Thriller Thursday - License to Thrill

Today's youth would be envious of 13-year-old Charles Fiock [FEE-ahk] who, in 1938, had a license to drive a 1933 Chevy. But he was permitted only to drive to and from school in Shasta Valley, California.

This restriction didn’t prevent him from frequently speeding across the Old Shasta River Bridge to provide a thrill for he and his passengers. Not only was the bridge narrow with a wooden floor raised in the center, but a curve in the road and a tree made for a blind approach. So blind, in fact, that on one occasion Fiock didn't see his own father on the bridge driving a load of hay. He couldn't stop the car until it became wedged between the bridge and the hay, where he found himself looking into his father's surprised face.

Today the road has been widened and paved with a gradual turn approaching the bridge, and the floor of the bridge is level. Despite these safety improvements, excessive speed has taken the life of at least one young thrill seeker.

Though a state license and proof of insurance is required today, that yearning for excitement has not changed.

Originally written by Nancy Bringhurst, May 24, 2006
Source: Shasta Valley Review, Issue # 4, page 17, compiled by Charles Fiock

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Thriller Thursday - Doctor's Murder of 1858 Remains Cold Case

The murder in April 5, l858, of the first doctor in the settlement known today as Ashland, Oregon, remains a mystery 152 years later. The assassin has never been identified.

Within two years of arriving in town with his wife, Celeste, British immigrant David SISSON had opened a medical practice, bought the Ashland Mills Boarding House, set up a general store, purchased 160 acres east of town, and built the town’s first hospital.

In the month before he was fatally shot while drawing creek water, Sisson had been shot in the hand and his barn burned to the ground. He was survived by his widow and daughter, Augusta. Someone then burned down the Sisson home and the boarding house, shrinking the Sisson property values from $10,000 to $100.

In 1880, daughter Augusta, now 20 years old, sued Abel Helman and others, claiming a conspiracy to kill Sisson and destroy land ownership documents. Although she lost the suit, she raised the question of murder, arson, and fraud.

A hundred years later Kay Atwood investigated the slaying in her book titled Mill Creek Journal: Ashland, Oregon 1850-1860, but the murder remains a very cold case.

Originally written by Maryann Mason, Dec 2. 2010

Source: Daspit, M.J. “Kay Atwood Takes On Cold Case,” Ashland Daily Tidings, June 15, 2009.

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