State Treasure - Illinois

Gold Cache Found
JO DAVIESS COUNTY – In April 1932, Galena resident Ambrose Harle was running a fruit store in town.
While out working in his garden one day, Harle swung his axe when the handle unexpectedly broke.
He began scouting around for something he could use to complete the task at hand.
In a junk pile nearby he found an old iron pipe he thought might do the trick.
Harle hoped to use the pipe to drive the axe through a piece of wood and put it to task. A moment later a cement plug sealing one end of the pipe crumbled and fell to the ground.
On further inspection, Harle found two baking powder tins hidden inside the pipe.
Once removed, he discovered each tin contained gold coins totaling $3,500.
Some local residents remembered the building was previously owned by the late J. A. Nack; therefore, it was assumed the cache of gold coins must’ve been hidden by him, though that was never proven.
Who hid the cache and if more is buried in the immediate vicinity is unknown. Local research should help locate Harle’s Fruit Store.Hijacked Silver Remains Missing
COOK COUNTY – On June 21, 1978, Coin World news, whose parent company is Amos Publishing, ran a story stating, “A major mining operation is expected to get underway in the Chicago area soon as investigators from the Cook County Sheriff’s office begin to dig for some 40,000 pounds of industrial silver with a market value of about $2,400,000.”
The silver was reported to have been cached by Chicago mob boss William “Willie Potatoes” Daddano, Sr., aka: William Russco, sometime after the October 7, 1965, hijacking, kidnapping and robbery of an interstate shipment on the Indiana toll-way near LaGrange.
Daddano was one of 18 men indicted by a federal grand jury following a two-year investigation charging the defendants with conspiracy to kidnap, theft of interstate shipments, and interstate transportation of a stolen motor vehicle.
Daddano was born in Chicago on December 12, 1912. He grew up on Chicago’s West side, joining the Forty-Two Gang from Maxwell Street in his youth.
By age 24 he already had a rap sheet that included auto theft, larceny, and nine counts of bank robbery.
With such a sterling resume, Daddano was recruited by Salvatore Giancana and Sam Battaglia into the Chicago Outfit.
A quick study, Daddano was put in charge of distributing pinball machines and jukeboxes through out parts of DuPage County and all of McHenry and Kane Counties, where he also ran the Outfit’s gambling and loan-shark enterprises.
He also kept tabs on Chicago’s professional burglars who operated in and around the city with the Outfit’s blessing.
His job was to collect a “street tax” the burglars paid to the Outfit on everything they stole.
The tax was non-negotiable; those who failed to pay were killed.
Proving to be a shrewd businessman, the Outfit expanded Daddano’s territory to include the Chicago suburbs of Berwyn and Cicero.
Then in 1944, Daddano was arrested for attempting to steal three million war ration stamps.
Investigators knew the Chicago Outfit was behind the crime, but Daddano refused to name his accomplices, making it impossible for the cops to link the Outfit to the crime.
After WWII, the Outfit rewarded Daddano’s loyalty by making him a lead enforcer for the mob where he earned a reputation for being a “ruthless and pitiless killer.”
Daddano headquartered his operation from his Riviera Bowling Lanes during the 1950-60’s in the Outfit dominated suburb of Melrose Park.
It was here where Chicago’s best burglars dropped by to pay their “street taxes” to the Outfit and homage to Daddano.
But Daddano’s empire began to collapse after a snitch ratted him and six others out for a 1963 Franklin Park Bank robbery where the take was $43,097, none of which has ever been recovered.
Daddano learned the name of the rat through a corrupt cop, Cook County Sheriff’s chief investigator Richard “Dick” Cain, who identified the snitch as Guy “Lover Boy” Mendola, Jr., who was soon found murdered in his garage.
For the bank job Daddano received a 15-year term in federal prison.
Mendola’s murder appears to have spooked a federal inmate named N. “Joey D” D’Argento, who was already doing time for his involvement in the Franklin Park Bank job.
D’Argento arranged a meeting with the FBI and started giving up case after case against Daddano for unsolved burglaries, robberies, kidnappings and truck hijackings.
Two more inmates also doing time for the Franklin Park case then came forward and agreed to testify.
In addition to the intelligence gathered by the FBI, Chicago investigators had linked Daddano to seven murders, but didn’t have enough to charge him.
On April 14, 1966, a federal grand jury indicted 18 men including Daddano on charges of hijacking interstate shipments valued at more then $1 million and kidnapping.
The indictment linked Daddano to four truck hijackings and kidnappings from August 1964 through October 1965.
The loot taken in these hijackings included a shipment of televisions, cameras and camera gear, 18,882 pounds of silver bars, 22,436 pounds of silver and silver alloy, 646 bars of Doré bullion, none of which has been recovered.
Daddano, while serving time for the Franklin Park bank robbery, pleaded not guilty to the hijacking – kidnapping charges and was later acquitted on all charges, though the FBI had linked him to the sale of roughly $1 million of the silver to a fence in New York City.
He died in prison at the age of 61 on September 9, 1975, of natural causes.
He never revealed the location(s) where most of the silver stolen during the hijackings was hidden.
His associates claimed he commonly buried loot at several cache sites in the Chicago area, but only he knew the exact locations. About 75% of the stolen silver remains unaccounted for.The Sweetin Treasure
GREENE COUNTY – The Sweetin House, also known as the Hartwell Ranch House, is located about 4-1/2 miles south of Hillview along River Road and is marked by the Sweetin Cemetery.
Long abandoned and in ruins, the house is the key to locating the long lost treasure of Azariah Sweetin, a local cattle baron who is reputed to have been the wealthiest man in the county in his day.
Overgrown with brush today, this 28 by 60 foot, three-story limestone house that resembles a castle with three-foot thick walls at the base remains the most imposing structure in the area.
A natural stream running through the basement helped keep the house cool in summer and provided water to the family. Evidence of this stream can still be seen today.
During the Civil War, Sweetin fattened his purse by selling beef to the Union Army. He had no use for banks and kept his fortune hidden somewhere in the house or on the farm.
One day in 1871, he was thrown from a horse and suffered a serious head injury. Though he did recover he was never able to remember where he’d secreted his money. The family searched for years, but never found the cache.
According to the Illinois Valley Cultural Heritage Society, after Azariah and his wife, Sarah, died…
“Sweetin’s daughter is believed to be the first person to be housed in the Greene County Poor Farm.”
The Society further claims that no one has ever reported finding the money…
“We can assume it was found by two of Sweetin’s farm hands who disappeared shortly after Sweetin’s death.” To date, I have not found any evidence to support this conclusion, or that two of his workers ever mysteriously disappeared.Sources:
“Alton Evening Telegraph,” Swings Old Iron Pipe, Out Flies $3500 Gold, April 16, 1932, p.2, Alton, Illinois
“Cedar Rapids Gazette,” Indict 18 in $1-Million Hijack Plot, April 19, 1966, p.1, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Terry, Thomas P., U.S. Treasure Atlas – Volume 3, 1985, La Crosse, WI, Specialty Publishing Company, p. 313
Mount Prospect Herald, Hijacking and Death - A Grim Partnership, December 27, 1967, p.1
Treasures in Illinois, http://www.gwizit.com/treasures/illinois.php
Illinois Valley Cultural Heritage Society, The Sweetin House,
http://www.eldredhouse.com/index_files/SweetinHouse.htm