The San Francisco call. [volume], August 03, 1903, Image 1

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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san francisco: honpay, August 3, 1903.
YQLITME XCIV— NO. 64.
SCENES IN THE REGION WHERE
THE? PRISON FUGITIVES ARE
BEING HUNTED. >
At dawn the weary watchers
were ready for action. Sheriff
Bosquit and Captain Swisler-were
in charge of the forces. It was
decided that it was not advisable
to storm the spot where the con
victs were supposed to be. It
was agreed to set fire to the brush
on the hill and if the convicts
were upon the hill to force them
to come out into the open or be
burned to death. It was planned
that when the fire got near the
scene of yesterday's battle a rush
would be made to recover the bod
ies of the men who had been
killed.
The brush was fired on the
vals of twelve paces in all the ra
vines and gullies at the bottom of
the hill on all sides. The hill is
about 200 feet in elevation from its
base and is covered with dense
manzanita . brush on the side
where the soldiers were ambushed.
Clean up to the top of the hill it is
seamed with canyons and gulches,
affording the best of protection for
men wishing to hide.
Continued on Fasre 2. Column" 3. u
presented an awful spectacle. The
bodies were found lying side by
side. .
Rutherford had been hit with
several bullets. He had been shot
through the stomach. The bullet
passed through the body and came
out near the left shoulder blade.
Another bullet had passed through
his -right shoulder. Still a third
had hit him squarely in the middle
of the throat and had passed out
of the back of his neck. Any one
of the . wounds was fatal.
-Rutherford must have been
,wounded in the shoulder first, for
•when his body was discovered it
was found that he had fired every
cartridge in his rifle.: Six empty
shells 'were found beside his body
and. the seventh was in the cham
ber of the; gun.' Rutherford was
found lying on 'his back, his face
Officers Find
Bodies of
Victims.
At the first volley Leh Wedg
wood, a member of jthe posse, re
ceived a serious wound in the
hand, the bullet fired by one of
the convicts passing through that
member. A second bullet struck
the stock of Wedgwood's rifle"
and tore off a large pie.ee* of the
hardwood. • •
Wedgwood declares that at the
moment he fired he saw one of
the convicts fall, and he feels sure
that one was struck by his bullet.
The town is alarmed and search
is being made for the fugitives.
distorted and his limbs drawn up.
Jones was shot almost to pieces.
A gaping wound in his head- al
lowed his brains to exude: The
jagged opening was large enough
to insert three fingers of a manS
hand. The skull was smashed in
all directions caused t>y a" soft
nosed bullet. The lower' part of
his face was. filled with buckshot
and he was also : shot twice
through the body. His- dotting
was soaked with his life's blood
and strong men shuddered as they
\ viewed the remains of the gallant
young fellow who after -fighting
through the Philippine war ' met
his untimely end in bravely dis
charging his duty as an American
citizen. He was found lying on
his face and his head rested on his
gun barrel, which contained .its
full load of cartridges. '. .
The gun of Rutherford was
DUTCH FLAT, Aug. 2.
t— At 9:20 o'clock to
: night a posse, rriade up
• of officers and citizens
and consisting of ten men, -went
out to the cemetery to arrest a
couple .of "the escaped convicts
from Folsom "prison, w£o had
made their way here from the lo
cality of Placeryijle. '*£';£
The fugitives had been see,n
moving mysteriously in the vicin
ity of the burial place and* the in
formation was conveyed by a rail
road employe to the officers. They
lost no time in preparing for a
capture, and well knowing the
desperate character of the men
they, expected to deal with, they
saw to it that there was no«lack of
armament in the party. *
The cemetery is loeateef about
midway between the station and
the town and the distance from
town to station, is nearly a mile.
When the officers" approached the'
cemetery there appeared to be no
other persons in the neighbor
hood, and in brder-that.no mistake
might be made, it was decided to
search the locality. • • . •
The search. had not-proceeded
for more than a few minutes when
two men s.tarted. up .from the
grass and began to run. * They
were called upon to ' half, and
then, to the consternation of* the
posse, they turned, and fired with
rifles. The posse was quick to
return the fire.
Special' Dispatch. to'Tht, \Ca\\ '
Noise of Con
flictAlarms;:
Town.: . :
Fight. Occurs
at Dutch
Flat. ...
POSSE SHOOTS
AT TWO FU=
GITIVES.
; *T*'WO-of the fugitive convicts from the Folsom penitentiary were located in Dutch Flat last night and a brief : battle with rifles was the result. The two men, one of whom is said to have been the negro, Seavis, openefrfire on a pvsse
' 1 • 'of. dti-ens who were intent on making arrests. One of the members of the posse was shot in the ]\and and the butt of his rifle, was damaged by a bullet. The convicts,,one of whom may have been wounded, escaped in the faith.
• : -j^, c fodtcsof the soldiers killed in the fight at the Grand Victory mine were recovered by the posses yesterday, and the deserted camp of 'the murderous convicts was found. The convicts had made. their escape.. .... • .
TWO CONVICTS OPEN FIRE ON OFFICERS AT DUTCH FLAT.
PURSUER IS WOUNDED AND OUTLAW PROBABLY WAS SHOTS
SOLDIERS' BODIES FOUND NEAR MURDERERS' DESERTED CAMP
sduth and east sides of the hill at
6:30 this morning, and as the
flames made, headway every man
in the posses covered the hill with
his rifle, prepared to shoot at the
first signs' of the convicts emerg
ing from the flaming brush.
Volunteers /were- called for to
recover the. bodies of Rutherford
and Jones. - Fourteen men re
sponded.. They were led by Will
iam Rutherford and William Bur
gess. At "6 45 o'clock'five mem
bers of the ' detachment emerged
from . the*' undergrowth carrying
the body' of Festus Rutherford.
The brother of : the dead man was
leading- the : body bearers, tears
streaming from his eyes. As the
remains were \ laid on the ground
William Rutherford was over
come with despair and grief. He
wildly, called on his dead • brother
to speak. to him. until kindly hands
led him from the spot. The scene
will never.be forgotten by the men
¦who witnessed it. and. the hardy
mountaineers; sorrowfully : bent
their lieads and gripped their rifles
and swore to (wipe out the murder
ers, if- but a. glimpse could be
caught of them. ; ' , ¦
: Five : minutes ; later, -.the body ; of
Jones •-! was recovered. • His body
Contintied.cn Page 2, Column 5.
PLACERVILLE, Aug.
2. — A Call correspond
ent who went out from
here with the posses last
night to the Grand Victory Mine
and spent the night there with the
armed men who were guarding
the hill where the battle with the
convicts took place returned here
this morning.
' Three men dead and one se
riously wounded was the loss sus
tained by the man-hunters at the
battle fought at Grand Victory
Mine yesterday evening with the
band of outlaws who escaped
from Folsom prison.
The outlaws escaped without
loss. The armed posses, num
bering more than 400 men, gath
ered at the Grand Victory Mine
from all adjacent points. They
came in on horseback and in all
kinds of teams and wagons. At
7 :$o o'clock last night the hill on
which the bloody fight had taken
place was surrounded by a small
army of men determined to avenge
the deaths of their comrades who
had been ambushed a few hours
earlier.
Guards were stationed at inter-
Fire Sweeps
at Convict
Camp.
'.•: v Tomorrow morning, .when the
fiarhes have subsided, a careful
search of the hill will be made,
fit seems likely that this theory of
suicide may turn out to be true,
.for'the reason that the three men
.<efn this" afternoon in the canyon
near .the Sevenrmile House must
have' been three of the convicts
svHb participated in yesterday's
•.battle and not the three who were
•supposed" -to ' have been at the
"Monte mine last night and who
exchanged shots with two guards
• f rom* Folsqm p'rison.
y • The distance" from the scene of
yesterday's battle to the canyon
tiear the Seven-mile House is
about four miles, and it is possible
that the convicts" went in that di
rection. Ilie presence of three of
them there and the circumstance
that Gill claims he wounded one
in the fight and the firing of a
• Otie.-oi the hats found in the
convicts' lair has a bullet hole in
i% *.The : trail. found to-day and
followed. to Perry's shows that a
Vrian. had evidently dragged him
self along, limping on one leg and
trailing the other in the dust.
" .This -would indicate that the man
Avas 'wounded or disabled in one
' : .. This morning while the fire was
Paging on-the hillside near where
; the' battle took -place- a shot was
•heard -jn the brush. Some of the
posse -thought that it was possibly
;a' cartridge exploding, but after a
¦while -all. came to the conclusion
•tfiat.the noise was too loud for a
.cartridge to have been exploded
"in that manner'.- .It.is thought that
.one of the. convicts was wounded
l5y Gill, and that, finding himself
helpless and -surrounded by flames,
fcecdmrmtted suicide.
Posses Believe
•v Suicide Occurred
•/.^VtACERVILLE, Aug.
•'•"' M M. 2. — All sorts of ru
''.. Jt*"^ - mors are filling the air
¦^¦. in Placen-ille to-night.
Reports are coming in from all
places that the convicts have been
seen, .but none of these are au
thentic- This' afternoon a report
came in that the body of a convict
Jrad been found in the brush near
wKere the battle of yesterday took
jiace. Coroner Winchell went
'nui to investigate this rumor and
:foirad that there was nothing in it.
• " Gill,' the", wounded man of the
militia; . is [ progressing favorably
>nd he will- recover. Gill feels
•certain that he wounded one of the
convicts -in the battle yesterday.
71 e" saVs -that .when the convicts
fifed" at the- militia he fired at the
•head of a man' that showed just
•aWe the brush. He fired at the
•ihar and .then his second shot he
'fired lower down, so as to hit the
fnm'in the body. Gill claims he
-distinctly heard the convict say
../My God!"' 'and threw his rifle in
ihee sir. '.'}'¦
gpecul Dispatch to The CaJU
Fugitive May
Have Killed
Himself.
Shot Is Heard
g In Fiery
: Brush.
TRACKS FOUND
OF WOUND=
ED MAN.
PRICE ITVE: CENTS.
The San Francisco Call.