Jesse James Safe Dig site near Waco???

[biker_mike66]

Years ago (like the late 70's or early 80's), there was a big dig going on somewhere near Waco, Texas.

The dig was a huge financial endeavor that was put together by a group of investors/treasure hunters. There was supposedly enough information to warrant this search for some large safe reportedly filled with gold and such that was robbed from a train by Jesse James.

I was kinda young back then when the search was making the local news (I live in Waco), and it was expected that the safe's weight caused it to sink in the earth. If my memory serves, they searched for the treasure for several weeks and at great depths. When the money ran out, the dig was abandoned.

Does anyone know where this dig site was or where I can find information on it? I am an avid geocacher and thought it would be a great place to visit and perhaps hide my own little geo-treasure.

Thanks for any help that anyone here can offer.

 

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[wildrider]

No, but you might want to post this in cache hunting forum too. They know alot about Jesse James and stuff.
Burt

 

[biker_mike66]

Thank you. I'll do just that!

I'm new to this forum, and treasure hunting in general, but have had this on the old back-burner for quite some time. Geocaching has always been a substitute for 'real' treasure hunting for me. As soon as I can take the time to do some research on what equipment to buy, I intend to buy it so I can do some searching. My grandfather always told me that Whites stuff was the best and that's what he always used...

This topic is just from pure curiosity. When I was a kid, I rarely paid much attention to the news, but now at 40 (and retired), my curiosity is blooming fiercely! : )

I have run every kind of google search that I can think of about this dig and have found absolutely NOTHING on it - perhaps because it predates the worldwide web. Funny, I remember it being such a big news event back in the day...

 

[warsawdaddy]

Contact Floyd Mann on this site.He has a thousand research items and treasure leads for free.You can get to his email or PM at;

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php?action=profile;u=261;sa=showPosts;start=0

 

[HotTexas]

I know where it is & the story is it was put in a well, they tried to dig it up but being on the Brazos river bottom it filled in with sand & water faster than they could dig.

 

[biker_mike66]

So can you share with me the exact site? Are you also in Waco? I saw your email addy is a local one. I used to know some people with the last name you show on your profile (people I used to fly radio controlled planes with).

Do you know a Michael (aka Big Mike) Hancock?

 

[HotTexas]

How much Money you got ? :lol

 

[LittleJon]

If Jessie took it, then it might still be guarded by Sentenels of the KGC. See book "Shadow of the Sentenel" by Bob Brewer.

 

[Ocean Oso]

I know someone that dug the hole. Said something big and metal is there, but no idea what and the sand and water level persuades you to go elsewhere. It is just past I-35 while going South on Old Dallas Highway behind the impound yard.

 

[texan connection]

It was on the waco TV news start there. i remeber it

 

[RGINN]

Jesse James posts are always cool. He and Frank were down there around Paris and hired out on some cattle drives over on the Great Western. They didn't bury no safe down at Waco. Never went there. Somebody might have, but they didn't. Probably I'm just talking away with no 'basis in fact'. You think?

 

[Texas Jay]

Hi RGINN. A friend, who is a KGC expert, gave me a xerox copy of a booklet devoted exclusively to news coverage of that event in East Waco in 1992. The booklet carries many news articles on photos that appeared in the Waco Tribune Herald newspaper from April to September of 1992. It's title is: "Jesse James - Treasures Down Under". The address where the dig took place was 1820 Earle Ave. The dig was supervised and started by Jesse James IV. A crew from Australia did most of the excavation work. Former Texas Attorney General and Speaker of the House Wagonner Carr was in attendance. I'll be happy to answer anyone's questions regarding the information in my booklet.
~Texas Jay
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodybillandersonmystery - my group where we study Quantrill's Guerrillas, Bloody Bill Anderson, and the KGC.

 

[RGINN]

Cool link Texas Jay! I'm 1/8 Texan and my cousin is currently livin down there in Farmersville. His dad would be a good candidate for burying a safe somewhere in his younger days. My Grandpa and his brothers were born in the Choctaw Nation about 10 miles from Belle Starr's place. I knew them, and they never, ever would tell you one thing about the old time outlaws of the day. It would have been cool if I knew them before they got religion. I think Bloody Bill was killed when they said he was. He was such a flamboyant figure, he would have made a big deal about being alive later on. Then again.... anything's possible!

 

[Produce Guy]

i belive there's a show that comes on here in Austin on saturday or sunday called Around Texas,or The Eyes of Texas,something like that.I belive I remember that they had a story about that at one time.

 

[Texas Jay]

Hi RGINN. Of course I respect your opinion about Bloody Bill but I must add that we have historically proven that he didn't die in 1864. This finding did not come about easily but required combined efforts of many of our group's researchers and genealogists. Our members have spent many thousands of combined hours in the work which is the most thorough investigation into the life and death of Bloody Bill Anderson ever attempted or conducted.
~Texas Jay
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodybillandersonmystery
This photo is of Bloody Bill Anderson on a widely circulated but now rare postcard. The photograph was taken in 1924 during Bill's Interview with Henry C. Fuller.

 

[RGINN]

Well I haven't been back in a while, Texas Jay. Bloody Bill was killed and died when they said he was. That's it. Some old fart came along later and claimed to be him, just for the attention. Well, I'd like to see the DNA comparison! But WAIT!, Texas Jay. I'm jokin and tryin to sound like some of the other 'authorities' on here. Through y'all's research, you probably turned up some info we didn't know about, so thanks. So I respect your work. Maybe he wasn't killed. He deserved to be. Another bit of advice, and y'all do what you want with it. A lot of my family lived in the Indian Nations very close to Belle Starr's place. You should place no credence in anyone who calls themselves 'Jesse James' with a number after that. Like II, III, IV or whatever.

 

[Texas Jay]

Hi RGINN. While your reply about Bloody Bill Anderson has nothing much to do with this topic, it is clear that you have no idea about who Bloody Bill Anderson was or the reasons he fought for the South. Now, about the Jesse Jameses with a numeral after their names, you will not find a message of mine anywhere where I have ever said that Orvus Lee Howk (aka Jesse Lee James and Jesse James III) was Jesse Woodson James's grgrandson. If living in the area of Belle Starr qualifies you as an expert, then there are millions of "experts" running around. Anyone whose family lived near where a famous person lived, by your "advice", would qualify.
~Texas Jay

 

[cedarratt]

This wasn't one of those things like Al Capone's vault is it?

 

[Texas Jay]

Hi cedarratt. I was given a booklet of newspaper clippings regarding this story. They are all from the Waco Tribune-Herald. Most are very lengthy and cover the expensive search in great detail so it would take me forever to transcribe one of those on this board but I will try to find a short one to post later today.
~Texas Jay
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodybillandersonmystery

 

[Texas Jay]

From: "Jesse James Treasures Down Under ?" - Photos and clippings from Waco Tribune-Herald from 1992. This booklet is in my private collection.

***
Wednesday, July 22, 1992

Search for safe stuck in the mud

Treasure hunters halt digging for outlaw's booty

By Tommy Witherspoon
Tribune-Herald staff writer

"Four months and $350,000 into their search for a safe they believe Jesse James buried in East Waco, treasure hunters have temporarily called off their quest.
Plagued by mudslides and water in the 18-foot hole, the workers decided again to line the hole with a steel coffer dam, which they hope will stabilize the work site and allow them to bring the safe to the surface.
Darryl Fritz, one of two Australian brothers helping finance the dig, said Monday that the project will be suspended for 2 1/2 weeks so the Lufkin company that helped them form a dam several months ago can complete another job.
'Simply put, unless we use the coffer dam again, we are not going to get down to the bottom and get the safe,' Fritz said. 'The stuff - mud, water, slime - is coming in faster than we are pumping it out.'
The Fritzes have pooled their resources with two brothers who claim to be the great-grandsons of Jesse James.
When the dig started, Fritz said, he and his partners thought it would take about a month to dig up the safe, which they believe to contain gold, James family heirlooms and other historical documents.
'We never intend to give up. We don't know how,' Fritz said.
The crew first dug inside a coffer dam that previous diggers had placed there. When that failed, they moved the dam over a few feet and started digging again. When that failed, they filled in the deep holes, smoothed over the lot at 1820 Earle Ave. and tried using ground-penetrating radars to find the safe. That also proved useless.
Fritz said they think they have located the safe again by using a long steel probe that blows water. However, the workers have said that before, he said.
The James brothers say the desperado buried the safe on the lot in 1918, after pulling it on an ox-drawn wagon from a downtown Waco train depot."

***

~Texas Jay
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodybillandersonmystery