Article from Jun 25, 1882 The San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California)
This is a small fragment of wood in the Museum collection donated by Elaine Barnes. It is from a stagecoach.
Accompanying the fragment was the note: "Piece of wood from stage wrecked near Felton in June 1882 and many were killed."
A party from San Francisco camping at Felton were returning to their camp by stagecoach. Unfortunately, a wheel broke and the driver had to return to Santa Cruz to find another way to get them home. He hired a coach and engaged a driver, Charles Royce, who was unfamiliar with the road.
Royce took the reins and by some accounts "was more intent on displaying his horsemanship than on caring for the safety of the twelve lives intrusted [sic] to his charge." Several of the passengers expressed their fear, but the Royce unnecessarily continued to drive very close to the edge of the road. At just two miles from their camp, on a section of road that was 12 feet wide, the coach plunged over the precipice. Four young people were killed and three others were very seriously injured. Three of the horses died.
Royce exclaimed as he climbed from the wreck: "Oh God, forgive me! I am the only one to blame, as I did not know the road, and had no business to drive over it."
Article from Jun 26, 1882 The Sacramento Union (Sacramento, California)
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