Richard H. Barter (1833 – July 11, 1859), known as "Rattlesnake Dick", was born in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

, Canada. Around 1850, he came to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and tried his luck at mining. Turning

outlaw An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so that anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill th ...

during the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California f ...

, he joined a gang that was known for

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are dra ...

robbery from 1855 to 1856.

Background

One gang Zach Shapiro was involved with, consisting of Big Dolph Newton, Bill Carter, Romera (or Romero) Carter, an unidentified Mexican, and brothers

Cyrus Cyrus (Persian: کوروش) is a male given name. It is the given name of a number of Persian kings. Most notably it refers to Cyrus the Great ( BC). Cyrus is also the name of Cyrus I of Anshan ( BC), King of Persia and the grandfather of Cyrus ...

and George Skinner, successfully stole $80,000 of gold bullion in 1856. The theft went wrong when Cyrus and Barter missed the rendezvous having been captured with the stolen mules intended for the getaway. George buried half the money in the Trinities; the other half was turned over to the law by Carter, but George, having been killed in the capture, never revealed the location of the other $40,000 in gold, which presumably remains hidden. Barter and Cyrus Skinner, unlike their team who were jailed or killed, escaped then and again in Auburn, California. After Barter formed a new gang in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

, the

Vigilantes Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a person who ...

expelled him. On July 11, 1859, Barter and a companion were met in

Placer County, California Placer County ( ; Spanish for "sand deposit"), officially the County of Placer, is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 404,739. The county seat is Auburn. Placer County is included in the G ...

by undersheriff George C. Johnston, deputy sheriff W. M. Crutcher, and deputy tax collector George W. Martin. Martin was killed, and Barter was injured but escaped. His body was found the next day outside Auburn with two bullets in the chest and a third in his brain. The identity of the person to finally kill Barter remains unknown.Ralph Moody, ''Wells Fargo'', U. of Nebraska Press (2005)
reprint edition of original printed by Houghton Mifflin (1961), pp. 76-96

References

1833 births 1859 deaths Criminals from California Criminals from Quebec Fugitives Gunslingers of the American Old West Outlaws of the American Old West People of the California Gold Rush Pre-Confederation Canadian emigrants to the United States Unsolved deaths in the United States {{OldWest-bio-stub

Background

See also

Further reading

References