Born in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, on October 18, 1825, he was the fourth of eight children of a prominent physician, Educated in the common schools of Greencastle, Boggs's brothers excelled in the classics and theology, and two of them became distinguished ministers of the Gospel. But young John was restless and adventuresome by nature, and school held little attraction for him. At age twenty he was appointed manager of an ironworks in Cumberland County, but when news of the California gold discovery reached the East Coast in December, 1848, Boggs saw his chance for the adventure of a lifetime. With a gift of $1,000 from his mother in his purse, he boarded the California-bound ship Xylon, Captain Brown, proved to be rough and overbearing, treating the passengers inhumanely and putting them on short rations of water. Boggs and two others were elected as a committee to deal with Brown, and they succeeded in persuading him to dock at Rio de Janeiro to take on water. When the ship landed, most of the passengers complained to the U.S. consul of Brown's conduct, and he and his mate were sent home in disgrace.
"If J. Boggs is dead, I am satisfied." These few words, scrawled in pencil on a scrap of paper found clutched in the lifeless hand of Rattlesnake Dick, the notorious "Pirate of the Placers," speak volumes of the abject fear in which the road agents, mankillers, and sluice robbers of the mother lode held Placer County's once legendary constable and sheriff. From his shootout with Tom Bell's gang in 1856 to his capture of the men who perpetrated California's first train holdup in 1881, John Craig Boggs was the nemesis of some of the worst outlaws of the Old West. "Whole volumes might be written of the hairbreadth escapes and bloody fights in which Sheriff Boggs has figured," wrote one pioneer historian, adding, "Boggs seemed to bear a charmed life, for he fought these men wherever he found them, and always escaped without injury, although others were shot down besides him."
In the 1860 census he is living in Auburn, with his wife and a daughter Isabella age 1.
"If J. Boggs is dead, I am satisfied." These few words, scrawled in pencil on a scrap of paper found clutched in the lifeless hand of Rattlesnake Dick, the notorious "Pirate of the Placers," speak volumes of the abject fear in which the road agents, mankillers, and sluice robbers of the mother lode held Placer County's once legendary constable and sheriff. From his shootout with Tom Bell's gang in 1856 to his capture of the men who perpetrated California's first train holdup in 1881, John Craig Boggs was the nemesis of some of the worst outlaws of the Old West. "Whole volumes might be written of the hairbreadth escapes and bloody fights in which Sheriff Boggs has figured," wrote one pioneer historian, adding, "Boggs seemed to bear a charmed life, for he fought these men wherever he found them, and always escaped without injury, although others were shot down besides him."
In the 1860 census he is living in Auburn, with his wife and a daughter Isabella age 1.
Born in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, on October 18, 1825, he was the fourth of eight children of a prominent physician, Educated in the common schools of Greencastle, Boggs's brothers excelled in the classics and theology, and two of them became distinguished ministers of the Gospel. But young John was restless and adventuresome by nature, and school held little attraction for him. At age twenty he was appointed manager of an ironworks in Cumberland County, but when news of the California gold discovery reached the East Coast in December, 1848, Boggs saw his chance for the adventure of a lifetime. With a gift of $1,000 from his mother in his purse, he boarded the California-bound ship Xylon, Captain Brown, proved to be rough and overbearing, treating the passengers inhumanely and putting them on short rations of water. Boggs and two others were elected as a committee to deal with Brown, and they succeeded in persuading him to dock at Rio de Janeiro to take on water. When the ship landed, most of the passengers complained to the U.S. consul of Brown's conduct, and he and his mate were sent home in disgrace.
"If J. Boggs is dead, I am satisfied." These few words, scrawled in pencil on a scrap of paper found clutched in the lifeless hand of Rattlesnake Dick, the notorious "Pirate of the Placers," speak volumes of the abject fear in which the road agents, mankillers, and sluice robbers of the mother lode held Placer County's once legendary constable and sheriff. From his shootout with Tom Bell's gang in 1856 to his capture of the men who perpetrated California's first train holdup in 1881, John Craig Boggs was the nemesis of some of the worst outlaws of the Old West. "Whole volumes might be written of the hairbreadth escapes and bloody fights in which Sheriff Boggs has figured," wrote one pioneer historian, adding, "Boggs seemed to bear a charmed life, for he fought these men wherever he found them, and always escaped without injury, although others were shot down besides him."
In the 1860 census he is living in Auburn, with his wife and a daughter Isabella age 1.
"If J. Boggs is dead, I am satisfied." These few words, scrawled in pencil on a scrap of paper found clutched in the lifeless hand of Rattlesnake Dick, the notorious "Pirate of the Placers," speak volumes of the abject fear in which the road agents, mankillers, and sluice robbers of the mother lode held Placer County's once legendary constable and sheriff. From his shootout with Tom Bell's gang in 1856 to his capture of the men who perpetrated California's first train holdup in 1881, John Craig Boggs was the nemesis of some of the worst outlaws of the Old West. "Whole volumes might be written of the hairbreadth escapes and bloody fights in which Sheriff Boggs has figured," wrote one pioneer historian, adding, "Boggs seemed to bear a charmed life, for he fought these men wherever he found them, and always escaped without injury, although others were shot down besides him."
In the 1860 census he is living in Auburn, with his wife and a daughter Isabella age 1.
Inscription
John Craig Boggs
Died May 28, 1909
Aged 83 years, 7 Months, 10 Days
A Native of Greencastle, Penn.
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