Miscellaneous newspaper articles about Curry County Oregon
October 4, 1900
The Evening Democrat, Warren Pennsylvania
TO BE HANGED
(Special Dispatch to the Democrat)
Gold Beach, Ore., Oct 4-Coleman Gillespie, aged 21, convicted
of the murder of Mrs. Edson, an aged lady, is sentenced to be hanged tomorrow.
The murderer was committed for the purpose of robbery.
October 6, 1900
The Anaconda Standard, Anaconda Montana
HANGED FOR A BRUTAL MURDER
Gillespie Was Found Guilty of Killing an Aged Woman and Burning the Body.
Gold Beach, Ore., Oct 5-Coleman Gillespie was hanged this
afternoon for the murder of Mrs. Christine Edson in September 1899. On the
scaffold he stated that he was innocent and that Charles Strahn murdered the
woman.
About the middle of September, 1899, Mrs. Christine Edson, a
woman over 70 years of age, who lived alone at Gold Beach, was murdered, her
house robbed and her body cremated. On September 19, 1899, the mail carrier, who
passed the place, discovered that the house had been burned and an investigation
resulted in finding the charred remains of Mrs. Edson. Suspicion at once rested
upon Coleman Gillespie, a wild and reckless young fellow about 21 years old.
Gillespie sold Mr. Edson's pension check for $75 and this check, when presented
at a bank in Roseburg, gave the officers their first positive evidence of his
guilt. He was arrested at Cottage Grove, Lane county, on September 30, and
confessed to robbing the old lady of the pension check but denied that he
murdered her. His trial occupied two days and the jury returned a verdict of
guilty after 20 hours deliberation. Gillespie's people are highly respected in
the community where they live.
John Geisel, the first husband of Mrs. Edson, the murdered
woman, and their three sons were murdered by the Rogue River Indians in February
1856.
October 5, 1908
Oakland Tribune, Oakland California
FORESTS ON FIRE
Gold Beach, Ore., Oct. 5-Forest fires are raging here on
every side and the air is heavy with smoke. So much of the range has been burned
that it is feared in some places the sheep will suffer for feed. It is only by
great care and much work that serious loss of life and damage to property are
being prevented.
The ranches along Rogue River and between that river and Port
Orford are suffering the most. Many homestead cabins have been burned. Saturday
night the school house Squaw Valley was destroyed. The school library was
burned.
December 25, 1909
Colorado Spring Gazette, Colorado Springs Colorado
A GOLDEN TREASURY
From the Gold Beach (Ore) Globe.
George R. Smith returned home this week from Portland, where
he has been taking the "gold cure" for his toothache, and now has as fine a set
of molars as one will see in many a day. George would assay $200 to the ton
easily.
September 8, 1919
The Chillicothe Constitution, Chillicothe Missouri
BLAMES WAR SHOCK IN MURDER DEFENSE
Gold Beach, Ore., Sept 8-A hero of Vimy Ridge, George
D. Chenoweth, is facing fire again today-from the battery of legal talent
commanded by C.H. Buffington prosecuting attorney for Curry county.
Whether the world-war veteran will escape unscathed from the
present battle, depends upon a jury which will decided if he is guilty of
murdering George Sydnam.
The legal battle of today, at which his freedom for the
balance of his lifetime is at stake, and the fight when this life was in the
balance as he faced Hun bullets and shells, are interwoven. The defense will
attempt to prove that due to the fact he was gassed and, later, knocked
senseless by a fragment of a boche shell. Chenoweth's mind was somewhat
unbalanced; that the veteran was a victim of emotional insanity when he shot and
killed Sydnam.
Chenoweth, returning home from the war, found, he claimed,
that his daughter had been betrayed by Sydnam, aged 20. He immediately shough
the young man, found him dancing in a public hall, and fired several shots into
his body. Chenowith gave himself up.
Practically all interest, at the opening of the Curry county
circuit court here today centered on the case.
Chenoweth is a former member of the Oregon legislature.
April 8, 1967
The World, Coos Bay, Oregon
OLDEST SON IN CURRY COUNTY CELEBRATES
Curry County's oldest son will celebrate his 90th birthday tonight at a party in Chetco Grange in Harbor. He is William P. Tolman who was born April 9, 1877 in the Garden Ridge region of the Upper Chetco east of Brookings.
Seven of his 11 children are still living. Included among them is Mrs. John (Hazel) Naradko of North Bend. She and her family plan to be in Harbor to help her father mark his anniversary.
Tolman still remembers the farm on the Chetco where he grew up. The place, then known as Hungry Hill is now called War Axe Ranch. They raised melons, pears and apples, he recalls. His father, Ambrose, operated a sawmill.
As the first assessor in Curry County, 1908 to 1916, he traveled much of the time on foot. Between 1916 and 1920 he was sheriff, serving most of the time without a deputy. The exception was during the 1918 flu epidemic when he was also drafted to serve as county health officer. Then he insisted on one paid deputy. During that time he lived in Gold Beach.
Tolman's first wife was Anna Britton of Myrtle Point. They had 11 children, one of whom died in infancy. In 1949 he married Missouri Morgan.
Between 1920 and 1933 he lived and worked in Northern California as a timber faller and later for the Pacific and Standard Oil Companies. Returning to his old "stomping grounds" in Curry County n 1933 he worked for a time for the U.S. Forest Service. He was a 25 year member of Chetco Grange.
Besides Mrs. Naradko, his other remaining children are, Mrs. Victor (Fay) Pomerlo, Harbor; Mrs. Charles (Zelia) McNeal, Eugene; Mrs. Paul Borda (Frances), Petaluma, Calif.; Mrs. Bertha Lake, Sonoma, Calif.; Robert Tolman, Crescent City, and Thomas E. Tolman, Salem.
İRobyn Greenlund