Author David Kulczyk at Russo Books on September 27th
By: David Kulczyk
Topics: bakersfield, Politics, blogs, entertainment, News, photos, bakersfield.com, shopping, local history, Books, author's corner
Posted by CaliforniaJustice Mon Sep 8, 2008 11:05:07 PDT
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Author David Kulczyk will be signing and speaking about his book, California Justice - Shootouts, Lynchings and Assassinations in the Golden State (Word Dancer Press) at Russo Books (9000 Ming Ave) on September 27th .
Two chapters of the book happened in Bakersfield. A Hard Road into Bakersfield is a look into vigilante injustice in Kern County in 1879, when five Californios and two successful businessmen were lynched.
Chapter 11
A Hard Road into Bakersfield
Death Toll: 9
May 28, 1879, Bakersfield - Kern County
Justice was thwarted in the following case of the Yoakum brothers,
as in one trial, they were exonerated, and in another, they were convicted
on the basis of highly partial testimony, testimony provided by the victims’ relatives and friends. However, based upon exasperation at the lengthy
and multiple trial proceedings, and upon the dubious degree of
impartiality provided by the judge, some citizens of Bakersfield took the
law into their own hands. They drew their own verdict and administered
a much quicker form of “justice” than the courts were providing.
The city of Bakersfield is situated at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley on the Kern River, and it gained a well-deserved reputation as a tough town almost from its founding. Maybe it’s the heat.
Bakersfield was settled in 1858, and it was named after an early settler, Colonel Thomas Baker. Colonel Baker ran a sort of campground for immigrants who were moving from southern California looking for a place to settle. By 1871, the settlement had a telegraph office, two stores, a newspaper, two boarding houses, one doctor, a wagon shop, a harness shop, one attorney, a saloon, and fifty students who attended a one-room school. Bakersfield quickly became the center of agriculture and industry for the region.
Five Californios were charged with the ever-popular crime of rustling on December 22, 1877, in Kern County. Whether they wee guilty or not, Bessena Ruiz, Fermin Eldeo, Miguel Elias, Francisco Ensinas, and Anthony Maron were all strung up together in one of the biggest Lynchings in California history. Nobody was ever charged with the murders.
Bill and Tom Yoakum were successful miners and businessmen in the area. Their land was located about twenty-five miles northeast of Bakersfield and the property included the Long Tom, the New Years Gift, and the Long Hank mines. The brothers also ran a general store, a blacksmith shop, and a mill. They employed thirty miners at their various excavations. The brothers defended their property against claim jumpers and thieves and thought nothing of suing anyone who challenged their right to their lands. Bill Yoakum even ran for sheriff once, although he lost the election.
The Yoakum brothers were not to be messed with, and their success in the mines and the courts angered many citizens of Kern County. Hamilton J. “Tug” Tucker and his partners. Johnson, Bronough, and Wegg, were involved in a long-running lawsuit over the Long Tom mine. The lawsuit became convoluted, and the Yoakums filed a court case against Tucker, Johnson, Bronough, and Webb. Little is known about the relationship that
Tug Tucker and William Johnson with the partners. But we can be reasonably sure that the extended lawsuit against the Yoakums drained the capital of both parties.
On April 13, 1879, Tucker and Johnson were driving their wagons along the road approximately a half mile from the Long Tom mine. They were returning from Granite Station, where the thirty-year Tug had established his family home. Johnson and Tucker’s sister, known only as Mrs. Burdett, were in the front wagon, with Tucker, his wife Harriet, and their two children in the second wagon, when two shots rang out from a rock outcropping on the hillside. Tucker was shot through the heart and died instantly. Johnson was also hit, and he died almost as quickly. People living nearby heard the commotion and came to their aid, but there was nothing they could do. Also, the men had been shot from a distance that was too far for anyone to have seen their assailants.
Harriet Tucker and her sister-in-law attended the coroner’s inquest the next day in Bakersfield. Both women were dressed in black. Mrs. Burdett’s face was badly bruised from her fall from the wagon. The Yoakums’ attorney, a Mr. Gregg, asked Judge Colby to clear the courtroom for the inquest, and the judge agreed. This riled the dead men’s friends, and as they stood outside the courthouse, they conjured up explanations as to why the courtroom had been cleared. A few hours later, Coroner A. A. Mix released the results of the inquest. Sheriff W. R. Bower’s investigation showed that the shots came from a large boulder with a natural hole in it that served as a gun port for the sniper. The boulder was located two hundred and fity yards from where the men were shot. The inquest dubiously concluded that the men were probably shot by the Yoakum brothers. Bill and Tom Yoakum were charged with murder, solely because of their ongoing lawsuit and the location of the shooting.
Completely disregarded by the inquest panel was the fact that Tucker and Johnson had successfully sent a miner to prison for stealing their gold. The miner had sworn revenge, and he had been seen around Kern County at the time of the ambush.
The Yoakums’ attorney asked for a change of venue for the trial, but Judge Philip Colby refused, although, ironically, before Colby had become a judge, he had represented William Yoakum in an unsuccessful lawsuit against a man named Thomas Baker. Although Bill and Tom Yoakum had huge investments in the area and a payroll to meet, they were detained in the Bakersfield jail while awaiting trial.
The Bakersfield newspapers stirred up passions with stirring editorials that suggested that good citizens of Kern County take the law into their own hands and become the judge, jury and executioner.
Bill Yoakum’s trial started on January 13, 1879. Yoakum was represented by three law firms. The attorneys again requested a change of venue, supported by a document signed by three outstanding Bakersfield citizens. The judge once again refused the request. Harriet Tucker testified first and added new details about the shooting. She now remembered that she recognized Tom and Bill Yoakum running from the ambush site. It was hard to believe that in the commotion, with her husband shot dead while sitting next to her, with their children on their laps and frightened horses pulling their wagon, she had possessed the mindset to look up to see who was shooting at them.
Tucker’s sister, Mrs. Burdett, testified that she saw a Yoakum running up the canyon just after the shooting, carrying a rifle. Bill Yoakum’s only alibi came from his wife Callie, who told the jury that Bill was home that day, taking care of their sick child while she did the washing.
The jury deliberated for only a few minutes before they came back with a not guilty verdict. Sheriff Bowers had to protect Bill Yoakum from the crowd, which was hell bent for blood, albeit not justice. Bill still had to face another trial on February 13 for the murder of Johnson. The brothers were pallid and baggy-eyed from their long imprisonment while awaiting trial and they had almost had enough. However, they hired additional attorneys from San Francisco for the next trial. The Bakersfield newspapers spread hate via editorials insinuating that the Yoakums had bought off Judge
Colby, completely omitting that Yoakum was found not guilty by a jury of his peers and not the judge.
The Johnson murder trial lasted ten days. Even thought Bill had been found not guilty in the first trial, he was found guilty of shooting Johnson. The jury heard the same witnesses and evidence as in the first trial. Yoakum’s attorneys immediately filed for a stay of sentencing so that they could appeal the verdict.
Any subsequent appeal trial was scheduled to be moved away from Bakersfield. Unfortunately, the Yoakums were still being held in the Bakersfield jail.
At half past midnight on the morning of May 28, 1879, a mob broke down the door of the jail and grabbed guards George Reed and William H. Coons. They took the keys from the jailers and went looking for the Yoakums. Sheriff Bower and a friend were nearby, but they were stopped by the mob and brazenly held at gunpoint.
The Yoakum brothers were in their cells when the lynch mob entered. Bill, who was in leg irons because he wasn’t a model prisoner, fought his attackers like a wildcat, until someone shot him in the chest. They then hung him by the neck in his cell. Tom was murdered the same way.
The jailers were released and they ran for their lives into the night. A few hours after the mob left, the frightened guards entered the jail and found the Yaokums beaten, lynched, and shot.
Even though only a handful of the mob word masks, and the sheriff and jailers all saw who was involved, the coroner concluded that “unknown persons” had lynched the Yoakums.
Evidently, the supporters of the victims had their own opinions
as to the events that had led to the ambush murder of Tucker and
Johnson. When “justice” flows from the barrel of a rifle, the “law”
sometimes becomes irrelevant.
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