CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN A MINING TOWN: JACKSONVILLE, , 1875-1915

By Joseph Laythe

e America's Western communities labor force and, after 1883, from its declining sta­ inherited a tradition of Amelican law, tus in county and state political and econonlic af­ ided by the laws of their respective fairs. Once the largest town in the state and a states, and shared the prevailing racial views of thriving rruning center in the 1850s and 1860s, the nation, their definitions of "crime" and their Jacksonville quickly dwindled into oblivion. methods of law enforcement valied greatly. The When the bulk of the county's gold had been geography, de mography, and p olitics of a taken from the earth, Jacksonville turned to al­ community shaped its laws and law enforcement ternative enterp rises lil

threaten the town's liveliliood,Jacksonville dealt As tl1e town's population climbed, its relations leniently witl1 its criminal class. The town's crime, wifu tl1e Native Americans deteriorated. By fue law and order institutions, and punishments were mid- 1850s, the Shasta Indians of southern Or­ intimately tied to its declining economic and po­ egon and northern California united witl1 tl1e lo­ litical status. 1 cal Takelma Nation ii1 a concerted effort to dtive out tl1e whites. TI1e subsequent Wars Conun unity resulted ii1 tl1e tragic extermination of hundreds of Native Americans. Over the course of the Soufuern Oregon was a distant outpost in tl1e next twenty years, white settlers of the region Oregon Counlly. Only a few farmers and u·a p­ engaged in almost constant conflict w itl1 fue small pers ventured into fuis region heavily occupied remaining Native American population. by Native Ameticans. The woody, rolling valley TI1e region's growmg prospetity easily offset and hills between fue Oregon-California border fue hardships incuned from constant waning witl1 and fue Rogue River to fue nmth were not suit­ tl1e localu·ibes. C. C. Beekman, a gold freighter able for extensive water transportation. TI1e hills and banl

ing center for the region and the supply center Karewski also owned the Rogue River Lumber for nearby mining camps.5 Mills and was one of d1e town's wealthiest men? Jacksonville was a prosperous little commu­ The town, however, was on the decline. By nity. Walling notes that "men who were notori­ 1900, it bad lost over 200 residents, dmpping to a ously 'broke' began to put on airs of wealth." population of just over 900. By 1920, These men, Klippel and Beekman included, Jacksonville's population had diminished to 489, helped establish the town's reputation as the less than half that of thirty years earlie r. This "wealthiest and most pretentious town in the period of "painful adjustment" required the county." The residents of the town regarded their town's residents to tack to a new course. Local rural neighbors with some disdain. Historian merchants needed to seek new buyers for their Wallace Farnham suggests that there were four goods to replace d1ose miners who had given up ptincipal social divisions within Jackson County: and left. TI1ey also needed to generate new prod­ Chinese and Native Ameticans, miners, fatmers, ucts d1at could be sold beyond the town.8 and Jacksonville residents. Yet, the citizens of Railroads already enabled other communities Jacksonville did not create these social classifica­ to market d1eir goods abroad and b1ing in a wide tions out of a belief that they were morally supe­ variety of products and sell them at significantly rior. The few churches in town were small and lower prices than before. An"iving in the valley played an insignificant mle in developing a "moral in 1883, the Oregon and Califomia Railroad and code." '01e resident<; of]acksonville considered Southern Pacific Railroad bypassed Jacksonville themselves supe1ior to od1er gmups in d1e county five miles to the east. This marked the "begin­ because they were wealthier.6 ning of the grim e nd for Jacksonville's glory." The relative absence of and lack of interest Recognizing that lacking a railtDad connection was in churches in Jacksonville forced the county's fatal, manyJewish merchants left town. Between worshipers and religious leaders to tum to other 1883 and 1887, those merchants who remained soud1ern Oregon communities, like Ashland. The dung to the hope that a branch line could solve cultural and moral presence of the church in their problems. "There is no time for hesitation," Ashland encouraged county and state leaders in a Demoacttic Times editorialist wrote, "the the 1870s to found the Southern Oregon Col­ branch railroad ... must and will be built." But lege in d1at town. By the late 1870s, Ashland, not the founding of Medford along me main railroad Jacksonville, had emerged as the county's new route, in March of 1885, ft.uther sapped me eco­ symbol of civility, prosperity, and progress. nomic strengd1 of]acksonvilleY Jacksonville residents maintained hope, how­ The arrival of the railroad and the massive ever. As the miner ever hoped to uneatth a rich influx of immigrants into Jackson County­ nugget, d1e town's residents persisted in d1eir faith though not into Jacksonville- jeopardized that d1ey could discover new sources of wealth. Jacksonville's political clout. The town had voted By 1890, the town's population had grown to over Democratic between 1860 and1884 by "prodi­ eleven hundred, but by then Gustav Karewski, a gious margins." In 1860, for example, the county Prussian- bornJew, recognized thatJacksonville ove1whelmingly endorsed pro-slavery Demo­ would have to fmd an alternative economic base. cratic c:ancliclate John Breckenridge and soud1em Diminishing gold returns and the lise of Ashland Oregon's "native son," Joseph Lane. TI1e Demo­ as a cultural and economic tivalled K.arewski away cratic party in Jacksonville attracted the support from d1e general merchandising business he had of the city's German- born voters. But begin­ operated and into the manufacture and sale of ning in 1876, the county's Republican patty seri­ agricultural implements. At his death in 1895, ously challe nged that Democratic hegemony. Crime andPunishment in a Mining Town 31

Milo Caton, a Jacksonville Republican, repotted The remaining residents ofJ acksonville did that d1e 1876 election was the "first time for many not sutrender, however. They quickly abandoned years d1at the Republicans of me county have not ruining and subsistence farn1ing and began de­ played d1e political ground-hog." Two years latet~ veloping a lucrative commercial fruit industty. C. C. Beekman, one of the town's leading citi­ Historian Walling had reservations about the zens, won d1e Republican nomination for gover­ town's future when he wrote in 1884: nor. In d1e 1878 campaign, opponents attacked Beekman as a "miserly banker who exploited me Swzallfruits and berries, wherever triecl, poor" and a 'Jew." Ironically, Beekman was not have succeeded beyond expectation)· hut Jewish and me bulk ofJacksonville's jewish popu­ itisjionz thecu!tut-eq{orcha1d and vine­ lation was Getman-born and strong suppotters yardproducts that the people ofthis m­ of the Democratic party. 10 gion expect the most. Since the decrease By the early 1890s, county politics had 'in mining and the consequentpcutial de­ "evolved into a political stalemate" between a stntction ofthe home market, and more Democratic Jacksonville and a Republican especia/6; since the coming oftbe mil­ Ashland. The precatious balance between mese road, it bas seemed that the heretqfore two towns forced the political battleground into isolated count1y will baue to adapt ilse(,/ me town of Medford. But because of the mass to the changed ci1'Cttmstcm.ces ·in whicb exodus ofJacksonville 's weald1ier citizens and d1e itfinds itself. town's growing reputation as a "demimonde" or "vice district," Medford residents increasingly al­ Many ofJacksonville 's residents did not share lied themselves wid1 Ashland. Walling's resetvations. One Democratic Times Agrarian discontent in the 1890s, clue to fi­ editotialist believed as late as 1895, d1at once d1e nancial hardship from poor harvests and low fruit lands of the region were fu lly developed, ptices, high railroad rates and n1illing chatges, and d1e town would recover the "impottance it lost burdensome taxes, culminated in the rise of in being sidetracked by the Soud1em Pacific Rail­ soud1em Oregon's Populist Patty. Charles Nickell, road." But d1e death of Gus Karewski that Au­ editor and owner of]acksonville's Democratic gust and the closing of l1is n1ills nuther damaged Times, pleaded with 11is readers to "retum home d1e town's vitality. 12 to the old fold" and abandon me Populists who, Where Jacksonville residents once had hopes he believed, were doomed to failure. The Popu­ of a prosperous and powerntl city, d1ey now ex­ lists did fail as a long-term third patty, but ulti­ petienced the "sleepy li ttle v iJl age." The poem, mately saw their plattorm absorbed into main­ "Back to Jacksonville," expresses d1e atmosphere stream politics. The Populists ofJackson County of the town and the attitudes of its residents in survived as long as mey did because d1ey helped 1890: expose a financial scandal implicating members of the "Jacksonville Ring." Several of I had it allfixed up to stay Jacksonville's political leaders, known as the To Portland six montbs anyway; "Ring" in contemporaty parlance, had maintained Tbat was tbe length o' tim.e she named, political power through shrewd business connec­ And-wal, I do feel kindo'sbamec~· tions to others within Jacksonville, Jackson County, and the state. The Populists' attack on Jad

But I'm jest countin 1 minutes till The need for mutual protection derived, in I can get back to jacksonville. part, from the fear of attack by Native Ameri­ I thought 1twould be ea:,y as pie cans. In this case, justice was administered with­ Ketch in 1 up city ways. But my! out judge, jwy, o r trial. It was administered by the bullet. But the need for mutual protection I've seen morefolks a minute here also stenuned from the fear of losing one's min­ Than.folks to hom.e see in a yea1~· ing claim. In the beginning there were unwritten ButI've felt jest dog-lonesome, not rules about claim rights, but as the mining popu­ Know in' a one o' the hull lot. lation in southern Oregon swelled, it bec.:ame im­ perative to establish a judicial system in the ruin­ There~<; stores enough here, high an 1 low, ing districts. 17Jere ain 1t no sociableness though; Residents created the first people's court in A in 1t a nm·y one I'll be bound, 1852. In this early judicial system, they elected Where anybody sets mound, an individual to hear claims disputes and render I'm gettin 1 hungryfor a sight binding decisions. These legal decisions were 0 ' the cornergroce1y Sat'day night/3 easily challenged, however. In 1853, one thou­ sand miners, upset with a decision by Alcalde "TI1eJacksonville of today," Walling had writ­ Rogers over a disputed mining claim and his re­ ten in 1884, "is the substantial outgrowth of the fusal to reconsider it, unanimously decided to cre­ chaos and social fever engendered by an indus­ ate another court. They reasoned that if they trial avalanche." Unfortunately, it was an ava­ had the power to create the first coutt, then they lanche that overwhelmed and conswned the town had the right to institute a second court. They ofJacksonville . By 1915, all that remained were circumvented the existing judicial system in or­ a few elderly miners who relished the glories of der that the views of the people, whom the cowt the town's gold rush past, a handful of business­ was designed to protect, could be heard. Law men who defensively clung to their marginal en­ and justice, in Jacksonville, were malleable, not terprises, and a population of just over five hun­ absolute. As Jacksonville grew, prospered, and dred increasingly unable to adapt to the changing connected with the rest of the state, established circumstances in which they found themselves.14 laws became essential to the conununity. A little more than a year after d1e creation of tl1e people's The Law court-and perhaps prompted by the arbitrary decisions of that court- the United States Dis­ In the 1850s, Jacksonville had no written law. trict Judge for the TerTitory of Oregon, Matthew TI1e "hastily prepared handful of tenitoriallaws," P. Deady, began holding regular cotut inJackson­ Walling notes, "had h::u-dlyoystallized into shape." ville.16 More impottantly, territorial justice operated in­ State, county, and municipal laws replaced the effectively inJacksonville, isolated deep in the law of the bullet and tl1e arbitr

made it legal for the town to form a posse to Two factors conttibutecl to the ineffectiveness drive out violators of that ordinance. Nor were of the town's law enforcement system. First, the Native Americans the only ethnic group to be number of town cases before d1e coutt esc.:alated. singled out by discriminatoty laws. A Foreign "Law business mushroomed," wroteJudge Deady, Miners' Tax of two dollars per month was levied quoting a Jacksonville colleague as saying that, against the Chinese miners. The Chinese were '"evetybody is bringing civil suit against some­ also not allowed to operate new mining claims, body."' In 1882 alone, the Jackson County jus­ but were forced to rework abandoned claims or tice docket registered seventeen suits to recover work for white miners. Chinese merchanrs, along money involvingJacksonville merd1ants and busi­ with the Hawaiian "Kanaka" population in the nessmen. This is more than double the number area, had to pay a tax of fifty dollars per month of similar suits in Oregon towns of comparable to keep their businesses open. These oppressive size, such as Eugene or Pendleton. 19 restrictions on the region's non-white population, From d1e civil suits between 1881 and 1892, coupled with hostility and violence, kept the num­ it is clear that two factions competed within the ber of Chinese and Native Americans in Jack­ city ofJackson ville. Members of d1e first faction sonville low. 17 can generally be charactetized as weald1y Repub­ But legal restrictions worked ineffectively licans typically from tl1e Midwest or upper South. against rowdy white males. The regular court, This group included George McKee; Attorney said Walling, "failed to awe evil-doers, or to sup­ andJudge WilliamM. Colvig;Judge H. K. Hanna; press outlawty, as effectually as the more primi­ Mike Hanley; Cornelius Beekman, banker and tive mode of the pioneers that preceded it." This 1878 Oregon gubernatorial candidate; Milo situation prevailed in Jacksonville from d1e 1860s Caton; and the editor ofJacksonville's Republi­ to the 1890s. Even thirty years after the institu­ can Oregon Sentinel, B. F. Dowell. This faction tion of a regular coUlt, the creation of town or­ usually initiated d1e civil suits in Jacksonville. 1he dinances, and the employment of a town mar­ defendants in these cases, who constituted d1e shal to enforce d1ose laws, d1ere were hints that second faction, were typically Democrat<; born the pioneer "vigilantism" of the 1850s might be in the No1th or Midwest. '1 hey also comprised a more successful. After a prisoner named Bassett significant number of d1e town's German-born escaped in September 1884, the editorialist for Jews. This faction included the editor of the Jacksonville's Oregon Sentinel wrote that "there Denwcmt'ic Tim,es, Charles Nickell; hardware has evidently been a want of vigilance on patt of store owner and county sheriff, James Birdsey; d1e officials who have had these dangerous crimi­ and German-Jewish merchants such as Gustav nals in chatge to have allowed them to escape." Karewski, Morris Mensor, Louis Solomon, Jacksonville's city leaders and law enforcers were Newman Fisher, Max Muller,Jacob Ish, and the not vigilant. They were unwilling to do what was Sachs Brod1ers. 'D1e "vestigial sectional conflict" necessaty to eradicate crime and control the that separated the town politically also divided town's dangerous element. Jacksonville's Demo­ d1e town in legal matteiS. This division overloaded cmtic Times suggested that d1e only reason d1e the local courts with civil suits, preventing d1e sheriff had so few escapes was that he feel his adequate heating of climinal cases and frequently inmates so well. Otherwise, the Timesobsetvecl, required the presence of d1e town marshai.2° prisoners "would change boarding houses when The second factor d1at contt·ibutecl to the in­ all d1e doots are open as was the case when Bassett effectiveness of the town's law enforcement was took his departure." Escapes from Jacksonville's d1e pursuit of ourside interesrs by the town's law town and county jails were common. IH enforcement officers. The pursuit of wealth and 34 2002Mining Hist01yjournal

power was of foremost importance to lenged his motivation for sleeping at the hotel. Jacksonville's town leaders, sheriffs included. "As to the ideas of morality entertained by Mr. Controlling crin1e was a peripheral issue, which Birdsey," Charles Nickell wrote, "we have noth­ only became critical when the interests of the ing to say. The world is lax in its interpretation town's bankers and businessmen were threatened. of the seventh commandment and every man is In several cases, a law enforcer's pursuit of the keeper of his own conscience. "22 outside economic interests jeopardized the safety By the time the fu·e was detected, flames had of the community. In 1879, Sheriff William already consumed the bulk of the structure. Bybee was absent from the town for several weeks Birdsey's "culpable negligence" resulted in the de­ while he looked into the possibility of selling pork struction of the county jail and, more tragically, in northern California. Bybee also had several in the deaths of three prisoners awaiting trial. hydraulic mining claims throughout the county Newt Cook, who had been atTested for theft from that took him away from the town, in addition to the hotel, had attempted to block smoke from a feny operation across the Rogue River In 1876 enteting his cell by hanging his bedding and blan­ he was accused of having closed the fords across kets from the cell doors. Frank Warner, a young the river to Sam's Valley residents, forcing them German arrested in Ashland, was "lying on the to cross over on his feny. Bybee was reelected floor with blood flowing from his mouth and despite these accusations of malfeasance in of­ nose, indicating a most painful death." Hany fice. Hoover suffocated in his cell. The papers for his Perhaps the most astonishing case of outside release had been drawn up on the clay of the fu·e. economic pursuits involved Town Marshal Freel Hoover was innocent, but dead. Although Birdsey Grob. Grob not only served justice in Jackson­ did not pursue wealth or power through his ac­ ville, but also setved drinks at his Jacksonville sa­ tions, they do suggest a general disregard of or loon, an ammgement that setvecl his interests in lack of interest in law enforcement.23 two ways. Through the use of his badge, Grob The incompetence of the town's law officers presetvecl order in his saloon and established a might lead one to conclude that the "law" was safe place to socialize. In doing so, he attracted presetved through some altemative "moral code." business away from the less-orderly saloons in Yet, it is clear that reform movements and the town. Grob also cultivated a clientele by show­ "moral codes" that often accompany them did ing greater leniency toward drunken patrons of not exist injacksonville. While they may have his saloon.21 succeeded in Protestant fatming communjties, re­ James Birdsey, jackson County sheriff be­ fotm movements were less enthusiastically sup­ tween 1888 and 1892, was an active pattner in a potted in the cosmopolitan town ofJacksonville. Jacksonville hardware store. Birclsey did notre­ "The women ofJacksonvill e," historian Matga­ gard his law enforcement duties as vety impor­ ret Nan Haines writes, "never launched a deter­ tant. In fact, his neglect of duty cost lives in the mined ausade against the town's long-established county jail fire ofJuly 1889. Birdsey usually slept retailliquortrade." As late as 1904,Jacksonville at the jail to guard the inmates, but on the night residents voted clown prohibition.24 of the fire bedbugs "had driven him to seek a jacksonville residents, instead, turned to the bed at the U. S. Hotel. " While he was "sleeping" threat of vigilantism as a means of presetving at the hotel, the jail caught fire. Both Birdsey's order. As mentioned earlier~ they frequently remi­ Republican tivals at the Oregon Sentinel and his nisced about the days when pioneer justice pre­ Democratic a!Ues at the Democratic Tinzeschal- vailed. In 1885, during the famous Lewis O'Neil Crime and Punisbntent in ctil1ining Town 35

murder case, the editorialist of the Oregon Senti­ For many Jacksonville residents, Traylor's nel observed that, "this has been one of the most crime of passion resurrected memories of the expensive uials ever had in tl1e county and a little Lewis O'Neil murder case of sixteen years ear­ judicious hanging would probably put a stop to lier. In 1884, in Ashland, O 'Neil murdered his the causes that lead to such cases as dlis." Even lover's husband, Lewis McDaniel. The ensuing as late as 1895 there were threats of extralegal trial at the County Courthouse in Jacksonville activity. Unsatisfied with the punishment given revealed that Amanda McDaniel, tlle victim's wife, Frank Wade after his rnurder ttial, a party of men was an active agent in the plot to kill her bus­ roamed the streets ofJacksonville with "designs" band. Mrs. McDaniel was ultimately released on on the county inmate, but Wade remained un­ the grounds of insufficient evidence, but tl1e case touched by d1e crowd. John Collins, an African­ against O 'Neil was indisputable. In 1886, just American resident of Jacksonville, was not so outside the newly consu·ucted Jackson County fortunate. Caught in an attempted robbery, CoLilthouse in Jacksonville, Lewis O'Neil was Collins was given a lashing by tl1e store's owner, hanged. Sixteen years later, the tragic killing of then shot by an anonymous member of tl1e crowd Hardenbrook and tl1e suicide of Ge01ge Traylor and "wounded badly" before being turned over revived the town's memory of the O 'Neil­ to tl1e auth01ities. McDaruel affair. 27 In many respects, d1e city's Jaw enforcement Jacksonville's per capita murder rate rose spo­ and judicial system changed very little between radically between 1875 and1915. Over tl1at en­ tl1e 1850s and 1915. It remained racist and inef­ tire period ,Jacksonville had a considerably higher fective in its pursuit and elimination of crime. In rate of murder than Portland, Eugene, or this respect,Jacksonville's e),'tra-legal actions mir­ Pendleton. There was a murder every year be­ ror traditional patterns of vigilantism. Richard tween 1880 and1886. Moreover, there were two Maxwell Brown, the foremost scholar on Ameri­ murders in 1902, 1908, and1913, and four mur­ can vigilantism, notes tl1at vigilante activity typi­ ders in 1905. The rape arrest t-ate in Jacksonville cally alises out of an absence of law enforcement also rose over the same period. Virtually nonex­ and that "instant vigilantism" was more preva­ istent in the 1880s and 1890s, tl1e number of rape lent in the American West than in the East. atTests rose sharply after the turn of tl1e cenrury, Jacksonville's vigilante activity substantiates reaching a peak with four atTests and convictions Brown's theses.25 in 1913.28 The atTest t-ate for as.sault, however, declined Crime between 1875 and 1915. From a high represent­ ing the arrest of almost two percent of In November of 1900, L.]. Hardenbrook jacksonville's population in tl1e 1880s, tl1e assault came to Jacksonville to many his fiancee, Sarah arrest rate dropped to less than one-half of one Beeson. Shortly after his anival, he encountered percent of tl1e local population by 1915. Mining a jealous George W. Traylor. Beeson was Trayloes claim disputes account for a significant propor­ sister-in-law, but also the object of his infatua­ tion of the assault cases before 1890, and it can tion. Convinced that Hardenbrook was unwor­ be assumed that the number of assaults in the tlly of Beeson and that she, in fact, loved him, town far exceeded tl1e number of assault an·ests. Traylor shot and killed L.]. Hardenbrook. Min­ Louis Petzold's assault on William "Butcher Bill" utes later, in a nearby con-al, Traylor killed him­ Blackert, for example, was not included in the se1f.26 town's assault count for 1875. Blackett was con- 36 2002Mining History]ournctl

vinced to drop all charges against Petzold, be­ moderate attachment" to beer did not wane as cause Petzold had shot "Butcher Bill" in self-de­ the years went by. Vance "Pinto" Colvig, remi­ fense. This offense and others like it do not flg­ niscing at the as a turn of the century, recalled ure into the town's crime rates.29 once when "Fabian Eckelson and I were collect­ While some assault cases were dismissed, those ing gunny sacks and beer bottles for extra spend­ involving Chinese received extensive coverage in ing money. Looking over Beek's high board fence. Jacksonville's two newspapers. T11e "dangerous ... EUREKA: a veritable bonanza: Piles and and quarrelsome Chinese," according to the piles of empty bottles.32 Democratic Times, "are continually breeding dis­ The prevalence of liquor in Jacksonville fos­ cord and trouble." In 1875, the same year tered the rise of the two other legs of d1e "Trin­ Petzold's assault case was dismissed, Marshal ity ofVice"-gambling and prostitution. "Sa­ James McDaniel arrested two "Chinamen" for loons, hurdy-gurdy houses, gambling hells and fighting, jailed them for three clays, and fined them bawdy houses are in full blast," the Denwcratic ten dollars apiece. Yet, violence against the Chi­ Times wrote in 1887, reporting that "the deni­ nese at Jackass Creek, which resulted in d1e death zens of the place are thugs, thieves, morphine­ of one Chinese mine1~ went unprosecuted.j0 fiends, harlots and squaw men." Yet, few arrests larceny, howevet~ was increasingly prosecuted were ever recorded for vice offenses. Between in Jacksonville between 1875 and 1915. From an 1881 and1887, there were only six a nests for vice average of on~percent of the town's population crimes, and this trend did not change significantly. in the 1880s, the larceny anest rate rose to three In the first eight years of the twentieth century, percent of the town's population by 1915. Fraud only seven recorded aJTests occulTed in Jackson­ atTests, closely associated wid1larceny, also rose ville for drunl

tioners argued that Messenger's failing health and rest rate. Punishment iinJacksonville could be his positive reputation wananted a second d1~mce. lenient. As a result, n01t even the threat of pun­ More impottantly, they asserted, his wife and six ishment was effective in detening crin1e. In 1884, children desperately needed suppott. Chamber­ tl1e OregonSentinetwaJned tl1at tl1e young hood­ lain pardoned Messenger, who returned to jack­ lums in town "better look out or tl1ey may wake son County where he lived out the remainder of up in the penitentiaty before long." Indeed, tl1ere his life. were a handful of young men sent to prison from The trial and pardon of Harlow Messenger jacksonville. TI1ese boys, howeve r~ had typically reflects the nature of crime and punishment in committed much more serious crimes than hoo­ jacksonville. Just as had been the case with liganism. john]. P. McAlliste i~ for example, went Alcalde Rogers and the reversal of the mining to tl1e penitentiaty at tl1,e age of fifteen for mur­ claim dispute in 1853, "justice" and tl1e "law'' were dering his father, Richan·cl McAllister. 3R defmed by tl1ose in power, who also determined Of tl1ose crin1inals from Jackson County sent what punishments were appropriate. Yet there to the Oregon State Penitentiaty, eight percent was, as clearly evident in the murder of]. P. Cot­ were convicted on murder charges. Larceny and ton, no absolute moral definition of a crime. fmud comprised eighty percent of the crin1es for MessengerJs release, in contmst, reflects the power whichJackson County irunates were incarcetated. of the conm1unity to adjust and modify its defi­ Between 1875 and 1915, jackson County's per­ nitions of acceptable and unacceptable behavior. centage of the state's prison population remained Numerous factors led to the adjustment of low, especially when compared to jackson punishments. In MessengetJs case, his reputation County's relatively high propottion of tl1e ovetall witl1in the community and his family weighed state population. In 1872, the county contrib­ heavily in ilie decisions to convict on a reduced uted only seventeen inmates to the prison and by charge and later to issue the pardon. Wealtl1 was 1913 tl1e number had dropped to tllitteen. jack­ a factor in other cases. In 1887, a horse thief by son County consistently had fewer than half of ilie name of\Xfilson was released from tl1ejack­ the n umber of inmates at the prison as did sonville jail. His attorney,]. K. Weatherford of Umatilla County in . In some Linn County, pleaded iliat Wilson had respect­ years, Jackson County iinmates seemed almost able connections and rich relatives. The wealth non-existent. In 1892, while Umatilla Counly of Wilson's family was one factor in his release. had thirty-two inmates at the prison, jackson It is not clear, howevet; whether that release was County had only three. Yet Umatilla County's based on a belief that the town's leaders would total population was roughly half that ofJack­ be rewarded personally or ifjacksonville would son County. Two years later, while Umatilla benefit collectively from enhanced commercial County approached one hundred irunates,Jack­ relations with ilie Wilson family.37 son County tied its highest mark of seventeen.39 In most cases, howev·et~ tl1e town's criminals Despite tl1e leniency of local law enforcement, were not wealthy enough to even hire an attor­ jackson County inmates released from the Or­ ney. Yet, many individuals were given mat sec­ egon State Penitentiaty rarely returned to jack­ ond chance. In many ca1ses, the town marshal sonville or Medford. Betvveen 1890 and1915 only took charge of rowdy drunks and brawlers, "put eighteen percent ofJackson County inmates re­ them in the calaboose and let them sleep it off." turned to jacksonville after release. Another These individuals rarely appeared in the arrest twenty-four percent of fotmerJacksonville crimi­ ledgers and thus do not figure into the town's ar- nals returned to Medford . Still, only thitty-eight Oime and Punishment in a Mining Town 39

percent of released inmates renu·ned to either ing quietly stubborn. "You can't buck town. After ten years, the percentage of ex-con­ the town. We've got the 1·ight to talee victs in Jacksonville dwindled to four percent. ouerwbat we wcmtfor this thing. " This suggests that jacksonville was on the decline. "Wbo gave you tbat rtgbt?" de­ TI1e convicts' decision not to return to Jackson­ mandeclStuart. ville probably stemmed from a lack of economic "Ifwe 've got no law in this pa1·ticu­ opportunity within that community.40 lar matteJ~ we'll1nake one on the spot. In 1945, Ernest Haycox's historical novel, You been in mining camps long enough Canyon Passage, was made into a film starring to /mow that. We'll use this place. " Dana Andrews, Susan Hayward, Ward Bond, and "You're wrong on that,jobnny. " Lloyd Bridges. The movie, like the novel, was set Steele said, with his steady ~[fort at in the rough and n1mble mining camp of]ack­ conciliatio·n: "You can't buck the town. sonville, Oregon. For both Haycox and the fllm­ It is right and you're wrong. Anyhow it makers,Jad

you, nothing you do is right."'41 vival. But by 1915, the town lacked the will and Jacksonville's residents had always defined ability to stem any "c1ime" that may have existed. what constituted a "crin1e" and who comprised As respectable and wealthy residents moved to the "crin1inal class." Haycox suggests that this Medford, away from the "sleepy little village," the alteration and abuse of power existed only in the town's poorer (and perhaps criminal) class re­ absence of written law. In fact, definitions of mained. T11e lower class could simply not afford "crime" and "criminal" changed from place to to move away. In the wake of]acl

Notes

1. Wallace D. Farnham, "Religion as an Influence in Life 8. Steven Lowenstein, 77Jej ews ofOregon , 1850-1950 and Thought: Jackson County, Oregon, 1860-1890," (Poitlancl: Jewish Historical Society of Oregon, 1987), (PhD Diss., Univ. of Oregon, 1955), 53. Tbe New 34. Farnham, "Re ligion as an Influence in Life and Northwest, 2July 1885. For discussion of the impact Thought," 35-52. of law enforcement on community see Richard Max­ 9. Sutton and Pinkham, 77Je Golden Yea1:> ofjackson.­ well Brown, "The American Vigilante Tradition," in uille, 4. Democratic TimesQacksonville), 21Jan. 1887, Hugh Davis Graham and Ted Robe·Jt GlliT (eels.), 1be 2. HistoJyofViolence in America: Historical and Com­ 10. Jeffrey Max Lalande, "'It Can't Happen Here' in Or­ paratitX! Per:,pectiues(New York: Frederick A. Praeger, egon: The Jackson County Rebellion, 1932-1933, and Publishers, 1969), 154-217. Its 1890s-1920s Background," (Ph.D. Diss., Univ. of 2. Jack Sutton and Lee Pinkham, The Golden YeaJ:> of Oregon, 1993), 15. Farnham, "Re ligion as an Influ­ jacksonuille(Jack Sutton, 1961), 2. ence in Life and Thought," 406. Democratic Times, 3. Albeit G. Walling, HistoJyofSoutbern Oregon, com­ 10 Mar. 1876, 3; 1 Mar. 1878, 3. Haines, "Women in prising]ackson,josepbine, Douglas, CunyandCoos Jackson County, Oregon," 166. Richard H. Engeman, Counties(Poitlancl: A. G. Walling, 1:884), 359-360. An "Comelius C. Beekman: American Biogra phy," (un­ annual reunion of the pioneers ofSouthem Oregon published manusclipt, Oregon Collection, University in 1884 passed a unanimous resolution condemning ofOregon, 1980), 17. Walling's work. Old settlers claimed that it was not a 11. Lalande, "'It Can't Happen Here,"' 21-37. coJTect histo1y of the early settlement of the region. 12. Walling, HistOJyofSoutbern Oregon, 317. Democratic Their criticism focused on Walling's "sympathy" for Times 18 July 1895, 3; 24 Oct. 1895, 3. Lalande, "'It Native An1ericans and his depiction ofthe rough min­ Can't Happen Here,"' 59--60. ing camps. Oregon Sentinel, 13 Sep. 1884, 3. 13. Democratic Times, 4July 1890,4. 4. Walling, HisiOJyofSoutbern Oregon, 189,325-28,364. 14. Walling, Histoty ofSoutbern Oregon, 359. 5. Kay Atwood, Minorities ofEa rlyjackson County, Or­ 15. Walling, HistoJyofSoutbern Oregon, 360. egon(Kay Atwood, 1976), 9. Farnham, "Religion as 16. Walling, HistOJyofSoutbern Oregon, 360-61,363. an Influence in Life and Thought," 422. Walling, His­ 17. Ordinan.cesoftbe Town.ofjacksonuil!e, towbicbare tOJy ofSoutbem Oregon, 346. prefixed tbe Town Cbarter and OtberActs oftbe Leg­ 6. Margaret NanHaines, "Women in .Jackson County, islatttre ofO regon (Jacksonville: "Oregon Sentinel" Oregon, 1875-1885: A Group Po1trait." (Master's the­ P1int, 1876), 15-16, 18, 47-49. Cbarter and General s is, Univers ity o f O regon , 1980), 22, 0 1dina nces oftbe Town ofjacksonuille (Jacksonville: Farnham,"Re ligion as an Influen ce in Life and Times Printing House, 1886), 43-44. See also: Or­ Thought," 425. ganic and OtberGeneral Lau;s ofOr&gon, 1843-1872 7. Farnham,"Re ligion as an Influence in Life and (POJtlancl: Eugene Semple, State Printer, 1872); and TI1ought," 40. WilHam Lair Hill (camp.), 77JeCodesandGeneral Laws Cri1ne and Punishment in a Mining Town 41

of Oregon (San Francisco: Bancroft-Whitney 30. Democratic Times, 1 July 1887, 2; 16 July 1875, 2. Or- Co.,1887). Walling, HistOJyofSouthern Oregon, 346. egan Sentinel, 28 Mar. 1877, 2. Atwood, Minorities of Atwood, MinoritiesofEady]ackson Count)!, Oregon, Earlyjackson County, 14. 1. 31. 'Jackson County Justice Dockets." 18. Walling, Histo1y ofSou thern Oregon, 366. Oregon 32. LaLande, "'It Can't Happen Here,"' 38. Oregon Sen- Sentinel (Jacksonville), 6 Sep. 1884, 3; 13 Sep. 1884, 3. tine/, 1 Nov. 1884, 3. Engeman, "Cornelius C. 19. Farnham, "Religion as an Influence in Life and Beelm1an," 11-12. Thought," 38. 33. Democratic Times, 26 Aug. 1887, 3. Haines, ''Women 20. 'Jackson County Justice Dockets, Jacksonville Pre- in Jackson County," 145. ''William Eamshaw Papers," cinct,1881-1929," (Soud1ern Oregon Histotical Soci- (MS 108, Southern Oregon Historical Society, ety, Medford). Medford), 73. 'Jackson County Justice Dockets." 21. Democratic Times, 8 Jan. 1875; 26 May 1876, 2; 22 34. Oregon Sentinel, 16 May 1877, 3; 16 Aug. 1884, 3. Feb. 1878, 3; 10 Oct. 1879, 3. Oregon Sentinel, 11 Democratic Times, 25 Jan. 1878, 3; 4 Feb. 1887, 2; 13 Oct. 1884, 3. Mar. 1902, 3. Charles David Cameron,"Oral Histo1y 22. Oregon Sentinel, 4 Oct. 1884, 3. Democratic Times, Inte1view, 3 Apiil1980," (transclipt, Soud1em Oregon 15 June 1888, 3; 18 July 1889, 2; 30 May 1890, 2. Historical Society, Medford) 4-10. 'Jackson County 23. Democratic Times, 18July 1889, 2. Justice Dockets." 24. Haines, "Women in Jackson County," 150. LaLande, 35. 'Jackson County Justice Dockets." "'It Can't Happen Here,"' 65. Robert Wilson, 'Jack- 36. Democratic Times, 3 Apr. 1902, 1; 2 Dec. 1903, 3. Ruby sonv ille: Its Early Cowt System," (unpublished, Soud1- Lacy and Licla Childers (camp.), Democratic Times, ern Oregon Historical Society, Medford), 1. Sandra ]acksonui/le, Oregon, NewspaperAbstracts,jan. 10, Gilman, "A Histo1y of Liquor in Jacksonville," (un- 1901-Dec.31, 1902,90. published, Southern Oregon Historical Society, 37. Democratic Times, 26 Aug. 1887, 3. Medford), 8. 38. Don Colvig, "Reminiscences of Growing Up in Jack- 25. Oregon Sentinel, 14 Mar. 1885, 3. Democratic Times, sonville: Oral Histo1y Inte1v iew," (transcript, Soud1- 19 Dec. 1895, 3; 7 Nov. 1895, 3. Atwood, Minorities qf em Oregon Histoiical Society, Medford), 16. Oregon Earlyjackson County, 10. Richard MaA.'Well Brown, Sentinel, 22 Nov. 1884, 3. Strain of Violence (New York: Oxford University 39. "Oregon State Penitentia1y Great Registers," (Oregon Press,1975), 100-104. Stare Perutentia1y, Salem). "Oregon State Perurentia1y 26. Democratic Times, 26 Nov. 1900, 2. Piisoner Disciplina1y Records, 1909-1929," (Oregon 27. Larry Derry, "On Trial for Murder," (unpublished, State Archives, Salem). Soud1ern Oregon Historical Society, Medford), 1- 10. 40. "Oregon State Penitentiary Great Registers, 1854- 28. 'Jackson CountyJustice Dockers,Jacksonville Precinct, 1915" (cros.