Fred French Historical

Fred French Historical (HM1SSM)

Location: Kingsburg, CA 93631 Fresno County
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Country: United States of America
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N 36° 30.885', W 119° 33.114'

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Inscription
On the night of November 2, 1916, Fred French, while performing his duties of deputy night watchman for the community of Kingsburg, encountered Lew Cowan behaving in a drunken and disorderly manner in the pool hall. Cowan and French engaged in a wrestling match, and bystanders pulled them apart, whereupon Cowan ran away. French then called Constable George Boyle who along with U.S. Marshall S.J. Shannon, found and arrested Cowan. Cowan also caused a disturbance at that time and managed to land a punch to the face of Boyle. They took Cowan to jail, but by that time he had become calm and pleaded that he was sorry and would go home and sleep it off if they would just release him. Constable Boyle then took him home.

Cowan's mother received him at home, but could not stop him from collecting a shotgun and shells and leaving the house. He met a fellow named, "Larson," who had been with him in the initial altercation in the pool hall. Allegedly he threatened Larson and force him to accompany him. The two men walked to the railroad depot, where they spotted French leaning against a fence. Cowan raised the gun and fired both barrels, hitting French in the head and killing him instantly.

Cowan sent Larson home and absconded. Ensuing searches failed to find Cowan. A copy of the wanted poster issued for him can be found in
the historical jail.

In her book, "Bit of Sweden in the Desert," Pauline Peterson Mathes, gave this account: "Thirteen years after her father's murder and the day after her mother's funeral Alice (Fred French's daughter) was sweeping the sidewalk in front of their home when and old looking, bearded man came along, tapping a cane as he walked. He asked if that was Fred French's house. She told him her father had been dead for 13 years, having been murdered in 1916. The old man then looked at her with tears streaming down his face, and said, "Oh, I'm really sorry to hear that.' He went on in the general direction of the old Cowan place. Was that old man Lew Cowan? We'll never know."
Details
HM NumberHM1SSM
Tags
Placed ByThe Kingsburg Historical Society, The Larry L. Hillblom Foundation, David Meyer Project Director
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Sunday, June 26th, 2016 at 9:03pm PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)11S E 271485 N 4044073
Decimal Degrees36.51475000, -119.55190000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 36° 30.885', W 119° 33.114'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds36° 30' 53.1" N, 119° 33' 6.84" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)559
Which side of the road?Marker is on the right when traveling North
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 1440 Draper St, Kingsburg CA 93631, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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