California Desperadoes: Stories of Early California Outlaws in Their Own Words

by William B. Secrest

Historic desperadoes tell their tales of holdups, shootouts and desperate flights from the law in this chronicle illustrated with many rare photographs. From the famous 1892 shootout at Young's cabin as told by Chris Evans--a murderer, train robber and fugitive--and his partner John Sontag and the hanging of the notorious Jim Stuart by San Francisco vigilantes determined to retake their city from hordes of Australian convicts, robbers, and killers to the ill-starred adventures of Tom Bell, Tiburcio Vasquez, and Charles Dorsey and the harrowing and sometimes hilarious antics of the California highwaymen stage robbers Jim Smith and Dick Fellows, readers will vicariously experience the riveting lives of another time period.

Genres: History

272 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2000

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

While a few of the sections are a little dry, the overall work is an amazing compendium of California history, back when California WAS the Wild West. My only regret is that the format of the book limited it to covering outlaws where the author was able to find court transcripts or journals that told the stories from the viewpoint of the outlaws. That eliminated some of the more colorful outlaws with California roots, ranging from the Dalton gang to the elusive Joaquin Murrieta.
Still, the ones included told fascinating stories. Most denied the most violent crimes of which they were accused, but freely admitted to colorful robberies of various kinds.
One of the most interesting parts was the section about the Australian criminals who emigrated to San Francisco, and how the reaction against them created colorful parts of California history.

[Bob Blecha · Rating 3 out of 5]

exactly the writing style one would expect-corny...