Zollie Clement - The Boy Bandit

A young boy found himself lost in the pages of adventure-filled dime novels and couldn't get enough. Before too long he brought those adventures to life just to read about his own adventures in the headlines. Zollie Clement became the Boy Bandit by night, yet he was conniving and clever enough by day to get away with it under the noses of all who knew him. He was so good at hiding in plain sight that he got away with it for an entire decade! He robbed and murdered without a second thought and went to church the next day with his sweet baby-faced charm.

It's typical of the stories we cover to have been lost to our collective memories, but this story is different. We didn't just lose the story, but we also lost Zollie Clement himself. Zollie pulled off one last crime—wrote himself into one last grand adventure—and we never got to read the ending.

Where is Zollie Clement? How does the story end?


Vintage ads featured are for the Titanic's maiden voyage, C. A. Noble and Sons, and Chamberlain's Tablets. Big thanks to Christian for providing our commercial voice and quotes!

Street Fair music featured:
  •  Indiana Two Step, Columbia Band, 1902

Saloon music featured:
  •  A Banjo Song, Louise Homer, 1911
  •  They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dawg Aroun' - Byron G. Harlan, 1912
  •  By the Light of the Silvery Moon, Ada Jones, 1912

Band outside the courthouse featured:
  •  The Policeman's Holiday, The Black Diamond's Band, 1912

Transcript

0:00

What do novels, pistols, and goggles have in common? You're about to find out on this episode of Forgotten Felonies! Welcome back to Forgotten Felonies. I'm Monica. And I'm Olivia. And this is where we take you back in time to rediscover the tales of vintage villainy that time forgot. Beep, beep. We're waiting on your answer. If you were to walk through the streets of Stockton, California today, and stop in front of the Impresso Coffee House at 22 North San Joaquin Street, you'd see only the familiar scenes of modern life. Cars passing, pedestrians walking by in a hurry, the hum of conversation spilling from the two tables situated outside the coffee shop doors. It's the kind of everyday scene you could find anywhere in California in 2025. But one would never guess that just over a century ago, this very spot was the scene of a sensational murder. A crime so shocking, it made headlines across the nation. This episode takes us back in time to the early 1900s in California. And really, it started in the late 1800s with cheap entertainment. Dime novels, mass-produced and very popular in the United States between about 1860 and the early 1900s. For a restless teenage boy, however, it was more than entertainment. It was a playbook. He read these dime novels, cover to cover, again and again, memorizing every adventure, every gunfight, every getaway, every def-smirk the outlaw threw at the world. Between those pages, he found a version of himself he liked better, a more daring, feared, and free version who he aspired to become. Lots of us had dreams of who we wanted to be when we grew up. For most of us, those dreams changed often, as the reality of what was truly attainable set in. But for this particular teenage boy, he wasn't about to settle. Soon, the boy who had once escaped through stories started writing his own, one robbery, one murder at a time. He was drifting from town to town, one state to another, turning those pages from the books of his youth into real-life headlines in the newspapers. And then, after the story seemed to reach its end, he vanished— not just from the newspapers, not even just from the prison yard, but from memory itself. His crimes had been splashed across 20th-century headlines all over the United States, and yet somehow, looking through newspapers. com, I have found... that nobody has clipped these stories. Seemingly no one has ever retold them. Type his name into a search engine today and you'll find next to nothing. It's as if the world simply forgot he existed. Until now. This is the story of the boy who read about bandits and then became one. A story buried in digital newsprint, waiting over a century to be retold. This is the story of Zolly Clement, the boy bandit. Oh, shit. It was January of 1912, and business was good for 52-year-old William Henry Newman. He'd been the owner and operator of the Hoffman Cafe at 22 North San Joaquin Street in Stockton, California for at least the last 16 years. He was a popular man and one of the most well-known saloon men in all of Central California. He'd earned himself a nickname, Diamond Bill. Diamond Bill was a fancy man. The Hoffman Cafe, though it sounds like a restaurant, was actually a saloon where men could play cards for pretty high prices. Stakes. $20 gold pieces were thrown around like nickels in the Hoffman, and serious gamblers spent late nights gambling away. Their life savings over bottomless drinks. He got his nickname because of the diamonds he wore. He had a diamond ring and a diamond stud that he wore during business hours. They were appraised at $1, 250, which would be just under $42, 000 today in 2025. He was so concerned about being robbed for his diamonds that he locked his diamonds up in a safe with the cash every night when he closed. It was Monday, January 15th, 1912, just before 1 o'clock a. m. Diamond Bill was getting ready to close down for the night. His bartender, Ed Baker, walked out back through a door to the alley to close the shutters, and Diamond Bill stood at the bar counting up receipts and clearing out the two tills behind the counter. That's when the doors to the saloon swung open one last time and the highwayman entered. Hippie! He was a man no taller than 5 feet 5 inches, and he was crouched with a pistol in each hand. He wore a light tan suit. He had a black muffler, which is what they called scarves back in 1912. He had the muffler wrapped around his face. So that it covered his forehead and his lower face with one end hanging down over his neck. And over the top of this, over his eyes, he wore driving goggles with the glass lenses removed. And on top of all of that, he wore a cap. The goggles without the glass made his eyes look as though they stood out, like bug eyes. And the highwayman seemed to blink oddly, and his eyes had a strange twinkle to them. What happened in that room can't be said for sure. The highwayman may have muttered the cliché, 'Hands up or I'll shoot.' Nobody really knows what happened between the Highwaymen and Diamond Bill because it was just the two of them. But the saloon wasn't entirely empty. There was a room in the back corner where five men were playing a game of draw poker. The men were Sam McMullen, Frank Murphy, Hans Axel, Charles Nagao, and C. F. Lee.

At around 12: 7:04

55 a. m., Sam McMullen had gotten up to head to the bar for another drink. There was a sliding door that closed off the gambling room from the rest of the saloon. As McMullen opened the door, he saw a terrible sight. There was Diamond Bill with his hands up, and in front of him was the Highwayman with his bizarre disguise and his buggy, twinkly, blinking eyes. The Highwayman had a pistol pressed up against one of Diamond Bill's shoulders as he was pushing him backward. When the sliding door opened, the highwayman took the opportunity to push Diamond Bill through it, into the gambling room. Diamond Bill staggered back, just beyond the threshold, and then the highwayman pulled his two triggers until he'd fired a total of four shots. One bullet went through Diamond Bill's arm and then into his body, piercing his heart. He dropped to the floor, blood spurting from his mouth, and he died within mere moments. Frank Murphy had been sitting next to the door that opened to the alley. He immediately got up to run when he saw the highwayman's revolver. Now, if you recall, the bartender, Ed Baker, was already out in the alley. He heard the gunshots and saw Frank Murphy running. Ed Baker assumed Frank Murphy must have been the bad guy, so Ed Baker ran for his life. But when Frank Murphy saw the bartender running, he assumed he must have been an accomplice of the gunman. This scared Frank Murphy so much that he immediately climbed a fire escape to get as far away as possible. Ed Baker ran as far as the end of the theater alley and— and then he saw the real murderer run past on San Joaquin Street. It all happened so fast that the witnesses were dazed. It was quite a while afterward that they realized how lucky they were to be alive. The killer had rushed from the place right out the front doors, making no effort to take the gold that was lying in plain sight on the card table, nor did he take any of the money from the two tills in the saloon. Diamond Bill had already locked up his diamonds in the safe that evening. It was later revealed in a confession that the bandit had taken $3. and the life of an innocent man. So. Did he just take $3 out of his pocket then, since he didn't take anything from the till? You know, he might have, because later... When I tell you about other things that he did, that is something that he did. So it might have because he didn't go behind the bar at all. So that would make sense because I was wondering that actually as well. Where did the $3 come from? That would make sense. So he probably did get it from his pockets. Patrolman W. F. Wallison was about 100 feet south of the Hoffman Cafe when he heard the four gunshots. shots. He had made it about a third of the distance toward the scene when the doors swung open and the bandit came running out and turned north on San Joaquin Street. Wallison gave chase, yelling for him to stop, but he kept running. Eventually, he turned east on Weber Avenue and then north on Sutter Street. Wallison shot his gun once in the air, hoping it would slow the bandit down, but it didn't. Wallison then aimed and tried to hit the bandit, but he missed. And then, thanks to a heavy fog, the masked bandit simply disappeared. I hate fog. Well, it turns out later, talking to the bandit, that wasn't even him. He didn't even go that route. Yeah. So in the trial, they were like, 'No, remember this story. It was clearly someone else.' So, hmm. Da-da-dum. So police came running from all over, scouring Stockton for any clue they could find. They came up empty. Police had arrived at the Hoffman Cafe within three minutes, and they found the five card players staring silently at the blood-covered face of their friend, William Henry Diamond Bill Newman. They were speechless. They were shocked. They didn't even help. He was dead. Well, yeah, but how would they know? They didn't check for a pulse. I don't know. There was blood that spurred out of his mouth. They were like, 'Ah.' I don't know. Maybe they did check for a pulse. And then they were like, 'He's dead.' And then they stared. Let's go play cards. They weren't playing cards. They were staring. Oh, man. Okay. Diamond Bill's son, Lester, was notified, and he in turn notified his mother. Diamond Bill's wife was named South Carolina Newman, but she went by Carrie. Carrie Newman was beside herself, and she immediately offered a reward of $1, 000 to anyone who would help capture her husband's killer. And luckily, she didn't have to wait long. You can say goodbye to constipation with a clear conscience if you use Chamberlain's tablets. Many have been permanently cured by their use. For sale by Osgood Bros Drugstore. It was just five days later, Saturday, January 20th of 1912, when the bandit struck again. This time it was in Sacramento at the Martin Saloon, located at 20th and G Streets. It was just after 10 o'clock p. m. and his son, James Martin Jr., as well as a black man by the name of Luke Harris, were sitting around the wood stove when the bandit with the glassless goggles and a brown suit came in through the front swinging doors, a revolver in each hand. As soon as the bandit said, 'Hold up your hands,' the young man, Younger Martin, dove for his revolver. This was the bandit's cue to open fire. His first shot struck Martin in the groin and he fell to the floor. He had managed to reach his revolver, however, and he fired back at the bandit, but missed. The bandit realized that it would be impossible to secure any loot from this saloon, and he started backing toward the door while continuing to fire at the three men inside. Side. Another shot struck the younger Martin on the top of his head, and a third went through his left wrist. The older Mr. Martin was about 90 years old and had rushed straight to his son when he had been shot. Luke Harris, however, who was on the payroll as a porter at the Martin Saloon, he was the true hero on this cold January night. The shooting had begun, Luke rolled out of his seat and quickly crawled low to the floor over to a refrigerator to grab a double-barreled shotgun that was kept behind it. Luke was able to get a shot off at the bandit as the bandit had turned to flee, and Luke got him in the right arm. He saw his arm go limp, and the bandit dropped the gun he'd been holding. The gun fell to the floor of the saloon porch, and the bandit continued to run off. The police arrived quickly to take James Martin Jr. to the hospital where he was in grave condition, and they weren't sure if he would survive or not. He was immediately placed in a hospital. on an operating table, and surgeons hoped and prayed they could save his life. Meanwhile, officers Ryan and Penish scoured the neighborhood to look for the runaway bandit, but all they found were the muffler and a gun a few blocks from the scene. And remember, a muffler was a scarf. The bandit ran until he dropped from exhaustion and loss of blood. He wound up lying and bleeding on Mrs. Oldfield's lawn. A 16-year-old boy by the name of Charles Hogan was out that night delivering tamales in the neighborhood when he heard someone calling for help. It was a young man, about 5 feet 5 inches, maybe 140 pounds, bleeding profusely from his right arm, which was very obviously broken. I just want to say. I wish I got night deliveries of tamales. Bring it back. Where's Charles when you need him? The injured man begged for a drink of water. Charles asked him how he'd gotten hurt, and the man wouldn't answer that. Charles helped him get to a house in the neighborhood where he was made comfortable, and then Charles immediately phoned the police. He thought it was a little strange that this man was so terribly wounded, but refused to say what happened. When officers Thielen and Vogel went to the scene of the wounded man, they had already heard about the shooting at the Martin Saloon, and it didn't take much brain power to put the two incidents together. He was located at a house on 23rd Street between I and J Streets. The young man still wouldn't say how he'd hurt his arm, and he gave them a fake name, Ollie Lemons. A search through his pockets gave them his real name, though, and at this time in 1912, he was 26 years old. Olivia, please, tell us all you know about Zolly Clement and his family. I would love to. Zolly Cavender Clement was born to Perry Irwin Clement and his wife, Emily. Francis Elizabeth Jackson Clement on the 21st of May 1885 in Villanoa, Walker, Georgia. Zolli was the third child of eight total children born to the two. In total, he had two brothers and five sisters. Their birth years ranged from 1876 to 1897. The family moved to Sacramento, California, sometime between the 1870 census and the 1900 census. The 1880 and 1890 censuses were missing, so I unfortunately cannot give you an exact date on when they moved. Zolle married Hattie Bell Seeley on the 22nd of June, 1908, in El Dorado, California. In 1909, Zolle moved out of his home with Hattie. And two years later, in May 1911, he started dating a woman named Emmeline Bareilles. And that fall, in 1911, Zolli asked Hattie for a divorce. I found no evidence of any children being born, so I think it's safe to say that Zolli wasn't ever a father. But I mean, you never know. You never know. But... No, he and Hattie did not have children. So. Let that be known. Widely. But I mean, with other people, you never know. Right. But I mean, there was that one true crime book. That in its little summary, it says that Zolly Clement was a boring person by day. He was just a married man with a wife and kids, which he didn't have kids. So if anyone wants to Google, if you find a book, don't read it because it's not true. Anyway, off my soapbox. Are you going to? Rewrite a Wikipedia page again if there is one I will have to Ugh. Some people. Okay. I just don't understand. If you're going to write a book, why are you going to make up stories if it's supposed to be true? Why are you gonna make it up? Drives me nuts. It's crime fiction at that point. So frustrating. I will never use a true crime book as a resource. Ever. Ever. Just FYI. Ever. Okay, now. After Zolle was picked up with his shattered right arm, he was taken to the receiving hospital. This just so happened to be the same hospital where James Martin Jr. was being treated for the shots he had to his head, wrist, and groin. James Martin Sr. was also there with his son. He indicated that Zolle was the right height and build to match the highwayman who had come in guns a-blazin'. Zolle's right elbow was torn to shreds by a discharge of birdshot, and he was in a lot of pain. Still, Chief William Ahern was pressing him for a statement. Zolly finally said, 'I will make no statement until tomorrow. Isn't that square enough?' I would like to see my sister. Oddly, he then gave them a fake name for his sister. He said her name was Mrs. Chisholm, and she lived at 1225 South Street. There was no one by that name at that address. When they searched his belongings, they found two different kinds of bullet cartridges in his pockets.$28 in gold and silver, his union card showing that he was a member of Carpet Mechanics Union No. 62, a pair of goggles, a religious booklet, and several other small trinkets. They also found a key to his hotel room at the Turklu Hotel. When they went to the hotel, located at 805 K Street, they found his suitcase. Inside of the suitcase were clothes and a whole lot of postcards addressed to him at the furniture store where he worked over in Stockton, California. So now they know where he came from. Yes, they do. And that's where Diamond Bill had been murdered just a week before. So the pieces are all starting... To fall together, because Zali happened to be wearing the same muffler, the same goggles, the same hat, and was carrying the same pistols for both of these robberies gone wrong. It didn't take long for the police to realize Zali was the man responsible for both of these crimes, and they said as much in the newspapers. And Zali, well, he just loved reading about it in the paper the next day. It's like he was addicted to the newsprint. Chief of Police Aherd in Sacramento immediately contacted Chief of Police Breyer back in Stockton to let him know that they had Zolly Clement in custody. and that he was employed at a furniture store in Stockton. They also found letters addressed to him at his home, which was a modest little room where he had three roommates. Chief Breyer went with Officers Gayu and McIntosh to the address on the cards and searched his room. His roommates were Harvey McNeese, A. P. Harris, and F. F. O'Dare. They all roomed together at No. 444 East Minor Avenue. When the officers arrived, they were all asleep. At this point, it was probably the very early hours of Sunday, January 21st. And at first, the three men were all asleep. thought it was a joke when the officers arrived. Zolly Clement, the man they'd been living with, was a seriously straight-laced guy. But when the officers told them all that Zolly had done, they were more than willing to help them search through his belongings. And when searching through his things, they found the tan-colored suit that matched what was worn during the murder of Diamond Bill just a week before. It was made by Ike Brown, and it had the name Zolly Clement on the tag inside. They also found a photograph of a young lady by the name of Emmeline Bareilles among his belongings in Stockton. Back in Sacramento, at the Turklu Hotel, inside that suitcase, they found a white handkerchief that, quote, still had the imprint of a nose upon it. And working on this clue, they found a Sacramento saloon man who identified Zolly Clement as the man who had held up his place not once, but twice. Dolly Clement had hit Charles Commenzin's Saloon on 20th and Q Street on August 19th, 1911, and then came back and held up the Commenzin's Saloon again on Christmas Eve of 1911. Can we go back for a minute? What do you mean the imprint of a nose? I know. Okay. I am not kidding. Like, it literally, that's why I put it in quotes. I have gone back to that article so many times. It literally said it was a white handkerchief that still had the imprint of a nose upon it. So... Like... Dirty or boogers, um, a crusty hanky that's like molded in the shape I... Can't even tell you how much time I have spent thinking about this. And it took me days. Until I figured out. The answer to this, but... I do have the solution. I'm glad you do. Because I don't. Oh, man. This is hilarious. But yeah, that had a... I wish they could see my face of unbelief. Oh. Oh. But that had to have been quite the nose, right? And now a commercial break so Monica can compose herself. Oh my gosh. I even went to find a grave to see if there was a picture. I'm a child's kid. I'm free. Oh, I was like, I have to see this guy's nose. I hope so. Send me the dates. Of his birth and I'll see if I can find some. Oh. But. So it's easier on us. If any descendants are listening, and if you have a picture of Charles Kamenzine's nose. Please send us an email at forgottenfelonies@gmail. com. He was born. Oh, I guess you did give me the dates. He was born in 1866 and died on December 3rd, 1934. Okay, but wait. So I later did figure this out. I found another article and I'm like, oh. Like, I spent days, you don't even know where, I was just like... What? I'm surprised you didn't tell me about this earlier. I have to keep some things. I need genuine reaction! Oh my gosh. Um. Okay. I don't know. That maybe the reporter might have been mistaken and the handkerchief was maybe not actually white. Thank you. Oh man, after I tried to find Charles' nose. Thinking it had to have been the most bizarre nose to ever blow. I found articles about the actual holdups in his saloon. And, um. I will explain that in a while when I explain the holdups and you will see, you will see why, why finding a handkerchief made them realize that it was. That he was connected. But I think maybe it wasn't white. And it wasn't just dirt from the nose. Ew. But I spent so many days you don't even know. I was like, what did this nose look like? Nose. Nose. Oh, man. Anyway. I knew this was going to be hilarious. I'm on the hunt now. Yeah, so funny. Okay, anyway, so in that suitcase in the Turklu Hotel, Zali had two suits, three or four hats and caps, and a lot of other clothes. And apparently he was only supposed to be in Sacramento for two days, so it seemed like an odd amount of clothes to bring. Tony Levinsky visited Zali in the hospital and asked him why he had that many clothes for a two-day visit. And Zali just smiled and said he didn't care to discuss it. He also refused to speak about the murder of Diamond Bill back home in Stockton. And what's crazy is Zolly Clement was very well known in Sacramento. People there knew him. So when the news broke on Sunday the 21st, tongues were wagging, and people just couldn't believe that Zolly would do such a thing. Sweet, young Zolly Clement, the angelic boy who had never done anything wrong? This baby-faced darling? Before anyone knew it, he had his fancy criminal name. He was dubbed the Boy Bandit. And that's how he became known in headlines all across the United States. The boy bandit. That's what caught my eye first. And that's why I looked further into the story. And that's why you're all hearing it now. The boy bandit. It's got a certain ring to it. So why did everyone know him in Sacramento? Well, that's because Zali did a lot of his growing up there in Sacramento. And he had once been married and he lived in Sacramento. There with his wife, Hattie Seeley Clement. Zolli and Hattie had gotten married back in 1908 when Zolli was 22 and Hattie was 19. And they said they settled down in Sacramento. Now, I don't know what happened between the two of them, but apparently they were together for just two years before Zali left him out of the blue. That's what she said in the paper. She didn't know why, but after two years, he just left. They were still legally married at the time of these last saloon robberies and the murder that we've already talked about. But around the end of 1911, Zolli had shown up at Hattie's house and asked her to file for divorce. Zolli had moved on. He had moved to Stockton and he had a new girlfriend, Emmeline. Bareilles, but Emmeline had no idea that Zolly had ever been married. So hang on, the way you said all that makes it sound like there were more crimes. Oh yeah, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Announcing the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic, the pride of the White Star Line. Built with the latest safety innovations, she is said to be... Unsinkable. Cross the Atlantic in unmatched comfort and confidence aboard the grandest vessel ever to sail. Departing April 10th, Southampton to New York. A journey you'll never forget. By January 23rd of 1912, Zolle was still in a lot of agony in the hospital in Sacramento, and James Martin Jr. was recovering post-op. Zali had already confessed to being the man who shot up the Martin Saloon, and the authorities were building evidence against him to prove he was also the man who had murdered Diamond Bill the week before and held up the Kamenzin Saloon twice the previous year. Zali eventually had a visit from a Baptist minister, a Reverend Travis. He showed up on Tuesday, January 23rd, and spent quite a bit of time with him. With Zali. After their visit, Reverend Travis notified Chief of Police Breyer that Zali wanted to make a statement. It turns out that Zali had convinced the previous September, just a few months before having robbed and shot up these two saloons. And after chatting with this minister, he decided that he... would come clean about his whole life of crimes. His confession was extensive and shocking, and Zali couldn't wait to read about himself the following day. With this one confession, a whole lot of cold cases were solved. All of this got started when Zali was just a young, impressionable man. lad. Zolli was doing what we all want our kids to do. He was reading. Zolli loved to read, and he would get lost in books. Dime novels were very popular in the United States from about 1860 through to the early 1900s. These were a pretty cheap form of entertainment at 10 cents a pop. Yeah, that's worth about $3. 86 in 2025 American dollars. So that is very inexpensive. And you know, maybe he stole that $3 because he needed the $3 to go with his 86 cents. Maybe, maybe. Once one of your friends or family members bought a dime novel, they could share it with you for free. So, I mean, this was great. They were inexpensive, but you could also borrow them, right? You could borrow them from people. So those novels could be passed through countless hands and read multiple times. Zali loved the books full of adventure. And he was especially drawn to the stories of outlaws in the Wild West. Zolly Clement romanticized the idea and idealized this lifestyle. The thrill of it, the gunfights and the getaways. His life as a teen was boring, and he longed for adventure. And so, one night, when he was 16 years old, he seized the opportunity.© transcript Emily Beynon Saturday, May 17th of 1902 was the last day of the street fair in Sacramento. This was a big annual event that went on for a week and was put on by the Street Fair Club. It was a huge, costly event that brought people from all around the world. It often had a coronation ball to kick it off on the first night, but they had called that off in 1902 because the club didn't have the finances for it that year. It would have cost a solid $1, 000. In 1902, that would have had the spending power of about $38, 000 today. That would be insane for one night. Yeah, like... Deputons were a big thing back then, but... Yeah. A woman named Miss Faye Jackson had been elected May Queen with 187, 716 votes, which was when 119, 107 more votes than Miss Gertie Plum had received. And so Miss Faye Jackson would have been crowned queen at the Coronation Ball. That all had to be skipped. I bet Her Royal Highness was disappointed. From what I can gather from the newspapers, the street fair had a Mardi Gras feel to it. People wore masks, like you'd see at a Mardi Gras festival, and they'd celebrate in the streets. So, as I said, Saturday the 17th was the final night, and it was all... winding down.

At around 10: 34:51

30 p. m., a man by the name of James Markham was on his way home. He was a railroad bridge carpenter, and he lived in at 8th and P streets in Sacramento. Markham had just turned the corner of 8th and N streets, which was right by the Stanford Lathrop home, when a footpad wearing a mask stepped out from behind a tree and told him to throw his hands up. Could you explain to our listeners what a footpad is? A footpad is what they called a robber who was on foot and targeted people in public places or dark alleys. So, basically, the early 20th century version of a mugger. Yeah. So the masked footpad was holding a pistol and Markham assumed he must just be one of the roisterers from the street fair. So here is a statement in James Markham's own words. I saw the man wear a false face, and when we met, he said... 'Throw up your hands.' I thought he was a friend of mine who was joking me, and I said, 'Ah, get along.' He said, 'I mean it.' I started to put up my hands and he shot me and then started back and ran into the alley. James Markham had just assumed it was someone playing a joke. He didn't take the man seriously at all, but that pistol was not telling jokes and those bullets were not. Not punchlines. This masked footpad was none other than a 16-year-old Zolly Clement committing his very first holdup. After he shot this man, he didn't even try to rob him. He just ran away. James Markham didn't fall to the ground and die. He walked home to 806 P Street and either notified the police himself or had someone else do it. Dr. George L. Stevenson, a surgeon from the Railroad Hospital, arrived to attend to him and he wound up taking him in the police patrol wagon to the hospital for an operation. His large intestines had been torn by the bullet, so the perforations were sewn up. But sadly, James Markham died on Tuesday, May 20th, shortly after 2 o'clock a. m. The police found no trace of the footpad, and they questioned several known criminals in the area. They had found a small mask in the alley near the scene. By the time Markham died, the leading theory was that he'd been shot by a woman who had fallen desperately in love with him. Zali later said that this theory made him chuckle when he read it in the paper. He just loved reading the stories later. On May 21st of 1902, the day after James Markham died, Zolly Clement celebrated his 17th birthday. That same year, maybe even that same month, Zali made his way from Sacramento to Tacoma, Washington. He had an accomplice, who he would not name, but they together committed another armed holdup. So I looked through the Tacoma papers from 1902 to see if I could find any holdups that fit Zolle's MO, and I did find one from Monday, November 10th, 1902. It was in Sumner, Washington, which is not far outside of Tacoma. There were two holdups that night. A man named George Mattis was found insensible near a railroad water tank close to the main street. He had been slugged and robbed around midnight. He had been hit in the head with a sandbag and robbed of $6. The other man was A. M. Gordon. Two men armed with revolvers stopped him on the track and told him to throw up his hands. They took from him $1. 50, which was all the money he had. That definitely sounds like Zali. So we don't know if that was Zali and his accomplice or not, but honestly, it would not surprise me because it is pretty on brand. But I do wonder who his accomplice was. He said he wouldn't reveal his name in 1912 because he had since gotten married and had a family. So he didn't want to like ruin things for him. Next, Zali says that he held up a man in Woodland in 1904. There is a city called Woodland in Washington, but there's also a Woodland, California. which isn't far from Sacramento. So I'm not sure which Woodland he was talking about. When I searched for the term 'holdup' in all of 1904 in Woodland, Washington, I got no results at all. While on the other hand, I got quite a number of results when I looked for the same in Woodland, California. He said that he held up a man and escaped by bicycle. Couldn't find anything that matched that description, but I did find two saloon robberies that would have fit Zolly to a tee right down to the description of the highwayman who did the robbing. I'm gonna, I'm gonna side note here and say... Zali's older brother Joseph did get married in 1904. So potentially... What if his brother was his accomplice? Maybe. That would be interesting. Because, yeah, you'd wonder, like, how is he still paying, like... How is he still keeping in touch with? The accomplice, or, you know, so yeah, that would make sense how he would still like know where he was at, you know. Mm-hmm. And he was married with kids. Mmmmmmmmmm. Anyways, that was my little side note. We should see if he went to Washington, if he was in Washington around that time. If there was a census, maybe he had moved there. Well, look. All right. So, yeah. Also in 1904, he said he held up a man in Susan City. I couldn't find any news articles available at all from that city from 1904. So I was out of luck on that one. Zolle said in 1912 that he always looked in the newspapers the next day to see if there were stories about his crimes, and he was disappointed when there was no coverage. So it's possible that any of these crimes that I'm talking about were not his at all. And the crimes that were his didn't make it into the papers. Just FYI. So all of this is speculation. Now, also in 1904, Zali got a job as a carpet layer in San Francisco. He was working for a place. On December 10th of that year, he held up a man named Raymond Bailey in the Berkeley neighborhood of Oakland, California. up knocked Raymond unconscious and then stole a gold watch right off of his arm. The gold watch was inscribed with the words, 'From Grandma to Raymond, March 1900.' When Zali was arrested in 1912, he still had that gold watch. When Zali spoke of this crime later, he was convinced that he had killed Raymond Bailey because of how hard Raymond had hit the ground when Zali had knocked him out. But he said that he didn't find any news of a murder the next day. Well, Raymond, in fact, did not die from that attack. Just seven days later, on December 17th, 1904, Zali did murder someone, and this one made huge headlines.

It was 7: 42:04

20 p. m. on that Saturday evening.

The sun had set at 4: 42:08

52 p. m. that day, so it was quite dark out. Place at 26th Street and Broadway, just across from the Providence Hospital. An 18-year-old boy named M. C. Hersey was held at gunpoint by a masked man just a short time earlier and was robbed of $1. 75. He had gone to the police and was, in fact, still at the police station. station, so the police were all on the lookout for anyone suspicious. Patrolman Brown was on a white horse and was in front of Providence Hospital. Patrolman Brown got off of his horse and began to talk to people in the area. First he spoke to a man who had just gotten off of a bicycle. The man with the bicycle explained to the officer that his wife was sick and he needed to go to her bedside right away. Patrolman Brown let him go, and that's when he noticed the suspicious character lurking behind a telegraph pole across from the hospital. Zali thought that if he saluted the officer, he may just continue on. But he continued to approach him. Witnesses heard the officer say, 'Come here, I want to speak to you.' Zolle later said that when Patrolman Brown started asking him questions, he knew he was in for it, so he just pulled out his gun and shot him down. The newspaper initially said that the footpad had a . 38 caliber automatic weapon because the three bullets were fired so quickly. After their investigation, it was found that the bullets were not fired from an automatic weapon after all. It turns out that Zolly Clement, at the age of 19, had spent quite a bit of time practicing pulling out his gun and firing it as quickly as possible. That's why the three bullets sounded like they all came out seemingly at once. Two bullets hit Patrolman Brown in his body, and one shattered his club. He staggered backward and said, 'Murder! Murder! I'm shot!' His pulmonary artery was severed when it entered his left breast, and he died within a few minutes. Whoa. Um, so... Do we know if Zali was the one that held up MC Hersey? He didn't say when he was giving his confession. And I think he would have said, because when he was, I mean, if he's confessing to killing the cop, I think he would have said, 'if he had done it.' So I don't think he did. Um. I, I don't, I mean, he... He didn't even mention that there had been a holdup. I think it was later. He said that he killed the cop. And then later, reporting, they said why the cop was out talking to people. So he may have just omitted that part. I don't know. And when Zali was giving his confession, he was confused on some things. Keep in mind, this was eight years later when he gave his confession. And so he actually said that the night after, like that same night after he had killed patrol. He said it was that same night that he wound up running into Raymond Bailey and that he killed him and stole his watch. But in reality, and they know because of the watch, they know exactly whose it was. And it was, you know. a week prior to the killing. So yeah, we know that he was a little confused on the order of events. But yeah, so I don't know if he did do the holdup of MC Hersey. He didn't include that in his confession. And he seems like such a stand-up guy. You would think he would. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. But police from all over the city and surrounding areas were searching for Zali, obviously, after that murder. They were guarding the railroads and the streets in and out of town. And they just couldn't find him. They made a lot of arrests after this, thinking, you know, they'd found the guilty party, but none of it panned out. One of my favorite incorrect arrests for Patrolman Brown's murder was that of a Danish sailor named Andrew Anderson on Christmas Eve. Just listen to this quote from the paper. Patrolman Sherry, who made the arrest, was first attracted to Anderson by his face, which is said to have a thoroughly repulsive and brutally criminal look. Every line in the face indicates an evil nature, and his countenance would be picked out of a thousand as a type of a criminal face. He sounds like Nathan Harvey's son. Corwin. Oh, yeah. The demon. Poor guy, though. He's just doing his due diligence as a sailor. Ew, you're so ugly. You killed someone with your-If looks could kill, yours would. But in reality, no, he actually had a gun and a mask on him and he told them he was looking to go out and kill someone. Well. And so they were like, well, then clearly it must have been you. So he actually wasn't a good guy. I guess the face of a demon doesn't lie. But yeah, he did not kill Patrolman Brown, we found out eight years later. Yeah. So Zolle also confessed to going to Fruitvale a few days after murdering Officer Brown, holding up a saloon, and killing a saloon man there, or at least shooting him and thinking that he must have killed him. I couldn't find any articles about this in December of 1904 or January of 1905. So again, it's possible he just assumed someone died when they didn't, or he was misremembering the dates because so much time had passed. But yeah, now without giving a date, Zali says he next went to Fresno, where he met a black man on a bench in a park. They got to talking and realized that they both had a love for criminal adventure. So they went to a saloon in Fresno one night where they stuck up a whole gang of people together and were able to get a load of cash in the process. When they left the saloon, they both wound up running in opposite directions. His accomplice was holding the money, and unfortunately Zali never saw him or the money ever again. So maybe not his brother. Oh, no, this was someone completely different. This was years later. I think it could have been his brother in Washington for sure. He says he held up another saloon in Fresno a few days before he left that city, but there was another whole gang of people inside, and Zali only had himself. He saw that he couldn't get away with it, and he backed out without securing any loot. He just went in, like stuck him up and was like, 'Oh, never mind.' And out he went. And then, on March 21st of 1908, Zali's mother died. So she had been just 52 years old, and Zali would have been 22. His birthday was two months away. I don't know if he was close to his parents or not, because it sounds like he left home at 17, you know, when he went to Tacoma. But I believe by 1908, he was back in Sacramento. Mm-hmm. So we're going to go back and give a little recap from what I said earlier. It was after all of this that he married Hattie Bell Seeley. On, like I said, June 22nd of 1908, Zolli was now 23 and Hattie was 19. Hattie had been a student in Placerville, California when Zolli met her. He was an upstanding member of the community, clearly, and Hattie's parents were happy about the union. After the wedding, the two of them settled in Sacramento, California, where Zolly had been raised and made a home together. It was two years later, like I said, that things went bad and they split up, with Zolly moving out. Hattie returned to Placerville and she continued to go by Hattie Clement, at least until 1941 when her father passed away. So it looks like she may never have gotten married again. Yeah, so she would have been 52 in 1941, so I imagine she probably never did get married again, and I could not find her burial on Find a Grave, so I don't know when she died. And, and I know I had you try to find her and yeah, couldn't see. I kind of have the feeling that maybe she did get remarried after that. Just because we couldn't find her. Yeah. So it's possible. But yeah, I wish I could find out what happened in that two years. I know that Hattie had no idea he was a criminal, though. And by day, he was just a carpet layer who made pretty good money, actually. He made $25 to $30 a week. So he didn't need those $3. No, he did not. He did not. He moved from Sacramento to Stockton, California, after he left Hattie, and he was hired at a furniture store. I believe he was still a carpet layer, so maybe the furniture store also sold carpet. He and Emmeline Bareilles, who lived in Stockton with her family, began dating in May, 1911, when Zolly was just at the cusp of his 26th birthday and young Emmeline was 19. A couple months into the relationship with Emmeline, the boy bandit struck again. It was midnight on the night of July 24th when a masked bandit entered the saloon of John Cost at 17th and J Street in Sacramento, California. The bartender was behind the bar drawing a beer, and Thomas Farness and J. A. Johnson were the two patrons sitting at the bar. The bandit held them up with his pistol. He got $40 from Thomas Farnes, $2 from J. A. Johnson, and $25 from the Till. And then, keeping the three covered with his pistol, he backed out of the saloon and made his escape into the night with his $67. And that has the purchasing power of $2, 284. 88 in 2025 U. S. dollars. Yeah, so, I mean, that wasn't a bad haul. Poor Thomas Farnes, though. That $40 was probably an entire paycheck. Mm-hmm. Poor guy. Awful. Now, keep in mind, he's living in- Stockton, California at this time, working as a carpet layer for a furniture store there, but he's traveling back to Sacramento, probably by train, to commit his crimes. The holdup of John Cost's saloon was July 24th of 1911, and the boy bandit next struck on August 20th, not even a full month later. With a green handkerchief concealing his face. Oh. And with a joking humor, while holding up all seven people inside the commensined saloon with a small blue revolver, the short, stocky bandit... robbed the joint. He had all seven of the men line up along the wall with their hands up while he took everything he could get out of the till. He then went down the line and told them to shell out everything he had in their pockets, except for one man. He told one of them that he, quote, looked too good to be robbed. The police wondered if maybe the bandit had recognized a friend of his. I mean, goals right there. Ew. Man, you're looking good. I don't want to ruin that outfit. Right? He was just joking around. A different article said that he said you're too pretty to be robbed. So this one I was looking at said he looked too good to be robbed, but a different one said that he said he was pretty. But anyway. So is this where the nose comes in? Yes. So apparently, the whole handkerchief thing was that it was a green handkerchief. And so that's why, when they found him with a green handkerchief, they were like, 'You must be the guy.' And so that's how they made the connection. So that's why I think the reporter must have been wrong. The reporter must not have imagined that a green handkerchief existed. And was like, 'Well, clearly, the only way they could make a connection between a handkerchief and a saloon robbery is if there was an imprint of a nose, like the nostrils they tell all Oh, man. So, yeah, after I saw that where it was green, I was like, 'Oh, yeah, it could have saved me days.' I'm contemplating how this is possible. Oh my gosh. Seriously, days. I was like—Wondering, like, man, what this nose must have looked like. Anyway, okay. But yeah, so the guess was he got about $100, but they weren't sure of the whole amount. He was wearing a broad-brimmed, light-colored hat, a light coat with black pants, and tan lace-up shoes. But that most striking thing about him was that green handkerchief that was covering his face. Now, as he left, he announced, 'Betchy? You'll find your bicycle in Capitol Park tomorrow morning. And he made his getaway on a bicycle that had been parked outside the saloon. Now. That was August of 1911, and the boy bandit came back to the same saloon on Christmas Eve of that same year. In fact, when he stepped inside, Charles Commenzand recognized him and said, 'What? You here again?' And apparently, according to the article in the Sacramento Bee, the bandit replied, 'Yes, and last time I came, you ran out and yelled your head off.' This time you stay inside, line up, and be quick about it. And that was that. This time he got away with about $70, most of it from the table where Kamenzind and the patrons had been gambling. Now, I feel really bad for Charles Kamenzand because these two robberies weren't the only two crimes that he'd faced. He'd also had a burglary in April of that year, and I saw somewhere that he'd been hit a few other times as well. So his saloon was just a very popular place for criminals to hit. And I don't know why, but yeah. So that second robbery at the Kamenzin Saloon was December 24th of 1911. And then he killed Diamond Bill at the Hoffman Cafe in Stockton, California on January 15th of 1912, just about three weeks later. And then five days after that, he shot James Martin, Jr. while robbing his and his dad's saloon in Sacramento, California. And Luke Harris, the hero of the hour, shot Zolly Clement in the arm and ultimately put an end to his 10-year career as the boy bandit. So Zolly Clement, the boy bandit, wrote out his confession in the presence of City Attorney Hart, Detective Biggs, and stenographer Pfeiffer. When he was done, he heaved a sigh of relief. His only requests were that the police and the newspapermen leave his wife, Hattie Seeley Clement of Placerville, and his girlfriend, Miss Emmeline Bareilles of Stockton, completely out of it. He said that neither of them even knew he'd ever committed any crimes, and he didn't want them hounded or made into public spectacles. Zali's friends were absolutely shocked by all of this. He didn't drink alcohol. He didn't smoke or use any form of tobacco. He didn't hang out with a rough crowd. He had good morals and values. He attended church regularly. He was a straight-laced guy by day, and the boy banned it by night. On February 10th of 1912, Zali wasn't feeling very relieved by his confession. He was feeling rather down in the dumps, you could say. He'd had surgery on his arm, and he attempted suicide by opening a blood vessel near the wound. The physicians acted quickly, and they were able to save him. On February 12th, the district attorney in Stockton decided they were going to put Zolli on trial for the murder of Diamond Bill. Zolli was still recovering in the county hospital in Sacramento at this time. Two days later, on February 14th, just after 3 a. m., Zali tore the bandages from his right arm and tried to sever an artery with his fingernails. Ew. Chief of Police Ahern ordered that his good hand, his left hand, be cuffed to the side of the bed. Finally, on March 9th, Zolle was moved from the county hospital to the city jail in Sacramento while he waited for transport to Stockton, where he would begin his journey through the court system for the murder of Diamond Bill. No, we don't do all the work, or most of the work, but what little we do is right. If you have any building you wish done in a worksman-like manner, see us. C. A. Noble & Sons. Contractors and Builders.

Phone: 59:19

Main 388. It was March 12th when Chief Ahern loaded Zali into a taxi cab and took him to the train depot. Chief Ahern, from Sacramento, met Chief Breyer, from Stockton, at the train station in Sacramento, and the three made the long journey to Stockton together. They rode in car number 23, which was filled with people. Zali wore a long black coat and a soft black hat. His arm was in a sling, and he was very pale and thin. But his eyes were bright and alert. He was chewing gum vigorously for the whole trip. At one point, his head dropped against the window and they thought maybe he had fainted. They gave him some water and he was fine for the rest of the trip. He said the seat was getting very hard, he was very tired, and his arm was in a lot of pain.

The train arrived in Stockton at 2: 1:00:11

03 p. m. They took a car from there to the jail, and he was taken inside. He hadn't been handcuffed throughout the whole trip. When he got into the jail, he was looked over by a Dr. Friedberg. He dressed his wounded arm and found that, from his wrist up to the shoulder, there had been diseased portions of flesh cut away to prevent blood poisoning. By March 15th, Dr. Friedberger said that Zali's arm was not doing well at all. If it didn't start to improve, he was going to have to graft 30 square inches of skin onto his arm. Now, an article on March 17th made me laugh. It said, 'Zolly Clement, many-time murderer, complains that his wounded arm is bothering him. Not so much trouble with his conscience.' I didn't know that they were doing skin grafts back then. That's wild. On March 26th, Zolle's last victim, James Martin Jr., was released from the hospital. James Martin Jr., though, never fully recovered. From 1912 to 1919, he worked at the hospital as a telephone operator. But, starting in 1919, he was readmitted as a patient. In 1935, James Martin Jr. suffered a stroke that made everything, well, worse. For a while, he couldn't talk, and was paralyzed in his throat. An article from the October 20th, 1940, the Sacramento Union says, but the paralysis is leaving his throat. And when he can keep from sobbing with despair, he can talk fairly well. On December 10, 1943, James Martin Jr. passed away at the age of 66. And, before we get back to our story about Zolli, I just want to add that, while Zolli was sitting in the Stockton jail a few days away from his preliminary hearing, that the Titanic sank on April 14, 1912. Yes, it was wild looking at the articles about Zali. Like he's one headline and then the next headline, like next to it, was about the Titanic. It was like crazy and seeing pictures and stuff. So very interesting what was going on at the same time. Now, the preliminary hearing for Zolle took place at 10 a. m. on April 19th of 1912, with Justice of the Peace Parker presiding. The preliminary hearing ultimately decided that Zolle would be held for trial in the murder of William Diamond Bill Nelson. While in the courtroom that day, Emmeline wouldn't even look at Zali. When she got up to leave, she had accidentally left her sweater, so Zali called out to her. Miss Bareilles! Miss Bareilles! You have left your sweater! She came back and he handed it to her with a smile and a bow. She sharply said, 'Thank you.' And she left. The trial was set for June 4th and it took forever to seat a jury because everybody everywhere knew about the case. Jury selection began on June 4th. By June 6th, they had nine jurors. Zali's sister, Etta, started weighing in on jury selection. She was taking extensive notes through the process, and she would tell the defense attorney who should be dismissed. Now, one juror in particular, a guy named G. Gianelli, he was dismissed because Etta didn't like his looks. That was her reason. So another demon face? I don't know. I looked him up. He and his brothers owned grocery stores in Stockton for over 50 years. And both of them had first names beginning with G. So I don't know which of the brothers it was. But yeah, he was dismissed because Etta thought he was unattractive. Well, Etta, beggars can't be choosers. So it made the papers how she was like such a big part of all of it. But anyway,

the jury was finally complete by 2: 1:04:08

30 p. m. on June 7th. They called six witnesses that day. They called Emmeline's father and two brothers because Zali had been at their house on the evening in question. They all said they didn't know what time Zali left their house that night. The Hoffman Cafe is just five blocks from their house, and the prosecution's theory was that Zali probably went straight there. Two of the card players were also called as witnesses that day, and the sixth witness was a civil engineer to explain a map of that portion of Stockton. And court adjourned at 5 o'clock until Monday morning, June 10th of 1912. It didn't go over the weekend, which was very weird for that day and age. Normally, they just plowed right through. Emmeline Bareilles was the first on the stand on Monday morning. She testified for more than an hour for the prosecution, and then defense attorney Ben Barry put her through a grueling trial. ruling cross-examination. She was very nervous, and she laughed a lot. She said that Zali had gone to her house at four o'clock that day, January 14th. They had some conversation, then went out for supper. That evening, they went to church. The attorney wanted her to go through every single detail of that evening starting at midnight, which was the time she was positive her brothers had come home from an event they'd attended, because he wanted to establish that Zolly was at her house until after 1 o'clock a. m. She said, after her brothers came in, she and Zali roasted two batches of chestnuts on the stove. She wasn't sure how long that took. Then they ate some apples. Next, she shampooed Zali's hair, which would have taken 15 minutes. Then he shampooed her hair. She was sure it would have taken more than 15 minutes because her hair is so long. She said. Then he showed her his gun and asked her to load it for him. He told her it was just for protection because he didn't want to be held up by a foot pad or a highwayman on his way home. After she loaded his gun for him, they went out onto the porch and talked for a while until he said it was time to go. Now that all sounds to me like it took quite a while,

but the newspaper said that it only proved he was there until 12: 1:06:18

35 a. m. I think the hair washing would have been, you know, 35 minutes alone. But, you know, whatever. It's all hogwash because we know that he did, in fact,

kill Diamond Bill at 12: 1:06:32

55 a. m. Later that afternoon, the prosecution declared Emmeline a hostile witness because it was discovered that she had gone to the defense attorney's office several times and had had been meeting up with Zali's sister, Etta. So Emmeline was doing what she could to help Zali and was not really on the side of the prosecution after all. There was a gun ballistics expert named Howard Carr that the prosecution was really relying on. He had done a test shooting a bullet from Zali's blue revolver into a ball of cotton, and then looking at the markings left on the outside of the bullet. Unfortunately for the prosecution, Carr testified that the bullet certainly might have come from Zolli's gun, but he wouldn't definitively say that it had. On June 11th, Zali himself took the stand. The defense was hoping to keep any mention of his crimes in Sacramento out of the trial, so they needed Zali to get up and just admit that he'd had all of those items that he'd used for his disguise in Sacramento, that he'd had those there in Stockton the night that he had murdered Diamond Bill. They actually had Luke Harris, the man who had shot him in Sacramento, there in Stockton, ready to testify. But the defense was so worried that if he got... Then he would talk about, you know, the whole thing that had happened in Sacramento. And then if the jury heard that there was another crime, they would be biased against him and certainly find him guilty. So they got Zolli up on the stand and he said, 'Yes, he had the goggles, the muffler, the hat, the guns, and the cartridges when he was in Stockton.' Now, in addition to admitting that he did have those items, Zali explained why he had previously confessed, because now he was saying that that whole confession was false. That's why he was on trial. He was denying the confession and fighting for his life. He said that he was pretty sure he wouldn't have gotten proper treatment for his arm unless he confessed. And then Reverend Travis, he even testified that when he visited Zolly a day or so after his arrest, Zolly hadn't even been given a bath and was still wearing his blood. bloodstained clothes from when he'd been shot. Zali's attorney also argued that Zali had been given the, quote, third degree treatment during questioning and the confession had been coerced. Zali was actually called to the stand three times in his own defense, and it was disastrous for him. The prosecution had a heyday with him on the stand. Zolli's roommates from Stockton testified as well. The night that Diamond Bill was murdered, Zolli had come home a bit after 1 o'clock a. m. He showed up out of breath, and he didn't turn the light on. He crashed around in the dark a bit, and one of his roommates asked him, 'Pretty full tonight?' Back in 1912, 'pretty full' meant drunk. Zali saw that as his opportunity and decided to act like he was drunk. So he changed his clothes in the dark and he got into bed, and then he got back up and went to the bathroom to pretend like he was vomiting. During the closing arguments, there was a dramatic incident that unfolded. Assistant District Attorney Rendon took the goggles and the muffler, which, again, is a scarf, and decided to put it on to show the jury what Zali would have looked like. He wrapped the muffler around his face, and here's how it was described. With one edge below the line of his eyes, bringing one end up over his head so as to hang just above the eyebrows. The other end of the muffler was brought down in front. The hole was kept in place by the hat and the automobile goggles from which the glasses had been removed. The goggles made Rendon's eyes stand out prominently. So everybody in the courtroom started laughing when Rendon, you know, put on this whole garb, including Zolly. And so Rendon said, 'You must remember I've had this thing on only about three times. He could undoubtedly do it more deftly.' Shortly after 11 o'clock on the morning of Saturday, June 15th, Judge Norton began reading instructions to the jury. The courtroom was absolutely jammed. The case had been quite the sensation, and there was a celebratory feel outside the courthouse with everyone who had gathered. There was a big band outside playing lively music, and the band was marching around the block. And every time they passed the window, the judge had to stop reading the instructions to the jury because nobody could hear a word he was saying. At one point, he paused and said, 'We'll give the band precedence.' The next time it happened, he turned to Sheriff Rikes and commanded, 'Mr. Sheriff, you will go outside and stop that band.' Just before noon on Saturday, June 15th, the case was given over to the jury, and by 3. 30, they had their verdict. We find the defendant, Zolly Clement, guilty of murder. Murder in the first degree and recommend life imprisonment as the punishment. When the verdict was read, there were many groans of disapproval because the spectators felt he ought to have gotten the hangman's noose. The official sentence was passed on the morning of June 18th, and his attorney, Ben Barry, did not make a motion for a new trial, nor did he say he would appeal the verdict. Zolly Clement was taken to Folsom Prison on the evening of June 19th. He was given a prisoner's haircut and the change of, you know, prisoner's jumpsuit. And his prisoner ID number was 8381. His arm was in horrible condition, and so they didn't assign him to a cell block until a doctor could examine him and determine what they could do for his arm. Zali swore that he would follow the rules in prison and be a model prisoner so that he could hopefully be released before he died. Now, you might be wondering how that turned out. The first prison escape took place on Monday, March 31st of 1913, so about nine months after his arrival. He had been assigned to the prison stable. With several other prisoners, and it was a pretty laid-back atmosphere. They have a lot of freedom of movement, but there is a line that they can't step over. Without being stopped by an armed guard. Well, late that afternoon, as they were about to quit work, Zali was able to walk away from the stables and pass through a double gate. About 100 feet away, before a guard stopped him. This was considered one of the most clever escape attempts in the history of the prison because he had used harness blacking to darken the white stripes of his prison jumpsuit, and he had used brass knobs from electric light fixtures to look like buttons. He had literally made his prison jumpsuit look like a guard uniform. He had fooled three guards at the inner gates, and he was only caught because he'd come into closer view of a guard when he reached the prison farm. After that, and because his right arm had a deep furrow in it from the gunshot wound that he'd sustained during the robbery of the Martin Saloon, he was assigned to, quote, 'the doctor. rock pile.' This is where the convicts could labor as much or as little as they pleased, and it was for those who had injuries or disabilities. In September, so about six months after that first escape attempt, he started acting very strangely. He would wander out of bounds and he would give really... strange reasons for it when he was caught. He would start talking to himself. He was staring into space. He was isolating himself more and seemed very morose. So they started watching him to see if maybe he was faking it, but he would go into these strange fits where his voice would like get higher and higher. Like a higher pitch. And he would talk faster and faster until he was worked up into a wild frenzy. And finally he would collapse on the floor and just pant from exhaustion. So they brought in some experts to check him out, and they found that he was indeed having a mental health crisis. They considered sending him to an insane asylum, but he started to improve. And by January 24th of 1914, so just a couple months later, he was ready to attempt another prison escape. Zali had met another life prisoner, James Case, who was also being observed for insanity. Now, both of them were desperate to get out of prison. James Case had made... himself a key from the tin off of a tobacco can, and at 3 o'clock a. m. on the morning of January 24th, 1914, all the power was out. At Folsom Prison due to a terrible storm, and this was the perfect opportunity. James Case reached through the bars with his key and unlocked the door. Zali crawled toward a guard named J. P. Carlin who was up on the roof. Carlin was new to the prison and had only been working there for nine days. Zali was creeping toward the guard, probably meaning to attack him from behind, but Carlin noticed some movement in his peripheral vision, so he moved to investigate. Carlin walked along the roof and Zali hid behind a large pipe used for the ventilating system. Just as Carlin came up next to him, Carlin turned and put the of his shotgun right up to Zali's face and ordered him to stand up and raise his hands. Carlin then noticed James Case over by the water pipe. Carlin called out, 'What are you doing there?' And Case answered, 'Fixing this pipe.' Carlin then said, 'You stand up or I'll fix your pipe.' He then took them straight to the dungeon, which I can only assume is solitary confinement. Prison officials then decided Zali was one of the worst criminals in Folsom Prison, and he was going to be given the watchful degree, meaning that they would be watching him extra close from that point on. Well, that was January of 1914, and by April of 1915, Zolly Clement and two other killers, Frank Creeks and Earl Loomis, and those two were actually condemned to death. They had the death penalty. They all escaped from their cells in the dungeon. They had made a ladder from... the ropes that had been used to hang a prisoner two years prior. And with that rope ladder, they reached the barred windows at the roof of the dungeon. And when they began sawing the bars with the two hacksaws that they somehow had in their possession, they were caught and immediately surrendered to the guards. Now, that prisoner who had been hanged with that rope, his name was Jake Oppenheimer, better known as the Human Tiger, which I have not looked him up yet, but I know. need to. But then, on May 2nd of 1926, so that last one was in 1915. So now it's 1926. So we're fast forwarding 11 years. Now, at this point, he's been in Folsom prison for almost a full 14 years. And at this time, okay, so May 1926, Zolly Clement escaped. He did it. He was at a prison road camp near El Portal, Maryland. Mariposa County on that Sunday afternoon, and he just walked off. Now, by this time, he was about 40 years old. Apparently, right before he left the camp, he had finished up his lunch with his companions, and then he said, 'I guess I'll take a little stroll.' And that was it. He just left. They finally picked up his trail after a few days. Because of his prison shoes. Prisoners had hobnails in the soles of their shoes, like just for traction, and it left a very distinct pattern in the dirt. So they caught him around 3 o'clock p. m. on May 8th. So he'd had six days of freedom. He was sound asleep when they found him. He was lying about 100 yards from the main highway from Merced to Yosemite Valley. So back to Folsom he went. He's back in prison. And he just kept applying for parole over and over, and they kept denying him. But Zolle wasn't okay with that. So it was June 22nd of 1945. When Zali escaped one last time. It was late that night when he was reported as unaccounted for,

and he had escaped sometime between 3 pm and 6: 1:19:17

30 pm while he was working on the prison scene. Turkey Ranch. At this time, he was 66 years old, 160 pounds, 5 feet 6 inches tall, had gray hair with a receding hairline. His complexion was, quote, rusty from working in the sun, and he had served 33 years of his life sentence. Three days later, on June 25th, they announced that they were calling off the search. The warden said, 'You know, he doesn't have any money to buy food. He has no identification. There's no way he could get a job anywhere. He'll turn up. He'll turn up somewhere, and it'll be soon.' But did he turn up? No. Never. He literally... never turned up. Never. He could have gone anywhere. He could have taken any name. I don't know. I have a picture of him from his middle age, from the time that he last left the prison. And it will be posted in the group. I'm hoping that... Someone somewhere out there in the world will see his picture and recognize him from old family picture books. Maybe he was someone's step-grandpa after a while. Um, but he, he disappeared. You guys, he left prison and they never found him in 1951, six years after his escape there. was an episode of true detective mysteries called the Case Against Zolly Clements, and they put an 's' after Clements. A lot of people did that, like most of the 's' in newspaper articles had an 's', they spelled it Clements, they did it wrong. But anyway, Um, so it's called The Case Against Zolly Clements. And they aired this over and over. Like this episode was aired constantly, but only in the year 1951. But a description of that episode tells me that it was probably pretty fictional. So here's the description of the episode. A series of armed robberies. Within the confines of a small town, had the police completely baffled. Police were certain that the criminal they sought lived in a certain area, but they were at a loss to identify him. They finally succeeded in the case against Zolly Clements when they set a trap for the criminal. And, I mean, that didn't happen. Not at all. So, I mean, yeah. And after 1951, that episode never aired again. There was no mention of Zolly Clement in the newspapers ever again. So yeah, the boy bandit was basically lost to history. I have clipped 119 news articles and that's not... even all of them. Those are just the ones in California. But this was all over the news across the nation. And it was forgotten. I mean, there's no mention of Diamond Bill. There's no mention of Zolly Clement at all. So let's talk about why Zali did this. You know, let's explain this because it's so strange that someone who didn't need to act this way would have chosen to. Now, Zolly Clement wasn't the kind of man that anyone suspected, right? He had a good job. He paid his rent on time. He went to church on time. Sundays. He didn't drink. He didn't smoke. He didn't gamble. He kept to himself. He was polite. He was quiet. He was always reliable. But behind that calm exterior lived something else entirely. He didn't rob for money. He told the police he made $25 to $30 per week, which was more than enough in 1912. Zali said he robbed and killed for what he called the excitement and lust of it. That's a quote. Now, a century later, a forensic psychologist wouldn't have a name for that kind of man. Not just a criminal, not just a killer, but what modern psychology calls a high-functioning psychopath. These are the ones who learn how to hide in plain sight. The ones who understand that the surest way to avoid suspicion is to look like the opposite of what you are. He didn't run with a rough crowd. He made sure never to drink or use tobacco. In the light of day, he made sure to stay away from that sort of scene 100% so that his name and his face would be the last thing anyone would associate with shady behavior. He lived cleanly so that no one would ever think to suspect him. And for 10 years, it worked flawlessly. He even told the police that if a victim could have identified him, he would shoot them. That's when he decided to kill him. Not out of rage— even out of panic. It was just cold logic. That's what psychologists call instrumental aggression. Violence with a purpose. Violence that solves a problem. He didn't need the money. He needed the thrill. that rush. That surge of control and excitement, of life and death in his hands. There are different types of psychopaths, and Zali is what you would call an organized psychopath. Offenders. These are the psychopaths that are very cold, very calculated, and they have an incredibly methodical approach to achieve their goals. It's this type that is associated with these instrumental crimes. A person with this type of psychopathy is typically born with an inhibited fear response, so they have a lack of anxiety over potentially getting caught. This type also maintains a very carefully crafted image of normalcy. Zali had built his disguise long before he ever wrapped a muffler over his face or pulled on a pair of driving goggles. His true disguise was his everyday life. Yay! Big shout out to Ancestry. Find a grave. FamilySearch. Newspapers. com, of course. And use our coupon code FORGOTTEN20. F-O-R-G-O-T-T-E-N-2-0. Um... Who else did we use? And a shout out to DimeNovels. org. My brother, we also use the University of Oregon's archives. Yeah, follow our socials. Forgotten Felonies on Facebook. Forgotten underscore felonies on Instagram. And I just made a threads account. Forgotten underscore felonies also. where I'm posting stuff also. Um, leave some reviews. group. I did have a coworker. I told him about the podcast and he was like, Oh, is it okay for, for kids too? And I was like, For his own kids, I was like, don't let them listen to the Hans Schmidt episodes. Everything else is fine. Well, I... The first episode, I wouldn't. I don't listen to it either. No, that one's fine. I wouldn't listen to... No, because the four-year-old gets decimated by time. A little hand here, a little foot there. That wasn't that graphic. I wouldn't do the hill murders either, though. Oh, for children. But nothing comes close to the Hans Schmidt episodes. Yeah. Nothing. Okay, when people ask me about the podcast, like, oh, what do you do? I'm always like, well, it's true crime cases from like 1960 and older. Have you ever heard about the only Roman Catholic priest ever executed in the United States? No. Well, you will now. That's the one you lead with. Oh, no. Oh, no. And I'm like, all of them but that. All of them but that. Don't listen to me. I mean, you got sucked into that for months, though. I know, it was awful! I got way more sucked in than you did. I had to read through all of the transcripts. Oh my gosh, you just got to listen to the highlights for three episodes. I was already watching. A show about a killer priest, which is how I found this guy. True. Found Hans. True. So... True. But yeah, I do lead with honks. And I'm like, there's dismemberment, there's blood drinking. It really gets them. Wow. We clearly target different audiences. I'm like wholesome family crime, but not Hans. Then there's my side. Nine body parts. A head in a river. A little hand here, a little foot there. Grown men were crying. An axe to the head. Yeah. Yeah.