Enter to win a copy of With Great Hope:
Women of the California Gold Rush.
“Old West justice is quick and violent. A couple of nights ago one poor soul was caught sneaking into another man’s tent to steal some gold dust. A jury was called on the spot and after a hasty trial, the unhappy victim was adjudged to receive a hundred lashes, have his head shaved, and his ears cut off, and be drummed out of the mines; a sentence which was carried out on the spot.” Robert Buckner, Forty-niner, 1850
Juanita slowly walked to the gallows, took the noose in her hands, and adjusted it around her neck. She pulled her long, black hair out from beneath the rope so it could flow freely. A blanket of silence fell over the crowd watching the hanging in Downieville, California, that sunny July afternoon in 1851.
Less than twenty-four hours before, the people in this California Gold Rush town had been celebrating the country’s independence. The streets were still lined with bunting and flags. A platform still stood in the center of the town where prominent speakers had given patriotic lectures. There had been bands and parades. Drunken miners had brawled in the streets and bartenders had rolled giant whiskey barrels into tent saloons for everyone to have a drink. It had been a momentous occasion – the first Fourth of July celebration since California had become a state.
To learn why Juanita was hanged read
With Great Hope: Women of the California Gold Rush.
