Four Miles East of Bagdad
Crime, Violence, and the Railroad in San Bernardino County, California 1896-1897
Four Miles East of Bagdad
Crime, Violence, and the Railroad in San Bernardino County, California 1896-1897
The Great Mojave
Discover the Untold Story of a murder in the remote Mojave Desert
Explore the captivating story of a murder that occurred on December 6, 1896, in San Bernardino County, California. Witness the rush to judgment of Louis James Searcy a bi-racial African American hobo and the selfless efforts of three young white attorneys who fought to commute his death sentence from death to life imprisonment. Immerse yourself in the gripping history of the railroad, crime, violence, and the criminal justice system from an overlooked period of California history. Immigrants and transplants from throughout the United States came to work for the railroad and called Amboy, Bagdad, Cadiz, and Danby home.
The Defense carried out by three young attorneys
Led by a twenty-three-year-old Benjamin Franklin Bledsoe who fought until the end to save Searcy from the hangmen's noose at San Quentin. H.M Willis, twenty-six years old, and Gordan Hall, twenty-seven years old completed the formidable defense.
Life at the railroad settlements in the Mojave Desert in 1896
Before Route 66 there was the railroad which needed settlements or sidings every nine miles to support the line. Learn about the people who came to live at these remote settlements and the Hobos who traveled along the line begging and trading their labor for a meal.
The story of Mexican laborers
Mexican laborers were forced to live in the inhospitable land at Bagdad and created a community called Chihuahua. The railroad had an insatiable appetite for labor and Mexican workers filled the void.