Remembering the 1887 massacre at Hells Canyon

Thanks for the post. The sad parts include the alleged perpetrators fleeing country and co-conspirators not facing justice despite confession.

https://watch.opb.org/video/oregon-experience-massacre-hells-canyon/

1.) Massacre at Hells Canyon

Chinese immigrants were instrumental in building the West, but they faced unprecedented legalized discrimination and violence. In 1887, a gang of Wallowa County men killed as many a 34 Chinese gold miners along the Snake River. For over a century the murders were covered up, and no one was held accountable.

Today, the massacre at Hells Canyon is finally acknowledged.

Aired: 01/23/17
Rating: TV-G

SOURCE : https://watch.opb.org/video/oregon-experience-massacre-hells-canyon/


2.) “A Most Daring Outrage” Murders at Chinese Massacre Cove, 1887

Next year will mark one hundred and twenty years since as many as thirty-four Chinese miners were massacred by a gang of seven horse thieves in one or more attacks in Hells Canyon, beginning on May 25, 1887. Some of the victims were apparently shot down from the cliffs; others were slaughtered by attackers along the river. The killers threw the bodies into the river and fled with the miners’ gold, estimated at between $4,000 and $5,000.

Three gang members, one just fifteen years old, were arrested and charged with murder. Three others fled and were never apprehended. In the end, no one was held accountable for the crime, among the worst in Oregon history and, in lives lost, one of the worst against the nearly 150,000 Chinese who immigrated to the American West in search of work in the nineteenth century.[2]

George Craig, a well-known Wallowa County rancher who attended the trial, was quoted in 1967 as having said, “I guess if they had killed 31 white men, something would have been done about it, but none of the jury knew the Chinamen or cared much about it, so they turned the men loose.

”[5] Still, it would not be fair to say no one cared. One newspaper account reported that the community was outraged, and a former U.S. senator, James H. Slater of Joseph, appealed to Washington, D.C., for help.[6]

SOURCE : https://historycooperative.org/journal/a-most-daring-outrage-murders-at-chinese-massacre-cove-1887/


3.) Hells Canyon Massacre
BY: HISTORY.COM EDITORS
UPDATED: MAY 5, 2021 | ORIGINAL: MAY 4, 2021

The Massacre at Deep Creek

Though the exact number of Chinese immigrants living and mining in Deep Creek is unknown, the group is thought to have been made up of between 31 and 34 men.

And while they were in a remote location, mining gold on the banks of the river meant that they would have been easily visible from any of the higher vantage points around the cove.

On May 27 and 28, 1887, a gang of seven horse thieves (all white men) from nearby Wallowa County ambushed the Chinese gold miners at their camp over the course of two days. The gang was led by Bruce Evans, and also included Titus Canfield, Frank Vaughn, Robert McMillan, Hezekiah Hughes, Hiram Maynard and Homer LaRue.

Using high-powered rifles, the gang shot every one of the Chinese laborers at Deep Creek. One of the miners was able to escape the initial attack, but the horse thieves quickly chased him down and bludgeoned him to death with a rock.

After murdering the entire group of between 31 and 34 Chinese miners, the horse thieves mutilated their bodies and dumped them into the Snake River. Next, they stole the flour gold that the Chinese laborers had mined and burned their camp and equipment.

About two weeks later, a few of the bodies of the miners washed ashore at Lewiston. The following month, another group of Chinese miners discovered the site of the massacre—with even more evidence of the bloodshed—and reported their findings to local authorities in Lewiston.

SOURCE : https://www.history.com/topics/immigration/hells-canyon-massacre