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

   KILLING OF THOMAS SHERIDAN.—A serious affray occurred on Saturday, June 12,
1880, in Moraga valley, which resulted in the death of Thomas Sheridan, a young
man of eighteen or nineteen years of age. The difficulty occurred on land lying
south or southeast of the Moraga Rancho, claimed as being in the Sobrante Grant,
but supposed to be public land, and occupied as such for ten years, or more,
past. Upon a quarter-section of this land, with consent, or upon bargain with
the original squatter claimant, S. S. Kendall, an old resident of the Moraga
valley, had cut a quantity of wood. Whether the original claimant had
technically lost his right or not is a matter of dispute, but the land for the
last year or two had been claimed and occupied by John Sheridan and his family.
Mr. Kendall being himself a cripple—having a few years before suffered the loss
of a leg—and anticipating some opposition in removing the wood, engaged a
neighbor, T. B. Fulton, and a negro named Charles Mingo, to load and haul it
away. These men went out for the purpose, armed with a breech-loading rifle and
a revolver. On undertaking to load the wood Mrs. Sheridan came out and forbade
them. She was followed by Mr. Sheridan, armed with a hatchet, Thomas Sheridan
with a double-barreled shot-gun, and a man named Gleeson with a single-barreled
gun. As the statements go, Sheridan attacked Fulton with the hatchet, striking
him several times upon the head and inflicting some severe cuts. Gleeson also
struck him once, or more, with his gun. Mingo, holding his rifle in one hand,
seized Sheridan with the other and endeavored to drag him off Fulton. Thomas
Sheridan, at a distance of a few yards, leveled his gun on Mingo, and walked
around, approaching nearer, to get in range to shoot him without danger of
shooting his father, Mingo, meanwhile, endeavoring to keep the father as a
shield between himself and the son. The latter, however, gained a position of
vantage where Mingo saw that he would have a clear shot at him; he then hastily
dropped the barrel of his own rifle to range with the breech at his hip, and
fired, the ball entering the abdomen of young Sheridan and causing his death
within half or three-quarters of an hour.

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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