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.
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| 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 |
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.
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