History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions, Part 51

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood
Number of Pages: 1206

USA > California > Alameda County > History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions > Part 51

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

On July 23, 1871, John Dorsey shot and killed Edward Donahue at Mission San José. He was indicted at the September term of the County Court, found guilty of murder in the second degree, and on November 15th, sentenced to thirteen years imprisonment in the State Prison.

This slaying was followed by another shooting affair which took place near Liv- ermore, Murray Township, on Sunday, July 30, 1871, when a man named Bradley desperately wounded another named Knuckles. To elude his creditors the former had placed a sum of money in the hands of the latter, which he refused to refund, upon which Bradley deliberately shot him in the lower jaw, tearing away the entire chin and ripping the flesh down close to the windpipe.

We have alluded to a shooting affair that occurred in Alameda, in the history of that township, in September, 1871, therefore it will be unnecessary to do more than refer to it in this place.

The following record in the celebrated Laura D. Fair case appears on file among the criminal papers of 1871 :-

COUNTY COURT, Friday Morning, January 6, 1871.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE Against Indicted for Murder.

LAURA D. FAIR.

It appearing to the Court that the Grand Jury have found and presented herein a true bill of Indictment for Murder against said defendant. It is ordered that the Clerk transmit said Indictment to the Clerk of the District Court in and for the county of Alameda.

360

HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

In the records of the Third District Court, under date February 23, 1871, we find the following :-

THE PEOPLE

LAURA D. FAIR. S vs.

No proceedings in this case were had and the Court ordered the same passed.

It will be remembered that the shooting of A. P. Crittenden took place on the ferry-boat during its passage across the bay, and upon the question of jurisdiction it was decided to have taken place within the limits of the city and county of San Francisco, the cause being accordingly transferred thither.

1872 .- On March 6, 1872, William Steele was placed on trial at San Leandro for the murder of Silverio Monjas, on a change of venue, when he was returned not guilty. The circumstances of the case we will now relate.

Of this affair the Contra Costa Gazette, of July 8, 1871, has the following: "During the past week or more, the people of the central portion of the county have been intensely excited by occurrences growing out of the disputed ownership and possession of a certain portion of the Moraga grant, about which there has been much litigation and contention for several years. The land in question is claimed on one side by Isaac Yoakum, and on the other by members of the Moraga family. Some two months or more ago the Sheriff, by writ of the District Court, was directed to put Yoakum in possession of the lands then occupied by a portion of the Moraga family, but he had, as is claimed, no authority in executing the writ, to remove and dispossess such of the Moraga children as were not named in the instrument, and he refused to do so. Yoakum, or his agent, as is said, refusing at the time to accept pos- session unless all the Moragas and their personal effects were removed. Yoakum subsequently, however, went into occupancy of the portion of the premises to which the writ entitled him; and the Moragas remained in possession as the Sheriff had left them, of a portion of the land claimed by Yoakum, and to which, as we understand, he would have been entitled under the judgment of the Court, but for an error of omission in the complaint in action, upon which the judgment was rendered in his favor. From this situation of affairs, both parties claiming and believing they had legal and equitable rights which they were justified in asserting and defending, much heat and bitterness of feeling has arisen, and several serious collisions have occurred to the imminent peril of life on both sides. Some time early in May several rifle-shots were fired at one of the Moragas, and the horse he was riding was killed by a man in the employ of Yoakum, named William Steele, who was at that time, together with one of the Yoakum boys, under one thousand dollar bonds to answer before the Grand Jury of the county.

"Since that time the temper of the hostile parties has not improved, and threat- ening demonstrations and preparations have been made on both sides, with no very serious results, however, until last Saturday (July Ist) when Silverio Monjas, one of the Moraga party, was shot by William Steele, as he affirms, in self-defense. On the previous day there had been a collision between the parties and a good deal of shooting. In the mêlée, one of the Moraga girls was struck with a gun and severely

Respectfully Jours. IS. Smithy -

361

CRIMINAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY.

hurt by Mr. Yoakum, and the horse he was riding was fatally shot. Reports of these occurrences spread rapidly about the county, and created a degree of excite- ment and manifestations of indignation seldom produced in our usually quiet and moderate community; and the excitement and indignation reached a higher pitch on Saturday, after the shooting of Monjas, threatening to culminate in a vengeful out- break against the Yoakum party. In the heat of the excitement many intemperate and improper charges and threats were made, which a cooler judgment and a fuller knowledge of facts would not justify.

"Sheriff Brown was on the ground shortly after the shooting of Monjas, on Sat- urday, and, on the information of Yoakum, found and arrested Steele. Yoakum vol- untarily offered to surrender himself to the Sheriff for examination before any com- petent magistrate, upon any charge that might be preferred against him, and accom- panied the Sheriff to Walnut Creek, where, on finding Justice Slitz was absent, they proceeded to Pacheco, and, on reaching that place, found that Justice Ashbrook was also from home. Yoakum here declined to accompany the officer farther, though he offered to give his word or bond for appearance, whenever, and for whatever purpose required. As the Sheriff had no warrant or authority whatever for detaining him, he was allowed to go; and the Sheriff has been highly censured therefor, but, so far as we can see, without the slightest good reason."

Monjas, who was shot by Steele, died about three o'clock on Saturday morning, and a Jury of Inquest, summoned and sworn on Sunday by Justice Allen, continued their inquiries until Monday evening, when the inquest was adjourned to ten o'clock, Saturday morning, at Walnut Creek.

Steele was brought before Justice Ashbrook for examination on Thursday; the People in the conduct of the case were represented by District Attorney Mills, and the defendant by Judge Blake, of Oakland. The examination was concluded on Friday afternoon, and Steele was held to answer for murder without admission to bail.

The Jury of Inquest found Isaac Yoakum to be accessory to the killing of the said Silverio Monjas.

He was brought before Justice Ashbrook, of Pacheco, on July Ioth, to answer to the charge of assault with a deadly weapon, with intent to commit bodily injury upon the person of Gunecinda Moraga, in Moraga Valley, on June 30, 1871. On motion of Judge Warmcastle, acting for District Attorney Mills, the charge was mod- ified to one of assault and battery. The defendant, contrary to the expressed desire of the Court and the prosecution, objected to trial of the charge by jury, and in defer- ence to his objection the case was tried without a jury. The trial occupied the greater part of the Ioth and IIth. The defendant conducted the case in his own behalf, assisted by a young lady, his daughter, who wrote out the testimony as given in by the witnesses. The evidence produced clearly sustained the charge, and estab- lished that the defendant had proved an aggravated assault upon the Moraga girl, striking her twice with his gun and inflicting severe hurts upon her person, while, at request of his herder, she and her sister were assisting him to drive the defendant's sheep away from the inclosure held by the Moraga family. Yoakum was found guilty . and fined five hundred dollars, but gave notice of appeal.

On the charge of being accessory with William Steele in the killing of Silverio

362

HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

Monjas, Isaac Yoakum was brought before Justice Wood, of Da nville, on July 24th, being continued till the 27th, and at the conclusion of the examination was held upon bail of three thousand dollars to answer to the charge.

Steele was tried and disposed of as mentioned above; and then held on another charge of assault with intent to murder Joaquin Moraga on April 13, 1871, when the plaintiff had his horse shot under him. The defendant was liberated on bail, to appear at the next session of the Court on this charge. The case was tried in the April term of the County Court, and the prisoner found guilty. He was sentenced to pay a fine of five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned at the rate of two dollars a day until paid.

On April 25, 1872, Rodendo alias Procopio, one of the most noted and desperate cattle-thieves that ever infested Alameda County, was convicted of the larceny of a cow. His counsel asking until the 3d of May, for time to show cause why a new trial should be granted, but which was denied after lengthy argument on that day. Procopio was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in San Quentin:

Tomaso Rodendo alias Procopio, the above-mentioned bandit, a nephew of the celebrated Joaquin Murietta, was suspected of being connected with the murder of John Rains, in Los Angeles, in 1859. He escaped from thence and came to Alameda County. In 1863 he was arrested for the murder of the Golden family in Alameda, his accom- plices being supposed to have been Narcisco Borjorques and Celano Ortego. In attempting to arrest Borjorques Sheriff Morse shot him off his horse, but he escaped to the bushes. An account of this event will be found in the history of Murray Township. Afterward he was killed in the lower country. Some time subsequently Tomaso Rodendo was arrested in Alameda County for cattle-stealing. When appre- hended he shot the Constable and got away, swimming the stream with his pistol in his mouth, persons shooting at him the while. He was subsequently captured and sent to the State Prison for seven years, his time expiring in 1870. As soon as he was set free he was suspected, and not without reason, of being connected with all the daring mail robberies in the lower counties, and had become a terror to the entire State. His seizure was effected in a restaurant in Morton Street, San Francisco, and when taken had two pistols in his belt, so arranged that he could easily draw them. When he observed two officers entering the front door he made a motion to draw a pistol, but turning about and seeing himself covered by pistols at the other door, he submitted to fate. Procopio is described as an ugly-looking desperado, over six feet high, and known to most of the Sheriffs in California.

In the month of March of this year Ah Sam, convicted of assault to murder in 1867, and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, and William Hoffman, who received five years for grand larceny, were pardoned.

1873 .- On August 12, Sebastian Flores killed Francisco Garcia near the house of Señor Higuerra, at the Warm Springs, Washington Township. It would appear that each had borne the other a grudge for a long time, and meeting at a wake held over the body of a young Spanish girl at the place stated above, a slight difficulty occurred between them during the evening. At about ten o'clock they left the house and went a short distance together down a road, where another altercation took place

363

CRIMINAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY.

between them, and Garcia received a wound from which he died on the 21st of Sep- tember. When found he lay on the ground with his throat cut. After several days' trial and an elaborate charge bý Judge McKee, the jury brought in a verdict of man- slaughter, the prisoner being sentenced on the 21st November, 1873, to five years, imprisonment in the State Prison.

1874 .- In this year the famous Harry Morse started on an unsuccessful hunt after the noted bandit, Tiburcio Vasquez, "but," says the News, " newspaper correspond- ents were too much for the hunters to contend with, for although Morse traveled by unfrequented trails, avoiding public highways and human habitations, the enterprising 'gatherer up of unconsidered trifles' kept in his wake and wafted by telegraph to the whole country the whereabouts of the searchers. Vasquez had thus been kept better posted about the movements of his pursuers than the public had been." The robber was captured, however, a few days after, May 14, 1874, by Major Mitchell's party, not far from Los Angeles. The daring deeds of Tiburcio Vasquez, the wily and active bandit, whose scoundrelisms eclipse those of Joaquin Murietta, had won for him a national notoriety. He had roamed through the southern counties of the State, and apparently held rodeos of the desperadoes of his own ilk, gathering all the outcasts together under his command, and planning and plotting and executing raids upon travelers, ranches, and towns. He had defied the authorities with the audacity of a Vidocq, and baffled every attempt at capture. The story of his repeated triumphs over law and order impressed many of his adventurous countrymen with the idea that he was a chosen leader in rascality, one of the anointed, and ought to be assisted with kindly encouragement in word and deed. The fellow had actually recruited his gang on several occasions with young Californians whom he enticed to the broad trail leading to distinction, by the narration of his triumphs and the practice of the seduc- tive arts in which he seemed to abound. Several members of his gang were boys, who bore fair reputations for honesty prior to uniting their fortunes with the outlaws. Others were young men who never were promoted to the grand larceny grade until Vasquez admitted them to his advanced class of rogues. This outlaw had a notable prison record. He entered the State Prison on August 26, 1857, from Los Angeles County, having been convicted of grand larceny and sentenced to imprisonment for a space of five years. He was then only nineteen years old. He escaped June 25, 1859, and the following August was apprehended in Amador County on a charge of grand larceny. He was convicted and returned to San Quentin to serve a term of one year. The fact of his previous escape does not seem to have been taken into consideration by the Amador Court. The term of his imprisonment began January 18, 1867, when he was sent from Sonoma County for grand larceny and held for a period of four years, after which, and until the time of his capture, he had been constantly engaged in robbing and murdering people in the southern counties.

A shocking tragedy occurred at the farm of Patrick Feeney, on the county road to Moraga Valley, about one mile and a half beyond East Oakland, on the morning of May 27, 1874, the details of which are as follows: Mr. Feeney, who lived with his wife and three small children on the farm, had at intervals for about a year previous, suffered from an affection of the brain, caused by falling on his head from a load of

364

HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

hay, and several months before it was thought advisable to commit him to the State Insane Asylum. His wife, however, desired to keep him at home, and as she appre- hended no danger to herself or children, he was not taken before a Commission of Lunacy, as was the intention at that time.

About three o'clock on the morning mentioned above, Feeney arose from his bed, complaining that he had been unable to sleep all night, and went out of the house. He returned a few minutes afterwards, and as he entered the room in which Mrs .. Feeney was lying in bed, she observed that he carefully held his hands behind him, as though endeavoring to conceal something from her view. His manner alarmed her, and she raised herself up in bed, and asked him what he was going to do. He simply answered " nothing," and at the same moment a hatchet fell from his hands to. the floor. Mrs. Feeney, now very much frightened, and springing from the bed, begged her husband to quiet himself and to do no harm. Before she had scarcely spoken, he grasped the hatchet from the floor and rushed upon the children, who had by this. time come into the room, and brandished the murderous weapon over their heads and aimed several blows at them. The mother' sprang to their rescue and warding off the blows of the maniac saved their lives, but could not prevent them from receiving several cuts upon the head, none of which, however, were of a serious nature. The insane man's. murderous freak seemed suddenly to leave him, for he turned and rushed from the house still retaining the bloody hatchet in his hand. Mrs. Feeney, alarmed for his- safety, took her children and proceeded to the house of her nearest neighbor, about a quarter of a mile distant, narrated there the horrible occurrence, and besought. the assistance of the inmates to find her husband. One of the men started immedi- ately for East Oakland to summon a physician and police aid, and another proceeded to search for Feeney. After seeking some time the insane man was found, lying upon his side, with his knees drawn up to his chin, as though to bring his body into as small a space as possible, in a hollow known as Sessions' Ravine, about three hundred yards from Feeney's house. When `discovered, his first words were that he was cold and wished some one to cover him up. He then asked for a drink of water, and the man went to the house to procure some for him. On his return to the spot Feeney had turned upon his back, and it was then discovered that he was shockingly wounded. His clothes were saturated with blood, and several streams of the life-current were issuing from wounds in his left breast. Constable Nedderman, of East Oakland, and Doctor Bamford arrived at this moment, and Feeney was carried into the house. Upon examination the doctor found no less than eight wounds in the left breast, which had been inflicted with a short knife, such as butchers use in skinning animals, which had been ground very sharp and pointed. Some of the stabs had evidently penetrated the left lung, as at every inhalation of the breath, air flowed with some force out from the wounds. Loss of blood had rendered the unfortunate man extremely weak. Feeney was represented as a man of temperate habits and the owner of about forty or fifty thousand dollars worth of property.

On August 4, 1874, Thomas Thornton and Edward Edwards were sentenced to thirteen years' imprisonment in San Quentin for the robbery of W. J. Keating in Oak- land, on the night of May 4th. When being taken over the bay, Edwards complained of the tightness of the handcuff by which he was chained to the other prisoners, and

365

CRIMINAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY.

upon examination the Sheriff found that it had cut into his flesh; he therefore loosened it one notch. The fellow returned his gratitude by quietly slipping his hand through the handcuff, and as the boat was about to leave, jumped ashore and managed to make his escape.

On the evening of Friday, December 11, 1874, San Leandro was the scene of a fearful tragedy, resulting in the death of two persons, man and wife. The circum- stances of the event are thus told: Leonard Watkins, formerly a station agent and subsequently a Deputy County Clerk at San Leandro, but more recently Deputy County Clerk of Santa Clara County, shot his wife on the street in front of the old Court House, killing her instantly, and then shot himself through the head. There was no accounting for this murder, for the lady was beyond reproach, and its com- mission must have been the result of a disordered brain.

1875 .- At the January Term, 1875, Joseph Ratto was indicted for a murderous assault upon his wife, Louisa Ratto, on October 2, 1874, and was tried, January 29, 1875, found guilty, and sentenced to one year's imprisonment in the State Prison.

On April 16, 1875, a shooting affray with fatal results occurred near the farm of a Mr. McGeery, about five miles northeast of Livermore. It seems that two brothers, George and Jack McGeery, pre-empted adjoining quarter-sections which were con- firmed to them. George McGeery died in the interim and his brother held his quarter-section. Antonio Garcia, a Spaniard, who claimed to have had previous possession, had since the death of George McGeery attempted to dispossess the brother and regain the land. The parties had been quarreling for some time, with many threats of violence on either side. On the date mentioned, as Jack McGeery was returning with his family, he was assaulted by Garcia and a man named Davis. He tried to escape from them, and sent his family on with a neighbor. Garcia and Davis continued to pursue, while McGeery retreated. Davis was armed with a re- volver, and Garcia is said to have had a knife. McGeery was unarmed. Finding they could not overtake him, the pursuers mounted their horses, which were near, and stopped McGeery near his place. Here he was knocked under the fence by one of the persons. McGeery succeeded in getting partly over the fence, when Garcia and Davis got hold of him and dragged him back. McGeery's wife then came to her husband's assistance, bringing a loaded revolver, with which the tables were quickly turned, McGeery shooting Garcia in the breast, causing death in a few moments. The Coroner's jury acquitted him, finding the killing to be justifiable.

In the April term of this year Louis Hanson was indicted for assault to murder Lizzie Hanson, his wife, on or about February 23, 1875; he was duly tried, found guilty and, May 5, 1875, sentenced to two years in the State Prison.

Joseph Newell was indicted for assault with a deadly weapon upon Thomas Harly, and July 15, 1875, was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment in San Quentin.

1876 .- During this year Alameda County was the scene of a trial more extraor- dinary than which possibly never occurred in any country. Harry D. Wakefield was arraigned for having married in several States no fewer than eight wives, all of them being alive. His mother, who was a resident of East Oakland, appears to have

366

HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

been aware of his matrimonial ventures, for when about to commit himself to the nuptial knot for the last time, she wrote to him the following few words of caution: " Be careful that you don't get deceived again-you know you've been deceived so often."

On the night of Friday, June 30, 1876, officer W. D. Thomas was desperately wounded by one Louis Strand, a Norwegian, at East Oakland, under the following circumstances: While Officer Thomas was strolling along East Eleventh Street, on the evening mentioned, he saw his assailant, whom he at once recognized, come along with a box upon his shoulders, but upon being seen Strand turned sharply up another street. This movement aroused the suspicion of Thomas, who knew that Herman Drucker had been moving his large stock of liquors into his new saloon on Thirteenth Avenue, near the Brooklyn railroad station, and that Strand had been working there the day before as a carpenter, and thought that he might have helped himself to a box of liquor. He accordingly walked after the retreating form until he overtook Strand, when he discovered that he had a large box filled with bottles on his shoulder. On being accosted Strand replied that the bottles in the box contained wine, with which he intended to celebrate the 4th of July. Thomas then asked him to set the box down. During this colloquy the parties had reached the corner of East Twelfth Street and Tenth Avenue, where there was a carpenter bench and a pile of lumber. There was a hatchet and a drawing-knife lying on top or among the bottles, and as Strand set the box upon the bench he picked these up. Officer Thomas noticed the movement, but thinking that it was done that he might more readily get at the con- tents of the box, paid no attention to it. This accommodating move and the fact that the man was a hard-working mechanic disarmed him of suspicion, and he care- lessly leaned over the box to inspect its contents. As he was thus stooping over, baring the back of his neck, Strand dealt a murderous blow at him with the hatchet, with the evident intention of severing the officer's spine, or of cutting the jugular vein. Fortunately Thomas caught a glimpse of the quick movement of his antagonist and dodged, throwing up his left arm to ward off the blow. The blade of the hatchet fell heavily across the back of the left forearm about five inches back from the wrist, open- ing a gash three and a half inches in length and in depth to the bone from one side of the arm to the other. The blow deadened the arm and stunned the officer slightly, and before he had fairly recovered, or could get out his pistol-almost before he had time to think at all, Strand aimed another blow at him, which struck the hand of the same arm, opening the flesh and muscles to the bone, from the junction-knuckle of the middle finger diagonally toward the base of the thumb for a distance of an inch and a half. This wound, however, the officer scarcely felt, as that on the arm had already benumbed the hand. Thomas kept attempting to get his pistol, but a third blow fell heavily against his right jaw, near the point of the chin, and knocked him to his knees. Luckily he fell against the pile of lumber, and this doubtless saved his life, as the contact threw him forward upon one foot and one knee and left his pistol hand and arm free. Before the would-be assassin could advance to follow up his advantage, Thomas got his pistol out and fired, almost in his face, shooting him in the forehead. This staggered Strand and he fell back a pace or two, but for which Thomas would doubtless have killed him on the spot. The ball, however, must have

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions, Part 51

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood Number of Pages: 1206

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood
Number of Pages: 1206