The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-07-20
GOLD BURIED BY JAMES GANG IS STILL UNBOUND
Many Have Sought In Vain For $6,00O In Copper
 Kettle

to indicate that half of the loot taken plices in the robbery of the bank at Kearney, Mo-, still remains buried in the Keeche Hills of the Comanche Indian Reservation, while on the farm from which the other half was ex- humed an oil well, flowing one hun dred barrels a day. recently was brought in.''
 Any reader of the 1urid literature written about the James boys and the pirates of former days should be able to recognize and identity this cache if 1t is ever found, for it consists of something like $6,0Oo in gold contain ed in a copper kettle, laid over with an earthenware crock cover Moreover, no matter how 1t is eventually brought to light, there is the customary mysterious diagram (so necessary in all trasure-hunting yarns) that would have led the seeker had he followed the directions ac- curately, direct to the location. This diagram was originally drawn on Jesse James bootleg.
 But if this synopsis smacks of the dime novel, it should be added that the details came from the lips of Frank James and that the man the latter let into the secret is still living at Cement, Oklahoma.
 Billy Royse, veteran p1ainsman and son of Irish doorkeeper at the White House when Lincoln was Pres ident, has sought in vain for the pot of gold, as have many others, although 1t is conceded Royse has the inside track in first hand information and essential data.
 Remembered Supper. Royse first met Frank James in the | early '70s in the Black Hills country, when Royse was travelling with Will | liam F. Cody and a band of sixteen | plainsmen. Far out on the prairie, | probably in Montana, they encounter | ed party of seven horsemen whom | Cody accosted and asked, according | to Royse as to suitable campin g | place. Cody recognized Frank James | and the two outfits camped together | that night, Royse, then only fourteen | preparing the supper of venk5on and l wild turkey.
 Forty years later Royse met Frank | James, who recently had been par | doned from prison, on the streets of | Cement and recalled their earlier
 meeting.
 l Could ever forget the supper you fed us that night?' James fairly
 roared. "I want to talk to you Billy. | I have something of interest to tell | you"
 | What Frank James said to Billy | Royse was in substance this: After | the Kearney bank robbery the out l laws, eluding the authorities who | gavec hase, rode as did other long l riders of that day, far down into the | Indian country The Keeche Hills | were out beyond the settlements o1 ! the Indian territory. They skirted the | prairie lands of the Comanches and l Kiowas- They were rugged and rocky l and not easy to enter save by paths
 of uncertain destination and an old | route of stage coach. They were un- l inha bited and secluded.
 | Like Treasure Island Story Frank and Jesse James and the | Ford boys were in safe refuge here | more than few times. This time l they made camp, as they had before | at a spring near the foot of what is
 known as Buzzard Roost Mountain
 It happens that that mountain ant | that spring are on the homestead O.
 Mrs. Belle Hedlund, Comanche country | homesteader, and that on her 16(
 acres an oil well that is making 1O(
 barrels a day was recently drilled.
 The horses were fed and supper wa. | cooked by Frank James that evening
 while Jesse James and the Ford boy! I | $12,000. It was divided into two ket
 ties. When the grave diggers return
 ed to Camp Jesse aJmes drew a dia
 gram on his bootleg.
 ] After supper he and Frank wen
 to boulder at the foot of Buzzart ! Roost Mountain and cut thereon a
 deeply as they could with crude in struments drawing of one rifle acros
 another.
 The barrel of one rifle pointed t the east. More than that, 1t pointe , to a tree Into that tree the outlaw
 carved four letters In an upper ro1 , were the letters M O O. Beneat
 them was the letter Y. Below tha
 letter they nailed a mule shoe into
 blaze.
 These things and more Frank Jame . told Billy Royse. "I have found tn rifles cut into the rock,'' he said, 'br
 I havn't found the tree. I want yo
 to help me find it.''
 Billy RoySe said he would.
 Royse found the tree and it was o his farm. The discovery elated hin He was eager to tell the news to Fran
 James It was so good it leaked fro1 5 his lips to neighbor, and it reache II James before Royse saw him. Tn;
 night Frank James and another ma e dug up the kettle and went away wit l the gold. It was buried one yard frol | the foot of the tree, Royse claims. l All Efforts Failed Il After Frank James went away, an particularly after he died, several me e made fruitless efforts to locate tt t other pot of gold. James had tol
 Royse he didn't find it, had forgotte 9 the signs that would lead him to but remembered that is was near th @ one he had found. Royse sever:
 years later had a man with an instrl o ment. help him hearch, but tk = ground was so inpregnated with mir 0 eral that the instrument was of T s avail Later Royse had an o1d-tim = STATE OF CONNECTICUT, Distri e of Bridgeport. ss. Probate Cour
 Bridgeport, July 20, 1920.
 An Agreement for the Adoption C
 (Tnci1lel Coodb1It mir, Al