Doc Noss - Victoria Peak Treasure
hardluck:
Hello all
Has any of these items he allegedly found at the peak has ever turned up?
Hardluck ???
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seldom:
Quote:Posted by hardluckHello all
Has any of these items he allegedly found at the peak has ever turned up?
Hardluck ???
His wife had a sword and a cup that she claimed he brought out plus a few letters
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Idaho Jones:
Still looking for actual photos of the artifacts.
excerpt from People Magazine 1992
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Over the next two years, the family believes, Noss painstakingly carried some 200 bars of gold out through the treacherous passage that led from the cavern and buried them in the desert for safekeeping. He also produced a number of artifacts, including a 19th-century German sword that the family still has in its possession. Stepdaughters Letha Guthrie and Dorothy Delonas, who spent time at the peak when they were young women, say that though Noss never let them accompany him to the cave, he did show them a few gold bars and artifacts. "He said the less we knew, the safer we'd be," says Dorothy, now 73, who recalls being handed a gold bar by Doc while they were camping near the peak. "I tried to put it under my pillow, and it was too long. I was up all night trying to protect it."
The family says that in 1939 New Mexico officials assured Noss that if he could widen the access into the peak so that they could inspect the claim, he would be granted title to the site. It was then, they say, that bad luck struck when a dynamite blast by a mining engineer intended to open up the passage caused a cave-in that sealed it closed.
In the following years, with the help of various investors and hired laborers, Noss intermittently worked on digging a 180-foot shaft through the rubble. Increasingly wary of would-be claim jumpers, he took to carrying a gun, often dropping out of sight for long periods. As time wore on, some locals accused him of fraud, and he took to drink. "People were following and making fun of him," Dorothy Delonas says. "He'd get disgusted with things, and so he'd get drunk."
At one point, the family says, some men kidnapped Doc and took a blowtorch to the soles of his feet to get him to divulge the whereabouts of the gold he claimed to have taken from the cave. "It was right after that that he disappeared," Dorothy says. "He always fell he'd get killed over it."
He turned out to be right. In 1949, during a dispute with Charley Ryan, a Texan who was helping to finance the search, Noss was shot in the back of the head as he ran down the main street in Hatch, N.Mex. He died slumped over the fender of a Chevrolet truck. (Ryan was acquitted of the shooting after arguing that he acted in self-defense because Noss was running to get his own gun.)
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BitburgAggie_7377:
Hardluck, I vaguely remember seeing a couple of pictures in one of the older books on Victoria Peak, but it's been so long that I could be thinking of a sketch.. I will say that if there are photographs of the "treasure" they are very few and far between. And given the circumstances and the people involved I think I'd not only want to see photographs of the recovered treasures, but ideally I want to see verifiable appraisals of them.
BA
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seldom:
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Legends of Lost Gold: the Victorio Peak Treasure (Part 2)
At the end of my previous post on New Mexico's Victorio Peak Treasure ("Legends of Lost Gold: the Victorio Peak Treasure [Part 1]" You are not allowed to view links.
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) I mentioned that I'd continue with the legend's history and significant events in the next post. So here goes (please note that all quotes by the parties involved are in italics):
"Something Unusual"
In 1937 the protagonist of our story, Milton "Doc" Noss, was illegally practicing foot medicine as a podiatrist in Hot Springs, New Mexico (now Truth or Consequences). In November of that same year he, his wife Ova "Babe" Noss, and another couple (who remain unnamed) were on a combined hunting and camping excursion in the Hembrillo Basin, not far from Victorio Peak.
At some point Doc slipped away from the others to hunt deer on his own. He returned to the campsite quite late in the evening and pulled Babe aside in their tent, swearing her to secrecy and whispering to her that he had "found something unusual" near the top of the mountain that included a small opening covered by a rock that led into a "cave-like" room.
"That Was the First of the Treasure"
To ensure that no undue suspicions regarding their activities were raised, Doc and Babe waited for a month or two before to returning to Victorio Peak with lengths of rope, digging tools, lanterns, and other supplies. Over the course of 3 or 4 visits, Doc expanded his initial discovery by venturing deeper and deeper into the mountain, squeezing himself through narrow passages and at one point, crossing an underground stream.
Finally, one fateful evening, after being inside the bowels of Victorio Peak for hours, Doc climbed his way back to the surface to confront a very worried Babe. Without saying a word Doc motioned Babe over to the campfire she had built and with shaking hands reached inside his vest and pulled out an old leather bag.
"It looked like a horse's feed bag" and was filled with "old foreign money" quoted Babe in later years. "That was the first of the treasure," said Babe. Over the next few months Doc would recover a number of other treasure items from inside Victorio Peak, including jewels, an old sword, and a gold crown.
"The Treasure Room"
Doc told Babe that the interior of the mountain was riddled with tunnels and caverns including a huge central chamber that Doc called "the treasure room." According to Doc inside this large, central cavern were several large stacks of "pig iron" which later turned out to be various-sized bars of gold (again, according to Doc) with a black oxidation coating on them. Also in the treasure room were wooden crates filled to the brim with jewels, old weapons and armor, trunks filled with lace and velvet, religious statues, gold crosses, and even old documents and letters.
To prove his point Doc handed Babe a gold crown. Later, while they were at home, Babe cleaned the crown at her kitchen sink, still unable to fully comprehend the treasure trove that Doc had found inside Victorio Peak. In later years Babe stated that "I took it to a jewelerman in El Paso and when he seen it he starting talking to us real polite. The crown had 243 diamonds and one big pigeon-blood ruby."
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Idaho Jones:
I found something interesting. Its a little tough to read through, but some of the pictures of the site are intriguing. Perhaps just another elaborate hoax as some of the markings look recently fabricated, but his theory of where the site is makes sense. Its obviously a cave much as was discribed. Of course still no photos of gold....
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gold doesnt oxidize black, silver does. ???
hmmm
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BitburgAggie_7377:
Idaho, I just scanned the attached article, but it is interesting enough that I'm going back and reading it more carefully. The photos sure match most of the older and more basic written accounts better than anything I've seen from the recent Victorio Peak expeditions. These Florida folks could be on to something.
BA
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seldom:
Interesting reading IJ but several of the posters are world famous BSer's. There is another thread there about the LD that has 5 people claiming to have found it. One has never been there but has it pin point with google earth and expects a recovery in the spring. I have been a member there longer then here but have not post there in close to a year. 90% of the people here are real can't say that about that place.
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IronHorse:
On a previous post I said the Air Force.....it was the Army at WSMR that took control of the situation. However, In 1973 the WSMR Commander agreed to let a Drilling and Seismograph Co. out of Colorado have a permit for a week to try and locate anything. They went to the original shaft that Doc Noss was supposedly to have dug down about 130' and try and clean it out. The weather didn't cooperate and before they could do any good, their permit had ran out...... I really believe that Doc Noss found something, but probably at a different location. He may have used Victoria Peak as a ruse to throw others off his trail.
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hardluck:
Hello All
I do not really know what to make out of the story that we have at present. For a fairly modern treasure story there seem little evidence to support the claims.
There seems the usual treasure legend syndrome of many claims from various dubious sources claiming some one said this or some some on claimed that.
Most of the story we have is whats other have said about Doc Noss. Was he a fraud involved in a complex scam or really found some treasure? With so little of what we have we cannot come to any logical conclusion at this point in time.
The truth of the matter perhaps died with him in 1949. Now all we have left is speculation traded as fact. We have very few if any verifiable sources to learn the rules of the game.
And what of the alleged treasure we have various source claiming numerous items that was found German sword ( Perhaps Prussian ), jeweled crown, coins, suit of Armour and most confusing of all a wells fargo chest etc led to various theories of the origin of the treasure. Maximilian. La Rue, Victorio etc... among others. What are we to understand from all of this when we cannot see an any of these alleged treasures that we could verify as coming from Victorio peak?
below is a picture claimed by an author that the suit of Armour was allegedly found at Victorio peak? Like BA comments what do we really have unless the claims are verified in some way.
The only one person we may of had a chance to understanding this treasure mystery is through Ova Noss but even then none of the alleged recovered items so far has been revealed. She herself never entered the cave and only relied what what doc allowed himself to tell her.
In summing up the story.
It is ironic that the only part of the story we can confirm is the latter events. Such of course the later court battles and the Air force involvement on Victoro peak.
The main source of the story was Doc Noss of perhaps dubious character who never revealed much anyway ended up getting himself killed?
The secondary source of the story Ova Noss only perhaps relayed what Doc Noss allowed himself to tell her?
None of the items allegedly recovered as yet have never turned up?
The alleged items such as letters dating 16th century to 1880 have never turned up. If they have it would of given us more of an idea of the source of the treasure?
We have a host of characters through various reasons have made many claims based on hearsay and speculation.
Leaving us with a story that gives us no answers.
Unless more verifiable evidence comes forward we are left right back were we began at a unverifiable treasure legend.
Hardluck ???
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