The 25th Man: The Incredible True Story of Corruption, Prison Brutality, and the Outlaw Who Fought Back

The last of the train robbers tells his incredible true story.In 1880 the railroad was like a god. Their power was absolute, and power corrupts…When the honest hard-working ranchers and settlers of Frontier California pitted themselves against the far-reaching tentacles of the railroad, they were bound lose it all, and on May 11, 1880, the San Joaquin Valley became the site for one of the bloodiest gun battles of the west in a dispute over land titles with the railroad. This became known as the Mussell Slough Massacre.Chris Evans, John Sontag, and Ed Morrell were the last of the railroad-raiding bandits. Working to avenge the settlers of San Joaquin Valley and the "Mussell Slough Massacre" they repeatedly held-up and relieved the Railroad of its cash and valuables.Then came the Battle of Stone Corral. John Sontag was killed, and Chris Evans wounded within an inch of his life and captured.Ed Morrell then helped Chris Evans breakout of the Fresno County Jail, triggering one of the largest manhunts in California History.Over a year later finally captured and imprisoned in Folsom, Ed Morrell became the symbol of hatred from the railroad and was subjected to severe abuse and retribution.Soon driven to revenge by mistreatment and torture Ed Morrell and a few others planned a mutiny and coup of Folsom Prison, but when a disgruntled stool pigeon foiled their plan, they were transferred to San Quentin Prison.Then came the hardest ordeal of Ed Morrell's unfortunate life.Sentenced to Life in Solitary on false charges, Ed Morrell "The Dungeon Man" was subjected to extended periods of the infamous "Bloody Straitjacket of San Quentin". A fiendish torture device much different than the restraining device more commonly known, this "Jacket" worked much like a boa constrictor, and being left in it for days and weeks at a time was an unimaginable torture.While in the Jacket, Ed Morrell through self-hypnosis and out-of-body experiences, was able to survive with his sanity that which by all rights should have killed him. He credits t