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Some valuables were said to have been found at Lowell.
Butler was eager to prosecute the many searches, according to local gossip, and he was personally brutal and willing to browbeat any who could help find articles that he coveted. He had a particular passion for taking the swords of dead men, at one instance having his soldiers break into the tomb of Sidney Johnston (no doubt Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston) and explored the coffin for a sword. He also was said to have sent his men, with a Negro spy, to break open- the door of Martin Gordon's house to capture the sword of Zachary Taylor. The lady who filed the suit, Rowena Florance, was once led to Butler's office, and with
her mother and size in tears, were coerced to reveal the whereabouts of their silver.^
T-P, November 25, 1869, p. 1, col. 5:
This account is primarily a description of the affidavit of Rowena Florance. The suit was not a criminal suit, but a civil one. It was stated that the government had the right to determine the rightful owner of the property, that such could not be Butler's personally: it was either the claimant's or the governments. In New Orleans, it was commented, the matter was one "of general notoriety here."
The belief was that two jewled swords had been deposited by Twiggs in trust, and to that purpose, the affidavit alleged that in a document written in his own hand, he had made absolute gifts (presumably to Rowena Florance). The swords were valued at $35,000, and the silver at $2,000.
The plaintiff alleged that on or about June 1,	1862, Butler
charged into the house and "with violence and force of arms" took the swords, and that he still retained them. They were family heirlooms, not meant for military use, and had been made presents to General Twiggs soon after the Mexican War by the states of Texas and Georgia, and the U.S. Government.
Defendant claimed that he gave the swords to the Treasury Dept, of the U.S. Government. There was no accounting for the silver.
Judge S. Jones of the Superior Court, invoking Section 179 of the Code of Procedure, required the sheriff forthwith to arrest the defendant and to hold him with bail set at $15,000. The sheriff was ordered to return the order to the plaintiff's attorney, Edward McCarthy, at his office , #6 Pine St.