$83,000.00 Hidden near Billings

[jeff of pa]

Needs more Research

Great Falls tribune. (Great Falls, Mont.), 04 May 1921.



https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...=&proxValue=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=31

 

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[Tiredman]

I have the whole story on this one. Claimed there was old stage robbery. Some claim it was recovered due to a letter which stated it wasn't as much as claimed.

 

[Tiredman]

Does sound like old tale, Where two trails cross. In Montana Treasure State Tales

 

[jeff of pa]

I have the whole story on this one. Claimed there was old stage robbery. Some claim it was recovered due to a letter which stated it wasn't as much as claimed.

The Discrepancy in Amounts could be due to Many things.
including but not limited to Robbers Splitting the Take ,
Before Hiding their Share

 

[Tiredman]

The larger amount could be explained by the surviving outlaw figured he would be taken care of better if there was more in it for his care giver.

 

[Tiredman]

If that doesn't make sense than you haven't found the other articles

 

[jeff of pa]

could have been so heavy it felt like more too

Don't forget Inflation

 

[Tiredman]

Billings Questions
There are a few questions about claims of hidden loot buried in the Billings, Montana, region, in Yellowstone County. One source says that it is bank robbery loot, and amounts to close to $100,000. The source of this treasure story is from a book by Thomas P. Terry in his United States Treasure Atlas series, covering lost treasures in Montana. His mention of hidden loot near Billings is only a few sentences in length, probably because research was much more difficult for authors before the invention of the Internet.
Today, upon browsing the worldwide web, one would think that there is bound to be something out there about this bank robbery loot; but I did not find anything. After several years, I had pretty much given up on this one, having found nothing close to validating it.
But, then, my wife dug up old newspaper articles in her research efforts. From these, it seems that the cause of this treasure story just might be an old stage robbery that occurred many years prior to the articles that made the Great Falls Tribune newspaper on April 25, 1921: This will be covered with a few posts from our book "Custer Country."

 

[Tiredman]

GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE
Great Falls, Montana
April 25, 1921
ON THE TRAIL OF $83,000 BURIED GOLD.
–––––––
Billings Pioneer Says He’s Located
Cache Of Stage Robbers.
–––––––
CLAIMS PARTNER CAUSED ARREST TO GET HIM
OUT OF THE GAME.
–––––––
Billings, April 24. – Arrested here Sunday on a larceny warrant issued in Missouri five or six years ago, M. F. Anderson whose real name is said to be O. W. Crawford, told chief of police Talgo he was the victim of a “frame–up” arranged by a partner who desire to get him out of the way, so he could not share in a buried treasure amounting to $83,000, which was hidden near the Wyoming – Montana boundary 40 years ago by a band a stage robbers.

 

[jeff of pa]

Billings Questions
There are a few questions about claims of hidden loot buried in the Billings, Montana, region, in Yellowstone County. One source says that it is bank robbery loot, and amounts to close to $100,000. The source of this treasure story is from a book by Thomas P. Terry in his United States Treasure Atlas series, covering lost treasures in Montana. His mention of hidden loot near Billings is only a few sentences in length, probably because research was much more difficult for authors before the invention of the Internet.
Today, upon browsing the worldwide web, one would think that there is bound to be something out there about this bank robbery loot; but I did not find anything. After several years, I had pretty much given up on this one, having found nothing close to validating it.
But, then, my wife dug up old newspaper articles in her research efforts. From these, it seems that the cause of this treasure story just might be an old stage robbery that occurred many years prior to the articles that made the Great Falls Tribune newspaper on April 25, 1921: This will be covered with a few posts from our book "Custer Country."

I Have found Discrepancies in Terry's Stories on more then one occasion.
same as Michael Paul Henson's and other Treasure Book Authors. as compared to News Stories.
Though I Have seen one old time News report Change names & Places also over a few year period.
Mostly on Dates, Names, and proper Counties & States.
on Treasure Books Seems they all copy from each other.
On News Reporters, Perhaps they are looking for a local sensational story,
By stealing from
another states reporter

Hence the reason for Research.

& Finding the Original Story.

 

[Tiredman]

I Have found Discrepancies in Terry's Stories on more then one occasion.
same as Michael Paul Henson's and other Treasure Book Authors. as compared to News Stories.
Though I Have seen one old time News report Change names & Places also over a few year period.
Mostly on Dates, Names, and proper Counties & States.
on Treasure Books Seems they all copy from each other.
On News Reporters, Perhaps they are looking for a local sensational story,
By stealing from
another states reporter

Hence the reason for Research.

& Finding the Original Story.

Exactly and that is why I take the limited briefs and look into them. The books I have done are backed with the articles, and of course I add maps. I just discovered yesterday a Wyoming story that has been covered by Jameson, except he left out something very interesting that ties it to another famous story. Digging into this stuff, is as much fun as digging in the ground.

 

[Tiredman]

LONG SEARCH FOR HIDING PLACE.
The treasure has not been uncovered but Anderson, or Crawford, said he and the partner had just ascertained its hiding place after years of search guided by descriptions given them by the last member of the robber gang who died five years ago in St. Louis. He fears now that when he is taken back to Missouri to answer the old charge, the partner, who is also known to the police, will go out somewhere between Hardin and Sheridan and dig up the gold.
REVEALED BY DYING BANDIT.
Anderson did not deny that he was wanted in Pineville, Mo., nor did he deny a further allegation that he had jumped a bond of $1000 posted to assure his presence at a trial for grand larceny. But he declared that if it had not been for the recent partner, the only other person now living who is cognitive of the approximate location of the buried treasure, he would not be in jail. In proof of this he cited the fact that he had been in this section of the country several years, quietly checking up directions given him by the dying bandit in St. Louis, while the Pineville larceny warrant reposed uselessly in the office of Sheriff John McLeod at Hardin.

 

[Tiredman]

DENOUNCES HIS PARTNER.
The prisoner was subjected to a severe examination at police headquarters; but beyond denouncing his partner in the buried treasure hunt as a betrayer, he would neither reveal nor admit to anything. When Chief Talgo evinced skepticism regarding the buried treasure, however Anderson showed indignation.
“There’s $1,000,000 buried in this vicinity,” Talgo said, “if you believe the tales of the doings of stage robbers. But I haven’t seen a dollar of it unearthed,” he continued.
FOUR OF THE ROBBERS KILLED.
“Well this is no myth,” Anderson stoutly asserted. “I befriended this old chap in St. Louis, when he was down and out. When he took sick I attended to him, and when he realized he was dying he called me to him, and told me he was the last of a gang of robbers who had held up a stage and got $83,000. There were five men in the gang. Four of them were killed, he said, “but he got away with the money and buried it near the scene of the robbery.”
“And where was that?” inquired the police chief innocently.
“I am not telling,” answered the prisoner. “But you watch the other fellow. You know him. See that he don’t get it.”

 

[Tiredman]

GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE
Great Falls, Montana
May 4, 1921
CRAWFORD TOO LATE.
–––––––––––
ROAD AGENTS CACHE
LIFTED LAST YEAR.
–––––––––––
Billings, May 3 – Cash buried by road agents 40 years ago and now sought in this district by O.W. Crawford of Missouri, was removed from its hiding place in 1920 by a cow-puncher working for the Custer Cattle Company. According to an unsigned letter from El Paso, Texas, received by the Chief of Police here Monday morning.
The letter said the money was buried on the south bank of Reno Creek, 400 yards from its junction with the Little Bighorn River, near the Custer Battlefield. Crawford claimed the amount was $83,000.
“This is exaggerated,” said the letter, “but the sum was sufficient to justify an effort on the part of anyone possessing information of its existence.” Crawford was arrested here on a charge of larceny in Missouri several years ago. He said the charge was a “frame-up” by a former partner to prevent him from finding the treasure.
Directions to the spot, Crawford claimed, were given to him in St. Louis by a dying member of the band of outlaws that buried the loot. From this article, it is obvious that the treasure was buried far from Billings. It seems that for some time the only thing hidden in Billings was the location of the loot buried inside of Crawford’s head prior to his extradition back to Missouri for the larceny charge.

 

[maccounty]

I just seen this story, interesting. I live close to Pineville Mo. Never heard about it till now. You think his last name was Crawford, or Anderson? I doubt it would help but if you need any info from around here I could see if I could find out anything about him.

 

[Tiredman]

He seems to be a petty crook if he only stole $35.

 

[Tiredman]

Does sound like old tale, Where two trails cross. In Montana Treasure State Tales

An interesting old story that has been recorded in the 1950 book by Jean Moore, Treasure State Treasure Tales, sounds much like it might be the loot buried near the Custer Battlefield, mentioned in the story above. An excerpt follows:
Where Two Trails Meet
Only Clue To Gold Cache
[By JEAN MOORE]
It was a lonely Montana Road near the Wyoming border in October, 1888. A stagecoach driver had just congratulated himself on a fourth consecutive run with no mishaps, when four masked bandits slid out from behind a clump of bushes and stopped the stagecoach with the dreaded words, “Stop, everybody out, or we will shoot!”
The bandits apparently knew that stagecoach was loaded with gold, for they informed the driver that they had better find what they were looking for, “or else.”
The driver, looking into the business end of the bandits’ guns, quickly decided his life and those of his passengers were worth more than the gold he was carrying and allowed them to relieve him of a heavy iron box containing approximately $8,500 in gold dust, an amount which would buy much more in those days then its equivalent today.
Although Wells Fargo company hired several men to track down the bandits, they were never apprehended and were believed to have skipped the country.
About two years after the stagecoach holdup, a wounded man staggered into a roadside station calling for help. He was badly wounded, but managed to relate his story to the saloon keeper. He had been, he said, one of the four bandits in the stagecoach robbery in 1888 but had argued over his part of the loot and had been excommunicated from the gang by its leader.
The bandits later regretted not having killed him to keep him from talking and so decided to rectify their mistake. They ran him down, shot him, and left him for dead. The loot, he told the saloon keeper, was buried still in the vicinity of bitter Creek. “It’s where two trails come together and meet in front of….” he said, but died before he could finish his story.
The saloon keeper was certain that the dead man had told him the truth. He found two women’s rings and a man’s gold watch in the lining of the man’s coat. Probably this was a bit of the loot the man had managed to conceal from his former partners and all that he ever was able to collect.
The saloon keeper made several journeys around the vicinity of Bitter Creek hunting for two trails that came together. As he didn’t know just where they were to come together, all trails began to look alike and he finally gave up and returned to his liquor business. He figured that was more dependable, although not nearly as exciting as almost finding a buried treasure.