Christopher Evans (outlaw)

For other people of the same name, see Christopher Evans (disambiguation).

Chris Evans (1847–1917) was an American outlaw.

Evans was accused of robbing the Southern Pacific in California between 1889 and 1892. After killing a member of a posse outside his home on the outskirts of Visalia, he fled to the Sierra Nevada mountains with his partner, John Sontag. While Evans and Sontag hid out, writers Ambrose Bierce and Joaquin Miller championed their cause in the San Francisco Examiner. The outlaws evaded capture for ten months. They had a shoot-out with a posse at the Young cabin which resulted in the death of Wilson, the posse leader, and McGinnis, a former friend of Chris Evans. Later, John Sontag was killed in a shoot-out at Stone Corral. Evans was severely wounded, taken into custody and convicted of murder and sentenced to life in Folsom Prison. After serving 17 years he was paroled in 1911 by Gov. Hiram Johnson. He died in Portland, Oregon, in 1917, denying to the end that he ever robbed a train. He is interred at Mount Calvary Cemetery.

An accomplice to the Evans-Sontag gang was Ed Morrell, who served fourteen years total in Folsom and San Quentin. Championed by author Jack London, Morrell was pardoned in 1908 and became a well-known advocate for prison reform.

References

• Prodigal Sons: The Adventures of Christopher Evans and John Sontag, By Wallace Smith, the Christopher Publishing House, Boston, U.S.A., c. 1951.
• Bandits and the Southern Pacific by Carl Burgess Glasscock, Frederick A. Stokes, New York, c. 1929.
• The 25th Man: The Strange Story of Ed. Morrell, the Hero of Jack London's Star Rover, New Era Publishing Co., 1924.

Persondata
Name	Evans, Chris
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Date of birth	1847
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Date of death	1917
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