The Argonaut Mine Disaster - Part 2

 

Possible Staged Photograph

The photograph you see above is the "official" photograph of the final message from the miners of the Argonaut Mine that has been circulated all these years, although this is not entirely accurate. In reality, it is actually believed to be a staged photo, made after the miners bodies has been found, and done so by a photographer for the San Francisco News by photographer, W. Aird MacDonald. You see, there are two photographs, and one appears to be more authentic than the other.

How do I know this?

Well, this information comes from the research of the one and only late Amador County Historian, Larry Cenotto which was published in the Ledger-Dispatch in 1997. He happened to stumble upon an old photograph in the archives over 25 years ago, that appeared to be similar but not exact, which prompted his further investigation.  

Original Photograph

“The last message written by the entombed 47 miners” was written below the photograph, with a stamped imprint on the back that said, “Jackson Studio, Jackson, Cal.” It was believed that a local photographer had the chance to photograph the original message before MacDonald.

After carefully analyzing the photo, Cenotto determined that the photo found in Amador County archives was more than likely the original photo of the writing on the wall left by the miners, which was clearly made under duress by the look of the writing. 

The cleaner, more visibly clear writing that was circulated by the news media which spells out Fessel’s name on it, had to have been staged later and it clearly done with more precision, which would be the last thing a miner, choking on carbon monoxide gases, fearing for his life in the dark would be doing.

The photo now believed to be the original message, only states the words: “3 o’clock gas getting strong, 4 o’clock Fez,” as if the writer of the message perhaps lost consciousness prior to finishing his inscription on the wall.

But why stage the photo?

Cenotto suspected that something had happened to the original writing, which forced them to recreate it.  Another question to be asked is, how did Fessel’s body end up on the 4650 level, far away from and outside of the barricade where the other miners were discovered, if he had in fact scribbled that message on the wall?

Again, Cenotto believed that since Fessel was working alone on the 4650 level that night doing timber work, which was confirmed by those who worked at the mine that night, he would have had no idea what was going on in the other part of the mine and had no chance to make an escape before the fumes and the smoke reached him.

“The message, therefore was that “F:z” or “Fezzel” was not with them and rescuers need look for him elsewhere.”—Larry Cenotto’s quote.

Another thing I would like to point out is that I personally enlarged copies of Bill Fessel’s naturalization papers and his draft registry card, and I looked at his signature on both documents. Despite what some claim, including Fessel's son who was interviewed and claimed that Fessel signed his name with two ‘z’s is actually inaccurate. In fact, both signatures I examined, signed by Fessel, were signed in cursive, and showed the letter “s” twice, not z.

So, there were a lot of questions here. From the extra brass tag found among the 46 miners behind the barricade that didn't match any of the miners on duty that night, to the extra set of clothing discovered in the change house, and then the mystery behind the two photographs of the miner's message, it appeared that the more I dug into this story, the more questions I was coming up with, rather than answers.

Still, I kept digging....

There were inquiries & hearings, plus speculation galore. Some argued they should have went down the Muldoon shaft to reach the men in time, some argued that they should have sent the skip down to at least attempt to rescue some of the men, despite the fact that eventually the phone and bell system was disrupted by the fire, and thus the hoist man could not have known when to lift or lower the skip to and from the men, in order to provide a clean escape for them.

When it came to pointing fingers at someone, some newspapers insinuated that Fessel started the fire, as if he had conveniently snuck off into the night. Because he was German, had been an interpreter for the United States Government for a while and wasn’t always a “miner,” there was gossip that he could have been a spy. 

Others insinuated that perhaps it was the work of communists which at the time went by the name the Industrial Workers of the World. There were other insinuations that the fire could have been started by a “mystery person” who may have escaped out of a drift at the 2500 foot level that exited out near the creek. That could have very well been the case, given the extra set of clothing and "secret" brass tag that the mine company wouldn't divulge whom it belonged to.

According to O. Henry Mace's research, Ben Sanguinetti claimed that there had been footprints found on a drift leading out of the mine and down to the creek, but no one ever did any further inquiry into this possible lead, and it was left to be forgotten. 

Why no one bothered to investigate that lead makes me wonder about the whole thing all together. As much as I hated to think it, it almost started sounding like an inside job. But then I found another lead that took me in another direction completely.

A New Theory

I too have another possible theory, which could be completely unfounded, yet I would still like to toss it into the ring with the others. Only 8 months earlier, the Argonaut had been robbed by red bandana wearing bandits, and only two of eight men were eventually caught. The robbers took approximately $60,000 which was in gold amalgam.  Could this fire have been related? Could someone, perhaps have come back to cause more trouble at the mine?

The reason I say that is because for one, Hiram Baker, although later acquitted could have had a score to settle with the mine, after having been through the ringer in the newspapers and in his much publicized trial. When Hiram was arrested he was with a man known only as Frank Lynch.

I find it interesting that Frank was never mentioned again in the clippings about the robbery, only Hiram. And if Hiram was acquitted, what happened to the other guy?

I couldn’t find any convictions noted for the robbery. So, I started digging deeper. It turns out that  Frank was actually Arthur Welling, of Indiana, and he was a known safe cracker and specialized in explosives. He was already on the run for robbing Western Oil Refining Company in Indiana, and was originally caught with his friend, Edward Stevens at the Omni Severin Hotel when they were found in the check room with nitroglycerin, more than likely ready to crack open the hotel’s safe.

During an escape from the County Jail on July 4, 1919, Arthur helped 24 other inmates slip away into the night, and into freedom. When he was caught in California and held on charges for the mine robbery, Sheriff Lucot kept him in the Amador County jail until he was extradited to Michigan City, Indiana where he was sentenced to 14 years in the penitentiary for his previous crimes.  Lynch a.k.a. Welling, had friends everywhere, so how do we know that one of Arthur’s buddies didn’t pay back the mine for their friend having been caught and being sent to the big house? We don’t.  This is why I wonder if possibly this fire was started by Welling's friends.

Only Known Picture of Bill Fessel
(Courtesy of the Ryan Family)

Still, no matter what theories were being thrown around, the blame kept going back to Fessel. Those who knew him, knew that wasn’t possible. That didn’t stop some law enforcement agencies to put out APB’s to be on the lookout for anyone matching Fessel’s description. Even a year to the day of the disaster, there were newspapers claiming that there were sightings of Fessel who was allegedly on the run.

Again, locals who knew him didn’t believe it one minute, and were adamant that he would eventually be found in the mine. Still, the whispers and the rumors were too much for Fessel’s wife, who basically became a hermit and moved up to live with her mother in Pine Grove, where she remained the rest of her life.

On September 31, 1923, after flushing out the mine, at the 4650 level, the remains of the 47^th miner, Edward William "Bill" Fessel  was discovered and the newspapers and everyone else who had made slanderous insinuations about Fessel, had to eat crow.

Although there was no forensic way to determine for certain who it was, it was believed to be the body of Bill Fessel, given the fact he was the last miner who had not been identified with the recovered bodies, and they were one body short of the total of miners on duty that night.  

A local dentist examined the skull of the body that had been found, and he believed it was Fessel, based on the missing molars and still present wisdom teeth that he had noticed during an examination a few years prior at a dental visit.  The coroner determined it to be the remains of Edward William Fessel and he took his rightful place besides his fallen friends at the public cemetery in Jackson. 

The Grave of Bill Fessel 

TO BE CONTINUED.....  TO READ PART 3 (CLICK HERE!) 

(Copyright, J'aime Rubio 2022  www.jaimerubiowriter.com) 

The Argonaut Mine Disaster - Part 1

 

When I was about 10 years old, my dad came home with a large framed photo, which had a copy of the Stockton Record’s front page about the Argonaut Mine Disaster of 1922. There was something different about this particular picture, as there was a super imposed photograph of the miners on the newspaper headline front page. My dad hung it in the hallway of our home in Pioneer, and every day I would walk through that hallway and stop and look at the photograph. Sometimes I would stand there and read the article, while other times I would stand there and stare at the faces in the photograph, wondering if I was looking at one of the miners who had perished in the mine disaster so many years ago.  

My dad’s sincere interest of the history of the Argonaut Mine Disaster piqued a genuine interest in local history as a whole for me, especially Amador County history. Over the years, there have been books, blogs, articles  and even some documentaries on this subject, covering the horrific event that took place in 1922. Today, I wanted to share with you my investigation into this somber event. This story is very special to me, as I feel I have a genuinely personal attachment.  

Come with me as we go back 100 years to Jackson, California, where we will take a deep dive down into the Argonaut Mine.  Let’s take a step by step look at what occurred in chronological order.

On August 27, 1922, approximately 10:00 p.m. the skip tender at the Argonaut Mine, Steve Pasalich, was working his shift for the night. Besides being the skip tender, Steve Pasalich had the duty of dropping off the lunch buckets on each level of the mine, later he would come back after the miners had eaten and retrieve their lunch buckets and bring them back up to the surface again.

The shift boss that night was Clarence Bradshaw, he was the main person in charge that night. Below him in rank would be the Jigger Boss, and below him would be the Level Boss.  That night the Jigger Boss was Ernie Miller. Just after lunch, Bradshaw asked Pasalich and another miner, Mitchell Joko, to go with him to drop off waste from the chute and drop it to the 4,200 level. As they prepared the ore cart to go underneath the overhead chute, as they were pulling out the stopboard the falling rock pushed through and broke the stopboard. 

This was when Joko offered to go down to the 4,600 level to pick up wood to build another stop board for the chute, before they were to go back up on the skip again. Bradshaw eventually grew irritated, waiting longer than he had expected for Joko, and that is when he and Pasalich smelled smoke and haze in the air.

Skip Tender, Steve Pasalich

The San Francisco Call reported Bradshaw’s experience, “By a margin of a few minutes , Shift Boss, Clarence Bradshaw, Steve Pasalich and Michael Jago [SIC] escaped from the Argonaut mine before the fire made egress possible. Bradshaw says he and his two companions were at the 4200 foot level at 11:40 o’clock the night of the fire when he smelled smoke. Without an instant’s delay he called to the two miners to accompany him up the shaft. The smoke became thicker and thicker as they ascended and at the 300 [SIC: 3000] foot level they were almost overcome by heat.” – SF CALL, 9/18/1922

According to Bradshaw, the men wrapped their coats around their heads to keep the smoke from getting to their lungs while they ascended up to the fresh air from the surface which was just about at the 3000 level. You see, the fire was just below the 3000 level, and because of the ventilation system, which was a large fan installed at the head of a nearby mine shaft known as the Muldoon, which had been an old abandoned mine that the Argonaut was using, by the fan pulling the air from the Argonaut, it kept fresh air running through the mine and the drifts for the miners, moving it from the collar of the main shaft down and then back up to Muldoon. 

Because of the fire, now the smoke was being drawn down deep into the mine, instead of up. So once the men on the skip had passed the fire, they were able to breathe again, but then they realized that all of the men below them, were now going to suffer from carbon monoxide poisoning due to the smokey air being drawn down the shaft into the deepest parts of the mine, where the 47 miners were working that night.

According to author, O. Henry Mace's research, Jigger Boss, Ernie Miller caught the scent of smoke at the 4800 level and quickly phoned to the Hoist house that there was smoke coming down the shaft. When Bradshaw picked up the line at the 2000 level he warned him that the shaft was on fire and they were trying to put it out. The last words they heard Ernie Miller say was “all right,” and he hung up the line.

This is where it gets tricky, we will never truly know exactly what happened after that. We can speculate all we want, but we can only base our opinions on what was found after rescuers recovered the miner’s remains. One would like to assume that Miller at least attempted to get his men out through ventilation rises in the Muldoon shaft which was supposed to be their “emergency exit” but they stopped at the 4350 level and ended up barricading themselves in a cross-cut, which leads us to believe the air was just so bad they had no other choice but to bunker down and wish for the best.

Another reason I believe this is exactly what happened is because this had all happened before to Ernie Miller. You see, he was a survivor of another horrible mine disaster only five years prior. The infamous Granite Mountain Mine disaster in Butte, Montana in 1917.  

In that experience, a fire had ignited when a miner’s carbide lamp got a little too close to a oily paraffin paper that was insulating a three ton electric cable that had been brought down the shaft to complete, of all things, a sprinkler system. When the paper ignited the fire spread quickly to the timbers of the framework in the shaft and before they knew it, it was uncontrollable.

A little over half of the miners escaped, but 168 weren’t so lucky. Most died from the carbon monoxide poisoning, not so much the fire itself, but there were two groups of men in different parts on the mine, who had built bulkheads to create a makeshift barrier between themselves and the carbon monoxide from the smoke. 

Both groups were eventually rescued. The first group after 38 hours, and the last group after 50 hours. It was said that Ernie Miller was among the men in the last group, which only 6 of the 8 survived.  According to reports from his family, it was Miller who helped his co-workers to build that bulkhead in the crosscut, something done in such a similar fashion at the Argonaut that leads me to believe it was Ernie who tried to save the men.

Going back to the story, By the time Bradshaw, Pasalich and Joko got up the shaft of the mine, they quickly tried to think of ways to put out the fire. They told Virgilio Garbarini to let them to open the sump reservoir and dump it down the mine to extinguish the fire. He agreed and they went to work. According to reports, the valve hadn’t been opened in a long time and it had become rusted shut, so it took a lot of muscle and help from a sledgehammer to break the valve and let the water do its job. But once the water had been poured, the makeshift rescue crew realized the fire was still burning in adjacent drifts of the mine, where the water couldn’t reach.

Different people came and tried to convince Garbarini to reverse the fan on the Muldoon shaft or turn it off completely. Garbarini tried to explain that by doing so, the fire would then burn upwards and completely decimate the main shaft itself, destroying any chance of firefighters reaching the fire deep inside the mine.  Garbarini wasn’t just the superintendent of the mine, he had been the master mechanic who designed the working mechanisms of the mine itself back in 1909. He knew the mine better than anyone.  He was adamant that the fan not be touched in anyway.

The rescue workers even at their best effort could not have enough time with the right breathing apparatuses to reach the miners in time without risking their own safety due to the overwhelming amount of smoke to the toxic carbon monoxide gases. That, and by shutting off the fan it would allow the Argonaut main shaft to completely be destroyed. 

This was when they decided to make their rescue attempt via the Kennedy Mine.

Kennedy Mine, just across from the Argonaut

You see, the Argonaut and the Kennedy mines were connected at one point up until a fire occurred in 1919, which took months to burn out. The only way the two mining companies could figure out how to stop the fire, was to flush both mines out.  After that, the two companies decided it would be better to seal off the connections to each other. Now they would need to reconnect the two mines in order to make a last-ditch rescue attempt before it was too late.

It was surveying work done years prior by Civil Engineer, Walter Ephraim Downs that directed the rescuers where to dig through to the Argonaut mine shaft in an attempt to rescue the trapped miners. (On a side note, Mr. Downs was the son of Robert Carleton Downs,’ superintendent of the Union Mine, later known as the Lincoln Mine in Sutter Creek and owner of the Hanford & Down’s stores which were in Sutter Creek, Jackson and Volcano.  Walter Ephraim Downs’ brother, Fred, tragically drowned in the Preston Reservoir in Ione, in 1902.)

It was decided that the rescue crew would go in through the Kennedy and reconnect the two mines via the Kennedy’s 3600 drift with the crosscut near the Argonaut’s 4200 level. Unfortunately, this would be a very difficult job as the mud, debris, and compression from the flooding of the mines just a few years before had caused much of the connecting passes to collapse. 

There were still others convinced they go through the Muldoon shaft to save the miners, which was shot down each time. 

At one point they decided to also go from the 3900 level at the Kennedy and work towards Argonaut’s 4600 level, as it appeared their first attempt via the 3600 level was not going fast enough. Many of the men working in the mines, trying to get through were relatives of the trapped miners, including other employees of the mine itself as well, one of those rescue workers was none other than Steve Pasalich, the skip tender who barely made it out alive with Bradshaw and Joko. 

On September 18, 1922, exactly 23 days from the time of the actual fire starting in the mine, the bodies of the miners were discovered at the 4350 level. They had barricaded themselves in a crosscut using timbers and chinking the gaps with the clothes off their backs, to block the poisonous gas from seeping through. When the bodies were discovered, only 46 were found, along with a message written on the wall of the crosscut. It appeared to be a message from Bill Fessel, letting the rescuers know how long they were awake before the fumes overtook them.

“3 o’clock, gas getting strong, 4 o’clock, Fessel.” 

The rescue team now had to work at figuring out how to bring the bodies back to the surface without further damaging the remains and then work on identifying them. They brought in gurneys with rubber bags to place each miner into and they were carried up the drift and into the adjacent connecting tunnels and up the skip on the Kennedy Mine side.  Each body was transported up to the Argonaut and placed in the mill, as a makeshift mortuary until all the bodies could be recovered.

Besides discovering the bodies, they also had to bring up the belongings of the miners, such as clothing.  Some of the miners had their brass tags with their individual miner’s number on their person, but some of them did not have their tags. In fact, many of the tags were never found, leading mine employees to have to identify the bodies visually.

According to the book, "47 Down" by O. Henry Mace, there was another brass tag found that did not match any of the miners on duty. He stated that not only did the mine company never divulge the number of the tag, but they also never divulged the person whose name was assigned to that number.  If that wasn’t odd enough, Mace mentions that the rescue crew also found a ring within the belongings, but this was a personalized ring with the initials “J.S.N” which none of the miner’s names matched.

Mace also mentions in his book, that when the foreman and volunteers went to collect the miner’s effects from the change house, they discovered 48 changes of clothes hanging on hooks, not 47. 

So, who did this extra pair of clothes belong to? 

And who was this unidentified person’s tag discovered that the mine never wanted to mention?

This is where it gets interesting. --------

 TO BE CONTINUED..... TO READ PART 2 (CLICK HERE) 

Copyright, J'aime Rubio 2022, www.jaimerubiowriter.com

Special Thanks to George Pasalich for all your help!

***Photograph of frame photo is the actual photograph/newspaper that my father had hanging in the hallway of our house when I was growing up. Dad brought it to the Jackson Cemetery on the 100th anniversary of the Argonaut Mine Disaster, this year, and we brought it to the graves of the fallen miners to pay our respects to all 47 men. This is a photograph Roland took of that very framed picture I grew up looking at, the same picture that inspired me to have a life-long interest in this piece of Amador County history. 

Jackson's Hanging Tree History

Having lived in and around Amador County for many years, I have come to find some really interesting history regarding the county and surrounding areas. Many of the stories that I have found, I have shared on this blog or on my Facebook page, but many I have not. After so many years, I have decided to try to go back to my research and start posting more of the stories, whether big or small, so that I can share with you, my readers, more of this amazing gold country history.

Ever since I was a kid, I loved walking around Jackson. I remember the first time I noticed the plaque for the Hanging Tree right there on Main Street near the National Hotel. I was so intrigued to hear about this "Hangman's Tree" and wondered what stories that piece of land had to tell.  As time goes on, and as we get older, many of us have moments like this where we wonder about a person or place, but then we go on with our lives never to think about it again. Well, I am not one of those people. When I think about something, it bugs me until I find out everything there is to know about that particular subject. It might take me some time, but eventually, I get the story one way or the other.

As an adult, having moved back to Amador County, I was determined to finally get answers about the history of that forgotten tree, lost to history, although  I cannot take credit for digging all this up on my own. In fact, had it not been for the the late Amador County Historian Larry Cenotto, various archived newspaper clippings of the time period, and reports documented by Jesse D. Mason, we would never know what we do about this particular historic site. Facts show that in all the years that tree was used as a hanging tree, it only witnessed 10 deaths.

"This tree which has become noted wherever the name of California is known, formerly stood near Louis Tellier's saloon, and was a live-oak, with several branching trunks. It was never very beautiful, but was a source of so much of its history, that its likeness was engraved on the county seal, so that its appearance is not likely to be forgotten.

Its use at first as a hanging-tree, was quite accidental; but in the course of time the tree was a terrible hint for the quick solution of a criminal case, and when the tree was injured by the great fire of August, 1862, so as to necessitate the cutting of it down, the feeling regarding its fate was not altogether sorrowful."  (History of Amador County, Jesse D. Mason,1881)

According to documented newspapers, the Hanging Tree was located just across from the Astor House, and right in front of Dunham's Butcher Shop and the St. Louis House, all businesses that no longer exist.  The plaque that is located on the sidewalk off of Main Street is in as close proximity possible to the location that could be marked, since the actual location was actually in the street.

Death # 1.

The first case was "Coyote Joe," an Indian, charged with robbing and murdering blacksmith, Mr. Thompson at the Gate (Jackson Gate). He was tried by a jury of miners, with Dr. Pitt acting as the jury foreman, and shortly thereafter found guilty. It was mentioned that items found on the Indian belonged to Thompson when he was arrested. The trial took place in a restaurant close to the tree itself.

The 1st hanging took place on March 19, 1851.

Death # 2

The second death was said to be a Chileno, who stabbed a woman (who was his cousin). He was also tried by a jury and found guilty. Larry Cenotto's published findings state that the man who was hanged was really an unidentified Mexican who had stabbed his brother-in-law to death.

The 2nd hanging event took place on June 23, 1851.

Death # 3 & 4

In 1851, two Frenchmen were butchered in Squaw Gulch near Jackson Gate. As the history of Amador County states "One was stabbed with a long bowie-knife thirteen times, dying immediately. The other, though cut five or six times, lived for several days." 

According to Larry's research records, "Monsieur Pontanier and an unknown French "companion" on  May 20, 1852, were attacked while they slept in their tent in Squaw Gulch near the Gate." The men had been stabbed to death. The deaths of these two men was what led up to the formation of the Jackson Vigilance Committee. The committee offered a $300 reward to anyone who helped apprehend or deliver the murderer(s).

Initially, another man Gregorio Soberano was arrested while at a bistro in downtown Jackson, but he was later exonerated. Later on, another man was brought on charges. His name was Cheverino. He had been examined and sent to the "log jail," to be held until he could stand trial, but that night a mob of people (let me make this clear it was NOT the Vigilance Committee) broke into the jail and dragged Cheverino out to the oak tree on Main Street.

The first of the two hangings took place around 8:30 p.m. on the evening of June 10th, 1852.

According to records, the rope was put around his neck and he was pulled up while his hands were free. So, he began clenching onto the rope around his neck, struggling to survive. This allegedly went on for about ten minutes before they dropped the rope, and tied his hands behind his back and then raised the rope again. It was said that Cheverino had admitted guilt in the murder of Pontanier.

His accomplice, Cruz Flores had been found out by chance when another Mexican, Mariano, who had been arrested for horse theft in Sacramento, implicated Cruz Flores, as the other man who murdered a Frenchman near Jackson Gate, or "The Gate."

Flores, the Hanging Tree's 4th execution was hanged the next day on June 11th, 1852.

Death # 5

According to Larry Cenotto's research, he claimed that the 5th victim of the hanging tree was none other than an "hombre with Murietta's band"-- you know, Joaquin Murietta.  On February 15, 1853 at approximately 5: 30 p.m.,  Antonio Valencia was hanged for the murder of Joseph Lake, 27, native of Philadelphia, who had settled in Jackson operating a butcher shop, as well as murdering a Chinaman and a string of robberies.

Murietta's gang had struck a Chinese Camp at Oppossum Bar on the Consumnes on February 8th, 1853, and started what Cenotto quoted as "history's greatest wave of murder, robbery and terror that rolled over Calaveras County." It was mentioned that allegedly it was this crime spree that put the nail in the coffin for Governor Bigler to decide to hire Harry Love to hunt Murrietta down. (We all know how that went! For the record, I still don't believe that head that was on display was Murrietta's but that is an entirely different story!)

The Sacramento Union account states that a couple of  Chinamen ran into Big Bar camp gasping that the Mexican riders who came to their camp were "no good."  William McMullen of Consumnes, returned with them to their camp to see what they were talking about, and he found four horses hitched in front of one of the tents.  McMullen suspected Murietta's gang was there and left immediately to get help from some of the miners nearby. In about thirty minutes, McMullen had rounded up about 11 people to come back to the camp with him to confront the Mexicans.  As they were nearing the camp, they were approached by several Chinese men who were running towards them, wounded by gunshots to the hand and neck.  The camp had been ransacked and all valuables had been stolen.

The posse of men traveled up river where they ran into two Americans who had just ran into the Mexicans. When the Americans drew their pistols, the Mexicans had allegedly told them they had no issue with them, they were only attempting to frighten the Chinese. So they passed by the Americans with no incident.  The next day, about six of the original men on the hunt for the bandits made it to Dry Creek where they found another Chinese Camp that had been robbed. This time the bandits made their escape towards Butte City.  Following intelligence given to McMullen along the way, they traveled to Butte City, Secrete and back to Jackson  when they heard the bandits had been at "The Gate" (Jackson Gate). It seemed that at each turn the bandits were one step ahead, giving them the slip and escaping up to Rancheria, and later on towards Fiddletown.

By the 5th day on the hunt for these men, McMullen's party dwindled from 11 to 3 men left helping him, and finally on the 6th day the men all but gave up and went back home. That didn't stop the bandits though, they continued pillaging and plundering Chinese camps along Jackson Creek and Sutter Creek and in the end a Chinese man was robbed & killed as well as Joseph Lake, a local butcher. Joseph Lake, had been shot three times and stabbed in the neck by Valencia. Some fanciful stories claim it was Murietta who killed him, all because Lake had gave away Murietta's whereabouts, but there is no conclusive evidence that this was the reason he was killed. That is merely conjecture.

Soon news had spread that the Mexicans had killed a dozen or more at Campo Seco. They were also blamed for 20 miners the month before, as well as two women and a male escort who had been killed after their Stockton stage had been stopped and robbed. Two days later, an armed posse of men surrounded Camp Ophir which was near Buena Vista, where they apprehended Antonio Valencia, one of the men of the Mexican group of bandits. When he was brought back to Jackson he was recognized by the Chinese miners who had been robbed by him on the 8th at Big Bar. He was placed in the "log jail," but within a few minutes a mob surrounded the jail, "rescued" him only to take him to the tree to be hanged. They strung him up once, and dropped him down, hoping he would confess to his crimes, but he refused.  So, he was hanged from the neck until dead.

The 5th death took place on February 15, 1853.

(For the record, there is no way to know if he was part of Joaquin Murietta's gang or not, but like all folklore about this infamous bandito, many stories still make their rounds.) 

Death # 6

According to Larry Cenotto's booklet "The Concise, Uncensored Historical Jackson Sightseer in Text, Map and Sketch" the sixth death was an "Unidentified Chilean for robbing and murder of Chinaman, 7/27/1853."   In his "Logan's Alley" series dated February 5, 1975, Larry also mentions two men being held, one Chilean who was a horse thief who was hanged and another man who had attacked a Chinese camp (no mention of murder) and that the Chinese had attacked him back, causing a head injury to the criminal who wasn't hanged.

The San Joaquin Republican dated, July 18, 1853 mentions the hanging and states that it was a Mexican who was brought to Jackson from Marysville, for stealing horses just two days earlier. The newspaper states the following:

"The deputy went on to Marysville and found his animal and the person who had bought it, immediately pointed out this Mexican as the man, who had sold it to him. He had an examination before the Mayor's Court, and being unable to give a satisfactory account, he was placed under the care of the deputy sheriff to be taken to Jackson, for trial. 

Upon arrival at Jackson, the stage was met by a crowd of persons who seized both the deputy sheriff and his prisoner -- the officer, they locked in a room, taking from him his pistol, and the Mexican they led to a place called the Gate, about a mile from town. The Mexican refused to confess his guilt farther than another Mexican who is now at large in Marysville stole the animal, and gave him a mule to ride.

At this stage of the proceedings some Mexicans, Chileans and Negroes, who were present, took hold of the rope about his neck -- one end of which was over a tree -- for the purpose of releasing him, but immediately fifty pistols were leveled at them, and they were forced to retire. The Mexican still declaring that he was innocent, but feeling confident that he was about to die, begged for time to send for a priest, this was refused him, and more than twenty men taking hold of the rope, was launched into eternity.

Messrs. Peter Jewell and Thomas Johnson, two of those who had been active in procuring the hanging of the Mexican, in about an hour after the tragedy, retured to their work on a house, when they were unexpectedly attacked by three Chileans. They attacked Jewell first, inflicting a dreadful wound on his breast, and when Johnson ran to help Jewell, they stabbed him in the pit of his stomach and turned the knife around in his wound. Johnson cannot recover. A party of horsemen pursued the Chileans, but had not overtaken them when our information left."

I never did find any ending to that story after Johnson and Jewell were attacked, so I have no way to know if they ever apprehended those men.

In another account dated August 4, 1853, in the Daily Alta California, a letter to the editor of the newspaper was published with some detailed information about the event, where the gentlemen gives a more insightful account about this particular hanging and why he personally defended the incident.

His letter mentions there were two horse thieves originally arrested at Marysville. Their names were  Sanchez and Lopez. The story this man gave was that Lopez paid off one of the officers in the amount of $500 to secure his release, while Sanchez didn't have any money so he was sent to Jackson to pay for the crime alone.  The townspeople learned from Sanchez that Lopez had bribed his way out of the noose, and so, "As soon as the people of this place became aware of the gross injustice done them by the officers in Marysville in releasing one of the thieves, the greatest indignation was felt, and they then resolved to make sure of the other, and as guilt of the theft had been established beyond the least shadow of doubt, to hang him immediately -- which they did, and I believe justly, too." 

The writer claimed that Sanchez was hanged, but without being able to confess his sins to a Catholic priest as was his request (this correlates with the first account).  The person who wrote to the newspaper also goes on to state that Jackson Gate or "The Gate" as it was called,  had been having a lot of stock stolen regularly, and that since there were many Hispanic people moving into the area there had been a lot of theft operations going on and that the locals had to "execute the most extreme punishment upon the thief when caught" to set an example.

"You seem to think that it is not necessary at the present time for the populace of this county to try and execute criminals as the legal authorities are not only able but willing to do their duty faithfully and promptly. If such were the case -- if the officers of the law in Calaveras county were "able and willing to do their duty faithfully and promptly," there would be no necessity of the populace taking the law in their own hands, and executing justice upon evil doers, and they would not do it. Of late, criminals in this county have been managed very badly -- the people have become indignant at the course pursued by the lawful authorities, and the frequent escape of prisoners indicted and convicted of the highest crimes, from our jail, has greatly impaired the confidence of the people in the willingness or ability of our officers to fulfill the duty consigned to their charge.... We are not in favor of mob law, and we shall rejoice when the time comes that it will entirely be done away with in California, and the lawful authorities have the whole control of criminals; but until ample protection of life and property can be afforded the people by officers to whom we look for protection, we hope to see the populace continue to assume the authority of detecting, trying and punishing criminals according to the extent of their offenses." ---

The death of the Chilean or Mexican (whichever he was) who possibly went by the name of Sanchez, was hanged on  July 27, 1853.

Death # 7

The seventh death by way of the Hanging Tree was for the theft of a very valuable horse that was stolen from Jackson merchants, Evans & Askey who owned the Louisiana Hotel (where the National Hotel stands today).  The horse thief was Christopher Bennett, and he was apprehended near Bridgeport in Nevada County and brought back to Jackson.

Interestingly, according to "History of Amador County" by Jesse D. Mason, Bennett claimed to have purchased the horse from a traveler he met on the road. He even had a bill of sale which he produced to the authorities which read "Sac City, March 16, 1854, "Mr. C. Bennett, Bought of C. Cuper, for one gray horse, Three Hundred & Forty Dollars. Title guaranteed. W. Holman, Auctioneer.  C. Cuper." --

But once Bennett came back to Jackson, hundreds of people allegedly recognized him and the horse which was identified as belonging to Evans & Askey.  Bennett's trial was only a few minutes long and took place on the steps of the Louisiana House (National Hotel) at sunrise. Remember, this is according to Mason's account, but I don't know how many hundreds of people could possibly have been wandering around downtown Jackson at sunrise, being that the newspapers claimed that he was hanged before anyone was notified, and long before a crowd had a chance to gather. In the words of Larry Cenotto, "they hanged Bennett (alias Schwartz and Black) and he was tap dancin' on a breeze before 7 a.m."

Deaths # 8, 9  & 10.

The last three deaths by way of the Hanging Tree occurred in August of 1855, after the horrific massacre at lower Rancheria. If you do not know the story, please click on this link below to read Part 1, and don't forget read all four parts (I know, it's a long one, but totally worth it to get the whole story).

THE RANCHERA MASSACRE 

To make a long story short, three men were ultimately hanged on that tree within a week. These deaths were because all three men were accused of being part of the group of banditos who went on a killing spree in lower Rancheria on August 5, 1855.  First an unidentified Mexican was hanged on August 8th, then Manuel Garcia was hanged on August 9th, and finally the last man ever to be hanged on the Hanging Tree, Rafael Escobar was hanged on August 15, 1855.  (To read about Rafael's death, click on Part 3 here.)

Finally, the Hanging Tree met its own demise on August 23, 1862 when the "Great Fire" raged through Jackson, taking almost everything along with it. Only a few buildings survived that fire, and after the smoke cleared and the ashes settled, that Hangman's Tree was a charred fragment of what it once was. It was soon after cut down.

Many years later, on July 24, 1937, the Ursula Parlor No. 1 of the Native Daughters of the Golden West, had a plaque put in on Main Street marking the general area where that Hanging Tree once stood.


Conclusion

In ending, as you may have noticed, I cited much of Larry Cenotto's research within this blog.  I felt there was no better way to honor him than by sharing his research. Larry Cenotto was a huge inspiration for me personally in my quest to be a historical journalist and writer in my own life. In fact, had it not been for Larry Cenotto's personal advice to me to publish my work, I would never have published my first book "Behind the Walls." Since then, I have published four historical non-fiction books, all having some tie to Amador County history.

Although Larry passed away on October 7, 2012, the legacy he left the world, his work and his passion for history, lives on indefinitely as long as we keep reading and researching. Since the 1970's he spent time founding what is now the Amador County Archives, taking on the position as Archivist for nearly 30 years and contributing his knowledge of county history in newspaper columns for many years as well as publishing his works in paper form through books and travel booklets. Nearly every story you research nowadays regarding Amador County history, it is likely you will find something mentioning Larry in it. Meaning he either wrote about it, or he archived it! He truly was a treasure that not only saved this county's history from possible oblivion, but also preserved it for future generations to enjoy. And after all, preserving our history for posterity meant a lot to Larry. I know because he told me so, when he encouraged me to publish my blogs in book form.

In 2017, a plaque was erected on the side of the National Hotel, just steps away from where that Hanging Tree once stood, that pays tribute to Larry, forever sealing his story within the pages of the same Amador County history that he knew and loved so much. What a fitting tribute to Amador County's greatest historian.

(Copyright 2019 - J'aime Rubio, www.jaimerubiowriter.com)