There was a sliver truth in yesterday’s article about the town’s infamous hangman’s tree.
On April 17, 1868, Thomas Pearson, his wife, daughter Hattie and Samuel Cooper were massacred by the Indians on the eastern shore of Honey Lake. This episode created a great deal of tension between the settlers and the Indians. Expedition parties were organized to find the guilty parties. who were believed to be members of the Pit River tribe. The Indians who did dastardly deed, however could not be found.
In September 1868, Captain Munson of Fort Bidwell still conducted expeditions, but like the previous ones, found no clues. That changed when he arrived in Big Valley, where we met with the Pit River tribe. The tribe turned over to Munson’s custody three suspected Indians.
Later that month, Munson. arrived in Susanville with the three Indians for civil authorities to conduct a trial. The hearing was held at night. The Indians were acquitted and they were released from custody. The Sage Brush newspaper reported “. . . that no evidence of appearing to establish their guilt.” Yet, a number of citizens who had gathered outside the courtroom believed the Indians were guilty. They became a vigilante mob. They escorted the Indians up Main Street to North Pine Street, where they were hanged “. . . from the limbs of a patriarchal oak.”
The saga of the Hangman’s tree was born. As folklore would have it, the tree was used for other occasions, but actually it was not. Again, it has been written the tree was cut down as recently as the 1960s, when in fact it was cut down in January 1892.