While researching the historical veracity of The Deadly Stingaree I came upon the photograph at the left. It’s of a man known as Reuben the Guide who, according to the caption, led wagon tours to the Pt. Loma Light House and Tijuana in the late 1800s. It wasn’t much to go on but it did confirm the existence of this historical San Diegan, a man who could certainly have been friends with the story’s hero, Johnny Cong.

And that was all I knew about Reuben. Until now. Recently, while catching up on episodes of Ken Kramer’s great KPBS show, About San Diego, I saw a familiar photo flash on screen. It was Reuben!

As it turns out, local genealogist and historian Yvette Porter-Moore has done a great deal of research on Reuben. His real name was Reuben Williams and he was something of a local, state and even national legend. Obituaries appeared in newspapers as far as Washington state when he died.

An article entitled Just Over the Line in an 1894 Sunday edition of the San Francisco Chronicle describes a trip to Tia Juana with Reuben as guide. It’s a long article, which you can read by clicking on the thumbnail of the page on the left. Here’s what it has to say about Reuben:

“The interesting character of Tia Juana is Reuben, the guide. His other name is Williams, but he does not consider it a nice name and has dropped it. He likes to be considered a Mexican, but he is really a full-blooded African. Forewarned tourists address him as a Mexican and then Reuben cannot do enough for them. He is the most picturesquely dressed individual in town. He, and he alone, wears a sombrero, and two months ago married an Indian woman. His comments on the passing landscape are very humorous as he stands on the steps of the bus and rolls his eyes. Reuben alone is worth the price of the trip, for one who has compressed sixty years of life into thirty, for one can live fast even in Tia Juana.”