A Footpad Gang Strikes Oakland, CA 1900

I found this newspaper clipping about a Footpad Gang and this inspired me to research the culprits and find out who they were and tell their stories.

What's a Footpad Gang you ask?

A robber on foot was called a footpad and was often part of a gang. ... In archaic terminology, a footpad is a robber or thief specializing in pedestrian victims. The term was used widely from the 16th century until the 19th century, but gradually fell out of common use. A footpad was considered a low criminal, as opposed to the mounted highwayman who in certain cases might gain fame as well as notoriety. Footpads operated during the Elizabethan era and until the beginning of the 19th century.

I want to start with William J Downing, he was born about 1873 in Nevada. He already had a record.

Inmate #15032 San Quentin Prison
Rec: 16 Jul 1892
Crime: Burg 2nd Degree
Term: 1 yr
Discharged: 16 May 1893
Age: 19

Inmate #18463 San Quentin Prison 

Rec: 6 Feb 1900

Crime: Burglary 1st Degree

Terem: 5 years

Found his wanted poster in the Tulare County Sheriff/Jail Records.

Inmate # 23881 San Quentin Prison
Rec: 26 Oct 1909
Crime: Burglary 2nd Degree 2 counts
Term: #years & 3 Years
Discharged: 26 Feb 1912

1900 and 1920 census census lists him in San Quentin Prison. I found no family information for him or death information.



Here's a newspaper article for Downing:

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30651124/william_downing/


Our next thug was Ed Scott He was born about 1883 in Illinois. He had previous criminal record.

Inmate # 18410 San Quentin Prison

Rec:12 Dec 1899

Crime: Robbery

Term: 7 Years

Discharged: 14 Sep 1904

Another record:

Inmate #18547 San Quentin Prison

Rec:4 Apr 1900

Crime: Felony

Term: 12 Years

Discharged: 4 Dec 1907

Age: 17

Ed was only out of San Quentin but a short time.


Fred Fonte Alias Tommy Lovell, Escaped from Whittier Reform School in California to Texas. He was incarcerated 5 years at the Colorado State Prison. He was captured for the Footpad Gang crimes, here's a newspaper article I found.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30681285/fred_fonte/

Harry E. J. Lynch known as "Brick" was born in Stockton, CA. He is the only one who got away, but he had a record.

Inmate #4299 Folsom Prison

Rec: 25 Jan 1898

Crime: Robbery

Term: 10 Years

Discharged: 25 July 1904

Fred C Dannaker was born about 1877 in California and died 3 Jan 1922 in California.

Inmate #4730 San Quentin Prison
Rec: 10 Feb 1900
Crime: Attempted Burglary 1st Degree
Term: 3 yrs
Age: 19

I did not find any prison records for Henry or Charles McCoy. I believe they were brothers. They were born in Montana and Henry's full name was Gilbert Henry McCoy. 

These guys all supposedly met up in Nebraska and they went to Montana then split up and met again in California. Yet all of them were in prison together at about the sametime. May have been where they all first met.

 Here's some very interesting articles about this gang.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30681466/the_footpad_gang/

Here's another article.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30649591/oakland_gang/

There were 2 people killed and that got them into deeper trouble, yet they got away with the murders and were all charged with burglary and attempted burglary, and Lynch got away altogether, and his accomplices said he was the shooter. 

I was really surprised I found all the records I found, which helped tell their stories. I did not make each of them a tree I made one tree under Downing and added all the rest of them but detached them from each other. One thing I really like about Ancestry is that you can have 100's of trees just like the Family Tree Maker program.