Birch Gang Beeswax Bottle Loot

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Birch Gang Beeswax Bottle Loot

Lost Treasure IL • Clark County County
Description
Clark County legend of the Birch gang sealing outlaw loot in glass bottles with beeswax and burying them in a wheat field near Old Grant Redden's Devil's Creek hideout — never reported found.
Historical Notes
John "Old Coon" Birch ran a cabin hideout nine miles southwest of Marshall; son Robert Birch led the Banditti of the Prairies until the 1845 Col. Davenport murder in Rock Island. Detective Edward Bonney learned from Grant Redden that gang loot was beeswax-sealed in bottles and buried near Devil's Creek. Robert Birch was arrested with Davenport's watch; the gang fled to Missouri after an 1852 posse attack — with no record of recovered caches.
Status / Verification legend — Legendary or approximate

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