This article appeared in the May 1945 issue of Desert Magazine. As many will see, Storm did not tell everything in this article the same way he told it in Thunder God’s Gold published the same year.

Even more curious, is how close some of the information tracks along with the Holmes Manuscript in a couple of cases. (With different names for what appears to be the same stories)

Did Storm get information from Brownie and modify it for this article?

Or... Did brownie take information from this article and modify it for use in the Holmes Manuscript? (Which surfaced about 3 years later)


Or... Is there another possible explanation for the similarities? Like maybe an unidentified third party that both Brownie and Barry knew?

This article really has me stumped about where Storm got his information from? There are too many "way out there" things for it to have come from Julia or Rhiney. Although it does track somewhat, with Ely's account of what they told him, there are many differences.

It is doubtful that Storm ever had an opportunity to talk to Bark or Ely, or that Tex Barkley would have told him anything. It IS close enough to what is in Ely's version (from Julia and Rhiney) that Storm couldn't have just pulled it all out of his imagination.

Who could Storm have gotten this version of the story from? Herman maybe? If so, it is a far cry from what he told everyone else!

Could there possibly some valid clues in here that were left out of Ely's book? That one possibility, in my opinion makes it worth going through with a fine toothed comb, and examining it from all angles. The "Lighthouse" way!

Something else I picked up on... There are clues in this article, that I do not remember reading in any other published material except The Sterling Legend. Could Estee (Shirley) Conatser have used this article as the source for some of the clues in her book? (Some of the wording is almost identical) If so, why didn't she use all of them?

Last but not least... It is obvious that the writers of the movie Lust For Gold had read this article. The story line of the movie follows it a lot closer than it does with Thunder Gods Gold!

Mike (Lighthouse) Plug this stuff into your Enigma matrix, and see if you can squeeze out a clue to who Storm's source was for this information. Oren Arnold's Superstition's Gold 1934 maybe, or P.C. Bicknell's article - 1895? There is not a lot of published information that predate this article. I have not compared it to Trail of the Dutchman - 1939 yet. It may hold clues about who Storm had been getting information from.

Hi, Jim,
One thing that strikes me right away is the story of Julia and Rhiney. Ely says Julia had in effect "adopted" Rhiney and that he worked in her bakery/ice cream parlor. Storm is saying he worked with his father and brother in their own bakery. And according to Ely, the father and brother only come into the story after Waltz dies and Julia and rhiney send for them to help look for the mine. Also, according to Ely and Bark, Waltz was not a big drinker or carouser and was very subdued and quiet, almost melancholy. That doesn't square with Storm's description at all. But in this article I finally found the source of the "3 red hills" quote. If there is any new information in the story, my question would be how reliable it is given that so much else is a far cry from what we have come to accept as true from Ely and Bark. Storm's article just strikes me as sensationalism. Just my thoughts.
Bob

Hello Jim and Roward:
Yes the May 1945 Storm magazine article is very interesting indeed!
I believe that Barry was initially drawn to the Superstitions by the Adolph Ruth story. Barry arrived around 1937 and undoubtedly interviewed everyone he could about the LDM. As this was some 46 years after the Dutchman died, in the interim, plenty of second hand guessing had entered the gossip mill. This is evident by all of the "vicinity" type clues he related, but obviously didn't verify. His overall lack of verification is plainly evident.

Barry stated that after the 19 Feb 1891 Phoenix flood, the Dutchman was taken to Julia's home and DIED there on 22 Feb 91. Barry never checked this out, for it was on 22 Feb that the Dutchman was taken to Julia's home, NOT when he died there on 25 Oct 91.

Ely,Bark, RJ and his son Brownie did search for the LDM, and I'm willing to bet that during casual conversations back then, mentioned items related to it. This in turn led to "interpretations" of what they said, further adding to the volume of "clues" that got passed around.

Another oddity is that Barry stated that it was Charles Clark that the Dutchman threatened to kill if he tried to follow him again. In the Holmes version it is RJ Holmes. It is possible that Brownie "adapted" the Clark story, but not the other way around.

All of the information pertaining to the adventures of the Dutchman had to have come from Julia, Rieney or RJ Holmes, but virtually little of it, in one form or another, shows up in the Ely, Bark, or Holmes material. After Julia ceased looking for the mine, it is alleged that she "sold" information/maps, and therefore could have been the original source, (later interpreted) for alot of what Barry repeated. If this is true, then virtually from square one, "made up" information was entering the legend.

What Barry's article proves that by the time he arrived on the scene, there was plenty of "gossip" type information being passed around, and that Barry (really having no choice), decided to accept it as factual. Unfortunately, later era LDM authors then utilized some of the material Barry presented, only further muddling the picture...... Lighthouse

hey jim i was just reading the last couple of posts on the forum gold when discovered and if its true what you guys were saying about jake hand picking the richest samples to be assayed now if we were to assume that when jake went to the mine to get gold for himself and had two burros to pack the ore out on would he not do the same with the two burros and only pack them with the richest ore if that is the case and it assayed so high then would two burros full of jakes best ore be worth more than $1500 if so how true is storms article?

HOLA amigos,
Thank you Jim for posting the article, Barry sure does have a different take on many points of the stories surrounding Waltz and the mine.

The skeptics claim that no records exist of Waltz ever selling any gold, but the eyewitnesses tell a different story, that he was selling the ore directly to storekeepers in which case we are not likely to find any receipts.

Thanks again,
Roy

HOLA amigo Jim (and everyone)

I think you are right on the money. I only recently learned that Storm had been in contact with Erwin Ruth (by mail) starting in July of 1937, not sure of the date of his first search for the LDM but he was apparently more interested in trying to find the killers of Adolph Ruth at that time. I can easily understand how his interests changed.

You know only too well how it is with that danged LDM - Beth and I started out as gold prospectors just looking for gold, but the legend and the mountains somehow get you "hooked" and it is worse than smoking for trying to quit.
Roy

[quote="roward"
Waltz was not a big drinker or carouser and was very subdued and quiet, almost melancholy. That doesn't square with Storm's description at all. But in this article I finally found the source of the "3 red hills" quote. If there is any new information in the story, my question would be how reliable it is given that so much else is a far cry from what we have come to accept as true from Ely and Bark. Storm's article just strikes me as sensationalism. Just my thoughts.
Bob[/quote]


I agree with Bob, I would hate to think Waltz was a drunken killer. After reading stories about him I'm becoming fond of the man. Plus if he was a Mason he must of had some morals. I thought Wiser was Waltz's nephew, maybe his name sake,. How could he kill a family member. I never read a book about the Lost Dutchman.I have a lot to learn, Ive only read things off the net. There so many different stories how do you know witch one is true. I read some were Waltz had a Indian girl friend , I think her name is Ken Tee, who showed the two Jacobs were the mine was. And because she betrayed the Apache Indians they cut her tongue and killed her and Wiser. It said she died at a neighbors house. ( witch neighbor ?) Where did they find Wiser dead body? Some stories say Waltz left Wiser near the mine,some said he died at a ranch.( witch ranch?) was it the the Quarter Circle U ranch? Dose any one know this story? Back to storms story, He must have made Waltz a scandal to make his story interesting. That's just my opinion. Talking bout the red hills, I look a the Superstitions, they are all red! maybe some white spots ........inquiring Dee