Asa Carey: the Bully of Westfall, Oregon

The wild west was alive and well in Westfall, Oregon in 1912. Asa Carey was a mean son of a gun who couldn't stay away from the saloons. Whoever decided he'd make a good town marshal clearly wasn't thinking straight! Asa had his own ideas when it came to meting out fair punishment and he wound up on the wrong side of the bars, himself, more than once. 

• Saloon music featured from 1905: "Down Where the Sweet Potatoes Grow" by Collins & Harlan
• Saloon music featured from 1908: "Lanky Yanky Boys in Blue" by Bill Murray
• Saloon music featured from 1912: "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now" by Mr. Jack Charman

Dr. Miles' Anti-Pain Pills: ad featured in the March 2, 1905 Oregon Daily Journal

Wilcox Bros. Royal Blue Shoe Store: ad featured in the 1912 Eugene Guard

Transcript

0:00

Thank you. What do bullies, saloons, and gunfights have in common? You're about to find out on this episode of Forgotten Felonies. Welcome back to Forgotten Felonies. I'm Monica. And I'm Olivia. And this is where we take you back in time to rediscover the old crimes of vintage villainy that time forgot. Today we're going back to the wild west when Main Street was made of dirt, the whiskey poured freely, and arguments were solved with The funny thing is, not every place was like this. Today's story takes place in Oregon in 1912. Now think back to... Our Kate Van Winkle episode, when she was living in Portland from 1899 to 1909. She lived in a big city where they had colleges, lawyers, and taxis, and theater companies would come to town to put on their productions. It was hardly the Wild West in Portland, but we're not talking about Portland. We're talking about Westfall, Oregon, which is over in eastern Oregon. From Westfall, if you were to travel 30 miles east, you'd get... to the town of Vail. And if you traveled another 20 miles east, you'd reach the Idaho border. So Westfall, Oregon, was very east. Oregon. It's not the lush green coastal side that rains all the time, but it's very arid. It gets hot in the summer and it snows in the winter, very unlike the western part of the state. I found a website called PNW Photo Blog, PNW standing for Pacific Northwest, and that's where I found the following information about the origins of Westfall. According to the blog, a man named Levi Westfall first claimed the land that would become known as Bully Creek in 1870. And then, in the early 1880s, his brothers Jackson and James Westfall joined him and settled in the area with their own families. In 1882, a man named Philip A. Kamen opened a store on Levi Westfall's homestead, which was the first step toward becoming an actual town. On April 3rd of 1882, a woman named Nancy Keim became the first postmaster of what was originally supposed to be the town of Bully's very own post office. This post office was actually located a mile west of what eventually became Westfall. and it only lasted one year before it shut down in May of 1883. The little town kept on growing, and the post office reopened in June of 1886. But the post office was originally called Bully Post Office. because that's what the creek had been named. But again, the post office was located a mile west of where the town was actually growing, so it was kind of useless, being so far out of the way, and it was closed again the following February of 1887. However, the Westfall post office was opened one mile east over where the town of Westfall actually was on the very same day. Philip A. Kamen, the man who had opened the first store in town, served as the first postmaster. Westfall kept on growing, and eventually there were three general stores, three saloons, all right next to each other on Main Street, two livery barns, and two hotels. There was a bank. The town had a blacksmith. Of course, there was a church for all the repenting and confessing that needed to be done after all the drinking and wild nights. Was a school for the kids, there was a candy store, and naturally, there was a dance hall. Of course. Of course. By 1895, they were big enough to be incorporated, so they made it official, and they had a mayor named J. C. Skelton. By 1909, there were 300 families living in West Falls. But that's when the Malheur Valley Railroad started building their depot, 12 miles south in Harper, and that made Harper a hub for trade and travel rather than Westfall. Businesses and people moved, the schoolhouse closed, and many of the buildings were demolished. So why did everybody move if it was only 12 miles away? Well, by horse, that was like three hours. If your horse is walking four miles per hour, that's three hours. hours to get 12 miles. I mean, your horse would have to be running like 12 miles per hour to get there in an hour. So, I mean, that's back in that day. I mean, That's a really long way. Yeah. So people just couldn't make the commute. And so Westfall was actually considered a ghost town by 1960. And there's still, I believe, still today, just bare bones buildings, things falling apart, still standing there. But yeah, the last burial in the Pioneer Cemetery was in 1994. And there's just a few buildings left standing. The cemetery is epic. You should look up pictures. It is so cool. People who stop... walk through the cemetery, though, they would just see names on the stones and they would have absolutely no idea who those people were and what their connection is to some pretty fascinating forgotten felonies in that tiny ghost town's history. So this story is all about a scoundrel by the name of Asa Carey. He was a real, no-good, rotten... sort of fellow who couldn't hold his whiskey and he solved his problems with his fists and his guns. So Olivia, please tell us a bit more about Asa Carey. I would love to. So Asa Hubert Carey was born in Baker City, Oregon, on September 6th of 1882. He was the only son of William Carey and Della Armenta Myers. Somewhere between 1882 and 1893, William passed away. Because Della remarried William Harmon Babb in 1893 and had two more children. Archie Floyd Babb, born 1894, and Addie Viola Babb, born 1897. Asa later married Bessie Lee Gregory November 20, 1904, in Malheur City, Oregon, when he was 22 and Bessie was just 15. Together they had six children, four boys and two girls. Thank you very much. So Asa Carey, he was known as the town bully. And he had worked pretty hard to earn that reputation. By the year 1905, 22-year-old Asa Carey was appointed as the town marshal, somehow, okay? Like, I don't know how he got that job. Being as young as he was. Maybe it was because he was a bully and they were like, 'That's what we need to keep everybody, you know, in line here.' Someone who's mean and tough. I don't know. But a town marshal was the primary law enforcement officer in a small town such as Westfall. So he was like the only, the one and only law enforcement officer. He was responsible for enforcing city ordinances and state laws within the town limits. He was like a chief of police. And again, he was all that Westfall had. There were no other deputies. There were no other officers. It was just Asa Carey. Sounds like a power trip. Waiting to happen. Oh, boy, does it. Yeah, and he was just such a joy to have around. And I should mention, he was all of five feet, seven inches. He was not a large man, so he had to make up for it, I guess, with his weapons. You know, he had his guns and that's all he needed. That made him a lot bigger, you know. I mean, you know, those bullets had some bite to them, so. Anyway, so on the evening of Sunday, August 13th, 1905, there was a gathering of some Westfall Cowboys at the Madden Saloon on Main Street in Westfall. Now, this was not unusual for a Sunday night. They'd put in their time in church earlier in the day, as their wives and mothers expected of them. And now it was their own. time. You know, what they did after church hours or after the sun went down, that was their own business. So the whiskey was flowing, cards were dealt, bets were played. And soon, insults were flying across the bar. More drinks were poured, and then more drinks, and even more. You knew it, most of the men probably couldn't even walk a straight line and they almost undoubtedly couldn't even tell you why they were angry with each other. But the fact of the matter is that they were angry and now things were getting out of hand. Now Westfall was a small town with one main street. All of the saloons, all of the businesses, they were together in one spot. This town wasn't very spread out. And Asa, just a young man himself at 22 years old, he could have heard the ruckus from his own home. And honestly, who knows? He could have been there drinking at the same time. I don't know. But he was there at the saloon that night, and he wanted to calm things down. But those drunken men involved, they were not about to calm down. So a fight had broken out, and soon, so had Ace's guns. In the aftermath, the owner of the saloon, Mr. Madden, had taken a stray bullet to his foot. Ace, the Carry, had taken a few blows from a Mr. Payne and a Mr. Bryant, and a 22-year-old barkeep by the name of Frank Kamen was shot dead by one of Asa's bullets. Now, according to the newspapers, Frank and Asa were kinsfolk. But what did you find about that, Olivia? So I couldn't find really anywhere that Asa and Frank were related. But Asa and... someone later in the story are related. Intriguing. So, yeah, I have to wonder if maybe. Asa's wife and Frank's wife, perhaps, were maybe distantly related or... Something. I didn't see anywhere that it was like... Cousins. Yeah. I don't know. It's very, I don't know. But anyway, in the newspaper, it said that they were kinsfolk. So maybe that had a different meaning back then, or. I don't know. Maybe they played bingo at the same time. I have no idea. But anyway, they were both young. They were both like 22 years old. They were both young and married and both had young kids. And young wives. Yeah. So young 22-year-old Frank had been married to a 19-year-old gal named Florence for just two years by the time of his death. And they shared a five-month-old baby girl named Maud Violet Cammon. And they actually had an older daughter, too. And then, Asa had been married for one year by that time himself. So, yeah, both Asa and Frank were just starting out in life, yet only one of them would live to see another day. Yeah, the death of Frank came as a shock and Asa Carey was arrested and he was taken to jail in Vail, Oregon. And remember, that's 30 miles east. On August 15th, just two days later, the case was taken before the grand jury for a preliminary examination in the justice's court over in Vail. The evidence produced was not considered sufficient to take to trial. They found that he, quote, did the killing while in the lawful discharge of his official duty while undertaking to make an arrest. What I want to know, if he was the only person there of law enforcement, who arrested him? Someone from Vail. So the news somehow got all the way to Vale. And then he was arrested. Yeah. Hmm. Interesting. I mean, someone probably, someone else probably had to like grab him. I don't know. I mean, you'll find out later. Things that happened. I don't know. That's just... It's interesting to think about that they're like, 'Oh yeah, he's the marshal. The only person with power.' Yes. He's arrested. I mean, there was also, they had a mayor. Mm-hmm. Who appoints the Marshal. So the mayor must have some power over the marshal. There's a city council. Who also discusses who the marshal is. So, I mean, they must have some sort of process for that. They must have some, I mean, so there must have been something we'd have. To look that up too, but yeah, I'm sure there were other men who they were like, 'Okay, everybody grab hold of him or something you know, and then guard him. And then someone must have ridden their horse for, I mean, how long would that have taken? You know, to get to Vale. Like a day, because then a day back. Yeah, like 30 miles to go over there and then to get someone to come back and get him. So yeah, big shock. But they decided... He, you know, it was self-defense. So he was cleared. And as soon as he was cleared, he, Asa, immediately swore out warrants against both Mr. Payne and Mr. Bryant, who had punched him. In all the mayhem. And he charged them with assaulting an officer and obstructing him in the discharge of his official duty. But the court dismissed them as well because it would have been difficult to obtain statements since everyone there had been drunk. Fair enough. He's like, 'Here's a warrant. I'm going to arrest them.' And the judge was like, 'About that.' Psych! From the sounds of it, maybe not. And so, yeah, Asa Carey got away with it. Now, was it self-defense? I mean, it's possible. I don't know, but the truth is really lost. Him being a barkeep doesn't sound like... he would have been drinking. Maybe he was. I don't know. I mean, the story is that he pulled out his gun and that's why Asa shot him. So. Sure, Asa. I don't know. But if you look at what happened three years later. I don't know. I kind of doubt it was self-defense. So, Olivia, will you tell us a little bit about Daniel Brady? Yes, I will. Daniel Brady was born in Ireland in March of 1829. We don't have the exact birth date. That's all we got. He later came to the United States in 1848. Jumping ahead even further, in February of 1896, he had a land claim on the South Fork of the Santiam in Oregon, and it was reported in the Albany Weekly Herald that he and many other Irish immigrants were going to be moving their families to Oregon to settle before long. By 1897, he was referred to in the news as a prominent stockman and rancher in Westfall. All right. Thank you. Yeah. So they came over from the east. I assume just from the east coast or something. A bunch of Irish immigrants moved over to Oregon. So, yeah, he was living in Westfall with all of his cows on a ranch. So pretty cool. So on June 19th of 19. So this was like just shy of like three years, you know, later after the death of Frank Kamen. There was another unfortunate incident involving Asa Carey and a saloon, if you can believe that. World, every nation with flags above, thinks the gold command is simply grand. Now, by this time, Asa Carey was just shy of his 26th birthday. Still a young guy. And he was still the town marshal. But he was not on official business on this particular Friday night. Now, Asa and Dan Brady were having a drink together, and Dan Brady was 79 years old. OK, take note of that, listeners. Take note. Seventy-nine years old and Asa Carey was twenty-five. Now, the two were talking about something. I don't know what all the papers say. Was that the two were both drunk and they began to argue over money matters like just money matters? Were they arguing over who was to pay for the next round? Were they arguing over a bet that was owed? Was it something else? An article written a few months later states that Dan Brady had at one time been a wealthy stockman and rancher, right? So it says at one time. So that suggests that he lost his wealth somehow, but there's nothing in the newspapers to specify exactly what money matters these two were arguing about on June 19th of 1908. Didn't they know that we would be doing a podcast and we really needed that information? You know, they should have known. So, rude. Very. You just want to dig some guys up and scold them, really. But anyway. Now, what we do know is that 25-year-old Asa Carey, the only lawman in the town of Westfall, struck 79-year-old Dan Brady. And knocked him to the floor. Oh, Danny boy. Asa then stood up and kicked Dan Brady in the face, knocking his teeth out. And then he continued to assault him quite brutally and viciously until other patrons at the bar were able to pull Asa off of the frail old man. And Dan Brady was left lying in critical condition for several days, and it was the talk of the town. As you would expect. Yeah, I mean... That's crazy. The word that the newspaper used about the continued beating on him was abuse. Like he continued to abuse him is how they put it. So, but I mean, yeah, he kicked his teeth out. Like, holy cow, how drunk do you have to be to be kicking the teeth out of a frail old man on the ground? Like, that's insane. Mm-hmm. Oh my gosh. Like, I don't know. I just like, ah, just imagining that is horrific. Um, anyway, so Asa Carey was once again arrested by the sheriff over him. bail. And for reasons unknown, and even unknown to those back in the early 1900s, the case was never taken up in court. Like, even in the papers, they're like, 'We don't know why, but it was never even taken up in court.' He never faced charges for this horrific assault. Thank you. On a frail old man. I mean, not even in front of a grand jury. I mean, there was nothing. They can't see, but I'm shaking my head in disgust. She's speechless, you guys. But he did lose his position as town marshal. They didn't say that in the papers. I mean, they didn't like—like, like, there was no article about it. Like, 'Oh, shame on him.' You know, it was just quietly handled, I guess. Just so weird. But yeah, he just lost his position as town marshal. Wilcox Bros. Royal Blue Shoe Store. We give ease where others squeeze. Men's line, brand high top boots, just the thing for winter. Heavy double soles, Goodyear welt, full bellows tongue. Five to eight dollars a pair and worth it. Wilcox Bros., Willamette Street, Eugene, Oregon. So that assault, again, took place on June 19th of 1908, on Saturday, September 26th, which was approximately three months and one week later. A neighbor went out to the Brady Ranch and found Dan Brady lying in his home unconscious and just about to die. Now it looked like... he had met with foul play. Dan did wind up passing away, and coroner Payne was summoned. A coroner's jury was impaneled, and an autopsy was held. The ultimate finding was that Dan Brady had died of excessive use of alcohol. Now, this says to me that Dan Brady's death was not a direct result of his injuries from the beating he took from Asa Carey just 13 weeks previously. So it was likely from decades of heavy drinking, or perhaps just like one night of overdoing it. And so acute alcohol poisoning. I don't know. In any case, the luck of the Irish, you know, had run out for Dan Brady in September of 1908. So do we think that coroner Payne is the same Payne from three years previous who Carrie wanted to get a warrant and arrest him for? I bet it was a relative. I don't know if it was the same one. If you look up on findagrave. com and look up that cemetery, you can see how many panes are buried in it to see if it was one or if there's a whole family. But I don't know. I did wonder the same thing. But yeah, so I wanted to point out the length of time between that brutal assault and his death, because four years later, when another incident took place, all of the papers reminded the public of the Dan Brady assault. But they changed the story to, quote, and Dan Brady died within a few days. Now, I shared this whole story of Asa Carey with my students. In my historical crimes in Oregon class many moons ago, and I was under the impression, from incorrect sources, that Dan Brady died from the assault and also that Dan Brady had been a 20-year-old cowhand. Former students, if you're listening, those details were completely wrong. I am sorry. Dan Brady was 79 years old. He was a wealthy rancher at some point, and he died. From alcoholism, 13 weeks after taking a beating at the hands of Asa Carey. And it is possible that taking that beating did damage something that did lead to his death. I mean, it is possible. I don't know. But it was not a few days later. Yeah. Um, but anyway, the good news is that Asa Kerry was no longer the Marshal of Westfall. Thank goodness. I mean, he did not have good problem-solving skills. And it sounds like, you know, he really let the authority and power go to his head. So he was just abusing his office for sure. Now, the next man in charge was Ben Corbett. And that guy was a star. He was such a gem of a marshal that, by April of 1912, about three and a half years later, the folks over at Malheur County poached him. They were like, 'Marshall Corbett, you... You are a darn good marshal doing the good work over in Westfall cleaning up that there town.' We would like to make you a sheriff's deputy. He's moving up. Yep, he was. So Ben Corbett, he could not resist the offer. He accepted and he put in his resignation as town marshal of Westfall. But there was a problem. Mayor William West, the mayor of Westfall at the time, was out of town. And it was his job to appoint the new marshal. So the town council didn't know what to do. Because you couldn't very well have a town without a marshal. They needed someone to uphold the law. And wouldn't you know it, there was Asa Carey offering up his services. Well, the council wasn't fully on board, though a few of the council members were his cronies, and they were all for it. He said he had done it before, you know— he knew the job and he wanted it back. So Asakari started to harass those on the council who were holding out, and finally they relented just so he would leave them alone. They didn't want Asa on their backs because that never ended well. So they went ahead and gave him the job. Well, that sure didn't last long, because on May 7th, Mayor West came back home. When he heard Asa Carey was marshal again, he wouldn't stand for it. He immediately called a meeting with the town council and he had Asa Carey removed from his post. Instead, he appointed a man named Jasper Westfall. Olivia, please do us the honors and tell us a bit about Jasper Westfall. I would love to. Jasper Sandusky Westfall was born January 28, 1872, in Jackson, West Virginia. He was the second of six children born to Jackson R. Westfall and Mary Catherine Thomas. On April 1st, 1885, Jasper married his first wife, Jessie Diamond Blake, in Malheur City, Oregon. Together, they had one daughter, Mabel Catherine Westfall. On December 16, 1896, in Westfall, Oregon. I'm unsure of when or why, but Jesse and Jasper seem to have separated sometime after the birth of their daughter because Jasper remarried a woman named Daisy. On September 16, 1900, in Malheur City, Oregon. Together, they had three more children, Sylvia Mae Westfall, born in 1903, Jasper Jackson Westfall, born in 1907, and John Henry Westfall, born June 16, 1912. Wonderful. Thank you. So Asa Carey, he was incredibly angry that he had just lost the job, that he had just gotten back after losing it three and a half years ago. A half year ago. I mean, what a whirlwind, right? So, you know, it paid $75 per month, which was a pretty penny back in that day. So Olivia, what is the equivalent of $75 per month in 2025 dollars? $2, 472. 67. Yeah, well, that's not too bad. He was also a blacksmith, like by trade. That was what he did. So that would have been a pretty nice supplemental income. So, yeah, he was really, really angry. But was he sitting at home with his wife and kids and helping with the new baby that the newspapers claimed that he had, that we couldn't find any proof of? No, no, he was not. He decided to hang out with his friend Arthur P. Ricketts on May 7th to get really, really drunk at all of the three saloons in Westfall over the next three days. Bye. Bye. Thank you. Thank you. Ничего себе! He didn't want to. Thank you. Thank you. Ha ha ha ha ha! Oh, my God. During this drinking binge, they decided that they were going to, quote, try out the new Marshall to see if 40-year-old Jasper Westfall had the guts to even do the job. Asa Carey was sure he was too much of a softie to take Asa Carey down. And he was going to prove it to the whole gosh darned town. And then they'd see what a mistake. Mayor West had made. He'd show them what a coward their new marshal was. They'd all be sorry. Then they'd beg him to come back. And I'm sure when he said all of that, he was slurring and hiccuping and probably dribbling a little whiskey out of the corner of his mouth. Now, on May 10th, Asa Carey had his . 32 automatic pistol, and his good buddy Arthur Ricketts had a . 32 Smith & Wesson, and they decided— in true Old West fashion— to start shooting up the town. They stood out in front of the Jones Saloon and they shot several rounds through the roof of the porch. Now, I know I mentioned it before. And I'll mention it again. This was a very small town and it wasn't very spread out. So the newly appointed town marshal, Jasper Westfall, just— three days on the job— could hear all of the ruckus from his home. He could hear the shots, of course, but he could also hear Asa Carey yelling. and boasting that Jasper could never arrest him, not even if he tried. And he even said that if Jasper did attempt to arrest him, then Asa Carey would kill him. Now, Marshall Westfall could not allow this behavior to continue. He couldn't let these two drunkards shoot up the town. I mean, there were women and children in town. There were innocent babies. There were elderly folk, good townspeople running businesses. Like, this could not stand. So Jasper Westfall approached Asa Carey over at the Jones Saloon. Jasper was unarmed. Asa drew his gun and he threatened him. The muzzle of his gun up against Jasper's stomach, and he's just screaming insults at him. I imagine the smell of booze on his breath was absolutely overpowering, making Jasper's nose hair curl with every breath. Can you imagine? I'm imagining the nose hairs going. I know. They're just like recoiling. They're just like, oh. Anyway, when Jasper realized Asa Carey was not going to quiet down and go home, Jasper realized he needed to go home and get his weapon. So Jasper made the walk to his house just a couple blocks away and Asa Carey disappeared into another saloon. Jasper came back and figured Asa must have gone. into the Hart Saloon, so Jasper went inside to look for him there. Asa wasn't inside the Hart Saloon, so Jasper walked back outside onto the porch. When he walked back out, he saw Asa Carey out in the middle of Main Street again. Asa saw Jasper on the porch of Hart's saloon and he came over to confront Jasper. Jasper stepped down off the porch into the road. This is really just like a Wild West showdown. Oh, it is. Asa cursed at him, and again he boasted and taunted Jasper, saying that Jasper was too scared to arrest him. Asa threatened to kill him again. This is when Jasper told him, 'Asa, you are under arrest.' Jasper pulled out his gun just to point it at him like a stick-up. The newspapers say he pulled his gun to quote, cover him, and that is when Asa grabbed for his own gun again. When Jasper saw that Asa was about to fire, Jasper took the first shot right at Asa Carey's head. But he missed, and then Asa got three shots off. One shot missed entirely. One hit Jasper in the wrist, and one passed through Jasper's side. Jasper fell to the ground, dying. Asa Carey then bent over Jasper as he lay there in the road and he took his gun. Now Asa had two pistols, and he began threatening to shoot all of the witnesses. Who were watching the scene unfold in horror. They were panicking. They loved Jasper Westfall. Everyone loved Jasper Westfall. They loved his wife and his children. They were a lovely family. Ace Acaria wasn't done yet, though. Next on his hit list was Mayor West, the scoundrel who had fired him and gave his job to Jasper in the first place. Well, it just so happened that the former Marshal, Ben Corbett, who had been the Marshal for three and a half years, after Asa Kerry was fired the first time, was in town. He was now a sheriff's deputy, but he was just barely getting started and wasn't there acting as a deputy or anything, but he was there, and that is what matters. He was a quick thinker. He told a very drunk Asa that he would help him get more ammunition so Asa could continue to shoot up the town. And apparently, Asa is very easily duped when he's been on a... drinking binge for three days. So Asa went with Ben Corbett into the general store next door. As soon as he had the opportunity, Deputy Corbett jumped on Asa's back and wrestled the two pistols out of his hands. Soon he was arrested and taken to the Little Westfall Jail. Jasper Westfall was carried into Hart's and put on the billiards table. Someone ran to get his wife Daisy, who was by his side as he died. Most of the newspapers say he died 15 minutes after he was shot. But a couple say he lived 45 minutes, so we'll just take the average and say he lived about 30 minutes. Jasper had been 40 years old. He and his wife had an eight-year-old daughter, Sylvia May. A five-year-old son, Jasper Jackson, and Daisy was eight months pregnant with another boy. John Henry Jasper's funeral was held two days later, and it was the largest funeral the town had ever held. There were 36 wagons and buggies in the procession from the Methodist church to the cemetery, and each of them had from two to ten people in it. In addition to that, there were several people following on horseback. The whole town was in mourning over the loss of Jasper Westfall. The jailhouse in the town of Westfall was very small and very poorly constructed. There was a lot of concern over what might happen next. People weren't sure—whether Jasper's friends were going to break Asa out of jail to lynch him, or if Asa's friends were going to break him out to free him. To avoid any of that happening, they had Asa placed in irons, and they had two men armed to the teeth standing guard over him

until Deputy Sheriff Ben Brown arrived from Vail at 12: 35:00

30 a. m. in the middle of the night, early on the morning of May 11th. On May 13th, a newspaper reporter visited Asa Carey in jail, and he was defiant. Other than saying he was still mad, he hadn't also shot Mayor West, he said. Later, when the district attorney arrived to ask him questions about the upcoming hearing, he told him, " Do what you want to about it." He had his hearing before the grand jury that day, and they said, " Jasper Westfall, the murdered marshal of the little town of Westfall, 30 miles west of this city, came to his death by gunshot wounds inflicted without cause or justification by Asa Carey, while Jasper Westfall was performing his duty as peace officer of the town of Westfall." Later on July 12th, there was a regular search done of Ace's cell in the jail over in Vail, and they actually found three steel saws. They had been warned that he would likely attempt to break out of jail if he'd been given the chance. Being a blacksmith and an expert machinist, it wouldn't be too hard for him to... cut his way out of a cell and the corridor window that he'd encountered afterward. The jail officials figured his friends probably slipped him the saws, but they really have no idea how he got them. The windows in the jail were pretty low though, so it wouldn't have been too hard to slip something through to him. How they got in is neither here nor there. He had them hidden on top of his cell under a water tank, which seems weird that there's a water tank on top of his cell. I don't know. But interestingly enough. Another man who was in the jail with him was a horse thief by the name of Kulf, who was said to have broken out of several jails in his day, so I would guess they probably shared some ideas with each other. On September 3rd, the grand jury finally indicted Asa for murder, and his trial was set to begin on September 11th of 1912. They indeed began picking the jury on September 11th, and it seemed to take a long time. I don't know why they struggled, but they went through tons and tons of potential jurors and finally had a jury of 12. They sat on the afternoon of Friday the 13th. Ooh, unlucky. What's interesting to me is that back then they didn't take weekends off. Like, the more cases we cover, it's weird to me how it's like, oh, and through Saturday and through Sunday, all the testimony. So, yeah, it was the afternoon of Friday the 13th. So they started the trial immediately. Witnesses were on the stand through to Saturday afternoon, and the jury deliberations began Saturday evening when the last witness finished, and they were out all night until Sunday morning. Like they didn't even go to sleep. It really... They go so fast. Yeah. Like now it's like months and years before trial. Yeah, it's true. They do. They went really fast back then. Except the Mabel Schofield one went forever. But it seems like as soon as, I mean, because they didn't have enough evidence to go to trial. But as soon as it was like time for trial, then yeah, it seems like it went really fast back then. But yeah, so Sunday morning, the 15th of September, 1912, they had their verdict. So the jury decided that, and this is weird and I don't agree, so I demand a retrial. It's well over 100 years past, but I'm going to take it up to the Supreme Court. It's easier to cure than endure those dreadful sick or nervous headaches. It's all in the knowing how. In just a few minutes, without any other effects but just to cure the pain. Dr. Miles Anti-Pain Pills will relieve you of your suffering. If it's any pain, anywhere, or from any cause, just take one of Dr. Miles Anti-Pain Pills. And in a very few minutes, you will have no further thoughts about either pains or pills and can go about your business or pleasures free from suffering or distress. Just ask Mrs. Ruth Recker. For years, spells of nervous headache would lay me up for two or three days at a time. I have no more such days. I take one Dr. Miles anti-pain pill, and in 20 minutes, it is usually all gone. If you are not satisfied with your first box, your druggist will return your money. 25 doses, 25 cents. Never sold in bulk. The jury decided that because Jasper Westfall had fired a shot at Asa Carey when Asa Carey pulled his gun, Asa Carey then shot Jasper Westfall in self-defense. And so, yes, even though Asa Carey did start this whole thing and made all those threats and was shooting up the town and all of that, in that very moment, there was indeed partial self-defense. And therefore, this was not first-degree murder, but was instead second-degree murder. Which just seems weird to me. I mean, the reason why the officer, Westfall, shot at him is because Asa was going to shoot him. So it just seems really bizarre that they would be like, 'Well, there's partial self-defense there.' You know what I mean? Yeah. Like today that would not happen at all. So that just, I don't know. I don't agree. Maybe they should have had the trial last longer. Who knows? Maybe they shouldn't have had the jury stay out all night overnight. Maybe that's why they changed it because they were like, 'Oh, sleep deprivation.' That makes people go crazy. Oh, man, how many trials went the wrong way or whatever? Who needs sleep when you're on opium? Weird stuff. Anyway, so yeah, Asa Carey was found guilty of second-degree murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison. Now, there's a funny article from September 21st, just a week later, with the headline that says, 'I'm not kidding, Jolly Mr. Carey comes to... prison.' I was like, what? So he was being sent from Vail to the Oregon State Penitentiary with six other prisoners and the other six, like as they're being led. into the whatever was transporting them. The other six looked awfully solemn, but Asa Carey was smiling like a jolly old buffoon, as if he didn't care, you know, about anything that was happening. Just like ear to ear grin, like, like a dork. Like, I don't know. This is even weird. But off he went. So 29-year-old Asa Carey, who had now killed two men with bullets and had made, you know, two women widows, had left four at least very young children without fathers, and that's not even counting his own kids who now had an incarcerated and absent parent. And he'd even beaten a fragile old man within an inch of his life. You know, he deserved to be locked up. Thank goodness for that, right? Get him off the dirt roads. Get him out of here. Well, guess what? Less than three years later. All right. I'm holding on. Bear with me. Bear with me. So, from the year 1911 to 1915. The governor of Oregon was a man by the name of Oswald West. In January of 1915, as his term was ending, he decided to issue 59. He said, quote, 'I pardoned the men because I thought it was the proper thing to do and I have had no reason as yet to think otherwise.' All the pardons were recommended by the parole board or by the courts which convicted the men. Many of the convicts pardoned had been out on parole for some time and the pardons were issued to them merely as a method of cleaning up the records. So. Let's explain this because not everybody understands the difference between probation, parole, and all of that corrections lingo. Which astounds me, by the way, because when I was teaching criminal justice one time, I mean, and my students had been through several, several criminal justice courses by the time they got to mine. And then one day I asked, do you guys all know the difference between jail and prison? And they didn't. I was like, are you serious? Oh my goodness. So I had to explain which. I did not have planned for this episode, but I will explain that as well. Jail would be where you go while you await your trial, right? So that's not prison. It's jail. But also, if you have a sentence that is less than a year, you would go to jail. Or if you have a parole or probation violation. Then you tend to go to jail. Prison would be long-term. And after you're sentenced from your trial, if it was like a felony that's going to be over a year, you would go to prison. Different things. So, um, any who now. When you hear that someone is sentenced to something like, you know, 25 years to life, what that means is they were given a life sentence with the possibility of parole after they've served 25 years. So they can be in prison for the rest of their lives, but after they have been in for 25 years, they can start applying for parole, which means they can get out and they would be out in the community. They would need to go before a parole board and have a hearing, and the parole board can say yes or no. If they say no, they stay in prison, but they can try again in like a year or two years or whatever it is. If the parole board says yes, if they grant their parole. This means they are still under the supervision of the Department of Corrections. They're not completely free, but they are serving the rest of their time out in the community. So they are then under community supervision. They will have a parole officer that they have to check in with, and they have basically a contract with the... officer. They have very strict rules and guidelines that they must follow if they want to remain in the community with the freedoms that they do have. Break the terms of that contract, they can go back to prison to finish out the rest of their time in prison if it was serious enough. So a lot of the... people who are in our county jails are there for parole violations. So, for example, if a rule or a regulation they can't drink alcohol, for instance. But then their parole officer shows up at their house unannounced, which they are allowed to do. They find beer in your fridge. You know, that may mean that, you know, that person has to spend a weekend in jail. Like that would be their punishment. But if this is the third time it's happened, maybe now it's a month in jail because each time it happens, you know, it's going to be a harsher sentence. Probation is very similar to parole, but you would be given probation instead of being given time in prison. So, like, you mess up, it wasn't super, super serious. You go before a judge. And so instead of sending you to prison, they'll give you probation instead. So parole is being let out of prison early, basically, and probation is community supervision instead of going to prison. Hmm-mm. Hmm. But if you break the rules enough while you're on probation, it can turn into a prison sentence instead— where you would serve out the rest of your time. That you had probation for, like the remainder of your probation sentence in a jail, like, you know, that can happen too. Anyway, so this Governor Oswald West was saying that a lot of the people that he pardoned were already out on parole. So they had done. You know, their prison time. They had earned the privilege of being granted more freedom. They were given parole. They're back in the community. They were doing really well. They were not breaking the rules. And so they had been recommended for pardons to, quote, 'clean up the records.' So he was essentially just ending their sentences early. Because they had done enough time. They had proven that they were rehabilitated, you know, just doing that sort of thing. But you'll never guess who else Governor West pardoned in 1915. Was it Jolly Mr. Asa Carey? Yes! What? Yes, and this was just three years later. I mean... It wasn't even three years because it was January of 1915. And he was put in prison in September of 1912. This wasn't even two and a half years. This is insane! Now, uh. Blech. Okay. This is just nuts. Okay. So, um... Now, yes, he he he was not even paroled. He wasn't even on parole. That's this is the thing that drives me crazy. He was still very much sitting in prison. He had been given a life sentence. He had said he wanted to kill someone else—yes, he wanted to kill the mayor West, and he was sitting in prison. He had been planning to escape jail while he was awaiting his trial. They found three saws you know in his cell. And the governor's just like, 'Oh, let's just let him out.' I mean, he had proven to be a violent man. So, I mean, I'm just— I'm shocked that anyone would have recommended him for a pardon if he was recommended. Who threw his name in the hat? One of the cronies. It's just bizarre. Like, and I couldn't find anything about, like, who would have recommended him. It's so weird. You should see if he's related to Oswald West. Wouldn't that be something? Man, it's so weird. Well, actually, seven of the people that Governor West pardoned were convicted of murder and still serving their life terms in the prison. So what does it mean that he was pardoned? Does that mean that the governor was saying he was innocent of the murder after all? No, he wasn't being declared innocent, but he was just declared as being... completely forgiven. So it was like official forgiveness. His sentence was complete, basically, and all of his rights were restored. So he could vote again. Which most convicted felons cannot vote. He could hold public office again if he wanted to, and most convicted felons cannot hold public office, and he could own a gun again. Idiot. No. I know. No, this was a state pardon, which means he had these rights restored in the state of Oregon. So I'm not sure if this would be like. Nationwide or whatever. But after his release from prison, Asa Carey and his wife and kids moved to Napa County, California. I can't believe she stayed with him. Yeah, I don't know. Well, I guess it was two and a half years, so it wasn't long enough for her to get mad enough to leave. I don't know. She was loyal. But yeah, they moved down to California. And I know that his mother lived down there. And he actually operated a blacksmith shop in the county seat there. Because, you know, he had been a blacksmith by trade for a long time, and he worked at the Oathill Mine. Now, I searched and searched to see if I could find any sort of indication of... He got into any sort of trouble with the law after he left Oregon. And I mean, I was, oh, I wanted to find it because, I mean, a guy like Asa Carey, for sure, right, is going to be getting into trouble. But I came up empty. I found a lot of interesting stuff, though. Like, I saw that his name was drawn in a lottery in October of 1918. His number was 625, and his number was drawn, but I don't know what he won. He was one of 23 men who won something, so... Good for you. Good for him. I know. Good for you. Maybe he won a new gun. I don't know. I saw that in 1930, he and some of his blacksmith and machine shop friends put out a joint ad in the Napa Journal newspaper to let the community know that their shops would be closed on July 4th, 5th, and 6th. Good for them. Yeah, good for them. Very patriotic. I saw that in 1934, Asa and his wife hosted their oldest daughter Teresa's wedding at their home. It described her chic, tailor-made costume. suitable for traveling, made of dark brown wool cloth with a three-quarter length coat, straight tailored skirt enlivened with a crushed white silk neck scarf and a small beret-like hat. And their younger daughter, Viola Carey, was Teresa's attendant, which I assume is what they called the maid of honor. I saw that in 1936, Ace's mother passed away. I saw that in 1937, Viola, Asa's younger daughter, while still in high school, announced her own engagement. And I also saw that in 1937, Asa's son, George, committed suicide. Those last two were very... Sad. I know. Well, I mean, Viola, she got married. But she was in high school. Yeah, well, they didn't get married right away, though. She was engaged. His last name was Ward. It was like William Ward or something. They got married like... I want to say, like, a couple years later. They did eventually get divorced, but... Yeah, the grandma died. I wonder if, I don't know if that had anything to do with George's suicide. The suicide was weird, though. Like he. He was 28, and he apparently... had been in really good spirits. Everyone was like, 'He was in such a good mood and all this stuff. And he had just like gone on a date with a girl and like everything was good. And he had a job somewhere he was doing something, and he would come back and visit the family often. And then he just it was like six in the morning or something and he went to work. And then he just parked. He had a full tank of gas. He had left the car running. And had like a tube or something connected. And went through the back of the car, through the between the back seats. And... They found him. His body was still warm when they found him. And they don't know why he did it. Tragic. Very tragic. But yeah. I saw that his wife, Bessie Carey, in February of 1940, had stepped down off a curb and her foot was run over by a car. But she'd had x-rays done. No bones were broken. The driver was not arrested. And the prognosis was that she'd be able to walk again in a few days. Wow. Yeah. I saw other weddings of his sons. I saw like his grandkids being born. But yeah, I found no reports that Asa Carey was violent after his release from prison in 1915 and his move to California. But just because I didn't find anything doesn't mean that he completely changed his ways. It just means it didn't wind up in the newspapers. And maybe the reason why his son committed suicide was because he'd had a traumatic upbringing with an abusive father. We don't know, you know? We don't know. But something interesting to note is that prior to the murder of Jasper Westfall in 1912, Asa Carey had gotten involved with a local... brass band and was playing the horn. And so I assume that means he was playing the trumpet, maybe the trombone, I don't know. Maybe the French horn. Hey, you know. Could have been. So his wife had later told the newspapers that he was putting a lot of time and focus into playing his horn and it was keeping him out of the saloons. And he was a new man and like it had completely changed his character. So based on that, I personally think that his real problem was his alcoholism. And I think that when he was into the band and everything, he wasn't drinking. And that's why she saw such a big... change in his behavior. But when he got upset about losing the job, you know, he went on that drinking binge and we saw what happened. So I have a feeling, you know, that perhaps after he went to prison, maybe he realized that his drinking was really a problem, you know? And so, maybe he just vowed to give up drinking. Maybe Bessie was like, 'You better give up drinking or I'm leaving you.' And, you know, I'm the best thing that ever happened to you. And, you know, you know, maybe she knew some way to like really hold it over him. And so, maybe he gave up drinking for good. Well, in the 20s, it was also prohibition. Oh, yeah. So yeah, maybe that, I mean, you know, honestly it. He just, maybe he just gave up drinking like that. Could have been enough to be like, 'Holy cow, that is a problem. That's bad for me.' So I don't know. But yeah, that could be why we didn't get in trouble again. So, yeah, I don't know. Just a hunch. But he wound up getting sick in September of 1940. And he was sick for about three months before he passed away on December 12th at the age of 58. And he was buried in the Calistoga Cemetery. What an interesting fellow. Mm-hmm. Very interesting. Yeah, to, like, completely 180. Mm-hmm. Which isn't unheard of, but it's very... Curious. Mhm. Very curious. Now, another thing, I didn't write the date down, but his oldest daughter, Teresa, died very tragically. Oh, I should have figured. I should have written down what year it was. Um. She, it was 10 years after she got married. So what year did she get married? She got married in 1934. So it was 1944, four years after. after her dad died. After that, she was driving somewhere and had a heart attack while she was driving. And so her car, like, went off a kind of a cliff or whatever. And so her car was found. She wasn't completely dead yet, but she had had like the heart attack. And yeah, so yeah, what a way to go. But she hadn't had any kids or anything. Um, but it just sounded terrible. And so the newspapers, like, they, I mean, she was so beloved, you know, in the community and stuff. So everyone was really, really, really sad about that when she passed away. But, yeah. But none of the papers said anything in California about Asa Carey's history of... Killing anybody or... So he's Asa's youngest child. I'm looking at his little family chart right now. Died in 2014. Really? Mm-hmm. Wow. Who was that? Donald, he was born in 1929. Hmph. Wow. Right? To have kids spanning from 1906 to 1929. Impressive. Wow, and they were all with Bessie? Mm-hmm. Because she was 15 when they got married. Oh yeah, that's right. And so their first, Andrew, would have been born when she was 16. Mm-hmm. Wow. Then George at 19. Really sad about George. Mm-hmm. I do wonder, because Asa's dad... either left or died, and his mom remarried. I wonder if that had something to do with it. Hmm-mmm. Well, that's interesting that George was the second one. So that means George lived through the time where we know that Asa had the drinking problem. And so... Pretty sure that, I mean, if Asa was acting that way out in public, what was he acting like at home? So that really tells us a lot about... why George may have committed suicide. Andrew, the oldest, lived through it too. He died in 1976. Hmm-mmm. I wonder what sort of traumas he passed on to his children. Real. Because he got married and had five kids. Well, shout out to FamilySearch and Ancestry and Newspapers . com and the University of Oregon. Or their historic Oregon newspapers. Heck yeah. And Find a Grave. And that Pacific Northwest photo blog site. We will post some awesome pictures that they have from Westfall. Yeah. Yay! Yay! And thanks to Christian, who is going to do a couple ads when I get a hold of him. Awesome. All right. Sweet. Wonderful. Okay. Okay.