As I mentioned in Part Three, the Mountain Democrat website posted the story, Deadliest gunfight of 1854 recalled, on June 5, 2012. That story concluded by stating, "As to the authenticity of the story itself, although it appears to be more than a bit improbable, we do have the affidavit from men who observed it and nothing but opinion to contradict it."
Well, checking both El Dorado County and Placer County records, I can't find any proof of the shooting ever taking place. As for the Mountain Democrat having the "affidavit from men who observed it," why weren't those affidavits ever turned over to the County Sheriff to be part of an official record in 1855? The Mountain Democrat website should tell us why those depositions were kept at a newspaper instead of being turned over to the Sheriff's Office in 1855, as they should have.
The story goes that Davis and his three eyewitnesses supposedly appeared in the office of The Mountain Democrat before a local El Dorado County Judge by the name of "R.M. Anderson and a delegation of prominent citizens."
From what I can tell, that "delegation of prominent citizens" did not include El Dorado County Sheriff James B. Hume, El Dorado County Coroner John M. C. Townsend, Placer County Sheriff Sam Astin, or Placer Coroner John Harper. If they had been present when Davis and the others supposedly gave a deposition before a judge, then they could have asked their own questions, and there would be records of what those county officials asked and witnessed.
There Are No Records Of The Davis Story Ever Taking Place Other Than In The Mountain Democrat 1854 Newspaper Story.
Of course, while I've been looking into this for a few years, I haven't been able to find a news story or any sort of documentation that says that the supposedly meeting with a judge really happened -- which in itself is strange if he truly gave a deposition before a judge. As we all know, depositions are legal documents and possible evidence in a case.
Of course, I can't find anything that resembles a deposition given before an El Dorado County Judge in 1854 or 1855 by Davis and his friends. Frankly, that's a huge red flag since El Dorado County Historical Records are available online at El Dorado County (Calif.) Archives for anyone to research. That website has everything that transpired in that county from 1851 onward.
The El Dorado County (Calif.) Archive has 183 volumes of county records from government agencies such as the County Clerk’s Office, Sheriff’s Office, Coroner's Office, Auditor’s Office, Assessor’s Office, the Courts, and many others. Records include court dispositions, cash transactions in the treasurer’s office, tax rolls, property descriptions, land sales, lawsuits, tax levies, and a lot more.
To give you an idea of what the El Dorado County archives has -- they have records of receipts signed by attorneys for case files checked out from the County Clerk's Office; Notices of motions filed by attorneys in various legal actions in local courts; Payments of fees for legal actions as registered by the clerk of the court; Invoices of goods shipped from eastern merchants to San Francisco, including the name of the ship and date, and the port of departure. They have records of plaintiffs, defendants, nature of action, subsequent legal measures, and final disposition, signed by a justice of the peace; Lists of plaintiffs and defendants, the nature of actions, subsequent legal measures, and final disposition; Listings by the name of the former possessor of the property. And yes, they have all of the legal processes that were conducted by a local justice of the peace.
They have registers of sales, accompanied by clipped newspaper announcements of date and place. Special school tax assessment; public school registers and registers of attendance, as well as evaluation of scholarship and deportment of each student; Records listing Chinese residents and also for Mexicans, Chileans, and Europeans having no property and paying poll tax; Listings of land transfers, especially relating to the activities of hydraulic mining companies, which may have been extracted from the County; Town lot auction records and land transactions; Various road construction surveys; School funds ledgers; Listings of state, county, and school district funds for the county's schools; Register of land transactions; all of the registered mining claims in that county, and much more that I didn't list here.
As for the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office records available on that website, the archives have Jail registers with names of prisoners, date of confinement, and date of discharge; Sheriff's expenses for such activities as service of legal documents and fees received as payment; Registers of fees for such expenses as mileage and transportation; Listings of drafts issued upon county funds; The county's tax assessment rolls; Daily expenses, including costs for service of writs and subpoenas, boarding of prisoners, and other attendance at court sessions; and registers listing county warrants. Those volumes even include the details of the Vigilante episode in April 1852. And yes, they even have copies of telegrams sent to and from the El Dorado County Sheriff.
So, yes, to me, it smells fishy that I can't locate a deposition, or any sort of court records, telegrams between Placer County Sheriff and El Dorado County Sheriff, notification of the Placer County Coroner, or anything else in the way of records about what would have surely been the biggest multiple homicide in Northern California in 1854.
May 12th, 1855 — The Indians in the neighborhood of Gold Hill were performing the funeral rites upon a deceased member of their tribe, when a quarrel ensued between a squaw and one of the males, which resulted in a brutal murder. The man took the woman's child and deliberately cut its head off throwing the body on the tire which was consuming the body of the dead squaw. The woman in revenge took the child of her opponent and threw it on the fire, but it was rescued from the flames by some of the spectators. The Indian was arrested, but subsequently discharged on a nolle prosequi.
March 19th, 1855 — M. J. Van was stabbed and killed by John Roberts, at Iowa Hill. They were proprietors of the Crescent City Hotel. The trouble grew out of a settlement. Roberts was convicted of murder and sentenced to be hanged, but the sentence was commuted by the Governor to imprisonment for life.
March 20th, 1855 — I. P. Beatty was killed at Rector's Bar by E. Lockwood, who was convicted of manslaughter for the crime, and sentenced to two years in State Prison, and fined $1.00.
April 10th, 1855 — Wm. Durham was shot and killed, at Auburn, by Hank Marsh. Durham was supposed to be insane, and attacked Marsh.
April 11th, 1855 — Smith was shot and killed by Woodward, in a negro dance-house in Dutch Ravine. Both men were gamblers, and the trouble grew out of the favors shown Smith by one of the negro women.
September 22nd, 1855 — A Chinaman was killed by an Illinoistown Indian, called Tubbs, on the trail leading from Christian Valley to the North Fork of the American River. The citizens of Christian Valley secured Tubbs and hung him to the limb of a tree. [Illinoistown (all one word) was a mining camp in Placer County destroyed by fire in the late 1850s].
And yes, there would be a record of what they found, including their exact location, how they were buried if they really were, their cause of death, number of assailants, how they were armed, if they were shot in the back or the front, and maybe even get a few identified, and much more. They would have documented the scene, collected and preserved evidence, and analyzed it to reconstruct the events and possibly identify the perpetrators.
As for The Mountain Democrat keeping those supposed depositions and not turning them over to the county, why would they have done that? Why didn't that newspaper turn it over to the County Sheriff or the County Coroner's Office? What was The Mountain Democrat's reason for withholding such important evidence if there had indeed been an incident with multiple homicides? It could have helped the authorities legitimize a story that people were questioning.
And by the way, I know I'm using the word "supposedly" a lot in this whole story, but I can't help it. You see, there's a huge problem with stories like this. That problem is that there is absolutely no evidence to prove what Davis claimed actually happened, just as there's no evidence that a meeting with a Judge by the name of R.M. Anderson ever took place.
And by the way, I know I'm using the word "supposedly" a lot in this whole story, but I can't help it. You see, there's a huge problem with stories like this. That problem is that there is absolutely no evidence to prove what Davis claimed actually happened, just as there's no evidence that a meeting with a Judge by the name of R.M. Anderson ever took place.
In fact, as for someone in 1855 by the name of R.M. Anderson? Other than the law firm of Hall & Anderson located in Placerville at the Empire Building on Main Street in 1855, with an R.M. Anderson listed as a law partner, I can't find an "Judge R.M. Anderson" mentioned in El Dorado County records.
Of course, more important than finding out if there was or wasn't some local lawyer acting as a local judge or justice of the peace, I'd like to know why Davis and his witnesses decided to meet with a judge at the office of The Mountain Democrat. Why did they do that? If it really took place, why did Davis and his three witnesses meet with a judge at the office of The Mountain Democrat instead of meeting with county law enforcement?
Instead of being forthright and meeting with law enforcement and the coroner's office, going out to the supposed graves, allowing the coroner to do his job and examine the bodies to find out if they were shot in the front or the back, Davis and his friends weren't honest and instead went to the newspaper that helped to create the hoax. To many, it may have appeared as if they were colluding on a story to deceive the public.
Why put themselves in the position of looking like they are colluding with The Mountain Democrat by going to the office of The Mountain Democrat? Why meet at the newspaper office of the newspaper that had a vested interest in making a hoax appear real -- after all, other newspapers were already questioning the credibility of The Mountain Democrat just days after they reported Davis's story?
So, yes, that newspaper had its credibility at stake. And frankly, the story of Davis avoiding talking to the authorities and instead going to the newspaper that first reported the story made it look more like a conspiracy to pull something over on the public.
And really, why did Davis and the others meet at the office of The Mountain Democrat instead of another newspaper in Placerville, there were others? And also, why meet at the office of The Mountain Democrat with the very people who were responsible for making Davis a celebrity and circulating his story? Then again, I think that answers why they met there.
So, instead of appearing at either County Sheriff's Office, or specifically in front of authorities in Placer County which would have made more sense since the supposed battle took place in Placer County (according to the Mountain Democrat website's story), Davis and his three eyewitnesses arrived at the office of The Mountain Democrat.
Once there, they are supposedly questioned by a judge regarding what took place. And yes, supposedly, Davis and the others repeat the facts in the story just as it was printed in The Mountain Democrat to the satisfaction of the judge. After that, with everyone satisfied, everyone went on their way.
Of course, I can't find anything that resembles a deposition given before an El Dorado County Judge in 1854 or 1855 by Davis and his friends. Frankly, that's a huge red flag since El Dorado County Historical Records are available online at El Dorado County (Calif.) Archives for anyone to research. That website has everything that transpired in that county from 1851 onward.
The El Dorado County (Calif.) Archive has 183 volumes of county records from government agencies such as the County Clerk’s Office, Sheriff’s Office, Coroner's Office, Auditor’s Office, Assessor’s Office, the Courts, and many others. Records include court dispositions, cash transactions in the treasurer’s office, tax rolls, property descriptions, land sales, lawsuits, tax levies, and a lot more.
To give you an idea of what the El Dorado County archives has -- they have records of receipts signed by attorneys for case files checked out from the County Clerk's Office; Notices of motions filed by attorneys in various legal actions in local courts; Payments of fees for legal actions as registered by the clerk of the court; Invoices of goods shipped from eastern merchants to San Francisco, including the name of the ship and date, and the port of departure. They have records of plaintiffs, defendants, nature of action, subsequent legal measures, and final disposition, signed by a justice of the peace; Lists of plaintiffs and defendants, the nature of actions, subsequent legal measures, and final disposition; Listings by the name of the former possessor of the property. And yes, they have all of the legal processes that were conducted by a local justice of the peace.
They have registers of sales, accompanied by clipped newspaper announcements of date and place. Special school tax assessment; public school registers and registers of attendance, as well as evaluation of scholarship and deportment of each student; Records listing Chinese residents and also for Mexicans, Chileans, and Europeans having no property and paying poll tax; Listings of land transfers, especially relating to the activities of hydraulic mining companies, which may have been extracted from the County; Town lot auction records and land transactions; Various road construction surveys; School funds ledgers; Listings of state, county, and school district funds for the county's schools; Register of land transactions; all of the registered mining claims in that county, and much more that I didn't list here.
As for the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office records available on that website, the archives have Jail registers with names of prisoners, date of confinement, and date of discharge; Sheriff's expenses for such activities as service of legal documents and fees received as payment; Registers of fees for such expenses as mileage and transportation; Listings of drafts issued upon county funds; The county's tax assessment rolls; Daily expenses, including costs for service of writs and subpoenas, boarding of prisoners, and other attendance at court sessions; and registers listing county warrants. Those volumes even include the details of the Vigilante episode in April 1852. And yes, they even have copies of telegrams sent to and from the El Dorado County Sheriff.
So, yes, to me, it smells fishy that I can't locate a deposition, or any sort of court records, telegrams between Placer County Sheriff and El Dorado County Sheriff, notification of the Placer County Coroner, or anything else in the way of records about what would have surely been the biggest multiple homicide in Northern California in 1854.
And here's something else on this. The Mountain Democrat initially reported the following:
"On December 19, 1854, while trekking on a miner's trail along the North Fork of the American River, Dr. Bolivar Sparks, James McDonald, and Captain Jonathan Davis were bushwhacked by an international band of bandits. The bandits, a Frenchman, two Americans, two Britons, four Mexicans, and four Australians, had robbed and killed four American miners on the previous day and six Chinese miners on the day before that."
This demonstrates the problem with this story, there is no evidence to prove that an international band of bandits and killers made up of a Frenchman, two Americans, two Britons, four Mexicans, and four Australians, had robbed and killed 4 American miners on the previous day and 6 Chinese miners on the day before that. One account says a few days before those killers supposedly encountered Davis and his two friends.
No, there are no records in the Placer County History, the El Dorado County Archives, or newspaper archives of the time to prove that a gang of killers described like what The Mountain Democrat describes robbed and killed 4 American miners on the previous day and 6 Chinese miners in either November or December of 1854.
I've combed through newspaper archives and I can say that there are all sorts of other news stories about Indians killing "Chinamen," others killing "Chinamen," and even "Chinamen" killing others. In fact, I'll be writing more about that soon. But, there are no news stories about 4 Americans and 6 Chinese miners being murdered in December of 1854.
By the way, I did find an entry in the archive from July 10th, 1853, a year and a half before the Davis story took place, that said, "An Indian was hanged on Bear River, northeast of Auburn, by order of a lynch court, for killing a Chinaman. Previous to his execution he confessed to the murder of five Chinamen and one American."
And yes, that makes me ask if this is where Davis and The Mountain Democrat got the idea to say that gang killed 4 Americans and 6 Chinese miners? Was that event of a year and a half earlier used to make the Davis story sound more plausible?
And since we're talking about records, or the lack of records, why aren't there records of a James McDonald and a Dr. Sparks being murdered? Other than what was printed in The Mountain Democrat, there aren't any county records, in either county, of Davis's two companions being murdered. Why is that?
Here are a few examples of things that I did find in the archives. This might give you an idea of what's in there, and why it bothers me that I can't find any records of Davis's supposed epic battle or anything on his companions being murdered, or anything on those 4 Americans and 6 Chinese miners that The Mountain Democrat talks about. All of the events below can be found in the county archives:
June 26th, 1854 — James Ryan was killed in an affray at Iowa Hill by Patrick Vance.
December 30th, 1854 — A mob lynched Thomas Johnson for shooting a man named Montgomery at Iowa Hill on the 24th ult.
December 30th, 1854 — A mob lynched Thomas Johnson for shooting a man named Montgomery at Iowa Hill on the 24th ult.
May 12th, 1855 — The Indians in the neighborhood of Gold Hill were performing the funeral rites upon a deceased member of their tribe, when a quarrel ensued between a squaw and one of the males, which resulted in a brutal murder. The man took the woman's child and deliberately cut its head off throwing the body on the tire which was consuming the body of the dead squaw. The woman in revenge took the child of her opponent and threw it on the fire, but it was rescued from the flames by some of the spectators. The Indian was arrested, but subsequently discharged on a nolle prosequi.
March 19th, 1855 — M. J. Van was stabbed and killed by John Roberts, at Iowa Hill. They were proprietors of the Crescent City Hotel. The trouble grew out of a settlement. Roberts was convicted of murder and sentenced to be hanged, but the sentence was commuted by the Governor to imprisonment for life.
March 20th, 1855 — I. P. Beatty was killed at Rector's Bar by E. Lockwood, who was convicted of manslaughter for the crime, and sentenced to two years in State Prison, and fined $1.00.
April 10th, 1855 — Wm. Durham was shot and killed, at Auburn, by Hank Marsh. Durham was supposed to be insane, and attacked Marsh.
April 11th, 1855 — Smith was shot and killed by Woodward, in a negro dance-house in Dutch Ravine. Both men were gamblers, and the trouble grew out of the favors shown Smith by one of the negro women.
September 22nd, 1855 — A Chinaman was killed by an Illinoistown Indian, called Tubbs, on the trail leading from Christian Valley to the North Fork of the American River. The citizens of Christian Valley secured Tubbs and hung him to the limb of a tree. [Illinoistown (all one word) was a mining camp in Placer County destroyed by fire in the late 1850s].
So, Why No Records?
Why aren't there records about Davis's story in the county archives? Is it the same reason why an official investigation never took place? Is it the same reason that the Sheriff and the Coroner's Offices were not notified? Is it the same reason that The Mountain Democrat allowed Davis to supposedly meet a judge at their office instead of having him meet with the County Sheriff? Is it because Capt. Jonathan R. Davis's 1854 gunfight story was a hoax perpetrated by Davis and The Mountain Democrat?
I believe the reason is simple. It's the same reason records can't be found, or why historians failed to write about it at the time, and why newspapers of the time called it a hoax. There aren't any records because the story is totally unbelievable when you really examine what was claimed. Sure, there are people gullible enough to believe anything. And frankly, we'll never know if the County Sheriffs did hear about it. But if they did, they probably saw the whole story as ridiculously amusing.
While some folks have asked if the Sheriff and his Deputies would have looked into it if it were that remote, I believe the Sheriff and his Deputies would have certainly done their duty and checked it out -- if it had been reported to them.
And yes, there would be a record of what they found, including their exact location, how they were buried if they really were, their cause of death, number of assailants, how they were armed, if they were shot in the back or the front, and maybe even get a few identified, and much more. They would have documented the scene, collected and preserved evidence, and analyzed it to reconstruct the events and possibly identify the perpetrators.
The parts of this story that are lacking have to do with the public's need to find out exactly what took place, and the public's need to see evidence proving what really took place. If there were an official investigation by the County Sheriff, the public would have found out what transpired and would have reported it. Of course, that didn't happen. The Sheriffs of Placer County and El Dorado County weren't called upon to investigate and document what took place. And yes, that should be a red flag -- to tell us this was a hoax.
Tom Correa
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