The Red Jack gang operated in Arizona in the early 1880s, robbing stagecoaches, mainly along the San Pedro River. They were led by “Red Jack” Almer (aka Jack Averill) who, on one occasion, disguised himself as a female passenger and shot a Wells Fargo guard to assist the gang in stealing $3,000 in gold and currency when they held up a stagecoach near Riverside.
The gang was ultimately tracked down one by one by a posse led by Sheriff Bob Paul. Almer was found hiding out near Willcox, Arizona on 4th October 1883 and killed during the gunfight that accompanied his attempt to escape the posse.
The gang was said to have buried loot in areas near the Willcox hideout and legend has it that around $8,000 in gold coins is buried somewhere near Prescott, Arizona.
This is the gang, but I’m not sure which one is Almer (centre I guess?) or who the others are. Possibly one of them is Charley Hensley, who was also killed during the gunfight at the Willcox hideout and the other might possibly be Joe Tuttle.
Sheriff A. J. Doran had already rounded up two others connected to the gang (Len Redfield and Joe Tuttle) after finding a Wells Fargo strongbox hidden in hay at Redfield’s ranch and wringing a confession out of Tuttle who was staying at the ranch. They were jailed at Florence, where a lynch mob broke in through the back door, sprung them from their cells and hanged them from the rafters.
