USA > California > Lassen County > Fairfield's pioneer history of Lassen County, California to 1870 > Part 13
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Edwards came to Genoa in what is now the western part of Nevada, and there made the acquaintance of William B. Thor- rington, better known as "Lucky Bill." The latter was a man of considerable property, but he was a gambler and an unprincipled man who was known to be willing to protect and shelter any crim- inal. It is said that Edwards told Lucky Bill about the killing of Snelling, but claimed that he did it in self-defense.
After staying a while at Genoa Edwards came to Honey Lake valley and lived with John Mullen and Asa Snow, who had a cabin on Lassen creek almost exactly where Breed had his trad- ing post in the summer of 1856. J. B. Gilpin had a cabin in the edge of the woods to the north and Rough Elliott lived northwest of Streshly. (Elliott was not called by that name on account of manner. He came to the valley from the mining camp of Rough and Ready, and at first was called "Rough and Ready." He
It is could be very polite and "smooth" if he saw fit to do it.) said that Snow's name was an assumed one and that he had killed a man before he came to the valley, but the writer will not vouch for the truth of this. It may have been a case of "Give a dog a bad name and hang him." Mullen had a few cattle and was said to be handy at picking up other people's calves. Edwards spent the winter working in his placer mine, which was not far from the Mullen and Snow cabin.
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In the fall of 1857, when the Mormons of Carson valley and that vicinity were selling their property in order to return to Salt Lake City, Coulthurst and Gordier, who had been partners in the mines of California, concluded to buy some of the Mormon cattle. Coulthurst went down there and bought a band of fine Durhams, the best lot of cattle that had ever been brought into the valley, and Gordier, who was a man of considerable means, took the most of them. At this time he lived on the Baxter ereek south of the point of the Bald mountain.
In the spring of 1858 Lucky Bill talked of going to Salt Lake to buy some cattle, but instead of going there he came to Honey Lake valley. A man named Sol. Perrin, who had known Thor- ington at Placerville, lived at the upper end of the lake four or five miles east of the Bankhead place, and when Thorrington was going past his house he hailed him and the two men had a con- versation. In the course of it Lucky Bill inquired about Gor- diers's cattle and said he had come to see if he could buy them. After talking with Perrin he went his way, but instead of going to see the Frenchman he went up the valley and stayed all night with Mullen and Edwards and then started for home. Perrin stopped him again and asked him if he had bought the cattle. He replied that he had not and that he had left the matter in the hands of some friends.
Not long after this Mullen and Edwards began to talk around among the neighbors about buying Gordier's cattle and finally talked to him about it. Later on they reported that they had bargained with him for everything he had. Not far from the middle of March they went to him and told him that he had a siek cow over on the south side of the river opposite the mouth of Willow creek, and that they would go along and show him where she was if he wanted them to do so. The three men went over there. Hines says that on the way home from Carson valley Ed- wards told him they struck the river a little too high up and turned and went down it. They were riding side by side and Mullen dropped back a little and shot the Frenchman through the head with his pistol. They took off his elothes and put them into an old Indian campoodie elose by and set it on fire. This was the shot and the fire told about in the story of the expedition to Cold Springs after the Indians who stole the cattle from Adams. They put a rock on his body, bent his knees up against it, and
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then tied a rope around him to keep it in place. Then they took the body to the river and sunk it in a deep hole. That night they started for Genoa.
As soon as they were gone Snow, whom they had hired to work for them, took possession of the Frenchman's cabin and gave out that Mullen and Edwards had bought everything he had and that the three men had gone to Genoa to get the money from Lucky Bill to pay him off. The neighbors thought it rather queer that Gordier should leave so suddenly, but did not give the matter a great deal of thought at the time. Mullen and Edwards went to Genoa and stayed a few days and then came home by the way of Quincy. They said that at Genoa Gordier had met an old ship- mate and as soon as he got his money both of them started for France. Mullen and Snow immediately moved into Gordier's cabin and took possession of all his property. Some of the cows had been loaned or rented to Malcom Bankhead and others, and these people they told to keep on milking the cows until they called for them. Gordier had a younger brother, some say there were two of them, on the other side of the mountain, and while the party was gone to Goose lake he wrote to some one in the val- ley and inquired about his brother. When he heard that he had sold out and gone to France he wrote back and said there must be something wrong about it, for his brother would not leave the country without coming to see him. That and some other things that happened made people think that there was something not just right about the Frenchman's selling out. The Goose lake party got home not far from the first of May, and as this was the only diversion to be had in the country, the boys thought they must have a dance to celebrate the event. There were the three Mor- mon women and they managed to get three or four more and had their dance, probably at Arnold's hotel in Rooptown. At this dance the Gordier matter was talked over more or less, for by this time people were very suspicious that the Frenchman had met with foul play. Cornelison told the writer that the next morning after the dance a few of them were talking about it and one man said "Boys, do you remember the shot we heard the night we camped at the mouth of Willow creek?" Being answered in the affirmative he said "That was the shot that killed Harry Gor- dier." The evening before the dance Sylvester said to Hines, "Bill Edwards will be there to-night and in the morning you tell
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him to come around this way on his road home, for I want to sec him." Hines did so and Edwards, who was living at the eabin on Lassen creek, came down through Toadtown on his way home. Sylvester took him to one side and told him that people thought there was something mysterious in regard to their buying the Frenchman out, and if he and Mullen were going to live in the country, they had better show their neighbors that everything was all right. Edwards said they would do so and went on his way. He must have gone down and told Mullen at once, for the same day they went to Bankhead and told him they were going to leave the country for a while. They also told him to keep on milking the cows, and if any more of their cows came around with young calves to take them up and milk them, too. They rode away and Mullen was never seen again by any one in this valley. It looks as though that when they left here their idea was to go somewhere below and have Snow drive the cattle to them, for they left with him written orders, said to be from Gordier, on the men who had any of the cattle in their possession to turn them over to him. When Mullen left here he rode a horse that belonged to him. This horse was called "Bald Hornet" and was a bald-faced chestnut sorrel that weighed about a thousand pounds. He was a quarter- horse, and as he had run in the races at Quincy in 1857 and made a good showing, he was quite a noted horse throughout the moun- tains from Quincy to Sacramento. Evidently Mullen was afraid to ride a horse that was so well known, for after leaving here he traded him to Edwards. Probably when they got into the moun- tains and talked the matter over they came to the conclusion that their lives were in danger and they separated, Edwards going to Genoa and Mullen no one knows where. There was a rumor that he went to the Fraser river mining excitement and was killed there, but it was only a rumor and nothing more was ever heard about it.
When it became known that the two men had left the valley the suspieion that Gordier had met with foul play became stronger than ever. In a day or two John Neale, Dow, Tutt, "Mormon Joe" Owens, John Mote, a half-breed Cherokee, and a few others, seven or eight in all, went down on the south side of Susan river a little below the month of Willow creek to see if that fire and gunshot had anything to do with the disappearance of the Frenchman. They found that an old campoodie had been
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burned where they saw the fire and they found some metal but- tons in the ashes. They also found some dried blood on the ground near the ashes. All around there the ground had been tram- pled by the feet of men and animals and the tracks of both led to a deep hole in the river. The ground there was trampled a great deal, too, as though work of some kind had been going on. Mote. and perhaps some of the others, dived into the hole to see if they could find anything, but the water was very cold and they could not stay down long enough to hunt around very much. Finally they gave it up and went home. But there was considerable excitement in the valley and they kept working at the case. Dr. Slater analyzed some of the dried blood and said it was the blood of a human being.
A few days after the party from the upper end of the valley had been there William Bankhead and a crowd of white men and Indians went over to the river. They hunted around and dived into the river where the others did, but did not find anything. A day or two afterwards, Bankhead, Frank Johnson, and a few other men went there again and took with them the materials with which to make a small raft, and a long pole to the end of which they had fastened the hook from a logchain. They put the raft together, and as it would float only one man, Bankhead got onto it with the pole and they pushed it out a little distance from the shore. He scraped the bottom of the river a few times with the end of the pole and then the hook caught on something which he thought was the root of a willow. He pulled hard and brought it to the surface-it was Gordier's body coming up feet foremost -and when he saw what it was he almost fell off the raft. It had been in the water about six weeks and was a gruesome object. They tied a rope to it and allowed it to sink into the river and stay there until they could make preparations to take it away. As soon as possible an inquest was held, William and Malcom Bankhead and Frank Johnson being some of the members of the jury, and the verdict rendered was that Gordier came to his death at the hands of Mullen and Edwards and that they believed that Snow and Lucky Bill were their accomplices. The murdered man was buried in the graveyard about four miles southeast of Bankhead's. (Mrs. Isaac Coulthrust says that she dreamed where the Frenchman's body was and told the men to look there for it.)
The finding of the Frenchman's body put the fat into the
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fire, so to speak, and almost every one took a hand in investigating the matter. Elliott and Gilpin had been very friendly with Mullen and the two men with him and Elliott knew that Edwards had killed Snelling, although he claimed he was justifiable in doing it. Elliott also knew that Thorrington had visited these men early that spring. A meeting was held in the upper end of the valley and Elliott was sent for. He was told that things looked a little suspicious for him and that he must help bring the guilty parties to justice. F. and S. say : "Elliott was one of a committee appointed to work up the case, the others being Junius Brutus Gilpin, John Neale, Frank Johnson, and Charles Adams." They had an idea that the men they wanted had gone to Genoa, and as soon as he could get ready, probably before the middle of May, Elliott went down there to find out.
After Mullen and Edwards went away Snow continued to live in Gordier's cabin and busied himself in picking up the cattle. It wasn't very long before he happened to be at Bank- head's when some of the committee were there and they took him out to one side and began to question him. He immediately became very angry and tried to draw his pistol, but they pre- vented him from doing it. He denied knowing anything about the murder of Gordier and was very impudent and abusive, cursing them and calling them every vile name he could think of. They took him along with them and from this time he was held in custody, just where it is impossible to tell, as long as he lived. The last place he was kept was at the cabin of L. N. and J. H. Breed. This cabin was on the place taken up by Isadore about four miles southeast of Bankhead's. It was near a spring on the east side of the road running north and not far from where that road left the one that ran southeast down the lake. There are many stories told about the hanging of Snow and after the lapse of so many years it is hard to tell which one of them is true. Some say he was given a trial and sentenced to be hanged in a short time. That night they heard that the Plumas county officers were coming to take him away so they raised a small crowd and hanged him as quickly as they could. Others say there was nothing private about it. They say he was given a fair trial before a judge and a jury of ten men and the witnesses were sworn. Another story is that they commenced to try him and a mob broke up the trial and took him away and hanged him.
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After getting all the information possible the writer believes that the truth is something like the following: John Neale and a crowd from the upper end of the valley went down to the Breed cabin. Probably they were joined by others as they went along and also by men living in that vicinity. There may have been a sort of trial or investigation that lasted into the night. Snow insisted that he was innocent and was very abusive and defiant, and finally dared them to hang him. About two thirds of a mile south of east of the cabin and a quarter of a mile from the lake there were two pine trees. The larger tree, the one farthest from the lake, had a large limb growing at almost a right angle with the trunk and twelve or fifteen feet from the ground, and to this tree the crowd went taking Snow with them. They intended to show him what hanging was like and probably thought they could scare him into making a confession. They pulled him up and let him hang a while and then let him down and questioned him. He said he knew nothing to tell and cursed and defied them. They pulled him up again, let him down and questioned him, and the result was the same. He was pulled up the third time and this time they let him hang too long-when they let him down he was dead. He was defiant to the last and died, so William Bank- head says, cursing them and telling them to bring on their strings. It is said that they dug a hole under the tree and buried him in it without even wrapping him up in a blanket, and his grave was never marked in any way. In spite of all that was said by any one else, the settlers who lived here at that time always believed that Snow knew all about the murder of Gordier. In an article taken from the "Marysville News" the " Alta Cali- fornian" says that Mr. Whiting of Whiting's Express told that this took place Monday, June 7th, 1858, and probably this is right or nearly so.
THE ARREST OF EDWARDS, LUCKY BILL, AND OTHERS AND THEIR TRIAL, AND THE EXECUTION OF EDWARDS AND LUCKY BILL
The greater part of the following was told by William Dow and Fred Hines, but Wm. H. Clark, R. W. Young of Crescent Mills, Plumas county, D. R. and Theodore Hawkins of Genoa, Nevada, Joseph Frey of Reno, Nevada, who says he has been a resident of that state since 1854, Emanuel Penrod, who was one of the pioneers of the Comstock Lode, and Orlando Streshly each gave more or less information.
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After leaving Honey Lake valley Edwards went directly to Genoa. He did not show himself in public and as soon as possible had a talk with Lucky Bill. From this time until his arrest he tried to keep out of sight and Thorrington kept him supplied with provisions. It is said that Edwards wanted his horse sold so that he could go to South America.
T. and W. say that William B. Thorrington, "Lucky Bill," was a native of Chenango county, New York, and that in 1848 he went from there to Michigan with his parents. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California and in 1853 became a resident of Carson valley in western Utah. "His education was a moderate one, due to the fact that his excessive animal spirits would not permit close application to study when attending school in his boyhood. In frame he was large, weighing two hundred pounds, and with broad ample shoulders, stood six feet and one inch in height ; his head covered with glossy curly hair colored like the raven's wing, was massive, with a high elassie forehead, and large gray mirthful eyes, looking out from beneath projecting eyebrows, that indicated strong perceptive faculties. The country had no handsomer or merrier citizen than Lucky Bill, a name given to him because of the fortunate result that seemed to attend his every action. He had become comfortably wealthy. It has been noted that the Reeses turned over a large amount of property to him in January, 1855, including their Eagle Valley ranch." This was for $23000 previously loaned to them. "He became the successor to Israel Mott in the owner-ship of the Carson Canyon tollroad and the possessor of valuable ranch property in the valley. In character he was both generous and brave, and his sympathies were readily aroused in favor of the unfortunate; or, which in frontier parlance would be termed 'the under dog in the fight', regardless of the causes that had placed the dog in that position. In addition to his farming and toll road pursuits, he was a gambler, and a very successful one, his specialty being the 'thimble rig game.'" (This was virtually the same thing as the walnut shell game.) T. and W. (Thompson and West's history of Nevada) then tell of two or three instances where he took the part of unfortunate emigrants who were being mis- treated, punished their persecutors, and then relieved their wants and sent them on their way rejoicing. The writer remembers of reading a story written by a woman who said that when she and
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her husband reached Genoa on their journey across the plains, they were imposed npon by some hard characters. Lucky Bill happened to notice it and he drove away their tormentors and helped them to continue on their journey. She ended her story by calling the vengeance of Heaven down upon the heads of those who hanged him. D. R. Hawkins says: "To me, as a boy, Lucky Bill appeared a noble character ; grand in physique, gentlemanly in deportment, neat in dress, kind in disposition and to his family, generous and charitable, and the best story-teller I ever heard. I have sat up all night listening to his humorous anecdotes and quaint talks and never felt a blush at any erudity in his language although they were related to a bar-room audience." T. and W. also say : "Numerous instances of generosity like this are remem- bered by the early settlers of Nevada of this strange frontiers- man, many of whose impulses were such as ennoble men. His associations in life, however, had been with individuals that had led him to look upon murder or theft as a smaller crime than would be the betrayal of a person who claimed his protection, though that man might be fleeing from justice after having com- mitted either or both of these offences. This peculiarity of Lucky Bill being known to all, both good and bad citizens, transformed him into an obstruction, sometimes to the execution of justice upon criminals, and this characteristic proved his ruin."
To tell it plainly, he was a "sure thing" gambler and a man who would shelter and protect any one who asked him to do so, no matter how foul a crime that person was guilty of. Thor- rington moved from the state of New York to Marshall, Calhoun county, Michigan. A man named Mott Wells, who knew him in New York, said he left there on account of a forgery he com- mitted. Dow and some of the other Honey Lakers knew him, or knew of him, in Michigan. He was known there as a gambler and an associate of bad characters. In the spring of 1852 he went from this coast back to Michigan, and when he returned he induced three young girls to come with him. They got as far as Peoria, Illinois, and there were overtaken by the parents and the friends of the girls. Two of the girls went back to their homes, but one named Martha Lamb came on out here with him.
The writer has seen several published accounts of the murder of Gordier and the events that followed it; but none of them told the facts in the case, and none of them told much about
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what took place in Honey Lake valley. The facts in the preceding paragraph were told by Dow and other men of undoubted veracity.
When Rough Elliott arrived at Genoa he went to Lucky Bill and told him that he and Edwards were great friends and that he wanted to see him. When they met Elliott seemed greatly pleased to see him and told some plausible story to account for his being there. He associated with the two men as much as possible and soon became very friendly with Lucky Bill and his crowd. A few days after Elliott had gone Gilpin took a fine mare that belonged to Charles Adams and went down to Genoa, too, and after he had become a little acquainted he told Lucky Bill that he had stolen the animal. He stayed there and he and Elliott together worked up the case. They went to Major Ormsby, a resident of Genoa and a prominent Mason, and told him about Edwards and what they were doing there, and he promised them the help of the Masons when they got ready to act. When they became acquainted Lueky Bill made a confidant of Elliott and told him a good many things about himself, and claimed to have considerable knowledge of what the criminals of this coast were doing. Elliott wrote all this and also what Edwards told him and saved it for future use. The news that Gordier had been murdered and that the Honey Lakers believed Edwards had gone to Genoa soon reached the Carson valley, and the people of that section were, many of them, on the lookout for him. J. A. Thomp- son, the expressman, who wrote to the "Sacramento Union" from Genoa on June 14th, says: "The notorious Bill Edwards who murdered Snelling has been seen around here the last four days, and has been pursued by a number of persons. Yesterday they found him on the trail above Daggett's and captured his horse. They shot six or eight times at Edwards, he returning their fire twice. He fled to the mountains and got away. His horse proved to be the celebrated race horse 'Bald Hornet.' "
When Elliott had learned what he wanted to know, he made his plans and sent word to the Honey Lakers to raise a crowd and come down there. In twenty-four hours after the message was received the following men were ready to start : Fred Hines, U. J. Tutt, Mat. Craft, William Dow, Henry Arnold, D. M. Munchie, Thad Norton, Richard Thompson, Antone Storff, Tom. McMurtry, John C. Davis, John H. Neale, "Mormon Joe"
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Owens, John Mote,-Henderson, William N. Crawford, William H. Clark, A. G. (Joe) Eppstein, Frank Johnson, William Meyers, R. J. Scott, Cap. Hill, R. W. Young,-Hughes, Alec. Chapman, George Lathrop, Thomas J. Harvey, Thomas Watson, John Baxter, Mark W. Haviland, Capt. William Weatherlow, and- McVeagh. There is a possibility that instead of Hill another man went, but it is impossible to tell who it was. Probably the two members of the committee were the leaders, but there may have been others who took part in the leadership. Young and Hughes were from Indian valley. Young says he happened to be in the valley on business and was at Streshly's place the morning that some of the crowd gathered there to make a start. Some of them were acquainted with him and they wanted him to go along. He tried to beg off by saying that his horse would not stand the trip, but Streshly said he would furnish him with a splendid riding mule and a gun. Young then agreed to go, and Streshly brought out an old pack mule and a gun about two feet long and of a very curious make.
Those in the upper end of the valley started in the morning and as they went along the others fell in with them. The gather- ing place was at Cap. Hill's ranch a little northeast of where Milford now stands. The date of starting is uncertain. If they went through in two nights, as Dow thinks, the start was made on the 12th of June. If it took them three nights to make the trip, as Hines thinks, they started on the 11th. Dow says they started late in the afternoon and at dusk were at the creek in Long valley about nineteen miles on their way. They rested their horses a while and that night went on to Peavine springs. Hines thinks they left Hill's ranch about dark. There was noth- ing but a trail until they got to the Beckwourth Pass emigrant road; and as it was a dark night they had to ride slowly, follow- ing one another single file along the trail, or picking their way through the brush. At daylight they reached a place on the Long Valley creek a little above where the Constantia station is now. They stayed there that day, keeping out of sight in the willows the best they could. To the west and not far away was the cabin of "Whitehead" Ross, the first building they had seen on the trip. He was not at home at the time, probably being away on one of his frequent visits to the mines or the towns of Sacramento valley. Something has already been told about this
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