YUBA COUNTY
Crimes & Criminals
(pre 1924)
N. D. Rideout
It is not generally known that the late N. D. Rideout, head of the Rideout string of banks in Northern California, figured as a victim of highway robbers in the early fifties, at a time when he was seeking his fortune in the mountain district of Yuba County. On a Tuesday afternoon, about 4:30 o’clock, in October, 1852, as the Camptonville stage was proceeding to Marysville, it was stopped when near Dry Creek by six mounted highwaymen. They were after the treasure it carried, which amounted to $100,000. Near the point of attack the road forked, and Rideout, gold-dust dealer and banker of Camptonville, was on one road and the stage on the other. Rideout was stopped by the robbers, who all presented their arms and commanded him to dismount. He hesitated, when one of them threatened to shoot him. On the threat being made he dismounted, and went toward the stage on the other road across the ravine. The robbers called him back and demanded his money. Being satisfied that he had none, his treasure being on the stage, they took his horse and allowed him to cross over to the stage. The robbers then commanded the driver of the stage, John Gear, to stop, and threatened to kill the first man who should oppose them in their designs. Messenger Dodson, messenger for Langton’s Express, immediately drew on the robbers and commenced firing. His first shot took effect on the spokesman of the robbers and unhorsed him. Rideout had by this time got to the stage. An indiscriminate fight now commenced between the robbers and passengers. As many as forty shots were fired on both sides. The robbers, finding themselves so stoutly opposed, retreated, leaving the passengers victors of the field of battle. The driver, John Gear, was shot through the right arm, above the elbow. Mrs. Tighlman, wife of a Marysville barber, was shot in the head, the ball entering over the right eye and penetrating the brain. Two other passengers were wounded. When the stage was stopped and the firing had commenced, one white man and four Chinamen left and ran back on the road which had been passed over. The newspaper reports of the occurrence said: “These persons have not been seen since.”
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles
TOM BELL
Tom Bell and his gang of robbers were suspected of the holdup. Bell, a noted highwayman of that day, was killed near Auburn in Placer County in 1856. In stature nearly six feet tall, he was well proportioned, combining in his frame strength with action. He was of a sanguine temperament, quick in his motions, being never at rest. He had sandy hair and a full crop of it, and a light goatee to match his hair in color. His nose, which was originally well formed and large, was mashed in the bridge, almost level with his face. This defect rendered his countenance, which was otherwise prepossessing, somewhat repulsive, and even hideous when viewed in connection with his lawless practices. His eyes were a very light blue, of that class which approximates so nearly to grey, and in their restless wanderings were constantly sparkling with intelligence.
Bell was a native of Alabama. He had received a medical education, and, it is said, practiced that profession when he first came to California, in 1850. He first took to mining, and being unlucky at that, his next step was gambling. When that ceased to pay, he took to the road, and was engaged as a robber for about two years, in which time he acquired a fame for boldness and success in this section second only to Joaquin Murietta’s.
At the outset, it is said, he generally traveled alone, and, for his better security, wore a coat of armor under his clothes. He never shed the blood of his victim unless it became absolutely necessary to enforce a compliance with his demands. It was known that he had associated with him several persons scarcely less noted than himself, one of whom, an escaped convict named Bill Gristy, alias Bill White, when the band was broken in upon by a detachment of the Sacramento and Marysville police, was the only one who escaped. Gristy was cruel, cunning and blood-thirsty. This scoundrel was in Bell’s band for three months. The band was supposed to number from six to eight, and they ranged the country along the foothills from the Yuba to Granite City. Their depredations were mainly confined to the several roads crossing in the neighborhood between Granite and Gold Hill, in Placer County. The country was rough, broken and covered with an impenetrable chaparral, in the recesses of which “an army with banners” might securely hide. Their outrages in this favorite field followed each other in such rapid succession that scarcely a day passed during the summer of 1856 without furnishing a newspaper story from the calendar of their exploits, but in no instance did they shed blood. The plan of the chief was to frighten the traveler to terms, and avoid the cruelty of murder.
On one occasion, Bell and Gristy, with one other, made an attack upon a man who was traveling from Downieville to Marysville with a large sum of money in his possession. The traveler resisted, fired upon his assailants, and finally fled from them toward a deep canyon in which, if he could reach it, he knew he was safe from pursuit on horseback. Just as he was about to reach his goal, Gristy fired with a navy revolver and shot him in the thigh, knocking him down. The robbers relieved him of his money; but instead of dispatching him, or leaving him to die from the hemorrhage of his wound, “Doctor” Bell kindly and expertly took up the severed artery, bound up the wound, and just at that moment hearing a wagon pass, turned to one of his subordinates and ordered him to attend to the teamster. The wagon was stopped, the driver relieved of his cash, the wounded man placed upon a mattress, hastily made in the bottom of the wagon, and the parties dismissed, with the injunction to “drive slow and pick their road.” The wounded man requested Bell to tie his (the traveler’s) horse behind the wagon. Bell refused, but assured him that he should have his horse, as he seemed attached to him, and that he would turn him loose in the woods, after stripping off his bridle and saddle, which promise he faithfully kept.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles
JIM WEBSTER
In 1855 and 1856, Jim Webster was the terror of Timbuctoo and vicinity. He was a highwayman, and robbed and murdered a number of people. A reward was offered for his capture or death, but no one was daring enough to attempt the deed. In 1855, he killed three men in a ravine near Timbuctoo, with three shots from his revolver. After committing numerous depredations and criminal acts, he was killed by one of his own men.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles
GEORGE SHANKS
George Shanks was a noted highwayman, usually called “Jack Williams’ Ghost.” He was a waiter in a hotel at Camptonville, and left there when he was sixteen years of age. He was afterward shot by Stephen Vanard, between San Juan and Nevada.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles
TOMMIE BROWN & BROTHER
In October, 1876, Tommie Brown and his brother, who had been terrorizing all the northern part of the State, robbed the stage near the toll-house, one mile west of the Oregon House, the brother going to the head of the horses and Tom leveling his gun on the driver. E. Scammond, a banker from Downieville, was on the stage with $18,000 in dust, and leveled his gun on Brown, who also changed his aim to Scammond. Both fired at the same time. Scammond fell in the stage with several buckshot wounds, and after a little difficulty in securing the horses, which were frightened by the firing, the passengers, mail and express were robbed, and the stage was allowed to proceed. The $18,000 was not secured, as the dust was hidden in the gun case, valise and trunk, which Scammond recovered. A party pursued the Browns, and coming upon their camp, fired upon them and mortally wounded the brother. Tom gave himself up and was sentenced to San Quentin for a term of ten years. When brought back as a witness in another case, he managed to escape from the Marysville city jail, April 26, 1877. Rearrested in Oregon after robbing the Shasta stage, he pleaded guilty when arraigned, and had seven years added to his prison term. Photographs of Tommie Brown and his brother are in the archives of the sheriff’s office in Marysville.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles
“BLACK BART”
In later years “Black Bart,” another noted stage robber, figured in outrages up and down the State. After he was captured and exposed, he told the officers he frequently visited Marysville without being recognized. He was known during his career as “Black Bart, the Po 8,” because of the rhymes he left at the scene of his crimes.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles
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