The Hidden Outlaw Treasure of Childress County, Texas (Part 4) “What Lies Hidden Off the Banks of Buck Creek”

Early December 1921, A car with four men from Colorado showed up at the Dolph Pickelsimer farm North of Canute, Oklahoma. It was on this farm that Red Buck met his death.

From the various accounts of Red Buck and his gang, Dolph Pickelsimer had a homestead, five miles North of Canute, Oklahoma. It was one of the many places that Red Buck used as a hideout. It was here that George Miller joined Red Buck’s newly organized outlaw gang in 1895. It was not a good decision George Miller made in riding with Red Buck, as US Deputy Marshalls where determined to bring the gang to its end.

This happened on the morning of March 5, 1896 when deputies surrounded the Pickelsimer half dug out. Two hours after sunup, Miller and Pickelsimer came out to tend the horses. The deputies called out for them to surrender. Miller went for his gun and one of the deputies shot him in the hand, dislodging it. With his hand mangled and no gun, Miller called out for Red Buck to help him. Red Buck came out the door and was promptly shot dead. Miller made it back inside and using Red Buck’s gun continues the fight for a short time before surrendering.

George Miller by his own account stated he had been “shot to pieces”. He would recover from his wounds following the amputation of his right hand. Pickelsimer was arrested but was able to convince the deputies he had no choice but to help Red Buck and George Miller for fear of his life. He was soon released.

Red Buck is buried in the Arapaho, Oklahoma Cemetery. His grave was first marked by a small red sandstone marker and later replaced with a simple granite marker.

George Miller, was charged with the murder of Gus Holland in D County, Oklahoma Territory (Current day Dewey County) but was never prosecuted. He was sent to Texas where he was wanted for cattle theft. It was in a Texas prison that he was fitted with a hook on his right hand and earned the nickname: “Hookey” Miller. He was released on December 27, 1900.

Perhaps it was the honorable time George Miller spent as a Texas Ranger prior to his outlaw years that earned him the respect to be accepted as an Oklahoma lawman. He was killed in the line of duty in the oil boom town of Three Sands, Oklahoma in 1923.

When Red Buck formed his gang in 1895 after being ousted from the Doolin gang, it consisted among others a Charlie Smith. It is uncertain if Charlie Smith introduced George Miller to the gang. It may have been just the opposite. What is certain is Charlie Smith and George Miller knew each other. Charlie only spent a short time with the gang. During those few months he was in on the killing of Gus Holland and the theft of his cattle in D County, Oklahoma Territory. He was again present during a train robbery East of Woodward, Oklahoma Territory.

When the Red Buck gang was finally disposed of, all the participants with the exception of Charlie Smith were accounted for. He seems to have vanished into thin air after the train robbery.

Dolph Pickelsimer following the shoot out at his dugout returned to his homestead. Thirty-Five years later, the men in the Automobile showed up at his farm. They explained they had come to hunt for the $8,000 Red Buck had hidden.

How did they know about the money? “Hookie” Miller had told them of the location. It is not known if they recovered any of the hidden money, but on another occasion at a later date a mysterious trio had looked for money that Red Buck had hidden further East in Oklahoma. One can only speculate if the group from Colorado included a Charlie Smith.

Were these the same people who showed up in Childress County in 1934? In the story my father told me four were present in 1934 and three of the group came back in 1935 spending about two weeks each time looking for something. They asked about the old road that ran between Arlie and Childress, Texas in the 1890’s. They inquired about a homestead on Buck Creek built by “Dutch” settlers using native stone. They were interested in a cemetery south of Buck Creek on the Arlie to Childress road.

It was on their last trip in 1934, they stopped by the house on Buck Creek and shared with my Grandfather John Scott what they had been looking for. It was money that the outlaw Red Buck had buried. One of the three was introduced as having been in the Red Buck gang.

According to their story as told by my father Raymond Williams, Red Buck and his mother were related to the settlers who built the rock houses and corrals just east and south of the place John Scott was farming. It was told that when things got too hot for Red Buck in Oklahoma Territory he would hide out with his relatives. The trio had failed to find what they were looking for. They shared with John Scott they were looking for the old crossing on Buck Creek between Arlie and Childress. The crossing on the road would be south of the cemetery and a nearby store. The crossing and cemetery lay to the west of the rock houses and a rock corral.

As you crossed Buck creek going south, a large tree stood on the west side of the road. On a sloping embankment on the east side stood a smaller tree. The money was buried halfway between the two trees on the east side of the road. They had hunted what they thought were two possible crossings but there were no tall trees. It had been at least 50 years since the money was buried. Had the trees disappeared during that time or were they looking in the wrong location? As they left that day, the hand drawn map they had been using was given to John Scott.

This was the story that my father Raymond Williams shared with me that day in 1989. We discussed it many times in detail over the next year. To my memory there had been no family claim of such a map. The only mention I can vaguely recall of the incident was in the 1950’s in Dotson, Texas at a family gathering. I overheard it being discussed before running out to play with my cousins.

When I returned with my father to Erick that evening in 1989 he retrieved a map in bad shape drawn on old yellowed paper which he gave to me. I just assumed it was the map given to John Scott, but to this I cannot attest. It is possible it was copied from the original. Over the next year I would ask my father for clarification on the details of his story. It never varied from what he had first told.

On the initial trip to look for the farm we were kept out due to locked gates. The old road from 1935 had been closed and the closest we could get to the old farm was about a mile. We returned a few weeks later with the permission of the landowner and drove down the old road to where the farm was. We were on the north side of Buck Creek but were unable to drive eastward toward the location of the old rock houses. He was sure the places the people from California looked were in that direction. We did find the old rock houses by going via county roads on the north side of Buck creek.

Subsequent returns to hunt for the lost treasure were made with an old treasure hunting friend, Bobby Cornelsen, but without success. During this time, I had taken my father’s word as fact. But as time went on, I began to question the details. First, was Red Buck even connected to Childress County Texas? Did a road really run between Arlie and Childress. Was there a cemetery in the area at the time in question and what about the store?

My research over the years since has placed Red Buck in the area. I even got a secondhand story of a robbery Red Buck had pulled on the Childress to Pistol Palace stagecoach route that ran between Sherman and Mobeetie, Texas. There was a place called Olympus that included a cemetery about one mile south of Buck Creek with tombstones that date back to 1892. As to the store I could not find a record prior to the late 1920’s.

I decided to try and find the old road between Arlie and Childress Texas. The earliest map I could find showing roads was from 1907. US Highways 64 and 83 did not exist at that time. It did show a road between Arlie and Childress with the location of Olympus just north of the Red River. The road from Arlie to Olympus ran a northwest – southwest direction.

On the maps I found from 1920 to present, the county roads in the area run a true north/south east/west direction but none were on the 1907 map. Using Google Satellite maps, I created an overlay for the 1907 map. What I found was interesting. County Road 19 crosses Buck Creek about 1 ½ miles west of the Buck Creek Farm. It is the only road in the area that runs in a northeast – southwest direction. When this was placed over the 1907 map it lined up with the old Arlie to Childress road.

The hand drawn map shows the crossing just below a bend in Buck Creek as it turns from flowing northwest – southeast to a more eastward direction. When compared to the map of County Road 19 crossing on Buck Creek, it too falls below a bend as the creek turns eastward.

My conjecture is the old original road and the northwest – southwest part of County Road 19 are the same road. If this is true, it is the crossing referred to in the hand drawn map. Also coming out of the creek there is a steeper slope on the east and it is flatter on the western side. If this is correct, not only had the people from California looked in the wrong place, so had I.

Getting permission from ranchers to go on their land these days would be difficult. To trespass on their land would be dangerous. These are hard working honest folks who are just likely to shoot first and ask questions later. But, if I am correct as to the crossing, hunting would be on the Childress County right of ways.

The map at the beginning of this post is a photocopy of the map in my possession. Who knows, maybe you can find “The Hidden Treasure of Childress County”?

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Books used in my research of Red Buck include but are not limited to:

“The Childress County Story”, Compiled and edited by Michael G. Ehrle, Ox Bow Printing, Inc., Childress, TX.