A Tragic Murder in Cherokee, Ca.

Let's turn our minds back to a summer night in June 1871 in Cherokee Flatts in Butte County. A dance is breaking up in the little town of Cherokee. As the moon begins to settle back into the trees, the sound of laughter and fun can be heard from the hall a mere 50 yards from the home of Justice Glass.

Cherokee, California. Circa 1850s. Source

The Glass home was the scene of a wedding earlier in the evening, and the dinner and dance afterwards was at the hall. As the clock approached three a.m., Miss Susan McDaniel, Miss Maria Glass and Dr Sawyer were making their way from the hall back to the Glass residence.

Directly in front of them was Mrs. Davis and her family, all making their way back to the Glass home after a night of dining and dancing. 

The Murder

A man appeared out of the dark and approached Miss McDaniel and she remarked to Miss Glass that her father was approaching them. As the man approached her it was not her father but rather one Cherokee resident named George Sharkovitch, a local man of around thirty, who had also been in attendance at the dance.

George grabbed Susan McDaniel by the the hair and drove a long knife into her heart. As this occurred someone screamed out "Murder!". Miss McDaniel staggered several steps forward and fell to the ground, mortally wounded.

The commotion and screams got the attention of people nearby. The people returning to the Glass home began to gather around. Dr. Sawyer drew and fired his revolver at the fleeing George Sharkovitch, as did several other men coming out of the hall. Then Dr. Sawyer turned back to attend to Susan McDaniel only to realize she was beyond help. Miss McDaniel was expiring right there, as a frightened angry crowd tried to make sense of what had happened.

The life was gone from Susan McDaniel, the eighteen-year-old sweetheart of Cherokee. As this small Mountain town stood in shock and tears, everyone wondered what would cause a man like George Sharkovitch to take the life of this young lady in the prime of her life?

George Sharkovitch

This tragic story had begun almost two years earlier when George Sharkovitch had become romantically interested in Susan McDaniel. The newspaper accounts tell us there were signs of an obsession with Susan McDaniel on the part of George.

At one point some of her friends became concerned for her safety and made inquiries to whether George posed a threat to her safety. There was a quote in the newspaper accounts after the murder that George Sharkovitch had said, "She would marry him or die". There are indications from newspaper articles that Susan McDaniels had turned him down for matrimony. 

This is a tragic tale of obsession. and it leads this author to believe that George Sharkovitch, after the dance on that June night, finally could no longer contain his obsession and made good on his threats of marriage or death. 

George disappeared. 

Aftermath

Upon realization that George was no where to be found, there was a meeting held at the Cherokee Hotel to organize a search for the murderer who had a $5000 bounty on his head. The townspeople set out in the morning in search of the man.

This search went on in vain until Sunday afternoon when George Sharkovitch stepped out onto the Bidwell Bridge on the Feather River, being guarded by Mr. McKnight. McKnight ordered him to stop and pay the toll. At this point Mr. Ketchum, who was also in the toll booth,  recognized him as the killer, and ordered him to enter the toll booth. 

George Sharkovitch panicked. He claimed to no avail to be a Frenchman heading to Downieville, and not the killer. 

The men holding George took him to the house of John Bendle for more questioning as they waited for Sheriff Miller to be summoned, and take him into custody.

This is when events took an additional strange and tragic twist, in this already dark and twisted tale. George began to fumble in his coat revealing the long knife used to kill Susan McDaniel. In an apparent attempt to commit suicide, he grabbed his rifle and attempted to shoot himself in the head. The rifle caught on his shirt causing it to misfire sparing his life. 

George then attempted to flee and was shot to death by M, Bendle with three shots. The fatal shot being to the back of his head from his revolver.

George laid in a pool of his on blood, freed from the pain of his obsession with Susan McDaniel. 

This bizarre and tragic tales does not end there. 

The next morning his body is returned to Cherokee by Sheriff Miller. The townspeople already in shock at the murder of their towns young sweetheart, were now worked to a fevered pitch when the body of George Sharkovitch was returned to the town. In a display of fury, the people of Cherokee burned George's house to the ground.

The Sheriff and other prominent townsfolk came to a decision that after hearing the statements made by Mr. Bendle and Mr. McBride, and the outcry of the community of Cherokee. They decided  that the best course of action would be to burn the murderers  body on top of the ruins of his home. 

The body of George Sharkovitch was lain on the remains of his house, and set afire with oil, like a giant funeral pyre. The crowd burst into cheers at the sight of the burning of George Sharkovitchs body, as they grieved the tragic death of Susan McDaniel.

Note: This is the Grave of the father of Susan McDaniel located in the Cherokee Cemetery. There is mention of a funeral for Ms. McDaniel, but no mention of her in the Records of the Cemetery. Another mystery to solve, on a return trip to this amazing Pioneer Cemetery.

Sources

Shasta Courier, Volume 20, Number 11, 10 June 1871 — the Cherokee flat murder.

Russian River Flag, Volume III, Number 30, 8 June 1871 — Murder Swiftly and Shockingly Ninety At Avenged

Sacramento Union, Volume 164, Number 24, 24 March 1912

Marysville Daily Appeal, Volume XXIII, Number 131, 2 June 1871

Oroville Sentinel, Volume V, Number 15, 10 June 1871

Marysville Daily Appeal, Volume XXIII, Number 131, 2 June 1871

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 41, Number 7194, 3 June 1871

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 41, Number 7193, 2 June 1871

History of Butte County California With Biographic Sketches. George C Mansfield, B.L. Historical Record Company.
Los Angeles California. 1918