Round Rock Robber’s Grave Virtual Cache

Notorious outlaw Sam Bass was born on July 21, 1851 near Mitchell, Indiana and was orphaned as a boy. He lived for about 5 years in the home of an uncle, and then ran away. Over his young adult years he worked at jobs ranging from millworker to cowboy, livestock hand to woodchopper, but none suited his fancy. He had always loved horses, and in 1874, he acquired a fleet-of-foot mare that was known as the “Denton Mare”, and left the employ of the sheriff in Denton, TX to race her. When that played out after two years, he and Joel Collins gathered a small herd of longhorn cattle to take up the trail for their several owners. When the drovers reached Dodge City they decided to trail the cattle farther north, where prices were higher. After selling the herd and paying the hands, they had $8,000 in their pockets, but instead of returning to Texas, where they owed for the cattle, they squandered the money in gambling in Ogallala, Nebraska, and in the Black Hills town of Deadwood, South Dakota, which was then enjoying a boom in gold mining. This was the beginning of a life of thieving and robbery.

With different gangs, first in the plains states, then moving towards Texas, Bass robbed trains and stagecoaches. The most famous of these was the robbery of a Union Pacific passenger train carrying $60,000 in newly minted twenty-dollar gold pieces from the Denver Mint. It was rumored that some of this gold might have been hidden in Longhorn Cavern. Bass’ gang in Texas drew the attention of the Texas Rangers after 4 train robberies in the Dallas area. He eluded his pursuers until one of his party, Jim Murphy, turned informer. As Bass's band rode south intending to rob a small bank in Round Rock, Murphy wrote to Maj. John B. Jones, commander of the Frontier Battalion of Texas – the Rangers. In Round Rock on July 19, Bass and his men became engaged in a gun battle, in which he was wounded. The next morning he was found lying helpless in a pasture north of town and was brought back to Round Rock. He died there on July 21, his twenty-seventh birthday. He was buried in Round Rock and soon became the subject of cowboy song and story.

Bass is buried in Round Rock Cemetery on Sam Bass Road (Entrance approx coords N30° 31.013 W97° 41.819). To claim a find on this cache, please email me with the answers to the following three questions:
1) What is the question posed near the bottom of Sam Bass’ headstone?
2) Who is the member of his gang buried to the immediate left as you face his grave?
3) What area of the cemetery is to the north of his grave, as indicated by the title on the historical marker?

PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE ANY SPOILER PICTURES OR ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS IN YOUR LOGS OR ON YOUR WEBSITE! Thank you. I will send you several interesting links about Bass when you provide your answers.

Lunchtime Cache No Poison Plants Nearby No Thorns Wheelchair Access No restrooms available

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This cache was placed by a member of the Texas Geocaching Association.