Treasure Tales and Treasure Stories About Iowa from the Archives of Lost Treasure Magazine

Seven Strangers from Siam

This is a strange treasure story in that the robbery suspects and the details were not found out until 49 years after the incident took place.

According to the story, a wealthy cattle buyer had been lured to the Siam area in 1868, and was waylaid by seven men. Transported by ox cart, and bringing a young boy with him as a traveling companion, the buyer from "someplace in the East" was said to have a trunk full of money - at least $90,000.

The seven young men, so the story went, met the two strangers not far from Siam and (depending on which version was being told) either shot or clubbed the man to death and disposed of his body by dropping it into a well. In the confusion, the boy tried to escape but was overtaken and killed. The boy's body was buried in a locust grove not far from the well.

The gang then supposedly buried the trunk of gold, in three caches, taking care to make a map of the farm and marking the location of the treasure. But a fire wiped out the cabin of the man who was keeping the map, and it was lost.

In 1915, Sam Anderson claimed to have been hired 35 years earlier by a Dr. C. R. Huntsman and his brother, Bates, to dig for treasure that the brothers stated had been buried for safekeeping. They told Anderson there was a lot of gold buried on the farm - $90,000 in one spot,$50,000 in asecondand $12,000 in a third. Anderson had been promised one-fourth of the misplaced gold for his efforts but would receive nothing until an iron box had been uncovered.

The Huntsmans said the money was from the sale of a large farm in Missouri and that a map of the Iowa farm showing where it was buried had been prepared but a fire had destroyed their cabin and the map along with it. "Doc" Hunstman could not recall the markings and now wanted to recover the treasure by digging for it. (The story of this hidden money fit rumors about the murder of the cattle dealer and young boy that had been circulated around the area).

Anderson's farm adjoined the Huntsman's and so he readily agreed to the deal. As it turned out, however, only one iron box was found.

The little town ofSiam is still there in Taylor County. Perhaps a persevering treasure hunter, using modern equipment and thorough research, can unearth the two remaining caches.