Sierra County CA Archives History - Books .....Shooting Of Thaddeus Purdy 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 January 20, 2006, 10:56 pm Book Title: Illustrated History Of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties SHOOTING OF THADDEUS PURDY. In the fall of 1853, a gambler named Muntz and, a miner, "Baltimore Jack," quarreled over a game of cards at Foster City. Muntz wounded Jack dangerously with a knife, and hastened to Downieville to give himself up to the sheriff. The present court-house and jail were not finished, and Sheriff William Ford placed him, with a guard, up-stairs in Craycroft's building. Jack had lived in Downieville, and was a gay, frolicking, social kind of fellow, a good singer, and had warm friends among a certain class. On the night of Muntz's arrival, Baltimore Jack had died. His friends were determined to lynch the gambler; and on the following day, September 8, a great number started for Downieville, bent on this purpose. The first intimation the town had of the coming storm was a dark, moving mass of men on the trail, coming down Galloway's hill; and from its length, there must have been two or three hundred, armed with great clubs, knives, and revolvers. Twenty gamblers and several officers defended the stairs as the surging, angry crowd surrounded the building. The miners were furious, and frequent shouts of "Let's drive the d------d gamblers out of town," were heard on every side. That portion of the body politic began to tremble as much for their own safety as for the life of their prisoner. Among the objectionable characters at the head of the stairs was one Cheever. Philo A. Haven stood at the bottom, and Thaddeus Purdy, then district attorney, about half-way up. Perceiving the trouble likely to ensue, Mr. Haven said that Cheever had better come down, calling for Cheever to descend, and let a miner take his place. At this juncture some of the miners crowded up the stairs, when a pistol was fired from above, and Purdy dropped, mortally wounded. Somebody raised the cry, "It is an accident," which served to quell the fury of the mob. A vague stillness followed the report; the loud voices fell to a lower tone as they carried Purdy to the center of the saloon, and friends stood by helpless to assist him in his death agony. In a few minutes all was over for him on earth, and tears coursed down many a rough cheek, from even some of the mob that had caused all the disturbance. During the excitement the man who had fired the purely accidental shot was hurriedly got out of the way, and no further demonstration followed. Even Muntz was allowed to escape the punishment intended for him. Purdy's term as district attorney was about to expire, and he was fixing up his business matters preparatory to a departure for the east. Benjamin Green and H. H. Purdy, the Downieville jewelers, made a very handsome coffin plate of silver dollars, which a few years since was piped out from some gravel by the miners, and sent back to Mr. Purdy's father, the body having been previously removed. On the fifteenth of October, 1853, the court of sessions of Sierra county set aside one hundred dollars for the purpose of erecting a monument over the remains of the deceased officer. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties San Francisco: Fariss & Smith (1882) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sierra/history/1882/illustra/shooting300ms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/ File size: 3.8 Kb