Wednesday, Apr. 21, 2010

Twist in Time: Dispensing justice during the Gold Rush

If the California gold rush illustrated any one human characteristic, it was violence - violence on the trail, violence in the mines and violence in the towns. It came to be expected. Maybe that's why nobody seemed surprised at those goings-on at Sutter's Fort on Christmas Eve in 1848.

Mr. Pickett and Mr. Alderman were buddies. They had come to Sutter's fort from Oregon and rented one of the Captain's little lean-tos that stood in rows against the inside walls of the enclosure. The only trouble was that both men claimed the same space. After a while, it became obvious that the dispute could not be settled amicably, so, Pickett went inside the little hut and locked the door. He figured that possession was nine-tenths of the law.

Alderman, not to be outdone, grabbed an axe and proceeded to gain admittance to what he considered his temporary home and castle. Upon chopping the flimsy door down, there he stood facing Pickett, who was armed with a shotgun.

No one knows what happened next, except that Alderman got shot. Pickett claimed that his friend had raised the axe in a threatening manner at him, so he dispatched him with a load of buckshot. Alderman fell back with ten holes in his right arm, three in his right side, and one in his breast. Within half an hour he was dead.

Since there was no real legal authority in California at the time, a jury was gathered right there within the walls of the Fort. After an hour or so of deliberation, they announced that they could not reach a verdict. Four of the twelve favored acquittal, three were in favor of a verdict of manslaughter, and five deemed it a willful murder.

So Mr. Pickett went free -- that is to say, he wasn't hanged. He fixed his door and stayed right there at Sutter's Fort just as if nothing had happened, and no one treated him any worse for the escapade. It was all just part of living in the Golden State 150 ago.