Wild Tales of the Buzzard Gang: Robberies and Close Calls

As we count down to the April 12, 2025 launch of the $5,000 Buzzard’s Booty: Quest for the Lost JBT Treasure Hunt, I’m sharing true stories about these infamous criminals—their daring heists, notorious hideouts, and dramatic showdowns with the law.

Here’s the fourth installment. Click to read other Wild Tales of the Buzzard Gang. 

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The Great Robbery: The Crime That Defined an Era

For many years, events in Bowmansville were described as having happened either before or after The Great Robbery, a crime so infamous that it became a local landmark in time. The robbery, one of the most brazen and ambitious heists in Lancaster County history, took place on the night of November 29, 1884, when thieves broke into the D. B. Shiffer Jewelry Store and Watch Repair Shop in Bowmansville. By morning, the townspeople awoke to find that an entire safe, filled with thirty brand-new watches and twenty-two repair watches, had vanished without a trace.

In response, the Horse Thieves Detective Association, a vigilante group formed to combat the rampant crime plaguing the region, sprang into action. Their search led them to the outskirts of town, where they discovered the store’s safe discarded near Pine Grove Church—pried open and emptied of its valuables. The discovery confirmed that the stolen goods had likely been taken toward the Welsh Mountains, a well-known hideout of the Buzzard Gang.

Law enforcement intensified their efforts, determined to bring the notorious gang to justice. Within days, investigators captured George Lippincott, a newer member of the Buzzard Gang, attempting to jump a train in Lancaster City. In his possession were twenty-two of the stolen watches, damning evidence that connected the gang to the robbery. His arrest was the first domino to fall.

As pressure mounted, authorities issued a $1,000 reward for the capture of Abe Buzzard—dead or alive—a staggering sum at the time, equivalent to over $30,000 today. The bounty turned the hunt for Buzzard into a countywide obsession, with locals eager to turn in the outlaw in exchange for a small fortune.

Buzzard had already built a reputation as Lancaster County’s most notorious bandit, leading a loose-knit band of thieves who terrorized the Welsh Mountains and surrounding areas. The gang specialized in burglary, horse theft, and highway robbery, with Abe’s cunning and ability to repeatedly evade capture earning him a Robin Hood-like reputation among some—though in reality, his exploits were driven more by self-interest than any noble cause.

Now, with every lawman and bounty hunter in Pennsylvania searching for him, Buzzard was a hunted man. He moved between abandoned barns, caves, and remote cabins deep in the Welsh Mountains, trying to stay one step ahead of his pursuers. But the net was closing in.

His luck finally ran out when authorities tracked him down, arresting him along with several other gang members. His 1884 conviction following The Great Robbery led to yet another prison sentence—but as history would prove, this was far from the last chapter in the criminal career of Abe Buzzard.

Despite repeated imprisonments, Buzzard seemed unable—or unwilling—to resist the call of crime. His name would continue to be synonymous with outlawry in Lancaster County, and his legend only grew with each daring escape, each new scheme, and each brush with the law. To this day, Abe Buzzard remains one of the most infamous figures in Pennsylvania’s criminal history, a symbol of lawlessness in the days when the Welsh Mountains were still a frontier of outlaws and fugitives.

The Brutal Attack on an Elderly Farmer

Though the Buzzards had committed countless burglaries, one of their most shocking crimes occurred in 1893. Martin Buzzard and his accomplice, Brown Zeltner, targeted 89-year-old farmer Isaiah Shaeffer, believing he had money hidden in his home.

At midnight, they broke into his house, hoping to find a stash of cash. But Shaeffer, despite his age, was not an easy target. Waking to the intruders’ presence, he grabbed a fire poker and swung wildly, determined to defend his home. In the ensuing struggle, Martin Buzzard shot him three times. Miraculously, Shaeffer survived, his thick woolen garments slowing the bullets enough to save his life.

Shaeffer’s cries alerted neighbors, who quickly mobilized and notified law enforcement. Acting swiftly, deputies followed the outlaws’ escape route, tracking the hoofprints of a stolen horse that led them straight to a gang hideout in the Welsh Mountains. Martin Buzzard was captured, convicted, and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

The Failed Lancaster Heist

The Buzzard Gang was no stranger to elaborate break-ins and high-stakes burglaries, but not all their plans ended in riches. One of their more humiliating failures came when they set their sights on a traveling shoe salesman’s vehicle, believing it to be filled with valuable merchandise or large sums of cash.

The heist was meticulously planned—or so they thought. Under the cover of night, gang members broke into the wagon, swiftly prying open the wooden doors with their tools. Their excitement was short-lived. As they rummaged through the contents, they were met with an unexpected—and infuriating—discovery: the entire cargo consisted solely of left-footed shoes.

Instead of striking it rich, the gang found themselves burdened with a pile of useless footwear. According to some accounts, the misadventure quickly spread among the locals, becoming a running joke. Even newspapers of the time, which often sensationalized the Buzzards’ exploits, could not resist mocking their blunder.

Abe and his crew were forced to abandon their spoils, scuttling away into the night as empty-handed as when they arrived. For hardened criminals who once orchestrated daring escapes from prison and shootouts with law enforcement, being outsmarted by a box of mismatched shoes was an indignity they likely never lived down.

The Attempted Escape from Detective Bartholomew

By the 1880s, the Buzzard Gang’s exploits had made them the most wanted criminals in Lancaster County. In 1884, Detective Bartholomew of the Philadelphia police was dispatched to track down Abe Buzzard. Following a trail of stolen goods and eyewitness reports, the detective finally cornered Abe on Ephrata Mountain.

But surrender was never in Abe’s nature. The moment he spotted the detective, he reached for his pistol and fired, determined to escape capture once again. Bartholomew returned fire, and the two exchanged bullets in a desperate shootout among the trees.

Abe, however, was not invincible. A bullet from Bartholomew’s revolver struck him in the shoulder, causing him to stagger. Yet even wounded, he refused to be taken. Mustering the last of his strength, he vanished into the dense woods of the Welsh Mountains, slipping through the detective’s grasp like a ghost.

The gunfight only added to his legend. Newspapers breathlessly reported the daring escape, painting Abe as an outlaw too cunning to be caught. His ability to evade capture time and time again turned him into something of a folk hero—feared by some, admired by others.

Though he would eventually be captured and imprisoned multiple times, this moment cemented his reputation as an untouchable renegade.

Click here to read other Wild Tales of the Buzzard Gang.

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Are you ready to accept the challenge, gather your crew, and make history? Join the adventure of a lifetime and secure your chance at the rich stuff when you order your 2025 Buzzard’s Booty: Quest for the Lost JBT Treasure kit today!

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References

• Most Creative Use of a Canary
• The Buzzards Are Here! The Buzzards Are Here!
• A look back at the Buzzard Gang’s lawless exploits
• Who Were the New Holland Buzzard Gang? – March 2023
• Video Lecture: History of The Buzzard Gang