Pescadero Memories

This newspaper article from the November 14th, 1873, issue of “The Daily Alta,” is about the in-progress trial of those accused of the murder of Harvey Green. It is interesting that the trial was well underway within a week of the time the killing occurred. Considering there had been talk of a lynching in Pescadero, a quick trial was probably a good idea. This is the beginning of the reporting on the trial:

THE PESCADERO MURDER

Fatal Termination of a Land Dispute. Six Persons Charged With Murder — Preliminary Examination In Progress.

The town of Pescadero was thrown into a state of excitement on Friday by the report of a murder about a mile and a half south from the town, growing out of a disputed possession or one hundred and sixty acres of land, claimed by John B. Green and Charles Kinsey, and for which civil suits are pending in the Twelfth District Court in San Mateo. The facts, in the case are somewhat mixed, though the majority of the people in Pescadero believe that the property belongs to Green, though he conveyed the property to Kinsey, who paid as consideration some lands in Illinois. Green went to Illinois to take possession of the property conveyed to him, and to his surprise, says that he found the property was mortgaged and a portion was in Kinsey’s brother’s name. Green returned with his family and an investigation resulted the finding among the records that the property had been declared a homestead by Green in Santa Cruz county, when Pescadero was a portion of that county. It appears, that in the transfer of the property to Kinsey, no mention was made of the homestead, and Mrs. Green’s signature was not obtained, as was necessary to pass the title. Kinsey, however, was in possession of the property tor 1 year, and Green, acting under the advice of neigh- bors, conc!uded to take peaceable posession of the property, on the ground that he had received no consideration for it. This led to the fatal affray four days and a haIf after Green re-entered on the land, and for which six persons are now charged with murder.

The persons under arrest are: Charles Kinsey, Mr. Nancy Elizabeth Kinsey. Alexander McLean, Michael McLean, Wm. Dow and W. F. Beam. Charles Kinsey is a grey-headed man, about sixty years of age, and has resided in Pescadero since 1864, keeping a store; was at one time Postmaster, and the last few years has been keeping the Lincoln House. He is a man of a positive temper and only a fair social standing in the community. Mrs Kinsey is a woman upward of forty years of age, strong-minded, and of a determined character. She has a daughter, by her first husband, seventeen years of age. Dow is also a married man; the other three are single, and all are working men.

THE PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION

Of the accused was commenced in Redwood City yesterday. The People were represented by District Attorney W. M. Nutting. Charles N. and George W. Fox, and Messrs. J. Reynolds and H. Kincaid appear for the defendants before Justice of the Peace Walsh, before whom the examination is pending.

About thirty witnesses have been subpoenaed, most of them for the prosecutors, and it may take several days to get through with the case. Mrs. Kinsey sat beside her counsel, dressed in deep bases, and did not appear to be at all affected by the very serious charges against her. She listens attentively to the testimony detailed by the witnesses, and frequently suggests questions to her counsel. The second witness examined was a brother of the deceased, Harvey Green, in which the principal points of the case for the people are developed.

Dr. J. J. Clark was the first witness called, and testifed that on Friday night last, he was called to attend to Harvey Green at…

Pascadaro; found hIL. ly-ng a abort di.lance from the hona,, dead; tat post mortem ex* i*iastion showed that iitsitli was canoed ty a gunshot around in the neck, the jugular vein ia BMW, the bullet entered the r <Lt etd. snd p»aKd through 10 the Bats] also found a wound in the hip. the wound In the neck was hi rassi 1 lij fatal; Gr.-.o’i

(When I run into a passage like this, where the OCR (or OCM, Optical Character Misrecognition, in this case) is this wildly inaccurate I get slowed down in transcribing the articles, but get a small chuckle out of the results. The passage seemingly about BMWs, canoes and Bats should read:

…Pescadero found him lying  a short distance from the house, dead; a post mortem examination showed his death had been caused by a gunshot wound to the neck, the jugular vein was severed, the bullet entered the right side and passed through to the left; also found a wound in the hip; the wound in the neck was necessarily fatal; Green’s body was four to six feet; hardly think the body had not been moved after being shot down; (sic?) could not say from which direction the bullet came; the man was lying on his back; the wound in the neck was made while the man was living.

JOHN R. GREEN

was next called and testified: I reside at Pescadero, am a farmer, was there on Nov. 7th, at my house,  a mile and a half south of Pescadero, at eight o’clock that night, when John Warner came to my house and warned me a party was organizing at Pescadero, headed by William Dow, with twenty or thirty persons, who were coming to take possession of the property, or they would have it burn to ashes. I did not credit the report at first and said I would not think Lowe (sic) would do such a thing. My brother Harvey was in the house, my son John, Warner, myself and two others and my family . Soon after Mr. Knowles came (the Deputy Sheriff and Justice of the Peace) up. I went out to see him; he asked me if I knew a party was being organized to come to my house; told him I had heard of it; my brother and Warner then rode towards Pescadero to see if it was so; and in a half an hour they returned and said they had heard a wagon coming up the road; I said, I will go down to the gate and meet them and see if I can reason with them to prevent any rash act; the wagon came along with Mrs. Kinsey, Dave McClean, and Beam; Knowles spoke to Mrs. Kinsey at the wagon, she, however, went

DOWN TO THE GATE and said, “I will go into that house .” I told her she would not go in, as that was not her house; she replied, “If I can’t get in through the gate, I’ll get in over the fence.” Dow said he had rented the property and he was going to take it; Knowles asked him if he had any papers and Dow said yes, he and the McLeans had a lease and they were going to keep it; the lease was shown to Knowles; Mrs. Kinsey again attempted to go through; told her I would not let her; she put her hand on the gate and then Dow and McClean jerked the gate from me; I pushed Mrs. Kinsey and she fell on her back; a man was standing behind her, whom I took to be the teamster, and he picked her up; I looked for a moment and thought he might shoot me

THEN HEARD VOLLEYS AT THE HOUSE

Mrs. Kinsey cried, “Good!” “Good!” The teamster pulled her to the wagon; and I went to the house, now pistol shots exchanged freely; went to the left and looked in the crowd for my brother and saw him go apparently to the door; I saw him stagger back and he fell, I went to go to him; and when near him, shots came whinning by me, and I rushed out to see if I could see the man who was shooting at me; one ball glanced by my cheek; I was shot in the hand and my gun was shot out of my right hand; when I got back to the door, the firing had ceased; my first impulse was to jump over the fence, and in passing the house, my son stopped me and said Harvey was shot; I went to my brother, put my hand near his heart, and saw he was dead; I saw Alexander MacLane (sic) pass in through the door, and think he shot at Mr. Johnson; saw three men afterward in the house; my brother was dead and I gave up; when the gate was first jerked from me, Dow said, “The ball is open.” He went in, followed by McLane, my brother was on the left of me, and then ran to the house; I stood there for a moment to see if there would be any shooting, and then I ran to the house as fast as I could get there; when I got there the men were in the house and about there; my brother was standing near the door; and I saw two men shooting; one of the MacLanes (sic)was standing on the left side of the door with a pistol aimed at my son, he then turned to my brother, he then turned to my brother, and soon after I saw him stagger and fall, one of the men shooting was Alex MacLane; 9sic) my brother was facing the door as I was about ready to go in the house; think he fell from the shot he received in the neck; noticed my brother particularly, because I knew he would stay by the house if he could; I was 4 feet from my brother when he fell; could not say whoch man shot my brother.