Los Angeles herald., 1907-07-21

YER a good cigar and full stein,
gray-headed of the sea, now resi-
dent in Los Angeles, told the following
tale of the long ago to a writer on The
Herald Old-timers will readily recall the
historical incident forming its groundwork. 1t
still is one Of the mysteries of California court
annals:
stormy night in the fall of 1870,
the city of Sacramento was
startled-in a way very usual and
common then by a pistol shot and
the cry of scores of bystanders that a
man had been murdered. The crowd
gathered at the corner of Second and X
streets, where, in a saloon, the barkeeper
had been shot to death and his murderer
was held by Ben Martz, chief of police,
to protect him from a threatening crowd.
When some measure of order had been
restored it was found that Tip" Nc
Laughlin, a well known club man and
politician, had entered the place, and,
walking up to the barkeeper, Charles
Lundholm leveled derringer pistol at
him and fired, killing him instantly.
Mclaughlin had been lampooned and
abused in a San Francisco publication
called the Jolly Giant famous for it's
villainous abuse of all sorts of people,
and he blamed the man he shot for the
work learning that he was the Sacra-
mento correspondent of that publication.
All this happened just after the COM
pletion of the Central Pacific railroad,
as it was then known, and at day
when there was a dead man for break
fast every morning" so unruly and tur-
bulent were the times, and so open and
free were all resorts for drink and gam
bling.
The city was crowded with hundreds
of men Just let loose from labor on the
all had m0neY the
place was lively in the highest sense of
that word.
John Greer, a we'll known gambler. had
shot and killed an equally well known
gambler, Billy Dresser, few days be-
fore, and killings had been frequent in
the past few months, so that this murder
did not excite more than passing
notice.
Mclaughlin was put in Jail and frater-
nal lodge to which Lundholm, the victim,
belonged made earnest efforts to compass
the murderer's punishment. After many
delays the case came to trial in the old
capitol building at Sixth and 1 streets
before Judge Mcfarland and drew great
crowds, so interested were the friends of
the dead man, and those of the accused.
Mclaughlin had been the political run
ming mate of Bill English and other Re
publican leaders. and there were many
men who regretted to Sc Tip as he was
generally called, in hole. He was gener-
Gus to a fault, absolutely fearless in gun
fight and true to his friends. and they
were now moving heaven and earth TO
free him.
The case was handled by District At |
torney Jim Good, a picturesque character, |
who might have stepped out of one of
Bret Harte's stories, and who was very
able lawyer; while the defense was con-
Quoted by Hon. N. Green Curtis and Hon.
Henry Edgerton, two of the ablest men at
the California bar. Night sessions were
held to expedite the case, and all of Sacra |
mento was there to hear and see.
The accused was brought into court
from the basement of the building, where
the county jail was. and guarded by
deputy sheriffs, all of whom were close
friends of his, most of them owing their
positions to his favor. On the fourth night
OF the trial Mclaughlin passed out of the
court room with his guards at the close of
the session and was never seen in Sacra-
mento after
Great surprise was manifested on all
hands, but in community where crime
was common and where the returns from
political elections were brazenly stolen
from the county clerks office, without re-
dress, such a thing was not to be won
dered at, and would have been soon for
curiosity as to how he escaped and what
became of him afterward.
The alleged fate of Morgan with the
Masons In 1882 was not a patch on the
inventive genius of the cheerful liar COM
pared to stunts done by the barroom
oracles of that day He had been Secret
ly murdefed in Jail and his body burned"
he was kidnapped and sunk in the river"
he was run out of the state on a special
train and tlIrn06 lOOGa In
ne was "in hiding in the dome of the new
capitol building" and a thousand other
Things were said to have happened to
him, till public curiosity grew intense.
In few months his wife and relatives
moved to San Francisco and the matter
Quieted down.
I was in the Mexican coasting trade
some two years after, and had a mate
who told the following story:
we took tugs hawser just at even
ing or the date when Mclaughlin escaped
and started for the heads having enough
OF daylight to make good offing. and
with light breeze were headed for Cen.
tral American and Peruvian ports with
q general cargo.
About two bells in the first watch a
steamers lights were reported astern of
us and we found she was swiftly over
hauling u.s.
In an hour she was alongside and
proved to be well known tug, Captain
Walsh in charge, who hailed us, claiming
ne had special orders for us.
We backed the topsail and he boarded
u.s. one of the two men who rowed him
coming on deck with him.
After ten-minute talk with our skin
per IN the cabin the tug captain came
on deck and swiftly dropped over the
side. In the hurry of swinging the wards
and getting headway on the ship no one
noticed that one of the visitors remained
aboard.
When we were trimmed and going
accosted the stranger and he said: Il
guess they forgot me altogether The
skipper then invited him to the cabin
leaving myself and the watch to guess
the rest of the story
we soon made the trades and our
passenger took to things nautical in
natural manner; always eating with
the skipper and avoiding conversation
with others. We were scraping spars
in my watch one day, and two men
Were coming down the fore-ton gallant