Miscellaneous newspaper articles about Contra Costa California

October 10, 1860
Dawsons Fort Wayne Daily Times, Fort Wayne Indiana

A fire occurred, on the 24th ult., at Pacheco Contra Costa County, destroyed nearly $20,000 worth of property.

June 2, 1885
Daily Democratic Times, Lima Ohio

Albert Simon has returned to his home in Clayton, Contra Costa County, California.

December 16, 1893
The Weekly Herald Despatch, Decatur Illinois

Steamer Sunk By Collision
San Francisco, Dec. 12-The steamer Leader was sunk near the town of Antioch, Contra Costa county, by the steamer J.D. Peters. The Leader left Stockton Monday night with a load of insane patients which were being transferred from the state asylum there to the one at Ukiah, Mendocino county. The passengers were all rescued by the Peters.

December 24, 1902
The Weekly Sentinel, Fort Wayne Indiana

Twenty-Three Die In Railway Wreck
Coroner Trying to Fix Responsibility for Loss of Life In California.
    San Francisco, Dec. 22-The latest revised list of the victims of the railroad collision on the Southern Pacific railroad, near Byron station, Saturday night, shows that the following twenty three are dead: Robert Renwick, Wm. L. Temple, Leanod S. Erwin, Tung Tai Gung-Chinese woman, Ah Quoy-Chinese girl, Richard Post, Yuky Maigowa, Hadru Maigowa, Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, Clarence D. Clufs, Miss Mabel Vesey, Miss Birdie Elliott, Charles A. Sessions, Charles Owens, Miss Minnie Mayer, F.S. Eastman, Fong Dick-Chinese woman, Carl Mayer, Unidentified young white woman, Miss Alice Sullivan, D.K. Vernon, Two unidentified Chinese.
    There are still twenty-one injured survivors of the accident, but the condition of four of these is extremely critical and additional names may yet have to be added to the death list.
    An official investigation into the cause of the disaster has been begun by Coroner Curry, of Contra Costa county, who proposes to thoroughly sift the evidence in order to fix the responsibility. There appears to be no doubt that the Stockton flyer, which ran into the owl train, was signaled and that the engineer responded with a whistle and threw on the brakes.
    The question which remains open is whether or not the signal was given in time to avert the collision.

August 1, 1910
Warren Evening Mirror, Warren Pennsylvania

SLAYS HER 5 CHILDREN
California Woman Crazed by Loneliness
Son Attempts To Step Her
Offsprings, Ranging From Five Months to Four Years, Are Placed In Wash Tub and Drowned-Sheriff, Who Was Passing Home, is called by Her Son and Takes Woman Prisoner
    San Francisco, Aug. 1-Mrs. Joseph M. Nello, wife of a wealthy rancher near Brentwood, Contra Costa county, killed her five children. The woman had evidently been driven insane on account of the loneliness of the country. She lived in a big farm house with her husband and six children, the oldest being Chester, a boy of 14 years. After writing letters to her relatives, telling them she was desperate through loneliness, she took five of her children into the kitchen and deliberately set about killing them. First she partly strangled Ramona, her four year old daughter, and then drowned her in a wash tub. Leona, her two year old daughter, came next. She snatched the latter from the arms of the her son Chester and killed the child like the others. Then she seized the twin babies five months old and plunged them into the tub. Chester, who had vainly tried to stop his mother's deadful work, [r]ushed out into the yard and screaming for help. Sheriff Veale happened to be passing in his automobile and responded. He tried to resuscitate the twins but in vain. Then he took the mother to Martinez and placed her in the county hospital. The woman insisted on taking photographs of the children and locks of their hair with her. She cried constantly.
    To Sheriff Veale, Mrs. Nolle told the story of her lonely blank existence in the country-an existence shadowed with the constant horror of impending insanity, which she confessed had carried off her mother, her sister and her brother.
    "I've lived all alone on the ranch for six long years," Mrs. Nello said. "My husband and I own 500 acres of land, worth $500 an acre. Our wealth meant nothing to me. I was miserable all of the time. I knew no pleasure. I went to no theater. All I did was to work, work, work. Even if I had not inherited the strain in my family, my desolate life would have driven me [c]razy."

George Van Gorden, Oldest Pioneer in State, Lions' Guest
George Van Gorden of Danville, famous turfsman of the state of California, oldest pioneer alive in the state of California having come in 1846 at the age of two years in a covered wagon, preceeding the famous Donner Party by a scant two weeks, was the speaker of the Walnut Creek Lions Club last Friday, when he told history of the pioneer days of this valley. All his life Van Gorden has been a sportsman and the last 40 years he has bred thoroughbred horses. Despite his 90 odd years, Van Gorden has one of the keenest brains. He races his thoroughbreds at all the race tracks. Eyesite unimpaired and hearing intact, he drives his car and during the racing season at Tanfaran or Bay Meadows he daily makes the trip. Van Gorden was one of the founders of the turf in the state and he witnessed the first race ever run in California held near the town of Centerville. Particularly interesting were the stories unfolded by Van Gorden of the early gold rush and of Joaquin Murietta, whom he personally knew and discredited all stories told of Murietta's many murders. [Courier Journal, Walnut Creek, April 1934. Submitted by Kathie Kloss Marynik.]

California's Oldest Grange Member Visits State Fair
The California State Grange's oldest member, in years at membership, is a visitor at the California State Fair. She is Miss Charlotte E. Wood of Danville, Contra Costa County, who joined the Grange 68 years ago next October. Miss Wood, 88, was the daughter of two of the charter members of the Grange. They were Charles and Cynthia Wood, who came to California in 1852, he from Massachusetts and she from New York. They were married in Marysville, Yuba County, in 1857. Wood engaged in mining, shorekeeping, and pack train operating until 1862 when he and his wife moved to Contra Costa County. Miss Wood has spent virtually her entire life in the county. She taught in elementary schools and for 30 years was the head of her own school. She retired from the public school system in 19__ but for several years taught students privately in her home. She makes her residence in Woodside Farm, the family home for her entire life. During her long membership in the Grange, Miss Wood has taken part in her local and county units but has not held any major offices. She attended state conventions of the organization regularly until comparatively recent years and attended many of the Grange luncheons at the State Fair. She was a guest of the luncheon yesterday in Governor's Hall. [Sacramento Bee, 9-4-1947. Submitted by Kathie Kloss Marynik.]

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