Not my story but it's worth tellin'. Back in '84 I was hunting the gravel parking lot of a base ball field, I was taking a break sittin' on the bleachers and counting my finds when a car pulls up and a guy about 40 gets out and walks over to me, he had a nice suit on so I was sure he was going to run me off. But he stopped a few yards away and he asked very politely, "Got time for a little company"? So I said, "Sure, have a seat, don't cost nothin". Then he sat down and says he got transferred from L.A. and was new here. He had a detector but hadn't used it yet because he didn't know the scoop on the laws here. so I told him the scoop as I knew it to be, and he says thanks and would I like to hear the best detecting story he had. So I says yes and he began to tell me a pretty wild story... He says, "Me and my old California detecting buddy found an 1860's newspaper story about a stage robbery carried out by three bandits on a trail somewhere in the desert. We got all the info from every source we could find. The three bandits got off with an Army payroll chest and were caught right away, but only after they had hid the chest. They all three went to jail and ended up shot and killed while trying to escape, so we thought the gold may still be in the ground. We found the old stage trail is still a desert road today and since the robbers got caught quick, the chest can't be too far. We got out early and searched with the detectors for hours in the desert heat. Eventually we were sunburnt, heat stricken, and out of water so we called off the hunt and headed back to my friends jeep, very disappointed. We took a different route back and sure enough got a big signal in the middle of nowhere! We were exhausted but dug anyway. And sure enough we hit something big, pulled it out and it was a heavy strong box type chest! I whacked the lock with back of a hatchet and the lock just fell apart! We were goin' nuts! We opened the lid and inside was an old red bandana, and under that...was the rotted tissue and skeletal remains of a dead animal, maybe a dog. What a bummer, we threw the nasty thing back in the hole and went home skunked after all." Then he says to me, "I told you that story so I could tell you this one". (Being a young man and new to detecting I was mesmerized by this guy). Then he started again..."A few years later I was at a detecting rally in Texas and one night we were sittin' around the campfire tellin' stories and I began to tell the story I just told you. When I got to the part about opening the chest, none other than Mr. Charles Garrett of the Garrett company was there and he stopped me and said, "let me guess, there was a dead animal in the chest so left it where you found it". So I said, "yeah, how'd you know that?" And Mr. Garrett said that's what the old-time bandits did to protect their loot, the would shoot a coyote and bring the carcass along to cover the gold. You probably found the payroll chest! And maybe the coins were still there, but probably not anymore since you didn't rebury the chest"... The man said he called his old buddy in California but he couldn't find it again when he went back to look for it. I have often wondered if this story is true or just an urban treasure legend. I always thought I would like to ask Mr. Garrett about that!
