Dear David & Dawn, Yes, I have heard of this treasure and disapearance. Think it was in the series of Erath County Historic Calendars published by Town & Country Bank, Stephenville, and written by Dan Young, history teacher now at Hico, Texas High School. I attended Stephenville High School, 1944-46 with Joy Nell French. There were other French families in Duffau and Hico.There two in Hamilton on old Stephenville road, 3 in Hico, one in Stephenville, phone book. You can find them in Internet phone books or I can send them if you want them. Never heard of the Duffau Creek being called a river. The main Duffau Creek starts in Evans and Wyly and neighboring land 8 miles East of Stephenville and passes through Duffau to the Bosque River near Iredell. Some call the Prairie or Hurley Branch of the Duffau the Little Duffau, but the Little Duffau Baptist Church and Salem School are between Duffau town and Clairette, near the present Dutch owned dairies- on opposite side of the main creek. These streams had many cold water springs and sandrock and gravel swimming holes in the 1940's. It was a Federal Stream stocked with fish. The bosque above Hico sometimes almost dried up- Greens Creek did. The Duffau an East Bosque ran the Bosque to Lake Waco. , then into the Brazos. My Grandad Henry A. Wyly used to tell about being converted in a 2 week "Protractive Meeting" or Revival and the last day of the Little Duffau meeting, the Evangelist called the Pastor down to the front and announced he had head knowledge of the Bible, but had been converted and convicted by his own preaching. He and Grandad were baptized together in the Little Duffau Creek. Dinasour bones have been found in the Duffau sandrock between Selden and Three Way. Tales of hidden treasure by jesse James persist in 2 areas near Johnsville and East Waco, where heavy equipment dug for a safe two years ago. They claimed the safe had papers to prove a Jesse James story and it would move on the imaging machines when digging equipment was used, It is in soupy quicksand type mud whis 90 feet deep on East end of the suspension bridge- the Balconies Fault line. The East end is built on large cedar logs made into a raft and sealed from decay by airtight mud. Grand used to say the rain on his front porch went down Sims Creek to the Bosque. The rain on the back porch went (and still does, the years it rains that much) goes down the main Duffau. Stop at the Koffe Kup Kafe and you will see historic photos (Hico) including a mass baptizing in robes in Cemetery Hole at Duffau. Happy Hunting, Charles Wyly On Wed, 07 Oct 1998 20:08:18 -0700 David & Dawn Roberts <djroberts@worldnet.att.net> writes: >Charles F. Stahley (Starley) was born 1836-1844 in Bern, >Switzerland. >He met Mary Ann ( Moses Ann) Evans Thompson somewhere in LA, AL, or >TX. >Mary Ann had been married to a MR. THOMPSON (perhaps W. H. or G. O.) >and had a child William Alonzo Thompson. >Mary Ann's family had moved from AL to West Carroll Parish, LA. to >LEON Co TX. Somewhere along the way Charles met and married Mary >Ann around 1870. They made their way to Erath Co Tx and purchased >property on the Little Duffau River. I have heard that Charles >built some of the stone buildings in Hico. He was a stone mason, >cattle raiser etc. In about 1855 Charles disappeared from home. >There are several stories told of his disappearance. One states >that he had found a large amount of money around Austin where he was >tearing down an old building to rebuild another. And that when he >went back to Erath with the money some men followed him to his >home. He left with them and never returned. Later a skeleton was >found hanging in a canyon and there was speculation that it was >Charles. Have any of you historians heard of this man or a similar >story? >Dawn Roberts > > ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]