Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-11-30
MYERS LAST DAY.
HIS EXECUTION TO TAKE PLACE
In PLACERVILLE TO-DAY.
He Sticks to His Story that He Shot
John Lowell Accidentally
Drager and Olsen.

FL Dorado county, on the 9th of March last,
will be executed at l clock this afternoon in
the yard of the Courthouse at Placerville. Up
to Wednesday it was supposed that John Olsen
and William Drager, the other two men convicted
with Myers, would be executed at the same
time, and everything had been arranged for a
triple hanging. On that day, however, the fol-
lowing notice was filed in the Superior Court of
El Dorado county:
In the Superior Court of the county of FL Do
rado State of California.
The People of the State of California vs. John
Henry Myers, John Olsen and William Drager
To NJ P. Bennett, District Attorney of said El
Dorado county. and attorney for plaintiff in
above aetion-You will please take notice that
the defendants, John Olsen and William Drager
in the above entitled action, hereby appeal to
the Supreme Court of this State from the judg
ment rendered and entered against them in the
said Superior Court on the 9th day of October,
1855, and also from the order denying said de-
PENDANTS motion for new trial, made and en-
tered in the minutes of said Court on said 9th
day of October 1855.
Dated this 2sth day of November, 1888.
IRw n K IRWIN,
Attorneys for John Olsen.
CARPENTER IL CARPENTER,
Attorneys for VIM. Drager.
Judge Arnot of Alpine county, who is acting
for Judge Williams, who is i'll the East, ordered
the entry made, and the following stipulation
was fled:
By agreement of parties in open Court it is
ordered that the time for preparing and serving
a bill of exceptions on the part of said defend
ants, John Olsen and William Drager III the
above entitled action be and the same is hereby
extended forty days from and after this date.
This will of course act as stay of execution
in the case OF Drager and Olsen but will not
prevent the carrying out of the sentence of
death upon Myers. When the prisoners Olsen
and Drager were informed of the notice of ap-
peal in their case the former expressed himself
as highly pleased but the latter appeared en-
tirely Indifferent, and remarked that he was
ready to die and willing to CO. He has mani
tested this spirit ever since he first put upon
trial in Placerville. and has mover appeared to
think there was any chance of escaping the gal
lows.
MYERS LAST STATEMENT.
Myers is so completely broken down in spirits
that it is feared he viii not have strength
enough left to walk TO the gallows. He has
made another statement, which is substantially
the same as that made by him Immediately
after his conviction, and which is as follows:
" Knowing that am about to die l make the
following statement, aud call on God as q wit
ness that tell Gods truth. Olsen and me were
renting the klotZ ranch and stayed there up to
March 10, 1855. Olsen had no money to pay the
rent, and he went to Mr.. Stems at Twenty fifth
and streets, Sacramento, to board.
g left the ranch March Doth, and Steen told
me to board at his place until got work. told
Drager and Olsen to go with me to the Lowell
| ranch, where had a contract TO chop wood. /
| told Steen and my wife where we were going. !
| wood we would go to Mr.. Williams or Mr.. Jack
sons on the Marysville road, as they had some
| horses to sell.
I'VE all left about March Doth for the Lowell
ranch. We spent the most of the time on the
way hunting, and Olsen went to Folsom and
| sold some hares to Mr.. Yager. We ali arrived
at the Lowell ranch, l think, on Friday, March
| 22d. We got there about O'Clock in the even
! ing, and Lowell was not at home. told Olsen
| and Drager that if he did not come by next day
! we would go back TO Sacramento. Lowell came
| r1ir ha ax1yQc oil tn nc unrt
| to bed. After breakfast next morning we all
| started out to look at the wood.
Drager and me took our guns, and l said 10
| Lowell:
| "'Why don't you take your gun? May be we
| Will shoot some haTes.
He saids that his gun was broke, and that
/ Drager and my gun were enough. We looked
| at the wood and told Lowell we would take the
| job. We then started back to the house. Olsen
| was about ifteenor twenty feet from the house
and was going to the stable to get the horse to &C
home, as we told Lowell we would go to work
| Monday or Tuesday. Drager and ! wanted tC
| get drink of water in the house. Lowell was
! standing by the hind wheel of the wagon in
| front OF the house. Drager and we're standing
| by the door. wanted to take my gun from my
| shoulder / got the barrel in front and the
stock behind, and the trigger got hold OF my
coat and went off accidentally, shooting Mr.
| Lowell in the back OF the neck He fell doWI
and said something l could not understand.
"Olsen and Drager ran away. Lowell was OF
the ground nearly dead. / did not know wha
head to end his misery. pulled him alone in
to the cabin and then went to the barn, got al
old tent and put him in there.
| Il closed the door and went out to see Where
! Drager and Olsen went TO. | found Olsen il
4 the chicken house and Drager between thu
house and the river. Iasked them if theI
would be so kind as to help me conceal tht
body, as did not like to give myself up to thu
police 1t was about dinner time and l tolC
Drager and Olsen that we could not come bacl
there after what had happened.
hQt "a pst do h
take two or three horses, sell them and ge
money to get out of the country. They helped
me to hide the body and get the horses, anC
when we got through it was about o'clock il
the evening. We only wanted three horses, bu
when we opened the gate three more horse
came out andI said: 'Letlthem come along.
1--WE rode to the Grant that night, and on sun
day morning we went to Sacramento and tool
the horse aud wagon back to Steen's. He asked
me where Olsen and DTager were, and tol,
him they were in camp and that we had som,
horses. He asked me how we got them and
told him we stole them up in the mountains
Then Steen said to me; You keep quiet AM
don't tell anybody will go out with you t
| see them
'Steen and me went out that same Sunday
Steen took some beer, whisky and bread {,
Drager and Olsen. When we were near tn
camp Steen said to me: Well l'll be damned
II that is not old Lowelfs buggy
| Il did not say much to him about it. w
| were In. camp about twenty minutes Whel
Steen and me took the black mare and blacI
saloon kept by p Nelson, near Twelfth street
Steen told Nelson the horses belonged to hin
and he had had them out to pasture.
| 'Steen asked me about twenty times wher
, we got the horses and if we got into any troubl
about them He said: You could not stea
them unless you done something
Il said: We done something which l neve
done yet in all my lifetime.
| "Steen asked me what it was, but would no
say anything more. Steen said he knew W
| had committed crime, but we would be al
right Steen said that we had better sell tn
horses aud get away from Sacramento, and tina
town and through the papers that he would le
us know right away"
Myers then tells ofdisposing Of the horses, an
concludes:
This is all have to say. all 1 can remember
) and my last word The prisoners advised me t
put the blame on Olsen and Drager they bein
{ single and me having family.
Il am very sorry about the lies / have told
and did wrong to them. They never knew abotl
this crime before, and DTager and Olsen took n
part in the killing whatever, / am now to IN
grave, and to die, and will take my death witt
pleasure. So say my last farewell to ALL Thi
s IS my last true statement for God, forever
/ Good-by. forever"
for the condemned men yesterday but Myer
, could not eat, and lay upon his cot sobbing an,
crying. The others did justice to the goo
things provided. The scaffold is all in read
! ness, and was inspected by hundreds of curiou
people yesterday.
sr..-szzzs-z-<-s-s---z.
81 PAID out hundreds of dollars for med
icine for catarrh y writes lsdv in provi