Sheriff Thomas Cunningham: The Thief Taker
“Never use this pistol to shoot down a man unless you find it absolutely necessary to the welfare of the people. Always protect a prisoner with your life if need be.” Sheriff Tom Cunningham
By: Jim Waddell
Tom Cunningham was born in County Longford, Ireland, on August 17, 1838. At the age of 10, he moved to New York to work as an apprentice harness maker for his brother-in-law. He spent his spare time devoted to study and attended school at night. Arriving in San Francisco in 1855 he went to work for a series of harness makers and eventually opened his own shop in Stockton. He married in 1861 and after a few years had three daughters.
Tom was active in civic affairs and worked as a volunteer fireman. He eventually became the fire chief. This was in 1865 and that same year he was elected to the Stockton City Council. In 1871, the Republican Party nominated Cunningham for Sheriff and he was elected by a good majority. He took office in March of 1872.
The men who helped hunt down Black Bart. Seated (L to R) San JoaQuin County Sheriff Tom Cunningham, Calaveras County Sheriff Ben Thorn (holding hatchet), Wells Fargo agent Harry Morse. Standing (L) San Francisco Police Captain A.W. Stone. Standing (R) J.W. Thacker Wells Fargo Special Agent. Photo taken in 1883
This was after the glory years of the Gold Rush but Cunningham had an illustrious career and ended up corralling numerous thieves and lawbreakers of the Gold Rush era. Tom was a popular man but totally inexperienced as a law officer. In addition to that, he was a true gentleman with a winning personality and did not fit the mold of an iron-willed frontier sheriff. Cunningham, being a sensitive sort, was aware of people wondering if he had what it took to be effective in this position. Combining his boundless enthusiasm with resolve, he devoted all of his time and energy toward his new duties and soon any doubts regarding his competence were completely dispelled.
Charles Earl Bowles (b. 1829; d.after 1888), better remembered as Black Bart
For the next twenty seven years Tom Cunningham was at the forefront of the manhunts for many of California’s most notorious outlaws: Tiburcio Vasquez, Black Bart, Bill Miner, Isador Padillo, Evans and Sontag, Jack Brady and Sam Browning. So many desperadoes were run to earth by the tireless sheriff that he came to be known as the “Thief Taker of San Joaquin.”
Cunningham was a pioneer in the fledgling science of criminology. He made a systematic study of the habits, methods and motivations of criminals and compiled volumes of news clippings and other data on crime. He put together one of the largest books of mug shots in the United States which at the time of his retirement had cost him personally $20,000 and held some 42,000 photos. He kept a remuda of fast horses for his deputies and imported bloodhounds from Cuba for chasing outlaws. Over the years, he put together a museum that once occupied four rooms in the old courthouse.
Tiburcio Vasquez
It held more than 1,000 weapons connected with the state’s criminal history, each carefully tagged and displayed in glass cases. Among these curios was the rifle that California Ranger J.W. Chiles carried in the hunt for Joaquin Murrieta and the handkerchief that led to the capture of Black Bart. (To be told in a future segment of this series).
Before Cunningham’s tenure in office, San Joaquin County had a nationwide reputation for being an outlaw haven. So successful was he in ridding his county of thieves, the famed sheriff of Alameda County, Harry N. Morse, chose Cunningham as his second in command after the state legislature (like they did with Murrieta and the California Rangers) funded a hand-picked posse with Morse in command to track down the notorious outlaw Tiburcio Vasquez and his gang. The chase led them through the counties of Fresno, Tulare, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Kern and Los Angeles. The posse covered 2,709 miles in 60 days of hard riding, finally cornering the outlaw in what is now the Hollywood Hills. This led to his capture and the outlaw was subsequently hanged in San Jose.
One member of that gang who escaped was the notorious Isador Padillo. He fled and started his own personal gang. He first came to light when he was the prime suspect in the Medina murder case in San Joaquin County in 1869. Five men were bound, gagged and shot execution style during the robbery of a store. Padillo was captured and convicted but his conviction was later overturned on a technicality. (Things haven’t changed much in over a century).
Reward bill for Black Bart
Padilla’s band of thugs included the bandit known as “Red Antone,” so named as he spilled the blood of at least 20 Chinese. This gang pulled numerous stage holdups in the Mother Lode as well as Chinese mining camps. They robbed the Sonora-Milton stage twice in 1874 and 1875.
Cunningham and Sheriff Thorn of Calaveras County, as well as detectives from Wells Fargo worked tirelessly pursuing these villains but were not successful until they got a break on December 9, 1875. One of the gang was caught holding up the Copperopolis-Chinese Camp stage. This bandit confessed and “ratted off” the others including Padillo, telling the law where their hideouts were. They were in two separate camps in the foothills. Ben Thorn led one posse to one of the camps and Tom Cunningham led another to the second camp.
Thorn took fewer men with him and ended up shooting it out with his quarry. In contrast, Tom took such a large posse that the bandits didn’t consider trying to gun their way out of this mess. Upon being confronted by Cunningham’s posse, Padillo and Red Antone tried to flee out the back door of a cabin they were in. They were confronted by several officers armed with shotguns and promptly surrendered. Both types of pursuits were effective, but Tom Cunningham’s method did in fact prevent bloodshed. Padillo was sentenced to twenty years in San Quentin, but died after serving only 6 months.
There are many other tales of Cunningham’s successful exploits that ended without gunfire, due to his common sense approach and gentlemanly demeanor. At the end of his long and successful career, he was proud of the fact he never had to take a human life. He got close one time when he was pursuing a horse thief, riding a stolen horse. This man was reputed to be dangerous and had said he would not be taken alive. Tom approached the man who lunged his horse to escape. Tom fired his shotgun, striking the horse which went down, dumping its rider. Within seconds the sheriff had his man in handcuffs.
During his many years in office, Cunningham only took one week-long vacation and by age 60, he was ready to retire. On September 1, 1898, he donated his museum and photo gallery to the County of San Joaquin.
“Being True to the Trust of the People.”
Second San Joaquin County Court house
His last day in office was January 3, 1899. On that day, he was summoned to the courtroom of Judge Budd. He found the room to be full of county officials and prominent citizens. He was read an indictment with which Judge Budd found him guilty. The indictment read: “Being true to the trust of the people.” He was presented with gifts and after several speeches, Tom Cunningham unbuckled his gunbelt and placed it around the waist of the new sheriff, Walter Sibley, saying simply, “Never use this pistol to shoot down a man unless you find it absolutely necessary to the welfare of the people. Always protect a prisoner with your life if need be.”
Jim Waddell is a retired law enforcement officer and graduate of the FBI National Academy. In his nearly 40 years of service he worked for two sheriff’s departments and was a chief of police. Jim is a firearms instructor and competed in many statewide pistol matches. He lives in central California where he grows almonds.
“The Second Amendment Guards the First”