Finding Treasure Remnants of Infamous Outlaw Gang

where you’re standing in the town of Fruita I’m sorry the town the town of fruit I think the ghost town of Fruita I don’t even see a ghost town like where is it well you gotta look hard it’s okay so there was a town here and when was this town in existence roughly 1910 through 1912 it began its roots homesteaded by Joe Ashley the father of the notorious Bandit John Ashley John Ashley actually called this home and this was his base of operation and they their home was where it was right here where you’re standing like right here right here this is the Ashley Homestead you’re standing on top of it if Steve is right this is the location of one of the most dramatic and bloody events in the gang’s history remember Sheriff Bob Baker the one who would eventually use John’s glass eye as

a keychain well having had quite enough of the Ashley gangs exploits Baker orders a large group of heavily armed deputies to raid the Ashley Homestead in the pre-dawn hours of January 9 1924.

a massive shootout ensues and while John escapes the sheriff’s men burn the Ashley home and their moonshining operation into Oblivion right here Josh that’s Ceramics from the um probably from the Ashley Homestead from the house this place was burned to the ground the dishes inside it of course were crushed wow there’s archaeological evidence that the house existed and was here look at that a dinner plate that might have been in the Ashley Home John actually made it eaten off of that plate how crazy is that this famous raid that went down that was supposed to have taken place near one of the big Stills they were moonshining right so in one Fell Swoop the idea was to bring enough deputies here and Josh they didn’t come with warrants they came here to do business to take this place out Fruita is gone it was destroyed in one night the main

target of the raid was the gang’s whiskey stills Chessie not only believed they’ve found that area they think the Ashley treasure could still be buried there so let’s talk about this this treasure right there are these rumors these stories that it might have been hidden out near this still site do we know where this raid took place the actual kind of flash point out here uh yes we do we’re lucky to have photographs of where the site was and I think with 99 certainly Josh I can put you on that Whiskey Still site which was the whole point of the raid can we see it you ready to go please [Music] Josh I want you to keep an eye keep an eye yeah keep an eye out for we got pygmy rattlesnakes me rattlesnake it’s like a rattlesnake but small and it has no rattle

but the rattles the one way you know there they are welcome to Florida state is crazy all right come on keeping an Ever watchful eye out for non-rattling snakes and whatever other Wildlife Florida has in store for us we finally arrive at a clearing which Steve believes was at the center of the police raid so Josh where we’re standing this was that major still site the big Whiskey Still was right here right here in front of you now there’s an old photograph that showed the sheriff’s deputies who raided this place in 1924. yes I’ve seen that they’re all lined up right in front of a building correct and that building was right there [Music] was that building the still it was the still house it was the operation during prohibition they were producing over 100 gallons of whiskey a day sorry a hundred gallons of whiskey a day 100 gallons of

whiskey a day this was a massive operation this was one of the most productive activities anywhere in the country so how do we know that still was right here I’m going to prove that to you so Josh I got something I want you to see here oh look at this what do we got I believe that’s going to be part of the foundation stone for the still that we were talking about I mean that is a cut stone for sure look at that it is what do you got got some blue glass Blue Glass so what’s blue glass doing out here well John Ashley’s brother Bill produced his own brand of moonshine and he put it in those blue bottles that’s it right there right we’ve got Moonshiners glass and a foundation stone in the middle of nowhere and we got a lot more over here to show you too

all right well let’s go find it everything points to this being the location of the raid I got a broken whiskey bottle look at that whiskey bottle if you find a full one Chessie let me know if this is the spot it makes sense that treasure could be buried here too after all the gang was making a lot of money here and most of it has never been found a lot of people believe that they could have been producing as much as five thousand dollars a day in revenue and that’s a hell of a lot of money in 1920.

Ashley had a penchant for swapping paper money out for gold he couldn’t put his proceeds in the bank he had to hide it yeah if he’s producing five thousand dollars a day Josh we could be talking Millions if not billions of dollars in gold and may have buried boxes of gold coins out here near their base of operations our mission look for the loot but also see if we can find any remnants of the gang’s presence which would be historic we point our noses to the ground and slowly start walking the sight oh I got metal Steve so what do you think uh could be part of a stove as we scour the land I can’t help but feel Goosebumps at the idea that John Ashley and his gang may have stood in this very Place hey guys I think I got something cool over here

where look at that wow that is too cool so that is that’s 12 gauge look at that look we got another one two of them there’s literally laying there yeah Josh this speaks to the violent nature of the story when Sheriff Baker’s men come to the homestead they’re not here to negotiate they immediately open fire on the Gang in the Mayhem Joe Ashley John’s father is shot and killed having witnessed his father’s death John immediately fires back in retaliation killing officer Fred Baker cousin of sheriff Baker John’s girlfriend Laura is also seriously injured taking three wounds to the abdomen John however miraculously escapes and like almost every other part of John Ashley’s story though they don’t kill him yeah he had a kind of a sixth sense about these things and while everybody was sleeping John always seemed to have one eye open remember that’s all he had

sorry it was right in front of me it was right in front of me just the idea that we may be holding the shells that were used to to kill somebody out here absolutely people died this was a life and death situation man this is one of the biggest battles in Palm Beach County history one of the reasons John survived is that he was sleeping in a campsite away from the main Whiskey Still and the Ashley home this site must be close by and there’s been a long-standing local rumor that another Whiskey Still was there as well we head deeper into the swamp to search and Chessie almost immediately detects something hey guys I got a good Mark over here could just be a piece of metal and see if it’ll come out here oh is that it scrap iron or something yeah that’s what

it looks like just a thin piece of scrap metal okay well that’s a good sign soon even more metal comes out of the ground there’s like a little nail in there it’s got that rounded kind of edge this was attached to whatever the remainder of that is over there like edge of a crate maybe something was here I don’t know if it tells us that we’re at this campsite but it tells you that man at one point in time was in fact right here that’s a start we’ll take it all right let’s keep looking what might be the edge of a box handle is an intriguing sign in fact there are signs everywhere that’s something for you or scrap metal well I don’t think so this looks like an old trap they were otter Hunters careful that thing’s not still loaded it is definitely a job

ow um we can take it off yeah it’s a trap that is a trap animal trap and what’s cool about it is it’s still got the chain stuck to it right I don’t want to break it obviously but the crazy thing is look at that you can still move and you can still actually set this trap all the pieces of it are here all the things these guys are known for the moon shining the guns the traps the boot like we’re finding all of these things that are so closely associated with these guys too right that’s the beauty and Archeology as it allows us to tell their story from what they left behind hey guys I think I got something cool over here [Music] I think I found something crazy what it’s ribbed on the side like a coin but it’s thicker than a coin

thank you so much it’s a silver dollar it’s actually it’s two silver dollars those are coins [Music] treasure there you go right there look at that these are two-piece Liberty dollars minted between 1921 and 1928 which puts us right on the money for the Ashley gang hey nice job thank you sir