History of Fresno County, Vol. 2 - Paul E. Vandor

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Last Indian Uprising

      The last serious Indian uprising was in the summer of 1856 among the Four Creek Indians of Tulare. The soldiers from Fort Miller under Captain Livingstone were dispatched to the scene of hostilities, also a company from Millerton and vicinity under Capt. Ira Stroud and another from Coarse Gold Gulch and Fresno River under Capt. John L. Hunt. The Fresno contingent achieved the name of "The San Joaquin Thieves." The campaign over. Fort Miller was evacuated September 10, 1856.

       Acts of Disloyalty

      It was reoccupied in August, 1863, by United States troops and a volunteer company under Col. Warren Olney was dispatched also. Acts of disloyalty were numerous. The offenders were rounded up at the fort and made to walk a beat carrying a bag of sand as a punishment. Peter van Valer was the provost marshal, and other disloyals were transported to cool their ardor in the military prison of the bleak and ocean wind swept Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay.

       Looting of Chinese

      In 1863 the looting of Chinese stores and camps was resumed with at least eight known desperadoes in the gang. The China store at Andrew Johnson's place at Coarse Gold Gulch was robbed three times and patience had ceased to be a virtue. A company of about a dozen men organized and one dark night in the dead winter of 1864 it invaded the camp of the desperadoes. Whether warned or not of the coming, only one of the gang — Al Dixon — was caught that night and found a corpse hanging from a tree next morning between Coarse Gold Gulch and the Fresno. The life of the brother" John, was interceded for and six of the gang left the county and were not again heard from. The eighth, James Raines, remained to weather it out and came in conflict with the provost marshal in the latter's prosecution of his duties. A squad from the fort was sent to arrest him. Raines appeared pistol in hand to resist arrest and himself was shot and wounded in the arm. After having convalesced at the fort, Raines was taken to Alcatraz and spent several months at hard labor on the rock. Following release, he moved with his family to Raines' Valley, cast of Centerville. He and others took up cattle and hog stealing until the neighborhood decided that it had enough of this business and one fine morning Raines' carcass was found dangling from a tree in or near the valley that bears his name.

       Indians Hanged

      It was about this time that an Indian killed a sheepherder of E. J. Hildreth, burying the corpse under a log in a corral. An old squaw betrayed Mr. Indian and in daylight he was hanged in the gulch near Judge Winchell's home, half a mile from the fort and the judge's calf rope was borrowed for the event.

       Died With Boots On

      A sensational case of the day was that of J. P. Ridgway, who in the summer of 1868 shot and killed P>. A. Andrews at Kings River above Centerville. Ridgway escaped to Arizona where he engaged in mining. About two years later he appeared in San Francisco, was arrested and brought to Millerton. He was indicted but before tried escaped from the jail and made his way back to Arizona. His escape was with confederates who aided him with horse. A reward of $1,000 was offered for his arrest and a San Francisco detective earned the money by going to the Cactus state, arresting and bringing back the fugitive. At the May, 1872, district court term, Ridgway was tried and acquitted and shook the dust of Millerton from his feet and a third time made tracks for Arizona. This time the bully met his match and received a load of buckshot in the head and died with boots on.

       Killed in Petty Squabble

      At the October term of the county court, John Williams, a negro, was sentenced to a term of two years in the penitentiary for the killing of Theo. J. Payne, whom he had shot in the knee at a store near Tollhouse. Payne was so wounded that an artery was severed and he bled to death. The shooting was over a squabble at target shooting.

       Chinese Hanged

      That same year vigilantes hanged two Chinese just below Jones' store (Pollasky or Friant as now known) for having killed a countryman. On a Sunday afternoon that year, another was found hanging from a tree a quarter of a mile from Millerton, the county seat, for having committed a nameless crime.

       Vasquez and Robber Band

      The state at large was agitated during the years 1873 and 1874 with the bandit exploits of Tiburcio Vasquez and his robber band. Vasquez ended his career on the gallows at the San Jose jail in March, 1875. He and his gang operated in the central portion of the state, committed several robberies in this county and like Murieta and his band made the Cantua hills their stamping ground and retreat in hours of idleness.

       Killing of Fiske

      John D. Fiske was killed July 26, 1890. J. L. Stillman shot him thrice in the back. He pleaded insanity on his trial but was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. The homicide followed a wrangle and demand for royalties on a car-coupling patent. Fiske was a promoter in the early days of Fresno City, conducted the Fiske Theater and for him was named the showy and cheaply constructed building on the Mariposa and J present site of the first "sky scraper" in the city.

       Hanged for Wife Murder

      One man and one only was ever legally hanged in this county. He was Dr. F. O. Vincent and he was hanged in the court of the county jail in the courthouse park at noon October 27, 1893. Jay Scott was the sheriff in office at the time and F. G. Berry — not Fulton G. — was the under-sheriff that made the return on the death warrant that the order and judgment of the court had been duly executed. The death sentence has been only three times pronounced in the county for the crime of murder; first time on Vincent in April, 1891, second time on Elmer Helm in 1906 and third time in 1908 on Charles H. Loper. After the Vincent case, the law was changed to make the warden at the state penitentiary the state executioner. Before that, the sheriff was the official to carry out the death penalty on the murderer convicted in his county. Vincent's case is No. 651 in the register of criminal actions in the superior court of the county. He was informed against December 31, 1890, for the murder of wife, Anna L., on the 18th of the month. The trial before the late Judge S. A. Holmes opened March 11, 1891, continued for eleven days and ended March 24. Sentence of death was pronounced April 8, 1891, and two days later the death warrant was delivered to the sheriff. Appeal was taken, judgment affirmed August 25, 1893, and fixing time of execution under the original sentence was on September 21, 1893. On hanging day people climbed the trees around the jail for a view of the spectacle in the little court yard of the jail. The indecent curiosity of the populace was editorially commented upon in the newspapers of the day and rebuked. The record in the Vincent case is sufficient as to the procrastinations of the law in the prosecutions of that day. The attempted defense on the trial was that the act of homicide was not premeditated because the accused was an irresponsible dipsomaniac and drug user. The late County Recorder W. W. Machen was the foreman of the jury. There was little brought out at the trial to arouse sympathy for the prisoner. On the contrary, the showing was that the married life of the Vincents was anything but a happy one and that the suffering wife had been for years the victim of his cruelty and harshest treatment and neglect. There was not an extenuating circumstance in the case. The Vincent case is a notable milestone in the criminal annals of the county.

       Assassination or Suicide?

      Cause celebre was that of Richard S. Heath indicted March 16, 1893, for the alleged assassination of Louis B. McWhirter while entering his home at the rear entrance on the night of August 29, 1892. The case attracted widest attention as it was claimed that the assassination was a political one on account of the division in the Democratic party in the county at the time over the presidential candidacies of Cleveland and Hill. McWhirter was a Tennesseean who a few years before had come to Fresno, engaged in the practice of the law in association with M. K. Harris, made a failure of the law and as an erratic Bourbon reform Democrat

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