Tall Tale Another Old West legend gets knocked down.

Sometimes the stories just aren’t true—and our friends point that out.  Recently, we printed a blog entry about a massacre in Sailor’s Diggins, Oregon on August 3, 1852.  The Triskett Gang—drunk and rowdy—supposedly killed 18 people and stole about $75,000 in gold.  The outlaws were tracked down and killed but the treasure was never recovered.

Except that it likely didn’t happen.  Ace researcher and writer John Boessenecker checked into the incident.  It was not reported by any Oregon newspapers at the time, and the first mention of it apparently came in the 21st century.  Mea culpa!