Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html
Description
John Devine, alias "Chicken Devine", was considered a desperate criminal. He always hung out around the Barbary Coast and the waterfront, and was continually in trouble. In a fight in a sailors' boarding house his arm was caught in the jam of a door and a man named Billy Maitland seized a knife and severed Devine's hand from the wrist. Devine picked up his hand and walked into a drug store at Pacific and Davis and asked the druggist to put it together. Devine's last escapade was when he inveigled a man to accompany him to the southern part of the city and upon arriving at the hill where the big rocks lay, as you would be descending from Wilde Street, he murdered this man whose name was August Kemp, by beating him to death with a rock. For this murder he was convicted and was hung in the county jail on Broadway, May 14, 1873.
If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.
Share your story
Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.
