On September 18, 1850, Parker H. French’s fraudulent expedition to California finally collapsed in Franklin (now El Paso), Texas, after 130 grueling days of travel from New York . What had begun as a promised 60-day journey to the California goldfields turned into a nightmare of deception, hardship, and ultimately mutiny. The weary travelers, who had paid $250 each for what French advertised as fast and safe passage with supplies, protection from Texas Rangers, and comfortable accommodations, finally discovered the truth when they broke into French’s safe and found it completely empty . French had been sustaining the expedition through forged bank drafts, claiming to be a government agent to obtain military supplies in San Antonio, and making empty promises about mysterious gold deposits on the Gila River .
The overland journey across Texas had been a series of disasters from the very beginning. Within the first seven days, the group had only managed to travel 25 miles to Victoria while battling wild mules, swarms of mosquitoes, and running out of food . The expedition faced constant dangers including Indian attacks and robberies, river crossings that claimed four horses at the muddy Pecos River, and witnessed a Texas Ranger named Black Warrior shoot and scalp a thieving Indian . One expedition member was accidentally shot and killed, and tensions ran so high that French nearly fought a duel with wagon master Durand over traveling in the hot sun . Throughout these ordeals, French had managed to avoid mutiny by maintaining his government agent charade and dangling the promise of Gila River gold.
Parker H. French himself was a masterful con artist whose criminal career extended far beyond this Texas expedition. Born around 1826 in Kentucky and raised by Judge Edwards after his parents’ death, French had worked as a cabin boy on an English warship before returning to marry his guardian’s daughter . After the El Paso collapse, he fled to Mexico to avoid arrest, where he was later shot during a failed raid and had his right arm amputated . His subsequent adventures included impersonating a lawyer in the 1854 California legislature, serving as William Walker’s “Minister Plenipotentiary” to Nicaragua (though the U.S. refused recognition), and working as a double agent for both Confederate and Union secret organizations during the Civil War . French was arrested in Connecticut in 1861, likely for outfitting Confederate privateers, and spent months in a Boston prison under aliases Carlisle Murray and Charles Maxey . He was last seen in Washington, D.C. in the winter of 1876-77, with an 1893 California legislative record simply noting “dead” after his name .
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Learn More:
- “The Strange Eventful History of Parker H. French” by Edward McGowan – Available through various historical book retailers
- Handbook of Texas Online – French Expedition entry at tshaonline.org