this is a true crime podcast it contains adult themes and content and may not be suitable for all listeners listener discretion is advised you lost all constitutional rights the moment you walk through that door when the judge said down there I sentenc you to 10 years at the ID Penitentiary you walked in that door you wasn't number and the inmate understood that out there pass in here just lay down and do those inmates were here in the institution during an execution it had an impression on them that maybe was still with them to some extent maybe they don't think about it anymore but it it had an impression on them I'm sure they wouldn't let me out till I get back to St seven months later I give a dark J that was one of the one of the problems we ran into you had five or six guys that were sitting in a place smoking a jok and and drinking coffee pretty quick they' hatched a plan in there to get under your skin somewhere are are trying to figure a way out welcome ladies and gentlemen to another episode of behind gy walls podcast about the old Idaho State penetentary and the men and women who were incarcerated here my name is Anthony I'm talking to Sky down in Texas how's it going Sky things are going good the weather is getting hot and I don't like it how are things going with you you know it's it's spring allergies are are going but otherwise you know it's School tour season so you'll probably hear kids you know you know screaming in the background some of these episodes this season but it's a it's a good time of year I I love spring always a good time spring is lovely it is all right so who who and what are we talking about today so we have two subjects today so our Focus this week is on aaii County and so we will start actually with the first men who came here in 1872 John Thomas and a shock and and the episode by talking about the general history of mining in awaii County so stay tuned for that now our sources today we have a different selection so for John Thomas I use the Idaho daily Statesman Library of Congress chronicling America newspapers.com an Oregon encyclopedia. org article on Camp Harney an article on ghosts.com about Fairview Idaho in Hawaii County an article from Western mining history.com on the history of Mountain City and in both I also use Idaho of yesterday by Thomas Donaldson who I reference quite often this season because he had such a intimate view of the Idaho territory and wrote several chapters on Governors lawyers law and criminals here in Idaho during these this time period don't forget that any information about mining history the list of those sources is found in episode three of the early Mining and territorial history episode so if you're curious about where I found that information please go back and find those sources but it was 4 minutes worth of sources so we won't repeat them here now a common theme you'll hear this season is that we often don't know really much about the early life of the men we are covering today's subjects John Thomas and as shock are no exception we're going to start with John Thomas so on October 30th 1870 John Thomas and his partner Charles Kingsley visited Fairview in awaii County Fairview is now a ghost town located southeast of Silver City and boasted over 100 structur serving the miners working in the mines on War Eagle Mountain when they visited the town would have been bustling with activity like many mining towns in the west it wouldn't last for long in the mid 1870s a fire ripped through the town and destroyed most of the structures and the town was abandoned you can still visit the fair viiew Cemetery with four marked Graves and nearly 40 unmarked Graves back to John Thomas and his partner Charles Kingsley according to reports John Thomas was thought to be John lens and it was noted in the newspaper that he had been working for the government at Camp Harney in southeast Oregon Camp Harney was a military Camp strategically placed to protect the passage of miners goods and civilians establishing lands in the area from tribal Nations including the northern pyute modok nesper banic and others in the region Charles Kingsley was a corn South salesman this was was an ointment used to get rid of corns and bunions which were common in mining camps for anyone who's never had one it's like a Cousy patch of hard skin that develops from shoes that are too tight or ill-fitting manual labor like working in a mine for countless hours would cause a lot of uncomfortable corns and bunions Charles apparently was a good salesman quote he danced sang and performed slight of hand tricks for the amusement of the boys on the mountain end quote Charles operated on several of the miners corns and bunions and after the short visit to fairv John and Charles hopped on horses owned by Bob Mc and William Frasier the Idaho Statesman account on November 8th 1870 poked fun at the event by saying quote his last trick was to disappear with Bob MC's horse end [Applause] quote they headed south across the Nevada border on November 24th the Idaho Statesman noted quote Kingsley the rascally corn doctor amazing description right um Kingsley the rascally corn doctor operated on the feet of several of the good people of Fairview and now a number of them are unable to wear their boots and are liable to lose their toes moral put no faith in traveling quacks end quote that's like that's great that's one of my favorite quotes of the that's a that the rascally corn doctor and moral put no faith in traveling quacks that is very good the duo crossed into the cope mining District in the then bustling Mountain City silver mining camp cope was named after after a minor named Jesse cope who was on his way to Silver City Idaho in 1869 when he discovered silver on the mountain range and developed the new mine gold and copper were also discovered in the area It produced more than a million dollars in just over 10 years and it is still a town with a population of less than 100 people John and Charles made it to the cat mining district with Bob Mc in Pursuit about a half day behind them sometime in the first week of December 1870 William Frasier filed a complaint in Mountain City John Thomas and Charles Kingsley were finally arrested near Elco Nevada they were not charged in Nevada but held for Grand lne at Elco County Jail to await a requisition from the Idaho territorial Governor Idaho had 56 days to send papers to have the two sent across the border to stand trial Charles Kingsley ever the trickster managed to befriend the Jail's officials the O he Avalanche noted on January 14th 1871 quote it is supposed and we understand that Thomas state that the Elco jail officials allowed Kingsley to get away we are informed that while a prisoner he spent considerable of his time in the office of sheriff Fitch singing and otherwise amusing the boys and that one evening he went out for an armful of wood and forgot to return whoever are is writing these they're brilliant right so good granting that Fitch or his deputies did not connive at the villain's Escape yet they allowing him so much freedom is highly reprehensible especially after he made a previous attempt to break jail end quote Charles escaped from jail and and we have yet to find what happened to him John Thomas had to face the charge alone in January 1871 the territorial Governor wrote to have Jon transferred back to Silver City and lodged in the jail to await his trial on May 1st JN was found guilty he was sentenced to 18 months of hard labor in the Idaho Territorial Prison the next day it was noted that quote the grand jury in their report states that the crime of embracer is growing frightfully common in Hawaii County they return only one case but are morally satisfied of the guilt of many others the nature of the transaction makes it hard to get at the direct evidence of guilt end quote so embracery is actually the crime of influencing or attempting to influence a jury through bribery threats or any means to sway the ruling to one side and with the amount of men stumbling in a wealth Within These small towns it's not hard to imagine there may have been some forms of bribery and embracery going on on however Thomas Donaldson the superintendent of construction of the Territorial Prison wrote in Idaho of yesterday quote I never placed much faith in the stories of purchased judges in Idaho defeated parties without a shade of Truth or reason for their statements would sometimes denounce the judge or judges who decided against them and intimate or assert purchase by other interested parties end quote and he has a whole chapter about courts judges and attorneys and notes that the appointees that represented Idaho were on the whole actually really solid and well-liked lawyers and public servants judge JS gray who was the territorial Treasurer and ex officio prison commissioner arrived in awaii county and collected John Thomas and as shock and after quote jugging unquote the two LED them to Idaho City for their stay in the prison and we'll get to as shock's crime in just a moment now after serving 15 months in the penitentiary a letter for petition arrived from the Idaho Statesman described ASE the best citizens of awaii County end quot on behalf of John Thomas among the nearly 80 signatures included a witness for the prosecution William H Fraser John's attorney the sheriff WS Stevens deputy sheriff RJ Miller and two Commissioners among the County's best local citizens the letter was sent to the governor's office along with quote a certificate of good character end quote from prison administrators stating that all the Citi believe that quote as we are credibly informed his conduct has been good and the ends of Justice will not as we believe be subsumed by the further imprisonment of said Thomas end quot the pardon paper drafted by territorial Governor Bennett said quote and whereas from a liable sources I've been informed and do believe that the said John Thomas previous to the conviction of fores said bore the reputation of a law-abiding and peaceful Citizen and that since his imprisonment a for said he had demeaned and conducted himself as a quiet obedient and well-disposed man at all times Faithfully conforming to all the rules and regulations of the prison discipline and it furthermore appearing to me that the time for which said convict was sentenced has nearly expired and that under all the circumstances he is a proper subject for executive clemency end quote the Statesman also noted quote there is no charity greater than that extended to the reformed criminal the man that becomes sensible of his bad conduct and desires to reform should never be pushed back or turned away coldly good good men can afford to extend a kind hand to those who are anxious to do better end quote John Thomas was released on August 1st 1872 William Frasier and BG hooker who left Silver City to pursue Jon and Charles on the stolen horses wanted to be paid back for their efforts the amount was set at $1,352 for quote services rendered and expenses incurred in the pursuit and arrest of John Thomas end quote in 1872 the Idaho territorial legislative assembly wrote up a council bill which was brought up during several legislative sessions the bill said that the territory and not the county should pay them out for their efforts to bring John Thomas to Justice finally in January 1875 the council bill was passed and both men were paid $1300 to track him down I was just like what that's so much money and after like five years and all the time and effort to listen decide to pay them I am I am awaiting $1,200 from the government government for taxes and it's been like 2 weeks and I'm like what the heck is taking so long so for it to take 5 years I'd be like I just don't know if it's worth it anymore right yeah I I was like trying to track this down like other than maybe some horses and food and shelter like how did they rack up such a bill anyway interesting now we're going to move over to as shock and my sources again were similar I don't Statesman Library of Congress chronicling America newspapers.com and Ido State Historical Society reference series on Snake River fairies in reference to the Monahan Fairy like John Thomas little is known about a shock's background we know little about his crime though Thomas Donaldson May shed some light on it Donaldson noted in Idaho of yesterday that there were about 4,000 Chinese men living in the Idaho Territory between 1869 and 1875 with a majority living near Ada County he noted that Chinese worked as miners laundrymen Cooks house servants and gardeners and in our research we've heard great descriptions of Chinese gardens in the Time Capsule placed in the Cornerstone of the Territorial Prison administrators included a letter written in Chinese from a cook in a boisey restaurant named Lu lean from whu unfortunately the rest of the letter is written in an ancient script but we're fortunate to have the name of the man who wrote it Donaldson wrote that he highly respected the Chinese people in the Idaho territory and described them as intelligent and educated qu I have yet to see one who is unable to read and write end quot during the first week of January 1871 as shock was in awaii County near the Snake River by the few available reports he got into an argument with another unnamed Chinese man over a debt a few miles from Monahan's Ferry off the Snake River Monahan's Ferry is named after Martin Monahan who established a ferry to cross the Snake River in 1866 after being granted by the Ido territorial legislature to operate the franchise in 1870 the ferry was near the mouth of rapit Creek which is in Guffy Idaho south of Melba Warrens the fery was set up to allow transport across the Snake River for travelers between boisey and Silver City during the argument over the debt of somewhere between $122 and $15 according to the awaii Avalanche quote a quarrel arose about the matter when the latter seized a hatchet and by a well-directed blow put an end to the quarrel as well as to the life of his fellow countrymen end quote as shock and the Witnesses were both arrested and held for an inquest they remained in the awaii county jail to await trial in the spring along with John Thomas Thomas Donaldson wrote about the trial in Idaho yesterday quote in important law cases it frequently happened that China men would insist that Chinese Witnesses be sworn in by the native method judge Lewis granted this concession one day in 1871 when sitting at Silver City the case was that of murder charged against a the interpr beginning his preparations to administer oath explained that chinan devoutly believed that if he violated the truth under oath he would meet with dire punishment continual decapitation in the other world rubbe Spring Sheriff of Hawaii County brought into court a live chicken and a tin platter the Chinese witness cut off the chicken's head and the blood was let drop on the platter the witness then took several squares of red paper and with a Chinese brush dipped in ink wrote on the papers his oath to tell the truth the Bits of Paper were then rolled into pellets soaked in the chicken's blood sprinkled with incense and burned with a taper the smoke slowly curling upward was silently watched by the celestials present judge Lewis much interested leaned across the bench and asked The Interpreter what does that all mean said hop wo in reply well China man he write out that he won't lie the blood means danger if he do when he burns papers they go to heaven and take oath along when China men die if he lie he find oath showing he lie in heaven then he have much trouble they chop chop chop his head off all the time well smiled judge Lewis does that make all China men tell the truth that way of placing them on oath can't say Mr Lewis said hop wo gloomily China man he's always say as American man sometimes he lied like hell on this occasion the China men were much annoyed because they learned that sheriff Springer had taken the dead chicken home and eaten it for dinner end quote this is all Thomas Donaldson's writing and depiction of what he experienced in this courthouse in Silver City uh so not not our language yeah it's it's rough as shach was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 6 years in the Idaho Territorial Prison unlike John Thomas who received itions for his release as shock served his entire term and was released on June 27th [Music] 1876 and now we're going to turn to mining history of a whitei county in Silver City on May 7th 1863 Prospectors discovered quartz deposits near Rocky Bar are about 50 Mi directly east of boisey only 11 days later another party led by Michael Jordan obviously not that Michael Jordan from Placerville found gold on Jordan Creek in the awaii mountains after working the stream for a few days the Prospectors returned to the boisey Basin with news that set off the awaii gold rush 1,500 miners rushed to the area and Court discoveries in the area followed in July and August with the discovery of silver loads in several areas during the second half of 1863 including Rocky Bar and awaii County especially near aptly named Silver City silver became another major industry in the state the year closed out with the discovery of gold and silver plasters in Atlanta and banner leading to an Idaho Yuba Gold Rush which is different from the Yuba City gold rush in California though the Yuba River in Central Idaho is named after the Yuber river in northern California and that was one thing that I always found when I was researching is I would type in these names to see where they were and it would always pop up as California but I so I think that's such an interesting connection because this happened really so soon after the 1849 Gold Rush like I just I think those connections are so fascinating this whole season has just been a fascinating thing to research like the language the the culture at the time and I never thought I would know so much about mining but mining is so interesting it is it's fascinating I'm I'm like interested in going out and just trying some plaster mining somewhere just to have the experience I have actually done it I did some panning one time with some family members according to the Idaho State Historical Society reference series on Silver mining in Idaho the mines around Silver City produced exceptional quality and quantities of silver one mine in particular the porman discovered in 1865 quote astonished just about everyone who saw it samples from the porman were displayed in Congress and a 500 lb Ruby silver Crystal received a special gold medal when exhibited at the Paris International Exposition early in 1867 end quote Ruby silver is a dark red silver ore known scientifically as Pyar jerite hoping to capitalize on this gold and silver rush in the AIS and attempting to save face after the failed attempt to admit Idaho as a state then territorial Governor Caleb lion addressed the residents of Ruby City the awaii county seat on November 20th 1865 proclaiming a diamond craze in the awaii mountains as miners rushed to the area they bumped up against one problem there were no diamonds to be found at all not a single genuine diamond was pulled out of those Minds after hundreds of men staked claims there this did not help Lion's popularity in the territory amazing this like one of my favorite stories you just was like I bet if we say that there are diamonds there I'll be good and then just like didn't anticipate that like probably wouldn't find diamonds I don't know oh how many fortunes were lost as people oh gosh waste of time wow in 1867 a major load was found on War Eagle Mountain in the awes the Idaho daily Statesman reported on May 25th 1867 quote rumor came over by the stage last Thursday that another astonishingly Rich ledge had been struck on War Eagle Mountain thought to be equal to the poor man it is said to be a gold-bearing Ledge in character like the Orofino situated about 3 mil from Silver City the lucky finders have been offered $20,000 for their chance end quote one of the investors in the new Ida Elmore property on the mountain was J Maran Moore the Washington territory mining Pioneer behind the original push to create the Idaho territory on April 1st 1868 Moore was out drinking with other Ida Elmore friends when he came face to face with Sam lockart a rival minor whose company gold Chariot was battling more and his companions over ownership of War Eagle Mountain words were exchanged and the moment escalated when Moore raised his to strike lockart with a stick supposedly defending his honor lockart pulled out his pistol and shot Moore in the chest Moore died 3 hours later his funeral held a few days later was attended by thousands of friends and acquaintances such violence was common in the early mining days of the territory yeah compared to the 1860s the decade of the 1870s likely seemed like a dud even with far fewer discoveries in the 1870s however miners at Silver City were not deterred the morning Oregonian published a letter from the oah Avalanche of Silver City idoo on April 29th 1872 quote our morning situation is very flattering since last week's report there has been no deterioration but on the contrary there is daily discovered more first class minerals since the palmy days of 1863 when the golden Chariot produced so much bullion and paid so many regular dividends and we are of the opinion that the Boolean yield build of War Eagle Mountain for 1872 will far exceed that of any previous year in the history of our camp we deem it safe to say that this summer will be the most prosperous that awaii county has ever known in our minds rich or in seemingly exhaustless quantities has been discovered there being insight to keep most of our Mills running to their utmost capacity a major investor in awaii County mines the Bank of California failed in August 1875 and Mining began flagging in Silver City and the awes Revival was helped by the completion of the Oregon Shortline Railroad in the early 1880s major production continued through the 1890s and early 1900s but the major yield had been worked out of the awaii county mines by 1912 according to the Idaho State Historical Society reference series quote over 1 million ounces of gold and 20 million ounces of silver are credited to early Silver City and delmare end quote and wow that is quite the prosperous Town yeah and it's I mean it's one of my favorite like I don't want to say vacation spots but it's like one of my favorite day trip spots Silver City is cuz you can go see a lot of the old structures and it's just it's just a fun little place to imagine this like once incredibly booming Town um so if you are in the area I highly recommend visiting yeah absolutely I was actually like really fortunate I got to do a cemetery repair Workshop there a a few years ago and I got to stay in that Silver City hotel oh is it cool it was so cool and a little bit spooky and being in this old rickety house and just hearing things all night long just sounded like people walking around and it was like it was so much fun and the cemeteries there are just fascinating little sections of iD History yeah definitely encourage everybody to go there and and spend a little bit of time and you know have some some new idahoans on our staff who have never been and you know we're like okay get a truck get a staru or something it's not the the most giving Road and wait till summer before you try to get make your way out there but definitely encourage everybody to check it out it's it's not far from boisey if you're in this area it's two hours south I'd say with the with the road conditions also be careful if you go in summer because my family and I went a couple summers ago and the road was filled when I say filled I mean like edgo Edge filled with Mormon crickets and it was we were in our car and my mom and I were genuinely like I hate it so I don't know if it was like that last year we we went up to Wallace last year but just so you know they you may see some Mormon crickets on your way into Silver City so cool love that place well that is our awaii County episode episode uh John Thomas and a shock and we have nine more men to cover throughout the season so stay tuned everybody do your own time do your own number we'll talk to you next week bye bye if you enjoyed behind gray walls please rate review And subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode not only do we get to hear your feedback about the show but it helps others find us as well if you're interested in finding out more about the podcast and to see mug shots of the inmates featured in today's episode follow our Facebook group at behind gry walls podcast we have a podcast Instagram as well you can find us on Instagram at behind gry walls pod [Music]