Rebel Gold

by Warren Getler

  8. Ibid., p. 5.

  9. Ibid., pp. 2–3.

  10. Ibid., p. 5.

  11. Ibid., p. 98.

  12. Ibid., pp. 39–40.

  13. Ibid., p. 6.

  14. Ibid.

  15. Ibid.

  16. Ibid.

  17. Ibid., p. 7.

  18. Ralph P. Ganis, Uncommon Men: A Secret Network of Jesse James Revealed (St. Petersburg: Southern Heritage Press, 2000). See preface, pp. viii–xi, and 36.

  19. Ibid., see preface, p. x.

  20. Schrader and James (Howk), pp. 2, 7, 43, 44 and throughout.

  21. Ibid., p. 189.

  22. Ibid., pp. 2, 50, 51, 274.

  23. In addition to Schrader and James (Howk), see J. L. James (Howk), Jesse James and the Lost Cause (New York: Pageant Press, 1961), pp. 87, 102 and throughout.

  24. Schrader and James (Howk), p. 57.

  25. Ibid., p. 254.

  26. Ibid., pp. 66–80.

  27. Ibid., pp. 70–79.

  28. Ibid., pp. 1, 9–35, and throughout.

  29. Ibid., p. 31.

  30. Ibid., pp. 28–33.

  31. Ibid., pp. 68–69.

  32. Ibid., pp. 2–7, 51 and throughout.

  33. Ibid., p. 44.

  34. Ibid., p. 7.

  35. Settle, p. 75.

  36. Ted P. Yeatman, Frank and Jesse James: The Story Behind the Legend (Nashville: Cumberland House, 2000), pp. 209–10.

  37. Schrader and James (Howk), p. 8.

  38. Ibid., p. 275.

  39. Ibid., p. 187 (Rosicrucian), p. 4 (alchemy). For an excellent historical analysis of these centuries’ old themes, see Frances A. Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment (New York: Routledge, 1972, reprinted 2000).

  40. Fox, p. 76, cites an unpublished manuscript and correspondence of Hutchins.

  41. Ibid. Also see Yates on Rosicrucians and alchemy throughout her academic analysis, including mentions of Isaac Newton.

  42. See Chaitkin, p. 56, who cites R. Swinburne Clymer, The Book of Rosicruciae, published by the Rosicrucians, Quakerstown, Pa., 1946–49, Vol. II, pp. 70–71.

  43. Schrader and James (Howk), p. 4.

  44. Ibid., p. 207.

  45. Ibid., pp. 186, 250.

  46. Ibid., p. 241.

  47. Ibid., pp. 240–41.

  48. Ibid., pp. 240–59.

  49. Ibid., p. 208.

  50. Ibid., and p. 244.

  51. James (Howk), p. 33.

  52. Schrader and James (Howk), p. 209.

  53. Ibid., p. 245.

  54. Ibid., p. 250.

  55. Ibid., p. 242.

  56. Ibid., p. 210.

  57. Ibid., pp. 188, 210.

  58. Ibid., pp. 188–98.

  59. Ibid., p. 207.

  60. Ibid., p. 200.

  61. Ibid., p. 207.

  62. Ibid., p. 187.

  63. Ibid., see chapter “The Odyssey of John Wilkes Booth,” pp. 133–42.

  64. Ibid., p. 135.

  65. Henry J. Walker, Jesse James “The Outlaw” (Des Moines: Wallace-Homestead, 1961).

  66. Ibid., p. 70.

  67. Ibid., p. 155.

  68. Ibid., p. 133.

  69. Ibid., p. 18.

  8. THE HUNT EXTENDS TO OKLAHOMA

  1. Copy of suspected Jesse James treasure map in Brewer’s possession, as provided by Bud Hardcastle. Hardcastle says the source of the original map was Oklahoman Joe Hunter, who in the 1930s and ’40s reportedly came into possession of several maps, gold bullion and other items believed to have belonged to Jesse James. Griffith showed Brewer the photocopied map months after their initial acquaintance, but declined to give him a copy. The map is filled with sketches of trees, springs and trails. It also contains a drawing of a neat box, with the word gold written next to it: the spot being the top of an isosceles triangle drawn in the northeast quadrant. Other illustrations include a set of small rectangular graves and another rectangle designated as a “gun berrel” [sic]. But by far the most captivating component of the map is a large circle, containing text and illustrations, on the left-hand (west) side of the page. In the middle lies a stick-figure turtle, with a dotted line extending from its head in a bee-line to the gold box. Below the turtle is what looks like a double fishhook—or two Js abutting each other, back to back—and the date 1880. On the inner perimeter of the circle are the words, written backwards, Find Gun Berrel Near Creek. Next to the circle is a large 4 figure, with the numbers 4 and 16 attached, perhaps denoting some kind of surveyor mark.

  2. Schrader and James (Howk), pp. 237, 273.

  3. Videotape in Brewer’s possession shows the inscriptions in detail.

  4. In one of dozens of letters from Griffith in Brewer’s possession, Griffith describes looking forward to working together, November 23–26.

  5. Videotape in Brewer’s possession.

  6. Letter from Griffith to Brewer. The find is also recorded by Griffith on videotape, where he shows the gold coins recovered.

  7. Brewer subsequently returned to the site with the Gillespie sisters, and, through his own map-decoding work, showed the Oklahoma women two small holes where Griffith apparently had dug up the pistol and spittoon filled with gold. As he had suspected, it lay on a line running from the gun barrel site through the academy, as the code had suggested. There was no “river” nearby, only a dry wash. Griffith apparently had tried to pull one over on him as to the precise location.

  8. See photo of Civil War–era pistol in Walker’s Jesse James “The Outlaw” (Des Moines: Wallace-Homestead, 1961). See preface.

  9. THE WOLF MAP

  1. Del Schrader, “$100 Billion in Treasure—The Search for Rebel Gold,” Los Angeles Herald Examiner, April 22, 1973.

  2. Jesse Lee James (Orvus Lee Howk) letters (copies) in Bob Brewer’s possession.

  3. See The History of Codes and Cipher in the United States Prior to WWI, edited by Wayne G. Barker (Laguna Hills, Calif.: Aegean Park Press, 1978). The source for the Confederate code is the History Section of the Army Security Agency, Washington, D.C., 1946.

  4. Among the maps that show Beaver Creek and Stinking Creek is one on file at the Library of Congress, cartography division, “Chickasaw Country and Contiguous Portions of the Indian Territory,” prepared by First Lt. E. H. Ruffner, chief engineer, military department of the Missouri, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, November 1872. Another map used was G.W. & C.B. Colton’s Map of Indian Territory, 1873.

  5. Information on the rectangular survey system can be obtained from numerous sources. This background was provided by a 1969 Rand McNally map of the Township and Range Survey System of the United States.

  6. The baseline used to locate the Wolf Map site appears to be very close to the head of Stinking Creek on the old, large-scale maps from the 1870s. However, on modern maps, the line and the old Fort Smith stage route are some twelve miles north of the Wolf Map’s location. It is likely that those burying the treasure and making the map knew of the difference in distance but used it both as a generic reference point and as a small misnomer to keep any outsider from finding the exact place too quickly.

  7. Steve Wilson, Oklahoma Treasures and Treasure Tales (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1976).

  8. See articles, Lawton (Okla.) Constitution, Feb. 29, 1948, and May 19, 1948. Among the discoveries revealed by Hunter were buried metal pick heads and wedges, all apparently clues on a Jesse James treasure trail. Notably, three months after Hunter first disclosed his finds in Lawton, in Feb. 1948, he received a visit from J. Frank Dalton.

  9. See Wilson, ibid., p. 138. Wilson’s book does not mention the watch’s hand-setting. This information came to Bob separately.

  10. THE WOLF EMERGES

  1. The “Treasure Vacation Extravaganza ’94” was—at the time—the largest-ever gathering of the U.S. treasure-hunting fraternity: a four-day camp attended by leading treasure-hunting personalities in America. Dorian Cook, a well-known treasure writer, organized the TVE event, at which the KGC would be a major topic of public discus
sion for the first time.

  2. Letter from Griffith in Brewer’s possession.

  3. Letter written by Jesse Lee James (Orvus Howk) in Brewer’s possession.

  4. Interview with Sheriff Mike Ogelsby, Mena, Arkansas, who confirmed Brewer’s reporting of incident.

  5. Letters from Griffith in Brewer’s possession.

  11. THE EMPTY PIT

  1. Videotape in possession of Brewer.

  2. Copy of 1995 Gillespie fax to Michael Griffith, and extensive interviews with Gillespie sisters, 1998–2002.

  3. Copy of January 8, 1996 letter from Michael Griffith to Jo Anne and Ceci Gillespie. Griffith’s letter denies any trespassing occurred and asserts that he did not know that the Gillespies owned the property “until this matter was brought up.”

  4. Michael Griffith KGC sales kit, 2001, in Brewer’s possession.

  12. THE LOST DUTCHMAN LEGEND

  1. See, for instance, Estee Conaster, The Sterling Legend: The Facts Behind the Lost Dutchman Mine (Baldwin Park, Ca.: Gem Guides Book Co., 1972). Conaster’s book provides a straightforward and detailed assessment of the myth and controversy. Conaster asserts that a significant cache of gold was found secreted in a cave in the Superstitions in the late 1940s (pp. 51–52), but says there is no way of knowing whether the cache was related to the Dutchman legend. Also see T. E. Glover, The Lost Dutchman Mine of Jacob Waltz (Phoenix, Ariz.: Cowboy Miner Productions, 1998). Glover provides a well-researched, comprehensive look into the Dutchman saga. Also consult short works published by local Apache Junction historian and Dutchman researcher, Tom J. Kollenborn. An excellent overview appears in The Arizona Republic, Sunday Magazine, October 20, 1991, in a feature by Charles Kelly, “Mine of Legend: Lost Dutchman Still Stirs Golden Dreams.” The first newspaper article about Thomas’s search for the lost mine appeared in the Arizona Weekly Gazette, September 1, 1892, under the headline, “A Queer Quest: Another ‘Lost Mine’ Being Hunted for by a Woman.” The brief article was clearly skeptical.

  2. James F. Carberry, “Did the Old Dutchman Leave a Big Gold Mine or Merely a Legend?” Wall Street Journal, October 18, 1971, p. 1.

  3. “Lost and Found … and Found … and Found,” U.S. News & World Report: Mysteries of History, July 24–31, 2000, p. 53. The Lost Dutchman’s mine caption is printed directly below the same magazine’s reference to “Jesse James’s gold.” This blurb is based on the description of the Dutchman legend provided by the official Arizona State Parks Website: http://www.pr.state.az.us/text/lostdutchlegend.html.

  4. Life, “Mysterious Maps to Lost Gold Mines,” June 12, 1964. Multipage spread begins on page 90.

  5. One carving, shown in a photo in Glover, p. 294, depicts a sunrise with the word ORO (Spanish for gold) written underneath. Recall that the sunrise is a key KGC symbol and that the secret order deliberately camouflaged its symbolism so as to appear “Spanish.”

  6. See Glover, pp. 163–67, for helpful listing of “Official Records and Newspaper Accounts pertaining to Jacob Waltz.”

  7. None of the Reavis biographers mentions KGC involvement directly. For a solid review of the plot, see Donald M. Powell’s The Peralta Grant: James Addison Reavis and the Barony of Arizona (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1960).

  8. For background on Reavis Ranch, see Kollenborn’s booklet, The Apache Trail (Apache Junction, Ariz.: World Publishing Corp., 1999).

  9. Glover, p. 128. Glover raises the issue of why a man of seemingly moderate means would list all these paid laborers resident at his ranch in the census.

  13. A CONFEDERATE FORT KNOX IN ARIZONA?

  1. Photographs, maps and other documents from Heart Mountain Project in possession of Brewer.

  2. See Mackey’s Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Vol. 1, p. 447, for heart reference.

  3. Gene Ballinger, “Ghosts of the Red Bluffs: Where Is $80,000 in Confederate Gold?” The Courier, Hatch, N.M., October 6, 1994, p. 1A.

  4. For a helpful review of the U.S. Geological Survey’s topo production history, see Morris M. Thompson, “Maps for America: Cartographic Products of the U.S. Geological Survey,” Third Edition, 1987, published by U.S. Geological Survey.

  5. Ibid., p. 28.

  6. Ibid., pp. 15, 109.

  7. Leonard B. Waitman, “The Knights of the Golden Circle,” San Bernardino County Museum Association Quarterly, Vol. 15, No. 4 (Summer, 1968). On file at the Library of Congress.

  8. Jesse Lee James (Howk), Jesse James and the Lost Cause, p. 33.

  9. Waitman, p. 14.

  10. See War of the Rebellion, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Vol. 50, Part II, Operations on the Pacific Coast, pp. 496–97, on file at the Library of Congress (or see “Making of America” digitized version on Internet) and cited by Waitman. Official Records is also the source for RABE reference, from correspondence of a Clarence E. Bennett to General Sumner, pp. 556–58.

  11. See Robert Lee Kirby’s The Confederate Invasion of New Mexico and Arizona 1861–1862: The Civil War as Fought in the Far West (Tucson: Westernlore Press, 1958). Kirby emphasizes the strategic significance of the Far West in the Civil War. He does not directly name the KGC in his references to guerrilla war in the state.

  12. James (Howk), p. 26.

  13. Letter on file under the heading “Land Speculation” in Caleb Cushing Papers, Library of Congress.

  14. Schrader and James (Howk), p. 8.

  15. James (Howk), p. 65.

  16. Copy of “Arizona Desert Treasure” map (illustrated waybill with text, signed JJIII, as in Jesse Lee James–Orvus Howk) in Brewer’s possession.

  17. For a recent feature story on the Spider Rocks of Texas, see Evan Moore, “The Unending Quest for Coronado’s Gold,” Houston Chronicle’s Texas magazine, May 6, 2001, p. 8.

  18. Photos and carbon copies of Superstition Mountain stone maps in Brewer’s possession.

  19. In the summer of 2000, Brewer would receive a copy of the April–May 1973 issue of Frontier Times, a small-circulation history and treasure-hunting magazine, which included a fascinating feature by Bernice and Jack McGee, “Are the Peralta Stone Maps a Hoax?” It was sent to him by his friend Bob Tilley, who knew that Brewer had been focusing on the Lost Dutchman mystery. Tilley’s wife, Wanda, who worked at the local library, had brought home a stack of old treasure magazines that had been recently donated. To Brewer’s amazement, the article showed the topographic outline of the horse’s head. It did not discuss or reveal the topographic presence of additional stone-tablet images—the priest, the dagger, the heart and others. Brewer found the article cryptically written, at times seemingly infused with insider knowledge of the fuller picture. Significantly, the article made the tablets out to be a “hoax” as far as the chiseled slabs’ link to the fictional Peralta family were concerned. The article made no mention of the KGC, the Confederacy or any other organized group. The thrust of the piece was critical: it sought to belittle the tablets, to show them to be nothing more than the work of pranksters. Brewer thought otherwise and knew that the interpretations posited in the article hardly scratched the surface. In fact, he thought, a typical reader of the possibly ciphered article might just conclude, “Clever ruse these tablets, but no sense wasting any time trying to dig up a lost treasure or mine out in the deadly Superstitions.” On the other hand, the highly informed reader might just notice a few uncanny observations and realize that there could be something significant embedded in the prose.

  14. OFF TO ARIZONA

  1. Interviews and correspondence with Ellie Gardner and Brian MacLeod, April 2001 through Spring 2002.

  2. The legal guidelines for the U.S. General Services Administration to enter into such a contract are in the U.S. Code, 40 U.S. 310, under “Abandoned Property” provisions: “The Administrator of General Services is authorized to make such contracts and provisions as he may deem for the interest of the Government, for the preservation, sale or collection of any property or the proceeds thereof, which may have been wrecked, a
bandoned or become derelict, being within the jurisdiction of the United States, and which ought to come to the United States, and in such contracts to allow such compensation to any person giving information thereof, or who shall actually preserve, collect surrender or pay over the same, as the Administrator of General Services may deem just and reasonable. No costs or claim shall, however, become chargeable to the United States in so obtaining, preserving, collecting, receiving or making available property, debts, dues or interests, which shall not be paid from such moneys or shall be realized and received from the property so collected, under each specific agreement.” Notably, as a “codification” to the provision states, property once in the possession of the “so-called Confederate States” and now belonging to the United States was omitted from the existing iteration of the law.

  3. Some of the scientific interest in the HMP research project is expressed in a letter sent to Gardner, February 17, 1997, by Deborah H. Johnson, principal archaeologist, DSHJ Research Associates, Inc. of Phoenix. Letter in possession of Bob Brewer.

  4. Schrader and James (Howk), p. 241.

  16. THE TEMPLATE: WALKING THE LINES

  1. As defined in Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (Springfield: Merriam-Webster, 1990).

  2. The broken misspelled Spanish says “BUSCA EL MAPA” and “BUSCA EL COAZON.”

  3. Templar’s heart symbol, as described in Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, The Temple and the Lodge (London: Jonathan Cape, 1989), p. 34.

  4. Mackey, p. 157.

  5. Kollenborn’s article, “A Wilderness Mountain Resort,” cites the Phoenix Daily Herald, “J. J. Frazier, Mayor of Bloomerville,” July 16, 1898, and the Florence Tribune, January 6, 1900. Fraser’s true identity is not known, other than that he was allegedly born in Nova Scotia, Canada, came to the area around 1883 as a cattle rancher and got involved in mining interests. He reportedly sold the Reavis Ranch to William J. Clemans, owner of the Clemans Cattle Company.