Plumas County CA Archives History - Books .....Historical Reminiscences - Execution Of Elder And Jenkins 1882
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 4, 2006, 8:44 pm

Book Title: Illustrated History Of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties

EXECUTION OF ELDER AND JENKINS.

   The first legal executions in Plumas county were those of John Jenkins and
Thomas Elder, both of whom were hanged on the same day. John Jenkins was
indicted by the grand jury June 21, 1859, for the murder of Sterling McCarthy on
Light's ranch, Indian valley, May 25, 1859. On the fifteenth of July he was
brought to trial before Judge Peter Van Clief, then sitting on the district
bench. W. D. Sawyer, district attorney, appeared for the people, while Tom Cox
and Alexander Baldwin defended the prisoner. On the second day of trial the jury
rendered a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree. The sentence of
death was pronounced July 23, and the day of execution fixed for September 16.
The case was appealed to the supreme court, and the judgment confirmed. Jenkins
was again sentenced at the October term, and on the twenty-eighth of October,
1859, suffered the extreme penalty of the law. Thomas Elder was indicted July 8,
1859, for the murder of Michael Myers, on Rich gulch, June 24, 1859. The
homicide was the result of a dispute about a mining claim on Rich gulch. Elder
secreted himself behind a log, and upon the appearance of Myers discharged the
contents of his shot-gun into his body. Quite a number of miners were at that
time working on Rich gulch and Rush creek, but many of them were attending a
dance down at Rich bar. Thos3 remaining on the gulch, when informed of the
killing, assembled together, and the proposition made to lynch him was voted
upon. By a majority of one, it was decided to surrender Elder to the authorities
at Quincy. Elder, after killing Myers, endeavored to escape, but the miners gave
vigorous pursuit, and, aided by the sagacity of an Indian, they tracked and
overtook him. On his way to Quincy, Elder directed the attention of the miners
who were escorting him to the limb of a tree that would make a convenient
gallows, and suggested that they hang him then and there. But they proceeded
onward and delivered him into the hands of the sheriff. His case came to trial,
and he was convicted on the nineteenth of July, 1859; sentence of death was
pronounced upon him by Judge Van Clief, July 22. His attorney, Thomas Cox,
appealed the case to the supreme court, but the verdict was confirmed, and the
day of execution was fixed for October 28, the same as that of Jenkins. The
double hanging took place in Hangman's ravine, near Quincy, in the presence of a
large crowd, Sheriff R. C. Chambers being master of ceremonies.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties

San Francisco: Fariss & Smith
(1882)


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