George Giroux

Fathr kills son self-defense

Joseph L. Giroux, of Copper Mining Note, shoots George Giroux at Marietta

George Giroux, of Big Pine, was shot and fatally wounded at Marietta, NV, 
soon after noon last Saturday, by his father, Joseph L. Giroux, a 
prominent mining man.

The younger Giroux, his wife and children, Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Saucer, 
(the latter his sister), and his aunt, Miss Giroux, were at the Hotel 
Istalia here from Thursday of last week.  Very early Saturday Giroux and 
Mr. and Mrs. Saucer left for Marietta, where Giroux senior has been mining, 
George was the first out of the car.  He went to the screen door, which he 
found fastened.  His stepmother was inside the house, and told him that he 
was forbidden to enter.  Nevertheless he forced his way in, and soon 
threatened Mrs. Giroux with a pistol.  Mrs. Saucer had then arrived, and 
endeavored to pacify her brother, and finally went to the mine and brought 
her father.  A half-brother of George was at the place, and all were 
threatened by the displayed pistol.  The father came, and as George 
declared that no one should come into the front door he went to the rear 
door while the irrational-acting young man and was giving his attention to 
the half-brother.  When the old man was inside, he became the target for 
George's animosity.  On a table were two pistols and a rifle, which had 
been there since the family arrived from Los Angeles last month.  George 
pushed his father around with his pistol, and threatened him until in 
desperation Giroux senior caught up a pistol.  One shot was discharged 
accidentally; the second struck young Giroux above the left eye and passed 
out through the top of his head.

George acted like one beyond his own control during his stay threatening 
all indiscriminately, and in such a nervous condition that even his feet 
as they rested on the floor were beating a tattoo of agitation. 

The trouble appears to have been over money matters.  A telegram to the 
Reno Gazette quotes the elder Giroux as saying that George had spent 
$60,000. in the last year.  It appears that the young man had written 
threatening letters to his father, and had asserted an intention of killing 
him on sight; further that Mrs. Salzer had intervened as best she could as 
a peacemaker from time to time.

It is ten miles from Marietta to the nearest telephone.  Word was sent to 
Mina in that way as soon as possible after the shooting.  A physician went 
to the scene, and found the victim unconscious and almost pulse less.  He 
was taken to Mina, 25 miles and from there to the hospital at Hawthorne, 
where he died at 9:30 Sunday without having regained consciousness.

The elder Giroux at once left for Reno by auto and employed an attorney 
George S. Green to defend him.  They returned to Mineral County, and Giroux 
surrendered himself to Sheriff Fred Balzer.

A Coroner's inquest was held and the jury gave a verdict of justifiable 
homicide, wholly exonerating the accused.  A different conclusion was 
reached by Justice Cornellus who after preliminary examination of Giroux 
Monday on a charge of murder held him to answer to the higher court.

Mrs. George Giroux had remained in Bishop, and was apprised of the facts 
by telegraph that evening.  She was unable to get transportation north 
that night but left early the next morning, not reaching Hawthorne however 
until after Giroux's death.

Joseph L. Giroux has been prominent in Nevada mining affairs for fifteen 
years or more.  He was formerly associated with Senator W. K. Clark, and 
was founder of the copper mining industry at Ely.  Two years ago he bought 
a home at Hollywood.  Among his possessions was a group of mining claims a 
few miles north of Laws.

The main particulars of the affair were learned from B. F. Baker, who was 
a member of the coroner's jury at Hawthorne.

The Inyo Register
Bishop, Inyo County, California
Thursday, July 1, 1920 - Front Page

Transcribed by Pat Houser for Inyo County GenWeb, July 10, 2004