This documentary blends myth and history of Gold Rush California, detailing explosive population growth, widespread violence, vigilante justice, and a booming, increasingly corporate mining economy, with outlaws like Tom Bell, Black Bart, Rattlesnake Dick, and Joaquin Murrieta and notable stage robberies. It contrasts glamorized gangster lore with a harsh, businesslike reality and highlights frontier social tensions, rapid punishments against women (e.g., Josefa Segovia Loiza) and the experiences of Soiled Doves, including female entrepreneurs such as Harriet Sims. Murrieta's contested legacy as villain or folk hero shapes frontier myth and echoes in later legends (e.g., Zorro), with memory reinforced by events like a 19th‑century Nevada City murder and its 1961 revival.

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Things were tough and hard scrabble much gold was for the having but for many it was out of reach
While some chose legitimate means others chose desperate measures
You know in 1847 the population of San Francisco was 456 people
January of 1848 the population had increased to a thousand and by 1850 the U.

S.

Census they reported that 34,776 souls were there
With the population booming the law just couldn't cope with the individual criminals much less the gangs that ran rapid
Praying on Myers bringing gold into the assay office and the aspiring Myers
Who had all they owned in their pockets or on their back
The local law was overwhelmed and most often justice was made out by willing but unqualified peace officers
Or by vigilante action meanwhile in Nevada County California where some of the largest gold strikes were
The population also increased dramatically the gold rush was upon us with it came violence robbery murder
Vigilante action and of course those ladies in the night
Just what is it that causes men and women to turn away from a straightforward life to a life of crime often there's just no straightforward answers
You know Jesse James once said all the world loves an outlaw for some damn reason they remember them
Well Jesse James and Tom Bell they were both soldiers Jesse was in the Confederate army and Thomas was in the Spanish-American War
I don't imagine that they knew any other way of surviving
You know Thomas J.

Hodges after serving as a surgeon in the Spanish-American War he unsuccessfully tried his hand at prospecting and gambling
During California's gold rush where he went to prison in Angel Island for stealing five meals
The name he gave peace officers was Tom Bell
Tom later escaped when he tried his hand at stagecoach robbery
Tom Bell was notorious criminal in the gold country he had a sophisticated group of outlaws that he worked with
And they were not shy about going to different boarding houses and making sure that they worked with the owners of the boarding houses
And those particular owners of the boarding house would tip them off as to who the wealthy people were
And so when they were going from point A to point B in Nevada County they would rob them and they did this time and time again
He wasn't actually Tom Bell at all
He thought it was a name he gave to the authorities once they arrested him after he was caught stealing 11 mules
That name actually owned to a small time cattle wrestler
Tom Hodges, Dr. Tom Hodges was actually from back in Tennessee
And he served in the Mexican-American War as a surgeon
And then after about three years of service he decided like many others at that time he wanted to move west to make a better life for himself
Of course that meant he came out and tried his luck at prospecting
And that didn't seem to turn out real well because he didn't stick with it very long
And it was about that time where he tried his hand at stealing mules and was caught
So he went to prison and while he was in prison he met a man named Bill Gristy
And kind of like one of those prison movies
He and Gristy come up with this plan to escape
One of them is going to act like they're ill, seriously ill
And the two of them are taken out to get help and then they escape and run off
Eventually they hatch this plan and they're going to start robbing people
And so they're knocking some people off here and there and holding people up
There was a driver toting beer and he had like $30 on him and they robbed him
And started to realize that this wasn't a real lucrative deal, these little robberies
So they decided they were going to hatch this plan to rob Wells Fargo stage
And they heard that there was $100,000 worth of gold bullion headed from Campdenville to Marysville on the stage there
And so they put a gang together and I think a gang of six on horseback
As they circled the stagecoach there was an armed guard on board
So an armed guard fired the first shot and suddenly there was a whole lot of firing going on
And in the end one woman was killed, she was the wife of a favorite Marysville barber
Mrs.

Tillman I believe and she was killed, there were two men injured
And one of them, Mr. Dobbins I believe, he was the armed guard who also was shot
Apparently as the story goes at some point Tom Bell aka Doc Bell aka the outlaw doc
Wrote a letter to the newspaper in Marysville and essentially was taunting the community there saying
Catch me if you can
Well sometime there soon after they started to catch several members of the gang
And at one point they caught Gristy and who eventually gave him up
It took some really qualified lawmen to track them down
And these qualified lawmen were men who would not care whether or not they wore different disguises
So they would go into these boarding houses and they would be dressed up as old men
Who had lots of money and who were en route to give some of the money to their family
To try to ferret out Tom Bell and his gang
And they eventually caught Tom Bell
By the time the Stockton Sheriff got down to find Tom Bell he was already hung by a posse down there
And he was dead at the age of 31
They were not going to take Tom Bell in to stand trial
They had been after Tom Bell for some time so they felt as though they were fortunate to be able to get Tom Bell
And they were going to try him right where he was
And they were going to hang him right where he was
Which was not too far outside of Camdenville
For whatever reason at that time in history Camdenville had the best hanging trees
If those trees could talk what they would say
Tom Bell, he's just going to be led off to this tree to be hanged
He asks all of the gentlemen around if they wouldn't mind first
If he stopped and wrote a letter
He had befriended one of the women who ran a boarding house
And her daughter, she had two daughters
And so he wanted to write a letter to this woman and to the little girls
So not only did he ask if he could write this letter and the lawman acquiesced
But he also had some cigars with him which he passed out to the lawman as well
So while they smoked their cigars he wrote this letter to the woman that ran the boarding house
And her daughters which was to thank her for her loyalty to him
And for always helping him
And then wanted to just make sure that she knew to keep her daughters away from outlaws
Away from criminals so they wouldn't have this kind of life that he had had
And with that after the letter after he put the last dot on the page
He folded it, handed it off to the sheriff and then he was executed
Although it failed, the robbery was the first stagecoach robbery in California
A Wells Fargo stagecoach
Here I lay me down to sleep to wait for the coming moral
Perhaps success, perhaps defeat and everlasting sorrow
That was Black Bart
He is employed by the Reader Ranch that was in Nevada City, California
To make ends meet he robbed the Wells Fargo stagecoach
At least 27 times
Black Bart lived here about jumping to the end of the story after he got out of prison
He went up to a ranch up north of Ruffin Ready
And he said, you know, I know I don't really belong here
But I'd like to go up and take a look at the old place where I used to work as a ranch hand when I was robbing stages
But he went up there and gone for quite a while
And when he came back the saddlebags were pretty darn heavy
And they just figured that he might have stashed some of the gold and nuggets and coin and stuff from Wells Fargo stagecoach
Charles Bowles, aka Black Bart, was born in England and came to a farm in New York when he was age two
And then 20 years later, like many other young men, he ventured west in order to discover gold
Arriving in California, he spent some time on the American River
Mining on gold claims there with his brother and cousin
And both of them met their demise during the prospecting years
Ultimately, people believed that they both died from typhoid fever
So with that, he left California and went back east and joined the army
And right around that time, the Civil War started
While he was in the army, he rapidly moved up through the ranks, once again proving his tenacity and that he was a likable gentleman
Ultimately being injured in the Battle of Vicksburg
From there, he was discharged from the army and met his wife and was married
But then decided that family life wasn't really for him
So he headed back out west to Idaho and Montana, where he spent a number of years mining again
And he remained in contact with his wife, Mary Elizabeth, until 1871
Indicating that he had some unsettled business and he was upset with Wells Fargo Bank
And after that time, she never heard from him again and she counted him for dead
Highway robberies began, but nobody linked exactly who Black Bart was until his capture in San Francisco
Well, I'm Freddie Langdon and my grandfather told me about Black Bart
And Black Bart is a time when he worked for Jim Reader, it's a sawmill here
He went by the name of Mr. Martin
This Mr. Martin worked here a few years, he had a cabin out and back by the sawmill
He was a quiet type of guy, everywhere he went he didn't ride a horse, he just walked
I never heard any bad thing about Mr. Martin on the ranch, it was always something good or something interesting
He wasn't a lazy man, or nothing like that
But he would just like to, a lot of times, stay off the cabin by himself in the evening
It was in the wintertime and it was a big storm, great grandfather needed some Jim Reader
He needed to go to the bank and he banked some French gruel
And he was short of little cash to pay his employees, he hated to go because of the storm
Well this Mr. Martin came up and said Jim, I could loan you the money
If you would like it then you could go do the banking when the storm is over
It was quite a deed in those days to save some of your ride over the mountain down there to French gruel
They wondered how Mr. Martin had the money to help pay for the payroll
Of course at that time they didn't know it was Black Bart robbing the stages
One other time when Frank Reader, Jim Reader's son was a little boy, 10 or something like this
Black Bart took him out on the hill over the South Fork, overlooking Jones's Bar
He sat there for a long time and then a week or two later the stage was robbed
Over, probably Mooney Flat or up in Yuba County
That was another thing, they didn't put two and two together until later years after he was caught
Black Bart's MO was different than some of the other highway robberies occurring with stagecoaches in the time
He always was only on foot, he didn't ride a horse which was contrary to the expeditious mode of transportation
Most people that would maybe rob something would want to get away quickly but not in this case he would just disappear
He would also act by himself rather than with a gang of people and call to his friends in the woods that didn't really exist at all
and would maybe be sticks in the woods in order to make it appear that he had a gang and that he was more powerful than he really was
which was the more consistent way of doing these strong arm robberies
He only used a shotgun and there's some question as to whether or not it was even ever loaded, he never fired a shot
He covered his face with a flower sack and he sometimes would cover his boots as well
He would leave behind oftentimes a note or a poem and the sign at Black Bart and sometimes put a P08 at the end
which if you sounded out is Po8
So he had a slight sense of humor and maybe a desire to create a name for himself
He was a gentleman by all standards, he never robbed the driver, he never robbed any of the passengers
He would just go for the strong box and other items of value whether it was gold or jewelry but not on the passengers themselves
It does seem that he had some sort of sense of right and wrong in that Wells Fargo had wronged him so it was okay to wrong them back
because his intention versus other highway robberies would be any item of value regardless of the person who would be stolen
In comparison to today's world, his MO and his character is different than what we very often see today
Specifically, I think it's different than what was the common criminal even in the 1800s
He had a sense about him of not injuring others, of being kind of peaceful about how he went about business
but it was like business to him because of the way he carried out his crimes
He seemed to care about the people but he had justified the property as okay to steal
as something that he had disassociated that from his sense of right and wrong
In the gold industry, in around the gold rush, much like today it became corporate based
There was entities that were very good at what they did and the profits rose to the top where those individuals who led those companies
and those opportunities made the money and the individuals doing the work maybe made enough to get by but weren't getting rich
When in reality the fever around the whole thing was come west and get rich and that didn't work out so well for everybody
Mr. Martin was a ventriloquist and he just threw his voice and he entertained the children in that
Mr. Martin had to be friendly to entertain the kids, a lot of older people don't like to be bothered with the children
and the kids got a lot of joy and laughing about it and that's when he robbed those stages and they said he put sticks up in the rocks
He threw his voice around so he could holler up and tell the person you got your gun on him or something like that
and that helped him rob the stage by himself.

I haven't ever seen it in too many articles of Black Bart but it does put two and two together
Black Bart actually wanted to get caught when you look at his notes that he left and some statements at one point during one of the robberies
it was said that he made the comment of hurry up and send the hounds and something to the effect of it's difficult to be living in these woods like this
so he was kind of becoming impatient with the authorities trying to hunt him down
but at the same time I think he knew his alternative was a prison which is why when he finally was captured he admitted to robberies occurring before 1879
they suspect because he believed that he would not be held accountable due to statute of limitations which is actually incorrect
Harry Morris, law man and otherwise known as the bloodhound of the West, captured Black Bart, the poet highway man
Morris later went on to successfully establish his own private detective agency
Harry Morris knew that there was a fine line between a law man and a law breaker
to paraphrase it takes a crook to catch a crook and a lot of my associates when I was growing up we were on the fine edge too
I got hauled down to the local police station down back in the east coast and he sent me straight, took me home and told me don't do it again
he just knew the track he wanted to go on and he was willing to take chances
I just strongly identified with him, he did what was right at the time that was right
he did very innovative ways of catching the bad guys and letting the guys that weren't quite so bad kind of slide a little bit
my own experience, I had three kids, three boys and they were on the wrong side of the law and I kind of took them under my wing
and brought them back on the right side of the law and paid off in the long run
they saved one of their kids' life one time and his mom out of gratitude gave me 17 textbook cases
these are the bad guys, this is what they did, this is where they're going, this is the car they're driving
when she died one of the boys asked me how I'd mind having some of her ashes and bury them up in our place up in rough and ready
that was one heck of a reward, this goes back like 45 years
so Harry Morse and I, we had a lot in common and he's one of my heroes, he's right up there with John Wayne as far as I'm concerned
he came west when he was 14 or so, did a lot of things, he was in shipbuilding and accounting and butchering
got involved in law enforcement, he was a sheriff at one time over in Alameda County I think it was
made some really good connections there and figured out how things got done up in the upper echelons of our government
and I like Harry's style because he was creative and he was persistent
he didn't give up, he was like a bulldog, he got a hold of you and he wouldn't let you go
Harry Morse studied tracking, he one time tracked a guy I think it was something like 1,800 miles over 35, 40 days
Black Bart was captured through some very tenacious police work
the detectives assigned to the case ultimately tracked tens and tens and tens of businesses in San Francisco
laundry businesses trying to find a specific laundry mark that was on a handkerchief that was left behind
Harry Morse was quite an accomplished lawman in the old west, in particular Northern California
he was instrumental in getting some of the most well-known outlaws
he was able to track Juan Soto into the Los Angeles area and capture him
and he was also Black Bart's arch enemy
so it was only after Harry Morse had been working on the case to capture Black Bart for a long time
that he was able to find a lead and it was indeed Harry Morse who did find the handkerchief
with the markings from the laundry that Black Bart used and the track that laundry marking
to the particular laundry that Black Bart went to on a constant basis
but he finally found that laundry and the laundress identified that as her mark
and belonged to this gentleman investor, a big time speculator
Coincidentally at that very moment that she was describing him
here he comes in Black Bart to collect some of his laundry
Harry Morse he said, you know, you seem like a gentleman about time
and I'm looking at investing in some ranch land for raising cattle
could you come over to my office so we can discuss this a little bit further
and when he walked into his office, Harry Morse said, jigs up or something like that
and Black Bart said, well gentlemen, you got me
So Harry Morse was a very accomplished lawman
and it wasn't just those two that he tracked, not Juan Soto and Black Bart
but he tracked many, many criminals to their capture
and he would go after them again and again
After a while, Harry founded his own detective agency
and he was very successful with that
and I think his law enforcement and detective work spanned I think it was about 55 years
and that's pretty incredible
Baird Wooster worked for my Jim Reader at the Reader Ranch for a few years as a bookkeeper
When he left the Reader Ranch, he went to San Francisco and he worked at a big hotel
Baird was the one, Wooster was the one that when they arrested Black Bart
found to see that he was Mr. Martin that worked at the sawmill for Jim Reader
So then he wrote a letter back to the ranch at the Reader Ranch and told him
I went and saw Black Bart who the notorious bandit was
but no more than Mr. Martin worked for you at the ranch in the sawmill
Ultimately, you know, he served time in state prison
and then when he got out, he went back to the Reader Ranch here locally
and quickly asked to go see his old cabin
and maybe he gathered up some loot that he had stashed there from before
In the later years, when he came back from prison and came back up to the house
and asked to go back out there, it had been a real great if my grandfather was here
Of course they knew from the letter that this was Black Bart
but Frank Reader's sister couldn't keep him there
He said, I want to just go out to my cabin
She tried to keep him here until Frank showed up
but he didn't and up the road he went
They always thought maybe that's why I wanted to go back to that cabin out there
He might have had some loot stashed away there
and of course it'd be in gold in order to stay under the ground and that
and that's what I would tell you how I heard the story
Nobody really knew about the many years between the time he disappeared from Decatur, Illinois
until the time he was captured in San Francisco
How many robberies did he really commit?
Did he commit as many as he was charged with?
Did he commit other ones with a different MO that he was never charged with
or ones that we never knew about?
What happened during that time where he was quiet for five years?
Was he robbing stagecoaches somewhere else to get by?
There was rumor that Black Bart was back in business after he was let out of prison
and that piqued Terry Morris' interest again
and he started to look for Black Bart
He didn't realize it couldn't have possibly been Black Bart
He quit the search altogether and then went about his business
trying to find actual outlaws who were still employed
Josefa Maria Segovia Loiza
Referred to only as Juanita in court documents
He was executed by hanging for killing a man who was trying to assault her
Josefa's death highlights the challenges that Latina women faced in the late 19th century
Josefa Maria Segovia Loiza
Josefa Maria Segovia Loiza
That was not California when she came into the United States area
She came with her partner
We don't know whether or not she was married
but they were together
He was a gambler and they came up and they settled in the Downeyville
and their life was quite good there
She wasn't doing any particular career of herself
She was helping her husband
He was a gambler and she would assist him in whatever ways she needed to
Things were rather good for women generally
Of course, being in a mining camp, there were not many women
so she was a particular attraction
Josefa was known to be beautiful and vivacious and intelligent
and she was very small in stature
In describing her, they said, well, she was amply endowed
and of very strict proportion
but her temper was unbalanced
So this picture of her shows that she was a rather lively individual
She helped run a saloon that her boyfriend was also the bartender at
They spent a lot of time together and Juanita was very well known in the community
The fact that she was Hispanic wasn't anything that anybody called attention to
because there were a lot of Hispanics in the area
So she just was one of the many people in the Downeyville area
As the 1800s went along, it became more difficult for the Mexican women
to do what they needed to do, be who they needed to be, be themselves
and benefit from the advantages that the pioneer women had
This was a very sad time actually for the Mexicans
The Mexican-American war happened in 1848
and up to that time, things were pretty copacetic for the Mexicans and the pioneers
The pioneers were just beginning to come out
and there was a higher population of the Mexicans than the Americans at that time
and that seemed to be working
And then when the Mexican-American war was closed with the Treaty of Guadalupe, Guadalupe Hidalgo
things changed after that
For a little while, things were good
but then more and more pioneers moved out into the Golden Country
and the Mexican folks were less and less
They suffered from laws and regulations that the pioneers had put in
It was July 4th, 1851
and of course, California had just become a state the year before
and they were, all of the miners were celebrating and imbibing the drinks
and were crowsing in town
The entire town is celebrating the 4th of July
the independence of the United States
and they're celebrating with little flags and parties
and there was so much going on
there were barrels of alcohol that line the streets
so they wouldn't be glutting up the saloons
you could just take a beer stein or a cup or something
and just dip it into the barrel and just go about your business
so pretty much everybody in the Downeyville area were sloshed
One of the people that had a lot to drink that particular day was Fred Cannon
Fred Cannon was very well liked in Downeyville
He had a great laugh, he could tell incredible stories
If you had a great saloon, you'd want him to come over
because he attracted so many people to him
but he was also kind of a hound
and he was always trying to make a play for Juanita
and she would always spurn his intentions
and point to her boyfriend Jose
who was in charge of the bar
and it didn't really stop Fred from continuing to make a move on Juanita on a constant basis
July 4th flew from the day to the night
Fred Cannon is still wandering around drunk
and he accosts Juanita at her home
He comes banging on Juanita's door, calling her names
and she opens the door and flies out into the street and says
why don't you come into my home and call me those names
Well of course he's drunk and he falls into her half open door
and knocks it off its hinges
Now the hinges back then were not hinges, what we think
they were more of a leather kind of a brace
Nobody knows exactly what happened in there
but it's assumed that he tried to rape her
Well she fought him off, he left
but then he came back later on that night to apologize to her
and her husband at that time found out about it
and they were arguing
and she grabbed her bowie knife out of her blouse
and stabbed him in the heart and killed him instantly
and everybody starts to come around Fred
and they're just outraged that this man had been murdered
Well there was no law at that time in Downeyville
and the miners were very very angry
he was a very popular member of their group
so they decided they have a trial right now
and hangar, that was the thing you did
immediately the next day they conducted a trial
right there in the street
a lawman from San Francisco had come in to help save her
and argue on her behalf
and the miners were so angry they just chased him right out
They had this really quick trial for Juanita that took eight hours
It was the day after the trial
It was supposed to be everybody was considered equal
and everybody was entitled to a fair trial
but that was the least of what Juanita received was a fair trial
Her attorney even brought up the fact that she was pregnant
and that if they put her in jail
or they decided that she needed to be put to death
that they wouldn't just be killing her, they'd be killing her child
So what they did, they said, well, she's guilty
we're going to hang her
so they built a scaffolding over the Jersey Bridge
over Yuba River
Juanita though takes it like a trooper
she is led to the gallows
so she's going to go to the gallows
and she's going to go to the gallows
and she's going to go to the gallows
and she's going to go to the gallows
and she's going to go to the gallows
She is led to the gallows
and she doesn't even want the black hood put over her face
Well, she was very stoic
and she climbed up there
and she put the rope around her neck
and kind of adjusted her hair
and they asked her if she had anything to say
and she said, you know, if that happened to me again
I'd do the very same thing
and then she threw her hat to a friend
down in the group
and she said, audio seniors
and she leaped off
They take her body down
and they bury her in the same plot
that they have placed Fred Cannon
A very, very tragic and sad day for California
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Was Joaquin Marietta an evil desperado
or the Robin Hood of the West?
Joaquin was a model for the movie Zorro
and historians still today don't agree on his story
Was he a saint, a sinner, or somewhere in between?
The conflicting stories about Joaquin Marietta
were that he was either from Chile
where he is still a folk hero
or that he came from outside of Formicilio, Mexico
and was from a rural agrarian life
like many people then and now in Mexico
He came to California looking for gold
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He no doubt brought family with him
reportedly it was his wife and some in-laws
The story goes that he was robbed at least once of his gold
because he was Mexican
and then things got worse
in the more frightening version of things
He was beaten, left her dead
his brother murdered and his wife assaulted
and then killed
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He at that point in the story turned to banditry
starting off with horse theft, cattle theft
and working up to being a robber of camps
He hated the anglers for what they had done
and he would have his revenge
Well, if you're going to go into the theft in that era
horse theft was probably the easiest way to make enough money
to keep yourself in home and fed
It also, though, was a great way to make as much money as you wanted to
It would be a bit like car theft but without a license plate
What's more, these cars could actually breed on their own
So if you were able to get a sizeable herd
you didn't even need to do it anymore
I suspect that was his goal
Given the violent and very much mad house state
that the state of California was in
it is entirely possible that Joaquin Morrieta did
just what he thought was right to survive
and to help other people in similar situations
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He, at some point, grew to such notoriety
that he was one of the five or six Joaquins
that the governor of California put a bounty out on
We know that he was leader of a gang of men like him
We know that they were good at what they did
but not good enough
Henry Love tracked them down
and the Joaquin banditry stopped
He claimed to have killed him, but did he?
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There were stories right from the get-go
that Joaquin had a sister
that had seen the body and said,
No, that is not my brother
No, it's not me, Jermino
Other people were asking questions as well
and so the evidence was suppressed or destroyed
It is possible that Joaquin wasn't actually killed
but realized that it was time to stop doing what he's doing
and return to Mexico and lived a long and healthy life
One of my own four bearers was reported dead in Arizona
after he got done serving time for stagecoach robbery
They just believed him dead
because he didn't rob any more stagecoaches
He actually moved to Alaska
and became a law-abiding citizen there the rest of his life
It is for that reason that I would not be surprised
if Joaquin Morrieta did not actually die
and simply decided it was time to go home
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He was a folk legend to the poor Latinos of California
that desperately needed a hero
and is it any wonder that he became the basis for Zorro?
The proper creators of Zorro never hid
that they were inspired by the romanticized legends
as written down by one John Rollins Ridge
who lived in Grass Valley
Can you believe it?
The creator of all this lived in Grass Valley
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It's entirely possible that he was a Robin Hood
It is entirely possible
Was he one though?
Morality became very strange and gray
in the wild times of the wild west
There were men that were clearly bandits at some point in their life
that ended up becoming law enforcement
Law enforcement that went bandit
Morality did not have very clearly defined line in those times
California was a massive frat house
It had been morality at the time
It simply was
It was approximately 90-95% male
and the purchases and their values reflect
what that would look like
Whatever something needed to do to survive
was in some senses understandable
Joaquin Morrieta was just a product of that environment really
He came here not for banditry
Nobody came here looking to be a bandit
They came for the gold
And if he wasn't able to get that
he probably just did what he thought was right
and had situation been different
I strongly suspect he would have much rather
to have made his money with a gold pan
I think we have to try to be forgiving
of everybody that was in California for the gold rush
The combination of gold fever
and being deprived of venial companionship
might as well have driven most of these youths
and yes, most of them were in their late teens or 20s
It might as well have driven them all to madness
for the first, say, five to ten years of California's existence
We have to just try and be forgiving of them
and maybe of each other
I see no reason why people shouldn't enjoy
the wonderful story of Joaquin Morrieta
After all historians have but two records
that he even existed
Why not think of him as a folk hero?
When a lady came to Gold Country
looking for a husband
sometimes she got more or less
that she was worried for
Eleanor Berry was an educated woman
She did have a profession
She was a teacher
which was a very acceptable profession
for women in that era at that time
She was a teacher in Gilroy
at the school, headmaster
and after a while
when she was about 23
she wondered, am I going to be one of these old mates?
She started worrying about that
picked up a newspaper that was from San Francisco
and there were some personal ads in it
one asking for a male order bride
and it was penned by a gentleman
by the name of Louis Drabelbas
She responded, he responded back
They corresponded for probably three months
before they finally set a wedding date
Now of course this was back in the Gold Rush days
so you would know whether or not you wanted to marry this person
after two letters because it wasn't as though
you were going to be able to pass letters back and forth
over a period of years
so after two letters this is it
you had to know this is the person that you wanted to marry
and so she was just so excited
Eleanor was going to take a train from Gilroy to Colfax
got off the train in Colfax onto a stagecoach
headed to Grass Valley to meet up with her betrothed
On the way to Grass Valley
some bandits approached
and ordered everyone out of the stagecoach
and announced that they were going to blow it up
to get the gold that they knew was in a trunk in the back
They have flower sacks over their heads
and flower sacks on their feet
so no one can track them down
and they hold up, they rob everybody
she's very upset about this and just pleads with them
Eleanor in a tirade said
please, please, before you blow it up
my trousseau is in a trunk in the back of the stagecoach
please get it down
The head bandit said he would
he got up to the back of the stage
took her trunk down
and as he was taking it down
Eleanor happened to notice a large scar
in the back of his hand
Everyone got out of the stagecoach
they waited
the bandits blew up the stagecoach
grabbed the gold
and they were off
The stage continued to Grass Valley
and Eleanor found the home where her intended
had been the renting space
and she went there
The landlady welcomed her in
told her, this is your room
please be comfortable, have a bath
we'll get you ready for your wedding
The next day
was supposed to be the wedding
It was wedding day
Louis Trebelbus did return home
they had a witness and they had a minister
and they had the marriage certificate
ready in the parlor
She's very excited to go down the aisle
and she does so
she gets dressed and walks down the aisle
and as she's standing at the front of the altar
looking into the man's face
that she's going to marry
and they start exchanging vows
it occurs to her
something about this guy's voice
sounds very familiar
what is it?
He was a bit older
and she thought not quite as handsome
and probably wasn't quite as wealthy
as he had said he was either
but they went ahead with the nuptials
and after the wedding
they pulled her
and Louis aside
they were to sign
their certificate of marriage
she noticed that his hand
the back of his hand
had a large scar
the same scar
that the bandit
who had robbed the stagecoach had
she immediately said
I refuse to be married to this man
remove this signature
from the certificate
and she immediately packed her bags
and returned home to Gilroy
so after the failed marriage
Eleanor returned to Gilroy
a distraught woman
not knowing what her life would hold now
ends up in San Francisco
where she does try to commit suicide
unfortunately the landlady of the house
came in to check on her the next morning
and called the doctor
and they were able to revive her
they give her a mustard solution
I guess she was trying to take some arsenic
she does
get rid of everything in her system
with this mustard configuration
though we really don't know
after that
what was Eleanor's life like
she had been ruined
and on top of that
newspapers in San Francisco
had heard about her story
had heard about the stagecoach
the failed marriage
the returning home
the attempt to take her life
it was perfect food
for a true tales story
and it was published
in the San Francisco newspapers
continuing to humiliate poor Eleanor Berry
what happened to her from then on
nobody really knows
and here she is now in San Francisco
this woman again who is looking for love
we don't know whether or not she found it
we sure don't know what happened
with the man that she was going to be married
Harriet Sims
a madam
in Nevada City, California
well she was accused and she was tried
for the murder of a man found naked in Deer Creek
that was down the trail from her saloon
she was acquitted
based on some rather curious
circumstantial evidence
Harriet Sims was a well known
soil dove in the Nevada City area
where she came from
it's not really clear
most prostitutes at that particular time period
they would travel from place to place
they would change their names
most soiled doves
I mean that was something that they did
from a very early age
Harriet Sims was in her 40s
when she was working in the Nevada City area
as a owner of a house of ill repute
there's nothing unseemly about women
working at a dry goods store
but they didn't have a lot of options
when it came to employment
a few women that came to California in those first few years
generally did come with a husband
or a brother on occasion
and yes there were jobs like that
that were considered to be reputable
unfortunately they're single
most women's options were very limited
a lot of the women that came west
they came west with their husbands
or their brothers
or their fathers
and a lot of the times
those family members would die
in route west
and so they would get out to the gold country
and they would be left either widows
or orphans
and then what they had to do
to make a living they were very limited
if they were on their own
and they had to make a decent living
probably the best way
to earn a living was to be a prostitute
they could either be laundresses
that would follow mining camps
they could run boarding houses
if they were so lucky
some of them were teachers
but that was only a three month job
and so you'd have to figure out something else
to do to supplement your income
so many of them came out here
and they ended up working at Housesville Repute
some of them created
or became very well known women
who ran businesses
they learned a lot when they were here
and they established businesses for themselves
and were very wealthy people in their community
and did a lot of beneficial things
Soiled Doves had a lot more rights
than any other women
if you were a Soiled Dove
you could own a house of a repute
you could own property
you could vote in local elections
any other women couldn't do that
because they didn't have the rights
to do so at that point
so I suppose that it was smart business
all the way around
because there was a certain amount of independence
that women like Harriet Sims had
For a woman to leave the East Coast
and come out here blindly
not knowing what the world is going to be like
in these mining camps
took a lot of intestinal fortitude
a lot of guts
I'm not surprised that those women
some of them created some
really amazing lives for themselves
and maybe they began as prostitutes
and evolved into business owners
and successful wives and mothers
Harriet Sims was definitely a business woman
I mean she not only owned this brothel
and saloon that overlooked Deer Creek
right on Broad Street
overlooked Deer Creek
I mean prime real estate
not only did she own that
but she also co-owned the dance hall
across the street
and so between her house of a repute
and the saloon
and the dance hall across the way
I mean she probably was making a great deal of money
The Gold Rush men were frequently very lonely
for female companionship
I have heard one tale of a man
that traveled the entire day to see a woman
and that is not a euphemism
he quite literally traveled
an entire day from where he was living and working
to a neighboring community
where he had heard there was a woman
and when he arrived
he proceeded to sit where he could
and stare at the woman
and see the woman
and proceeded to sit where he could
and stare at her
as she went about her daily activities
for the rest of the day
she was just doing normal day to day things
he simply wanted to see a woman
and it had been so long
he was willing to do that
Harriet Sims was a very smart woman
and she knew exactly how to expand her business
I mean she was smart
and being able to figure out
what it is that the miners most wanted
and they were lonely
they wanted to spend time
not only with her
but some of the other women
that she had working within her home
they also liked to dance
I mean outside of the saloons
if they were in the mining camps
all they could do was dance with one another
and to be able to determine
who was going to be playing the part of the woman
and who was going to be playing the part of the men
the miners would wrap
her chips around their arms
to be able to determine who was doing what
so she really did tap into
what it was that the miners were lacking
she had many people
that would come visit her on a regular basis
and in addition to having some of the women
that worked for her
she had this bartender
who was a big bruiser of a guy
who was also kind of like the bouncer
so if somebody came in
and was causing trouble
or wouldn't leave
he would make sure that they were quickly dispatched
so Harriet really counted
on this particular gentleman an awful lot
if there were people
that she didn't really care for
she would make sure that they were taking care of
as well by her bouncer
now one of the men that she did like an awful lot
who visited her quite regularly
was a gentleman by the name of Pat Berry
now Pat Berry had a claim
across Deer Creek on Gold Run
and he would often come to visit
Harriet and sometimes spend the night with her
and he enjoyed Harriet's company
now he would get back and forth across Deer Creek
using a tree
that the limbs had been cut off on
and they had laid the tree over the creek
the bridge that they did have was washed away
so the miners constructed this little makeshift bridge
so that's exactly what Pat Berry did
he would cross back and forth on this tree
along with the other miners
Pat was very excited one day
when he had found this incredible find
and he went into town to cash in his gold
and he bought himself a brand new suit
got himself a wonderful steak dinner
and then went over to spend the evening with Harriet
now him going into Harriet's place
was the last time anybody saw Pat Berry alive
I mean it was days and days before anybody even saw Pat Berry
and when they did find him
he was completely naked in the eddy of Deer Creek
and he had this discolored kind of goose egg on his head
the authorities that came in
they determined that that particular injury
took place while he was still alive
they immediately backtracked where he was
found out the last place he was was at Harriet's
went in and looked around and they saw this
this weight that Harriet had on her counter
which I'm sure was to if she was getting paid in gold
wanted to make sure that that gold was actually correct
they determined that he had been hit in the head
with this weight and then his body dumped in Deer Creek
they rested not only Harriet but also her bodyguard
bartender there and they put her in jail
now Harriet is sobbing and weeping
and saying you know I didn't have anything to do with this
I didn't kill him I enjoyed his company
there isn't any way that I would have done this
prosecution had made what they thought was a very very good case against her
while she's in jail awaiting trial
another minor is found completely naked
and he too has this abrasion on his head
that they determined was made while he was still alive
so they start looking around
well they know now that it's the same injury
that poor Pat Barry had encountered
so they now know that it wasn't Harriet
they start trying to figure out what has happened
and generally the men that were crossing back
over this bridge which was just this tree that had been fell
as they had fallen off this particular log
they'd hit themselves on a rock below
and that's what caused them to not regain consciousness
and then drown
the current was so swift
that it would twist them around and take their clothes
and after a few days of being twisted around
and turned and in this eddy
they were completely naked
so that's how they determined all of it was took place
and poor Harriet, Madam Harriet or old Harriet as everyone called her
was released then afterwards
now whether or not she went back into business I don't know
I would venture to say that she probably did
but she was probably a lot more careful at that point
Rattlesnake Dick had many other names
more than a few highwaymen claimed to be him
his true identity was really never known
it's known that he came from Canada
to try his hand out prospecting
and was unjustly accused of stealing a mule
he embarked on a life of crime stating
since I have the name, hell, I might as well have the game too
Rattlesnake Dick coming in from Canada as a young man
coming into the US and migrating his way down to California
has the whole entire outlaw persona to him
by having that outlaw persona meaning he's going out
and he's garnering funds that he did not justly earn
he didn't work for them
he was never really caught
Rattlesnake Dick was out in our area
and traveling all throughout Nevada County Plaster County all around
and he was able to lewd the lawmen
Rattlesnake Dick, like a lot of folks in the area
get their name from something that they're known for doing
and my understanding is Rattlesnake Dick
received his name from working at Rattlesnake Bar
Plaster Mining there at Rattlesnake Bar
I think Rattlesnake Dick was definitely very proud
of who he was in his profession that he chose for himself
he wanted to be that outlaw
he mentioned how much he enjoyed that aspect of it
he might as well be that guy
he didn't start out to be an outlaw
he was a minor
but because something went missing
and ended up in his tent
which he had nothing to do and he was framed for it
and then also he was accused of stealing some horses
fortunately for him he was not the thief of the horses at that time
and later he was also accused of stealing some mules
he did not steal the mules however he did end up going to prison
for those mules and a few years later he was released from prison
then he was a marked man
and no one would let him alone
they all thought that he was this criminal
and he couldn't live a life of the law-abiding citizen
so he said if I can't live this life as a law-abiding citizen
I'm going to do what everybody thinks that I have done
and I'm going to embark on a life of crime
we think we have it rough today
we look back at what the Gold Rush era had
the outlaws, the lawlessness
people were stealing from them
you had stories that we hear of Wells Fargo
taking from Black Bart to his gold mining area
his gold panning area
redirecting water
he stole from me so I'm going to steal back from you
almost an eye for an eye type attitude
and really that's where I think a lot of the lawlessness
came from during that period of time of the Gold Rush
is that whole outlaw atmosphere
Rattlesnake Dick was that outlaw
and during an outlaw time
he had some backing from possibly some of his friends
to really help him out
help him strategically place himself toward
he could always outrun the folks coming after him
the law at that time
and when I say law
for me it seems somewhat loose
making up on the fly
whatever that person who held that badge felt
whatever they felt to make happen
that certainly wasn't what he wanted to do
he tried endlessly to get people to believe
that he was not a criminal
that he was a good guy
but no one would believe him
and he finally succumbed to the dangers of being a criminal
he would often taunt the law enforcement agents
in the area by placing advertisements in the newspaper
saying you can't catch me
a lot of these guys
it sounds like with Jesse James and others
they were working with the media
so that they could really tell their story
or get people behind them
again going back to Black Barton Wells Fargo
a lot of folks were kind of against that aspect
of the big corporation trying to take over
one of the stories that I've heard
the money that Rattlesnake Dick had stolen
the $80,000 at that time
was stolen from Empire Mine
during that period
not really exactly sure how the dollars got divvied up
but the $40,000 that was buried
his clan that helped him with that theft
or helped him move that money
they didn't realize that there was that much money
they only knew about half of the money
they didn't realize the other half
the other $40,000 that he had buried
like any good story
there's a lot of variations within that good story
some of the variations for Rattlesnake Dick
that he had folks running with him
and helping him conspire
other folks that
say that he acted alone
or even after the fact that he was hung
and taken away somehow
he wrestled with his morals quite a bit
so I think indeed he did kill himself
I think he shot himself
and I think he shot himself in a place
nobody would ever be able to find him
and so I think he wanted to perpetuate his legend
but then other folks talking about
how he was able to escape
and go on and live his life
however he chose to live
so like with any good story
it's just a mysterious end
the best part to the end of the Rattlesnake Dick story
is the fact that there is still gold out there
when he and his accomplices
had taken the gold of $80,000 at that time
which is my understanding
upwards of $4 million today
that they got away with half of that gold
half was seized
the other half is buried somewhere
at the base of the mountains
so a lot of folks have been out here
and up and down this year
is looking for that gold for many years
there's a few million dollars out there
for some lucky soul
In 1896, Nevada County Sheriff David Douglas
was on the trail of highwaymen C.

Myers
he tracked the suspect to a wooded location
just above Nevada City, California
the sheriff was subsequently killed
by an accomplice of the man
who was hidden in the forest
it remained a mystery
until a confession 61 years later
David Douglas was a sheriff of Nevada County
in the late 1800s
he was elected at a young age in his 30s
he began investigating in 1896
reports of highway robbery
I think Sheriff Douglas
was a real credit to this community
because he knew that there were people
out there committing robberies
using a firearm
and he chose to go out
and attempt to capture
the people who were committing these crimes
he went by himself
he had deputies with the department
but the sheriff went and shows his initiative
and trying to just keep his community safe
because he was truly a member of the community
he was a native California
and had been elected as the new sheriff
and he was following up
on a number of robberies that had occurred
north of Nevada City
someone was robbing coaches
and getting somewhere in the neighborhood
of 30 to maybe 60 dollars
per robbery
which in today's dollars
it's like a month's wages back then
it was a decent amount of money
but it wasn't anything incredibly significant
but nonetheless it became pretty prevalent
and there was a large effort
made to try and track down the person responsible
so the robberies didn't end
they kept going and the sheriff knew
he had to do something about finding
the people responsible for these robberies
so getting some information
and doing a lot of checking around
and telling people to keep their eyes open
for a potential suspect
Sheriff Douglas made his way out
to Sugarloaf Mountain
as he tied up the horse
followed the footprints
and here was a large opening
in the brush
as he went through there
a man is standing there
with a rifle
and started to make the move
towards the sheriff in a threatening manner
so the sheriff drew his 44
and promptly shot the man several times
but the sheriff was also shot and killed
the deputy sheriff
looked for the sheriff
and found him the next day
with Mr. C.

Myers
who had been an employee at one of the mines
in the local area
and the sheriff
who was married, had a child
had other family members here in the area
was also found dead
they theorized that another person was involved
because somebody had gone through the pockets
of both of these men
and the coat of Mr. C.

Myers
had been folded and put underneath his head
so they felt there was another person involved
a young man in his early teens
was questioned by authorities down in Marysville
and there was just not enough to hold the young man
so they let him go
the sheriff was buried
and is in the Nevada City Cemetery
this case was cold
it had been cold for a long time
until an attorney in 1961
contacted then sheriff Wayne Brown
and said I have a man who has a story to tell you
and it was apparently the ex-son-in-law
who had become a little disgruntled at his father-in-law
and passed on the story about the father-in-law
having been involved in the shooting
here in Nevada City many years prior
through the investigation
they determined it was probably the man
who had actually shot the sheriff
rather than Mr. C.

Myers
but there was just not enough evidence
there was not enough to bring this man to trial
but they really considered the case closed
because of what they had seen
this has been a very interesting case
and I got involved in this
as a very young deputy sheriff
in driving around the Nevada City area
and I found the marker by the Nevada City airport
that indicates where this shooting occurred
and that marker is still there to this day
the young man that was involved in this
obviously scared to death
because he's a teenager
and been involved in the shooting
well after he's interviewed by the officials in Marysville
he just kind of disappears for a while
well his son-in-law in the 60s
when he's telling Sheriff Wayne Brown
and the District Attorney about what has actually happened
related that the man had moved away
had actually married
had children
and became an insurance agent
that he took his life
and what happened and turned it around
and kept that secret with him for 60 years
before it was actually
given to the authorities
the sheriff was the chief law enforcement officer
of the community
and he did everything he could to keep the community in line
but times were hard
people didn't have the money
and so what's the easiest way to get some money
take it from someone else
it's still the situation that goes on today
a hundred years ago
stepping into a thicket and potentially being
shot by a Winchester rifle
could happen today
and is unfortunately probably more prevalent today
and so our officers are always walking this fine line of
public perception, transparency with the public
use of force
getting our suspect
and keeping the community safe
and so having that really strong relationship
with the community so that we can get those leads
and get the information
which is sort of what happened
60 years after Sheriff Douglas's death
somebody came forward and contacted the sheriff's office
because they felt that they could
and that's what we hope
is the environment that we're fostering
when we're working with the community
the situation here in Nevada County
changed greatly
but it also hasn't
there's still very rural areas of this community
that the current deputy sheriffs go out on
and their closest assistants
may be 30, 40 minutes away
so they're actually out there by themselves
so the law enforcement officers
back then and now used the best weapon that they had
their mouth
they talked to people
because they didn't have the help
in the area that other agencies have now
so being a good talker
actually saved officers' lives
that has not changed
in 150 years
What motivates us?
Necessity or greed?
You see, accepted history
is often judged and written by the heroes
not by the villains
maybe deciding for ourselves
what is right, what choices can be made
and what serves the common good
is the best use of our stories
Good, but it gave up too soon
too busy I guess
I know that Black Bart's still out here somewhere
and I'm gonna get him
Hello?
I'm working still
Okay, you have about an hour?
One percent or two?
Okay, love you too
Bye
Off the SPD on the way home
how do those kids drink a gallon a day?
Hear up my brother
giving us sunshine
He'll understand it
all by and by
Drink it and drive it
all in one
Why is your fever
falling off?
Why are there others
giving us
never all this
is going on?
Oh
How will I wonder
why I was dirty
Oh, where are those
so runnin' and see
why there are others
giving us comfort
why with the laws
not at the table at sea?
Oh
When we see Jesus
coming in for him
When he comes from him
fall in the sun
When we shall meet him
He'll understand it
all by and by
Wander along with
no one around him
Wander along with
Wander along with
Wander along with
Wander along with
Wander along with
Wander along with
Wander along with
Wander along with
Wander along with
Wander along with
Wander along with
Wander along with