Ep. 49 - America's Original Outlaws

Suggested by: Lindsay Doane-Large
    
Many of us have some family ancestry that has left us with skeletons in our closets? For Lindsay, that family ancestry included the Doan Gang. The Doan Gang was no small entity. There were at least 60 members of this gang and many of them were from the Doan family, hence the gang's name. Some went to prison, some escaped and some were executed. Despite being Quakers, they took part in a variety of crimes, including espionage during the American Revolution. This made them an enemy of America. There are a few legends and myths connected to the Doans, including stories of secret cave hideouts and hidden treasure. And some of those legends include some ghost stories. 

Lindsay wrote to us, "I just wanted to share a dark piece of history that my family embraces that I thought you might find interesting. My extended family on my maternal father's side has a lot of history that is well-known to the extended family. There are historical markers from the Doane family all over Pennsylvania and Maine. There is Doane University in Crete, Nebraska where they lean into the lore surrounding their haunted buildings by hosting events every October. There is currently a K-12 art school in New Jersey, and there was an orphanage until 1930. But an interesting part of our family history is the Doan Gang of Bucks County who have been coined “America's Original Outlaws” or "the original crime family." And yes, the spelling is correct. The E at the end was added by some of their ancestors sometime after the Revolutionary War." She went on to share a few pieces of the gang's history and we were certainly intrigued. 

Quakers were committed to peace and non-violence, so how did the Doan family become the first major outlaw gang in America? How is it that a group of people who came to America to escape Britain and other European countries would end up becoming spies for Britain? It would seem that some of those answers lie in the relationship between Quakers and the colonial communities where they lived. Quakers had what were considered some radical religious beliefs. These included spiritual equality for women and men, abolition of slavery and they were pacifists. which led to pacifist stances on war and abolitionist efforts against slavery. Elaborate ceremonies were not their thing either. So there would already be animosity possibly with some neighbors and they wouldn't be cool with the Revolutionary War starting. 

The main members of the Doan Gang were the five Doan brothers, Aaron, Levi, Mahlon, Joseph and Moses - who was the leader - and their cousin Abraham. The men were all described as being handsome and tall with brown hair and Romanesque noses and Moses was described as having an unusually long neck.  They were all passivists and so did not initially take sides in the Revolutionary War when it broke out on April 19, 1775 in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. This drew the ire of the local government and the Doan family was taxed excessively. Then their crops were raided and eventually their farm would be seized. The Doan Gang would begin a life of crime after this that would last from 1775 to 1783. 

The first Doan family member to commit a crime in America was Joseph Doan, Jr. We're not sure what he did, but newspaper accounts on November 16, 1775 had the Constable of Plumstead Township, Philip Hinkle, offering a reward for Joseph's capture after Joseph escaped from Hinkle's custody. Joseph was 22 at the time. The family decided that they would be Loyalists, not necessarily because they loved Britain, but more than likely because they were against the local parts of the fledgling American government. Whatever the motivation, Moses began to strike fear into the back country by riding a black mustang he had named Wild Devil and wearing a long slicker jacket and wide-brimmed hat. Moses approached British Army Gen. William Howe and offered his services as a spy. The brothers stole 200 horses and gave them to the British. Then Moses found out that Jamaica Pass near Brooklyn was lightly guarded and he reported this to General Howe. This information allowed the British to capture four American horsemen - the only guards. General Howe got a local and his son to show the British an old Rockaway Indian trail called the Rockaway Path and this allowed 10,000 Redcoats into Brooklyn to rout Washington’s army at the Battle of Long Island on Aug. 27, 1776. The victory was so great that it seemed that the Americans would quickly be losing the war and the rebellion would end. General Howe took to calling Moses Doan his Eagle Spy. 

Moses was again very useful in December of 1776, but his information wasn't given the weight it should have. The Eagle Spy had noticed that Washington and his army were gathering to cross the Delaware River. Moses managed to ford the river at a ferry above New Hope and then he stole a horse from a farm and rode through a blizzard so that he could hand-deliver a written warning to British guards, which read, "Washington is coming on you down the river, he will be here afore long. Doan." The commander ignored the intelligence and well, we know how the crossing of the Delaware went for General Washington. The war would continue to drag on as would the spying and crimes of the Doan Gang.

On February 19, 1778, members of the Doan Gang raided the Bird-in-Hand Tavern in Newtown. By July 30, 1778, Moses, Aaron and Mahlon Doan had all been publicly listed as traitors. With this designation, the gang knew they needed to start hiding, so they hid in caves during the day. And in regards to those caves, people believe that the gang hid $2 million in a cave. This would probably be around $83 million today. Expedition Unknown with Josh Gates went to find the Doan Gang's cave with historian Clint Flack in 2024. They used a description from an 1859 letter to find the cave and inside the cave they discovered carvings, particularly of initials that are linked to the Doan Gang. The cave was described as having a chamber where two rocks meet and make a peak and then tapers into a smaller point and this cave fit the bill. Josh and Clint found the initials J.A.W. and J.A. and J.R. And there was a diamond with a little diamond carved into the wall. They didn't find any treasure. 

On October 14, 1781, the gang committed its first theft of something other than horses and this was of local tax collector Job Barton of Buckingham Township. The Bucks County Treasurer and the Treasury would be the next hit on October 22, 1781. This took place three days after the British surrendered in Yorktown in 1781. The outlaws stormed the Newtown home of that county treasurer and forced him to hand over the entire Bucks treasury, which was an estimated $200,000 in tax revenue. This would never be recovered. Could it have been buried in a cave? Tax collectors began fearing for their lives as the Doans staged 30 thefts. In the summer of 1782, the authorities made a big push to arrest members of the gang. One of these members was Jesse Vickers who was put on trial in late July. (Book excerpt) 

Family patriarch Israel Doan, Jr. was accused of harboring horse thieves and passing counterfeit money in August of 1782 and he was put in jail. October 17, 1782, John Tomlinson was hanged in Newtown for robbery. John harbored and supplied the gang for two years and received $140 from Moses as his portion of robberies. The Pennsylvania archives revealed that "as mentioned in his former confession that he had frequently saw refugees at his house, that he believes him to be one of the principal persons in forming the plan for robbing the Treasury, that he frequently waited on John Atkinson in Newtown for information; concerning the sums of money in the Treasury and suitable time for attacking it; that a few days before the said robbery he was at John Tomlinson's and went with John to his barn that he there saw 6 or 7 guns and Loses and Aaron Doan cleaning the said guns and making cartridges and bullets." After this, all the men had dinner and during the dinner they tried to convince John Atkinson to join them in the robbery but he refused over fear. This robbery of the Bucks County Treasury was considered the major crime of the Doan Gang. John Tomlinson was apprehended after this. And then hanged. 

Joseph Doan Sr.'s farm was seized and sold in November of 1782. By 1783, the Doan Gang had been connected to 12 home invasion robberies. Mahlon Doan was captured and thrown in jail, but he manged to escape and disappeared. The beginning of the end for the Doan Gang would come at Halsey's Cabin when a shootout happened on August 26, 1783. The Doan Gang were hiding out at the Halsey Cabin and a group of men from nearby Gardenville, Pennsylvania gathered together to devise a plan to bring in the gang. The party decided to divide into smaller groups and surround the house. Then there would be signal given and the group would surround the cabin to ensure there were no escape routes. Major William Kennedy, Samuel Hart, and Colonel William Hart were assigned the front door.⁠⁠ As they approached, they could see the gang through the gaps of the log cabin: Abraham, Levi, and Moses Doan sitting and eating. Colonel William Hart opened the door and ordered the Doans to surrender, warning them that the house was surrounded. Shots were fired, and a scuffle ensued. In the aftermath, it was discovered that Major William Kennedy had been shot by one of the Doan gang and later died from the wound. Moses Doan was shot by Robert Gibson and died at the cabin. Abraham and Levi Doan climbed up a ladder and were able to escape out of a back window.

Aaron Doan was captured in 1784 and put in prison. Benjamin Franklin eventually pardoned him in 1787 under the agreement that he would leave America and never return. Many of the Doan Gang members ended up in Canada, including brothers Joseph Jr. and Mahlon Doan. Abraham and Levi Doan were captured and confessed that they helped to aid the British and they were hanged in Philly under the direction of Ben Franklin on September 24, 1788. Their headstones are on the outside of a cemetery in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. The Quakers didn't allow outlaws to be buried inside the cemetery. And thus, the Doan Gang of original outlaws had come to end. But what of their spirits?

Patriots and the British believed that there was something supernatural about the Doan Gang because they were so successful and so good at evading capture. Many people believe that the Doan Gang is still protecting their treasure in the afterlife and that is why it has never been found and never will be found. A couple who owned the former Doan farm claimed that they had heard legends of a spectral Moses Doan riding horseback through Fleecydale in a suicidal flight from a posse, but that they had never seen any such thing. And the legend has been debunked as it usually concludes with Moses Doan riding off the edge of a cliff, but he was clearly killed in the shootout. Where Moses may actually be haunting is the site of the former Halsey Cabin. An old gravestone has been connected to his ghosts. Doan's Cave is located in Ralph Stover State Park near the former Halsey's Cabin. Moses may have returned to this cave where the gang had hid out before moving to the cabin.  

The public executions of Abraham and Levi seems to have left behind hauntings. They weren't buried inside a Quaker cemetery and this may have left them at unrest. It is said that their ghosts are seen near their markers outside the cemetery. There may be a ghost at the former Pipersville Inn, which is now the historic Piper Tavern. It was here that the proprietress named Eva Piper stood up to the Doan Gang with a hot iron and a sword and she managed to drive them off. Eva's spirit is said to still haunt the establishment.

Some people justify the actions of the Doan Gang as just being a bunch of young men striving to defund the Revolutionary War. That they were just retaliating against a government that was aganaist them. But they did steal from their neighbors and they did instill fear to those around them. Their actions very well could have turned the war in favor of the British and that definitely made them traitors to the American patriots. The gang amassed a huge fortune. It would be hard to leave behind. Have the spirits of some of the Doan Gang members remained in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. That is for you to decide!