Dick Fellows, California Bandit
On his way back to town, Fellows stopped at a way station to get a meal. Unfortunately some men there recognized him. Just before he sat down to eat someone pulled a gun on him and told him to surrender. Fellows grabbed the gun as he shot and ended up with a bullet through his foot. He then blew out the lantern, and escaped in the dark. He found a doctor to patch him up. He claimed the shot was an accident and asked the doctor not to say anything. Somebody did, though, because a posse showed up the next day.
At Fellows’ trial he plead guilty to attempted murder and highway robbery. He was sentenced to San Quentin on January 31, 1870. Shortly after arriving at the prison he organized a Sunday Bible school. He seemed to be well-respected among like-minded inmates. He was granted an early pardon by Governor Newton Booth on April 4, 1874.
Less than a year later he went after a big strike. A Wells Fargo stage was going to be sending $240,000 in gold from Caliente to Los Angeles. It was such a large amount that James Hume, one of Wells Fargo’s most successful detectives, would be riding along on the stage. Like the other jobs, this one went awry too. Fellows didn’t have a horse so he told his partner to go on ahead and wait for him. For some reason he rented a horse from a stable. But the horse didn’t like him and bucked on him off on the side of the road and headed for home. Fellows never made it to the rendezvous spot.
So that the day was not a total ruin, he decided to rob the outgoing stage. He went back into town and stole a horse. He caught up with the stage about a mile outside of town. This time, he successfully robbed the stage of its strong box. But he couldn’t get the lock off of it. He was worried that a posse would soon be after him, so he tried to take the box with him. Again, the horse did not like what he was doing, and took off without him. He had to escape on foot and it was getting dark. Nearby, the railroad was building some tunnels. In the dark he missed a step and fell 18 feet into the approach of one of the tunnels. He broke
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