Deputy Marshal Charles Ring

Charles Ring

During the late night hours of Wed. Sept. 14, 1864, Deputy Marshal Charles Ring and his friend Moses Hess werw walking along Genessee St. As the two men crossed Franklin St., Mr. Hess looked down Franklin St. and saw two men standing in the shadows near the door of the saloon in Everett House. Hess thought nothing of this, and he and the deputy marshal continued to walk to Hess's office at the corner of Genessee and Washington St. There, shortly after midnight the two men parted company. Mr. Hess, a reputable businessman, was the last person to see Deputy Marshal Ring alive.

Mr. Wesley, owner of the Everett House hotel, was awakened by loud singing in the hotel bar. He came downstairs from his room, and asked the men in the bar to be quiet. On his way back upstairs, Mr Wesley heard a gunshot, and saw a flash from outside of the saloon door facing Genessee St. Then he heard a thud as if someone had fallen against the door. When the hotel clerk opened the door, he saw Deputy Marshal Ring lying on the ground, bleeding from a head wound. Two men standing near the scene surrendered their pistols to a magistrate who happened to be in the bar that evening. The weapons were marked and stored in the hotel safe. A medical exam of the deceased deputy marshal's body revealed that the deputy had been shot in the head, slightly below and behind the right ear, at very close range. The bullet removed from Rings skull was very similar to the bullet in one of the two weapons held by the magistrate. However, a coroner's jury concluded that Deputy Marshal Charles Ring came to his death by a pistol shot from the hands of some person unknown.

On September 17, 1864, the town council held a special meeting and pledged a $1,000 reward for the apprehension of Ring's murder. The reward was never collected. Deputy Marshal Ring had been appointed to the force about one year before his death