MARIPOSA CLOCK .
Mariposa Gazette, April 4, 1930

Vandals Wreck Hands Of
Mariposa's Famous Clock

Quick action and clever detective work on the part of sheriff
Castagnetto, undersheriff Ellingham and deputy Earl Johnstone, resulted
in bringing to justice one of the members of the members of a party who
broke and tore away the hands from the historic old clock on the
courthouse at Mariposa on the night of March 31st.

It may have been April Fool's Day to the rest of the world, but to the
residents of Mariposa it was vandalism on the part of those who tore
away these ancient hands and disfigured the historic timepiece that has
withstood the ravages of time and been protected with the tenderest care
by all for 75 years.

Mariposans were amazed on the morning of April 1st when they gazed
toward the clock and found the four large hands missing; the news spread
wide wildfire and soon groups of people were gathering here and there
talking of the crime.

The sheriff and his men soon had a clue tot he crime when footprints
were discovered on the roof of the building; these footprints compared
and tallied with a certain shoe found in the room of one of 25
University of California students in the Yosemite hotel. Further
investigation revealed one of the wooden wedges that fell from one of
the old wooden hands and as a consequence, O. Andy Miller, a member of
this U. C. student body, was placed under arrest. He admitted his guilt
and led the officers to the place where the four hands and the iron
clapper of the bell had been hidden in a pile of rubbish near the hotel.
The wooden hands were mutilated and practically destroyed.

Miller was taken before Justice W. A. Scott and released upon depositing
$100 cash bail. He is to appear in court on Saturday morning and enter a
plea.

The residents of the town have been aroused for several days by the
desecration of one of California's most beloved shrines and the guilty
party or parties might well consider themselves lucky in being treated
so leniently.

submitted by Tom Hilk

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