Prologue
So what can cause a young man to become obsessed with old western outlaws?
Well, for John Mathers it started in the mid-1980s when he was a young boy. His obsession grew out of hearing countless stories from his grandfather Dr. Mickey Mathers. Dr. Mathers was a retired history professor from the Northern University of Iowa.
One of his grandfather’s history courses was titled “Old Western Outlaws.” In this course he emphasized that just maybe the crooked environments during the old western days drove many young men to the dark side of the life.
One of John’s favorite stories from his grandfather was about a famous outlaw named Bart Sims who had the trademark of half of his right ear being sliced off in a saloon fight. Bart traveled with his sidekick Charlie Whitestone and they roamed all around the Arizona, New Mexico, west Texas, Colorado, and Nevada areas. They were known for robbing banks, trains and stagecoaches from 1880 to 1883.
Bart was also suspected of killing three men but he was never arrested or went to trial since evidence could not be gathered. After 1884, Bart and Charlie disappeared and were never seen again in the Phoenix area. Some folks heard stories they moved to San Francisco and lived the good life off all the money they stole. Others stories they were shot and killed in the Superstition Mountains in 1883 after they buried their loot from robbing the Mountain Rock bank.
Over the years, hundreds of treasure hunters spent countless hours while they searched the Superstition Mountains for Bart’s suspected buried loot. They searched those rocky and dangerous trails but always came up empty handed. This was a goal of Mickey’s during his golden years of retirement, as he started research and hoped he could find the buried treasure. This would be a great find for his new manuscript he had in work on old western outlaws.
Young John also wore a bullet on a gold chain around his neck. He loved that bullet as his grandfather gave it to him. Dr. Mathers told young Johnny that this bullet had historical value.
John often played in his backyard with fellow friend Billy and it was always had an outlaw theme.
An example was on summer afternoon.
John was dressed in a black cowboy outfit with black hat and had a brown paper bag in hand. He had a cap pistol in a holster that hung off his belt. He looked mean as a snake while he pretended to ride a horse through the backyard.
Out in the middle of the yard were pieces of cardboard that John and Billy previously taped together. Then with the use of thick black Sharpie they made it resemble a bank teller’s window from the old west.
Behind the teller’s windows stood friend Billy. He wore black pants, white shirt and a black bow tie. He waited for his next customer.
From the kitchen window, Mickey watched while John and Billy played. Mickey smiled, as he thought the boy were cute playing old western games.
John pretended he rode his horse into town and stopped. He dismounted his invisible horse. He gave Billy the one eyed evil stare then whipped out his cap pistol.
He strutted over to Billy. He got inches from the cardboard bank and aimed his cap pistol at Billy’s chest. Billy raised his arms and pretended to shake in fear.
“Give me all your money!” John commanded and tried his best to sound like an outlaw.
Billy still pretended to shake in fear while he reached down in the grass, then he revealed a small plastic bag full of pennies. He held the bag through the window. John snatched the bag of pennies and shoved them in his pants pocket.
“Move just one inch and the famous old western outlaw, John Mathers, will shoot you square in your heart!” John snarled at Billy then he whipped out a piece of paper resembling a newspaper article from his shirt pocket. The paper had a taped picture of John in his cowboy outfit with a handwritten “Famous Outlaws Of The Old West” headlines with some drummed up words about John’s outlaw ways.
“See, I’m in the newspapers,” John said while he shoved his pretend newspaper inches from Billy’s eyes.
From inside his house, John’s mother Julie walked up to Mickey who still watched John from the kitchen window.
“What’s so interesting, Dad?” Julie asked while she stood by Mickey’s side and placed an arm around his shoulder.
“John’s playing with his friend, Billy,” Mickey replied.
Julie looked out the kitchen window and saw John with his cap pistol aimed at Billy. She gave a look that she disapproved then she glanced at her watch. “He needs to be doing something more constructive than pretending to be an outlaw,” she said.
“Oh he’s all right. He’s just doing this for fun,” Mickey said and wasn’t concern at all.
Out at the pretend bank in the backyard, Billy scratched his nose.
John saw this and pretended to be pissed while he close one eye, took aim and fired his cap pistol at Billy.
Billy clutched his chest in extreme fake pain. He staggered backwards from the cardboard bank. He twirled on one foot. He dropped to the ground. He twitched on the ground. He went limp and pretended to be dead.
“Johnnie, it’s time for your baseball game. The coach said you’re pitching today, sweetie!” Julie yelled from the back door.
John looked irritated at his mother then looked at Billy.
“I'll rob the stagecoach after practice, Billy,” John told him.
Billy stood up. “Okay,” he replied then ran off to his house.
“Mom! Never call an outlaw sweetie!” John yelled out a little embarrassed while he ran to Julie.
The years passed.
Dr. Mathers died from a sudden heart attack that happened in his sleep. He died with never finding the buried loot of Bart Sims.
A few years later, a drunk driver killed Julie. Since John’s father walked out on his family when John was only two years old he was alone in life without any family.
In 2002, John moved to Phoenix, Arizona. He found an apartment in Mesa, to the east of Phoenix and decided to make that his new home. John had his grandfather’s uncompleted manuscript titled “The Ways of the Old Western Outlaws” and it was the unfinished chapter of Bart Sims that drove him to choose Phoenix as his new start in life.
He had glorious plans to discover the buried treasure of Bart Sims and then finish his grandfather’s manuscripts and become rich off the royalties from the book.
After John got settled in Phoenix, he got a job at Western Snack and Vending Machine company. He drove a step-van and went around the Phoenix area stocking up vending machines.
During his free time, he spent countless hours at the library where he conducted research on Bart Sims. He found a picture of him in a book titled “Outlaws and Lawmen of Arizona” and it showed his right ear with part of it sliced off.
John eventually met Melvin (Mel) Lincoln, an old Apache Indian with a long white ponytail. Mel spent most of his free time at the library where he read newspapers and magazines.
Mel befriended John and told him countless tales about the old west around the Phoenix area during the 1800s. His stories of the old west were passed down from Mel’s grandfather and his grandfather, Merijildo a tracker during the 1880s. Some stories also included outlaw Bart Sims and his sidekick Charlie Whitestone.
John’s library research and stories by Mel also revealed information about numerous old towns near Phoenix during the 1800s.
Oak Creek was once six miles north of Miners Needle near Peter’s Mesa Wall. Oak Creek was founded in 1849 and was abandoned around 1891. The only remains of Oak Creek are some faded tombstones hidden amongst some bushes.
Stone Valley was located in what is now Fountain Hills. It was founded around 1869 and abandoned in 1898.
Rattlesnake was once located near the Sun City. It was founded in 1853 and abandoned around 1889.
Cactus City was located in what is now Buckeye. It was founded around 1873 and abandoned in 1900.
Mountain Rock was located in what is now Queen Creek. It was founded around 1870 and abandoned in 1894.
And of course all these towns circled Phoenix, which was founded in 1861 and where most of the residents of those abandoned towns moved to for grander opportunities.
The Lincoln Stagecoach made daily runs to all of the towns, as a trail linked all cites together. The main office of the Lincoln Stagecoach Company was located in Phoenix.
John also learned of a rail line that ran from Dodge City to Albuquerque then to Phoenix. It also stopped at Oak Creek, Stone Valley, Cactus City and Rattlesnake before ending in Phoenix. The Conestoga Rail Company operated the rail line with its main office located in Phoenix. Greedy management eventually bankrupted the company in 1902 and the rail line was abandoned after the train was sold.
John often hiked all over the mountains around the Phoenix area with some of the information he found at the library, the Internet and from Mel’s stories. He never located Bart’s buried loot and always went home disappointed.
John also frequented all the antique stores around Phoenix and hoped of finding some information on Bart Sims hidden treasure in some old desk or other objects. He found nothing but bought all sorts of old western junk that eventually cluttered up his apartment.
It was 2004 and John met Angie Dawson a beautiful woman with shoulder length blonde hair and sky blue eyes. She started working at the Western Snack and Vending Machine company as a clerk in the accounting department. It was love at first sight for him. The first time he fell in love.