Contra Costa County CA Archives History - Books .....Murder Of Valentine Eischler 1882
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Book Title: History Of Contra Costa County, California

   MURDER OF VALENTINE EISCHLER.—On November 16, 1872, one Valentine Eischler, a
German, was killed on Marsh creek, about eight miles southeast of Antioch, near
what is called the "Chemisal." He was living with his wife upon a small farm,
and had in his employ one Marshall Martin. During the stay of Martin, Mrs.
Eischler formed a determination to get rid of her husband, and several plans
were formed by her and Martin for carrying into effect her deadly purpose. In
pursuance of the plan, Martin went to Antioch one day and purchased a quantity
of arsenic, and when he came home she mixed some of it with stewed pumpkin and
put it upon the table for supper, but it so happened that Eischler did not
partake of any of it. The next morning it was thrown down the privy vault. A few
days afterwards she repeated the dish; but Martin claimed that he persuaded her
to throw it away. She then wanted Martin to tell Eischler that there were some
pigs for sale at Point of Timber, and to go along with him in the wagon, get him
to drinking, and then buy a bottle of whisky and put arsenic into it. Martin
went along with Eischler, but for some reason the plan did not succeed. Another
plan was then formed by which Martin was to knock Eischler off the wagon on the
way home from Antioch, and run the wagon over his head. A neighbor riding home
with them prevented the execution of this plan. Then she suggested that Martin
should shoot him. Martin had a revolver which he had purchased from a man who
got it in Vallejo, and it would be necessary to go there to get cartridges to
fit it. She gave him the money to go there, and he got the cartridges and
returned. The day upon which the murder was committed, Eischler went to Antioch
for a load of flour. Martin accompanied him, according to instructions. Before
starting she placed an old blanket in the wagon so that Martin, after killing
Eischler, could wrap the body up in it, and when he returned she would go with
him to an old well near by and they were to throw the body down the well, pour
coal oil upon it and burn it up. Martin's heart failed him, and he did not shoot
Eischler. When they returned she was very angry with Martin for not carrying out
her plan, and told him that he did not love her one bit or he would do as she
wished him to. After unloading the flour and putting the horses in the stable,
(it being about 4 P. M.) as Martin testified, he went about doing the chores and
Eischler commenced making a double-tree. He had a piece of coupling, an ax, saw,
hatchet and jack-knife, and was using the wagon-tongue as a work bench. Martin
says that while he was watering a cow, which had to be led to water by a rope,
Mrs. Eischler came out and commenced talking to her husband. They had some very
high words; he heard Eischler say to his wife: " Woman, take your clothes and go
back to the w______ house you came from." Then Mrs. Eischler stepped back and
picking up the ax, said: " I'll give you w______ house," and struck her husband
on the back of the head, knocking him over the wagon-tongue so that his body
doubled over it; she then straddled the tongue and struck him two more blows on
the front part of the head. Then she called Martin to come and help her drag the
body into the stable. After placing it in the stable Martin went to saddle his
horse for the purpose of going to the Good Templars' Lodge, at Eden Plains'
School-house, about two miles away. While fixing his horse, he says that she
went into the stable with the ax and struck the victim two more blows with the
ax, and that when she came out she said that she had found him sitting up, but
that she had fixed him now. When Martin returned from the Lodge she told him to
go and arouse the neighbors and tell them that Eischler was dead in the stable,
and that the horses had kicked him to death. He obeyed her instructions. When
the neighbors came some of them suspected that he had been murdered. The next
day when they went to examine the body they found a great many hoar-hound burrs
upon the woolen shirt of the deceased, and by this means they found where the
body had been dragged to the stable. Afterwards they noticed the flies gathering
upon Martin's shoes and pants, and this fact, together with the burrs upon the
woolen shirt, led them to make search for the place where the murder had been
committed. During this search Martin was very active in leading them off in
different directions, but finally they came to the wagon and examined the sandy
soil around it. They soon found a damp place, and upon putting some of the sand
in a basin of water it exhibited a bloody color, and a greasy scum rose to the
surface. Martin and the woman were then arrested and taken to Antioch, where
they both made confessions, each charging the other, however, with having
directly done the murder; and Martin's testimony, under cross-examination on the
trial, substantially agreed with this summary of the facts of the case.

   Marshall Martin was duly executed January 23,1874, having previously made a
full confession of his share in the dread crime. On the scaffold he said:
"Gentlemen, I am here on this platform to die an innocent man. That woman
deserves ten times as much to die." It is not meet that we should here note the
shocking details of his execution; these will remain in the minds of many of our
readers.

   The wife of the victim of the barbarous drama has been ever since an inmate
of the lunatic asylum at Stockton.


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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