Speaker 1: You're listening to American Shadows, a production of iHeartRadio and
Speaker 1: Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. The mythical figure of
Speaker 1: robin Hood has endured for centuries. This classic tale of
Speaker 1: the anti hero who stole from the rich and gave
Speaker 1: to the poor has been retold countless times in books, movies,
Speaker 1: and folklore. Variations are found in multiple cultures from centuries
Speaker 1: past two modern times. People have often revered the concept
Speaker 1: of rising up against oppression in tyranny as a hero
Speaker 1: or savior, so it's not surprising that tales of social
Speaker 1: banditories sparked the imaginations of those living in the American
Speaker 1: West during the eighteen hundreds. The written stories about robin
Speaker 1: Hood date back to the fourteen hundreds, and oral tellings
Speaker 1: probably stretched back a century before that. In these early tellings,
Speaker 1: a corrupt abbot demands payment from a night. Robin Hood
Speaker 1: loans the night the money, and later robs the abbot.
Speaker 1: In the eighteen hundreds, in the American West, people romanticized
Speaker 1: outlaws and told stories suggesting that they might be doing
Speaker 1: something similar. One such example is the famous and infamous
Speaker 1: Jesse James. But before the outlaw became one of America's
Speaker 1: most hunted men. He and his brother served in the military,
Speaker 1: fighting for the Confederate Army during the Civil War. It
Speaker 1: said that Jessie and his brother Frank took part in
Speaker 1: the Centralia massacre that killed twenty two Union soldiers. After
Speaker 1: the war, the brothers led a gang of outlaws specializing
Speaker 1: in robbing stage coaches, banks and trains. A word of
Speaker 1: the notorious James Gang spread across the nation, along with
Speaker 1: rumors that Jesse and Frank often robbed rich and gave
Speaker 1: the poor. In one of the most enduring stories, the
Speaker 1: James Gang rode through Missouri to a string of successful
Speaker 1: and profitable robberies. They came across a farmhouse where a
Speaker 1: poor and elderly widow lived alone. With the law on
Speaker 1: their trail, the men asked the widow if they could
Speaker 1: stay and hide for a few days. She welcomed them and,
Speaker 1: in an act of kindness, shared her meager supplies and food.
Speaker 1: Jesse noticed the woman seemed distracted and upset and asked
Speaker 1: what was troubling her. To a surprise, she broke down
Speaker 1: in tears. Aside from being recently widowed, her mortgage was
Speaker 1: due and she had no money to pay The widow
Speaker 1: explained that her lender was far from understanding or generous
Speaker 1: in the matter, and she had no place to go
Speaker 1: and no way to earn a living. Jesse asked the
Speaker 1: woman how much she needed to pay off her mortgage.
Speaker 1: She told him she needed fifteen hundred dollars. Jesse promptly
Speaker 1: gave her the money and pulled her to get a
Speaker 1: receipt from the debt collector when he came for the money.
Speaker 1: Then he asked for the collector's description. The gang left
Speaker 1: shortly after, but instead of continuing their journey, they waited
Speaker 1: in the woods. The deck collector arrived, took the money,
Speaker 1: and handed the woman receipt. When he got back on
Speaker 1: his horse and rode away, Jesse and the gang followed.
Speaker 1: They trailed the man for a while before robbing him.
Speaker 1: Jesse took back the fifteen hundred dollars and the gang
Speaker 1: rode away. Although this story is likely a myth, it's
Speaker 1: been widely accepted by the American imagination as fact. Like
Speaker 1: Robin Hood, stories about Jesse, James and his gang of
Speaker 1: merry men robbing the rich and giving to the poor
Speaker 1: have endured, making him seem like a noble Outlaw One.
Speaker 1: News of Jesse's death appeared in newspapers in April of
Speaker 1: eighteen forty two. Rumors swirled that he was alive and well.
Speaker 1: Some believed that Jesse and fellow gang member Robert Ford
Speaker 1: had plotted to kill another man resembling Jesse, which allowed
Speaker 1: him time to escape. Since then, science and the marvels
Speaker 1: of DNA have proved that the body in Jesse's grave
Speaker 1: is indeed the Outlaw himself. But for many decades, Jesse's
Speaker 1: legacy of being the Great robin Hood of the American
Speaker 1: West lived on. I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. Welcome to American Shadows.
Speaker 1: When we picture the life of American outlaws, we might
Speaker 1: think of the mid to late eighteen hundreds. We may
Speaker 1: envision the open Midwestern plains, rocky outcrops, and dusty trails.
Speaker 1: So we think of cowboys and wrestlers across Arizona Wyoming
Speaker 1: in California. But perhaps few would think of the early
Speaker 1: nineteen hundreds and Florida. Instead of dusty streets and tumbleweeds.
Speaker 1: The scenery in mid eighteen fifties, Florida looked a bit different.
Speaker 1: South Florida was a wilderness of sawgrass marsh and mangrove forest.
Speaker 1: The mikatsuke In semin peoples shared the Everglades with a
Speaker 1: host of wading birds and Florida panthers. Water flowed down
Speaker 1: and across the state through the Kissimmee Basin and Lake Okeechobee,
Speaker 1: eventually reaching Biscayne Bay. Alligators, crocodiles, and other animals coexisted
Speaker 1: within the ecosystem. Early colonists thought the swampy, alligator infested
Speaker 1: area was worthless. They dug out canals to drain the
Speaker 1: water from what they considered potentially valuable grazing and farmland.
Speaker 1: In eighteen sixty one, Florida seceded from the Union to
Speaker 1: join the Confederacy of Floridians depended on cattle, citrus, and
Speaker 1: other produce and feared that their economy would fall without
Speaker 1: the enslaved labor of indigenous peoples and Africans. In the
Speaker 1: coming decades, colonists dug more canals and drained more water away.
Speaker 1: And while we might picture newcomers choosing to live on
Speaker 1: that open farmland, some families chose to live in the Everglades,
Speaker 1: and such was the life for the Ashley family. Julius Ashley,
Speaker 1: known simply as Joe, his wife Leuginia, and the couple's
Speaker 1: nine sons and two daughters, moved from Fort Myers to
Speaker 1: West Palm Beach, Florida in nineteen oh four. For a
Speaker 1: short time, Joe worked on the Flaggler Railroad and served
Speaker 1: as a lawman. But Joe also made first rate moonshine,
Speaker 1: which conflicted with his career, and the family settled in
Speaker 1: a small town in the Everglades just north of Hobe
Speaker 1: Sound to hide the business. The Ashleys carved out a
Speaker 1: living distilling moonshine and living off the land. They knew
Speaker 1: the Everglades as well as anyone, and used their knowledge
Speaker 1: to hunt and trap animals, mostly alligators and otters. Occasionally,
Speaker 1: the Ashley boys teamed up with their seminal neighbors for
Speaker 1: hunting or fishing expeditions. A Joe's son, John, became even
Speaker 1: more adept than the siblings in learning how to navigate
Speaker 1: the Everglades. At times, John disappeared down hunts for days,
Speaker 1: often with his friends and Desto Tiger, the son of
Speaker 1: a seminole leader. The friends went off hunting one day
Speaker 1: in December of nineteen eleven. Days later, John was spotted
Speaker 1: in town without DeSoto. For days, no one sawed Soto. Finally,
Speaker 1: on December twenty ninth, a crew dredging the New River
Speaker 1: Canal near Fort Lauderdale found Soto's body. He had been
Speaker 1: shot in the back of the head. Naturally, John became
Speaker 1: the main suspect. The pair had last been seen transporting
Speaker 1: Otter Pelts in John's canoe. John then sold the pelts
Speaker 1: four twelve hundred dollars at a Miami trading post and
Speaker 1: pocketed the entire amount. With witnesses placing the two together.
Speaker 1: Then a strong motive for murder, Palm Beach Sheriff George
Speaker 1: Baker ordered two deputies to arrest John. The men arrived
Speaker 1: at the Ashley camp, only to be confronted by John
Speaker 1: and his brother Bob. John told the deputies that he
Speaker 1: had let them live so they could deliver a message
Speaker 1: to the sheriff if Baker sent any more lawman to
Speaker 1: find him, that it hurt. The deputies left, but John
Speaker 1: figured they'd return with more men. Baker chose a different approach.
Speaker 1: Instead of sending men into the Everglades, they'd wait for
Speaker 1: John to come to them. At some point, John would
Speaker 1: need to go into town. It didn't take long before
Speaker 1: nearly every post office in South Florida had a wanted
Speaker 1: poster of John Ashley on display, and there wasn't a
Speaker 1: town John could step foot in without being recognized. With
Speaker 1: a reward on his head, he decided to leave the state.
Speaker 1: Some say he headed toward New Orleans, others say he
Speaker 1: went to Seattle. Either way, John got homesick and returned
Speaker 1: in nineteen fourteen. He surrendered and was taken to jail
Speaker 1: to await trial, but John and his family had no
Speaker 1: intention of giving up so easily. John Ashley's first trial
Speaker 1: in Palm Beach in July of nineteen fourteen ended in
Speaker 1: a trial Convinced of his guilt, the state prosecutor and
Speaker 1: Sheriff Baker were determined to see him hang for murder.
Speaker 1: After reevaluating the trial, the prosecutor determined that it had
Speaker 1: been a mistake to try John and Palm Beach, the
Speaker 1: county was full of friends, relatives, and customers of the
Speaker 1: Ashley family. When the prosecutor set a new trial date,
Speaker 1: he also requested a new location, Miami. A judge granted
Speaker 1: the request, which didn't bode well for the Ashley's, but
Speaker 1: John managed to escape during transport, who climbing over a
Speaker 1: ten foot fence and disappearing into the everglades. Adding insult
Speaker 1: to injury, He'd escaped from Sheriff Baker's own son. The
Speaker 1: Ashley family had long been at odds with the law,
Speaker 1: and Joe had little problem encouraging his son's illegal actions.
Speaker 1: He helped his sons and their gang in an attempted
Speaker 1: robbery of the Florida East Coast Railway. However, the gang's
Speaker 1: lack of a plan and a savvy poor foiled their attempt.
Speaker 1: In late February of nineteen fifteen, the Ashley Gang robbed
Speaker 1: a bank in Stuart. The group took in forty three
Speaker 1: hundred dollars about one hundred and twenty thousand dollars today.
Speaker 1: Though not everything went smoothly, kid Lowe, the gang's newest member,
Speaker 1: accidentally shot John in the jaw. The bullet's trajectory caused
Speaker 1: John to lose his eyesight. The group went into hiding
Speaker 1: for a while. John's pain increased and he was forced
Speaker 1: to seek medical attention. A doctor removed one eye, replacing
Speaker 1: it with a glass eye and the patch. When he finished,
Speaker 1: Sheriff Baker and a posse arrested John and sent him
Speaker 1: to jail in Miami. It wasn't long before the Dade
Speaker 1: County jail guards heard rumors that the Ashley Gang had
Speaker 1: plans to break John out. A security increased, though that
Speaker 1: hardly deterred the Ashley's. Joe gathered his sons to make
Speaker 1: detailed plans for John's escape. Bob grew impatient and decided
Speaker 1: to break John out in a blaze of glory by himself.
Speaker 1: On June second of nineteen fifteen, he went to the
Speaker 1: Miami Dade Deputy Sheriff's home next to the jail. Bob
Speaker 1: stood outside for a few minutes before knocking on the door.
Speaker 1: Deputy Wilbur Hendrickson answered. Bob raised his rifle and fired,
Speaker 1: shooting the deputy in the chest. While he took the
Speaker 1: deputy's jail house keys, Missus Hendrickson grabbed a rifle. She
Speaker 1: pulled the trigger, but the rifle didn't fire. The shot
Speaker 1: had drawn the attention of nearby residence, forcing Bob to flee.
Speaker 1: In his hasty retreat, he dropped the keys. Bob carjacked
Speaker 1: delivery truck, though the driver had a gun to his head.
Speaker 1: He stole the truck to allow officer John Riblet to
Speaker 1: catch up in a vehicle behind him. When the officer
Speaker 1: demanded that he gave himself up, Bob shot him in
Speaker 1: the head. Incredibly, Officer Riblet returned fire, hitting Bob twice.
Speaker 1: Both men were rushed to the hospital where Riblet died.
Speaker 1: The sheriff moved Bob Ashley to the jail, but he
Speaker 1: died upon arrival. John's second trial went better than expected.
Speaker 1: He managed to escape the death sentence for the murder
Speaker 1: of the Sodo Tiger. However, the court did sentence him
Speaker 1: to seventeen years for his part in the bank robbery.
Speaker 1: In March of nineteen eighteen, John Ashley got out of
Speaker 1: prison on good behavior and immediately returned to his former
Speaker 1: life of crime. The Ashley Gang continued to rob trains
Speaker 1: and banks, but with prohibition, rum running and bootlegging proved
Speaker 1: easy money. The Ashley gang set up multiple stills around
Speaker 1: Palm Beach County. John, along with brothers Ed and Frank,
Speaker 1: made frequent moonlight trips to and from British liquor warehouses
Speaker 1: in the Bahamas to the Jupiter Inlet. The gang added
Speaker 1: a new member, John's girlfriend, Laura, up the grove Laura
Speaker 1: had had two children with her first husband and two
Speaker 1: more with her second husband, Ernest. One day, she left
Speaker 1: Ernest and her children to join the Ashley Gang. Laura
Speaker 1: worked as a scout for the gang. She've also helped
Speaker 1: play in the bank robberies and often drove the getaway car.
Speaker 1: When members of the gang were arrested, Laura planned their escape.
Speaker 1: Though perhaps not a raving beauty, she still caught men's attention.
Speaker 1: She was tall, dark hair, dark eyed, and a notorious flirt.
Speaker 1: By all accounts, she was a mean spirited woman who
Speaker 1: wore a thirty eight on our hip as She was
Speaker 1: as good a shot as any member of the gang,
Speaker 1: and like the Ashley's, Laura knew her way around the Everglades.
Speaker 1: By nineteen twenty, John didn't think life could get much better,
Speaker 1: but then he got word that his nemesis, Sheriff Baker,
Speaker 1: had died. John's elation didn't last though, a Sheriff Baker's
Speaker 1: son stepped in to take his father's place. He wasn't
Speaker 1: about to give up on arresting the Ashley Boys. In
Speaker 1: nineteen twenty one, John was delivering liquor in Wachula when
Speaker 1: the new sheriff Baker arrested him. During the months that
Speaker 1: followed John's incarceration, his nephew, Hanford Mobley and gang member
Speaker 1: Roy Matthews ran the day to day operations. A brothers,
Speaker 1: Ed and Frank Ashley continued the run running operation without him,
Speaker 1: and they set out on a dark October night in
Speaker 1: nineteen twenty one for another trip across the Gulf Stream.
Speaker 1: That was the last anyone saw of those two Ashley boys,
Speaker 1: But in the following years, the gang robbed the Bank
Speaker 1: of Stuart again and John escaped from prison, followed by
Speaker 1: the escape of two other gang members from a different prison. Reunited,
Speaker 1: the gang ramped up their crime spree to taunt Sheriff Baker.
Speaker 1: John began leaving a gun with a single bullet at
Speaker 1: every robbery. Infuriated, Baker swore that he would bring John
Speaker 1: to justice and carry his glass eye around like a
Speaker 1: pocket watch. In the early morning hours of January ninth,
Speaker 1: nineteen twenty four, Baker gathered a large posse and surrounded
Speaker 1: a camp a couple of miles from the Ashley homestead.
Speaker 1: The two groups exchanged gunfire. One of the officers shot
Speaker 1: Joe in the head, killing him. John fatally shot Deputy
Speaker 1: Fred Baker, the sheriff's cousin, and during the exchange, Laura
Speaker 1: was also shot but survived. John Ashley vowed kill every
Speaker 1: deputy when given a chance. Then he and the gang
Speaker 1: escaped into the Everglades the empty handed. The posse burned
Speaker 1: the camp and the homestead to the ground. The Ashleys
Speaker 1: had made a threat, and as far as the deputies
Speaker 1: were concerned, it was now them or the Ashley Gang.
Speaker 1: John and the gang robbed the Bank of Pompinow on
Speaker 1: September twelfth of nineteen twenty four. The heist netted the
Speaker 1: group five thousand dollars in cash and another eighteen thousand insecurities.
Speaker 1: Was still angry over his father's death and Laura's injury,
Speaker 1: John wanted to humiliate Baker, so he handed the cashier
Speaker 1: and unspent bullet. He ordered the cashier to give the
Speaker 1: bullet to Sheriff Baker when he arrived, along with the
Speaker 1: message that he had another bullet waiting for the sheriff
Speaker 1: if he was man enough to come and get it.
Speaker 1: John moved the gang's camp nearly three hundred miles north
Speaker 1: to his sister's house. As some say he was headed
Speaker 1: toward Jacksonville, where they were planning another bank robbery. Later,
Speaker 1: John's mother would insist her sons were trying to give
Speaker 1: up their life of crime. For a while. John took
Speaker 1: some delight that the press chastised Baker for his inability
Speaker 1: to capture the gang, but even the humiliation didn't quite
Speaker 1: quench his hatred for Baker. John wanted revenge for his
Speaker 1: father's death and vowed to assassinate Baker after the November elections. However,
Speaker 1: Sheriff Baker was already on to the Ashley's and their
Speaker 1: new location. The Stuart police chief had been on the
Speaker 1: lookout and saw John's brother in law a loading an
Speaker 1: excessive amount of groceries into his car. A Baker called
Speaker 1: Saint Lucy County Sheriff J. R. Merritt, and the two
Speaker 1: men planned an ambush for the Ashleys. Merritt placed a
Speaker 1: roadblock on the Sebastian Bridge on November first of nineteen
Speaker 1: twenty four. Baker stayed behind, afraid that if he left
Speaker 1: Palm Beach, someone might tip off the Ashleys that he
Speaker 1: was onto them. Instead, Baker sent four men to meet
Speaker 1: up with Merritt and to Saint Lucy. Deputies ten thirty
Speaker 1: that night, a car drove up and stopped a blockade.
Speaker 1: A second car carrying the Ashley gang, drove up behind
Speaker 1: the first. With the gang's interests centered on the car
Speaker 1: stopped in front of them, Merritt and the deputies took
Speaker 1: the Ashley gang by surprise, surrounding them and ordering them
Speaker 1: out of their vehicle with their hands up. What happened
Speaker 1: next is still debated. Some say that the Ashley gang
Speaker 1: tried to escape and were shot, but the men in
Speaker 1: the first car claimed that the gang was already in
Speaker 1: handcuffs when they were asked to leave the scene. Ashley
Speaker 1: was known to carry a gun, and the deputies claimed
Speaker 1: they did not yet have the gang in handcuffs. John
Speaker 1: was ordered to keep his hands up and not make
Speaker 1: a move. They said he was shot when he lowered
Speaker 1: his hands and stepped forward. The investigation ruled that the
Speaker 1: deputies shot and killed the rest of the gang when
Speaker 1: they attempted to flee, leaving some to speculate that Baker
Speaker 1: had ensured that justice would be served in one way
Speaker 1: or another. Laura up the Grove lived to tell the tale.
Speaker 1: She hadn't been there the night John was killed. Without
Speaker 1: John and the gang, she wandered around South Florida. Reportedly,
Speaker 1: Laura had told an informmant about John and the gang's
Speaker 1: plans to travel north. She knew they would be traveling
Speaker 1: across the bridge that night. He had left her behind,
Speaker 1: and she had been angry. Or One night after the shooting,
Speaker 1: she fought with a friend over a bottle of moonshine.
Speaker 1: Angry and not paying attention, she grabbed a bottle that
Speaker 1: she thought was moonshine and drank deeply. Instead of alcohol,
Speaker 1: the bottle contained a strong disinfectant. Within minutes, she was dead.
Speaker 1: Rumors swirled that she had been the last to know
Speaker 1: where the Ashley Gang had hidden their money. Locals speculated
Speaker 1: that the gang had stolen a large amount of cash
Speaker 1: that was unaccounted for and had buried it deep in
Speaker 1: the Everglades. It's estimated that the gang stole over a
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars, though only thirty two thousand was ever reclaimed.
Speaker 1: Some rumors say that Laura had some of the money
Speaker 1: buried with her. Others say that after John's death, she
Speaker 1: buried the money at a gas station. When the Great
Speaker 1: Depression hit, the story of the Ashley Gang changed. They'd
Speaker 1: done some horrific things, but the new tale among many
Speaker 1: of the locals was that the gang gave food to
Speaker 1: the poor. To them, John became a modern day Robin Hood.
Speaker 1: People idolized the Ashley's, claiming the gang where missunderstood rebels
Speaker 1: rising up against a corrupt government and system designed to
Speaker 1: keep the poor impoverished. Others said that with the stolen money,
Speaker 1: the Ashley's were able to hire people in the community,
Speaker 1: which helped them earn a living. Like the James Gang,
Speaker 1: It's unlikely that the Ashley Gang gave away their money
Speaker 1: to the needy. They most likely spent the money or
Speaker 1: gave some of its relatives. People have searched for their stash,
Speaker 1: including professional treasure hunter Robert Allison in nineteen seventy two. Reportedly,
Speaker 1: Allison found the treasure after his team used a front
Speaker 1: loader to scrape the top soil on the Ashley's property
Speaker 1: near Hope Sound, though this is also speculation and has
Speaker 1: never been confirmed. One last detail for you. Remember how
Speaker 1: Sheriff Baker Wants swore that he would one day wear
Speaker 1: John Ashley's glass eye like a pocket watch. One of
Speaker 1: the deputies at the scene supposedly snatched the eye to
Speaker 1: give to Baker. Two stories follow. One account is that
Speaker 1: just after John's death, Laura walked into Sheriff Baker's office,
Speaker 1: leveled to forty five at his head, and demanded John's eye.
Speaker 1: After taking it from him, she told him that if
Speaker 1: he wanted it bad enough, he was welcome to come
Speaker 1: and get it if he was a man enough. But
Speaker 1: the truth is more likely the second story. In an interview,
Speaker 1: the deputy who took the eye from John Ashley said
Speaker 1: he never ended up giving the eye to Baker. Instead,
Speaker 1: he was forced to return it to be married with Ashley.
Speaker 1: He stated that had he known John would get it back,
Speaker 1: he would have crushed the eye under the heel of
Speaker 1: his boot. There's more to this story. Stick around after
Speaker 1: this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. Long
Speaker 1: before outlaws roamed the West, America feared a different villain, pirates,
Speaker 1: and while some treasure hunters still searched the Everglade for
Speaker 1: John Ashley's treasure, others looked the Florida Keys for buried
Speaker 1: gems and gold coins left behind by one of the
Speaker 1: state's most fearsome pirates in history. A little is known
Speaker 1: about Black Caesar. Legends tell us. He roamed the Caribbean
Speaker 1: Sea in the late seventeen hundreds, striking fear into the
Speaker 1: hearts of sailors and merchants alike. Stories about him may
Speaker 1: actually be an amalgam of stories about different black men
Speaker 1: who were pirrating in the Caribbean at the time. Whatever
Speaker 1: the case, his real name was conveniently never known, and
Speaker 1: he adopted the pseudonym Black Caesar due to his dark
Speaker 1: skin and imposing stature. According to legend, he came from
Speaker 1: West Africa and was the son of a powerful chief.
Speaker 1: He was rumored to be of enormous size and strength,
Speaker 1: and many enslavers tried to capture him, to no avail.
Speaker 1: It took betrayal to finally capture him. A business associate
Speaker 1: lured Black Caesar onto a boat, claiming there were many
Speaker 1: valuable and stolen goods that might be of use. Once aboard,
Speaker 1: Caesar was outmanned and subdued. His captors chained and shackled him,
Speaker 1: then transferred Caesar to a slave ship headed to the Caribbean.
Speaker 1: A sailor aboard the ship befriended him, and during a storm,
Speaker 1: he freed Caesar. Together, the two managed to escape the
Speaker 1: ship before it smashed into the reefs, killing all those
Speaker 1: still aboard. Caesar and the sailor rowed a small boat,
Speaker 1: the Hurricane, and made it safely to a small island
Speaker 1: in the Florida Keys. There the friends began their pirrating
Speaker 1: scheme in earnest, laying wait for passing ships. The men
Speaker 1: would row out to sea and pretend to be lost
Speaker 1: and in need of rescue. When the other ships offered help,
Speaker 1: the pirates took advantage of their kindness and plundered them.
Speaker 1: The scheme proved to be very profitable. Eventually, Caesar and
Speaker 1: the sailor added more men to their crew. Their partnership
Speaker 1: apparently ended when they captured a woman, and the sailor
Speaker 1: and Caesar both wanted her. Caesar killed his best friend
Speaker 1: over her. A black Caesar was known for his cunning
Speaker 1: and intelligence, as well as for his immense wealth. He
Speaker 1: plundered countless ships over the years, amassing of fortune in gold, jewels,
Speaker 1: and other valuable goods. When he raided ships, he took men, women,
Speaker 1: in children captive and placed them in prisoner camps, hoping
Speaker 1: for ransoms. In Some stories say that escaped children created
Speaker 1: their own society on the islands as his wealth grew.
Speaker 1: It was said that Black Caesar kept his treasure in
Speaker 1: a secret location known only to him and a select
Speaker 1: few of his most trusted crew members. According to legend,
Speaker 1: he buried the treasure off the Florida coast on Elliott Key,
Speaker 1: where he believed it would be safe. Caesar later joined
Speaker 1: Blackbeard's crew and was with him the day Lieutenant Robert
Speaker 1: Maynard killed him. As Caesar was arrested and later hanged
Speaker 1: in Williamsburg, Virginia, the rumors of Black Caesar's treasure spread
Speaker 1: like wildfire throughout the Caribbean. Many pirates and adventurers set
Speaker 1: out to find what they thought was a treasure of
Speaker 1: unimaginable wealth. However, no treasure was ever found. As the
Speaker 1: years passed, the story of Black Caesar's treasure became the
Speaker 1: stuff of legend, and many said that the island was
Speaker 1: cursed and that anyone who'd tried to claim the treasure
Speaker 1: would suffer some terrible fate. Some even claimed that the
Speaker 1: island was haunted by the ghosts of those who had
Speaker 1: tried and failed to find it. The legend has it
Speaker 1: that Black Caesar's treasure is still out there and waiting
Speaker 1: to be discovered. The skeptics say the treasure is nothing
Speaker 1: more than a myth and never really existed. Like the
Speaker 1: story of Robin Hood, taking from the rich and giving
Speaker 1: to the poor, legends of ill begotten treasure waiting to
Speaker 1: be found continue to capture the imagination of people all
Speaker 1: over the world. American Shadows as hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum.
Speaker 1: This episode was written by Michelle Muto, researched by Ali Steed,
Speaker 1: and produced by Miranda Hawkins and Trevor Young, with executive
Speaker 1: producers Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. To learn
Speaker 1: more about the show, visit grimanmil dot com. From more
Speaker 1: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts.