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.