The morning call., 1892-07-25
HISTORY OF TIE CRIME.

lynchers
HISTORY OF TIE CRIME.
The Robbers and Ii. They Did Their
Murderous Work.
On the evening Of the 14th Of May last
the Reddiug and Shasta stage had Just
reached the top of long grade five miles
above Redding when masked man with
double barreled shotgun in his hand stepped
on the high bank alongside the road, ard
covering the driver of the stage, ordered
him TO pull up and throw out the express
box"
John Boyce was driving the stage and
beside him sat George Suhr. travelling
man, while in the body of the stage was
Buck" Montgomery, guard of the Wells
Fargo ExUress Company.
When the bighwaymau halted the stage
Boyce at once complied with his demand
and threw out the lreasure-b0X.
Montgomery, at the same instant. opened
fire on the robber with his shotgun loaded
with buck shot.
At the first fire the robber dropped to his
knees and q second later discharged both
barrels of his gun into the stage. Boyce,
the driver fell from his scat 10 the foot
board with five buckShot in his right leg
near the knee and two buckshot in his left
leg Suhr also dropped off the seat with
three or four buckshOt in his legs.
Before Buck" Montgomery could reload
his gun, two shots in quick succession came
from the bushes on the side IF tie road op-
posite the place where the robber WHO
halted the stage stood. ana Buck" Mont
gomery fell 20 The bottom yf the stage. shot
through the back from ambush aud morially
wounded.
qba bettla o,.c,,ni al i,ut a fs,s, .seo5,,, a.
and then came the stern order from the
robber IN ambush to drive Oo."
HIS companion on the bank was sorelv
wounded, Buck MONTGOMERY lay dying on
the bottom Of the stage and the driver.
Boyce and the passenger. Sunr were mud
died uD on the fOotboard bleeding from a
score of wounds and unable to mount the
seat.
As best they could Boyce and Suhr man.
aged to start the stage and drive il along
One handled the leius ana the other the
brake as the Stage pitched over the steep
hill.
The robber in ambush never showed him
self, but after the stage had gone over the
ridge he Went 10 his wounded companion's
assistance and took with him the Wells
Fargo treasure box.
The stage had gone but a short distance
when il met DIR. ana Mrs. Stevenson of Red
ding in their carriage. The doctor iumped
from his vehicle aud went to the assistance
of the wounded men while Mrs. Stevenson
turned the heads Of her horses toward ked-
ding, and, laying the whip on the backs of
the spirited animals, went back TO town on
O dead run TO get assistance.
Her advent in the town with her horses
covered with foam and on run was enough
to alarm the people, aud in less than a min
ute score and more Of CITIZENS and all the
physicians in town were hurrying out 10
meet the stage, while searching parties to
trace and If possible capture the robbers
were hurTiedly organized.
The stage with It's wounded men drove
into Reddng, and ali that human skill could
do to save "Buck" Montgomery was done.
while the wounded driver and passenger
were tenderly cared for.
a few hours later Buck" MONTGOMERY
breathed his last.
The people Of ReddiDg went wild There
had been stage robbery after stage robbery
and no one caught and punished for tie
crimes Now, in addition TO the robbery a
most brutal murder had been done, and the
citizens demanded that the robbers be
caught, even though IT took every honest
man ia the county from his house and bus-
ness to do 1t.
The Widest stories as to the value OF the
treasure in the captured box were afioai. No
one put the sum less than so, 900, and many
as high as SJO,UUU.
The searching pafties had but a very poor
clew upon which TO work. Only one of the
robbers had been seen. and he was DISGUISED
mask. 1t was knowD, however that this
rObber was badly wounded, and it was
hoped that lie might be trailed, and even If
found dead that his Identity would afford n
cleW 10y which his associate Nigh be tracked
and captured
The whole surrounding country was full
of men before the dawn Of the next day
Rewards aggregating Sl100. including $500
by Governor Markham. wele offered Ior
the capture Of the highwaymen.
ha
Saturday night, ana on the next day Harry
Page, Nick Cusick and Lloyd Carter. three
young men who were, with hundreds of
others, searching for the mufderers OF
Montgomery, ian across the wounded
robber in a canyon near the town Of
Shasta.
The man was well nigh dead from loss
of blood and his eXertions to escape He
was shot through a0d through In breast.
body and limbs. Poor "Buck" Mont
wounds were thought TO be fatal, aud he
told how, being wounded unto death, his
accomplice in crime had abandoned him 10
his fate, and with the booty for which he
had taken life and probably sacrificed his
own, had deserted him, leaving him to
crawl away and die.
The man was taken back TO Redding
Only his enGee led condition and the hope
that when he came 10 die he would tell who
his accomplices were saved him from i'm
For day or two he hovered between life
and death. and while he told many stories
OF the robbery, the detectives were con-
vinced he had not told the truth. Finally
the man was Identified as Charles Ruggles,
the younger son of respectable and we'll
to-do farmer, l.. B. Ruggles, in Fresno
County, whose postoftice is at Traver.
with the identification came the news
that tile younger man would recover and ii
wss then that the full horror OF his deed
oyercame him. SO long r lie was to die un-
Identified Charles Ruggles only % years of
age and the baby" at nome was willing to
go to his grave bearing the whole blame of
the robbery and murder, but when he
learned that full disgrace of his crime must
rest upon his parents and that he would
live to know their shame and sorrow. the
boy determined to take his own life.
1t WAS his first crime. and it was a hor-
rible one. That night In jail Charlie Rug
giles tore from his wounds the bandages.
and tried to bleed TO death. His act was
discovered in time, and from that on he
was carefully watched
The detectives at once suspected that the
accomplce of Charles Ruggles In the crime
had been an older brother named John