Remembering TUOLUMNE...
By Joseph Celentano
TCMM Historical Research Committee
March 26th
2006 will mark the 150th year for the anniversary of the murder of Franklin
Summers in a courtroom brawl. How
would things be if Frank Summers were not killed at
age 30? What would be the name of this
community? Would we have Carters School
District instead of Summerville?
The following is an excerpt from the "Mining
Business of LaGrange", a journal for miners in Stanislaus County in
1856.
Tragedy strikes the Summers Family.
A detailed account of the murder of
Frank Summers on March 26,
1856.
"A DISASTROUS AFFAIR: A bloody affray [sic] occurred in LaGrange
(also known as French Bar) March 26, 1856, in which Frank Summers and Martin
Anderson lost their lives, and a man by the name of Kincaid was
dangerously wounded. Ill feeling had
been brooding between the Summers' boys and the James
Dickinson family for some time before, about the location of some swamp and
overflowed land in the neighborhood of Horr's Ranch,
or what was then Dickinson's Ferry (also known as Roberts Ferry). The matter in one shape or another, had been
in litigation between the parties for several years, and finally came on for
trial on Wednesday, the 26th of March 1856,
before Judge Creanor in the Fifth District
Courthouse. The cause [sic] was tried during the day.
The contestants had strained every point to gain an advantage before the
law, but were yet to meet in deadly conflict before
the day had closed. It was near dark
when court adjourned.
"The Dickinson party, consisting of
some fifteen of twenty had left the courtroom, and it was supposed had started
home. George and Frank Summers remained
in the court-room conversing with each other, and had turned to leave the
building when James Dickinson entered with some of his friends, and on reaching
Summers, struck George in the face with his fist, a scuffle ensued, in which
all participated.
"After some tussling and scuffling
the firing commenced. Several pistol
shots were fired in quick succession. George Summers was knocked
down and shot at six times while lying on the floor. Frank Summers was shot
in the thigh, his right arm broken into splinters above the elbow, and one ball
entering his breast passed obliquely through the left lung, coming out under
the left shoulder blade.
"A bystander says…..
'He received the last shot as he attempted to escape through the window
- that he was met by a man from the outside of the house, and shot by him,
causing instant death, the ball entering his breast.' His body was afterwards found a short distance from the house, lying
in a ditch, where he had run before falling in the agonies of death. Martin Anderson, a young man and friend of
Dickinson, received a ball in his abdomen, causing his death. Kincaid, another of the Dickinson party, received
a wound in the upper part of the thigh, from which he afterwards recovered. John Clark, then Deputy Sheriff, received a
wound in his arm while endeavoring to quell the affray.
"In George Summers account of the
affray, he says: …..'I was struck in the face. I thought one man took hold of me by the hair
of the head, pulled me about half-bent, and held me in that position, whilst
some others gave me blows. After some
little tussling they jerked me to the floor. About this time I
heard the report of a pistol, several others in quick succession. I could see no one for the men over me. I was stamped,
beaten and shot at I suppose, as I have been creditably informed that six ball
holes were in the floor near where my head lay, endeavoring to blow my brains
out. The firing ceased, they drew me out
of the house by the hair of my head, believing me to be dead, without a doubt, and still continuing to stamp me. My deceased brother was by my side when the
row commenced. I saw him no more until I
saw him a corpse.'
"Frank Summers left his wife a widow
and two little children to morn his loss.
This lamentable affair was deplored by all good citizens, and the loss
to the family was irreparable."
- - - (End of Journal article) - - -
The TCMM has no known photographs of Frank
Summers and we have no idea where he is laid to rest.
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