Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 27, 2006 6:16:52 GMT -5
despite himself
Diamondfield Jack Davis spent the most critical weeks of his life in Ada County.
Idaho Statesman
He was under sentence of death at the old Idaho penitentiary. He nearly got hung for a crime he didn't commit, and sensational language in the newspapers of the time made nearly everybody who read them believe he was guilty.
When two Cassia County sheepherders were found shot to death in their 1896 winter camp - a crime for which Diamondfield Jack was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to hang - Gov. William J. McConnell issued a statement to the newspapers: "It is a most terrible thing that men who are suffering the hardships incident to taking care of sheep in the winter months out upon the range, isolated by themselves from the support and comfort of their fellow men, should be shot down like wild beasts. The
civilization of this age is shocked at the possibility of such men going unpunished."
Although nobody knew what had taken place at the sheep camp, it was immediately assumed that the killings had been done by cattlemen or their agents, to enforce a "deadline" they had set up against sheep crossing into the western half of Cassia County.
Even after two other men admitted to killing the sheepherders, and were promptly acquitted on grounds of self-defense, Diamondfield Jack barely escaped the noose, in no small measure because of his own reckless talk and the intemperate language of the newspapers.
The Idaho Statesman firmly believed, along with prosecutor William E. Borah, that Davis was guilty.
Before he was arrested in Arizona and brought back to Idaho for trial, the paper referred to Jack as "the Cassia County murderer," and said he "seldom looks you in the face when talking, and stammers. Wears No. 7 boot, bullet scar on one of his legs, quite a drinker, talks of shooting all the time ...."
The paper described his appearance at the trial: "Diamondfield would attract attention anywhere. His eyes, which flash like a bullseye lantern, are deepset under beetling brows. His jaw is heavy and cruel, and the thick lips are surmounted by a small moustache. A mass of black hair hangs down on his forehead. He has a peculiar smile which is said to play about his mouth when
he is in his most dangerous humor."
Loaded words such as "murderer," "a drinker," "talks of shooting," "cruel jaw," "peculiar smile" and "dangerous humor" undoubtedly prejudiced a fair trial for a man who was only a braggart, a bully and a blowhard.
Only the exceptional skill and determination of defense attorney James H. Hawley, later governor of Idaho, saved Jack's life.
Diamondfield Jack Davis was brought to trial in Albion on April 5, 1897.
Authorities had made fruitless trips to Oklahoma and California before finding him in the Arizona territorial prison at Yuma. He had been involved in a street fight during which he shot a dog. (How did he know it was the sheriff's dog?)
Much was made at the trial of Davis's frequent boasts in the saloons where he hung out that he was "shooting sheepherders for a living."
When the bodies of two Cassia County herders were found, Jack had already confessed before witnesses to a crime he knew nothing about.
Hawley based his case on the fact that Davis could not possibly have been at the scene of the crime between the time when witnesses saw him leave a ranch in Idaho at daybreak Feb. 4 and the time of his arrival in Nevada at 1:30 that same day.
In order to have committed the murders he would had to have ridden 55 miles in five and a half hours - a physical impossibility, given road conditions at the beginning of February.
Jack's revolver was a .45 and the shell casings picked up at the scene of the shootings were .44s. Had the fatal shots been fired from Jack's gun, the casing would have ruptured or would show a tell-tale expansion, but they didn't.
Even after other cowboys confessed that they had killed the sheepherders in a shootout, Jack was still scheduled to hang.
At first, the best Hawley could do to save his client was to get his
execution delayed. Even though he was clearly innocent, the pardon board would only commute his sentence to life in prison.
When a new Idaho governor was elected, he pardoned Jack Davis for a crime he didn't commit.
Understandably, Jack decided that Idaho was not a friendly place.
He went back to Nevada and eventually got rich in mining. He died in a Nevada hospital after being struck by a taxicab, an unromantic end for a most colorful character.
Source : Idaho Statesman
www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060725/NEWS0403/6
Diamondfield Jack Davis spent the most critical weeks of his life in Ada County.
Idaho Statesman
He was under sentence of death at the old Idaho penitentiary. He nearly got hung for a crime he didn't commit, and sensational language in the newspapers of the time made nearly everybody who read them believe he was guilty.
When two Cassia County sheepherders were found shot to death in their 1896 winter camp - a crime for which Diamondfield Jack was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to hang - Gov. William J. McConnell issued a statement to the newspapers: "It is a most terrible thing that men who are suffering the hardships incident to taking care of sheep in the winter months out upon the range, isolated by themselves from the support and comfort of their fellow men, should be shot down like wild beasts. The
civilization of this age is shocked at the possibility of such men going unpunished."
Although nobody knew what had taken place at the sheep camp, it was immediately assumed that the killings had been done by cattlemen or their agents, to enforce a "deadline" they had set up against sheep crossing into the western half of Cassia County.
Even after two other men admitted to killing the sheepherders, and were promptly acquitted on grounds of self-defense, Diamondfield Jack barely escaped the noose, in no small measure because of his own reckless talk and the intemperate language of the newspapers.
The Idaho Statesman firmly believed, along with prosecutor William E. Borah, that Davis was guilty.
Before he was arrested in Arizona and brought back to Idaho for trial, the paper referred to Jack as "the Cassia County murderer," and said he "seldom looks you in the face when talking, and stammers. Wears No. 7 boot, bullet scar on one of his legs, quite a drinker, talks of shooting all the time ...."
The paper described his appearance at the trial: "Diamondfield would attract attention anywhere. His eyes, which flash like a bullseye lantern, are deepset under beetling brows. His jaw is heavy and cruel, and the thick lips are surmounted by a small moustache. A mass of black hair hangs down on his forehead. He has a peculiar smile which is said to play about his mouth when
he is in his most dangerous humor."
Loaded words such as "murderer," "a drinker," "talks of shooting," "cruel jaw," "peculiar smile" and "dangerous humor" undoubtedly prejudiced a fair trial for a man who was only a braggart, a bully and a blowhard.
Only the exceptional skill and determination of defense attorney James H. Hawley, later governor of Idaho, saved Jack's life.
Diamondfield Jack Davis was brought to trial in Albion on April 5, 1897.
Authorities had made fruitless trips to Oklahoma and California before finding him in the Arizona territorial prison at Yuma. He had been involved in a street fight during which he shot a dog. (How did he know it was the sheriff's dog?)
Much was made at the trial of Davis's frequent boasts in the saloons where he hung out that he was "shooting sheepherders for a living."
When the bodies of two Cassia County herders were found, Jack had already confessed before witnesses to a crime he knew nothing about.
Hawley based his case on the fact that Davis could not possibly have been at the scene of the crime between the time when witnesses saw him leave a ranch in Idaho at daybreak Feb. 4 and the time of his arrival in Nevada at 1:30 that same day.
In order to have committed the murders he would had to have ridden 55 miles in five and a half hours - a physical impossibility, given road conditions at the beginning of February.
Jack's revolver was a .45 and the shell casings picked up at the scene of the shootings were .44s. Had the fatal shots been fired from Jack's gun, the casing would have ruptured or would show a tell-tale expansion, but they didn't.
Even after other cowboys confessed that they had killed the sheepherders in a shootout, Jack was still scheduled to hang.
At first, the best Hawley could do to save his client was to get his
execution delayed. Even though he was clearly innocent, the pardon board would only commute his sentence to life in prison.
When a new Idaho governor was elected, he pardoned Jack Davis for a crime he didn't commit.
Understandably, Jack decided that Idaho was not a friendly place.
He went back to Nevada and eventually got rich in mining. He died in a Nevada hospital after being struck by a taxicab, an unromantic end for a most colorful character.
Source : Idaho Statesman
www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060725/NEWS0403/6