The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-12-25

meager personal needs. His sobriquet
OF Hattlesnake' was given to him be-
cause ne said one day, when he was
IuIning ABOUT his imprisonment and
talking about what he intended to do,
tnat ne would strike like q rattlesnake
at every ID officer of the law that
gave him chance
ROBS wELLS-FARGO OF $4,000.
@one of the first things that Dick
and his gang did was to hold up the
WeIlS-t argo gold train that was COM
ing down to Sacramento from the gold
camps up in the mountains. 1t had
SoO,UOO packed on mules, and had got
as far as Trinity mountain, in Placer
county, when Dick and his gang ap-
peared on the scene. He did not have
all his men with hin-I believe there
were less than ten or twelve of them
altogether-but they fought like the
daredevils they were, and Dick en-
gineered the thing like a born general.
Possibly his army ancestry gave him
by heredity some knack 1t military
tactics and ability in the management
of men. AT any rate, they vanquished
more than twice their number and left
several dead and twenty others tied up
TO the trees, either more. or less
wounded or scared out of their senses.
They carried away the whole of the
$4,000, and buried half of it near Fol-
som, having divided the rest among
the gang.
Jack Barley, a. WelIs-Fargo detec-
tive, and as brave a man as ever ham
died gun, pursued Dick and his gang
with posse of five men, and came
upon them near Folsom, just after they
had buried the gold. 1t was near mid
night when he came on their hiding
place, and four of his posse had so lit
tie stomach for a fight in the dark
that they deserted and ran away as
fast as their horses could go, leaving
Jack and one man to face whatever
might happen. Most men would have
withdrawn very quietly and gone to
hunt for reinfOrcements. But Jack and
his one assistant weren't made of that
sort of stuff. They just sailed in for
all they were worth and gave it to the
outlaws hot and heavy. They took adj
vantage of the darkness to make the
gang think there was q large party of
them by circling around and attacking
them on all sides.
ROUTED BY TWO BRAVE MEN.
Dicks men had been drinking and
quarreling, and one or two of their
number had been killed in fight
among themselves just before Bark
ley's arrival, so that they probably did
not fight as we'll as they would have
done ordinarily. Fortune favored the
brave that time, sure. for the gang
that had Vanquished more than twice
it's number of well-armed men only a
little while before, was dislodged and
put to flight by two men. Dicks best
man and lieutenant, a fellow named
George Skinner, was killed, and two
others were wounded and left on the
field of battle. Dick and three or four
Of his gang escaped. Barkley recovered
the buried money but he would much
rather have captured Rattlesnake
Dick.
Dick got together new gang. and
kept at his old tricks. Most Of his
operations were in or near Placer coun-
ty, for he seemed to take a particular
delight in deviling the officers of the
county where he had been arrested and
convicted. There was a big price set
on his head, and every sheriff in north
ern California tried to catch him. Jim
Boggs lost his place as sheriff of Placer
because he failed to either kill or cap
ture Rattlesnake Dick. A number Of
good men were killed themselves in
the attempt, and every Weus-Fargo de-
tective on the coast was hot in the
chase. But Dick laughed at the whole
lot of them. He and his gang held up
stages and gold trains and lone traV-
elers, stole what they wanted, killed
when it was necessary, and carried
things generally with a high hand.
Dick himself was as bold as could be.
and apparently, went wherever he
wanted to and whenever he pleased. He
would go to Auburn, or any other place
he wished to, in broad daylight, make
purchases, drink in the saloons. do
whatever he chose, and gallOp away
again with q whole skin. Of course. he
was cautious enough to make his visits
L. rsN7r .ufNF
wasn't there, and he felt sure that no
body but an officer would be likely to
make q move against him.
HE kept up this sort of thing 10Y
three years, and then one day in the
summer of SO he went to Auburn once
too often. With one companion. he had
come into town and bought some shirts
and whisky for his gang. and some
clothes for himself. Bill Crutcher was
sheriff then, and he had gone out OF
town that morning on some business.
A messenger was sent after him to tell
him that Rattlesnake Dick was in
town. and Dick and his companion were
hardly out of sight when Crutcher came
tearing back like wild man.
DICKS LAST FIGHT.
| "Crutcher and George Martin and
| George c. Johnson at once started IN
| pursuit, and overlook the two men
Z a mile IEOIl IOW4l. LLGll 1OAAONC u
! a running fight of two against three
| that was as determined as any that an
/ outlaw ever made. Dick and his man
/ galloped as hard as they could go,
/ turning in their saddles to shoot. and
/ Crutcher and his two men put spurs
after them and peppered away at them
as fast as they could empty and load
their guns. Dicks companion killed
/ Martin early in the fight, and later
/ Dick shot Johnson through the left
hand and again in the right wrist, so
! that he was useless for fighting pur-
/ poses. Crutcher pressed on alone after
! them. and he and Dick mutually per-
| forated each others bodies.
"Crutcher was so badly wounded
/ that he gave up the chase and went
back, supposing that Dick had once
more escaped. But the outlaw was
wounded worse than the sheriff knew,
for the Iowa Hill stage found his dead
body near Junction House on its way
into Auburn later in the day. He had
! two balls through the body and one
through the head. Apparently, he hA ,
| been badly wounded in the body, any
his man had left him and gone on to
save his own skin. And Dick, fearing
capture in his disabled condition, had
/ put the ball through his head Appar-
emily, too, he had mistaken Martin,
who had been killed, for Jim Boggs,
against whom his entire career as an
outlaw had been directed, for on ms
person was found this note:
! "a ++1aSr7olxa Dick dies but never