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4A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL OCTOBER 11, 2017 O PINION Offbeat Oregon History: Murderer of Mystery By Finn JD John On the evening of December 1, 1878, all four prisoners in the Wasco County Jail, in the back of the county court- house, were out of their cells and relax- ing in the common area near a glowing woodstove. One, a horse thief named Tharp, was sitting by the stove with a Chinese man (whose name is not giv- en in the newspaper account); James Cook, a great burly man with an En- glish accent, was pacing up and down, dragging his heavy shackle (probably an “Oregon boot”), apparently lost in thought; and George Craig, a slender tow-headed young man of 22, was sit- ting on a bench contemplating his fall from grace. He had indeed fallen a long way. Craig was in jail, and on his way to the state prison, for a crime three months before, when he and Cook had robbed Baldwin’s Saloon in The Dalles. Craig’s involvement in this crime had shocked the little community; he was the son of the late Polhemus Craig, M.D., a highly respected physician and druggist. The son hadn’t risen to the heights of his father, though, and had taken a job as a fl atboat operator on the river, then fallen in with a bad and dis- solute crowd — a crowd that included James Cook. After the robbery, Craig had fl ed to Portland, and it had taken a month or two for authorities to catch up with him. When they had, he’d quickly con- fessed — and implicated Cook. The news had traveled faster than the law, and by the time Deputy Marshall Haine was knocking on Cook’s door, he’d already heard they were looking for him. His Native American wife (or girlfriend; the newspapers don’t say) had told the sheriff he’d gone to Boise. Haine had thanked her kindly and then asked what was in the giant crate sit- ting in a corner of the room. “Cultus ictas,” she replied — which For The Sentinel is Chinook for “Bad things,” or “gar- bage.” This seeming suspiciously vague, Haine pulled his six-shooter and covered the box with it while directing the other deputy to tip it over. “The box was upset and Cook stepped out, coolly remarking, ‘Well, you ‘ave got me coppered,’” the Morn- ing Oregonian’s The Dalles correspon- dent wrote. Cook’s coolness didn’t last, though. When he learned that Craig had ratted him out, it turned to hot fury. At his tri- al, he fi rmly denied any involvement; and when he was convicted, it was al- most solely on Craig’s testimony. But that was all over now. Craig and Cook both were on their way to the state pen to serve seven-year stretches. And Cook had fi nally gotten over his anger against Craig. Or so it seemed until suddenly Cook, walking past Craig while pacing the jailhouse, suddenly pounced. There was a terrible cry — a scream of “Oh God, take him off!” — and then came a horrible gurgle and a splashing sound. Sheriff James B. Crossen hurried into the room from the front offi ce, where he’d been working on some pa- perwork. By the time he got through the door, it was all over. Cook, with a straight razor he’d somehow gotten hold of, had seized his former partner by the hair and sliced his throat open to the spine. Crossen pulled his pistol out, put it against Cook’s head, and demanded to know where the razor had come from. Cook refused. “Go ahead and shoot,” he said. “I’d rather hang or have you shoot me than spend seven years in the penitentiary.” (No one ever did fi gure out where Cook got that razor from; but his Na- tive American wife had been in to see him the day before, and it seemed most likely that she’d slipped it to him then.) Just a few minutes later, Craig’s aged mother arrived, intending to spend the night there in the jail with her son be- fore his departure the following morn- ing on the boat for Salem. “Her cries would have melted the heart of any man not steeped to the very lips in crime,” the Oregonian’s correspondent wrote — almost cer- tainly referring to Cook and his cocky heartlessness in the aftermath of the killing. The gruesome nature of the crime made a great impression on the public, and the newspapers got right on the story, trying to learn as much as they could about this cold-blooded razor killer. Who was he? What kind of life would lead to such an end? James Cook was ready for them — with a real whopper. “My earliest recollections of life are of being among the Indians — the Sioux,” he told an Oregonian reporter in a jailhouse interview a few weeks later, lounging insouciantly on his bunk in the prison cell. “I never could fi nd out who my parents were but I am under the impression that they were captured and murdered by the Indians while traveling ... I remained with the Indians for 16 years, and during that time was twice engaged in war against the whites. The Indians called me La- veris. ... While with the Indians an En- glishman, a Dr. Roach, who was hunt- ing on the plains, came into our camp ... I was selected to guide the intruder out of our hunting grounds. The doctor took a fancy to me, and I concluded to accept his offer to accompany him in his travels as a body-servant and leave the Indians. “After journeying about six months in the United States we left for India, where for 20 months we remained ti- ger hunting in the jungles ... Tired of India, we left for Africa ... We spent portions of the time in Abyssinia, the country surrounding the Red Sea, af- ter which we crossed the great desert; thence to Alexandria, and after a short stay in Egypt we sailed for England. Remaining at the doc- tor’s home for a short time, we left for Australia where I left the service of the doctor and started off on my own hook for America. “I reached San Francis- co all right, and after re- maining there some little while I fol- lowed the crowd then rushing to Ne- vada ... then traveled through the state continuing my journey through Col- orado and fi nally brought up in Texas where I was engaged as a stock driver. To this capacity I went to Arizona, and in 1865 found myself in Montana, from which place I returned to San Francis- co. “One morning I found myself on board the ship Yenisei. How I came there I could not comprehend at fi rst, but shortly realized that I’d been shanghaied. “We were bound for China, but nev- er reached our destination. The ship ran on a reef, and myself and four others were the only ones that escaped to the mainland after being in an open boat for nine days without food and water. After our rescue we tooted it through South Anam, and then on to Canton. We were then sent to Hong Kong, from which place I returned to San Francis- co. I came to Oregon about 16 months ago, and have lived in and about The Dalles during the time.” Well, all righty then. “Such is the history of his life that Cook gives,” the Oregonian writer dry- ly concludes. But, he adds, “there was not one of those present who listened to the recital that believed it.” And yet this mouthful of malarkey is all there is about James Cook’s past ... except for one thing: a newspaper re- port from the Oregon City Enterprise a little over a year before the killing: “James Cook, for trying to aid prison- ers to make their escape from the pen- itentiary, goes back to that institution for a period of fi ve years for his trou- ble, by order of Judge Boise.” This may refer to a different man, also named James Cook. And it doesn’t explain how Cook got out of the pen- itentiary just a year or so into a fi ve- year stretch. But, given the conditions in the state prison in the 1870s, it might explain his decision to avoid a prison sentence by escalating the charges to Murder One with a bit of revenge, and getting hanged instead. On the morning of Feb. 7, 1879, James Cook went through the fl oor of the gallows with his lips still shut tight. He’d eaten a hearty breakfast that morning, visited briefl y and unpro- ductively with a Catholic priest, and declined to say anything further when invited by the sheriff to do so. Seven- teen minutes later, he was dead. We still have no idea even what his real name was. LETTER TO THE EDITOR Opinion on test scores Dr. Fuhrman: Apple season is here How sad is it that South Lane School District employees are so apathetic with regard to the current state rest results? The accep- tance of our "average" performance and our standing of 48 of 50 states within the comment "It's a conversation starter" is beyond belief. With the amount of dollars spent being thrown at education, the parents of our school-aged children should be outraged at this poor performance. John Caloia Crisp, juicy apples are a fall tradition. Take advantage of the bountiful selection of ap- ples available this time of year. There are hundreds of varieties to sample. They range from red to yellow to green, crunchy to tender, sweet to tart and simple to complex. Apples contain a wide vari- ety of phytochemicals, many of which have been found to have strong antioxidant activity. They are particularly high in querce- tin, a fl avonoid antioxidant.1 Epidemiological studies have linked the consumption of ap- ples with reduced risk of some cancers, cardiovascular disease, C ottage G rove S entinel (541) 942-3325 By Joel Fuhrman, MD For The Sentinel asthma, diabetes and obesi- ty.2-7 Not only can eating an apple a day help keep the doctor away, an apple a day might keep the pounds away too; adding ap- ples to the diet has been shown to enhance weight loss.8-9 To optimize phytochemical con- tent, it is important to eat the pigment-rich apple skin, not just the fl esh. Choose whole, or- ganic apples over applesauce or apple juice. Apples are also a rich source of pectin, a type of soluble fi ber that is found in plant cell walls and tissues. This soluble fi ber works to lower cholesterol by reducing the amount that is ab- sorbed in the intestines. Studies have shown that the pectin in apples interacts with other ap- ple phytonutrients to achieve an even greater reduction in cholesterol.10 Researchers have also discovered that apples can boost intestinal health by in- creasing the numbers of healthy gut bacteria which feed on ap- ple pectin.11 Apple polyphenols are thought to help lower blood pressure, and apple intake is also linked to a reduced risk of multiple cancers.12,13 Portable and easy to pack, apples are great to include in your on-the-go meals. For an easy dessert, enjoy them baked with a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg. I like to dice an apple, toss it with baby greens, some chickpeas, maybe a handful of walnuts or pumpkin seeds and then top it off with fl avored vin- egar or perhaps a dressing made from nuts and seeds. Experiment with the many different varieties of apples to discover which ones are your favorites. Have fun seeking out your local organic apple grow- ers, farm stands and farmers markets and look for different types of interesting apples. They do not have to look perfect. The smaller and more imperfect they look, the better they taste. If you go apple picking and get lots of them, don’t worry, you can store them for several months. Just wrap each apple in a pa- per towel to prevent them from touching each other and store in a closed cardboard box in a cool place such as the basement or garage. Administration James Rand, Regional Publisher Gary Manly, General Manager ................................................. Ext. 207 gmanly@cgsentinel.com Aaron Ames, Marketing Specialist ........................................... Ext. 216 aames@cgsentinel.com Tammy Sayre, Marketing Specialist ......................................... Ext. 213 tsayre@cgsentinel.com Editorial Caitlyn May, Editor. ................................................................. Ext. 212 cmay@cgsentinel.com Zach Silva, Sport Editor ............................................................ Ext. 204 zsilva@cgsentinel.com Customer Service Carla Williams, Offi ce Manager .............................................. Ext. 200 Legals, Classifi eds .......................................... Ext. 200 cwilliams@cgsentinel.com Production Ron Annis, Production Supervisor ............................................. 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