Contra Costa County CA Archives History - Books .....Killing Of Patrick Finnegan 1882 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com November 23, 2005, 12:12 am Book Title: History Of Contra Costa County, California KILLING OF PATRICK FINNEGAN.—On the evening of Sunday, November 30, 1862, Patrick Finnegan was shot at Clayton, under the following circumstances: It would appear that a troupe of minstrels gave a performance at the Clayton House, in the evening, to a rather noisy audience. At its conclusion one of the company was somewhat roughly handled by certain parties present, and R. L. Bradley handed him a pistol, telling him to protect himself. He did not use it but returned it soon after. One account of the affair had it, that in passing the pistol back it was accidentally discharged; while other eye-witnesses stated positively that on receiving it Bradley wilfully shot Finnegan. The ball struck deceased on the left side of his nose, passing into the head and killing him instantly. Bradley mounted a horse and made his escape. Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, INCLUDING ITS GEOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, TOPOGRAPHY, CLIMATOGRAPHY AND DESCRIPTION; TOGETHER WITH A RECORD OF THE MEXICAN GRANTS; THE BEAR FLAG WAR; THE MOUNT DIABLO COAL FIELDS; THE EARLY HISTORY AND SETTLEMENT, COMPILED FROM THE MOST AUTHENTIC SOURCES; THE NAMES OF ORIGINAL SPANISH AND MEXICAN PIONEERS; FULL LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY; SEPARATE HISTORY OF EACH TOWNSHIP, SHOWING THE ADVANCE IN POPULATION AND AGRICULTURE; ALSO, Incidents of Pioneer Life; and Biographical Sketches OF EARLY AND PROMINENT SETTLERS AND REPRESENTATIVE MEN; AMD OF ITS TOWNS, VILLAGES, CHURCHES, SECRET SOCIETIES, ETC. ILLUSTRATED. SAN FRANCISCO: W. A. SLOCUM & CO., PUBLISHERS 1882. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/contracosta/history/1882/historyo/killingo48ms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/ File size: 2.2 Kb