Major Charles Howard: Grand Larceny

Major Charles Howard was born about 1821 in Indiana, His father was born in New York and mother in Connecticut, according to the 1880 census that lists him in San Quentin Prison.

He had been arrested for grand larceny on 16 July 1871 received 2 yrs prison time. Arrested again for grand larceny in Sep 1878 received 3 yrs

He was discharged from San Quentin 12 Mar 1881

Both newspaper articles are from Oct 1878

 He was a Civil War Veteran, I found this record

Charles had a few alias:

Edward Smith

Ed Smith

Charles Cocker

Charles Metcalf

I also found a California Voters Records for him:

Name: Charles Howard

Age: 53

Birth Year: abt 1826

Birth Place: Indiana

Residence Year: 1879

Residence Place: Los Angeles, California, USA

This is all the genealogy information I found on him.

I found one last newspaper article from 1891

He had tattoo rings on his first, second and third fingers on his left hand. Were these his wives and/or lovers?  I looked it on Google and this is what I found.

Honor. Source. Another popular reason to get a tattoo on the ring finger is to honor someone who has passed away. Some people choose to inscribe the name of a lost child, husband, partner, etc. The design is a symbolic way of saying that they are going through life with the guiding hand of the one they have lost.

Be interesting to find out why he was call Major.