Last Feb. we wrote an article about this stage hold-up.
We thought this would be a great ending to that story.
Reprinted today by special permission of Tim Laddish, from The Ghost...
The Ballad of Johanna Rodesino
You can yell and stamp and fire your guns
To celebrate this plaque
To celebrate this plaque
But when you're done and had your fun
I'd like to take you back
I heard the blast; I saw the flare
Of the shotgun's wicked play --
And if I'm asked, I'll tell you fair
See, I was there that day.
'Twas the thirtieth of April back
In eighteen ninety-two;
We were ratt-l-ing along by stage,
The dust was flying through.
I chatted with Johanna
And with our chaperone,
We three had gone to San Andreas;
Only two would reach dear home.
Johanna and I were girls together
We'd shared a desk at school
From pigtails to longer skirts
We'd lived the Golden Rule
Sewing patchwork by the Summer's creek
Watching Winter's creek in flood
Together since we were little girls,
We were sisters in all but blood.
Now 15 we'd caught the eyes
of local older boys,
Like Sheep Ranch's Babe Raggio,
Seventeen, with strength and poise.
Our stage came round that curve right there,
Babe was driving us that day;
Mike Tovey rode as shotgun, he'd
Protect the miners' pay.
Then two blasts were shot by someone else;
No warning did he give.
Babe slumped and groaned and looked as if
He had not long to live.
Mike tied Babe on, then took the reins,
To find both help and hope;
The gunman made no move to rob;
He vanished up that slope.
I looked about and saw, I thought,
Johanna slumped in faint;
But when I bent to comfort her,
I saw the dark red seeping taint.
I looked about and saw, I thought,
Johanna slumped in faint;
But when I bent to comfort her,
I saw the dark red seeping taint.
"Oh robber", I cried, "you can take my purse,
"Take my gold and freely spend,
"But villain, you've done so much worse,
"You've robbed me of my friend."
Your plaque says I was a girl "unhurt,"
But I am here to say
My heart still bleeds for what it lost
When Johanna died that day.
My heart still bleeds for what it lost
When Johanna died that day.
