The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-10-21

, ing to CoXe's house to get some money he
owed him. They stopped at spring to
rest, and Packwood threw himself on the
| ground. Kindred walked to and kneeled
) behind fallen log, and from there, while
the others stood coolly by and looked on,
, fired a load of buckshot into his back.
, This was the case that Wylackie John took
! upon himself, declaring he (Wylackie) had
fired the shot in self-defense. Two men
who visited the scene the following day
found Packwoods gun, the hammer of
which was down, but no impression upon
the cap appeared. They fired it readily,
proving that the cap had not snapped.
But with this evidence, and the fact that
, the man was shot in the back, the Judge
gravely decided that the plea of self
! defense was good.
Robert Greves, who took up a ranch of
$50 acres on Eel River. was shot by Johnny
White while ne was in the company of
Wilson Lloyd. Wyackie paid Lloyd $1,000
to leave the country and not appear
against White. Lloyd took the money
and went away, followed down the trail by
Wylackie. Diligent search has been made
for Lloyd by Masons, OF which order he
was member, but he has not since been
heard OF. "Uncle" Johnny White was
tried at Weaverville, claimed the shooting
was accidental, and was acquitted.
Tom Steele was offered $500 if he would
kill an Italian rancher named Ed Bizza.
Steele became so indignant, threatening
instead to kill Henry Peterson, the man
who made the offer. That got him dis
liked and 1T became only a matter of time
with him. Among Steele's cattle was a
maverick COW that did not belong to him,
but which had never been branded. It
remained there for two years and nobody
claimed her. The vaqueros advised Steele
to brand her and at last he did so. He was
promptly arrested on a charge of stealing
one of George Whites cattle, was tried. the
evidence brought forward was overwhelm-
ing and Steele was sent to San Quentin for
three years and his property was appro-
| priated.
George Ericsson, an honest Norwegian,
| took place and showed every disposition
to be decent. He was good woodsman
| and an honest man, besides being a dead
| shot, brave and able to cope with a crowd
| of the ambushers in a fair fight and did
not fear them. He was subjected to every
kind of outrage known to the gang, his
stock run off, his fences broken, false
charges brought against him in the courts
until he was almost ruined financially, but
Dane named Schappe was sent to shoot
him. The ball went wide of its mark and
Ericsson sent seventeen bullets after the
fellow, that were made to whistle about his
ears, throw dust upon him, bark the trees
near him and thoroughly frlghten him,
which was all Ericsson desired to do, as he
knew Schappe to be merely a weak-witted
knave.
Ericsson was arrested upon a charge of
assault to murder and held by the subser-
Went magistrates for trial. The District
Attorney failed to file an information and
the case lapsed. Ericsson refused TO accept
the warning though and stayed with his
| claim, confident that he had daunted the
gang. 1t was not long afterward that
| Ericson's riderless horse came out of the
woods, the saddle smirched with blood.
| Ericsson had friends in the outer world
and Detective Lawson of San Francisco
was employed on the case. He secured
evidence showing that John Norris, 6. T.
Trogdon, George Orr, Ben Arthur and
Deputy Sheriff George Kuntz had sub
scribed $125 each 10 h.-e q man TO kill
| Ericsson. George Orr was selected and-the
$500 was placed in the hands of Norris 70 be
| paid when earned. A band OF sheep had
been driven over the trail to obliterate the
tracks, but they did not do so wholly.
Orr and Kuntz were arrested and Orr
subsequently confessed.
The two waited for their man on the
trail which Ericsson must follow returning
from Hettenchow. They tired of waiting
and went to the mountain side to fix
fence, but fearing Ericsson might pass
Kuntz took his gun and returned to the
trail. Presently Orr heard four shots and
Kuntz returned.
"Well. 1 got some big game down there"
he said.
"What was it?"
George Ericsson
| "What were the four shots about?'
ITO fool any one who might have heard
the shooting. They would lay it to some
poor shot and never suspect me. l shot
him in the back as he rode by on his mule.
He threw up his hands and yelled and
rode on. But he's fixed"
The sheep men had heard the shots, saw
the riderless horse, and found the body,
which was unarmed.
Kuntz took a cool part in the gossip
about the murder, and offered to furnish
the boards for the coffin, for which he
charged the family 81 So When he came
to placing the body in the box, however,
he quailed so visibly as to provoke COM
ment.
Poison was frequently used to clear the
country of men too decent for the gang, or
who began to know or talk too much.
Quantities of strychniIe are used by the
woodsmen for the killing of bears, and so
it was always obtainabe. Newt Irwin be-
fore he was shot by Nowlin engendered i'll
will by telling how he had been offered
$500 to kill Nowlin. He was presented
with quarter of beef, but on his way
home gave piece of the meat to his dog,
who promptly died, and thus saved his
masters life.
Nowlin himself, while defying the gang
to open warfare, so feared this method of
attack that he educated himself to taking
large quantities of the poison by course
of graduated doses. He never ate any
food without first trying it on his dogs.