USA > California > Contra Costa County > The history of Contra Costa County, California > Part 16
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MURDER OF AN UNKNOWN MAN .- A stranger, dressed in working clothes, arrived at San Pablo on the night of August 4, 1863, and, after eating supper at the hotel, took his blanket and proceeded a short dis- tance up the road, when he turned off into a wheat-field, spread his bedding, and lay down. The following morning he was found there quite dead, with a wound in the temple, apparently caused by a blow from a heavy instrument. The body was yet warm when discovered.
KILLING OF JOHN PETE .- On January 11, 1864, one Frank McCann killed John Pete in a quarrel over a game of cards at San Pablo, but what the particulars of the outrage were we have been unable to gather.
MURDER OF MARTINE BERRYESSA .- On February 8, 1864, at the town of Old Pinole, Martine Berryessa was stabbed with a knife by a man who was known by the solitary name of Francisco. Death was almost instantaneous. The facts of the case are these : Some two or three weeks before hard words had passed between the parties, and a charge of horse-stealing was bandied from one to the other. Thereupon a scuffle ensued, in which a cut was received in the leg by Francisco. They then separated, after threats were made by Francisco, and they did not cross each other again until the day of the fatal meeting, when Francisco and two men with him were for some hours at Pinole. Just as they were about leaving, they saw Berryessa, and, going up to him, Francisco ob- served that somebody wanted him at a place near by. Berryessa refused to go with them, whereupon he was told he should be made to go, and Francisco drew a pistol upon him. He held up his hands as if to ward off the shot or to seize the weapon, and then, instead of firing the pistol, Francisco unsheathed a knife and stabbed him under the arm. It en- tered his back immediately below the shoulder, penetrating the lungs, and causing him to fall dead. The murderer and his two companions then fled. Francisco being caught by the bystanders, after a short chase, was lodged in the jail at Martinez.
MURDER OF ARAVENA .- On June 17, 1864, a Chileno named Aravena was killed under the following circumstances: It seems for some un-
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explained reason, he attacked a man named Humboldt, a resident of Oakland, Alameda County, who, in self-defense, turned on the deceased and slew him.
MURDER OF A MAN NAMED "Jo."-In the month of June, 1874, but on what day we cannot ascertain, a man called "Jo" was stabbed by one Alvarez at Pinole. The cause was liquor and jealousy. Alvarez delivered himself up to the authorities, but was discharged.
MURDER OF JESUS DIANA .- The following murder was committed November 12, 1864, under the most vengeful and brutal circumstances. It appears that a Mexican by the name of Luis Romero had been living in a family of the same nationality a few miles from Pinole. In that household was included a young woman about sixteen years old, the sis- ter of the mistress of the house. This young girl's name was Jesus Di- ana. Romero was courting her and was very anxious to marry her. She, however, refused all his solicitations, whereat he was very much in- censed. Immediately after breakfast on the morning of the fatal day he took his gun and started off, as he said, on a hunting trip. Only a few moments passed, however, before he came back to the house and found the married sister outside at a well near by. The murdered girl was within, washing dishes. He then went in and stabbed her in the back with a common butcher knife. Her screams quickly brought the absent sister to the door. Upon the latter crying out to Romero to desist, he turned upon her too, with the same knife, when she ran away. He called to her not to be afraid, for he should kill himself also. He then went back, took the gun, put it to his own throat, holding it under the chin so that the charge would pass into his brain, and thus killed him- self. Before doing so, however, he stabbed the girl in several places, one of the wounds going entirely through the body.
MURDER OF VALENCIA .- On August 25, 1866, a Mexican, or native Californian, named Valencia, died at Martinez from the effects of a wound received at the hands of Jesus Garcia, on the previous Tuesday. It is said there was no provocation for the assault, although some quar- rel had occurred between the parties. The attack was made with a stick or club of oak wood, with which the deceased was severely beaten upon
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the head and other parts of the body. Garcia was arrested, tried, and on December 27th sentenced by District Judge Dwinelle to imprisonment for two years in the State prison.
MURDER OF MRS. ELIZABETH ROBINSON .- The following most brutal murder was committed on the night of December 26, 1866, on the per- son of Mrs. Elizabeth Robinson, an aged woman who dwelt in the vicin- ity of the Roman Catholic church. The facts of the case as alleged are these : The body of the deceased was discovered lying upon the floor by the child of a neighbor some time during the forenoon of Thursday, the 27th, and upon this information a number of persons immediately repaired to the premises and found the body in a night-dress upon the floor of the rear room, with the head, face, arms, and hands fearfully cut and gashed and several stabs in the breasts and throat, one of the latter being entirely through the neck, from front to back. Near the body was a piece of candle and a candlestick. The appearances led to the belief that the deceased, aroused by the noise made in entering the house, had risen from her bed, lighted the candle, and on entering the rear room from which the noise proceeded received a severe blow upon the forehead, followed by assaults with the knife, against which the gashes upon the arms and hands showed that she made a protracted but unavailing struggle. The floor of the house displayed bloody tracks, and upon one of the partitions was the full print of a bloody hand, made by the murderer probably on groping his way through the dark. There were also the marks of bloody fingers on the sliding window, showing that he had carefully closed it on his retreat from the premises. The ob- ject of the murder was undoubtedly plunder, as the deceased, who was about seventy-five years of age, by a long life of toil, had accumulated some property, and may have been supposed to have money with her in the house, which had all the appearances of having been searched after the life of the woman had been taken. Two days later a mixed-blood Mexican and Indian, called Manuel Jaurez, was arrested under circum- stances that tended strongly to identify him with the murder, several of the articles belonging to Mrs. Robinson having been found in his house in Martinez. He was duly incarcerated, and, after a trial lasting an entire week, was found guilty of murder, the testimony against him being entirely circumstantial, but most conclusive. On May 10, 1867, he
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was sentenced to be hanged on June 28th, on which day he was exe- cuted at the jail at Martinez. Before the carrying out of the sentence, in response to a notice that he was at liberty to say anything he might de- sire to communicate before execution, in substance he remarked : "In a few minutes I shall be in the presence of my God, and I now declare that I am innocent of the crime for which I am to die ; and what I have previously confessed I did in the hope of escaping punishment."
KILLING OF SACRAMENTO LEIBAS .- On the evening of January 7, 1867, Sacramento Leibas was shot and fatally wounded by Antonio Figueroa in the Pastor House, a saloon and boarding-house in Pacheco, and principally patronized by native Californians. A difficulty had ex- isted between the parties for some time, and several weeks before de- ceased complained of Figueroa for threats against his life, but the evi- dence submitted to Justice of the Peace Sayles, before whom the case was brought, did not warrant placing him under bonds. On the evening of the killing three men came into the saloon together, Bonifacio Pa- checo, Espirito Almosan, and Antonio Figueroa, all somewhat under the influence of liquor. Figueroa commenced to abuse Leibas, who re- plied, "It's all right ; I don't want any words." He then directed his con- versation to Antonio Leibas, brother of the deceased, in the same strain, and finally the remainder of those present came in for a share of his vituperation. After a while he went out, but soon returned, followed by Pacheco, who was apparently endeavoring to hold his arm. Figueroa raised a pistol, pointed it at Sacramento Leibas, who was standing be- hind the counter, and fired, the ball taking effect near the heart of the unfortunate man, who died in about an hour and a half. Notwithstand- ing being pursued, Figueroa escaped. Pacheco and Almosan were ar- rested as accessories, and after examination were discharged for want of evidence. They were subsequently rearrested and lodged in jail at Martinez. Figueroa was traced to a point on the San Joaquin, near Firebaugh's Ferry, where it is supposed he obtained a crossing in a boat kept there by a party of Sonorans. The accessories were found not guilty May 18th and discharged.
KILLING OF PETER LYNCH .- It appears from the records that some time previous to the committing of this deed a Portuguese named An-
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tonio Corquillo had been in the employ of Peter Lynch, who resided on San Pablo Creek. On a certain Saturday evening in the month of March, 1867, a bottle of liquor was taken to the cabin where both men lived, and both becoming intoxicated a quarrel ensued. The Portuguese finally went to his bed, but was soon after assailed by Lynch. A struggle ensued, and in self-defense Corquillo seized a monkey-wrench from a tool-chest near by and dealt Lynch a fatal blow. He made a full con- fession, surrendered himself to the authorities, and on May 11, 1867, was tried and acquitted.
KILLING OF ENOCH J. DAVIS .- One of the proprietors of the Cum- berland house, at the Black Diamond Coal Mines, named Enoch J. Da- vis, died March 1, 1867, from the effects of a knife wound inflicted by William Bowen some ten days prior to the decease. From the testimony given at the inquest it appears that Bowen and another party got into a quarrel over a game of cards and were ordered by Davis to go out of the house and settle their difficulty; they accordingly went out, and after a scuffle returned, still disputing, when Davis again ordered them away to fight the matter out, at the same time applying some derogatory epithets to Bowen, upon which he ran to his room and returned with a knife, asking Davis if he had called him a "son of -," and upon Davis replying that he did, plunged the knife into his breast ; then going back to the room, in which there were several other lodgers, threw the bloody weapon on the table and declared he would take the life of any man who called him such a name. Davis's wound was not at first thought to be mortal, and Bowen remained at the place until within a few days of his victim's death, when he left.
KILLING OF WILLIAM NESBIT .- The circumstances of this case are from the dying deposition of the victim. The murder was committed near Somersville on the night of December 21, 1866. On that night, a difficulty having originally occurred between Nesbit and George Ver- non, he (Nesbit) went to the house of Vernon for the purpose of set- tling the difficulty without further trouble. Stopping at Vernon's door, he told him that he wished to talk with him peaceably and settle their difficulty without further words. Vernon said, "All right; wait until I get my boots and I will come and talk with you." Vernon went into the
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house and returned instantly with a pistol, and while Nesbit was sit- ting on the porch fired at him, the ball striking him in the breast. As he jumped to run he again shot him in the back. He also fired other shots which did not strike him. On April 24, 1867, Vernon was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in the State prison. In 1871 he was pardoned, the grounds given by Governor Haight for so doing being : "There are serious doubts of his guilt, and it is the opinion of many of the citizens of said [Contra Costa] county that he should not have been convicted, and these doubts seem well founded."
KILLING OF S. A. CARPENTER .- On September 30, 1868, S. A. Car- penter, an old and well-known resident of Alamo, was found dead in a trail leading over a ridge to his residence, about two hundred yards from where the body was discovered. His horse, all saddled, had been previously found roaming about, the circumstance which led to the search. The deceased was in his shirt-sleeves, as if only a temporary absence was intended. He had been shot through the body, the ball en- tering the right side just below and behind the arm, and coming out of the right side a short distance below the nipple. There was no apparent deflection in its course, and, passing about an inch below the heart, pro- duced death almost instantaneously. From its evident force, the ball was thought to have been discharged from a rifle or heavy revolver. His pantaloons were also cut in the folds on the left side, apparently by a ball that had passed clear of the body. Carpenter is described as a man of very eccentric disposition. He was unmarried, and lived alone in a little spot that he had surrounded with a wealth of floral beauty. Shrubs of various kinds were artistically trained in the most attractive style, and flowers of countless hues unfolded in beauty and mingled their fragrance around his humble dwelling. His house was a model of neatness and order that would have won encomiums from the most thrifty housewife, and the general aspect of the place gave evidence of the esthetic traits of its possessor. Some little time before, Carpenter gave unmistakable proof of insanity, and was for a time removed to Stockton; after his return he had not been generally regarded as of sound mind. He was very irritable, and disposed to be quarrelsome to- ward his neighbors and all others with whom he came in contact. He had made threats to poison stock, and in many ways made enemies. Pos-
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sibly some one unaware of, or unwilling to allow for his infirmity, may have compassed his death in revenge for injuries received at his hands. Be that as it may-the murderer made his escape.
KILLING OF MRS. LAURA WALKER .- A man named Walker, who lived on the farm of Mr. Sellers, near the Kirker Pass, on the Norton- ville side, was arrested on September 5, 1869, for causing the death of his wife by beating her. Both the accused and deceased are reported to have been indulging excessively in drink at the house of a neighbor, and the beating occurred on the way home. On November 30, 1870, Walker was convicted of manslaughter, when a motion was made for a new trial, which was denied, and the prisoner sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in the State prison.
KILLING OF JOSÉ VACA .- In an affray at the village of Concord on May 2, 1869, a California Indian named José Vaca was killed by an- other called Fernando Feliz. The deceased had been well known in the vicinity for a long time as a drunken, brawling, besotted fellow, the other being also well known as a quiet, inoffensive person, past the meridian of life, and afflicted from early age with an infirmity that made him a cripple. It appears that the deceased, who had been drinking to inebriation, approached the hut of Feliz with a bottle and wanted him to drink, an invitation he declined, saying that "much whiskey is no good," but told the other he would make a fire and give him something to eat. While making the fire José seized hold of him, saying, "Now, I've got you where I want you, and mean to kill you," thereupon strik- ing him a heavy blow with the bottle and breaking it. Fernando, strug- gled to defend himself, José meanwhile slashing and punching his face with the fragments of the bottle, still held in his hand by the neck. In the scuffle that ensued, they got outside of the shanty, where Fernando found an opportunity to seize a large knife with which he gave his an- tagonist two or three lunges, one of which, as was found on the post- mortem examination, passed entirely through the heart, severed the fourth rib, and killed him instantly. A judgment of justifiable homicide was returned.
KILLING OF GEORGE MINCHELL .- George Minchell, who, with his family, had been living in Ygnacio Valley, about two miles from Pa-
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checo, and farming on the lands of Charles S. Lohse, was shot at his own door on the morning of September 8, 1870, by a man named Wil- liam Donovan, who had been in his employ and claimed an unpaid bal- ance of wages, while, it was asserted on the other hand, that he had been overpaid eight dollars. It is said that Donovan visited the house of the deceased on the previous evening, demanding payment of the claimed dues in abusive and threatening language. Minchell directed him to leave the house and followed him out. A moment afterward the dis- charge of a pistol was heard, and Minchell re-entered the door, saying to his wife, "Mary, I am shot." "You are not going to die, George, are you?" "Yes, Mary," and he immediately dropped dead upon the floor. Donovan was arrested, and when the sheriff approached him with the manacles, he exclaimed, fully realizing his situation, "Oh, God, this is what drink has brought me !" He was duly tried and convicted, and on December 8th, sentenced to be hanged on February 3, 1871. Judgment was stayed, however, and on April 15th Donovan was granted a new trial on the ground that a continuance asked for the defendant on the former trial was improperly denied. The continuance was demanded for the procuring of witnesses to prove that the prisoner had been an in- mate of an insane asylum, and it was denied on the admission of the prosecution that the fact alleged would be proved by the required wit- nesses if they were present. The Supreme Court decided that this ad- mission was not sufficient, and that the defendant was entitled to an op- portunity of proving the fact. The case was moved to the San Francisco courts, and on December 12, 1871, Donovan was again convicted of murder in the first degree. Afterward, in February, 1872, a motion for a new trial was sent on appeal to the Supreme Court, which issued a writ to stay execution of sentence until the "pending motion is heard and decided," and on June 27th directed that an order be entered affirm- ing the judgment of the court below, and directing the lower court to fix a day to carry the sentence into execution. He was again sentenced to be hanged on December 13th. In the meantime a petition to pardon the murderer had been sent to the governor, who declined to interfere, but ultimately execution was stayed by Governor Booth, who was moved thereto by an immense petition for a commutation of sentence.
KILLING OF HERMAN HEYDER .- From November 18 to 25, 1870, the Fifteenth District Court was occupied with the trial of Mathew Cas-
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par, indicted for the murder of Herman Heyder, by poison, put into the food served to him by the accused, when the deceased was a visitor at his house some ten or twelve miles southeast of Antioch. The general facts and features of the case may be briefly summarized as follows : On the 6th or 7th of September, 1870, Heyder and Caspar were brought into Antioch, at one o'clock in the morning, Heyder lying in the bottom of the wagon and Caspar sitting upon the seat beside the driver. Both were represented to Doctor Howard to be suffering from the effects of strychnine taken with the food they had eaten for supper at the house of Caspar some five or six hours before. Heyder died soon after reach- ing Antioch. Caspar recovered, and, from the medical testimony and other facts subsequently developed or considered, it appeared doubtful if he had exhibited any symptoms of having been poisoned at all. A jury was summoned to make investigations in the case. After a patient, thorough, and protracted investigation Caspar was held on their find- ing to answer before the grand jury on a charge of poisoning Heyder. The finding of this jury, and, presumably, of the grand jury, was based wholly upon strong circumstantial evidence of the guilt of the accused. It was, in the first place, almost inconceivable that so atrocious and dia- bolical a crime could have been committed without some motive of envy or cupidity ; but the most diligent inquiry failed to develop a fact or suggestion which warranted suspicion that anyone had been prompted by such motives to enter Caspar's house in his absence and mingle strychnine with the various condiments and articles of food which would be eaten by him on his return, for the purpose of killing him. Large quantities of strychnine were found in the sugar-bowl, in the pepper-box, in the salt upon the table, in the syrup, in the butter, in the batter-pan, and in the flap-jacks, eaten at least by Heyder for supper- for he was unquestionably poisoned, exhibited all the most painful symptoms, and died within a few hours after the fatal meal. Strych- nine was found in his stomach, on chemical analysis of the contents, and in the undigested portions of the cakes he had eaten. The question then arose with the jury of inquest, Had Caspar any motive which would possibly have prompted him to such an attempt to destroy the life of his visitor and guest? It was shown that Caspar and Heyder had been acquainted for some time; had worked together in herding sheep; that Heyder had money, and that Caspar had been trying for some time
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to borrow several hundred dollars from him. His statements in relation to the preparation of the supper when Heyder came with him to the house, after having been with him when he had been working during the afternoon, and many other circumstances developed in the investiga- tion, produced a conviction of Caspar's guilt in the minds of the jury of inquest ; and the testimony before the grand jury doubtless produced such conviction there as to warrant his indictment for the murder. With the strong circumstantial evidence of guilt which had warranted the findings of the two juries, the prosecution at the trial brought in the testimony of the two prisoners confined in the jail, to prove an admis- sion to them in prison on the part of Caspar that he did the poisoning. This was the only testimony purporting to be of a positive character against the prisoner, and it probably had not the weight with the jury that the testimony of persons unaccused of crime would have had, though these prisoners had no apparent motive for testifying falsely against the life of another. It is therefore not surprising that, under their solemn responsibilities, with no alternative but condemnation to death or acquittal, the jury should have failed to find a verdict accord- ing with the general conviction of the prisoner's guilt.
KILLING OF JAMES FERGUSSON .- A stranger named James Fergusson, on his way from Gilroy, where he had been employed in the redwoods, to his home at Windsor, Sonoma County, arrived at Martinez too late to cross the ferry on the evening of June 4, 1871, and met a violent death between midnight and Monday morning, under circumstances' of a peculiarly painful nature. The deceased was accompanied by his three sons, aged respectively eighteen, thirteen, and ten years, and being obliged to remain over night at Martinez put up their horses in the sta- ble of the Alhambra Hotel, where he and the two younger lads at a later hour made camp beds, the eldest boy at a still later hour going to his bed in their wagon, which stood in the stable yard. During the evening Fergusson had been drinking pretty freely, and obtained from George Gordon Moor, Sr., the sum of $175, which deceased had given him to take charge of. This money was not found on his body. At about eight o'clock P. M. he went to the saloon of Francisco Saurez and there re- mained until one o'clock on Monday morning, leaving at the same time as did Alexander Naghel, William Higgins, and K. W. Taylor. The first of these, whose testimony is the most important relative to material
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facts, stated at the inquest that while there, Taylor playing on a guitar and Saurez on an accordion, deceased jumped up and began talking about soldiering, saying that he had command of fifteen hundred men. Not much attention was paid to what he said, and after a little they all drank together. The deceased then began showing the sword and fist exercises with his cane and fists, most of them joining in the play. De- ceased then asked Taylor to take the stick ( for attack) and he would defend himself with his fists. After one or two passes Fergusson said to Taylor, "I could have hit you, so and so." Taylor replied, "I could have knocked the knuckles off of you," etc. After a general "skylarking," Taylor handed the stick back to deceased, who, in flourishing it, dropped it on the floor, then giving it a kick that sent it over the screen. Saurez picked the stick up and told the deceased he would keep it until he went away. After this Taylor and Saurez played the guitar and accordion, and deceased wanted them to play "Dixie." They complied, playing and singing, Fergusson joining in the chorus. Negro and Irish songs were then sung. Then Higgins asked for a Union song. The deceased said, "Anyone that will sing a Union song is a d-d son of a -. " No reply was made to this remark by anyone. Taylor sang one or two more songs, and afterward a Union patriotic song. After more singing, Sau- rez said, "Let's all go to bed." Taylor said, "Let's all take a drink." All drank except the deceased, who got up and said he "had a boy twelve years old in his wagon over there, and that he had made that boy fetch his man." Taylor said there was no use talking about that now ; the war was over. Deceased then began talking about one Southerner being equal to five Yankees. Taylor and Saurez were at this time looking over the accounts of the latter, and while thus employed, and while the de- ceased was bragging about being able to whip five Yankees, Higgins, who was sitting on the billiard-table, came forward and proposed that all should go home. Taylor said, "We will all go home if Saurez will treat." Saurez treated, and all drank, including deceased. Taylor, Hig- gins, and Naghel then went out of the saloon and started toward the bridge. The deceased started at the same time, but turned back to enter the saloon, when Saurez ejected him, telling him to go home and go to bed, as he wanted to shut up. Naghel further stated that he left Taylor in order to go down the street; that the deceased walked up against Taylor, who then turned aside and tried to avoid him. Naghel then
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