Burdie
Gold Member
- Nov 13, 2005
- 5,587
- 89
- Detector(s) used
- Etrac
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Here is the story from excerpts in various news papers. Bank robberies that lead to a family story.
A WELL STORY !!!!
Duree promptly jumped bail and accompanied by his pals, Terrill, Williams, and Campbell went on a tear knocking over the banks of Catoosa, Maramec, Lamont, Bristow, Sparks, and Hoffman, Oklahoma as well as six financial institutions in Kansas.
According to the authorities, the gang?s MO was to drive up to a small town bank at a time when only cats and stray dogs were about and the town constable in his slumbers, (generally 2 or 3 am), park the truck in front of the building, unroll the cable, hook it to the front door and pull the door off it?s hinges. Next, they would attach the cable and hook to the strong box and winch it onto the truck, drive to an isolated barn and open the safe at their convenience. The gang was so successful in their ability to slip into small ?one horse? communities and rip off the bank safe without disturbing a soul, newspapers began calling the gang the phantom burglars and the groups leader, the ?Ghost Bandit.?
On the afternoon of August 9, 1924, a posse of officers raided a small farm near Granola, Kansas where Duree and his younger brother, Charlie, were hiding. In the ensuring gunfight, Charlie was slain by a well-placed .44 caliber slug while Jeff was able to escape the clutches of the law and disappeared into the dark night on foot. Some lawmen suspected the outlaw had possibly suffered a grievous wound during the Kansas ambush and crawled off into the vast prairie and died. On receiving no word of the outlaw? whereabouts for a period of months, one outspoken lawmen proclaimed, ?Old Jeff is most likely buzzard bait by now.? Now the rest of the story! One more guy was with them that escaped before the gunfight. He was caught with a broken arm after trying to robb the Grenola Bank a month later. When he got out of Prison he settled in Grenola. He told my grandfather that the gang threw a saddle with two money bags and a saddle bag tied to it in a well. That well is in Elgin Kansas. My Grandfather said that all the money was not recovered. Here is what I know and what I suspect. My Grandfather had a saddle hanging in his shed and no horse. "Skinny" the robber, bought a clothing store after getting out of prison.(paid in cash) Jeff Duree lived to rob again.
I might add my Gandparents were allways flat broke all their lives. I think one bag is still down there or Duree got there first. If so he probably could only get one bag out by himself. HH Burdie
A WELL STORY !!!!
Duree promptly jumped bail and accompanied by his pals, Terrill, Williams, and Campbell went on a tear knocking over the banks of Catoosa, Maramec, Lamont, Bristow, Sparks, and Hoffman, Oklahoma as well as six financial institutions in Kansas.
According to the authorities, the gang?s MO was to drive up to a small town bank at a time when only cats and stray dogs were about and the town constable in his slumbers, (generally 2 or 3 am), park the truck in front of the building, unroll the cable, hook it to the front door and pull the door off it?s hinges. Next, they would attach the cable and hook to the strong box and winch it onto the truck, drive to an isolated barn and open the safe at their convenience. The gang was so successful in their ability to slip into small ?one horse? communities and rip off the bank safe without disturbing a soul, newspapers began calling the gang the phantom burglars and the groups leader, the ?Ghost Bandit.?
On the afternoon of August 9, 1924, a posse of officers raided a small farm near Granola, Kansas where Duree and his younger brother, Charlie, were hiding. In the ensuring gunfight, Charlie was slain by a well-placed .44 caliber slug while Jeff was able to escape the clutches of the law and disappeared into the dark night on foot. Some lawmen suspected the outlaw had possibly suffered a grievous wound during the Kansas ambush and crawled off into the vast prairie and died. On receiving no word of the outlaw? whereabouts for a period of months, one outspoken lawmen proclaimed, ?Old Jeff is most likely buzzard bait by now.? Now the rest of the story! One more guy was with them that escaped before the gunfight. He was caught with a broken arm after trying to robb the Grenola Bank a month later. When he got out of Prison he settled in Grenola. He told my grandfather that the gang threw a saddle with two money bags and a saddle bag tied to it in a well. That well is in Elgin Kansas. My Grandfather said that all the money was not recovered. Here is what I know and what I suspect. My Grandfather had a saddle hanging in his shed and no horse. "Skinny" the robber, bought a clothing store after getting out of prison.(paid in cash) Jeff Duree lived to rob again.
I might add my Gandparents were allways flat broke all their lives. I think one bag is still down there or Duree got there first. If so he probably could only get one bag out by himself. HH Burdie
