JULIEN LeDON.
His Funeral Takes Place To-Day.
The Murdered Man's Remains
Find a Resting Place in
the Catholic Cemetery.
The body of young Julian Le Don, who was so unceremoniously Lynched
by
unknown person, in Mariposa county, on Monday night or Tuesday morning
last, was brought down here yesterday for burial. The funeral started
from the undertaking rooms of J. E. P. Williams, Main street, at nine
o'clock this forenoon, Rev. Father McNamara, of the Catholic Church,
conducting the funeral ceremonies; the cortege proceeded to the
Catholic
Cemetery, where the remains were buried in accordance with the rites
of
the Catholic Church. The mother and brother of the deceased were the
chief mourners, besides whom a large number of sorrowing friends and
neighbors followed the remains to their last resting place. The sudden
taking off of this man in the prime of young manhood by unauthorized
executioners - secret enemies, perhaps - appears to have been a most
brutal, cowardly and unmitigated murder, planned and carried out in
secret by men whom it would be base flattery to call cut throats. So
far
as we can learn from gentlemen present at the Coroner's inquest, the
hanging was done by two men only, who rode to the place of execution,
one on either side of their victim to the fatal tree, where they
committed the foul deed, and after unsaddling and turning loose the
murdered man's horse, mounted their own animals and rode away.
So far
as
we known suspicion rests upon no particular individuals, yet it is
probable that circumstances will lead to the detection of the guilty
parties, and that the local officers will do all in their power to
bring
the guilty ones to the bar of justice. The deceased is represented
by
neighbors as having been a peaceable, quiet, honest young man, who
attended strictly to his own business, and had few if any enemies among
his neighbors. But even if he had been one considered dangerous to
the
peace and quiet of society, the manner of his taking off is no less
a
foul murder, and the murderers should be hunted down and punished for
the crime.
submitted by Tom Hilk
LYNCHERS ARRESTED
San Joaquin Valley Argus
July 21, 1888
Since the lynching of young Julien Le Don in Mariposa county last
January the local officers and special detectives have been quietly
working the case up. This week the officers came to the conclusion
that
the time had come to bring matters to a close and so they arrested
Jim
Westfall, Jake McGirk and a man named Smither's charging them with
the
offense. Le Don was hung, it is said, on account of some stock being
missed, and as the above named men were in the stock business,
suspicion
pointed strongly to them, thus the arrest. It is said that more arrests
will follow.
submitted by Tom Hilk
Return to Mariposa
County Disasters
GO TO MARIPOSA HISTORY
AND RESEARCH
California