Newsletter

Some of the elements of this story were known by the Temecula Valley Historical Society and a story appeared in our April 2014 Newsletter about the shooting, but little other information was available. In January 2020 the Society received an e-mail from a young lady in San Diego who forwarded some information she had run across while doing research on old railroad rights-of-way as part of her college studies. The material was comprised of all the notes and documents that were part of a Coroner’s Inquest in San Bernardino regarding the circumstances of the death of Asa C. Davis. The materials were all written in cursive longhand during the inquest in April 1886. Transcribing the documents was a challenge, but through the efforts of Rebecca Farnbach, Dick Fox and a small crew of folks with medical records and surgical nursing experience we were able to decipher medical terms and words. So, with a clearer understanding of what happened during that week in April 1886, we are now re-telling the story. This was also presented as part of our January 2021 monthly presentation.

Monday, April 19, 1886 Temecula, California
The mid-day southbound train operated by California Southern Railroad Company pulled into the station area about 1 p.m. There was activity on the platform as the train arrived.
In a box car makeshift office off the platform, Asa C. Davis the telegraph operator at the Temecula station was busy sending messages.