Hanford Journal Hanford, Kings Co., California Friday, 1 MAY 1896 ************************************ [from Local Paragraphs column] -- Rev. WENDTE, the Unitarian minister who has preached in Hanford several times was married to Miss Abbie GRANT in Oakland last Tuesday. DEATH -- NULL -- Near Traver, April 28, 1896, Mr. John NULL, aged 59 years, a native of Missouri. DEATH -- HARRIS -- At the residence of his daughter, Mrs. James INGHAM, in Eucalyptus school district, Kings county, Cal., Wednesday, April 29th, 1896, I.L. HARRIS, aged 81 years, 4 months. [The funeral took place from the residence of deceased, 2 miles north of Eucalyptus school house, at 10 o'clock this (Friday) forenoon, and the remains were interred in the Hanford cemetery. Deceased was a pioneer resident of this county and was highly respected. He leaves a wife and several grown children, besides many friends, to mourn his loss.] [from Local Paragraphs column] -- A. SELBACK, a pioneer resident of Lemoore and who has conducted a butcher shop there for many years, died very suddenly from heart disease yesterday afternoon at 5 o'clock. He had been ill for several days, but his sickness was thought to be serious. Deceased was highly respected and his death means the loss of a valuable citizen to the community where he had lived so long. [see 5 May issue] TAKEN UP -- At my place, 6 3/4 miles SE of Hanford on April 26, 1896, 3 bay horses, branded [sideways S -- aka Lazy S] on left shoulder. Owner can have same by calling at place and paying costs. C.P. SWAIN ------------------------------------------------------- MOB LAW -- How It was Exercised in the Early Days in Tulare County -- How "Babe" WILLIAMS, a Rough Diamond, Saved the Life of an Innocent Mongolian -- [Communicated] -- There died recently at his home, near Porterville, one of the oldest pioneers, if not one of the most noted, in the State of California -- George W. WILLIAMS, familiarly known as "Babe" WILLIAMS, at the age of 77. Mr. WILLIAMS was with the FREMONT party and one of the getters up of the bear flag, under color of which California broke away from Spanish rule. The original flag was made in a hurry, out of pieces of clothing, toward which Mr. WILLIAMS contributed part of a red shirt. Mr. WILLIAMS was a remarkable character in various ways. He was tall and striking in personal appearances and won your confidence almost at first glance. He was keeping saloon at Porterville when the writer first knew him, and to me he seemed much out of place in that occupation. It was on this occasion that I saw a display of his true character, offhand, for manliness. A drunken Deputy Sheriff was hanging a man to the big oak tree in front of the old Porterville hotel. He had the man by a rope around his neck and was drawing him up to the lowest limb of the tree and letting him down again, so as to save himself from committing a murder. There were a lit of drunken brawlers on the street who took stock in the officer's proceedings. When let down to the ground, the object of this sport would fall over, gurgle in the throat and froth in the mouth, and apparently had lost consciousness. After a few minutes the deputy, who would walk away, came back again and took hold of the rop e, wh en the question would be asked, "Who sold you the liquor?" The man being hung was a native Indian and it was then, as it is now, against the law to sell liquor to an Indian. What seemed to be a good law for the Indian was a good law for the white man, same as it is now. When, at last, the Indian became sufficiently sober to regain his senses, as I afterward learned (for I had left the town in disgust) the Indian, to save his life, laid the charge of selling him liquor on the Chinese wash house man, whom nobody in the town believed was guilty; for it would not do to lay the liquor selling on a white man, the understood penalty of which was death by saloon law, which the Indian well knew. The Indian was then released and the Chinaman was arrested and left in one of the stores and told to stay there until he was called for. The officer of the law then went to the drunken mob and told them substantially that the Chinaman was at their service to have some fun with, and the officer mounted his horse and rode away to Visalia. The mob then placed the rope around the Chinaman's neck and took him across to "Babe" WILLIAMS' saloon and threw the rope over a joist and straightened it with the evident intention of stringing him up. At this moment "Babe" returned to the saloon, having been out on the arrival of the mob. He stepped behind his counter and drawing his gun asked the crowd what they were intending to do. "Hang the ---- ---- ----," said one of the leaders. Leveling his gun on the crowd "Babe" said: "You can never hang any kind of a man in my place unless you hang him over my corpse. Get right out of here, you ----- -----." The crowd then rushed out in a plowed field back of the saloon and started for the river to hang the Chinaman to a tree. But in his struggling and fighting he fell down and was dragged along by the mob. The yelling of the Chinaman and the general row brought the women to the rescue and the Chinaman was gotten away by the sober men of the town. He shut up his wash house and got away to Visalia as quick as he could find a conveyance. A month or 2 later he returned and opened the wash house for business. As a final sequel to the foregoing, a few weeks after the Chinaman's return a dead Indian was found in the willows a few rods back of the wash house, lying on the bank of the slough. He had been shot and had been lying there several days. It was the same Indian who had charged the Chinaman with selling him liquor. The discharge of the gun that killed the Indian had been heard, but nothing was thought at the time, as the discharge of firearms in the willows was a thing of common occurrence. Putting this and that together it was concluded that the Chinaman had got quits with the Indian for lying him into the hands of a lawless mob, whereby he came near losing his life. Mr. WILLIAMS and his wife, a sister of Wiley COCHRAN, kept a hotel and restaurant at Goshen after that station was established and are widely known in this part of the State. ------------------------------------------------------ THE TRAIN ROBBERS -- Damaging Evidence Against Them Being Elicited at Their Examination -- The preliminary examination of Si LOVREN and Chas. ARDELL, for train robbery, is still in progress at Visalia. The prosecution is weaving a chain of evidence about the accused, which leaves little doubt but what they will be held to answer and be finally convicted. The sensational event of the examination yesterday was the testimony given by John HAYNES, the Salvationist, who was a member of the train robbing crew, says the 'Delta.' He made a confession several weeks ago in which he implicated Si LOVREN and Charles ARDELL in the attempted train robbery. He testified that during the latter part of February McCALL proposed to him to hold up a train; that it would be an easy way to make a stake. At first HAYNES did not take kindly to the daring undertaking, but after frequent consultations with McCALL, the Salvationist consented to participate in the criminal expedition. On Saturday evening, March 7th, McCALL, HAYNES, ARDELL and LOVREN had a meeting in the latter's saloon and the preliminary plans for the robbery were discussed. HAYNES promised to take part in the raid. On the following Saturday the men had another meeting in the saloon. HAYNES was urged not to back out as a fortune would be made. LOVREN brought out a shotgun, rifle and pi stol and said they could be used. LOVREN said the guns were not in good repair, but that he would send them to the gunsmith. HAYNES promised to furnish the giant powder. He identified the weapons introduced in evidence as being similar to the guns shown him by LOVREN. The plunder obtained in the robbery was to be equally divided among the members of the gang. LOVREN and ARDELL promised that the weapons would be sent out to the wood camp in time for the raid. LOVREN and ARDELL promised to be at the scene of the hold-up and render any assistance, if necessary. The plan was to board the north-bound train at Tulare and ride about half way to Goshen and then hold up the engineer and fireman. HAYNES testified that LOVREN and ARDELL had, cold-bloodedly, suggested that the engineer and fireman be murdered after the booty had been secured, so that they (the robbers) could not be identified. The men were to return home, bury the money and pursue their usual vocations. ------------------------------------------------------ DECORATION DAY -- Committees Appointed and the Work to Prepare For the Celebration in Hanford Now Going On -- Another meeting to consider the observances of Decoration day was held in the Justices office last Wednesday evening. There was a fair attendance. A committee of 5 on arrangements, to consist of Rev. N. SHULTZ, Dr. MOORE, B.L. BARNEY, R. MILLS and S.E. BIDDLE, was appointed from this city, said committee to select 5 more members from outside the city to work with them. The meeting then adjourned, with the understanding that on Thursday evening the committee of arrangements would meet and appoint the following sub-committees: 3 on program, 25 on decorations and 5 on music and program at the hall. The city committee of arrangements met last night and appointed the following committees: On arrangements outside of the city: J.H. FOX, Lemoore A.W. LANE, Grangeville W.J. McFEE, Armona E. GALLUP, Excelsior Geo. DODGE, Lakeside These are to appoint 5 ladies from their section of the county to be added to the Committee on Decorations. Financial Committee: A.G. PARK L.E. FELTON S.B. HICKS Committee on Decorations: Mrs. J.H. DOPKINS, Chairman Mrs. Dr. MOORE Mrs. Dr. FELTON Mrs. C.C. VAN VALKENBURG Mrs. B.A. FASSETT Mrs. F.L. DODGE Mrs. R. MILLS Mrs. S.E. BIDDLE Mrs. B.L. BARNEY Mrs. D.R. CAMERON Mrs. Judd SMITH Mrs. J.E. RAWLINS Mrs. K.H. SIM Mrs. Clara B. HEYWOOD Mrs. Chas. BRYAN Mrs. D.L. PHILIPS Mrs. Felix MOORE Mrs. H.G. LACEY Mrs. G.X. WENDLING Mrs. J. BIRKBECK Miss Emma DODGE Miss Alice ROOT Miss Hattie McCLUNG Miss Minnie MELONE Miss Georgie BROOKS Miss Ada FARLEY Messrs: D. ADOLPH Rev. BLACK F.V. DEWEY D.R. CAMERON N. WEISBAUM J.T. BAKER B.S. GURNEE ----------------------------------------------------- LOCAL PARAGRAPHS -- -Alex GOLDSTEIN, vice-president of the Farmers Bank at Fresno, came over from that place with his nephew, Dave NEWMAN, yesterday. -Miss Addie STEWART, recently a guest of Mrs. C.C. VAN VALKENBURG, has gone East on a visit. -W.L. PRYOR and Wm. FULLER start today by team for the southern mining region in Placer and El Dorado Counties. They will spend some time prospecting and expect to strike a valuable lead. TOM TYNER, who with his wife has been visiting Mr.&Mrs. A. TYNER, his parents, in this city for several days, "pulled his freight" this morning for Arizona, where he goes to take the superintendency of a large stock farm. Tom has a 10-horse team which pulls 2 large prairie schooners loaded with personal effects. He has decided to quit wheat farming altogether, for the future. UNCAS BOCK and Robert KITELY brought into town last Wednesday 6 young coyotes. They found 8 of the cute little creatures out on the WINSTANLEY ranch, at Cross Creek, on that day, while hunting bee trees. The mother came so close while the boys were digging the young ones out that Uncas killed her with a shot from a 22-caliber rifle. The 6 that were brought to town were given away to different parties, one of whom says he will send his pet East. Transcribed by Dee Sardoch To see more old newspapers, visit http://www.newspaperabstracts.com/