Amador ledger., 1902-10-24
AN ASTOUNDING STATEMENT.
Details of Border Crime Never Before Pub
lished-A Remarkable Instance of
the Plead-Guilty Business 4

from A. Maron, poSt-marked Ell Dor
ado, conveying the startling informa-
tion that crime, the scene of which
was alleged to have been laid in Ell
Dorado county, was taken in hand by
the officials in Amador county, aud the
a plea of guilty. The article was in
tended for publication in the interest
of good government with full permits
sion to append the authors name there
to. The case was entirely new to us,
and while realizing at glance the
gravity and Importance of the COM
munication, the facts were so meagerly
stated that we decided to await fur
ther particulars. Accordingly, we no.
titled our respondent-who is per-
feet stranger to us--to that effect. la
the meantime we made inquiries of par
ties from the mountains who were ac-
quainted with the neigh borhood of
the crime-which vas said to be about
three miles Wiley's station, where
the boundary line between the two
counties is Enthusiastically marked by
the Amador wagon road. The infOr-
nation thus gained seemed to tally
with the main facts 10 our correspou-
dents letter. In a few days we received
the following reply to our request for
further particulars:
| Ell DORADO. CAL. Oct. % 1902
Amador Ledger:-Yours OF the 18th
ult., is at hand, and hasten to answer.
l give you herewith all | deem nee
essary in the cattle-stealing case of
| Lester.
On the 18th of September, 1900, in
the evening, shot from a rifle was
| fired in a westerly direction from where
| then lived, on homestead claim
| situated on Clear creek, better known
as the south fork of the middle fork of
Costumes river, about ,! miles north I
of the AmadOr county line, in FL Do
rado county, on what is known as the
Bridget Barney place, owned by James |
L. Barney.
On the morning of the 18th of Sept. |
| left my place to find the cause of |
calf believing all the night before. AS
| neared the Barney place [ saw W H. |
Lester walking toward his home with |
load of something in sack on his |
shoulder. | measured his track, and l |
found it Tailed exactly with the meas
urments l had taken before The |
smell of blood attracted my dogs at
tention, and l followed him to the spot |
where a beef had been cut up-hide |
and haiY. and hpaf 7 found ba Sap,o
tracks there again; the heaviest track |
or trail led into j. l.. Barney's barn.
The door-or at least where the door
had once been-had been heavily bar
ricaded previous to the butcheriug,
but on the morning in question there
were only a few boards in the place,
and few sacks hung over them. My
dogs entered the barn, and | came to
the conclusion it was safe for me to
look in. On looking in | saw what
looked like front quarter OF beef
lying on one of the managers. | left
the Barney promises after ] had noted
the scene of the butchering, and started
for the Lester place, about a ! of mile
distant, in a north-westerly direction
When l reached his place found him
coming from the spring with pail of
water, with which l saw him after
wards trying to clean tallow that was
all soiled with dirt and blood. He
told me he bought front quarter of
beef from the Pleasant Valley butcher,
and that he bought the tallow in ques-
ton; but no butcher would sell talloW
in such condition. | know that [ had
one of the parties who butchered a COW
belonging to Allen, or the estate of
George Allen.
la1 an 4 IL I
pared to find the herder of Allen, to
find out from him what to do. | did
not get to speak to him until the after
noon of September 10, 1900. After 1
told him George Joses) all | knew of
the case, we went together to j. L.
Barney's barn and found some of the
beef hid away in the managers of the
barn, covered over with hay taken
from the barn. Joses left me in charge
OF the barn and beef, while he rode to
Sutter Creek to see the boss. That
party was gone, so he told me after
| wards. l cannot tell who gave orders
to Sheriff Gregory to arrest Lester. |
but on the next day, the Goth of Sept,
Gregory arrested w. II. Lester for
cattle stealing in Ell Dorado county, in
the presence of myself, G. Joses, and |
another cattleman, and took him to |
Jackson, and landed him in jail there. |
l claim that Gregory took the law in
his own hands when he kept Lester
| there, to get him to plead guilty. 1t |
was Gregory's duty to notify the Of
| ficers of Ell Dorado county to come and |
get the prisoner. Instead of that,
Lester was shipped to San Quentin
from Amador county.
Gregory appointed me keeper of Les
ter's place. was thereby tied hand and |
foot. A few days after Lesters arrest |
sent letter to Gregory, telling him of
the finding OF some more beef and hides |
in the possession of Lester, as well as
some corn beef undoubtedly killed the |
summer before. told him in the letter
that it would be wrong to have Lester |
plead guilty, as that would allow his |
partner to escape unpunished. l am |
satisfied that Gregory got my letter ere
he shipped Lester to the penitentiary. |
Letters which Lester sent from the /
Jackson Jail tended to prove that he |
was urged to plead guilty, for what pur
pose others are better able to answer
than l am. 1t is no hard matter to
prove that at least one other person |
| not far from the scene of the crime was /
anxious to prevent Lester from stand
| ing trial, as he was afraid of exposure !
1t seems to me this is enough. Will /
also give witnesses in the case if need !
be.
Very respectfully,
A. MARON.