On the Trail of Rattlesnake Dick

Bad Company: The Story of California's Legendary and Actual Stage-Robbers, Bandits, Highwaymen and O

Joseph Henry Jackson

I had to go up to NorCal for a bit with my friend Vince Devlahovich to look at some GIS software and such (they're using it to great effect at American River College) and of course, that kind of thing just seems to lead to winery tours and ghost towns.

And there was sort of a nice synchronicity about the whole thing because I'd been reading "Bad Company" by Joseph Henry Jackson. Now I was always under the impression that Rattlesnake Dick, notorious outlaw with a name that would cause any 5th grader in the world to fall out laughing hysterically (if it was translated correctly), ranked among "America's Dumbest Criminals" of the 1850s. Not so, says Jackson, who puts it down to misunderstandings and incompetent henchmen, and an admittedly poor set of team coordination skills.

So today I'm off to Auburn to find the grave of Rattlesnake Dick, and if, by some chance, I need to escape the rain in the alehouse, well than so be it. 

Comments

[eva m salgado]

[this is good] hello, iam a part of the gov. juan b. alvarado family side of his mistress raymona.Have you done a piece on him? thank you.