Contra Costa County CA Archives History - Books .....Murder Of Mrs. Elizabeth Robinson 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, 12:17 am

Book Title: History Of Contra Costa County, California

   MURDER OF MRS. ELIZABETH ROBINSON.—The following most brutal murder was
committed at Martinez on the night of December 26, 1866, on the person of Mrs.
Elizabeth Robinson, an aged woman who dwelt in the vicinity of the Roman
Catholic Church, in that village. The facts of the case are these: The body of
the deceased was discovered lying upon the floor by the child of a neighbor
sometime during the forenoon of Thursday, the 27th, and upon this information a
number of persons immediately repaired to the premises and found the body in a
night-dress, upon the floor of a rear room, with the head, face, arms and hands
fearfully cut and gashed, and several stabs in the breast and throat—one of the
latter being entirely through the neck, from front to back. Near the body was a
piece of candle and a candlestick, and from the appearances led to the belief
that the deceased, aroused by the noise made in entering the house, had arisen
from her bed, lighted the candle, and, on entering the rear room from which the
noise proceeded, received a severe blow upon the forehead, followed up by
assaults with a knife, against which the gashes upon the arms and hands show she
had made a protracted but unavailing struggle. The floor of the house displayed
blood tracks, and upon one of the partitions was the full print of a bloody
hand, made by the murderer, probably, on groping his way through the dark. There
were, also, the marks of bloody fingers upon the sliding window, showing that he
had carefully closed it on his retreat from the premises. The object of the
murderer was undoubtedly plunder, as the deceased, who was about seventy-five
years of age, by a long life of toil had accumulated some property, and may have
been supposed to have money with her in the house, which had all the appearances
of having been searched after the life of the woman had been taken. On Friday,
the 28th, a mixed-blood Mexican and Indian, called Manuel Jaurez, was arrested
under circumstances which tended strongly to identify him with the murder,
several articles which belonged to Mrs. Robinson having been found in his house
in Martinez. He was duly incarcerated, and, after a trial lasting an entire
week, was found guilty of murder, the testimony against him being entirely
circumstantial, but most conclusive. On May 10, 1867, he was sentenced to be
hanged on June 28th, on which day he was executed at the jail in Martinez.
Before the carrying out of the sentence, in response to the notice that he was
at liberty to say anything he might desire to communicate before execution, in
substance he remarked: "In a few minutes I shall be in the presence of my God,
and I now declare that I am innocent of the crime for which I am condemned to
die; and what I have previously confessed, I did in the hope of escaping
punishment."

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/murderof58ms.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/

File size: 4.2 Kb