Bob Young grew up hearing tales of stolen Confederate gold and buried treasure, and as time passed, the tales stretched taller.
In 2012, the former journalist dove to the bottom of the story. He wove the facts and some fiction into his book “The Treasure Train.” And on Sunday, Young will see Christopher Forbes’ take on his story at the 16th annual Poison Peach Film Festival at the Imperial Theatre.
“The story has taken off with a life of its own with every retelling,” said Young, who hoped to quell some of the crazy theories such as there being chest of buried gold somewhere in Georgia.
What did happen in April 1865 is less exciting.
Some war-weary, destitute Confederate veterans wanted their pay and heard about what they thought was the Confederate bank roll being transported to Georgia. Instead, the money was from the deposits from a bank in Richmond, Virginia being moved to Georgia for safekeeping.
In May 1865, the $450,000 that belonged to private citizens was set to return to Virginia by train from Abbeville, South Carolina. The wagon transporting it to Abbeville stopped overnight at a farm in Lincoln County, where the robbery occurred with the bandits taking off with whatever they could carry.
“They made off – as best as I can calculate from the records – with about $180,000; $110,000 was recovered, and $200,000 went on to Abbeville,” he said.
Young appears in Forbes’ film as Leiston House, the real-life father of the Susan Moss whose farm was the site of the robbery.
In Forbes’ retelling of the story, Young’s character has more of a role than House did in the actual events. Young said his book also includes “a lot of local color” of the time so that it’s not just about the robbery.
As for the movie, Young said he will be just as surprised to see the finished product as the rest of the audience.
“I have not seen a completed script,” he said.
The screening will be at 3 p.m. Jan 5, and Young will be in attendance with copies of his books at the event. He’s written nine books including “Grabbal Road” which takes a historical look at the robbery.
“The Treasure Train” will be presented on the second day of the festival.
The program starts at 7 p.m. Saturday Jan. 4 with a block of short films, most of which are horror. At 8 p.m., the remastered, re-edited and expanded director’s cut of “Cabaret Diabolique” will be shown, according to the Imperial Theatre website.
“’Cabaret Diabolique’” features two internationally known horror film stars, Linnea Quigley and Camille Keaton. Linnea has done 150 horror films and is best known for ‘Return of the Living Dead.’ Camille is best known for ‘I Spit on Your Grave.’ Guests of Honor at the Imperial screening will be co-leads in the film, Robert Seawell IV, Jezibell Anat and Joseph Zuchowski. All three reside in Augusta. The director, Christopher Forbes, will also be attending,” according to the website.
Poison Peach highlights short and feature films created by Augusta-area filmmakers.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years and is a Georgia Press Association award winner. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
