CALIFORNIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1098, 20 May 1863, Page 5

CALIFORNIA.

(From the ' San Francisco Alta,' Feb. 2.) Horrible Murder.—News of a most horrible | murder was received at Stockton yesterday. It appears that on Thursday evening, 29th, Aaron J. Golding, Mrs. Golding, Pedro, a Mexican vaquero, and a Spanish boy, named Santers, who resided about twenty-five miles from this city, at the entrance to Coral Hollow, were brutally murdered, and the house set on fire and totally destroyed.' The crime is believed to have been committed early in the evening. The 'presumption is that the victims were bound, and burned alive. They were found in the places where they usually slept. The legs and arms of the vaquero were burned off, and the bodies of the woman and man were burned to a perfect cinder. Golding s right arm had been twisted behind his back, and had evidently been broken above the elbow joint. It had been bound, as the blood had saturated the clothing, aud two twists of a cord were found on the wnst. One circumstance which disproves that either of the men were burned alive is, that their skulls weie broken, while the woman's was not. The coroner s jury brought in a verdict that the victims were nist murdered, and afterwards burned. No clue to the perpetrators has come to light. San Francisco Trade in Contraband of YVar. —From circumstances which have transpired, it seems quite certain that the schooner Live Oak has recently sailed from San Francisco with some ten tons of powder on board. This schooner clewed for a " fishing voyage," but as she cannot use powder I for such a purpose, the question naturally arises, where are these munitions of war going? and why

this great secrecy, if no wrong be intended? They may be designed for Mexico, which is perhaps the case, but what is to hinder the purchase of a fast-sailing vessel in this port, and after her clearance, apparently for some legitimate trade, taking on board at sea, from a schooner of a class similar to the Live Oak, powder and other munitions of war? Indeed, there are rumours now that a brig—one of the fastest sailers upon this coast—is fitting out for some secret expedition, perhaps for smuggling purposes; but it could just as well be a privateer for all the public may kuow to the contrary. The trade in gunpowder and other munitions of war, to be taken clandestinely from San Francisco in fast-sailing vessels, is a matter at the present time of some importance, as it creates, at least for the time being, a fear in the public mind that something may be wrong. An Oil Spring at Pike's Peak. —The Rocky Mountain $ News,' of 7th January, says :—" Roup, Cassaday, and Pratt are pushing improvements upon their oil spring, six miles north-west of Canon City, with every prospect of success. The spring discharges upon the surface. Summary Execution op Murderers bv Pi\Ttes.—Correspondence in the ' Territorial Enterprise 'of 21st January says :—On the range of hills east of and adjacent to Steamboat Springs,- two sudden deaths occurred among a tribe of Pi-Utes, under circumstances which led to the belief that they were poisoned. Suspicion at once fixed upon four of the same tribe, who had at that time left the locality. An eager pursuit was at once commenced, and two of the supposed murderers captured on their way to Virginia. They were taken back to where the deed was committed, tried, found guilty, and sentenced to be shot. The writer of this, in company with another white man, was waited upon by the chief of the tribe, and invited to witness the execution. After the execution, the bodies were burned on the spot. The other two murderers have not yet been caught.