Herbert Emerson Wilson

Herbert Emerson Wilson (1881-1968) was born in Wyoming, Ontario, and fought in the Boer War before becoming ordained as a Baptist minister and relocated to San Diego, California. He left the clergy and fell into a life of crime and safe cracking.He was convicted of murdering his crime partner, Herb Cox, and served 12 years in San Quentin Prison. He later spent six years in Kingston and Prince Albert penitentiaries for defrauding a company over $100,000. Wilson was a prolific writer, and he collaborated with crime writer Thomas P. Kelley to write the story of his life as the king of the safe crackers.