Volume 035-1 - January 1981 (6 pages)

Czar Alexander II and in the US the railroads reached Texas, thus ending forever the famous cattle drives to Kansas. In western Nevada County, the year 1881 began on an optimistic note. All businesses were closed on New Years Day and Charles H. Mitchell, Publisher of the Grass Valley Daily Union, commented, “The day was marked by an entire absence of any display of intemperance.” A brilliant party at the residence of A.B. Dibble Esq. on the evening before was proclaimed to be the “social event of the season.’’ Guests were entertained on a canvas covered verandah under gas lights. Hartwell’s new map of Nevada County was on sale in January, showing the locations of 342 gold claims, 113 of them quartz mines and 229 gravel or hydraulic mines. Several valuable copper and iron operations were also shown. The Grass Valley Fire Department had 45 members, two hose carts, one hook and ladder truck, 1,200 feet of good hose and 64 working hydrants. Work had been suspended on the Empire Mine in 1880 and its lower levels had filled with water. Two large pumps were being used in the dewatering in early January of 1881 and 30 men were employed underground. The Empire had worked for a longer continuous time than any other mine in the state. The Reform Club of Grass Valley held a “necktie party” on January 28. Gentlemen drew neckties that matched aprons of their partners for the evening. The club later used all but $8 of its $1700 treasury in fitting up club rooms anda gym. The organization was credited with the ‘‘marked improvement in the sobriety and moral well-being of the town.” During the year the young scalawags of the community were often the subject for editorials. On January 8 Mitchell advocated strict enforcement of the curfew. He reminded his readers that it was unlawful for minors under 18 to visit gambling places, saloons, houses of prostitution or to be on the streets after 8 p.m. in winter, 9 p.m. in summer. CRIME RAN RAMPANT In 1881 stage coach holdups, murders, saloon fights, robberies and other crimes were too numerous to note individually. In mid-January, Wells Fargo & Company announced the closure of three of its offices in Placer County, those at Todd’s Valley, Forest Hill and Michigan Bluff, due to the increasing number of holdups in that area. Algie Romargi, the boy highwayman, escaped from Downieville Jail in the company of a murderer that month. Both were recaptured near Camptonville after they had robbed acabin of an ax and supplies. They had stopped to get weapons at Algie’s home at Nigger Tent, where his family operated a public house of doubtful repute. The young hoodlum had _ been accused of numerous robberies and murders. At a trial in Downieville on February 21 he was sentenced to Folsom. Another character attached to the Romargis was Jack Brown, alias O'Neill, a notorious ex-convict. Among other crimes he was accused of robbing a stage on LaPorte Road in October of 1880. Brown was shot down by the Trinity County sheriff near Weaverville in the spring of 1881 and later died. The January 12 Union had reported the shooting of a Chinese man by three Indian lads, Dewey (sometimes called Louis) Rose, Indian Frank and Durkie (Dubec.) The boys had gone hunting, but finding no deer, decided to shoot the man instead. In March Frank and Dewey were found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The third youth had turned states evidence, but clammed up completely during the trial. He later admitted that he feared reprisals from other Indians. Due to alleged improperties on the part of a juror, new trials were sought. Frank was granted a new hearing but Dewey was refused and sentenced. ARSON During the summer and fall of 1880 several incendiary fires had occurred in Grass Valley, among them one at the Taylor Foundry on lower Mill Street, and another at the Scadden Flat Mining Company. On January 23 Nelson Stevens and Albert Maurer, both 19, and Sam Edwards, 17, were arrested. They admitted burning a building on the Wear Ranch on Alta Hill, a building at the Knight of Malta Mine, the whim house at the American Mine, several Chinese cabins and the foundry. They denied being involved in the $20.000 fire at Scadden Flat. They also confessed to breaking into a@ powder magazine and stealing six kegs of powder. The youths calmly discussed their plans to rob Chinese, mining sluices and stores. They were all from respectable homes. The Union editor condemned the “coolness and indifference” in the boys’ confession and their attitude since their arrest. However, the confessions were judged to be voluntary, as Constable Dennin had wrongly advised one of them to “make a clean breast of it.” Thus, not guilty verdicts were handed down for Maurer and Edwards. Feelings ran high in the community when Stevens, the alleged ringleader, was freed and the Transcript editor was asked to publish his confession. “I do not believe it with the province of a newspaper to hound any man who escapes the penitentiary or gallows through an officer's stupidity, ignorance or carelessness,” he wrote. There were those who believed the constable shouldn’t be judged too harshly because he was the one who had identified the arsonists in the first _ place. In early April the Alta Hill home oi George W. Stevens, father of the ringleader of the arsonists, was burned to the ground. Incendiaries were suspected. A Transcript editorial on curfew declared that the boy who “habitually roams the streets after 9 is beginning to take lessons in crime.” He chided parents for not making home more inviting. Maurer, the youngest of the three arsonists, was tried and on May 26 was sentenced to Folsom. In June the governor granted a petition that had been signed by several substantial local citizens, for dismissal of the sentence. On the lighter side, one Frank Bice had married Mary Dennler and the couple was living with her parents. In March her father brought home a bottle of whiskey and when his wife discovered it, she smashed it. Dennler missed his liquor and thought his son-in-law had taken it. He threw his daughter's trunks out and told her to “get.’’ When the son-in-law came to protest, Dennler hit him on the head with a buggy spoke. Bice had his father-in-law arrested. MURDER On April 8 Nicolas Permewen, an elderly ornamental gardener, was murdered at the Pacific Hotel in Groot mm, Valley. The gun used belonged to Mr Herman Austin who was arrested. She claimed the victim was drunk, had staggered into her room and that the fatal shot had been fired as they struggled over the gun. She also claimed that he indecently exposed himself. In July she was acquitted on the grounds of accidental or excusable homicide. At the end of August, Fannie Colby, a “‘woman of the town,” was killed by her lover during a quarrel in a brothel on the alley adjoining the National Hotel in Nevada City. He then shot himself. ODD BITS In August the San Juan and Nevada stage was robbed near Rock Creek. A Wells Fargo box carrying two bars of gold bullion worth $29,000 was too heavy for the two masked highwaymen, so they settled for an express box containing only $600. On a Friday in December a stage between Camptonville and Downieville was robbed. It was believed the highwayman might have been the same one who held up the Smartville stage on the previous Wednesday and accepted four bits to let the driver pass on. A fake priest appeared in Nevada City in late January, collecting money for a new Boys’ Protectory in Martinez. Father Meagher exposed him, but not™ before he collected about $100. A woman chopped off the tip of her finger in March after which the 2.

Czar Alexander II and in the US the railroads reached Texas, thus ending forever the famous cattle drives to Kansas. In western Nevada County, the year 1881 began on an optimistic note. All businesses were closed on New Years Day and Charles H. Mitchell, Publisher of the Grass Valley Daily Union, commented, “The day was marked by an entire absence of any display of intemperance.” A brilliant party at the residence of A.B. Dibble Esq. on the evening before was proclaimed to be the “social event of the season.’’ Guests were entertained on a canvas covered verandah under gas lights. Hartwell’s new map of Nevada County was on sale in January, showing the locations of 342 gold claims, 113 of them quartz mines and 229 gravel or hydraulic mines. Several valuable copper and iron operations were also shown. The Grass Valley Fire Department had 45 members, two hose carts, one hook and ladder truck, 1,200 feet of good hose and 64 working hydrants. Work had been suspended on the Empire Mine in 1880 and its lower levels had filled with water. Two large pumps were being used in the dewatering in early January of 1881 and 30 men were employed underground. The Empire had worked for a longer continuous time than any other mine in the state. The Reform Club of Grass Valley held a “necktie party” on January 28. Gentlemen drew neckties that matched aprons of their partners for the evening. The club later used all but $8 of its $1700 treasury in fitting up club rooms anda gym. The organization was credited with the ‘‘marked improvement in the sobriety and moral well-being of the town.” During the year the young scalawags of the community were often the subject for editorials. On January 8 Mitchell advocated strict enforcement of the curfew. He reminded his readers that it was unlawful for minors under 18 to visit gambling places, saloons, houses of prostitution or to be on the streets after 8 p.m. in winter, 9 p.m. in summer. CRIME RAN RAMPANT In 1881 stage coach holdups, murders, saloon fights, robberies and other crimes were too numerous to note individually. In mid-January, Wells Fargo & Company announced the closure of three of its offices in Placer County, those at Todd’s Valley, Forest Hill and Michigan Bluff, due to the increasing number of holdups in that area. Algie Romargi, the boy highwayman, escaped from Downieville Jail in the company of a murderer that month. Both were recaptured near Camptonville after they had robbed acabin of an ax and supplies. They had stopped to get weapons at Algie’s home at Nigger Tent, where his family operated a public house of doubtful repute. The young hoodlum had _ been accused of numerous robberies and murders. At a trial in Downieville on February 21 he was sentenced to Folsom. Another character attached to the Romargis was Jack Brown, alias O'Neill, a notorious ex-convict. Among other crimes he was accused of robbing a stage on LaPorte Road in October of 1880. Brown was shot down by the Trinity County sheriff near Weaverville in the spring of 1881 and later died. The January 12 Union had reported the shooting of a Chinese man by three Indian lads, Dewey (sometimes called Louis) Rose, Indian Frank and Durkie (Dubec.) The boys had gone hunting, but finding no deer, decided to shoot the man instead. In March Frank and Dewey were found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The third youth had turned states evidence, but clammed up completely during the trial. He later admitted that he feared reprisals from other Indians. Due to alleged improperties on the part of a juror, new trials were sought. Frank was granted a new hearing but Dewey was refused and sentenced. ARSON During the summer and fall of 1880 several incendiary fires had occurred in Grass Valley, among them one at the Taylor Foundry on lower Mill Street, and another at the Scadden Flat Mining Company. On January 23 Nelson Stevens and

Albert Maurer, both 19, and Sam Edwards, 17, were arrested. They admitted burning a building on the Wear Ranch on Alta Hill, a building at the Knight of Malta Mine, the whim house at the American Mine, several Chinese cabins and the foundry. They denied being involved in the $20.000 fire at Scadden Flat. They also confessed to breaking into a@ powder magazine and stealing six kegs of powder. The youths calmly discussed their plans to rob Chinese, mining sluices and stores. They were all from respectable homes. The Union editor condemned the “coolness and indifference” in the boys’ confession and their attitude since their arrest. However, the confessions were judged to be voluntary, as Constable Dennin had wrongly advised one of them to “make a clean breast of it.” Thus, not guilty verdicts were handed down for Maurer and Edwards. Feelings ran high in the community when Stevens, the alleged ringleader, was freed and the Transcript editor was asked to publish his confession. “I do not believe it with the province of a newspaper to hound any man who escapes the penitentiary or gallows through an officer's stupidity, ignorance or carelessness,” he wrote. There were those who believed the constable shouldn’t be judged too harshly because he was the one who had identified the arsonists in the first _ place. In early April the Alta Hill home oi George W. Stevens, father of the ringleader of the arsonists, was burned to the ground. Incendiaries were suspected. A Transcript editorial on curfew declared that the boy who “habitually roams the streets after 9 is beginning to take lessons in crime.” He chided parents for not making home more inviting. Maurer, the youngest of the three arsonists, was tried and on May 26 was sentenced to Folsom. In June the governor granted a petition that had been signed by several substantial local citizens, for dismissal of the sentence. On the lighter side, one Frank Bice had married Mary Dennler and the couple was living with her parents. In March her father brought home a bottle of whiskey and when his wife discovered it, she smashed it. Dennler missed his liquor and thought his son-in-law had taken it. He threw his daughter's trunks out and told her to “get.’’ When the son-in-law came to protest, Dennler hit him on the head with a buggy spoke. Bice had his father-in-law arrested. MURDER On April 8 Nicolas Permewen, an elderly ornamental gardener, was murdered at the Pacific Hotel in Groot mm, Valley. The gun used belonged to Mr Herman Austin who was arrested. She claimed the victim was drunk, had staggered into her room and that the fatal shot had been fired as they struggled over the gun. She also claimed that he indecently exposed himself. In July she was acquitted on the grounds of accidental or excusable homicide. At the end of August, Fannie Colby, a “‘woman of the town,” was killed by her lover during a quarrel in a brothel on the alley adjoining the National Hotel in Nevada City. He then shot himself. ODD BITS In August the San Juan and Nevada stage was robbed near Rock Creek. A Wells Fargo box carrying two bars of gold bullion worth $29,000 was too heavy for the two masked highwaymen, so they settled for an express box containing only $600. On a Friday in December a stage between Camptonville and Downieville was robbed. It was believed the highwayman might have been the same one who held up the Smartville stage on the previous Wednesday and accepted four bits to let the driver pass on. A fake priest appeared in Nevada City in late January, collecting money for a new Boys’ Protectory in Martinez. Father Meagher exposed him, but not™ before he collected about $100. A woman chopped off the tip of her finger in March after which the 2.