The Silver Madonna and Other Tales of America's Greatest Lost Treasures (11 page)

13

The Lost Treasure of Skeleton Canyon

During the latter part of the nineteenth century, a gang of Arizona and New Mexico based bandits organized a raid on the city of Monterrey in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon. While robbing the bank and sacking the town’s church, the robbers were confronted by a small contingent of Mexican soldiers and police and a battle ensured, during which several of the soldiers were killed.

Packing their booty consisting of gold and silver coins, diamonds, and golden crucifixes, chalices, and other valuable religious artifacts onto a number of stout mules, the outlaws fled Monterrey, heading northwest toward a remote and seldom-used pass through the mountains far to the northwest and near a point where Mexico, New Mexico, and Arizona share a common boundary.

At the time of the robbery, it was estimated that the value of the loot exceeded two million dollars. It consisted of one million dollars’ worth of diamonds, thirty-nine bars of gold, dozens of bags of gold and silver coins, and an undetermined amount of gold statuary taken from the church. The journey from Monterrey to the pass was almost a thousand miles long, wandering over poor roads and trails. The outlaws were pursued for several days, but the soldiers were no match for their weaponry and marksmanship. Eventually, they abandoned the pursuit and returned to Monterrey.

Weeks later when the party crossed the international border in southeastern Arizona, they wound their way through a little-known canyon. Here, intrigue and double cross led to an ambush that resulted in the deaths of at least a dozen men and the burial of a substantial portion of the treasure. Since then, the pass has been known as Skeleton Canyon.

In 1891, a small gang of bandits led by a man believed to be the notorious outlaw Curly Bill Brocious terrorized stagecoach shipments and travelers in the vicinity of Silver City, New Mexico. According to some researchers, Brocious was killed by Wyatt Earp during a gun battle near Tombstone. The claim is based almost entirely on a statement by Earp. However, Brocious’s body was never found. According to some, the outlaw fled to New Mexico where he continued his life of crime holding up stagecoaches.

For months, Brocious and his gang plied their outlaw trade, but by the time the spoils of the robberies were divided by the five men, the rewards were slim. Curly Bill wanted to move on to bigger, more lucrative targets, but remained unsure how to go about it.

One evening the five outlaws met at Brocious’s cabin located not far from Silver City. The gang members included Jim Hughes, Zwing Hunt, Billy Grounds, and Doc Neal. Several years earlier, Hughes had killed three people during a stagecoach robbery in Texas. He was nearly caught by law enforcement authorities but succeeded in escaping across the border into Mexico. He fled to Monterrey, where he lived for a year. During his time there he grew proficient in Spanish and also learned of various riches found in that city.

When Hughes decided to leave Monterrey, he traveled westward, ending up in the Mexican state of Sonora. Here he fell in with José Estrada, a feared Mexican bandit and killer. Hughes proved to be a competent and fearless member of the gang, one of thirty to forty members, and he remained with the bandit leader for several months. Following a series of raids, the Estrada gang was pursued by a Mexican army patrol, forcing them to take refuge in the Sierra Madres close to the border of the United States. At this point, Hughes bade his friend Estrada good-bye and told him he was going to head back toward home. A short time later, he joined Curly Bill’s gang in Silver City.

While Hughes was meeting with Brocious and the other outlaws that evening, he related stories of his time in Mexico, and in particular, Monterrey. Intrigued, Brocious suggested they travel to that city and raid it. The other outlaws agreed, eager for the wealth they knew they would realize from such an escapade.

Hughes thought the idea good, but explained that a gang of Anglos riding into Monterrey would arouse suspicion. Besides, he said, five men were not enough. They needed a small army. Then he offered an idea. He would contact his friend Estrada and enlist his aid in conducting the robbery. He would explain to Estrada that disposing of the loot in Mexico would be a problem, and that if he transported it to the United States, he and Brocious would arrange for its exchange, converting the gold and gems into cash and making him and his gang members all rich men. Hughes had a plan, and it involved double-crossing the greedy Estrada.

Hughes said he would accompany Estrada and his men to Monterrey. After the raid, he would then lead them back to the United States to a specific location. Once Estrada’s gang and all of the loot were within the confines of the canyon east of Sloan’s Ranch, explained Hughes, Brocious and his gang would ambush them and take the treasure. Hughes’s plan appealed to the gang members and they agreed to send their companion into Sonora to find Estrada and explain the proposal.

After weeks of planning and travel, the raid was ready to be launched. Telegraph wires were cut, and mules were procured to transport the booty. The bank and church were sacked. Much to the surprise of the bandits, a fortune in cut diamonds was found in the bank vault. During the raid, four Monterrey police officers were shot and killed, along with at least a dozen soldiers. Three hours later, the bandits rode out of town with gold and silver bars and coins, priceless golden statuary from the church, and diamonds. The booty was packed into sacks and saddlebags and lashed to the mules.

The outlaws fled due west, following the wagon road to Torreon. Occasional firefights erupted with their pursuers, who eventually turned back. Near Torreon, the party turned northward and made their way along a snaking road through the Sierra Madres that eventually took them to an old smuggler’s trail that led into Arizona.

Once across the border, the weary bandits made camp in a narrow canyon near the confluence of what are now Skeleton Creek and the South Fork of Skeleton Creek. By this time, most of Estrada’s gang members had been paid off and sent home. The treasure was now guarded by the Mexican bandit leader himself along with a dozen handpicked men. Hughes told Estrada he was going to ride ahead and make the arrangements for the transfer of the treasure and would return in a few days.

Several days later, Hughes returned to the canyon with Grounds, Hunt, and Neal. For reasons not clear, Brocious remained in Silver City. Early one morning, Hughes led his partners to a point about two miles north of Estrada’s camp where they set up an ambush. At this point, the canyon was so narrow that the mules and riders would have to pass through single file. The Mexicans would be easy targets. When his men were positioned for the assault, Hughes told them to open fire at his signal, which would be a pistol shot. Then he rode back to Estrada’s camp.

Hours later, Estrada’s men loaded the treasure onto the mules and doused the campfires. The riders mounted and prepared for travel. Hughes told Estrada they were to ride to Silver City where the treasure would be exchanged for cash. Following the transfer, there would be a celebration. It was late afternoon by the time the treasure caravan entered the narrow part of the canyon. Hughes was in the lead, with Estrada riding behind him.

When the line of riders and pack animals was strung out in the narrow defile, Hughes turned in his saddle and shot Estrada in the head. At this, Grounds, Hunt, and Neal opened fire with their rifles, and within seconds, all of the Mexicans were dead.

During the slaughter, the pack mules carrying a portion of the treasure panicked and bolted. Unable to overtake and control them, the riders decided that the only way to stop them was to shoot them. All save two were downed before they could escape the canyon. One was shot just outside of the canyon entrance and the last was finally overtaken miles away near Geronimo’s Peak.

With the killing of the mules a problem arose. Now there was no way to transport the greatest portion of the Monterrey loot to the designated hiding place. Neal volunteered to ride to Silver City and secure more mules. Grounds and Hunt were to remain in the canyon to guard the treasure. While discussion ensued, Hunt asked why Brocious was to get a share of the treasure when he did nothing to help obtain it. Eventually, it was decided to leave Curly Bill out of the split. Hughes would ride back to Silver City and tell Brocious that Estrada escaped with all of the treasure. If Brocious acted suspicious, Hughes was to kill him. Hughes would then return to Skeleton Canyon with the necessary mules where he, Grounds, Neal, and Hunt would load the treasure and transport it to some safe location.

Within hours after Hughes rode away, Grounds, Hunt, and Neal decided to keep the treasure for themselves. With Brocious and Hughes nowhere around, they could divide the fortune three ways, each of them receiving a greater share than under the previous plan. Doc Neal was elected to travel to a nearby ranch and purchase some oxen to carry the treasure. Taking a pocketful of the gold coins, he rode away while Grounds and Hunt set up camp.

Once Neal was out of sight, Grounds and Hunt gathered up the treasure that had been carried by the mules, excavated a deep hole not far from the campsite and about one mile from the massacre site, and buried most of it. According to some estimates, the two men buried, in 1890s values, approximately eighty thousand dollars’ worth of the loot. Some researchers quibble with this figure, claiming it could be as much as one million dollars or more.

Neal rode into camp two days later, leading four oxen roped together. It did not take him long to realize he had been double-crossed by his two partners. He noted that several of the leather pouches containing the treasure lay open and empty and several of the mule packs were missing. He said nothing, fearing that revealing his suspicions might get him killed. The following morning, the three men loaded the remaining treasure onto the oxen.

For the next two days, the outlaws herded the oxen northeastward toward New Mexico. Then, just before reaching the border, they turned northward into the Peloncillo Mountains. As they rode along, Neal noted that Grounds and Hunt often rode close together and spoke in whispers. Neal was convinced the two men intended to kill him. At the first opportunity, he broke away from the pack train and fled eastward. He later reported that Grounds and Hunt fired their rifles at him as he fled, but he was not struck.

Neal rode straight for Silver City. Here he discovered Brocious had been arrested for fighting and was in the jailhouse. Hughes was living in the outlaw’s cabin. Hughes had not seen Brocious since his return and had been unable to tell him the concocted story of Estrada’s escape with the treasure. When Neal told Hughes all that had transpired after he left, he grew angry. The two men decided that when Brocious was released from jail, the three of them would go after Grounds and Hunt.

When Brocious was finally released from jail, Hughes and Neal took him to a saloon where they explained what had occurred. On learning of the deception, Brocious grew livid. At some point, a young barmaid banged into his chair and the volatile Brocious, losing control, pulled his revolver and shot her dead. Realizing they were facing serious charges, the three men fled Silver City with a posse on their heels.

Some forty miles later, the posse caught up with and cornered the three outlaws at the little town of Shakespeare to the southwest. During the gunfight that ensued, Neal was killed. Brocious and Hughes were forced to surrender and within hours were hanged in the dining room of Shakespeare’s Pioneer Hotel.

By the time Brocious and Hughes were dangling from the rafters of the Pioneer, Hunt and Grounds, after filling their pockets with gold coins from the hoard, had buried the remainder of the treasure in a canyon running out of Davis Mountain near Morenci, Arizona. Then they moved to Tombstone.

Within weeks, word of the massacre of the Estrada gang in what was now being called Skeleton Canyon circulated throughout that part of the Southwest, but no one save Grounds and Hunt knew the circumstances. While maintaining their secret, the two men spent gold recklessly in Tombstone.

Grounds remembered a former girlfriend living in Charleston, a small town not far from Tombstone, and he went to see her. Since Grounds had left months earlier, she had taken up with the Charleston butcher. When Grounds arrived and showed her all of his gold coins, she decided to go back to him. One night as they were lying together in bed, he told her the story of the Monterrey raid, the treasure, and the incident in Skeleton Canyon.

The next morning after Grounds returned to Tombstone, the woman told the butcher what she had learned. The butcher rode to Tombstone to inform Sheriff Bill Breckenridge of the two murderers, Grounds and Hunt, living in his town. While the butcher was talking to Breckenridge, Grounds had returned to Charleston. The girlfriend immediately confessed to him what she had done. Panicked, Grounds rode his horse at a hard gallop back to Tombstone, told Hunt what had happened, and the two fled.

Before leaving, Grounds took a few minutes to write a letter to his mother who was living in San Antonio, Texas. In the letter, Grounds told her he was coming home, that he was tired of this “wild life.” He wrote that he had buried eighty thousand dollars that “I came by honestly.” He said he intended to purchase a ranch near San Antonio where his mother could live out her days. Enclosed with the letter was a map showing the location of the treasure buried in Skeleton Canyon.