[man] the ashley gang robbe more than 40 banks,
While dillinger only robbed 24.
[josh] how much money did they get away with
Over the course of this crime spree?
[man] in today's money, millions.
And he couldn't put his proceeds in the bank. He had to hide it.
So, do you know where it is?
For almost 100 years now,
People have been digging holes, trying to find it.
[josh] guys, come here.
-[man] wow. -[woman] oh, my god. Oh, my god.
Shut up! No way!
Oh, my god. My heart is beating.
[squealing] this is so exciting!
[man] this is what we've been looking for.
-Are you kidding me? -Ashley treasure. There you go.
This place is like a gold mine.
This is insane.
Most gangsters are associated with big cities.
Al capone was synonymous with chicago,
New york had lucky luciano,
And la, mickey cohen.
But unless you're from florida,
Well, you've probably never heard of john ashley.
His story is like something out of the movies,
Except it's all real.
He was known as the "king of the everglades
And led a vicious gang
That terrorized the sunshine state
From 1914 to 1924.
Back then, florida was an un-air-conditioned,
Vast and lawless frontier,
Where the ashley gang went on a notorious, decade-long crime spree
Of bank robbery,
Bootlegging,
Piracy,
And murder.
Their criminal enterprises netted a fortune,
And reports of millions in hidden ashley loot
Have swirled for a century.
Now, research for a new museum exhibit on the gang
Has turned up incredible new clues,
And treasure hunters are finally closing in.
One has unearthed a lost document
That points to a real-life treasure island
That might contain actual buried loot,
While a historian claims to have located
An entire lost town
And traces of the ashley gang's hideout
We're on a hunt for truth and treasure.
So put down the golf clubs,
Set aside your bingo card,
And get ready for an expedition
To an unknown florida from a century ago,
Where the only way to retire
Was with a bullet.
My name is josh gates.
Hello!
Explorer,
Adventurer...
Amazing.
[shouts] help!
...And a guy who ends up in some very strange situations.
Oh, [bleep]!
Whew! That was exciting.
With a degree in archaeolog
And a passion for the unexplained...
Yeah!
...I travel to the ends of the earth,
Investigating the greatest legends in history.
Yay, let's punch it.
This is expedition unkno.
We begin our journey in miam
The magic city.
No matter how hot it gets,
Sooner or later, there's a cool breeze coming in.
-[engine revs] -[tires screech]
Okay, so this episode is about bank robbers in the '20s
And not drug cops in the '80s, but come on.
Miami vice is a classic.
Plus, turquoise is really my color.
All right, down to business
The heart of our story actually takes place
About 100 miles north of miami,
In the quaint town of stuart
Along with classic florida beach-side vibes,
This town is literally calling out to me
About the ashley gang.
♪ well john ashley grew up in the everglades ♪
♪ those who knew him said he wasn't all that bad ♪
♪ those he murdered might just disagree with that ♪
Turns out, people here are really into the ashley gang.
This band, they're called the ashley gang,
And they're singing about, who else, the ashley gang.
♪ till the ashley gang went down ♪
♪ they went out again for trouble ♪
[mouthing]
♪ trouble's what they found ♪
♪ sheriff baker made a promise ♪
♪ before they laid him in the ground ♪
♪ he'd see the ashley gang go down ♪
-Thanks. -Sure.
Even the beer here is named after the ashley gang,
And I'll give you one guess
What the name of the bartender is.
-My name's susie. -It's ashley.
It's definitely susie.
Okay, nice try, ashley.
♪ he'd see the ashley gang go down ♪
-[applauding] -[cheering]
[josh] in addition to bands and beer,
Stuart, florida is also hom to a new exhibit
Dedicated to the ashley gang
My education about the man known as the "king of the everglades"
Begins here, at the elliott museum.
Founded in 1961, this terrif and eclectic collection
Celebrates the spirit of invention,
Along with art and florida history.
Amidst the miles of memorabilia,
I find ceo rob steele.
Rob?
-[rob] josh, welcome to the elliott museum. -Nice to meet you.
-We're thrilled to have you here. -I'm thrilled to be here.
This place is amazing.
It's eclectic. You never know what's around the next corner.
Well, that kinda brings me to my first question, I guess,
Which is, the place is so diverse.
You've got these awesome car
And you know, americana,
A baseball collection,
And now, a new exhibit
On a group of notorious criminals.
-Beloved notorious criminals, the ashley gang. -[josh] right.
The ashley gang is not, I would say, a household name.
They're really not.
The john dillingers carry more notoriety,
But the ashley gang robbed more than 40 banks,
While dillinger only robbed 24.
Wow.
[rob] in the course of their work,
It was impressive.
It's a story that is waiting to be told
That everyone should know about.
At the center of this gang is john ashley.
When does john's criminal career kick off?
In his early 20s, john ashley is in the everglades,
And he has a partner who's a seminole indian named desoto tiger.
They would routinely take a canoe and set trap lines to catch otters
And sell the pelts for cash to the nearby trading post.
At some point in the game, desoto tiger ends up shot dead
-And his body floating in the river. -Hmm...
Not long after,
John ashley sells a tall stack of otter pelts
With the seminole markings
At a trading post in miami.
Enter palm beach sheriff george baker,
Whose pursuit of the ashley will become a family obsessi
Carried on by his son, sheriff bob baker.
With ties to the kkk,
Sheriff bob's participation ensures there are no good gu
In the story of the ashley gang.
In response to the murder of desoto tiger,
A detail of deputies are sen to arrest john ashley.
And how does that go?
-Not altogether well. -[josh chuckles]
They're met with the rifles of the ashley family...
...And john notoriously sent a message to the sheriff, saying,
"don't send any more chicken-hearted men with rifles.
They're liable to get hurt.
Wow.
At 19 years old?
At 19 years old, he stood toe-to-toe against the sheriff,
And that was the beginning of a feud
That lasted till the end of john's life
-Between sheriff baker and john ashley. -Wow.
As the murder case attracts more attention and controversy,
John ashley eventually surrenders himself to authorities,
Only to then break out of jail.
Once a fugitive, john forms a gang of outlaws
Joined by his brothers and occasional other partners in crime.
This gang that he forms,
This is largely a family affair, right?
[rob] four brothers and a nephew,
Along with john and his father.
[josh] the first few scores are a little bumpy,
Proving that even a life of crime has a learning curve.
[gunshot]
First thing that they knocked over as a gang was a train, right?
[rob] attempted train robber
It didn't go exactly according to plan.
The teller windows from the bank of stuart,
Which was their first successful robbery as a gang.
These are the actual windows from the bank?
Those are the windows.
[josh] wow. So, how much did they get away with in that robbery?
[rob] $5,000 was their take
Not bad for a day's work.
Not bad, when you consider the fact that that's $140,000 in today's dollars.
Oh, that's, that's a very good day's work.
It turns out, I should be robbing banks.
You might wanna reconsider a career change
When you hear how the getaway went.
Oh, they don't get away scot-free?
One of the gang members had a misfire of his firearm,
And the bullet passed through john ashley's jaw,
Lodged in his skull and caused his eye to be removed.
[josh] wow, so that's why we always see him with that eye patch.
[rob] he had an eye patch and a glass eye.
[josh] now, every good stor needs a little romance,
And john ashley's is no exception.
And there's also a bonnie to his clyde, right?
Absolutely. Laura upthegrove, his devoted.
-Sorry, what now? -Laura upthegrove.
Sir, this is a family program.
-So her name is upthegrove? -Upthegrove.
[josh] and she wasn't just a hanger-on here, right?
[rob] not at all. She was a full partner in crime.
[josh] laura earned her way into the gang with her solid marksmanship
And cunning criminal mind.
She cased potential robbery spots,
Oftentimes planned the heist
And even drove the getaway car.
In short, she became a key player.
She was a stalwart member of the gang.
There was nothing they couldn't ask her to do.
[josh] with a gunslinging love interest now added to the team,
John and the gang embark on a 10-year crime spree
That is simply epic.
Along with daring bank robberies,
The gang become major moonshiners in the swamps,
Producing and selling illegal hooch
And even engaging in piracy off the florida coast.
As a criminal enterprise,
The ashley gang is bold and very diversified.
And what's he doing with all this money?
He's, like, a swamp guy, right?
So, like, is he living large?
John ashley was actually reinvesting in the community.
There are lots of oral histories
From people that were directly affected by his generosity.
[josh] like jesse james,
Dillinger,
And other criminal antiheroe
John ashley has gained a folkloric reputation
As a kind of robin hood.
Sometimes called the "swamp bandit,"
John's enterprises bring some infrastructure and mone
To an otherwise undeveloped and impoverished region.
And he had a lot of people on the salary, too,
To run all these enterprises.
[josh] but other locals, like people in stuart
Whose money was in the bank john robbed,
See him for what he was.
A crook.
And his spree eventually comes to an end,
The culmination of his long grudge with sheriff baker.
On November 1, 1924,
Baker's deputies are part of a trap,
Set to capture john ashley and three of his men
As they travel north to jacksonville.
In the aftermath, john and his associates are shot dead.
Afterward, john ashley's glass eye is plucked out of its socket
And delivered to sheriff baker,
A twisted trophy to mark the end of their bitter feud
Oh, my word.
Pretty amazing,
Staring back at you.
[josh] literally staring back at me.
This is his actual glass eye.
[rob] correct.
It's actually kind of hard to look at,
Because suddenly,
It actually seems like this larger-than-life character
Is looking back at us.
The sheriff intended to use it to make a keychain.
Okay. It's a good way to keep an eye out for your car keys.
[laughs]
All right, I'm gonna give this back to you.
Thank you.
Back in the case.
Can I get the purell?
But let's keep an eye on the prize
And stay focused on the potential treasure.
How much money did they get away with
Over the course of this crime spree?
In today's money, millions.
Millions?
Okay.
-So, I take it the money wasn't recovered at the time. -[rob] no.
For almost 100 years now,
People have been digging hol in martin county,
Trying to find it.
[josh] and what do you think
Do you think that that treasure's still out there?
If that amount of money ever saw the light of day,
We'd be aware of it.
-Just sort of vanished? -[rob] absolutely.
[josh] well...
Well, now we just gotta find it.
It's a tall task.
Somebody's gotta do it.
Fortunately, several investigators are hot on the case.
One is author patrick mesmer
Who's written three books on the ashley gang
And is now going after their treasure in the swamps
I head to a nearby dock to meet him.
Patrick, how are you?
Hey, josh, good meeting you.
[josh] nice to meet you, too, man. Beautiful day.
Oh, it's an awesome day.
Is it a beautiful day for finding treasure?
-Every day's a good day for finding treasure. -I like that attitude.
Okay, ashley gang.
Is there any truth to the idea
That there's ashley gang treasure out there?
I believe there is...
Really?
...Because I've studied a lot about that period of history
-In this area. -[josh] right.
Patrick's research has turned up information
About a largely-forgotten ashley gang moonshining site
A place where john may have stashed the gang's loot.
And I guess, more importantly, do you happen to know where to find it?
I have a pretty good idea of where it is,
But it's not where you would think.
Is it in the middle of a marina?
[patrick] no, it's not here,
But we need to leave from here to get where we need to go.
All right, so which one of these yachts is yours?
Yacht, who needs a yacht?
I think everybody needs a yacht, don't they?
I've got something better and much faster.
What's better than a yacht?
Everyone doesn't need a yach
Besides, these little boater-cycles are a lot of fun
And very fast.
Holy [bleep]!
[exclaims]
[laughs]
We're headed from stuart to a tiny, narrow
Patch of land in the mangrov called corset island.
Let's see what you got, patrick.
Patrick lets her rip, and I'm in hot pursuit
On a quest for some good old-fashioned sunshine state treasure.
Okay, josh, this is corset island!
I found an old newspaper article from the 1920s
That said that the ashley ga camp was here on this island
[josh] I'm jet-skiing in florida
With author turned treasure hunter, patrick mesmer,
As we search for bank robbe and bootlegger,
John ashley's old hideout.
He believes this area was a base
For one of their major moonshining operations.
This is impenetrable.
That is if we can actually get onto the island.
Just all mangroves.
Hey, josh, I think we can get in over here!
Go for it.
Finally, a possible way in.
We dock at a break in the mangroves.
Okay, here we are. Let's go find some treasure.
So what's the move here?
We have some metal detectors.
Think what we're gonna do is just check this little shallow area here.
There's some sandy beaches around the island.
We just kinda work our way along
And see if anything pops up
Okay, well, let's get after it.
The gang's moonshining exploits peaked during prohibition,
The period between 1920 and 1933,
When it was illegal to transport, buy, or sell alcohol
Within the united states.
You get bull sharks in here?
-A few. -Good. Good, good, good.
Perfect.
Remote, hidden, and near the coast,
Patrick believes this area was a base
For one of their major booze operations
As the gang took full advantage of prohibitio
Building enough liquor still to kick their side hustle
Into a large-scale productio
[metal detector beeping]
Hey, josh, I got a hit.
Let me see.
[metal detector beeping]
That's a hit for sure.
-Certainly smells like treasure. -[patrick mesmer] ugh.
There it is.
[laughing] a copper pipe.
-A copper pipe. -Hey, a copper pipe was used in a still.
That's absolutely right. It's old copper too.
Yep, that could be still copper.
-What's that doing here? -Right.
Our first find elevates our spirits quite a bit.
Now, we press inland in hopes of uncovering even more.
[patrick] hey, josh.
Looks like we got an opening here.
[josh] let's see where it goes.
Wow. Oh, look at that.
We found the interior.
[patrick] see, this opens up in here.
-Oh, wow, it really does. Look at that. -[patrick] yes.
-There's building material. -[josh] yeah.
[patrick] so this area looks like it had buildings on it.
[josh] after getting a lay of the land,
It doesn't take long for patrick to surmise
How this would have been an ideal area for a bootlegging operation
[patrick] that is a road.
-[josh] that looks like a road. -[patrick] it is a road.
[josh] oh, look at that. So it's like an old abandoned trail
That connects the camp out to the water.
This looks like an old trail in here.
[patrick] yep.
We got a bluff here.
[josh] once the booze was made, it had to be moved
Patrick explains how corset island operated as a staging ground
For the ashleys to transpor their product discretely.
This would have been a great spot
For the ashley gang to have a camp.
On the other side of that is the ocean.
[josh] this would have been a perfect departure point
For trips to the bahamas, just 50 miles away,
Where they could buy liquor legally
And smuggle it back to the united states.
[patrick] they would buy cases of booze,
And they would bring it back
Unload it at a dock here at this site.
A lot of times, the profit margin on booze
Was six times what they paid for it.
-Wow. -It's 70 or $80,000 for one trip.
Imagine if you did five trips a week.
They actually had a lock on the rumrunning trade for several years,
Where no one could do it except them.
[josh] but as lucrative as this was,
The ashley gang wanted even more.
[patrick] they weren't just bootleggers, they were also pirates.
They would attack other rumrunners.
[josh] you mean literal pirates?
-These guys were crazy. -[patrick] yes.
How much money are we talking about here?
-A lot. -And where is that money?
Underneath our feet.
Convinced we have the right spot,
Patrick and I get to work.
[metal detector beeping]
Hey, josh, I got a hit.
-Here? -Yep.
Right in that area right there.
Patrick, why don't you dive in there and get that out.
[laughing]
All right.
[exclaiming]
Patrick, you couldn't find stuff on land?
-Hold that for a second. -[patrick] mmm-hmm.
[josh] remember kids, treasure hunting is dangerous business.
-[beeping] -[splashing]
Just ask my camera operator
[both laughing]
[camera operator speaking]
Look!
What is happening?
You all right?
[camera operator speaking]
What was it?
A crab. A big crab?
[josh] sure there's a joke here to be made
About my camera man catching crabs,
But I'm above that.
I thought an alligator had your leg.
-[camera operator speaking] -[laughing]
[josh] okay, where were we?
-Hold this for a second. -Mmm-hmm.
Let's see if I can...
-[metal detector beeping] -here we go.
Oh, I got it.
-What is that? -Wow.
I thought it was a beer tab for a second, but it's not.
Oh, you know what this is?
I think this is part of a lantern.
I think that's the wick turner on an oil lamp.
-Yeah. -A really old oil lamp.
-[patrick] wow. -[josh] let's see, it's stamped.
It says dietz company.
A trusty 1920s dietz oil lam
Would've been the perfect wa for the ashley gang
To illuminate their bootlegging activities
In the stealth of night.
That is so cool.
[beeping]
Gold coin, gold coin. Come on, gold coin. Come on.
Whatever this is.
-Huh? -What do you think?
Some kind of armature.
Whatever it is, it's not treasure.
Keep moving.
We continue to search and to dig...
...And dig.
Have at it, patrick.
How's it going, patrick?
[patrick] I'm determined.
Yeah, that's how I started.
Now, I'm determined [whispers] to find a daquiri.
After a few hours of investigating,
It feels like we need a new tactic.
All right, so promising spot for sure,
Couple cool finds, no treasure yet.
No, but I'll tell you what,
I brought a couple of special tools
That I think might give us an edge.
All right, what do you got?
Magnets.
Magnets?
Magnets.
Magnet fishing as the pros call it
Is actually a surprisingly effective wa
To recover items under water
And it's also a hell of an upper body workout.
Okay, josh.
This magnet has 3,600 pounds of pull.
-I take it that's strong. -It's very strong.
-Okay. -[patrick] it won't pick up gold or silver,
But sometimes those items get concreted in with other things...
-Sure. -[patrick] ...Like a case or a box.
[josh] after 100 years of storms and erosion,
Anything the ashley's may have buried on corset island
Is just as likely to be bogged down
In the water's edge as it is in the ground.
Now, is there a specific technique to this?
We take the magnet, and we throw it in the water.
Okay, run that by me one more time.
We take the magnet and we throw it in the water.
I got it now.
That was a good one. I feel real good about this one.
We cast out into the water again and again
Until finally, patrick feel a little added resistance on his line.
Oh, I got something.
[josh] what do you got?
Come on.
It's shiny, what is that?
[patrick] it's a knife.
It's a steak knife.
All right, well, is that a weapon from the ashley gang?
-[patrick] uh, I don't think so. -[laughing]
[josh] john ashley was know for holding up banks,
Not steak houses.
You get three more of those, we got a set.
[laughing]
[josh] often times success relies upon perseverance.
With magnet fishing, that's even more so.
There's worse ways to spend an afternoon.
We continue to toss our magnets into the water
In the hopes we can drag in some of that sweet ashley gang treasure.
Old nail.
Unfortunately, hours later, we have little to show for I
But some sore shoulders.
I got a fish hook.
What's it gonna take to find ashley gang treasure out here you think?
I think it's gonna take dedication and hard work,
Just like we've been doing today.
Florida has 1,300 miles of coastline,
And for hundreds of years, it's been all about smuggling and piracy,
All along our coast,
And a lot of that story is still buried here.
Right, and as we see over and over again, even today.
That history keeps coming back to the surface.
Yes, it does.
All right, well, we gotta keep looking.
We should probably go make sure those jet skis are still there.
[laughs] I agree.
Come on, let's go.
Patrick and I jet back towards civilization,
Having explored what might b one of the ashley gang's bases of operation.
But there's another critical location
Associated with the gang
That might yield even more.
Back in the town of stuart,
I'm following in the gang's footsteps
To see where they lead and where they end.
This restaurant over here used to be the old bank of stuart.
It's where john ashley lost his eye,
And in fact, the gang robbed this place not once, but twice.
By the second time, they were so recognizable
That they couldn't just walk in unnoticed.
So john's nephew slipped in by wearing a dress.
As for john,
He found himself in and out of prison,
Escaping for the third time in 1923.
By this time, the ashley gan
Kicks their robberies into high gear,
Operating out of a homestea and moonshining headquarter
Deep in the swamp,
Where many believe their ill-gotten treasure
Was ultimately buried.
The only problem, the town was torched to the ground
And then lost to history.
But now, two experts believe they've found it.
[josh] I'm on the trail of the notorious bandit and moonshiner, john ashley
Now, florida historians,
Steve carr and chessy ricca
Believe they've relocated a lost town
That might contain the lost treasure
Of the notorious gangster.
So let's start with a little orientation.
Where are we?
Well, you're standing in the town of fruita.
I'm sorry, the town?
-The town of fruita. Yeah. -[chessy ricca] the ghost town of fruita.
I don't even see a ghost town.
-[laughs] -like, where is it?
-Well, you gotta look hard. It's here. -Okay.
[josh] so there was a town here?
And when was this town in existence?
Roughly 1910 through 1912 it began its roots,
Homesteaded by joe ashley,
The father of the notorious bandit, john ashley.
John ashley actually called this home,
And this was his base of operation.
And they... Their home was where?
It was right here where you're standing.
-Like, right here, right here? -Yeah, yeah.
This is the ashley homestead.
You're standing on top of it.
[josh] if steve is right, this is the location
Of one of the most dramatic and bloody events
In the gang's history.
Remember sheriff bob baker, the one who would eventuall
Use john's glass eye as a keychain?
Well, having had quite enoug of the ashley gang's exploit
Baker orders a large group of heavily armed deputies
To raid the ashley homestea in the pre-dawn hours
Of January 9th, 1924.
A massive shootout ensues.
[gunshots]
And while john escapes, the sheriff's men
Burn the ashley home and the moonshining operation
Into oblivion.
[steve carr] right here, josh.
That's ceramics from the, um...
Probably from the ashley homestead...
-[josh] it's a plate? -[steve] ...From the house.
Um, this place was burned to the ground.
The dishes inside of course were crushed.
-Wow. -There's archeological evidence
That the house existed and was here.
Look at that, dinner plate that might have been in the ashley home.
John ashley may have eaten off of that plate.
How crazy is that?
This famous raid that went down.
That was supposed to have taken place
Near one of the big stills they were moonshining in,
-Right? -So in one fell swoop,
The idea was to bring enough deputies here,
And josh, they didn't come with warrants,
They came here to do business,
To take this place out.
Fruita is gone, it was destroyed in one night.
[josh] the main target of the raid was the gang's whiskey stills.
Steve and chessy not only believe they've found that area,
They think the ashley treasu could still be buried there
So let's talk about this treasure, right?
There are these rumors, these stories
That it might have been hidden out near this still site.
Do we know where this raid took place,
The actual kinda flashpoint out here?
Uh, yes we do.
Um, we're lucky to have photographs of where the site was,
And I think with 99% certain, josh,
I can put you on that whiskey still site,
Which was the whole point of the raid.
Can we see it?
You ready to go?
Please.
[chessy] now, josh, I want you to keep an eye out
-For these cactuses here. -[josh] yeah.
[chessy] also, there's one other thing
You gotta keep an eye out for.
We got pygmy rattlesnakes.
What the hell's a pygmy rattlesnake?
It's like a rattlesnake but small,
And it has no rattle.
-But the rattle's the one way you know they're there! -[chessy chuckles]
Welcome to florida.
This state is crazy.
All right. Come on.
[josh] keeping an ever watchful eye out
For non-rattling snakes and whatever other wildlife
Florida has in store for us
We finally arrive at a clearing,
Which steve believes was
At the center of the police raid.
[steve] so, josh, where we're standing,
This was that major still site.
The big whiskey still was right here.
[steve] right here in front of you.
Now, there's an old photograph
That showed the sheriff's deputies
Who raided this place in 1924.
Yes, I've seen that. They're all lined up, right?
-In front of a building. -Correct.
And that building was right there.
[josh] and was that building the still?
It was the stillhouse.
It was the operation during prohibition.
They were producing over 100 gallons of whiskey a day.
-Sorry, 100 gallons of whiskey a day? -100 gallons of whiskey a day.
This was a massive operation.
This was one of the most productive activities
Anywhere in the country.
So, how do we know that still was right here?
I'm gonna prove that to you.
[steve] so, josh, I got something I want you to see here.
[josh] ooh, look at this. What do we got?
I believe that's gonna be part of the foundation stone
For the still that we were talking about.
I mean, that is a cut stone for sure.
-Look at that. -[steve] it is.
What do you got?
Got some blue glass.
Blue glass. So, what's blue glass doing out here?
Well, john ashley's brother bill produced
His own brand of moonshine
And he put it in those blue bottles.
That's it right there, right?
We got moonshiners glass and a foundation stone
In the middle of nowhere.
And we got a lot more over here to show you, too.
Wow. All right. Well, let's go find it.
[josh] everything points to this being
The location of the raid.
[chessy] I got a broken whiskey bottle.
[josh] look at that. Whiskey bottle.
If you find a full one, chessy, let me know.
[josh] if this is the spot,
It makes sense that treasur could be buried here, too.
After all, the gang was maki a lot of money here
And most of it has never been found.
A lot of people believe that they could have been producing
As much as $5,000 a day in revenue.
-And that's a hell of a lot of money in 1920. -[josh] yeah.
Ashley had a penchant for swapping
Paper money out for gold
And he couldn't put his proceeds in the bank.
-He had to hide it. -Yeah.
[steve] if he's producing $5,000 a day, josh,
We could be talking millions if not billions of dollars in gold.
[josh] it's believed that john may have buried
Boxes of gold coins out her near their base of operation
Our mission, look for the loot,
But also see if we can find
Any remnants of the gang's presence,
Which would be historic.
We point our noses to the ground
And slowly start walking the site.
Ooh! I got metal. Steve!
[josh] so, what do you think?
Uh, it could be part of a stove.
[josh] as we scour the land
I can't help but feel goosebumps
At the idea that john ashle and his gang
May have stood in this very place.
[chessy] hey, guys, I think I got something cool over here.
[josh] where? Look at that!
Wow!
[chessy] hey, guys, I think I got something cool over here.
[josh] we're in the swamps of florida
Searching for traces of the ashley gang
And their treasure.
-[chessy] I think I got a bullet. -[josh] wow!
[josh] now, we may have just uncovered a remnant
From one of the bloodiest chapters in their history.
Oh, a big one. Look at that!
[chessy] that is too cool.
So, that is...
That's 12 gauge.
Look at that.
Look, we got another one.
-Two of them! -Yeah.
-Just literally lying there. -Yeah.
[steve] josh, this speaks
To the violent nature of the story.
[josh] when sheriff baker's men come to the homestead,
They're not here to negotiat
They immediately open fire on the gang.
In the mayhem, joe ashley, john's father,
Is shot and killed.
Having witnessed his father's death,
John immediately fires back in retaliation,
Killing officer fred baker, cousin of sheriff baker.
John's girlfriend laura is also seriously injured,
Taking three wounds to the abdomen.
John, however, miraculously escapes.
And, like almost every other part
Of john ashley's story though,
They don't kill him.
Yeah, he had kind of a sixth sense about these things,
And while everybody was sleeping,
John always seemed to have one eye open.
-Remember he... -Well, that's all he had.
Sorry, it was right in front of me.
-It was right in front of me. -[chessy laughs]
Just the idea that we may be holding the shells
That were used to kill somebody out here.
-Absolutely. -People died out here, yeah.
-This was a life and death situation, man. -This is where they died.
This was one of the biggest battles
In palm beach county history.
[josh] one of the reasons john survived is that he wa
Sleeping in a campsite away from the main whiskey still
And the ashley home.
This site must be close by
And there's been a long-standing local rumor
That another whiskey still w there as well.
We head deeper into the swamp to search
And chessy almost immediatel detects something.
-[metal detector beeping] -[chessy] hey, guys. I got a good mark over here.
It could just be a piece of metal.
Let's see if it'll come out here.
-Ooh, is that it? -[softly] yeah.
Is it scrap iron or something?
Yeah, that's what it looks like.
Just a thin piece of scrap metal.
Okay, well.
That's a good sign.
[josh] soon even more metal comes out of the ground.
[chessy] there's, like, a little nail in there.
It's got that rounded kind of edge.
This was attached
To whatever the remainder of that is over there.
[josh] like the edge of a crate maybe?
Something was here.
I don't know if it tells us that we're at this campsite,
-But... -It tells you that man
At one point in time was in fact right here.
[josh] that's a start. We'll take it.
All right. Let's keep looking.
[josh] what might be the edge of a box handle is an intriguing sign.
In fact, there are signs everywhere.
[steve] ah, hey, josh.
I got something for you.
-[josh] more scrap metal? -Well, I don't think so.
This looks like an old trap.
-Oh, my word. -They were otter hunters.
[josh] careful that thing's not still loaded.
-It is definitely a trap... -Ahhh!
Ow!
-Um, we can take it off at the... -Son of a...
Yeah, it's a trap.
-It's an old animal trap. -That is a trap. Look at that.
And what's cool about it is
-It's still got the chain stuck to it. -Right?
I don't want to break it obviously,
But the crazy thing is look at that.
[steve] it's still moving, yeah.
[josh] you could still actually set this trap.
All the pieces of it are here.
All the things these guys are known for,
The moonshining, the guns, the traps, the bootleg...
We're finding all of these things
That are so closely associated with these guys too, right?
That's the beauty in archaeology is it allows us
To tell their story from what they left behind.
[metal detector beeping]
[metal detector sounding]
Hey, guys. I think I got something cool over here.
I think I found something crazy.
-[josh] what? -It's ribbed on the side like a coin,
But it's thicker than a coin.
-Thank you so much. -Try that.
-[chessy] what? -Wait, is that a coin?
[steve] it's a silver dollar.
-It's actually two silver dollars. -Shut up. Oh, my god.
-Those are coins! -Chessy...
-Oh, my god. This is so exciting! -...It's two silver dollars
Stuck together.
-Are you kidding me? -Actually treasure.
-There you go, right there. -What?
Look at that.
[josh] these are two piece liberty dollars minted between 1921 and 1928
Which puts us right on the money for the ashley gang.
-Hey, nice job. -Thank you, sir.
[josh] these discoveries are strong indicators
That we may be close to the camp and long-lost moonshine stil
Where john ashley was sleepi the night of the raid.
Encouraged, we press our search
Into more unforgiving territory.
Josh, this is getting thick back here.
[josh] I mean, super overgrown.
This is the old florida.
This is, like, prehistoric florida.
If you were a pioneer back in early florida
This is what you had to survive.
-[josh] see any glass? -I'm not seeing much.
Me neither.
-[steve] hey, josh, check this out. -What have you got?
[steve] this is what we've been looking for.
-[chessy] shut up. -This is it. Look at this.
[josh] is this part of a still?
-This is the boiler tank for a still. -[josh] get out of here.
-That's insane. -Back here
-In the woods we found the boiler tank. -That is too cool.
-Stop. -Dude,
-That's unbelievable. -Oh, my god, high fives all round. Woo.
-[steve] take a look at this. -[josh] is that blue paint?
-[steve] yeah, well, no, -[josh] what is that?
-It's a ceramic finish inside, -wow.
Which is important because
In a moonshine still you had to keep the mash perfectly clean.
-It couldn't mix with rust or anything else. -Right.
Guys, look, sitting right here.
-A bottle literally right in front of you. -Right there.
That's insane.
-[steve] definitely agreed. -This whole site, I think,
-Is just littered with this stuff. -[chessy] yeah.
This is now, I think, a significant place.
[josh] this old still is a remarkable piece of american history.
It's the very tool of the trade that the ashley gang used
To amass great wealth during the time of prohibition.
This place is like a goldmine.
-There's stuff everywhere. -[steve] here, here.
All right, everybody keep looking around. Everybody.
-You got it, josh. -This is insane.
[josh] believing we're now in the heart of john ashley's camp,
We immediately fan out around the still
To see if anything else is here.
Getting a lot thicker in here.
-[josh] steve? -[steve] yeah?
[josh] the [bleep] is this? Guys, come here.
There's a huge hunk of metal here.
-[steve] wow, wow, wow. -[josh] what the hell is this?
[josh] life is a journey filled with crossroads and choices.
But in stuart, florida,
One of the more terrifying feats of civil engineering
Lies here at an intersectio affectionately called confusion corner.
This doesn't seem so confusing.
-[car honks] -sorry.
[car honks]
Guess I go here and he comes here.
-[car honks] -oh, good lord.
[josh] eight streets, a traffic circle, and a trai
All meet in one jumbled junction.
What could possibly go wrong
Look, kids, big ben.
Who designed this?
[josh] so, the next time your life is at a crossroads
No matter how bad you think it is,
It could always be worse.
[car honks]
Oh, and merge carefully.
-Go ahead, go ahead. -[car honks]
We got it. Sweet lord above, I'm alive.
[sighs in relief] somebody's gotta fix that.
[josh] guys, come here.
There's a huge hunk of metal here.
-[steve] wow, wow, wow. -[josh] what the hell is this?
[josh] having found a long forgotten whiskey still,
We're scouring the location of a lost campsite belongin to the notorious john ashley
And we've just made another find.
Wait, is this actually a car?
[josh] whatever it is, it's big.
Oh, my god, oh, my god.
-Well, that answers your question. [laughs] -dude, it's a car.
[steve laughing] you asked,
-And I think chessy pretty... -Why is there a car in the middle of the forest?
Did this grow out of it?
You got a tree growing through the center.
[josh] john would have had a vehicle out at this camp
To move moonshine into town and across the state.
There's a headlight.
-[steve] look how tinny these... -That's a headlight.
-That is. Look at it. It's going around the... -Look at that.
-That's ancient. -Old car.
1920s, definitely.
-Um... -Wait, this could be john ashley's car.
-[chuckles] -that's insane.
[steve] yeah, look at this, josh.
This kind of looks like, maybe, the grill
Or where a radiator could be.
It's a lot of metal, I can tell you that.
-[chessy] yeah, that is a lot of metal. -Is that an engine?
This is a fender.
[steve] I'm thinking it might be a truck
Because the trucks from the 20s had the door cut out.
-Can you see how it follows like a cut out pattern? -Yes. For sure, right here.
[steve] so I think this is an old truck, like an old model t.
[josh] based on the pieces we've found,
Steve believes this could b a ford model tt,
Which debuted in 1917 and fits the timeline of john ashley.
This is truly a remarkable discovery.
This changes everything, josh.
In my mind, I can almost see the whiskey camp right here.
Boiling whiskey over here,
The truck to load up the whiskey when it's ready to go.
We have trails running back here to who knows where.
We're finding bottles that clearly date to the period.
I mean, what more could you ask?
[josh] this is really a treasure.
To me, this is treasure.
Finding an antique truck in the middle of the everglades.
Clearly, nobody has been here before us.
-I see no signs of anything modern. -No, anything. Nothing.
-Not a beer can, not an anything. -No.
We are just rediscovering the whiskey camp of the ashley gang.
This is treasure. This is real treasure.
To an archaeologist, this is a lifetime of work.
-I mean, this is a whole camp here. -Uncovering this whiskey...
An archaeologist could work out here for years.
This is so awesome.
[josh] as for john ashley himself,
He escapes the raid but not the long arm of the law.
In November of '24, fed up and embarrassed by john ashley's exploits,
Sherriff baker receives a ti
That the ashleys will be travelling north on the dixie highway.
The police place a chain across the road,
Stopping the car, and handcuffing the gang.
According to one of the deputies,
John ashley makes a sudden move,
Giving the officers no choic but to shoot all of the men
The gang, like this site, will eventually fall to ruin
Laura, it is said, lays low in palm beach count
Operating a gas station until 1927
When she dies by poisoning, possibly having taken her own life.
The so-called king of the everglades
Finally receives his florida retirement.
Today, the ashley family cemetery
Resides within the bounds of a private country club
-Near the 18th hole of a beautiful golf course. -[club swishes]
Given john's crime-ridden past, it's a pretty decent lie.
And while he's received a reputation as a beloved scoundrel,
The fact is he was undoubtedly a ruthless criminal.
Personally, I'm more intrigu
By those who are trying to preserve the early histor of this wild state
And rediscover the gang that thrived in its humid swamps.
Beneath the overgrown vines
We've unearthed historic fin
That helped to paint a fuller picture of the ashley gang.
I thank steve and chessy for the incredible adventur
And wish them luck on future excavations.
Oh, and of course, I remind them to call me
If and when they ever find a missing bo of ashley treasure.