Curse On The Tombstone - A True Story
Cache is not at posted coordinates! You must solve a puzzle to find it, Puzzle is so simple an easy solve for a novice or a puzzle master.
Feel free to post photo's as long as they don't give away the "on location" question answers.
Congrats to BeeMagnet for first to find!!!
Photo is of Tom Ellis
I found this story while studying on the history of Ehren town for a muilti cache that I was going to place, this is not Ehren town, but I needed to place a cache here any ways to draw attention to this little know bit of history. While The story begins in the old town of Ehren, the ending is right here in Lutz.
I will not lie there are a few different versions of the story, it has gotten inaccuracies over generations of telling and I may have embalmed part to make it more interesting. Not all the facts are straight but yet, the main story is the truth. Now let jump in to the story! Finally, time to put to use the writing classes I took!
Beginning at the end.
Thomas M. Ellis
September 27, 1879
July 4 1909
Mine enemies spoke against me.
They lay and waited for me.
Therefore let them be confounded and perish that were against me and be covered with shame and dishonor who sought to take my life which was so brutally stolen by Preston Gillette.
Erected by his father Richard Ellis
This strange inscription can be found on the tombstone of Tom Ellis in County Line cemetery Lutz, FL.
Amongst old pine trees that survived the Ehren Pine Company sawmill, and moss dripping oak trees casting dappled light on the head stone in the cemetery, one particular stone grabs the attention of a passerby. While walking in the cemetery one can't help but wonder what it was like here in the late 1800s and early 1900s when the logging boom was in full swing in this part of Florida. And wonder what is the meaning behind those words on the stone? What is the story the lead to this curse? And what happened between Tom Ellis and Preston Gillette?
And now the story of old. The murder of Benjamin Safford
If one could step back into the archives of history in 1907 in the small logging community of Ehren, you may stumble upon the lifeless body of Ben Stafford, slumped on a cart of logs, amongst pine trees that were slashed to retrieve the resin for turpentine. It is unknown why poor Ben was killed, but who killed him was clear to everyone of Ehren - it had to have been Tom Ellis, a trouble maker and bandit, who had a mean streak the length of the local Orange Belt Railway that ran from St. Petersburg clear to Sanford with a station in Ehren, a 152 miles of iron tracks. Of course, everyone in town was scared witless to even consider pointing a finger at Tom, rightly fearing they would be the next one dead in the Florida heat. Murmurings about Safford's death spread through Ehren town like wildfire, somewhere along the way a rumor started that Auston Gillette (sometimes spelled Gillett) had witnessed the murder, though will never know if there was any truth in it. Auston heard the rumors, and feared for his life that Tom might come after him next, to silence a voice that may accuse him of the unspeakable crime. Auston, who had recently broken his arm at his job at the Ehren Pine Company lumber mill, fled to his sister Melinda’s (sometimes called Lindy) house, Now Ehren being a small town and most everyone was related in some way, Malinda’s husband happened to be Lee Ellis, Tom Ellis brother. Unlike his brother Tom, Lee was a good law-abiding man - in fact he was the law! He was as the town deputy, but he had a tarnished record on account that his brother Tom had been involved in a theft or two.
The murder of Auston Gillette.
One sunny day sometime after Safford's murder, nine teen year old Auston Gillette, was playing with his sisters’ daughters in the front room of Melinda and Lee's clapboard house, when Melinda called the girls into another room, and Auston lingered on the porch. A few minutes later a gunshot reverberated through the house the girls screamed as Lee pulled the closer to the bed where Melinda lay with a fever. They found Auston dead in the front room blood oozing from a bullet wound. Auston never had the chance to testify against Tom in court. (supposing the rumors where true).
The murder of a brother, The murder of Lee Ellis.
A hand full of days after the shooting of Auston Gillette, Tom Ellis was still a free man, striking fear into the heart of those in the community of Ehren. Lee Ellis the town's deputy and Tom brother went to the Ehren Pine Company's company store. In those times the sawmill didn't pay in money but in aluminum tokens called by the towns people "Loonies" The company store had everything you needed and ordered what it didn't, in exchange for the tokens. Why Lee went to the store that day is unknown, however it is believed that he was talking to the local post master, Silas Rewis, when the people in the store heard a gunshot come from an open door, and witnessed Lee Ellis fall to the floor injured by a bullet wound, he died later that day. After the shooting a piece of cloth that matching of Tom Ellis's shirt was found dangling on a barbed wire fence outside of the store. Yet, nothing was done about Ellis.
The obsession of the hunt.
Why would Tom kill he brother Lee? The answer was simple he was in love with he's brother’s wife, though the feeling was not mutual. After herring of her husband Lee's murder Melinda boarded a train to New Orleans where her friend and Tom's sister Sally lived. Desperate to escape Tom in hopes he would give up on finding her. They eventually went to Kansas City for fear of Tom finding them in New Orleans, however one day Sally thought she saw Tom in a crowd near the Kansas City railroad station. Tom had become obsessed with finding Melinda. After the sighting of tom in Kansas City, Melinda and Sally decided to return to Ehren, Florida. For a time, Melinda hid in her mother’s barn, but then as Tom got closer, she relocated to a hiding spot in the woods, but Tom did not give up in face of the challenge, he prowled the woods a night looking for the hiding spot, some nights he stayed in wait in the barn loft where Melinda had first stayed. No one in Ehren would let on to where Melinda was hiding, not even Tom's own family. Tom became more violent and threatened people, and one time even lied boasting that he had already killed Melinda.
The Independence Day celebration, and the killing of Tom Ellis.
Two years had passed and still Tom had been unsuccessful in his hunt for Melinda. It was now Independence Day, one of the few days the hard-working folks of Ehren took off and celebrated. This is where the story gets a little muddy. Some claim that Preston Gillette, was riding his mother’s buggy, from the Independence Day picnic with Maude Goodman, who was close to having her baby and who had fainted in the heat, back to her home, when Tom said he would like to talk to Preston on his way back. While others say he was alone on the buggy when he was confronted by Tom Ellis. No matter the case, Tom eventually got into Preston’s buggy while pointing a gun at him, one story claims he demanded to be drove to the picnic to search for Melinda, while another said he planned on killing all of the Gillette's until he found Melinda, and was going to kill Preston down the road. After a bit Tom Ellis tolled Preston Gittette, to stop under either a lightning struck pine tree, or a stump, depending on the story. At this point the stories once again agree that Tom was momentarily distracted, by something, and Preston took his opportunity to grab a hidden shot gun under the seat and unload both shells in to Tom. Preston, then turned himself in for killing Tom, to Sherriff Bob Sturkie and a story says that Sturkie handed Preston, two replacement shells and sent him out the door.
The alternative ending.
Yes, there is another side of the story. This one says that it was Tom Ellis on the wagon, and not Preston. And that Tom came across Preston siting on the stump, and demanded that Preston tell him where Melinda was and instead of answering Preston simply pulled out a pistol and shot Ellis. No one can prove either story, all that can be proven is that Ben Safford, Auston Gillette, Lee Ellis, and Tom Eills, where all shot and killed.
The curse on the tombstone
After Tom Ellis death in 1907, he was buried in County Line cemetery in Lutz Florida.
Where his father Richard Ellis put the fallowing curse against Preston Gillette on the tombstone, claiming that Tom was the victim.
Thomas M. Ellis
September 27, 1879
July 4 1909
Mine enemies spoke against me.
They lay and waited for me.
Therefore let them be confounded and perish that were against me and be covered with shame and dishonor who sought to take my life which was so brutally stolen by Preston Gillette.
Erected by his father Richard Ellis
The effect of the curse.
As George Riegler said "That curse didn't work too good". As Preston lived to 65, surviving the sinking of two different ship during World War I. He finally died in a mysterious hit and run by a car, just north of Ehren Cutoff in 1962. Perhaps some did avenge Tom Ellis death?
Finding the cache.
Finding the cache is simple, the cache is not at posted coordinate, they are of Tom Ellis tombstone. Just answer the questions below to get coordinates of the cache, most are just recap questions, a few must be solved on location. Please note that the Preston Gillette in this cemetery is NOT the one who killed Tom Ellis, he is in fact the cosuin of that Preston.
Cache is at N 28° 10.ABC' W 82° 24.DEF'
A). What year was Tom Ellis killed?
1900 = 3
1904 = 6
1907 = 2
1906 = 4
B). Tom's Tomb stone is the ___ tombstone in the row from the oak tree (solve at location)
First = 7
Seventh = 4
Tenth = 9
Second = 6
Sixth = 8
C). Who was Silas in the story?
The deputy, and Tom's brother. = 1
The murder of Ben Safford = 5
The mail currier = 2
The Ehren Pine Company owner = 7
The third victim to be shot = 3
West
D). how many feet is Preston's tombstone away from, Tom's (about)? (Solve at location)
About 50ft. = 4
About 75ft. = 6
About 100ft. = 7
About 25ft. = 1
About 120ft. = 9
E). Some stories claim that Tom was killed next to a stump while other claims that he was killed by _____.
A grandfather oak = 6
The Orange Belt Railway tracks = 3
A lightning struck tree = 7
The Ehren post office = 4
A small cypress dome = 9
By a small church in Lutz = 2
F) The tombstone of Richard Lee Ellis (Next to Tom Ellis) has the symbol of a ____ on it. (Solve at location)
Dove = 4
Cross =5
Book (Bible) = 7
Masonic = 9
Praying hands = 1
Good luck and happy hunting!
I hope you enjoyed this bit of history as much as I did when reading it. May historic Florida never be forgotten! Mabey you have a bit of local history in your own home town or a nearby one, that is begging for a cache? Why not place one?
The goal of this cache is to teach you little known local history, and inspirer people to dig up some on their own and share it with the world, so the past will not be forgotten.
Tell me what you think of this story in your log below!