Downieville Residents Recall Tales Of First Murder Case - The Sacramento Bee Sacramento, California · Sunday, March 06, 1960
This is another in a series of transcribed newspaper articles describing the murder of Cannon and the hanging of Josefa (AKA Juanita) in Downieville, on July 5, 1851. This account is not from a witness, but the relatives of a witness, who lived all their lives in Downieville. Bertha and James' mother Ida Juliana Vollmar was the younger half-sister of M Katharina Bertha Volmar, wife of Cyrus Dennis Aikin, the doctor who either announced that Josefa was pregnant, or tried to save her by announcing it. Ida does bear the surname Aiken in some censuses, but I haven't found any reason why.
The article has some facts wrong, I think - naming her"Juanita" instead of "Josefa," stating that her husband's name ("Jose") was not known, and naming Cannon "Jock," when original reports named him Frederick Alexander Augustus Cannon, or later Frederick Cannon. Also, the detail about her being a card dealer and taking refuge in Craycrofts is not in the original newspaper accounts. (one two) But mention of V. C. McMurry is significant, as he was named as a witness in the first-hand account of the Steamer Pacific Star, July 15, 1851.
James J. Sinnott wrote a series of seven history books about Downieville and its surrounding counties and regions. I have collected all of them, and given extras as gifts.
I've seen a number of Sinnott grave markers in the
Downieville cemetery. For more articles on this blog about Josefa and Cannon, follow the
Juanita
label. - MF
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Mrs. Berta Reed, clerk in the Sierra County Recorder's Office, and her
twin, James J. Sinnott, Downieville High School principal, read the
historical plaque designating the site of the famous lynching of the
Spanish woman, Juanita, in 1851. Bee Photo |
Beauty And The Beasts
Downieville Residents Recall Tales Of First Murder Case
By Don Donaldson
Bee staff writer
DOWNIEVILLE, Sierra Co. An interesting historic sidelight to the Larry Lord Motherwell murder trial now in progress is brought into focus by two Downieville residents who relate an ordeal by their uncle and his vain attempts to save a woman from hanging more than a century ago.
"It was this county's first murder case, the lynching of Juanita, the Spanish woman, back in 1851, and my uncle, the late Dr. C. D. Aiken, was almost hanged for trying to save her," explained Bertha Reed, clerk in the county recorder's office.
Related By Mother
Mrs. Reed's twin, James J. Sinnott, Downieville High School principal, also recalls vivid accounts of the ordeal told by his mother, the late Mrs. Ida Aiken Sinnott.
Dr. Aiken was one of a few young physicians who yielded to the call of the Gold Rush. He established his practice as Downieville reached its peak as a rich, roaring camp in the summer of 1851 - oddly a time of celebration of the July Fourth holiday which was to provide the prelude for the grim tragedy to follow the next day.
It was a festive setting spiked with holiday fun, song and laughter, with more than 5,000 celebrants thronging to the parade, political speeches in the plaza and much hardy drinking in the saloons.
Card Dealer
Juanita, apparently the only name she had, was a card dealer at work in Jack Craycroft's gambling palace late that night.
"Into the palace boomed Jock Cannon," records Edmund Kinyon in his book, The Northern Mines, "and he called, 'all hands to the bar' in the manner of one who spent more than the ounce required to distinguish a sport from a heel."
Cannon, described as a Scotsman of magnificent physical strength, made a pass at the beautiful, dark haired dealer.
"Juanita retaliated, sprang up, livid, stiletto in hand, and her tormentor backed away amidst laughter from the crowd."
Knifed In Chest
Early the next morning Jock went to Juanita's cabin, some say to apologize; others say to force his attentions upon her. At any rate, he got only as far as the doorway when Juanita's blade flashed and he fell dead before her.
V. C. McMurry was said to be the only witness. He charged Juanita answered the door with her hands behind her, apparently holding the weapon ready. McMurry said he heard big Jock utter the Spanish word for prostitute just before she plunged the knife into his chest.
A crowd assembled quickly and Juanita and her reputed husband, within the cabin, hurried away midst cries of "murder, murder, hang her."
Refuge Found
The pair took refuge in Craycroft's palace but the mob surrounded the place and the pair was hustled off to the town square. There they were bound and made to wait on the speaker platform as a vigilante type court formed.
Juanita's husband, whose name was not recorded, was released as the day progressed. But it was decided a trial was in order, for the woman. A jury was hastily chosen and a young attorney, whose name also is lost to history, was appointed to defend her.
The brief trial was a farce. Juanita's counsel enlisted the help of Dr. Aiken, who had come forward to plead mercy and ask a self defense acquittal on the ground she was pregnant.
A committee of three physicians, referred to by Farris and Smith's history as Drs. Kibbe, Chase and Carr, disclaimed Dr. Aiken's diagnosis.
Banishment
"Poor uncle Aiken was banished," Mrs. Reed said. "He hid out in a mine tunnel for several days."
One report states Dr. Aiken was given 24 hours to leave town for good "because of his rashness." It was intimated he might receive the same rope intended for Juanita if he ever returned to Downieville.
The doctor, however, returned several days later and resumed his practice, never to be criticised again for his part in the trial.
Rope Before Trial
The rope he was threatened with reportedly was hanging ready from a makeshift gallows on the old Durgan Flat Bridge, near where the present courthouse stands, even before the trial was over.
It is said Juanita's attorney, "a fledging lawyer lately from the states," pleaded eloquently only to have the barrel on which he stood kicked out from under him . . . "hat going one way and spectacles another while he was flung on the shoulders of the mob and carried 100 yards before touching the ground, receiving blows and kicks from all sides."
Bravely To Death
Accounts of the overall incident disagree on many small points but all concur on the manner in which Juanita bravely went to her death.
The hangman's noose dangled from atop the Jersey Bridge, as the span originally was called. Beneath was a timber, which swung out over the stream and was lashed to the bridge similar to proverbial plank designed for shipboard executions.
The comely, 23 year old card dealer, dressed in her finest clothes, calmly took her place on the plank. She smiled at the crowd and noticed a friend, removed her panama type hat and flung it towards him, shouting, "Adios amigo."
Set Own Noose
Then she placed the noose over her head, without assistance, smoothed her hair and waited quietly for the pistol shot to signal two men with to signal two men with axes to slash the bindings which held the plank.
World News
News of the socalled sic trial and hanging spread worldwide. Even the London Times carried an account of the tragedy.
Some newspapers denounced the lynching and criticised the mass of some 3,000 persons said to have lined the banks of the Yuba River to witness the affair.
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