Zerelda Cole James Samuel / The mother of Jesse James Photo on Ebay

Up for bid on Ebay is what could be a rare photo Zerelda samuel who was the mother of Frank and Jesse James. Compare the known photgraphs of her and decide for yourself. She appears to be in her 50's in the photo. The date written in pencil on the back could be July 1884 which would make her 59 years old and would have been two years after Jesse was killed. This may be why she is wearing the black dress. Her right arm appears to be fake and must have been added by the photographer. She lost that arm in 1875 thanks to a Pinkerton bomb. Note the large left eye, shape of the nose, parting of the hair, and down turned corners of her mouth. These are the same characteristics Zerelda has in other photographs.

Jesse James in Texas

 

One of the benefits to having this blog is the number of different people we have the chance to talk with. Betty Dorsett Duke is one of those people and she has an interesting story to tell. Betty is the author of "Jesse James Lived and Died in Texas" and "The Truth About Jesse James". She makes a compelling argument that her grandfather was really Jesse James and has recently acquired a photo off of Ebay that seems to be of a wedding party and may change history. Zerelda Samuels is easily identified in the center row of the photo and it is possible that Frank James and Betty's grandfather may be in the front row. To get the full story please go to her website http://www.jessejamesintexas.com/index.htm . I think you will find it interesting.

A Bridge to Far?

Sometimes in life there seems to be places that just seem to have bad energy circle them. Place’s that just seem to have a history of almost being a cross roads in life for bad things to happen. The stretch of cold steel that makes up the Rock Island rail road in-between Dover and Kingfisher Oklahoma is just such a place. It’s had its fair share of troubled times. Everything from having its trains robbed to its trains washed away. I’ll begin with the train that was robbed.

On April 3, 1895, the Doolin Gang along with the most of the “Wild Bunch” gang boarded the Rock Island train near Dover, Oklahoma. Their goal that ill fated day was to empty the safe aboard the trains baggage/mail car that contained $50,000 of army payroll. The safe proved to be a bit more of a challenge than the gang would have imagined so they set their sights on robbing the express car passengers of cash and jewelry. As the train neared the bridge just south of Dover the gang prepared for their departure as it crossed the Cimarron River. They let out with over confidence and leaving a almost taunting trail for the law to follow. Within two hours, Chief Deputy Marshal Chris Madsen arrived at the robbery scene with six deputy marshals. They gave chase to the notorious outlaws, tracking them west then back across the river north. About two o’clock that afternoon, the posse caught up with them at a camp near Ames “Tulsa Jack” Blake was killed and “Little Bill” Raidler was seriously wounded, losing several fingers. Bill Doolin, Red Buck, Bitter Creek Newcomb, Charlie Pierce and Dick Yeager escaped, riding their separate ways to safety. The loot was never recovered. Does it still lay somewhere in hiding between Ames and the bridge? The bridge holds more than just a starting point of a outlaw trail, it is also the deadly end to a ill fated train.

On a dark and dreary rainy September night in 1906, the Cimarron river began to swell. It soon became a roaring river of death and carnage as it carried debris down river, creating extreme pressures against the train bridge between Kingfisher and Dover. As the Rock Island train No. 12 northbound, crossed the river, the bridge collapsed. The engine tender, baggage/mail car, smoker and day coach all where immediately thrown into the violent waters of the river. The baggage car sank for an instant. The smoker half floated, with one end above water, the couplings between it and the day coach broke, and, submerged, it was carried down the river at least 400 yards. The baggage/mail car was seen a little further down river at a smaller bridge crossing before it caused that bridge to collapse as well. Due to high waters and quick sand none of the train’s contents or the train its self where recovered. Many of the passengers perished in the crash so it is anyone’s guess what may have been in the baggage/mail car.

This bridge as well as the stretch of train track it connects across the Cimarron has a checkered past. It could hold the beginning of the treasures of your future. As a matter of fact I believe that this is such a great search area I almost didn’t write this for you to read. I was going to keep it for my own searches, but in the end you the reader are more important to me. Please if you do go looking though remember that this area could hold your end as well. There could be hidden dangers of quick sand and quickly rising waters. Maybe even a few modern day outlaws waiting for someone to come along. What I can tell you that if you live in Oklahoma this bridge is not “to far”.

Florida Lawmakers getting involved with the Black Swan Treasure

This is an update to the wikileaks story about the Odyssey Marine Treasure salvors and good Ole Uncle Sam trying to screw them over. Once again, Homer has supplied us with this story fro the web.

Members of Florida's congressional delegation this week called on the U.S. Department of State to withdraw the nation's support of Spain's claim to the $500 million Black Swan treasure.
In a two-page letter dated Jan. 20, six Republican lawmakers said ownership of the sunken treasure found by Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. should be determined by the courts without the U.S. government's intrusion. Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor sent a letter the same day, voicing her concern to the State Department about the U.S. government's backing of Spain.


Odyssey and Spain are battling in U.S. courts over claim to the sunken treasure found in 2007.


The U.S. government filed a "friend of the court" brief in the case in support of Spain.


Documents posted by WikiLeaks showed that the U.S. government's involvement in the case appeared to be related to other discussions with Spain.


In exchange for helping with the Black Swan case, the U.S. government wanted assistance from Spain in retrieving a French painting owned by a U.S. citizen that is currently in a Madrid museum.


Republican lawmakers said the U.S. government's support of Spain in the case "is ceding our sovereignty to foreign entities."


Odyssey already has asked the federal courts to strike the U.S. brief from the record.


The U.S. government opposed Odyssey's motion to strike the brief, arguing it has "substantial interest in the proper interpretation of maritime and international laws that protect sunken vessels, both as to ships owned by the United States and as to those owned by foreign sovereigns."

Superstition Mountains claim three more

A while back I wrote an article about three treasure hunters who disappeared in the Superstitiion Mountains of Arizona while looking for the Lost Dutchman Mine. Thanks to Homer we have an update to that story. All three of the men have been found dead in the mountains. Here is a story from the web that was sent to me by Homer.

PIMA, Ariz.(ABC 4) - Just over a week ago, Pima Country Sheriffs Deputies discovered the skeletal remains of two of the three missing Utah men in the mountains of Arizona.


Searchers now believe they have found the remains of the third man.


Officials say they found the wallet of Curtis Merworth along side human remains on Saturday in the Superstition Mountains.


Merworth was in a group of three men that were reported missing last July after they set out on a gold mine hunt.


His mother tells ABC 4 she is saddened by the news but relieved that the long, painful wait is over.


"We are happy because it's been six months and we've been under a lot of stress," said Carol Merworth.


Pima County Sheriff Officials believe they found the remains of Ardean Charles and Malcom Meeks last week.


The Pima County Medical Examiner will identify the remains.

I have said it time and time again, BE PREPARED, you never know what might happen and it's always better to have something and not need it instead of not having something and needing it badly. That extra five or ten pounds that you don't want to carry could be what saves your life.

Jewels, Jewels and more Jewels

Are you the adventuresome type who doesn’t mind a little danger in your treasure hunting? If so, then you might want to try your hand at looking for more than 100 million dollars in stolen jewelry.


This heist is a modern day robbery and was pulled off by some very well trained people who didn’t mind cracking a few skulls in the process.

In December of 2008 four individuals entered the Harry Winston Jewelry store in Paris, France. All four were men however three of the men were dressed liked women to help them gain entrance through a locked door that you had to be “buzzed in” through.

Once inside the men pulled out a hand grenade and a handgun and started barking orders at the employees, even calling some of the employees by name. In less than fifteen minutes it was over. The bad guys were gone and after smashing several display cases and banging up a few of the employees Harry Winston of Paris was short more than ONE HUNDRED MILLION dollars worth of jewelry.


As of the date of this article there has only been a few of the jewels from this robbery recovered however they have made some arrests. Those arrests were of other men that are said to be part of a gang consisting of more than 200 men, all ex-military and all from a small town in Serbia. The gang is known as the Serbian Pink Panthers. They have been robbing jewelry stores in several places including Dubai, Switzerland, Japan, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Monaco.


At least four of the gang members have been arrested and sent to jail. One of those was cooperating with authorities, giving them details on how the gang operates but to date, they haven’t found all of those jewels.


So if you don’t mind traveling to Europe, possibly being shot at by ex-military guys with some pretty big guns and competing with Interpol and several other law enforcement agencies then this just might be for you!


I would like to thank Susan, one of our readers, for this information. If you are interested in more robberies like this one, possibly for clues to some modern day treasure then you might want to check out the link she sent me:

http://www.criminaljusticedegreesguide.com/features/10-impressive-heists-that-shocked-the-world.html

On the trail to Spanish treasure?

Once again our good buddy Homer has saved my bacon by giving me yet another treasure story to post for our readers. Thank you Homer!

This one takes us to Mexico and the 1930's. It is being researched/hunted for by some underwater archies from Mexico.

Maybe it's just me but I'm thinking that if any great treasure is found in Mexico it will never make it where the archies think it should go. We may never hear of it again except in rumors or government documents that show up many years later.

From the web:

Mexico City – Starting from a watch dial, Mexican researchers are following a number of clues to find a purported treasure from Spain, while also hoping to find a survivor of that story that goes back to the 1930s exile of Spanish Republicans to Mexico.


The 7-centimeter (2 3/4-inch) watch dial was found Nov. 20 by divers from the underwater archaeology division of Mexico's National Anthropology and History Institute, at the bottom of a lake in the crater of Nevado de Toluca volcano, at 4,200 meters (13,770 feet) above sea level.


The watch is related to other objects, including a locket and some boxes bearing the name of the Spanish bank Monte de Piedad de Madrid, which were found in the same lake in the 1960s by members of Mexico's Hombres Rana (Frogmen) Club, who kept them in a private collection.


The pieces might all be related to a treasure said to have been brought to Mexico in 1939 by Republican Spaniards who brought them from Monte de Piedad de Madrid - a savings bank now known as Caja Madrid - and from the Spanish central bank to help support the exiles.


The story remained literally submerged for the following decades until this year a group of archaeologists, led by Roberto Junco, climbed Nevado de Toluca volcano and descended to the bottom of Lake of the Sun, which has a depth of 12 meters (39 feet) and a water temperature of 5 C (41 F).


After several days of searching they found a watch face that is now being restored and studied.


Junco, who knew the story of the divers' club that in the mid-20th century found several objects in that lake, met one of them two years ago, who showed him photos taken at the time the discovery was made of pieces that might reasonably have belonged to the "Spanish treasure."


The story goes back to 1939, when Gen. Francisco Franco defeated forces loyal to the Spanish Republic.


That year the ship Vita set sail from a French port with Spanish Republicans aboard, who were apparently carrying objects of value packed in 120 boxes that are said to have been worth $300 million at the time.


That "treasure" is believed to have been amassed by the Spanish socialist politician Indalecio Prieto, a man on good terms with then-Mexican President Lazaro Cardenas, who welcomed the Republicans and their children, from then on known as "the children of Morelia."


Historian Flor Trejo said that the Republican Spaniards are believed to have stripped the gold from watches and other pieces and then threw the mechanisms and dials into the volcanic lake.


On that point, Junco cited some researchers who say that Mexico's central bank bought the melted-down gold from valuable jewelry and coin collections, but he warned that this has not been documented and so falls within the realm of speculation.


Trejo is in charge of pursuing the clues provided by the watch dial and the pieces that the divers found in 1960.


She believes the watches came from Swiss factories and plans to ask for help from those still in business.


The idea is also to find some Spaniard or descendant who knows the history of this shipment, Trejo said, while Junco adds that an attempt must be made to "get to the individuals behind the objects."


Junco said that there is no certainty that the objects found at the bottom of the lake are part of the purported treasure - this is just one line of investigation, because there is another theory that a group of thieves came to the lake to get rid of part of their haul.


The research could take years, since according to Junco, "it has to be done as seriously as possible."


"This is one of those great mysteries that perhaps will never be solved. Maybe someone left a statement that tells all. The goal is to find somebody who owned one of these watches, to reconstruct the journey of those objects that somehow came to Mexico, some of which were dumped in the lagoon of a volcano. It's a story that seems taken from a detective novel," Junco said.