In 1852 William W. Twist was appointed Sheriff of Santa Barbara County but was later replaced by Valentine W. Hearne.
Twist no doubt disbelieved that claim and raised a posse to execute the writ of ejectment.
Two of his companions, one called "Little Mickey," and the other a short, swarthy man almost covered with a serape, lassoed the cannon and attempted to drag it away.
The posse arrived at Arroyo Burro Canyon, to be met with a hail of bullets, and stopped short.
After a brief negotiation, Powers informed the leader of the posse (Twist, injured, had stayed behind) that his gang would kill any man that passed a huge sycamore tree.
An emissary was sent to the squatter fort the next day with a flag of truce, and he induced Powers and the others who were with him to submit to the legal authorities, and the affair ended.
Also raids of the Yokuts from the San Joaquin Valley were also causing anxiety to the inhabitants in the county.
Adjutant General William C. Kibbe immediately forwarded arms to their new California Militia unit the Santa Barbara Guard.
A petition had been sent to Governor Bigler to have the sentence commuted to imprisonment for life and the reply was expected daily on the coastal steamer.
After resigning his office as Sheriff, Twist moved to Los Angeles, tendering his resignation as Captain of the Santa Barbara Guard to Governor Bigler on September 21, 1854, and the unit now leaderless was disbanded after being in existence for less than a year, thus eliminating it as a danger to the Jack Powers Gang.
Twist ... won a crown immortal in being the first, and possibly the last man, who ever used the arms of the gringo government in so pious a way.
[8] In early 1857, a petition presented to County Judge W. G. Dryden, requested that he appoint some suitable person to superintend the meeting to form a volunteer company of cavalry.
[12] On the 12th another announcement of a resolution was published from a regular meeting the Southern Rifles at the courthouse denying the previous notice and that "W. W. Twist has our entire confidence as an officer and soldier, and any attempt to displace any officer, except by a regular court martial, with charges preferred against him and an opportunity given him to make a defence, is, in our opinion, unmilitary, unsoldierlike, illegal, and void, and ought not to be countenanced by this company.
Twist has returned from Sacramento, bringing with him arms and accoutrements for one hundred men, consisting of rifles, pistols, sabres, &c., &c.; and moreover, a six-pound brass gun - a very handsome piece.
[16] However Bell was no longer in Los Angeles, but serving in the Union Army, when Twist's death on November 30, 1861, was announced in the Los Angeles Star, 8 February 1862: From Mexico We have been permitted to take the following extracts from a private letter from Tepic, Mexico: "On tho 30th November last, the Government forces left Tepic in pursuit of tho famous bandit, Manuel Losada, and his followers.
Twist was formerly a resident of this city — and will long be remembered for his ardor and activity in our local military affairs.