The Murder of John Moore
Henry Mullins
In 1867 John Moore sold his
holdings to another resident in town and headed back to Maine. Whether Moore made it back to Maine or not is unknown. Like so many others, he may have headed to San Francisco to pick up a steamer back to the states, but lost his money in the towns gambling halls and bordellos. Regardless, by the 1880’s Moore was back in Butte County.
Moore, Dickenson and Mullins left together; Moore’s cabin was the first; as Moore headed inside, Mullins called out to Dickenson that he wanted to get a drink of water at Moore’s and that he would overtake along the trail; he never did.
The next day Arnold noticed that John Moore didn’t turn up to work his claim as he normally did; when he again failed to show up on Tuesday Arnold went to Moore’s cabin to check up on him. When he arrived he found Moore in his woodshed, he had been attacked with an axe and had several deeps wounds to his head.
Sherriff McClellan came up from Oroville and took statements from both Arnold and Dickenson. A search was
conducted for Mullins who was eventually found and arrested on May 20th. Mullins gave a statement to Sherriff McClellan; he stated that after leaving Moore’s place he got lost in the woods trying to catch up with Dickenson. Blood was found on Mullins boots when he was arrested. Mullins said it was pig blood; Sherriff Dickenson took the boots to San Francisco to have them examined but the results were inconclusive. Lacking any physical evidence tying to Mullins to the murder, the charges were dismissed.
John Moore was buried in the Mooretown cemetery.
In February 1889 Henry Mullins and another man, Lee Gorbet were arrested in Bangor for the robbery of
old miner named Ramsey. Before leaving Mullins said to Ramsey “keep quiet. I killed John Moore and if you don’t keep still I will serve you as I have others.” Ramsey didn’t keep quiet; he had Mullins and Gorbet arrested. The charges were dropped against Mullins so that he could be transferred to Oroville and tried for murder. On June 21, 1889 Mullins was found guilty of the murdering John Moore and sentenced to life in prison. Mullins died in prison on December 21, 1897.
holdings to another resident in town and headed back to Maine. Whether Moore made it back to Maine or not is unknown. Like so many others, he may have headed to San Francisco to pick up a steamer back to the states, but lost his money in the towns gambling halls and bordellos. Regardless, by the 1880’s Moore was back in Butte County.
Moore, Dickenson and Mullins left together; Moore’s cabin was the first; as Moore headed inside, Mullins called out to Dickenson that he wanted to get a drink of water at Moore’s and that he would overtake along the trail; he never did.
The next day Arnold noticed that John Moore didn’t turn up to work his claim as he normally did; when he again failed to show up on Tuesday Arnold went to Moore’s cabin to check up on him. When he arrived he found Moore in his woodshed, he had been attacked with an axe and had several deeps wounds to his head.
Sherriff McClellan came up from Oroville and took statements from both Arnold and Dickenson. A search was
conducted for Mullins who was eventually found and arrested on May 20th. Mullins gave a statement to Sherriff McClellan; he stated that after leaving Moore’s place he got lost in the woods trying to catch up with Dickenson. Blood was found on Mullins boots when he was arrested. Mullins said it was pig blood; Sherriff Dickenson took the boots to San Francisco to have them examined but the results were inconclusive. Lacking any physical evidence tying to Mullins to the murder, the charges were dismissed.
John Moore was buried in the Mooretown cemetery.
In February 1889 Henry Mullins and another man, Lee Gorbet were arrested in Bangor for the robbery of
old miner named Ramsey. Before leaving Mullins said to Ramsey “keep quiet. I killed John Moore and if you don’t keep still I will serve you as I have others.” Ramsey didn’t keep quiet; he had Mullins and Gorbet arrested. The charges were dropped against Mullins so that he could be transferred to Oroville and tried for murder. On June 21, 1889 Mullins was found guilty of the murdering John Moore and sentenced to life in prison. Mullins died in prison on December 21, 1897.