[marching band music playing]
Come now, lads.
Put your backs into it.
Row lively now.
Worst Christmas ever.
Welcome to the front lines of the Revolutionary War.
American colonial patriots,
under the command of General George Washington here,
are in their second year of fighting against
the British for their independence.
And right about now, well, things aren't going so hot.
A blizzard is coming, morale and provisions are running low.
Oh, and did I mention we lost New York?
Yeah, we lost New York.
That's why Mr. One Dollar Bill here
has decided to do something daring.
Our mission?
To secretly ferry 2,400 troops across the Delaware River
to launch a surprise attack against the British-led military outpost
in Trenton, New Jersey.
It is a huge gamble, and undoubtedly,
you know how it turns out.
But according to legend, this pivotal win
very nearly doesn't happen at all.
Roll lively. We're almost there.
Across the way, on a ridge overlooking the icy river,
a man named Moses Doan has spotted Washington
crossing the Delaware.
Moses is a colonial farmer from a Quaker family.
He's also something else, loyal to the British.
Later, Washington will reportedly call Moses
and his brothers
in the Doan gang the greatest threat to the American cause.
Meanwhile, the British mercenary forces here
in Trenton are exhausted and hunkered down
in the frigid temperatures, unaware of Washington's impending attack.
As for the commanding colonel and senior officers,
a night of Christmas merriment has left them somewhat distracted
from duty.
The story goes that Moses Doan races here
to deliver a note of warning.
This single piece of paper could snuff out
the very birth of a nation.
Luckily, the colonel is too busy playing cards
to read the message.
Moses and his brothers did succeed
at something else, though,
terrorizing the colonists through brazen acts
of robbery, including the shocking heist
at gunpoint of one of the early US treasuries,
what was then the largest ever theft of US public funds.
The Doan gang's crimes have become the stuff of legend,
as have the millions in gold and silver
they reportedly buried, but history is about to resurface.
The past is all around us.
Oh, this is crazy.
-A world of mystery. -This is a plane.
Yeah.
Danger.
-We are about to be underwater. -Whoa!
And adventure.
It's just straight down!
[exclaims]
I travel to the far corners of the Earth
to uncover where legends end.
-And history begins. -Okay, let's punch it.
I'm Josh Gates, and this is Expedition Unknown.
Welcome to Philadelphia, home of the 76ers.
No, not the basketball team.
I'm talking about the guys who in 1776 signed
the Declaration of Independence,
and kicked off the American Revolution,
pitting our brave patriots against the oppressive British monarchy.
But it's a little more complicated than that.
It turns out the fight for independence was also a civil war
in which Americans battled themselves.
I was shocked to learn that 20 to 30% of the colonists
wanted no part of this revolution.
Among those loyal to the crown was farmer Joseph Doan
of Plumstead, Pennsylvania.
When asked to sign an oath swearing his allegiance
to the newly formed American government, he refused.
The patriots branded him a traitor,
confiscated his farm, and turned him
and his five grown sons out onto the street.
Homeless and infuriated, these young men became
America's first outlaws, the infamous Doan Gang.
The Doan brothers, Levi, Malan, Aaron,
and Joseph, were led by eldest son, Moses.
In direct opposition to their freedom-fighting neighbors,
these turncoats helped the Redcoats,
establishing a clandestine network of spies for the British,
stealing hundreds of horses, and robbing
colonial tax collectors.
Benjamin Franklin himself is said to have signed
the Doans' execution papers.
Though not before they allegedly accumulated
a hidden stockpile of gold and silver that would now
be worth millions.
To see if it can be found, a team of historians
and treasure hunters is preparing an investigation
of the gang's former hideout.
And a historian has uncovered documents leading
to a legendary cave where the Doans
may have buried their loot.
I'll be heading to the Doan gang's old stomping ground
of Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
In 1776, it was a day's ride from Philadelphia by horse.
I'm taking a Jeep though, so should be faster.
-[vehicle beeps] -Let's ride.
♪♪ I will call you ♪
From Philadelphia, I drive 30 miles
to historic Newtown, Pennsylvania,
where people clearly remember their local lawless traders.
And it's where my search for the Doan Gang
and their buried loot begins, at a place known as Tomlinson Farm.
I'm greeted on the back porch by Doan Gang historian, Annie Halliday.
-Nice to meet you. -So nice to meet you.
Pleasure. This is a beautiful old house here.
Gorgeous property.
-Yeah. -This is a Bucks County stone house.
You can see here from the date stone, built in 1769.
-Oh, really old house. -Really old house.
Okay, and this was a historic farm that belonged to who?
John Tomlinson, who was a British loyalist
and a principal member of the Doan Gang.
Let's talk about the Doan Gang.
Why become a British loyalist in the colonies?
-What's the advantage for them? -I think the advantage
is staying with the government that you've grown up with.
I mean, they are of English descent.
They arrived in the colonies in the 1690s.
So for many generations, this is the only form
-of government they know. -Right.
Why break with that to join this other
newly formed United States government that you have
no loyalty to, you didn't vote for,
and is sort of being forced upon you?
In order to become our founding fathers,
the colonists needed money and an army,
and their methods for getting them weren't exactly subtle.
They coerced their neighbors into joining the revolution
with harsh fines and public shaming.
Traitors to the cause were even physically branded,
and lists of their names were published in local newspapers.
The Doans were prominently featured on one such list.
And that really changes things for them because
it is published in the newspaper, they are named as
attainted traitors, and their family farm
is forfeited to the Pennsylvania government.
-So they lose their homestead. -Yes.
Now homeless outcasts, the Doan family becomes
the Doan gang.
Their illustrious criminal career kicks off
with horse thievery and home invasions
and the Doans quickly become wanted men.
But other British loyalists like the owner of this property, John Tomlinson,
protect the Doans.
It's a crime for which he'll eventually be executed.
As for the gang, they expand into
bank robberies and espionage, as one document found
on the farm demonstrates.
-This was found here? -This was found here
among John Tomlinson's papers after his death.
And what is this?
So this is an original hand-drawn map
of the US battalions in North Bergen, New Jersey.
Wow. This is the original document?
This is the original hand-drawn document
-dated August 10th, 1780. -So this is a map showing
the position of revolutionary forces.
And this map presumably would have aided the British
-in finding out where the rebels were. -Yes.
-That is incredible. -It is.
This map is evidence of the exploits
that would turn the Doans into local folk heroes
to the loyalists.
There are even stories that portray them
as handsome rogues with near superhuman strength.
Those are, of course, tall tales,
but what can't be denied is the Doans' thievery,
including a huge haul from the 1781 robbery
of the Newtown Treasury.
The heist made the Doans public enemy number one,
and the gold and silver they stole
could be worth millions today.
And that money has been recovered?
It's never been recovered, and potentially some of it
could have been left behind here.
Beyond this document here, this property
has not been very well investigated.
We know the Doans used this farm as a hideout,
and they may have even buried their stolen loot on the property.
-These fields have never been searched? -Mm-mmm.
Well, that is certainly a lot of land to search.
Yeah, and it's not going to be easy.
To cover all this ground, we're bringing in a team
from Pennsylvania Historical Recovery Services,
led by their founder, Jim Bongiovanni.
So what does the Pennsylvania Historical Recovery Service do?
People call us to come out to their homes.
We come out for free. We find relics for them,
and then we give them back so the people can display
and preserve them in the home.
I love that mission. That's great.
And so here we've got this old colonial house.
It was once a farm, right?
As you can see, a lot of land here.
So what would your approach be on a property like this?
We find that the concentration of relics are closer to the house.
So what we'll do is we'll start closer to the house
and then work our way out into the fields.
All right.
And find bags and bags of Doan Gang treasure.
Yes, because I know exactly where they're at.
See, I love this confidence. I love this confidence.
-Should we do it? -Yes.
-Let's do it. -All right, go team.
-Let's go. -Go team.
The group breaks out their metal detectors
and we start to scan Tomlinson Farm,
hoping for a bumper crop of--
-Hey, I got something, Josh. -Wait, already?
What do you got?
Kind of a big 1700s era button made out of tombac metal.
-Which is, uh... -Button... What is tombac metal?
It's an alloy of tin and brass.
Yeah, look at that.
And this dates to when, would you say?
That dates to the mid-1700s into possibly the late 1700s.
So we are in our target period here.
-We are 100% in the period. -Wow.
I was going to make a joke and say it's a Doan gang button,
but hell, it could be.
-Very well could be. -Absolutely.
-Definitely could be there. -Belonged to somebody working the farm.
Belonged to somebody working the field.
-It's a good find. -Really good find.
Also good to have in case you lose a button.
-That's right. -Because these will come in handy.
Put it in your pocket.
Here we go.
The button pushes us to keep looking for more,
and Tomlinson Farm delivers.
Yo, Josh, I got a coin out here.
Found a coin?
[man] Yeah, colonial era.
Dude, we just started.
-What'd you find? -Oh, you got to see this.
It's a colonial era coin, without a doubt.
-What'd you find? -Oh, you gotta see this.
It's a colonial-era coin, without a doubt.
Look at that. It's really super thin.
I'm pretty sure that's a King George.
I'm with a team scanning the grounds of a colonial-era farm
for the lost loot of the Doan Gang,
a crew of British loyalists who robbed, spied against,
and terrorized the patriots during the American Revolution.
I can see a little bit of writing on it. Okay, what do you think?
What? What? Oh, yeah. That's a King George.
King George.
I can't get a date, but it's definitely a King George.
Great Britain had six kings named George,
and each had their face on official coinage.
No matter which one this is, it's historic.
-Dude. -Nice.
Unbelievable.
You know who's really good with the years on these? The mustache.
-The mustache? -Yeah.
The other, one of the other Bills.
-Are we calling it the mustache? -Oh, absolutely.
-Mustache! -Mustache!
-I didn't realize they called you the mustache. -Well, he does.
Okay, so there's definitely an eight in there.
So facing left is King George II.
And I see a two.
So it's definitely King George II.
You'll see right up here in the 1 o'clock position,
-a Roman numeral II. -Yes.
-That's King George II. -The date range is?
Late 1720s into the 1750s, 1760s.
-So this is... -Woohoo.
-Woohoo. Way woohoo. -This is...
Way woohoo.
One thing is clear.
When it comes to coinage, this mustache is a must-have.
-This is old. -Very old.
I mean, to be clear, there is no U.S. minted coinage
from this time period.
-Correct. -Doesn't exist yet.
-The U.S. mint started in 1793. -Right.
So this is being used as legal currency here
in the colonies, but this coin, it sailed here.
-Yes. -Yes.
That's unbelievable. So this predates the Doan Gang.
-Yes, yes. -But would have been in circulation
when they were doing their robberies.
Could have been in his pocket, and they could have camped right here.
-How about that? -That's pretty awesome.
That's unbelievable.
We've made a discovery that puts us square
in the Doan Gang's territory.
And that's not all that's cropping up on this farm.
-Here we go. -What do you got?
Got a coin over here.
Another coin, worn smooth with age,
can't be firmly dated, but is clearly
hundreds of years old.
All right, you're making the rest of us look bad. Slow down.
-What do we got? -What do you got?
-Musket ball. -Oh, it's a musket ball.
Oh, and look, it's been fired. It hit something.
-That did hit something. -Got a coin?
Hey, we got a coin here.
This field is producing more coins than most slot machines,
but we're looking for artifacts
we can tie specifically to the Doans' era.
-You got a good hit? -I have a great hit.
-Okay. -Yep, we call it a banger.
-You got a banger? -I got a banger.
Okay, we got a banger going over here.
All right.
[metal detector whirrs]
That is right there.
-Oh. Coin. -Coin.
Hell yeah, it's a coin.
-It's a coin. -Another one.
Look at that.
I mean, this is Field of Dreams.
-Got another coin. -Nice.
You got your magnifying glass?
I definitely see 17... 6.
This style of bust is the young head.
That was 1729 to 1739.
-So that's 1736. -Has to be 1736.
-So that's a dateable coin. -That's a coin from 1736.
That's just under 300 years old.
-Is that worth a woo-hoo? -That's a woo-hoo.
That's a woo-hoo right there. That's unbelievable.
These incredible coins and artifacts
are tangible proof
that there is historical treasure buried on Tomlinson Farm,
and this was just the first pass.
We spend the rest of the day scouring the fields,
the beginning of a process that will take months.
The next morning, I'm back on the road,
having received word about a promising new trail to follow.
I'm off to meet with perhaps the world's foremost Doan Gang expert,
who's been chasing their story and their loot
for most of his life.
So the most passionate hunter of Doan Gang history
is an expert named Clint Flack.
And from what I've read, Clint might just have
a very hot lead on where the Doans could have hidden their loot.
Clint is a curator at the nearby Mercer Museum,
which people around here say is hard to miss.
I think I found it. I was told this was a museum.
That is a castle.
Look at this place.
Wow.
Check it out.
The Mercer Museum is a six-story castle
designed by Henry Chapman Mercer,
a rich man with a lot of stuff
and not nearly enough closet space.
Completed in 1916, the castle houses
his vast collection of early American antiques
and pre-industrial tools.
-Clint. -Josh.
-Great to meet you. -Thanks for coming.
-I'm, like, in awe of this place. -It's amazing, right?
How many objects are in this museum?
Over 50,000 in our collection.
And so, among the many things that you have here,
I take it, a lot of stuff on the Doan gang.
We are actually in the process of putting together
a large exhibit right now on the Doans.
And I've read about you that you,
beyond your job here, you have
a personal fascination with the Doans.
I do. I grew up around here.
My family's been here since the time of the Doans.
And as a small child, I was obsessed with pirates.
And I had an amazing librarian who took it upon herself
to introduce me to Bucks County's land pirates.
Right, the real pirates of Bucks County.
The real pirates.
The tales of the swashbuckling Doans
hooked a young Clint Flack for life.
And now he's compiled historic court summons and warrants
for the gang, as well as other priceless Doan relics.
So along with the paperwork, we've got some
serious hardware here. What is this?
Why don't you throw those gloves on,
-and I'll show you one of our most amazing pieces. -All right.
So this gun was dropped by one of the Doans
in a dramatic shootout.
[Josh] This is one of their actual weapons.
[Clint] This is one of their actual weapons.
This is the kind of thing that makes this story
-come off the page. This is real now. -Yes.
I mean, this is the hardware.
-It bore witness to these events. -Totally.
It's traveled through history to your hands.
That's unbelievable. Amazing.
You know, weapons like this were used by the Doans
to cause mayhem, to steal horses,
-but also to steal a lot of money. -Exactly.
Including their most successful robbery,
October 22nd, 1781, the Doans robbed
the Bucks County Treasury.
Right, this is a really brazen robbery.
-It is. -This isn't just taking a couple horses.
No, it is by far their most successful robbery,
and they've taken all of the tax money, essentially, for that year.
On October 19, 1781, British General Cornwallis
surrenders to George Washington,
effectively ending the Revolutionary War.
Three days later, in retribution,
the Doan gang stages a terrifying armed robbery
of the Patriots' treasury in nearby Newtown.
It begins with a home invasion as the Doans break into
the residence of John Hart, the treasurer.
At gunpoint, they steal Hart's coat
and a key to the Newtown treasury.
One of the Doans, now disguised as John Hart,
then strolls confidently down the street toward
the fortified treasury building and its heavy door.
They unlock the door, they go inside, and they see the desk.
It's right behind you.
This is the actual desk?
This is the actual desk the Doans saw
-when they entered the treasury. -And the money was in here?
The money was in here. Now, the Doans have the benefit
of having a key to the front door of the treasury.
But they didn't have a key to the desk.
-RIght. -It's locked. So what do they do?
They used a knife.
They take the knife, and they pry the drawers open.
You could still see, even today,
This desk has the witness marks of a knife blade.
[Josh] That is incredible.
Once they get the drawer open, they encounter 1,200 Spanish dollars,
400 French crowns, and they take all of it.
And so where do they go?
I mean, how were they laying low after a score this big?
Are they still hiding out at that farm?
Only up until 1782.
After 1782, John Tomlinson is executed.
The Doans have to find somewhere else to hide,
so they're harbored by local loyalists,
or, according to legend, they hide out in caves.
All gangs, all pirates, too, are always connected to caves.
Is there any truth to it?
Did the Doan Gang hide or bury treasure in a cave?
It's a question, a question we're hoping to answer.
Through my research, I've actually found this article.
It's written by a man named Joseph Fell, who's a local school teacher.
He writes into the newspaper and details his discovery
of this cave in 1859.
So he says, "On Christmas night, one of my sons informed me
that he had been examining with the aid of candles
a cave in Centreville near the barn
of Dr. Charles Matthews.
Joseph Fell goes on to say that he visited the caves
and made a descent into this subterranean vault
about 18 feet to the floor and then he says
nine feet from the bottom, I found with the aid of my candle,
the following inscription, 1775,
M. Doan deeply cut in the rock."
Okay, so now let's add a little geography to this.
The town of Centerville that he mentions
-where this cave is, is where? -Long gone.
The town doesn't exist anymore?
Doesn't exist as far as a name.
Okay.
However, Centerville still exists on old maps.
Okay.
And we have a map from 1859, the same year...
-Yes. -...that the article was printed.
Farm map of Buckingham Township,
Bucks County, and where is it?
-Right in the center of the map. -Of course, where else?
-Centerville. -Centerville, look at that.
And right in the heart of Centerville,
the property of Dr. Charles Matthews.
[Josh] Stop it, his name is on the map.
So wait a minute, this means not only do we know
the town this cave was in...
-We know the property. -We know exactly where the cave is.
So the million-dollar question, is it there?
-It's definitely there. -How do you know that?
-Because I've been inside of it. -Really?
-You want to see it? -I'm dying to see it.
-Let's take a ride. -Let's take a ride.
Holy [bleep].
-Come on, Josh! -This guy's crazy!
Whoo!
That's one excited historian.
Whoo!
How much further?
Not far.
Another quarter mile.
Oh, boy. Whoo.
I'm riding through the woods of Pennsylvania with historian
and Mario Kart enthusiast Clint Flack.
We're heading for a cave where the notorious
Revolutionary Era Doan Gang may have hid millions in gold and silver.
We're here?
Almost there. We got a fallen tree.
We're gonna have to go the rest of the way on foot.
Okay. We'll walk from here.
We hike deeper into the woods.
Clint insists that somewhere nearby is the cave
identified in an 1859 article as a Doan hideout.
-I see a lot of rock. -Well, we got lots of rock.
Okay.
We also have...
-A deep, scary hole in the ground. -Oh, my God.
Look at that.
-You got a cave. -We got a cave.
This goes down how far?
18 feet to the floor.
Which is what the newspaper article says.
Exactly.
And do you feel like you've uncovered the extent
-of the cave down there? -No, we've only just begun.
I mean, it goes on and on, I think.
Okay.
-Can we see what's down there? -Oh, absolutely.
How do we see what's down there?
-Oh, we're gonna need some ropes. -Ropes.
Ropes are good.
-All right, you ready? -I'm ready if you are.
-I am. You're going first? -I'm going first.
Perfect. It's just what I like to hear.
Okay, so good luck.
Clint carefully shimmies his way down
the slick sides of the limestone crevice
until he's enveloped by the darkness.
Oh, man.
I've literally lost sight of you.
-You okay down there? -I'm good.
-I'm down. -You're down.
Come on down.
Gonna maneuver here...
Ooh, oh, that is slippery.
Doing good.
-Almost there. -Almost.
A few more feet.
I'm on something.
-You're down. You did it. -I'm down.
-Hey. -You made it.
-I made it. -Welcome to the cave.
-You weren't kidding. -It's tight.
It's tight. I mean, I've heard of a man cave before...
-[chuckles] -...but this is next level. All right, so...
Give me the grand tour.
Let's see what's down here.
Almost 20 feet underground in a narrow slot of rock
with only one exit.
Look at this.
I have no idea where Clint is leading me or whether
this could truly be a Doan hideout with hidden loot.
Oh, my word.
Okay, so end of the line.
-So far. -So far.
You've literally dug all the way back to here.
-To this point, yes. -Okay.
So I've been slowed down by this jumble of rocks.
-Big rocks here. -Big rocks.
But in between all of these rocks is all kinds of really cool artifacts.
-But no sign of that inscription yet. -Not yet.
-And I'm guessing you're really looking. -Under every inch.
I comb it.
I mean, what would it mean to you to find that inscription?
There's no words or phrase in the English language.
-I mean, it's been my quest my whole life. -Right.
-Well, what's our move? -We got to start digging.
I mean, we got to start combing through all this.
We'll carefully remove rocks and look for artifacts.
But when you say remove, like, remove it to where?
We got to remove it back to the entrance and then get it up top.
Oh, God.
This is a chore.
The ceiling is literally falling in on me.
-It is dripping on us. -All right, let's get moving
before this whole place collapses.
-You ready? -Right.
-Let's dig. -Let's dig.
To begin, we're going to sift through the mud
and debris that has settled here.
Using trowels and handheld metal detectors,
we're looking for artifacts that hopefully go back
to the Revolution.
-[metal detector beeping] -We got something.
-What is it? -It's a coin.
It's a coin?
No, it's not a coin. I don't know what it is.
Is it a shell?
Oh, a shotgun shell.
Yes, look at that. It's hollow.
That is definitely a shotgun shell.
-Look at that. -That's awesome.
So let's see what we got here.
Look at that. You can still read it.
Now, we should be able to date this.
-Hey, uh, Adam? -Yep?
-Can you run a search for me? -Yes.
UMC Co., Union Metallic Cartridge Company.
Number 12, smokeless.
These head stamps on these shells changed quite a lot,
so we'll be able to date this within a specific range.
All right, I got it!
What do you got?
1892 to 1902.
-Amazing. -Amazing.
That is so cool.
So, 120-plus-year-old shell hiding down in this cave.
We're a century too late for the Doans here.
-Exactly. -But to find something dateable like that is so cool.
-Amazing. -All right, we're off and running.
Here we go.
The shell may have been from someone else who ventured down here,
maybe a well-armed treasure hunter from a century ago.
We keep digging into the mud for artifacts,
hoping to find something that ties this cave
to the Doan legend.
I gotta say, this is one of the...
dirtiest caves I've ever been in, Clint,
and that is truly saying something.
So, I don't think there's any part of me
that's not covered in mud right now.
-[metal detector beeping] -That's something metal.
Go ahead.
-I got a bottle. -A bottle?
A piece of bottle, but it's coming up...
-as metal. -Metallic?
It's so weird. It's just glass.
[beeping]
What in the world...
-Oh, that's a coin! -We got a coin.
Oh, are you kidding me? That is a coin for sure.
Curator Clint Flack and I are underground
in a Pennsylvania cave,
searching for a long-lost carved inscription
from the Doan gang.
And we've just found something historic.
See those lines? I think it's a shield nickel.
-Oh, I do see those lines, yeah, right here. -Yep.
Shield nickel. And these are from when?
-Just after the Civil War until the early 1880s. -Wow.
First U.S. five-cent piece made of copper and nickel.
Five-cent pieces like this with a shield on the face
were the first U.S. coins made with a nickel alloy
shortly after the Civil War.
We're holding one of the very first nickels ever struck.
Well, what's really incredible is as we get deeper
and deeper and deeper here, it's getting older and older.
-We're going back in time. -We are.
So we got just under a century now to go.
Yep.
-We got a lot more digging to do. [laughs] -Yeah.
We're moving in the right direction,
but still nothing that sheds light on the Doans, until...
Oh, hold on. Hold on, hold on, hold on.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What is this?
Oh.
Is that part of a lamp?
-It is. -Yes, look at that.
-It is. It's an oil lamp piece. -Oh, my word.
-That is part of an oil lamp. -Yep.
You can see the adjuster right there.
-The wick would have come out right there on the top. -Yeah.
And it makes you wonder, was somebody down here with this?
-Some early explorer. -Right?
I mean, this would have been the headlamp of the day, right?
Right.
With the Doans down here lighting their way
in their hideout.
This is so, so cool. This is incredible.
The artifacts we're finding are bringing us closer
to the Doans' era, but we're quickly running out of ground to cover.
Ooh, what is this?
Is there a cavity here?
-Find something? -There's like a hole here.
Look at this.
Does that go back?
Oh, there's a hole here.
[Clint] Like a little hole between the rocks?
Yeah, but it go... Oh, it goes way back.
Oh, my God.
Like right under where you're sitting is all hollow.
Like it's walled off? What is it?
No, it's like another part of the chamber.
-It goes back... -Like a few feet?
How far does it go?
-It goes back as far as I can see. -What?
Dude, it's like a whole other room.
[Clint] Oh, my gosh.
I think the floor of your chamber is down here.
Oh, my gosh.
-Look at how far back that goes. -Oh, my God.
Another chamber.
Oh, my God.
-There's a whole room down there. -There is, right?
Yeah.
Holy [bleep].
Oh, my God.
Like, this is not the back of this chamber at all.
It goes way back.
Oh my Goonies.
This is an actual blocked passage
to a deeper section of this cave.
I think that somebody stacked these rocks up
when they closed the cave off.
You think somebody walled this?
There's clearly rocks stacked. There's an intent.
They're trying to wall off this chamber.
-We've got to get in there. -That's insane.
That's insane.
Can you see anything? Is there anything on the floor?
[sighs] I mean, rocks, and it looks like untouched dirt.
It's like the surface of the moon,
like no one's walked there in 100 years or more.
Okay, this is amazing.
You don't happen to see any inscriptions in there, do you?
-I can't see that far back. -Particularly "M. Doan"?
Not yet.
But according to the newspaper article,
-it should be this direction. -Right.
It should be in this side.
Well...
-We've got to get in there. -We've got to get in there.
-I mean, now we've got to move some serious rock. -A lot of rock.
I mean, just the one you're sitting on here
feels like it's going to be a chore.
And where's this stuff going?
We've got to get it up top.
We've got to get it out of the way.
-It's going up. -It's going up.
Okay. Can you break them apart?
Yeah, with a jackhammer.
Well, sure, but we're not going to jackhammer down here, right?
-[jackhammer whirrs] -Come on!
Here we go!
The hammer is effective, but it's leaving a lot of rubble in its wake.
Fortunately, Clint has even more help at his disposal.
He's called up the property owner,
Frank Lamitina, who brings in some heavy metal.
Okay?
-Frank? -Yes.
We're going to need a lot of buckets.
All right, coming down.
We run a bucket brigade to send the broken rocks to the top.
Okay, Frank, pull it up.
Where Frank empties them into a front loader
to take them away.
Bucket by bucket, we clear the fragments from the cave,
hopefully getting us nearer to entering the chamber.
Bucket up.
Once the rock has been cleared away from the passage,
we get our first good look into the newly opened chamber
of what we hope is the cave with Moses Doan's inscription.
All right, how's it look?
I think we're almost ready to go in.
-Is that wide enough for you to pass through? -Yeah, I can get in there.
-Okay, can I get in there? -You can definitely get in there.
-All right, you ready? -Yeah.
Nice and slow.
-You in? -I'm in.
-Okay, I'm going to try and come down. -Okay.
Oh, my god.
-You see anything down there? -There's initials all over the place.
What?
Oh, my word.
-There's initials on the walls. -It's everywhere.
During the Revolution, Philadelphia was a divided city.
Brother against brother, loyalists against patriots.
Today, the city is once again in turmoil,
with one fundamental issue dividing its citizens.
Battle of the Cheesesteaks.
On this corner, it's Pat's, the self-proclaimed king of steaks.
And on the opposite corner, we've got Gino's,
the so-called best of steaks.
Both loaded with thinly sliced beef, both smothered with onions,
both drenched in Cheez Whiz for some reason.
Here we go.
Both a melting pot of flavor, both equally patriotic.
It's a tie.
I'm eating both.
There are initials on the walls.
There's all kinds of carvings in here.
-Ha! -Historian Clint Flack has been searching
for a cave mentioned in an 1859 letter
that's supposed to contain an inscription from
the notorious Doan Gang.
This really matches the description of the cave.
It matches it perfectly. I mean, this chamber is supposed to have,
it's like a roof where two rocks meet
and make a peak, and then it tapers into
a smaller point where it just dies off.
That's insane.
Look at these initials.
So, J-A-W?
Yep.
And then over here, J-A.
And more up here.
-Yeah. -Look at this.
J-R.
And it looks like a diamond with a little diamond.
What does that mean?
-And more here. -Oh, my god.
It's a W. I mean, it's everywhere.
-And then there's more down there. -There's more down there.
So somewhere in this chamber supposedly is the inscription,
-"M. Doan." -Yeah.
So the article by Joseph Fell says that the inscription
that says M. Doan should be where?
-In this direction. -Right.
In this chamber.
-He says it's on the southeast wall. -Right.
And it's how far in?
It's as far as a man can reach and nine feet up
from the bottom.
-I mean, that should be somewhere around here. -Right.
We searched the back of the chamber for Doan's initials,
hoping that the elements haven't worn them away.
-Oh, I got an M. I got an M right here. Yep. -It's him?
Oh, my God.
That is an M for sure.
And then some sort of faded initial next to it.
But I can't tell if that used to be a D
or if this is something else, part of a G. I don't know.
But it looks like there might have been something
-under it at one point as well. -Oh, my gosh.
I mean, could that have said 1775 right there?
[Clint] That would be amazing.
What do you think? M for Moses?
It is the only M we've seen in this cave.
-Maybe that's all that's left is the M. -Maybe.
Maybe.
I'll tell you what.
I'll take it.
It can no longer be denied. This is the right place.
The writing is literally on the wall.
I can't believe this is here.
Clint, I don't want to say that I doubted you.
-I totally doubted you. -[chuckles]
I'm sorry, I have to say it.
I mean, I knew that you had found a cave.
I knew that it was historic, obviously.
We were finding artifacts.
But the idea that it was this cave from the article
and that it hadn't been destroyed.
I mean, it seems impossible.
It seems completely impossible for us to be here in this place,
in this moment, looking at all of these initials.
I've spent my whole life trying to be right here.
-You made it. -I did it.
This is one of the best days of my life.
Oh, man, I'm so happy I could be here to see it.
-I'm glad you're here, too. -This is incredible.
After decades of searching, Clint has found the cave
he's been looking for since he was eight years old.
But this is only the beginning.
The chamber has just started to reveal the secrets
of the Doan gang,
and Clint has his work cut out for him
to fully excavate the site.
As for the Doans themselves, the ending of their story
does not lie in this cave.
Two years after the Treasury robbery
and the Doans were hunted men.
The Revolutionary War was over,
and they could no longer count on the Loyalists
for shelter or safety.
On August 28th, 1783, word leaked that Moses Doan
had been sighted.
A posse of armed men surrounded him
at a remote cabin.
They eventually wrestled him to the ground.
Moses surrendered, only to be fatally shot in the heart.
Malin Doan was jailed later that year.
Legend has it he shaved the flesh off
his own heel bones to slip out of his shackles
and escape, some say on a boat to England.
Aaron and Joseph Jr. moved to Canada,
which was still under British rule
and friendly to loyalists like the Doans.
And in 1788, Levi and his cousin Abraham Doan were caught.
Benjamin Franklin reportedly signed their death warrant
and they were hanged in Philadelphia.
Their sister Mary returned their bodies to Bucks County
and asked the Quakers for permission to lay them to rest here
in their meeting house burial ground.
But the pacifist Quakers refused,
unwilling to inter militants.
And so Mary buried her brothers here, beyond the wall.
Their legacy was chiseled onto their headstones, "outlaws."
And yet these overgrown graves are far from forgotten.
In Bucks County, Pennsylvania, determined people
have kept the story of the Doans alive.
In the fields at Tomlinson Farm,
we saw history come to life and worked alongside
a small army to uncover rare coinage
from the Doan era.
And deep in the woods, in the depths of a forgotten cave,
a historian who wouldn't give up has unearthed extraordinary relics
and now a hidden chamber that verifies
part of the Doan Gang's story.
A story that reminds us that the revolution
wasn't just patriots fighting the Redcoats.
The battle for democracy is one fought from within.
And it has been since the beginning.