Finishing up with stories about the famous hanging that changed the name of Placerville, then Old Dry Diggings, to Hangtown, we look at two books, a history book entitled “The Argonauts of California,” by C. W. Haskins, published in 1890,…
Criminal annals, Part 6 – Hittell’s Version of the Hangings
Continuing with stories about the famous hanging that changed the name of Placerville, then Old Dry Diggings, to Hangtown, we now look at the version provided by the well-respected Theodore H. Hittell in his “History of California,” Volume I, printed…
Criminal Annals, Part 5 – Marilyn Ferguson’s Version of the Hangings
Continuing with stories about the famous hanging that changed the name of Placerville, then Old Dry Diggings, to Hangtown, we now look at a version provided by one of Placerville’s most thorough historians, Marilyn Ferguson. Her version, entitled “The True…
Criminal Annals, Part 4 – “Alta California” Version of the Hangings
Last time we looked at the famous hanging that changed the name of Placerville, then Old Dry Diggings, to Hangtown, as it was written by Edward Gould Buffum in his book, “Six months in the gold mines: from a journal…
Criminal Annals, Part 3 – Buffum’s Version of the Hangings
As a part of the look at the various stories about the famous hanging that changed the name of Placerville, then Old Dry Diggings, to Hangtown, Edward Gould Buffum’s first-person account is one of the most important. In Chapter VI…
Criminal Annals, Part 2 – More on the Hangings
In Part 1 we looked at one version of the story that described the event that gave Placerville, then known as “Old Dry Diggins,” the name “Hangtown.” In Part 2 we continue with two other versions of the story from…