Placerville Idaho western town

Placerville, ID

Situated on one of the main roads into the Basin, Placerville became a supply base and grew rapidly. In 1863 the town had a population of five thousand and some three hundred houses.

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Many old buildings, icluding the Magnolia Saloon, still remain, but the town gradually building with summer cabins.

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At the Placerville cemetary is the grave of the three fiddlers. These wandering musicians made a living providing entertainment in the remote camps, but in Placerville their luck ran out.

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Actually there were only two musicians, Fred Cursons and L. Moulton, and the third man was a miner carrying a considerable amount of gold dust. The miner, George Wilson, was the intended victim of the robbery while the musicians were killed only to ensure the silence.

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This slaying took place in June of 1865 while the trio was walking from Placerville to Centerville. These brutal murders created a wide-spread furor, and a few days later the authorities arrested John Williams, by reputation a gun slinger and gambler. In spite of a near lynching at the time of arrest, a verdict of not guilty was handed down by the District Court a month later. No one else was ever apprehended, and the true identity of the murderer remains lost in the mists of time.

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