The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 15, 1898, Page 23

THE SAN FR:\NCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MAY 15, 1898. ROUNDING UP ONE OF THE WORST BANDS OF OUTLAWS IN CALIFORNIA S N th: *70’s the country was startled by the boldness and frequency of stage robberies in the Blue Moun- tain section of Oregon. The rob- beries were not only bold, but re- munerative, and it seemed impossible to catch the guilty parties. For a long time their operations were confined to Wells, Fargo & Co.’s express, and so long they escaped detection. At last, in a bitterly contested stage robbery, they added murder, individual robbery and the rifling of Uncle Sam’'s malil. Then, by a combination of all the forces in clever detective work, the robbers were run down. Wheeler, Brown and Billings were convicted and sent to the State prison at San Quen- tin. They were assigned to different dutles in the hospital department. It was while these men were serving their time behind the prison walls that they organized themselves to rob and ple of the northern State. Individually v, they were the shrewd- , boldest and most desperate lot of r gathered inside San or a like purpose. inely educated, a good events subsequently r mind directing the the band afterward ndocino outlaws. minister of the er, appar- a mannered man as any He had k rank countena gospel man. I times in action. k party and s fight- wicked- emed to tain- ed his he had Ie had t hooting irons nost plaintive with which he ock in church. When n hearing he would part in all the crimes he was a partie why he 1id he was re ed two person e been blindfolded of the , on remov- I’ you where locality w songs the head and gang. He was a qu chief t man, band no one ever ving San Quentin, in pursu- ance of their plans, he went to Men- docino City and took with him a pleas- ing woman as his wife. Their cor was circumspect and they gained- the good will and esteem of rybody in Mendocino ( Occasional rumors of a swift, solitary midnight rider among the redwoods were circulated, but none connected Dr. Wheeler with this. I saw Wheeler in the full tide of b social and business career at Mendocino City. I saw him captured on Cow Mountain in Redwood Vall after he had been surrounded and stormed out. After his capture I saw him die on the jail floor at U by means of self-admin: I tried to talk with him jail me times and to this day I know of his private life or who he ious to the Blue Mountain robberies. Billings I knew little of, the only imes I met him he had a gun in his hand and he was not in a chatting mood. In the mount in Humboldt Count unexp I came upon three of the band I 1 ing was amu ip two buck them both w they could strike the also held up a plece of a in front of him and, buck- nrown up fifteen paces id of oral ~tedly. Billings pistol before He eye bal behind hi the the looking glass and broke si balls. I had been hunting them, but when T saw th T e 1w fraid they always full of fight and He the first to fire and the 1 to quit. He nev retreated until over- whelmed by numbers. I have now on me a scar from one of his bullets. He had a sweetheart somewhere an was trying to raise mo; ried. He was splendidly ed d a better looking man one seldom s, died fighting. on the attacki T was not like the others. He was co and } convicted of murder or robbery aloon. He was not a gun-fight- He had no grit and could not a saloon man of San Frar been h ) although he was the lar man g He quit the first few days of the chase and ignominiously surrendered near Usal in Mendocino Countv. He had trained Heenan, the Benicia boy, in s of his fights, and, if I reme r correctly, was his trainer at the time he fought Sayres He had been in the hospital service at San Quentin and there he made the ac- AS GAUNCE STRUCK THE WATER, ZIP! WENT SEVEN BULLETS AT quaintance of Wheeler, Billings and Brown, much to their subsequent sor- row and chagrin. Gaunce, the last of the quintet, had no previous criminal record. He was r d in San Rafael. How he made » acquaintance of the other four al- s remained a mystery. He was a voung and boyish looking, not more than 20 yeal old. He, lik® Billings, very handsome. He didn’'t know to use a gun, but he was the last one captured. His sweetheart stayed with him to the last. He was of good ily, but some powerful influence or some inborn deviltry made him desir- of being a noted criminal and he the most foolhardy of the lot. The sentences of all these dare-devils expired in San Quentin about the same time and they began their new career of robb 1d plundep according to the programme they had so carefully mapped out while under the prison- keeper’s eyes in San Quentin. Wheeler went to Mendocino City in the guise of a physician and assumed what was to all appearances a most respectable course of life. This was only a blind, wever. He was to keep the others ted on what was going on, give them warnings of any approaching danger or suspicion and they were to commit the crimes. A _queer accident cut short the career of the whole gang, but so desperate and bold were they that several lives were lost before they were finally run down; even then most of them had to be killed because they would not surrender. Wheeler, the leader, died by self-ad- ministered poison rather than take his chances of a trial. In 1879 and for many years previous it had been the custom of the Sheriff, who was also tax collector of Mendo- cino County, to give public notice of the time when he would be at certain places to collect the taxes due. There were no railroads then and the Sheriff carried the money with him from place lace in large sums, as then all the s were collected at one time. One of the plans of the gang was to rob the Sheriff when he was returning with his load of tax money. After Dr. Wheeler had gained the confidence of o0 City the other s drifted into the neighbor- a rendezvous. So cleverly did they manage this that no one knew of their presence. A simple mistake betrayed them and led to the undoing of the gang. It was their intention to kill a beef belonging to the Mendocino Lumber Company and to jerk the beef so they could have food in their subsequent raids. In selecting the beef for slaugh- ter they made a mistake and killed a two-year-old heifer belonging to a Por- tuguese. It was the only one the man owned. When the Portuguese missed his heifer he started on a persistent search for her. If it had been the heifer of the company the chances are she would not have been missed so soon and when missed the search would not have been so persistent. At last the Portuguese found traces of her hide buried and also discovered the camp of Brown, Billings, Gaunce and Carr, who had killed her. He returned to Mendo- cino City at once and swore out a war- rant for the arrest of four unknown persons. The constable went to their camp to make the arrest and found them too strongz. They were able and to him seemed willing to make a fight. The next morning the Sheriff re- turned with a posse. It w a damp, foggy morning. The outlaws had moved camp and while searching for them the posse was fired upon by unseen parties from a goose nest in a redwood tree. The unerring guns of Billings and Brown found Dallard and Wright, two estimable young men of Mendocino City. They fell mortally wounded. Thereupon the posse disappeared and the desperadoes started on a trip through pathless mountains to escape. For sixty-two days they fled and for sixty-two days, under the guidance and directions of J. M. Stanley of Mendo- cino, their trail was followed over mountains, through canyons and across streams. Sometimes the trail would pe Then hours and sometimes days were devoted to finding it. The pursvit hung doggedly on. Every nhour of the time was filled with exciting events All this time no one suspected the good T'r. Wheeler with being mixed up with these cattle thieves. This is the odd way in which his complicity was discovered: In searching their camp a tag, show- ing a cost mark, was found. After many days’ search a tinsmith recog- nized the mark and he remembered having marked half a dozen drinking cups with the tags, which he said he had sold to Dr. Wheeler. There was the first clew to the iden- tity of the men. Many proclaimed Wheeler’s innocence and it devolved on C. C. Hamilton, now an attorney in Oakland, to make the lost. fack THEM AND THEY JUMPED arrest. Nothing could be learned from ‘Wheeler. The pursuing party tracked the band to a cabin in the mountains near Usal. There they found Carr, weary and footsore, ready to surrender. He told a]l he knew. For the first time the pursuers learned whom they were fol- lowing. Had Wheeler not then been in the Jail at Ukiah he never would have been taken. Carr confessed that the original plans of the outlaws had been made while they were prisoners in San Quentin. Wheeler w to be the captain; to en- gineer the scheme and keep them post- ed. Wheeler, he said, used to visit the camp late at night every night. Their plan was to rob the Sheriff on his way down the coast with his tax money and then go to Ukiah, rob the Treasurer’s office, take in all the stages, and rob and plunder every safe and every per- son that had money—in fact, do a gen- eral robbing and murdering business. Long days of tracking the other out- laws foilowed. It was scant food, clothes torn to tatters, hunting des- perate men and fearing we might at any time be ambushed. Nothing was seen or heard of them except as I have detailed, until, de- scending a deep canyon in Humboldt County, through which runs Rattle- snake Creek, shooting was heard. Creeping cautiously through the brush we heard a voice ving: “Boys, same one should be guard.” Brown ancwered: here as if we we middle of the earth. By that time we saw them. Gaunce was stripped for a swim, Brown was building a fire and Billings was fool- ing with his pistol. As Gaunce struck the water “zip” went seven bullets at them. The two others returned the fire for a time, but, finding themselves out- numbered, they broke across the creek and all got away. ‘We got part of their camp and some of their clothing. As they were scram- bling up the cpposite bank we heard Gaunce say “Hell, Brown, if this is like 100 miles inside the earth, I don’'t want to be there.” The pursuit finally led to the Sacra- mento Valley, but some way they eluded all the watchers at the ridges and crossed safely. At Cherokee Flat Brown was cap- on “We are as safe 100 miles in the 23 S RSPl FOR THEIR GUNS. tured, but Billings answered with a shot. At that fight were Stanley and Clarence White, then a boy in his teens, who afterward killed Wylakie John in Covelo, and two others. Stanley stationed one on each of three sides of the cabin and put Clar- ence White behind a big rock, thinking him too small for such a time. Stan- ley commenced shooting into the cabin where Billings was, aiming his bullets about six inches apart and about one foot from the floor. The party on the other side got the *“buck ague” and left. Billings was shot in the knee and started from the cabin at the side from which the deputy had gone. Clarence ‘White had been unable to see anything from behind the rock, and hearing the shooting came out in time to meet Billings. Unknown to the others, White and Billings had a duel to the death. Billings' aim was unsteady owing to his wound and Clarence killed him. Gaunce was found in hiding behind a cupboard in a house near by. He and Brown were taken to Ukiah. Wheeler and Carr were already there. At the trial Carr turned State’s evi- dence. Wheeler was not tried. Brown and Gaunce were convicted as a matter of course. A young attorney was ap- pointed to defend them. The Judge, an old criminal lawyer, in charging the Jjury, said “Murder is the unlawful kill- ing of a human being,” leaving off the words “with malice aforethought.” This being a fatal defect, a new trial was granted, but the rascals were con- victed and were given life imprison- ment at San Quentin. STRANGE PRACTICES IN CHINESE SURGERY. R. J. J. MATIGNON, after three years’ sojourn in Peking, says that a study of Chinese medi- cine convinces one that China is the paradise of routine. Even savages must learn something of disease by ex- perience, but in China the practice of medicine is so hedged about by cere- monial that it becomes inoperative. A royal officer being wounded by an arrow, sent for a surgeon to remove it. In doing so he broke the arrow off inside the man’s body, whereon he de- | parted, leaving the patient to the care of his physician, because the custom of | his country forbade him to meddle with anything below the surface of the skin. The Chinese literature is rich in the number and size of medical volumes, but they are entirely commentaries and recompilations of the old masters who praéticed their art at the time Hector bade farewell to Andromache on the wall of Tr.y and of the land ‘where Cleopatra was a child. The chief object of the author of Chinese medical works is to make their theories as obscure and mysterious as pessible. They bury their ideas under volumes of shadowy discourses even deeper than our medical man buries his under—words unpronounceable, un=-: known and unknowable to the ordi- nary layman. The Chinese make no dissections, and study anatomy from fantastically elab- orated charts where nerves, tendons and blood vessels are confounded. Their lay figure for studying is a bronze manikin bearing a large num- ber of punctures corresponding to the lance cuts that may safely practiced on a living subject. To pass an examination for a diplo- ma, the manikin is covered with paper and the surgeon locates these punc- tures. The Chinese horror of surgery arises from religious notions rather than from fear of pain. According to their ideas, any attempt to improve upon one's bedy would be a direct insult to one’s ancestors. Accordingly, surgical operations are little practiced. According to their teaching, the head is a solid bone, the brain being un- known to them. The heart rules the body; the seat of ideas of pleasure is the pit of the stomach; the liver is re- sponsible for sentiments of nobility and generosity, while the gall bladder dominates the courage of its owner. They believe that the body is com- posed of five elements—fire, water, metal, wood and earth—and disease is the disturbance of their equilibrium, and is caused by evil spirits. They are Heathen Scientists, as it were, and either exorcise these evil spirits by charms and incantatjons, circles and sprinkling, or else i voke the aid of more powerful good spirits. These good spirits must be called and propitiated by food and burning punks. If a Chinese loses a member or sub- mits to an operation, the amputated part is carefully preserved to be buried with him. e Bowling alleys are being fitted with electric fixtures to indicate the moving . of the pins, an electric circuit being made through a plate in the bottom of each pin, with wires running to dials or bells near the players’ end of the alley. THAT REMINDS ME. WON'T YOU EVER BE GOOD. | | | | | | “4 NEVER GOSSIP." Apple head—A rounded head, instead of flat on top. Blaze—A white mark up the face. Brisket—The part of the body in front of the ches t. The tail usually applied to sheep dogs. Butterfly nose—A spotted nose. Button ear—Where the tip falls over and covers the orifice. Cat Foot—A short, round foot; knuckles high and well developed. Cheeky—When the cheek bones are strongly defined. Chest—Underneath a dog from brisket The pendulous lips of the bull- ogs. Cobby—Well ribbed up, short and com- pact in portion. (‘nupllngs—s(flnce between tops of shoul- der blades and tops of hip joints. Cow Hocks—Hocks that turn in. Dew Claw—Extra claw, found occasion- ally on all breeds. Dewlap—Pendulous skin under the ish Faced—When the nose is higher than muzzle at the stop. Dudley Nose—A yellow or flesh colored nose. Elbow—The joint at the top of the fore- 'm. arm. Feather—The halr at the back of the legs and under the tail. lag—A term for the tail, | throat. Study this up and you will be nranarad to appreciate the exhibits at the dog shown [HERE ARE THE TECHNICAL POINTS OF A DOG FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO KNOW THE. Flews—The pendulous lips of the blood- hound and other breeds. Forearm—Part of foreleg from elbow to pastern. Frill—A mass of hair on the chest, es- pecially on collies. Hare {Foot—A long narrow foot, carried forwar@. extending Haw-+Red inside eyelid, shown in blood- |* hounds and St. Begnards. Height—Measured at the bending head gently down. Hocks—The hock joint. Hucklebones—Tops of the hip joints. Knee—The joint attaching forepastern and forearm. shoulder, Occiput—The projecting bone or bump | at the back of the head. Overshot—The upper beyond the under. Pastern—Lowest section of leg below | the knee or hock. Pig Jaw—Exaggeration of overshot. Pily—A term applied to soft coat. Rose Ear—Where the tip of ear turns | back, showing interior. Septum—The division between the nos- | trils. Smudge Nose—A nose which wholly black, but not spotted. Stop—The indentation below the eyes, most prominent in bulldogs. Tullp Bar—An erect or pricked ear. Undershot—The lower teeth projecting in front of the upper ones. is not ON PARADE. teeth projecting | THE MORNING TOILET. CAUGHT ON THE WAY TO THE DOG SHOW. = “SEATED ONE DAY AT THE ORGAN."