|
About this Book
He came to
California with the great Gold Rush, but instead of riches, Isaiah W.
Lees discovered his great talent for solving crimes and catching
criminals. He captured stage robbers in Missouri, tracked con men to New
York and caught the notorious eastern bank robber, Jimmy Hope in the
middle of a San Francisco heist.
San Francisco in the 1850s, was
the gateway to the gold fields, a city filled with adventurers, outlaws,
con men and desperadoes of every description. In 1853 Isaiah Lees was
appointed the first Chief of Detectives on the new Police Force and
during nearly fifty years he acquired an amazing record. An innovator of
police methods, Lees easily eclipsed such legendary lawman as Bat
Masterson and Wyatt Earp. When he retired as chief in 1900, the San
Francisco Chronicle stated that in point of service, no one has ever
equaled the record of Lees. He was the right man, in the right place,
at the right time, and this is his exciting, true story, told here for
the first time.
About the Author
Born in Fresno, California, in March of 1930, William
B. Secrest grew up in the great San Joaquin Valley. After high school he
joined the Marine Corps where he served in a guard detachment and in a
rifle company in the early years of the Korean War. Returning to
college, he obtained a BA in education, but for many years he served as
an art director for a Fresno advertising firm.
Secrest has been interested in history since his
youth and early began comparing Western films to what really happened in
the West. A hobby at first, this avocation quickly developed into
correspondence with noted writers and more serious research. Not
satisfied in a collaboration with friend and Western writer Ray Thorp,
Secrest began researching and writing his own articles in the early
1960s.
Although at first he wrote on many general Western
subjects, some years ago Secrest realized how his home state has
consistently been neglected in the Western genre and concentrated almost
exclusively on early California subjects. He has produced hundreds of
articles for such publications as Westways, Montana, True West, and the
American West, while publishing seven monographs on early California
themes. His book I Buried Hickok (Early West Publishing Co.)
appeared in 1980, followed by Lawmen & Desperadoes (The Arthur H.
Clark Co.) in 1994 and Dangerous Trails (Barbed Wire Press) in
1995. Books published with Word Dancer Press include California
Desperadoes (1999), Perilous Trails, Dangerous Men (2001),
and When the Great Spirit Died (2002). Current projects include
a biography of Harry Love, the leader of the rangers who tracked down
Joaquin Murrieta, and famous feuding families of California.
|
|
