John and Charles Ruggles were the sons of a respected family living in Tulare County, located in south/central California. Charles, the younger of the two, had gone to college, and his father had every reason to believe that young Charles would succeed in life.
John is a different matter, as he has been a troubled child since childhood. When he was quite young, he was imprisoned for robbery.
Charles could have gone straight and narrow except for the unfortunate timing of graduating from college at the same time his brother John was released from prison. Charles had no trouble with the law at the time of graduation, but his older brother began to drag his brother into a life of crime. John convinces Charles that they can make some easy money by robbing a stagecoach.
The Redding Stage Robbery
In May 1892, the Redding & Weaverville Stage was moving to Redding along Middle Creek Road. The driver was a man named John Boyce, and his only passenger, George Suhr, was riding shotgun with him. Another armed man rode into the stage.
Charles and John Ruggles were lying in wait at the point where the stage had to negotiate a hairpin bend in the road. As the coach slowed, Charles Ruggles stepped out of their hiding place and pointed a shotgun at Boyce, ordered him to stop and threw away the sturdy box, carrying gold coins worth 5,000 USD down to him. Boyce did not resist and immediately threw the box down.
Montgomery fired from inside the car, and fired one shot into Charles’s face and chest. Before falling, Charles opened fire, injuring both Suhr and Boyce in the legs. John, who was still hiding in the tree, shot at the coach and wounded Montgomery. Frightened by the sound of gunfire, the horses ran wildly after the carriage.
A short time later, John was arrested and taken to Redding prison, where he found his brother, alive and recovering. It’s been six weeks since the robbery.
Hoping to save himself, John lied and said that Montgomery, the stage guard, was in league with them. He showed authorities where they could find the sturdy box along Middle Creek, not far from where the robbery occurred.
Vigilant justice in Redding
As the Ruggles brothers sit in prison awaiting their fate, the townspeople wish for speedy justice. A crowd of locals came to the prison to demand justice for their dead friends.
Although the warden tried his best to hold off the crowd of 40 people, he could not hold them off for long. The vigilantes blew up the safe, took the prison keys, and took Charles and John out of their cells.
John Ruggles offered the location of the gold to the angry mob in exchange for their lives, but the mob wasn’t having it. They hung the brothers from a tree in town and left them swinging for three days – a warning to potential thieves not to try such foolish things.
Location of lost gold coins
As far as we know, no one has determined the amount of gold stolen by the Ruggles brothers. Many treasure hunters have tried to find it with metal detectors, but to date there have been no claims that it has been found.
Most believe it may be located somewhere near the original robbery along the stage road behind Middle Creek. It is possible that John Ruggles moved the coins between the time of the robbery and the time of his arrest, but did he?
Gold coins worth $5,000 would have considerable weight. It seemed like he didn’t want to move it a long distance. There was also the risk of being seen… I suspect he hid the treasure a relatively short distance from Middle Creek.
