The record-union., 1894-05-17
BRAVE LEN HARRIS is DEAD.
Laid Low by the Bullet of a Des-
peradO.
a Sacramento Pioneer and officer Who
Never Flinched From Duty
His Adventures.

The news of the shooting of Len Har-
ris, the veteran detective, which appeared
in the RECORD UNIONS dispatches yes
terday, was received in this city with
expressions of sincere regret, and
throughout the day numerous inquiries
were made at this Office for information
! as to his condition.
At O'Clock this morning the sad It'd
ings came that he passed away few min
utes before midnight at the home of his
daughter in Alameda.
Mr.. Harris was in his 9th year, but up
to the time he was shot by train robbers
at Ceres, Stanislaus County, three years
ago. he was as vigorous and active as
most men of 40. OF course, in persons of
such advanced age the recuperative pow
ers are greatly lessened. and this fact, IN
connection with the injury he sustained
at Ceres, told against him.
Len Harris was one of the braveSt and
best peace officers that ever wore a badge.
Thirty-hve years ago he was Warden of
the County Jail in this city, and has ever
since been employed either as a Deputy
Sheriff, State Prison guard, police officer
or detective for the railroad company.
He had been in many very tight places,
but no one ever heard of his quailing be-
fore a foe.
He had hosts of friends in this city,
where tOr so many years he made his
home He was a member of the Pioneer
Society and the Exempt Firemen's Asso-
citation. He has one son here, John Har-
ris, and a daughter in Alameda, Mrs.
Mayraich.
SKETCH OF HIS CAREER.
The San Francisco Examiner yesterday
contained the following sketch of Len
Harris adventures since he entered the
service of the railroad company as de-
tective:
Almost ever since the construction of
the railroad he has been in the employ of
the company that built it. For many
years he has been chief of the detective
department.. He has always been con-
| sidered an excellent detective and made
some clever captures OF railroad robbers
and others. One of the best pieces of
work he ever did was at the time of the
series of robberies which occurred eight
or nine years ago III Arizona. The over
| land train was held up at Pantano, Pima
County, and the treasure and mail bags
stolen. Harris and a band of Indian
trailers followed the robbers TO the lava
beds, where the trail was lost. lie found
place where the thieves had camped.
| Among the ashes he found pieces of
in Oregon. With this slender inlorma-
ton he discovered that two men, a saloon
! keeper OF silver City and storekeeper of
! Benson, were subscribers to the paper.
I The rest of the evidence was easily OBJ
tanned, and rough named Gambler Bob
was included in the crowd that eventually
got long terms III the penitentiary.
/ Harris had very rough time few
! years ago in pursuing a gang that had
committed robbery on the Sonora road.
] He and Marshal Paul of Arizona were in
! charge of the posse, and Harris was al
ways at the lead. The criminals had gone
! into the Sierra Aladre mountains, and
/ the posse had a long, hard ride OF ii. Be-
sides the danger of meeting Apaches, the
weather was very inclemeut, the entire
journey being i'll the teeth OF binding
snowstorm. They finally came up with
! them beyond chihuahua and a pitched
| battle resulted III the death OF the four
] highwaymen.
| One day in Tucson. Ariz., Harris
won the admiration OF trainload OF tour
| lists. An inebriated cowboy with a Win
chester had ordered them 10 throw up
/ their hands and they had done so, and
the cowboy was enjoying himself when
Harris arrived on the scene. ierkeu the
/ gun away from him, cursed him for a
drunken tool and turned him over to an
officer.
harris Qulet grit commanded SuDmlS-
sion. he never made mistake with his
men. One night at Los Angeles he met
! two of the local police who were guarding
! house to which they had traced a couple
OF burglars. They had cornered their
man, but were afraid TO go and make the
arrest. Harris laughed when they ex-
plained the situation to him, and borrow
| ing q pair OF handouts entered the
! house as coolly as ii it had been his resi-
dence. Two minutes later he came out
with the burglars, who were handcuffed
/ together. He had held them up with
revolver.
At Alila, in the San joaquin Valley, on
September 4, 1891, Harris was on the
Southern Pacific train which Was held up
by the Dalton gang. He started to repulse
tie robbers, but was shot in the back of
The neck, receiving wound from which
he has never wholly recovered. He was
couyeyed from the scene OF the shooting
to his home in Oakland. where for many
months be fingered between life and
death. The physicians who attended him
say they never saw such gritty man.
| When he was shot the bullet cut some OF
the large nerves OF the right siGe. and his
arm was temporarily paralyzed. he has
two children-a daughter. Mrs. Mayrisch,
who live on Buena Vista avenue, Ala
media, and son who lives III tflls city.