Could There Be More

[Tom_in_CA]

... IT IS ABOUT TREASURE LEGENDS, ...

Yes. You are right. And ... oddly and ironically ... this post just defines what "legend" is. Thus, with that definition, you are right : No need to cast doubt on it. Since, by definition, it's only a legend after all.

 

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[Treasure_Hunter]

Yes. You are right. And ... oddly and ironically ... this post just defines what "legend" is. Thus, with that definition, you are right : No need to cast doubt on it. Since, by definition, it's only a legend after all.

 

[Tiredman]

NEIGHBOR SUSPECTED
One of the first holdups on the Billings-Benton line was at Holdup Cut, also known as Fifteen Mile Point. After it was perpetrated, suspicion pointed towards William Bussey, who lived in the neighborhood. His actions afterwards led to his tragic death at the hands of one of his neighbors. The stage was held up at the point just as it came around the bend, by a man wearing a slicker and having a handkerchief tied about his face. He stepped from behind a rock and threw his gun down on the driver just of the stage was coming up on a landing after having crossed Five Mile Creek “Give me a match,” he demanded of the driver.
When the driver started to comply, the man added, “Well, you might as well throw off the mail bags. I want them, too.”
The mail was thrown off. The passengers were not molested and the man rode away with his booty.
The stage continued on to Twenty Mile Station where the horses were changed. Bussey was there when the stage drove in, and it was later ascertained that he had arrived only a short time before it.

 

[Tiredman]

LAUGHED HIMSELF INTO SUSPICION
When the robbery was reported, Bussey manifested great interest and made the driver repeat every detail of the Incident. “Asked you for a match?” he said, and then laughed uproariously. As the story was continued, Bussey met each succeeding detail with chuckles and laughter. His manner aroused the suspicions of those at the station, but there was no proof that he had committed the holdup, so no action was taken. Reports of his conduct spread in the neighborhood, however, and when, a short time later, several ranchmen found that their cattle were disappearing from the range, suspicion again turned toward Bussey. Bussey, sensing the feeling against him, started hiding out in the hills.
A farmer named Raymond had lost some cattle, and he not only suspected that Bussey had stolen them, but he also suspected that Mrs. Raymond, his wife, had been aiding Bussey by carrying food to him.
One morning, Raymond’s son reported to his father that he had seen Bussey crawling out of a haystack near the barns where it was evident he had spent the night. Raymond got his rifle and began a watch for Bussey. He presently saw him slipping furtively toward one of the outbuildings. He followed him. Bussey saw Raymond coming and crawled into a piano box that had been stored in the barn. Raymond discovered him there, stepped back and began firing into the box.
When Bussey’s body was examined, there were seventeen bullet holes found in it. Raymond was convicted of murder and sentenced to six years imprisonment. In sentencing him, the judge said he thought Raymond was justified in killing Bussey, but that he disapproved of the method and that riddling the body with bullets showed an animosity and lack of propriety which should be punished.

 

[Tiredman]

A DARK-EYED BANDIT
A robbery on the Billings-Benton line which caused much excitement was staged at Painted Robe near Lavina. At the top of Painted Robe Hill in a clump of trees, a short, dark man with a brown mustache waited for the stage which had been reported as carrying a heavy consignment of gold from the Spotted Horse Mine at Maiden.
As the horses labored to the top of the hill with the stage, the man rode from the trees and shot down one of the lead animals. The stage driver was Jeff Kimball.
The holdup wore a wide brimmed white hat, and the lower half of his face was covered with a handkerchief. The robber took the passengers’ valuables, but there was no consignment of bullion or money aboard.
Among the passengers was a woman who lived at Lewistown. She watched the bandit as he worked. Several weeks later she went to the sheriff’s office at Lewistown and told that officer that the man who had robbed the stage at Lavina was in town, that she had seen him. The sheriff accompanied her down the street and she pointed out a well-dressed man with dark eyes.
“That’s him,” she declared. “I know him by his eyes.” A postal inspector took up the case, obtained some other evidence, and finally the man was arrested. He was given a hearing before a United States Commissioner in Billings, but was dismissed for lack of evidence.

 

[Tiredman]

CAPTURE OF BANK ROBBERS
Another happening near Lavina which aroused much interest at the time was the capture of three men wanted for the daylight robbery of a bank at Belle Fourche, S.D., in which a man had been killed.
The bandits escaped through Wyoming and went into hiding near Red Lodge. Someone recognized them and a posse was formed to smoke them out. They got wind of the search, however, and started to leave the country, heading north over the Lavina trail. They met numerous persons on the road, but they were dressed as cowboys, rode quietly along driving some pack horses ahead of them, and attracted little attention.
Stopping at Lavina, they went into a saloon kept by Clay Jolley and asked him to cash a check on the Belle Fourche Bank. Jolley knew of the robbery, and when he saw the check, he suspectted that these were the men who had committed it. So, he made a pretense of going after change. Instead, he went into his beer cellar and locked the door behind him.
The men waited for a time and, when he failed to return, left the saloon, mounted, and rode north of Lavina to make camp. There, the posse which had trailed them from Billings, overtook them. One of the outlaw’s horses was killed, and the three men were arrested before they had an opportunity to shoot. They were taken back to Billings and placed in jail. The three men who formed the posse which captured them, received $1,800. The three bank robbers, however, escaped later.
*NOTE: These bank robbers were Kid Curry and some of his gang members.