The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-09-02
End of q. CQnViiot's Career :IIl..

!. @;. .G4pfaia.=.eJaraes= McD9nald, the we'll
known cap ta]isf, was in charge of:asprison
=: Eja4k.~:ii ~ hich%eQiprits were confined IN
:@Caii&0TuIa:lR early times. - e.. "
~ < ]I8c a plain was: prison-keeper Of float
: ing -bast4le on the Sacramento River.
:: Captainc AIcI@Qnald vas seen at his Home
son .E.nton. street by: 'a:CALL reporter: last
.. Yen{ng,. and he being in a reminiscent
MOOD told of some. Of his adventures while
an z lar ge Qf:the prison. brig.
n. s that tune the ca ptaIn: was resident Of
:: SACRAMENTO: County. AMI in 1851 he was
:ltlaced in charge Of the prison bark La
,. tiraIlge:by: Sheriff Ben. Mccullough, after
ward: a general lathe: Confederate army.
: Rg:ebark: game out @from Salem aud was
!. BQtg ht.by the authorities, who moeEed Der
): ln*the Sacramento Rive.
:= s 1ie:4 as similar in every respect to the
3. 4 5fT.l}e MA. which was prison brig in San
+-ErapciscQ: Bay" said the captain. 1T was
,::tifas only :.pFis0R. house in San Francisco
:. County. For three years1 was in charge Of
.+he BARK; which. contained from twenty 10
Ct ty.des perate.e haracters during my term IN
.Gftees:.* There were no State prisons at that
= tline:and criminals awaiting trial as we'll
.. ASH those under sentence were con fined in
zstre' ft2ik' :AlanyaOf the men In my charge
! we re: ranged; some by yigilantes and others
byAue pr0cess.Of law. Is
- At.that time the State was infested by
% sde5IetRaoes OF. the worst class, and We had
: SOME pretty tough customers tO"deal with.
=, N6t only diQ.the. TiffraIf OF the East flock TO
the 3ogst,; but the country was open to
= tj6ketsnf-leaye men and escaped cOnyicts
+ from tie English penal. colonies in Aus
:: tFalia. There are few such men in the
jais nowas we encountered then.
- Like the EuDbemia the La Grange was
o. G d. "a r n fnrq
and aft. Down below the hold was parti-
toned ott into compartments and cells for
tie cOnVctss..NOw and then man escaped,
bat swimming ashore with shAekles on was
q risky business, and only the most des-
perate Characters ever attempted II.
80 During the three years had charge Of
the bark there were very few escapes. We
had strong guard always on the lookout,
but even then the smooth men sometimes
4 gave us the slip. l remember one case
= which created little excitement at the time.
That came later on, and the people Of Sac
ramept0 got wonderfully worked mp.
cit was 10 tie summer Of 1852 when the
incident occurred. Three convicts removed
q bar from port forward in the night and
!. g0t-aYay. The bars were held in place by
iron staples driven deep into the timbers.
ii some way the conyicts got hold Of long
s rope, one end OF which they fastened
to. a. bar and passed the other around
: stout stanchion directly abaft the port.
Then they took small bar with which
they fashioned a Spanish windlass and
soon had the staple out. All three men
were heavily ironed al the ankles, but they
lowered themselves into the river and
started for shore. Two of them made il,
. but the weight of the iron carried the other
> TO tile bottom. The escapes were soon re-
. captured, but the body Of tile drowned con-
Wet was not found. until several weeks
later. -
:: It was picked ND a few miles down the
river in badly decompOsed state. 4 hasty
inquest was held and the remains dumped
into a rough box for burial The man in
charge of the funeral did not take the
trouble to remove the shackles, and the
- poor wretch was laid away in irons.
Twenty years later, when the incident had
- been forgotten, the burial plat was changed.
= Among the bodies eXhumed was that OF the
convict and the presence OF the rusty irons
: on his legs raised fine storm Of indigna-
ton, That generation denounced the
pioneers as baTbarOas. They knew it was
customary for gentlemen to die with their
! boots Cd, but burying a corpse in ball and
:chain was too much. IL cast reflections on
the integrity of the corpse. However,
somebody happened along who remembered
the incident He explained matters, and
tue excitement gradually cooled down."