To Catch a Thief 5 Mystery Cache
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You will find parts of MIB CE5 and Carmen Sandiego in this geocache, with apologies to each.
Do not go to the above coordinates.
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What is known about the thief is that he enjoys old things and seems to live in the past. Also, he does not appear very bright as he dropped his copy of "Mensa for Dummies" at a recent heist. He always leaves two things behind when a theft occurs. One is a puzzle and the other has something to do with the solution location.
The thief was part of a gang that operated outside of Colorado until recently and has been seen in the Parker area. Somehow he became the leader of the gang and seems to travel a lot.
You have been assigned to track him down and recover the cache that he has hidden. This should be the easiest assignment so far and with any luck at all, you will catch the gang.
The last robbery by the gang was a train robbery but he went unnoticed because he didn't get there in time.
Lets look at the possible thieves.
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John Dehner as J. B. Kendall, the Frontier Gentleman
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"Herewith, an Englishman's account of life and death in the west. As a reporter for The London Times, he writes his colorful and unusual accounts. But as a man with a gun, he lives and becomes a part of the violent years in the new territories. Now, starring John Dehner, this is the story of J.B. Kendall, Frontier Gentleman..."
That was the beginning of one of the finest westerns ever aired and the last important show to be on radio. It began on CBS on February 9, 1958 and was the only serious rival to Gunsmoke in its brief run. John Dehner was an excellent choice for the role. He also played Paladin on Have Gun, Will Travel.
The series was created by Antony Ellis who also worked on Gunsmoke and Escape making him one of the best of the best. In the shows Kendall met people from history. He was there when Jack McCall shot Wild Bill Hickok during a poker game and would have you believe that he was one of the players. He met Calamity Jane and Jesse James. He won a slave girl in a poker game and one night had a brush with the supernatural.
It is too bad that Dehner's great performance was for dying radio theater.
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Frontier Gentleman[MP3 Audio File]
Colorado Trivia
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A cloudburst struck the South Platte-Arkansas divide on May 21, 1878. It gorged the bed of Kiowa Creek at its head so that when the flood got nearly to Strasburg, it had attained immense volume and power. At that moment, a Kansas Pacific freight train was passing. The bodies of the fireman and brakeman were found the next day a mile and a half downstream. The body of the engineer was recovered four days later ten miles downstream. Cars from the train were scattered, half buried in the sandy bottom of the subsided stream for miles. However, searchers failed to find any sign of the locomotive, even after probing the shoals of the creek with long steel rods. In January 1989, novelist Clive Cussler led another party down Kiowa Creek with long steel rods in search of the missing locomotive. Bob Richardson, director of the Colorado Railroad Museum, contends the locomotive was recovered and in 1886 was still in service with the Union Pacific Railroad. Others say that it was recovered at night and never reported as found. Insurance fraud?
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Frontier Gentleman wannabe: Slow to anger. He is thin but tall. He has dark brown eyes, dark hair and a mustache. His has a couple arrests.
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Howard McNear, William Conrad, Georgia Ellis, Parley Baer
Doc Adams, Matt Dillon, Kitty Russell, Chester Proudfoot
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Gunsmoke was the first of the adult westerns and was first aired on April 26, 1952.
Norman Macdonnell was 35 years old when the show became a series and he strived for realism seldom achieved on radio or TV. He surrounded himself with those who had worked with him on Escape.
Everything about Gunsmoke was first class. The foreground and background sounds were excellent in Dodge City, Kansas. There would be no just-in-time cavalry rescues and very few happy endings. And every once in a while the Marshall would get beat up just to keep him honest. He was a lonely, sad, tragic man. Kitty was someone that he had to visit every once in a while. Although it was never said, Kitty was a prostitute. The Gunsmoke stories were some of the most violent on radio. John Dehner appeared on the show often as one of the bad guys who spread misery and death.
Gunsmoke alternated between Saturday and Sunday time slots until its demise on June 18, 1961.
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Gunsmoke[MP3 Audio File]
Colorado Trivia
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In 1912 Denver passed a city ordinance that required prostitutes to wear a yellow ribbon on their arms. This was akin to a scarlet letter to shame them. Obviously, the men did not understand women. In response to the ordinance, the ladies of the evening started wearing yellow shoes, dresses and hose. After all, the law mandated that they advertise. The Denver aldermen rescinded the ordinance.
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Gunsmoke wannabe: You might remember Dillon on the TV series, well, this guy is just the opposite. He is short and skinny. He has dark brown eyes, dark hair and clean shaven. His record is clean.
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John Dehner as Paladin
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Have Gun, Will Travel was a radio oddity in that it first debuted on TV. Beginning in the mid 50s with Richard Boone in the TV series and then on November 23, 1958 as a radio show, staring John Dehner. John was in many radio shows either as a lead or one of the western heavies.
The hero of this show was simply Paladin, a western soldier of fortune with an even temper and willing to do some dirty work, for a goodly sum. Paladin was a loner, a man of few words or friends. Heyboy was an oriental who worked at San Francisco's Carlton Hotel and assisted Paladin in making appointments and other small tasks.
On November 27, 1960, Paladin went to Boston to claim a $100,000 inheritance. This was an unusual ending for a western, the cowboy riding east into the sunrise.
This show also turned one of the last remaining pages of old time radio.
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Paladin[MP3 Audio File]
Colorado Trivia
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Haystack Rock near Fort Collins. Apparently in the late 1800s, a farmer piled a hay harvest around the rock, making it look like a large haystack. He sold the batch to an unsuspecting buyer, who thought he bought a full pile of hay. Instead, he bought a big surprise.
"The story is someone sold this to the Calvary, the Army," said Dennis Morrison, who has worked for Larimer County Road and Bridge in the Livermore area since 1973. "I don't know if it's a true story, but it's a neat story."
Now the rock is a living, changing billboard of spray paint messages and art, which change nearly weekly.
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Have Gun Will Travel wannabe: Not much is known about this person. He might be using an alias. He is of medium build and toward the thin side. He has dark brown eyes, dark hair and has a beard. He has no record.
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The Lone Ranger
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The Lone Ranger first aired on January 30, 1933 on Detroit station WXYZ.
George W. Trendle bought the station soon after the stock market crash and didn't want to be controlled by CBS so he severed connections, which was a very risky idea. Soon the station was dropping hundreds of dollars per week. Trendle had an idea of developing a western of unprecedented wholesomeness with a hero that would be different from all others.
The outline led to the following background: Six Texas Rangers, led by Captain Dan Reid, were in pursuit of the ruthless Butch Cavendish through the badlands and had to pass through Bryant's Gap. Dan's brother John was under his command. They rode into an ambush. Butch and his men were on the rim of the gap and had the advantage. Realizing what might happen, Dan told John to take care of his family in case he didn't make it. All rangers were shot and Butch watched to see that none of them moved after the slaughter. That night an Indian came upon the scene and found one still alive and carried him to a nearby cave to tend to his wounds. After four days, John Reid opened his eyes to recognize an old friend, Tonto. Tonto, said "You remember." John said, "Yes and you called me kemo sabe." Tonto replied that he was still kemo sabe, faithful friend. John asked about the other rangers and Tonto had to tell him that the others were dead and that he was The Lone Ranger. And thus the legend was born.
His financing and bullets came from a silver mine that he and his brother owned. He donned a mask and set out to find his nephew, Dan Reid and Butch Cavendish.
Trendle demanded that his hero would always have perfect diction and grammar. Gradually the fame of the show grew until it was nation wide, three nights a week. The last show aired on May 27, 1955.
Those who listened to the show would never again be able to hear Rossini's William Tell Overture and not think of The Lone Ranger.
Another show by Trendle was The Green Hornet. The hero was Britt Reid the son of Dan Reid, nephew of The Lone Ranger.
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The Lone Ranger[MP3 Audio File]
Colorado Trivia
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Since the start of the "To Catch a Thief" series, I have learned that all Parker banks have been robbed at least once. The bank next to my barber shop and the one across the street where I bank have been robbed twice.
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The Lone Ranger wannabe: Nowhere near the man that his namesake is. He has dark brown eyes and dark hair. He is of medium height and build. Strangely, he sports a mustache. His record is clean.
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Roy Rogers
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The Roy Rogers Show appeared on radio on November 21, 1944. Although hard to believe, just before the show aired, Rogers had a bad case of mike fright that he never quite got over. His mike career began in 1931 when he was a member of Uncle Tom Murray's Hollywood Hillbillies. He spent several of his early years organizing cowboy bands.
In 1937 Rogers got his first big break. Gene Autry had a fight with his boss at Republic Pictures and Rogers took over. For many years Rogers and Autry were competitors with Rogers lagging behind a couple years.
The Roy Rogers Show was patterned after Gene Autry's Melody Ranch with Roy singing with the Sons of the Pioneers. Roy had been with the group since its beginning and all had ancestry to the pioneers. Roy was Leonard Slye back in those days.
Roger's wife Arlene died in 1946 but by then he and Dale Evans were teamed as the King and Queen of the Old West. The show slowly migrated to a heavier western theme. The show went off the air in 1955 leaving behind it,
"Happy trails to you
Until we meet again..."
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Roy Rogers[MP3 Audio File]
Colorado Trivia
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Near Springfield, Colorado there is a cave named Crack Cave. Some researchers have suggested that rock art there might have astronomical significance. There is a natural separation in the sandstone that formed a cave known as Crack Cave. Within these walls are markings that were carved in the rock faces more than 1,000 years ago. For 8-12 minutes the markings are illuminated by the sun's rays at dawn over the eastern canyon wall only during spring and autumn equinox. This phenomenon was discovered in 1976, and filmed for a PBS documentary in 1984. Although a mystery, it is certain that these inscriptions, in conjunction with the rays of the sun striking them, precisely mark the equinox. Some scientists believe that these marks are Ogam writing and show the ancient Celts explored the area long ago. Others believe the writings were a cultural exchange among early American Indians.
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The Roy Rogers Show wannabe: This guy is medium in all directions and joins the others with his dark brown eyes, dark hair and being clean shaven. No known record.
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James Stewart as The Six Shooter
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"The man in the saddle is angular and long-legged his skin is sun-dyed brown the gun in his holster is gray steel and rainbow mother-of-pearl, its handle unmarked. People call them both, The Six Shooter."
This was the introduction to one of the best western adventures. James Stewart was at his finest in playing the role of Britt Ponset, a frontier drifter, known as The Six Shooter. Stewart, with his slow talk was perfect in this role. He was an easy going wanderer who was an easy going gentleman but quick with the gun when he had to. The stories were somewhat whimsical. He ran for mayor and sheriff of the same town at the same time. One show had the taste of Cinderella, complete with grouchy stepmother, ugly stepsisters and a shoe that wouldn't fit. He played Hamlet. He told a young runaway the story of the Christmas Carol, sustituting the original characters with western heavies. He fell in love and was to get married but he rode off into the sunset. This was a fitting ending to one of the bright spots of radio. Unfortunately it came too late in the radio world and lasted just one season.
It first aired on September 20, 1953.
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The Six Shooter[MP3 Audio File]
Colorado Trivia
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The largest cottonwood tree in Colorado and supposedly the world is in Hygiene, just west of Longmont.
It is 431.97 inches in diameter, 105.00 feet tall and has a crown spread of 115.00 feet.
http://coloradotrees.org/champions/alph_listing/c_e.htm
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The Six Shooter wannabe: This guy could be The Lone Ranger wannabe's twin brother but is taller. He has had two arrests but never convicted.
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Okay, Master Detective, here is your first case. They tried robbing the same bank that was your very first case. Not a good move. The thief left a paper stuck to the door with the information below.
First Witness: I got here after they left.
Second Witness: It was too dark to see much of anything.
Third Witness: I don't work here. I came to see what was going on.
Police officer: I found a piece of paper with "The pointy thing" scribbled on it. They tripped the acoustic alarm and left. Not too swift.
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Okay boys and girls; get out your decoder ring so that you can decode the following important message. Now set the inner ring A to match the outer ring N and get ready. But first, if you have not ordered your decoder ring do it now. Just send in two box tops from Cheerios with 25 cents. And now for that important message.
ABEGU GUERR RVTUG CBVAG RVTUG RVTUG AVAR SBHE SBHE AVAR
JRFG FRIRA FRIRA CBVAG MREB GUERR SVIR GJB GUERR FRIRA
And remember, if you have not ordered your decoder ring do it now. Just send in two box tops from Cheerios with 25 cents.
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Use for all cases.
Ignore - "The Coordinates are not Quite Right"
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Pragre gerr, hcuvyy fvqr.