["itemContainer",{"xmlns:xsi":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance","xsi:schemaLocation":"http://omeka.org/schemas/omeka-xml/v5 http://omeka.org/schemas/omeka-xml/v5/omeka-xml-5-0.xsd","uri":"https://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Crime+and+Criminals-Burglary%2C+Robbery%2C+Larceny&sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CCreator&output=omeka-json","accessDate":"2024-03-28T02:49:00-07:00"},["miscellaneousContainer",["pagination",["pageNumber","1"],["perPage","10"],["totalResults","5"]]],["item",{"itemId":"134528","public":"1","featured":"1"},["fileContainer",["file",{"fileId":"24159"},["src","https://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/files/original/de80b293391129d77d1e511db1db9234.pdf"],["authentication","a85f687d0c8528b09388fc0216c683cb"],["elementSetContainer",["elementSet",{"elementSetId":"7"},["name","PDF Text"],["description"],["elementContainer",["element",{"elementId":"94"},["name","Text"],["description"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1902768"},["text","A Howling Wilderness:\nStagecoach Days in the Mountains\nBy Stephen Payne\nCitations in the text refer to the Selected Bibliography, Local History Article AR-219.\nThe roads over the Santa Cruz Mountains served not only the settlers and loggers living and\nworking on the summit, but also provided the means by which people could travel to and from\nSanta Cruz or San Jose via the stagecoach. The early organized road companies quickly saw the\nbenefit of stage travel and encouraged use by the various stage companies of the day.\nThe first stagecoach line in California was established by John Whistman in the autumn of 1849.\nThis line operated between San Francisco and San Jose, with the latter city serving as its\nheadquarters. The fare for the nine hour trip was two ounces of gold or $32.00. The line ran an\nold French omnibus with mules and mustangs pulling the coach. With the first winter rain the\noperation came to a halt due to the poor road conditions. During the winter the line ran from\nSan Jose to Alviso, where passengers caught the ferry to San Francisco. With spring weather the\nline went back to full service between San Francisco and San Jose. (36:255-256; 45:236-237;\n55:Vol. VII,151)\nAs the years progressed other entrepreneurs established lines throughout California. The first\nservice connecting Santa Cruz and San Jose was established in 1854. The line ran from Santa\nCruz to San Juan Bautista, then on to San Jose. Passengers going on to San Francisco stayed\novernight before continuing on to the steamboat landing at Alviso. This line soon had an\nopposition line running from Santa Cruz to Soquel, then to Watsonville and over the Pajaro\nTurnpike mountain road into Gilroy and on to San Jose. (49:27; 62:477)\nIn 1855 the California Stage Company was awarded the United States mail contract between\nSan Jose and Santa Cruz, which paid $1,000 annually. The California Stage Company's fare was\n$5.00 from Santa Cruz to San Francisco. (5:231; 66:94) The California Stage Company went out\n\n�of business on March 1, 1855, but local employees in Santa Cruz formed the Pacific Express\nCompany, operating the same route from Santa Cruz to San Francisco. (66:125)\nAnother stage route to San Jose was established in 1857. This route started in downtown Santa\nCruz, crossed the San Lorenzo River at the Water Street Bridge and went up Graham Grade,\npast where the Pasatiempo Golf Course is now located, to Abraham Hendricks' stage stop in\nScotts Valley. At Hendricks' two horses were added to the four-horse team for the journey up\nthe mountain grade to Station Ranch, owned by Charles Christopher Martin, and then on up the\nmountain to Mountain Charley's stage stop, owned by Charles McKiernan. (62:477) From\nMountain Charley's the route went down the mountain to Patchen, Alma, Lexington (where the\ntwo additional horses were left off), Los Gatos, and on to San Jose.\nIn 1858 Frederic A. Hihn joined together with other Santa Cruz businessmen to form a joint\nstock stage company. The new stage route went from Santa Cruz to Soquel, then up the San\nJose-Soquel Road to \"Bonny Blink\" Hotel at Terrace Grove Road. From there the stage had\nanother stop less than a mile up the road at the old Hotel de Redwood. (62:477) From this point\nthe line went over the Morrell Cut-off to Summit Road and on to Patchen. From there it\nfollowed the stage route to San Jose. One stage line ran daily, while the other ran tri-weekly\ncarrying the mail. (5:250 fn.24, 266)\nA description of the early stage drivers' duties was written by Lucy Foster Sexton:\n\"The stages stopped at the towns with post offices, leaving the mail in boxes\nbetween. Driving up to farmers' boxes on tall polls, the bundles were thrown in, much\nas it is done on the rail road. The school children furnished the delivery.\"\nThese early stages were \"gaudily painted\" and pulled by four horses which were changed every\nfifteen miles at a saloon or hotel, and handled by lively drivers. (37:161)\nIn 1850 Warren Hall and Jared B. Crandall bought out Whistman's stage line. The new owners\npurchased Mud-wagons and horses from William Beeks who had brought them across the\nplains. (Mudwagons were light weight coaches designed for the winter roads, not for comfort.)\n(36:256) The following year Hall traveled to Concord, New Hampshire, and purchased several\nConcord coaches from the Abbott-Downing Company. These new coaches were added to Hall's\nand Crandall's stage line because the earlier coaches were not much more than buckboard\nwagons of various sizes and descriptions. Although the Concord coaches were the latest\ninnovation in travel, the coaches were too heavy for winter roads, which were hardly more than\none mud hole after another. During the winter months the mud wagons were used even\nthough many of the mountain roads were totally impassable. The Concord coaches (For a\ndetailed description of these coaches see 35:392-393.) were used in the spring after the roads\ndried out, and in the summer until the first autumn rains came. (36:258,260 fn. 17)\nThe Concord coaches seated nine passengers on the inside and eight on top. In good weather\nthe favored position was next to the colorful driver. Those so honored were expected to treat\n\n�the driver with drinks and cigars on the road. At the stations the drivers drank for free, although\nthe drivers were seldom drunk on the road. They were considered to be sober and dependable\nmen. (35:392-393; 36:257,259 fn. 13)\nN. C. Adams, one of the most accommodating drivers on the Santa Cruz Mountain route, while\nmaking up for lost time one day was stopped by a lady, who, after calling to him went back into\nher house. Thinking that the woman was going to fetch a package, Adams waited. After five\nminutes, Adams climbed off the stage and knocked at the door, calling out,\n\"Madame, ain't you pretty near ready?\"\nHurrying to the door the embarrassed woman replied,\n\"Oh, Mr. Driver, I ain't going on the stage, but I want to send a roll of butter to San\nJose and it's nearly come. Won't you wait till I finish it?\"\nWith that, Adams swallowed a quid of tobacco to distract his own attention, and waited.\nAnother driver, Sid Conover, had the self-appointed duty of supplying stamps to the ladies on\nhis route, who \"'didn't have a stamp in the house. \" (44:81)\nOne of the most famous drivers on the mountain route was Charley Parkhurst, who drove over\nthe mountain roads about 1868. The story of this driver is well known. Like all stage drivers,\nParkhurst wore a heavy muffler, gloves, a buffalo skin coat and cap, and blue jeans-turned up to\nreveal cuffs of an expensive pair of trousers worn under the jeans. Also, like other drivers,\nParkhurst had a sharp throaty whistle, used like a horn to warn others that the stage was just\naround a sharp corner. For these reasons she was able to hide her identity until her death.\n(38:6/24/1934)\nThe drive over the Santa Cruz Mountains was more than merely a means of conveyance from\none point to another. The ride was also a form of entertainment, similar to rafting down a river\nor other dangerous sports today. The ride was described in the May 1873 issue of Scribner's\nMonthly by Susan Coolidge:\n\"From San Jose, a day's staging over the summit of the Coast Range brings you to\nSanta Cruz, the favorite watering-place of California. I would advise any one with a few\nspare day's at command, to take this excursion, if only for the sake of the ride over the\nmountain, which is wonderfully fine. Flower-lovers should not fail to do so, for such\nroses, geraniums, jeasamines, and passion-flowers grow nowhere else as run riot in\nevery little garden in Santa Cruz.\" (19)\nAnother description of the mountain route appeared in the Santa Cruz Sentinel on May 16,\n1874, titled \"The Mountain Ride:\"\n\n�\"The ride across the Santa Cruz Mountains is one of the most attractive stage trips in\nCalifornia. The roads from Santa Clara to Santa Cruz command some very picturesque\nviews. . . . Ward & Colegrove's Concord coaches meet the morning train from San\nFrancisco at Santa Clara. Passengers reach Santa Cruz in time for dinner the same day.\nFrom Santa Clara depot to the base of the Mountains at Santa Cruz Gap, the route lays\nacross one of the most fascinating portions of the Santa Clara Valley. . . . The passage\nthrough Santa Cruz Gap introduces a change in the scene. . . . The Gap looks like a weird\ncanyon both walls of which are rocky and rugged. It is a slight grade for the coach and\nthe six horses have an easy thing of it climbing up the timber skirted slopes. . . . On the\nsummit fourteen miles from Santa Clara and just before reaching the well-known abode\nof Mountain Charley, the landscape expands and stretches out to such proportions that\nthe eye is lost in the vastness of the scene. Far below, over the tops of the redwood\ntrees an enchanting view of the Bay of Monterey is obtained. It is the distant silver lining\nto a cloud of forest-crowned hills. The ride now becomes exciting. Ward, a veteran\namong California stage coach veterans, handles the reins over six splendid and surefooted animals. Under his skillful guidance these horses seem to fly as they whirl the\ncoach down steep hills, and around the shortest of curves. His partner Colegrove, drives\nthe stage on the alternate days, and his fame as a driver is not second to Ward's. Both\nare artists in their time and with either on the box there is no danger on the\nmountainous path.\"(27)\nThe coaches, horses, and drivers that traveled the Santa Cruz Mountain stage routes from the\n1850's to the 1880's were part of a wild and exciting era. Two of the drivers mentioned in the\nlast account left memoirs, Henry C. Ward and George Lewis Colegrove. Ward's account deals\nwith other phases of early California staging, but Colegrove's account as both a stage driver and\nlater as a conductor on the South Pacific Coast Railroad offers a look back to the stagecoach\ndays in the Santa Cruz Mountains. A look at his life offers a generalized glimpse of what all\nother stage drivers' lives were like during the stagecoach era in California.\nGeorge Lewis Colegrove was born in the Dundee area of McHenry County, Illinois, on March 29,\n1843. When he was seven, George's father, John Smith Colegrove, left his family and went to\nthe gold fields in California. John Colegrove eventually settled near Dutch Flat, California. At\ntwelve, young Colegrove went to live with an uncle, Louis Holdridge, with whom he lived until\nhe was eighteen. Leaving his uncle's home, George traveled to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he\nworked in a livery stable. With the onset of the Civil War, Colegrove joined the Union Army, but\nhe broke his leg and was left behind when his company went off to war. In March 1863,\nColegrove drove the lead wagon in an emigrant wagon train traveling to California.\nUpon reaching California, Colegrove worked as a teamster in San Francisco (1:ii-iii) until July\n1869, when he hired on as a driver for the Santa Cruz and San Jose Stage Line. In the company\nof the line's owner, Billy Reynolds, Colegrove first drove a stage over the Santa Cruz Mountains\non July 15, 1869. The stage left Santa Clara with four horses, stopping at Lexington where the\ncompany had a bar, to add two more horses for the ascent of the mountain. At the Scotts\n\n�Valley Station the additional horses were left and the stage continued on to Santa Cruz. (1:4345)\nA few months later Reynolds sold his stage company to McFarlane and his son, William \"Bill\"\nMcFarlane, who ran the line for his father. The station agent, Henry Whinery (or Winnery), at\nSanta Clara was too set in his ways to make changes suggested by the McFarlanes. After an\nargument Whinery left. Traveling to Santa Cruz, where he had many friends, Whinery formed a\nnew joint stock company. The largest shareholder was Charles McKiernan, the owner of the toll\nroad at the summit. One of the drivers, Cambridge, who had crossed the plains with Colegrove,\nquit the McFarlanes and went to work for Whinery's new company. (1:45-47)\nWith the new competition, McFarlane was forced to lower his fares from $2.50 down to $1.00,\nand a price war ensued. Although both companies were carrying full loads of passengers, they\nwere both losing money. Still the fight went on. (1:47-48)\nAs Charles McKiernan was the largest shareholder in the opposition line he had had to pay most\nof the losses during the past year. He was anxious to end the war as the only revenue he had\nwas what money he could make off his toll road. At first, this did not matter because the\nMcFarlanes were paying most of that money, since they had to use the road for their stage\noperations, paying $2.00 a day. But one day McFarlane Senior had talked with McKiernan in\ntown and told him that it was not fair for the McFarlanes to be subsidizing the opposition.\nMcFarlane met with the settlers along the old San Jose-Soquel Road and together they fixed up\nthe road and bridges, thus abandoning McKiernan's toll road.\nAfter a year of the price war there existed bitter feelings on both sides. During this time\nColegrove was living with the McFarlanes. One morning as the men were having breakfast\nCharles McKiernan came down from his ranch to talk over the situation:\n\"Now, Mr. McFarlane, it has been an awful long hard fight. I think it is time we quit it.\nI have a proposition that I would like to have you interested in. I would like to\nconsolidate these lines and make it a joint stock company. We would take one side off\nand put the fare up and make it pay. We have lost money enough.\"\nAfter McKiernan left the breakfast meeting, Colegrove told McFarlane Senior that he did not\nfeel that they should consolidate: \"If you stay with it and do not consolidate with them they will\nquit the business in the next month or six weeks.\" Colegrove then offered to work for nothing,\nbut, in the end, the lines were consolidated.\nShortly after the lines were consolidated the McFarlanes were forced out of the business\naltogether, leaving Colegrove without a job. (1:48-5 1) After a short camping trip in the Boulder\nCreek area of the Santa Cruz Mountains, Colegrove went into San Jose and talked to William\n\"Uncle Billy\" Hall, the second operator of a stage line in California and the first to use Concord\ncoaches. Colegrove discussed the feasibility of starting, another opposition line to that of\nWhinery and McKiernan.\n\n�Hall, who had disapproved of Whinery and McKiernan's practice of forcing the McFarlanes out\nof business, told Colegrove that he still had several horses and a Concord coach. Hall agreed to\nlet Colegrove use the stock and equipment for free as long as Hall's name was not mentioned.\nWith this, Colegrove started up an opposition line with Thomas Mann as an alternate driver.\nAlthough Colegrove lowered the fare to $1.00 for travel on the new Pioneer Stage Line, from\nSan Jose to Santa Cruz, the Mountain Charley Stage Line did not follow suit. Whinery and\nMcKiernan felt that, since they were already established and known, they had no worry from\ncompetition. Within a month Colegrove had to add an additional coach, and shortly after that\nColegrove bought another Concord from a man in Watsonville for $225. (1:58-78)\nIn the spring of 1872, having lost too much money, McKiernan talked to Santa Cruz Sheriff\nCharles Lincoln about running the stage line. Lincoln told McKiernan that he would think about\nthe offer, then he went to see Colegrove. Posing as the new owner, Lincoln told Colegrove that\nhe had bought the line for $3,000 and would like to cooperate with Colegrove. The two men\nagreed to each run one stage apiece. The arrangement went well until November 1872, when\nbusiness began to slacken. Lincoln decided that he did not want to run the line and gave it back\nto McKiernan. This event put McKiernan in a tight spot for Colegrove now learned that he had\nbeen deceived and was ready for another fight. In the end McKiernan decided to quit the stage\nbusiness. (1:78-83)\nThat winter, 1872-1873, was so wet that by the end of December Colegrove was forced to\ncurtail operations over the mountain route, as it had turned into a series of mud holes. In\nJanuary 1873, Colegrove, along with a new partner, Henry C. Ward---an old stage hand in\nCalifornia---started an opposition line to the Watsonville Stage Line between Santa Cruz and\nWatsonville. Within a few months the older Watsonville Stage Line bought Colegrove and Ward\nout, rather than compete against their $.50 fare.(1:90-93)\nAfter selling out to the Watsonville line, Colegrove and Ward met with Charles McKiernan to\ndiscuss the reopening of the Santa Cruz to San Jose stage line. Colegrove and Ward agreed to\nbuy out McKiernan's stage line for $3,000; both men put up $1,000 cash and a $500 note. In\nMay 1873, the Pioneer Stage Line again served customers over the Santa Cruz Mountains.\n(1:93-94)\nOn the spring morning of April 1, 1874, while backing out an eleven passenger mud-wagon\nfrom the Pioneer Stage Line's barn in San Jose, Henry Ward ran a wheel over his foot crushing\nhis big toe. Unable to make the passenger and mail run from San Jose to Santa Cruz, Ward\nenlisted the help of John Pursey Smith, an experienced stage driver who knew the dangers of\nthe Santa Cruz Mountain road. (1:65)\nThat afternoon, at a quarter to three, as the four horse team was walking up a hill about a half\nmile from the stage stop (and United States Post Office) at Patchen, a man, his face covered by\na blue flannel mask, stepped out in front of the stage. Pointing a double-barreled shotgun at\nSmith, the highwayman ordered the stage to stop and told Smith to\n\n�\"Throw out that Express box.\"\nLooking down the barrels of the shotgun the frightened driver had the unpleasant duty of\nexplaining to the bandit:\n\"We don't carry any express box. It goes around by Watsonville.\"\nNot believing the driver's story, the bandit again demanded the express box. As the driver tried\nto repeat his explanation, a passenger, Mrs. J. M. Smith, also told the bandit that the express\nbox was not aboard.\n\"Well, give me that mail sack,\" the road agent demanded.\nSmith quickly threw down the two mail sacks, one destined for Patchen and the other for Santa\nCruz. The bandit kicked the two bags aside saying that he guessed that there would be nothing\nof interest in them and, as he had come for money, the passengers would have to do instead.\nSome of the passengers had managed to hide most of their valuables when they realized what\nwas happening. One woman, a Mrs. Canny of San Jose, simply refused to part with her\nvaluables. All the bandit received was $45 from the unfortunate stage riders. After securing the\nmoney and valuables the bandit tossed the mail sacks back to the driver and allowed the stage\nto proceed on to Patchen and Santa Cruz.\nAfter arriving in Santa Cruz, Smith immediately telegraphed the stage office in San Jose. George\nColegrove received the message and, while showing the message to Ward, asked him,\n\"Do you think that is right, or someone giving us an April Fool?\"\n\"No, I think it is on the level,\" replied Ward.\nAfter discussing the matter the two stage men decided not to press the issue, \"because,\" as\nColegrove explained, \"if it gets out it will hurt our travel.\"\nBut word of the robbery did get out and on his next regular run to Santa Cruz, Colegrove was\nasked by a townsman,\n\"You have stage robbers on your route, have you?\"\nTo which Colegrove replied, \"It seems like it. It didn't amount to much.\" (1:65-67;\n33:4/4/1884)\nThe rest of April went by without any further incident until the end of the month when\nColegrove's mother and brother came to San Jose from Dutch Flat, California, to visit him.\n\n�Colegrove decided to take a few days off work to show his family around Big Basin, near\nBoulder Creek. Contacting an old employer of his, Colegrove asked William (Bill) McFarlane if he\nwould drive the stage.\nEverything started out well. Colegrove gave his mother and brother seats on top of the stage,\nwhere they could enjoy the mountain scenery. Upon arriving in Santa Cruz Colegrove turned\nthe operation over to McFarlane. On the next day McFarlane took the stage over the mountains\nto San Jose on an uneventful trip.\nOn April 28, McFarlane was driving the stage back over the mountains to Santa Cruz. At twenty\nminutes to two in the afternoon the stage was five miles above Lexington on an uphill grade\nthat forced the horses to walk. As the stage was passing a long pile of cord wood beside the\nroad, out stepped two armed highwaymen. One of the road agents blocked the rear of the\nstage and the other stood in front of the horses. Both men were carrying double-barreled\nshotguns and both had Bowie knives dangling from their wrists on leather thongs. The robbers\nhad masks of knitted cloth over their heads with slits cut out for eyes and mouths.\nThe highwayman in front of the stage called to the driver,\n\"Didn't I tell you to stop. Now stop or I'll-\"\n\"Oh, did you, if its 'stop' here goes---Whoa!\" replied McFarlane as he reined up the\nleading horses.\nAs the bandit in front kept his shotgun trained on McFarlane and the passenger riding on top,\nthe other bandit appeared at the window,\n\"Now hand out your wallets dam'd (sic) quick,\" he demanded, taping the window\nledge with his shotgun for emphasis.\nThrusting his hand with the dangling knife attached into the coach,the robber took the\nvaluables and money from the frightened passengers.\nThe passengers were reluctant to part with their wallets, giving instead their pocket change.\nSeeing this, the road agent snapped at them,\n\"That won't do. Pass out your wallets.\"\nCollecting the wallets, the bandit again made a demand, \"Now let's have your\nwatches.\"\nWhile this was going on inside the coach, the passenger sitting on top managed to hide $60\nunder the cushioned seat. To divert attention McFarlane remarked,\n\n�\"Boys, this is pretty rough on us, stopping our stage twice in one month.\"\nReceiving no response from the highwaymen, McFarlane continued,\n\"This is the first time I've been stopped.\"\n\"Well then, it's a stand-off between us,\" replied the masked man at the front, \"This is\nthe first time we've ever stopped anyone.\"\nAfter finishing with the inside passengers, the other bandit turned his attention to the man\nsitting with the driver.\n\"Pass down your coin, sir,\" he demanded.\nBut getting only seventy-five cents did not satisfy him.\n\"Oh, you've got more money than this. Get down from there, so that I can go through you.\"\nAs the passenger stood up the robber caught sight of a valuable gold English watch (worth over\n$100). After taking the watch the bandit again demanded that the passenger step down, but at\nthis point McFarlane had had enough and told the highwaymen,\n\"Boys, it's getting late and I'm behind time.\"\nAs the horses started to move, one of the road agents said, \"Well, I guess you'd better go on.\"\nBy the time the passengers disembarked from the stage in Santa Cruz, Sheriff Robert Orton had\narrived at the stage stop. Discussing the situation with Colegrove, who had been waiting for the\nstage with his family, Orton asked Colegrove,\n\"I guess we will have to get out and get them or they will drive the travel all off the\nroad. What do you think we had better do about it?\"\n\"I think we ought to start out tonight to look for them and cover all these roads by\nSoquel and by the stage road, by Mt. Charley's and the Saratoga road. If we don't they\nwill work their way into some town and, after they get into some town, it is all off. You\ncan't get them. If you get them before they get to town they will have some of the\nthings on them.\"\nThe Sheriff quickly formed a posse and by that evening three groups set out from Santa Cruz to\nlook for the highwaymen. Deputy Sheriff Jackson Sylva and Frank Curtis went to Felton and\nthen up the Zayante Creek toward the Summit. Remington Getchel and John Acorn (or Aiken)\ntraveled to Soquel and then up the old San Jose-Soquel Road to the Summit. Sheriff Orton and\nColegrove took the main stage route through Scotts Valley and up to Mountain Charley's.\n\n�Before leaving Santa Cruz, Sheriff Orton telegraphed San Jose and advised Sheriff John H.\nAdams of the situation, arranging to meet with Adams' posse at Patchen.\nColegrove and Orton arrived at Mountain Charley's toll gate at eleven o'clock that night and, as\nColegrove got off the buggy to open the gate, he asked the Sheriff,\n\"Do you think we had better wake them up?\"\n\"I don't know,\" the Sheriff replied, \"I don't think I would disturb them.\"\nAs Orton and Colegrove had the shortest distance to travel, they reached Patchen first and\nproceeded to search the cabins on the road to Lexington. At a cabin owned by James Bryant the\nSheriff arrested two men, but later released them.\nWhen Getchel and Acorn traveling from Soquel arrived, they reported to Sheriff Orton that they\nhad seen nothing of the bandits. One of the local Patchen residents said that a friend living on\nthe Los Gatos Creek had seen two men with shotguns in the area. Within a few minutes Sheriff\nAdams and the Santa Clara posse arrived and reported that someone else had reported two\nmen by the creek area.\nFeeling sure that these men might be the robbers, the posse set out for the Los Gatos Canyon,\nabout three miles northeast of Patchen. Stopping at a wood-cutters camp near Forest Grove at\nthree or four in the morning, Colegrove asked if they had seen the bandits.\n\"Why there were two men by here just about sundown. Both of them had shotguns. Maybe\nthey are the ones-\" replied the wood-cutter.\nBefore setting out the posse rested and had some breakfast. After eating, the posse went as far\nup the creek as they could with the buggy and then continued up the canyon on foot. Coming\nonto a cabin, Sheriff Orton had his men surround the place. Just then a man came out of the\ncabin. Seeing Colegrove and Sheriff Adams the startled man turned toward the cabin; but with\nthe rest of the posse in position all around his place the outnumbered man gave up.\nUnder questioning, the man shook like a leaf, but denied any part in the robbery or to having\nseen anyone during the day. Although Colegrove thought that the man was telling the truth,\nespecially since the only weapon found in the cabin was an old rusty six-shooter, to be certain,\nthe posse took him with them back to Patchen, where he could be identified by local residents.\nDuring this time Deputy Sheriff Sylva and Frank Curtis had traveled to Felton where George\nNewell joined them. The posse was joined by a Californio named Martin further up the Zayante\nCanyon. Martin acted as their guide for the rest of the trip. Traveling farther up the mountain,\nthe posse questioned several people before arriving at Mountain Charley's at three-thirty in the\nmorning. Waking up McKiernan, the men learned that he had seen two men shooting at a\n\n�squirrel on his ranch earlier that day. When McKiernan had called out to them, he received no\nreply as the men rode on.\nUpon hearing this account, Sylva's posse, along with McKiernan, went after the squirrelshooters. Tracking the men through the mountains to Jones' Creek, four miles from Saratoga,\nthe posse sent Martin down to the toll gate on the Saratoga-Boulder Creek Road to see if their\nprey had escaped into the valley. Learning that the men at the toll gate had seen no one, the\nposse continued in its search and soon arrived at an old cabin. The dilapidated cabin had last\nbeen used as a cattle barn.\nSuspecting that the robbers might be in the cabin, the posse surrounded the place. As they\nwere getting into position, one of the highwaymen saw what was happening and shot at the\nposse with a pistol. The posse returned the fire but did no damage. Charles McKiernan, who\nhad brought his old Henry hunting rifle with him, circled around to a part of the cabin that was\nmissing some boards and called in at the bandits,\n\"Hello, fellows, what are you doing there? Come out here.\"\n\"We are not coming out,\" was the reply.\n\"Come out, or I will shoot,\" McKiernan warned.\nAt this point, the men jumped up and one of them went for his gun. McKiernan again ordered\nthem to stop, but the road agents were intent on a shootout and McKiernan shot. The ball\ngrazed the cheek of one of the highwaymen and lodged itself in the other one's shoulder. With\nthat the fight was over and the men gave up.\nThe posse marched the highwaymen back to McKiernan's ranch. After arriving at the ranch and\nwhile they were waiting for Sheriff Adams to arrive from Patchen, one of the bandits boasted,\n\"Yes, a hell of a lot of heroes you are. I would like to be turned loose and I would\nmake short work of you. That cockeyed fellow with the rifle was the only one I was\nafraid of.\"\nThe bandit was still defiant a few days later when a reporter from the San Jose Weekly Mercury\ninterviewed him in the Santa Clara County Jail:\n\"We wouldn't have surrendered had it not been for that blasted Henry rifle which that\none-eyed chap \"Mountain Charley\" carried. I was raising my gun to fire, when he let fly\nwith his rifle. . . Had it not been for that we would have made a break, and they never\nwould have taken us. I didn't care a continental for the pistols as long as we had our\nshot guns, and we would have made it warm for them. As it was we acted sensibly, and\n'chucked over our chips.'\"\n\n�The bandit who did most of the talking was Albert P. Hamilton, known in San Francisco as a\nburglar who had served time in San Quentin. Hamilton made the remark that he would get\nMcKiernan for capturing him. After a trial, Hamilton, along with Peter Carr, the other bandit,\nwas sentenced to ten years in San Quentin, but, after only six or seven months, Hamilton\nescaped prison with two murderers.\nWhen Charles McKiernan learned of Hamilton's unexpected freedom he was understandably\nuneasy, especially since it was known that Hamilton had a girlfriend in nearby Saratoga. Six\nmonths later the San Francisco police captured Hamilton in San Francisco after he returned on a\nship from Seattle, Washington, and McKiernan's worries were over.\nThe other bandit, Peter Carr, was instrumental in fighting a fire at San Quentin and due to this\naction and his general good behavior Carr received a reprieve by Governor William Irwin. (1:6774; 33:5/2/1874; 32;29)\nThese two men were the only road agents active in the Santa Cruz Mountains. But, although\nthe highwaymen were captured, the regular troubles of the stage line were not over. On the\nday after the capture of the bandits, while the team hitched to the stagecoach was being\nwatered by the driver at the Lexington stage stop, one of the horses bit another horse and the\nwhole team ran away towing the stage. The passengers sitting inside managed to jump to\nsafety, but a woman sitting on top kept her seat too long and when she finally jumped off the\nstage she suffered a broken leg. The team kept going until the coach was overturned and all\ncame to a dusty, grinding, crushing stop. (33:5 / 2 /1874)\nDuring the winter of 1874, Ward and Colegrove decided to phase out the large Concord\ncoaches and purchase new Yosemite wagons made in San Francisco. The new coaches seated\nthirteen passengers, all facing forward, and had a \"sunshine top,\" a canvas that could be rolled\nback. The passengers enjoyed the new coaches, as they could see the scenery better. (1: 102104)\nIn 1874 Ward left the stage business to join a Wild West show, but two months later he\nreturned to San Jose. Shortly after Ward returned the Pioneer Stage Line was broken up, as\nColegrove was peeved at Ward for leaving. Ward stored one of the Concord coaches at William\nHall's barn. Fifty years later it was discovered and given to the Wells-Fargo Museum at San\nFrancisco. On that occasion George Colegrove drove the stage into the museum. (1: 104-105)\nDuring the spring of 1878, as the new narrow-gauge railroad from Alameda to Santa Cruz was\nnearing completion as far as Los Gatos, Colegrove met with Alfred E. \"Hog\" Davis, the president\nof the South Pacific Coast Railroad. Davis asked Colegrove to run a \"jumper service\" from\nWright's tunnel over the mountains to Felton. This arrangement was to last until the tunneling\nwas completed through the mountains.(1: 106-107)\nColegrove agreed to work for Davis and ran the \"jumper service\" for a year before Davis again\nmet with him in April 1879. At this meeting Davis asked Colegrove to work as a conductor on\n\n�the railroad. On August 22, 1879, Colegrove started to work for the railroad, although he still\nowned the stage line, which was run by John Dowd and Chris Coffin.\nOn May 1, 1880, the South Pacific Coast Railroad began direct service from Alameda to Santa\nCruz. Although the first run ended in disaster as the train ran off the track near Rincon, it\nsignaled the end of the stagecoach era in the Santa Cruz Mountains. (1: 110, 110 fn. 10)\n\nSource\nExcerpted from Payne, Stephen Michael. A Howling Wilderness: a History of the Summit Road\nArea of the Santa Cruz Mountains 1850-1906. Santa Cruz, CA: Loma Prieta Publishing, 1978.\nCopyright 1978 Stephen Michael Payne. Reproduced with the permission of the author.\n\nIt is the library’s intent to provide accurate information, however, it is not possible for the library\nto completely verify the accuracy of all information. If you believe that factual statements in a\nlocal history article are incorrect and can provide documentation, please contact the library.\n\n�"]]]]]]]]],["collection",{"collectionId":"8"},["elementSetContainer",["elementSet",{"elementSetId":"1"},["name","Dublin Core"],["description","The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. 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The content of the articles is the responsibility of the individual authors.\r\n"]],["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264220"},["text","It is the library's intent to provide accurate information. However, it is not possible to completely verify the accuracy of individual articles obtained from a variety of sources. If you believe that factual statements in an article are incorrect and can provide documentation, please contact the library."]]]],["element",{"elementId":"45"},["name","Publisher"],["description","An entity responsible for making the resource available"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264216"},["text","Santa Cruz Public Libraries\r\n"]]]]]]]],["itemType",{"itemTypeId":"1"},["name","Document"],["description","A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text."],["elementContainer",["element",{"elementId":"7"},["name","Original Format"],["description","If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1894521"},["text","Paper"]]]]]],["elementSetContainer",["elementSet",{"elementSetId":"1"},["name","Dublin Core"],["description","The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. 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Reproduced with permission of the author."]]]],["element",{"elementId":"46"},["name","Relation"],["description","A related resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1894591"},["text","Selected Bibliography"]]]]]]],["tagContainer",["tag",{"tagId":"15"},["name","Transportation"]]]],["item",{"itemId":"10953","public":"1","featured":"1"},["fileContainer",["file",{"fileId":"13291"},["src","https://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/files/original/3a5dcb1beb39511980b0cf93f9d87126.pdf"],["authentication","0787afe609a825f74c2e0124eb4720a3"],["elementSetContainer",["elementSet",{"elementSetId":"7"},["name","PDF Text"],["description"],["elementContainer",["element",{"elementId":"94"},["name","Text"],["description"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1894846"},["text","G. Brett Lytle, Professor of Languages\nBy Phil Reader\n\nThe comic opera bandit, Dick Fellows, holds a special place in the literature of California outlawry, nay, American\noutlawry. The uniqueness of his position can be summed up in one word—unsuccessful. His career, also, can easily be\ndescribed using one word—folly. He could quite rightly lay claim to being the original Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines.\nNot only was he a dismal flop at his chosen profession, that of a stage robber, but horses of all breeds seem to hold him\nin utter contempt. The horse was never born that would allow Dick Fellows to ride it and his equestrian endeavors led\nhim directly to San Quentin on two occasions.\nA contemporary analogy would be a bank robber who successfully loots the vault, but during his escape, he falls, breaks\nhis leg, and drags himself to his getaway car only to find that it has run out of gas. After which he attempts to get away\nby hobbling down a busy sidewalk lugging a large sack bearing the bank's label and containing his booty. That scenario\nbest describes Dick Fellows, the legendary outlaw.\nDick's first attempt at larceny came in 1869, when he unsuccessfully attempted to hold up\nthe Coast Line stage on the outskirts of Santa Barbara. He was promptly arrested and sent to\nprison. While at San Quentin he was given a job at the library which enabled him to educate\nhimself. He helped organize bible study classes and set himself up as a religious spokesman\nfor the prisoners.\nFellows convinced the prison officials that he was a changed man who had seen the error of\nhis ways. On April 4, 1874, he was granted a pardon after serving less than half of his original\nsentence and for the next year or so, he managed to stay out of trouble.\nDuring the early part of December, 1875, he learned of a shipment of gold coin, totaling\n$240,000, which would be carried by stage through Kern County on the 4th on the month.\nThe temptation was too great for the born-again Mr. Fellows, so in the company of an\nunnamed companion, he hatched a plan to stop the stage.\nDick Fellows,\na.k.a. G. Brett Lytle\n\nIt was on this occasion that Dick had his first falling out with a horse. He rented a docile\nlooking mare from a livery stable at Caliente and set out in pursuit of the stage. As they\npulled within sight of the coach, he urged the horse on to greater and greater speed. The mare was only too happy to\noblige him, as a matter of fact she galloped so fast that she ran right out from under the rider leaving Dick suspended in\nmid-air for a brief moment before he plummeted groundward. He sat there in the dust watching his fortune ride off into\nthe sunset, but the gallant bandit just picked himself up and walked back into town where he found that the mare had\nreturned to her stable.\n\n1\n\n�But Dick Fellows was not the type of man to be easily discouraged. He had another idea: he would rob the northbound\nstage out of Los Angeles, which was to pass through Caliente shortly. In order to accomplish this, he needed the\nassistance of another horse. So the optimistic brigand stole a saddle-horse from the hitching post in front of a mercantile\nstore and rode quietly out of town.\nAbout a mile and a half up the road he met the stage coach. Pulling out his pistol, he ordered the driver to halt and\nthrow down the Wells Fargo treasure box. After the man complied with his demands, Fellows motioned the driver on his\nway.\nThe robber dismounted and began to drag the heavy box back towards the horse. But this unnerved the beast which\nalso had a will of his own. Upon seeing the man hunched over his burden, it bolted and sped for home at a gallop.\nThis left Dick afoot for a second time in one day. By now it was growing dark, so he shouldered the chest and set off in\nsearch of a hiding place. He shuffled along in the darkness until suddenly he fell headlong into a fifteen foot ditch and\nbroke his left foot and ankle. He managed to pull himself out of the ditch and pushed the box along in front of him until\nhe found a soft spot in the ground where he dug a hole and buried the chest after stuffing the contents into his pockets.\nDick stumbled onward until he came to a nearby farm, where he managed to steal yet another horse. But by the\nfollowing morning a well mounted and well rested posse caught up to him and he was arrested and placed in the Kern\ncounty jail at Bakersfield.\nHe was tried and sentenced once again to a term at San Quentin. As Dick was waiting to be transported to the prison, he\nmanaged to break out of the jail and effect his escape sporting a new pair of crutches which the county of Kern had so\ngraciously provided for him.\nAfter hiding in the willows along the Kern River for two days he crept into a farmer's corral and once again stole a horse.\nHe threw a lead rope around the beast's neck and tied it to the corral while he went into the barn to get a saddle. But\nthis horse, too, must have been repelled by the way he looked because it bolted and ran, leaving the stunned outlaw to\nstare after it in disbelief. Later that afternoon two posses converged upon the escapee and clapped him back into jail\nwhere he was held under continuous guard until he was returned to San Quentin.\nDick Fellows' second prison term expired in May of 1881. After two months of trying to go straight he was back at\nrobbing stages, this time he operated in the central coast region between San Luis Obispo and San Jose. By now he was\nwell known to local lawmen as well as Wells Fargo detectives.\nThey followed him from holdup to holdup until they finally caught him hiding at a ranch near Mayfield in Santa Clara\nCounty. They put him in the county jail, but the slippery desperado once again managed to escape. However shortly\nthereafter he was recaptured at a cabin in the Santa Cruz Mountains and returned to jail.\nHe was sent to Santa Barbara where he was tried for a number of crimes and found guilty on all counts. He received a\nsentence of life in prison.\nBut Dick Fellows was to have one last hurrah with the four-legged bane of his existence, the horse. As a prelude to this\ndreaded event, he made good his escape from the Santa Barbara jail and darted up the street for a couple of blocks until\nhe came upon a horse that was staked out in the middle of a field, placidly grazing.\nIn one fell swoop he pulled up the stake, coiled up the rope, and leapt gracefully upon the animal's back. But it was not\nmeant to be that easy, for unbeknownst to the luckless rider, the beast upon which he now set was suffering from the\neffects of locoweed which it had ingested earlier.\nOld Dobbin immediately went into action, bucking and thrashing about in a narcotic fit and once again the curse was\nvisited upon Dick Fellows as he hung suspended in the air for a brief moment prior to plunging back down into the dust,\nprostrate and unconscious.\n2\n\n�He was taken back to the jail and spent the rest of his natural life in prison; far, far away from Equus Caballus, the\nhooved devils that were to help put his name in the history books.\nOne might rightfully ask just what has any of this to do with Mr. G. Brett Lytle, Professor of Languages?\nWell, in May of 1881, Mr. Lytle rode into Santa Cruz and put up at a local hotel. A few days later he found a job as\nsolicitor on the staff of the Santa Cruz Daily Echo, a journal published by B. A. Stephens. From its offices on Pacific\nAvenue at the Flatiron building, Lytle visited the local merchants securing advertisers for the newspaper.\nHe was later remembered as a likable fellow, intelligent and witty. In lieu of payment he was allowed to place an\nadvertisement in the paper reading\n\"G. BRETT LYTLE, PROFESSOR OF LANGUAGES, SEEKING PUPILS IN SPANISH.\"\nThe endeavor proved ill-advised and fruitless as no one appears to have answered the ad. The reason being, of course,\nwas that Spaniards made up such a large percentage of the local population and anyone who wanted to speak Spanish\nalready did.\nOn July 19, 1881, a stage coach was robbed near Gonzales in the Salinas Valley. Lytle, who happened to be in the area,\ntelegraphed a detailed account to the Daily Echo. At this point in time, Mr. G. Brett Lytle disappears, but the stage\nrobberies in the central coast continued for the next several months.\nThe following year, bandit Dick Fellows was captured by a posse deep in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Boulder Creek\nwhile he was trying to make an escape to the coast. Local residents were surprised to learn that G. Brett Lytle, their\nwould-be Spanish teacher, and the infamous Dick Fellows were one and the same man. The only attempt that the\noutlaw ever made to go straight was on the streets of Santa Cruz.\n\nSources\n•\n\nCondensed from: It Is Not My Intention to Be Captured. Copyright 1991 Phil Reader. Reproduced by permission\nof the author. Photograph courtesy of Phil Reader.\n\nThe content of this article is the responsibility of the individual author. It is the Library's intent to provide accurate local history\ninformation. However, it is not possible for the Library to completely verify the accuracy of individual articles obtained from a\nvariety of sources. If you believe that factual statements in a local history article are incorrect and can provide documentation,\nplease contact the Webmaster.\n\n3\n\n�"]]]]]]]]],["collection",{"collectionId":"8"},["elementSetContainer",["elementSet",{"elementSetId":"1"},["name","Dublin Core"],["description","The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/."],["elementContainer",["element",{"elementId":"50"},["name","Title"],["description","A name given to the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"123576"},["text","Santa Cruz History Articles"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"41"},["name","Description"],["description","An account of the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"123577"},["text","Original articles by library staff and by local authors and material from historical books. "]],["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264219"},["text","Articles on Santa Cruz County history, many with illustrations, are available here.\r\n\r\nThe Santa Cruz Public Libraries is grateful to our local historians and their publishers for giving permission to include their articles. The content of the articles is the responsibility of the individual authors.\r\n"]],["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264220"},["text","It is the library's intent to provide accurate information. However, it is not possible to completely verify the accuracy of individual articles obtained from a variety of sources. If you believe that factual statements in an article are incorrect and can provide documentation, please contact the library."]]]],["element",{"elementId":"45"},["name","Publisher"],["description","An entity responsible for making the resource available"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264216"},["text","Santa Cruz Public Libraries\r\n"]]]]]]]],["itemType",{"itemTypeId":"1"},["name","Document"],["description","A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text."],["elementContainer",["element",{"elementId":"7"},["name","Original Format"],["description","If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264249"},["text","Paper"]]]]]],["elementSetContainer",["elementSet",{"elementSetId":"1"},["name","Dublin Core"],["description","The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/."],["elementContainer",["element",{"elementId":"50"},["name","Title"],["description","A name given to the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264248"},["text","G. Brett Lytle, Professor of Languages"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"49"},["name","Subject"],["description","The topic of the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264250"},["text","Fellows, Dick"]],["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264251"},["text","Lytle, G. Brett"]],["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264252"},["text","Crime and Criminals-Burglary, Robbery, Larceny"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"39"},["name","Creator"],["description","An entity primarily responsible for making the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264253"},["text","Reader, Phil"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"48"},["name","Source"],["description","A related resource from which the described resource is derived"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264254"},["text","Condensed from: It Is Not My Intention to Be Captured, 1991. "]]]],["element",{"elementId":"45"},["name","Publisher"],["description","An entity responsible for making the resource available"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264255"},["text","Santa Cruz Public Libraries"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"40"},["name","Date"],["description","A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264256"},["text","1991"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"42"},["name","Format"],["description","The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264257"},["text","Text"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"44"},["name","Language"],["description","A language of the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264258"},["text","En"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"51"},["name","Type"],["description","The nature or genre of the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264259"},["text","ARTICLE"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"43"},["name","Identifier"],["description","An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264260"},["text","AR-003"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"38"},["name","Coverage"],["description","The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264261"},["text","1880s"]],["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264262"},["text","Santa Cruz (County)"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"47"},["name","Rights"],["description","Information about rights held in and over the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1839978"},["text","Copyright 1991 Phil Reader. Reproduced by permission of the author. Photograph courtesy of Phil Reader.\r\n\r\n"]]]]]]],["tagContainer",["tag",{"tagId":"39"},["name","Biography"]],["tag",{"tagId":"37"},["name","Crime and Criminals"]]]],["item",{"itemId":"134379","public":"1","featured":"1"},["fileContainer",["file",{"fileId":"20816"},["src","https://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/files/original/1c7f500e97295153c499bbd8b493beb2.pdf"],["authentication","4a744834c81e0093934f477a1243edc8"],["elementSetContainer",["elementSet",{"elementSetId":"7"},["name","PDF Text"],["description"],["elementContainer",["element",{"elementId":"94"},["name","Text"],["description"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1899597"},["text","Anthony Azoff and the Murder of Detective Len Harris\nBy Phil Reader\n\nBeing an account of the attempted robbery of the Wells-Fargo Express Office in Boulder Creek, and the subsequent killing\nof Southern Pacific Detective Len Harris.\n\nIntroduction\nThe last two decades of the l9th century were years when the phrase \"train robbery\" became catch words for the\npeople of California. It stirred them up and captured their imagination. The much hated Southern Pacific Railroad was at\nthe height of its power, stretching its tentacles up and down the state. The company's land grabbing schemes were\nalienating large segments of the population, and as a result, many small farmers found themselves dispossessed.\nA few of these embittered farmers and laborers turned to crime and Southern Pacific trains and depots became prime\ntargets for masked desperados. The Dalton Gang, Sontag and Evans, and the Johnson Boys found their names splashed\nacross the pages of California's newspapers. They found safe refuge in the homes of sympathetic farmers. The area\naround Visalia quickly became a hot bed of such activities.\nSanta Cruz County was not without its contributions to this jaded saga. Daniel (Three-fingered Jack) McCall, son of\npioneer Hugh Pablo McCall, made history by becoming the first native Californian to be killed during an attempted train\nrobbery.\nMcCall, a wood chopper by trade, had left Santa Cruz in 1892 and traveled up and down the state before settling in\nVisalia in 1894. He fell under the spell of Si Lovern, a barkeeper and old associate of Chris Evans and the Sontag Brothers.\nIt was at Lovern's saloon that McCall, Lovern, and Obie Britt, a former Soquel resident, hatched the plan to rob a\nSouthern Pacific train.\nThe robbery took place on March 19, 1896 when Dan McCall crawled aboard a train #19 as it pulled out of Goshen on\nthe way to Visalia. At the Targus switch he climbed across the train intending to force the engineer to stop the\nlocomotive at a deserted siding, where the other gang members would rob the express car.\nBut what McCall didn't know was that Britt had betrayed their plans to the Tulare County Sheriff and that two deputies,\nEarl Daggett and G. W. Reed, were waiting for him on the tender car. In the shoot-out that followed, Daggett and Reed\nwere wounded and Dan McCall was killed outright. Si Lovern was later arrested and given a life sentence in San Quentin.\nBut all of this came, however, two years after the most famous criminal event in the history of Santa Cruz area\nrailroading.\n\nThe Shooting\n1\n\n�The story of the killing of Len Harris actually began on Monday, May 14, 1894, when Harris and fellow Southern Pacific\nDetective William Kelly arrived at the office of Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jesse Cope. The detective explained to Cope\nthat they had uncovered a plot to rob the Wells Fargo Express office at the railroad depot in Boulder Creek. One of the\nplotters, George Sprague, had come forward and informed the company that Anthony Azoff and another man were\nplanning to hold up the expressman on the night of the 15th.\nSince Azoff, a former Boulder Creek resident, knew Sheriff Cope, it was decided that the sheriff should not take part in\nthe action because his presence in the area might tip off the schemers. Cope was to remain close to the telegraph in\ncase he was needed later.\nThe following afternoon Harris, Kelly and Constable Isaiah Hartman secreted themselves inside a box-car which had\nbeen placed in front of the depot. All three were heavily armed and Wells Fargo express agent William Gass had been\nforewarned of the possible robbery.\nAt about 8 o'clock that evening three masked men approached the depot from the north. They were Azoff, the\ninformant Sprague, and another man unknown to anybody but the gang leader. The latter two remained on the depot\nplatform while Azoff continued on into the office.\nAs he stepped through the door he pulled a fearsome looking 44-caliber pistol out from under his cloth coat. The robber\nordered Agent Gass to open the safe and at the same time handed him a sack in which to place the money.\nBefore the agent could comply, the three peace officers jumped out of the box-car with their weapons at the ready.\nKelly and Hartman turned their attention to the two bandits on the platform, while Harris went in after Azoff.\n\"You'd better surrender.\" He shouted, \"I've got the drop on you.\"\nBut Azoff remained calm and collected. Hardly changing his position he turned his pistol back under his arm and\ninstantaneously fired two shots before making any move which may have excited or alarmed Harris. Both bullets tore\ninto the detective's mid-section and he fell forward groaning that he had been hit.\nOut on the depot platform, Kelly and Hartman had opened fire on the two remaining outlaws. For some unknown\nreason they had not been told that Sprague was an informant. So while bullets were flying all around him he threw up\nhis hands pleading with them to hold their fire, screaming that he was on the officers’ side. Meanwhile the third\ndesperado made his getaway into the darkness.\nAfter shooting Harris, Azoff bolted out the depot door, ran through the railroad yard heading in the direction of Bear\nCreek Road. Constable Hartman followed him for about a quarter mile blazing away with his shotgun. The fleeing robber\nreturned the fire over his shoulder, squeezing off five shots before disappearing into the woods.\nHartman went back to the depot, made Harris as comfortable as possible, and then telegraphed Sheriff Cope in Santa\nCruz. Cope and Deputy Wright set out for Boulder Creek where they were met up with Hartman, and the three men\nstarted out on the trail of the gunman.\n\nLen Harris\nDetective Harris was taken to the Morgan Hotel where he was tended to by Dr. Allen. The two bullets had passed\nthrough his abdomen tearing up some vital organs, so his wounds were pronounced as fatal.\nThe following morning railroad Superintendent J. A. Fillmore sent a special engine and car down to Boulder Creek to\ncarry Detective Harris to his home in Oakland. Accompanying him on the journey were his son Jack Harris and Doctors\nAllen and Morgan. He arrived at his home in the late afternoon and at 11:30 that night he lapsed into a coma and died.\n\n2\n\n�Leonard Harris was born in upstate New York in 1828. He moved to California during the gold rush and by 1856 he was\nworking as a lawman in Sacramento, serving both as constable and sheriff. During the construction phase of the\nSouthern Pacific Railroad he was hired as a special detective and for many years he was chief of the detective division.\nHarris was always known as a brave and clever lawman. One of his best pieces of work happened while he was stationed\nin the Arizona Territory. The overland train was held up at Pantano, Pima County, and the treasure box and mail bags\nwere stolen. Harris and a band of Indian trackers followed the robbers into a lava bed where the trail was lost. He found\na place where the thieves had last camped. Among the ashes of their fire he found pieces of a charred newspaper which\nhad been published in Oregon. With this slender lead he discovered that two men, a saloon keeper in Silver City and a\nstore keeper in Benson, were subscribers to the paper. The rest of the evidence was easily obtained, and a tough named\nGambler Bob was included in the gang that eventually got long terms in the Yuma Territorial Prison. In 1888 he pursued\na gang that had committed a robbery on the Sonora Road in Arizona. He and Marshal Bob Paul were in charge of the\nposse, and Harris was always in the lead. The criminals had gone into the Sierra Madre Mountains in the middle of a\nblinding snow storm. Besides the bad weather, there was always the chance of meeting Apache Indians. They finally\ncame upon the bandits beyond Chicuahua and a pitch battle ended in the death of the four highwaymen.\nOne day in Tucson, Detective Harris won the admiration of a trainload of tourists when he disarmed a drunken cowboy\nwho was intimidating the passengers. He simply pulled the rifle out of the cowboy's hands and cursed him for being a\nfool, after which he turned him over to the local sheriff.\nAt Alila, in the San Joaquin Valley, on September 4, 1891, he was on a train which was held up by the Sontag and Evans\nGang. He had started to repulse the robbers when he received a wound in the back of the neck. He was never able to\nfully recover as the doctors were unable to locate the bullet. As a result Harris' right arm was to remain partially\nparalyzed.\nJust prior to being called to Santa Cruz, Harris was investigating a robbery in Los Angeles.\nSo this was the type of brave and courageous man who was buried on May 20th, 1894. Len Harris was a veteran of the\nMexican War and one of the greatest lawmen in the history of the old west. He left a widow and two children.\n\nThe Pursuit and Capture\nOn the night of the attempted robbery at Boulder Creek, Anthony Azoff was last seen going into the woods at Bear\nCreek Road. Sheriff Jesse Cope at the head of a posse had followed him, rummaging around in the darkness for about an\nhour in a vain effort to locate the killer. They returned to Boulder Creek and wired the sheriffs in surrounding counties\nrequesting their help and including a description of Azoff.\nBy daybreak the next morning there were three posses in the saddle scouring the Santa Cruz Mountains. Sheriff Cope\ndivided his men into two groups. One went over the hills toward Saratoga, while the other group searched Bear Creek\nRoad and other roads which led over the mountains.\nSheriff Bollinger of Santa Clara County started out in a westward direction from San Jose, while San Mateo deputies\nsecured the roads leading into that county. The lawmen had two fears. One was that Azoff would find his way to the\ncoast and follow the beaches up to San Francisco, where he might board an out-going vessel. Another possibility was\nthat he could hide in the rugged Big Basin region for as long as he wished. The bandit had worked cutting lumber in the\nmountains and knew the area well. He had many friends among the Russian and Finnish lumbermen who would supply\nhim with food and information.\nThe Southern Pacific Company offered a $500 reward for his capture hoping that the money would serve as an\ninducement to one of Azoff's acquaintances to turn on him. Over the next few days the fugitive was reported as being\nseen in Los Gatos and in the vicinity of Saratoga. All leads proved to be futile.\n3\n\n�Two men found Azoff's coat in the Boulder Creek train yard. In a pocket was found a note which read: \"Ask and you will\nreceive. Keep my uniform till I return.\" What that meant no one was able to learn, for the bandit showed no sign of\nreturning.\nThen a mysterious fact was uncovered. On Monday, the 14th, when detectives Harris and Kelly had arrived at Boulder\nCreek they registered under fictitious names, and soon afterwards someone wrote the words \"man hunters\" after their\nsignatures. When Harris returned to the hotel after dinner, he saw it and asked who did it. No one could tell him, so he\nerased it and left the hotel. When he came back later the word \"hunter\" was again written under his name. Once more\nhe questioned the hotel employees, but still no one knew who had written the words.\nA still more mysterious occurrence took place in Boulder Creek on the evening of the Saturday, the l9th. For several\nnights a stranger had been seen making purchases in town and then disappearing in the direction of the San Lorenzo\nRiver. Once he went into a drug store, saying he wanted some medicine for a wound, as his hand had been cut.\nBen Mashall was asked to keep an eye on the stranger, who was suspected of bringing food to Azoff. On Saturday night,\nMarshall was waiting for the suspect to make his appearance in town. He saw the stranger about seventy-five yards\naway when suddenly, without warning, the man pulled a pistol and began shooting at Marshall. The lookout returned\nthe fire, each man getting off four shots. The gun play was heard in Boulder Creek and Sheriff Cope hurried to the scene.\nBut no trace of the stranger would ever be found. He had mysteriously disappeared. Most believed that he was the third\nbandit who had escaped during the depot shoot-out.\nWhile this was taking place a farmer named J. Schroeder was riding through his wheat fields near Redwood City when a\nman answering Azoff's description approached him and asked for work. He directed the man to his ranch saying that he\nwould be there soon. Instead he went directly into town to tell an officer. The man (later identified as Azoff) waited\naround for a short time and then started off down the road to San Jose. A little further on he encountered another man\nwho recognized him, and this man also reported him to the sheriff.\nUnder Sheriff J. H. Mansfield, accompanied by Deputy Jonathan Butts in a buggy, took to the road that runs between\nPalo Alto and Mayfield. There were many tramps on the road and they were each checked for their identity. By then it\nwas dark and the lawmen carried a lantern.\nAt last about six miles from Redwood City they encountered still another wanderer and pulled up, stopping on either\nside of him. Mansfield engaged the man in easy conversation while Butts checked him out closely in the light of the\nlantern. Following a prearranged signal both deputies pulled out their revolvers and pointed them at the murderer's\nhead.\n\"Azoff,\" said Mansfield, \"I want you!\"\nThey quickly relieved him of his 44-pistol and fifty rounds of ammunition while securing him to the back of the buggy.\nWithin an hour he was locked in a cell of the San Mateo County Jail and held under twenty-four hour guard.\n\nAnthony Azoff\nWhen arrested, Anthony Azoff, was a thirty-five year old man of Russian origin, who\nstood 5 foot 9 inches and weighed 160 pounds. He had a stocky build and wore a long\ndroop mustache. His clothes were those of a common laborer and his bearing was erect\nand alert.\nOver the next few days bits and pieces of his biography began to appear in the local\npress. He was born in 1862 somewhere in Virginia of Russian immigrant parents.\nOrphaned at an early age he began to drift around the country.\nAzoff's San Quentin \"mug shot.\"\n\n4\n\n�In the 1880s he worked as a cowboy in the plains states and settled for a few years in the Arizona Territory. During this\ntime he ran with a wild crowd and he was implicated in the Prescott train robbery. But there was not enough proof to\nindict him and so he was released. He later crossed the border into Mexico and was jailed for a crime of a serious nature.\nAzoff and his cell mate managed to escape from prison and returned to the states.\n1888 found him in Boulder Creek where he worked at Peery's Mill in the mountains for a time before being hired by\nJames F. Cunningham in his mercantile business as the driver of a delivery wagon. When Cunningham sold out to\nDaugherty and Middleton, Azoff remained on the job. While driving the wagon he first met George Sprague. During this\ntime he married and his wife gave birth to a daughter.\nIn 1891 Anthony Azoff and his family left Boulder Creek and moved to Eureka where they remained for a period of one\nyear. At this time Azoff and his wife began to quarrel and she went to Oakland to live with her married sister. He\nfollowed her and they lived together off and on until April of 1894 when she moved back home to her parent's farm in\nMissouri.\nAbout this time Azoff ran into George Sprague on a street in Oakland. They had not seen each other since the days when\nthey had worked together in Boulder Creek. Azoff began to discuss the possibility of robbing the train or the railroad\ndepot in Boulder Creek, as it was an area with which they were both familiar. He even suggested that they start calling\neach other Chris and John, in open admiration of Chris Evans and John Sontag—the Tulare County bandits.\nAzoff bragged about his role in the Prescott train robbery as well as an attempt to hold up a train near Sacramento. The\nmore Azoff pressed him on the proposed Boulder Creek job, the more Sprague was determined to turn him in. On May\n10th, he betrayed their plans to the Southern Pacific, who in turn sent Harris and Kelly out on their deadly mission.\n\nThe Trial and Execution\nOn May 21, there was a large crowd at the Santa Cruz depot who had gathered hoping to catch a glimpse of Anthony\nAzoff, the man killer. But they were disappointed because Sheriff Cope had alighted with his prisoner at the Seabright\nstation where Under Sheriff Wright met them with a rig and hustled them to the jail by a back route.\nThat day he was positively identified by a number of people including Wells-Fargo Agent Gass, and J. F. Cunningham, his\nformer employer. Afterwards he was photographed and taken before Justice Craghill for a preliminary hearing. Trial was\nset for June 25, in Superior Court and Frank Stone was appointed as his attorney.\nAzoff's trial on the charge of murder was a mere formality. In his testimony George Sprague outlined the defendant's\ndetailed plan for the robbery explaining his roll and that of the mysterious third outlaw. Afterwards Agent Gass\nidentified Azoff as the man who had attempted to hold him up and had shot Detective Harris.\nIt took the jury forty-five minutes and only two ballots to find Anthony Azoff guilty of first degree murder. This sentence\ncarried with it a mandatory death penalty. His date of execution was set for September 12, 1894. At the pronouncement\nof sentence Azoff remained defiant and indifferent, as he had throughout his trial. He was taken to San Quentin and put\non death row while his lawyer attempted an appeal.\n\nAnthony Azoff Executed June 7, 1895.\nWhile he was in prison a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle was sent over to interview him. In his published\narticle the reporter expressed amazement at the state of mind which Azoff retained in his death cell.\n\"Anthony Azoff isn't at all conventional.\" He wrote, \"When he is amused his eyes twinkle, and he gives such a grin. ...He\nis positively cheerful, with a guilelessness that is quite childlike.\"\n\"You give the impression that you're rather delighted to be here.\"\n5\n\n�\"Now that's just it,\" Azoff responded, beaming at being so well understood.\"I'm getting the best of it. This is better then\nscraping for a living on the outside any day. Before I came here I had a dread of this place .... Instead, I have a fine room,\ndry and clean and white as snow. And such beds. It's almost worth hanging to have a nice, soft place to lie in. I like my\nroom best in the evening. Then it seems so cozy and homelike. We light the lamp and read until 12 o'clock. Then we\nblow it out, though the prison officers haven't said we must.\"\nSoon all of his appeals had been exhausted and a new date for execution was set for June 7, 1895. Anthony Azoff was to\nmeet his death in the same resolute manner with which he had lived.\nOn the appointed day there were three men who were to be hanged. Azoff, Amelio Garcia, a murderer from Monterey\nCounty, and Patrick Collins, who had killed a bank teller during a robbery in San Francisco. The three condemned men\nwere awakened at 7 o'clock and ate heartily of fruit, coffee, and bread. Afterwards Father Logan, a Catholic priest from\nSan Rafael, arrived at the prison and offered consolation to the three men. At 8:30 the three men bathed and donned\nblack trousers and dark shirts.\nMeanwhile three rough wooden caskets were lined up beside the gallows, and a crowd of men, including Jack Harris, the\nson of Detective Harris, were let into the prison courtyard to witness the executions. First to hang was Amelio Garcia. He\ndied \"game\" and his body was placed in the first of the caskets.\nNext came Anthony Azoff. He mounted the steps to the gallows with a firm tread and looked confidently about him. The\nknot of the noose was adjusted around his neck and a black hood slipped over his head.\nJust before the trap was sprung he said simply,\"Good-bye, boys. Here goes a brave man.\"\nHe had died with an air of defiance and braggadocio, displaying the courage for which he had always been noted. Azoff's\nbody was placed in another of the wooden coffins and later that day all three men were buried in unmarked graves at\nthe prison cemetery.\n\nEpilogue\nFor many years there was a trophy case which sat in the far corner of the Sheriff's Office at the county courthouse on\nPacific Avenue in Santa Cruz. Prominently displayed in this case was the large, fearsome-looking, nickel-plated, 44caliber pistol which had been used by Anthony Azoff to kill Detective Len Harris on May 15, 1894. What became of this\npistol is unknown.\n\nSources\n\n\nCopyright 1991 Phil Reader. Reproduced by permission of Phil Reader. Photograph courtesy of Phil Reader.\n\nThe content of this article is the responsibility of the individual author. It is the Library's intent to provide accurate local history\ninformation. However, it is not possible for the Library to completely verify the accuracy of individual articles obtained from a\nvariety of sources. If you believe that factual statements in a local history article are incorrect and can provide documentation,\nplease contact the Webmaster.\n\n6\n\n�"]]]]]]]]],["collection",{"collectionId":"8"},["elementSetContainer",["elementSet",{"elementSetId":"1"},["name","Dublin Core"],["description","The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/."],["elementContainer",["element",{"elementId":"50"},["name","Title"],["description","A name given to the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"123576"},["text","Santa Cruz History Articles"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"41"},["name","Description"],["description","An account of the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"123577"},["text","Original articles by library staff and by local authors and material from historical books. "]],["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264219"},["text","Articles on Santa Cruz County history, many with illustrations, are available here.\r\n\r\nThe Santa Cruz Public Libraries is grateful to our local historians and their publishers for giving permission to include their articles. The content of the articles is the responsibility of the individual authors.\r\n"]],["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264220"},["text","It is the library's intent to provide accurate information. However, it is not possible to completely verify the accuracy of individual articles obtained from a variety of sources. If you believe that factual statements in an article are incorrect and can provide documentation, please contact the library."]]]],["element",{"elementId":"45"},["name","Publisher"],["description","An entity responsible for making the resource available"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264216"},["text","Santa Cruz Public Libraries\r\n"]]]]]]]],["itemType",{"itemTypeId":"1"},["name","Document"],["description","A resource containing textual data. 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For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/."],["elementContainer",["element",{"elementId":"43"},["name","Identifier"],["description","An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1891999"},["text","AR-081"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"50"},["name","Title"],["description","A name given to the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1892000"},["text","Anthony Azoff and the Murder of Detective Len Harris"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"39"},["name","Creator"],["description","An entity primarily responsible for making the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1892001"},["text","Reader, Phil"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"48"},["name","Source"],["description","A related resource from which the described resource is derived"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1892002"},["text","Photograph courtesy of Phil Reader."]]]],["element",{"elementId":"45"},["name","Publisher"],["description","An entity responsible for making the resource available"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1892003"},["text","Santa Cruz Public Libraries"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"40"},["name","Date"],["description","A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1892004"},["text","1991"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"42"},["name","Format"],["description","The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1892005"},["text","Text"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"44"},["name","Language"],["description","A language of the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1892006"},["text","En"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"51"},["name","Type"],["description","The nature or genre of the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1892007"},["text","ARTICLE"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"47"},["name","Rights"],["description","Information about rights held in and over the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1892009"},["text","Copyright 1991 Phil Reader. Reproduced by permission of Phil Reader."]]]],["element",{"elementId":"49"},["name","Subject"],["description","The topic of the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1892948"},["text","Azoff, Anthony"]],["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1892949"},["text","Harris, Leonard"]],["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1892950"},["text","Crime and Criminals-Burglary, Robbery, Larceny"]],["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1892951"},["text","Murder"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"38"},["name","Coverage"],["description","The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1892952"},["text","Boulder Creek"]]]]]]],["tagContainer",["tag",{"tagId":"37"},["name","Crime and Criminals"]]]],["item",{"itemId":"134494","public":"1","featured":"1"},["fileContainer",["file",{"fileId":"21637"},["src","https://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/files/original/4dd2bcd2838c476666aff3ba06cd26ba.pdf"],["authentication","75d9a4245956e1c41f84d0903db05864"],["elementSetContainer",["elementSet",{"elementSetId":"7"},["name","PDF Text"],["description"],["elementContainer",["element",{"elementId":"94"},["name","Text"],["description"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1900410"},["text","\"Charole\":\nThe Life of Branciforte Bandido Faustino Lorenzana\nBy Phil Reader\nPart I\nIn 1885 a reporter for the Santa Cruz Sentinel asked ex-sheriff Charlie Lincoln who was the most notorious\ncharacter that he had encountered during his tenure in office. After a short pause the former \"boy sheriff\"\nreached back into his memory and called forth\n\"...Faustino Lorenzana, he made a regular business out of horse stealing, but we could never catch\nhim\"... \"He and one of the Rodriguez boys were concerned in the killing of Jack Sloan. This was in\n1865.\"\nIndeed this was the case, because no sheriff's posse or vigilante mob could ever take Lorenzana, and any\nnumber of them tried. He fought it out with four Santa Cruz sheriffs: John T. Porter, Ambrose Calderwood,\nAlbert Jones, and Charlie Lincoln.\nEven Matt Tarpy and his hooded vigilance committee trailed him around the countryside but none could ever\nlay a hand on him. Sometimes operating with the Rodriguez brothers and sometimes in the company of his\ninfamous cousin Tiburcio Vasquez, he roamed throughout central California doing just about whatever he\npleased.\nTo the staid \"yankees\" of Santa Cruz he was a horse thief and murderer - plain and simple. His depredations\nwere not to be tolerated. After the Sloan killing the State of California offered a $500 reward for his capture\nand the County of Santa Cruz added another $300, making him the most sought after man in the history of the\nCounty.\nHowever across the San Lorenzo River, to the Spanish people of the Pueblo de Branciforte he was a son, a\nbrother, a cousin, a childhood friend, and a neighbor. They secreted him in their homes when he was in the\narea, and brought food and other supplies up to his many mountain hideouts. He was called \"Charole,\" said to\nmean the \"lantern that leads.\"\nIn time he achieved a certain degree of stature as a hero and legendary bandit to the people of old\nBranciforte. Some of the Spaniards even named their children after him. He was a game fighter, loyal to his\nfriends, and in the end, like most legendary bandits, he died with his boots on.\n1\n\n�But just what was he really? A hero? Legend? A good boy gone bad? Or a cold blooded killer? The answer to\nthis question may never be known because what he was depends upon whom you ask.\nFaustino de Jesus Lorenzana was born January 15, 1835 at his parents adobe at Branciforte. He was the\neleventh child of Macedonio Lorenzana and Romualda Lorenzana y Vasquez.\nHis father was a full-blooded Menteranea Indian who had been born at Mexico City in 1787 (?)]. Orphaned as\na child, he was raised at the famous Lorenzana Orphanage in Mexico City. Like all other foundlings he was\ngiven the surname Lorenzana, a practice which was quite common at the time.\nOn June 2, 1800 he sailed, in the company of several other children, from San Blas for Alta California on the\nfrigate Concepcion. Upon arrival he was placed in the home of Francisco Castro, a resident of San Jose. While\nstill in his teens he joined the Spanish Army and was stationed at the garrison in San Francisco. On June 8,\n1816 he married Maria Romualda Vasquez at Mission Santa Clara. She was the daughter of Antonio Vasquez\nand Maria Leocadia, an Indian neophyte of the Mission.\nIn 1828 the Lorenzana family moved to Branciforte where Macedonio served the pueblo in various capacities,\nincluding secretary in 1835 and 1839, a member of the council in 1838, and second alcalde in 1845 and 1846.\nBefore his death in 1863, he sired sixteen children by Romualda.\nTheir son Faustino spent his childhood years in the company of his many brothers and cousins prowling about\nBranciforte. The pueblo was a sleepy little village which was the center of activities for the numerous ranchos\nwhich were spread out around it. The only formal education he received was from the padres at the small\nMission school across the river from Branciforte. Even this was scant and of a religious nature.\nHis real education came at the hands of the vaqueros who tended the vast herds of cattle roaming across the\narea. From them he learned horsemanship, the use of a pistol, a riata, a branding iron, and the many other\narts and sciences of the rodeo. When he was old enough, he went to work on his father's farm next to\nBranciforte Creek and at the Rodriguez' Ranchos in the Live Oak district.\nThe 1830s and 1840s were a good time for a Spanish boy to grow up in California. Indeed there was plenty of\nhard work to be done, but what young Lorenzana enjoyed most were the weekends in the pueblo. There were\nbear and bull fights which were held in a special ring down on the flats between Branciforte Creek and the San\nLorenzo River, and scrub races along the main street of the pueblo. Gambling on these events was always\nheavy.\nThe horse races attracted many of the young vaqueros from all around the central\ncoast. One who rode over from Monterey was Faustino's cousin Tiburcio Vasquez.\nHe was a superb horseman and always a popular rider during the matches.\nWeekends at the pueblo would invariably feature a fandango complete with it's\nmusic, dancing, drinking, gambling, and general rough-housing. It was a special\noccasion filled with gaiety and merriment where quite often knives were drawn in\nanger as two young men squared off during the course of an argument over a card\ngame or the attentions of a young lady. Pride played a great part in such quarrels.\nTiburcio Vasquez\n\nThe Lorenzanas, like most of the young men of Branciforte, were a rough and\ntumble lot, excitable, sometimes quick to anger, and always seeking an adventure.\n2\n\n�But they were a close knit family who always watched one another's backs and protected their own. Most of\nthe boys found themselves in trouble with the law at sometime. Usually for some petty offense which they\nreceived a small fine or a few days in jail. But the eldest Jose Jesus was arrested twice on assault charges,\nFacundo, a talented musician, for grand larceny and assault, and Juan who served six years in San Quentin for\nthe murder of George Wise at the Refugio Rancho in 1862. But it was Faustino who was to really to make a\nname for himself.\nHis first known brush with the law came in December of 1859, when he was 24 years of age. Sheriff John T.\nPorter was called over to Branciforte to break up a drunken brawl which was taking place at a Saturday night\nfandango. As he stepped in with his pistol at the ready, all of the belligerents backed down except Faustino,\nwho was cursing loudly in Spanish. It was necessary for Porter and his men to jump Lorenzana and drag him\nbodily off to jail. This was to be the only time that he would ever submit to arrest.\nAt the time, the jail was a small wooden building located at the upper plaza near the old Mission. It consisted\nof two cells made of timbers about one foot thick and lined with sheet iron. There were no windows and only\none door, fitted with a large lock. The County did not employ a jailor, so the key to the jail was in the\npossession of a citizen who would take the prisoners out to a restaurant twice a day for their meals.\nWhile awaiting trial, Faustino Lorenzana and two fellow prisoners managed to pick the lock to their cells and\nmake good their escape. After several days of freedom he returned to his family's home at Branciforte where\nhe was recaptured and brought back to jail.\n\nPart II\nWhen the grand jury convened in early February, 1860, an indictment for assault with a deadly weapon was\nfound against him. The Lorenzana family hired the redoubtable Joe Skirm to represent Faustino in court. The\nflamboyant attorney picked apart the indictment, claiming that when it was drawn up the defendant's\nChristian name was incorrectly given, the place where the crime was supposedly committed was not stated,\nnor was the weapon used in the alleged assault described. After these technical points were raised, the court\nhad no other option but to dismiss the charges. Lorenzana was a free man and he would never again see the\ninside of a jail.\nHe then joined a band of horse thieves and cattle rustlers who were working the Monterey Bay area. Their\nnumber included his cousin Tiburcio Vasquez, who had recently emerged from San Quentin where he served a\nterm for grand larceny. They drove their herds of stolen stock down to the southern counties where they were\nsold, and during the return trip they would steal horses and cattle along the way and peddle them here. This\nwas to become Lorenzana's trade mark.\nThe year 1864 found Faustino and Vasquez in the Santa Clara Valley trying their hand at gambling and other\npetty crimes among the miners at the New Almaden mines. On the night of June 4, 1864, they sat in a saloon\nplaying cards when Joseph Pelligrini, a butcher doing business at the Enriquita Mine, walked into the place.\nThe two men could see that the Italian was flush, so when he left the place they followed him home.\nIt was about 11 o'clock, while Pelligrini was preparing to retire for the night when Lorenzana and Vasquez\nbroke into the house. A terrible struggle ensued during which the butcher was shot and stabbed several times.\nThey robbed him of $400 and hurriedly left.\n3\n\n�The following morning the murder was discovered and Santa Clara County Sheriff John Hicks Adams was called\nin. Adams, a very competent lawman, called for an inquest. At the hearing he\nfound that he needed an interpreter because none of those to be questioned\ncould speak English. The only people around who were bi-lingual, were none\nother than Faustino Lorenzana and Tiburcio Vasquez, who they were called upon\nto interpret.\nNeedless to say the inquest found that \"the deceased came to his death from a\npistol bullet fired by some person or persons unknown.\" A few days later, Sheriff\nAdams received information which led him to the conclusion that the murder had\nbeen committed by Lorenzana and Vasquez. But he did not deem the evidence\nsufficient to warrant an arrest and by then Vasquez had moved on to Sonoma\nCounty and Lorenzana returned to Santa Cruz.\n\nJohn Hicks Adams\n\nBack home, Faustino divided his time between Branciforte and Whisky Hill, getting by as best he could. On\nWednesday, February 8, 1865, a fandango was held at the Juan Perez adobe which was located at the end of\nGarfield Street on the east bank of the San Lorenzo River (near the present site of the County Government\nCenter). Among those attending the festivities were the Lorenzana and Rodriguez boys from the pueblo. Also\nthere was 25 year old Juan Arana, who lived in the Live Oak district above the gulch which now bears the\nfamily name.\nDuring the evening a fight broke out between Lorenzana and Arana. The latter pulled out a knife and slashed\nFaustino across the shoulder and arm. Being unarmed, he wisely withdrew vowing revenge upon Arana.\nHowever, he did not have to wait very long to carry out his threat because on the evening of Saturday,\nFebruary 11, he and two other men - his nephew Pedro Lorenzana, and Jose Rodriguez, a neighbor - rode out\nto Arana Gulch and stationed themselves in a grove of trees next to the bridge at the bottom of the gulch.\nTheir plan was to ambush Juan Arana as he returned home after working in the woods.\nPedro was the 18 year old son of Jose Jesus Lorenzana, Faustino's eldest brother. He was a luckless boy who\nwould blindly follow his uncle anywhere and on any adventure. At 15, he had stolen a neighbor's horse to\nattend a dance at Monterey and was subsequently arrested for grand larceny. But Pedro was freed when the\nneighbor refused to press charges.\nThe other man who rode with them that night was Jose Rodriguez, son of Facundo and Guadalupe Rodriguez\nand a grandson of Don Alejandro Rodriguez of Rancho Encinalito. At 18 he was already a handsome, strapping\nlad standing well over six feet tall and weighing about two hundred pounds. He was both strong and smart,\nand in his belt he carried two pistols.\nAt sometime between 8 and 9 o'clock they heard the clatter of horses' hoofs starting across the wooden\nbridge. Peering out from behind their shelter, they were disappointed to see that it was not Juan Arana, but\ntwo yankees who were passing by. So they pulled back and waited. The two riders were John W. Towne,\nCounty Supervisor from the Soquel district, and his brother-in-law, Jack Sloan. As they were crossing the\nbridge their horses were startled upon glimpsing the men in the trees.\n\"Who the hell are you?,” Sloan demanded of the three men.\n\n4\n\n�At this Faustino emerged from the trees, drew his revolver, and fired a warning shot into the air. The report of\nthe pistol sent the American's horses galloping up the hill and out of the gulch.\nThe Californios, realizing that they had now missed their chance at revenge, started back towards Branciforte.\nAfter they had ridden about one hundred and fifty yards they heard a horseman behind them. It was Jack\nSloan.\nWhen Towne and Sloan had finally recovered control over their mounts, they were near the rim of the gulch\nwhere the lower road to Soquel Landing branched off. Then quite unexpectedly, Jack Sloan, a veteran of the\nMexican War, who was unarmed, decided to return. Towne, knowing that his companion was a foul-tempered\nman, tried to persuade him from doing such a rash thing. But Sloan could not be swayed and returned to the\ngulch alone.\nUpon seeing the three men moving along the bottom of the creek bed, Sloan rode up and demanded to know\nwho they were. Getting no response, he began beating them with a coiled lariat, demanding that they identify\nthemselves.\nFinally Faustino turned around with his revolver drawn and replied,\n\"You son of a bitch, I'll kill you anyhow.\"\nBut Sloan grabbed his arm, preventing him from firing.\n\"Help me boys!\", shouted Lorenzana.\nJose Rodriguez was the first one into action. He rode over and shot Sloan twice, once in the chest and once in\nthe arm. The American fell from his horse freeing Lorenzana, who immediately fired a bullet into Sloan's groin.\nIt was a mortal wound and within fifteen minutes he bled to death. The assailants dashed back up the hill\ntowards Branciforte.\n\nPart III\nWord of the killing spread quickly through Santa Cruz and before long there was a large posse in the saddle led\nby Sheriff Ambrose Calderwood and his deputies Albert Jones and Charlie Lincoln. They went out to Arana\nGulch, located the body and sent it back to town while they questioned some of the Californios in the Live Oak\ndistrict. From a farmer living along the Soquel Road, they learned the names of Jose Rodriguez, Faustino\nLorenzana, and Pedro Lorenzana.\n\nAmbrose Calderwood\n\nIn the darkness of night, the posse, by now over a hundred men strong - heavily\narmed and carrying lanterns - rode through Branciforte and stopped at the Rodriguez\nadobe. The angry group was met at the door by Guadalupe Rodriguez. Her husband\nFacundo was away working in the Santa Clara Valley at the time. Behind her stood six\nsmall children, including her three sons, Narciso, Garcia, and Philadelphia. She was\nwell known to the members of the posse. Her maiden name had been Robles. She\nwas a daughter of Jose Antonio Robles, one of the first settlers of Branciforte and\nsister to Avelino and Fulgencio Robles, wild young men who had met their deaths at\nthe end of a gun during an earlier decade. She was a fiercely protective mother who\nhad always pampered her handsome son, Jose.\n5\n\n�She disliked \"gringos\" and on this night she made no attempt to hide it. When they pushed their way into her\nhome, she charged them screaming, swinging, and kicking. Her young children also joined in the assault.\nGuadalupe was bound and carried away to be tried later for attempted murder. Jose, found hiding in the back\nof the house, was also taken and placed in a cell with his mother. It was a sight that the other children would\nlong remember.\nThen the posse went next door to the home of Bernarda Juarez y Lorenzana and searched the adobe for the\ntwo Lorenzanas. Not able find them there, they arrested Bernarda's son Pedro Juarez on the charge of being\nan accessory to murder, claiming that he had helped the men escape.\nThey then continued on up into Blackburn Gulch to the ranch of Mattias Lorenzana just off of Vine Hill Road.\nMattias, a brother of Faustino's, was married to Maria Concepcion Rodriguez, eldest daughter of Facundo and\nGuadalupe Rodriguez. Both were also arrested and hauled away, leaving five small children unattended. But\nno sign of the two killers was found so the posse went back to town.\nMost of the mob was still milling around the plaza when word was received that Faustino and Pedro\nLorenzana had been seen heading out across country towards the beach at San Andreas. Within minutes\nCalderwood and Jones with a dozen hand-picked men were galloping along the Soquel Road in pursuit.\nA short time later they were following the Lorenzana's trail up the beach for about a mile until it veered\nnorthward, striking out across the farmlands. It quickly became obvious that the pair were heading towards\nWhiskey Hill, so the posse hurried on. Later that afternoon they found Pedro Lorenzana hiding in an old adobe\nnear Corralitos. He surrendered without a fight and made a full confession on the\nspot. He was then handcuffed and taken back to Santa Cruz where he joined the\nothers in jail.\nDeputy Jones was dispatched to Whiskey Hill in an attempt to apprehend the other\noutlaw, but he received no cooperation from the residents of the village.\nMeanwhile Faustino had stolen a another horse and on this fresh mount sped\nfurther ahead of his pursuer, so all that Jones got for his trouble was a glimpse of\nhim as he made his escape into the Santa Cruz Mountains.\nThere were seven prisoners now crowding into the small wooden jail up on\nDeputy Albert Jones\nMission Hill. Sheriff Calderwood began to hear all kinds of rumors. Some said that\nan attempt would be made by the local Californios to free the prisoners, while\nothers claimed that the Americans were planning to march on the jail and lynch Rodriguez and Lorenzana. To\nprevent either of these from occurring, the sheriff decided to separate the killers. Jose Rodriguez was sent\nover to the Santa Clara County jail where he would remain until his trial.\nFor the next few months emotions ran high around Santa Cruz County. The local newspapers printed the usual\nnumber of bigoted articles which only served to fan the flames of vigilantism by pointing the finger of\nsuspicion at all \"greasers\" and urging the citizens to do what was necessary to rid the community of\n\"undesirable\" elements. A vigilance committee under the leadership of Watsonville resident Matt Tarpy\nprowled unchecked about the area terrorizing any poor Spaniard who happened to fall into their hands.\nOne day they caught Juan Arana on the Soquel Road and hauled him off of his horse and surrounded him with\nguns drawn.\n6\n\n�\"You're a god damn horse thief!\", growled Tarpy.\nHe looked around at his men and then continued,\n\"He don't look much like the fellow we're after, boys, but let's string him up on general principles\nanyhow, so if anymore horses are stolen nobody can say that this greaser did it, an if he should steal a\nhorse after we let him go we'd be blamed for it. What d'ye say, boys?\"\nArana got down on his knees and begged for his life. In the back of the crowd he spied a man he had known\nfrom childhood. The man implored his fellows to spare the young Spaniard, reasoning that nothing would be\ngained by taking his life. Finally the vigilantes agreed to let him go.\nLawmen from up and down the State were on the lookout for Faustino Lorenzana. On March 18, California\nGovernor Frederick Low authorized a $500 reward for his capture and the County of Santa Cruz upped the\nante by offering a $300 bounty of its own. The $800 total made him the most sought-after bandit in the State\nat the time.\nThe Rodriguez and Lorenzana families languished in jail for almost three months before their trials were finally\nheld during the May Session of the County Court. The first action taken by the jury was to indict Faustino\nLorenzana, Jose Rodriguez, and Pedro Lorenzana for the murder of Jack Sloan. Then Guadalupe Rodriguez was\ntried for assault with intent to commit murder. The Jury found her not guilty after being out for only fifteen\nminutes. Next, Pedro Juarez, charged as an accessory to murder, was tried and acquitted, but an indictment\nfor grand larceny was lodged against him when he was unable to produce a bill of sale for a horse found in his\npossession when arrested. The panel declared him guilty and he was sentenced to a term of three years at San\nQuentin. Finally all of the indictments against Mattias and Concepcion Lorenzana were dismissed on a motion\nby District Attorney Edmund Pew.\nMeanwhile, Pedro Lorenzana sat in his cell and waited as his lawyers were granted one postponement after\nanother. On the night of June 1, 1865, he and another prisoner, a slippery character named \"Jim Bones\" Allen\nescaped from jail by sawing through the bars on the door. Lorenzana escorted Allen safely to the San Jose\nRoad (Graham Hill Road) before he returned willingly to jail.\nAbout two weeks later, the jailor who was sleeping in a small room attached to the jail, was awakened by\nPedro, who was heard rattling the door to his cell and shouting that the jail was on fire. Upon investigation, it\nwas found that indeed the building was burning and the deputy had just enough time to release the\nfrightened inmate before the flames completely consumed the old jail. Sheriff Calderwood suspected arson\nalthough he was never able to find any evidence to support that belief.\nPedro, who was the only prisoner at the time, was locked up in a room on the second floor of the Hugo Hihn\nflat-iron building which was then being used as a temporary courthouse, and an armed guard was posted in\nfront of his door. One of those who was stationed there was Uriah Sloan, brother of the murdered man.\nA few nights later during Sloan's shift a group of hooded men surged up the stairs and overpowered the guard\n- who put up no resistance. The mob broke into Lorenzana's makeshift cell and dragged him down Willow\nStreet to the wharf. They tied a weight to his legs and threw him into the Bay. It was a clean operation, no\nwitnesses and no body.\n\n7\n\n�Part IV\nThe action of the vigilantes may have put an end to Pedro Lorenzana's life, but it also effectively ended the\nmurder case against Jose Rodriguez. They had hushed up the prosecution's only witness so that when his trial\nwas held, the jury found Rodriguez not guilty of the charge of murder without even retiring for deliberations.\nNo witness, no case. But this was not the last that Santa Cruz County was to hear from Jose Rodriguez.\nFollowing his escape from the posse, Faustino Lorenzana lit out for southern San Benito County where he\nwent into hiding near the Panoche Valley in an area known as Vallecitos. This was a favorite hang out for a\nnumber of the Spanish bandido gangs. From there, they could safely raid the ranches on both sides of the\nCoast Range and the San Joaquin Valley, for seldom would a lawman dare to venture into this rugged territory.\nA decade earlier, Joaquin Murrieta had brought his horse gangs to this hideout, and now Tiburcio Vasquez was\na frequent visitor.\nIt was a common practice among these outlaws to assume a gang name or a nickname. So many of them were\nwanted men that it was deemed unwise to use their real names for fear of discovery. The nickname given to\nLorenzana at this time was \"Charole\", said to mean \"the lantern that leads.\"\nHe rode with Vasquez, Procopio, Juan Soto and others throughout the region stealing every head of livestock\nwhich they could get their hands on. A favorite target of the gangs was the Miller and Lux ranch which lay at\nthe foot of the Coast Range. The spread was so large that they did not seem to miss the many dozen heads of\ncattle that the rustlers ran off.\nEven though there was a price on his head, \"Charole\" would sneak back into Santa Cruz from time to time in\norder to visit his family. On these occasions he would usually stay at the ranch of his brother Mattias. During\none such clandestine visit during the fall of 1865, he was holed up in an old cabin on the back side of the\nranch. Sheriff Ambrose Calderwood received an anonymous tip telling him where \"Charole\" could be found.\nWishing to collect the $800 in reward money, he rode up to the outlaw's lair.\nIt was dark by the time he arrived at the ranch and he found that the cabin was not lighted. Calderwood tied\nhis horse to a nearby tree and proceeded to edge his way across the porch. Drawing his pistol, he cautiously\nentered the building. Suddenly Lorenzana pounced on him from out of the darkness and a fierce hand to hand\nstruggle occurred.\nThe sheriff squeezed off one shot before being struck repeatedly with a large knife. The bullet took effect as\n\"Charole\" staggered during the attack. Unable to pull the trigger again, Calderwood swung the barrel again\nand again making contact with his assailant. But the wounded outlaw completely overpowered him, knocking\nhim to the floor, and jamming the knife once more into his shoulder. By the time the lawman got to his feet,\nLorenzana was gone.\nDefeated, Sheriff Calderwood made his way back to town with blood flowing from three deep knife wounds in\nhis body. It would be more than a month before he could get back on the job. The desperate encounter also\nleft him partially blind in one eye.\n\"Charole\" remained in hiding up in the Santa Cruz Mountains while he recovered from the bullet wound in his\nupper arm. His friends and family brought him food and ammunition, and kept him well supplied with\ninformation on the latest movements by the local law enforcement officers. He let his hair grow long and\n8\n\n�disguised himself with a heavy beard. He made an occasional trip down to Vallecitos to sell the horses that he\nwould steal during his raids on the ranches around Santa Cruz and in the Pajaro Valley.\nOn the night of May 17, 1866, he corralled several horses and mules from the residence of the Widow Shearer\nnear Waddell Creek and drove them to his mountain camp above the Laguna district, north of Santa Cruz.\nUpon getting a report of the crime, newly-elected sheriff Albert Jones, who knew Lorenzana by sight, decided\nto try his hand at collecting the reward.\nHe rode up the coast and tracked the bandit for a couple of miles back into the hills. Upon rounding a sharp\nturn in the narrow trail, he was taken by surprise when \"Charole\" suddenly stepped into the path, covering\nhim with a pistol. He ordered the sheriff to throw down his weapon and dismount.\nThe lawman hastily complied with the demands as Lorenzana continued to point the pistol in his direction.\nGrowling that he knew the sheriff was out to get him for the reward money, the desperado warned him never\nto attempt it again.\n\"It is not my intention to be captured!\" he said,\nat the same time acknowledging that he had indeed shot and killed Jack Sloan. Then gathering up the\ndiscarded arms, he brazenly mounted the sheriff's horse and rode away leaving the fortunate, and highly\nembarrassed Al Jones to walk most of the way back to Santa Cruz.\nDuring the summer of 1869, \"Charole\" was leading a gang of horse thieves and cutthroats in the Santa Clara\nValley. One day while driving a herd of stolen horses near the Alviso farm of John O'Hara, he spotted Mrs.\nO'Hara standing in front of the house. On an impulse, he rode up, threw a lasso around her waist, and began\nto drag the hapless woman down the road.\nShe probably would have died except for the fact that her cries for help were heard by her husband who\nhappened to be working in a nearby field. He swiftly jumped on his horse and dashed after them firing as he\nrode. One of the bullets struck Lorenzana in the chest, causing him to drop the rope.\n\"Charole\" beat a hasty retreat down to the Panoche Valley where he quickly recovered from the wound, the\npistol ball lodging under the skin near the breast bone. He moved his operations to Santa Barbara County and\nwent right back to work stealing livestock.\nThese activities quickly gained him the animosity of all the neighboring ranchers, especially that of Juan\nRodrigues of Rancho La Carpenteria. The two men quarreled loudly whenever they met. Lorenzana boasted\nthat he was going to catch Rodrigues alone sometime and kill him.\nDuring the first week of August, 1870, \"Charole\" made one last trip up to the Santa Clara Valley. He returned\ndriving about twenty head of the finest horses he could siphon from herds in the area. However, he didn't\nknow that he was being followed back to Santa Barbara by a detective from San Jose.\nThe lawmen went to the court of Justice Cooley and had a warrant issued for the arrest of Faustino Lorenzana\non a charge of grand larceny. It was then given to Deputy O. N. Ames to attempt to make the arrest.\nEarly in the morning of August 29, 1870, Deputy Ames gathered together a posse of eight men, who armed\nthemselves and set out after their quarry. They had been informed by one of the vaqueros from La\nCarpenteria that the desperado had attended an all night fandango at Montecito about three miles south of\n9\n\n�Santa Barbara. After drinking heavily, he had gone up to a ravine near a ranch known as the \"Grape Vine\" and\npassed out under a tree.\nWhen the posse arrived at the spot he was still asleep, but upon their approach he bolted upright and drew\nthe two pistols that he carried in his belt. A running gun battle ensued as \"Charole\" backed up the ravine for\nabout two hundred yards while exchanging shots with his pursuers. Just as he reached the bushes, he was hit\nsquarely in the head with a bullet and fell over dead.\nLater when the coroner examined the lifeless body, he found that the outlaw had been hit no less then sixteen\ntimes. He was covered with scars from numerous old knife fights and bullet wounds. \"Charole\" was then\nburied in an unmarked grave on the very spot where he had fallen. So it was that Faustino Lorenzana, the\ngreatest of Los Bandidos de Branciforte, died with his boots on, fulfilling his pledge not to be taken alive.\nBut the Lorenzana story does not end here. There is a strange epilogue to this tale which occurred almost\nthirty years after the killing of Jack Sloan at Arana Gulch.\nOn the morning of July 17, 1895, a lady and her daughter, residents of the Live Oak district, were driving their\nbuggy into town. While they were crossing the bridge at the bottom of Arana Gulch they witnessed the\napparition of a man walk across the road and then disappear. Mother and daughter were startled and pale\nwith excitement when they arrived in Santa Cruz and told their story.\nAmong those listening to them describe the man that they had seen and the clothes that he wore was Thomas\nA.Sweeney. Mr. Sweeney had been a member of the Coroner's Jury which had investigated the slaying of Jack\nSloan on February 11, 1865. From their description, he recognized the apparition as the ghost of Jack Sloan.\nThe local newspapers picked up on the story and ran a whole series of front page articles which included\ninterviews with old timers who remembered Sloan and his three killers. It was in one of these articles that \"a\npioneer\" told, for the first time, how the vigilantes had disposed of Pedro Lorenzana.\nOver the intervening years, as the century turned and one generation of Santa Cruzans replaced another, the\nmemories of those exciting events became obscured by the passage of time.\n\nSource\nIt Is Not My Intention to Be Captured. Copyright 1991 Phil Reader. Reproduced with the permission of Phil\nReader. Photographs courtesy of Phil Reader.\n\nIt is the library’s intent to provide accurate information, however, it is not possible for the library to completely\nverify the accuracy of all information. If you believe that factual statements in a local history article are\nincorrect and can provide documentation, please contact the library.\n\n10\n\n�"]]]]]]]]],["collection",{"collectionId":"8"},["elementSetContainer",["elementSet",{"elementSetId":"1"},["name","Dublin Core"],["description","The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/."],["elementContainer",["element",{"elementId":"50"},["name","Title"],["description","A name given to the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"123576"},["text","Santa Cruz History Articles"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"41"},["name","Description"],["description","An account of the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"123577"},["text","Original articles by library staff and by local authors and material from historical books. 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If you believe that factual statements in an article are incorrect and can provide documentation, please contact the library."]]]],["element",{"elementId":"45"},["name","Publisher"],["description","An entity responsible for making the resource available"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"264216"},["text","Santa Cruz Public Libraries\r\n"]]]]]]]],["itemType",{"itemTypeId":"1"},["name","Document"],["description","A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text."],["elementContainer",["element",{"elementId":"7"},["name","Original Format"],["description","If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1893985"},["text","Paper"]]]]]],["elementSetContainer",["elementSet",{"elementSetId":"1"},["name","Dublin Core"],["description","The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. 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Phil Reader, 1991."]]]],["element",{"elementId":"45"},["name","Publisher"],["description","An entity responsible for making the resource available"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1893978"},["text","Santa Cruz Public Libraries"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"40"},["name","Date"],["description","A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1893979"},["text","1991"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"38"},["name","Coverage"],["description","The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1893980"},["text","Santa Cruz (County)"]],["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1893981"},["text","1860s"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"42"},["name","Format"],["description","The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1893982"},["text","Text"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"44"},["name","Language"],["description","A language of the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1893983"},["text","En"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"51"},["name","Type"],["description","The nature or genre of the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1893984"},["text","ARTICLE"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"47"},["name","Rights"],["description","Information about rights held in and over the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1893986"},["text","Copyright 1991 Phil Reader. Reproduced with the permission of Phil Reader. Photographs courtesy of Phil Reader."]]]]]]],["tagContainer",["tag",{"tagId":"37"},["name","Crime and Criminals"]],["tag",{"tagId":"47"},["name","Law Enforcement"]]]],["item",{"itemId":"10000","public":"1","featured":"1"},["fileContainer",["file",{"fileId":"11799"},["src","https://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/files/original/a9f4b29a0e5caf6686912b032a52e70a.jpg"],["authentication","6d8b75d37c0b269cbf1cb75422b24ae2"]]],["collection",{"collectionId":"9"},["elementSetContainer",["elementSet",{"elementSetId":"1"},["name","Dublin Core"],["description","The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. 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See the About section for a list of sources used."]]]],["element",{"elementId":"45"},["name","Publisher"],["description","An entity responsible for making the resource available"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"1840000"},["text","Santa Cruz Public Libraries"]]]]]]]],["itemType",{"itemTypeId":"6"},["name","Still Image"],["description","A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. 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Brett Lytle."]],["elementText",{"elementTextId":"244000"},["text","Source of information: Article on this Website, see link below."]]]],["element",{"elementId":"46"},["name","Relation"],["description","A related resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"244002"},["text","G. Brett Lytle, Professor of Languages"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"47"},["name","Rights"],["description","Information about rights held in and over the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"244005"},["text","This photograph is courtesy of Phil Reader."]],["elementText",{"elementTextId":"244006"},["text","Restrictions on Use"]]]],["element",{"elementId":"49"},["name","Subject"],["description","The topic of the resource"],["elementTextContainer",["elementText",{"elementTextId":"244007"},["text","Fellows, Dick"]],["elementText",{"elementTextId":"244008"},["text","Crime and Criminals-Burglary, Robbery, Larceny"]],["elementText",{"elementTextId":"244009"},["text","Lytle, G. 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