Table of Contents
THE SANCHEZ FILE, Chapter Fifteen
William Roach, the aftermath
The principal figure in the case, ex-sheriff William Roach
had remained in Monterey following his ouster as guardian, but in 1854
he prepared to leave. First he disposed of his real estate in Monterey
County. He deeded to his son Alexander P. Roach a lot in Monterey on Spence
Street and then sold the adobe house he had purchased from the Sanchez
estate for $750.
The next year he and his wife began to buy property in
Santa Cruz County. First they bought a house in Watsonville for $200, then
two hundred acres in the township of Pajaro that was part of the Rancho
San Andreas and had frontage on Monterey Bay. Again Roach had the most
valuable real estate recorded in his wife's name. This would prevent its
seizure in the event Roach was sued by the Sanchez family. An additional
500 acres of the same rancho was bought in 1862.
In a surprising development the man alleged to have help
Roach escape from the Stockton jail, Franklin Foote moved to Santa Cruz
County and bought some land. The thought immediately comes to mind that
Roach was paying off an old debt, but there is no evidence of this. They
did remain friends, however.
Roach, the rough and tough ex-soldier and sheriff, began
a new life in Watsonville, becoming a farmer and enterprising horseman.
Santa Cruz Sentinel
Watsonville, December 6, 1862
RACING
Many of the Pajaro Valley people, now that the harvest
is over, and while awaiting the coming of the annual rains before the plowing
season commences amuse themselves in the pleasure of horse racing.
A fine track has been laid off on the farm of Mr. Roach, two and a half
miles from Watsonville, and a race usually comes off every Saturday. The
track is a private one, and was made to give the young stock a chance to
show their speed and mettle. We learn some very good running has been made.
Today a race will be run for $300, by California colts
belonging to Messrs. Sanford, Foster and Tyrus.
Clearly Roach was not lacking for money, bringing up again
the question as to the source of his funds. Was it from the $65 thousand
he received from selling the Sanchez property? The property he sold in
Monterey had brought him less than a thousand dollars.
Roach had things pretty much his way all his life from
his Mexican War days in the Stevenson Regiment, his regime as the powerful
sheriff of Monterey, his uncaring and obdurate record as guardian of the
Sanchez children. He had weathered the loss of his brother-in-law Jerry
McMahon in the shoot out at the Washington Hotel. His friends Wall and
Williamson had been murdered and so had his enemies, Sanford and Belcher.
It seemed nothing would ever touch William Roach.
Pajaro Times
Watsonville, September 23, 1865
THE LITTLE ONES HAVE GONE
In common with our fellow citizens, we tender heart condolence
to Mr. Wm. Roach and his estimable lady. The past two weeks have shrouded
their once happy home in sorrow.
Angels have descended from their heavenly home, and beckoned
three little ones from their hearthstone, while the fourth, and last is
fast moving beneath the shadows of their wings...
Three of Roach's sons had been stricken with diphtheria and
died within twelve days of each other. The first was his adopted son, sixteen
year old Alonzo on September ninth; then eight year old William John on
September fifteenth; and three year old Thomas Emmett on September twenty-first.
The fourth child mentioned in the story was Alexander and he recovered.
A daughter, Mary, was born after Roach's death.
Pajaro Times
Watsonville, September 8, 1866
WILLIAM ROACH, HIS DEATH, INQUEST AND FUNERAL
The remains of him whose name heads this article, rest
in the "cold winter house." but heart emotions and affection's tears
still live in honor of his memory. As we respected him in life, let
us speak well of his many virtues after his departure from our
midst. Be it the duty of our humble pen to record
a few words in honor of one stamped with all the qualities which constitute
a MAN, in the pure acceptation of the term..... one who never turned his
face against a friend nor his back upon a foe.
The paper reported that on the morning of September 3rd Roach
went to
Watsonville to vote. He remained in town all day and
evening. At 11 o'clock he told his friends, "Well, gentlemen, I am sorry
to leave you, but I must go!" and galloped off on horseback. Roach had
been drinking but was not, as the paper put it, "overcome by the influence
of the social cup, of which he was wont to imbibe on such occasions."
The next morning a man came to town and said he saw Roach's
horse wandering around in the vicinity of a well. The man said he was in
bed the night before when he heard his dog barking, but went to sleep without
investigating. In the morning he drew several buckets of water from the
well for his stock, but they would not drink it.
After hearing the story a group of men went immediately
to the well and lowered a candle to the bottom where they saw a shapeless
form. They placed a rope around the waist of one of the men in their group,
Thomas Kennedy, and lowered him into the well. With another rope the lifeless
body of William Roach was lifted out.
The residents of Santa Cruz and Monterey counties were
thrown into a state of shock at the death of Roach and murder was immediately
suspected.
The Inquest
A coroner's jury was formed and Kennedy gave the following
testimony:
I went down the well and placed the rope around
his body. I found him with his face down, lying on his side, his face in
the water. I think the well was fifty-five to sixty feet deep. I do not
think there was over two or three feet of water in the well. Deceased was
wedged in, and after I got him loose he did not sink, and I think he was
on the bottom. The well was curbed with redwood to within ten feet of the
bottom, the balance was bricked up. There were places where a person might
get bruised and cut in falling down.
The body was examined by a doctor. He testified there were
two wounds on the face and one behind an ear, but none appeared to have
been made by an instrument. The doctor said they could have come from Roach
hitting the sides of the well as he fell. Several of his ribs had been
broken and a shoulder was dislocated. The doctor said none of the wounds
would have been fatal if there were no other causes of death. His finding
was that Roach had been knocked unconscious by the fall and then drowned.
The coroner's jury ruled that Roach had died accidentally
by falling into the well. The verdict was immediately disputed by many
in the community. A few moments before the body was placed in the coffin
one of the men who had been on the jury saw something on the body not noticed
before. There were bruises around the ankles that appeared to have been
made by a lariat. The doctor's report had not mentioned them.
The newspaper's explanation was that the bruises had not
been seen earlier because the body was in a "par-boiled condition" from
submersion in the water. The paper added, "the skin, after drying and resuming
its natural condition, produced very plainly the marks of the lariat on
his ankles."
The murder theory was based on the supposition that Roach
had been lassoed, jerked from his horse, and the lariat put around his
ankles to drag him to the well. A claim was made that a Mexican a few days
before had threatened Roach, saying "Roach could not live five days." The
man had not been seen since.
The Pajaro Times found fault with the medical examination
because there had been no autopsy, which would have revealed whether Roach
had died by drowning or strangulation.
The official explanation was that Roach was on his way
home when he became thirsty or felt ill, stopped at the well and fell in.
This theory was called absurd by the newspaper. They said the distance
from town
to the well was not more than five minutes. Roach had
drank a glass of soda water before leaving the saloon and would hardly
be thirsty so soon. It was his custom, the paper said, not to take water
after drinking as it made him sick. His friends claimed that Roach was
not so drunk as to fall accidentally into the well.
They said the well was covered by a small house with a
gate that was locked, which left no way of getting to the well except by
climbing a high fence. Roach would not have gone to that much trouble when
he was only within a few miles of his home. He must have been dragged there
by the murderers.
Yet, in retrospect from this century, why would killers
have gone to so much trouble themselves? The well was sixty feet from the
road and they would have had to drag Roach that distance, then lift him
over the fence. This elaborate scheme would certainly have been noisy.
They could have shot him from ambush, the preferred way to eliminate enemies.
Roach's funeral was the largest ever seen in the Watsonville
area with people coming from all over Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.
The Pajaro Times said, "the ceremonies were imposing, and few were the
eyes that remained dry as the noble form of the good, the generous and
brave, passed forever from our sight."
The Pajaro Times gave a background into Roach's life,
including his guardianship of the Sanchez children, and the many murders
associated with the case; the paper claiming that sixteen or twenty lives
were lost, with never any "shadow of guilt" against Roach.
The paper said nothing about Roach being removed as guardian
or about the money he had concealed. As is the case with obituaries the
paper may have wanted to say only good things about the dead and portray
Roach as an outstanding member of the community.
Roach was buried at the Catholic Cemetery on the road
to Gilroy. His headstone is handsome, with decorative work not found on
other graves of the 1860s. There are the words:
William Roach, born Feathard, Co: Wexford, Ireland.
Died at Watsonville, Sept. 3, 1866. First sheriff of Monterey Co. 1850-1853.
At the bottom of the headstone there is a cryptic inscription
that adds another mystery to the life of William Roach. The words: "We
place this stone o'er thy grave as a token of the love we bore thee."
The Fennian Brotherhood
Chapter Sixteen