BURIED EVIDENCE in Eldred PA

jeff of pa

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jeff of pa

jeff of pa

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Re: BURIED EVIDENCE

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Gypsy Heart

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Nov 29, 2005
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Great story....heres more

McKean county, Pennsylvania: 1. Ghost Town: Benton 2 miles N Eldred. 2. In the early 1900’s, a vast counterfeit operation headed by Cyrus Cole was run in the Eldred area. He spent most of his time in the Pennsy Marshes N of the town and was finally arrested in 1913 when one of his “agents” blew the whistle on him. The authorities, however, were unable to find his “factory” nor the hoard of genuine money he was known to have accumulated. The dies, molds and counterfeit and genuine gold and silver coins remain buried or hidden somewhere in the swamp, possibly on one of the knolls, or in the mountains to the E of Eldred where he frequently visited. The mountains at the time were filled with oil pumping jacks and old abandoned shacks and the hiding places were numerous. He limited his travels to nearby Larabee and Port Allegheny and these are possible search areas as well.
 

tpmrcp

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Wow, now thats something to look for! I graduated from Port Allegany, about 10 miles from there. Eldred is a really small town, I need to do some investigating and I will try to hunt there this summer sometime.
 

EDDE

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off topic close to the same
read a story were a guy was a paper hanger(fake bills)
well the cops were on him so they stacked out his house
he lived a short distance from a woods so they watched him like a hawk
as he got up and started the days chores which consited of reshingling his house
when one of the horses the cops were on in the woods let out a whoop
so the guy knew he was being watched by the cops
so as they watched him finish his roof and come down the ladder
they road up on him hoping to surprise him
well they found no plates (which he hid well in advance)and no fake bills
so they scratched there heads and left
years later when they were tearing down the home under each shingle they found a fake bill
which he had on his person and when wise to the cops he tacked a bill under every shingle
SLICK
 

MD Dog

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I think I'll give this a looksee, I live in Franklinville about 20 minutes north of olean ny if anyone wants to teamup this summer we can cover more ground ? :P
 

Potter Poker

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Hey Underbear, I live 30 minutes East of Eldred, go through there quite often. Would like to team up with you regarding the "lost treasure near Eldred" if you would like to have some help. I have been doing a lot of research on the history of these stories in Potter, McKean, and Tioga Countys, and am looking forward to all this BLASTED SNOW leaving so I can get out there and explore. Let me know your thoughts on this idea and get back to me....potter poker
 

MD Dog

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Hey Potter, sure thing I'd really like to get as many people as we can, lotta ground to cover unless your research has pinpointed the location better than mine. I'll PM you once we have a thaw and start making plans. That gives me a little more time for reasearch. 8)
 

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Potter Poker

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Thanks Underbear, I understand there is a lot of "swamp area" just North of Eldred where Cyrus Cole roamed around (he just might be a long lost cousin of mine...heh heh....) Anyway, I have driven through there many times, gone over that bridge just outside of Eldred (the strange one with a turnoff right in the middle of it) and there is that "swampy area" right near it, do you think that is the area indicated in the legend?...pp
 

MD Dog

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Hey Potter, I'm really not familiar enough with the area to answer your question at this time, However I do plan on scouting it out as soon as the weather clears up enough to make it reasonably feasible. :)


Hey Raptor or Charlie which ever you'd prefer, Welcome aboard and I look forward to our joint efforts to hopefully unravel what could be a really great find. As you know we are all snowed in at the current time and my initial thought was to wait for summer to launch this trip. But my most recent Idea is to wait only until the snow melts but to then hit the site before the ground completely thaws. If potter is right, a swampy are thats still frozen will make travel alot easier. as far as digging in frozen ground we may have to opt for two trips one to MD and initially mark hits and a second to actually dig Hits and any additional hits we may uncover at that time.

We are all gonna need to do as much reaserch as possible to Identify as close as possible the target area, ownership of that land, potentialy challenging people or organizations IE: the secret service etc.. since we are talking about counterfit moneys.

You guys should check your TNet mail boxes for my e-mail address so we can proceed in a more private manner for the future.
 

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MD Dog

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gypsyheart said:
Great story....heres more

McKean county, Pennsylvania: 1. Ghost Town: Benton 2 miles N Eldred. 2. In the early 1900’s, a vast counterfeit operation headed by Cyrus Cole was run in the Eldred area. He spent most of his time in the Pennsy Marshes N of the town and was finally arrested in 1913 when one of his “agents” blew the whistle on him. The authorities, however, were unable to find his “factory” nor the hoard of genuine money he was known to have accumulated. The dies, molds and counterfeit and genuine gold and silver coins remain buried or hidden somewhere in the swamp, possibly on one of the knolls, or in the mountains to the E of Eldred where he frequently visited. The mountains at the time were filled with oil pumping jacks and old abandoned shacks and the hiding places were numerous. He limited his travels to nearby Larabee and Port Allegheny and these are possible search areas as well.
Gypsy so far I have found as many as twelve ghost towns in the area but have yet to find anything about a town named Benton. I know it existed from period wedding announcements etc... Also 2 miles North of eldred would put Benton pretty close if not over the border to N.Y. I did find a ghost town named Hazel hurst, maybe a name change ? If possible could you tell me the source of your info, might help me Id the town of Benton?
 

MD Dog

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Well my team of experts and I have been to this area twice now and have found an old grave yard 1700s to 1800s and looking upstream from it found what we believed were old shack foundations. Problem was the entire area has had a layer of brick, stone, slag, and scrabble about four inches deep. although we get tons of hits we spent half a day just trying to dig up a railroad spike and other assorted Iron totalling five pieces. Guess they were using this layer as a drainage solution because the whole area is prone to flooding. After careful consideration we determind we had stumbled upon an old logging mill site. In search for any trace of a Cyrus Cole shack, most of the surrounding hillsides are posted. But we plan on more follow ups at the local historical society for more info.
 

tat2guy

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Oct 29, 2011
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Howdy all. This has peaked my interests. I'm hoping that some of you may be able to help me further my research. I've been able to go to the national archives but I need to narrow down when Cyrus Cole was arrested. That will help me find the case file from the secret service. Thanks in advance.
 

tat2guy

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Update........

Recently received information on this topic. The arrest came in 1912 and at that time Cryus Cole was taken to Warren county and jailed. The trial had taken place in Erie. Soon I'll be diving into the National Archives to find the secret service case file.
 

tat2guy

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Seeking help please. I need to find an image of the Pittsburgh post gazette Tuesday November 5th 1912 page 12. If anyone can help I'd appreciate it
 

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jeff of pa

jeff of pa

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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania · Page 12

Unti.jpg

with Corrections On Spelling:

Alleged Counterfeiter Caught. WARREN, PA., Nov. 4. (Special.) j Cyrus Cole of Eldred, McKean county, . is in the
Warren county jail under $3.(utnJ '?) bail charged with counterfeiting United States half dollars and Canadian quarters. He was arrested by Joseph Nye, head of the United States secret service ' operations in the district. Molds and dies are said to have been found in his possession. Nye returned to Eldred today to continue his investigation .

Not sure if Bail was set at $3.00 or ?

and the "j" before Cyrus Cole may also be an Error that needs to be ignored like the I's
 

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