Remember When
One hundred and twenty years ago, Vermonters couldn’t binge-watch their way through cliff-hangers, and so it was that, in the summer of 1903, the residents of Vermont, northwestern New York and northern Massachusetts were on the edge of their seats waiting for the newspaper to deliver the next installment of a drama that was playing itself out across the region.
On the morning of July 14, 1903, a seriously wounded man who had just the night before turned himself in to authorities, died in the Rutland House of Corrections. Described as “about five feet, eight inches tall, his hair is perfectly white, and so is his beard, which has recently been cut short. He usually dresses in black, and generally wears a tall hat,” the man was Charles Rufus Young (no relation), Vermont’s most infamous horse thief.
The first we hear of Young is in 1879 when, a mere two months after being released from prison in Burlington for horse-theft, he is arrested in Troy, New York, and sentenced to five years for grand larceny.
(A side-note here: At the end of the above story, the Burlington paper notes that the horse-thief Charles Rufus Young was still serving out his sentence in a Burlington jail when he was arrested in New York. Huh? In fact, there are a number of inconsistencies and peculiarities to this story that require further investigation. For example, in 1883, while Young was supposedly still in jail in New York — but, according to the paper was serving a sentence in Massachusetts — he wrote a letter to the editor of a Vermont newspaper informing them he was writing a romance novel. Calling himself “The Vermont Yankee,” he signed off the letter with this statement: “This from one, who did not steal Bouck’s horses, or any other man’s.”)
After leaving Troy, Young makes his way to his hometown of Winhall, Vermont, where his brother still lives. Almost immediately, horses begin disappearing again. Captured in Londonderry after a theft from a Sunderland barn, he is sentenced in Manchester and sent to the State Prison in Windsor for another 10 years. At this point, Young is 55 years old and has been in jail for more than half his life.
Fast forward to May 1903 and the horse-thief has been released from jail a few months early. Almost immediately, a horse and carriage goes missing from the Rutland Fairgrounds, another horse and rig are stolen from a farm in Addison, and several horses disappear in Waterford, New York, (where Young may have recruited at least one partner in crime).
In mid-June, Young makes his way to his brother’s in Winhall and from there, drives the horses — giving them, as he always did, the best care along the way — to Whately, Massachusetts, where he had previously made the acquaintance of two traders. However, a sheriff in Deerfield, Massachusetts, aware of the thefts in Vermont, discovers one stolen horse and rig and arranges to have them returned to their owner.
After Young unsuccessfully attempts to re-steal the same rig in order to fulfill his promise to the Whately traders, this is what happens over the next few days:
— Saturday, July 11: Young steals two more horses in Rutland. On the way back to Massachusetts, he once again stops by his brother’s home in Winhall, where, according to one newspaper report, police officers discover the “Rutland plunder” and Young himself at his brother’s home. However, they don’t apprehend him because, as they later claimed, he did not look like a thief. Apparently, “to meet Young on the street one would take him as a gentleman of leisure. … He is a good talker, and appears well.” By the time the officers learn of their mistake, Young has disappeared.
— Sunday, July 12: Rutland County Sheriff Peabody begins to “push with great energy for Young’s capture.” Figuring Young would most likely travel south through Manchester, Peabody dispatches an officer to meet with two deputies there. Meanwhile, Peabody tries to contact Arlington Sheriff Wilson, but as it is a Sunday and phone and telegraph operators are not readily available, this proves difficult. Peabody finally reaches Wilson at 8 p.m.
Once Wilson learns what’s going on, he and his posse gather at a covered bridge north of Arlington, where they believe Young is headed. And sure enough, soon Young and another man come driving a carriage at high speed through the bridge. When Young realizes the police are there, he whips the horses on faster and, although being shot at by the sheriff, manages once again to escape, knocking down and driving over a man in the process.
However, knowing the officers were hot on their trail, Young and his partner jump from the wagon before they reach the village of Arlington.
— Monday, July 13: After hiding all night in some bushes, Young, seriously wounded and knowing he is going to die, shows up at a farmer’s door. Young begs the farmer to get Sheriff Wilson so he can turn himself in. The sheriff arrives, arrests him and takes him up to Rutland. At the Rutland House of Corrections, the doctors determine he wasn’t shot but had suffered some internal damage. But, they assure him, he will recover.
— Tuesday, July 14 (early morning): Young collapses and dies.
— Thursday, July 16: His body unclaimed by his brothers and sisters, the 65-year-old man is buried in the House of Corrections cemetery.
Throughout his career, Young stole at least 75 horses, many of which were never recovered, 10 just in the last few weeks before his death. It was said he never committed any other kind of crime (except maybe never completing that romance novel). His headstone, (incorrectly) marked with the initials “RCY,” can still be seen today. (For more on that story, see rutlandwhen.wordpress.com/2014/06/13/rutlands-house-of-correction-cemetery online.)
Joanna Tebbs Young is an author, freelance writer, historian and teaching artist. Email jtebbsyoung@gmail.com or visit rutlandwhen.wordpress.com online.
