Highwaymen of the Valley; The "Outlaw Doc"

The two most feared and well known of highwaymen, that often made their way through the Yuba Sutter area, were Joaquin Murietta and Tom Bell. They were often compared in newspapers and books alike.

Dr. Thomas J. Hodges, or more infamously known as Tom Bell, on the other hand was a character that some say could only be match to that of Murietta. Many knew him as "Outlaw Doc" as he was an intelligent man, with a medical degree. He was part of the Mexican- American war and worked as a surgeon. There he had his nose broken nearly flat, which made him very recognizable and unique.

He traveled to California after the war to become a prospector, but didn't have any luck. He tried his hand as a doctor, and according to testimony made by fellow outlaw Juan Fernandez, he even owned a restaurant in Marysville, Ca for about 9 months. He struggled to make ends meet. This forced his hand into a life of crime which would give him a name in history pages, forever. In 1855 he served time on Angel Island Prison for robbery of 12 mules. He met Bill Gristly there, and from there they formed a gang of 5 men and began a career of stage coach robbery. 

Tom Bell and gang got into a gun exchange with well known Marysville citizen, N.D. Rideout, banker, and namesake of Rideout Hospital.

Tom Bell

The following was not written by myself, but is an excerpt from: 

"History of Yuba and Sutter Counties California with Biographical Sketches OF The Leading Men and Women of the Counties Who Have Been Identified with Their Growth and Development from the Early Days to the Present"

History by-   Peter J Delay

"Tom Bell and his gang of robbers were suspected of the holdup. Bell, a noted highwayman of that day, was killed near Auburn in Placer County in 1856. In stature nearly six feet, he was well proportioned, combining in his frame strength with action. He was of a sanguine temperament, quick in his motions, being never at rest. He had sandy hair and a full crop of it, and a light goatee to match his hair in color. His nose, which was origin- ally well formed and large, was mashed in the bridge, almost level with his face. This defect rendered his countenance, which was otherwise pre- possessing, somewhat repulsive, and even hideous when viewed in connection with his lawless practices. His eyes were a very light blue, of that class which approximates so nearly to a grey, and in their restless wanderings were constantly sparkling with intelligence..

Bell was a native of Alabama. He had received a medical education, and, it is said, practiced that profession when he first came to California, in 1850. He first took to mining, and being unlucky at that, his next step was gambling. When that ceased to pay, he took to the road, and was engaged as a robber for about two years, in which time he acquired a fame for boldness and success in this section second only to Joaquin Murietta's.

At the outset, it is said, he generally traveled alone, and, for his better security, wore a coat of armor under his clothes. He never shed the blood of his victim unless it became absolutely necessary to enforce a compliance with his demands. It was known that he had associated with him several persons scarcely less noted than himself, one of whom, an escaped convict named Bill Gristy, alias Bill White, when the band was broken in upon by a detachment of the Sacramento and Marysville police, was the only one who escaped. Gristy was cruel, cunning and blood-thirsty. This scoundrel was in Bell's band for three months.

The band was supposed to number from six to eight, and they ranged the country along the foothills from the Yuba to Granite City. Their depredations were mainly confined to the several roads crossing in the neighborhood between Granite and Gold Hill, in Placer County. The country was rough, broken and covered with an impenetrable chaparral, in the recesses of which "an army with banners" might securely hide. Their outrages in this favorite field followed each other in such rapid succession that scarcely a day passed during the summer of 1856 without furnishing a newspaper story from the calendar of their exploits, but in no instance did they shed blood. 

The plan of the chief was to frighten the traveler to terms, and avoid the cruelty of murder. On one occasion, Bell and Gristy, with one other, made an attack upon a man who was traveling from Downieville to Marysville with a large sum of money in his possession. The traveler resisted, fired upon his assailants, and finally fled from them toward a deep canyon in which, if he could reach it, he knew he was safe from pursuit on horseback. Just as he was about to reach his goal, Gristy fired with a navy revolver and shot him in the thigh, knocking him down. The robbers relieved him of his money; but instead of dispatching him, or leaving him to die from the hemorrhage of his wound, "Doctor" Bell kindly and expertly took up the severed artery, bound up the wound, and just at that moment hearing a wagon pass, turned to one of his subordinates and ordered him to attend to the teamster. The wagon was stopped, the driver relieved of his cash, the wounded man placed upon a mattress, hastily made in the bottom of the wagon, and the parties dismissed, with the injunction to "drive slow and pick their road." The wounded man requested Bell to tie his (the traveler's) horse behind the wagon. Bell refused, but assured him that he should have his horse, as he seemed attached to him, and that he would turn him loose in the woods, after stripping off his bridle and saddle, which promise he faithfully kept."

Calaveras County Undersheriff, David Mulford was said to be a dead ringer for Tom Bell.

Gun Exchange with N.D. Rideout

Aug. 11, 1856-

N.D. Rideout departs from Camptonville, Ca to Marysville with a strongbox filled with $100,000 in gold and a coach full of passengers. The ride was protected by an armed guard named Dodson from Langton's Express. Rideout rode his horse out way from the front of the coach, as a precaution to watch for anyone wishing to rob the coach. Using a little used fork in the road, Rideout's party was met by tree masked men. His pockets were picked clean and his horse was taken. He immediately ran back to his party, only to show up just in time for the men to have already started gunfire upon his coach party.

Norman Dunning Rideout 

Tom Bell and his accomplices ambushed the coach. The three has turned to six. A gunfight ensued and Dodson was able to pick off one of Bell's men, unhorsing him. It's said as many as 40 shots had fired within the first two minutes. Bullets indiscriminately flew back and forth. With a barrage of bullets, Bell's men retreated into the bush.

After a few moments, as Dodson had ordered stagecoach driver John Gear to speed towards Marysville, three of Bell's men reemerged with Rideout's horse in tow. Despite being shot in their arms, Gear charged the horses ahead and Dodson took aim on the three men. Dodson shot one of the men and the other two fled, leaving Rideout's horse. Rideout remounted his horse and caught up to the coach.

Bell's gang didn't make off with any gold, but they would not leave unscathed. There were a multitude of injuries, including one male stage coach passenger with a head wound, another shot in both legs, and a woman shot dead in her head. Mrs. Tilghman, wife of a Marysville barber, had been killed instantly.

The next day arriving in Marysville, news got around fast about the brutality of the attack. The news of robbers killing a woman stirred up a mob mentality and the hunt for Bell and his gang was on. Surprisingly, the man, the doctor who had showed so much remorse for blood shed before, show little to none this time. When headlines hit every paper in the region. Tom Bell wrote the papers back with one simple "Catch me if you can."

According to Tahoe Weekly, when Bell was caught, Judge Belt took justice into his own hands "The 26-year-old criminal was given a few minutes to write a letter to his mother: “Dear Mother, As I am about to make my exit to another country, I take this opportunity to write you a few lines. Probably you may never hear from me again. If not, I hope we meet where parting is no more.” Ten minutes later, Tom Bell was swinging from a hemp rope, his life just another footnote in Sierra history."

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 11, Number 1685, 20 August 1856 -

"Tom Bell, alive and at large, should at least be worth as much as Joaquin's head was in a glass bottle."

Sacramento Union, Number 59, 28 August 1919 -

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 12, Number 1731, 13 October 1856 -

"Deputy Sheriff Mulford, of Calaveras county, passed through this place last evening, with the scalp (and letters written on the eve of his execution,) of Tom Bell. 

Mulford proceeded to the Tulare Lake district of country upon information received of that being one of Bell's haunts. A large number of persons in that district turned out, and a number of them came upon him in the open plain. His horse completely exhausted, and escape impossible, he surrendered without any resistance. His execution by hanging was immediately determined upon, and a brief term allowed him to prepare for death, which he employed in writing to his mother and a woman with whom he had been on terms of intimacy. Tom Bell is an assumed name. His proper name I did not learn."

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 12, Number 1730, 11 October 1856