Contra Costa County CA Archives History - Books .....Murder Of James M. Gordon 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, 12:07 am Book Title: History Of Contra Costa County, California MURDER OF JAMES M. GORDON.—The particulars of this deed were communicated to a Stockton newspaper by Dr. Marsh at the time of its occurrence. About seven o'clock on the evening of Tuesday, October 2, 1854, three men came to the house of J. M. Gordon, near Dr. Marsh's, and desired him to give them directions about the road, saying that they had lost their way. As soon as Gordon went to his door, he was shot by one of the party; another of them fired at him also, but missed him. One of the balls struck Gordon, inflicting a fatal wound. Gordon fled in the darkness, and with difficulty reached Dr. Marsh's house, about two miles distant. The object of the ruffians was undoubtedly robbery, as the house was found to be ransacked. The men were traced and ultimately arrested in San Francisco. They were named Henry H. Monroe, Andrew Hollenstein and Thomas Addison. Monroe was duly tried for the murder, convicted, and hanged November 24, 1854. While awaiting his execution Addison attempted his rescue, for which he was indicted by the grand jury, and imprisoned, but on January 20, 1855, made his escape from jail, and has never been captured. The other accomplice, Hollenstein, was handed over to the custody of the Sheriff of Solano county in the same month. 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/murderof39ms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/ File size: 2.7 Kb