On November 11, 1899, Deputy Will Ward was escorting prisoner Bert Ross via steamship to San Quentin State Prison to begin a ten-year term for burglary. Deputy Ward and Ross shared a room aboard ship. Rou was handcuffed and wore leg irons.
During a port stop in Santa Barbara, Deputy Ward fell asleep while seated in a chair In the room he shared with Ross. Ross seized the opportunity and struck Deputy Ward in the head with a heavy water pitcher, inflicting a fatal injury. Ross took $20 from Deputy Ward’s pocket and the key necessary to remove his handcuffs. However, the key would not unlock the shackles binding Ross’ legs. Ross made his way to the outside deck of the ship and Jumped overboard, convinced that he could swim to shore despite his leg irons. Santa Barbara County Sheriff Nat Stewart was aboard the ship with a prisoner he was escorting to San Quentin. As he stood on the deck, Sheriff Stewart heard splashing in the water below and quickly saw Ross clinging to a pier piling, unable to maneuver. The weight of the leg irons was too great to allow the escaped prisoner to swim away.
Deputy Ward succumbed to his head injury sixteen days later on November 27, 1899, leaving behind a wife and daughter.
Bert Ross was later tried and convicted in the County of Santa Barbara for the murder of Deputy Ward. Sentenced to death, Ross was hung in 1903. As a sign of the time, an editorial printed in the National City Record on June 7, 1903, decried the four-year delay in the “administration of justice” for Ross in Deputy Ward’s murder.
End of Watch
November 27, 1899
Service Tenure
Unknown
Age
45