Book Review: The Murders at Convict Lake by George William III

Book Review: The Murders at Convict Lake by George William III, illustrated by Dave Comstock, TBR Trust, Carson City, Nevada, 1984.

I came upon this story when we visited Convict Lake in the mammoth lakes area of Western California.  This story starts in Nevada.  The State Prison was at Carson City, the state capitol.  On Sunday evening, September 17, 1871, there was a mass break out at the prison.  Frank Clifford was one of the planners.  There was only one guard on duty, in light of it being Sunday.  This guard, while returning the men to their cells after dinner, was struck from behind by a make-shift weapon.  From there, the prisoners managed to dig into a crawl space in the ceiling, and travel to another guard’s room.  That guard awoke startled, and was able to escape and warn the prison staff.  However the prisoners were able to getting into a storm room and steal some weapons.  Frank Denver, the warden and Lieutenant Governor confronted them, and shot Clifford in the stomach with a derringer.  He went to retrieve a larger weapon he too was struck in the head by a metal object.  He was shot with his own gun.  Bob Dedman, a lifer, but personal staff of the warden took up a chair and beat the prisoners back.  He too was knocked senseless and also left for dead.  Both these men would recover.  The prisoners now gained access to the armory, and armed themselves with rifles and shot guns and pistols along with ample ammunition.  Ed Goyette, a prisoner, saved Dedmon’s six-year-old daughter who wondered into the midst of the shooting.  F.M. Isaacs, a guard in the court yard fired a six-shooter at this prisoners until he himself was hit in the leg.  John Newhouse, a guard shot E.B. Parsons of the Verdi train robbery.  He himself was shot in the back of the head but survived.  Another guard, Perasich, also fired and hit three prisoners before being shot in the hip.  Matt Pixley, owner of the hotel that was adjacent to the prison attempted to fire as well but was shot dead by Charlie Jones.  Goyette also helped wounded staff make it to safety.  Twenty-nine would escape, heading in different directions.  This story follows the train of six convicts who headed south to Mono County in California.  This included Jones who was in prison for murder, John Burke for manslaughter, Tilton Cockerill a Verdi train robber, Bedford Roberts, the youngest at 19 in jail for stage robbery,  Moses Black for larceny and Leander Morton in jail for mail robbery.  He was considered very dangerous.  Several different posses followed them along their way at different times, through the desserts of western Nevada and then into California and past Mono Lake.  Along the way the committed several crimes, the most heinous being the murder of a Pony Express rider Billy Poor by Jones and Morton.  This turned the locals against them and urged the local posses to continue after them.  September 23 the posse finally overtook them.  Half the criminals were gone, Jones, Burke and Cockerill, looking for berries.  However Robert Morrison of the posse spotted the group by the Monte Diablo Creek (now Convict Creek).  A gun battle ensued, which did not go well for Morrison and he was killed by Black.  Roberts, the young criminal was wounded in this exchange.  Another member of the posse was also killed, Mono Jim, a Native American who was holding horses.  Jim thought the convicts were posse members and a gun battle ensued when he realized his error.  He was killed by Morton.  The lake here is now called Convict Lake and the highest peak behind the lake Morrison Peak. 

The convicts continued their journey south, hoping to cross the Sierra Nevada range.  In the attempt they soon lost a couple more horses (they had collected several from the posse) and were eventually captured.  They were taken to Bishop, and tried to blame the murder of Morrison on Roberts.  However he was also captured where the other two had left him for dead.  The men were being taken back to Carson by wagon, when a vigilante group intervened.  This group took possession of the prisoners, and held a quick trial.  The two older, Black and Morton were hung from a make shift gallows with a poll set upon the chimney of a house on one side, and a tripod on the other.  Roberts was returned to Carson as the vote was tied in his case for hanging or no. 

19 of the escaped prisoners were tried for murder.  Jones was not captured and either died in the desert or escaped.  Two had already been hung.  Eight were unaccounted for.  The convicts were found not guilty of murder, as the murder were blamed on Jones and Morton.  Later, the original conviction of Roberts would be overturned on appeal.

A couple years later, the Nevada State Legislature voted to appoint a professional warden, to be assigned by the governor.  Dedman did not agree with this, as it was part of the duties of Lieutenant Governor he had won by election.  A battle almost ensued when he was being replaced, but he finally acquiesced and moved to San Francisco.