I commend you....awesome story. Thanks for sharing. Donna At 01:31 PM 12/2/99 -0800, Brian & Tricia Carothers wrote: >By this time, the murderers had fled south, after a failed attempt to burn >the bodies of their victims. > PRICE and BRANCH were horrified at what they saw. Both rode south to >Santa Barbara to sound the alarm. That night a 15 man posse from Santa >Barbara rode out in search of the killers. > Meanwhile, BECKWOURTH had returned to the mission, with a posse from the >Rancho RIOS. He observed that the victims bodies had been moved, and the >killers had taken to the trail. > BECKWOURTH rode to Monterey, reporting the incident to Lt. William T. >SHERMAN, who immediately informed Governor MASON. > The governor promptly dispatched lt. Edward ORD and two men to investigate. > The day following the savage slayings, the six outlaws passed San Luis >Obispo, making camp six miles south of town. > Some talk about killing Juan, the Indian took place. Fearing for his >life, Juan rode out from camp that night while the others slept. The next >day, Dec. 9, the five rode into Rancho Los Alamos, where they purchased >four horses, before continuing south to Rancho Las Cruces, where they camped. > Sticking to the El Camino Real, the outlaws continued their journey, >arriving at Santa Barbara late that night. After riding through the center >of town, they made camp a mile south of the village. > The next morning they rode to the Rancho Ortega, arriving at 11 a.m. >After a meal, about 1 p.m. they resumed their journey. > They had traveled but a short distance when the gang first caught glimpse >of the dust cloud rising from behind...now realizing a posse was quickly >overtaking them. The killer's horses were tired and in no condition to >outrun the posse. > Don Cesario LATALLADE led the 15 man Santa Barbara posse; they were >heavily armed, their mounts fresh. Three were Anglos, the rest >Californios, many of them former soldiers. > The outlaws fled for the beach with 15 riders not far behind. Posseman >Raymon RODRIGUEZ fired the first shot, striking Sam BERNARD. Although >mortally wounded BERNARD returned fire, striking RODRIGUEZ. Both men died >where they fell. > The posse opened fire and wounded Peter QUINN. QUINN, LYNCH and RAYMOND >then dismounted and surrendered. > Mike jumped from his horse into the breaking waves and swam out to sea, >losing a sack of money in the current. The posse took firing positions on >the beach. As he desperately tried to swim beyond the range of the rifles, >the posse fired. Hit by two rifle balls, Mike attempted to swim back to >shore, but drowned before reaching the beach. His body later washed up >onto the beach, where it was left to rot. > The posse returned to Santa Barbara with their dead companion and three >prisoners. A six member committee was formed from some of the most >prominent citizens to interrogate the prisoners. Two days later RAYMOND, >QUINN and LYNCH confessed to the murders in detail, admitting the gold they >carried had been stolen from William REED. > Raymond also confessed to killing VON PFISTER at Sutter's Mill. > Their confessions, each dated Dec. 13,1848, remain in the custody of the >Santa Barbara Mission Archive Library today. > On Dec. 24, the citizens of Santa Barbara elected a jury of 12 to hear >the case. The jury was made up of six Californios and six Anglos. A >recess was called for Christmas day, but the following day, the three men >were tried. > Representing Governor MASON was Lt. ORD. The jury convicted the three >unanimously for the brutal murders at San Miguel. They were sentenced to >death by firing squad, the sentence to be carried out on Dec. 28. > RAYMOND, QUINN and LYNCH, all being Catholic, were granted last rites. > The execution took place in a ravine not far from town by a firing squad >of nine. All three were killed by first fire. > By following the El Camino Real, the murderers passed through areas of >California that had been settled for 50 years, making the posse's job of >tracking them simple. The governments only action to RAYMOND'S escape from >custody, for the VON PFISTER murder was to issue a $500 reward for his >capture. > When the governor received news of the San Miguel massacre he sent Lt. >ORD and two others to investigate. The task of apprehending the murderers, >holding them in custody, trying their case, and executing the >sentence-death by firing squad- was carried out by civilians. > Had RAYMOND made good his escape after killing VON PFISTER, he could have >simply moved to new diggings. Most likely that would've ended the matter, >since the only men in the unsettled Mother Lode country were miners and >some of the earliest arrivals to the Gold Country. It would be another >year or two before the tempest of violence and crime would be felt here. > From his book "Gold Dust & Gunsmoke," John Boessenecker wrote: > "The San Miguel massacre was but a warning to those who flocked to the >new El Dorado. Ahead lay a decade of turbulence, violence, and bloodshed >that has not been equaled before or since in the history of peacetime >America." > Not all Gold Rush camps and towns experienced violence. Crime, however, >was a plague to them all. Georgetown during the Rush rarely saw violence, >yet Wells Fargo closed down it's office there because of the frequent >number of stage robberies in the area. > Miner Stephen WING kept a daily journal from 1852 to 1860, which gives >some insight into the life in the camps and to what extend the miners were >aware of crime and violence around them. > >Oct. 12, 1852-"Eight to ten men were sitting next to the El Dorado Saloon >having a sociable drink, when suddenly the door burst open by some gamblers >and one of the insiders was shot. Our cabin and a neighbor's was robbed >during the day. Thought to be Indians." > >March 1, 1853-"Bought out FULLER. Firm now WING, COOK and WOODBURY. Our >cabin was broken into and someone took $128 coarse gold." > >March 19, 1853-"Daguerreotype got as far as Sacramento, where Gideon LOW of >Lynn was robbed of $200, so he returned to the flat." > >July 10, 1854-"Cabin at Dutch Bar Hill was robbed." > >July 4, 1855-(Describing Fourth of July, Main St., Uniontown) "In the >meanwhile several fights took place. 'No-No Nothingism' seemed to be the >spur, combined with rot-gut whiskey and poor gin. Plenty of knives were >drawn during the melee." > > Although California received statehood in 1851, many decades would pass >before the miners' complacent attitude toward violence would change. It >was customary in those early days to bury a corpse, murdered or not, where >you found it. > In Newtown in 1861, and again in 1872 that's exactly what happened. > Two respected Newtown residents, both teachers, were murdered and robbed. >The teacher in 1872 had been beheaded. No questions asked-the miners of >Newtown tended to their dead as they always had. > Although Placerville was but a short distance away, no one raised a cry. >The Mountain Democrat didn't carry a story. > The '49ers had heard that Gold Rush town streets were paved with gold, so >they came. But only a few ever found that street, many of the rest lived >in poverty. Most were transients jumping from hole to hole, looking for >one that paid better than the last. > What gold they did lay their hands on was spent quickly in local >establishments, whorehouses, saloons and on taxes. > There wasn't a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow-for many men, hard >labor, little or no pay, harsh winters, sickness and living encamped in an >unfamiliar, hostile land, without government or law, became a way of life >in the new El Dorado. > >Sources: >"Gold Dust & Gunsmoke" by John Boessenecker, published by John Wiley and >Son's Inc., 1999; "Reminiscences of Old Newton," by John Gardella, >published by Jane Voiles; Daily Journal of Stephen Wing, published by >Phyllis Gernes, 1982; Mountain Democrat Newspaper, Gardella's >Articles-March & April 1956. > >Anthony M. Belli is an amateur historian and a former peace officer. He is >a resident of Pollock Pines. > > >==== CA-GOLDRUSH Mailing List ==== >Automatic Administrative Reminder: >Please remember to stay on topic - this list covers the Gold >Rush period in California's early history (1840s-1880s). > > >