Judge Albro

           Photo courtesy of
      Shasta Historical Society

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.

Here is a little history about George. In 1946 he was appointed Judge Emeritus of Shasta County for life. It was an honor bestowed on him for his lifetime service to Shasta County. His service and commitment started in 1873 when he started working in the Shasta Courthouse at the age of 11 years old. He started out working part time doing odd jobs that needed to be done and was permanently hired six years later as a janitor and later a jailer.

When the county seat was moved from Shasta to Redding in 1886, he made the move with it. For 75 years he followed in his father's footsteps Stephen who worked as the deputy constable, nightwatchman, and janitor at the Shasta Courthouse.

This photo courtesy of Shasta Historical Society is of George Albro showing off the safe that held the keys to the jail of the Ruggles brothers. This safe was blown open by the mob that lynched the brothers. This safe is now at the Old Shasta Courthouse Museum in Shasta. You will have to look closely at the back right hand side of the safe to see the hole and damage that the blast made. When you visit the Museum be sure to look on the wall above the safe and review the newspaper article from 1892 about the confession to the robbery and background information about the Ruggles family. Also hanging on the wall is the revolver and axe used in the robbery.



This is the History Mystery Man signing off until I write again.

Copyright © 2009 by Ted Weyand. All rights reserved.