The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1898-01-09
4 REAL COMEDY OF ERRORS.
BUT RATHER ROUGH ON MR.. J.
c. SHARP.
How an Honest Miner Got Into
Jail Through No Fault
of His.

dition of the old City Jail but that is
not what was the matter.
On Thursday last Chief of Police
Lloyd of Oakland notified Chief Drew
of this city that j. c. Sharp, wanted in
Keswick, Shasta County, for the crime
of murder, had left the former city
for Sacramento, and would probably
call at the Postoffice for letter, where
he might be captured. Captain Of
Police Fisher and Officer Logue laid
their plans accordingly, and kept a
close watch on the Postoffice. Yester-
day morning their persistence was re-
warded when Sharp, who called for his
letter, was promptly arrested and land
ed in Jail.
The officers, intent only on doing their
duty, had up to the time of making the
arrest, made no inquiries into the case
That j. c. Sharp was supposed to be
connected with the attempted robbery
on December Dist, of the railroad depot
at Keswick, they were certain, but
to the best of their recollection and
belief Sharp was shot and killed by
Station Agent Shuckman.
Taking it for granted that J. c. Sharp
was the man killed by Agent Shuck-
man, the officers We're mystified and
completely agog. If, they reasoned, j,
c. Sharp had been shot and killed by
Agent Shuckman, then how was it pos
sible for him to appear at the Postoffice
here and make inquiries for letters?
They had been advised that Sharp was
dead; that the physician who held the
autopsy on his body had said SO; that
a Coroner's jury had so declared, and
that he had been buried deep out OF
sight and a headboard erected over
him, bearing the legend, y. G. Sharp.
Look out for sharp shooters in this
locality
To make the tumble still more COM
plicated for the officers, the man ar
rested frankly admitted that his name
was j. c. Sharp, and that he hailed
from Keswick, near which place he
lived in a miners cabin, but persisted
that he had committed no murder; that
he had never been shot at, and that he
had never been killed nor sat on by
a Coroners jury, nor had he been
| buried-So far as he knew.
| Captain Fisher made the man strip,
but he showed no evidence of having
been shot through the heart by Agent
Shuckman.
Railroad Officer Frank Rider, who
/ had visited Keswick after the robbery,
inspected the man arrested, and also
remembered that j. c. Sharp, who oc-
cupied the miners cabin near Keswick,
had been killed and properly buried.
And the muddle grew thicker.
The local officers communicated with
Chief of Police Lloyd of Oakland, but
/ L. To h n
matter, and referred them to Sheriff
Houston Of Shasta County, who had
requested the Oakland authorities to
make the arrest.
A telegram was accordingly sent to
Sheriff Houston, and then the local 9TH
GERS sat down to a long wait.
1t had not in the meantime occurred
to anybody to investigate the matter
as to whether or not j. c. Sharp really
was the man shot by Agent Shuck-
man. 1t was taken for granted that
such was the case, but shortly after
noon it was found by turning to the
newspapers of December I'D that the
name Of the man shot and killed by the
gritty station agent was c. Harr1x, ana
not J. G. Sharp.
| But even when the officers found that
! ]. C. Sharp had not been shot ana
killed in Shasta County, they were stiil
| in the dark respecting the nature OF
the offense charged against the man
arrested. Chief Lloyd's statement that
] he was wanted on a murder charge was
| somewhat vague and lacked corropo-
| ration Nobody was able to recall a
murder committed at or near Keswick,
and the theory gained ground that the
! man arrested was thought by the Shas-
! ia officers to be partner of the man
| shot by Agent Shuckman.
on December 9th the store of Nc
| Cormick & Saelses, at Keswick, was
| robbed of 2,400, and it was thought
that Sharp might have been connected
i with that affair.
During the afternoon a telegram
was received from Deputy Sheriff l.. F.
Rassett of Redding, stating that Sheriff
Houston was at Napa and intended
coming to Sacramento, but nothing was
said concerning J. c. Sharp, nor why
he was wanted by the Shasta County
officers.
1t was expected that Sheriff Houston
would arrive from Napa on the 8 o'clock
train lest evening, but he failed to put
in an appearance, and at 8 o'clock
neither the Chief of Police nor any
officer on the force knew why Sharp
was i-eing held, except from the unsat-
isfactory statement made by Chief
| Lloyd of Oakland.
Then Chief Drew insisted on having
more light on the subject, and Redding
was called up by telephone. The opera
tor at that point told about the Sheriff
being at Napa and everything except
what the local officials wished to know,
and finally started a messenger for
Deputy Sheriff Bassett, who lived
mile and a half from the telephone
office The local police We're determined
to find out something about J. c. Sharp,
if it took all night.
LATER-SHARP RELEASED
At $50 o'clock Sheriff Houston Of
Shasta County arrived at Police Head
quarters, and ten minutes later j. c.
Sharp was given his liberty, after hav-
ing spent very disagreeable day, ow-
ing to a series Of blunders which should
never have been made.
After his arrest Sharp produced let
ters showing that he was in Sacrament
to at the time of the Keswick robbery,
and claimed to have left the latter place
on the 10th Of December, five days be-
fore the robbery was committed, and
according to Sheriff Houston his story
was true in every particular
But Sheriff Houston does not now
want, and never has wanted, j. c..
Sharp for the crime of murder robbery,
or anything else. He explains mat
ters by saying that Chief Lloyd of Oak
land got things pretty badly mixed He
had been asked to keep a lookout for