The Coburn Mystery: Chapter 48

On Saturday, September 12, 1891, a Grand Picnic was announced at Pebble Beach , and as many as 50 disgruntled Pescaderans rode in a caravan of private coaches and wagons, their sole intention TO STORM THE GATE.

An effigy of Loren Coburn had been placed on the roof of a Concord Coach pulled by four horses. It was kept in steadily in place by the man sitting in the rear seat.

Following the Concord there were five two-horse buggies, five singles and several one horse wagons, all navigating around the deep ruts in the crooked cow trail—the Pebble Beach Road,

And who was leading the charge? And who was following?

Joe Levy was there. So was Supervisor Henry B. Adair, Roadmaster Charles R. Pinkham* Constable Good and J.C. Williamson.

[Note about Roadmaster Charles Pinkham: In 1885 he worked for a “fast freight” company, the Pescadero & San Mateo Express, making regular trips between San Francisco and Pescadero.]

While Joe Levy and the others moved ever closer to the gate, 61-year-old Sarah Upton, with unkempt brother Marraton beside her, ran into the caravan of coaches. [Note: Sarah later married Loren Coburn.]

In a courtroom she later described what she saw, “…There was a mob….,” she said. She saw the effigy of her then-brother-in-law on top of the big Concord coach but pretended not to see the resemblance between it and Loren Coburn.

Sarah turned to her brother and said, “They are going to break down that gate. I had hardly got the words out of my mouth when they did.”

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