TWO REMARKABLE CRIMINAL CASES

One feature of life in Columbia County seems to demand some attention, and that is the criminal record. This is not for the sake of mere sensationalism, but because of some features so remarkable that they become interesting as a study of the possibilities of human nature and life.

The first case that we shall touch upon was that of the murder of E. H. Cummins, railroad agent at New York Bar on Snake River. The story has been told in various forms. We derive our information mainly from Dr. E. H. Van Patten of Dayton. The mutilated body of the agent was discovered early on the morning of July 27, 1882. It was evident upon inspection that he had been murdered for the purpose of robbery. The station had been rifled of all valuables, including money. Late in 1882 Canada Owenby, who lived near Pomeroy, was arrested on account of suspicious circumstances. It was known that he had been destitute of money but that soon after the murder had become possessed of considerable money. He was known to have been in Pataha the day before the murder, then to have disappeared, returning the next morning, and getting a blacksmith to remove the shoes of his horse. He had purchased in Pomeroy cartridges for a pistol which he was known to own, which was of just the size which appeared to have been used for the crime. After his arrest he made desperate efforts to escape, leaping, handcuffed, from a second-story window. He had tried to bribe a guard to swear that he saw him in Pomeroy the night of the murder. Again he sought to induce the guards by bribes to let him escape. Still further he asserted that his wife would testify that he was at home the night of the murder, but when she was called to the stand he took advantage of the right to refuse to allow her to be a witness. A bloody shirt was found which appeared to belong to him. The chain was drawing irresistibly around him. The preliminary trial occurred at Dayton on January 13, 1883. Without being put under any "tenth degree inquisition," Owenby was evidently in a dreadful state of mind, and soon after the discharge of the jury through disagreement, he confessed, first to a fellow prisoner, and subsequently to the sheriff and clerk. The confession was somewhat confused and contradictory, but it involved the assertion that three other men, James McPherson, Ezra Snoderly, and one Porter, were concerned in the crime. The three were arrested and brought to Dayton. The officers became so well satisfied that Porter was innocent that he was released.

In June, 1883, Snoderly and McPherson were tried in the district court, presided over by Judge S. C. Wingard. It was an intensely exciting trial. J. K. Rutherford was prosecuting attorney at the time. Judge Godman, Judge Caton, Judge Sturdevant and Colonel George, the most prominent attorneys in the region at that time, were concerned in the case.

The result of the trial was that all three men were convicted of murder, though both McPherson and Snoderly maintained to the last that they were innocent. Great efforts were made for a reprieve. Judge Caton secured a stay of proceedings for McPherson. The news of this excited great feeling throughout the community where the conviction was strong that the three were alike guilty in the revolting crime. During the afternoon of August 4th little knots of men, mainly farmers, might have been seen talking earnestly, breaking up their groups whenever any one not in their confidence approached. It was evident that something portentous was at hand.

The old vigilante organization had representatives in the community. With that element as a nucleus, a committee called the committee of the hundred and one, was speedily organized and about midnight a strong body of men gathered in the courthouse square. They speedily stormed the jail, in spite of the firing of the guard, overpowered him, broke into the cell where McPherson was chained, took him out and hanged him.

On the 7th of August, Snoderly was subjected to a legal execution, in presence of a huge throng, protesting his innocence to the last and extending his hand to Owenby as he passed his cell, with the words, "You are taking my life, the life of an innocent man, but I forgive you and I hope the Lord will forgive you." The sentence of the law was then duly executed.

Owenby was taken to the jail at Walla Walla, still admitting his guilt and declaring that he wished to be hanged, as the deserving punishment.

But—strange to tell—within a few months, on December 25th, he, with a fellow prisoner, escaped. As Sheriff Thompson was going through the corridor of the jail he was struck to the floor by a brick, evidently hurled by one of the prisoners. The jailer rushed to the sheriff's assistance and was stabbed with a pocket knife by one of the convicts. Rushing from their cells, which had been unlocked, the two men opened the outer door with the key taken from the sheriff, and escaped. Securing horses they made their way to the mountains in the vicinity of Weston, Ore. They there captured two more horses, killed a Chinaman, and robbed his body of a considerable sum of money. But within a few days Owenby, his feet frozen and himself in a starving condition, was found in a barn on the DeHaven ranch near Milton. Being taken to Dayton, where some lynch talk was started, but soon abandoned, Owenby lingered a few days, and then died, declaring that all his assertions of the crime were true, and that he and the other men were all guilty and worthy of death.

THE HILL CASE