USA > California > Mendocino County > History of Mendocino County, California : comprising its geography, geology, topography, climatography, springs and timber > Part 36
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November 24, 1870, B. Bluckberger, Justice for Round Valley Township. November 24, 1870, ". Roach, Constable for Sanel Township. February 28, 1871, D. T. LeValley, Constablo for Arena Township.
March 13, 1871, G. Linderoos, Justice for Arena Township. October 21, 1871, S. W. Haskett, Coroner,
February 23, 1872, A. O. Cameron, Constahle for Little Lake Township.
March 20, 1872, James Fowzer, Justice for Ukiah Township. May 21, 1872, S. Blake, Constable for Calpella Township. August 19, 1872, J. Eveland, Justice for Round Valley Township. August 19, 1872, W. J. Rose, Constable for Round Valley Township.
February 11, 1873, J. Dodson, Constable for Arena Township. May 7, 1873, T'en-mile River Township established.
May 8, 1873, W. H. Myring, Constable for Big River Township. February 3, 1874, W. Billings, Justice inr Ten-mile River Township.
315
POLITICAL HISTORY OF MENDOCINO COUNTY.
. D. B. Holman
J. S. Kauble ..
J. H. Riddle IS. W. Gambrell
B. Blockberger
J. Eveland ...
F. A. Redwine.
S. W. Gambrell.
J. M. Ellls. ..
J. Eveland. .
L. L. Gale ...
E. Dooley.
J. Fowzer
J. K. Gibbons
J. K. Gibbons ..
G. W.Claxton.
G. W. Claxton
H. E. Whipple ...
w. W. Cuningham
W. B. Barnett
J. Slater.
R. Darr.
.J. Dodson.
D. Spencer
J. Bell.
J. Myring.
A. Nelson, Jr .. .
=
F. Heldt.
E. J. Stephens.
J. Neece.
F. W. Green
A. J. Seward.
B. B. Brown.
W. Burris.
J. Taylor
William Henry.
A. O. Cameron.
P. Muir ..
H. M. Jones.
J. H. Gardner
J. G. McWilliams
P. K. O'Farrell.
P. K. O'Farre'l.
H. S. Lovell
H. S. Lovell
E. Dooley.
H. Standley.
A. McNab, Jr
D. Walker.
William Foster .
J. H. Hughes
J. H. Hughes.
J. H. Hughes.
S. Haskett ...
A. A. White.
L. W. Bogys ..
R. D. Handy. .
C. W. Reinking.
C. W. Reinking A. Heeser.
G. C. Smith ..
J. M. Niel.
William Day.
C. Bailey .
T. J. Cooley ..
T. J. Cooley ....
C. T. Silberhorn
C. T. Silberhorn
J. H. Braden
J. J. Thomas
B. F. Coates.
M. J. C. Galvin
J. McGimsey .....
J. MeGimscy
J. MeGimsey .. ..
=
A. Montgomery
F. A. Redwine. ..
J. Dodson.
J. Greenwond
Tables Showing the State, County and Township Officers from the year 1859 to 1880, inclusive .-- Continued.
February 24, 1868, W. R. Boyce, Constahle for Calpella Township. May 18, 1868,'W. B. Barnett, Justice for Ukiah Township. February 18, 1869, W. O. Scott, Justice for Big River Township. February 25, 1870, R. M. Hildreth, Coroner.
February 25, 1870, J. H. Braden, Justice for Little Lake Township. February 25, 1870, J. G. Edwards, Justice for Little Take Township. February 25, 1870, J. Bell, Constable for Big River Township. February 25, 1870, W. S. Townsend, Constable for Sanel Township, February 25, 1870, W. F. Holiday, Justice for Sanel Township. April 17, 1870, F. S. Dashiel, Superintendent of Schools, April 30, 1870, T. B. Bond, Superintendent of Schools, May 16, 1870, G. S. Spaulding, Justice for Arena Township. May 16, 1870, S. W. Gambrell, Justice for Round Valley Township. May 16, 1870, J. Slater, Constable for Arena Township.
November 21, 1870, J. W. Powell, Constable for Arena Township.
February 3, 1874, H. T. Powell, Constable for Ten-mile River Townslup. February 8, 1875, W. J. Goss, Constable for Little Lake Township. Fehruary 8, 1875, B. Dashiel, Constable for Ten-mile River Township.
February 8, 1875, H. J. Abbott, Justice for Little Lake Township. February 8, 1875, A. J. Lowell, Justice for Ten-mile River Township. May 3, 1875, S. S. Stephens, Constable for Arena Township. July 6, 1875, J. P. Smith, Supervisor 1st District. November 4, 1875, E. Dooley, Justice for Sanel Township. November 4, 1875, L. R. Standley, Constable for Sanel Township. May 5 1876, G. W. Carter, Coroner.
May 8, 1876, W. H. Hofman, Constable for Round Valley Township.
May 8, 1876, H. Chadbourne, Constahle for Ten-mile River Township. July 15, 1876, A. P. Corder, Justice for Ukiah Township. February 8, 1877, C. Kendrick, Justice for Round Valley Township. July 3, 1877, W. H. Cureton, Justice for Big Biver Township. July 14. 1877, J. Gow, Constable for Big River Township.
OFFICES.
Name of Holder.
Name of Holder.
State Senator ..
R. MeGarvey .
P. H. Ryan.
Assemblyman.
L. F. Long ...
L. G. Morse ...
County Judge.
T. B. Bond
*R. McGarvey.
Sheriff ..
J. R. Moore .
J. H. Donohoe.
County Clerk ..
.J. L. Wilson.
W. L. Bransford.
District Attorney
J. S. Haile. ..
A. Yell.
County Recorder
B. W. Day.
J. J. Morrow
County Treasurer
J. Fowzer.
J. Fowzer.
County Assessor. .
W. W. Cuningham
L. T. Day. .
Superintendent of Schoole J. C. Ruddock
Coroner.
B. Dozier ..
G. T. Mason
County Surveyor.
R. B. Markle ..
T. W. Harrison
SUPERVISORO.
1st District.
+C. P. McGimsey.
B. B. Fox ..
2d
J. P. Smith ..
C. Luce
3d
J. H. Braden.
O. Simonson
4th
William Heeger
A. Gordon.
5th
+N. Iverson.
S. R. Wade
-JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
Anderson Township
J. MeGimsey
J. MeGimsey
T. S. Bayley.
C. Prather ..
Arena
G. Linderoos
George Hoytt.
Big River
«
A. Heeser.
A. Heeser ..
E. P. O'Connor
J. Agnew.
Calpella
T. J. Cooley.
C. B. Hansard,
III. W. Baker.
*Superior Judge,
+Appointed by the County Judge in accordance with an Act of the Legislature approved April 1, 1878, providing for five Supervisorial Districts in Mendocino County.
316
POLITICAL HISTORY OF MENDOCINO COUNTY.
November 24, 1870, D. Thompson, Justice for Round Valley Township.
1878-9.
1880-1.
.
.
C. W. Reinking. .
C. W. Reinking
.
P. R. Klein.
J. R. Thomas.
Tables showing the State, County and Township Officers from the year 1859 to 1880, inclusive .- Continued.
OFFICES.
1878-9.
1880-1.
Name of Holder.
Name of Holder.
Little Lake
4
J. J. Thomas
J. H. Braden.
P. T. Muir
R. E. Madden.
. Round Valley "
C. Kendriek
C. Kendrick.
Sanel
E. Dooley.
E. Dooley
J. A. Ward ..
J. T. Fortson.
Ten-mile RIver
G. W. Claxton
G. W. Claxton
H. T. Powell.
H. T. Powell.
Ukiah
A. P. Corder ..
T. L. Barnes.
=
C. Ziegler
W. W. Cuningham
CONSTABLES.
Anderson Township.
T. MeReynolds. .
M. L. Tescher ..
Arena
=
A. S. Bowen .. .
R. D. Handy.
Bly River 4
=
C. V. Street.
L. Niel.
Little Lake
w. J. Laird ..
G. N. Grubb. .
4
G. N. Grubb.
N. P. Rodgers.
Round Valley "
«
H. S. Lovell
J. L. Dunlap .. .
Sanel
=
L. Harhars .
O. R. Myers ..
Ten-mile RIver
J. H. Banker.
J. H. Banker . .
Ukiah
=
J. A. Jamison.
J. F. l'erkins. .
=
IR. M. Hildreth ..
F. Albertson ..
Notes, showing appointments made by the Board of Supervisors for the years 1878-9-1880, inclusive.
February 21, 1878, W. H. Cureton, Justice for Big River Township. February 21, 1878, G. C. Smith, Justice for Big River Township. May 9, 1876, L. D. Montague, Constable for Round Valley Township. July 3, 1878. M. O. King, Constable for Anderson Township.
July 15, 1878, C. A. Irvine, Justice for Little Lake Township.
July 20, 1878, F. W. Welle, Justice for Big River Township.
August 8, 1878, O. W. Seott, Justice for Big River Township.
April 10, 1879, M. L. Tescher, Constable for Anderson Township. November 3, 1879, J. H. Braden, Justice for Little Lake Township. February 4, 1880, G. Linderoos, Justice for Arena Township. May 6, 1880, A. A. Willilord, Justice for Calpella Township. May 11, 1880, H. W. Devilbiss, Justice for Ten-mile River Township. May 11, 1880, R. Caughey, Supervisor for the 5th Distriet. November 2, 1880, William Holden, eleeted to th : Assembly.
POLITICAL HISTORY OF MENDOCINO COUNTY.
.
C. A. Ledford.
F. M. Looney.
J. A. Reynolds.
A. S. Bowen.
A. Nelson, Jr.
S. J. Chalfant.
William Host.
A. Nelson, Jr.
Calpella
A. J. Seward.
A. J. Seward ..
A. C. Perry.
L. D. Montague.
G. H. MeDonald.
C. S. Edwards.
11. W. Devilbiss
G. A. Devilbiss ..
.
J. Eveland. .
J. Eveland ..
317
318
HISTORY OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
HOMICIDES OF MENDOCINO COUNTY.
" AND the Lord said unto Cain, Where is thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper ? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand, when thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield to thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth." Thus is graphically given us on the page of divine
history the record of the first murder that ever the sun shone upon or the eye of God looked upon ; and the woful curse pronounced upon the author of that foulest of all crimes by the Supreme Judge of the universe. And how tenaciously has that curse followed the generations of life-takers down from Cain to the present day. " A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth !" How natural when a man has taken that from a fellow-man which no power of his can restore, no amends make any adequate reparation, has taken his life and shed his blood, to become a fugitive! The first impulse is to flee. A power he knows not of until the horrid deed is done impels him on, and ere he is aware he has become a fugitive. And he becomes a vaga- bond, too! No matter if the lax operations of the courts allow him to return to society, the deed has been committed, the blood is on his hands just the same, and all who know him can see it. He can see it, too, far more plainly than others, for it is burned into his consciousness by the flaming tongue of conscience. A chasm is riven between him and human society, and wherever he goes if it is known that he has blood upon his hands, the finger of humanity is pointed at him, and he hears the voice of outraged and, oftentimes, cheated justice exclaiming in loudest tones : " He is a murderer." The vengeance of the Author of mankind justly follows him up who presumes to take the life of a human being - a being created in the image of the Divine Creator. After the waters of the flood had sub- sided, and the generations of men were again starting out to run the course of destiny, God spake to Noah and his sons, saying : "And surely your blood of your lives will I require ...... at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made he man." And when the people of his choice were on the road to enter upon the rich inheritance which had been given to their fathers hundreds of years before, he caused them to halt, and amid the thunderings of Sinai he declared to them in
LD Montaque
319
HOMICIDES OF MENDOCINO COUNTY.
language explicit, simple and grand, "Thou shalt not kill." And when the great master, Jesus, came he embraced all law, all gospel, and all ethical codes into one grand, glorious sentence which stands emblazoned upon the sacred page in letters of living light, and which shall shed forth rays of brightest effulgence all down the ages of the great eternity of God, when time shall have ceased, and only immortality exists. " Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."
On the leaves of a leather-bound memorandum book, found in the heart of an Arizona desert, the following self-reproaches and self-accusations were written in pencil. Near by it lay the half decomposed remains of a human being-a murderer-whose curse had truly been more than he could bear. How he suffered let his own simple story relate as placed on record by the same hand that had sent a human soul unprepared into the presence of its Maker.
" Blood on my hands! A blur of crimson before my eyes ! The skies are brazen above me. The sun is sick with gore. The winds from the desert shriek at me-shriek and howl; and this one word only do they wail in my ears-this dreadful word, 'Murder!' I stop my ears with my hands; I cry aloud to drown their wailing voices. I cannot drown it. I cannot keep it out. It pierces me-pierces me through and through.
" What is it? I am bewildered. Why am I flying as one who seeks the ends of the earth? Yesterday earth had no horror for me. The winds were only winds-not demon voices. Ah, now I recollect. God pity me! Pity? I forgot! He only can curse me. Annihilate me, O God! Blot me out from the universe. That would be pity.
" It all comes back to me now. It is seared in my brain. The long search for the mine; the days in the desert, in the mountains; and then, behind that hill that overlooks the ' Valley of Death' the vein of white, shining silver-wealth for a king. Then it, swept over me-my years of poverty and toil, the cold sneer of the rich as they saw my penury-and here was wealth. I would have it all-all. Not even my partner should share the treasure. I was mad. He stooped to pick up the precious metal, and I struck him-him, the friend of my toils, and one who had never failed me-him, who had shared his food with me, who had slept upon the desert, in the mountains, under the same blanket; who had nursed me in sickness-I struck him to the earth. God, I was mad! Then I was alone with my wealth; with my wealth-ah! and the dead. I had not thought of the cold still face that would lie there after the blow; of the sightless eyes staring to heaven. Then the madness left me. I threw myself beside him ; prayed him to awake; felt for the heart beat. Dead-dead! O my God! Dead !- the friend of my toils. And I was a murderer-a murderer !"
Here some leaves were missing, and the next entries legibly represent him as a veritable vagabond :---
320
HISTORY OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
" Chill with guilt and fear, White from curse and scorn, Out to the wilderness drear He stumbles through brier and thorn, With a smitten face to haunt him, Beckoning toward the west, Touching him here and there With a bruise of a ghastly stain; Stinging his numb despair To the jagged quicks of pain."
" Wandering, still wandering. Earth has no rest for my feet; and I am so weary! When I stop the earth spurns me, and the pitiless skies cry: ' On! on!' Starving ! Penniless! and there, back there, is wealth untold. Yet I dare not seek it, dare not tell of it; for there, too, is that cold, still face with the sightless eyes gazing at the heavens, and the red blood crying, ever crying to God. I wander on, and I ever feel upon my brow a brand like Cain. It is a brand of blood-hot, burning blood. I walk among men and I feel that they must see it-it is there. I pull my hat over my brow- closely; O, so closely-down to my eyes, but they must see it. The brand of Cain! The brand of Cain ! O God, it is upon me! For days I have wandered in the mountains, thirsting, hungering, trembling at the stir of a leaf. Yet death comes not to me. The wild beasts avoid me. The savages pass me by, and harm me not. I suffer, faint-but do not die."
How vividly has Thomas Hood been inspired to portray the feelings of a man whose hands have been imbued with a fellow-man's blood, and whose heart throb has been stilled by one fell blow. Aye, indeed :-
" And how the sprites of injured men Shriek upward from the sod,- Ay, how the ghostly hand will point To show the burial clod;
And tell how murderers walk the earth Beneath the curse of Cain,- With crimson clouds hefore their eyes, And flames about their brain; For blood has left upon their souls Its everlasting stain!
* * *
One that had never done me wrong- A feeble man, and old; I led him to a lonely field,- The moon shone clear and cold: Now here, said I, this man shall die, And I will have his gold!
Two sudden blows with a ragged stick, And one with a heavy stone,
One hurried gash with a hasty knife,-
HOMICIDES OF MENDOCINO COUNTY.
321
And then the deed was done! There was nothing lying at my foot But lifeless flesh and bone !
*
But lo, the universal air Seemed lit with ghastly flame,-
Ten thousand thousand dreadful eyes Were looking down in blame; I took the dead man by his hand And called upon his name.
* My head was like an ardent coal, My heart as solid ice;
My wretched, wretched soul, I knew, Was at the Devil's price ;
A dozen times I groaned-the dead Had never groaned but twice !
* *
*
Then down I cast me on my face, And first began to weep,
For I knew my secret then was one That earth refused to keep ; Or land or sea, though he should be Ten thousand fathoms deep.
So wills the fierce avenging Sprite Till blood atones for blood !
In working up the homicides that have occurred in Mendocino county, for this work, it has been our purpose as far as possible to use only the testi- mony of witnesses, and with that object in view thorough search was made through all the papers on file in the Clerk's office. Some few cases are taken from the accounts published in the newspapers at the time, hence may be considered tolerably accurate, though not so much so as the facts brought out in testimony would be. We regret very much indeed that our history must be so incomplete as it is in regard to the homicides, but this is owing to several reasons, chief of which is that in the most of the cases but little of the testimony is filed with the papers. The citizens of this State pay steno- graphic reporters for services rendered in writing all the testimony of every murder trial in the State, and these reports should be filed with the County Clerk for a matter of future reference. Some men were never brought to trial at all, while others were admitted to bail and fled the country. We have omitted none for any other reason than that we were unable to obtain the testimony in regard to it. We have given no case undue prominence only as the facts warranted it, and were more fully obtainable. Itis worthy of remark that out of the more than half hundred men who have committed murder in Mendocino county since 1859, only one man has been hung at the present writing (August, 1880). This may in some degree, account for
21
322
HISTORY OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
the fact that there have been so many murders in the county. Bonds are so casily obtainable, and the security from conviction so great that there is little to apprehend from murdering a man. In fact it is a matter of record that a man, at the spring term of the Superior Court for 1880, received a sentence to the State's prison for a term of one year longer duration for larceny than did another man at the same term for manslaughter. So long as that is the prevailing sentiment so long must it be expected that the columns of the local papers will be headed almost weekly with " Still Blood Flows," and similar announcements stating that another murder has been added to the already overburdened list which is to be recorded on the pages of the history of Mendocino county.
People vs. George Dutton .- On the 15th day of November, 1858, in Long valley, Mendocino county, George Dutton shot William Poe through the abdomen under the following circumstances, as testified to by J. Lambert, an eye-witness : "William Poe went to work on a place in Long valley on the 15th of November, 1858; George and Edward Dutton came to where he was at work. George asked Poe what he was doing there; he said he was going to fence in a piece of ground. Dutton claimed the ground-said it was on his land. Poe had been at work on the place about three weeks. Poe said to George Dutton, that if that was not his (Poe's) place, he (Dutton) had moved the lines. Dutton said he did not care a d-n if he (Dutton) had mnoved the lines, and jammed his fist into Mr. Poe's face, and told him he was a mind to mash him ; then Poe stepped back about two steps. George Dut- ton drew a revolver and fired at him; then Poe struck him with a hoe; the blow knocked him down; Dutton raised and fired again. Edward Dutton now came running up where they were fighting with a knife in his left hand, and struck Poe with his fist under the car. Five shots were fired, one of which took effect." Poc lived till the 20th of No- vember, when he died. Both George and Edward were arrested, and the above facts were established and the jury found that "Edward Dutton was an accessory to the murder, and that he did aid, abet, incite, counsel and command the said George Dutton to do the murder." A true bill was found against both of the men by the grand jury, with bail fixed at $5,000.00 On the 23d of November, 1859, Edward Dutton was admitted to bail in the sum of $2,500.00, by virtue of a habeas corpus, The records are silent in regard to any further action in the matter.
People vs. John B. Hargrave .- On the 13th of December, 1861, John B. Hargrave shot and killed William Atkinson (alias Three-fingered Jack), at Nevarra, Big River township, under the following circumstances, as testified to by Louis Breckenridge, who was present at the time : "Last Friday (De- cember 13, 1861), I think the sun was perhaps an hour high, I was standing on Hargrave's bar-room poreh. He came to the door with a spy-glass in his
323
HOMICIDES OF MENDOCINO COUNTY.
hand and looked up the road towards the Albion. I looked that way and saw three men coming; I asked him who they were, and he said one was Destinel, one was Jim Greenwood, and one was 'Three-fingered Jack.' He went back into the store, and in a moment he came out, and I saw that he had a pistol in his hand behind him. When they had got within fifty yards of the gate I then heard the click of a pistol lock, and by the sound thought it was cocked ; I then started to go out of the gate and met Atkinson at the gate. All three of the men then went towards the house, and when near the porch Hargrave stepped forth from the side of the door. He said to Atkinson-' You are the d-n s-o -- a b -- that's been talking around (that) you will make me mind you and keep my place.' Atkinson said-' I never have said it.' ' You did, you d- s- o- a b- it was brought to me di- rect to-day.' Atkinson denied it again ; I think he stepped partly behind Greenwood so as to keep Greenwood between him and Hargrave. Atkin- son, I think, then fired a pistol ; I heard the report and saw the smoke, but I was not where I could see the pistol. Almost immediately I heard another report of a pistol, but I thought it was fired by Hargrave; they then got together and began scuffling, both having hold of the pistol. Heard another shot, and heard Atkinson say-' O dear, Jim, O dear, Jim!' Heard two more shots-five in all-and in a few moments Atkinson was dead on the ground. There were two wounds on him, one in the breast, nearly in the center ; the ball had passed through, ranging to the right and lodged near the skin in the back to the right of the backbone; the other ball-hole was just below and a little back of the point of the shoulder, on the right shoulder, ranging downwards through the stomach."
Hargrave gave himself up to the Justice of the Peace, William Heeser, who held him to answer before the Grand Jury, which body found a true bill of murder against him. He was admitted to bail, which he forfeited by going away and not appearing at the trial. He came back, however, in 1870, and stood his trial, and was acquitted for lack of evidence.
This difficulty grew out of land troubles, as, in fact, have many of the murders of Mendocino county. On the 8th of January, 1861, the records of the court show that Hargrave began a suit of ejectment against William Atkinson and John Rector, who had taken forcible possession of a certain tract of land. This suit was decided by the County Court in favor of the de- fendants, and Hargrave had to pay the costs of the Court, which amounted to the sum of $1,800.15. On the 14th of December, the next day after the shooting, Moses Sanborn made an affidavit in which he sets forth that At- kinson laid claim to a certain parcel of land, and that Atkinson had said that Hargrave also claimed it, and that he (Atkinson) intended to hold it, and if Hargrave meddled with him he would get a pistol, and gave him (Sanborn) to understand that he would kill Hargrave.
People vs. James Thornton .- Indicted for murder by the Grand Jury of
324
HISTORY OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
Mendocino county in September, 1870. Nothing further appears among the papers on file.
People vs. Fidello Wallace .- A true bill was found against him for murder by the Grand Jury at the September session in 1870, but nothing further appears.
People vs. T. J. Faught .- The indictment against the defendant was dis- missed at the September term of the Court.
People vs. Charles Bradually .- The jury in this case rendered a verdict- of "not guilty," April 12, 1871. No further facts concerning this case appear on the records.
People vs. Eli D. Hooper .- The dead body of Mrs. Nancy Elizabeth Aldrich, wife of Charles Aldrich, living in Russian River cañon, a few miles- north of Cloverdale, was found near the residence of her husband May 7, 1860. Her husband had left home early in the morning of that day for Cloverdale, and did not return till night. Upon going into the house and finding his wife absent, he instituted a vigilant search for her, and finally discovered the body about one hundred and fifty yards from the house with such marks of violence upon it as plainly to indicate the cause of her death. The face and head were bruised and disfigured, while a piece of cotton duck cloth was tightly wrapped around the neck, leaving no doubt that she was straggled. Her child, an infant, six months old, was found unhurt lying near the body, though stripped of its clothing.
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