Susan's Bluff - Tracking Down The Truth to the Tragedy

While meandering through some old magazines from a second hand store in Valley Springs, California, I came across an issue of Real West Magazine. This was published back in 1963, so the stories within the publication are very old, forgotten and for the most part, unknown. Noticing how rare this issue was, I decided to purchase it for possible inspiration into later investigations.  At home, as I flipped through the pages of this historical find, I stumbled upon a small article towards the back titled, "Story of Susan's Bluff." I immediately was pulled in. 

The story in the magazine tells the tale of a young lady, Susan O'Brien, (allegedly about 15 years old) who was traveling with her family in a wagon train headed west in 1849. According to the story, the party "possessed 40 wagons and 50 head of cattle," meaning it was a big wagon train, with a lot of people.

At some point the party decided to make camp at Goose Creek. The men all went out to hunt for food, while the women and children were left behind with the wagons. As the saying goes, "when the cat's away, the mice will play," and so a group of natives came into the camp, knowing the women were basically defenseless. Once in camp, they began demanding food and whiskey. Although their demands were met, Susan allegedly picked up two guns that were packed in the wagon, and pointed them at the natives, making her own demand that they leave.

Although they did leave, this story was far from over for Susan. 

As the party proceeded onward, they moved along the Humboldt River, which follows along where present day Hwy 80 runs. By the time they reached Lassen's Meadows, some of the party split up. One group decided to go north towards Oregon, while a smaller group of others were determined to head in a south-westerly direction crossing the "Forty-Mile Desert."  Eventually, the smaller wagon train approached the Carson River, and planned on following that all the way to California.

In the smaller group that was headed westward, the O'Brien family, which consisted of Susan's father, mother, her teenage brother, Michael and herself, were in the advance of the other wagons, trail blazing ahead along the river. 

By the time they reached the canyon area, where the present day Lahontan Dam is now located, the O'Brien's wagon was attacked. It was more than likely the same natives who had been to their camp demanding food and whiskey, which I believe their intent for that incident was sizing up who was there, and what supplies they had to come back later and take. 

The O'Brien family, being ahead of their party and thus isolated, were now surrounded and unable to defend themselves. The natives proceeded to attack the wagon, brutally murdering the entire family, including hacking Susan's brother to death with their weapons. Susan allegedly had hid in a trunk within the wagon itself, and only once the natives had started rummaging through the belongings to take what they could, did they discover her.

As the story goes, the natives kidnapped her and held her in a cave while they rustled up all the cattle that the O'Brien's had with them. Then allegedly, they gave her to their Chief. Waiting until the cover of darkness, she supposedly makes her escape, but while attempting her getaway, she is caught once again by the natives. Refusing to be taken alive, Susan does the unthinkable and literally jumps off the top of the cliff side where she had been held against her will, and falls to her death into the rocky ravine below. Later the party that was traveling behind, eventually caught up to the ghastly site, where they discovered the bodies of the O'Brien family, and yes, Susan's mutilated corpse at the bottom of the cliffside. 

Of course, the story sounds tragic and a bit romanticized, doesn't it? 

Well, I had a lot of questions being that some of the story seems impossible to know exact details to, since the only other people who could have known what happened would have been the murderers themselves, those among the native tribe who slaughtered the O'Brien family. 

I was determined to find some answers so I kept digging.

According to research done by a Nevada columnist for the Fernley Leader, Ms. Laura Tennant, she interviewed a member of the local Paiute tribe, who stated that their people had their own version of the tale. According to Curtis Hamar, the story about Susan that has been passed down for over 150 years was mostly correct, although Susan's demise came in a different way.  

Supposedly, she was taken to be held for ransom in order to obtain guns from the approaching party. While being held at the top of the cliff where the natives had their women cooking, Susan allegedly got into a fight with one of the Indian women. Wanting to be released, she picked up one of the grinding stones used to prepare meals with, and allegedly chucked it over the cliff. This upset on of the Indian women so much she proceeded to attack Susan, ultimately pushing her over the edge and killing her. 

Now, that is certainly a different version of the story, isn't it?  Either way, both versions end badly, and ultimately Susan dies in each telling. 

So is that why the area is known today as Susan's Bluff?  I decided to look a little further into the story and the pieces of the puzzle started to fit a little better.

According to page 217 of the "Third Biennial Report of the Nevada Historical Society, 1911-1912," the story gets a little more clear.

The publication states, "Susan's Bluff  is located about 14  miles below Dayton, opposite Clifton. At its foot are the graves of three emigrants with a sunken wagon tire at the head of each grave. The name of one of the emigrants was Susan, hence the name of the bluff."

Very little is known about the O'Brien family and where they came from. We do not even know the names of the parents, only the children, which is also a bit odd to me. 

Do I believe that this story happened? Yes. However, I am on the fence about which version I believe, or if the truth of this tragedy can be found somewhere in the middle. In many cases, unless we have concrete primary sources from eye witnesses that were there at the time this took place, everything we believe is just conjecture.  

One thing we do know for a fact is that a girl or woman named Susan and "others" were found dead at the bottom of that cliff, and they were buried there by the passing wagon train.

I have to thank those who came before me, who were also interested in this story, so much so, that they trekked up Fort Churchill Road to take in the site of what is known today as Susan's Bluff, and then wrote what they knew about the story to keep Susan's story alive. 

Although her story is not as widely known as the stories of the Donner Party, Kit Carson or the tales of Joaquin Murietta, this tragedy is not any less important. 

One spring or summer day in the high desert terrain near present day Dayton, Nevada, in 1849, a family of settlers looking for a better life were attacked, and their lives were stripped from them. 

Whether Susan was kidnapped and committed suicide, leaping to her death to escape what awaited her, or she was thrown from the cliff -- she died.  The bodies of those victims are buried there at the bottom of the cliff, literally forgotten in time. There are no burial markers for them, no monuments, no headstones, nothing. 

There are also no photographs of them to remember them by. All we have is the story. I believe that by reading this story, and sharing it with others, we will not only honor Susan and her family, but we also honor all the settlers who lay forgotten in unmarked graves across the western lands. People who came searching for a better life, a life they would never get to experience.

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

Sources:

"Real West Magazine," Volume 6, No.30, July 1963

"Third Biennial Report of the Nevada Historical Society, 1911-1912," published 1913

"The Marker," (newsletter) by Trails West, Inc., published Fall 2011

 

History of the Dunsmuir-Hellman Estate

 

This beautiful mansion located on a tranquil 50-acre lot, hidden away in the hills of Oakland, California, was designed by J. Eugene Freeman and built in the neoclassical revival architecture that had been so popular back in 1899. The history of this beautiful and palatial home is one full of twists and turns, and is shared by two distinct families of great wealth: The Dunsmuir and Hellman families.

The Dunsmuir Family

While researching the history of this property one can be overwhelmed at the enormous amount of websites share the same story verbatim. As the story usually goes, the son of a Vancouver coal magnate falls deeply in love with a married woman, and that after leaving her husband, the two planned to wed. In some versions of this story, which have even been published in print, there are claims that this coal baron’s son originally came to live with his favorite bartender, who let him stay with his family as a “boarder,” and it was there that he fell in love with the bartender’s wife, and the two basically ran off with each other.  

Other versions name the married man as being an usher at a theatre instead of as a bartender. The house comes into the picture when the story goes on that this coal magnate’s son used his own fortune to build an extravagant house for his soon-to-be bride as a wedding gift, but during their honeymoon the man fell ill and passed away. The story gets even more disturbing when it concludes with the fact that the bride died soon after as well. Thus ending the tragic love story.

Unfortunately, some of this popular story is inaccurate and this article is here to set the facts straight once and for all.

The Facts

First and foremost, Alexander Dunsmuir actually was the son of Robert Dunsmuir, one of the richest coal barons in Vancouver, British Columbia at that time, so that part of the story is correct. When he came to San Francisco in 1878, at the age of 25, he had plenty of money at his disposal to stay at the best hotels in town so it is highly unlikely that he took up as a boarder, living with the family of a bartender or usher.

Alexander Dunsmuir did in fact fall in love with a woman known as Josephine Wallace, and she had been married to a Waller Wallace, and even had two children.  The 1880 Census puts both he and his wife, Josephine living at 428 Eddy Street, cites Waller as being an “Attorney” and not a bartender at all. It also cites the family of four as having a servant working and living with them, Mary Sullivan.

Upon further research, Waller Wallace turned out to be one of the fathers of baseball on the west coast. In fact, his obituary stated that he was a "well known baseball scorer, writer and ex-manager"... who was "prominently identified with the national game."  It also states that he pitched and managed for the "California Theatre," which was a baseball team. 

Although I didn't find a divorce decree during my research, Wallace's obituary shows that he remarried later on, and then died in 1891, meaning that divorce or not, the marriage ended between the two, and at some point Josephine began her relationship with Alexander around 1882. 

The newspapers also announced that Alexander “secretly” married his love Josephine many years prior, but never furnished the documents proving so.

The biggest secret or scandal was the fact that Alexander and Josephine “played house” for nearly 18 years, (married or not) keeping their relationship secret from his family for fear that he would be disinherited from his family fortune. 

Whether it was the fact that Josephine may have been a divorcee (or even worse, still married to another man) or had come from a lower station in life, it was obvious that Alexander wanted to keep his family in Vancouver from discovering his secret life in San Francisco. 

After his father passed away in 1889, Alexander still tried keeping his relationship quiet for fear his matriarchal mother would cut him out of his inheritance, too. It was around the time of his investing in the construction of this house in Oakland, that gossip started going around and he knew his secret would finally be exposed.  It was then that he publicly announced they had just been married and that they were to go on their honeymoon at once.  In reality, the couple had been living as man and wife (common-law) for 18 years.  During their “official” honeymoon in Manhattan, New York, Alexander Dunsmuir fell ill and passed away on January 31, 1900.

Alexander (older)

After the death of Alexander, Mrs. Josephine Dunsmuir went back to the beautiful home her husband had constructed for her and remained there for the rest of her life.  According to the San Francisco Call dated June 23, 1901, Josephine grew critically ill with typhoid fever and despite being cared for by the best doctors and treatments available, she succumbed to her illness within a week’s time. 

Unfortunately, due to misinformation on other websites it has often been stated that she died from lung cancer, but again, according to the newspaper at the time of her death she died from typhoid fever.

It was after the death of Josephine that Alexander’s name was dragged through the mud by his step-daughter, the famous actress Edna Wallace Hopper. She filed a lawsuit contesting the will of Alexander because her mother did not inherit Alexander’s estate, meaning she wouldn’t inherit anything either besides the house.

You see, upon her husband’s death, Josephine was allowed to keep the house and receive a small fund of $25,000 a year for the rest of her life which was agreed upon while Alexander was alive and was promised to her by her brother-in-law James, who was set to inherit Alexander’s estate. Since Josephine only lived one year longer, it appears that Edna felt entitled to money and wanted to get what she could out of the Dunsmuir family, or at least attempt to anyway. 

Edna Wallace Hopper

After years of court battles, testimony trying to sully Alexander’s reputation for his excessive drinking habits and even blaming her step-father for her not being accepted at various schools due to her mother’s reputation of living with Dunsmuir, Edna did her very best to ruin what good name her step-father and mother had left. In the end she lost the court case and all appeals she attempted to file as well. The estate remained in James’ name just as Alexander had wanted.

Years later, Alexander and James’ mother, Joan Dunsmuir also filed a suit in Canada against James, her own son, claiming that both Alexander and James’ had tricked her to sell them her portion of the estate in 1889 for $400,000 when in fact it was worth about $15,000,000, but that lawsuit didn’t end well of Joan either.

By the turn of the Century, Edna Wallace Hopper rented the house out to the Hellman family, and eventually sold the property to them by 1906, thus starting a new chapter in the history of this magnificent structure.

The Hellman Family

This chapter in the history of the home would prove to be less scandalous than that of the first owners of the property. In fact, I could not find anything overly salacious written about the Hellman family who owned and occupied this stately mansion from purchasing the house in 1906 up until 1957 when Mrs. Hellman passed away.

Frances Jacobi

Isaias W. Hellman and Frances Jacobi were engaged to be married in January of 1898, and the pair married shortly thereafter at the home of the bride’s grandparents. One story that took place a year after their purchasing the home, Isaias Hellman, Jr., grew very ill and it turned out that he suffered from a ruptured appendix, nearly causing death. He was treated at Mt. Zion Hospital and he eventually made a full recovery. At that time he was VP of Union Trust Company, which later merged with Wells Fargo.

When the Hellman’s rented the house in Oakland around the turn of the century (after 1901) the couple had already begun their family with their oldest son Isaias Hellman III being one year old. During their time at the estate they had three more children, Frederick, Florence and Marion Frances.

The 1910 census shows that the family had a staff of eight living with them, (4) servants, a cook, a governess and the butler. On July 22, 1910 a terrible fire broke out in the power and engine house, and it was reported in the paper that Mrs. Hellman fought with bravery and cool-headedness to manage her workers to stifle the fire and save the estate, and the efforts proved successful.

By 1913, the Hellman family made renovations to the house and the property itself, adding more to the estate such as: a swimming pool, glass conservatory and grotto, aviary, garden maze, tennis courts and even a 9-hole golf course. Stories of the lavish parties, 4^th of July celebrations and family get-togethers have circulated over the years and truly show the fun and exciting times this property has seen over the years.

Isaias Hellman

In 1920, Isaias W. Hellman Jr., passed away, after falling into a comatose state. His father had passed away only one month prior, and being that his father was president of the bank, the title was given to Isaias. He didn’t live much longer, and being that he was in a coma, he never had the chance to know of his promotion.

The house remained under the ownership of the Hellman family, and when Frances passed away in 1957, the property was eventually sold to the City of Oakland to be used for conference space. By the 1970’s a non-profit established to restore and protect the estate was co-running the property, but eventually all ownership returned to the City of Oakland as the sole proprietor.

By the summer of 1989, the non-profit took over the care of the home and renamed it "The Dunsmuir House & Gardens," to use as an educational tool for historical preservation and horticulture. The property was listed as a historic landmark on the National Register of Historic Places, and by the City of Oakland as well.

Filming

This 37-room mansion that spans over 16,000 square feet has been used in films over the years between 1976 to the present day. Such films include:  Burnt Offerings, Phantasm, Partners in Crime, A View To Kill, The Vineyard, So I Married an Axe Murderer, Gloria, Case Number 13 and Clint Eastwood’s True Crime.

Conclusion

I felt during this research that whether it was the scandalous rumors and gossip swirling around the Dunsmuir family, or just the history of the Hellman family surrounding the property, both family's stories were just as equally important to share, because both families created the history of that home. 

The home is theirs, always, and with that thought, let us always respect and honor the history of each home, each location we visit and remember that although we might be fascinated with it, or with the stories there are to tell about it, but in the end, this was still someone's home -- their sanctuary, and in many cases, the place where they took their last breath. 

Let us always enjoy, but respect the memory of all those who walked those halls of the Dunsmuir-Hellman House.

Happy History Hunting!!

(Copyright 8/14/2018 - J'aime Rubio, www. jaimerubiowriter.com)

Photo Sources:

All photos of the house, courtesy of Roland Boulware

Photos of Isaias and Frances Hellman; Find-a-grave

Photos of Alexander Dunsmuir, Josephine and Edna Wallace Hopper; (public domain) and newspaper articles.