The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1873-05-17
CALIFORNIA MYSTERY.
Singular Death of Three Persons.

Singular Death OF Three Persons.
The people Of Placer county, Cal.
have a real mystery which promises to
be forever impenetrable. The papers
have printed a great many surmises
about it, and the people OF the Placer
section are becoming more and more
excited, and deeper and deeper In the
darkness. They give it up in despair
as something SURPRISING the human I'M
Outstanding. There are three deaths
in the chapter Of horrors, young girl
of eleven, her old father and man
who watched his corpse one night.
c.. M. Coates, a sickly man of so, had
small rancho of his own, and some
times did service for his neighbors as
herdsman. His daughter of 81 kept
house for him, and he had in his house
hold besides his son aged Is, one aged
II, Elvina, daughter aged IL years,
and an infant son of tour or five years
Elvina was very pretty, well-developed
girl for II years, with sun Drowned
face, and sunshiny hair, and full of
life. One of her brothers was engaged
herding sheep for neighbor a mile or
SO off, and she was in the habit of visit
ing him occasionally. accompanied by
her little brother. It seems her father
had told her not to go any more. as he
feared some danger. One day he took
short trip by railroad to receive $3.50
in cash, the balance of legacy, and
returned IN the evening with the
money. Elvina was not at home. He
was told she had gone to visit her
shepherd brother, and had not taken
the boy with her as was her wont. The
boy had cried to 60, but she had hired
him with some tritie to stay at home.
and she had bounded off alone on the
trail that led to her brothers sheep
cote
Mr.. Coates became very angry at the
disobedience of his daughter, cut a
good sized switch and went off after
her. The shepard boy was found with
his sheep, but had not seen his sister
that day. The father became alarmed,
threw away his switch, and began to
call " Vina " among the hills, but re-
ceived only hollow echoes for an an
swer. He went home, but was so much
troubled that he could eat nc supper
He started out alone, calling for his
daughter, and was never again seen
alive. As neither "Vina" nor the old
man returned, the rest of the family
becBme much alarmed and aroused the
whole neighborhood for miles around
to search. Mr.. Coates was found dead
lying on his face, with no marks of VIC
lence on bis person, and the $3.50 safe
in his pocket. Coroner's inquest no
post-mortem verdict, death by heart
disease. A young Italian volunteered
to sit up one night with the corpse,
and the next day he died Cold was
assigned to be the cause.
The search for little Elvina Coates,
which continued for twenty-one days,
had been relinquished. Afterwards a
man passing an old prospecting
hole twelve feet deep, six feet in di-
ameter and filed with water to within
one foot of the top, saw what appear
ed to be bundle floating on the sur
face He thought of the missing girl
and dismounted.' 1t was burlap sack,
such as Is used for grain. He pulled
at it, and found human head III the
sack. He rode rapidly away and told
what he had seen. The Coroner came
and a great many people came with
him. The sack was taken from the
water and contained the body of
V1na Coates. There were no marks of
violence or outrage on the body. The
sack was drawn over the body and
bound tight about the waist with a
cord. 1t fitted closely to the body
and shoulders. 1t was marked II. Ii.
| S., the initials of Mr.. FL. H. Smith,
merchant at Newcastle, three or four
miles off, whose clerks swore they
| had sold many such sacks, but had
never sold one to Coats. Many peo-
| pie in the vicinity had such sacks, SO
the sack revealed nothing but little
Vina Coates's sunshiny hair and life
less body. The body was removed
to Gold Hill and examined, but nc
| post mortem was made. The verdict
was: Death by some cause I'M
known to the jury
There are various theories of these
remarkable occurrences, but none are
satisfactory, and all contradict them,
selves before a solution is reached.
/ One is that Coates drowned his daugh-
| ter, but the girls body was found III a
secluded spot mile from her usual
path to and from her brothers sheep.
| cote, and mile from her home, and
| Coates himself was too weak to have
dragged her SO far out of her way.
Another is that, seeing her father with
switch, she feared bis anger and
punishment, and ran away and drown
ed herself Still another, that outrage
upon her person was attempted, and
the william failing in his designs,
drowned his victim. But why did the
girl on this occasion hire her little
| brother to stay at home2