Santa Clarita Valley History In Pictures
> 1929 SAUGUS TRAIN ROBBERY   > LAW ENFORCEMENT

Outlaw Tom Vernon Pardoned by Gov. Pat Brown



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Webmaster's note.

This report references one or more of the enduring lies that the inept horse thief and train robber Thomas Vernon told about himself: that he was "Buffalo" Tom, the rodeo star; and that he was Thomas Averill, the fantasy love child of Jim Averill and Cattle Kate. He was neither.


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A train robber, vintage old west, has won a pardon from Gov. Brown.

Tom Vernon, 82, derailed a Southern Pacific train on Nov. 10, 1929, and stole $300 from the passengers. He was caught two weeks later and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Vernon has been in Folsom State Prison since his conviction. He first requested a pardon in 1941.


Webmaster's note.

The story is itty-bitty, but there's a big problem with it. It's not possible, in 1964, for Tom to have been in Folsom "since his conviction." In California, felons do not generally become eligible for a pardon until 10 crime-free years have passed since their discharge from probation or parole. In fact, we know Tom had been paroled sometime before August 1953, because that's when he shows up in Idaho as reported here. Even today, it's not unusual for reporters to misconstrue the mechanics and significance of pardons.

The reader should be aware that a pardon is not a commutation (a lessening of a sentence), and it does not erase or seal a felon's criminal record. Instead, a pardon restores certain rights otherwise denied felons. In California that includes, among other things, the right to serve on a jury and, in most instances, with federal approval, the right to own a gun — but not when a deadly weapon was used in the commission of the original crime. So even with the pardon, Tom wouldn't have been able to own a gun. (It also doesn't restore the right to vote because it doesn't have to. In California, the right to vote is automatically restored upon discharge from parole.)

Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown Sr. was the 32nd governor of California (1959 to 1967) and the father of Gov. Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown Jr.


Courtesy of Lauren Parker.
1929 SAUGUS TRAIN ROBBERY

THE ROBBERY

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Passengers / Earliest Known 11-10-1929

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Daybreak 11-11-1929

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Newsreel Footage

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Loren Ayers x5

THE MANHUNT

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Boynton Story

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Pollack Story

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LAT 11-11-1929

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Vernon Captured

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Mugshots 12/1929

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Extradition 12-12-1929

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AP 12-19-1929

THE FAKERY

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REAL: Tom Vernon Prison Records

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REAL: Horse Theft 1920

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BOGUS: Tom Vernon Letters 1929-1963

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BOGUS: Tom Vernon's Fake Photo ID 1962

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BOGUS: Vernon's Own Story in 3 Parts

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BOGUS: Cattle Kate Story 12-7-1929

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BOGUS: Vernon Retells Story in 1953

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BOGUS: Sweetwater Incident 1967

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BOGUS Sideshow: Lester F. Mead
'Confessor' 11-1929

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REAL: Buffalo Vernon 1884-1939

THE AFTERMATH

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1957-1958 x3

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Pardon 1964

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Death Cert. 1967

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After the Wreck
No. 5042 x3

• A New Ending (Now Obsolete)


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