BIG TIMBER PIONEER
Big Timber, Montana
December 15, 1932
BIG LOOT FOUND IN BURIED TRUNK
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OFFICIALS BELIEVE CACHE FROM NORTHERN PACIFIC TRAIN ROBBERY SEVERAL YEARS AGO.
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An old rotten trunk, dug from the floor of an abandoned miner’s cabin, with mildewed contents amounting to what has been estimated at $100,000, is reposing in the vaults of the sheriff of Granite County awaiting an owner. Associated with this old trunk and its contents, there is said to be a story of train robbery, death, imprisonment, and futile search such as might have intrigued the fancy of Robert Louis Stevenson, according to a recent dispatch from Butte.
The story, as recollected by M.E. Buck, superintendent of the Montana Power company, and confirmed by other Butte men is as follows:
Some 20-odd years ago, the Northern Pacific train No. 2, carrying a heavy consignment of registered mail and express, was held up at Bearmouth, Montana, and robbed of a very large sum of bank notes and bonds by two men, who immediately disappeared, leaving no trace behind them. Months later, a man named Frankhouse was arrested in an Idaho honky-tonk on suspicion of being one of the robbers. This was due to the fact that he was spending in a reckless fashion bank notes bearing marks that identified them as part of the Bearmouth train robbery plunder. Frankhouse was brought back to Montana and imprisoned at Helena. Meanwhile, the officers learned that his boon companion for years had been a man named McDonald. They set out on a nation-wide search for McDonald and finally traced him to a Michigan lumber camp where, before he could be arrested, he met death. The details of his passing are not known.
Following confirmation of the story of the death of McDonald, Frankhouse was brought to trial, convicted of the robbery and sentenced to 40 years at Leavenworth. Shortly after Frankhouse was incarcerated in the federal prison came Jeff Spurlock, another train robber, who had operated in the southwest. He, too, was convicted and sentenced to a long term of imprisonment at Leavenworth, where he made the acquaintance of Frankhouse.
Spurlock confided the story that Frankhouse, feeling that he would never live to serve out his sentence or to be liberated, had told him that the Bearmouth plunder had been buried near the scene of the crime and had given him a sort of a chart or map showing the location of the buried loot.
Spurlock's trips to the Bearmouth district proved futile in so far as recovery of Frankhouse’s plunder was concerned.
A few weeks ago, a Granite county prospector stumbled on the abandoned cabin of a fellow miner by the name of Miles. At the time, it was believed to belong to a man named James Mellon. Ownership of the cabin may be important later on. The prospector found this cabin to his liking. He decided to “hole up” for the winter within its walls. He prepared to stock up for the winter months when the snow is deep and traveling difficult.
One of his first steps, in preparation for his all-winter stay in the cabin, was to dig a small cellar under the floor for the purpose of storing vegetables. He removed the planking and set to work. The second blow of his pick penetrated something that his ear immediately told him was some kind of a box. He at once laid aside his pick and seized a shovel, with which he carefully removed the earth, disclosing an ancient trunk.
Quivering with excitement, he lifted the trunk out of the hole and placed it on the cabin floor. Throwing up the lid, his eyes met a sight that was breath-taking. The trunk was packed with packages of greenbacks and packages of bonds—money of all denominations.
The prospector plunged his hands into the trunk contents—to find that a portion of it was like Dead Sea fruit. The money and bonds were so badly decayed that they broke into dust as soon as they were touched. A large sum was destroyed by handling it in this manner.
This dry rot did not extend throughout the entire contents of the trunk, however. Only the upper layers affected. The prospector, it is with an honesty that is seldom unparalleled, took his find to the sheriff of the county and turned it over to him. where, as stated, it now awaits proof of ownership. The Miles cabin, where the trunk was found, is located on the outskirts of the village of Maxville. Maxville lies between Bearmouth and Phillipsburg. All of the circumstances appear to point to the find as having been part of the Bearmouth train robbery loot. Since Frankhouse and McDonald are both dead, proof of ownership of the money can only come through the Northern Pacific, it is said. That is why the ownership of the cabin in which the trunk was found becomes important. Should the Northern Pacific fail to prove ownership, and the money can be identified for exchange at the United States treasury, two Montana prospectors should be “sitting pretty” this winter.
Big Timber, Montana
December 15, 1932
BIG LOOT FOUND IN BURIED TRUNK
––––––––––––
OFFICIALS BELIEVE CACHE FROM NORTHERN PACIFIC TRAIN ROBBERY SEVERAL YEARS AGO.
––––––––––
An old rotten trunk, dug from the floor of an abandoned miner’s cabin, with mildewed contents amounting to what has been estimated at $100,000, is reposing in the vaults of the sheriff of Granite County awaiting an owner. Associated with this old trunk and its contents, there is said to be a story of train robbery, death, imprisonment, and futile search such as might have intrigued the fancy of Robert Louis Stevenson, according to a recent dispatch from Butte.
The story, as recollected by M.E. Buck, superintendent of the Montana Power company, and confirmed by other Butte men is as follows:
Some 20-odd years ago, the Northern Pacific train No. 2, carrying a heavy consignment of registered mail and express, was held up at Bearmouth, Montana, and robbed of a very large sum of bank notes and bonds by two men, who immediately disappeared, leaving no trace behind them. Months later, a man named Frankhouse was arrested in an Idaho honky-tonk on suspicion of being one of the robbers. This was due to the fact that he was spending in a reckless fashion bank notes bearing marks that identified them as part of the Bearmouth train robbery plunder. Frankhouse was brought back to Montana and imprisoned at Helena. Meanwhile, the officers learned that his boon companion for years had been a man named McDonald. They set out on a nation-wide search for McDonald and finally traced him to a Michigan lumber camp where, before he could be arrested, he met death. The details of his passing are not known.
Following confirmation of the story of the death of McDonald, Frankhouse was brought to trial, convicted of the robbery and sentenced to 40 years at Leavenworth. Shortly after Frankhouse was incarcerated in the federal prison came Jeff Spurlock, another train robber, who had operated in the southwest. He, too, was convicted and sentenced to a long term of imprisonment at Leavenworth, where he made the acquaintance of Frankhouse.
Spurlock confided the story that Frankhouse, feeling that he would never live to serve out his sentence or to be liberated, had told him that the Bearmouth plunder had been buried near the scene of the crime and had given him a sort of a chart or map showing the location of the buried loot.
Spurlock's trips to the Bearmouth district proved futile in so far as recovery of Frankhouse’s plunder was concerned.
A few weeks ago, a Granite county prospector stumbled on the abandoned cabin of a fellow miner by the name of Miles. At the time, it was believed to belong to a man named James Mellon. Ownership of the cabin may be important later on. The prospector found this cabin to his liking. He decided to “hole up” for the winter within its walls. He prepared to stock up for the winter months when the snow is deep and traveling difficult.
One of his first steps, in preparation for his all-winter stay in the cabin, was to dig a small cellar under the floor for the purpose of storing vegetables. He removed the planking and set to work. The second blow of his pick penetrated something that his ear immediately told him was some kind of a box. He at once laid aside his pick and seized a shovel, with which he carefully removed the earth, disclosing an ancient trunk.
Quivering with excitement, he lifted the trunk out of the hole and placed it on the cabin floor. Throwing up the lid, his eyes met a sight that was breath-taking. The trunk was packed with packages of greenbacks and packages of bonds—money of all denominations.
The prospector plunged his hands into the trunk contents—to find that a portion of it was like Dead Sea fruit. The money and bonds were so badly decayed that they broke into dust as soon as they were touched. A large sum was destroyed by handling it in this manner.
This dry rot did not extend throughout the entire contents of the trunk, however. Only the upper layers affected. The prospector, it is with an honesty that is seldom unparalleled, took his find to the sheriff of the county and turned it over to him. where, as stated, it now awaits proof of ownership. The Miles cabin, where the trunk was found, is located on the outskirts of the village of Maxville. Maxville lies between Bearmouth and Phillipsburg. All of the circumstances appear to point to the find as having been part of the Bearmouth train robbery loot. Since Frankhouse and McDonald are both dead, proof of ownership of the money can only come through the Northern Pacific, it is said. That is why the ownership of the cabin in which the trunk was found becomes important. Should the Northern Pacific fail to prove ownership, and the money can be identified for exchange at the United States treasury, two Montana prospectors should be “sitting pretty” this winter.
