In 1949, desperate to liquidate some of the  200 gold bars he had
removed from the shaft prior to it's collapse, Doc Noss entered into a
partnership with a Texas oilman named Charlie Ryan, who claimed to have
contacts in Mexico where it could be sold---  The plan was to have flown
the gold from it's hiding place near the peak that April, and to divide
the proceeds-------The day before the planned flight, Noss overheard his
partner plotting a double cross, so he decided to go out to the peak and
move the bars to new locations,  where Ryan couldn't find them.  Going
to the only filling station in the town of Hatch, New Mexico  to fill
up, before it closed at dark, he happened to see the familiar face of a
man he had known on the rodeo circuit, who was also tanking up----His
name was Tony Jolley, who just happened to be passing through on his way
home, in Idaho, from a trip to Dallas-----Engaging him in  conversation,
Noss learned that Tony was registered at the local motel for the night,
and was planning to continue on his way in the morning...After filling
their tanks, they exchanged goodbyes and went their separate
ways-------But, just before dark, Noss knocked  on Jolley's door, and
asked Jolley if he  would be free to help him with something he had to
do that night, and Jolley replied that there wasn't much to do at night
in such a small town,  so he would be happy to help him---   Soon the
two men were on the road south , heading for the village of Rincon, at
which place it was necessary to leave the road in the middle of the
little town, dropping down into the dry river bed, which they followed
upstream and passed under the railroad trestle----shortly after, Noss
picked up a dim road, of deep sand, that left the river bed on the South
bank and climbed up onto the raised level of the desert floor, and
headed East across the dreaded Jornada del Muerto ( Journey of the Dead
Man ) toward the distant range of the San Andres Mountains   ------
Only a few miles out of Rincon, they came to a small building with a
nearby windmill, where Noss pulled over and stopped-----Taking a shovel
from the bed of the pickup, Noss began digging a hole near the windmill
while Jolley looked on, mystified----Soon, Noss began rolling gold bars
out of the hole, much to the amazement of Jolley, who said; " Why Doc,
that's GOLD ! "-----At this point, Noss was obliged to relate the story
of the planned double cross, and the reason they were there-----Loading
all 20 bars into the bed of the pickup, Doc continued heading toward the
distant mountains, much to Jolley's surprise, and after a distance of
about 35 miles , they finally reached the range, although it was too
dark for Tony to see them until they were inside the passes where the
walls were close----A couple of miles of climbing, and then they began a
steep, and winding, descent into what turned out to be the Hembrillo
Basin, with Victorio Peak standing in it's center------  They drove past
the peak, following the road around to the left, and came to a fairly
level grassy area, whereupon Doc pulled off the road and selected a
place to begin digging, in  order to hide the 20 bars--------Doc dug the
shallow holes while Tony carried the 40 lb. bars to him, one at a
time---   When the hole was covered and smoothed over, they got back
into the pickup and drove up onto Victorio Peak for a very short
distance, and Doc stopped next to a small prospect hole, where Tony saw
90 more bars !  By this time, Tony had become very excited, and began to
ask more questions, causing Doc to have to relate the entire story of
the gold in the peaks' cave system------Then they loaded 50 bars into
the truck bed, and drove off the peak, and across the Basin, past the
burial spot of the 20 bars, and past a rock house, where they turned to
the right and began climbing a low hill that had a fortified, one room
rock house on it's summit-----with the headlights shining on the 'fort',
Doc began digging 5 holes in various directions from the pickup, while
Tony resumed his task of carrying them, one by one, until they had
placed 10 bars in each of the 5 holes------   After finishing this, they
returned to the hole on the peak and picked up the last 40 bars, placed
them in the bed of the truck nad drove back across the Basin floor to
the rock house they had previously passed by-----This time, Doc stopped,
and they went inside the house, which  was a place used by the Noss
family as a kitchen and dining room when they were camping outside  in
their tents-----Noss found a couple of cans of potted meat and they had
a little picnic, before climbing the knoll behind the house, where Doc
dug one more hole and had Tony carry 10 bars up to him, also one at a
time---- In each case, Doc laid the bars in the holes in two rows of 5
bars per row, and covereod them with only about 6 inches of dirt---
After covering those 10 bars, Doc informed Tony that they were finished
in the Basin,. and that he wanted to take the last 30 bars somewhere
else-----   By this time, it was well after midnight, as they drove the
switchbacks of the road leading up and out of the 800 ft. deep Basin,.
heading West toward the desert----But, before reaching the desert, Doc
turned off the main road, onto a road going North, up a central valley
in the mountain range, which had Jolley somewhat concerned, due to the
lateness of the hour-----Aftre following the road North for some miles,
they came to a ranchouse, where Doc left the road and cut across a very
wide grassy field, and about 500 yards later, picked up a road going
West---crossing a ravine, and following it upstream about 75 feet, he
picked up the faint road as it climbed out on the North bank, and began
to climb a steep hillside as it followed a canyon running East /West
toward the Jornada--------After topping a pass and starting downhill,
Doc soon came to a stop, where he climbed over a barbed wire fence on
the left ( South ) and walked out into the darkness onto a fairly level,
grassy field, instructing Tony to throw 10 bars over the fence and then
carry them out onto the field to him while he was digiging the hole----
Using the same pattern as before, Doc placed the 10 bars into two rows
of five, side by side, and covered them with only 6 inches of
dirt----After finishing this, Doc drove the truck a short distance,
where 10 more bars were thrown over the fence and buried in the same
manner-----The process was repeated a third time, and this hole happened
to be close to a dead tree, which was fortuitous for Tony, who was
beginniig to fear for his life !   Picking out a stout fallen limb from
the dead tree, Tony brandished it and told Doc that if he made a move
toward the pistol he had seen in the glove compartment he would club him
with it !   As they got back into the truck, it was only a very short
distance to a gate that had to be opened, and when Doc told Tony to get
out and open it, Tony refused, saying " we will BOTH get out and open
it, because you could shoot me in the back !"   so, they both got out
and opened the gate, then they both got in and drove through the gate,
and then they both got out went back and closed the gate !    After
this, there wasn't much conversation between the two men all the way
across the 35 miles of desert roads before reaching the dam at Elephant
Butte, near Truth or Consequences NM, or as they drove the 40 miles to
Hatch, where the evening had begun----When Doc dropped Tony off at his
motel, Jolley assured Noss that the gold was none of his business, and
that he was leaving th e area that day for Idaho !  WIth hardly a word,
Noss went on his way , heading for home and a much needed nap------About
noon , Tony was in the local diner, having breakfast, when a local
citizen burst into the cafe shouting that " Someone has just klilled Doc
Noss !"   When Tony heard this, he feared that HE might be next, so he
quickly finished eating and drove out of town as fast as he could !
While Tony had been packing for his trip, Noss had gone to see Ryan to
tell him they were no longer partners, and that he had moved the
gold---A fight ensued, and Ryan pulled a pistol   and followed Doc out
the door as he was running for his pickup----A bullet in the back
stopped Doc, and he fell and came to rest against the bumper of his
truck, mortally wounded-----Ryan and his companions went out to the
desert windmiill and saw the empty hole, and knew that Doc hadn't been
bluffing-----Of course there was a trial, of sorts, but Ryan pleaded
self defense, and was acquitted !       In a lamentable case of
conflicts of interest, the judge, and at least one of the lawyers, were
involved in the gold recovery attempts at the peak---and the Noss family
had a videotaped interview of the 90 year old judge, in which he
admitted taking a BRIBE of 4 gold bars to acquit Charlie Ryan !       As
for Tony Jolley, he went on home to Idaho, and told many of his friends
about his experiences of that night, even going so far as to draw maps
for some of them !                                In 1991, using clues
from Tony's story, an atempt was made to locate the last 30 bars they
had buried at about 3 AM on that night before Doc as killed----Using the
ranch house he described, and following the road West, we searched for a
fence on the left side of the road, but there was none !  All the other
clues matched, so we searched with metal detectors for a few days
anyway, but turned up nothing, finally deciding that it would be
necessary to have Tony there to verify the location------Arrangements
were made, and, a couple of weeks later, Tony was flown in to verify the
place----It soon became apparent it was the wrong place, because it was
the WRONG ranch house !   When he was informed that it was the house he
had called for, he explained that the house was a lot nicer  house, and
he drew a picture of the house in the sane---As he did, I recognized
which house he was talking about--but, to be certain, I went to the
house and videotaped it so I could show it to him in order to be
sure---When he saw the house on the screen, he recognized it, and we
moved our search to the new area------    After seeing the house for
himself, Tony was certain that it was the right place, and with that
landmark verification, he was able to locate the grassy field where they
had buried the 30 bars !   In order to be meticulous in our search, we
drove stakes and strung lines to grid out the search areas, which proved
to be a time consuming waste of time, so then we resorted to
spray-painting the ground instead-----but soon found this to require too
much paint, and so abandoned the idea----We finally settled on a simpler
plan of dragging a shovel along the ground to mark where we had
been-----Because of 3 shallow ravines, the field was naturally divided
into 4 almost equal sections,  so we took them one at a time----finding
nothing in the first section-----In section # 2, we found nothing, until
we came to a peculiar spot where no grass grew---only dirt was showing,
and it was rectangular,  with square corners----and measured 2 ft. X 3
ft.                          As we worked the 3rd section, we again
found nothing, until we came upon another spot of dirt, wher everything
else was covered in grass----it also measured 2 ft. X 3 ft., in a
rectangle with square corners ! Suspicious by now,I measured the
distance the barbed wire fence, which turned out to be 25 paces---so I
went back to the first spot, which was 110 paces away, and paced it off
to the fence---AGAIN 25 paces !     Leaving the others to continue
searching in field # 3, I told them I was going to walk down to the last
field 110 paces and see what was there---and, sure enough ! there was
ANOTHER spot of dirt ( next to a DEAD TREE! ) and it was ALSO 25 paces
to the fence !   Before beginning the search, we had walked through the
entire area , looking  for landmarks that Doc might have used in hiding
the bars, and we had picked out 3 or 4 that could have served---When we
found these 3 dirt spots, ALL THREE were lined up with the landmarks we
had chosen !     The third spot was  not only near a dead tree, but it
was pretty close to a gate across the road !
Tony had warned us that he thought some of his friends, for whom he had
made maps, might have found the bars, because they had been avoiding him
after coming back home !                                  Remember the
10 bars buried on the knoll behind the rock house that Doc used for a
kitchen ?   About 11 years after that night, Tony did come back and he
found those 10 bars !                                         All of
this refutes those skeptics who like to say that Doc Noss was a 'con
man' and never had any REAL gold bars !   Tony Jolley got a LOT more
money for those bars than he would have if they had been brass or
copper, as some have claimed -----              What about all those
OTHER 70 bars they buried in the Basin that nght ??  Tony couldn't find
them--He had never been to those mountains before that night, and was
disoriented, but, apparently, some MORE of his friends were more
successful in following his instructions than he was himself !!
They are GONE ! So, no-one else should try for them, especially since
they were in a restricted area, where trespassers are not welcome !
Doc Noss's story of gold inside Victorio Peak was TRUE !!

The next sheet you are about to see is called the Public Servants Questionnaire, and is a part of the Privacy Act of 1974, a long forgotten piece of legislation.

If any “government agency or department” including the IRS, request any information, to look at, or to take any part of your private collection from you, the citizen, they are required by law to answer these questions. If they mislead in their answers or refuse, they are subject to prosecution under the Privacy Act.

The questionnaire requires that the agency reveal all sources for their information, whether you are volunteering the information or under compulsion, whether you are subject to criminal action based on the information asked for or items taken, and who the agency will share the information with?

The advantages of this form are clear. Make them nervous and to show them that you know you rights by law. This might get them thinking before they act.

Pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974, American Citizens are authorized to require full, written disclosure from any government official who is seeking information from said Citizen. The Internal Revenue Service and other taxing agencies and are not exempt from this disclosure requirement and must use their full, legal name when answering the questionnaire.

 

                To: Any Government Agency or Department which is requesting information

                      from a citizen. Please fill out the following information, regarding your

                      demand for:__________________________________________________________

 

PUBLIC SERVANT’S QUESTIONNAIRE                                                                                   Authority - Privacy Act, 5 USC Sec. 552a, 88 Stat. 1896 (1974)

 

1. Public servant’s full legal name:___________________________________________________

2. Public servant’s resident address:___________________________________________________

3. Name of Agency:_________________________________________________________________

4. Name of Supervisor and Office address:____________________________________________

                                                                        ____________________________________________

5. Will public servant uphold the Constitution of the United States?______________________

6. Did public servant provide Citizen with proof of identity?_____________________________

7. ID Number:___________________ Badge Number______________________________________

    Bonding Agency and Number_______________________________________________________

8. Will public servant furnish a copy of the law or regulation that authorizes information

     request?__________________________________________________________________________

9. Will public servant read aloud that portion of the law or regulation that authorizes the

    questions requested?_______________________________________________________________

10. Are Citizens answers voluntary or mandatory?______________________________________

11. Are the questions being asked based upon a specific law or regulation, or are they a

      discovery process?______________________________________________________________

12. What other uses may be made of this information?__________________________________

13. What other agencies may have access to this information?__________________________

14. What will be the effect upon me if I should not choose to answer any or all of these

      questions?________________________________________________________________________

15. Name of person in government requesting this information?_________________________

16. Is this investigation of my finances general or special?_______________________________

17. Have you consulted, question, interviewed, or received information from any third

      party relating to this matter?_______________________________________________________

18. If yes, give identity of all such third parties._________________________________________

19. Do you reasonably anticipate either a civil or criminal action to be initiated or

      pursued based upon any of the information which you seek?________________________

20. Is there a file of records, information, or correspondence relating to me being

      maintained by this agency?_______________________________________________________

21. Is this agency using any information on me which was supplied by another agency or

      government source?______________________________________________________________

22. Will the public servant guarantee that the information in those files will not be used by

      any other department other than the one which he is employed?____________________

 

I hereby sign and affirm under the penalty of perjury that the answers given are true and

correct in every particular.

                                                        _________________________________________________

                                                                              Signature of public servant

Notice: If any request for information relating to me is received by any person or agency, you must advise me in writing before releasing such information. Failure to do so may subject you to possible civil or criminal action as provided by this Act or the law.