Harrowing Times at Rocky Point
By Brian K. Crawford
As you enter San Anselmo from Ross on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, just past the Ross Fire Station you wind through a lovely shady chicane. On the right is a steep rocky cliff that was reinforced a few years ago with concrete modeled to look like natural rock. It is a pretty spot that serves as a natural division between Ross and San Anselmo. This area has long been known as Rocky Point. The road was originally a dirt road called the Ross Valley Road or the Ross Landing Road, when it was the primary access to the shipping terminal at Ross Landing, where the College of Marin now stands. As pretty as it is, Rocky Point has a dark history of death, attempted murder, and highway robbery.
The Kittle Attack
The first incident occurred on Wednesday, July 18, 1883. Jonathan and Harriet Kittle, who lived at the future site of the Marin Art and Garden Center, were driving in their carriage to visit some neighbors. It was a pretty summer evening about nine o’clock, just getting dark. They were startled when a harsh shout broke the twilight calm. Mr. Kittle saw a young man standing in the shadows beside the road. His first inclination was to rein in to see what the man wanted, but they had already passed him and the man was very shabby and looked like a hobo. In the dim light, he appeared to be carrying a shotgun. Kittle thought better of stopping and shook the reins to drive on. Suddenly the man raised his gun. “Stop, God damn you!” he shouted, and fired. A blast of shot ripped through the back of the carriage top. Harriet screamed and slumped against her husband, and he whipped up the horse and sped away before the highwayman could reload. Kittle hurried home and helped his wounded wife inside. She was bleeding from several wounds but didn’t appear to be seriously wounded. Kittle called Dr. Henry DuBois, who came at once and examined Harriet. The gun had fortunately been loaded with birdshot rather than buckshot. The pellets had gone through the carriage, four layers of her shawl, and her dress before hitting her. Dr. DuBois extracted nineteen pellets from her back and arm and bandaged the wounds. A few pellets had penetrated further, and he determined it was better to leave these in place. She was in no danger and was put to bed with a mild sedative.
Word was immediately sent to Sheriff Mason. News of the attack quickly spread around the Ross Valley. The Kittles were well-liked and many people were outraged by the brazen assault. A large number soon gathered to offer their help in the search for the assailant.
The Sheriff told them that he was already looking for a man who answered the description Kittle had given him. Earlier that day, a young transient had attacked Manuel Silva at Silva’s cabin in California City (near today’s Paradise Cove). The young man had entered the cabin and tried to have a conversation, but Silva was Portuguese and spoke almost no English. Noticing a shotgun standing in the corner, the stranger asked if it was loaded. When Silva indicated that it was, the tramp picked up the gun, pointed it at Silva and demanded all his money. When Silva said he had none, the assailant tied him hand and foot to a board, fixed himself a dinner, took what clothing and food he wanted, along with the gun, and left Silva helpless. He stole a boat and rowed to the beach near San Quentin, then disappeared. The Sheriff had been searching for him all afternoon. Search parties were organized and sent out in various directions. One party consisted of former Sheriff James Tunstead of San Anselmo and 18-year-old George Ross Worn, whose family lived at Bouick Field next to the Seminary. They were assigned to the Bolinas Road. It soon grew dark, and the searchers gave up the search, to take it up again at first light.
Early the next morning, George Worn arrived at Tunstead’s home in San Anselmo. Worn told him that a suspicious-looking young tramp with a shotgun had called at the Worn farmhouse (near the present Phoenix Lake) the previous evening and asked for lodging. The man was thin and blond, with a narrow, sallow face. Not liking the look of him, Worn’s father refused to let him into the house, but told him he could sleep in the haystack, which he did. Soon after this conversation, Jonathan Kittle arrived. When he heard Worn’s story, he was sure it was the same man who had attacked him. He asked Tunstead to go in pursuit, saying he would pay any amount for the capture of the man who had shot his wife. Tunstead said he didn’t want the money, but he and Worn would try to track the man. They went to the site of the attack and found some balls of paper that had apparently been used as wads in the shotgun. Opening the papers, they found they were pages torn from a Bible. They found tracks in the dirt and Tunstead measured them. They were able to track the man to Lagunitas Road and through Ross toward the Worn ranch.
When they arrived there, George’s father reported the man had left early, heading up the canyon toward the Bon Tempe Ranch. The two-man posse followed him. They arrived at Laurel Camp, a public camping and picnic ground near Fish Gulch. The people there said a young man fitting the description and carrying a shotgun had been there earlier that morning, asking for breakfast. They sent him off, and he had left, continuing up the valley. Tunstead and Worn followed. At the Bon Tempe Ranch (now under Bon Tempe Reservoir), they went to the ranch house where the hands were eating breakfast. There was the man in question, eating with the family and ranch hands. The shotgun was standing against the wall. Tunstead told Worn to guard the door, then entered the dining room and sat down next to the suspect, between him and the shotgun. He struck up a conversation. The young man said his name was Henry Enquist. Tunstead thought the man’s clothing looked like the cheap suits provided by San Quentin to the inmates it released. Finally he told him his errand. He made the man stand up and submit to a search. In his pocket was a small Bible with some pages torn out, pages that matched those found at Rocky Point. He and Worn took the man into custody and took him to the Kittles’ house. Jonathan Kittle immediately recognized him as the man who had attacked him. He offered to pay a reward to the men for the capture. Tunstead said it was the act of a friend and would not accept any money, but young Georgie was happy to accept $100 in gold coin. The suspect was taken to San Rafael and turned over to Sheriff Mason.
The suspect said his real name was Charles Culver, but it was later discovered he was Charles Brooks, twenty years old. He had family in Solano County, he said, but they had disowned him after he was convicted of stealing a horse and sent to San Quentin for three years. He had been released just a few days before.
He was assigned an attorney and the case went to trial in October. On the 26th, Charles Brooks was given ten years for his burglary of Silva’s place, and thirty-five years for the attack on the Kittles. For reasons now unclear, he was released after serving only three years.
The Ingram Accident
The second violent incident at Rocky Point was a pure accident, but no less horrifying. It took place only six weeks after the Kittle attack. Mr. C. A. Hooper was visiting Marin with his family — his wife, two children, and two nursemaids. They stayed in San Rafael but wished to see some of Marin’s scenic backcountry they had heard so much about. On Sunday, September 2nd, 1883, he went to a livery stable and rented a team and carriage to take the family to a famous resort, Liberty Ranch, in the Lagunitas valley. They drove from San Rafael on the San Rafael-Bolinas Road (the extension to Fairfax wasn’t built until the following year). The road climbed Brewery Grade (near Gerstle Park) and came down Makin Grade to Ross. It then went up Lagunitas Road, under the later sites of Phoenix, Bon Tempe, and Alpine Lakes, to Liberty Ranch, run by Vince and Mary Jane Liberty (the site is now submerged under the upper end of Alpine Lake). There they spent the day, fishing or swimming in Lagunitas Creek or exploring the hills around the ranch. In the afternoon, for reasons unknown, Mr. Hooper decided to return to San Rafael, leaving Mrs. Hooper at the ranch. With his children and the two nurses, he drove back to Ross. Instead of driving over Makin Grade, he turned north on Ross Valley Road (now Sir Francis Drake) toward San Anselmo, intending to turn to San Rafael at the Hub.
As he approached Rocky Point at about four o’clock, the team for some reason became excited and started to run away. A buckle on one of the reins had caught in the saddle ring, and he could not guide the team. The carriage ran up onto the bank and overturned, spilling all five passengers into the road. They were all bruised and shaken up, but none were seriously hurt. The team, by now frantic, tugged at the overturned carriage until the body of the carriage came off. They ran off with the wheels. While Mr. Hooper was picking up his children, the team turned around and ran back toward them. He made an attempt to catch them, but they evaded him, turned again, and tore off toward San Anselmo again.
Up ahead on the road, a buggy was jogging north toward San Anselmo. It was driven by Mary Jane Colwell, 40, the wife of Jesse Colwell, who had built the San Rafael-Bolinas Road. With her were her five-year-old daughter Ida and her 73-year-old mother Jane Ingram, who had come over from Bolinas a few days earlier to spend some time with her daughter’s family.
Mary Jane Colwell heard a vehicle approaching from behind and pulled over to allow it to pass, not realizing that it was a driverless runaway team. Just at the entrance to the Tunstead place (near current Tunstead Avenue), the terrified team ran directly into the rear of the light buggy, smashing it to pieces and throwing the three occupants and the buggy horse violently to the ground. Mrs. Colwell was knocked unconscious and buried in the wreckage. Little Ida was thrown free and slightly injured. But poor Mrs. Ingram was struck by the pole of the carriage, knocking her forward into the road. As the runaway team careened through the wrecked vehicle, one of the horses stepped on her face. Caught in a helpless tangle of harness and wreckage, the team finally stopped.
The disaster was witnessed by Mr. D. Sutherland, who was driving south from the Hub. He rushed to help. His first thought was to secure the horses before they trampled the bodies scattered at their feet. Other men soon arrived to help. They pulled Mrs. Ingram to the side of the road, but she died in a few moments. Mrs. Colwell soon regained consciousness and went to her mother, but she was already gone. Mrs. Colwell was badly battered and bruised, but her injuries proved to be not serious and she eventually recovered. Mrs. Ingram was well-known and liked throughout the county and was much mourned.
The Lindsay Affair
The third violent event to occur at Rocky Point happened eighteen years later. As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle on November 16, 1901:
Young Lady Whips Lone Highway Man
Miss Emily Lindsay [1], the handsome young teacher of the little country school at Fairfax, has become the heroine of Ross Valley. Armed only with a buggy whip, she successfully held off a highwayman on Wednesday night [Nov. 13th] and put the fellow to flight with his face and body stinging from blows which the muscular young woman had raised upon him.
The robbery was attempted at a spot in the road about half way between San Anselmo and Ross Station [Rocky Point]. Miss Lindsay, accompanied by her friend, Miss Gertrude Perry [2], teacher of the Robert Dollar School at San Anselmo, had attended a physical culture school at San Rafael in the afternoon and had started in a buggy for the home of the former at Schafer’s Grove shortly after 6 o’clock in the evening. The night was very dark and the road, which ran through a line of high trees and thick brush, was an ideal one for an attempted hold-up.
When about half a mile from Ross Station and at the darkest point in the road a man suddenly jumped from behind a clump of trees and seized the horse’s head. At the same time he called to the young women not to scream and to get out of the buggy. As they made no movement to comply he seized the reins near the horse’s mouth and commenced working his way toward the buggy. In a threatening voice he continued warning them to keep still and to hand out their money. Miss Lindsay, who had been driving, still held the heavy buggy whip in her hand but made no move to comply. As the robber reached within a few feet of the dashboard she suddenly raised her whip and struck him two stinging blows across the face. So sudden was her attack that the robber dropped a heavy club he was carrying and stepped back.
Without a moment’s hesitation the girl jumped from the buggy and rained blows on the fellow. With the butt of the whip she struck him again and again and so vigorous was the drubbing that the man finally turned with an oath and ran into the timber.
When Miss Lindsay began striking the man she dropped the lines and they fell from the buggy. After she jumped out, the horse became frightened and started to run away. Miss Perry was carried a considerable distance by the frightened animal, but finally secured the reins and brought the horse to a standstill. She drove back to where she had left her companion and found Miss Lindsay standing alone in the road with the buggy whip in her hand.
When interviewed at her school at Fairfax this afternoon, Miss Lindsay, surrounded by her pupils, looked anything but a girl who would horsewhip a robber. When questioned about the occurrence she said: “The man evidently knew that when Miss Perry and I went to San Rafael we cashed checks and brought back considerable money with us. He laid for us at the most lonesome spot on the way home and jumped out and grabbed our horse before we had time to whip up or run away. I was very scared, but I noticed that although the man was tall he was very thin and did not give the impression of a desperate person. When he came toward us I struck him with all my might across the face, and as he retreated I jumped from the buggy and went after him. He did not attempt to strike back at all, and when he found he could not get the whip away from me he broke and ran. That was the last I saw of him, but I confess I was very glad when Miss Perry returned with the buggy and let us get away. I do not know who the man was and would not prosecute him if I did.”
Both Miss Lindsay and Miss Perry live at Schaefer’s Grove [3], which is owned by the mother of the former. Both young women are extremely popular in San Rafael and Ross Valley, where they have a wide circle of acquaintances.
So Emily Lindsay was not only lovely, popular, brave and quick-thinking, but also compassionate. What more can we ask of our teachers?
This is the last occurrence of drama at Rocky Point that I am aware of. If you know of more, let me know.
Notes:
[1] Emily Marie Lindsay was born November 6, 1879, so she had just turned 22. Her parents were Matthew and Eliza Jane Schaefer Lindsay. Her father died in 1897. In 1907, Emily married Arthur Heydenaber. They had one child, Marie, in 1911. Emily died in 1955, aged 76.
[2] Gertrude J. Perry was born about 1878 and later lived in Sausalito.
[3] Schaefer’s Grove was a resort and picnic ground on Emlin Drive, off Laurel Grove, founded around 1890 by Emily’s grandparents John and Marie Schaefer and then run by her mother Eliza Lindsay. It operated until 1923.
