Where the Trail Turned: An Adventure to Yosemite, a Trip to the Big House

James Carner and James O'Donnell (San Quentin Prison Records) 

In the fall of 1893, two youths had a wild idea: they were going to head off on an adventure to Yosemite. With the stories of Billy the Kid and Jesse James still lingering in the minds of young people at that time, it isn't too far-fetched to think that these boys might have envisioned the life of an outlaw as an exciting one. Unfortunately, the decisions made beyond this point would lead them down a precarious path, one that is not often reversed. 

In early November, young James E. Carner—born Elmer Carner—was living with his mother on her ranch in Coalinga when he and his best friend, James O’Donnell, decided it was time to set off on an adventure of their own. 

According to the newspaper “The Expositor,” dated November 17, 1893, the boys had stolen a horse earlier in Kings County. They then returned toward the ranch at Los Gatos Creek, where they stole another horse, along with a set of harnesses and a wagon from the Kreyenhagen ranch and headed toward Fresno. 

By dawn, the boys reached Fresno and noticed J.W. Kennedy hitching his team of horses in front of Kutner’s store. Once Kennedy was in the store, the boys took the opportunity to steal Mr. Kennedy’s team and rig and set forth north, leaving a trail of dust behind them, each boy with his own horse-drawn wagon. 

They didn’t go far, only about five miles or so, where they set up camp for the night. Later, they moved up the San Joaquin Valley and stopped at a house where they stole “provisions.” They loaded everything they could into one of the wagons, hitched the four horses they had stolen to it, and left the other wagon behind. 

As their adventure continued, two of the horses broke away from the rig and ran off. The boys had to make do with the two they had left, eventually stopping for the evening at an abandoned cabin 12 miles above Fine Gold. In fact, by the time the boys were preparing their supper, Constable Sturtevant and one of his officers were hot on their trail.

They would never reach their destination of Yosemite after this evening. 

Choosing a guide who knew the area well, the constable and his officer continued their pursuit of the two outlaws and caught up with them that evening. At first, the boys considered holding up in the cabin with the guns they had stolen. Both were armed, one with a Winchester rifle and the other with a .44 revolver, and they contemplated not going without a fight. 

Carner

Ultimately, though, they surrendered peacefully and were taken to Kings County for the first horse theft; but because they faced multiple charges in other counties, they were eventually brought back to Fresno County to be held there for trial. Just before Thanksgiving, the two had their day in court and pleaded guilty to grand larceny. On November 28, 1893, in Department 3 of the Superior Court, Judge Webb sentenced both Carner and O’Donnell to five years at San Quentin Prison. 

On December 5, 1893, both Carner and O’Donnell were brought to San Quentin, where they were processed, had their mug shots taken, and entered the general population of prisoners alongside hard-core adult criminals. These boys, although they had committed serious crimes, were not as hardened as the other inmates at the prison, and I can only imagine how overwhelming it must have felt to enter the prison at only 16 years old, surrounded by grown men. 

O'Donnell

At the same time these boys were serving hard time at the pen, plans for opening The Preston School of Industry, a newly established reform school, were well on their way to coming to fruition. The Humanitarian Society had chosen seven boys to be the first wards of the new school, which was meant to be an alternative to being sent to San Quentin or Folsom Prison. 

Carner and O’Donnell were put on the list of boys being sent to Ione, to start a new path towards a better life. They entered Preston in June of 1894, when the school first opened, and both only remained a few years. 

Ward # 1, James Elmer Carner 

After his release from Preston—the exact discharge date has not been confirmed—Carner appears to have made the deliberate decision to leave behind his past. Records indicate that he enlisted in the 6^th Regiment, California Volunteer Infantry, during the Spanish-American War of 1898, and here something telling emerges from the records: his military index card lists him as John Elmer Carner, not James, with a cross-reference note to “James Elmer Carner.” He had quietly swapped his first name, keeping his middle name, Elmer, and virtually stepped into a new identity.

On December 15, 1898, John Elmer Carner received an honorable discharge from the United States Army, a positive distinction that followed him for the rest of his life. 

As the years went by, records indicate that he returned to the occupation his family had begun with: farming. Early newspaper accounts of his shenanigans mentioned his mother running a ranch in Coalinga, California, while later records show both Carner as a farmer in Tulare County and his brother Theodore as a farmer in Clovis. James—or John, as he later referred to himself—married, raised a family, and appeared in the census records of 1910, 1920, and 1930, the last listing his residence as Oakland, California. 

On November 15, 1936, John Elmer Carner died in San Francisco County at approximately 60 years of age. He was laid to rest at the San Francisco National Cemetery. 

The boy who stole a team of horses at sixteen and had his mug shot taken at San Quentin prison died a veteran, buried with the honors that are bestowed on those who served this country.

Ward # 5, James O’Donnell 

James’ time at Preston started in June of 1894 and came to an end in May of 1897, according to newspaper accounts in the San Diego Union dated May 17, 1897. What happened to O’Donnell after that is frustratingly difficult to trace. The name James O’Donnell was very common during that period. The historical records contain dozens of men by that name in the same general age range. By 1910, I located two men with that name, both of approximately the right age, appearing in San Francisco records. One was a married clerk with a family, while the other was a sexton working at a Catholic cemetery and living alone as a boarder. 

Either listing could be him. The sexton working at a cemetery is an interesting possibility, as that would have been a position one might gravitate toward if living with a complicated past and seeking a job that was quiet and solitary. Unfortunately, without more documentation, it is not possible for me to say with certainty which, if either, was the same James O’Donnell we’re talking about. His story, for now, remains open, and if I locate any further records in the future, I will surely add them to this blog post. 

In the end, the impulsive and reckless acts committed back in 1893 seem to have been done without the boys realizing the consequences that would befall them once they were caught. I believe that fanciful ideas about being on the run as outlaws in the Old West could have inspired these boys to make some very poor choices, which ultimately led them down a terrible path that included spending several months in a hard-core prison surrounded by dangerous criminals. Still, I can only hope that the time they spent at Preston may have steered them both in the right direction. I didn’t find any further prison records for either boy after their time at Preston, so it appears to me that the school did its job.

 

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