Calaveras
County
Biographies
BENJAMIN KENT THORN
Conditions in some parts of the west
have been such as to develop a class of professional marshals and sheriffs, men
ready to take their lives in their hands in the defense of law and order and
safely to be depended upon at any moment.
In its issue of March 5, 1899, the Los Angeles Sunday Times referred to
“Ben Thorn of Calaveras,” as the “last of the race of professional sheriffs in
California.” Mr. Thorn’s career is in
many ways so unique that it could not be passed by in a work of this kind.
Of Danish and English ancestry, Mr.
Thorn was born at Plattsburg, New York, December 22, 1829 a son of Platt and
Elizabeth (Platt) Thorn, his mother having been of a family of early settlers
at Plattsburg, for whom the town was named.
In 1833, when Mr. Thorn was four years old, his parents removed to
Chicago, Illinois, then a small, muddy village with some three or four thousand
people living there and thereabouts, one half or more of whom were the Pottawatomie
Tribe of Indians. While they remained in
Chicago, the family lived in the old Clayborn House and “Ben,” as he has always
been known, was for a time a pupil in an infant school; but they soon removed
to Ottawa, Illinois, and there lived in a little log cabin, whose walls were
pierced with one window containing a single pane of glass, and with several
loop holes, through which the inmates of the cabin could defend themselves from
the attacks of the Indians. About one
hundred feet from the cabin were the graves of sixteen white settlers who had
been massacred by the savages but a few months prior thereto, and all buried hastily
in one common mound, as there was no sawed lumber in that country with which to
bury them otherwise.
The boy was brought up to farm work,
amid such primitive surroundings, and was sent to the best school Ottawa
afforded at that time; and, considering how hard it was for pioneers to make a
living in Illinois at that time, the boy was not badly situated. Produce brought very low prices, and
exorbitant prices were charged for such domestic supplies as it was necessary
to buy. When Ben had grown to be a
“chunk” of a boy he became a clerk in a store at Ottawa, and when he was
sixteen he began teaching school at Platteville, Illinois. Sometime later Mr. Thorn sold his farm and
removed to Ottawa, where he built a large tannery and carried on the business
of tanning, giving employment to many men until the time of his death in 1859,
in the fifty-ninth year of his age. His
wife died at the age of eighty-four, at the residence of her son at San
Andreas, Calaveras County, California, November 2,
1890. This worthy couple had six
children, of whom Sheriff Thorn and his brother, Deputy Sheriff Abbott Thorn
are the only survivors.
Sheriff Thorn crossed the plains to
California in 1849 and encountered many of the hardships of such a
journey. Several members of his party
were victims of cholera, and several of them died on the way; but though Sheriff
Thorn was constantly exposed to the influence which brought the others low, and
watched with one of them (Charles Zeliff) during the
night preceding his death, he fortunately escaped the disease even in its
mildest form. He arrived at Deer Creek,
Lassen County, California, where he remained in camp three weeks with his
company.
In September he commenced mining on
the Yuba River, some twelve or fifteen miles above the site of the present city
of Marysville, Yuba County, and continued on Yuba River, without much success,
as a “rocker” cost a hundred and twenty-five dollars, and he and his companions
took out only about eight dollars worth of gold, per man, per day, and each of
them could have hired out at sixteen dollars per day, as that was the wages
paid at the time.
In the month of November following
he left the Yuba, and went to Sacramento City, where he purchased a winter’s
supply of provisions and went to Volcano, Amador County, and there mined during
the winter of 1849-50, taking out an average of two ounces of gold dust per day
to the man in Indian Gulch. In February,
1850, he went to Mokelumne Hill, Calaveras County, and from there to Upper Rich
Gulch, some six miles distant therefrom, where he mined a short time. Then he removed to San Antonio camp, in Calaveras
County, where he located and purchased several mining claims on the San Antonio
and Calaveritas creeks, and employed several men mining for him until 1857.
In April, 1855, he was appointed
deputy sheriff by Charles A. Clarke, then the sheriff of the county, in order
that he might have authority to do what he could to rid the county of gangs of
Chilanoes, Mexicans and other desperadoes and cut-throats, who infested the
mining camps with no better objects than plunder and murder; and from that day
to this with the exception of four years, he has held the office of sheriff, or
deputy sheriff, or foreign miners’ tax collector. In the fall of 1855, while a deputy sheriff,
he ran and was elected constable of the township in order to secure the
official business of the justice’s court, which in those days reached a
considerable amount. Immediately
following his appointment, young Thorn started the hunt down and bring to
justice the absconded murderers who had prior thereto committed many murders in
San Antonio Camp and immediate vicinity, and he was not long in locating and
arresting John Phipps, who had killed Morales in San Antonio Camp in 1854 with
an ax, and who was hung for the crime at Mokelumne Hill; also Pedro y Barro, who killed a man and woman at the same camp; also
Bratton, who killed Thomas Titcomb; also Howard
Maupin, alias “Pike,” who killed James Dill and four Mexicans who murdered a
German on Indian Creek for his money, some of whom were convicted and sent to
the state prison, as many jurymen in those days were disposed to deal leniently
with the criminal element, besides many others arrested by Thorn for lesser
crimes.
In 1867 he was elected sheriff of
Calaveras County, and has held the office continuously by re-election since
except for the period mentioned, when he engaged in quartz mining and was not a
candidate. Whether a candidate on the
Democratic ticket or an “independent” candidate, has always been a matter of
indifference to him; he has been elected by flattering majorities. Sometimes he has had no political nominee in
the field against him, while twice some of the would-be leaders of the
Democratic Party wanted to give the office to someone else, for obligations
thus acknowledged, and his name did not appear on any ticket; but just before
election he announced himself as an independent candidate and was the only such
candidate in the field, and he was re-elected to the office by his usual large
majority of from four to five hundred.
Forty-five years have elapsed since he was first appointed a deputy
sheriff and thirty-three since he was first elected sheriff of Calaveras
County.
From 1855 until the office was
segregated from the sheriff’s office, he was foreign miners’ tax collector, and
deputy sheriff of Calaveras County, and was elected to the office of tax
collector and assessor for three terms, after it became an elective office, up
to 1867, when he was elected sheriff of the county.
Politically Mr. Thorn is a Democrat,
but not a strong partisan, and cares little for politics when it comes to
filling local offices with good or poor men.
His public spirit is such that he has always taken a helpful interest in
every movement in which in his good judgment has promised to benefit the town
and county.
Sheriff Thorn’s official history is
one of peculiar interest, and there is enough in it that would make exciting
reading to fill a volume. His success
and popularity have been well earned, for he has many times risked his life,
against great odds, in the interest of order and justice, and has almost
invariably captured the criminals he went to take, and recaptured the only
criminal who during his long career as sheriff was successful in breaking
jail. He has never shrunk from any duty
that confronted him, and has never asked any man to do any dangerous or
disagreeable work for him. No amount of
money could hire him to hang a man, nor would he hire any man to hang a man for
him; but in pursuance of his official duty he has hanged and assisted in the
execution of five in the same spirit in which he would have met any other
obligation to the public. No officer in
California has accomplished more than he in ridding the state of desperadoes
who have made life and property insecure; and he has always commanded the
respect of the criminals he has arrested, and no mob has ever taken a prisoner
from him, although three different attempts have been made.
Some of Sheriff Thorn’s most
dangerous experiences may be briefly referred to here, and the writer regrets
that there is not space to relate them in detail. In the month of June, 1855, soon after he was
appointed deputy sheriff, the notorious Sam Brown, or “Long Haired Brown,” as
he was sometimes called, and Bunty Owens, killed two Chilanoes over a monte game at
Upper Calaveritas, and in fleeing from the place were closely pursued by the
infuriated Chilanoes, upon whom they turned and fired, mortally wounding one of
them, when the pursuit was abandoned by the Chilanoes. A messenger was then dispatched to young
Thorn at San Antonio notifying him of the affair who immediately summoned to
his aid one of the men employed by him in mining, by the name of Edward
Hopkins, and going before Judge Spencer some three miles distant. Thorn swore out warrants against the murderers
and started in pursuit, traveling about all night in search of them, and early
the following morning obtained information that they were at John Hick’s cabin,
on O’Neil’s Creek, with four of their friends.
Proceeding thereto, and arriving in sight of the place, Brown appeared
with rifle in hand, which he immediately raised to his face, taking aim at the
approaching officers; but Thorn, thinking Brown too brave a man to fire on them
before hailing them kept right on, while Hopkins, apparently not possessing
that confidence in Brown, stayed back in the rear. Thorn had proceeded but a short distance
toward the place when Brown lowered his rifle off of him, and Thorn said that
he never felt so happy as he did about that time. Arriving at the cabin, Thorn placed Brown and
Owens under arrest, and Brown remarked to Thorn that he had just arrived in
time, as he had intended “skipping the country,” using his language,
immediately after eating his breakfast.
On leaving the place with his
prisoners, to take them before Judge Spencer’s court, some three or more miles
distant therefrom, Brown asked the favor of Thorn to be allowed to pack his
rifle along with him, as he believed that they might be attacked on the way by
the Chilanoes, and which under the circumstances was granted him. The examination
before the justice of the peace lasted two days, and was one of the most
exciting that ever occurred in the county, as about one hundred Chilanoes
gathered about the place, besides which over forty of the prisoners’ friends
were present; and as the ill feelings between the two opposing factions were at
a fever heat, it was all that Thorn could do to prevent a bloody conflict. It became an open secret that Brown’s friends
intended to take him away from Thorn; so the latter called on some of his friends
to remain with him during the night, but they all framed excuses for not so
doing so he sat all night alone on a box with a six shooter in hand to prevent
the execution of their intentions, and stop the sale or giving away of liquors
to anyone there, which was obeyed by the proprietor of the bar.
At the conclusion of the examination
before Orrin Spencer, justice of the peace of the township, when they were
committed a friend of Brown’s by the name of Lafayette Choiser,
attempted to hand him a loaded revolver which Thorn snatched and knocked him
down. Another friend of Brown’s, by the
name of Alfred Richardson, then swore out two warrants on false accusations against
two Chilanoe desperadoes who were standing with their kind in a crowd close by,
and who it was believed would try to kill Thorn if he attempted to serve
them. Thorn understood the situation
perfectly, but the warrants had been issued and placed in his hands, and it was
his duty to serve them, and he served them without hesitation and came out of
the affair in safety.
That day Thorn, with two assistants,
took Sam Brown, Bunty Owens and the two Chilanoes
referred to, to Mokelumne Hill, and placed them in the county jail. Brown was sent to San Quentin only for a few
years, after which he returned to Calaveras County, and in a short time went to
Carson City and Virginia City, and was afterward killed by Van Sickle on Carson
River, who had a record of seventeen men that he had killed in his lifetime!
A blacksmith by the name of Anderson
and another man were killed at Greenwood Valley, El Dorado County, in 1857, or
thereabouts, by a Chilanoe desperado named Santiago Molino, who made his escape
and for whom large rewards were offered for his arrest dead or alive by the
citizens of that place and Georgetown, and notices sent to the officers
throughout the state. Deputy Sheriff
Thorn used his best efforts in the case and finally ascertained that Molino was
at Col-o-ro, a small mining camp in Mariposa County,
in company with three more of his countrymen of the same ilk. Selecting Fred Wesson, a worthy assistant,
they started and arrived at the above camp in two days thereafter, and late in
the evening ascertained the cabin in which he and his associates were stopping
a short distance from Col-o-ro, to which they went,
and entering the cabin found only two of the occupants therein; but Thorn soon
recognized one of them as the man wanted and commenced asking him a few
questions when suddenly Molino sprang from his bed, seized his six-shooter and
attempted to use it; but they wrestled it from him and informed him that they
were officers and that he was their prisoner.
On leaving the cabin for camp, Thorn
took charge of Molino, while Wesson took charge of the other man, and on the
way Molino made a desperate break for liberty, closely pursued by Thorn, who
fired at him with fatal effect; and on Wesson’s arrival at the scene, with the
other Chilanoe in charge, Thorn requested him to go to the camp and procure the
help of the only three Americans in the place to take the body to camp while he
remained there. Some fifty or more of
the Chilanoes came pouring into the little place and looked daggers at the
officers, who watched their actions closely, but no demonstrations were made on
their part. The coroner’s jury rendered
a complimentary verdict in the case to Thorn.
No reward was ever asked for, or paid by the parties offering it.
About this time, while Jesus Be-a-lova, a Mexican horse thief and murderer, was under
sentence of death at Mokelumne Hill, and, three days before that set for his
execution, was taken out by Thorn and assistant officer, to be photographed at
the request of his mother; and on the return back to the jail, some little
distance away, Thorn’s assistant, claiming that he had forgotten something,
left Thorn alone to proceed back to the jail with his big burly and unironed prisoner, when, like a flash, he turned on Thorn
and seized his pistol; whereupon Thorn threw him down and alighted astraddle
upon him, and, catching hold of the barrel of the cocked weapon, turned the
muzzle from his person, and ramming his finger of the other hand up the
Mexican’s nostril, held him securely until assistance came!
One night at a toll-house near West
Point, John McDonough and Gwin Raymond was badly shot through a window from the
outside. The house was then entered by
the two would-be murders, and robbed of considerable money, etc., one of whom
was captured, while the other, whose name was Charles Williams, escaped through
the darkness. Shortly afterwards Deputy
Sheriff Thorn found out where he was, near Princeton, in Mariposa County,
chopping wood in the forest, and, riding up to him, demanded his surrender,
when Williams rushed at him with an ax, uplifted, with the evident intention of
splitting his head open; and when Williams got so close that the situation
began to look unhealthy to Thorn, he shot him down.
Soon afterward Thorn was elected
sheriff for the first time; he and Constable Mathews started in pursuit on the
Kinney Said murderers, and on their way stopped overnight at Columbia, Tuolumne
County. After supper Thorn, not
anticipating any trouble, handed Mr. Fallon, the landlord, his weapons to keep
overnight, being too heavy to pack.
Later in the evening Thorn and Mathews’ attention was called to three
Mexicans, well mounted and dressed, who rode up in front of Kelly’s livery
stable on a back street. The officers,
proceeding over to the stable, recognized them as men wanted by Sheriff Lincoln
of Santa Cruz County for highway robbery. Thorn, seizing one of the men by the
collar and bridle of his animal, ordered him to dismount, which not being
complied with, Thorn hauled him off of his horse, at the same time going after
the Mexican’s weapons, who also held on for possession, while another jumped
off his horse, at whom Mathews fired and who ran into a dark harness room. While
Thorn was thus engaged in tussling for the possession of the weapon the other
Mexican opened fire on him with three shots at close range wounding him,
however but slightly, under the armpit while another passed through the rim of
his hat, and then the desperado ran away as another party fired at him in order
to save Thorn. Securing his man and
placing him in Mathew’s charge, Thorn entered the room and brought out the other
Mexican both of whom with their outfits, were taken by Mathews and assistant to
Calaveras County; while Thorn started for Mariposa in search of the Said
murderers, one of whom he secured in that county and from whom he obtained a
full confession of his participation in the above murder, and in a short time
captured the other in Amador County, near Oleta, who was afterward hung, while
the former was sentenced for life at San Quentin state prison.
When Thorn was a deputy sheriff
under High Sheriff Paul, and was returning home from a sheriff’s sale at the
old Bascoe ranch of a lot of stock accompanied by his
wife, on horseback, in traveling along the trail in the evening two disguised
men on horseback were seen a little distance ahead, on the side of the trail,
under a tree, apparently waiting and watching for them; so Thorn drew his
revolver, and as he approached nearer them they made towards the trail on which
he was traveling, apparently to head him off, whereupon he immediately covered
them with his weapon and demanded of them what they wanted and what they were
doing, at which they halted a moment in a hesitating manner, and then turned
around and rode off a short distance and stopped. The officer and his wife
proceeded but, still coveting the money which the officer had from the proceeds
of the sale, they followed them along on the side of
the trail some little distance. Thorn, not desirous of another attempt at a
bold hold up, especially under the circumstances, let their horses go at full
speed and thus left the would-be highwaymen in the lurch. Sometime afterward Thorn found out who the
parties were, but the attempted crime was then outlawed.
Sheriff Thorn has had many risky
experiences during the many years that he has held his position, and has also
been very successful in saving the tax-payers of his county many thousands of
dollars by securing confessions of guilt from many of the criminal
element. Notably amongst the number was
that of Charles E. Bolton, alias Black Bart, the Po 8, who confessed his guilt
to Thorn in the presence of Captain A. Walker Stone, of San Francisco, the
captain ably assisting him on that occasion, through which a large amount of
stolen treasure was recovered and restored to Wells, Fargo & Company, and
Bolton pleaded guilty to the charge in the superior court of Calaveras County,
thus saving the county a long and expensive trial with probably no conviction.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 113-119. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Calaveras County Biographies