History Watch: “The Curious Case of Lee Doon”

History Watch:
“The Curious Case of Lee Doon”
During the mid to late 1800’s there was a great influx of immigrants from China coming to California.  One such person was a young child by the name of Lee Doon.  He traveled with his family from China and they settled in San Francisco around the 1860’s.  Doon attended local schools and he learned English.
 
Doon stayed in San Francisco after finishing school and he worked at several jobs there.  Around 1888, Doon settled in San Rafael and he went to work for a wealthy San Rafael resident as a houseboy and cook in a Mansion located on Fifth Avenue by H Street.  All went well until the summer of 1890 when the homeowner, who liked to entertain a good deal, decided that he needed his house painted in order to maintain its respectable appearance.
 
The owner acquired the services of William Shenton, a well known house painter who lived in San Francisco.  Shenton traveled to San Rafael and he took up the task of painting the house which included several rooms and the outside.  Almost immediately, trouble began between Shenton and Lee Doon.  Apparently Shenton was under the impression that Doon had to clean up after him at the end of each day but Doon refused to do so.  This was the cause of many arguments between the two.
 
The string of arguments finally came to a head on Tuesday afternoon, September 2, 1890.  Doon left a pile of debris in the middle of a room that Shenton was painting and Shenton began ordering Doon to remove the debris, to which Doon refused.  After a vile argument between the two, Shenton got into his wagon and he started to drive away from the house.
 
Doon ran into his room in the mansion and he grabbed a pistol and he ran outside where he confronted Shenton who was in his wagon at the intersection of Fifth and H Street.  The argument continued and Lee Doon fired one shot from his pistol into the back of Shenton.  Shenton got off his wagon and he started to run down Fifth Avenue.  Doon chased after him and when Shenton fell, Doon came up behind him and he shot Shenton three more times while he was on the ground.  Neighbors summoned the Sheriff who took Lee Doon into custody.  Shenton lived for two weeks but then died of the gunshot wounds.
 
Lee Doon was charged with one count of homicide and his first court appearance was the first week of December, 1890.  A jury trial was ordered and Doon was convicted of homicide on February 27, 1891.  He was sentenced to death and there was a series of appeals that went on for two years, but Doon lost his final appeal and he was scheduled to be hanged on September 1, 1893 in the lobby of the Marin County Courthouse located at Fourth and A Street where the Bank of America is today.  
 
In those days executions were carried out by each county and this duty fell on the shoulders of Marin County Sheriff Harrison.  The law required that there be 12 witnesses and Sheriff Harrison handed out tickets to those who wanted to attend, which was a common occurrence back then. Most of the tickets went to his friends and supporters and the number of tickets far exceeded the required 12.  It soon became the hottest ticket to get in the Bay Area.
 
The day of the hanging dawned hot and humid with the hanging scheduled to start at 11:00 AM.  The execution team consisted of Marin County Sheriff Harrison, Marin Undersheriff Fallon, Sonoma County Sheriff Allen, Sausalito Constable Creed and Thomas Estey of Nicasio.  Doon had been on suicide watch for several weeks as the day got closer.
 
Unfortunately there was no system put in place to only allow ticket holders in the Courthouse lobby and by 10:30 AM, over 500 people, some as young as 16 years old, were on hand to watch the event. The execution team walked Doon out of his cell to the gallows that had been constructed in the lobby in an area specifically designed for public hangings. Reports put the crowd at 800 with many being described as “Drunken Hooligans.”
A black hood was put over Doon’s head and when Doon had nothing to say, Sheriff Harrison gave the order to drop the trap door and Doon fell about six feet with his head ending up just below the platform.  Dr. W. J. Wickman, the County of Marin Medical Examiner headed the medical team consisting of four other doctors and Dr. Salmon, who was a dentist.  Just after Doon dropped, Dr. Salmon fainted and he had to be carried out of the building.
Doon did not struggle, but just twitched as he hung.  After five minutes Dr. Wickman ordered the rope lowered inch by inch so he could check Doon’s pulse.  The first check  had Doon’s pulse strong at 98 beats per minute.  Another check at 13 minutes after the door opened put Doon’s pulse at 50 beats per minute.  After 17 minutes from the time of the hanging Doon had no pulse. He was allowed to hang for a total of 25 minutes before he was taken to the floor.  An autopsy later showed that the noose had been applied incorrectly and when Doon dropped, the force of the fall only dislocated two of his neck vertebrae.  Doon died a slow and most likely painful death.
 
After Doon’s body had been removed from the lobby, the boisterous crowd rushed to the gallows and people started cutting up the hangman’s rope taking small pieces for a souvenir.  There were a total of 12 bars within two blocks of the Courthouse and most of the crowd adjourned to one of them to celebrate and talk over the events of the day.  Sheriff Harrison was greatly criticized for the way he handled the hanging with people saying that he lost control of the situation, although he lacked enough deputies to keep order. Headlines in the next edition of the San Francisco Chronicle read, “Coolie Dies Without a Murmur”.
Lee Doon took his place in Marin County history as being the last person executed under the authority of the County of Marin.  The next year a state law was passed authorizing the State of California to handle all executions and they were to be held at San Quentin State Prison.  The citizens of a growing San Rafael breathed a sigh of relief as they wanted no part of another debacle like the Lee Doon matter.
There are no known photographs of this event; however the San Francisco Chronicle dispatched a sketch artist to record the hanging.  Attached are two of his drawings.  One is a sketch of Lee Doon in his cell just prior to his execution and the other is the hanging of Lee Doon.
Copyright 2014 Harry Barbier –All Rights Reserved