General Moses Sherman (left) and Los Angeles Sheriff William A. Hammel pose in a Mobile Stanhope Steamer, circa 1900. Photo of Stanhope Steamer, Courtesy True West Archives
Posted on 08/13/2024 3:59:25 AM PDT by COBOL2Java
Los Angeles, California. Not everyone’s picture of a wild-and-woolly Western town—even though Wyatt Earp, who spent his last years there, claimed Tombstone in its heyday “wasn’t half as bad as Los Angeles.” Policing the City of Angels, and the 4,000-square-mile county of coastline, desert and mountains encompassing it, took a special breed of lawmen. Men like Billy Hammel.
Native Angeleno William Augustus Hammel was born March 13, 1865. The son of a doctor and educated at Santa Clara University, young Billy—likely to his parents’ chagrin—took a brief stab at cowboying in Arizona. He soon returned to California and might have settled in the grocery business but for his brother-in-law, L.A. County Sheriff George Gard.
In mid-April 1885 Melcado Garcia, a notorious “horse-thief and desperado,” had traded gunfire with a deputy sheriff near the San Gabriel Mission. Gard swore in Hammel as a special deputy and sent him and boyhood friend Martin Aguirre, a county constable, on Garcia’s trail. They followed it northwest through the Arroyo Seco and, finding Garcia “wounded in bed”—the deputy’s bullet in his chest—30 miles away at San Fernando, captured him without further gunplay. Thus in true Old West fashion, Hammel embarked on a career spanning four decades, taking L.A. law enforcement from its horseback days to the mechanized 20th century.
General Moses Sherman (left) and Los Angeles Sheriff William A. Hammel pose in a Mobile Stanhope Steamer, circa 1900. Photo of Stanhope Steamer, Courtesy True West Archives
(Excerpt) Read more at truewestmagazine.com ...
Good article.
“ordering a crackdown on “mashers” and “indiscriminate makers of goo-goo eyes” harassing ladies on the streets. In the latter cases, the L.A. Record reported, his orders implied that “it may be necessary for an ambulance to bring in the offender.” Looking forward, Hammel replaced a horse-drawn patrol wagon with an electric model, capable of 20 miles per hour, and doubling as an ambulance. He also urged upgrades to the receiving hospital—the city’s only emergency facility—which operated under LAPD’s umbrella.”
Was there a judge who would rule that they must use the pronouns desired by the offender and that he/she be incarcerated in a facility that matched their perceived gender? Were they concerned with offending or being perceived as racist, misogynistic, homophobic, or islamophobic? Was it demanded that violent offenders be given a court date and released on their own recognizance? Things were different then. In ways, better.
Thanks for posting! I love stories of the old west.
It’s amazing Hammel’s BIL made him a special deputy at age 20 to go track down Melcado Garcia, a notorious “horse-thief and desperado,”
Who would send a green, inexperienced kid to do that?
“ In ways, better.”
In SO MANY ways.
IN those years, a “KID” grew up much faster than today.
No doubt about it. I had a nice visit with our 92 year old neighbor a few days ago and she was telling me that her father was an orphan. He was living with his aunt and uncle after his folks had passed, but he never felt at home. So he saved some money and struck out on his own when he was just 15. He was in an eastern state and went to California to make his way in life. That’s how her family got to CA.
30 miles away at San Fernando.
Odd that it takes the same amount of time on horseback to travel 30 miles way back then in 18885 as it does today by car on a freeway in 2024... : )
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