Hey all, new to the forum, actually just found it. Very cool place with lots of good information from my browsing.

I am looking for information pertaining to the hanging of an outlaw in Hugo. I have no date with which to assist in the search. I know, pretty vague information to go off of.

He was supposedly a bank robber that was caught and taken to Hugo for hanging. The take of the robbery was reportedly $50,000 in gold, so it very well might've been a train robbery or anything else. Or the whole story might be fiction.

Anyone have any information? Thanks in advance!

Matt Green

Lots of things wrong with the story. First, the 50K in gold. I can't think of a reason for that much gold to be brought to or even through the area. Second, there is no law demanding the hanging a bank robber and if it was lynch law, it usually involved a killing. Third, to my knowledge, no one was ever legally hanged in Hugo. Do you have a name?

Unfortunately, no name, that was part of what I was hoping to find.

As far as the gold goes, it was supposedly from a stage robbery. But it could've also easily been a train robbery in my opinion. There are quite a few stories of trains coming through carrying similar amounts, or at least I thought there were. Honestly I thought that most outlaws were taken to Fort Smith to be executed, that was the first time I'd heard of one executed in Hugo.

Pretty vague story, so my apologies for that, but you know as much as I do.

For what it's worth, I recall reading a story many years ago in one of those "Treasure Found" rags where a man armed with a metal detector found a strongbox near Hugo, OK.
First, he was said to have found a broken padlock and nearby the strongbox. The contents was silver coins, mostly silver dollars and believed to be outlaw stash. The face value was a few thousand dollars but no where near 50 grand. It piqued me to go out and purchase a metal detector ($275.00) and during the next few years I recoved about $275.00 in old and new coins. I broke even but received 3 or 4 years of good physical activity.

As far as the hanging in concerned, there are limits when searching for neddles in haystacks.

South of the Territory and across the Red was a robbery of a gold shipment of about 40 grand, money a rancher received from the sale of a cattle herd in Kansas. The robber was wounded and believed to have died in a cave and the loot never recovered. This story, like most others, probably has only a grain of truth. All that is proven is the robbery did take place.

THe first question you should ask is (in my opinion) did this robbery take place? I do not believe there are enough details to uncover anything on this issue.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Norm,