The posse heard the shot and captured Charles. As they left to take him back to the
Redding jail, I was in great pain from the wound. I started to pat myself down to feel where the bullet hit me. Of course, I had my eyes closed when I did this because I hate the sight of blood especially my own. I didn't feel anything wet so I opened my eyes and took a look at myself. Nothing. No blood, no bullet hole. He was either a bad shot or the shot went through me without affecting me. Either way the pain I felt wasn't really there.
While Charley Ruggles was in jail he recovered from his wounds. I sat next to Charles and he recognized me. I had the opportunity to talk to him while he waited for his fate. He told me that he was the youngest son of Lyman B. and Martha A. Ruggles. He believed he was well liked and went to college for a while in Stockton. Charley told me how he worked at the Iron Mountain Mine as a miner. He was known for his hard work and went by the name of Arizona Charley. He looked up to his brother and loved him very much. When his brother was 18 years old, he went to San Quentin Prison for robbery. John had a bad start in life but was making a turn around. He said that John bought a farm near Dinuba and purchased other land in Tulare County. He married Ida May Henderson in April of 1886. He had a daughter in 1887 by the name of Estella. Things were going pretty good for John then his wife died in 1889. John's daughter was sent to another family member and he lost interest in the farm and began hunting in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Charley felt that John never recovered from his wife's death and turned him back to the life of crime. Not only did these chain of events influence John, they influenced Charley from a hardworking good man into a stagecoach robbing and murdering bad man.
It has now been over 24 hours since I started this adventure and I'm still living in the past. I don't know how to get back. So my only choice was to continue and hope that the future leads me ahead to the present that I once lived in. I continued to stay in the jail spending my time with Charles. He seemed sorry for the direction his life had taken and wished he could have a "do over." But there are no do overs in life. You can stop and change your way and use your past to guide your new direction. It is like driving a car. As you are moving forward, watching and looking for obstacles to avoid, you are also looking in your rear view mirror to keep track where you have been. In life we need to use our past (history) to guide and mold our future.
Then the day came when the jail got word that John Ruggles was captured on June 19, 1892 at the Opera Restaurant in Woodland, California by Deputy Sheriff David Wyckoff. The Sheriff learned of his whereabouts when John's aunt kicked him out of her house. She had learned that John was involved in the robbery of the stagecoach and the murder of Amos Montgomery.
John and Charles were now united together again in jail waiting for their day in court. Ladies started visiting and leaving presents for them. They were gaining local celebrity status and enjoying the attention of the girls. They were also gaining attention from the local men. These men did not like the idea of murdering thieves getting unmerited favor and proposals of marriage from the local girls because the brothers murdered their friend Buck. Emotions were riding high both for and against the Ruggles brothers.
On the night of July 24, the Ruggles brothers, the jailer George Albro, and myself were settling down for the night when yelling and screaming was heard in the street. A group of about 40 men turned into a mob and stormed the Shasta County Jail. The mob confronted George and demanded the keys to the cell. The keys were locked in the safe, so the safe was blown open. The brothers were grabbed and dragged out of their cell and through the street. The angry mob then kicked, screamed, and dragged them to the cottonwood trees that were located by the railroad tracks, off of Shasta Street.
The mob was yelling to hang 'em, which they did. The mob walked away and went back to their homes. I went back to the Middle Creek Road and headed East along the Sacramento River and through town. I wandered around and found myself back at the river's edge.
I sat down on the South bank of the Sacramento River to rest and reflect. I fell asleep thinking about the Ruggles brothers and the gold coin never found. I could not change the events that led to the death of Buck or the actions of the mob or the lynching of the Ruggles brothers, but ..., maybe ..., I can find the lost gold. I could hold history in my hands and feel and touch the objects that started the chain of events that led to the corruption of so many lives. I decided that I would look for the gold.
The next morning the pair were still hanging in full view of the passenger trains and those who passed by the hanging trees. They stayed hanging from the trees for three days. Their bodies were loaded on the train taking them to Traver where they were buried in the Wilson Cemetery. They were relocated in 1947 to the Smith Mountain Cemetery in Dinuba, California. They are now located at block 3; row 4C; grave 10 in the cemetery. This is their final physical resting place. John once admitted to shooting Mongomery in the back and sent him to hell where he belongs. John and Charles never made it to their trial here on earth, yet they will one day get their day in another court.
I went into a trance and my body started twisting and turning , everything went white then black. I passed out on July 24, 1892 and woke up looking at a white pointy object rising out of the water.
This is the History Mystery Man signing off for now until I write again.
Copyright © 2009 by Ted Weyand. All rights reserved.
In my story of the Ruggles brothers, I mentioned that the jailer's name was George Albro. Well, he really was the jailer that was keeping watch over the Ruggles brothers that night.
