The Barney Boy’s Club

History Watch

“The Barney Boy’s Club”

A police chief is like the captain of a ship.  Their job is to keep the ship on course, supervise the crew and avoid hazards along the journey.  The City of San Rafael has had 16 police chiefs and each one of them has commanded that ship trying to keep it on course.  Each chief has their own story, some have had smooth sailing and others not.   There is one police chief of the 16 who has an interesting story, who did much for the city and who also had to fight much controversy.

John Barney Ruschetti was San Rafael’s fourth police chief, who fought hard to keep his ship on course.  Ruschetti was born in 1888 and grew up in Fort Bragg, California, where his family owned and operated a hotel.  Ruschetti was orphaned at a young age and he was described as rather small and frail, but as time went on, he changed all that.  As Ruschetti got older, he became interested in boxing. He and his brother operated a saloon in Fort Bragg on Oak Street, that had a large hall in the back that the brothers turned into a gym.  Young Barney, as he was called, and other young men spent many hours training there.

In the early 1900’s Barney began his boxing career, which was very successful.  Around 1907 Barney fought a well-known local boxer named John Golden and he won by decision.  By 1911 he had defeated many of the local boxers with most of the matches held at Red Men’s Hall in Fort Bragg.  Barney’s last fight was against a professional boxer named Freddie Adge, who he defeated by decision.

Around 1918, Barney decided to form a boy’s club that later gained national attention.  His club taught boys the art of self-defense.  The club had a motto of parental respect and respect for law and order.  Training was done at Barney’s home and he paid out of pocket for the boxing equipment.  It was said that he had about 40 boys who belonged and they held monthly public boxing matches in town.

At about this time, Barney joined the Fort Bragg Police Department, where he worked his way up to Chief of Police, serving in that office from 1922 to 1928.  He was known as an honest, fair and dedicated lawman.  After serving as Chief of Police, Barney moved to San Rafael where he joined the San Rafael Police Department in about 1932 under Chief Sabin Kane.  While on the force, he started another boy’s club in San Rafael that he built up to 185 members.  He held boxing matches in the basement of his house at First and C Street, a residence that still stands there today.

The residents of San Rafael got to know Ruschetti well because of his youth club, not to mention the fact that juvenile crime started to decrease as well.  But there were detractors who were not happy with Ruschetti, and one of them was Chief Kane, who felt that Ruschetti was spending too much time on his boy’s club and not enough time arresting people. 

It all came to a head in May of 1934, when two San Quentin convicts escaped from the prison and managed to take two San Rafael Police officers’ hostage when they ran up to the officer’s patrol car and overpowered them at gunpoint. When word got out about the escape and kidnapping, Chief Kane ordered all officers to the station to start a search for the abducted patrolmen.  Everyone responded, except Ruschetti, who was home sick with a very bad cold.

Several days later, Kane fired Ruschetti for willful negligence, as Ruschetti did not come into the office when ordered to do so.  The firing created an uproar among the public and when the case was heard at a city council meeting, a petition with 1,100 signatures was presented, asking the council to keep Ruschetti as a police officer.  Chief Kane presented his case saying that Ruschetti was good with kids, but not much of a police officer. 

At the end of the hearing, the council sided with Chief Kane, saying that the council could not interfere with the duties of the police chief, therefore Ruschetti’s firing was upheld.  However, due to public outcry, Ruschetti was hired by the city as Municipal Recreation Director.  He continued to operate his boy’s club out of his home using his own money and funds donated by the public. 

In 1939, Ruschetti struck back by running against Chief Kane for police chief and when the votes were counted, Ruschetti won by 2,349 votes to Kane’s 1,464 votes.  After taking office, Ruschetti immediately fired former Chief Kane’s father, William Kane, who had been a San Rafael Police Officer for many years.  It was probably a good decision however, as William Kane was nearing 80 years old and in the last few years he had been assigned as a school officer and was also responsible for patrolling the Gerstle Park area.

Ruschetti instituted several worthwhile programs as chief by redesigning traffic lanes in the downtown and installing more stop signs.  He also installed red call lights that hung above three intersections on Fourth Street that were turned on when an officer was needed, as there were no radios at that time.  Police call boxes were also put in several places downtown so officers could use the phone to call the station at any time.  Chief Ruschetti could often been seen driving around town in his 1928 Model A Ford, checking on his officers.

But as time went on, Ruschetti had difficulty getting along with the city council, one reason being that the mayor and council were most likely still angry with all the negative press against them during Ruschetti’s firing.  The council started to put pressure on him, by cutting three officers from his budget in late 1939.  The council then decided to enact a three-year residence rule for all officers, which would have an impact of Ruschetti having to let five officers go.  The council then stopped paying for gasoline for part-time officers, who used their own cars to patrol the town.  Ruschetti fought back and the local newspaper had a field day reporting on the struggle between Ruschetti and the council.  He had some success, by getting the council to cancel the residency requirement.

At the high point of the dispute, Mayor Ellis marched into the police department in early 1940 while Ruschetti was on a day off and he fired Ruschetti’s clerk, Officer I. P. McDowell and he then removed all of the police files and locked them in a room at city hall.  The mayor then moved the building inspector into the records office.  Ruschetti took the case to court and the court ruled that the Mayor Ellis had no business taking control of any police files and they were promptly returned, and McDowell was reinstated.

After the court case, things simmered down and Ruschetti served out the rest of his term in relative peace, all the while running The Barney Boy’s Club out of his house.  In 1943 Ruschetti was up for re-election, but he lost to Frank Kelly, who was the Marin County Undersheriff at the time.

Looking back on Ruschetti’s career, he had a difficult time during his tenure with the city council, however he made a great contribution to the citizens of San Rafael by running his boy’s club, giving many young kids something to do during a time when juvenile crime was at a peak in town.  It was reported that juvenile crime was reduced by 80 percent during Ruschetti’s time in office.  Many of those boys became outstanding citizens, one of whom was Mario Ghilotti, one of the founders of Ghilotti Brothers Construction, which still operates in San Rafael today. 

In the 1990’s members of the San Rafael Police Officers Association decided to try to find the 1928 Model A that Ruschetti drove while chief.  They contacted Ruschetti’s surviving relatives and were able to find the car in central California on a farmer’s property.  The association obtained the car and had it completely restored, including red lights and siren.  The car is presently owned by the San Rafael Police Association and is used in parades and other events.

Attached are two photos, one is of Young Barney at the height of his boxing career, taken in 1906 and the other is a photo of The Barney Boy’s Club taken in 1933 in San Rafael.  Chief Ruschetti is shown at the right.  Note in the photo that the kids wore small Barney Boy’s Club badges that were given to them when the joined the club.

Author’s Note:

During my high school years in the 1960’s, I would often accompany my father to Winton’s News at Fourth and B Street where my dad liked to purchase his cigars.  Many times, while at the store, I had the occasion of meeting Barney Ruschetti, who liked to hang out there.  Ruschetti would always say hello to me and shake my hand and then have a 30-minute conversation with my father.  As an impatient high school student, I never paid much attention to what they talked about, however one thing I will never forget was the vice-like grip that older man had when he shook my hand.   John Barney Ruschetti died in 1967 at the age of 79.  

Thank you Chief Ruschetti for your service to the youth of San Rafael.

Copyright 2019 Harry Barbier – All Rights Reserved

Barney's Boy's Club – 1933

Chief John B. Ruschette Boxing - Circa 1906