On the night of June 6, 1864, Lassen County’s first homicide, and its oldest unsolved murder, that resulted in the deaths of Jacob Boody and Philip Wales near Milford occurred. A strange case indeed.*
The two men were neighbors, who resided halfway between Janesville and Milford. In April 1864, Boody took a wagon to be repaired by Wales. A dispute arose, as Wales would not allow Boody to pick up the wagon until he was paid. The matter eventually resolved and the two were amicable.
At around 9 p.m. on June 6, Wales and his wife, Elizabeth, had gone to bed. Shortly thereafter, Wales heard noises coming from the barn and went to investigate. As soon as he got to the front gate of his house, he was shot in chest and collapsed. His wife, alerted their twelve year old son, George, and they brought Philip’s body into the house, and he died. George went to the neighbors, going through the grain field, but found no one on the first attempt.
When the neighbors did arrive around 11 p.m. they found Jacob Boody’s body in the road, not far from the Wales’ home. He had been shot several times in the back, and once in the leg. A Colt revolver was found several feet from Boody’s body.
The next morning seven men were impaneled to serve as a jury in the Coroner’s Inquest. Eight people testified. The jury came back with a verdict that the two men died from wounds inflicted by pistol and gun shots in the hands of unknown parties.
*There had been other murders prior to this, but this was the first one that fell over jurisdiction of the newly created Lassen County.