BUCKINGHAM TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — They've been called America's first outlaws. George Washington considered them the "greatest threat to the American cause." Benjamin Franklin personally signed off on their executions.
The Doan gang was most renowned for being British spies and armed thieves during the Revolutionary War. In Bucks County, a secret cave and Doan hideout has been discovered and is currently being excavated.
"We ended up coming out here and started digging and sure enough, we found a big opening in the rock," said Clint Flack, the exhibit specialist at the Mercer Museum in Doylestown.
Flack was among those carrying dirt, bucket by bucket, out of the ground on a property in Buckingham Township to gain access to the lost Doan gang cave — and possible lost treasure.
In 1781, the Doan brothers — Moses, Aaron, Levi, Mahlon and Joseph — and their cousin Abraham robbed the Bucks County Treasury of all its funds. To this day, the loot hasn't been found.
"We have been digging since 2019, almost 18 feet down," said Flack. "This was actually a quarry in the early 1800s, so this whole hillside is full of limestone."
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The digging began when he met the current owner of the property and informed him of the cave's existence, which was documented in the 1850s.
"He comes over once or twice a month to dig," said the owner, who asked not to be named. "Whenever he comes over, we jump on it and dig for a few hours at a time ... that's what we have been doing for a couple of years now."
Filmmaker Mark McNutt is working on two projects about the Doan gang, a drama series and a documentary. He has been filming the excavations.
"In my opinion, it's the greatest American story that was never told and the untold story of the American revolution," he said.
"From the time I was a kid, I heard stories about the Doan gang. Long-lost buried treasure, highway robbery, murder ... and it was a little bit of fascination. There were some kids in the neighborhood, digging some big holes in the field, and I was told that these teenage kids were looking for the Doan treasure."
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