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@ sperry
2023-09-24 17:28:20
On July 13, 1927, in Coalville, Utah 13 year old Ellis Richins, small for his age, was playing with a nephew outside his father’s sheep camp when a stranger lunged from the woods and grabbed him. As his playmate ran to get help, the assailant forced Ellis up into the mountains.
Leonidas Munsey Dean.(a.k.a. Leon, a.k.a. Leonidas "Bally" Dean, a.k.a. Uncle Lonnie) , 51, placed a six-page ransom letter on a stone near the sheep camp. It began: “If you want to save the life of this fellow Richins, take ten thousand dollars, two thousand in gold coin; eight thousand in federal reserve notes, in five, ten and twenty dollar denominations, equal amounts of each, and do with them exactly as we tell you. The prisoner has just two days to live, if our orders are not strictly obeyed. We are as determined as war and ill treatment can make us.”
Lonnie kept Ellis walking that night by prodding him with a rifle barrel, and by threatening to shoot if the boy made a sound. Keeping to the ridges, they pushed toward Snyderville Valley. Ellis was told that his father had left the ransom money there. Just before daylight they reached a saddle above the Devil Creek fork of Tollgate Canyon. There the kidnapper chained Ellis to a tree, and they both went to sleep.
Sometime the next morning, Lonnie heard someone walking through the woods, as a posse of nearly 400 men, some who were loaned guns by the National Guard, were scouring the mountainside. Holding a gun to Ellis’s head, Lonnie ordered the youngster to remain quiet while he went to investigate.
As soon as the kidnapper left, Ellis picked up a sharp rock and began chopping at his chains. Eventually, he was able to break one of the links and fled.
A short time later Ellis arrived breathlessly at a highway construction camp near Silver Creek. Ellis telephoned his mother, assured her that he was okay. (In 1881, Park City became the third city in Utah to receive telephone service, and would be one of the first to get electric lighting in 1889). After making the call he sat down—surrounded by nearly a hundred admirers—and ate a hearty meal. Within fifteen minutes his overjoyed parents drove into the camp.
Using the mountains to his advantage, a week later, Lonnie Dean had hiked/traveled over 72.5 miles south, to Salem, Utah. There, he was captured by sheriff’s deputies and railroad detectives, acting on a tip. He told the Sheriff that he had planned to go to California, then on to Mexico.
Sentenced to five years in prison, Leonidas “Lonnie” Dean, didn’t live out his time. He was killed by another inmate during a fight in the Utah State Penitentiary.
Like his father, Ellis Richins raised sheep for a living in Coalville, until he died at 52, leaving behind 5 boys and a sheep farm.
His wife, Metta, lived well into this century. She lived 43 years as a widow. She was very involved in the sheep industry where she made many lifetime friends. She won the Sheep Rancher of the Year Award (the first woman to ever receive this award) by the Utah Wool Growers Association. She was President of the Utah State Wool Growers Auxiliary and also the Summit County Wool Growers Auxiliary.
She cooked and served many lamb suppers and helped with the Make it with Wool Contest for many years. She also served on the Farm Services Committee until the time of her death and as a secretary of the Summit County Lamb Pool.
