How Bill Keys Was Freed by the
Court of Last Resort
By Jaylyn And John Earl www.thedesertway.com
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Photo courtesy of William McKeen
THE MIDST OF THE ROARING TWENTIES, the stout 30-something man was a Ventura, California, attorney by trade. Although he immersed himself in juris prudence, he found that to make ends meet he needed what millennials nowadays call a “side hustle.” Writing fiction suited the gent’s keen wit, colorful oration and flair for the dramatic, so his fan base was quickly growing. And of course, it helped pay the bills. It is well known that courtrooms and boardrooms are not peaceful places of refuge. Where does someone go when they seek solitude, a lack of distractions and the beauty of nature to inspire their imagination? Why, the desert, of course. Well equipped by his half-ton truck modified for camping with its compound transmission, oversized tires and a 30-gallon water tank mounted around the muffler in order to heat the water during travel, he began visiting Joshua Tree in 1927. Joshua Tree would not be designated a national monument for nearly a decade and the fictional name of Perry Mason was but a twinkle in his eye. The undeniable truth was that Erle 18
January 2024
Stanley Gardner loved to write. The desert wilderness and freedom allowed him to create characters and circumstances completely within his control, although at the same time giving them free rein until oftentimes they took on a life all their own and pulled the story in unexpected twists and turns, much as his own life had. Gardner understood well the pitfalls of distraction. Suspended for a month from his Indiana law school when he was enthralled with the sweet science of boxing more than his studies, he returned to California, pursued his legal education on his own by working as a typist in a law firm for three years and passed the California State Bar Exam in 1911. He began his career as a trial lawyer representing indigent people, in particular poor Chinese and Mexican immigrants. Peppered with Joshua trees, manzanita and greasewood, the vast desert was a bonus after a hard week at work and an easy half-day’s drive from the city. Gardner was far from roughing it, however. His truck was set up with a stocked ice box, gasoline cooking stove, full-size bed and a desk upon which he put his typewriter. He respected the desert but needed a
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modicum of creature comforts it could not provide. Undoubtedly, there was something about the pungent breeze during a cloudburst, the way light painted shadows over the mountains, the artful randomness of stacked boulders under an immense clear sky and the silence that let his imagination soar like nowhere else. According to the Winter 2010 edition of the Morongo Basin Historical Society Newsletter Quarterly, one of Gardner’s favorite destinations was via Quail Springs Road to a shortcut south through a canyon and into the wilderness where he’d set up camp. A 1955 map showed the route as Quail Wash but once the area became a monument, it appeared simply as a Jeep trail on maps. A National Geographic Trails Illustrated map indicates Gardner’s route was called Quail Wash until inside the monument when it became Quail Springs Historic Trail, still considered a challenging route even to this day. If the name Erle Stanley Gardner rings a bell with you, it should but not for the reason you may be pondering. During his many sojourns to the area Gardner became friends with longtime Joshua Tree homesteaders Bill and Frances Keys. In a nutshell, Bill Keys got in a dispute
A postcard by Stephen Willard, circa 1938. Courtesy Palm Springs Art Museum.
