Texas Jay
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2006
- Messages
- 1,152
- Reaction score
- 1,363
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- Brownwood, Texas
- Detector(s) used
- Garrett AT Pro, Garrett Scorpion Gold Stinger, Garrett Ace 350, Garrett Ace 250, vintage D-Tex SK 70, Tesoro Mojave, Dowsing Rods
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
- #1
Thread Owner
From: "Jesse James and the Lost Cause" by Jesse Lee James, Published
by Pageant Press, New York, 1961, pages 34 & 35.
Here is the quote I have been wanting to quote on this board for
months ever since it jumped off the pages at me as I was reading the
book. I remind our members that I already knew about the KGC Tunnel
Network under the downtown area of Brownwood long before reading
about them in "Jesse James and the Lost Cause" and some of our
members have known about them even longer ! Then, when Betty Duke
shared the video of "underground city" at Leavenworth, Kansas with
our members awhile back, I knew immediately what this video
represented. I am happy to report to you that
progress on locating and re-opening the Brownwood Tunnels is coming
along very well. I expect to have some solid information I can share
with you by the first of the New Year.
***
"Yet another branch of our secret army was a corp of engineers that
could build bridges, build rock buildings, and do most anything.
They could and did construct secret underground passages right under
bustling cities. They built secret tunnels down under Nashville and
Memphis, Tennessee, St. Louis, Kansas City and St. Joseph, Missouri,
Lawrence, Kansas and under Pueblo and Colorado City, Colorado, and
other towns; too many to name right now. These secretly constructed
tunnels, rooms, escape routes and storage rooms underneath the
surface of the ground were built without Yankee troopers and Federal
detectives ever finding out they were being made by well trained and
experienced workmen.
"Even in that day, when men were working for a dollar or a dollar and
a half per day for ten and twelve hours labor, we were paying our
men, for mining and tunneling, a wage rate of ten dollars per day.
"How did we do it?
"Well, I'll tell you how. Most generally, we would start tunnels
which would connect some of our business houses, such as our own
saloons, gambling houses, livery stables and even the jailhouses
would connect. Because our men were in the offices of public
officials, such as mayors, sheriffs, marshals, congressmen, senators,
school teachers, and principals, tunnels were down and under our
breweries, distilleries, and schools, and with the excuse that beer
needed to be aged, we had to age our whiskey in charred kegs.
"Some of our relay stations and even ranch and farm houses were
almost built like forts, and had tunnels down and under them
connecting the houses underground to the barns and escape routes, or
hatches in and out. We had to have at least two entrances, or means
of entry, or escape.
"So many places advertised across the country, `Jesse James' Cave'!
That is bunk! Yes, we may have had to use a few caves here and there
to hold our horses, or even to sleep in occasionally, that would be
true enough, but if there was only one entrance, and we were stupid
enough to get ourselves cut off, that would have been bad. If we
used a cave with only one entry, you could be sure that we kept a
constant guard posted around outside all the time. If the cave
should have two or more entrances, then we would feel safe, and use
it over and over again," said Jesse.
***
To view the recently discovered "underground city" under Leavenworth, Kansas, go here:
http://www.propeller.com/story/2008...nd-city/?icid=100214839x1207849567x1200439044 =
Texas Jay
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodybillandersonmystery
by Pageant Press, New York, 1961, pages 34 & 35.
Here is the quote I have been wanting to quote on this board for
months ever since it jumped off the pages at me as I was reading the
book. I remind our members that I already knew about the KGC Tunnel
Network under the downtown area of Brownwood long before reading
about them in "Jesse James and the Lost Cause" and some of our
members have known about them even longer ! Then, when Betty Duke
shared the video of "underground city" at Leavenworth, Kansas with
our members awhile back, I knew immediately what this video
represented. I am happy to report to you that
progress on locating and re-opening the Brownwood Tunnels is coming
along very well. I expect to have some solid information I can share
with you by the first of the New Year.
***
"Yet another branch of our secret army was a corp of engineers that
could build bridges, build rock buildings, and do most anything.
They could and did construct secret underground passages right under
bustling cities. They built secret tunnels down under Nashville and
Memphis, Tennessee, St. Louis, Kansas City and St. Joseph, Missouri,
Lawrence, Kansas and under Pueblo and Colorado City, Colorado, and
other towns; too many to name right now. These secretly constructed
tunnels, rooms, escape routes and storage rooms underneath the
surface of the ground were built without Yankee troopers and Federal
detectives ever finding out they were being made by well trained and
experienced workmen.
"Even in that day, when men were working for a dollar or a dollar and
a half per day for ten and twelve hours labor, we were paying our
men, for mining and tunneling, a wage rate of ten dollars per day.
"How did we do it?
"Well, I'll tell you how. Most generally, we would start tunnels
which would connect some of our business houses, such as our own
saloons, gambling houses, livery stables and even the jailhouses
would connect. Because our men were in the offices of public
officials, such as mayors, sheriffs, marshals, congressmen, senators,
school teachers, and principals, tunnels were down and under our
breweries, distilleries, and schools, and with the excuse that beer
needed to be aged, we had to age our whiskey in charred kegs.
"Some of our relay stations and even ranch and farm houses were
almost built like forts, and had tunnels down and under them
connecting the houses underground to the barns and escape routes, or
hatches in and out. We had to have at least two entrances, or means
of entry, or escape.
"So many places advertised across the country, `Jesse James' Cave'!
That is bunk! Yes, we may have had to use a few caves here and there
to hold our horses, or even to sleep in occasionally, that would be
true enough, but if there was only one entrance, and we were stupid
enough to get ourselves cut off, that would have been bad. If we
used a cave with only one entry, you could be sure that we kept a
constant guard posted around outside all the time. If the cave
should have two or more entrances, then we would feel safe, and use
it over and over again," said Jesse.
***
To view the recently discovered "underground city" under Leavenworth, Kansas, go here:
http://www.propeller.com/story/2008...nd-city/?icid=100214839x1207849567x1200439044 =
Texas Jay
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodybillandersonmystery
Most members of our Bloody Bill Anderson Mystery group know what some of my "hole cards" are while others must only guess. One important job our researchers have been involved in has been separating the facts (what J. Frank Dalton actually said and knew) from fiction (what Orvus Lee Howk - aka Jesse James III and Jesse Lee James embellished the true stories with.) Some of our members actually knew Howk and so we have access to many of his handwritten letters to others during the time he spent with Dalton/James. It appears to me, based on our work, that Howk really did care for Dalton/James when no one else would but Howk was also in it for the fame and money so he added many fantastic tales to Dalton's story in order to sell books and get people to invest in his (not Dalton/James') schemes.
