diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/ruby/hbase/table.rb b/hbase-server/src/main/ruby/hbase/table.rb
index b9ecf87c1b6..a4d1fe94506 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/ruby/hbase/table.rb
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/ruby/hbase/table.rb
@@ -140,6 +140,7 @@ EOF
     #----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     # Delete a row
     def _deleteall_internal(row, column = nil, timestamp = org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HConstants::LATEST_TIMESTAMP)
+      raise ArgumentError, "Row Not Found" if _get_internal(row).nil?
       d = org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Delete.new(row.to_s.to_java_bytes, timestamp, nil)
       if column
         family, qualifier = parse_column_name(column)