by Susan Couso
The NCO (Nevada, California, and Oregon) narrow-gauge railroad stretched as far north as Amedee by 1890, and the town reacted with a boom. What was formerly ‘nowhere’ was now a budding metropolis. Tourists could arrive on the train and bathe in the restorative hot springs nearby, then spend a relaxing time at the famous three-story-tall Amedee Hotel.
The hotel boasted the finest ‘modern’ accommodations. More importantly, Amedee was also a hub for the entire Northeastern California area, as people flocked there to reach the train depot.
Passengers and freight arrived several times daily. It was, indeed, a bustling place, and all was going well for the isolated community.
By 1892, the town had the normal trappings of a new western community. It boasted of two hotels, restaurants, a lumber yard, several different shops, saloons, blacksmith, and even a cigar shop. The local newspaper, The Amedee Gyser began publishing that year.
In 1892, fifteen-year-old, Maud Bentel arrived from Sierra City for her new position as telegraph operator with the Northern California Telegraph Company, which had just begun operations in Amedee. She did well at her job and after just a couple of months was appointed as an assistant agent for Wells, Fargo & Company.
She was engaged to be married to Henry Lemmon of Carson City, who she had met while in Sierra City. Life was promising for Maud, but then tragedy struck.
Maud’s father, Jacob, died in 1892, back in Pennsylvania. That was a sobering blow for Maud, who had not seen her parents since leaving the ‘Quaker State’. Then in 1894, her mother Nancy, died, and Maud was having difficulties dealing with this news. It was just a very bad time.
On June 8th, 1894, Maud was in the dining room at the Hotel Amedee, a place she worked part-time to supplement her income. It was a Friday, the town was filling up for the weekend, and group of ‘cowboys’ came in from local ranches, ready to celebrate. They visited the saloons and subsidized their need for entertainment with as much fluid inebriant as they could afford. Thus supplemented, they eventually wandered into the dining room, where Maud and a couple of other ladies were visiting.
They acted as so many drunkards do and began throwing things around and turning over the furniture. When told to leave, the ruffians began abusing the ladies with foul disgusting language.
Maud fled up the stairs to escape, but was followed by Charles Ball, who boasted about what he intended to do. Crying, Maud went out onto the upstairs veranda. Ball went out onto the street and, seeing his young victim, continued his disgusting assault in a loud obnoxious spiel.
About 8:15 that evening, Maud came in the back door of Bessie Keser’s house and passed through the sitting room where several ladies were chatting. She then went into the drug store and closed the door. This is when the distraught Maud presumably went behind the counter, took a bottle of strychnine, and drank part of its contents.
Bessie then went into the drug store and saw Maud sitting with a book in her hands, as though she was reading. When Bessie began talking to her friend, Maud went into convulsions, and as she recovered a bit, she was able to relate to Bessie just what she had done. Bessie screamed for help, and the ladies tried every remedy and emetic that they could muster, but Maud, after two long hours of torture, breathed her last.
The news soon spread, not just around Amedee, but throughout the entire area. Everyone was incensed at what had been done to a lovely young, likable woman. When the men who had been involved in the incident heard of the outcome of their drunken escapade, they immediately ‘hightailed’ it out of there, but Charlie Ball, boastful as ever, lingered just a bit too long.
All the disgust and anger that the people of the Lassen County area felt, was aimed at him. He would have been in a dire position had he not, at the last minute, fled to the Skedaddle Mountain area. Fortunately, Sheriff Frank ‘Bob’ Ward was in pursuit and captured Ball before he disappeared into the desert.
Charlie Ball, from the Long Valley area, was taken to the jail in Susanville and held on charges of disturbing the peace and using indecent language. The public and local officials endeavored to find a more serious charge for Ball, but could come up with nothing that would stick.
The jury found Ball ‘guilty’ and he was fined $200 for his part in the affair, and Lewis Brubeck, owner of the hotel was also fined $200 for ‘keeping a disorderly house’. Brubeck had been accused of observing the event but taking no effort to protect Maud from the assault.
Maud Bentel, who was born in Pennsylvania about 1876, is buried in Susanville. A young woman with great potential, initiative, intelligence, and sensitivity, faded away in time.
Charles Ball returned home and worked as a farmer until his death in 1906. And Henry Lemmon, bereft of his young love, married another young woman in 1897. He became the president of the power company and died in Reno in 1942.
