Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1908-01-31
LOOT OF BORDER DAY HOLDUP
Gold Bricks Found in Fire After
Twenty-Eight Years.
UNDER SALOON OF SUSPECTED MAN
Treasure Supposed 10 BE worth
Twelve Thousand Dollars is Re-
covered by Pacific Ex-
press Company.

press company
Gold bricks. thought to be worth N2,ON
stolen from the Pacific Express company
March 10. 1880. at Sidney, Neb., together
with an endless string OF stories Of the
red border days were secured at Sidney
Wednesday by Superintendent George Pat
terson of the express company, who re-
turned to Omaha Thursday after foreward-
ing the gold bricks to st. Louis, where
the company will investigate the value Of
the metal.
The bricks were found by workingmen
who were removing the ruins Of the Mike
Tobin saloon. which burned January TO-
1903, and the express company was imme-
diateiy notified 1t is thought the two
chunks of gold are the ones taken from
the depot at Sidney twenty-eight years
ago. though they may be a part of the
loot OF the stages robbed almost weekly
between Sidney and Deadwood.
Superintendent Patterson found the bricks
I'm the best of condition. They were lit
tie more than half the size of building
bricks and untarnished by the years Of
repose under the oid building. AS to their
value, Mr.. Patterson said:
Some Of the bricks which the express
company carried in the early days were
not worth more than 5000, as gold was
not refined i'm the Black Hills in 1880 as It
is today. II the bricks are found to con-
tain gold which has been refined on the
average, they are probably worth 5000
each did not feel I could pass on their
value and sent them at once to st. Louis.
some Fake Gold Bricks.
There are stories about Sidney of all
kinds Of gold bricks, worth from $l4O up
a.
and gold brick" artists, who are still at
large, had bricks manufactured in Denver
which had from $3.50 to 500 worth of gold
in them. They were sold to bankers and
others who were buying gold in the early
days, but as the gold bricks which were
stolen from the depot in Sidney were never
found those which l have sent to St.
Louis may be the bricks for which the
company paid the shippers twenty-eight
years ago and for which our detectives
have been watching since.
Mike Tobin who owned the saloon when
It burned was the bartender in another
saloon when the robbery occurred. The
saloon under which they were found was
owned by Sheriff McCarty at the time of
the robbery 1t is said the vigilance COM
mittee which lynched fellow by the name
of Mcdonald for participating in various
robberies was after the sheriff when they
got Mcdonald, as McCarty was thought
to be a bad actor Being the sheriff and
a saloon keeper, he was also famous
gambler. according 10 the stories of Sidney
pioneers"
The bricks lost by the express company
were brought down from Deadwood by
the stage of Marsh & Stevenson and turned
over to rhe agent OF the Pacific Express
company at Sidney. He locked them in the
express room as soon as they were re-
ceived hut while he was gone to dinner a
hole was sawed in the floor of the room
from beneath. and the two bricks taken,
No trace of them was ever found and the
company settled, as it did for large
amount of Black Hills gold.
Old stage Man Talks.
]. B. Stevenson, one of the owners of the
stage line which carried the gold bricks
to Sidney. and whose stages were robbed
now and then, said at the Murray hotel:
ITO an old stage man it seems impossible
that gold bricks, valued at 5000 each,
would rest under the saloon at Sidney for
twenty-eight years, without some of the
gang getting them and selling them; still
it is possible that the express company
has found the lost bricks. The stage COM
panieS dld not carry tle plloHS bIlCNS'
There were none in circulation which
knew anything about, but the story OF
twenty-eight years rest for gold bricks
does not sound good to me. There is some
thing wrong. If they were placed under
the McCarty saloon, the owners knew about
it, and | cannot conceive of how they
would allow them to remain there all these
years"
but ii was a tough crowd which stayed
around Sheriff McCarty's saloon in the
early days. Our line was very fortunate,
but the old line OF Gilmer, Salisbury and
Patrick from Cheyenne to Deadwood lost
heavily. The big robberies were up in the
mountains I'm the Hat Creek country.
have been held up in that country, myself,
several times and the robbers would take
small amount, some $3.50 to 5000, from
the passengers.
Look Voorhees, of Cheyenne was later
my partner in the conduct of the line from
Sidney TO Desdwood and has a record of
all the old robberies Some large amounts
were taken. Tons of silver and gold bricks
| were hauled down from the Hills by the
! different companies and the robbers were
| as thick as the decent citizens"