A Murderous Tale of Scandal & Treasurei n Galena

Though Galena, Kansas is a sleepy little town of only about 3,000 people today, it wasn’t always so.  In the late 1800’s this town was rockin’ and rollin’ with more than 30,000 miners working to pull rich lead and zinc ores from more than 250 area mines.

With that many working men in a relatively new town, the settlement was a haven for transients and outlaws.  It’s innumerable saloons, gambling halls and bawdy houses added to the decadence of this early city.  During this time, many hardworking miners were lured inside to lose their hard earned gold at the gaming tables and other questionable pastimes. Some were never seen again.


Galena, Kansas, had a population of almost 30,000 in 1898.

It was at this time that one enterprising woman by the name of Steffleback decided to profit from the many miners, prospectors and businessmen when she opened a two story bordello in the 1890s.  In no time at all, the Steffleback house was the most popular place in town, as it filled with heavy-drinking miners, gamblers, and those in search of more bawdy pastimes.  Steffleback grew quite wealthy over the next few years, but she was a greedy woman and the sight of the amount of money carried by many of her customers was more than she could handle. 

Soon, the ambitious woman found an even better way to fill her coffers.  One evening when a local prospector sat at a table drinking whiskey, Steffleback noticed that he paid for his drinks by pulling gold coins from a heavy leather sack tied to this belt.  Estimating the sack held several hundred dollars, a new idea struck her.  When the customer was drunk, she lured him into a back room, where she instructed one of her sons to sneak up behind the man.  In moments, the man’s head was split open with an ax and Steffleback was several hundred dollars richer.  Later, when no one was around Steffleback’s son placed the corpse into a canvas bag, loaded it on a horse and moved the body to an abandoned mine shaft, where it was dumped

With the numbers of transient miners passing through the area, Steffleback soon decided that eliminating these prospectors and relieving them of their money was a faster way to get rich.  Over the next several years, she allegedly lured as many as thirty victims into her back room, later depositing their bodies in the many mine shafts of the area. 

For years she got away with the murders, minimizing suspicion on herself, as she lived quite frugally.  Further alleviating any suspicion, she never deposited the money into a bank, instead squirreling it away somewhere in Galena.

Then one night she got into a heated argument with one of her “girls,” fired her and kicked her out of the house.  Seeking revenge, the angry woman immediately went to the authorities, telling them of the madam’s murderous activities.  Steffleback was arrested the next day.  Once incarcerated, the lawmen searched Steffelback’s property for any sign of the stolen cache, but found nothing.  Branching out, they also searched several abandoned mine shafts in the area which yielded more than a dozen bodies, but none of the stolen money.
Tried in 1897, Steffleback never admitted her guilt, nor revealed where she had hidden her fortune.  Sentenced to the State Women’s Prison in Lansing, Kansas, she was watched and listened to carefully believing that she would one day give up her secret.  However, she died in 1909, without ever revealing where she had hidden the treasure.

Following her death, the story was revived and treasure hunters flocked to Galena from as far away as Colorado.  Floors of the old bordello were ripped up and walls pulled down, but again, the money was never found.  Today, the treasure is still said to be buried somewhere near the site of the now long gone bordello or in one of the many old mine shafts surrounding Galena.


 

1913


And off subject

GALENA KANSAS HIGH SCHOOL

Here are recently pictures of Galena town.

and what happeed to her of her partners in crime? her sons -- what became of them? and might they have known of mommy dearest hiding spots?  just a thought.

Hey RR, funny you should mention this town.......Its about 30 miles south of me and I hunted an area there last summer.  Only found 1 good coins though it was a heart stopper.  Funny thing was I was only hunting for clad quarters at this spot as it didnt seem very old.....Maybe this explains it! .  I should sneak back down there when its warm and find the rest of the money!

Yea I am ready lets go. Thanks RR.

Burdie

I live 10 miles from Galena and they are doing a superfund clean up of the area, that means plugging all the old mine shafts and there are many of them to contend with. I would imagine that it will be years before the job is done. Who knows they may even discover the mine shaft that they dumped all those bodies.

I'm not telling any stories,but there was still a lot of 'action' going on in Galena and Baxter Springs in the late 40's/50's.

Great story and piece of writing. I love the old pics

related link
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,27653.0.html

A good Story-but any contemporary references from either 1897 or 1909? Google Books has 2 modern reference books refering to this incident....but
vague on contemporary references..................

This might sound simplistic and I can hear some saying, "Tell us something we don't already know.."
but in all my research one basic concept always rings true..

People hide treasure 'close to home'. Period. And, probably within eye shot.

HH

Though Galena, Kansas is a sleepy little town of only about 3,000 people today, it wasn’t always so.  In the late 1800’s this town was rockin’ and rollin’ with more than 30,000 miners working to pull rich lead and zinc ores from more than 250 area mines.

With that many working men in a relatively new town, the settlement was a haven for transients and outlaws.  It’s innumerable saloons, gambling halls and bawdy houses added to the decadence of this early city.  During this time, many hardworking miners were lured inside to lose their hard earned gold at the gaming tables and other questionable pastimes. Some were never seen again.

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Galena, Kansas, had a population of almost 30,000 in 1898.

It was at this time that one enterprising woman by the name of Steffleback decided to profit from the many miners, prospectors and businessmen when she opened a two story bordello in the 1890s.  In no time at all, the Steffleback house was the most popular place in town, as it filled with heavy-drinking miners, gamblers, and those in search of more bawdy pastimes.  Steffleback grew quite wealthy over the next few years, but she was a greedy woman and the sight of the amount of money carried by many of her customers was more than she could handle. 

Soon, the ambitious woman found an even better way to fill her coffers.  One evening when a local prospector sat at a table drinking whiskey, Steffleback noticed that he paid for his drinks by pulling gold coins from a heavy leather sack tied to this belt.  Estimating the sack held several hundred dollars, a new idea struck her.  When the customer was drunk, she lured him into a back room, where she instructed one of her sons to sneak up behind the man.  In moments, the man’s head was split open with an ax and Steffleback was several hundred dollars richer.  Later, when no one was around Steffleback’s son placed the corpse into a canvas bag, loaded it on a horse and moved the body to an abandoned mine shaft, where it was dumped

With the numbers of transient miners passing through the area, Steffleback soon decided that eliminating these prospectors and relieving them of their money was a faster way to get rich.  Over the next several years, she allegedly lured as many as thirty victims into her back room, later depositing their bodies in the many mine shafts of the area. 

For years she got away with the murders, minimizing suspicion on herself, as she lived quite frugally.  Further alleviating any suspicion, she never deposited the money into a bank, instead squirreling it away somewhere in Galena.

Then one night she got into a heated argument with one of her “girls,” fired her and kicked her out of the house.  Seeking revenge, the angry woman immediately went to the authorities, telling them of the madam’s murderous activities.  Steffleback was arrested the next day.  Once incarcerated, the lawmen searched Steffelback’s property for any sign of the stolen cache, but found nothing.  Branching out, they also searched several abandoned mine shafts in the area which yielded more than a dozen bodies, but none of the stolen money.
Tried in 1897, Steffleback never admitted her guilt, nor revealed where she had hidden her fortune.  Sentenced to the State Women’s Prison in Lansing, Kansas, she was watched and listened to carefully believing that she would one day give up her secret.  However, she died in 1909, without ever revealing where she had hidden the treasure.

Following her death, the story was revived and treasure hunters flocked to Galena from as far away as Colorado.  Floors of the old bordello were ripped up and walls pulled down, but again, the money was never found.  Today, the treasure is still said to be buried somewhere near the site of the now long gone bordello or in one of the many old mine shafts surrounding Galena.

Hmm this is only 45 minutes from me. Does anyone know if the old bordello is still there or the foundation?

Curtis