Gruesome California: Murder, Madness, and Macabre in The Golden State: Gruesome, #5

By Nick Vulich

Gruesome California is a collection of true-life stories - most of them rescued from old newspaper accounts published over 100 years ago. Only a few of the events in this book - have ever made it into print, except maybe in musky-old county histories. Even then, many of them are lucky to rate a paragraph.

Included inside:

Fifteen-year-old Nora Fuller went to a job interview in January 1902 and disappeared without a trace. Three weeks later, her body turned up in the upstairs bedroom of an abandoned house.

Leon Soder traveled to Alsace-Lorraine to fetch his brother-in-law, Joseph Blaise, then was accused of murdering him to collect the insurance premium. Did he do it?

Zollie Clement led a double life. By day, he was a mild-mannered carpet layer who lived a boring life at home with his wife and kids. After dark, he was a thrill-seeker who robbed and killed for the adrenaline rush it gave him.

Of course, there's more, but you get the idea. Gruesome California covers 12 brutal murders that occurred in California between 1867 and 1920.

Read them, if you dare!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nick Vulich
• Release date: Jan 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393483335

Book preview

Gruesome California

Murder, Madness, and Mayhem in The Golden State

Copyright © 2020 / 2023 Nick Vulich

Table of Contents

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He Did Not Care Enough for the Girl to Kill Her

Murder on the Ferry Boat Sausalito

Coloma County Feud

Triple Murder Near Downey

Midnight Murder at Hubbard House

The Strange Case of Nora Fuller

Who Killed the Promiscuous Eva Moak?

The Russian Hill Murder

Murder, Dismemberment, and the Black Hand

Triple Murder on the Starbuck Ranch

Zollie Clement. He Robbed and Killed for the Thrill of It

The Murder of Cherry de St. Maurice

Bonus Excerpts and an Explanation of My Research Methodology

Mysterious Murders of San Francisco

Racial Characteristics and Clues

The Sing-Song Slaves of Chinatown

Footnotes

He Did Not Care Enough for the Girl to Kill Her

T

he small town of Dixon, California, had a genuine murder mystery on its hands at the beginning of November 1897. Two of its most popular residents, Louis and Susan Belew, died suddenly after suffering terrible stomach pains. Their hired hand, Bruno Klein, just scraped by. For several days, it was touch and go. The doctors weren’t sure if he would make it or not.

It was supposed to be a time of celebration. In two weeks, Louis was to marry Cara Ferguson and Susan Charlie Ehmann. 

They had dinner with their brother Frank the night before they died. Frank got sick and said he vomited, expelled his meal several times, and then had a headache. Susie gave him some headache powder and sent him home shortly after 7 p.m.

Charlie Ehmann arrived at the house at about 9:30 p.m. He distinctly remembered locking the kitchen door when he came in.

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Susie and Louis Belew

(San Francisco Examiner. November 14, 1897)

Everyone was fine the next morning. Louis and Susie sat down to breakfast. Then Louis walked down to the livery stable, so Bruno could go to the house and eat breakfast. By the time Bruno finished eating, Susie was vomiting all over, so he went down to the stable to send Louis back. Bruno found Louis was as sick as his sister when he got there.

Pretty soon, all three of them were vomiting and suffering terrible stomach cramps.

At first, doctors thought the patients suffered from acute indigestion caused by eating tainted food. 

After he regained his strength, Bruno Klein said: We had breakfast about 7 o’clock, and at 8 o’clock Lew and I were very sick. I had a terrible burning sensation and vomited a great deal. My head was buzzing, and I felt very badly.[1]

Mrs. George Ehmann and Miss Ferguson did their best to nurse Susie back to health. Unknown to them, the hourly tea recommended by Dr. Trafton fed Susie more poison and fueled her agony. If Frank was the murderer, he did a great job covering it up. He sat quietly, holding his sister’s hand while he watched her nurses shovel more poison down her throat.

One of the first suspects was Harry Allen, a former lover of Susie’s. Immediately after the murders, Frank fingered Allen as the murderer. He said Allen killed Louis to get revenge for breaking up his relationship with Susie.

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Frank Belew

(San Francisco Chronicle. June 18, 1898)

Allen threw it back at him, screaming, Be a man and confess that you killed both of them.[2]

Frank Belew came from a rich and respected family. His father, Thomas Belew, had five children, Arthur, Thomas, Susan, Louis, and Frank. When their parents died several years back, they left most of their assets to Louis, Susan, and Arthur. Thomas received the old homestead ranch before his parents died, so he was well taken care of. Frank got nothing. He had rubbed his parents the wrong way, and they cut him off entirely.

Two weeks before she died, Susie consulted an attorney about writing a will to cut off Frank and Arthur. Neither Susie nor Louis thought much of Frank. Frank had recently forged some notes using Louis’s signature. Louis let the matter go but warned his brother that he’d have his ass if it happened again.[3]

Louis (age 40) and Susie (age 30) died intestate, so their estates would be split among the three living brothers. Louis was worth $7,000 or $8,000, and Susie, $5,000.[4] That put Frank in line for just over $4,000 whether the jury convicted him of murder or not.

After Frank’s name got bandied about, other stories came out.

His father-in-law, John Martin, called him a thief.

Frank robbed me of $400 that I left with him a long time ago, he said, pretending that he had been robbed himself. Shortly after the money disappeared, Frank came up with a big wad of cash to buy his wife presents. When asked where the money came from, he said he won it playing cards down in Mexico, but Martin knew better.[5]

And then, there was the story of D. W. Wright’s prize hog. It wandered onto Frank Belew’s property, and that was the last that was seen of it. Mrs. Belew later told her father that she came home one day and discovered the remains of a white pig—its head burned and the skin buried. When asked, Frank said they needed the meat.[6]

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The Belew Home in Dixon, California

(San Francisco Call. November 11, 1897)

Harry Allen said he did not care enough for the girl to kill her.[7] He didn’t have anything against Susie, but he hated Louis Belew for coming between them and breaking his engagement with Susie. 

Louis Belew has interfered in my love affairs, broken my engagement, said Allen, and I shall get even with him. 

I once loved Susie Belew, continued Allen. Thomas and Louis Belew opposed me bitterly. They carried stories to her about my gambling, drinking, and going with other girls.

He promised Susie he would stop drinking and gambling, but—he failed to keep that promise. Louis caught him gambling and told his sister.

Her brothers told her I was mercenary and only wanted to get her for her money. She said her money was hers, and any man who married her would not touch one dollar.

I did not want her without her money, said Allen. We never met again, except as strangers. He could care less if she married someone else. He worked as a farmhand and could barely support himself. How could he support Susie without having control of her money?[8]

His revenge on Louis Belew involved his business dealings. He decided not to hire buggies from him again. Murder never crossed his mind. If people are looking for a killer, I point the finger of suspicion at Frank Belew.[9]

Investigators cleared Harry Allen within a week. He told a straight story to detectives, and his alibis checked out. I do not believe Harry Allen had anything to do with this murder, said Detective Curtain. Suspicion then shifted to Frank Belew.[10]

The coroner’s inquest was held on November 23 at the Vendome Opera House.

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Coroner’s jury examining a witness

(San Francisco Examiner. November 24, 1897)

Professor Grinstead from Dixon High School discovered the poison in the teapot. He said the killer poured the arsenic into the nozzle of the kettle to make it more deadly."[11]

It wasn’t uncommon for a large ranch to have arsenic in their toolsheds. They used it to control rodent infestations, so even if investigators discovered poison in Frank’s house, it wouldn’t mean much.[12]

Investigators determined the poison was placed in the tea kettle between 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Sunday. Charles Ehmann visited Susie’s house at 9:30 p.m. and locked the door as he went in. No signs of forced entry were found, so it’s assumed the poison was placed in the tea kettle before 9:30.

Harry Allen had an airtight alibi. He spent Sunday night in several of Dixon’s saloons and had witnesses to prove it. Frank Belew had no witnesses. He said he got sick at his sister’s house and went home, where he spent the night alone.

After questioning Frank Belew and Harry Allen, the coroner’s jury ruled that Louis Belew and Susie Belew came to their deaths from arsenic poison administered by a person or persons to the jury unknown.

Both men were off the hook.

The day before his brother and sister died, Frank visited his brother-in-law, John W. Bird, a Sacramento photographer. As usual, he complained about his parent's will and said that they had not left him enough property. 

They have not treated me right in regard to the estate, said Frank, but I’ll have some of it yet. They’ll not live to enjoy it.[13]

Bird, he said, I’m going to commit a terrible crime tomorrow. I’m going to commit a tragedy that will shock the whole community.

Do not think anything foolish, old man, said Ellen Bird (John Bird’s wife). Think of the consequences.

That was the last time Frank spoke with Bird and his wife until the funeral of his brother and sister. 

Well, you did what you said you would, Bird said.

Did what?

Murdered Louis and Susie.

Did I tell you that? said Frank, trying to remember what he’d said. After giving it some thought, he said: Yes, I do remember that I made a threat, but I didn’t tell you I had done it.[14]

Well, but I know you did it. Bird decided to let it go. No