Henry Nicholson Morse (c. 1835-1912), "bloodhound of the far west," was an

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

lawman. Elected September 2, 1863 served from 1864 to 1878, as the

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

of the

Alameda County Sheriff's Office The Alameda County Sheriff's Office (ACSO) is a law enforcement agency serving Alameda County, California. ACSO is accredited through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA), the American Correctional Association (AC ...

Alameda County, California Alameda County ( ) is a List of counties in California, county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and List ...

. He was a Republican. He later founded the Harry N. Morse Detective Agency in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. One of his accomplishments was to help (along with his associate

James Hume James Hume may refer to: * James Hume (architect) (1798–1868), architect in Sydney, Australia * James Hume (cricketer) (1858–1909), Scottish-born New Zealand cricketer * James Hume (magistrate) (1808–1862), British magistrate and political co ...

) identify Charles E. Boles as the perpetrator of the Black Bart stagecoach robberies. Other notable early California outlaws he helped bring to justice include Bartolo Sepulveda, Narrato Ponce, "Red-Handed Procopio, and Juan Soto. Morse made his reputation by breaking up the gangs of Hispanic bandidos that infested central and southern California in the 1860s and 1870s. He shot and killed the notorious outlaw Narato Ponce after fighting two desperate gun duels with him, wounding Ponce in the first fight, then tracking him down and killing him in a second shootout months later. He captured Procopio Bustamante, nephew of the legendary Joaquin Murrieta, in a San Francisco brothel in 1872. He tracked the

Tiburcio Vasquez Tiburcio, the Spanish form of Tiburtius, may refer to: * Tiburcio Carías Andino (1876–1969), Honduran military strongman * Tiburcio de León, Filipino general (the Philippine Revolution and Philippine-American War) * José Tiburcio Serrizuela ...

gang for two months and 2700 miles, finally locating him in an adobe house in what is now

West Hollywood West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. History Most historical writings about West Hollywood be ...

. Morse provided the tip to Los Angeles County Sheriff Billy Rowland, whose posse captured Vasquez in 1874. After leaving the post of Alameda County sheriff in 1878, he formed his own private detective agency. In 1883 he captured Charles E. Boles, better known as Black Bart, the Poet Highwayman, in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. He broke up the Harkins Opium Smuggling Ring which resulted in the prosecution of a corrupt federal magistrate in San Francisco. He investigated San Francisco's Dupont Street Frauds case of the 1880s, exposing the corruption of the city's mayor, Andrew J. Bryant. He worked on the defense of Theodore Durrant, the "Beast in the Belfry" who committed several sex murders in San Francisco. Durrant was convicted and executed on the gallows in San Quentin. His last big case was the poisoning death of

Jane Stanford Jane Elizabeth Lathrop Stanford (August 25, 1828 – February 28, 1905) was an American philanthropist and co-founder of Stanford University in 1885 (opened 1891), along with her husband, Leland Stanford, in memory of their only child, Leland S ...

, founder of

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, in 1905.

References

Sources

* John Boessenecker. ''Lawman: the Life and times of Harry Morse, 1835-1912''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998 * John Boessenecker. Bandido: The Life and Times of Tiburcio Vasquez. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2010. * Bill O'Neal, ''Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters''. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1979, pp. 328–239 * Mitchel P. Roth, James Stuart Olson, ''Historical Dictionary of Law Enforcement''. Westport, Greenwood Press, 2001, p. 82

External links

Lawman: the life and times of Harry Morse, 1835-1912 Google Books ResultA Guide to the Henry N. Morse records, 90-84
. Special Collections, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Reno Lawmen of the American Old West American private investigators 1830s births 1912 deaths Alameda County, California, sheriffs California Republicans {{OldWest-bio-stub