Cheryl Anne Stapp

Jose Forner The scaffold was erected on the summit of Russian Hill, a site that offered a spectacular view of San Francisco Bay; and—more to the point, considering the practicalities of an 1850s-era execution—it already held the decades-old graves of Russian sailors who had died while surreptitiously hunting sea otter in the Bay, during the Spanish period. The grave of another lawless sinner would almost be appropriate.   José Forner (or Forni), the condemned, was allowed the

In the early years of the California Gold Rush, the “soiled doves” who flocked westward did so in the expectation of more opportunities...

Grateful to have escaped with his life, Thomas Anderson of Nevada City lost no time in filing a criminal complaint with the local police...

Official confirmation of California’s high-quality, wide-spread gold deposits sent an electric jolt around the world. Thousands of...