The Big House VI: San Quentin State Prison and Los Angeles County Inmates

The April 1855 term of the Los Angeles County Court of Sessions [renamed in 1863 the County Court] included the cases of four men tried for felonies.  One of these José María Fuentes, up on the charge of assault with the intent to commit murder against Santiago Arostes in a shooting affray led , in his trial on the 14th, to a verdict of not guilty.  The other three men, though, were convicted in their in the trials and sent up to San Quentin state prison to serve out their terms.

One trial involved that of Edward J. Welsh, who was charged with committing a robbery against J.P. Owensby, a carpenter who, in 1864-1865 served as Los Angeles marshal.  Welsh was tried on 22 April, found guilty, and was given a three-year prison term.

The other two individuals were Juan Gonzales and Juan Flores, convicted on a grand larceny charge for the theft of three horses valued at $225 from teamster Garnett Hardy.  The trial of Flores and Gonzales was on 14 April and they were convicted and sentenced to three-year terms.

The trio were taken by steamer north to prison and were registered at San Quentin on the 27th, with Welsh as prisoner 612, Flores as 613 and Gonzales as 614.  Welsh, whose occupation was given as a clerk (perhaps Owensby was his employer?) was 32, stood 5'9 1/4" and had a light complexion gray eyes and light (blond?) hair.  He was balding with a scar on his forehead and a number of tattoos, including one of a woman and a star on his right arm, a "savior and cross" on his left, along with "American arm below on left arm."

Gonzales was 27 years old, listed as a laborer, and was 5'7 3/4 " tall.  He had a dark complexion, hazel eyes and dark hair.  He had scars on both hands and a crescent-shaped on one his forehead, as well as a pair of moles on one cheek.  As for Flores, who was just 19 years old and also shown as a laborer, he was 5'9 3/4" tall and had the same skin, hair and eye color as his compatriot, Gonzales.  Flores had scars on his right eye brow and forehead.

Welsh did not serve his full term at San Quentin.  Governor J. Neely Johnson, elected as a candidate of the American Party, or Know-Nothings, who rode a brief wave of populism focused significantly on anti-foreign sentiment, pardoned the convict on 13 February 1857, 22 months into Welsh's term.  No details have been located about the reasons for the release, but typically the governor reviewed petitions offered from persons in the county where the crime and trial occurred.  Usually, friends, family, community leaders and even legal officials, such as a district attorney, presented reasons for the pardon, often based on prior conduct, extenuating circumstances with the case, undue excitement in the community that might lead to pressure for convictions, and the conduct of the prisoner at San Quentin.

The San Quentin state prison register listings for prisoners 612-614, being Edward J. Welsh, Juan Gonzales, and Juan Flores, 27 April 1855.  Welsh was pardoned by Governor J. Neely Johnson less than two years later, while Flores and  Gonzales escaped in October 1856.  Flores formed a gang that committed the heinous murders of several people, including Los Angeles County Sheriff James R. Barton and a small posse, in early 1857.  Flores was then lynched after being captured trying to flee the area.  Gonzales, whose whereabouts after escaping are not known, was recaptured and returned to San Quentin in July 1857, as noted on the register.  Click on the image to see it in an expanded view in a separate window.

As for Flores and Gonzales, they, too, had an early release--just not an official one.  San Quentin was operated by private contract and its lessee in 1856 was J.M. Estell, whose management of the prison was, at best, questionable.  One frequent use of prisoners was a very liberal application of the "trusty" system, in which convicts were allowed off site to do work for the prison or for locals who made arrangements with Estell and his staff for convict labor.

When the legislature in early 1857 convened hearings into Estell's (mis)management of San Quentin, they heard testimony from guard captain George W. Wells about frequent escapes, involving dozens of prisoners.  In one instance, Wells testified that

Francisco Abano, Jose Somerano [Zamorano], Ramon Miramontez [Miramontes], Juan Gonzalis [Gonzales] and Juan Flores escaped by overpowering and disarming the guard on a scow going for red wood to burn kiln [for prison purposes].  Fred. W. Russell was the only guard on the scow; the scow was near the mouth of a creek; they landed and escaped.  Baldwin, one of the guards, had previously landed.  They were lock-up prisoners.

This was 8 October 1856.  Within a short time, Flores made his way down to Los Angeles and joined forces with Francisco "Pancho" Daniel, Andres Fontes (an "Andrew Fontes" escaped in 1856 with Wells stating "[I] think he stowed away in an unburnt kiln" near the prison) and others.

Known as the Flores-Daniel Gang, the group committed robberies and the murder of a San Juan Capistrano merchant before slaughtering Los Angeles County sheriff James R. Barton and an undermanned posse in present-day Irvine.  The vengeful aftermath has been recounted here in significant detail and a new article by this blogger on the topic has just been published in Orange Countiana, the annual publication of the Orange County Historical Society.

For more on the article, the publication and the Society, click here.

Gonzales, apparently, went his own way after breaking out of confinement with Flores, as he did not show up in a list of gang members published in the Los Angeles Star on 7 February 1857.  Notably, when Flores was captured by a posse watching Simi Pass northwest of Los Angeles, he gave the name "Juan Gonzales Sánchez" to his captors, though the ruse was quickly seen through.

Whatever Gonzales did with himself in the months following his escape, he was captured and returned, with the San Quentin register entry reading "brot [sic] back July 24/57."  It is not known whether he served his original three-year sentence and was released or given additional time because of his escape.

The rash of prison breaks under Estell's tenure led to an interesting statement by Alexander Bell, a member of the San Quentin Board of Directors.  In a statement forwarded to the legislature during its hearings, Bell wrote

You, gentlemen, no doubt recollect the geographical position of the southern counties, particularly San Diego, Los Angeles and San Bernardino.  Exposed as they have been, not only to the ravages of a horde of robbers, thieves and murderers, who have been headed by escaped convicts, but the peculiar locality has invited all renegades; and to add to this is the misfortune of having had no rain for nearly twelve months past, Los Angeles and San Diego counties have been made the receptacle of two thirds of the villains who had left the Northern portion of the State, and as my home has been in the lower country [italics added], I desire in the discharge of my duties to particularly direct your attention to this matter.

Bell's mention of having lived in southern California is interesting because he might be the Alexander Bell, who came to Los Angeles in 1836 and was a prominent merchant for many years and whose nephew, Horace, has been covered extensively in this blog.  In any case, Bell's statement is notable for its reference to a common complaint uttered by "settled" Angelenos--that a great deal of the crime committed in Los Angeles was by "outsiders" such as the Flores-Daniel Gang that he clearly references.

Estell's contract was soon terminated and management of San Quentin handled directly by the state, as it has been ever since.  Convict escapes definitely lessened, although conditions in the prison, which were notorious may have improved only somewhat.

Check back here soon for more stories involving Los Angeles County convicts at San Quentin!

The Big House V: San Quentin State Prison and Los Angeles County Inmates

In the late January through mid-February 1855 term of the Los Angeles County Court of Sessions, three men were convicted of serious felonies warranting incarceration at San Quentin State Prison.

Clark Judson, a 21 year old native of Indiana, was sent up for grand larceny in the thirf of two steers from John R. Evertsen (who may be best known as the enumerator for the grossly undercounted 1850 federal census, actually taken in early 1851 and which was significantly improved upon by the state's only census taken in mid-1852).

Judson's trial was completed on 13 February and he was given five years. The following day Manuel Bojorquez and Enrique Cayetano had their day in court.  Bojorquez, who was 25 and a naive of Mexico, was up for a robbery charge, accused of stealing a pistol worth $40 from Jesus Soto.  Cayetano, a native of California who was just 17 years of age, was in the dock because of an assault with the intent to kill an Indian named Benigno by stabbing.  Bojorquez was given a five-year term, while Cayetano was sent up for three.

The trio were escorted up to San Quentin from Los Angeles by ship and were registered at the prison on 24 February.  Judson became prisoner 566 and was listed at 5'7 1/2" with a fair complexion, gray eyes and light (presumably, blond) hair.  He had scars on his forehead and the back of one hand as well as on a finger.  Bojorquez, prisoner 567, was 5'8" with a dark complextion and black hair and eyes.  He had a scar between his eyebrows and a mole on the corner of his right eye.  Cayetano was just under 5'4" and also was dark complexioned with black hair and eyes. He had scars on his right eyebrow, the bridge of his nose and between the thumb and forefinger of his left hand and a mole on his left cheek.

The register at San Quentin State Prison recorded the arrival on 24 February 1855 of convicts 566-568, being Clark Judson, Manuel Bojorquez and Enrique Cayetano.

Their fates could not have been more different.  Judson, even though he was within seven months or so of his release, escaped from custody on 3 July 1859 while he was boarding a newly built schooner called the "William Hicks" presumably to do some work "off campus" as a "trusty" [someone who was allowed more freedom, ostensibly because of good behavior.]

This break involving several prisoners was just about a week after a massive escape attempt involving over 40 convicts took place--one of them being the notorious bandit Tiburcio Vásquez. In fact, escapes were all-too-frequent in the early years of San Quentin. Judson's taste of freedom lasted a couple of months, but he was tracked down, captured and returned to prison on 14 September.  Notably, no time was added to Judson's sentence and he was released on schedule on 15 February 1860.

Bojorquez, however, was only at San Quentin about seven months when he died on the last day of September 1855.  Nothing has been located about the cause of death, though conditions at the prison were such that death from an illness is a strong possibility.  As for Cayetano, he quietly served out his term and was discharged as scheduled on 14 February 1858.

Speaking of escapes, the next entry in "The Big House" series will focus on three convicts sent up from Los Angeles County in April 1855, two of which escaped and one of these led a criminal gang that, in early 1857, killed Los Angeles County Sheriff James R. Barton and three members of a posse he formed to hunt the gang.

The Big House IV: San Quentin State Prison and Los Angeles County Inmates

The fifth Los Angeles County resident sent up "to the big house" at San Quentin State Prison was Atanacio Moreno, who arrived at the facility on 10 April 1854, and whose story was told here in an April post.

Moreno was followed by an Indian named Juan Chapo, who was delivered to San Quentin on 4 August.  Juan Chapo was tried before the District Court on a charge of manslaughter because, as recorded in the diary of that court's jurist, Benjamin Hayes, he was "indicated for killing an Indian woman.  He was in a deep state of intoxication at the time.  It occurred at Mr. Jno Roland's."

This was the ranch of John Rowland, owner of some 24,000 acres comprising half of the massive Rancho La Puente in the eastern San Gabriel Valley.  Rowland had a large population of Gabrieleño Indians working for him and Juan Chapo was undoubtedly one of the ranch's laborers.

The register listing for prisoner #414 at San Quentin State Prison, Juan Chapo, a Gabrieleño Indian who pled guilty to killing Anselma, an Indian woman, during a drunken state and sentenced to one year and a $1 fine based on "an excellent character."  Click on the images to see them enlarged in separate windows.

Hayes did not provide any further information concerning the circumstances of the killing of the woman, named as Anselma in court documents, but he did note that "an excellent characer [was] proved for him."  Consequently, Hayes went on, "the Court sentenced him to one year in the state prison" after Juan Chapo pled guilty.  Strangely, Hayes also pronounced a fine of $1.

It is also notable that, in the San Quentin register, there is no occupation listed nor are there the physical descriptions of heights, complextion, and color of eyes and hair usually given.  The only other notation was that Juan Chapo was discharged a couple of weeks early on 22 July 1855 and then faded from history.

The other prisoner confined at San Quentin around this time was a notable character in Los Angeles:  José Serbulo Varela.  Varela was from an old, established family in town, dating back to its early Spanish-era period.  During the Mexican-American War, he served in the Californio forces defending the town and region against the American invasion.

In 1846, when a cadre of Americans, who gathered for mutual protection at the Rancho Santa Ana del Chino's adobe home of its owner Isaac Williams, on what is now the grounds of Boys Republic, a troubled youth facility in Chino Hills, were captured, there was a serious consideration of executing the group.  This included the John Rowland mentioned above, as well as prominent Angeleno Benjamin D. Wilson, namesake of Mount Wilson, and others.

Varela, however, refused to consider the idea and told his fellow Californios that they would have to kill him before trying to take out revenge against the American prisoners, who were held for a substantial period before finally being released.  From that point forward, Varela, it was said, was held in the highest esteem by Americans, to the point that, whenever he fell afoul of the law, which was often, he was invariably bailed out and released.

Jose Serbulo Varela, a hero to many Anglos for his defense of Americans captured at the Battle of Chino and threatened with summary execution in 1846 during the Mexican-American War, was convicted of perjury and sentenced to a year at San Quentin, registering as prisoner #400.  Varela was found murdered in an irrigation ditch in 1860.

Charged for petty larceny and perjury in a crime against Santiago Feliz, of the family which owned the Los Feliz Rancho northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Varela was acquitted of the larceny charge, but convicted of perjury, evidently in his sworn statement of what took place in the matter with Feliz.

On 16 June 1854, he was sentenced to a year at San Quentin and registered ten days later as prisoner #400.  The 5'5 1/2" Varela, listed as 41 years of age and with dark complexion, hair and eyes and with the occupation as a laborer, served out his term and was discharged, presumably on or just before 26 June 1855.

Varela, who was said to be a drunkard, continued to attract trouble, but was always put out on his liberty because of his conduct at Chino, until his luck ran out in September 1860, when he was stabbed to death and his body found in the zanja madre (the mother ditch used for irrigation in town) at Los Angeles.

The Remarkable Story of Atanacio Moreno

Even for the incredibly violent years of the first half of the 1850s in Gold Rush-era Los Angeles, the story of Atanacio (sometimes given as Anastacio) Moreno stands out.  His tale, though, is one that is part factual and part suppositional, though all of it is interesting.

Moreno, a native of Sonora, Mexico, came to Los Angeles at an unknown date and established himself as a merchant.  According to Horace Bell, whose memoirs Reminiscences of a Ranger and the posthumous On the Old West Coast, have to be taken with many grains of salt, Moreno went bankrupt in August 1853.

Meanwhile, in late July, it was alleged that the famed and feared bandido, Joaquin Murrieta, was killed by a posse in San Benito County in the north.  According to two accounts of the semi-mythical Murrieta, the early months of 1853 found the bandit chieftain and his henchmen committing a series of robberies and murders in Calaveras County in the heart of California's gold fields.

At Yaqui Camp, near the town of San Andreas, an attempt was made in mid-January 1853 to round up a posse to capture Murrieta and his gang, led by Charles H. Ellis, said to have been the deputy sheriff of the county.  According to The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta, the Celebrated California Bandit, a fanciful account published in 1854 and penned by Yellow Bird (John Rollin Ridge), Ellis (spelled Ellas in the book) only had a single volunteer

He found no one at all prepared to accompany him but a Mexican merchant in the place named Atanacio Moreno, a man who was worth money, and stood well in the community.  Unsuspected by Ellas, the man secretly belonged to the band of Joaquin Murieta, or I should rather say, to the tremendous organization that that bold chieftain had established throughout the country.  

Yellow Bird went on to state that Moreno had assisted Ellis in capturing a horse thief and supplied him with information and men and horses in other posse activities, though this was, evidently, only because Moreno had conflicts with those who were pursued.  The account went on to say that, after Moreno's assistance led to no results when it came to finding Murrieta

It became known before a great while, for a certainty, that this man was a scoundrel, and leaving the country in a few weeks after his connection with Joaquin was discovered, he joined Sena [Senate], a petty robber of some note in the south.

Meanwhile, a later account, Walter Noble Burns' The Robin Hood of El Dorado, which appeared in 1899, stated the situation with Moreno in Yaqui Camp a little differently.  While noting that Moreno was supposedly the only one to respond to Ellis' call for assistance, Burns offered some details on him:

He was an impressive looking man, tall and rather stout, a smooth and voluble talker, and of manners suave and ingratiating.  This obliging person came forward with an offer to guide the deputy sheriff to the exact spot at which Murrieta could be found.  The offer surprised Ellis but he could not doubt the good faith of so distinguished a citizen.

Burns wrote that Murrieta was standing just a few feet away incognito, while Moreno offered his assistance to Ellis and went on to note that, "Atanacio Moreno was a merchant and quite prosperous.  Also he was Murrieta's spy and secret agent and at times took personal part in the murderous crimes of the outlaws."

What followed in the account was dialogue purportedly uttered by Moreno and Ellis regarding the assistance offered by the former to the latter.  After slogging through mountains and forests for some forty miles, however, Murrieta was nowhere to be found and only then, apparently, did Ellis realize that "Moreno had made fools of them."  Evidently, Burns went on,

Moreno had need of all his eloquence and adroitness to argue them out of stringing him up to a tree, but, in the end, they gave him the benefit of the doubt and let him off with his life.  Upon his return to Yaqui Camp, Moreno hurriedly packed his effects and left for parts unknown, and was never seen in that region again.

Bell, meanwhile, only stated that Moreno's store was "the first commercial failure in Los Angeles" but does not indicate when he arrived in Los Angeles to set up shop.  Bell did write that, "Moreno was a tall, straight, fine appearing white man, belonged to the best blood of Sonora, and up to the time of his disappearance stood well in society, and was highly respected."  But, after his store collapsed, Moreno vanished.

According to Bell, a crime wave washed through Los Angeles in the last part of 1853 and that, after news of Murrieta's death reached town, fears were stoked "that the frightened bandits [from Murrieta's gang] were making their way southward."  Moreover, the animated chronicler continued, "the excitement and alarm was fearful, the city was actually in a state of siege, business was at a standstill, and so October passed and November set in."

On the evening of 7 December, Los Angeles constable (Bell wrote that he was the city marshal and indicated the incident happened months before in August) John "Jack" Wheelan, a veteran of the Mexican-American War who came to California with Stevenson's New York Regiment of volunteers and who was just elected to his position in September, went to what was called the "Sonora camp" near the zanja, or water ditch--this was almost certainly what became Sonoratown on the north end of town--to serve a warrant on the charge of murder against Gabriel (a.k.a. Jesús) Senate.  Senate stabbed Wheelan through the heart, killing the constable.

Despite a search by Sheriff James Barton, the Los Angeles Rangers citizen militia and others, Senate escaped.  The 10 December edition of the Los Angeles Star observed that "the assertion has often been made, that Sonorean thieves and murderers are harbored and assisted in our midst" and the paper charged that "circumstantial complicity" was manifested by some twenty others who stood by as Senate killed Wheelan.

The paper also reported that there was so much anger and excitement generated by Wheelam's death that there was talk of attacking "the whole mixed race" among the Sonorans, but that cooler heads prevailed, even if "a single word" might set off a mob offensive.  Typically, Horace Bell claimed that any vigilante committee action was halted because“the bad characters were evidently in the majority, and might turn out and banish the committee and their backers.”

In that same issue of 10 December, Sheriff Barton advertised for a $500 reward was offered for the delivery of Senate, either alive and brought to the county jail, "or the same price for his head, if killed, by any person attempting to arrest him."  In a 1929 book of selected diary entries of District Court Judge Benjamin Hayes, the jurist tried to prevent Barton from advertising the reward because he was concerned about vigilantes taking advantage of the situation.

A short article about the robbery and rape committed at the home of Martin and Josefa Lelong from the 28 January 1854 edition of the Los Angeles Star as reprinted in the San Francisco Alta Calfornia on 5 February.  Retrieved from the California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographical Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside. Click on any image to see them in enlarged views in a new window.

Still, weeks went by with no sign of Senate.  On 20 January 1854, a gang of "six Mexicans" robbed Martin Lelong of a little more than $50, as well as rings, earrings, two watches, a horse and other personal property and then raped Lelong's Californio wife, Josefa Alanís.  According to Horace Bell, who only referred to the victim as a "Frenchman" and his wife, this happened the prior November just after the robbing of the "grand opening ball" of the first brothel opened by outsiders--these being "fair and frail sisters from San Francisco."  Bell also claimed the number of robbers was a dozen, so his accuracy, as noted in this blog several times before, is to be questioned.

In any case, on the 25th, shock, surprise and delight greeted the news that Senate and Juan Burgos, alleged to have bragged that he was Joaquin Murrieta (others evidently did so throughout California), had been killed, their corpses delivered to Sheriff Barton and the bodies quickly buried.  The Star's edition of the 28th, however, noted that, while some of the story it related could be corroborated, some of it "lacks confirmation."

What then followed was the statement that Senate and Burgos, accompanied by several other men, invited four young men to join them at a dance, but actually perpetrated the outrage at Lelong's house.  After decamping to a nearby rancho, part of the gang left for other locales, leaving the four youths with Senate and Burgos.  When the latter proposed killing two Americans at the ranch, the quartet balked and, according to the story, "the four referred to, finally killed Senate and Burgos."

The response in Los Angeles was that "the death of these two villains caused universal joy to our citizens."  The paper concluded by noting that Senate and Burgos were "desirous of emulating the exploits of Joaquin."  Only later did it emerge that Atanacio Moreno was involved to the extent that he drove the wagon into town with the bodies of Senate and Burgos and claimed he had killed them—and then claimed his reward.

According to Bell, Moreno claimed he had been kidnapped by the two and that he killed them in the course of escaping.  Bell also stated that the reward was $1500, not the $500 that Barton actually advertised.

Judge Hayes, in his diary of 25 January, wrote "To-day Senate and Borghias, two assassins, are brought in dead . . . they were killed by one of their companions in the late robbery of Lelong, Atanacio Moreno, a bankrupt merchant who joined the remnants of the Murrieta gang . . . they were delivered at the jail by the stepfather of Manuel Marquez, and the reward paid."

Then, on 8 February, Moreno was arrested, as reported in the Star three days later:

Atanacio Moreno, the man who killed Senate, was arrested in this city . . . on Wednesday, he was in the act of trading in a watch, which was recognized as the one recently sold to Mr. Lelong.  Atanacio was taken before Justice Dimmick, where Mr. Lelong identified the watch, and also the shirt the prisoner had on, as the property taken by the robbers in the recent attack upon his house.  He also testified that Atanacio was a leader in that affair—that he threatened him with a drawn sword, if he made any noise, and took the watch with his own hands.

Moreno was indicted in February, remained in jail for about two months until his trial on 5 April on two indictments, one for the robbery against Lelong and another for grand larceny in the theft of a horse from the Los Angeles Rangers.  This case is one of the few in the surviving court records of the era that has a great deal of material remaining in the folder, including testimony offered at trial.  Moreno was convicted on both counts and sentenced to 10 years for the Lelong robbery and 5 years for the Rangers grand larceny.

Judge Hayes had a notable statement to make in his scrapbooks, which now reside at the Bancroft Library at the University of California in Berkeley, about Moreno:

No courts and juries may have charity for one they believe to be a criminal.  But, charity is a Heavenly feeling that cannot approve iniquity.  We may lament the fate of one who has forfeited the noble privileges of the citizen.  While we pity him in his fallen condition, we must not forget, that the interests of society need also our sympathy and our care and that they depend, for their preservation, less even upon the character of our laws, than upon the fidelity with which they are administered.

When Hayes imposed sentence on the convicted man, the judge recorded in his diary on the 5th that "he took the sentence with perfect composure."

Atanacio Moreno's registration at San Quentin State Prison, 10 April 1854.  Retrieved from Ancestry.com

On the 10th, Moreno arrived at San Quentin and was registered as prisoner 362.  The 24-year old convict listed himself as a merchant, though one indication of his other profession was indicated by the fact that he had a "scar on right leg from Gun Shot."

Yet, Moreno proved to be a model prisoner in what was nothing less than a hellhole.  In his 1859 state of the state address to the legislature, Governor John Weller had much to say about San Quentin, in terms that are not much different than what is often sad today about California's penal system and large prison popluation.

First, he noted there were nearly 600 prisoners in a facility that was built to hold half or less, stating that  "until additional buildings are provided, so as to separate these convicts and classify them, that institution must stand a disgrace to the State—a disgrace to humanity."  Moreover, he continued,

Unless something is done speedily to provide for the accommodation of this army of convicts, the Executive may be compelled to pardon some of them, with a view to their transportation beyond the State.  The law of self-preservation may compel me to throw them upon other communities.

As for pardons, Weller stated that "these petitions are oftentimes numerously signed by respectable citizens, and occasionally pressed by the streaming tears of broken-hearted kindred."  He added that he turned down 20 such cases in the past year, as well as all four of the petitions for commutations of death sentences.  Although not required to, the governor stated his reasons for using his power of the pardon, highlighting "the record in each case, closely examined, and the facts, rather than the character or number of the petitioners . . . I have neither stopped to count the number or consult public sentiment."

In these lights, Weller decided to pardon Moreno in May 1858, noting that

during that time [of incarceration--about 4 years] the officers certify that he had behaved with great propriety, and given evidence of reformation.  His conduct, prior to conviction, was bad.  I therefore pardon him, however, upon the express conditions 1. That he be placed on a vessel immediately bound for Mexico, and never return to this State. 2.  That if he land in California after he is placed on the vessel, he shall forfeit all the privileges and immunities conferred by the pardon. 3. That his friends shall execute and deliver a satisfactory bond in the sum of $3000, for the performance of these conditions . . .

The governor also noted that the petitioners claimed that the "term of conviction being extraordinary, for such an offence.  That the time of conviction was at a period when prejudice ran high, and sentences were no commensurate with offences."  It was also stated that Moreno was only 20 when sent up to prison (again, his registration shows him as 24), but that "his confinement, which has already lasted four years is, in the opinion of your petitioners, reason sufficient for the exercise of Executive clemency."

The petitioners included two trial jurors, R.D. Sheldon and Antonio Franco Coronel, Los Angeles mayor in 1853 and later a legislator and state treasurer, as well as Sanford Lyon, J.W. Halsey, Timothy Wolfskill and Francisco P. Ramirez, then proprietor of El Clamor Público, Los Angeles' Spanish-language newspaper.  Judge Hayes wrote in his diary that Moreno's mother started the petition and perhaps she lobbied for it from Mexico and had parties in Los Angeles take up her cause.

Yet, within five years of his pardon, presuming he did go to Mexico as ordered by Weller, Moreno made his way back to Los Angeles.  If his "propriety" and "evidence of reformation", as cited by the governor, were legitimate, they were not long lasting.

On 5 December 1863, during a flurry of criminal activity and a corresponding "cleaning of the calaboose" by vigilantes, who hung several men during November and December, Moreno was tried and convicted in the Court of Sessions (renamed the County Court the following year) on a charge of grand larceny for stealing a horse from Jesse Stark.  He received a sentence of ten years at San Quentin and checked in there on the 11th as prisoner 2651.  Notably, he was listed as being 39 years old, though if his age during his first term was correct, he should have been 33.

Moreno's second registration at San Quentin, 11 December 1863.  Also from Ancestry.com.

While Horace Bell wrote that Moreno was again pardoned in 1867, this was not true.  His second San Quentin registration shows that Moreno was discharged in February 1872, after serving a little over 8 years.

Not long after Moreno's release from his second stint in prison, Star publisher Benjamin C. Truman wrote of early Los Angeles crimes and told a version of the Moreno story that may have been fed to him by Bell or vice-versa.  As reprinted in an 1889 Los Angeles County history, Truman's version stated that "Luis Bulvia [Burgos]" was a lieutenant of Murrieta, who drifted south after Joaquin was killed and brought "a remnant of Murrietta's gang."  In Los Angeles, then "they were joined by Atanacio Moreno, a bankrupt merchant, who in the reorganization of the party was elected captain, Senati being a member of the same."

Truman repeated the story of the migrant prostitutes and their party, though he wrote that it was in 1854, which would square with the Lelong incident.  In Truman's telling, though, "Moreno, with his gang, numbering eighteen men, swopped down upon the scene . . . and relieved every man and woman of all the valuables they had about them."  They then proceeded to Lelong's house "and robbed it of the most thorough and systematic manner; after which they committed an outrage too horrible for recital."

Truman added more robberies of "several houses" and claimed the gang "carried off a number of Mexican girls," incidents not stated at the time.  Then "a deputy city marshal" was killed by "Senati" and a $1500 reward offered for the murderer, dead or alive.  Later, the city jailer was greeted by Moreno with the dead bodies of "Bulvia" and "Senati," though again, the reports in the paper stated that it was another man who delivered the corpses.

But, then, after Moreno received the reward, this account continued, Moreno "was the lion of the town, and lived royally upon his blood-money."  When he went to the store of Charles Ducommun, however,and tried to sell Lelong's watch, the merchant went to the Los Angeles Rangers and Moreno was arrested by Marshal William Getman.

Truman then offered details not previously reported about how Moreno killed Burgos and Senate, stating that "he and Senati were left along in camp, all the other members of the gang having left on a scout.  While Senati was cleaning his saddle, Moreno blew his brains out."  Before Moreno could get Senate's corpse ready for transport to Los Angeles, Burgos heard the short and "returned to camp and asked the meaning of it.  Moreno told him that Senati's pistol had gone off accidentally."  When Burgos asked where Senate was and Moreno informed him that Senate was asleep, Burgos lifted a blanket covering the dead man's face, at which "Moreno completed his murderous work by plunging a sword blade through his heart!"

Another interesting tidbit offered in the 1889 history was that "the bodies of Senati and Bulvia were buried on Mariposa Hill, where they were disinterred in 1886 when exacavations were made for the present county jail.  Their bones were carted to the city's dumping grounds."

Horace Bell, however, claimed that Moreno was "tempted by cupidity," whatever that means, and that Senate was killed first by the sword and then Burgos shot.  The noise brought three other gang members to the camp were they were "treacherously murdered in detail," though Bell left out those details!  He also claimed that Moreno confessed to being the captain of the bandit band, with Senate and Burgos being his lieutenants and that he led the raids on the brothel and the home of the Lelongs.  Moreover, Bell asserted that Moreno attempted an escape from San Quentin with a San Francisco forger "but disgracefully failed, and [they] were severely punished."

Not only are these statements totally uncorroborated or false--Governor Weller's pardon makes it clear that Moreno was well-behaved while behind bars at San Quentin.  If there had been any escape attempt in 1855, a pardon three years or less from then would clearly have been impossible.  And, of course, Bell's assertion that Moreno received a second pardon in 1867 is another indication of how Bell's talent for a good story has to be measured by what else can be learned about the stories!

As for Moreno, he disappeared after his second release from prison in early 1872 and was lost to history, but his tale is one of the more interesting ones in a fascinating era of early American-era Los Angeles' criminal justice history.

The Big House III: San Quentin State Prison and Los Angeles County Inmates

The third and fourth convicts from Los Angeles County sent up to San Quentin State Prison were Firman Valdez (July 1853) and Jose A. Rodriguez (March 1854).

Valdez was tried before the county judge and two associate justices at the Court of Sessions on 2 June 1853 on the charge of assault with the intent to kill in the stabbing of Jesus Parada.  The Los Angeles Star of the 8th only noted that, "the Court of Sessions met on Monday, and passed sentence upon Firman Valdez, convicted of assault with intent to kill; one year in the State prison.

The "Register and Descriptive List of Convicts Under Sentence of Imprisoment in the State Prison of California" lists Valdez as prisoner number 233.  Arriving on 10 July, Valdez was described as 5'7" with a dark complexion and black hair and eyes.  He had a scar across his left cheek and nose, a stiff  left hand, and a "scar from a bullet on left arm and left side."  Clearly, Valdez had been in a number of fights in this lifetime!

The "Register and Descriptive List of Convicts Under Sentence of Imprisonment in the State Prison of California" at San Quentin lists prisoner 233, Firman Valdez, sentenced to a year for an assault with the intent to kill (incorrectly listed as "murder") in a case from Los Angeles County.  Click on either image to see them enlarged in a separate window.

The 40-year old laborer, a native of Mexico, was listed as being convicted of murder, though this clearly was an error.  For one thing, a murder conviction would have brought a death sentence and a hanging back in Los Angeles, instead of the one-year term for the assault to commit murder.  He evidently served his full term, because the comments section on the list merely reads "Discharged" with no date given.

On 22 February 1854, Jose A. Rodriguez, charged with an assault with the intent to kill Francisco Machado, was convicted in case 161 om the District Court, presided over the Judge Benjamin Hayes, with the lesser charge of assault with the intent to commit bodily harm and sentenced to a term of one year in prison.

However, on the complaint of county jailer George Whitehorne, Rodriguez and Manuel Garcia were defendants in the next case, number 162, held on 24 February at the Court of Sessions, with the charge of setting fire to the county jail.  Notably, the jury found both men not guilty of this crime.

Legal proceedings having ended, Rodriguez was sent up to San Quentin, arriving on 15 March.  Recorded as prisoner 347, he was identified as a 23-year old vaquero, a California native, and as 5'4 and 3/4" with a dark complextion and dark (presumably black) hair and eyes.

This is the San Quentin register listing for prisoner 347, Jose A. Rodriguez, committed for an assault to commit bodily harm (incorrectly listed as "assault to murder") in a case from Los Angeles County.

Again, the listing of his crime was in error, because he was shown as being convicted of "Assault with attempt to commit murder," rather than the "intent to commit bodily harm" which was reflected on his District Court case envelope.

The physical description of Rodriguez included scars on the right side of his nose, on his left ear and on the right waist, but also "an indentation on right side of head," which leads to the question of how that physical feature was created.

The next two convicts sent up to San Quentin from Los Angeles County oin 1854 were notable figures for very different reasons, so check back for the next installment of "The Big House."

The Big House II: San Quentin State Prison and Los Angeles County Inmates

In April 1853, the second and third Los Angeles County prisoners to become inmates at San Quentin State Prison (and the 195th and 196th overall) were shipped up and admitted to the new facility.

Henry King and Juan, an Indian, were both tried in the Court of Sessions, presided over by the county judge and two associates selected from among the justices of the peace in the townships outside Los Angeles.

King was under indictment for grand larceny against a person or persons unidentified in the surviving court docket and was convicted on 6 April.  He was sentenced to two years at San Quentin.  Juan, was convicted of the rape of Juana Ybarra, on the following day, the 7th.  Although the docket does not indicate sentence, the San Quentin register recorded it as eight years.

A 38-year old native of Pennsylvania, King's occupation was millwright, which traditionally meant someone who was involved in the construction of water or wind mills, but who could also have done work on textile mills, agricultural machinery and other types of work involving the use of machinery in production.  The 5'5" convict was described as having scars on his chin and neck near his throat, as well as both legs and two warts on his right hand.

Juan was a 21-year old, 5' 5 1/4" in height, and described as having a "broad nose, thick lips, scar right side of nose, large scar on head."  His occupation was "vaquaro" or vaquero.

Notably, while King was listed as having been discharged, though with no specific date, Juan had no such comment in his listing, leading to the question of what happened to him.

The San Quentin State Prison register page showing inmates 195 and 196, Juan, an Indian and Henry King, both sent up from Los Angeles for convictons on 6-7 April 1853 and processed on the 16th.  From Ancestry.com

King's crime of grand larceny was among the most common found in both the San Quentin register for Los Angeles County-based inmates and in the surviving county court records.

In a review of over 1,200 court cases between 1850 and 1875, it was found that larcenies (including grand, which involved over $50 in property value, and petit [petty] for less than that amount) constituted about one-third of all crimes.

The San Quentin register of Los Angeles County-based convicts showed that almost half of the 168 men sent there prior to 1865 were sent there because of grand larcenies.  For the total of 354 to the end of 1875, the number was about 45%.

Rape, the crime for which Juan was found guilty, was, however, far less frequent.

Only 11 of the 354 Los Angeles County inmates at San Quentin were there for rape convictions, forming but 3% of the total.  Of course, it has to be stated that rape was almost certainly a crime that was scarcely reported, much less prosecuted, largely because women were highly unlikely to alert officials to the crime.

In the court records, there were fifteen men charged with rape or assault to commit rape prior to 1865.  For the decade from 1865-1875, there were thirteen cases of rape or assault to commit rape, with one example, in 1873, comprising a charge of a "crime against nature" regarding a male defendant and male victim.  In all, about 2% of all criminal cases in existing records involved rape charges.

As Los Angeles grew, but, more importantly, as its courts began to secure more convictions, the number of men sent to San Quentin grew.  From 1852-55, only 14 men were sent up to the "big house," a number equaled in 1856 alone.  Future posts will deal with more Los Angeles County convicts sent to San Quentin, so check back here for more on that fascinating subject.

The Big House: San Quentin State Prison and the first Los Angeles inmate

Due to inertia in Congress , the status of California, seized from Mexico in 1847, was in limbo for two years before citizens, most of them new Gold Rush arrivals, clamored for the creation of a government.  This led to the 1849 constitution and the seating of the legislature, which met at the end of that year and into 1850.

Notably, however, there was no provision for a state prison during that first legislative session, despite the fact that Gold Rush California was experiencing levels of violence that were far above and beyond anything else experienced in the United States and, perhaps, the world.

California's second governor, John McDougall, who took office on 9 January 1851, succeeding Peter Burnett who had resigned the seat, was briefly the superintendent of the Indiana state prison in 1846 before he served in the Mexican-American War and then headed to California for the Gold Rush.  McDougall evidently encouraged the legislature to do something for the state's convicts.

On 25 April, "An Act providing for securing the State Prison Convicts" was passed along with a slew of legislation to revamp the incomplete criminal laws passed in the first session.  The problem, however, was money, because the state was not collecting much in the way of tax revenue, so the governor was said to have encouraged a private lease arrangement.

Consequently, Mariano G. Vallejo, a prominent Californio, and James M. Estell were given the contract to manage the prison, which was to be built by the state, and then to utilize the convicts for labor.  Vallejo and Estell agreed to manage the housing and feeding of prisoners, subject to review from a board of inspectors of three men selected by the governor and who would file an annual report.

By 1852, McDougall was not nominated by his party for election to the governor's chair (he had succeeded to the position as lieutenant governor) and Vallejo bowed out of the prison deal, so Estell recruited the former governor and others as partners.

Estell was the controlling interest and formed the "San Francisco Manufacturing Company" to operate prison labor from the existing county jails before the state prison opened.  As the legislature worked out details for the construction of a prison, Estell subcontracted with two men to keep the state's convicts, from December 1851 onward, aboard their ship, the Waban, anchored at first at Angel Island in San Francisco Bay and then off Point San Quentin at the north end of the bay.  Although the Waban had a capacity of some fifty persons, there were something like three times that many imprisoned there.

Meantime, the prison commission, including McDougall's brother, George, James Graham and chhair Horace Carpentier, a former Oakland mayor, chose San Quentin, off which the prison ship was anchored as the site for the new prison, deciding this location over another near Martinez, further east.  The state paid $10,000 for 20 acres.

Architect Reuben Clark was hired to draw up the plans for the structure, but estimated a more than half million dollar cost, which was clearly not practical.  This paled in comparison, however, to the sole complete proposal from a contractor, which totaled $725,000 (lowered from an initial $1 million estimate.)  To add to the comedy, it appeared that the legislature's intent was to spend no more than $100,000!

This page from the San Quentin prison register includes the listing of inmate 113, Juan Moran from Los Angeles, admitted on 16 October 1852 for a three-year sentence of manslaughteer (even though the listed crime on the register is "Murder.").  Moran first served his sentence aboard the bark Waban anchored off the shore at San Quentin until the first cell block, "the Stones," was completed at San Quentin in 1854 and Moran was released in October 1855.

Meantime, an 1853 report on state prisoners noted there were 157 men crammed aboard the Waban.  The first Los Angeles County prisoner sent up north was Juan Moran, convicted in the Los Angeles District Court on 6 October 1852 for the manslaughter (the original charge was first-degree murder) of Jose Dolores, an Indian.

Ten days later, Moran was transferred north.  A post on the Trembling on the Brink Facebook page noted that Moran was admitted to San Quentin, but this was an error.  Moran was actually housed aboard the Waban when he registered on 16 October to begin his three-year sentence.  The 30-year old native of Mexico, who worked as a saddler, was described as 5'5 1/2" tall with a dark complextion, dark eyes and black hair.  Moreover, he was said to have a "wound on left under jaw" as well as three scars on his face.

Two days before his arrival, the contract for building the first structure at the prison was let.  Moran and his fellow inmates slept on the ship at night and worked to build the prison by day.

In 1854, the first cell block, called "the Stones," opened and the prisoners, including Moran, transferred from the ship to the new facility.  There were 48 cells on the second floor of the structure, measuring 54 square feet, which was standard for a solitary confinement.  Naturally, no prisoners were held in solitary because of the number of men needed to be housed in the new building.  In fact, there were as many as four prisoners per cell.

Moran did not long stay in "the Stones," having been released after serving his term in October 1855.  Yet, his confinement in the hold of a ship anchored in San Francisco Bay and then in a cramped cell at San Quentin could have been nothing but miserable.

Not surprisingly, escapes were frequent in those early years of the state prison system.  Estell reported in 1855 that there had been about a hundred men who tried to break out, with about 40% successful in doing so.  Many of the 60% who did not make it were killed; notably, Estell did not provide a number of those who died in their efforts to escape.

Future posts will discuss more early Los Angeles convicts at San Quentin and about the prison.

Information for this post came mainly from a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation newsletter article, which can be accessed here, and from the 1991 book, A Germ of Goodnes: The California State Prison System, 1851-1944, by Shelley Bookspan.