USA > California > Lassen County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 64
USA > California > Plumas County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 64
USA > California > Sierra County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 64
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"No." " Any more clothes ?" " No."
An ounce of gold-dust was weighed out and given to him, accompanied by the instruction that if he were seen in town that night at ten o'clock he would be hanged. Without reply the man arranged his clothes, took his ounce of gold, and a few minutes after disappeared over the hill.
At the town of Eureka a similar case occurred in the latter part of June, 1852. Francis Boyd had been proven guilty of stealing barley from a neighbor. He was given a dozen lashes by the enraged citizens, and only thirty minutes to leave the town, which brief space of time enabled him to put a considerable distance between himself and his captors. Time was precious in that instance.
Goodyear's bar was the scene of a whipping affair in 1853, but it was done upon the order of the justice of the peace, Charles Stanwood. A tall, pock-marked Chinaman had been detected in the act of robbing the money-drawer of a butcher-shop of a small amount of stray silver. John D. Scellen, the constable, made the arrest in due form, and Justice Stanwood proceeded to try the case. The Chinaman was easily found guilty, and the punishment devised was fifteen lashes, to be laid on by the constable. This judgment was made, not so much for the benefit of the prisoner, as to annoy Mr. Scellen, who was a gentleman, and would much rather have been freed from such an unpleasant duty. But the order of the court was imperative, and though the tender-hearted officer tried to evade its performance, he was finally forced to comply. The man was tied to a post in front of the St. Charles hotel, and got his whipping, but Scellen laid on the blows as lightly as possible, giving the Chinaman about as severe a lashing as the stage Uncle Tom gets from his master in the theatrical performance of " Uncle Tom's Cabin."
The whipping of the innocent young man in 1854, at Downieville, for the alleged robbery of sluice-boxes, is related in the remarks on the hanging of Harlow. At Cox's bar, in 1852, a different kind of punishment was given a man for sluice-robbing. He was tied to a tree, with a large board hung around his neck, on which was traced in bold characters the word "thief." All who passed along the road from Downieville to Goodyear's on that day stopped to jeer at the unlucky sign-board. When the shades of night had fallen he was released and given the customary warning.
THE KELLEY-SPEAR DUEL.
Dueling has in all countries had more or less humor attached to it. The delicate sense of wounded honor unappreciated by the masses, the formal exchanging of civilities prior to the encounter, the backwardness of the principals and the forwardness of the seconds, the frantic effort to look calmly into the muzzle of an opponent's loaded pistol, and the invariably bad marksmanship of the majority who take the field, are all pregnant themes for the exercise of wit, creating laughter for the public from time immemorial. Not that dueling was a laughing matter always, but it was oftener so than otherwise. Two duels have been fought in Sierra county. The Kelley-Spear affair happened some time in the early part of 1852, and is well remembered by many of the old residents of Downieville. John Kelley, commonly known as " Kelley the Fiddler," earned his living by scraping a violin. William S. Spear was one of the first members of the Sierra county bar. Both were rollicking, good-hearted men, but unfortunately they became enamored of the same woman ;
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and to decide as to which should enjoy her exclusive favor, and which should furnish a job for the undertaker, a meeting was arranged for by the intervention of the friends of each. Joseph Mckibben, afterwards member of congress from the third district, acted as second for Spear, but the other parties who officiated are unknown to the writer. The place selected for the bloody work was on Smith's flat, since known as Sportsman's flat, a mile above Downieville. The woman who was at the bottom of the trouble took a position across the river on the side of the hill: She wept. violently at the prospect of losing one or both of her lovers, and, like the biblical Rachael, "refused to be comforted." The matter was no secret to the public, and a large crowd assembled to witness the spilling of blood. At the appointed signal both fired, neither receiving a scratch. The condi- tions were that they should continue shooting until one was disabled or called for a cessation of hostilities. Spear immediately recocked his weapon, and took a deliberate aim at his adversary. But Kelley was in hot water; the hammer of his pistol refused to be raised, some of the mechanism having become disarranged, and he felt that his hour was drawing nigh. He tugged and pulled without success, all the time Spear getting his aim down to an exact certainty, and being in no hurry to shoot until he had a Dr .- Carver bead on his victim. The situation was critical. Kelley turned red and pale by turns; then with an angry, quick movement, he threw his pistol at Spear with all his might. The suspense was over; the crowd breathed freer, for Spear had dropped his weapon and fled. The spectators started at once in pursuit, and caught the frightened duelist, brought him back to Kelley, and made the parties clasp hands across the bloodless chasm. It is said that the seconds, fearing an accident might occur, had prudently withdrawn the bullets before going on the ground, which is probably the reason that Kelley's pistol was the most danger- ous of the two.
THE LIPPINCOTT-TEVIS DUEL.
The duel fought near Brandy City, in September, 1855, between Judge Lippincott and young Tevis, was not so bloodless an affair as the one just related. Lippincott was a strong democrat, and was interested to some extent in a temperance paper of short life at Downieville, called the Old Ouken Bucket. Tevis was a younger brother of Lloyd Tevis, now of San Francisco, and was highly thought of. He belonged to the know-nothing party, of which he was a leader, and was a candidate for district attorney on that ticket. Lippincott and Tevis were not on the best of terms; but the dispute that led directly to the meeting was caused by an article from the pen of Lippincott casting reflections on the character of a Mrs. Pellett who was lecturing in the town on temperance. Tevis replied in another paper with a sharp letter that greatly exasperated Lippincott, who tried to meet Tevis on the street, that he might give him a thrashing; but being unsuccessful in getting up a street fight, he sent the young man a challenge to fight a duel, which was promptly accepted. The place selected was on the county line between Yuba and Sierra counties, near to Brandy City. The weapons were big, double-barreled shot-guns, loaded with ball. At four o'clock in the morn- ing the parties, with their friends, left Downieville for the scene of conflict, and arrived there at daylight. John Marshall acted as second for Tevis, while E. J. Smith performed the same service for Lippincott. Jerome B. Totten and W. S. Spear officiated to some extent; Benjamin Green loaded the guns, Drs. Carr and Aiken were on the ground in the capacity of surgeons ; about twenty persons were present as spectators. As the principals took their positions, Lippincott's second placed his hand on his breast, to indicate where to fire. Benjamin Green gave the signal, and at the first fire Tevis fell to the ground a corpse. A piece was shot out of the shoulder of Lip- pineott's coat. He was hurried off by his friends, and no proceedings were ever entered against
RESIDENCE & FARM OF A.P. CHAPMAN, 240 ACRES, 8 MILES N.W. OF SIERRAVILLE, SIERRA CO. CAL.
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him. The body of Tevis was brought to Downieville, where he was buried amidst impressive cere- monies, conducted by the Good Templars-the Masonic order, of which he was a member, refusing to bury him with the honors, because of their strong opposition to dueling. The Sierra Guards took a prominent place in the procession.
CRIMINAL ANNALS.
The criminal annals of any county present a sickening pageant of bloodshed and death; a sad commentary on the depths of degradation attained by the human race when governed solely by passion or avarice. Crime is not a pleasant thing to contemplate, even by the criminal himself, whether before its commission or after; and most certainly it is not an engaging theme for the timid chronicler, whose extreme of cruelty has never extended beyond the quondam impaling of a fly on a pin, or the occasional act of making a dog unhappy with a kettle appendage to the terminus of his spinal column. Still the facts remain, and form a part, though by no means (as some imagine) a very important part, of a county's history. We have made record of a few cases, such as may be of especial interest to the reader, from the peculiar circumstances under which the crime was committed, or from the retribution that followed its commission.
HANGING OF THE SPANISH WOMAN.
This celebrated affair, which gained for Downieville at the time an unenviable notoriety, has been so much talked and written about since, that nothing has been left for us to say which has not been already spoken. Conflicting opinions are held between many who were there, as to whether or not the citizens were justified in adopting the exceedingly harsh measures resorted to. The sex of the victim seems to be the only ground for condemning the act in stronger terms than any other execution done by the people themselves. Had a man met his fate on the Jersey bridge at Downie- ville for a similar provocation, his tragie death would hardly be remembered except by those who actually witnessed his taking-off, and they would have nothing to say, either in commendation or disapproval. A sense of chivalry and consideration for the weaker sex, however fallen-character- isties common to masculinity-awakened in the breasts of many persons a kind of horror at the idea of inflicting such a terrible punishment on a young and beautiful woman.
The Fourth of July, 1851, had been a great day in Downieville. The anniversary of the birth of our republic had been commemorated with grand parades, the assemblage of thousands, and with a thrilling address from John B. Weller, afterwards governor of California. Those addicted to the use of stimulating beverages-their name was legion-had held high carnival all the livelong day among the bottles and glasses; and when the somber shades of night had fallen, many a loud reveler was staggering through the crowded thoroughfares, awaking the echoes of the surrounding hills with their ribald song and laughter. Later in the night these jolly spirits became mischievous, and some of the rougher sort went around breaking open the doors of houses, among others, attacking the domicile of the ill-fated Juanita, occupied at the time by herself and a man of her own race. In the crowd was Jack Cannon, a Scotchman of magnificent physical strength and herculean propor- tions. When the hilarious band had broken up, at a very early hour the next morning, Cannon went back to the Mexican house. His purpose in returning thither is of course unknown. Many persons say that he intended to apologize, and pay for the damage done by himself and fellows;
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but this can be nothing more than a surmise. Mr. V. C. McMurry, who was probably the only out- sider who witnessed the killing of Cannon, states that he saw Cannon go up to the door of the house, inside of which were standing the Mexican and the woman Juanita, and heard him address the latter with the Spanish word for prostitute. She immediately went into a side room, while Cannon, leaning each hand upon a doorpost, stood directly in the doorway conversing with the man. In a moment she re-entered the hall, with one hand held behind her. Coming rapidly to the front, and passing her companion of the night before, she plunged a long knife with tremendous force into Cannon's breast. The power required for the stroke must have been considerable, for the blade penetrated clear through the heavy sternum bone in the center of the chest, and buried itself in his heart. Though she was a very small, slender woman of twenty-three years, her intense passion gave her for an instant an extraordinary strength. Cannon fell dead instantly.
But a moment was required to spread the news far and wide. Rapidly it sped from mouth to mouth, and the miners ran in great numbers to the place where Cannon lay still bleeding and warm. He was a popular fellow with the crowd. Threats of vengeance came from many a throat, and for safety the woman who had done the deed left her house hastily, and entered Craycroft's saloon, asking for protection. Her movement was noticed. A mob surrounded the place, so as to give her no possible chance of escape. Some one raised the cry, "Hang her!" and the idea met with an instant general approval. After the lapse of some time, during which her friends tried to save her, the woman was handed over to the frenzied crowd, and led into the main plaza, where a stand had been erected for public speaking the day previous, directly in front of Foster's old cabin. Here she and her reputed husband were placed to await the issue of their trial. The body of poor Jack Cannon was placed in a tent near by, that the people might see his gaping wound, and steel their hearts against a revulsion of feeling.
A judge and jury were appointed by those present, together with a lawyer for the " people," and one for the defendant. A young lawyer lately from the states undertook her defense, and right bravely he denounced the act about to be committed. He called upon those who had left friends and relatives in the east to consider what they would say of these proceedings; for the sake of the women they loved, and the women that bore them, not to shed the blood of this poor creature. His eloquence was useless. While in the midst of his peroration the barrel on which he stood was kieked from beneath him, hat going one way and spectacles another, while he was flung on the heads of the mob below, and carried a hundred yards before he touched the ground, receiving blows and kicks from all sides. After taking evidence, the jury retired, but soon returned with a verdict of guilty. Dr. C. D. Aiken, as a last resort to save the woman, endeavored to prove that she was enceinte. Drs. Kibbe, Chase, and Carr were accordingly appointed a committee to make an examination, and reported that the statement was not true. For his rashness, Dr. Aiken was ordered to leave town in twenty-four hours, and for quite a period his shadow darkened no door in Downieville.
The woman was taken to her eabin, and given one hour to prepare for death, without a priest. Confronting with an unflinching, steady gaze the angry crowd surrounding her, she sat the whole time; when, her hour being up, she was called forth, and passed fearlessly down the street, chatting and smiling with as much ease as any one there. From the top of the Jersey bridge a rope dangled over the side, while beneath it a timber six inches wide was lashed to the bridge, and swung out above the stream. Three thousand excited spectators were present, many of whom now live to tell the tale. On the plank she stood, quietly surveying the crowd. Perceiving a friend, she took off her Panama hat, and gracefully flung it to him, bidding him good by in Spanish. She took the
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rope in her own hands, placed it about her neck, and adjusted it beneath her beautiful black hair with her own fingers. A white handkerchief was thrown over her face, her hands tied behind her, and at each end of the plank, ax in hand, stood a man ready to cut the lashings. Another fired a. pistol as a signal, and the axes fell. She dropped three or four feet, meeting death with scarcely a struggle.
The affair created a great deal of comment at the time, the course of the miners being almost universally denounced by the press of the country. Even the London Times of that period had a severe article on the subject. Not long since, the memory of this event caused Mr. George Bar- ton of. Downieville, who witnessed the hanging, to write some very creditable verses, a few of which we present below :
" They placed her high upon the stand, Calmly she sat, no tear, nor frown, Nor quivering lip, nor trembling hand Shook; but silent, looking down, She viewed the scene of hate and strife, Heard maddened voices cry aloud That she must die, and life for life Seemed the watchword of the crowd.
" With hurried forms they held a court, The judge elected, jury sworn ; It seemed but as a mocking sport, For she would die before the morn. Was there no man dared to defend, And help a woman's life to save? A stranger tried, a humane friend- He sank beneath that angry wave.
" The sun had passed its noonday line, The jury from the scene retired, And thousands in that solemn time Seemed calm, and yet their hearts were fired ; And pity dwelt in scarce an eye- But silence ! hear the verdict read : The prisoner's GUILTY, and must die- Hung by the neck till she is dead.
" And still her face seemed more serene Than all that sea of faces there; Before she left this earthly scene She begged for time to plead in prayer. 'Twas given-her bosom heaved no sighs, Nor fluttering pang, nor bated breath ; No tear bedimmed her keen, black eyes, She knelt to pray, not fearing death.
" The sun sank low down in the west, And tinged with gold each mountain ridge; The crowd closed in and eager pressed Onward towards the fatal bridge That spanned the rapid mountain stream, And thousands darkly lined each shore ;
The noose was dangling from the beam, Her dream of life would soon be o'er.
"Gayly she climbed the fatal pile ; To one she knew, with graceful bend, Flung him her hat, and with a smile, 'ADOIS, AMIGO'-good by, friend ; And pressed the noose beneath her hair, And smoothed it down with steady palms : .
Like making up her toilet there, Ere death embraced her in his arms.
" Her face enwrapped and limbs close tied, The handkerchief clasped in her hands
To give the signal ere she died- A moment silent thus she stands ;
It dropped-a shot rang on the air, The plank fell from beneath her feet,
A woman's lifeless form was there, Her soul had sought the mercy-seat.
"Stern winter brought its angry flood That madly rushed towards the sea ; That bridge went down, and yet the blood Stain lingers ; it will ever be A mark-no matter where the blame- To point the finger toward the spot, When every witness, ay, each name, Are unremembered, all forgot."
THE SLATE-CREEK TRAGEDY.
For a full account of the murder of Dunbar at the Slate creek house, and the subsequent hanging of Fillmore, Miller, and Parks, in 1852, see page 209 of this work.
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SHOOTING OF THADDEUS PURDY.
In the fall of 1853, a gambler named Muntz and a miner, " Baltimore Jack," quarreled over a game of cards at Foster City. Muntz wounded Jack dangerously with a knife, and hastened to Downieville to give himself up to the sheriff. The present court-house and jail were not finished, and Sheriff William Ford placed him, with a guard, up-stairs in Craycroft's building. Jack had lived in Downieville, and was a gay, frolicking, social kind of fellow, a good singer, and had warm friends among a certain class. On the night of Muntz's arrival, Baltimore Jack had died. His friends were determined to lynch the gambler; and on the following day, September 8, a great number started for Downieville, bent on this purpose. The first intimation the town had of the coming storm was a dark, moving mass of men on the trail, coming down Galloway's hill; and from its length, there must have been two or three hundred, armed with great clubs, knives, and revolvers. Twenty gamblers and several officers defended the stairs as the surging, angry crowd surrounded the building. The miners were furious, and frequent shouts of "Let's drive the d-d gamblers out of town," were heard on every side. That portion of the body politic began to tremble as much for their own safety as for the life of their prisoner. Among the objectionable characters at the head of the stairs was one Cheever. Philo A. Haven stood at the bottom, and Thaddeus Purdy, then district attorney, about half-way up. Perceiving the trouble likely to ensue, Mr. Haven said that Cheever had better come down, calling for Cheever to descend, and let a miner take his place. At this juncture some of the miners crowded up the stairs, when a pistol was fired from above, and Purdy dropped, mortally wounded. Somebody raised the cry, "It is an accident," which served to quell the fury of the mob. A vague stillness followed the report ; the loud voices fell to a lower tone as they carried Purdy to the center of the saloon, and friends stood by helpless to assist him in his death agony. In a few minutes all was over for him on earth, and tears coursed down many a rough cheek, from even some of the mob that had caused all the disturbance.
During the excitement the man who had fired the purely accidental shot was hurriedly got out of the way, and no further demonstration followed. Even Muntz was allowed to escape the pun- ishment intended for him. Purdy's term as district attorney was about to expire, and he was fixing up his business matters preparatory to a departure for the east. Benjamin Green and H. H. Purdy, the Downieville jewelers, made a very handsome coffin plate of silver dollars, which a few years since was piped out from some gravel by the miners, and sent back to Mr. Purdy's father, the body having been previously removed. On the fifteenth of October, 1853, the court of sessions of Sierra county set aside one hundred dollars for the purpose of erecting a monument over the remains of the deceased officer.
HANGING OF THE INDIAN PIJO.
The first legal hanging in Sierra county occurred on the sixteenth of September, 1853, and an Indian named Pijo has the honor of being the candidate on that occasion. On the thirtieth of May three Chinamen were at work on Canon creek, in Indian valley, when they were surprised by a band of Indians from the Middle Yuba, consisting of twenty or more, and two of the foreigners were slaughtered, the third making good his escape. Some time after, Chung Chong, the survivor, came to the ranch of S. H. Cook and told him about the occurrence. Cook immediately went to the spot, in company with several Americans and Chinamen, but failed to find the bodies. Chung said he saw an Indian, who had an ugly scar on his lip, kill the two Chinamen on the road, and was certain he could identify him. Charles Stanwood, justice of the peace at Goodyear's bar, issued a
STCHARLES HOTEL
ST. CHARLES HOTEL. F.A. ESCHBACHER, PROPOR- DOWNIE VILLE, CALIFORNIA.
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warrant for the arrest of the murderer on the eighteenth of June, and three days after a party went in pursuit of him. With the help of a friendly savage, Pijo was caught at Cold Spring ranch, his own chief pointing him out as the man, forty Indians being present. Pijo was dragged to the house, tied to a post, and by threats of hanging was induced to disclose the burial place of his victims. His knife was taken away, and he led his captors to the scene of the murder, where he pointed them out. One was lying above the other on the side of the hill. Both were pierced with arrows, and on the skull of the lower one were two stones weighing twenty pounds apiece. The remains were in such an advanced state of decomposition that they could not touch them with their hands. A purse of gold had been taken from one body, which was found on the person of Pijo. The inquest was held in Indian valley by S. H. Cook, M. S. Thurber, Jr., William H. Post, William A. McLaughlin, Lewis W. Howell, and Jacob Miller.
Upon their return to Cook's house, the Chinamen took Pijo, and would have hung him, " Mel- ikee fashion," to a neighboring oak, had he not been rescued from their hands. In the night the crafty savage, realizing the fate in store for him, feigned to be asleep, and succeeded in getting his wrists untied before his motions were discovered.
Pijo was brought to Downieville, and the grand jury found an indictment for murder against him, July 20, 1853. The case was transferred from the court of sessions to the district court, and was tried at the August term, Judge W. T. Barbour sitting on the bench. The Indian's counsel were A. Smith and E. T. Hogan, while the prosecution was conducted by Thaddeus Purdy, then district attorney. The jury found a verdict of guilty, and on the ninth of August Judge Barbour pronounced sentence of death, fixing the day of execution at September 16, 1853. William J. Ford was at that time sheriff of the county. Not being a man of very strong nerves, he dreaded the performance of his official duty, and as the day approached he shrunk from it. However, he found no difficulty in shirking the work, for a man with an itching palm volunteered to hang Pijo for fifty dollars. His offer was accepted; and amidst a considerable crowd of spectators, who came from far and near, the Indian paid the penalty of his crimes on the scaffold which had been erected a short distance up the South Fork. The volunteer executioner, to escape the opprobrium which he was aware would attach to his conduct, appeared in a disguise. But his incognito was readily discovered; and when he that evening frequented a gambling-saloon, staked his fifty dollars on a game of chance and lost it, even the gamblers themselves refused to take the price of human life. Their anger towards the man became so great that later in the night several of their number gave him a sound drubbing, and banished him from the place.
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