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Salem Pioneer Cemetery ~ Thomas Noble Joseph Faulder
~ part of the Marion County Pioneer Cemeteries of Oregon
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Thomas "Noble" Noble Joseph Faulder
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| LAST NAME: Faulder
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FIRST NAME: Thomas
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MIDDLE NAME: Noble Joseph
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NICKNAME: Noble
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| MAIDEN NAME:
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AKA 1: Foulder
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AKA 2: Gaulder
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AKA 3:
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| TITLE:
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GENDER: M
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MILITARY:
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| BORN: 1883
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DIED: 13 Dec 1912
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BURIED: 14 Dec 1912
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| ETHNICITY:
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OCCUPATION: Miner & Railroadman
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| BIRTH PLACE: New Zealand
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| DEATH PLACE: Salem, Marion Co., Oregon
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NOTES:
Died by legal hanging for murder, usual residence was southern Oregon.
BIOGRAPHICAL:
Thomas Noble Joseph Faulder was born in New Zealand in 1883 and was one of 12 children born to Thomas Faulder and Dinah Faulder (nee Plaskett) - both from Cumberland in England.
He apparently travelled to the United States at the age of 22.
Affidavits completed by his surviving siblings in later years during the settling of his estate indicate he drifted for a number of years, living at one point in Alaska.
This is confirmed in an obituary in online Salem Pioneer Cemetery records that say he spent six years at sea, was a miner and prospector in Alaska and a cowboy in Oregon and Nevada.
The same piece describes Noble, at the time of his death, as a "splendid physical specimen" ( despite an apparent history of heavy drinking), "standing six feet in height and weighing 190 pounds."
Noble was, by August, 1911, working as a plow shaker on a railway constructing team employed by the company Erickson & Peterson.
He was camped with his mates near the city of Chiloquin in Klamath County, Oregon where it seems everyone worked and played hard.
A number of the workers returned to their camp late one Saturday after a big night out on the booze.
There had been several instances of dogs being found poisoned at the camp and Noble was upset to crawl into his tent and find a stray he'd befriended lying there dead.
He approached the chief suspect, camp cook Louis Gebhardt, and asked him if he was responsible for the death.
"Gebhardt's reply was obviously not to the liking of Faulder," a news clipping says, "as he shot the cook, inflicting a wound that resulted in death a few hours later."
Noble rounded up some of his friends and bid them farewell, telling them what he'd done and indicating he intended to flee the law.
His mates persuaded him to stay put - saying any effort to escape would eventually come to no good and only put Noble in a worse position.
Noble reluctantly agreed.
He was on the the way back to his tent when he heard Gebhardt was still alive and waiting for a doctor to arrive.
Noble decided to have another pop at him.
The men doing their best to keep Gebhardt comfortable stopped Noble from doing any further harm and kept him at bay.
Noble went back to his own tent, placed the muzzle of his rifle against his chest, and pulled the trigger.
The shot failed to kill him and he had another go – this time using his shotgun. His mates heard the blast and rushed to his aid.
They found Noble "in horrible pain, his left side being nearly blown off from the shotgun discharge."
Noble was nursed back to health and convicted in Klamath County for the murder of Louis Gebhardt – also referred to as Louis Gilbert in some records.
His supporters, presumably his family, set up a defence of insanity in an effort to keep him from the gallows. A brother, Ernest Norman Faulder – better known as Norman, was sent by the family to the US, according to newspaper reports, to "testify as to the mental imperfection of the prisoner."
"Several other witnesses were also called to trial to testify as to the mental condition of Faulder."
It seems, according to another clipping, that Noble's cause may have been backed and partly funded by an organisation called The Pacific Coast Rescue Society.
All efforts to save Noble failed. The jury reportedly deliberated for a long time before returning a verdict of guilty in the first degree.
Noble appeared before Judge Benson on May 3, 1912 and was sentenced to hang.
He and three others were marched to a gallows in Salem Penitentiary, Oregon on December 13, 1912- or "Bloody Friday" as it was called by the press and executed.
"Booze did it," he said to those watching. "And folks left me tell you – hanging does not cure. You have go to get to the root. Hanging does not cure the crime."
[Source - Mathew Gray, New Zealand]
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DEATH CERTIFICATE:
OSBH DC (Marion 1912) #3638 - Thomas Noble Joseph Foulder, male, single, Railroadman, b. Australia, d, Salem, Oregon at the age of 29 years, name of father Thomas Foulder [Faulder] (b. England), interment IOOF 14 Dec 1912, undertaker Lehman & Clough, informant Norman Foulder [Faulder] of 101 Sixth st. Portland, Oregon.
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OBITUARY:
NOBLE FOULDER [sic]--Received at the penitentiary March 15, 1912, convicted in Klamath county of the murder of Louis Gilbert. Foulder (sic) is apparently about 30 years old, but will tell little of his past life. Will not say whether he has relatives living or not, and is very reticent when this subject is brought up. He is a splendid physical specimen, standing over six feet in height and weighing 190 pounds, but has apparently been a heavy drinker. Says he spent six years at sea, was a miner and prospector in Alaska and a cowboy in eastern Oregon and Nevada. Quarreled with Gilbert, it is said, over a dog. Wants to be hanged from a high scaffold in the capitol park.
Oregon Statesman 7 December 1912 pg.1.
[This information on page one relating to 5 convicts to be hanged next week]
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INSCRIPTION:
No marker
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SOURCES:
LR
OSBH DC (Marion 1912) #3638
Saucy Survey
Matthew Gray
OS 7 Dec 1912 pg 1
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CONTACTS:
Matthew Gray
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| LOT: 626
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SPACE: 4 NW N½
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LONGITUDE: N 44° 55.218'
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LATITUDE: W 123° 02.903'
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IMAGES:
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