Plumas County CA Archives History - Books .....Historical Reminiscences - The Slate Creek Tragedy 1882
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Book Title: Illustrated History Of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties

THE SLATE-CREEK TRAGEDY.

   In the early spring of 1852 there stood near the head of Slate creek, just
south of the line dividing Plumas and Sierra counties, a public house, kept by a
Mr. Dunbar. There the weary traveler could find a night's lodging, something to
eat, and a drink of the ardent. Transient sojourners were the only class
accommodated at the place. Within a few miles were the mining camps of
Chandlerville, Port Wine, Canyon creek, Hopkins' creek, Sears' diggings, Onion
valley, and several others. Dunbar had no family, the only attache of the
premises besides himself being his cook, Fillmore. One day when Dunbar was
absent, inquiry was made of his whereabouts, and Fillmore replied that he had
gone below to buy goods. Several weeks elapsed, but Dunbar did not return. In
the mean time the cook carried on the business, and finally closed the house and
went to San Francisco. The suspicions of the community as to the probable fate
of Dunbar were aroused, and steps were taken to have Fillmore arrested and
brought back. Upon his arrival he was examined before a justice at Gibsonville;
but no criminating evidence being adduced, he was discharged. He then took up
his residence at Dunbar's house. The snow at this time, the first of May, was
still quite deep. A guest at the house one day took his gun to shoot some
wolves, and started across the corral after them. In passing through the snow,
he stepped upon some bare ground, which gave way "beneath him. An examination of
the spot revealed the dead body of a man wrapped in a tent-sheet. He immediately
made known his discovery, and the body was identified as that of the missing
Dunbar. The news spread rapidly, and an intense excitement prevailed. Several
hundred miners gathered at Dunbar's, a miners' meeting was organized, a judge
elected, clerk appointed, and twelve jurors chosen for the trial of Fillmore.
Among the many points of evidence brought out against the cook was the testimony
given by a young man, who stated that he asked for work of Fillmore, and was
told that he could cut down a tree that stood near the house, providing he could
fall it in a certain direction, pointing to the spot where Dunbar was buried.
The immense branches of the tree would have covered the grave; but the young man
declined to do the work, as he was no axman. Fillmore was found guilty of
murder, and sentenced to be hung. The frightened man volunteered a confession,
in which he accused Harry Miller and Tom Parks of being the real murderers, and
that the act was committed in his presence, he having had no hand in the affair,
other than in the secretion of the body. Miller and Parks were summoned, and
tried before the court. Miller was an intelligent, fluent man, and made an
eloquent appeal in his own behalf. But the chain of circumstance was found
complete, and the jury, after fifteen minutes' deliberation, found a verdict of
murder in the first degree. A general vote was taken on the nature of the
punishment to be administered, and the decision was unanimous in favor of
hanging. The judge then pronounced the sentence, and with the customary
promptness of such tribunals, it was immediately executed. The doomed men were
marched up the hill; and on reaching the first tree suitable for a gallows,
Fillmore was strung up by the neck. Proceeding farther, another tree was
reached, and there Parks was hung. The last prisoner, Miller, was halted beneath
another tree, and there, as before, an opportunity was afforded the criminal to
reveal his crime. He made a last eloquent appeal to be spared, but was quickly
raised from the earth, as the others had been. Some one called out: "Let him
down; he may confess." Instantly twenty pistols were drawn by the miners; and
with terrible earnestness the avenging spirits shouted: "Let him hang, d------n
him; let him hang like a dog. The man who lowers Miller dies with him." Nobody
cared to do it. The bodies remained hanging until the next morning, when a
committee returned and interred them near the places where they had atoned for
their crimes. The subsequent developments never tended in the slightest degree
to vindicate the characters of the victims.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties

San Francisco: Fariss & Smith
(1882)


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