A Chinese Man Was Hanged for Theft Near the Railroad

In October 1865, a Chinese man in Placer County was hanged after being accused of theft. The Sacramento Bee reported that “a Chinaman was hung for theft” near the Pacific Railroad “by a store-keeper whom he had robbed,” and the Gold Hill Daily News repeated the same account. The brief reports mention neither an arrest nor a court trial, just a swift retaliatory hanging.