Friday, Apr. 16, 2010

Twist in Time: The runaway who couldn't give up

On Dec. 5, 1846, California had just fallen to the United States in the Mexican-American War. The 11 prisoners in the tiny jail in Monterey filled it to capacity. One of the incarcerated was John Edwards, an African American who had been sentenced to hard labor for three years. It was a tough sentence but one that he most likely would have embraced if he had only known what was going to happen when he tried to escape.

The runaway who couldn't give up

Edwards was talked into leaving jail when the guard outside indicated his willingness to allow him to escape. The prisoner knew the Spanish language, and the guard, who was planning to desert his post, needed him if he was going to make his way across the war-torn California countryside.

Things began to go haywire for the pair of runaways immediately when one of the other prisoners woke up and yelled for the sentry. If he had to stay in jail, so would his black cellmate.

Notwithstanding the unexpected alarm, the two fugitives set out just ahead of a posse that was quickly organized. By daylight the guard and Edwards were in sight. Two members of the posse spurred their horses onward and captured both men without a fight, but when a third rode up, he wanted to shoot Edwards. As the black man dodged the aim of his pursuer, the other two tried to explain that it was all over; a summary execution was unnecessary. There was no need to shoot anybody. Then yet another posse member caught up, and thinking that Edwards was refusing to surrender, pulled out his pistol and sent a ball squarely into the prisoner's stomach before any one could say anything.

By that time the rest of the 17-man posse caught up, and the unmolested runaway guard was tied up, put on a horse, and taken back to Monterey. Poor Edwards, however, who was fully conscious, inquired about himself as they rode away. The posse didn't even look back. He was left there to die right where he had fallen on the Carmel Road, a victim of his own miscalculation. Apparently nobody was going to assist a black man in California in 1846, not even if he could speak Spanish.