Are 500 $20 Dollar Gold Pieces still missing ?-The Red River Treasure
1630Boston
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The Red River Treasure
In 1894, the First National Bank in Bowie, Texas was robbed by four men. After escaping with the $28,000 in stolen loot, they headed north, stopping after a long day’s ride on the south bank of the flooded Red River on the Texas – Oklahoma border. In the meantime, Lewis Palmore, a U.S. Deputy Marshal in Indian Territory received a telegram from the Bowie City Marshal, that the bandits were headed his way.
Realizing that the thieves would have to cross the flooded Red River at Rock Crossing, he made preparations for a posse to be waiting the next morning. When the robbers started their departure the next day, they spied a posse quickly approaching from the south and plunged into the river, swimming beside their horses. Little did they realize that they were swimming directly into the hands of yet another posse waiting for them on the other side of the river. Palmore, along with two deputies, quickly arrested the four men, finding in their saddlebags, some $18,000 in paper money. However, also taken from the bank was
** $10,000 in $20 gold pieces**. Of these, not a single one was found.
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The outlaws were then taken to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where they were sentenced to hang by Judge Isaac Parker. U.S. Deputy Marshal Palmore was there for the execution and as one of the robbers waited to for his execution, he told the lawman that they had hidden the gold coins near their final campsite on the south bank of the Red River. On his return to Oklahoma,Palmore searched the are over and over looking for the gold coins, but was never able to find them. Later, he told the tale to his son, who also searched the site with a metal detector. Though Frank had the advantage of advanced technology to help him in his search, he too was unsuccessful.
The cache is said to be buried somewhere between the bridge on Highway 81 and the mouth of the Little Wichita River.
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Comments
Google view with the metal detector app?
The government is incapable of ever managing the economy. That is why communism collapsed. It is now socialism’s turn - Martin Armstrong
Already googled it by can't find the app on my flip phone
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that was an interesting read boson many thanks
Sounds like a tall tale to me. It could even have been bank people who took the money seeing an opportunity with a real robbery...
TurtleCat Gold Dollars
Nice little article!
I find the story non-credible. Hanging for a $28,000 bank robbery? Unless they killed people in the bank that makes no sense.
I can understand that BUT people have been executed in the 19th and 20th centuries for wayyyyy less.
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
That is an area that floods extensively. Where the Little Wichita meets the Red River will run dry in the summer but have extensive flooding in the spring. A lot of private farmland there so would not explore without permission.
There is a long list of 'lost' treasures in this great country.... I believe some have been found, but not reported...I have no evidence to support that, but being a cache hunter (MD searches for large, hidden stuff), I can tell you that the first rule of cache hunters is to tell no one about your find. Cheers, RickO
Judge Issac Parker was known as the “hangin judge”.
possible horse thieves as well. hanging offence.
@bkzoopapa is correct
Executions at Fort Smith
Fort Smith National Historic Site, Arkansas
During the twenty-four years the federal executions took place in Fort Smith, eighty-seven men died on the gallows. While Judge Isaac C. Parker sat on the bench, 160 people, including four women, were sentenced to hang. Just over half received a reprieve from execution through pardons, commutations, reversals or acquittals on appeal, or death in jail. The men listed below were hanged in Fort Smith.
August 15, 1873 John Childers
October 10, 1873 Six Killer, Tunagee alias Tuni Young Wolf
April 3, 1874 John Billy, Isaac Filmore, John Pointer
January 15, 1875 McClish Impson
September 3, 1875* Edmund Campbell, Daniel Evans, Samuel Fooy, Smoker Mankiller, James Moore, William Whittington
April 21, 1876 Gibson Ishtanubbee, William Leach, Orpheus McGee, Isham Seeley, Aaron Wilson
September 8, 1876 Samuel Peters, Osey Sanders, John Valley, Sinker Wilson
December 20, 1878 James Diggs, John Postoak
August 29, 1879 William Elliot Wiley, alias Colorado Bill, Dr. Henri Stewart
September 9, 1881 William Brown, Patrick McGowen, Abler Manley, Amos Manley, George W. Padgett
June 30, 1882 Edward Fulson
April
Executions at Fort Smith Marker image. Click for full size.
By Denise Boose, July 13, 2012
2. Executions at Fort Smith Marker
13, 1883 Robert Massey
June 29, 1883 William Finch, Martin Joseph, Te-o-lit-se
July 11, 1884 John Davis, Thomas Thompson, Jack Womankiller
April 17, 1885 William Phillips
June 26, 1885 James Arcine, William Parchmeal
April 23, 1886 Joseph Jackson, James Wasson
July 23, 1886 Calvin James, Lincoln Sprole
August 6, 1886 Kit Ross
January 14, 1887 John T. Echols, James Lamb, Albert O’Dell, John Stephens
April 8, 1887 Patrick McCarty
October 7, 1887 Seaborn Kalijah, alias Seborn Green, Silas Hampton
April 27, 1888 Jackson Crow, Owen Hill, George Moss
July 6, 1888 Gus Bogles
January 25, 1889 Richard Smith
April 19, 1889 Malachi Allen, James Mills
August 30, 1889 Jack Spaniard, William Walker
January 16, 1890 Harris Austin, John Billy, Jimmon Burris, Sam Goin, Jefferson Jones, Thomas Willis
January 30, 1890 George Tobler
July 9, 1890 John Stansberry
June 30, 1891 Boudinot Crumpton, alias Bood Burris
April 27, 1892 Sheppard Busby
June 28, 1892 John Thornton
July 25, 1894 Lewis Holder
September 24, 1894 John Ponter
March 17, 1896 Crawford Goldsby, alias Cherokee Bill
April 30, 1896 Webber Isaacs, George Pierce, John Pierce
July 1, 1896 Rufus Buck, Lewis Davis, Lucky Davis, Maoma July, Sam Sampson
July 30, 1896 George Wilson, alias James Casherago
George Maledon, known as the Prince of Hangmen, served as executioner at over half of the Fort Smith hangings.
executions under Judge Parker
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From "reported" inflation alone that $10,000 in is worth $800,000 today. In $20 gold pieces probably around $1.5 MILL. in choice BU condition.
This was still the wild west. See the list of hangings at Ft. Smith posted earlier.
Have to agree with ricko on this. All one has to do is look at past history on what happens to those who 'report' finds or others find out. The government may step in and grab it, others may file lawsuits, theft, etc.; resulting in loss to the finder or years in legal battles.
Many of the 'treasures' may have actually been found... but by individuals who have succeeded in keeping quiet.
I’ve already found my river gold! A 20 gram 14k necklace.. a find this big could possibly give me a heart attack
I have always believed in the old adage "the only way three people can keep a secret is if two of them are dead"!
this story sounds like it was from the time and place that the movie "Hang 'Em High" was framed around.
Parker didn't mess around..did he?
You guys spent much time in OK/TX/AR? I grew up there and had no trouble believing the part about the hanging, even without the actual evidence. “He needed killin” was justifiable in those parts in those days.
The missing gold, who knows. I’m sure it’s not there anymore, or could be on the other side of the river or under it, still buried (Red River has been known to move after floods, didn’t research this area).
Real neat story.
Indian Territory (the eastern part of what is now the state of Oklahoma) was recently the subject of a US Supreme Court decision regarding the status of Indian reservations located there.
Can't help but think of Paul Newman as Judge Roy Bean.
I would wager many treasures / dropped packages are found and then quietly handled / well managed by their new owners (finders keepers losers weepers).