Gypsy Heart
Gold Member
In 1894, four bandits held up the First National Bank in Bowie. They thought the job would be a cinch, but Mother Nature didn’t cooperate with them and neither did the law.
The robbery ran smoothly for about 15 minutes. The bank clerk filled canvas bags with $10,000 in 20-dollar gold pieces and $18,000 in currency. But two of the robbers panicked when more bank employees entered the bank and started firing. Although the robbers grabbed the loot and ran for their horses, the townspeople heard the gunfire. Several citizens fired at the fleeing robbers, but they rode out of town unharmed. However, a posse quickly organized and headed to the likeliest escape route, north to the Red River.
The robbers fled toward Indian Territory, the promised land for outlaws in the 1900s. They were dismayed to see that the Red River was badly flooded from spring rains and impossible to cross. The outlaws camped on the south bank of the river at Rock Crossing and planned to cross the river in the morning. They had no inkling that a posse was hot on their heels and worse trouble to boot.
Sure enough, by morning the level of the river had gone down some. Before they left, the robbers split the currency from the robbery but left the gold coins tied up in canvas bags. They saddled up, but one bandit decided the weight of the gold coins might prevent their escape. He quickly dug a hole by a large tree at the campsite, deposited the sacks and hurriedly covered the plunder.
But crossing the river, they saw the Bowie posse. The fleeing outlaws plunged into the turbulent river, swimming beside their horses and barely surviving. They came out on the other side gasping and exhausted, never dreaming they were swimming toward their worst nightmare — federal marshals. A marshal in Bowie had telegraphed Lewis Palmore, a U.S. deputy marshal that was in Indian Territory. Palmore guessed that the robbers could only cross the flooded river at Rock Crossing, and he was right.
The federal marshals arrested and manacled the desperados, who seemed destined to be caught from the first gunshot at the bank. The four carried $18,000 in paper money, but not a single gold coin. Palmore treated the robbers well and talked with them as they rode to Fort Sill, Ark. But none confessed where the remaining loot was hidden.
The unlucky crooks came under the glaring judgment of “Hanging Judge” Isaac Parker at Fort Sill. They were pronounced guilty and sentenced to hang immediately. Right before their joint execution, one man told Palmore that the gold was buried at their final campsite on the south bank of the Red River. However, he said this with a wink.
Palmore returned to the popular campsite at Rock Crossing, but he never found any buried gold. Later, he told the tale to his son, who also searched the site with a metal detector. His son, Frank couldn’t find any coins either. Accumulated research points to the treasure resting where the Red River and Little Wichita rivers converge (between Highway 81 and the mouth of the Little Wichita River).
Frank Palmore believed that to find the coins, the treasure tracker had to visualize the way the flooded river was in 1894. He advised getting the help of local people to determine factors such as the river’s water level, the riverbanks’ location and the old Rock Crossing site,
Researchers believe the $10,000 in 1894 gold coins has not been recovered — any other speculations about locations are theories waiting to be proven.
Suggested resources: Wilson, Steve. Oklahoma Treasures and Treasure Tales. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1976 and Jameson, W.C. Buried Treasure of Texas. Little Rock, Ark.: August House Publishers, Inc., 1991.
http://www.grahamleader.com/news/get-news.asp?id=11093&catid=5&cpg=get-news.asp
The robbery ran smoothly for about 15 minutes. The bank clerk filled canvas bags with $10,000 in 20-dollar gold pieces and $18,000 in currency. But two of the robbers panicked when more bank employees entered the bank and started firing. Although the robbers grabbed the loot and ran for their horses, the townspeople heard the gunfire. Several citizens fired at the fleeing robbers, but they rode out of town unharmed. However, a posse quickly organized and headed to the likeliest escape route, north to the Red River.
The robbers fled toward Indian Territory, the promised land for outlaws in the 1900s. They were dismayed to see that the Red River was badly flooded from spring rains and impossible to cross. The outlaws camped on the south bank of the river at Rock Crossing and planned to cross the river in the morning. They had no inkling that a posse was hot on their heels and worse trouble to boot.
Sure enough, by morning the level of the river had gone down some. Before they left, the robbers split the currency from the robbery but left the gold coins tied up in canvas bags. They saddled up, but one bandit decided the weight of the gold coins might prevent their escape. He quickly dug a hole by a large tree at the campsite, deposited the sacks and hurriedly covered the plunder.
But crossing the river, they saw the Bowie posse. The fleeing outlaws plunged into the turbulent river, swimming beside their horses and barely surviving. They came out on the other side gasping and exhausted, never dreaming they were swimming toward their worst nightmare — federal marshals. A marshal in Bowie had telegraphed Lewis Palmore, a U.S. deputy marshal that was in Indian Territory. Palmore guessed that the robbers could only cross the flooded river at Rock Crossing, and he was right.
The federal marshals arrested and manacled the desperados, who seemed destined to be caught from the first gunshot at the bank. The four carried $18,000 in paper money, but not a single gold coin. Palmore treated the robbers well and talked with them as they rode to Fort Sill, Ark. But none confessed where the remaining loot was hidden.
The unlucky crooks came under the glaring judgment of “Hanging Judge” Isaac Parker at Fort Sill. They were pronounced guilty and sentenced to hang immediately. Right before their joint execution, one man told Palmore that the gold was buried at their final campsite on the south bank of the Red River. However, he said this with a wink.
Palmore returned to the popular campsite at Rock Crossing, but he never found any buried gold. Later, he told the tale to his son, who also searched the site with a metal detector. His son, Frank couldn’t find any coins either. Accumulated research points to the treasure resting where the Red River and Little Wichita rivers converge (between Highway 81 and the mouth of the Little Wichita River).
Frank Palmore believed that to find the coins, the treasure tracker had to visualize the way the flooded river was in 1894. He advised getting the help of local people to determine factors such as the river’s water level, the riverbanks’ location and the old Rock Crossing site,
Researchers believe the $10,000 in 1894 gold coins has not been recovered — any other speculations about locations are theories waiting to be proven.
Suggested resources: Wilson, Steve. Oklahoma Treasures and Treasure Tales. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1976 and Jameson, W.C. Buried Treasure of Texas. Little Rock, Ark.: August House Publishers, Inc., 1991.
http://www.grahamleader.com/news/get-news.asp?id=11093&catid=5&cpg=get-news.asp
