“Six feet one, in trousers and shirt,-Covered with sweat and blood, and dirt;-Not very much scared” (though his hat was hurt, And as full of holes as a garden -squirt);-Awaiting the onslaught, behold him stand- With a twelve-inch “Bowie” in either hand.-His cause was right, and his arms were long,- His blades were bright, and his heart was strong.

This ballad was written to tell of the heroics of Capt. Jonathan Davis, a veteran of the Mexican American War. The year was 1854 and the very early days of the Gold Rush where a man could leave a shovel on the ground as a claim or leave his rocker unguarded were long gone.

On December 19, 1854, Captain Jonathan Rutledge Davis, Dr. Bolivar Sparks and James McDonald were out prospecting for gold on an isolated trail in Rocky Canyon, today known as Ruck-a-Chucky Road. They were suddenly ambushed by a group of fourteen armed bandits. James McDonald fell dead before he could even draw his pistol. Dr. Sparks was a bit quicker on the draw and fired off two shots before he was severely wounded. The formidable Capt. Davis, however, instantly drew his two Colt revolvers and began a barrage of fire at the bandits. Within seconds, with deadly aim, seven of the bandits lay dead or seriously wounded.

With both parties out of ammunition, three of the surviving bandits pulled out Bowie knives and the forth brandished a short sword. They all lunged at Davis only to find he had his own Bowie knife. He stabbed one of the bandits to death, he disarmed another by knocking the knife from his grasp and slicing off his nose. Two more bandits advanced on the Captain only to be mortally stabbed. Three remaining outlaws fled the scene

Capt. Davis quickly tore his shirt into strips and began to bandage Dr. Spark’s wounds and even the wounds of the injured bandits. John Webster, Isaac Hart and P. S. Robertson from a group of fellow miners who had observed the whole shoot- out from a nearby hill helped tend to the wounded. later that night three of the bandits died. Before he died, the leader of the group, the bandit who lost his nose in the fight confessed to the gang’s murder of Six Chinese and four Americans in the days right before they encountered Davis and his party. The next morning another of the bandits died and Capt. Davis and the miners buried all eleven of them in Rocky Canyon. Davis himself had several flesh wounds and at least six bullets had passed through his hat and eleven more through his shirt and coat. The miners stripped the bandits of their ill- gotten loot, some $491 in gold and silver coin, two silver watches, seven gold watches and four ounces of gold dust. The miners all decided the plunder should go to Dr. Spark’s family after he passed on December 26th in his home in Coloma.

The Mountain Democrat published an extra edition to recount the tale. The story was quickly picked up by nearby newspapers and soon by newspapers all over the country. At first the story seemed so incredulous that many of the newspaper accounts thought it to be an exaggerated report. A brother – in- law of Dr. Sparks took it upon himself to find the three miners who witnessed the event. Along with eye-witnesses that recounted the events of the affair.

As the facts of the matter were set to rest, Jonathan Davis said, “I only did what hundreds of others might have done under similar circumstances and attach no particular credit to myself for it’.

WHAT SAY THE BRETHERN?