The Albany News (Albany, Tex.), Vol. 119, No. 36, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 9, 1995 Page: 4 of 26
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Page 4-A
Thursday, February 9, 1995
The Albany News
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The Albany News
Since 1875
Oldest Joumalisik vf-nlurc wi-si of the Bra/os.
Editor/ Publisher Porinic A. Luc as
Managlr^g fitter
Melinda L. Lucas
Advertising & Business Manner liftty VferlH
Composition
Betty H.dliew
Moran Correspondoni
An'ii<-v Brooks
Office Assistant
Betty Law
Office Assistant
Stephanie ! leal ley
Office Assistant
SliHlii. Simmons-
Sweetheart Dea
The Albany Chamber of Commeree i* ion-
ducting a sweetheart of a deal- through
Valentine's Day .and local shopper*- will<< rt a inly
be the winners. • '
The annual Sweetheart Sweepstakes will
provide some lucky winner a gift certificate for
$25 for a romantic dinner for two, a box of
. chocdlate candy and fresh flower-.
Several other gifts will also be given; away
after the grand prize winner is elected
No purchase.is required and you don't ha ve to
Ik? present to win. Just sign up at any.of tlje *24
participating businesses each and every time
you Visit before the de lline.
The only stipulat ion is that you must 18 year .
of age pt older
.The Hweepsta.l-.e--,.): a v. .v. for local r- ' ill' <
and businesses to show their -npprecflhQfnr
your patronage throughout tie- year^ritT has
been Very popular with customer- .
. Make this a Valentines Day to n•member by
signing up and let the Chamber rriake ii a very
special day for you and your sweet heart.
The sixth annual JhgCountrv Celebrity Quail
Hunt Will kick off on Thursday and run through
the weekend, drawing almost three dozen ce-
lebrities to AJbarVy and the area
The base camp .for the hunt will again be
located .about five miles southwest of Albany on
the Newell Ranch, giving local residents prime
access to the stars.
The public is.invited to attend a Round-up on
Saturday at 11:30a.m. Admission will be$12 for
adults and $7-for children 13 and, under,
;.* Those attending can eat a chuckwagon lunch
and view a trick hooting exhibition. It will also
be a t ime for fans to meet the stars and get their
autographs
While the celebrity hunt benefits Disability
Resources, Inc of Abilene, most of"the hunting
is done in Shackelford County Arid Shackelford
County and Albany does benefit from the event.
The hunt draws many visitors to town, in-
cluding the celebrities, which in turn helps the;
local economy
But the hunt also puts Albany,Texas in the
limelight It iSj ust another feat, her for our public
relations cap
Take advantage of the opportunity to meet
the stars and support a good cause at the same
time: ■ ■ . -
THi: ALBANY MAX'S
■ (USPS 0.12400) .is pnl>lrsl>i <I Weekly ljii SI/> pn \<- u foj sufisirip
lion'. Willi Nli.ii ki-lloitl (.oiinly I|«-i ,v;u lui .il • option-,
with in Tt-X.i.s inti s20 per yeur |V nut tit fUHi- silbsi npUtni.s I >y'
iuca's Publications fnc 101' s Mam All uny-• l'<v\;iy764.V)-se< onil
i lass postage paid at All.iany; It-xis I1' /STMAMKK Scnct aililn .
diaries to THE AI.UANY NIAV.n PC J. I)(ix.'27«, Alliany:
7.6430-027K .
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Ail letters to the editor must be signed I>y tin-
author and inc lude a complete. address and
telephone number Unly the writer's name and
city will appear in print, The publisher reserves
the right to edit or to refuse any letters. Se^d
letters to THE ALBANY NHWS, PO Box 278,
Albany TX 70430-0278.
CORRECTIONS
Any erroneous reflection upon the character,
reputation or standing of any individual, firm or
corporation will l ie corrected when notil i< at ion
1 in writing is given to the publisher within 10 days
after publication.
RSTES : T—
SUBSCRIPTIONS. Albany & Moran $16.00 in-
cluding tax, Texas addresses $18.00 including
tax, other U.S. addresses $20.00, foreign ad-
dresses available upon application.
ADVERTISING: National rate $3-75 per column
inch. Local'rate $3 25 per column inch. Notic es
& classified ads 1.0<f per word per insertion net,
$3 00 minimum paid in advance.
AFFILIATIONS
1995 MEMBER: Texas Press Association, West
Texas Press Association.
be our guest
Thrn of--Century
"Great Gold Robbery "
At Fort Belknap .
By Barbara A. Ledbetter
Onee upon a time there Was ari un-
known. uriv. riUen, unique tale about a
"great gold robbery" at. Fort Belknap
But the robbery wa> never solved
And once upon a time there was a tiny
village .'(county seat) c alled Belknap. It.
-vjowly sprang up »-a-'-.t of th< fort during
the first years offederal troop buildup at
•tin' building of permanent replacement
barracks, magazine commissary: and
others
, As was typical of the va*t frontier
border, .places, for over a decade that
'town si to brought arv influx of all t \ pi o!
people from the old South,. Eastern
Seaboard, East Texas and many foreign
countries
' Historical literature, including tl at
by J. Frank Doha ,is fuH of tales of
■hidden treasureK, iobb(*ries, murders:
scandals and political intrigue, but no
one-.lias ever written .about Belknap's
"great gold;robbery:'"-The'uriusua! story'
is true,-hut it happened oyer 50 years
after Fort Belknap and the village fell
into rubble To sufficiently unravel the
story one must take .a .glance backward
to 1854.
On Valentine Day in 1854, Colonel
.fosse Stem arid his friend EdEeppelman
were noaringtheend of their lo-ng journey .
from their native Ohio, via Shreveport,
to Lambshead Ranch west of Fort
■Belknap. ■■
They were loaded with goods for'.es-
tablishing themselves on land which
would eventually become a part of the .
Comanche Reservation
Stem- had been Texas'Indian Agent
as early as 1850. He had farmed west of
the (Tear Fork and wa. reportedly, th<;
first to raise corn and' oats in North
Texas
In 1853 ,Stem .resigned- his, $ 1,500'
annual job as agent 'and was succeeded ■
by Major R S Neighbors :• Stem had
become 'disillusioned with -federal ad-
ministrative indecision and was upset .
that the Wichitas and Kickapoos" Had
taken bis. stock and gotten away with it.
It seems ironic that it was the,
Kickapoo who came upon Stern and.
Eeppeimafi and attacked them about
three miles east-southeast of Fort
Belknap.
Pole Cat <(.'hc-ka quahj and Thunder
(Pia-wa-ta-kaj murdered the two men,
took their saddle bags, Overcoats;, carpet
bags, mules, carriage harnesses, shotgun
and pistol. These items were later found
and identified, and a disapproving
Kickapoo tribunal executed these two
killers. Their heads were presented to
the Kickapoo chief.
Civilians Stem and Leppelman were
picked up by Fort Belknap's 2nd Dra-
goons under, the leadership of Lt. A D.
Tree-, assisted by Delaware scouts Jim
and Bill Shaw. The corpses were hauled
to the Fort Belknap m i litary cemetery - -
(north of the post) and while accom pa n i ed
by Presbyterian Devine David W. Eakin
and post commander Major Merrill, they
were i nterred.(Du ri ng the next two years
many other military men were interred
near Stem's burial site.) There the two
Ohioans lay undisturbed beneath the ,
sand and brambles for 63 years.
For^over a half-century then- were
reported payroll robberies, mail and
sit age robberies and holdups, but none
can compare to the uniqueness, intrigue
and mystery of the gold robbery con-
nected with Colonel Stem
In 1906 Texas' U.S. Senator Charles
A Culberson surveyed the Western
Ports' cemeteries and described Fort
Belknap's military cemetery as "ne-
glected and deplorable." Results of
Culberson's report brought on the ex-
humation in 1907 of nearly three dozen
military.bodies for re-burial at a Texas
National Cemetery.
The exhumations were done under
the supervision of poderal.Supt.Thomas.
'Thomas hired a wagon and teamster
J W„ Carlton of Graham, as well as.six
laborers from the Belknap community,
to do the exhumations.
. As each military grave was opened;
remains were boxed for shipping. As
■ civilians Stem' and Iyoppelman■ were
uncovered for identification, it was de-
rided to again cover their remains and
ostensibly leave for future re-burial by
proper authorities back East.
Colonel Stem had a full set of 28 teeth
in his cranium. Every tooth in his head
was crowned with gold.. His earlier ac-
quaintances, including President
Rutherford B. Hayes, knew of Stem's
personal preference* for gold-crowned
teeth.. - * r '
T he worth of a mouth full.of gold teeth-
will ne ver be known, but needless to say,
"it did have considerable value at that
time
Liveryman Carlton and Qelknappers
R E. Daniels, J.A. Daniels, Jesse
Wlnteley, Edgar J Wbiteley, Earl Veal;
arid W.G. Perdue (four of whom were
kinj-knew of the- cache or/gold!
S upcrintendent,Thom;;s'report1objs;
superiors indicated whilst at Fort
Belknap thieves stole two hammers, one
mattock, and one pick handle." Thomas
added,", no clue as to.yet who the thieves
are'" Whoever the thieves were, they no
doubt stol6 more... ,
A few months later federal authori-
ties returned to Fort Belknap to exhume
the < olonel and his friend once again.
When Stem's tomb was reopened, all
gold teeth had been removed from his
cranium. Tools were never recovered;
and the plunderers of Stem's grave were
never known
Atjivery stables andblacksmith shops
there were whispered tales of "certain
folks" having ome made gold pieces":
'and those embellished tales of gold
robbery were still heard by old-timers
and, their offspring until the 1940s.
(There, were those who believed, that
land was purchased with proceeds from
the t u rn - of-tin - cen t ury "grea t gold rob-
bery. "/Many Belknappers died or moved
away and the "great gold robbery" tale
finally subsided. ^
There iS one thing for sure — these
grave robbers wore no mask, used no
guns, left no trail. The silent cemetery.
sentinels of darkness revealed no time of
robbery, no names of robbers, no ihode of
getaway, and no tracks of exodus.
The "great gold robbery" at Fort
Belknap and the whereabouts of the
Colonel's teeth will always be an un-
solved mystery!
*
ir/m
By Pat Lidia Jones
There -are,gifts, and there are gifts.
Everyone gets some and gives some
during a life span. Some people are better
at. both than others
I enjoy shopping for a special person
and having the time to look for something
he or she will really like. Sometimes I
miss — and miss badly.
For instance, a gift I thought was
.really neat has backfired on my poor
misfo'rtunate friends.
Late last summer or early fall, I saw
an item pictured and described in one of
the hundreds of. catalogs I get every
year. It wasa catalog, Paragon, that I've,
ordered from before and liked theproduct
and the service.
It was a calendar kit You order, the
kit comes, you fill it in with dates of
family and friends'birthdays, reunions,
anniversaries, etc., etc. You also pick
t welve pictures (one for each month) of
family or vacation snaps, your house,
Whatever you wish, and send those too.
in several months, you will receive your
ve'Yy personalized calendar, and of
course, the original photos are returned
too. ' " '. ; . 1
What a great gift!
I ordered twenty: When they came,
they were so cute, I ordered five more.
I gave them to my Supper Club bud-
dies, and.Several other friends I thought
would get a kick out of them. I'm not so
naive that I didn't think they'd be a lot of
'trouble, and all of in y friends are pretty
busy ladies. So I enclosed a note of
apology-in-advance.with each,
Betty Law summed up the majority
reactions of the "giftees" best, when she.
said to me, "I'll bet you're getting a lot of
hate mail."
A week, or two or three, ago I was
reading in bed. My partner was watch-
ing some type of news/talk show. It
featured a sHame-on-you type segment.
I Wasn't paying any attention, when my
partner el bowed me andsaid,'That looks
like those calendars you gave your
friends."
I looked up, and the fellow on TV was
holding up the very same calendarkit I'd
ordered and given. I grabbed my TV
headset so I could hear what he was
saying. I wish I hadn't heard it.
It seems that the company that makes
the kits had been swamped with orders,
could not keep up with the demands,
and had gone bankrupt. What was worse
— and the reason for the "shame," was
that the bankrupt company said they
had no means of returning the .photos
that had been sent.
The TV camera roamed through stack
upon stack offile boxes on floor to ceiling
shelves in a big storage building.
Visions of former friends who had lost
some of their favorite pictures made my
eyes roll back in my head. I felt faint I
began to contemplate moving away from
Albany and trying to start life anew in a
different locale.
I pictured,myself staying in Albany
with no friends. Guilt flooded over me.
Despair was my next stop.
The TV program rolled on. At the end,
the fellow said that the two catalogs that
had advertised these calendar kits were
taking over, and one of them was
"Paragon. "They were guaranteeing that
the photos would be returned..
I began to unpack my bags and to
breathe again .. I still feel awful about it.
The idea of a negative gift — one that
does more harm than good ~ is a terrible
thing.
This is a public apology to all to whom
I gave such a lousy gift. If you haven't
sent in the kit, DONT. If you have,
"Paragon" swears they'll return your
pictures, but it will take a while,
I am so sorry.
***
I think I need to give up my tendency
to want to do creative gift-giving. Ev-
eryone may expect a really ho-hum gift
from me next time.
atters
By John Payne
Certified Financial Planner,
Question: lam newlywcd, juxt out of :
college, and beginning my financial Ca-
reer. Arc there basics you would suggest
to help us achieve financial success?.
Jerry M.
AnswersCongratulat ions on deciding
to take control of your finances at an
early yge. Most people Hike our govern
ment) tend to wait until too late. If you
develop good habits early and stick to
them, you and your wife will have a very
Secure financial future. '
• There are six basics I would list as
important for you to remember
1. Pay yourself first. Most people wait
until the end of a paycheck and save
what's left. Instead, the first "bill" you
pay should be to yourself. At you rage 22,
if you save only $100 a month and it
earns at 10% until you're age 65, this
nestegg will grow to $856,000. As you
can see, a little goes a long way if you
apply discipline and time.
2. Avoid consumer debt at all costs.
This usually means avoidingcredit cards.
If you use a card, pay its total balance
monthly. This wayyou incur no interest
charges. If you find you cannot pay off a
purchase by the end of the month, then
don't buy it. ,
3. Diversify your investments. Too
often investors put all of their money
into a bank savings account or CD.
Historically, this will hot give you much
of a return. You should spread out your
investments into stocks, bonds, mutual
funds, money market accounts, and even
real estate. This will increase your long
term rate of return and the diversifica-
tion will reduce your risk.
4. Contribute to your tax deferred
savings programs-1 fyour com pany offers
one and if you qualify, you should con-
tribute to a 401(k) or. thrift plan. If you
qualify, you should also contribute to an
IRA. The tax deductible contribution
tied to the tax deferral of the earnings on
these investments will provide you
substantial sums of money in the future.
As it appears our tax brackets will move
higher, you should definitely make
maximum contributions to tax saving
programs.
5. Execute a Will and keep it up to
date. The majority of people do not have
Wills. See your attorney and have an
appropriate Will drafted to provide for
you and your family . You may even look
into the use of trust planning if you have
a large estate. You should check with
your insurance agent to make sure your
life, disability, and medical policies
provide for your needs.
6. Finally, set long term financial
goals. Most cannot see past the end of
the month. I suggest you first set a one-
year financial goal. Then look at five-
year and ten-year goals. Each year, re-
view your progress toward the goals and
make adjustments to stay on track.
John Payne is a Certified Financial
Planner and has been in practice for
thirteen years. If you have a financial
question you wish to ask in this column
or confidentially, write him at John
Payne, 'Tour Money Matters," 1800West
Loop South #980, Houston, TX 77027. ^
. /
Community Calendar
FEB. 9
FEB. 9-12
FEB. 10
FEB. 13
FEB. 14
FEB. 15
FEB. 16
FEB. 20
FEB. 25
Community Action Program : Community Resource
Center (CRC), 9:30 am -12 noon
Nutrition Program Meal - Youth Center, 11:30 am
Lions Club - Lone Star Eatery, 12 noon
Chapter I parents meeting - Chapter I building,
5:30 pm
Chamber directors meeting - Depot, 6 pm
Baseball association meeting - Church of Christ,
7 pm-
DRI quail hunt - Base camp Newell Ranch
Chamber luncheon - Icehouse, 12 noon
Commissioners court - Courthouse, 9 am
Nutrition program meal - Youth Center, 11:30 am
Sweetheart Sweepstakes drawing - 2 pm
Nutrition program meal - Youth Center, 11:30 am
Kiwanis Club meeting - Ft. Griffin, 12 noon
City council - City hall, 6 pm
FCA winter rally with D.D. Lewis - AHS
auditorium, 7 pm
Hospital board - Clinic board room, 5:30 pm
School board - Supt/s office, 7:30 pm
Chamber banquet - Elementary cafeteria, 7 pm
"A People's Heritage Center" - American Leglpn Hall. If you, your family, or your group
wish to visit, please (all 762-3120 for an appointment anytime.
FIRST
NATIONAL
BANK
Albany I Breckenridg?
MtMBtR rDIC
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Lucas, Donnie A. The Albany News (Albany, Tex.), Vol. 119, No. 36, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 9, 1995, newspaper, February 9, 1995; Albany, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth413585/m1/4/: accessed July 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting The Old Jail Art Center.