USA > California > Lassen County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 65
USA > California > Plumas County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 65
USA > California > Sierra County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 65
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QUICK WORK AT GOODYEAR'S.
In 1854 the bars on the river at Goodyear's were alive with men, and sanguinary quarrels were of almost daily occurrence. The gambling-saloons were generally the pest-houses from which emanated the bloody crimes, and in one of these a man named Hawkins was killed one day by a Spaniard. No sooner had the deed been committed than the murderer was fiercely attacked by the spectators, who cut and hacked him without mercy, causing his death almost instantly. On his body were ten deep knife-wounds.
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WHOLESALE BUTCHERY OF CHINAMEN.
On a bright Sunday morning in September, 1855, the bodies of five murdered Chinamen were found about a mile from St. Louis, on Slate ereek. Dr. Jump was then practicing in St. Louis. A Chinaman who had escaped the fate of his companions came to him on Sunday morning, and told him, in pigeon-English, that Chinamen had been killed, and wanted him to go to the place, which he did. The number of the party was six. They were mining in the neighborhood, and lived in a cloth tent. In the night some men had jumped on the side of the tent, and killed three of the poor Chinamen as they lay in their beds, stabbing them through the canvas. Another had been murdered on the outside, while the body of the fifth had been thrown in the mud at the bottom of a prospect hole. The sixth one got away. The Chinamen had a hundred ounces of gold with them, which had been taken. Three Spaniards, who were considered suspicious characters, were arrested and taken before the citizens' court, but there being no evidence tending to show their guilt, they proved an alibi, and got away.
HANGING OF HARLOW.
Mordecai E. Harlow, for the murder of a man named Smith, committed October 12, 1854, at Rabbit Creek, now La Porte, was hung in Slug canon about eighteen months after. Harlow was known to be an utterly unscrupulous and a dangerous man, and withal a very cunning thief. In 1853 the good citizens of Goodyear's bar had proved a theft on him, and in addition to the admin- istering of a severe castigation, he was branded with the letter " T" on his cheek, that, like Cain, he might bear the public record of his iniquity to the grave. Harlow. and the wife of Smith, at Rabbit Creek, had formed an intimacy not altogether consistent with the laws of society, which improper connection is supposed to have led to the murder of Smith, for the purpose of getting him out of the way. On the day alluded to, Harlow and Smith were chopping trees in the woods, when the former split the latter's head open with an axe. The wife was suspected of conniving at the murder of her husband. Harlow escaped to Oregon, where he remained concealed for over a year. Finally he ventured to return to Sierra county, and was caught soon after. Harlow was arraigned on the twelfth of February, 1856, in the district Court, Judge Niles Scarles presiding on the bench. He was defended by William S. Spear. The trial occupied only one day; on the evening of the thirteenth, the jury, of which William S. Kenney was foreman, found a verdiet of guilty. Sentence of death was pronounced by Judge Searles February 27, limiting Harlow's lease of life to the eighteenth of April. The plea of the defense for acquittal was grounded on alleged insanity in the prisoner, Doctors Aiken and Carr having previously made an examination and discovered the necessary maniacal symptoms. But the feeling was so strong against Harlow that the jury had no difficulty in coming to an agreement. Sheriff Ford and his deputies performed the execution in Slug cañon on the day appointed, in the presence of a vast concourse of excited witnesses, who covered the sides of the neighboring hills. The job was not performed very artistically. At the first drop the rope stretched so much that the victim's feet touched the ground. Immediately several strong hands grasped the rope and hauled the writhing burden to a more elevated position, where he died in a few moments.
On the scaffold Harlow confessed to an additional crime of which he had not been suspected, and for which another and an innocent party had severely suffered. In 1854 a young man had been arrested for robbing a sluice-box in the Chicago diggings, and had been sentenced from a justice's court to imprisonment in the county jail six months, together with twenty-five lashes at the
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whipping-post. The punishment was administered in accordance with the law, though the man who wielded the lash laid them on as lightly as possible. The term of confinement had expired, and long prior to the hanging of Harlow the unfortunate youth had left the town with no great love for the place. The establishment of his innocence by the confession of Harlow produced a reversion of feeling in the minds of the people; and could the young man have been found at the time, he would have been liberally remunerated in a pecuniary way for his suffering and humiliation.
THE BUTLER-MOFFAT TRAGEDY.
The killing of Robert Moffat at Downieville, in the fall of 1855, occasioned great excitement at the time, and though David Butler, the murderer, met a retributive fate in an adjoining county, the matter properly belongs to the criminal annals of Sierra county. On the twenty-seventh of September, 1857, Robert Moffat arrived in Downieville, bringing with him a lot of gold-dust from the Buttes mine. An attempt to rob him on his way thither had been threatened, but the discov- ery of the plot being made in time, the gang of robbers had refrained from making any demonstra- tions of the kind. That evening, Moffat met a Mexican in the card-room of Craycroft's saloon, and accused him of being at the head of the band of robbers. The Mexican denied the charge, when Butler stepped up, saying that the Mexican was not the man for whom the remarks were intended. Moffat insisted that he meant what he said, which resulted in hard words and threats between them, when Butler went away to arm himself. The conversation was continued" between Moffat and the Mexican. Presently Butler returned, with a pistol belted to his side. Moffat asked Butler what he was looking at, who answered : " I am looking at you, because I have nothing else to do." Moffat then said he wished to have nothing to do with such a man. Upon this, Butler drew his pistol and struck at Moffat two or three times; then he stepped back, leveled his weapon, and fired, the ball taking effect in Moffat's right side, from the effects of which he died in twenty-four hours. Butler escaped over the hill to the west by the aid of his friends, the gamblers of the place, who led the excited crowd up the river, shouting, "Catch him! Shoot him!" giving the fugitive a chance for his life, which he improved to advantage. Butler fled to Oregon. The county offered a large reward for his arrest, and it was not until a year and a half afterwards that he was caught, under an assumed name. Butler was brought down on a steamer from Portland to San Francisco. The mysterious disappearance of the first mate on the voyage led to the belief that Butler, out of pure devilishness, had pitched him overboard. Sheriff Ford expended $1,500 dollars in catching his man. The case against Butler was opened in the district court March 30, 1857; he was de- fended by Colonel E. D. Baker. The case continued until the next term, and then, the feeling being so strong against the murderer, he obtained a change of venue to Nevada county. There he was defended by attorneys Stewart and Sargent, and prosecuted by the district attorneys of Nevada and Sierra counties, assisted by William S. Spear of Downieville. The jury were out fifteen min- utes, when they returned a verdict of guilty. The case was appealed to the supreme court, but no change was ordered. Butler was sentenced to be hung on the eleventh of December, 1857, but was respited by Governor Johnson till February 26, 1858, when he was executed at Nevada City.
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A FOREST-CITY FIGHT.
A miner named Chapman Hough was fatally wounded in an affray with a Mexican, Muchaco, at Forest City, on the twelfth of July, 1857. An altercation took place between the parties in the street opposite Henry's saloon, when Hough struck Muchaco in the face, and the latter drew his pistol, firing the first time without effect, but the second shot was fatal to Hough-the ball entering the stomach and ranging downwards. Hough, though mortally wounded, seized the pistol, and in the struggle it went off, wounding Muchaco in the thigh. Hough died the next day. The Mex- ican was arrested by Deputy Sheriff Kirkpatrick, and in due course of law was sent to the state penitentiary.
A POKER-FLAT FIASCO.
According to the entertaining narrative of Bret Harte, entitled "The Outcasts of Poker Flat," this place was once the scene of a triple hanging; but the charge is indignantly denied by all who have lived in those classic precincts, and we must sadly deposit this story on the shelf in the liar's corner, where it will cut a respectable figure by the side of Joaquin Miller's and other imaginative productions. But Poker flat has not always sustained her present good behavior. From a choice collection we select one little circumstance that happened on the tenth of January, 1859. John Burk and Jimmy Lyons were eating supper at Kelly's, when the latter, finishing first, arose, took the former's pipe which was lying on the table, and began to smoke it. Burk became offended at this familiarity, protesting in no very elegant terms at the other's impudence. An interesting dis- pute followed, when Burk drew a butcher-knife and stabbed Lyons to the heart. He was examined before Justice Downer, at Howland flat, and held to answer before the district court. The case came up in June, before Judge Van Clief, and was continued until August. Harry I. Thornton, district attorney, and W. D. Sawyer prosecuted the case; while J. R. Plunkett and Steward & Bald- win conducted the defense. It looked as though Burk would furnish a disagreeable duty for the sheriff to perform, considering the cold-bloodedness of the crime. Edwin Irwin was sheriff and Sawyer Clapp under-sheriff, at the time. A letter was received from relatives of the prisoner, offer- ing Clapp a large sum if he would enable Burk to escape. The trial occurred on the fifteenth and sixteenth of August, when Burk was found guilty of murder in the second degree, and sentenced to the state prison for a term of twelve years. Long afterwards, in April, 1863, Burk was convicted of murder in Nevada county, and hung.
TIRED OF LIFE.
In 1859 Justice Burgess, at Goodyear's bar, had a Chinaman brought before him, charged with robbing a toll-house. Considering a light punishment sufficient, his honor furnished him a tem- porary residence at the county seat. A day or two after his confinement, the melancholy Mongolian was found hanging by the neck in his cell, life having taken its exit.
EXECUTION OF MICHAEL MURRAY.
The last legal execution of Sierra county occurred two years after the execution of Harlow. On the twenty-seventh of December, 1857, Poker flat witnessed an affray on her streets that caused the immediate death of one man and the hanging of another. The fight arose between Michael Murray and Daniel Sweeney, but was participated in by R. Galloway. Sweeney received a knife wound on
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RESIDENCE OF B.T.EGGLESTON. DOWNIEVILLE, SIERRA CO.CAL.
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the face, supposed to have been inflicted by Galloway. Then a knife, in the hand of Murray, pene- trated his heart, producing instantaneous dissolution. The parties were examined before Justice F. Descombes; Murray was held for murder in the second degree, and Galloway as accessory. Murray had received four wounds in his fight with Sweeney, and it was some time before he was able to appear in court. His case was begun in the court of sessions in May, 1858, but was transferred to the district court, and came up in July, before Judge Niles Searles. Harry I. Thornton, Jr., then district attorney, prosecuted the case on the part of the people ; while R. H. Taylor and J. J. Musser labored for the acquittal of the prisoner. The case was submitted to the jury at seven o'clock P. M., July 15, and at eleven that evening a verdict of murder in the first degree was rendered, Joseph Pearson being foreman. July 24, 1858, Judge Searles sentenced the prisoner to be hung by the neck until dead, on the seventeenth of September, 1858. Murray's counsel appealed the case to the supreme court, where the action of the lower court was sustained. The slow deliberations of that body enabled Murray to obtain a respite, during which the utmost efforts were made to save him. The homicide for which he was doomed to suffer having occurred in a general fight, with no proof of cold-blooded villainy against Murray, he having been attacked and severely wounded himself, the popular feeling and sympathy were considerably in his favor. But they were inefficacious in wresting him from the hands of the law.
Judge Warren T. Sexton of Butte county, who occupied the bench in Sierra county at the December term of the district court, pronounced the second sentence of death on the twenty-sixth of the month, setting the execution for the twenty-first of January, 1859. The execution was con- ducted by Sheriff Edward Irwin, and his deputies Ould and Pierce, within an inclosure in the court-hourse square. The prisoner was attended by Father Delahunty, of the Downieville Catholic church, who continued in prayer until the fatal moment arrived. Murray declined to address the small crowd who were admitted to the scene. With great calmness he met his doom. The prisoner was elevated by a three-hundred-pound weight let off by a trip-hook, which apparatus is now preserved in the court-house, waiting for another victim. The inclosure was guarded by the National Guard, who refused to admit the three hundred spectators that came to witness the affair not knowing it would be private. The body hung nineteen minutes before it was lowered. Murray was a very large man with great physical strength.
LYNCHING AT CHIP'S FLAT.
In the vicinity of Forest City, Alleghany, and Chip's flat petty robberies by Chinamen were very frequent during the year 1865. P. Curry owned a store-house at Chip's, which was broken into several times, and goods stolen. These nocturnal visitations finally became very annoying to Mr. Curry, and to put a stop to them he employed a man by the name of Newhouse to watch nights and discover who the rascals were. The first morning after assuming the duties of night- watchman, Newhouse was missing. Search was made for him, but without success for a time. In looking through a Chinaman's cabin one day, blood was discovered, which was sufficient to fasten suspicion on the proprietor. He was induced by threats and rough treatment to confess having killed Newhouse, and agreed to tell where the body was. He conducted them to the trail in a ravine, where the remains of poor Newhouse were found to be buried. To facilitate the carrying of the corpse to this place, John had cut it in two, putting a half on each end of his pole. Short work was made of the murderer. A lynch court was immediately organized, a short trial given the prisoner, and he was hung without more ado. Before death had relieved his sufferings, the
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men began throwing rocks at him, one of which crushed in his skull; and he was otherwise muti- lated. After this hanging, the thefts in that vicinity ceased entirely.
EXPRESS ROBBERIES.
The wild mountain trails that traverse the county in every direction, connecting camps with each other and with the outside, were for many years tempting and lucrative fields for the bold highwayman to exercise his peculiar talents in. As prior to 1859 every article of merchandise, all the mail and express matter, and everything else of value had to be packed in or out on the backs of mules or horses, the business of highway robbery was comparatively easy, paying large dividends for the dangers incurred. All the expressmen going out of the county carried more or less gold- dust with them, and as they generally rode alone, it put the enterprising road-agent to but little trouble to gain a livelihood. The building of substantial highways through the wild cañons and over the ridges, and the running of great, lumbering stages that carry a car-load of freight, express, and passengers, has rendered the calling in these days exceedingly difficult and dangerous, such as only the most interpid care to follow.
S. W. Langton started his express from Marysville to Downieville in 1850, spreading out and taking in the other camps as his business increased, until he had almost a monopoly in this line. He had the names of thousands of miners, together with their location, and delivered letters to them at the rate of a dollar apiece. At first there was but little to be apprehended from the road-agents, but they soon made themselves felt, and it began to require the exercise of a keen judgment to select men of bravery and determination who could get treasure from point to point in safety, despite the obstacles and dangers that threatened them at every step. Some of the stories told by these men, of their escapes and failures, are exceedingly sensational, the more so because of their evident truth. Among the first on the route from Marysville to Downieville was George Great- house. In 1853 Mr. J. N. McMillan was on the route from Minnesota to Nevada City, which was considered a very dangerous one, as four men had been killed on the ridge, whose bodies were found mangled and stiff by the side of the trail. One day, in the summer of 1854, he had about two hundred ounces of gold-dust in the express bags, and after leaving Chip's flat, going down to Kanaka creek, the bags slipped off. He did not miss them for some time; but when he perceived the loss, he retraced his steps up the hill, searching for the treasure. He soon saw a man in the act of taking the bags from the ground, who explained as he rode up that he had found them, and was going to return them to Chip's flat. McMillan dismounted, saying he would take charge of them, but found that the straps of one side were unbuckled, and the contents gone. He told the man that one purse was missing; but the latter claimed to know nothing about it, as he had just come up and had taken nothing. Being sure that the man had the gold, McMillan proposed that they should go to Chip's together, and let the agents know what had happened. The stranger, who carried a pig in a saek, agreed to this, and they went back. S. B. Davidson and Mr. Riley, the agents there at the time, had shipped the missing purse. Before reaching the office the man deposited his pig in a vacant cabin, when they went on and told their stories. McMillan was put under arrest by the justice, while McGury, the pig man, was allowed to go. A subsequent search of the cabin revealed the purse hidden in the straw, which led to the arrest of MeGury, who was examined and bound over for trial at a higher court. At the time, however, he failed to turn up, and his bail bond had also been stolen from the clerk's office, so that the proceedings of the court met with a decided check. To avoid robbers, Mr. McMillan was frequently obliged, when carrying
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large sums, to take devious and unfrequented ways towards his destination. He says that he ha left Downieville, gone direct to Camptonville, thence to Pike City, Plum valley, and Scott's flat, to reach Minnesota ; and sometimes went up the South Fork, Jim Crow canon, and Wolf creek, to arrive at the same place.
July 30, 1854, a genuine robbery was committed, which we leave him to tell in his own words
"I left Forest City for Downieville about 5 P. M., and took the trail up the North Fork that intersects the Henness Pass road. When near that point I heard a shot fired. I rode on to where the sound came from, and could see no one. I was somewhat alarmed, pulled out my pistol and examined it, and just as I returned it to the holster, two men jumped out from the side of the road, with shot-guns, and demanded my money. I shouted as loud as I could to alarm a teamster that was in sight, but could not make him hear. I went for my revolver, but they shouted 'Don't you draw that; if you do, you are a dead man !' I got it as quick as I could, and was about to shoot, when a third robber from behind grabbed my arm ; then they ordered me to dismount, and I was forced to do so, for they had wrenched the pistol from my hand. One robber led the mule back on the road, and the other two ordered me to follow the mule; when I did not go fast enough they punched me in the back with the muzzle of their guns. We followed the old trail down to near the north fork of Kanaka creek, where there was a small grove of trees. Here they tied the mule, and tied me, too, to a tree. They were about to blindfold me and use a gag, but when I saw the gag I protested, and they let that go. While they were in the act of securing me, I expected to be killed, for I saw one of them was a Spaniard, and he had a knife at least a foot long, which he flourished around my body, and as it glistened in the sun I thought my last hour had come, for I expected he was the one to finish the job. The leader of the gang said he ought to kill me, for he said I was eyeing him until I would know him if I saw him in hell. They took what gold-dust I had, amounting to nearly $5,000, and left the express letters scattered over the ground. When I was satisfied they were gone, I turned my head round towards the tree, and rubbed my face up and down against a limb of the tree until I worked the blindfold down to my neck ; then I could see again. I had been riding with my vest unbuttoned, and in my vest pocket I had a small knife. I gathered in my vest at the back, until I got the pocket behind me, and succeeded in getting the knife; with great difficulty, however, as my hands were very numb. I worked with great care, for fear I might drop the knife. After getting it open I commenced to cut the rope that bound my wrists; I could just change hands with the knife, and cut away at one wrist, then the other, until at last the rope was cut; in doing so both my wrists were cut till the blood flowed freely. After the rope was once cut I had no difficulty in getting away, and reached the wagon road just as a teamster was passing along."
Two of these robbers were afterwards arrested. The Spaniard was caught in San Francisco, and being tried, received a sentence of five years in the penitentiary, two of which he served out. George Walker, the captain of the gang, was captured at Sacramento and brought to Downieville. He obtained his freedom by inducing the jailor, Bob Drake, to open his cell door, when he slid out and locked the obliging officer inside. He was afterwards killed near Stockton.
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DOWNIEVILLE.
Who was the first white man to reach the Forks of the North Yuba is not known. Without doubt, many years prior to its invasion by the gold-seekers the indomitable fur-trapper had trav- ersed this region, but left no trace behind him. Early in the summer of 1849 miners, with pick, crevicing spoon, and pan, had found their way up to where Downieville now stands; but there were none here save Indians when Philo A. Haven, Carlos Haven, Warren Goodall, and Thomas Angus located on Little Rich bar, a half-mile below, in the beginning of September, or when, a week before, Mr. Haven had been there with an Indian. Hedgepath & Co. had located seven claims on Big Rich bar, but there is no evidence of any gold discovery at the Forks prior to that made by Frank Anderson on the fourteenth of September, 1849, as related in the remarks on " Early History." In November Major Downie's party reached the forks. John Potter cut the first tree used for building a cabin, which was erected about the last of December, 1849, with the assistance of Kelley and others, at the mouth of the ravine on the north side of town, and came to be known as the Kelley cabin. Another log cabin was immediately built on Jersey flat, by a man named Lord. In January, 1850, Anderson brought B. F. Parks, now of Marysville, and six others, to the Forks, the Kelley and Lord cabins being the only ones there at the time. The population of the Forks upon their arrival consisted of Mr. Marey, with his party of eight men, and Major Downie, with his three companions, a detachment of eight having been sent below in December for provisions. Albert Callis was then with Major Downie, and was suffering from a severe illness which nearly cost him his life. The snow was very deep during January and February, most of the members awaiting idly for its clearance before going to work. Those who employed their time in searching the crevices beneath the snow were generally repaid by making from one to two hundred dollars a day. From the last of February to the middle of March the snow fell in such quantities as to put a stop to the work on all such diggings, the party having no bank claims opened. Not knowing the length of time they would be obliged to wait for a fresh supply of pro- visions, the men were put on rations. Downie went below and succeeded in obtaining two head of cattle, together with a little rice and a few dried apples. Before the food was entirely consumed, they were relieved by the arrival of a large number of miners fully supplied. The news of the rich · diggings spread rapidly, and with the return of spring came great numbers to mine. In February a town was laid out by James Vinyard, and a meeting to christen it was held, sufficient locators being there to require a permanent title. Considerable rivalry existed in regard to the selection of a name, and none of the disputants were willing to give up to the others. Some favored Marey- ville, while others wished to perpetuate their own names or those of their friends in the camp. It was finally left to Mr. Parks to propose a name, and he suggested Downieville, which obtained unanimous approval. On the same evening the south side was christened Washingtonville, and the flat above, on the south side, Murraysville. In the fall of 1850 James Durgan built the first saw- mill in Sierra county, on the south side, and soon that part of the town was called Durgan Flat instead of Washingtonville. The name of Murraysville did not prove popular, and the Jersey company, owning the river claim at that point, invested it during the year with the title of Jersey Flat.
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