USA > California > Napa County > History of Napa and Lake Counties, California : comprising their geography, geology, topography, climatography, springs and timber, together with a full and particular record of the Mexican Grants, also separate histories of all the townships and biographical sketches > Part 18
USA > California > Lake County > History of Napa and Lake Counties, California : comprising their geography, geology, topography, climatography, springs and timber, together with a full and particular record of the Mexican Grants, also separate histories of all the townships and biographical sketches > Part 18
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Killing of Major Harry Larkyns .- This occurred at the Yellow Jacket Mine, about seven miles from Calistoga, October 18, 1874. Neither party was a resident of Napa County, but as the shooting occurred within its limits the matter came up for trial in its Courts. Muybridge was an artist or photographer in San Francisco ; Larkyns was an adventurer, of English birth and Australian education. He came to San Francisco and there met with the usual ups and downs of men of his ilk, but in some unlucky hour formed the acquaintance of Mrs. Muybridge. He was dashing, suave and captivating, and formed quite a contrast with her steady going, industrious, business-like husband, and she soon became infatuated with the gallant Major. As a result of this Muybridge sent his wife to Portland, Oregon, to her mother, thinking that thus he could break the spell of the charmer. In this he was mistaken, for she soon began to write to an intimate friend in the city inclosing letters to Larkyns. These were shown to Muybridge by the lady. Larkyns had conceived the idea, or was perhaps employed to
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make a map of the Calistoga Mining District, and was engaged upon this work at this time. When Muybridge saw the letter from his wife to Larkyns, he became very much enraged ; and, after brooding over the matter for a couple of weeks, another letter arrived from her through the same channel. This was too much for him. He took the train for Calistoga and there got a team and was driven out to the Yellow Jacket Mine, arriving after dark. He proceeded to the hotel and called for Larkyns, remaining just outside the door. Larkyns came into the hallway and advanced towards the front door, and when within a few feet of it Muybridge stepped into the full light and said, "I have brought a message from my wife, take it," and at the same time fired. The wounds proved fatal almost instantly. Muybridge was arrested and lodged in jail, and December 8, 1874, the Grand Jury found a true bill against him. His case came up for hearing February 5, 1875, and the jury, after being out thirteen hours, returned a verdict of not guilty.
Killing of Alexander McDonald .- Silverado, the scene of this homi- cide, was the name of the silver mine on St. Helena Mountain. Franklin Headley, of that place, missed a bottle of whiskey, and suspected that McDonald, commonly known as " Scotty," had stolen it. On the morning of November 11, 1874, quite early, he went to the house where " Scotty" lived and called him out to shake hands with him. As they clasped hands Headley dealt him a furious blow on the head with a heavy instrument which he held concealed in his left hand, from the effects of which the man soon expired. Headley was arrested subsequently at the Mountain Mill House.
Murder of Mollie Williams, alias Swartz .- This murder took place in Spanishtown, Napa City, May 9, 1875. The woman had been in a house of prostitution, but had become enamoured with a man named Henry Pearce, and had become engaged to be married to him. She thereupon went to live with his sister. On the day of the murder Pearce got drunk and was going along the street in Spanishtown when the woman came to him and tried to induce him to go home. This he promised to do, but made some excuse for going further up the street, and they separated. She turned after proceeding a short distance and came up with him again, and began her importunings, going so far as to put her arms around his neck, thus to persuade him to accompany her home. At this he out with a knife and stabbed her two or three times. She did not scream, but sprang over a fence and started across a lot, but fell in the middle of it. Parties who saw her went to her, but found that she was dead. The Coroner's jury charged Pearce with her murder, and his trial came up October 9, 1875. The jury
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October 2, 1877, and Mateo was found guilty of murder in the second degree for the killing of Perkins, with a sentence of twenty years to the State Prison. Benigo was discharged, as there was nothing to show that he was at all implicated in the matter. Mateo was then tried for the murder of Guadalupe, and the jury, after being out three hours, brought in a verdict of murder in the first degree, and affixed the death penalty. October Sth he was sentenced by Judge William C. Wallace to te hanged November 30, 1977. At three minutes before 1 o'clock P. M. of that day the drop was sprung, and the prisoner fell about four feet, and in twenty minutes he was dead. His neck was not broken, and death resulted from strangulation. He was executed on the same gallows that had been used in hanging Charles Brittian in 1863, and James Gilbert Jenkins in 1864, making the third and last man ever hanged in Napa County by a legal process. Mateo's parents were members of the Yount tribe of Indians.
Killing of Thodore Schurs .- Thomas Workover lived in a lonely and secluded spot on the Pope Valley side of Howell Mountain, and was engaged in raising stock. Schurs was a laboring man, and had been employed by Workover, but was discharged some six months before the homicide. Near nightfall on the day previous to the shooting, Schurs came to the house and asked for lodgings, which were granted to him. He had been drinking, and acted so strangely that Workover went to his barn and got two of his hired men to come and sleep in the house with him. Nothing of importance hap- pened, however, that night. The next morning Schurs was told to leave the place and never return. He went to a wine cellar and drank very freely that day. About midnight of October 9, 1877, Workover was aroused from sleep by some one trying to force an entrance through the doors and windows. He looked out and saw that it was Schurs, and taking his shot- gun fired through a window at him, the charge taking effect in Schurs' breast. He lived about an hour and a half. Workover gave himself up and was taken to St. Helena. The Coroner's inquest developed the above facts. He had his preliminary trial before Justice Haskins, where it was brought out in evidence that Schurs was a dissolute man. He had resided around Pope Valley for some time. Workover was acquitted by Justice Haskins on the ground of justifiable homicide.
Killing of Jesse Hawking-William P. Carter resided in Pope Valley, and had a daughter. between whom and Hawkins a mutual attachment sprang up. Carter was in Oregon at the time, and they proceeded with the marriage without the father's knowledge or consent. When he heard of it he was very wroth, and shortly afterwards returned home and ses about
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undoing what had been done. At the end of three months he prevailed upon the girl to return home and leave her husband. Hawkins became en- raged at this and threatened to take the lives of both if she did not return to him, going so far as to tell one man that Carter had just two more days to live. On the day before the homicide Hawkins left a note at Carter's gate addressed to his wife, asking her to meet him at the gate the next morning. On the morning of May 7, 1878, (the one designated in his note) he rode up to the gate. Carter was secreted behind a bush, and as Haw- kins stopped he rose, and drawing a bead upon him said, " defend yourself," and at the same time fired at him, the charge taking effect in Hawkin's head and side. He fell from his horse with the exclamation, "Oh !" breaking his arm in the fall, and died almost intantly. Carter went to St. Helena and gave himself up and was tried before a Justice and acquitted. The Coro- ner's jury charged him with murder, and he was again arrested and brought to Napa. His case came up again for preliminary hearing before Justice Henning, by whom he was a second time acquitted. It was stated by Car- ter on this trial that Hawkins had tried to kill him once with a revolver. It was evidently a case of war to the knife, and he who drew first blood was the victor.
Killing of Charles R. Rice .- Rice was a blacksmith at the Redington Quicksilver Mine, and worked in a shop at Knoxville. On the day of the shooting, June 3, 1879, Jacob Fuquar came into the shop with a mule which he desired shod. After the work was done he refused to pay for it, where- upon Rice said that the mule should not leave the shop until the work was paid for. Fuquar then became abusive, and Rice drove him from the shop. He went to a house near by and procured a revolver, and going back to the shop, shot Rice through the heart.
Killing of August Ruesch .- This occurred in the " William Tell " hotel, in Napa City, October 25, 1879. It appeared from the testimony adduced, that G. W. Crowey, and his sons John and William, were in the hotel on the night of the homicide, and got into an altercation with Ruesch, and finally a general melee ensued, in which the latter got pretty badly pun- ished. He then went out into the yard, and was followed by John Crowey, who had a billiard cue in his hand. Here the fight was renewed, when Crowey struck him over the head with the cue, from the effects of which he died. All three of the Croweys were arrested, but the father and William were subsequently acquitted. The Grand Jury found a true bill against John at its session of December 4, 1879, and his case came up for trial May 3, 1880. The jury comprised the following named gentlemen: H. J. Lewelling, J. T. Cooper, S. R. Dickey, D. F. Whitlatch, R. F. Montgomery,
Charles Krug
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S. A. Garnett, C. Cutler, J. Forrester, W. J. Baker, Asa Spear, S. Newcomer, and G. W. Haynes. Their verdict was returned May 14, and was as follows : "We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of murder in the second degree, and recommend him to the mercy of the Court."
His attorneys moved for a new trial on the following grounds : First, the Court erred in refusing to grant the defendant's challenge to the panel. Second, the Court misdirected the jury in matters of law. Third, the Court erred in the decisions of questions of law arising during the course of the trial. Fourth, the verdict is contrary to law, and also to the evidence. The Judge passed sentence on him June 1, 1880, which was confinement in the State Prison for ten years, and on appeal it was taken to the Supreme Court, and the remittitur was issued September 28, 1880, for a new trial in the lower Court. The new trial came on October 19, 1880, with the follow- ing jury in the box: G. Hulse, C. P. Smith, H. Flynn, H. C. Neil, C. Walsh, A. H. Marsh, L. W. Speilman, J. Patterson, J. Hale, J. B. Bloss, T. B. Curtis and H. Roland. This jury disagreed, standing nine for conviction and three for acquittal. The case is still pending in the Courts.
Killing of Isaac Wilson .- Quite late in the evening of September 19, 1880, three men, J. Hartshorn, and John and Ward Adams came to the house of deceased, at the northern end of Berryessa Valley. Hartshorn rode up to the house and engaged in conversation with Wilson and his family. Shortly afterwards, a noise was heard in the brush, and it was evident that some one was coming on horseback. Wilson took a gun and advanced to meet the horsemen, who proved to be the Adams's, and called to them : "Stop! go back ! who are you? go back, or I will drop that horse from under you!" At this, one of the horsemen fired the charge taking effect in Wilson's leg. A rifle was then discharged by the other horseman which did not take effect. Then a second charge of buckshot was sent crashing through Wilson's abdomen by the first horseman. They then rode off and Wilson fired twice after them with a revolver. He died in a little over an hour. The Adams's were tried in Napa in February, 1881, and acquitted.
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MINES AND MINING.
That there is precious metal within the limits of Napa County there can be no question now, for the matter has been too well attested. Gold, silver, quicksilver, iron and coal are all found in greater or less quantities in various sections of the county. Of gold there has not so very much as yet been discovered, except in connection with silver ore. We believe that there has been no quartz found yet that contained free or native gold, though we were recently shown a piece which the possessor claimed con- tained it, and also stated that it was the first that had been found in Napa County. Of silver there is quite a considerable to be found in the Calistoga section and it has been mined very successfully there in years gone by, and there are many fine prospects there now, and doubtless some fine mines will be developed there in years to come. Of quicksilver there is quite an abundance in several localities, and mines have been developed in this county second only to the New Almaden. Of iron there are large bodies of ore, but they have not been worked any as yet, though a company has been recently organized and a claim laid, and work will probably soon begin. Of coal there are good indications in several places, but it is probable that there is no true coal vein in the county, or it is so broken up that it cannot be followed.
The first mining excitement broke out in this county in the winter of 1858-9, and is thus graphically portrayed by Robert T. Montgomery in Menefee's "Sketch Book:" "In the winter of 1858-9 there arose an excitement really worthy of the 'good times' in the mineral districts. All at once, nobody could very well tell why, a great silver excitement arose, which permeated the whole community. It was found by various parties that the mountains on the east side of the valley were full of the ores of silver of untold, because unknown, richness. Simultaneous with this good discovery, every unemployed man from Soscol to Calistoga turned prospector. Blankets and bacon, beans and hard bread rose to a premium, and the hills were lighted up at night with hundreds of camp-fires. Hammers and picks were in great demand, and there is ocular evidence even to this day that not a boulder or projecting rock escaped the notice of the prospectors. There was silver in Washoe, why not in Napa ? It was a question of probabilities which was bound soon to harden into certainties. Indeed it
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was only a short time before silver prospects were possessed of a defined value. Claims were opened, companies formed and stock issued on a most liberal scale. Everything wore the couleur de rose. As usual, upon similar occasions, there was great strife about claims. Some were 'jumped' on the ground of some informality twice in twenty-four hours. Heavy prices were paid for 'choice' ground, and it is quite safe to say that our mountain sides and summits have never since borne such enormous valuation. It seemed as if the whole country had been bitten by the mining tarantula.
" One man, whose name we withhold, in his perambulations in the pro- found cañons of Mount St. Helena, in company with his son, discovered a ledge of solid silver. As neither had brought either blankets or grub, the old gentleman concluded to stand guard over the precious discovery during the night, armed with a shot-gun, while the son went down into the valley for those indispensable supplies. When the morning broke the old man was still at his post, shot-gun in hand, but tired, sleepy and hungry. The son laden with food and other inner comforts, 'toiled up the sloping steep' with the de quoi manger strapped to his back, and both father and son sat down in the gray of the morning by a hastily lighted fire, to discuss their rude breakfast and the limitless wealth before them. It would not do to leave such an enormous property unguarded. It would be 'jumped' in ten minutes, so the shot-gun was transferred to the son, while the father, with an old pair of saddle-bags, stuffed to repletion with 'silver,' descended the mountain. His mule soon brought him to Napa, the denizens of which town he was shortly to astonish with his great discovery. He walked into the Reporter office, saddle-bags in hand, opened the fastenings with an excellent smile but a trembling hand, when out fell some brilliant specimens of iron pyrites. Alas, that it should be told, but such was the scope and extent of his great silver discovery.
" But the opinions of the unskilled were of no value. A regular assayer would of course tell a different story. And, we suppose on the principle that the 'supply always equals the demand,' there were discovered in San Francisco large numbers of 'assay offices,' at which for the moderate price of $15, a certificate of quantitative analysis of anything from a brick-bat to , a lump of obsidian could be had, showing silver anywhere between $20 and $500 per ton. We were shown numbers of those certificates, and probably gave them all the credence to which they were entitled. There were a few individuals here who had understood from the beginning the character of the whole excitement. One of these G. N. C. (presumably George N. Corn- well) was the recipient of a sample of a very dark pulverized ore of some- thing, and being fond of a joke, dissolved a two-bit piece in nitric acid, and added the resultant to the powered ore. When the assayers certificate got back there was an enormous excitement. The specimen forwarded had
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yielded $428 to the ton. Of course when the joke had been duly enjoyed, the secret was revealed to the great disgust of the lucky proprietors.
" Judge S. (John S. Stark), formerly Sheriff of the county, had been up the valley on business in the muddiest part of winter, and on his way back met a chap on his way to the 'mines.' 'Have you been to the mines ?' said the fellow. 'Yes,' answered the Sheriff, 'but everything is pretty nearly taken up-at least, all the best claims.' 'But d-n it,' said the would-be proprietor, 'isn't there anything left ?' 'Oh yes,' returned the Sheriff, ' you might, perhaps, get in on some outside claim.' Without wait- ing to make any reply, the fellow clapped spurs to his Rosinante, headed up the valley, and, as the Sheriff declared, 'in less than two minutes you couldn't see him for the mud he raised.'
" The excitement lasted for several weeks and grew better and better. Scores of men, laden with specimens, thronged the hotels and saloons, and nothing was talked of but ' big strikes ' and 'astounding developments.' A local assay office was started, for the miners could not wait the slow process of sending to San Francisco. It is probable that this local assayer, Mr. Frank McMahon (since engaged about the Knoxville mines), did more than any one man towards pricking the great bubbles of the time. His assays were far less favorable than the imported article, and it came to pass that his customers were dissatisfied with the results of his experiments. Finally, as these threw a shadow of doubt over the value of the argentiferous dis- coveries, some of the heavy operators concluded to consult some of the most skillful and well-known assayers of the city-men whose decisions were beyond the reach of suspicion, and whose reputations were above cavil or doubt. Several specimens, considered to be of the highest value, were for- warded.
" The general disgust of claim-owners may be conceived when the formal certificates of assay were returned. Most specimens contained no silver at all, and the very best only 'a trace.' Nothing of value had been discovered. Thereupon ensued a sudden hegira of prospector's to the valley. The mil- lionaires of a day left their rude camps in the mountains, and, with ragged breeches and boots out at the toes, subsided at once into despondency and less exciting employments. The hotel and saloon-keepers, saying nothing of the editors, proceeded to disencumber their premises of accumulated tons of specimens of all kinds of 'shiny rocks' to be found within an area of thirty miles square, making quite a contribution to the paving material of the streets of Napa City. Thus subsided the great mining excitement. The result was that a few were a little poorer, but many hundreds a great deal wiser than they hoped to be."
Passing now to a consideration of the mines which have been developed and worked in Napa County, we find that quicksilver was first discovered
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in the Mayacamas system of mountains by A. J. Bailey and J. Cyrus, in January, 1860. This discovery was made to the north-west of Calistoga, and near the Geyser Springs. When the rocks were broken here the native metal appeared. It is stated that eight hundred men rushed into the new Eldorado at once and staked off claims. In the May following. Edward Evey and J. N. Bennet discovered a ledge of cinnabar in Knights Valley. Both of these discoveries were outside of the limits of Napa County, but were, however, in the same general system of mountains, and were, as it were, tributary to Mount St. Helena. The first quicksilver mining com- pany which was organized in this county was the
Phonix Mining Company .- The certificate of organization of this com- pany was filed November 15, 1861; term of existence fifty years. The original trustees were C. B. Sharp, A. H. Botts, John Waterson, John New- man and J. A. Butler. The capital stock was $19,200, which was divided into one hundred and ninety-two shares, valued at $100 each. The original locators were John Newman, R. P. Tucker, F. B. Gilmore, J. A. Butler, J. H. Waterson, J. W. Tucker, William H. James, James Lefferts, W. J. Church, G. W. Morris, A. H. Butts, S. A. Morris, G. W. Amesbury, C. B. Sharp, Jacob Ellsbury, C. H. Holmes and E. Bouhofsky. January 13, 1868, the capital stock was increased to $955,000. At present, John Lawley and parties in Napa City own almost the entire stock of the company. The following particulars concerning the Phoenix Mine were furnished for the "Sketch Book " by George Fellows, Esq., who was at that time superintendent of the mine. His communication was dated December, 1872, and is as follows :
" The Phoenix Mine is situated on the side of a steep mountain, sloping to the north-east. It is twelve hundred feet in breadth, and includes the main portion of a well-defined mineral belt, commencing at an altitude of four hundred feet above the valley, and extending back four thousand feet to the top of the mountain. The ore is in true fissure veins, running diagonally through the belt, and crossing the mountain in a south-east and north-west direction.
" The first discovery of cinnabar was made in September, 1861, by John Newman. A company was organized soon after, and some prospecting done, when a considerable quantity of ore was found scattered over the surface of the ground at the extreme lower end of the claim, having apparently broken off and rolled down from the numerous ledges above.
"Some time in the winter of 1862 the mine was leased to James Ham- ilton, who worked it for about one year, but failed to make it pay (as tradition has it), through bad management and inexperience in mining. After the Hamilton Company suspended operations there was no more
11
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work done at the mines for three years, and most of the owners disposed of their interests at a low price. In the summer of 1867 work was again resumed, and in the spring of 1868 a new bench of retorts was put up, the work being carried on under the management of Daniel Patten, but again without meeting with financial success, and during the succeeding winter work was wholly suspended. In the spring of 1870, having been appointed superintendent of the mine, I commenced work on the 12th of April with six men. In the May following three of the old retorts were fixed up and we began the reduction of ore, working altogether in the mine and on the retorts only sixteen men during April, May and June, and producing sufficient quicksilver (sold at the market price) to put $10,000 in the treasury of the company over all expenses.
"In August a new bench of six retorts was put up, together with a crushing mill for breaking the ore, and a circular saw for cutting the wood. A steam boiler was put up at the mouth of the tunnel, a steam pump put into the mine, and a steam engine attached to the boiler on the outside for driving the crushing mill at the retorts. Commenced reducing ore again the first of September; run until January, 1871, and closed down for the winter, having produced during the season nine hundred and sixty flasks or seventy-three thousand four hundred and forty pounds of quicksilver, which amounted to $50,673.
" Continued to work eight men in the mine during the winter, and commenced reducing ore again the first of April, 1871, and run until the last of October, when we stopped and commenced building furnace. Worked twenty-five men during the summer, and produced seven hundred and sixty-four flasks of quicksilver, or fifty-eight thousand four hundred and forty-six pounds, which amounted to $40,326. Commenced erecting furnace October, 1871, and completed it January, 1872, but did not get it to working right until the first of July. Have kept forty men employed this summer (1872), and have produced up to the present time, October 1st, six hundred and seventy flasks, or fifty-one thousand two hundred and fifty-five pounds. We are now working sixty flasks a week. Since April, 1870, there has been a double shaft put down one hundred and fifty feet, and two thousand two hundred feet of tunneling done, besides taking out the ore that has supplied the reduction works. The richest ore worked this season has been taken from the lower level, and there is now a sufficient quantity cut to keep the furnace running for two years.
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