The Comic Opera Outlaw of California
One of the most fascinating characters to ride out of the pages of the Old West was an outlaw named Dick Fellows. He was a dismal failure as bandit, and for some unexplained reason, horses hated him. On more than one occasion, it was a horse that led to his incarceration in San Quentin.
Dicks career as a road agent began in 1869, when he attempted to rob the Soledad stage on the outskirts of Santa Barbara. He hid behind a large tree in a boggy area and waited. When the stagecoach came down the road, Dick jumped out and ordered the driver to halt. The driver braked the coach to a stop. A soldier scampered out of the coach and hid in the bushes. Dick ordered the soldier to surrender, and while he was preoccupied with him, the driver took off with the stage. Dick missed getting the strong box, but he did collect $300 from the soldier.
Dick remained persistent in his efforts to earn a living as a highwayman in spite of the failure of his first attempt,. He decided to rob the stage that traveled that traveled down the Cahuenga Grade from Santa Barbara. Dick hid in a grove of oak trees and when the coach raced down the hill, he stepped out onto the road and ordered the driver to stop. One of the passengers took a couple of shots at the bandit, and he dived for cover. The noise of the gunshots spooked the horses and they tore off down the road. The heavy coach almost turned over as it weaved from one side of the road to the other. The driver brought it under control and the stage disappeared down the trail in a cloud of dust.
Dick mounted his horse and raced over a shortcut to a place the stagecoach had to pass. He hung his hat and coat on a stick and stuck it the ground on a hill overlooking the road. The driver reached the spot where the outlaw was hiding and when he looked up, he saw what appeared to be a man with a rifle standing on the hill. He threw down the strongbox and drove on without stopping. Dick waited until the stage was out of sight before he opened the box. He got $435 for his trouble.
All of this strenuous activity made Dick hungry. On the way back to town, he stopped at a roadside caf. Before he could sit down to eat, he was recognized by some of the local ranchers. One of the cowboys drew his pistol and ordered Dick to surrender. Dick grabbed the gun just as the man fired and the bullet hit him in the foot. He blew out the lantern and dove through the window into the darkness. Later that night, he found a doctor to patch up his wound.
A posse caught up with him the next morning. Dick was sentenced to ten years in San Quentin for attempted murder and armed robbery, and he made good use of his time in prison. He took advantage of his job in the library to learn to read and educate himself. He got religion and set up a Sunday Bible school for the inmates. He convinced the warden that he had seen the error of his ways, and after serving five years, the State of California granted him a pardon.
For more than a year Dick wandered around California. He managed to keep out of trouble for about a year until he checked into a Bakersfield hotel under his real name of Richard Perkins. In a crowded train station in Caliente, California, he watched armed guards transfer $240,000 in gold coins from a train to a waiting stagecoach.
The stagecoach, four armed guards, and the gold coins headed out of town toward Los Angeles. Dick realized the job would require at least two men. He told a partner he had acquired somewhere along the way to ride on ahead and wait for him at a deserted spot in the road. Dick rented a gentle-spirited mare with kind eyes and took off in pursuit of the stagecoach. The horse was angry at being ridden so hard. It took an instant dislike to the outlaw. A mile and a half from town, it dug its forelegs into the ground, bucked him off and headed back to the stable. Dick flew through the air and landed in the middle of the road. He sat in the dirt for several minutes, stood up, dusted himself off, and walked back to Caliente.
Dick went into a bar, ordered a drink and planned his next caper. He wasnt having any luck robbing the southbound stage, so he decided to rob the northbound stage. He stole a horse from the hitching post in front of the general store, climbed into the saddle, and rode out of town.
He stopped the stage about a mile outside of town and ordered the driver to throw down the strong box. The driver tossed the box to the ground and raced down the road. Dick dismounted, dragged the box toward his horse, and tried to load it on its back. The horse had no intention of carrying that heavy box. It bolted and took off for town, leaving Dick and the box sitting in the middle of the road. Night was fast approaching. Dick knew he had to get away before a posse showed up. He grabbed one of the handles and dragged the box into the brush. He stumbled around in the dark, missed his footing, and fell fifteen feet into a water-filled ditch. The box came tumbling into the ditch after him and crushed the instep of his left foot. In intense pain, Dick smashed the lock with the butt of his gun, lifted the lid, and removed $1800. He crafted crutches from some old tree branches and hobbled to a nearby farm. He stole another horse and galloped into the valley flatlands.
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