Horse Creek, California

On August 29, 1936, ex-convicts John and Coke Brite shot and killed Siskiyou County Deputy Martin Lange, constable Joe Clark and visitor Fred Seaborn in a drunken haze near the isolated cabin where they lived with their parents. The brothers had earlier beaten up the elderly Seaborn and his friend, Horse Creek resident Charley Baker. Seaborn, a retired naval officer and the harbor master of the port of Vallejo, California was in Horse Creek to hunt deer with Baker. After the massacre, the Brite brothers hid out in the Siskiyou Mountains for three weeks in fear of Siskiyou County's reputation for lynching murderers. They secretly gave themselves up to Siskiyou County District Attorney James G. Davis, who along with Dr. Earl Harris drove them to Folsom Prison for their safety. The Brite Brothers were convicted and sentenced to death, however appeals reduced the sentence to life in prison. They were both paroled in 1951, but were soon back in prison, where they died.[2]