Mystery of the Pine Nuts
“One of the most lurid mystery dramas to come out of the West.” was how the San Francisco Examiner reported it on its front page on April 25th, 1938.
The fascinating story begins earlier in the sleepy ranching hamlet of Minden in the Carson Valley of Nevada. Nestled between the Sierra Nevada and the Pine Nut mountain ranges lush Carson Valley was home to large ranches and open space in 1938. To the east, in the rain shadow of the Sierra’s the Pine Nuts are of the high desert climate and topography so common in the rest of Nevada. The mountains are rugged, with pinyon pine and sagebrush predominantly covering the slopes and canyons. Nevada is rich in minerals and so small mines, prospects and glory holes dot the mountains. It is into this locale that a young married couple from the California Bay Area came to the Carson Valley to seek adventure and fortune.
Arriving in the late summer of 1937, William and Marian Gilbert rented a cabin behind the Centerville Saloon, a small roadside bar and cafe at a crossroads near the ranching town of Minden. They met two men, “mustang runners” and miners, living in a room above the bar at the Saloon. They evidently became friendly and shared employment prospects. Mustang runners were wranglers that captured wild horses to break or sell. The men they met also worked off and on at some of the local mines.
Missing on the Mountain
On February 18, one of the men, Buck Biamont, 31, reported to the Douglas County authorities the disappearance of Marian Gilbert, aged 22, at the Detroit Mine, about 17 miles away to the southeeast in the snowbound and desolate Pine Nut Mountains. He stated that he and Mrs Gilbert were at the mine cabin on February 6, when she decided to go to a neighboring mine, the Premier, borrow some skis and return to Minden. The snow was deep and a blizzard soon enveloped the remote and rugged mountain range. He never saw her again.
A search was arranged and Sheriff Park and several men made their way in the early spring conditions to the mining district for a brief search. Travel was difficult and the weather threatened, darkness coming early. Snow drifts were still deep. At the cabin, they found a board with what could have been blood stains. But no sign of Mrs Gilbert. On their return they sent remains of a wood box to the FBI for analysis. They sent Mr. Biamont to the jail for safe keeping, but without charges. Soon after, Mrs Gilbert’s uncle and mother had arrived from Menlo Park, California after being informed of the disappearance.
The former Marian Lewis grew up in a better neighborhood in Menlo Park and was an accomplished equestrian, performing in rodeos and horse shows. She developed the skill of breaking horses and had several wealthy clients as word spread. One suggested she try Nevada mustangs.
She seems to have had a particular wild streak of her own, having been arrested previously for extortion in Sonora County in 1936. After living for a time in a one room shack she built herself in China Camp, northeast of Modesto, She married ranch hand William “Jim” Gilbert and the two set out to make a new life. Soon, they and Buck and Carl Ramser, 51, fell in together and were employed at breaking and training horses around the Carson Valley. Then things got stranger.
Mr Gilbert Murdered
After the initial investigation in February, the case languished with no new information. Finally the focus turned to the husband. Did the law not know about William? Did his family finally ask questions? The record doesn’t indicate the reason for the omission.
By early April, questions were raised about the location of William Gilbert, 27, Marian’s husband who was also mysteriously absent. Upon further interrogation, Buck made the confession of murder at the cabin in Centerville. Described in the papers as a “cluster of cabins surrounding a store and saloon at a crossroads” near Minden. He stated that on the night of November 12, as he opened the door to the cabin where Gilbert slept, he heard a shot and saw Mrs Gilbert with a rifle in her hand and Mr Gilbert lying dead. He said Ramser was standing nearby and he helped the man wrap the body in blankets and load it into the back of a truck and watched as Ramser and Mrs Gilbert drove off to the north into the night. Biamont claimed Ramser was the “arch plotter” and paramour of Gilbert’s bride. Ramser adamantly denied the story when questioned by the authorities. Both were arrested by an exasperated Sheriff Park and placed in jail. Lynch threats were reportedly received from the shocked community and the suspects were transferred to the Washoe County jail in Reno for a time.
By this time the events reached the ears of the newspapers and made for eye catching headlines not only in California and Nevada but around the west. The local sheriffs department and Washoe County Sheriff’s Dept to the north and their district attorneys coordinated on the investigation.
On April 5th prominent Bay Area attorney A. Oneal arrived in Nevada to investigate. The attorney and rancher had sponsored young Marian in her equestrian activities and shows. He, along with a private detective along with the local lawmen, jointly interrogated the suspects in the disappearance of both Gilberts. During the interrogation the men claimed they were present when Marian performed a “self-abortion.” Biamont also claimed that Ramser and Marian shared a strange relationship where they used mental telepathy which Ramser confirmed. They would sit and stare into each other’s eyes for hours and claimed they could wake each other up from sleep with telepathy. Noting Marian’s possible sense of impending danger, attorney Oneal reported he found in her effects a letter addressed to him but not mailed in which she wished if anything happened to her, he should give her black stallion a good home.
Back from the Dead
Working on a remote ranch near Nogales, Arizona, on about April 20th, a ranch hand reads a police flyer about a missing man and woman and a murder in Nevada. He calls the local sheriff to report one of his fellow wranglers is named Gilbert and he said he left a small town in Nevada to get away from problems with his wife in December. Thus William Gilbert learns he’s been murdered by his former associates and his body has gone missing. He also learns that his wife, Marian has been missing since February 6. Meanwhile Biamont and Ramser are residing in the Douglas County jail now charged with “aiding and abetting the disappearance of Mrs Gilbert.” Pledging to aid in the search for his wife, he calls his parents for assistance and makes his way back to Minden. He tells Sheriff Park that they were involved with horses and mining interests with Ramser and Biamont and left suddenly in a dispute with his wife but did not elaborate. He said his wife was resourceful and doubted she would put herself in jeopardy in a storm. He flies to San Francisco and arrives by bus to Minden on April 28th. Confronted with news that William has been discovered alive, Biamont admits his confession was made up. “I got tired of being questioned. I’ve read plenty of crime stories so decided to make up one of my own.”
Gold Enters the Picture (It’s Nevada)
Gilbert believed there were two possible clues to Marian’s disappearance. The story the men told of an abortion she performed on herself sounded absurd and that she may have discovered Ramser’s “gold concentration formula” was a swindle. Both Biamont and Ramser adamantly denied they were involved in initiating the pregnancy or a “bum deal.”
Gilbert went on to explain that Ramser claimed to have developed a secret and revolutionary gold processing system and was pressing Marian to gain financial backing from her parents. “Marian was crazy over the gold formula of Ramser’s- a get rich quick idea. I couldn’t talk to her about it. She wouldn’t listen. It’s my opinion that if Marian is dead, her death was due to violence.” Attorney Oneal, investigating as a friend of the family revealed that Marian’s parents had indeed invested $700 in the “gold separating machine” and he too suspected foul play.
A Maze of Theories
By April 23, The sheriffs had a missing woman, a missing or dead husband helping in the search and two men in jail, What had really happened? Who would benefit in her death? Who had reason to get revenge? Was it a love triangle, a swindle gone bad or both? Where was her forlorn body if she really was deceased? Was there a new gold process? Sheriff Park and district attorney Kirch went back over the facts as the April sun slowly released its snowy shroud on the Pine Nut Mountains.
A Search Reveals a Clue
Another search was made at this time of the mining district as it was now accessible and more of the mountain was revealed by the melting snow. Indian trackers had scoured the snow covered area for weeks without success. The snow was receding and the group including Willam Gilbert made it to the mines. Soon, Marian’s body was observed emerging from a receding snow bank. She was suspiciously close to the the cabin where Biamont had last seen her disappear into the blizzard. Hair was found in her clenched fist and this set off a wave of excitement. The body was removed and delivered to the medical examiner for an autopsy and analysis. Whose hair would it be? Finally the result came back — the hair belonged to Marian. It was yet another strange turn in the case. The body was subjected to an autopsy and inquest and it was ruled a natural death from exposure and starvation.
Epilogue
So ended the tragic tale of the rodeo queen and the Pine Nuts. Buck Biamont was released with his delusions. Carl Ramser was only charged with forging the title to William Gilbert’s truck when he went missing. A little over a year later, William Gilbert drove to a park after hours, attached a hose from his exhaust through the car window, and along with Marian’s dog, Bozo, committed suicide. He left a note to his brother saying, “Dear Lew and family, this is my last note to you. This may seem like a cowards way out, but the compensation isn’t worth the effort. Marian seems to be calling me all the time, and I guess I’ll go try to find her. If possible, please have Bozo and me cremated and have the three of us buried together. Well, I’m going now, so long. Jim.”
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Notes
Story compiled from contemporary news reports from:
Nevada State Journal, Reno Gazette Journal, The Bakersfield Californian, The Sacramento Bee, The San Francisco Examiner, San Mateo Times, Santa Rosa Republican, Oakland Tribune, Oakdale Leader, Santa Cruz Evening News, The Philadelphia Enquirer
The Premier, Detroit and Cameran Mines are in an area generally known as the Red Canyon Mining District. This area is best reached from the east, from Smith Valley as the roads are still bad.
Centerville
