KGC Treasure Leads in Central Texas ?

[BigRon]

I have recently learned of the KGC and am reading "Rebel Gold".
Have also learned that the KGC had a "castle" in LaGrange TX. in Fayette Co.
Most of my family is from this area and some served in Waul's Legion.
Fayette Co. is adjacent to Washington Co. mentioned in another post.
I plan to keep looking intoKGC activities in this area.

 

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[Texas Jay]

Hi Ron. Thank you for your interesting reply. Our investigation has proven that Brown County and the town of Brownwood were a safe haven for former Guerrillas, KGC members, and Confederates who either refused to take the Oath of Allegiance after the War or were hiding from Federals for other reasons. Most, if not all, of our area political leaders were Knights of the Golden Circle. I am attaching a photo I took of our old Brown County Jail which was authorized to be built during Bloody Bill Anderson's comrade and confidant in Brown County Henry Ford's term as County Clerk. You will see that this beautiful old building was built to resemble the KGC castles out west.
~Jay~
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodybillandersonmystery

 

[BigRon]

Good photo Jay,
Found a book titled "Jesse James, Last Rebel of the Civil War" by T. J. Stiles
Although the KGC are mentioned only once in passing, It puts JJ in the context of a confederate partisan rather than a bank robber. I'll read this on after I finish "rebel Gold".

 

[Texas Jay]

Thank you, Ron. If it weren't for "Rebel Gold", I would still know next to nothing about the KGC. I have re-read it completely 3 times now and am always looking in it for more information about various topics as our investigation continues. One other book that I found very educational was "Noted Guerrillas or The Warfare on the Border" by John N. Edwards. It was originally published in 1877 and then republished in 1976. While this book is very informative, it mentions other writings of Edwards that I believe will cover the KGC and the Guerrillas in much more detail. These other books apparently have never been reprinted since they were published originally some years after the Civil War. They are:

"Shelby and His Men": or, " War in the West"

"Shelby's Expedition to Mexico: An Unwritten Leaf of the War", 1872.

Both these books were written by John N. Edwards. Both are also said to be, by Albert Castel, "as rare as they are expensive." If anyone knows of any online versions of either or both of these important books, please reply to this message and let us know.

~Jay~
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodybillandersonmystery

 

[Texas Jay]

Here is an interesting article about some former Guerrillas who visited Brownwood in central Texas that I first posted at my Yahoo group listed below.

***

I urge our members to read this account carefully as it documents
several visits to Brownwood by Frank & Jesse James and Cole Younger.
This story relates to Comanche County, Oklahoma and not to Brown
County, Texas' adjoining Comanche County.
~Jay~



****

http://www.rootsweb.com/~okcomanc/pioneers/deancsalyer.html

***

Comanche County Pioneers
Interview with Dean C. Salyer
Lawton, Comanche County Oklahoma
July 23, 1913 - October 31, 1973
(Dean was married to my father's sister, Ethel Burnett)
Sharon Burnett-Crawford
Jesse James's Two Million Dollar Treasure
Dean C. Salyer, of Lawton, first visited Oklahoma more than 25 yrs
ago with the goal of finding the lost treasure of Jesse James. He has
periodically sought the $180,000 he believes to be hidden in the
rocks not far from Cutthroat Gap, in far northwest corner of Comanche
County.
Salyer, a tree surgeon, a former cowboy, and a treasurer hunter is
another who came into personal contact with an aging member of the
outlaw band, but far away from the Wichita Mountains.
I haven't found anything, but I haven't given up looking, even
thought I've slowed down a mite. One thing I know, Jesse and Frank
James buried one hundred and eighty thousand dollars in those hills.
Make no mistake about that.
You might wonder how I came to know all this. It was all from an old
outlaw in Brownwood, Texas - that's where I'm from originally - who
was a good friend to Jesse and Frank. Even after Frank was acquitted
of his crimes, he used to come down to Brownwood just to talk over
old times with this man, whom I knew as Conley. I imagine they talked
over buried treasure, too, although Conley never admitted as much.
During the depression Salyer worked as a cook, carpenter, farmer,
cowboy, or in any other job he could find. During that time he met
the aged Conley. Conley and his family were hungry. Salyer asked no
questions and slipped Conley a ten dollar bill. Over the months a
great friendship developed. Salyer recalled with fond memories
visiting Conley for hours at a time, listening to him tell of his
strange past.
Conley spoke often of outlaws, but it was a long time before he said
just who the outlaws were. He was more of a lookout man for Jesse as
I gathered it. At first I didn't think to much of his story. But, you
know, he talked like he must have been there. And, too, he had a
cowhide map which he said was one of only three copies.
Salyer and Conley talked often of making a trip to the Wichita
Mountains to reclaim the treasure that Conley knew had been buried -
that is, if Frank hadn't recovered it himself, and Conley had his
reasons for believing that he had not.
Before the old man and I could make the trip, Conley died, but before
he died, he gave me his directions and let me look at the map. The
old outlaw told Salyer that the gold was hidden in a sealed cave. A
natural stone corral known to the outlaws as Horse Thief Corral, a
log cabin in Cutthroat Gap, and a Winchester rifle mounted in the
fork of a tree were the signs leading to the hidden cave.
It was years before Salyer moved from Brownwood to Oklahoma, and it
was several years more before he made his first trip to the Wichitas.
Finally in the 1950's, he enlisted the aid of J.B. "Burt" Holderbaum,
an old prospector left over from the gold rush days and together they
rediscovered the old stone corral in the shadow of Cutthroat Gap, a
valley into the mountains from the north that had earned its title
more than a century before in 1883 when Osages massacred their Kiowa
neighbors and placed their severed heads in brass buckets. Holderbaum
was one of the few living persons who knew the location of the rock
pen.
At first even Holderbaum had trouble locating the outlaw lair, but he
knew that it was on level ground at the bast of Mount Pinchot, the
highest peak in the Wichitas, although it does not appear to be. An
old trail ran past the corral, but the animals inside were hidden
from view, Holderbaum remembered. In one corner of the corral stood
the rotten stumps of two trees that had once served as gateposts.
Holderbaum recalled having served as gateposts. Holderbaum recalled
having been shown the corral in 1901. At that time a rock fortress
said to have been used by outlaws was still visible about two miles
north. Its breastwork was constructed from boulders stacked in a
large circle on top of a lone hill, which in 1901 had but one lone
cedar growing on it. It had been some time before that Holderbaum
found a rust eaten rifle hanging in an oak tree just west of the
makeshift fortress.
The cabin in Cutthroat Gap was a clue that I could never forget. A
bandit queen once lived in the cabin. She apparently purchased the
food and supplies for the outlaw bunch. Old Conley often mentioned
her, always with a smile.
At the summit of Mount Pinchot a long, black streak plunges twenty
feet down a bluff.
The black streak is a sign too. The gold is between the streak and
the hanging rifle, if Conley didn't err in his directions. My
partners and I searched continuously for six weeks during one spell.
We looked every day except Sundays but had no luck in finding
anything more than the corral, fortress, and ruins of the cabin. The
180,000 was part of a payroll robbery at Dodge City as I remember.
Every since early boyhood in Brownwood, Texas, Salyer had heard tales
of a prominent banker there who was believed to be the real Jesse
James but who went under the name Colonel Henry Ford. But there is no
record that Ford ever admitted such or even pretended to be James.
However, even today, old residents of Brownwood will swear that Ford
was indeed Jesse, for he had no other reason to keep a mysterious
trunk in his house under lock and key. Too, many residents believed
the legend because both Frank James and Cole Younger made trips to
Brownwood to see Ford, and Frank's sister, Susan, and brother-in-law,
Allan Parmer, lived nearby, just outside El Dorado.
Ford first appeared at Brownwood in 1870's, later served as its mayor
and then as president of the Coggin Brothers and Ford Bank. It is
possible that Ford was a member of Quantrill's guerrillas or even one
of the original outlaws who rode with Jesse. Whoever he was, Frank
and Cole had a lot to talk over with him after the turn of the
century.
Salyer regrets that he and Conley never made their trip to the
Wichitas before Conley died. But at that time it seemed impossible.
Occasionally Salyer still pokes around in the shadow of Cutthroat
Gap.
Frank James recovered some of the loot. Joe Hunter unearthed some of
the treasure that Frank had failed to find. The clues have been to
many to dismiss as legend, the brass bucket with the outlaw contract,
the silver watch, the graves, the gold bracelets, the copper sheet
with its secret code, and of course the maps, to old and perhaps to
cryptic for anyone to read now. Yet treasure seekers still dig in
lonely canyons, scan out of the way pinnacles and explore musty
smelling caves in quest of Jesse James's two million dollar treasure,
secreted in the Wichita Mountains at a time when those hills harbored
some of the deadliest outlaws of the west.
Frank himself is said to have once revealed that the treasure was
buried alongside the old Chisholm Trail between Fort Sill and the
Keechi Hills. It must still await some lucky finder, one who can
break its secret code and follow th long trail that Frank James rode
hard enough to wear out six horses.
Pioneers Home
Comanche County OKGenWeb
County Coordinator:
Margie Etter
Co-Coordinator
Sharon Burnett Crawford
This Page Last Updated Friday, 21-Nov-2003 13:33:37 MST

****

~Jay~
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodybillandersonmystery - We have been studying the KGC since before it was the popular thing to do.

 

[cavers5]

Thanks for posting! Great reading!

Cavers5

 

[Rebel - KGC]

YEP! From my research... Texas was a HOTBED of KGC "activities"; here is an INTERESTING web-site of what pp in OK have found... http://www.outlawtreasure.worldbreak.com/photo3.html 8) (SUNNY out...).

 

[Texas Jay]

Here is an important message I just posted for our Bloody Bill Anderson Mystery members and want to share it with my friends here:

***

Okay, members, I must confess. I have been holding a BIG secret from you and the American public for nearly two years now. Before I even started this group, I came into possession of a copy of the original article written by Brownwood Banner-Bulletin newspaperman Henry C. Fuller as it appeared in the August 24, 1924 issue of the San Antonio Express newspaper which was based on his interviews with our William C. Anderson of Salt Creek, Brown County, Texas. This article had never been tampered with or filled with traditionalist propaganda as many later articles were. Only the story as told by Bill Anderson without the various "witness accounts" from people who were not even alive during the Civil War.
Several weeks ago, I brought this copy to Gene Deason, the Editor of the Brownwood Bulletin, explained to him what our group has been doing for the past two years, invited him to join us which he did, and, after doing his own extensive research into this complex subject, he agreed to write an article to accompany that of Henry C. Fuller.
The resulting article is very accurate and historically important and it appears in today's special "Horizons 2008" issue of the Brownwood Bulletin - Sunday, February 24, 2008 - nearly 84 years from the time that Bloody Bill Anderson revealed the truth about himself to another fine Bulletin reporter.
In a show of appreciation for their magnificent coverage of our group's work, I will not transcibe that original article on this message board or on any other Internet website nor will it appear in the Bulletin's online version so everyone who wants to read it and save it for its collectors value will have to order their own copy from:

Brownwood Bulletin Circulation Department
(325)641-3107

Total cost for this issue shipped to you should be around $7.00 because of its larger than usual size. Please don't miss out on this opportunity as it deals a death blow to our enemies.
~Jay~


***

~Jay~
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodybillandersonmystery

 

[Texas Jay]

From: "Jesse James and the Lost Cause" by Jesse Lee James, published
by Pageant Press, New York, 1961, page 14.

While J. Frank Dalton made one insignificant error about the date of
Henry Ford's death in Brownwood, it was actually in 1910 and not
1913, the gist of his statement on Henry Ford is very significant as
it affirms that Henry Ford was indeed a KGC member when he relates
about the tattoo on Ford's right forearm. The Smokescreen Gang has
been busy spreading the lie that Henry Ford and Bloody Bill Anderson
did not have a close friendship despite the facts that anyone who has
studied these men and their lives or has interviewed descendants of
Colonel Anderson who were alive when he died in 1927 knows beyond any
doubt that these men served together as guerrillas and later worked
closely together in Brown County's and Brownwood's early years to
make this area a safe haven for unreconstructed Confederates,
Guerrillas, and their families as well as for other citizens of this
county.

***

"Why, do you know, some experts had me die at Brownwood, Texas, along
about 1913, some such year. I wasn't there either. But my kin and
my loyal friends let it ride, and never let on any differently. Just
because the dead man going by the name of Ford happened to have a
certain tattoo on his right forearm like many of us had, they once
again presumed Jesse Woodson James died, and at Brownwood, Texas.
The same tattoo on Jim Sears' right forearm was the cause of another
rumor that I had died not far from Florence, Colorado, near Wetmore,
Colorado," said JWJ. "That tattoo was on the right forearm of each
and every member of the Inner & Outer Circle as well as upon the arm
of each and every official of the International-Anti-Horse-Thief
Association, of the old bunch.
"The tattoo was a thin ribbon affair with the letters...'Tex-Y-S', in
light blue ink, and tinged with red coloring; just a small,
insignificant narrow tattoo on the right, inside forearm," explained
old JWJ, with a grin.
"Jesse R. James had this same tattoo, and also a red heart tattoo on
his same forearm. I don't know why he had that heart inked onto his
arm any more than you might know. I do know it's there though, and
so do you," laughed JWJ.
I attended my own funeral. I sang in my own funeral choir. I acted
as one of my own pall-bearers, believe it or not!" chuckled JWJ.

***

~Jay~

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodybillandersonmystery

 

[Texas Jay]

Here is a photo I took recently of a tree located in the city limits of Brownwood in central Texas. A local friend tipped me off to it and refers to it as "The Eye of The Needle" tree. There is a Hoot Owl tree less than 20 yards away from it.

Texas Jay
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodybillandersonmystery - we have dozens more KGC-related photos in our group's Photos section which is for members only.

 

[Texas Jay]

Rare Bloody Bill Anderson postcard surfaces ! I just found this rare old photograph that confirms what our research group has proven - that William C. Anderson of Salt Creek, Brown County, Texas was the one and only Bloody Bill Anderson of Quantrill's Guerrillas. I invite all of you to join our group where we have been covering the KGC for over 3 years.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodybillandersonmystery

~Texas Jay

 

[Rebel - KGC]

YO! When you find "old" pictures like that... be "mindful" that "poses" MAY represent something... review the pics in HBB's books, of HIS family members. (Ie., the "hat" on his head does not look "real"). ALSO, he is looking at the fireplace, which appears to have "writings" on it... and his fingers on his left hand looks like he is giving a "homeboy sign"... DUNNO.

 

[gldhntr]

okay jay...i ran across a bit of my quantrill info...posted links below..should keep you busy a day or so...............there is a bit of family info on anderson in a few of the articles ,,,,,,,,,,,,as soon as i locate the rest of my links i will post them for you/your group.............gldhntr



general info on group with a couple diaries............

http://www.lib.usm.edu/~archives/m243.htm


http://www4.pair.com/justfolk/Diary24.htm

http://www.archive.org/stream/quantrillborderw00connuoft/quantrillborderw00connuoft_djvu.txt

http://www.kancoll.org/galbks.htm

http://www.potterflats.com/suemundy.html

http://asp6new.alexanderstreet.com/...rsonalevent=Arrest+or+imprisonment&pagePos=11

http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/periodicals/wrv/V3/N7/Sp69b.htm

http://www.wattshaysletters.com/letters/2-letters-61-65/hist-letters61-65.html

http://www.kclibrary.org/kchistory/border-warfare-civil-war-selected-resources

http://www.kancoll.org/khq/1941/41_3_caldwell.htm


http://www.civilwarstlouis.com/History2/casteljayhawking.htm

http://whmc.umsystem.edu/invent/desc-soccust.html

http://www.tshaonline.org/shqonline/apager.php?vol=096&pag=559.

http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/shscivilwar&CISOPTR=1808&REC=12


9. Diamond Springs, Morris county, Kansas, was a well-known stage and relief station during the years of the great movement along the Santa Fe trail. The settlement, composed of several large two-story stone buildings and a stone corral, was built upon the site of a spring that had been known by the Indians and plains animals long before its discovery by the white man. Santa Fe traders camped upon the spot as early as 1804. The buildings, corral and sheds were the most pretentious of the kind between Council Grove and Santa Fe. The place was the scene of several encounters between Indians and whites and in May, 1863, was raided by Dick Yeager, one of Quantrill's officers, and a band of Missourians. The raiders murdered inhabitants, burned and destroyed property and left a scene of desolation and destruction. -- Kansas Historical Collections, v. 14, pp. 794-800.


http://www.geocities.com/quantrill_raiders/ bones


member info on group with several different member lists..



http://www.kansasheritage.org/research/quantrill.html

http://members.tripod.com/~Penningtons/roster.htm

http://www.familychronicle.com/quantrill.html

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dwoody/mccorkle/quantrill.htm

http://www.couchgenweb.com/civilwar/quantril.htm

http://www.rulen.com/partisan/roster.htm

scv quantrills raiders camp #2087
http://quantrillsraidersscvcamp.homestead.com/

william clarke quantrill society
http://americanhistory.about.com/gi...=31&zu=http://www.geocities.com/quantrillsoc/


http://www.historynet.com/the-james-younger-gang-and-their-circle-of-friends.htm/3


Albert E. Castel, Thomas Goodrich, Bloody Bill Anderson: The Short, Savage Life of a Civil War Guerilla

Edward E. Leslie, The Devil Knows How To Ride: The True Story of William Clarke Quantrill and his Confederate Raiders

"Southron Guerillas: William "Bloody Bill" Anderson (http://www.geocities.com/mosouthron/partisans/Anderson.html)

"Quantrill" (http://www.crimelibrary.com?gangsters_outlaws/outlaws/james/3.html

http://www.kclibrary.org/kchistory/bibliography-border-warfare-and-civil-war-books


book for sale {not by me} that might be of interest ''the encyclopedia of quantrill's guerrillas''..supposed to be the longest list of members ? yet
http://www.geocities.com/outlaw72532/techie.html


hall brothers info below...for more research, barbourville, knox county kentucky, and ben hur, lee county virginia {where the secret society charged with keeping the county completly Southern and free of yankees/slaves did such a good job that even today you will be hard pressed to find either during the day and no way to locate one after dark..kin were members........rebel flags still fly at most of the churches there............in this research you will find much info on the moody listed in the raider rolls as the hall/moody families were very close with several marriages between them...a couple of the moodys can still be heard burning up the fiddle/banjo on bluegrass radio.......
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jrbakerjr/missouri/hall.htm

raiders pictures...........
http://www.footnote.com/page/1089_quantrells_raiders/

artifacts here...
http://www.oread.ku.edu/Oread98/OreadMay8/page1/libraries.html



some reunion pics here
http://www.whitsett-wall.com/Whitsett/whitsett_simeon_photos.htm

pence pictures.....
http://www.pipeline.com/~richardpence/outlaws.htm

older info
http://www.genealogyimagesofhistory.com/q.htm

reunion photos
http://www.rulen.com/partisan/reunion1.htm

 

[Texas Jay]

Rebel - KGC & gldhntr:
Thanks, Rebel, for the excellent suggestion. I am well aware of the importance of the details in these older photographs of KGC men but it is one that all people interested in the subject to be aware of.
gldhntr, thank you so much for providing all of these excellent sources. I will quote your message with these links on our Bloody Bill Anderson Mystery message board so some of our 132 members can begin following up on them.
~ Texas Jay
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodybillandersonmystery

 

[Texas Jay]

Here is a website with some excellent photos of two carved rocks which were located in Comanche County, Texas, adjacent to Brown County where I live.

From:
http://www.texfiles.com/spiderrocks/pt2.htm

~Texas Jay

 

[Texas Jay]

Since starting this thread over three years ago, I have spent a lot of time studying the rock and tree carvings and other signs and symbols I've found in the central Texas area and will devote even more time to this work this fall and winter. My hunting partner and I have already been out several times this fall doing field work and locating even more carvings and signs. We seem to learn more every day that passes about the meanings of these signs. Thanks to this thread, I have been contacted by some of the most respected and knowledgeable people in the treasure hunting community and they have helped me immensely. I've made some trusted friendships also that no amount of money could buy. After posting my last post on this thread, I went ahead and purchased a copy of Steve Wilson's book "The Spider Rock Treasure: A Texas Mystery of Lost Spanish Gold". This book is amazing and, although I am only half-way through it, I find it very difficult to put down but I must in order to get anything accomplished. Oh yes, and for the naysayers, I already know what you are going to say about this book before you even type it. All I can say is that you don't have a clue about it unless you have read it or at least started to read it so save your breath with the critiques as I won't reply to you anyway. The story centers around an area near Clyde, Texas which is only about 70 or so miles north of where I live.
~Texas Jay
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodybillandersonmystery

 

[Rebel - KGC]

TJ, the ANCIENT LOST TREASURES on YuKu.com has a NICE KGC "sub-board"
with LOTS relating to TEXAS KGC. Haven't been there in awhile, tho. BTW, that "pic" looks like the "4 CORNERS"... with FOCUS on New Mexico & Colorado...

 

[Texas Jay]

Hi Rebel. Thanks for reminding me about ancientlosttreasures. I've been a member there for a few years but, like you, I haven't visited in a while. I'll check in there soon. Rebel, if you will contact me via private email, I'll update you on what we've determined since I posted the photo of the large directional rock.
~Texas Jay
[email protected]

 

[Shortstack]

Rebel, I zoomed that picture postcard and the hat is real; you can see it's shadow on the wall behind the man. Also, the way he's holding his left hand might be a sign, but it TOO could be that he's simply holding a cigarette. In the zoomed view, there appears to be the end of a handrolled cig on the palm side of the fingers.

Texas Jay, years ago I read a story that had JJ and Frank bringing a muletrain of gold up from Mexico through Texas. Some referenced that to the Maximillion / Montezuma Treasure. Anyway, one story has them burying the goods somewhere in the central area of Texas. Another version has them bringing the booty on up into the Indian Territory and burying it anywhere from the Red River on up to the top end of the Wichita Mountains.

While I was living in the OKC area back in the 1980s, there was as story in The Daily Oklahoman about how treasure hunters were still trying to get into the Cut Throat Gap area to look for the treasures supposed hidden there. It pointed out that the land surrounding that area was privately owned and the land owners were real tired of those people fooling around on their land; cutting fences, digging holes that their cattle could break a leg in, etc. Also, much if not all of the Wichita Mountains are Wildlife Preserves and / or owned by the Ft. Sill Army base. What's the latest on this situation?

 

[Texas Jay]

Hi Shortstack. According to Bill Anderson's youngest son Pat (Patrick Henry Anderson), who lived with his father at the time this photograph was taken (1924), Bill Anderson didn't smoke. He did drink some and also loved to bet on horse races. Pat said that when his father would take him to the races, his pockets were always bulging with silver dollars. A bit out of the ordinary for a central Texas farmer in that day.
Regarding the Maximillian treasure, I have been interested in that since my younger days, way before I even knew there was such an organization called the Knights of the Golden Circle. Years ago, I was following up on some information I had found in some treasure publication (I still have it somewhere but don't ask me where) and was searching for a large rock with a huge "M" carved in it. It was supposed to mark the nearby location of this enormous treasure. I was working on the version you mention about it being somewhere in central Texas, not too far from Brown County, Texas, but have yet to locate the marker rock. I haven't kept up with the Oklahoma versions so I can't update you on that.
Thanks for the excellent information and questions.
~Texas Jay
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodybillandersonmystery