Spangler

Spangler is the main antagonist of Treasure of Matecumbe. Described as "The Devil Himself," by various characters, due to his cruel and sadistic nature, Spangler was formerly captain of the Union Navy gunboat, USS Cumberland. Sometime during the Civil War, he battled and sank the Confederate blockade runner, Flora B., commanded by the late Captain Clay Burnie, off the Florida Keys.
Spangler would later learn that the Flora B. had been carrying a cargo of gold and jewels, which Captain Burnie had managed to hide on one of the islands prior to being captured, and became obsessed with having it for himself. Burnie, however, died in Fort Douglas Military Prison before Spangler could learn where it was buried. Sometime after the war's end, Spangler, now the leader of a violent gang of thieves, made up mostly of his former officers and crew from the Cumberland, raided Grassy, the Burnie family estate in Kentucky. 
After murdering Burnie's former slave, Ben Woods (Robert DoQui), Spangler and his gang relentlessly pursued Burnie's young son, David (Johnny Doran), across the South, correctly believing that Ben had passed a secret map showing the treasure's location to him before dying. Although he managed to catch up with the younger Burnie and his African American friend, Thad (Billy "Pop" Attmore), several times and threaten their lives, Spangler's efforts were continually thwarted by the boys' allies (Joan Hackett, Peter Ustinov, Robert Foxworth) before he could achieve his goal, often with embarrassing results. However, this only made him more determined than ever.
Setting a clever trap in the Florida Everglades, he finally managed to acquire the map, stranding young Burnie and his allies in the swamp and taking their supplies. Believing his rivals to be as good as dead, Spangler and his men pressed on towards the treasure's location on Matecumbe Key, only to once again be thwarted before they could retrieve it, this time by a major hurricane. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Spangler, young Burnie and his allies had been rescued from the swamp by Captain Burnie's wayward brother, Jim (Robert Foxworth), and taken advantage of the storm to get ahead of them during the night. 
Shocked to discover their rivals on the beach the next morning, attempting to leave with the treasure chest, Spangler and his men shot at them, and after a brief standoff, forced them to abandon it in the woods and flee for their lives. Believing he had finally won, Spangler greedily fingered the gold and ordered his men to take it to the boat. 
Before they could leave with their ill-gotten gain, however, arrows suddenly began whizzing past them from seemingly out of nowhere. Startled, the men took cover, but could see nothing in the eerily quiet woods. After a futile attempt to shoot back at their unseen attackers, Spangler's now thoroughly unnerved men fled, leaving their leader to defend the treasure all alone. 
Refusing to abandon the gold, Spangler tried to drag the heavy chest towards the beach, only to be felled by a gunshot to the shoulder, as a large group of masked, buckskin-clad Native American warriors suddenly stepped from the brush. Unfortunately for Spangler and his gang, the hostile Cougar Tribe, for whom Matecumbe Key was a sacred burial ground, had heard them shooting at young Burnie and his allies and come to investigate. 
Spangler's men were quickly rounded up and the Cougars' chief declared that the trespassers would all make "good squaws"---slaves for rest of their lives. Wounded, but alive, Spangler was last seen being led away by his captors, never to be seen or heard from again. The treasure chest, which was of no interest to the Cougars, was left behind. 
==Gallery==
Treasure of Matecumbe (1976) -2.jpg|"The Devil Himself"
D9485d2fac6bda593fa89180e6b.jpg|The Beach Standoff
Treasure of Matecumbe (1976) -3.jpg|"Come, squaw." Spangler's defeat
Category:Villains
Category:Males
Category:People
Category:Presumably Deceased characters
Category:Live-action characters
Category:Live-action villains
Category:Treasure of Matecumbe
Category:Characters
Category:Thieves
Category:Adults