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

Outlaw Gold

This Kentucky outlaw cache of approximately $50,000 in gold rivals any treasure story of the western United States.

About 1840, John Hooper killed a man in Tennessee. He fled to Kentucky where he became John Brown. He bought several hundred acres of land around Pine Knob, north of Caneyville, Grayson County, Ky. Two of his sons later joined him, the rest of his family remained in Tennessee. The two sons were Pinkney and Gulliam. After joining their father they changed their names to P. H. and Dock Brown. All three were outlaws, but Dock was to gain the worst reputation.

It was written of Dock by William R. Haynes, in the flowery language of the times, "He was a man whose villainy, perfidy, turpitude and blackness of heart and whose heinous secret and open crimes have had few parallels in the history of our race. He would kill a man before breakfast just to work up an appetite."

P. H. and Dock built a house in 1842, on the south side of Pine Knob, about three miles north of Cancyville. There was a secret cellar where they put several bodies of travelers they had robbed and killed. Their first known robbery and murder was of a man named Frank Pugh. They obtained $150 in gold and $900 in bank bills.

On several occasions travelers would stop at Dock's and P. H.'s house but would never be seen again. It has been estimated by reliable sources that, through robbery, murder and the sale of stolen cattle and horses, Dock Brown accumulated over $50,000. He normally carried $2000 in gold to pay off any lawman that got the drop on him (if Dock didn't kill him first).

The only time he was ever caught and jailed was in 1848. He was charged with perjury. While in jail he offered the jailor $2000 in gold to free him. He was later freed because no witness had the nerve to appear against him.

It is believed that he operated for several years with other outlaws in Mississippi and Tennessee. One of his favorite methods of making money was to steal, with two or three other men, up to 50 mules and horses, keep them a few days, then deliver them to buyers in Illinois, Tennessee or Missouri. This was a quick and profitable way to make money with a minimum of risk.

Dock spent most of his nights sleeping in different caves, with two or three trained watchdogs nearby, because he was afraid someone would burn his home with him in it. His favorite hideout was known as Big Mouth Cave, on the north side of Pine Knob. Another favorite hideout, called the Tobacco Barn because of its shape, was located about a mile west of his house. There are numerous other caves, or rockhouses, in the area that Dock used at different times.

Somewhere in one of these caves there is almost certainly hidden part of Dock's money, because he didn't put any into .banks and, since he killed almost all of his own family and had no friends, he left no one anything.

After a few years Dock, P. H. and their father had accumulated quite a fortune for the times. Dock decided to kill both of them. He poisoned P. H. then shot his father. Later he killed two more brothers, a nephew and a cousin in Tennessee. Shortly after this, Dock went back to Tennessee to kill his last living brother, Absolom. This brother received word of his coming and met him. Both fired at the same moment. Dock was killed instantly and Absolom died the next day. It is known that Dock killed seven members of his family and it is believed that he also killed twenty-eight other people.

After his death a number of human skulls and other bones were found in nearby caves and under the soil in the cellar of his house. The house P. H. and Dock lived in is gone now but the site can easily be found. It is on Route 79 about three miles north of Caneyville.

It is a recorded fact that Dock Brown was probably Kentucky's worst outlaw and he did accumulate a small fortune during his depredations. Very little searching has been done for this hidden outlaw money and there is no record of it being found.

Authors note: While most "bad men" are usually associated in history with the western United States, Kentucky had Dock Brown, an outlaw who for downright meanness, was probably worse than any the West ever produced. He is still talked about in Grayson and the surrounding counties in Kentucky. During my research into the story of Dock Brown's hidden money, the police department at Caneyville asked me to notify them if I turned up any skulls or human bones, because there are several unsolved murders that Brown is believed to have commited.