The Silver Madonna and Other Tales of America's Greatest Lost Treasures (16 page)

The following day when he returned to the ranch with the cattle, the cowhand unsaddled his mount to groom it. He carried the saddlebags into the bunkhouse, removed the ingot, and slid it under his cot, intending to hand it over to the foreman at the first opportunity. He soon forgot about it. Six months later, the ranch hand accepted an offer for a similar job in Kansas. After working his last day at the Monahans ranch, he told his companions good-bye, shook hands all around, and left. The ingot, forgotten, remained under his cot.

It was months later when another of the cowhands came upon the ingot while trying to locate a rattlesnake that had gotten into the bunkhouse. Upon close inspection, the cowhand determined it was gold. He kept his discovery a secret for weeks while he tried to learn more about it. Finally, he informed the foreman of his find and asked him what he knew about it. The cowhand obtained the name of the previous employee who had occupied the cot and an address of a Kansas ranch. He wrote a letter inquiring about the origin of the ingot.

Weeks later, the cowhand received a letter from the Kansas cowboy who briefly described the circumstances relating to the discovery of the gold bar. He also wrote that he had found it near Willow Spring in the sandhills. The cowhand, along with the foreman, traveled the short distance to Willow Spring to try to find more of the ingots but were unsuccessful.

In the years that have passed since researchers made the connection between the massacre of the Dutch travelers in the Monahans Sandhills and the large amount of gold bars the party was transporting, hopeful treasure hunters have arrived at Monahans Sandhills State Park to try to find this treasure cache. Now and then a piece of metal wagon fitting or charred wood was located, convincing searchers they were in the right place.

In 1992, an old man known for his ability to dowse for water and minerals came to the area. He was hired by a rancher to find underground water so that a well could be dug. The ranch was located north of the sandhills. While the dowser was witching for water, he claimed he received what he called a “strong pull of gold” from some distance to the south. After finding water for the rancher, the dowser said he was going to travel into the sandhills and attempt to determine what was causing his dowsing rod to respond to whatever might be located there.

Though hunting for treasure is against the law in Texas state parks, the dowser nevertheless walked about the dunes following the pull of his dowsing rod. It was a hot August day, and the elderly and somewhat overweight dowser trudged up and down several of the high dunes. The soft sand made walking difficult, and he was forced to stop often to rest.

The dowser entered the dunes from the north, and from his tracks it was clear he had covered several miles in his search, zigzagging his way across the sandhills. He was found the next day, dead from an apparent heart attack. Park rangers encountered him lying face down in the sand, his body stretched out, his dowsing rod still clutched in his weathered fingers. The end of the rod pointed directly toward Willow Spring, less than one hundred yards away.

There have been rumors of other visitors to the Monahans Sandhills State Park who have found some of the gold ingots, but none have been verified. Allegedly, all of the discoveries have occurred near Willow Spring.

Though illegal, treasure hunters continue to arrive at the state park to search for the lost gold ingots, each one hopeful he will be the one to find the lost treasure of the Dutch wagon train. To date, however, the large caches of gold buried there have never been found.

18

Chief Victorio’s Gold

The rugged environs of the mountain and desert country of West Texas have long lured treasure hunters. Experienced adventurers claim that this region contains more lost mines and buried treasures than any other area in the United States. One of the richest, and most elusive, treasure caches that has attracted the attention of hundreds is associated with Eagle Mountains.

A remote cave exists somewhere deep in the heart of this range, one that was well known to the Apache Indians who frequented the area during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Many believed that the cave was filled with hundreds of gold ingots stolen by the Indians from Mexican pack trains. The gold was allegedly used by the notorious Apache Chief Victorio for the purpose of acquiring rifles and ammunition, but he only removed a small portion. The bulk of this vast treasure, estimated to be worth many millions of dollars, remains hidden in the cave.

During and following the Civil War, more and more Americans from the war-torn South fled their homelands and journeyed westward. Some had heard of the riches to be gleaned in the gold fields of California and traveled there. Others with more modest goals found something they liked about Texas, and settled into the farming and ranching lands of the central and southern parts of the state. Others—trappers, traders, prospectors, miners, and adventurers—continued westward in search of a living. Some succeeded; others succumbed to the rigors of West Texas drought and Indian attacks. Some found their fortune, only to lose it.

In response to the increasing numbers of travelers, stage lines and railroad companies surveyed and opened up new routes to accommodate the growing number of customers. One stage line wound across the plains and deserts from San Antonio to El Paso. Along the way, it stopped at designated stagecoach stations set up for the purpose of supplying fresh horses, making repairs, and providing accommodations and meals for the passengers.

One of the stations was located at Eagle Springs in the foothills on the northern edge of the Eagle Mountains and fifteen miles southwest of Van Horn. One of the regular stagecoach drivers was a young man named Joe Peacock. Though he was only nineteen years of age, Peacock was already a veteran of several shootouts with outlaws as well as raids by Indians. He was a skilled driver and a dependable employee and soon rose to the ranks of favored worker in the eyes of his supervisors. The stagecoach company was in desperate need of men who manifested the qualities and skills of Peacock to negotiate the coaches through that rugged part of West Texas and keep passengers safe from attacks by hostile Indians and bandits.

It was during this time that the Apache Indian chief Victorio took up residence in the nearby Eagle Mountains. Victorio despised all white men, Spaniards, and Mexicans, and vowed to slay every one with whom he came in contact. From time to time, Victorio and his band were seen riding in the region of the Eagle Springs stagecoach station.

One afternoon, Joe Peacock pulled his stagecoach into the yard of the Eagle Springs station. As he was about to step down off of the coach, twenty warriors charged out of the nearby foothills firing rifles, hurling lances, and shooting arrows into passengers and station employees. Within a few minutes, everyone was dead except for Peacock, who was suffering from an arrow wound in his left thigh. The Apaches decided to take him captive.

Peacock was tied across the back of an Indian pony and led away by one of Victorio’s warriors. After leaving the stagecoach station, the Apaches traveled southward across the Rio Grande and into the Tres Castillos Mountains in Mexico. The Tres Castillos range had long served as an Apache stronghold, and Victorio often sought refuge there from pursuing soldiers from both the U.S. and Mexican armies. Here the Indians would rest and tend their horses before launching another raid.

As Peacock rode in his uncomfortable position on the horse, he was convinced he was being saved for some form of horrible torture. Peacock remembered stories about the Apaches and of how they would keep a man alive for hours while subjecting him to great pain, and it made him tremble.

Days later when the party arrived at the Tres Castillos hideout, Peacock was pulled from the horse, untied, and turned over to a young woman named Juanita, who treated his wound. The girl Juanita remains controversial. Some researchers insist she was the daughter of Victorio, others say she was a Mexican captive. When Peacock’s wound healed, he was assigned chores around the camp: collecting firewood, hauling water from a spring, tending the fires, and helping to cure hides. He was, for all intents and purposes, a slave.

From time to time Peacock was subjected to beatings by some of the women and warriors when he did not work as hard as they thought he should. Years later he told an interviewer that as long as he lived, he harbored hope that he might find a way to escape.

While Peacock was a captive in Victorio’s camp, Juanita found ways to spend time with him. Sometimes at night she would sneak out of her wickiup and crawl to where the captive lay sleeping under a tree. One night Victorio caught Juanita and Peacock together. The Apache chief wanted to kill Peacock, but Juanita pleaded for his life to be spared.

While visiting Peacock, Juanita told him that she would wed him. The statement took the prisoner by surprise. Though Peacock appreciated all that Juanita had done for him and was flattered by her attention, he did not love her. Further, he did not want to refuse her, for she was the only person in the camp responsible for keeping him alive.

Peacock told Juanita a made-up story that he had a very ill mother living in Texas and that he was very concerned for her. He explained that once he was certain his mother was well, he would be free to marry. Juanita accepted Peacock’s explanation and was content for a while, but soon she resumed her desire to be wed. During her somewhat aggressive courtship of the prisoner, Juanita told Peacock that if he would consent to marry her she would tell him where Chief Victorio hid all of the gold he had stolen from Mexican pack trains. Peacock had seen a few gold ingots in the camp on several occasions and wondered to himself how and why the Apaches came into possession of them. He learned from Juanita that the Indians used them to barter for rifles and ammunition from Mexican and American gunrunners. The prisoner also watched as Apache artisans fashioned bracelets and other items from the soft metal. The ingots seemed to be plentiful, and Peacock wondered how many Victorio had hidden away in some secret location.

Juanita was aware of Peacock’s interest in the gold ingots. She told him that hundreds of the bars were hidden in a small cave in the Eagle Mountains not far from the stagecoach station where he had been taken captive. She explained that there was a well-marked trail that led from the cave to the tiny settlement of Indian Hot Springs on the Rio Grande. The Apaches often stopped at these hot springs going to and from raids. Here they would rest their animals and bathe in the warm waters.

Juanita told Peacock that she had visited the cave many times. She was first taken there as a child and watched as warriors loaded ingots onto pack mules. In addition to the ingots, she said, the cave also contained dozens of leather bags filled with gold coins and nuggets. She told Peacock it would take at least fifty burros to transport all of the gold in the cave.

During one of their conversations, Peacock learned from Juanita that a small party of Apaches had left the camp to travel to the cave to retrieve more ingots. Along the way, they encountered a platoon of U.S. Calvary that gave chase. The Indians sought shelter among the rocks and a brief skirmish ensued. Two of the troopers were killed and one of the Indians wounded. The soldiers retreated, and the Apaches continued on to the cave.

When the party of Indians returned to the hideout in the Tres Castillos Mountains and informed Victorio of the incident, the chief grew furious. He was concerned the soldiers would return in great strength and follow the trail to the cave in the Eagle Mountains and take the gold. Wasting no time, Victorio assembled another group of Indians. He told them to ride to the cave and conceal the entrance by stacking rocks in front of the small opening and then generate a small landslide to cover it. Before departing the area, he told his warriors to take care to make the site look much the same as the rest of the mountain.

For days, Peacock asked Juanita to tell him the location of the treasure cave. She was concerned that he was more interested in the gold than he was in her, and she refused. One day after one of her visits, however, she agreed to tell him where it was and gave him directions. She told him he must not go search for it without her.

However, with knowledge of the treasure, Peacock began making plans to escape from the Tres Castillos hideout. At night while he slept, he dreamed about the fortune that awaited him in the secret cave.

Weeks passed, and Peacock bided his time, ever alert for an opportunity to escape. He was watched closely by the Apaches and when he was sent to gather firewood, a guard went with him. Then, early one morning as he rose from his sleeping pallet under the tree, he spotted Victorio riding about the camp and gathering his warriors. Within minutes, most of the Indians were mounted and heading south deeper into Mexico to conduct raids and take horses. As he looked around the encampment, Peacock noted that the remaining Apaches consisted mostly of old men, women, and children.

That evening, Peacock told Juanita that this afforded the best time to leave for Texas. He promised her he would go see his ailing mother and then return for her as soon as he could. Juanita provided Peacock with a stout pony capable of making the long and rugged journey across the desert. She handed him a saddlebag filled with venison jerky and tortillas and a deer bladder that held a supply of water. Taking care not to arouse any of the Indians, Peacock rode out of the camp, down the mountain, and then north toward the safety of Texas.

Using the directions provided by Juanita, Peacock rode directly to Eagle Springs where he made a small camp not far from the stage station. Exhausted from his long ride, he rested for several days before undertaking the search for Chief Victorio’s secret cave. On several occasions, he walked and rode along the trail identified by Juanita as the one that led to the cave, but he had difficulty interpreting the landmarks. A number of locations matched her descriptions but many did not. Peacock grew confused.

For weeks Peacock explored and searched the region but found nothing. He began to wonder if the girl had given him partial directions in the hope that he would return to her.

After one month, Peacock had exhausted his food supply. He needed to find employment so that he could purchase more. A few weeks later, he regained his job as stagecoach driver. In his spare time he continued to search for the cave of gold.

Several years passed. Peacock managed to save enough money from his job to purchase a small ranch not far from the Eagle Mountains. When he was not occupied with working cattle and repairing fence, he returned to the Eagle Mountains to continue his quest to find the gold.

In 1880, Texas Ranger Captain George W. Baylor and another named North led a command into the region between the Eagle Mountains and the Rio Grande. Their orders were to look for renegade Apaches and, if encountered, engage them. Their objective was to capture them. Failing that, they were to kill as many as possible.

Days earlier, Baylor received word that Chief Victorio’s band of Apaches had been attacked in their Tres Castillos stronghold by the Mexican army led by General Luis Terrazas. Most of the Indians were killed, but a handful escaped and fled north toward the Rio Grande. The Texas Rangers prepared to intercept them before they had an opportunity to prey on travelers and settlers. It was well known throughout the area that Victorio’s Apaches often camped in the Eagle Mountains.

After days of waiting to encounter the Indians, Baylor grew restless. Believing he could more effectively surprise the Apaches before they arrived in the Eagle Mountains, he ordered his contingent of Ranger troopers across the river and into Mexico. Riding with Baylor’s command was Joe Peacock. The former stagecoach driver had signed on with the Rangers only two weeks earlier.

Days later, the Rangers arrived in the Tres Castillos Mountains and never encountered a single Apache along the way. Instead, they found the corpses of the slain Indians strewn across their home campground. Peacock walked among the bodies to discover if Juanita was among them. He could not find her.

Baylor met with Terrazas, who still camped nearby. Terrazas informed the Ranger captain that his soldiers had killed Victorio, but several of the captured Apaches claimed that the chief took his own life rather than be taken prisoner by the Mexicans. Baylor was also informed that more than a dozen Apaches managed to escape and flee north toward Texas. Minutes later, the captain had ordered his men to mount up and ride in pursuit. Baylor noted that the trail they followed led directly to the Eagle Mountains.

Days later, the Rangers entered the mountain range. Following the tracks of the Apaches, they encountered them a short time later and opened fire. The Indians took shelter behind nearby boulders. Taken by surprise, the Apaches were unprepared. As they ran for cover they grabbed their rifles but had no time to secure their bags of ammunition. For twenty-four hours the two groups exchanged gunfire before the Indians ran out of bullets. They were also desperately short on water and food.