R.I.P. Gunfighter William E. Carder

So one-hundred and fifty-nine years ago, either a justifiable homicide or a murder took place. This is one of the big reasons I (and others) enjoy reading about the Wild West (aka Western Americana): we get to see what happens in areas where there is little law enforcement or rule of law, and how the areas evolve as time goes on until they get proper law enforcement and rule of law.

I have talked about William E. Carder before. More than likely, he would have been commonly known as Billy. In the video I give a short biography; this is mostly a transcript of what I said. This is a bit different, but consistent with my old blog about him that I will link below.

Interesting enough a bunch more about Carder has come out in the past ten years or so. I was reading an old book on the Western Sierra and Carder's name came up several times. That is something fun when you can start tracing names over various places and see how they all connect to each other. I mention one of these odd coindences in the video.

Carder was born in Tennessee In 1832, and by the age of 18 he was motivated by the gold rush to travel on his own to Placerville, CA. By 1855, he was the town marshal of Columbia, CA for 2 years. Right away he ended up killing a vagrant by the name of Martin Hennessy who had an outstanding warrant on him. On July 4th, 1857 he was part of a posse to capture a murderer of a man called John Leary. Carder ended up being the one who captured the guy. By September 1858 he started working for a local newspaper. He ended up getting in a shootout with a John Carinelli. No one was seriously injured. In 1861, Carder was down in Sorona, CA working for a local newspaper. He got into a feud with a rival newspaper editor H.C. Bennett. Bennett would constantly insult Carder in Bennett's newspaper. Carder challenged him to a duel. No duel ever happened but Carder eventually confronted Bennett in a gunfight where they both shot each other in the shoulder. Judge Wheaton examined Carder and dismissed him. 

Sometime after this Carder came to Aurora, NV. He got into a shooting scrap with Thomas Greely. An innocent bystander E.J. Warren was killed during this fight. He married Ann Davis in 1863. He tried to run for city marshal that year, but was defeated. He was not part of the Daly Gang. He did have some interaction with them drinking and gambling, but he was clearly opposed to them by the time the town formed a vigilante group against them. Finally, he was out of town on business with a man named Moses Brockman in the fall of 1864. Carder came back to Aurora and was expecting Brockman to bring a specific horse with him for Carder. Brockman came back to Aurora without the horse. Carder was angry and eventually let it be known that he intended to kill Brockman. More than likely this was idle words of a drunken man, but Brockman believed him. 

This is where the following takes place so on the night of December 10th, 1864. Brockman was right around here hidden in an unused doorway on the outside of the Exchange Saloon. Carder walked out at 11:30 that night and Brockman shot Carder point blank range. Carder never knew what hit him. The buck shot tore through his neck and his right shoulder instantly killing him. Due to Carder's reputation and Brockman being known as a peaceful miner, he was let go with a justifiable homicide. The thinking was while it was a surprise attack, was Brockman just supposed to sit around and wait until an expert gunfighter was ready to fight? One person disagreed with this assessment.

So out here in the middle of nowhere at the Aurora Cemetery we find his grave:

Then...it takes a little work to find it because it is what you might call the "Boot Hill" section of Aurora. It is a little off and away from the other obvious graves. 

It is interesting to note that there are some other graves nearby without names, headstones, or markers, but surrounded by rocks. I have seen an old picture in one of my books that says that one right next to Carder's grave would be a member of the Daly Gang. It had a wooden marker that would obviously not be there anymore.  

That person that disagreed with the justifiable homicide verdict was his wife Ann.

William E. Carder

Native of Tennessee

Aged 33 Years

was assassinated

in Aurora on

the night of

Dec. 10, 1864

I will avenge saith

The Lord

Erected by his wife Annie E.

The video:

R.I.P. Gunfighter William E. Carder (Youtube)

My old blogs:

The old Auora Ghost Town (William E. Carder) blog

All my Aurora Cemetery blogs

The following books contain most of the information about Carder: 1)McGrath, Roger D. Gunfighters Highwaymen & Vigilantes: Violence on the Frontier. University of California Press, 1984. Amazon link: https://tinyurl.com/3ejduebr McGrath's book is the classic for all the "wild west" information regarding Aurora and Bodie ghost towns. There is a page or two about Carder. 2)Silver Sue. Mineral County Nevada. Museum Ass. of Mineral County, 2011. Amazon link: https://tinyurl.com/wzjknjwa In the chapter about Aurora there is a short biography about Carder. It mentions his days in Western and Eastern Sierra. 3)Silver Sue. Aurora Nevada's Silent City on the Hill: An Historical Perspective. S. Silver 2011. Amazon link: https://tinyurl.com/bdhdwmew This is the book you want for learning about the graves at the cemetery. There is an entry and short biography for Carder.