Thomas Bell Poole (1820–1865) was a lawman in

Monterey County Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county located on the Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 439,035. The county's largest city and county seat is ...

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 ...

, who joined the

Knights of the Golden Circle The Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC) was a secret society founded in 1854 by American George W. L. Bickley, the objective of which was to create a new country known as the Golden Circle (), where slavery would be legal. The country would have ...

and served as a crewman of the

Confederate privateer The Confederate privateers were privately owned ships that were authorized by the government of the Confederate States of America to attack the shipping of the United States. Although the appeal was to profit by capturing merchant vessels and seizi ...

'' J. M. Chapman'' during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

Biography

Poole was born in 1820 at

Franklin County, Kentucky Franklin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,541, making it the second-least populous capital county in the United States after Hughes County, South Dakota. Its county seat ...

. He married Mary Caroline (Duff) Davis. He went to California during the

Gold Rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

and filed for a homestead in

. In 1856 he brought his family to

Watsonville, California Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, in the Monterey Bay Area of the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. The population was 52,590 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Predominantly Latino and ...

. In 1858, Poole become an undersheriff for Monterey County Sheriff Henry DeGraw. He became known statewide for the hanging of convicted murderer Jose Anastasio on February 12, 1858, despite California Governor John B. Weller's order to postpone the execution. After Weller accused Poole of murder, Poole, supported by Monterey citizens, took part in a public spate with the governor, mounting his defense on technicalities, such as the fact that Weller's clemency had been mistakenly issued in the name of Anastasio Jesus. However, Poole's two-year term of employment was not renewed by DeGraw.Reader, Phil
Copperheads, Secesh Men, and Confederate Guerillas: Pro-Confederate Activities in Santa Cruz County During the Civil War
Santa Cruz Public Libraries, 1991
Archived
/ref> After his wife died in 1860, Poole took his family to

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 ...

and engaged in the livery stables business. He joined with the

there. In 1863, he conspired with Asbury Harpending, Ridgley Greathouse, Alfred Rubery, and other California members of the Knights of the Golden Circle to outfit a 90-ton

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

, '' J. M. Chapman'', as a

. William Law, who was hired as the navigator, informed the authorities, and Poole along with the others was accused of treason and jailed in

Alcatraz Alcatraz Island () is a small island about 1.25 miles offshore from San Francisco in San Francisco Bay, California, near the Golden Gate Strait. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fo ...

. He was released after Lincoln's amnesty of December 8, 1863, after swearing allegiance to the Union. In 1864, Poole became one of the leaders of Captain Ingram's Partisan Rangers based in the

Santa Cruz Mountains The Santa Cruz Mountains ( Mutsun Ohlone: Mak-sah-re-jah, "Sharp Ridged Mountain of the Eagle" or "People of the Eagle Mountain") are a mountain range in central and Northern California, United States, constituting a part of the Pacific Coast R ...

. He took part in the Bullion Bend Robbery. On the next day Ingram's

bushwhacker Bushwhacking was a form of guerrilla warfare common during the American Revolutionary War, War of 1812, American Civil War and other conflicts in which there were large areas of contested land and few governmental resources to control these tra ...

s were apprehended by three lawmen including

El Dorado County El Dorado County (; ''El Dorado'', Spanish language, Spanish for "The Golden ne), officially the County of El Dorado, is a List of counties in California, county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

Deputy Sheriff Joseph Staples. During the gunfight, Poole was shot in the face by Staples and went down. Other gunmen returned the fire that killed Staples. On August 27, 1864, the jury found Poole guilty of first-degree murder after fifteen minutes of deliberation. He was sentenced to death by hanging. One of Poole's accomplices, Preston Hodges, was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison with hard labor. Several other people were charged but were acquitted. The

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...

upheld Poole's death sentence. Requests for clemency were signed by the sheriffs of

, Santa Cruz County, and

. However, all pleas for leniency were rejected by California Governor

Frederick Low Frederick Ferdinand Low (June 30, 1828July 21, 1894) was an American politician and diplomat who served as the ninth governor of California from 1863 to 1867. He was previously a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1862 to ...

. Poole was hanged at

Placerville, California Placerville (, ; ''placer'', Spanish for "sand deposit", representing the placer mining that was predominant in the town's development, and ''ville'', French for "town") is a city in and the county seat of El Dorado County, California, United S ...

on September 29, 1865. John Boessenecker, ''Badge and Buckshot: Lawlessness in Old California'', University of Oklahoma Press, 1997, pg. 135-136
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poole, Thomas Bell 1820 births 1865 deaths 19th-century executions by the United States 19th-century executions of American people Lawmen of the American Old West American people executed for murdering police officers American police officers executed for murder American shooting survivors People of California in the American Civil War Confederate States Army officers Bushwhackers Outlaws of the American Old West History of Monterey County, California People from Monterey County, California People charged with treason People convicted of murder by California People executed by California by hanging Inmates of U.S. Military Prison, Alcatraz Island People pardoned by Abraham Lincoln Knights of the Golden Circle members

Biography

See also

References