[From Asa Merrill Fairfield, Fairfield's Pioneer History of Lassen County, California (1916), pp. 122-144]

 

THE MURDER OF HENRY GORDIER

            In the spring and early summer of 1858 a series of events took place in western Utah which caused great excitement throughout that region. The first of these was the murder of Henry Gordier, a Frenchman, in Honey Lake valley, and the events that followed were the result of this.

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            The following story was nearly all told by William Dow, but information was also received from Fred Hines, S. J. Hill and Wife, W. H. Clark, O. Streshly, William and David B Bankhead, Isaac Coulthurst and Wife, and John Baxter. All of these excepting Hill were in the valley at the time, and the most of them took more or less part in what was going on. The details of this and the following story are much more complete than any ever published before this time.

            In the fall of 1857 a man whose name is said to have been William Combs Edwards killed Snelling, the postmaster at Snelling in Merced county, California. After the murder he fled across the mountains to western Utah and there called himself William Combs, but the early settlers of Honey Lake and the Carson country always call him Bill Edwards. Snelling was a Mason and the Masonic Lodge and the people of Snelling offered a reward of $1500 for the arrest of Edwards and notified the Masons on this coast to look out for him.

            Edwards came to Genoa in what is now the western part of Nevada, and there made the acquaintance of William B. Thorrington, better known as "Lucky Bill." The latter was a man of considerable property, but he was a gambler and an unprincipled man who was known to be willing to protect and shelter any criminal. It is said that Edwards told Lucky Bill about the killing of Snelling, but claimed that he did it in self-defense.

            After staying a while at Genoa Edwards came to Honey Lake valley and lived with John Mullen and Asa Snow, who had a cabin on Lassen creek almost exactly where Breed had his trading post in the summer of 1856. J. B. Gilpin had a cabin in the edge of the woods to the north and Rough Elliott lived northwest of Streshly. (Elliott was not called by that name on account of manner. He came to the valley from the mining camp of Rough and Ready, and at first was called "Rough and Ready." He could be very polite and "smooth" if he saw fit to do it.) It is said that Snow's name was an assumed one and that he had killed a man before he came to the valley, but the writer will not vouch for the truth of this. It may have been a case of "Give a dog a bad name and hang him." Mullen had a few cattle and was said to be handy at picking up other people's calves. Edwards spent the winter working in his placer mine, which was not far from the Mullen and Snow cabin.

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            In the fall of 1857, when the Mormons of Carson valley and that vicinity were selling their property in order to return to Salt Lake City, Coulthurst and Gordier, who had been partners in the mines of California, concluded to buy some of the Mormon cattle. Coulthurst went down there and bought a band of fine Durhams, the best lot of cattle that had ever been brought into the valley, and Gordier, who was a man of considerable means, took the most of them. At this time he lived on the Baxter creek south of the point of the Bald mountain.

            In the spring of 1858 Lucky Bill talked of going to Salt Lake to buy some cattle, but instead of going there he came to Honey Lake valley. A man named Sol. Perrin, who had known Thorington at Placerville, lived at the upper end of the lake four or five miles east of the Bankhead place, and when Thorrington was going past his house he hailed him and the two men had a conversation. In the course of it Lucky Bill inquired about Gordiers 's cattle and said he had come to see if he could buy them. After talking with Perrin he went his way, but instead of going to see the Frenchman he went up the valley and stayed all night with Mullen and Edwards and then started for home. Perrin stopped him again and asked him if he had bought the cattle. He replied that he had not and that he had left the matter in the hands of some friends.

            Not long after this Mullen and Edwards began to talk around among the neighbors about buying Gordier's cattle and finally talked to him about it. Later on they reported that they had bargained with him for everything he had. Not far from the middle of March they went to him and told him that he had a sick cow over on the south side of the river opposite the mouth of Willow creek, and that they would go along and show him where she was if he wanted them to do so. The three men went over there. Hines says that on the way home from Carson valley Edwards told him they struck the river a little too high up and turned and went down it. They were riding side by side and Mullen dropped back a little and shot the Frenchman through the head with his pistol. They took off his clothes and put them into an old Indian campoodie close by and set it on fire. This was the shot and the fire told about in the story of the expedition to Cold Springs after the Indians who stole the cattle from Adams. They put a rock on his body, bent his knees up against it, and

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then tied a rope around him to keep it in place. Then they took the body to the river and sunk it in a deep hole. That night they started for Genoa.

            As soon as they were gone Snow, whom they had hired to work for them, took possession of the Frenchman's cabin and gave out that Mullen and Edwards had bought everything he had and that the three men had gone to Genoa to get the money from Lucky Bill to pay him off. The neighbors thought it rather queer that Gordier should leave so suddenly, but did not give the matter a great deal of thought at the time. Mullen and Edwards went to Genoa and stayed a few days and then came home by the way of Quincy. They said that at Genoa Gordier had met an old shipmate and as soon as he got his money both of them started for France. Mullen and Snow immediately moved into Gordier's cabin and took possession of all his property. Some of the cows had been loaned or rented to Malcom Bankhead and others, and these people they told to keep on milking the cows until they called for them. Gordier had a younger brother, some say there were two of them, on the other side of the mountain, and while the party was gone to Goose lake he wrote to some one in the valley and inquired about his brother. When he heard that he had sold out and gone to France he wrote back and said there must be something wrong about it, for his brother would not leave the country without coming to see him. That and some other things that happened made people think that there was something not just right about the Frenchman 's selling out. The Goose lake party got home not far from the first of May, and as this was the only diversion to be had in the country, the boys thought they must have a dance to celebrate the event. There were the three Mormon women and they managed to get three or four more and had their dance, probably at Arnold's hotel in Rooptown. At this dance the Gordier matter was talked over more or less, for by this time people were very suspicious that the Frenchman had met with foul play. Cornelison told the writer that the next morning after the dance a few of them were talking about it and one man said "Boys, do you remember the shot we heard the night we camped at the mouth of Willow creek ?" Being answered in the affirmative he said "That was the shot that killed Harry Gordier." The evening before the dance Sylvester said to Hines, "Bill Edwards will be there to-night and in the morning you tell

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him to come around this way on his road home, for I want to see him." Hines did so and Edwards, who was living at the cabin on Lassen creek, came down through Toadtown on his way home. Sylvester took him to one side and told him that people thought there was something mysterious in regard to their buying the Frenchman out, and if he and Mullen were going to live in the country, they had better show their neighbors that everything was all right. Edwards said they would do so and went on his way. He must have gone down and told Mullen at once, for the same day they went to Bankhead and told him they were going to leave the country for a while. They also told him to keep on milking the cows, and if any more of their cows came around with young calves to take them up and milk them, too. They rode away and Mullen was never seen again by any one in this valley. It looks as though that when they left here their idea was to go somewhere below and have Snow drive the cattle to them, for they left with him written orders, said to be from Gordier, on the men who had any of the cattle in their possession to turn them over to him. When Mullen left here he rode a horse that belonged to him. This horse was called "Bald Hornet" and was a bald-faced chestnut sorrel that weighed about a thousand pounds. He was a quarter-horse, and as he had run in the races at Quincy in 1857 and made a good showing, he was quite a noted horse throughout the mountains from Quincy to Sacramento. Evidently Mullen was afraid to ride a horse that was so well known, for after leaving here he traded him to Edwards. Probably when they got into the mountains and talked the matter over they came to the conclusion that their lives were in danger and they separated, Edwards going to Genoa and Mullen no one knows where. There was a rumor that he went to the Fraser river mining excitement and was killed there, but it was only a rumor and nothing more was ever heard about it.

            When it became known that the two men had left the valley the suspicion that Gordier had met with foul play became stronger than ever. In a day or two John Neale, Dow, Tutt, "Mormon Joe" Owens, John Mote, a half-breed Cherokee, and a few others, seven or eight in all, went down on the south side of Susan river a little below the mouth of Willow creek to see if that fire and gunshot had anything to do with the disappearance of the Frenchman. They found that an old campoodie had been

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burned where they saw the fire and they found some metal buttons in the ashes. They also found some dried blood on the ground near the ashes. All around there the ground had been trampled by the feet of men and animals and the tracks of both led to a deep hole in the river. The ground there was trampled a great deal, too, as though work of some kind had been going on. Mote, and perhaps some of the others, dived into the hole to see if they could find anything, but the water was very cold and they could not stay down long enough to hunt around very much. Finally they gave it up and went home. But there was considerable excitement in the valley and they kept working at the case. Dr. Slater analyzed some of the dried blood and said it was the blood of a human being.

            A few days after the party from the upper end of the valley had been there William Bankhead and a crowd of white men and Indians went over to the river. They hunted around and dived into the river where the others did, but did not find anything. A day or two afterwards, Bankhead, Frank Johnson, and a few other men went there again and took with them the materials with which to make a small raft, and a long pole to the end of which they had fastened the hook from a logchain. They put the raft together, and as it would float only one man, Bankhead got onto it with the pole and they pushed it out a little distance from the shore. He scraped the bottom of the river a few times with the end of the pole and then the hook caught on something which he thought was the root of a willow. He pulled hard and brought it to the surface—it was Gordier's body coming up feet foremost —and when he saw what it was he almost fell off the raft. It had been in the water about six weeks and was a gruesome object. They tied a rope to it and allowed it to sink into the river and stay there until they could make preparations to take it away. As soon as possible an inquest was held, William and Malcom Bankhead and Frank Johnson being some of the members of the jury, and the verdict rendered was that Gordier came to his death at the hands of Mullen and Edwards and that they believed that Snow and Lucky Bill were their accomplices. The murdered man was buried in the graveyard about four miles southeast of Bankhead's. (Mrs. Isaac Coulthrust says that she dreamed where the Frenchman's body was and told the men to look there for it.)

            The finding of the Frenchman's body put the fat into the

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fire, so to speak, and almost every one took a hand in investigating the matter. Elliott and Gilpin had been very friendly with Mullen and the two men with him and Elliott knew that Edwards had killed Snelling, although he claimed he was justifiable in doing it. Elliott also knew that Thorrington had visited these men early that spring. A meeting was held in the upper end of the valley and Elliott was sent for. He was told that things looked a little suspicious for him and that he must help bring the guilty parties to justice. F. and S. say : "Elliott was one of a committee appointed to work up the case, the others being Junius Brutus Gilpin, John Neale, Frank Johnson, and Charles Adams." They had an idea that the men they wanted had gone to Genoa, and as soon as he could get ready, probably before the middle of May, Elliott went down there to find out.

            After Mullen and Edwards went away Snow continued to live in Gordier's cabin and busied himself in picking up the cattle. It wasn't very long before he happened to be at Bankhead's when some of the committee were there and they took him out to one side and began to question him. He immediately became very angry and tried to draw .his pistol, but they prevented him from doing it. He denied knowing anything about the murder of Gordier and was very impudent and abusive, cursing them and calling them every vile name he could think of. They took him along with them and from this time he was held in custody, just where it is impossible to tell, as long as he lived. The last place he was kept was at the cabin of L. N. and J. H. Breed. This cabin was on the place taken up by Isadore about four miles southeast of Bankhead's. It was near a spring on the east side of the road running north and not far from where that road left the one that ran southeast down the lake. There are many stories told about the hanging of Snow and after the lapse of so many years it is hard to tell which one of them is true. Some say he was given a trial and sentenced to be hanged in a short time. That night they heard that the Plumas county officers were coming to take him away so they raised a small crowd and hanged him as quickly as they could. Others say there was nothing private about it. They say he was given a fair trial before a judge and a jury of ten men and the witnesses were sworn. Another story is that they commenced to try him and a mob broke up the trial and took him away and hanged him.

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            After getting all the information possible the writer believes that the truth is something like the following : John Neale and a crowd from the upper end of the valley went down to the Breed cabin. Probably they were joined by others as they went along and also by men living in that vicinity. There may have been a sort of trial or investigation that lasted into the night. Snow insisted that he was innocent and was very abusive and defiant, and finally dared them to hang him. About two thirds of a mile south of east of the cabin and a quarter of a mile from the lake there were two pine trees. The larger tree, the one farthest from the lake, had a large limb growing at almost a right angle with the trunk and twelve or fifteen feet from the ground, and to this tree the crowd went taking Snow with them. They intended to show him what hanging was like and probably thought they could scare him into making a confession. They pulled him up and let him hang a while and then let him down and questioned him. He said he knew nothing to tell and cursed and defied them. They pulled him up again, let him down and questioned him, and the result was the same. He was pulled up the third time and this time they let him hang too long—when they let him down he was dead. He was defiant to the last and died, so William Bankhead says, cursing them and telling them to bring on their strings. It is said that they dug a hole under the tree and buried him in it without even wrapping him up in a blanket, and his grave was never marked in any way. In spite of all that was said by any one else, the settlers who lived here at that time always believed that Snow knew all about the murder of Gordier. In an article taken from the "Marysville News" the "Alta Californian" says that Mr. Whiting of Whiting's Express told that this took place Monday, June 7th, 1858, and probably this is right or nearly so.

THE ARREST OF EDWARDS, LUCKY BILL, AND OTHERS AND THEIR TRIAL, AND THE EXECUTION OF EDWARDS AND LUCKY BILL

            The greater part of the following was told by William Dow and Fred Hines, but Wm. H. Clark, R. W. Young of Crescent Mills, Plumas county, D. R. and Theodore Hawkins of Genoa, Nevada, Joseph Frey of Reno, Nevada, who says he has been a resident of that state since 1854, Emanuel Penrod, who was one of the pioneers of the Comstock Lode, and Orlando Streshly each gave more or less information.

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            After leaving Honey Lake valley Edwards went directly to Genoa. He did not show himself in public and as soon as possible had a talk with Lucky Bill. From this time until his arrest he tried to keep out of sight and Thorrington kept him supplied with provisions. It is said that Edwards wanted his horse sold so that he could go to South America.

            T. and W. say that William B. Thorrington, "Lucky Bill," was a native of Chenango county, New York, and that in 1848 he went from there to Michigan with his parents. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California and in 1853 became a resident of Carson valley in western Utah. "His education was a moderate one, due to the fact that his excessive animal spirits would not permit close application to study when attending school in his boyhood. In frame he was large, weighing two hundred pounds, and with broad ample shoulders, stood six feet and one inch in height ; his head covered with glossy curly hair colored like the raven's wing, was massive, with a high classic forehead, and large gray mirthful eyes, looking out from beneath projecting eyebrows, that indicated strong perceptive faculties. The country had no handsomer or merrier citizen than Lucky Bill, a name given to him because of the fortunate result that seemed to attend his every action. He had become comfortably wealthy. It has been noted that the Reeses turned over a large amount of property to him in January, 1855, including their Eagle Valley ranch." This was for $23,000 previously loaned to them. "He became the successor to Israel Mott in the ownership of the Carson Canyon tollroad and the possessor of valuable ranch property in the valley. In character he was both generous and brave, and his sympathies were readily aroused in favor of the unfortunate; or, which in frontier parlance would be termed 'the under dog in the fight', regardless of the causes that had placed the dog in that position. In addition to his farming and toll road pursuits, he was a gambler, and a very successful one, his specialty being the 'thimble rig game.' " (This was virtually the same thing as the walnut shell game.) T. and W. (Thompson and West's history of Nevada) then tell of two or three instances where he took the part of unfortunate emigrants who were being mistreated, punished their persecutors, and then relieved their wants and sent them on their way rejoicing. The writer remembers of reading a story written by a woman who said that when she and

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her husband reached Genoa on their journey across the plains, they were imposed upon by some hard characters. Lucky Bill happened to notice it and he drove away their tormentors and helped them to continue on their journey. She ended her story by calling the vengeance of Heaven down upon the heads of those who hanged him. D. R. Hawkins says : "To me, as a boy, Lucky Bill appeared a noble character ; grand in physique, gentlemanly in deportment, neat in dress, kind in disposition and to his family, generous and charitable, and the best story-teller I ever heard. I have sat up all night listening to his humorous anecdotes and quaint talks and never felt a blush at any crudity in his language although they were related to a bar-room audience." T. and W. also say: "Numerous instances of generosity like this are remembered by the early settlers of Nevada of this strange frontiersman, many of whose impulses were such as ennoble men. His associations in life, however, had been with individuals that had led him to look upon murder or theft as a smaller crime than would be the betrayal of a person who claimed his protection, though that man might be fleeing from justice after having committed either or both of these offences. This peculiarity of Lucky Bill being known to all, both good and bad citizens, transformed him into an obstruction, sometimes to the execution of justice upon criminals, and this characteristic proved his ruin."

            To tell it plainly, he was a "sure thing" gambler and a man who would shelter and protect any one who asked him to do so, no matter how foul a crime that person was guilty of. Thorrington moved from the state of New York to Marshall, Calhoun county, Michigan. A man named Mott Wells, who knew him in New York, said he left there on account of a forgery he committed. Dow and some of the other Honey Lakers knew him, or knew of him, in Michigan. He was known there as a gambler and an associate of bad characters. In the spring of 1852 he went from this coast back to Michigan, and when he returned he induced three young girls to come with him. They got as far as Peoria, Illinois, and there were overtaken by the parents and the friends of the girls. Two of the girls went back to their homes, but one named Martha Lamb came on out here with him.

            The writer has seen several published accounts of the murder of Gordier and the events that followed it ; but none of them told the facts in the case, and none of them told much about

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what took place in Honey Lake valley. The facts in the preceding paragraph were told by Dow and other men of undoubted veracity.

            When Rough Elliott arrived at Genoa he went to Lucky Bill and told him that he and Edwards were great friends and that he wanted to see him. When they met Elliott seemed greatly pleased to see him and told some plausible story to account for his being there. He associated with the two men as much as possible and soon became very friendly with Lucky Bill and his crowd. A few days after Elliott had gone Gilpin took a fine mare that belonged to Charles Adams and went down to Genoa, too, and after he had become a little acquainted he told Lucky Bill that he had stolen the animal. He stayed there and he and Elliott together worked up the case. They went to Major Ormsby, a resident of Genoa and a prominent Mason, and told him about Edwards and what they were doing there, and he promised them the help of the Masons when they got ready to act. When they became acquainted Lucky Bill made a confidant of Elliott and told him a good many things about himself, and claimed to have considerable knowledge of what the criminals of this coast were doing. Elliott wrote all this and also what Edwards told him and saved it for future use. The news that Gordier had been murdered and that the Honey Lakers believed Edwards had gone to Genoa soon reached the Carson valley, and the people of that section were, many of them, on the lookout for him. J. A. Thompson, the expressman, who wrote to the "Sacramento Union" from Genoa on June 14th, says : "The notorious Bill Edwards who murdered Snelling has been seen around here the last four days, and has been pursued by a number of persons. Yesterday they found him on the trail above Daggett's and captured his horse. They shot six or eight times at Edwards, he returning their fire twice. He fled to the mountains and got away. His horse proved to be the celebrated race horse 'Bald Hornet.' "

            When Elliott had learned what he wanted to know, he made his plans and sent word to the Honey Lakers to raise a crowd and come down there. In twenty-four hours after the message was received the following men were ready to start : Fred Hines, U. J. Tutt, Mat. Craft, William Dow, Henry Arnold, D. M. Munchie, Thad Norton, Richard Thompson, Antone Storff, Tom. McMurtry, John C. Davis, John H. Neale, "Mormon Joe"

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Owens, John Mote, —Henderson, William N. Crawford, William H. Clark, A. G. (Joe) Eppstein, Frank Johnson, William Meyers, R. J. Scott, Cap. Hill, R. W. Young, —Hughes, Alec. Chapman, George Lathrop, Thomas J. Harvey, Thomas Watson, John Baxter, Mark W. Haviland, Capt. William Weatherlow, and McVeagh. There is a possibility that instead of Hill another man went, but it is impossible to tell who it was. Probably the two members of the committee were the leaders, but there may have been others who took part in the leadership. Young and Hughes were from Indian valley. Young says he happened to be in the valley on business and was at Streshly's place the morning that some of the crowd gathered there to make a start. Some of them were acquainted with him and they wanted him to go along. He tried to beg off by saying that his horse would not stand the trip, but Streshly said he would furnish him with a splendid riding mule and a gun. Young then agreed to go, and Streshly brought out an old pack mule and a gun about two feet long and of a very curious make.

            Those in the upper end of the valley started in the morning and as they went along the others fell in with them. The gathering place was at Cap Hill's ranch a little northeast of where Milford now stands. The date of starting is uncertain. If they went through in two nights, as Dow thinks, the start was made on the 12th of June. If it took them three nights to make the trip, as Hines thinks, they started on the 11th. Dow says they started late in the afternoon and at dusk were at the creek in Long valley about nineteen miles on their way. They rested their horses a while and that night went on to Peavine springs. Hines thinks they left Hill's ranch about dark. There was nothing but a trail until they got to the Beckwourth Pass emigrant road ; and as it was a dark night they had to ride slowly, following one another single file along the trail, or picking their way through the brush. At daylight they reached a place on the Long Valley creek a little above where the Constantia station is now. They stayed there that day, keeping out of sight in the willows the best they could. To the west and not far away was the cabin of "Whitehead" Ross, the first building they had seen on the trip. He was not at home at the time, probably being away on one of his frequent visits to the mines or the towns of Sacramento valley. Something has already been told about this

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mysterious person. He was a gambler, and some say he was a desperado and a road agent, or highwayman. Others say he was a good citizen until his brother was killed by the Mexicans, and then he went to gambling and took indiscriminate revenge upon Mexicans and native Californians whenever be had a chance. He always had plenty of money, but no one knew how he got it. It is said that he was once arrested and brought before a police judge on a charge of vagrancy to see if they could not force him to tell how he made his money. The judge asked him how he made his living. "Whitehead" reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of twenty-dollar gold pieces and said "That is how I make my living." The vagrancy charge was dismissed. This has been told about Ross while the Honey Lakers were waiting for the darkness to come on. Weatherlow and McVeagh both got sick at this place and went back home.

            At dark the thirty remaining Never Sweats started out again and traveled all night as before. Nothing occured to relieve the monotony of the journey excepting an accident that happened to Storff. Not long after they left camp he struck a match to light his pipe, and when it flared up his horse shied and threw him heavily to the ground. He was a fat man and was "considerable shuck up" by the fall; and when they picked him up he looked at his broken pipe, rubbed the injured part of his anatomy, and groaned out, "Oh, mein Gott, mein pipe, mein pelly!" They reached Peavine springs the next morning and stayed there the most of the day. Dow says that while they were there a brother of Theodore Winters came along on his way to Washoe valley. They didn't want any one go ahead of them and let people know they were coming, so they stopped him and took him along with them. Hines says that while they were camped there a man came along on foot. He was some kind of a foreigner and knew very little English. They thought he might be a spy, so they held him there until they were ready to go on. Hines also says that in the afternoon another man came to them on foot. He said he was Theodore Winters of Carson valley and that Elliott had sent him out to meet the party from Honey Lake. He was to find out when they would reach Genoa, and then return and tell Elliott so he could have everything ready when they arrived. They didn't know anything about Winters and at first thought they would keep him with them; but after they had talked it over

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and looked at the matter in every light, they concluded they would have to send a messenger to Elliott, anyway, and they might just as well let this man go back. He said he had left his horse somewhere on the road to give him a chance to rest, and when they let him go he immediately took the road to Carson valley. It turned out that he was just what he represented himself to be and went right back and reported to Elliott.

            It was a long ride from there to Genoa, so they took an early start. They had to go to the emigrant crossing--the Stone & Gates crossing, now Glendale—to get across the Truckee river. It was out of their way, but there was no nearer crossing. Near what was afterwards the foot of the grade going to Virginia City some one had built a stone corral, the second work of man they had seen since leaving home, and there they stopped and let their horses rest. In Washoe valley they were joined by a few men, probably Masons who knew of their coming. They reached Genoa on Monday, the 14th day of June, just at daylight, or a little before. Some of the citizens were up and there were a few lights burning. Major Ormsby told them afterwards that he and his Wife sat up all night. At that time Genoa was a little place of one street on which there was a hotel, a store, a blacksmith shop, a couple of saloons, a feed stable, and some dwelling houses. Elliott met them just before they got into town and told them to tie their horses behind a long barn near by. Here they were joined by some more Masons. Elliott then divided up the party and told them what men he wanted and where to go after them. Hines thinks that the Honey Lake men made the arrests. The larger party surrounded Lucky Bill's house and called him out. Dow says that as soon as he came out and saw Elliott in the crowd he said "My life is not worth a bit." He and his son Jerome gave themselves up without making any trouble. The son was a boy about seventeen years old. R. W. Young says Mrs. Thorrington plead hard for the boy, but didn't say anything about her husband. Hines and three others went to a saloon after two men. They went into a hallway in the saloon, opened the doors of the rooms where the two men slept, and told them to get up and come to the doors. They did so and then Hines brought their clothes to them and they dressed themselves before going into the street. These two men, Orrin Gray and John McBride, were gamblers. After the arrests were

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made a young fellow started to leave town on horseback, but the Honey Lakers stopped him and held him as long as they stayed there. They then stationed men all around the little town to keep any one from going out to warn the other men they were after. By this time the people of the village had begun to get up, and when they saw what had happened some of them waved their handkerchiefs from the windows. The prisoners were put into a large room in the second story of the Singleton Hotel and kept under guard while their captors had breakfast. The town was now pretty well waked up and excited. Many of the citizens told the Honey Lakers that now was the first time they could breathe freely for a long time, that the lawless element had them terrorized, and that they didn't dare say anything for fear they might be talking to some of the gang. (D. H. Holdridge, who was seventeen years old at that time and lived in Genoa, says that his father, Louis Holdridge, had sold a ranch west of the Sierras. About this time he went over there to get some money that was due him. Lucky Bill's gang heard about it and planned to kill him for his money while he was coming home through the mountains. Major Ormsby learned about their plan and wrote to Mr. Holdridge telling him to wait a while before coming home. He did so and on that account did not reach Genoa until after the gang was broken up.)

            D. R. Hawkins says that at the time he was a boy twelve years old. He woke up in the morning and found the town full of armed men. He and his Father went to the hotel and with the permission of the guards went up stairs and found Lucky Bill bound and reclining on the floor in the far corner of the room. His Father said "Well, Bill, what is all this about?", and the reply was "Mr. Hawkins, these men have come here to hang me and I guess they are going to do it." Mr. Hawkins also says: "Presently I passed down and onto the sidewalk and saw two men earnestly discussing the situation, and I stopped to listen that I might learn what was going on. One stood with his back against the house and his right hand resting on the muzzle of his rifle while his right foot was held up and placed against the wall. After standing thus for a while on one foot he dropped the other and in doing so the bowknot of his legging string caught on the hammer of the gun and set it off. Only a small hole was made in the palm, but the whole back of

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his hand was blown away. Dr. Daggett, who always seemed present where needed, soon set about dressing the poor fellow's wound. At a later date I saw Dr. Daggett on the same spot save the life of Cisco whose wrist was nearly severed by Jerome Thorrington with a Bowie knife." The man who shot himself was Tom McMurtry, a cousin to Mrs. Amos Conkey, and the accident crippled his hand. A short time after breakfast Elliott took part of the men and went up the river to the ranch of Lute Olds and arrested him and Ike Gandy and Calvin Austin. Gandy showed fight, but Elliott stepped up to him with his pistol and he gave up. They took the men to town and that afternoon the Never Sweats and their prisoners, accompanied by a few of the Carson country settlers, went down the river to the Clear Creek ranch then owned by R. D. Sides, L. B. Abernathy, and J. M. Baldwin. They went there because there was a hotel where they could board, and there was a large barn where they could keep their horses, their prisoners, and themselves. Besides this it was ten miles away from Genoa and Lucky Bill's friends, and they expected trouble with them. It was also in an open country where they could not be surprised.

            As soon as they reached the Clear Creek ranch they began to make arrangements to capture Edwards. They told Jerome Thorrington that if he would help them get Edwards, they would let him go free and do the best they could for his father. It has been told that they promised to let Lucky Bill go, too, but the Honey Lake men say they made no such promise. It is said that Jerome didn't want to betray Edwards; but his father told him that Edwards's testimony would clear him (Lucky Bill), and finally the boy agreed to do what they wanted him to. They told him to take a basket of provisions and go to the place where Edwards was camped and tell him that a party of men had come from Honey Lake after him ; and that his father wanted him to come that night to Thorrington's ranch on the river and they would leave the country at once and stay until the trouble blew over. Just before dark the boy started for the hills to find Edwards. About the same time twelve men started for Lucky Bill's river ranch which was six or seven miles above Genoa. Elliott, Dow, Henderson, Theodore Winters, Marion Little, who was Sides's brother-in-law, and perhaps Tom. Watson were in the party. Between the Clear Creek ranch and the one

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where they were going there was a big bend in the river, but they went straight across the country and saved both time and travel. As soon as they reached their destination they stationed Henderson out by the river and Dow in a log corral on the other side of the house. The house had two rooms, the front one being used as a living room and the back one as a bedroom. Martha Lamb was living here with her baby. Elliott and Winters stood on each side of the door with clubs in their hands. Afterwards, while on their way home, Edwards told Hines that he started for the ranch without any suspicion, but the nearer he got to it the more he thought that everything was not all right. Just before he reached the house he put his revolver into the front of his shirt where it would be handy, cocked both barrels of his shotgun, and carried it so it would be ready for instant use. He and the boy got to the ranch about midnight. Jerome knocked at the door and the man stationed in the back room asked who was there. Edwards answered that it was a friend, and the man came to the door and opened it and stepped to one side. The boy came in and was followed by Edwards, who was immediately knocked down ; and the same blow, or one from the other club, broke both barrels of the shotgun from the stock. He was seized at once, his arms and legs were tied, and the wound on his head was bound up. Dow says the first words Edwards spoke were "I deserve it." After daylight Elliott and Gilpin, who were guarding him, were sitting on a bench counting the money taken from him—quite a large sum. While they were doing this the prisoner drew up his legs so he could reach the rope with which they were bound and managed to untie it. He then jumped off the bed where he had been lying, rushed out through the other room, and ran for a slough not far from the house. The other men were standing in front of the outside door and when he ran past them they set up a yell and some of them fired at him, but didn't hit him. Elliott ran after him, and being a good foot-racer, gained on him rapidly. When Edwards reached the slough he jumped into it and Elliott, who was then close to him, jumped in on top of him. Both men were pulled out of the water and in a short time they started with their prisoner for Genoa where they had a blacksmith iron him. Joseph Frey says that the blacksmith's name was G. W. Hepperley, and that the irons, one of them made from the handle of an old frying-pan, were riveted on

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and a chain put between them. After this was done they went on to the Clear Creek ranch.

            The news of what had been done must have spread over the country very rapidly and, of course, all sorts of stories were told. One was that Edwards intended to assassinate Major Ormsby as he was going to Placerville, but the coming of the Honey Lakers prevented it. The whole country must have at once separated into two factions—those who favored Lucky Bill and those who did not. Probably the most of those who had once been Mormons and their friends were on his side. J. A. Thompson in a letter to the "Sacramento Union" says : "One hundred and fifty citizens met to-day to try the men arrested. There is no excitement here, and all seem disposed to give the men a fair and impartial trial." The "Bee" says : "The people of Honey Lake and Carson valley say that the $1500 offered by the people of Snelling's ranch is no object—they will not deliver him up to stand the chances of a trial in California and that he shall not leave their hands alive. The inhabitants of the valleys breathe freer at present than they have done for two years, knowing that there was an organized band of robbers and murderers amongst them and that as they now have got the leaders in their hands it will be the means of breaking up the organization."

            The trial of the arrested men commenced on Tuesday, the 15th of June, and was held in the barn at the Clear Creek ranch. In the published accounts of what was done here at this time they call the men who held this trial a vigilance committee, but it was nothing of the kind. It might be called a People's, or Citizen's, Court. It was a gathering of men in a country where there was no law excepting what they made themselves, and they were trying to do justice and punish criminals

            They went about it in an orderly way. John L. Cary of Placerville was appointed judge and John H. Neale of Honey Lake and Dr. B. L. King of Eagle valley were associate judges. Elliott was appointed sheriff and Gilpin was his deputy. A jury was regularly impaneled, and the witnesses were all put under oath. F. and S. say : "The judges, jurors, and spectators sat in the court-room, armed with guns and revolvers." The other prisoners were tried before the cases of Edwards and Lucky Bill were brought up. Gandy was found innocent of any crime and was discharged. With him it was the case of "Old

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Dog Tray "—he was caught in bad company. Different stories are told about the punishment of the others. T. and W. say that two of them were fined $1000 each and ordered to leave the country, and the balance were discharged. Joseph Frey says these two were Olds and Austin and the latter had nothing with which to pay his fine. The Placerville correspondent of the "Alta Californian" says "Olds was found guilty of harboring horse thieves for which he was fined $875 and banished from the country not to return under the penalty of being shot. Another man was fined $220 and banished with the same penalty attached." E. Penrod says that Olds was fined $800 and Austin $200, and that Olds was held for both fines. The Honey Lakers are quite positive that the men arrested in Genoa were fined $250 apiece, that a part of all the fines was paid, and that the money was taken to pay the bills of the crowd at the Clear Creek ranch.

            Tuesday night the report came that "Billy" Rogers was coming with a hundred men to rescue Lucky Bill. Preparations were at once made to give him and his men a warm reception, but they failed to come. Not many of Lucky Bill's friends put in an appearance at the trial.

            Thorrington's trial began on Thursday. In his case there were eighteen jurors, six of them from Honey Lake, and they, too, were regularly empaneled. The accused man was allowed to have Major Reese to defend him. William Dow, Joseph Frey, Emanuel Penrod, Williamson, the two Hale Brothers, and — Taylor were among the jurors. The names of the others could not be ascertained. Elliott and Edwards were the principal witnesses. In addition to the other testimony given by him, Elliott read the memorandum he had made of what Edwards and Thorrington told him. Thompson and West's History of Nevada has the following : "The evidence under oath was taken down by C. N. Noteware, late secretary of state for Nevada ; and the writer of this has read it all. Not a thing appears there implicating Lucky Bill in anything except the attempt to secure the murderer's escape. The absence of any knowledge on the part of the accused of the guilt of Edwards is a noticeable feature in that testimony ; that party, after having acknowledged his own guilt, swore positively that he had assured Lucky Bill that he was innocent, and no one else testified to the contrary, yet the jury, believing that he did know, decided that he was guilty as acces-

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sory to the murder after the fact, and condemned him to be hanged." It says nothing about Elliott's testimony or about Lucky Bill's visit to Honey Lake Valley. Dow says Edwards testified that while Lucky Bill was in Honey Lake valley he helped plan the murder of the Frenchman. It was proved that Thorrington made a visit to this valley, had that conversation with Perrin, and stayed while here with Mullen, Edwards, and Snow. He also fed Edwards after he came to Genoa and tried to help him get out of the country.

            The jury was instructed that twelve of them could bring in a verdict. They rendered their decision at eight or nine o'clock Saturday morning, June the 19th, and Thorrington was sentenced to be hanged that afternoon. The Placerville correspondent of the "Sacramento Union" says the verdict against Lucky Bill was that he was guilty of planning the murder of the Frenchman and harboring murderers, thieves, and desperadoes. Edwards was sentenced to be taken back to Honey Lake and hanged.

            Thorrington's Wife and Martha Lamb were brought to see him before he died, and the woman showed more grief than the wife did. Young says that just before Lucky Bill was taken away to be executed Elliott went up to Jerome, who was standing near by, and offered him his hand saying "I'll bid you good-by." The boy threw his hand back and said he would never shake hands with any man who helped murder his father. While the trial was going on a gallows had been erected about a mile from the Clear Creek ranch, and here the condemned man was hanged not far from three o'clock in the afternoon. The wagon was driven between the two poles and Thorrington stood up in the hind end of it. John C. Davis, who had been a sailor, tied the knot in the rope. Lawrence Frey, who was the driver, was to start the team and drop Lucky Bill out of the wagon, but it is said that he did not want his neck broken and so he swung himself out of it. The Placerville correspondent of the "Alta Californian" wrote "He made no confession but took things coolly, putting the rope around his own neck. His last words were, 'If they want to hang me, I am no hog.' " His body was taken to Genoa and probably was buried there.

            It has been published that on account of his execution Lucky Bill's wife went insane, was confined for many years in the

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asylum at Stockton and died there, and that Jerome became a gambler and a drunkard. Perhaps these things occurred, but they were not entirely the result of his death. Dow says that after Lucky Bill was sentenced he was guarding him. He heard him tell Jerome to let whiskey and gambling alone, and added "That is what has brought me to this." He also told the boy to take good care of his mother, and intimated that she would not be crazy when he was gone—virtually saying that his conduct had already made her crazy. (Mr. Holdridge says that Mrs. Thorrington had quite bad crazy spells for some time before her husband was hanged.)

            Sunday morning the Honey Lakers started for home taking Edwards on the "Bald Hornet" along with them. He was not tied, and all the way home he rode along and talked just the same as the others. T. and W. say that Theodore Winters, Walter Cosser, and Samuel Swager were appointed a committee to go to Honey Lake and see that Edwards was hanged, but the Honey Lakers say they never came along with them. The first night they stayed at the Peavine springs and the next at the lower end of Long valley. The third day in the afternoon they reached the Breed ranch about four miles southeast of Bankhead's, and there they stopped. At first they thought they would hang Edwards right away that day. Some of the men in the company had been away from their homes all that spring and part of the summer hunting Indians and outlaws, and they were in a hurry to get through with it. Edwards begged for time to write some letters home to his folks in the States, but at first they were not willing to grant him this privilege. Hines and some others, who thought they were not treating him right, left the crowd and went on home. It was finally agreed to let him live another day and allow him to write his letters. He also left some rings to be sent to his relatives, but it is said that they were worn out by the men to whom they were intrusted.

            On the afternoon of the 23d he was hanged on a butcher's gallows that stood near the cabin. He seemed to think that he had forfeited his life and that it was right to hang him. As he stood with the rope around his neck he made a speech, and among other things said that Snow was innocent—that he was only a hired man and knew nothing about the murder, and that they never trusted him with any of their secrets. (In spite of this,

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though, the Honey Lakers always believed that Snow knew all about it.) They had his grave already dug near by, but he said he would like to be buried in the upper part of the valley where he once had some friends. Orlando Streshly stepped up and told him he would see that he was buried where he wanted to be. Edwards told him he would like to be buried half way between Streshly's place and his own mine. Streshly complied with his wish, and as near as can now be told, his grave is about three-fourths of a mile south of where the Richmond schoolhouse now stands, on the west side of the road and not far from it.

            Elliott received the "Bald Hornet" and the money found on Edwards for what he did. It was always said that he went to Merced county and got some of the reward offered there for the arrest of Edwards. In his old age the "Bald Hornet" fell into the hands of Cap. Hill who kept him until he died.

            As a result of the punishment of these men, quite a number of hard characters suddenly left this valley and others paid considerable more attention to their conduct than they had previously done. No doubt but that it had the same effect in the Carson country. It also made the feeling between the two factions there much more bitter than before, and that feeling still exists in the minds of some of the men who lived there at that time.

            The Salt Lake Mormons who were acquainted in the Carson valley were greatly angered because of the hanging of Lucky Bill. In the fall of 1858 Mr. Dow went back to the States and came back across the plains the following summer. He reached Salt Lake City in July, and while staying there for a few days he went down to Coon's ranch on the Jordan river. Coon told him what had happened to Lucky Bill and said that he got his information from Major Reese. He then asked Dow where he was from, and when told that he was from Honey Lake valley Coon said he must have known something about it at the time. Dow told him that he heard about it. The other man looked at him very sharply and asked him if he was sure that he was not one of the crowd that did the hanging. Dow said again that he heard about it, but was very busy just then. Dow was satisfied that if the Mormons had known that he was one of the Honey Lake party, they would have killed him before he got away from there. The same year Hines had a trading post on the Humboldt

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river. One day a crowd of Mormons came along and stopped at his place a while. They cursed and abused the Honey Lakers for the part they took in the hanging of Lucky Bill, but Hines said it was too big a crowd for him and he kept still.

            T. and W. say that an unsuccessful attempt was made to collect the fines assessed by the court at the Clear Creek ranch. Concerning this Joseph Frey says : "A month or two after the trial Theodore Winters and some others gathered up the Olds cattle and put them into the corral of ------- Mott seven miles above Genoa. They expected a crowd would be raised to take the cattle away, and so Winters came to me and told me to go to Washoe valley at once and get all the men I could to come up there, at the same time telling me what men to get that could be depended upon. I had just been down to Washoe valley and back, but I took the same horse I had ridden and started out. They used my horse to gather up the horses of the men I went after, and I got fifteen or twenty men and came back with them. It was estimated that my horse was ridden one hundred and twenty-eight miles in thirty-six hours. There were thirty or forty men lying in Mott's barn waiting for a crowd to come and take the cattle, but they never came. A cattle man named Douglas furnished the money to pay the fine and probably took the Olds cattle for security. The next year, during the Virginia City excitement, Olds came back into the country and was not molested. When a United States court was established in Nevada he tried to get back the money paid for his fine, but was told by John Musser, the best lawyer in the territory, that in the absence of law a People's court was the highest court known."

            Gordier brought considerable money, nuggets, etc., to this valley from the mines of California, and it was always supposed that some of it was buried near his cabin. But it is not known that any one found any of it until November, 1877, and then Miss Mary L. Dunn, afterwards Mrs. S. L. Frazier, picked up a nugget near where the Frenchman's cabin stood. She sold it to A. G. Moon for $240, and he took it to the States where it was made into jewelry. The next day Miss Dunn, George Boyd, Thomas M. Barham, and perhaps T. J. Mulroney found several smaller nuggets which were all worth something like $25. If any more nuggets have been found there since then, the finder did not take the public into his confidence.

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