I just stumbled onto this website, and this thread has been a very interesting thing to read, hard to follow sometimes, but interesting (and I haven't read it all - yet). I don't know any of you, or you me, but I did know Tony Jolley VERY well. He had been a friend of my family since the 1950s. I imposed upon him, as a friend, and asked if I could "officially interview" him (several times) about his history/past so I could do a painting of him - (at my request, not his, & it was hard to talk him into it). He was a WWII pilot, shot down while trying to bomb the Yamato battleship (the painting I wanted to do), and he spent a long time in a hospital recovering (was a purple heart recipient); I once did a couple of sketches for him and a friend to illustrate a story about them that was published in the Western Horseman Magazine quite a few years ago, as Tony and his friend, when kids, worked "jerk-line" teams of mules hauling supplies from Burley, Idaho, down into Nevada; he was a veterinarian; yes, he was a cowboy - BIG TIME!! He was a roping partner and good friend with the likes of Ben Johnson (the stuntman/actor); he raised some of the best cutting and roping horses in the U.S.; on his cheap little Idaho farm he also raised elk, along with cattle and horses; his entire life he spent endless personal hours and money travelling the country trying to help those in need, even total strangers; he was a miner, and even travelled to South America in search of gems; -- and, yes, I did interview him about the Victorio Peak gold. I still have my interviews with him, that I hand-wrote while we talked, and he signed them. He was one of the kindest, softest spoken, most generous with his time, HONEST men I've ever met! I never knew either of my grandfathers, but I hope that they were something like him. He knew what he was telling was the truth, and I know he was telling the truth, and it doesn't add up to a hill of beans if anyone else does or doesn't. But it's amazing how you can trash someone you don't know squat about, trying to build up someone else. He was a good, honest, albeit adventurous, man that got caught up in this crazy story of found gold, man killed, government steals gold.
