Bullfrog Valley Research Paper

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Bullfrog Valley Gang The Bullfrog Valley gang was a notorious counterfeiting ring that operated in the wilderness of Pope County during the depression of the 1890’s.The gang’s origin and and methods were mysterious, but the New York Times reported ist demise on June 28, 1897.The remote valley, which follows Big Piney Creek from Long Pool to Booger Hollow, was named for Chief Bullfrog, a Cherokee Who, according to legend, settled there after his tribe’s forced removal from Georgia (the Trail of Tears by the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The Bullfrog Valley, an unincorporated community not typically recognized on current Arkansas state maps, is located along the Big Piney Creek near the community of Silex. According to Dumas, historically the …show more content…

Within this secluded valley operated one of the nation’s most notorious counterfeiting rings. The secret service listed George Rozelle as the gang’s ringleader, claiming he moved to Pope County from Nebraska in the late 1800s and soon thereafter shipped in counterfeiting supplies from Chicago. He then retreated to the isolated valley where he set up a mint and began making five and ten dollar banknotes.While much of the activity of the gang remains a mystery, on June 28, 1897 the Bullfrog Valley made the front page of the New York Times When the paper ran an article on the capture of three of the gang’s men. In the end, 15 men were arrested, tried and convicted in federal courts in both Fort Smith and Little Rock. Rozelle, however, was not one of them.Even though federal agents were long aware of the gang’s activity, Dumas explains, the gang was able to avoid capture for some time by moving back and forth between Pope and Johnson Counties. It appears the ringleader, Rozelle, was especially adept at this and often escaped with his press. Eventually, however, he buried his equipment in the valley and fled the region. Secret service later found three of the men who helped Rozelle hide the equipment and discovered the supposed area

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