriage house on Church Street for a little family bonding time. I could tell he was ready to talk from the way he excused himself from his new wife after dinner. She seemed to understand.

  It was a beautiful night so we poured ourselves a cocktail and grabbed some cigars at the house before returning to the Charleston streets. Church Street was quiet with the sidewalks illuminated by gas lamps and ancient trees dripping with Spanish moss overhead. We walked in silence for a while, smoking our cigars and taking in the evening. It was Bryce who finally broke the silence.

  “Did you get a chance to talk to Dr. Welsh?”

  “Sure did and boy was I surprised to find out she was a beautiful woman. Unfortunately, she hadn’t heard about Jason yet when I showed up at her office.”

  “You had to tell her then?”

  “I did, but she was strong and still talked to me for a bit.”

  “Sorry.” Bryce said. “I wouldn’t have sent you over there if I had known. The way news spreads in this town I figured she would have heard the minute she opened her front door.”

  “Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t the first bad news I’ve had to deliver in my time. How are you holding up?”

  “I’ve been better, but I’ll survive. Sarah’s taking it harder than me.”

  “I think you’ve got yourself a good one there. Make sure you take care of her.”

  “Thanks.” Bryce grew silent again as we reached White Point Gardens, a park at the end of the Charleston Peninsula. We walked over to the battery wall and stared out over the harbor. “You know I’ve been thinking a little.” Bryce continued. “There is something else you may want to look into.” Jason was a pretty perfect guy, close enough anyway, but he did have one fault.”

  “Oh yeah, what’s that?”

  “He had a small passion for sports betting. Nothing I ever thought was a problem, especially since we all did once in a while. But in the past year he went from using an internet site to going to a bookie. He told me it was because the odds were better and he could get his cash faster…made sense.”

  “With the internet taking over every aspect of life even the bookies have to change their style to compete. Do you know his guy’s name?”

  “Yeah,” Bryce began. “Tommy Makem. I don’t know if it’s anything, but it’s the only thing I could think of at the moment.”

  “You never know what you’ll find. It could be nothing or it might lead to something more. Any little bit of information, no matter how unimportant it may seem, could help to find out who killed Jason. Do you have any idea where I could track down this Tommy Makem?”

  “Jason always met him at the Cocktail Club on Upper King Street.”

  “The pre-prohibition cocktail bar?”

  “That’s the one.”

  “Not exactly the kind of place I would expect to find a bookie.”

  “From what I’ve gathered from Jason, Tommy isn’t exactly your stereotypical bookie.”

  “Well, that could be something too. Either way I’ll check it out tomorrow.
It’s getting late let me walk you back to your bride before she starts to worry about you.”

  “I can make it on my own.” Bryce said. “We’re staying with her parents right down the street.”

  “Normally I would let you go, but not tonight. I’ll sleep better knowing you got back to your bride safe and sound.”

  “All right,” Bryce conceded. He turned from the battery wall and began to head back through the park. I took one last look at the water and followed behind him.

  Chapter 10

  The next morning I put a call into my former partner at the FBI, Special Agent Colin Sommers, to see if he had any information on Tommy Makem. Though the FBI’s system is fast I hardly rated top priority and would probably wait most of the afternoon for any news. The only lead I had to follow at the moment was the one Hannah Welsh had given me and Mrs. Legare backed up. I figured it was about time I saw Professor Welsh again for a little history lesson.

  I met Hannah at the South Carolina Historical Society on a long break she had between lectures. The building was constructed as the first fire-proof structure in the United States and was filled to the brim with old documents containing the State of South Carolina’s colorful history. I paid my dues with a slight donation upon entering and then found Hannah hunched over some papers at a quiet table.

  “How’s the work coming?” I asked her, as I approached the table.

  “Fine, but tortoise slow. Jason usually came down here to do the grunt work, so I’m not used to where everything in the building is yet.”

  “Maybe I shouldn’t be interrupting you then.”

  “No, it’s quite all right. You’re here to ask about the work anyways, so really it fits nicely.” Hannah moved some papers around and motioned me to sit next to her. “Come on sit, and I’ll give you some of the details if it doesn’t bore you too much.

  “Not at all. I got the neighborhood gossip version from Mrs. Legare yesterday and found it very intriguing.”

  “I’m sure her story was a bit more colorful than what I am working on.”

  “I have found that the truth is always much more interesting than fiction.” God knows my years at the Bureau had proven that. “What are you working on today?”

  “Well, the idea of the research is to paint a picture of the families who participated in the black market, either through blockade running or trading, before the war. I want to gather financial information to determine a general grasp on the value of the family estates.”

  “Where does Jason’s family fit in with this?” I asked, already having a good idea.

  “Right at the top. George Trenholm built a large empire through the slave market, plantation production, and shipping. In fact, he may have been the richest man in Charleston and one of the richest in the country before the war started.”

  “Ok, you’ve got the background on the main families involved in black market activities during the war, so what’s the next step?”

  “That’s where it gets tricky, and as a researcher I need to dig a little deeper and do some interpretation of the documents available to me.” Hannah explained. “Learning about a family’s fortune before the war was easy because many kept detailed

  account books for their business and personal wealth and the South Carolina Historical Society now has possession of many of them. During the war records on blockade running and illegal trade weren’t kept in open documents, so I have to dig through personal journals, diaries, letters, and other paperwork to determine a general picture of a person’s business activities. Comparing one’s daily journal from before the war to that of journals during the war can tell you a lot about their lifestyle change as well.”

  “That sounds incredibly time consuming.”

  “You have no idea.”

  “How far along were you and Jason in your research?” I asked, generally interested.

  “Honestly, pretty far. I hadn’t started writing my book yet, but the research was mostly done. All we had was a few holes to seal up before I could reach my conclusion.”

  “And what might that be?”

  “I’m not exactly positive how I’m going to write a conclusion to my work yet. The holes we had left to fill could change a lot about the way I view my research.”

  “What were conclusions on Jason’s family?”

  “You see Jack, therein lies the problem. The Trenholm family history is where I’m trying to fill most of my holes.”

  “I don’t understand. You had Jason, didn’t he have access to his own family history?

  “Sure he knew his family history from what his father and grandfather told him, but what he was told and what we were

  beginning to find started to contradict each other.”

  “Let me ask you something about the Trenholms that I got from Mrs. Legare’s story. It’s not based on research like your work, but instead merely town gossip.”

  “Okay, I’ll bite.”

  “Have you come across any connection between the Trenholms and some lost Confederate treasure.”

  “Jack, you’re about to grasp where my holes are coming from.”

  Chapter 11

  “Through our research Jason and I were able to trace the path of financial wealth for most of the families involved. When people find dire straits or accumulated vast sums of money they are very likely to write it down in their own journals, but George Trenholm wasn’t like everyone else.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked Hannah.

  “First, there are very few primary sources on the Trenholm family.”

  “What do you mean by primary sources?”

  “Personal letters, diaries, journals, objects of that nature. Most of the old Charleston families have donated these types of documents to the Historical Society, the Preservation Society, or the college in order to establish their role in the history of the city, and the nation for that matter. The Trenholms have given very little, and practically nothing compared to other families of the same standing. The one important piece we do have access to is George Trenholm’s journal from his time in Richmond, and for the most part it tells us very little. The man either wrote with very little detail or chose to leave out a lot of his life.”

  “The holes you are trying to fill then come from the Trenholm family history during the war.”

  “From the business side of the family, yes. From a personal side, we have nothing before, during, or after the conflict.”

  It was definitely curious to me that the Trenholms decided to not follow the rest of the old families in the city in donating their ancestors’ documents to the city’s history, but that wasn’t enough to make Mrs. Legare’s story true. “How do these missing documents connect the Trenholms to the missing Confederate treasure?”

  “There are subtle clues.” Hannah answered. “For example in the final pages of George Trenholm’s journal from Richmond, he does mention the issue of the Treasury and the questions President Jefferson and he had in transporting the vast sums out of the city. Secondly, his son James, who worked for the family business during the war in England, notes in the company ledger next to the Confederate debts owed that his father was handling them.”

  “That could mean anything.”

  “It sure could, but remember when working with so little we must connect the dots as best we can and interpret the history for ourselves.”

  “But doesn’t that close your mind to other options?”

  “No, the idea is to interpret history from every angle and study all the options. It gives the researcher a better perspective on the subject being studied and the decisions being made at the time.”

  “It still doesn’t explain how you connected a note in a ledger from England to the Confederate treasure. You’ve got to

  have something better?” I asked doubtfully.

  “I do.” Hannah pulled a folder from her bag next to her chair and opened it on the table. Inside was a very old letter, aged yellow, with a precise cursive hand. “This is a letter Jaso
n discovered in the family library. It was actually in an old copy of The Republic by Plato.”

  “A simple question of the just and unjust and how it applies to government and human character.” I knew a little about the work.

  “Very good, but a simple question with a complicated answer.”

  “Does Plato’s work apply to the letter Jason found?”

  “I’m not sure. The letter appears to be a simple communication from a father to a son, George to James. However, there are a few things that stand out. The first is the date and where the letter is addressed.” Hannah moved closer to me and pointed to the top of the page. “If you look here the letter is dated April 26, 1865. That date is important for two reasons.”