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

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

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 that is commonly transla ...

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 (ACA ...

Alameda County, California Alameda County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and 21st most populous nationally. The county seat is Oakland. Al ...

. 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, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. One of his accomplishments was to help (along with his associate James Hume) 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 (bo ...

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 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most ...

. 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 (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. 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 William Henry Theodore Durrant (1871 – January 7, 1898), known as "The Demon of the Belfry", was hanged for two murders committed at San Francisco's Emmanuel Baptist Church, where he was assistant superintendent of the Sunday School. He maint ...

, 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, co-founder of Stanford University in 1885 (opened 1891) along with her husband, Leland Stanford, as a memorial to their only child, Leland St ...

, founder of

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, in 1905.

References

Sources

*Boessenecker, John. ''Lawman: the Life and times of Harry Morse, 1835-1912''. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1998 * 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 Private investigators 1835 births 1912 deaths Alameda County, California sheriffs California Republicans {{OldWest-bio-stub