Sam Bass’ Gold
DURING the seventies and
early eighties, the Moon Ranch, with Headquarters in Denton County, ranked with
the largest in that part of Texas, and made a lot of history. Owned by Charles Cannon, it might have
become the biggest of them all but for the untimely dry-gulching of Charley
along in the middle Eighties. He was
shot from ambush by the disgruntled loser in an all night poker game.
Charley and his young wife, Kate, had built up the Moon brand from one cow and calf. He did it by hard work and plain old cow savvy, for Charley was not the ruthless cattle-baron type. He never packaged a running iron, either. A good neighbor and a loyal friend, he was one of the most popular and respected men in the community. Always ready to do a favor, he sometimes found himself involved, through no fault of his own, in unexpected and embarrassing situations. Such a one, was the Sam Bass gold affair.
I got this story from my mother, and I think this is the first time it has ever become public property. You see, my mother was Kate Cannon. She married Tom Webber some years after Cannon’s death. This is the way her story went”
“Late one evening in the fall of ’77, an old ramshackle buggy pulled up at our headquarters’ ranch house and a couple of rather seedy looking individuals piled out. Charley recognized one as Sam Bass, generally regarded as a ne’er-do-well cowboy, whose sole claim to fame at that time had been his ownership of that fine little quarter horse, the Denton Mare. Charley was a great admirer of Little Denton and had tried to but her from Sam, but the deal fell through and she was sold elsewhere.
“Shortly after that Sam disappeared. They said he’d gone to the Black Hills to hunt for gold, for there’d been a big strike there. No one had heard from him directly, and it was something of a surprise when he came drifting in, driving that old buggy instead of riding a horse, as a proper cowboy should.
“He and his friend, who was
introduced as Frank Jackson, were, of course, invited to stay for supper. After the meal, Sam remarked that he had a
‘keg of nails outside’ that he wanted to leave with us. The two men went out to the buggy and brought
in what looked like an ordinary nail keg.
Sam pried off the lid, raked over a layer of nails, and invited us to
take a look. That keg was filled with
newly minted $20 gold pieces.
“ ‘There’s $10,000 there, mebby more,’ he said and grinned at our astonished looks. I was absolutely speechless, for never before had I seen such a heap of money-all gold too.
Sam gave the keg a playful kick that didn’t budge it, then he said, ‘Charley, we want you to take this money an’ buy cattle for me an’ Frank here. You get us a good bunch of cows an’ keep whatever you want for the trouble. We know you’re square. We struck it rich up in th’ Black Hills and turned our dust into coin. Now, we wanta get into th’ cattle business, somethin’ we know about. Will you do it?’
“CHARLEY was known far and wide as a shrewd businessman, as well as an honest one. It was no new thing for folks to bring their savings to him for investment. It had happened, several times. But $10,000-in gold. Even our banks didn’t keep that much hard money on hand. And banks weren’t trusted much in those days, either.
“ ‘You take care of it, Kate,’ Charley told me. “It’ll be some time before I can buy up that many cows. The market would shoot sky high if I did it all at once.’ So I became the worried and uneasy custodian of the gold.
“That awful money! I took it out of the keg and spread it in rows between the mattress and the bed clothes. I tried to get it as smooth as I could but there were lumps here and there. Charley never seemed to notice it, but I’d wake up, feel that money under the quilts-then I wouldn’t sleep another wink the balance of the night.
“I tried to think of other places to hide it. I thought of burying it in the ground, but that’s what they always do with money, and too often someone else finds it. I even had an idea that I might dump it down the cistern, but in the end it stayed right there in the bed. This went on for several weeks.
“Then, one day Charley came home with disturbing news. He’d just heard about the big Union Pacific train robbery at Big Springs, Idaho Territory. They said six holdup men had taken $60,000 from the express car-all in newly minted double eagles.
“Of course Charley had no real proof; he didn’t notify the authorities, but he hunted up Sam Bass and told him to come and get his money-at once.
“ ‘What’s th’ matter,’ Sam demanded, ‘do you think I stole it?’
“He had the reputation of being a mighty bad one to cross, but Charley Cannon feared no man. ‘I’m no accusing you of anything,’ he said, ‘but you come and get that money before tomorrow morning. Our deal is off.’
“Sam came and got the gold that very night. He politely offered me a handful for my trouble but, of course, I refused it. Never in all my life was I so glad to see anything go out the door. I got my first good night’s sleep since that keg was brought into my house.
“We never saw Sam Bass again. A few days later the manhunt was on that ended when we was shot and mortally wounded at Round Rock. He didn’t have the gold on him. Frank Jackson may have gotten away with some of it, but it wasn’t like Sam to turn such a treasure over to a man like Jackson.”
The Sam Bass legend has grown with the years. There are lots of tall tales about him, but this story is true. They even have a song about him that tells of his life from the cradle to the grave-but it doesn’t tell what became of the gold, because no one knows.