Los Angeles daily herald., 1890-03-02
THE CASTAC SHOOTING
Testimony Of Eye Witnesses
of the Affair
HEARD BY THE CORONER's JURY
Charmicle and Gardner Charged with
Murder-Result of q Land
Dispute.

Coroner Meredith returned from New
hall at 8 o'clock last night with the
papers relating to the inquest upon the
bodies of Dolores Cook, native of Cal
ifornia, SO years of age, and George w.
Walton, an Englishman, about 35 years
old, who were shot and killed in the
Castac cafion, fourteen miles from New
hall, on Friday morning, as the result of
a quarrel over the possession of piece
of land.
The most material witness, laborer
named Joseph Dime, testified that the
deceased Dolores Cook was his brother
in-law. About o'clock on Friday morn
ing George Walton called at Cooks house
and requested the assistance of Cook and
the witness in erecting a shanty he was
going to put up some distance away.
Both men accompanied him to gate
leading to pasture, where pile
of lumber was stacked close to
the fence. A big wagon was OBJ
tanned from w. w. Jenkins's ranch
near by and this was loaded with part OF
the lumber, and Walton and Dime drove
eff in the wagon towards the site selected
for the building, Cook following behind
in buggy. The road led past shanty
belonging to Juan Lavas, and as the
wagon approached this building w. O. |
CharmicIe came out and, walking up to |
the wagon, told Walton that he had |
warned him several times not to haul |
lumber on that land, indicating the spot
they were making for. Walton replied |
that che would haul it every time :"
whereupon Charmicle walked round to
the tail end of the wagon and com.
menced pulling the lumber out of it.
Walton, using an opprobrious epithet,
jumped down and struck Charmicle
IN the face with his fist, and as he did SO
a pistol which the latter had concealed
in his coat sleeve fell to the ground. At
this juncture Gardner came out of the
shanty also, carrying rifle in his hands.
which he pointed at Walton. Charmicle
then picked up his revolver and pointed
it at Walton also. The latter, however,
coolly got upon his seat and drove on,
when Charmicle rushed up and grabbing !
the lines stopped the team. Walton
again jumped down, whereupon Char.
micle let 60 his hold and the former
walked alongside the wagon while Olme
drove on for $50 yards, when they
dumped the lumber and returned for an
other load. Charmicle and Gardner
disappeared meanwhile, and as the :
;rio were making their second trip Z
he two men opened fire upon them :
simultaneously from the windows OF the =
'hanty. Dime and Walton we're sitting I
IN the top of the lumber on the wagon,
he latter being on the side near the
,hanty, and after the first shots were
ired he shrugged his shoulders in a con-
em ptuous manner, and with a grosn,
ell from the wagon, dead. Dime i'm
jumped off the lumber and '
behind the wagon, and as he t
md Dime saw Cook, who was in the Z
wagon, fall forward. AS he dropped his a
ines, the mare attached to his buggy
Jumped forward and started to run.
As the buggy passed by the wagon,
which was now standing still, the
cam having swerved round and cramped | /
It's wheels, Dime ran out and grabbed I
,he mare Oh the far side and stopped it
rom running away. Gardner seeing
hat Olme had taken the precaution of
placing the mare between himself and i
;he hous,, and that he was rapidly !
moving out of range, ran out of the {
house and fired six times at his retreat
ng form. The first shot took effect just :
behind the mares shoulder, but Dime
Kept moving on, and as the animal soon
became too lame to keep up, he made a
lash for it and ran to w. w. Jenkins's
aouse about a mile away and informed
1im of the murder. Previous to the dis
pute Walton had given his pistol
10 Dime to take care Of in order to avoid
the possibility of his using it; and the
after handed it to Jenkins and showed
Aim that it had not been used.
About five minutes after the shooting
Charmicle and Gardner were seen to
cave the shanty by farmer named
Thomas Riley, who was about 300 yards
away at the time, and the two men ran
up a small hill behind the house, and
buckskin horse, one behind
she other, they rode off up the cafion at
full speed.
Riley corroborated the statement OF
Dime in every particular, and added that
after the mon had ridden away he wens
up to Walton, but finding that he was
dead he went up to Cook, who begged OF
him to cover up his feet, as they were
cold as ice. After throwing a robe over
Cooks extremities, he turned to leave
him in order to obtain assistance, but
Cook begged him not to 60 away, as he
was afraid that Charmicle and Gardner
would return and kill him. Riley, how
ever, went over to the place where
the buggy and mare stood, and
driving back, picked Cook up,
and placing him in the vehicle,
drove to Jenkins's house and left him
there. He then returned with a wagon
and carried Walton's body there also.
and on this second trip found Cooks
revolver lying close to where he fell, all
the chambers being loaded. In spite of |
the efforts made by the Jenkins family,
Cook died at 2 O'Clock in the afternoon.
Juan Burola, an old Mexican who |
stated that he was 80 years of age and |
resided in the Palomas cafion, said he |
was in charge of the shanty belonging to |
Juan Lavas, and that Charmicle and
man whom he did not know came there |
on Friday morning and shot at three men |
on lumber wagon, from the inside. The
three men who were shot at did not use
any weapons.
DR.. MCGOWAN testified that he held !
post-mortem examinations upon the
bodies of the two men, Walton and Cook.
Death resulted in Walton's case from