Can't wait for part two. Donna At 01:31 PM 12/2/99 -0800, Brian & Tricia Carothers wrote: >Mountain Democrat Newspaper >Friday, Nov. 26, 1999 >Pg. A-11 > >Murder at Sutter's Mill led to bigger Massacre > >Gold Rush's first killer turned into mass murderer > >By Anthony M. Belli >Special to the Democrat > > > In 1997 the homicide rate for the city of Los Angeles was 33 murders per >100,000 population, over three times the national average. > During the height of the Gold Rush, in 1855, 538 murders occurred in >California. Adjusted for today's standard this is an annual rate just over >179 per 100,000...more than 17 times the national average today. > One could easily say it was fate-for in the very place where James >Marshall discovered gold, the first murder of the Gold Rush occurred. > Only eight months after Marshall made his discovery, Peter RAYMOND, an >Irish miner, murdered John VON PFISTER at Sutter's Mill. > On the night of Oct. 1, 1848, several men lay sleeping in Sutter's Mill. >A drunken, 21 year old sailor from Dublin, Ireland, named Peter RAYMOND >pounded o the sawmill's door. Inside the men awoke, one of them being >RAYMOND'S mining partner, Peter QUINN, also a Dublin sailor and deserter >from the U.S. Navy. The two had failed to strike pay dirt along the >American River. > RAYMOND staggered into the mill drunk, volatile and demanded liquor from >the awakened men. Another miner, John VON PFISTER stood, shoved a knife >into his waistband, then approached RAYMOND. > VON PFISTER did not intend to fight. He thought he might be able to >quiet the drunk so everyone could get back to sleep. > VON PFISTER was able to calm RAYMOND and got him to sit on a bench. >Extending his hand in friendship, VON PFISTER asked "if they now were >friends?" > RAYMOND extended his hand, taking hold of VON PFISTER'S while his other >hand pulled VON PFISTER'S knife from his waistband, and then RAYMOND >plunged it into his new friend's heart. The next sound the men heard was >when VON PFISTER'S corpse hit the floor. > The men caught RAYMOND as he tried to flee. He was transported downriver >to Sutter's Fort in Sacramento, where he was held prisoner awaiting trial >before the Alcalde, a quasi-justice of the peace as California was not yet >a state. Within several days RAYMOND escaped, aided by his friend Peter >QUINN. > Colonel MASON, military governor of California, placed a $500 bounty on >the killers head. > During this period in history, California had no law enforcement to >investigate crime or pursue the outlaws responsible. The Alcalde system >left over from the Mexican regime was in effect the only law in the settled >regions of California. In the yet unsettled Mother Lode Country, there was >no law. > Many Californians had some foresight into the anarchy that would soon >infest this territory. The editor of a San Francisco newspaper, the >Californian, on Oct. 14 wrote: "This tragic event brings very forcibly to >mind the present condition of California without law, without any regular >authorized government of power for the protection of life and property, and >yet holding out unparalleled inducements to desperadoes, escaped convicts >and the scum of the Pacific to come to her shores." > RAYMOND and QUINN passed through the San Joaquin Valley, then the coast >range on foot. Following the El Camino Real, the pair arrived at the >Mission Soledad, less than two months after the murder. It was here where >they met three more outlaws, Sam BERNARD, alias Sam BARNBERRY, a seaman who >jumped ship, Joseph P. LYNCH, alias Joseph FISHER, a 28 year old German, >and an Irish sailor known only as "Mike." > The three boasted of the men they had murdered days earlier near >Sacramento for their gold and a man they'd killed by "shooting his face >off," before stealing his horses. The five desperadoes banded together, >and along with a 20 year old Indian guide named "Juan," they departed the >Mission heading south. > On the afternoon of Dec. 4 they arrived at the Mission San Miguel. Ten >people were staying at the mission, Mr. REED, his pregnant wife, Maria >Antonia VALLEJO, their 3 year old son, her younger brother, Jose Ramon >VALLEJO, and mid-wife Josefa OLIVERS, whose 15 year old daughter and 4 year >old grandson were in her charge. Live-in domestic staff were an elderly >Indian shepherd, his 5 year old grandson, and a black youth who worked as >the cook. > That evening, REED invited the six strangers in for supper. After the >meal Mike and LYNCH sold the gold, taken from the miners they had murdered >some days before. REED boasted of his own rich strike, then paid his >guests in silver coin. > The following morning the six left the mission, continuing their journey >along the El Camino Real. It didn't take long for the conversation to get >around to REED'S gold, or for them to decide to go back for it. Upon >returning to the mission the men confessed they'd like to rest up one more >night before resuming their journey. > REED welcomed them, and in exchange for their keep the men fell two trees >and chopped them into firewood. After supper they sat around the fire as >Reed entertained his guests in conversation. The women and children >retired for the evening. > Around 8 p.m. Sam BERNARD got up from a bench to stoke the fire. He >passed behind REED'S chair, stooped over, picked up an axe, then split his >host's skull open. As REED fell to the floor, the Indian guide, Juan, >thrust a knife into him. > What occurred next was a massacre. Peter RAYMOND entered the kitchen, >killed the cook with an axe, then led the men to the sleeping quarters. >Mike entered first, armed with shotgun and sabre, as the other desperadoes >passed quietly through the door. The room was dark...silent as they began >hacking away at the women and children with their knives and axes. > REED'S 3 year old son hid under a bed with the Indian boy. Mike pulled >the toddler from the bed and ended his life. Meanwhile, the 5 year old >Indian boy was dragged from under the bed by Peter QUINN, who sunk an axe >into the boy's head. > One woman ran screaming for her life as Mike slashed her with his sword, >killing her. Mrs. REED, her unborn child, along with Josefa OLIVERS, her >teenage daughter and grandson were then most brutally murdered. > The old Indian was asleep in the carpenter's shop. RAYMOND kicked the >door in as Sam BERNARD, armed with REED'S shotgun fired the first shot. >Slightly wounded, the Indian rose to his feet, when LYNCH fired the second >shot into the old man's head. RAYMOND then walked over to the fallen man >and buried a hatchet into his skull. > The killers return to the house where they dragged their victims bodies >out to the carpenter shop. BERNARD found young, Jose Ramon VALLEJO hiding >inside. He forced the boy out to the carpenter shop, where Juan killed the >youngster. > In the house, the six butchers begin to drink wine and ransack every >room. REED'S money chest was broken open, the gold and silver seized. > From out of a silent, still winter night, the hoofbeats of a rider >approaching startled them. They hid in a back room as Jim BECKWOURTH, a >noted mountain man, tied his horse in front of the mission. He entered the >mission, and later described what he saw: > "I walked about a little to attract attention, and no one coming to me, I >stepped into the kitchen to look for some of the inmates. On the floor I >saw someone lying down, asleep, as I supposed...This seemed strange, and my >apprehensions became excited; for the Indians were numerous about, and I >was afraid some mischief had been done. I returned to my horse for my >pistols, then, lighting a candle I commenced a search. In going along a >passage, I stumbled over the body of a woman; I entered a room, and found >another, a murdered Indian woman who had been a domestic. I was about to >enter another room, but was arrested by some sudden thought which urged me >to search no further. It was an opportune admonition, for that very room >contained the murderers of the family, who had heard my steps and were >sitting at that moment with their pistols pointing at the door." > BECKWOURTH secured his mount and galloped five miles to the nearest >rancho of Petronilo RIOS. As BECKWOURTH gathered a posse of vaqueros and >Indians, two prominent citizens, John M. PRICE and Francis Z. BRANCH, >stopped in at the mission. > >[part II coming next] > > > >==== CA-GOLDRUSH Mailing List ==== >Automatic Administrative Reminder: >We cannot post copyrighted materials to the Rootsweb lists >without written & signed permission from the author(s) >and/or publisher(s). > > >