A Lancaster Review Mystery
Crack the Case
Three sealed clues. One forgotten gang.
?
The Name
?
The Hideout
?
The Crimes
Cold Case

A Gang the County Forgot

Solve three clues to reopen one of Lancaster's wildest true stories

A century ago, a single family terrorized this county and then slipped almost entirely out of memory. The old file has three clues left in it. Crack each one and the next unlocks.

No timers. No tricks. Just you and a few subtle hints. Ready to reopen the case?

Clue One · The Name
The Hint

They named themselves after a bird of prey, the kind that circles high and patient overhead, waiting to drop on whatever others leave behind. Six brothers carried that name and made it feared across the county.

A scavenger. Dark wings, wide circles. The name is one word, and the brothers wore it like a brand.

What was the gang called?
Clue Two · The Hideout
The Hint

After every job, the brothers rode back to the same rugged high ground south of New Holland. It was poor and tangled country, and it took its name from the homeland of the settlers who first cleared it.

Those settlers came from a small country to the west of England. Picture caves and boulders, and a name that points to their old home.

Where did the gang hide out?
Clue Three · The Crimes

Their whole legend rests on a handful of unforgettable jobs. Read each hint and name the escapade.

Case Solved
The Buzzard Gang

Six brothers of the Welsh Mountains, the Jesse James of the East Coast

1
The NameThe Buzzards, named for the circling scavenger, six brothers raised in hard poverty after their father died in the Civil War.
2
The HideoutThe Welsh Mountains south of New Holland, where they could roll a boulder across a cave mouth at Blue Rock and vanish.
3
The CrimesThe canary jailbreak, the revival meeting con, and the Bowmansville heist where they made off with an entire safe.
Reopened for The Lancaster Review · Adam and Ben