Stories of the Forgotten

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Who Was Anna Corbin? One Of The Stories Behind The Preston School of Industry

There have been many sites that speak of Anna Corbin, yet no one had revealed anything about her life prior to her death. You see, when I heard about the untimely death of Mrs. Anna Corbin at Preston Castle, I noticed one thing, no one could really say who she was or what her life was like. It’s almost as if the ghost stories took on a life of their own and for some apparent reason people seemed to be far more interested in what happened after her death, rather than what happened before her death.

Anna’s Earlier Years

Anna Corbin was born on January 16, 1898 in Kansas as Anna Laura Lawton. She was the daughter of Etta Edna Little (1865-1945) and Wilber Austin Lawton (1857-1936) of Americus, Kansas. Her parents were farmers, although Wilber had been a banker, postmaster, politician, Justice of the Peace, under-Sherrif, and member of the School Board during his lifetime. (See Anna's Family Genealogy Notes). As a child Anna went with her older sister Loverna to live with their aunt and uncle in order to attend school in Emporia, Kansas.

After graduating from Emporia High School, Anna met and married Robert Travis Corbin in 1918. A year later a son, Harold Jay Corbin was born in 1919. Since Robert T. Corbin was a Truck Driver it seemed to have made them move around quite a bit. They moved to Colorado where their daughter Avis M. Corbin was born in 1924. The US Census Records for 1930 lists that the Corbin's were living in Whittier, California (East Los Angeles). The records also show Robert as being 34 years old, Anna 32, Harold 11, and Avis 6. Sometime around 1935, they relocated up to Ione, California, where Robert became a group supervisor at the Preston School of Industry, while Anna became a housekeeper. In 1941, Harold Jay Corbin was listed on a draft register card during WWII. Sadly, in 1943 Harold Jay Corbin, only 24 years old, was killed in action during the war. His name is featured as one of the first Amador County residents who were killed in action while serving in the military on the recently made War Veterans Memorial in Ione. He was stationed out of Presidio of Monterey, Army Air Force (2LT # 0-666635). Buried March 14, 1950 at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California. The Social Security Death Index records indicate that her husband, Robert Corbin, died on May 29,1947 at the Veterans Home of California in Napa, California. He is buried at East Lawn Cemetery in Sacramento.

Let’s try to step into Anna’s shoes for a moment, shall we? Now imagine you are a middle aged woman, a wife and mother, and both your son and husband had died. Anna's parents had died as well years prior. Now how would you feel inside? Think about it. There she was, the only parent left for her newly married daughter, Avis. How do you think she felt? Now imagine it is 1950, and here she was not only grieving for two of the most important men in her life but she also had to work full time as a head housekeeper as her only means of support.

Think about this also, her son Harold died in 1943, and yet the US Air Force had not brought his body back to be buried until 1950. His internment was March 14, 1950 a whole month after Anna’s death. So in her lifetime she was never able to visit her son’s grave or know exactly what happened to his body in order to find closure. That must have been agonizing to say the least. I am a mother and I know for a fact losing a child, at any age would be devastating. No doubt she was worn out about life, although many say it didn’t stop her from being a loving and nurturing person. Anna was considered as a second mother to many of the inmates at Preston.

“When I said she was a mother to the boys, I meant just that. She did a great deal to rehabilitate many of the inmates and was one of the greatest contributors to the fact that many of the youths who leave here never again wind up being police problems.” -- Quote from Superintendent Chandler, Stockton Record. (2/24/1950)

Another tidbit to add, Anna DID NOT live in an apartment at Preston, as so many reports and television shows claim. In fact, the newspapers at the time wrote that Mrs. Corbin lived in a five-room home on Marquette Street in Ione. Well, anyone who knows Ione knows that there is no Marquette St. However, there is a Market Street and a Marlette Street....so either street is a possible choice. I have yet to learn the exact address of Anna's former home, but I hope to share this information with the public as soon as it becomes available.

The Day Of The Murder

It was Thursday- February 23, 1950. Many say that just before a staff meeting held by the Superintendent Robert V. Chandler, a ward discovered the body and notified the staff of the grisly finding. According to the Amador Ledger, dated February 24, 1950, it stated that a fellow staff member Lillian McDowell was the one who found Anna.

Many online sites that speak of Anna Corbin's death start to contradict themselves about this point. Some say she was killed in the kitchen, some say she was killed in a room in the basement, known as the “mattress room”. Some say she was stuffed in a cupboard while some say she was left on the floor.**

** (One note to add, I am posting what all the newspapers claimed at the time, it doesn't mean each account is accurate. As you will read on in this article, you will see that Anna was found in a room in the basement, as other archives, witness accounts and official reports confirm).

c/o Oakland Tribune 2/24/50

According to the Amador Ledger's article (2/24/1950) it states that Anna was found several hours after her death in a store room, wrapped in a rug and she had been beaten severely on the head and body with a rope wrapped around her neck. What people always leave out in their stories is the fact that the room Anna was found in was locked and the staff member had to unlock the door to access the room in which Anna's body was found. It was also mentioned in the paper that Director of the California Youth Authority Program, Karl Holton stated that not only the inmates would be investigated but also the staff.

Another newspaper article that confirms this (Oakland Tribune dated February 24, 1950) also states, housekeeper Lillian Lee McDowell and her helper-inmate Robert Hall both noticed a trail of blood from Anna's office leading into the school store room and into a padlocked closet where Lillian unlocked it to discover Anna's bludgeoned body.

The Head Gardener at Preston, Jeff Machado seemed to be the last person to see her alive as he claimed to have brought her the acacia blossoms around 9:30 a.m. Anna's body was discovered around 1:30-2 pm. Another housekeeper, Elizabeth Goodman stated that around 10:23 am she came into Anna's office and left an apple on her desk. That apple was still there upon the discovery of Anna's body.

According to Lillian McDowell, after seeing the blood trail leading to the store room from the supply room, she and her helper Robert Hall noticed that a ladder was overturned, mop buckets were tossed around and rugs covered in blood along with a pool of blood on the floor. The Coroner stated that she had been dead for at least 3-4 hours when her body was discovered. That meant she died between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. that morning. Another thing I want to point out is that according to other archives, the boy who found Anna's body, Robert Hall gave a statement that Anna was actually found behind rolls of carpet in the storage room, not a closet, but a padlocked room that was 16 x 35 feet in size in the basement.

A source of mine revealed to me that another ward that was at Preston during that time that Anna was murdered, came to Preston as an adult and spoke about his memory of the event saying that he actually saw Anna's body in the basement, in the larger room when investigators had just got to the scene, which corroborates Hall's statement. Another employee of Preston who has been interviewed also made a statement that Anna was found in a larger room and not a closet. No matter where people want to claim she was found, an exact location is left for us only to speculate, one thing is for sure, we know that Anna was found in the basement, covered by carpet.

Update: (6/24/2015) "So after speaking to John Lafferty yesterday, and after discussing the murder of Anna Corbin, we have both agreed that Anna Corbin's body was found in the basement, but not where most people think. We believe she was found in the room where the disenfecting pool (plunge bath) was located.

This information corroborates the statements from Lillian McDowall and Robert Hall who found Anna's body. They claimed the room she was found in was 16 x 35 feet in size (another news account said the room was 10 x 17). In any case, I always knew she was not found in the cubby hole that has been told over and over for years. Thankfully that information given by eye witness statements and the evidence John Lafferty had found in a transcribed oral statement of a staff member, claiming that Anna's body was found in the room with the pool that had been boarded over, we finally know the exact location where Anna was discovered.

I am glad that particular part of the mystery is finally put to rest. Thank you Mr. Lafferty for confirming a theory I had always suspected -- Rest in Peace Anna" - J'aime Rubio

Back to the Story.....

SUSPECTS?

Initially the Superintendent, along with Sheriff George Lucot and other investigators singled out the 22 wards on "housekeeping detail" before questioning other wards there who had been convicted of assault and sexual crimes. After those groups were questioned, they detained all wards to their rooms to further question and investigate each one. Superintendent Chandler made it very clear that everyone was a suspect, even staff and that they would be investigating thoroughly. Out of the 657 wards questioned only one was charged, Eugene Monroe. He was a 19 year old African-American inmate who was from Southern California.

What many don't realize is that Monroe was the chief suspect in a murder of a 17 year-old girl, Vesta Belle Sapenter in Southern California in 1947. The details of Vesta's murder were eerily “similar” to the details of Anna’s murder, as noted in my book, "Behind The Walls". But as I state in my book, due to lack of sufficient evidence, the authorities couldn't hold him on murder charges. How Monroe ended up in Preston was for a separate conviction of burglary charges.

One inmate William J. Mercer, who basically ruined his own reputation on the witness stand in the preliminary hearing, claimed he and Eugene were having a secretive homosexual relationship and that during a time when they were engaging in a sex act that Anna had walked in and witnessed them. He claimed that it infuriated Eugene and he said he was going to kill her for that.

Monroe's attorney tried to throw out any testimony of Mercer's at the trial due to the fact Mercer recanted his statement, and then during the trial he claimed that the entire story was in fact true, but that Monroe's attorney, Nathaniel S. Colley had threatened his life when he visited him at the Amador County Jail and told him that if he didn't take back his story that he would make sure Monroe's friends took care of him after he was released. Despite his fear of retaliation, Mercer testified in the trial and aired out the whole story, stating that his initial statements were true, including his claims that the defense tried to intimidate and threaten the prosecution's main witness.

Everyone, including the inmates were shocked and infuriated that Anna had been killed. Inmates were even reported to have told the staff that if the assailant was found within Preston, that they better hire more guards because the inmates may "take the law into their own hands" in order to avenge the death of their beloved Housekeeper and motherly friend, Anna Corbin. Both Monroe and Mercer were too afraid to go back to Preston, so both were held at the Amador County Jail during the trials.

I find it rather suspicious that after the three trials, two of which were ended in hung juries, and the third a final acquittal, that one year later in 1951 Eugene was convicted and confessed to the murder and rape of a pregnant woman, Mrs. Dorothy Waldrop in Tulsa, OK. He was sentenced to life in prison but only did 29 years.

TO READ MORE ABOUT EUGENE MONROE: "Was Eugene Monroe A Serial Killer?"

More Shawnee Attacks on Settlers- West Virginia History

In my previous article, The Clover Bottom Massacre, 1783, I touched on the terrifying account of when Mitchell Clay’s homestead was attacked by Shawnee Indians, ultimately leaving three of his children dead. What many don’t realize is that this was a regular occurrence during these times. People today seem to look at things from a one-sided perspective most of the time, and that is not right. They often go on and on about how the “White Man” was so evil and destructive, stealing the land away from the Native-Americans. What many don’t talk about is the fact that from the very beginning of Europeans stepping foot on this “new land”, the natives were far from friendly. If you were to go back even farther in history you would also see that the native people were not originally from North America, but migrated here over the Bering Strait anyways, so technically this land was not their land originally either. They came here and settled, just as later on the Europeans came here and settled.

It’s fair to say that both sides should take blame for much of the bloodshed equally, but did you know that many of the people who came to America did not want to, nor were they even aware that they would have to face, let alone fight or kill the natives? Many of them felt they were in the middle of something they didn’t want to be in. They had to face the dangers of living in the wilderness of a new land, yet they also had to obey the authority of the Governor who was greedy and didn’t really care about his own people or the natives. I will go into that subject later on in this article.

Indian Massacre of 1622

First, I will briefly discuss several accounts of families being brutally attacked by the Shawnee Indians during a specific time period in West Virginia and Virginia territory. These accounts need to spoken, because in the end you need to see that it wasn’t just the European settlers who brought death and danger, but the natives also struck fear in the settlers hearts and left a trail of blood and tears behind as well.

Long before the Clover Bottom Massacre, there had been numerous accounts of brutal attacks on settlers by the natives in this country. One to mention of course was the Indian Massacre of 1622. Looking into the history of it, you would see that the Powhatan tribe of Indians came to the Colony of Virginia, bearing gifts of food but once in the colony they began a vicious attack, killing over 347 settlers. They then traveled up and down the river, burning the settlements and homes and killing settlers. As I stated above, the people in charge of the colonies really didn’t have the best interest of their settlers or their safety at heart, thus putting them all in danger.

During my research into specific areas in West Virginia history, I found several accounts of brutal attacks on settlers who were not seeking out the native people, not torturing them, and certainly not attacking their villages or burning their homes like the native people did to the settlers. One account that took place, happened in 1777 ( six years before the Clover Bottom Massacre). Colonel James Graham and his family had retired for the evening in their cabin when Graham heard a knock on the door. When he approached the door, he heard a voice in broken English muttering, “Open Door!”

When Graham refused to comply with the request, the Indians outside grew very angry and started shooting at the door. Grahams two children had fled to a detached cabin where the Indians managed to break into. They shot through the clapboards, injuring the boy with the gunshot, shattering his leg. They then proceeded to enter the dwelling, kidnapping both children. While traveling to their village the young boy’s condition grew worse and he was not able to walk, so the Indians bashed his head against a tree, smashing his brain. They kept the young girl, who was only 8 years old at the time. They held her captive for nearly 8 more years until her father was able to later ransom her and secure her freedom.

During 1777, the dangers of continuous attacks and murders of white settlers by the Indians during the Summer months, prompted many families to flee to forts for safety and remain there sometimes for the entire Summer. You see, the area in which these attacks continued to occur was what the Shawnee considered their "Summer Hunting Ground"- although their villages were all the way in Ohio. So during the Summer months the threat of attack was far more severe than at any other time of the year.

In 1778, a massacre was averted thanks to the help of Captain McKee and his men. Over 200 Indians attacked Fort Randolph, but thanks to the garrison of 21 men defending the fort, they were able to thwart off the attack. When the Indians headed away in the direction of the Greenbrier settlements, McKee sent off two of his men who actually made it to the settlements first to warn them of the impending attack. Due to their quick thinking and diligence, they saved numerous amounts of lives and averted a massacre.

In the Spring of 1778, another brutal attack on a family homestead occurred on the mouth of Wolf Creek, on New River. The attack was on the McKensey family who lived in a house on the property near the creek. Mr. McKensey, his wife, children (sons: Isaac, Henley & daughters: Sallie, Elizabeth, Margaret, Mary Anne, a baby) lived on the property with a housemaid/hired servant, Ms. Estridge. It was said that the settlers did not have land that had boundaries or fences in which to allow their stock (cows, horses, etc.) to wander and graze so they would put bells on the animals and let them roam. Well, the horses wandered off into the woods. Mr. McKensey figured the horses meant to head back to the place from which they had initially travelled from, Walker’s Creek. So Mr. McKensey took his older son, Isaac with him to search for their horses to bring them back home. When Mr. McKensey and his son had made it all the way to the top of Big Hill, they heard the sounds of gunfire in the valley below. His younger son, Henley had been on the hill looking for a spot to plant sweet potatoes when the attack ensued.

Woodcut of Indians Raiding a Fort

The Shawnee had waited until McKensey and his older son had left the area when they began their attack on the household. They first shot Henley, killing him. Then they made their way to the house and tried to enter. Sallie and Mrs. McKensey had tried to barricade the door, but the Indians still managed to push their way through. The first one, squeezed his head and arms through the door, trying to wiggle his way in, while Sallie reached for an axe and attacked him, severely wounding him. While that was taking place, another managed to push the door open and attempted to take Sallie as their prisoner. She gave up a good fight with him and in the end he drove a knife through her chest, killing her as well as Mrs. McKensey.

The hired servant, Ms. Estridge took the little girl Mary Anne and tried to hide in the shed. However, upon the little girls crying and whimpering, Estridge became fearful that the little girl’s noises would give up their hiding place. Trying to save herself, Estridge let the little girl go, who ran off scared and the Indians grabbed her, bashing her head into a door frame and crushing her skull. The saddest part of this story is the fact the Indians took the nursing infant, who was barely crawling, and attempted to scalp it alive. The record doesn’t state if it was a girl or boy, but that upon finding the bodies of his family, McKensey found his infant child alive, scalped and trying to nurse on it’s mother’s bloody corpse.

Two of McKensey’s daughters were unaccounted for, being that they had been kidnapped. During this ordeal the Indians managed to kill Philip Kavanah whom they had ran into on their way out of the area, and they also captured Francis Denny. They brought their captives back with him to their village where the two girls Elizabeth and Margaret remained for nearly 18 years. After being traded between tribes and forcibly raped by the Chief, who wanted her to marry him, Margaret refused and kept the hope of one day escaping her captors. At one point Margaret was able to get a horse and attempted an escape. Her foster sister in the tribe told her she would defend her with her life, when she was caught by the Chief. Not willing to let Margaret go, the Chief told her that if she didn’t marry him, he would kill her. Margaret fought with him over a knife, when her foster sister attempted to intervene and told Margaret to hide. The fight between the girl and the Indian was brutal, although no one died from the incident. The Chief later left with other Indians and was killed in Wayne’s Battle. Later Margaret and Elizabeth managed to get free and returned home, never forgetting the trials and tribulations they faced in their early life.

There are so many more stories just like these that happened too often back then. I haven’t even touched on the incident at the Davidson-Bailey fort yet, which I will go into further in my next blog. Not only did the settlers have to face attacks and murders of their own families, but the settlers had to deal with the fact the Shawnee often stole their horses and ran them up to Canada and sold them as well.

You may wonder why I am so interested in telling these stories. Well, I must be honest, I am a truth seeker. I don’t like half-truths. I don’t like society blaming the European settlers on all the bad that took place in our history’s past, because that isn’t accurate. I read a letter that was addressed to the authorities of the time by the settlers in regards to the conditions in which they were living in, in the late 1700s.

The letter showed that these settlers did not come to this country with the idea they would have to deal with or fight off Indians. They left their native country with the promise of peace and freedom of practicing their Christian faith without fear of any sort of persecution. It was obvious that the settlers were thrown in the middle of the Governor and his authority and the anger the Natives felt towards the new visitors. Most of the settlers wanted nothing to do with any sort of fighting and even mentioned that they adhered to “rational, constitutional principles, pacific (meaning peaceful), steady and uniform conduct.” They go on to mention that when they “crossed the Atlantic and explored wilderness”, starting their new lives in a new land, it only led them to experience “savages.. insistently…committing depredations” on them since their first settling in the Country. “These fatigues and dangers were patiently encountered, supported by the pleasing hope of enjoying these rights and liberties which had been granted to Virginians, and denied us in our Native Country.”

Basically, they stated that they fled their previous homeland with the hopes and false promises of a peaceful new life in a new land, that they were told they would be allowed to live on in peace. The settlers came here, tricked on false pretenses of being “free” in every sense of the word, but the Government who built the colonies didn’t have their people’s best interest at heart at all. Nor did they care about the natives either, but it wasn’t the settlers fault. They were just as naïve about what was happening as much as the natives who didn’t understand why or where these new people were coming from.

Honestly, I feel badly for the people who came to America looking for a new life because they have been blamed for most of the atrocities that their Government was actually at fault for. Then in turn, the atrocities the Indians committed on the people was directed at settlers instead of the ones running the Government which is unfortunate as well. In the end, it seemed that the settlers received blows from both ends and received a very bad rap.

In my next blog I will go into further detail of the Incident at the Davidson-Bailey Fort.

(Copyright 1/9/2014- Republished 3/28/2018) J'aime Rubio, www.jaimerubiowriter.com

Sources:
American Archives, 4th Series, 1st Volume, Page 1166

A History of Middle New River Settlements and Contiguous Territory

By David Emmons Johnston

Clover Bottom Massacre, 1783 - West Virginia History

Bluestone River

In the next two articles I will speak of some of the atrocious events that took place in U.S. History near where my ancestors settled in the region along the borders of West Virginia and Virginia in the late 1700s. This first article will cover the infamous Clover Bottom Massacre of 1783.

Before I begin, I must tell you this event was not a random occurrence. In fact, it is quite the contrary. Upon my research into these stories I have found dozens of accounts in the general area and vicinity during that time period that showed the native people in the surrounding areas were vicious and brutal, often attacking women and children while they were alone, and showing absolutely no mercy whatsoever. This particular story is to tell you a true historical account, so you can see for yourself what life must have been like for a white settler in the new land we now know as the United States, and all the dangers they faced, lurking literally around every corner.

Massacre at Clover Bottom-

Mitchell Clay House

In April of 1774, Mitchell Clay obtained a Crown Grant from Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, for 803 acres of land which covered both sides of the Bluestone River (a tributary of New River) named Clover Bottom, West Virginia. Within the next year, he, his wife and children moved onto the land and started cultivating it and living off of it, creating their homestead which was the first white settlement within Mercer County. The Clay family made for themselves a prosperous farm, which contained a field for livestock, a tobacco field, wheat field, orchard and kitchen garden as well as their home which they built.

In August of 1783, after Clay had harvested his grain crop, he and his sons had started to build fences around the stacks of grain to keep the livestock from reaching it while they wandered the fields. Clay delegated the job to build the fences to his teenage sons Ezekiel and Bartley. On a day when Clay had gone hunting, he never imagined what he would find when he returned that evening.

While Bartley and Ezekiel were busy at work, building the fences, their sisters were washing on the banks of the river and their mom and younger children were inside the house. At some point, eleven Indians crept up on the two young men and suddenly the sound of a gunshot echoed through the area. Bartley had been shot and killed by one of the Shawnee encroaching on the farm. The girls heard the shot and immediately headed towards the house, literally running into the Shawnee on the property. One of the older daughters, Tabitha, saw one of the Indians attempting to scalp her brother Bartley, so she attacked him, attempting to reach for his knife. She struggled viciously, eventually losing the fight and succumbing to several stab wounds from the assailant.

During the fight, a man whose name lived in infamy for many generations, Liggon Blankenship had called on the Clay household and witnessed the attack from the side of the house. Mrs. Clay begged him to get involved to save her children who were being attacked, but instead he turned around and fled to the nearest settlements at New River to report that the Clay family had all been attacked and killed by Indians. Needless to say, his name was tarnished for quite some time as a coward.

Indian Raid on Settlement Woodcut

The Shawnee scalped Tabitha and Bartley, while capturing Ezekiel and taking him alive as their prisoner back into the woods from which they came. Mrs. Clay, distraught and in shock managed to pull her two children’s lifeless bodies from outside, into the home and then she and the younger children fled on foot, six miles to the Bailey settlement to seek assistance. When Mr. Clay made it home and discovered his two children’s lifeless bodies, he assumed that his entire family had been killed or captured. He fled off into the night through the woods, heading for the settlements at New River to get help. During his travel in the woods, he ascertained that the Shawnee were following him on horses they had stolen. He managed to evade them until the morning when he finally reached Captain Matthew Farley who rounded up a posse of men: Mitchell Clay, Charles Clay, Mitchell Clay, Jr., James Bailey (son of Richard Peyton Bailey), William Wiley, Edward Hale, Joseph Hare, Isaac Cole, John French and Captain James Moore who all went up to the Clay property to view the gory scene and plan their next move against the Shawnee.

Apparently, upon leaving the Clay property, the Shawnee broke off into two groups, both travelling two different paths. One group of Shawnee went down the west fork of the Coal River over Cherry Pond Mountain, while the other group travelled down the Pond fork of the river on the other side of the mountain. The posse of men followed the trail that led them to the group of Shawnee at the Pond fork where they were able to surround them in the night. The group decided to wait until the break of dawn’s first light to attack the natives, making sure they had the upper hand with men above and below them on the hill. As soon as one of the natives awoke in the morning, he spotted Edward Hale and before he could warn the rest of the Shawnee, Edward shot him dead, awaking the rest of them.

During the attack, two of the Indians were killed immediately while another was wounded. He begged for his life to be spared, but seeing that Ezekiel was not among the group, and realizing they had split up, Charles Clay (who was only about 12 years old at the time) killed the Indian for what happened to his siblings. According to author, David Emmons Johnston, he stated that the location in which this attack took place on the fork of the Pond River is in a location in Boone County, off the old property of L.D. Coon who found a pile of rocks with a piece of an Indian hatchet in the general area. Because of the brutality of the deaths of the Clay children, Edward Hale and William Wiley took from the dead Indian’s, strips of their hides, which they turned into razor straps and kept in their family possession for generations as a battle souvenir.

Unfortunately, because the natives split up in two groups, the other group that evaded Mitchell Clay and his posse, made it all the way to Chillicothe, Ohio, with their prisoner, Ezekiel Clay whom they tortured and burned at the stake. Sadly, another one of the Clay children had perished at the hands of the native people who attacked them.

After the brutal attack on their homestead, Phoebe Belcher (who was the sister of Richard Peyton Bailey’s wife, Elizabeth Ann Belcher, who happens to be my gr-gr-gr-gr-gr grandmother), refused to return to the Clay farm and insisted to move to Pearisburg to be near her oldest daughter Rebecca. She never stepped foot on the property again for the rest of her life.

Agony In Stone (photo: Ed Elam)

This tale is just one of many tales of brutal attacks against defenseless families on their homestead by the Shawnee. Was this attack, in the Shawnees mind, a way of the native people getting back at the people for the “Dunmore’s War” that had taken place just years before? Well, even if that was their reasoning for justifying it, it wasn’t right they attacked innocent women and children, period. In history, there are brutal stories from both sides, and we need to be willing to see and accept that. The white man was not the only one to blame for vicious and blatant attacks on human beings. In fact, historical record worldwide shows that every single culture is guilty of violence in the name of spreading out over land. It was certainly not the first case, nor would it be the last.

It is a shame that stories like these are swept under the rug and erased from history, due to the fact that people are so afraid to offend the Native Americans of their imperfect past. They are just as guilty as the Europeans of violence and brutality, many times even to one another as well. Again my friends, as I always say “People hate the truth, luckily the truth doesn’t care.” When it comes to history, let us always remember the whole truths, not just half-truths of our Country’s past. Again, whether good or bad, the truth must always be told.

A statue in honor of Mitchell and Phoebe (Belcher) Clay was erected outside of the Mercer County Courthouse in West Virginia. The statue is called “Agony In Stone” and was dedicated to the memory of the three children the Clay family lost that August day in 1783.

Rest in Peace, Bartley Clay, Tabitha Clay and Ezekiel Clay, and the rest of the Clay family including Mitchell and his wife Phoebe. You are never forgotten!

(Copyright 1/9/2014 - Republished 3/28/2018) J'aime Rubio, www.jaimerubiowriter.com

Sources:

Kentucky Clay: Eleven Generations of a Southern Dynasty

By Katherine R Bateman

A History of Middle New River Settlements and Contiguous Territory

By David Emmons Johnston

U.S. Government War Archives

Familypedia

Photos:

"Agony In Stone"-Findagrave , Ed Elam

Bluestone River, Wikipedia (Creative Commons License)

Indian Raid on Settlement Woodcut, U.S. History (Public Domain)

Mitchell Clay House, (from "A History of Middle New River Settlements and Contiguous Territory)

Hidden History of the Hotel Ryde - Part Two

Ryde Hotel, Walnut Grove, CA

In the last article, I spoke about the beginning of Ryde (the community), the origins of the Hotel Ryde and how the original hotel burned down in the fire of 1911. So what happened after the fire?

Well, after the Giusti family moved their business across the river to the Miller's Ferry Station, the remaining residents of Ryde started rebuilding their businesses.

The 2nd Hotel Ryde

2nd Hotel Ryde (Ad)

Let me first state this, the Ryde Hotel that stands today is not the original hotel, nor does it sit on the original spot that the first or second hotel stood. In fact, the parking lot of the current Ryde Hotel (just south of the hotel) is where both the original and 2nd hotel's once stood. I spoke to lifetime resident and local historian, Dennis Leary in depth about his life in Ryde and he told me that the 2nd building that was used as the Hotel Ryde was rebuilt on the same spot as the original. When he bought the property in the 1970s, the building was still there but hadn't been used as the hotel since the mid-1920s.

I could not find any documents that state exactly when the 2nd building was erected, however it was rebuilt sometime before the 1920s, because I found some really interesting stories that took place at the Ryde during that time period. From what I read in old periodicals and what Mr. Leary told me, the hotel was rebuilt and run by the Gianetti family. Some accounts state that Joe Miller had the hotel rebuilt and he then leased it to the Gianetti family, while others stated the Gianetti family rebuilt the hotel.

Also, Remember, the current Hotel Ryde wasn't opened until 1927, so the stories you are about to read took place in the hotel that is no longer standing. If you go stand in the parking lot of the current Ryde Hotel, you will be standing in the vicinity where these next few stories took place.

Murder or Self-Defense?

Literally just days before the onset of the Prohibition Era in California, the Hotel Ryde saw a very tragic and scary incident take place in their saloon. On January 2, 1920, after two guests had one too many drinks in the bar area, the bartender Orlando Fontanini told the two patrons, Alex and Gunnar Johnson that they needed to leave. Of course, that didn't sit well with Alex and he grew angry. The bartender continued persisting that it was time for both of them to leave but that wasn't going to be the case. Instead Alex and Gunnar decided to jump over the counter at the bar and proceeded to attack the bartender, choking him. During the scuffle the bartender reached for his gun he kept under the bar and he shot Alex Johnson in self defense, killing him. Although, he adamantly stated that his life was at risk and he was only defending himself, Fontanini was charged with Alex Johnson's murder and was taken to jail. Gunnar Johnson was held as a witness.

Sausalito News (January 10, 1920)-

(See Photo)

"Sacramento--- Alex Johnston (typo), a carpenter, formerly residing in San Francisco at 3470 Twentieth Street, was shot and killed January 2 during a quarrel in the barroom of the Hotel Ryde at Ryde, Sacramento county. Orlando Fontanini, bartender at the hotel, was arrested and charged with murder. He said Alex Johnston and Gunnar Johnston, a companion had attacked him when he ordered them from the place. Fontanini said he shot in self-defense as he was being choked. Gunnar Johnston is being held as a witness.--"

Sacramento Bee (January 13, 1920)--
"The killing in Ryde January 1st of Alex JOHNSON was investigated and a verdict of death resulting from a gunshot wound inflicted by Orlando FONTANINI, was brought in. FONTANINI, who was a bartender at the Ryde Hotel, shot JOHNSON following an argument over the claring of the saloon. The bartender claimed he shot in self-defense after being attacked. He declared when he tried to close the place JOHNSON became abusive and attacked him. He said one of the men grabbed him by the throat and during the scuffle, he fired a revolver."

I looked into the story further and couldn't find whether or not Fontanini was later freed or if they convicted him of the charges. Honestly, he shows up in the 1920 Census as being a servant for the Gianetti household, but then he drops off from any public records. The possible misspelling of the names Johnson and Johnston in various news clippings is actually quite common for the time period. However, according to the San Francisco Directory for 1920, Gunnar Johnson is listed. So now, we have the correct spelling of their Surname.

Prohibition and Scandal at the Ryde- 1923

By 1923, the Ryde Hotel was in the papers again. This time it was for violating Prohibition laws by serving alcohol to their guests. According to the Lodi Sentinel (November 13, 1923) some federal agents stopped by the Ryde to enjoy dinner in the restaurant. While they were there, they noticed that the restaurant was serving alcohol. Three men who were guests at the hotel confronted one of the three officers when they overheard them talking about the fact the restaurant was violating the law. One of the men walked up to the officer and accused him of being law enforcement, to which Officer Charlton admitted. The guy then demanded to see his badge. When Charlton showed him the badge, the man reached over, grabbed a bottle of alcohol and broke it over the officer's head. This injury cut him severely and he was in bad need of medical attention. Officer Edmund Hemphill ran out to his car and retrieved his gun and held the men who instigated the fight at bay until back up arrived.

Warrants were issued by the U.S. Commissioner, Gerald Beatty and then federal officers along with Sheriff Eaton Blanchard then arrested the three men from the fight: Allan Eldred, Clay Locke and William Donahue. They also arrested Mrs. Gianetti (the Proprietess) and a waiter (who was serving alcohol) Nick Camicia. They were all charged with, Conspiracy to violate Prohibition Law, Interfering with Government Officers, Destroying evidence, and Assault of Government Officers.

Mrs. Gianetti and Nick Camicia were released immediately on a $1,000 bond, while the three other men were held on a $10,000 bond. Clay Locke obtained his bail within a few hours. Clay Locke was the son of George Granville Locke. Clay's grandfather was George W. Locke, for which the town of Locke was named after. Clay's father, George Jr., was the one who allowed the town to be built on the edge of the Locke Estate and there it sits today as a reminder of an old Ghost Town that once was a bustling little city. Although the records I have found to date show the town of Locke to be a small community early on (around 1916), by the 1930's it was full of diverse cultures including Chinese, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Italian, Filipino, Mexican, Swedish, German, Hawaiian, Japanese, and Caucasian Americans, As the years passed, people came and went, but that little town remained.

Photo shows 2nd structure and 3rd structure side by side (Circa 1927)

The Hotel Moves

So sometime in the mid-1920s the newer (3rd) Ryde Hotel was built. This is the current hotel that still stands today. It is said to have been built in 1926 and opened in 1927. What happened to the 2nd Ryde Hotel? Well, after they had built a new one just yards away, north of the property, the old hotel building was then used for other various businesses including "Ryde Electric" and an insurance company.

The current hotel has seen many owners throughout the years. Many reports even claim that Hollywood's "Wolf Man", Lon Chaney, Jr. and his family owned it at one point in time. The hotel was also said to have an underground tunnel that had stills for brewing wine, gin and whiskey during Prohibition. There was also rumors the very underground tunnel also led to the river for guests to be able escape undetected into the night, in the instance that there was a raid. The lower level of the hotel had a 'speakeasy' and offered music and booze to their guests (as long as you weren't a cop!)

Actor, Lon Chaney, Jr.

There's been talk over the years about it being a bordello, a place where many unsavory characters and even mobsters would frequent to enjoy gambling, women and booze. I could not find anything in any archive to substantiate these claims, although it is a pretty exciting tale to tell. I think that it is safe to say that the Ryde Hotel did, at times, involve itself in "prohibited" acts according to the laws of the time, whether it be related to Prohibition or what not. Anything else is just pure speculation.

The hotel pride's itself as being the place many of Hollywoodland's elite would come for a weekend stay in the old days. Photos fill the walls with stars that are said to have stayed there. In 1928, Herbert Hoover came to visit the Ryde Hotel and it is reported that at a political rally he held there, he announced his candidacy for President. During the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s newspaper archives note that it was a pleasant place for couples to celebrate their anniversary along the beautiful Delta.

During the 1960s and 1970s the crowd it attracted had changed and at one point had even changed it's name to the Grand Island Inn for awhile. The Ryde Hotel's website even states that at one point the hotel turned into a boarding house when the levee's were built. The hotel has been bought and sold so many times over the years. During the 1970s, when the building that housed the 2nd Ryde Hotel was demolished, Dennis Leary (the owner of that property) allowed the Ryde Hotel access to pave a new driveway down the side of the hotel. Originally the Ryde's driveway was the one on the north side of the building, but after having issues with delivery trucks for so many years due to the fact it was so steep, Leary was nice enough to let them pave a second driveway on the southside of the hotel for easier access. Later, Mr. Leary sold the land on the south, to the hotel where they eventually used it for the parking lot they have today.

Hotel California?

The Ryde Hotel's water tower.

I found some sites claiming adamantly that the Ryde Hotel was the "inspiration" for the Eagle's song "Hotel California". This is absolutely incorrect. First off, my step father was a huge Eagles fan, and that song was his favorite. I have heard every idea that has been thrown out there about possible meanings and inspirations for that song over the years, none of which ever mentioned the Ryde Hotel.

If any hotel would be mentioned for the inspiration for that song, it would be the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. The Eagle's themselves were quoted stating the song is about the "interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles", plus the Chateau Marmont was the "spot" for everyone in the entertainment world to party at, so that one makes more sense to me.

Secondly, over the years there's been so many ideas about the true meanings of the song, some people have gone so far as to state it was about a hotel in San Francisco that was purchased by Anton LaVey and turned into a Satanic church. Others have even tried to say the song is about the Camarillo State Mental Hospital, in Camarillo, CA. So for the theory that the Ryde Hotel was the inspiration for that classic song, it just doesn't add up. Sorry.

Deaths, Murders, Mystery

In all the searching I have done on the original Ryde, the 2nd Ryde and the final Ryde Hotel that stands today, I haven't found any other deaths besides Alex Johnson's death in 1920. Not to say that no one else died there, maybe I just haven't found it yet. I read on a 'less than credible' website, that a local artist committed suicide there and that he haunts the place. I see no real proof of this, nor to I believe this. I did find that this artist sadly took his life in 2006, however there was no mention that he took his life at the Ryde Hotel.

The newspaper article that I read, stated that he had suffered from depression and mental illness and that he took his life at his home on Grand Island. Honestly, whether he killed himself there or not, I find it in poor taste and given the fact this tragedy was so recent, that for someone to be putting his death on a website to claim a place is haunted or not, is just plain wrong!

I write about historical facts and stories that took place a long time ago. I do this to pay tribute and honor those who can no longer speak for themselves, therefore I will not go any further into this man's life or death, nor will I even mention his name out of respect for him and also to his family. Again, I could find NO EVIDENCE that he took his life at the Ryde Hotel so other websites should NOT be posting this information if they do not have the facts.

In Conclusion

In the time I have spent looking into the vast history of the Hotel Ryde and the community of Ryde itself, I have become even more fascinated with this beautiful piece of heaven. I always enjoyed taking drives out here on weekends and just enjoying the peace and serenity that this little Delta town has to offer, but now even more so it holds a special place in my heart now, and forever.

I am glad to have been able to research and document this history that had been forgotten for so long. It makes me happy that others out there who really want to know the real history of this place can now know what I know. If you are ever in the area of the California Delta, (just about 30 miles northwest of Stockton or 30 miles southwest of Sacramento), I suggest you take a little drive down to Walnut Grove and visit Ryde. It's worth the trip!!

(Copyright 2013- J'aime Rubio. Republished 3/28/2018)

www.jaimerubiowriter.com

Sources:
Sausalito News (January 10, 1920)
Sacramento Bee (January 13, 1920)
Lodi Sentinel (November 13, 1923)
Interview with Dennis Leary
Ryde Hotel Website (www.rydehotel.com)
Free Lance Star 8/5/1977
Sacramento River Delta Historical Society- periodicals
various websites, census records, archives and newspaper clippings

Photo Sources:
All photos of the Ryde Hotel are copyright protected and property of J'aime Rubio
photo of Lon Chaney, Jr. from public domain
Prohibition photo public domain

Hidden History of the Hotel Ryde - Part One

Ryde, CA (Walnut Grove Area)

A while back, someone very special took me to a quaint little Delta town known as Ryde. In fact, it was one of our first "dates" you could say. I had never been on the windy roads of the Delta, so I didn't know what to expect, although I was more than pleasantly surprised. While driving along the levee roads, you can literally watch the river flow by. It doesn't take much imagination to think of how it must have been to be there in Ryde's heyday when Sternwheel steamers and paddle boats traveled up and down that Delta and all the people who passed through.

When we arrived, my certain "someone" pulled the car down a steep driveway next to an old 1920's styled hotel, named the Hotel Ryde. As a gentleman does, he went around to the passenger side and opened the door for me, leading me to the back of the vehicle. He had then pulled out an old crank record player as well as a very old 78 rpm vinyl record and played it for me. Then, like all romantic movies play out, he asked me to dance with him. No one was around, it was nearly sunset, and the wind was blowing quite fierce, but it didn't matter....it was the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for me. So, like the true romantic that I am, I engulfed myself in the moment and danced!

After we were done, he took me for a walk around the property, telling me what he knew of the history there. In fact, at one time he and some of his friends wanted to purchase the hotel themselves. The history within the walls and the very community of Ryde itself had me chomping at the bit to investigate. What secrets lie there? What history could be told that had been long forgotten? And who did I need to speak to, to reveal that history? So many questions, and not a lot of people around to ask.

Soon after, I contacted the Ryde Hotel and the California Delta Chamber & Visitors Bureau to see if I could find out more about it's history. I reached at dead end with the Ryde Hotel at first. After contacting the hotel itself, the manager told me that he didn't know any more of the history prior to 1927. Thankfully, I did get one lead through Bill Wells at the California Delta Chamber & Visitors Bureau because he pointed me in the right direction, Giusti's!

You see, from what Bill Wells told me, Giusti's is a restaurant in Walnut Grove that has been around for generations. Not only that, but he told me that he thought the cash register at the bar was actually one of the original registers from the first Hotel Ryde. That was because the owner's grandfather was the one who started the first Hotel Ryde in the late 1800s. This was the lead I was looking for!

I continued researching in the old microfilmed archives, I checked old newspapers and periodicals and hit a gold mine of historic information. With all that I discovered, plus after finally contacting Mark Morais (owner of Giusti's), who so very kindly pointed me to lifetime local resident Dennis Leary, I was well on my way to getting a clearer picture of just what this hotel and the town itself was like, long ago.

Thanks to the wonderful conversation I had with Mr. Leary, I received a first hand account from someone who lived there. Along with the information I dug up in old newspaper archives, I was able to put the pieces together to give you this in depth history of Ryde, and the Hotel Ryde. Enjoy!

The History Of Founder Of Ryde

Many say the reason for the name Ryde was given because the founder of the town was born in the town of Ryde, Isle of Wight in England. This is incorrect. In fact, the man who bought the land that Ryde was built on was born in Monticello, Kentucky and his name was General Thomas Williams. The name Ryde was later chosen by William Kesner and General Thomas Williams, for what reasons, I guess is left for speculation. Perhaps relatives in Williams' genealogy had come from that region of England long ago? Or perhaps William Kesner's family had originated there. Kesner was the one who took the land and made it into a town, thus he is Ryde's true founder. Although I couldn't find any definite evidence that says why he chose the name, for now we can only speculate.

According to the Daily Alta California (3/2/1886) it speaks of Thomas Hansford Williams death from heart disease and disorders of the stomach and liver. It also goes on to summarize his accomplishments. He was born May 18, 1828 and died February 28, 1886. He was a native of Wayne County, Kentucky. He was also the son of Kentucky Congressman, Hon. Sherrod Williams. Williams came to California in 1850 and settled in El Dorado County, where he became a successful lawyer. By 1851, he was elected as the El Dorado County District Attorney. By 1857, he became the State Attorney General, where he was again re-elected in 1859. Once his term expired he moved to Sacramento, where he continued to practice law until moving up to Virginia City around 1863.

While in Virginia City, he and his business partner David Bixler opened the firm Williams & Bixler. One of their many clients, including many of the Silver Barons of the Comstock fortunes, owned the mining claim named "Central Number Two". Later it was organized into the Consolidated Virginia and California Mining Companies. Upon failing to pay their attorney's fees, the firm had no choice but to sue the company for what they did have, property. Although Williams thought that since the company couldn't pay their bills, obviously the claim was worthless, it in fact was not. They were sitting on a very profitable claim which they sold to George T. Marye & Son for the sum of $3,000,000.00 (three million dollars).

Original Hotel Ryde c/o Giusti's

By 1877, Williams and Bixler acquired 17,000 acres of the Delta region. Later in 1891, Williams' son sold 40 acres where the community of Ryde sits, to William Kesner, the man who founded Ryde. According to Dennis Leary, he stated that another man by the name of Cardoza had land adjacent to the Kesner properties and that the land the original Ryde Hotel was built on belonged to Cardoza, although the building itself was built by the Giusti family.

The Original Hotel Ryde

In 1886, the Giusti brothers (Egisto, Morro, Paolo and Pietro) immigrated from Lucca, Italy to the Walnut Grove area of the Delta, and built the very first Hotel Ryde. The Giusti family owned and operated the hotel and saloon for many years successfully, until the day of November 6, 1911. That was the day that the entire town of Ryde burned to the ground, leaving little to nothing left.

The San Francisco Call (November 8, 1911) noted:

"RYDE FIRE LEAVES LITTLE OF TOWN-
Almost Every Building Goes Before Flames, With Loss of $100,000

- Almost every building in town was destroyed by a fire which started here last night, causing loss of nearly $100,000. The fire started in the kitchen of the Ryde hotel, burned down the hotel and spread to an adjoining stable. The store of S.E. Brown and Fred Weber's saloon, the $50,000 pumping plant of reclamation district No. 3 and two wharves owned by W.A. Kesner were destroyed. The fire burned out because there was nothing left for it to feed on."

Sadly, the Hotel Ryde, along with all the other businesses and homes were burned to the ground. Thankfully, everyone was able to rebuild. Instead of staying in the same spot, the Giusti's decided to move to their current spot on the other side of the river in Walnut Grove. At the time they built it, it was originally called the Miller's Ferry Saloon. There was also a general store and a toll station for the ferry that was run by the family as well. After all these years, the Giusti family has run a very successful family owned and operated business along one of the most beautiful places in the Delta that still remains today.

So in 1911, with the town of Ryde burned to the ground, and all the residents struggling to build back their livelihood, what was to be the future of the Hotel Ryde?

In the next article I will go more in depth to uncover some unknown facts and history about the rebuilding of the Hotel Ryde and a few mysteries as well.

READ: PART 2 of the HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE HOTEL RYDE!

(Copyright 12/8/2013- J'aime Rubio. Republished 3/28/2018)

www.jaimerubiowriter.com

Thank you Dennis Leary, Mark Morais (Giusti's), Bill Kesner, & Bill Wells for all your help!

Photo Sources:
Photo of Original Hotel Ryde, property of Mark Morais (Giusti's)
Photo of Delta-Walnut Grove, property of J'aime Rubio

Sources:
San Francisco Call 11/8/1911
Daily California Alta 3/2/1886
Free Lance Star 8/5/1977
Overland Monthly (1918)
Sacramento River Delta Historical Society- periodicals
Interview with Dennis Leary
Various Census Records, Archives, etc.

Deadly Game Leads To Murder- Another Preston Castle Mystery

Billy Forester and Paul Daedler

It was December 5, 1923, in the suburbs of Pasadena, California. Two boys set out onto S. Raymond Avenue that day on a mission to play in an old abandoned building at 950 S. Raymond Ave. One of the boys had brought their father's loaded .22 pistol. It was never clarified who instigated the act of actually shooting the weapon for fun, but both boys ended up doing it. This was to be the start of a deadly game, that led to the murder of one Arturo (Arthur) Martinez, 5.

Many newspaper headlines write that the boys were both 14 yrs. old at the time of the murder but that is not correct. Paul Daedler was 14 yrs. old, having been born Nov. 3, 1909. William "Billy" Forester on the other hand, was actually 12 yrs. old, being that the Census records for 1920 show he was born in 1911. The two boys met while attending the Monroe School for Subnormal Children in Pasadena.

The Day of The Murder

According to the boys confession, they had come to the abandoned building to play with the loaded gun that they had taken from one of their homes. Apparently, five year old Arturo Martinez had crawled through a window into the building to follow the boys. Arturo was a playmate of the boys when they had no other kids to play with. Arturo jumped into a dug up section in the ground and according to Billy, Paul had seen Arturo within his shooting range and started shooting at him like he was shooting at a scared rabbit in a hole. Arturo then began squealing and screaming, so to shut him up the boys threw bricks at his head until they knocked him out.

Arturo had been shot twice in the head, once in the back, plus the bricks had also injured him in the head profusely. Paul was afraid that the boy would run back to his mother to tell on them so he went and got some wire and tied one end around Arturo's neck and Billy tied the other end to his feet. Then they fastened the little boy to a post and shut the door to the building tight.

They left poor little Arturo there, bleeding to death all night long. The next day, the boys returned to see if he was still alive, but he was not. They later went to the police and claimed they had found Arturo's body in the building that way. According to the papers, after a long interview with the Chief of Police they confessed to the crime. Paul had claimed he was worried he would hang for this crime, while Billy was only worried about going to jail. That tells you about their conscience's or lack thereof.

Who Were Paul Daedler And Billy Forester?

Paul was the son of Louis O. Daedler and Pauline Daedler of Beloit, Wisconsin. Apparently the Daedler's moved around a lot. Paul's father came from Sibley, Minnesota and later married his wife Pauline in Wisconsin. They later settled in Rockford City, Winnebago, Illinois (as the 1920 Census records show).

For whatever reason, the Daedlers moved to Pasadena for a short period of time, but long enough to have their name become infamously attached to one of Pasadena's grisliest murders.

Paul attended school in Pasadena which was labeled for "Subnormal Children." I had to figure out what this meant so I looked into it. According to Webster's Dictionary it reads:

Subnormal :

1. lower or smaller than normal

2. having less of something and especially of intelligence than is normal

Looking further into it, I found that this school was for children who were below the normal IQ levels that were considered "normal." Any IQ score below 70 was considered "subnormal."

It was easy to assume that perhaps due to both Paul and Billy's history of juvenile delinquency ( as they were both on probation at the time), that the State would automatically assume they were dumb, imbeciles or even slow. This wouldn't surprise me at all if they were labeled that after having been put on probation, since the State at the time was very ignorant about mental state of mind in minors and assumed that if you broke the law or were incorrigible that you automatically were stupid or a moron. I am not saying these boys didn't have some sort of mental problem as this is a heinous crime and its obvious there were issues here, but I don't believe they were stupid.

Billy was the son of William Forester and Margaret Forester of Pasadena. According to some newspaper articles he had been adopted, there is no way to know this for sure as I could not locate any records. It is possible he was adopted, perhaps as a baby, but then he was named after his father so it makes me wonder.

Their Day At Court

When the court day came around, Paul's family had him all "lawyer'd up." His parents, friends, family and several others including his pastor and school teacher were there to be a witness for him. Although Paul had signed two confessions, they decided to change their story and he claimed he had never been there and that his pastor could vouch for him that he was at church at the time of the murder. The pastor of Paul's church claimed that Paul had been in class, however, his schoolteacher, said that she had not seen him after 2pm on the day of the murder. Billy only had his mother show up for his court hearing. His parents did not pay for a lawyer and no one testified on his behalf.

The Judge ruled that Billy would be sent to the Preston School of Industry to await trial, while Paul was sent to the Whittier School.

Cover-Up? Pay Off? Threat?

According to records, not one month after Billy had been sent to Preston (PSI) he had withdrawn his earlier confession and submitted to the court a new full confession that he alone was to blame for the murder of Arturo Martinez. In his confession he states:

"I pulled the gun and shot him. Then I though I would put the blame on someone else, so I shot him two more times. I happened to think that whenever Paul Daedler got mad, he always threw bricks, so I decided to throw bricks at Arthur so it would appear that Paul hit him."

Speculation and rumors spread when word got out that a person who had an "interest" in Paul Daedler's case came all the way up to Preston to see Billy and convinced (or possibly threatened) him to take the blame for it all.

Okay, so let's really think about this for a moment. Forget the crime for just one second, let's think of these two boys. Paul was connected, he had money, his family had the finances to afford attorney's and get his pastor to even testify that Paul wasn't even there that day, even though Paul himself admitted he was there and he did shoot Arturo. Then there was Billy, he was younger than Paul by two years and didn't have the upbringing that Paul did. Would it be hard to believe that he could have been fearful of his life or his mother's life so he took the blame? I think its possible. Could he have been paid off to admit the the murder and possibly get some sort of plea bargain deal? Absolutely!

What I find rather interesting though is that after Billy confessed to the entire crime, he only spent a little over a year and was paroled from Preston in November of 1925 and he vanished without a trace. I researched for him through every record and Census and there was never a trace of this man that I could locate. I did find his parents in following Census records, but never one with Billy on it. He literally disappeared.

What then happened to Paul? Well, after serving for 17 months at the Whittier School, he was released to the court who then ordered that he leave the State of California and never return (does that sound like someone paid off that Judge or what?)

Paul's father Louis Daedler then moved the entire Daedler family back to Rockford City, Illinois. By 1927, Paul had found his way back to California and in front of a judge facing the charge of vagrancy. He was then ordered to be sent up to Preston School of Industry where he remained until the end of his "vagrancy" sentence. Paul later lived out the rest of his life in Los Angeles and died in 1981.

Conclusion

This story tugged at my heart from the beginning of my research for it. It pangs me to know that these two boys, whether one peer pressured the other to do it, or they both had equal share in the crime- they both killed an innocent baby. Arturo was only five years old. Arturo was the son of a Pasadena gardener, Salvador Martinez. No one ever wrote about who little Arturo was, who his family were or how devastated they were after their baby was killed. All the stories speak of Billy and Paul, but never of Arturo and what this little boy was like. What were his dreams? What was his favorite toy? Favorite color? Favorite song? He was a baby, so young and his memory has been lost within the archives.

No photos were printed of this poor child, but there were plenty photos of Billy and Paul. I wanted to write this story about what happened to little Arturo to give his family the honor and respect that they so deserve. To give Arturo the respect and honor he deserved. He was born around the same time as my grandfather, and look at the life he could have had. All the years he could have enjoyed and the family he could have grown up to have, the person he could have grown up to be. All lost because of two mischievous boys playing with a loaded gun.

Why didn't those boys serve longer sentences? Was the Judge paid off to let them off easy? What happened to Billy after he was released from Preston?

So many unanswered questions, that I hope to one day uncover.

J'aime Rubio (Copyright) 7/26/2012 Republished 3/28/2018
www.jaimerubiowriter.com

Sources:

Evening Independent

12/24/1923

Los Angeles Times

8/8/1927

Ghastly- 1947project.com