USA > California > Monterey County > History and biographical record of Monterey and San Benito Counties : and history of the State of California : containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present. Volume I > Part 45
USA > California > San Benito County > History and biographical record of Monterey and San Benito Counties : and history of the State of California : containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present. Volume I > Part 45
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der, and was composed of Vasquez, Leiva, Chavez, Moreno and Gonzales. Abdon Leiva was forced into it by his wife, the remainder of the gang from the very love of lawlessness. The tragedy at Tres Pinos, where Snyder's store was robbed and three men murdered, the first work of this band, aroused the whole state. When the news was flashed over the wires to Sheriff Adams, of Santa Clara, he in turn telegraphed to Sheriff Wasson, of Monterey county, to join in the pusuit. Those were red-hot times; things kept getting darker, and in spite of every effort on the part of the vigilantes these fellows went scot free. Governor Booth offered $15,000 for Vasquez, dead or alive. Did this fact make him afraid of traitors and therefore more cautious ? Not a bit. Every day brought with it new rob- beries. He and Chavez alone held up the stage at Coyote Hole station, on the Owen River road, captured and robbed eighteen passengers and left them in the lurch. It has been truly said that it is a long road that has no turn. Vasquez was traced to Greek George's house near Los An- geles, where he was captured after a severe skirmish. He was taken to San Jose, tried for murder, found guilty and hanged March 19, 1875.
Vasquez' passion was a love for women. No- body would ever take this well-mannered young fellow, with his low, mellow voice, for the worst bandit, except Murrieta, that ever bulldozed the state. When Vasquez went to Cantua Cañon several months before the raid and murder at Snyder's store he met Leiva's wife, a pretty, plump woman of twenty-five. Leiva was a Chilean, several years older, a fine looking, strap- ping young fellow, with an honest, open, frank face, but not the ladies' man that Vasquez was. Rosario fell in love with Vasquez, and it was through her persuasions that her husband joined the latter's band of murderers. Leiva's first wrong-doing was at Tres Pinos; after that crime he joined the two men in their daily life and travels. Rosario was with them. The close at- tention to Vasquez had ripened into intimacy ; at last the truth dawned upon Leiva, arousing all his vengeful passions, but not until they were camping at Rock Creek Cañon did the crash
come. By a ruse he managed it so he could. play detective on them. He had given his wife all the love of a strong soul, had even committed crime to please her, and his heart was broken. He lay down on the ground, and, shaking with sobs, cried in dumb agony the whole night through.
When day broke the strength of the man came back to him. He got up, quietly dressed himself, then went to his chief, Vasquez, and told him all that he had seen and that he dissolved part- nership. It is said that Vasquez made no reply ; with the parting words, "You are my enemy forever," Leiva took his wife and children to Elizabeth Lake. There he left his family and on horseback started back to have his revenge, his first step toward the capture and death of the- betrayer of his home and happiness. He knew Vasquez's plans, his hiding places and the ones who always spied for him. The most complete- vengeance that he could make would be when he delivered himself up, betray Vasquez to the authorities, turn state evidence and send Vasquez to the gallows. With this plan laid out in his mind he rode to Delano's station and gave him- self up to Deputy Sheriff Johnson, of Los Angeles county. Vasquez secretly followed them to Elizabeth Lake and got there just after Leiva had gone. He persuaded the woman to leave her two children and go with him, and in the San Bernardino mountains they managed to evade the officers for several months. At last the officers got so close on Vasquez's trail he had to leave the woman and flee ; but it was of no use to run. Leiva, like a wolf after blood, had ar- ranged a decoy at Greek George's house near Los Angeles, where after being riddled with shots Vasquez was finally captured. At first it was thought he was killed, but no; he had been born to be hanged. After Leiva gave himself up and his workings leaked out, Vasquez's friends were so bitter that they swore that they would kill Leiva, but he was sent to jail for protection. The trial of Vasquez was the most exciting of the times. He was tried in San Jose; Judge Collins of San Jose and Tully were for the pris- oner. Attorney Briggs made a telling speech against the prisoner, followed by Judge Collins.
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Judge Collins' speech was the finest I ever listened to, says Mr. Leese, and there was not a dry eye in the court room, packed from cellar to ceiling. Even the judge himself broke down. All was to no purpose, however; Leiva's testi- mony proved that Vasquez killed two of those slaughtered at Tres Pinos. Convicted of murder, he was sentenced to be hanged at one o'clock P. M., March 19, 1875. There is not much more to tell except that Vasquez ate his salt like a man. His neck was broken on the drop, and all that is left of one of the most desperate murderers of the Pacific coast is a handful of ashes in the Santa Clara cemetery.
Another chapter on the darker side of Mon- terey's history is told by Edward McGowan as follows :
About ten o'clock at night, on the 18th of June, 1856, at the city of Monterey, California, in the Washington Hotel, Mr. Lewis Belcher was shot while talking to a friend at the bar. The shot was fired by an assassin from behind a pillar in the corridor. At the time the bar- room was full of people. The shot was no doubt fired from a revolver, and took effect in the abdomen, making a large hole and tearing the intestines fearfully. Mr. Belcher lingered until two o'clock the next day when he died from the effects of his wound. He was a man of en- terprise and courage, and at the time of his death was acting as receiver of the estate of the orphan heirs of Jose Maria Sanchez, about which so much bad blood had been engendered for several years previous, growing out of the transactions of William Roach, Sheriff of Mon- terey county, who administered on the estate of Sanchez. The killing of Belcher made the seventh violent death up to that period, growing out of this affair, for a beggarly sum of $70,000, which seemed to do no one else any good except the "ancient fraternity of constables, scribes and lawyers." On his death bed Belcher accused William Roach, Anastacia Garcia and Franklin Foote, one or the other, as his murderer. He also made affidavit that Aaron Lyons and John Robinson were concerned in the assassination. They were both arrested and examined on the charge, but there being no kind of proof against
them they were at once discharged as guiltless, as they proved by a number of witnesses they were nearly half a mile distant at the Shades tavern at the time of the occurrence, and the citizens of the town acquitted them of any com- plicity in the matter, although they were among the bitter enemies of Belcher, whose names were legion in Monterey and adjoining counties.
Jose Maria Sanchez, a native Californian, re- sided in the county of Monterey. He was mar- ried and had a family of children, and was con- sidered at that time one of the richest men in California, for he owned landed estates in Mon- terey and Santa Clara counties and large bands of cattle, and it was also known that he possessed in gold coin $60,000 or $70,000. He was acci- dentally drowned near his house in 1852. A short time after his death his widow married a man named Gordon Williams. Lewis Belcher became one of the bondsmen of William Roach who administered on the estate of Sanchez, and Roach got possession of all the money and prop- erty belonging to the estate. Belcher, his friend and bondsmen, imagined that he had a right to handle some of the money, but Roach would not allow this or concede that he has any right, title or interest in the matter, and this caused a bitter feeling to spring up between the parties, and in which the friends of each took a prominent part. Gordon Williams, the husband of the widow Sanchez, was killed by the blowing up of the Jenny Lind steamboat on the 12th of April, 1853, and his widow a short time after married a Doctor Sanford who took sides with Belcher, and the feud, if possible, became bitterer between the parties. Belcher now commenced legal proceedings against Roach, and by process of law had him arrested and taken to Stockton, and lodged in jail. The jailer was friendly to Roach, and he and the jailer fled from prison, went to Monterey county, and bid defiance to Belcher and the law. Roach had friends in Monterey, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, who harbored him and the jailer. Belcher and Dr. Sanford were not idle. They commenced organizing their friends in these three counties. Belcher had around him a number of desperate men as a body guard. Bill Burns, a brave but
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desperate man, of great influence among his familiars, was the leader of them, and a Spaniard, Anastacia Garcia, who was also noted as being a desperado, when wanted, came to the front. Belcher then with his men began a chase after Roach, determined to take him, dead or alive, and his friends were as fully determined to pro- tect him, and had the parties met, no quarter would have been shown or asked by either side.
I fled from San Francisco on the 27th of June. The hunt was up for Roach at this time. One day at noon I rode up to the gate of a house in the county of Santa Cruz and asked for a drink of water, giving as an excuse for not dismounting, that I had hurt my back by being thrown from my horse, which was a fact. Three men were putting wheat into sacks. They eyed me closely. Only one of them came forward, he that gave me the water. I heard one of the other men say: "That is him." I thought I had been identified, and, after drinking the water, joined my companions, Dennison and the guide Ramon Valencia, who were a short dis- tance in advance. I informed Jim what had happened. He scolded a little. as I had acted against the programme adopted when we began our journey. I was not to stop to talk to any one on the road unless Dennison was with me. We left the ranch several miles behind. I subse- quently learned that the man had mistaken me for Roach.
Dr. Sanford, the husband of the widow San- chez. took a leading part in favor of Belcher, and he and a brother-in-law of Roach met in a barroom in the town of Monterey. A dispute rose between them, when Sanford drew a pistol, and would have shot McMahon, Roach's brother- in-law, but was prevented by a bystander in the room. McMahon then went out and obtained a pistol, came back and confronting Sanford. gave him notice to defend himself. Both fired at the same time, and both fell dead! This left the former Mrs. Sanchez a widow for the third time. A brother-in-law of Dr. Sanford's named Atwood, and a warm friend of the doctor's dur- ing the excitement and trouble put an end to his life by blowing out his brains with a pistol. After the death of Sanford and McMahon
things became still hotter for the interested par- ties. There were two gentlemen in Monterey, Isaac Wall (Speaker of the House of Repre- sentatives of California in 1853) and the other named Williams-both strong friends of Roach's. They started on a Monterey tour with arms and ammunition and a pack mule to carry their blankets and camp utensils. The Belcher men supposed they were going to meet Roach, and that they had a large sum of money packed on the mule. Wall and Williams were waylaid on the Salinas plains and both were shot and killed, and Wall was also slit down the back in several places with a knife.
When the news of this murder got to the city of Monterey, it spread rapidly through the county and produced universal consternation. The act was instantly placed to the account of the Belcher party, and that Anastacia Garcia had been paid to commit the deed. This made another pretext for revenge, when more than likely the assassination was for robbery. The Sheriff summoned a posse of six men to go to the Mission of Carmel, outside of Monterey, where Garcia resided, and arrest him. It was dark before they arrived at the dwelling, and the house being closed and the doors fastened, the Sheriff demanded admittance; and Garcia re- plied by firing a volley out of his house at the Sheriff and deputies, and succeeded in killing three of them, and finally making good his escape. When this news reached Monterey the people were worked up to a still higher state of excitement. Nothing was heard of Garcia for some time, and it was supposed he had fled the country and gone to the State of Sonora, Mexico. Still the chase after Roach continued, who deemed it prudent to keep out of the way of Belcher and his body guard. Belcher now began to maneuver to find the oft-made widow a new husband, and made a match between her and one of his friends, George Crane, who, after his marriage, was called George IV, being the lady's fourth husband within four years. I knew Crane. He was a fine looking young fellow, and before the ceremony was performed the widow deeded to him all of her immense prop- erty, which he managed to squander by spending
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it among his friends, and in being elected to the Legislature from his county. The last time I met Crane was in New York at the close of the rebellion. He is dead. Crane did not come up to the expectations of Belcher and they dis- agreed upon family matters in settling up the Sanchez estate.
The Belcher and Roach feud was still raging at fever heat. It was understood, if they met, there would be "war to the knife and knife to the hilt." Belcher had greatly the advantage over Roach, as he owned large tracts of land and immense herds of cattle, and was free to go where he pleased so long as Roach did not get the "drop" on him. The Vigilance Com- mittee of 1856 was fully organized in San Fran- cisco, and Belcher at once came to the city and became a member of that body, pledging them his influence in the counties of Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Monterey, and boasted of the large number of men he would bring to his aid and assistance in those three counties. He was going to adopt the Vigilance Committee dodge of ridding himself of his political and personal enemies. He repaired with five or six of "his men" to the city of Monterey, where he was killed, and by his death the organization of the "cow county" vigilantes was abandoned. Well it may be said that "man proposes, but God disposes." At his death Belcher was sup- posed to be a very rich man. He left an amiable wife and one child to mourn his untimely end. Mrs. Belcher had great confidence in the friends of her late husband, who administered on his estate, of which, when wound up, I am informed' the widow and her daughter did not receive one dollar. Belcher was an illiterate man, and after his death several notes of hand for large sums were brought against the estate, in every case signed Lewis Belcher, his mark, with attest- ing witnesses.
After the death of Belcher, Roach considered himself free from personal danger, and he trav- eled around the country as usual in all his ac- customed haunts and places. His greatest foe was dead, and the bloody scenes and angry feuds appeared to be buried in the past, and finally Anastacia Garcia was known to be at the
Mission of Carmel unmolested. After awhile he became emboldened and ventured into the city of Monterey, where he was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in several of those terrible assassinations and cast into prison in that city. Several of his old friends and asso- ciates met in secret conclave after his arrest and came to the conclusion that he knew too much about them and their diabolical acts, and fore- seeing that he might be induced to make a clean breast of it to the authorities, which would con- sign them to a long term in the State Prison or the hangman's noose, went to the jail and hanged him, which they considered a master stroke of policy. Under the pretext of wishing to see him, or being in collusion with the prison authorities, they gained admittance to the jail, and when Garcia saw them he was overjoyed to meet his old friends, as he supposed they had come to release him from prison; but his joy was of momentary duration, for they bound him with a lasso, throwing one end of it around his neck, and hanged him to a wooden beam in the prison and left him dead-still hanging-adopt- ing the desperate noble's motto, that "dead men tell no tales." The jailer found him and cut him down. After the death of George Crane his widow had but a small portion of her first husband's (Sanchez). immense estate left, and she bought a piece of land near San Juan in Monterey county. She married again for the fifth time, and is still living on the place near San Juan. William Roach retired to the farm he owned in Santa Cruz county, and by his in- dustry and labor in cultivating the ground, sup- ported his family. Everything appeared to have been forgotten, and he was seemingly happy in the bosom of his family. At times he would speak freely of past events, in which he had been a prominent actor. This indiscretion spread an alarm of fear among some of those who had acted with him, and they plotted his death. He was in Watsonville transacting some business that kept him rather late in the night. He mounted his horse, perfectly sober, and journeyed toward home. During the night the horse, with- out its rider, returned home. About three miles from Watsonville there was a stopping place,
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and nearby the house a well. One of the people on the ranch went to the well in the morning to draw water and discovered the body of a man in it. He gave the alarm, and when the body was drawn out it was identified as that of Will- iam Roach, the last victim of the Belcher-Roach vendetta murders, which cost ten or more citi- zens their lives-many useful, and some of them good men, nearly all of whom were personally known to myself. I have narrated the tale as gathered from the mouths of acquaintances. I "nothing extenuate, nor aught set down in mal- ice."
In the olden time the Corsicans adopted the vendetta mode of revenge upon those who had killed their relatives. We read of Italian bravos hired to kill by the stiletto the enemies of the rich men and nobles of their country; and also in modern times, that the Esquimaux of the Mackenzie river urge the vendetta, but do not consider it manly to kill a relative's murderer in fair fight. The avenger steals upon him at night when he is asleep, and, having slain his victim, draws two or three lines across his face, and is recognized as a hero! A roving band of these Esquimaux would have been quite an addition to the Executive Committee of Vigilance of 1856, to have been added to the list of their hired braves, of their whiter brethren and "purest and best citizens."
I subjoin some extracts from the San Fran- cisco Herald of June 21st, 1856, in relation to the Belcher murder :
DYING DECLARATION OF LEWIS BELCHER.
I, Lewis Belcher, being under apprehension of immediate death in consequence of a pistol shot I received last night, do hereby state that I be- lieve that one William Roach, Aaron Lyons, John Robertson, Franklin Foote, Anastacia Gar- cia and George Bushton are my assassins, and my reasons for believing this are as follows : The said Lyons, Foote, Roach and Robertson threatened to take my life about two months ago, and I know that all of said men had the most deadly animosity existing against me, and I know they were watching me last night to see when I started home. And the said George
Bushton was watching my horse. I am con- fident in my own mind that they are my assas- sins. I was the principal witness in a prosecution against Foote upon a charge of grand larceny, and the case was to be examined the day after I was shot.
(Signed) LEWIS BELCHER.
Mr. Belcher stated before he died that he was the son of John Belcher, formerly of Orange Co., New York. At the time of his death he was about 32 years old, and was in the full possession of his faculties up to within a few minutes of his death. He was a stout, well built, handsome man, had seen much of frontier life, both in California and Missouri; but pos- sessed of little of the advantages of education, and as he was a true friend to the backbone, so he hated his enemies with an abiding and consuming hatred ; this is not to say that he was not ready to forgive and forget.
So the Big Eagle of Monterey is dead. It is not often we shall look on the like of Lewis Belcher again. His bitter and hating enemies can produce no beginning of a man of his manly and courageous character. He died like a lion, saying to his friends: "They didn't give me a chance, but shot me down like a dog. They were afraid to meet me face to face. My poor wife and child, God knows how they will fare in this country so full of lawyers and laws and such bad justice." A few minutes before he expired he said: "I can't see the light. I feel I am dying-I am going." He died as quietly s a child. It is to be hoped his enemies are now satisfied with the seventh death and five wounded.
His body was taken to San Jose this morning, accompanied by a guard of six citizens of Mon- terey-Messrs. W. Curtis, M. Keating, L. Little, D. Jacks, H. DeGraw and T. Cole; besides Messrs. Burns, Williams and Jefferson, young men in his employ.
No clue has as yet been found to any circum- stances fixing the guilt on the party who com- mitted the deed. Franklin Foote, who was examined before Justice Richards, proved an alibi and was discharged, as nothing could be
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proved against him. Foote is the man who was brought up before the Justice at Stockton some months ago on a charge of aiding William Roach in his escape from Stockton jail, but was ac- quitted of the charge. It is proper to state here that the District Attorney states that, from what appeared on the examination of Foote on the charge of killing Belcher, Foote was not the man who committed the deed.
T. Beeman sworn-I was standing by the counter in the barroom of the Washington Hotel, by the side of Mr. Belcher, talking with him; Mr. Belcher stood facing the street, and I stood leaning on the counter, facing the billiard room ; I heard the discharge of firearms of some kind; think it was a pistol; immediately Mr. Belcher gave a convulsive motion of his body and said he was shot ; my first impression was that it was fired in order to frighten him, and I said, "you
are not"; he replied, "I am killed"; he then changed his position and passed around by the dining room door, still repeating "I am killed, or shot"; I then drew my pistol and left the barroom; I looked up and down the street, but saw no one on this side of the street; I should judge the pistol was fired from the porch, or very near it; I think Dr. Callaghan was the last person that came into the house that I noticed previous to the firing-from a half to two minutes before, more or less, just before firing. I saw some men standing across the street by Taboas' store; I passed over to them and asked if any of them had seen a man run from the hotel; this was on the 18th day of June, 1856, in the city and county of Monterey, State of California, between 9 and 10 o'clock P. M.
T. BEEMAN.
CHAPTER VI. TRADE AND TRANSPORTATION.
B ETWEEN trade and transportation there is an inseparable connection, and the expansion of the one depends upon the growth of the other. Previous to 1872 the limited means of transportation to Monterey, a twelve hours steamer ride or a long, tiresome journey by stage, prevented a large immigration of settlers and a slow development of the county.
There was also another obstacle to its rapid growth, the possession in the hands of a few persons, of all the grain and pasture lands, these lands having been granted in early days by the Spanish and Mexican governments to native born(a) and naturalized citizens. Used at that time as pasture lands, only their cattle and horses roamed over the grants, and from San Diego to Sonoma not an inclosure to impede the driven herd or the stampeding band. "To illustrate," said P. E. Zabala in an agricultural-fair address, "from the lot on which this hall stands to the
town of Soledad, twenty-six miles distant, there are 75,000 acres of land, seven grants, and not counting the three little towns, only 75 houses."
After the territory came into the possession of the United States, Thomas O. Larkin, Walter Colton and others claimed the Carmelo Valley by right of purchase from the Indians, for rum, red shirts and tobacco. The same authority states, "The whole site of the then town, contain- ing about three leagues, was granted away for dinners for governors and fandangoes for gen- erals or majors, or sold for a nominal amount to the old settlers, as they were called, who had pretty daughters to smile on the officials and full barrels to wet their palates." The proceeds of this sale or as much of it as "His Reverence" could spare was applied to building an edifice named after "His Holiness" himself "Colton Hall." Colton was also accused of selling the government reservation to settlers and appro- priating the money to his own use. Later these purchasers were dispossessed by the government and lost all their purchase money.
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