USA > California > Alameda County > The centennial year book of Alameda County, California : containing a summary of the discovery and settlement of California, a description of the Contra Costa under Spanish, Mexican, and American rule, biographical sketches of prominent pioneers and public men > Part 29
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An unprovoked and cold-blooded murder was perpetrated at the store of Thos. Scott, in Sunol Valley, on the 10th day of January, 1871, by a Mexican marauder, named Juan Soto, whose victim was a clerk of Mr. Scott, named Ludovischi. On the evening of the day mentioned, about the hour of 7 p. M., while Mr. Scott and family, with three men, were sitting by a fire in a room adjoining his store, when three "Spaniards " entered, and one of whom, who was masked, fired at the clerk with a pistol, hitting him in the left side and kill- ing him. Another man, a stranger, was shot in the hand, and the rest of the people in the house, including Mr. Scott, escaped. The assassins robbed the till of $65, and took with them some pantaloons and other articles with which they escaped. The assassins, who were mounted, were tracked and pursued by Sheriff Morse and Officers Morehouse and Faville, next day. They proceeded to San José, the New Almaden Mines, and the country as far south as the Pacheco Pass and San Luis Ranch, in Merced County, all of which were unsuccessfully searched. In the Panoche mountains, however, Sheriff Harris, of Santa Clara County, discovered a colony of " Greaser " vagabonds, all armed, and among whom they arrested an escaped convict from Santa Clara, named Patrico Mancellos.
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Until the 12th of May following the murderers managed to escape capture, but on that day the fate of one of them at least was sealed. Sheriff Morse, having obtained information of the where- abouts of some of the gang, started off again in pursuit, directing his course for the Panoche mountains, accompanied by Sheriff Harris and Constable Winchell, of San José, together with a small party of other reliable men. Guides were procured, and the exact locality of the bandits ascertained. There were three houses in close proximity, and it was necessary to divide the party to search them all and arrest the inmates. Morse, accompanied by Winchell, entered one of the houses, leaving his Henry rifle slung from the horn of his saddle. Sitting at a table in one of the rooms were three men, one of whom he immediately recognized as Soto, the murderer of Ludovischi. He was not prepared for so sudden a meeting, but determined then and there to secure his man. He drew his revolver and ordered the Mexican to "throw up his hands," at the same time covering him. The order was not obeyed, and thrice was it repeated, the only response being a steady, unflinching, defiant glare from the eyes of the bandit. With his unoccupied hand the Sheriff pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his pocket and threw them upon the table, and told his companion to fasten them upon the outlaw's wrists. At this critical moment a muscular female sprang upon the Sheriff and seized his right arm, while a man seized upon his left, when Soto, quick as a flash, sprang from his place to behind one of the other men and drew his pistol. The moment was now critical, and a death struggle was before the officers. With a strong effort Sheriff Morse threw off his assailants and discharged his pistol at the head of the bandit, who was sheltered behind his friend. The shot only knocked off the outlaw's hat. It was the latter's turn next. Morse made a dash for the door, got out and turned the corner, but only to find himself covered with a revolver, in the hand of the desperate villain. Both fired their revolvers. The outlaw had the first shot and missed, although reputed to be a " dead-shot." Four rounds were exchanged before a shot took effect, Morse's ball striking Soto's pistol, which probably paralyzed the latter's arm, for he immediately ran for the house.
In the meantime, Winchell, armed with a double-barrel shot-gun, heavily loaded with shot, fired at the retreating outlaw, but missed him. Morse then ran for his Henry rifle and secured it. Soto, in the meantime, was indulging in a little piece of strategy, He pulled
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off his blue soldier overcoat and put it upon one of his friends, while both ran for a saddled horse hitched to a tree, and standing opposite the house. Sheriff Harris, having heard the shots, hastened to the scene of combat, and was about firing with his Henry rifle on the " boy in blue," supposing him to be the person that had been fight- ing Morse, when the latter, discovering the bandit's ruse, checked his friend's fire. Soto's horse, on which he tried to escape, broke away from him, and while in the act of running to another, which stood ready at a little distance, a ball from Morse's rifle struck him in the right shoulder. But he was determined not to be taken alive. With a revolver in each hand, and his eyes gleaming with desperate determination, he boldly advanced towards his antagonists. Morse raised his fatal rifle, and, with steady and deliberate aim, fired. The shot was fatal, and the desperado dropped to the ground, pierced through the brain, a corpse !
The party was soon at the headquarters of the band of outlaws, close by, and arrested them all. Among the gang was the notorious horse and cattle-stealer, Gonzales, who had escaped some time pre- viously from the Santa Cruz Jail.
Soto had led a life of outlawry for several years, although but thirty-two years of age. He had served two terms in the State Prison, at San Quentin. He was one of four who had, some few years previous, robbed the house of Charles Garthwait, near Pleas- anton, and maltreated his wife and daughter. He was of mixed Indian and Mexican blood, was six feet two inches in height, muscular and repulsive in aspect.
Another of those cowardly and unprovoked murders which have made the native population so odious in the eyes of all good citizens, was perpetrated in this county on the 16th of January. The victim was a hunter named Hiscock, and the murderer a Californian named Ramon Amador. The scene of the homicide was the hills between Haywards and Pleasanton, and the facts are briefly these : On the day mentioned Amador was herding cattle on the hills in company with a German boy, when Hiscock came along in search of game. He had with him a shot-gun and rifle, both of which Amador was permitted by their owner to examine. He told Hiscock where he had shortly before seen a hare, and the latter went and shot it. Amador then volunteered to show him where there was some deer, and both entered the chapparal together. Amador offered to relieve his companion of one of his guns, which apparent kindness was
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accepted; but he soon received a discharge of its contents in the back of the head, having been treacherously fired upon from behind, and left dead upon the ground. Amador, during the darkness of night, conveyed both guns to his own house. Hiscock not having returned home as promised, his friends made a vigilant search for him, and found his body in the chapparal, on the eastern slope of the mountain, about three miles from Pleasanton. An inquest was held by Dr. Marks, when the fact of the man having been murdered was made apparent, and suspicion strongly pointed to Amador, who was an ex-State Prison convict. The latter having ridden into the village while the inquest was in progress, was arrested by a number of citizens, who handed him over to Constable Faville, who conveyed him to San Leandro, there to await his trial in the County Jail. On search being made, both of Hiscock's guns were found in his house. The prisoner was tried in the Third District Court before Judge McKee, on the 20th day of July, and found guilty. He was sen- tenced to be hanged on the 31st day of August. An effort to obtain a commutation of the sentence failed, and at 112 o'clock on Friday morning, September 22d, the unfortunate culprit suffered the extreme penalty of the law. Two reprieves were granted by the Governor before the sentence was finally carried into execution.
Amador was a native Californian, of about 26 years of age. He was born in this county, and was a short, muscular man, and evi- dently an incorrigible character.
This was the second legal execution that took place in this county, and the last. It took place at San Leandro, then the county seat, and was witnessed by a select few, who were supplied with tickets by Sheriff Morse.
On Tuesday, the 29th of Jan., about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the building in Alameda, first known as the Park Hotel, and more recently as a private insane asylum, was destroyed by fire. A Mrs. Stoval had intended to open a boarding school for young ladies in the building on the Friday following. The building belonged to Drs. Trenor and Sutter, and was valued at $5,000, on which there was a partial insurance.
Strong efforts were made about this time to bring Decoto forward as a town site, and various improvements, such as tree-planting, were in progress ; but the company effected no sales of lots worth men- tioning.
There was a very heavy storm in this section on the night of the
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18th and 19th of Jannary. About nightfall a violent wind arose and continued throughout the night, accompanied with a heavy rain- fall. At two o'clock of the following morning one of the most violent thunder storms ever known here burst forth and continued for over an hour.
Crimes and casualties seemed to be an epidemic, and predominated in this year of our history. Already, in the second month, two cold- blooded murders, committed by native Californians, have been recorded. It is now the writer's painful duty to record a third, com- mitted by a white man and an American, a man of education and good connections. Reference is made to what is known as the Clark- Read homicide. This tragic affair took place on the 17th day of February, about 2 o'clock in the afternoon. The facts relating to it are as follows :
Two suits had recently been decided against occupants of a ranch, situated a short distance north of the City of Oakland, near Ocean View-one, John Hall vs. Henry Williamson et al., in favor of Hall ; the other, Gustav Mahe vs. John Reynolds, in favor of Mahe. Writs of ejectment had been placed in the hands of Sheriff H. N. Morse, who, on the day preceding the homicide, ejected Mr. Williamson, and placed Mr. Henry Kirke White Clark, who had an interest in the property, in possession. The latter placed his son, F. W. Clark, in charge of the premises. As Mr. Williamson was unable to remove all his portable property on Thursday, the Sheriff gave him permis- sion to remove the remainder on Friday. There was a taeit agree- ment between all parties that he should be allowed to return on Friday.
On that day two men, named Charles Huntsman and Zelotes Read, who were in Williamson's employ, and had been engaged on the pre- vious day in moving away Williamson's effects, drove upon the prem- ises with a team for the purpose of taking away the remainder of Williamson's effects, articles about which there was no dispute as to ownership. Huntsman was driving, and Read was sitting alongside of him on the wagon. Clark stopped them at the entrance of the premises and forbade their advancing, at their peril. They advanced, however, Read stating that he would "do his duty." Clark, who was accompanied by another person named Chas F. Wait, raised his arm and fired four shots at the men-the first at the driver, Hunts- man, and the remaining three at Read, who was fatally wounded, and died in fifteen or twenty minutes after he was shot.
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An inquest on the body of the deceased was held on Saturday fol- lowing, before Justice James Lentell, Acting Coroner. The verdict of the jury was signed by William Graham, Silvanus White, Joseph Fallon, A. Rammelsberg, Charles Carl, Walter Blair, G. A. Warren, and was as follows :
We, the undersigned, the jurors summoned to appear before James Lentell, Acting Coroner of the County of Alameda, on the 18th day of February, 1871, to inquire into the cause of the death of Zelotes Read, who was killed on Williamson's Ranch, having been duly sworn according to law, and having made such inquisitions, after in- specting the body, and hearing the testimony adduced, upon our oaths, each and all do say, that we find the deceased was named Zelotes Read, aged about forty-six or forty-seven years; that he came to his death on the 17th day of February, 1871, in this county ; and we further find that we believe F. W. Clark to be the person by whose act the death of the said Zelotes Read was occasioned, by shooting him, the said Read, with pistol-shot, killing him ; and we further believe that Chas. F. Wait was accessory thereto ; all of which we duly certify by this inquisition in writing, by us signed this 18th day of February, 1871.
Clark and Waite had given themselves up, and were under arrest. On the following day, the 21st of February, a preliminary examina- tion commenced in the Police Court, before Judge Jayne, in Oakland, which continued for five days. The defense was conducted by a large array of legal ability, consisting of Harvey S. Brown, Blake & Van Voorhies, H. W. Glascock, and Alex. Campbell. The pros- ecution was conducted by the County Attorney, Mr. Wright, aided by the City Attorney, H. H. Havens, Zach Montgomery, and W. W. Foote.
Judge Jayne delivered judgment in the case, as follows :
" I have listened attentively to every word of the testimony, and have studied over it by night as well as by day, and can come to a conclusion now. I find from the evidence adduced in the examina- tion, that a crime has been committed as charged in the complaint, and that there is sufficient cause to believe the defendant, Frederick F. Clark, guilty thereof. It is ordered that he be committed to the Sheriff of Alameda County. In regard to the defendant, Wait, I considered his evidence against himself to be the clearest of all the evidence brought forward, except as to the statement by Huntsman, that he saw him show a weapon before the shooting. He does not
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seem to attempt to screen his friend. I am constrained to believe that he has narrated the transaction as he believes it to be. I be- lieve that he has told the truth. There is no evidence to charge him with being accessory. He is therefore discharged."
Subsequently, application was made for bail, and the case was submitted on testimony, without argument, to Judges Crockett and Wallace, of the Supreme Court, in argument. A short-hand report having been made of the evidence, by the defense, two days were occupied in reading it. No attempt was made to deny the homicide, the point being that it was justified by the circumstances. Judge Crockett said that he should admit the prisoner to bail. Where malice and premeditation are proven, the statute declares that no bail shall be received ; but in the present case the circumstances were such that he felt warranted in releasing the prisoner. He ordered Clark to be released on bail, in the sum of $30,000.
The trial was to take place at the Spring session of the County Court, before Judge Nye. All criminal cases, of course, had first to go before the Grand Jury for examination.
The Grand Jury on this occasion consisted of : Messrs. W. G. Hunt, foreman ; Robert Carr, C. P. Hanson, F. Garcia, F. Devoll, C. B. Rutherford, A. Chabot, J. A. Folger, E. Gallagher, Fred. Runkle, David Scully, W. A. Bray, H. F. Shepardson, W. Benitz.
In their report they stated that they had found two indictments for murder, one in the first degree and one in the second degree ; two indictments for burglary, one indictment for grand larceny, one for obstructing a public highway, and had ignored the charge of mur- der against Frederick W. Clark !
The public were amazed. The press denounced the conduct of the Grand Jury ; the District Attorney, S. P. Wright, was condemned.
The latter published a letter in his own defense, in which he stated that the case for the people was presented, as far as he was concerned, in the best possible manner before the Grand Jury, and that they had the testimony untrammelled, by alarge number of witnesses that the defendant produced before the committing magistrate, as to the gen- eral reputation of deceased.
He said : " When I left the Grand Jury room, and as I was clos- ing the door after me, I heard some one of the grand jurors say, ' I move to ignore the bill ;' and, hearing such a motion as that, I felt indignant, as the defendant, under the evidence, in my opinion, ought to have been indicted."
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The Gazette, in commenting upon the action of the Grand Jury of Alameda County, in ignoring the bill of indictment against F. W. Clark, charged with the murder of Zelotes Read, said it excited sur- prise, and was eliciting indignant comment.
On the 15th of April the question came up in the County Court on an application for a resubmmission of the case to a Grand Jury. District Attorney Wright argued in favor of the application, and Harvey S. Brown, H. K. W. Clark, Wm. Van Voorhies and Geo. M. Blake represented the accused, Clark, and opposed the application.
This decision of Judge Nye ended the matter for that term of the Court.
At a subsequent term, Judge Nye made an order resubmitting the . case to the Grand Jury. From this order the defendant appealed to the Supreme Court. That Court held that the order was not appeal- able. The County Judge again submitted the case, and defendant sued out a writ of review before Judge Dwinelle. Judge Dwinelle held the case for about two years without rendering a decision, until the press and the public became so clamorous about it that he at length dismissed the writ and the case went before another Grand Jury, which in turn also ignored the bill.
There was a great deal of feeling in this case, not only in Alameda County, but outside of it. It was presumed that the wealth of the accused and his social position had much to do with his escape ; it was charged that he received the favor of the legal fraternity ; that his father was a lawyer; that members of the judiciary became his bondsmen ; that the Supreme Court Judges favored him ; that all the land-grabbers in the country gathered around him ; that Horace W. Carpentier had used his wealth and influence unsparingly for his protection ; and all because the man who was slain had in his capa- city, as a settler on some disputed lands in Contra Costa County, rendered himself obnoxious to these parties in defending his own and his neighbors' rights against their encroachments.
Much space is given here to this celebrated case, because it is looked upon as one to be ever held up as an example, showing the danger to life and liberty, even under our free and popular system of government, when certain influences are allowed to be exercised. Indeed, the whole affair is looked upon as marvelous, and such as not to be credited only that the evidence of it is so recent, and all the facts so patent. With what assiduity and ability the mind must have worked and the hand directed, that produced such an extraordi-
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nary result that defeated justice, shielded a culprit and threw the darkest shades of suspicion on the machinery of law !
The fourth homicide of the year occurred in the third month. It began in a drunken bout, on a Sunday evening in March, between a man named William Power and a Norwegian named Larsen, and the scene of it was on the Haas place, about six miles east of Haywards, in the country. In the melee Power stabbed Larsen in the back with a knife, and he died shortly after from the effects of his wound. A coroner's inquest was held over the dead man's body, presided over by Justice Graham, when the following verdict, in accordance with the facts, was rendered :
" We, the undersigned, convened as jurors to hold an inquest on a dead body, do find as follows, viz: That the body is that of one Larsen; that his age was about 47 years ; nativity, Norway ; and that he came to his death on the 26th of March, at Haas' ranch, in Eden Township, from a wound inflicted by a knife in the hands of one William Powers."
Powers, who gave himself up, was committed to jail on a charge of murder, to await the action of the Grand Jury. That body found a true bill against him. He was tried, convicted and sentenced to 13 years in the State Prison at San Quentin. A few weeks since he was pardoned out by Governor Irwin, for extenuating circumstances and good conduct.
On the 30th day of January suits were commenced in the Third District Court by Messrs. Wm. C. Blackwood and William Meek, two of the principal tax-payers of the county, against County Treas- urer McClure, to recover the amount of State and county taxes paid by these gentlemen under protest. The complaints in the actions set forth, among other things, that the assessment roll was not made by any person authorized by law to make an assessment, and that Edwin Hunt was not County Assessor. The Board of Supervisors employed John W. Dwinelle as special counsel for the county in the cases. As a decision of the cases was not likely to be reached for some months, and as the legality of the assessment for the current fiscal year was involved, Mr. Dwinelle consulted Attorney-General Hamilton, who brought an action of quo warranto against Edwin Hunt, the acting County Assessor, charging him with usurpation of office, setting out all the facts, including Mr. Hunt's election. Mr. Dwinelle demurred, and Judge Morrison, of the Fourth District Court, before whom the case was first argued, decided in Mr. Hunt's favor. The case was
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appealed to the Supreme Court, and that body affirmed the judg- ment, deciding that the office of Assessor in Alameda County is a county office ; that Edwin Hunt was lawfully elected, and was last year and was then lawfully in office.
A movement was made in the early part of March by the principal inhabitants of Washington Township to organize a silk manufactur- ing company, the capital stock of which was to be $1,500,000. They proposed to purchase for the purposes of the company the property of Messrs. Beard & Ellsworth, at Mission San Jose, containing 4,820 acres of land. Two thousand two hundred shares of stock, at $25 per share, were taken, but the project finally fell through. It may be a hint for others hereafter to undertake an important and re- munerative enterprise.
The first election for Brooklyn town officers took place at Brooklyn on Monday, April 29th. There were two tickets in the field, desig- nated as the Regular and the Independent. Considerable interest was manifested, and 201 votes were cast, and candidates on both tickets were elected. Following were the officers chosen : Trustees, H. A. Mayhew (Reg.), Hiram Tubbs (Reg.), A. Cannon (Reg.), H. Tum Suden (Reg.), Isham Case (Ind.); School Trustees, A. W. Swett (Reg.), F. Buel (Reg.), T. J. Steere (Ind.); Clerk and Treas- urer, J. F. Steen (on both tickets); Assessor, A. B. Webster (on both tickets) ; Justice of the Peace, L. J. Rector (on both tickets) ; Constable, O. Whipple (on both tickets).
At the meeting of the Board of Supervisors held on May 8th, Mr. E. L. Beard presented a bill for the reclamation of swamp land in District No. 82, for work performed from May, 1870, to May, 1871, amounting in the aggregate to the sum of 87,321. On motion, it was ordered that the said amount be paid when there are funds suf- ficient in the treasury for the purpose.
This was the period of roller-skating, and "rinks" were built in almost every town in the county. A very large structure was erected in Oakland, between Broadway and Washington Streets, and extend- ing the whole length of the block from Eleventh to Twelfth Streets. Those structures were also used for public meetings, balls, fairs, etc.
April and May passed off without a homicide, but in June the evil broke out again. On the 15th of that month a man called " Dutch Frank," alias Michael Frendar, shot and killed a man named Ed- ward Lavin, in Eden Vale, about a mile and a half from Haywards, on the Dublin road. The men were neighbors, and the cause of the
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quarrel was a trivial one. Frendar had accused Lavin's boy of steal- ing one of his chickens and caught him roughly, when Lavin went to his rescue. He took hold of Frendar and called him "an old thief," following up with other coarse language, and striking him on the neck. Frendar had a gun, and with an imprecation raised it and fired at Lavin. The latter staggered and fell, and while falling Frendar fired another shot. The defendant, who had given himself up, was committed for trial, and locked up in the County Jail to await the action of the Grand Jury. The trial took place on the 21st of July, and on the following day the prisoner was found guilty of murder in the second degree, and sentenced to confinement in the State prison for a term of fifteen years.
The Union County Convention met at San Leandro on the 24th day of June. The object was to send delegates to the Republican State Convention at Sacramento, on the following week, when a can- didate for Governor was nominated. The contest was between Selby, of San Francisco, and Booth, of Sacramento. On a vote it was found the Selby men outnumbered the Boothites by thirty-two to twenty- three.
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