Contra Costa County CA Archives History - Books .....Killing Of Patrick Sullivan 1882
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Book Title: History Of Contra Costa County, California

   KILLING OF PATRICK SULLIVAN.—On the afternoon of Saturday, October 28, 1871,
Justice Ashbrook, of Pacheco, was notified of the death of Patrick Sullivan, at
the residence of James Sullivan, his brother, near Bay Point, from a gun
discharged at his head by Mrs. Catherine Sullivan, the wife of James. Of the
untoward affair we find from the testimony adduced that James Sullivan was
absent from home for several days, and had returned only on the 24th of October,
but heard nothing from his wife that anything unpleasant had transpired; but
observed that she did not speak to his brother, nor he to her; and on the 27th
his brother told him that he must look out for another man as he was going to
leave. On Saturday, the 28th, they had been sowing wheat in the forenoon, and
all were at the dinner-table as usual, but his wife did not eat; a circumstance
that Sullivan attributed to her being unwell. After eating he (the husband)
moved back his chair and was reading a newspaper, when he was startled by the
discharge of a gun in the room, and on looking up, saw Mrs. Sullivan standing in
the pantry door with the gun, and saw his brother fall forward upon the table.
Shocked and alarmed, he sprang up and rushed out of the door, his wife following
with the gun in her hands, and the children clinging to her skirts. In his
excitement and agony of mind, he exclaimed, "My God! what have you done! was it
an accident?" to which his wife replied: "No! I shot him. He deserved it. He was
a villain. He attempted a vile outrage on me!" She then told him that the
deceased on the previous Monday night (the 23d) had forced open the window,
entered her bedroom, and attempted to outrage her, but she had fought him off;
and on her declaring that she would take the children and go to Cunningham's
(one of the neighbor's) for protection, he threatened if she did so, or if she
reported a word of the matter to her husband, he would kill her. On the
following morning, after she had passed a sleepless night, while she was
preparing kindling-wood to light a fire, he came in, threw his arms around her
and attempted to force her into his room, but she fought him off with the
butcher-knife she was using to split the kindling, and her little boy, who had
been waked by the noise, coming into the kitchen, he retired; but during the
morning, and before the return of her husband, the deceased found an opportunity
to renew his threat to kill her if she reported a word of what had occurred. All
the testimony and collateral circumstances seem to sustain Mrs. Sullivan's
statement of the matter to her husband, and the statement she made upon the
inquest and the examination is the same. She was apprehended and held on five
thousand dollars bail to answer to the charge before the Grand Jury. Mrs.
Sullivan was duly arraigned and the case set for Friday, November 24, 1871, when
she was very properly acquitted.



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.


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