The Legend of Benjamin Ratcliff: From Family Tragedy to Legacy of Resilience
by Chris O. Andrew
Published in 2011 by the author
ISBN 078-193266786-8
Reviewed by Ed Quillen
It’s a safe bet that most family trees have some branches that nobody much wants to talk about, but few have a branch like this one. Benjamin Ratcliff, a Civil War veteran and rancher in South Park, shot and killed three members of his local school board on May 6, 1895.
He was convicted of murder and was hanged for the crime at the Colorado State Penitentiary in Cañon City. His three children, of course, knew of the crime and punishment. But they moved away from South Park, and were able to keep their children from knowing about it. Only in the fourth and fifth generation did the whole family learn the tragic story of the patriarch.
Ratcliff was originally from Missouri and took up ranching in South Park in 1871 near Tarryall; ruins of their cabin remain to this day. He and his wife Elizabeth had two daughters, Lizzie and Vina, and a son, Howell.
Tragedy first struck in 1883 when Elizabeth died in childbirth. The two girls were sent to live, for a time, with her family in Missouri, but as teenagers they returned to South Park, likely in 1892.
Benjamin wanted them to continue their educations, and that’s where he ran into trouble with the Michigan Creek school board. The school was hard to reach from the ranch, so he asked if a teacher could visit for a short time each term. The board said no. He asked if he could borrow some school books so he could attempt some home schooling. Again, a rejection. And one board member may have begun circulating a rumor about incest involving Ratcliff and one of his daughters.
Three board members were present for a meeting at the schoolhouse, which sat near Jefferson. Ratcliff went in armed and at some point started shooting. Two men died right way; a third lingered for four hours, long enough to give a statement. After the shooting, Ratcliff rode toward Como, where he encountered a sheriff’s deputy and turned himself in.
That’s the basic story. His son and daughters left the area, settling in the Steamboat Springs area and doing fairly well – and keeping this story a secret from their children.
The Legend of Benjamin Ratcliff is essentially written as a family story, and since I’m not a member of the family, I sometimes found this approach annoying. But in general, it tells a tale that even a hard-core Colorado buff like me had not heard before – I knew about the day all three Grand County Commissioner were killed, but not about the day that an entire school board was wiped out. And it provides a broad picture of South Park beyond the Ratcliff Ranch – including a trip to Buena Vista, where he was held lest a lynch mob come for him.
Unlike many self-published books, this one shows good editing and design; it’s a work its creators should be proud of. I found only one glaring error; it has Alfred Packer convicted of cannibalism, when it fact it was manslaughter; cannibalism has never been a crime in Colorado.
And if you’re interested in a frontier tragedy that deserves more attention than it has received over the years, this a book that you’ll generally enjoy, a useful addition to our region’s history.