Plumas County CA Archives History - Books .....Historical Reminiscences - Murder Of John R. McVay 1882
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ca/cafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 4, 2006, 11:39 pm

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

MURDER OF JOHN R. McVAY.

   On the twenty-sixth of June, 1878, one of the most brutal murders known to
the annals of crime was perpetrated at Meadow valley by Samuel Cook. Some
trouble existed between the two men in regard to Cook's wife, and the testimony
on the trial revealed the evident intention on Cook's part to get McVay drunk,
and then execute his revenge upon him. Following out this programme, the two men
were in the bar-room of the Meadow Valley hotel, McVay almost helplessly drunk,
when a cause of difference arose between the two men McVay drew his pistol,
which was immediately seized by Cook with one hand, while with the other he beat
McVay severely about the face, finally throwing him down, wrenching the pistol
from his feeble grasp, and using it to prevent others from interfering while he
continued to beat his helpless victim. In this manner he rained blows upon the
prostrate man till he was nearly insensible, then dragged him out upon the
stoop, seized him by the feet, and plunged his head and shoulders several times
into a barrel of water. He then threw him down upon the stoop, and began again
to beat him in the face. A number of men witnessed the affair, but beyond
remonstrating with the murderer, did nothing to rescue McVay from the hands of
his beastly assailant, seemingly afraid or unwilling to interfere. Cook threw
McVay into the garden, but after that, remarking that it was too good a place
for him, dragged him into a mud-puddle in the road. While lying in the pool,
unable to move, McVay was again approached by the cowardly brute, who several
times thrust the stock of the pistol into the helpless man's mouth. It was then
suggested that the body be removed, and Cook volunteered to assist carrying the
head by seizing hold of McVay's bloody hair and beard. McVay, who was not yet
dead, was carried to a shed back of the house, where the men endeavored to wash
the blood from his person, and give what aid they could to the mangled man.
During this time Cook made frequent visits to the shed to watch the operation,
and give vent to his anger, finally winding up by thrusting the pistol into his
victim's face, and firing a shot that extinguished the faint spark of life still
remaining. All this was done without any effort on the part of the dozen men who
witnessed the affair to prevent it, even up to the culminating act. Cook was
indicted for murder, tried the following September, found guilty of murder in
the second degree, and sentenced for life in the penitentiary by Judge Clough.
R. H. F. Variel, the district attorney, and John T. Herrington conducted the
prosecution, while John D. Goodwin and W. W. Kellogg managed the defense in such
a way as to draw from the judge, while delivering the sentence, the following
eulogium: "And, considering the airy and insecure foundation on which your
counsel stood to make your defense, I feel, in justice to them, constrained to
say that their arguments to the jury were the most able, ingenious, and subtle
that I ever heard in this court-room."


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties

San Francisco: Fariss & Smith
(1882)


File at: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ca/plumas/history/1882/illustra/historic119nms.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/

File size: 3.8 Kb