Fill In The Blanks

[Silver Creek Slim]

James Garfield?

Slim

[Col. Riddles]

Ok Here's a couple hints. The lessor known small time but notorious outlaw was in Galeyville Az. & involved in one of the worst massacres in Arizona history in 1881. He double crossed his partners in crime not once but twice. The president became active in politics as a young man through some underhanded dealings in his home state. A book was written about this and although it is factual was not very popular in this presidents home state.

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

The president was LBJ, and the outlaw was Billy Grounds' sidekick.

[Col. Riddles]

Hamp, you got it 1/2 right. The president was indeed Lyndon Baines Johnson. But the outlaw was Zwing Hunt, a native of San Antonio, Tx., & a close compadre of William Boucher aka Billy grounds. LBJ & Hunt were cousins, having the same grandparents.

The massacre I referred to in the hint happened in Skeleton Canyon in July, 1881. Jim Hughes, a Tombstone owlhoot, discovered a Mexican pack train laden with gold and jewels was readying itself for a trip through the mountain pass on its way to Tucson. Hughes spoke fluent Spanish, as did many cowboys along the border, and he overheard a band of Mexican bandits bragging about looting the town of Monterrey. The bandits were planning to smuggle their booty into the United States through the narrow canyon gorge known locally for its expert ambush qualities.

Hughes was never one to miss any opportunity which promised riches and wealth of any sort. With his outlaw pals, he spent his time in such towns as Charleston, Galeyville, and Shakespeare where law and order were things unknown. From these wild and reckless towns, the gang would make periodic raids into Sonora, returning to squander the ill-gotten gains in the red light districts of the area, often escaping into New Mexico when pursued by the law.

Hughes was also the chief lieutenant of  William "Curly Bill" Brocius, an ugly gunslinger who would sooner cut a man in half for a dollar than do any kind of respectable work himself. Curly Bill dabbled in several lines of interest; namely, rustling, robbery, hijacking, and murder. He had ridden into Tombstone in 1880, where he met Billy Clanton, the youngest member of the notorious Clanton Gang. Clanton's father was Newton Haynes "Old Man" Clanton, who ran ramrod over the entire southeastern corner of Arizona. Old Man Clanton took an instant shine to his new recruit, and it was not long before Curly Bill and Old Man were thicker than thieves. It became a well-known fact that Clanton wanted Brocius to one day take over the leadership of the gang.

As soon as he learned of the route the Mexican bandits planned to take, Hughes hurriedly rode back to Tombstone and told his cronies of the treasure. Curly Bill made plans to ambush the smugglers. He sent word to Old Man Clanton and the rest of the gang. Spies, however, brought word that the Mexican gang was going through the gorge sooner than expected, and since Curly Bill was away on other business, Jim Hughes took charge. He decided to recruit several of Galeyville's most unsavory characters for the job. Among the men Hughes recruited for the ambush were, Grounds and  Hunt.

The Mexican gang called themselves the Estrada gang. They came out of Mexico, through Sonora, heading straight for the narrow gorge of Skeleton Canyon. The Estrada gang stopped about a mile or two on the Arizona side, right outside an area later to be called the Devil's Kitchen. It was an ideal campsite in the western end of the canyon, and the Mexicans paused to rest their weary mules and have a meager meal.

The American gang concealed in the rocks were surprised to count thirty heavily laden mules when the Mexican gang rode into sight. It was one of the richest trains ever to pass along the Smuggler's Trail, and they could hardly contain their delight, as they waited for the Mexicans to eat and settle down for their afternoon siesta. When all was quiet, American gunfire split the silence, ricocheting from the canyon walls like thunder. The unsuspecting victims never had a chance.

Taken completely by surprise, the Mexicans scattered in all directions in total panic. Some managed to remount and were shot out of the saddle. Mules not yet relieved of their packs stampeded in fright. Coins and contraband flung all over the canyon. In desperation, the American gang resorted to shooting the mules to stop the animals from fleeing and taking the loot with them. When the gunfire ceased and the smoke cleared away, nineteen Mexican muleteers and twenty-six mules lay dead, their bodies scattered up the canyon floor toward the San Simon.

When the dust settled, the gang gathered up seventy-five thousand dollars in stolen coins, artifacts, and jewels from the mule-train. But with no mules, they had no way of packing it out of the canyon. The horde was too large, and too heavy, for their horses to carry. Part of the loot was divided up on the spot, with Old Man Clanton taking most of it. The rest was buried at the mouth of the canyon until it could be recovered later. The sight of such great wealth, however, gave one gang member other ideas.

No sooner were the outlaws back in their old haunts than Jim Hughes approached Zwing Hunt and Billy Grounds with a far-fetched plan. He decided that while the rest of the men were out in local bars in Shakespeare and Galeyville, spending their money and ill-gotten fortune, the three of them would double-cross the gang. While Hughes remained in Galeyville to allay any suspicions, Hunt and Grounds would ride back to Skeleton Canyon, dig up the horde, and transfer it to another hiding place. Only the three of them would then know where the remainder of the wealth was hidden.

Zwing Hunt and Billy Grounds scouted around and finally found a Mexican teamster willing to take his wagon and team of horses into the canyon. They then dug up the treasure from the end of the canyon, hauled it further into the canyon or somewhere nearby (nobody knows for sure), and dumped it into another hole the Mexican dug. And of course, the Mexican and his horses were then killed, dragged into the hole, and buried with the horde. The wagon was pulled over the mound and burned. Now, only Hunt and Grounds knew where the treasure was buried.

Fearing retribution from their ex-partners, Zwing Hunt and Billy Grounds went into hiding. They found a desert cave where they remained for nearly four months. During this period, Billy reportedly penned a number of letters to his sister Maggie Clinger in San Antonio, Texas. Billy wanted her to know where the treasure was hidden should anything happen to him. He ventured out once a week to give the letters to a passing stagecoach.

On 19 March 1882, the two men thought the way clear enough to leave their hiding place. They rode into Charleston, and on the night of 25 March, they attempted to rob the Tombstone Mining and Milling Company. Armed with rifles, they burst into the office and shot Robert Peel through the heart. A second shot sent three other men diving for cover, and a third shot blew out the light. At this point, the robbers panicked and fled, leaving behind a white Stetson and several good boot tracks. Descriptions of the robbers, plus the white hat and boot tracks, easily identified Zwing Hunt as the owner of the hat and Billy Grounds as the one who made the boot tracks. Deputy Sheriff E. A. Harley organized a posse. He put Billy Breakenridge in charge, and E. H. Allen, Jack Young, and John Gillespie were deputized as the posse.

Hunt and Grounds fled to Jack Chandler's ranch near Tombstone. Sheriff Johnny Behan was out of town, so Breakenridge and his three-man posse left Tombstone just before midnight and arrived at the Chandler ranch a little before dawn. After knocking on the door and announcing themselves, a gunfight ensued. Zwing Hunt raced out the door shooting. John Gillespie, who had been a deputy sheriff less than twelve hours, fell dead, a bullet through his head. E. H. Allen was hit in the neck, but managed to shoot Hunt with a rifle shot. Hunt crawled back inside.

Breakenridge, safely ensconced behind a tree, took a shot at Billy Grounds, who now entered the battle. He hit Grounds in the head, and Grounds died of his wound instantly. Jack Young had gone to the back of the house when the first shots were fired, and he had been hurled back into the yard with a bullet-smashed thigh. Zwing Hunt plunged through the back door and up a small rise, making himself such a fine target against the breaking dawn of the skyline that both Breakenridge and Allen fired several shots at him. One of the bullets caught Hunt in the back, passing though his body and puncturing one lung. Though severely wounded, he still managed to disappear into the brush, where Breakenridge later found him.

The gunfight at Chandler's ranch had lasted only a few seconds, but it had left two men dead and three wounded. Billy Grounds and John Gillespie joined Robert Peel in the cemetery. Jack Young and E. H. Allen later recovered from their wounds. Zwing Hunt was taken to a hospital in Tombstone and placed under guard, where the doctor gave him no chance of recovery.

When Jim Hughes learned of Zwing Hunt's predicament, he rushed to the hospital to glean where the treasure had been reburied before Hunt died. Hunt, however, surprised everyone. Not only did he begin to show improvement, he talked the doctor into letting him take a buggy ride with a friend, a friend which many have surmised was his brother Hugh Hunt in disguise. On the day that Hughes showed up to question Hunt, the wounded bandit had already escaped his guard. He never returned. Too late, Jim Hughes realized that he, too, was the victim of a double-cross.

No one really knows what happened to Zwing Hunt. His brother Hugh turned up in Tombstone sometime later and said that Zwing had been killed by Indians shortly after the escape from the hospital. The two brothers had gone to a ranch in the Chiricahuas, where the Apaches had shot Zwing through the head. Supposedly, a group of Army scouts buried him in what has since been called Hunt's Canyon. Jim Hughes doubted the story, but he was unable to prove his suspicions. Another story circulated that Zwing and Hugh Hunt made their way to their home in San Antonio, Texas, where Zwing eventually died of his wounds. It was rumored that he gave his uncle a map to the treasure site before he died, placing the treasure at the foot of Davis Mountain---a mountain from which an open stretch of New Mexico could be seen to the east from the summit. It is a known fact that Hunt's uncle went looking for the treasure, and brother Hugh spent more than thirty years in the search.

There is little question but that outlaws did ambush and rob a smuggling mule-train in Skeleton Canyon. The bleached bones of dead smugglers and their mules were visible for many years afterwards, and an occasional Mexican coin is still found in the western end of the canyon. Around 1891, a cowboy and a government official went riding through the canyon and came upon an old rawhide pouch. The cowboy gave it a cursory kick and out poured several thousand dollars in Mexican coins. Still, controversy rages about the treasure. A few skeptics believe there was either very little treasure, which was easily divvied up and carted off, or no treasure at all.

Whether the treasure is still there or not does not matter to the fortune hunters. With estimates ranging from $2.5 million dollars up to $8 million, people still search for it. The ones who have trekked through Skeleton Canyon believe there is enough evidence to prove the treasure exists. Every time it would rain, somebody's skull would show up or the bones of a mule would be exposed or another coin would become evident. And compared to a lot of other stories, where nothing has even been found to substantiate the legend, this one has a great deal of plausibility.

Today, even though there are a great many skeptics, the legend of buried treasure in Skeleton Canyon continues to attract fortune hunters from around the world. In over one hundred years of scouring the region, treasure hunters have unearthed a multitude of bleached bones and a handful of Mexican coins. They are convinced the relics are remnants of the ambush.

The book  referenced in the hint is "A Texan Looks At Lyndon"  by the late J. Evetts Haley.

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Hamp, you got it 1/2 right. The president was indeed Lyndon Baines Johnson. But the outlaw was Zwing Hunt, a native of San Antonio, Tx., & a close compadre of William Boucher aka Billy grounds. LBJ & Hunt were cousins, having the same grandparents.

Hey Col., I may only be a Capt, but gotta tell ya I was 100% right .  The outlaw ln question was Billy Grounds' sidekick, who was Zwing Hunt.  I was just tryin' to let this thread play out a bit longer and see if someone else would come up with Hunt's name.  Here's a little more grist for the mill.  Billy Ground's real name was William Decloudt Burtcher (not Boucher).  He was born to Michael Eugene Burtcher and Sarah Ann Kegans Burtcher November 26, 1862 about five miles up the Pedernales River from where I live here in Blanco County.  His father was killed by bushwhackers at a neighbor's home January 18, 1864.  He (William Decloudt Burtcher) apparently got into some trouble with the law, changed his name to William (Billy) Grounds, and headed west.  He spent time in Shakespeare and Silver City New Mexico before finally making it out to Arizona.  Letters to his mom from Shakespeare mention, among other things, buying a horse from John Ringo (with whom, along with Scott Cooley, he had been acquainted back in Texas), running a saloon in Shakespeare, getting involved in a shooting scrape, acquiring a mine, being forted up with others anticipating an attack by Victorio's band of 1400 warriors, etc.     

[Col. Riddles]

Well Hamp if your info is correct we are both 100% right. 

On November 14, 1817 Lucy Webb Barnett married Jesse Johnson in Greene County, Georgia. This union started the events which would see an outlaw die in Cochise County, Arizona, and the death of John F. Kennedy pro-mote another into the presidency of The United States.

Jesse and Lucy lived in Georgia for about thirty years. During that time Jesse served as sheriff of Henry County in 1824 and again in 1828. He also engaged in farming in Oglethhorpe, Henry and Greene Counties. A brief stay in Alabama, during 1838, saw the birth of Sam Early Johnson, one of ten children born to Jesse and Lucy. Sam Early's sister' Mary Ann Elizabeth (Betty) was seven years older than her brother, and was born in Henry County Georgia in 1831.

These two children of Jesse and Lucy Webb Barnett Johnson are the principals in the story about to unfold. The information is largely based on personal correspondence with Sally Davis, a descendant of Johnson/Hunt families of Georgia and Texas.

Jesse Johnson moved his family and eight slaves to Lockhart, Caldwell County, Texas. It was in Texas that Mary Ann Elizabeth, born June 29, 1831 in Henry County, Georgia, became the wife of Texas hero widower, Thomas W. Hunt. Thomas W. had three children by a previous marriage and after the death of his first wife, Jemima Jane Ponton, married Mary Ann Elizabeth on June 10, 1857. They resided probably in Burnett County, Texas, where Zwing, their first child was born. The date March 29, 1858. Five other children and siblings of Zwing were born over the years.

Sam Early Johnson, the brother of Mary Ann Elizabeth, was married December 12, 1867 in Lockhart, Caldwel1 County, Texas to Eliza Bunton . Their son, Sam Early Jr., was born on October 11, 1877 in Buda, Hayes County, Texas, and married Rebekah Baines of McKinney, Texas, on August 20, 1907. These are the parents of LBJ.

Sometime after 1874, Joel Ponton Hunt, Zwing's half-brother, with financing from the family, went into the freight hauling business between Tombstone, Arizona, and Hillsboro, New Mexico. He was supposedly killed by Indians in Hillsboro May 29, 1880. When the family heard of Joel's death, Zwing petitioned the family to allow him to go there and bring back the freighting equipment. After arriving in Hillsboro, Zwing decided to take over the business and stayed in the area. Perhaps this is where Zwing met up with Billy Grounds, a turning influence in the life of Zwing Hunt.

Zwing's granparents, Jesse and Lucy Webb Barnett Johnson were Lyndons great grandparents.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

Now THIS is interesting stuff. Thanks, Col. and Capt. for bringing this up. Fleshes out some of the other characters in the Wyatt, Earp Bros., Doc Holiday, Tombstone story's.......Buck

[Silver Creek Slim]

On November 14, 1817 Lucy Webb Barnett married Jesse Johnson in Greene County, Georgia. This union started the events which would see an outlaw die in Cochise County, Arizona, and the death of John F. Kennedy pro-mote another into the presidency of The United States.

Does this imply that president was an outlaw? 

Slim

[Col. Riddles]

Now Slim I didn't say LBJ was an outlaw.    But a lot of us Texans know his history long before he ever became a congressman, let alone a senator, VP or President. There's a verrrry old joke that used to go around.

Pedro was sitting on a bench on the courthouse lawn in Alice crying. The sheriff came out and saw him. Walking up to Pedro, he said, "Pedro, what's the matter, why are you crying?" To which Pedro replied, Oh Señor Shereeeff I am crying about me madre!" Your mother!? Pedro she's been dead for 17 years" the sheriff responded. "I know" said Pedro, "But last week she came back to vote for Lyndon Johnson and she didn't come to see me."

It has to do with accusations that the ballot boxes were stuffed with names of voters that were taken from headstones in the local cemetery when Johnson was running for congress. There was a recount ordered and the ballot boxes were locked in a jail cell. Before the recount could take place the courthouse mysteriously caught fire & the ballot boxes were burned up.

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Col,

Not trying to be picky, but I am familiar with the site from which the info in your post regarding LBJ, Zwing Hunt, and Billy Grounds came, and it contains errors in addition to the "Boucher" one I mentioned previously. As an example, the lineage chart you post has Sam Early Johnson, Sr. and Jr..  Their middle name was actually Ealy, not Early.  See http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/JJ/fjo25.html .  I'll agree that there is some interesting stuff at that site, but when I start finding historical inaccuracies, I become somewhat suspect.

Hamp

[Col. Riddles]

Well Hamp, Ealy to Early could possibly be a typo, but I doubt it. As for the spelling of Burtcher to Boucher we must keep in mind that some times people changed their surname for nefarious reasons or simply to escape an unpleasant past. Others were illiterate and not being able to spell it someone else might spell it phonetticaly. Back in the first half of the 19th century for some reason my mothers maiden name was changed from Haile to Hale. I'm not quite sure who dropped the i or why. But you may be quite right about Burtcher. There may be more than one mistake in the records of the Cochise County Genealogical Society. Still makes interesting reading and a subject for further research.

[Griff]

...I become somewhat suspect.
Hamp

Capt, I suspect you meant suspicious.  'Cause all of us here are suspect 

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

...I become somewhat suspect.
Hamp

Capt, I suspect you meant suspicious.  'Cause all of us here are suspect 

'spect you're right, Griff, an' some more than others.

[Silver Creek Slim]

...I become somewhat suspect.
Hamp

Capt, I suspect you meant suspicious.  'Cause all of us here are suspect 

'spect you're right, Griff, an' some more than others.

I resemble that remark. 

Slim

[Silver Creek Slim]

"___ ____" ____ , also known as ___ ___, led the ___ ___ Gang, preying on Arizona stagecoaches during the early 1880s, particularly along the San Pedro River.  On one such occasion the gang held up a stage near Riverside on August 10, 1883.  The Wells Fargo guard immediately insisted that the stage was not carrying any gold and when he began to resist the bandits, a female passenger jumped from the stage and called him a liar.

The woman, however, was none other than "___ ___" ___ disguised as a female.  ____, who had witnessed the gold being placed under a seat, had signaled his men to move on the stagecoach.  When the guard went for his gun, ___ pulled one from his long flowing skirts and the next thing you know, the guard laid dead upon the ground.  Taking almost $3,000 in currency and gold, the gang fled.

Finally Sheriff Bob Paul organized a strong posse to put an end to ___'s Gang of robberies.  Tracking the gang down one by one, the posse found ___ hiding near Wilcox, Arizona on October 4, 1883 and in the ensuing gunfight, "___ ___" was shot down by Sheriff Bob and his posse when he tried to battle his way out.

In their many stagecoach robberies the gang was said to have buried their loot in areas near the Wilcox Hideout.  Legend has it that about $8,000 in gold coins is buried somewhere in the vicinity of Prescott, Arizona.

[Russ T Chambers]

This has to be Red Jack Almer.  AKA Jack Averill.

[Silver Creek Slim]

This has to be Red Jack Almer.  AKA Jack Averill.

Yer good, Russ T!
Did ya know that without lookin'? 

Slim

[Four-Eyed Buck]

Bet ya he didn't GOOGLE it, Slim.......Buck

[Silver Creek Slim]

Bet ya he didn't GOOGLE it, Slim.......Buck

Are ya implying sumptin? 

Slim

[Russ T Chambers]

Bet ya he didn't GOOGLE it, Slim.......Buck

Are ya implying sumptin? 

Slim

Nope, none of the G word, I cain't even spell the G word.    :

I do have a coupla' sites, and books for reference though.