Captain Jack & the Modoc War
This here is Ben Wright. The notorious California “Indian Killer” who orchestrated the 1852 massacre bearing his name.
If you’ve already listened to the most recent episode of The Wild West Extravaganza then you heard how he and his men were responsible for the killing of scores of Native Americans.
Men, women, kids, innocent or guitly, didn’t matter much to Ben Wright. He’d kill ‘em all and scalp ‘em or cut their ears off as proof. Hell, just for Modoc massacre alone Wright earned a whopping $744 from the California government. Adjusting for inflation that’s about $26,000 (or one month’s worth of rent in California).
What I didn’t have time to get into on the latest episode was how Mr. Wright met his bloody end. You may remember I briefly mentioned that he kept Indeginous women as slaves. Well one day in 1856 he took to beating on one of these Native captives, a lady known as Chetcoe Jennie. A drunken Wright stripped her down naked and took to publically beating her all across town, right in front of everybody.
Jennie - in her shame and anger - turned to another Native, a Shoshone scout that sometimes worked for Wright named Enos.
Vengeance was exacted on February 23rd, 1856 when Enos took an axe to Ben Wright, ending his short yet violent reign of terror on the California frontier. Legend has it that Enos and Chetcoe Jennie then dined on Wright’s heart, but who knows how true that is.
No idea what became of Jennie but Enos got strung up by a lynch mob two months later. And that was that.
Anyways.
Thanks for signing up for the newsletter. Hope you’re all doing well and hope you enjoyed the first installment on the Modoc War. And if you haven’t listened yet, what are you waiting on!!!???
Catch you later.