The Outlaw And His Gold Treasure
I’ll tell you all something folks. I am entranced with the movie
versions of the old west and it’s outlaws. Very little ranks
higher for me. For your info…when I was young…Burt Lancaster
was god. That said…I present you with a tale.
England may have had Robin Hood, but we had this guy. You all
know him. He has inscribed his stamp so deeply into the American
culture that it has become difficult to separate myth from
reality. He was a thief and a murderer…he was boastful and he
was callous…and he had a totally unsympathetic nature…and yet
he is considered to be the “greatest” criminal in America. The
key word here folks is “greatest”.
There is a story told of him and of one of his returns from a
rampage. He and his gang are hungry. There…in the distance…is
a lonely old widow’s cabin. They seek refuge there, and though
she’s impoverished, the old widow scrapes together what she can
and feeds our outlaw and his gang. Our hero sees tears falling
from her eyes and asks what the matter is. Her husband is dead,
she tells him. She has trouble making ends meet. Her existence is
shabby. Her cabin, which is falling apart, is going to be taken
away from her that very afternoon by a banker to whom she owes
$3000.00 on a final mortgage note…money which she has no
chance in hell of ever raising. Our outlaw smiles, reaches into
his pocket, and hands her the cash…advising her strongly to ask
the banker for her note and mortgage papers…which she does. The
banker leaves, happy to have his money. Three miles from the
cabin however, our outlaw holds the banker up, steals back his
$3000.00 dollars…and takes the banker’s watch for his trouble.
Ahh…that’s the stuff legends are made of. Move over Robin
Hood…you ain’t nuthin’ agin Jesse James.
During the Mexican revolution, the James gang stole gold bars
worth more than $1 million and buried them in the Wichita
Mountains, near Lawton, Oklahoma. The gold was gleaned during a
raid on a caravan carrying the ingots in order to finance the
war. The gang then headed for the hills of Wichita. The gold was
never found, and should, by all rights, still be there. A marker
had been left in the area consisting of two pick heads and a
bucket with a code scratched on it. Sometime in the 1950’s a man
named Hunter Pennick found a bucket and 2 old pick heads. There
were some scratchings on the bucket…but the code was
undecipherable to those who had seen it. But that doesn’t mean
anything folks. Heck, any good treasure hunter worth his salt,
who knows the territory, and who has had training in decoding,
should be able to pick up the trail and find that gold in
nothing flat.
So…for my normal ten percent on all treasures found due to my
Tidbits articles…I will now tell you all how to get there.
Lawton is in the southwest part of Oklahoma…about 100 miles
from Oklahoma City. When you get there, ask the residents for
Frank James’ old farm. Frank had bought it in order to look for
the treasure, which he was sure was nearby.
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark
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