By Library Docent Volunteer Andy Ludlum –
Juan Marion stood in the dark ocean, water up to his neck. The cold January waves made him gasp. The shock numbed the pain from the bullet that grazed his side and the handcuffs that cut into his wrists. He stayed still, watching as sheriff’s deputies swept the Santa Clara riverbed and the ocean with their flashlights, looking for him.
It was 1923. Marion, a burglar, had been arrested by Ventura County Sheriff Robert Clark. As they neared the county jail, Marion suddenly jumped from the sheriff’s car and ran toward the water. The officers stopped and fired at him, but he disappeared into the darkness. He stumbled through the marshy estuary, leaving tracks in the wet sand where he had fallen several times. Marion reached the ocean and hid in the deep water until the deputies moved on. Then he waded back toward shore, walking through waist-deep water until he reached the beach near the old Chautauqua building. He came ashore and escaped over the sand dunes.
Courtesy Museum of Ventura County. See the entire article at: https://venturamuseum.org/research-library-blog/chasing-marion-ventura-countys-notorious-burglar/
