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https://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/files/original/a9f4b29a0e5caf6686912b032a52e70a.jpg
6d8b75d37c0b269cbf1cb75422b24ae2
Dublin Core
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Title
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Photograph Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Photographs from the 1860's to the 2000's, documenting the history of Santa Cruz County.
See the <a href="https://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/restrictions-on-use">About</a><a> sectionfor the library's reproduction policy and restrictions on use.</a>
Various sources were used to identify persons, events, and places. Citations to print sources were abbreviated. See the <a href="https://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/sources-used-to-identify-photographs">About</a><a> section for a list of sources used.</a>
Publisher
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Santa Cruz Public Libraries
Still Image
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Original Format
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B&W
Physical Dimensions
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Unknown
Dublin Core
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/.
Identifier
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LH-pr06
Title
A name given to the resource
Dick Fellows, a.k.a. G. Brett Lytle
Description
An account of the resource
The stage robber Dick Fellows, a.k.a. G. Brett Lytle.
<a href="http://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/sources-used-to-identify-photographs/">Source of information:</a> Article on this Website, see link below.
Relation
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<a href="/omeka/items/show/10953">G. Brett Lytle, Professor of Languages</a>
Rights
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This photograph is courtesy of Phil Reader.
<a href="http://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/restrictions-on-use/">Restrictions on Use</a>
Subject
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Fellows, Dick
Crime and Criminals-Burglary, Robbery, Larceny
Lytle, G. Brett
Publisher
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Santa Cruz Public Libraries
Format
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Image
Language
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En
Type
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PHOTO
Crime and Criminals
Portraits
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https://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/files/original/3a5dcb1beb39511980b0cf93f9d87126.pdf
0787afe609a825f74c2e0124eb4720a3
PDF Text
Text
G. Brett Lytle, Professor of Languages
By Phil Reader
The comic opera bandit, Dick Fellows, holds a special place in the literature of California outlawry, nay, American
outlawry. The uniqueness of his position can be summed up in one word—unsuccessful. His career, also, can easily be
described using one word—folly. He could quite rightly lay claim to being the original Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines.
Not only was he a dismal flop at his chosen profession, that of a stage robber, but horses of all breeds seem to hold him
in utter contempt. The horse was never born that would allow Dick Fellows to ride it and his equestrian endeavors led
him directly to San Quentin on two occasions.
A contemporary analogy would be a bank robber who successfully loots the vault, but during his escape, he falls, breaks
his 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
by hobbling down a busy sidewalk lugging a large sack bearing the bank's label and containing his booty. That scenario
best describes Dick Fellows, the legendary outlaw.
Dick's first attempt at larceny came in 1869, when he unsuccessfully attempted to hold up
the Coast Line stage on the outskirts of Santa Barbara. He was promptly arrested and sent to
prison. While at San Quentin he was given a job at the library which enabled him to educate
himself. He helped organize bible study classes and set himself up as a religious spokesman
for the prisoners.
Fellows convinced the prison officials that he was a changed man who had seen the error of
his ways. On April 4, 1874, he was granted a pardon after serving less than half of his original
sentence and for the next year or so, he managed to stay out of trouble.
During the early part of December, 1875, he learned of a shipment of gold coin, totaling
$240,000, which would be carried by stage through Kern County on the 4th on the month.
The temptation was too great for the born-again Mr. Fellows, so in the company of an
unnamed companion, he hatched a plan to stop the stage.
Dick Fellows,
a.k.a. G. Brett Lytle
It was on this occasion that Dick had his first falling out with a horse. He rented a docile
looking mare from a livery stable at Caliente and set out in pursuit of the stage. As they
pulled within sight of the coach, he urged the horse on to greater and greater speed. The mare was only too happy to
oblige him, as a matter of fact she galloped so fast that she ran right out from under the rider leaving Dick suspended in
mid-air for a brief moment before he plummeted groundward. He sat there in the dust watching his fortune ride off into
the sunset, but the gallant bandit just picked himself up and walked back into town where he found that the mare had
returned to her stable.
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�But Dick Fellows was not the type of man to be easily discouraged. He had another idea: he would rob the northbound
stage out of Los Angeles, which was to pass through Caliente shortly. In order to accomplish this, he needed the
assistance of another horse. So the optimistic brigand stole a saddle-horse from the hitching post in front of a mercantile
store and rode quietly out of town.
About a mile and a half up the road he met the stage coach. Pulling out his pistol, he ordered the driver to halt and
throw down the Wells Fargo treasure box. After the man complied with his demands, Fellows motioned the driver on his
way.
The robber dismounted and began to drag the heavy box back towards the horse. But this unnerved the beast which
also had a will of his own. Upon seeing the man hunched over his burden, it bolted and sped for home at a gallop.
This 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
search of a hiding place. He shuffled along in the darkness until suddenly he fell headlong into a fifteen foot ditch and
broke his left foot and ankle. He managed to pull himself out of the ditch and pushed the box along in front of him until
he found a soft spot in the ground where he dug a hole and buried the chest after stuffing the contents into his pockets.
Dick stumbled onward until he came to a nearby farm, where he managed to steal yet another horse. But by the
following morning a well mounted and well rested posse caught up to him and he was arrested and placed in the Kern
county jail at Bakersfield.
He was tried and sentenced once again to a term at San Quentin. As Dick was waiting to be transported to the prison, he
managed to break out of the jail and effect his escape sporting a new pair of crutches which the county of Kern had so
graciously provided for him.
After hiding in the willows along the Kern River for two days he crept into a farmer's corral and once again stole a horse.
He 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
this horse, too, must have been repelled by the way he looked because it bolted and ran, leaving the stunned outlaw to
stare after it in disbelief. Later that afternoon two posses converged upon the escapee and clapped him back into jail
where he was held under continuous guard until he was returned to San Quentin.
Dick Fellows' second prison term expired in May of 1881. After two months of trying to go straight he was back at
robbing stages, this time he operated in the central coast region between San Luis Obispo and San Jose. By now he was
well known to local lawmen as well as Wells Fargo detectives.
They followed him from holdup to holdup until they finally caught him hiding at a ranch near Mayfield in Santa Clara
County. They put him in the county jail, but the slippery desperado once again managed to escape. However shortly
thereafter he was recaptured at a cabin in the Santa Cruz Mountains and returned to jail.
He was sent to Santa Barbara where he was tried for a number of crimes and found guilty on all counts. He received a
sentence of life in prison.
But Dick Fellows was to have one last hurrah with the four-legged bane of his existence, the horse. As a prelude to this
dreaded event, he made good his escape from the Santa Barbara jail and darted up the street for a couple of blocks until
he came upon a horse that was staked out in the middle of a field, placidly grazing.
In one fell swoop he pulled up the stake, coiled up the rope, and leapt gracefully upon the animal's back. But it was not
meant to be that easy, for unbeknownst to the luckless rider, the beast upon which he now set was suffering from the
effects of locoweed which it had ingested earlier.
Old Dobbin immediately went into action, bucking and thrashing about in a narcotic fit and once again the curse was
visited upon Dick Fellows as he hung suspended in the air for a brief moment prior to plunging back down into the dust,
prostrate and unconscious.
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�He was taken back to the jail and spent the rest of his natural life in prison; far, far away from Equus Caballus, the
hooved devils that were to help put his name in the history books.
One might rightfully ask just what has any of this to do with Mr. G. Brett Lytle, Professor of Languages?
Well, 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
solicitor on the staff of the Santa Cruz Daily Echo, a journal published by B. A. Stephens. From its offices on Pacific
Avenue at the Flatiron building, Lytle visited the local merchants securing advertisers for the newspaper.
He was later remembered as a likable fellow, intelligent and witty. In lieu of payment he was allowed to place an
advertisement in the paper reading
"G. BRETT LYTLE, PROFESSOR OF LANGUAGES, SEEKING PUPILS IN SPANISH."
The endeavor proved ill-advised and fruitless as no one appears to have answered the ad. The reason being, of course,
was that Spaniards made up such a large percentage of the local population and anyone who wanted to speak Spanish
already did.
On July 19, 1881, a stage coach was robbed near Gonzales in the Salinas Valley. Lytle, who happened to be in the area,
telegraphed a detailed account to the Daily Echo. At this point in time, Mr. G. Brett Lytle disappears, but the stage
robberies in the central coast continued for the next several months.
The following year, bandit Dick Fellows was captured by a posse deep in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Boulder Creek
while he was trying to make an escape to the coast. Local residents were surprised to learn that G. Brett Lytle, their
would-be Spanish teacher, and the infamous Dick Fellows were one and the same man. The only attempt that the
outlaw ever made to go straight was on the streets of Santa Cruz.
Sources
•
Condensed from: It Is Not My Intention to Be Captured. Copyright 1991 Phil Reader. Reproduced by permission
of the author. Photograph courtesy of Phil Reader.
The content of this article is the responsibility of the individual author. It is the Library's intent to provide accurate local history
information. However, it is not possible for the Library to completely verify the accuracy of individual articles obtained from a
variety of sources. If you believe that factual statements in a local history article are incorrect and can provide documentation,
please contact the Webmaster.
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Dublin Core
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/.
Title
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Santa Cruz History Articles
Description
An account of the resource
Original articles by library staff and by local authors and material from historical books.
Articles on Santa Cruz County history, many with illustrations, are available here.
The 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.
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.
Publisher
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Santa Cruz Public Libraries
Document
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Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Paper
Dublin Core
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/.
Title
A name given to the resource
G. Brett Lytle, Professor of Languages
Subject
The topic of the resource
Fellows, Dick
Lytle, G. Brett
Crime and Criminals-Burglary, Robbery, Larceny
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Reader, Phil
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Condensed from: It Is Not My Intention to Be Captured, 1991.
Publisher
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Santa Cruz Public Libraries
Date
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1991
Format
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Text
Language
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En
Type
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ARTICLE
Identifier
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AR-003
Coverage
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1880s
Santa Cruz (County)
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright 1991 Phil Reader. Reproduced by permission of the author. Photograph courtesy of Phil Reader.
Biography
Crime and Criminals