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CIHM/ICMH 

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1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

H 


THE  WORKS 


OF 


HUBERT  HOWE  BANCROFT. 


laaii 


THE  WORKS 


0 


HUBERT  HOWE  BANCROFT. 


VOLUME  XXXV. 


CALIFORNIA    INTER    POCULA 


SAN    FRANCISCO: 
THE    HISTORY    COMPANY,  PUBLISHERS. 

1888 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  l«ss,  by 

HUBERT  H.  BANCROB  r, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


All  Rnjlitx  lieserveil. 


PREFACE. 


So  full  of  oddities,  and  crudities,  and  stranjjfc  devel- 
opments, consequent  upon  unprecedented  combina- 
tions of  nationalities,  characters  and  conditions,  were 
the  flush  times  of  California,  that  to  condense  them 
into  the  more  solid  forms  of  history  without  to  some 
extent  stilling  the  life  that  is  in  them  and  marring 
their  origuiality  and  beauty  is  not  possible.  There 
are  topics  and  episodes  and  incidents  which  cannot 
be  vividly  portrayed  without  a  tolerably  free  use  of 
words — 1  do  not  say  a  free  use  of  the  imagination. 

Much  has  been  written  of  the  Californiar  Inferno 
of  1840  and  the  years  immediately  following,  nmcli 
tliat  is  neither  fact  nor  fable.  Great  and  gaudy 
[)ictures  have  been  painted,  but  few  of  them  bear 
nmch  resemblance  to  nature.  Many  conceits  have 
been  thrown  off  by  fertile  brains  which  have  given 
tlieir  authors  money  and  notoriety ;  but  the  true 
artist  who,  with  the  hand  of  the  master  drawing  from 
life,  places  before  the  observer  the  all-glowing  facts, 
unbesmeared  by  artificial  and  deceptive  coloring,  has 
yet  to  appear. 

No  attem[)t  is  made  in  these  pages  to  outdo  my 
predecessors  in  morbid  intensifications  of  the  certain 
phases  of  society  and  character  engendered  of  the 
times.  They  contain  simple  sketches  and  plain  de- 
scriptions, historical  rather  than  fantastical,  with  no 
effort  toward  effect. 

(V) 


■ri 


TI 


Til 


THl 


It 


CLA£ 


SAN 


CONTENTS  OF  THIS  VOLUME. 


CHAPTER   I. 


THE  VALLSr  OF  CAMFORNIA 


PAGE 
•      .      .         I 


<'HAPTER   ri. 

THREE  CENTURIES  OK   Wir  n    r.i,,    .. 

WILD    TALK  ABOUT  GOLD  IN  CALIWIRNIA 

CHAPTER    III. 

FURTHER   RUMOK.S   OF  THE   EYr^TPVi.i.   ^» 

XH.  PISCOVEBV  JZZZ  '     '!"''  "  ™H-A  PRIOR  ro 

CHAPTER    IV. 

AFFAIRS  ABOUT  THE  COLOMA   SAW-MILL 


.    .    25 


44 


I>URINQ   THE  SPRING   OF   1848      .      62 

CHAPTER   V. 


THE  JOURNEY  OVERLAND 


CHAPTER  VI. 


89 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CAU«,RNIA_NEWVORK  TO  CHAORES.      .....        ,0, 

CHAPTER    VII. 

THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA-ISTHMUS  OF  PANAMA 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNU-PANAMA  TO  ...N  fr^.cISCO 

CHAPTER  IX. 


EL  SOSAOO 


CHAPTER  X. 


CLASSICAL  ABNORMITIES 


SAN  FRANCISCO  , 


CHAPTER  XI. 


(V) 


155 


190 


225 


248 


260 


**  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTKR   Xir. 

'*"'■"'•■"• .294 

('JIAITKR   XIIJ. 

KUKTIIKR   AIlNUKMiriKS „.- 

CHAI'TKR   XIV. 

BUSINESS.      ......  „„, 

CHAI'TKR  XV. 

ILLt'sniATIONS  OF   LIKE   ANK  CUAKAtTKII gjM 

CHAI'TKR   XVI. 

A.MO.N(l   THE   MINEIW ^g. 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

SgUAn'ERISAI „^p 

CHAI'TKR    XVm. 

PACIFIC  COA.ST   PRISONS .,,, 

CHAI'TKR   XIX. 

SOME  INDIAN    EPISOlJIOS ^.jg 

CHAI'TKR   XX. 

SOME  CHINESE   EPISODES gg, 

CHAPT)  .1  XXI. 

COURTS   OF  JUSTICK   AND  COURT    SCENES.       .  ROo 

CHAPTKR   XXII. 

DRINKING ggg 

CHAPTER    XXIIl. 

GAMBUNG go- 

CHAPTKR   XXIV. 

DUELLING ^o. 

CHAPTER   XXV. 

TALKS  OF  THE   TIKES ^gg 


.  315 


.  :m 


CALTrORiSTIA 
INTER    POCULA 


.  734 


.  785 


('• 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  VALLEY  OF  TALIFORXIA. 

Horteuaio  peaco,  thou  knowest  not  gohVH  .effect. 

—  Tamiiiij  of  the  ,^?>r«»r. 

tur^-  Pnlif"^'"-'  ''•™';''  '""'  ''™™«'     SehoUl  tl>0  ni 
turo,  Calitoniia  in  lier  cups  I  ^ 

Onco  Jong  ago  sailors  thought  to  hold  in  tlioir  Pm 
brac^  the  god  Bacclms,  whon"  they  carried   fn  « 

Z  c  r '''  t  'r '^"^  'r^  while!"  buV^;::;.::; 

tlie  god  awoke  he  caused  vines  fn  fw;»r +i  i 

early  to  California  tSintl  cZ^'L^'L';.;?'.'' 
.er  of  her  treasures,  but  wte  theuSes'^C^'"'' 
tive,  fallins  on  destruction  P' 

Yet  swiftly  as  this  chaff  of  immigration  was  swent 
away,  nierclessly  as  California  frowned  o    many  si 
was  not  so  .nuch  to  bla.ne,  although  for  a  br  efVace 
she  played  the  bacchante,  for  she  was  ha,ll  J  tJ  i 
worse  than  Pcntheus,  wh^  from  nSg  ^'pl^^  ^^^'r*:^; 

'''""^r,!:rrv''<'  '''^™'--''  '-5hii.g.st«ro" 


9  -  THE  VALLEY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

the  avenging  deity,  and  bereft  of  sense  was  led 
tlirough  the  city  in  female  apparel,  stricken  with 
mania,  with  a  doulle  sun  and  a  double  Thebes  before 
his  eyes,  finally  to  be  torn  to  pieces  by  women.  First 
of  all  she  was  made  to  reveal  her  mystery,  held  sacred 
to  the  memories  of  time;  for  which  extortion,  like 
another  Pythia,  she  was  placed  upon  a  tripod  over  , 
the  chasm  Cassotis,  and  for  a  Delphic  temple  choos- 
ing the  snow-powdered  Sierra,  and  for  the  mephitic 
exhalations  the  less  offensive  incense  from  odorous 
pines. 

Native  to  sublim.ited  airs  and  all-engendering  sun- 
shine, her  intoxication  partook  more  of  youthful  revels 
than  chronic  intemperance;  nevertheless,  thou  wast 
drunk,  California,  as  thou  well  knowest;  as  drunk  as 
Agave  when  tearing  in  pieces  her  own  son  whom  she 
took  for  a  lion's  cub.  Thine  hills  were  drunk  from 
the  fruit  of  their  own  vines;  and  in  the  great  valley 
was  heard  the  sullen  roar  of  hell  echoing  hollow  on 
the  ear.  All  this  was  exceedingly  disgraceful,  and 
especially  repulsive  in  young  and  lovely  woman ; 
whereat,  toward  the  immaculate  east,  conventional 
spinsters  of  untried  chastity  blushed  and  hung  their 
heads,  though  never  refusing  to  receive  the  fruits  of 
sin. 


Between  two  mountain  systems  stretches  the  valley 
of  California,  an  elliptical,  trough-like  plain,  five  hun- 
dred miles  in  length  by  seventy-five  in  width  ;  a  vast 
amphitheatre,  from  whose  arena  circling  terraces  rise 
up  to  the  lofty  canopy  of  a  pearl  and  berjl  sky — colos- 
sal benches,  whereon  the  gods  might  sit  and  watch 
the  strange  doings  of  men  below. 

Although  not  gods  we  some  day  may  be  ;  all  gods 
were  once  men,  or  something  worse.  Therefore  come 
sit  with  me  upon  the  plateau-shelf  up  over  the  hill 
Mokelumne,  near  the  source  of  the  Stanislaus,  where 
sometime  sat  Nemesis,  eyeing  the  pilgrims  as  they 
entered  the  Golden  Gate,  and  measuring  out  to  them 


MOUNTAIN  SYSTE^IS. 


led 
with 
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First 
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,  like 
over  . 
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orous 

;  sun- 
revels 

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their 

uits  of 


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where 
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them 


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tliclr  several  portions  of  invented  woe.  Five  thous- 
and feet  below,  and  far  as  eye  can  reach,  spreads  out 
a  i)crl.srope  of  beauty  such  as  makes  us  loath  to  put 
off  liumanity  even  to  be  gods,  lest  mayhap  as  gods 
wc  should  have  no  sympathy  with  scenes  like  this. 
Often  have  I  thought  when  standing  entranced  before 
entrancing  nature,  what  a  pity  it  was  we  could  not 
always  have  her  scenes  before  us;  and  as  for  heaven, 
give  it  to  those  who  are  dissatisfied  with  earth.  Only 
exterminate  north  winds,  nervousness,  and  all  rascal- 
ity, and  I  could  rest  contented  yet  awhile  here  upon 
this  bench,  though  not  a  god. 

Walled  in  on  every  side,  without  loop-hole  or  portal 
save  by  passes  to  the  plateau  regions  of  Utah  and 
Arizona,  and  the  bay  of  San  Francisco,  which  across 
the  concave  from  where  we  sit,  and  midway  between 
its  north  and  south  extremes,  parts  the  Coast  Range, 
whose  green  and  grizzly  hills  it  crowds  back,  and 
])aves  the  way  through  the  Golden  Gate  to  the 
Pacific,  we  have  before  us  what  was  once  broad  ocean, 
then  an  inland  sea,  afterward  a  hedged-in  Eden,  God- 
givon  to  a  thrice  happy  race,  and  later  converted  into 
a  nineteenth-century  coliseum,  wherein  was  destined 
to  be  performed  a  play  entitled  The  New  Greetl- 
struggle  of  the  Nations.  Time  enough,  however,  to 
talk  about  that  to-morrow.  Sit  still  awhile  and  wo 
sliall  presently  see,  out  here  upon  this  holiday  of 
creation,  elves  and  fays,  if  any  there  are  left  for  these 
new  Arcadian  vales.  We  can  offer  them  whereon  to 
sport  ground  which  one  day  will  be  as  classic  as  that 
of  Greece,  plains  up-swelling  beneath  their  feet,  and 
slopes  of  evergreen  and  sweeps  of  forest.  Then 
there  are  warm  inviting  knolls  under  star-lit  skies, 
and  enchanted  groves  where  heaven's  witchery  might 
wanton  regardless  of  irate  ocean  on  one  side  or 
shadowless  deserts  on  the  other. 

When  this  mightv  Sierra  was  a-building,  this 
grand  up-lift,  with  its  fluted  sides  flushed  with  never- 


4  THE  VALLEY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

dying  foliage,  its  white-cushioned  benches,  and  long 
serrated  summits,  its  rocky  pinnacles  whose  alabaster 
crests  glisten  lustrous  to  mariners  a  hundred  miles 
away,  when  its  crevices  were  being  filled  with  molten 
gold,  a  sea  of  sorrow  was  about  to  roll  at  its  base,  for 
the  S(juabble  for  this  treasure  that  is  presently  to 
come  will  be  pljiful  to  see. 

Split  a  fern-stalk  and  place  it  in  a  dish  with  the 
thick  ends  together,  and  the  leafy  sides  both  lying 
toward  the  east,  and  you  have  mapped  the  drainage 
system  of  the  California  valley.  The  stalks  are  the 
two  rivers,  the  Sacramento  and  the  San  Joaquin, 
which,  rising  respectively  at  either  end  of  the  great 
valley,  graciously  receive  their  tributaries  as  they  wind 
through  oak  and  poplar  vistas;  then  rolling  slowly 
on,  ever  slowly,  once  bright  and  clear  with  happy 
contentment,  but  presently  opaque  in  sullen  shade, 
on  to  their  junction,  and  thence  together  to  the 
sea. 

And  it  is  along  this  eastern  side,  where  the  branches 
and  leaves  and  leaflets  rest  on  the  edges  of  the  dish, 
and  form  labyrinths  of  ridges,  and  subordinate  valleys 
upon  which  are  flung  in  infinite  disorder,  bluffs, 
cliasms,  and  smoothly  rounded  stonu-waves  heaped 
almost  mountain  high,  that  we  have  the  Sierra  foot- 
hills, already  abnormally  classic.  Aside  from  the 
petrified  sentinels  left  standing  adown  the  centuries, 
there  is  ample  evidence  of  what  Plutus  was  hammer- 
ing at  hereabout.  Left,  after  laying  the  Sierra  foun- 
dation, were  the  dead  volcanoes  which  we  see,  and 
their  trachyte  spurs  flanking  dark  green  forests,  all 
intermingled  with  lavender  and  bufl:'  lava  beds  and 
scoriaj;  blistered  ashen  slopes,  whose  vegetation  is 
stunted  and  ill-tempered,  and  fire-riven  hills  of  purple 
rock,  loose  and  crumbling,  to  which  cling  blasted 
pines  and  wind-smitten  oaks.  Over  many  of  her 
deformities  nature  spreads  a  seemly  covering,  hld- 
inij  what  were  otherwise  the  bare   bones  of  an  un- 


IN   THE   COAST   RANflE. 


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sii;litly  skeleton.  Manyof  these  foundation-hills,  and 
particularly  the  little  valleys  between  them  were  fin- 
is] lod  in  her  happiest  mood.  Many  of  these  cinders 
of  spent  forces  have  been  well  fleshed  with  soil,  well 
watered,  made  fragrant  with  gums  and  odorous  plants, 
and  toned  in  healthy  glistening  green. 

But  it  is  down  into  the  valleys  that  you  must  go, 
into  the  valleys  of  the  Coast  Range,  and  that  too  be- 
fore man  has  mutilated  everything,  if  you  would  see 
what  nature  has  done  for  this  strip  of  seaboard.   There 
are  natural  meadows  arabesque  with  tawny  wild-oats, 
blossoming   pea,  and    golden    nmstard,    interspersed 
with  indigenous  vineyards,  and  fruit-bearing  thickets. 
There  are  flower-gardens  laid  out  in  patterns  by  the 
deft  fingers  of  nature,  stars  and  crowns  and  chaplets 
of  yellow,  purple,   white,   and  red.     Scattered   over 
broad  park-like  plains,  and  rising  from  tall  wavy  grass 
are  oaks  of  various  forms  and  species,  some  high  with 
broad  branches,  and   many  scraggy  and  storm-bent. 
Here  and  there  trees  cluster  in  groves,  and  clumps  of 
undcr-growth  gather  round  to  keep  them  company, 
liising  from  the  broad  plain  are  solitary  buttes,  with 
cloud-entangling    crests,    sharp    and    high;  and    all 
around  the  borders  bluff  promontories,  and  tongues  of 
u[)lifted    land  timbered  with   beech  and   birch,    ash, 
myrtle,  and  laurel,  shoot  out  into  the  valley,  some- 
times  sudsiding  in  small  round  hills  covered    with 
tulips,  wild  onions,  hemp,  flax,  and  prickly  chaparral. 
Now  bring  down   through   rocky   canons  the    clear 
dancing   water;  lead    it    n^und    in   winding   courses 
where  it  will  best  moisten  the  surface,  broadening  it 
occasionally  into  lakes,  locking  it  in  lagoons,  or  leav- 
ing it  in  sluggish   sloughs;   then  go   out  while  the 
morning  is  fresh  and  gray,  just  as  the  sun  begins  to 
])our  a  sensuous  warmth  into  the  air,   to  refine  the 
mists  and  give  lustre  to  the  foliage,  and  to  set  life 
glowing  under  a  blue  and  purple  haze,  and  if  the  eyes 
shine  not  with  gladness,  and  the  breast  swells   not 


THE  VALLEY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


with  gratitude,  then  the  heart  is  hard  indeed,   and 
the  breast  but  Httle  better  than  a  flUit. 

You  say  that  such  a  region  should  teem  with  ani- 
mal life,  and  so  it  does.  You  can  see  there  pelicans 
and  sea-gulls  fishing  together  in  the  bays ;  seals  and 
soa-lions  barking  on  the  islands;  wild  fowl  thickly 
clustered  on  lake  and  tule-marsh ;  fish  darting  amid  the 
waters;  and  beasts  of  many  several  sorts  roaming  tlie 
forests.  On  the  tangled  hillside  is  heard  the  soft 
note  of  the  curlew  ;  you  may  listen  also  to  the  rust- 
ling of  the  pheasant,  the  chirrup  of  the  blackbird, 
the  whistling  of  the  partridge,  and  the  sweet  songs  of 
the  robin  and  the  lark.  And  they  all  rest  content ; 
they  are  not  driven  by  intense  heat  or  cold  to 
long  migrations,  their  little  journeys  between  valley 
and  mountain  being  scarcely  more  than  an  afternoon's 
ramble.  Nor  need  they  take  nmch  thought  for  the 
morrow;  even  the  prudent  bee  often  leaves  neglected 
the  honey-bearing  flower,  and  fails  to  lay  in  a  winter's 
store.  To  elk  and  antelope,  deer  and  bear,  hill  and 
plain  are  one,  and  that  whether  scorched  by  summer's 
sun  or  freshened  by  whiter's  rain.  Bounteous  nature 
plants  the  fields,  brings  forth  the  tender  verdure, 
cures  the  grass,  and  stores  the  acorns.  Little  of 
frozen  winter  is  here,  little  of  damp,  malarious  sum- 
mer ;  cool  invigorating  nights  succeed  the  warmest 
days.  Ice  and  snow  banished  hence  sit  cold  and  stolid 
on  distant  peaks,  whence  are  reflected  the  impotent 
rays  of  the  sun. 

Where  then  is  winter  ?  November  drops  its  gentle 
rain  upon  the  sun-burned  ground,  closing  the  weatlier- 
cracks,  freshening  the  Lydian  air,  and  carpeting  the 
late  gray  hills  and  vales  in  green ;  and  this  is  winter. 
Spring  comes  warm  and  wanton,  and  nature  is  clad  in 
holiday  garb.  Summer,  dry  and  elastic,  and  trem- 
bling  in  amethystine  light,  is  fragrant  with  the  odor 
of  dried  grass,  cypress,  wild  bay,  and  juniper.  Tlie 
heat  of  summer  is  seldom  enervating,  and  the  thick 
sullen    fogs    that   creep  in    from    the  ocean  are  not 


WONDERS   OP   THE   REGION. 


t 


unhealthy.  The  cUmate  of  CaUfornia  is  reliable; 
though  her  women  may  be  fickle,  her  winds  are  not. 
llaiii  she  sends  at  rain-time,  and  this  having  passed 
prayers  are  <jf  no  avail. 

Thus  along  the  centuries  seasons  come  and  go,  while 
over  all  diurnally  sweeps  the  half-tropic  sun.  In  the 
broad  arch  float  flocks  of  light  clouds,  or  spread  out  in 
long  fleecy  folds  between  which  at  night  silently  sails 
the  melancholy  moon.  From  the  sparkling  white  on 
alpine  donie^  the  gray  and  golden  sunlight  smiles 
across  the  amphitheatre,  enfolds  the  lustrous  clouds 
which  send  shadows  crawlhiij  alony:  the  mountain- 
side  and  over  the  plains,  nods  with  its  earliest  rays  to 
sleepy  ocean,  dances  back  from  sea  to  snow-peak ; 
then,  pal[)itating  in  purple,  it  rises  from  violet-banks 
and  grizzly  hills,  and  mingles  with  the  russet  liaze  of 
the  horizon,  or  creeps  in  tenderer  tones  through 
evanescent  mists  into  deep  cailons  and  murky  ravines, 
and  glows  warm  and  tremulous  over  the  sombre 
shades  below. 


cntle 
,ther- 
r  the 
inter, 
ilad  in 
trcm- 
odor 
The 
thick 
0  not 


Before  descending  to  the  more  practical  affairs  of 
life  in  this  region,  I  might  point  you  out  some  of  the 
so-called  wontlers  of  the  arena-rim  ;  though  I  may 
say  to  3'ou  that  long  since  1  arrived  at  the  conclusion 
that  there  is  in  heaven  or  earth  no  one  thing  more 
wonderful  than  another.  With  whatsoever  we  are  un- 
familiar, that  to  us  is  wonderful  when  seen;  wonder 
is  l)ut  the  exclamation  of  iijnorance. 

Yonder  at  the  northern  end,  lonely  and  white, 
stands  Blount  Shasta,  girdled  by  lesser  volcanic  peaks 
tliat  look  like  pigmies  beside  the  monarch  of  the  north 
which  liftt  '^'!  front  so  proudly  above  the  solenui  forest- 
sea  that  iMJtfts  in  niournful  monotones  upon  its  base. 
To  one  not  cradle(!  amid  such  sights  its  awful  grandeur 
beside  our  puny  life  is  crushing.  Standing  in  the  clear 
atmosphere,  unrivalled  and  apart,  like  Orion  it  catches 
from  over  the  eastern  r'uhre  the  first  ravs  of  morninjj, 
and  flashes  them  far  down  the  vista;  while  at  evening 


THE  VALLEY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


its  frosty  diadem  gleams  with  the  glances  of  the 
departing  sun  long  after  the  shades  of  night  have 
overspread  the  surrounding  hills. 

Before  us  at  the  portal  two  sentinels,  Helena  and 
Diablo,  guard  either  side,  with  Tamalpais  picketed 
near  the  entrance ;  while  far  to  the  south,  over  the 
Tulare  lakes  and  meadows,  from  the  cold  starlit  ether 
or  glowing  hi  the  roseate  hues  of  day,  the  tall  obelisks 
and  stately  domes  and  bristling  minarets  of  mounts 
Brewer,  Whitney,  and  Tyndall  look  down  in  grave 
guardianship.  Proud  ininmtability !  Yet  whether 
dripping  with  slimy  sea-beds,  or  being  graven  by 
glaciers,  or  smoothed  into  forms  of  comeliness  by 
tempest,  these  mighty  ministers  to  needful  lowlands 
do  nevertheless  slowly  crumble  in  decay,  and  with 
their  dust  feed  forest  and  flower.  So  man  is  laid  low, 
and  mind. 

A  little  to  our  left,  and  almost  hidden  by  granite- 
waves  and  conoldal  domes  that  rise  out  of  broad  fir- 
planted  snow-fields,  yawns  the  plateau-rent  of  Yosem- 
ite.  It  lies  in  the  Sierra  foothills,  nearly  at  right 
angles  to  their  trend,  and  consists  of  a  trough-like 
erosion,  or  sink,  about  a  mile  in  perpendicular  depth, 
six  miles  in  lengtii,  with  a  flat  bottom  from  half  a 
mile  to  a  mile  in  irregular  width.  Angles  and  square 
recesses  press  mto  walls  of  light  gray  granite,  bril- 
liantly white  under  the  reflection  of  the  sun's  rays, 
in  places  reddened  by  moss,  fantastically  carved,  or 
stained  with  vertical  parallel  stripes  of  brown  and 
black.  Over  these  smooth  white  walls  the  ]\Ierced 
and  its  tributaries  leap  in  wavy  silver  threads,  and 
dashing  in  dusty  foam  upon  the  chasm  floor,  intone 
eternal  hallelujahs.  Any  one  of  the  scores  of  domes, 
and  peaks,  and  perpendicular  channels,  and  lichen- 
covered  i)recipices  that  here  present  themselves  taken 
apai-t  constitutes  of  itself  a  study. 

Climbing  up  the  outer  side  of  the  basin,  and  emer- 
ging from  tlie  level  forest  that  covers  the  thick  flat 
rim  and  veils  the  approach  to  the  chasm,  the  tourist 


'% 

I 


YOSEMITE.  9 

of  late  r  times  sharply  reins  in  his  stood — if  so  bo 
that  the  jatled  cayusc  ro(iuires  it — dismounts,  and 
stands  on  Inspiration  point,  a  roek}'  eminence  com- 
manding a  partial  view  of  the  valley.  Here  every 
one  who  writes  a  book  stands  spell-bound  as  if  in  the 
presence  of  the  almighty,  beholds  a  new  heaven  and 
a  new  earth,  feels  the  onmipotence  and  majesty  of 
the  infin'.:e,  attempts  in  vain  to  give  his  vision  utter- 
ance, indulges  in  a  sublime  fit  of  rhapsody,  and  then 
drops  into  mesmeric  silence.  Old  life  and  ordinary 
emotions  are  suspended,  and  a  new  tide  of  feeling 
rushes  in  upon  the  soul.  The  mortal  part  of  man 
shrinks  back,  and  the  immortal  prostrates  the  beholder 
before  this  api>arition  of  majesty  and  desolation. 

Entering  at  the  lower  end  by  the  Mariposa  trail,  a 
general  view  of  the  valley  is  obtaineil,  which  displays 
first,  on  the  left,  the  granite-block  El  Capitan,  a 
smooth  seandess  battlement,  rising  clearly  cut  3,300 
feet  in  height;  and  on  the  right  the  Bridal  Veil  ftill, 
a  white  cascade  of  fluttering  gossamer,  leS,]>ing  from 
the  western  edge  of  Cathedral  rock  630  feet,  when 
striking  the  heaped-up  debris  at  the  base  of  the  cliff, 
it  continues  in  a  series  of  cascades  300  feet  perpen- 
dicular to  the  bottom,  where  it  flows  off  in  ten  or 
twelve  streamlets.  Summer  dries  the  Virjjin's  Tears 
that  fall  o[)})osite  the  Bridal  Veil,  for  their  source  is 
not  the  eternal  snow  of  the  high  sierra.  When  the 
stream  that  feeds  the  fall  runs  low,  nearly  all  the 
water  is  dissipated  by  the  wind,  which  first  sways, 
then  scatters  it,  and  finally  breaks  it  into  (piivering 
s[>ray,  which  the  tardy  sun,  wh.Mi  it  ai)[)ears,  gilds 
with  rainbows. 

Over  the  floor  of  the  enclosure  is  spread  a  varie- 
gated carpet  fit  for  a  palace  of  the  gods.  jVIoadows  of 
thick  grass  are  interspersed  with  flt)wers  and  flowering 
shrubs,  and  fringed  with  thickets  of  inanzanita,  alder, 
maple,  and  laurel,  and  groves  of  oak,  cedar,  and  fir, 
with  occasional  moss-covered  rocks,  marshes,  and 
patches  of  sand;  while  high  up  on  the  battlement, 


10 


THE  VALLEY  OP  CALIFORNIA. 


clinging  to  crevice  and  shelving  rock,  are  tall  grace- 
ful fcrna,  with  branches  of  the  most  delicate  tracery, 
which  from  their  dizzy  height  look  like  tiny  shrubs. 
United  with  grandeur  are  sweet  freshness  and  melody ; 
mingling  with  iris-hued  mists  is  the  fragrance  of 
flowers,  and  with  the  music  of  the  waters  the  songs 
of  birds.  Receiving  and  giving  rest  to  the  troubled 
waters  after  their  fearful  leap  is  still  the  Merced 
river,  which  winds  through  the  valley  in  sharp  angu- 
lar bends,  striking  first  one  side  and  then  the  other. 
It  is  some  seventy  feet  in  width,  and  as  transpar- 
ent almost  as  air ;  indeed,  so  deceivingly  limpid  is 
it,  that  the  unwary  tourist  who  steps  into  it  is  soon 
beyond  his  depth.  So  too  in  regard  to  everything  in 
and  around  this  r3tjion  of  vastness ;  dimensions  are 
so  stupendous  that  judgment  is  confounded ;  the  in- 
experienced eye  cannot  measure  them.  Distance  is 
cheated  of  its  effect ;  until  perhaps,  one  toils  in  vain 
all  day  to  accomplish  what  appears  to  be  no  difficult 
task,  when  the  mistake  is  discovered  and  the  eye  is 
straimd  no  lonofer. 

Now  and  then  a  huge  boulder,  breaking  from  its 
long  resting-place,  comes  crashing  down  the  precipice, 
thundering  in  loud  reverberations  throughout  the 
chasm.  Sometimes  in  spring  a  flood  bursts  on 
Yosemite,  when  there  is  a  tunmlt  of  waters,  and 
high  carnival  is  held  in  the  valley.  Scores  of  newly- 
born  streams  and  streamlets  fall  from  the  upper  end, 
and  along  the  side  roar  a  hundred  cataracts  wliose 
united  voices  might  waken  Endymion.  Pyramids  of 
mist  stand  on  the  chasm  floor,  and  ribbons  of  white 
waters  twenty  or  thirty  feet  apart  hang  against 
black  walls,  or  fall  like  comet's  tails  side  by  side,  with 
jets  shooting  out  from  either  side  like  arrows,  weaving 
gauzy  lace-work  and  forging  fairy  chains. 

In  May  and  June  the  streams  are  flush,  and  the 
monotone  of  falling  waters  is  broken  by  crash  and 
boom  like  angry  surf  striking  the  shore;  but  as  au- 
tumn approaches,  the  roaring  cataracts   dwindle   to 


DIZZY    WATERFALLS. 


n 


on 


i 

I 


mere  threads,  which  are  shattered  to  mist  in  their 
descent,  or  disapi)car  entirely.  Frost  d  ispels  a  portion 
of  the  summer  haze,  and  the  air  of  whiter  is  clear  and 
cold.  Tiie  granite  walls  glisten  in  a  net-work  of  ice, 
and  the  frozen  vapor  whirls  through  the  canon,  smit- 
ing the  clhfs,  and  overspreading  the  domes  in  layers 
of  white,  which,  as  they  thicken,  loosen  their  hold, 
slide  oif  in  huge  masses,  and  striking  upon  the  debris 
piles,  break  into  powder,  and  fill  the  gorge  to  the  brim 
with  fine  particles  of  frozen  mist,  which  sparkle  like 
diamond  dust. 

Further  upward  in  the  valley,  just  beyond  the 
Bridal  Veil,  is  Cathedral  rock,  and  still  a  little  further, 
shooting  up  in  graceful  pinnacles.  The  Spires.  Then 
on  the  left  come  the  Three  Brothers,  called  by  the 
natives  Pompompasus,  or  Leaping  Frogs;  and  jiro- 
jcctlng  from  the  o})posite  side  the  obelisk-formed  Sen- 
tinel rock,  which  rises  from  the  river,  like  a  watch-tower, 
over  three  thousand  feet.  Across  the  valley  from 
Sentinel  rock,  and  fed  exclusively  by  melting  snows, 
is  the  great  Yosemite  fall,  the  largest  in  the  world,  if 
height  and  volume  both  be  considered,  being  fifteen 
times  as  high  as  Niagara,  and  most  indescribably 
grand.  Springing  from  the  verge  of  the  chasm,  over  a 
smoothly  polished,  perpendicular  wall  of  fifteen  hun- 
dred feet,  and  swaying  in  the  wind  like  a  scarf  of  lace, 
the  water  strikes  upon  a  rough,  inclined  shelf,  over 
wliicli,  ragged  with  foam,  or  spread  out  in  transparent 
aprons,  it  rushes  in  a  series  of  cascades  equal  to  625 
feet  perpendicular  to  the  verge,  when,  with  a  final 
plunge  of  400  feet,  this  most  magnificent  of  half-mile 
leaps  is  consummated.  No  small  portion  of  tlie  water 
which  drops  from  the  top,  and  which  widens  and 
scatters  in  its  descent,  is  dashed  into  spray  before 
reaching  the  bottom;  yet  enough  is  left,  even  in  the 
dryest  part  of  the  season,  to  send  a  deep,  hoarse  roar 
reverberating  through  the  canon. 

Two  miles  above  the  Yosemite  fall,  the  valley  splits 
into  three  canons,  at  the  head  of  the  middle  one  of 


19 


THE  VALLFA-  OF  TALIFORNIA. 


which  tumhlos  the  Mcrcod,  here  a  fleecy  mass  of  foam. 
Down  the  canon  to  the  left  flows  the  Yenat^a,  and 
down  the  one  to  the  riglit  the  Ilhlouettc.  Here,  at 
tlie  upper  end  of  tlie  valley  proper,  where  the  river 
branciies  with  the  branch  in*;  chasm,  in  the  outer  anoflo 
of  Ycnajija  canon,  we  find  tiic  Washington  Column, 
and  the  Royal  Arches,  and  back  of  these  the  North 
Dome,  a  rtmnded  mass  of  overla[)|)ing,  concentric, 
granite  plates.  On  the  opposite  side  of  Yenaga  canon 
are  the  Half  Dome  and  Cloud's  Rest,  and  in  the  canon, 
!Mirror  lake. 

Ascending  the  Merced  through  the  middle  canon, 
besides  two  miles  of  cascades  in  which  the  river  de- 
scends over  two  thousand  feet,  we  find  two  magnificent 
falls,  surrounded  by  (ue  grandest  scenery, — Vernal 
fall,  which  makes  up  in  volume  and  impressive  beauty 
what  it  lacks  in  height,  and  the  Nevada  fall,  with  the 
Cap  of  Liberty  near  it.  The  Illilouette  branch  of  the 
Merced  also  has  a  beautiful  fall. 

Thus,  amid  sentinels  of  granite,  and  mighty  battle- 
ments, and  musical  cascades,  and  roaring  cataracts, 
witli  its  verdure-clad  floor,  and  its  time-worn  walls 
curtained  in  glistening  gossamer,  cold  in  its  colors 
though  they  be  of  dazzling  brightness,  wrapped  in 
veils  t)f  silvery  mist  round  which  in  drapery  of  pris- 
matic hues  Iris  dances,  or  illuminated  with  airy 
clouds  of  frozen  spray,  Yosemite  sits  enthroned. 
Above  and  beyond,  cold,  silent,  and  white,  stretches 
the  ijrcat  rauije  on  whose  sunnnit  lies  the  snow  that, 
melting,  tunes  the  viols  of  a  hundred  cataracts.  A 
fitting  play -ground  ft)r  the  state,  truly!  A  wonder 
worthy  of  California!  Travel  the  world  over  and  you 
will  find  no  counterpart;  there  is  no  wonder  like  our 
wonder.  Even  a  Yosemite  rivulet  may  boast  its 
sheer  half-mile  of  precipice.  All  here  is  grand  and 
unique ;  all  of  characteristic  bigness  except  water,  but 
Californians  were  never  specially  partial  to  water! 

I  say  Yosemite  has  no  counterpart — I  should  rather 


HETCH-HETCHY. 


It 


say  outside  of  California.     Here  wc  have  others,  so 
that  if  the  grout  chasm  of  chasms  sliould  ever  be  k)st 
to  us,   we  still  sh<)ul(>   not  be  without  our  wonder. 
There  is  tlie  Little  Yosemite  valley  above  the  Nevada 
fall,  with  its  concentric  granite  structures,   and  the 
same  river  flowing  tlirough  it  in  beautiful  cascades; 
and  there  is  the  Hetch-hetchy  valley,  which,  if  a  little 
less  grand  than  the  Yosemite,   would   answer  well 
enough  in  place  of  it.     The  Hetch-hetchy  chasm  walls 
tlie  Tuolumne  river  about  sixteen  miles  north-west 
from  Yos«  mite.     It  is  three  miles  in  length,   from  an 
eiglith  to  half  a  mile  in  width,  with  walls  not  quite  mo 
high  as  those  of  the  Yosemite,  tliough  the  volume  (►f 
water  flowing  into  it  is  nmch  greater.     It  extends  in 
the  same  direction  as  Yosemite,  has  a  perpendicular 
blurt' — the  {•ounterpar\  of  El  Capitan,  a  larger  stream 
fed  hv  the  meltiuir  snows  which  fall  over  a  clift'  1,000 
feet  in  heiglit;   has  in  the   Hetch-hetchy  fall,   1700 
feet  in  height,  the  counterpart  of  the  Yosemite  fall, 
with  its  Cathedral  rock,  2,270  feet  in  height;  finally, 
at  its  upi>cr  end,  it  splits  into  two  canons  instead  of 
three  as  at  Yosemite.     All    along  the    base  of  the 
Sierra,  and  niountiiig  u])ward  to  its  sunnnit,  arc  innu- 
merable valleys,   meadows  and  spritigs,  lakes,  water- 
falls, and  cascades,  eroded  canons,  polished  domes,  and 
Volcanic  spindles,  finger  posts  of  the  early  gold-seekers, 
obelisk  groups,  table  mountains,  kettles,  chests,  forts, 
caves,  bridges,  sugar-loaves,  cathedral-peaks,  and  uni- 
corn peaks ;  the  which,  if  they   should   be  described 
every  one,  I  suppose  that  even  the  world  itself  could 
not  contain  the  books  that  would  be  written.     Many 
mighty  chasms  we  have  on  this  Pacific  slope  beside 
the  Yosemite  canon  of  the  Merced,  and  the  Hetch- 
hetchy  canon  of  the  Tuolunme.     There  is  the  Amer- 
ican river  with  its  north  and  south  forks  down  two  or 
three  thousand  feet  in  hard  slate.     The  Columbia  and 
the  Fraser  rivers  have  their  fifty  miles  and  more  of 
gorges  several  thousand  feet  deep;  and  grander  yet, 
the    Kinjj  river    canon,  with  its  hard  granite  walls 


f 


II  THE  VALLEY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

from  three  to  seven  thousand  feet  deep.  Then,  grand- 
est of  all  is  the  grand  cafion  of  the  Colorado,  300 
miles  long,  and  from  3,000  to  6,200  feet  in  depth,  also 
the  result  of  erosion. 

There  are  likewise  many  other  noted  wonders  in 
California,  as  Bower  cave  near  by,  with  its  cleft,  per- 
pendicular chamber  walls  and  subterranean  lake,  dell, 
grotto,  and  grove ;  the  Alabaster  stalactite  cave  of  El 
Dorado  on  our  rijrht;  the  Calaveras  cave  of  skulls  in 
which,  when  discovered,  were  found  human  skeletons 
coated  with  carbonate  of  lime;  the  Santa  Cruz  cave, 
and  nun;erous  natural  bridges.  Bower  cave,  situated 
in  Mariposa  county,  consists  of  a  crevice  in  the  lime- 
stone hollowed  out  by  water;  hence  it  is  open  at  the 
top  but  widens  out  cave-like  beneath  the  surface.  It 
is  133  feet  long,  109  feet  deep,  and  80  feet  wide. 
Three  maple  trees  grow  within  it,  sending  their 
branches  out  througli  the  split  roof,  and  the  water  on 
the  bottom  is  so  transparent,  that  the  deep  cavities 
which  are  worn  on  either  side  above  and  below,  may 
be  distinctly  followed  beneath  the  surface  to  a  depth 
of  forty  feet.  Alabaster  cave,  in  Placer  county  near 
Auburn,  is  a  large  cav  ity,  discovered  by  lime-burners 
while  quarryhig.  There  are  two  chambers,  one  100 
by  200  feet,  and  the  other  25  by  100  feet,  and  from 
4  to  20  feet  in  depth.  Brilliant  stalactites  of  various 
shades  and  shapes  hang  in  irregular  rows,  hitersperscd 
w^ith  spaces  stained  with  a  sort  of  grotesque  graining. 
One  of  the  chambers,  called  the  Crystal  Chapel,  looks 
like  an  embowered  arctic  region  petrified.  Over  a 
branch  of  the  Trinity  river  natu^-e  has  thrown  a  ledge 
of  rocks  300  eet  wide  and  150  feet  thick,  under  which 
runs  the  stre  m  through  an  arch  80  feet  wide  and  20 
feet  high,  u  nong  others,  Coyote  creek,  in  Tuolumne 
county,  is  spa  aed  by  two  natural  bridges. 

To  these  sc«  les  of  grandeur  and  beauty  vegetation 
contributes  it>  quota.  Among  twenty  clusters  of 
mammoth  trees,  there  are  eight  principal  groves,  of 


MAMMOTH   TREES. 


IS 


J 


which  thfi  Mariposa  and  Calaveras  are  chief.  Tlie  ouca- 
1\  |)tuH  of  Australia  is  a  tailor  tree  than  the  sccjuoia 
j^l>j"antca  of  California — Wellingtonea  gi«rant<'a  these 
trees  were  once  oalh'd ;  hut  this  could  not  he  tolerated 
in  a  lafid  where  is  celchratod  the  4th  of  July,  and  so 
the  nainc^  was  clianged  to  Washingtonea;  hut  lately, 
arborists  say  simply  sequoia  gigantea.  Taking  height, 
bulk,  and  numbers  together,  if  not  the  tallest  and  old- 
est, we  have  here  the  grandest  groups  of  forest  trees 
upon  this  planet. 

The  Mariposa  grove,  which,  with  the  Yosemlte 
valley  was  given  by  congress  to  the  state  of  California 
f )r  public  use  and  recreation,  is  situated  thirty  miles 
from  Yosemite,  and  con'^'^-ins,  scattered  among  smaller 
trees,  over  200  which  are  more  than  twelve  feet  in 
diameter.  Sixty  of  them,  measured  six  feet  from  the 
ground,  have  diameters  of  from  27  to  07  feet,  and  in 
heiijfht  are  from  187  to  270  feet.  The  Grizzlv  Giant 
measures  on  the  surface  9^  feet  in  circumference. 
Through  the  hollow  of  a  prostrate  trunk,  two  horse- 
men ride  abreast  for  a  distance  of  100  feet.  One 
hundred  feet  above  the  ground,  a  trunk  which  is  there 
twenty  feet  in  diameter,  puts  out  a  branch  six  feet  hi 
thickness.  The  trees  are  straight,  with  gracefully 
tapering  jrunks,  fluted  bark  of  a  light  cinnamon  color, 
and  small  coniform  tops.  In  the  Calaveras  grove 
there  are  about  100  trees  of  the  larger  sort,  thirty  of 
which  measure  from  230  to  2.35  feet  in  hei<dit,  and 
from  30  to  45  feet  in  circumference  six  feet  from 
the  ground.  Five  men  occupied  twenty -two  days  in 
felling  one  of  them,  which  was  accomplished  by  bor- 
ing through  the  trunk  with  pump-augers.  After  it 
was  completely  severed,  wedges  had  to  be  driN  en  in 
on  one  side  to  overturn  it.  This  tree  is  estimated  to 
have  been  1,300  years  okl;  its  bark  was  a  foot  and  a 
half  thick,  and  upon  its  stump,  which  six  feet  from 
the  ground  has  a  diameter  of  twenty-seven  feet,  after 
squaring  and  smoothing  it,  was  erected  a  pavilion  for 
dancing  and  pleasure  parties. 


^ 


18 


THE  VALLEY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


We  will  now  tnrn  to  quite  a  different  scene 
Round  Sfc.  Helena,  once  a  bellowing  crater,  and  the 
chimney  of  hifernal  furnace-fires,  the  earth's  crust 
softens,  steams  with  Internal  heat,  and  appears  with 
its  comlincss  marred  so  as  to  expose  the  mysteries  of 
unadorned  earth ;  for  terraqueous  nature,  as  well  as 
human  nature,  has  its  unseemly  side,  its  infirmities, 
and  sinks  of  corruption.  On  one  side  of  St.  Helena 
are  the  steaming  sulphuric  springs  and  boiling  mud  of 
Calistoga,  and  on  the  other  that  pit  of  Acheron,  the 
Geysers.  Surely  the  balance  of  power  must  be  pre- 
served, the  heaven  of  California  must  have  its  hell; 
aye,  let  nature  boast  har  abnormities,  nor  be  outdone 
by  that  hungry  human  horde  which  rushed  in  hither 
and  lined  the  streets  of  every  mining  camp  with  scores 
of  hells. 

Three  miloa  away  one  hears  the  puff  and  roar  as  of 
ocean  steamt;A>i,  and  sees  the  ascending  smoke  and 
steam.  In  the  approach  there  is  no  Point  of  Inspira- 
tion; but  Hog's  Backs,  and  steep,  angular  glades, 
down  which  Jehu  drives  with  such  headlong  speed  as 
makes  the  timid  passenger  to  shiver,  and  prepares  the 
tourist  for  the  enjoyment  Plutonic  pleasures.  To 
one  gazing  from  the  mountain  brow  upon  this 
monstrosity  of  nature,  God  is  not  in  all  his  thoughts, 
but  Satan  and  his  hissing  emissaries ;  here  is  no 
new  heaven  and  earth,  but  a  nether  realm,  with  sty- 
gian  odors  that  offend  the  nostrils. 

He  who  first  discovered  the  beauties  of  Yosemite 
was  struck  speechless  as  at  the  portal  of  paradise. 
The  hunter  Elliott,  who  in  1847  chased  a  bear  into 
the  vallc}"^  of  tne  Pluton,  spying  the  Devil's  canon 
turned  and  fled,  and  on  reaching  his  companions  ex- 
claimed :  "  Boys  1  I  have  found  hell  1 " 

Around  the  cool  deep  crystal  waters  of  Clear  Lake 
are  numerous  soda  springs,  sulphur  banks,  and  borax 
deposits.  Down  the  western  slope  of  the  western  ridge 
that  bounds  this  region,  in  the  heart  of  a  tangled  forest 
once  well  fctuclved  with  game,  flows  the  Pluton  river,  a 


THE  GFA'SERS. 


ir 


is  no 


sGinite 

radise. 

ir  into 

canon 

IS  ex- 


es 
forest 

Ivcr,  a 


merry  tuinblino^  stream  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet  in 
in  widtli,  formerly  almost  alive  with  trout,  and  shaded 
1)V  the  foliage  of  overhanging  vines  and  branches.  At 
rig] it  angles  to  the  Pluton  canon,  from  its  northern  side, 
is  a  o'orge  about  half  a  mile  in  length,  and  but  a  few  rods 
in  unequal  width,  with  steep  walls  rising  from  50  to  150 
fiet.  This  little  off-shoot  is  called  the  Devil's  canon. 
From  its  entrance  at  the  Pluton  canon  its  uneven 
i-urface  rises,  and  at  the  upper  end  it  divides  in  two, 
and  mingles  with  the  hills.  A  little  creek  with  niinia- 
ture  falls  and  cascades  runs  through  it,  whose  waters 
jit  tlieir  scmrce  are  pure  and  cold,  but  which  as  they 
<Ioscend  soon  become  contaminated  by  their  surround- 
ings. Sometimes  a  i)artial  footpath  winds  by  the 
stream,  betwi  i-n  the  rocks  and  mobile  earth,  but  often 
it  is  undermined  or  swept  away.  The  entrance  is  but 
a  narrow  rocky  pass,  roofed  by  fallen,  but  yet  grow- 
ing trees,  adorned  with  fantastic  roots,  and  partially 
covered  with  debris  and  creeping  plants.  This  en- 
trance is  called  Proserpine's  Grotto,  and  beyond  it 
the  cailon  widens  a  little. 

The  scene  within  is  barren  and  ghastly.  Bottom 
and  sides  are  skinned  of  every  sign  of  vegetation, 
and  scorlated  with  suljihur,  salts,  and  sl'my  deposits. 
Around  the  upper  portion  of  the  sides,  the  earth 
assumes  a  reddish  hue,  below  which  it  is  marbled 
with  the  ghastly  colors  of  festering  flesh,  patches  of 
pale  ashen  and  white,  patches  of  frreen  and  slaty  stain, 
yellow  sulphur  snow  and  black  sulphur  root,  with  all 
the  intermediate  shades  of  death  and  dissolution. 
Hot  springs  burst  forth  from  hot  ground,  spitting, 
sputtering,  hissing  and  panting  in  unmanageable 
wrath.  Through  whistling  steam  and  sickcninir  sul- 
phur,  yawn  horril)le  mouths  like  the  gates  of  Aver- 
nus.  It  is  as  utterly  infernal  a  place  as  can  well  be 
imagined,  lurid  and  murky,  and  sickening  with  heavy 
vapor.  In  every  hole  and  corner  this  model  Pande- 
monium seems  iidiabited  by  shadowy  fiends,  and 
every  fiend  to  be  doing  his  best  to  render  his  little 


Cal.  Int.  Poc.    2 


18 


THE  VALLEY  OF    CAI IFORNIA. 


crevice  the  particular  liell  of  the  place.*  On  the 
bottom  and  along  the  sides  are  two  hundred  grinnhig 
mouths  spurthig  liquids  of  every  hue.  Into  tliis 
sower  of  desolation  and  dire  combustion,  midst  hissing 
vapor  and  the  stench  of  decomposing  drugs,  vomit 
white  blue  and  black  sulphur  springs,  boirmg  alum, 
cpsom  salts,  and  magnesia  springs;  iron  and  soda 
springs;  conglomerate  and  nondescript  medicated 
mixtures,  until  the  little  rivulet,  nauseated  by  tlic 
vile  compound,  turns  wheyish  in  color,  emits  a  faint 
gurgle,  tosses  feverishly  on  its  rocky  bod,  and  then 
slndvs  along  its  slimy  way.  Round  stinking  pools 
that  fill  the  air  with  their  fetid  breath,  are  incrusta- 
tions of  iron,  tartaric  acid,  copperas,  and  verdigris. 
The  clammy  ground,  crispy  with  sulphuric  crystals, 
rough  with  scoria3,  quakes  and  sends  forth  noxious 
gases.  Waves  of  sulphuric  seas  thump  against  the 
thin  crust  of  the  seemingly  hollow  earth ;  jets  of 
liquid  black  leap  hissing  from  blue-vitriol  nuid,  and  a 
cavernous  roar  echoes  through  the  pitchy  glen. 
Nature,  sick  with  sore  boils,  eaten  by  acids,  palslod 
and  jaundiced,  is  smothered  with  alopathic  abomina- 
tions. 

Pass  Proserpine's  Grotto  and  ascend  the  canon. 
Pick  your  way  carefully  and  plant  your  feet  in  the 
footprints  of  the  guide,  else  your  legs  may  suffer  for 
the  neglect.  First  there  is  an  Iron  and  Alum  si)ring, 
with  a  temperature  of  97°  Fahrenheit ;  then  the 
Medicated  Geyser  bath,  containing  h^on,  sulphur, 
cpsom  salts  and  magnesia;  Eye  Water  spring,  om- 
nipotent against  ophthalmia ;  and  in  the  order  men- 
tioned Boiling  Alum  and  sulphur  spring,  Black  Sul- 
plmr  spring,  Epsom  Salts  spring.  Boiling  Black 
sulpjiur  spring.  The  largest  spring  is  the  Witches' 
Cauldron,  situated  two-thirds  of  the  distance  up  tJie 
canon,  and  the  loudest  the  Steamboat  Spring  at  the 
head  of  the  caiion.  The  Witches'  Cauldron  is  a  hole 
or  sink  six  or  seven  feet  in  diameter,  of  unknown 
depth,  and  with  a  temperature  of  292°  Fahrenheit. 


I 


VALLEY  OP  THE  PLUTON. 


10 


n  the 
inning 
o  tins 
lissing 

vomit 

alum, 
(i  scxla 
liicated 
by  tlic 
a  faint 
d  then 
T  pools 
icrusta- 
!rdi;j;ris. 
rystals, 
noxious 
inst  the 

jets   of 
I,  and  a 

)alslod 
oniina- 

canon. 

in  the 

Vor  for 

spring, 

icn   the 

lulphur, 

nir,  om- 

V.'  ' 

r  nien- 
^k  Sul- 

Black 
Pitches' 
up  the 

at  the 

a  hole 
|ik!io\vn 

enheit. 


Seething  and  swashing  like  a  troublous  witches  broth 
stirred  by  subterranean  imps,  with  no  visible  outlet, 
its  thick  l)lack  liquid  bubbling  sometimes  to  a  height 
of  tliree  or  four  feet,  the  bank  near  by  begrimed  like 
a  eliimney-back  and  just  above  blooming  with  beauti- 
ful Kul[>hur  crystals,  Dante  himself  could  not  conceive 
a  more  [jcrfect  stygian  pool.  This  black  vapory  pit 
has  been  called  also  the  Devil's  Punch  Bowl.  It  is 
an  insult  to  his  Majesty,  who  knows  full  well  how  to 
brew  tiood  punch. 

Every  si)ring  lias  its  voice,  its  own  peculiar  strain ; 
its  busy  l)abl)le,  or  surly  grumble,  or  hollow  moan,  or 
impotent  sputter,  or  testy  hiss,  or  angry  roar,  or 
wild  shriek,  its  vain  spoutings  or  gleesome  gurgle, 
and  throughout  the  ages  the  infernal  choir  ceases  not 
to  deliver  its  united  and  discordant  strains.  But  loud 
above  all  voices  and  high  above  all  sounds  are  tlic 
puffings  and  roaring  pulsations  of  tlie  Steamboat 
Geyser,  which  sends  from  the  hillside  in  several  fitful 
volumes,  through  orifices  from  an  inch  to  a  foot  in 
diameter,  columns  of  hot  vapor  to  heights  of  from 
50  to  200  feet.  The  sounds  of  which  the  name  is 
exi)ressive,  are  like  those  proceeding  from  the  escape 
]>ipe  of  an  engine.  The  roar  is  continuous,  though 
broken  by  pull's  and  louder  bursts,  while  all  around 
from  tiny  holes  in  the  spongy  ground  jets  of  hot 
steam  shoot  upward,  with  a  force  and  fury  significant 
of  the  contending  elements  beneath  the  surface. 
Then  tliere  is  the  Intermittent  Geysc>r,  which  belcluvs 
boiling  water  spasmodically,  vsometimes  fifteen  feet 
and  again  only  tliree  or  four  feet;  the  Devil's  Ink- 
stand, which  emits  through  a  small  aperture  a  bla(  k 
li<iuid  that  may  be  used  l\)r  writing,  and  whose  stain 
is  indelible;  the  Devil's  Grist-mill  with  its  sputtering 
clatter;  the  Devil's  Kitchen,  the  Devil's  Bake-oven,  the 
Devil's  Wash-tub,  the  Devil's  Tea-kettle,  the  Devil's 
Pulpit,  and  the  devil  knows  what  else.  All  along 
the  banks  of  this  Lethe  stream,  as  you  climb,  fainting 
with  the  heat  and  smells,  between  slippery  rocks  and 


20. 


THE  VALLEY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


over  the  seething  uncertain  ground,  your  blistering 
feet  perhaps  ankle  deep  in  mineral  deposits,  and  lift- 
ing themselves  spasmodically  from  the  heated  earth, 
you  may  see  pools  of  slaty  swash  cxiialing  a  dock- 
niud  stench,  steam  whizzing  through  fissures,  and 
black  compounds  belching  from  slag  and  clinkcr- 
rimmcd  holes  ;  at  which  strange  doings  Helena  groans 
afresh,  and  fallen  forest  trees  ten  miles  distant  shudder 
and  turn  to  stone. 

Here,  as  everywhere  in  dealing  with  the  unknown, 
men  speculate  upon  the  causes  of  these  phenomena, 
some  holding  that  they  are  produced  by  volcanic  action, 
otliers  by  purely  chemical  forces.  Side  by  side,  only  a 
few  inches  apart,  are  hot  springs  and  cold  springs,  boil- 
ing springs  and  springs  whose  waters  arc  undisturbed. 
An  iron  pipe  terminating  in  a  whistle  inserted  in  one 
of  these  steam  orifices,  sends  forth  a  shrill  shriek. 
On  the  Pluton  is  the  Indian  spring,  whither  the  na- 
tives, who  feared  to  enter  the  Devil's  canon,  have  re- 
sorted from  time  immemorial  to  bathe  in  its  healingr 
waters.  There  they  erected  a  sweating-house,  and 
thither  they  carried  their  sick.  Near  tlie  hot  black 
sulphur  bath,  which  they  have  made,  flows  a  stream 
of  clear  cold  water,  into  which,  after  their  fjishion, 
they  plunge  alternately.  On  one  side  of  the  Devil's 
canon  is  the  Mountain  of  Fire,  honey-combed  with 
dead  geysers,  and  stratifiec'  with  sulphur,  epsom  salts, 
copperas,  nitre,  ammonia,  tartaric  acid,  cinnabar, 
magnesia,  and  yellow  ochre.  Near  by  are  the  vent 
holes  of  a  crater  from  which  the  steam  whistles  witli 
great  force.  In  early  morning,  before  the  overhang- 
ing va[)ors  are  dissipated  by  the  rising  sun,  the  gorge 
is  filled  with  steam,  which  rolls  off  in  huge  banks  be- 
fore the  wind.  Above  and  beyond  the  edges  of  this 
Tartarean  pool,  round  which  struggle  pale  sickly 
trees,  in  the  valley  of  the  Pluton,  and  sometimes  ap- 
proaching coyishly  to  the  very  verge  of  the  heated 
waters,  mountains,  hills,  and  ravines  are  overspread 
with  a  covering  of  fresh  verdure  and  wild  flowers, 


SAN  FRANCISCO  BAY. 


21 


5G,  and 
black 
stream 
ishkm, 
Devil's 
witli 
1  salts, 
nabar, 
ic  vent 
s  with 
rliang- 
goroe 
iks  bc- 
)f  this 
sickly 
es  ap- 
icated 
prcad 
wers. 


made  all  the  more  luxuriant  and  charming  by  tlie 
warmth  of  these  infernal  fires ;  and  to  complete  the 
picture,  at  sunrise  a  weird  rainbow,  refracted  from 
sulphuric  vapor,  hovers  in  clear  prismatic  hues  over 
the  canon,  and  h>ses  itself  in  the  glistening  emerald  at 
either  end.  Turn  then  away,  happy  in  the  thought 
that  nature  inflicts  on  man  few  such  insights  into  her 
sf)n!eries,  but  rather  veils  in  beauty  the  mysterious 
chemical  processes  of  her  laboratory. 

Tlie  great  sink  in  the  Coast  Range,  which  lies  before 
us  near  the  border  of  the  ocean,  and  into  which  the 
waters  of  the  entire  valley  are  drained,  is  another 
marvel  of  nature,  though  utilized  and  made  common 
by  man.  But  for  the  Golden  Gate  fissure  or  cleft, 
which  abruptly  cuts  in  two  the  continuous  coast  line, 
large  areas  in  the  interior  would  be  perpetually  under 
water.  Were  the  channel  tlirough  this  blutf'-bound 
gateway  less  deep,  so  that  the  ocean's  ebb  and  flow 
should  not  be  felt  within,  San  Francisco  bav  would 
bo  a  lake.  But  better  far  as  it  is,  a  lake-like  and  wcll- 
nigli  land-locked  harbor,  larger  than  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
and  fairer  tlian  Naples;  with  all  the  glowing  haze 
jind  delicious  sweetness  of  the  famous  Neapolitan  air, 
l)ut  without  its  subtle  softness  and  enervating 
languor. 

Mount  some  warm  misty  morning  to  the  top  of 
Yerba  Buena  island,  which  stands  midway  between 
tlie  cove  to  which  it  gave  its  name  and  Oakland 
])oint,  and  the  prospect  thence  will  scarcely  fail  to 
kindle  the  eye,  to  swell  the  heart,  and  awaken  long- 
ings for  other  scenes.  From  this  island's  base  spreads 
out  a  mimic  ocean,  shaped  like  an  arrow-point,  sixty 
miles  in  length  by  four  or  five  in  width,  wliose  radiant 
waters  flhig  back  the  rays  of  the  morning  sun,  or 
ripple  under  the  influence  of  wind  and  tide,  and  from 
whoso  borders,  wavy  hills  roll  up,  smooth  and  round 
as  the  bust  of  Canova's  Venus,  or  dimpled  like  a 
merry  school-girl's  face.    These,  interspersed  with  gen- 


22 


THE  VALI>EY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


1^1 


ll: 


tier  slopes,  and  radiating  valleys  and  ridges,  and  minia- 
ture plains,  through  wJiicli  thread  numerous  stream- 
lets, were  not  long  since  tlic  home  of  the  prowling 
panther  and  marauding  cov  ote,  of  wild-cat,  bear,  and 
deer.  Myriads  of  wild-fowl  and  sea-birds  fished  in 
these  waters,  and  quarreled,  filling  the  air  with  their 
shrill  cries;  while  within  the  bay  and  without  the  por- 
tal, and  for  3000  miles  along  the  shore,  were  seal-rocks, 
w  ith  crawling  monsters  barking,  enjoying  their  siesta, 
or  holding  conference  like  sinful  souls  in  purgatory. 

Northward  there  is  a  maze  of  undulating  elevations, 
domes  ridges  and  peaks,  their  outline  toward  the 
ocean  delicately  penciled  against  the  sky,  and  further 
inland  in  the  distance  is  a  background  of  nebulous 
mountains,  the  landscape  lighted  in  places  by  unseen 
watcrSj  and  all  painted  in  soft  aerial  colors  of  varied 
depth  and  tone.  Toward  the  south  the  ridges  on 
eitlier  side  recede;  the  water  broadens  at  fi'^'^^t,  then 
narrowing,  melts  away  in  hazy  perspective.  Beyond 
is  tlic  great  sea,  smiling  in  azure  or  fretting  in  impa- 
tient green  and  white,  with  its  silence-breathing  surf 
singing  ocean  lullabies  to  the  sleepy  hills,  or  rolling  in 
from  the  horizon  huge  waves,  which,  dashing  them- 
selves against  then'  shore-limits,  fall  back  foaming  at 
their  own  impotency. 

Thus  sculptured  in  the  heart  of  the  Coast  Range, 
some  parts  of  the  bay  are  narrow  and  deep  like  a 
highland  loch,  with  bluffs  and  promontories;  in  otlier 
parts  the  water  spreads  out,  and  encircles  large  islands, 
— Angel,  Alcatraz,  and  Yerba  Buena, — or  washes  a 
diminutive  beach.  Its  seaward  shore  is  splintered 
into  points  and  estuaries;  on  the  opposite  side  are 
coves  and  graceful  crescents ;  while  round  the  northern 
end,  where  empties  the  Sacramento,  are  bays  carved 
within  bays,  straits  and  detp-flowing  channels,  and 
sentinel  islands  and  embankments. 

The  northern  side  of  the  Golden  Gate  is  a  steep, 
dark,  reddish  wall,  six  or  oin-ht  hundred  feet  in  heiglit. 
From  the  top  of  this  wall  the  hills  mount  and  roll  oif 


THE  PEERLESS. 


23 


1  iiiinia- 
streaiii- 
rowling 
?ar,  and 
shed  in 
;li  their 
the  por- 
d-roeks, 
r  siesta, 
itory. 
vations, 
ard  the 

further 
lebulous 

unseen 
f  varied 
jges  on 
"^^t,  then 
Beyond 
n  inipa- 
hig  surf 
jlhng  in 
them- 
niing  at) 


Range, 
hkc  a 


in  warm  yellowish-green  surges  round  Tamalpais, 
deepening  into  purple  as  they  rise  in  graceful  alpine 
outline  and  mingle  with  the  clouds.  Opposite  this 
bank  the  waters  of  the  bay  and  ocean  are  separated 
bv  a  ridge  of  argillaceous  sandstone,  severed  at  the 
(iolden  Gate  so  as  to  form  a  peninsula  some  six  miles 
at  the  northern  end,  and  broadening  into  open  high- 
lands toward  the  south.  Upon  these  so  lately  sand- 
blown  hills,  freckled  with  tough,  wind-defying 
shrubbery,  beneath  whose  branches  quail  and  rabbits 
loved  to  hide,  and  birds  and  rivulets  sang  together,  is 
)iow  being  planted  the  commercial  metropolis  of  the 
Farthest  West;  while  all  around  this  favored  bay, 
blustering  in  its  strength  and  radiant  in  its  beauty, 
and  already  white  with  the  sails  of  every  ocean,  in- 
dustries are  sprhiging  up,  towns  and  cities  are  being 
built,  and  a  race  of  men  and  women  developing  which 
some  day  will  make  the  nations  marvel.  The  bay  of 
Kieselarke  has  been  called  golden  because  of  its  shin- 
ing sands;  but  far  more  i)roi)er  may  our  beautiful 
sheet  which  from  the  first  so  gladdened  the  hearts  of 
tlie  followers  of  St  Francis  rejoice  in  that  name,  for 
not  only  are  its  shores  golden,  but  its  hills  and  skies, 
its  connjierce  and  its  industries,  its  towns  and  people 
are  golden. 

Fair  California!  clad  in  verdant  spring  vesture  or 
resting  in  arid  robes  under  a  metallic  sky ;  volu})tuous 
in  thy  half-tropic  bed,  in  thy  sunlit  valley  warmed 
with  the  glow  of  bronze  and  rosy  lustre,  redolent  with 
wild  flowers,  and  billowy  with  undulating  parks  and 
smooth  corrugated  mounds  and  swelliiii;  heiohts,  with 
waving  grass  and  fragrance-breathing  forests,  ca})ti- 
vathig  the  mind,  and  ravishing  the  senses  with  thy 
bewitching  charms,  and  smiling  plenty  in  alternate 
seasons  of  refreshing  rains  and  restful  dryness;  witli 
thy  lofty  snow-capped  peaks,  and  metal-veined  Sierra, 
and  amethystine  smooth-browed  hills  bathed  in  purple 
mists  and  musical  with  leaping  streandets  and  songs 


1 


8^  THE  VALLEY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

of  birds;  with  tliy  corridors  of  sundered  stone,  and 
glacier  valleys  silvered  with  moonlit  lakes,  and  cool 
refreshing  basins  filled  with  transparent  blue;  with 
thy  boisterous  alpine  streams,  and  (juict  lowland 
rivers,  and  sluggish  waters  wanderinti:  throULili  char- 
rcterless  sloughs;  with  thy  scraggy  scattering  oaks, 
and  tangled  undergrowth,  mirrored  in  crystalline  pools, 
and  flowering  shrubs,  and  mighty  sable  forests;  with 
thy  sunlight  soft  and  hazy,  and  air  sea-scented  and 
sparkling  yet  mellow,  sthnulating  yet  restful,  and  pure 
and  sweet  as  that  which  blows  from  Araby  the  Blest, 
yet  strong  withal,  wooing  the  sick  and  care-laden, 
cooling  the  vein-swollen  brow,  thrilling  the  blood  with 
ocean's  stinmlants  and  giving  new  life,  not  stifling  it ; 
with  thy  native  men  and  beasts,  and  birds  and  fishes, 
and  fields  of  native  grain,  all  hitherto  unmarred  bv 
man,  all  fresh  as  from  the  hand  of  the  creator  revel- 
ling in  p/inieval  joy  and  fragrance,  while  the  valley 
murmurs  its  contentment,  and  the  forest  cypress  nods 
its  sable  plume;  crimson  purple  and  violet  in  thy 
blushing  beauty  veiled  in  misty  gauze  that  rises  fresh 
ami  glistening  from  the  sun-beaten  ocean,  and  fills  the 
heavens  thick  with  spray  or  whirls  oii"  in  eddying 
clouds  round  the  mountain  tops,  breakiiig  from  mina- 
ret and  spire  into  long  streamlets  edged  by  burnished 
sunlight;  voluptuous  thus,  or  fierce  in  thy  wild  unrest, 
in  thy  lashed  energies  fiery  as  A^chilles,  whatever  be 
thy  mood  or  circumstance,  thou  art  a  song  of  nature 
rhijyinor  an  ever  changing  melody,  thou  art  tlie  smile 
that  lit  Jehovah's  face  when  he  saw  that  it  was  good ! 


I,  and 
I  cool 
with 
wlantl 
char- 
oaks, 
pools, 
;  with 
•d  and 
d  pure 
Blest, 
-laden, 
»d  with 
ling  it; 
tishes, 
red  hv 
r  revel- 
;  valley 
ss  nods 
in  thy 
(S  fresh 
Us  the 
ddyinor 
I  nuna- 
nished 
unrest, 
vcr  be 
nature 
smile 
t^ood ! 


t 


CHAPTER  II. 

THREE    CENTURIES   OP  WILD    TALK    ABOUT   GOLD   IN  CALI- 
FORNIA.-15:17- 18«7. 

Tlirtisting,  toiling,  wailing,  uuiiling, 

Frowning,  jireacliing  — sndi  a  riot! 
Each  with  ni'vt'r-i'oa.siiig  lahor, 
Wiiilst  he  tliiiiks  ill!  fheats  liis  neighbor, 

C'licating  liis  own  heart  of  (luiet. 

ShiUfij. 

Ix  tliose  days  of  unbridled  adventure,  when  man 
was  perm*itt(>d  to  prey  upon  his  fellow-man,  and  when 
the  many-sided  world  was  as  yet  but  p;u-tially  known 
to  civilization,  L(old  was  the  chiefest  good  that  strange 
lands  could  vield,  and  hence  every  strang(>  land,  in 
the  imagination  or  desh-e  of  its  discoverer,  abounde<l 
hi  ijrold.  So  it  was  that  California,  even  before  it  was 
seen  by  any  Si)aniard,  was  reputed,  without  reason, 
lich  in  irold.  What  stories  Cabeza  de  Vaca  had  to 
tell,  when  he  arrived  from  the  IVIt^xican  gulf  at  Culia- 
(  an,  in  1587,  of  the  vast  wealth  of  this  whole  northern 
legion  1  As  to  the  truth  of  the  report,  it  must  be 
true,  for  it  was  the  peo[)le  of  the  country  who  had 
informed  him,  thougli  in  language  that  he  did  not 
understand,  and  of  realms  of  which  they  knew  noth- 
ing. From  the  verv  first  a  strong  conviction  i)ossessed 
the  minds  of  the  comjuerors  of  ]\[exico  that  tlu^  west- 
ern coast,  ]>articularly  tow.ird  tlu;  north,  was  rich  in 
gold  and  pearls;  an<l  so  all  through  the  century  suc- 
cessive ex])(!ditions  were  sent  to  the  gulf  of  California, 
and  to  the  pt'iiinsula. 

That  most  reverend  and  truthful  man,  Francis 
Fletcher,  preacher  to  the  jiirate  Drake,  who,  because 
God  commanded  Adam  to  subdue  the  earth,  felt  it 

(86) 


2C 


THREE   CENTUTvIES    OF  WILD  TALK. 


Ills  duty,  as  miuistcr  of  God  and  son  of  Adam,  to  ^^o 
abroad  on  tliis  eartli,  and  kill  and  steal  to  the  full 
limit  of  his  capabilities;  and  who  felt  it  likewise  his 
duty  "to  register  the  true  and  whole  history  of  that 
his  voyage,  with  as  great  indifferency  of  aflection  as  a 
history  doth  require,  and  with  the  plain  evidence  c.f 
truth," — this  right  rare  and  thrice  worthy  gentleman, 
as  ho  would  say  of  his  captain,  saw  strange  things  in 
California;  that  Is  to  say,  things  strange  to  those  who 
know  California,  but  credible  enough  three  hundred 
years  ago  to  those  who  were  never  nearer  to  the  spot 
than  its  antipode.  In  July  of  1571),  the  pirate,  as  his 
preacher  says,  was  met  by  peculiar  and  nipping  colds. 
The  natives,  he  affirms,  "vsed  to  come  shivering  to 
vs  in  their  warme  furres,  crowding  close  together, 
body  to  body,  to  receiue  heate  one  of  another."  Oh! 
"how  vnhandsomc  and  deformed  appeared  the  face  of 
the  earth  it  selfel"  Birds  dared  not  leave  their  nests 
after  the  first  (Vg  was  laid  until  all  were  hatched; 
but  nature  had  favored  these  poor  fowl,  so  that  they 
might  not  die  in  the  operation.  The  causes  of  these 
])henomena  he  next  explains  on  scientific  principles. 
Because  Asia  and  America  are  here  so  near  together, 
and  by  reason  of  the  high  mountains  and  the  like, 
"hence  comes  the  generall  squalidnesse  and  barren- 
nesse  of  the  countrie;  hence  comes  it  that,  in  the 
middcst  of  their  summer  the  snow  hardly  departeth 
euen  from  their  very  doores,  but  is  neucr  taken  away 
from  their  hils  at  all ;  hence  come  those  thicke  mists 
and  most  stinking  foggcs."  Inland  the  country  was 
better.  "  Infinite  was  the  company  of  very  large  and 
fat  Deere,  which  there  we  sawe  by  thousands  .  .  . 
besides  a  nmltitude  of  a  strange  kind  of  Conies  .  .  . 
his  tayle  like  the  taylo  of  a  Rat."  The  savages  were 
exceedingly  edified  by  the  words  of  the  preacher,  by 
his  psalm-singhig,  and  his  reading  of  the  scriptures ; 
so  much  so,  that  when  the  gentle  pirates  took  their 
leave,  "with  sighes  and  sorrowings,  with  hcauy  hearts 
and  grieued  minds,  they  powred  out  wofull  complaints 


I 


■4 


i 


'C. 


THE  PIRATES  rRKACHER. 


27 


,  to  ^'O 
he  full 
Aac  liis 
of  that 
on  as  a 
L'lice  c.f 
tleinan, 
ihigs  iu 
)S0  who 
luticlrcd 
he  spot 
3,  as  his 
if  colds. 
;ring  to 
jgetlur, 
."     Ohl^ 
e  face  of 
uir  nests 
latched ; 
lat  they 
of  these 
inciples. 
ogether, 
he  like, 
barren- 
in  the 
sparteth 
m  away 
ie  mists 
try  was 
rjjfe  and 
As  .  .  . 
ies  .   .   . 
\es  were 
:lier,  bv 
iptures ; 
bk  their 
'  hearts 
1  plaints 


and  moan(>s,  with  bitter  tearcs  and  wrinj^ing  of  their 
hands,  toruH'iitinjj;  theinselues."  This  was  exccedinj^ly 
like   tlie  Callfoniia  Dii'i'er,  as  was  also   their  king, 


bcf( 


■h 


h 


)f  a  U 


Lp|)earnig,  "came  a  man 
body  and  goodly  as[)oct,  bearing  the  Septer  or  royall 
mace,  .  .  .  whereupon  hanged  two  crownes,  a  bigger 
and  a  lesse,  with  three  chaines  of  a  maruellous  lengtli," 
and  so  on.  It  was  with  ditticulty  that  the  English- 
men picvented  these  people  from  worshipping  them, 
and  oif'Ting  sacrifice  as  unto  gods  ;  and  the  eagerness 
witli  which  tluy  accepted  Elizabeth  for  their  sovereign 
was  i)l('asant  to  see.  But  about  gold?  "There  is  no 
jiart  of  earth,"  says  tlie  preacher,  "here  to  be  taken 
up  wlierein  tlu^re  is  not  a  reasonable  quantity  of  gold 
or  silver."  And  again:  "The  earth  of  the  country 
siHiined  to  promise  rich  veins  of  gold  and  silver,  some 
of  the  ore  being  constantly  found  on  digging."  Even 
a  school-ijfirl  would  recoijnize  in  this  the  extra vaij^ance 
of  fiction.  Climates  change;  simple  savages  might 
mistake  Drake's  buccaneers  for  gods;  but  if  gold  and 
silver  ever  existed  amid  the  rocks  and  hills  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Drake  bay,  the  world  has  yet  to 
know  it. 

In  Ids  Noficia  de  la  California,  Miguel  Venegas, 
speaking  of  tlie  voyage  of  Sebastian  Vizcaino  along 
the  shore  of  Upper  California  in  1G02,  draws  attention 
to  the  royal  cedula  of  the  IDtli  of  August,  IGOn, 
granting  Vizcaino  permission  to  explore  California,  and 
inserts  that  document  in  the  first  volume  of  his  his- 
toi'v.  The  kiiu'  savs,  referrin<;  to  Vizcaino's  voyaije 
of  IG02,  "que  descubrio  el  dicho  Sebastian  Vizcaino 
en  la  costa  en  mas  de  ochocientas  leguas,  que  anduvo, 
so  informo,  y  que  todos  decian,  haver  latierra  adentro 
grandes  poblaciones,  y  plata,  y  oro," — that  the  said 
Vizcaino  was  told  by  the  Indians  aloiiir  the  whole 
coast  of  800  leat'-ues  which  he  discovered,  of  lartre  S(>t- 
tlements  in  the  interior,  and  of  silver  and  gold. 
"  Whence  Vizcaino  is  inclined  to  believe,"  the  king 
continues,  "that  great  riches  may  be  discovered,  es- 


28 


THIIEE    CENTURIES    OF  WILD  TALK, 


i 

iv 


pooially  as  in  sonic  parts  of  the  land  veins  of  metals 
arc  to  be  scon;" — porquc  en  alijjunas  partes  en  la 
tiorra  firnie  dcscubrian  betas  dc  nietales.  Thus,  there 
is  little  wonder  tluit  very  early  the  rumor  was  abroad 
that  tliore  was  <fold  in  California,  thou«j;h  without  any 
foundation,  as  the  interior  had  never  yet  been  visited 
by  white  men. 

As  far  from  the  truth  as  the  preacher's  story  and 
the  king's  story,  is  the  statement  passed  from  one 
writer  to  another  without  conmient,  that  I^oyola  Ca- 
bello,  a  priest  of  the  mission  of  San  Jose,  bay  of  San 
Francisco,  on  returning  to  Spain  published,  in  1000, 
a  work  on  Alta  Callfoniia,  in  which  the  existence  of 
gold  in  placers  was  mentioned.  I  do  not  know  whom 
to  jiold  res[)onsible  for  starting  this  fiction,  though  one 
Goori^o  jNI.  Evans  has  been  active  in  cU'culatinix  it. 
We  can  only  wonder  that  so  many  respectable  persons 
have  re[)eated  it  as  fact.  In  the  first  place  no  such 
bonk  was  ever  })ublished.  Secondly,  in  1 090,  and  for 
nearly  a  century  thereafter,  there  was  no  San  Jose 
mission  on  the  Bav  of  San  Francisco,  though  there 
was  a  San  Jose  del  Cabo,  near  Ca|)e  St  Lucas.  Lastly, 
if  there  was  such  a  man,  and  such  a  book,  and  such  a 
place,  there  was  no  gold  there. 

Fortunately  for  mankind,  believing  a  thing,  or  fan- 
cying a  belief  in  it,  be  it  never  so  sincerely  or  strongly, 
does  not  make  it  true;  nor  is  seeing  always  believing, 
when  perforce,  one  must  see  through  the  eyes  of  sail- 
ors, whose  statements  are  proverbially  unreliable. 
"Do  Gualle  saw  many  islands  eastward  of  Japan  in 
latitude  32°  and  33','  Sfivs  old  Arthur  Dobbs;  and 
sailing  further  cast,  he  saw  many  populous  and  rich 
islands,  some  with  volcanoes,  which  abounded  with 
gold,  cotton,  and  fish.  .  .Gemelli  mentions  rocks  seen 
in  latitude  30°,  and  an  island  said  to  be  rich  in  gold ; 
and  also  another  in  latitude  32°,  called  Rica  de 
Plata,  which  from  their  names  and  abounding  in 
gold,  may  be  supposed  to  be  well  iidiabited." 
By  how  many  have  these  gold  bearing  islands  been 


DIVERS  DKCKPTKINS. 


metals 
cii  la 
4.  tlicro 
al)rt)a«l 
)ut  any 
visited 

»rv  and 
i)ni  one 
ola  Ca- 

of  San 
n  1090,^ 
:enco  oi 
w  whom 
iU;jjh  one 
itinur  it. 
I  persons 
no  such 
,  and  fi»r 
Ian  Jose 
fh  there 

Lastly, 
such  a 

[,  or  fan- 
^tron<j;ly, 
>hevln*2;, 
of  sail- 
(relial)le, 
apan  in 
^hs;  and 
md  rich 
with 
^ks  seen 
lin  <]fold ; 
;,ica    de 
icling  in 
labited." 
Ids  been 


since  visited,  antl  how  nmch  metal   has  been  taken 
from  them  ? 

Perliaps  twenty  times  the  followlnj^  passajjfo  in 
Shflvix'Le,  A  l'(>i/<i(/r  licnnid  tlic  World  in  171i)~2'J,  by 
no  means  a  rare  or  remarkable  book,  has  been  pointed 
out  to  me  by  men  whoso  superficial  investii^ations 
have  led  them  to  believe  that  jjjold  was  known  to  exist 
ill  California  nearly  two  centuries  a_<j;o.  Here  is  the 
passage  :  "  The  eastern  coastof  that  part  of  California 
which  I  had  a  sight  of,  appears  to  bo  mountainous, 
barren  and  sandy,  and  very  like  some  parts  of  Peru; 
but  nevertlieless,  the  soil  about  Puerto  Seguro,  and 
very  likely  in  most  of  the  valleys,  is  a  ricli,  black 
mould,  which  as  you  turn  it  fresh  up  to  the  sun  ap- 
pears as  if  inti-rmingled  with  gold  dust,  some  of  which 
we  endeavored  to  wash  and  i)urify  from  the  dirt;  but 
though  wo  were  a  little  prejudiced  against  the 
thoughts  tl'.at  it  could  bo  possible  that  this  metal 
should  be  so  promiscuously  and  universally  mingled 
with  common  earth,  vet  wo  endeavored  toclcanscand 
wash  the  earth  from  some  of  it,  and  the  more  wo  did 
the  more  it  appeared  like  gold;  but  in  order  to  be 
fuHher  satisfietl,  I  brought  away  some  of  it  which  we 
lost  in  our  confusions  in  Chii^a." 

Now  in  the  first  place  this  navigator — whose  map 
bv  the  wav  shows  the  two  Californias  too:ether  as  an 
island — never  was  in  Alta  California  at  all;  and  sec- 
ondly, he  may  or  he  may  not  have  seen  particles  of 
something  resembling  gold  at  Cape  St  Lucas,  the 
only  point  at  which  he  touched.  In  a  word,  what- 
ever he  saw  or  said  has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
the  discovery  of  gold  in  the  Sierra  foothills.  And 
yet  I  have  seen  printed  in  more  than  one  Pacific 
coast  newspaper  this  statement  of  Shelvocke's  without 
any  reference  to  the  fact,  and  apparently  without  the 
knowledge  of  it,  that  the  California  referred  to  was 
not  Tipper  California, 

At  the  time  Shelvocke  was  engaged  in  his  circum- 
navigation, the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  was  explor- 


30 


THllEE    CENTURIES  OF  WILD  TALK. 


ing  to  the  westward.  Almost  as  much  as  gold-pro- 
(luchig  mountains  tlie  world  wanted  inter-oceanic 
communication.  From  Patagonia,  northward,  nearly 
to  the  land's  end,  the  seaboard  had  been  searched  in 
vain  for  a  passage  ;  only  the  part  between  Hudson 
bay  and  the  Pacific  remaining  yet  unexplored.  In 
1719  two  vessels,  the  jUhany  Frirjatc,  Captain  (Jrcorge 
Barlow,  and  the  Discovery,  Captain  David  Vaughn, 
wvre  fitted  out  for  the  purpose  of  examining  the 
the  western  side  of  Hudson  bay,  and  passing 
thence  through  the  strait  of  Anian  into  the  Pacific. 
This  strait,  the  discover}''  of  whicli  was  so  eagerly  de- 
sired, was  believed  to  exist ;  it  was  even  laid  down  in 
charts,  and  there  were  some  who  said  that  they  had 
seen  it,  others  that  tliey  had  entered  it,  though 
all  tlie  while  it  existed  onlv  in  imagination.  James 
Knight  was  given  command  of  the  expedition,  and 
was  "with  the  first  opportunity  of  wind  and 
weather,  ti)  depart  from  (irravesend  on  his  intended 
voyage,  and  by  God's  })ermission,  to  find  out  the 
strait  of  Anian,  in  order  to  discover  gold  and 
other  valuable  commodities  to  the  northward."  !Mr 
Knight  entered  upon  the  task  with  enthuslam,  though 
then  eiglity  years  of  age,  and  "  procured,  and  took 
with  lilm  some  largo  iron-bound  chests  to  held  gold- 
dust  and  other  valuables,  which  he  fondly  fiattered 
hnnself  were  to  be  found  in  those  parts."  Not  hear- 
ing from  the  expedition,  many  conjectured,  as  Sanmel 
Hearne  remarks,  "that  IVIessrs  Kniijht  and  Barlow 
had  found  that  passage,  and  had  gone  through  it  into 
the  South  Sea  by  the  way  of  California,"  and  it  was 
not  known  until  fifty  years  later,  when  Hearne  was 
undertaking  his  Coppermine  river  expedition,  that 
they  had  not  found  the  Anian  strait,  and  had  not 
filled  their  iron-bound  chests  with  the  gold  of  Califor- 
nia, but  had  all  been  lost  in  Hudson  bay. 

The  Shining  Mountains — as  the  Sierra  Nevada 
and  Cascade  Range  were  called  by  those  who  wrote 
geography  a  hundred  years  ago — were  deemed  from 


GOLD  IX  THE  SHINING   MOUNTAINS. 


31 


)kl-pro- 
occanic 
,  iiearlv 
clicd  ill 
Hudson 
ed.     Ill 
George 
'^auglin, 
iiiil  the 
passing 
Pacific, 
erly  de- 
down  in 
ley  hatl 
thouiih 
James 
on,  and 
I  id     and 
ntended 
out   the 
)ld    and 
1."     Mr 
tliougli 
id  took 
lid  jT^old- 
attered 
)t  hear- 
Saniuel 
Bailow 
it  into 
it  was 
ne  was 
tliat 
lad    not 


)vada 
wrote 


frc 


current  reports  something  wonderful  long  before  their 
treasures  were  disclosed.  "  This  extraordinary  range 
of  mountains,"  says  Jonathan  Carver  in  1700,  "is  cal- 
culated to  be  more  than  3,000  miles  in  length,  with- 
out any  very  considerable  intervals,  which  I  believe 
sarj)assos  any  tiling  of  tlie  kind  in  the  other  quarters 
of  tlie  ^i^lolte.  Probably  in  future  ages  they  may  be 
found  to  contain  more  riches  in  their  bowels  than 
those  of  Indostan  and  Malabar,  or  that  are  ]m)duced 
on  the  Gokh'U  coast  of  (jruinea  ;  nor  will  I  excejit 
ev(Mi  the  Peruvian  mines." 

No  little  excitement  occurred  in  Mexico  aliout  the 
time  of  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits,  who,  it  was  re- 
]);)rt(xl,  had  found  extensive  deposits  of  gold  on  the 
]u>ninsula  of  California,  and  had  concealed  the  fact 
from  the  government.  It  was  hi  the  rivers,  hi  the 
rocks,  an<l  in  the  soil,  peojilo  said,  and  the  supposed 
concealment  as  to  the  spot  containing  the  precious 
nu>tal,  on  the  part  of  the  Jesuits,  tended  in  no  wise 
toward  delaying  their  enforced  departure.  To  prove 
the  matter  Josd  (lalvez,  marquis  of  Sonora,  accom- 
panied by  Miguel  Jose  de  Azanza,  in  1769  passed  over 
into  (California  and  instituted  a  search.  A  few  weeks 
of  fruitless  endeavor  satisfied  Azaiiza,  who  r(>turned 
to  Mexico,  saying  that  the  numpiis  was  insane  to 
continue  tlie  search  :  for  the  expression  of  which 
opinion  Azanza  was  incarcerat(^d,  and  kept  in  jirison 
for  a  time,  (ialvez  found  notlung,  however,  though 
the  Jesuits  afterward  affirmed  inFrance  that  it  was 
true  they  had  found  gold.  Tiiis  was  jn-obably  said  in 
order  to  occasion  regret  in  the  minds  of  those  who  had 
caused  their  expulsion.  Ail  this  of  course  is  irn^le- 
vant  to  the  present  ])urpose,  except  that  in  the  loose 
and  general  refi-rence  made  to  the  event,  it  is  not 
stat{>d,  and  often  not  known,  that  the  J(>suits  were 
never  in  Upjier  California,  and  that  the  search  of 
(lalvez  and  A^zanzt  was  confined  strictly  to  the  penin- 
sula of  Lt.-  ,r  Caiif'irnia. 

Such  facts,  mutilated  and  misstated,  floatin<jr  iti  the 


■t 


32 


THREE  CENTURIES  OF  WILD  TALK. 


minds  of  ij^iioraiit  persons  who  receive  them  at  second 
or  twentietli  hand,  lead  to  remarks  like  the  followinj^ 
by  Mr  Simpson,  author  of  Three  Weeks  in  the  Gold 
/iV/Z/ms,  published  hi  1848.  "It"  also  known  that 
an  expedition  was  fitted  out  by  the  governor  of  Sonora 
during  the  last  century,  which  owing  to  various  dis- 
couragements failed. 

In  his  Travels  in  Mexien,  when  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Colorado  in  IS'Jfi,  Lieutenant  Hardy  sajs:  "The 
sand  is  full  of  a  glittering  sort  of  tinsel,  which  shines 
beautifully  when  the  sun  is  ujion  it.  It  is  common 
all  over  Sonora,  and  is,  I  imagine,  nothing  more  than 
broken  laniiuje  of  talc,  the  surface  of  which  being 
})robably  in  a  state  of  decom})osition,  the  original 
color  is  c!-anged  to  that  of  cop})er  and  gold.  It 
ciiinibles  easily  between  the  fingers,  and  cannot  there- 
fore^ be  metidlic;  but  its  delusi\e  appearance  may  pos- 
sibly have  given  rise  to  the  reports,  which  were 
sj>read,  as  it  is  supposed,  by  the  Jesuits,  who  formerly 
tMideavored  to  make  an  establishment  upon  the  river, 
of  t;old  dust  beino:  intermixed  with  the  sand."  Fav- 
ette  Kobinson  thinks  the  Jesuit  j)riests  were  aware  of 
the  existence  of  gold  in  California,  meaning  Lower 
California,  but  can-fully  diverted  the  attention  of  tiie 
natives  from  it  in  favor  of  mission  labor.  Oslo  in  his 
manuscript  Jlisforia  <le  California  expresses  the  opinion 
that  the  Franciscans  were  too  busy  with  conversions 
to  ascertain  whether  the  river  sands  held  gold.  The 
recent  conjectures,  he  savs,  that  thev  knew  of  gold 
are  not  probable,  because  the  secret  could  not  have 
been  kept  among  so  many. 

Since  1775  the  Mexicans  have  met  with  silver  in  the 
vicinitv  of  the  Colorado,  and  some  sav  with  small  de- 
posits  of  placer  gold,  but  with  none  that  would  yield 
profitable  returns.  Very  soon  after  the  organization  of 
the  missions  in  Lower  California,  converted  Indians  sent 
iito  tlie  upper  country  to  persuade  the  natives  there 
to  listen  to  tlie  teaciiings  of  the  padrer,,  talked,  on 
their  return,  of  the  shining  sand  that  they  saw  in 


St 


SHININfi  SANDS  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


88 


second 
llovvinj^j 
le  (/old 
,'n  that 
Soiiora 
aus  clis- 

outli  of 
:  "The 
ti  sliines 
?oiumou 
>re  than 
h   boiiujf 
original 
old.'     It 
)t  tliorc- 
[uay  pos- 
ch    were 
formerly 
10  river, 
"     Fay- 
aware  of 
I  Lower 
n  of  tiie 
no  in  his 
3  opinion 
versions 
d.     The 
of  gold 
ot  have 

ler  in  tlie 
iniall  de- 
dd  yield 
Ization  of 
lianssent 
:>s  there 
|ked,  on 
saw  In 


the  streams,  and  in  the  ravines  which  thoy  had 
traversed.  But  so  conunon  were  these  reports,  so 
fiiniiJlar  were  the  conquerors  with  the  presence  of 
precious  metals  everywhere  within  the  subjugated 
domain,  that  a  s])rinkiin<;  more  or  less,  here  or  there, 
was  little  regarded.  Nevertheless,  it  is  reported  that 
later  they  huilt  furnaces,  and  brought  sand  from  the 
seashore \o  be  used  in  smelting  antimotiial  silver  lead. 
A  nmp  was  made  of  southern  California  in  1775 
by  a  priest  sliowing  the  exph>rations  of  the  Jesuits  on 
the  Ct)lora(lo  river  for  several  hundred  miles,  and 
thence  to  tlie  Tulare  valley.  J.  H.  Carson  is  the 
author  of  a  little  book,  printed  in  Stockton  in  1852, 
I'utitled  Karn/  J  Urol  lections  of  the  Mines,  and  a  Iksmp- 
'<nn  of  the  (ircat  Tidare  Valley,  awA  worth  fifty  times 

%  ii  wei*dit  hi  ixold.  This  writer  was  informed  that  in 
tiie  Mexican  archives  was  a  letter  from  a  priest,  dated 
at  one  of  the  Jesuit  missions  in  177G,  notifying  the 
govrnment  that  while  searching  the  niountains  for 

i  mission  sites  he  and  his  confreres  had  met  with  pure 
silver  in  masses  weighing  several  tons,  and  that  th(\y 

i      had  forbidden  all   mention  of  the  matter  under  pain 

I  of  excommunication  and  death,  lest  a  sudden  influx 
of  population  should  destroy  their  schemes  for  con- 
version. Upon  the  strength  of  this  assertion  Wright 
and  his  associates  fitted  out  an  expedition  under  a 
Mr  Ho\  t,  who  proceeding  to  California  from  Mexico, 
in  due  ti-ne  sent  back  a  letter  with  rich  specimens  of 
silver  ore,  ilmost  solid,  as  Mr  Wright  declared. 
NLitl  er  iJoyt  or  any  of  the  party  returned,  nor  were 
ihe}-  ever  lje.iiil  from:  and  it  was  supposed  that  they 
were  manl  mm'  iiy  the  natives.  Exploruig  at  a  nmch 
later  period  in  the  vicinity  of  Moore  creek,  Carson 
encountered  a  shaft  sunk  apparently  twelve  or  twenty 
years  before.  Part  of  the  windlass  was  still  standing, 
though  in  a  state  of  decay,  and  the  ])lacc  agreed  with 
the  description  given  by  Hoyt.  When  Carson  ques- 
tioned the  natives  about  it,  he  was  told  that  the  shaft 
had  'i't^n  sutik  by  Mexicans  who  had  been  in  that 

•'.",' '»  1st.  I'oc.    8 


84 


THIiEE   CENTURIES  OF  WILD  TALK. 


neiijjhborhood  but  who  had  since  diod ;  the  gentle 
savages  failed  to  mention  the  manner  of  their  taking 
off. 

Referring  to  the  Diccionario  Gcoproficn-Histn'n'o  dc 
las  IiuUas  OccideviaJcs  o  America  of  Antonio  de  Alcetlo, 
published  in  Madrid  in  1786-9,  we  find  stated  that  in 
California,  "  provincia  de  la  America  Septentrional,  y 
la  I'lltima  parte  de  ella  en  lo  descubierto  jlcia  el  norte  "  are 
many  wonders.  Strange  animals  are  there,  and  some 
that  the  Spaniards  introduced,  which  have  multi})lied 
enormously.  There  are  insects,  snakes,  tarantulas, 
and  ants  without  number,  but  no  fleas,  bed-bugs,  or 
chegoes.  A-^  prone  to  mendacity  as  I  have  ever  found 
Air  Dunbai.  "  is  not  prepared  to  meet  in  his 
Romance  of  the  ■■  so  bold  a  misreprese  itation  as 
that  Alcerh)  "  positively  asserts  the  existence  of  gold  in 
California,  even  in  lumps  of  five  to  eight  pounds,"  and 
tliat  in  face  of  the  plain  statement :  "  No  se  han  des- 
cubierto minas ;  pcro  hay  bastantes  indicios  de  que 
existen  de  todos  metales." 

At  Alizal,  near  Monterey,  silver  is  said  to  have 
been  found  in  1 802.  Remarking  how  deep  benea  theth 
surface  lay  the  precious  metals  in  the  interior  of  north- 
ern Mexico  Humboldt,  after  his  visit  in  1803,  ex- 
pressed the  opinion  that  toward  the  north  gold  might 
be  found  in  large  quantities  near  the  su^  -tee. 

Knowledge  of  the  existence  of  furnaces,  used  in 
tlie  smelting  of  silver  ore,  in  the  southeastern  part  of 
California,  or  in  the  Colorado  river  region,  is  vaguely 
tracetl  back  to  1808.  An  exploring  party  from  Stock- 
ton in  1800,  in  search  of  silver  lodes,  met  in  the 
vicinity  of  these  furnaces  a  party  of  Mexicans  with 
like  intentions.  With  the  Mexicans  was  an  ancient 
aboriginal,  Jose  el  Venadero  he  was  called,  one  hun- 
dred years  of  age,  who  stated  that  these  furnaces  were 
in  use  when  Mexico  first  threw  off  the  yoke  of  Spain, 
fifty -two  years  ago.  He  was  a  mission  Indian  at  the 
time,  and  the  Spanish  soldiers  stationed  at  the  furnaces 
to  protect  the  workmen  from  the  natives  were  with- 


I 

-* 


I 


1))!'   ii^l 


ht»aftii    rtiTii  11 


SUTTER  AND  THE  RUSSIANS. 


S6 


gentle 
taking 

iiorio  de 
AlcccU), 
that  in 
rional,  y 
ivie  "  are 
[id  sdnic 
ultiplied 
rantulas, 
-bugs,  or 
er  found 
b   in   his 
ation   as 
»f  gold  in 
luls,"  and 
han  dcs- 
5  de    que 

to  have 
nea  theth 
of  north- 
1803,  ex- 
Id  might 

used  in 
li  part  of 
vaguely 
n  Stock- 
t  in  the 
ans  with 
ancient 
ne  hun- 
ces  were 
if  Sp'lin, 
ni  at  1/1  le 
farnaoes 
fere  with- 


drawn during  tlic  revolution.  A  large  body  of  natives, 
headed  by  liis  brotlier  who  was  a  chief,  then  attacked 
and  killed  tlie  miners,  and  the  priests  who  were  with 
t!i(  lu  :  since  which  time  the  lode  has  not  been  worked, 
and  the  ])lace  had  been  forgotten  by  all  except  those 
engaged  in  tlie  massacre.  M.  S.  Brock  way  saw  there 
ill  18j1  veins  of  antimonial  silver. 

Count  Scala  writing  in  the  NoiiveUcs  AnvaJes  (ks 
Vniiaijcs,  in  1854,  asseits  that  althougli  local  tradition 
has  not  jneserved  any  souvenir  of  the  excursions  of 
tlie  llussians  into  the  auriferous  re  ijions  wliich  have 
since  been  !)f  such  value  to  California,  yet  there  are 
unanswerable  proofs  that  several  officers  of  the  Rus- 
sian comjiany  have  ai  ditl'erent  times,  between  the 
years  1812  and  1841,  ])rocured  a  considerable  quantity 
of  metal  from  the  native  tribes  of  Yuba  and  Chico. 
"Nous  montroros  tout  a  I'heure,"  he  goes  on  to  say, 
"  (juc  c'est  aux  Kusses  de  Bodega  que  les  Americains 
sont  redcvables  de  1'  hcureuse  decouverte  qui  leur 
donne  aujourd'  hui  la  faculte  d'etendre  leur  souver- 
aincte  dans  la  Nouvclle-Grenade  et  le  Nicaragua,  et 
d'imposer  leur  influence  a  toutcs  les  republiques  es- 
]>agnoles  du  Pa(iH(]ue."  In  })roof  of  his  premise 
Scala's  chain  of  argument  is  not  in  every  link  consis- 
tent with  fact.  I  will  give  it  for  what  it  is  worth. 
He  does  not  know  hov  it  occurred,  or  wliat  might 
have  been  the  nature  of  the  senices  which  Sutter 
had  rendered  to  the  govermnent  of  Archangel,  but 
certain  it  is  that  one  day  the  cajitain  arrived  in  Cali- 
fornia well  n^conmiended  to  the  authorities  .it  Ross  and 
Bodega,  M.  Goriett",  a  rich  merehant  established  at 
Yakoutsk,  pretends  to  have  shown  him  in  1838  or 
183D  a  score  of  "kilos  de  lingots  d'or  et  de  pepites," 
which  he  had  gathered  live  years  before  in  the  Sac- 
ramento valley,  whileon  an  excursion  with  the  rifxihros 
of  the  company.  And  Goriefl'  counselled  Sutter  to 
devote  himself  exclusively  to  the  investigation  of  these 
auriferous  lands.  However  that  might  have  been, 
Scala  continues,  "no  one  then  in  California  was  igno- 


i!| 


99 


THREE  CENTURIES  OF  WILD  TALK. 


rant  of  tlic  existence  of  gold  in  tlio  Sierra  Nevada 
districts.  The  Creoles  had  often  bouglit  it  from  tlsc 
Indian  hunters,  and  in  tlie  time  of  the  Spaniards  the 
missions  had  secretly  procured  it  in  large  quantities. 
The  only  obstacles  which  for  a  century  had  hindered 
the  workuig  of  these  mines  by  white  men  were  tlie 
well  known  ferocity  of  the  wild  Indians,  and  ignorance 
of  the  exact  position  of  tlie  placers.  After  having 
made  several  excursions  in  the  country  pointed  out  to 
him  by  M.  Gorieff,  Sutter  went  to  tlie  governor  at 
Monterey  and  asked  a  grant  of  the  lands.  This 
grant,  which  comprised  an  area  measuring  eighty 
kilometres  in  length  and  sixteen  in  width,  was 
traversed  by  the  route  from  San  Francisco  to  the 
American  posts  on  the  Columliia  river.  It  was  a 
virgin  region,  abounding  in  game,  profusely  watered, 
rich  in  pasturage,  and  surrounded  bv  mild-mannered 
tribes.  Tliere  Sutter  establislied  himself  as  trapper, 
hunter,  and  agriculturist.  When  in  1841  the  Rus- 
sians evacuated  Ross  they  sold  to  him  tlieir  material, 
l)y  which  means  he  became  strong  enough  success- 
fully to  withstand  the  provincial  government.  Thus 
was  due  to  the  Russians,  the  conclusion  is,  the  gold 
dis(H>very  in  California,  and  her  consequent  greatness." 
Here  ends  C  >unt  Scala,  whom  I  have  translated 
accurately,  if  somewhat  freely. 

It  is  possible,  even  probable,  that  the  Russians  of 
Ross  and  Bodega  knew  of  the  existence  of  gokl  in 
the  Sierra  f»)t)thills.  They  had  every  o[)portunity  for 
acquiring  such  knowledge,  being  in  frequent  conmiu- 
nication  with  tlie  inhaliitants  of  that  region;  and 
there  was  no  special  inducement  for  them  to  notify 
the  Mexicans  of  the  fact.  But  as  for  Sutter  being 
aware  beforehand  of  the  existence  of  gold  in  the 
vicinity  of  New  Helvetia,  I  am  sure  tiiat  he  was 
not;  first,  because  he  told  me  so,  and  secondly,  bc?- 
cause,  if  he  had  known  it  his  line  of  conduct  would 
have  been  different.  Further  than  this,  it  is  not  true 
that  tlie  Indios  bravos  were  so  fierce  as  successfully 


if! 


8CALA  AND  SUTTER. 


37 


Nevada 
rom  tl'.c 
irds  the 
lantitica, 
liindercil 
;vcre  the 
rnorauce 
r  haviiuj; 
sd  out  to 
rcrnor  at 
Is.     This 
g   eighty 
idth, '  was 
:o  to  the 
It  was  a 
watered, 
mannered 
s  trapper, 
tlie  Kus- 
niaterial, 
li  success- 
lit.     Thus 
the  gold 
reatness. 
translated 

lussians  of 
l)f  gold  iu 
iunitv  for 
[t  conunu- 
gion ;    and 
to  notify 
ttcr  being 
lid  '  in  the 
it  he  was 
fondly,  bc- 
ict  would 
Is  not  true 
iccessfuUy 


to  guard  their  gold  from  the  Russians.  Tliey  woie 
not'^  fierce  at  all,  hut  ratlier  as  Sutter  found  them 
"  aux  nioeurs  douces  et  fiiciles.' 

Hitliiiski  tells  of  a  laborer,  a  servant  of  tlie  Rus- 
sian American  Company  in  California,  wlio  one  day 
Avtiit  to  tlie  commandant  with  tlie  story  that  he  had 
scrn  gold  in  the  bed  of  a  stream,  and  advised  that  a 
party"  be  sent  to  examine  it.  The  man  was  told  to 
miiui  his  own  business. 

Add  to  the  statement  of  Scala  the  testimony  of 
(Toveriior  Alvaradi),  given  in  the  first  volume  of  his 
Jlisforia  (k  California,  and  it  is  almost  certain  that  the 
Russians  of  Ross  and  Rodcga  were  aware  of  the  ex- 
istence of  gold  in  the  valley  of  California  as  early  as 
1814.  During  the  administration  of  Governor  Ai- 
gUdlo,  Alvarado  says  that  gold  was  found  in  the 
jtossession  of  a  Russian,  El  Loco  Alexis  he  was  called. 
The  man  was  in  jail  at  Monterey  at  the  time,  impris- 
oned with  three  others,  pt'rhaps  for  drunk(Miness,  or 
for  killing  beaver,  or,  more  likely,  for  being  Russians. 
Alexis  would  not  tell  how  or  where  he  obtained  the 
gold,  and  as  he  was  shortly  afterward  sent  to  Sitka, 
nothing  came  of  it.  Alvarado  does  not  hesitate  to 
assert  further  that  "we  well  knew  of  the  existenct*  of 
gold  di'posits  on  the  slopes  of  the  northern  mountains, 
but  the  Indians,  who  were  so  much  more  numerous 
than  we,  prevented  our  exploring  in  that  direction." 

Because  Phillips,  in  his  Minerahfpj,  edition  of  1818, 
spoke  of  gold  in  California,  many  thought  he  liad 
knowledge  of  the  existence  of  that  metal  in  the  Sierra 
foothills. 

In  the  possession  of  the  San  Francisco  Society  of 
Pioneers  is  a"  stone  tablet,  indicating  the  discovery  of 
gold  on  Feather  river  in  1818.  It  was  presented  to 
the  society  by  W.  F.  Stewart  in  18G8,  and  is  held  in 
great  estimation  by  the  wise  men  of  the  dav.  The 
stone  is  of  hard,  yellowish,  sandy  texture,  about  twelve 
inches  in  length  by  an  average  of  three  inches  in  width, 


THREE  CENTURIES  OP  \^^LD  TALK. 


M 


,iii 


III 


and  one  incli  thick.     It  is  flat,  and  on  one  side  are 
deeply  cut,  in  legible  letters,  these  words : 

1818 


GOLD 
CAVE 
IN    TlIM 
M.  .SHIP 
LODBM 
L    M 


This  cabalistic  stone  is  said  to  have  been  picked  up 
on  the  west  branch  of  Feather  river,  in  1850,  by 
William  Thomas,  and  given  by  him  to  A.  J.  Pithan, 
of  San  Jose,  in  1851.  Mr  Thomas,  after  dilig<>nt 
search,  was  unable  to  find  the  gold  cave.  Discussions 
of  possibilities  or  probabilities  are  wholly  useless.  Tlie 
chances  are  a  hundred  to  one,  in  my  opinion,  that 
some  miner  of  1849  cut  the  letters  for  pastime,  and 
then  threw  the  stone  away,  or  gave  it  to  some  one  to 
make  a  good  story  out  of 

And  now  comes  Mariano  Guadalupe  Vallejo  with 
similar  testimony,  that  the  Spaniards  in  California 
kninv  of  gold,  but  could  not  profit  by  their  knowledge 
on  account  of  the  Indians.  In  the  first  volume  of  his 
Illsforiade  California  he  further  states  that,  in  1824, 
wliilo  Captain  Pablo  do  la  Portilla  was  encamped  at 
San  Emilio,  Lieutenant  Antonio  del  Valle,  who  had 
a  stock  of  beads,  blankets,  and  tobacco,  traded  his 
goods  with  the  Chauchilas  and  Jozhnas  for  fourteen 
thousatid  dollars  in  gold,  "cliis[)as  de  oro,"  emphasiz- 
ing his  statement  by  the  further  assertion  that  "  el 
teniente  del  valle  trajo  el  oro  d  Monterey,  y  lo  he 
tenido  en  mis  manos ;  y  por  eso  respondo  de  la  verdad 
del  hechc." 

Jose  de  Jesus  Pico,  still  living  in  San  Luis  Obispo, 
asserts  that  Father  Martinez,  the  minister  of  the  mis- 
sion of  that  name,  gave  him  and  three  fellow-soldiers, 
in  1821),  twenty  ounces  of  gold  in  one  ounce  balls,  and 
that  he  believes  the  father  must  have  picked  it  up  at 
the  place  named  San  Jose,  near  the  mission.  He 
buspected   that   several   Spaniards   were   for  a   time 


SOME  PROPHECIES. 


side  arc 


picked  up 
1850,  by 
r.  Pitlian, 
r  dili*^eiit 
libcussions 
less.  The 
[lion,  that 
stiine,  and 
me  one  to 

dlejo  with 
California 
cnowledge 
unie  of  his 
,  in  1824, 

anipc'd  at 

who  had 

traded  his 

>r  fourteen 

eniphasiz- 

that  "el 
y  lo  he 

la  verdad 


) 


lis  Obispo, 
f  the  mis- 
vv-soldiers, 
balls,  antl 
ed  it  up  at 
sion.  He 
or  a   timt^ 


secretly  engaged  at  the  mission  in  refining  gold  and 
silver,  because  the  father  had  many  flasks  of  (juicksil- 
ver,  as  well  as  instruments  and  materials  for  refining 
those  metals. 

Jedediah  Smith  is  accredited  with  having  found 
placer  gold  near  Mono  lake,  on  the  way  back  from 
California,  wliither  he  had  led  a  party  from  the  Salt 
Lake  country  in  I  825.  Thomas  S})rague,  writing  to 
Edniond  Iliindol}>h,  in  18G0,  states  that  he  was  well 
aware  of  the  fact,  and  that  the  spot  where  the  gold 
was  fitund  was  on  the  route  to  Salt  lake,  and  east  by 
nortli  from  Mono  lake.  Quite  a  (juantity  of  this  gold. 
Smith  brouglit  back  with  him  to  the  American  Fur 
Company's  encamjunent  on  Green  river.  His  j)artners 
Were  so  J  (leased  with  his  success  that  they  induced 
liim  to  return  to  tlie  gold  field,  in  which  attempt  he 
lost  Jiis  life.  The  defeat  of  tlie  party  by  Indians  dis- 
couraged the  company,  and  they  abandoned  their 
searcli  f  )r  gold.  Mr  Sprague's  statement  as  to  tlie 
route  of  Smith  to  and  from  California  is  only  i)artially 
correct. 

As  furtlier  evidence  that  gold  was  believed  to  exist 
ill  California,  may  be  mentioned  certain  laws  and  reg- 
ulations framed  by  the  Mexican  government.  Refer- 
ring to  the  Vallejo  ( 'olrcrio))  de  Donnnoitos,  we  find  that 
on  "tlie  IDthof  July,  1828,  President  CJuadalupe  Vic- 
toria transmitted  to  the  governor  of  California  a  decree 
of  the  Mexican  congress  equally  ai>plica])le  to  all  tlie 
^[exican  states  and  territories.  All  prtivious  decrees 
prohibiting  the  export  of  gold  and  silver  bullion  were 
revoki'd,  and  states  were  permitted  to  collect  duties. 
Bars,  (pioits,  and  rails  nmst  be  numbered  and  stampcMl 
with  weiglit  and  fineness.  Another  decree,  of  the 
13th  of  Septemher,  lays  down  the  rules  for  the  ex[»or- 
tation  of  gold  and  silver  bullion.  Permits  might  be 
obtained  by  jjresenting  petition  and  invoices  at  the; 
custom-house.  Then  the  formalities  i)rescribed  for 
the  authorities  of  the  custom-house  are  given  at  great 
length,  besides  a  number  of  stipulations  and  penalties. 


'40 


THREE  CENTURIES  OF  WILD  TALK. 


Upon  the  assertion  of  M.  Duflot  do  Mofras  mainly 
rests  the  discovery  of  gold  at  San  Isidro,  in  S'U 
Diego  county  by  a  man  from  Guanajuato  about  1828. 
"  A  San  Isidro,"  he  says  in  the  first  >olume  of  his  Ex- 
j)hmitlon  du  Tcrritoire  deV  Oregon,  dcs  Californics,  ct  de 
la  Mer  Vcrmeille,  Paris,  1844,  "tl  quatorze  lieucs  dans 
Test  de  San  Diego,  on  trouve  des  mines  d'or  et  d'ar- 
gent  qui  furent  exploitees  il  y  a  quinze  ans  par  un 
hommc  de  Guanajuato." 

Padre  Viader,  a  priest  at  Mission  Santa  Clara,  is 
said  to  have  [)ossessed  the  gift  of  prophecy.  Two 
years  before  it  occurred,  he  foretold  the  drouglit  of 
1821),  and  advised  the<people  to  prepare  for  it,  and 
plant  double  the  usual  area.  He  likewise  predicted 
the  discovery  of  gold  in  California,  and  the  transfer 
of  that  land  to  another  nationality.  This  reminds 
one  of  the  many  signs  and  omens  pointing  to  the  fall 
of  Monteruma,  and  the  Mexican  conquest,  which  oc- 
cured  during  the  century  preceding  that  event. 

Another  prophet,  who  died  hi  1830,  was  Padre 
Magln  Catahi,  of  this  same  mission.  Among  other 
things  he  j)redicted  that  great  riches  would  be  found 
in  the  north,  and  that  people  would  flock  thither  in 
great  numbers.  It  is  safe  to  affirm  that  among  peo- 
ple of  extraordinary  piety  no  important  event  ever 
happens  but  that  after  the  occurrence  many  persons 
can  be  found  who  said  that  it  would  be  so. 

And  now  for  the  statement  of  a  savage  among 
others  who  testify.  Puleule,  a  Yuba,  swore,  as  soon 
as  he  had  acquired  that  civilized  accomplishment,  that 
when  he  was  a  boy,  say  in  1830,  he  had  often  amused 
himself  by  picking  from  the  gravel  large  pieces  of 
gold  and  throwing  them  into  the  water. 

Manuel  Victoria  writing  the  Ministro  de  Rclaciones 
says  in  1831  that  there  are  no  mines  of  any  value  in 
California ;  that  the  pagans  know  of  none ;  and  that 
it  is  the  opinion  of  experts  that  there  are  no  minerals 
in  the  country. 

The  unreliable  editor  of  Tlie  Natural  Wealth  of  Cali- 


'^ 


s  mainly 
,  in  S.*n 
)ut  1828. 
)f  his  Ex- 
lies,  et  de 
sues  dans 
r  ct  d'ar- 
s  par  uu 

Clara,  is 
•y.     Two 

ought  of 
»r  it,  and 
predicted 
!  transfer 
,  reminds 
o  the  ftill 
which  oe- 
nt. 

as  Padre 

)ng  other 

be  found 

hither  in 

[long  peo- 

ent  ever 

V  persons 

among 
as  soon 
lent,  that 
li  amused 
bieces  of 

lelaciones 
lvalue  in 
land  that 
I  minerals 

of  Cali- 


WARNER'S  VHEORY 


41 


1 


I'M 


fornia,  states  that  the  first  gold  was  found  in  the 
Santa  Clara  valley  in  18:};{,  and  that  other  deposits 
were  discovered  in  various  i)laces  in  the  Sierra  INladre, 

Blount,  the  pioneer,  assured  Bishop  Kip  in  18G4, 
that  thirty  years  before,  that  is  to  say  in  1884,  he  en- 
countered ore,  wliich  at  the  time  ho  thought  to  be 
copixr,  but  tlun  knew  to  be  gold.  The  bishop  dis- 
plays extreme  credulity  even  in  repeating  such  a 
statement.  About  on  a  par  with  this  is  the  assertion 
of  Mr  CJray,  who  wrote  what  he  calls  a  TlisUm/  of 
Orcf/on,  tiiat  two  jovial  })riests.  brought  to  the  Oregon 
coasts  by  the  Hudson's  Bay  Comi)any,  discovered, 
when  wandering  among  the  Bocky  Mountains,  pare 
silver  and  gokk'n  ores,  specimens  of  which  they  car- 
rle<l  to  St  Louis  and  Europe.  What  their  jollity  had 
to  do  with  it  the  historian  does  not  explain;  nor  does 
he  give  us  proof  that  any  assertkni  of  this  kind  Was 
made  bv  them  prior  to  the  discoverv  of  Marshall. 

(Governor  Alvarado  thinks  it  imj)ertinence  on  the 
part  of  Sutter  and  ]\[arshall  to  claim  the  honor  of  the 
ii'old  discovorv ;  for  in  the  fourth  volume  of  his  His- 
i<iria  <lc  California  he  observes,  "que  el  pueblo  Amer- 
icano es  esencialmente  egoista  cuando  trata  do  hacer 
apare^er  al  sefior  Marshall  como  primer  descubridor 
dil  oro  en  California;  (|U0  en  buena  hora  la  legislatura 
de  premios  y  pensiones  ii  (juienes  so  le  Antoje,  yo  no 
me  mezelo  en  esos  asuntc^s,  desde  que  mi  voz  seri'a 
(l(Mnasiado  debil  para  efectuar  reformas  que  la  mayo- 
rir  de  los  legisladores  no  desean  ver  implantadas;  pero 
e\ijo  que  no  se  cina  con  laureles  (jue  de  justicia  perte- 
necen  d  mis  compatriotas,  la  frente  de  Sutter,  Mar- 
si  lall  y  demas  aventureros  que  a  cada  bienio  se 
])resentan  ante  la  legislatura  del  Estado  reclamaiM*  > 
reconqtensas  por  servicios  quo  ban  estado  mi  y  lejos 
de  prestar,  y  por  descubrimientos  que  habian  sido 
hechos  mas  de  quince  afios  dntes  que  k)s  titulados 
descubridores  del  oro  Viniesen  d  California." 

My  old  friend  Warner  gives  the  most  plausible  ex- 
planation as  to  the  origin  of  the  many  ungrounded 


\v    > 


9 


«  THREE  CENTURIES  OF  WILD  TALK. 

rumors  concerning  the  early  discovery  of  gold  '  .ili- 
fornia.  Several  persons,  he  says,  coming  iv  this 
country,  brought  with  them  bullion  or  dust,  to  be 
used  as  money,  which  passing  into  commerce,  was 
handled  by  different  persons  and  ship[)ed  at  various 
times  to  various  places.  Thus  Palacios,  arriving  in 
18IU  as  agent  for  a  Guaymas  merchant  who  had  pre- 
viously shipped  goods  to  California,  and  had  purchased 
land  and  cattle,  brought  a  considerable  quantity  of 
grain  gold  and  silver  bars,  obtained  in  Sonora,  where- 
with to  facilitate  his  operations.  About  the  same  time 
J.  P.  Leese  arrived  from  New  Mexico,  having  in  his 
possession  placer  gold  to  the  value  of  several  thousand 
dollars  A  large  proportion  of  this  treasure  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  agents  of  Boston  merchants,  and 
was  shipped  to  Boston,  California  thus  acquiring 
the  reputation  in  certain  circles  of  a  gold-producing 
country.  Thus  Mr  Dana,  referring  to  the  cargo  of 
the  Alert,  states,  in  his  Tiro  Years  Before  the  MaM,  that 
among  other  things  was  a  quantity  of  cold-dust 
brought  from  the  interior  by  Indians  or  vicans. 
And  he  learned  further  from  the  owners  \  .j  was 
not  uncommon  for  homeward-bound  vessels  to  have 
on  board  a  small  quantity  of  gold.  Rumors  of  gold 
discoveries  were  then  current,  he  adds,  but  they  at- 
tracted little  attention. 

In  Mexico,  by  a  law  of  March  24,  1835,  was  created 
the  Estahlecimlento  de  Mineria,  which  body  was  to 
superintend  the  mines  of  California,  in  case  there  were 
any,  as  well  as  those  of  northern  Mexico. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  affirmations,  oaths,  and 
prophecies,  Alexander  Forbes,  in  18.35,  writes : 
"There  are  said  to  be  many  mines  of  gold  and  silver 
in  the  peninsula,  but  none  arc  now  worked,  unless,  in- 
deed, we  may  except  those  of  San  Antonio,  near  La 
Paz,  which  still  afford  a  trifling  supply."  And  again: 
— "  No  minerals  of  particular  importance  have  yet 
been  found  in  Upper  California,  nor  any  ores  of 
metals."     And    speaking   of  the   coming   of  Hijar's 


UNRKLIABLE  TESTIMOXY. 


43 


[1  '  ali- 
;  u  tills 
,st,  to  bo 
orce,  was 
t  various 
[•riving  ill 
)  had  pre- 
purchased 
lantity  of 
'a,  where- 
same  time 
ing  in  his 

thousand 
•e  fell  into 
lants,  and 

acquiring 
producing 
3  cargo  of 
Maftt,  that 

rMd-dust 
vicans. 
.J  was 
8  to  have 
rs  of  gold 

b  they  at- 

as  created 
y  was  to 
here  were 

aths,  and 
writes  : 
,nd  silver 
mless,  hi- 
near  La 
nd  again: 
have  yet 
ores  of 
Hijar's 


party,  he  says,  "Tliere  were  goldsmith's  proceeding 
to  aVountry  where  no  gold  existed." 

While  (HI  a  visit  soutli  in  1 874,  I  met  at  San  Luis 
OhisiM),  Mr  Henry  B.  Blake,  author  of  a  historical 
ski'tch  of  southern  California,  who  stated  that  the 
first  gold  shipited  from  Califoriiia  was  in  IH86,  and 
canu>  from  the  source  of  the  Santa  Clara  river. 

With  regard  to  gold  in  Lower  California,  the  Pf?*?^2/ 
Ci/rlopirdhi  of  1830  says : — "  The  mineral  riches  arc  very 
inconsi<leral)le.  Only  one  mine  is  worked  about  ten 
or  twelve  miles  nortliwest  of  La  Paz,  where  gold  is  ex- 
tracted, but  the  metal  is  not  abundant."  The  San 
Antonio  mine  is  the  one  referred  to.  "  It  is  sujiposed 
that  the  western  declivity  of  tlie  mountains  contains 
a  considerable  (juantity  of  minerals,  but  if  this  be  the 
case  they  will  probably  never  V)e  worked,  as  this  part 
of  the  peninsula  is  (juite  uninhabitable."  And  the 
country  to  the  northward  is  not  V'  ry  different  in  the 
(•pillion  of  this  writer,  who  ccmtinues:  "In  minerals 
ITpper  California  is  not  rich.  A  small  silver  mine 
was  found  east  of  S.  Ines,  but  it  has  b(  en  abandoned. 
In  one  of  the  rivers  falling  into  the  southern  Tule 
Lake,  some  gold  has  been  found,  but  as  }et  in  very 
small  quantity." 


CHAPTER  III. 


FURTHER    RUMORS    OP   THE    EXISTENCE   OF   GOLD  IN  CALI- 
FORNIA PRIOR  TO  THE  DISCOVERY  BY  MARSHALL. 

Is  yellow  dirt  the  passion  of  thy  life  ? 
Look  but  on  Gripus  or  on  Gripus'  wife. 

— Pope. 

Nearer  the  mytlilc  than  any  we  have  yet  encoun- 
tered, in  point  of  elaboration  at  least,  is  the  story  told 
in  1865  bj  the  Paris  correspondent  of  the  London 
Star.  The  writer  claims  to  have  discovered,  in  a  pri- 
vate collection  hi  Paris,  belonging  to  an  antiquarian 
named  M.  le  Carpentier,  the  first  gold  found  in  Cali- 
fornia. It  was  in  this  wise:  During  the  revolution 
of  18.S0.  and  for  years  afterward,  M.  le  Carpentier 
had  felt  somewhat  nervous  iest  his  collection  should 
be  seized  by  a  mob  or  by  burglars,  for  it  wr.,s  now 
very  valuable.  While  in  this  frame  of  mind  he  was 
startled,  late  one  night  in  1837,  by  a  loud  knocking  at 
the  street  door.  After  some  delay  he  opened  it  with 
great  precaution,  and  there  stood  a  middle-aged  n)an, 
emaciated,  apparently  in  wretched  health,  and  in  tat- 
tered garments. 

"You  do  not  know  me,"  began  the  individual, 
speaking  somewhat  wildly,  "  but  I  know  you,  and 
tliat  is  enough.  I  want  you  to  assist  me  in  applying 
to  government  for  a  vessel  and  a  hundred  men,  and  I 
will  bring  back  a  ship-load  of  gold."  The  antiquary's 
face  showed  what  he  thought  of  the  proposal. 

"  Oh,  I  am  not  mad,"  the  invalid  continued.  "  See 
hercl  You  are  wise.  You  know  the  value  of  this" — 
producing  from  his  pocket  a  large  piece  of  quartz, 

M.  le  Carpentier  was 


richly  impregnated  with  gold. 


S3ME  STRANGE  STORIES. 


45 


a  kindhearted  man  but  not  avaricious,  and  he  still 
tlif)ught  his  visitor  a  little  insane.  Leading  him  with- 
in, he  set  food  before  him,  and  then  giving  him  for 
a  ]Mcce  of  the  quartz  a  napoleon,  and  telling  him  to 
call  again  whenever  he  pleased,  dismissed  him. 
The  man  never  reappeared,  but  the  rock,  when  anal- 
yzed, was  found  to  be  rich  in  gold.  Fifteen  years 
elapsed,  and  the  incident  was  well-ni^h  forgotten, 
when  one  day  a  small,  heavy  parcel,  enclosed  in  a  torn 
and  greasy  handkerchief,  was  handed  with  a  letter  to 
the  antiquarian,  by  the  keeper  of  a  lodging  house 
i:i  a  neighboring  street,  who  said  that  they  were  left 
tliore  by  a  man  who  had  died,  and  that  they  liad  been 
a  long  time  mislaid.  What  was  the  antiquary's  as- 
tonishment, on  opening  the  letter,  to  find  it  from  the 
poor  invalid,  and  dated  but  a  few  days  after  his  visit, 
while  the  heavy  package  was  the  block  of  quartz. 

"  I  am  d}'ing,"  he  wrote.  "  Ycu  alone  listened  to 
me.  You  alone  stretched  out  a  helping  hand.  I  be- 
queath you  my  secret.  The  country  whence  I  brought 
this  gold  is  called  California  I " 

It  is  stated  that  a  Scotchman,  Young  Anderson  by 
name,  attempted,  in  1837,  io  enlist  English  capital  in 
mining  ventures,  through  representations  made  to  him 
by  a  Guatemalan  priest  who  had  lived  in  California, 
that  gold  existed  in  the  neighborhood  of  San  Francisco. 
The  Scotchman  was  unsuccessful. 

In  1 8  5 1 ,  some  three  years  after  Marshall's  discovery, 
it  was  related  in  the  Worcester  Transcript  that  one  \V. 
F.  Thompson,  an  experienced  trapper,  remembered 
having  found  gold  while  on  the  north  Yuba,  some 
twelve  years  before,  a  pound  of  which  he  carried  with 
him  to  Fort  Leavenworth.  There  he  left  it,  no  one 
seeming  to  know  or  to  care  what  it  was.  When  tidings 
of  the  g()ld  excitement  were  noised  abroad,  he  was 
engaged  in  trapping  in  the  far  north,  and  recognizing 
his  mistake,  at  once  hurried  back  to  the  spot,  only  to 
find  every  inch  of  the  ground  uprooted. 

There  was  quite  a  mania  for  mining  in  .A.lta  Cali- 


46 


FURTHER  RUMORS  OF  GOLD. 


fornia  about  the  year  1840.  Silver  was  then  the 
attraction,  rather  than  gold.  Men,  women,  and 
children  talked  about  their  ores  very  much  as  in  later 
years  stocks  were  discussed.  Copper  was  about  that 
time  discovered  at  Soledad  pass,  some  ninety  miles 
nortli  of  Los  Angeles. 

The  Quarterly  Review  of  1850  states  that  the  English 
botanist,  Douglas,  was  blamed  for  not  having  discov- 
ered gold  on  this  coast  after  having  travelled  over  so 
much  of  it,  and  that,  too,  when  "the  roots  of  some  of 
the  pines  sent  home  to  England  were  found  to  have 
small  flakes  of  gold  held  together  in  the  clotted  earth 
still  attached  to  them  1 '' 

Juan  B.  Alvarado  says  that  the  rings  which  he 
used  at  his  wedding,  in  August  1839,  were  of  California 
gold,  and  tliat  his  eldest  daughter  has  still  in  her  pos- 
session a  golden  ring  fashioned  in  1840  at  Monterey 
from  metal  procured  at  San  Fernando. 

In  his  manuscript  dictation,  CaVifomia  1841-8,  John 
Bidwell  remarks:  "Among  our  party  of  1841,  the 
general  opinion  was  that  there  was  gold  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  Some  trapper  in  the  Black  Hills  had 
picked  up  a  stone,  and  carried  it  with  him  for  a  whet- 
stone, and  in  the  pocket  in  which  he  carried  the  stone 
he  found  a  piece  of  gold.  My  comrade,  James  John, 
before  mentioned,  actually  proposed  to  me,  while  we 
were  crossing  the  plains,  to  remain  behind  tlie  com- 
pany in  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  hunt  for  gold  and 
silver.  It  was  almost  a  daily  occurrence  to  see  men 
picking  up  shining  particles,  and  believing  them  to  be 
something  precious." 

When  James  D.  Dana,  of  the  United  States'  ex- 
ploring expedition  entered  California  from  Oregon,  in 
1841, — it  is  remarkable  how  many  authors  copy  each 
other's  errors,  and  write  this  date  1842, — he  noticed 
that  "the  talcose  and  allied  rocks  of  tlie  Umpqua  and 
Shasty  districts  resemble  in  many  parts  the  gold- 
bearing  rocks  of  other  regions,  but  the  gold,  if  any 
there  be,  remains  to  bo  discovered."     And  on  liis  re- 


THE  SAN  FERNANDO  MINES. 


47 


turn,  when  he  published  his  book  on  geology,  he  made 
mention  of  gold-bearing  rocks  and  quartz  vehis  both 
in  Oregon  and  California.  Hence  the  report  became 
current,  after  the  discovery  of  gold,  that  Dana  had 
told  of  its  existence  in  California  seven  years  before, 
which  was  not  the  case,  as  he  himself  distinctly  states. 
"  It  is  very  doubtful,"  justly  observes  Tuthill,  in  his 
Uktoni  of  California,  "whether  it  occurred  to  Profes- 
sor Dana  that  there  was  gold  to  be  found  here  in 
quantities  that  would  ever  get  into  more  practical  use 
than  to  lie  as  rare  specimens  behind  plate  doors  in 
tlie  mineralogical  cabinets  of  the  colleges."  Murchi- 
son  made  similar  remarks  on  the  auriferous  rocks  of 
Australia,  and  so  have  twenty  other  persons  spoken 
of  twenty  other  places,  which,  however,  is  far  from 
the  actual  discovery  of  gold.  It  is,  moreover,  a  little 
singular  that  so  shrewd  a  man,  and  so  experienced  a 
scientist  as  Dana,  should  not  have  seen  the  gold 
which  with  the  sand  and  gravel  he  displaced  during 
his  journey  along  Feather  river. 

James  Anthony  jTroude  claims  that  by  reason  of 
his  geological  knowledge  Sir  Roderick  Murchison  was 
enabled  to  foretell  the  discovery  of  Australian  gold. 
It  is  true  that  Murchison  said  that  tliis  metal  might 
be  found  in  Australia;  a  safe  affirmation  for  one  hiving 
no  claim  to  geological  divination,  and  considering  the 
sizj  and  character  of  the  country. 

At  last  we  have  a  vcritabl(>  gold  discovery,  and 
gold  mines  worked  in  Alta  California,  with  greater  or 
less  success,  for  a  period  of  six  years  prior  to  the  dis- 
covery of  Marshall.  They  were  situated  in  the  San 
Fernando  vail  jy,  on  the  rancho  of  Ignacio  del  Valle, 
fourteen  leagues  from  Los  Angeles,  and  eight  from  the 
San  Fernando  mission,  toward  the  Sierra  Nevada. 
Tlie  discovery,  which  occurred  in  March  1842,  was  in 
this  wise  :  Two  vaqueros  were  searching  for  stray  cat- 
tle in  the  valley,  and  when  tired,  threw  themselves 
uj  on  the  ground  to  rest.  One  of  them  casually  tak- 
ing some  earth  in  his  hand,  noticed  shining  particles, 


-.*s 


In' 

w 

hi 
I 


48 


FUKTEER  RUMORS  OF  GOLD. 


which  he  fancied  were  copper.  He  showed  them  to 
his  companion,  who  said  they  looked  hke  gold,  and 
then  scraped  up  some  earth,  and  rubbing  it  between 
his  hands,  found  more  of  the  metal.  Both  decided  to 
take  the  dust  to  Los  Angeles,  and  ask  the  opinion  of 
some  of  their  friends  who  had  worked  in  the  mines  of 
New  Mexico.  It  was  not  until  some  days  later  that 
they  arrived  there,  and  showed  it  to  certain  Sonorans 
who  were  then  at  the  settlement.  They  declared  that 
it  was  placer  gold,  and  asked  Francisco  Lopez — for 
that  was  the  name  of  the  man  who  fi^und  it — to  take 
them  at  once  to  the  locality.  Soon  afterward  they 
set  farth,  with  a  number  of  their  friends,  for  the  San 
Fernando  valley,  guided  by  the  two  vaqueros. 

Another  version  of  the  discovery  is,  that  in  the 
early  part  of  1840  Don  Andres  Castillero,  a  Mexican 
mineralogist,  picking  up  a  pebble,  called  tepustete  by 
Mexican  placer  miners,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Las 
Virgenes  rancho,  remarked  that  wherever  tliese  stones 
were  found  gold  must  exist.  Francisco  Lopez,  the 
discoverer,  overheard  the  observation  and  remembere  I 
it,  when,  some  months  later,  while  plucking  wild 
onions,  a  similar  pebble  was  found  in  tlie  soil  around 
the  roots.  He  set  to  work  examining  the  earth,  and 
found  a  grain  of  gold.  Juan  Manuel  Vaca,  owner  of 
the  rancho  on  which  was  built  the  town  of  Vacaville, 
was  the  first  to  carry  the  news  to  Governor  Alvarado  at 
Monterey,  presenting  him  with  an  ounce  of  gold  con- 
tained in  quills,  from  which  was  made  a  pair  of  ear- 
rings for  his  wife  and  a  ring  for  his  eldest  daughter. 

In  1842,  these  mines  were  worked  for  a  distance  of 
ten  leagues,  and  in  1844  for  thirty  leagues.  The  gold 
was  of  the  best  quality,  and  many  representations 
wore  made  to  the  supreme  government  urging  the 
necessity  of  thorough  surveys,  and  of  develophig  the 
mineral  resources  of  California.  In  the  Coleccion  de 
documentos  relativos  al  departamento  de  Califomias, 
Manuel  M.  Caj-.tafiares  writes,  "  this  branch  ought  to 
be  considered  less  worthy  of  attracting  attention  than 


MISLEADING  STATEMENTS. 


49 


agriculture.  It  is  nevertheless,  of  great  importance, 
and  I  have  the  satisfaction  of  assuring  you  tliat  it 
forms  ii  California  one  of  the  most  valuable  resources 
which  that  department  contains." 

The  bod  whence  the  gold  was  obtained  was  of 
gravel,  and  the  cuts  into  tlie  banks,  even  as  late  as 
1845,  did  not  exceed  thirty  feet.  Some  of  the  more 
experienced  miners,  were  able  by  merely  looking  at 
tlie  ground,  to  tell  whether  or  not  it  contained  gold, 
and  would  scrape  the  surface  with  a  scoop  or  spoon 
made  of  bullock's  horn.  The  earth  was  then  thrown 
into  a  basket,  which  was  emptied  on  a  platform  made 
of  stakes  about  three  feet  high,  driven  close  together 
into  the  ground,  with  poles  placed  lengthwise  and 
filled  in  with  grass,  the  whole  being  covered  with  a 
cotton  sheet.  Then  water  from  a  distance  of  six 
feet  was  thrown  over  the  nmd,  and  in  an  hour  or 
two  the  diit  would  be  washed  away  while  the  gold 
remained. 

As  soon  as  this  gold  discovery  was  more  generally 
known,  many  people  tic?ked  to  the  mines,  and  in  May 
1844,  Ignacio  del  Valle  wag  appointed  juez  de  policia, 
and  Zorrilla,  his  substitute,  to  keep  order,  as  well  as 
to  levy  dues  upon  the  sale  of  liquors,  to  portion  out 
the  land,  and  to  impose  taxes  if  necessary.  It  was 
his  business  likewise  to  collect  fees  for  wood,  pasture, 
and  mineral  privileges.  About  this  time  there  were 
one  hundred  persons  at  work  in  the  mines;  but  the 
numbers  decreased  as  the  rumiing  water  failed,  which 
they  continued  to  do  until  the  miners  were  unable 
to  obtain  enough  to  drink.  They  were  a  steady 
and  hardworking  people,  but  with  all  their  labor  were 
unable  to  earn  more  than  from  one  to  two  dollars  a 
day.  So  scanty  indeed  were  their  earnings  that  no 
taxes  or  dues  were  levied  for  that  year, 

Abel  Stearns  hi  November  1842  sent  to  the  Phila- 
delphia mint  for  assay,  as  specimens  of  this  placer 
gold,  eighteen  and  three  quarter  ounces  mint  weight, 
and   twenty  ounces   by  California   weight,  which  in 


CajlInt.  I'uc. 


80 


FURTHER  RUMORS  OF  GOLD, 


iii 

H  If 'If 

1  rfl' 


Hi  Mn 


August  following  was  returned  with  the  accompany- 
ing certificate.  "Before  melting  18  34-100  oz. ;  after 
melting  18  1-100  oz.;  fineness,  926-1,000;  value 
$344.75;  deduct  expenses,  sending  to  Philadelphia, 
and  agency  there,  $4.02;  net  $340.73." 

By  December  1843,  two  thousand  ounces  of  gold 
had  been  taken  from  the  San  Fernando  mines,  the 
greater  portion  of  which  was  shipped  to  the  United 
States;  and  from  that  time  little  is  heard  of  the  place 
till  in  1845  Bidwell  visited  it,  and  found  o.ily  thirty 
men  at  work  whose  gains  did  not  exceed  twenty-five 
cents  a  day. 

E.  E,  Pickett  states  that  in  1842  he  met  men  in 
the  Rockv  Mountahis  who  had  been  in  California  and 
who  said  that  gold  was  there.  "  They  were  not  the 
first  to  give  such  information  since  I  had  read  the  same 
when  a  boy."  It  is  such  statements  as  this  that  have 
so  often  deceived  the  public.  Mr  Pickett  never  read 
of  gold  in  Alta  California  when  a  boy.  "  The  first 
hide  drogers  and  other  traders  who  visited  this  coast, 
even  as  long  ago  as  the  last  century,  obtained  small 
quantities  of  gold-dust  washed  from  the  earth  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  state."  This  assertion  is  likewise 
misleading  if  not  absolutely  untrue.  I  have  elsewhere 
explained  how  small  quantities  of  gold  found  their 
way  to  the  coast. 

In  the  Emigrant's  Guide  to  Oregon  and  California,  by 
L.  W.  Hastings,  printed  at  Cincinnati  in  1845,  ap- 
pears the  following : — "The  information  which  I  was 
able  to  acquire  does  not  afibrd  me  sufficient  data 
upon  which  to  predicate  any  very  accurate  conclusions 
in  reference  to  the  mineral  resources  of  California; 
but  sufficient  investigations  have  been  made  to  deter- 
mine that  many  portions  of  the  mountainous  regions 
abound  with  several  kinds  of  minerals,  such  as  gold, 
silver,  iron,  lead,  and  coal,  but  to  what  extent,  the 
extreme  newness  and  unexplored  state  of  the  country, 
utterly  preclude  all  accurate  determination.  It  is, 
however,  reported  in  the  city  of  Mexico,  that  some 


SANDELS,   AKD  THE  KING'S  ORPHAN. 


SI 


Mexicans  have  recently  discovered  a  section  of  coun- 
try.  in  the  extreme  interior  of  California,  which  af- 
fords ample  evidences  of  the  existence  of  both  gold 
and  silver  ore,  in  greater  or  less  quantities,  for  thirty 
leagues  in  extent.  Since  this  report  is  so  very  extra- 
ordinary, and  since  it  originated  as  above  stated,  the 
safest  course  would  be  to  believe  but  about  half  of  it, 
and  then,  perhaps,  we  should  believe  too  much. 
Doctor  Sandcls,  a  very  able  mineralogist,  who  had  for 
some  time  been  employed  in  his  profession  by  the 
government  of  Mexico,  spent  four  or  five  months  in 
mineralogical  investigation  in  Upper  California.  It  was 
from  this  gentleman  that  the  above  information  was  de- 
rived, hence  it  is  entitled  to  imi)licit  reliance."  Sutter 
took  a  great  interest  in  this  scientist,  and  in  his  labors. 
Sandels  was  a  Swede  educated  in  London,  as  Bidwell 
says,  though  Thorpe  affirms  that  he  obtained  his  edu- 
cation in  a  government  institution  in  his  own  country, 
and  that  he  called  himself  one  of  the  king's  orphans; 
that  is,  in  return  for  an  education  at  the  expense  of 
tlie  government  he  was  to  make  investigations  in 
foreign  parts  for  the  benefit  of  the  institution,  such 
being  one  of  its  regulations.  Others  say  that  he  had 
lived  in  Mexico  and  was  sent  by  the  duke  of  Bedford 
to  explore  California. 

Bidwell  thinks  that  he  had  been  in  Brazil,  and  was 
for  some  time  associated  with  M.  Bonpland.  He  is 
said  to  have  been  robbed  in  Mexico,  of  the  proceeds 
of  property  sold  in  Brazil  to  the  amount  of  $189,000, 
though  how  the  king's  orphan  obtained  such  a  sum 
no  one  attempts  to  explain.  Sandcls  spent  several 
days  at  New  Helvetia  enjoying  the  hospitality  of  its 
proprietor,  who  took  great  delight  in  his  society. 
Seeing  him  so  much  interested  in  minerals,  and  so 
unwearied  in  his  researches  thereabout,  Sutter  said  to 
him  one  day,  "  Doctor,  can  you  not  find  me  a  gold 
mine  ? "  Placing  his  hand  upon  the  shoulder  of  his 
host,  the  doctor  replied,  "  Captain  Sutter,  your  best 
mine  is  in  the  soil.     Leave  to  governments  to  provide 


52 


FURTHER  RUMORS  OP  GOLD. 


the  currency."  This  was  in  1843.  Bidwell  further 
states  that  Sandels  explored  as  far  north  as  Chico 
creek.  Mr  Dickey  was  with  him.  They  did  not 
examine  any  mountains  except  the  Buttes.  On  his 
return  to  the  fort  Sandels  reported  "  indications  of 
gold,  but  that  unless  the  mountains  on  the  sides  were 
richer  than  those  in  the  valleys,  the  mines  would  not 
pay  to  work." 

A  man  came  from  the  southern  part  of  California 
to  Sutter  Fort  in  the  autumn  of  this  same  year,  1843, 
calling  himself  Juan  Baptiste  Ruelle.  In  an  old  quill, 
which  looked  as  if  it  had  been  brought  from  New 
Mexico,  were  a  few  particles  of  gold,  which  he  said  he 
had  found  on  the  American  river.  This  excited  the 
suspicions  of  Bidwell,  who  was  present,  and  these 
suspicions  were  increased  when  the  man  asked  for  two 
pack-horses  laden  with  provisions,  and  an  Indian  boy 
to  attend  him.  He  wished  to  go  in  search  of  gold, 
he  said,  and  he  would  be  absent  several  days.  There 
was  a  company  of  Canadian  trappers  in  the  vichiity 
about  to  start  for  Oregon.  It  was  not  known  that 
Ruelle  belonged  to  them,  but  it  was  feared  that  with 
so  valuable  an  outfit  he  might  forget  to  return. 
Hence  his  request  was  denied. 

E,  Stevens,  a  practical  gold-miner  from  Georgia, 
and  the  leader  of  Townsend's  party  in  1844,  came  to 
California  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  discoverin;;' 
gold.  While  crossing  the  Rocky  Mountains,  or 
shortly  afterward,  he  thought  that  he  recognized  in- 
dications, and  one  night,  when  encamped  at  some 
point  in  Utah,  washed  out  a  small  quantity  of  dirt 
and  found  the  color.  Nevertheless,  this  mining  ex- 
pert and  professed  gold  seeker  crossed  the  Sierra,  re- 
turned to  its  summit  in  the  spring  for  the  wagons  of 
his  party,  and  thence  to  camp,  thus,  without  being 
aware  of  it,  travelling  several  times  over  the  very 
ground  of  which  he  was  in  seaich.  In  the  Souther)! 
Quarterly,  in  1845,  some  one  made  hap-hazard  the  fol- 


LARKIN'S  STATEMENT. 


88 


lowing  statement,  referring  to  California:  "In  tlie 
lieart'of  the  country  rich  veins  of  gold  ore  exist." 

Both  silver  and  gold  were  reported  noi-th  of  San 

Francisco  bay  in  1845 :     ''Mines  of  gold,  silver,  cop- 

;per,  lead,  sulphur,  and  quicksilver,"  writes  an  cmi- 

1  grant  in  1846,    "are  being  found  in  all  directions." 

f  And  then  he  mentions  as  in  operation  two  quicksilver 

niines,  yielding  thirty  per  cent  of  pure  ore,  one  on  the 

Inorth  and  the  other  on  the   south  side  of  San  Fran- 

jisco  bay.     "  No  less  than  seventy  denouncements  of 

nines  have  been  made  to  the  alcalde  of  San  Josd 

'itliin  the  last  five  months. .  .The  evidences  now  arc 

that  there  is  a  vast  field  for  mining  operations  about 

to  open  here." 

Koporting  to  Commahder  Montgomery    May    2, 
[l84n,  in  answer  to  a  request  for  information  respect- 
ing mines  in  California,  Thomas  O.  Larkin,  United 
[States  consul  at  Monterey,  makes  the  following  state- 
bnent:     "At   San    Fernando,   near   San    Pedr6,    by 
I  was]  ling  the  sand  in  a  plate,  any  person  can  obtain 
[from  one  to  five  dollars  per  day  of  gold  that  brings 
[seventeen  dollars  per  ounce  in  Boston.     The  gold  has 
[been  gathered  for  two  or  three  years,  though  but  few 
have  the  patience  to  look  for  it.     There  is  no  doubt 
{in  my  mind  but  that  gold,  silver,  copper,  quicksilver, 
lead,  sulphur,  and  coal  mines  are  to  be  found  all  over 
Califi^rnia.     But  I  am  very  certain  that  they  will 
[under   their    present  owners  continue  as  they  are. 
iTlie  Indians  have  ahvavs  said  there  were  mines,  btt 
w'ould  not  show  their  location,  and  the  Californiant: 
[do  not  choose  to  look  for  them."     Elsewhere  in  his 
report  he  mentions  the  copper  mines  of  Juan  Bandini, 
ninety  miles  south  of  San  Diego  ;  coal  on  the  rancho 
(>f  Rafael  Gonzalez,  seventy  miles  south  of  Monterey, 
and  at  San  Pablo;  sulphur  beds  twenty-five  miles 
[north  of  Monterey,  and  also  near  Sonoma;  silver 
[mines  about  sixty  miles  north  of  Monterey;  asphal- 
[tum  in  various  places;  quicksilver  near  San  Josd  and 
[Sonoma;  silver  and  lead  twenty  miles  from  Monteiey; 


f  'I 


ill 


S4 


FURTHER  RUMORS  OF  GOLD. 


lead  on  the  rancho  of  Captain  Richardson ;  black  lead 
at  various  points,  and  slate  on  the  Sacramento  river. 

On  the  4th  of  May,  1846,  Larkin  writes  from  Mon- 
terey to  the  secretary  of  state  at  Washington:  "By 
the  laws  and  customs  of  Mexico  respecting  mining, 
every  person  or  company,  foreign  or  native,  can  pro- 
sent  themselves  to  the  nearest  authorities  and  denounce 
any  unworked  mine.  The  authorities  will  then,  after 
the  proper  formalities,  put  the  denouncer  in  possession 
of  a  certain  part  of  it,  or  all ;  which  is,  I  believe  ac- 
cording to  its  extent.  The  possessor  must  hereafter 
occupy  and  work  his  mine,  or  some  other  person  may 
denounce  against  him.  In  all  cases  the  government 
claims  a  certahi  portion  of  the  product.  Up  to  the 
present  time  there  are  few  or  no  persons  in  California 
witli  sufficient  energy  and  capital  to  carry  on  minint;, 
although  a  Mexican  officer  of  the  army,  a  padre,  and 
a  native  of  New  York  are,  on  a  very  small  scale,  ex- 
tracting quicksilver  from  the  San  Jose  mine." 

Besides  the  statements  having  some  pretentions  to 
truth  were  many  absurd  stories ;  such  as  that  gold 
was  discovered  by  the  Mormons  in  fulfilment  of  a 
prophecy  of  Joseph  Smith ;  and  again,  that  a  Pawnee 
chief,  to  whom  Sutter  had  given  a  rifle,  and  who  dit  d 
some  three  months  later,  appeared  to  Sutter  in  the 
spirit  and  told  him  where  to  find  gold,  begging  hiui 
meanwhile  to  buy  with  it  a  rifle  for  every  member  of 
his  tribe.  In  1864  John  Bidwell  was  told  by  Brig- 
ham  Young  that  some  of  his  men  claimed  to  have 
found  gold  prior  to  the  discovery  of  Marshall,  but 
that  it  was  doubtless  a  mistake. 

After  a  brief  visit  to  California  L.  W.  Sloat,  in 
December,  1846,  read  a  paper  before  the  Lyceum  of  | 
Natural  History  in  New  York,  in  which  he  said:  "I 
am  confident  that  when  it  (California)  becomes  settled, 
as  it  soon  will  be  by  Americans,  the  mineral  develop- 
ments will  greatly  exceed  in  richness  and  variety  the 
most  sanguine  expectations  " — which  after  all  was  no  j 
very  remarkable  prophecy. 


BANDINI,   PICKETT,   EVANS. 


n ;  black  lead 
iimento  rivtr. 
,es  from  Mou- 
ngton:  "By 
?ting  mining, 
tive,  can  pic- 
and  denounce 
ill  then,  afttr 
rin  possession 
I  believe  ac- 
lust  hereafttr 
jr  person  may 
e  government 
b.  Up  to  the 
i  in  California 
ry  on  minin^^ 
a  padre,  and 
lall  scale,  ex- 
nine." 

pretentions  to 

as  that  gold 

ilfilment  of  a 

ihat  a  Pawnoo 

and  who  diid 

Sutter  in  tlic 

bejxijing  hiin 

ry  member  »it 

;old  by  Brig- 

imed  to  ha\  o 

Marshall,  ))ut 

W.  Sloat,  ill 
le  Lyceum  of 

he  said:    "I 
comes  settled,  ^ 
leral  develop- 
id  variety  the  ^ 
er  all  was  nof 


1 


Juan  Bandini  imagined,  in  1846,  that  the  hills 
around  San  Diego  were  impregnated  with  metal ;  in- 
deed a  metal  of  some  unknown  description  had  already 
been  discovered.  Writing  in  his  Historia  de  la  Alia 
Culiforuia  he  says:  "Empero,  de  lo  que  yo  creo  que 
son  abundantes  estas  pequenas  sierras  es  de  metales, 
pues  todas  las  piedras  de  la  superficie  aai  lo  indican,  y 
aini  se  lia  sacado  para  fundicion  un  metal  cuya  calidad 
no  se  lia  conocido,  atribuyendo  esto  d  la  escasez  de 
honibres  de  conocimicntos  mineralogicos." 

"During  1847,"  Picket  says,  "  and  particularly  in 
the  fall  of  tliat  year,  there  was  quite  an  excitement  in 
San  Francisco  and  San  Jose  on  the  subject  of  mineral 
discoveries.  But  this  was  mostly  in  reference  to 
quicksilver  and  silver  mines,  which  were  reported  to 
bo  rich  and  numerous  in  the  hills  and  mountains 
bounding  botli  sides  of  the  valley  of  San  Jose.  To- 
ward winter  this  excitement  subsided,  all  the  silver 
mines  having  proved  to  be  humbugs." 

One  George  M.  Evans,  of  Oregon,  aspires  to  the 
distinction  of  having  been  among  tlie  first  to  find  gold 
in  California;  or  at  least  lie  attempts  to  throw  Mar- 
sliall  into  the  background.  If  wliat  he  claims  for 
himself  has  no  better  basis  of  truth  than  what  he 
claims  for  others,  he  may  take  the  palm  for  unblush- 
ing impudence  and  mendacity.  Meanwhile  let  him 
be  satisfied  with  the  notoriety  to  which  he  has  already 
attained ;  for  its  odor  will  not  be  improved  by  further 
agitation.  So  far  as  I  am  able  to  ascertain,  it  was  he 
who  started  the  story  of  Cabello,  before  mentioned, 
and  most  bungling  work  he  made  of  it.  Will  Mr 
Evans  tidl  us  to  what  lingo  belong  the  words  jtliurros, 
and- Jxrconladd  en  Historia  cl  California  Alfa,  antl  lunv 
ho  obtained  information  that  the  mission  of  San  Jose 
was  built  on  the  bay  of  San  Francisco  in  lG72,a  hun- 
dred years  before  ever  a  Franciscan  was  on  the  giound  ? 

I  do  notsay  thatall  which  heaffirmsis  false,  for  I  have 
no  mea.is  of  knowing.  I  only  say  that  the  statements 
which  I  know  to  be  Calse  cause  me  to  distrust  all  his 


^if  i 


86 


FURTHER  RUMORS  OP  GOLD. 


assertions.     A  Mexican  named  Salvador,  he  says,  was 
sliot  at  Yerba  Buena  in  the  autumn  of  1845.     On  Lis 

})orson  was  gold-dust  to  the  value  of  a  thousand  dol- 
ars  or  more.  He  at  first  refused  to  tell  where  he 
obtained  it ;  but  in  his  dying  hour  relented,  and  ix)int- 
ing  "in  the  direction  of  the  San  Jose  mountains," 
cried,  "lejosl  lejosl"  Where  the  San  Jose  mountains 
are  situated,  or  what  mines  were  ever  found  beyond 
them,  !Mr  Evans  does  not  relate.  While  with  a  party 
of  Mormons,  who,  in  the  autumn  of  1846,  ascended 
the  San  Joaquin  river,  on  "  the  sand  point  of  the  small 
island  opposite  to  what  is  called  the  entrance  to  Stock- 
ton, then  called  Lindsey's  lake,"  he  picked  up  some 
yellow  specks  from  the  bank,  and  remembcrhig  '."liat 
the  Mexican,  Salvador,  had  said,  wrapped  them  in 
paper,  took  them  to  Yerba  Buena,  and  testing  them 
with  acids  found  them  to  be  gold. 

If  this  be  true,  why  did  not  Mr  Evans  gather  gold, 
or  publish  his  discovery  ?  Because,  as  he  claims,  of 
"  not  having  any  idea  of  the  gold  being  in  such  quan- 
tity as  was  afterward  proved."  But  if  it  was  not 
there  in  quantity  sul'icient  even  to  be  worthy  of  men 
tion,  where  did  Salvador  obtain  his  bag  of  it?  A'^a'  , 
in  Auijfust,  1847,  in  company  with  Reading  and  Per- 
kins, Evans  writes,  "  we  explored  the  mountains  near 
San  Diego,  and  near  the  river  Gila,  where  we  found 
gold  more  abundant  than  has  since  been  found  on  the 
north  fork  of  the  American."  If  this  was  true  it  is 
singular  that  some  one  did  not  go  there  and  gather 
it. 

Once  more,  on  being  informed  by  Henderson  Cox 
that  he  and  others  were  about  to  explore  a  route 
across  the  mountains  for  the  approaching  Mormon 
exodus,  he  told  him  of  Salvador,  and  drew  for  him  a 
chart  of  the  country.  Cox  went  his  way,  came  upon 
Mormon  island  and  the  gold  there,  and  invited  Evans 
to  join  Inm.  The  latter  reached  that  point  on  the 
19th  of  January,  1848,  and  by  the  8th  of  February 
had   nineteen  thousand  dollars.      On  the  next  day 


% 


3 


EXTRAVAGANT  INVENTIONS. 


m 


while  lie  ami  others  "  were  in  the  lower  end  of  the 
nr.ll-riu'o,  Marshall  the  overseer  and  his  little  girl 
{•line  in,  and  the  child  picked  u^)  a  pretty  stc^nc,  as 
she  called  it,  and  showed  it  to  her  father  who  pro- 
n  )ancod  it  •4«)ld,  He  was  so  excited  about  it  that  he 
sai Idled  his  horse  and  that  day  rode  to  Sutter's  fort 
to  tell  Captain  Sutter,  hut  he  clid  not  believe  it  worth 
n  )tico,  and  for  a  while  the  idea  died  away.  The 
Mormons  wishintjj  to  keep  their  discoveries  a  secret 
from  people  not  Mormons  worked  out  the  gold  and 
said  nothmjj;  more . . .  Marshall  died  either  four  days 
before  he  arrived  home  in  the  eastern  states  with  a 
barrel  of  gold,  or  four  days  from  the  coast."  Amongst 
the  falsehoods  so  thickly  scattered  here,  it  is  difficult 
to  detect  a  i)article  of  truth.  Marshall  never  went 
ea^t  never  had  a  barrel  of  gold;  was  not  dead;  the 
Mormoir,  never  worked  out  the  gold ;  never  wished 
to  keep  their  discovery  secret  from  all  who  were  not 
Mormons,  nor  did  they  first  discover  gold;  Evans 
was  not  present  when  the  first  gold  was  found  at  the 
saw-mill ;  the  idea  with  Sutter  never  died  away ;  Cox 
and  Beardsley  were  not  the  first  to  find  Mormon 
Island ;  Sutter  did  believe  ^Marshall's  statement  backed 
by  tne  evidence  worth  his  notice ;  IMarshall's  child  did 
not  pick  up  the  gold ;  Marshall  had  no  child  present ; 
and  so  on  back  to  the  beginnins.^.  I  must  apologize 
for  occupying  so  much  space  i?\  criticising  a  work  so 
unworthy  of  notice  as  that  of  George  M.  Evans; 
but  if  this  for  myself  be  necessary,  I  should  apolo- 
gize in  a  ten-fold  degree  for  the  many  journalists, 
here  and  in  the  east,  who  published  his  Munchau- 
senisms  as  facts,  and  thus  imposed  on  a  credulous 
public.  One  of  his  statements  Evans  concludes 
with  the  oflensivo  intimation  that  he  would  not  ob- 
ject to  a  gift  from  the  government  in  return  for  the 
inestimable  benefit  conferred  by  him  on  mankind. 
Several  attempts  have  been  made  to  rob  Marshall  of 
the  honor  of  tlie  discovery ;  but  so  far  from  the  exist- 
ence of  extensive  gold  deposits  being  known  prior  to 


58 


FURTHER  RUMORS  OP  GOLD. 


the  building  of  the  saw-mill,  it  was  with  difficulty 
men  could  be  made  to  believe  the  fact  even  after  it 
was  ascertained  beyond  a  doubt. 

I  will  inflict  upon  the  reader  but  one  more  of  these 
pure  inventions  whose  sole  merit  is  their  extravagance. 
A  stranger  giving  his  name  as  Bennett  entered 
Brown's  hotel,  San  Francisco,  in  the  summer  of  1847. 
After  inviting  the  landlord  to  drink,  he  asked  him 
whether  he  knew  of  any  one  having  a  thousand  dol- 
lars to  invest  in  something  which  would  yield  enor- 
mous returns,  and  being  thereupon  introduced  to  one 
George  McDougall,  said  that  he  wanted  a  thousand 
dt)]lars  to  invest  in  blankets  for  traffic  with  the  In- 
dians, offering  as  security  two  imall  bags  contaii  ing 
what  he  declared  to  be  gold.  The  men  of  San  Fran- 
cisco looked  at  the  backwoodsman  as  if  they  thought 
him  demented.  Meanwhile  McDougall's  wrath  was 
rising,  and  finally  he  broke  out.  "  Do  you  think 
I  am  a  fool ! "  Bennett  walked  off,  muttering 
"  Yes,  I  think  you  are  ;  and  j'ou  will  find  it  out  one 
of  these  days."  In  the  autumn  of  the  following 
year  he  aijain  visited  San  Francisco  and  showed 
Brown  three  hundred  pounds  of  gold-dust,  stathig 
tliat  after  his  interview  with  McDouijall  he  v/ent  to 
Monterey  to  obtain  either  the  money  or  the  l)lankct.s 
from  Thomas  O.  Larkiii,  "  but  as  soon  as  he  laid  eyes 
on  him  he  concluded  not  to  ask." 

In  1847  three  noted  characters  of  the  day,  Moun- 
t;>iu  Jim,  Dutch  Fred,  and  Three-fingered  Ja(k 
sported  silver  buttons  in  Monterey,  the  metal  wliere- 
for,  they  said,  had  been  taken  from  the  old  Indian 
claim  on  the  south  branch,  or  Carmelo  creek.  Some 
soldiers  traded  government  rations  for  the  buttons, 
and  the  army  paymaster  finally  had  them  assayed  at 
Wasliinirton  where  they  stood  the  test.  It  was  com- 
mon  cn(mgh  in  1847  and  1848  to  see  silver  in  the 
hands  of  tlio  nat'  /es  at  the  Carmelo ;  but  little  was 
thought  o^  '^  ftC  the  time,  for  during  the  war  many 
mission   flagons,  censors,    chalices,    and   candlesticks 


rh  difficulty 
v^en  after  it 

ore  of  these 

travagance. 

3tt    entered 

iier  of  1847. 

asked  him 

ousand  dol- 

yield  enor- 

uced  to  one 

a  thousand 

dth  the  In- 

i  contaii  ing 

f  San  Fran- 

ley  thouglit 

wrath  was 

>  you  think 

muttering 

it  out  one 

e    followhig 

nd    showed 

ust,  stathig 

lie  v/ent  t(» 

he  l)lankcts 

10  laid  eyt  s 


'A 


HrOHER  AUTHORITY.  69 

liad  l»ccn  melted  down,  the  metal  finding  its  way  into 
trade. 

In  liis  message  of  1848,  President  Polk  stated  that 
at  the  tune  of  the  acquisition  of  California,  the  exis- 
toiice  was  known  of  precious  metals  to  a  considerable 
extent — referring  of  course  to  the  developments  in 
the  soutliern  part  of  the  state. 

"  Although  rumors  of  the  existence  of  gold  in  Cal- 
ifornia had  occasionally  been  heard,"  said  Dwinelle  in 
an  address  before  the  society  of  Pioneers  in  1866, 
"still  they  had  never  been  verified  or  traced  to  any  re- 
liable source;  and  they  were  regarded  as  we  now 
regard  the  fal)ulous  stories  of  the  golden  sands  of  Gold 
Lake,  or  tliose  of  Silver  Planches  which  are  said  to  ex- 
ist in  the  inaccessible  deocrts  of  Arizona," 

Tinkham,  in  hia History  of  Sfockton,  says  that  Weber 
was  not  surprised  to  hear  of  Marshall' >  discovery,  "as 
he  knew  tliat  gold  existed  in  the  mountains  of  San 
Luis  Obispo  and  Santa  Biirbara,  bo'  ause  he  had  re- 
reived  dust  in  small  (|uantities  frjni  the  Mexicans  at 
San  .L)sd" — a  reasonable  deduction  truljM 

The  ri  ader  has  probably  observed  how  many  there 
were  wlio  already  knew  of  the  existence  of  gold  in 
California  as  soon  as  Marshall  discovered  it.  Sutter 
never  pretended  to  this,  though  he  thought  it  strange 
that  the  natives  had  not  brought  him  gold,  for  he  was 
alwayj^  urgijig  them  to  collect  for  him  any  curiosities 
that  could  be  gathered  in  the  mountains;  in  answer 
to  which  appeal  were  brouglit  to  liim  plants,  animals, 
birds,  fruits,  pipeclay,  red  ochre,  and  legends  of  vari- 
ous kinds,  but  never  gold. 

"  I  was  in  possession  of  a  fact,"  writes  the  Rev.  W. 
Colton.alcade  of  Monterey,  hi  May  1841),  "which  leftno 
doubt  of  the  existence  of  gold  in  the  Sta'iislaus,  more 
than  a  year  prior  to  its  discovery  on  the  Anieri(  an 
Fork."  Reverend  and  dear  sir,  no  one  doubts  that 
gold  was  there  l)efore  Marshall  found  it;  it  is  tl  c 
knowl'dge  of  itsexist(>nc(>  that  was  not  as  yet  revealed. 
**A  wild  Indian,"  Mr  Colton  continues,  "had  strag- 


# 


FURTHER  RUMORS  OF  GOLD. 


i 


glcd  Into  Monterey  with  a  specimen  which  ho  had 
lianiniercd  into  a  clasp  for  his  bow.  It  fell  into  the 
hands  of  my  secretary,  W.  R.  Garner,  whocomnmni- 
cated  the  secret  to  me.  The  Indian  described  the 
locality  in  which  it  was  found  with  so  much  accuracy 
that  Mr  Garner,  on  his  recent  excursion  to  the  mines, 
readily  identified  the  spot.  It  is  now  known  as  Car- 
son's Diijifino-s. .  .It  was  the  full  intention  of  Mr  Gar- 
ner  to  trail  this  Indian  at  the  first  opportunity,  and 
he  was  prevented  from  so  doing  only  by  the  impera- 
tive duties  of  the  office." 

Both  Parsons  and  Barstow  affirm  that  previous  to 
his  discovery,  Marshall  had  often  expressed  his  belief 
in  the  existence  of  gold  in  the  mountains;  and  Mrs 
Weinier  goes  so  far  as  to  assert  that  the  discovery 
was  not  accidental.  It  is  indeed  somewhat  remarka- 
ble that  the  secret  remained  so  long  unrevealed.  The 
ground  had  been  traversed  these  many  years  by  na- 
tives, by  servants  of  the  fur-companies  and  free  trap- 
pers, by  emigrants,  by  explorers,  and  by  professional 
scientists  who  observed  nothing,  notwithstanding  that 
the  tell-tale  blush  was  there  upon  the  foothills  plainly 
visible  to  those  who  could  read  it.  And  yet  it  is  no 
matter  for  surprise.  Do  not  even  the  most  gifted 
in  this  latter-day  dispensation,  with  all  the  brilliant 
11  'lit  revealed  bv  science,  walk  as  men  blind  or  dream- 
iiig,  while  on  every  side,  wrapped  in  the  invisible,  or 
latent  in  the  earth  and  air  and  sky,  arc  secrets  as 
manifold,  and  as  pregnant  with  meaning  as  any  hith- 
erto divulged,  awaiting  but  the  eternal  maich  of 
mind  ? 

If  Dana  and  Sandels,  or  any  of  those  whohavebeen 
heedlessly  'redited  with  the  discovery,  had  really 
found  gold  as  did  Marshall,  and  had  published  it  to 
the  world  as  did  the  teamster,  how  different  micrht 
have  been  the  destiny  of  the  Pacific  coast  nations. 
To  England,  or  to  France,  either  of  which  countries 
would  have  paid  thrice  over  the  paltry  fifteen 
millions  and  the  indemnity  duo  the  United  States, 


PECULIAK  DESTINY. 


61 


[i  he  had 
[  into  tlic 
coniDiuiii- 
ribcd  the 
I  accuracy 
the  mines, 
n  as  Car- 
f  Mr  Gar- 
unitv,  and 
16  impera- 

)revious  to 
1  his  belief 
;  and  Mis 
discovery 
b  reniarka- 
aled.  The 
ears  by  na- 

M 

\  free  trap- 
Drofessional 
mdinix  th.at 
ills  plainly 
et  it  is  no 
nost  «i;ifted 
le  brilliant 
or  dreani- 
Hvisible,  or 
secrets  as 
any  hitli- 
maich  of 

haveheen 
had  really 
shed  it  to 
rent  might 
st  nations, 
countries 
Itry  fifteen 
led  States, 


1^ 


'4. 


California  i^ight  then  have  belonged;  or  even  Mexico 
herself  might  have  awakened  from  her  lethargy,  and 
gathered  from  this  new-born  El  Dorado  sufficient  gold 
wherewith  to  satisfy  her  creditors.  In  such  a  case 
how  different  wt)uld  have  been  the  appearance,  for 
better  or  worse,  of  the  hills  and  valleys  of  the  golden 
state. 

Morever,  without  the  gold  of  California  to  counter- 
balance that  which  England  found  in  Australia,  where 
would  have  been  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  ? 
Whfc/  would  have  been  our  credit  during  the  war  for 
the  union,  when  even  with  California  gold,  poured  in- 
to New  York  at  the  rate  of  three  or  four  millions  a 
month,  the  federal  promises  to  pay  fell  to  one-third  of 
tJK'ir  face  ?  The  vital  sustenance  of  that  war  was  Cal- 
ifornia gold  and  Nevada  silver,  without  which  foreign 
t)ccupation  in  the  Pacific  States  was  possible,  and  for- 
eign domhiation,  with  abolition  of  Monroe  doctrines 
and  the  like,  extremely  probable. 

In  conclusion,  it  is  hardly  necessary  for  me  to  state 
that  there  is  as  yet  no  sufficient  evidence  of  any  knowl- 
edge by  white  men  of  the  existence  of  gold  in  the 
Sierra  foothills,  prior  to  the  discovery  at  the  Coloma 
saw  mill  on  the  '24th  of  January,  1848.  Even  were  it 
not  so;  if,  for  instance,  as  in  the  case  of  America  and 
the  Northmen,  the  existence  of  the  continent  had  been 
once  known,  and  the  knowledge  lost  or  forgotten,  to 
Colund)Us,  none  the  less,  would  belong  the  honor  of  dis- 
covery. So  with  Marshall.  There  n'ay  have  been 
some  who  thought  of  gold,  or  talked  of  gold,  or  even 
handled  gold  before  January  1848;  but,  none  the  less, 
to  James  Marshall  belongs  the  honor  of  its  discovery, 
if  indeed,  it  can  be  called  an  honor.  The  difference  in 
the  merit  of  the  two  discoveries,  not  to  mention  their 
relative  importance,  as  to  which,  of  course,  there  can 
be  no  comparison,  is  that  in  the  one  case  Columbus  be- 
lieved in  a  new  world  and  sought  i;.,  while  Marshall 
stumbled  on  his  discovery  by  the  merest  accident. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

AFFAIRS  ABOUT  THE  COLOMA  SAW-MILL  DURING  THE  SPRING 

OF   1848. 

PhituH,    I  shan't  go  near  that  fellow,  Jupiter. 

Jufi'ittr.     How,  my  good  I'lutas,  not  wlieii  1  hid  you  ? 

PUitm.  No.  He  in.uilted  nie,  turned  nie  out  of  his  house,  and  scattered 
me  in  all  directions, — nie,  the  old  friend  of  the  family,  all  hut  pitched  i;.o 
out  of  doors,  as  if  I  burnt  hid  fingers.  What!  go  1)a('k  to  him,  to  he  liirown 
to  hi.4  iiarasites,  and  toadies,  and  htirlot.s?  No;  8en<l  me  to  those  wlio  valno 
the  gift,  who  will  make  much  of  me,  who  honor  me,  and  desire  my  company, 
and  let  all  these  fools  keep  house  still  with  Poverty  who  prefer  her  to  me. 
Let  them  get  her  to  give  them  a  spado  and  an  old  sheepskin,  and  go  dig  iVr 
their  two-pence  a-day,  after  squandering  tliousands  in  gifts  to  their  friends. 

Jupilvr,     Timou  will  never  hehave  so  to  you  again. 


\\    i| 


When  at  length  civilization  began  to  creep  into  the 
canons  of  the  Sierra  foothills,  and  the  cry  of  gold  was 
raised,  how  was  answered  tlie  mill-race  digger  s  sliout  \ 
Tamely  enougls  at  first.  Few  heeded  it,  or  imagined 
that  it  amounted  to  any  more  than  a  thousand  other 
great  or  small  discoveries  made  since  Spaniards  began 
their  explorations  northward  from  Mexico.  Gold  was 
thinly  distributed  over  wide  areas,  with  richer  depos- 
its at  intervals,  so  that  for  one  great  discovery,  tliere 
were  a  hundred  which  were  hardlv  wArth  attention. 

When  bags  and  bottles  of  it  were  displayed  at  Be- 
nicia,  at  Sonoma,  at  San  Franci.sco,  and  Monterey, 
the  sleepy  towns  began  to  rub  their  eyes,  and  awake 
to  the  fact  that  here  was  gold,  bright  yelU)W  haul 
gold,  and  in  such  quantities  as  might  wt  11  and  quickly 
claim  tlicir  consideration.  The  quiet  of  pastoral  Cali- 
fornia was  disturbed;  the  pulses  of  the  people  quick- 
ened as  with  one  accord  they  directed  their  eyes 
northward.  Thence  spread  the  news  to  Mexico,  to 
Oregon,  to  the  islands  of  the  sea,  to  the  eastern  slioie 
of  the  continent,  to  South  America,  and  to  the  conti- 


f 


hi 


MARSHALL,  THE  DISCOVERER. 


63 


THE  SPRLVa 


e,  and  scattered 
but  pitclied  11.0 
m,  to  be  tlirowii 
tliose  wbo  Viibio 
re  inycDiiipany, 
irefer  ber  to  me. 
I,  and  go  dig  lor 
to  tbeir  friends, 

'—LucUin. 


3ep  into  the 

of  g'okl  was 

Tcr  s  sliout? 

or  imagined 

sand  other 

liards  began 

Gold  was 

her  depos- 

very,  tliere 

attention. 

yed  at  Be- 

Monterey, 

and  awake 

ellow  haul 

nd  quiekly 

itoral  Cali- 

iplo  fjuick- 

their  eves 

[Mexico,  to 

tern  shoie 

the  oonti- 


r\cv.U  of  the  so-called  old  world.  White  people  lieard 
of  it,  and  black  people;  coppery,  red,  and  yellow  peo- 
|)1j.^ — came  rushing  in  from  every  quarter,  all  eager 
for  some  of  the  delectable  dirt. 

Much  has  been  written  regarding  the  Coloma  gold 
discovery.  ^luch  about  it  worth  knowing  remains 
unwritten.  The  choicest  unpublished  information  to 
inv  knowledge  is  that  contained  in  the  manuscript  of 
Henry  W.  Bighr,  Dianj  of  a  Mormon  in  Calif omiia, 
who  was  on  tlie  ground  at  the  time,  with  a  remarkably 
elear  head  and  ready  pen.  The  statement  given  mo 
bv  Mr  Sutter  at  Litiz,  and  contained  hi  the  manuscript 
entitled  Pcrsomd  liemlniftccu  •>•  of  General  John  Av(/ns- 
tii.^  Suffer,  is  also  exceedingly  interesting  and  valuable. 
I  will  herewith  present  verbatim  several  of  the  more 
impor-tatit  accounts  of  the  discovery. 

Marshall  was  a  queer  genius.  I  speak  with  exact- 
ness, for  he  was  both  a  genius  and  queer.  I  have  in 
my  possession  an  old  daguerreotype  which  is  unlike 
any  other  portrait  that  I  have  seen.  Parson's  Life  of 
Marshall  is  the  best  book  upon  the  subject  extant. 
Naturally  kind  and  humane,  his  mind  dreamy  while 
his  faculties  were  in  repose,  but  of  cragged  disposition 
and  inclined  to  be  a  little  fierce  when  roused,  all  along 
his  later  life  he  was  made  morose  by  what  ho  deemed 
injustice  and  neglect  on  the  part  of  the  people,  and  <»f 
the  government.  "The  enterprising  energy  of  which 
the  orators  and  editors  of  California's  early  golden 
days  boasted  so  much  as  belonging  to  Yankecdom," 
he  writes  bitterly  in  1857,  "was  not  national  but  in<li- 
vidual.  Of  tlie  profits  derived  from  the  enterprise  It 
stands  thus,  Yankeedom  .$000,000,000;  myself  indi- 
vicUially  $000,000,000.  Ask  the  records  of  the  coun- 
try for  the  reason  why?  They  will  answer,  I  need 
not.  Were  1  an  Englishman,  and  had  made  niy  dis- 
covery on  English  soil,  the  case  wouhl  have  been 
dirtbrcnt."  Mr  Hittell  visited  him  at  Coloma  in  his 
retirement,  where  he  alone  remained  of  all  those  early 
discoverers.     **No  photograph  of  him  has  ever  been 


m 


AFFAIRS  ABOUT  THE  COLOMA  SAW-MILL. 


1  .y 


! 


Ill 

III 


obtained  "  he  said.  "  I  requested  him  to  let  me  get  a 
negative,  from  wliich  I  would  have  pictures  taken 
and  sold  in  San  Francisco  for  his  benefit,  but  he  re- 
fused indignantly.  The  thought  of  the  injustice  that 
had  been  done  him  made  him  unhappy.  He  wanted 
no  allusion  made  to  the  debt  due  by  California  to  him. 
Others  have  been  loaded  with  wealth  and  honor,  and 
he  has  been  left  to  struggle  along  in  poverty  and  ob- 
scurity, he  who  discovered  the  gold  that  made  Cali- 
fornia what  it  is."  Poor  Marshall !  Too  simple  and 
sensitive  by  half  I  Had  he  made  the  gold,  and  it  had 
been  stolen  from  him  by  an  ungrateful  republic,  he 
would  not  have  been  in  his  own  opinion  more  cruelly 
wronged  than  by  this  neglect  to  reward  him  for — 
what?  Yet  we  can  but  feel  kindly  toward  the  man 
who,  though  mistaken  in  what  constitutes  greatness, 
and  merit  worthy  of  public  reward,  was  nevertheless 
well-meaning,  honest,  and  industrious.  His  name  will 
forever  be  conspicuous  in  the  annals  of  the  country, 
ho\7socver  accidentally  it  became  so. 

Yet  far  more  than  in  picking  from  the  historic  tail- 
race  the  first  particle  of  the  divine  dirt  found  there, 
Marsliall  had  often  played  the  hero.  The  world 
knows  its  impudent  men,  its  brassy,  bellowing  fellows; 
but  how  few  of  its  real  noblemen  I  Many  generous 
deeds  are  recorded  of  Marshall  while  in  the  war;  an<l 
it  was  not  an  unmanly  act,  the  saving  his  saw-mill,  in 
the  way  he  did,  from  a  freshet  which  threatened  it 
just  before  the  discovery  of  gold.  The  dam  was  built 
of  brush  with  the  butts  laid  down  stream.  The  rains 
coming  on,  the  river  rose,  and  fears  were  entertained 
that  the  works  would  all  be  swept  away.  Side  by  side 
with  his  men,  Marshall  worked  day  and  night,  and 
received  therefor  the  praise  of  his  partner,  and  the 
respect  and  admiration  of  his  associates.  Up  to  his 
waist  in  water,  in  constant  peril  of  his  life,  for  many 
hours  he  worked,  and  finally  succeeded  in  anchoring 
the  mill  in  safety. 

Marshall  claimed  to  have  been  the  cause  of  the  dis- 


THE  AUSTRALIAN  fJOLD-FIXDEB 


Vk 


coverv  of  ookl  in  Australia  as  well  as  in  California. 
The  story'^goes  tliat  an  Englisliuian,  named  Har- 
giaves,  came  one  day  to  the  Coloma  mill  for  lumber. 
He  seemed  specially  in  a  bad  humor,  for  he  was  curs- 
ing California,  and  the  people,  and  lauding  to  'eaven 
h  "viTV  tiling,  Haustralian  and  Henglish.  Marshall 
let  him  go  on  for  a  while  without  saying  a  word. 
Finally  he  broke  out: 

"Sec  here,  my  friend  I"  if  you  don't  like  this  coun- 
try, why  do  you  come  here  ?  Nobody  Invites  you. 
Nobody  will  cry  if  you  take  yourself  off.  Go  home 
and  dig  gold.  I  warrant  you  I  could  find  the  stuff  in 
Australia."  The  speaker,  beginning  sharply,  had 
gradually,  almost  unconsciously  dropped  Into  a  medi- 
tative strain. 

Tlie  man  took  it  .up  in  earnest.  Marshall  was  a 
great  character  thereabout;  he  had  found  gold  in 
California,  and  surely  he  must  know  if  it  was  in  Aus- 
tralia. 

"Do  you  really  thhik  so?"  asked  Hargraves. 

"I  am  sure  of  it,"  said  Marshall. 

"  If  I  thought  so  I  would  go."  And  he  went.  And 
for  the  millions  of  pounds  sterling  turned  by  this 
moans  into  the  British  treasury,  he  received  from  the 
British  government  £5,000,  and  from  the  Australian 
government  £10,000,  while  ]\Iarshall  from  his  un- 
grateful country  received  nothing. 


Everybody  was  busy  and  cheerful  at  the  Coloma 
mill  on  the  afternoon  of  the  24th  of  January  1848,  for 
the  heavy  rains  which  had  threatened  to  destroy  the 
dam  during  the  first  half  of  the  month  had  ceased, 
and  tlie  danger  was  past.  There  were  several  of  the 
I^attalion  boys  here  at  work  in  various  ways.  They 
had  come  hither,  last  from  the  half-completed  flour- 
ing-mill  at  Brighton;  and  such  had  been  their  suffer- 
ings during  their  terrible  marrh  from  Council  Bluff 
and  Santa  Fe,  as  to  make  the  double  pine-log-and- 
clapboarded  cabin  seem  exceedingly  comfortable,  and 


Cal.  Ikt.  Poc.    0 


UM.. 


M 


Ml  AFFAIRS  ABOFr  THE  COLOMA  SAW-MILL. 

the  grizzly  bears,  and  wolves,  and  wild  Indians  moro 
companionable  than  civilized  man  with  his  detestable 
prejudices  and  tyrannies.  Present  assistintjf  on  the 
works  were  eight  good  Indians  from  New  Helvetia, 
and  because  they  would  not  speak  when  spoken  to, 
the  valley  people  did  not  like  their  brethren  of  tlu- 
mountains,  but  called  them  mala  gcittc,  and  wanted  to 
kill  them. 

Weimer  and  his  aboriginal  mechanics  were  indus- 
triously employed  in  the  lower  part  of  the  race,  which 
by  this  time  was  nearly  deep  enough  at  that  end. 
Up  near  the  place  where  the  mill-wheel  was  to  be 
Biujler  was  drlllincr  into  an  obstinate  boulder.  Ben- 
nett  and  Scott  were  working  at  the  bench;  Stephens 
and  Barger  were  hewing  timber;  Smith  and  John- 
son were  felling  trees.  Near  the  men's  cabin,  and 
close  by  where  Bigler  was  blasting,  Brown  was  whijt- 
sawim?  with  an  Indian.  This  heathen  was  ijrcatlv 
interested  in  affairs,  and  worked  with  a  will ;  for  ho 
had  been  toLl  that  this  machine  when  finished  would 
saw  out  boards  .)f  its  own  volition;  whereat  he  had 
responded  that  it  was  a  lie.  It  was  as  good  as  a  play 
to  see  this  fellow  when  the  mill  was  first  started  run- 
ning. He  was  "  completely  beaten,"  Bigler  says. 
"  He  lay  on  his  belly,  where  he  could  have  a  fair  view 
from  the  bank,  but  near  the  saw ;  and  he  lay  there 
for  two  hours  watching  it.  He  was  taken  with  it, 
and  said  it  was  vano — Indian  Spanish  for  bueno — 
and  wanted  to  be  a  sawyer  right  awfiv." 

Brown  and  Blijjler  were  anmsing  themselves,  whilf 
at  their  work,  by  quizzing  the  doul)ting  aboriginal  in 
the  saw-pit  respecting  supernatural  agency  in  tlic 
handling  of  saw-logs,  when  they  were  approached  l>y 
a  young  Indian  who  requested  them  to  get  him  a  tin 
plate,  at  once,  for  Mr  Marshall,  who  was  at  the  lowi  r 
end  of  the  race  with  Weimer.  Brown  jumped  oti 
from  the  log,  and  brought  from  the  cabin  the  plate, 
wonderins:  meanwhile  what  Marshall  could  want  with 
the  thing.     When  about  to  quit  work  for  the  night, 


a-: 


i 


Jj. 


DISCOVERY  OP  GOLD. 


dians  moro 

detestable 
intT  on  tlu' 
V  Helvetia, 

spoken  to, 
hrcn  oi  tlio 
d  wanted  ti) 

were  indus- 
racc,  wliich 
it  that  end. 
1  was  to  be 
ilder.     Ben- 
\\;  Stephens 
h  and  .Tohn- 
s  cabm,   aiul 
vu  was  whlp- 
t  was  greatly 
L  will ;  for  ho 
inishcd  would 
ereat  he  had 
;ood  as  a  play 
■  started  ruu- 
Bigler    says. 
,ve  a  fair  view- 
he  lay  there 
iken  with  it, 
for  bueno— 

Inselves,  while 
aboriginal  in 
^3ncy  in    the 
.pproached  by 
get  him  a  tin 
s  at  the  loW(  r 
n  jumped  «'♦! 
bin  the  plate, 
uld  want  with 
for  the  night, 


I 


Marshall  came  up  and  said,  "  Boys,  I  believe  I  have 
found  a  gold  mine."  The  remark  produced  no  start- 
ling elfect  upon  his  hearers,  and  Marshall  walked  off 
to  his  house  on  the  mountain-side  which  he  had  lately 
built  for  himself.  Later  Marshall  visited  the  men's 
eahin,  and  again  remarked  that  he.  was  almost  sure 
h(!  had  found  gold  at  the  lower  end  of  the  race.  Then 
lu'  said,  "Brown,  I  want  you  and  Bigler  to  shut 
down  the  head-gate  early  in  the  morning.  Throw  in 
a  little  saw -dust,  rotten  leaves,  and  dirt;  make  all 
tight,  and  we  will  see  what  will  come  of  it." 

The  men  do  as  they  had  been  told.  And  while 
they  are  at  breakfiist  Marshall  goes  down  to  the  mill- 
race  alone.  After  breakfast  the  men  come  out,  and 
each  betakes  himself  to  his  work.  Presently  ^lar- 
sliall  appears,  his  old  white  hat  within  his  arm,  look- 
ing wonderfully  pleased.  A  smile  overspreads  his 
fac(%  and  the  boys  know  that  it  means  something 
unusual.  Coming  nearer,  slowly,  quietly,  yet  in 
heavy  depth  of  tone  he  sjjeaks  :  "  Boys,  by  Gt»d,  I've 
got  it;"  and  he  places  his  .hat  down  on  a  bench  in 
the  mill-yard.  All  gather  round  to  see  what  it  is  ; 
.^nd  there,  sure  enough,  on  the  top  of  the  crown, 
knocked  in  a  little,  lies  the  worshipful  metal.  There 
is  about  half  an  ounce  of  it,  in  flakes  and  grains,  from 
the  smallest  particle  to  pieces  as  large  as  a  kernel  of 
wheat  or  larger,  and  though  not  one  of  the  }>arty  has 
ever  before  seen  gold  in  its  native  state,  there  is  no 
longer  a  skeptic  among  them.  Azariah  Smith  draws 
from  his  p.»cket  a  five-dollar  piece,  i)art  of  his  mili- 
tary pay,  and  compares  it  with  the  dust.  There 
seems  to  be  little  dift'ercnce  in  color  or  weight;  tlie 
cohi  is  somewhat  lighter  in  tint,  which  is  accounted  for 
by  reason  v T  its  alloy.  Not  a  very  crucial  test,  but 
all  sufficient  at  this  juncture. 

Led  by  Marshall,  all  now  hasten  down  tlie  race, 
and  soon  are  absorbed  in  picking  from  the  seams  and 
crevices  the  precious  metal.  They  conclude  that 
the   deposit  is  rich ;   and  from  this  time  the  fever 


68 


AFFAIRS  ABOUT  HIE  COLOMA  SAWMILL. 


I 


:iil!!!'' 


sets  in.  Furtlicr  tests  aro  applied,  for  tromblinj; 
doubts  will  arise,  atui  soiiu'  is  thrown  into  vincgni, 
and  sonic  is  boiled  in  Mrs  Woiinor's  soap  kettle.  En- 
joinin«]f  secrecy  Marshall  takes  some  of  the  gol  1  and 
goes  with  it  to  the  fort  to  have  it  further  tested. 
And  when  he  returns  thus  he  delivers  himself:  "Oh 
boys  1  it's  the  pure  stuff."  Then  he  goes  on  to  relate 
his  adventure:  "I  and  the  Old  Cap*'  for  so  he  calls 
Sutter,  "  went  into  a  room  and  locked  ourselves  up. 
And  we  were  half  a  day  trying  it.  And  the  regulars 
tiiere  wondered  what  the  devil  was  up.  They  thougl  t 
perhaps  I  had  found  quicksilver,  as  the  woman  did 
down  toward  Monterey.  Well !  we  compared  it  with 
the  Encyclopedia,  and  it  agreed  with  it ;  we  ap[)lit(l 
a^jua  foilis  but  it  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  it. 
Then  we  weighed  it  in  water;  we  took  scales  with 
silver  coin  in  one  side  balanced  by  the  dust  in  the 
other,  and  gently  let  them  down  into  a  basin  of  water: 
and  the  gold  went  down  and  the  silver  up."  And 
he  motions  the  manner  of  it  with  his  hands.  **  That 
told  the  story  what  it  was,"  he  concludes. 

Marshall  reported  further  that  Sutter  would  soon 
be  there,  and  examine  into  the  matter  for  himself. 
Sure  enough,  next  day  Marshall  entered  the  men's 
cabin  and  said,  "  Boys,  the  Old  Cap  has  come ;  he  is 
up  at  my  house.  Now  I  will  tell  you  what  we  will 
do.  You  know,  he  always  carries  his  bottle.  Let  us 
each  throw  in  and  give  Henry  some  gold,  and  in  tlu; 
morning,  when  you  shut  down  the  head-gate,  let  him 
take  it  down  and  sprinkle  it  over  the  base  rock ;  and 
when  the  Old  Gent  comes  down,  and  sees  it  lying  there, 
he  will  be  so  excited  that  he  will  out  with  his  bottle 
and  treat  all  hands."  It  was  agreed  ;  the  salting  was 
done  ;  and  while  the  men  were  at  breakfast  next  morn- 
ing they  saw  Sutter,  with  Marshall  and  Weimer  on 
either  side  of  him,  coming  down  to  the  mill.  Suttt  r 
was  dressed  with  care  as  bocame  the  owner  of  squaio 
leagues,  and  the  commander  of  a  fortress,  and  lie 
walked  with  a  cane.     The  men  stepped  out  into  the 


SUTTER'S  VISIT. 


tromblin<j; 
o  viiK'gai. 
>ttle.  Eii- 
j  gol  i  and 
lier  testod. 
iisclf:  "Oil 
m  to  relate 

so  he  calls 
irHelvca  u^i. 
;lic  regulai  s 
jey  thougl  t 
woman  did 
ared  it  with 

we  applied 

do  with  it. 

scales  with 
dust  \n  the 
sin  of  water ; 
•  up."  And 
hds.     "That 

would  soon 
for  hiniseit'. 
d  the  men's 
come;  he  is 
hat  we  will 
;tle.     Let  us 
I,  and  in  tlu; 
rate,  let  him 
[e  rock;  and 
lying  there, 
Ih  his  bottle 
salting  was 
It  next  morn- 
Weinier  on 
iiill.     Suttir 
er  of  square 
•ess,  and  h*' 
»ut  into  the 


1 


mill-yard,  and  heartily  and  respectfully  greeted  their 
cMiplover,  who  invited  them  to  join  the  party  in  a 
walk  'down  the  race.  While  on  the  way  one  of 
Wrinier's  little  hoys  ran  on  in  advance  of  tliem,  and 
seeing  the  shining  substance  so  temi)tingly  displayed, 
the  i)est  picked  upnearly  every  particle  of  it,  and  came 
runnin<4  hack ahnostoutof  breath, andcryhig,  "Father  I 
Fatlieri  See  what  I  have  found  1"  Marshall  and  his 
men  each  to  heaven  breatlud  a  silent  curse  on  that 
iiini)eeiit  head  for  having  spoiled  their  fun  Sutter, 
.seeing  it,  struck  his  cane  into  the  ground  and  ex- 
rlaimed,  "By  Jo!  its  rich."  The  boy  lad  left  un- 
litled  the  seams,  and  crevices,  and  gravel  deposits, 
and  the  men  after  all  had  an  exciting  time  of  it  gold- 
j)icking,  Sutter  among  the  rest. 

Tliere  is  little  wonder  the  statements  are  conflicting 
when  no  one  saw  it  all,  and  each  was  able  to  describe 
correctly  only  those  parts  of  which  ho  was  an  eye  wit- 
ni'ss.  And  after  innumerable  repetitions  and  disput- 
ings,  confusion  arose.  Some  even  denied  that  Marshall 
was  the  first  discoverer  at  Coloma,  but  this  assertion 
is  not  worthv  "'f  <'onsideration.  Then  tlu'n  was  a 
controversy  over  the  fii-st  piece  found,  and  what  be- 
came of  it,  more  senseless  than  the  rest.  Sutter,  at 
Litiz,  showed  me  a  ring  upon  which  was  engraved  on 
the  outside  iiis  coat  of  arms,  and  on  the  inside.  "The 
fir.st  gold  discovered  in  January  1848."  And  yet  it 
was  not,  speaking  with  exactness,  the  first  gold  dis- 
covered; for  Sutter  says  in  his  statement  that  some 
of  it  he  picked  up  himself,  and  some  was  given  him 
by  tlie  men  then  i)resent.  The  ring  weighed  an 
ounce  and  a  half.  Then  Mrs  Weimer  claimed  to 
liave  had  in  her  possession  for  many  years  the  very 
fiist  piece  picked  U]),  and  which  Marshall  gave  her. 
This  cannot  be  true,  as  according  to  ^larshall's  testi- 
mony the  first  piece  weighed  fifty  cents,  whereas  Mrs 
Weimer's  piece  was  equal  to  five  dollars  ami  twelve 
cents.  It  is  safe  to  conclude  that  the  destiny  of  this 
first  jiiece  is  lost  to  history. 


70 


AFFAIllS  ABOUT  THK  COLO.MA  SAW-MILL. 


Tlic  foUowiii}*  oopios  «»f  HtateiiUMits  may  bo  rclii'd 
upon  as  correct,  word  for  word  with  the  rcsjKictivc 
orifjjiimls.  And  as  first  in  importance  I  ^ivo  tlio  ac- 
count delivered  me  from  his  own  hps  by  General 
Sutter. 

Oiu'  liiiny  afternoon  in  January  1848,  MiirHliall,  Irijiiiin^;  with  M.vtcr,  i':i- 
tcnMJ  my  olficu,  next  the  giianl  lionsc,  in  a  liurritMl  excitt'il  manner,  aiiil  a  k"<l 
to  SCO  mu  ulonu  in  tiiu  )ii){  lulU^tu,  wliirli  was  my  privatu  otliee,  ami  the  clerk*' 
olHue.i.     I  was  Kurprisutl,  iHJcau.so  the  tlay  lieforc  1  hentup  all  tliat  he  wantcil, 

mill-iron  and  evurytliing.     I  eouM  not  iuiauinu  what  ho  wanted,  yet  I  < ■ 

ducted  him  to  my  private  room.s,  parlor  anci  hedriKini,  ami  wc  entered  a:id 
Hliut  tilt!  door.  In  this  parlor  I  had  very  ancient  funiituru  made  liy  tiie  ilii  - 
Hiaiii  at  Fort  Ross,  tliu  first  manufactured  in  Califoniia,  iKiIng  of  laurel,  a:id 
very  clumsy.  Yet  it  wa.s  hotter  than  the  chairs  ia  many  ricii  uumih  home  u.f 
that  jHsriod.  Often  have  I  jfono  into  the  house  of  a  well-to-do  owner  of  larj,i) 
herds  of  cattle,  and  have  lu^en  otl'ered  a  hulloek'n  head  to  Hit  on,  as  a  cha  i-. 
Marshall  a.sketl  mo  if  the  door  was  locked.  1  «aid,  'no,  hut  I  will  lock  iu' 
H(!  wa-i  a  singular  man,  and  I  tiM>k  this  to  ho  some  freak  of  his.  I  was  nut 
iu  the  least  afraid  of  him.  I  had  no  weajMin.  There  was  no  gun  iu  tlic 
room.  I  only  supposed,  at  ho  was  queer,  that  ho  ttMik  thi.t  tpUM-r  way  to  tell 
mo  some  secret. 

lie  tirst  said  to  me,  'Are  wo  alono?'  I  replied,  'Yos.'  'I  want  two 
howls  of  water,'  said  ho.  I  rang  the  hell  for  a  servant.  I  had  six  ditferciit 
signals  for  six  dill'erent  clerks  and  servants.  The  howls  of  water  wen- 
hraiight.  'Now  I  want  a  stick  of  redwood,'  said  Marshall,  'and  some  twiiu' 
and  some  sheet  coiii)er.'  '  What  do  you  want  of  all  these  things,  Marshall ': ' 
said  L  'I  want  to  make  some  scales,'  he  replied.  'Hut  I  have  scalit 
enough  in  the  apothecary's  shop,'  saiil  I.  I  had  all  the  time  a,  doctor,  when 
I  coidd  get  one,  and  a  hospittil,  and  treated  people  without  charge.  'I  tl.il 
not  think  of  that,'  said  Mamhall.     I  went  myself  and  got  some  scales. 

Moauvhilo  the  d(.;ir  had  hecomo  uidocked  again,  and  so  remained,  although 
it  was  oii  the  side  of  the  room  adjoining,  my  rooms  l>eing  douhle.  It  was 
not  my  otlico,  hut  my  private  rooms. 

When  I  returned  with  the  scales,  I  shut  the  door,  hut  did  not  lock  it 
again.  Then  Marshall  pulled  out  of  his  pantaloons' pocket  a  white  cottmi 
rag,  widch  contained  something  rolled  iip  in  it.  Just  as  he  was  unfolding  it 
to  show  mu  the  contents,  the  door  was  oj)ened  hy  a  clerk  nassiug  througii, 
who  did  i.'ot  know  that  wo  were  in  the  room,  ''ihere,'  exclaimed  Marshall, 
(piickly  thrusting  the  cotton  doth  again  in  his  pocket,  'did  not  I  tell  you  wi: 
had  listeners?'  I  appea  ed  him,  onlered  the  clerk  to  retire,  and  locked  the 
door.  Tlion  lie  hrou;rht  out  his  mysterious  secret  again.  Oi)ening  the  doth 
ho  hehl  it  hefiTC  mo  ni  his  hand.  It  contained  what  might  have  been  ahr>\:t 
an  ounce  and  a  half  of  gold-dust,  flaky  and  in  grains,  the  hirge*t]>iecenot  (pii.i' 
so  large  as  a  pea.  and  from  tiiat  down  to  Ton  tlian  a  pin-head  in  si/c.  'I 
hjliove  this  is  gold,' said  Marshall,  'hut  tiie  people  at  the  mill  laughed  at 
me,  and  called  ino  crazy.'  I  carefully  examined  it,  and  saitl  to  him,  'Well, 
it  looks  so;  wo  will  try  it.'  Then  I  wont  to  the  apothecary's  shop,  ami  g'lt 
af(ua  fortis  and  applied  it.  The  stuff  stood  the  test.  Marshall  asked  me  il 
1  had  any  silver.  I  sivid,  •yc?,'  ancl  produced  a  few  dollars.  Then  we  ]'iit 
an  e(}ual  quantity  in  weight  of  goM  in  one  side  and  silver  in  the  other,  ar.l 
dropping  the  two  in  the  howls  of  water,  the  g^ild  went  down  and  outweigln '1 
tlie  silver  imder  water.  Then  I  Imuight  out  a  volume  of  the  old  American 
encyclopedia,  a  copy  of  which  I  happened  to  have,  to  see  what  other  tets 
there  were.     Then  I  .said  to  him,  'I  he^ievc  this  is  the  finest  kind  of  gold.' 

Then  he  said  he  wished  I  would  accomi»any  him  immediately  to  theniill. 
It  was  about  su])i)er-time,  and  raining  l<ard.  I  said,  'You  had  better  take 
supper  uow;  I  will  go  up  early  iu  the  niorniug,  as  soon  as  I  have  given  my 


SUriKK  S  STAT  KM  KM'. 


with  water,  i'!i- 
Liiiuir,  ami  a  k-.l 
!,  anil  the  t'liii'l;*' 
that  hu  M  iiittcd, 
lilted,  yi't  I  <'<iii- 
wo  eiitereil  umiI 
lailo  hy  tho  Uu  • 
iig  of  laurel,  a:iil 

I  iiu'n'rt  home  ii.f 

II  owner  "f  larj,.? 
it  im,  as  a  ehai-. 
lit  I  will  hick  il." 

his.  I  was  lint 
s  no  gun  in  tlu- 
jueer  way  to  trll 

I.'  'I  want  two 
hail  Hix  tlitfiToiit 
s  of  water  wen- 
'and  8iiiiie  twine 
liiig-t,  Marshall'.'' 
i\t  I  have  sealiM 
a  doctor,  whrii 
1  large.  'Id.  I 
line  Hcalex. 
lined,  althoii),'lt 
nlilo.     It  wa-* 

did  not  lock  it 

a  white  cotton 

as  unfolding'  >t 

lassing  through, 

aimed  Marsiiall. 

(it  I  tell  you  «c 

and  looked  tlin 

Idling  the  clcth 

lave  been  aliout 

itjiieeenot  (jui.i' 

lead  in  size.      '  1 

mill  lauglieil  at 

to  him,  'Will, 

's  shop,  and  ^i^t 

hnll  asked  iiif  il 

Then  we  juit 

the  other,  ar.l 

and  outweighi'l 

le  old  American 

hat  other  tc  ts 

kind  of  gold. ' 

tely  to  the  mill. 

hail  better  taUu 

have  given  my 


I 


1  arraniji'd  tlie  nffairn  of  the  day.'     Mar thall  would  not  Mait 
ted  and  rodii  otf  in  the  rain.     Tlio 


men  orders  nnl 

fur  HU|)|iiT  or  aiiytliiug  che,  Imt  iiioun 

>|iirii'H  sLTajii 


tr. 


At 


I 


<  wiTti  Ncry  giMid  to  keep  the  rain  < 

and  iliiniig  "the  nigiit,   the  ciir>o  of  t!io  tiling  hiir<t  uiion  my 

iiow  the  I'liil  would  he,  and  the  next  day  I 


.;i\v  tnim 


thel 


icginniiig 


liid  a  nioliiichcly  rido  of  it  t«i  the  «aw-niili.  Of  couimc  J  knew  nothing  of 
till!  "Xtiiit  of  the  discovcrv,  hut  I  was  N.iti.stied,  wiictiier  it  ainounted  to 
null  h  or  l.til'-,  tha'  it  woiihi  greatly  iuterfci,.  with  my  jilans. 

.Vttriid.d  ly  my  «<ri,'i'.iiit  ami  one  of  my  soldii'iM     ImMi  Iiiiliann— I  net 
out  iii'xt  iiioriiiiig  for  the  ill. II.      When  almnt  iialf  way  tliere  I  ducoyered 


oh|i'i-t  iiioyiii'.;  iiiMiU 


t  ill  the  liiislie.^n.ar  tiie  road.     Tuniiiig  to  my  attendant 


I  aiki'd,  'Wh.iL  H  that?'     Ili^  rciilcd,  'It  in  tlio  xaiiie  man  who  wa^  wit'i 
yiiu  hut  iiiulit.'     liiiiim.'  u|i,  I  found,  sure  enough,  it  wan  Marshall.      It  wan 


t'li'ii  rainiin,' 


hard. 


II 


ivc  y 


III  liccii  here  all  n 


gilt?    I  a  ked. 


hi 


idied,  '  I  >iM;nt  tlie  iiinht  at  tlie  null,  .-iiiil  came  hack  thii-i  f.ir  to  meet  ym 


Dm 


toll 


11,  Marsiiall  wa;*  wtill  yery  re  ales.: 


II. 


dh 


iriiiii  our  rill 
liidicycd  the  wiiule  coiinliy  iniind  \va.srich  with  g.dd.  When  we  arriyed  lie 
>viiit  with  liie  to  tlie  iiidl  race.  I'luple  were  at  work  widening  and  dec|icii. 
ill',' the  race.  Tlicii  l.c  tnlil  thciii  to  ijiiit  work  and  let  tho  water  through. 
Alter  it  had  mil  a  wh  1  ■  he  urdcrcd  it  .stopiii'd  again.  Mcaiiwhde  the  water 
liad  wadied  the  graycl  and  dirt  away,  and  then  wo  went  in  linnting  for  t'.;e 
littlo  pieciM  siicii  a  I  .Marshall  had  hroiight  down.  I  jiickcd  Home  np,  and 
t'lcii  e.'icii  of  tlie  Mormon.*  gave  mc  soiiii',  and  .Marshall  gave  me  Home,  too, 
'Tiu'ii  I  said,  'This  all  must  ho  made  into  a  liii'.;cr-riiig,  an  hooii  as  wo  can 
get,  a  goldiiiiith,' and  later  this  was  done,  and  1  liave  this  ring  now.  Here 
It  is.  It  wcl^lMal  mil  tail  ounce  and, i  half,  and  lu'ar.4  the  inscription,  'The  first 
tilth]  dis  •iiyeriid,  in  .laiiiiary  |.S?.S. '     1  h.id  my  coat  of  arms  engrayed  on  it. 

I  told  the  people  there  that  it  was  gold,  that  there  was  no  mistake,  and 
t!iit  I  only  aiked  that  it<  discovery  Mhoujd  he  ki'pt  a  secret  for  nix  weeks 
iiutd  I  got  my  lloiir-iiidl  ready,  ami  they  all  were  very  willing  to  do  ho. 

IV.it  this  was  not  to  he.  'I  he  men  could  not  get  along  without  ]iroyisioiis, 
.iiid  I  sent  Hoiiie  up  hy  a  ,Swi.;s  teaimtcr.  1  .should  have  sent  my  IndiaiM. 
Mn  Weiiner  had  .-ome  hoys,  who  s.'iid  to  tie!  teamster,  'We  have  g  't  some 
gill  1.'  Tlie  man  l,i:!glicd  at  tlicin,  when  the  mother  e.'iclaiiiied,  'Well,  you 
necil  net  laugh.  It  is  true  we  li.-ive  found  gold.  Look  here,  what  do  yiiu 
call  tl'vt?  '  Tliii  >yoniaii  little  knew  the  conseipieiiees  to  mo  of  this  thought- 
less wagging  of  her  tongue. 

'1  he  tiMMHter  .•'ecu re  1  sonic  of  this  gold  and  rotunied  to  the  fort.  At  that 
time  Sain  Hraniiaii  and  (Jeorge  .Smith,  a  relative  of  the  great  Mormon 
prophet,  now  higli  in  tiie  Utah  church,  kept  a  store  in  one  of  my  outhouses 
invir  the  fort.  This  was  the  tir.<t  store,  except  my  own,  started  in  the  valley. 
There  were  then  a  good  many  settlers  in  the  valley,  and  they  hrought  to  this 
Miirinon  store  hides  talliw,  and  skins,  and  took  away  manufactured  articles. 
McKinstry,  who  ^vas  willi  me  then,  called  it  a  shirt-tail  stort!,  for  every  time 
I  wanted  a  few  things  for  my  Indians,  the  iiroprictors  I'Xidaimed,  'O,  you 
Mill  lireak  t!ie  a4<ortiiient ! '  Xcvertheloss,  this  store  assumed  great  iiiipor- 
taiici  ai  soon  ai  gold  «as  discovered. 

Wii:iien  and  wiii.key  helped  the  thiiij'  along.  It  was  a  fundamental  iind 
uiriUerahle  law  of  the  shirt-tail  ston-  tli.it  credit  should  not  he  given  f,ir 
whiskey.  This  was  altogetlier  too  valnahle  a  commodity  to  he  trusted  out. 
The  .Swiss  teamster  wa<  universally  tliir<ty.  \U-  wanted  now  a  hottle  of 
lirandy.  At  the  counter  where  he  had  heeii  .so  often  refused,  he  iiresented 
hi  nielf,  called  for  his  poison,  and  at  the  saiiio  time  proudly  came  down  with 
the  dust. 

'  Wli.-t  is  that?  You  know  very  well  licpior  means  money,' exclainiod 
linither  Smith. 

'That  is  money,'  replied  the  teamster.      '  It  is  fohl.' 

'  Yes,  yes,  that  will  do, '  said  Smith.  '  I  have  no  time  for  your  pleasant- 
tries.' 

'Go  to  the  fort  and  ask  the  captain  If  you  don't  helievo  me.' 


72 


AFFAIRS  ABOUT  THE  COLOMA  SAW-MILT. 


■iSvii 


■'IJ 


Smith  came  in  hot  haste,  and  said,  '  Your  man  came  to  mc  and  said  that 
this  is  gohl.     Of  co'irae  I  knew  he  lied,  and  told  him  so.' 

'  Nevertheless  it  is  goUl,'  said  I,  and  so  the  secret  was  oat. 

Next  I  will  give  the  account  by  George  Frederick 
Parsons,  which  may  be  regarded  as  the  best  of  Mar- 
shall's versions: 

On  the  morning  of  that  memorable  day  Marshall  went  out  as  usual  to 
sujierintfmd  the  men,  and  after  closing  the  fore-hay  gate,  and  thus  sliuttiiiK 
on  the  water,  walked  down  the  tail-race,  to  sec  what  sand  and  gravel  h.-iil 
\)een  removed  during  the  night.  This  had  1  tee u  customary  with  him  for  some 
time,  for  he  had  previously  entertained  tiie  idea  that  there  might  he  minerals 
in  the  mountains,  and  had  expressed  it  to  Sutter,  who,  Iiowevcr,  only 
lauglicd  at  him.  On  this  cccasion,  having  8trolle<l  to  the  lower  cud  of  tl:i! 
race,  he  stood  for  a  moment  examining  the  mass  of  deliris  tliat  lia<l  heen 
washed  down  ;  and  at  this  juncture  his  eye  caught  the  glitter  of  something 
that  lay,  lodged  in  a  crevice,  on  a  riffle  of  soft  granite,  some  six  incile^<  under 
the  water.  His  first  act  was  to  stoop  and  pick  up  tlie  suhstancc.  It  was 
heavy,  of  a  peculiar  color,  and  unlike  anything  he  had  seen  in  the  stream 
Iwifore.  For  a  few  minutes  he  stood  with  it  in  his  hand,  retlet'ting,  and  en- 
deavoring to  recall  all  that  he  had  licard  or  read  concerning  the  viiridiis 
minerals.  After  a  close  examination,  he  became  satistii^l  tliat  what  he  Iielil 
in  his  hand  must  bo  one  of  three  sulwtances — mica,  sulpliurets  of  coj)per,  or 
gold.  The  weight  a.ssured  him  that  it  was  not  mica.  Could  it  be  siilpliunt 
of  copper?  He  remembered  that  that  mineral  is  brittle,  and  tliat  gobl  is 
malleable,  and  as  this  thought  passed  through  his  mind,  he  turned  about. 
placed  the  specimen  upon  a  flat  stone,  and  proceeded  to  test  it  by  .striking  it 
with  another.  The  substance  did  not  crack  or  flake  ofl";  it  simply  bent  un- 
der the  blows.  Ihis,  then,  was  gold,  and  iu  this  manner  was  the  flrst  gold 
found  in  California. 

If  we  were  writing  a  sensation  tale,  instead  of  a  sobre  history,  we  might 
proceed  to  relate  how  Marshall  sank,  pale  and  breathless  upon  a  neiglibnr- 
ing  rock,  and  how,  as  he  eyed  the  glittering  metul  in  his  hand,  a  vision  roM' 
before  him  of  the  mighty  results  of  his  discovery.  But  in  fact  nothing  nt 
the  kind  occurred.  Ihe  discoverer  was  not  one  of  thespasmodic  and  excita- 
ble kind,  but  a  jdain,  shrewd,  practical  fellow,  wiio  realized  tlic  importance 
of  the  discovery — though  doubtless  not  to  its  full  extent,  since  no  one  d.d 
that  then — and  proceeded  with  his  work  as  usual,  after  showing  the  imggi  t 
to  his  men,  and  indulging  in  a  few  conjectures  concerning  the  proi)ablo  ex  tent 
of  the  gold  flelds.  Asa  matter  of  course  he  watclied  closely  from  time  to 
time,  for  further  developmento,  and  in  the  cour.e  of  a  few  dtiys  had  collected 
several  ounces  of  the  precious  metal.  Although,  however,  he  was  satistieil 
in  his  own  mintl  that  it  was  gold,  there  were  some  who  were  .skeptical,  ami 
as  he  had  no  means  of  testing  it  chemically,  he  determined  to  take  some  down 
to  his  partner  at  the  fort,  and  have  the  (juestion  Hn.ally  decided.  Some  four 
days  after  tiie  discovery  it  became  necessary  for  him  to  go  below,  for  Nutter 
had  failed  to  send  a  supply  of  provisions  to  the  mill,  and  the  men  were  on 
short  commons.  iSo  mounting  liis  horse,  ancl  taking  some  tliree  ounces  of 
gold  dust  with  him,  he  started.  Having  always  an  eye  to  business,  he 
availed  himself  of  this  opportunity  to  examine  the  river  for  a  site  for  a  lum- 
ber yard,  whence  the  tnnber  cut  at  the  mill  could  be  fli>atcd  down;  and 
wliile  exploring  for  this  purpose  he  discovered  gold  in  a  ravine  iu  the  foot- 
lulls  and  also  at  tlio  place  known  afterwards  as  Mormon  island.  That 
niglit  he  slept  under  an  oak  tree,  some  eight  or  ten  miles  east  of  the  fort. 
where  he  arrived  about  nine  o'clock  the  next  mornmg.  Dismounting  from 
his  horse,  he  entered  .Sutter's  private  office,  and  proceeded  to  en(|uire  into  the 
cau<e  of  the  delay  in  sending  up  tiie  jirovisious,  Ihis  matter  having  been 
explained,  and  the  teams  being  in  a  fair  way  to  load,  he  asked  for  a  fe«' 
Uiiuutcs'  private  conversation  with  Colonel  Sutter,  and  the  two  entered  a 


Ljli. 

c  and  said  that 

Frederick 
;st  of  Mar- 


out  aa  usual  to 
il  thus  shutting 
anil  gnavel  liail 
th  him  for  some 
cht  be  minerih 
liowever,  only 
>wer  end  of  tlie 
I  tliat  liatl  heon 
erof  soniethiiij; 
lix  inches  under 
stance.  It  wiis 
1  in  the  stream 
lecting,  and  eii- 
ing  the  various 
at  M-hat  he  held 
ts  of  copiier,  or 
1  it  he  sulpliunt 
nd  tliat  g(dd  is 
J  turned  aliout. 
it  hy  striking  it 
simply  l)ent  un- 
%a  the  first  gold 

tory,  wo  might 
ion  a  neighlicir- 
d,  a  vision  ro>c 
fact  nothing  ot 
|odie  and  excita- 
tlie  importuucf 
nee  no  one  d.d 
inc  the  nugg<  t 
riujahle  extent 
y  from  time  to 
s  had  eoUected 
e  was  satisiied 
fikeptical,  and 
akc  some  dowii 
1.     Some  four 
low,  for  [Sutter 
e  men  were  on 
hree  ounces  ot 
)   husiness,    he 
site  for  a  luni- 
eil  down;  and 
no  in  the  foot- 
island.     That 
st  of  the  fort. 
lounting  from 
Imiuire  into  tlie 
r  liaving  heen 
lieil    fi>r  a  few 
two  entered  a 


I 


MARSHALL  AND  BROOKS.  W 

little  room  at  the  hack  of  the  store,  reserved  ab  a  private  office.  Tlien 
Marshall  showed  iiim  the  gohl.  He  loolied  at  it  m  astonishment,  and,  stdl 
douhimg,  asked  wiiat  it  wa.s.  His  visitor  replied  tliat  it  was  gold.  *  I'npos- 
sihlo'  was  tliu  incredulous  ejaculation  of  Sutter.  Upon  this  Mar.diall 
aske.i  for  some  nitric  acid,  to  test  it,  and  a  vaquero  having  Iweii  despatched 
to  the  gunsiiiitli's  for  that  i)uri)ose,  .Sutter  encpiired  whether  tliere  was  no 
otlier  way  in  wliieh  it  could  Ikj  tested.  He  was  told  t!:at  its  character 
might  he  aseertaine.l  hy  weighing  it,  and  accordingly  some  silver  coin— .fS.p'), 
waiall  the  fort  coidd  furnish— and  a  pair  of  sinaU  scalen  or  balances  haviiiff 
lieen  ohtoined,  Marshall  iirocee.lcd  to  weigh  tho  dust,  first  in  the  a:r,  aiid 
t'leu  in  two  b..wl«  of  water.  Tlie  experiment  resulted  as  he  had  fore  een. 
T'le  (In  <t  went  down;  the  coin  rose  r;rlitl3'  up.  Mutter  gazed,  and  hn  doubts 
faded  and  a  sul>se(|uent  test  with  the  nitric  acid,  which  by  {\m  t;me  had  ar- 
rve.l,'  se-thid  the  (I'.uwtion  finally.  Tiien  the  excitement  began  to  .spread. 
Sutter  knew  well  the  value  of  the  discovery,  and  m  a  short;  time,  hav.ng 
iinde  hurried  arran>;emcnts  at  the  fort,  he  returned  w;th  M:ir;hall  to 
t'oloma,  to  see  for  him.self  the  wonder  that  had  been  reported  to  him. 

Here  is  wliat  purports  to  be  a  verbatim  ."('latioii  by 
Sutter  to  J.  Tyrwliitt  Brooks,  quite  different  and  in 
n)aiiy  places  contradictory  to  that  o;iven  by  liim  to 
otliers.  One  can  easily  iinajj;ine  bow  Sutter  liimself 
iJiiLilit  chaiiLjc^  liis  story  in  its  several  narrations  accord- 
iiij^  to  humor  and  audience: 

I  wa.<  sitting  one  afternoon,  said  the  caj)tain,  ju<»t  after  my  siesta,  cnf;an;ed 
by-the-by,  in  writing  a  letter  to  a  relation  of  mine  at  Lucerne,  when  1  Mas 
iii:errui>ted  l<y  Mr  .Marsliall— a  gentleman  w  itii  wliom  I  liad  freijuent  bu  ine  ts 
t:a:i  iaetioiis — bursting  hurriedly  into  the  room.  Fro;ii  tlie  unusual  agitation 
ill  h  <  manner  1  iuiag  Med  tliat  someJiing  sirious  had  occurrel,  and,  as  vo 
iiiviihiiitarily  do  in  tliispart  of  the  worhl,  I  at  onee  glaneeil  to  see  if  my  ride 
w  n  in  its  pro]ier  jilaee.  You  shnidil  know  that  the  mere  appearance  of  Mr 
Mir  hall  at  that  moment  in  tlie  fort  was  <|uite  enouf.'!i  to  .surprise  me,  as  he 
I.  id,  but  two  day.s  before,  left  tlie  jilaee  to  mak.^  some  aUerations  in  a  mill 
f  ir  .sawii  g  pine  planks  which  he  iiail  ju;t  run  up  for  mo,  some  miles  higl;er 
uit  the  Americanos.  When  he  hail  lecuvered  him-eif  a  little,  he  told  nieti;;it 
h'Wever  great  my  surjiri  e  might  be  at  bin  unexpected  reappearance,  itwoiild 
be  mucli  greater  wlien  I  heard  the  intelligeneo  lie  had  eonio  to  bring  mo. 
'intelligence'  he  added,  'which,  if  properly  prolited  by,  would  jiut  both  ot 
ui  in  pin  session  fif  unheard  of  Mealth-niillions  and  millions  of  dollars,  in 
fact.'  I  frankly  own,  when  L  hea'd  this,  that  I  thought  something  had 
t  udied  .Marsliall's  brain,  vheii  sudii""'vall  my  misgiving)  were  jmt  toane:id 
1  y  his  dinging  on  the  table  a  handl'nl  oi  scales  of  jiure  virgin  gold.  I  was 
f.i  rly  thunderstiiiek,  and  a  keii  him  to  exjilain  what  all  this  meant,  when  ho 
w  .lit  on  to  say,  that  accord  ng  to  my  instructions,  he  had  thrown  the  mill- 
M  '^cd  out  of  gear,  to  let  the  v]u  \v  body  of  the  water  in  the  dam  liiid  a  jias- 
s:i  re  through  tl:e  tail-race,  M'liich  \ias  previou  ly  too  narrow  for  the  Mater  to 
run  nlF  in  sufficient  ipiantity,  Mlicreby  the  M'heel  M-as  previ'iited  from  etii- 
( i.nily  jicrformiiig  itsMork.  ]$y  this  alteration  the  narruM-  channel  Mas  coii- 
sdera lily  enlarged,  and  a  mass  of  saniiandgravcl  carried  off  by  the  force  of  tl:e 
tnireat.  Karly  in  the  morning  after  tlii.s  took  place,  he-  Mr  Mar>!iall  — Mas 
walking  along  the  left  bank  of  the  stream,  M'heuhe  perceived  something  which 
he  at  first  took  for  a  piece  of  opal-  a  clear,  transparent  stone,  very  common  hero 
-  flittering  on  one  of  the  spots  laid  bare  liyth.e  sudden  crumbling  away  of  the 
bank.  He  iiaid  no  attention  to  this  ;  butM'hilebe  was  giving  directiiuis  to  tlio 
Mdikinen,  having  ob-<erved  several  iiimilar  j/littering  fragments,  his  curiosity 
Mas  so  far  excited,  that  ho  stooiied  doM-n  and  picked  one  of  them  up.      '  Do  you 


74 


AFFAIRS  ABOUT  THE  COLOMA  SAW-MILL. 


m 


IiII^Cji: 


know,'  said  Mar.ihall  to  me,  '  I  positively  debated  within  myself  two  or  throe 
t.me.4,  whether  I  uhould  take  tlio  trouble  to  bend  my  back  to  pick  i  r»  one  of 
the  pieces,  \nd  had  decided  on  not  doing  ho,  when,  further  on,  anotlier  glit- 
tering morsel  caught  my  eye— the  largest  of  the  pieces  now  before  you.  I 
condeijcended  to  pick  it  up,  and  to  my  astoni.diment  found  that  it  was  a  tliin 
scale  of  what  appears  to  Ite  puregidd.'  He  then  gathered  some' twenty  or 
t'.iirty  s'imilar  pieces,  wliich  on  examination  convinced  him  tliat  his  suppo.i. 
tious  were  right.  His  first  impression  was  t'.iat  this  gold  had  been  lost  or 
buried  there  ny  some  early  Indian  tribe — perhaps  some  of  those  mysterious 
inhabitants  of  the  west,  of  whom  Me  have  no  account,  but  who  dwelt  on  tl;is 
continent  centuries  ago,  and  built  those  cities  and  temples,  theruina  of  which 
are  Koattcred  about  the  ;e  solitary  wilds.  On  proceeding,  however,  to  exam:i:e 
t'.;e  noigliboring  soil,  he  discovered  that  it  was  more  or  less  auriferous.  This 
at  once  decided  him.  He  mounted  his  horse  and  roiledown  to  me  as  fast  nn 
it  would  carry  him,  with  the  news.  At  the  conclusion  of  Mr  Marshall's  iu- 
count,  continued  Captain  Sutter,  and  when  I  had  convinced  myself,  from 
the  t-pecimens  he  ha<l  brought  with  him,  that  it  M-aa  not  exaggerated,  I  ft  It 
ai  inuili  excited  as  liimself.  I  eagerly  enquired  if  ho  had  shown  the  gold  to 
the  work-iH!ople  at  the  mill,  and  was  glad  to  hear  that  ho  had  not  spoken  t(i  ii 
single  per., on  about  it.  We  agreed,  said  the  captain,  smiling,  not  to  i:.(  ii- 
tion  the  circum  stance  to  anyone,  and  arranged  to  set  oflf  early  the  next  (l::y 
for  the  mill.  On  our  arrival,  just  before  sundown,  we  poketl  the  sand  abo\it 
in  various  place.-i,  and  before  long  succeeded  in  collecting  between  us  moie 
than  an  ounce  of  gold,  mixed  up  with  a  good  deal  of  sand.  I  stayed  at  .Mr 
Mar;!!iairs  that  night,  and  the  next  day  M-e  proceeded  some  little  distance  r.p 
the  south  fork,  and  found  tliat  gold  existed  along  the  whole  course;  not  only 
in  the  bod  of  the  main  stream,  where  the  water  nad  subsided,  but  in  evi-iv 
little  dricd-up  crook  and  ravine.  Indeed,  I  think  it  is  more  plentiful  in  these 
hitter  places,  for  I,  myself,  witli  nothing  more  than  a  small  knife,  picked  out 
from  a  dry  gorge,  a  little  way  up  the  mountain,  a  solid  lump  of  gold  wliicli 
weighed  nearly  iin  ounce  and  a  half.  On  our  return  to  the  mill,  we  ■wcru 
astonished  b/  the  work-people  coining  up  to  us  in  a  body,  an<l  8ho«iiij,Mii 
small  llakcs  of  gold  similar  to  those  we  had  ourselves  procured.  Mar  li.ill 
tried  to  hiugli  t!ie  matter  off  with  them,  and  to  persuade  tliem  that  Mliat 
thoy  hail  found  wa<  <mly  some  shining  mineral  of  trilling  value;  but  ono  ( f 
thi  IiKlians,  wlio  l;ad  worked  at  the  gold  mine  in  the  neighlmrliood  of  J,:i 
I'az,  in  Lower  California,  cried  out  'oro!  orot'  We  were  di.^appointedenoiij.'li 
at  this  discovery,  and  supposed  that  tlie  work-people  had  been  watching  oi,r 
movements,  aUhough  we  thouglit  M'e  had  taken  every  precaution  ag;i  ii  t 
being  observed  by  t!iem.  I  heard  afterwards  that  one  of  tliem,  a  sly  Ki;i- 
tuckian,  had  dogged  us  about,  and  that,  looking  on  the  ground  to  see  if  !:•' 
could  discover  what  we  were  in  search  of,  had  lighted  on  some  Hakes  of  goid 
himself. 

The  following  is  an  account  taken  by  Mary  P. 
Winslow,  in  Deconibor  1874,  from  Mrs  Wicmcr,  wlin, 
with  her  husband,  was  then  in  San  Francisco  scokiii ,' 
relief  from  the  society  of  Pioneers.  The  writi  r 
speaks  of  Mrs  Wiemer  as  a  fine  large  woman  of  soiii' 
sixty  summers,  with  an  intelligent  kindly  face. 

We  arrived  here  November  1840,  with  a  party  of  fourteen  families,  acinus 
the  plains  from  Missouri.  On  arriving  at  Sutter's  fort,  Sacramento,  \\>- 
found  Froiiiont  in  need  of  more  men.  Aly  husband  enlisted  before  we  li  li 
got  the  oxoii  unyoked,  and  loft  me  and  seven  cliildren  at  the  fort  in  the  i  in 
of  Commissary  Currin.  Wo  drew  our  rations  like  commim  sohliers  for  i 'i:r 
months.  Captain  Sutter  arrangoil  a  room  for  us  in  tiie  fort.  As  soon  i- 
Mr  Wiemer  returned  from  .Santa  Clara,  where  he  had  been  stationed  dm  iii." 


~1" 


AILL. 


Wis.  WIEMER'S  STORY. 


75 


lyself  two  or  three 
to  pick  1  1  one  i>f 
•  on,  anotlier  glit- 
iw  licfore  you.    I 
,  that  it  was  a  tliin 
ed  Boine  twenty  or 
I  that  hia  suppo  i- 
i  iiad  heeu  lost  or 
>f  those  niysterioiis 
t  who  dwelt  on  tl.is 
,  the  ruins  of  whkh 
owever,  to  exaniiiio 
jsauriferoua.     Thin 
wn  to  me  as  fast  ;is 
'  Mr  Marshall's  ac- 
inced  myself,  from 
exaggerated,  I  ftlt 
I  shown  the  gold  to 
I  had  not  spoken  ti>  II 
nil'.ng,  not  to  r..<  u- 
early  the  next  il :;y 
oked  the  saudahout 
g  between  us  nioiu 
d.     I  stayed  at  Mi- 
me little  distance  i.p 
lole  course;  not  only 
)sided,  but  in  evtry 
lore  plentiful  in  tht'se 
iiall  knife,  picked  out 
lump  of  gold  which 
1  the  mill,  we  Mire 
ody,  and  showinj^  \n 
procured.     Mar  !iall 
lade  them  that  wliiit 
ig  value;  but  om;  if 
neighborhood  of  I.a 
ilisappointeil  enoii;;h 
il  been  watchin),'or.r 
precaution  agn"  t 
of  them,  a  sly  K' '.i- 
ground  to  see  if  .:'" 
n  some  Hakes?  of  yoid 

by  Mary  V. 

Wiemcr,  who, 

Giiicisco  soekin;; 

Tlie  writir 

woman  of  s<»iiie 

'  face. 

irteen  families,  across 
fort,  Sacramento,  vi- 
ilistod  before  wo  li;i'i 
at  the  fort  in  the  c-.w 
mvni  soldiers  for  i""' 
;ho  fort.  As  BOO"  •!* 
been  stationed  dm  ing 


the  M'intur,  he  joined  three  others  and  went  over  the  mountains  to  what  is 
now  called  Donner  lake  to  fetch  over  the  etlects  of  the  Donner  famdy, 
after  tiiat  terrilde  winter  of  suffering  that  you  have  lieaid  about.  In  Juno 
IhlT  tliey  loaded  all  our  household  plunder  for  Battle  creek,  up  on  the 
Sacraiiionto,  to  put  up  a  saw-mill,  but  they  changed  their  ph«u  and  went  to 
Coloma.  (.'.;ptain  Sutter  and  J.  W.  Marshall  were  eipial  partners  and  were 
tlie  lieail  of  tlie  expedition.  After  Kcven  days  of  travel,  we  arrived  at  sun- 
down a  mile  al)ovc  the  town.  Next  morning  Mr  Wiemer  went  out  to  select 
a  site  for  the  saw-mill,  and  I,  a  site  for  the  house.  Ho  was  to  oversee  tlie 
Indians,  be  a  handy  man  about,  and  1  was  to  bo  cook.  W'v  had  from  fifteen 
to  twenty  men  employed. 

'  l?ut  you  iiad  some  lielp  from  the  Indians,  didn't  you  ?  '  asked  the  writer. 
•(Hi  no.  except  to  scratch  out  the  pots  and  sweep  out  the  dirt  floors.  We 
BOOM  had  a  log  htmse,  a  good  log  liouse,  and  a  log  heap  to  cook  l)y.' 

'I'hev  liad  been  working  on  tlie  mill-race,  dam,  and  mill  about  six  months, 
when, One  morning  along  tlie  last  ilays  of  December  or  the  lirst  week  of 
Januiiry,  1847  S,  ;!ftcr  an  absence  of  several  days  to  the  fort  (that  was  our 
i  San  Francisco  in  those  diiys)  Mr  Marsli.all  took  Mr  Wiemer  and  went  down 
i  to  see  what  had  been  tlone  while  lie  was  away.     The  water  was  entirely  shut 
'  otl'  and,  as  they  walked  along,  talking  and  examining  the  M-ork,  just  ahead 
of  them,  on  a  little,  rough,  muddy  rock,  lay  something  looking  bright,  like 
.gold.     They  both  sfiw  it,  but  Mr  Marshall  was  the  first  to  8loo]).ti)  pick  it 
up,  and,  in  he  looked  at  it,  iloubted  its  being  gold.     Our  little  son  Martin 
wa<  along  M'ith  them,  and  Mr  Marshall  gave  it  to  him  to  bring  uj)  to  me. 
He  came  in  a  hurry  and  said:   'Hito,  mother,  hei'c  is  something  Air  Mar- 
shall and  pa  found,  and  they  want  you  to  put  it  into  salaratus  water  to 
see  if  it  will  tarni.th.'     I  said,  'This  is  golil,  and  I  will  throw  it  into  my 
lye  kettle,  which  1  had  just  tried  with  a  feather,  anil  if  it  is  gold,  it  will  bo 
goM  wlieu  its  ciunos  (mt. '     I  tini.ihed  off  my  soap  that  day  and  set  it  off  to 
c    ■',   .III  it  staj'cd  there  till  next  morning.     At  the  breakfast  table  one  of 
t'  '  »■'  i-  haiiih  raised  up  his  head  from  eating  and  said,   'I  heard  :;ouie- 
tiii  ;       lout  gold  being  di-icoveriid,  M'hat  about  it?'     Mr  Marshall  told  him 
to  ask  Jenny,  and  I  told  him  it  was  in  my  soap  kettle.     Mr  Mar.diall  said  it 
was  then!  if  it  had  not  gone  back  to  ('  lifornia.     A  plank  was  brouglit  for 
mo  to  lay  my  soap  onto,  and  I  cut  it  in  chunks,  but  it  wat  not  to  be  found. 
At  the  bottom  of  the  pot  was  a  double  handful  of  potash,  which  I  lifted  in 
my  two  hands,  and  there  was  my  gold  as  bright  as  it  could   be.     Mr  Mar- 
shall still  contended   it  was  not  gold,  but  whether  ho  was  Jifraid  his  men 
woidd  le.vve  him  or  he  really  thought  so   I   don't  know.      Mr  Wiemer  re- 
marked tliat  it  looked  like  gold,  weigiied  heavy  and  wouM  do  to  make  money 
out  of.     The  men  ])roinise<l  not  to  lea\e  till  the  mill  -was  finished.     Not  be- 
ing sure  it  was  gohl,  Mr  Wiemer  urged  Mr  Marshall  to  go  to  the  fort  and 
have  it  tested.      He  did  so  and  Oeorgo  McKinstry,  an  as.sayer,  jiroiiouiucd 
it  gold.     Captain  Sutter  came  right  un  with  Mr  Marshall  atid  called  all  tlie 
lndi:iiis   togctlier,  and   agreed   with   them   to  certain   boundaries   th:it  they 
cl.iiiiied,  ;ind  on  the  right  of  discovery  demanded  thirty  jier  cent  of  all  gold 
taken  out.      They  in  iiayiiieiit  were  to  give  the  Indiaiu  a  ci'rtain  numbi'r  of 
h.indki'rchicfs,    pocket-knives,     looking-glasses,     shirts,   beads,    and    other 
trinkets. 

'  Mrs  Weimer  will  you  be  kind  enough  to  tell  me  how  you  came  hi  posses- 
sion of  this  jiiei'O  of  g  lid.' 

'Yei;  it  was  just  this  way;  one  day  Mr  Marshall  Mas  packing  up  to 
g  I  away.  He  had  gathered  together  a  good  deal  of  dust  on  the  thirty  per 
nut  iMHiness,  and  had  it  buried  under  tiie  lloor.  In  ovi'rhaiilini;  his  tra[ps, 
he  said  to  me  in  the  presence  of  Klislia  I'aekwood,  'Jenny,  1  wdl  givi'  vmi 
tliis  piece  of  goM.  I  always  intended  to  have  a  ring  made  from  it  for  "my 
mother,  but  Twill  give  it  to  you.'  I  took  it  and  have  liad  it  in  my  posses- 
f-'on  frorii  that  day  to  this.  '  Vou  have  not  the  exact  date  of  the  discovery 
ot  gold?'  '\o,  but  it  was  somewhere  about  the  holidays,  for  I  know  that 
Captain  Sutter  had  sent  up  to  ine  a  dozen  bottles  of  brandy,  six  for  the  men 


70 


AFFAIRS  ABOUT  TEE  COLOMA  SAW-MILL 


and  Rix  tor  me. '  Tliu  iiiuce  of  sold  I  must  describe.  Its  value  ia  bctwocii 
four  uiid  live  doUaro.  It  looks  Tike  a  piece  of  spruce  gum  just  nut  of  tuu 
iiioutli  of  u  school-girl,  except  tlie  color.  It  is  rather  Hat,  full  of  iiideiiia- 
tioiis,  just  as  the  teeth  make  in  a  piece  of  nice  gum.  There  are  one  or  tuu 
rougli  points  on  the  edge,  which,  with  a  little  stretch  of  the  imagination, 
gives  the  appuiu-aiice  of  a  ir.an's  head  with  a  helmet  on;  then,  turn  it  an- 
other way,  and,  as  Mrs  Wiemcr  said,  'itlook^  like  some  kind  of  variiiint 
or  other.  It  can  easily  lie  identitied  by  any  one  wholun  ever  seen  it  befoic 
Other  accounts  of  secondary  importance  are  given  l)y  liiirstow,  Slieriiiaii, 
Ma:<on,  Bidwoll,  tlic  Ainiilx  (}/'  Suit  Fritiirinrtt,  the  /{■jn-iMiiifjithr  Mrn  nj  I  r 
I'liriji, ,  Tuthill,  liittell,  Dunbar,  Woods,  and  a  multitude  of  uewspapir 
writers. 


ii  y 


11  i 


(roin*^  back  to  Biglcr's  diary  I  find  it  of  interest  U) 
follow  him  for  a  few  days  after  the  discover}'. 

The  men  hastened  the  work  at  the  mill,  so  as  to 
keep  hy  their  promise  with  Sutter,  and  be  sooner  able 
to  diii^  for^old;  and  though  some  spoke  of  throvviiM^r 
up  their  employment,  yet  the  fear  that  the  mines 
were  not  rich  deterred  them.  On  Sundays,  however, 
they  went  into  the  tail-race,  and  scratchin*.'  about 
with  their  butcher  knives  fretjuently  obtained  from 
three  to  vhj]\t  dollars.  The  first  s-'old  discovery  be 
yond  the  limits  of  the  Coloma  saw-mill  was  on  Sun- 
day, the  ()th  of  February.  Early  that  morning  Biglir 
said  he  would  cro.ss  tli(>  stream  and  try  the  ba^^e  rocks 
facing  the  saw-mlU;  Barger  said  he  would  go  witli 
him,  and  the  two  started,  taking  only  their  knivc  s. 
U|)  to  this  time  none  of  the  mill  hands  knew  tln' 
simple  process  of  washiiig,  nor  hdd  tluy  ever  sei  ii 
rockers;  the  way  they  gatht?red  the  gold  was  to  pick 
it  up  grain  by  grain  as  it  lay  on  tli«?:  Kjcks,  or  wltii 
tlieir  kmves  dig  it  out  from  the  crevicis  and  hole  r 
On  this  Sunday  ]->igler  secured  ten  dollars.  For  d' - 
termliiiiig  the  value  of  gold-dust,  he  made  a  light  p;;ir 
of  wooden  scales;  and  by  balancing  tvvolvii  and  a  hiili' 
cents  in  silver  with  gold-dust,  lie  formed  a  ratio  of  oin 
bit  to  two  dollars,  twenty-live  cents  to  four  dolhiis. 
and  so  on.  Bigler  seems  to  have  been  the  only  oi  c 
wlio  was  seriousU'  affected  l>y  the  news  of  the  <><iM 
discovery.  Not  «'ontent  to  wait  till  the  i\ext  Sunday, 
he  on  Saturday  afternoon  threw  down  his  pick,  for  i.i' 
with  Brown  and  ethers  were  digging  at  tlie  race,  aiid 


mm 


[ILL 


^^^^AT  bicler  did. 


77 


valuo  is  lietweeii 
I  juat  out  of  tiie 
t,  full  of  intleiua- 
re  are  one  or  two 
tlie  iiiiaginatioii, 
then,  turn  it  an- 
J  kintl  of  vanniut 
jvcr  seen  it  liufoir. 
liirstow,  SherniiiM. 
iiiitiitii'e  M'H  Hi  I' I- 
tude  of  uew»l<ai>»^^r 


of  interest  to 
)very. 

mill,  so  as  to 
1)0  sooner  ai  tie 
o  of  throwiii;,' 
lat  the   mint  8 
lays,  howevt  r, 
■atohin*.^  about 
obtained  from 
i  discovery  bt 
11  was  on  Sun- 
norning  Bigl*'!' 
the  ba^e  r<)cl<s 
vould  jjjo  witli 
tUeir  knivrs. 
lids  knew  tli"' 
(cy  ever  seta 
)ld  was  t<»  piilv 
rocks,  or  with 
ices  and  boU-^- 
lavs.     For  d';- 
wle  a  lii-dit  piir 
clv«>  and  a  bull 
d  a  ratio  of  ow 
to  hwv  doUuis. 
■n  tbo  only  one 
vs  of  tbe  goM 
e  next  Sunday. 


»vc 


k,f< 


or  i.f 


bis  I 

it  tbe  race,  aa( 


broke  out,  "I  say,  Brown,  let  us  have  your  gun,  1 
want  to  shoot  some  ducks."     Brown  told  him  to  take 
it,  and  Biglcr  left  tliem.     As  he  walked  along  the 
rivor  l)anks  lie  kept  thinking  of  gold;  and  when  about 
lialf  a  mile  below  the  mill  he  fancied  that  on  the  op- 
jHtsite  side  of  the  stream  the  rocks  looked  similar  to 
'  the  on(^  wliereon  he  had  found  gold  the  previous  Sun- 
day.    They  were  bare,  and  it  also  seemed  that  tber(3 
liad  forna^rly  been  a  slide ;  so  taking  off  his  clothes 
^:he  waded  over,  and  found  the  ground  glistening  with 
I  golden  dust.     The  next  day  was  rainy,  so  the  men 
eniained  within  doors;  but  Bigler,  without  saying  a 
ord  to  any  one,  started  down  the  river,  crossed  over 
Wto  the  san'ic  rocks,  and  obtained  eight  dollars.     On 
till'  following  Sunday,  still  keeping  ids  own  counsel, 
lie  went  to  the  same  spot  and  picked  up  a  little  over 
^f  an  ounce  and  a  half     All  through  the  next  week  he 
*  Morkfd  stea<lily  at  the  mill;  "but  about  this  gold,  if 
there  was  anything  in  it,"  he  asked  himself,  "should 
not  the  brethren  elsewhere  know  of  it?"    So  ho  wrote 
<rf  it  to  Jesse   Martin,  Israel  Evans,  and  Ephraim 
( Jreen,  three  of  liis  former  messmates  in.  tlic  Mormon 
Itattulion,  then  at  the  Houring-mill,  but  asked  thej^ 
not  to  mention  it  to  m\\  one,  unless  to  those  in  whom 
they  could  trust.     On  Tuesday,  the  2'2d  of  Fel)ruaiy, 
n  fall  of  snow  stopped  work,  and  while  the  men  were 
at  breakfast  Marsliall  walked  into  the  cabin  and  said, 
"Boys,  it  is  going  to  be  slippery  to  day,"  pointing  to 
the  upiier   story  of  the  saw-mill,  which  had  to  be 
raisid,  "  and  rather  bad  about  putting  up  the  frame ; 
vou  mav  work  if  you  see  fit,  or  let  it  alone."     TIic 
men  were  glad  to  take  a  holiday,  and  each  one  had  an 
e\('us(\     Alick  Stevens  declared  he  wanted  to  mend 
liis  trousers;  Brown  thought  he  would  ]»re[iare  a  dish 
of  peas;  and  Bigler,  who  was  present,  said  to  Bnnvn, 
"If  you  will  let  me  have  your  gun,  I  will  go  and 
Hh<»ot    deer."      "Take    it,"   was   the   reply.       Bigler 
started,  and  climl>in}j  a  hillock  a  little  to  the  west  of 
the  mill,  looked  about  as  hunters  do  befort;  choosing 


11,  J' 


AFFAIRS  ABOUT  THE  C'OLOMA  SAW-MTLL, 


their  course.  His  eye  glancinj^  down  tlie  river  fc  11 
uiMHi  the  rocks  where  he  had  twice  found  gold.  Itlv 
hesitated  for  a  moment,  tlien  turned  to  the  ri;j;lit, 
made  for  the  river,  and  was  soon  opposite  his  favorite 
place.  The  late  rains  had  swollen  the  stream,  and 
the  water  was  verv  C(>ld.  Tins  did  not  deter  hlni,  for 
undressing  and  carrying  his  gun  and  clothes,  lie  wad( d 
over;  hut  when  he  reached  the  opposite  hank  he  wa.s 
so  benundn'd  that  he  could  not  work.  He  tried  to 
light  a  fire,  hut  his  fingers  refused  to  hold  the  ihut 
and  steel.  He  then  tried  to  catch  fire  from  his  gun, 
a  cap-lock,  but  while  in  the  water  the  charge  had  got 
wet.  The  only  way  left  was  to  run  and  jump ;  and 
the  most  exasj)erating  part  of  it  was  that  right  hefoic 
him.  starini;  liiin  in  the  face,  was  what  he  souii'ht,  and 
f)r  which  he  had  braved  the  danger  of  deadly  cramps, 
hut  which  now  he  was  powerless  to  grasp.  Snow  had 
fallen:  the  dav  was  cloud v,  and  the  mists  heavv.  (  hi 
th<!  bare  rock  the  snow  soon  melted;  in  the  crevict  s 
and  di-ep  ]daces  it  renuiined.  As  soon  as  he  became 
a  little  warm,  Bigler  set  himself  to  work,  first  seardi- 
ing  the  u])per  rocks,  thence  slowly  working  his  way 
down  to  the  water's  edge,  where  it  was  so  j)lentiful 
that  he  spent  the  remainder  of  tlu^  day  }>ickiMg  it  i  p, 
grain  by  grain,  from  the  tiniest  speck  to  the  lump 
W'rrth  over  five  dollars.  As  he  dug  out  the  gold,  ju; 
put  it  in  his  cap.  The  labor  was  so  engrossing  that 
night  ciune  on  before  he  was  aware  of  it.  As  lie 
arose,  and  tried  to  straighten  himself,  he  cried  out 
with  pain.  He  tiiought  his  back  was  broken;  and 
without  recrossing  the  river,  he  made  his  wav  alonij; 
the  bank,  until  wh<  n  opposite^  the  dam,  he  called  for 
Brown  to  bring  over  the  raft. 

Meanwhile  the  sus])icions  of  his  comrades  had  been 
aroused,  and  no  sooner  had  he  reached  the  cabin  than 
they  began  to  question  him.  Why  had  he  crossed 
tlie  river?  Or  if  he  wi.-hi^d  to  hunt  on  that  side  why 
had  he  not  crossed  it  iii  the.  morning  ?  It  was  ?io  use 
trying  to  deceive  then>  further,  nor  was  Bigkr  in  the 


ILL. 


HUNTING  FOR  GOLD. 


lie  river  fdl 
1  gold,  ilo 
}  the   riijjl.t, 

his  favorltu 
stroam,  and 
Rter  him,  tur 
L>s,  lie  wath'd 
bank  he  was 
Ho  tried  to 
[)ld  the  iiiut 
roiii  his  gun, 
irixc  had  s»«it 
I  jump;  and 

rijiht  hifnif 
>  soug'ht,  and 
adly  cniiiii's. 
.     Snow  had 

lieavv.      ( 'ii 

tlio  crevic*  s 
^s  lie  horaiiif 

first  scan  li- 
iiWiS.  his  wav 

so  pU'ntitiu 

iokiiijj;  it  v]*. 

()  tlu'  hiiint 


>e  <>•(> 


tl 


rossiuij: 


hi. 


that 


it. 


A*^ 


u>  crR'( 


out 


hrokeii;  and 


Is  wav 


oiiii 


lie  ca 


al 
lied  f 


111' 


Ics  had  het'ii 
cabin  than 
ho  crossed 

I  at  side  why 
was  Jio  use 


wl.  r  m  liH. 


th 


humor  for  it.  Drawing  the  rag  in  whicli  the  gold 
was  wrapped  from  his  pocket— "No,"  exclainis  the 
narrator  parenthetically  *'»f>t  that  exactly  either; 
I  will  tell  the  truth  Mr  Bancroft ;  I  had  tied  it  up 
tur  saf« '-keeping  inthe((»rnerof  iny  shirt," — he  showed 
it  to  his  friends.  They  took  it  from  hhn,  weighed  it, 
and  found  that  he  had  gathered  a  little  short  of  an 
ounce  and  a  half.  There  was  no  further  secret  dig- 
ging for  Bioler,  for  on  the  next  Sunday,  the  27th  of 
J'cbruary,  five  others  determined  to  accompany  him; 
and  they  sinnt  the  day,  lying  prostrate  with  their 
faces  to  the  ground,  scratching  and  hunting  for  the 
pi-ecious  particles. 

That  night  arrivi'd  from  i)elow  three  of  the  Mormon 
boys,  FicHeld.  Sichu-y  Willis,  and  Wilford  Huds<m, 
^\  itli  their  guns  and  blankets  on  their  hacks.  It  ap- 
|.carsthe  secret  writti'U  to  Martin,  (Jreen,  and  Evans, 
was  told,  for  easier  kee]»ing,  to  other  three;,  who  tind- 
iii'--  it  heavv,  started  at  once  for  the  saw-mill,  saving 
to  their  coni])anlons  that  tiny  were  going  on  a  visit, 
and  for  a  few  ilays'  shooting.  IMarshall  happened  to 
be  in  the  house  when  they  arrived,  and  instead  of 
being  (►trended  at  Bigler's  faithlessness,  talked  good 
liuinoredly  about  their  prospects  till  a  late  hour,  and 
gave  Hudson  ])ermission  to  dig  in  the  tail-race. 
Therefore  earlv  next  morniiiLf  the  three  went  thither, 
and  not  long  after  Hudson  ])i(  ked  np  a  lump  worth 
about  six  dollars.  On  Thuisdav,  the  I'd  of 
^larch,  tlie  Mormons  took  their  depaiture  for  the 
Houring-null,  Willis  and  Hudson  tollowing  the  river 
to  look  for  gold,  and  Fiefield,  accompanied  by  Bigler, 
l>'oin*j;  bv  the  road. 

All  four  met  at  the  flouring-mill.  All  the  way 
down  tlu!  river,  though  passing  over  some  of  the  rich- 
est de[»osits,  Willis  and  Hu(lson  gathered  oidy  fifty 
cent-4  ;  and  so  disyusted  were  thev  that  tlu^v  refusi  d 
to  hi  ve  anythmg  more  to  do  with  the  bushiess, 
thoui^h  uru'ed  bv  their  friends,  who  volunteered  to  iro 
buck    with    them.     Bigler,    however,    returned     to 

..,,,;■,  ,    .   - 


80 


APPAmS  ABOtJT  THE  COLOMA  SAW-MILL. 


[if 


Coloma,  whore  nothing  of  note  occurred  till  Sunday, 
the  11th  ot*  March,  when  Miirshall  started  the  saw- 
mill running.  The  following  week  was  spent  in  deep- 
ening the  fall  in  the  tail-race ;  but  on  Sunday  all  went 
gold-digging,  when  Bigler  secured  two  ounces.  About 
this  time  Bigkr  took  charge  of  the  Indians,  teach- 
ing them  to  saw  and  chop  wood.  Though  anxious 
enough  to  learn,  they  were  extremely  awkward,  ar.vl 
were  continually  hurting  or  cutting  themselves.  Ho 
worked  in  this  manner  until  Friday,  the  7th  of  April, 
when  he,  Stevens,  and  Brown,  started  for  the  fort 
to  have  a  settlement  with  Sutter,  and  to  tell  him 
that  they  wished  to  leave  for  Salt  Lake.  On  the 
evening  of  the  next  day  they  arrived  at  the  Houring- 
n)ill,  and  found  the  place  well-nigh  deserted.  They 
were  told  that  Willis  and  Hudson,  with  others,  were 
up  the  river  getting  gold.  Bigler  stayed  over  Sunday 
at  the  flouring-mill  to  make  arrangements  as  to  what 
they  should  buy  of  Sutter  for  their  intended  journey. 
Those  present  agreed  to  send  in  advance  a  few  men 
to  pioneer  a  route  across  the  Sierra,  the  main  body  to 
be  in  readiness  to  start  in  the  beginning  of  June,  with 
the  exception  of  eight  men  who  were  to  leave  the  fol- 
lowing Saturday  with  an  express  for  the  States.  Next 
day  Bigler  and  his  friends  stai-ted  for  the  fort  with 
Browett  who  was  to  act  as  spokesman,  but  were  una- 
ble to  see  Sutter,  or  buy  the  seeds,  cattle,  horses,  and 
tv.o  brass  cannon  they  wished.  On  Tuesday  they 
left  the  fort  for  home,  intending  to  turn  their  atten- 
tion for  the  rest  of  their  stay  to  gold-digging.  As 
t^Jiey  could  not  make  the  journey  in  a  da}',  they  cn- 
c:Vmped  for  the  night  at  a  ereek  fifteen  miles  from  thi' 
flc\uring-mill,  and  next  morning  Bigler,  whose  mind 
wa3  running  in  one  direction,  began  to  look  for  gold; 
and  he  and  his  four  companions  soon  found  about  ten 
dt)llars.  As  Willis  and  Hudson  were  not  far  away, 
they  determined  to  look  them  up  and  see  what  success 
had  attended  them  ;  so  keeping  close  to  tiie  river  they 
soon  came  across  them,  at  what  afterward  was  called 


A 


DOIKOS  OP  TTtli:  MORMONS. 


•I 


Mormon  island.  Five  persons,  Ira  Willis,  Jesse  B. 
Martin,  Ephraim  Green,  Israel  Evans,  together  with' 
Hudson  and  Sidney  Willis,  were  at  work,  and  had,  on 
that  day.  obtained  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars. 
Higler  here  noticed  an  improvement  in  mining,  for  one 
«  r  two  of  the  Mormons  had  Indian  baskets,  and  were 
aide  hi  a  short  titne  to  wash  out  from  twenty-five 
cents  to  two  dollars. 

l^igler  arrived  at  Coloma  on  the  13th,  and  from 
tliat  date  he  and  his  friends  began  mining.  It  was 
iwird  work,  for  the  only  tools  they  had  were  their 
knives.  He  tried  to  get  an  Indian  basket,  but  none 
were  available ;  and  so  had  to  use  a  tray  on  which  he 
kixrded  dough  to  serve  as  a  washer,  while  Alick 
Stevens  did  good  service  with  his  wooden  wash-bowl. 
Tliere  was  only  one  tin  pan,  about  the  size  of  an 
eight  quart  basin,  among  ail  the  miners  ;  so  they  had 
to  (-arry  the  dirt  in  sacks  from  the  dry  gulches,  a  mile 
below  the  mill,  to  the  river,  some  five  to  six  hun- 
dri'd  yards  distant,  and  there  wash  and  separate  the 
gold.  In  less  than  tiiree  weeks  after  Bigler's  arrival 
at  the  sjiw-mill  the  great  rush  to  the  mines  took  place, 
and  soon  the  little  gulches  were  thronged  with  eager 
gohl-seekers,  who  disputed  Marshall's  claim  to  the  land, 
and  (luj:;  where  they  pleased.  Among  the  strangers 
was  an  old  Sonoran  who  was  evidently  a  miner.  He 
thig  a  hole  and  filled  it  with  water.  Then  he  fitted 
into  it  a  cotton  sheet,  into  which  he  shovelled  dirt, 
which  the  water  dissolved,  leaving  the  gold  sticking 
to  tlio  cloth.  Bigler  and  Brown  then  tried  the  same 
nictliod,  but  with  partial  success. 

It  was  at  this  juncture,  the  middle  of  June  1848, 
tliat  Bigler,  and  many  others  of  the  Mormon  battal- 
ion, turned  their  faces  toward  the  new  city  of  the 
saints.  None  tell  us  how  hard  it  was  for  them  to 
kave  the  fascinations  of  the  gold  fields  for  the  distant 
desert,  or  whether  it  was  hard  at  all.  But  it  is  very 
certain  that  there   were   few   in   the    canons   of  the 


Cai..  Int.  I'oc.    6 


AFFAIRS  ABOUT  THE  COLOMA  SAWMILL. 


i'ti 


Slorra  foothills  who  wouUl  then   have  turnod  tl.c  ir 
back  on  Mammon  for  tho  service  of  any  other  gi  !. 

After  this  the  world  came  flockint;  in.  The  n««i:  n 
round  Marshall's  mill  soon  swarmed  with  <jold-seek(rs. 
Two  thousand  dii^gers  were  at  work  there,  with  kni\ «  s, 
picks,  shovels,  sticks,  tin  pans,  wooden  bowls,  willow 
baskets,  and  cradles,  pickinj^  crevices,  scrapin;^  rocky 
beds,  riddling  gravelly  sand,  and  washing  dirt  for  tl:r 
metal.  Shortly  after  there  were  some  four  thousand 
upon  the  ground,  if  we  include  natives,  who  wciv 
mostly  enj[>loyed  by  white  men.  It  was  then  ilis- 
covered  that  all  about  in  the  vicinity  of  Marshali's 
mill  gold  abounded.  Virgin  placers  were  found  cii 
Feather  river,  on  Deer  creek,  on  Yuba  river.  New 
discoveries  followed  in  quick  succession,  each  addiii;; 
fuel  to  the  flame.  Every  gulch  and  ravine  was  ])i(is- 
pected,  and  there  was  scarcely  a  spot  where  gold  wr.s 
not,  though  not  always  in  paying  (luantiti-s.  Finally 
the  fiict  became  apparent  that  all  along  the  base  df 
the  Sierra,  on  every  affluent  of  the  Sacramento  and 
San  Joaquin,  from  one  end  of  the  great  valley  nf 
California  to  the  other,  almost  every  rivulet,  gul(  li, 
and  canon  was  rich  in  gold. 

"Some  fifty  thousand  persons,"  writes  one  wIki 
deals  largely  in  exaggeration,  on  the  8th  of  Nov<'iii- 
ber,  1848:  "are  drifting  up  and  down  the  s1o[m's  of 
the  great  Sierra,  of  every  hue,  language,  and  cliiiu'. 
tunmltuous  and  confused  as  a  flock  of  wild  geese  ti>k- 
iny:  win*'  at  the  crack  of  a  gun,  or  autumnal  leavt  s 
strewn  on  the  atmospheric  tide  by  the  breath  of  tlio 
whirlwind.  All  are  in  search  of  gold;  and,  with  eyc^ 
diluted  to  the  circle  of  the  moon,  rush  this  way  and 
that  as  some  new  discovery,  or  fictitious  tale  of  suc- 
cess may  suggest."  Says  another  in  a  letter  to  tlio 
New  York  ./onrval  of  Commerce,  from  Monterey  un<i«  r 
date  of  August  29,  1848,  "At  present  the  people  are 
running  over  the  country  and  picking  it  out  of  the 
earth  here  and  there,  just  as  a  thousand  hogs  let 


[ILL. 


(I.KRK "AL   K\ A< K i KUATION. 


uriu'd   ti;<  ir 
other  <j;(  '.. 

The  r(';j;i;  ii 
jjold-sockcrs. 
witli  kiilvt  s, 
owls,  willow 
■a[>iii;jj  rocky 
•  dirt  for  tiic 
lur  thousand 
,,  who  wtic 
lis  thou  dis- 
•f  Marshall's 
re  found  «>ii 
river.  New 
each  adiliiiLT 
lie  was  pros- 
lore  ijold  wi.s 
i'>s.     Finally 

the  base  of 
raincnto  and 

at  vallev  nf 
vulet,  gul«  li, 

cs  one  wlio 
of  Nov<'iii- 
le  slopes  lit 
and  cliiiu'. 
I  jj^eese  tak- 
mnal  leavts 
rcath  of  tlio 
id,  witli  eyo 
lis  way  ami 
tale  of  suc- 
etter  to  tlit' 
iterev  uiuii  r 
people  i\\y 

out    of  till' 

nd  hogs  kt 


1....SO  in  a  fon^st  would  root  up  ground  nuts.  Some 
u  t  eight  or  tell  ounets  a  day,  and  the  least  active  one 
nr  two.  They  make  iiKtst  who  employ  the  wild  In- 
dians t(»  hunt  it  for  them.  There  is  one  man  who  lias 
>ixtv  Indians  in  his  employ;  his  profits  are  a  dollar  a 
minute.  The  wild  Indians  know  nothing  of  its  value, 
and  wond<T  what  the  pale  faces  want  to  do  with  it; 
;nid  they  will  giv«!  an  ouiu'e  of  it  for  the  same  weight 
of'  coined  silver,  or  a  thimhleful  of  glass  beads,  or  a 
Ljlass  of  grog.  And  white  men  themselves  often  giv.^ 
an  (»unce  of  it,  whi(di  is  worth  at  our  mint  eighteen 
<|oll,iis  or  more,  for  a  botth-  of  brandy,  a  bottle  of 
soda  p(»wders,  or  a  plug  of  tobacco." 

Then  stn-anis  began  to  form  in  every  quarter;  in- 
land streams  and  ocean  curr<'nts,  social  tricklings  and 
iM»zin<j;s  from  scattered  and  far  distant  homes,  gather- 
ing into  rivulets,  and  expanding  into  human  rivers, 
iiiciiasing  in  strength  and  volume  as  they  neared 
that  worshipful  irold.  Bands  of  ilevotees  were  origan- 
i/i'd  for  pilgrimages,  in  which  Christendom  and 
|»ajfandom  might  join  alike,  in  Avhioh  all  the  sons  of 
nit  11  might  join  and  bow  before  one  common  shrine. 

In  vain  we  search  the  annals  of  mankind  for  a 
similar  flocking.  The  nearest  akin  to  it  were  the 
(^hristian  crusiides  made  in  the  ninth  century,  and 
subse(|uently,  for  the  recovery  from  profane  hands  of 
tli(.'  tomb  of  Christ — wild  fanaticism,  folly  incredible, 
yet  under  providence  working  out  for  civilization  the 
'j;i-andest  results,  bringing  together  antagonistic  socie- 
ties, forcing  oppugnant  elements  to  coalesce,  and  melt- 
ing and  moulding  humanity  into  more  useful  and 
cnmelier  forms.  But  the  world  was  smaller  then 
than  now,  and  although  the  numbers  were  large  they 
comprised  comparatively  few  nationalities,  and  the  di.;- 
tance  travelled  was  less.  In  the  nineteenth  century 
there  were  cosmopolitan  crusades  for  gold  wherewith 
to  make  rich  the  finder,  and  add  volume  to  the  world's 
circulatliKj'  medium.  Was  the  ijold  sousxht  in  these 
modern  pilgrimages  essential  to   human  well-being, 


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84 


AFFAIRS  ABOUT  THE  COLOMA  SAW-MILL. 


as  appeared  to  be  the  quasi  possession  of  Christ's 
sepulchre  ?  The  central  idea  of  the  Christian  cru- 
sades was  fanaticism;  that  of  the  Plutonic  crusades 
was  avarice.  Which  is  better  or  worse,  which  has 
done  the  more  for  or  against  human  progress,  is  not 
here  a  point  of  discussion.  The  question  is,  whether 
gold  is  more  valuable  than  religion,  or  avarice  a 
nobler  passion  than  fanaticism  ?  Has  the  world  then 
grown  no  wiser  nor  more  sober  in  ten  centuries  ?  Yet 
as  in  the  mediaeval  crusades  great  benefits  from  great 
evils  came,  so  in  the  latter-day  crusades  for  gold,  good 
will  come  of  them;  but  the  great  good  God  there- 
from designed  for  man,  California  has  yet  to  tell. 

First  those  nearest  at  hand  felt  the  subtle  influence. 
The  ox-team  of  the  emigrant  turned  toward  Coloma ; 
the  trapper  left  his  peltries,  and  the  ranchero  his  herds, 
curious  to  see  what  this  thinoj  should  mean.  The 
excitement  was  felt  by  the  devoted  Mormons, 
some  6f  whom  attempted  a  small  settlement  on  the 
Stanislaus,  which  they  called  New  Hope,  and  immedi- 
ately they  were  reconciled  to  digging  gold  as  if  by  gen- 
eral agreement.  Sutter  was  nearly  ruined  by  the  dis- 
covery. On  the  instant  his  laborers  deserted  him 
almost  to  a  man,  leaving  a  mill  unfinished,  and  all  his 
property  exposed  to  the  depredations  of  the  rabble, 
which  were  more  serious  than  those  of  the  natives 
had  ever  been.  They  drove  off  his  cattle,  squatted 
on  his  land,  and  then  combined  and  beat  him  in  the 
courts,  when  courts  were  established.  Marshall  was 
swept  away  by  the  tide. 

Immediately  following  the  discovery,  most  of  the 
provisions  for  the  mines  were  obtained  at  Sutter's  fort ; 
then  traders  went  to  Sonoma  for  supplies.  One  would 
think  that  these  early  settlers,  with  leagues  of  land 
and  thousands  of  horses  and  cattle,  and  of  native  la- 
borers, should  have  reaped  a  harvest  from  the  gold 
crop.  And  so  they  did,  most  of  them,  at  first,  but  so 
strange  and  unprecedented  was  it  all  to  them  that 
they  became  bewildered ;  gold  poured  in  upon  them 


EFFECT  OF  THE  GOLD  DISCOVERY. 


SO  freely  that  it  seemed  as  if  it  would  never  be  want- 
ing again.  Between  the  embarcadero  and  the  fort, 
"boatmen  were  shouting  and  swearing;  waggoners 
were  whistling  and  hallooing,  and  cracking  their  whips 
at  their  straining  horses,  as  they  toiled  along  with 
heavily  laden  wagons  to  the  different  stores  within 
the  building ;  groups  of  horsemen  were  riding  to  and 
fro,  and  crowds  of  people  were  moving  about  on  foot. 
It  was  evident  the  gold  mania  increased  in  force  as 
the  eagerly  longed-for  El  Dorado  was  approached. 
Every  store  and  shed  was  being  crammed  with  bales 
of  goods,  barrels  of  flour,  and  a  thousand  other  things 
for  which  a  demand  had  suddenly  sprung  up.  The 
captain's  own  house  was  like  a  hotel  crowded  with 
more  visitors  than  it  could  accommodate." 

The  incomers  could  not  obtain  accommodations 
within  the  fort,  and  were  obliged  to  content  themselves 
with  camping  outside.  "It  was  not  easy  to  pick  our 
way  through  the  crowds  of  strange  people  who  were 
moving  backwards  and  forwards  in  every  direction," 
says  one  who  was  present.  "Carts  were  passing  to 
and  fro ;  groups  of  Indians  squatting  on  their  haunches 
were  chattering  together,  and  displaying  to  one  an- 
other the  flaring  red  and  yellow  handkerchiefs,  the 
scarlet  blankets,  and  muskets  of  the  most  worthless 
Brummagem  make,  for  which  they  had  been  exchang- 
ing their  bits  of  gold.  Inside  the  stores  the  bustle 
and  noise  were  even  greater.  Some  half  a  dozen 
sharp- visaged  Yankees,  in  straw  hats  and  loose  frocks, 
were  driving  hard  bargains  for  dollars  with  the  crowd 
of  customers  who  were  continually  pouring  in  to  bar- 
tor  a  portion  of  their  stock  of  gold  for  coffee  and  to- 
bacco, breadstuff,  brandy,  and  bowie-knives.  Of 
spades  and  mattocks  there  were  none  to  be  had.  In 
one  corner,  at  a  railed-off  desk,  a  quick-eyed  old  man 
was  busily  engaged  with  weights  and  scales,  setting 
his  own  value  on  the  lumps  of  golden  ore  or  the  bags 
of  dust  which  were  being  handed  over  to  him,  and  in 
exchange  for  which  he  told  out  the  estimated  quantity 


'<  IK 

m 


w  > 


80 


AFFAIRS  ABOUT  THE  COLOMA  SAW-MILL. 


of  dollars.  These  dollars  quickly  returned  to  the 
orighial  deposit,  in  payment  fur  goods  bought  at  the 
other  end  of  the  store." 

Owhig  to  the  scarcity  of  coin,  gold-dust  did  not 
bring  over  two  thirds  of  its  real  value.  On  the  fourth 
of  June,  Mormon  island  and  its  approaches  presented 
scenes  of  the  greatest  excitement.  A  numerous  cara- 
van was  moving  along  toward  the  no  longer  ridiculed 
El  Dorado. 

In  July,  Colonel  Mason,  then  military  governor  of 
California,  visited  Coloma,  and  found  Marshall  livhig 
near  the  mill,  while  there  were  many  persons  at  work 
on  the  river  above  and  below  him.  Crossing  over  to 
a  stream,  since  known  as  Weber  creek,  three  or  four 
miles  below  the  mill,  he  found  at  work  one  Suilol, 
with  about  thirty  employed  natives,  who  received  their 
pay  in  merchandise.  Eight  miles  above  was  a  large 
number  of  whites  and  Indians,  some  working  in  the 
river  bed,  and  others  in  the  small  valleys.  These 
latter  were  exceedingly  rich,  two  ounces  being  consid- 
ered the  average  yield  for  a  day's  work.  In  a  small 
gutter,  not  more  than  a  hundred  yards  long  by  four 
feet  wide  and  two  or  three  feet  deep,  two  men  had 
shortly  before  obtained  $17,000  worth  of  gold.  An- 
other small  ravine  had  yielded  $12,000,  and  on  every 
side  there  were  hundreds  of  such. 

The  poor  natives  gathered  round  to  pick  up  a  few 
crumbs  of  civilization,  and  with  a  new  money  buy  new 
comforts  to  supply  new  wants.  Gold-dust  by  the 
bushel  had  been  within  tlieir  reach  for  ages;  but  with- 
out the  conventional  value  i)laced  upon  it  by  the  cun- 
ning of  progress,  it  was  of  no  use  to  them.  Now,  de- 
prived of  their  natural  resources,  they  herded  about  the 
mining  camps,  being  permitted  occasionally  by  the 
kinder-hearteil  miners  to  wash  a  |)an  of  dirt  from  their 
claims,  or  to  sweep  the  sluice-boxes.  Fretjuently  they 
obtained  quite  a  little  quantity  of  gold  on  the  rivers 
bv  scraj/mg  the  crevices  of  claims  abandoned  bv  the 
white  men.     Even  In  the  davs  of  their  dcjtjeneration, 


food 
hold( 


SAVAGES  AND  GEXTE  DE  RAZON. 


87 


the  men  maintained  their  lordly  dignity,  and  loft  all 
the  gold-digging  to  the  women.  These  obtained 
sometimes  two  or  three  dollars  a  day  each,  and  with 
the  proceeds  of  their  labor  they  bought  food  and 
finery. 

One  would  think  that  with  thousands  of  acres  of 
valuable  land  stocked  by  immense  herds,  with  gardens 
and  orchards  and  fields  of  grain,  the  influx  of  a  vast 
gold- producing  and  agricultural  population,  requiring 
food  and  farms,  would  have  made  the  great  grant- 
holders  monarchs  of  wealth  and  industry.  But  such 
was  not  the  result,  Tlie  old  Mexican-Californians 
hereupon  proved  themselves  a  comnmnity  of  children. 
No  sooner  was  the  discovery  of  gold  announced  than 
hired  laborers,  mechanics,  herders,  and  retainers 
dropped  their  iniplements,  abandoned  their  trust,  and 
rushed  for  the  mines.  No  amount  of  money  which 
the  landed  proprietor  could  offer  was  sufficient  to 
hold  them.  Thus  left  defenceless,  he  was  overrun  by 
swarms  of  adventurers,  who  drove  off"  his  cattle,  shot 
his  Indians,  and  took  possessi(jn  of  his  ground. 

Even  the  sedate  gente  do  razon  caught  the  infec- 
tion, and  taking  with  them  their  servants  and  retain- 
ers, hastened  to  the  mines,  and  selecting  a  favorable 
spot,  put  their  men  at  work,  while  they  sat  in  their 
tents  in  state,  or  strutted  about  from  camp  to  camp, 
or  lounged  down  among  the  boulders.  The  relations 
of  man  and  master,  however,  were  soon  severed  in 
t!ie  mines,  the  one  casting  off"  old  ties  and  and  affec- 
tions and  setting  up  for  himself,  and  the  other  return- 
ing home  to  mourn  to  the  end  of  his  days  over  the 
rapacity  of  the  Yankees,  and  his  loss  of  o[)portunity 
and  loss  of  property,  which,  after  all,  were  due  for  the 
most  part  to  himself. 

The  soldiers  in  the  service  of  the  United  States 
were  also  seized  with  the  gold  fever,  and  abandoning 
tlieir  ])osts,  ran  off"  to  the  placers.  It  was  almost 
impossible  to  retain  crews  on  their  ships.  The  pioneer 
steamship,  California,  on  her  first  voyage  lost  all  her 


88 


AFFAIRS  ABOUT  THE  COLOMA  SAW-MILL. 


crew ;  and  in  order  to  return  to  Panama  had  to  en- 
gage men  at  enormous  wages.  Thus,  while  her  com- 
mander, engaged  by  the  owners  in  New  York,  was 
receiving  $250  per  month,  the  chief  engineer  and  the 
black  cook  had  |500  each,  the  firemen  $250  each,  and 
the  seamen  $200  per  man.  This  state  of  things  did 
not  last  long.  The  next  steamship  of  the  line  anchored 
under  the  guns  of  the  United  States  line-of-battle 
ship  Ohio,  and  her  men  could  not  desert. 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE  JOURNEY  OVERLAND. 

I  hiive  seen  servants  upon  horses,  and  princes  walking  aa  servants  upon 
the  earth. 

— Ecclesicuites. 


California,  in  1848,  stood  on  none  of  the  world's 
highways.  It  was  an  isolated  amphitheatre,  a  valley 
on  which  the  sun  was  ever  setting,  far  away  from  civ- 
ilization and  the  homes  of  the  gold-worshippers.  On 
one  side  were  seas  of  land,  on  the  other  seas  of  water. 
And  the  water  and  the  land  both  were  vast  and  bil- 
lowy, trackless,  and  often  showing  their  hostility  to 
man  each  after  its  fashion.  One  or  the  other  of  these 
seas  of  desolation,  or  their  equivalent  in  obstacles, 
nmst  be  crossed  before  the  dragon-guarded  treasure 
could  be  touched. 

Now  the  journey  to  the  mines,  occupying  as  it  did 
weeks  or  months,  and  being  made  by  companies  or 
aoforreirations  of  men,  women,  and  children,  called  forth 
new  phases  of  human  conduct,  no  less  than  did  life  at  the 
diggings.  Two  days  out,  whether  on  plain  or  ocean, 
and  the  pilgrim  began  to  feel  himself  a  new  being, 
the  chrysalis  from  which  he  had  emerged  being  his 
late  environs.  The  metal  of  which  he  was  made  was 
as  yet  scarcely  recognizable,  but  the  fire  was  a-kindling 
which  should  quickly  determine  it.  Therefore  it  is 
proper  to  delineate  and  preserve  characteristic  sketches 
of  overland  and  ocean  travel  to  California  durinir  the 
flush  times. 

And  first  as  to  travel  overland.  The  prairie  seas 
were  not  wholly  unknown ;  even  the  prairie  schooner 

(89) 


00 


THE  JOURNEY  OVERLAND. 


had  navigated  some  portions  of  them.  Since  Cabeza 
de  Vaca  the  Spanish  castaway,  Moncliat  Ape  the 
learned  savage,  Lewis  and  Clarke,  Fraser,  Thompson, 
and  the  others  first  to  traverse  different  localities,  Ste- 
phen Long  had  ascended  the  southern  branch  of  the 
Nebraska  or  Platte  river  to  its  source,  and  an  overland 
trade  had  sprung  up  between  the  United  States  and 
Mexico.  Ashley  had  ascended  the  north  branch  of 
the  Platte,  and  had  encamped  near  the  head  waters 
of  the  Colorado. 

The  year  following,  1824,  Ashley  continued  his  dis- 
coveries through  the  South  pass  to  Great  Salt  Lake, 
built  a  fort  in  Utah  valley  and  left  there  a  hundred, 
men.  In  1826,  a  six-pounder  cannon  was  drawn  from 
]\Iissouri  1200  miles  through  the  wilderness,  and 
planted  within  this  fort.  In  1827,  many  heavily  laden 
wagons  performed  the  same  journey,  penetrating  far- 
ther westward ;  among  others,  Mr  Pilcher,  who  with 
forty-five  men  and  a  hundred  horses  crossed  the  Rocky 
Mountains  by  the  South  pass,  wintered  on  the  Colo- 
rado, and  ill  the  year  following  proceeded  to  Fort 
C(jlville,  then  recently  established  by  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company.  From  tliesc  and  other  points  in  the 
Great  Basin,  hundreds  of  trappers,  traders,  and  emi- 
grants crossed  the  Sierra  at  the  several  passes  between 
San  Bernardino  and  Shasta,  and  descended  into  the 
valley  of  California. 

Smith,  Jackson,  and  Sublette,  able  and  enterprising 
men,  continued  the  explorations  of  Ashley,  and  during 
the  years  1828  and  1829,  they  traversed  the  whole 
region  between  the  Columbia  river  and  the  Tulare 
lakes,  and  down  to  the  borders  of  the  sea.  Smith 
fell  a  prey  to  the  savages,  it  will  be  remembered,  in 
1829,  after  having  twice  crossed  the  continent  to  the 
Pacific  ocean.  In  1832  J.  O.  Pattie,  a  Missourian 
fur-hunter,  published  an  account  of  his  rambles 
through  New  Mexico,  Chihuahua,  Sonora,  and  Cali- 
fornia. He  boated  up  and  down  the  Colorado,  crossed 
Sonora  to  the  gulf  of  California,  and  thence  to  the 


of 


SOME  EARLY  TRAVELLERS. 


01 


Pacific.  Captain  Bonneville  of  the  United  States 
army,  while  on  a  furlough  in  1832,  with  a  hundred 
men  and  more  than  twenty  wagons,  achieved  in  the 
regions  round  the  Colorado  and  Columbia  many  ad- 
ventures made  thrilling  and  jocose  by  the  facile  pen 
of  Irving  Captain  Wyeth,  of  Massachusetts,  about 
this  time  entertained  plans  similar  to  those  devised  by 
John  Jacob  Astor  in  1809,  which  were  to  concentrate 
the  fur-trade  of  the  United  States,  and  establish  unin- 
terrupted communication  by  means  of  a  line  of  posts  be- 
tween the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific.  Wycth's  project 
was  to  establish  trading  posts  on  the  Pacific  slope, 
and  send  thither  manufactured  goods,  bring  back  furs 
and  salmon,  and  also  ship  furs  to  China.  To  this 
end  he  made  two  overland  expeditions  to  the  Colum- 
bia, planted  Fort  Hall  on  Lewis  river,  north  of  Great 
Salt  Lake  about  a  hundred  miles,  and  a  fishing  post  on 
Wappatoo  island,  near  the  junction  of  the  Willamette 
and  Columbia  rivers,  and  within  a  short  distance  of 
tlie  coast.  Then  boijan  emioration  to  flow  into  Ore- 
gon  from  the  United  States,  as  alone  the  eastern  part 
of  our  domain  was  then  called:  agriculturists  and 
religious  teachers,  founded  little  colonies  in  tlie 
valley  of  the  Willamette,  and  in  the  regions  of  Walla 
Walla  and  Spokane  methodists  and  presbyterians 
opened  schools,  and  Jesuits  fnmi  Saint  Louis,  notable 
among  whom  were  fathers  De  Smet,  Mengarini,  and 
Point,  attempted  the  conversion  of  the  natives.  In 
1839,  at  Walla  Walla,  was  set  up  the  first  printing 
press  on  the  Pacific  coast  north  of  ^lexieo.  Mean- 
while, notwithstanding  the  efi'oi'ts  of  the  Mexican  au- 
tliorities  to  prevent  it,  stragglers, — trappers,  traders, 
and  emigrants, — percolated  through  the  mountains 
bounding  Ca  u'briiia  on  the  east,  and  trespassed  on 
her  lands.  Taese  intruders  would  scmietimes  engage 
themselves  to  work  for  the  Californians,  or  to  nuirrv 
their  daughters  and  receive  grants  of  land,  cattle,  and 
the  catliolic  religion.  A  i)arty  of  trap[)ers  frimi  Mis- 
souri arrived  at  Fort  Yuma  in  18"J7,  among  which 


92 


THE  JOURNEY  OVERLAND. 


were  some  emigrants  for  California,  The  glowing 
btorios  of  the  fur-hunters  concerning  the  beauty,  fer- 
tility, and  climate  of  California,  between  the  years 
1825  and  1840,  found  here  and  there  Hsteners  who 
determined  to  make  the  venture. 

After  all  this  comes  John  C.  Fremont  calling  him- 
self explorer,  and  pathfinder,  which  latter  truly  he 
was, — finding  the  paths  others  had  made  rather  than 
making  them  himself 

Three  great  emigrations,  each  three  years  apart,  mark 
the  exodus  of  the  people  inhabiting  the  frontier  states, 
and  the  tide  of  overland  travel  westward  to  the  slope 
ot  the  Pacific.  The  first  was  that  to  Oregon  in  1843, 
some  of  which  on  nearing  the  Pacific  turned  oiT  and 
entered  California,  guided  along  the  Humboldt  by  the 
famous  mountaineer,  Joe  Walker.  At  this  time  many 
kept  the  Oregon  trail  as  far  as  Fort  Hall,  or  Fort 
Boise,  on  Lewis  river,  before  branching  off  for  Cali- 
fornia. 

The  second  was  that  to  California  in  1846,  pending 
hostilities  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico. 
These  a .  v^enturers  were  assured  that  California  was 
a  most  delightful  country,  one  every  way  desirable  to 
settle  in ;  that  it  was  thinly  peopled,  and  except  along 
the  seaboard  almost  unoccupied;  and  that  now  the 
nation  was  roused  to  arms,  engaged  in  a  hand  to  hand 
conflict  with  a  weaker  power,  which  would  probably 
result  in  the  acquisition  of  all  that  territory  by  the 
stronger;  or  at  all  events  the  United  States  could 
protect  citizens  settled  on  the  Mexican  frontier,  if 
not,  finally,  they  could  protect  themselves.  This 
spirit  and  this  emigration  were  encouraged,  both  by 
the  government  and  by  popular  feeling.  The  result 
proved  as  had  been  anticipated;  scarcely  had  the 
emigrants  of  1846  arrived  in  the  valley  of  California, 
when  the  whole  magnificent  domain  fell  a  prize  into 
the  lap  of  the  United  States,  and  these  hardy  hunters, 
ox-drivers,  and  land-tillers,  found  themselves  upon 


THE  THREE  GREAT  IMMIGRATIONS.        H 

the  spot  just  in  time  to  reap  a  rich  harvest.  It  was 
ill  this  year,  and  the  year  previous,  that  the  Mor- 
mons, having  been  previously  expelled  from  Nauvoo, 
Illinois,  made  their  way  out  of  the  accursed  land,  and 
found  an  encampment  at  Council  Bluff  on  the  Mis- 
souri river,  which  was  the  rendezvous,  or  place  of 
preparation  for  a  further  westward  journey,  a  journey 
which  should  place  the  Rocky  Mountains  a  barrier 
between  them  and  the  hated  gentiles. 

The  third  great  overland  emigration  was  in  the 
sprin«jj  and  summer  of  1840,  when  Gold  I  was  the 
watchword  along  the  line,  and  Ho  for  the  diggings  1 
was  painted  on  the  canvas  wagon-covers ;  when  ava- 
rice warmed  the  heart,  and  fired  the  brain,  and  steeled 
the  sinews;  when  in  the  dreams  of  the  ox-drivers 
wagon  loads  of  yellow  nuggets  rolled  out  of  rocky 
canons  into  pastures  green  as  Arcadian  vales,  wherein 
the  cattle  might  graze,  and  drink  from  the  Pactolean 
streams  that  watered  it. 


It  was  during  the  middle  one  of  these  great  migra- 
tions that  the  Donner  tragedy  occurred.  It  was  in 
1846  when  a  party  attempted  a  new  route  from  Fort 
Bridger,  round  the  southern  end  of  Great  Salt  Lake, 
and  through  the  Truckee  pass  of  the  Sierra  Nevada. 
The  company  was  composed  of  George  Donner,  wife, 
and  five  children ;  Jacob  Donner,  wife,  and  seven  chil- 
dren; J.  F.  Reed,  wife,  and  four  children;  W.  H, 
Eddy,  Breen,  Pike,  Foster,  and  others,  with  women 
and  children ;  in  all  about  eighty  souls. 

The  journey  across  the  plains  under  favorable  con- 
ditions was  by  no  means  an  unpleasant  one.  Though 
somewhat  monotonous,  it  was  capable  of  being  made 
both  healthful  and  pleasurable.  Many  a  one  who, 
reduced  by  disease,  had  set  out  upon  this  journey 
with  little  hope  of  ever  reaching  the  end,  arrived  in 
California  well  and  strong,  like  a  man  newly  made; 
many  a  one,  alas!  set  out  well  and  strong  who  met 
death  ere  his  journey  was  completed.     In  company 


\m 


04 


THE  JOURNEY  OVERLAND. 


with  otlicrs,  some  bound  for  Oregon  and  sonic  for 
California,  the  Donner  party  had  a  prosiKious  j'-vii'- 
ney  from  tho  Missouri,  and  passed  the  gnat  divide 
in  good  health  and  spirits.  The  longer  half  of  tho 
journey  was  acronipli.shed;  the  cattle  were  in  go*  d 
condition,  and  j.rovisions  abundant ;  it  was  yet  nild- 
suninier,  ample  time  thought  they  to  escape  tho 
snows  of  tho  frowning  Sierra.  So,  buoyant  with  an- 
ticipations of  a  speedy  and  prosperous  termination  of 
their  travels,  they  arrived  at  Fort  Bridger,  one  lum- 
drod  miles  east  of  Salt  Lake,  on  the  25th  of  Jul  v. 
It  was  tlieir  intention  to  have  continued  in  the  Oreg(  n 
trail  as  far  as  Fort  Hall,  or  bevond,  before  turning 
southward  toward  California,  but  they  were  inducitl 
to  deviate  from  the  usual  route  by  L.  W.  Hastings,  wli(» 
assured  them  that  he  had  found  a  way  shorter  and 
better  than  the  old  one,  a  cut-ofi*  it  was  called,  tho 
name  referring  to  the  route  and  not  the  travellers. 
Nor  did  Mr  Hastings  wilfully  misrepresent  matters 
as  many  charged  him  with  doing,  for  his  route  wns 
essentially  the  same  as  that  taken  by  the  emigration 
of  1849,  and  by  the  overland  stage  and  railway. 

A.  J.  Grayson,  the  eminent  ornithologist  of  Mexico 
and  California,  led  a  party  of  pioneers  in  this  emigra- 
tion. He  was  accompanied  by  his  young,  devotid 
wife,  and  out  of  solicitude  for  her  welfare,  or  otlu  r 
cause,  he  escaped  two  great  dangers  of  the  journey 
as  by  intuition.  In  a  letter  from  San  Francisco 
written  February  22,  1847,  speaking  of  Hastings  and 
his  route  which  was  represented  to  be  better  and  2rj0 
miles  shorter  than  the  old  way,  Mr  Graysen  ,'ays : 
"  This  news  created  some  excitement  amonjtj  the  end- 
grants;  some  were  for  going  the  new  route  without 
reflecting,  whilst  the  more  prudent  were  for  going  by 
the  old  trail  via  Fort  Hall.  I  for  one  consulted  Cap- 
tain Walker,  who  happened  to  be  at  Fort  Bridgor 
and  well  acquainted  with  both  routes,  and  also  a  man 
whom  I  could  believe ;  so  I  took  his  advice  and  went 
by  the  old  trail,  together  with  a  respectable  portion 


adA 


ROUl'ES  AND  CUTOFFS. 


of  OTnij.'rants."  Arrived  at  Fort  Hall  there  ai>iKartd 
aiu)tli(  r  allurement  in  the  shape  of  a  cut-off.  "  Here 
wc  nu>t  with  a  Mr  AppUgate,"  continues  ]Mr  Gray- 
sen,  "just  from  Oregon,  who  came  that  far  to  meet 
the  emigration,  and  conducted  tlu m  through  a  new 
route  which  he  had  discovered  over  the  Cascade 
mountains  to  Oregon.  This  was  good  news  to  the 
emigrants,  as  it  was  re})resented  as  hring  a  nearer  and 
better  route  of  course.  This  caused  a  good  manv  to 
go  to  Oregon  who  were  bound  for  California,  as  they 
thought  they  would  reach  tluire  before  they  could 
California.  But  the  nature  of  the  route  led  me  to 
believe  it  a  very  difficult  one,  if  not  impassal)le  for 
wagons,  which  I  have  sinct"  learned  was  the  case. 
This  route  continues  on  the  Califia-nia  trail  nearly  to 
the  California  mountains,  where  it  takes  a  north- 
west direction  over  two  lofty  ranges  tf  mountains — 
the  Cascade  and  the  Umpqua," 

Resting  three  days  at  Fort  Bridger,  the  Dormer 
company  turned  their  faces  southward,  passed  Salt 
Lake,  and  on  toward  the  Truckee  river.  But  alas ! 
the  farthest  way  round  would  have  been  the  shortest 
way  to  their  destination.  Although  this  route  was 
shorter  and  better  than  the  other,  it  was  then  new, 
unbeaten,  and  often  these  emigrants  were  compelled 
to  stop  a  day,  or  two  days,  sometimes  eight  days  to 
explore,  to  cut  away  underbrush,  to  grade  a  bluff  or 
bridge  a  marsh.  Arrivhig  at  the  southern  end  of 
Salt  Lake  they  fell  into  the  track  of  a  company  in 
advance  of  them,  and  so  for  a  time  made  better  pro- 
gress. But  short  was  their  sheen.  At  a  place  to 
which  they  gave  the  name  Twenty  Wells,  they  spent 
the  night  of  September  6th.  Some  of  the  wells, 
which  vary  from  six  inches  to  nine  feet  in  diameter, 
they  sounded  to  a  depth  of  seventy  feet  and  found  no 
bottom.  After  a  hard  day's  drive,  the  next  evening 
they  encamped  in  a  beautiful  meadow  covered  with 
luxuriant  grass,  and  where  w^ere  natural  wells  like 
the  others,     Upon  a  split  stick  conspicuously  placed 


M 

"?»-ii 


3 


dd 


THE  JOURNEY  OVERLAND. 


they  found  a  letter  from  Hastings,  who  had  gone 
before,  saying  that  betw'jen  this  point  and  the 
next  water  were  two  days  and  nights  of  hard  driving ; 
so  they  rested  the  next  day  and  refreshed  themselves. 
Cutting  grass  for  the  cattle,  and  laying  in  a  supply 
of  water  for  the  two  days'  desert,  the  Great  Salt 
Lake  plain  they  called  it,  at  daylight  on  the  morning 
of  September  9th  they  broke  camp. 

It  was  a  dangerous  thing  to  do,  to  cast  themselves, 
their  wives  and  little  ones,  their  cattle  and  all  their 
belongings,  into  an  unknown  desert  where  they  had 
been  assured  that  with  no  mishaps,  and  by  straight 
and  hard  driving,  there  were  two  days  between  them 
and  water;  but  there  was  now  no  help  for  it.  The 
result  proved  most  disastrous.  The  third  day,  at 
noon,  Eddy  and  some  others,  with  their  cattle,  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  a  spring  seventy-five  miles  distant 
from  the  last  wells,  but  they  were  obliged  to  leave 
their  wagons  twenty  miles  behind.  About  dark  Reed 
came  up,  and  stated  that  the  rest  of  the  wagons  were 
forty  miles  behind,  and  that  the  fainting  cattle  were 
being  urged  forward  to  the  water  by  the  drivers. 
Reed  and  Eddy  immediately  started  back,  the  latter 
with  a  bucket  of  water,  which  he  carried  five  miles  for 
a  prostrate  ox.  Reed  met  his  cattle  with  their  drivers 
ten  miles  back,  and  went  on  to  assist  the  Donners ; 
but  Reed's  cattle  all  died  before  they  reached  water. 
It  was  not  until  the  evening  of  the  15th  that  all  ar- 
rived in  camp,  having  left  many  of  their  wagons  scat- 
tered along  the  track,  and  half  their  animals  dead. 

Affairs  now  began  to  look  serious.  Some  families 
were  completely  ruined ;  dread  forebodings  began  to 
arise  in  the  minds  of  all.  With  the  ill-fated  desert 
behind  them  they  could  not  retreat ;  before  them  the 
way  was  dark  and  uncertain.  The  surviving  cattle 
were  exhausted,  and  the  woodwork  of  the  wagons 
shrank  in  the  dry  air  until  the  spokes  rattled  in  the 
wheels,  and  the  tires  seemed  ready  to  fall  off.  Tak- 
ing the  cows  and  all  loose  animals,  feeble   and   dis- 


pa.ssc 


THE  DONNER  PARTY. 


97 


heartened  they  continued  their  way,  but  were  soon 
obhged  to  bury  a  portion  of  their  property.  That 
day  thej'  encountered  an  ominous  snow-storm,  and 
made  but  six  miles;  the  next  day  they  passed  over 
some  low  mountains,  and  encamped  in  a  well-watered 
valley.  October  1st  saw  them  slowly  travelling  along 
down  Ogden  river. 

And  now  begins  a  tale  whose  sickening  details  blot 
pages  of  our  annals ;  a  tale  before  which  I  would 
gladly  close  my  eyes  and  lay  down  my  pen ;  a  tale 
which  calls  in  question  whether  indeed  there  be  in 
man,  left  to  himself,  any  divine  spark,  any  innate 
good.  More  bloody  than  beasts,  more  insane  than 
demons,  these  human  castaways  in  a  desert  wilder- 
ness, surrounded  by  their  wives  and  children,  first 
shot  at  by  savages  as  they  pass  along,  fall  to  fighting 
among  themselves.  Some  oxen  becoming  unruly,  two 
teams  are  entangled,  whereupon  the  drivers  swear; 
then  one  of  them  threatens  to  thrash  the  owner,  and 
dealing  him  a  heavy  blow  with  the  butt  end  of  his 
whip,  receives  in  return  a  stab  which  stretches  him 
dead  upon  the  plain.  Reed,  who  does  the  killing, 
though  regretfully  and  in  self-defence,  is  driven  from 
the  camp.  Thereupon  he  marches  on  before  tlie  oth- 
ers, dodging  the  arrows  of  the  savages  and  giving  the 
company  warning  of  impending  attacks,  and  thus 
pa.sses  over  the  mountains  into  California.  Continu- 
ing their  way,  an  old,  worn-out  man,  whose  feet  had 
swollen  to  bursting,  is  left  behind  to  die.  In  vain 
does  my  unwilling  credulity  look  for  escape;  in  vain 
do  I  seek  some  excuse  for  the  pitiless  act ;  the  doers 
of  the  deed  themselves  tell  the  story,  and  say  their 
cattle  could  not  draw  him.  Hardcoop,  from  Antwerp, 
Belgium,  sixty  years  of  age,  ill  and  worn  out,  was  the 
abandoned  man,  and  Eddy,  the  narrator  of  the  fact,, 
he  who  refused  him  conveyance.  One  Kiesburg.  a 
most  loathsome  villain,  of  whom  more  hereafter,  thrust 
from  his  wagon  the  old  man,  and  when  besought  by 
his  companions  to  return  for  him,  replied,  "  I  will  not 


Cal.  Int.  I'oc.    7 


THE  JOURNEY  OVERLAND. 


kill  my  horses  for  old  Hardcoop."  Some  offered  to 
go  back  on  foot  and  bring  Hardcoop  forward,  but  the 
others  refusea  to  wait  for  them. 

Daily  their  cattle  lessened  in  number,  some  drop- 
ping from  exhaustion,  some  being  shot  or  stolen  by 
the  natives.  In  such  cases,  wago::T  and  property  were 
buried  at  different  points.  One  of  the  party,  a  Ger- 
man, having  lost  all  his  oxen,  wished  the  company  to 
stop  while  he  concealed  his  effects.  This  the  others 
refused  to  do ;  so  selecting  two  men,  likewise  Germans, 
he  prevailed  on  them  to  help  him,  assuring  them  that 
they  could  easily  overtake  the  train.  Three  days 
after  the  two  men  came  up,  and  told  a  story  of  on- 
slaught by  the  savages,  in  which  their  employer  was 
killed  and  the  property  burned.  As  the  dead  man 
had  money,  no  one  doubted  that  the  others  murdered 
him  for  it.  Intense  selfishness  governed  the  actions 
of  women  as  well  as  of  men.  Eddy,  having  lost  all 
his  property,  picked  up  one  of  his  children,  and  his 
wife  another,  and  thus  they  marched  along,  until 
fainting,  they  begged  first  of  one  woman  and  then  of 
another,  a  little  meat  to  save  their  little  ones  from 
starvation.  They  were  everywhere  refused.  Unable 
to  get  water,  Eddy  begged  a  pint  of  one  who  had  ten 
gallons,  and  was  likewise  refused.  "  I  will  have  it, 
or  your  life,"  cried  the  man,  now  desperate,  and  took 
it  accordingly.  The  Donners  had  suffered  severely 
with  the  rest,  but  up  to  this  time  their  losses  were 
less  than  some  of  the  others. 

On  the  29th  of  October,  they  reached  the  eastern 
base  of  the  Sierra,  which  loomed  before  them  high 
into  the  heavens,  a  white  wall  glistening  with  frosted 
pines.  Climbing  upward  as  far  as  they  could  go,  they 
found  the  top  of  Truckee  pass  five  feet  under  snow. 
Returning  to  a  cabin  near  their  camp  of  the  preceding 
night,  they  rested  next  day,  and  on  the  Slst  the  whole 
party  again  attempted  to  cross  the  mountains.  They 
ascended  to  within  three  miles  of  the  summit,  where 
they  now  found  ten  fiaet  of  snow,  each  moment  thick- 


enet 
how 
and 


AT  CONNER  LAKE. 


99 


ened  by  the  clouds.  It  was  very  cold.  The  wind 
howled  round  the  crags,  and  the  whirling  snow  blinded, 
and  every  moment  threatened  to  engulf  them.  They 
saw  how  impossible  it  was  to  proceed  farther,  so  re- 
turning to  the  cabin,  they  made  preparations  to  win- 
ter there,  near  what  is  now  called  Donner  lake. 

Soon  their  horses  and  cattle  were  all  gone ;  some 
butchered  and  eaten,  others  strayed  and  buried  in  the 
snow.  A  little  game  was  with  difficulty  killed,  but 
not  sufficient  to  satisfy  hunger.  Starvation  stared  at 
them.  It  was  death  to  go  away,  and  death  to  remain 
there ;  it  is  easier,  however,  to  die  in  active  endeavor 
than  in  passive  despair.  After  three  several  failures, 
Eddy  and  sixteen  others,  five  of  whom  were  women, 
succeeded  in  crossing  the  summit  on  snow-shoes. 
This  was  on  the  I7th  of  December.  They  were  now 
in  the  heart  of  the  Sierra,  faint,  having  but  little 
food,  and  almost  buried  in  the  soft  snow,  which  con- 
tinued falling  day  after  day.  They  had  one  gun,  but 
not  a  livinjcf  thins  was  to  be  seen.  Some  were  stricken 
with  snow-blindness,  and  on  the  23d  of  December, 
one,  Mr  Stanton,  from  Syracuse,  New  York,  fell  be- 
hind and  perished.  It  was  each  for  himself;  they 
were  all  now  as  fiends  seven  times  hardened. 

Christmas  found  them  burrowing  in  the  snow,  and 
debating  whether  to  attempt  to  proceed  or  to  give  it 
up.  Eddy  and  the  women  determined  to  go  on ;  the 
others  sullenly  refused  to  move.  From  the  start  the 
allowance  had  been  one  ounce  of  food  to  each,  three 
times  a  day ;  now  they  had  been  without  any  food  for 
two  days.  One,  Patrick  Dolan,  proposed  the  casting 
of  lots  to  determine  which  should  die.  Eddy  assented; 
William  Foster  objected.  It  was  then  proposed  that 
two  should  fight  until  one  was  slain ;  tlien  that  they 
should  continue  their  journey  until  one  should  suc- 
cumb, which  last  proposition  was  finally  accepted. 
Then  they  staggered  on  three  miles  farther  and  en- 
camped. With  great  difficulty  they  succeeded  in 
lighting  a  fire,  but  during  the  night  it  was  extin- 


l 


100 


THE  JOURNEY  OVERLAND 


guished  by  the  storm.  About  ten  o'clock  one  An- 
toine  died;  three  hours  after,  another,  Graves;  the 
next  day  another,  Dolan,  the  day  after,  one  more. 
Murphy.  Plenty  of  man-incat  now  1  Two  went 
mad ;  the  rest  took  turns  praying.  Tighter  the  skin 
cleaved  to  the  fleshless  bones,  wilder  and  fiercer  grew 
the  sunken  eyes,  and  fixed  and  more  fixed  the  features 
of  the  ghastly  faces.  Hunger  even  left  them,  and 
they  moved  about  their  shrunken  carcasses  as  if  just 
dragged  from  the  grave. 

After  lying  under  their  blankets  in  the  snow  for 
two  days  and  nights  they  struck  a  fire,  and  all  but 
Eddy,  as  he  says,  "cut  the  flesh  from  the  arms  and 
legs  of  Patrick  Dolan,  and  roasted  and  ate  it,  avert- 
ing their  faces  from  each  other,  and  weeping."  The 
29th  of  December  they  departed  from  the  Camp  of 
Death,  as  they  called  their  last  halting-place,  and 
went  forward.  Eddy  would  probably  have  died  but 
for  half  a  pound  of  roasted  bear-meat  which  he  acci- 
dentally found  while  fumbling  for  something  in  his 
pouch.  It  was  wrapped  in  a  paper  on  which  was 
written  in  pencil,  '*  From  your  own  dear  Eleanor." 
Ah  1  the  boundless  devotion  of  woman.  He  had  left 
his  wife  behind,  and  now  she  starves  herself  and  little 
ones  to  save  him.  Though  he  struggled  manfully  to 
rescue  them  he  never  saw  wife  or  child  again.  Eddy 
was  at  last  obliged  to  succumb,  and  feed  on  his  fellows 
or  die.  He  reported  that  he  "  experienced  no  loathing 
or  disgust,  but  his  reason,  which  he  thought  was 
never  more  unclouded,  told  him  that  it  was  a  horrid 
repast." 

Swearing  vengeance  on  Hastings,  as  others 
swore  vengeance  on  Jesse  Applegate  for  having  de- 
coyed them,  as  they  called  it,  into  his  cut-ofF,  they 
staggered  along,  leaving  on  tlie  white  snow  of  the 
Sierra  the  crimson  tracks  of  their  bloody  feet.  Of 
the  party  were  a  Mr  and  Mrs  Fosdick.  The  4th  of 
January,  1847,  Fosdick  died,  and  the  body  was  left 
about  a  mile  back  from  where  they  camped  that  night. 


ON  THE  SIERRA. 


101 


In  the  morninjjf,  Mrs  Fosdick,  feeling  that  she  must 
kiss  once  more  the  cold  lips  of  her  dead,  started  back  for 
that  purpose.  In  the  words  of  Mr  Thornton,  Eddy's 
narrator,  "two  individuals  accompanied  her;  and  when 
they  arrived  at  the  body,  they,  notwithstanding  the 
remonstrances,  entreaties,  and  tears  of  the  aflnficted 
widow,  cut  out  the  heart  and  liver,  and  severed  the 
arms  and  legs  of  her  departed  husband.  Mrs  Fos- 
dick took  up  a  little  bundle  she  had  left,  and  returned 
with  these  two  persons  to  one  of  the  camps,  where 
she  saw  an  emigrant  thrust  the  heart  through  with  a 
stick,  and  hold  it  in  the  fire  to  roast.  Unable  to  en- 
dure the  horrible  sight  of  seeing  literally  devoured 
a  heart  that  had  fondly  and  ardently  loved  her  until 
it  had  ceased  to  throb,  she  turned  away,  and  went  to 
another  camp,  sick  and  almost  blinded  by  the  specta- 
cle." 

On  they  go,  death  even  too  slow  for  their  now 
ghoulish  appetites;  and  as  they  reel  along,  drunk 
with  misfortune  and  human  blood,  thej'  solace  them- 
selves with  thoughts  of  their  next  repast.  "There  is 
Mrs  McCutcheon,"  says  Foster,  well-nigh  insane, 
"  she's  a  nuisance,  she  can't  keep  up ;  let  us  kill  her. 
There  is  Mary  Graves  and  Mrs  Fosdick  ;  they  have 
no  children,  what  do  you  think  of  them  ? "  Some 
oppose,  and  then  the  men,  so  weak  that  they  can 
scarcely  stand,  draw  their  weapons  and  threaten  to 
fight  over  it.  Next  they  shoot  two  tame  Indians 
who  had  been  sent  bv  Sutter  with  horses  to  the  relief 
of  the  party  when  it  was  first  told  him  by  Reed  that 
they  had  lost  their  cattle  in  the  desert,  and  before 
anything  was  known  of  their  1.  '  "•  great  distress  and 
starvation.  The  names  of  those  sacrificed  were  Lewis 
and  Salvador.  So  faithful  were  they  to  Sutter's  in- 
terests, that  a  few  days  before  they  had  refused  to 
abandon  the  property  of  their  master,  even  to  save 
their  own  lives.  When  Sutter  heard  of  it  he  was 
greatly  distressed,  and  turning  to  the  wretches,  ex- 
claimed, "You  kill  and  eat  all  my  good  Indians  1" 


'>\  r< 


iSl 


102 


THE  JOURNEY  OVERLAND. 


lil 


i!i 


u 


Thus  they  slowly  continued  their  way  down '  the 
Sierra  to  the  north  branch  of  the  American  river, 
when  on  the  9th  of  January  they  came  to  a  rancheria 
of  natives,  who  were  so  overcome  on  beholding  the 
pitiful  condition  of  the  strangers  that  they  burst  into 
loud  lamentations,  the  women  sobbing  in  sympathy 
as  they  hastily  prepared  mashed  acorns  for  their  re- 
lief Then  these  natives  sent  messenojers  on  to  the 
next  rancheria,  that  its  people  might  likewise  prepare 
food  and  welcome  for  the  afflicted  travellers ;  and  so 
they  passed  them  along  from  one  to  another,  all  that 
was  left  of  them,  until  on  the  l7th  of  January  they 
reached  the  house  of  M.  D.  Richcy,  whose  kind- 
hearted  daughter  on  first  beholding  Mr.  Eddy  burst 
into  tears  without  speaking  a  word. 

Of  the  seventeen  who  set  out  from  Truckee,  eight 
had  perished  by  the  way,  and  all  of  these  were  men. 
Every  woman  had  come  through.  The  news  of  their 
suffering,  and  the  condition  of  those  left  behind,  spread 
swiftly  among  the  settlers.  Couriers  were  despatched 
to  Sutter's  fort,  to  Sonoma,  to  Yerba  Bucna,  and  im- 
mediate preparations  were  made  for  the  relief  of  the 
sutterers.  Men  eagerly  volunteered  to  go  to  their 
assistance,  and  money  was  furnished  with  lavish 
hands.  Even  thus  early  hi  her  history,  as  ever  after- 
ward, the  heart  of  California  was  wide  open  to  tlie 
cry  of  distress.  Several  expeditions  at  once  set  out 
for  Mountain  camp,  as  the  cabhis  near  Donncr  lake 
were  called.  The  first  was  under  Reed,  who  when 
driven  from  the  camp  for  man-slaughter  had  made 
his  way  to  California,  where  he  was  awaiting  the  ar- 
rival of  the  party  witli  his  wife  and  children,  Sutter 
and  John  Sinclair  sent  out  a  party  under  Aquilla 
Glover.  Eddy  attempted  to  return  with  this  party, 
but  was  obliged  from  weakness  to  give  it  up.  Glover 
made  two  expeditions,  Reed  and  McCutcheon  two, 
Foster  and  Eddy  one,  besides  the  expeditions  of 
Starks  and  others,  and  of  Mr  Fellan. 

Burying  provisions  in  the  snow  for  tlieir  return  as 


RELIEF  EXPEDITIONS. 


103 


they  went  along,  Glover  and  his  party  reached  Moun- 
tain camp  on  the  evening  of  February  19th.  On 
every  side  the  snow  presented  an  apparently  unbroken 
level,  and  the  stillness  of  death  was  there.  They 
shouted,  and  the  moaning  wind  answered  like  voices 
from  another  world.  Other  and  louder  shouts  were 
raised.  Presently,  like  vermin  from  their  holes,  crept 
forth  from  the  cabin  under  the  snow  human  forms, 
skeletons  slowly  moved  by  a  cold  and  aching  anima- 
tion. A  dull  delirium  of  joy  broke  forth  in  low  laughs 
and  sobs  and  tears.  "Have  you  brought  anything 
for  me  ? "  one  after  another  asked,  the  narrator  goes 
on  to  say :  "Many  of  them  had  a  peculiarly  wild  ex- 
pression of  the  eye ;  all  looked  haggard,  ghastly,  and 
horrible.  The  flesh  was  wasted  from  their  bodies,  and 
the  skin  seemed  to  have  dried  upon  their  bones.  Their 
voices  were  weak  and  sepulchral ;  and  the  whole  scene 
conveyed  to  the  mind  the  idea  of  that  shout  having 
reached  another  world,  awakenhig  the  dead  from  un- 
der the  snows.  Fourteen  of  their  number,  principally 
men,  had  already  died  from  starvation,  and  many 
more  were  so  reduced  that  it  was  almost  certain  they 
would  never  rise  from  the  miserable  beds  upon  which 
tliey  had  lain  down."  The  unhappy  survivors  were,  in 
short,  in  a  condition  the  most  deplorable,  and  beyond 
the  power  of  language  to  describe,  or  of  the  imagination 
to  conceive.  The  annals  of  human  suffering  nowhere 
present  a  more  ap})alling  spectacle  than  that  which 
blasted  the  eyes  and  sickened  the  hearts  of  those  brave 
men  whose  indomitable  courage  and  perseverance  in 
the  face  of  so  many  dangers,  hardships,  ai)d  privations, 
snatched  some  of  these  miserable  survivors  from  the 
jaws  of  death,  and  who,  for  having  done  so  much, 
merit  the  lasting  gratitude  and  respect  of  every  man 
who  has  a  heart  to  feel  for  human  woe,  or  a  hand  to 
afford  relief 

"  Many  of  the  sufferers  had  been  living  for  weeks 
upon  bullock  hides ;  and  even  this  sort  of  food  was  so 
nearly  exhausted  with  some,  that  they  were  about  to 


104 


THE  JOUENEY  OVERLAND. 


dig  up  from  the  snow  the  bodies  of  their  companions 
t)r  the  purpose  of  prolonghi|^  their  wretched  Hves. 
Mrs.  Reed,  who  lived  in  Breen's  cabin,  had,  during 
a  considerable  time,  supported  herself  and  four  chil- 
dren by  cracking  and  boiling  again  the  bones  from 
which  Breen's  family  had  carefully  scraped  all  the 
flesh. 

Some  of  the  emigrants  had  been  making  prepara- 
tions for  death,  and  at  morning  and  evening  the  in- 
cense of.prayer  and  thanksgiving  ascended  from  their 
cheerless  and  comfortless  dwellings.  Others  there 
were  who  thought  they  might  as  well  curse  God  as 
bless  him  for  bringing  them  to  such  a  pass ;  and  so  they 
did ;  and  they  cursed  the  snow,  and  the  mountains, 
and  in  the  wildest  frenzy  deplored  their  miserable 
fate.  Some  poured  bitter  imprecations  upon  the  world, 
and  everything  and  everybody  in  it ;  and  all  united  in 
common  fears  of  a  common  and  inevitable  death. 
Many  of  them  had,  in  a  great  measure,  lost  all  self- 
respect.  Untold  sufferhigs  had  broken  their  spirits, 
and  prostrated  evi^rything  like  a  commendable  pride. 
Misfortune  had  dried  up  the  fountains  of  the  heart; 
and  the  dead,  whom  their  weakness  made  it  impossi- 
ble to  carry  out,  were  dragged  from  their  cabins  by 
means  of  ropes,  with  an  apathy  that  afforded  a  faint 
indication  of  the  extent  of  the  change  which  a  few 
weeks  of  dire  suffering  had  produced  in  hearts  that 
once  sympathized  with  the  dis^-ressed  and  mourned 
the  departed.  With  many  of  them,  all  principle,  too, 
had  been  swept  away  by  this  tr  jmendous  torrent  of 
accumulated  woes.  It  became  necessary  to  place  a 
guard  over  the  little  store  of  provisions  brought  to 
their  relief;  and  they  stole  and  devoured  the  raw-hide 
strings  from  the  snow-shoes  of  those  who  had  come 
to  deliver  them.  Upon  going  down  into  the  cabins 
of  this  Mountain  camp,  to  the  party  were  presented 
sights  of  misery  and  scenes  of  horror,  the  full  tale  of 
which  will  never  be  told,  and  never  ought  to  be ;  sights 
which,  although  the  emigrants  had  not  yet  commenced 


eatin 
C(»nii| 

Wv»ul| 


was 


to  go 


HORRIBLE  SCENES. 


lOS 


eating  the  dead,  were  so  revolting  that  tliey  were 
compelled  to  withdraw  and  make  a  fire  where  they 
would  not  be  under  the  necessity  of  looking  upon  the 
painful  spectacle."  Some  were  already  too  far  gone 
to  eat;  others  died  from  over-eating. 

Glover  could  take  out  part  of  the  sufferers  only. 
One  of  the  Donner  brothers  was  so  reduced  that  it 
was  found  impossible  to  remove  him.  His  wife,  who 
was  comparatively  well,  when  besought  by  her  hus- 
band to  accompany  the  party,  firmly  refused ;  and 
there  she  remained  through  horrible  lingerings,  and 
died  with  her  husband,  a  noble  example  of  conjugal 
fidehty.  It  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  that  any 
of  these  unfortunates  were  conve3'^ed  over  the  snow, 
and  to  add  to  their  misery,  Mr.  Glover,  when  in  the 
extremest  necessity,  found  his  buried  provisions  de- 
stroyed by  cougars.  One  of  their  number,  John 
Denton,  when  ho  could  proceed  no  farther,  told  them 
to  go  on  and  leave  him,  which  was  done  after  building 
him  a  fire  and  leaving  him  nearly  all  their  food;  and 
there  he  died. 

On  the  25th  of  February,  they  encountered  Reed 
and  his  party  going  in,  the  meeting  between  whom 
and  his  wife  was  most  affecting.  Reed  continued  his 
way,  as  his  two  children  were  yet  at  Mountain  camp. 
He  found  the  survivors  in  a  yet  more  pitiful  plight 
than  when  Glover  first  saw  them.  After  performing 
several  acts  of  humanity,  the  relief  party  "had  now, 
for  the  first  time  a  little  leisure  to  observe.  The 
mutilated  body  of  a  friend,  having  nearly  all  the  flesh 
torn  away,  was  seen  at  the  door,  the  head  and  face 
remaining  entire.  Half  consumed  limbs  were  seen 
concealed  in  trunks.  Bones  were  scattered  about. 
Human  hair  of  different  colors  was  seen  in  tufts  about 
the  fire-place.  The  sight  was  overwhelming,  and 
outraged  nature  sought  relief  by  one  spontaneous  out- 
cry of  agony,  and  grief,  and  tears.  The  air  was  rent 
by  the  wails  of  sorrow  and  distress  that  ascended  at 
once,  and  as  if  by  previous  concert,  from  that  charnel- 


1  in 


106 


THE  JOURNEY  OVERLAND, 


house  of  death  beneath  tlie  snow."  There  were  chil- 
dren wallowing  in  their  filth,  and  moaning  for  food, 
that  had  so  lain,  undisturbed,  for  fourteen  days. 

Jacob  Doniier  was  dead.  Baptiste  had  just  left  the 
camp  of  the  widow  with  the  leg  and  thigh  of  the  dead 
nwm,  '*  for  which  ho  had  been  sent  by  George  Donner, 
the  brother  of  the  deceased.  That  was  given,  but  the 
boy  was  informed  that  no  more  could  be  given,  Jacob 
Donner's  body  being  the  last  they  had.  They  had 
consumed  four  bodies,  and  the  children  were  sitting 
ujjon  a  log,  with  their  faces  stained  with  blood,  de- 
vouring the  half-roasted  liver  and  heart  of  the  father, 
unconscious  of  the  ai>proach  of  the  men,  of  whom  they 
took  not  the  slightest  notice  even  after  they  had  come 
up.  Mrs  Jacob  Donner  was  in  a  helpless  condition, 
without  anything  whatever  to  eat  except  the  body  of 
her  husband,  and  she  declared  she  would  die  before 
she  would  eat  of  this.  Around  the  fire  were  hair, 
bon(!S,  skulls,  and  the  fragments  of  half-consumed 
limbs." 

The  relief  party  under  Foster  and  Eddy  was  the 
next  to  enter.  Eddv  found  his  wife  and  children  all 
dead.  "Patrick  Breen  and  his  wife  seemed  not  in 
any  degree  to  realize  the  extent  of  their  peril,  or  that 
they  were  in  peril  at  all.  They  were  found  lying 
down,  sunning  themselves,  and  evincing  no  concern 
for  the  future.  They  had  consumed  the  two  children 
of  Jacob  Donner."  The  wickedest  man  of  all  was 
Kiesburg,  the  same  who  so  cruelly  thrust  the  old  man 
from  his  wagon.  While  there  were  yet  hides  enough 
to  sustain  life,  and  a  dead  bullock  uncovered  by  the 
iiielting  snow  on  which  the  others  lived,  he  took  to 
bed  with  him  one  night  Foster's  little  four-year-old 
boy,  and  devoured  him  before  mornhig.  "What  adds, 
if  possible,  to  the  horrors  of  this  horrible  meal  is  the 
fact  that  the  child  was  alive  when  it  was  taken  to 
bed,  leading  to  the  suspicion  that  he  strangled  it,  al- 
though he  denies  this  charge.  This  man  also  devoured 
Mr  Eddy's  child  before  noon  the  next  day,  and  was 


THE  WICKEDEST  MAN. 


107 


among  the  first  to  coninmnicate  the  fact  to  hnn.  When 
asked  by  the  outraged  father  why  lie  did  not  eat  the 
hides  and  bullock,  he  coolly  replied  that  he  preferred 
human  flesh  as  being  more  palatable  and  containing 
more  nutriment." 

Fellen  and  his  party,  the  last  to  visit  the  place  for 
purposes  of  relief,  did  not  reach  the  camp  until  the 
17th  of  April.  As  narrated  by  Bryant,  they  found 
Kiesburg  "  reclining  on  the  floor  of  the  cabin,  smoking 
his  pipe.  Near  his  head  a  fire  was  blazing,  upon 
which  was  a  camp-kettle  filled  with  human  flesh.  His 
feet  were  resting  upon  skulls  and  dislocated  limbs  de- 
nuded of  their  flesh.  A  bucket  partly  filled  with 
blood  was  near,  and  pieces  of  human  flesh,  fresh  and 
bloody,  were  strewn  around.  Tlie  appearance  of 
Kiesburg  was  haggard  and  revolting.  His  beard  was 
of  great  length;  his  finger-nails  had  grown  out  until 
tliev  resembled  the  claws  of  beasts.  He  was  ra^yjcd 
and  filthy,  and  the  expression  of  his  countenance  was 
ferocious.  He  stated  that  the  Donners  were  both 
dead." 

Accused  of  havinu'  murdered  Mrs  Donner  for  her 
money,  he  denied  it,  until  Fellen  put  a  rope  round 
1.1s  neck  and  threatened  to  hang  him,  when  he  pro- 
duced some  of  the  valuables  of  the  Donners,  and  five 
hundred  dollars  in  money.  Fellen,  in  his  journal, 
under  date  of  April  20th,  says  of  Kiesburg,  the  last 
of  the  emigrants  to  leave  this  place  of  abomination, 
"they  hurried  him  away,  but  before  leaving  he  gath- 
ered together  the  bones,  and  heaped  them  all  in  a 
box  he  used  for  the  purpose,  blessed  them  and  the 
cal)in,  and  said,  'I  hope  God  will  forgive  me  for  what 
I  have  done ;  I  couldn't  help  it,  and  I  hope  I  may  get 
to  heaven  yet.  We  asked  Kiesburg  why  he  did  not 
use  the  meat  of  the  bullock  and  horse  instead  of  hu- 
man flesh.  He  replied  he  had  not  seen  them.  We 
till  n  told  him  we  knew  better,  and  asked  him  why 
tlie  meat  in  the  chair  had  not  been  consumed.  He 
said,  '  O,  its  too  drv  eatuig ;  the  liver  and  lights  are 


1  '  r    in} 


',■■>!. \ 


^'ly 


108 


THE  JOURNEY  OVERLAND. 


I 


a  f^rcat  deal  bottor,  and  the  brains  make  good  soup." 
Wlicii  accused  of  the  murder  of  Mrs  Donner,  he  said 
tliat  Mrs  Donner,  in  attempting  to  cross  from  one 
cabin  to  amither,  had  "missed  tiie  trail,  and  slept  out 
one  night;  that  she  came  to  liis  camp  the  next  night 
very  much  fatigued ;  he  made  her  a  cup  of  coffee, 

E laced  her  in  bed,  and  rolled  her  well  in  the  blankets, 
ut  the  next  morning  found  her  dead.  He  ate  her 
body,  and  f«)und  lier  flesh  the  best  he  had  ever  tasted. 
He  further  stated  that  he  obtained  from  her  body  at 
least  four  pounds  of  fat." 

A.t  the  close  of  a  general  summary  of  the  affair, 
the  Califonua  Star  of  the  10th  of  April  1847,  says: 
"After  the  first  few  deaths,  but  the  one  all-absorbinLC 
thought  of  individual  self-preservation  prevailed. 
The  fountains  of  natural  affection  were  all  dried  up. 
The  chords  that  once  vibrated  with  connubial,  parental, 
and  filial  affection  were  rent  asunder,  and  each  seemed 
resolved,  without  regard  to  the  fate  of  others,  to  es- 
cape the  impending  calamity.  Even  the  wild  hostile 
mountain  Indians,  who  once  visited  their  camps,  pitied 
them ;  and  instead  of  pursuing  the  natural  impulse  of 
their  hostile  feeling  to  the  whites  and  destroying  them 
as  they  could  easily  have  done,  divided  their  own 
scanty  supply  of  food  with  them.  So  changed  had 
the  emigrants  become,  that  when  the  party  sent  out 
arrived  with  food,  some  of  them  cast  it  aside,  and 
seemed  to  prefer  the  putrid  human  flesh  that  still 
remained." 

On  his  return  to  the  east.  General  Kearney  passed 
by  the  scene  of  these  tragical  occurrences,  and  halted 
there  on  the  22d  of  June,  1847.  He  ordt  -ed  the  re- 
mains collected  and  buried  in  one  of  the  c?  ins;  some 
of  the  bodies  presented  a  mummy-like  i  nearance, 
the  flesh  having  remahied  undecayed  in  ti  ^  dry  at- 
mosphere. Fire  was  then  set  to  the  cabin,  a  :1  so  was 
consumed  as  far  as  possible  every  trace  of  t  e  melan- 
choly occurrence.  Of  the  eighty  persons  jriginally 
composing  the  party,  thirty-six  perished,  of  whom 


IMMIORATION  OP  1840. 


109 


but  eight  were  females,  while  twenty-four  females  and 
twenty  males  survived. 

Revolting  as  are  these  revelations,  the  half  has 
not  been  told.  Of  the  dark  deeds  committed  In  this 
sepulchral  Sierra,  under  cover  of  night,  or  in  the 
light  of  day  made  blacker  than  blackest  night  by  the 
darkness  of  the  deed,  comparatively  few  have  ever 
been  told.  But  entmgh  has  been  told  to  show  us 
what  men  will  do  when  forced  by  necessity.  These 
Donners  were  cultivated,  wealthy  peo|)le;  they  be- 
haved better  in  some  respects  than  the  others,  and 
yet  they  did  not  wholly  forbear  to  eat  of  each  other. 

During  the  immigration  of  1849,  and  before  that 
time,  there  wore  many  parties  who  underwent  much 
suffering;  some  similar  to  those  experienced  by  the 
Donner  party,  yet  there  was  no  instance  which  as  a 
whole  equalled  those  horrors  in  magnitude  and  inten- 
sity. Toward  this  western  shore  had  set  the  world's 
tide  of  human  life  and  human  passion.  So  great  was 
the  movement  of  1849  that  I  might  say  there  was 
almost  a  continuous  line  of  wagons  from  the  Missouri 
river  to  the  Sierra  Nevada,  an  almost  unbroken  line 
of  light  from  the  camp-fires  at  night ;  hence  it  was 
safe  enough  for  single  wagons,  or  horsemen,  or  foot 
passengers  even,  to  join  the  throng.  And  many  of 
these  individual  adventurers  there  were.  But  man 
likes  company,  especially  when  there  is  toil  and  un- 
certainty before  him;  and  so  at  the  east  overland 
societies  were  organized  and  officered  bound  for  the 
mines,  the  object  being  that  by  a  conmmnity  of  labor 
or  capital  mutual  comfort  and  safety  might  be  in- 
creased. 

The  idea  of  association  was  to  divide  the  /enturo, 
or  to  unite  the  benefits  of  money  and  labor,  or  for 
mutual  aid,  or  protection,  or  to  assure  attention  in 
case  of  sickness,  or  for  all  these  combined.  One 
desires  to  go  to  California  who  has  not  the  means, 
so  he  drives  across  the  plains  the  team  of  ciie  who 


110 


THE  JOURNEY  OVERLAND. 


requires  a  driver.  Hundreds  of  associations  were 
formed  on  various  plans,  some  to  go  out  by  water  and 
some  by  land.  Usually  they  were  composed  of  from 
ten  to  fifty  persons,  though  I  have  known  companies  c  f 
100,  and  one  of  150  men.  Each  member  contributed 
so  much  capital  either  in  money  or  its  equivalent, 
which  was  expended  before  starting  in  provisions, 
clothing,  utensils,  medicines,  or  whatever  in  the 
opinions  of  the  officers  would  yield  the  largest  profit, 
or  tend  most  to  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of 
the  members.  In  Augusta,  Maine,  a  society  was 
formed  of  thirty  persons,  each  contributhig  $500, 
which  capital  was  cmploj^cd  in  the  purchase  of  a 
ship  of  200  tons,  and  freighting  it  with  wooden 
houses,  machines  for  washing  and  separating  gold,  a 
mill,  and  merchandise,  of  which  portion  was  to  be 
sold  in  San  Francisco,  and  part  to  be  used  by  the 
members  of  the  association  in  mining  and  milling 
operations  of  their  own.  Another  similar  copartner- 
ship was  organized  at  Utica,  New  York,  with  a  capi- 
tal of  $30,000;  and  many  others.  The  ships  were 
to  be  sold  or  abandoned  at  San  Francisco,  and  seamen 
eagerly  shipped  to  be  discharged  there. 

But  these  associations  were  mostly  failures.  They 
were  too  cumbersome,  the  men  too  inexi)erienced,  too 
little  acquainted  with  the  country  and  with  what 
they  proposed  to  do,  knowing  neither  each  other  nor 
themselves.  The  ineffiv'ient  members  cramped  the 
energies  of  those  who  might  succeed  alone ;  cumber- 
some associations  cannot  move  with  the  promptness  and 
celerity  of  hidividuals ;  they  are  unable  to  act  indi- 
vidually, to  seize  occasions,  and  the  best  men  belong- 
ing to  them  are  usually  most  rejoiced  to  be  free 
from  them. 

Codes  were  sometimes  adopted  and  by-laws  signed ; 
but  from  inexperience,  and  the  festerings  arising  from 
new  and  strange  abrasures,  c.  verland  parties  frequently 
broke  into  helter-skelter  scrambles  before  the  jour- 
ney was  half    completed.      Frequently   the  means 


THEORY   AND  PRACTTCE  OF  ASSOCIATION. 


Ill 


hat 
nor 
the 
)(r- 
laiul 
^idi- 
mg- 
Ifice 

ioa ; 
roin 

hly 

)ur- 
bans 


necessary  for  the  journey,  either  by  land  or  water, 
would  be  furnished  by  i»ne  in  consideration  of  a  prom- 
ise from  the  other  to  perform  a  certain  amount  (f 
labor,  or  to  divide  the  profits.  But  so  entirely  then 
was  California  beyond  the  reach  of  law,  or  even  light, 
or  restraint,  that  a  man  must  be  impregnated  with 
honesty  and  conscience  in  a  remarkable  degree  long  to 
be  mindful  of  obligations  entered  into  with  those  who 
are  never  to  know  if  he  keeps  them. 

No  sooner  was  a  family,  tor  instance,  fairly  started 
overland,  than  the  master  was  as  much  m  the  hands 
of  the  man  as  the  man  was  in  those  of  the  master  , 
and  often  an  emigrant  was  obliged  to  submit  to  insult 
and  wrong  heaped  upon  him  by  some  base-minded 
churl  to  whom  he  was  doing  charity  All  the  em- 
ployer could  do  in  such  cases  was  to  turn  the  man 
adrift,  but  this  was  impracticable  in  the  middle  of  tl.o 
plains  with  teams  and  stock  to  be  attended  to. 
Moreover,  such  action  might  be  exactly  what  the 
fellow  would  like,  as  he  could  then  make  his  way  f  )r- 
ward  untrammeled,  with  what  his  employer  would  feel 
obliged  to  give  him,  or  he  could  join  some  other 
band. 

Often  when  ready  to  start,  the  most  absurd  rumors 
were  rife.  Some  would  say  that  the  Mormons,  ready 
to  kill  or  convert  the  emigrants,  waited  and  watched 
for  them  at  the  rivers ;  in  romantic  re^jions  savi.,i;es 
lurked,  if  so  be  they  should  escape  the  avt'nging 
saints;  while  still  farther  west,  the  emissaries  of  per- 
fidious fur-companies  had  penetrated  to  brilu'  with 
rum  or  blankets  the  unso})histicated  red  man,  and 
stir  him  up  against  intruders  upon  the  game-tilled 
park  that  (k,d  had  given  him. 

Full  of  fanciful  theories,  until  experience  beat  prac- 
tical common-sense  into  them,  some  of  the  d(»lngs  of 
the  emigrants  were  most  childish.  One  conipany  a 
few  davs  after  starting  was  struck  with  a  freak  of 
law-making;  and  immediately  after  attempting  to  put 
in  practice  the  new  regulations,  as  was  often  liie  case, 


ii 


I  ir 


112 


THE  JOURNEY  OVERLAND. 


I'^ 


11' 


it  all  fell  in  pieces.  It  appears  that  an  edict  had 
gone  forth  against  dogs ;  all  must  die  or  leave  the 
train.  The  enraged  owners  of  valuable  canines 
rushed  to  arms,  and  prepared  to  mingle  the  blood  of 
the  slayers  with  that  of  the  slain.  The  result  was 
the  amendment  of  the  decree  and  a  reelection  of 
officers. 

The  ordinary  migration  was  something  as  follows : 
From  the  various  points  of  departure  along  the  then 
so-called  western  frontier,  companies,  families,  and  in- 
dividuals set  out  on  foot,  on  horseback,  on  mules,  in 
covered  wagons — prairie  clippers  or  schooners  some 
called  them — drawn  by  long  files  of  cattle,  and  filled 
with  flour,  bacon,  beans,  sugar,  coffee,  tobacco, 
whisky,  cooking  and  household  utensils,  and  other 
useful  and  useless  articles,  many  of  which  were  soon 
to  be  thrown  away  to  lighten  the  load.  Extra  draft 
and  riding  animals  to  be  used  as  relays,  and  to  take 
the  places  of  the  exhausted,  lost,  or  stolen ;  and  some- 
times cows  and  sheep,  were  driven,  beside  or  behind  the 
wagon.  As  the  animals  thinned  in  immber,  oxen 
and  mules,  or  horses  and  cows,  might  be  seen  yoked 
together,  and  horseless  cavaliers,  thankful  of  any  re- 
lief for  their  blistered  feet,  did  not  disdain  to  mount 
horned  cattle.  In  the  wagons  were  women,  children, 
and  sick  persons,  though  often  these  were  obliged  to 
walk  to  save  the  strength  of  the  fainting  animals. 
At  the  belt  of  many  were  carried  a  large  knife,  and 
one  or  more  revolvers ;  slung  to  the  back  a  rifle,  and 
from  the  saddle-horn  a  lasso  hung  ready  for  inmio- 
diate  use.  Taking  with  them  their  wives  and 
children  these  gold-worshippers  left  behind — not 
starvation  and  anarchy,  but  peaceful,  happy  homes, 
good  governuient  and  plenty,  abasing  their  work-worn 
women,  and  exposing  their  nurselings  to  burning  plains 
and  icy  mountains,  dooming  them  to  disease,  perhaps 
death.     Love  of  adventure  prompted  some,  love  of 


1 


We 
crii 

tho 

hy 

thrd 
the 
dow 
mon 
ha  hi 
and 
out  c 
turke 
some 
and  i 
quarr 
secure 
antelo 
beasts 
womer 
someti] 
and   h< 
buried 
it  woul 
nually  ! 
To  c 
tically  i 
reached 
was  not 
of  overii 
Missour 
from  the 
or  if  for 
taken — t 
within  si 
dotted  th 
old  pion< 
that.     A 
glowing  8 

Cai 


health  most   „f  tu  ' 

crime  not  a  few    *^"'  ""d  We  of  lawlessness  and 

«'ougl  "KteSr  ""'■?'""*  2,000  miles 

aown  into  the  garden  of  P„lf      ■      ™  Nevada,  and 
months  the  em,|™„Ts Vte  ^''f°™>^  ,  J'"'"  weeks  a"d 
haWion;  eve.!  the  h!^^s  ofSt"^''*  °^ ""^  human 
«ncl  then  swept  down  uZ  ti°„   ''^  "^^^S^^  that  now 
out  of  view.     On  reachL  i       '  """"^  "ninown  and 
turkeys,  and  an  ocSoiaf  ttT"''  "^''""^  e'k,  wM 
«om«  would  pursue,  but  wff't' ^ ■"^^""•  ^^'"ich 
and  then  a  wiser  hunter  whV.         f?''ept,on  of  now 
quarry    their  incipient  1,1?  •    T,""'''  "'"''o  »  noble 
secured  little  food.     :^fr''\  of  fire-arms 

ante  ope  with  the  g^  w„lf  oo  "5"'°  ""''  'catteril 
b^stsof  prey,  witlfno^&Zf  >/^^'"'  ^"'^  ««>ef 
women,  were  the   ^nlo  ^*  of  savage  men  nn^ 

-metimes   sterS:  Region   ''T'^  "^  ""s^^lf  :„"^ 
and   here  and   ther?ve„e.i    '"**J7'''»  was  water 
.buried  the  traveller  t  [^«'^'^''on.     Sometimes   s^'l 

"  would  be  too  pooi  even  .'VTy '■»'<'«.  andaS 
"ually  swept  over  it  "  '"  ^""^  *he  fires  thatC 

tieaHyl^^Sble^rir  ^""''^  -'"*-  was  prac 
^^oaehed  tfe  eas   too  Ute^Z'S'  "^*'^«  8°'^  dfsco^v: t 
was  not  until  abont  t         • ,  .?''e  summer  of  ISJB  X 

mS"^  emt:Ut%:;5'-/^;^84»  thJt'h^elide' 
iVlissouri,  was  one  of  the  oh;  T    "'     ^"^^pendence 
from  the  northern  states    and  S  P"'"*"  "^  ^^P^^uTe 
or  if  for  southern  California  f  J  ^^S'^"^^"*«  ^^^  goal 
taken-that  old  trai     nev^l  f'  ^^"*^  ^^  traiJ^was 
yithm  shot  of  the  bartn  W-'^,^"-^^  ^^^nee  passhu' 
jotted  the  horizon  or  fitd  ^Vj  ra'"  '''''.  -casCaH^ 
old  pioneers  who  had  Jaid  1      7T''  ^^^  *h«  wary 
*^at-.    At  this  time  30  oon       7*""*  ^"^^  better  thZ 
glowing  ardor,  anTfrom  h,  S' '/^  ^ ^^'^'^-h  in  its 
CA..  i«x.  Poc.  8      """^ '^^/ndividual  history,  might 


F) 


lU 


THE  JOURNEY  OVERLAND. 


tell  a  tale  more  thrilling  and  more  fascinating  than 
any  of  ancient  pilgrimage,  trailed  over  plains  and  rug- 
ged hills  of  desolation,  often  with  a  miserable  road, 
or  with  no  road  at  all ;  and  exposed  to  tornadoes  fierce 
enough  to  demolish  a  caravan,  followed  by  ravenous 
wolves  and  croaking  ravens,  harrassed  by  savages, 
keeping  watch  by  night,  and  sweating  and  swearing 
by  day ;  suffering  from  scurvy  and  fever  engendered 
by  salt  unwholesome  food,  and  from  cholera  brought 
up  the  river  from  NeV  Orleans,  and  wliich  clung  to 
them  until  dissipated  by  the  sharp  air  of  the  elevated 
regions  500  miles  distant  Over  the  boundless  prairies 
they  straggled,  up  in  to  the  rarified  air  that  stifled  men 
and  beasts,  down  into  waterless,  sandy  sinks ;  across 
sage  brush  plains  efflorescent  with  alkali,  over  salty- 
white  flats  caked  hard  as  st(me,  through  blinding  dust, 
and  into  heaps  of  sand-like  drifted  ashy  earth  where 
the  animals  sank  to  their  bellies ;  resting  by  cooling 
springs,  or  thirsting  beside  fetid  and  acrid  waters; 
windinjr  along  the  banks  of  slug'>ish  water-courses, 
fording  brackisli  brooks,  swinnning  ice-cold  rivers,  ex- 
posed now  to  the  unbroken  rays  of  a  withering  sun, 
and  now  to  chilliing  hail-storms,  hurricanes,  and  suffo- 
cating sand-blasts;  sometimes  miring  in  mud,  sonus 
times  clioked  in  impa][)able  dust  which  saturated  hair 
and  clothes,  filled  eyes  and  nostrils,  and  made  these 
emigrant  trains  look  like  caravans  emerijiny:  from  an 
ash  storm  on  the  })lains  of  Sodom. 

But  what  were  these  temporal  miseries  beside  the 
eternal  reward  that  awaited  them  beyond  the  Sierra, 
which,  from  its  eastern  slope,  so  giimly  frowned  on 
those  who  came  so  far  to  tamper  with  its  treasures? 
Blessed  faith  1  though  material  and  transient  in  its 
promised  joys,  it  was  none  the  less  innnortal  What 
thougli  credence  be  but  a  fata  mon/ana,  happiness  a 
phantom,  and  flattering  hope  be  fed  by  night  on  dreams 
and  by  day  on  mirage ;  what  though  imaginary  shapes 
take  on  reality,  and  thought  spends  itself  in  midnight 
apparitions  and  fantastic  aerial  visi(His,  faith  and  hope 


ermjt: 


o 


MIRAGE. 


115 


and  happiness  are  none  the  less  real,  none  tlie  less 
eternal  By  clay  and  by  night,  waking  or  sleeping, 
gorgeous  pictures  toward  the  west  were  spread  out 
before  these  pilgrims — by  day,  phantasmagoria,  aerial 
plays  of  fancy  as  manifested  in  these  terraqueous 
metamorphoses  due  to  variations  from  ordinary  refrac- 
tions of  luminous  ra^-s  hi  their  passage  through  atmos- 
pheric strata  of  ditl'erent  densities,  thus  pluraliziiig 
reflections,  bnnging  objects  nearer,  trans})orting  them 
to  a  distance,  lifting  them  up  from  below  tlje  horizon, 
investing  and  deforming  them — by  niglit,  pictures  of 
tlie  past  and  the  future,  the  unwelcome  })resent  foi' 
the  moment  wrapped  hi  oblivion;  pictures  of  lionte,  of 
opulence,  of  merry-makings,  and  heart-gladdenings. 

Here,  high  above  the  ocean,  between  the  two  great 
uplifted  ranges,  wliere  hills  and  desert  flats  rise  well 
nigh  into  the  clouds,  is  the  native  land  of  the  mirage, 
distinct  in  its  unreality,  magnificent,  ihougli  built  of 
air  and  sand.  Now  it  is  a  hmely  valley,  bearing  in 
its  bosom  a  glassy  lake,  girdled  witli  waving  groves 
and  parted  by  rushing  streams;  and  now  tlie  gilded 
spires  of  a  mighty  city  pierce  the  dull,  desiccated 
heavens,  massive  masonry  pillars  the  firmament,  while 
long  drawn  shadows  cross  and  re-cross  the  marble 
domes  and  crenelled  turrets  of  atliousand  palaces  eni- 
bahned  in  pleasant  gardens  like  a  Babylon,  or  gleam- 
ing from  settings  of  silver  as  wliere  tlie  lion  of  Saint 
]\lark  keeps  guard  over  the  bride  of  the  Adriatic;  at 
times,  again,  their  own  images  would  loom  out  (Us- 
torted  hi  figure  or  position,  like  the  gliostof  Brocktn, 
through  the  ghiomy  sultry  air  paljiable  with  sand. 
As  when,  bk^ar-eyed  from  long  contentions  witli  tlu) 
sand  and  sun,  exhausted  by  toilsome  travel  and  faint- 
ing with  thirst,  Fancy  strips  the  eartli  of  its  jiallid  cov- 
ering and  fills  the  rent  with  the  vaulted  firmament, 
sets  up  images  motionless  in  the  air  and  sends  aerial 
animals  of  divers  sorts  in  hot  chase  one  after  another, 
inundates  sandy  plains  by  the  beating  of  the  upahoot- 
ing   sua   upon   the  surface,  and  places  before  them 


116 


THE  JOURNEY  OVERLAND, 


transparent  pools  and  isle-dotted  lakes,  reflecting  cool 
groves  and  grassy  resting  places,  only  to  be  borne  oft' 
by  the  wind,  and  cruelly  snatched  from  their  grasp  on 
nearer  approach ;  so  to  the  ardent  longings  of  their 
inflamed  brains,  fickle  fortune,  incarnated,  becomes  a 
true  prophetess,  and  beckons  them  on  with  pleasing 
illusions  to  their  destruction.  Alasl  that  it  should 
be  so ;  that  fortune,  fame,  and  happiness,  and  life  itsclf, 
should  be  so  like  the  mirage  to  which  these  foot-sore 
desert- walkers  so  often  anchored  their  hopes ! 

At  the  beginning  of  the  journey,  witli  fresh  cattle, 
a  })lentiful  store  of  food,  and  a  road  that  lay  through 
grassy  prairies  and  well-watered  valleys,  with  bright, 
cheerful  warmth  by  day  and  restoring  sleep  at  night, 
each  dropping  into  place,  and  all  attending  to  their 
several  duties,  driving  their  teams,  seeking  water, 
preparing  resting-places  for  the  night,  unyoking  oxen, 
picketing  horses,  unpacking  the  wagons,  pitching  tents, 
gathering  wood  and  cooking  the  supper,  mending 
broken  wagons,  telling  stories  by  the  camp-fires, 
watching  their  grazing  cattle,  or  scouring  the  adjacent 
plain  for  the  strayed  or  such  as  had  been  stolen, 
chasing  buffalo,  shouting  antelope,  parleying  with  the 
natives — in  the  first  flush  of  sanguine  hope,  with  ex- 
pectation bright  before  them,  this  sort  of  life  was  not 
so  bad.  When  a  caravan  camped  at  night,  the  men 
made  a  circle  of  their  wagons,  at  once  a  bulwaik  and 
a  corral  for  their  cattle.  About  this  they  pitched 
their  tents,  and  surrounded  all  with  a  guard  of  blazing 
camp-fires,  which  threw  their  glare  far  into  the  sur- 
rounding darkness,  and  illuminated  the  groups  that 
cooked  or  smoked  or  slept  beside  them.  Golden- 
winged  Eros  sometimes  dropped  in  among  them,  flut- 
tered about  the  wagons,  and  a  clergyman  or  squire 
must  be  hunted  up  among  the  trains  to  terminate  his 
sad  doings  by  a  marriage.  Once  in  a  while  they  killed 
a  buffalo  and  then  they  munched  and  munched,  till 
marrov  -nd  fat,  and  fullness  made  their  worn,  wan 
faces  tc    bine  in  the  red  fire-light  like  the  satyrs. 


bon£ 


I-;VND  xMARKS. 


117 


a>'<l  a.Chimney  rock  at  nnl    *f  "'"  *'"•  ^''"^''•tl  tuttes 
nant  „f  an  ancient  biuffbT^f"  '""■"'■»™t  and  rlm- 
by  the  winds  and  vT'     e         "P""  "'"i  won,  awZ 
^  face  of  hoavcTtl:.  S^fi'  ''""?  """  ^ 
warning,  as  you  cl.oosc  f,f'.        ■"'S^''  »f  'i"!'"  <>r 
spread  for  „,ifestl,ersnLl.^      *l"''  "•     ^-ott  blurt^ 
Krand  as  the  hills  o  Sw  a,?  ur^-""''  *""'elif^ 
"»«.'.;•  one,  through  the  Z "*  *''"  S^antcitics;  l.ut 
tomb  „  foe,  heralcQ  by  ^SyTf  *'"^''''  '^-'"''=rin". 
«■•«,  girdles  their  rauimrts  ami  fl     "'"",'""'  l»"ar  of 
IS  heard  ajrain  throu..rtl     ?     '  'f  "''a^l'  "fa  Jericli,, 
an  J  the  roar  of  tfe^  ea^!,!™"''^'^  "^  "'«  ta»  - 
grass  becomes  scarcelT^br^ '."'''■'"'™''-     '^^^<'-  tiTe' 
'»  "'any  places  is  all  c«,sumed  f  ?"*  ^'^^  ""•  and 
'1-    routes  must  be  sonTf       ',  '"'  ""^  and  u„  r„,| 
'^"■/"od,  and  wo„,cn  S  '  if!"'  '""'•'  K'in  to  fll,t 
»'"'  »'en,  ill-fed  l"l  l^t'^t?^'"  ^"^^'^  an,|  die 

fi;-'"  daylight  till  dark'^dex^,^'  h*'","^  *''"  ""'WlJ 
"flioat  and   cold,  be,;i„f'JT'',*;t'''''-'"'ato  blasts 

'ftonedof  thoir'lai"'"rt,nnld  ^V"^  ""'^'  l'« 
P=wr  dumb  brutes  thus  slmwiT^^'     ^^'^^amvliile  the 

'xvners-  gree<l,  gasph',   ajlC"'-iT'"''="'  '"«'«i^ 
ppon-mouthcd,  with    Inillt     J"^<"'«We  to  the  .r„ad 
ja-s  and  dull  sunken  "^  d""*-'""-  ""''   ^'^^' 
t  venty  miles  a  da,-,  or  wfth  if?  "'""='  "'^r  two  „? 

*.  an' ,rr:'  tS*:^  -r^.  n.-  reaso,,. 
Mows,  mai,3.  •  '•them  and  m'iiiH    -'7  <'"''  l"""- 
the  carcasses  oi  their  boal      Tn  li""""  """""^  wi"' 
'allw  of  the   MississiimTt    ,'^"  V'"  "'V"'"'  the 
tracks  were  marked  by  reirf  "'''"'•  '"»»•   t-.rtuo  s 
t;^.ts,  east-offclothi„/s  1  nrn  •  •™«°"''  d«'""lisho< 

^--^therottiug'^i~ftfe-ffl 


118 


THE  JOURNEY  OVERLAND 


witli  the  111  covered  <;ravcsof  incn  and  women,  u^hastly 
Bkeletotis  of  jrolden  hopes.  Some  were  ovcrtak(!n  hy 
the  snow,  and  losing  their  way,  perished ;  some  wero 
sliot  hv  savaojcs;  some  fell  bv  disease.  In  thcwords 
of  a  pilgrim,  "the  last  part  of  the  emigration  resembled 
the  rout  of  an  ami}-,  with  it.s  distressed  multitudes  of 
helpless  sufferers,  rather  than  the  voluntary  movement 
of  a  free  people."  On  reaching  the  Truckee,  their 
weary  spirits  grew  buoyant  again;  for  now  the  trail 
w\as  <jfood,  water  and  <;rass  abunlant,  and  the  first  tall 
trees  which  thcv  had  seen  for  elLjht  hundred  miles, 
appear.  So  on  the  survivors  come,  sometimes  worn 
out  bv  famine  and  fatigue,  over  sterile  hills  and  scorch- 
ing  Saharas,  through  the  valleys  of  death  and  from 
tlie  plains  of  desolati(m,  heedless  if  not  heartless,  up 
by  the  pathway  through  the  cloven  granite,  through 
the  mountain  pass,  then  zig-zag  down  the  steep  slopes, 
and  beneath  the  shadowy  pines  of  the  Sierra,  empty- 
ing all  that  is  left  of  them  and  their  belongings  into 
the  valley  of  the  Sacramento,  or  into  the  garden  of 
Los  Angeles,  ready  after  their  toilsome  march  to  reap 
and  riot  with  the  best  of  them. 

Fortunate  indeed  are  they  if  their  last  flour  be  not 
cooked,  and  the  last  morsel  of  rancid  bacon  be  not  de- 
voured, before  reaching  their  journey's  end.  Once 
among  the  settlers,  however,  and  they  are  sure  of  the 
meansof  appeasing  their  hunger;  for  there  yet  remains 
something  of  that  substantial  hospitality  which  the 
jioorest  western  emigrant  would  tliink  it  shame  to  re- 
fuse another. 

Now  they  may  revel  in  the  realms  of  golden  dreainr,. 
Here,  indeed,  is  the  promised  land;  and  these  dirt- 
colored,  skin-cracked,  blinded,  and  footsore  travellers, 
whose  stomach  linings  are  worn  and  wasted  from  car- 
rying foul  food  and  fetid  water — let  them  enjoy  it. 
Stripping  off  their  ragged  and  gritty  clothes,  tlie 
newly-arrived  may  bathe  in  the  inviting  streams, 
drinking  in  the  cool,  refreshing  water  at  every  pore ; 
they  may  put  on  fresh  apparel,  and  fill  themselves 


THE  LAND  OF  CANAAN. 


lid 


with  good  bread  and  beef;  tlion  mounting  their  liorses, 
they  may  wade  them  through  tracts  of  wihl  oats  that 
top  both  horse  and  rider,  and  they  may  tread  down 
t]»e  yeUow  bloom  of  countless  autunmal  Howcrs.  Tliey 
may  see  licrds  of  antelopes  passing  along  the  plain 
like  wind-wave'S  over  the  grass,  and  droves  of  wild 
horses  tossintj  their  heads  in  the  air  as  their  broad 
nostrils  catch  the  taint  of  the  intruders,  and  great, 
aiitlered  elk,  some  as  big  as  Mexican  nmles,  grazing 
about  the  groves  and  under  the  scattered  trees.  Now 
they  may  rest,  and  now  the  more  fortunate  may  hope 
to  enjoy  the  luxury  of  house,  and  bed  with  clean 
slieets  and  soft  pillows.  Yet  at  first,  to  him  who  has 
long  slept  in  the  open  air,  these  are  no  luxuries.  Often 
tliose  accustomed  to  every  comfort  at  Jiome,  neat  and 
fastidious  in  all  their  tastes,  on  resuming  their  former 
mode  of  living  after  sleeping  a  few  months  in  the  open 
air,  have  been  obliged  to  leave  a  comfortable  bed  and 
spread  their  blankets  under  the  trees  if  they  would 
have  sleep.  The  house  and  its  trappings  stifle  them. 
So  hates  the  savaije  civilization. 


The  relative  dangers  of  the  overland  and  ocean 
journeys  have  sometimes  been  discussed.  I  should 
sav  that  hi  dansjfor,  and  in  the  romance  which  dan<j:cr 
brings,  the  journey  across  the  plains  eclipsed  the 
steamer  voyage,  in  which  there  was  more  vexation  of 
spirit  than  actual  peril.  Even  the  long  and  stormy 
passage  of  Cape  Horn  had  fewer  terrors  than  the?  be- 
lated passage  of  the  snowy  Sierra.  The  traveller 
wlio  takes  ship  for  a  far-off'  laud  incurs  risk,  it  is  true  ; 
but  if  he  reaches  his  destination  at  all,  it  is  without 
effort  on  his  part.  He  throws  himself  upon  the 
mercy  of  the  elements,  and  once  having  done  this  he 
can  do  no  more.  But  there  is  much  that  is  strength- 
eniuix,  ennoblinti:,  in  the  battlinos  and  uncertainties  of 
overland  travel.  I  have,  indeed,  often  thought  that 
man  is  never  more  ingloriously  placed,  that  his  petti- 
ness and  feebleness  are  never  more  ignobly  patent. 


120 


THE  JOURNEY  OVERLAND. 


I! 


than  when  he  is  brought  face  to  face  with  nature 
upon  the  ocean.  See  him  as  he  scans  the  horizon 
with  anxious  and  fearful  eye,  watching  for  an  enemy 
which  he  knows  is  his  master;  mark  him,  when  that 
enemy  appears,  cringing  and  shrinking  from  tlie  shock 
of  battle,  his  ship  tossing  helplessly  with  folded  and 
bedraggled  wings,  as  if  seeking  to  become  so  small 
and  insignificant  that  the  storm  will  sweep  over  her 
bowed  head  in  contemptuous  pity. 

But  what  a  different  aspect  man  presents  wlien 
braving  and  contending  with  perils  such  as  those  to 
which  our  overland  immigrants  were  exposed.  They 
were  not  so  much  at  the  mercy  of  capricious  elements, 
to  drive  them  hundreds  of  miles  out  of  their  course 
or  retard  their  journey  for  months.  Upon  their  own 
strength,  courage,  and  endurance  they  relied.  Havhig 
determined  their  route  they  set  their  faces  westward,  and 
westward  by  that  route  they  went  until  their  goal  was 
reached,  opposing  force  with  force,  meeting  danger, 
difficulty,  and  hardship,  without  flinching,  conquering 
every  foot  of  the  way  by  their  own  indomitable  will. 

Yet,  alas !  many  here  fell  by  the  way,  as  we  have 
seen. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA— NEW  YORK  TO  CHAORES. 

Some  8ct  out,  liko  crusaders  of  old,  with  a  glorious  equipment  of  lio]ie 
anil  ciitliUMiasiii,  and  gut  broken  l>y  the  way,  wanting  iiaticnctt  witli  each 
other  and  the  world.  — Georije  E'uot, 

EvEUYBODY  is  supposcd  to  Iciiow,  tliougli  cvcrybotly 
does  not  know,  that  Phryxos  fled  from  the  wratli  of 
his  father  AthaniJis,  kin»(  of  Orchoinenus,  in  BoDotia, 
riding  througli  the  air  to  Colchis  upon  the  rain  with 
tlie  golden  Hoece,  which  was  the  gift  of  Hermes. 
The  ram  was  then  sacrificed  to  Zeus,  and  the  fleece 
given  to  King  -^]tes,  who  hung  it  uj)on  a  sacred  oak 
ill  the  grove  of  Ares,  where  it  was  guardctl  night  and 
day  by  an  ever-watchful  dragon.  Polias,  king  of 
lolcos,  in  Thcssaly,  sent  Jason  his  half  brother  s  son, 
wlio  claimed  the  sovereignty,  with  the  chief  heroes 
of  Greece,  in  the  ship  Argo  to  fetch  the  golden  fleece. 
Jason  obtained  the  fleece,  though  Pelias  had  hoped 
ho  should  have  been  destrovcd.  Of  the  Arsjonauts 
there  were  fifty  in  number,  and  among  them  Hercules, 
and  the  singer  Orpheus,  Castor  and  Pollux,  Zetes  and 
Calais,  Mopus,  Theseus,  and  others,  the  stories  con- 
cerning whoso  enterprise,  it  is  thought,  grew  out  of 
the  commercial  expeditions  of  the  Munvans  to  the 
coasts  of  the  Euxiiie.  Ulysses,  returning  from  the 
scige  of  Troy,  made  a  ten  year's  voyage,  being  driven 
about  by  tempests,  during  which  time  he  underwent 
many  strange  adventures.  Other  Mediterranean 
mythological  voyages  there  were,  and  hypothetical 
navigations  to  the  near  shores  and  islands  of  the 
Atlantic  and  Indian  oceans;    follownig  which  were 

{  121  ) 


122 


THE  VOYAOE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


tlu!  voya«2^('H  of  tlie  Sraiulinaviurs,  tlioso  i\crco  Nofae- 
iiK'ii  tliat  wcro  the  terror  of  all  the  maritime  nations 
of  nortlurn  Europe,  and  tlie  first  kn«)\vn  tliscoverors 
of  Amt  rica.  Then  there  were  tlie  vovai^eH  of  tlie 
l\)rtiiL;uese  round  Africa,  and  of  the  Spaniards  to 
America;  tliere  wi^re  the  ])ut('li  vova<jfes  foreoiujiust, 
and  tlie  Enuflish  vovaytes  of  eireunniavisjration ;  tjiero 
were  vovai;es  of  discovery,  commercial  vovanes,  V()V- 
ages  for  purposes  of  war,  science,  and  reliujion,  for 
pleasure,  proHt,  and  prosclytin|j;,  hut  never  since  the 
sea  was  made  has  there  hcen  seen  such  vova<;inij:  as 
the  trip  to  California  during  the  flush  times.  And 
never  shall  the  sea  behold  such  sights  again ;  nevt  r 
shall  tempest  sport  such  tangled  human  freight,  nor 
the  soft  tropical  wind  whi.sper  of  such  confused  and 
desultory  cargoes  as  those  which  swept  the  main  in 
shijis  from  every  point  in  search  of  the  new  golden 
fleece. 

As  compared  with  contemporaneous  trans- Atlantic 
navigation,  the  voyage  from  New  York  to  San  Fran- 
cisco by  way  of  the  Istlnnus  presents  entirely  distinct 
features.  It  was  an  episode  individual  and  peculiar  ; 
a  part,  and  no  small  part,  of  the  great  uprising  and 
exodus  of  the  nations;  it  was  the  grand  pathway  of 
pilgrims  from  all  parts  of  the  eastern  world ;  it  was 
brimfuU  of  romance  and  comedy,  of  unnumbered 
woes  and  tragedy,  enlivened  now  and  then  by  a  dis- 
aster which  sent  a  thrill  throughout  the  civilized 
world.  It  was  a  briny,  boisterous  idyl,  where  courage 
bore  along  slippery  passage-ways,  and  love  hjunged 
U]H)n  canopied  decks,  and  sentiment  in  thin  nmslin 
cooed  in  close  cabins,  and  vice  and  virtue  went  hanrl 
in  liand  as  friends. 

The  California  voyage  occupied  twice  the  time  of 
the  trans- Atlantic ;  the  steamers  employed  in  tin. 
former  w^ere  large,  standing  well  out  of  water,  and 
capable  of  carrying  from  700  to  1,500  passengers, 
while  those  of  the  latter  were  lower  and  smaller. 
In  the  character  of  the  passengers,  those  by  European 


ABXOIIMITIES  OF  THE  JOURNEY. 


123 


vessels  were  more  lioinogeneous,  more  alike  one  an- 
other, each  ship  carrying  a  fraternizing  cargo  what- 
ever tiie  caste,  a  cargo  of  ncaicr  kin.slii[)  in  origin  and 
dt!stlnation,  while  on  the  Cahfornian  stcanurs  ail  was 
babel-tongued  discordant  conglonu'ration.  In  scenery 
the  California  trip,  as  compared  to  the  European,  is 
as  kaleidosco})e  to  spy-glasH;  there  are  seas  that  lash 
themselves  into  angry  foam,  seas  that  race  their  hlue 
billows  aloni;,  swirling  and  shaking  their  crest:4  in 
careless  wantonness,  and  seas  glassy  as  mountain  lakes, 
mirrorinur  the  luxuriant  ijreen  of  tropical  isles  and 
mainland.  Within  the  three  weeks  allotted  to  the 
trip  the  voyager  j)asses  under  the  hitluence  of  the 
four  seasons,  is  introduced  to  wonderful  lands,  and 
made  acquainted  with  strange  peoples.  Nature  and 
human  nature  assumes  phases  altogether  new;  unitpie 
experiences  and  wide  prospects  shaqMMi  tlu^  faculties 
and  eidarge  ideas.  A  sort  of  inspiration  follows;  the 
windows  of  the  mnnl  are  opened  atid  innnensity 
rushes  in,  even  sea-sickness  is  an  Inspiration,  or  is 
followed  by  keener  thoughts  and  an  inspiriting  frame 
of  mind. 

The  reasons  whv  there  never  again  can  be  such  sea- 
voyagings  are  obvious.  This  planet  has  no  other  Cali- 
f  )rnia  left,  no  other  Pacific  coast,  no  further  stretch 
of  gold -besprinkled  un(>ccupied  temperate  zone.  CJold 
discoveries  there  may  be,  and  possible  uprisings  and 
rushes,  but  the  earth  is  now  belted  by  railways  and 
telegraphs,  and  all  ])arts  of  it  winth  rusliing  to,  all 
parts  of  it  possible  to  seize,  pleasant  to  live  in,  or 
profital)lc  to  subdue  are  now  occupied  and  guarded  by 
civilized  or  semi  civilized  nations.  There  never  will 
be  another  crusade  for  the  recoverv  of  the  holv  sei^- 
ulchro,  nor  another  ten  centuries  of  religious  wars, 
nor  another  Bartholemew  massacre,  nor  any  more 
old-fashioned  voj'ages  of  discovery,  nor  any  more 
California  gold-hunter's  voyages  of  adventure.  His- 
tory may  repeat  itself;  so  may  nature,  progressional 
pheuouiena,  and   fundamental  social  laws,  but  mon- 


IM 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


strosities,  aberrations,  and  abnormities,  never.  The 
early  voyage  to  California,  like  everything  purely 
Californian,  is  and  ever  shall  be  mi  generis. 

On  the  24th  of  February,  1852,  accompanied  by 
my  friend  Mr  Kenny,  I  set  sail  from  New  York  in 
the  steamer  George  Imw  for  Habana.  There  were 
then  two  steamship  lines  in  operation  between  New 
York  and  San  Francisco — one  by  way  of  Nicaragua, 
and  the  other  by  way  of  Panamd.  By  the  Nicara- 
gua route,  passengers  were  conveyed  direct  to  San 
Juan  del  Norte,  or  Greytown,  where  they  took  a 
small  steamboat  and  were  conveyed  up  the  river  San 
Juan  and  across  Lake  Nicaragua  to  Virgin  bay, 
Rivas,  or  Nicaragua,  as  the  landing  was  severally 
called ;  thence  by  land  to  San  Juan  del  Sur,  and 
again  by  steamer  to  San  Francisco.  Two  steamers 
of  the  Panamd  lino,  sailing  one  from  ISew  York  and 
the  other  from  New  Orleans,  met  at  Habana.  There 
the  passengers  and  mails  of  both  were  transferred  to 
a  third  steamer  and  conveyed  to  the  port  of  Chagres, 
where,  disembarking,  the  Chagres  river  was  ascended 
in  small  open  boats  to  Gorgona,  or  Cruces,  thence  by 
saddle  and  pack  nmles  to  Panamd,  where  the  Pacific 
Mail  Steamship  Company's  steamer  lay  waiting  to 
sail  for  San  Francisco,  touching  at  Acapulco. 

As  early  as  1835  the  attention  of  the  president, 
Andrew  Jackson,  was  called  by  Henry  Clay  to  the 
subject  of  inter-oceanic  communication,  and  Charles 
Biddle  was  appointed  commissioner  to  examine  tlie 
several  routes  and  report  thereon.  Nothing,  how- 
ever, was  then  accomplished.  In  1847  the  vexed 
question  of  the  boundary  line  between  British 
Columbia  and  Oregon  having  been  settled  by  treaty 
of  the  United  States  with  Great  Britain,  it  was 
deemed  desirable,  if  possible,  that  some  shorter  and 
safer  route  should  be  found  to  the  rich  valleys  of  the 
Northwest  Coast,  which  were  then  rapitllv  being 
settled,  than   the  savage  path  across  the  plains,  or 


STEAMSHIP  COMPANIES. 


Panama  to  Astoria.  Oregon  f      T  ^"^^  ^ork  via 
tic  side  at  Charleston   4^     '  ^^^^^^^ng  on  the  Atlan 
*!-  Pacific  at  ttiefrSr"'  ^^^^'  «-'  - 
^'«co.      Under   this   aS.f      '''''^^'  ^"^  ^an  Fran- 
month^^^^  contract   for 'a 

f  09,000  per  annum,  was  aw^'f,  !  *^T"Pe«sation  of 
who  assigned  it  to  wlllitm  K    a"  ^'""^^  ^^^^Is, 
associates.     Here    thon  ,     ^«P'»waJI  and  his 

Pacific  Mail  steL  h  ;'c^:::;.t  """^'r^ « '  «- 

h\  the  acquisition  of  k  1  fi  ?^^  ^'  '''^^^^'  stimulated 

CO  d    cliscoieries--b;;th    :  ^'Xr^  '^"  ^"^-'i"-^ 
within  less  than  three  monVlT  iJ     •^''^"^^    J'appened 
a>^«umed    manimotirpZ"  !^^^^^^^^    ^ts  organizatLJ 

largest  oceanic  transportation  '  ^"^^  '^^^^'"^  the 
7«r  seen,  having  [TrtteS  T^""'^  ^^''  ^^^'^^  has 
steamers,  sending^its^i^nlr  "'  f''^^  «^  ««v<'"ty 
seas  every  fifteen  davsZ  7  ''t  Ploughing  the 
>^ow  York  to  HongTon^  L'r^  «-;3g^be'froni 
^an  Francisco.  "^  ^'  ^^  ^^7  of  Panamd  and 

Pao,(,c,  tl,e  service  on^he  Atl^v'"''!''"""*"'  *"  «■« 
""•"P'oes  of  the  ir„ited  State,  M-rJ?r"'8  "'"''•'•  tl^e 
l«".v,  wliieh  sailed  their  ,       ¥"'■'  Steamship  Co,,,. 

»tcamers  were  built  and  jesiafche  f"*  "'^,  '«^^-  «'  «« 
fi;r  San  Francisco,  via  Samd    /?;','' S"!^' H-m 

I'o  /'««awa  beino.  obli,.,  d  t  r  i  .  '*f^"">  a'tbou.rh 
;%o«  was  the  first  ZrrX*  l^^'Z^'f""''^-  *''« 
tl"8  naming  of  their  eraT, It  T,'^'**""'*''""-  la 
^;"'».  even"  then,  was^lt  ,*,""] ',''/'""*,'"'*  ^ali- 
"f  these  ship-owners  a  tL?  .  •'"?«'*">  "'e  minds 
-'-tie   news   of   thelt^of  ^o^d  11 


1^ 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


reached  tliem  wlien  the  pioneer  vessel,  the  Califonua, 
went  to  sea,  which  was  on  the  6th  of  October,  1848. 
The  Panama  and  the  Oregon  followed  the  California 
at  short  hitcrvals.  In  consequence  of  the  5>()ld 
discovery,  and  the  distraction  in  maritime  afthirs 
growing  out  of  it,  the  original  project  of  contiiming 
the  line  to  Oregon  was  abandoned,  and  San  Francisco 
was  made  the  terminus. 

The  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company  was  not  the 
first  to  raise  the  shrill  whistle  of  steam  in  these  west 
coast  waters.  Organized  in  Enyjland  hi  1840,  was  a 
company  for  the  purpose  of  steam  navigation  in  the 
Pacific,  and  two  steamers  of  700  tons  each,  tlie  ]l\ru. 
and  the  f'liili,  were  sent  under  the  conunand  of 
William  Wheelwright  throutch  the  strait  of  Mai^cllan 
to  the  port  of  Talcahuano;  but  this  enterprise  failed 
from  impro])er  managemcnc.  In  1845  a  little  steam 
schooner,  whose  machinery  had  been  put  in  by  Erics- 
son as  a  sort  of  experiment,  was  sent  by  11.  B.  Forbes 
from  Boston  round  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  China, 
and  upon  the  death  of  the  captain  the  mate  claims 
to  have  crossed  thence  to  San  Francisco.  Then  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  had  their  steamer  plying 
between  Puget  Sound  and  Russian  America  before 
the  California,  a  magnificent  wooden  side-wheel 
steamer  of  900  tons,  entered  proudly  the  Golden 
Gate. 

On  the  1st  of  December,  1848,  as  our  history  tells 
us,  the  Atlantic  company  des})atched  the  steamer 
Falcon  for  Chagros  to  connect  with  the  California 
from  Panamil,  northward.  The  passengers  by  the 
Falcon  were  not  all  of  them  gold-seekers,  as  rumors 
of  gold  discoveries  prior  to  her  departure  were  so  faint 
as  to  have  created  little  impression  upon  the  public 
mind.  Arrived  at  Panamii,  however,  they  found 
some  1500  eager  adventurers  dose  upon  their  heels, 
all  clamorous  for  a  ])assage  to  San  Francisco,  each 
ravenous  to  be  in  at  the  rich  harvest  before  the 
others.     All  anxiouslv  awaited    the    arrival  of   the 


STEAM  AND  GOLD. 


127 


California,  which  made  her  appearance  twenty-five 
clays  after  the  Falcons  passengers  had  reached  Pan- 
aiiiil,  and  with  500  of  the  more  highly  favored,  the 
first  steamship  sailed  majestically  up  the  coast,  entered 
the  bay  of  San  Francisco,  and  came  to  anchor  between 
Yerba  Buena  island  and  the  Cove,  on  the  2Hth  of 
Februarv,  184!). 

What  an  awakeninij  was  here  alonu  those  hitherto 
slumbering  shores ;  steam,  gold,  and  Anglo- Ameiican 
occupation,  all  in  a  breath  I  And  let  it  be  borne  in 
mind  that  neither  of  these  events  grew  out  of  the 
other ;  each  was  independent,  though  all  simultaneous 
-  -as  if  this  fair  land,  ripening  for  untold  agt-s  in  the 
womb  of  tim<',  i'at!  with  the  throes  of  progress  now 
been  born  tn  iht  >:  i  '^re,  and  made  reatly  for  the  use 
of  civilized  iM'dii. 

Then  followed  a  series  of  the  vilest  impositions  ever 
]iractised  upon  a  travelling  public.  An  o])position 
line  by  way  of  Nicaragua  was  early  establislu'<l,  but 
tilts  tended  rather  to  increase  than  to  diminish  the 
discomforts  of  jiassengers ;  for  the  fare  was  at  times 
r  duced  so  low  that  it  would  scarcely  ])ay  for  the  food 
consumed,  to  say  nothing  of  conipensati(»n  for  passage. 
Then  combinations  would  be  entered  into,  and  C^ali- 
r>inia  made  to  bleed  for  the  shipowner's  f)rmer 
losses.  Subse(|uently  the  Nicaragua  company  ob- 
tained control  of  the  Pai-ni::^;  line  on  the  Atlantic 
side,  and  the  Nicara'^ua  ]\u(:  \\;.y,  discontinued.  Tliis 
made  matters  worse  Mi  n  '■va-,  for  so  powerful  had 
tliis  monopoly  now  become,  ^bat  it  could  safely  defy 
opposition  from  any  source,  '\l  cj»ese  heartless  and 
Uiiscrupulous  steamship  magnates,  called  by  the  nmch 
alnised  Californians  the  scourges  of  the  ocean,  were 
determined  to  wring  from  their  traffic •  the  last  i)ossible 
dollar,  at  whatever  cost  of  comfort,  health,  property, 
or  even  life  to  those  who  were  obli<»;ed  to  commit 
tlnnnselves  into  their  lu?  ids. 

The  st>rvice  on  the  ilaniic  at  this  time  would 
ha\'e  better  befitted  tho  , '  V  can  slave  trade  than  the 


128 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


carrj'ing  of  American  citizens;  the  vessels  were  small, 
ill-appointed,  often  unseaworthy,  half-manned,  with- 
out order  or  discipline,  and  with  little  attention  to 
comfort  or  safety.  Exacting  the  money  before  the 
passenger  went  on  board,  all  they  could  get  out  of 
him,  shipowners  somethnes  performed  part,  some- 
times the  whole  of  their  contract,  according  to  cir- 
cumstances. Indeed  captains,  seamen,  pursers,  waiters, 
stewards,  hotel-keepers,  boatmen,  and  railway  officials, 
often  appear  to  regard  the  wayfarer  as  an  enemy, 
going  from  place  to  place  to  disturb  honest  folk  like 
themselves,  and  whom  to  answer  otherwise  than  in  a 
contemptuous,  surly  manner  were  ^,  ^1=  jrace  to  the 
profession.  A  mistake  had  been  coi.  ted,  the  em- 
ployes of  tlie  California  steamship  com^  anies  seemed 
to  say,  in  not  having  had  the  passengers  all  put  in 
irons  before  starting.  Ear-ringed  islanders,  tattoed 
sailors,  impudent  negroes,  and  improved  Irishmen, 
upon  principle  snubbed  every  one  that  came  in  their 
way,  rich  or  poor,  ignorant  or  learned,  as  infinitely 
beneath  them.  Jammed  hito  a  purgatorial  hole,  there 
to  remain  in  durance  vile  until  the  heaven  of  Califor- 
nia was  opened  to  them,  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end  of  the  journey  travellers  were  at  the  mercy  of 
these  vile,  unprincipled  persons.  The  rooms  were 
often  so  close  and  filthy  that  occupants  dreaded  to  go 
to  bed  at  night,  and  in  the  morning  dreaded  to  arise 
and  encounter  the  social  and  atmospheric  impurities 
of  the  day.  Often  the  floors  of  ill-ventilated  cabins 
were  strewed  with  poor  women,  over  whose  faces  was 
spread  a  deadly  pallor,  the  little  ones  crawling  round 
mothers  too  weak  to  move ;  while  in  the  steerage  were 
sights  so  sickening  "as  would  put  to  blush  the  most 
inhuman  land-monster  of  feudal  or  any  other  times. 
In  selling  tickets  little  attention  was  paid  to  limita- 
tions In  numbers  by  law;  ships  with  a  capacity  for 
500,  would  crowd  in  1500,  and  often  he  who  paid  for 
a  first  class  passage  was  thrust  into  the  second  cabin, 
and  second  cabin-passeng'Ts  into  the  steerage.     Every 


SOME  TRAVELLING  MAXIMS. 

niean  artifice  conceivAKi .  ^^ 

tf  fare  would  be  exacted  r«'''''\""'  ''"'f  fi"o.i, 
tlireat  of  separating  „S„  ,  "   ^"<"»PiyJ>orth,  unde^ 

'"xury  on  board;  but  Xr  L  •^'?"^ '™^  "'« greatest 
I'assage  „,o„ey Jt  was  sdd  to  tl       ■"'=  *''"«  "^  »«00 
at    wenty-five'  cents  a  S  b  ,1  ^t"^"'''  '"""'""»y 
roa  ity  but  a  ba)f  or  qCt.  1    f     ''"  P""'"'^  ^''<"-e  il. 
With  parched  tou.W?!' h,  "'^  "  P?""<1,  an.l  ma.n 
pay  the  price.     The  vovi         ■^  "'?"'''  '">'  "'K'"!  to 
With  dreid,  and  undcrtig"  7 -f,  '"f;«'  '''"vard  to 
one,  at  least  at  that  Scsolecl    '.f^''"'™'™-     No 
Ploasuro  trip.     It  wa     L  i  o  ,  if'"  ■"  ".'^y  <«  •■> 
Cahfornian's  e.Mncrience  l>   ""V'""^*  ^Pot  w  manv  a 
"igl.tmare.     If  S" ?'  """r'»'><='-«l  to  this  day  ^s  a 

«-  but  left-llIXd  S'i''^tr'""""''--''--"" 
•"tenfattes  of  those  daw  r^^H  ""•  "'*  *'"'  «*^-'"nor 
"'"..  any  through  w  S,  tW   'P-  '"  '"S"'"'  ^'"tter 
,"«™r  since  tl,e  world  was  w',,"'''  '^''''  ^i'«<l,  for 
justice  to  carriers  and  c^t  ,"""'  *"  "^"'^d-     In 

-Luittod  that  tra^eS^rs^ritititdr'^r"^'  "  "'"^t  ' 
fr.volous  co,nplaints,  ofte'^v    eK-  t'a^tir"*'""-^  "'"' 
»ut  tins  does  not  warranf  «    7    -^ ,.       *"^'^^  I>atioiicc- 
f ";'  ,«jsten,atie  in  u"ts  "  ucb     "'''''"'  "'"'  ^' "tinie  I 

■ojl'less  Calif„„,ia  ;^2„tet     %'T  ''?!'«'  "1'"" 
"diy,  and   in  every  wavT/,.*  ^"'•'!,?n<iurt  is  ciw- 

W.I1  grun,ble  and  be^uSs™  ^M^l'^"''  "•  travellers 
l-eoiters  must  expect  tliis  T  f  '  f"'',""  "'"'  'i"tcl- 
;:.'";'•.  that  as  aVuie  rose  CO  ;r- ''""'''"'"«'■  ■"<>■■«- 
'■'gilt,  should  expect  least      u^''""'  ","»*t,  who,  as  .. 

^''infortsatl,on,efindsZ„,n^"f  ^';''    '»'  "'"  fcwost 
f..'  s  of  tmvcl.     In  such  ca  eft,     I     '""'  *''"  *''""''- 
"'"k^the  loudest  nole  wkh%  "•"'"''''■"'' "^"»"^- 
«'«!  unposition.     To-day  anlt'"'n 7'"'  "f  ''ardshi , 
gf-s  are  almost  alwav^^tr™  !w  '"^''-bel'aved  passen- 
il'-rganized  and  aStXhe  T""'  ""  '"""^^  ''"»' 
.|h<reare  standard  niaxim.i.    "^"'.'^yance  may  be 
"  -ould   be  well  tr       ,l'rt''",7ver,  which 


130 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CAIJFORNIA. 


1/ 


w 


comfort  in  travelling,  then  submit  with  resignation  to 
all  ordinary  imi)08itions.  Resign  yourself  at  the  out- 
set to  the  carrier  as  his  victim,  as  the  arbiter,  for  the 
time,  of  your  fate.  Do  not  expect  land  luxuries  at 
sea ;  man  is  a  terrestrial  and  not  an  aqueous  animal. 
Not  the  least  in  the  catalogue  of  annoyances,  fretful- 
ness,  and  complainings,  the  passengers  bring  upon  them- 
selves. Go  into  the  hot,  fetid  air  of  the  second  cabin 
and  steerage,  then  be  ashamed  to  nurse  j'our  discom- 
forts in  your  upper  room.  The  smell  of  oil  from  the 
machinery,  and  filth  from  various  quarters  is  nauseat- 
ing, it  is  true;  but  I  have  suffered  more  from  the 
disgusting  behavior  of  passengers  than  from  filthy 
ships  and  discourteous  employes.  Nor  do  I  mean  to 
say  that  Californians  are  especially  bad  travellers;  as 
a  rule  they  were,  even  in  early  times,  orderly,  quiet, 
and  well-behaved ;  and  when  time  had  tempered  their 
spirits,  hilarity  and  good  humor  prevailed.  Other- 
wise how  should  1500  men,  women,  and  children 
have  been  able  to  exist,  crowded  into  close  quarters 
for  nearly  a  month,  and  much  of  the  time  under  a 
tropical  sun? 

Every  sensible  man  then  setting  out  for  California 
well  knew  that  he  should  have  to  rough  it ;  or,  if  he 
did  not  know  it  at  the  start  he  soon  iound  it  out,  and 
ho  ^oon  saw  that  he  might  as  well  begin  to  make  the 
bciit  of  discomforts  on  ship  board  as  any  where  else. 
Those  so  thinking  yielded  gracefully  to  what  they  saw 
was  inevitable,  and  found  that  after  all  happiness  does 
not  depend  so  nmch  on  having  things  a  little  better 
than  our  neighbor,  and  that  a  little  comfort,  with  a 
heart  disposed  to  be  contented,  carries  with  it  much 
happiness.  Besides,  all  were  certain  of  fortune,  or  at 
least  felicity,  the  moment  they  reached  San  Francisco ; 
and  so,  in  place  of  brooding  over  present  privation.s, 
they  rather  dreamed  of  future  plenty. 

There  were  notable  exceptions  to  these  systematic 
impositions,  even  on  the  Atlantic  side;  while  on  tlio 
JPacific,  the  rule  was  reversed.     I  have  often  been  told 


ATLANTIC  AXD  PACIFIC  SERVICE. 


by  officers  of  the  Pnf.i'fi„„ 

or  more  l.earti  y  c™dt,„  "1^?^ "'?'  "o™"  '^•^Mecl 

sorvice  on  the  Pacific  w^lf       ,*^?""  tl>e  first  tl.e 
upon  t),e  Atlantic    butTf      .m'"'"^  """'rast  to  that 
;^-e  the  n,a„age«  of  ?he  "^*'' *%?*"■"■.  of  ,865 
Company  able   to  rid   f?f„,      .    '^"  ^^^  Steamshin 
which  ^ited  so  long  L'tr'T'  •"■  *'«'*  influence 
t  us  time  the  coutn.l  „f  H      ^i^""  "»  'he  line.     At 
their  hands,  whe"  t fe  l^^.^^'r.'iue  passed  into 
-ere  extended  to  trlveTloS  o„"^h " A.f "''.  <=<"'"'"^'^ 
hitherto  been  custon.ary  on  the  P^i^*'""*'"  ««  had 
eomimny  had  frequentl/ove^o^lfi  ;.  -""^  ^"^ifie 
but  this  sometimes  was  an  ac^  nf  t     l^"^"  steamers, 
eruelty  ;  as,  f«r  exan.ple  l*en  tl     ^rJ  '^"'«''  than 
Panamd  on  her  first  vov^'th      ^"'■^""''''  "-eachcd 
there;  and  this,  togethTl-l  <,f''"'?™  «"^  ragin., 
anxiety  to  «,a^i    t,,f  ^^^  "^h    he  often  ill-advised 
stances  drawn  the  last  uLf  ^°H  '"'''  'u  many  in- 
congregated  on  th^  Is^rus     "' *  T 'T^''*  "^ 'ho- 
«'!uch  had  aceomniodatiil  for       ''^*  *''"'  ^*'=''™er. 
ja'led  with   four  times  X/         i^'  ^"^  P^engers 
SUOO  was  paid  on  t  is  tri^L""'"*''"'-     ^'  ^igg  as 

Gradually  the  serv ice Tc"   *     'T^'  P^^ge- 
and  yet  more  magnificent  ^»,      P'^'^^ted.     L^mer 
tune  to  time,  with°p  on  ^Ide    .?['  ""''^  '"'"'  fr™' 
>"ie  m  length,  and  thei  ,^e«>  in  »n  "  ?'^''".™*  °f  * 
oftcered.     The  line  ro^  to  tl^  i  "PPointed  and  ably 
"'arme,  and  became  an  W  tn  *i  '"^  °^  *''«  "'orld^ 
J' rem  this  time  until  ti  °  f'"=  ^u'erican  nati™ 

■•aiHvay,  it  carried  mo*^„  ""'"P'^tion  of  the  Pac  fie 
and,  accordin..  to  d^T    P»^™gers,  at  fairer  rat  , 
■•umbers  wit^fetr  dt"omi.„^i",f  ^^  ?i  ^""  "*«    -  ' 
ecoamc  lino.     F„ur,  five    and   j".f''' ''™'' ''"other 
passed  and  repassed  n WW         "^   thousand  people 
^handise  was  ^ar^'ej  Xh  t.T  '^^I^^^''  "'"f  ""e^ 
"%'regated  millions  Tf  doikr/^"  t"  *"  ^^^  »  ton, 
■Jason  why  the  passal  o„  X  W-^^ey.     One 
'-  P'easant  is'that  fhe^X^^T^:  -  ^--ade 


132 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


water,  more  like  floating  hotels,  more  spacious  and 
coniinodioua  than  those  on  the  rougher  Atlantic. 

When  I  reached  New  York,  in  February  1852,  the 
rush  for  California  still  continued,  though  in  a  some- 
what modified  form.  A  little  regularity  was  emerging 
from  the  original  chaos.  The  steamship  office  was 
not  now  mobbed  the  night  before  the  advertised  day 
for  selling  tickets,  nor  were  sailing  vessels  despatched 
daily  for  Chagres,  to  empty  their  passengers  hito  that 
infectious  climate,  leaving  them  to  complete  their 
journey  as  best  they  might.  For  this,  however,  the 
ship  owners  were  not  to  blame.  So  wild  had  been 
the  excitement,  so  insane  were  men  to  get  at  this 
newly  discovered  gold,  that  thousands  would  recklessly 
take  passage  on  any  craft  to  Chagres,  and  trust  their 
chances  to  get  from  Panamd  to  San  Francisco.  This 
they  did  knowing  the  berths  on  all  the  steamers  were 
engaged  for  months  to  come,  and  that  nmltitudcs 
were  waiting  passage,  both  at  New  York  and  Pananul ; 
but  as  it  was  every  man  for  himself,  each  was  sure 
that  by  some  means,  natural  or  suixirnatural,  he  would 
manage  to  get  through.  Before  this,  clamorous 
crowds  used  to  collect  in  front  of  the  ticket-office 
previous  to  the  departure  of  every  steamer,  and  there 
remain  for  days  and  nights,  so  as  to  be  ready  the  mo- 
ment the  door  was  opened.  Sailing  vessels  were 
taken  from  the  fishhig  or  freighting  service,  and  fitted 
up  with  a  temporary  deck  below,  the  space  between 
which  and  the  upper  deck  formed  a  dormitory  and 
saloon.  Round  the  sides  of  this  between-decks  were 
three  or  four  tiers  of  open  berths,  and  in  the  centre 
piles  of  luggage,  passengers'  stores,  rough,  hanging 
shelves  for  tables,  and  boxes  and  benches  for  chair.s, 
there  being  no  such  thing  as  caste  among  the  passen- 
gers, or  cabin,  or  separate  apartments,  save  the  cap- 
tain's room.  And  thus,  like  the  boat  of  Charon,  these 
vessels  plied,    and    ere    they  landed    their   prurient 


THE  DRPARTURE 

>    the  grotesque,   i„  tl,"  embarki,T'""r  ""  ""'« 

J'usband  and  wife  cl i n?  ^  '^''^;''  «'«*^r  and  br«t    'r 
ft'tntic  en.braeo  as  if  if  Y\^'^<'h  other  in  vet  ,.      ' 

-lo  for  the  an,usemo^^t;^-''"^^^^^        ^"^  '-^  «  - - 
'^  t,  to  say  nothing,  of  turni.t  .  ''"^'^^^'^  «»^'  i'^iiibr- 

'".i.^  from  one  to  n./^i        "  ^^'  ""*  »'>t  of  ft      ru 
■•''•"■■••"t-an    pltS"  ■^';"  ?«<""l't    "read  "I" 

„„„, -;d  Who  re»a,„,  „„d  ehe  So^^nr/rt 
n,        yvts  do  not  aocomnnn.r  +i  ^  ^  «»>',  and 


134 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


i 


starcr,  while  the  young  husband  beside  her  tries  in 
vain  to  appear  as  if  used  to  it.  There  is  the  lean  and 
hungry,  most  bland  and  voluble  lawyer,  with  long 
hooked  nose  and  bald  head,  with  sword  cane  and  con- 
cealed deringer ;  and  there  the  hard  headed  and  hard- 
hearted politician,  who  deals  in  the  patriotism  of  the 
American  people  as  the  pawnbroker  deals  in  the 
sufferings  of  the  poor.  This  political  huckster,  hav- 
ing had  in  his  tune  a  monopoly  of  certain  souls  in 
certain  districts,  but  having  meanwhile  sold  his  own 
soul  to  Satan  many  times  on  one  side  of  the  conti- 
nent, now  seeks  a  new  market  on  the  other.  There 
is  the  little  scrawny  avaricious  old  woman,  probably 
tlie  most  disgusting,  at  the  same  time  the  most  piti- 
able object  on  board,  going  out  solitary  and  alone  to 
wash  or  nurse  or  otherwise  work  and  hoard,  if  per- 
adventure  she  may  scrape  together  a  little  gold  be- 
fore she  dies.  There  is  a  family,  father,  mother,  and 
daughter,  the  latter  of  that  silly  simpei'ing  age  which 
fancies  the  eyes  of  all  the  world  to  be  perpetually 
resting  on  herself;  there  the  man  of  business  with 
two  females  in  charge,  bustling  about  under  his  load 
of  responsibility ;  there  the  sleepy  young  man,  there 
the  Jack-a-daisical  young  woman — slieepamong  wolves 
— and  there  one,  ill-mannered  and  awkward,  fresh 
from  clod-breaking  and  swinc-tending,  yet  whose  even 
flash  intelligence  and  whose  broad  brow  and  firm  lij) 
sliow  fifty  years  of  determined  perseverance  and  self- 
denial,  if  so  be  so  much  should  stand  between  him 
and  success. 

Noah's  ark  presented  no  more  incongi  ous  gather- 
ing. More  than  thirty  different  nations  are  repre- 
sented on  this  deck ;  men  and  women  of  almost  every 
land  in  Christendom  and  many  beyond  that  line,  of 
divers  colors  and  strange  speech,  the  lank  smart  Yan- 
kee, always  at  home;  the  tall  bony  hairy  western 
man,  uncultured  yet  thoughtful,  who  comes  so  far 
cast  to  get  a  start  for  a  farther  west;  cattle  drivers 
from  the  nor>*:li  and  negro  drivers  from  the  south ; 


QUALITY  OP  PASSENGERS. 

Texan   ™.gers  an7'ptt7t'"  •'^''  "««-»-&" 
occupation  j;o„e;  pom^o^rportf^^RT"'''*"'^   '"" 
^^''onnng, polite  Frenclunen  •^3.-^"*?"" ''  ^'"'^^tic, 
t-crmans;  fi„ry  Castilia  ,    ),     ^J  '"""^'""l^rturl'aUe 
»««roos,    mul^ttoer  and  '  .Trr™''  ^'.'-"  J"v  ! 
ovory  shade  uniting  In  tlieir^vah,    ^J-' V."''""'-os    of 
teut,„u3  disposition  all  the  evn  '  f  "?*».''»»  «'«!  pre. 
costry  with  few  inherited  IT       '^i-""'"'  ^iverae  an- 
J»o,.ity  of  costu'^e  ' and'lt  T''""';    ^"^^  «""' 
Broadway  dandy  with  t  ,,!,*         /  ,'^'""ito>ianco— the 

""t;  the  western  huntt^i^|.''  f'f  ^""f >  ""d  tall 
dress,  and  the  loose  butX^'sll-,/'''  ,'"'''-''"  '«"«I- 
tl.e  boat,„a„.,  pea-jacket  ««/„""■;' "",''  «''^''«J  boots; 
can's  blanket  and  so,n?L!      ""r  wester;   the  Mevi- 

-onted  with  pist>iTtwi::i:;;l!''  ^'f'T'y  "'™- 

fiojn  belt  and  shoulder.     He„  i.     '  "'"^  '.'"'•"^  «'"'« 

a"<J  bayonet,  and  yondir  an  an„l      1"""  "''"'  "">«kJt 

con.pany   organized   for  fiXT'f  ' ''"^'^'"^  "^  «"»'o 

■•ann  trumpet  tied  to  hist^k'^  i"^«°'''.,  with   »" 

"•■cs  you  ,„ay  read  of  wit  a,t^    f"f  "]  *«''•  &«*- 

'»«;nn,e„t  and  of  gray  t^of  ,^1       ^  ""l^y  '"■'>''>».  of 
;:    honesty  ,„dofyeS;t^f,r'^-f  of  b^^^^ 

^'^ui  tile  scene  with  fh^^.V  i  ,  ""^^^^y  «nicers  en. 

-'.''  faces  S^lowing  tnder  th^tfl'^""™-'!  uniform  , 
tbuigs  of  life.       '       ""'  *"■=  ii'Huence  of  the  good 

';"^^i^  wife,  alone  in  t]^t  nl^T  '''''  '^'^^'^'  "^  newi; 
^Just  of  distance  yet  unL  /  !  ^^  "T^'^'^'y  ^i«">"t  thi 
-'^i  cheeks  blanS  a^d  h  S  T'',?  ^^"^  "^^^^-t 
f  untned  waters  and  t  ds  1'^^^  "  ^^  ^^""^'^^^^ 
tiieni  from  loved  ones,  perha  '   I         ^"'^  *^  '^I^^^-'-^^^ 

'-"--wthei;f-;-r„:x;r:L»ir::;t:f 


13G 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


the  soil  of  America  or  Australia,  so  that  their  dorni- 
uaiit  passion  finds  solace.  Thus  the  conglomerate 
and  cosmopolitan  character  of  the  passengers  give  us 
a  foresight  of  what  we  may  expect  on  reaching  our 
destination. 

As  the  hour  for  departure  approaches  the  confusion 
increases.  Loaded  carriages  drive  hastily  up  to  the 
gang  way,  discharge  their  contents,  and  drive  away, 
The  mails  come  down  in  heavy  wagons  and  are  taken 
on  hoard.  Excited  passengers  rush  hither  and 
thither,  knocking  against  one  another,  looking  after 
lost  baggage,  hunting  missing  friends  and  searching 
for  their  rooms.  The  wharves  and  shipping  are 
crowded  to  see  us  off.  The  cries  of  seamen  and 
porters  mingle  with  the  hoarse  roar  of  steam;  the 
gong  sounds  for  visitors  to  go  ashore,  hasty  "good- 
byes "  and  "  God  bless  you  "  rise  from  full  hearts  and 
fall  from  quivering  lips;  the  captain  mounts  the 
paddle-box,  the  gang-plank  is  drawn  ashore,  orders  to 
"cast  off  the  hawser  "  and  "  turn  ahead  "  are  given,  the 
ponderous  walking-beam  moves,  the  paddle-wheels 
turn,  and  promptly  at  twelve  o  clock,  midst  the  cheers 
of  the  gathered  nmltitude,  the  waving  of  hats  and 
handkerchiefs,  and  the  flashing  of  fun  and  fancy  and 
sentiment  from  upturned  laughing  and  liquid  faces, 
the  ship  creeps  from  her  berth,  turns  her  back  upon 
the  land  hallowed  by  all  the  ties  of  birth  and  educa- 
tion, and  with  her  gun  booming  the  last  parting, 
glides  down  the  stream,  winds  through  the  forest  of 
shipping,  past  islands  and  grassy  slopes  beaming  with 
happy  homes,  and  shoots  out  hito  the  ocean  toward 
that  future  of  mystery  and  trembling  expectation 
which  assumes  shapes  so  fantastic  in  the  minds  of 
those  on  board. 

On  our  way  down  the  bay,  tickets  were  examined 
in  order  to  detect  stowaways;  three  aspiring  but 
impecunious  unfortunates  were  taken  in  custody  and 
shoved  into  the  boat  with  the  pilot  when  he  left  the 


r  AT  SEA. 


W 


steamer  at  Sandy  H™,k     n„ 

■■enmrncd  hidden  unfil  next  d»        ■  '°  ^''"^''era  an  .' 
Wearanco  he  was  sot  to  work^^^"'  '",'  '"^kin,.  h  s 
'"3  passage,     Fonr„tt„„      i-    '"  ""o  eoa]  hunker^  f 
"■ere   sent  baekTv  f^"   'I'V  «'"'  f»rewell  W,!'' 
»•"•  ^'.ii.  struck  X   u,i'''f'  *''™  ^'"l-  Ti  a,  a™: 
waves  of  the  Atlantic.    '   "  '"-''  <=""««  ""-oush  the 
"list  as  We  \v<»rr> 

unjjht  prospects,  glad  to  be  nfP„    .  *^'-'  "'«l'in«ti<m  ,:f 
V'nturc;  on  the  other   mfn,    i'' '"'«^'' *»  niake  the 
«'»io  with  ruined  hellthi''^  '"^"^"^^  "n"  Mure 

7-  on  na  !';"  r^i,!^^ '^'1  t  '^'"8  f-*  o^ 
<>r  the  wild(         ^    ^t,        9,   "  »^o  be  back   h^  k         ; 

'fought  f,t,:|''S^^ta,»rt  and  smollffl 
talked  of  the  time  to  eon^  "^ '  w^'-'f!,  S^upea  and 
«»  insidious  and  subtle  i„fl  "'''-'  *'"'s  abstracted 

"Pou  the  voyagere      TK    "^''."•^«  appeared  toS^f 

™i;-gnated^vith"t,S^t'uidT^',"';?  *°  "" 
'rum  tile  water  throu<.h  th?  i     r"'  ''  <^reenin,r  „„ 

the  pianks  on  which  It    j  ^'"P^  '""'>ers,  throm"? 

a^  fl     ^^P^^'^^'  and  we  were  «        "^^."^  ^"'^  ^ay- 
and  the  ocean.  ^^'^^  ^^one  with  darkne^^ 

,  ^f  Jit    shut  us   in  wifl. 
f  osed  us  round  witi  w7v     ^"^''•^  storm-clouds    «r..l 


188 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


OU3  wheels  that  beat  them  into  foam,  wheels  striving 
\\'ith  the  contending  flood,  on  one  side  deep  in  water 
and  on  the  other  vainly  grasping  at  the  rushing  tide 
below.  The  jcrkhigs  now  and  then  of  the  ship 
betokened  a  rising  sea.  Ciijars  and  sentiment  were 
abandoned,  for  here  was  the  beginning  of  a  long  unrest. 
Neither  sighings,  nor  the  quickening  heart-beat  of 
hope,  neither  the  memories  of  loved  ones  left  behind, 
nor  the  brilliant  aspirations  of  the  future,  nor  even 
the  solonm  thought  of  thus  being  brought  into  the 
more  immediate  presence  of  my  maker  could  prevent 
the  rising  within  my  bosom  of  sensations  foreign  to 
meditation.  I  tried  to  appear  indifferent ;  as  the  evil 
increased  I  attempted  even  to  smile,  but  it  was  a 
ghastly  business. 

As  the  wind  grew  boisterous,  and  the  motion  of 
the  vessel  more  palpably  uneven,  all  on  board,  sav  e 
the  favored  few  who  had  neither  conscience  nor 
stomach,  souffht  retirement.  Some  thouijht  to  brave 
down  the  unbidden  rising  within  by  moving  briskly 
about  and  nibbling  a  cracker  instead  of  eating  supper 
and  going  to  bed.  "You  can  walk  it  off,"  they  said, 
"do  not  give  up  to  it."  I  noticed,  now  and  then,  that 
these  would  suddenly  disappear,  and  when  next  seen 
i:i  their  dotcrmhied  perambulations,  they  looked  paler 
and  not  altogether  happy.  Some  sat  down  to  table 
and  with  affected  nonchalance  and  flourish  of  knife 
and  fork  ,and  pronounced  orders  for  food,  courageously 
began  to  eat;  but  soon  a  cloud  overspread  their 
fjatures,  a  careworn  expression  as  of  some  internal 
trouble,  until  at  last  sickness  overct)ming  sensitive- 
ness, one  person  after  another  would  rise  hastily 
from  tlie  table,  clasp  one  hand  on  his  mouth  and  the 
other  on  his  waistcoat,  dart  for  the  door,  make  for 
the  guards,  and  there  unbosom  his  burdened  breast 
to  the  fislies.  Indeed,  my  own  food  was  as  restless 
within  me  as  was  Poseidon  in  the  bowels  of  his 
father  Cnmos. 

Few  remained  on  deck  that  night  to    witness  the 


■  SEA-SICKNESS. 


139 


Ithe 


glories  of  the  setting  sun ;  the  stars  were  sought  be- 
low, the  via  lactea  streamed  over  the  ship's  sides,  and 
tlie  study  of  Neptune's  palace  under  the  sea  appeared 
far  more  fascinating  than  the  study  of  Orion  and  the 
Pleiades. 

Sea-sickness  is  a  great  leveller.  It  prostrates  pride, 
purges  man  of  his  conceit,  makes  him  humble  as  a 
little  child;  it  is  specially  conducive  to  repentance  and 
after  repentance  to  resignation.  I  know  of  nothing, 
after  the  first  fear  of  death  has  passed  away,  that 
makes  one  so  ready  to  die.  A  great  wave  places  its 
back  under  the  ship  and  lifts  you  up,  up,  hito  the  very 
clouds ;  then  it  stands  from  under  and  you  go  down, 
down,  with  a  tickling  sensation  within,  until  you  stop 
your  breath  waiting  for  the  vessel  to  strike  upon  the 
bottom  of  the  sea.  Then  comes  a  mhigled  pitching 
and  rolling,  when  the  innermost  loses  cohesion,  oscil- 
lates, rotates  and  upheaves,  when  the  foundations  of 
the  great  deep  are  broken  up  within  you,  when  the 
strong  man  bows  himself  as  it  were  a  woman  grinding 
at  a  mill,  and  the  mourners  go  about  the  cabin  like 
apocal^'ptic  angels,  wailing  as  they  pour  their  vials 
out ;  and  by  this  unrest  and  the  revels  of  devils  with- 
in, the  image  of  God  is  degraded  into  that  of  a  self- 
acting  hydraulic  pump.  The  mind  becomes  concerned, 
tlic  brow  overcast;  it  is  like  clapping  on  the  head  a 
hope-extinguisher,  Jind  squeezing  the  body  at  once  of 
every  rest  and  comfort  flesh  aspiros  to  ;  as  if  the  iimer 
lining  of  the  man  were  rolled  up  and  wrung  out  down 
to  the  very  dregs  of  gall  and  bittenu'ss.  Then  the 
body  assumes  a  doubling  posture,  the  s|)inal  colunm 
becomes  flaccid  and  linipy,  the  victim  is  filled  with  a 
desire  to  sink  to  the  floor  or  lie  prostrate;  nuinliood 
oozes  out  at  the  fingers'  ends,  and  Cuisar  becomes  like 
a  sick  girl. 

And  all  the  while  those  who  escape  these  miseries 
regard  this  agony  as  ludicrous  in  the  extreme. 
It  is  a  capital  joke  to  see  the  8tn>ng  man  brought  low, 
to  hear  him  swear  and  storm  at  every  thing  and  every 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


body  with  impotent  fury  in  the  intervals  between  his 
retching  fits ;  to  see  the  pale  despairing  women  strewed 
about  the  cabin,  on  carpet,  chairs  and  sofas,  attended 
by  the  stewardess  with  her  gruel  bowls,  and  fizzing 
powders,  and  lemons,  and  toast  and  tea ;  to  hear  all 
day  the  groans  and  moans  and  gurgling  laments  in 
every  quarter,  to  have  the  night  made  hideous  by  the 
loud  alarms  of  bowel- wrench ings  and  belchinos  that 
might  awaken  the  seven  sleepers;  and  then  to  see  the 
tables  deserted  and  the  quandary  of  those  who  try  to 
determine  which  is  least  difficult,  to  keep  in  bed,  to 
dress,  or  to  eat — all  this  is  very  amusing  to  those  happy 
souls  who  pet  and  plume  themselves  because  they  are 
not  subject  to  such  horrible  sensations,  or  compelled 
to  assist  at  such  unpleasing  scenes. 

This  rocking  sensation  has  somethingr  strange  in  it ; 
it  affects  different  persons  so  differently.  Some  it 
drives  well-nigh  mad,  with  sensations  akin  to  those  of 
the  novice  in  gambling  who  loses  his  last  half-dollar 
at  monte,  giving  its  victim,  if  not  death,  resignation 
to  it ;  others  it  sends  off  into  peaceful  and  long  con- 
tinued sleep  bestowing  rest  and  contentment ;  others 
not  only  are  not  sea-sick  but  are  made  hilarious  by  it. 
These  latter,  as  they  pass  from  room  to  room  and  see 
the  wan,  woe-begotten  faces  of  the  vomiters,  become 
extremely  satisfied  with  themselves.  "  Oh  1  no,  I  am 
never  sick,"  says  Jenkins,  "I  like  it,  it  agrees  with 
me;  I  really  enjoy  it,  my  appetite  is  never  better  than 
when  it  is  a  little  breezy ;  only  one  other  beside  the 
captain  and  myself  at  the  table;  roast  du".k,  tough  as 
ox-hide  " — and  so  he  rattled  his  nauseous  boasts  to 
the  infinite  disgust  of  prostrate  listeners. 

And  as  in  the  sensitive  breast  there  is  usually  a  sense 
of  weakness  and  shame  attending  this  evil,  so  it  is  held 
by  a  certain  class  a  cardinal  virtue  to  escape  it.  Noth- 
ing so  inspires  a  man  with  a  good  opinion  of  himself 
and  his  internal  belongings  as  to  be  able  to  smoke  and 
whistle  and  carry  an  undaunted  front  when  the  heads 
of  his  comrades  are  horizontally  inclined,  and  their 


THE  BILLOWY  SEA. 


141 


bosoms  heaving  with  the  heaving  sea ;  or  when  they 
are  seized  with  a  sudden  interest  in  the  study  of  ich- 
thyology, and  strain  their  eyes  in  untimely  peering 
into  the  troubled  waters.  It  makes  a  man  glad  to 
see  his  companions  sea-sick ;  it  makes  him  rejoice  in 
his  superiority,  to  delight  in  their  woe;  he  laughs 
that  he  is  better  than  they.  Then  the  shame  of  it  to 
the  miserables  who  suffer.  Of  all  who  remained  cab- 
ined and  berthed  for  the  two  days  succeeding  our  de- 
parture, few  could  be  found  who  had  been  sea-sick  at 
all.  Some  had  had  a  headache,  others  were  fatigued 
and  needed  rest ;  some  were  not  hungry,  and  then  it 
was  too  much  trouble  to  dress.  Of  all  maladies,  the 
one  for  which  its  victims  are  least  to  blame,  they  ap- 
pear the  most  ashamed  of,  while  colds  and  fevers 
i3rought  on  by  foolish  indiscretions  are  unblushingly 
acknowledged. 

Many  have  made  sea- voyages  who  suffered  severel j' 
at  first,  but  afterward  very  little ;  although  they 
could  still  be  seasick  in  rough  weather,  they  knew 
better  how  to  take  care  of  themselves.  There 
appears  to  be  no  universal  remedy  for  this  hateful 
and  hated  nausea;  some  find  relief  in  iced  champagne, 
others  in  brandy,  soda-water,  tea,  gruel,  codfish,  or 
fruit.  Much  depends  upon  the  state  of  the  system, 
and  no  two  are  to  be  treated  exactly  alike.  In  some 
individual  cases,  the  secret  is  to  find  that  place  and  po- 
sition where  one  can  be  most  at  rest.  Few  ever  suc- 
ceed in  combating  the  evil,  being  always  forced  to  yield 
vanquished.  Hence  it  is  on  going  to  sea,  the  first 
thing  to  do  is  to  arrange  one's  room  and  effects  sotliat 
one  may  be  prepared  for  it ;  as  a  certain  nobleman  used 
deliberately  to  make  ready  his  bed  before  getting 
drunk.  On  this  steamer  my  berth  was  near  the 
hatchway,  and  at  times  the  sun  poured  in  upon  me 
the  full  volume  of  his  rays,  which  with  the  motion  of 
the  ship,  long  fasting,  and  a  compound  of  villainous 
smells  ranker  than  Falstatf  found  in  Mrs  Ford  s  linen, 
niado  me   almost   wild  with    fever   and   suffocation. 


142 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


Then,  with  Gonzalo,  would  I  have  given  a  thousand 
furlongs  of  sea  for  an  acre  of  barren  ground.  I  would 
have  given  my  chance  of  heaven,  to  say  nothing  of 
California,  to  have  been  out  of  it,  anywhere  but  there. 
This  is  why  middle-aged  and  elderly  men  endure  the 
hardships  of  a  voyage  to  California  better  than  young 
men  and  boys,  their  physique  is  more  fixed,  their 
minds  more  evenly  balanced,  and  they  know  better 
how  to  make  themselves  comfortable.  My  father 
informs  me  that  on  his  passage  from  Panamh,,  many 
young  men  died  of  the  Isthmus  fever,  but  not  a  single 
person  over  forty  years  of  age  was  ill  with  any  disease. 
The  next  day  the  sea  was  higher,  but  the  morning 
after  it  was  evidently  growing  quieter.  Following 
the  throes  of  sickness  comes  a  mental  exaltation,  giv- 
ing birth  to  new  thoughts.  Never  have  I  felt  my  brain 
so  active  as  while  lying  bracing  myself  in  my  berth 
for  days,  until  my  bones  ached,  and  during  which 
time  I  would  be  up  only  long  enough  to  rush  to  the 
table  for  my  meals,  and  rush  back  again  to  keep  the 
uneasy  food  quiet.  Thus  dull  intellects  are  whetted 
into  keenness  by  the  asperities  of  the  journey,  and  so 
made  ready  to  cut  their  way  through  the  difficulties 
awaiting  them.  Moreover,  this  malady  is  the  best 
cure  in  the  world  for  love-sickness,  as  I  have  noticed 
in  the  pensive  youth  who  had  left  his  inamorata  be- 
hind, and  in  solitary  young  women  going  to  Califor- 
nia to  be  married.  Indeed,  upon  the  homoepathic 
hypothesis  that  similia  simiUhns  curantur,  this  malady 
is  likewise  an  antidote  for  bankruptcy,  conjugal  infi- 
delity, or  any  ill  flesh  is  heir  too.  The  heart  and  the 
stomach  cannot  both  exercise  the  mastery  at  the  same 
time.  Overwhelmed  at  the  beginning  of  the  voyage 
with  the  merciless  fate  that  crucified  all  fond  endear- 
ments, and  indifferent  to  terrestrial  affairs;  as  the 
rising  wind  grows  stronger,  and  the  rolling  waves 
mount  higher,  slowly  the  dominator  lifts  passion  from 
the  seat  of  the  affections,  and  places  it  just  below, 
where  it  plays  havoc  with  the  organs  of  supply. 


PASSENGER  ROUTINE. 


^5^.?^^-s±fr:?--/-;: 


'ere  fancy  "  shf  „  "t  .''^  ''"■<^«'  of  )"■■'•  will 


an-j  take  it  for  /ra^?ed  T'"^'  "'"'  «>«  otheCsiek 
the  hdy  went  to  sea      W)"  4.°"'  ^"^  "■"    Aftei^vard 

small  voice  within  1170.       •  f  ™'  whether  the  still 
never  aftenvai  1  di/!?,  T"*'  «'>e  did  not  sa    •  but 

-a-sicknoss  could  be  btXr'  "  '"''-*' 'ttt 
■'^t  ]ast  the  PfrrittTr  • 

Pa  e,  gaunt  forma  crawlilf t       '?S,?"  dissolution 
ordered  rooms  and  eyleac      T""^  ^'^^'^  a'"!  di"- 
as   hey  first  attempt ^o  use  th.'  T' /'"^Sering  about 
and  rail  ngs,  finally  settlhl?  d  ™    ?1'  ^'■'"'P"'g  I'ost" 
■n  ';'gi.:back  easyrchars  Sid  nTV"  '?"=""'  I™'"?"'' 
of  feeding  arise  •  Bn-ToTv         °"  l-enches.     Thc...^l,(= 
^^ble  fill  ^p.    ^|(fitr;'tu™^T^  ^'"";^'  and  sS  a 
degre^e  of  amiability      ThT  "1  •?"*'*"  ""»es  soine 
eheerful  look  as  tlL  2uJ^'^"i  faces  put  o  "a 
n;anifcstii,„  their  coTyatSfeT  ''°''''  the' female^ 
ll^';'--,  odete,  and  in  theTresse^Vtr  •™''  .""«'-^^t 
"-'nder  these  auspices  if  „„t  ^  '  their  neiVJibori 

go«i  conduct  pre™[ls     ""*  ^"""""y-  «t  least  |™e5 

*';H  wrh1:^i-^,P-f^^  begin.     Taki„,y„„ 

of  the  purser,  the  civil  cnnL      1  '^'"'"''  t"  the  ,  ffice 
"ays  a  civil  man    tou    '""  "'a"dant,  though  not  al 
"-hose  number  deL.Cte'     ™    '"'  '*  "  "''^'«  eheck 
Notables  and    favofi'es  '^1  ''f  '''"•  "'^  vo'a'e 

tat'^fterrrrbtr^^^^^^^^ 

:^  them.'%3idXtr':  ^r'-feio"       • 
managed  upon  the  mo^t  dem    ''^Pta'" »   table,  all  is 
table  is  usuLuy  ilj  JZlfZJ'^^"'  P''""^¥<s.     The 

always.     Table  ticket's'^^.tti  """'•/''"""''  ""t 

t"  en  to  prevent  a  scramble 


141 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


for  place,  which,  before  the  seats  are  allotted,  some- 
times rises  to  a  downrisrht  fijjht  whenever  the  bell 
rings.  I  never  saw  the  Darwinian  theory  more  aptly 
illustrated  than  before  these  table  tickets  were  given 
out ;  in  a  voyage  to  California,  the  survival  of  the  fit- 
test was  a  foregone  conclusion.  At  meal  time  partic- 
ularly the  animal  was  let  loose ;  the  strong  prevailed, 
and  <jbtained  a  seat  at  table,  while  the  weak,  or  such 
as  did  not  choose  to  exercise  their  strength  if  they  had 
it,  waited,  and  took  what  was  left. 

As  the  strong  man  fed,  he  lapsed  into  a  state  of 
semi-unconsciousness ;  his  manners  were  unstudied, 
and  his  abandon  perfect.  He  could  sweep  the  dishes 
of  their  contents,  far  as  the  arm  could  reach,  quicker 
than  a  prairie  fire  sweeps  the  ground  of  grass.  The 
movements  of  a  starved  dog  over  the  cat's  saucer  of 
milk  were  slow  as  compared  with  his  movements.  He 
appeared  wholly  unaware  of  the  presence  of  women 
and  children  who  likewise  were  hungry  for  food, 
thoujjh  I  have  seen  females  who  could  fiy:ht  for  their 
survival  with  the  best  of  the  men.  When  his  hunger 
was  satisfied,  he  came  to  himself,  gazed  wistfully 
about,  picked  his  teeth  with  his  pocket-knife,  and 
slowly  retired. 

Steamers  for  the  Californian  passenger  trade  were 
usually  built  with  three  or  four  decks ;  they  were  at 
this  time  all  side-wheel  and  carried  small  masts. 
Sails  were  sometimes  spread,  though  little  depended 
upon  them  in  navigating  the  ship.  The  larger  ves- 
sels employed  from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  men, 
officers,  seamen,  and  servants.  Of  all  the  employes 
the  firemen  were  the  greatest  suiferers ;  working  be- 
fore a  hot  furnace  down  in  the  hold,  they  were  fre- 
quently so  overcome  of  heat  that  they  had  to  be 
packed  in  ice  to  cool  them  off.  On  the  upper  deck, 
above  the  ship's  hull,  was  a  double  row  of  state-rooms, 
with  ample  space  between  them  and  the  guards  for 
sittinjx  and  walking,  and  for  the  manaojement  of  the 
ship.     On   this   deck,  forward,  were   also  the  pilot- 


coNSKircTroN  op  ship. 


^ouse.  and  the  r  ^'^^ 

"««  were  ap  e^  -,^1^  ""'  ''^^'''  ^"-^  and  ir»    '" 
oarcb^:^  e"  tlfe";'f,  ^'o™'  "^"d  also  flT*-^  '>""" 

loom,  the  l,»;i  ™  "ffi<:ers'  romn«    «l'      ^°  *ere 

{,'alle;      Bett'':f'?»P.  bar,  buteherTU    "  ""S'^^er's 

atr^£e\  ^^^'^^ZtP^^^ 

•'ftbe  Seal.  '  ''i^"'  "f  f'e  sS  thi^?'"'*^""  ''ad 
»f  the  S.?i  •"•  "'«r  took  the  r  ;,;,?  ^"'^  ^  *ose 
passe„,?e;'™b  ^"""g  before  or  aZti"  i''"  ^'"''" 

^«  .>'as   usually  ,S'f  ^  ""S'^'x^or  adoct   I'^i 
Notice  wa<s  r.«„*;    "Either   competonf    ».      ^^wr,   but 

^^ickens,  turkevfi  ^«"iesin 

-.»V.r„n^^-^-e,  duck,  eheep,  swine,  and 


146 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORXIA, 


cattle  were  carried  on  board,  and  butchered  as  re- 
quired. Meals  were  kept  going  in  the  saloon  nearly 
all  the  time,  as  when  the  ship  was  crowded  three  or 
four  tables  were  set  for  each  meal,  so  that  breakfast 
crowded  on  luncheon,  and  luncheon  on  dinner.  On 
tliis  trip  there  were  nine  tables  in  all,  but  I  have  fre- 
quentl}'^  seen  the  tables  all  laid  twelve  times  each  day. 
The  steerage  passengers  were  treated  more  like  beasts 
than  human  beings;  to  the  shipowners  they  were  but 
so  much  freight,  to  be  carried  at  so  much  a  head. 
Their  sufferings,  and  whether  they  lived  or  died,  were 
matters  oi'  their  own.  They  were  bedded  like  swine, 
and  fed  like  swine.  Instead  of  a  trough,  a  broad, 
board  shelf  was  suspended  from  the  ceiling,  which 
served  as  a  table,  greasy  and  clothless,  furnished  wltli 
tin  plates  and  cups,  and  pewter  spoons,  and  on  which 
were  placed  huge  pans  or  kettles  of  food,  stews,  beans, 
and  the  like.  Droves,  one  after  another,  were  let  in 
thr<jugh  a  gate,  and  after  they  had  fed  a  while  they 
were  driven  out  by  their  sooty  overseers. 

Out  of  the  regions  of  ice  and  snow,  out  of  boist  t- 
ous  waves  and  cold  stinging  air,  we  pass  Cape  Hat- 
teras,  and  dropping  down  the  Florida  coast  and  across 
the  gulf  stream,  sail  into  an  unruffled  sea,  into  the 
soft,  southern,  aromatic  air,  down  into  the  seaweeds, 
and  through  the  haunts  of  nautilus,  and  flying  fish, 
which  in  their  attempts  to  scale  the  ship  often  drop 
upon  the  deck;  down  among  the  ever-green  isles 
where  were  enacted  the  initial  tragedies  of  Ameri- 
can race-extermination.  Spring  succeeds  winter  and 
summer  spring.  The  polestar  pales  behind  us.  The 
air  first  softens,  then  grows  languid,  and  finally  pul- 
sates with  heat.  Flannels  and  heavy  clothing  are  laid 
aside ;  clean  calico  dresses  and  summer  bonnets  take 
the  place  of  woolen  gowns  and  hoods,  and  the  experi- 
enced male  travellers  sport  their  white  pantaloons, 
linen  coats,  and  straw  hats.  Out  under  a  burning 
sun,  and  into  hot  sea-breezes,  and  from  shivering  in 


«>'VN  mro  THE  TROWC& 


^urs  and  over^nn^^  W 

oner<.y  wifi  *^'^'T^ves  about  tht    J  ^  ^^'^'^  ^^f^ins 
"J'in;  m.-n.l  „    ,  "^ern  frosts  arp  .n  u    ,      ^o'^Jiern 

"nnui  steal  ov°  r  Z  ,  ""^  ^^'^''"n  k  ;,-,* ' 7""  ? 
"'^■■■y  IH.ro  an.l  stand/- "'"^ '  P'^'^Pi'^ «'«  1%'''"' 
•^■"■p,  np  fl,„^,  ^g.  ?'«'s  ,,    gr,,at  beads  uLuT        " 

rfiaracter.  *"<'  """"t  the  true  STnf  ,',""■" 

f  oloss  toV  to  ouT  l^r "Sers  are  verv  „„•  .     • 

iinc.  wave  'r!'"''?*  °"  b'«rd      B  ,'  *''f  ™«'<"l  teL. 
«  ).el«rah,"!''"'^*''<'™fce"ftheer''"'?  "'«  '"■'^t- 

lerth    nr  ""oets,  some  restlos>i  fi.li       .    "etwoon  the 
"">'>th,Zl,r'"'r"'  '""•«>•  jaw   a„h   ""*'••    At 

cursed  ih^,»    i  '^"en  those  of  ^i  •      'i'^"'  wie  beef 

Here  :»S  e^lr""^'  "'^'"■"« 


us 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


l^ 


tlic  ship.  Rushing  in  where  angels  fear  to  tread,  into 
the  august  presence  of  omnipotence  itself,  he  boldly 
addresses  the  Thunderer,  the  captain  of  the  craft, 
who  if  he  happens  to  be  occupied  gives  in  return  a 
dciep-toned  curse  and  a  shove  which  sends  the  appli- 
cant headlong  elsewhere  for  information.  Nothing 
daunted,  but  a  little  more  wary  in  the  future,  before 
he  leaves  the  ship  he  knows  the  difference  between 
bow  and  stern,  and  lee  and  wcatherside,  learns  to 
count  time  by  the  bells,  and  to  play  seven-up  for  the 
drinks. 

I  noticed,  after  we  were  fairly  out  at  sea,  a  certain 
habitual  sarcastic  expression  on  the  face  of  many, 
particularly  those  of  the  ruder  sort,  as  if  the  wearer 
wished  to  cover  his  sense  of  inferiority.  Such  are 
tlie  men,  who,  seasoned  by  experience,  and  having  in 
reality  gained  a  better  opinion  of  themselves,  but 
making  less  show  of  it,  on  their  return  from  California 
fall  victims  to  professional  pickpockets,  who  regularly 
plied  their  trade  between  New  York  and  Aspinwall, 
endeavoring  to  win  the  confidence  of  returning  Cali- 
fornians  so  as  to  fleece  them  on  going  ashore.  Some 
there  were  on  this  trip  out  who  had  been  to  California 
before,  men  of  slow  demeanor,  with  slouched  hat  and 
slouched  gait,  of  free  and  easy  speech,  and  comfortable 
carriage,  and  self-satisfied  countenance,  red-shirted, 
perhaps,  as  they  were  proud  of  the  distinction,  and 
these  wfere  looked  up  to  as  superior  beings  by  all 
raw  recruits.  Some  sat  the  livelong  day  gazing  list- 
lessly on  the  water,  or  staring  stupidly  at  their  fel- 
lows ;  others  restlessly  wandered  about  with  a  sharp 
anxious  inquiring  look;  some  set  themselves  up  as 
sailors  and  talked  knowingly  of  ships,  others  discussed 
politics,  religion,  and  monetary  affairs,  and  many  had 
much  to  say  of  the  land  and  people  to  which  they 
were  going.  Among  them  you  might  readily  point 
out  the  chronic  talker,  the  chronic  listener,  and  the 
chronic  laugher,  which  latter  with  his  asinine  guffaw 
at  every  silly  repartee  was  the  most  disgusting  of  all. 


'M 


■}  ii 


\,  ■  STEAMSHIP  LIFE. 

■SU'^i^fti"  ?  "'ff je^  ^^' ''^'  v^: 

<  "ty.  felt  that  il''^^"''«olf  to  be  ?„  {?  *''''  ""'»- 
"i'l't  thing     rL7'J°'»S  the  faajtif«P>th  "f 

Stoaiiishin  JjY    ' 

''"'ineas  bt  tS  :i'^--K-s,  tl..^  tZl^  «"m.- 
"OSS  and  chnmirj?.  ^"«'aljfanL'rf.n»  I  '■'"""'■e 
hf^^tvveon  Ln.'"  '''sten.ner  ffi  ™'''  '"s^  morose- 
™yarrrr'^''''d  dullness     fe  '\''  ''•f^^'^nc,: 

"vx.n.o,n/oS„r"''^r  P'-'-»n  need  "  ''''•^'  "««''  '^ 

rati,  some  ThU^f^'^-    ^"">^  «tudv  s„  "'"I''  ''""''I 
''»ck-gamm.«,  ,    "''"'<'•  '"'h'X  or  s^^uff"""*''.  some 
""dn^tafew^i^"', -rite  '"'te^  0"'^'  <'^«-'  or 
"''o  whose  Wn       "^  *">  ^"vacre  is  1,1  >''  *  J°«™al, 
".deal  is  :,-ofcr  r^  W^un  ,  l  S"f,P°Hunit,. 
'""o  has  ended  l  ^l"^^'"  "^  GauJ      1^7  *''"  "'■™nie 

f  those  :hot;ttr^"n'« '» '»-  l:  '1^  ••" 

""""ont  Which    t     u''  ,«'"-onometcrL*;r'^'">««»; 

'""•"te''  sta'g^,*'""^  ''"■ng  their  a„ge,  t^r"'*' 
^"unle  mo,r  if    "'s'     -nere  and  f  h««     ^      ^°  *"e  an- 

''-  'houX'tirr  '"^^  '■"  «-h  0  s  t!T'^  "'-"id 

f«nark and li-  .'*'"'"  «""nd  her  w«ti-",^<'«'J  "Pon 
^-odo-nwhonoWS^-f^-V 


150 


THE  VOYAGK  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


tlieir  hate,  and  manifest  no  more  delicacy  in  disclosing 
their  mutual  infelicities.  Home-sickness,  oftener  felt 
than  spoken,  sometimes  overtakes  unfled<^cd  wanderers. 
On  this  voyage,  just  as  we  were  passing  the  Bahama 
islands,  one  man  was  so  overcome  that  he  could  not 
repress  his  tears  as  he  begged  the  captain  to  put  him 
on  board  the  first  returning  ship.  •'  I  acted  hastily," 
he  cried,  "  I  did  wrong  in  leaving  wife  and  children. 
But  I  will  make  amends;  let  me  return  and  work  for 
them  till  I  die."  In  time,  this  man,  who  was  a  poor  me- 
chanic, became  reconciled;  but  I  could  not  help  think- 
ing how  many  hearts  had  throbbed  well-nigh  to 
bursting  with  secret  regrets. 

The  fifth  day  out  was  Sunday,  when  the  Episcopal 
service  was  read  by  the  purser.  Sabbath  is  never 
Sabbath  again  after  spending  one  on  a  California 
steamer.  The  sacred  charm  is  broken,  the  hallowed 
influence  of  the  day  forever  gone,  placed  among  the 
tilings  that  were,  only  to  be  called  up  in  the  mcmor}', 
and  pondered  over,  and  wondered  at.  Here  Sunday 
is  nmch  like  other  days ;  there  is  little  to  remind  one 
of  the    deep   celestial    quiet   of  the  home  Sabbath. 

There  was  a  little  less  card-playing  and  novel  read- 
ing ;  now  and  then  a  bible  or  a  prayer-book  might  be 
seen,  and  sacred  hynms  supplied  the  place  of  negro 
melodies.  But  home  pictures  would  appear  painted 
on  the  imagination  deeper  and  stronger  than  on  other 
days.  Evening  songs  fell  on  hearts  tuned  to  the  old 
familiar  strains,  sending  tears  to  the  eyes  of  many  a 
listener.  Many  there  were  in  body  rocked  on  tlic 
Atlantic  that  in  spirit  were  back  by  the  old  fireside. 
The  Loud  laugh  fell  on  the  ear,  but  the  heart  heard 
only  the  chiming  of  the  village  bells ;  the  merry  jest 
wei)t  round,  but  ere  it  fell  it  turned  to  a  precept  pro- 
nounced by  the  familiar  voice  from  the  old  churcli 
pulpit;  the  rippling  of  water  was  but  the  murmurs  of 
mother  and  brother  talking  of  the  absent  one.  Con- 
science draws  fine  lines  sometimes ;  there  was  one  man 
who  would  not  take  a  hand  at  cards  because  it  was 


HABANA. 


151 


Sunday,  but  he  did  not  mind  risking  a  dollar  on  the 
game. 

Came  in  sight  late  that  niglit,  or,  ratlicr  early  tlio 
nc  xt  morning,  the  fair  island  of  Cuba.  I  dressed  my- 
self and  went  out.  It  was  a  magnificent  moonliglit 
night  and  the  sea  was  smooth  as  glass.  There  was  a 
soft  troj)ical  haze  in  the  atmosphere,  and  as,  on  our 
approach,  the  mountains  of  the  interior  assumed  form, 
and  the  green  hills,  and  white  beach,  and  coral  reefs 
— almost  buried  in  foliage-— the  waving  palms  of  the 
hill-toi)S  and  the  orange  groves  nestling  in  quiet  val- 
leys were  more  plainly  distinguished,  the  view  pre- 
sented was  ravisliJiu'  in  the  extreme.  Arrived  off 
Habana  an  hour  before  daylight,  we  came  to  a  stoj) 
and  lay  too  under  the  guns  of  the  Moro  Castle,  where 
we  were  obliged  to  wait  until  sunrise  before  entering 
the  harbor,  such  being  the  rule.  Then,  just  as  the 
sun  lifted  its  warm  tints  above  the  horizon,  scattering 
the  sky -painted  imagery  that  forecast  the  dawn,  we 
turned  round  the  daik  bluff, under  the  frowning  battle- 
ments of  the  fortress,  ij;un  answering  gun  in  courteous 
salute,  while  far  ovci  tJu.  sea  swept  the  morning  nmsic 
fi\)m  the  fort,  like  blasts  of  the  archangel  sounding 
the  opening  of  a  new  world.  As  we  slowly  steamed 
up  the  chaniiel,  on  tlie  right  of  which  lay  the  city, 
with  its  terraced  houses  of  many  colors,  blue,  yellow, 
and  red,  its  quaint  cathedral  ])iles  and  glittering  sjurcs, 
our  course  was  arrested  by  pompous  health  and  cus- 
toms officers,  wlu),  after  performing  their  duties  to  their 
dignified  satlsfacti<m,  allowed  us  to  proceed.  We  soon 
came  to  anchor  before  the  city,  and  the  passengers 
were  permitted  to  land. 

Pygmalion's  statue  was  no  more  lost  in  won- 
derment than  was  I.  To  my  inexperienced  gaze  all 
was  as  marvelous  as  if  I  had  been  lifted  from  another 
world  and  put  down  upon  this  spot.  There  was  the 
voluptuous  morning  sun  rolling  in  an  aerial  sea  of 
crimson  flanked  by  silver-burnished  clouds ;  the  wanton 
air  pla}ing  with  the  feathered  palms,  and  breathing 


152 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


tlie  perfumed  incense  of  orange  groves ;  and  here  a 
wonderful  city  glittering  beside  a  glassy  sea,  a  city 
famous  for  its  cigars,  its  fountains,  its  magnificent 
opera  house  and  mosaic  mirrored  counting  house,  its 
narrow  streets  and  broad  shaded  carriage-way  and 
Isabel  Segunde  promenade,  its  grand  plaza,  cafes  and 
brilliant  gas  lights,  its  moonlight  music,  and  gay 
military  officers,  and  dark-eyed  senoritas,  and  its  two- 
wheeled  volantes — the  hansom  cab  of  London  and 
the  gondola  of  Venice — drawn  by  a  small,  scrawny 
horse,  harnessed  to  the  ends  of  tM'o  long  poles  ten 
feet  and  over  from  the  vehicle.  The  tail  of  the  ani- 
mal is  braided  so  as  to  leave  it  at  the  mercy  of  tor- 
menting flies,  and  besides  drawing  the  gig  with  its 
freiglit  of  fat  Cubans  or  fair  senoritas,  the  poor  beast 
must  carry  a  driver  with  large  jingling  spurs  and 
heavy  club.  If  iii.<re  than  one  beast  is  attached  to  a 
volante,  the  horses  are  usually  driven  tandem. 

To  the  the  bishop's  garden,  the  pofiular  drive, 
most  of  our  passengers  went  for  the  day — past  villas 
and  chateaus  buried  in  blooming  foliage,  through 
avenues  bordered  by  hedges  of  roses,  and  shaded  by 
orange-trees  bending  beneath  their  golden  fruit.  At 
night  wo  listened  to  the  band  playing  in  the  plaza, 
and  watched  the  half-veiled  senoritas,  and  sombre 
looking  men  and  smoking  women  and  naked  boys, 
moving  noisily  about  beneath  the  shrubbery  and 
under  the  glowing  moon  which,  mirrored  on  the 
glassy  water  of  the  harbor,  made  it  shine  like  a  sea 
of  silver.  Siempre  fiel  isla  de  Cuba;  la'loya  mas 
brilliante  en  la  carona  d'  Espana — heaven  be  with 
thee,  as  thou  in  my  youthful  fancy  appeared  almost 
like  heaven. 

The  passengers,  baggage,  mails,  and  freight  of  the 
George  Law  were  here  transferred  to  the  steamer 
Georgia,  and  day  and  evening  were  consumed  in  the 
operation.  At  length,  worn  out  by  unaccustomed 
fatigue,  tired  even  of  a  tropical  paradise,  we  shoul- 
dered a  quantity  of  cigars  which  we  had  purchased 


KINGSTON. 


158 


and  went  on  board — settling  the  export  duties,  under 
direction  of  the  seller,  by  givhig  a  half  dollar  to  the 
official  stationed  on  board,  who  pocketed  it  amidst 
vehemently  gesticulated  protestations,  which  I  took 
to  be  a  sort  of  mock  battle  between  conscience  and 
duty ;  or  it  may  be  he  deemed  the  bribe  insufficient  to 
satisfy  virtue  so  august.  Leaving  him  to  reconcile 
matters  as  best  he  might  I  hurried  to  bed,  and  wlien 
I  awoke  in  the  morning  the  lovely  isle  had  vanished 
like  a  dream,  and  we  were  far  on  our  way  toward 
Jamaica,  that  is  to  say,  the  Land  of  Wood  and 
Water. 


Kingston,  where  we  touched  for  coals,  should  be 
the  black  man's  paradise.  A  negro  pilot  pretended 
to  guide  our  vessel  into  the  harbor,  a  negro  })ort- 
master  pompously  manipulated  the  mails,  black  shop- 
keepers importuned  passers  by,  black  hackmen 
clamored  for  a  fare,  black  prostitutes  smiled  for  cus- 
tomers, black  fruit-vendeis  and  parrot-sellers  crowded 
tlie  avenues  leading  from  the  wharf,  dashinij:  black 
dandies  flourished  their  white-headed  canes,  squads  of 
olack  sokliers  swelled  hi  the  Britisher's  red  coat,  the 
regimental  band  which  played  in  the  park  was  con>- 
puscfl  of  some  fifty  fine  performers — black  ;  black 
women,  about  fifty  in  number,  some  of  them  young 
girls,  did  the  coaling,  carrying  on  their  heads  a  tub  or 
lialf  barrel  holding  sixty  pounds  of  coals,  marohii»g 
up  and  down  the  gang-plank  with  ease  and  alacrity, 
jiccompanying  their  ap[>arently  laborious  duty  with 
loud  laughter,  song,  and  dancing,  while  the  men  sat 
l)y  and  smoked  and  smiled  approval.  Swarms  of 
polished  ebony  bipeds,  male  and  female,  perambulated 
the  streets,  smoking  their  long  cigars,  and  fomiliarly 
(lacking  their  rude  jokes  with  the  passengers.  Kace 
<listinctioQ,  if  there  be  any  but  such  as  is  merely  phy- 
sical, seems  to  be  here  reversed,  the  white  man,  as  a 
<lass,  occupying  about  tlie  position  of  the  black  man 
ill  other  parts.     Literally,  a  white   man  here  is  as 


164 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


good  as  a  black  one  so  long  as  he  behaves  himself. 
Colored  freeholders  received  the  elective  franchise  as 
early  as  1830;  after  1838  they  could  sit  in  the  local 
legislature,  by  which  qualification  1853  saw  one  black 
man  in  the  council  and  fifteen  in  the  assembly.  Judg- 
ing from  the  muscle  on  arm  and  leg,  and  the  loads 
the  women  carry  on  their  heads,  this  West  India 
climate   agrees  with   the   African. 

Putting  to  sea,  in  three  days  thereafter  we  an- 
chored before  the  ruins  of  the  old  fort  of  San  Lo- 
renzo  conunanding  the  entrance  to  Chagres  river. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA,— ISTHMUS  OF  PANAMi. 


What  deein'd  tliey  of  the  future  or  the  past  t 
The  pretient,  like  a  tyrant,  held  them  fast. 


— Byrotu 


The  isthmus  of  Panamd,  or,  as  it  was  anciently 
called,  Darien,  must  ever  coininand  the  interest  of  the 
civilized  world.  Aside  from  the  charm  which  history 
tlirows  over  this  region,  as  the  bar  which  baffled  the 
last  attempt  of  the  great  admiral  to  find  a  passage  to 
India,  as  the  point  where  were  planted  the  first  perma- 
nent Spanish  settlements  on  the  North  American  conti- 
nent, as  the  window  of  the  bi-continental  Cordilleras 
wliich,  opened  by  the  hand  of  Vasco  Nuiicz  de  Balboa, 
lot  in  from  the  great  South  Sea  a  flood  of  light  illumi- 
nating well  nigh  to  blindness  all  Europe,  as  the  initial 
point  to  many  a  marauding  expedition,  as  the  scene 
of  divers  piratical  attacks,  and  local  revolutions, — I 
say  aside  from  historic  associations,  this  narrow  strip 
of  earth  must  ever  be  rcijardod  with  attention  bv  all 
tlie  nations  of  the  world,  presenting,  as  it  does,  the 
smallest  impediment  to  inter-oceanic  communication 
and  an  uninterrupted  patliM'ay  from  Europe  to  Asia, 
saiUng  to  the  westward.  Said  Walter  llaleigh  to 
Klizal)eth,  "Seize  the  isthmus  of  Darien,  and  y<ui  will 
wrest  the  keys  of  the  world  from  Spain."  Here  tlie 
continent  was  first  spanned  by  iron,  and  here  is  being 
duj^  the  first  inter-oeeanlc  canal. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  new  traffic  arislnj;  from 
tlie  discovery  of  gold  in  California,  thi;  natives  of  the 
Isthmus  were  civil,    inoffensive,  and  obliging.     This 


(155) 


156 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


state  of  tilings  was  quickly  changed,  however.  It 
was  a  new  experience  for  tlieni,  this  contact  with 
Anglo- Americans  of  the  ruder  sort,  strong,  shrewd, 
and  overbearing,  too  often  impudent  and  insulting, 
too  many  of  them  unprincipled,  with  a  sprinkling  of 
unmitigated  rascality.  The  mild  and  ignorant  tropi- 
cal man  shrank  from  them  at  first,  then  grew  sullen 
and  suspicious,  and  finally  fell  to  cheating  in  return, 
though  never  able  in  this  last  accomplishment  to 
equal  his  bright  exemplar. 

Two  pilgrims  landing  at  Chagres  from  the  steam- 
ship Isthmus,  in  January  1849,  the  Quaker  City  then 
lying  in  the  harbor,  hired  bongos  for  themselves  and 
baggage,  proceeded  up  the  river  to  the  head  of  navi- 
gation, then  transferred  their  belongings  to  the  backs 
of  mules,  riding  one  between  them,  alternately,  and 
so  proceeded  to  Pananid.  This  was  then  tl  e  usual 
way.  The  steamer  California  was  there,  having  just 
come  round  Cape  Horn,  and  having  on  board  some 
sixty  passengers  from  Valparaiso. 

There  was  quite  a  panic  among  the  travellers,  sev- 
eral thousands  of  wlu^m  were  collected  there,  waiting 
f;»r  an  opportunity  to  proceed  to  San  Francisco  by  any 
conveyance  whatever.  There  was  much  inqjrudence 
anion  ,»•  them.  The  excessive  use  of  intoxicating  ]i(juors, 
eating  tropical  fruits  to  which  they  were  unaccustomed, 
.and  heavy  rainfalls,  contributed  to  develop  sickness 
among  them.  It  was  difiicult  to  obtain  accomnioda- 
tlons;  people  were  crowded,  and  many  died  from 
cholera  and  fever.  Many  of  the  persons  on  the  Isth- 
mus at  the  time  had  tickets  only  to  that  point,  and 
tickets  from  there  to  San  Francisco,  for  deck  passage, 
were  sold  as  high  as  six  hundred  dollars.  The  steam- 
ers could  not  furnish  accommodations  for  so  many 
pi^rsons.  The  steamship  company  allowed  a  certain 
number  of  tickets  to  be  drawn,  but  there  was  imuli 
trickery  in  this.  In  order  that  there  mi'jlit  be  fair 
play,  some  of  the  outsiders  were  called  in;  but  gam- 
blers and  other  improper  persons  having  been  selected. 


ON  THE  ISTHMUS 

t  .at  scourge,  and  .TZ,'^!  *^,  J°™«'  «ere  victims  " 
tl.e  whole  black  ropulaS  of  rr*?'  «"''  ""»»  n^-Tly 

In  tlieooures  of  time  amX'tTv^'  '*/*"''  "■""  '851. 
ation  of  passengers  fro    ',1    fA"'"'  '^""  *''«  transij 
but  the  above  data  1^1,1"^'""""^  «""•"  provided 
vevan  idea  of  ItlXe  6.T^T"  ''^^^  ™. tn-' 
|.-.W  by  way  of  the  IstLuTh^l"^  f*"*"  ^"'""""'ia 
-i«-ay,  commenced  in  isro^t^nferlru! 

P""l>any  due  encoural^efe;  '"''  '"  "'^""^  *''« 
I'o  travel  ed  over  an,l  ;„.,ii    .•""*«'  seven  ni  es  niu<if 

•"  t'.e  „te  of  7;:^^  ::f joii"*;  a"  '^T'"'  '■"^ "-  -"■ 

*'"ger  crossing  the  Is  Ln       !.    ""''''  ""  every  pas 
««  given  to  Ugh  f  ,eh«r  ,,  r"-'"'*^'-     ^o  LdZ 
"r  three  leagues  easter  v  to  P  '     ^'''Tf''  »''«"««  t«o 
™.lled  Aspinwall,  the  n^„*e  a^d™,'  "'  ^^'T  S',  then 
"»»i  being  thrust  aside  for  tl5''^V"'^  'I'"  «>■«*  "d- 
"'»ney  magnate.     However  t.'n"'^  "  ^''»'  York 
"'«afewyea,«afterresS    TI,"'''  ""r  "^  ^^olon 
"n.l  r,Kle  ever  the  seven  mlh.,  J        7"  '''^^'nl'arked, 
'"g  for  the  same  quite  ti      ?,f ''"'npleted  work,  na, 

;;'«ed  to  engage\r  i\,Mi;rtlr"rr '^^•^^- 

«'  ich  we  could  as  easily  anH,    i      9"'S'''''  ""•■■. 
'"■^"■e  as  afterward  ^  "^  "^'"^Pb'  liave  done 

''vvrfi„t/t7;r;^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

>"l"al  and  unique ;  a  feat^"l;.^'  altogether  indi- 
-^- wlideinclV:jlS«ra!c:rthrS        ^ 


'ff 


158 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


ever  changing  scener}-  which  affords  the  observer  con- 
stant dehght,  as  the  journey  is  now  made. 

Chagres  at  this  time  was  a  town  of  about  seven 
hundred  native  inhabitants,  dwelling  in  some  fifty 
windowless,  bamboo  huts,  with  thatched,  palm-leaf 
roofs,  and  having  open  entrances,  and  the  bare  ground 
for  a  floor.  The  town  was  surrounded  by  heaps  of 
filthy  offal,  and  greasy,  stagnant  pools  bordered  with 
i)lue  mud.  It  is  situated  on  a  small  but  exceedingly 
picturesque  and  almost  land-locked  bay,  well  nigh 
l)uried  bv  the  foliage  that  skirts  its  banks  and  rolls 
off  in  billowy  emerald  toward  the  hills  beyond.  Be- 
tween the  shore  and  mountains  stretch  away  for  miles 
in  every  direction  broad,  open  savannahs,  cut  into 
firms,  covered  with  chaparral,  and  stocked  with  cattle. 
Wh<  re  the  river  and  ocean  meet  rises  a  bold  bluff, 
( rowned  by  the  castle  of  San  Lorenzo,  whose  ruined 
f  )rtre.ss  and  batthnncnts,  gnawed  to  a  skeleton  bv  the 
toetli  of  time,  gaze  mournfully  out  upon  the  sea  which 
lashes  its  waves  against  its  steep  foundations,  as  if 
determined  to  uproot  in  all  these  inhospitable  parts 
the  last  vestige  of  the  olden  time.  Fallen  to  the 
bottom  of  the  clifll*  were  parapet  and  guns  ;  screaming 
SL\a-birds  occupied  the  crumbling,  moss-covered  watch- 
tower  ;  while  within  the  dismounted  cannon,  bearing, 
with  the  royal  arms  of  Spain,  the  date  of  1745,  were 
slowlv  chanixinsr  into  rust.  Ilenmants  of  the  old  paved 
road  which  ascends  the  hill  were  there,  and  the  draw- 
bridge over  the  moat — once  wide  and  deep,  but  now 
rank  with  vegetation — leading  to  the  main  gateway ; 
likewise  the  drawbridije  to  the  citadel  on  the  verjje  of 
t!ie  cliff,  whence  a  charming  view  of  sea  and  land  may 
be  had.  At  Chagres,  passengers  were  accustomed  to 
stay  no  longer  than  sufficed  to  engage  boats  and  start 
on  their  journey.  This  region  is  specially  noted  for 
the  insalubrity  of  its  climate. 

Asjnnwall,  or  Navy  bay,  where  the  first  blow  upon 
the  railway  was  struck,  occupies  a  small  swampy  nmd- 
reef  called  Manzanilla  island,  fringed  with  mangrove 


COLON. 

beasts  and  n„i^„„U3  inseots      '    ''  ""'^    "-^  ^^'Pt"-', 

%.  anXea'S  rt^''^^"'^-  -'-'  Nav, 
seems  to  ,„o  l.arcllv  nr 2l,I       l""T^''  C"l"n.     Tl,is 

"f  ">e  early  voya^Z^^^t  a„v"  "'^'''•^'  '''"-■ '-'  « 
event ;  and  in  the  next  «?,.„  fi  ^  '"™'""'  "f  ™el,  an 
'"'vo  found  many"ZLmZ'\«"'^^  ad.niral  coul 
»"*  timn  this  tJZvCZa     "^^S-^ud  "»P'-rt 
'le  Bastidas  or  Columb,^         f   ,  ^''«ther  Kodri,,,, 
r-d;^  do  not  .state      Kfi;;?^''::';'  ?'."'«.«,  th.Iir 
"f  tiiat  famous  place  it  will?  *""?  '""*""'  '"akes 

adventures  of  Die?r'dp  K-     '^  ^'-ombered,  s  in  the 

;^'«?-  A  relativJof  twrS  ™"p*'"'^«^''--i- 
bavn,g  eonnnand  of  anXr  Zn  *['  '^"f'"  ^y  '""'■'•• 
^■euosa  sailed,  and  beeoVni^iltlf ''/.'''"'  "'  "''"''I 
"amier  in  a  storm,  wr/orL  1^*"'  '^"'"  ''»  ™'"- 
^,arl,„r  his  worn,-eaten  II  n  aT  H  ''^  T'"'"S  '"'",  to 
Cl.agres,  so  called  b  the  Lt'  ;"""*''  "^  «'o  river 
I'o  nmltitudes  of  ^La  f.rs  tw";  ''"""  ,^^'''^'''  f--"" 

Aspniwall,  with  its  hvl.rll^^M?"    "'"'   '»«•"    "f 
'"terseeting  stajfna  ,t^n  "  I'  T     'T  T'  f*''^"-^^'"  "^ 
''«'aymg   vegetation    reek  1   t.t-r''  "^   ""'»«  «»<! 
omwhng  reptiles,  oiver  „ve?    r"""""'   ""^  «'ith 
"f 'ler  creations,  man  L,         "^  ""*'"•«  *"  the  vilest 
'™  in.  or  ,.th;r  to  die  TS  T'^"-^  "  l''-«  '-f  ^ 
I'lan.Iy  written  on  the  face    f         l"'™"'""'e  death  is 
"ant.     Tmvel  the  world  over  7"F  ^'"•"''^•""  i"''«l- 
'"V  find  son,ething  he  ter  than  i    T  "7'^'  f''-^"  v„u 
I'laec.     Sear<-hinL'  for  thJ         • '?  """"'  '»  a»v  other 
--'I'  o«elled,  w^Vu,;,*  rinTe?"-'  "'  ",'"<■''  ^sp.'  ! 
eaimot  be  anywhere  surpassedw,    "■■'""  ^'"''''  «■'"<■'' 
'^^""lla  island  may  h«.Tthe  fi  "f '^^''e"-     Man- 
j'''!";:*-     Originalfy  aw,,,,"  ^Cf  """•^'^^  ""  *''e 
I^U'ldings  were  below  thJtvel  of  ,'^""«'«"™'«  "f  the 

itvilof  the  ocean,  and  dry 


160 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


land  was  made  by  filling  in  as  occasion  required.  The 
result  in  this  soft  soil  of  filth  and  vegetable  putridity 
may  be  imagined.  The  very  groun:!  on  which  one 
trod  was  pregnant  with  disease,  and  death  was  dis- 
tilled in  every  breath  of  air.  The  rain-fall  at  Aspin- 
wall  is  very  heavy.  During  the  rainy  season,  which  is 
from  May  to  January,  the  windows  of  heaven  are 
opened,  and  in  October  and  November  there  is  a 
quick  succession  of  deluges.  Glued  furniture  falls  In 
pieces ;  leather  moulds,  and  iron  oxidizes  in  twenty- 
four  hours. 

Quite  a  contrast  between  the  old  and  the  new  I  In 
making  the  transit  by  rail,  the  day  before  reaching 
Aspinwall  every  one  descended  into  the  hold  of  the 
steamer,  either  in  person  or  by  proxy,  selected  his 
baggage,  had  it  weighed  and  cheeked,  and  paid  ten 
cents  a  pound  for  all  over  fifty  pounds  if  a  holder  of 
p  steerage  ticket,  and  all  over  one  hundred  pounds  if 
a  holder  of  a  cabin  ticket.  Baggage  was  then  trans- 
ferred to  the  steamer  on  the  other  side  witiiout  fur- 
ther trouble  to  the  owner.  No  sooner  was  the  pjank 
out  than  the  closely  penned  passengers,  with  a  rush, 
squeezed  and  stampeded — the  American  style  of  dis- 
embarking— hastened  ashore,  scattered  themselves 
among  the  hotels,  shops,  and  fruit  venders,  and  were 
soon  lost  in  present  gratification  of  appetite,  and  in 
laying  in  a  store  of  comforts  and  disease  for  the 
future.  The  pleasure  of  placing  foot  on  shore  after  a 
long  voyage,  even  though  it  be  the  soft  spongy  shore 
of  Aspinwall,  is  exquisite.  To  a  cramped  sea-rolled 
landsman  any  spot  of  earth  looks  lovely,  especially 
when  viewed  from  the  sea.  To  tread  on  solid  ground, 
and  feel  mother  earth  beneath  your  feet  again,  seems 
like  a  return  from  supernatural  regions.  Thus  to 
land  and  thus  to  cross  the  Isthmus  is  a  pleasant 
change  from  the  tiresome  life  on  board  the  steamers. 
Railway  passengers  wish  the  ride  was  longer,  wish 
they  could  so  ride  all  the  way  to  San  Francisco. 
Seated  by  an  open  window,  the  face  fanned  by  the 


RACE  PANDEMONIUM. 


m 


motion  of  the  train,  and  armed  with  a  pitcher  or  pail 
of  iced  water,  the  ride  is  indeed  charming.  But  at 
the  time  of  which  I  write  crossing  the  Isthmus  was  a 
veiy  different  affair,  as  I  shall  show. 

!rlaced  ashore  at  Aspinwall  by  the  ship's  boats  the 
passengers  by  the  Georgia  were  conveyed  on  oiien 
platform  cars  to  Gatun,  seven  miles  distant,  situated 
on  a  small  stream  of  the  same  name,  near  its  conflu* 
ence  with  the  Chagres  river.  There  an  uproarious 
scene  presented  itself  The  occasion  was  the  hiring 
of  bongos  or  canoes  in  which  to  ascend  the  river.  The 
boating  was  done  by  negroes  and  natives ;  the  patroncs, 
skippers,  or  owners  of  the  boats  were  mostly  Creoles, 
the  least  tinge  of  whiteness  in  their  blood  being  suffi- 
cient to  warrant  them  in  asserting  supremacy.  The 
gold-seekers  were  here  first  thrown  upon  their  own 
resources ;  here  the  real  battle  began.  On  shipboard 
tliey  were  only  so  much  steamship  pabulum ;  tho 
goddess  of  liberty  had  shrunk  to  the  dimensions  of  a 
captain  of  a  water  craft.  Once  more  on  shore,  and 
American  manhood  might  again  assert  itself  Of 
course  attempts  would  be  made  at  cheating,  and  such 
attempts  sliould  be  resisted  to.  the  death.  Nothing 
quicker  marks  the  narrow-minded  and  inexperienced 
traveller  than  a  morbid  fear  of  being  overreached. 
Sliall  the  American  eagle  be  brow-beaten  by  the 
turkey-buzzards  of  a  nonderscript  No-land?  Hence 
any  attempt  at  fancied  imposition  was  blustered  down, 
and  knives  and  pistols  freely  used,  if  locessary,  to  en- 
force fair  dealing. 

Seldom  did  a  steamer  load  of  passengers  get  started 
up  the  river  without  much  wrangling.  Boat-owners 
were  not  slow  to  take  advantage  of  tj.<nr  necessities, 
and  charge  exorbitant  fares ;  or  having  made  a  con- 
tract they  flew  from  it  and  demanded  more.  Rascal- 
ity was  rampant ;  and  so  keen  were  the  adventurers 
to  scent  a  swindle  that  they  sometimes  found  a  mare's 
nest.  Ma'w  a  pil  ^frini  here  first  shed  the  crust  of 
oouvcntionality ;  and  many  another  on  glancing  inta 

Ca&.  Int.  Poc.    11 


1G2 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


the  kaleidoscope  of  unsanctified  human  nature  and 
liberated  passion  turned  back  discomfited,  and  sought 
his  home  oy  the  steamer  that  brought  him.  If  the 
infernal  regions  were  to  be  bombarded  for  this  gold, 
they  would  pause  and  consider  the  matter.  Then 
there  were  yet  those  fastened  by  fate  in  this  magnifi- 
cent cesspool  of  tropical  putrescence  who  could  get 
neither  way;  who  having  taken  their  chances  of 
reaching  California  had  lost.  Happy  indeed  would 
they  have  been  if  they  could  have  gone  forward  in 
any  direction.  And  there  were  those,  saffron-visagcd 
skelett)ns,  stretched  side  by  side  on  cots,  in  the  heated 
rooms  of  hotels,  on  whom  death  had  set  its  seal,  with 
no  loved  one  near  to  ease  the  aching  limb  or  wet  the 
parched  tongue. 

Passengers  in  India  rubber  and  oilcloth  suits,  singly 
and  in  aniuli/amated  groups  of  quondam  friendships, 
armed  with  pistols,  guns,  knives,  umbrellas,  and  life- 
preservers,  mild-mannered  as  belted  brigands,  were  on 
the  qui  vive  lest  assassination  should  add  their  car- 
casses to  the  many  significant  mounds  in  the  vicinity. 
Equipped  with  drinking-cups,  pots,  kettles,  forks, 
spoons,  and  air-beds,  with  stores  of  meat,  bread, 
brandy,  and  pills,  all  were  rushing  about  bargaining, 
swearing,  and  whooping,  impatient  to  be  off.  Bam- 
boo-faced patrones  ranting  bad  Spanish,  in  broad- 
bottomed  pantaloons,  colored  muslin  shirts,  and  broad- 
brimmed  jipijapa  hats,  with  huge  cigars  in  their 
sensual  mouths,  having  fleets  or  boats  at  their 
connnand,  formed  the  central  figure  of  excited  groups, 
danoes  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  feet  in  length,  dujjj 
from  a  single  log  of  bay  or  mahogany,  and  capable  of 
carrying  from  four  to  ten  persons  with  their  luggage, 
could  be  engaged  to  Gorgona  for  from  thirty  to  fifty 
dollars  and  a  bottle  of  brandy  for  the  boatmen.  The 
patron  usually  accompanied  his  fleet,  steering  one  uf 
the  boats. 


Our  boat  is  engaged — it  has  an  awning  to  protect 


ON  THE  THE  CHAORES  RTVER. 


163 


iliips, 
life- 
re  on 
•  car- 
inlty. 
forks, 
)rea(l, 
ining, 
Baiu- 
road- 
roacl- 
thcir 
their 
oups. 

ble  of 

fiftv 

The 

kne  «^'t 
rotect 


us  from  alternate  sun  and  rain — our  baggage  stowed, 
and  we  have  settled  into  as  comfortable  positions  i.s 
our  cargo  will  permit.  One  glance  at  the  jangling 
crowd  ujwn  the  bank,  and  we  are  off.  After  all  there 
is  something  touching  in  the  scene.  The  steamer  we 
had  an  idea  would  bring  character  to  the  surface ;  but 
now  we  find  we  knew  little  of  our  neiy;hbors  before 
they  stepped  ashore,  and  assumed  their  respective 
parts  forthe  Isthnms  extravaganza.  The  burly  man  and 
loud  talker,  that  we  imagine  might  brave  boatmen  cr 
boa  constrictors,  now  pufl's  and  sweats  about  the  outir 
edge  of  a  knot  of  determined  actors,  among  whom  tie 
little  quiet  boyish-looking  fellow,  with  shoi-t,  slight 
frame,  small  hand,  and  delicate  features,  assumes  au- 
thority as  by  appointment.  In  such  an  emergency 
mind  and  resolute  daring,  of  their  own  inherent  vir- 
tue, form  a  nucleus  round  which  grosser  substance 
!:!;ravitatcs.  Then  what  a  history  they  have,  every 
one  of  them.  In  their  outre  guise,  with  all  their  inor- 
dinate desires  and  liberated  propensities,  their  fretful 
fault-findings,  stupid  misunderstandings,  and  morbid 
restlessness,  there  is  an  air  of  stormy  grandeur  about 
tlicm.  They  are  heroes  and  martyrs,  in  their  way. 
Have  they  not  left  quiet  peace  for  troubled  wander- 
ings, abandoned  loving  hearts  for  loneliness  ?  Have 
tlioy  not  for  sweet  charity's  sake  blinded  their  eyes  to 
tlie  rosy  smiles  of  children,  stopped  their  ears  to  tlie 
passionate  sobs  of  wife  and  mother  and  sister,  steeled 
tlieir  affections  against  home  and  its  sanctifying  mem- 
ories, and  cast  themselves  adrift,  aye,  plunged  their 
souls  into  a  gehenna  of  hiquietude  and  stinging  battle? 

Two  or  four  or  six  shining,  black,  thick-limbed  and 
muscular  negroes,  uniting  with  the  African  wooly 
hair,  and  protruding  lips,  a  Moorish  aquiline  nose,  or 
as  many  lighter  colored,  and  lighter  limbed  natives, 
piopelled  the  boats  up  the  stream  by  means  of  poles, 
at  an  average  speed  of  a  mile  an  hour.  Taking  their 
stand  upon  the  broadened  edges  of  the  canoe  on  either 


' 


164 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


side,  one  end  of  their  pole  upon  the  bottom  of  the 
river,  and  the  other  placed  aj^ainst  their  shoulder, 
smoking  with  perspiration,  their  deep  chests  sending 
fortli  volumes  of  vapor  into  the  vapory  air,  their 
swollen  sinews  strained  to  their  utmost  tension,  and 
keeping  time  to  a  sort  of  grunting  stmg,  they  step 
steadily  along  from  stem  to  stern,  thus  sending  the 
boat  rapidly  over  the  water,  except  where  the  cur- 
rent is  strong.  The  middle  of  the  channel,  where 
the  water  is  deep  and  the  current  rapid,  is  avoided  as 
much  as  possible;  yet  with  every  precaution  the 
men  frequently  miss  their  purchase  and  the  boat  falls 
back  in  a  few  minutes  as  great  a  distance  as  it  can  re- 
cover in  an  hour.  Ev3ry  now  and  then,  ceasing  their 
work,  the  swarthy  boatmen  disrobe  with  the  most  im- 
perturbable sang  froid,  and  wholly  insensible  to  the 
presence  of  horror-stricken  females,  and  with  perspira- 
tion streaming  down  their  naked  sinewy  limbs,  cry 
"banoTand  running  the  bow  of  the  boat  into  the 
bank,  they  fasten  it  there  with  the  poles  and  plunge  into 
the  stream.  Or  if  overtaken  by  rain,  which  here  falls 
with  scarcely  the  slightest  warning,  they  strip  them- 
selves to  the  last  rag  of  whatever  they  happen  to 
have  on,  and  rolling  up  their  clothes  put  them  in  a 
dry  place  until  the  rain  is  over.  In  places  poles  and 
paddles  are  wholly  ineffectual,  and  tlie  boatmen  are 
obliged  to  take  to  the  bank,  and  tow  the  boat  after 
them  with  a  rope,  or,  wading  in  the  water,  bear  it  by 
main  force  up  the  rapids. 

One  boat  after  another  is  pushed  along  amid  sage  re- 
marks, coarse  jests  and  yells,  and  the  firing  of  pistols. 
There  is  a  humorous  side  to  every  scene;  and  this 
was  the  side  usually  uppermost  in  early  Californian 
times,  however  trying  the  ordeal,  or  incongruous  tlio 
grouping,  or  dismal  the  moral  shades.  To  these  ad- 
venturers so  lately  liberated  from  the  nauseating  con- 
finement of  a  rolling  overcrowded  steamer, — not- 
withstanding the  heat  and  moisture  which  hung  in 
the  air,  and  folded  them  about  like  a  wet  blanket— 


REHUNDANT  VEf,ETATIOir. 


160 


^^ft^  Vr  IZf'l-  ^^   ^'^-^  ^'-ir    J 

"liKi.  ii.ki«fc  scenes  SO      .3  '  ^^/'^'^^^  "^  '"u«c]e  i.^d 
toj?etI,erwitI,Ii|>era,n./\-     ^"."^  wonderful  to  tHe  . 

tJ'ty  spirits;  tJ.o;,rJ '  ,,,17'^  ^f '"Jarating  eff^^^^  up^.^ 
'•^^ain  to  seek  rofufe  f  shh/^i"  ^ere  quite  rS 
-"the  other  side.   "         ^  '^"^^  ^^^^^e  they  found  on^ 

-mountains  f  in,:ni<.u'^'    S^l''''r''^^-  ^'« 
7    •    .^''^''y  shade  of  ,rrepn  «      i  ^'^''^"tic,  rank,  and 
fl^s  with  rose-red   purnh      '.  •?"''''^'  ^"^  K'i»t    nin 
''Jf^andpinkin^ndfesst^^^^^^ 

Pahns,  thiek-Ieaved  rnin  ^' i^'i  ?^''''^"'^"P^-    sS 
'-""teous  bananas  arTS'it  »'«J-«tii  teak     and 
I'^^^asites,   whicJ,  uZn^t,    I^  .""»»««"-Wosscined 
•^'ndant,  mat  and  uni  e  Si    "f![^^"'^''  ^^««Pi"g,  and 
'/•ace,  and  <>ver-reac  fn .  t  ^  ^^'"^^  '"^  '^««^  e.n 
-- ;rge  in  the  gZ^y  't^T'li'''  i^^"^«  '"^-t 
■nf  fT  ''""^>^  '•"^'ts  into   the  ;  f?""''"^'  ^^^-ias 
^^'»t  falling,   and   weave  Jh.;    1    "^*   ^^^^^^  to   pre- 
^roens;  bread-fruit  hanl  in    '   ^'^T^''''  "'*«   t]  iek 
«"'!  piantain  pine-ann  ^f       ^'"^'^  ^^««ters  overlie^/ 
l-i-w  ailigatir^  Jtnd  "sur"^^^'  "-.T  ^^'S 
J'^T  spontaneous  favors      ifT'^"!'  ^.^^^^  Profusei; 
I"  f  tree  in  the  tropics      Tf       "?  *"^'"^^  "^^tter  to 
"'acl^'  a  plant-patriarch    wlw,"'""*  ^'"'  ^^^^ng  it    J 
;:;;;ft  support  a%len';    ;,,^^^^^^^^^  or  no\  an 

^  ^\  and  creeping  pL2  of  «V'''^1^^^«'  P^^ple  convol. 
poeies,  which^if  !sp!  Jl  f„^^;^«^  every  genus  and 
',  ^^f^  parpet  coveVin..-  a  snl.  fi  ^T"""^  ^'^"^^^  fi>rin 
J^'^'  tree's  shadow  at  nolT      ^''^^  *""e«  the  area  of 
••••^'st  behemothVsmo  h;  7;  ^^^  ^^^^  at  last  tJ^e 
f '^vn  by  these  re  ent  ess  ^ rl  .     ^.''^^'^'  ^"^  ^^4  ed 
PmliJy  buried  in  broad  f^""^^'^''  '*«  napless  trunk^'s 
i'^'-hes  of  spongy  Zts  i'^f  ?^  J^^^^^^  vines  an 

Underneath  dark  yZjlT''^''  ''^'*««^"^«. 

vistas  of  shadowy  colonnade  are 


.1 


t!.  „ 


166 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


tall  grasses  and  tanyflod  shrubbery  tlirouj'h  wliicli 
wild  beasts  with  difficulty  force  their  way.  What  in 
our  colder  dimes  are  rare  exotics,  here  riot  in  the 
open  air,  bursting  with  exuberance.  Innumerable 
flowers  of  every  hue  gild  the  landscape  ;  the  tiny  blos- 
soms of  the  north  spread  out  in  flaming  proportions,  or 
assume  shapes  m  which  they  almost  lose  their  iden- 
tity, while  innumerable  species  unknown  to  the  north- 
ern naturalist  abound  in  rank  profusion.  Chief  among 
these,  and  one  of  the  most  remarkable  that  blooms  in 
any  clime,  is  the  Flor  del  Espiritu  santo,  the  flower  of 
the  holy  ghost.  Lifting  its  graceful  form  from  marshy 
j)ools  and  decayed  logs  to  a  height  sometimes  of  six 
or  .seven  feet,  it  throws  out  broad  lanceolate  leaves 
by  })airs  from  jointed  leaf-stalks,  while  on  a  leafless 
flower-stalk  springing  from  the  bulb  are  sometimes 
ten  or  fifteen  tulip-shaped  blossoms  of  alabaster  white- 
ness, and  powerful  magnolia  perfume,  enfolding  with- 
in their  tiny  cups  the  prone  image  of  a  dove,  formed 
in  such  consummate  grace  and  synmietry  as  no  art 
could  approach.  And  with  this  emblem  of  imiocence 
and  celestrial  purity  rising  from  a  sensual  jiaradise; 
with  its  gentle  head  bent  meekly  forward,  its  ex(|uis- 
itely  shaped  pinions  hanging  listlessly  by  its  sides,  its 
tiny  bill,  tipped  with  delicate  carmine,  ahnost  resting 
on  its  snow-white  breast,  in  form  and  feature  the  v<iy 
incarnation  of  ethereal  innocence — shall  we  blame  tlie 
early  priests  for  pointing  the  poor  natives  to  this 
flower,  and  telling  them  (lod  is  here? 

Palm  trees  of  various  descriptions  line  the  banks, 
and  gorgeous  water  lilies  dip  their  fragrant  heads  as 
tho  boat  passes  over  tlusm.     Every  shower  of  rain  is 
like  the   s})rinkling  of  perfume    on    the    vegetation 
lairds  of  richly  painted  plumage  and  shrill  song  ilium 
inate  the   forest;    the  dark,   scarlet-breasted  toucan, 
which  tosses  its  food  from  its  long  serrated  beak  int<> 
the  air  and  catches  it  in  its  throat,  and  in  drinking,  ns 
the  padres  say,  makes  the  sign  of  the  cross,  whem  • 
they  call  it  Dios  te  de,  (May  God  give  thee) ;  scream 


li^ 


ANIMATED  NATURE. 


167 


ing  parrots,  parroquets  and  flamingoes  witli  their 
harsh  discordant  voices,  and  black  and  yellow  turpiales, 
wild  turkeys,  peacocks,  and  herons,  and  multitudes  of 
others,  gorgeously  feathered  and  sweet  of  song,  glitter 
amidst  the  shadowy  green.  Chatteihig  monkeys  leap 
from  tree  to  tree  and  swing  upoji  the  pendent  vines ; 
mammoth  blue  butterflies,  brilliant  as  the  rainbow, 
dance  in  the  sun  and  rise  to  match  the  azure  of  heaven 
on  wings  a  hand  broad;  and  humming  birds,  beautiful 
as  the  butterflies,  buzz  and  poise  and  dart  from  flower 
to  flower.  Myriads  of  insects  with  burnished  coats  of 
mail  sparkle  in  the  air  and  poo[)le  the  plants,  while 
all  through  the  day  the  shrill  whistle  of  the  chichana 
— a  kind  of  green  grasshopper — is  heard,  which  begin- 
ning in  a  low  gurgle,  rises  into  a  clear  blast  like  the 
whistle  of  a  steam  engine,  and  which  may  be  distin- 
".•"uished  a  mile  distant. 

Early  Sjjanish  writers  throw  up  their  hands  in  as- 
tonishment over  the  wonders  of  this  land;  melons, 
cucun.bers,  and  lettuce,  say  they,  ripen  in  twenty  days 
after  they  are  sown.  Fruits  and  edible  roots  al)ound 
in  great  profusion.  The  pinea[)ple  was  considered  the 
most  delic  ious  of  all  tropical  productions.  Wild  bea.sts 
and  venomous  rej»tiles  and  birds  of  brillia!;o  }.lumage 
fill  the  forests.  A  species  of  lion,  smaller  than  those 
of  Afri(a  was  found  tliere,  as  well  as  fierce  leopards 
and  ravenous  tigers  which  easily  tear  a  niau  in  pieces; 
deer,  fox(\s,  hai'i's,  raltbits,  nniltitudes  of  dvvB  and 
monkeys,  alligators,  venomous  bati ,  vij)eis,  snakt  s, 
s;*orpions,  plieasants,  peacocks,  parrots,  and  birds 
decked  in  a  tlnmsand  shades  of  gay  livery,  and  pour- 
ing forth  swei't  melody,  all  preying  one  upon  another, 
each  fulfilling  its  mission,  to  oecujjy  and  <'njoy  tht; 
bounteous  gifts  of  nature  so  lavishly  placed  at  their 
dis[)osal. 

It  is  a  pity  so  fair  a  scene  should  be  so  foul;  that 
such  dark  death-clealing  plague-spots  should  be  clotted 
in  treacherous  beauty ;  that  quick  and  ardent  nature 
siiould  flood  such  loveliness  with  vapors  of  destruction, 


168 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


slioulci  breathe  into  it  a  breatli  of  malignant  perfume, 
and  give  it  over  to  slimy  reptiles  and  ravenous  beasts ; 
to  panthers,  tigers,  leopards  and  cougars,  to  long  lash- 
like snakes,  and  lazy  alligators,  and  poisonous  ants, 
and  black  stinking  cormorants. 

The  river  here  is  a  clear,  but  somewhat  shallow 
stream,  about  fifty  yards  wide ;  its  banks  at  first  low 
and  marshy  rise  into  hills  as  you  ascend,  and  roll  off 
in  distant  mountains.  Now  it  is  full  of  bongos  and 
canoes  coming  and  going,  racing,  knocking  against 
each  other ;  and  at  every  turning  of  the  crooked  stream 
the  boatmen's  cries  and  shouts  of  passengers  are  heard 
cheering  as  they  pass.  So  winding  is  this  river  in  its 
course  that  more  than  fifty  miles  are  traversed  in  order 
to  reach  a  point  thirty  miles  distant. 

On  they  go,  the  prospective  diggers,  panting  after 
a  sight  of  the  yellow  dross  as  harts  pant  for  water. 
To  them  it  was  nothing  but  the  nakedness  of  God's 
creation,  all  this  wild,  weird  beauty  about  them,  the 
glorious  <iuivering  and  play  of  light  and  shadow,  where 
the  black  reflects  th(i  clifl[s  of  eternal  foliage  rising 
sheer  from  its  very  edge.  As  we  ascend,  though  still 
tropic,  the  river  scenery  becomes  more  subdued,  and 
the  country  in  i)laces  begins  to  look  as  if  cultivation 
was  b(;ing  attem})ted. 

At  Dos  Hermanos  we  stop[)ed  a  little  before  night 
for  our  supper.  Before  one  of  the  principal  eating- 
houses  we  found  a  table  spread  in  the  open  air,  covered 
with  a  clean  cloth,  and  attended  by  a  mahogany- 
colored  wc»man,  bare  to  the  waist,  with  a  white  loobe 
flowered  cotton  skirt  trimmed  with  lace,  a  broad- 
brimmed  Panaiiul  hat,  and  a  golden  necklace  adorned 
with  coins.  On  her  unstockingtd  feet  were  a  pair  of 
yellcvv  satin  slippers,  and  in  her  mouth  a  long  large 
( itrar.  On  the  table  were  red  earthen  iui^s  and  odd- 
sirapiul  dishes  filled  with  tortillas,  dried  meat,  boiled 
fi»wl,  eggs,  fresh  rolls,  and  cofl'ee. 

Scarcely  had  we  started  on  our  way  when  night 


s 


NIGHT  ON  THE  RIVER. 


169 


foil  suddenly  upon  us  and  the  whole  heavens  were 
illuminated.  Large  fireflies  glowed  like  sapphire  in 
their  vain  endeavor  to  outshine  the  stars,  which 
sparkled  with  almost  dazzling  brilliancy  above  them. 
Behold  here  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  1  new 
constellations  above  and  new  fruits  and  flowers  below. 
A  torch  placed  in  the  bow  of  the  boat  cast  weird 
sliadows  over  the  disturbed  water,  and  threw  into 
denser  blackness  the  bordering  thickets.  Presently 
the  moon  came  up  from  behind  the  mountains  of 
verdure ;  and  while  the  swarthy  forms  of  the  boatmen 
marched  to  their  monotonous  strains,  the  tired  travel- 
ler sat  silently  with  cramped  legs,  or  la}-  his  aching 
back  upon  the  heaped  up  luggage  and  watdud  in 
<lreamy  speculation  the  blazing  stars.  Passing  Ahona 
Lagarto  we  spent  the  whole  of  the  following  day 
toiling  up  tlie  stream  under  a  burning  sun,  with  occa- 
sional showers  of  rain,  the  hot  glare  upon  the  water 
and  the  steamiiu  i  itenness  on  the  land  beinij  at 
times  almost  unendui.i»ble  ;  now  and  then  we  landed  to 
rest  and  eat.  The  crisp  cool  morning  and  evening 
air,  laden  with  sweet  odors  from  the  woodlands,  was 
most  refreshing.  Part  of  the  next  night  we  laid  over 
iit  Barbacoas,  a  native  village  with  huts  of  poles  and 
palm-leaves  furnished  with  a  mat  to  stretch  on  and  a 
liainmock  to  loll  in.  and  thick  with  swarms  of  naked 
iliildren.  Before  the  tramp  of  gold-seekers  awoke 
tlieir  avarice,  centuries  came  and  went,  and  the  dolce 
far  nieiite  of  the  natives,  Tike  their  soft  skies  and 
fragrance-breatliing  forests,  was  undisturbed.  Too 
liululgent  nature  by  withholding  the  necessity  r'i- 
iiu>ved  tlie  incentive  to  action. 

The  next  day  we  reached  (;rorgona,  wliich  ended 
our  boating  and  the  first  stage  of  the  journey  across 
the  Isthmus.  Two  days  and  nights  were  usually  oc- 
cupied in  accomplishing  this  distance,  portions  of  the 
(lays  being  taken  for  rest  and  portions  of  the  nights 
f  .r  travel.  There  were  tw(»  }»oints  on  the  river  where 
passengers  were  accustomed  to  leave  their  boat  and 


?!    ' 


no 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


take  a  mulo  trail  for  Panamii — Gorgoua  ar.d  Cruccs, 
the  latter  beiiit;  about  six  miles  froiii  the  fornier;  in- 
deed,  there  was  a  third  lauding,  Obispo,  lying  lutween 
the  other  two  at  a  shar[)  bend  in  the  river.  Gorgona 
is  the  head  of  river  navigation  for  six  months  of  the 
year,  namely,  from  November  to  April,  and  Cruces 
for  the  other  six  montlis.  The  trails  from  these  ditter- 
cnt  points  all  unite  before  reaching  Panama. 

At  Gorgona,  that  is  to  say  the  Place  of  Rocks,  we 
found  a  bamboo-built  hotel  with  thatched  roof  and 
gr.>und  floor,  the  principal  room  having  round  the 
sides  rows  of  <jrass  hanunocks  huni;  on  a  frame-work 
of  upriglit  [»osts  in  the  form  of  shelves  one  over  an- 
other like  tlie  steerage  berths  of  a  steainer.  These 
berths  were  of  sufficient  size  to  acconnnodate  an  out- 
stretched man,  and  one  of  them  I  engaged  for  the 
niu'ht  for  one  dollar.  Evidentlv  the  landlord  knew 
jiow  to  keep  a  hotel.  After  supper  I  went  out  to 
take  a  survi^y  of  the  place.  The  scenery  thence  is 
bolder  than  any  I  have  yet  seen  on  the  Isthmus. 
The  town,  consisting  of  about  a  hundred  houses,  is 
built  on  a  high  table-land,  wlu^nee  rise  hills  and  uioun 
tains  on  every  side,  covered  with  drift-like  masses  of 
vegetation  moved  by  the  meeting  winds  from  two 
oceans,  and  formins.?  an  amijliitheatre  throunh  wliich 
flows  tli(>  tortuous  stream  at  my  feet.  Yonder  is  the 
crowning  peak  of  (JjUid)ali  whtMice,  it  is  said,  both 
the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  may  be  seen  from  onv.  spoL 
Besides  the  house  in  which  I.  lodged  were  i\\v  <n'  six 
others,  some  of  them  of  boards,  some  of  a»lobe  with 
tiled  roofs,  and  some  of  ret.'ds,  with  largt;  signs  sueji 
as  "l^nion  Hotel,"  "  Hotel  Francalse,"  an<l  tlu' like. 
Ivept  mostly  by  Yankcu'  landlords,  who  appeared  ti^ 
know  h(»w  to  make  the  most  out  of  the  traffic.  The 
earrying  tra<ie  betwei'ii  here  and  Panama  sniarks  of 
Yankee  enterprise,  as  do  also  the  gaming  tables  wliere 
the  natives  lav  down  their  hard-earned  dollars.  Tlfr- 
Were  also  a  few  stoivs,  and  an  abundance  of  drinkhi'j 
saloons  and  fandan'j-o  liou.ses.      \io;ht  came;  on  apait 


IL 


ii 


OORGONA. 


m 


aiul  darkness,  falling  suddenly  when  once  the  glaring 
sun  dropped  behind  the  hills,  and  soon  a  blaze  of 
li^ht  poured  from  the  hotels,  saloons,  and  gand)ling 
and  dance  houses  in  front,  while  a  thousand  moving 
torches  glinnnered  in  the  surrounding  darkness,  and 
niingli'<I  with  the  promiscuous  mass  of  l)rut«3  and 
human  life.  Kisinj*'  in  the  back<;round  was  the  dark 
silent  wood,  and  in  front  the  sluo;«j;ish  stream,  on 
whose  bank  this  '  ■  strange  assemblage  had  gathered. 

Tlierc  was  a  i,  ulango  that  night;  tluae  always 
seems  to  be  one  at  places  of  this  kind.  The  (jiorgonan 
upper  ten  danced  at  the  alcalde's;  the  baser  sort  c»n 
tJK^  sward  beneath  a  vertical  moon.  Bvron  is  riyht 
in  his  sarcasm  on  the  chaste  moon.  It  was  a  half 
barbaric  and  wholly  volu})tuous  dance,  and  the  reward 
of  the  danseuse,  the  most  enduring  and  suggestive, 
was  to  ha,'e  the  hats  of  the  company  piled  on  her 
head — a  doubtful  honor  considering  the  headu  from 
which  they  come.  These  hats  had  the  advantage 
over  beeliives,  that  their  iidiabitants  did  not  sting. 

liising  early  next  morning,  and  partaking  of  a 
hasty  breakfast  of  beans,  salt  meat,  coarse  bhv(  k 
l)read,  and  cottee  without  milk,  I  went  out  and 
eneountei'cd  a  scene  similar  to  that  at  (ratun,  where 
we  had  embarked  on  the  river  below  two  days  before, 
e\e»  j)t  tiiat  in  the  present  bargMining  nmles  took  tl.e 
]>lace  of  boats,  and  th<'re  was  an  absence  (»f  that  wild 
hilarity  which  displayed  itself  innnediately  on  landing 
from  tli«'  steamer.  All  thi'ough  the  nigjit  boats  had 
been  arriving,  an<]  there  \*'ere  now  a  huiidii'd  of  them 
and  more  .sti'unu'  siih;  bv  side  at  the;  lantlin<r.  On  the 
low  sheK  ing  .sandy  bank  were  scattered  ml»)ers'  tents 
and  nativ.'  huts,  uncovered  p!h\s  of  baggage,  miiighd 
with  which  were  the  prostrate  forms  of  unlioused 
l>ilgrims,  landlords,  mulct eer>;,  and  trons))ort  contract- 
ors, w  hile  up  the  stee))  embaidvment,  rising  from  tlie 
rivcr-botton>,  were  bands  of  fly-blown  hor.ses  of  the  or- 
(I'-r  of  lt<isinant'\  neighing  to  the  mournful  melody 
of  nmles,  and  iilling  the  heavens  with  their  discords. 


172 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


!     i« 


To  add  to  the  commotion,  we  here  met  ^lic  main 
body  of  returning  Californians,  on  their  way  from 
Panamd,  to  take  the  steamer  which  we  had  left.  Some 
of  them  were  neatly  clad,  orderly,  and  quiet ;  others, 
in  their  shaggy  hair  and  long  untrimmed  board, 
guarding  with  religious  care  their  torn  and  earth- 
stained  garments,  as  sacred  relics  t)f  their  pilgrimage, 
were  laden  with  gold-dust,  and  wore  in  their  bronzed 
visages  the  smirk  of  success;  but  by  far  the  greater 
number  were  disappointed-looking  men,  poorly  dressed, 
some  suflcring  from  rheun^atism,  cri[)pled  limbs,  and 
broken  constitutions;  some  with  their  formerly  stal- 
wart frames  shrunken  and  wasted  by  fever,  and  many 
disheartened,  bankrupt  wretches,  who  had  been 
stripped  of  their  all,  and  were  now  returning  to  their 
homes,  scattc^ring  curses  on  California  as  they  wont 
alonj;.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  steamer  steer- 
age  was  better  filled  on  the  return  trip  than  on  tlie 
voyage  out;  and  there  was  more  money  in  the  pock- 
ets and  ill  the  gold-dust  belts  of  the  steerage  pa'^scn- 
gers  than  in  those  of  the  cabin  passengers.  The  rea- 
sons were  those:  Returning  Californians  comprised 
four  several  classes.  First,  those  who  could  get  home 
no  other  way,  who  could  l>arely  scrape  enough  together 
to  buy  a  stf'^'rage  ticket  Secondly,  those  who  had 
money,  but  who  1im/1  toiled  hard  for  it,  were  accus- 
tomed to  roughing  it,  and  [u*ferred  economizing  here 
that  tliey  might  liave  the  more  hen^after;  tliis  was  a 
large  class.  Tlilrdly,  inetiicient  and  impecunious  sons 
or  relatives  of  geiitlenu'n,  who  were  heljted  to  (Vili- 
fornia  by  their  friends  in  the  ho})e  that  they  would 
there  develop  into  sonu'thiiig,  and  were  now,  aft(  r 
having  made  a  miserable  failure  of  it,  being  heijied 
back  to  tlieir  homes  in  order  to  save  them  from  total 
destruction.  Ihese  could  by  no  means  make  up  tlielr 
minds  to  descend  into  the  depths  so  long  as  tlu>v  had 
friends  to  foot  tlieir  bills.  And  fourthly,  men  of 
means,  whose  monev  was  chieflv  in  bills  of  exchain»e. 
Many  miners  went  home  in  the  steerage  armed  to  the 


GOING  ANT)  RETURNING. 


173 


teeth,  and  well  laden  with  gold-dust,  two  or  more 
friends  uniting  their  accumulations,  and  each  in  turn 
guarding  their  treasure  night  and  day,  never  leaving 
it  for  an  instant  during  the  entire  trip.  This  was  in 
order  to  save  the  freight,  which  was  then  high.  They 
argued  if  they  got  through,  their  money  should ;  if  it 
was  lost,  all  would  go  down  together. 

Narrowly  they  eyed  one  another,  the  going  and  the 
returning,  one  with  interest  not  unminglcd  with  ad- 
miring envy,  and  the  other  with  an  air  of  superiority, 
perhaps  with  contemptuous  pity.  Ahl  the  mighty 
power  of  gold,  in  which  is  condensed  all  that  is  bright 
and  beautiful  of  earth,  all  that  is  holy  of  heaven  and 
hateful  of  hell,  in  whose  yellow  molecules  are  wrapped 
all  human  virtue  and  passion,  that  could  thus  consum- 
mate this  meeting,  bringing  together  from  the  remotest 
ends  of  earth  brave  men  of  thought  and  deed,  meeting 
here  in  the  heart  of  a  tropical  wilderness,  in  the  middle 
of  this  narrow  Isthmus  which  so  provokingly  obstructs 
the  world's  commerce,  on  the  topmost  point,  round 
which  revolves  the  two  Americas  and  the  two  great 
oceans,  meeting  in  a  pestilential  clime,  some  hurrying 
one  way  and  some  another,  some  sick  to  death  of  gold- 
seeking,  others  burning  for  it!  It  was  not  a  little 
curious,  the  sight,  as  we  stood  and  watched  them 
there,  the  outward  bound  and  homeward  bound,  some 
with  the  confident  swagger  of  greenness  yet  upon 
them,  rude  and  unacconunodating  in  their  grumbling 
selfishness,  stupid  in  their  perverse  independence,  aiui 
surly  in  their  unreasonable  opj>osition  to  order  and 
regulations ;  the  others,  men  of  like  origin  and  caste, 
but  licked  into  some  degree  of  form  and  (*ongruity  by 
their  rough  experiences,  rude  and  ragged  they  niay  be, 
but  quieter,  more  subdued,  more  easily  adapting 
themselves  to  circumstances,  more  ready  to  yield  some 
fancied  right  for  the  common  good,  more  humanized 
uiid  harmonious,  whether  more  polished «  or  n(;t. 
LiLji.t  like  that  of  revelation  seems  to  have  broken 
In    upon  them   during  their    w;in'J.cr:n;j3,   enlijliten- 


'i'l ' 


I . 


il:' 


m 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


ing  their  minds  and  toning  their  hearts  to  new 
sensibiHties. 

With  as  little  delay  as  possible  our  passengers 
handed  their  baggage  to  tht;  packers,  hired  saddle- 
mules,  paying  from  ten  to  twenty  dollars  for  a  beast 
to  Panamd,  and  mounting,  filed  off  into  the  narrow 
path  that  marked  the  way.  Some  of  the  women 
donned  man's  apparel,  and  rode  man-wise ;  others 
accepted  a  compromise,  and  followed  Mrs  Amelia 
Bloomer,  who  cut  off  her  skirts  and  paraded  the  streets 
of  New  York  in  short  clothes  first  in  1849,  just  in 
time  for  the  California-going  sisterhood  to  adoi)t  that 
costume  on  the  Isthnms;  others  refused  in  any  wise 
to  molest  the  sacred  limits  of  their  })etticoats,  prefer- 
ring to  die  rather  than  to  outrage  modesty,  shame 
tho  sex,  and  exhibit  their  larsje  ankles  even  to  tlie 
barbarians,  among  whom  he  who  wore  the  least  cloth- 
iwiX  was  most  in  fashion,  nakedness  absolute  beiny;  full 
dress.  Children  were  seated  iti  chairs  strapped  to  tlie 
backs  of  natives ;  luggage  was  also  carried  lashed  to 
the  backs  of  porters.  For  so  supposedly  enervating  a 
climate,  the  loads  these  natives,  negroes  and  mongrels, 
are  capable  of  carrying  is  surprising.  I  was  told  thut 
some  of  tliem  frequently  packed  on  their  backs  2C0 
pounds  from  Gorgona  to  Pananul,  twenty-five  miles, 
in  a  day  and  a  half.  Many  of  the  passengers  engaged, 
these  men  to  carry  their  efiects,  antl  made  the  journey 
with  them  on  foot. 

There  was  no  wagon  road  across  the  Isthnms,  and 
the  trail  from  Gorgona,  though  not  so  broken  as  that 
from  Cruces,  was  rough  in  the  extreme,  and  led 
tlirough  a  greatly  diversified  country.  Two  miles 
brouLjht  us  across  the  table  land,  when  we  entered  a 
dense  forest,  from  which  tlie  sun  was  wholly  excludiMl 
by  tho  overhanging  branches.  Thence  we  ft)llowe<l 
the  path  successively  over  soft,  uneven  ground,  througli 
shady  canons,  and  mountain  chasms  nmrky  in  their 
gloomy  solitude,  up  and  round  precipitous  hillsides 
cut  by  travel  into  steps  and  stairs,  on  which  and  hito 


THE  ISTHMUS  LAND  JOURNEY. 


well-worn  holes  the  careful  and  sagacious  animal  placed 
his  foot  tenderly,  knowing  that  an  inch  or  two  on  the 
wrong  side  of  it  would  send  him  sliding  down  the  steep 
slope.  Now  we  would  be  under  a  canopy  of  creepers 
trellised  with  palms,  now  winding  through  a  valley  of 
impervious  undergrowth,  rustling  with  serpents,  in- 
sects, and  birds,  and  then  out  into  the  broad,  open, 
l)urning  plain,  crossing  turbid  streams  and  mountain 
rills,  wading  some  filthy  morass,  rounding  rocky  cliffs, 
and  exposed  alternately  to  sun  and  rain.  Descending 
with  slow  and  cautious  step  the  steep  declivities  from 
the  little  spot  of  table-land  round  (Jorgona,  then  as- 
cending and  descending  attain  and  again  until  tierra 
caliento  is  reached,  the  scenery  is  ever  changing,  now 
capti>  ating  with  its  beaut},  and  now  thrilling  with 
its  Magnificence.  Often  we  passed  through  ravines 
which  had  been  washed  out  by  the  rain,  and  so 
narrow  at  the  bottom  that  on  entering  at  either  end 
I)orsons  nmst  shout  in  order  to  notify  others  wish- 
ing to  come  from  the  opposite  direction.  Hearnig 
the  whoops  of  muleteers  within,  we  were  often  ol)lig(>d 
to  wait  until  they  should  emerge,  when  we  could  enter, 
and  shout  for  those  coming  from  the  opposite  direction 
to  wait  their  turn.  Some  of  these  gullies  have  lu'eii 
worn  down  thirty  feet  and  more  by  centuries  of  travi'l, 
and  are  so  narrow  at  the  bottom  that  a  loaded  mule 
can  barely  get  through.  Often  wlu>n  travellers  met, 
one  would  have  to  turn  back  ;  and  again,  when  caught 
in  tight  places,  horsemen  would  draw  uj)  their  legs, 
and  so  lot  tlie  animals  squeeze  past  each  other,  wlien 
this  could  be  done.  All  along  the  way  crosses  marked 
the  resting-place  of  those  overtaken  by  fever  or  assas- 
sin, while  tlie  murderer  himself  found  unsanctificd 
.sojjulchre  beneath  a  ]iile  of  stones  at  the  cross-roads. 
Every  now  and  then  we  would  stop  to  rest  at  a  way- 
side rancheria,  where  bread,  warm  water,  and  vile 
liquors  were  sold  at  exorbitant  prices.  Then  there 
Avere  more  pretentious  houses  where  the  belated  trav- 
eller could  spend  the  night,  the  "  Halfway  House  "  and 


«•  I  i  ^! 


170 


THE  VOYAOE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


the  "  True  Half-way  House "  kept  by  Europeans  or 
Ainericaiis,  Tea  and  coftee  were  plentiful  along  the 
route,  but  milk  was  scarce.  The  water  of  the  Isth- 
mus, for  drinking  purposes,  early  acquired  a  bad  name ; 
its  effects  were  said  to  be  extremely  delet(;rious,  espe- 
cially on  Europeans.  The  distaste,  thus  or  other- 
wise arising  for  this  fluid,  so  fastened  itself  on  many 
of  the  pilgrims  that  it  never  afterward  left  them  ;  for 
on  arriving  in  California  they  seemed  to  prefer  strych- 
iime  whiskey  even  to  the  melted  snow  of  the  Sierra. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  water,  and  nothing  else,  taken 
simringly  will  carry  one  through  fatigue  and  inhospit- 
able climates  better  than  any  stimulant.  In  crossing 
the  Isthnms  thousands  have  killed  themselves,  or 
planted  the  seeds  of  disease,  under  the  excuse  that 
water  was  pernicious. 

In  ancient  times  there  was  a  trail  from  Panamsl  to 
Cruces,  paved  with  large  round  stones  from  six  to 
eighteen  inches  in  diameter.  In  places  it  was  three 
feet  wide.  It  overlaid  all  the  softer  ground,  and  con- 
nected with  the  rocky  defiles  and  hillside  shelves,  where 
it  frequently  narrowed  to  a  foot  in  width.  Near  Pa- 
namsl it  widened  yet  more  and  was  kej)t  in  tolerable 
repair,  but  the  upper  end  was  dilapidated  and  almost 
useless,  being  washed  away  by  flood,  or  cut  under  or 
broken  sheer  asunder  by  torrents,  so  as  to  leave  it  in 
pieces  high  above  the  sunken  bottom  of  a  ravine. 
Over  tnese  disordered  heaps  of  smooth  stones  minglefl 
with  soft  deep  nmd,  the  poor  heavily  laden  nmle  was 
obliged  to  stumble,  and  the  wonder  was  how  he  ever 
got  through  at  all.  Though  not  as  comely  as  the  beau- 
tiful beasts  of  Europe,  these  mules,  with  their  limbp  ui 
steel,  show  a  more  marvellous  dexterity,  risking 
their  feet  with  confidence,  as  if  by  instinct  or  memory, 
in  dangerous  places.  There  is  no  necessity  for  diret  t- 
ing  the  animal  you  ride ;  give  him  his  head  and  let 
him  go,  and  when  you  get  to  Panamd  get  off"  and  give 
him  the  bridle  ;  the  master  is  not  far  awav.  Tlu^  Gor- 
goua  trail  strikes  the  ancient  road  some  seven  or  eigla 


«'o  northern  ocean  tlio  t  ^  "."^  ''''»■•'  f'c  river  (,. 
;""v«yod  for  eentiries  Ij  . "  "?'«  »'""'  S^^^was 
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178 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


European  city  now  standing  on  the  mainland  of  the 
two  Americas. 

In  tlie  year  1515,  tlie  story  goes,  Pedrarias  Ddvila, 
governor  of  Castilla  del  Oro,  despatched  from  Santa 
Maria  de  la  Antigua  del  Darien,  the  first  settlement 
of  the  Spaniards  on  the  n?ainland  of  America,  situated 
on  the  gulf  of  Darien,  then  called  Urabd,  but  whose 
traces  are  now  wholly  obliterated,  Antonio  Tello  de 
Guzman,  a  native  of  Toledo,  with  one  hundred  men, 
and  instructions  to  cross  the  Isthmus  to  the  South  Sea, 
and  establish  there  a  settlement  from  which  to  prose- 
cute discoveries  along  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  After 
several  conflicts  with  the  natives  the  journey  was  ac- 
complished. As  he  approached  the  borders  of  the 
southern  sea,  Tello  de  Guzman  heard  much  of  a  place 
called  by  the  natives  Panamd,  famous,  as  the  Spaniards 
supposed,  for  its  wealth ;  but  in  truth,  only  a  collection 
of  fishermen's  huts,  the  name  signifying  in  the  aborig- 
inal tongue,  "a  place  where  many  fish  aie  taken." 

This  was  the  discovery  and  origin  of  the  site  of  old 
Pananiii ;  and  although  nothing  further  was  accom- 
plished toward  a  settlement  during  this  expedition, 
subsequently,  from  the  reports  given  by  Tello  de 
Guzman,  Pedrarias  founded  the  metropolis  of  his 
government.  There,  after  the  chivalrous  Vasco 
Nunez  and  liis  comrades  had  been  belieaded  at  Ada, 
the  surly  old  governor  quarrelled  with  Oviedo,  and 
plotted  against  his  best  friends.  Thence  Pedrarias 
proceeded  to  pacify  Nicaragua,  and  thence  Francisco 
Pizarro  and  his  bloody  crew  sailed  for  the  conquest 
of  Peru.  "Very  noble  and  very  loyal"  Charles  V. 
called  the  town  in  those  days,  meaning  thereby  very 
nmcli  gold,  very  much  goldl  Now  the  spot  is  so  si- 
lent and  dead,  so  crumbled  and  fc^rest-encloscd,  that  on 
one  side  you  may  pass  within  ten  steps  of  its  ancient 
walls  and  discover  no  city,  while  from  the  bay  a  soli- 
tary ivy-covered  tower  is  seen,  which  marks  the  tomb 
of  crumbled  splendor  scattered  round  its  base.  In 
1671  the  buccaneers  under  Henry  Morgan,  sacked 


*-^ 


THE  OLD  AND  THE  NEW. 


179 


and  burned  old  Panarnd,  and  it  was  then  determined 
to  choose  a  healthier  site  before  rebuilding  the  city. 

The  old  city  boasted  its  palatial  houses  of  cedar, 
adorned  with  paintings  and  rich  hangings,  its  cathe- 
dral and  other  fine  churches ;  its  eight  convents,  with 
their  costly  altar-pieces  and  gold  and  silver  orna- 
ments; its  2000  dwellings  tenanted  by  wealthy  mer- 
chants, and  5000  by  lesser  tradesmen;  its  royal 
stables,  and  beautiful  gardens,  and  fertile  fields;  and 
the  new  city  was  built  upon  a  scale  of  yet  grander 
magnificence.  But  with  the  decline  of  Spanish 
power  in  the  new  world,  Panamd  fell.  The  vast  trade 
U[)on  the  Pacific,  extending  frt)m  Chili  to  CaHfornia, 
and  across  to  the  Philippine  islands,  which  brought  to 
anchor  in  her  harbor  galleys  laden  with  tlie  gold  and 
silver  of  America,  and  the  rich  stuffs  and  spices  of 
India,  and  filled  her  store-houses,  and  made  her  mer- 
chants princes,  became  scattered.  The  city  sank  into 
a  lethargy  from  which  it  was  partially  awakened  by 
the  shouts  and  pistol-shots  of  a  new  race  of  gold-seek- 
ers. But  Ichalx^d  was  too  deeply  graven  on  her  door- 
posts. The  glory  of  despotism  and  fanaticism  had 
departed;  and  even  in  the  momentary  awakening  in- 
cident to  the  Californian  emigration  the  principal 
traffic  was  in  the  hands  of  Anglo-Americans. 

As  com[)ared  with  its  ancient  grandeur  Panamd, 
until  the  construction  of  the  ship  canal  was  fairly 
under  way,  presented  a  melancholy  ap])earance.  The 
city  is  built  on  a  rocky  peninsula  which  juts  out  some 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  base  of  the  Ancon  hill 
into  a  broad,  peaceful,  isle-dotted  bay.  Across  this 
peninsula  from  beach  to  beach,  extend  streets,  inter- 
sected at  right  angles  by  other  and  broader  streets, 
which  invite  currents  of  air,  and  most  of  which  are 
well  paved.  On  approaching  the  city  from  any  tlirec- 
tion,  the  dilapidated  fortifications,  and  cathedral  tow- 
ers, and  high,  tiled  roofs  attract  the  first  attention. 
The  houses  are  built  of  stone,  wood, and  adobe;  most 
of  them  are  two  stories  in  height,  some  three,  with 


f  1 ''' : 


180 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


courts  or  patios,  and  verandas  round  the  upper  stories, 
beneath  which  one  may  walk  during  a  rain  over 
nearly  the  whole  town  without  getting  wet.  The 
style  of  church  architecture  is  sui  generis,  Hispano- 
American  if  you  like,  common  to  the  cathedrals  and 
missions  throughout  the  whole  Pacific  States;  adobe, 
stone,  and  stucco  thrown  together  in  quaint  irregular 
piles.  Some  of  the  principal  churches  and  many  of 
the  buildings  were  in  ruins,  the  roots  of  ravenous 
plants  boring  into  the  crevices,  dislocating  the  stone, 
and  tearing  down  the  huge  walls.  The  grand  old 
cathedral,  however,  remained,  fronting  on  the  plaza  as 
all  cathedrals  do,  with  its  towers  filled  with  bells,  and 
mosses  and  creepers  covering  its  crumbling  walls; 
beside  which  there  were  at  the  time  I  first  visited  the 
city,  a  college,  a  nunnery,  and  four  convents.  The 
cathedral  would  hold  four  thousand  persons ;  the  roof 
was  supported  by  large  pillars ;  round  the  altar  was  a 
profusion  of  silver  ornaments,  and  flat  on  the  floor 
were  scores  of  marble  slabs  on  which  were  graven 
the  virtues  of  the  holy  remains  resting  beneath. 
The  twelve  apostles  in  marble  occupied  twelve  niches 
in  the  end  toward  the  plaza.  Bats  and  lizards  in- 
fested the  building  and  disputed  with  worshippers  the 
right  of  occupation.  Pictures  adorned  the  walls  and 
shrines  were  placed  at  intervals  around  the  interior. 
Over  the  crucifix  of  the  high  altar  presided  a  large 
silver  stork  with  her  young. 

Throughout  the  city  pearl-oyster  shells  glittered 
from  steeples  and  pinnacles,  and  from  the  turreted 
bell-towers  at  the  street  corners,  every  morning  at 
sunrise,  came  discordant  peals,  accompanied  by  the 
clang  of  cathedral  bells,  filling  the  streets  with  pious 
worshippers  slowly  and  silently  wending  their  way  to 
church.  On  feast  days  which  were  many,  the  city 
flaunted  her  bravest  finery,  and  looked  not  unlike  a 
wrinkled  beldame  in  gaudy  attire.  Gaily  dressed 
men  and  women,  proudly  sporting  their  Spanish  cloaks, 
uad  darker-skinned  natives  in  white  costumes,  marched 


PRIESTS  AND  PEOPLR 


181 


the  streets  from  one  bedizened  altar  to  another,  while 
the  shaven  priest  with  his  peculiar  hat,  long  black 
robe  with  bnght  satin  hning,  small  clothes  fastened 
at  the  knee  with  golden  buckles,  white  silk  stockings, 
slippered  feet,  and  cigar,  surveyed  with  zealous  inter- 
est the  effect  of  his  enlightened  teachings. 

But  on  all  days  were  seen  stealthy  coffee-colored 
men  with  thin  sinewy  limbs;  stealthy  half-naked 
women  with  twinkling  jet  eyes  and  bronze  bust  glis- 
tening in  the  palpitating  light;  girls  and  boys  sur- 
rounded with  cocoanuts,  oranges,  and  limes,  bananas, 
eggs,  and  flowers  of  shell  work.  There  were  avenues 
of  fruit  and  vegetable  stalls ;  while  through  the  open 
doors  under  the  veranda  the  more  aristocratic  traf- 
fickers displayed  their  dry  goods,  groceries,  and  liquors. 

The  main  streets  in  the  central  part  of  the  city 
were  lined  with  hotels,  shops,  and  gambling  saloons, 
newly  whitewashed  and  adorned  with  flaming  sign- 
boards in  English  vocables,  while  on  nearly  every 
other  house  waved  the  stars  and  stripes.  This  busy 
renovated  centre  was  flanked  by  crumbling  vine-clad 
walls  and  mouldering  ruins.  In  its  palmy  days  the 
two  sides  of  the  town  facing  the  sea  were  protected  by 
batteries,  and  the  sides  toward  the  land  by  a  hij^h 
wall  with  watch-towers  and  moat.  The  bastions 
were  constructed  at  different  times  as  necessity  de- 
manded, and  presented  an  irregular  appearance  ;  and 
though  the  walls  were  high  the  fortifications  were  not 
strong.  Panamd.  was  divided  into  two  parishes,  one, 
the  city  proper,  lying  within  the  wall,  and  called 
San  Felipe,  the  other,  that  portion  without  the  wall 
called  Santa  Ana.  Two  large  gates  opened  toward 
the  sea  and  two  toward  the  land;  the  latter  once 
strongly  fortified  were  entered  by  drawbridges.  The 
popular  promenade  was  the  rampart,  round  whose 
tottering  walls  and  ragged  turrets  were  scattered  the 
(lismantled  guns  of  brass,  so  richly  wrought  and  so 
carefully  embossed  by  the  great  foundries  of  Barcelona. 

The  private  houses  of  San  Felipe  were  mostly  of 


;    .IM 


m 


BU 


182 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


stone,  those  of  Santa  Ana  of  wood.  They  had  tiled 
roofs,  unglazed  windows,  small  halls,  with  doorways 
large  enough  to  admit  a  man  on  horseback,  through 
which  the  air  might  circulate  freely.  The  heavy 
wooden  balconies,  which  were  universal,  served  at 
once  for  all  possible  purposes.  One  would  there  place 
his  kitchen,  another  his  laundry,  another  his  bath- 
room; they  were  likewise  used  for  reception  roor\, 
garden,  and  promenade.  The  family  living  in  tlie 
upper  apartments,  the  ground  floor  was  usually  let  for 
shops  or  manufacturing  puqioses,  or,  it  may  be,  occu- 
pied by  servants.  Santa  Ana  was  composed  of  a 
poorer  population,  mechanics  and  laborers,  and  thcbe 
arranged  their  households  as  best  they  could,  some 
living  with  rats,  pigs,  and  chickens  in  a  style  inferior 
to  that  found  in  the  villatjcs  of  the  natives.  Houses 
decayed  rapidly,  and  owners  and  tenants  alike  appearc  d 
averse  to  making  repairs.  Scmietimcs  the  dirty  walls 
were  whitewashed  at  the  beginning  of  the  dry  season, 
and  the  holes  of  the  comejcn-eaten  woodwork  filled 
with  green  paint,  but  often  doors  and  balconies  were 
left  unwashed  and  unpainted.  Water  was  brought  on 
mules  from  a  river  three  miles  distant,  and  emptied 
into  porous  jars  placed  in  niches  in  front  of  the  bett(  r 
houses,  where  it  was  kept  cool  by  evaporation.  The 
rooms  of  the  city  houses  were  usually  large  and  airy, 
the  ceilings  high  and  unlined;  they  had  no  chimneys, 
cooking  being  done  in  the  court-yard,  or  on  the  floor 
or  stone  table  of  the  kitchen.  In  most  of  tlie  rooms 
were  hammocks,  in  which  lazy  men  and  loosely  robed 
women  lounged  away  the  time. 

All  sorts  of  costumes  were  worn  by  men  and  women 
of  every  mingled  shade  of  color,  Caucasian,  American, 
and  African.  The  native  female  was  satisfied  with  a 
simple  skirt;  the  creole  loved  a  white  cotton  skirt 
flounced  and  trimmed  with  lace,  with  low,  loose, 
sleeveless  waist,  leather  or  satin  slippers,  anda  jipijapa 
hat ;  the  Spanish  gentleman  who  had  not  yet  adopted 
European  fashions  delighted  in  white  linen  pantaloons 


DRESg. 


183 


and  vest,  a  loose  coat  of  the  thinnest  material,  and  a 
broad  brimmed  jipijapa  hat  of  fine  texture;  while  the 
African,  breeched  or  mibrcechcd,  broiled  in  simplicity 
unconstrained.  The  nationality  of  foreigners  disap- 
peared under  the  hizarreric  of  their  accoutrements; 
the  gentleman  gold-hunter  found  a  woollen  shirt, 
cotton  pantaloons,  and  straw  hat  very  comfortable. 
Jipijapa  hats,  commonly  called  Panamit  hats,  are  not 
made  in  Panamil,  but  in  Peru  and  elsewhere.  They 
might  be  had  for  two  or  three  dollars,  and  up  to  fifty, 
and  even  more.  The  Spanish  crcolc  gentleman,  who 
is  usually  slight  but  wiry,  in  complexion  sallow,  with 
black  hair  and  eyes,  and  always  a  moustache,  if  his 
purse  permitted  would  wear  white  pants,  and  appear 
to  the  best  advantage.  There  was  no  lack  of  beauty 
shining  from  the  half  veiled  faces  of  the  sciioritas, 
with  their  white  dresses,  in  red  and  yellow  ribbon 
trimmin<^s,  and  bright  colored  slippers  often  covering 
stockinglcss  feet.  The  dress  of  the  better  class  was 
at  this  time  becoming  European,  black  being  the  pre- 
vailing color. 

The  population  of  the  Isthmus  consisted  mostly  of 
natives.  Some  parts  of  the  country  had  not  been 
conquered,  and  several  of  those  conquered  had  been 
abandoned  by  the  conquerors,  who  found  it  beyond 
their  power  to  occupy  them  and  subdue  nature,  even 
if  unmolested  or  assisted  by  the  Indians.  Besides 
Indian  and  African,  and  Indian  and  Spanish  inter- 
mixtures, Spanish  was  infinitely  crossed  with  African, 
of  which  Carib  blood  was  then  most  prominent.  These 
remarks  refer  especially  to  the  coast  region.  In  the 
interior  departments,  like  that  of  Chiriqui,  a  purer 
white  element  predominated  then  as  now.  The  most 
dangerous  characters  were  the  vagabonds  from  the 
shores  of  the  Antilles,  who  had  been  drawn  to  the 
Isthmus  since  the  Californian  passenger  trafldc  com- 
menced. Tlie  government,  not  having  the  means  to 
support  a  sufficiently  large  police  force,  such  as  the 
existing  circumstances  demanded,  authorized  the  rail- 


li'UiJ 


:'i 


If 


184 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


w  I 


road  company  to  assume  the  protection  of  life  and 
property  on  the  transit,  with  power  virtually  to  inflict 
condign  punishment  on  criminals.  The  force  organ- 
ized while  the  railway  was  being  built  consisted  ef 
forty  men,  motley  in  color,  costume,  and  character, 
but  very  efficient,  and  was  under  the  command  of  a 
delicate,  boyish-looking,  but  most  energetic  Texan 
ranger,  named  Ran  Runnels.  Though  this  force  had 
no  jurisdiction  in  the  city  of  Panamd,  it  occasionally 
made  arrests  of  desperate  characters  within  the  walls, 
the  criminals  receiving  their  punishment  without. 
This  irregularity  was  winked  at  by  the  authorities. 
In  a  short  time  the  Isthmus  was  free  of  the  numerous 
malefactors,  which  had  been  drawn  from  all  parts  of 
the  world  to  prey  upon  travellers  crossing  from  ocean 
to  ocean. 

The  climate  of  the  Isthmus  is  very  hot  on  the 
coasts,  but  on  the  sides  of  the  mountains  in  the  interior 
it  is  comparatively  cool  and  healthy.  The  city  of 
Panamd  is  the  healthiest  sea-board  spot  in  this  region, 
miasmatic  fever  being  prevalent  almost  everywhere 
else.  Besides  standing  out  in  the  sea  as  it  does,  the 
waters  of  the  ocean  playing  upon  three  sides  of  it, 
and  from  \\hich  it  receives  breezes  opposing  the 
insalubrious  air  of  the  interior,  there  stands  the  hill 
Ancon  at  the  rear  of  the  peninsula,  forming  a  natural 
barrier  ,to  the  poison-breathing  swamps  of  the  Rio 
Grande  beyond.  With  proper  care,  and  avoiding  the 
abuse  of  spirituous  liquors,  a  foreigner  may  safely  live 
in  Panamd  the  year  round;  indeed,  during  the  dry 
season,  which  is  from  the  middle  of  December  to  the 
middle  of  May,  with  the  strong  northerly  winds  which 
then  prevail,  and  the  absence  of  heavy  rains,  the  cli- 
mate is  both  delightful  and  wholesome. 

The  bay  of  Panamd  is  a  picture  of  languid  beauty. 
It  is  large  and  open,  yet  well  protected,  but  so  shal- 
low near  the  town  that  large  vessels  are  obliged  to 
anchor  two  or  three  miles  off  shore.  On  one  side  is 
the  sea  into  which  it  opens,  spreading  out  for  ten 


SCENERY. 


185 


thousand  miles,  north,  south,  and  west,  rolling  up  the 
bay  for  ninety  miles  its  slow,  strong,  eternal  swells, 
while  in  the  background  banks  of  dark  green  foliage 
rise  from  the  white  sandy  beach,  and  swelling  Into 
hills  and  mountains,  disappear  in  the  distant  clouds. 
Pyramids  of  green  verdure,  made  purple  by  distance, 
rise  from  the  azure  sea,  and  mingle  with  the  azure 
heavens.  Looking  southward  from  the  fortifications 
you  see  Flamenco,  Perico,  and  Llenao  or  Islanao,  and 
beyond  some  three  leagues  away  is  the  island  of  Ta- 
boga,  near  which  the  coaling  vessels  rest  at  an- 
chor. The  island  is  about  a  mile  and  a  half 
long  by  half  a  mile  wide,  and  has  its  semi-European 
town,  and  its  native  population,  with  their  hamlets  of 
bamboo  huts.  Far  away  toward  the  east,  over  indo- 
lent waters  reflecting  the  blue  sky,  the  sun's  glare 
softened  by  the  breath  of  summer  mists,  past  little 
paradises  of  brilliant  green  seemingly  floating  on  the 
placid  surface  w^hich  mirrors  their  foliage,  are  the 
Pearl  islands,  where  Vasco  Nunez  and  his  crew  an- 
chored the  ships  which  they  had  brought  with  so 
much  labor  and  peril  across  this  formidable  Isthmus. 
On  the  island  of  San  Miguel,  the  largest  of  the  Pearl 
archipelago,  is  situated  the  town  of  the  same  name, 
where  the  unbreeched  natives  used  to  deck  their  tawny 
skin  with  gems  that  would  make  the  eyes  of  a  city 
belle  sparkle  with  delight,  and  ebony  pearl  merchants 
displayed  their  wares,  haggling  in  the  sale  of  them 
with  all  the  cultivated  cunning  of  a  Jew. 

Panamd,  patched  and  whitewashed  under  the  new 
rdgime  ofl'ercd  a  seemingly  grand  array  of  comforts 
after  our  late  privations.  At  the  hotel  we  found  cot 
beds,  one  to  a  man,  although  there  were  many  men 
to  a  room.  Here  was  a  new  field  for  fretting  and 
brain-whetting,  and  well  the  gold  hunters  improved 
the  opportunity.  The  streets  were  crowded  day  and 
night  with  Californian  emigrants.  Outside  the  town 
were  encampments  of  them,  apparently  as  comforta- 


IT, ;  i!  1 


186 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


! 


blc  in  their  tents  as  were  their  brethren  in  the  ex- 
pensive city  hotels. 

Here,  waituig  and  watching,  some  of  them  for 
weeks  and  iiionths,  for  an  opportunity  to  get  away, 
tliey  continued  the  process  of  moral  declination  and 
decivilization.  Fledglings  fresh  from  their  mothers, 
little  mammon-dried  men,  and  tall  hairy  fellows, 
armed  to  the  teeth  and  streaming  with  perspira- 
tion, strolled  about  the  streets,  watching  the  fruit- 
venders,  and  water-carriers,  ogling  the  bare-breasted 
girls,  pricing  hats,  looking  wistfully  at  the  tempting 
catalogue  of  iced  drinks  througli  the  open  doors  of 
the  saloons;  or,  entering  the  churches,  they  would 
stalk  about  the  isles,  peer  into  tlie  nmsty  confessional 
boxes  and  thrust  their  impious  fingers  through  the 
lattice,  push  their  way  into  secret  corners,  invade  the 
precincts  of  the  altar  and  profanely  handle  the  orna- 
ments, and  sneer,  in  their  superior  conceptions  of 
God- worship,  at  all  this  clap-trap  of  the  devil,  as  they 
called  it. 

Some  few  of  the  aspirino  sort  studied  Spanish,  or 
essayed  some  knowledge  of  the  history  of  crumbling 
relics ;  some  played  billiards,  or  gambled,  or  got 
drunk ;  some  fished,  gathered  shells,  braved  the 
sharks  and  bathed,  hunted  monkeys  and  parroquets, 
or  sat  under  old  vine-clad  walls  gazing  at  the  hum- 
ming birds  as  they  buzzed  about  the  flowers.  Some 
died  of  fever;  others  killed  themselves  by  drinking 
villainous liqu.fs,  eating  excessively  of  fruit,  or  by 
overdosing  with  pills,  patent  medicines,  cholera  pre- 
ventives, and  like  supposed  antidotes  to  supposed 
impending  disease.  Once  seized  with  sickness  and 
without  a  faithful  comrade,  a  man's  chance  for  recov- 
ery was  small ;  for  already  a  coating  of  callous  indif- 
ference to  the  sufferings  of  others  seemed  to  be 
enclosing  the  hearts  of  many  of  these  adventurers, 
and  a  pale  fever-stricken  stranger  was  too  often 
shunned  like  a  leper. 

The  morning  after  our  arrival,  and  for  days  there- 


YANKKE  SWINDLERS. 


187 


after,  we  were  in  tribulation  about  our  baggage, 
which  the  packers  failed  to  deliver  as  they  had  i)r<)in- 
ised.  Gradually  the  truth  dawned  upon  us  that  this 
was  one  of  the  tricks  of  the  tratle ;  and  when  after 
waitin*;  a  week,  and  considering  the  distance  from 
Gorgona  was  only  twenty-five  miles,  which  couhl  bo 
easily  made  in  a  day  and  a  night,  when  we  and  many 
others  were  obliged  to  go  forward  without  our  bag- 
gage,  we  were  satisfied,  as  we  afterward  learned  t'  lu^ 
the  truth,  that  we  had  been  systematically  swindled. 
The  fact  was  that  civilization,  under  the  impulse  of  the 
gold-fever,  had  so  tinctured  this  Isthmian  wilderness 
as  to  have  overturned  the  influence  of  the  simple- 
minded  savage,  thus  giving  up  travellers  to  men 
more  rapacious  than  beasts,  which  will  not  prey 
upon  their  kind.  At  Chagres  and  on  the  river, 
transportation  had  been  left  mainly  to  Creoles  and 
natives,  as  the  occupation  was  too  hazardous  to  health 
for  the  shrewd  northerners  to  undertake  it ;  but  Gor- 
gona and  Panarad,  were  comparatively  healthy,  and 
here  sharpers  might  take  their  stand  and  levy  toll. 
The  native  and  mongrel  races  were  not  bad  enou<j:h 
nor  bold  enough  for  the  situation.  These  could  prac- 
tise extortion  on  a  small  scale,  but  the  cocking  of  a 
pistol  or  the  flash  of  a  knife-blade  usually  brought 
reparation.  Here  indeed  was  a  field  for  nobler  talent. 
Hitherto,  and  for  the  last  three  centuries,  dark- 
skinned  carriers  had  been  content  to  appropriate  only 
a  part  of  the  effects  committed  to  their  care,  and  col- 
lect freight  on  the  portion  delivered ;  but  for  the  dt)uble- 
edged  son  of  a  higher  order  of  culture  and  broader 
views  such  dealings  were  too  tame.  So  he  instituted 
a  reform,  weiLjhed  bagijaoe  at  Gorijona  or  Cruces, 
and  collected  the  frciglit  in  advance,  ten  or  fifteen 
cents  a  pound  to  Panamd,  then  he  could  deliver  such 
j)ortions  as  policy  dictated,  and  keep  the  remainder 
having  secured  the  freight  on  it  in  advance  in  case  it 
should  prove  not  worth  the  transportation.  This 
system  I  afterward  learned  from  sources  unquestiona- 


188 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


ble,  had  been  regularly  practised  by  men  appearing 
to  be  New  Englanders  and  New  Yorkers  from  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  steamship  line.  Passengers  as  a 
rule  were  helpless ;  for  when  the  steamer  was  ready, 
they  were  obliged  to  go  on  board,  and  their  baggage 
was  not  worth  the  cost  of  hunting  it.  From  the 
first  appearance  of  foreign  travellers  in  these  f  arts,  it 
has  been  a  notorious  fact,  and  of  current  remark,  that 
of  all  robbers  and  swindlers  on  the  Isthmus  white 
men  were  the  worst,  and  compared  to  them  the  na- 
tives were  humane,  faithful,  and  honest. 

The  steamers  here  took  in  coal  and  provisions,  beef, 
fowl,  and  swine,  flour  and  general  groceries,  oranges, 
pineapples,  citrons  and  bananas,  and  liquors  of  all  sorts. 
Quite  a  traffic  was  sometimes  done  here  in  tickets  by 
brokers;  some,  to  save,  would  sell  their  steamer 
ticket  and  take  passage  on  a  sailing  vessel,  which  they 
afterward  too  often  found  of  that  class  whose  captain 
and  officers  were  accustomed  to  take  in  so  much  wine 
and  spirits  that  they  would  forget  to  take  in  any 
water. 

After  a  week's  detention  the  steamer  Panamd  an- 
nounced her  readiness  to  receive  passengers,  of  which 
opportunity  we  all  made  qui^k  avail.  With  our  ef- 
fects shrunken  to  the  easy  c«  .npass  of  our  hands,  we 
left  our  hotel,  walked  down  the  street,  and  out  through 
the  great  gate,  to  the  shore  of  the  bay.  There  we 
found  stationed  just  beyond  the  surf  that  broke  upon 
the  white  beach,  a  row  of  boats  ready  to  convey  pas- 
sengers to  the  steamer,  with  porters  and  boatmen  to 
carry  us  through  the  foam  to  the  boat.  Wading  to 
the  edge  of  the  water  the  boatmen  would  stoop  their 
ebony  shoulders  and  back  up  to  us  invitingly.  Women 
were  picked  up  in  their  arms,  and  handled  most  ten- 
derly for  such  sooty  savages.  Sometimes  stepping  on 
a  slippery  stone,  down  man  and  rider  would  both  go 
into  the  brine,  amidst  the  shouts  of  the  lookers-on. 
But  this  happened  very  seldom ;  the  wide,  bare, 
leathery  feet  of  the  carriers  were  usually  quite  sure. 


REGENERATION  AND  BAPTISM.  189 

Mounting  a  naked  broad  back,  we  were  carried 
through  the  surf,  dumped  into  the  boat  and  rowed  to 
the  ship.  On  arriving  at  the  gangway,  we  were 
obHged  to  show  our  tickets,  every  species  of  trickery 
being  resorted  to  by  a  certain  class  on  shore  to  get 
themselves  forward  without  paying  their  passage. 
The  passengers  then  formed  themselves  into  a  line 
before  the  purser's  office  window,  and  when  all  were 
on  board  rooms  and  berths  were  allotted. 

Thus  in  this  Isthmus  transit,  we  find  the  history  of 
every  man  who  made  it  a  unique  experience,  wiich 
acted  powerully  upon  the  recasting  of  his  charactor — 
a  fit  preparation  for  the  baptism  which  was  to  follow 
his  landing  in  Califoruiat 


I  )l 


CHAPTEK  VIII. 


TlfE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA-PANjVMA  TO  SAN   FRANCISCO, 

We  have  had  enough  of  action,  and  of  motion  wc, 

KiiUetl  to  starWoard,  rolled  to  larlioard,  wlicn  the  surge  was  seething  free, 
Vlierc  the  wallowing  mounter  sjjuuted  his  foam-fountanis  in  tlie  sea. 

—  The  LotoH-Enters. 


!!;    ! 


While  hero  upon  the  Isthmus,  and  before  proceed- 
ing on  our  journey  to  San  Franrisco,  let  us  glance  at 
tlie  route  round  the  continent,  that  we  may  be  better 
able  to  make  comparisons  as  we  go  along. 

Tliere  have  been  many  remarkable  voyages  to  Cal- 
ifornia by  sailing  v(\ssels,  as  well  from  Panaiiui  to  San 
Francisco  as  round  Cape  Horn;  there  have  been 
many  adventures  connected  with  them  far  more  thrill- 
ing than  any  that  occurred  in  the  voy.ages  by  steamer. 
Tlie  voyage  round  the  Horn,  as  it  was  called,  did  not 
differ  materially  from  sea  voyages  elsewhere;  that 
from  Panama  to  San  Francisco  had  at  this  time  a 
marked  individuality,  a  few  exami)les  of  which  I  will 
give. 

The  rickety  schooner  Dolphin,  of  100  tons,  left  Pa- 
nanul  in  January  1841),  with  forty-five  persons.  After 
putting  into  several  ports  for  sup[)lies,  the  passengers 
had  to  abandon  the  craft  at  Mazatlan  and  transfer 
themselves  to  the  bark  Matilda.  They  finally  readied 
San  Francisco  on  the  6th  of  May,  having  spent  110 
davs  on  the  vt)vaije  from  Panamd. 

But  the  career  of  the  DoJpJiin  was  not  yet  at  an 
end.  Certain  gold-seeking  ""vaifs  then  in  Mazatlan, 
anxious  to  reach  California,  bought  and  refitted  her. 

(I'JO) 


SAILING  VESSELS. 


m 


She  sailed  on  the  15th  of  April  with  no  less  than  six- 
ty-eight persons,  among  whom  were  some  who  in  lat- 
ter years  acquired  more  or  less  distinction  in  California. 
In  the  course  of  tlie  voyage  tliey  underwent  much 
sufterhig,  scarcity  of  water  contributing  thereto.  A 
number  of  the  company,  driven  to  desp(!ration,  landed 
in  Lower  California,  and  made  their  way  north  on 
foot.  Reacliing  Rosario  with  the  greatest  diliicult}', 
they  siglited  two  vessels,  one  tlie  Dolphhi.  and  tlie 
otlier  an  Italian  bark.  The  latter  took  some  of  tlic 
schooner's  passengers  away  witli  her,  and  a  few  of  tlie 
land  party  returned  to  their  own  old  craft,  the  rest 
preferring  to  continue  their  journey  up  the  C(  )ast.  The 
latter  after  undergoing  many  hardships  reached  San 
Diego  on  the  24th  of  June.  As  for  the  l)()/j>lii)i,  she 
went  into  San  Diego  harbor  in  a  sinking  condition,  and 
was  condemned  and  sold  without  more  ado.  One  of 
her  ])assenger3  had  died  on  the  voyage. 

The  vicissitudes  of  a  party  on  board  the  schooner 
San  iilase'ia,  of  thirty-five  tons,  which  sailed  from 
IMazatlan  in  May  of  the  same  year,  were  in  many  re- 
spects the  counteri)art  of  those  suffered  by  the  Jhl- 
y>///yi',9  people.  Some  of  their  number  wtu-e  taken  off 
by  another  vessel  at  sea;  the  rest  abandoned  tlie  craft 
on  the  coast  of  Lower  California,  and  made  their  way 
on  foot,  carrying  their  effects  on  their  backs,  to  Todt)S 
Santos,  where  they  procured  mules,  ind  on  the  24th 
of  May  set  out  for  La  Paz.  On  the  journeys  they 
suffered  greatly  for  want  of  provisions  and  water. 
Finally,  on  the  1 1th  of  August,  they  fell  in  with 
lOniory's  surveying  pai-ty  at  the  initial  point  of  the 
l\lexican  boundary  line.  Meanwhile  the  San  lllamia 
If  ft  San  Jose  del  Cabo,  and  completed  her  vovai^e  at 
Monterey,  after  the  manner  of  the  Dolphin,  on  the  1st 
of  July. 

Another  of  the  land  journeys  tip  the  peninsula  was 
that  of  J,  W.  Venable,  who  came  from  Kentucky  via 
l*anamd  in  1841),  and  was  a  member  of  the  state  as- 
sembly from  Los  Angeles  in  1873,  and  who  travelled 


Ifi. 


192 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


1 


on  foot  with  two  or  three  companions  from  Agua 
Dulce,  on  the  coast  of  Lower  CaUfornia,  to  San  Fran- 
cisco, about  twelve  hundred  miles.  They  had  been 
obliged  to  land  by  reason  of  the  slowness  of  their  ship, 
scarcity  of  wa.^r,  and  stubbornness  of  their  captain. 
They  arrived  at  San  Francisco  before  the  ship. 
The  latter  took  166  days  for  the  trip. 

But  even  crazy  sailing  vessels  were  better  than 
dug-out  canoes,  in  which  some  started  on  the  long 
voyage  from  Panamd  to  San  Francisco.  Bayard 
Taylor  states  that  in  the  early  part  of  1849,  when 
three  thousand  persons  were  waiting  on  the  Isthmus 
for  conveyance  to  the  new  El  Dorado,  several  small 
parties  started  in  log  canoes  of  the  natives,  thinking 
to  reach  San  Francisco  in  them.  After  a  voyage  of 
forty  days,  during  which  they  went  no  farther  than 
the  island  of  Quibo,  at  the  mouth  of  the  gulf,  nearly 
all  of  them  returned.  Of  the  rest,  nothing  was  ever 
heard.  On  other  authority,  we  are  informed  that 
twenty-three  men  left  Panamd  on  the  29th  of  May, 
1849,  in  a  dug-out  canoe,  for  San  Francisco.  None 
of  these  madmen  ever  proceeded  far  on  the  road; 
neither  did  many  of  them  ever  return. 

Returning  to  our  voyage  by  steamer.  "Ah!"  ex- 
claims the  enthusiastic  lover  of  California,  immediately 
his  foot  touches  the  well-scrubbed  deck  of  the  Pacific 
Mail  steamer  in  Panamd  bay,  "such  is  California, 
such  the  superiority  of  the  new  over  the  old.  As  the 
Atlantic  st-jamer  is  to  the  Pacific  steamer,  as  Aspin- 
wall  is  to  Panamd,  so  is  your  cold,  dull,  eastern  coast 
to  our  warm,  bright,  western  coast." 

In  due  time  a  steam  tender  conveyed  travellers 
from  the  company's  wharf  to  the  steamer  at  anchor 
some  three  miles  away.  On  account  of  the  tide, 
which  rises  and  falls  about  seventeen  feet  at  neap, 
and  twenty-two  feet  at  spring  tides,  the  tender  can 
float  at  the  wharf  only  twice  in  twenty-four  hours. 
Low  water  spring  tides  lay  bare  the  beach  for  a  mile 


and 

ofti 

tics, 

trail) 

then 

soon 

adop; 

on  til 

oftlu 

.steam 

ticket 

on  bo; 

v.rty 

rocurr 

Califoi 

(lotonti 

sciigerf 

a 


of  the 
<'aino 


( 


"lljoy  i 

sense  o 

the   est 

TJiere  i 

Isthmus 

the  trav 

Much 

than  on 

an;  large 

passenge 

«pwt  it  s 

til  is  reeni 

sliakiiicr  I 

so  many  i 

Loungi 

tlio  upper 

j'l  all  its  s 

^vith  the  t 

surface   ol 

distance,  t 

t'AU 


I^E-EMBARKATION  AT  PanamX. 


then  stepped  fr„„,  «,?  ca„  t  fi**"/'"",  •  l^^se.ifrora 
S'|on  on  board  the  steanr     TJ  u     '"''"'■'  "'"'  '"-'■« 
adopte<l  ,„  consoquence    f  *'i         'f  '"■••a"genient  was 
""  the  15th  of  Anrn   18.?fi  l^  •''""'  "'»<=S  broke  Z 
'f  the  armbal  a.sii?ed  250  J-r  ^ r'"'"''  ""-'  "^g'"-^ 
^toamsh.p  /«;„„,>   while  tlev^'''™'''''^'''-"'"  the 
tickets  at  the  Panama  ,1    ^  *"''''   Procurin.r  their 
""  both  sides  beTrknl 5  ''"''•  "  """''«•'■  of  person, 
'^rty  was  alsoKred  irr'''''*^'-     Much  Z? 
rccurre,       of  Vh  scenes^,a '!  '''''"''''•     "T"  «vo7a   . 
f  ahfornia  in  future  tZe ^^''^''t'^u*"  ""^   fr<>m 
'letention.     Usually  some  tW  ^f '"""^  «-ith«ut 

mongers  were  settled  .^"Lir  'r;:^T'i  "^^^^  "'^'  P""^- 
"f  tlie  steamer,  as  the  ba" n"  f   ,%    -T  *'"=  »•■"'">« 
eamo  aft,  r  the  passen.S'sf  t'l.t  I'"'"''*'  »'«'  ">»ils 
""joy  another  view  of  tS    °     '"*  ^}""'<'  was  time  to 
»o"se  of  satisfaction  and  ;esTwh!;';*"P'  "'«'''■•  "-t 
!je  es  aWishing  of  one's  self    n*.''''™^'  ""^''ed 
Jiei-e  IS  now  „o  more  ehan  L    t,,*''l  ""^  -J^-rter. 
Isthmus  are  past;  a  fortS?  V*''  ^'"''"•■^  of  the 
t'.e  traveller  Lis  alm«uf    e'eSS"". /'  ^"•"•''.  ""d 

Mueh  I'leasanteronthePaJil-  l°'^'"'J"'"-"<-v. 
t'an  on  the  Atlantic,     if fw    ^VTS"  """ally 
;  '^  larger  and  more  comfortable      rl'^'}^"  "'^'n^ri 
passengers,  1  ke  the  Pie  fi„  ■  "''"  temper  of  the 

j;'et  it  seen,s  almost  hkebll^  "■'°"^''-     ^"  ""'  "" 
t  "s  reen>barkati„n  at  Pan'n  i  />""  *'!"  •'"•"■''«v  "new 
jak.'.g  up  and  re,«r^iS'';,  'i'''^'-'  '^  ""■''  «  Sonerii 
«' many  new  faces  came  Zu,  "  '™"''''™  ^''ere 

'".»"  its  glorious  beauties  t^  T"^  °'"  before'y"" 


' .,' 


194 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


city  of  to-day,  and  the  tomb-tower  of  San  Gcr6nImo 
designating  the  site  of  old  Panamd,  which  the  bold 
buccaneers  ravished  with  such  a  relish ;  the  hazy  moun- 
tains beyond,  with  their  curiously  shaped  crests — thus 
quietly  watching  the  boats  come  and  go,  the  fruit- 
venders  dispensing  their  wares,  the  sea-birds  circling 
round  the  ship,  and  turkey -buzzards  solemnly  sailing 
through  the  air;  listening  to  the  friendly  waters  which 
lap  the  smooth  sides  of  our  monster  vessel,  with  the 
softly  perfumed  air  that  wanders  objectless  between  the 
sea  and  the  low-lying  sky,  there  comes  stealing  m  upon 
the  senses  a  delicious  repose.  Up  to  this  point,  and  for 
several  months  past,  mind  and  body  have  been  upon  tlie 
rack  about  this  California  expedition.  There  were 
the  preparations,  the  adieux,  the  embarkation,  tlie 
voyage,  the  Isthmus ;  then  there  is  the  remainder  of 
it,  the  voyage  up  the  coast,  the  landing,  the  new  lif  ■, 
with  all  its  desperate  ventures  and  uncertainties ;  but 
here,  for  the  moment,  is  perfect  rest,  earth,  sea,  and 
sky  combining  to  intoxicate  the  senses,  enrapture  the 
soul,  and  overspread  all  with  a  sensuous  tranquillity 
and  calm. 

At  this  time  the  commander  of  our  steamer,  which 
was  the  Panamd,  was  that  veteran  of  the  Pacific  IMall 
Steamship  Company,  Watkins,  called  commodore ;  and 
among  the  five  hundred  and  ninety-four  passengers 
were  Mr  Hutchins,  Mrs  Davenport,  Gihon,  Maguirc, 
and  others  notable  in  the  annals  of  California.  Lato 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  12th  of  March,  the  cluiiii 
from  the  buoy  was  dropped,  and  clearing  the  islan<ls, 
in  an  hour  we  came  abreast  of  Taboga — to  Panama 
what  Capri  is  to  Naples,  but  more  beautiful.  Oranges 
and  tamarinds  fringe  the  beach;  the  glass-green  foliair;' 
of  cocoa  and  banana  trees  sweep  from  the  valley  up 
the  hillsides  a  thousand  feet.  Then  we  sailed  clnwii 
past  Bona  and  Otoque,  rounded  Punta  Mala,  sonic 
ninety  miles  southward  from  our  anchorage,  and  were 
fairly  out  at  sea,  with  the  warm  bay  of  Pananul,  and 
its  quaint,  old,  dreary  town,  wakened  once  a  century 


Jiidies. 
"opolizc 
on  boar 
f'f  card 
I^ants  CO 
^^anies 
Three  ei 

hive  socia 

possible, 
^rasp  up( 

the  right 
touching 


ON  THE  PACIPIO. 

^7  a  Pizarro  a  M  ^^* 

sliower  attended  us.     TW  P"*'   "«'>'  «   «mndcr 
n-ily  rain  and  Ji.-J.tnin,,  .  5   T'^  "°  *'nd  to  speak  nf 

P«.h  Waste,  „„  electrical  wL  clc  '"P'  *'W>  ^""P- 
7  ton-ents  of  Ji^ht  streami,  ff'"'';  ""^''"■•'Panicd 
rowed  from  hori^Sn  tozS'  V    I"  ^"''^'"'^  «%-f"r- 

tremes  of  alternate  pitch  vwl  I     P'  '"'t>^''*n  tlie  ex- 

?4tno^;-rS""^^ 

Ven.guas,Tt:nd™c.:'tt'r  "'«  P-^-nto^  „f 
S  oa,ni„„  la.iI^.alo;<X*„:  «'  g-^nder  "x-untalnf 

tlio  chariot  of  Poseidon  S  J      ''•'"''  ^"te"^.  like 
"f  the  monsters  of  th  "'/"""  ''°"n<l  "^  myriad? 
"»  eve,7  side,  witl  tt  til'  T""*^  1"''  S-"^"  ^ 
l"jed  and  the  load  before  „f  ''T'  ""='""<'  """'ir! 
and  observation  seemed  T  ""*  •>''''  P"*  on  time 

"'f  «ea.  Gossipstor,!  *°  <'^P«'«"  with  the  eJpaS 
pater  familias  grewTocuTd . ' TT' '^"»'<^<'  «<"-eriv: 
p'mfort,  reading  ISZil  *"i*'°"  '"""^d  towafd 
'"p  Pitoliers  of  ce^  pu'ch  r"w  '•  ^''"""ts  nJxed 
'aAes.  Gamblin,.  Xb  ■  !?  «"=>-ewith  regaled  the 
n"Poli=!ed  the  sa  o°o'n  b ' t  '"  '¥  earlier  voyages  mo 

-  board  the  00^™'^;!"='''^,''-'  ^^'^^^ 
"'  card-playing  in  the  sf!f      '  •^^'^  tln'rewas  plentv 
l'a..ts  could  p,?,ble  to  tbit*?-''"''"''-  ^''""■^  the  occu 
Ka.ne,  obtaiLc    on  capXn't'T"*^"'' ""<' W 

Tl.ree  evils  the  law  .eeurn!;    >"'''■•   "'"'   flight 
'"».  drunkenness   and  f .  P'"'^'^*«  to  control  tramb 

P'-«'ble,  sliould  let  theSvu'"^'  ^'  '''^''  ^°  «»*  "« 
g/aspupon  him  but  t„  prew?  ■  *'??•  ""^  place  its 

'--.Which  the  law  iZ^t^be^^Z:^ 


108 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


injury  to  another  is  a  legal  wrong  whose  proper  prov- 
ince it  is  the  law's  to  check.  With  diminished  at- 
tempts at  religious  proselyting,  a  laissez-faire  system 
in  personal  morals,  and  less  political  engineering,  our 
civilization  would  speedily  assume  fairer  and  purer 
proportions.  Let  parents  and  teachers  build  up  them- 
selves and  the  young  in  the  strength  of  personal  re- 
sponsibility and  moral  rectitude,  for  in  no  other  way 
can  certain  evils  be  overcome ;  then  we  may  leave  law 
for  thieves  and  murderers.  On  the  steamer,  bets 
were  made  on  daily  distances,  on  the  time  of  arrival 
at  any  point,  on  the  height  or  weight  of  any  person 
or  thing,  on  the  time  in  which  coat  and  boots  could 
be  taken  off  and  put  on,  and  on  anything  that  hap- 
pened to  strike  the  fancy,  however  absurd. 

During  the  long  voyage  there  was  ample  time  to 
take  a  survey  of  the  past,  to  reckon  accounts  with 
providence,  to  apply  the  touchstone  of  experience  to 
natural  qualities;  a  farther  vision  opened  to  the  ejc, 
sight  was  not  bounded  by  the  horizon.  The  im- 
prisoned traveller  saw  clearly  back  to  his  boyhood  in 
a  swift  series  of  pictures  like  those  which  flash  upon 
the  brain  of  a  drowning  man ;  and  when  his  thoughts 
were  turned  toward  the  future,  it  was  with  a  clearer 
and  more  discriminating  survey  than  any  hitherto 
made. 

In  these  early  days  of  California  voyaging,  there 
were  always  two  or  three  among  the  passengers  wlio 
set  up  for  geniuses,  self-constituted  court  fools.  Usu- 
ally they  were  young  men  rustically  or  provincial  ly 
bred,  who  were  now  for  the  first  time  absent  from 
home,  and  who  seemed  to  feel  that  the  time  and  place 
had  arrived  in  which  their  talents  should  unfold. 
They  sought  fame  in  various  ways — by  much  anil 
heavy  walking  about  the  ship,  by  scowling,  by  swag- 
gering, by  boisterous  talking  and  coarse  laughinjjj, 
and  by  practical  jokes  played  to  the  infinite  disgust 
of  their  supposed  admirers.  Sometimes  they  were 
joined  by  brazen-faced  or  ambitious  young  women, 


^•OTUa  TEALVIKO  SCnoOL 


and   sets  Wnnl^J  u     ^  '^ 

o«.H„  .„4?4:,tX:S^^^^^^    vie  «,eH  each 
lo  the   refined  and   ,„„!•*•*''"'*% '""nspiruou., 
from  which  there  C^nTeTl'T^^   «"  '"AiS; 
Wcas  torture      Of  oU  ai      '^^^^po  tor  days  anr?  «r^  i 

greater  part  of  til™ t^T''*'  •'^««P«ons ;  bv if  th! 
well   behaved,  Z  ^ZT.^'^  'i'"'^''  o"-'!  r^and 

circumstances.  ^    ""'^^^'^  the   most   tryino- 

tiers,   no  band  of  inarhM-.  °  Wnpany  of  coiir 

f-amed  to  look   indSn^iv""  '%"""''*■  "^  solZra 

'"-e  ealudy  faced  an  a^"'L""   ''<>''">.  could   W 

-Hi  ""'^nt  adventurers  riei^V""' '"''  ''>««'  >'»»"« 
Ti^y  were  men )  '^""'^  ^""'^  «very  nationality 

"'"self  was  not  conS?'  a^  ^T'""?  *''«  P<>«»ei<^r 

""ts  are  intensified  or  „MV      ''«™'<'Ped.     General 

^-omes  meaner,  th^WtLe^'™*!!'  "'^  mean  „?„ 

-y  become  angelic,  o'lauttftttt  """  ^'?"" 

utptjis,  accordmg 


IC 


198 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


i:ll! 


to  his  moral  anatomy  or  the  chemistry  of  his  compo- 
sition, and  the  action  of  environment  upon  it  all. 

The  prevailing  winds  along  this  coast  are  southerly 
during  summer,  and  northerly  during  the  winter 
months  ;  so  that  after  leaving  Punta  Mala  our  captain 
kept  well  in  shore,  which  here  is  high,  and  hold,  and 
covered  with  rich  foliage  down  to  the  water's  cdga. 
Passing  Punta  Mariato  our  course  was  still  due  west, 
until  we  cleared  the  palm-covered  island  in  the  vicin- 
ity, uninhabited  save  by  monkeys  and  birds  of  bril- 
liant plumage,  when  we  took  a  more  northerly  direc- 
tion along  the  shores  of  Nueva  Granada,  Costa  Rica, 
and  Nicaragua,  over  whose  lakes  and  rivers  Gil  Gon- 
zalez and  his  crew  crept  so  cautiously.  The  second 
day  saw  us  off  San  Juan  del  Sur,  where  those  who 
made  the  journey  by  way  of  Nicaragua  took  ship  for 
San  Francisco. 

By  the  Nicaragua  route  passengers  disembarked 
on  the  Atlantic  side  at  San  Juan  del  Norte,  otherwise 
called  Greytown.  Stepping  from  the  ocean  steamer 
on  board  a  steam  river  craft,  they  ascended  the  San 
Juan  river  to  the  Machuca  Rapids,  where  they  landed 
and  walked  a  portage  of  about  a  mile,  while  the  lug- 
gage was  conveyed  up  the  rapids  in  bongos  manned 
by  naked,  long-haired,  tawny  natives.  Above  the 
Machuca  rapids,  smaller  steamboats  carried  them 
to  the  Castillo  rapids,  where  there  was  another  por- 
tage of  half  a  mile.  Then  taking  another  and  a 
larger  steamboat,  they  continued  up  the  river  to  Saii 
Cdrlos,  crossed  Lake  Nicaragua  to  La  Virgen,  and 
thence  proceeded  overland  by  mules,  or  on  foot,  to 
San  Juan  del  Sur  on  the  Pacific,  where  they  reeiii- 
barked  on  board  an  ocean  steamer  for  San  Francisco. 
The  whole  distance  is  about  165  miles,  though  in- 
cluding the  bends  in  the  river  it  is  oftener  reckoned 
at  more ;  75  miles  on  the  river,  the  same  on  the  lake, 
and  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  overland  to  the  ocean. 
By  the  Panamd  route,  before  the  building  of  the  rail- 


THE  NICARAGUA  ROUTE.        ' 

tt'-  wl,„le  distanefwaf?!.   ?"?'^°'^'■='Nicaral"^I• 
l.an  by  way  of  PanamT     T,"-*    ''"°?  ""«»  'hoC 
1855-57— the  timrn"  «i-k    f  "^'"^  '"  '"tcr  years— 
which  IhaveX  naSd'-r  "^"'''-'^  ^p"^ 
this  series.      His  ili-Xfd  J?  T*'"""  ^'^'''e  of 
tmns,t  co,,,pa„y.s  river  a  Jl^'  °I  "-"""^^"tins  the 
t»  li.s  rum;  for  by  stopnlf «,»  f  If' '^""'"''"tod 
passengers  to  and  from  cllff^  ^'"■*'"'''  '™"«it  of 
d'lmved  himself  of  t  "  oSv  ^""'  '•>'  ""'^  "'"te-  he 
-  inned  daily  by  S    rt.- '"''"'' ''''"™k3 
bullets-witl,  foreign  rwukk    r**'"?',  '""'   ''"^ti'e 
was  the  roused  veSge™f  tlT''"'''"'''  *°  ^'"^h 

aio„rsr™s^;t'd-™ 

Cbagres  and  across  ?o  Pa'  ^"^°"*^*'«'"  "P  the 
«  an  old  Simish  town  com '«  ^T  ^''*"  '^^^  Norte 
'>""  and  thatched  iS^s  „!  »  °f  about  fifty  bam- 
>»onts  of  later  date,  confainTnl  »n!"  .'''"«'«d  tene- 
I  wnte  an  extren.ei;  Sd  "S„t  *^"  *"««  "f  wMch 
mndred.    The  towri  isX„t  'Y"^"'"''™  of  about  five 

^r  a  long  narrow  sTn>  "of  tdT'"^'"™*'"™-^ 
Arenas,  whioli  from  thJ  stLm  .  T'™  <«  P^nta 
'slaiKl  than  a  cape,  T  «  s  2  ''' ,""''''  """■«  'iko  an 
and  uuhealthful  and  til  """"""^"'g  country  is  low 
tufted  grass  and  llrgrowttr-^'"?'^  '"attid  w  I 

smooth-barked  vineSSTree       T,fY  ^'*  '"■•^*  »f 
gators,  and  monkeys  claim?     /"^^ey-'jumrds,  alii- 

-liiough  steam  was  Pmr.l«  "J">  ment  ot  the  countrv 

«f  the  §an  JuanXr'trs™  ^^'^^  *■>«  «^«S 

tl.an  in  journeying  ot  th?  OhT'''^  V'"  '^"™f»rt 

vhcel  boats  plied  lom  raoid  i!^^'     ^""'"   stern- 

'»te;  into  them   we^eTrfven   nJ"^""''  '^"^  «>« 

ariven  promiscuously,   men, 


200 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


women,  and  children  of  all  classes,  black,  white,  and 
mulatto,  and  herded  like  cattle  without  privacy  or 
restraint,  without  rooms  or  berths.  Thus  were  the 
tired  travellers  kept  for  two  or  three  days  and  as 
many  sickening  sleepless  nights;  the  decent  and  re- 
fined portion  continually  hearing  the  vile  language  of 
tlie  obscene  and  blasphemous. 

Some  there  were,  however,  who  could  forget  their 
discomforts,  and  lose  themselves  in  the  contemplation 
of  nature's  magnificence.  Canopied  by  broad-topped 
trees,  slender  and  white-limbed,  with  their  bright 
fjliage  fluttering  like  spangles  in  the  sunshine,  by 
lofty  palms  whose  tasselled  branches  bent  gracefully 
over  the  banks-  dow  i  to  the  water's  brim,  passing 
Arcadian  isles  rich  in  tropical  plants  and  perfumes, 
the  frouzy  boat  with  its  confused  cargo  of  panting 
gold-hunters,  wound  with  the  winding  stream,  round 
among  snags,  and  shoals,  and  rapids,  up  and  onward 
toward  the  empire  of  their  gilded  hopes. 

Dark,  deep-red  lignum  vitaB  and  caoutchouc,  bananas 
and  plantains  with  their  long  smooth  leaves,  and 
scattering  sugar-cane  with  high  tasselled  crests, 
shelter  lovingly  the  mammoth  red  and  yellow  flowers 
that  fringe  the  stream.  Thousands  of  black,  brown, 
and  gray  monkeys  hold  their  conventions  on  both  sides 
of  the  river,  and  make  their  exhibitions  on  the  trees, 
leaping  from  limb  to  limb  and  catching  and  swinging 
themselves  violently,  suspended  by  the  tail,  grinning 
and  chattering,  and  screaming  in  jubilant  mockery  to 
the  pitiful  dirt-diggers,  in  whom  they  seem  to  recog- 
nize a  degeneration  of  their  own  species.  Surely  they 
of  the  forest  are  fittest  and  will  survive. 

At  an  island  eighteen  miles  from  the  bay,  whose 
keeper  had  a  small  white  neat  board  house  and  a 
garden,  the  steamboat  stopped  to  wood. 

Ascending  the  river,  nature  spreads  out  in  broader 
and  ever  increasing  sublimity.  The  foliage  assumes 
statelier  proportions;  the  forests  are  grander,  and  the 
mountains  higher.     Pendant  from  the  limbs  of  tall 


O"  THE  WVEE  SAN  WA^.  ^ 

tree  to  tree  in  irracofnlf   f  ^  ''°'''"''  extendi,,,,  fr„,„ 

emllya.thrin^trWrd/:ft,"u  T''"  »''>•«--.:? 
«■'-%  of  o,,,lles3  color  IVi^^f''*  P'^'-'-K"  ""J  «weot 
;vl..eli  is  tl,„  brigh(cri,i    ,?^"'''T™""«»™»■>g 
At'c  'r'''  "' W^k-  ''^  ^  it«l"ng.fau. 

about  onTliffitytanl'""?  ?""<'  ^^^WIo.  of 
"ew  by  an  old  ruinTfortil  *','''•''"."''"'«''"'' Ml 
l'rese,,tcd  formidab  eM,nSt^^^^^^       >■»  ifapaln,y  day 
of  tlio  river.     Ti,ou„l.  E  "ri       "",!"'>"<"}'  ascents 
pement  tl,ere  are  sections  „f  KT"^  "C''"''k  and 
13  quadran.-ular  tl.ml    f  ■       '"  ^'""e-     In  sl,aDe  it 

embrasures  on  eitl,er  side  ^w\l^  T  '^f  '''«'''  ^'th 
tbo  first  section,  are  Zl  ,>,n  *  "''■ '?'"'  a'*^"  «'itl,in 
"■■e  dark  vaults  connectd  bv  ^  '  ""''  '"  *''«  "'terior 
were  several  hotels  at  Cast^lorj '^^S^'^"-  There 
times  rested  there  for  thrS'f     "^  !««««'«««  some- 

^'^TX:Zfl  'f r  *h^  ""»  dwindles  to  low 
at  the  Outlet  o/  Lak  '  Nrr^uf  7     ^'  ^^  C^"-'" 
fi'rt,  snnilar  to  FoH  CMtmo^«  '  "'r,"  *  dilapidated 
Between  the  fortress  a^^  lak??'"  '^  ''"^'"Wable. 
Ut  N^  small  thatched  t':  "  "  *°'^"  "^  ""-"t 

f ''t^^rS  ~h7„Se  e^  -  sublimity. 
Icnsfth  by  sixty  miles  n  width  ^*  '''"'  ""<'  """^  m 
*;;d  crystallin.f  basks  undift'  tn"^**^,  '^''^■''°«ed 
P^ple  tone,  and  from  its  , weir  ^T'  '^i'  "'  'ivid 
niountains  lift  the,„"elit  Zf"--  f""'"'  '"»«  and 
sm„k,„g  volcanic  peaks      K;"*"  J'"^*'  thickened  bv 

of  the  water  is  thSbert™;!.?"'"  J?"'  ^'-•^  ""*' 
Its  twn,  brother  Mad^™^  f  ''""'°  Onietepe,  with 
-e  four  and  fiv^  SSd  teb'"""/,'"!*''  "e^^ 
"'e  lake,  and  whose  Smf!  "'"^  "'«  ^"''faee  of 
■early  forty  ,«iles.  0„7t,  w  °''  "-'  *'  '^'''  '« 
S',  a  dirty  little  town  with  TJ     "  j^"''''  '^  '^i'Km 

with  a  dozen  dirty  littje  tlv- 


202 


THE  VOYAOE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


eras,  where  passengers  feed,  and  swing  their  hammocks 
for  the  night.  During  the  day  one  may  bathe  here 
in  safi'ty,  as  it  is  said  tiie  aUigators  frequent  this  |K)r- 
tion  of  the  lake  only  during  the  night.  Very  kmd  of 
the  alligators. 

Across  the  narrow  strip  of  land,  the  only  bar  to  un- 
inteirupted  water  communication  bi'tween  the  two 
oceans,  travellers  proceed  on  mules  and  donkeys, 
women  riding  some  siile-ways  and  some  astride.  The 
ride  is  delightful.  Half  the  way  the  road  is  level 
and  straight,  covered  by  a  dark  forest  so  dense  in 
places  that  there  seems  scarcely  standing  room  for 
the  trees ;  and  the  interstices  are  so  filled  with  matted 
branches,  leaves,  coppice,  parasites,  and  other  vhics, 
as  In  places  to  prevent  the  sun's  rays  from  ever  touch- 
inix  the  ground.  The  remainder  of  the  road  winds 
through  rolling  hills,  then  scales  a  lofty  mountain,  and 
descends  to  the  sea.  Thirty  board  houses,  shingled 
and  painted,  stretched  along  the  shore  of  a  small  l)ay 
constitutes  the  town  of  San  Juan  del  Sur,  which 
seems  to  be  a  cross  between  Chagres  and  Asplnwall. 
As  at  Panamil,  the  shelving  beach  does  not  jiermit 
the  small  boats  to  approach  nearer  than  about  twen- 
ty-five yards  from  the  water's  edge,  and  passengers 
nmst  be  carried  aboard  on  the  backs  of  the  boatmen. 
Hi' re  steamers  anchor  about  one  hundred  and  fiftv 
yards  from  land. 

A  hundretl  miles  north  we  pass  Realejo,  one  of  the 
coal  stations  of  the  Nicaraguan  line.  The  harbor  is 
a  good  one,  being  an  indentation  of  the  shore  line 
with  an  ish  id  at  the  entrance.  Three  miles  from  the 
town,  whic.  consists  of  one-story  tiled  adobe  houses, 
and  contaii  a  squalid  population  of  about  four  hun- 
dred person  a  dock  has  been  built,  to  which  ocean 
vessels  may     )  made  fast. 

Thus  the  Central  American  coast  is  passed;  and 
thus  racing  with  the  sun,  down  toward  the  equator, 
and  up  toward  the  pole,  round  by  the  southern  cross, 


PASTIMES  OP  rA.c8KX0KR«. 


We   Work    our  ^^ 

I     V      '"vciuc'u.     IjovDra    ufI.  ■•o"*'  Out  and  now 

■-i-!l'"igto  the  iri„i,„t,„„„l       .,,1  ?'""■"  t"  busi,„.„. 

"'■''"S™,  drinking  iooc    ,m  >'  *'"-*■•    '■'"""•■^'.  »ucS 
the  ,s;,ug<.„us  traoTv-  of  i  f^  ^.' ,  ^  "'"'  """'Jf  t„  tli,.», 

"".'I  S,">U,  filling  i,  ;"X  *°'f'"-  «-ith  an.otln-st  b,  rW 

,.^"  t'."se  sunsets  ;rtu     n/'",';""'^'  E''"™- 

re  u™  „,„,„  «,^  ,,„„1»'-  _       B  ,.>,K  .„ig,,t  p,„,„i-' 

ig  <"  the  (,coan's  brink  if  *  "'"  '^'^Y-     I'au, 

♦ '«  plenitude  of  it"^,.'  '"""'-  «'"'  fliM-s  bark  t 
,^  -.OS  the  puny  ^ffl,^  Xt  t!"-"'-;'^  -"'^'-  »•  .i.  b 
•bvergnig  rays  im.t,,nion.Wn  *?  """"'"'  "'«'  «-itb  itl 
'■■■""tless  iniigos,  u.^rren  1  *"•'  .''"'^•■<'  ™l>"rs  ,to 
ol-ervor.     nte^;  valrs  hL?'     ■  "''■•'S"">tion  of  ;^ 

■  ™"'  ti'eir  author's  deeliiJ  „  j       ™''>'  quarter  to 
1^  departing  gl„ries.     I„'"  L'^  ™*'''  *«  '"«"-e  of 


.    -""•  •^"^^ixautJiors  deolnm   «   j     -^^.m^.  quarter  to 

■1^  departing  gl„ries.     I„'"  L'^  ™*'''  *«  '"«"-e  of 

'■'  '«'>'.  -en  in  it,  perfeetio^orrirt'''  '"^''V 

"•"i  IX  the  tropics,  tile 


9M 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


i 


I- 
ti 

I. 


vital  power  of  the  sun  is  modified  by  the  humidity  of 
the  air  which  it  has  called  up  during  the  day,  and 
which  tinges  the  celestial  blue  with  dark  azure,  fills 
the  heavens  with  delicate  crimson  and  roseate  tints, 
and  turns  the  sky  into  gleaming  gold.  Solar  fires 
are  reflected  upon  the  surface  of  the  agitated  waters, 
and  all  the  west  is  red  with  slain  sunlight. 

The  setting  sun  is  almost  always  accompanied  by 
clouds,  which,  owing  to  the  curvature  of  the  earth, 
though  seemingly  touching  the  water's  edge,  may  be 
two  miles  above  the  ocean ;  they  are  formed  sometimes 
of  ice  and  snow,  and  serve  as  specula  in  the  display 
of  those  prismatic  colors  which  illumine  them  as  they 
wreathe  th.emselves  into  innumerable  grotesque  pic- 
tures of  mountains,  animals,  cities,  and  every  form  of 
imagery  of  wh.jh  the  mind  is  capable  of  conceiving. 
Ranged  in  the  direction  of  the  wind,  in  parallel  grad- 
uating series  one  above  another,  they  sometimes  over- 
spread the  whole  azure  background  from  horizon  to 
zenith,  and  draw  themselves  out  in  long  strips  far 
away  toward  the  dim,  leaden  east,  each  rank  increas- 
ing m  brilliance  toward  the  west.  They  heap  them- 
selves in  huge  billows  of  roseate  vapor,  or  in  mountains 
of  sombre  gray  fringed  with  coppery  crimson,  and 
then  go  cliasing  one  another  with  endless  evolutions 
and  transformations  along  their  blazoned  course. 
Breaking  into  detached  masses,  they  assume  various 
forms,  a  grand  old  temple,  with  arches  and  colunms, 
from  whose  holy  of  holies  flames  the  fiery  orb  as  from 
the  veiled  shekmah,  bathing  the  ocean  in  a  halo  of 
glory;  a  castle  crowning  a  rocky  clifi\  with  turrets 
and  battlements,  with  moat  and  walls  and  pennon- 
bearing  tower;  a  magic  city,  with  gardens,  and  pal- 
aces, and  glittering  domes  and  minarets ;  forms  of 
cool,  inviting  groves,  majestic  forests,  meadows,  and 
grassy  knt^lls;  home  scenes,  the  house,  the  barn,  t\\v 
table  spread  for  tea,  with  the  well-known  forms  of 
loved  ones  gathered  round  it ;  the  fancy-pictured  gold 
land,  whither  tends  every  thought,  and  of  which  all 


SUNSET  AT  SEA. 

"P  the  .»toep'a«,e„T't™s' 'f"f-"^  '""'»  ^S 
waters,  ij  usive  Jftk^«\.  1!  !^  *  cascades  of  tuiuLV^ 
the  inverted  trees  anH  ^''*"'^  ""  «^«Jr  linVpid  ^  ^!'"° 

^on.;  with  htrrd 'f;:r^nr''f  f^^^^^^^^^^^ 

c'ophante,  hydras    1,  "''  ""^stretched  tail-      ? 

'"'gfi..atio,.  pe„ci?"""S  ""^  heart  can   feel™   tJ,e 

wluJe  from  beliind  an  „™''r*5 '',*''«  '"^m^^,^ 

all  nLt      "!'""•''  "ito  brown  Jv  I,  n!  '  f*  ^'°'<'t.  and 

I  •  "orthward  and  soutI,w„r)  "  "''"^e  and  over 

«ky,  hangs  a  gauzy  "'7^'*^' "^'*  ^^and  olouds  and 

»'>^esof^ft,«,i/J«.;.jn   ,nany  several   blending 

"■'■«■  a  plungf  ;Yfe  fn'  "'"'"?'  """  *•>«  ^e-'s  brink 
ffn  stea'mei'rXS^-^ovvnj.and  as  tlfe  £' 

vesem  %  yet  glow;  f^f^^^''^.'^;  and  while  tife 
'""n  the  gray  east,  silentZ  „?         ,'^'"'  f""»"-o  fires 
r^«eps  „p,  coquetting  wrtlff,"^  unobserved,  the  ,„«,„ 

'- -^- on.er  e:L^;^Xwr  s!!;l;'7,s 


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THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


dignity  upon  the  dancing  waters,  whose  undulations 
transform  her  wake  from  a  steady  stream  of  molten 
metal  to  broken  bars,  as  of  a  shining  ladder  leading 
heavenward.    Therewith  she  pursues  her  modest  way. 

The  rising  sun — paling  the  glories  ot  the  southern 
cross,  and  as  enchanting  as  the  sunset  but  for  the  ab- 
sence of  evening  vapors — few  lovers  see.  Those  to 
whom  the  sweet  joys  of  courtship  are  denied,  the 
married,  and  the  hopelessly  incorrigable,  seek  other 
pastimes.  Amateur  theatricals  and  sham  trials  are 
instituted,  in  which  no  small  amount  of  talent  and  wit 
are  often  displayed ;  stories  are  told ;  politics,  science, 
and  religion  discussed,  and  home,  and  California,  and 
gold-getting  talked  about  Some  western  adventurer 
holds  breathless  a  crowd  of  listeners  while  he  spins  a 
yam  of  thrilling  deeds  among  the  savages,  and  of  hair- 
breadth escapes;  then  another  undertakes  to  cap  the 
story  by  improvising  a  more  startling  one,  and  so  the 
fun  goes  on.  The  4th  of  July,  Washington's  birth- 
day, and  Christinas  were  usually  observed;  on  Saint 
Valentine's  day  a  post-office  would  be  opened,  where  a 
list  of  names  was  posted,  and  missives  dealt  to  merry 
recipients.  Some  endeavored  to  sketch  the  coast  as 
they  sailed  by  it,  others  to  cut  its  outline  from  paper. 

Suddenly  the  steam-whistle,  with  a  long  shrill 
blast,  sounds  the  alarm  of  fire,  and  the  terrible  cry  is 
taken  up  and  thrown  from  one  to  another  until  it 
reaches  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  ship.  Pale  faces 
flit  to  and  fro,  and  trembling  knees  stagger  no 
whither.  For  a  moment  all  is  hubbub  and  confusion; 
but  soon  every  man  is  at  his  post;  the  hose  is  un- 
coiled, the  water  is  turned  on,  the  decks  are  flooded, 
the  life-boats  are  made  ready  and  the  life-preservers 
dragged  out.  Some  stand  by,  ready  to  lower  the 
boats,  and  others  with  pistols  and  cutlasses  place 
themselves  on  guard  prepared  to  strike  down  any  wlio 
should  attempt  to  jump  into  them  without  leavi; 
others  with  uplifted  axes  seek  the  thrice  dreaded  foe 


^M  ALAKjf. 
*o  cut  away  thp  r-;.  i  '"' 

pump,  ^'.ne  Jook  aCihe""  *'''"''  "  ''««<'«■     Some 

^?nger^  i„^  a  fire  bXtl  Sf",'?  ^o^ain  of  thet^ 

was  three-foU  •  fi!t^  •!       ^^^  benefit  of  fM^  J  •     • 

a...use„,e„t.  '^^'''  '"''™.  and  mmiyl^X^ 

,  »  ^^emng  bestows  by  far  rt^        .    , 

rolled'  ^Tr"'  tweniyXt  T*-  'Ifs'^*''"'  h"«rs 
aft!.  *?P'  "■"  ™ff'ncati„g  b rea«,  f  ■"  *'"'  *»''""?  is 
alter  the  sun,  and  the  fresh^  f ''*■>'  ^'"^  westward 
water  t„  the  parehed  ton't  T?  '"^  "''"■  ^^'eon'o  as 

gathernig  lustre  with  the^  ,^1     •    '^""^   with    stars 
tile  great  concave   fmm\^^"''"«  "'g*",  and  liZf; 

S^nSVlSred!!:-^^^^^^^^  I^^'^f 

™ys--,s  now  lun>inou   w  th  „,"''  T"^'^'^  ''J'  "'«  S 
'«  the  romance  of  sea-vov3    '^^'■"'''«"*  «■•«•    This 

Occasionally  the  encn^'-«  J''  "'?  P-'^'O' of  trave 
to  renew  the  wadding  rf  l^Pf  '°  repair  a  valve 
now  beam— by  which^l  i  P'"'™,  or  to  nut  i ,    ' 


a 


f  ' ,  n 


208 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


tkr 


times  preach,  if  not,  the  purser  would  read  the  Epis- 
copal service.  Every  few  days,  after  the  waiter  had 
put  the  rooms  in  order,  the  captain  and  steward 
made  a  tour  of  inspection,  looking  into  each  room  as 
they  passed  by,  while  the  waiter  followed  in  the  rear. 
The  kitchen  of  a  Rotterdam  housewife  is  not  more 
brightly  polished  than  the  cook's  galley  on  inspection 
days.  Lighted  up  at  night,  to  one  viewing  it  from  a 
distance,  the  steamer  looked  like  a  fairy  floating 
palace. 

Some  few  were  suffering  from  Panamd  fever,  and 
one  poor  fellow,  a  young  man  in  the  second  cabin, 
died.  It  is  a  sad  sight,  a  burial  at  sea ;  sad  m  its  mo- 
nitions, and  sad  in  its  suggestive  retrospections;  sad 
in  its  summoned  thoughts  of  hopes  cut  off,  of  riven 
hearts  and  wailing  homes.  The  body  was  sewed  up 
in  a  canvas  shroud,  and  a  shot  and  some  pigiron  at- 
tached to  the  feet ;  it  was  then  placed  upon  a  plank, 
one  end  of  which  was  extended  over  the  ship's  side ; 
the  steamer  was  stopped  for  a  moment,  a  prayer  was 
read,  the  signal  given,  and  the  body  slid  off  into  its 
liquid  grave. 

Skirting  the  low,  abruptly  changing  shores  of  Guat- 
emala, its  huge  volcanic  mountains  are  seen  in  dim 
outline  rising  from  the  plain  of  foliage  to  a  height  of 
thirteen  and  fourteen  thousand  feet,  with  their  grace- 
ful cones  seemingly  smoking  within  a  veil  of  mist. 
Here  we  met  the  steamer  with  eastward  bound  pas- 
sengers. The  ship's  officers  were  looking  for  her. 
At  first  nothing  was  seen  but  a  column  of  black  smoke 
rising  from  below  the  horizon,  then  the  smoke-pipe, 
and  beneath  it  an  ink-spot  not  larger  than  a  pea-pod, 
which  stood  for  the  hull.  This  black  spot  gradually 
enlarged  and  assumed  shape,  until  it  loomed  high  upon 
the  water,  a  bellowing  monster  flaunting  its  finery  not 
a  hundred  yards  from  us,  with  its  decks  crowded  with 
men  and  women  waving  hats  and  handkerchiefs. 
Guns  were  fired,  and  a  boat  lowered  to  make  the  ex- 
changes     There  is  much  that  is  grand  and  impressive 


THE  MEXICAN  COAST 

in  such  ft  meetiniT  •         ,  **-' 

s'^em  to  sit  so  prouWr      T  ^"^«  ^n  ocean  «f 
seen  from  «„^f  i      ^'^'  ^^  ^wd  it  so  ?Xi       ^^^ainer 

^lottest  paf  t  of  ?M     ?^  ^^^^^"aiitepec  we  enf 

doice  fir  l;rf  ^^^^^'^Vand  tCLf  "'  ^^^°  ^^^ 
this,  had  o^Tfi7L^«^^^^^^oss  merrdL„"s"r/"r  ^"^ 
"re  in  them      tV     "^  '^^  «ou^d  take  nn%    .,  ^'^^'  ^^^ 

^  eu;se",Jv%T'^  ^^ot^o^et''?  ^^^^^^ 
a bni'  whlnj         y'   ^^'"  upon  u«»-  ih    \/  ^  languor. 

Came  in  si„j,t  tv.  ""■«<'tLi„„g 

tto  right  von  t^  T  ""^  '^ft.  anclat  "ffr'T^  *« 

and  Vou  will  .         .     *"®  buoy.     XToto    i  ^  *"e 

»W  mllt"     ?.  "?*«'•  place  of  exftn^  ^""^  "'■'"'»<' 


'1^ 


210 


'XHE   VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


is  another  entrance,  which,  though  deep  enough,  is  too 
narrow  for  safety. 

This  port,  the  best  on  the  r/estern  coast  of  Mexico, 
and  the  half-way  station  between  Pananid  and  San 
Francisco,  can  safely  harbor  five  hundred  ships.  It 
is  part  of  an  inunense  basin  cut  in  granite  rocks — a 
coarse-grained  granite  like  that  of  Fichtelbcrg  and 
Carlsbad,  toothed  and  rent  like  the  Catalonian  Mount- 
serrat.  Its  shores  are  so  steep  that  vessels  can  lie 
{ihnost  under  the  chaparral  that  overhangs  its  banks. 
Surrounded  by  mountains  rising  on  every  side  from 
six  hundred  to  three  thousand  feet,  the  listless  ocean 
air  seems  inadequate  to  drive  out  the  pent-up  exhala- 
tions from  an  undrained  swamp  filled  with  decaying 
vegetable  matter ;  and  the  town,  which  has  the  name 
of  being  the  hottest  place  on  the  route,  is  considered 
quite  unhealthy.  For  weeks  the  tliermometer  stands 
at  120°  in  the  shade  at  mid-day.  In  early  days  a  gap 
wa?  cut  in  the  hills  to  admit  a  current  of  air ;  it  was 
also  used  as  a  roadway,  and  thf;  great  gash  is  pointed 
to  travellers  as  a  specimen  of  Spanish  energy  and 
capal)ility  in  the  olden  time.  On  a  strip  of  soft  white 
sand  encircling  the  bay  grow  cocoa-palms,  their  long 
green  arms  and  smooth  stems  bending  with  fruit ;  and 
the  amata,  or  tree  of  love,  offers  its  umbrolla  form  and 
magnetic  influence  to  all  who  choose  to  avail  themselves 
of  its  ravishing  shade. 

Time  was  when  this  port  was  more  famous  through- 
out tlie  world  than  that  of  New  York,  or  any  otlicr 
along  the  border  of  the  firm  land  of  America,  if  we 
except  Vera  Cruz  and  Panamd.  Under  Spanish  ruL , 
it  lay  in  the  line  of  travel  from  the  Philippine  islands 
across  Mexico  to  Vera  Cruz,  over  which  route  annual 
caravans  of  loaded  mules  carried  the  wares  of  Cljiria, 
Japan,  and  the  Spice  islands,  thence  shipped  to  Spain. 
Enjoying  a  monopoly  of  the  Manila  trade,  it  was  fre- 
quented by  galleons  which  annually  dispensed  their 
rich  cargoes  to  merchants  who  flocked  down  from  the 
':;apital  to  make  their  purchases,  and  who  at  the  same 


ACAPULCO. 

dred  leagues,  travellT„n?.i'''''° ,''''''»"  «"«  hun- 
;"»"'?>     The  road  is  ffi;>  Paek-muie,  and  saddle 

»"d.ts  than  that  from  Mi*"' ^^Z"''"'"""*"''  h 

*'""•  "'«  ^ame  winding  wthl  an  *f  "  '"  ""-^  ''i'''''-- 
conveyance  over  them'b^„„  e,nnl  "^ .'"""'  "■«»»«  "f 
tamed  m  the  days  of  C„S       ^  ^■'''  """  «>«*  "b- 

t-n  Sn*!;1sl^'~  a  busy  population  of  fif.  ^ 
"f  three  thousand.  Tim  ^,  i  ."  ''f"'^*^'  '"ert  town 
I'ut  the  business  h  nm^}J^^^t^T  '«  h«ter„„ene  u" 
""d  Europeans.  ICl^'l"  *''"  'i""'''  "f  A»,eri™ns 
of  animated  traders  olfi''ft'' P'-"*^'  *here  .-rmn"' 
:'"o"  seen,  and  on    i.eTarml  *?'''•  ™/'  S^'-'We'^^s  a  ' 

;i«  from  it  are  situa  ed  h™  L"'''"?".'"  ^"■"'*'  ''ad- 
tilod  adobe,  stone  and  J    j     ^."'''■'''a''tial  houses  „f 

»"d  bc.fore;hich dei-rf  "'  "'"'  P=''"-Svo: 
nnd  rain,     The  shops  S,  '    /"■"•"■"t^ftion  fro„,  su^' 
are  da.=,lingjy  white'^'i'l  rVr'-"^"-<'wellin"" 
"'■*-■  y      The  tun,blinlQls  of  '"'"*'"■""•  ""at am 
<cup,ed,  give  the  appeararce  J    t^-^V^nts  long  u„- 

«-'s  a  mnnature  ship  to  assist  tl^  fi-o,„  the  ceili,,,. 
It  was  half  past  eighnS,  nl        "^^^  "^  "tailors! 
JWeh  I9th  when  the /^„„„,;  «     ?",  *'"^  «^«>ing  of 
P"'<o  bay,  and  there  we  mS  Id      .  1'''  ^^  '•»  Aca- 
Soaroely  does  the  steamer  e™l1  ""td  noon  next  day. 
rrounded   by  canoes  ladeT  with  f"'"!"''  ^^'"'<'  't  is 
.  nnmg  from  various  parts  „ftf    7'*'  "'"*  «'""« 


212 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


shell-work,  and  are  often  paddled  by  a  woman  with  a 
cigar  in  her  mouth,  while  a  man  or  boy  attends  the 
floating  shop.  Traffic  is  conducted  in  this  wise: 
Ranging  themselves  along  both  sides  of  the  steamer 
tlie  dark-visaged  venders  lift  up  their  e3^e8  and  voices 
to  those  above  inviting  trade.  Armed  with  a  basket 
or  mat  bag,  to  which  is  attached  one  end  of  a  long 
line,  they  throw  the  other  end  up  over  the  guard. 
Whoever  wishes  to  make  a  purchase  takes  the  line, 
draws  up  the  basket,  and  puts  into  it  a  piece  of  money. 
Then  loweringr  it  to  the  boat  and  intimating  what  is 
wanted,  the  seller  takes  the  money  and  puts  m  the 
basket  its  equivalent  in  wares  which  are  then  drawn  up 
on  board  by  the  purchaser.  Tired  of  this  you  may 
amuse  yourself  by  throwing  dimes  or  quarters  over- 
board, and  watching  the  naked  tawny-skinned  urchins ; 
who  float  about  the  ship  as  in  their  natural  element, 
dive  and  scramble  down  into  the  transparent  water 
ten  or  twenty  feet,  and  come  up  porpoise-like,  puffing 
and  blowing  the  water  out  of  their  heads,  with  the 
glittering  coin  between  thumb  and  finger.  Seldom  or 
never  do  they  fail  catching  it  before  it  sinks  very  far, 
and  holding  it  up  to  view  for  a  moment  they  throw  it 
into  their  mouths  and  watch  for  more.  These  boys 
will  thus  remain  in  the  water  for  hours  without  any 
support  save  that  which  a  slow  fin-like  motion  of 
arms  and  legs  gives  them,  and  despite  the  sharks  to 
which  one  of  them  is  now  and  then  sacrificed.  To 
him  who  has  made  the  voyage,  the  bare  mention  of 
these  little  incidents  will  call  up  a  thousand  associa- 
tions which  will  enable  him  in  some  degree  to  live 
again  the  time  that  formed  so  important  an  epoch  in 
the  life  of  every  Californian. 

While  the  steamer  is  taking  in  coals,  cattle,  fowls 
fruit,  and  water,  which  occupies  several  hours,  you 
may  if  you  like  go  ashore  in  a  boat  and  visit  the 
town,  less  than  a  mile  distant,  in  a  recess  of  the  bay. 
Near  the  landing,  and  on  the  shady  side  of  the  plaza, 
you  will  find  spread  out  on  tables  and  on  the  ground 


"UMPSES  AT  MEXICAN  UFR 


fioad  a  necklace,  at  the  1ml    •        thr„ws  over  ,0'*;' 
«'t,  but  should  Jou  et  TrL"""  '"■'''"S.  it  is  a  C 
«..ne  far  before  the  co4e  eoW  iV""  *'"  "<>'    m'  J 
lesires  a  present  in  return      a''  '?'"".*'  *■»•'«  u,,  a,  j 
lx=  served  bv  a  female  iJ^'    ,^  ""o  <Hnnw  usLi  t 
'■""k  and  virago      At     -T^'l  ''''^'touratcur  atot 

-■'"ke.andsip^Ta^i"?"   '""ngo  i„   sha^  n"!'' 

substantial  .til),  Ihoulh  "rruU  '^t'""''  ''^id  I  J 

sonod  by  one  „r  two  eonimnL      /'  '^  "^ual'v  "arri 
"Miers  with  heterogenoTun,?  "^  '^''^'^  barrfCd 
■■«s  anns.     In  a  clSir  "nZf  • "'" "'"'  "'"'ost  wor  , 
'"wn   there   is  del^XJT^  **'"  ^'''oam  back  of  Vt 
tl'f  stand  on    he  S'^l''  bathing,  but  thet,^  riS" 

";»ko  it  an  awkard  posi, ilf   '"  '""«'•  -^^>^tu 
Pl-'ced  in.     Oecasio,,olf  "  "  ""x'est  man  t  ''7' 

™  <■„  previous  to  our  arrival      « '"  *""'  '■'''»^''«l   tc\ 
-   been  contributed  ?or  h  1  reli:;?  ''?''"«'  <'*- 


214 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


cjast,  and  others  with  intentionally  running  his  sliip 
ashore.  All  the  upward  bound  steamera  were  crowded, 
and  were  unable  to  take  on  board  the  shipwrecked 
passengers.  C.  J.  Dempster,  J.  B.  Crockett,  J.  Mc- 
Dous^al  and  wife,  and  thirty-four  others,  men,  women, 
and  children,  succeeded  in  securing  passage  by  the 
Panamd;  the  rest  were  obliged  to  wait  until  a  vessel 
could  be  sent  them.  There  were  in  all  about  eisxht 
hundred,  passengers  and  crew.  Four  hundred  had 
taken  passage  in  sailing  vessels  and  steamers  for  San 
Francisco;  the  others  were  in  a  destitute  condition, 
and  subsisted  on  contributions.  There  was  much  suf- 
fering among  the  women  and  children  durini;  their 
march  through  an  inhospitable  country,  and  while  at 
Aeapulco  tlicre  was  nmch  sickness  and  several  deaths. 
After  some  delay,  the  clipper  ship  Nortlieni  Lifjht  was 
sent  by  Mr  Vandewater,  agent  for  the  company  at 
San  Francisco,  to  their  relief.  Stockton  matlo  a 
movement  in  their  aid,  and  Mayor  Harris  of  San 
Francisco  called  a  meethig  on  the  29th  of  Mai-cli — 
rather  late,  one  would  think,  but  better  than  never — 
to  devise  measures  to  render  them  assistance.  Many 
were  inclined  to  censure  the  company  for  their  dila- 
toriness  in  despatching  them  conveyance  to  San  Fran- 
cisco. One  hundred  and  twentv  thousand  dollars,  it 
was  stated,  had  been  paid  by  the  North  America's  pas- 
sengers; through  no  fault  of  theirs,  they  had  been 
thrown  on  a  foreign  and  unhealthy  shore,  and  now 
tlie  company  were  loth  to  spend  a  few  thousand  dol- 
lars to  save  their  lives. 

Next  day  we  were  at  sea  again,  carrying  with  us, 
as  it  would  seem,  half  the  inhabitants  of  the  ocean. 
M^'riads  of  flying-fish  skim  over  the  smooth  sea,  flash- 
ing their  silver  tinted  wings  as  they  skip  from  wave 
to  wave,  or  break  cover  and  fly  away.  Sharks  dart 
by,  leaving,  if  it  be  night,  a  phosphorescent  wak(\ 
broken  and  luminous  like  fiery  serpents;  porpoises 
and  dolphins  leap  and  gallop  along,  and  play  about 
the  ship,  following  in  its  wake,  or  trying  the  metal 


MEXICAN  rORTd. 

oHheir  heads  acrainst  fJ,«f    r  .,  '^' 

-go  turtle  is  Cl'ati^'i  'r"*"^*^r-     »-«  a 
'uge,  snorting  bJackfisr^^Jnl.      •^''^^r'  ^'""^^^r  a 

^;':^-  '"g  and  8Woopi,MM    fj'^'  ^^'jterspout.    S.a-birds 

«iHps  wake  for  tJ,iirC£t'"'^  «"ther  wateh  til 

iiiore  are  tJiroo  Mov,'  „ 
«»cl   the  gulf  of  cXnia^aTtKl^''^"^^^-P"ieo 
«  earners  son.etin.os   Ch     M.^^^'^A  *^'^    ^^^^^nd 
hundred  ivilvs  nortii  of  A      T"^^"^^"'    »«'"o    four 

^-  n,  opposite  Ca])e  St  lZ,  !  ,  ^'1  1' ""'''  ^^^^^^*^- 
aJ^ove  Sun  Bias.  Manzlnni  ^  ^'""^^'^d  "'iJes  or  so 
tl.roe  huiidrod  soverd  l  '  i""  f -"^  ^'^''"'^'*  <>^  P-rhans 
P-t  of  CoIuna:Tte'";  ^  "'l'^^^^'^^-  tie  sT 
J'^dts  inland.     On   n    ^        t^     ^^^^^    seventy  fiv.. 

"oarly  alivajs    oivoroW   S  '°'''  ">  'icisrlyt    is 

Trc.  Man-,./  ida,.:;^-'^   -f '-»«;.     L»vi„^  '^ 

;';-'  ™,)ciy  t,.at^;^:;f , ; ,  X ;:,  'r,  '"""■-'  ^ot 

l';<-t">^«)ue  port  of  MaLt^^™^''  "'«'"»d  it.     Th 
"tl'erwise  unbroken  swX.?  t,"  '"'*1«'  f'"'"  the 

'\';|eh   tJ.e   sea  dashes  t'V  "^"""1  ■•""'    '"tweon 
*'"'".  is  safe,  ex-ccS  from  ,    'iT"-     ^''«  ""ehora.^e 
P"aehing  the  l,arbjr  the  1?.'."'*'"'*''  S^'''^-     <>"  a°P-        ' 
'"  «ie  dark  rod  ohffs  oL"T    ?'  '""'''"''  "'"'  '»■■>"' 
K";en  transparent  waer7j„e;rr'.r''',,»""«3  the 
!■  eturc,  with  a  dim  back  , 'o»n-l     /"^  '''"'  "  *'''te 
J  amtlan  is  the  most  imno'',S^t''M    ■"'™"*''"'  ""«• 
"'«   Pae,fie,  and   displZ^?!-  Tf '",?"  «™i'»rt  on 
".mnerolal  activity  i  ^' \,S   '^T.f "''  ''^'*'"«  "" 

12,000  or  15,000,  the  climate"  e'altlntl ''?"'""""  '^ 

"caJtii^,  the  liouses  sub- 


316 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CAUFORNIA. 


etantial,  and  coated  with  dazzling  white  or  straw  color, 
and  the  streets  clean. 

Crossing  the  gulf  and  continuing  our  course,  on  the 
27tli  we  meet  the  steamer  Neiv  Orleans  bound  soutli. 
Past  the  surge-smoothed  granite  colunuis,  caverned 
rocks,  and  high  white  beach  of  Cape  St  Lucas,  and 
out  of  the  intertropical  regions,  and  the  temperature 
changes ;  particularly  in  summer,  when  the  traveller 
leaves  the  warm  southerly  winds  of  the  Central 
American  and  Mexican  coasts  for  the  cool  bracing 
northwesters  and  chilly  fogs  of  California.  And 
with  the  climate  scenery  changes,  and  desolation  now 
marks  the  border  of  our  way,  hitherto  robed  in  re- 
dundant vegetation.  The  forest-clad  Cordilleras  of 
Mexico  disappear  and  the  treeless  hills  of  the  penin- 
sula come  in  view.  Approaching  the  colder  regions, 
the  albatross  turns  back  and  we  are  met  by  myriads 
of  Mother  Carey's  chickens,  and  graceful  gulls  which 
follow  the  shij)  for  hundreds  of  miles.  The  southern 
cross  dips  lower  and  lower  until  it  finally  disappears, 
and  the  north  star  rises  each  nijiht  hiifher  above  the 
horizon.  Droopmg  spirits  revive.  White  linens  and 
blue  flannels  are  packed  away,  and  winter  woolens 
and  thick  clothing  substituted. 

The  coast  of  Lower  California  as  seen  from  the 
steamer,  presents  a  series  of  openings  and  headlands, 
with  now  and  then  volcanic  mountains,  and  unbroken 
plains  of  vast  extent,  reaching  far  into  the  interior, 
all  basking  beneath  a  fervent  sky.  In  places  are 
rocky  steeps  over  which  are  scattered  a  few  cacti  and 
some  distorted  shrubs,  with  more  robust  vegetation 
back  of  all,  and  now  a) A  then  a  fertile-looking  valley 
running  inland.  Tiie  islands  of  Santa  Margarita  and 
Cerros  lying  near  the  mainland  present  rather  an  un- 
inviting appearance.  The  country,  however,  is  more 
attractive  on  nearer  acquaintance. 

And  now  our  eager  eyes  catch  the  half-transparent 
hills  of  Alta  California,  but  before  we  fairly  reach 


SAN  DIEGO. 

them  we  turn  an^  «  ^  ^'^ 

»■'«  placed  LnTfi        "■',"  t»-oaM,.  whn'^t, *'"  ?"»"'. 

''^  «aiied  into  it  %  '"^l?"^  ^"^  ««,  and  tJ.lr  -^^ 

\  "^"ver  encountered     M  ''  ^"^  "^  ^^'^  severe  f    ?^'"'' 
^'"'uu-h  oiir^         .      % 'fc  vvus  cloo.l,       •  T  ^^  Storms 

out  in  f^P'^'^^^^^P^ic  vision      fts  fT'      ^^  *^'^^  accursed 


218 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


fill 


a  prairie  bison,  the  ship's  bow  pointed  now  upward 
toward  the  sky,  now  downward  into  the  depths. 
Responsive  to  the  sh?'ieking  blast  the  phosphorescent 
waves  reared  tlieir  crests  on  higli,  clashed  one  against 
another,  and  breaking  into  foam  shot  brilliant  streams 
of  spray  into  the  black  air,  like  flashes  of  light  from 
a  luminous  snov/drift.  Fearing  to  be  driven  to  de- 
struction before  the  wind,  the  steamer's  bow  was 
pointed  athwart  the  waves,  and  tiiere  in  the  teeth  of 
the  storm  the  utmost  efforts  were  made  to  prevent 
her  beini;  cauyjlit  and  overturned  in  the  trout^h  of  the 
sea. 

Returning  to  my  berth,  and  bracing  myself  and 
holding  on,  I  lay  listening  to  the  creaking  timbers 
and  straining  joints,  to  the  thud  and  rattle  of  the 
waters  against  the  ship's  planks,  to  the  crashing  of 
glass  and  crockery,  and  the  clatter  and  bang  of  loose 
furniture  and  baggage,  sent  hither  and  thither  by 
every  lurch  of  the  struggling  ship,  to  the  shouts  of 
sailors,  and  the  nnngled  moans  and  blasphemies  of 
passengers ;  watchhig  through  the  slow  hours  for  day. 
listening  for  some  break  in  the  beating  macliinery 
which  should  leave  us  at  the  mercy  of  the  waves, 
wondering  if  ever  I  should  see  the  firm  and  beauteous 
earth  again. 

Dawn  brought  only  increased  fury  to  the  storm. 
No  tables  could  be  set  that  day ;  indeed,  there  was 
little  thought  of  eating,  for  long  before  the  tempest 
had  spent  itself  the  ship  was  despaired  of,  and  such 
passengers  as  were  out  of  bed  were  beaten  about  like 
footballs.  All  loose  canvas  was  torn  to  shreds,  and 
boats  were  splintered  and  sent  flying  from  their  fas- 
tenings Clothes  went  a  drift  without  their  owners, 
and  half-dressed  men  and  women  staggered  about  in 
dismay  and  confusion.  Heavy  seas  were  shipped  in 
rapid  succession;  the  wind  and  waves  swept  over  tlio 
deck  in  a  hurricane,  and  to  add  to  our  distress  the 
ship,  though  comparatively  new,  had  parted  lur 
seams,  and  was  leaking  badly,  so  that  all  the  pumps 


STORM  ON  THE  PACIFIC 

unfa  'eZ,t:r  r*.  ^-«  --  - " 

bottom  of  watery  sulehes  17 '^"^i  '"""'^"'^  "*  tl,e 

her  beam  enda,  sea;^,e„  cfu„rt„  H, ''' •  ""?"*  ''"«'''  »» 
iivea  """'g  to  the  rigg,„g  fo^  (.,,^5^ 

%-.f(irr  w,etr  g::^„x  ■''/"^  *>-'«•-* 

«""(!  had  increased  until  ttetZ/"''   '*'=''*'.>•  "'e 
'"|ig  imrscd  for  wortl.v  n.      ■  "P'f'et'  sea,  in  wrath 
''"Shty  unrest;  therrJsSr:;"'  ^''"°'' 't^elf  i„   ^ 
tiio  .stonn  culminated  in  a  fre.T"  f".'  "''"'  "  how], 
away  toward  the  west  u  fder  t  "T  n^  ^V'     ^'"^"'S 

fi<;;g clouds,  lookin,,  quickh  w,  n  •ir''^""' '^'4 

t»nlv  balanced  herselfCsome  f'  '  ■''^  *''''P  '"""'™- 
air,  looking  far  away,  as  IrT  tif"* """8  '^"^  high  in 
«here   the   low    scwhUh^ivI   '"•>'''  7"'''  '''■''"h,  to 

where  air  and  water  wlpnedX^      >         """""   ""*■ 
«'aand  sky  were  one,  3  I  ±  '"'r'' *'«^"'"' ""d 
sierra  a  succession  of  nJli„„T.       '^'';"'  """"'  high 
and  splashing  clift.     Sfw  ''^'^J  «'a.ssy  guI,h-3, 
perhaps,   hundreds   of  nX^    "'    they  can,e,   born 
™hH,g  after  them,  roar™    LTf '  ,T"  '    "'""^a"'! 
ful  as  ,f  to  overwhchn  us."    TholiW  "f""''  "™'h- 
I  stood  was  no   more   to  the  ,  I         ''"!'  ""  ""hich 
t"  a  whirlwind.      Tl,en  L     i     *°."   *    ''uzzin..  flv 
•"t"  the  deep  smootl UnS"^"^  ''^™"""Sf  ^>""^ 
"Pward,    beheld   on   either      T   ™"""'  "'"'  '""1<"'S 
""■""tain,  with  tremb  n^  d       ■  *  '"•'*'"^'   "'"'ten 
"aele,    with  aerriedu"^,if  ".«"»<'  «''*-""'^'  Pi' - 
t"o„„|,  and  ahnost  per^^      ic„  .  "  'iTT''  ••"'"    f'^" 
stieaked  with  stri„g/fi,i  , '  ^    I  J'^'^^'^'"'-"  "alls 
t.ent  avahanche  leaped  t  o' ,b  f,     '"f-'.T*  """'^^  hnpa- 
'I'"."    I'e  laboring  slip  W  ,w  "  ?i„"''  ^'^^  "''"'  "  "rish 
looked  again  u,,°,  (,,'„  ,;^ '";      '  ce  nmre  uplifted,  I 

-toll  waves,  beautiful  "  teir  e  "  ""'"'  !""'  ^^a«s 
now  r,s„,g  V  ,„  mountai  s  now  n  eT.-™''^'"'^  '"'"'^' 
then  turning,  surge  meetin  J  sT.  'f  """  P'ains 

terdance;  and  now  come,  t^        "."  '"  f"aH,ing  c.-uii- 

'"«  brine  swifter;,: rDiitrtr'-T "'"-^^■ 

'anas  dart,  and  seizmg  (,ho 


220 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


chafing  main  beats  down  its  wild  roaring  breakers, 
holds  the  crushed  waves  in  fierce  embrace  while  yet 
other  howling  gusts  sweep  over  them,  then  relaxing, 
stirs  up  the  levelled  surface,  smites  the  atrugglin<r 
streams  into  dust,  and  breaks  the  liberated  waves  into 
IVaojnients  swirled  off  in  surge-flakes  into  the  leaden 
air. 

As  I  have  before  remarked,  the  petty  annoyances 
of  travel  try  temper  and  discover  the  varying  play  of 
light  and  shade  in  character.  Now  a  storm  at  sea 
tries  men's  souls,  and  discovers  to  each  the  measure 
of  his  manhood,  of  his  faith,  of  his  courage  and  cal- 
lousness; discovers  to  him  the  realities  of  his  religion, 
if  he  has  any,  the  povert}''  of  his  hopes  if  he  has  none. 
And  like  all  phenomena  througliout  the  realm  of  na- 
ture, there  are  no  two  human  cliaracters  alike,  and  no 
two  manifestations  exactly  similar  under  the  influence 
of  fear.  In  this  instance,  throughout  the  night,  and 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  day,  some  slept  and 
snored  on,  others  lay  awake  in  their  berths,  nmto, 
and  a[)parently  indifferent,  others,  greatly  frightened, 
clutched  their  beds  and  groaned.  Some,  throwing 
themselves  upon  their  knees,  poured  forth  petitions 
to  unseen  powers,  now  in  dismal  howls  and  now  in 
intelligible  prayer ;  others  were  so  smitten  witli  cow- 
ard fear,  so  hopeless  and  helpless,  as  scarcely  to  know 
wliat  they  did,  and  mingling  incoherent  oaths  and  ex- 
clamations witli  their  pitiful  cries,  they  looked  ateacli 
other  and  shuddered,  clasped  hands  convulsively,  gazed 
beseechingly  upon  tlie  merciless  ocean,  and  let  fly  their 
thoughts  back  to  tliehome  thcv  had  left -and  forward 
to  the  California  their  hopes  had  aspired  to,  and  which 
now  seemed  a  million  of  leagues  awav. 

Not  onlv  did  the  storm  severelv  tax  the  strength 
of  the  ship,  but  it  made  such  inroads  upon  the  scanty 
fuel  that  there  was  gieat  danger  of  our  being  left 
exposed  powerless  to  the  fury  of  the  waves.  Our 
captain  therefore  about  noon  this  day,  which  was  tlio 
28th   of  March,  came   to  anchor   under  the  lea  of 


Monterey. 
a  low   island,   and   aft.,   tu  "" 

dence  of  the  wind  for  over  s^rt '^""'"g    **«  ™bsi- 

night  oa^'et^'wltrf"^  "T^-^  i^if  and  anoth 
the  iowerin,  sCmZjTr.f"  "'  «- "o" 
Once  more  nothini,  canTJ  !       "  *'"'  ""qniot  ocean' 

tie  darkness  and   the   t-     m*   ^  waters;  yon  f„„"5 

^  O,  sinking  ,s  as  the  sii.l-;„  ? .  *  *""  "'aves  ■  and 
. ,;;  "'"f  wave  that  striSmf„„"«°  ''f  F^^''^-  ever3 
'■■K    locls  upon  the  coffin        '       *''"  ''**'' '«  like  fa]f. 

^^''''^C'&Z^r  -"  --  "er  passion 

F'om  the  ocean  the  Cwl ''''"'  .'"*"  hazyCrDfe 
I"':;'  '•ugged  barren  sea  wa  1  /"*'' '«'''«  like  tSt 


■ 

'1 

1 

ri 

F 

■1 

If:' 

1 

$ 

i 

w 

a, 

i 

222 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


the  sometime  famous  capital  of  California,  which 
point  we  reached  at  nine  o'clock  that  night.  A 
shelving  point,  Phios  by  name,  green  with  waving 
pines  and  terminating  in  black  rocks,  marks  the  ap- 
proach to  Monterey  bight,  an  indentation  of  the 
coast,  scarcely  to  be  called  a  harbor,  yet  generally 
safe  f(jr  shipping.  Rising  behind  a  town  of  five  hun- 
dred inhabitants,  of  spacious  well-built  tiled  adobes, 
intermixed  with  dwellings  of  wood,  with  government 
buildings,  and  a  fort  on  an  eminence  near  the  water, 
is  an  amplutheatre  of  wooded  hills  glowing  like  an 
illuminated  p"u»rama  in  the  warm  hazy  air — the 
whole  forming  i  '  ely  and  picturesque  a  scene  as 
the  sun  shines  on. 

ThK)Ugliout  the  next  day  all  hands  were  busy 
chopping  and  taking  in  wood.  Setting  sail  at  half 
past  nine  we  prepared  with  some  nervous  i/au'le  de 
cocnr  ft>r  the  last  night,  that  most  joyous  of  all  nights 
on  shipboard.  By  daylight  next  morning,  which  was 
the  1st  of  April,  1852,  the  bold  rugged  clifts  of  jioints 
Lobos  and  Bonito  are  in  full  view,  the  lonely  Faral- 
lones  stand  sentinel  on  our  left,  while  northward 
in  the  direction  of  Point  Reyes  stretch  the  high 
rockv  ixalleries  of  the  coast  which  bound  the  sea  to 
its  very  edge. 

Slow  ?  The  sluggish  boat  seems  scarcely  to  move  1 
The  lazy  wheels  slap  the  water  in  aggravating  dor- 
manc}",  and  between  each  step  of  the  walking-beam 
you  ma}'  count  a  month.  By  far  the  longest  hour 
upon  the  route  is  that  when,  with  adjusted  rigging 
and  slushed  masts  and  feed  waiter  and  lut;<jfajje  read\', 
we  watch  wath  feverish  impatience  the  slowly  lessen- 
ing distance  between  us  and  the  headlands.  It  was 
in  order,  the  day  before  this  last,  for  the  captain's 
ftivorites  to  prepare  a  fulsome  testimonial  for  gentle- 
manly conduct  and  able  seamanship,  to  be  publisheil 
in  the  daily  journals  on  landing  ;  while  those  who 
fancied  themselves  to  have  been  ill  used  might  cliaiigc 
their  muttering  curses   into  bold  charges,  and  talk 


SAN  FRANCISCO. 

the  eh„,,,,i,     k„  betwoof  tl  rt- 1',"'  '■"""'^'  ov"" 
to  s  of  tlie  Golden  GatP^il,      . '"?.''  •^'uff-bouiul  J,/ 

W K^  scream,  then  si,?,,  e'/  a  ,c  t  ,1""'    'i'"  ^'''rti^'d 

"ow  ,u,esce„t  under  anl '  ]"''  '""'  ^■«""»-  sa;id 
or"  gauze,  ehoer.   fi,,", ' ^  oZT''  '"'"'^  "'■'  ^ 
■m      K    ."'""'•*''«  "-"tor  and  T,^  ."/P""  «'«  «!'ore 
<'"tl    boats    come   al„n.r,i,f'     ,,   ''•■"""'crcl„-cf:,  wave 

«'nyard  to  tl,o  wharf  ,°  1        *.'"^"   ^'o  i""vo   ,l„wl!; 
Out  of  the  pij;;-;  :  f„:'"-J"«™oy  is  done.    '  '"'^ 

me  of  a  glowi„./s°„  p  f  ■-"■  '"*"  *'"=  «oft  war,,, 
.0  never  Vict  =,:      ITSZ""""'"^'  »«•  "- 
"W  from  tlio  tables  with  tl,!'    f  '"'f'^tiNg  sn,e)ls 

"okroaebed  cabins,  aS    hi  dh.^'S'^r  ''"«'•   ^om 
j"d  dishes,  on  to  the  firn,  «rou^  "'"'.'•'^"ter  of  g„„ 

'ah  and  clean  linen,  and  ^iS,  T'"'  "'"'  '»'"  a 

«Kfast;  away  from  tlie  horriw!  f  ^'  ?"  "H'etizh... 
'■»  osolo,,o^becp],aunt«l  f  n,f  ,  '^^^  "^^  *'  irh  wS 
"«'  "«'-se  jesters,  and  selfis      '^"'■"""'«'«l  .wearers 

ami^ff      1  '''''"''"S  "'Others  i,d  *"'''"'/'"'  "'.""g 

-e  so  lately  clo.:^n  cd  j  r.'"™  ""''  *™Patio  s'^ 
'"""g  their  thirtv-dWvn,     "'"'"" '"'pes  and  peril 

^-«-.     The   bond  T.S'Sottor^"'  '•",'  *'- 

1        equality    accideiitaJly 


ill 


224 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA. 


made  is  forever  broken;  now  money,  not  steam  and 
iron  and  plank,  is  God. 

Asliore  I  Never  have  I  experienced  greater  pliys- 
ical  pleasure  than  in  the  first  hour  ashore  from  a  long 
and  tedious  voyage.  Every  pore  of  my  senses  drinks 
satisfaction ;  head  and  heart  and  heels  unite  in  speak- 
ing their  content ;  it  is  like  an  escape  from  prison  or  a 
release  from  purgatory.  So  am  I  in  California,  the 
lovely,  the  golden-dreamed,  the  wonderful  1  Looking 
over  the  water  toward  the  east,  I  see  through  the 
subtle  violet  haze,  the  land  before  me  like  a  land  of 
promise;  mountain,  vale,  and  bay  glimmering  in  a 
flood  of  saffron  sunlight,  zoned  and  studded  with  bright 
emerald  hills — gold  and  green,  significant  of  the  royal 
metal  in  its  veins,  and  the  elements  of  the  rich  har- 
vest hidden  in  its  breast. 


Iiivei 

erit. 


So 

some 
even  f 
state. 
Son 
Sj)ania 
temple 
f<»r  a  f( 
troasui 
down  t 
cold  di 
ever  be 
roirion 
Ki  J3orJ 
giJt  sJio 
J",!,''  at  a 
lantern 
t^io  rain 
was  not 
The  t 
far  as  an 
into  sobe 
Some  say 
[ey.  in  G 
because  i 

Caj 


CHAPTER  IX. 


EL  DORADO. 

Inveteracct  lioc  qucxjue ;   et  quod  hodie  exeinplis  tueinur,  inter  cxcin^Ia 

erit. 

—  Ttu-ilu.i. 

So  they  called  the  country  El  Dorado,  The  Glided; 
some  of  them  so  called  it  not  knowing;  why ;  the  name 
even  fastening  itself  upon  a  political  division  of  the 
state. 

Some  of  them  knew  that  since  the  coming  of  the 
S}>aniards,  when  Vasco  Nunez  hunted  for  the  golden 
temple  of  Dabaiba,  and  Juan  Ponce  de  Leon  searched 
for  a  fountain  of  perpetual  youth,  and  Cortds  freighted 
treasure  ships  from  Mexico,  and  Pizarro  from  Peru, 
down  to  the  silvery  days  of  stock  gambling,  and  the 
cold  dull  tyranny  of  railroad  management,  tlierc  has 
ever  been  in  the  minds  of  the  greedy,  somewhere  a 
region  ruled  by  El  Dorado,  or  rather  a  place  called 
El  Dorado,  or  The  Gilded.  It  was  not  necessary  the 
gilt  should  be  gold,  or  even  that  there  should  b(^  gild- 
ing at  all ;  indeed,  the  thing  was  rather  of  the  Jack-a 
lantern  order,  or  like  the  crock  of  gold  at  the  end  of 
the  rainbow,  when  ready  to  put  your  hand  upon  it,  it 
was  not  there. 

The  true,  or  original  El  Dorado — that  is,  true  so 
far  as  any  aborginal  or  other  mythology  can  be  woven 
into  sober  story — was  in  South  America,  wiiere,  as 
some  say,  the  micaceous  quartz  in  the  Essequibo  val- 
ley, in  Guiana,  gilded  the  land.  Or  it  may  have  been 
because  the  high  priest  of  Bogotd  sprinkled  his  person 


Cal.  Int.  Poc.   16 


(226) 


t« 


^■■\ 


226 


EL  DORADO, 


with  gold  dust,  thus  originating  the  idea  of  a  gilded 
humanity,  that  people  came  to  think  of  the  country 
as  gilded. 

The  high  priest.  El  Dorado,  the  lord  of  this  magnif- 
icence— for  chief  and  country  generally  bore  the  same 
name — was  every  day  annointed  with  perfumed  gum 
and  bathed  in  gold-dust,  so  that  his  whole  body  glit- 
tered like  the  sun.  His  moving  was  as  the  moving  of 
a  golden  statue,  and  his  breathing  was  as  of  subli- 
mated diamonds.  Incredible  it  would  ever  seom, 
were  not  the  truth  verified  by  many  witnesses,  liow 
long,  and  earnestly,  and  honestly  men  pretending  to 
sanity  sought  this  myth.  Beginning  with  Sebastian 
de  Belalcdzar  in  1535,  and  Gonzalo  Pizarro  in  1539, 
the  valley  of  Dorado  was  the  object  of  search  by 
various  expeditions  fitted  out  from  Peru,  Quito,  Bra- 
zil, New  Grenada,  and  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  the  in- 
fatuation continuing  down  to  as  late  a  period,  in  one 
instance  at  least,  as  1775. 

Coming  to  more  definite  statements,  we  know  that 
a  Spaniard  named  Martinez  reported  that  having  been 
adrift  at  sea  he  was  thrown  on  the  coast  of  Guiana, 
and  taken  to  Manoa,  the  capital  of  the  king  of  that 
region,  who  was  an  ally  of  the  incas  of  Peru,  that  tlie 
roof  and  walls  of  the  city,  wherein  he  had  resided 
seven  months,  were  covered  with  the  precious  metals. 
Orellana,  a  lieutenant  of  Pizai  ro,  who  visited  the  val- 
ley of  the  Amazonas,  1540-1,  spoke  of  a  region  whtro 
gold  and  silver  abounded  to  a  fabulous  extent.  He 
reported  to  have  been  in  Manoa,  and  to  have  seen  the 
immense  treasures.  Van  Hutten,  who  commanded 
an  expedition  from  Coro,  on  the  coast  of  Venezuela, 
1541-5,  thought  that  he  had  caught  a  glimpse  of  the 
golden  city, .  in  search  of  which  he  had  started. 
Several  expeditions  undertaken  to  reach  the  mythical 
region  failed,  notably  one  in  1560  under  Gonzalo 
Ximenez  de  Quesada  from  Bogotd.  The  fable  lias 
occupied  men's  minds,  among  others  leading  to  results 
that  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  who  undertook  to  find 


THE  GOLDEN  KINGDOM. 

-d  "??.%^a?;r<-'««<'-  to  Guiana  i„   r,^ 
pseudodi^overieso  fS  J'«  *°  ^«  ^'^"  traces  of  the 

capital  of  the  golden  \Zr7  ^'«'gl>.  showing  the 

■netols,  the  sidewalJts  th,^  fl.  T''':™  '»  P'-«™'Us 
k;nd,  and  the  wagon  3^  f,tf f  ^  *'."'  the*^yell,>w 
kind;  for  at  hand  were  si?Lt?-n  V*''  the  white 
«''vor,  and  a  hill  „f  s^^  ''\"«^  »  '""  of  gold,  a  hill  „f 

l«laee  of  snow-white  marble  wti'  ■1^''  "^  *''«  "'i'^i 
and  alabaster,  all  encSd  bv  !'  S'"?"  "^  P°Wrv 
wrought  cedar  and  ebo^v   f  ''^/*"'^'''«s  of  curiously 

-vond  the  power  of  tot"  'o  ";en'"''P"°''  ''«'*  ^^  ^^^ 
I  he  Diecionnrj'n  U:  ?    •       ^     * 

Moreri-s  FrenT;SS';itb'"'l'*.,>»''''t»n  of 
^f iravel,  published  in  ?r53  T'"'.™''?"*  additions  bv 
El  Borado,  as  situated  ttwee^t^'^  *'?^  P'-°^i"^«  of 
and  Aniazonos,  containing  *i!  *?^  "^e™  Orinoco 

Sreat  city  on  ik  wet  e™^,^t'rf  ^J  a^  Parinu,,  and  a 
Kroat  quantities;  but  add,T'."  i'  ,'"'"•'»  "f  gold  in 

;:;-antado,-'andthar.ni^t  r  t^°  '"  '"^''o  est,t 

•■'r  proved  to  be  only  "  bu"l  1°'  "'<'  ?">o  had  thus 

-s.      Hu„,boldt  prLd  that  ,f »  iT  ''"  '°*  «^P«fio- 

Nirr-*''^f^  of  Man™.  ''^^  '"""^  "-^  "'"'ost  as 

king,  aj  wer?:Std  to  'T'  ""*  ^^^  the  gilded 
Kilded  country,  we  hfv^h,,  ^  '^""'^n*  with  onW  I 
''""•anity  than  ever  tL  p^f  ^'"Pf  then  more  of  giid 

And  the^oat  oFgi  t  hS TeTn'""  !? '^^  ™"W  hoasl 
'Incker  on  many  of  them  until  fl  ^''*"-"^'  *'*«"■  and 
ooatmg  of  metal  of  Zie  k^n^  f*  "^  *"  '""^^  thick 
'ver,  gold,  or  brass  s^^A  •  '.'^*  '"'  otherwise- 
'''"od  and  bone,  Srt  and  h~''  '"n""'*'  ""  "  ™«tinl' 
and  nothing  else  Mom  tha„  '  '"''^  ''""  "^"^^ 
to  discover  the  veriteW»         """^  '"^  have  thought 

dwelt  the  money-gSSs^r  °'  ^'""'"-.  -hfre 

-nia,1hf  s::Sr  b^bMt'^  -.-  the  tulip 

oubbie,  the  Mississippi  bubble. 


228 


EL  DORADO. 


what   may  we  not  look  for  in  the  book  of  human 
follies  ? 

The  miseries  of  a  miner  might  fill  a  chapter  of  woes. 
Digging  and  delving  with  eager  anxiety  day  after  day, 
up  to  the  waist  in  water,  exposed  now  to  the  rays  of 
the  burning  sun,  and  now  to  cold,  pitiless  rains,  with 
liberal  potations  of  whiskej^  during  the  day,  and  mad 
carousals  at  night,  flush  with  great  buckskin  bags  of 
gold-dust,  or  toiling   throughout   the  long  summer 
without  a  dollar,  indebted  to  the  butcher,  baker,  and 
gr(x;er,  heart  and  brain  throbbing  and  bounding  with 
success,  or  prostrate  under  accumulated  disappoint- 
ments, it  was  more  than  a  man  with  even  an  iron 
frame   could    endure.     When   disease  made  him  its 
prey,  there  was  no  gentle  hand  to  minister  to  his 
wants,  no  soft  voice  to  whisper  words  of  love  and  com- 
fort, no  woman's  heart  on  which  to  rest  his  aching 
head.     Lying  on  the  hard  earth,  or  rolling  in  feverish 
agony  on  the  shelf-bed  of  his  cabin,  often  alone  and 
unattended  throughout  the  livelong  day,  while  the 
night  was  made  hideous  by  the  shouts  and  curses  of 
rioters,  the  dying  miner,  with  thoughts  of  home,  of 
parents,  wife,  and  sister,  and  curses  on  his  folly,  passed 
away.     That  was  the  last  of  him  in  this  world,  name- 
less, graveless,  never  heard  froml     Meanwhile,  and 
for  years  after,  those  he  left  at  the  old  home  despair- 
ingly dwell   upon   his   fate.     Such   cases   were    sad 
enough,  but  there  were  others  still  more  melancholy. 
The  patient,  devoted  wife,  waiting  and  watching  for 
the  husband's  return,  toiling  early  and  late  for  tlio 
support  of  their  children,  ever  faithful,  ever  having 
him  in  her  thoughts,  and  so  passing  her  life  away, 
until  hope  became  charred  and  black,  while  the  object 
of  all  this  love,  of  this  devotion,  was,  maybe,  spending 
his  substance  with  harlots,  writhing  under  the  delirium 
of  drunkenness,  without  at  any  time  bestowing  even 
a  thought  upon  that  devoted  wife  and  those  abandoned 
children. 


] 
dl(j( 
he  J 
eess 

to  S( 

tJius 

Son] 

hark 

and 

and 

hrok( 

turhe 

gulch 

ness  t 

Soi: 

dried 

tile  wi 

in  wJii, 

ininin«> 

and  bu 

like  Su 

town  e^ 

Je.ssly  a 

to  swea 
sports 
iiVen  vi 
to  I  Jay  ] 
tJi^'  cardi 
and  a  du 
^^redioal 
iasts,  niei 
st'tting  tl] 
wJion  the 
and  good 

It  Was 

or  failure 
a«  oJsewhc 
'!'  ''I  groatc 

Sitting  on  ■ 


229 


MISERIES  OP  THE  MINKR 

to  sending  it  in  a  lettw  wl^l  k"^  ',''  "»'"  g""<l  <io"vs 
tl.us  many  a  poor  hoart  ath  "  '*!''  °''  ^id  not ;  aL 
S™>e,  and  as  a  rule    th^  n     f  '^'""'  ""  »"  the  end 

•■"'d  «Pmt;  «o«.e  fcVrct'l'' ''?'"f.  broken  i,  uX 
;""l  joyous;  but  by  fo  r/''  '»  ''««ltl.,  ^ucceSf 

•'.-d'Tp  in  tt  ::;rnt\*e^r?.V  ■'f'-  havmg  boo„ 
t  0  w„,ter,  tJ,us  loavin^^buUiH  "j-''^  fr<«en%p  ;" 

ouniiay  tiian  anv  Suii.l,,,  *      -^^eiy  day  is  nioro 
t"wn  ever  sees.     All  is  id  ^  *''"  Pf'^Porous  n,in,W 
l-«»h  about  the  st^ets  so  ,?  r"'  •  S^unt  fi,r„,s  fl    list" 
'"  «vear  at  the  ti^^s'a  "?'"'?'!  K^'berin.  i„™- 
H-rts   when  grunSn'  Itsdfl'"^'  °"'  '"VS 
i-vcn  vice  stagnates.     Sf ',  v     ''"*°'"e8   unbearalje 
;>  play  for  moLy  or  wWskev    "',  ""*  *'"'  wbereti  I.' 
'I'e  cards  for  fun.''  Mol  evHk '  ""''  *  "''"ffl"  an<l  S 
'"'?<«„  is  looked  u^o^tTT''""'""' "■■^"la<^- 

J     heal  inen  drive  a  fai'r  traffie  a,'"]  ''""""^  "™""' 
j'tscs,  nienain(r  in  +r,  "^^ttinc  as  louir  as  fJ.r.  ]• 

-"in^'the'^o^t  S'irr'>:.'''^''-i^«S  n 

"b^n  the  fuel  f„r  tW ii^fc' "'^^*i'"  '."»''*  Previous    but 

tebf nTS  -|«r^''-*' "-  ^- 

-  'ailure  in^TeTnTn::  "VIT  ^^at  led  to  sueeess 

-  eWi^ere,  were  "te  tl^  ^  ^''t''"'',-?-"^'  b '- 


230 


EL  DORADO. 


fomia,  like  frogs  about  a  frog-pond, — sat  thus  and 
croaked,  cursing  California,  and  looking  at  tlio  gravel 
bods,  and  crying,  "There  is  no  gold  in  them."  That 
did  not  bring  fortune.  Steady  persistent  work,  with 
reasonal)lc  economy,  though  it  seldom  rewarded  one 
with  a  strike  or  a  largo  return,  was  sure  to  result  in 
something.  Laziness  and  captious  disquiet  were  tho 
two  evils.  There  were  comparatively  few  miners  at  tho 
end  of  thoir  first  two  years  in  California  who  had  31,000 
laid  by,  and  yet  a  claim  would  have  to  pay  but  five 
dollars  a  day  to  give  the  miner  of  it  $2,000  at  the  end 
of  two  years,  allowing  $1,000  during  the  meantime 
for  food  and  clothes.  But  during  the  earlier  years, 
wages  were  ten  dollars  a  day  or  more,  and  tlie  miner 
who  ctmld  not  get  that,  or  twice  as  nmch,  would  stoj) 
woik,  and  cither  do  nothing  or  prospect  for  something 
nearer  tho  largo  ideas  brouijcht  hither. 

Often  in  making  excavations  for  buildings  the  spado 
uncovered  the  bones  of  some  unknown  wanderer, 
thrust  hurriedly  beneath  the  cover  of  earth  1 
stranger  next  to  him,  thrust  beneath  a  lijjht  co 
of  earth  and  straightway  forgotten. 

Very  early  there  appeared  a  mania  for  rushes,  as 
they  were  called,  that  is,  a  hurrying  hither  and  thither 
after  the  echohig  cry  of  go\d.  Whole  camps  were; 
thus  stampeded ;  at  times  the  wildest  stories  of  now 
finds  beinii  enouiih  to  cause  men  to  leave  «jood  diiTijiniJS 
in  the  hope  of  findhig  better.  Almost  all  of  these 
excitements  ended  in  disaster,  like  that  of  the  Gold 
Lake  affair,  about  which  one  thus  writes : 

"  One  day,  while  in  Sacramento  city,  I  heard  an  old 
citizen  relating  his  experience  in  tho  gold  mines  of  this 
country.  Among  other  incidents,  was  that  most 
memorable  of  California  humbugs,  th?  Gold  Lake  v\- 
citement.  I  shall  not  attempt  to  follow  the  old  miner 
through  all  his  mountain  wanderings,  nor  is  it  noc(  s- 
sary  to  mention  his  hopes  and  fears,  his  sufferings  antl 
toils,  and  ultimate  disappointments — but  he  made  one 
hair-breadth  escape  which  I  shall  mention.     For  many 


10 

■T 


T»E  OHIO  DIOOIXGS. 


f  '.oavil^  ,a^,,  ^^,  1-^;  »cl  about  fift^'r;,,    ,7 
s"ow  „,.  t|,u  mountains  wT      "^  ""<'  altlmu.r],  the 
orod  with  a  fi„„  era"     l'  T^  ''''^•P'  ^'e'  it  wtl  eov 
'.efoetoftheanimafl'  "0^0^:^'^  ''"''"  ''-'-'h 
<JkI  break-and  sueh  a  breath  "»/.  I'owever,  ti.ocrast 

"'  "W"'  oy  a  roarin.r  inoimfr,-.    '■       "  '""'  swi..pt  out 
7">pl«toly  arcl,ed  oCr  «     ''""""'  *'"''''  l«d  been 
<'l«orvabJe  until  the  crust  wi, ""7'  "'"^  "'tiroly  m  " 
;>"  ","-'  very   brink  of  tht  fri  Uf"',''"-     O^J-'^^ro  Z 
':"''>ly  time  to  back  out  ami  '^"»''K"'  "''»«",  and  S 

:"f 'r  r^'  "'  "> «»  CZ^°";    Tl»  most 

Antoine'S/atlTrdl,?!?'  the  miners  of 
"lanoli  of  tl,o  America,.  ..:  '   *"**  ""'•th-midill„ 

nten.e„t  regarding  h^o™:;/^-'^  "'  "  flutter:'f  e  ! 

:;i-"™^  ~Surir„v;"  ^"  "•'  -^  ^'^^^ 

a'lotlier   was    ready  to  n,i„    *       '*■'"  ^  ""'>  failed 
wore  of  worth  onfv  as  Th     "^"-V   ''■'"■''"'««    w  ,>h 
/Ims  time  and  opportmn-f      l'  ""?'"  ''ring  in,,.ra»„ 
'mndreds  when,    httS    >''M  *■'■'"»  «'«  «'  « 
-^'"■^e  of  this  exeftemerwa.  ,  "  *''"  •  ''""'"-""The 
™»onoffivemen  who  "ai   ?h      '  ""'"7'  "*  ^ntoi  e 
»^^>o  broug),t  into  clmp  a  he?'  T"/'"'"  ^i""-  ad 
W'™  questioned  as  t,  il,      i       •>'  '"*^'  "f  gold  dust 
;'".'«'  it,  tl,ey  b^ame  n  me^""'""-  ^5-  bad  ot' 
'I'oir  noses,  and  smile,    L    ,  "?^,l'"'  tlieir  fin.rws  to 
'"«»  went  their  way      Th/     "'''"^■-     P'-''»«"tly  tl  e 
''f"to,  and  there  se^n  toS^T  *''^''«''  *"  4™ 
*-»eisco;  hence  it wastlt   I,?'?'"',''"""  '""'•San 
■'  the,r  mine.     Eyidently  ^ey  t/  'S*^  ""'  ™""-«'^'d 
-".  and  ret„„,i„g  to  -"-^10^^.:^^^^- 


232 


EL  DORADO. 


others  forestall  them.  Where  were  the  diggings  of 
these  Ohioans  ? 

Early  in  the  spring  of  this  year,  three  Mexicans 
had  struck  it  rich  on  Vanfleet  creek,  a  little  stream 
near  to,  and  running  parallel  with  Antoine  creek. 
Between  these  two  streams  James  Williams  kept  a 
store,  where  the  lucky  miners  made  deposits  for  safe- 
keeping. Williams,  wishing  to  retire,  notified  all  per- 
sons to  remove  their  deposits.  With  the  rest,  the 
Mexicans  came  and  took  away  their  gold,  which  by 
this  time  amounted  to  seventy-five  pounds  in  weight. 
Greedy  eyes  watched  them  as  they  went,  and  murder- 
ous feet  followed  them. 

In  the  last  party  that  set  out  from  Antoine  creek 
in  search  of  the  Ohio  diggings  was  James  W.  Mar- 
shall. They  had  spent  over  a  fortnight  climbing  rug- 
ged mountains,  and  stumbling  through  dark  ravines ; 
their  food  was  almost  gone,  and  they  had  turned  their 
faces  homeward,  when,  by  an  abrupt  bend  in  the 
aboriginal  trail  which  they  had  found,  they  entered  a 
cool,  grass}  glen.  So  shaded  was  it,  and  so  suddenly 
went  they  into  it  from  the  sunhght,  that  at  first  they 
did  not  see  the  horrors  it  contained — here  a  ghastly 
skeleton  with  a  round  hole  in  the  skull;  there  another 
with  a  bullet  through  the  heart ;  yonder  a  third  whose 
feet  had  caught  in  the  vines  as  the  swift  messenirer 
of  death  had  overtaken  him  from  behind.  The  car- 
cases of  four  horses,  their  packs  and  saddles  unrc- 
moved,  were  found  near  by.  One  after  another  of 
these  dismal  objects  Marshall's  observant  eye  took  in; 
then  after  a  moment's  pause,  while  a  dark  cloud 
gathered  about  his  brow,  he  said,  •'  Boys,  we  have 
found  the  Ohio  diggings  1" 

Upon  the  discovery  of  gold  within  the  domain  re- 
cently acquired,  the  question  arose.  Shall  foreigners 
be  allowed  ecjual  privileges  with  American  citizens  in 
abstracting  the  |)reclous  metal  ? 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  both  the  Spanish 


FOREIGXERS  IN  THE  MINES. 

«s  ma/OS  WHcricani      Th«  H^'  "'"'  .Particularly  of 
tvi^r,  when  he  found  himaelPft-T""-,-^""'"''"'.  !''>«'- 
),-ver„„,ent  of  the  U™teJs»t  "'"''■' *'''•'  '""^  ""d 
^"^tan  hi„,^,f  and™i.4>t     '  IT  '°"'^'*™«  *" 
American,  ivith  his  8l  reww'r •  '  ."''"'*'   *''«   Anglo. 
«'nsrt>  ve  of  sharing  Kr,"f '"'"''•  """  be^»'''e 
particularly  with  SpaZZ^^TT""^- "''"'  ""'«>^. 
claimed    that    Californivf  f ^',"fc"^""'ri«a»s.     Thev 

PWns.audtheme^iXrnfr''?  -^""jy^  "'"'  f«rtZ 
and  theirs  alone      And  vif  r'"'""^^'"™^  he  tjieirs 
of  the  earth  rusl  in^lnli  f '  ^^  ^'V'"  ''"  ">«  ■«'S 
pocketing  the  a-old  ■  =  -"'.^"""i?  "'e  lands  and 
^^trictedi;  as^ufos'XTall  fo'  T'^IV"'^  ''"»»- 

"T  ^^«««fod  for  the  purchase  ^fV"  ^^"^T"  "  "« 
In  regard  to  nerniitt;!,    f  ^      '  "  """'  w  deniess 

«.« foofhiiis,  «;rA*r£an ':;?' "^^ '"  ''''^'™-t  fr  ; 

say  that  his  governnZT.?       ""7,  ""«'''  truthfuUv 
t.i.o  power  to\eept     ICrsTfit'""''',*,'"  "«'"  «"d 
velyhe  might  bring  Itself  /.V  7.'.?''^  ""'"'=- 
the  absence  of  govern  me  f  '"  "'<'  "'^'''^  that  in 

K..  a  unit  of  t^TgZrZ,^:  governmental  protectio  ^ 
to  determine  a  Policra     "nV      ''■T''  ^'^  ^'""«  right 
■at  he  had  to^m^ir  ri.t Tn J"' TI"  '''■"'•''««-- 
But  in  e„tertaini|,„  the  S  tin?  tT  ''*''  ""'ditions. 
rKl;t  to  act  for  th?  govenol .    •'  "',7  P/«sessed  the 
'""■'"g  foreigners  accesst  """"''""  '"'  di«al- 

»™lth  the  American  mne;  fll  iT'^'i'''  """oral 
antecedents,  facts,  and  precedent  t       ■'""'•'"'*'•  """ 
l.at  reciprocity  treaties  wW.s.      T"  !?'"'"'»'  "'o'"! 
f"r.-e.-  that  when  no  such  tl  ^    "''"""'"«  »'ere  ii 
""■"■"'dWtion;  in  feet  thaf  th '"'  f"^'}  ""•'■^'  ™ 
."overnment  had  ever  been lo  m  ''    '"T  "    *''"  """''•''■al 
;?"r,-,ge  immigration    a,^  !°ffT"  *'^'  '*'  ''"">■«.  on- 
'  "dcr  this  krTown  ^Sl  "fl""'  '«''*«  to  all 

'"  tacit  consenl  fo  ci.  S'T'*'  P'tr^re^uival  t 
X;l«  "ow  too  late  to7u"",tbn  ^',"?  '"*''"'-'  ""^  " 
""«■  "-"  by  fo.e  of   ri    '?^,  ':  ;P---.  or  to 


EL  DORADO. 


Native  American  citizens  objected  to  foreigners  fill- 
ing their  purses  from  the  wealth  of  the  foothills,  and 
returning  to  their  own  countries.  They  particularly 
objected  to  Chinese  and  Spanish- Americans.  White 
skins  were  for  a  time  welcome  among  the  American 
miners ;  but  Indians,  Africans,  Asiatics,  Islanders, 
and  mixed  breeds  generally,  were  detested. 

The  state  of  California  having  no  title  to  either 
the  agricultural  or  mineral  lands  lying  within  her 
limits,  her  legislature  possessed  no  right  to  impose 
a  special  tax  on  foreign  miners  as  it  attempted  to  do. 
Nor  was  it  for  the  state,  but  for  the  United  States, 
to  say  what  should  be  done  with  the  gold  embanked 
in  the  foothills,  or  who  should  or  should  not  abstract 
it,  or  pay  for  the  privilege  of  abstracting  it.  The  tax 
thus  attempted  to  be  levied  was  twenty  dollars  per 
month.  The  people  soon  saw  the  folly  of  such  a 
measure.  The  miners  scarcely  averaged  twenty  dol- 
lars a  month  after  all  their  expenses  were  paid.  But 
those  hostile  to  the  Spanish-Americans,  and  other  for- 
eign elements  among  the  mining  population  gained 
their  point.  The  Evening  Picayune  of  San  Francisco 
said  on  the  14th  of  August  1850,  "We  infer,  with 
tolerable  certainty,  that  from  fifteen  to  twenty  thou- 
sand Mexicans,  and  perhaps  an  equal  number  of 
Chilcnos,  are  now  leaving,  or  preparing  to  leave  Cali- 
fornia for  their  own  country."  It  is  true  that  certain 
outrasjfcs  committed  in  the  south  had  soniethintj  to  do 
with  this  exodus,  but  undoubtedly  the  main  cause 
was  the  passage,  by  the  legislature  at  San  Jose,  of 
the  law  to  tax  foreign  miners.  It  would  be  useless 
to  deny  that  the  first  day  the  tax-gatherers  appeared  at 
Sonora,  where  hitherto  peace  and  amity  had  presided, 
the  community  was  split  in  two,  and  arrayed  one  part 
ayfainst  the  other  with  bowie-knife  and  revolver. 

It  was  a  great  error  to  suppose  that  the  value  of 
gold  to  California  lay  in  enriching  a  few  trappers, 
farmers,  and  emigrants.  Such  narrow-mindedness 
could  not  compass  the  idea  of  enticing  energy  anil 


FOKEION  MINERS. 

capital  from  all  nart,  „f  *i  .  ^ 

-ttle»e„t  and  m'^Xe lopUf  j'  ^  -"»-  quick 
the  work  that  u,  <|er  dSff"-  *'°'"«^  '"  ""« Vr 

on  Chinese  laborers  in  the  Ini  °rT'  '^"fy  ™POBod 
a'scniumatin.r  a.rain<,f  ti  ^  ^e  only  reason  for 

:r  't?  ^4'-  crttt:  sttt"« «'«'  "'''^ 

f  "■.  The  miserable  spirit  of  ,i;i  "  •  ""  "^  ^"^  *» 
foreigners  had  shown  ftsolf  t  tT''""""'""^  "gainst 
5th  of  Augnst  1850,  the  San  p''  ''■''^''-  0"  «'e 
aldermen  by  resolutio^  nrohH^?  j^ffnf'sco  board  of 
engage  in  drayi„„  dr  vh^^,        i*^  *''"*  "'''««  should 

boatB    for   the%,SVeyi:,"=„?t  "'^  ™''"'"'^'  ^'"vil 
spirituous  liquors.      ^  *  "'^  Ptesengers,    or  sellinS 

-oy  nndsuminer  of  IS-,n  „        ■  " 

southern  mines  with  alannin'"''''^  Prevailed  in  the 
mon  guleh  resolutions  tTrirX'T:';?'';"'^-  A*  «»  - 
s  'ould  quit  tho,,e  diggi  '^^E  t^'  *"  *^''-''i<-a"3 
forcibly  expelled.  flowSverth  «  ''^'^''"days.  or  be 
foreigners,  not  of  AmIriVan,  A  ?  o  ">"  »<•«""  of 
ordered  that  all  forSZZT  ^'   ^oiiora  it  was 

f aged  in  ponnan'S  ■J./^fPy-h  "^  -re  T 
cave  the  country  within  ^ft  P^**^,'''o  pursuits,  sl„,ul,! 
^^■tween  the  IinJs,Tmef  f  if  ^"•     «r'"«  "  « 
SanFranciseoJo^n^;"/";;*''       "^  'r>'  '•"'iov;  the 
"■at  the  Americans  had  tT"""'  "!  "^"'y  2<),  Lsai' 
f-us  and   Cliilians  „S  ou^^'ir"*'  "'•■"  ""  Mo..  I 
ourna   justified  the  H C?  bee,  ,'"    ''""I'"--'--      That 
atrocities  daily  pernefZSi  5""?uso,  as  it  alleged  of 
Auieriean  origil^-^^TK  ^^  t't'""?-  "^  »'^""*. 
;>gh  enough  in  the  seaJo  of  h„™   T  ''"'  '""  rank 
the  deliberations  of  any  au  °if    '  ''"i'^  '"  coniinand 
ho  dared  strike  a  blow  wb»7      '^f  "'i""  '"octing.     If 
'■™n  in  defence  of  hTs  w  fe^  T  ",'.;*J<*'  ""ght  be 
;';ayaised,  and  moun  ed  ,tn  ,vitl  "'^"'  """'"''y 
t"  the  rancheria,  and  shoof  -1  "^"^  """W  ride 

^■'"Idreii,  innocen    a"  d  .MamV    „?  '•""•  *""""'•  «"d 

u  ouuty,  promiscuously.     Who 


'Jf. 


236 


EL  DORADO. 


would  waste  time  in  trying  savages  for  their  lives  ? 
A  whole  rancheria  of  150  souls,  for  the  killing  of  one 
Anderson,  under  the  severest  provocation,  and  the 
stealing  of  some  cattle,  were  shot  down  and  butcherd 
with  knives  in  the  most  cowardly  manner  by  self- 
styled  citizens  of  Trinity  county,  in  April  1852. 
Hundreds  of  puch  disgraceful  instances  might  be  re- 
corded had  I  the  time,  space,  or  inclination  to  parade 
them. 

Durlnor  1852  the  crusade  agfainst  foreii^n  miners 
reached  its  climax,  with  the  result  that  in  the  spring 
of  the  year  Mexican  guerrilla  bands  extended  from 
Mariposa  to  Mokelumne  hill.  The  Americans  of 
Saw-mill  Flat,  in  Tuolumne,  would  have  been  massa- 
cred on  the  7th  of  July,  but  for  an  Italian  who 
warned  them.  They  thereupon  took  up  arms  and 
drove  all  foreigners  from  the  locality.  Many  meas- 
ures adopted  to  drive  foreigners  from  the  mining 
claims  with  varied  success  might  be  mentioned,  but  for 
lack  of  space  I  must  leave  them  out  of  these  pages. 
It  is  worthy  of  notice,  however,  that  amidst  tlie  strong 
feclinij  aroused  on  manv  occasions,  and  the  nmltitudin- 
ous  threats,  little  blood  was  shed.  The  Americans 
were  none  of  the  time  sure  that  they  were  right,  and 
their  action  was  much  less  determinate  and  uniform 
than  in  the  administration  of  popular  justice. 

As  time  went  by,  from  urging  persecutions  against 
all  foreiijners  alike,  it  became  directed  aijainst  Asiatics 
onlv.  In  this  cowardlv  work,  white  foroiijners  thoni- 
selves,  but  recently  obnoxious  to  American  citizens, 
were  the  chief  instigators.  By  tliis  time  the  better 
class  of  Americans  had  given  uj)  the  occupation  of 
minhiij :  and  the  dreijjs  of  the  nationalities  had  taken 
their  places  to  glean  what  they  could  from  the  leav- 
ings. The  latter  continued  the  persecutions  against 
the  Chinese. 

The  president  said  in  liis  message  to  congress,  De- 
cember 2,  1850,  that  he  was  at  first  disposed  to  favor 
the  plan  of  leasing  the  mines,  or  of  granting  licenses 


THE  CARSO.V  mu  AFFAIR.  ^ 

lands  againat  monopoTu:^  tnd^f  *"  P™'^'''  "ineral 
"lent  the  lamest  reve,^  I    .     ™''^  *°  "le  govern 
■•eeon,mended   S'  'V^' °'!  r<-™d  thought  ™e 
-mil  lots  and  Smgl     Tln^lT"^  *"'™4   '"'o 
iwlitic  and  impracticable      p,      ^  *"  *"*  <"!•"'%  im- 
«  lo   in  the  Siirta  Co^i,,  !*  "Vl  '  P'"™f ^■^*"'-  "^Vi^K 
secif,tcontai„edgoldf^,o ',,»•"  '""'"""'"S  it  tS 
on  iintil  he  owned  a  barren  , no,  T'"^  *"'>''•«'••  «»<!  so 
guard  these  n.ineral  gZr^Z)"'  f"^''     ''''«''  to 
the  miners,  and  prevent  ^.Tl-    '""'''•  *°  drive  oft' 
""'itarv  force  lanje^than  ^ "'"*''•.  ''°"'<'  require  a 
"'oral  /orce  ten  tW„,^f     ^T"'^  '"  Mexico,\„d  a 
»;ont  was  able  at  S^To  com  ^''^t^''"' govern 
The  mmers  were  essentTlN.     •"""*"«'  "'  California 
™>gi»g  over  a  vast  Se^s't?*")^  JP 1^"'  ''«'''*'• 
a  httle  here  and  a  little  theS  /  ^''^''-fio'd^-  digging 
before  finding  a  spot  woHh^^;kZ"'^V"T'  i^««? 

air'^"-™-^t-SUi;::!;c:ii'r 

iodt'btttT?;;::e*„^[,:.i'»'ir|eompa„iesofte„ 
.'o">eti„,es  open  wa^  TouM V^T  'f ''  '"  '"^^  "^  'i^ 
ties  ranging  then.selves  o„  either  ">  '^""'""ding  par- 
teeth  with  knives,  revoho^  „  j  "''''  ""'""'  to  the 
^"l'P'e..ient  suits  it  W     "d TatSV  ,f' S''i'-o"ld 

It  IS  not  at  all  cert-iin  fi  'f  ^*"'ts  follow  fights, 
fite  of  things,  any  lo^L-i"i  '"  *'">  «ien  oxistin. 
tn  mnieml  la°nds  wou&  ha  *'  1  ^'  T'''"^  '"  '"especl 
he  niining districts oCaWo„:r1r'""'''',  "^'^l.t  in 
i""  "?"<•■'  accustomed  to  tl  e  r  mv.  ""^ '""'  ''«-omo 
file  .  better  able  to  take  care  of  H  "■';'  *"''  "'"^'  i" 
eastern   politicians.     NevertbelT'™"  *'">"  ^«re 

ermusaft-rays  which  would  no*',r   """■*  '^*''«  ■""">• 
^■'«yegarding  minemlTa^'rj'^'^ "'''•"'■ed  '""'the- 

f^ii^l  ;-mstance  the  followit  "  """'  "'''^^  de- 
ll'" f'"o.JI5^r:^  rtifho^'iS-^  ""  Carson 
l->-ss,o„  and  began  to" ^^o^l'X^tCl^.r'^r' 


238 


EL  DORADO. 


Mi': 


)!: 


claimed  1,000  foet  along  the  ledge,  being  125  feet  to 
each  man.  For  nine  months  they  remained  in  peacea- 
ble possession,  working  their  mine  continuously.  The 
richness  of  the  vein  drew  to  the  hill  many  miners, 
who  at  length  began  to  question  the  right  of  Morgan 
and  his  men  to  hold  so  nmch  ground ;  and  the  ques- 
tion of  title  once  raised,  soon  the  whole  claim  was 
covered  with  squatters.  Morgan  appealed  to  the 
courts  and  was  declared  the  rightful  possessor;  but 
when  the  sheriff  attempted  to  place  him  in  possession 
the  squatters  declared  they  would  die  before  yieldihg 
their  claims.  Further  than  this,  being  greatly  supe- 
rior in  numbers,  they  held  a  meeting  and  passed  reso- 
lutions that  Morgan  and  his  company  should  leave 
the  camp  within  an  hour,  or  be  driven  thence.  The 
property  in  their  cabin,  said  their  resolutions,  was  to 
be  "held  sacred."  The  resolutions  of  200  armed  men 
against  eight  usually  prevailed  in  the  mines,  so 
next  day  all  that  was  left  of  the  Morgan  company  on 
Carson  hill  was  the  cabin  with  its  sacred  utensils — 
hallowed  pots  and  kettles  and  holy  woolen  shirts. 

Thus  ejected  from  a  ledge  of  his  own  discovering,  of 
which  the  courts  had  declared  him  the  rightful  owner, 
Morgan  heralded  his  wrongs  in  every  direction,  and 
called  upon  the  neighboring  camps  to  sustain  him  in 
his  rights.  The  opposite  party  likewise  sent  fortli 
messengers  asking  a  suspension  of  public  opinion, 
threatening  at  the  same  time  to  raise  five  hundred 
men  for  a  flight.  Meanwhile  Morjjan  went  to  Sonora, 
where  he  found  fifty  men  to  jom  his  standard.  With 
these  he  sot  out  on  his  return  to  Carson  hill ;  but  on 
the  way  nearly  half  his  force  deserted,  thinking  it 
hardly  the  maik  of  wisdom  to  risk  their  necks  in  other 
men's  quarrels.  Arriving  after  night,  Morgan  en- 
cami»ed  with  about  thirty  men  in  a  canon  under  the 
hill,  intending  next  day  to  open  a  fight  for  the  prem- 
ises. A  gun  accidentally  discharged  made  known 
their  presence  to  the  opposite  party,  who,  supposing 
their  number  ten  times  greater  than  it  was,  abandontd 


MrNlNG  LAWd    .XT^ 

tne   place.     JSTevf   ^      .  239 

^'"w  small  a  force  thev  h«W  i  ^®  squatters  saw  h,- 

and  fifty  anW  ;i      .*^'^  """^'^^^  of  abc3      '  *^-^'  '"^- 
oaJni  consultation,  thcbS     ?'''  """mediately      Aftor 

Hance  amlT  ''^'^''''"  "f  the  storv    It. 

Flni„,,„„         ,  •  on  Carson  hill     T^Jr       '^''""''  '' s- 

'nent  tw  W      '"I  '"<'*"'■''.  'le  loaCl  t    i  -^'""^  "'^''"t 
'"-  cnat  ifanco  had  sohl  *i       ,".<"'  «'  'ns  ast()ni<ili 

gattCfaiiiitr^^^^^^^^^^ 

-L'ecembor  of  10-1  •>^'^^"^"  over  a  mil  I  Ion  ^^     '{'"ca 
co.nm„ti:,"Teai',r^.t'>e  Hill  t^  'ele  .,f ""'"•^; 

"in,  and  the  courts  plaee.)  \r  "^       ■"  '""rts  to  savo 
vLat  ,s  law  without  poll'    f  ^'*"  '"  f^'^^^ion    Bu? 

•^wcrtcl,  for  the  countrr  f.l      •,       ^^^'  ^^'as  anrelv 


y;'-veu  tnat  Moriran  shoT/M   '"'"«'"?  »  ^^aud.     Thov 
*''ove  him  awav      Tf  ,         "^  ^^^^'«^  the  Hill  anrl  t     *^ 


li 


i 


[.ill 


240 


EL  DORADO. 


themselves  to  stand  by  him  and  support  the  courts. 
During  these  excitements  hundreds  of  armed  men 
appeared  ranged  on  either  side,  but  none  were  killed 
or  wounded.     Here  ended  the  matter. 

The  miners  loved  to  regulate  their  own  affairs,  par- 
ticularly mining  matters,  and  hanging.  At  a  meeting 
held  Sunday  evening,  the  20th  of  April,  1851,  at 
Horseshoe  bar,  the  following  pertinent  if  not  logical 
resolutions  were  adopted : 

Tliat  wo  are  in  favor  of  law  and  order,  and  are  willing  to  obey  all  man- 
dates of  our  courts,  and  all  authority  coming  in  a  proper  and  legitimate  way; 
but  that  we  do  not  recognise  tlie  right  of  jurisdiction  of  our  courts  in  cases 
of  trespass  on  miuerU  claims,  and  that  wu  believe  all  ditiicultics  of  the  miners 
in  respect  to  their  claims  can  be  settled  far  more  speedily,  with  greater  jus- 
tice, and  with  far  less  cost  and  trouble,  by  the  miners  tliemselves  than  by 
any  court  now  existing  in  the  state. 

Resolved,  that  we  are  not  in  favor  of  throwing  our  cases  into  courts  whicli 
have  not  been  found  able  to  exercise  their  authority  in  such  a  way  as  to  give 
to  the  people  a  feeling  of  satisfaction;  and  that  while  we  charge  none  with 
corruption  or  dishonesty,  we  believe  it  to  be  the  rottenness  of  our  coui-ts  that 
has  brought  tliem  into  disrepute.  We  think  too  many  of  our  public  officers 
are  more  familiar  with  monte  than  they  are  with  mining,  and  believe  they 
have  a  better  knowledge  of  twenty-one  tlian  they  have  of  trespass  on  min- 
eral claims. 

Resolved,  tliat  we  will  not  carry  the  differences  which  arise  among  us  in 
regard  to  leads  and  claims  before  any  court  until  a  proper  one  be  established 
by  tlie  general  government;  that  we  will  discountenance  all  such  appeals, 
and  that  as  for  ourselves,  we  will  resist  as  best  we  can  all  attempts  of  our 
courts  to  exercise  jurisdiction  of  this  kind. 

In  criminal  affairs,  tlie  miners  were  governed  simply 
by  their  ideas  of  right,  formulated  to  some  extent  by 
tradition,  but  always  in  the  ends  of  justice.  In  civil 
cases,  all  depended  upon  agreement,  and  if  there  was 
no  agreement,  then  upon  custom  and  equity.  The 
miners  of  every  locality  met  and  made  their  own  laws 
regulating  right  of  occupation;  for  the  rest,  there  was 
little  to  question  or  dispute  about.  These  laws  were 
much  alike  in  the  different  districts,  and  yet  they  varied 
a  little.  There  were  hundreds  of  them,  enough  to  fill 
a  volume.     I  give  a  few  as  samples. 

Following  are  the  regulations  adopted  by  the  min- 
ers of  the  Kock  Creek  Ditch  and  Mining  District  at 
a  meetmg  held  the  1st  of  December,  1853. 

I.  This  district  shall  be  bounded  by  the  Fordyce  and  Booth  Rock  Creek 
Districts  on  two  sides,  the  Spout  Spring  ravine  on  the  lower  aides,  and  tliu 

south  branch  o'  liock  Creek  on  the  other. 


^^VS  AND  REGULATIOXS. 


m 


n.  All  claims  shall  i  ^ 

tain  to  such  (leiitl,    „!         ""'^  'lumlred  feet  fr«„* 

^,    "i-  '^'i-t.?/j;,rt.rt"^^^^^  -*«  the  moun. 

the  pro:ipoctiui{  of  on,.  ,.| . ;         "  "'"Uglily  prosDenf  »i 

& -' '- -;  ---''S,-S^:;;- J.  ...........  „„„ 


At  a  n,eeting  of  the  „  •  ' '"  °'  '"""■"""' 

Low  at  the  W%Z\"Z:V^'""^^  «"""-  was 

mnimg  tlistriet;  •^  -"*"'  *"  "rgaiiizo  a  new 

Oi  .notion  of  S.  Jj.  Herr  "k   thoT'lP'  ^'"^  ^-^"t  ''yB^-c^'  '?'k'  '"^  "'« 
-^ec.  I.  The  s  ze  of  nl-,;!.      '      '^  f"llf)\vmff  laws  u-o";^      .       '^'"icho. 
'ii'ui    fuet  lon<r  n,.  1         ^"''""s  on  gulcl,  or  ..?  V'^SMere  adopted' 

'"'=i  I  istrict   slwli  ^  1  1    '*"  Violate  or  refi.-^  +     i 


EL  DORADO. 


9.  All  water  running  in  its  natural  channel  belongs  to  the  miners  on  said 
channel,  each  miner  having  a  right  to  uae  the  same  on  his  own  ground. 

10.  All  claims  held  by  companies  or  individuals  in  this  district  shall  bu 
recorded  by  the  1st  of  January. 

11.  These  laws  are  not  intended  to  apply  to  private  rights,  heretofore 
obtained  in  accordance  with  the  common  customs  and  usages  of  miners. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  miners  of  Bear  river,  for  tlio 
purpose  of  making  laws  and  regulations  for  said  min- 
ing locality,  it  was  resolved  : 

1.  That  the  newly  discovered  mining  district  shall  be  known  as  Mammoth 
Springs  diggings. 

2.  That  all  claims  in  the  bed  of  the  river  shall  be  ninety  feet  in  leugtli, 
running  up  or  down  said  stream. 

3.  That  the  bed  of  the  stream  be  considered  that  part  of  said  stream 
lying  between  its  bars  and  banks. 

4.  That  all  claims  in  Imrs  or  banks  of  said  stream  shall  be  sixty  feet 
running  up  and  down  the  same. 

5.  Tiiat  notices  of  claims  shall  hold  good  for  ten  days  from  date  of  notice, 
when,  if  not  workeil,  said  claims  are  forfeite<l. 

6.  That  all  bank  claims  that  are  not  workable  shall  hold  good  until  they 
are  workable. 

A  meeting  of  the  miners  of  Mammoth  Springs 
diggings  was  held,  pursuant  to  previous  notice,  at 
the  store  of  S.  M.  Young,  on  Bear  river,  when  a 
recorder  of  claims  in  the  district  and  judges  were 
elected,  and  the  following  resolutions  offered: 

1.  That  the  price  of  recording  claims  shall  be  one  dollar  for  each  claim. 

2.  That  when  miners  are  working  on  their  claims  said  claims  shall  lie 
considered  good  whether  recorded  or  not. 

3.  That  river  claims  shall  hold  good  until  considered  workable  by  a 
majority  of  miners  of  this  district. 

4.  Tljat  the  boundaries  of  Mammoth  Springs  diggings  be  considered  from 
\Vm  Bradley  &  Co.  's  claim  up  the  river  to  Bear  valley. 

5.  That  no  person  be  allowed  more  than  one  workable  claim  at  a  time  liy 
location. 

6.  That  a  person  may  hold  as  many  claims  by  purchase  as  he  tliiiiks 
proper. 

7.  That  claims  in  this  district  if  not  represented  or  recorded  within  ton 
days  from  this  date  shall  be  considered  jumpable. 

8.  As  amendment  to  resolution,  knew,  too,  that  the  time  for  working  the 
bed  of  the  stream  shall  be  the  first  of  June. 

9.  Tliat  a  copy  of  these  laws  be  left  in  possession  of  the  recider,  and 
the  chairman  of  tliis  meeting. 

10.  That  the  laws  of  this  district  heretofore  enacted  and  also  the  procoed- 
ings  of  this  meeting  be  published  in  the  Nevada  Journal  and  Youmj  A  me  rift. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  miners  in  Nevada  county, 
January  15,  1854,  the  following  laws  were  read  and 
adopted : 

Sec.  1.  The  name  of  this  mining  ground  shall  be  called  Myres  lUniiie 
Mining  district. 

2d.  Said  district  is  bounded  as  follows:  On  the  east  by  the  Native  Aiiitri- 
can  ravine,  south  by  West  Hill  district,  west  by  a  straight  north  and  smith 
line  running  past  the  head  waters  of  Myres  ravine  to  the  Yuba,  thuuce 


LAWS  AND  REGULATIONS. 


at 


III  from 
line  liy 
Itliiiiks 
lin  ton 
^ug  the 
if,  iui'l 
hoceed- 

mty, 
and 

llUvvine 

lAiiieri- 

south 

I  tUcuce 


down  tho  Yii1)a  to  the  month  nf  Native  American  ravine  to  the  Htartliig 
place. 

lid.  Each  chiim  shall  be  one  hundred  feet  square. 

4th.  Each  claim  or  cninpany'a  claim  shall  be  worked  every  ten  days 
Sundays  excepted,  with  one  full  day's  labor  and  renewal  of  notice.  Wlicn 
a  coinpany  lias  claims  adjoining,  M'orking  on  one  shall  be  considered  as  work- 
ing on  tlie  whole.  All  claims  not  workable  to  ailvantage  for  want  of  water, 
or  any  other  cause,  shall  hold  goiMl  three  months  by  being  recorded,  and  a 
rcconl  of  the  causes,  stating  the  reason  or  reasons  why  they  are  nut  work- 
able. 

Tith.  Tliat  no  person  shall  hold  more  than  one  claim  by  location;  he  may, 
however,  hold  as  many  by  purchase  as  are  worked,  according  to  the  laws, 
provided,  he  lias  a  ImnaJiileuiW  of  sale  signed  by  two  witnesses. 

tith.  There  shall  be  a  recorder  elected  for  the  term  of  one  year,  whose 
duty  it  shall  be  to  record  tliese  laws  and  all  others  that  may  be  passed  here- 
after in  a  book  prepared  for  that  pur])ose,  to  record  all  claims,  transfers, 
and  bills  of  sale,  for  which  he  shall  receive  tiTty  cents  for  each  claim,  trans- 
fer or  bill  of  sale  recorded. 

7th.  Each  company  siiall  have  its  ground  defined  by  substantial  stakes, 
with  notice  of  the  numlMsr  of  claims  held  and  name  of  the  secretary  of  said 
c(imi>any  on  the  notice. 

8th.  That  all  disputes  that  may  arise  in  regard  to  claims  shall  be  decided 
by  arbitration  of  the  miners  of  this  district,  and  each  party  shall  choose  a 
<hsinterested  man,  and  the  two  a  third  one  to  arbitrate  the  matter. 

9th.  That  the  arbitrators'  and  witnesses'  fees  shall  be  the  same  as  allowed 
by  the  county  court  to  jurors,  and  paid  by  the  i>arty  in  default 

10th.  That  these  laws  may  be  altered  or  amended  by  giving  ten  days 
notice,  and  signed  by  twelve  interested  miners  of  this  district,  stating  tlie 
ol)ject  in  writmg,  and  sticking  up  said  notice  in  live  of  the  most  conspicuous 
places  in  this  district,  by  a  vote  of  the  majority  of  the  miners  interested  in 
this  district  being  present  at  such  a  meeting. 

11th.  That  E.  D.  Dean  be  and  is  hereby  elected  recorder. 

12th.  That  these  laws  shall  be  in  full  effect  after  this  date,  January  18, 
1854. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  miners  of  Pleasant  Flat  held 
August  1,  1854,  E.  Mills  was  called  t(»  the  chair,  and 
E.  P.  Palmer  appohited  secretary.  The  following  by- 
laws were  adopted : 

That  said  flat  shall  be  called  Pleasant  Flat  Mining  district 

Article  Ist  Pleasant  Flat  district  is  bounded  on  the  lower  end  by  the 
caflon,  or  the  claims  known  ivs  Jewett  &  Co. 's  claims,  and  extends  up  the 
Flat  to  the  upper  end  of  H.  H.  Roberts  &  Co. 's  claims,  and  on  each  side  from 
hill  to  hill. 

Article  2d.  Eaeh  claim  in  the  creek  sliall  consist  of  sixty  feet  in  length, 
extending  from  bank  to  bank,  and  not  interfering  with  claims  formerly  lo- 
cated. 

Article  3d.  Each  claim  in  the  flat  shall  consist  of  eighty  feet  stiuare. 

Article  4th.  Each  miner  on  said  flat  shall  be  entiUed  to  one  claim  by 
location  and  Ave  by  purchase. 

Article  6th.  When  there  i^  not  sufficient  water  to  supply  each  company 
of  men  in  the  Flat,  they  shall  be  liinite<l  to  forty-five  inciies  each,  witli  six- 
inch  pressure,  commencing  at  the  lower  co.,  and  extending  up  the  flat  as  the 
water  fails,  until  they  are  all  limited,  allowing  the  upper  cos.  the  flrst  right. 

Article  6th.  Each  man  or  co.  is  required  to  have  his  claims  recorded  on 
t}ie  secretary's  bo  ik,  and  to  perform  one  full  day's  work  on  his  or  co.'s  claims 
every  tenth  day,  vhen  he  or  co.  can  obtain  the  amount  of  water  specified  in 
tlie  5th  article.  Otiisrwise  his  claims  are  forfeitable,  if  recorded  from  the 
first  of  November,  1S54,  until  the  first  of  May,  1855. 


1,1 


ii 


244 


EL  DORADO. 


Articlo  7tli.  No  man,  or  company  of  men,  shall  he  allnwed  to  put  a  (latn 
or  any  uljMtruutiun  in  tliu  creek  or  hkIo  race  ho  a-s  to  <laniage  tlie  elainn  almve 
or  IhjIow.  Eacli  company  ia  required  to  keep  the  side  race  in  order  <ii)piMitu 
their  own  claims. 

Artiilo  8tli.  It  shall  ho  the  duty  of  tlio  secretary  or  reconlcr  to  rucurd  all 
claims  in  tliu  dLstrict  if  ruiiuc.sted  hy  the  claim-holder,  aiul  to  Hixfcity  tliu 
lioundarie.i  of  each  claim  or  company '^  claim.  For  which  the  seeivtary  .shull 
receive  tho  sum  of  tweiity-livo  cents  for  recording  each  claim. 

Articlo  Uth.  Kach  company  siiall  have  the  right  to  cut  a  drain  race 
tiirougli  tho  claiuH  hel.iw,  ami  if  the  party  cannot  agree  upon  the  amount  of 
damage,  if  any,  tliey  siiall  leave  it  to  disinterested  jtersoiis.  And  tii.it  all 
dilKcultics  arising  in  this  district  in  regard  to  mining  claims  siiall  ho  settled 
hy  disinterested  miners  of  tho  district. 

Article  10th.  Tliat  each  company  shall  empty  their  tailings  on  their  om'u 
ground. 

Articlo  11th.  That  these  laws  he  suhject  to  amendment  hy  a  vote  of  two 
thirds  of  the  miner i  of  tho  district. 

Article  I'Jth.  'ihat  a  copy  of  these  laws  shall  he  puhluhud  in  the  Nevada 
Jourmtl,  and  three  copies  shall  he  posted  in  the  district. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  miners  of  Busli  Creek,  lield 
September  4,  1854,  on  motion,  M.  S.  Cleveland  was 
called  to  the  chair,  and  N.  A.  Hicks  was  appointed 
secretary. 

On  motion,  a  committee  of  three  was  appointed  to 
draft  resolutions  for  the  action  of  thi.4  meeting,  A. 
B.  Swan,  H.  A.  Lonaa,  and  M.  Sullivan,    member.-. 

The  following  resolutions  were  presented,  and  unan- 
imously adopted: 

1st.  Tliat  this  district  shall  he  known  as  Lower  Busli  Creek  district. 

2d.  That  the  houndary  shall  he  as  follows:  conunencing  at  tlie  Ujjper 
Falls,  or  at  the  lower  lino  of  Allen's  claims,  and  running  down  to  the  i.vW'. 
hlasted  hy  Brush  (."reek  Co.  in  IS.")!!,  including  five  claims  in  the  Kock  Creek 
adjoining,  and  ten  claims  in  Miles'  Ravine. 

3d.  'ihat  the  claims  shall  he  sixty  feet  in  length,  and  extending  fmiii 
hank  to  hank. 

4lli.  That  any  person  may  hold  one  claim  hy  location,  and  as  many  1  •  y 
purchase  iia  ho  may  see  proper. 

5th.  That  any  person  owning  claims  in  this  district  can  leave  and  vacate 
the  same  until  there  is  sufficient  water  for  grountUsluioing  hy  having  tlieiii 
recorded  in  the  recorder's  hook,  giving  numher  and  location  of  the  same 
witlun  ten  days  after  tliis  date. 

Gth.  That  these  resolutions  he  published  ir.  *,lie  Nevada  Journal, 

According  to  previous  notice,  a  meeting  of  the  mhiers 
ot  Little  Deer  creek  was  held  on  Slaturday.  Septem- 
ber 9,  1854,  and  adopted  unanimously  the  following 
additional  laws : 

1st.  There  shall  be  no  dams  or  obstruction  kept  In  the  channel  of  Little 
Deer  creek  during  tho  freshets,  either  at  or  above  or  l)elow  low  water  niiirk, 
except  the  dam  at  tho  falls,  which  may  be  kept  in  during  the  freshets. 

2d.  That  the  company  or  companies  using  the  water  of  the  creek  sliall 
not  tlrop  t'.ie  r.ame  in  cuts  or  flumes  so  as  to  prevent  the  company  or  companies 
below  taem  from  ujiug  tlie  i;ame  wa;,er. 


I'ly  tins  places  noriVu^,'',''''''"'^ ''"''■;  a  Uruor^^  ■    i    . 

''■■"■«  a  chance  toVZ       ^'^^^''^''-t  acce.Io  to  ro  iL  I  ''f  °''^"''  -^"'XW.  "'.1 

An  Hone,t  Mi.vkr. 
■L'et  US  now  son  Imw  +i 
■■;S-*-l  as    tl.4''°H t  "r7/'«f™<lo<l  wl,at  thoy 
tlicTO  wero  t«-.>  lanr,.  „  ""-'  '*«"imtr  of  1851 

One,  CO,.,,,,,,,,  7%  :;,X"'-  at  wo.-k  at  Col ',  ^^ 
•■■";'l'a..y,  was  .sued  bni  "  H  ^"7  ";'  ""■■  Tu.md 
Y  tlu'ir  injury.  Thc^TuM,,  '  '.l^  '"'  ''"'i'  "P  «-ator 
'0  court  to  ,,av  s-oo  ami  ""yr  was onlcnd  l,v 
;  '"7-1  tlK.,I.  ton  ZTVX::  n'  '•■"';■  ''''-  ™"'"t 
'  ;'VJ-'crco,  at  tl.oo.vniration  „n/'?-r.''<''^^«'''  *"  "boy 
'"  ^"h-.  1851,  Ro.r,.;s  t,  ™'r  !^.^*    ","0.  on  tl,e  28tii 

"und  tl.o  place  gtarded  l?:"'!"'^  '"  '«"• "  ''"»■"■     Ho 
t':  resist     The  IWM,  ^'«  "7'«d  >"e"  l>roparod 

'^^"^•'■^'''''-'^wtijni'r^^..^:-:! 


m 


EL  DORADO. 


tearing 


down    the    ob- 


yielding   to    necessity   was 
structioii. 

Sheldon's  rancho  on  the  Cosunincs  was  the  scene 
of  civil  discord  during  the  first  days  of  July  I8al.  A 
dam  had  been  built  by  Sheldon  for  the  purpose  of  ir- 
rigating his  land.     But  while  a  benefit  to  him,  it  was 


working 


tl 


on  tne  river 


a  great  injury  to  the  miners 

above,  as  the  water  flowed  back  on  their  claims ;  where- 
fore they  rebelled  and  threatened  to  destroy  his  works. 
Sheldon,  bringing  150  ranchmen  to  his  support,  with 
a  six-pounder  placed  in  position,  prepared  to  resist  the 
miners.  The  latter,  however,  in  Sheldon's  absence, 
spiked  the  cannon  and  took  prisoner  the  man  who  had 
charge  of  it.  Sheldon,  upon  his  return,  finding  the 
miners  advancing  with  axes  to  cut  away  the  centre  of 
the  breastwork,  undertook  to  defend  the  dam,  and 
with  twelve  allies  walked  ft)rward  and  took  })ositions 
in  different  places.  Sheldon  then  remonstrated  witli 
the  miners,  told  them  that  they  were  trespassing  on 
his  property,  and  threatened  death  to  the  first  man 
who  should  attempt  to  cut  away  the  dam.  Immedi- 
ately a  shot  was  fired  from  the  besieging  party,  strik- 
ing Johnson,  one  of  Sheldon's  adlierents,  and  almost 
instantly  killing  him.  Some  one  in  the  crowd  ex- 
claimed, "there,  we've  killed  Johnson,  now  give  it  to 
Sheldon,  give  it  to  Sheldon  I"  Half  a  dozen  guns 
were  aimed  at  him,  and  he,  too,  fell  dead.  Anotlier 
of  his  party  was  killed  and  two  wounded.  Several 
Were  taken  prisoners,  but  speedily  released.  The  num- 
ber of  miners  is  variouslv  estimated  at  from  foi-tv  to 
one  hundred.  They  escaped  with  little  or  no  injury. 
A  difficulty  arose  at  Park  bar,  about  the  middle  if 
July  1851,  over  some  mining  claims.  The  authorities 
interfered,  but  were  successfully  resisted  by  seven  nun, 
who  maintained  their  claim  in  a  most  defiant  manntr. 
The  authorities  then  sent  to  Marysville  for  assistanci, 
and  two  oflficers,  McCloud  and  Bo  wen,  came  over  to 
make  an  arrest,  but  were  met  by  sixty  belligerents, 
who,  armed  with  pick-handles  and  stones,  drove  the 


LAWS  AND  REGULATIONS. 


m 


officers  away.  The  deputy  sheriff  of  Yuba  county, 
with  a  posse  of  150  men,  then  appeared  at  Park  bar 
and  arrested  two  or  three  of  the  leaders,  who  were 
taken  to  Marysville  jail  and  dealt  with  according  to 
law.  The  rebellion  was  subdued  and  no  further  diffi- 
culty ensued.  • 


(i- 


CHAPTER  X. 

CLASSICAL  ABNORMITIES. 
£a  inusz  auch  solclie  Kauze  geben. 


—GoeHte. 


Ne  nous  emportons  point  contre  Ics  hojnmcs  en  voyant  lenr  ingratitude, 
lour  injustice,  leur  fierte,  I'amour  d'oux-meines,  et  I'ouhli  desautros  ;  ilssont 
aiusi  faits,  c'est  leur  nature  :  a'en  f^cher,  c'est  ue  pouvoir  supporter  que  la 
pierre  tonibe,  ou  que  le  feu  s'  el6ve. 

— La  Bruylre 


Phantasia,  non  homo. 


^ Pelroniiis  Arbiter. 


Mur. — We  are  men,  my  liege. 

Muc. — Ay,  iu  the  catalogue  ye  go  for  men. 


-Maclieth. 


Human  nature  turned  loose  into  an  unfcnocd  field 
cuts  queer  capers.  This  we  have  seen  fully  illustrated 
throughout  our  entire  study  of  the  California  flush 
times.  Why  it  does  so,  or  from  what  turned  loose,  it 
does  not  know.  It  knows  that  it  is  loosened  from 
somethinij:,  and  beini;  like  certain  oases  set  free  by 
certain  salts,  its  behavior  under  the  new  conditions  is 
peculiar.  ]3ut  the  capers  thus  cut  being  of  the  first 
rank,  and  the  most  superior  of  their  kind,  may  l)e  railed 
classical ;  being  queer  they  may  bo  called  abnormal. 
Man's  antics  are  Imt  aberrations  of  development ;  tiiey 
are  a  phase  of  physical  and  intellectual  revolution 
whose  origin  and  circumstance  are  according  to  con- 
ditions. 

Until  to  some  extent  set  at  libertv,  human  nature 
never  knows  that  it  has  been  bound ;  and  when  it  be- 
gins to  know  and  feel  its  bonds,  it  camiot  tell  by  what 
powers  it  was  enslaved.     And  even  when  its  iiou  fet- 

(■248) 


1; 


MEN  AND  GODS 

"■^o  «„■  s„el,  word,  as^^f'T-^'^  ^""M  I.avol, t 

'"iig  "I'Pi'oiitioosliin  an  «,;^  ^  '  '"'  ''■''8  sorved  a 
""  «"."cl  to  say  to  1,"^.*'^?,J  ';';""?  °f  J™rs,  it  wiK 
■■-I'fiii-  along  tiK,  lane  nf  M^    •*  '""''''^'•' "''y  Sio  lou 

''^tural  and  art  ficial  eio^  Jl  ^"'™  '■'™tfd  on  overy 

;'«oe,  feel,  or  tlwnk  ?     fiefo/fr"  "''.*'''-^'  '■«''"«in? 

"10  men  of  Yortv-nino  7k         *'"'  ''""""S  liitJior  nf 

«"<'  -ul    by  lawVradSsT",  ''""'"'°  «<d  My 

.'■■•o  f-ra  „,„„,„,;t  they  wel  fi     '"'T\'^'"'"^^-^iZ 

&'.S'"'^^^^-'«S^t,t: 
;.';;r '"  ^-" .^ntod  u,r  fc:  7f,  ■"""/  ti^' 

''•'"^  way  roun<l  tlio  w„rld  L  ,       'l,"*^.*'"""  travelled 

;:;;.y  .oaclK.d  the  .,„;r^dy"tX*  ""-  -'-tinati„n' 

"liat  a  mixture  of  natter^  I     r-  ,T/''™»  tlioir  lives 

:'"• ;""'  ™Mshino  still  runn-r    I    *>'  '""""'  "'"l  Mve  t 
"' ;l"' niiM-st  of  all  la,   '    °1,*''  T'*'  «it'"'>.t    and 

'■■'■'«  te„.i„„tion ;:,  t;^:;  s:i'i"'™«---  <'™ti.:  h,;;'' 


i;.  I 


'I 


If 


2S0 


CLASSICAL  ABNORMITIES. 


All  sprinkled  was  the  wide  ocean  with  f3hi[)s,  the 
wavy  plains  with  moving  congregations.  One  is  the 
counterpart  of  the  other ;  the  ocean  is  but  billowy 
hills  and  restful  plains,  the  mountains  petrified  waves. 
All  the  world  was  up,  and  every  man  wished  to  be 
a-top  of  it;  for  long  ages  ago  the  golden  crop  was 
sown,  and  now  the  golden  har\'est  is  to  be  gathered. 
Following  the  phantom  hope,  following  the  fantastic 
visions  oi  his  brain,  starboard,  larboard,  now  to  the 
south,  now  to  the  west  and  north,  fitful  fate  leading, 
ten  thousand  men  were  on  these  ships  whose  thousand 
roads  were  here  converging.  Virtue,  health,  knowl- 
edge, fame,  wealth,  and  heavenly  expectation  all  lay 
in  this  one  direction.  Drifting  south  toward  the 
burning  sun,  I  being  also  there,  softer  and  warmer 
broke  the  breeze  upon  our  brow,  and  warmer  grew 
the  waves  as,  sailinir  southward  from  out  the  black 
night  and  thundering  sky,  we  dashed  into  the  day- 
light. The  sky  was  studded  with  new  stars;  and 
nightly  came  the  bashful  moon  creeping  timidly  up 
from  the  horizon  far  behind  the  clouds,  trembling  at 
her  own  presumption  after  so  gorgeous  a  display  of 
the  sun's  majesty.  Round  the  land's  end  and  steering 
nortliward,  with  certain  thousand  leagues  yet  to  sail, 
three  several  times  with  chafing  spirits  in  unwel- 
come rest  we  lay  twelve  days  wasting  of  ftimine  and 
weariness,  waiting  the  tardy  wind.  Yet  presently 
with  fresh  wind  we  onward  swiftly  drive  again  as  if 
for  our  sliip.  as  for  that  of  the  ancient  mariner,  the 
wind  opened  before  and  closed  behind.  As  Anaxu- 
goras  remarked  of  hades,  the  distance  to  California  in 
those  days  was  about  the  same  from  one  place  as  from 
another. 

There  arc  evils  springing  from  ocean  travel,  yet 
one  cannot  but  be  imi)roved  by  it.  Go  on  board  a 
steamer,  shut  yourself  in  your  room,  throw  yoursrlf 
on  your  bunk,  and  even  amidst  the  frequent  paroxysms 
arising  from  troublous  unrest,  the  intellect  seems  to 
enlarge  and  become  luminous  like  the  phosphorescent 


tile  s( 
Ov, 
Passio 
J'»und 

liH-k, 

I"_'oJ,s, 

J  iff 'less, 
tile  Sie 

•Sllovvv'" 

yi'iitJy 


THE  COMING  HITHER. 

~u'S  ttSr'Y  ,  ^'"'o  the  mindt 
every  throe  of  selsick^^Tnf  *!f  ^'P'  ^  ''»ve 1 1 

''•"*■  ■"«>  passing  o,or  it  withTh-  ^"°.'''  "'"'  "'c  stal- 
j-nes,  and  „11  th^S-  bel„„„i„T''''  *'":  ""I^^  «■'<!  little 

'■His,  as  ^'noas carried t-^^^nS^f  *''!?"  ^^  "^^^ 

1  ™^e  seen  upon  a  bapk.rro,,„,i !,/  f  f^'«"i  nvor 
ennig-strcaked  cl,.ud-wa?s  T,?  •  ■""''^'  •>'"«.  "sht- 
a  l-eated  furnaee,  ^yhl  ZtZ"''^  ".'  "'f'''»"Se>-^Ike 

a-.<l  a  garden  is  tl,t  sS  rf"t,7t/''r"''  "^  Nevada, 

"en  gold  to  drink,  tl  e  r  thirs  t  "f'^^'T^'.^'*'*'  «»^^«' 

'i'ey  will  roar  before  VL         5^  '"-'"'«  •'"sire,  and 

A-.dthi,g„u,^:X«    '-  word  a  "-  -ivil!«;tir 

;  wbat  others  have  do, oX;  t,'^  T"'''  «'-'''«™ 
"■e  t„„e  must  rest  satisfied %>!""  *'•'  ""''  ^  f'-r 

passionless  plain, To^^  ttlT '''""^''  "'«  Mistered 
>"und  the  sunbnr,  t  hiUs  ad''  ,°^  «'W  ground, 
>■'«  k,  then  down  where  iC    '""'''  ""■'l''''"?  "^  ■•"«-' 
''"'Is,  and  the  rivers  iro  u,      i      ^'''^^  '^"'^"'^  Putiid 
;''l^^s,  they  con,e  at  k„T;tht%"r';'''^''"'-''=«'  -^ 


Ml 


CLASSICAL  ABNORMITIES. 


chasinc:  hills  in  low  rounded  rvthm,  while  November's 
moisture  tints  the  gray  plats  with  green,  and  the 
swelling  bud  begins  to  push  from  the  branches  of  the 
trees  their  dry  leaves. 

"  Eureka  1"  exclaimed  Archimedes,  as  the  method 
of  determining  specific  gravity  flashed  upon  him  while 
in  the  bath.  "  JCureka  1 "  cried  the  gold-thirsty  thous- 
ands as,  striking  their  picks  in  the  gravelly  bottoms 
of  the  Pactolian  streams,  they  turned  up  the  glittering 
sand  wliich  was  to  behoarmg  balm  for  all  the  nations. 

In  the  ho})o  of  a  sudden  ac(|uisition  of  wealth  there 
is  that  which  strikes  the  imagination  and  rouses  the 
spirits  not  found  in  the  patient  plodding  walks  of  in- 
dustrj'  or  commerce.  At  such  times  the  mind  be- 
comes so  inflamed,  and  tlie  judgment  so  warped,  that 
the  venturer  closes  the  eye  to  danger  and  disappoint- 
ment, and  visions  of  the  coveted  treasure  only  absorb 
the  mind. 

To  tliese  early  diggers  California  was  the  Ompha- 
los, the  earth's  navel-stone,  the  very  centre  of  created 
things ;  she  was  what  Ithaca  was  to  Ulysses. 

A  mngh,  wiUl  nurBe-land  liut  whose  crops  are  men, 
A  land  wluTc,  girt  liy  friends  and  foes, 
A  nuiii  niiglit  say  tlie  thing  he  wouhl. 

Thoy  were  no  brainless  brood  of  mad  adventurers, 
though  among  tliem  were  riiunv  such.  They  were 
gods,  and  god-makers.  First  of  all  labor  was  deified, 
digging  for  gold  being  no  child's  play,  but  work — 
labor  and  rags.  Into  Jove's  hands  was  placed  a 
l)i('k,  ami  ^linerva  was  made  to  stand  in  the  state 
seat;  Jupiter  was  not  permitted  to  go  naked,  neithci' 
nm.st  he  wear  store  clothes.  Thcv  themselves  dis- 
played  tlieir  contempt  of  conventionalities  by  dressing 
as  badly  as  they  could,  and  if  by  chance  one  of  them 
became  suddenly  rich,  he  dressed  worse  than  the  rest. 
Some,  if  they  did  not  attempt  the  perfect  nudity  of 
the  Picards  in  Flanders,  and  ape  Adam  in  paradise, 
canie  near  to  it,  their  wardrobe  being  shirt  and  over- 
alls, with  the  shirt  usually  loft  ofi", 


do 

Wl 

uati 

ncr.s 

temj 

a  joi 

W 

was  i 

a  par 

must 

ti  \'ate( 
S'-'Worg 

tin's  is 

f'lMliJy. 

liiore  Ti 

Toss 

and  to 

^aJls  an 

P''ide-ta 

and  fvri 

iHir  fru 

^y'ith  t] 

V't  a]] 

Tiiere 
'^I'tween 
/"■"!,'ress 
hkv.  ail 

■^'•thiiig 
from  tiie 
^^' 'Unities 


It 


t 


rpi  253 

7  f'o  devotion  to  a  eaure'-  Ll.    "'"""""' "Vct  self- 

»  i'erever  the  aohiovom^J  rf  fl"  i?~"'"'  »"  the  rest 
""t"lto  tl.o  tickiingof  a  fit?  "''"•'"'  ««•'  '■«  ^honf: 
"^^'aml  quacWy.  Asdm  7  '7''!*'™'-«t"beel,Ja^ 
'•■rs  IS  not  usually  rX^n'^^  I"-«fes,n,jf  su,x,.rior  n,an 

"mi'orance hotel  LCTrLll?,,"  ''■"'  "^  '••"■■ni"."    a 
a  journa  <,f  extra  14^.3"?  P"'''-^^* ''fhn.srand 
,,Jlfl"^  Californfa  t    cb  f^i?r;';^  """■■^l-Per 
»as  the  bare  stretch  ,>f  earth   n  .,    "•>"""o'-     There 
a  paradise  for  wild  men   b^  V  °"'.''«  more?     It  ^^ 
;"U«    be  swept  and  ga^Wstd  ^"\T''^i'""'^  ixtslt 
<  '%'"ig  a  government  v.,  fi         "*-'^''"'  *  day  of  „oJ, 
■vated,  ancf  by  and  ^  "ties  t  !i^"'!''«''ed,  Ian  Is^  i": 
*wers,   ehurches,    hZses    „f    "'  '''"'  "'eir  street, 
^'ambln,,,  shops,  hospit*    °L  P~««tution,    scho.t: 
t  MS  is  going  on,  inVld itio"    J  ■'"■     ^"'^  ^-hilo  al 

lll^^S^^^lSl'rfe-thela^^^ 


-liicre  Was  Iio».q  •     v  wits. 

;;;.;^r » •-.^■•- "g  "a  7:„rihr  1'  "--""-ibed 

."%"-ess,  change.  °  Like  an  tt      f   '''^'  ''''■"""nt  of 
y--;  all  the  foS.es  of  n^tl     1  "'r",'"'"''  "f  "'atte 
X..  h,ng  was  fixed,  nothh  "5a  sh"  r '^"''-'^  I"  "'"•"^t 
"m  the  shores  of  time  in"J  fi     1  "'*"«•     Launched 
et;T„ities,  they  cou  d   s  m   1       boundless  sea  ,  f  tl!; 
'-^■■■o'Iingwith{heran:':!fd:S;;."-  -i-  of  Lrlh 


I, 


284 


CLASSICAL  ABNORMITIES. 


Very  different  was  the  Califoriiian  nation  in  its 
making  from  the  American  nation.  In  the  settle- 
ment of  New  England  there  was  an  agreement  in 
religion,  in  politics,  in  morals  and  manners,  in  every- 
thing appertaining  to  the  new  conmionwealth.  One 
was  as  prim  and  puritanical  as  another.  All  were 
death  on  sin,  and  although  they  had  so  lately  fled 
from  persecution,  they  were  little  behind  their  perse- 
cutors in  requiring  all  men  to  believe  what  they  be- 
lieved. This  fanaticism  was  the  strongest  element  of 
their  union,  the  most  exalted  of  Plymouth-rock  senti- 
ments. In  California  the  moral  ideal  was  not  nation- 
making,  or  meeting-house-making,  but  money-making. 
The  meanest  of  occupations,  however,  was  saturated 
with  thought.  It  was  an  epoch  of  expansion,  follow- 
ing a  long  period  of  concentration  of  ideas,  both  uitoii 
these  shores,  among  the  Hispano- Americans,  and  at 
the  east,  where  intellect  was  more  slowly  but  none 
the  less  surely  marking  out  the  pathway  of  its  final 
emancipation. 

There  were  yet  new  moralities  under  the  sun  as 
well  as  new  lands.  Coascicnce,  which  was  once  con- 
sidered an  original  faculty,  was  now  regarded  as  the 
product  of  an  association  of  ideas.  And  under  tlu^ 
new  survey,  right  and  wrong  assumed  original  prerog- 
atives. And  as  the  primary  elements  of  the  st)cial 
structure  in  California,  more  than  in  any  spot  or  time 
the  world  has  ever  seen,  were  abstracts  of  the  be,^  t 
elements  of  the  foremost  nations  of  the  earth,  so  tlio 
body  politic  in  its  completion  and  entirety  was  socoirI 
to  none.  Every  element  of  pioneer  character  was  in- 
stinct with  directness  and  efficiency. 

For  the  matter  of  that,  there  were  among  tluni 
men  without  a  country,  men  who  never  had  a  country, 
who,  bom  upon  the  wing,  were  accustomed  to  icst 
on  any  spot  where  they  happened  to  light,  and  to  tit 
their  ears  to  any  name  given  them. 

Like  animals  of  an  elevated  type,  while  the  oruan- 
ism  grew  rapidly,  the  organs  of  the  body  politic  of 


H 

inher 

robe, 

noss  I 

her  s 

CahTo 

Th( 

m  the 

uousnt 

<'ia]  ini 

will  ea 

that  wj 

nature 

fL'ption.' 

P'>sition 

JuIIs    SUi 

iiivss.     J 
^•'Uinot  i 
foine  in 
^'le  chea 
«i  leper. 
As  in 
peacJicd 


^^  "^^O  OF  A  TOV  NATTOK. 


California  develou.   >     ,  "  ""™''-  W 

tl.e  „.„«=ierwtri?l^  .^'g-tion  was  good  k,„ 
*J'e  brain  in^^nf       ,^*^"'  tae  bones  carfJln   ■  ^        ""^ 

we  ny-]oaves  at  the  hn^rln   •       ^  ^'^''*  ^  eu,  was 

'"'l»s  on  the  limitlc«  r      "  !."«'"  safely  launnl^  f  *" 
'■"-trained  aUw     '"^''"  "^  *»  ^-u^htT-illMu! 

■"Iiwi'tan"ran/  "".'»«»'»  ii'folicities  is  th. 

robe,  dvod  i,r  V  ?^"-"'""«'t,  wl,icl,  Jik  *i| ''''™"  of 

''«'•  Cee""f  """-^  into  tlieiea™  f  m*^"'"  IV^'""'- 

in  tl'otvorJd.'^Butl/'-'^'  ""''  *''«  "*«'  natured  n 

na  'ntore,,u^e'i,a,!rta„!,TT ''!;■«'  "'"'  «■"•"" 


\] 


2S6 


CLASSICAL  ABNORMITIES. 


esty,  it  was  becoming  really  unsafe  in  California  to 
profess  or  practice  virtue  too  boldly.  It  was  safe  to 
display  only  one's  vices.  And  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
since  ante-Caisarian  days,  for  a  time  three  of  the 
Latin  deities  at  least  wci'o  nowhere  more  devoutly 
worshipped  than  hero  :  Plutus,  Venus,  and  Bacchus, 
each  one  of  wliom  was  known  to  have  put  to  death 
tliousands  of  liuman  beinjjcs  without  a  liciiise. 

Now  and  then  was  one  as  lucky  as  Barney  O'Ricr- 
don,  who,  when  he  was  lost  at  sea,  got  hnnself  paid 
for  piloting  the  ship  that  showed  him  the  way  home. 
Others  were  obliged  to  live  like  plovers,  that  is  to  say 
on  little  else  tlian  wind,  yet  all  the  while  as  sure  of 
discovering  treasure  by  means  of  their  superior  knowl- 
edofQ  or  luck  as  was  William  Leurand  bv  his  scara- 
heii'<,  or  gold-bug  indicator.  Many  would  have 
turned  schoolmasters  like  the  younger  Virginia  scions 
upon  the  bursting  of  the  Alabama  bubble,  but  unfor- 
tunately there  were  no  children  to  be  tauglit.  It 
takes  time  and  sex  to  make  men,  or  even  youth  for 
discipline. 

They  had  no  ame  for  law.  Cases  wore  decided  by 
the  pistol  beforehand  and  tried  afterwards.  The  most 
insignificant  quarrels  were  settled  by  a  resort  to  arms, 
frequently  resulting  in  the  murder  of  one  of  the  par- 
ties, the  survivor  finding  it  often  easier  to  obtain  an  ac- 
quittal for  the  crime  of  murder  than  some  simple  mat- 
ter of  justice  hi  the  courts.  Whenever  a  murderer 
chose  to  come  forward  and  stand  trial  he  was  almost 
sure  to  be  acquitted  on  the  ground  of  self-defence, 
though  he  who  touched  his  neighbor's  ])roperty  was 
hunted  and  hanged.  In  politics  they  were  as  dispu- 
tatious as  the  Athenians. 

Rude  men  formed  into  a  new  and  crude  society, 
seize  the  few  pleasures  that  first  present  themselves, 
and  if  these  are  of  a  lower  order  than  hitherto  ha^c 
been  in  accordance  with  the  habits  and  tastes  of  sonic 
of  them,  tlie  more  refined  soon  sink  to  the  level  of 
the  rest,  and  accept  with  thankfulness  anything  that 


e  or  baye,    at  t/,o  n,„o„  f,.    Lv  T-'"*'"'''  '''"•  "'«* 

"    tl.c,r  l.„pes  until  the  verv-  «I?1  ""  ,""^  ^'"liUS 
]f<!«  tl,o  l„„.i^on.     Their S^,f,"',''r "'^  ™'"'-«  «mks 
M^,r  hopes,  fears,  lovorhate  "^''^'  '"''"  H<1,  golden 
«■»"!  Sides  Streaked  win,      •        ."'"y  ^aw  the7ii„„„ 
^I'rinkled  the  pll      urT  "•«"'<'•  "'«'  i'oW  dust 

)';;-■•  it  conferred  'tS-'»»eh  f« /he  permanent 
;, '  "'  ".■nnmnities,  as  for  t  ,e^,  .'""^  attraction  i„ 
•'"t'ouces,   which  is  thi   k    P'"^'>ase  of  present  in 

,7  """-I.   to  whtl  VonVr    •'^%»°'  «bStdv 
.   n,ake  rich  the  prji?!  '"S,^;  .ff     Money  wilj 
■""<'  ).v  having  more  tim,.  ;.     '"^  ,'^  Commerce  bc^ne- 
"■'.tals  „f  wheat  wV  fee,,"  "'"^^-     Two  thous^d 
tljousand  centals;  buttw„tf  ""•■«, '"""ths  than^^e 
•-llvor  depreciated  ZeiZ  ,  l°r 'i1.''°"'"-«  in  gold  "r 
"■■'  ulation  will  car^  o„  ,^f  *'""'»?  the  anmu„t  ^n 
ti'"us«,d.  "y  ""  »°  more  traffic   than   „„" 

"r'o  extravagent.     A  L^     "'"'"'  "•"■  '"'  desires 

tie  reward  of  g^at  hanlsLL„-^':''  S"^*'  rieJii, 

""  "'«  mduljjenco.     CarnZ  ;.W? ,  '"'  ^''?'''  ^''""W 

e,,.  ,„,.,.„  J,  •'    s  with  him  such  expccta- 


258 


CLASSICAL  ABNORMITIES. 


tion,  he  could  ill  brook  the  disappointment  tliafc 
too  frequently  awaited  his  arrival,  and  the  hopet* 
and  failures  that  followed  only  ripened  him  for  any 
excess. 

As  a  rule  everybody  arrived  in  Califoniia  poor; 
many  of  them  remained  poor,  undergoing  more  or  loss 
suffering;  and  yet  there  never  was  what  might  j)n)p- 
erly  be  called  a  poor  class  upon  the  coast.  Spread 
out  before  the  adventurer  were  metal-veined  hills  and 
fertile  valleys ;  and  with  such  fair  provisions,  united 
with  health  and  strength,  he  was  rich  though  he  had 
not  a  dollar,  and  did  not  know  where  his  diimer  was 
to  come  from. 

To  the  wise  man  no  circumstances  could  offer  greater 
inducement  for  the  exercise  of  self-control,  for  indul- 
gence was  always  attended  with  great  risk  to  hcaltli 
and  life;  and  yet,  self-control  was  about  the  last  thing 
of  which  men  there  were  thinking.  Money  tlu  y 
wanted  ;  behavior  was  unrestricted.  And  yet,  it  soon 
became  apparent  that  in  one  sense  the  penalties  of 
extravagance  and  dissipation  were  not  exacted  witli 
the  same  regularity  in  the  new  community  as  in  tlio 
old.  Rioting  was  not  attended  by  disgrace ;  poverty 
did  not  necessarily  follow  prodigality,  nor  want,  pov- 
erty. There  were  bushels  of  gold  in  the  placers,  tin- 
property  of  any  one  who  would  take  it  out,  and  tli<; 
petmiless  of  to-day  might  be  the  envied  possessor  of  ii 
pocket-full  to-morrow.  The  improvident  sometinu  s 
seemed  to  succeed  as  well  as  the  careless. 

Obviously  this  tendency  to  gratify  present  desire  s 
at  the  expense  of  the  future  arose  from  immediiitt* 
surroundings,  lieckless  expenditures  and  unbridltd 
passions  were  qualities  not  inherited  from  the  midilK' 
classes  of  staid  connnunities.  Improvident  Englisli- 
man  and  thrifty  German,  alike,  on  touching  California 
soil  seemed  to  lose  self-control,  and  seize  proxiniato 
pleasures  regardless  of  future  penalties.  Too  many 
of  them,  like  Ulysses  in  the  island  of  Calypso  ami  in 
the  halls  of  Circe,  forgot  their  Penelope,  and  guvo 


themseJves  UD  tn  f  J  ^'^ 

'"wTT-  '""''""»"«'-«"*"  of  a  „„, 

Man  desires  f„od  a,„|  ra^,'",  "'"  ™m  "fall   f„rccl 
m  wJiftf  .-a      11  ^.  '  ®"'"o  fame  ami  nil  ,  •^*     ®"'»e 


CHAPTER  XI. 

SAN   FRANCISCO. 
Superanda  omnia  fortuna  ferciulo  est. 


—  Virijil 


To  the  Greeks,  Delphi  was  tlie  centre  of  the  eartli ; 
to  Jews  and  Christian.s,  Jerusalem;  to  Californiaiis, 
San  Francisco. 

Pastoral  San  Francisco  was  but  a  hamlet.  Thou<xli 
a  seaport,  it  had  little  to  do  with  the  sea,  and  Wiis 
more  like  a  cluster  of  houses  in  the  country  than  a 
commercial  town.  The  presidio  maintjiined  tlie  dii;- 
nity  of  government  and  war,  and  tlie  mission  the  diu- 
nitv  of  reliyjion,  so  that  for  the  traffickers  at  the  cove 
little  diufnity  remained  or  was  requir<d.  Even  wlir;; 
the  ijalvanic  shock  of  uold-discoverv  .struck  the  place, 
it  did  not  innnediately  assume  larijfe  proportions,  l»iit 
ratlier  stood  stupified  for  a  moment  before  settin<^  out 
on  its  broad  pathway  of  pro^j^ress. 

Hence  it  was  that  durinur  the  winter  of  1848-!)  the 
place  did  not  grow  nmch,  nor  was  it  very  large  l»y 
the  end  of  1849.  The  principal  Wuildings  were  clus- 
tered around  the  plaza,  or  Portsmouth  s(piare ;  hriek 
structures  were  few,  and  thcn^  was  not  one  renlly 
substantial  building  in  the  place.  The  gn^ater  pnrt  ef 
the  town  consisted  of  tents  and  small  shanties  nuule 
out  of  packing-boxes,  with  some  not  very  good  hous(  s 
of  more  pretentious  construction.  The  f(;w  travelled 
streets  were  little  better  than  mire  during  the  rains. 
while  the  sidewalks  were  made  of  barrel  staves  and 
narrow  pieces  of  board. 

(260) 


T 

rouii 
and 

tlio 
.'tew 
and  ( 

llOUS( 

stoiy 

many 

old  h 

TJi, 

Peop] 

UKUHK 

(sweep 
to  ussi 
•iiid  j)[ 
and  te 
witli  s] 
ers  J  UK 

ti\e  m; 
old.  'J 
lijied  u 

lii.^Ii-w, 
and  Sa 

line, 
sonie  w 
Califoi'] 

'lie  ,saii( 
ai(tl)(r   I 

'""ek  an( 

^vater,  t 

Justily  III 

TJh,  s 

*'n,  and 

llellow  fi 

t'UuusJy, 


STREETS  AND  BUILDINGS 


^' 


The  autumn  of  1850  saw  quite  a  oiiv-like  settlement 
round  Ycrba  Buena  cove.  Prices  of  most  necessltit  .s 
and  gome  luxuries  had  come  down  within  the  reach  of 
tlie  masses,  but  were  still  hijjfh  enough.  Seveial 
;k'\v  j(jurnals  were  started,  such  as  the  Pacljlc  yars 
una  ('(»n)ncrcial  linlhtin.  The  El  Dorado  gambling- 
house,  from  a  canvas  tent,  had  become  a  fine  tliree- 
story  brick  building.  Tlie  bay  was  noisy  with  steamers, 
many  of  which  were  transformed  sailing  V)oats,  with 
tild  litilcis  whicli  l)urst  with  the  slightest  jirovocatioii. 
The  tire  of  18jO  i)ut  an  end  to  many  irregularities. 
l*eople  chen  began  to  build  in  a  niore  fubstantial 
niiimier.  The  fire  of  ISol,  however,  mad  a  clean 
HWet'p  of  all  that  bad  been  done,  and  the  city  began 
to  assume  a  more  regular  a|)[)earance.  Brick  housis 
and  ))lanked  streets  took  the  place  of  the  huddled  huts 
and  tents  of  the  previous  years.  The  bay  was  alive 
with  sliipping;  by  midsunnner  over  a  hundred  steam- 
ers had  entered  and  departed. 

"Old  things  are  passing  away,"  sighed  the  medita- 
ti\e  man,  by  old  things  referring  to  things  two  years 
old.     The  hills  were  behig  cut  down  and  the  hollows 
filled  ui).     Alontgomery  street,  which  was  the  original 
liigh-water  mark,  was  now  in  the  heart  of  the  city, 
and  Sansome  street,  which  had  been  filled  up  between 
Jackson   and   California  sl^reets,  was   the  m^w  water 
line.      The  wattu*  lots  between  Montijomt'rv  and  San- 
some  were  first  j)iled,  and  then  filled   in.      South  of 
Calitbinia,  the  steam  excr'-itm'  was  l)usy  scooping  up 
tlic  saiid-ldlls,  and  dropping  Uiem  into  tlu>  low  places 
along  the  border  of  the  ct)ve.     A  rail-track  was  laid 
(Ml  Battery  street,  ai>ng  which  cars  wen-  seen  fiying 
hack  and  forth  all  <lay,  dum})ing  their  loads  into  tlie 
water,  the  conductor,  mounted  on  the  foremost  truck, 
lustily  blowing  his  horn  to  givi^  warning  of  approach. 
Tlu^  space  bounded  by  Montgomery,  J^icific,  Jack- 
son, and  Kearny  streets  was,  in  the  s[)ring  of  1851,  a 
IidIIow  filled  with  little  wooden  huts  planted  promis- 
cuously, with  numberless  recesses  and  fastnesses  filled 


iLr: 


I  '. 


262 


SAN  FRANCISCO. 


with  Chilians — mon,  women,  and  ohiklron.  The  place 
was  called  Little  Chile.  The  women  appeared  to  be 
always  washing,  but  the  vocation  of  the  men  was  a 
[)uzzle  to  the  passers-by.     Neither  the  scenery  of  tlie 

1)lace  nor  its  surroundings  were  very  pleasant,  particu- 
arly  in  hot  weather.  On  one  side  was  a  slhny  bog, 
and  on  the  other  rubbish  heaps  and  sinks  of  offal. 
Notwithstanding,  it  was  home  to  them,  and  from  their 
filthy  quarters  they  might  be  seen  emerging  on  Sun- 
days, the  men  washed  and  doan-shirted,  and  the 
women  arrayed  in  smiling  faces  and  liright-colored 
apparel.  They  could  work  and  wallow  patiently 
through  the  week  provided  they  could  enjoy  a  little 
recreation  and  fresh  air  on  Sunday.  Whcn(;ver  a 
vessel  arrived  from  a  home  port,  the  camping  ground 
presented  a  lively  appearance.  Round  the  chief  hut 
or  t'lcmhi  lounged  dirty  men  in  parti-colored  scrapes 
and  round-crowned  straw  hats,  smoking,  drinking,  and 
betting  at  inonte.  Most  of  these  were  either  on  their 
way  to,  or  had  lately  returntid  from,  the  mines. 

Walk  Kearney  street  at  night  from  California 
street  to  the  Plaza.  The  shops  are  all  closed,  all  but 
the  saloons,  mostly  attended  by  a  French  or  Spanisli 
woman,  and  Cheap  John  auction  stores,  whose  cri(  s 
in  husky  voice  and  bad  breath  strive  to  roar  above 
the  jingling  bells,  before  each  door,  where  every  one 
tries  to  ring  down  his  neighbor.  Passing  along  you 
step  aside  to  avoid  some  reeling  drunkard  runniiiLj 
into  you,  and  as  you  approach  the  plaza,  the  blazing 
light  from  the  thickly  planted  saloons  glows  in  the 
thick,  murky  air  without,  and  strains  of  mingled  music 
from  different  bands  fall  upon  the  ear.  Pouring  in 
and  out  of  temples  dedicated  to  Bacchus  and  to  For- 
tuna,  are  crowds  of  people  of  every  hue,  and  ton^ur, 
and  character  under  heaven. 

Building  in  the  autumn  of  1853  was  active,  and  tlie 
structures  were  of  a  much  more  durable  character 
than  was  the  custom  to  rear  hitherto.     Most  of  the 


hou 

com 

liigl 

tlwe 

the  ] 

dene 

havii 

of  bi 

1^'ran 

and  n 

1k'  f<M 

^)r  b] 

'"'•anie, 

J  louses 

Jiouses 

<<»n.sid( 

<|Uakes 

"!^ain.st 

i>tino'  1 

lilon;  V, 

••rait-  i,: 

vate  iiu 

tlieni  to 

^\as  fjiri 

t'ver,  tli 

I'i'ick  dv 

«|>mo  ot 

South 

Vontgoi 

M'as  t\ni 

"  I  cai 

JiiVs,  in  a 
t'lo  J)tli  , 
J''ars  one 
"f"   San 

<"<'Ugll  fc 

'•'ifgest  cl, 
^"d  Rincc 
^''''»in  thes 


STYLK  AND  QUALITY  OF  BUILDmOS. 


houses  for  business  purposes,  both  in  tlie  cities  and  in 
eounty  towns,  and  mining  camps,  were  of  brick,  not 
liij^h  but  well  built.  In  San  Francisco  even  private 
dwellings  were  many  of  them  of  brick,  but  owing  to 
tl>e  rains  of  winter  and  the  fojis  of  summer  brick  resi- 
dences  were  never  popular.  A  few  years  later,  after 
liaving  thoroughly  tested  tliem,  no  one  built  dwellings 
of  brick;  there  arc  now  wooden  dwellings  in  San 
Francisco  which  cost  the  owners  to  build  $300,000, 
and  not  a  sin<rle  fine  residence  of  brick  or  stone  can 
1h'  found  in  the  city.  It  is  not  the  cold  or  damjMiess, 
for  brick  buildings  can  be  made  as  warm  and  dry  as 
IVame,  though  this  climate  does  not  require  very  warm 
houses.  San  Franciscans  do  not  care  to  have  tiieir 
jiouses  too  warm;  nor  with  all  the  fogs  and  rains  i.s  it 
considered  a  very  damp  climate.  The  fear  of  earth- 
quakes at  one  time  exercised  the  strongest  influence 
against  brick  dwellings;  this,  while  there  was  no  ex- 
isting necessity  for  them,  and  tliey  were  in  addition 
more  costly,  and  plainer,  with  fewer  facilities  for  elab- 
oiaU  ovnamentation  which  characterizes  modern  pri- 
vate iiviuses  in  this  country,  caused  a  prejudice  against 
them  to  spring  up,  and  the  fashion  for  frame  houses 
was  formed,  which  still  remains.  At  one  time,  how- 
tver,  there  was  quite  a  movement  in  the  direction  of 
brick  dwellings  of  a  plain  but  comfortable  character, 
some  of  which  may  yet  be  seen  at  North  Beach, 
Soutli  Park,  and  scattered  at  intermediate  ])oints. 
Montgomery  Block,  by  Halleck,  Peachy,  and  Billings 
was  the  largest  building  of  the  season. 

"  I  can  well  remember,"  says  William  Van  Voor- 
hios,  in  an  address  before  the  California  Pioneers,  on 
the  <)th  of  September,  1853,  "and  I  am  not  by  many 
years  one  of  the  'oldest  inhabitants,'  when  the  bay 
of  San  Francisco  afforded  ample  room  and  verge 
I  nough  for  the  easy  and  unobstructed  passage  of  the 
largest  class  mail  steamers  anywhere  between  Clark 
and  Rincon  [)oints;  when  one  could  make  one's  wiy 
from  the  summit  of  Telegraph  hill  to  the  old  Paikcr 


B:tf!' 


•m 


m 

m 

mil 

iiil 

S64 


SAN  FRANCISCO. 


house  by  \vlndin«^  down  its  baro  sides,  now  Broadway 
and  l*a(  ific  streets,  and  leaping  the  slough,  now  Jack- 
son street,  wading  tlirough  the  bay,  now  Montgomery 
street,  up  a  sand  bank,  now  Wasliington  street,  to  an 
open  sj^ace,  now  Kearney  street  ajidtlic  Plaza,  thence 
fifty  paces  soutli  to  the  point  of  destination  I  can 
well  remember,  also,  when  an  unobtrusive  casa,  com- 
pan'd  with  the  immense  structures  which  now  rise 
heaviiiward  here  and  there  at  magnificent  distaiu'cs, 
^vns  all  that,  in  the  way  of  internal,  or  for  that  mat- 
tt!r,  external  improvements,  met  the  eye;  when  the 
Parker  house,  the  old  Portsmouth  house,  the  United 
Stat(>s  hotel,  Howard's  store,  th(>  venerable  adohe  on 
the  IMaza,  then  a  custom-house,  afterwards  a  broker's 
sliitp,  ami  now  no  more,  with  one  or  two  other  shan- 
ties, looked  to  us  immigrants  of '4D  like  ]»alaces;  when 
seraiK'd  natives  chased  the  wild  bullock  over  the  sur- 
rounding hills,  satisfying  a  lean  lank  traftic,  not  com- 
inerc<s  with  tlie  ottering  of  abide  or  horn;  when  a 
Cirme.'e  was  a  Iiisks  vnfunv,  and  a  w«»man  on  the 
street--  wl\i(Ji  was  an  imaginary  line  drawn  in  red  and 
blue  ink  on  pastt; -board — an  absolute  and  unmitigated 
w<vnder." 

Tl'o  pihvdriver,  both  the  ninn  and  the  machine,  was 
an  institution  of  San  Francisco's  bal>vlu>od.  Without 
tl»e  driving  of  piles,  the  water-lots  of  tJie  cove  <!»«u)d 
not  be  rvclainied,  and  without  their  re(  lamation  own- 
ership was  of  little  avail.  The  manner  of  it  was  in 
thiswisit;  fi-om  one  end  of  a  lumlif-rinij  scow  I'ose, 
liigli  in  the  air,  two  p<n'pendi(ular  beairis.  betw<iii 
wliii'h  played  a  largo  lump  of  iron.  A  primitive  stcaui- 
ongine,  staniling  back  of  tin  upi'igltt  beams,  tlrove  the 
ma<'liinery.  On  or  near  the  sj)ot  destined  to  be  r'- 
daimed  tloatod  hundreds  of  piles,  that  is,  young  tiers, 
from  twelve  to  eighteen  inclu'S  in  diameter,  cut  thirty 
or  f(!rtv  feet  in  K'Uijfth,  cniefuliv  trimmed  and  sharp- 
i.n\v{\  at  one  end.  With  its  claws,  vvhich  were  attached 
to  the  e]id  of  a  chain,  the  maclilne  seized  one  of  these 
floating  logs  near  the  lar|^e  end,  and  with  a  Nviieu'zing 


SOME  OF  THE  INIIAKITANTS. 


2C5 


\v:i5 

kout 

Iwu- 
iu 

Icrn 
laiii- 

irty 
I'lu'tt 

king 


rattle  lifted  it  up,  planted  the  point  in  the  proper 
place,  bringing  the  large  end  under  range  of  the  iron 
block  or  hannner,  whicli  was  lifted  up  and  dropped 
ui)on  it  in  successive  blows. 

The  sorriest  of  all  sink-holes  was  the  old  city  hall. 
Originally  theJenny  Lind  theatre,  which  proved  to  be  a 
bad  speculation,  it  was  by  potent,  grave,  and  rivcreiul 
city  fathers,  for  a  j)r<»i)er  ct)nsideration  of  their  jxK-krts 
by  the  seller,  converted  into  a  niunicij)al  building. 
The  price  paid  was  $J00,000,  to  whi(  li  must  b.' added 
$40,000  for  alterations.  It  was  a  i)lace  that  few  re- 
spectable persons  would  care  to  enter  except  as  driven 
there  by  necessity.  It  was  connected  with  everything 
unhappy,  uidioly.  The  basement  was  a  vault  filled 
with  drunkards,  vagabonds,  thieves,  with  tlu^  usual 
attendants  on  the  fraternity.  On  the  first  floor  were 
tlie  municipal  offices,  the  mayor's  court-room  behig 
the  tnost  sickening  ]>lace  of  all.  \j\)  one  flight  weie 
the  rooms  of  the  city  council,  the  city  treasurer's  ofliee, 
and  the  district  court  chambers.  In  the  third  floor 
were  more  offices.  Su1)sequently  wert>  addiKl  to  the 
niain  (edifice  the  old  gambling  shops  on  cither  side,  of 
(•lie  of  wliich  was  niade  the  hall  of  records,  and  of  the 
other,  offices. 

A.  motley  crowd  wns  ever  thronging  the  streets; 
the  tato()ed  islander,  the  solenm  Chinaman,  and  the 
sloveidy  Chilian  mingled  with  the  more  dcuided  wliite 
jind  blaek  from  li^urope  and  Africa.  A.  mighty  talii?- 
maii  hiid  transformed  a  wilderness  into  a  place  of  busy 
industry,  a  barren  ])euin.sula  into  a  blooming  city  ;  and 
the  .same  subtle  influenc(!  was  sdllat  work,  blending 
n.\tional  antipathies  with  kindly  spm[)iithies,  and  har- 
monizing the  antagonistic  elements  <>t'  this  sti'ange 
brotherhood.  Blessed  be  gold  when  it  can  be  brought 
to  such  uses? 

Thus  rapidly  was  an  orderly,  iiiti>)ligont  population 
replacing  ti»e  hurrying  gold -seeker.s.  Those  who  now 
|»urpose<l  to  makt^  California  their  home,  were  resolved 
that  the  scum  from   eastern  and  European  cities,  and 


•r 


lili 


2C6 


SAN  FRANCISCO. 


the  convicts  from  tlie  British  penal  colonics,  ahouki 
not  bo  permitted  to  mar  the  fair  prospects  of  the 
state,  winch  sentiment  led  to  popular  tribunals,  des- 
cribed in  another  volume. 

Hundreds  of  Micawbers  were  always  waitlnjr  for 
something,  anything,  to  come  along — waitin^^  about 
tlie  post-office,  custom-house,  and  other  fedcal  and 
municipal  free-soup  houses ;  standing  in  auction  rooms, 
and  str<»lling  down  Long  Wharf 

The  country  was  filled  with  would-be  great  men — 
men  who  measured  the  greatness  of  their  own  worth 
by  the  fancied  littleness  of  their  neighbor.  Every 
bosom  beat  high  with  aspirations. 

I  have  said  that  in  the  absence  of  old-time  associa- 
tions, some  were  disposed  to  be  lonely  at  times,  to  tlie 
damage  of  tlieir  morals.  While  this  was  true,  it  was 
likewise  true  that,  altlioughin  a  strange  land,  isolated, 
without  friends  or  female  companions,  exposed  to 
temptations,  reverses  and  hardships,  the  'forty-niner 
found  much  in  the  form  of  a  substitute  for  ennui. 
There  was  an  indescribal^le  stimulant  in  the  business 
atmosphere,  in  mingling  with  men,  not  unlike  that  so 
often  glorified  in  the  physical,  which  chased  away  lone- 
liness, generated  excitement,  stri})ped  time  of  its  mo- 
notony, and  glued  tlie  heart  of  the  adventurer  forever 
to  tlie  soil 

A  Ocrman  editor  of  San  Francisco  is  responsible 
for  the  following,  which  he  tells  for  a  true  story; 
One  day  a  German  was  leisurely  riding  ahmg  Sansome 
street,  near  Saerain«'nto,  when  he  heard  a  })istol  shot 
behhid  him,  heard  the  whizzing  of  a  ball,  and  felt  it 
strike  his  hat.  Turning  about  he  saw  a  man  with  a 
revolver  in  his  hand,  and  taking  off  his  hat  he  found 
a  bullet  Jiole  in  it.  "Did  y(»u  shoot  at  me  ?"  he  asked. 
"Yes,"  replied  the  other,  "that  is  my  horse;  it  was 
stolen  from  me  a  short  time  acjo."  "You  must  bo 
mi.staken,"  said  the  German,  "I  have  owned  tins 
horse  for  three  years."  "Well,"  exclaimed  the  other, 
"  now  that  I  come  to  look  at  it,  I  believe  I  am  mis- 


PLAY-COmO. 


267 


taken.  Excuse  mo,  sir;  won't  you  take  a  drink?" 
The  rider  dismounted,  tied  his  horse,  and  the  two 
found  a  drinkitii5-sah)on  near  by.  Entering  it  they 
railed  for  their  respective  beverages,  talked  the  aflair 
over  in  a  cool  connnou-place  u.anner,  and  parted 
friends. 

Doctor  Ver  Mehr  gives  to  C.  V.  Gillespie  the  credit 
of  having  the  only  carriage  in  San  Francisco  in  Scp- 
toml)er  1849.  Better  still,  the  worthy  doctor  gives 
him  the  credit  of  taking  him  and  his  family  up  in  it 
when  lie  landed  on  the  beach  at  Montgomcrv  street, 
iiftor  a  seven  months'  voyage  round  Cape  Horn.  A 
Indv  in  a  carriaire  was  then  no  conunon  siijht.  Pass- 
ing  up  Washington  street  on  their  way  to  the  residence 
of  Frank  Ward,  corner  of  Stockton  and  Green  streets, 
the  new-comers  met  a  group  of  Frenchmen  straggling 
along  the  uneven  ground  compf)sing  the  sidewalk, 
when  one  of  them,  pointing  to  the  plaza,  then  a  sandy 
lot,  called  out  to  his  comrades,  "Voila,  messieurs,  la 
place  royale !"  Just  then  they  spied  the  carriage  with 
its  fair  freight,  when  in  an  instant  off' went  their  hats, 
and  all  shouted  sinmltaneouslv,  "  Vi vent  les  dames!" 

Many  theatres  and  otlier  places  of  amusement 
sjirang  up,  in  which  the  performance  and  attendance 
v.'ere  both  good.  The  stork  companies  were  far  above 
tlie  average  in  Europe  and  the  east.  In  California, 
poor  acting,  like  poor  ])reaching,  or  poor  horse-racing, 
(lid  not  pay;  it  recjuired  more  than  ordinary  ability 
jimong  the  performers  to  hold  in  their  seats  for  two 
or  three  hours  their  discriminating  and  restless  audi- 
ence. Somewhat  expensive  it  was  for  the  young  mer- 
eliant  or  salaried  clerk,  but  wliat  were  they  to  do  after 
wnik,  with  no  home  and  no  congenial  female  society? 
Almost  anvthing  was  better  than  loiterhiLir  about 
gambling  saloons,  or  other  dens  of  vice,  with  which 
the  town  was  filled,  and  which  it  was  difficult  always 
to  esca[>e. 

So  it  was  that  Callfornians  were  groat  play -goers, 
and  in  their  gatherings  might   bo  seen  as  varied  a 


268 


SAN  FRANCISCO. 


crowd  as  over  gathered  in  the  foreigners*  gallery  of 
an  Athenian  theatre  in  the  days  of  Euripides.  An 
English  sailor  might  be  seated  beside  a  Boston  mer- 
cliant;  a  hybrid — half  Aztec,  half  Spaniard,  beside  a 
French  nobleman ;  a  Sweedish  consul  beside  an 
Italian  fisherman ;  farmers,  mechanics,  and  miners  all 
tosjether.  Amonij  the  men  and  women  of  the  statje 
time  throws  a  glamour  which  softens  their  ruder 
parts,  and  heightens  the  charm  all  feel  in  their  tragic 
and  comic  fictions. 

The  effect  of  the  drama  on  California  was  most 
beneficial.  The  craving  for  excitement  had  become 
to  the  people  a  second  nature.  Business  gave  the 
mind  employment  during  the  day,  but  at  night  recrea- 
tion seemed  necessarv.  In  the  absence  of  home  and 
Social  tics,  the  Ljaiiiin<jf-tablc  asid  the  *jlitteri:i«;  saloons 
of  prostitution  wore  too  often  the  resort  of  men  too 
good  for  such  places ;  but  when  theatrical  performances 
of  the  better  sort  were  offered,  there  was  a  marked 
decline  in  the  patronage  of  the  gaming-table  and 
liquor  saloons.  The  tastes  of  the  conmmnity  were 
not  so  low  as  circumstances  had  hitherto  made  thent 
appear.  As  anmsenients  of  a  higher  order  were  intro- 
duced, those  of  the  baser  sort  lost  their  charm.  As 
early  as  IS.*) I  there  was  scarcely  a  mining  town  of  a 
thousand  inhabitants  without  its  tiieatre. 

To  the  homeless,  liouseless  wanderer  the  theatre 
was  a  blessinuj.  And  notwithstandini;  all  that  has 
i)een  said  of  San  Francisco  looseness  and  inunorality, 
tliere  never  was  a  time  wlien  a  licentious  drama  was 
cncouragi'd,  or  even  tolerated.  Far  above  the  a\  t  rage 
tlieatre-goer  of  New  York,  London,  and  Paris,  in 
rv 'fined  taste  and  appreciation  were  those  of  San 
Francisco. 

Lovers  of  tragedy  who  attended  the  Jenny  Lincl 
on  the  niiiht  of  the  14th of  Januarv  1851  to  witness 
rizarro,  were  regaled  witji  a  recital  of  real  life  which 
ecjualled  anything  tluy  might  Jiavc  seen  upon  the 
stage.     It  appears  that  Airs  lianibleton,  who  was  ti) 


THEATRES. 


269 


have  acted  a  part  that  night,  did  not  live  in  harmony 
witli  l»er  huslmnd,  but  found  the  society  of  Mr  Coad, 
a  member  oi"  the  same  company,  more  congejiial. 
Matters  Iiad  not  proceeded  far  when  Mr  Hambleton 
brought  on  the  climax  in  a  storm  of  passion.  Con- 
fronting the  lovers,  who  were  guiltless  of  any  crimi- 
nality, he  made  the  man  promise  to  quit  the  country 
instantly.  The  woman  seeing  all  hope  of  happiness 
liad  gone,  took  poison  and  died;  whereat  Coad  also 
took  poison  and  attempted  to  die,  but  could  not. 
There  was  no  performance  at  the  Jenny  Lind  that 
night. 

Jeems  Pipes  to  the  San  Francisco  Eveiunfj  Picayune 
writes  from  Sacramento  the  2 1st  of  August  1850: — 
"  To  dessippate  my  retched  sonsa}'  shuns  I  go  to  the 
M  street  Pmificke  Tlirnire;  by  the  way,  one  of  the 
most  perfekt  spcciments  of  arkitekshure  in  the  wurld. 
The  band  led  by  Mons  Bona  were  a  playin  a  Jenny 
Lind  poker,  and  the  ordience,  graced  by  sum  hiterest- 
ing  phemales,  wos  quite  large,  orderly,  and  respekta- 
bel.  The  play  was  *  Honey  Moon,'  Mr  ami  Mrs 
Tliorne,  from  Chatham  Theatre,  the  principal  attrak- 
shun.  Six  months  ago  upon  the  same  spot  wos  I 
sittin  on  a  lo<:c,  wittling:,  and  nuthinu;  to  see  but 
stumps,  and  treas,  and  a  few  dirty  tents — so  nmch 
for  the  go-ahedativeness  of  Amerikans." 

The  signals  on  Telegraph  hill  became  so  many 
and  so  intricate,  and  withal  were  so  important  to  anx- 
iously gazing  expectants,  that  an  enterprising  lithog- 
rapher conceived  the  idea  of  putting  them  on  a  chart 
where  all  could  see  and  learn  tluMu.  ( )ne  night  sliort- 
ly  after  tlie  publication  of  this  chart,  a  niiWKboy  sat  in 
the  top  loft  of  the  theatre,  cracking  peanuts,  and  criti- 
( ising  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Thespis,  as  they 
strutted  their  brief  parts  before  him.  Presently  one 
rushed  upon  the  stage  with  arms  extended  at  right 
angles  with  his  body,  and  exclaimed,  •'  What  means 
this  mv  lord?"  The  bov  who  not  onlv  knew  well  the 
chart,  but  whose  fancy  was  then  revelling  in  the  an- 


m 


SAN  FRANCISCO. 


Ir 


ticipated  profits  of  his  paper,  cried  out,  "  Side-wheel 
steamer  1'  The  house,  and  the  actor's  arms,  came 
down  simultaneously.  A  story  is  like-wise  told  of  a 
newly  arrived  emi<rrant  across  the  plains,  who,  in  ap- 
plying; this  chart  to  the  interpretation  of  the  signals, 
mistook  a  windmill  which  st«)od  near  by  for  the  arms 
of  the  telegraph,  and  counting  u[)  the  fans  concluded 
that  a  fleet  of  clippers  was  coming  in. 

Twice  or  thrice  a  month  the  mail  steamers,  connect- 
ing San  Francisco  with  New  York  by  way  of  Panamii, 
departed  and  arrived.  Both  were  peculiar  and  nota- 
ble occasions.  It  is  difficult  for  one  who  has  not  lived 
it  through  to  realize  with  what  nervous  pulsations 
these  vessels  were  watched  as  they  came  and  went. 
California  was  then  well-nigh  out  of  the  world,  be- 
yond the  pale  of  civilization,  of  sabbath  and  home  in- 
fluence, of  all  the  sweet  memories  and  amenities  that 
make  life  endurable.  Her  people  were  voluntary 
exiles,  cut  ort'  from  friends  and  all  congenial  society, 
doomed  for  a  period  to  a  life  of  self-abnegation  and 
hard  labor,  and  these  days  of  steamer  arrivals  ami 
departures  were  as  links  in  the  life-chain  that  was  to 
bind  tlie  future  to  tiie  past.  The  present  went  for 
nothing,  or  worse  than  nothing,  pcrliaps ;  for  it  might 
be  a  niglitmare,  a  horrible  dream,  a  something  to  be 
blotted  from  the  memory  as  soon  as  ended.  Wiicn 
the  steamer  came  in  with  passengers  from  home — tlu; 
whole  eastern  seaboard,  and  west  to  the  IMissouri  rivt  r, 
was  then  home  to  the  expatriated  of  California — witli 
perhaps  friends  on  board,  but  abt>ve  all  with  letters, 
what  a  flood  of  tender  recollection  rushed  in  U[)on  the 
soul ! 

Therefore  when  the  signal  flag  was  unfurled,  and 
the  wind-mill  looking  indicator  on  telegraph  liill 
stretched  forth  its  long  ungaiidy  woouen  arms  and  told 
the  town  of  a  steamer  outside,  a  thrill  went  throujjh 
the  heart  like  that  which  Gabriel's  trumpet  sends 
into  the  fleshless  bones  of  the  dead.     Some  rushed 


tot 

clifl' 

line 

as  fi 

appc 

grov 

as  it 

boar 

(rate 

put  ( 

antin 

Alerc 

iiies' 

steam 

the  n 

the  m 

ing  W( 

Tlu 

and  n 

ness-ii 

l*rou<l 

citv  h'i 

•nultiti 

djsdain 

Now  s 

stretcii 

•IS  she  < 

•shore  b 

are  tJie 

may  be 

tliat  sea 

tlie  ripi 

stronger 

►Some  a 

•'uriosity 

side    of 

^vllarf;  o 

.ship  is  wi 


ARRIVAL  OF  THK   STEAMER. 


'271 


to  the  liilla;  others  mounted  horses,  and  riding  to  the 
<'liff,  watclied  the  httle  cloud  of  smoke  under  the  sky- 
line thicken  and  blacken;  watched  the  vessel  emerge 
us  first  the  smoke-stack  and  spars,  and  then  the  hull 
appeared  above  the  horizon ;  watched  the  little  speck 
grow  into  a  great  leviathan,  as  lazily — oli  1  how  lazily 
us  it  appeared  lo  those  on  shore  as  well  as  thoso  on 
board — it  ploughed  the  sea  and  entered  the  (;ro]den 
(irate  ;  then  returning,  watched  the  little  bouts  as  tliey 
put  out  from  shore  to  board  the  monster — the  quar- 
antine officer's  boat,  perhaps,  with  the  yellow  flag,  the 
Merchant's  Exchange  boat,  and  the  express  compa- 
nies* boats;  watched  the  white  smoke  from  the 
steamer's  gun  curl  up  and  float  away  in  clouds,  while 
the  report  reverberating  through  the  streets  roused 
the  more  abstracted  occupants  from  their  soul-absorb- 


my:  work. 


Then  a  stream  of  hacks,  and  wagons,  and  tlrays, 
and  men  on  foot,  hotel-runners,  working-men,  busi- 
ness-men, and  loafers,  set  in  toward  the  wharf 
IVoudly  the  great  ship  sweeps  round  the  bay  to  the 
city  front,  as  if  conscious  of  the  admiring  gaze  of  the 
nmltitude;  leisurely,  and  with  majestic  dignity,  as  if 
disdaining  to  make  an  exhibition  of  her  strength. 
Now  she  stoj)s  her  wheels,  and  yawns,  and  blows,  and 
stretches  her  neck,  after  her  fortnight's  journey ;  then 
as  she  drops  hito  her  berth,  the  crowds  on  ship  and 
shore  begin  their  noisy  jests  and  salutations.  Hearts 
arc  there  heavy  with  anxiety,  waiting  for  tidings  it 
may  be  which  will  affect  their  entire  future;  but  on 
that  sea  of  upturned  faces  you  find  no  lowering  clouds; 
the  ripiding  waves  are  wreathed  in  smiles,  ami  the 
stronger  surges  break  into  hilarity  and  badinage. 
Some  are  there  to  meet  their  friends,  others  from 
curiosity ;  some  have  climbed  from  small  boats  u[)  the 
side  of  the  vessel  while  she  was  aj)proaching  the 
wharf;  others  stand  on  the  tops  of  piers,  and  when  the 
ship  is  within  a  few  feet  leap  on  to  the  deck,  where  theie 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-S) 


// 


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1.0     IrfiM  IIIIIM 


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Photographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  NY.  14S80 

(716)  872-4503 


f/. 


fe 
^ 


i 


272 


SAN  FRANCISCO. 


is  a  scene  of  embracing,  kissing,  laughing,  and  crying, 
impossible  to  describe. 

The  passengers  land  and  make  their  way  to  the  ho- 
tels, when  they  luxuriate  in  a  comfortable  room,  bath, 
and  a  table  from  which  food  once  more  seems  palata- 
ble ;  clothes  are  taken  from  the  trunk  and  put  on,  the 
creases  in  which  mark  the  wearer  as  a  new  comer. 
Meanwhile  lines  begin  to  form  at  the  post-office  win- 
dows, although  it  may  be  twelve  or  twenty  hours  be- 
fore the  mails  are  ready  for  delivery.  Thither  con- 
gregate the  anxiously  expectant,  the  husband  and 
father  hungry  for  news  from  home,  the  lover  with 
soft  eyes  and  flushed  cheek  and  tingling  nerves,  and 
in  whose  breast  angels  and  imps  alternately  beat  their 
tatoo  as  he  waits  to  learn  his  fate ;  the  rough  miner, 
tlie  merchant's  clerk,  the  mechanic.  Ah  1  never  were 
letters  so  longed  for  or  so  prized.  Alone  in  that  mot- 
Icy  crowd,  for  months  without  one  word  from  home, 
the  heart  steeled  to  the  world  around  them,  deadened 
in  that  social  Sahara,  here  was  the  only  solace  for 
heart-sickness,  the  only  sustenance  the  soul  would 
have  perhaps  for  months  to  come. 

Rapidly  the  lines  lengthen,  until  perhaps  five  hun- 
dred persons  are  gathered  there,  having  the  appearance 
at  a  distance  of  a  mob,  but  with  the  utmost  order  and 
regularity,  each  new-comer  taking  his  place  behind 
the  last  before  him.  There  is  no  respect  of  persons, 
no  crowding  or  jostling  ;  any  attempt  at  unfairness  is 
speedily  put  down  by  the  omnipotent  majority.  The 
raganmffin,  who  everyone  knew  never  wrote  or  re- 
ceived a  letter  in  his  life,  might  take  his  stand  besit!(^ 
the  millionaire,  and  sell  his  place  as  opportunity  oflercd, 
when  near  the  window,  to  some  one  whose  time  was 
more  valuable  than  money,  which  he  frequently  did 
for  five,  or  ten,  or  twenty  dollars.  Some  bring  thoir 
stools  and  while  away  the  time  reading,  smoking,  and 
chewing.  Eastern  papers  are  sold  by  the  newsboys, 
peripatetic  cafes  and  liquor  saloons  walk  about  on 
French  legs,  and  hand-cart  hotels  are  rolled  along  tlio 


Jinei 

dow 
of  a 
St 
ages, 
cursi. 
disco 
awak 
rare  c 
iucn  £ 
of  tlie 
cisco. 
conjpL 
shirts 
and  s]< 
scarcel 
seem  ? 
see  We 
disguis 
tlieni  ? 
Loo]< 
telj  nie 
witJi;  . 
find  no 
tough, 
iioart  w 
Jiie  if  yo 
or  paJac 

'ittentivc 

'lo  Avho  I 

';«ard  fro 

pulse  is 

iHftn.     TJ 

«ort  ofga 

'juently  s 

On  nea: 

anxious. 

Cal. 


AT  THE  POST-OFFICE. 


fil> 


lines  dispensing  the  ordinary  edibles  of  the  table. 
Finally,  after  long  and  tiresome  waiting,  the  office  win- 
dow is  opened  and  the  line  moves  forward  at  the  rate 
of  a  step  in  about  three  minutes. 

Standing  in  those  lines  through  hours  that  seem  like 
ages,  outwardly  jocund,  but  inwardly  bleeding,  the 
cursings  and  ribald  jests  that  fall  upon  the  ear  mingling 
discordantly  with  the  purest  strains  of  human  affections 
awakened  by  tender  thoughts  and  heart-longings,  a 
rare  opportunity  offers  us  to  see  of  what  stuff  thi!se 
men  are  made.  They  are  rough-looking  fellows,  most 
of  them,  even  if  our  post-office  be  located  in  San  Fran- 
(isco.  IVIany  of  them  fossil-featured  with  bronze 
complexion,  shaggy-haired  and  unshaven,  have  torn 
shirts  and  ragged  pantaloons;  while  their  heavy  boots 
and  slouched  hats  are  so  worn  and  full  of  holes  as 
scarcely  to  hold  together.  Are  they  not  what  they 
seem  ?  Does  their  aspect  in  any  way  belie  them ;  or 
see  we  here  men  of  sovereign  and  elastic  natures  so 
disguised  that  even  their  mothers  would  not  know 
them  ? 

Look  into  their  eyes  as  you  go  along  the  line  and 
tell  me  if  you  discovered  much  that  you  dare  trifle 
with  ;  look  under  the  unkempt  hair  and  tell  me  if  you 
find  no  intellect,  and  through  the  worn  vestures  and 
tough,  storm-beaten  flesh-coverings  down  into  the 
licart  whence  ebb  and  flow  the  issues  of  life  and  tell 
me  if  you  see  there  no  pleasing  pictures,  no  gardens 
or  palaces  where  truth  and  loveliness  sit  enshrined. 
If  you  would  know  somewhat  of  them,  regard  them 
attentively  as  they  receive  and  read  tlieir  letters  ;  for 
lie  who  can  open  a  letter  from  the  home  he  has  not 
licard  from  for  months  without  a  flush  or  quickened 
j)ulse  is  either  a  very  courageous  or  a  very  callous 
num.  This  letter-opening  at  very  wide  intervals  is  a 
sort  of  gambling  with  fate,  in  which  hope  not  unfre- 
(juently  stakes  happiness  against  fearful  odds. 

On  nearing  the  window  the  face  lengthens  and  looks 
anxious.     The  name  is  given,  and  the  response  comes 

Cal,  Int.  Poc.   in 


•  ) 


274 


SAN  FRANCISCO 


"Nothing,  sir."  "Will  you  please  look  again  says 
tlie  disappointed  applicant  "I  canie  round  Cape 
Horn ;  they  were  to  send  me  letters  after  I  had  been 
out  a  month  and  it  is  now  six  months  since  I  havo 
heard  a  word."  "I  told  you,  sir,  there  is  nothing 
hero  for  you ;  the  next."  This  time  a  letter  is  forth- 
coming. Stepping  aside,  with  trembling  hand  the 
recipient  tears  it  open  and  begins  to  read.  Mark  the 
pallor  that  shortly  overspreads  the  countenance,  the 
stiffening  of  the  muscles  of  the  face,  the  compression 
of  the  livid  lip,  the  wave  of  agony  that  mantles  the 
features.  In  a  moment  the  blood  which  from  every 
part  with  one  accord  rushed  to  the  heart  to  bi'cak  it, 
returns,  but  you  can  see  as  the  man  moves  off  that 
he  is  stricken  as  with  a  knife-stab,  without  the  mut- 
tered "Oh  God,  she  is  dead!"  The  next  in  line  may 
be  as  frantic  in  his  joy  as  the  other  was  desolate  in 
his  sorrow.  All  unconscious  of  his  surroundings,  ho 
laughs  aloud,  kisses  the  precious  missive,  and  skips 
and  dances  like  a  delighted  school  girl. 

There  stands  one,  a  man  of  middle  age,  noble  look- 
ing and  apparently  of  decided  character,  intently 
perusing  some  closely  written  pages.  He  was  and 
yet  is  honored  by  his  friends  at  the  east,  who  say  if 
one  only  escape  with  honor  it  is  he.  Of  the  church 
he  was  a  trusted  member,  in  his  family  an  adored 
husband  and  father.  So  great  was  his  own  inward 
sense  of  strength  and  right  intention  that  he  scorned 
the  idea  of  demeaning  himself,  and  gave  it  scarcely  a 
thought.  But  like  every  member  of  the  race,  he 
knew  nothing  of  himself  until  he  was  tried.  Cali- 
fornia opened  his  eyes,  as  thousands  of  othci*s  liave 
been  opened,  and  showed  him  a  nature  wholly  differ- 
ent from  what  he  supposed  himself  posscaf«ed  of. 
Instead  of  high  religious  sentiments  and  moral  purity 
hitherto  enjoyed,  he  finds  himself  in  the  society  of 
harlots,  a  gambler,  an  unbeliever.  Yet  as  he  reads 
that  letter,  written  by  a  tender  loving  wife  whore 
faith  and  trust  in  him  the  whole  world  shall  iiot  shake, 


STEAMER-DAYS. 


273 


telling  him  of  her  deep  abiding  love,  of  her  patient 
waitings  and  watchings,  of  her  deeds  by  day  and  her 
dreams  by  night,  of  the  hopes  and  plans  that  await 
his  dear  return ;  telling  of  his  children  one  by  one, 
how  they  have  grown  in  goodness  and  loveliness,  how 
the  little  one,  whom  he  has  never  seen,  has  learned  to 
lisp  its  father's  name  in  its  evening  prayer — as  he 
reads  the  letter  which  thus  so  vividly  recalls  tlie  swet  t 
and  hallowed  past,  you  may  mark  the  twitcliing  of 
the  muscles  in  his  face,  the  tears  trickling  down  lii?4 
cheeks,  and  the  bosom  swelling  with  emotion.  Gijin*' 
to  his  room  he  reads  and  reads  again  tlio  letter,  vows 
reformation ;  but  over  this  oasis  of  his  desert  life  the 
sands  quickly  blow,  and  he  soon  goes  on  the  old  licen- 
tious way  again. 

Steamer-days,  the  day  before  the  sailing  of  the 
steamer  for  the  ea^,  were  the  great  tickings  in  social 
and  conmiercial  time.  Bills  were  made  to  fall  due  on 
those  days,  letters  must  be  written  on  that  day,  and 
collections  and  remittances  made.  Passenijjers  nmst 
get  ready,  and  if  not  done  before,  they  nmst  secure 
tlieir  tickets.  They  were  feverish,  fidgety  days. 
From  morning  till  night  collection  clerks  with  a  pack- 
age of  bills  in  one  hand,  and  the  mouth  of  a  canvas 
coin-bag  slung  over  the  shoulder  in  the  other,  were 
rushing  about  the  streets,  and  seldom  was  tlie  office 
lamp  extinguished  before  twelve  or  two  o'clock. 

On  the  morning  of  tlie  sailing  of  the  steamer,  all 
work  having  been  finished  the  day  or  evening  previous, 
passengers  go  on  board,  attended  by  their  friends  to 
see  them  offl  The  idle  and  the  curious  of  every  caste 
and  calibre  likewise  crowd  the  wharf  and  decks  for  an 
liour  or  two  before  the  departure.  Trunks  are  taken 
on  board;  the  passengers,  laden  with  packages  of 
fruit,  books,  bottles,  and  boxes,  find  their  respective 
places.  In  the  cabin,  the  black  bottle  Is  frecjucntly 
passed  around,  and  champagne  made  to  flow  freely. 
The  forward  part  of  the  ship  is  filled  with  miners,  go- 
ing home  with  all  the  prestige  of  travel  and  ad^•cnture 


276 


SAN  FRANCISCO. 


in  strange  lands.  It  is  a  matter  of  pride  with  many 
to  be  seen  by  their  friends  in  their  mining  costume ; 
so  the  bushy  head  and  long  beard  are  protected  with 
care,  and  every  hole  in  the  battered  hat,  every  patch 
in  the  woollen  shirt,  every  dirt-stain  on  the  greasy 
pantaloons,  are  regarded  with  hallowed  affection.  Thus 
appeariii:j  in  his  native  village,  with  hints  suggestive 
of  secreted  gold-dust,  and  inuendoes  which  seemed 
to  say,  "  I  could  tell  you  a  thing  or  two  if  I  liked," 
"Perhaps  John  Robinson  came  back  without  his  pile, 
and  perhaps  he  didn't,"  the  returned  Califomian  is  the 
hero  of  the  hour. 

It  was  a  common  remark  that  more  money  went 
east  in  the  steerage  than  in  the  cabin.  Some  canied 
buckskin  bags  of  dust  in  their  pockets,  others  in  belts 
under  their  shirts,  and  guarded  by  an  ominous-looking 
navy  revolver.  Experience  had  made  many  shy  of 
entrusting  their  hard  earnings  to  banks  and  express 
companies,  and  freight  on  gold  was  high.  Sometimes 
a  party  of  two  or  three  would  put  their  fortunes  in  a 
carpet-bag,  ten  or  twenty  thousand  dollars'  worth  of 
gold-dust,  alternately  guarding  it,  and  never  leavhig 
it  unwatched  for  a  single  instant  during  the  whole 
voyage  from  San  Francisco  to  New  York,  thereby 
saving  in  exchange  the  price  of  passage  for  each  of 
them.  Notwithstanding  all  their  care,  many  return- 
ing miners  were  robbed  by  professional  sharpers,  who 
infested  all  the  main  avenues  of  travel,  and  followed 
their  vocation  regularly  on  the  steamers  between  As- 
pinwall  and  New  York. 

In  the  steerage  also  were  many  penniless  persons, 
broken  in  health  and  spirits,  going  home  to  die.  There 
were  those,  pusillanimous  and  disgusting  individuals, 
eaten  up  of  disease,  already  morally  dead ;  there  vfcrc 
self-pitying  unfortunates,  whining  and  complaining, 
whom  success  never  attends  under  any  circumstances, 
and  who  never  should  have  left  their  mothers'  apron- 
strings;  and  there  were  those  who  had  manfully 
fought  the  battle  and  been  beaten.     Faithfully  and 


a  per 
To 
confir 
the 
to  be 
talk; 
chang 
and  as 
from 
lookin 
meet  ( 
Were  c 
commt 
taste 
fancy 

nature  I 
UifluenJ 


LETTERS  FROM  HOMR 


277 


J)atiently  these  last  had  toiled  and  suffered,  hope  and 
ear  alternatmg  between  fortune  and  disease,  unwilling 
to  give  themselves  the  needed  rest  and  care  with 
wealth  and  happiness  just  within  their  grasp ;  and  so, 
with  their  thin  pale  faces,  and  sunken  eyes,  and  hollow 
cheeks,  they  feebly  drag  themselves  about  with  hope 
crushed,  and  this  world  forever  lost  to  them.  God 
grant  that  they  may  find  some  soft  hand  and  sym- 
pathizing heart  to  smooth  their  dying  days  I 

The  periodicity  of  this  business  phenomena  contrib- 
uted largely  toward  a  fitful  and  spasmodic  progress. 
On  these  occasions  the  past  and  future  seemed  to 
mhigle  with  the  present,  and  hope,  regret,  and  doggetl 
determination  filled  the  heart  with  lontjings  indescrib- 
able.  Likewise  the  custom  of  merchants,  and  indeed 
of  all  classes,  of  making  frequent  or  occasional  trips  to 
the  east,  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  their  friends,  at- 
tending to  business,  marrying,  or  bringing  out  a  family, 
exercised  a  strong  influence  upon  the  development  of 
rharacter  in  California.  Even  miners,  in  some  in- 
.stances,  would  make  their  periodical  migrations,  spend- 
ing a  season,  as  they  called  it,  in  the  mines,  and  then 
a  period  of  rest  and  pleasure  at  home. 

Tom  suddenly  from  the  dail}^  monotonous  struggle, 
confined  for  twenty  or  thirty  consecutive  days  witliin 
the  narrow  limits  of  a  steamship,  there  was  nothing 
to  be  done  but  to  sit  down  and  think,  or  read,  or 
talk;  and  this  meditation,  or  series  of  meditations, 
changed  the  whole  course  of  many  a  life.  Thouglits 
and  aspirations  then  arose,  which,  but  for  this  isolation 
from  business,  never  would  have  been  conceived; 
looking  out  upon  the  sea,  time  and  eternity  seemed  to 
meet  on  the  distant  horizon,  the  windows  of  the  soul 
were  opened,  and  God  and  nature  admitted  to  a  closer 
communion;  the  ideal  of  manhood  was  elevated,  a 
taste  for  travel  and  improvement  was  engendered, 
fancy  was  set  free,  the  mind  broadened,  and  the  whole 
nature  of  the  man  enlarged  under  these  beneficent 
influences. 


ijiii 


W 


278 


SAN  FRANCISCO. 


Letters  from  home  1  blessed  be  letters  I  Though 
they  come  travel-stained  from  a  voyage  of  seven 
thousand  miles,  across  two  oceans  and  a  continent, 
they  are  as  fresh  with  old  associations,  as  fragrant 
with  sweet  reminiscences  as  if  penned  but  yesterday. 
How  like  angels'  visits  they  come  at  steamer  intervals, 
and  what  a  spell  their  presence  casts,  freighted  as  they 
are  with  love  and  kind  greetings.  Many  a  time  have 
I  sat  at  my  table,  far  into  the  night,  opening  one 
after  another  from  a  pile  of  business  correspondence 
before  me,  having  first  selected  and  placed  unopened 
on  one  side,  yet  not  so  far  away  but  that  my  hungry 
eye  could  rest  on  them,  all  that  breathed  of  tender 
memories  and  pure  affection,  resolutely  holding  them 
there,  the  best  for  the  last.  There  they  lay  filling 
the  room  as  with  a  spiritual  attendance,  throwing 
their  magic  influence  into  every  fibre  of  my  being,  and 
dimming  with  moisture  the  eyes  that  would  not  cease 
to  look  on  them.  Then  with  what  tremulously  sweet 
and  bitter  emotions  T  would  take  them  up  and  break- 
ing the  seals,  let  into  my  fluttering  heart  the  soothing 
stream  oi  mellow  memories,  drank  once  more  from 
the  fountains  of  my  youth,  and  bathed  my  weary  soul 
in  the  sacred  atmosphere  of  home.  Sweet  silent 
messages,  whose  witching  presence  can  so  wean  our 
sordid  vision  from  the  seducing  mirage  of  glittering 
dustl 

An  impecunious  discouraged  young  man  digging 
at  Columbia,  who  had  found  his  friends  at  home  de- 
linquent in  writing  to  him,  determined  to  bring  a  re- 
sponse if  it  lay  in  the  power  of  ink  and  goose-quill. 
Accordingly  he  seated  himself  and  wrote  three  or  four 
old  gossips  asking  the  price  of  land,  and  stock,  what 
advantageous  investments  offered,  what  a  fine  farm  of 
two  or  three  hundred  acres  could  be  purchased  for — 
since  which  time  during  his  stay  in  California  there 
was  not  a  mail  but  brought  him  letters. 

The  new  post-office  building,  now  in  the  autumn  of 
1852  fronting  on  the  plaza,  and  extending  from  Clay 


toC 
affai 
was 

stree 
edito 
Tlie 
the  \ 
tlie  SI 
Prob 
a  vari 
ploy  E 
iVenc 
there 
contin 
cific. 
the  Sa 
steanie 
sent  a\ 
twice  a 
thousai 
to  disaj 
The 
I  find 
1851. 
hi  San 
which  . 
obJitora 
covering 
remain 
tide  of  ii 
The  Olc 
among 
the  Apol 
— have  c 
warehous 
land-mar] 
stairs,  at 
Wliarf. 
along  the 


11 


1 


t 


OLD  LAND  MARKa 

was  an  entnmce  at  CtheJ.V^A^^""^*^"-  T"'«'-e 
^1^1  to  street.  Tl,e  Fren"),^  thl  "  P"'^«'"^  f""" 
editors  eaci.  had  a  part  asSed  ev!.I*°"";"'  *'"'  «'« 

the  building,  but  thlvrnTtl^,"  "''i?'"  '™Sth  of 
Oie  stea«,ers  led  into  and  far T !^  ,"■;  ^''^  ''™val  of 
Probably  never  a  Dost  ,7ffi„      "^  *?''  ''""'n  the  street 
variety  of  langua.^sl^^f.T"?^  '^"^"^  i"  "ue 
ploy  a  Chinan,a°n,  af  J'elerks  w,     ""'  """'*^'7  to  en, 
l;>ench,  German;  Spantj,  a„??t"!'''"''^«'  ^"^i"". 
there  were  letters  fion.  Sw,^"^/v  """•  ^<i<^  «hich 
cont,„e,,tsofAsiaandAfr"ra^^!^'"^r'/«la»d.the 
"ftc     The  average  nuiulx^r  ofll       '/'""dsof  the  Pa- 
theSan  Pranci^o  posUffi^e  ^n  [b  "''".'■T'^«'"'y 
steamer,  was  sixty  tliousand  „    ?.?**  *"'™'  "f  eaeh 
sent  away  by  ea^hst^al^t'    "ft  *':t''^"'^Se  number 
twice  a  month  ten  thouZd  n!  ^  *'>""»a'«l-leaving 

'.San .tsrtr-  ^-^^^^wSs 

whieh  have  so  frequenU  '  Ct^  "**>'•     The  fires 
"WitcTated  many,  ajid  Z  math  If'  """  "'^  ''^ve 
eovenng  the  rest,  so  thatin  a^?,„f  •""P^^n'ent '« 
remam  to  show  how  San  vt     ■      '""*'  ""thing  will 
"«°f  {""nigration  SmZZn^Tol  f*'^^,''''^"  the 
The  Old  Adobe,  the  Citvwl  iT  "^"  ■>«■■  chores, 
among  the  things  that  wif  'h il "  H  ^t?-"'™'  «'« 
the  Apollo— evidences  of  *t       .     "  *''®  Niantir  and 
-have  disappeared  :nd^^t^"'7rise  of  a  later  da  e 
warehouses  built  ok  solid  e„wi   ^'A'^""  ^^"'^  la>ge 
land-mark,  is  now  abou    bei„f  re  °"^°^  '""^  '"^t 
stairs   at  .,hat   used  to  bTTlfe  '^'"°^e'^_the  boat- 
Wharf     The  steam  paddv  h^  d  "''Ti'y  "^  Long 
along  the  old  wharf  Une  and  ,b» ''7''^  '*'  »»'!  «" 

'  *""  *''e  stws  are  rapidly 


280 


SAN  FRANCISCO. 


siglit. 


covered.     Another  week  will  put  them  out  of 


It  is  melancholy  to  see  these  old,  well-known 
relics  di8appearin<;  from  our  midst.  How  many  a 
hopeful  man  has  landed  on  those  stairs,  whose  bones 
lie  bleaching  on  the  plains  or  in  the  ravinos  of  the  hi- 
hospitable  Sierra  I  How  many  a  sanguine  youth,  the 
joy  and  hope  of  a  loving  family,  lias  bounded  up  then, 
buoyant  with  hopes  never  destined  to  be  realized  I 
Great  hearts  have  passed  those  steps ;  honest  hearts, 
biy:  with  determination  to  win  a  fortune  in  this  j;oldcn 
land,  not  for  themselves,  but  for  those  whom  they 
loved  better  than  life.  Alas  1  many  such  are  broken 
with  grief  ere  this. 

"  We  well  remember  the  scenes  which  used  to  bo 
enacted  on  those  steps  in  olden  times,  at  the  arrival 
of  the  monthly  steamer.  The  crowd  of  emigrants 
gazing  in  astonishment  at  everything  they  saw ;  the 
few  females  who  did  arrive  shrinking  in  terror  from 
the  red-shirted  men,  bearded  like  pards,  whom  they 
saw  around  them;  the  eager  and  heated  boatuien, 
pushing,  tugging,  and  swearing,  in  order  to  get  first 
to  the  steps;  the  news-venders,  with  their  dollar 
Heralds  and  Tribunes!  Ah  I  those  were  fine  old  times, 
after  all. 

"  But  think  of  the  treasure  which  has  gone  down 
those  steps  1  The  millions  and  millions  of  dollars, 
when  the  -steamers  were  about  to  leave  I  Rough, 
plain,  and  unfurnished  as  they  were,  none  have  ever 
borne  one  half  the  treasure  which  has  passed  down 
them  unnoticed.  They  have  been  the  funnel  through 
which  all  the  gold  of  California  has  been  poured  upon 
the  world. 

"A  fairer  morning  never  rose  on  earth.  The  clear 
blue  sky  hung  above,  and  the  pure  atmosphere, 
through  which  the  mountains  twenty  miles  away 
could  be  traced  to  their  every  furrow,  enveloped  the 
city  when  she  arrived,  a  girl  of  eighteen  summers,  as 
beautiful  as  the  day  itself,  clad  in  her  bridal  robes. 


She 

and 

passi 

<'ouI( 

But 

brigj 

trod 

Was  c 
clinia 
ing  r( 
againj 
those 
JJourec 
not;  t 
led  wi< 
in  his 
so  tenc 
and  of 
he  hac 
happy  i 
ho  kne 
he  kne 
could 
TJie  col 
more,  a 
tlarknes 
showed 
stairs  w 
"Let 
They  ha 
tlie  wor] 

tliO 

Hone, 
one.     Pi 

The 
streets,  d 

state.     ]y 
^ay  on 


gol 


c 


V 


THE  LONG  WHAIIF  BOAT  STEPS.  M 

She  had  been  married  that  morning  on  the  stisanier, 
and  buoyant  with  life,  and  hope,  and  gladness,  slie 
passed  up  those  steps,  followed  by  a  train  in  which 
could  be  seen  all  the  i)C'auty  and  talent  of  the  city. 
But  those  heartless  old  stairs  never  looked  a  whit  the 
brighter  for  all  the  beauty  and  all  the  worth  that 
trod  them. 

"Again:  the  rain  came  down  in  torrents;  the  night 
was  of  that  pitchy  darkness  which  is  only  known  in 
climates  such  as  this.  The  wind  in  gusts  came  slash- 
in«_j  round  the  corners,  drivini;  the  torrent  like  waves 
against  the  houses,  when  a  man  came  crawling  down 
those  steps.  He  sat  there  for  an  hour.  The  rain 
poured  down  on  his  uncovered  head,  but  he  heeded  it 
not;  the  wind  tore  open  his  ragged  clothes,  and  wrest- 
led with  him,  but  he  felt  it  not.  With  his  face  buried 
in  his  hands-,  he  thought  of  the  mother  he  had  loved 
so  tenderly,  and  the  sister  whom  he  had  cherished; 
and  of  her,  dearer  far  than  either,  to  win  whose  hand 
he  had  first  ventured  to  these  shores.  Were  they 
happy  ?  Were  they  even  alive  ?  He  knew  not,  but 
he  knew  that  he  wanted  bread,  and  had  it  not ;  and 
lie  knew  that  though  those  at  home  were  poor,  he 
could  not  reach  them  to  rescue  or  suffer  with  them. 
The  cold  wind  and  the  roaring  rain  beat  on  an  hour 
more,  and  his  seat  was  vacant  1  He  had  rushed  into 
darkness,  and  the  wave  which  closed  over  his  head 
showed  him  no  more  pity  than  did  those  heartless  old 
stairs  which  had  witnessed  the  struggle  of  his  soul! 

"  Let  them  go  I  Cover  them  up — pile  on  the  sand ! 
They  have  had  too  much  to  do  with  the  misery  of 
the  world  to  be  worth  saving.  What  good  has  all 
the  gold  done  which  passed  down  them?  Perhaps 
none.  How  many  has  it  made  happy  ?  Perhaps  not 
one.     Pile  on  the  sandl" 

The  winter  of  1849-50  was  very  rainy,  and  the 
streets,  devoid  even  of  sidewalks,  were  in  a  horrible 
state.  Mud  and  filth  from  six  inches  to  six  feet  deep 
lay  on   all   the   principal  thoroughfares,  which   one 


SAN  FRANCISCO. 


might  wado  or  swim  according  to  depth  and  consist- 
ence. But  by  the  winter  following  some  of  the  more 
central  streets  wore  planked,  and  remembering  their 
former  abasement  horses  and  drivers  became  frisky  as 
the  animals'  feet  clattered  upon  the  firm  thoroughfare, 
and  there  were  loud  complaints  against  street-racing. 
Not  only  equestrians  dashed  their  horses  up  and  down 
the  o'owded  streets  at  unlawful  speed,  but  the  buggieii, 
carriages,  and  even  carts  drove  ott*  at  furious  rates. 
It  was  a  difficult  country  for  either  animals  or  men 
to  keep  quiet  in. 

Very  different  was  the  aspect  presented  V)y  Califor- 
nia street  in  1853  from  that  of  1873  after  the  banks,  in- 
surance buildings,  and  Merchant's  Exchange  had  been 
erected.  At  the  former  date  the  planked  street  was 
perforated  with  holes  of  various  sizes  and  doptlis, 
some  of  dimensions  sufficient  to  swallow  a  horse  and 
cart,  others  aspiring  to  nothing  larger  than  a  man's 
leg.  The  occupants  of  the  street,  however,  did  not 
seem  to  take  the  matter  nmch  to  heart.  Many 
of  the  apertures  were  fenced  in  or  covered  and  labelled. 
Over  one  was  drawn  a  large  picture,  a  caricature  of 
the  vicinity,  representing  the  street  with  the  surround- 
ing buildings,  and  a  horse  and  dray  just  disappearing 
through  one  of  the  openings,  while  another  quietly 
stands  by  looking  on.  On  the  boards  which  ^  larded 
the  way  were  placards  and  divers  inscriptions,  such 
as,  "Head  of  navigation;  no  bottom."  "Horse  and 
dray  lost;  look  out  for  the  soundings."  "Storaoo 
wanted;  inquire  below."  "Squatters  attention  I  1)\- 
ver's  ranch."  " Office  to  let  in  the  basement;  Wil- 
liam Diver,  agent."  "Good  fishing  for  teal,"  and 
others  of  like  import. 

The  winter  of  1849  bore  hard  upon  both  merchants 
and  gold-diggers.  The  season  was  very  wet;  the 
people  were  unfamiliar  with  the  climate,  and  not  well 
provided  with  shelter  or  clothing.  There  was  the 
half-starved  miner  in  his  board  house  or  cabin,  the 
merchant  shivering  in  his  tent. 


loWoi 

nienr, 

•'arrjO( 
large 
of  Lo 
l»retex 
to  bet 
the  du 
]>resen 
some 
Women 
withou 
too  pro 
an  act  ( 
strange] 
^vritten 
l>rance. 
Stran 
l>lood  an 
gonerati( 
l)ulJ-figh 
graced  tl 
daughter 
("ros  Wen 
knights  \ 
'nounted 
the  most 
wlien  the 
tu'ne,  ass 
most  ao-iJe 
thrust  of 

infuriated 
oass  of  tl 

adherents 
there  was  ] 
usually  pro 
the  ancient 


BULL  B'lOHT. 

Inuring  the  winter  of  igrw  o  x, 
l^-r  portion  of  the  vaJIey  o7r„  w'  "■ '""'^  ^^  ^''« 
"'^''>,'tHl,  wore  driven  into  fl/  .V:''^'^o'''"a.  then  sub- 
^^•'•^''  destitute;  olher"  ha^  '  ''r"'',  ^^»«*  ^^  them 
;>^n.od  gold-dust:  men  unao.n^  ^'"^i  ^^^  ^^'  J'an " 
^^^rge  cities  foil  victhn«   ""^f  ustomed  to  the  ways    f 

;>^  Long  Wharf^th/^it  ::  f^'^'^V^f^-nd  s^rkj 
pretext  into  a  low  don  and  f     '"^^^?^^d  under  some 
;>  bet  on  some  surHl^.^  wi^  .r^'"^'  ^  "^''"-d 
tJ»e  dust  changing  Lands  V       i'""  "'"^^  ^^^u^t  of 
presented  in  San  iVancisco  of  T^  ^Pecta^-le  was  thJ 
-";o   women   actuanrtarv'rl  ^^7'^^^  '»^"  «^'J 
women  tenderly  reared   hT  l^-.  ^^'^^^J  m^H   and 

too  nroud  to  If»f  +i.  •         *^''rK,  without  frieiuJa.  „«  i 

«t™,gen,  as  ^ell  rSd,    "*^  ""' *•>«"  done  K 

written  „f  a  surety  i„  the  r""^''^'^-"'  ''"■"•  ''"* 
l.mnce.  ^  '°  »*«  au^,.  s  book  of  ren.e.n- 

.-negations  after  thd'dS ,  ""xhe  t'"'  ^'^'"^  "" 
imll-fiijht  was  an  iniDo-im,  -Ine  tune  was  wl,™  a 
Kiaced  the  arena  andTh^  spectacle;  when  ro  '2. 

"•?«  were  powerful  a„d^et?J,   '^"^"j"^;  *''™  the 
liiiights  with  all  the  m.!f  J  '  ^^^  P'<^«dwes,  clad  likp 
'pnted   on    metttZr^2""'  f ''''™''-/ and 
t  e  most  dashing  hor^menT"'^, /'<"'*.   were 
.en  the  Ja«<i^/i^,;?^'J,^"te  world   could  find; 
tume,  assisted  by  the  1..,        ''^^*  e'ese-fittin.r  cos 
■"o^t  agile  of  foolfi' btet  t'n  l^^T"  *■"«  •l'''^'<est  a^d 
thmst  of  his  keen  fwo^'     f  ,*''«  """«'*'•  with  one 

™?f  ef  this  pastime  wlsTal  i'^  ^''""."d.     The  car? 
adherents  aft^r  the  adZ,t'f1l,°'"lr''"y  by  its 

«"«-entc.tom5Tr;Xpp7bte:s 


284 


SAN  FRANCISCO 


starvation  and  exhaustion,  with  tirped  horns  and  ter- 
rified expression,  was  goaded  into  the  arena,  while 
brutal-looking  tawdrily-attired  horsemen  on  raw-boned 
Rosinantes,  attended  by  ragged  banderillos  and  chulos 
pricked  courage  with  their  steel  weapons  into  the 
poor  beast — which  had  all  the  sympathy  of  every 
human  witness — and  then  clumsily  butchered  it. 

Perambulating  the  streets  of  San  Francisco  on  the 
23d  of  May,  1850,  was  a  tall,  raw  boned  man,  in  blat  k 
skin  and  black  clothes.  His  wooly  head  was  sur- 
mounted by  a  white  beaver  with  a  broad  blue  band, 
and  in  his  hand  he  carried  a  bell  which  served  to  fill 
breathing  spact  s  with  its  parenthetical  ringings.  His 
demeanor  was  as  grave  as  Mark  Antony's  when  ho 
mourned  over  Caesar's  body;  his  voice  was  as  ridi, 
his  gesticulation  as  efi'ective,  though  his  harangue 
was  not  untinctured  with  a  vein  of  burlesque.  A 
dramatic  black  man,  in  black  clothes,  with  a  white 
hat  bi)und  with  blue,  and  carrying  a  boll;  and  these 
were  his  words : — "  Look  a-here,  white  folks,  T'se  a- 
gwine  to  gib  you  all  fair  notice  dat  de  bull- fight  what 
is  a-gwine  to  be  dis  arternoon,  ain't  a-gwine  to  be  till 
to-morrow  at  de  same  time,  'coz  dev  can't  come  it. 
Ting-a-ling-a-ling.  'Coz  dey  ain't  got  de  bull  by  de 
horns.  He  ain't  come  to  town  yet,  but  is  comin'  fas' 
ever  dey  can  fetch  him  along.  So  de  bull-fight  is  a- 
gwine  to  come  off  to-morrow  arternoon.  Ting-a-ling- 
a-ling.  An'  arter  dat  a  chicken  fight.  It's  truth  I  ni 
a-tellin',  gem'men.  The  bull  what's  agwhie  to  fight 's 
one  of  de  bulls  what  you  read  about.  He's  done  been 
and  killed  nine  men  already,  but  he  says  he  can't  kill 
de  tenf 'coz  how  he's  too  much  for  him.  He's  eiglit 
feet,  am  dis  bull,  an'  jus'  about  sixteen  feet  long  ef  lie 
knows  hisself.  His  horns  am  done  been  jus'  about 
six  feet  'tween  de  tips,  and  de  hair  on  his  back  am 
been  grown  up  to  de  sky,  an'  de  crows  hab  done  gone 
an'  made  nests  into  it.  An'  I'm  obliged  "t/O  tell  you 
dat  de  bull-fight  is  obliged  to  be  postponded  till  to- 
morrow arternoon,  when  you  mus'  all  come  an'  see 


PROMENADE  STREETS. 


dig  splendid  bull,  sartjn  shore ;  an'  de  chicken  fight 
what's  a-gwine  to  take  place  arter  de  bull-fight  which 
am  a-gwine  to  take  place  'fore  de  chicken  fight.  Bof 
of  'em  togeder  has  been  obliged  to  be  postponded  till 
de  next  day,  which  am  to-morrow  artemoon  in  case 
it  should  be  a  fair  day  an'  not  rain." 

The  plank  road  to  the  Mission  was  the  boulevard 
of  1852-3,  the  first  established  public  drive  and  public 
promenade  in  San  Francisco.  Winding  among  the 
sand-hills  from  Mission  or  Howard  streets,  the  road 
tlien  boasted  its  four-horse  omnibus  line  and  its  two 
toll  gates.  On  every  pleasant  day,  from  morning  till 
iiivrht,  it  was  thronjied  with  men  of  fashion  and  women 
of  pleasure,  idlers,  loafers,  gamblers,  babies  with  their 
mannnas  or  nurses,  making  their  several  displays  in 
their  vehicles  of  divers  descriptions,  each  after  the  bent 
of  his  own  wise  or  foolish  fancy.  Along  the  road  were 
vegetable  and  flower  gardens,  and  some  little  white 
cottages  were  soon  seen  liere  and  there  nestl in jj  anions': 
the  sand-hills.  Here  San  Francisco  took  the  air; 
her^  was  the  resort  at  that  time  of  San  Francisco  s 
best  society. 

Another  great  promenade  of  the  city  about  this 
time,  or  a  little  later,  was  Stockton  street  from  Wash- 
ington street  to  Washington  square.  It  was  then 
hut  partially  graded  and  planked,  but  on  it  were  tlu 
handsome  private  residences  and  the  principal  churches. 
West  of  this  the  streets  were  for  the  most  part  in  a 
state  of  nature,  though  many  pretty  cottages  and 
some  fine  larger  houses  dotted  the  hillside.  Dupont 
street,  with  its  salt)ons  and  small  shops,  wasathronged 
and  busy  place.  At  night  the  gambling  shops  and 
stores  were  brilliantly  lighted,  and  in  the  different  sa- 
loons were  women  in  great  variety,  Spanish,  English, 
(Jerman,  French,  Kanaka,  and  Chinese.  Durin*'  the 
tlay  it  was  the  chief  thoroughfare  between  the  busi- 
ness portion  of  the  town  and  the  residences  in  the 
direction  of  North  Beach.     The  custom  house,  city 


SAN  FRANCISCO. 


hall,  post-office,  the  more  gorgeous  saloons,  with  cigar 
shops,  fancy  stores,  and  livery  stables,  were  on  Kearny 
street,  the  street  of  loafers,  litigants,  lawyers,  officials, 
politicians,  the  idle  and  the  employed,  and  also  the 
street  of  fast  riding,  which  in  those  days  was  more 
common  than  now,  Montgo'^^ery  street  from  the  be- 
ginning was  the  Wall  street  of  San  Francisco,  the 
street  of  bankers,  brokers,  gold-dust  buyers,  jewellers, 
book-stores,  and  newspaper  offices,  with  a  free  sprink- 
ling of  restaurants  and  drinking  saloons.  Below  Mont- 
gomery street,  on  land  reclaimed  from  the  bay,  were 
the  large  warehouses,  wholesale  stores,  and  auction 
houses.  On  Sansome  street  was  the  American  thea- 
tre and  several  hotels.  On  Battery  and  Front  streets 
were  many  brick  buildings  well  stocked  with  goods. 
Davis  street,  built  wholly  on  piles  and  the  last  opened, 
was  the  resort  of  seafaring  men,  and  the  shops  mostly 
contained  ships'  supplies.  To  these  and  the  intersect- 
ing streets  from  Jackson  to  California,  with  the  ex- 
ceptions of  the  Clark  point  and  iron  manufactories  of 
Happy  valley,  the  business  of  San  Francisco  was 
chiefly  confined — a  small  area,  truly,  when  we  consider 
the  astonishing  amount  of  traffic  carried  on  withui 
these  limits. 

Wo  is  me  for  I  am  in  trouble  1  was  the  one  \oncr 
contiimous  wail  of  San  Francisco  from  birth  till  past 
babyhood.  Born  of  disorder,  corruption  rankled  in  its 
blood.  Colic  and  physic  were  its  alternate  comiwii- 
ions  during  infancy,  and  ofthnes  the  remedy  was  ten- 
fold worse  than  the  disease.  Wealth  untold  was  its 
heritage,  but  all  of  it  was  given,  before  she  numbend 
six  3'ears  as  a  city,  for  an  enorm<ius  debt.  This  was  lur 
first  trouble,  vast  property  in  her  pueblo  lands,  and 
ravenous  wolves  to  lap  it  up.  Water  in  front  and 
drifting  sand-hills  behhid,  the  equalizhig  or  gradinu' 
of  which  was  a  trouble.  Fires  were  a  trouble,  and 
streets,  and  debt ;  the  hounds  of  '5 1  and  the  ballot-bt  )X 
stuflers  of  '56  were  troubles.  Yet  withal  the  child 
grew  and  waxed  fat. 


HONEST  HARRY  MEIGGS. 


287 


Like  a  thunder-clap  dropped  on  San  Francisco  the  in- 
telliijence  that  Henrv  MeiofffS  had  absconded.  Honest 
Harry  Meiggs  1  A  defaulter,  forger,  swiiidlcr,  impos- 
sible 1  A  week  ago  he  was  the  most  popular  man  in 
California,  his  record  was  the  cleanest,  his  reputation 
tlie  most  spotless.  On  Friday  his  failure  for  the  sum 
of  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars  was  announced. 
On  the  Tuesday  previous  he  had  bought  the  bark 
American,  furni.shed  and  provisioned  her  in  princely 
style,  and  the  same  night  sailed  with  his  family  for 
"ports  in  the  Pacific."  The  journal  of  this,  Sunday, 
morning,  October  8,  1854,  leads  off  with  a  long  list  of 
forged  comptroller's  warrants,  together  with  others  un- 
told, aggregating  half  a  million  or  a  million  of  dollars. 

John  G.  Meiggs,  brother  of  honest  Harry  and 
newly  elected  comptroller,  also  sailed  on  the  American 
for  these  veiled  "ports  in  the  Pacific."  Why  did  he 
go  away  being  likewise  a  popular  and  capable  man 
and  newly  elected  to  office,  unless  it  was  that  being 
cognizant  of  his  brother's  crimes  he  preferred  flight  to 
braving  the  disgrace  ?  Besides  the  spurious  warrants, 
merchants  soon  found  their  forced  notes  in  circuL^.tion, 
and  these  could  easily  be  traced  to  their  source. 
Honest  Harrv  nmst  be  the  rojrue  1  Then  a  thousand 
Hngors  pointed  that  way,  bony,  bloodless  fingers,  and 
plump,  fat  fingers,  digits  horny  with  hard  labor,  bc- 
lomjintj  to  washerwomen,  and  working;  men,  and  the 
diamond  digits  of  merchants,  bankers,  and  frail  fair 
Few  escaped  the  fangs  of  Harr}',  for  he  was 


ones. 


(lever,  he  was  popular,  and  above  all  he  was  honest. 
So  tliey,  his  victims,  loved  to  call  him  Honest  Harry 
^NEeiirtifs.  Now  the  connnunitv  cursed  him.  Con- 
gregating  upon  the  street  corners,  men  told  their 
losses  and  swore  if  they  could  catch  hhn  they  would 
liang  liim  Even  now  in  the  opinion  of  Sweeny  and 
Baugh  the  bark  American  is  becalmed  outside,  only 
twenty  miles  southwestward  off  the  heads,  and  Cap- 
tain Alden  with  the  steamer  Active,  is  going  to  sweep 
the  coast  for  sixty   miles  in  both  directions.     Now 


SAN  FRANCISCO. 


Harry,  quickly  and  vehemently  say  your  prayers  so 
that  hell  may  hear,  for  if  the  north  wind  fails  you, 
you  lose  your  head  and  the  South  American  govern- 
ments a  great  railway  financier.  Alas  I  the  Active 
breaks  down  and  the  swindler  escapes. 

A  magnificent  audacity  characterized  all  the  tran- 
sactions of  thic  the  prince  of  California  swindlers,  or 
as  his  victims  put  it,  he  "played  it  in  fine  on  'em." 
Thirty-three  thousand  dollars  of  Wm  Neeley  Thompson 
and  Go's  forged  notes  were  endorsed  by  Henry  Meiggs 
two  and  a  half  months  prior  to  his  departure.  Stock 
of  the  California  Lumber  Company,  of  which  he  was 
president,  was  forged  to  a  large  amount — some  said 
half  a  million.  It  was  his  custom  invariably  to  give 
his  forged  paper  as  collaterals  to  moneyed  men  who 
would  lock  them  up  and  make  no  attempt  to  realize 
on  them ;  or  he  would  deposit  it  in  some  bank,  take  a 
certificate  to  that  etfect,  and  obtain  the  money  on  the 
certificate.  In  this  way  his  guilt  was  kept  secret  u}) 
to  the  last  moment. 

When  the  captain  of  the  American  was  questioned 
why  he  was  fitting  up  his  boat  so  sumptuously  and 
whither  he  was  bound,  h  replied,  that  the  vessel  had 
been  purchased  by  two  wealthy  gamblers,  who  in- 
tended a  trip  of  pleasure  and  adventure  on  the  Pa- 
cific, first  to  Puget  Sound  and  then  to  Australia.  In 
leaving  the  city  with  his  family  Meiggs  took  a  car- 
riage and  said  he  was  going  to  San  Mateo;  but  stop- 
ping at  Mission  Point  on  the  bay,  he  embarked  in  a 
small  boat  for  his  vessel,  which  was  lying  in  tlie 
stream.  No  sooner  was  he  fairly  on  board  than  the 
bark  was  towed  out  to  sea,  and  hoisting  all  sail  was 
soon  out  of  sight.  Before  leaving  he  wrote  a  letter 
to  Goddefroy,  Sillem  &  Co.,  informing  them  of  his 
intended  departure  from  the  country  never  to  return. 
Owing  them  a  large  amount  he  left  a  confession  of 
judgment  in  their  favor  for  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  under  which  they  immediately  attached  a 
large  amount  of  property.     This  letter  and  confession 


YERBA  BUENA  CEMETERY. 


were  not  delivered  until  the  day  after  his  departure, 
and  the  attachment  that  followed  was  the  first  inti- 
mation the  public  had  of  his  failure. 

That  the  arch  criminal  had  confederates  in  the 
board  of  aldermen,  of  which  he  was  shortly  before  a 
member,  among  the  street  contractors  of  whom  he 
was  special  patron,  and  among  those  who  aided  his 
escape,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  That  his  scheme 
should  so  successfully  have  prospered  in  the  face  of  so 
many  chances  against  it,  shows  him  to  have  been  what 
his  previous  career  in  California  and  his  subsequent 
manipulations  of  South  American  railway  systems 
amply  prove  him,  a  matchless  financier  and  manager. 
It  was  one  of  the  most  gigantic  swindles  successfully 
perpetrated  tlie  world  has  ever  seen.  What  is 
stranger  still  the  money  which  he  carried  away, 
united  with  his  consummate  skill,  yielded  him  an  im- 
mense fortune,  and  to  this  day  he  has  never  been 
brought  to  judgment.  Having  served  an  apprentice- 
ship in  the  politics  of  San  Francisco,  he  felt  qualified 
to  manipulate  governments  on  a  grander  scale ;  and 
notwithstanding  the  blasted  rejmtation  which  folK)wed 
]iim,  he  acquired  such  an  ascendency  over  the  leading 
minds  of  Chile  and  Peru  as  to  blind  them  to  his  fiiults, 
and  build  for  himself  a  gigantic  fortune  and  a  workl- 
wide  fame. 

As  in  all  scoundrelism  there  was  the  utmost  heart- 
lessness  displayed  in  his  frauds.  Rich  and  poor  alike 
lie  plundered,  and  scrupled  at  nothing  which  should 
add  to  his  ill-gotten  gains.  The  exact  amount  car- 
ried away  by  him  was  never  known — probably  about 
six  hundred  thousand  dollar '  Many  victimized  never 
mentioned  it.  His  failure  and  forgeries  left  him  de- 
linquent over  two  millions.  The  American  was  pro- 
visioned for  a  two  years  voyage,  the  bills  for  wine  and 
tine  stores  amounting  to  over  two  thousand  dollars. 
She  was  well  armed,  having  on  board  four  guns,  two 
of  them  brass  pieces,  and  was  manned  by  a  crew 
ready  to  do  their  master's  bidding,  so  that  if  over- 


I. 


(AL.  Int.  I'oc.    19 


290 


SAN  FRANCISCO. 


taken  tlie  fugitives  undoubtedly  would  have  made  a 
desperate  resistance. 

Yerba  Butna  cemetery  could  tell  some  strange  tales 
if  its  dead  could  speak.  Little  dreamed  the  grave- 
diggers  of  those  days  that  these  dreary  acres  dotted 
with  chaparral  and  sage-brush  beneatli,  with  here 
and  there  diminutive  oaks  and  stunted  laurel  whicli 
hid  the  timid  hare, while  the  howling  coyote  prowled 
not  far  ofi*;  that  this  uninviting  wilderness  should  so 
soon  be  laid  out  in  broad  streets  whose  sides  should 
be  lined  with  beautiful  residences,  and  that  from  tlu; 
very  spot  where  were  then  deposited  the  tired  bones 
of  the  argonauts  should  so  soon  arise  the  magnificent 
city  hall  of  this  young,  giant  metropolis. 

There  was  one  solitary  manzanita  with  blood-red 
stalk  and  ever-green  leaves  which  looked  as  if  it  hatl 
strayed  from  some  happy  valley  of  the  Coast  Range, 
hidden  from  the  rude  blasts  of  ocean.  It  seemed  out 
of  place  here,  this  bloody  red  and  green  shrub,  midst 
the  ghastly  white  of  dead  humanity.  It  was  a  sor- 
rowful looking  place,  harboring  the  remains  of  sor- 
rowful men. 

It  was  in  February  1850  that  the  ayuntamienlo 
set  aside  there  shifting  sands  for  burial  purposes.  In 
1857  an  old  fence  enclosed  the  sacred  ground,  entrance 
to  which  was  made  through  a  dilapidated  gate.  The 
place  was  sadly  neglected,  the  paths  in  places  entirely 
obliterated,  and  the  grove  approached  only  by  wad- 
ing ankle  deep  in  sand.  There  in  a  dismal  pit, 
twenty -five  by  eighty  feet,  lay  the  bones  of  800  i)i()- 
neers,  piled  side  by  side,  and  one  above  another,  .i 
strange  medley,  and  whoso  flitting  ghosts  could  each 
tell  its  own  strange  story. 

Beside  this  mammoth  sepulchre  was  the  bone- 
bleaching  ground  of  the  Celestials,  where  the  disin- 
terred bodies  of  dead  Chinamen  were  whitened  and 
dried  by  the  bonfire  made  of  theirown  redwood  coffins. 
When  properly  cured,  these  precious  relics  were  car<  - 
fully  packed  in  strong  boxes,  and  shipped  to  the  angoi- 


vis 

he 

der 

bofi 

row 

ing- 

witJ 

grea 

\^ 

feet, 

bf»xe 

prevj 

town 

hft  s 

other! 
^vith  1 
storiej 
tlie  dc 
water 
visitor 
punts 
It 
sernbia 
JioineJe 
lionie 
f<eal  of 
l^^ien  W(| 
"1  our 
'>ad  inf 
'iioes,  t 
Ix'arts, 

l^fonu 
I'l'ivate, 
'"■  woine 
['}'  strai 
Jnto  i-ac} 
j"g  the  I 
"ut  prom 


w 


HOME-BUILDINO. 


291 


visiting  land  of  FohL  Poor,  indeed,  and  most  unhappy , 
lie  who  hitherward  from  the  Flowery  Kingdom  wan- 
dered, never  to  return.  Unlucky  shades  of  homeless 
bones  !  And  yet  there  are  such  lying  here.  Long 
rows  of  significantly  shaped  sand  heaps  mark  the  rest- 
ing-place of  moneyless  bones.  Some  have  a  board 
with  characters  scrawled  on  it  for  a  tombstone,  but  the 
greater  part  of  these  graven  are  nameless. 

With  lumber  at  eight  hundred  dollars  a  thousand 
foet,  buildings  and  bunks  were  made  of  dry -goods 
boxes,  or  cloth,  though  finally  boards  and  shingles 
prevailed.  By  and  by  they  undertook  to  grade  the 
town,  infelicitous  to  all  but  street  contractors,  for  this 
left  some  houses  all  cellar ;  others  were  perched  upon 
foggy  cliff,  inaccc^ssible  except  by  scaling  ladders; 
others  looked  as  if  their  construction  had  been  begun 
with  the  roof,  and  built  from  the  top  downward,  lower 
stories  being  added  as  the  dirt  was  taken  away.  At 
the  door  might  sometimes  be  seen  stationed  a  tub  of 
water  and  a  broom,  with  which  before  entering  the 
visitor  might  wash  off  his  big  boots,  into  which  his 
jiants  were  tucked. 

It  was  all  for  home — anything  for  a  home.  The 
semblance  even  was  heaven  after  so  long  and  barren 
liomelessness.  It  is  hard  to  overrate  the  influence  of 
home.  If  we  made  it,  it  is  part  of  ourselves,  with  the 
seal  of  ourselves  «et  upon  it.  If  we  grew  up  in  it, 
then  we  are  part  of  it,  and  carry  with  us  through  life 
ill  our  reflections,  carnage,  and  conduct  its  good  or 
had  influences.  Tlie  landscape  gives  exj)ression  to  our 
faces,  the  nmsic  of  the  streams  attunes  t)ur  cliildish 
hearts,  our  native  air  inspires  our  thoughts. 

Homes  are  more  o])en  than  in  other  countries,  less 
l»iivatc,  but  none  the  less  sacred.  There  are  few  men 
or  women  so  exclusive  as  not  to  be  easily  aj)proached 
l»\  strangers  with  any  sort  of  credentials.  Prying 
into  each  other's  affairs,  meddling,  gossiping,  discuss- 
ing the  private  relations  t)f  neighbors  and  friends,  are 
nut  prominent  vices.     Scandal  served  up  with  appe- 


■' ! ;      !i,3 


SM  SAN  FRANCISCO. 

tizing  minuteness  in  the  morning  paper  does  not  mak 
breakfast  the  lesa  palatable,  and  the  exposure  of  pri- 
vate life  in  the  public  prints  does  not  lessen  the  circu- 
lation of  a  journal. 

How  many  in  all  this  bustling  city  could  pray  the 
prayer  of  Socrates,  but  would  not  rather  write  him 
down  a  ragged,  bare-footed,  old  heathen,  and  an  ass  ? 
"O,  beloved  Pan,  and  all  ye  gods  whose  dwelling  is 
in  this  place,  grant  me  to  be  beautiful  in  soul,  and  all 
that  I  possess  of  outward  things  to  be  at  peace  witli 
them  within.  Teach  me  to  think  wisdom  the  only 
riches.  And  give  me  so  much  wealtii,  and  so  much 
only,  as  a  good  and  holy  man  could  manage  or  enjoy," 

San  Francisco  climate,  like  the  people,  is  exceed- 
ingly mixed,  very  good  and  ver^"^  bad ;  treacherous, 
contradictory,  and  yet  most  reliable ;  hot  and  cold, 
and  yet  neither  hot  nor  cold;  dry,  yet  always  damp, 
raining,  but  not  wet — clothing  at  one  time  on  tlie 
street,  lace  shawl  and  furs,  overcoat  and  duster,  and 
one  as  appropriate  as  another.  "  Four  seasons  in  one 
day;  blarst  such  a  c(»untryl"  exclaimed  a  tragic 
Faust  as  he  threw  up  his  engagement  and  hurried  out 
of  town. 

Often  in  the  kitchen  there  wore  storms;  as  wlieu 
Alice,  who  was  a  good  cook,  and  had  a  bit  of  temper 
withal,  had  her  wages  gradually  reduced  from  $250 
to  $100  a  month,  flew  into  a  rage,  and  marched  lior- 
self  off,  saying  she  would  not  live  in  such  a  place. 

How  different  from  all  this  is  the  picture  of  to-day ! 
Gradually  from  Yerba  Buena  cove  the  city  of  our 
father  Saint  Francis  has  spread  out,  first  nortliwanl 
over  the  hills  and  into  the  valleys  beyond,  far  away 
to  the  Golden  Gate,  then  southward  for  miles,  en- 
compassing the  old  Mission  Dolores  and  far  boyonrl, 
while  westward  and  on  the  hill  tops  broad  avciuus 
lined  witli  palaces  and  gardens  invite  the  weary  mom\  - 
makers  to  repose.  Grand  hotels,  and  mercantile  aiul 
manufacturing  establishments,  stand  along  the  busy 


THE  CITY  OP  TODAY. 


293 


thoroughfares,  while  churches,  cathedrals,  and  public 
buildings  rise  from  the  dense  mass  of  lesser  structures. 
Elegant  equipages  with  their  fair  freight  roll  over  the 
paved  streets,  and  out  through  the  park  to  the  ocean 
beach ;  while  street  rail-cars,  with  scores  of  miles  of 
iron  track  reaching  far  out  into  every  suburb,  carry 
the  less  pretentious  population  to  and  from  their 
homes. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


SOCIETY. 

mens  muUtiono  recreabitur:  slcut  in  cibis,  quorum  divenitate  reficitur 
■toinachuB,  et  pluribus  minoro  faatidio  alitur. 

— Qumtilian. 

The  California  year  of  1849;  what  was  it?  An 
exclamation  point  in  the  history  of  civilization  ;  a  dasii 
In  the  annals  of  time.  This  twelve-month  was  not  Si> 
much  a  year  as  an  age,  not  so  nmch  an  episode  as  an 
era.  Heart  throbs,  they  say,  rather  than  time  tell  the 
age  of  man  ;  here  then  was  a  century  of  heart  throhs; 
we  could  as  well  drop  out  of  history  a  hundred  of 
other  years,  as  this  one  most  notable  year.  Otlier 
years  have  been  repeated,  and  will  be  many  times; 
this  one,  never.  Throughout  the  records  of  the  race, 
from  first  to  last,  there  will  never  be  reproduced  on 
this  planet  the  California  flush-times  drama.  It 
stands  out  hi  the  experiences  of  men  unique  and  indi- 
vidual, each  swift  day  of  it  equal  to  many  another 
year. 

How  vain,  then,  the  attempt  to  portray  this  fleet- 
ing hour!  Dreaming  will  not  achieve  it,  nor  romanc- 
ing; it  is  neither  caricature,,  nor  burlesque,  noi' 
extra vaijanza.  These  lead  the  mind  further  from  th«^ 
truth.  Neither  will  the  bald  facts,  though  plainly 
and  fairly  stated,  give  a  perfect  idea  of  the  time ;  there 
was  present  much  besides  plain  facts;  there  were  facts 
running  riot,  and  the  wildest  fancy  turned  into  facts — 
a  pandemonium  of  romance  and  reality.  There  were 
here  fifty  thousand  active  and  intelligent  young  work- 
ers, whose  experiences   fully  written  for  that  year 

(294) 


THK   YKAR  OF   1849. 


2BS 


would  fill  fifty  thousand  volumes,  each  as  large  as 
tliis.  And  then  the  subject  would  not  be  fully  pre- 
s(!nted,  unions  into  each  of  these  fifty  thoustind  vol- 
umes the  breath  of  in8i)iration  mij:fht  place  true  and 
living  soul  ;  for  the  winds  of  California  worci  redolent 
of  soul,  and  every  morning's  sun  kindled  now  fires  of 
(•ner»ry  that  wont  not  out  at  night.  The  1841)  of 
California,  of  America,  of  the  world  I  It  was  the 
pivot  <m  which  the  frame-work  of  human  progress 
turned  a  fnish  side  to  the  sun,  a  side  brooding  mag- 
gots hitherto,  but  now  a  new  and  nobler  race  of  mon. 

Since  the  days  of  Adam,  wliose  eyes  were  opened 
to  behold  himself  by  his  maker,  there  noviT  has  been 
u  mirror  held  up  before  man  which  so  roHer'tod  him 
in  his  true  light,  stripped  of  all  the  shams  and  vou- 
vcntionalities  of  staid  societies.  Leaving  in  thoir  old 
homes  evt^ry  restraint,  every  influence  that  bound 
them  to  ancient  forms  and  traditions,  the  latter-day 
argonauts  entered  the  mines  with  name  and  identity 
sunk.  They  wore  no  longer  their  former  solves;  they 
wore  born  and  baptized  anew.  IL'nco  aroso  a  social 
organism  at  once  complex  and  po(;uliar,  wlu>se  growth 
is  at  every  turn  a  new  development. 

In  dross  the  people  of  California  were  as  inde- 
])('U(lent  and  original  as  in  everything  else.  Free 
tiiought  and  free  habits  pervaded  the  wliole  donuiin 
of  society.  Even  those  who  dressed  genteelly  de- 
clined slavery  to  fashion.  They  claimed  the  privil(>ge 
of  exercising  taste  in  preference  to  bowing  boforo 
French  law.  Ht;nce  it  was  that  the  streets  of  San 
i^Vancisco  presented  every  variety  of  style  in  tht^ss  the 
world  had  seen  for  the  last  quarter  t)f  a  century. 

An  English  writer  speaks  of  "some  forlorn  indi- 
vidual exhibitiniir  himself  in  a  black  coat  and  a  stove- 
j>ipe  hat,  looking  like  a  bird  of  evil  omen  among  a 
flock  of  such  gay  plumage."  But  the  ancient  minor 
of  early  days  prided  liimsolf  to  the  last  in  his  rags  and 
patches,  in  his  torn  hat  and  boots  awry,  and  open- 
breasted  woollen  shirt  with  up-rolled  sleeves,  display- 


1^ 


SOCIETY. 


ing  the  tawny  hairy  skin  and  swollen  muscies — which 
was,  indeed,  but  another  species  of  foppery.  This 
rejoicing  in  their  rags  was  like  Antisthenes,  through 
the  holes  of  whose  clothes  Socrates  saw  rank  prido 
peering.  In  the  cities,  the  several  nationalities  re- 
tained their  peculiar  style  of  dress,  so  that  on  the 
streets  of  San  Francisco  were  to  be  seen  the  silver- 
buttoned  trousers,  leather  leggings,  and  bright-colored 
serape  of  the  Mexican,  the  shooting-coat  dress  of  the 
Englishman,  the  corduroys  of  tlie  Irishman,  the  black 
of  the  New  Englander,  and  the  Paris  fashions  of 
Frenchmen,  New  Yorkers,  and  southerners.  Every 
one  could  wear  what  he  pleased,  and  no  costume,  how- 
ever bizarre,  appeared  to  attract  nmch  attention. 

Indeed,  while  there  is  so  mucli  in  dress  which  speaks 
the  character  of  the  wearer,  during  this  most  hnport- 
ant  and  solemn  struggle  there  were  other  things  to 
absorb  the  mind.  For  here  for  a  time  the  battle  of 
good  and  evil  rages  fiercely,  and  before  it  is  fairly 
over,  as,  indeed,  it  never  is,  many  will  find  themselves 
weather-bound,  destined  never  to  gather  the  fruits  of 
their  toil,  destined  never  to  leave  these  accursed 
shores,  but  forced  by  fate  to  toil  on  to  the  end,  till 
death  relieves  them.  Like  the  dart  of  Abaris,  their 
new  vocation  renders  their  past  invisible,  wliile  their 
future  henccfortli  is  destined  to  be  filled  with  tliose 
accidental  colors  which  depend  on  tlie  state  of  the  eye 
rather  than  on  the  hue  of  the  object.  It  will  be  a 
paradise  or  a  penitentiary^  as  success  or  failure  is  en- 
countered. Giving  thus  all  for  gold,  they  are  like 
zealous  missionaries  giving  all  for  Christ,  many  of 
them  dropping  or  losing  their  names,  so  that  their 
most  intimate  companions  shall    ot  know  them. 

The  Connecticut  Sunday  h.  forbade  travel  and 
work  except  in  cases  of  necesi  y  or  mercy,  and  in 
early  times  there  were  few  such  ct  9s.  Massachusetts 
laid  a  penalty  of  ten  dollars  on  eve  '  one  who  travelled 
on  Sunday,  except  from  necessit  or  charity.  The 
laws  of  Vermont  permitted  the    aaple  sugar  makers 


THE  CAUFOKNIA  SUNDAY.  HT 

to  set  tubs  anew  on  Sunday  in  case  of  an  extraordinary 
run  of  sap.  In  California  there  was  much  necessity, 
much  mercy,  and  sap  was  always  running. 

Sunday,  if  possible,  was  chosen  for  public  affairs, 
for  arrests,  trials,  and  executions,  as  there  would  be 
deuionstratcd  greater  public  interest  on  that  day. 
The  maxim.  Dies  Dominicus  non  juridicus,  had  little 
weight  with  them.  So  far  as  mining-town  morality 
was  concerned,  Sunday  was  a  day  for  anything  but 
work.  Recreations  of  any  kind  were  admissible,  and 
shirt- washing,  broad-making,  gambling,  drinking, 
horse-racing,  fighting,  and  hanging,  all  came  under 
this  category. 

There  was  here  a  complete  return  to  primitive  ideas 
regarding  Sunday.  Like  Christmas,  the  ounday  of 
the  pioneer  Christians  was  a  day  of  rejoicing.  In 
Ttrtullian's  time,  the  word  Sabbatum  marked  the 
seventh,  not  the  first,  day  of  the  week,  and  to  fast  on 
that  day  was  deemed  sinful.  Indeed,  if  we  may  be- 
lieve Justin  Martyr,  there  were  Christians  who,  like 
our  miners,  considered  it  criminal  to  keep  the  sabbath. 

During  this  epoch  of  abnormities,  when  a  chaos  of 
heterogeneous  elements  was  under  fermentation  which 
brought  to  the  surface  the  best  and  the  basest  quall- 
ti(^s  of  human  nature,  maiiy  untried  experiments 
must  be  wrought,  many  problems  solved  which  never 
before  had  come  within  the  range  of  social  ethics. 
Tliere  nmst  be  a  re-adaptation  of  individuals  and  com- 
nmnities  to  new  environments.  Strange  remedies 
nmst  be  applied  for  strange  evils  ;  new  resources  must 
l»e  developed,  new  benefits  seized  and  utilized.  The 
epoch  stands  out  on  the  canvas  of  history  in  ever 
deepening  colors;  and  only  in  ages  to  come,  when 
tlie  knowledge  of  human  actions  and  divine  laws  sliall 
be  brought  into  nearer  relationship,  si. all  its  true  im- 
port be  understood.  It  was  an  original  melodrama, 
liorn  of  the  time;  but  under  Thalia  s  laughing  mask 
were  hidden  the  club  and  steel  of  tragedy.  The  world 
liad  had  its  romance  of  religion,  of  chivalry,  of  the 


I 


1  § 


«;• 


SOCIETY. 


ideal ;  but  here  was  its  first  great  romance  of  utilitar- 
ianism. This  was  no  island  of  ^gina  to  be  peopled 
by  transforming  ants  into  men  ;  but  here  men  were  to 
be  made  monarchs ;  mind  was  to  be  emancipated,  and 
thought  left  to  its  unfoldings,  such  as  never  had  yet 
been  done  under  the  sun.  Here,  martyrs  and  heroes, 
unsainted  and  unsung,  amidst  strugglings  and  suffer- 
ings, were  to  achieve  glorious  things  for  the  race. 

Digging  in  the  dirt,  selling  rum,  tobacco,  flour,  and 
bacon,  hammering  out  mining  machinery,  assaying 
gold  and  the  like,  seem  dull  and  prosaic  occupations 
enough  when  compared  with  the  tilts  and  tournaments 
of  knight-orrantry,  the  pious  entliusiasm  of  crusaders, 
and  the  thrilling  deeds  on  the  battle-fields  ;  neverthe- 
less the  poetry  and  romance  are  here  for  all  who  pre- 
fer reality  to  fantasy.  Here,  weather-beaten  and 
bearded  diggers  are  uneart  ]ig  primeval  treasures 
which  shall  revolutionize  commerce  and  society  ;  they 
are  bringing  to  light  brilliant  gold  wherewith  to  buy 
liappiness ;  and  these  mitiisteriug  towns  and  cities 
which  spring  up  on  every  side  as  if  by  magic,  an;  tlu; 
marts  of  theh*  servitors  who  feed  and  clothe  their 
occupants.  Golil-getting,  however,  is  not  an  end  but 
a  means;  it  is  only  an  incentive  or  impulse  in  tli(! 
great  plan of))rogress.  The  romance  of  it  is  found  in  the 
strange  developments,  the  wonderful  events,  the  grand 
display  of  that  force  which  brings  order  out  of  chaos, 
and  places  under  subjection  to  the  whole,  tempers  op- 
pugnant  and  ajiparently  ungovernable,  with  the  least 
personal  restraint  possible. 

By  the  prudish  and  pharisai^al  this  anomalous  lif(i 
and  society  may  be  regarded  with  abhorrence ;  bythi; 
social  philosopher  and  lover  of  the  race,  it  will  bo 
studied  as  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  instructive; 
pages  of  history.  In  older  societies  impurities  sink  to 
the  bottom  or  gather  in  slimy  corners;  but  when  tl!<; 
stream  of  progress,  in  an  ungovernable  torrent,  forced 
a  new  channel  westward,  filth  and  purity  were  stirnn! 
up  together,  and  its  waters  became  thick  with  passion 


HOPE  AND  DESPAIR. 


299 


and  prejudice ;  hence  never  before  have  we  had  such  an 
opportunity  of  watching  the  phenomena  of  separation 
and  purification  as  here  presents  itself  Neither  Brit- 
ish Columbia  nor  Australia  at  all  compare  with  Cali- 
fornia in  this  respect,  for  here,  from  the  beginning, 
there  was  always  the  wildest  latitude  allowed  to  hu- 
man action,  consistent  with  self-preservation,  while  in 
the  British  colonies  gold-seekers,  from  the  first,  were 
under  an  established  rule. 

In  California,  the  only  government  and  the  only 
recognition  of  crime  was  such  as  grew  out  of  necessity. 
There  was  never  any  parental  restraint  or  guidance, 
there  was  no  period  of  formation  or  childhood ;  from 
a  scattered  assemblage  of  diversified  tongues  and 
(!olors*  the  population  at  once  assumed  state  preroga- 
tives; and  being  ill-understood  by  any  not  on  the 
spot,  and  far  removed  from  eastern  influence,  the  peo- 
})le  were  left  to  do  very  much  as  they  pleased. 

On  arriving  in  California,  the  new-comer  soon  found 
liimself  enlisted  in  the  ranks  of  one  of  two  classes,  the 
liopeful  or  the  despondent.  If  of  the  former,  he  was 
soon  seized  with  the  intoxication  of  his  new  surround- 
ings, and  joined  the  business  orgie.  Confident  and 
daring,  he  at  once  went  to  work  at  something, — any- 
thing, whatever  first  oftered  itself,  and  continued  in 
(incrgctic  industry  until  success  in  a  greater  or  less 
degree  was  achieved.  Often  he  would  fall,  and  as 
often  rise  again.  There  was  no  such  tiling  as  "«>n'ain- 
in<jj  down,  no  thougfht  of  vicldino-.  His  ojrasp  on  for- 
tunc  was  firm  and  constant,  and  although  the  slippery 
jado  might  sometimes  twist  herself  almost  from  his 
grasp,  he  never  would  entircdy  lose  his  hold,  for  this 
oiico  lost,  all  v/as  lost.  This  doo'H'od  determination, 
liopu  in  the  future,  belief  in  the  times,  and  confidetice 
in  himself  were  a  fortune.  Should  he  join  the  ranks 
of  the  latter  class,  he  was  forced  to  abandon  all  his 
bright  hopes,  and  turn  himself  over  to  despair.  Every 
thing  he  saw  was  dark  and  gloomy.  A  man  of  con- 
science in  society  and  business,  the  glorious  drunken- 


300 


SOCIETY. 


ness  of  the  times  was  denied  him.  The  rains  of  winter 
dampened  his  anticipations  and  drowned  his  energies; 
the  cold,  coast  winds  cut  into  his  vitals,  and  the  hot, 
summer  sun  of  the  valleys  withered  his  hopes,  and  left 
him  despondent  and  nerveless.  With  heart  sunk 
within  him,  every  blow  he  struck  was  echoed  by  his 
rattling  bones  Disgusted  with  himself  and  all  the 
world,  and  heaping  curses  on  the  country,  he  returned 
home,  if  he  could  get  there,  covered  with  shame,  or 
eked  out  a  broken-hearted  existence  in  the  land  he  so 
heartily  hated. 

The  very  qualities  most  conducive  to  prosperity  in 
older  communities  were  to  some  extent  out  of  place 
here;  men  thrived  on  what  elsewhere  would  prove 
their  destruction.  Old  maxims  were  as  useless  as 
broken  crockery.  True,  among  the  shrewder  spirits 
there  was  a  method  in  their  madness,  and  sometimes 
seemingly  rash  and  headlong  speculation  was  the  re- 
sult of  well-laid  schemes.  There  were  times  when  a 
general  advance  in  prices  rose  into  a  mania,  and  then 
whatever  a  man  bought,  real  estate  or  merchandise, 
was  sure  to  yield  him  a  profit  a  week,  or  a  day,  or  an 
liour  afterward.  All  this  seemed  to  one  newly  arrived 
a  bedlam  of  insane  speculation,  and  speedy  convulsion 
was  predicted. 

At  first  there  were  no  fixed  customs  in  the  country 
to  which  every  comer  must  in  a  gieater  or  less  degree 
adapt  himself  Every  man's  conduct  was  regulated 
b}'^  his  own  tastes  rather  than  bv  preiistablished  rules 
of  society.  Fashion  never  found  more  indifferent  vo- 
taries. But  the  romance  and  irksomeness  of  this  kind 
of  life  gradually  wore  away;  woman  came  to  the  res- 
cue, and  the  proprieties,  suavity  of  manners,  and  staid 
customs  of  older  societies  came  into  general  observ- 
ance. Society  separated  into  strata;  something  like 
caste  appeared,  and  the  components  of  the  community 
became  more  and  more  individualized. 

Most  of  those  who  came  hither  were  in  the  matur- 
ity of  manhood,  with  more  or  less  skill  and  experience 


EFFECT  OP  ENVIRONMENT. 


801 


in  their  several  vocations.  This  skill  and  experience, 
by  means  of  which  society  is  influenced,  were  acquin.'d 
under  different  systems  of  education  and  discipline  ; 
and  in  the  adaptation  of  these  experiences,  one  to  an- 
other, and  all  to  a  general  whole,  theory  and  specula- 
tion were  in  a  measure  thrown  aside,  and  men  became 
eminently  practical.  All  must  discard  somethinjj;- 
of  that  just  pride  for  the  ancient  and  local  customs  of 
their  fathers  under  which  their  progress  had  been  at- 
tained thus  far.  This  it  was  difficult  at  once  to 
do.  The  way  in  which  we  are  accustomed  tt>  do  a 
thing  we  cannot  but  feel  to  be  the  best  way,  and  we 
see  no  reason  why  we  should  throw  it  aside  for  an- 
other which  will  bring  about  results  less  easily.  Nor 
need  we,  except  in  some  instaices,  when  we  nmst  per- 
force adapt  ourselves  to  general  customs.  And  by 
this  discarding  of  habits  formed  on  a  framework  of 
technical  philosophy  alone,  and  seizing  upon  actuali- 
ties as  they  exist,  i. respective  of  their  origin,  the 
ijrrandest  results  are  attained. 

Until  a  late  day  we  lacked  home  and  the  home  feel- 
ing in  California,  We  began  by  staying  here  a  little 
while,  and  we  have  remained  longer  than  we  intended. 
We  lack  the  associations  running  back  for  generations, 
the  old  homestead,  the  grandfather,  and  grandmother-, 
juid  uncles,  and  aunts,  and  cousins.  There  is  nothing 
around  us  hallowed  by  an  indistinct  past.  There  is 
nothing  older  than  ourselves ;  all  that  we  see  has 
grown  up  under  our  eyes,  and  for  these  creatures  of 
our  own  creation  we  have  no  reverence.  We  are  not 
}'ct  settled,  we  are  constantly  moving  to  and  fro  like 
restless  spirits,  living  in  hotels  and  boarding  houses ; 
or  if  we  have  a  home  we  want  to  s(?ll  it  and  go  into 
(he  country,  or  to  Europe.  It  is  so  n)uch  troulik; 
keeping  house,  with  these  Chinamen  for  chamher- 
niaids  I 

The  average  intelligence  of  any  nation  in  Christen- 
dom, not  even  excepting  the  great  American  peophs 
is  greatly  overrated ;  particularly  when  it  comes  to 


m 


808 


SOCIETY. 


mankind  acting  in  the  mass,  cooperatively,  as  a  sect, 
order,  or  legislative  body.  The  noise  and  bustle  of 
some  excite  others;  as  an  old  broken  down  cart- 
horse, driven  into  a  band  of  wild,  frolicsome  horses, 
becomes  fractious  and  unmanageable.  Business 
breeds  business,  and  caution  engenders  caution.  He 
who  croaks  and  hoards,  lying  in  wait  for  opportunities 
to  get  sonietliing  for  nothing,  incites  others  to  croak 
and  hoard  and  lie  in  wait;  and  so  stagnation  follows. 
A  man  who  cheerfully,  and  with  hope  in  his  heart, 
goes  to  work,  develops  the  resources  of  his  country, 
buys  and  sells  and  builds,  will  incite  like  activity  in 
others,  and  development  and  property  must  follow. 
Deliberation  and  caution  are  well  enough  in  their 
place,  and  not  to  be  overlooked  at  any  time,  but  a 
good  driver  does  not  put  on  the  brakes  going  up  hill. 
It  is  true  that  the  people  of  California  are  very 
greatly  absorbed  in  making  money.  And  tliis  is  as  it 
should  be,  for  what  is  money-making  but  develop- 
ment and  jirogress  ?  Culture  and  refinement  always 
follow  material  prosperity,  they  never  precede  it. 
We  have  here  lands  to  be  put  under  contribution, 
mines  to  be  opened,  railroads  and  cities  to  be  built; 
would  it  be  accounted  to  us  as  wise  to  sit  down  to 
[)lay  when  we  have  made  no  provision  for  our  dinner? 
First  provide  for  the  material  man,  else  the  mental 
will  fare  poorly  enough.  But,  say  our  friends  at  the 
east,  "  You  have  made  money  enough  ;  it  is  time  you 
should  turn  your  attention  to  somethint;  better  than 
money,  if  ever  you  intend  doing  so."  Very  true,  but 
railway  trahis  are  not  stopped  at  full  speed ;  cart 
horses  do  not  usually  make  the  best  racers,  and  ships 
built  for  the  water  do  not  sail  well  in  the  air. 
Money-makers  are  simply  macliines,  as  are  philoso- 
phors  and  scholars ;  take  one  to  pierces  and  remodel 
it,  and  the  working  of  it  afterward  is  very  doubtful. 
I  see  no  other  way  but  to  give  the  country  time. 
The  nc^xt  generation  will  beget  new  inventions,  ex- 
periences thus  brought  together  propagate.     Henco 


MATERIAL  FOR  PROGRESS. 


303 


it  is  that  we  are  more  fully  up  to  the  times  in  every- 
thing, much  more,  all  things  put  together,  than  al- 
most any  other  community. 

It  is  easy  to  undorstand  how  men  and  women  thus 
thrown  together,  strangers  to  each  other,  strangers 
in  ideas,  speed  i,  and  traditions,  without  the  substra- 
tum, as  a  social  foundation,  which  only  can  coalesce; 
as  society  slowly  develops,  fail  to  have  that  interest 
in  each  other  and  that  intense  loyalty  which  charac- 
terizes older  and  more  settled  comnmnities.  Society 
]i(!re  is  a  malformation,  or  rather  it  is  yet  not  society, 
but  only  materials  for  society;  yet  nowhere  will  th(! 
people  quicker  or  more  heartily  unite  for  the  public; 
good;  nowhere  are  they  more  free  and  social  than 
here;  nowhere  is  there  less  clap-trap  and  ridiculous 
apings  of  things  traditional  than  here. 

Strangers  coming  together  cannot  immediately  em- 
brace and  become  brothers.  They  have  too  little  in 
common,  see  too  many  faults  in  each  other;  will  not 
mellow  on  the  instant  asperities  of  character.  The  seeds 
of  lasting  friendship  are  usually  planted  in  early  life, 
and  matured  in  a  soil  of  warm  and  tender  sympathy,  in 
order  to  produce  a  plant  which  will  endure  the  storms 
of  selfishness  that  beat  upon  it  in  after  life.  Once 
the  social  heart  of  California  lay  so  imbedded  in  gold 
that  it  could  not  throb.  The  passions  were  let  loose, 
and  a  moral  leprosy  infected  the  i)eople  like  an  epi- 
demic. But  all  this  passed  away,  as  every  epidemic 
passes,  afttu-  having  weeded  society  of  some  of  its 
weaknesses,  and  left  it  in  fair  condition  for  pcrniam  nt 
growth. 

To  the  great  majority  of  the  pioneers  the  Sierrn. 
■was  a  sphinx  propounduig  a  riddlo,  which  they  must, 
answer.  Thousands  laid  down  tlioir  lives  in  the  at- 
tempt, for  there  were  the  lion's  claws  to  tear  the  un- 
successful venturer  in  pieces.  Of  rare  celestial  beauty 
was  the  face  and  bosom  of  the  goddess  as  she  lured 
men  to  their  destruction ;  of  dark  ferocity  was  she  as 
she  lapped  them  to  their  final  doom. 


Sri 


mm 


304 


SOCIETY. 


Very  hard  were  the  times  in  the  mountains  now 
and  then ;  times  when  no  one  could  pay  his  butcher 
bill,  when  the  miner  had  not  money  enough  to  roll 
tenpins;  yet,  there  was  little  complaining.  The 
merchant  considered  it  useless  to  sue  for  his  account, 
for  even  if  he  could  collect  it,  he  knew  he  would  incur 
enough  of  unpopularity  to  make  the  loss  many  times 
greater,  and  perhaps  get  a  sound  thrashing  some  night 
when  the  boys  were  deep  in  their  cups  and  with  plenty 
of  money.  Society  at  this  time  was  far  too  unselfish 
for  its  own  good,  or  for  the  good  of  the  world. 

An  aristocracy,  in  tlie  common  acceptation  of  the 
term,  never  has  found  place  in  Califiirnia.     Vain  and 
silly  women  have  attempted  cliques,  have  drawn  round 
themselves   lines  of  exclusiveness,  and   essayed  tlio 
leadership  of  fashion;  but  all  such  efforts  have  had 
little  mterest  to  any  except  the  aspirants  themselves, 
usually    involving   them   in   contempt    and   ridicule. 
Likewise  there   have  not  been  wanting  those,  w1k», 
jealous  of  the  pretensions  of  the  ambitious  in  tliin 
direction,  have  by  their   envious  scoffings  betrayed 
a  desire  for  the   position  which   they  pretended   to 
despise.     With  no  provincial  court,  with  the  officers 
of  government   not   the    most   admirable   characters 
in  the  community,  with  no  fixed   military  or  naval 
system,  with  agents  of  the  general  government  too 
poorly    paid   to    make    much   display,    with    but    a 
small  literary  class,  with   the  entire  community  in- 
tent chiefly  on  money-getting,  and  holding   in   con- 
tempt all  forms  save  the  forms  of  debit  and  credit, 
there    was   here    not   the    first    element    on   whicli 
to  base    an  arist<icracy,  either   of    iii^ney  or   niirul. 
Wealth  was  worshipped,  and  success,  and  that  keen 
ness  of  intellect  which  could  acquire  wealth ;  but  the 
[)ossessor  was  as  frequently  despised,  and  his  quondam 
washer- woman  wife  snubbed  by  her  less  pretentious 
Ri>^ters.     Early  society  here  was   an   aggregation  of 
s; .  angers  in  which  lucky  strokes  of  fortune  dazzled 


INFLUENCE  OF  WOMAN. 


305 


t.) 

>rs 

;crs 

,val 

tt  ><> 

a 

in- 

on- 


lUl. 
tlu' 


the  eyes  of  competitors,  and  unostentatious  merit 
passed  unnoticed ;  great  men,  if  success  can  be  called 
greatness,  were  too  near  their  beginning  to  hispire 
that  respect  necessary  to  the  formation  of  an  aris- 
tocracy in  social  circles.  There  were  here  no  old 
families  whose  merit,  wealth,  or  respectability  had 
long  held  their  neighbors  in  esteem,  though  there 
were  the  beginnings  of  many  such. 

Woman  played  her  part  in  early  California,  annals, 
her  influence  being  abnormal  as  much  by  reason  of  its 
absence  as  its  presence.  For  the  absence  of  women 
liad  a  strange  effect  upon  the  men,  although  they 
themselves  were  scarcely  aware  of  it.  Religion  they 
could  do  well  enough  without,  while  dwelling  for  a 
time  in  this  wilderness,  but  that  their  life  should  be 
limited  to  a  community  of  men  was  indeed  a  new  ex- 
perience. It  was  like  a  void  in  nature,  something 
dropped  out  of  their  existence. 

After  all,  which  condition  was  the  harder:  hcr's 
whose  smile  dissembled  the  sinking  heart  on  parthig ; 
her's  whose  brave  words  belied  the  glistening,  tear  tliat 
hung  trembling  on  the  droopmg  eyelid  ;  hers  whost; 
lot  it  was,  all  through  the  cold  winter  with  him  away, 
to  fight  the  hunger- wolf  that  prowled  about  the  door, 
and  keep  her  little  ones  from  freezing,  or  his  who 
abandons  all  for  the  hope  of  getting  gold? 

Tliere  is  but  one  thing  this  side  of  heaven  lovelier 
tlian  the  form  and  face  of  woman,  and  that  is  her 
heart-bloom.  Fed  by  the  veiled  virtues,  the  poetic 
courtesies,  the  delicate  influences  and  affections,  witli 
all  the  tender  sacrifices  locked  within,  it  fills  the  at- 
mosphere with  its  fragrance,  redeems  man  from  him- 
self, and  makes  a  paradise  of  what  were  otherwise  a 
l)arren  waste.  A  thing  in  some  form  desired  by  all 
inoii,  she  whose  heart  beats  true  to  the  coming  and 
^t;oiTig  of  her  friends;  she  whose  brain  was  all  ablaze 
with  ten  thousand  tender  fantasies  ;  she  through  whose 
eyes  one  sees  her   heaven-lit  soul ;  she  whose   deft 

Cal.  Ixt.  Foe.    20 


w  1 

m 


[:■■-! 


i 
V 


306 


SOCIETY. 


fingers  are  as  dancing  points  of  thought ;  she  whose  feet 
upon  the  sward  are  lighter  than  the  soft  south  wind ; 
she  whose  voice  is  angels'  music  singing  whence  she 
came ;  she  whose  charms  are  crowned  by  goodness 
and  sweet,  gentle  sympathy;  such  is  gentle,  virtuous 
woman. 

Spaniards  who  had  wives  in  Spain  were  forbidden 
by  King  Ferdinand  to  reside  in  any  of  the  colonics; 
they  nmst  go  after  them.  There  were  no  Kino- 
Ferdinands  to  make  the  men  of  California  bring  out 
their  wives.  At  first  wives  were  few,  but  houris  in 
abundance  came  from  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth, 
whose  beauty  and  virginity,  like  the  black-eyed  dam- 
sels of  paradise,  were,  in  the  eyes  of  the  soiled  and 
solitary  Californians,  renewable  at  pleasure.  Of  these, 
as  the  Koran  tells  of  the  houris  in  paradise,  each  wo- 
man-worshipper, if  he  possessed  sufficient  gold-dust, 
might  have  seventy -two.  So  that  for  women,  the 
mines  became  like  Torquemada's  fabulous  Lizard  is- 
lands, a  retreat  for  outcast  damsels  of  every  species. 

In  the  cities,  particularly,  and  sometimes  in  tlu' 
mines,  there  were  not  lacking  Aspasias  of  the  superior 
type,  refined  and  cultivated  women  whom  shmous  cii  - 
cumstances  had  driven  from  the  ijarden  of  chastitv, 
and  whose  intellectual  attractions  were  surpassed  only 
by  their  j)ersonal  charms.  When,  however,  the  younjj; 
men  bey;an  to  think  of  makinij  this  countrv  their 
home,  the^y  longed  for  home  comforts  and  happiness, 
chief  among  which  was  a  wife.  Whereupon  they, 
some  of  them,  marry  and  are  soon  led  to  thank  God 
for  the  blessing  of  no  children. 

How  often  when  death's  tidinijs  came  of  a  loved 
one  gone,  father,  mother,  wife,  or  child,  has  the  soli- 
tary mourner  withdrawn  from  his  boisterous  compan- 
ions, retired  to  the  woods  or  to  the  hill-side,  and  there 
held  his  lonely  funeral.  The  hope  of  his  life,  perhaps, 
his  morning  and  evening  star,  that  for  which  he  bad 
come  hither,  the  main-spring  and  motive  of  all  liis 
toil,  suddenly  destroyed.     Oh  1  God,  is  it  necessary 


WIVE.S  AND  OTHER  WOMEN. 


307 


bvcd 
Isoli- 
Ipan- 
Kwiv 

luvl 
his 
ksary 


thus  to  torment  ?  Might  not  omnipotence  have  devised 
some  scheme  less  cruel  than  that  which  nmst  needs 
send  up  one  universal  wail  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end  of  time,  wailing  births  followed  by  wailing  deaths, 
as  though  spirit  and  flesh  had  been  united  only  to  be 
torn  asunder,  as  though  sentient  behigs  had  been 
created  only  for  the  anmsenient  of  fate  i  What  is  this 
( »ne  lesson  nature  teaches  us  ?  Short,  swift,  and  damna- 
l)le.  Throughout  the  ages  the  stron*;  shall  eat  up 
the  ^veak,  and  death  shall  swallow  ail.  Foolish  are 
we,  to  propagate  our  kind  that  they  may  be  made 
the  sport  of  the  present,  with  the  certainty  of  a  final 
uhastly  issue. 

Now  the  heathen  for  their  gods  do  not  have  that 
love  and  respect.  Love,  or  what  was  called  love  in 
Homeric  heroes,  in  the  minds  of  Augustan  critics,  and 
ill  mediajval  religious  devotees  was  but  a  weakness. 
Among  warriors,  the  tender  sentiment  implied  cfRemi- 
iiacy,  and  too  often  piety  pleaded  the  will  of  heaven  as 
;m  excuse  for  treachery  to  woman.  And  what  did 
thi'  gods  themselves  know  about  love?  Their  love 
was  all  sensuality.  Jupiter  put  Cupid  in  the  stocks 
I  »i  cause  the  mischievous  imp  would  not  make  the 
W(»inen  love  him  for  himself  alone,  but  nmst  first  turn 
him  into  bull,  satyr,  swan,  or  other  form  before  his 
|iitvsence  should  inspire  the  tender  ])assion.  They 
would  call  it  hate,  not  love,  that  prompted  the  idea  of 
itcinal  l)urnin<»;. 

Thine  are  in  every  city  other  fifty  wives  besides  the 
titty  daughters  of  Danaus,  king  of  Argos,  who  kill 
thi'ir  husbands,  if  not  in  a  single  night,  then  in  a  time 
made  yet  more  cruel  by  its  prolonged  length. 

Intolerant  of  restraint  as  the  wild  votaries  of  Bel- 
inda, or  of  Anubis,  of  Osiris,  or  of  Cvbele,  like  the 
Koiiians  of  Juvenal's  day,  one  connnon  <{uality  of 
reckless  disregard  of  consequences  pei^vaded  the  whim 
of  the  hour.  Amorous  widow-hunters  of  the  Colonel 
Chartres  or  duke  of  Roussillon  type,  preeminent  hi 
their  superfluity  of  naughtiness,  met  with  fair  success. 


m 


308 


SOCIETY. 


11 


H 

•4 


Dr  Brewer  in  his  Dictionary  of  Phrase  and  Fable, 
says  that  frequently  he  who  went  to  dig  gold  in  Cali- 
fornia, put  to  board  in  some  neighbor's  family  his 
wife  and  children,  or,  as  it  was  sometimes  termed, 
turned  them  out  to  grass — hence  grass-widow.  This 
definition  is  far-fetched.  Originally  the  term  signified 
an  unmarried  mother;  later,  a  wife  separated  from 
her  husband. 

Just  how  far  the  absence  of  woman  affected  society 
it  is  difficult  to  determine.  With  her  men  are  fools ; 
without  her  devils.  Man  may  be  made  better  or 
worse  by  woman  according  to  her  quality.  As  a 
modest  maiden  and  a  true  and  loving  wife,  slie  is  tiu; 
&,irest  handiwork  of  the  creator;  us  a  splenoti*- 
moody  demirep,  she  is  the  aptest  instrument  of  t]i(! 
devil.  As  Dante,  probably  with  his  own  tcrniaij:;aMt 
wife  in  view,  groans  "La  fiera  moglie  piu  ch'altro,  mi 
nuoce."  With  the  purity  of  hor  heart  she  may  makr 
all  things  pure;  under  the  counterfeits  of  love  slif 
may  seduce  by  her  charms,  and  doom  to  death  by  li<  r 
affection.  Within  a  limited  sphere  every  woman  lias 
a  Pandora's  box  which  she  may  open  if  she  chooses. 
Physically  weaker  than  man,  morally  woman  is 
greatly  his  superior.  She  is  his  superior  as  well  in 
the  emotional  part  of  her  nature  as  in  her  finer  seiisr 
of  duty ;  she  is  more  self-sacrificing,  has  greater  sen- 
sibility, is  naturally  more  chaste,  more  tender,  more 
compassionate,  more  forgivr.ig;  she  excels  in  all  pas- 
sive virtues,  but  hi  intellect,  ethics,  in  courage,  in  tin' 
activities  of  life  she  falls  behind  her  ruder  companion. 

Women  feel  rather  than  think;  they  are  governed 
by  impulse  rather  than  by  opinion.  In  an  evenly  bal- 
anced community  they  are  less  tempted  than  men,  and 
therefore  less  given  to  criminality;  but  once  faiily 
embarked  in  excesses,  and  they  outstrip  the  most 
vicious  men.  Tlie  partner  of  man  in  his  low  cstati' 
as  well  as  in  his  right  living,  woman  cannot  lift  In  i 
self  much  above  the  moral  atmosphere  which  1  e 
make-i  for  her.     Hence  it  is  that  had  it  been  possiljln 


ii'^ 


WIVES  AND  OTHER  WOMEN. 


for  women  to  have  followed  the  gold-seekers  of  1849, 
und  to  have  endured  the  hardships  of  the  California 
flush  times,  it  is  probable  that  as  a  whole,  and  to  a 
cortain  extent,  they  would  have  fallen  into  excesses 
tluiiisclvos,  instead  of  withholdin*;  their  companions 
oiitirely    from    them.       The    patience,   modesty,  and 
gentleness  of  the  better  sort  would  have  greatly  as- 
sisted the  sobriety  and  magnanimity  of  the  men,  but 
the  frivolity  and  jealousy  of  the  more  graceless  would 
liave    increased    their    intompcirance    and    brutality. 
Mucli  would    have  depended    on  the  view  taken  o\' 
the  question  by  the  women;  had  they  been  there,  and 
had  they  been  as  ready  to  sacrifice  all  for  gold;  had 
they  been  as  ambitious,  as  avaricious,  and  as  untram- 
cllcd  by  society  as  were  the  men;  the   intensity   of 
the    oriiies    would    have    been     increased    ten-fold. 
Hai)ly  she  was   never  called  to  undergo  tlie  ordeal. 
Het'oie  her  appearance  on  tlie  scent;  the  ebullition  had 
iiiateiially  subsided,  and  gold-diggers  began   to  think 
seriously  of   becoming  setth'rs,  and  of   making  this 
( t»untry  their  home.     Tlie  first  females  to  come — and 
these  were  early  enougli  u[)on  the  ground — were  the 
vicious    and    uncliaste,   wlio  o])enetl  and   presided  at 
hrilliant  saloons  and  houses  of   ill-fame,  and   sat  by 
the  gambler  and  assisted  him  in  raking  in  liis  gains 
and  paying  his  losses.      Flaunting  in  their  gay  attiie 
they  were  civilly  treated  by  the  men,  few  of  whom, 
(  veil  of  the  most  respectable  and  sedate,  disdained  to 
visit  their  houses.     On  the  steamer.s  coming  out,  the 
flail, fair  one  was  often  shown  all  tlie  delicate  consid- 
t  rations  due  to  the  fine  lady  of  innnaculate  morals; 
the  officers  of  the  ship  were  always  at  her  command, 
and  if  a  favorite  of  the  captain  she  was  assigned  a 
seat   at   his    table.     On  her   arrival,  nu'rchants    and 
Judges  were  among  her  associates.     Tiiere  was  little 
social  caste  or  moral  quality  in  those  days.     In  the 
ahsence  of  the  true  the  imitation  was  made  to  answer. 
And  so  men  went  wild  over  the  shadow  as  they  were 
doing  in  other  things;  the  folds  of  female  drapery 


m 


11 


m 


31' 


810 


SOCIETY. 


were  worshipped,  whether  they  held  a  woman  or  a 
skeleton.  Later,  families  were  brought  out,  virtui; 
and  domestic  honor  gained  the  ascendancy,  and  inde- 
cency slunk  away  and  hid  itself.  Then  tlie  maiden 
and  spinster  at  the  east  were  seized  witii  a  desire  ti> 
visit  their  aunt  or  sister  and  see  California.  Mu<  li 
to  their  surprise,  most  of  tlieni  found  Imshands  shortly 
after  their  arrival,  never  dreaming  of  such  a  possibil- 
ity. Enterprising  young  men  advertised  for  wives  ; 
but  the  demand  being  so  much  greater  than  the  sup- 
ply, this  method  was  not  the  most  successful.  Fre- 
quently, however,  through  the  medium  of  a  c<)mm»»ii 
friend,  likenesses  of  a  very  puny  man  in  California 
and  a  sorrowing  damsel  at  the  east  would  be  ex- 
changed, letters  would  follow,  and  then  the  wooir 
would  send  on  the  passage-money,  and  the  blushing 
fair  one  liasten  over  the  sea  to  her  adorer.  Old 
sweethearts  often  came  out  to  their  lovers,  who  nut 
and  married  them  on  the  steamer  deck. 

It  needs  nothing  fui-ther  to  prove  the  influence  of 
pure  woman  on  those  destined  to  receive  hai>piness  at 
her  hand  than  to  notice  the  behavior  of  one  who  is 
expecting  a  wife  or  sweetheart.  Some  timu  before  tlic 
steamer  is  due,  the  greasy  hat  ami  checked  sliirt  itiv 
thrown  aside,  and  whitewashed  of  his  past,  with  clean 
linen  and  shaven  chin,  the  happy  expectant  is  suddenly 
seized  with  a  desire  to  attend  churcli.  He  manifests, 
perhaps,  a  deep  interest  in  the  Sunday-school,  and 
wishes  to  become  a  teacher;  he  si'»hs  over  the  desr. 
crations  of  tiie  sabbath,  and  the  moral  depravity  of  tl  r 
country.  As  the  liour  for  the  steamer  to  arrive  drav  >. 
near,  he  becomes  nervous,  business  seems  irksome,  1  c 
looks  in  the  glass,  pulls  out  a  gray  hair  or  two,  bruslus 
his  new  clothes,  and  walks  up  to  the  t<ip  of  Telegrapli 
hill,  and  then  around  to  the  Mercliants'  Exchange 
Finally  the  steamer  is  telegraphed ;  he  rushes  down  to 
the  wharf,  piously  curses  the  general  slowness  of  things, 
springs  on  board  before  the  plank  is  put  out,  elbows 
his  way  through   the   crowd,  finds   her,  and   clasps 


W'lXKB  AND  OTHER    WOMEN. 


•11 


li>l 


her  to  his  regenerate  lieart     Gatukt  teiUam'mt   rirtns! 

The  men  wore  relatively  superior  to  the  women. 
As  a  ruUs  the  better  class  of  men  came  to  California, 
and  a  more  ordinary  class  of  women.  The  trip  to  this 
country  was  tedious,  dis*j;ustin|ij  to  a  sensitive, d«'licate 
woman;  there  was  no  society  here,  no  liouscliold  con 
venience.  It  was  a  very  hard  ]>lace  for  a  wo.ii;i:;. 
The  finer  specimens  of  woman) lood  could  find  hushiinds 
at  home;  there  was  no  necessity  for  them  to  undi'r^o 
tlie  h«>rror8  of  a  sea  voj'aj^e  to  California,  and  its  so- 
ciety afterward.  Nevertheless,  nmltitudes  of  nohic 
and  true  women  did  come;  Imt  it  nmst  he  admitted 
that  woman  here  in  early  times  was  not  the  intelli<;c'iit, 
refined,  and  sensible  heinuf  that  is  found  in  oldei-  and 
more  settled  ctjmnmnities.  In  California  ^ood  lius- 
hands  re!j;ularly  once  a  we«'k  rolled  up  their  sleeves, 
and  helped  wife  or  dau<.;hter  at  the  wash-tuh. 

To  live  in  purity,  woman  must  liave  the  sympathy 
of  those  around  her;  thousands  in  California  have 
fallen  simply  from  the  fact  that  men  had  no  faith  in 
them.  Othello  j)layed  before  a  Califoniian  audience 
ill  those  days  would  have  appealed  to  sentiments 
stran;j,e  to  the  hearts  of  many  of  the  hearers. 

Now  and  then  shi})s  from  France  and  elsewhere 
W(>uld  enter  the  })ort.,  with  conjpanies  of  respectable 
nirls  on  board,  who  would  be  immediately  caujjjht  up 
i)y  gamblers  and  saloon-keepers,  to  assi.st  at  tlie  tables 
or  dispense  drinks,  at  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  a 
month;  but  alas,  within  a  week  or  two,  des})ite  the 
vigilance  of  the  proprietor,  they  would  be  mated! 

Thus  we  see  that  there  were  true  women  and  there 
were  false  women  amontj  those  the  ^old-seekca's  left 
behind.  California  widows  they  were  called,  and  they 
were  to  be  found  in  every  rural  town,  every  hotel, 
Itoarding-house,  and  watering  place.  Faithful,  modest 
wives  and  mothers  some  of  them  were,  patiently 
waiting  the  end  of  this  sudden  and  strange  family  dis- 
rui)tion.  Round  them  were  mouths  to  feed  and  no  re- 
mittance  came ;  yet    never   doubting,  the    heart-en- 


,r 


812 


SOCIETY. 


shrined  image  was  crowned  with  fidelity  and  noble 
purpose.  And  thus,  through  years  of  anxious  toil 
they  held  to  oheir  hopes,  dreaming  at  night  horrible 
dreains  of  staring  gold-diggings  up  to  their  neck  in 
glittering  mud,  their  heads  wreathed  in  rattlesnakes, 
gnawed  by  wolves,  or  cut  off  for  foot-balls  by  the 
savages,  all  the  while  not  knowing  whether  their  hus- 
bands were  alive  or  not.  Their  existence  they  knew 
to  be  a  living  death,  yet  they  worked  away,  sewing 
for  the  tailor,  making  shirts,  giving  lessons  to  the 
neiijhbors'  children,  or  even  working  out. 

Tliere  wore  others,  however,  who  took  a  more  freo 
and  fanciful  view  of  their  situation,  and  determined  to 
enjoy  and  make  the  best  of  it.  These  lived  on  the 
cliarity  of  their  family  or  friends.  It  was  unsafe  to 
treat  them  with  coldness  or  neglect,  for  any  moment 
their  Imsband  miLilit  return  a  millionaire.  Younsj: 
and  beautiful  and  abandoned  1  True,  temporarily  and 
for  lier  own  benefit  abandoned  ;  but  wliy  sliould  lie 
think  more  of  gold  tlian  of  lier?  Tlie  first  taste  of 
wcullock  was  sweet;  by  it,  however,  the  a[)})etite  was 
only  wlietted,  not  gratified.  Former  and  unsuccess- 
ful lovers  weit!  now  remembered  and  smiled  ui)on,  and 
flirtation  was  found  a  pleasing  way  to  shorten  tin; 
liours  of  a  husband's  absence.  Some  returned  in  tinu; 
to  reclaim  their  wives  from  too  free  a  course  of  dissi- 
[)ation  ;  otliers  did  not. 

Du  Haillv  refers  to  the  Enolisli  custom  of  sendinu' 
young  wonu;n  out  to  India  to  get  married  tliere,  and 
says  tliat  tliis  custom  finds  its  counterpart  in  Califoi'- 
nia  in  a  curious  prospectus  in  whicli  an  American 
woman,  Mrs  Farnliam,  offered  to  organize,  on  a  lar-ge 
scale,  a  scheme  for  the  emigration  of  women  to  San 
Francisco.  Tlie  highest  respe'*tal>ility  was  required, 
and  no  emigrant  was  admitted  under  twenty-five  years 
of  age.  A  ship  was  chartered  especially  for  their  use, 
and  each  must  have  1200  francs.  Small  as  was  the 
amount  required,  the  enterprise  was  not  a  success  ;  but 
this  did  not  hinder  the  Californian  colonization  agents 


WIVES  AND  OTHER  WOMEN. 


313 


from  continuing  to  solicit  in  their  publications  the 
fair    sex    to    come.     "What  does   it   matter   about 


money,"  they  said,  "that  is  the  last  consideration  of  a 
gentleman  among  us."  "The  young  person  who  loves 
the  world  and  its  j)leasures,"  says  one  of  them,  "  will 
find  here  [)artners  ready  to  procure  her  every  enjoy- 
ment ;  while  she  who  is  inclined  to  domestic  comfort 
will  meet  quiet  and  steady  men  whose  doors  will  open 
to  welcome  her." 

Of  the  wrecked  hopes  of  men  in  California  many 
speak;  of  the  wasted  sympathy  of  woman,  of  her  vain 
yearning  for  tlie  promised  tenderness,  of  her  faith 
among  the  faitliless,  her  constancy  after  all  affection 
liad  been  withdrawn  from  her,  her  deep  sorrows  and 
sufferin<js  as  tlie  reward  of  a  devoted  life — none  at  all. 
What  are  the  blows  of  battle  to  hnn  who  engages  in 
the  conflict  in  comparison  to  the  helpless  agony  of  an 
eye-witness?  All  thhigs  will  a  man  give  for  his  life. 
Woman  gives  all  for  love;  deny  her  this  and  she  is 
dead  indued.  A  catalogue  of  Californian  infidelities, 
i»roken  vows,  brutal  treatment,  failure  to  provide  on 
the  part  of  him  who  took  from  a  happy  home  a  tender 
loving  heart  under  promise  of  eternal  love  and  pro- 
tection, would  make  one  blush  for  the  rjicc.  Men 
1  anie  hitlier  to  rough  it,  and  it  did  them  no  harm, 
hut  added  to  tlieir  manliness.  For  woman,  a  life  in 
California  in  early  times  was  [)robabl3'  one  of  tlie  most 
trying  positions  she  could  be  called  upt)n  to  endure, 
lier  lov(^,  her  j)ride,  her  health,  and  stieiigth,  lier 
honor  and  reliuion,  all  being  brought  under  t\iQ  crucial 
test.  If  she  could  drudge  by  day,  and  'vithstand  dis- 
comforts by  night,  and  live  under  it,  she  could 
iiuiiiage  to  get  ahmg;  but  with  want  and  unkindness 
tills  could  not  always  be.  Too  often  her  weary  life 
N\  as  soulless  duty,  and  death  the  only  recompense ; 
anfl  thus  was  her  gentle  spirit  crushed  and  made  ripe 
f'  »r  heaven. 

Content  is  godliness;  but  for  a  woman  to  have 
(outont,  she  must  have  something  beside  wealth ;  her 


B 

i 

1 

(■   ;; 

1 

:  1 

1 ,. , 

ft 

% 

1 

M 

■i: 

1 

ill 


314 


SOCIETY. 


heart  knows  no  alchemy  that  will  turn  it  into  gold. 
There  is  a  limit  beyond  which  mere  mental  culture 
and  unaspiring  industry,  be  they  never  so  earnest  and 
patient,  cannot  broaden  or  deepen  the  soul.  There 
must  be  a  little  sentiment,  a  little  feminine  ambition, 
a  little  womanly  excitement  other  than  that  which  a 
purely  money-making  husband  usually  gives ;  else  the 
tender  harmon}'^  of  the  heart  is  silenced,  and  the  deli- 
cate flower  witliers  and  droops.  California  was  no 
place  for  a  fastidious  woman.  She  who  could  wash 
best,  iron  best,  or  cook  best,  was  the  most  independ- 
ent, and  the  one  to  win  fortune,  and  even  happiness  if 
her  nature  admitted  it.  Nevertheless,  there  were 
many  whose  hearts  nothing  but  a  golden  key  could 
unlock. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  intemperance  in 
business  and  pleasure  should  result  in  social  discord. 
Tliougli  the  Yankee  element  predominated,  there  was 
in  society  at  the  first,  scarcely  what  could  be  called  a 
recognized  or  recognizable  nationality  ;  California  was 
then  but  a  geographical  expression — Vox  et  praiteiea 
nihil. 

The  guests  of  a  large  dinner  or  supper  party   were 
as  varied  in  character  and  qualities  of  mind  as  amouL;- 
the  rich  men  of  Rome,  who  had  acquired  wealth  l»y 
disreputable  means  in  the  days  of  Pliny,  though  tli 
San  Francisco  host  did  not  carry  the  distinction  s 
fiir  as  to  serve  up  dift'erent  qualities  of  food  and  win 
to  the  different  guests  as  in  Rome. 


10 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


FURTHER  ABNORMITIES. 


E  come  gli  stomei  ne  portan  I'al 
Nel  fredclo  tempo  a  shiera  lartta 


rga  e  piena; 


Cosi  quel  fiato  gli  spirit!  mali 
Di  qud,  ili  Id,  di  giii,  di  sii  gli  mena : 
Nulla  speranza  gli  conforta  mai ; 
Non  (ihe  di  posa,  ma  di  minor  punor. 


-Delt  Inferno. 


In  Luci;  iiV  l^ialogues  of  tho  Dead,  Charon  com- 
pels all  to  Soiip  before  entering  his  boat;  the  rich  man 
of  his  wealth,  the  M)in  man  of  his  foppery,  the  king  of 
liis  pride  and  kingship,  the  athlete  of  his  flesh,  the 
partrician  of  his  noble  birth  and  his  honors,  the  phil- 
( )Sopher  of  his  disputatiousness,  his  rhetorical  flourishes, 
his  antitheses  and  parallelisms,  and  all  his  wordy 
trumpery.  None  may  go  to  the  regions  of  tlu^  dead 
even  with  a  rag  of  clothes  on. 

Now  there  are  many  in  California  who  would  like 
to  take  with  them  there  all  they  liave,  who  are  trem- 
blingly fearful  oi  dy  hip:  fv\ci  leaving  the  wealth  they 
love  so  much  ;  who  cfttuu.t,  bear  the  thought  of  i)arting 
with  it  even  aftei  d^  atb  ;  iswA  so  tliey  leave  it  to  be  dis- 
sipated by  lawyers  unci  oxueu.tors,  instead  of  devoting 
it  themselves  to  some  ime  il  »  id  noble  purpose.  Many 
large  estates  have,  in  this  way  been  scattered,  which 
doubtless  wrunix  the  souls  (  f  their  former  owners  as 
they  looked  up,  watchful  and  wistful,  at  the  hapless 
flow  of  their  dear  ducats.  After  all,  there  is  a  not 
wholly  unjust  law  of  compensation  applicable  to  savage 
and  civilized,  poor  rnd  rich,  the  past  and  the  present; 
cen  the  most  tori-  "^vted  in  life  may  find  relief  in  the 

(  818) 


>  I 


If 


M'' 


816 


FURTHER  ABNORMITIES. 


sweets  of  death.  Let  him  beware  who  takes  to  him- 
self more  than  his  share  of  good,  for  upon  him  the 
gods  will  lay  a  corresponding  quota  of  evil. 

To  a  gold-laden  ass  all  doors  open.  But  the  wealth- 
winners  of  California  were  not  asses,  whatever  may 
prove  to  be  some  of  their  descendants,  who  like  an 
oyster  have  nmch  mouth  but  no  head.  Their  lives, 
it  is  true,  were  too  much  like  the  life  of  an  ass,  enticed 
to  drag  its  load  by  tlie  fodder  held  before  it,  and  which 
sees  nothing  but  the  fodder.  They  worked  for  money 
as  if  they  had  a  wolf  in  their  stomachs.  Some  were 
made  wealtliy  by  their  avarice ;  others  were  made  ava- 
ricious by  their  wealth.  There  vere  men  among  them 
of  whom  it  might  be  said,  as  it  /  "  Jeremy  Taylor, 
"His  very  dust  is  gold";  there  \>  others  of  whom 
we  are  compelled  to  admit,  *'Hite>  very  gold  is 
dust." 

Wealtli  does  not  accumulate  in  the  liands  of  a  com- 
munity by  accident,  nor  by  divhie  inter[)ositi()n,  neitlier 
docs  literature,  art,  nor  science.  Because  men  will 
so  and  so  is  not  a  sufficient  reason  for  their  doings; 
all  human  actions  aie  the  result  of  cause,  and  individ- 
uals will  to  act,  or  they  act,  because  of  that  cause.  It 
was  the  aj)pli('ati().i  of  the  principles  of  political  economy 
to  social  ])liilosopliy,  though  carried  not  quite  so  far 
as  at  the  present  time,  that  made  the  Wealth  of  Nutmis 
of  Adam  Smith  so  long  the  popular  and  powerful  ex- 
[)onont  of  economic  principles. 

j^]arly  in  the  sixties  there  arose  a  race  of  bonanza 
kings  with  silver  souls;  silver  were  their  friends,  and 
silver  were  their  enemies,  for  to  be  worthy  their  con- 
sideration at  all,  they  nmst  be  of  silver;  silver  was 
their  meat  and  meditations;  their  doors  were  barred 
with  silver,  and  silver  paved  their  way  to  the  final 
abode  of  souls.  There  was  a  whiskey  demon  and  a 
silver  demon,  and  these  two  demons  fought;  the  silver 
denum  caught  the  whiskey  demon,  but  the  whiskey 
demon  gnawed  out  the  vitals  of  the  silver  demon. 
Great  is  whiskey,  and  great  is  silver,  but  the  greatest 


MORAL  STANDARD  OF  THE  TIMES. 


317 


of  all  is  the  bonanza  king  who  gives  his  best  friend 
points  that  direct  liim  the  shortest  road  to  ruin. 

Then  spawned  speculation,  all  kinds  of  gambling 
being  in  vogue  in  saintly  circles  and  rabble  congrega- 
tions— all  except  the  honest  old-time  games,  such  as 
faro,  monte,  and  poker.  And  there  were  established 
among  the  sand-hills  society  shops,  where  the  undying 
reign  of  fashion  set  in;  and  politician  shops,  wliere 
fat  offices  were  sold ;  and  peculation  shops,  where 
office-holders  might  turn  an  honest  i)eiiny,  and  pay 
the  purchase-money  for  their  place. 

There  were  some  good  fellows  among  the  latter-day 
rich  men,  but  not  many.  They  were  generally  of  tlie 
Gripus  order ;  some  hard  drinkers  nnong  them,  who 
when  in  their  cups  did  not  always  treat  witli  distin- 
guished courtesy  their  guests  ;  who  were  well  enough 
satisfied  to  let  Lucullus  suj)  with  Lucullus.  Avarice 
gnawed  at  their  vitals  like  the  parasite  in  the  stomach 
of  a  shark.  Banks  sprang  up  whose  caterpillar  was  a 
steamboat  or  a  grog-shop,  and  dignified  dames  sat  in 
stately  parlors  whose  grub  was  the  laundry.  These 
later  overwhelmingly  rich  ones  were  quite  difierent 
from  the  free-hearted  and  free-handed  of  the  tlusli 
times,  who,  like  Ali  Baba,  would  not  take  the  time 
to  count  their  gold,  but  measured  it.  The  enormous 
wealth  of  the  former  seemed  rather  to  create  a  hunger 
for  more  money,  with  a  gnawing  appetite  ever  in- 
creased by  what  it  fed  on.  Then  perhaps  they  would 
grow  covetous  of  fame  and  higher  social  standing,  and 
so  flit  about,  hither  and  thither,  restless,  and  perhaps 
reckless,  in  search  of  something  which,  when  found, 
only  added  to  their  unappeased  desires. 


5 


Along  the  pathway  of  nations,  savage  and  civilized, 
we  see  every  community  with  its  moral  ideal  which 
acts  as  an  individual  cohesive  force  holding  society  to- 
gether. It  seems  of  less  importance  what  the  ideal  is 
than  that  there  should  be  one.  Theft  was  the  moral 
standard  round  which  revolved  all  virtue  in  the  mind 


s 


k  If 


u 


318 


FURTHER  ABNORMITIES, 


I 


of  an  Apache,  while  the  Comanche  would  probably 
have  placed  murder  first.  In  ancient  Greece,  far 
above  female  chastity  was  patriotism,  while  with  us 
the  relative  importance  of  the  two  virtues  is  reversed. 
Spain's  strongest  social  bond  was  loyalty,  that  and 
its  ill-favored  companion,  religious  bigotry.  In  the 
days  of  pious  vigils,  and  self-crucifixions,  humility  was 
at  a  premium,  while  later  boldness  and  bravery  were 
the  highest  virtues. 

Now,  although  tlie  chief  object  of  every  one  pres- 
ent was  money,  wealth  was  not  their  highest  admira- 
tion. Gold  was  plentiful.  All  started  on  an  equality. 
If  in  the  scramble  some  filled  their  pockets  while 
others  did  not,  the  former  were  lucky,  and  that  was 
all.  All  of  them  were  still  men,  good  me!i  or  bad 
men  as  they  were  before,  and  not  one  whit  changed ; 
nor  were  they  in  the  eyes  of  any  there  present  special 
objects  of  adoration.  Temperance,  chastity,  piety, 
none  of  these  assuredly  were  the  moral  ideal  of  the 
time,  neither  was  patriotism,  asceticism,  nor  any  of 
the  soft  amenities  of  life. 

What  then  was  that  paramount  virtue  worthy  the 
devout  admiration  of  tJiis  august  rabble?  It  was  a 
(juality  for  which  I  find  no  single  exact  expression  in 
any  vocabulary.  It  was  a  new  quality  for  worshipful 
jmrposes,  and  made  uj)  of  several  comnum  qualities. 
Take  from  extravagance  its  love  of  display,  from 
})rodigalitv  the  element  which  tends  to  the  destruction 
of  its  possessor,  and  from  munificence  every  appear- 
ance of  charity,  and  we  approacli  the  opposite  of 
what  is  connnonly  called  meamiess,  which  was  the 
exact  opposite  of  the  moral  ideal  of  the  time.  Gen- 
orosity,  open-handedness,  large-heartedness,  here  was 
the  ideal;  and  if  it  ran  its  ])ossessor  upon  tlie  slioal.'; 
of  bankruptcy,  or  into  a  drunkard's  grave,  it  was 
lamentable,  but  no  such  black  and  accursed  evil  as 
parsimoniousness,  stinginess,  niggardliness,  or  in  a 
word,  meanness.  There  was  nothing  in  the  world  so 
mean  as  meamiess.     If  a  debtor  was  unfortunate  and 


CLASSIC  OATHS. 


m 


could  not  pay;  all  right,  better  luck  next  time.  It' 
he  was  thoroughly  competent  and  honest  lie  could  ob- 
tain credit  anywhere,  twice  as  much  as  before.  But 
if  he  was  a  mean  man,  if  he  had  resorted  to  any 
trick,  or  subterfuge,  or  had  attempted  to  cover  any 
cunning;  or  if  he  was  low  in  liis  ideas,  grovelling  in 
liis  tastes,  close-fisted  and  contemptible,  a  mangy  dog 
were  better  than  he. 


As  in  other  abnormal  accom})lishments,  so  in  pro- 
fanity, the  miner  aimed  at  tlie  liighest  excelkincc. 
The  ordinary  insipid  swearing  lie  scorned,  and  so  hi- 
vcnted  new  terms  of  blasphemy  befitting  his  more 
exalted  ideas.  Since  the  days  i)f  Cain  God  was  never 
so  cursed.  Profanity  was  adopted  as  a  fine  art,  and 
practised  with  the  most  refined  delicacy  and  tact. 
From  morning  till  ni<jht  men  mouthed  their  oaths 
and  then  swallowed  them.  The  lanyjuaj^e  of  bias- 
pliemy,  with  its  innumerable  dialects  and  idioms,  de- 
veloped into  a  new  tongue,  which  displayed  great 
depth  and  variety,  with  delicate  shades  befitting  tint 
idiosyncrasies  'jf  individual  swearers.  Tlie  character 
of  the  man  was  nowhere  more  clearly  defined  than 
ill  the  quality  and  quantity  of  his  oaths;  one  who 
( (»uld  not  or  would  not  swear  was  scarcely  a  man  vt 
all,  and  but  little  better  than  a  })ious  hypocrite  or  a 
woman.  Among  the  most  cultivated  blasphemers, 
who  made  swearhig  a  study,  euphony  was  first  of  all 
regarded;  and  this  was  etf'ected  by  alliteration,  an 
adjiTtive  followed  by  a  suljstantive  both  beginning 
with  till'  same  letter.  The  style  though  studietl 
might  be  of  the  sinq)le  or  tloritl  cast,  but  it  was  sure  to 
he  l)oth  original  and  etfectivc. 

Xot  that  all  men  swore,  or  that  all  the  swearing  of 
tiie  world  during  this  epoch  was  tlone  here;  I  only 
<  laiiii  that  it  was  here  original,  if  not  abnormal  and 
arti.^tic. 

Oaths  have  their  nuK)d  and  tense  and  number,  their 
individuality,  and  nationality.     There  is  the  sportive 


'  I 


m 

m 


FURTHER  ABNORMITIES. 


oath,  light  airy  and  graceful  as  the  limbs  of  the  youth- 
ful dandy;  the  earnest  oath;  the  angry  oatli ;  tlu; 
frank  and  hearty  oath,  indicative  of  honesty  and  g<j()d 
humor;  the  oath  of  success,  in  which  the  choictst 
gems  of  irreverence  are  thrown  off  like  soap-bubbk-s ; 
,  oaths  of  time,  place,  and  occupation;  the  oath  of  com- 
mon conversation,  the  nmrderous  cut-throat  oath,  the 
business  oath,  the  oath  of  greeting,  swearing  when  not 
knowing  what  else  to  say;  the  midnight  guttural 
drunken  oath,  the  clear  ringing  gladsome  oath  <it" 
morning,  the  orthodox  oath,  oaths  that  are  not  oaths, 
reluctantly  coming  from  bashful  inexperienced  li[)s ; 
tlie  scientific  doubly-refined  oath  of  the  gambhu- ; 
oaths  of  nations,  the  good  old  round  Englisli  oatli, 
racy  and  mouth-filling  as  even  Hotspur  should  wisli, 
the  rolling  sacre  of  the  Frenchman,  the  infernal  melody 
of  the  Spaniard,  the  whining  Yankee  cussings,  tlu; 
spluttering  Dutchman's  swearings,  and  the  imitative^ 
intonations  of  the  Celestial.  The  nmleteer  relievccl 
his  burdened  bosom  in  outpourings  that  seldom  failtd 
to  convict  the  most  impenitent  animal.  Approaching 
the  unfortunate  mule  that  had  fallen  und(>r  a  heavy 
load,  or  had  mired  in  the  mud,  its  driver  would  pi)ur 
forth  sucli  a  stream  of  profanity  intc)  its  ear  as  would 
make  the  dumb  beast  tremble  in  everv  fibre,  and 
glance  around  with  terrified  eye  as  if  expecting  the 
earth  to  open,  or  the  invoked  deity  to  smite  to  dust 
the  author  of  such  fiendish  imprecations.  Under  sucli 
exhortations,  native  stubbornness  gave  way,  and  tlic 
virtue  of  profanity  was  clearly  vindicated  hi  the  t^yrs 
of  the  driver. 

Indeed,  notwithstanding  all  that  has  been  said  n - 
garding  vice  and  crime,  I  am  not  so  sure  that  Califor- 
nia in  her  wickedest  days  was  worse  than  the  pseudo 
ligliteous  states  of  the  east  and  Europe.  In  the 
shameful  pleasantries  of  the  times  there  were  counttn- 
balancing  virtues,  which  went  far  toward  preserviii;^ 
the  moral  equilibrium.  If  iniquity  here  was  more 
unblushing,  there  was  less  of  cant  and  hypocrisy,  less 


IMPORTED  WICKEDNESS. 


321 


of  covert  deceit  and  pliarisaical  humbug,  less  of  that 
wliite  lying  and  envy  and  jealousy  which  constitutes 
the  pabulum  of  older  religious  and  fashionable  societies. 
Loyalty  to  an  honest  and  enlightened  ideal  is,  after 
all,  the  truest  morality.  Ill-fitting  forms,  provoking 
dissimulation  and  falseness,  keep  the  social  pool  always 
turbid.  Experience  tells  us  that  wickedness,  in  greater 
or  less  degree,  is  inseparable  from  human  nature ;  to 
hide  away  the  evil,  and  cover  our  wrong-doing  with 
placid  smiles,  polished  bearing,  or  sanctimonious  coun- 
tenance, may  not  be,  after  all,  the  surest  way  of 
eradicating  it. 

A  world  of  ideas  was  here  flung  into  a  world  of 
practise,  and  until  right  was  ready,  force  nmst  rule. 

Like  the  returning  heroes  of  the  Trojan  war,  every 
leader  has  his  history  and  historian,  each  one  of  whom 
sought  to  outdo  the  rest  in  their  relation  of  daring 
deeds  and  marvelous  tales,  all  leaving  far  behuid  in 
this  respect  -^schylus  and  Agamemnon. 

Once  when  evening  had  stretched  the  shadows 
across  the  street,  I  saw  a  man  of  middle  age,  robust 
and  proud,  pouring  into  the  bosom  of  a  friend  a  tor- 
rent of  sorrow,  accompanied  by  liashful,  agonizing 
tears.  The  cause  of  his  grief  I  know  not.  It  may 
have  been  the  destruction  of  his  hopes  by  fire,  for  on 
every  side  were  the  smoking  cinders  of  a  recent  con- 
flagration which  had  laid  hundreds  low,  and  caused 
many  a  strong  man  to  weep  internally  if  not  in  actual 
tears.  And  who  shall  blame  them,  brave  men  though 
they  be,  for  this  is  the  third,  or  fourth,  or  fifth  ruin 
with  some  of  them,  the  third  or  fifth  time  fate  has 
S(!nt  them  forth  with  only  their  head  and  two  hands 
to  begin  life  anew.  I  did  not  stop  to  listen,  gaze,  or 
question.  With  grief  such  as  this,  no  stranger  inter- 
meddleth. 

Yet  to  the  disappointed  man  of  toil  I  would  say, 
yield  thee  not.  Yet  another  blow,  and  another,  and 
another.  As  long  as  thou  canst  strike,  I  care  not 
for  the  result,  thou  art  not  overcome.     As  long  as 

Cal.  Int  Poc.    21 


,:  Wi 


322 


FURTHER  ABNORMITIES. 


roU)nL!,ti  pulsates  in  the  heart  it  matters  not  the  outer 
conditions  or  success,  the  man  hves  and  nothing  can 
queuf'li  his  energies.  The  strokes  fall  re»jfularly  and 
to  the  purpose.  Better  to  sow  and  never  reap  than 
not  to  sow,  for  in  sowing  lies  the  spirit  of  increu.se 
more  tlian  in  reaping.  He  who  can  always  work,  I 
care  not  ft)r  the  result,  is  no  failure.  Work  itself  is 
life,  progress,  success.  But  alas  I  when  courage  casts 
off  til  J  man,  and  coward  fear  enters  in  and  saps  activ- 
ity, unstrings  the  nerves  and  weakens  the  mind  and 
body,  uncaging  hope  and  relaxing  the  tendons  that 
grapple  difticulties,  the  poor  wretch,  though  he  live 
and  oat  and  sleep  happily  as  ever,  is  dead  already. 
Work,  work  I  say;  never  mind  what  conies  of  it, 
work. 

For  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  earth  and  heaven. 
For  so  are  we  made.  Like  the  Wanderin<jc  Jew,  we 
cannot  stop.  Ever  and  onward  we  nmst  march,  march, 
march.  There  is  no  rest  but  tlie  rest  of  rotting,  and 
even  in  this  tliere  is  evermore  work,  work.  Hence,  a 
ni  in  having  lost  his  hold  and  become  workkss,  is  neither 
of  this  world  nor  of  the  next,  but  floats  in  a  purga- 
torial abeyance  worse  than  death. 

Weep,  my  good  friend,  if  you  will,  there  is  nothing 
unmanly  in  tears.  Despair  not  of  him  from  whosi; 
sensitive  or  passionate  nature  adversity  wrings  tears : 
especially  if  they  be  tinctured  by  wrath  or  bitterness; 
but  despair  rather  of  him  who  with  pointless  languisli- 
nient  lives  usque  ad  nauseam.  Well  directed  effort 
cannot  always  fail;  but  if  it  so  appears,  still  let  an- 
ticipation wipe  the  brow  of  labor  and  triumphal  visions 
sweeten  healthful  sleep. 

Among  many  both  of  citv  and  country  there  was 
no  fixed  standard  of  morality.  Each  had  been  edu- 
cated in  a  different  school,  that  is  to  say,  those  of  tlu  in 
who  had  been  taught  morality  at  all ;  each  held  a  dilf- 
erent  tradition,  or  no  tradition;  religion  was  a  father's 
rod  or  a  mother's  tears,  and  law  and  justice  were  in 
their  own  right  arm,  so    that,  as  with  the  Sophists 


BUSINESS  AND  MORAL  COURAGE. 


3i»3 


of  Plato's  tiino,  plcnsiiro  and  pain,  profit  ami  loss,  were 
about  the  only  criLcTia  ot  rijj-lit  and  wrony;  and  uold 
and  brass  wore  iIm.  only  criteria  of  respoctabiHty. 
That  unblushiiiiT  eii<.'rgy  which  }»ushes  men  in  wliere 
angels  fear  to  tread,  which  so  obscures  the  senses  that 
(ino  can  scarcely  see  one's  own  failures,  seemed  at 
once,  and  almost  unconsciously,  to  bear  a  man  onward 
upon  the  topmost  wave.  If  he  fell  he  had  no  thought 
ot  anything  but  io  get  on  his  feet  again,  surely  he 
would  not  lie  and  cry  about  it  like  a  child. 

"Many  of  my  friends  have  left  me,"  says  the  walt- 
iii':;.  working  one,  "have  left  me  for  the  states.  Of 
latt  ,  Sam  Punches  and  others.  And  as  they  left  they 
pictured  me  of  what  they  should  see  at  home;  of  their 
coniini;  friendly  meetinL'"s,  ioys,  and  wet-eved  ijreet- 
iiigs,  such  as  my  heart  had  often  told  me  should  be 
mine  the  day  I  might  again  behold  the  lustrous  scenes 
of  vouth.  And  I  wonder  if  the  «>rass  will  look  as 
•  aven,  and  tlie  sun  as  l)nghtlv  shine  as  fanev  now  pic- 
tures.  Shall  I  see  the  faces  that  rise  before  me  now, 
tlie  forms  and  features  photogra})hed  in  my  memory 
years  aijo,  or  will  tliey  seem  stran*'e  to  me.  wry  and 
wii'dvled  \  Will  I  have  merry  meetings  and  heart- 
felt greetings,  I  wonder?  Days  are  dead  and  many 
dark  nights  have  sunk  into  the  tomb  since  I  bade  my 
native  hills  good-b\-e.  I  see  them  as  I  left  them,  and 
tliev  are  waving  me  adieus:  I  wonder  if  they  all  have 
changed,  if  I  have  changed.  My  beard  has  grown 
stul)ble,  I  grant,  silver-gray  mingles  with  the  brown 
of  my  hair,  yet  my  heart  has  not  lost  its  buoyancy,  nor 
my  eye  its  brightness ;  I  can  still  laugh  and  love 
though  I  have  felt  ^vhat  sorrow  is. 

"Home  shall  see  me  one  day,  so  the  inward  wl.is- 
per  strikes  my  ear,  and  a  mother's  kiss  shall  call  back 
childhood.  Old  of  head  but  young  of  heart,  a  motli- 
ers's  kiss  shall  scatter  the  silver  ijrav  hair  and  smooth 
and  soften  the  fixed  features;  in  a  sister's  embrace 
years  of  wanderings  are  lost.     Then  how  soon  my  ab- 


ilrt 


JUl 


FURTIIEIl  ABNORMITIES 


sencc  and  return  both  alike  will  be  forgotten.  Some- 
thini:^  tells  me  I  shall  see  thein. 

•'  Will  Barry  I  shall  see  ;  mv  old  playmate,  school- 
mate, Will,  fidus  Achates.  Will  is  married  now,  and 
he  will  talk  to  me  of  wife  and  little  ones,  as  he  would 
talk  of  an  extra  head,  or  arm,  or  leg.  Wife  and  little 
ones  1  I  wonder  if  Will  has  changed.  Merry  meet- 
ings and  suppers;  bright  eyes,  winning  smiles,  and 
soul-swelling  nmsic  I  Shall  I  meet  one  nearer  still 
than  sister  or  mother;  one  who,  laying  her  head 
upon  my  breast,  and  tightly  clasping  me  around  shall 
make  me  swear  to  wander  no  more;  who  breathuig  rest 
into  my  soul,  opens  my  eyes  to  beauties  hitherto  ob- 
scure, ojiens  to  my  longings  a  passage  outward  and  up- 
ward, and  who  fills  the  measure  of  my  desires  with 
her  own  satisfying  self — lives  she,  and  for  me  ? " 

Millions  and  millions  of  such  floating  thoughts 
hover  ever  round  the  brain  of  the  waiting,  working 
one,  nerving  the  arm  and  sustaining  existence  itself, 
filling  the  dark  shaft  with  bright  images,  furnishing 
stuft'  for  dreams. 


I  never  thought  I  should  fancy  the  occupation  of  a 
pawn-broker,  and  yet  I  cannot  see  what  there  is  about 
it  that  should  necessarily  render  shop  and  shopman  so 
obnoxious  to  Christian  nostrils.  It  is  said  that  their 
ox-eyed,  hook  -  nosed  and  ugly-mouthed  proprietors 
make  their  money  through  the  necessities  of  the  un- 
fortunate and  poor.  Granted,  but  who  does  not? 
Would  you  on  that  account  close  the  comer  grocery 
and  the  bakery  ?  Does  not  your  banker  acquire  a 
pledge  from  his  wearisome  client  before  he  deals  out 
to  him  the  ducats?  Curse  them  for  grinding  the 
poor  I  Curse,  then,  all  the  world.  Curse  fathers  for 
feeding  their  children  bread  earned  by  the  sweat  of 
hirelhigs ;  curse  mothers  for  pointing  the  finger  of 
pcorn  to  those  pitiable  wretches  whose  very  existence 
is  contamination  to  their  untempted  daughters.  Is 
your  purse-proud  capitalist   who  would  see  a  poor 


THE  rAAN'NBUOKER. 


3*20 


Wfu.  starve  before  he  would  lend  her  five  dollars  on 
a  ilead  Imsband'a  ring,  any  more  the  friend  of  hunum- 
ity  than  the  grindin|jj  Jew  who  wt>uld  ?  So  it  is  with 
many  of  our  popular  prejudices — sift  them  and  you 
fiml  no  substance. 

Oh,  my  pro[)hetic  soul,  mine  uncle  1  Many  a  proud 
head  has  bowed  beneath  the  symbolic  balls  for  the 
first  time  in  California.  Could  the  pled^jes  at  tlie 
slio])s  of  San  Francisco  pawn-brokers  rise  up  and 
si)eak,  what  tales  they  would  tell ;  of  what  sijjfhs,  and 
poverty,  and  struggles,  and  despair  they  would  speak  ; 
of  what  broken  vows,  of  what  heartless  cruelty,  of 
wiiat  devoted  love  and  self-sacrifice,  of  what  agoniz- 
iiig  deaths  1  What  touching,  silent  el(H|uence  in  tiiose 
worn  and  faded  articles,  many  of  them  once  pledges  of 
affection,  now  pledges  of  necessity  1 

Nothing  smacked  more  strongly  of  the  topsy  turvy 
times,  or  was  more  characteristicallv  Californian  than 
tliesc  pawn-brokers'  shops.  Ten  per  cont.  a  nioiitli; 
that  was  the  rate  charged,  and  the  interest  for  one 
day  was  the  same  as  for  one  month.  Quick  turns 
wen'  likewise  the  rule,  for  the  sharp-eyed  Shylock  re- 
ceived the  riglit  to  sell  pledges  unredeemed  at  the  ex- 
piration of  one  month.  What  a  contrast  there  must 
be  between  pawn-brokers'  pledges  of  different  parts 
of  the  world.  Here  you  see,  scattered  about  the 
jvawn-broker's  boudoir,  the  materials  for  a  first-class 
ouiiosity  shop;  guns,  revolvers,  bowie-knives,  swords, 
dress  coats,  camel-hair  shawls,  clocks,  watches,  dia- 
monds, meerschaum  pipes,  opera-glasses,  books,  gold- 
headed  canes,  flounced  dresses,  pictuies,  and  every 
conceivable  article  of  value  which  is  not  too  cumber- 
some or  difficult  of  transportation.  This  temple  of 
distress,  the  necessitous  of  overs'^  class  and  caste  ap- 
proach :  the  unsuccessful  adventurer,  the  ruined  game- 
ster, the  bloated  victim  of  dissipation.  See  that  pale, 
broken-hearted  widow  approach  with  tremulous  step. 
She  is  a  novice  still  proud  in  her  poverty.  With  un- 
easy glances  at  the  passing  witnesses  of  her  disgrace, 


m 


i 


326 


FURTHER  ABNORMITIES. 


she  enters  a  dimly-lighted,  ill-ventilated  room,  steps 
up  tt)  an  opening  in  the  barrier  of  separation  between 
customer  and  proprietor,  similar  to  a  post-office  win- 
dow, and  timidly  lays  upon  the  board  perhaps  a  dia- 
mond ring,  relic  of  happy  days  dejmrted.  A  dark 
visaged  man  in  greasy  coat  and  faded  smoking-cap 
froin  within  seizes  the  jewel,  and  through  glasses  of 
the  greatest  magnifying  power,  critically  scrutinizes 
it  as  if  to  read  the  sparkles  of  its  soul. 

"How  much?"  at  length  he  asks,  peering  at  his 
customer  over  the  top  of  his  spectacles. 

"Thirty  dollars,"  replies  the  applicant,  who  wishes 
to  borrow  as  little  as  possible  so  that  the  jewel  may 
be  the  more  easily  redeemed. 

"  No  more  than  twenty,"  the  man  in  spectacles 
briefly  responds.  The  ring  had  cost  a  hundred  dol- 
lars years  ago  when  diamonds  were  not  worth  so 
much  as  now.  But  taking  the  coin  and  certificate 
which  the  mati  of  money  as  a  matter  of  course  pre- 
sents, the  victim  of  necessity  departs,  thinking  "when 
and  how  shall  I  redeem  it?" 

Lines  of  travel  were  soon  established  and  every 
facility  offered  the  impatient  gold-seekers  for  getting 
from  place  to  place.  Good  wagon  roads  were  marked 
out  through  the  valleys  which  in  the  summer  an- 
swered every  purpose,  but  after  the  winter  rains  had 
thoroughly  saturated  the  parched  and  porous  soil  a 
loaded  wagon  once  off  the  beaten  track  sank  to  the 
hubs  and  must  be  unloaded  and  pried  out  as  from  a 
marsh.  Through  the  town  the  stage  thundered  out 
into  the  valley,  over  tlie  broad  plain,  up  the  ascent, 
through  rugged  and  sometimes  more  than  suspicions 
defiles,  then  down  by  gradual  and  winding  descent  to 
where  the  half-stripped  miners  planted  their  heavy 
blows  through  the  hot  livelong  day.  The  river  steam- 
boats entered  into  the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  now 
and  then  there  was  strong  opposition.  Then  might 
be  heard  opposition  runners  at  the  wharf  crying  "One 
dollar  to  Sacramento  by  the  magnificent  steamer 


STEAMBOATS  AND  STAGES. 


327 


Senator,  the  finest  and  fastest  boat  that  ever  turned  a 
wheel  from  Long  Wharf,  sound  and  strong,  with  nnr- 
rors,  mahogany  doors  and  silver  hinges — one  dollar  to- 
night— feather  pillows  and  curled  hair-mattresses, 
eight  young-lady  passengers  and  not  a  nigger  from 
stem  to  stern  of  her.  All  the  dead  languages  spoken, 
and  all  for  one  dollar  1"  "Low  fares  and  no  monop- 
oly," yells  another,  "no  more  rotten  bottoms  and 
bursting  boilers,  and  beds  with  bushels  of  bed-bugs 
and  fleas  1 " 

In  August  1853  the  fare  to  Sacramento  by  boat 
was  one  dollar  in  the  cabin  and  twenty-five  cents  on 
deck.  Opposition  steamers  flaunted  their  banners,  and 
Long  Wharf  presented  a  stirring  scene.  He  was  a 
luckless  fellow  who  fell  unprepared  into  the  hands  of 
the  runners.  Amidst  cries  of  "no  imposition  prac- 
tised by  this  line,"  and  cursings  on  a\\  sides  of  combi- 
nations, monopolies,  and  oppositions,  he  is  fenced  in 
by  the  philistines,  and  nolens  volens  he  is  hurried  to 
the  boat,  whose  representatives  are  for  the  moment  in 
the  ascendant. 

At  the  various  landings  along  the  rivers,  stages 
take  up  the  passengers  and  whirl  them  on  toward  the 
mines,  and  when  wheeled  vehicles  are  sto})i)ed  by  the 
rugged  barriers  of  the  Sierra  foothills,  saddle  nmles 
stand  ready  to  hurry  them  on  to  their  destination. 

Out  of  every  necessity  is  born  a  new  phase  of 
diaracter;  and  the  Californian  stage-driver — the 
whip  par  excellence  of  early  times,  now  unhappily  no 
more — is  not  the  least  origmal  and  fantastic — of  the 
great  conglomeration.  Culled  from  the  scum,  with  a 
swaggering  air,  a  rough  manner,  and  uncleanly  mouth, 
lie  is  not  without  heart,  conscience,  and  deportment. 
He  is  a  lord  in  his  way,  the  captain  of  his  craft,  the 
fear  of  timid  passengers,  the  admiration  of  stable- 
boys,  and  the  trusty  agent  of  his  employer.  He 
prides  himself  in  being  an  expert  in  his  profession, 
to  which  all  other  occupations  and  professions  are 
subordinate;  all  must  sooner  or  later  fall  hito  his 


FURTHER  ABNORMITIES. 


;il 


hands,  for  to  this  end  towns  are  built  and  men  and 
women  migrate  hither  and  thither. 

An  offer  of  money  as  a  gratuity  would  be  received 
as  a  deadly  insult,  but  he  will  graciously  accept  a 
cigar  or  a  glass  of  liquor.  Stage  coaches  are  levelers 
of  distinction,  and  the  judge  or  governor  on  the  box 
beside  the  driver  is  his  equal,  if  not  indeed  his  in- 
ferior; for  can  a  man  of  law  or  politics  drive  a  stage  ? 
He  who  travels  by  steamer  or  stage  must  resign  his 
liberty,  and  place  his  destiny  for  the  time  being  in 
the  hands  of  the  august  commander.  Meeting  on 
the  road,  the  friendly  drivers  halt  and  hold  a  confer- 
ence, mingling  with  their  classic  speech  the  most 
refined  blasphemy.  In  places  of  danger  the  stage- 
driver  manages  his  team  with  the  coolest  dexterity ; 
but  he  will  not  go  one  inch  out  of  his  way  to  save 
his  passengers  from  the  fear  of  perdition.  Sometimes 
he  sees  safety  in  speed,  and  performs  wonderful  feats 
in  circumventing  obstacles ;  again  he  trims  his  boat 
or  empties  out  the  cargo. 

Two  styles  of  vehicles  were  used,  the  Concord  coach, 
carrying  nine  inside  and  two  or  five  beside  the  driver 
outside,  and  the  mud-wagon,  of  larger  or  smaller  di- 
mensions according  to  roads  and  traffic.  The  best 
horses,  four  or  six  in  number,  were  employed,  the  stage 
proprietor,  like  all  others  of  quick  perception  and  ac- 
tive energy  who  came  to  California,  soon  learning 
wherein  lies  true  economy.  Over  a  good  road,  ten 
miles  an  hour  were  readily  made. 

Before  the  hotel  and  stage  office  in  Sacramento,  at 
dawn  of  day,  were  drawn  up  side  by  side,  all  fronting 
one  way,  twenty  or  thirty  coaches,  each  behind  ft)ur 
restive  horses,  at  whose  heads  stood  grooms  hoklini,' 
them  in  check.  Men  of  every  nation  and  degree,  eacli 
with  a  roll  of  blankets,  and  many  carrying  a  rifle,  elbow 
their  way  from  a  candle-light  breakfast  through  a  labyr- 
inth of  horses  and  wheels,  with  lighted  pipes  and  bottles 
of  rum,  seeking  their  respective  coaches.  The  driver 
mounts  his  seat,  casts  a  critical  glance  over  the  rig- 


STAGING  EPISODES. 


ging,  swears  at  the  horses,  politely  directs  his  atten- 
dant to  make  some  change,  gathers  up  the  "  ribbons," 
and  turning  half  round  bellows  to  the  crowd,  "Ail 
aboard  for  Brighton,  Mormon  Island,  Mud  Springs, 
and  Hangtown  I "  In  times  of  opposition,  the  confu- 
sion was  increased  ten-fold  by  runners.  "  Now,  gen- 
tlemen, this  way  for  Nevada;  take  you  there  in  five 
hours;  last  chance  to-day  for  Coloma  and  George- 
town, Auburn  and  Yankee  Jim's  I'' 

Soon  all  is  ready,  and  off  they  go,  amidst  shouts 
and  cracking  of  whips,  and  clatter  of  horses'  feet,  and 
the  rattling  of  stages,  through  the  town,  and  out  into 
the  fresh  morning  air,  into  the  vastness  of  the  open 
sea-like  plain,  diving  through  the  long  grass,  under 
the  wide-spread  oaks,  down  into  gulches,  across 
streams,  and  up  into  the  hilly  country  of  the  mines. 
All  is  exhiliration  and  mei  riment. 

Round  the  broad  streets  of  Marysville  gaily-decked 
horses  before  brilliantly  painted  coaches  snort  and 
prance  in  the  early  morning,  while  the  office  clerks 
stand  beside  drivers  and  shout,  "Here  ye  are  for 
Brown's  Valley,  Long  Bar,  Rough  and  Ready,  and 
Grass  Valley."  In  like  manner  the  Stockton  herald 
proclaims,  **  Knights  Ferry,  Chinese  Camp,  James- 
town, and  Sonora." 

Before  the  United  States  Hotel,  Nevada  City,  one 
morning  in  May  1855,  stood  two  rival  stages  for 
Forest  City.  One  passenger  only  had  put  in  an 
appearance  when  the  agents  for  the  contending  lines 
came  up  and  opened  the  business  of  the  day.  The 
solitary  passenger  they  found  seated  in  the  stage. 

"  What  fare  are  you  paying  in  there  ? "  asked  the 
agent  for  the  opposition. 

"  Five  dollars,"  was  the  reply. 

"Get  out,  and  I'll  carry  you  for  four."  The  pas- 
senger, thinking  it  was  an  easy  way  to  earn  a  dollar 
complies  and  takes  his  seat  in  the  opposite  stage. 

"Here,  come  back,"  exclaimed  the  other  agent, 
"  I'll  take  you  up  for  three." 


330 


FURTHER  ABNORMITIES. 


The  passenger  is  but  fairly  reseated  in  the  first 
stage,  when  an  offer  of  two  dollars  tumbles  him  out 
atjain,  and  an  offer  of  one  dollar  sends  him  back. 
But  the  opposition  is  not  to  be  beaten  m  this  way. 

"  Well,  old  fellow,"  he  finally  puts  in,  "sorry  to 
make  you  so  much  trouble,  but  get  back  here  and  I 
will  carry  you  for  nothing,  pay  for  your  dinner,  and 
give  you  all  the  whiskey  you  can  drink  on  the  way  1 " 

I  will  cite  one  instance  showing  the  behavior  of 
these  knights  of  the  whip,  under  trying  circum- 
stances. Upon  the  box  of  the  coach  leaving  Forest 
City  for  Nevada  the  23d  of  July,  1855,  were  seated 
two  men,  members  of  the  Jehu  brotherhood,  one  of 
whom  was  driving.  Passing  under  the  limb  of  a 
tree  which  seemed  in  some  way  to  have  settled  and 
dropped  down  since  the  last  trip,  the  top  of  the  stage 
was  torn  entirely  off,  and  the  driver  thrown  to  the 
ground.  Of  the  eleven  passengers  one  was  thrown 
upon  the  root  and  three  jumped  to  the  ground.  The 
crash  of  the  breaking  vehicle  frightened  the  horses, 
which  started  off  at  full  speed,  dragging  the  driver 
some  distance  before  they  freed  themselves  from  his 
grasp.  The  horses  were  now  dashing  along  tin  road 
at  a  furious  rate,  wholly  without  control,  and  the  in- 
mates of  the  stage  apparently  helpless.  •  At  this  junc- 
ture the  man  who  occupied  the  seat  next  the  drivei, 
deliberately  got  down  upon  the  pjle,  walked  to  the 
end  of  it,  gathered  up  the  reins,  returned  safely  to 
his  scat,  and  finally  succeeded  in  stopping  the  horses 
without  further  damage  or  loss  of  life. 

It  was  when  the  long  routes  were  established  across 
the  plains,  however,  that  staging  assunjod  its  most 
gigantic  proportions ;  one  by  the  way  of  Salt  Lake 
and  the  other  through  New  Mexico  and  Arizona — 
two  thousand  miles  in  twenty  days  and  nights,  stop- 
ping only  to  change  horses  and  for  meals.  The  road 
across  the  Sierra  Nevada  was  fearfully  picturesque, 
and  going  down  the  mountain  sides  was  anythiiitj 
but  quieting  to  unsteady  nerves     Lighting  a  cigar 


MULE  PACK  TRAINS. 


331 


and  putting  on  the  break  and  lashing  his  snorting 
licirses  to  a  keen  run,  the  skillful  Jehu,  with  a  diaboli- 
cal leer,  would  send  his  coach  dashing  round  precipice 
and  craggy  wall  on  a  thread  of  chiseled-out  road, 
swaying  and  sliding  to  within  a  few  inches  of  death, 
and  dodging  the  overhanging  rocks  and  trees,  diving 
in  and  out  of  ruts  and  whirling  round  on  the  verge 
of  chasms  where  but  for  the  timely  cry  of  "  Sit  up  to 
windward,"  horses,  coach,  and  company  would  be 
hurled  into  the  abyss  below.  Moie  than  once  the 
thing  has  happened,  when  upon  a  drunken  driver,  a 
slippery  road,  a  fallen  tree  or  boulder  unexpectedly 
t  iicountered  in  rounding  some  sharp  turn,  was  laid 
the  blame. 

At  first,  between  the  several  towns  and  camps 
there  were  no  wagon  roads,  but  only  mule  trails ;  so 
that  among  the  hills  and  in  the  mountains,  provisions 
and  other  supplies  had  to  be  carried  to  the  miners 
strapped  to  aparejos  upon  the  backs  of  nmles.  Thus 
"packing"  became  a  large  business,  and  was  one  of 
the  features  of  the  times.  Mules  for  the  purpose 
were  driven  up  from  Sonora  and  Sinaloa,  and  Mexi- 
cans were  chiefly  employed  as  va'queros  or  nmleteers. 
^Making  up  their  cargoes  hi  loads  of  from  two  to  four 
hundred  p  junds  according  to  the  roads  and  the  ability 
of  the  respective  animals,  each  load  was  evenly  bal- 
anced and  firmly  lashed  on.  At  sunrise  or  there- 
ahouts  all  was  ready  for  the  start,  when  an  old  horse 
with  a  cow-bell  at  his  neck  and  a  boy  on  his  back  led 
otf,  and  the  tinkling  of  this  bell  the  nmles  would 
follow  day  and  night.  Three  or  five  Mexicans  on 
saddle-mules  would  follow  a  train  of  twenty  or  fifty 
mules  re-adjusting  loads,  assisting  the  fallen,  and 
urging  on  the  whole  with  loud  cries  of  "upal  nmla, 
arribal  arribal" 

Tlie  Mexicans  are  the  best  vaqueros  in  tlie  world. 
They  are  as  familiar  with  the  habits  and  idiosyncra- 
sies of  the  horse  and  mule  as  is  the  Arab  of  those  of 
the  camel,  and  they  sit  upon  the  saddle  as  if  part 


FURTHER  ABNORMITIES. 


of  the  animal.  A  loaded  train  will  travel  about 
twenty-five  miles  a  day.  The  favorite  camping- 
ground  is  a  grassy  spot  near  a  stream  of  clear  water ; 
there  at  night  the  Mexicans  dismount  and  unpack. 
Bringing  up  one  mule  after  another,  a  blind  is  thrown 
over  the  animal's  eyes  to  make  it  stand  quietly,  then 
with  one  man  on  each  side  the  hide  ropes  are  rapidly 
untied,  and  the  cargoes,  consisting  of  sacks  of  flour, 
sugar,  barley,  and  bacon,  boxes  of  tobacco,  dried  fruit, 
and  miscellaneous  groceries,  and  kegs  of  liquors,  each 
kept  separately,  are  ranged  in  a  row  with  the  aparejo 
or  pack-saddle  in  a  parallel  row,  each  saddle  directly 
opposite  its  load,  with  the  girth  and  saddle-cloth  be- 
longing to  it  folded  and  laid  upon  the  top.  The 
mule's  back  is  then  examined,  and  if  galled,  remedies 
are  applied  to  the  spot,  and  the  tired  animal  is  turned 
loose  to  graze.  In  the  morning  the  mules  are  driven 
up  and  packed  in  like  manner,  and  on  they  go. 

On  the  whole  the  cunning  little  animal  bears  a 
good  character.  Though  sometimes  stubborn,  it  is 
as  one  possessed  of  the  devil  or  overtaken  by  a  fault 
rather  than  willfully  wicked,  for  in  his  ordinary  mood 
he  is  very  patient  and  faithful.  Though  in  some  re- 
spects his  sensibilities  may  be  somewhat  blunted,  he 
nevertheless  has  a  keen  moral  sense.  He  guards  the 
load  entrusted  him  with  intelligence  and  faithfulness, 
being  careful  not  to  knock  it  against  the  trunks  of 
trees,  stooping  low  to  let  it  pass  under  an  overhang- 
ing limb,  planting  his  feet  firmly  in  dangerous  places, 
eyeing  the  rocks  that  jut  out  over  the  trail  round  the 
mountain  side,  lest  in  an  evil  moment  his  pack  striking 
one,  he  be  thrown  from  the  narrow  path,  and  hurled 
trembhng  into  the  abyss  below.  The  moment  tlio 
pack  is  loose  or  anything  drops  from  it  he  stops,  and 
no  matter  how  hungry  or  weary  he  may  be  he  is  al- 
lowed little  time  to  eat  until  his  work  is  finished. 


Even  in  those  days  dreams  were  dreamed  and  proph- 
ecies  prophesied  of  the  time  when   San  Francisco 


DREAMS  AND  PROPHECIES. 


333 


should  be  but  five  days'  journey  from  New  York,  and 
the  summer  houses  of  the  Gothamites  should  bask  on 
the  Pacific  slope ;  of  the  time  when  the  shadows  of 
gigantic  trees  should  fall  on  mansions  glittering  like 
temples;  and  in  the  vistas  of  long  colonnades,  fringed 
and  rainbowed  by  countless  fountains,  should  stand 
statues  worthy  of  Phydias,  and  should  walk  a  people 
worthy  to  have  been  his  models.  These  new  Greeks 
were  the  Califomians  of  the  twentieth  or  thirtieth 
centuries.  Every  woman  is  then  to  be  pure  as  Diana, 
wise  as  the  unborn  goddess,  and  fair  as  she  whose 
beauty  awed  the  judges  of  Athens.  The  men  are  to 
1)0  thewed  like  Hercules,  shaped  like  Apollo,  and 
wise  as  Plato. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


BUSINESS. 


,^ij-<,  called 


The  world  is  full  of  hopeful  analogies,  and  handsome,  dubious  e 
possibilities. 

— Oeorge  Eliot. 

Business  linos  and  methods  were  not  definitely  de- 
termined. You  might  buy  butter  in  a  hardware  store 
and  drygoods  at  a  liquor  shop. 

When  Purser  Forbes,  of  the  steamer  CaJifoimia, 
sot  out  to  purchase  stores,  he  ransacked  the  place, 
picking  up  here  and  there  what  he  could  find,  paying 
usually  a  dollar  a  pound  for  provisions;  whereupon, 
becomnig  somewhat  disheartened,  he  dropped  into  a 
restaurant,  where,  for  a  mutton  chop,  with  poor  bread, 
and  still  poorer  coffee,  and  no  butter,  he  was  made  to 
pay  $3  50.  Thereupon  he  thought  it  must  be  a  great 
country,  and  so  went  on  with  his  purchases. 

Business  was  conducted  on  high-pressure  principles. 
On  Long  Wharf  there  was  a  candy  shop,  the  owner 
of  which,  after  six  months'  business  failed  for  $100,000. 
So  quickly  after  a  fire  was  building  begun,  that  a  water 
bucket  would  have  to  be  used  before  the  new  timbers 
were  laid. 

Since  the  days  of  the  Medici,  who  ranked  hi'jrh 
among  the  class  of  Lombard  money-changers,  tlie  in- 
signia of  the  three  golden  balls,  derived  from  their 
armorial  bearings,  hang  over  the  entrance  to  the  pawn- 
broker's sliop. 

Frenchmen  were  the  first  to  raise  the  occupation  of 
boot-blacking  into  an  art.  The  cleaning,  and  damj)- 
ening,  and  plastering,  and  polishing  were  not  done  by 

(334) 


SPECULATION  AND  WILD  UNREST. 


88ft 


women,  as  Dibdin,  in  his  bibliographical  tour,  pictures 
it  all  in  the  streets  of  Caen.  The  few  women  tlitro 
were  in  those  days  were  used  to  blacken  characters, 
not  boots. 

Much  has  been  said  by  a  class  of  persons  whose  en- 
thusiasm overshadows  their  judgment,  of  the  breadth 
and  bigness  of  everything  Californian,  as  if  size  were 
worth,  and  bigness,  greatness.  1  take  no  special  pride 
in  tlie  size  of  California's  turnips,  nor  in  the  amount 
of  go!)]  riddltsd  from  the  placers;  I  rejoice  in  Califor- 
nia's btauties,  for  beauty  is  a  thing  to  rejoice  in;  I 
bathe  in  her  mellow,  misty  light,  and  drink  her  spark- 
ling air,  and  rejoice  in  her  capabilities,  in  t!  k  >  intelligence 
of  her  men  and  women — all  that  is  good  in  them  ;  her 
frailties  have  no  attractions  for  me,  her  sins  are  hate- 
ful to  me. 

By  midsummer,  1850,  fifty  ships  were  in  port,  upon 
whose  cargoes  the  owners  could  not  pay  freight,  and  jmt 
up  at  auction  the  ship's  consignees  would  buy  them  in. 

Traffic  as  here  displayed,  so  loud,  so  large,  so  errat- 
ic, was  the  very  irony  of  speculation;  and  for  long 
afterward  California  was  famous  for  wild  ventures, 
and  liigh  rates  of  labor  and  interest;  yet  it  was  clear- 
ly enough  demonstrated  that  such  speculation  may 
prevail  unattended  by  general  financial  convulsions  in 
a  community  whose  circulation  is  purely  gold  and  sil- 
ver. The  recuperative  powers  of  the  people  after  a  fire, 
Hood,  or  drought,  were  marvellous.  An  isolated  com- 
nmiiity  with  a  metallic  currency  tends  to  the  originating 
and  building  up  of  private  banks,  andthougli  a  specu- 
lative inflated  condition  of  things  appears  at  intervals 
in  a  rapid  spasmodic  progress,  the  failure  of  any  local 
or  incidental  element  of  prosperity,  though  affecting 
in  some  degree  every  membor  of  society,  involved  in 
ruin  comparatively  fev.^  Nevertheless,  the  country, 
and  all  about  it  was  old  and  extravagant,  the  people 
and  their  doings  being  no  less  whimsical  and  bizarre 
til  an  tlie  streets  and  the  houses  of  the  towns.  Over 
the   sudden  and  wonderful   development  of  wealth, 


8M 


BUSINESS. 


commerce  in  the  young  metropolis  had  become  crazed. 
A  few  actual  transactions  which  I  will  cite  will  illus- 
trate the  diversities  and  vagaries  of  trade  better  than 
any  general  description. 

There  were  not  lacking  men,  and  a  large  class  of 
them  at  one  time  on  California  and  Pine  streets  in  San 
Francisco,  who  were  free  and  frolicking  enough.  During 
the  height  of  the  mining  stock  excitement  the  board  of 
brokers  boiled  like  a  geyser  cauldron.  It  was  a  queer 
fraternity  this  brotherhood  of  air-beating  knights; 
surging  and  screeching  in  their  struggles  for  commis- 
sions, which,  when  obtained,  were  pitched  hither  and 
thither  with  the  reckless  indifference  common  to  all 
kinds  of  gambling.  The  champagne  seller,  the  cigar 
seller,  the  jeweller,  and  livery-stable  keeper,  all  came 
in  for  their  share.  Merrily  these  brokers  made  their 
money,  and  merrily  they  spent  it.  Most  innocent 
were  they  in  their  broad  and  philanthropic  egotism. 
In  their  eyes  the  universe  revolved  round  their  board- 
room ;  and  the  man  who  hammered  the  anvil  and 
yelled  in  well-recognized  tones  of  superior  discordance, 
was  the  Great  and  only  One,  the  First  Cause  and  the 
Last.  Their  creed  and  catechism  were  easy  affairs. 
"  I  believe  in  the  only  one  and  respectable  board  of 
brokers,"  the  former  began,  referring  to  the  "big 
board,"  as  distinguished  from  two  or  three  smaller 
boards,  whose  members  in  the  eyes  of  the  aristocratic 
band  were  vulgar  parverms,  and  bad  society ;  and  to 
every  such  question  as  "Who  made  you?"  and 
"  What  is  the  chief  end  of  man  ? "  the  answer  was 
"A  broker,"  "to  be  a  broker,"  and  the  like.     Their 

fehenna,  which  though  large  was  not  a  veiy  hot  one, 
ecause  of  their  uniform  kind-heartedness,  was  filled 
with  that  vast  horde  of  unfortunates  whom  fate  had 
denied  the  blessedness  of  being  brokers;  these  and 
bad  members  were  refused  admission  to  the  heavenly 
hall. 

It  was  an  exceedingly  nerve-splitting  occupation. 
The  hours  of  business  were  few,  but  the  clatter  and 


THE  STOCK  BOARD. 


337 


bang  of  hammered  iron  and  human  voices  raised  to 
a  pitch  of  wild  phrensy  made  the  excitement  fear- 
fully wearing.  The  calling  of  a  stock  was  sometimes 
as  the  flinging  of  a  carcass  to  a  mixed  pack  of  raven- 
ous hyenas,  wolves,  or  other  bloody  or  bellowing 
beasts.  Then  it  behooved  them  to  be  quick;  for 
often  an  instant  of  time  was  thousands  of  dollars  for 
and  against  certain  interested  ones.  The  fashion  of 
their  buying  and  selling  was  no  less  senseless  than  it 
was  infernal ;  but  such  a  thing  as  questioning  the 
manner  of  their  calling  never  occurred  to  them.  On 
the  contrary  it  was  their  pride,  their  glory. 

•'  One  of  the  wealthiest  stock-brokers  of  San  Fran- 
cisco to  day,"  writes  one,  "  formerly  peddled  potatoes 
along  the  same  streets  where  he  can  now  count  his  own 
buildings  by  the  dozen.  Another  well-known  resi- 
dent, then  a  lawyer,  now  a  judge  in  one  of  the  courts, 
worked  for  several  weeks  as  cook  in  a  restaurant. 
Overhearing  one  of  the  patrons  of  the  place  complain 
that  he  could  not  find  a  lawyer  to  take  up  a  case  he 
had  in  court,  he  proffered  his  services,  took  off  liis 
apron  and  went  before  the  court,  won  the  case, 
charged  a  fee  of  $200,  and  was  retained  for  two  other 
cases  before  leaving  the  court-room.  A  certain  col- 
lege professor  who  went  out  from  New  York  in  '4'9, 
while  working  with  a  shovel  on  the  public  streets, 
overheard  a  Frenchman  trying  to  arrange  some  busi- 
ness with  a  wealthy  real-estate  dealer.  Neither  of 
them  could  understand  the  other.  The  professor 
leaned  upon  his  shovel  and  explained  the  meaning  of 
the  Frenchman.  The  matter  was  arranged  in  a 
moment.  *  Drop  that  shovel  and  take  off  your  over- 
halls.  You  're  just  the  man  I  want,'  bluffly  said  the 
real-estate  man;  and  the  next  morning  the  professor 
commenced  his  career  as  business  interpreter  at 
twenty  dollars  a  day." 

Once  in  a  while  a  staid  old  merchant  from  Boston 
or  New  York,  braved  the  dangers  and  disgusts  of  the 
voyage,  to  look  after  some  consignment  or  other  busi- 


Cal,  Int.  Poc.    22 


BUSINESS. 


ness,  when  he  would  be  struck  dumb  with  astonish- 
ment at  the  reckk'ss  whirlpool  of  business  that  sur- 
rounded him.  He  would  see  the  shop-keeper  sweep 
with  his  arm  into  a  bag  silver  coin  stacked  upon  his 
counter  in  payment  for  goods,  as  not  worth  the  count- 
ing ;  he  would  see  screaming  auctioneers  crying  off 
goods  to  whittling,  tobacco-juice-spirthig  bidders, 
who  between  jokes  would  buy  whole  cargoes,  ship 
and  all  with  terrible  sany:  froid. 

Thus  the  city-builders  carried  their  work  forward 
in  wild  irregular  spasms  but  ever  onward,  unceasingly 
unhesitatingly.  Often  the  arrival  of  a  vessel,  the 
completion  of  a  wharf,  or  some  such  excuse  would 
double  the  price  of  property  within  a  few  days. 

Again  and  again  one  wonders  how  it  is  that  so 
many  of  the  shrewd  and  enterprising  so  soon  became 
bankrupt.     With  such  foresight,  such  practical  com- 
mon sense,  uniting  energy,  and  golden  opportunities, 
all  as  it  would  seem  wisely  applied  and  earnestly  em- 
braced, it  was  pitiful  to  see  them  later,  all  there  were 
left  of  them,  or  well-nigh  all,  wandering  the  streets 
that  they  had  made,  by  houses  they  had  built  but 
now  no  longer  theirs,  moving  silently  and  sadly  ovor 
long-familiar  ground,  yet   amidst  scenes  strange  to 
them  though  fruits  of  their  own  untiring  energy — 
wandering  thus  alone  unrecognized  skeletons  of  their 
former  selves,  while  a  new  generation  of  millionaires 
flaunted  its  wealth  in  their  faces.     It  was  sad  to  sic 
their  wrecked  hopes  reconstructed  by  men  of  lessir 
worth,  whose  proud  argosies  bore  heavily  upon  tlu  ir 
slender  craft ;  to  see  tlie  connnerce  of  a  great  metropo- 
lis, once  their  own,  ruled  by  upstart  speculators;  tn 
see  their  sand-hill  home,  with  its  acres  of  garden  ami 
barn-yard,  become  thick  with  magnificent  mansioii>. 
wJKfse  lords  were  lucky  gamblers,  whose  parvenu  mis- 
tresses flouted  and  overshadowed  their  humble  wives, 
while  they  themselves  plodded  quietly  through  thiii 
declining  years,  happy  indeed  if  wife,  and  children, 
and  food,  and  shelter,  might  be  left  to  them. 


STRIKES;  (iOLD  DUST  TRADE. 


8Se 


Strikes  among  mechanics  began  early  in  California. 
In  July  1853  the  carpenters  of  San  Francisco  com- 
plained among  themselves  of  the  irregularity  of  prices 
for  day's  work,  the  rate  ruling  from  t<  n  dollars  down 
to  next  to  nothing.  No  one  knew  what  to  charge  ; 
each  was  fearful  of  asking  too  much  or  not  enough, 
und  so  they  fixed  wages  at  eight  dollars  a  day,  some- 
wliat  above  the  average  of  what  they  had  been  get- 
iing.  On  the  18th,  those  determined  to  hold  out  and 
not  work  except  for  the  wages  named,  to  the  number 
(»f  about  400,  held  a  meeting  on  the  plaza,  and  after- 
ward formed  a  procession  and  marched  through  the 
town  with  banners  streaming  and  nmslc  playing.  Had 
wai];>  ■-  been  double,  it  is  likely  they  would  have  been 
just  as  dissatisfied.  Laborer's  strikes  are  a  melan- 
♦  lioly  commentary  upon  the  intelligence  of  working 
uit-n,  who  fail  utterly  to  see  that  wages  are  regulated 
I'V  the  inevitable  law  of  supply  and  demand,  and  that 
any  attempt  to  forestall  this  law  reacts  upon  them- 
selves. 

The  'longshoremen  determined  to  have  six  dollars 
for  niiu'  hours  work,  instead  of  five  dollars  for  ten 
lioura,  l^orambulating  the  wharves  to  the  number  of 
ul)out  300,  they  forced  all  who  were  at  work  to  join 
tht'in,  using  threats  and  violence  when  entreaty  failed. 
Tho  wliarves  for  the  time  were  almost  deserted ;  but 
lu'xt  dav  the  stevedores  havinjj  acceded  to  their  de- 
iiiands,  the  men  went  to  work,  happy  in  the  thought 
of  another  dollar  a  day  to  spend  and  another  hour  to 
spend  it  in.  At  the  same  time  the  calkers  and  ship- 
carpenters  demanded  and  received  ten  dollars  a  day. 
The  firemen  and  coal  passers  then  struck,  the  former 
demanding  $100  a  month,  and  the  latter  %7b.  The 
masons  of  Sacramento  also  demamled  the  same  wages 
received  by  their  fellow-craftsmen  of  the  bay,  which 
Nvas  ten  dollars  a  day.  The  hod-carriers  of  Stockton, 
ill  place  of  five  dollars  a  day,  struck  for  six  dollars, 
hi  San  Francisco  the  system  worked  so  well,  that  the 
masons  whose  wages  had  just  been  raised  to  ten  dol- 


m 


BUSINESS 


lars,  on  the  I7th  of  August,  paraded  the  streets  in  a 
body,  and  refused  to  work  for  less  than  twelve  dollars 
a  day. 

During  the  first  five  years  subsequent  to  the  dis- 
covery of  gold,  the  gold-dust  trade  underwent  many 
changes.  Prior  to  1849  the  ruling  price  at  San  Fran- 
cisco was  fourteen  dollars  an  ounce,  and  in  the  mines 
much  less.  It  was  once  sold  at  auction  for  twelve 
dollars.  Afterward  the  rate  was  fixed  and  maintained 
at  sixteen  dollars  an  ounce.  Due  attention  was  not 
paid  by  merchants  to  the  quality  or  cleanliness  of  the 
dust,  and  many  miners  were  not  careful  to  remove  all 
the  black  sand.  The  scales  used  were  also  not  always 
the  nicest,  nor  the  weights  most  correct.  The  gold 
from  central  California  was  mostly  vii^in  gold; 
but  that  which  was  later  thrown  upon  the  market 
from  the  mines  of  Mariposa,  Kern  river  and  Fresno. 
was  of  inferior  quality.  This  gave  rise  to  a  system 
of  adulteration,  which  could  not  be  easily  detected  by 
purchasers.  In  time  assay  offices  were  established  t<  > 
reduce  the  mass  of  the  precious  dust  to  a  determined 
value  before  shipment ;  this,  together  with  the  stimu- 
lating traffic  by  large  competing  banking-houses,  ad- 
vanced the  price  of  clean  dust  first  to  $17,  and  after- 
wards to  $17  50  an  ounce,  this  being  the  avera*jft'. 
The  proceeds  of  some  mines  were,  however,  sold  as 
low  as  $14,  and  those  of  others  as  high  as  $20.  The 
gold-dust  trade  finally  fell  into  the  hands  of  four  large 
houses,  which  a  little  later  shipped  only  bars  witli  the 
true  value  stamped  on  them. 

In  April.  1851,  bankers  agreed  to  receive  on  deposit 
no  California  coin  other  than  that  issued  by  Moffat 
and  Company,  who  were  the  only  ones  faithful  in  their 
valuation,  and  had,  moreover,  made  provision  to  re- 
deem the  coin  issued.  Until  the  establishment  of  th(i 
mint  at  San  Francisco,  merchants  suffered  because  of 
the  exclusion  of  California  coin  from  circulation.  Tliey 
could  not  refuse  to  receive  it  without  injury  to  their 


COINS  AND  COINAGE. 


341 


trade,  and  generally  had  much  of  it  on  their  hands. 
Some  foreign  coins  began  to  circulate  at  the  value  put 
upon  them  by  the  United  States  government.  At 
last,  to  obviate  difficulties,  the  legislature  passed  a  law 
making  it  a  criminal  offence,  punishable  by  fine  and 
Imprisonment,  for  coiners  to  neglect  stamping  upon 
their  coin  its  true  value,  or  failing  to  redeem  it  from 
the  holders  thereof  on  demand. 

In  October  1852  news  came  that  the  federal  gov- 
ernment had  ordered  that  the  fifty-dollar  slugs  or  in- 
gots should  not  be  received  for  duties  at  the  custom 
liouse.  This  was  a  serious  blow,  at  a  time  when  coin 
was  very  scarce.  Legal  coins  at  once  advanced  cwo 
])er  cent.  Though  that  order  was  coupled  with  a 
liromise  to  establish  immediately  a  mint,  the  people 
were  not  satisfied. 

The  hank  failures  of  1854  and  the  political  corrup- 
tion of  1855,  hastened  a  commercial  crisis  which  had 
heeii  brewuig  for  a  year  or  two  y)reviou8.  The  mone- 
tary cataclysm  of  1848-52,  was  followed  by  a  reaction 
resulting  from  various  causes  combined,  to-wit:  in- 
<  reuse  of  a  non-productive  population,  greater  labor  to 
(X tract  gold  from  the  earth,  high-pressure  life  and 
ifckless  extravagance,  a  .succession  o}'  disastrous  floods 
unci  fires,  and  over-trading.  Hundreds  of  merchants 
tailt  (1  and  involved  hundreds  of  others  in  tlieir  fall. 
Many  failed  as  many  as  three  times  and  started  anew, 
I'tliirs  took  subordinate  positions  ordi-ank  themselves 
t»i  death.  Not  one  in  ten  of  the  San  Francisco  mer- 
(liants  of  1841),  was  doing  business  in  1855.  Fifteen 
hundred  lu^althy  men,  of  every  intellectual  calibre, 
tnund  themselves  without  occuj)ation  •)r  means  of  live- 
liliood.  California's  credit  was  now  at  a  low  ebb 
iiliioad.  The  population  did  not  then  increase  at  all. 
lltal  estate  was  so  low  that  there  was  scarcely  any 
Hild.  Since  the  fire  of  1851,  San  Francisco  saw  no 
j^ldomier  day  than  that  foHowing  the  suspension  of 
Pa,u;e,  Bacon,  and  Company,  announced  on  the  2 2d  of 
February,  1855, 


i! 


aia 


BUSINESS. 


The  San  Francisco  branch  mint,  in  1857,  was  robbed 
of  ten  or  fifteen  thousand  dollars  by  the  coiner's  head 
cutter,  William  Bein,  a  Belgian.  Bein  was  arrested 
the  19th  of  August,  confessed  the  crime,  and  gave  up 
to  the  United  States  most  of  the  proceeds  of  his  crime. 
The  gold  taken  was  in  blanks  and  clippings,  and  the 
circumstance  which  aroused  suspicion  was  the  deposit, 
by  a  banking  house,  of  certain  small,  rough,  gold  bars 
of  standard  mint  value.  Bein  was  promptly  convicted. 
Others  implicated  in  mint  swindles  were  arrested 
shortly  after.  Isador  and  Henry  Blum  were  brought 
up  on  a  charge  of  conspiracy  against  T.  A.  Szabo,  in 
attempting  to  extort  money  from  him,  believing  him 
a  mint-defaulter  and  in  their  power.  Augustin  Har- 
aszthy,  melter  and  refiner  of  the  San  Francisco 
branch  mint,  on  the  19th  of  September,  was  indicted 
by  the  United  States  grand  jury  upon  a  charge  <it' 
embezzling  gold  to  tlie  amount  of  $15 1,550.  He  was 
arrested  and  released  on  $20,000  bail.  Afterward  h< 
was  tried  and  sentenced  to  six  years  in  the  stat( 
prison  an<l  to  i)ay  a  fine  of  $2,000. 

Californians  early  determined  that  as  mind  aii<l 
manners  were  here  free,  money  should  be  free  also. 
Dante  could  have  found  in  California  a  better  answ  ei 
to  the  question  why  usury  offends  divine  goodness, 
than  the  silly  one  Virgil  gave  him.  It  was  in  the 
realms  below  that  the  two  were  sagely  discoursiiiu, 
and  the  sage  and  master  answered  that  in  (:Jenesis  it 
is  written  that  man  is  to  work  and  multiply,  and  that 
the  usurer  thwarts  nature  by  taking  money  without 
working  for  it.  Good  reasoning  tJuit  may  be  in  hadt>s. 
but  itsounds  sillyin  California,  Our  first  answer  is  tliat 
usury  does  not  offend  God;  our  second  tiiat  nionev 
like  any  other  commodity  is  regulated  in  its  price  hy 
the  innnutable  law  of  supply  and  demand,  and  is 
worth  what  it  will  bring  in  tlie  market.  If  a  person 
finds  it  profitable  to  borrow  money  at  ten  per  cent  a 
month,  why  should  he  not  be  permitted  to  do  it  ? 
If  he  can  get  it  for  less  lie  will  not  pay  that ;  if  h' 


INTEREST  AND  USURY  LAWS. 


S43 


cannot  make  it  profitable  at  that  rate  he  will  not 
borrow  it.  No  greater  absurdity  stands  upon  the 
statute  books  of  civilized  nations  than  laws  compell- 
ing men  to  loan  their  money  for  less  than  it  is  worth. 
Tliey  might  as  well  pass  laws  compellhig  merchants 
to  sell  their  wares  for  less  than  their  value. 

On  the  statute-books  of  all  enlightened  countries, 
from  the  days  of  Shylock  to  the  present  time,  the 
usury  law  has  been  obsolete,  and  the  idea  of  foisting 
Kuch  a  piece  of  antiquated  nonsense  upon  the  people 
of  California  was  not  to  be  thought  of.  They  wanted 
no  laws  regulating  the  price  of  the  use  of  money, 
they  said,  any  more  than  laws  regulating  the  price  of 
flour  or  city  lots.  Men  are  supposed  to  know  their 
own  business  best;  one,  what  he  can  afford  to  pay 
for  the  use  of  money,  and  another  what  rate  of  inter- 
est he  can  afford  to  loan  it  at.  There  is  no  more 
reason  for  a  legislature  to  pass  laws  regulating  the 
interest  of  money,  than  that  it  sliould  frame  sumi)tu- 
ary  laws  which  we  all  admit  would  be  a  step  back- 
ward. At  that  time  particularly,  the  chief  staple  of 
California  was  the  metal  of  which  money  was  made, 
and  lier  business  men  of  all  others  should  know  that 
this  as  well  as  any  other  product  is  liable  to  fluctua- 
tions according  to  the  supply  and  demand. 

If  the  mercliant,  manufacturer,  or  miner,  can  attbrd 
to  pay  high  wages  and  high  interest,  it  shows  that 
the  country  is  so  prosperous  and  his  enterprise  so 
]»r()fit{ible  that  he  is  justified  in  paying  high  for  capi- 
tal and  labor.  In  times  of  panic  or  stringency  aris- 
ing from  overtrading  or  extravagance  the  case  is 
iMHerent;  but  it  is  not  against  such  contingencies 
that  a  usury  law  aims  to  provide.  The  objc^ct  is  to 
invade  a  man's  jirivate  afl'airs  when  lamez  fairc  is 
Ix'tter.  Besides,  admitting  the  existence  of  an  evil, 
usury  laws  instead  of  curing  it  only  aggravafr  it.  In 
till'  place  of  securing  the  lender  a  return  of  his  money 
with  tl)e  interest  agreed  on  by  law,  it  only  forces  him 
to  resort  to  fraud  in  loaning  his  money,  and  by  weak- 


m 


344 


BUSINESS. 


ening  his  security  to  throw  a  heavier  burden  upon 
the  borrower.  Almost  all  laws  made  to  protect  bor- 
rowers of  money  react  on  the  borrower,  the  lender 
having  the  advantage.  The  suspension  of  several 
banks  threw  the  wheels  of  finance  generally  off  the 
track.  Confidence  in  other  banking  houses  was  im- 
paired ;  the  solvency  of  merchants  was  suspected.  No 
man  felt  that  his  ducats  were  safe  unless  he  had 
them  in  his  own  possession. 

Likewise  the  effect  upon  the  people  of  the  suspen- 
sion of  the  two  great  express  companies  was  much 
greater  than  that  of  all  the  banks  combined.  There 
was  not  a  town  of  any  consequonc<^  in  the  interior  or  on 
the  coast  from  San  Diogo  to  Puget  Sound,  where 
one,  or  most  generally  both  of  these  companies  did 
not  have  oflUces.  There  thousands  of  miners  and  labor- 
ers liad  deposited  their  little  all,  preparatory  to  remit- 
ting to  their  friends  at  the  east;  they  had  there  laid 
by  a  little  for  a  rainy  day,  a  nest  egg,  passage-money 
lionie,  in  fact  their  all,  the  result  of  years  of  hard 
labor— thousands,  I  say,  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  land,  saw  their  money  and  their  hopes 
thus  suddenly  cast  away. 

And  if  credits  during  the  flush  times  were  freely 
givtiu,  us  u  rule  debts  were  prom[)tly  paid.  Business 
was  done  u[)on  honor.  There  was  no  law ;  away 
from  the  larger  towns  there  were  no  [)reteusions  in 
the  way  of  tribunals  for  the  collection  of  debts. 
Had  there  been  such  they  would  have  received  little 
f>atronage.  If  the  debtor  was  ill  and  unable  to  work, 
why  molest  him  ?  Poverty,  there  was  none.  When 
every  rivulet  and  ravine  yielded  large  nturns  to  tlu; 
application  of  pick  and  paji,  he  who  was  able  to  wield 
these  implemcmts  could  not  be  called  poor.  If  the 
di'btor  was  a  rascal,  and  would  not  pay  when  he 
could,  a  knife  would  cut  the  difficulty,  or  a  pistol-ball 
reach  the  wrong  quicker  than  the  law. 

In  the  first  flush  of  business  upon  the  new  Ameri 
can  high -pressure  priiicii)le,  after  gold  had  been  dia- 


1 1 


BUYING  AND  SELUN6. 


345 


covered  but  before  sufficient  time  had  elapsed  for 
cargoes  to  arrive  from  a  distance,  when  money  was 
l)lenty  and  prices  had  advanced  in  some  instances  a 
thousand  per  cent,  the  trick  was  to  get  goods,  not  to 
sell  them.  The  two  chief  rival  firms  were  Charles  L. 
lioss,  and  Howard  &  Melius,  each  of  which  kept  a 
w  til-manned  boat  ready  on  the  instant  to  shoot  out  to- 
ward the  Golden  Gate,  on  the  approach  of  any  mer- 
rliant  vessel,  so  as  to  forestall  competitors  in  securing 
stock.  To  this  end  a  sharp  lookout  was  kept,  as  we 
may  easily  imagine,  and  every  means  adopted  at  once 
to  catch  the  first  view  of  the  incoming  vessels  and 
Mind  the  eyes  of  the  others  to  the  welcome  sight.  It 
luippeiied  one  opaque,  niisty  morning  that  the  fog 
lifted  for  a  moment  only,  just  long  enough  for  Ross' 
sentinel  to  see  loominj;  seaward  a  maijnificont  britr 
wiiose  white  sails  in  the  vision  seemed  to  fill  the  whole 
o(<'aii.  Ross  and  his  crew  were  soon  afloat,  pulling 
liard  in  that  direction.  So  was  the  rival  lioat,  for 
the  watchers  had  been  watched,  and  such  movements 
were  well  understood.  The  advantage,  however,  was 
witli  Koss,  who  beside  havhig  the  start,  knew  where 
the  vessel  lay;  and  by  pulling  stoutly  out  of  course 
and  tlien  escaping  them  in  the  fog,  he  threw  his  com- 
IK'titors  off  the  scent,  found  tlie  brig,  crawled  up  the 
sides  to  the  deck,  and  as  coolly  as  possible  after  the 
fancy  of  Yankee  traders,  salutt^d  the  captain  and 
opened  negotiations.  "What  ye  got?"  demanded 
b'oss.  "Waal,"  the  captain  began,  "there's  some 
wooji'n  shirts,  a  hundred  and   fifty   or  two  hundred 

dozen '     "Stop  a  moment,' Cxclainied  Ross  who 

I'laiidy  heard  the  sound  of  oars  approaching  every 
moment  nearer,  "wliat'll  you  take  for  everything  on 
Itnard?"  "  Oh,  I  guess  you  are  joking,"  simpered  the 
skipper.  "N«>,  I  am  not  joking,"  said  Ross,  drawing 
iiom  his  pocket  a  handful  of  yellow  goUl.  "What 
advance  on  your  invoices  will  you  take  for  all  the 
merchandise  in  your  ship?"  The  skipper  |K>ndered, 
nut  faiUng  to  notice  the  rapidly  increasuig  noise  of 


i 


1 1 


846 


BUSINESS. 


oars,  this  sharp-witted  Boston  captain;  he  pondered 
as  he  eyed  the  New  York  man  thus  met  on  this 
western  aide.  It  was  a  long  proceeding,  carefully  se- 
lecting and  laying  in  this  cargo,  in  which  twenty  or 
more  shippers  were  interested,  and  guiding  it  safely 
through  divers-tempered  winds,  over  16,000  miles  of 
ocean,  to  this  very  far-away  port — it  was  a  long  pro- 
ceeding to  be  disposed  of  summarily,  for  three  months 
would  have  been  a  short  time  ordinarily  in  which  to 
have  sold  the  cargo.  Three  months ;  and  fifty  per 
cent,  would  have  been  regarded  as  a  good  round 
profit.  "  Come,  captain,  if  you  want  to  trade,  and  I 
take  it  that  is  what  you  are  here  for,"  said  Ross,  now 
growing  a  little  nervous,  "  how  much  advance,  and 
the  money  down?"  The  skipper  looked  him  steadily 
in  the  eye,  glanced  significantly  at  Howard  who  was 
climbing  up  the  side  of  the  vessel,  and  answered  slow- 
ly, *'one  hundred  per  cent."  "I'll  take  it,'  Ross 
said.  "This  will  bind  the  bargain,"  he  added,  as  hv 
passed  over  the  handful  of  money.  *'  And  I'll  make 
those  woollen  shirts  pay  for  all  the  damned  truck 
here,"  said  the  purchaser,  as  he  regahied  his  boat, 
swearing  thus  mildly  not  through  lack  of  feeling,  but 
because  he  was  in  training  for  a  position  as  teacher  in 
Wheeler's  forth-coming  Sabbath-school. 

And  the  gentle  Brannan,  Sam;  he  learned  to  flaunt 
the  Mormon's  money  bravely  at  the  auctions.  Sum 
delighted  in  auctions.  Never  was  he  so  happy  as 
when  perched  on  a  high  box  smoking  a  long  cheroot, 
and  sinking  the  small  blade  of  his  sharp  knife  into 
the  soft  pine.  Gillespie  was  then  at  the  head  of  tlu; 
Cliina  trade,  and  the  disposal  of  cargoes  by  aucti<»n 
was  daily  gaining  favor.  It  saved  so  nmch  trouble 
in  the  way  of  handling,  and  warehousing,  and  charg- 
ing, and  collecting,  and  prices  were  often  better  thai: 
when  jobbed  out.  One  day,  pursuant  to  notice,  Gil- 
lespie put  up  a  cargo  of  tea  to  sell.  At  the  hour, 
there  upon  his  box  sat  Sam,  smoking,  and  spitting, 
and  wliittling,  thinking  perhaps  of  the  extravagant 


MANNERS  AND  METHODS, 


347 


price  of  wives  in  the  market,  and  how  much  it  would 
cost  to  people  Zion  at  current  rates  ;  thinking  of  the 
temple  to  the  living  God  which  he  was  to  rear  in  the 
wilderness;  thinking  of  anything  except  lucre,  and 
tlie  price  of  tea.  "  Ten  chests  with  the  privilege," 
began  Gillespie.  "  I  will  sell  not  less  than  ten  chests, 
the  purchaser  to  have  the  privilege  of  taking  as  much 
more  at  the  price  sold  as  he  pleases."  Around  the 
open  boxes  merchants  were  blowing  and  crushing, 
and  smelling  and  tasting;  Sam  sat  serene.  "And 
how  nmch  am  I  offered  ? "  Gillespie  went  on.  "  Thirty- 
five  cents,  thirty-five ;  forty ;  and  five ;  fifty ;  fifty-five 
cents  I  am  offered ;  sixty.  Are  you  all  done  gentle- 
men? Sixty  cents,  going;  sixty  cents,  once;  sixty 
cents,  twice ;  third  and  last  time — "  "  Sixty-one  1 " 
came  from  the  top  of  the  box.  "  Sixty-one,  sixty-one 
cents,  and  sold.  How  nmch  will  you  take  Mr  Bran- 
uan?"  Now  there  was  tea  enough  in  that  ship  to 
give  every  grocer  in  town  a  good  stock,  and  the  bid- 
ders present  had  all  so  reckoned,  and  had  deemed  it 
tolly  running  it  up  to  a  high  price  when  they  could 
just  as  well  buy  it  low.  The  tea  was  then  worth  in 
the  market  one  dollar  and  a  quarter,  or  two  dollars 
and  a  half,  or  five  dollars,  according  as  it  was  held  and 
controlled.  Brannan  was  the  heaviest  buyer  there; 
he  miorht  take  fiftv  chests  out  of  the  five  hundred. 
So  they  reasoned,  and  were  content  that  Sam,  tlie 
ravenous,  should  first  satisfy  himself  Imagine,  there- 
fore their  chagrin  as  in  answer  to  the  auctioneer's 
(juostion,  '*  How  much  will  you  take  Mr  Brannan," 
they  heard  come  from  the  top  of  tlie  box,  where  the 
eyes  were  still  bent  on  the  continued  wliittling,  in 
notes  like  the  snarl  of  a  coyote,  "Tlie  whole  damned 
concern." 

The  prices  of  provisions  were  exceedingly  unsteady, 
and  those  accustotned  earlv  in  the  morninij  to  enter 
the  markets  with  their  baskets  on  their  arms,  for  few 
delivered  what  they  sold  in  those  days,  soon  learned 
not  to  be  surprised  at  anything  in  the  way  of  prices. 


I'i  'i.  ^ 


VM 


>:4 


348 


BUSINESS. 


■1^  i 


! 


One  day  George  Eggleston  stood  behind  a  box  of 
fine  fresh  eggs  talking  with  Bob  Parker  from  whom 
he  rented  his  stand  when  a  customer  came  up. 
"How  much  are  eggs?"  "Six  dollars."  "What,  a 
box  ? "  "  No,  a  dozen."  "  Give  me  a  dozen."  Some- 
thing in  the  little  trade  struck  Parker,  who  delighted 
in  waggery,  as  a  little  ludicrous ;  probably  it  was  the 
indifference  with  which  the  customer  bought  eggs, 
paying  as  cheerfully  six  dollars  a  dozen  as  six  dollars 
a  box.  And  the  plot  of  a  little  joke  instantly  arose 
in  his  mind.  "George,"  said  he,  when  the  customer 
had  gone,  "  you  will  never  make  anything  in  this 
business  if  you  don't  keep  better  posted  in  prices." 
"  How  so  ?"  demanded  Eggleston.  "  Why,  here  you 
are  sellinjj  egijs  at  six  dollars  a  dozen,  when  the  regu- 
lar  price  everywhere  is  eighteen  dollars,"  responded 
Parker.  "  But  I  know  where  I  can  get  all  I  want  at 
throe  dollars,"  said  Eggleston.  "  That's  it,"  replied 
Parker.  "  Yt)U  haven't  the  business  sense  that  tells 
a  man  liow  to  make  avail  of  his  opportunities." 
Parker  tlien  turned  to  speak  t  «  a  friend ;  but  one  ear 
was  open  to  Eggleston's  doings  as  a  dai)per  little  man 
of  family  stepped  briskly  up  and  oegan  negotiations 
"Hello,  George,  those  are  nice  eggs;  how  do  ye 
sell  'oni."  "Well,"  replied  Eggleston,  somewhat 
slowly  and  denmrely,  "eggs  are  a  little  up  this  morn- 
ing; those  arc  eighteen  dollars  a  dozen."  "All  right, " 
said  tlie  little  man,  "  I'll  take  two  dozen."  And  he 
laid  down  the  thirty-six  dollars  far  less  grudgingly 
than  the  average  Boston  man  would  have  given 
thirty-six  cents  for  an  equal  quantity  of  the  same 
commodity. 

Potatoes  were  scarce  and  high  at  San  Francisco 
during  the  winter  of  1848-9,  and  as  there  had  been 
scurvy  in  the  mines  they  were  specially  desired. 
The  Hawaiian  Islands  crop  had  been  bought  and 
eaten,  and  the  ground  had  been  hoed  over  a  second 
time  for  what  had  been  left  the  first ;  for  prior  to  this 
last  operation  there  was  not  a  potato  for  sale  in  the 


PRICES  CURRENT. 


349 


town.  The  day  after  the  cleaning-up  ship  had  come 
in  from  the  Islands,  some  small  watery  specimens  of 
the  root  were  exhibited  in  the  market,  and  on  the 
doorpost  of  one  of  the  hotels  was  tacked  a  shingle 
on  which  was  (Chalked  "potatoes  for  dinner  to-day." 
And  early  that  morning  the  thrifty  burghers  of  the 
place  were  out  with  their  baskets,  smilingly  asking 
the  market  man  "How  do  you  sell  potatoes?"  "A 
dollar  and  a  half,"  the  rieply  would  come.  "Give  me 
a  bushel."  "A  bushel  I  They  are  a  dollar  and  a 
half  a  pound."     "Oh  I  ahl     I  will  take  two  pounds." 

California  gold  largely  increased  the  importation  of 
silks,  velvets,  laces,  jewelry,  and  other  articles  of 
luxury.  It  stimulated  the  building  of  houses,  and 
carriages,  the  breeding  of  horses,  but  not  the  rearing 
of  children ;  it  increased  the  number  of  theatres, 
balls,  parties,  and  concerts  four  fold,  and  advanced 
real  estate  values,  and  the  prices  of  all  commodities. 

One  day  a  man  having  1,500  dozen  eggs  for  sale, 
brought  in  by  a  coasting  schooner,  hailed  a  street  mer- 
chandise-broker, of  whom  there  were  hundreds  in 
those  days,  and  insisted  on  his  buying  them,  which 
the  broker  finally  did,  at  37^  cents  a  dozen.  Right 
away  the  buyer  began  to  sell  at  $4  50  a  dozen,  when 
the  first  seller  exclaimed  "  What  a  fool  I  have  been  1 " 
and  securing  the  remainder  at  the  last  mentioned 
price,  took  them  to  Sacramento  and  sold  them  at 
$6  a  dozen. 

When  tobacco  was  down,  a  man  desirous  of  build- 
ing a  house  on  made  ground  tumbled  in  boxes  of  it, 
enough  to  form  a  foundation.  Before  the  house  was 
built  tobacco  was  worth  $1  a  pound,  more  than  a 
dozen  such  houses.  Wanting  a  cn)S8  walk  one  threw 
in  sacks  of  beans,  which  shortly  after  were  worth 
thirty  cents  a  pound. 

At  the  restaurants  of  the  period.  Skinner's  chop 
house  on  Second  street,  Sacramento,  for  example, 
were  heard  all  the  old  cries  of  the  cheap  eating- 
houses  of  Fulton,  Ann,  and  Nassau  streets.   New 


VJf 


ip 


i! 


niji 


880 


BUSINESS. 


York.  Blustering  waiters  in  greasy  clothes  switch- 
ing filthy  towels  about  the  noses  of  their  guests, 
bawl  their  orders  from  morning  till  night  and  from 
night  till  almost  morning,  in  the  honorable  effort  to 
fill  the  stomachs  of  the  great  unwashed.  Loud  of  voice 
and  with  faces  red  they  cry,  through  the  hole  which 
opens  into  the  fizzing,  smoking  kitchen,  "Hurry  up 
them  cakes  1 ""  Plate  of  fish-balls  quick  1"  "One 
rare  steak  ;  one  hasli ;  plate  o'  fried  tripe,  with  one 
onion,  done  brown!"  "Come,  why  don't  yer  hurry 
up  them  cakes ;  don't  be  all  day  1 "  Thus  they  con- 
tinue, through  the  busy  hours  of  meal  time  amidst 
clatter  of  dishes,  and  now  and  then  a  crash  resulthig 
from  a  collisi(m  of  the  carriers,  varying  their  stern 
calls  with  benign  and  soothing  words  to  the  afflicted 
customers:  "  One  moment,  sir."  '•  I'll  attend  to  your 
case,  sir."  "  Now  then,  sir ;  we  have  as  you  perceive 
by  the  bill  of  fare  everything  you  can  wish,  sir."  A 
miner  mumbles  forth  his  order,  and  the  next  moment 
is  almost  lifted  from  his  seat  by  the  shout :  "  Cakes, 
sausage,  tripe,  fish-balls,  liver,  and  tea  for  one,  quick  1  * 

Long  Wharf,  by  which  name  the  lower  end  of  Com- 
mercial street  in  San  Francisco  was  known  in  the  early 
years,  was  tlie  rendezvous  for  thieves  and  thimble- 
riggers  as  well  as  for  all  sorts  of  peddlers,  criers  and 
"givers  away"  of  merchandise.  There  Cheap  John 
flourished  in  all  his  glory,  and  no  matter  how  hard  the 
times,  drove,  what  appeared  on  the  surface,  a  lively 
business. 

•'  That  feller  in  thar  talks  as  ef  he  had  his  tongue 
iled ;"  remarked  an  attentive  observer,  a  tall,  raw-boned, 
liatchet-faced  individual,  one  evening. 

"Talking  of  iles,"  immediately  broke  forth  the 
facetious  auctioneer  who  overheard  the  remark,  "I  have 
somethinof  here  which  I  ravther  think  will  kinder  take 
you,"  at  the  same  time  holding  up  as  many  bottles  of 
hair  oil,  brushes,  and  pieces  of  soap  as  both  hands 
could  contain. 

"  Here's  a  lot  of  goods,  gentlemen,  worth  in  a  reg- 


CHEAP  JOHN  AUCTIONS. 


S.'Sl 


ular  way  five  dollars."  The  crowd  smiled  audibly. 
•*Now,  I  don't  want  as  much  as  that,"  continued 
Cheap  John.  *'  Times  is  too  hard,  and  if  you  won't 
liave  'em  for  something  you  may  take  'em  for  nothing. 
I'll  put  'em  all  at  four-an'-a-'a'f.  Who'll  givenic  four? 
Take  'em  along  for  three,  gentlemen,  you  know  times 
is  hard  and  these  goods  must  he  cleaned  out  of  here. 
There  tliey  are  for  two-an'-a-'a'f.  Who  says  two? 
Down  they  go  at  one,  and  to  show  you  that  times  is 
hard  and  that  these  goods  must  be  sold,  there  they 
lire  for  fifty  cents,  and  I'll  never  ask  a  cent  more  nor 
cake  a  cent  less." 

"  Well,  mister,"  drawled  out  the  sharp-visaged  ob- 
server, who  by  this  time  had  worked  his  way  up  to 
the  counter,  "times  is  hard,  very  hard  I  may  say,  an' 
t  f  you'll  jest  throw  in  that  'ar  coat  an'  pants,  an'  that 
'ar  vest,  an'  fiddle  what's  hangin'  up  thar  agin  the 
wall,  why  dang  my  buttons  ef  I  don't  paternize  yer 
fifty  cents  worth." 

Sickness  was  an  expensive  pastime  in  those  days, 
and  to  indulge  in  some  diseases  was  much  more  ct)stly 
than  in  others.  The  fee-bill  of  the  San  Francisco 
iiit'dical  society,  organized  June  22d,  1850,  gives 
tlie  prices  for  various  visits  and  operations  rang- 
ing from  $16 — one  *  ounce,' — the  lowest,  to  $1 ,000.  A 
single  visit  was  $32  ;  a  visit  in  regular  attendance 
$32;  for  every  hour  detained  $32  additional;  advice 
$50  to  $100;  night  visits  as  consulting  physicians 
8100;  for  various  specified  operations  from  $500  to 
$1,000. 

Doctors  flourished,  and  as  a  class  were  no  more 
scrupulous  than  ministers  or  minors.  At  Yeates' 
raiicho,  in  1 841),  a  man  died.  He  had  two  yoke  of 
cattle  and  a  large  quantity  of  provisions  in  hia  wagon. 
Df  Sparks  took  care  of  him,  and  when  he  died  claimed 
the  rattle  and  wagon  for  the  doctor's  bill.  Dr  Sparks 
was  soon  taken  sick  and  Dr  Clinton  took  care  of  him. 
Sparks  died  and  Clinton  took  cattle,  wagon,  pro- 
visions and  all  the  property  Sparks  had,  for  his  bill. 


i   i 


<   <9 


M  BUSINESS. 

A  wag  published  in  the  Herald  of  June  6,  1851,  a 
caricature  model  business-letter  of  the  day,  from  a 
California  correspondent  of  an  eastern  shipper.  The 
receipt  of  several  hundred  ship-loads  of  goods  is 
acknowledged,  most  of  which  were  sold  at  half  their 
cost,  and  the  remainder  of  the  invoices  were  closed  by 
the  regular  fire  of  the  4th  ult.  "Some  two  hundred 
of  your  vessels,"  continues  the  letter,  "have  cleared 
for  China  and  the  Elast  Indies;  the  balance,  Hay  five 
hundred,  remain  in  port  from  our  hiability  to  negotiate 
further  drafts  on  you.  Most  of  them  are  less  liable  to 
sink,  as  they  now  lie  on  the  sand  flats,  than  they 
would  be  if  sent  to  sea,  and  we  would  advise  their  re- 
maining as  they  are  some  forty  or  fifty  years.  We 
would  advise  the  immediate  shipment  of  some  five 
hundred  assorted  cai^oes  as  the  supply  in  the  market 
is  not  more  than  sufficient  for  fifteen  months.  Any 
article  quoted  at  high  prices,  the  consumption  of 
which  is  limited,  should  be  shipped  in  large  quanti 
ties,  in  order  to  compete  with  the  host  of  other  ship- 
pers. In  shipping  dutiable  goods,  you  need  never 
provide  for  the  payment  of  the  duties,  as  we  are  at  all 
times  prepared  to  advance  the  amount  required  at  ten 
per  cent,  per  month  interest ;  or,  if  you  prefer  it,  have 
the  goods  stored  in  the  celebrated  U.  S.  fire-proof 
bonded  warehouses,  at  the  trifling  expense  of  seven 
dollars  per  ton  the  first  month,  and  three  dollars  each 
succeeding  month.  An  anniversary  fire  is  confidently 
expected  on  the  14tli  inst.,  when  we  hope  to  close 
most  of  our  consignments." 

Looking  at  the  fleet  of  vessels  at  anchor  in  the 
harbor,  one  wondered  how  it  was  possible  for  three 
hundred  thousand  men  to  consume  the  cargoes  of 
them  all.  But  these  three  hundred  thousand  weru 
equivalent  to  a  million  of  mingled  young  and  old, 
women,  children,  and  men.  Cities  were  to  be  built, 
farmes  stocked,  and  mines  developed,  and  all  this  re- 
quired immense  supplies  and  material.  Little  or 
uothing  was  then  produced ;  even  lumber  for  building, 


TRAITS  AND  CHARACTERISTICS 


3S3 


and  vegetables  and  grain,  were  shipped  from  distant 

ports. 

The  captain  of  a  vessel  landing  from  a  small  boat, 
throw  his  valise  upon  the  shore,  and  calling  out  to  a 
ship's  porter,  "Carry  that  valise  up  to  the  hotel,  my 
l>oy,"  pitched  him  a  half  dollar.  Drawing  back  from 
the  com,  which  he  had  permitted  to  fall  upon  the 
ground,  with  an  air  of  magnificent  disgust.  Jack  drew 
from  his  pocket  two  half  dollars,  and  throwing  them 
over  toward  the  captain,  exclaimed  as  he  turned  upon 
liis  heel,  "carry  it  up  yourself" 

Some  long-headed,  leathery-brained  Boston  Yankee 
i?ent  out  shot.  He  had  more  shot  than  he  could  sell 
av.  home,  and  he  had  been  told  that  there  was  consid- 
eiable  shooting  among  the  miners;  so  he  threw  into 
a  shipment  a  large  consignment  of  shot.  "Who 
wants  shot  in  California  I "  exclaimed  the  consignee. 

"  Nobody,"  replied  a  broker. 

"  What'll  ye  give  for  *em  ?  " 

"  Don't  want  'em." 

"Didn't  ask  if  you  wanted  them.  I  asked  what 
you  would  give  for   them." 

"  Oh  I  ten  or  twenty  cents  a  bag." 

"  Thoy  are  yours  at  twenty  cents." 

The  buyer  then  rubbed  up  his  wits,  and  presently 
sold  them  at  $4,  to  be  run  into  revolver  bullets.  Then 
lie  bought  a  lot  of  tacks  at  ten  cents  a  paper;  for 
"wliat  do  people  want  of  tacks  who  have  no  carpets?" 
ho  liad  asked.  But  when  they  began  to  tack  up  can- 
vass houses,  all  those  tacks  went  off  lively  at  $2  a 
pajHT. 

Of  the  firm  of  Priest,  Lee  and  Company,  at  Sutter's 
Fort,  was  Christopher  Taylor,  who  went  from  Oregon 
to  San  Francisco  in  1848,  on  the  brig  Henry,  which 
carried  down  produce,  lumber,  provisions,  and  passen- 
gers. In  company  with  several  Oregonians  he  pro- 
ceeded up  the  Sacramento  in  the  little  vessel  of  Sutter 
and  Hastings,  arriving  at  Sutter's  fort  in  September. 

Cal.  Int.  Poc     23 


3S4 


BUSIXESS. 


I :  mi 


'      I 


There  they  hired  a  team  to  take  them  to  Coloma,  at 
which  place  they  encamped.  He  whom  Mr  Taylor 
calls  his  partner  went  over  to  the  middle  branch, 
where  he  met  friends  whom  he  joined,  and  was  soon 
maiiing  one  or  two  hundred  dollars  a  day.  Being 
thus  left  alone,  Taylor  returned  to  the  fort,  arriving 
the  25th  of  September,  and  having  in  his  pocket  about 
twenty-five  dollars.  While  considering  in  just  what 
way  he  would  make  his  fortune,  his  money  being 
pretty  well  spent,  he  was  accosted  by  his  old  friend 
Barton  Lee.  "Chris,  what  are  you  going  to  do?" 
"Well,"  said  Taylor,  "I  think  I  shall  go  into  business 
here."  "You  are  just  the  man  I  want,"  returned 
Lee.     "Come  and  dine  with  me." 

Now  neither  of  these  individuals  had  capital  suffi- 
cient to  pay  a  week's  board;  yet  each  thought  the 
other  possessed  of  abundance.  Both,  however,  wore 
enliijhtened  before  dinner  was  over.  Lee  had  a  littlo 
the  advantage,  as  he  had  begun  a  large  business  by 
renting  a  room  in  the  fort  for  a  store,  though  he  had 
nothing  to  put  in  it.  For  this  he  had  promised  to 
pay  a  rental  of  $100  a  month;  the  first  month's  rout 
was  still  due.  These  interesting  facts  came  out 
gradually  between  courses,  as  they  might  be  told 
without  affecting  digestion. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  it  ?"  asked  Lee  after  dinner. 
"  I  think  I  shall  go  into  business,"  paid  Taylor.  '  *  Whore 
is  the  stock  to  come  from?"  inquired  Lee.  "Do  yf)U 
know  any  one  at  San  Francisco?"  "No  one,"  re- 
sponded Taylor.  "But  we  can  get  goods  enougli; 
we  will  buy  them."  There  were  at  this  tiujo  con- 
stantly arriving  from  the  bay  small  slooi)s,  laden  with 
such  goods  as  the  miners  required.  Assuming  the 
attitude  of  senior  partner,  although  Lee  had  tlie  room 
rented  before  him,  Taylor  said,  "While  I  sweep  out 
the  store,  you  go  down  to  the  embarcadero  and  buy 
out  the  first  vessel  that  arrives;  buy  ever^'thing  on 
board."  "  But  where  will  I  gc^t  money  with  whioli  to 
pay  for  it  all?"  Lee  wanted  to  know.     "Leave  tliut 


ifEANS  AND  MEAWRES. 


Mr 


to  me,"  replied  Taylor.  Lee  did  as  he  had  been  di- 
rected, and  returned  reporting  the  purchase  of  a  cargo. 
"What  does  it  consist  of?"  demanded  Taylor.  "Ore- 
gon bacon,  flour,  and  boots  and  slioes,"  was  the  reply. 
"Exactly  what  we  want,"  said  Taylor.  "About  tlio 
]»av — what  arranixemcnt  did  vou  make  ? "  " Not  anv." 
"Well,  in  the  morning  say  to  him  that  his  money  is 
ready,  and  he  shall  have  it  as  soon  as  the  goods  aio 
landed."  "That  is  all  very  well,"  said  Lee,  "but  I 
would  like  to  know  what  kind  of  a  scrape  I  am  gettiuk; 
into."  "Docs  the  captain  drink?"  "He  soaks  in  it 
all  the  time."  "All  right;  see  that  plenty  of  whisikcy 
i^  always  at  hand;  as  fast  as  the  cargo  is  dischar«ivHl, 
send  it  to  me,  but  do  not  lot  him  tjike  it  out  too  raj)- 
idly;  tell  him  our  team  is  worked  hard,  and  that  we 
are  so  crowded  we  cannot  st«nv  it  away  faster." 

All  went  on  smoothly  at  the  embarcadero.  The 
master  of  the  vessel  thouixht  Loc  one  of  the  best  men 
he  had  ever  met,  exceedingly  honest  and  trutliful. 
Tavlor  handled  himself  livelv  about  the  store.  Ha 
made  trade  brisk.  Some  of  tliose  in  the  crowd  that 
'.vas  coming  and  going  he  knew;  they  and  otheis 
wanted  supplies.  The  goods  as  they  arrived  were  not 
put  into  tlio  store,  but  were  piled  up  outside,  thus 
making  a  grand  display.  Such  largo  merchants  nmst 
surely  have  largo  means,  and  good  credit.  The  result 
of  it  all  was  the  merchandise  was  sold  as  fast  as  de- 
livered, and  when  the  captain  camo  for  }iis  money,  the 
jt.trtners  had  enough  to  pay  f  r  the  cargo,  vessel,  and 
all. 

It  happened  one  day  wirh  Mr  Palmer,  in  settling 
oil-hand  some  accounts  with  a  business  acquaintance 
involving  heavy  transactions,  that  he  stood  near  a  pile 
of  lumber.  There  was  due  the  man  from  i'ahner 
8-r),000,  for  which  Palmer  gave  a  check  on  Palmer, 
C()(»k,and  Company,  writing  it  with  chalk  on  a  shingle, 
which  was  presented  and  promptly  paid. 

The  diggers  alone  produced  the  gold ;  a,s  for  the 
rest,  all  preyed  on  them  and  on  each  other.     Even 


^1l 


il-li 


i '  Jl 


It 


"m 


BUSINESS. 


the  packers  and  traders  were  often  hard  pushed  to 
make  both  ends  meet,  as  when  Shnonton  sold  his 
mangy  dog  for  $50,  taking  in  pay  two  worthless  pups 
at  $25  each. 

In  the  summer  of  1851,  business  was  decidedly 
dull.  Everybody  comi)lained.  Many  returned  home. 
Miners  had  touched  bottom ;  for  agricultural  products 
there  would  be  no  demand,  and  the  country  was  miw 
a  good  one  to  leave.  Auctioneers  continued  to  ham- 
mer off  goods  at  rates  which,  after  paying  freight, 
cartage,  storage,  and  conunissions,  if  the  shipper  was 
not  brought  in  debt  himself,  he  might  deem  himself 
fortunate.  How  like  a  golden  dream  the  old  time 
came  over  them — ^the  brisk  trade,  and  three  and  five 
hundred  per  cent  profits  of  '49  and  '50 1  Alas,  but 
for  the  fires  they  might  now  be  at  home  enjoying  the 
fruits  of  their  enterprise,  instead  of  being  obliged,  for 
the  third  or  fourth  time,  to  try  it  just  once  more. 

None  felt  the  dull  times  which  seemed  to  settle  on 
San  Francisco  in  earnest  first  toward  the  spring  of 
1852  more  than  the  sporting  fraternity.  Many 
gambling-houses  did  not  make  enough  to  pay  the 
nmsic,  and  gamblers  did  not  refuse  to  ])lay  lor  as 
small  a  sum  as  a  quarter  of  a  dollar.  Fifty-dollar 
slugs  were  as  common  on  the  dealer's  table  four 
months  previous  as  silver  dollars  were  now.  The 
absence  of  rain  about  the  1st  of  March  made  business 
men  and  miners  blue.  People  were  just  beginning 
to  realize  the  full  effect  of  the  absence  of  rain  upon 
the  interests  of  the  country,  and  no  one  had  the  heart 
even  to  gamble.  Grand  raffles  were  then  started  to 
stimulate  the  flagging  spirits  of  gambling.  Tobin  and 
Duncan,  auctioneers  of  China  ^oods,  finding  them- 
selves with  a  large  stock,  and  bidding  being  slow,  en- 
gaged the  Jenny  Lind  theatre,  spread  out  a  brilliant 
array  of  prizes,  one  thousand  in  number,  consisting  of 
diamonds,  jewelry,  paintings,  and  China  fabrics,  and 
on  the  (Jth  of  March,  1852,  distributed  the  whole  by 
lot  amoniT  the  larire  audience  in  attendance.     Fi^■e 


among 


Ui'-lBi 


RAFFLES  AND  OTHER  GAMBLING. 


hours  were  occupied  in  the  drawing,  which  took  place 
under  the  superintendence  of  a  committee  of  eiglit 
persons.  The  first  prize,  a  diamond  watch  valued  at 
two  thousand  dollars,  was  drawn  by  one  Moses. 

Duncan's  Chinese  salesrooms,  thrown  open  the  5th 
of  April,  1853,  made  a  finer  display  of  Oriental  mer- 
chandise and  curiosities  than  any  similar  establishment 
in  Europe  or  America  before  or  since.  Spacious 
rooms,  tastefully  fitted  up,  were  crowded  with  costly 
Asiatic  goods,  })rescnting  the  appearance  more  of  a 
magnificent  museum  than  a  shop.  The  wealth  and 
splendor  of  the  Indies  were  spread  out  in  tempting 
array  for  the  benefit  or  ruin  of  purchasers — shawls 
from  Thibet  and  Cashmere,  silks  embroidered  bv  pa- 
tient Hindoos,  Chinese  robes,  ornaments  in  wood  and 
ivory,  work-boxes  of  Bombay,  scented  sandal-wood, 
grotesque  carriages  from  Japan,  porcelain  ware,  and 
paintings. 

Beside  the  elaborately  wrought  silk  and  crape 
shawls,  which  were  very  popular  at  first,  but  which 
soon  we  it  t  ni  of  fashion,  the  Chinese  shops  in  San 
Francisco  ottered  many  curious  articles.  Carved 
ivory,  representing  auunals,  cities,  pagodas,  junks; 
puzzles,  fans,  chess  and  checker-men  in  wood  and 
ivory ;  sandal-wood,  roots  twisted  into  peculiar  shapes; 
gorgeous  but  flimsy  silks,  satins,  and  velvets;  hila'id 
l.uMjuered  ware  and  china,  silver  filigree  work,  pictures, 
jDid  a  thousand  other  things,  displaying  the  a3sthetic 
shades  in  the  minds  of  those  half-civilized  heathen. 

Business  at  the  beginning  of  1854  was  pronounced 
(hill ;  everybody  was  complaining.  The  minors  lacked 
water,  tire  country  traders  money,  and  so  the  ware- 
In  >uses  of  the  city  must  groan  with  goods  and  their 
owners  with  mnui 

It.  would,  indeed,  have  been  very  strange  had  not 
sonio  become  <liscouraged.  One  man  landed  in  San 
Kniucisco  in  January,  1851,  with  $150,000  worth  of 
troods.  The  first  fire  after  his  arrival  destroyed  half 
ot  tliom,  the  next  swept  away  the  remainder,  and 


!   Ill  I 


:-     ^ 


f/0  BUSINESS. 

after  a  six  months  business  career  in  California,  he 
returned  home  ruuied  and  well-nigh  heai"t-broken. 
No  wonder  that  some,  their  fortunes  smitten  to  dust, 
predicted  for  the  city  the  fate  of  Babyh)n,  and  fled 
from  its  portals  as  from  the  gates  of  Sodom.  But 
notwithstanding  the  rapid  succession  of  disasters, 
^vhich  in  any  other  country  under  heaven  would  have 
sri'nied  fatal,  again  and  again  the  city  rose  from  its 
aslu'S,  and  its  people  buckled  on  anew  their  battered 
armor. 

Yet  the  spring  trade  of  1854  was  good.  It  fell 
olT  as  usual  toward  summer,  when  there  were  great 
complaints  against  insane  and  avaricious  eastern 
shii)i)ers  for  glutting  the  market  with  goods.  In 
August  there  was  a  revival  in  business  and  general 
pr<»spi'rity  throughout  the  state.  Notwithstaiidhig 
the  many  destructive  fires,  building  was  active,  and  in 
the  interior  tt)wns  a  better  class  of  liouses  were 
erected  than  ever  before.  Marysviile  was  specially 
lively  at  this  time,  and  the  coast  towns  fiom  Ban 
Diego  tA  Puget  Sound — San  Pedro,  Santa  Barbara, 
Santa  Cruz,  Monterey,  Eureka,  Trinidad,  Crescent 
City,  I\jrt  Orford,  and  others  began  to  show  signs  of 
progress. 

At  tine  of  the  sales  of  the  state's  interest  in  the 
city  of  San  Francisco  water  lots,  in  October  '854, 
1;12  lots  wen;  bid  oil'  to  a  certain  person  who  bubst- 
(juently  made  two  payments  on  account  of  tlie  same 
ill  accordance  with  the  terms  of  Siile.  At  the  proper 
tiniG  the  purchaser  presented  himself  before  the  auc- 
tioneers, the  agents  of  the  board  <*f  commissioners, 
pr<  j)ared  to  make  the  third  and  iiaal  ])ayment,  tt>- 
getlier  with  the  usual  commissions  and  a  fair  price  fer 
drawino;  ui>  the  deed.  The  Rircnts  for  tlio  sale  nt' 
the  state  s  interest  refused  to  receive  this  last  install- 
ment, unless  the  purchaser  would  pay  them  in  addi- 
tion to  their  legal  connnisslons  $1,1)80  for  making  out 
the  deed,  liehig  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  dollars  a  lot  f<r 
the  132  lots.     AlthoUirh  but  one  deed  for  the  entire 


CHANGE  AND  REGENERATION. 


359 


purchase  was  necessary,  the  auctioneer  claimed  the 
right  to  cliarge  the  same  as  if  132  dift'erent  deeds 
had  been  drawn  up.  This  exorbitant  demand  the 
purcliaser  refused  to  pay  and  the  lots  were  resold  by 
the  commissioners'  agents. 

Thus  matters  progressed.  From  a  savage  wilder- 
ness there  soon  emerged  a  settled  community ;  fortunes 
were  made  and  lost ;  cities  arose  like  magic  and  were 
destroyed  by  fire  or  flood  in  a  breath ;  one  day  the 
noisy  industry  of  a  busy  population  echoed  through 
the  liills  and  ravines,  and  the  next  all  was  deserted  as 
if  smitten  by  the  plague ;  speculative  excess,  gamb- 
ling, and  debauchery  ran  riot,  while  decency  stood 
l)y  helpless  to  restrain.  Unworthy  and  unprincipled 
men  usurped  the  highest  offices,  and  by  tlieir  nefari- 
ous schemes  filled  their  pockets  and  those  of  their 
abettors  with  the  ill-gotten  gains  of  pilfering  and  dis- 
honesty, and  all  this  time  tlie  press  was  either  silent 
through  fear  of  })ersonal  injury,  or  basely  sold  itself 
to  uphold  iniquity.  Then  can)e  a  change  for  the 
better.  Vice  was  compelled  to  retire  from  ]>ublic 
gaze;  the  gambl(;r  and  the  harlot  were  no  longer 
allowed  to  ply  their  trades  on  the  most  public 
t!;orough fares  in  the  broad  light  of  oixiu  day,  and 
the  beu'/li  Itecame  in  a  measure  purified. 

Yet  public  and  private  enterprises  of  a  substantial 
aiul  permanent  character  were  projected  and  cairied 
out  in  greater  numbers  and  more  rapidly  than  hith- 
erto. Formerly,  such  only  were  attempted  as  would 
immediately  }'ield  a  ricli  rew'ard,  and  these  wcni  ac- 
<  oiiiplish*!*!  with  the  least  possible  expense,  and  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  last  only  for  the  time  being.  T(>nts, 
liuts,  and  log-cabhis  were  the  h(mies  of  the  ndner,  a 
raft  was  his  ferry-boat,  and  a  scratch  upon  tlie  hillside 
liis  water-ditch.  The  towns  and  cities  were  of  nmsh- 
rooni  growth,  merchants  cooked  and  sKpt  in  their 
;'!)lit-board  stores,  find  guarded  their  goods  and  tri'as- 
urcs  from  thieves  and  fires.  Farming  life  was  no  bet- 
ter, and    exhibited    ft  w  evidences  of  that    spirit   of 


1 '» 


360 


BUSINESS. 


content  and  permanence  which  now  began  to  appear 
m  well-tilled  lands,  with  fences  pnd  drains  in  hand- 
some dwellings  with  cultivated  j^urdens  and  commo- 
dious outhouses.  Culture  and  improvement  began,  to 
be  seriously  considered;  institutions  ..ore  organized 
devoted  to  morals,  religion,  temperance,  and  the  ini 
provement  of  the  mental  and  physical  condition  of  tlit 
young.  Plank  roads  were  made,  and  substantial 
bridges  built  across  the  principal  streams. 

Some  eastern  men  made  money  in  California,  but 
more  lost  heavily.  If  from  sickness,  fire,  flood,  or 
any  other  cause,  the  extravagant  ideas  of  eastern 
speculators  failed  to  bo  realized,  agents  were  accused 
of  frcaud,  and  the  reputation  of  the  whole  country 
called  in  question.  A  loss  is  mourned  in  louder  tones 
than  tell  a  profit,  and  as,  owing  to  the  chaotic  state  of 
aflairs,  venture  after  venture  was  lost,  and  men  wlio 
had  been  known  and  trusted  from  boyhood  slipped 
from  tlio  fingers  of  rectitutle,  the  world  was  filled  with 
complaints  of  California,  and  it  was  thought  that  goM 
and  its  corrupting  influences  had  so  undermined  tic 
principles  of  its  votaries  that  the  atmosphere!  of  the 
Pacific  slope  was  tainted  with  moral  contagion.  How 
manv  of  those  men  labored  true  to  their  trust  amidst 
the  most  disheartening  reverses,  their  friends  at  home 
never  knew  Rushing  liither,  blind  to  all  before  them, 
they  fouTtd  u  condition  of  afl^airs  xery  dift'erent  from 
what  tliey  ha<J  anticipated.  The  mart  was  crowded 
with  artiel<H  unauited  to  the  nujuirements  of  the 
country,  and  lacking  what  it  needed  most.  The  mines 
did  not  yield  inevitable  and  immediate  wealth,  but 
severe  labor  was  there  rewarded  by  fluctuating  suc- 
cess, so  that  the  most  faithful  to  their  trust  wiiv 
sometimes  forced  to  annul  contracts  and  diHa|)}M)iiit 
expectation. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER. 


Al  mondo  mal  uon  e  senza  rimedio. 


— Sanncaaro. 


In  newly-settled  regions  rural  siujplicity  is  rare. 
Igntiranco,  stupidity,  bigotry  tluTo  may  be  in  abund- 
iUH'o,  V>ut  tbat  innocence  which  arises  from  isolation, 
fn>m  the  absence  of  the  contaminating  influences  of 
fusil  ion,  frivolity,  falsity,  from  the  arts  and  humbug 
of  liigh  life,  and  from  the  demoralizing  tendencies  of 
social  intermixtures,  leading  to  deceit  and  dissipation, 
is  seldom  ft)und  in  rural  districts  recently  occupied. 
For  the  harassing  cares,  the  asj)critics,  the  trials  of 
ttinpcr  attending  family  migrations,  the  clearing  of  a 
wilderness,  and  the  planting  of  a  home  are  not  such 
as  foster  single-mindedness,  domestic  religion,  and  the 
tenderer  graces. 

As  time  went  by,  the  moral  and  social  condition  of 
tlie  mining  towns  greatly  improveil.  There  was  an 
industrious,  orderly,  and  intelligent  population,  with 
wives  and  sisters;  there  were  churches,  and  schools, 
and  libraries,  and  newspapers;  there  were  well-filled 
shops,  and  money  enough  to  patronize  them,  but  yet 
tliey  were  far  from  being  like  the  clean  ipiii't  villages 
of  New  York  or  New  England.  The  stoics  were 
o|>eii  on  Sunday,  and  the  saloons  were  better  filled 
than  the  churches.  The  door  of  the  harlot  opened 
upon  the  most  public  thoroughfare,  and  from  within 
mi^ht  be  heard  by  the  passer-by  the  ribald  oath  and 
oltscene  jest,  and  the  chinking  of  the  gambler's  che<  ks. 

<3f.l) 


ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER. 


II  '! 


Houses,  streets,  and  society,  and  life  in  general,  ap- 
peared crude  and  raw,  as  indeed  they  were. 

Immigration,  though  decreasing  in  numbers,  gained 
in  quality.  The  character  of  its  composition  changed. 
Men  now  came  to  stay,  bringing  with  them  their 
families,  their  lares  and  penates,  and  sufficient  money 
to  establish  themselves  in  some  industry  tending  to 
the  increase  of  conuncrce,  or  to  the  development  of 
the  country.     The  fitful  and  irrational  passion  which 

{)rompted  earlier  innnigration  was  less  indulged  in  by 
ater  comers,  who  sought  success  where  success  is 
usually  found,  in  permanent  plodding  rather  tiian  in 
sudden  acquirement.  There  were  new  avenues  of 
industry  opened,  and  plains  and  valleys  were  orna- 
mented with  homes,  made  attractive  by  cultivation 
without  and  endearments  within. 

Immiijration  was  wanted:  but  not  that  kind  of 
immigration  which  characterized  the  first  settlement 
of  this  country,  and  of  many  new  countries ;  not  the 
lowest  and  vilest  from  the  purlieus  of  cities,  nor 
gamblers,  nor  ephemeral  speculators;  but  earnest, 
honest,  hard-working  and  law-abiding  men  and  women, 
who  should  comeacrossthe  plains  with  their  ox-teams, 
their  household  goods,  and  their  little  ones;  or  cross- 
ing the  water,  should  come  to  plant  themselves  in  a 
new  soil,  and  there  remain  and  build  up  for  them- 
selves and  their  posterity  a  new  home.  The  daN's  of 
the  adventurers  were  past;  in  coming  they  fulfilled 
their  destiny,  acted  their  part  in  the  great  social  up- 
heavals which,  in  their  coalescing,  outlined  the  config- 
urations of  future  institutions,  gave  boundaries  to 
thought,  and  color  and  cHmax  to  ideas;  but  now  tlu  ir 
work  was  done,  and  the  slower  process  of  disintegia- 
tion  and  alligation   must   be  accomplished    by  otlirr 


agencies. 


Three  years  had  scarcely  passed  before  it  was  dis- 
covered that  California  possessed  charms  as  powerful 
to  retain  as  to  attract.  It  was  a  proud  thing  for  the 
young  villager  to  visit  his  old  home  with  well-lined 


THE  RETURNED  CALIFORXIAN.  ||t 

pockets,  the  admiration  of  the  girls,  the  envy  of  his 
former  companions,  and  the  special  object  of  interest 
of  the  old  folks.  It  was  grand  and  hertuc  to  be  of 
California.  Tamely  to  settle  in  the  slow  old  home 
after  participating  in  the  glories  of  gold-digging, 
gambling,  and  free  fighting  wa.s  out  of  the  (|uestion. 
Nor  were  home  and  friends  and  occupation  to  the  more 
enliglitened  from  the  larger  cities,  ever  again  the  same 
after  a  residence  in  San  Francisco.  Speculation  and 
conmiercial  pursuits  after  the  old  fashion  oH'erod  no 
attractions  after  having  made  three  or  four  fortunes 
with  lightning  rapidity  one  after  another,  though 
they  were  swept  away  by  fire  as  fast  as  made.  So 
gradually  the  contemplated  brief  sojourn  lengthened 
into  a  fixed  residence,  the  family  was  sent  ft>r,  and 
tlicn  apparently  for  the  first  time  the  husband  and 
father  opened  his  eyes  to  the  iniquity  around  him 
and  went  to  work  in  company  with  wife  and  daughter 
to  bring  about  a  better  state  of  things.  And  this 
moral  morass  was  reclaimed  almost  as  speedily  as  it 
was  formed.  Healthy  plants  could  not  grow  in  a 
swamp  of  festering  corruption  The  question  was 
simply  should  the  country  be  reclaimed  to  virtue  or 
should  vice  prevail.  And  now  the  easy  citizen  and 
loose  moralist  becomes  a  reformer.  If  the  country  is 
worth  making  his  home  in — and  do  his  best  he  can- 
not live  away  from  it — then  it  is  worth  purifying  and 
directing  in  its  young  growth.  So  public  gambling 
is  suppressed,  prostitution  driven  from  the  more  promi- 
h' nt  thoroughfares,  libraries  are  founded,  churches 
l>uilt,  and  schools  established;  charitable  institutions 
spring  up,  and  the  ocean  air,  as  it  passes  through  the 
streets  of  the  city  and  over  the  bay,  towaril  the  labor- 
ers in  the  valleys  and  in  the  mines,  carries  with  it  less 
of  pollution  and  blasphemy  than  formerly ;  a  long 
breatJi  of  it  may  now  be  taken  without  suffocation. 

Enough  sudden  fortunes  were  made'  enough  rich 
deposits  unlocked,  to  keep  alive  the  flame  of  expecta- 
tion.    Who  knows,  thought  the  patient  unsuccessful 


i 


ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER. 


delver  but  that  my  turn  may  come  next,  and  my  lifo 
be  illuminated  by  the  roseate  tints  of  gold,  warm 
mellow  metal,  transcendent  gold.  Take  for  example 
the  tunneling  operations  which  in  1854-5  dissected 
every  hill.  Without  capital,  without  means  even  to 
buy  bread,  four  or  six  or  ten  men  form  themselves 
into  a  "ompany  and  coolly  begin  a  work  requiring 
years  of  irbor  and  thousands  of  dollars  to  complete. 
Buoyed  by  faith  hi  theories  of  world-building  you 
hear  them  talking  of  ages  past  as  other  men  talk  of 
yesterday,  reasoning  of  the  time  when  channels  of 
rivers  wound  round  the  lofty  hills,  when  through  a 
silent  world  tenantless  streams  rolled  into  a  saltless 
sea. 

Thus  strong  in  faith,hope  feeds  and  clothes  the  phil- 
osophic miner  for  months  and  years.  He  lives  and  la- 
bors, he  scarcely  knows  how.  Time  passes  ;  the  end 
approaches;  the  last  blow  is  struck;  the  point  is  reached 
which  marks  success  or  failure.  Round  him  who 
washes  the  first  i)rospcct-pan  on  reaching  the  end  of  the 
shaft  or  tunnel,  agroup  gathers  breathless  with  anxiety. 
One  with  furrowed  brow,  and  silver-sprinkled  hair,  and 
features  fixed  and  immobile  from  care  and  toil,  thinks 
of  her  who  with  him  has  started  down  the  limitless 
decline,  whose  days  will  soon  be  past  brightening 
with  gold,  and  whose  fate  for  life  with  that  of  others 
dear  to  him,  the  next  five  minutes  may  decide.  An- 
other, a  young  sire,  forgotten  of  his  children,  scours 
into  a  fiery  glow  the  hairy  skin  above  the  heart,  calls 
back  his  flitting  fancy  from  the  heaven  of  the  old 
home,  and  peers  into  that  pan  of  dirt  as  into  an  oracle. 
Yet  another,  little  more  than  boy  in  years,  though  old 
enough  in  experience,  delicately  featured  and  boarinLf 
signs  of  good  breeding,  the  small  hands  hardened,  and 
fingers  cramped  by  crowbar  and  pickhandle,  yet  not 
so  stltf  but  they  can  renew  by  every  steamer  the  story 
of  unchanged  love  to  her  whose  image  fills  his  heart, 
ah  t  What  means  the  product  of  that  pan  of  dirt  to 
him? 


SLAVES  AND  SLAVEHOLDERS. 


3r>5 


Less  and  less  become  the  contents,  until  at  last  the 
result  is  known — two  ouiicos  they  think  it  is,  but  call 
it  an  ounce,  and  their  fortunes  are  made.  Yet  for 
ivery  one  who  wins,  let  it  be  remembered,  ten  fail. 
And  what  means  failure  such  as  this?  It  means  a 
slice  (►f  life  thrown  to  the  dogs,  a  measure  of  capabili- 
ties emptied  upon  a  dunghill,  capal)ilities  of  enjoying, 
(if  improving;  it  means  grayer  hairs,  deeper  furrowed 
lineaments,  and  stiH'er  limbs,  with  no  results  in  ac(iui- 
sition  worth  living  for.  And  besides  this  loss  of 
time,  of  hope,  of  energy,  it  means  bankruptcy,  a  long 
unpaid  and  unpayable  score  at  the  butcher's  and  a 
dozen  other  like  places;  it  means  in  the  man  and  all 
iiis  affairs  demoralization,  if  not  Indeed  dissipation  and 
death. 

The  absence  of  cant  and  fanaticism,  and  the  liberalized 
views  of  the  people  on  all  subjects  saved  California 
from  most  of  those  festering  disputations  and  argu- 
iii'-nts  to  which  the  question  of  slavery  gave  birth  in 
other  states  of  the  confederacy.  Here  all  the  world 
met  as  on  neutral  ground,  ignoring  bootless  argument 
(»ii  topics  foreign  to  their  immediate  purp(»se.  Ques- 
tions of  social  policy  were  based  for  the  most  part  on 
utilitarian  ])rinciples ;  doctrines  and  dogmas  were  left 
to  those  who  had  more  leisure  to  discuss  them.  While 
m;uiy  were  in  favor  of  the  admission  of  California  as  a 
slave  state,  the  majority  were  decidedly  opposed  to  it; 
yet  northerners  were  not  disposed  to  quarrel  with 
slaveholders  for  bringiny:  with  them  their  servants, 
and  permitting  them  to  work  for  their  masters  as  long 
as  they  pleased.  In  the  mining  districts  and  in  the 
towns  tnere  were  many  slaves,  who  of  course  could 
leave  their  masters  at  any  moment,  and  did  in  tlie  end 
leave  them,  yet  for  the  time  and  midst  the  hubbub  of 
eontonding  events  they  preferred  bondage  to  a  sever- 
aiiec  of  old  ties. 

In  this  pandemonium  plunge,  ten  centuries  of  cul- 
ture and  superstition  were  flung  to  the  winds.  There 
were   new   thoughts,    new   hearts,    new   dress,    new 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


I.I 


1.25 


m 


IIIIM 
IIIIU 

m 

1140 


2.0 


U    III  1.6 


V 


^^ 


^» 


c».    .''I^   •;> 


Photographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


?^  WB?T  MAIM  STREET 

WEBSTI-^.N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


A. 


;:<? 


Sp. 


ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  LIFE  AND  CHAnACTER. 


speech,  and  new  names.  Conventionalisms,  creeds, 
and  politics  were  left  at  home  in  coming  hither;  here 
were  new  conditions  for  a  fresh  unfolding.  New  con- 
ventionalities arose,  crude  and  strange,  born  of  the 
necessities  of  the  new  society;  for  intellect,  volition, 
and  passion  must  of  necessity  develop  form  and 
fashion. 

Some  trivial  circumstance — anything  which  hap- 
pened to  strike  the  fancy  of  the  dominant  spirits 
anionff  his  new  associates — as  likelv  as  not  fastened 
upon  each  new  comer  an  appellation  which  adliercd 
to  him  through  life.  Thus  the  dress  of  one  suggested 
the  name  of  Frippery  Jim,  the  complexion  of  another 
that  of  Black  Bill  or  Red  Rover. 

Almost  ev^ery  mining  camp  had  its  Yank  and  Sandy, 
its  Little  Breeches,  Pike,  Boston,  Mississippi,  Mis- 
souri, Bricktop,  and  so  on,  names  significant  of  pecu- 
liarity or  place.  There  was  no  one  to  vouch  for  the 
truth  of  the  stranger's  statements  concerning  himself. 
It  was  scarcely  to  be  supposed  that  he  would  give  liis 
past  character  exactly  according  to  the  record;  and  who 
knew  but  that  he  might  also  have  changed  his  name  ? 
"Who  are  you?"  in  a  tone  by  no  means  likely  to  ])lacc 
a  timid  man  at  his  ease,  was  the  first  question. 
"Sturgis,  Deacon  Sturgis,  they  used  to  call  me  in 
Connecticut,  where  I  came  from."  "You  a  deacon," 
with  an  ominous  step  forward,  "Hell  is  full  of  sucli 
deacons  1"  Another  quick  survey  for  a  salient  point, 
and  a  sanctimonious  air  seems  predominant,  which 
together  with  the  report  given  of  the  new  arrival  de- 
termines the  matter.  "This  is  Pious  Pete,"  and  if 
the  christened  one  was  wise,  he  would  gracefully  ac- 
cept his  new  name,  and  invite  all  hands  to  partake  of 
the  new  communion. 

San  Francisco,  as  well  as  Athens,  had  its  Diogenes. 
Philosopher  Pickett  was  his  name.  Between  Picket  t 
and  his  Athenian  prototype  there  existed  certain  dif- 
ferences incident  in  some  measure  to  differences  in 
age  and  country.     For  example,  instead  of  rolling  in 


A  SAN  FRANCISCO  DIOGENES. 


367 


hot  sand,  and  clasping  snow-clad  statues,  the  Califor- 
iiian  philosopher  sunned  himself  on  the  piazza  of  liis 
hotel,  and  drank  iced  juleps.  His  tub  stood  in  the 
lobby  of  the  legislature,  where  he  practised  the  pro- 
fession of  connnanding  men. 

However  at  heart  a  cynic,  the  surface  was  charm- 
inirly  bland.  So  it  always  was  with  Californian 
philosopliers.  Of  whatsoever  school,  the  very  first 
requisite  was  a  free  and  easy  demeanor.  This,  with 
always  a  readiness  to  drink  at  some  one  else's  expense, 
and  a  hajipy  faculty  of  impelling  the  hands  of  listeners 
into  their  pockets  for  the  benefit  of  a  bar-room  com- 
jiany,  were  qualities  in  obtaining  an  ascendency  over 
tlie  mind  more  fruitful  than  flagellations,  chastity, 
})()verty,  or  any  species  of  antics  or  asceticism. 

(jffice-seekers  were  not  slow  to  perceive  that  Phil- 
osoplier  Pickett  was  endowed  with  qualities  of  great 
value  to  every  one  except  himself  It  is  enough  fov 
a  jthilosophcr  to  be  a  philosopher.  The  moment  he 
seeks  wealth  or  political  preferment  the  pedestal 
crunil)les,  and  he  becomes  like  other  men,  earthy. 

Once  a  candidate  for  a  legislative  clerkship,  noticing 
the  extended  acquaintance  and  easy  influence  of  the 
pliilosopher,  determined  to  approach  him.  The  little 
man  was  courteous,  and  verj""  free  with  his  half  dollars 
about  bars  and  billiard-tables.  In  due  time  the  appli- 
(ant  for  office  broached  the  subject  nearest  his  heart, 
and  begged  the  philosopher's  influence.  Pickett 
turned  to  him  in  apparent  surprise,  as  if  the  man's 
every  movement  for  the  past  three  days  had  not  dis- 
covered his  ambition,  and  straighteninii  his  slim  fiijure 
to  its  full  height,  fixed  upon  hmi  a  pair  of  glittering 
yray  eyes,  and  spake  : 

"  Sir,"  said  he,  "  I  am  the  last  man  outside  of  Plato's 
n{)ublic  from  whom  you  should  solicit  aid.  Should  I 
advocate  your  claim,  the  meudjcrs  would  suspect  you 
lionest;  and  surely  you  nmst  know  that  an  honest 
niiui  stands  no  more  chance  before  a  California  legis- 
lature than  a  cat  in  hades  without  claws."     The  laa- 


.v^,sl.-,,F 


if 


'V 


368 


ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER. 


guage  of  Californian  philosophers,  it  will  be  observed, 
is  more  forcible  than  elegant.  "  If  you  want  office," 
continued  Pickett,  "cheat  at  poker,  brawl  o'  nights, 
murder  a  man  or  two,  show  your  breadth  at  bribery, 
— anything  rather  than  display  such  weak  imperfec- 
tions as  honor,  honesty,  and  good  character.  Our 
legislators  will  none  of  these." 

Many  a  walking  romance,  many  an  epic  in  flaunt- 
ingr  robes  or  rags  has  wandered  these  hills.  Far  be- 
yond  the  limits  of  human  habitations,  on  the  top  of  a 
mound  surrounded  by  what  was  called  the  Doomed 
valley,  there  once  lived  a  personage  known  as  the  Old 
Man  of  the  Mountain.  No  one  knew  his  name,  or 
who  he  was,  or  whence  he  came.  He  was  absent  all 
day,  no  one  knew  where,  returning  regularly  at  night, 
and  he  was  never  seen  to  cook  or  eat  anything.  The 
scattered  cooking  utensils  appeared  never  to  have  been 
used  by  him.  Finally  he  vanished  as  mysteriously  as 
he  had  come.  How  many  hermits  have  walked  the 
streets  of  this  strange  city,  and  how  many  hermitages 
have  there  been  in  unfurnished  rooms  and  boai'ding- 
house  garrets  1 

In  common  with  men  true  to  themselves,  the  intel- 
ligent, the  honest,  the  faithful  of  every  nation, 
California  became  the  rendezvous  of  prize-fighters, 
thieves,  gamblers,  and  murderers.  Convicts  came 
over  from  Australia,  bold  desperadoes  of  the  order  of 
Saint  Giles,  and  outlaws  from  various  parts.  It  was 
the  paradise  of  the  disgraced,  the  bankrupt,  the  de- 
faulter, the  felon.  But  happily  these  were  a  short- 
lived race,  and  there  was  enough  of  a  different  element 
at  first  to  leaven  the  mass,  and  finally,  in  the  shape  of 
vigilance  committees,  to  purify  it.  Then  there  were 
numberless  intermediate  and  less  influential  grades, 
such  as  would-be  leaders  of  cliques,  who  conceived  it 
their  mission  to  enlighten  mankind  and  exalt  them- 
selves; exquisites,  gentlemen  by  profession,  and  by 
profession  only,  whose  feathers  were  speedily  plucked 
by  humbug-haters,  who  grew  apace  in  the  congenial 


UNITY  IN  VARIETY. 


369 


atmosphere ;  the  excessively  prim  and  puritanical,  who 
when  they  fell  never  stopped  mitil  they  reached  bot- 
tom; godless  young  men,  of  rich  and  honorable  parent- 
age, who  preferred  the  woollen  sliirt  and  unkempt 
beard  of  the  miner  with  immediate  independence  to 
the  more  sedate  and  less  venturesome  life  of  plodding 
ros[)ectability,  with  the  crowning  honor  of  church 
dcaconship  or  bank  director  to  gild  its  latter  days. 

Notwithstanding  the  diversity  of  character  here 
displayed,  diverse  in  thought,  customs,  beliefs  and 
tongues,  there  was  almost  immediately  apparent — in 
tlie  Caucasian  portion  of  the  society  at  least — a  re- 
markable homogeneity  and  oneness  in  adaptation  to 
the  new  order  of  things.  Strangers  to  each  other's 
faces,  to  each  other's  hearts,  to  each  other's  idiosyn- 
( rasies,  come  from  strange  lands  into  a  land  strange 
to  all,  and  there  at  once  fit  themselves  to  strange  and 
improvised  ways  never  before  heard  of  by  any.  The 
facility  with  which  the  several  elements  coalesced  may 
be  attributed  to  two  causes.  First,  although  the  up- 
rising was  general  and  proceeded  from  nations  distant 
and  diverse,  the  exodus  was  one  of  certain  homogene- 
ous elements,  no  less  individual  and  distinct  than  other 
migrations  of  peoples.  Human  nature  the  world  over 
is  framed  on  one  model,  and  the  component  parts  of 
au  individual  society,  though  widely  scattered  origin- 
ally, may  be  collected  and  fused  into  recognised  metal 
wliich  shall  pass  current  in  all  societies.  Certain 
qualities  and  classes  throughout  all  the  contributing 
nations,  were  alike  touched  by  the  knowledge  of  the 
gold  discovery,  and  rose  up  in  answer  to  one  common 
impulse.  Secondly,  being  thus  brought  together  obe- 
dient to  common  promptings  for  the  accomplishment, 
eacli  for  himself,  of  a  common  object,  there  was  a  sympa- 
thy of  interests  and  a  connnunity  of  thought  and  action 
never  displayed  by  characteristics  and  nationalities  so 
varied  and  extended  since  the  crusades.  The  fact  is,  so- 
ciety here  was  at  once  so  unique  and  abnormal,  that  it 
was  impossible  for  anyone  thrown  into  it  not  to  con- 


•  i 


I  Iff  >s 


Cal.  Int.  I'oc.    24 


p 


870 


ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER. 


form  in  some  measure  to  its  demands;  and  this  necessity, 
which  hes  at  the  foundation  of  all  progressional  law, 
threw  over  the  moral  and  physical  aspect  of  the  peo- 
ple the  same  general  tint.  All  had  C(mie  hither  t<> 
achieve  gold;  sudden  acquisition  of  enormous  weaitli 
was  the  one  idea,  and  all  those  social  fictions  which 
connnon  sense  vainly  seeks  a  reason  for  were  thrown 
to  the  winds.  High  and  low,  educated  antl  ignorant, 
polished  and  rude,  are  all  confounded  in  an  all-absorb- 
in<>-  fraternitv  of  labor.  Under  the  woolen  sh.irt  and 
grizzled  beard  the  former  dandy  may  scarcely  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  blacksmith,  or  the  master  from 
his  man. 

How  sadly  has  the  world  degenerated  !  See  that 
ragged  blear-eyed  tailor.  Twenty  years  ago  he  was 
a  white-shirted,  shaved  and  nmstachioed  gambler, 
with  his  monte  bank,  his  mistress,  and  his  mule,  all 
the  gayest  of  the  gay.  The  songbirds  were  not 
liohter-lieartedthanhe,ashe  went  home  in  the  mornini; 
and  turned  into  bed  for  a  sleep  after  a  successful  nigl it 
of  it.  Then  how  professions  have  changed  and  mixetl 
themselves  up  since  then.  There  are  mechanics 
turned  preachers;  preachers  turned  politicians;  edi- 
tors turned  lawyers  and  lawyers  editors;  a  whilom 
bartender  now  practises  medicine,  and  yonder  scrawny- 
featured,  shaggy-headed  individual  in  Sam  Slick  cos- 
tume takes  photographs — very  bad  ones — in  the 
mornings,  and  sits  upon  the  judicial  bench  dealing- 
out  justice,  too  often  as  blurred  as  his  pictures,  in  tlie 
afternoon.  Dram-sellers  have  become  millionaires, 
and  millionaires  and  paupers  alike  have  passed  down 
the  dance  of  death  to  the  time-racket  of  delirium  tre- 
mens.  Ancient  washerwomen  are  drawn  through 
the  streets  in  satin-lined  carriages  by  caparisoned 
horses,  and  attended  by  liveried  servants,  while  these 
who  have  known  better  days  sit  pale  and  sad  of  heart 
sewing  from  early  till  late  for  bread. 

Yet,  with  all  their  Acherons  and  rivers  of  sorrow 
rolling  over  them,  conscious  always  of  sowing  hero 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  MEN. 


371 


liun 


the  eternal  seeds  of  misery,  despair  and  death  ever 
gnawing  at  tlieir  heart-strings,  tlie  unsuccessful  ones 
carrv  a  bold,  brave  front,  treating  lightly  misfortune. 
Melpomene's  tragic  face  is  wreathed  in  laughing  ivy. 
They  are  not  the  men  to  groan  over  sickness  and  mis- 
fortune. They  toil  on,  bankrupt  in  everything  but 
li()])(\  doul)t  contending  with  expectation  as  the  pick, 
blow  after  blow,  shiks  among  the  boulders,  with  no 
more  thought  of  giving  up  than  the  gambler  who 
loses  a  bet.  Their  life  has  been  a  ha [>py -go-lucky 
one ;  every  bh)w  they  struck  was  a  wager.  No  won- 
der tlicy  used  to  bet  at  the  gaming  tables,  it  being  so 
iiiucli  easier  to  ofamble  thus  than  to  bet  a  hard  dav's 
work  against  the  ten  dollars  that  tlu^y  would  get  or 
iii>t  get.  Thus  we  see  how  money  which  comes  freely 
tVoiii  river  bank  or  faro  bank  would  go  freely  ;  we  see 
Low  it  was  that  prodigality  would  follow  so  closely 
ujion  the  heels  of  avarice;  we  see  liow  infidelity 
springs  from  Impulse,  until  only  one  prayer  is  left  to 
tile  miner.  "Give  us,  O  God,  with  the  appetite,  the 
ijold  to  satisfv  it. 

In  a  general  analysis  of  character  prevailing  in 
Californian  societv  in  its  nascencv,  we  must  not  lose 
siojit  of  its  composite  and  heterogenous  qualities. 
Each  individual  member  of  societv  was  a  particle, 
independent  of  and  in  a  manner  antagonistic  to  every 
otlier  particle.  Notwithstanding  the  general  homo- 
geiieitv  of  material,  there  were  antagonisms  of  inter- 
est, of  disposition,  of  morals.  Final  concretion  had 
not  yet  set  in.  There  was  then  an  absence  of  those 
(Tu|ue-formations,  political  coalescino's,  and  little  society 
or\  stalizations  which  have  since  become  so  marked  a 
fratiire  in  the  connnunitv;  and  when  orixanizations 
came,  one  of  the  first  was  a  banding  of  villians  for 
])inposes  of  depredathm.  Every  honest  man's  mind 
was  intent  upon  its  own  aftairs,  and  dwelt  littl<>  on 
tlios(^  affecting  others  or  the  public  weal,  except  where 
s;if('ty  or  greater  gain  made  closer  connnunion  neces- 
sary.    All  were  strangers  to  each  other;  of  their  past 


' 


372 


ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  LIFE  AND  CHARArTER. 


lives  tliere  was  no  record  nor  current  report ;  men  of 
tastes  and  habits  the  most  opposite, such  as  the  phil- 
osopher and  the  charlatan,  the  missionary  and  mur- 
derer, the  merchant  and  the  highwayman,  were  forced 
together  in  one  incongruous  mass.  Nevertheless, 
there  were  traits  common  to  all  of  them,  promhient 
among  which  were  extraordinary  energy^  and  acute- 
ness.  It  was  a  land  of  romance,  the  natural  atmo.?- 
phere  of  youth  and  inexperience,  a  land  devoid  of 
the  dull  sameness  that  overshadowed  the  lands  all  had 
left  behind. 

It  was  curious  to  see  how  proud  were  the  success- 
ful Californians  of  the  country.  The  man  wlio  had 
spent  but  three  months  here  was  entitled  to  the  honor 
of  calling  himself  a  Californian — on  returning  iiome. 
Whatever  his  opinion  of  California  while  there,  and 
howsoever  nmch  he  had  lonjjed  for  home,  once  bark 
among  his  friends  and  words  could  not  express  his 
admiration  for  the  land  and  the  people.  It  was  tlie 
only  place  fit  to  live  in,  the  only  place  where  peopli^ 
knew  how  to  do  business,  the  only  place  where  mcii 
filled  the  ideal  of  manhood,  and  as  a  matter  of  course 
he  was  going  back.  In  everything  Californian  lie 
took  a  keen  interest.  First  of  all  he  was  proud  of 
himself  for  having  gone  there,  proud  of  the  old  clothes 
and  shaggy  beard  and  gold  dust  which  he  had  brouglit 
back,  proud  that  his  eyes  had  been  opened  so  as  t(» 
take  in  a  view  of  the  world.  He  regarded  with  pity 
his  old  comrades  who  still  plodded  along  at  the  rate 
of  a  dollar  or  two  a  day. 

Never  since  the  great  Egyptian  exodus  have  tlie 
Hebrew  ra«e  found  a  soil  and  society  better  suited  to 
their  character  and  taste,  better  adapted  to  their  pros- 
perity and  propagation  than  California.  All  nations 
having  come  hither,  shades  of  color,  of  L»elief,  pecu- 
liarities of  physique,  of  temper  and  habit  were  less 
distinctly  marked.  Gold  was  here,  and  in  common 
with  the  gentiles  the  Jew    loved  gold.     Foi'  the  rest, 


all 


I 


THE  HOME  OF  THE  ISRAELITE. 


373 


all  he  asked  was  to  be  let  alone,  and  here  that  bless- 
iiiuf  was  granted  him  more  fully  than  in  any  country 
he  had  ever  seen.  Gold  and  golden  o[)portuniti('S, 
money-making  and  freedom  of  thought,  speech,  and 
action,  these  were  here,  and  these  were  the  Jews' 
eartlily  paradise. 

So  Jeshurun  waxed  fat  and  kicked.  He  did  not 
love  work,  so  he  carefully  kept  out  of  the  mines;  but 
in  every  mining  town  was  found  his  clothing  store, 
his  fruit  and  trinket  shop,  his  cheap  John  establish- 
ment. And  in  the  cities  he  built  him  a  synagogue, 
ill  id  warehouses  upon  the  streets  devoted  to  niercjian- 
dise,  and  dwellings  in  the  choicest  suburbs.  Hotels 
and  watering-places  were  filled  with  his  presence; 
secret  societies  felt  his  influence;  but  otherwise,  save 
ill  his  trafficking,  he  held  aloof  from  gentile  associa- 
tions. 

Liberalized  by  environment  the  Jews  cared  little 
f(  )r  the  tenets  of  their  faith ;  many  of  them  forsook 
Ood;  few  closed  their  shops  on  a  Saturday;  some 
sacrificed  unto  new  gods;  few  took  to  themselves  the 
daughters  of  gentiles  to  wife.  Nevertheless  they  j'et 
retained  their  ancient  rites,  which  proved  as  bands 
holding  them  in  one  brotherhood. 

True  they  shared  with  the  Asiatic  and  the  Ameri- 
canized Spaniard  the  antipathy  of  the  dominant  race, 
with  this  difference  :  the  antipathy  manifested  toward 
tlic  Jew  was  perpetual  and  unattended  by  violent 
demonstrations,  while  repugnance  to  the  Chilean  and 
Chinaman  broke  out  into  occasional  bloody  encounters. 
Ill  this  inspiring  of  dislike  they  excelled  all  other 
lieople ;  though  they  did  not  seem  to  take  it  greatly 
to  heart,  and  disliked  as  evenly  and  serenely  in  return, 
^[oney  was  the  humanizing  bond  however;  Christian 
and  Jew  loved  money. 

Here,  as  elsewhere,  they  mingled  freely  with  the 
pet)ple,  more  freely,  perhaps,  than  anywhere  else  since 
the  days  of  Abraham,  though  they  mixed  with  them 
as  httle  as  ever.     Though  crafty  and  cunning,  and 


374 


ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER. 


oftentimes  dishonest  in  their  dealings,  they  were  not 
more  so  than  otlier  men,  and  they  usually  manajjjod 
to  escape  detection  and  punishment.  Seldom  a  Jew 
was  seen  in  jail,  or  in  a  mob,  or  intoxicated,  tliough 
upon  the  slightest  pretext  many  of  them  would  fail  in 
business,  and  compromise  with  their  creditors. 

Like  the  Chinese,  they  lived  and  accumulated 
wealth  where  more  lax  or  lavish  gontil  !S  starved. 
This  was  to  their  honor,  and  to  the  shame  of  the 
spendthrifts.  Often  in  early  times  in  mhiing  districts, 
for«jettini;  their  fathers  and  their  fathers'  faith,  thev 
drank,  and  gambled,  and  raced  horses,  and  swore,  and 
frequented  houses  of  prostitution.  Then  they  were 
fine  fellows,  and  the  noble  American  miner  voted  tlie 
Jew  as  good  as  the  white  man.  Then  the  finger  of 
scorn  was  removed,  and  ostracism  no  longer  talked  of 
in  the  charmed  circles  of  commerce. 

The  Pike  county  man — which  term  was  finally  ap- 
plied indiscriminately  to  emigrants  from  the  wi!stoni 
states — could  not  mingle  with  the  mixed  po[>ulation 
of  California  without  becoming  in  some  degree  tonod 
down:  tlie  angles  of  the  New  Englander  were  in  like 
manner  rounded ;  even  the  Jew,  eschewing  old  clotlies, 
was  often  less  mercenary  than  his  neighbor,  and  at- 
tained a  fair  degree  of  manhood.  Indeed,  there  are 
many  Jews  in  California  to-day  who  are  far  above  tlie 
average  American  or  European  in  liberality  and  higli- 
minded  public  spirit.  But  notwithstanding  the  tincture 
given  to  society  by  the  Englishman,  the  Frenchman, 
the  German,  Irish,  Scotch,  Swiss,  Spaniard,  Italian, 
and  even  the  Chinaman,  the  Anglo-American  has 
ever  been  the  dominant  mind.  An  intermixture  of 
European,  Asiatic,  and  African  elements  alone  never 
would  have  made  a  Califomian.  It  may  have  been  a 
staid  English  colony  like  Australia,  or  the  field  of 
unprogressive  fiery  revolutions,  like  Spanish  America, 
but  it  never  would  have  experienced  that  season  of 
speculative  energy  which  has  driven  it  so  swiftly  on- 
ward.    The  European  is  sedate,  conservative,  method- 


m 


ABSENCE  OF  (JOVEllXMEN'T. 


:iT5 


ical,  plodding,  and  contented  ;  the  Anijjlo- American  is 
versatile,  venturesome,  cuiming,  dissatisfied,  and  cap- 
tious, 

California,  naturally,  with  her  sudden  and  wonder- 
ful appeariniLj,  demanded  innnediate  recognition  from 
tlio  United  States  government  as  a  full-fledged 
state.  Was  it  not  right  and  proper  that  she  should 
bo  so  recognized,  and  that  the  mantle  of  })rotection 
and  the  benefit  of  law  should  be  extended  over  her? 
And  3'et,  month  after  month  of  the  year  of  l(S4t), 
she  waited,  now  buoyant  with  hope,  now  sunk 
in  despair,  wondering  if  ever  the  time  would  come 
wlien  party  bickerings  on  the  eastern  side  of  the 
llocky  Mountains  would  give  place  to  the  inter- 
ests of  the  people.  A  most  anomalous  position  was 
that  in  which  the  inhabitants  of  California  found 
themselves.  They  were  part  of  a  great  nation,  ar.d 
yet  were  without  government ;  a  country  rich  in  min- 
eral and  agricultural  wealth  was  theirs,  but  they  had 
only  a  limited  control  of  it.  Regulations  for  the  ex- 
traction of  its  treasures  were  wanting.  Titles  to  ag- 
ricultural  lands,  which  nmst  be  in^proved  at  the  set- 
tlers* risk  or  not  at  all,  were  also  wanting,  and  the 
national  congress  had  failed  to  provide  them. 

By  transient  visitors,  and  writers  on  California, 
nmeli  more  was  said  than  was  ever  understood  of 
the  peculiarities  of  Californian  society.  As  a  rule  phil- 
osopliers  and  wise  men  coming  hither  can  learn  fully 
as  much  as  they  can  teach.  Though  they  can  tell  us 
many  things  we  do  not  know,  we  can  tell  them  many 
things  we  know,  as  well  as  many  things  we  do  not 
know,  things  they  never  met  or  are  likely  to  meet 
elsewhere.  The  appearance  which  California  pre- 
sented to  them,  with  frequent  exaggerations  and 
epithets  denouncing  all,  was  early  heralded  b}-  hare- 
brained writers  in  the  various  languages,  and  Califor- 
nia made  to  appear  in  the  most  diabolical  light,  giving 
this  as  the  normal  state  of  American  society. 

There  were  always  present  alarmists  and  croakers 


ii 


i 

<|    ■; 

H 

A 1- 

m 

ii 

^ffKBii 

i-'/ltBHffl'M 

>  '■'■■  1 
.  'iln 

1 

876 


ILLUSTIIATIONS  OF  UFE  AND  CTIARACTER. 


enough,  who  saw  nothing  but  disastrous  torniinatlons 
of  a  social  organization  begun  on  such  a  low  and  sor- 
did basis;  who  were  always  pointing  to  haunts  of  li- 
centiousness, to  drinkinjr  and  gambling  saloons,  to 
ballot-box  stuffing,  public  debt,  political  wickedness, 
and  vigilance  conunittees,  to  police  reports  and  all  the 
dismal  paraphernalia  of  vice,  as  if  these  were  Califor- 
nia and  the  basis  of  Californian  society. 

Thus  it  was  thai,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  in 
foreign  parts  and  on  our  eastern  seaboard,  California 
was  but  inji)erfectly  understood.  After  all  the  toning 
down  and  polishing  up  which  society  was  destined 
here  to  undergo,  in  the  minds  of  the  distant  nmltitude 
we  were  still  the  same  lawless,  godless  crew  that 
enacted  the  Inferno  of  1849.  And  we  asked  how 
louix  we  were  to  suffer  the  stijjjma  and  lie  under  the 
cloud ;  how  long  our  elastic  eneri^ies  must  tuni  and 
overturn  before  our  foreign  friends  could  see  us  as  we 
were  ?  We  asked  the  question  in  the  fifties  and  received 
our  answer  in  the  eighties.  In  this  continued  mi.scon 
ception  of  our  character  we  may,  however,  more  fully 
recognize  how  deep  was  the  impression  made  by  the 
discovery  of  gold.  Roused  to  its  remotest  corners  by 
the  mill-race  diggers*  shout,  the  world  in  one  glance 
fixed  in  its  stolid  brain  the  shocking  nightmare  that 
followed,  a  i  there  the  impression  remained.  And  in 
truth  enough  even  now  remains  of  the  old  sulphuric 
smells  and  pitchy  infirmities  to  modify  somewhat  our 
pride ;  but  in  that  great  day  when  our  friends  across 
the  Atlantic  and  across  the  Pacific  shall  have  madi^ 
white  all  their  robes,  even  as  those  of  the  daughters 
of  -zEger  and  Rana,  may  not  the  children  of  pioneers, 
and  the  survivors  of  the  early  pandemonium  hope  to 
have  achieved  in  their  eyes  a  change  of  raiment? 

We  have  much  to  say  of  life  in  California ;  not  so 
much  of  death ;  and  yet  all  Californians  die.  In  early 
times  rum,  exposure,  and  disease  not  being  sufficient, 
they  all  used  to  carry  revolvers  to  kill  each  other 
with.     Ask  them  why  they  carried  the  man-killing 


A  COMMUNITY  OF  rLAfK-IlUNTERS. 


^71 


iniplenuMits,  aiul  tlioy  would  say  to  <l(f('ii(l  tlicir  lives. 
Y"t  ill  n-ality  the  anna  which  the  miners  displayetl  on 
all  occasions  for  protection,  impliedly  from  their  com- 
panions, only  invited  attack  and  added  to  tluir  danger. 
Though  they  thou<;ht,  that  like  the  belt  of  Thor,  the 
Scanilinavian  war-god,  these  implements  doubled 
their  strenjjfth  whenever  they  put  them  on,  in  reality 
they  were  weakened  by  them  to  that  same  dej^ree. 
They  could  die  pretty  well,  die  coolly,  die  with  their 
hoots  on,  as  they  called  violent  death,  but  theirs  was 
not  the  coolness  of  wisdom  and  philoso])hy.  Theirs 
was  not  the  death  of  Socrates,  for  example.  "Crito," 
he  said,  as  the  circle  of  the  subtle  })oison  narrowed 
slt)wly  round  his  heart,  "Crito,  I  ov/e  a  cock  to  Aa- 
dopius;  will  you  remember  to  pay  the  debt?"  "The 
debt  shall  be  paid,"  said  Crito;  "is  there  ajjything 
else  ?"     And  so  he  died,  the-  '  being  his  hijt  words. 

There  was  a  class  of  young  mea  who  came  to  Cali- 
fornia in  those  days,  by  no  means  a  small  one,  that 
commanded  our  special  sympathy.  They  were  mostly 
from  schools  and  colleges,  of  fine  abilities  and  hiii^h 
l)romise,  well  read,  and  many  of  them  leaving  pleasant 
homes  and  affectionate  friends.  Possessing  a  high- 
strung,  delicate  organization,  their  young  ambition  big 
with  enthusiasm,  they  came  hither  with  mhids  half 
formed,  and  with  vague  ideas  as  to  their  future.  They 
only  knew  that  here  of  all  places  in  the  world  was 
their  opportunity;  that  in  this  arena  there  was  for 
every  man  a  career,  and  distincticm  to  him  who  had 
the  nerve  to  win  it.  They  felt  in  themselves  the  com- 
pressed energy  of  youth,  the  smothered  fire  of  yearn- 
ing aspiration.  Lured  by  golden  hopes,  they  joined 
tlie  El  Dorado  argonauts  and  came  to  California.  On 
reaching  San  Francisco,  they  found  thousands  of 
others,  who,  like  themselves,  had  landed  without 
]iionoy  and  without  friends,  and  were  looking  for 
something  to  do.  The  professions  were  over-crowded, 
and  all  the  avenues  of  trade  thronired. 


'.,  't 


11''  V 


378 


ILLUSTRATIONS  OP  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER. 


One  of  these  waifs  would  start  out  in  the  mominor 
and  \^isit  all  the  law  offices ;  then  he  would  hang 
around  the  courts  and  public  offices ;  or  he  would  go 
from  shop  to  shop  begging  a  situation.  Only  give 
him  something  to  do,  something  on  which  to  feed  the 
fire  (jf  his  ambition,  and  no  matter  how  hard  the 
work  or  how  small  the  pay  he  would  gladly  under- 
take it.  Give  him  a  trial ;  he  was  apt  and  honest, 
and  he  must  soon  have  work  or  starve.  Day  after 
day,  from  morning  till  night,  and  every  day  for  weeks 
and  months,  with  heart  in  his  throat,  and  big  shame- 
faced tears  now  and  then  slipping  out  from  under  his 
eye-lashes,  his  very  soul  sinking  within  him,  he  would 
make  his  mournful  rounds.  All  was  life  and  bustle, 
and  merry  money-making;  fortune's  favorites  jostled 
him  as  they  hurried  past ;  only  he  with  stifled  long- 
ings was  doomed  to  walk  the  streets  like  a  beggar 
and  an  outcast.  Yet  not  alone,  for  there  were  hun- 
dreds of  others  like  him,  every  steamer  emptying  out  a 
fresh  supply,  and  the  merchants  could  not  furnish  places 
for  twenty  applicants  a  day.  Often  a  hundred  of 
these  sad  earnest  faces  might  have  been  seen  stand- 
ing at  one  time,  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  be- 
fore a  store  waiting  for  the  door  to  open  in  order  to 
answer  an  advertisement  for  a  bookkeeper.  At 
length  heart-sick  and  disgusted  they  would  scatter 
off,  some  finally  to  do  the  work  of  porter  or  day- 
laborer,  or  to  drive  a  cart  or  milk- wagon,  or  to  work 
on  a  farm ;  others,  and  by  far  the  larger  number,  go- 
ing to  the  mines.  There  the  wanderer,  standing  in 
the  cold  running  snow-stream  of  the  Sierra,  working 
in  the  river-beds  or  on  the  canon-side  until  his  limbs 
are  immb  and  sharp  rheumatic  pains  shoot  througli 
his  shoulders,  at  night  tossing  in  sleepless  unrest  on 
his  hard  bed,  or  gazing  in  heartful  self-pity  on  the 
stars  thinking  of  home,  with  crushed  enthusiasm  frets 
his  days  and  nights  away,  at  morning  wishing  it  were 
night  and  a  j  night  wishing  the  morning  were  come, 
brooding  over  his  lost  estate   and  the   unrev/ardcil 


EVER-FLITTING  FORTUNP- 


W^ 


drudgery  which  has  befallen  him,  over  visions  of 
departed  promise  that  rose  so  flush  in  his  youth- 
ful manhoixl,  now  all  fled,  leaving  him  but  the  one 
hope  of  final  rest.  So  time  slowly  drags  along, 
while  fortune  flits  before.  Talk  to  the  unfortu- 
nate of  bearing  up,  of  the  folly  of  despair,  of  the 
greater  difficulties  conquered  by  the  heroic  struggles 
of  others,  and  he  will  point  you  to  years  of  unrequited 
toil,  to  the  bright  yellow  ignis  fatutis  that  ever  eludes 
his  grasp,  to  the  many  times  when  undismayed  he  rose 
after  a  fall,  and  applied  himself  with  new  energy  to 
new  tasks,  until  bruised  in  heart  and  bleeding  he  can 
rise  no  more.  He  asks  not  your  sympathy ;  for  his 
failure  he  makes  no  defence ;  he  will  never  return  to 
his  friends  humiliated;  leave  him  alone  to  die! 

It  is  sad  to  see  dead  hope  entombed  in  a  sound 
body,  to  see  the  vigorous  mind  cramped  as  in  a  cruel 
prison-house,  and  the  guide  of  young  manhood  brought 
low.  To  him  who  was  thrown  upon  himself  in  youth, 
and  accustomed  to  the  rough  cares  of  life,  it  makes 
little  difference  where  or  how  his  lot  is  cast.  If  he 
cannot  be  cook  he  can  be  scullion,  line  his  stomach 
with  satisfying  kitchen  grease  and  be  happy.  But 
with  those  who  have  been  carefully  guarded  in  their 
youth  it  is  not  so.  Crush  the  enthusiasm  in  an  am- 
bitious sensitive  heart,  put  out  the  fire  that  drives 
tlic  machinery,  and  you  may  bury  what  is  left.  Work 
is  not  the  well-bred  vounoj  man's  misfortune;  with  an 
object  he  will  work  his  fingers  to  the  bone,  he  will 
work  his  brain  until  the  veins  on  his  hot  forehead 
swell  almost  to  bursting ;  he  will  leave  behind  him 
dead  half  a  score  of  your  mechanical  drudges  at 
Work.  Poverty  is  not  his  misfortune;  to  be  well 
housed,  well  fed,  and  well  clothed  are  trifles  to  him 
who  has  a  purpose  in  hand.  His  misfortune  is  to 
have  his  intuitions  stifltxl,  his  talents  choked,  his 
mind  withered  for  want  of  development;  this  it  is  that 
makes  him  sour  and  misanthropic,  all  worth  living 
for,  growth,  development,  culture,  an  intellectual  life, 


m 
m 


II 

I 


^^1 


ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER. 


a  nobler  manhood,  or  the  hope  of  attaining  these, 
forever  lost.  Perhaps  it  would  be  well  for  such  a 
one  to  ask  himself  if  it  were  not  possible  to  find  hap- 
piness in  something  short  of  the  full  realization  of 
his  original  plans. 

Success  often  springs  from  failure ;  at  all  events,  it 
lies  in  the  discipline  wrought  by  noble  efforts  rather 
than  in  the  end  of  wealth  and  luxury.  Many  a  heart- 
sick wretch  in  San  Francisco  has  wandered  over  these 
sand-hills,  out  around  by  the  Presidio  hills  to  the 
Golden  Gate  bluffs  and  the  ocean,  and  there  gazing 
forth  on  the  broad  waters,  or  watching  the  tumbling 
waves  come  in  and  break  in  silvery  surf  at  his  feet, 
thought  of  the  dead  past,  of  blasted  hopes,  and  a 
black  future;  thought  in  self-pitying  woe  of  home  and 
the  loved  ones  there;  thought  of  the  great  gulf  of 
separation  here,  and  the  dismal  blank  of  the  hereafter. 
"  Why,  O  God  !  why  is  it?"  he  would  ask.  "  Dost  thou 
delight  in  breeding  men  to  misery  f 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


AMONG  THE  MINERS. 


Mensura  juris  vis  erat. 


— Lucan. 


The  miners  of  the  flush  times,  their  characteristics 
and  quality,  their  idiosyncrasies  and  temper,  are  as 
far  beyond  description  as  the  wind  and  weather  of 
CaUfornia,  where  the  twenty  sides  of  twenty  thousand 
lulls,  and  the  twenty  turns  of  twenty  thousand  ravines 
have  each  an  individual  climate.  Twenty  life-times 
might  be  spent  and  twenty  volumes  written  before  the 
story  of  one  mining-camp  in  all  its  ramifications  could 
bo  told.  The  story  of  one  mining-camp  was  the  story 
of  mankind;  and  to  follow  it  after  death  was  the 
story  of  the  gods. 

Each  man  of  them  should  be  enriched  with  heaped- 
up  grains  of  gold  brought  down  by  the  streams  of  the 
Sierra,  as  Croesus  was  enriched  by  the  golden  sands  of 
l^actolus. 

Soon  many  of  the  camps  could  boast  their  church 
and  schoolhouse,  and  temperance  hotel,  and  express 
office  atid  bank;  the  scattering  huts  and  cabins,  and 
sj)lit-board  one  and  two-story  houses,  and  squares 
of  shabby  shanties,  with  a  block  or  two  edged  on  one 
side  with  red  brick  or  rough  stone  stores,  all  cluster- 
ing beside  swift-running  streams,  and  the  now  stumpy 
hillsides,  and  taking  on  the  dignity  of  town. 

As  out  of  rough  stones  a  smooth  even  wall  is  made, 
so  from  these  sometime  uncouth  characters,  these 
hairy  and  woollen-shirted   men,  were   formed  staid 

(381) 


,1;:  ii 


882  AMONG  THE  MINERS. 

communities,  with  happy  liomos  and  virtuous  environ- 
ment. 

Their  reading  was  mostly  of  tlie  English  Reynolds 
type,  and  the  Frencli  Faublas'  Lia'mms  danfjereuses 
order,  "wliere,"  as  Lamartine  says,  "vice  parodied 
virtue,  and  riotous  liberty,  love."  Their  books  were 
not  always  as  full  of  charming  villainy  even  as  Rous- 
seau's Confessions, 

Alexander  the  Great,  manslayer,  was  a  small  man; 
Alexander  Small,  miner,  was  a  great  man.  Anyone 
with  men  enough  could  conquer  any  nation  or  kill  any 
number ;  it  requires  no  quality  of  greatness  to  do  this, 
and  surely  no  one  but  a  fool  would  drink  himself  to 
death ;  but  I  do  not  know  that  any  great  man  pre- 
tends to  deny  that  he  is  a  fool.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  who  accomplishes  nmch  with  little;  he  who  can 
deny  himself,  rule  himself,  is  greater  than  he  who  can 
only  riile  others.  Alexander  the  Great  had  ambition 
of  which  no  medicine  on  earth  could  physic  him;  but 
force  was  greater  than  ambition,  greater  than  all  glory 
and  all  gods.  Alexander  the  Great,  dram-drinker, 
man-killer,  and  gambler  in  ordinary  to  his  Satanic 
majesty,  the  world  has  known  these  two  or  three 
thousand  years;  Alexander  Small,  gold-digger  to  tlie 
gods,  and  the  greater  of  the  two,  the  world  has  never 
known  at  all. 

Many  great  men  have  been  underrated  during  tluir 
lives,  many  small  men  have  been  overrated;  many 
small  in  some  things  and  great  in  others  have  been 
rated  small  or  great  in  everything.  Ralston,*  as  the 
California  bank's  president,  sitting  behind  other  men's 
millions,  was  great,  as  Crcesus  was  great;  Ralston,  ;i 
week  later,  dead,  self-drowned,  out  of  all  his  troubles, 
was  a  small  man  indeed. 

Evil  results  sometimes  flow  from  good  qualities ; 
some  are  generous  because  they  are  weak,  and  some 
are  weak  because  they  are  generous.  The  sweep- 
ing winds  of  passion  palsj-  the  heart,  jaundice  the  eye, 
and  dry  of  its  freshness  all  the  gentler  qualities  of 


GLADDENING  GOLD. 


383 


their  nature.  Sometimes  it  became  necessary  for 
every  member  of  the  community  to  watch  every  other 
member,  lest  by  some  evil  act  the  gods  would  be  of- 
fended and  send  down  vengeance  on  all. 

Nevertheless,  out  about  this  wilderness,  among 
comrades,  partners  as  tliey  frequently  called  eacli 
other,  in  times  of  sickness  and  death  there  were  deeds 
performed  such  as  hew  mountains  into  statues  in  honor 
of  the  dbers,  while  sea  and  solemn  pines  unite  to  sing 
tlicir  praises.  And  grotesque  as  niiglit  be  the  miner's 
burial  as  all  knelt  round  the  grave,  old-time  habit  and 
the  liberal  potations  drank  in  honor  of  the  departed, 
aiding  their  genuflexions,  there  was  as  much  heart  as 
iu  l)rass  bands  or  priestly  palaverings. 

Thousands  tliere  were  who  came  and  saw,  but  did 
not  conquer.  Coming  for  wool  they  went  homo  shorn, 
l^et  the  clouds  write  in  dismal  sliadows  on  the  red 
earth  now  abandoned  of  this  swarthy  society — fiiiniKS, 
we  have  been  1  Complaint  was  of  no  avail ;  roast 
beef,  plum  pudding,  and  chanqiagne  were  not  with 
tliem  in  reason.  Verily,  it  seemed  if  ever  in  this 
bustling,  breathing  world  times  were  out  of  joint,  it 
was  these  Californian  times  of  184D.  Wickedness 
prospered;  virtue  and  merit  appeared  to  be  the  ene- 
mies rather  tlian  the  friends  of  fortune. 

Many  a  sparkling  mountain  stream  has  proved  to 
many  a  lusty  digger  an  Acheron,  a  river  of  sorrow. 
Ifis  destiny  had  seemed  to  him  as  surely  predeter- 
mined as  was  that  of  Achilles,  foretold  by  his  goddess 
mother.  Stay  at  home  and  a  long  life  of  inglorious 
ease  crowned  by  wealth  and  progeny  awaited  liini ;  go. 
and  a  glorious  death  should  swiftly  follow  a  career  of 
victory. 

And  now,  round  his  bronzed  visage,  coarsely  streaked 
with  corroding  care,  hung  grizzled  locks  wildly  matted 
as  by  the  heavy  pressure  of  inexorable  environment 
u[)()n  the  brain.  Under  the  Sierra's  feet  is  gold 
enough  for  others  but  none  for  me.  Bushels  of  it  from 
all  parts  pile  themselves  up  at  the   metropolis,  and 


I 


1 


384 


AMONG  THE  MINERS. 


thence  is  scattered  to  every  quarter.  Sent  to  the  east, 
sent  to  the  west,  sent  to  Europe,  to  Asia,  there  to 
gladden  thousands,  why  should  not  some  of  it  gladden 
me  by  gladdening  mine?  There  is  gold  enough  for 
others  but  none  for  me.  I  have  drank  of  Acheron, 
let  me  now  drink  of  Lethe.  My  past  let  me  consign 
to  oblivion,  and  regenerate  once  more  take  my  place 
among  the  honorable  of  the  earth.     Brinij  forth  the 

•      •      •  t  •  A 

divining-rod,  the  witch-hazel  of  the  epidemic  demono- 
pathy,  and  let  its  subtleties  become  so  clearly  percep- 
tible to  the  sublimated  brain  of  the  bearer,  that  the 
arch-witch  gold  may  be  found,  aye,  gold  I  aye,  gold  1 

Hundreds  went  mad.  Lunatics  roamed  the  streets 
at  large ;  indeed,  it  sometimes  seemed  as  if  all  were 
lunatics.  Horrible  is  the  disordered  laugh  of  mad- 
men and  fiends ;  and  so  is  the  hollow  mournful  mirth 
of  rioting  starvelings,  making  dismal  with  their  half- 
ghostly  orgies  the  lonely  canon.  But  they  were  not 
all  as  insane  as  they  seenied.  Should  any  object  dear 
to  them  be  laid  in  their  pathway,  they  would  turn 
aside  the  evil  influences  of  their  avarice  or  morality,  as 
Ulysses,  who  affected  madness  to  escape  the  Trojan 
campaign,  turned  aside  his  plough  when  the  infant 
Telemachus  was  laid  in  the  furrow. 

Prostrate  in  blank  despair,  oblivious  from  drink,  or 
battling  undismayed,  the  life  struggle  still  continues. 
Walk  round  the  arena,  pass  by  the  fortunate — they 
are  the  exceptions,  and  can  care  for  themselves — but 
glance  at  some  who  have  fallen.  The  old  white-whis- 
kered bell-boy  who  answers  your  summons  at  the 
hotel  was  once  a  wholesale  grocer,  with  a  business  of 
six  millions  a  j'^ear ;  that  waiter  in  the  restaurant  was 
6nce  colonel  in  the  Austrian  service ;  an  aide-de-camp 
to  Larmorcier  hires  himself  to  a  paper-hanger;  there 
is  a  doctor  driving  a  dtay,  here  a  graduate  of  Trinity 
college,  Dublin,  tending  bar,  and  so  on. 

As  the  development  of  the  country  increased  its 
classical  abnormities,  with  some  of  its  greatest  channs 
diminished,  and  with  the  glamour  of  unreality  origin- 


ONE  OF  SINCLAIR'S  FANEGAS. 


385 


ally  thrown  over  all  removed,  pioneers  began  to  look 
back  upon  it  as  a  dream. 

Time  rolls  on,  and  between  the  river  banks  and 
wooded  hills  smile  little  garden  spots,  enclosing 
neat  white  cottages,  to  which  distance  lends  the  flavor 
of  the  old-time  home,  where  wives  so  long  and  anx- 
iously waited  the  return  of  their  rough  darlings.  And 
here  they  are  still,  far  from  the  land  of  their  birth, 
youth's  hopes  perished,  hastening  to  untimely  graves. 
Hatefully  shines  the  new-minted  metal,  the  price  of 
conscience,  of  love,  the  reward  of  life's  failure  1 

Slumber  now  is  wooed  not  by  the  soft  low  tones  of 
wife  and  children;  the  care-heated  brain  is  soothed 
not  by  the  magic  touch  of  fairy  fingers,  nor  is  the 
roused  heart  calmed  by  the  uplifting  and  out-going 
influences  of  family  prayer  and  praise.  Mingled  with 
the  coyote's  howl  comes  the  sound  of  revelry  from  the 
adjacent  camp,  while  the  panting  river  and  the  sigh- 
ing wood  sing  their  lonely  lullaby. 

And  to  the  man  of  merchandise  in  the  busy  city's 
marts  arise  visions  of  home,  of  the  native  village,  of 
friends  beloved,  of  childhood  scenes ;  rocks,  hills,  and 
wood;  meadow,  orchard,  and  the  clear  running  stream; 
garden  and  barn;  pets  and  playmates, — these,  and  a 
thousand  like  things,  haunt  them  in  their  leisure  hours, 
intrude  themselves  during  the  hot  perplexities  of  busi- 
ness, and  mingle  with  their  midnight  dreams.  Time 
was  when  there  were  hours,  blessed  hours,  uncursed 
by  any  burning  desire. 

Carelessly  standing  in  one  corner  of  Sinclair's  house, 
in  the  autumn  of  1848,  half  covered  by  the  old  lumber 
wliich  had  been  thrown  upon  it,  was  a  fanega  measure 
full  of  gold,  all  but  half  an  inch.  Now  a  fanega  holds 
a  bushel  and  a  half.  One  day  came  along  Patrick 
McChristian,  happy  in  charitable  peace  with  the 
world,  being  himself  in  those  days  a  prince  among 
the  diggers,  for  his  pockets  were  always  stuffed  with 
his  several  thousands. 


Cal.  Int.  Poc.    25 


386- 


AMONO  THE  MINERS. 


"What  ye  got  there?"  demanded  Pat,  as  his  sharp 
eye  caught  the  glorious  color  beneath  the  rubbisli. 
"  O,  nothing  much,"  Sinclair  replied,  "my  men  brought 
it  in."  "Ain't  ye  afraid  somebody  will  steal  it  ?  "  asked 
Pat,  as  he  threw  off  the  articles  that  covered  it,  and 
took  a  long  and  deep  look  into  it.  "  I  don't  lie  awake 
nights  about  it,"  Sinclair  said.  "You  may  have  it, 
Pat,  if  you  will  carry  it  away ;  yes,  if  you  will  lift  it 
but  three  inches  from  the  ground."  Sinclair  was  a 
man  of  his  word,  but  McChristian  knew  well  enough 
the  feat  to  be  impossible.  Nevertheless,  he  could  not 
resist  the  temptation  of  plunging  his  hands  into  it,  of 
stirring  it  up  and  smoothing  it  down,  and  finally,  just 
for  the  fun  of  it,  of  taking  a  tug  at  it.  "Only  three 
inches  from  the  ground,"  again  Sinclair  quietly  re- 
marked, "and  it  is  yours,  so  help  me." 

Pat  lifted,  straining  himself  into  seriousness,  strain- 
ing until  he  saw  sky-rockets  and  shooting  stars.  It 
was  of  no  use.  The  measure  clave  to  the  ground  as 
if  riveted  there.  It  would  not  leave  it  a  hair's 
breadth,  and  Pat  was  obliged  to  go  forth  and  content 
himself  with  increasing  his  fortune  by  slower  degrees. 

The  quality  of  their  fellowship  was  rare  indeed. 
Not  more  singular  and  hearty  in  verse  was  the  wel- 
come Horace  gave  Lucius  Varius,  his  friend  and 
fellow-student  at  Athens,  and  the  fellow-soldiers  at 
Philippi,  than  that  given  in  reality  by  these  rough 
digging  men  to  a  returned  comrade. 

"  Pour  till  it  touch  the  shining  goblet's  rim, 
Care-drowning  inasaic;  let  rich  ointments  flow 
From  amplest  concha  I     No  measure  we  shall  know  I 
What  1  shall  we  wreaths  of  oozy  parsley  trim 

Or  simple  mjrrtle  T    Whom  will  Venus  send 
To  rule  our  revel?    Wild  my  draught  shall  be 
As  Thracian  Bacchanals',  for  'tis  sweet  to  me 
To  lose  my  wits,  when  I  regain  my  friend." 

Under  the  shaggy  uncombed  locks  were  finely 
tempered  brains  puzzling  over  the  body's  destiny; 
and  beneath  gray  woolen  shirts  were  hearts,  some 
large  some  small,  beating  to  the  measures  now  of 
celestial  songs  and  now  of  Abaddon's  wing-flaps. 


THE  GOLDOMETER  SUPERSTITION. 


387 


Behold  the  bummer  I  An  unlearned  man  of  modest 
bearing,  but  fathomless  cheek.  Or  if  he  be  a  legal 
or  political  bummer  we  call  him  brick.  He,  too,  may 
sicken  you  with  nauseathig  words,  or  be  as  quarrel- 
some, indolent,  insolent,  vicious,  gambling,  drink- 
ing, fighting,  and  dandified  as  any  member  of  the 
Macaroni  club  that  cursed  Vauxhall  gardens.  This 
man  never  did  a  day's  work  hi  his  life,  never  did  a 
useful  thing,  never  earned  an  honest  dollar,  never 
drew  an  honest  breath.  What  he  eats  is  not  his  own ; 
his  own  flesh  and  blood  does  not  belong  to  him. 
And  when  invited  to  partake,  such  invitation  being 
the  ever-present  hope  and  aim  of  earthly  existence, 
he  takes  from  his  mouth  his  tobacco  quid,  as  the  ser 
pent  vomits  its  venom  before  drinkmg  for  fear  of 
poisoning  itself. 

The  godless  miners  were  not  more  free  from  super- 
stition than  papist  or  puritan  fanatic.  Once  a  Texan 
charlatan,  a  tall,  broad-shouldered,  sallow-faced,  livid- 
looking  fellow,  Fletcher  by  name,  dropped  down  on 
Murphy's,  and  the  worldly  wise  and  cunning  of  that 
camp  were  caught  as  easily  as  mediajval  Christians. 
Ho  professed  to  have  discovered  or  invented  a  gold- 
onietcr  which  would  direct  the  possessor  unfailingly 
to  gold  deposits,  and  enable  him  to  trace  unerringly 
tlie  precious  vein  through  all  its  dips  and  curves  and 
angles,  backing  his  statement  by  an  offer  to  bet  one 
hundred  dollars  that  in  ten  minutes  he  would  find  a 
purse  of  gold  hidden  within  the  limits  of  an  acre  of 
ground.  No  one  cared  to  waste  time  over  such 
trifling ;  surely  he  should  know  of  what  he  was  talk- 
ing; show  them  where  the  undug  gold  lay,  and  he 
should  have  his  pay.  Every  man  there  had  indulged 
in  some  little  pet  necromancy  of  his  own  conjuring 
which  had  cost  far  more  than  this ;  they  could  but 
lose.  And  so  the  Texan  wizard  bled  them.  Taking 
his  magical  instrument,  which  consisted  of  a  metal- 
ninunted  wooden  pointer  split  at  one  end  so  as  to  take 
in  the  man's  waist,  he  proceeded  to  the  diggings  be- 


"j|  '.IP.'i 


»  H 


AMONG  THE  MmKRS. 


yond  the  town,  followed  by  a  concourse  of  eager  ex- 
pectants. Arrived  on  the  spot,  after  certain  incanta- 
tory  preliminaries  which  would  have  put  to  blush  a 
Kadiak  Shaman,  he  began  to  grope  about  as  if  in 
darkness,  then  suddenly  starting  up  he  struck  out  a 
zigzag  course  as  if  following  a  vein.  Round  the  sjmr 
of  the  hill  and  down  the  opposite  slope,  over  claims 
and  through  gardens  the  talisman-directed  Texan 
went,  while  the  crowd  rushed  for  pick  and  shovel 
with  which  to  mark  out  the  line  and  unearth  tlie 
treasure.  Down  they  went,  digging  with  a  will,  five, 
ten,  fifteen  feet,  and  no  vein  was  struck.  Deeper  said 
the  sa^e,  and  a  crevice  twenty-five  feet  in  deptii, 
whi^h  let  the  sunlight  strike  subterranean  waters,  was 
opened  without  result.  A  sense  of  swindle  began  to 
steal  over  those  diggers  and  tliey  went  for  the  Texan 
ffoldometer  man.  But  the  end  was  not  yet.  Select- 
mg  one  from  their  number  he  seated  him  on  an  empty 
whiskey  keg,  and  began  to  mesmerize  him  and  breathe 
into  him  the  spirit  of  prf)phecy.  Shortly  the  spirit- 
ualized miner  began  to  talk,  and  he  informed  his  eager 
listeners  that  gold  was  surely  there,  but  that  it  lay  ten 
feet  deeper  than  they  had  yet  dug.  Satisfied  by  tliis 
voice  from  another  world,  they  continued  their  work, 
but  now  with  much  greater  difficulty,  for  besides  be- 
ing obliged  to  hoist  their  dirt  they  must  pump  out  the 
water  which  constantly  flowed  in  upon  them,  so  tliat 
before  they  had  reached  the  required  depth  the 
Texan  had  ample  time  to  make  his  escape. 

It  was  in  the  winter  of  1849-50.  Two  men  whose 
claims  had  yielded,  every  working-day  during  tlie 
winter  not  less  than  $140,  and  from  that  to  $320, 
abandoned  it  early  in  the  spring  in  order  to  hunt  f<»r 
something  better.  After  a  dangerous  and  fatiguing 
tramp  over  the  yet  covered  snow-ridges,  spending  sev- 
eral months  turning  the  channel  of  a  stream  which 
yielded  nothing,  they  turned  their  faces  backward  and 
entered  the  nearest  mining  camp,  without  a  dollar,  and 
with  nothing  that  would  buy  bread,  unless  it  was  a 


WORTH  AND  WORTHLESSNESS. 


389 


double-barrel  sbot  gun.  The  weapon  was  worth  fifty 
dollars,  but  no  one  would  buy  it ;  the  traders  had 
stacks  of  old  guns,  which  they  could  not  dispose  of, 
ai»d  no  one  just  then  happened  to  want  such  an  arti- 
cle. Their  case  was  becoming  desperate ;  night  was 
coming  on,  and  the  empty  stomachs  called  loudly  for 
food.  Taking  the  gun  in  his  hand,  one  of  them  stepped 
up  before  a  store  and  called  out,  "Who'll  give  me  five 
dollars  for  this  gun?"  One  smiled,  another  shook  his 
head,  no  one  wanted  it.  At  length  the  store-keeper 
reached  out  his  hand  and  said,  "  Let  me  look  at  it." 
After  examining  it,  said  he,  "  I'll  play  you  five  dollars 
worth  of  pork  against  the  gun."  **  Agreed,"  replied 
the  impecunious  miner.  The  miner  won.  "Now  I'll 
play  you  five  dollars  worth  of  flour  against  the  gun." 
The  miner  agreed,  played,  and  won  again.  This  was 
too  much  for  the  speculative  proclivities  of  the  crowd, 
and  one  of  the  lookers-on  immediately  bantered  the 
lucky  owner  of  the  gun  to  play  him  five  dollars  in 
money  against  it,  which  was  promptly  accepted  and 
Wf)n.  "Now  boys,"  said  the  miner,  again  holding  up 
the  gun,  "I've  made  a  raise;  that  let's  me  out;  any 
of  }  u  can  have  the  gun  that  wants  it."  Of  course 
no  one  took  it,  and  the  miner  then  rising  and  picking 
ii])  his  pork,  flour,  money,  and  the  gun  he  could  not 
sell,  but  which  had,  nevertheless,  served  him  a  most 
fortunate  turn,  joined  his  comrade,  when  the  two 
hastened  to  satisfy  their  hunger. 

Some  appeared  blindly  to  stumble  from  one  piece  of 
good  fortune  upon  another.  A  nasal-voiced  New 
Englander  in  1849,  thought  he  would  try  California 
in  a  small  way  for  a  short  time.  So  buying  a  ticket 
for  $395,  he  sailed  lazily  down  into  the  tropics  and 
crossed  the  Isthmus.  That,  however,  was  a  dull  busi- 
ness ;  besides  he  was  making  nothing.  Arrived  at 
Panamd,  he  scratched  his  head,  went  to  bed,  and  rose 
ill  the  morning  and  rubbed  his  eyes.  Then  he  went 
out  and  sold  the  remainder  of  his  ticket  which  yps  to 


I'  'II 


1' 


;!N 


300 


AMONG  THE  MINERS. 


carry  him  to  San  Francisco  for  $700,  hired  himself  as 
butcher  to  the  steward  of  the  banie  steamer  for  ^  1 00 
the  passage,  bought  a  pick  in  San  Francisco,  and  fol- 
lowed the  crowd  to  the  mines,  turned  up  gold  the  first 
blow  he  struck,  took  out  $9,000  in  the  course  of  a 
few  days,  sold  his  claim  for  $2,000,  and  returned 
home  to  marry  Hannah  and  set  his  traps  for  a 
deaconship. 

Probably  there  never  existed  a  community  more 
prodigal  in  their  generosity,  and  more  munificent  in 
their  charities  than  the  fortune-hunters  of  California. 
It  is  nothing  new,  it  is  nothing  paradoxical,  to  sec 
lavish  expenditures  attending  successful  ventures ;  and 
often  it  is  that  the  more  men  risk  for  money  the  freer 
they  will  spend  it.  With  Spanish  conquerors  human 
life  was  held  in  low  esteem  as  compared  with  gold, 
which  once  obtained  was  flung  about  as  a  thing  of 
little  value.  Winning  gold  with  sword,  shovel,  or 
cards,  does  not  breed  economy. 

Few  camps  at  the  first  were  without  their  quarrel- 
some cut-throats,  who,  like  Achilles,  preferred  an 
early  death  with  glory  to  a  long  and  quiet  fameless 
life.  It  was  the  assassin's  paradise.  In  the  faces  of 
some  were  painted  the  colors  of  debauchery.  Rude- 
ness was  their  rule  of  courtesy. 

The  sun  contains  neither  gold,  silver,  tin,  lead,  nor 
mercury,  and  yet  the  lusty  diggers  loved  the  sun. 
They  slept  on  the  gently  sloping  hill-side,  or  down  in 
the  dry  beds  of  the  rivers,  roofed  only  by  the  timbered 
banks,  and  lighted  only  by  the  dim  cathedral  light  of 
the  stars,-  which  slid  their  rays  through  the  rents  in 
the  foliage  overhead.  Chaste  as  Diana,  the  yellow 
metal  seemed  to  possess  her  power,  and  turn  intrud- 
ing Acteons  into  stags.  Boys  still  in  feeling,  their 
locks  began  to  silver,  and  soon  they  were  old  men. 

As  regards  gold,  for  which  these  men  had  come  so 
far,  and  toiled  so  hard,  and  sacrificed  so  much  ;  gold, 
for  which  loved  ones  far  away  were  even  now  sutler- 


LEGEND  OF  NEGRO  lULL. 


301 


ing,  waiting  with  fond  and  faithful  expectation  the 
wanderer's  return,  surely  every  grain  of  it  should  bu 
dearer  than  his  life's  blood  to  the  finder,  and  hoarded 
as  miser  never  yet  hoarded  wealth.  Let  us  see.  Says 
tlie  alealde  of  Monterey:  'My  man  Bt)b,  who  is  of 
Irish  extraction,  and  wlio  has  been  in  the  niinis  about 
two  months,  returned  to  Monterey  four  weeks  since, 
bringing  with  him  over  two  thousand  dollars  as  the 
proceeds  of  his  labor.  Bob,  while  in  my  employ,  re- 
quired me  to  pay  him  every  Saturday  night  in  gt>ld, 
which  he  put  into  a  little  leather  bag,  and  sewed  into 
the  lining  of  his  coat,  after  taking  out  just  twelve  and 
a  lialf  cents,  his  weekly  allowance  for  tobacco.  But 
now  ho  took  rooms,  and  began  to  branch  out;  he  had 
the  Lv;st  horses,  the  richest  viands,  and  the  choicest 
wines  in  the  ])lace.  He  never  drank  himself,  but  it 
filled  him  with  delight  to  brim  the  sparkling  goblet 
for  others.  I  met  Bob  to-day  and  asked  him  how  he 
got  on.  'O,  very  well,'  he  replied,  'but  I  am  off 
again  for  the  mines.*  'How  is  that.  Bob?  You 
brought  down  with  you  over  $2,000 ;  I  hope  you  have 
not  spent  all  that ;  you  used  to  be  very  saving — twelve 
and  a  half  cents  a  week  for  tobacco,  and  the  rest  you 
sewed  into  the  Hning  of  your  coat.*  'O,  yes,'  reimed 
Bob,  *  and  I  have  got  that  money  yet ;  I  worked  hard 
for  it,  and  the  devil  can't  get  it  away,  but  the  $2,000 
came  asily  by  good  luck,  and  has  gone  as  asily  as  it 
came.'" 

A  negro,  finding  himself  adrift  in  the  gold-land, 
thought  to  lay  in  a  store,  so  striking  out  with  the  rest, 
lie  began  at  once  to  realize  his  hopes.  He  had  not  long 
been  at  work  when  a  rusty  miner,  bristling  with  bowie- 
knives  and  revolvers,  came  down  u[K)n  liuu. 

"Hello,  you  black  scoundrel,  what  are  you  doing 
in  niy  claim  ?  ** 

"Beg  pardon,  massa;  didn't  know  dis  yore  claim.'* 

Glad  to  get  away  with  his  black  skin  unpunctured, 
ho  next  essayed  an  empty  hole  at  the  foot  of  the  hill, 


,r   1 


i 


392 


AMONG  THE  MINERS. 


but  no  sooner  was  he  fairly  at  work  when  he  was 
greeted  with : 

"Get  out  of  there,  you  infemel  nigger,  or  I'll  blow 
your  head  off  I" 

"  Good  Lord,  massa,  is  dis  yore  hole  ?  Where,  then, 
shall  I  dig?" 

'*Go  up  on  top  of  the  hill  and  dig,  and  bo  damned," 
was  the  reply. 

The  negro  went,  not  dreaming  that  he  had  been 
directed  thither  as  the  most  unlikely  place  to  find 
gold  in  the  whole  district.  Nevertheless,  he  sunk  a 
shaft,  at  the  bottom  of  which  he  found  gold,  which  he 
took  out  to  the  value  of  $4,000.  The  place  was  named 
Negro  hill,  and  prov-ed  to  be  the  richest  diggings  in 
all  that  region. 

Labor  was  the  only  honorable  occupation,  and  labor 
was  essential  to  manhood.  He  who  did  not  work  was 
a  social  bastard,  and  a  shirk.  Lodging-liouscs  in 
early  times  consisted  of  a  shanty,  with  walls  lined 
with  standing  berths,  having  coarse  beds  always  ready 
made,  so  that  the  proprietor  had  little  else  to  do  than 
to  sit  on  a  stool  and  take  the  money.  A  mincer  once 
havivig  occasion  to  occupy  such  a  bed  in  San  Francisco 
seemed  troubled  in  mind  as  he  weighed  out  the  dust, 
and  finally  broke  out  with : 

"Say,  stranger,  do  you  just  sit  thar  and  take  a  dol- 
lar from  every  man  that  sleeps  on  them  beds?" 

"Yes,  that's  my  business,"  replied  the  keeper. 

"Then,"  said  the  troubled  miner,  slowly,  as  if  talk- 
ing to  himself,  "its  a  daumed  mean  way  to  make  a 
living,  that's  all  I've  got  to  say  about  it." 

See  that  fortnightly  steamer,  proudly  furrowing  her 
way  through  the  great  deep  from  Pananul  to  San 
Francisco  I  To  the  scattered  inhabitants  of  tliis  vast 
Pacific  slope  she  brings  intelligence  from  the  old  busy 
east.  Here  is  money  and  merchandise;  here  ])r(>fit 
and  losses;  here  germs  of  fortune  and  seeds  of  bank- 
ruptcy.     This,    however,   is   not  all.      This   ocean- 


Th 
and  ui 
disgrat 
iiidu](>( 
"lie  loij 
^V(To  ti 

tirs. 


THEORY  OF  EXTRAVAGANCE 


393 


,aoi- 


plougher,  a  thing  of  life,  comes  freighted  with  high 
tlestiny.  Laden  with  how  many  tons  of  joy  and  sor- 
row comes  she  ?  How  many  bundles  of  love  and  hate 
brings  she  ?  How  many  thousands  of  little  packets  of 
happiness  and  misery  are  to  be  distributed  from  the 
mass  of  mail-sacks  in  her  hold  ? 

Many  were  the  men  coming  from  the  mines  with 
their  little  bag  of  hard-earned  gold-dust,  just  enough 
to  carry  them  home,  and  perhaps  a  little  more,  who 
f(^ll  victims  to  the  glight-of-hand  sharks  of  Long 
Wharf.  It  is  strange  that  so  many  simple  ones  with 
beards  and  brawny  arms  and  wrinkled  faces  should  be 
found  among  those  who  had  spent  a  year  or  more  in 
the  country.  It  certainly  speaks  well  for  their  asso- 
ciates in  the  mines;  but  most  of  the  weather-beaten 
innocents  were  western  men  who  came  across  the 
plains  and  had  never  seen  New  York,  San  Francisco, 
or  any  other  large  city,  and  the  professionals  of  Long 
Wharf  were  adepts,  and  very  shrewd.  Numberless 
were  the  complaints  of  these  old  infants  before  the  re- 
corder, of  having  been  inveigled  under  some  pretext 
into  a  low  den,  and  there  robbed,  or  induced  to  bet  on 
some  sure  thing.  The  cappers  for  these  houses  could 
put  their  hands  upon  their  victim  among  a  thousand ; 
usually  in  some  way  they  professed  friendship  for 
the  countryman,  and  gained  his  confidence — he  was 
from  the  same  state,  was  likewise  going  home,  was 
just  about  to  procure  his  ticket,  would  show  his  friend 
tlie  way,  stopping,  accidentally  of  course,  at  the  house 
of  his  thieving  associates. 


muB 


her 

San 

vast 

Ibusy 

i)rot\t 

)anl<- 

Iceau- 


Tlus  in  the  mines  were  elements  instinct  with  riot 
and  unrest,  while  in  the  cities  immbcrloas  were  the 
(lisj^raceful  bankruptcies  attributable  to  foppery  and  the 
inilulgenco  of  the  palate.  Such  as  these,  enn)tying  at 
one  long  draught  the  Circe-prottered  cup,  straightway 
^\  (Tc  turned  to  swine,  retaining  yet  their  human  facul- 
ties. To  some  it  seemed  as  if  a  ]>remium  was  laid  on 
indulgence  and  extravagance.     Fires  were  sweeping 


i'^i 


894 


AMONG  THE  MINERS. 


away  cities  and  their  contents ;  floods  spread  periodic 
desolation  over  the  land,  mining  and  business  ventures 
were  like  staking  money — or  what  was  worse,  time, 
sinew,  health^jnly  from  the  falling  of  the  dice,  and 
from  that  which  a  man  spent  could  he  expect  to  re- 
ceive benefit. 

Every  mining-camp  had  its  Anacreon,  its  jovial  and 
musical  toper,  who  drank  and  sang  in  praise  of  wine 
and  love.  Every  camp  had  its  ruling  spirits,  careless 
of  the  morrow  if  only  they  might  by  the  magic  of 
their  gold,  ardently  spiritualized  by  drink,  be  perfectly 
happy  for  to-day.  They  were  as  wild  in  their  beliefs 
and  theories  of  gold-deposits  as  was  Samuel  Lover's 
fairy-finder.  Darby  Kelleher,  who  threatened  to  make 
mincemeat  of  little  drunken  Doctor  MacFinn,  whom 
he  mistook  for  a  Leprehaun,  if  he  did  not  straightway 
fill  his  chest  with  gold. 

It  was  a  matter  of  no  small  pride  to  go  back  home 
successful,  and  thousands  remained  and  died  rather 
than  be  seen  by  their  friends  as  poor  as  when  they 
went  away.  "Home  or  the  mines  I"  was  the  watch- 
word of  more  than  one  gambling  venture.  There  was 
an  Englishman  who,  having  secured  a  bag  of  gold-dust, 
the  result  of  a  summer's  work  in  the  mines,  reached 
anchorage  at  Liverpool  with  Lis  treasure  in  safety; 
but  on  going  ashore,  the  gang-plank  gave  way,  and 
he  wa.^,  precipitated  into  the  water.  To  save  himself 
he  dropped  his  bag  of  gold,  and  was  never  able  to  re- 
cover it.  Happening  to  have  about  him  just  enougli 
to  pay  his  fare  to  California,  he  immediately  purchased 
a  ticket,  and  returned  to  the  mines  without  ever  once 
casting  eyes  on  his  old  home,  or  grasping  his  friends 
by  the  hand. 

But  the  lucky  ones  I  How  forever  after  by  all  the 
villagers  they  were  held  in  reputation  as  the  bravest 
and  wi^^est  of  men,  even  as  was  Haddad  Ben  Ahab, 
who  journeyed  to  the  wall  of  the  earth's  end,  and 
from  its  top  gazed  on  the  mysteries  beyond.  Yet 
there  were  some  who,  after  a  weary  search  for  great 


SMALL  AND  GREAT. 


"m 


things,  returned  to  their  homes,  only  to  find  their  des- 
tiny in  village  labor,  their  fathers  at  first  seeming  in 
tlieir  eyes  old-fashioned,  fossilized,  non-progressive 
men  of  la  vieille  roche. 

The  stories  told  by  returned  Californians  were  to 
their  hearers  fabulous ;  and  they  were,  indeed,  too  often 
as  little  worthy  of  literal  belief  as  the  wonders  Rabelais 
narrated  concerning  his  hero — how  seventeen  thousand 
cows  and  more  scarcely  supplied  the  babe  with  milk ; 
how  the  mare  on  which  he  rode  was  as  large  as  six 
elephants ;  how  he  cut  lettuce  as  big  as  walnut  trees, 
used  for  his  hair  a  comb  nine  hundred  feet  long,  and 
for  a  toothpick  an  elephant's  tusk, 


■'' 


f 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


SQUATTERISM. 

Some  suffer  them  selfe  for  defaut  of  aparannce, 
To  be  outlawyd,  and  other  some  suspendyd, 
Out  of  the  churche  for  hys  mys  goueranunce, 
And  yet  nought  caryth,  therfro  to  be  defendyd, 
Howe  beit  they  myght:  and  haue  theyr  mater  endyd, 
Suche  assay  by  falshode  to  prouoke  the  lawe, 
And  than  it  He,  and  them  therefro  with  drawe. 

y/tc  Ship  of  Fools. 

Squatterism  is  the  doctrine  or  system  which  has 
for  its  base  the  maxim  eminently  American  that  all 
citizens  have  equally  the  right  to  share  in  the  com- 
mon property  of  the  country,  particularly  in  the  public 
domain.  The  terms  squatter  and  settler  are  often 
used  synonomously,  the  former  being  no  more  a  word 
of  opprobrium  than  the  latter.  A  squatter  is  one 
who  takes  possession  of  and  settles  on  unoccupied 
land.  He  may  do  so  legally,  taking  possession  of 
lands  belonging  to  the  government,  and  in  accordance 
with  all  the  requirements  of  government,  or  he  may 
plant  himself  on  lands  belonging  to  another  or 
on  lands  in  dispute,  or  on  lands  covered  by  ISIexi- 
can  grants  of  which  he  had  no  knowledge,  or  in  the 
validity  of  which  he  had  no  faith.  The  term  settler 
is  rather  the  more  respectable  of  the  two,  as  that  im- 
plies simply  one  who  makes  his  home  upon  a  piece  of 
ground  formerly  either  public  domain,  or  land  held  by 
another  and  acquired  by  purchase.  Thus  we  see  a 
squatter  may  be  a  settler,  and  a  settler  may  be  a 
squatter.  There  is  this  distinction,  and  this  only  :  a 
settler  is  seldom  intentionally  a  fraudulent  squatter, 
although  a  squatter  may  be  a  respectable  settler.     As 

(396 


LAND-CLAIM  COMMISSION. 


397 


a  rule,  however,  the  terra  squatters  is  applied  to  those 
who  settle  upon  the  lands  of  another,  or  upon  lands 
in  dispute,  while  the  settler  is  one  of  that  worthy  and 
enterprising  class  who  enter  upon  and  subdue  unap- 
propriated public  domain,  and  thereby  establish  a 
claim,  by  virtue  of  first  actual  possession,  to  the  right 
of  purchase  or  of  title  in  conformity  with  law.  Of 
course  a  man  may  settle  himself  in  town  or  in  a 
thickly  populated  district;  but  the  term  is  usually 
used  as  I  have  said.  Between  the  honest  settler  and 
the  unprincipled  squatter  there  was  a  marked  differ- 
ence. The  one  was  contented  with  what  land  he 
could  use,  and  willing  his  neighbor  should  have 
as  nmch;  he  did  not  oppose  monopoly  in  another 
while  practising  it  himself;  he  was  not  unjustly  agra- 
rian, but  ready  to  respect  the  rights  and  titles  of 
others,  as  he  would  have  others  respect  his.  If  the 
large  grant-holders  came  into  possession  of  their  lands 
justly  and  in  accordance  with  law,  the  land  was  theirs. 
If  our  government  promised  to  respect  those  rights, 
it  should  do  so,  at  whatever  cost  to  its  citizens.  With- 
out going  back  to  the  time  when  these  grants  were 
made,  when  the  Mexican  authorities  could  not  give 
their  lands  away,  and  regarded  every  loyal  settler  an 
acquisition  compared  with  which  a  few  leagues  of 
land  were  as  nothing ;  without  taking  into  the  account 
the  necessities  of  these  grant-holders  for  broad  lands 
for  grazing  purposes,  their  risks  of  life  and  property 
among  the  wild  natives,  their  isolation,  and  their 
cliances  of  never  again  living  in  civilized  society, — 
which  indeed,  but  for  the  accidental  discovery  of  gold, 
tliey  would  not,  nor  scarcely  did  then, — without  tak- 
ing these  and  the  like  into  consideration  at  all,  the 
holders  of  large  land  grants  righteously  obtained  are 
as  much  entitled  to  protection  as  any  other  class  of 
men  in  their  possessions. 

The  squatter  of  the  California  flush  times  was  one 
who  assumed  the  name  of  settler  without  being  en- 
titled to  it.     He  was  a  professional  gull,  ever  hover- 


I 

M 


398  SQUATTERISM. 

ing  about  some  oroad-acred  pelican,  which  had  dived 
into  the  depths  for  its  possessions,  and  held  them 
rightfully.  He  it  was  who  speculated  in  town  lots, 
staked  off  fa  ming  lands,  jumped  mining  claims,  and 
stole  the  nest  of  another  rather  than  build  one  of  his 
own ;  waiting  and  watching  for  opportunities  to  pounce 
upon  the  property  of  others  if  so  be  he  might  escape 
the  law's  penalty. 

The  squatters  of  Sacramento,  affirming  that  the 
lands  of  Sutter  belonged  to  the  United  States,  re- 
solved, in  July  1850,  to  hold  possession  of  that  which 
they  had  seized,  peaceably  if  possible,  forcibly  if  neces- 
sary ;  and  if  the  bail  of  an  arrested  squatter  should  be 
refused  simply  because  the  bondsman  was  not  a  land- 
holder under  Sutter,  all  executions  issued  in  conse- 
quence thereof  should  be  deemed  illegal,  and  the 
associated  squatters  should  "act  accordingly." 

A  commission  was  appointed  by  act  of  congress, 
early  in  1851,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  and  set- 
tling private  land  claims  in  California.  It  was  to 
consist  of  three  commissioners  appointed  by  the  presi- 
dent, a  secretary  skilled  in  the  Spanish  and  English 
languages,  and  not  to  exceed  five  clerks;  it  was  to 
continue  for  three  years,  unless  sooner  terminated  by 
the  president.  An  attorney  was  to  be  appointed  to 
attend  the  meetings  of  iiie  board,  and  guard  the  inter- 
ests of  the  United  States  in  the  premises.  The  com- 
mission might  summon  witnesses,  and  administer 
oaths;  and  every  person  claiming  lands  in  California 
by  virtue  of  any  right  or  title  derived  from  the  Span- 
ish or  Mexican  governments,  should  present  the  same 
to  the  commissioners  when  sitting  as  a  board,  together 
with  such  documentary  evidence  and  testimony  of 
witnesses  as  the  claimant  relied  upon  in  support  of  his 
claim.  Appeals  from  the  commission  might  be  made 
to  the  United  States  district  court,  and  thence  to  the 
United  States  supreme  court.  Three  tedious  tribu- 
nals, attended  by  harassing  and  expensive  litigation, 
were  thus  to  be  undergone  before  the  land-holder  was 


SORROWS  OF  THE  SETTLER. 


399 


secured  in  the  peaceable  possession  of  what  in  the  be- 
ginning was  his  own. 

In  deciding  upon  the  vaUdity  of  claims,  the  com- 
missioners and  courts  were  to  be  governed  by  the 
treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo,  the  laws  of  nations,  the 
laws,  usages,  and  customs  of  the  government  from 
which  the  claim  is  derived,  the  principles  of  equity, 
and  the  decisions  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  United 
States  so  far  as  applicable.  A.  patent  should  issue  to 
claimants  for  all  claims  finally  confirmed ;  those  finally 
rejected  should  be  considered  as  part  of  the  public 
domain  of  the  United  States.  Land  granted  by  the 
Mexican  authorities  for  the  establislimcnt  of  a  town 
in  existence  on  the  7th  day  of  July,  1846,  and  town, 
farm,  or  pasture  lots  held  under  a  grant  from  a  cor- 
poration to  which  lands  were  granted  for  town  pur- 
poses, did  not  come  under  the  jurisdiction  of  these 
commissioners ;  and  the  fact  of  the  existence  on  the 
above  mentioned  day  of  any  town  or  city  being  duly 
proved  was  prima  facie  evidence,  either  of  a  grant  to 
the  corporate  authorities  or  to  the  individual,  under 
which  holders  might  claim.  It  was  the  duty  of  the 
commissioners  to  ascertain  and  report  to  the  secretary 
of  the  interior  the  tenure  by  which  the  mission  lands 
were  held,  and  those  held  by  tame  Indians,  agricul- 
turalists, rancheros,  and  pueblos. 

It  was  hoped  that  when  California  became  a  state 
the  uncertainty  in  regard  to  land  titles,  which  exer- 
cised so  fatal  an  influence  on  agriculture  and  settle- 
ment, would  be  quickly  terminated ;  but  it  was  about 
a  year  after  congress  had  created  a  commission,  whose 
duration,  as  I  have  said,  was  limited  to  three  years, 
that  the  commissioners  presented  themselves  in  Cal- 
ifornia. 

Many  of  those  who  emigrated  to  California  were 
informed,  and  undoubtedly  believed,  that  the  vast 
territory  ceded  by  Mexico,  and  whose  beauty  and 
fertility  had  been  so  extolled,  was  at  the  time  of  its 
cession  the  public  property  of  Mexico,  and  as  such, 


« 


■•}\  ^ 


'■■■•■■■  Xi\ 


III: 


Uy^  I 


m 


400 


SQUA'iTERISM. 


with  the  change  of  sovereignty,  became  the  public 
property  of  tlie  United  States.  Under  that  belief 
they  oanio  with  their  families,  household  goods  and 
catth;,  feeling  certain  that  an  abundance  of  valuable 
agricultural  land  was  to  be  had  for  the  taking. 
TluTcfore,  when  on  arrival  they  found  all  the  best 
arable  lands  covered  by  enormous  grants  to  the  Mexi- 
cans and  otliers;  that  their  government  had  neglected 
to  carry  out  treaty  stipulations  to  determine  the  valid- 
ity of  those  claims;  that  the  lands  of  native  Cali- 
foniians  even  were  daily  wrested  from  them  by  com- 
binations of  squatters  and  thievish  lawyers,  tliey  were 
greatly  disappointed  and  naturally  indignant.  Then 
it  was  that  breaking  down  all  hedge-rows  of  law  and 
logic,  they  struck  the  bold  decision  that  these  preten- 
tious ten-league  land-holders  were  usurping  monopo- 
lists, who,  like  savages,  unjustly  held  from  advancing 
civilization  brt)ad  areas  of  God's  earth  for  which  they 
had  paid  nothing,  had  no  use,  and  t<i  which  they  had 
no  right.  Nor  were  there  lacking  lawyers  and  politi- 
cal demagogues  ever  ready  at  hand  to  feed  the 
fire  of  their  unjust  anger  and  prey  upon  their  pre- 
judices. 

The  immigrants  complained  in  a  memorial  to  con- 
gress, forwarded  in  December  1849,  when  social  quitt 
was  most  disturbed  by  the  squatter  excitement,  th;it 
tliey  had  come  hither  in  the  belief  that  their  govern- 
ment had  purchased  this  territory  from  Mexico,  and 
that  they  had  the  right  to  preempt  and  settle  upon 
lands  here  as  in  any  other  part  of  the  public  domain. 
But,  instead  of  possessing  that  right  they  had  found 
themselves  to  be  trespassers,  subject  to  the  extortion- 
ate demands  of  pretended  owners.  Denied  them  was 
the  privilege  to  pitch  a  tent,  to  plant,  to  build,  to 
occupy.  There  is  scarcely  a  spot  fit  for  a  settlement, 
town-site,  or  farm,  said  they,  that  is  not  crossed  with 
Mexican  titles  or  Spanish  grants,  and  held  by  the 
possessors  for  speculative  purposes,  greatly  to  the  in- 
jury of  bona  fide  settlers.     Thirty  miles  square  in  the 


JK-OJI 
WliH 

noun 
more 
JioJdc 
in  th| 

ihvx 
hireh") 
f^tand.v 
like 

filf'O    O 

sense, 
•'•s  the 
*iisput£ 
under 
its   su 
turning 
j"g  a 
^>r  the 
tonance 
practise 
CaJiforri 
Low 


IIIISII,    AFRICAN,   AND  CHINESE. 


401 


Sacramento  valley  are  claimed  by  two  persons,  who 
jiarcol  it  )ut  to  gambling  speculators  for  the  purpose 
of  obtaining  high  prices  from  actual  settlers,  and  this 
was  but  a  snigle  instance. 

There  were  not  wanting  men  to  espouse  the  cause 
of  law  and  order,  in  its  relation  to  squatterism,  as 
t'lsdwhcre,  and  to  cry  loudly  against  the  violation  of 
the  sacred  principles  that  constitute  the  fran?e-work 
of  scK'iety,   whenever  such   violation  stood  between 
tlieni  and   titles  to  lands  held  or  coveted.     On  the 
otlier  hand,  if  law  and  order  stood  between  them  and 
tlu'ir  interests,  they  were   the   foremost   to   es})ouse 
scjuattorism   and  brute-force  title.      The   Herald,  at 
first  tlie  great  champion  of  reform,  the  leader  of  the 
people,  and  the  instigator  of  committees  of  vigilance, 
was  denounced  by  its  contemporaries,  as  later  it  de- 
nounced the  leaders  of  the  reform  of  1856.     **  Nothhig 
more  plainly  proves  the  real  opinion  of  many  land- 
lioltlors  and  speculators  in  the  city,"  says  one,  writing 
in  the  autunni  of  1850,    "regarding  the  validity   of 
their  titles,  than  the  reckless  and  desperate  course 
tliey  are  now  pursuing,  as  expressed  througli  the' 
hireling    newspaper   organs,    at   the    head   of  which 
stands   the   Herald.     If  the    present  judges  cannot, 
like  most  of  our  old   alcaldes,  be  bribed  to  uphold 
the   existing  «ystem   of  land-ownership,  and  in  the 
face  of  all  law,  equity,  reason,  honesty,  and  common 
sense,  decide  that  the  beach  and  water  lots,  as  well 
as  the  greater  portion  of  the  rest  of  the  city,  are  in- 
ilisputable  titles  in  the  names  of  those  holding  them 
under  such  a  system,  I  would  ask  the  Herald  and 
its   supporters  what  they  expect  to  gain   b}'-   over- 
turning these  courts,  murdering  the  judges,  and  rais- 
ing a  civil  war  to  destroy  the  very  government  which, 
for  the  time  being,  alone  gives  any  support  and  coun- 
tenance to  the  dishonest  and  fraudulent  land  robbery 
practised  not  only  in  this  city  but  in  all  parts  of 
California." 
Low   indeed   lie  the  social  sewers  through  which 


Cal.    Int.  Foe.  'J& 


402 


SQUATTERISM. 


flow  our  party  politics.  Out  of  the  depths,  all  whiskcy- 
Boakcd  and  in  ignorance  drenching,  were  brouglit 
Erin's  exiles  to  be  made  kings.  Then  the  down -trod- 
den African  was  lifted  to  tlie  bosom  of  northern  re- 
publicans, and  borne  tenderly  to  the  polls.  Next  in 
turn  come  the  Chinamen,  now  called  pig-tailed,  and 
turned  into  social  swine,  grunting  under  the  blows  of 
the  lordly  Irishman;  but  when  needed  by  a  political 
party  every  one  of  them  should  be  a  sweet  John, 
and  a  lovely  almond-eyed  American  voter.  The 
squatters  of  California  were  at  first  denounced  by  the 
officers  of  the  law,  who  called  them  outlaws,  murderers ; 
but  when  these  same  office-holders  desired  reelection, 
and  squatterism  had  become  a  power  in  the  state, 
then  candidates  of  every  party  vied  with  each  other 
in  grovelling  prostration.  From  their  vocabulary 
the  term  "squatter"  was  stricken,  and  every  land- 
robber  was  an  honest  settler. 

The  immigrants  were  undoubtedly  much  disappointed 
at  not  being  able  to  step  in  and  take  possession  of  the 
choicest  morsels  of  the  new  domahi,  and  thereupon 
induljxed  their  disjjust  with  all  the  senseless  bombast 
common  to  enraged,  free-born  citizens  of  the  great 
American  republic.  With  wagons,  tents,  and  equip- 
age, with  guns,  knives  and  pistols,  they  swarmed  up- 
on the  lands  of  the  grant-iiolders,  threatening  death 
to  any  who  interfered,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  ap- 
proach the  verge  of  growing  towns  and  stake  off  upon 
the  principal  streets,  beyond  the  limits  of  the  occupied 
portions,  town  lots  at  intervals  of  forty  feet,  markiiiL!; 
the  stakes  with  the  names  of  the  claimants,  and  the 
time  from  which  such  possession  dated. 

Thus  it  was  that  very  early  in  the  history  of  Ameri- 
can occupation  in  California,  squatterism  became  an 
evil.  It  was  indeed  only  a  phase  of  mob  law,  but  with 
this  important  difference.  A  resort  to  popular,  arbi- 
trary administration  of  justice  might,  under  certain 
circumstances,  be  excusable  in  criminal  cases,  where 
tlie  vital  principles  of  social  good  conduct   were  at 


wao 

woni( 

not 

tics 

Kinc( 

Was 

'^nit( 

her,  V 

"f  Fc 

UU'll  o 

or  vac 

sidio, 

iiioJislj 

squatt 
^aptaii 
court. 


THE  EVIL  AT  SAN  FRANCISCO. 


408 


liicn- 
Ic  an 

lai'V>i- 
irtaiu 
/here 
Ire  at 


sialic  ;  but  in  civil  differences,  wliicli  by  no  possi- 
bility can  a  resort  to  arms  in  any  wise  lessen,  and 
Avhich  must  ultimately  be  determined  by  arbitration, 
by  tiic  courts,  by  common  sense  and  reason,  and  by 
nothing  else,  fighting  is  brutish.  In  squatterism  the 
existence  of  courts  is  ignored,  not  because,  us  is  tli(3 
case  with  vigilance  connnittees,  justice  cannot  bo  ob- 
tained and  the  guilty  escape,  but  because  justice  is 
tardy  and  claimants  are  impatient.  And  then  tho 
men  of  California  had  so  long  been  thrown  upon 
themselves  for  the  redress  of  grievances,  that  they 
liad  acquired  the  habit  of  fighting  their  own  battles, 
deeming  a  resort  to  law  contemptible  petty-fogging. 
No  1  tlie  first,  the  brawny  arm,  the  knife,  tlie  re- 
volver, these  were  the  tools  for  them  1  Away  with 
law  and  title  deeds;  we  want  not  reason,  we  want  the 
[iroperty  1 

Swarms  of  squatters  settled  on  every  available  spot 
about  San  Francisco,  whether  already  claimed  or  not. 
The  sand  hills  were  so  fenced  in,  without  regard  to 
roads  or  regularity,  that  it  was  with  difficulty  a 
wagon  could  nicike  its  way  beyond  the  suburbs  in  any 
(iHvction.  Fights  between  claimants  were  fn  quent, 
women  joining  the  men  in  their  shooting  scrapes,  and 
not  infrequently  officers  in  the  discharge  of  their  du- 
ties would  be  threatened.  Most  of  the  land  at  El 
liincon,  that  is  to  say  Rincon  Point,  or  Kincon  Hill, 
was  held  by  the  government  as  a  reserve.  The 
rnited  States  leased  it  for  a  time  to  Theodore  Sliilla- 
bcr,  who,  upon  attempting  to  take  possession  the  28th 
of  February,  1850,  found  it  covered  with  squatters, 
men  of  Sydney  and  that  class,  who  refused  to  pay  rent 
or  vacate.  Captain  Keys  tlien  in  charge  at  the  pre- 
sidio, detailed  twenty  soldiers  to  the  place,  who  de- 
molished the  tents  and  shanties  and  drove  off  the 
squatters.  One  of  them  brought  suit  against  the 
captain  for  damages  which  was  dismissed  by  the 
court.  In  July  1853  the  sheriff,  Johnson,  was  shot 
by  a  squatter  while  placing  in  possession  the  rightful 


404 


8QUATTERISM. 


owner  of  a  lot  on  Mission  street ;  Union  Square  was 
fenced  in,  and  when  by  order  of  the  niayor  the  street 
commissioner  attempted  to  remove  it,  the  claimant 
drew  a  pistol  but  was  disarmed  before  he  could  use  it. 
It  was  in  a  quarrel  over  a  lot  on  Greenwich  street 
tliat  John  Baldwin,  an  old  and  respected  citizt?n,  was 
shot  dead  by  one  Hetherington.  There  was  a  multi- 
tude of  affairs  of  this  nature,  many  of  which  resulted 
fatally. 

Samuel  Brannan  in  1851  had  deeded  the  Odd  Fel- 
lows' ground  for  a  cemetery,  and  by  mid-summer  1853 
squatters  swarmed  on  it.  In  certain  quarters  there 
appeared  something  like  systematic  organization  with 
wealth  behind  appearances. 

It  appears  that  Captain  Folsom  experienced  no 
little  trouble  from  the  squatter.  He  repeatedly  cm- 
ployed  armed  bodies  of  men  to  clear  his  property, 
tear  down  fences,  demolish  houces  and  drive  oft'  claim- 
ants. This  was  a  rather  arbitrary  practise  for  a 
whilom  government  officer;  but  the  courts  were  slow, 
nmch  slower  than  gunpowder;  and  when  property  was 
rapidly  appreciating  and  depreciating,  lengthy  litiga- 
tions would  entail  loss  even  to  the  winner.  A  lot  on 
the  corner  of  Mission  and  Third  streets  was  the  scene 
of  a  fatal  squatter  riot  about  the  first  of  June  1854. 
Some  ten  men  were  engaged  on  either  side.  The 
police  were  rather  inclined  to  favor  the  squatters,  but 
they  were  finally  ejected.  In  this  disgraceful  aftair 
two  men  were  killed  and  five  wounded. 

So  rank  had  become  this  evil  that  holders  of  prop- 
rty  under  title  derived  from  the  city,  and  others, 


)ld  a  meeting  on  the  5th  of  June,  1854,  at  the  offi 


Vi) 


of  Theodore  Payne  and  Company,  and  steps  were 
taken  toward  the  appointment  of  a  special  police  for 
the  protection  of  their  lots,  or  in  other  words,  for  the 
organization  of  a  band  of  fighting  men  to  drive  away 
the  squatters.  Something  of  the  kind  was  needed, 
and,  indeed,  justifiable,  for  the  squatters  had  entrenched 
themselves  on  Mission  street;  and  threatened  havoc 


and  def 
bo  mad 
c'aiJod,  i 
of  a  sa 
boon  ph 
^>oking 
dated  sJi 
tlius  asp 
'"^'  poss( 
"lootinir 
at  Musici 
More  I 
street  be< 
tahiing    p 
spread  raj 
^  lot  tliat 
I'ghtfu]  o^ 
ently  squa 
t^acJi  otiicr 
i^owell,  Jfl 
claimed  si 
coiitendin 
^'•iimant. 
«thor  side  s 
and  a  wom^ 
loss  active 
and  formini 
promises  on 
^v'ho  march 
*inels.     Th« 
^ml  drove  t 
«jght  before 
s'on,  and  na 
tJiey  were  ^ 
^v'ore  then  p 
"Pon  the  sai 
It  Was  th 
stake  ofl^  the 


'g 


FIGHTS  AND  LAW-SUITS. 


and  death,  fire  a!id  extermination,  should  any  attempt 
bo  made  to  expel  them.  Fort  Larkin  the  place  was 
called,  in  honor  of  one  of  the  riniiloaders.  The  jxallev 
of  a  sailing-vessel,  perforated  with  port-holen,  had 
l)oon  planted  as  a  fortress  on  the  disputi-d  lot,  over- 
looking which,  on  a  sandy  eminence,  stood  a  dilapi- 
dated shanty,  the  headquarters  of  the  belligerents  who 
thus  aspired  to  become  owners  of  lots  by  merely  tak- 
ing possession  of  them.  The  next  day  a  nmch  larg«>r 
meeting  for  the  suppression  of  squatterism  was  held 
at  Musical  Hall. 

More  and  more  audacious  the  squatters  t>f  Mission 
street  became  every  day.  And  the  infection  for  ob- 
tauiing  property  without  rendering  an  equivalent 
spread  rapidly  over  the  city.  Soon  there  was  scarcely 
a  lot  that  was  not  fenced  in  and  guarded,  either  by  its 
rightful  owner  or  by  some  wrongful  claimant.  Pres- 
tMitly  squatter  rose  up  against  squatter,  and  fought 
each  other.  On  Green  street,  between  Stockton  and 
Powell,  James  Lick  owned  a  lot  which  two  squatters 
claimed  sinmltaneously.  Murphy  and  Duffy  being  the 
contending  claimants,  and  each  backed  by  a  sub- 
claimant.  One  party  erected  a  fence,  and  when  the 
other  side  attem})ted  to  pull  it  down,  pistols  were  fired, 
and  a  woman  and  a  man  shot.  The  squatters  were  no 
less  active  than  their  opponents  in  holding  meetings 
and  forming  secret  associations.  Before  the  dispute*! 
premises  on  Mission  street  armed  men  were  stationed, 
who  marched  back  and  forth  night  and  day  like  sen- 
tinels. The  authorities  at  length  took  the  matter  up, 
and  drove  them  away ;  but  scarcely  were  they  out  of 
sight  before  the  squatters  were  back  again  in  posses- 
sion, and  nailing  up  their  demolished  fences.  Finally 
they  were  effectually  dislodged  ;  the  rightful  owners 
were  then  placed  in  possession,  and  peace  again  smiled 
upon  the  sand-hills. 

It  was  the  fashion  of  purchasers  of  water-lots  to 
stake  off  the  limits  of  their  submerged  lands  and  fence 
them  in  by  means  of  pile-drivers,  paying  little  regard 


vji 


i06 


SQUATTERISM. 


to  the  necessities  of  sliii)ping  or  the  rights  of  other 
claimants.  Tiiis  custom  led  to  nuiny  fights  ahnig  the 
city  t'nmt,  and  numberless  injunctions  and  coniplahits 
in  the  courts. 

Possession  was  generally  regarded  the  best  title, 
and  to  obtain  or  hold  possession  a  resort  to  arms  was 
of  daily  occurrence.  In  acquiring  or  maintaining  title 
to  the  water-lots  of  Yerba  Bucna  cove,  the  pile-driver 
was  an  imi)ortant  agent;  superseding  Irishmen,  it 
fenced  city  blocks  in  the  bay,  and  if  dispossessed,  fell 
back  u\Mni  strategy  to  maintain  possession.  Ac(!rtain 
block,  for  example,  was  wholly  enclosed  on  three  sides, 
and  on  the  fourth  the  fence  of  piles  was  open  only 
sutHcient  to  admit  a  vessel.  Just  within  this  entrance 
were  stationed  two  store  ships,  green  water-dragons 
guarding  possession,  and  keeping  the  ])ile-driver  away 
from  what  it  had  with  so  nmch  difficulty  enclosed. 
Either  the  vessels  nmst  be  carried  by  a  ptorming  party, 
and  the  aperture  closed  by  the  pile-driver,  or  they 
nmst  be  cut  loose  and  turned  adrift  hi  the  dead(»f  tlio 
night.  In  this  instance  both  devices  were  used  and  a 
loiiii'  list  of  fi<;hts  and  law-suits  followed. 

Hiram  J?earson  and  F.  Lawson  were,  on  the  21st 
of  September,  1853,  accused  before  the  recorder  of 
assault  with  deadly  weapons  while  attenn)ting  to  take 
possession  of  a  water  lot.  Pearson  was  discharge*! 
and  Lawson  held  for  trial.  The  contending  parties, 
it  appears,  had  fought  in  boats,  one  of  which,  an  old 
hulk  called  the  Bethel,  Lawson  scuttled,  intending  to 
sink  it  t>n  the  lot  and  so  maintain  possession.  Shots 
were  freely  fired  on  both  sitles,  and  attempts  made  to 
thn)W  each  other  overboard;  but  no  lives  were  lost. 

One  Pinkham,  living  in  April  1864  at  the  Potrero, 
thought  to  enrich  his  posterity  by  driving  piles  so  as 
to  enclose  a  number  of  overflowed  lots  in  front  of  the 
glass-works.  Others  caught  the  infection;  lines  of 
piles  were  driven,  and  lots  enclosed  at  intervals,  from 
Potrero  point  halfway  to  Steandioat  point,  and  again 
nearly  to  the  mouth  of  Mission  creek.     The  desire 


AFFAIR  AT  SAN  RAFAEL. 


407 


2 1st 
'X  of 
take 

'ties, 
old 

[IT     to 

lihots 
Ic  to 

ll)St. 

trert), 
ls(»  as 
If  the 
Ics  ot' 

I  frolic 
lira  ill 
lesivo 


for  free  suburban  bomestoads,  and  water-lots  witbout 
]tiiy,  was  always  prevalent  among  tbe  land-bungry  of 
San  Francisco,  and  recent  grants  made  by  tbe  legis- 
lature seemed  to  bave  fired  afresb  tbeir  insane  desires, 
Tbe  water-lots  tbus  seized  belonged  to  tbe  state,  and 
many  piles  were  driven  along  tbe  city  front  for  wbicb 
tbe  greedy  grabbers  never  received  visible  compensa- 
tion. 

Tberc  was  a  difficulty  in  Marin  county  in  August 
I8r)4,  wbicb  tbreatened  to  assume  a  serious  aspect. 
Ceitain  mission  lands  near  San  Rafael,  wbicb  bad 
been  set  apart  bv^  tbe  Mexican  autborities  for  rellijious 
purposes,  were  seized  and  staked  oft'  by  an  oi'ganized 
band  of  squatters,  wbo  determined  to  bold  tlie  i>rop- 
crtv  tie  et  ar)nis.  One  winyr  t)f  tbe  mission  buildino;s 
at  San  Rafael  was,  in  184!),  used  as  a  cburcb,  and  tbe 
«»tlier  as  couit  and  jury  rooms  ;  otber  apartments  were 
occupied  by  Mexican  families  witb  tbeir  dogs,  ]u)gs, 
and  <attle.  By  order  of  tbe  alcalde,  William  ]iey- 
iiolds,  tbe  city  was  suiAeyed  in  1850  and  laid  oft'  in 
town  lots  witb  a  Mexican  title.  Tbe  price  of  b)ts  was 
fixed  at  tbirty  dollars  eacb,  and  a  day  aj)pointed  by 
the  alcalde  for  tbe  sale,  tbe  first  a])plicant  to  receive 
the  first  cboice.  A  great  rush  was  made  for  lots  by 
tliose  wbo  bad  failed  to  make  tbeir  fortunes  in  San 
Francisco  sand-bills;  but  tbe  town,  developing  more 
slowly  than  was  anticipated,  many  of  tbem  were  al- 
lowed to  fall  into  tbe  bands  of  tbe  tax-»jatberer.  Tbe 
land  in  dispute  bordered  upon  tbe  town,  and  was  j)ait 
of  tbe  old  mission  orcbard  and  vineyard,  wbicb  bad 
been  neglect  d  by  tbe  cburcb  and  by  its  rightful  own- 
ers for  niiiuy  years,  and  bad  at  length  fallen  a  prey  to 
l)ivemi)t(»rs.  On  the  7tli  of  August  tbe  cbuivb  party, 
to  the  number  of  al)out  twenty-five,  apjx^ared  against 
the  squatters  witb  sticks  and  staves,  and  drove  tbem 
from  tbeir  sbores. 

So  habituated  bad  tbe  people  of  California  l)ecomo 
to  trusting  only  to  themselves  for  tbe  accomplisbment 
of  their  purpose,  that  mob  law  became  tbe  too  frecjuent 


I 


408 


SQUATTERISM. 


' 


«: 


]■' 


arbiter  of  important  civil  cases,  especially  in  the  set- 
tlement of  squatter  disputes,  and  in  swindles  affecting 
the  general  public.  Whatever  was  wrongfully  accom- 
plished by  law,  the  people  who  had  learned  to  look 
upon  themselves  as  above  the  law,  deemed  it  incum- 
bent upon  them  to  make  right,  and  this  they  did  in 
the  surest  and  most  direct  manner. 

The  town  of  Oakland  was  thrown  into  a  state  of 
great  excitement  on  the  27th  of  August,  1853,  arising 
from  the  claims  of  Carpeiitier,  !Moore,  and  others  t(j 
the  long  line  of  water  property  along  the  front.  A 
meeting  was  held  and  resolutions  passed  repudiating 
these  claims,  and  determining  to  divide  such  pro[»crty 
equitably  among  the  people.  This,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  club  and  pistol,  they  proceeded  to  do.  Two 
hundred  and  fifty  citizens  signed  a  pledge  Jo  ;  I 
by  each  other  at  all  hazards.  Then  at  it  thvy  went. 
Business  was  suspended;  fighting  was  free  to  ail;  and 
the  result  was  that  Carpentier's  men  were  beaten  and 
ignominiously  driven  from  the  field. 

Nowhere  did  the  energy  and  audacity  of  the  squat- 
ters assume  greater  proj)ortions  than  on  the  lands  of 
John  A.  Sutter,  in  the  Sacramento  vallev.  Sutter's 
claim  was  beyond  all  question  valid.  He  was  the  j)io- 
neer  in  this  rej^ion.  He  had  r<  reived  from  the  Mex- 
ican  autliorities  a  genuine  grant,  m  due  time  confirnud 
bv  tlie  United  States  ijovernment  He  built  a  fort, 
cultivated  the  soil,  and  raised  flocks  and  herds.  If 
there  were  anywhere  rights  and  conditions  entitled  to 
res[)ect  by  innnigrants,  they  were  here  present. 

The  14th  of  August,  1850,  witnessed  a  serious 
aflra J' between  the  citizens  and  an  organized  band  of 
squatters  composed  of  emigrants  who  had  taken  ui> 
claims  on  unoccupied  lands  in  and  adjoining  Sacra- 
mento. It  apjwars  that  a  case  had  lately  been  tried 
and  decided  against  the  squatters,  the  judge  denying 
an  appeal.  This  decision,  together  with  what  they 
deemed  an  illegal  attempt  on  the  part  of  an  inferior 
court  "^o  make  it  final,  fo  exasperated  the  squatte  ^ 


that 
gove 
obey 
witJi 
tJie  d 
inouii 
to  th( 
]'risor 
one  ()) 
An 
a  ]arg( 
demon 
cials  u 
Jace,  tJ 
assesso 
iiiortali 
his   su] 
TJie  les 
fiiialJv  ( 
Xext  d 
in  tJie  c 
i"g  sue] 
saloon  t 
f^quattor 
eral    nx 
sJierifi 
tors  tak 
governo] 
iiiihtia  t< 
tlie  riot, 
deinned  ( 
inir.st  uj 
taking  u 
^JiiTo  a]) 
f"i'Mia  wa 
and  Hex; 
to  arijis  V 
SucJi,  I 
^••ot   of   I 


)( 


^1  if' 
1    I 


BLOODY  AFFRAY  IN  SACRAMENTO. 


409 


that  they  held  a  mass  meeting,  and  declared  the  state 
government  unlawful  and  the  authorities  not  to  be 
obeyed.  Two  of  their  number  were  arrested,  charged 
with  rebellion,  and  lodged  in  the  prison  brig.  On 
tlie  day  above  mentioned  forty  armed  men,  under  a 
mounted  leader,  marched  through  the  streets  down 
to  the  prison  brig  for  the  purpose  of  releasing  the 
lirisonors,  and  also  to  recover  certain  lumber  of  which 
one  of  their  number  had  been  dispossessed. 

Arrived  at  the  levee  thev  found  close  at  their  heels 
a  lanjce  crowd  hooting  at  them,  and  makin*;  warlike 
demonstrations.  The  mayor,  sheriff,  and  other  offi- 
cials were  on  the  spot.  Closely  ])ressed  by  the  j)opu- 
lace,  the  squatters  wheeled  and  fired.  Tlie  mayor, 
assessor,  and  a  dozen  others  were  struck,  several 
mortally.  The  fire  was  returned  by  the  sheriff  and 
his  supporters,  and  continued  for  about  an  hour. 
The  leader  of  the  squatters  was  killed  and  the  band 
filially  dispersed.  Thus  far  five  or  six  only  were  dead. 
Next  day  the  sheriff  with  about  twenty  men  set  out 
in  the  direction  of  the  fort  f«)r  the  purpose  of  arrest- 
ing such  squatters  as  they  could  find.  Stop})ing  at  a 
saloon  to  drink,  the  sheriff's  party  was  fired  upon  by 
scjuatters  concealed  in  an  adjoining  room,  and  a  gen- 
eral melee  ensued,  in  which  three,  including  the 
slieriff,  were  killed,  several  wounded,  and  four  squat- 
ters taken  prisoners.  On  receipt  of  the  news,  the 
gfjvernor,  then  at  San  Jose,  ordered  a  brigade  of 
militia  to  proceed  to  Sacramento  and  assist  in  quelling 
the  riot.  This  uprising  of  the  squatters  was  con- 
demned on  all  sides;  a  torrent  of  pul>lic  indignation 
!»urst  upon  them  from  all  })arts  of  the  state.  For 
taking  up  arms  against  the  constituted  authorities, 
there  appeared  no  justification,  no  palliation.  Cali- 
fornia was  not  yet  a  state;  the  titli'S  to  })ublic  lands 
and  Mexican  grants  were  ill  understood,  but  a  resort 
to  arms  was  not  the  way  to  settle  them. 

Such,  briefly,  was  the  great  Sacramento  s([uatter 
riot   of   1850.     The   squatter   party   was    composed 


ill 


il  il 


' 


I.  i 
I  I 


410 


SQUATTERISM. 


chiefly  of  iininigrants  f.'orn  the  western  states,  where 
Spanish  grants  were  unknown.  Schooled  in  the  cl(x?- 
trine  that  all  unoccupied  American  soil  is  free,  they 
knew  and  cared  to  know  nothinij  of  the  land  laws 
other  than  the  laws  of  preemption ;  and  to  be  driven 
from  their  lots  by  speculators  claiming  under  the 
Sutter  title  was  unbearable  tyranny. 

The  trouble  had  long  been  brewing.  Much  feeling 
prevailed  during  the  winter  of  1849-50,  and  the 
squatter  element  then  lacked  only  a  leader  openly  to 
resist  Sach  a  spirit  at  length  appeared  under  the 
name  of  Dr  Robinson,  who  was  seconded  by  one 
M  ihoney.  One  of  the  squatters  had  bec^n  ejected 
ti\e  authorities,  and  two  arrested  as  before  men- 
ti./ned.  Meanwhile  the  squatters  had  been  collecting 
army  and  ammunition  with  which  to  oppose  the  exe- 
cution of  the  law.  Robinson  was  arrested,  passed 
the  form  of  trial,  and  was  released.  Not  h^ng  after 
he  was  elected  to  the  legislature  from  Sacramento 
county,  an  act  on  the  part  of  the  people  significant  of 
their  sj-mpjithy. 

An  organized  band  of  squatters,  some  eighty  in 
number,  who  had  taken  up  claims  on  an  island  in 
Feather  river,  kno  vn  as  the  Jimeno  grant,  told  the 
deputy  United  Statos  marshal,  who  in  May,  1853, 
was  attempting  to  sei  ve  certain  summons,  that  they 
had  contributed  $3,000.  with  which  to  defend  the 
suit,  that  they  were  now  carrying  it  to  the  supronu' 
court,  and  if  they  lost  it  there  they  should  then  fight. 
They  told  the  officer,  moreover,  that  if  he  attempted 
to  serve  his  summons  they  would  kill  him.  The  mar- 
shal retired  and  took  the  boat  for  San  Francisco. 
Stop])ing  at  a  wood-yard,  he  learned  that  the  proprie- 
tor, Holiday,  was  one  of  the  persons  for  whom  he  had 
a  summons.  The  marshal  delivered  the  writ  and  be- 
gan to  read  the  summons,  when  he  was  interruptt  d 
with,  "Waal,  I  suppose  I  may  as  well  kill  you  now  as 
any  time,"  at  the  same  time  receivhig  on  his  arm, 
which  he  had  thrown  up  to  protect  his  head,  a  blow 


SANTA  BARBARA  AND  HEALDSBURO. 


411 


which,  had  it  not  missed  its  aim,  would  have  killed 
him.  Being  unarmed,  and  unable  to  pnjcure  a 
weapon  on  board,  the  officer  was  obliged  to  return 
without  having  accomplisiied  his  purpose. 

In  May  1853,  one  of  the  frequent  disputes  arose  as 
to  the  possession  of  a  certain  piece  of  land  at  Santa 
Barbara.  Jack  Powers  had  settled  upc^n  a  tract 
about  two  miles  from  town,  which  Nicholas  Den 
claimed  to  have  leased  for  a  number  of  years  from  the 
government.  The  case  was  decided  in  Den's  favor  in 
the  district  court,  and  afterward  in  the  suprcn;e  court. 
Nevertheless,  Powers  refused  to  give  up  possession, 
claiming  that  as  it  was  government  property,  it  was 
free  f:o  all  American  citizens.  Sheriff  Twist  deter- 
mined to  eject  him  by  force.  Powers  then  collected 
fifteen  of  his  friends,  and  formed  a  sort  of  barricade 
on  the  rancho,  by  felling  trees,  piling  up  logs,  and  ar- 
ranging wagons  for  the  purpose.  They  had  liquors 
and  food  provided  for  a  number  of  days,  and  several 
|)ieces  of  nmsic  to  enliven  the  time.  Well  armed 
with  revolvers,  rifles,  and  shot-guns  they  were  pre- 
pared to  resist  the  officers.  Three  of  Powers'  adher- 
ents, on  the  way  to  his  place,  encountered  the  sheriff 
and  others,  who  were  trying  to  take  out  the  spikes 
that  had  been  put  in  the  cannon  the  previous  night. 
Words  ensued  as  to  their  intended  use  of  the  cannon, 
which  resulted  in  a  serious  melee  with  several 
wounded  and  some  killed  on  both  sides. 

Not  less  than  200  men,  squatters  on  the  Fitch,  the 
Pena,  and  the  Berreyesa  grants,  situated  about 
Hcaldsburg  on  Russian  river,  banded  for  mutual  pro- 
tection in  movements  defensive  and  aggressive. 
Sonoma  and  Santa  Rosa  valleys  in  common  with  al- 
most all  parts  of  the  state  covered  with  Mexican 
grants,  have  been  the  scenes  of  repeated  assassinations 
and  outbreaks,  of  which  I  give  n  instance.  In  April 
iS58  fifty  armed  men  attacked  the  government  sur- 
veyor, Tracy,  then  acting  under  instructions  issued 
by  Mandeville,  surveyor  general,  seized  and  tore  in 


i 


I 


5        1,1 


i 


412 


SQUATTERISM. 


pieces  his  papers,  and  informed  him  if  he  valued  liis 
life  he  would  drop  that  business  and  go  home,  which 
Tracy  was  very  glad  to  be  able  to  do.  The  band  then 
rode  to  the  house  of  Pena,  where  Lugo,  one  of  the 
owners  of  a  large  tract,  was  stopping  and  forced  him 
under  threats  of  han<xinir  to  siijn  an  article  of  release 
of  title  to  certain  lands,  and  also  to  innnediatelv  and 
forever  retire  from  those  parts.  Next  the  mob  i>n)- 
ceeded  to  Healdsburg,  distant  from  the  former  frolie 
about  six  miles,  in  search  of  Dr  Frlsbie,  a  landholder 
whom  they  proposed  to  force  into  the  relinquishment 
of  his  title  to  a  portion  of  his  lands.  The  citizens 
rallied  to  the  support  of  law  and  government,  and 
though  the  squatters  threatened  to  burn  the  town, 
held  their  ground,  and  the  free-land  men  retired. 

At  Suisun  in  December  1862  certain  squatters 
against  whom  John  B.  Frisbie  had  obtained  judg- 
ment, and  a  writ  of  restitution,  refused  to  vacate 
when  ordered  to  do  so  by  the  sheriff;  whereupon  that 
officer  summoned  to  his  aid  a  posse,  and  marched 
against  them  when  they  yielded. 

The  original  proprietors  of  Boise  city,  Idaho, 
bought  the  town  site  from  ranchmen  who  had  settled 
there,  surveying  it  and  laying  it  out  in  town  lots ;  to 
every  one  who  wished  to  build  a  dwelling  they  gave 
a  piece  of  ground.  Busuiess  lots  they  sold.  All 
went  well  until  in  the  autumn  of  1864,  a  judge  and 
two  lawyers  dropped  upon  the  place  and  then  l)egan 
lot-jumping  and  litigation. 

In  some  way  the  sentiment  got  abroad  that  the 
proprietor's  title  was  valueless,  that  the  ground  on 
which  the  city  was  built  was  public  domain,  and  that 
any  one  might  settle  on  an}'  unoccupied  spot.  Then 
the  two  lawyers  revelled  in  fat.  Those  who  had 
taken  possession  of  their  neighbor's  property,  hoping 
to  get  something  for  nothing,  after  submitting  to  ex- 
pensive litigations  were  obliged  to  step  down  from 
their  position  and  leave  the  land  to  its  original  occu- 
pants and  their  successors. 


Lov 

saiiit. 
other  ] 
eccentr 
'•le  enc 
Was  gi\ 

T 
,  ( 

I'lanci.s 
nestle  t 
witli   P 
'SpanisJi 
'is  proi 
self  to  1 
tile  chuil 
isli  crow 
"f  Quin 
tin,  like 
Mas  ver\ 
other    ii 
killing  f( 
It  has 
Quintln 
^Spaniard 
'ity  of  SI 
durum; 
iinr   for 

Jjhorigina 


( 


I 


1;^ 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

PACIFIC    COAST    PRISONS. 
Such  prisons  are  beyond  all  liberty. 


— SnrMituj. 


Lovely  San  Qucntin  1  Saint  thief  I  Thief  and  no 
srtiiit.  Saint  and  the  dwelling  place  of  thieves  and 
otlicr  malefactors.  The  name  and  the  naminij  were 
(Hcontric  and  mongrel,  though,  as  it  turned  out,  suita- 
lilr  enough,  even  considenng  that  to  Spanish  "San" 
was  <civen  a  foreijin  "  Qucntin." 

To  explain.  Round  that  bright  corner  of  San 
Francisco  bay,  where  under  the  shadow  of  Tanialpais 
nestle  the  coves  of  Corte  de  !Madera  and  San  Rafael, 
witli  Punta  de  Quintin,  as  the  point  was  called  in 
S])an*ish  times,  bet^yeen  them,  there  once  roamed  with 
his  ])eople  a  native  chieftain,  who,  on  allowijig  him- 
self to  be  sprinkled  on  the  head,  and  made  a  son  of 
tlk'  church,  as  well  as  an  humble  vassal  of  the  S[)an- 
isli  crown,  was  honored  by  the  padre  with  the  name 
if  Quintin,  after  one  of  the  saints.  Now,  this  Quin- 
tin, like  others  we  luivc  known  possessing  Christianity, 
was  very  far  from  a  Christian's  ideal  in  his  raids  and 
dtlier  innnoral  practises,  inasmuch  as  stealing  and 
killing  formed  parts  of  his  programmes. 

It  has  been  clahned  that  the  point  was  called  San 
Quintin  in  remembrance  of  a  victory  won  by  the 
Sjumiards  over  the  French  in  1547,  in  front  of  the 
city  of  San  Quintin,  the  ancient  Augusta  Veroman- 
d<  "rum ;  but  there  is  no  evidence  of  that  being  a  fact ; 
nor  for  placing  San  before  Quintin.  It  was  the 
aboriginal    non-sanctus   after  whom    it   was   named. 

(413  J 


if 

.it 


irii 


t 


SJ     /'i 


414 


PArlFIC  COAST  rRlSONS. 


Woird  and  hobgoblin  were  the  uses  and  purposes,  as 
"Well  as  the  name  and  naming  of  the  enchanted  spot. 
From  the  ocean  tlie  rough  breezes  como  tcmi>cred  by 
warm  airs  rising  from  sutmy  meadows,  while  the  fog- 
banks,  filtered  by  the  wooded  slopes,  wrap  the  tnirsty 
earth  in  gentle  moisture.  Glorious  indeed  the  view 
toward  the  east;  the  pliant  sparkling  water,  the 
smooth  billowy  hills,  and  the  shoaled  and  islotcd 
shore  winding  between;  while  beyond,  old  Diablo, 
winks  and  blinks  and  nods  as  in  uncouth  wooing  of 
the  gorgeous  wealth  of  beauty  at  its  feet. 

A  rare  retreat,  truly,  for  those  whose  lives  are  de- 
voted to  the  laborious  occupation  of  unjustly  appro- 
priating to  their  own  use  the  property  of  others. 
Alasl  that  man  should  be  obliged  to  shackle  his 
fellow-man ;  that  society  after  feeding  and  clothing 
from  boyhood  scoundrels  who  never  in  all  their  lives 
did  one  blow  of  honest  or  beneficial  work,  after  pro- 
nouncin<j:  a  formal  condemnation  should  be  obliijcd  to 
lodge  and  feed  and  clothe  them,  in  lots  of  hundreds 
and  thousands  for  years  and  often  for  the  remainder 
of  their  lives.  Yet  they  would  say  how  hard  the 
devil  drives  his  servants! 

Before  San  Quentin  was,  there  were  villains ;  but 
never  have  they  been  so  well  housed  on  these  Pacific 
shores;  that  is  to  say,  those  who  have  been  publicly 
housed  at  all.  Time  was  when  this  charmed  shore 
of  California  played  its  role  as  a  sort  of  penal  settle- 
ment for  a  society  rich  in  rascality.  Mexico  sent 
hither  her  criminals  with  the  double  intent,  as  lur 
authorities  had  the  assurance  to  say,  of  improving 
their  morals  and  increashig  the  population  of  Califor- 
nia ;  and  to  the  petition  for  a  lessening  of  the  evil,  to 
send  only  useful  convicts,  since  California  had  no 
jails,  no  heed  was  paid  for  several  years.  Then,  and  be- 
fore, and  since,  were  presidios  for  prisons,  and  mission- 
ary buildings  for  guard-houses.  In  those  days  class, 
and  caste,  and  character  entered  largely  into  prison 
etiquette.     Some  convicts  enjoyed  the  liberty  of  a 


PRISON  BRIOS. 


415 


free  citizen,  living  on  a  ranclio  or  in  the  pueblo;  others 
were  restricted  to  certain  districts,  or  ct)nfined  within 
l)()undaries;  while  yet  others  were  doomed  to  shackles 
and  liard  labor  under  su^iervision  of  the  garrison. 
In  tliose  da_y8  it  was  small  pain  to  be  a  great  villain, 
though  woeful  to  sin  lightly. 

Among  the  gold  hunters,  the  ships  that  brought 
tliein  out  were  sometimes  turned  into  jails  and  peni- 
tentiaries under  the  name  of  prison  brigs.  San  Fran- 
cisco boasted  t)ne  of  these,  as  likewise  did  Sacramento. 
Tlic  Enplicmia,  as  the  pristm  brig  of  San  Francisco 
was  called,  was  purchased  about  the  first  of  August, 
1841),  with  the  first  money  appropriated  In'  tlie  town 
council,  elected  by  order  of  General  Klley.  This 
was  tlie  first  regularly  appointed  place  of  confinement 
where  rogues  and  convicts  were  kept  in  custody. 

When  the  old  Euphcinia  proved  inadequate  to  the 
rapidly  increasing  demand  for  prison  facilities,  other 
liulks  were  added  to  the  prison  service;  and  thus 
matters  stood  when  in  April,  1851,  an  act  was  passed 
l>y  the  legislature  appointing  a  board  of  inspectors 
and  giving  James  M.  Estill,  with  wliom  was  associated 
^[.  G.  Yallejo,  a  contract  for  the  control  of  the  state 
jiison,  prisoners,  and  hulks  for  a  term  of  ten  years. 

The  time  was  one  of  dear  labor  and  eccentric  en- 
terprise ;  and  it  was  thought  to  be  a  grand  thing  if 
tl  e  institution  could  be  made  self-supporting,  and 
tlie  prisoners  be  obliged  to  work  for  their  bread.  In 
this  way  the  state  would  be  relieved  from  the  expense 
of  cjuardiuij  and  mahitaininij  its  felons.  But  the 
government  soon  saw  that  it  had  committed  a  most 
egregious  error.  The  abuses  were  manifold  and  fla- 
grant. Public  weal  was  soon  dropped  out  of  the 
management,  and  innnediate  j)tcuniary  profit  became 
tlic  dominant  purpose.  Such  of  the  prisoners  as  it 
was  found  profitable  co  keep  at  work,  were  kept  at 
hard  labor  from  daylight  till  dark,  Sundays  and  other 
(lays,  chopping  wood,  making  brick,  or  performing 
contracts  m  which  such  kind  of  servitude  was  found 


1 


'    ,)i 


\^^\\ 


4ie 


PACIFIC  COAST  PRISONS. 


remunerative.  The  rest  were  permitted  to  escape. 
On  one  occasion,  while  a  prison  brig  was  lying  at 
Angel  island,  the  men  at  work  and  their  guardians 
lolling  in  the  cabin,  the  convicts  quietly  turned  the 
key  on  them,  and  escapnig  to  the  adjacent  mainland 
betook  themselves  to  the  woods. 

It  soon  became  aj^parent  that  the  hulk  system  failed 
to  meet  the  requirements,  and  that  ground  nmst  be 
selected  and  substantial  buildings  erected.  The  year 
following,  namely,  in  A})ril  1852,  a  bill  passed  the 
legislature  providing  for  the  erection  of  a  state  prison 
on  the  site  purchased  at  Point  Quintin. 

Even  then  the  stone  building  which  soon  arose 
failed  to  accommodate  all,  nor  would  the  interests  of 
the  contractors  allow  prisoners  to  be  confined  to  one 
locality.  Hulks  were  still  used  at  diH'erent  points. 
Men  were  likewise  sent  in  squads  under  feeble  guards 
to  farms  and  woods ;  many  convicts  were  even  dcs- 
])atched  unguarded  to  distant  places.  Great  partiality 
was  shown,  thereby  facilitating  the  escape  of  many  a 
scoundrel. 

Still  matters  were  for  from  prosperous ;  and  so  clam- 
orous became  the  public,  that  in  1855  the  legislatun^ 
revoked  the  contract  with  Estill,  and  declared  his 
lease  forfeited.  The  state  then  assumed  the  manajxe- 
ment.  A  board  of  directors  was  appointed,  and  a 
strong  wall  twenty  feet  high,  was  thrown  round  the 
j)rison  premises.  In  1856,  politics  being  more  power- 
ful than  public  weal,  and  as  a  reward  for  his  for- 
mer unfaithfulness,  a  fresh  contract  was  made  with 
the  same  Estill,  with  new  restrictive  conditions.  He 
was  to  safely  keep  and  maintain  the  state  prisoneis 
for  the  term  of  five  years  at  a  compensation  of  $10,000 
a  3'ear.  So  favorable  to  the  lessee  was  this  contract 
that  Estill  was  enabled  almost  immediately  to  assign 
it  to  one  McCauley  at  half  the  compensation  allowed 
him. 

The  principle  was  now  a  grinding  one ;  prison  man- 
agement meant  simply  money.     Abuses  were  ranker 


rENITENTIARY  msCirLINE. 


ill 


tlian  ever ;  so  much  so  that  in  1858  govoriiniont  nn;aiii 
(K'claivtl  tlio  contract  aiiuullcd,  and  took  forcible  jtos- 
si'ssion  of  tlic  promises.  Tlie  lieutenant-governor  was 
iiiaile  ex-ofticio  warden,  with  a  full  staff,  and  the  keys 
delivered  to  him.  The  assiL'nee  broujxht  suit  for  dam- 
ages  which  was  sustained  by  the  supreme  couil.  A 
compromise  was  agreed  U[)on,  but  the  statt;  failed  to 
meet  its  obligation.  At  last,  in  1800,  to  get  rid  of 
him.  a  bonus  was  paid  the  assignee,  since  which  time, 
if  we  except  several  extensive  escai)es,  state-prison 
iiiaiiagement  has  steadily  improved. 

Prison  discipline,  penitentiary  science,  uniting  with 
tlie  system  of  reformatory  efforts,  are  of  late  begin- 
ning. The  castle  donjons  of  the  feudal  barons  had 
improved  but  little  when  civilization  had  largely  ad- 
vanced hi  other  directions.  The  eigliteenth  century 
had  well-nigh  gone  before  Howard  made  liis  fanums 
('X|ioso  of  the  wretch(Kl  condition  of  prisons  in  England 
and  Wales,  and  the  great  Millbank  penitentiary,  mod- 
oli'd  by  Jeremy  Bentham,  had  not  been  built  more 
than  tliirty  years  when  the  grounds  at  Quintin  Point 
wt'ie  laid  out;  so  that  California,  although  the  young- 
est of  the  great  societies,  is  not  so  far  behind  the  rest 
of  the  world  in  this  regard  as  might  be  imagined. 

In  almost  all  modern  prisons  industrial  labor  lias 
taken  the  place  of  purely  ]>enal  labor,  such  as  the 
crank,  shot-drill,  and  treadmill.  All  well-managed 
juisons  are  now  self-sui)porting,  or  more  than  self- 
sui>i)orting  Each  prisoner,  immediately  he  is 
incarcerated,  whether  in  a  state "  penitentiary  or 
a  county  prison,  should  be  put  to  work.  Jails 
should  not  be  conducted  upon  the  free-boarduig- 
lunisi'  principle,  but  convicts  s-i'  nJ.d  be  made  to  earn 
their  living,  or  as  nearly  so  as  possible.  There  are 
things  useful  that  even  children  can  do;  and  if  the 
fodil  of  the  prisoner  depended  somewhat  upon  his 
earnings,  it  might  tend  to  sharpen  his  wits  over  use- 
ful work. 

Cal.  1st.  I'oc.      27 


,  '4\ 


418 


PACIFIC  COAST  PRISONS. 


Thero  arc  different  systems  of  on  mannircniriit 
ill  the  United  States.  In  all  state-prisons  tlie  cnn- 
tract  system  prevails,  with  .some  half  d»)zen  exceptions  ; 
some  are  under  state  manat^ement,  and  some  niixcd. 
Several  states  show  earnint^s  amounting  to  more  tlian 
expenses.  In  North  Carolina  the  averai^e  cost  of 
inaiiitahiini;  prisoners  per  capita  in  1 875  was  about  !?:m). 
while  in  Oregon  it  was  over  $300,  and  in  Nevaila 
nearly  $400. 

In  the  average  number  of  prisoners  San  QutMitiii 
with  1>00  or  thereabouts,  stands  sixth.  Sing  Sing,  in 
New  York  with  1300  being  first,  Auburn,  New  Yoik. 
and  Joliet,  Illinois,  with  a  few  less,  behig  second  and 
third.  Nevada  can  scarcely  boast  of  100,  while  the 
average  of  Oretjon  is  but  little  more. 

The  prison  managers  of  1877  complain  that  Clii- 
nese  cheap  labor  is  ruining  the  penitentiary !  TIic 
law  permits  convicts  to  be  hired  out  at  the  rate  of 
fifty  cents  a  day.  At  twenty-five  cents  a  day  cnn- 
tractors  could  employ  them,  but  not  at  more  than 
this,  as  otherwise  Ch'  •  labor  is  preferable.  There 
is  a  state  prison  at  1  a\.  More  facilities  are  re- 
quired either  at  San  Quentin,  Folsom,  or  elsewluio. 

The  prison  tract  at  San  Quentin  com)>riscs  i;)0 
acres.  The  situation  is  extremely  favorable ;  the 
soil  first  recommended  it,  being  good  clay  for  bricks. 
The  prison  itself  covers  a  square  of  six  acres,  enclosed 
bv  a  wall  now  twenty-five  feet  high.  Outside  are  a 
number  of  buildings  for  offices,  stables,  and  outhouses. 
with  a  few  ijarden  patches.  The  warden's  villa  lies 
on  an  elevation  near  by.  Inside  the  wall  are  three  rell 
buildings  of  several  stories,  parallel  to  one  anothtr, 
and  twenty  feet  apart.  Two  are  of  brick  124  by  -''' 
feet,  and  erected  in  1864  at  a  cost  of  $60,000  eaeli. 
There  was  $200,000  appropriated  by  the  legislature 
of  1876  for  new  buildings,  and  a  four-story  l-rick 
structure  50  by  400  feet  was  the  result. 

With  the  exception  of  the  lower  story  of  the  storo 
buildhig,   which  is  divided  into  seven  large  rooms, 


with  r 

lioned 

l»y  fou 

passage 

tiek.  t\\ 

'•(■sides, 

tides,  a 

The  I 

rics.  oiie 

whole  h 

the  irrcj 

tlie  cent] 

♦It'll,   wit 

desei't. 

A  nun 

)dt;  sen 

"ig  muzzl 

tions.     \1 

narrow  ti 

i^iiard  Jioi 

«i'«o  situ 

J,'all()ns. 

Convict 

•UK  I  to  JU( 

^^  rather  i 

new  arriv, 

measured, 

agination 

case  (,f  es 

i^"'form,  ai 

A.  secom 

^^  the    ha 

''''">lvct-tos 
'■^'xl  iiijign 

Illeiit.       fh( 

•''"^"1  release 
^vlio  shows 
'^if;'ravated 
^^'in  not  say 


SAN  QUENTIN. 


419 


witli  rows  of  bunks,  the  rest  of  tlio  floors  arc  parti- 
tioiK'cl  into  (loul)lo  lines  of  cells,  chieflv  nine  feet  loiiir 
Itv  four  wulo,  and  eijjfht  high,  opening  tui  a  central 
passago.  The  cells  eontiiin  ono  to  two  bunks,  a  straw 
tick,  two  pairs  of  blankets  and  a  bucket.  Many  are, 
lit  sides,  neatly  furnished  with  tables,  stools,  toilet  ar- 
ticles, and  ornaments  made  or  bought  by  the  inmate. 

The  block  also  contains  workshops  of  several  sto- 
ries, one  costing  $130,000,  and  a  number  of  offices;  the 
wliole  having  rather  a  patchy  appearance  owing  to 
the  irrciLiular  additions  made  at  various  times.  In 
the  centre  Is  an  open  space  cultivated  as  a  Hower  gar- 
bled, with  a  hewn  stone  fountain — an  oasis  in  the 
desert. 

A  number  of  yjuards  arc  on  the  watch  atjainst  re- 
volt;  sentinels  patrol  upon  the  walls;  and  the  frown- 
iii;jj  muzzles  of  primed  guns  api>ear  in  different  direc- 
tions. Upon  the  two  parallel  hills  which  enclose  the 
narrow  tract  tKere  are,  besides,  several  stations  or 
;iuard  houses  with  grape-charged  cannon.  There  are 
also  situated  the  prison  reservoirs,  one  of  250,000 
gallons.     A  large  l)rick  yartl  borders  on  the  bay. 

Convicts  are  brought  hither  by  country  sheriffs; 
and  to  judge  by  the  mileage  allowed,  the  task  nmst 
be  rather  attractive  to  the  more  di.stant  otticials.  The 
new  arrival  is  conducted  to  the  turnkey's  office  to  be 
measured,  and  to  undergo  a  physical  and  moral  ex- 
amination for  fitness,  for  place,  and  identification  in 
case  of  escape;  whereupon  he  receives  the  striped 
uniform,  and  his  hair  is  clipped  very  short. 

A  second  and  less  agreeable  initiation  awaits  him 
at  the  hands  of  the  old  residents,  consisting  of 
hlaiiket-tossing,  rail-riding,  and  other  persecutions 
and  indignities,  regulated  according  to  his  tempera- 
ment. Those  who  take  the  fun  in  good  humor  are 
scxtn  released  and  become  favorites.  But  woe  to  him 
wlio  shows  obstinacy  or  cowardice  ;  his  sufferings  are 
aggravated  and  prolonged  in  proportion ;  complaints 
will  not  save  him. 


I 


'  ri\ 


I. 


420 


PACIFIC  COAST  PRISONS. 


The  life  of  prisoners  is  not  so  severe  as  might  bo 
expected.  The  bell  rouses  them  at  five  to  seven  a.  m., 
according  to  the  season,  and  ten  minutes  later  tlie 
cells  are  opened  by  the  turnkey,  permitting  the  nun 
to  roam  in  the  yard  for  half  an  hour.  Fifteen  niiu- 
utes  are  allowed  for  breakfast,  and  then  on  to  work- 
shops, brickyard,  or  offices. 

The  signal  for  dinner  is  given  at  half  past  11  o'clock. 
Those  who  possess  tea  or  coffee  are  given  facilities  to 
prepare  the  beverage,  and  at  a  sign  the  men  fall  into 
line  for  the  dining-room,  where  two  rows  of  tables 
groan  under  the  abundant  rations  of  meat  and  bread, 
with  soup  ad  libitum.  The  turnkey  overlooks  the 
hungry  army  from  behind  an  elevated  desk,  and  gives 
the  order  to  be  seated.  All  are  now  on  the  qui  vive 
for  the  next  signal,  to  begin  eating,  which  is  obeyed 
with  a  will.  Silence  prevails,  broken  only  by  the  oc- 
casional clatter  of  spoons,  with  which  the  more  par- 
ticular have  provided  themselves,  for  the  dangerous 
knives  and  forks  have  been  replaced  by  the  more  nat- 
ural implements  of  the  paradise  era.  A  last  rap 
closes  the  banquet,  and  the  convicts  march  out  wUli 
abated  eagerness,  removing  the  glossy  evidence  of  the 
tooth  and  nail  combat  by  a  complacent  wrist 
movement. 

The  supper  call  is  at  half-past  four,  after  which  all 
are  locked  in.  Those  who  have  lamps  or  candles  may 
read,  play,  or  work,  till  nine,  when  lights  are  extin- 
guished, except  on  the  lower  story,  where  they  burn 
all  night  to  reveal  any  attempts  at  boring  the  wall. 

The  work  was  largely  in  the  hands  of  contractors, 
manufacturers  of  furniture,  saddles,  shoes,  clotirui;,^ 
cigars,  barrels,  bricks,  etc.,  each  of  whom  emi^^loyt'd 
from  25  to  200  men.  The  prison  provides  all  tlie 
needed  shops,  power,  and  guard.  The  custom  of 
sending  gangs  to  work  outside  the  prison  has  been 
much  restricted. 

Task  work  is  most  common,  and  on  completing  his 
share  the  convict  may  while  away  the  time,  cr,  l>y 


f(  K  )i 

SUV 

1 

ch.ij 

men 

ea-jft 

rout 

orn^a 

A 

some 

educ£ 

sever 

fees  o: 

anion  1 

visitoi 

TJli; 

soniew 

its  moi 

•iiid  thj 

some 

^e:,^1rd( 

aithouf 

taMisb 
«in(l  wa 

TJlO  UK 

teraet 
cniui;, 
must 
tJio  jiun 
prisons 
Won,,, in 
Calif; 

a  Veiy  |. 

cuous  in 

<'e(le(|  01 

J,''"nMini 


ROUTINE  AND  ATTRACTIO^'^S, 


m 


extra  work,  earn  money  wherewith  to  purcliase  better 
food,  and  articles  of  luxury,  even  daily  papers.  Many 
save  considerable  sums. 

The  upper  floor  of  one  of  the  buildings  forms  the 
chapel,  where  sabbath  service  is  conducted  by  clergy- 
iiKu  volunteers  to  audiences  of  300  to  500  men,  who 
eajjjerly  welcome  any  change  in  the  monotony  of  their 
routine.  Among  the  attractions  are  a  fair  choir,  and  an 
organ  purchased  by  contributions  from  the  prisoners. 

After  service  a  few  of  the  talented  convicts  instruct 
some  250  companions  in  rudimentary  branches,  an 
educational  process  which  is  fostered  by  a  library  of 
several  thousand  well-thumbed  volumes,  and  by  the 
fees  of  visitors.  Literary  entertainments  are  arranged 
among  them,  and,  at  times,  lectures  are  delivered  by 
visitors. 

This  is  not  a  very  repulsive  picture  of  a  prison, 
somewhat  different  from  the  Labyrinth  of  Cnosus  with 
its  monster  and  starvation,  or  the  dreary  eryastula, 
and  tlie  Jullianum  with  its  deadly  fumes,  or  the  loath- 
some dungeons  of  the  middle  aijes.  Yet  the  ancients 
regarded  prisons  merely  as  places  of  detention,  and, 
altliough  Plato  advocated  penal  and  penitentiary  es- 
tahlishments,  the  second  phase  developed  very  slowly, 
and  was  accepted  in  France  only  after  the  revolution. 
Tlie  more  recent  knowledge  of  the  necessity  to  coun- 
teract the  tending  of  prisons  to  become  schools  for 
crime,  and  the  introduction  of  reformatory  systems, 
nmst  be  traced  to  the  noble  efforts  of  Howard,  and 
the  Immane  crusades  of  Fry,  while  the  idea  of  making 
prisons  self-supporting  finds  its  origin  in  the  political 
economy  problems  of  our  era. 

California  has  not  yet  had  time  or  moans  to  develop 
a  very  perfect  system.  The  one  great  evil  is  promis- 
cuous intercourse,  whereby  the  young  and  less  corrupt 
are  exposed  to  the  contagious  influence  of  the  har- 
dened criminal,  and  the  want  of  an  efficient  check  on 
gamhlnig  and  other  vices,  as  maybe  learned  from  the 
roi»orts  of  the  connnittees. 


'0lt' 


PACIFIC  COAST  PRISONS. 


Good  conduct  is  promoted  by  a  credit  of  five  days 
in  the  month  to  every  prisoner,  witli  an  hicrease  of 
one  day  every  two  years,  till  the  allowance  reaches 
ten  days.  This  is  deducted  from  his  term  of  ser- 
vitude. Pardons  are  also  held  out  besides  other 
rewards. 

Punishment  has  become  more  humane,  and  consists 
mainly  in  reducing  privileges  and  good -conduct  time. 
IJesperate  characters  wear  chahi  and  ball,  and  are 
prohibited  from  holding  intercourse.  The  lash  which 
was  once  applied  for  all  offences,  and  periodically  to 
captured  fugitives,  has  almost  fallen  into  disuse,  and 
so  has  the  dark  dungeon,  although  both  remain  to 
inspire  a  salutary  terror.  Flogging  was  also  admin- 
istered with  a  long  paddle-formed  board,  with  perfora- 
tions, through  which  tlie  flesh  was  forced  by  every 
blow.  Even  more  feared  than  this  was  the  torture  by 
water,  which  consisted  of  a  jet  played  upon  the 
mouth  and  nose  of  the  victim.  So  severe  was  tliis 
punishment  that  if  the  same  jet  were  let  fall  upon 
the  stomach  it  would  cause  death. 

Tlie  numerous  attempts  at  escape  form  interesting 
episodes  of  prison  history.  The  thought  of  liberty 
here  swallows  all  other  thought,  and  life  itself  appears 
the  inferior  gift  of  heaven,  as  Drydcn  puts  it.  The 
great  leisure  enjoyed  allows  the  mhid  ample  time  to 
fondle  the  alluring  hope ;  to  dwell  upon  the  many 
records  of  fellow-prisoners  who  have  with  varying 
success  scaled  the  walls,  filed  bars,  undermined  cells, 
assumed  disguises,  or  otherwise  hoodwhiked  the 
guard ;  and  to  evolve  plans  worthy  of  a  Dtedalus, 
attended  by  equally  daring  exploits. 

The  most  famous  stampede  was  that  of  Jul}  --, 
1862,  when  a  general  outbreak  took  place,  owing 
immediately,  it  was  claimed,  to  the  starvation  regime 
of  Commissary  Jones. 

Nothing  occurs  to  arouse  suspicion  although  the 
plot  muat  be  widely  known.    The  dinner  hour  has  passed 


A  SAN  QUENTIN  ESCAPE. 


423 


and  a  gang  of  over  100  convicts  is  marching  through 
the  gate  in  the  rear  of  the  prison,  when  sut!denly  some 
fifteen  separate  from  the  rest  and  rush  for  the  front 
^ate,  securing  the  guard.  Lieutenant-governor  Chel- 
lis  notices  the  movement  from  his  office,  and  hastens 
for  safety  to  the  adjoining  bedroom,  but  the  door  is 
broken  in,  and  he  is  brought  forth  to  give  orders  to 
the  gate-keeper  to  surrender  the  keys.  The  order  is 
given  but  the  keeper  bravely  refuses  to  comply,  as- 
sertuig  that  they  are  not  in  his  possession,  but  the 
convicts  are  not  to  be  deceived  ;  a  struggle  ensues ; 
tlie  keys  are  snatched  fr-nn  him  and  the  gates  thrown 
<>l)cn  amidst  shouts  of  liberty.  The  cry  is  echoed  by 
the  crowd,  amidst  a  general  rush  to  join  the  leaders 
regardless  of  the  volleys  from  the  guards.  The  men 
from  the  workshops  bring  their  axes,  files,  and  other 
tools,  while  others  storm  the  armory,  overlooking  a 
case  of  sabres  in  their  hurry,  and  obtainnig  only  one 
loaded  revolver,  besides  uncharged  pistols  and  some 
other  arms. 

Two  to  three  hundred  convicts  have  now  passed 
tlie  gate  bearing  the  governor  of  the  prison  with 
thorn,  but  of  these  fifty  are  quickly  secured  by  the 
captain  of  the  guard,  while  the  rest  proceed  in  a  body 
along  the  wall  to  station  5  on  the  hill.  The  guard 
stands  ready  to  sweep  th«ir  column  with  grapi  - 
shot;  but  the  convicts  are  prepared;  the  captured 
goverFior  is  placed  at  the  front  to  serve  as  shield,  with 
a  loaded  pistol  at  his  head  to  remind  him  of  the  func- 
tion. "For  God's  sake  don't  shoot  1"  exchiiins  the 
victim  with  uplifted  hands.  There  is  no  time  for  hes- 
itation ;  the  guard  turns  the  gun,  discharges  it  into 
the  water,  and  spikes  it.  This  is  more  than  they  had 
expected,  for  the  gun  had  been  counted  upon  to  silence 
the  next  one  upon  the  adjoining  hill.  In  thei»  oxas- 
l»eration  they  reproduce  the  Tarpeian  tragedy,  and 
Kun  with  carriage  follow  the  guard  m  his  whi'-iiiig  de- 

SClMlt. 

Their  path  now  lies  across  the  brickyard  to  station 


424 


PACIFIC  COAST  PRISONS. 


10.  Several  volleys  flash  against  them  from  the  guns, 
but  pass  over  their  heads,  so  directed,  no  doubt,  out 
of  regard  for  the  governor.  The  guard  in  pursuitare 
almost  equally  discriminating. 

In  this  way  the  main  body  advances  along  the  Corte 
de  Madera  road,  toward  Mouiit  Tamalpais,  plunderiui; 
the  houses  in  their  way  of  every  thing  portable,  although 
not  without  expressing  regrets  at  the  unavoidable  ne- 
cessity. Indeed,  they  are  polite  enough  to  leave  the 
governor  his  watch,  remarking  that  it  would  be  too 
mean  to  commit  detailed  robbery  after  stealing  his 
whole  person.  Their  patience,  however,  is  sorely  tried 
by  his  corpulency,  which  is  becoming  an  obstacle  to 
progress,  despite  the  frequent  reminders  api)lied  to 
his  body  in  the  form  of  knife-prods.  A  wild,  bare- 
backed pony  is  produced  to  accelerate  his  motion,  but 
either  the  weight  or  earnest  entreaties  of  the  governor 
save  him  from  the  dreaded  ride. 

At  four  p.  M.  a  slough  is  reached,  and  the  panting 
hostage  is  compelled  with  the  rest  to  wade  chin-deep 
in  the  miry  water.  On  gaining  the  high  fence  beyond, 
his  slimy  corpulency  is  found  too  heavy  to  be  hoisted 
over,  and  is  released.  This  act  is  suicidal,  for  the 
guards  are  no  longer  restrained  by  his  presence,  and 
resume  firing  with  telling  eft'ect. 

By  this  time  the  news  of  the  outbreak  hai  spread 
far  and  wide,  and  aware  of  the  danger  to  life  and  proi)- 
erty,  every  able-bodied  man  in  the  San  Rafael  district 
who  can  lay  his  hands  upon  a  weapon  and  a  horse 
musters  for  the  chase.  About  200  well-equipped  men 
close  in  upon  the  gang.  Behig  comparatively  unarnud 
the  convicts  find  resistance  useless,  and  the  affair  be- 
comes a  ixanio  of  hide  and  seek.  Bv  twiliijht  nearly 
the  whole  nundier  is  secured,  and  at  eiyrht  p.  m.  the 
prison  gate  closes  behind  them. 

^Meanwhile  a  side-play  lias  been  performed  on  the 
bay.  A  party  of  a  dozen  fugitives  or  so,  whose  dilut(<l 
Viking  blood  still  tingles  to  the  harp  of  Necken,  liavf 
boarded  the  prison  sloop  Pike  Coiinty.     The  hawsers 


ANOTHER  ATTEMPTED  ESCAPR 


425 


are  cut  amid  a  whiz  of  bullets  ;  the  distance  from  the 
wharf  is  rapidly  increasuig,  and  so  are  their  aspira- 
t  i<  >ns ;  but,  alas  1  one  thing  has  been  left  out  of  account ; 
tlie  non-consulted  mistletoe  proves  in  this  instance  to 
1)0  a  treacherous  mud-bank,  and  hope,  their  Baldur, 
fulls. 

The  first  roll-call  showed  over  thirty  missing  but 
this  imnibcr  was  reduced  to  less  than  a  dozen  by  sub- 
sequent captures.    Ten  were  killed  and  thirty  wounded. 

On  receiving  the  first  exaggerated  accounts,  the 
chief  v>f  police  at  San  Francisco  obtained  full  powers 
from  the  governor.  He  engaged  a  steamer,  and 
arrived  on  the  sjx)t  at  five  o'clock  the  following  morn- 
ing, with  a  body  of  armed  citizens,  but  nothing  re- 
mained to  be  done.  The  Sacramento  Ranjiers  were 
also  turned  out  for  the  pursuit.  A  reward  of  fifty 
dollars  was  offered  for  each  fugitive. 

On  Saturday  April  2,  1864,  a  determined  attempt 
at  flight  was  made  by  a  gang  composed  chiefly  of 
Mexicans,  under  the  leadership  of  Tom  King.  One 
jiar+y,  engaged  in  unloading,  broke  from  the  work 
ckiring  the  afternoon,  ami  began  to  scale  the  wall. 
The  guard  fired,  but  twenty -three  succeeded  in  gain- 
ing the  brick-yard,  where  another  party  joined  them. 
The  fu<j:itives  armed  themselves  with  stones  and 
bricks,  and  attacked  station  4,  evidently  with  a  view 
to  (•a})ture  the  gun  and  turn  it  to  account.  The 
four  guards  at  this  point  found  that  the  guns  would 
iutt  work,  spiked  it,  and  rushed  for  the  guard-house; 
hut  only  two  reached  it,  for  the  next  moment  the 
convicts  had  possession  of  the  place,  and  sent  the 
other  two  whirling  over  the  embankment.  The  ad- 
vantage was  momentary  onl}';  the  gun  on  the  otlier 
side  opened  fire,  and  the  guard  came  charging  on 
lioise  and  foot.  In  twenty  minutes  the  capt(»rs 
of  the  Imttery  surrendered  and  were  conducted  to 
tlioir  cells,  with  a  loss  of  five  killed  and  a  number  of 
Wounded. 

Many    ingenious   individual   attempts   have    been 


!   II. 


426 


PACIFIC  COAST  PRISONS. 


made  at  various  times  to  escape,  notable  among  them 
being  that  of  E.  A.  Strickland  from  San  Mateo,  who 
after  three  months  devoted  labor  upon  his  lock,  and 
having  in  readiness  a  scaling-hook  and  rope,  stepped 
from  his  cell  only  to  encounter  the  six-shooter  of  the 
officer  who  for  several  days  liad  been  watching  him. 
Ten  days  in  the  dungeon  and  a  severe  whipping  M'as 
the  penalty  for  this  attempt. 

The  prison  commission  of  Nevada  took  possession 
of  the  six-cell  jail  with  twenty  acres  of  land,  and  a 
fine  inexhaustible  quarry  near  Carson,  purchased  for 
$80,000  on  the  1st  of  March,  1864.  The  same  year 
another  building  with  thirty-two  cells  was  constructed 
by  the  convicts  at  an  outlay  of  only  $4,000  besides 
their  labor ;  and  several  other  structures  rose  during 
the  following  years. 

Still  more  cxcitnig  than  the  escapes  at  San  Quentiii 
was  that  which  took  place  at  the  I\evada  state  prisiMi. 
Carson,  on  Sunday  September  17,  1871.  A  well 
arranged  plan  had  been  formed  with  the  aid,  it  was 
rumored,  of  several  outside  and  powerful  coadjutors. 

The  projector  was  a  young  horse-thief  nanud 
Clifford,  who,  in  conjunction  with  a  numerous  staff, 
had  for  some  time  been  gathering  information  oi' 
routine  and  Imildings  to  guide  tlio  operations,  and  had 
Collected  all  available  scraus  of  iron  and  other  material 
for  tools  and  sluiig-shot. 

It  was  the  custom  to  allow  prisoners  the  use  of  tlie 
western-cell  room  on  Sundays,  free  from  direct  super- 
vision, and  of  this  they  had  availed  themselves  on 
two  preceding  Sabbaths  to  cut  through  the  ceiling 
into  the  loft,  and  thence  through  the  wall  hito  the 
adjoining  building  on  the  east.  A  signal  had  been 
agreed  upon,  and  shortly  before  six  o'clock,  when  tlm 
cells  were  to  be  locked  for  the  night,  the  plotters  haJ 
nearly  all  crept  through  the  ojiening,  and  had  takm 
up  positions  in  the  adjoining  loft,  sixty  feet  distant, 
over  the  room  of  the  deputy  warden,  while  a  few  tlo- 
termined  fellows  waited  below  for  the  captain  of  tlio 


anii.v 
B, 

guar 

'•atli 

ei-.s 

(unfr 

took 

tlirou 

witJic 


NEVADA  PRISON   ESCAPE. 


m 


guard.  Soon  the  jingle  of  keys  called  to  action ;  and 
as  the  captain  and  his  attendant  entered  they  were 
stunned,  one  with  a  slungshot,  the  other  with  a  bottle. 
Several  more  jx)unced  in  to  deal  the  coup  de  griice, 
but  merciful  sentiments  prevailing,  they  were  thrown 
into  a  cell  and  locked  up.  The  next  moment  the 
convicts  were  climbing  the  cell  tiers,  for  the  hole,  to 
join  their  companions  who  had  already  broken  through 
the  ceilinj;  in  the  east  buildinjj  and  were  tumblinij 
down  upon  tJie  deputy  warden.  This  startled  func- 
tionary was  awed  into  submission,  but  soon  made  his 
escape  to  securer  quarters.  The  noise  had  caused 
no  loss  consternation  on  the  lower  story,  where  Lieu- 
tenant-governor Denver  was  entertaining  a  party  of 
hulies  at  dinner.  Seizing  a  pistol  he  rushed  out  to 
meet  the  crowd  as  it  came  pouring  down  the  stairs, 
led  by  ClitFord.  The  first  shot  almost  crippled  the 
leader,  but  the  mass  pressed  onward,  overpowering 
him,  and  makhig  him  the  target  of  his  own  pistol. 
At  this  critical  moment,  Deadman,  a  life  convict,  who 
acted  as  servant  to  the  officers,  and  had  followed  his 
master  faithfullv,  seized  a  chair,  and  whirlintr  it  with 
savage  fury  stretched  several  convicts  on  the  floor  and 
l)itchod  one  over  the  balustrade.  This  act  diverted 
attention  and  saved  the  life  of  the  wounded  governor; 
l)ut  his  heroic  champion  had  also  to  succumb  to  num- 
bers, and  fell  senseless  after  demolishing  another  chair 
upon  the  assailants.  Meanwhile  the  bleeding  Clifford 
led  on  to  the  armory,  wrenching  open  the  lock  with 
suspicious  ease,  and  soon  the  firing  aimounced  that 
arms  had  been  secured. 

Believing  the  prisoners  safe  under  lock  and  key,  the 
guard  had  abandoned  itself  to  the  leisure  of  the  Sab- 
hath,  leaving  no  sentinel  on  the  wall.  As  the  i)rison- 
ers  entered  the  guard-house,  there  were  none  to 
confront  them  except  the  guard  Isaacs,  who  fearlessly 
took  his  stand  in  the  yard  with  a  six-shooter,  firing  in 
through  the  windows  and  receiving  the  return  fire 
without  flinching.     His  right  knee  being  shattered  by 


1 

lull 

"■  til 


fai 


PACIFIC  COAST  PRISONS. 


a  bullet,  he  coolly  leant  over  upon  the  left  leg,  and 
continued  to  fire  until  a  shot  in  the  hip  brought  him 
down,  fatally  wounded.  Struck  with  admiration  at 
his  courage,  the  prisoners  refrained  from  doing  him 
further  harm,  and  merely  secured  his  pistol.  The 
resolute  stand  of  the  guard  had  caused  many  irreso- 
lute convicts  to  return  to  the  shelter  of  their  cells,  and 
soon  a  reenforcement  of  three  ijuards  and  two  citi- 
zens  came  up.  Two  of  the  guards  were  speedily 
placed  hors  de  combat,  while  a  citizen,  whose  rash- 
ness led  him  too  near  the  windows  of  the  guard-house, 
received  a  bullet  in  the  head  from  which  he  did  not 
recover. 

During  the  confusion  Denver's  little  daujfhter  found 
her  way  into  the  yard,  and  ran  heedlessly  into  the 
range  of  the  fire,  as  if  to  shield  the  brave  Isaacs.  A 
French  prisoner,  employed  in  the  guard-room,  rushed 
forward  on  seeing  the  danger  of  the  little  one,  and 
bore  her  off,  leaving  the  terrified  mother  in  an 
agony  of  doubt  whether  her  child  had  not  escaped 
one  danijcer  only  to  encounter  another.  A  youni; 
woman  had  also  noticed  the  child,  and  impelled  by 
feminine  devotion,  she  had  followed,  only  to  flutter  in 
bewilderment  over  the  blood-stained  ground  before 
the  windows  with  the  belclihit;  guns.  Once  more  the 
gallantry  of  La  Grande  Nation  was  displayed  as  the 
Frenchman  dashed  to  the  rescue.  Of  the  reenforce- 
ment one  citizen  alone  remained  unscathed. 

A  man  with  a  buggy  who  happened  to  be  at  tlie 
prison  when  the  firing  began,  hurried  to  town  to  give 
the  alarm  ;  but  before  the  sheriff  and  his  dozen  f  dlow- 
ers  arrived,  twenty -nine  of  the  most  desperate  con- 
victs had  escaped,  some  badly  wounded,  leaving 
behind  forty -three  comrades  who  had  been  restrained 
by  force  and  fear,  or  whose  term  was  nearly  expired. 
A  large  force  of  citizens  also  appeared  equipped  from 
the  state  armory,  followed  by  two  militia  comi)anies 
from  Virginia  city,  who  were  already  in  pursuit  in 
different  directions  before  midnight. 


FUKTHER  NEVADA  ESCAPES.  HI 

Guided  by  a  big  negro  the  majority  of  the  fugitives 
sought  the  mountain  range  to  the  east,  but  shortly 
after,  small  parties  were  reported  at  various  points, 
demanding  food  and  clothes,  or  obliging  some  black- 
smith to  remove  their  irons.  Some  appeared  at  an  Ind- 
ian camp,  where  two  assumed  the  dress  of  the  warriors, 
and  a  third  donned  the  habiliments  of  a  female 
aboriginal.  The  conuniseration  of  a  ranchero  was  ex- 
cited  by  meeting  a  man  devoid  of  all  clothing  save 
his  drawers,  shivering  before  the  piercing  wind  which 
swept  the  valley  during  the  night.  A  l»arty  of  six 
came  upon  a  German  charcoal  burner,  and  tying  him 
to  a  tree  they  made  off  with  his  four  horses.  In  this 
position  he  was  found  six  hours  later  by  pursuing  citi- 
zens, muttering  vengeance  loud  and  deep. 

Despite  the  pressure  of  hunger  and  weakness  from 
long  confinement  the  convicts  baffled  their  pursuers 
for  a  long  time,  while  reports  of  robberies  and  nmrders 
poured  in  from  all  directions.  After  a  reprehensible 
delay  of  eight  days  a  reward  was  offered  of  $200  or 
8300  per  head.  This  proved  an  incentive,  and  sev- 
eral captures  were  made,  although  not  without  desper- 
ate encounters  wherein  three  citizens  lost  their  lives. 
In  one  place  three  ranchmen  followed  four  armed  con- 
victs, and  watching  their  opportunity  they  covered 
them  with  rifles.  The  prisoners  offered  the  tempting 
bribe  of  $2,500,  to  be  released,  assuring  the  captors 
tliat  a  secret  message  to  a  certain  person  would  be  re- 
sponded to  by  a  masked  man  who  should  pay  the 
money.  Although  tempted  to  secure  this  accomplice, 
and  j>erhaps  the  money,  the  captors  preferred  the 
surer  reward  of  $900.  The  story  was  connnented 
upon  as  indicating  powerful  coadjutors,  and  the  inac- 
tioji  of  the  deputy  warden  during  the  melee  was  se- 
verely criticised. 

At  3  o'clock  p.  M.  the  28th  of  October,  1877,  an- 
other break  occurred  in  the  Nevada  state  prison 
which  narrowly  esca|ied  being  a  serious  aft'air.  A 
deputy   warden,  MattheWisjn,  on  entering  the  slioe- 


■1  %'  H 


430 


PACIFIC  COAST  PRISONS. 


I 


shop  was  seized  by  six  convicts  and  borne  to  the 
ground. 

"  Liberty  or  death,"  they  cried.  **  You  die,  but  we 
will  be  free." 

"  You  had  better  be  quiet,"  said  Matthewson, 
"  You  will  be  shot." 

Meanwhile  Gonard,  a  captain  of  the  guard,  had 
been  seized  by  three  prisoners,  who  told  him  if  he 
would  go  quietly  with  them  he  should  not  be  hurt. 
Gonard  likewise  expostulated,  telling  them  such  ac- 
tion would  bring  upon  them  certain  death.  The 
prison-breakers  all  belonged  to  the  shoe-shop,  and 
were  armed  with  knives,  by  one  of  which  the  keeper 
was  cut  in  the  groin. 

Both  parties  now  endeavored  to  reach  the  gate ;  but 
the  alarm  was  given  and  the  i;uard  stood  firm.  The  rinjjj- 
leaders  were  fired  upon,  and  several  of  them  fell,  one 
Johnson  fatally  wounded.  Mathena,  who  was  badly 
injured,  when  captured  cried,  "I  am  lostl  My 
last  chance  is  gone  I "  and  endeavored  to  kill  himself. 

In  Oregon  the  first  convicts  were  hired  out  to  re- 
sponsible persons  for  support  and  safe-keeping;  but  it 
soon  became  apparent  that  a  penitentiary  was  needed, 
and  during  the  legislative  session  of  1851  three  com- 
missioners were  appointed  to  superintend  the  erection 
of  a  building.  Nothing  was  done,  however,  before 
the  meeting  of  the  legislature  of  1852-3,  when  an- 
other trio  was  appointed  which  set  to  work  with  a 
will,  and  in  1856  an  $85,000  building  stood  ready. 

The  leasing  system  was  resumed  between  1859  and 
1862  after  which  the  governor  became  ex-officio  su- 
perintendent. Since  1864  every  governor  has  ap- 
pointed a  superintendent.  In  1866  the  state  prison 
was  fixed  at  Salem,  the  present  site,  and  a  wooden 
jail  erected  at  a  cost  of  $38,000.  In  1870,  $50,000 
was  granted  for  a  more  substantial  brick  edifice  of 
two  stories,  with  basement,  and  two  wings  each  160 
feet  in  length.     The  wooden  prison  formed  one  of  t)ic 


OREGON,   WASHINGTON,   AND  IDAHO. 


431 


workshops,  devoted  to  carpentry,  tannery,  worked 
with  the  aid  of  water  power.  In  1874,  150  acres  of 
garden  and  farm  land  were  already  under  cultivation, 
and  this,  together  with  the  brick-making  department, 
helped  considerably  to  sustain  the  establishment,  so 
much  so,  that  the  earnings  of  the  two  years  1873-4 
amounted  to  $65,260  and  $65,269,  while  the  expenses 
were  but  $78,047  ;  but  the  average  number  of  pris- 
oners for  the  two  years  was  a  little  over  100  with  not 
a  single  female. 

The  morit-book  system  worked  well.  When  a  pris- 
oner had  earned  not  less  than  four  marks,  and  not 
over  six,  during  the  six  months,  he  received  a  credit 
of  one  day  for  each  mark.  When  such  credit-marks 
were  earned  during  the  succeeding  semesters,  he  re- 
ceived an  additional  day  for  each,  until  five  days  had 
been  gained  for  each  mark.  This  time  was  deducted 
from  the  sentence,  while  the  allowance  was  lost  by 
breaking  rules  or  attempting  to  escape.  At  the  ex- 
piration of  his  term  he  received  fifty  cents  for  each 
credit  mark,  less  loss  of  tools,  loss  of  material,  and 
waste. 

In  1861  the  Oregon  state  penitentiary  received  the 
convicts  from  Washington  at  $3  75  a  week,  the  lessees 
liaving  liberty  to  work  them  at  times.  In  1871  the 
Washington  convicts  were  kept  at  Steilacoom  jail, 
pending  the  futile  attempts  to  obtain  an  appropriation 
for  a  territorial  penitentiary  upon  the  twenty-seven 
acres  donated  on  McNeill  island  opposite  Steilacoom. 
By  act  of  February  22d,  1873,  congress  made  an  ap- 
propriation, and  in  November  a  wing  with  forty-two 
cells  was  completed  at  a  cost  of  $37,800.  In  1866, 
tjie  Boise  county  jail  served  as  territorial  prison  for 
tlie  eleven  convicts  of  Idaho.  Miners  would  not  em- 
ploy them,  and  no  work  could  be  procured  wherewith 
to  make  them  contribute  to  the  cost  of  maintenance. 

Deer  Lodge  City,  as  the  pretty  little  village  situ- 
ated in  the  valley  of  that  name  is  called,  is  the  site 
of  the  Montana  penitentiary.     The  Deer  Lodge  river 


432 


rAClFIC  COAST  rRisoxs. 


V.i 


is  tho  principal  tributary,  or  rather,  tlio  upper  part  of 
tlio  Clark  fork  of  the  Columbia,  which  luimo  it  takes 
some  2,000  miles  northwest  from  its  source,  after  hav- 
ing rccciv(Hl  as  tributari(!S  the  Blackfoot,  Bitterroot, 
and  Flathead  rivers,  and  numerous  smaller  streams. 

The  sum  of  $50,000  was  appropriated  by  congress, 
in  18G9,  to  build  a  prison  at  some  place  to  be  desig- 
nated by  the  legislative  assembly  of  Montana.  Deer 
Lodge  was  the  point  chosen.  Twelve  acres  of  the 
public  domain  were  marked  off  as  the  site,  and  th(! 
erection  of  a  buildhig  was  by  law  placed  in  cliarge  of 
tho  United  States  marshal,  William  F.  Wheeler,  to 
whom  I  am    indebted  for  these  fticts. 

The  building  was  completed  and  accepted  in  tlic 
summer  of  1871,  the  appropriation  barely  covering 
the  cost  of  the  stone  walls,  roof,  floor,  and  fourteen 
brick  cells,  six  by  eight  feet  in  size,  and  grating  for 
the  lower  windows  only.  The  building  was  eighty 
by  forty  feet;  its  walls  were  two  feet  thick,  and 
twent)'-two  feet  high.  A  mansard  roof  afforded  room 
for  a  third  tier  of  cells.  The  building  has  since  been 
completed  and  furnished.  A  high  board  fence  was 
also  constructed,  enclosing  a  spaco  300  feet  square  for 
a  prison  yard.  The  marshal  still  retained  control  of 
the  building,  and  on  the  2d  of  July,  1871,  opened  it 
for  the  reception  of  territorial  and  United  States 
convicts.  Twelve  criminals  were  at  that  time  re- 
ceived. 

Then,  and  subsequently,  besides  furniture  and  fix- 
tures of  every  kind  furnished,  the  United  States  paid 
all  prison  expenses,  the  salaries  of  officers,  sui)erintend- 
ent,  guards,  and  physician,  who  were  supplied  witli 
rooms  and  subsistence,  the  clothing  and  food  of  pris- 
oners, fuel  and  lights,  and  the  territory  of  Montana 
paid  the  general  government  one  dollar  a  day  for  the 
keeping  of  each  of  its  convicts. 

Becoming  impatient  of  govermental  leading-strings 
the  territory  asked  and  obtained  control  from  the  loth 
of  May,  1873,  to  the  1st  of  August,  1874;  by  which 


MONTANA. 


433 


fix- 

)aitl 

nid- 

Ivitli 

bris- 

tana 

till' 


ings 


hicli 


time,  concluding  they  did  not  know  how  to  keep  a 
j)rison,  the  JegisTature  begged  their  guardian  at  Wash- 
ington to  take  back  his  pretty  present,  as  they  found 
it  somewhat  expensive.  They  had  nut  guests  enough 
to  make  it  profitable. 

At  first  the  cost  to  the  United  States  of  each  pris- 
oner, \ter  diem,  was  $1  86,  while  the  territory  paid 
^'1  03.  Back  under  the  management  of  Marshal 
Wheeler  agahi,  and  the  Ist  of  August,  1874,  for  the 
first  year  the  cost  was  $1  66  a  day  for  each  prisoner, 
for  the  second  year  $1  45,  and  for  the  third  year 
.«;!  36. 

"The  greatest  misfortune  to  the  prisoners,"  writes 
Marshal  Wheeler  to  me  the  23d  of  October,  1877, 
"is  that  they  have  no  regular  employment.  The 
town  being  so  small  it  does  not  find  it  profitable  to 
hire  prison  labor,  because  the  prisoners  cannot  go 
outside  of  the  prison-yard,  and  there  is  no  manufac- 
tuiing  done  in  the  town.  All  work  on  the  improve- 
ments done  about  the  prison  has  been  done  by  the 
prisoners,  and  only  the  material  paid  for  by  tlie  gov- 
ernment. The  prisoners  make  all  their  own  clothes, 
C(M»k,  saw  wood,  and  do  all  that  is  done  for  the  prison 
and  themselves.  They  have  a  great  deal  of  spare 
time,  and  would  be  glad  to  be  employed.  We  have 
but  few  books,  but  get  gratis  many  newspapers  and 
magazines,  which  are  eagerly  read  by  the  prisoners. 
All  of  them  have  improved  in  reading,  writing,  and 
the  common  branches." 

For  cleanliness,  order,  and  health,  the  Montana, 
prison,  though  small,  was  a  model.  Religious  ser- 
A  ices  were  held  on  such  Sundays  as  preaching  could 
Ik>  secured.  No  severer  punishment  was  administered 
than  loeking  an  offender  in  his  cell,  feeding  him  on 
bread  and  water,  or  if  very  refractory  placing  him  in 
irons.  During  the  first  six  years,  out  of  eighty -three 
prisoners  there  were  four  escapes,  and  one  recapture, 
leaving  in  fact  three. 

The  United  States  marshal  was  ex-officio  superin- 

Cal.  Int.  Poc.   28 


Ml 


434 


PACIFIC  COAST  PRISONS. 


tendent,  with  a  salary  of  $1,200  a  year,  and  having 
for  his  assistants  four  guards  of  his  own  appointing 
and  removing,  one  of  whom  was  called  deputy  super- 
intendent, and  acted  as  chief  in  the  absence  of  the 
marshal.  The  salaries  of  the  assistants  were  $1,000 
a  year  each;  the  physician  was  paid  by  fees.  All 
expenses  were  paid  monthly  on  vouchers  mailed  to 
the  attorney-general  with  an  explanatory  letter. 

Alaska  has  had  few  prison  facilities  to  speak  of. 
Under  the  Russian  regime,  malefactors  were  confined 
at  the  forts.  For  a  time  after  American  occupaticn 
the  only  civil  rule  was  the  local  municipal  govern- 
ment of  Sitka,  and  that  was  maintained  without 
authority  of  law. 

Under  an  act  of  congress  in  1853,  A.  W.  Babbitt, 
then  secretary  of  the  territory,  was  authorized  to 
expend  $20,000  in  building  a  penitentiary  for  Utah. 
The  building  was  placed  in  what  was  then  known  as 
the  Big  Field  Survey,  made  under  the  provisional 
laws  of  the  state  of  Deseret.  The  building  was  com- 
pleted in  1854;  Daniel  Caru  was  elected  warden,  and 
Wilford  Woodruff,  Albert  P.  Rock  wood,  and  Sanmol 
R.  Richards  inspectors. 

There  was  in  prison  an  average  of  nine  prisoners 
for  some  time,  many  coming  and  going,  and  but  few 
serving  out  their  term.  These  new  villains  cost  the 
new  territory  about  five  thousand  dollars  a  year.  They 
could  have  been  hanged  immediately  after  conviction 
for  less  money.  As  the  years  went  by,  and  the  gen- 
eral government  failing  in  its  appropriations,  the  build- 
ings became  somewhat  dilapidated,  and  there  were 
several  escapes. 

Prior  to  Juiy,  1875,  Arizona  had  no  prison.  Tie 
judge  in  sentencing  criminals  named  some  county  jail 
as  their  place  of  confinement,  and  of  such  prisont i.s 
the  sheriffs  of  the  respective  counties  had  charge. 
No  state  convict  up  to  this  time  had  ever  served  liis 
full  term,  but  alwavs  escaped.  In  1875  the  legisla- 
ture passed  a  law  locating  the  prison  at  Yuma,  and 


XJTAH  AND  ARIZONA. 


435 


appropriating  $25,000  for  building  purposes.  Con- 
victs were  kept  in  the  Yuma  jail  up  to  July  1876, 
when  they  were  removed  to  the  prison  then  ready. 
There  were  then  seven  only,  and  during  the  next  six 
months  three  more  were  added,  making  ten  prisoners 
in  the  Arizona  penitentiary  on  the  1st  of  January 
1877. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

SOME    INDIAN    EPISODES. 

Believe  me,  it  is  not  necessary  to  a  man's  respectability  that  he  shonld 
oommit  a  murder.  Many  a  man  has  passed  through  life  most  respectt..';  , 
without  attempting  any  species  of  homicide.  A  man  came  to  me  as  the  can- 
didate for  the  place  of  mv  servant,  just  then  vacant.  He  had  the  reputation 
of  having  dabuled  a  little  in  our  art,  some  said,  not  without  merit.  What 
startled  me,  however,  was,  that  he  supposed  this  art  to  be  part  of  the  regular 
duties  in  my  service.  Now  that  was  a  thing  I  would  not  allow.  So  I  said 
at  once,  '  if  once  a  man  indulges  himself  in  murder,  very  soon  he  comes  to 
think  little  of  robbing ';  and  from  robbing  he  comes  next  to  drinking  and 
Sabbath -breaking,  and  from  that  to  incivility  and  procrastination.  Once  ])e- 
gin  upon  this  downward  path  yon  never  know  where  yon  are  to  stop.  Many 
a  man  has  dated  his  ruin  irom  some  murder  or  other  that  perhaps  he  thought 
little  of  at  the  time. 

— De  Qmncey. 

The  natives  of  California  were  quick  to  learn  the 
purchasing  power  of  gold,  but  they  did  not  thereby 
become  greedy  of  it  like  their  white  brethren.  When 
they  wanted  a  sack  of  flour,  or  a  few  pounds  of  to- 
bacco, or  a  bottle  of  brandy,  some  of  them  went  to 
the  river  and  washed  out  the  gold  necessary  for  their 
purchases.  They  were  badly  cheated  at  first,  having 
no  knowledge  of  the  value  white  men  put  upon  the 
metal,  and  they  would  as  readily  give  a  handful  of  it 
as  a  smaller  quantity,  if  they  had  it,  for  whatever 
struck  their  fancy,  something  to  eat,  or  to  drink,  a 
gaudy  handkerchief,  or  a  garment. 

Time  and  intercourse  with  the  more  cunning  race 
sharpened  their  wits  a  little.  Then  they  adopted  a 
method  of  their  own  in  making  purchases.  In  parties 
of  five  or  ten  they  would  first  stroll  through  the  storo, 
carefully  observe  several  articles,  and  settle  in  their 
own  mind  what  they  would  buy,  but  saying  nothing 
to  the  shop-keeper.     Then  they  would  retire  to  a  little 

(486) 


distj 
groi 
tJiey 
retuj 
their 
ITpoi 
perhj 
the  s 
Jate, 
give 
well ; 
crease 
eratioi 
the  ai 
wliich 
buy  bi 
they  w 
ing  mo 
each  tij 
until  ti 
The 
Califori 
In  the 

blanket 

or   $5 

shopkee 

of  sava^ 

a<'orns, 

ill  tile  gi 

i"g  1500 

liandken 

st^rape. 

h()])pers, 

pound; 

While 
on  the  S< 
to  his  cai 
f«d  belt 
^^ught  it 


STANISLAUS  GAMBLERS. 


4S7 


distance,  and  seating  themselves  in  a  circle  on  the 
ground  gravely  discuss  matters.  One  after  another 
tliey  then  went  to  the  store  and  made  their  purchases, 
returning  afterward  to  their  place  in  the  circle.  And 
their  method  of  barter  was  frequently  in  this  wise: 
Upon  a  leaf,  or  piece  of  paper,  one  would  pour  out 
perhaps  a  teaspoonful  of  gold-dust,  and  taking  it  to 
the  shopkeeper,  point  to  the  article  desired  and  ejacu- 
late, ughl  which  being  interpreted  meant,  "I  will 
give  you  this  for  that.'  If  the  shopkeeper  took  it, 
well ;  if  he  refused  it  the  Indian  would  withdraw,  in- 
crease the  pile  of  dust,  and  return,  repeating  the  op- 
eration until  the  amount  was  large  enough  to  procure 
the  article.  Again,  if  it  was  biscuits  they  desired,  of 
which  a  teaspoonful  of  dust  in  the  days  of  '48.  would 
buy  but  half  a  dozen,  and  they  wanted  several  dozen, 
they  would  go  and  come,  never  at  any  one  time  bring- 
ing more  than  the  first  measure  of  dust,  receiving  six 
each  time  until  they  had  secured  all  they  required,  or 
until  their  dust  was  gone. 

The  Mexican  serape  was  quite  becoming  to  the 
California  root  digger,  and  took  his  fancy  wonderfully. 
In  the  absence  of  a  serape,  however,  an  American 
blanket  would  do,  and  for  this,  of  a  quality  worth  $4 
or  $5,  they  cheerfully  paid  Weber,  the  Coloma 
shopkeeper,  $100.  Before  the  end  of  1848  thousands 
of  savages,  who  up  to  that  had  lived  on  roots  and 
acorns,  and  had  paraded  the  forests  as  naked  as  Adam 
ill  the  garden,  were  arrayed  in  gorgeous  apparel  cost- 
ing $500,  conspicuous  in  which  was  gaudy  calico,  red 
handkerchiefs,  hat,  shirt,  pantaloons,  and  blanket  or 
serape.  For  food,  in  place  of  acorns  and  mashed  grass- 
hoppers, they  purchased  almonds  and  raisins  at  $16  a 
pound;  and  for  a  bottle  of  whiskey  they  paid  $IG. 

While  the  Reverend  Mr  Colton  was  playing  miner 
on  the  Stanisla'j!),  in  the  autumn  of  1848,  there  came 
to  his  camp  three  wild  men,  attracted  thither  by  a 
rod  belt  which  each  of  them  wanted ;  so  they  first 
bought  it  and  then  gambled  to  see  which  should  have 


i  ''li 


438 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


it.  "They  could  speak  only  their  native  dialect,"  said 
Colton,  "not  a  word  of  which  I  could  understand. 
We  had  to  make  ourselves  intelligible  by  signs.  They 
wanted  to  purchase  the  belt,  and  each  laid  down  a 
piece  of  gold,  which  were  worth  in  the  aggregate  sonic 
$200.  I  took  one  of  the  pieces  and  gave  the  Indian 
to  whom  it  belonged  the  belt.  They  made  signs  for 
a  piece  of  coin.  I  oft'ered  them  an  eagle  but  it  was 
not  what  they  wanted  ;  a  Spanish  mill  dollar,  but  they 
wanted  something  smaller;  a  fifty-cent  piece,  and 
they  signified  it  would  do.  Taking  the  coin  they 
fastened  it  in  the  end  of  a  stick  so  as  to  expose  nearly 
the  entire  circle,  and  set  it  up  about  forty  yards  dis- 
tant. Then  they  cast  lots,  by  a  bone  which  tliey 
threw  into  the  air,  for  the  order  in  which  they  should 
discharge  their  arrows.  The  one  who  had  the  first 
shot  drew  his  long,  sinewy  bow  and  missed ;  the  sec- 
ond, he  missed ;  the  third,  and  he  missed,  though  the 
arrow  of  each  flew  so  near  tlie  coin  that  it  would  have 
killed  a  deer  at  that  distance.  The  second  now  shot 
first  and  grazed  the  coin;  then  the  third,  who  broke 
his  string  and  shot  with  the  bow  of  tlie  second,  but 
missed.  And  now  the  first  took  his  turn  and  struck 
the  coin,  whirling  it  off"  at  a  great  distance.  The 
other  two  gave  him  the  belt  which  he  tied  around  liis 
head  instead  of  a  blanket,  and  away  they  started  over 
the  hills  full  of  wild  life  and  glee,  leavinif  the  coin  as 
a  thing  of  no  importance  in  the  bushes  where  it  had 
been  whirled." 

To  the  discharged  volunteer,  Henry  I.  Simpson, 
who  was  there  in  August  1848,  the  natives  at  work 
near  Mormon  island  appeared  exceedingly  singular, 
They  "  were  dressed  in  strange  fantastic  guise ;  in- 
stead of  the  breech  clout,  which  used  to  be  tlieir chief 
article  of  the  toilet,  gaudy  calicoes,  bright  colored 
handkerchiefs,  and  strips  of  red  cloth  were  showily 
exhibited  about  their  persons.  The  first  party  with 
whom  we  came  up,  consisted  of  an  old  Indian  with 
his  squaw,  and  a  youth  about  fifteen  ;  they  seemed  to 


ABORIGINAL  MINERS. 


43d 


be  working  on  their  own  account,  though  most  of  the 
Indians  work  by  the  day  for  some  employer,  who 
furnishes  them  with  food,  and  pays  a  regular  p«3rdiom 
— sometimes  as  much  as  twenty  dollars  a  day,  but 
more  generally  at  the  rate  of  an  ounce  and  a  half  of 
gold,  the  current  rate  of  which  is  from  ten  to  twelve 
dollars  per  ounce.  When  we  came  within  sight  of  this 
party,  they  were  in  a  short,  deep  ravine,  very  busily 
employed  digging  with  small  machetes,  or  Spanish 
knives;  and  as  soon  as  they  perceived  us,  they  looked 
with  some  vexation  of  manner,  as  though  they  feared 
we  were  coming  to  interfere  with  their  rights  of  dis- 
covery. I  may  here  remark  that  a  nice  regard  is  al- 
most always  had  for  such  rights.  A  party  finding  a 
good  bed  of  gold,  is  seldom  or  never  interfered  with 
by  others — at  least  the  immediate  vicinity  of  their 
operations  is  not  trespassed  upon.  As  an  evidence  of 
this  feeling  of  natural  justice,  I  learned  that  there 
was,  at  the  mill  of  Captain  Sutter,  a  fine  bank  of  de- 
posit which  had  not  been  touched,  out  of  respect  to 
the  rights  of  the  captain,  who,  of  course,  had  no  real 
ownership  in  the  matter.  The  Indians  soon  became 
satisfied  that  we  had  no  intention  of  trespassing,  and 
began  their  work  again,  the  old  fellow  jabbering  away 
in  bad  Spanish  in  reply  to  our  inquiries.  He  had 
about  his  person,  in  an  uncouth-looking  buckskin 
poucli,  from  six  to  eight  ounces  of  gold,  as  I  should 
judge,  which  he  exliibited  with  some  exultation. 
While  we  were  engaged  with  the  old  man,  the  boy, 
who  had  progressed  some  few  yards  ahead  in  his  work, 
uttered  a  sudden,  ugh  I  which  is  tlie  Indian  expression 
of  wonder.  We  all  turned  toward  him,  and  saw  hiin 
holding  up,  with  an  expression  of  irrepressible  delight, 
a  large  lump  of  gold  incrusted  with  earth  and  gravel, 
which  seemed  as  big  as  a  man's  fist.  The  old  fellow 
rushed  toward  him  with  quite  an  un-Indian-like  eager- 
ness, and  taking  it  from  his  hand,  commenced  rapidly 
cleaning  it  of  the  dirt  and  gravel,  which  he  accom- 
plished with  peculiar  skill,  and  in  less  than  a  minute 


440 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


exhibited  to  us  a  lump  of  apparently  pure  gold,  which 
I  should  judge  weighed  at  least  six  or  seven  ounces. 
We  all  examined  it  closely  and  with  open  admiration. 
Whether  it  was  a  craving  of  avarice  that  seized  my 
heart,  or  because  I  admired  the  specimen  as  one  of 
the  finest  I  had  seen,  I  will  not  pretend  to 
determine;  but,  as  it  was,  I  felt  a  strong  de- 
sire to  possess  the  piece.  I  suppose  my  feelings  were 
legible  in  my  countenance,  for  the  old  Indian  looked 
knowingly  into  my  eyes,  and  then,  after  a  few  words 
in  his  own  language  with  his  squaw,  he  took  the  gold 
in  his  hand  and  proffered  it  to  me,  taking  hold,  at  the 
same  time,  of  a  bright  scarlet  sash  which  I  wore 
around  my  waist,  thus  evidently  offering  a  trade.  ISIy 
sash  was  a  fine  one,  and  though  worth  by  no  means 
the  intrinsic  value  of  the  gold,  would  perhaps  have 
sold  for  much  more  in  that  region,  for  the  Indians 
had  been  known  to  gratify  their  fancies  at  much  more 
exorbitant  prices :  it  was  not  this,  however,  that 
made  me  hesitate,  but  rather  that  it  seemed  like  s}iec- 
ulating  upon  the  ignorance  of  the  savage.  '  Take  it, 
Harry,'  said  Charley  to  me,  '  I  do  not  like  to  im- 
pose on  the  old  fellow,  Charley,'  said  I.  *  Pooh, 
some  less  scrupulous  person  wiii  sell  him  a  few  yards 
of  printed  calico  for  it ;  so  it  amounts  to  the  same 
thing  in  the  end.'  Doubtless  the  Indian  thought 
that  our  hesitation  arose  from  a  desire  to  enhance  my 
demand  for  the  sash,  for  he  held  a  few  minutes  longer 
consultation  with  his  squaw,  and  then  commenced  un- 
doing his  pouch,  as  if  he  intended  to  offer  an  additional 
price.  I  shock  my  head,  however,  to  indicate  tliat 
he  should  stop,  and  undoing  the  sash  I  gave  it  in  ex- 
change for  the  gold.  Certainly  vanity  is  a  sweet 
morsel  to  the  human  heart ;  even  the  habitual  stoicism 
of  the  savage  yields  to  its  magic  influence.  No  sooner 
had  the  old  man  obtained  possession  of  the  coveted 
treasure,  than  both  his  wife  and  son  gathered  around 
him,  forgetting  entirely  their  work  in  extravagant 
admiration  of  the  gaudy  plaything  they  had  purchased 


80  fai 

joym( 
Sa 
1848* 
"On 

refresi 
tlian 
small 
and  re 
knocks 
meat, 
lizatior 
liowevc 
has   nij 
Woman 
warm  v 
^\oods. 
among 
•'*^ts  as  i 
wliicli  s 
In  a 
approac 
cxperiei 
Indians 
vesting 
the  whit 
been  o 
and  the' 
th.Qy  wt* 
prices  in 
this,  the^ 
a'ld  dig  I 
^\'ag(^ns  r 
of  all  kii 
one  hunc 
^i'hI  joine 
Tlie  first 
Island,  oil 


SUTTER  ON  INDIANS. 


441 


BO  far  beyond  its  value.     We  left  them  to  their  en- 
joyment, and  proceeded  on." 

Says  one  who  visited  the  Stanislaus  in  October 
1848  of  some  natives  he  saw  at  Wi»rk  in  that  vichiity: 
"  On  the  plain  we  fell  in  with  the  camp  of  Mr  Mur- 
phy, who  invited  us  into  his  tent,  and  set  before  us 
refreshments  that  would  have  graced  a  scene  less  wild 
than  this.  His  tent  is  pitched  in  the  midst  of  a 
small  tribe  of  wild  Indians  who  gather  gold  for  him, 
and  receive  in  return  provisions  and  blankets.  He 
knocks  down  two  bullocks  a  day  to  furnish  them  with 
moat.  Though  never  before  within  the  wake  of  civi- 
lization, they  respect  his  person  and  property.  This, 
liowever,  is  to  be  ascribed  in  part  to  the  fact  that  ho 
has  married  the  daughter  of  the  chief — a  young 
woman  of  many  personal  attractions,  and  full  of  that 
warm  wild  love  which  makes  her  the  Haideo  of  the 
woods.  She  is  the  queen  of  the  tribe,  and  walks 
among  them  with  the  air  of  one  on  whom  authority 
sits  as  a  native  grace — a  charm  which  all  feel,  and  of 
which  she  seems  the  least  conscious." 

In  a  melancholy  strain,  which,  coming  from  him 
ai)proaches  tiie  grotesque,  Sutter  thus  describes  his 
experiences  in  mining  with  the  natives :  "  Even  the 
Indians  had  no  more  patience  to  work  alone,  in  har- 
vesting and  threshing  my  large  wheat  crop  out,  as 
t];c  white  men  had  all  left,  and  other  Indians  had 
been  engaged  by  some  white  men  to  work  for  them, 
and  they  commenced  to  have  some  gold  for  which 
tliey  were  buying  all  kinds  of  articles  at  enormous 
prices  in  the  stores;  which  when  my  Indians  saw 
tills,  they  wished  very  umch  to  go  to  the  mountains 
and  dig  gold.  At  last  I  consented,  got  a  number  of 
wagons  ready,  loaded  them  with  provisions  and  goods 
of  all  kinds,  employed  a  clerk,  and  left  with  about 
one  hundred  Indians,  and  about  fifty  Kanakas  who 
had  joined  those  I  brought  with  me  from  the  Islands. 
The  first  camp  was  about  ten  miles  above  Mormon 
Island,  on  the  south  fork  of  the  American  river.     In 


il 


!■ 


442 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


a  few  weeks  we  became  crowded,  and  it  would  no 
more  pay,  as  my  people  made  too  many  acquaintances. 
I  broke  up  the  camp  and  started  on  the  march  fur- 
ther south,  and  located  my  next  camp  on  Sutter 
creek,  and  thought  that  I  should  there  be  alone. 
The  work  was  going  on  well  for  awhile,  until  throe 
or  four  travelling  grog-shops  surrounded  me,  at  from 
one  and  a  half  to  two  miles  distance  from  the  camp; 
th3n  of  course,  the  gold  was  taken  to  these  places, 
for  drinking,  gambling,  etc.,  and  then  the  following 
day  they  were  sick  and  unable  to  work,  and  bocauie 
deeper  and  more  indebted  to  me,  and  particularly  tlio 
Kanakas.  I  found  that  it  was  high  time  to  quit  this 
kind  of  business,  and  lose  no  more  time  and  nK)ncy. 
I  therefore  broke  up  the  camp  and  returned  to  the 
fort,  where  I  disbanded  nearly  all  tlic  people  who  had 
worked  for  me  in  the  mountains  diyctxinij  yrold.  Tliis 
whole  expedition  proved  to  be  a  heavy  loss  to  me." 

One  Sunday  in  August  I80O,  in  tlie  town  of  Sonora, 
a  person  called  Cave  in  conversation  with  a  gambh  r 
named  ^lason,  pointing  to  an  Indian  wlio  was  loun.;- 
injj  about  the  street,  offered  to  lav  a  wager  that  lie 
could  induce  the  native  to  rob  or  kill  lum.  Mason 
accepted  the  offer.  Cave  then  drew  the  native  aside, 
told  him  that  Mason  had  a  larjjje  sum  of  monev  liidden ; 
told  him  where  he  should  find  it,  and  that  if  he  would 
rob  or  kill  ISIason  he  should  have  half  of  it  and  no 
harm  should  befall  him.  Placing  an  unloaded  pistol 
in  his  hand  Cave  urged  hhn  on  to  the  consununation  of 
the  deed.  Irresolute,  bewildered,  worked  upon  more 
by  the  exhortations  of  Cave  than  any  desin^  to  do 
wrong,  the  native  hesitatingly  entered  Mason's  house, 
looked  around  and  came  out  without  touching  a  thing. 
Mason  was  watching  for  him  and  as  soon  as  he  was 
fairly  on  the  street  again  shot  him  dead. 

For  specimens  of  Indian  warfare  we  must  go  nortli. 
The  natives  of  California  valley  were  a  mild  race, 
and  when  the  miners  shot  them  down  the  survivors 


seld( 

bord 

quite 

peop 

digni 

Di 

iiig  fi 

ei-n  ( 

si>irit( 

no  w< 

Coi 

bv  tlu 

and  S 

cry,  ai 

invadii 

.strono'( 

iSIiasta 

tlie  R,) 

to  the 

Jo;  til 

Tijisey, 

diplomt 

Whi, 

time 

Soineti 

IH'acom 

On 
Work  ni 
wJiite  ni 
f'oine  in 
Women, 
j'lg  'sti( 
land  yoi 
Card 
ity,  tellj 
same    ol 
J"1I1,"  h 

"lortisin 
cominor 

o 


o 


t 


SULUX  THE  SHASTA. 


4«S 


seldom  retaliated.  In  the  vicinity  of  the  Oregon 
border,  however,  on  both  sides  of  the  line,  it  was 
quite  different.  The  inhabitants  were  a  bolder,  braver 
people,  wiio  would  not  tamely  submit  to  every  in- 
dignity. 

During  the  year  1852  there  were  several  now  niin- 
in*;  fields  discovered  in  nt)rthern  California  and  south- 
eru  Oregon,  and  the  natives  thereabout  bein<j:  high- 
spirited  and  strong,  and  the  miners  overbearing,  it  is 
no  wonder  there  were  many  outrages  on  both  sides. 

Conspicuous  among  the  savages  was  a  Shasta,  called 
by  the  white  men  Scarface,  and  another  named  Bill, 
and  Sullix  the  bad-tempered,  who  in  cunning,  treach- 
ery, and  cruelty,  were  equal  to  any  of  the  white  men 
invading  their  domains — only  the  latter  were  the 
stronger.  E.  Steele,  of  Yreka,  was  a  favorite  of  the 
Shastas,  who  named  him  Jo  Lane's  Brother.  Among 
tlie  Rogue  river  chiefs,  some  of  whose  people  belonged 
to  the  Shasta  nation,  were  Tolo  and  Jolm,  Sam  and 
Jo ;  then  at  the  foot  of  the  Siskivou  mountains,  was 
Tipsey,  or  the  Hairy,  second  to  none  in  war  and 
diplomacy. 

White  men  imposed  upon  the  Shastas,  and  from 
time  to  time  these  chiefs  had  killed  white  men. 
Sometimes  Steele  played  successfully  the  part  of 
pt'acemaker ;  oftener  there  was  fighting. 

(hi  one  occasion,  while  a  surveying  party  was  at 
work  in  his  vicinity,  Scarftice  said  to  them,  "You 
white  men  who  are  so  good  and  so  great,  v.liy  do  you 
come  into  our  countrv  and  kill  our  men,  ravish  our 
Women,  and  go  around  witli  a  com[)ass  and  diaiii  cry- 
ing *  stick,  stuck,'  set  up  a  few  stakes  and  call  the 
land  your  own  when  you  have  not  paid  a  cent  for  it^" 

Cardwell,  an  old  Indian-fighter  of  that  vicin- 
ity, tells  many  stories  of  this  aboriginal.  "This 
same  old  Sullix  sat  upon  one  of  the  sills  of  my 
mill,"  he  says,  "while  I  was  at  work  boring  and 
mortising  on  it,  watching  the  road  alive  witli  men 
counng   into  the  valley  after  the  discovery  of  the 


«• 


444 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


Jacksonville  mines,  and  he  remarked  to  me  that  it 
had  never  been  the  intention  of  the  Indians  to  give 
up  the  country,  but  they  had  meant  to  let  a  few 
whites  settle  here,  and  get  as  nmch  property  around 
them  as  tliey  could,  and  then  go  to  work  to  wipe 
them  out;  but  ihey  were  discouraged  by  the  unex- 
pected influx  of  people.  He  then  consoled  himself  by 
telling  me  one  of  his  adventures.  Some  time  a^o, 
with  two  other  Indians,  he  was  on  the  Klamath 
river,  and  late  one  day  they  saw  two  white  men  slip- 
ping along  and  trying  to  avoid  being  seen.  He  and 
his  companions  watched  them,  and  observing  where 
they  camped  that  night,  stole  up  and  murdered  them 
both.  He  seemed  to  rejoice  over  the  bloody  deed. 
'But  now,'  said  he,  *we  have  waited  too  long  to 
carry  out  our  design ;  the  whites  have  overix>wered 
us.'  He  would  work  himself  nito  a  great  rage  talk- 
ing of  these  things ;  his  eyes  would  fauly  turn  green. 
When  he  told  me  of  the  murder  on  the  Klamath,  I 
came  near  striking  him  with  my  chisel ;  and  I  then 
and  there  made  up  my  mind  that  if  an  opportunity 
ever  presented  I  would  kill  that  Indian.  I  afterwards 
had  the  pleasure  of  shooting  him,  but  it  did  not  kill 
him.     This  was  in  the  subsequent  Indian  troubles." 

Cardwell  states  further  that  a  few  days  after  he 
had  selected  his  mill  site  at  the  present  town  of  Asli- 
land,  Tipsey's  band  had  a  quarrel  with  a  Shasta  band 
over  on  the  Klamath,  in  which  Tipsey  was  wounded 
in  the  chin,  and  two  of  his  men  were  killed.  The 
bloody  arbitrament  having  proceeded  thus  far  peaceful 
negotiations  were  begun.  The  money  value  of  the 
dead  Shasta  was  about  equivalent  to  Tipsey's  chin.  On 
the  other  side  a  Shasta  chief  was  killed.  "They  set- 
tled the  matter,"  continues  Cardwell,  "by  standing  oif 
the  two  chiefs,  but  several  horses  were  demanded  by 
Tipsey  in  payment  for  his  two  braves  killed,  with  the 
understanding,  however,  that  if  Tipsey  recovered,  the 
horses  were  to  be  paid  back  as  indemnity  for  the  death 
of  the  Shasta    chief.     Tipsey    recovered,   and    the 


Shas< 
niand 
and  S( 
the  S 
numb« 
also  n 
each  8 
battle 
Mr  Li 
The  S] 
and  th( 
fire  at 
fifteen, 
and  go 
yards  ( 
number 
and  sho 
the  field 
three  da 
tlay.     T 
us  in  al 
(German 
At  n() 
found  nil 
tJto  Indii 
Com  in 
devastati 
hor  9tli, 
house  of 
of  courte 
t'hild  the] 
As  the 
t')  it,  Mi 
that  ther 
She  was 
Xew  Yor 
some  time 
fluently, 
ers  of  pen 


THE  SHASTAS  IN  BATTLE. 


415 


Shastas  came  over,  about  one  hundred  strong,  and  de- 
manded the  horses.  Tipsey  refused  to  deliver  tliein  up, 
and  sent  to  Butte  creek  for  help,  determined  to  give 
the  Shastas  battle.  The  reenforcements  swelled  the 
number  to  about  one  hundred  and  fifty.  The  Shastas 
also  received  reenforcements,  making  the  number  on 
each  side  about  the  same.  Their  manner  of  going  to 
battle  was  extremely  diverting.  The  prairie  where 
;Mr  Lindsay  Applegate's  farm  is,  was  the  battle-field. 
The  Shastas  were  collected  on  one  side  of  the  prairie, 
and  the  Rogue  Riv(  vs  opposite.  Each  built  a  large 
fire  at  the  place  wuere  they  were  assembled.  Ten, 
fifteen,  or  perhaps  fifty  would  start  out  from  one  side 
aiul  go  scampering  across  to  within  sixty  or  eighty 
yards  of  the  opposite  party,  when  about  the  same 
number  would  start  after  them,  chasing  them  back, 
and  shooting  at  them  all  the  way  to  be  chased  over 
tlio  fields  in  their  turn.  This  kind  of  warfare  lasted  for 
tliree  days,  the  contestants  fighting  about  six  hours  a 
day.  They  then  compromised  the  matter,  reminding 
us  in  all  this  of  the  highly  rational  way  France  and 
Germany  have  of  settling  their  quarrels. 

At  no  period  in  the  history  of  savage  warfare  are 
found  more  brave  deeds  by  heroic  women  than  during 
tlic  Indian  troubles  of  1855. 

Coming  down  the  Rogue  River  valley,  spreading 
devastation  on  every  side,  on  the  morning  of  Novem- 
ber 9th,  a  large  band  of  savages  appeared  before  the 
house  of  Mr  Wagimer,  who  was  absent  on  a  mission 
of  courtesy  to  Sailor  diggings,  leaving  his  wife  and 
child  there  alone. 

As  the  Indians  approached  the  house,  and  set  fire 
to  it,  Mrs  Wagoner  knew  that  her  fate  was  sealed, 
that  there  was  no  escape  from  death  or  dishonor. 
She  was  a  beautiful  woman,  educated  and  refined, 
New  York  being  her  native  state,  and  having  been 
some  time  on  the  frontier,  she  spoke  the  local  dialect 
fluently.  But  she  made  no  attempt  to  use  her  pow- 
ers of  persuasion  at  this  juncture,  knowing  that  such 


44S 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


effort  would  be  useless.  Tlio  eneiuiesof  her  race  were 
at  her  door;  they  were  savanrfs,  iimddeiied  hy  yours 
of  wrong  and  the  shedding  of  much  innocent  Wood. 
Tlieir  wives  and  daughters  liad  been  outraged  and 
slain  by  the  white  men ;  for  a  brief  moment  they 
might  enjoy  revenge. 

Barring  tlie  door,  and  refusing  admittance  to  any, 
refusing  even  to  parley,  she  proceeded  (juietly  to  ar- 
range her  beautiful  hair,  and  dress  herself  with  neat- 
ness and  decorum,  as  if  for  an  important  occasion; 
then  drawing  to  her  the  child,  and  f  .Iding  it  to  lier 
heart  in  the  last  embrace  this  side  of  eternitv,  she 
seated  herself  in  the  middle  of  the  rot)m,  took  the 
child  in  her  lap,  pillowed  its  head  upon  her  breast, 
and  thus,  while  singing  to  it  a  lullaby,  she  met  her 
doom.  She  heeded  not  the  approaching  flames;  slie 
heard  not  the  savage  yells;  nor  was  she  conscious  of 
the  glittering  eyes  that  peered  at  her  through  the 
crevices  of  her  cabin.  Already  in  spirit  she  was  far 
away  from  that  horrible  scene,  safe  with  her  child  be- 
yond the  skies. 

The  leading  events  of  the  insurrectionary  niovo- 
ment  of  the  Modocs  I  have  presented  in  my  general 
history,  but  the  subject  is  worthy  of  more  extendid 
treatment  than  I  was  able  then  to  give  it.  I  have, 
therefore,  reserved  sufficient  space  for  fuller  detail  in 
this  volume. 

To  the  early  incomers  the  Modocs  were  a  wild,  un- 
known people,  and  scarcely  ever  seen.  Indeed, 
Modoc  is  a  Shasta  word,  signifying  stranger,  or  hos- 
tile, and  so  was  taken  up  and  a[)plied  to  these  savages 
by  white  men  hearing  the  Shastas  speak  of  them. 

When  Superintendent  Huntington  made  the  treaty 
of  1864  with  the  Klamaths  and  Modocs,  that  portion 
of  the  latter  tribe  which  lived  on  the  border  of  Cali- 
fornia, and  acknowledged  Keintpoos, — individually 
known  in  the  settlements  as  Captain  Jack — for  tin  ir 
chief,  he  had  no  great  difficulty  in  gaining  the  consent 


of  til 
even 
tlu;  ol 

that  J 
unfittt 
hud   rl 

KhlMlU 

in  tJie 
conseqi 
nwn  ;  a 

I'"rtuni 
'i'Jicy  \v 
that  it 
ino/iy  n 
Some 
mining  c 
t'Hvn  Jioi 
J'-'"glisIi 
^var  beini 
^vere  Jed 
str-engtJi 
'h'  huccv 
I'll  is  idea 
ii'»tives, 

^i'I>erintt 
duties  of 
and  the  ]V 
chin,   pre 
northern  ' 
^■'''i<ly  beg 
white  niei 
•;i>i' rations 
^'•^hiiient  <. 
ft'e  known 
U'v.s,  toget 
^■'<>us  of  th 
these  India 
'"»-''i,  and  t. 


KEXTIPOOr,   or.  tAITAIX  JACK. 


447 


of  this  pcrsonajTo  to  tho  tonus  of  tlio  treaty.  Yot 
evoii  tlien,  circuiiistanocs  existojl  wliioli  would  luako 
the  observance  of  the  conditi«uis  «)f  tlio  treaty  excud- 
iiijily  irksoiiio  to  Captain  Jack,  wln>  had  aetjuired 
tliat  love  of  civilized  as  well  as  savage  viei's  wliii  h 
unfitted  him  for  oncagement  on  a  res(  r'  ation.  The 
hud  character  of  the  Sliastas,  Pit  Klvers,  Lower 
Klanmths,  and  other  trihcs  occu}>ying  tho  country 
in  the  vichiity  of  tlie  mines,  was  not  altogether  in 
consequence  of  their  association  with  vicious  white 
men  ;  such  asst)ciation,  however,  gave  them  every  op- 
jK»rtunity  to  practice  whatever  vices  they  might  have. 
They  were  so  given  to  quarreling  among  themselves, 
that  it  was  only  when  at  war  with  others  tliat  har- 
mony reigned  in  the  household. 

Some  of  these  savages  were  always  hovering  about 
mining  camps  and  were  often  emi)loye<l  us  servants  in 
town  houses.  They  had  a  good  unck'rstanding  of  the 
English  language,  and  were  not  unaware  of  the  civil 
war  being  carried  on  at  the  east,  from  which  they 
were  led  to  believe  the  white  race,  of  whose  numerical 
strength  they  had  a  feeble  idea,  was  in  a  c«>n(lition  to 
he  successfullv  attacked  and  possiblv  exterminated. 
Tills  idea  prevailed  t:>  a  great  extent  among  all  the 
natives,  from  the  Missouri  to  the  Pacific.  When 
Superintendent  Steele  of  California,  entered  upon  the 
duties  of  his  office,  in  18G3,  he  found  the  Klamaths 
and  the  Modocs,  under  their  chiefs  Lalake  and  St  hon- 
cliin,  preparing  to  make  war  upon  the  settlers  of 
northern  California  and  southern  Oregon,  having  al- 
ready begun  stealing  cattle  and  plundeiing and  killing 
wjiite  men  travelling  thnm^h  their  countrv.  The 
operations  of  the  1st  Oreg<m  cavalry  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  Fort  Klamath  to  prevent  these  outrages, 
are  known  to  the  readers  of  my  history.  These  iiieas- 
uies,  t»)gether  with  the  killing  of  two  of  the  most  vi- 
cious of  the  Klamath  sub-chiefs,  resulted  in  bringing 
these  Indians  to  a  realization  of  the  power  of  the  white 
men,  and  the  necessity  of  a  treaty. 


448 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


Ill  February  18G4  these  border  Indians,  who  be- 
longed some  to  California  and  some  to  Oregon,  but 
who  knew  nothing  of  the  42d  degree  of  latitude  whicji 
formed  the  boundary  between,  and  who  wcr'^  in  tlio 
habit  of  visiting  Yreka,  the  residence  of  Superintendent 
Steele,  being  led  to  fear  that  they  would  be  punished 
by  the  Oregon  troops  for  their  misconduct,  sought 
tiie  advice  of  Steele  who  made  with  them  a  sort  <f 
treaty  of  friendship  and  peace.  This  treaty  was  inude 
solely  with  Steele,  and  witnessed  V)y  a  justice  of  tl  e 
peace,  E.  W.  Potter,  and  the  sheriffc;f  Siskiyou  county, 
D.  Kearn.  It  required  of  the  Indians  nothing  but 
their  promise  to  live  in  peace  among  each  other  and 
with  the  white  men,  to  refrain  from  killing,  and  steal- 
ing from  members  of  tlie  several  tribes,  and  from  in- 
terrupting the  travel  of  individuals  of  one  trihe 
through  the  country  of  another.  Tlie  penalty  for 
breaking  this  promise  was  to  be  given  uji  to  the  sol- 
diers f  )r  punishment.  They  were  retjuired  to  respe(  t 
the  lives  and  property  of  white  men,  negroes,  and 
Chinamen,  allowhig  them  to  pasb  thnmgh  the  country 
claimed  by  them  without  molestation,  or  being  taxed 
for  right  of  way,  or  robbed  of  their  property  or  mon(y, 
but  they  were  permitted  to  charge  a  fair  price  for 
ferrying  travellers  across  streams,  or  acting  as  guides 
if  desired  to  do  so. 

They  agreed  not  to  get  drunk  wlien  they  came  to 
the  settlcmentw,  nor  to  steal  while  on  these  visits,  nor 
to  rob  tlie  sluice-boxes  of  Chinamen,  but  promised  to 
remain  out  of  town  at  night  in  tlu  ir  own  cam]  is. 
They  also  promised  not  to  sell  tJieir  own  or  the  cl.i!- 
dren  of  other  Indians,  or  to  sell  their  women  to  wliitc 
men  unless  the  purchasers  would  go  before  a  just  id' 
and  marry^  these  women,  nor  to  bring  their  arms  into 
the  settlements,  except  to  be  repaired.  On  the  ])art 
of  the  white  people  it  was  agreed  by  Steele  that  tluy 
should  be  protected  when  they  came  to  the  settle- 
ments; but  thty  were  counselled  to  obtain  passes 
from  the  officers  at  the  forts,  and  the  ^lodocs  and 


Klanij 

tlie  in 

at  Foi 

Tlie 

to  jjial 

fe.ssioi) 

bo  quei 

s  "verit 

bis  jud 

tlie  mo 

wiiJi  tl 

!>een  in 

time,  .si 

tjjat  {)ui 

K  la  mat 

should  ] 

<onj))re] 

f^tnietioi 

It  is  ( 

in  FebrL 

«cttleniei 

f"»und  ju, 

i!i  prosti 
^'aj)tnii 
'•V  tJie  (>•( 
•lotlocs  1 
was  conij 
'I'ibi's,  aiii 

ill  Nv!|;;t  \\ 

foriiMTjy  ■ 
.^I'-'iiits  wl 
•')iid  from 
into  Vivk, 
I'lf  .'ittacli 
wliieli  Avo 
'^"st  Kivt 
''•'•^i,!.i"Med  tl 
y'''^^<!  Jiim  I 

"^  the  ]\r< 

Cal. 


MOiXXJS   ANO  KLAMATHS. 


449 


Klainaths  wtro  informed  that  they  were  subject  to 
th(3  iiis[)ecti<)n,  protection,  and  restraint  of  the  officers 
at  Fort  Klamath. 

The  motive  which  led  the  California  superintendent 
to  make  a  treaty  witli  Indians  whom,  by  his  own  con- 
fession, he  knew  did  not  belong  to  his  district,  might 
he  (pustioncd — indeed  was  questioned  afterward,  with 
s  verity;  but  there  was  no  reason  to  doubt  that  to 
liis  juilginent  he  seemed  to  be  doing  what  was  best  at 
the  moment.  But  he  was  not  unaware  that  a  treaty 
with  the  Klamatlis  and  Modocs  had  for  a  long  time 
!»ern  iu  contemplation;  and  was  likely  to  occur  at  any 
time,  since  congress  had  made  an  appropri.ation  for 
tliat  i»urpose,  an<l  the  Klamatlis  had  been  fed  at  Fort 
Khimatli  during  the  winter;  and  his  long  experience 
slioiild  have  told  him  that  savages  are  never  able  to 
( (tn))>rehen(l,  nor  ever  willing  to  \;'>nsentto  receive  in- 
structions from  twt>  sources. 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  the  treaty  made  with  Steele 
ill  February,  which  permitted  the  Indians  to  visit  the 
settlements,  where,  in  s[)ite  of  their  promises,  tiny 
f.)Uiid  means  to  carry  on  their  former  r.ofarious  trade 
ill  prostitution,  should  have  affected  the  aitituck^  of 
('a}itaiii  Jack  and  band  toward  the  treaty  authoriznl 
liv  the  urovernment,  and  made  with  the  Klamatlis  and 
Modocs  in  October  following.  Tliis  baml  of  Modocs 
was  conijiosed  in  part  of  vii-ious  renegades  from  other 
tiihes.  and  )iad  their  home  about  TuK;  and  Clear  lukt'S, 
ill  \vli;:t  was  known  as  the  Lost  River  countrv,  where 
tir;a"rlv  thev  used  to  lie  in  wait  for  parties  of  emi- 
'jrants  whose  road  lav  around  the  shores  of  the  lake, 
and  from  which  they  now  had  an  easy  and  short  road 
into  Yreka  and  the  mining  settlements.  Achnitting 
tlie  attacliment  of  aboriginals  to  particuhir  localities, 
wliicli  would  make  them  ri'luctant  to  remove  from 
liost  River,  Captain  Jack  could  nt)t  willingly  have 
resigned  the  advantages  which  the  tn^aty  with  Steele 
gave  him  over  that  which  Sconchin,  the  head  <-hief 
of  the  jVIodocs,  agreed  to  accept  from  lluntlngt«»n; 
cal.  1st.  i'oc.  a* 


iis 


450 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


and  it  very  soon  was  understood  tliat  though  Jack 
ha<l  signed  the  treaty  witli  the  other  chiefs,  he  had 
no  intention  of  keeping  it.  This  probable  repudiation 
of  the  treaty  during  tlie  interval  before  it  was  known 
to  \w  ratified  bv  congress,  and  btifore  the  agencv  was 
well  established,  was  not,  however,  a  subject  of  serious 
concern. 

In  the  meantime  they  wore  not  keeping  their  agree- 
ment either  with  Steele  or  the  United  States.  In 
the  autunm  of  1807  two  of  them  were  apprehended 
by  Agent  Applegate,  and  placed  in  chains  at  Fort 
Klamath,  for  distributing  annnunition  to  the  hostile 
Snakes;  and  in  the  following  vear,  having  refused  to 
come  on  the  reservati<m,  military  aid  was  asked  to 
comp(^l  them  to  remove.  In  1801)  the  settlers  of  Sis- 
kiyou county  petitioned  (xeneral  Crook  to  remove  the 
Mod(»cs  to  the  reservation,  as  their  presence  in  tliat 
district  was  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  the  people. 
Ill  rt'i>ly.  Crook  stated  that  the  Modocs  woi'lf'  have 
been  removed  before  tliis,  but  for  a  report  f  f'  the 
former  connnander  at  Fort  Klamath  that  the  Indian 
department  ditl  not  supply  sufficient  food  there,  and 
that  they  would  not  submit  to  remain  uiion  a  reserva- 
tion where  they  were  not  fed,  and  could  kill  but  little 
game.  After  some  weeks,  however,  (leneral  (^t<m»1<, 
on  the  demand  of  Superintendent  Mea?ham,  ordered 
the  commanding  ottie(T  at  Fort  Klamath,  Lieutenant 
Goodal(\  if  he  believed  the  Indian  department  pre- 
pared to  take  charge  of  them  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
give  no  cause  of  complaint,  to  bring  Jack  and  \\\^ 
band  upon  the  reservation. 

Accordingly,  in  ]>ecenilH>r.  Meacham,  accompanieil 
by  a  detachment  of  troops  from  the  fort,  re[)aired  ti 
Stone  Hridge,  on  Lost  river,  where  he  met  (^aj)taiii 
Jack  and  his  band,  and  informed  them  of  the  purpo-' 
of  the  government  to  insist  on  his  observance  of  tli-- 
tri'atv.  During  tlu;  ni>j[ht  followinijf  the  council.  Jai  k. 
with  a  few  of  the  most  desperate  characters  in  liis 
following,  left  the  camp  and    tied  to  the  lava  beds. 


on  tlie 

^^eorge 

the  liar 

fis  Jack 

tliese,  I; 

him,  af 

two  or  i 

the  resj 

George, 

Meacl 

f>'>  uj>pe] 

J>orarily 

wliere  tli 

W-  gave 

and  on  tJ 

new  agen 

^''•'ing  tJi; 

sul)sisten( 

f<»u]d  not 

nient,  mi 

'Substitute 

*>nly  at  K 

♦astern  O 

California 

As  if  t( 

Jninianity, 

J'l'essjon'u 

^•''ve<I  am 

•'"ippliod,  r 

''<lis,  and 

^<iiid   influ( 

•^l»nng  Jio  J( 

^\v<»  IiundrL 

liver  to  fis 

And  it  was 

t  >  compel  t 

f"f<>nnatior 
'''•^'<ling  at 
"l">'i  tJie  ofl 


SUPERINTENDENT  MEACHAM.  «n 

on  the  south  side  of  Tule  lake,  leavinj^  two  suh-chiefa, 
(Joorge  and  Kiddle,  with  the  women  and  children,  in 
the  hands  of  the  superintendent.  Meachara  did  not, 
as  Jack  hoped,  return  at  once  to  the  reservation  witli 
those,  but  remained  in  camp,  and  sent  m«^ssengers  to 
him,  after  wliich  diplomatic  correspondence,  lasting 
two  or  three  days,  Jack  finallv  consented  to  vco  witli 
the  rest  upon  tlie  reservation,  saying,  however,  to 
George,  that  he  did  not  intend  to  stay. 

Meacham  established  Jack's  band  at  Modoc  point 
on  ui)pcr  Klamath  lake,  where  Sconchin  also  was  tem- 
j)orarily  located  before  removal  to  Camp  Yainax,  and 
where  they  were  to  all  appearance  contentedly  settled. 
Ha  gave  them  a  supply  of  clothing  nnd  provisions, 
and  on  the  1st  of  January,  1870,  turned  over  to  tlie 
new  agent  at  Klamath,  ().  C.  Knapp,  the  business  of 
stehig  that  Crook's  fears  concerning  their  conifortablo 
subsistence  were  not  realized.  For,  as  if  tlic  Indians 
could  not  be  wholly  entrusted  to  the  Indian  depart- 
ment, military  officers  were,  in  the  autumn  of  IS(JI), 
substituted  for  the  agents  previously  employed,  n«>t 
onl\'  at  Klamath,  l)ut  at  each  of  the  reservations  in 
eastern  Oregon,  and  on  many  of  the  reservations  in 
California  and  elsewhere. 

As  if  to  sustain  the  military  character  for  superior 
humanity,  and  also  perha]>s  to  make  a  favorable  im- 
jiression  upon  Jack's  band,  while  all  the  Indians  r*'- 
ciived  ample  allowances  the.se  were  particularly  well 
supplied,  rec(>iving  more  in  proportion  than  the  Klani- 
aths,  and  beinsjf  favored  in  other  wavs.  But  to  these 
kind  influences  Jack  was  hisensible.  l*]arly  in  the 
s[)ring  he  left  the  reservation  with  all  his  peojile,  a'xiut 
two  hundred  and  fifty  in  number,  and  returned  ti'  L(»st 
liver  to  fish  and  to  be  within  easy  reaeli  of  Vrekii. 
And  it  was  evident  that  f  )rce  would  have  to  b<'  used 
to  compel  this  band  to  remain  upon  the  reservation. 
Information  was  at  once  sjnt  to  the  supeiintendent, 
residing  at  Salem,  who  chereupon  made  a  deniaiid 
upon  tlie  officer  in  command  at  the  fort  to  take  nieas- 


(      i 


■4| 


4S2 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


ures  to  return  these  Indians,  which  effort  for  some 
time,  however,  roniained  uiiattenipted.  In  the  mean- 
time misunderstandings  arose  between  the  superin- 
tendent and  the  agent,  the  former  accusing  tlie  latter 
of  allowing  the  Klaniaths  to  ceaselessly  annoy  and 
insult  the  Modocs,  whom  he  had  ordered  to  change 
their  location,  and  surrounded  them  with  Klamaths, 
to  their  great  dissatisfaction,  under  a  pretense  of  pre- 
venting their  escape. 

If  tlierc  was  one  thing  more  than  another  on  which 
Superintendent  Meacham  prided  himself,  it  was  his 
knowledge  of  and  iuHuenee  over  Indians.  Like  Steele, 
wlio  had  accepted  the  chieftainship  of  Jack's  band  in 
18(14,  lie  was  flattered  by  being  looked  '.ip  to  by  sav- 
ages. He  had  a  theory  that  if  a  man  only  felt  suffi- 
<'i<ntly  hiw  connnon  brotherhood  with  the  wild  men, 
he  Would  be  able  to  control  them  tlirouglt  their  affec- 
tions; and  although  Jack  seemed  rather  an  unprom- 
ising sul)je('t  for  such  practise,  he  anticipated  the 
gnater  distinction  from  success.  He  was,  therefore, 
indignant  when  it  was  reported  to  him  that  Knapj» 
had  (lone  anything  to  disi*lease  Captain  Jack,  wlio,  he 
Kild,  could  not  be  blanuxl  for  leaving  the  reservation 
under  the  circumstances-'. 

The  cireumstanees  as  alleged  by  Ja.ck  were,  that 
his  people  were  obliged  to  labor  at  making  raihs,  that 
tliey  had  little  tv)  eat,  that  the  watir  on  the  r<  serva- 
tion  was  frozen,  and  that  Captain  Knapp  n)oved  thtiii 
from  place  to  place;  to  which  Knapp  replied  that 
they  were  ])laeed  at  Tvfodoe  point  at  their  own  re 
quest,  and  their  pr<!pused  itMuoval,  about  tlie  1st  oC 
A[>ii!,  was  to  a  Muital)le  [)lace  for  opening  farms  and 
for  obtaining  wood  and  grass.  It  was  this  prosju-ct 
of  having  to  allow  his  men  tt>  be  degraded  by  labor, 
instead  of  living  off  tlio  sale  of  women  and  childn  ii. 
which  hastened  Ca{)tain  Jack's  departure.  Meacha;ii 
tJiouglitdifferently  ;  and  in  his  dissatisfaction  requested 
that  some  distinct  special  regulatitnis  should  be  p?". 
mulgated,  whereby  tlie  relative  })Ositious  of  tlie  militai  \ 


and 

rassr 

TJ 

from 

the  a 

it  wi 

office] 

diaas 

tJiat  i 

negloc 

the  bli 

at  tJio 

.judg/)! 

that  h( 

turn  if 

A  yc 

was  (lor 
grown  1 
Vr'ven  tc 
tho  nn'n 
taken  t 
fno  oust 
1-lass  w 
sihlo   jH 
miles  s( 
Californ 
prop().sG( 
•^00  Mo( 
f!r])ersu 
was  to( 

<'xaminin 
,irer»era]l 
'ia\i()r  (I 
^•'ft  to  his 
him. 

In  Au 
"land  of  t 
Canliy,  ai 


)  ; 


"WISDOM  AND  STRENGTH. 


458 


antl  Indian  departments  micfht  be  understood,  embar- 
rassment removed,  and  harmony  made  possible. 

Tliat  there  was  some  such  necessity  is  apparent 
from  the  fact  that  enmity  existed  between  Knapp  of 
the  agency  and  Goodale  of  the  fort.  Knapp,  tliough 
it  WIS  Jiis  duty  to  have  called  upon  the  commandiii;^ 
otficer  of  Foi*t  Klamath  to  brinjj  the  abscondinu;  In- 
tlians  back,  neglecte<l  to  do  so,  ujwn  his  own  belief 
tliat  the  force  at  that  post  was  insufficient.  This 
ne^dcct  caused  Goodale  to  be  censured,  who  placed 
tlie  blame  very  promptly  where  it  belonjjjed;  thou«;h 
at  the  same  time  he  was  compelled  to  a<hnit  that  the 
judgment  of  Knaj>p  in  this  matter  was  ct)rrect,  and 
that  ho  had  not  force  sufficient  to  compel  Jack  to  re- 
turn if  he  did  not  wisli  to,  as  plainly  he  did  not. 

A  year  and  a  half  elapsed,  during  which  nothing 
was  done  to  bring  back  the  absentees.  Captain  Ja(k, 
grown  bolder  tlirough  success,  and  theencouragenitiit 
given  to  li'ia  rebellion  by  that  class  of  men  known  in 
tiie  minos  as  "squaw  men,"  meaniiiLC  men  wlio  had 
taken  to  wife  Indian  women,  either  witli  or  without 
tuo  customary  marriage  ceremonies,  and  by  other  low- 
rl.vss  whitA>8,  if  not  by  the  advice  of  some  more  respoii- 
siUlo  jKjirson,  made  him  set  up  a  claim  to  a  tract  six 
miles  sijuare,  lyhig  on  both  sides  of  the  Oregon  and 
California  line,  near  the  head  of  Tule  lake,  where  l.e 
proposed  to  establish  liimself  as  chief  of  the  '200  or 
.'500  Modoc  men,  women,  and  children  whom  ho  had  so 
far  j)ersua.detl  to  follow  him.  Superintendent  ^leacham 
was  too  nmch  o<^cupied  with  (N)nunissioner  Brunot  in 
examininijf  into  tlie  condition  of  the  Indians  of  Oregon 
generally  to  give  his  personal  attention  to  the  be- 
havior of  Captain  Jack,  whom  he  the  more  willingly 
left  to  Ills  own  devices  because  he  sympathized  with 

In  August  1870  Crook  was  relieved  from  the  com - 
I'liind  of  the  department  of  the  Columbia  by  General 
Cunl)y,  and  sent  to  fight  the  Indians  in  Arizona.     For 


454 


SOME,  IXDIAN  EPISODES. 


the  suiiie  purpose  the  military  stations  in  Oregon  were 
(leplotcd,  there  being  but  one  company,  K,  of  the  2od 
infantry,  at  Fort  Klamath,  under  Lieutenant  Goixlale, 
and  no  cavalry ;  while  at  Camp  Warner,  the  nearest 
post  to  Klamath,  there  was  one  company  of  cavalry 
and  one  of  infantry.  It  could  not  be  expected  that 
one  of  these  posts  could  assist  the  other,  each  having 
t(j  keep  in  check  a  thousand  savages,  who  might  at 
any  moment  take  advantage  of  relaxed  vigilance  to 
renew  hostilities.  Wherefore  Jack  continued  to  re- 
side at  Lost  river,  visiting  the  reservation  from  time 
to  thne,  clandestinely,  to  draw  away  other  ^lodocs. 

But  Sconchin,  the  liead-chief  of  the  tribe  was  able 
to  kec[»  a  minority  of  the  people  on  tiie  reservation, 
}Iistory  repeats  itself  m  the  wilderness  as  wdl  as  on 
the  asjics  of  Empire.  An  Indian  nmst  be  old  to  lia\  *; 
any  wisdom;  it  is  always  the  "young  mi-n"  who  can- 
not be  controlled,  and  who  are  the  Icadt-rs  in  war. 
Sconchin  had  enjoyed  his  day  as  the  blood-thirsty 
enemy  of  the  white  race,  and  many  were  the  victims 
of  his  savage  ferocity,  when  from  a  watch  tower  in 
Clear  lake  his  spies  looked  for  the  dust  of  some 
toilinor  emii^rant  train,  for  which  he  arraimed  the  am- 
bush  at  Bloody  }H»int.  That  was  all  changed  now. 
He  had  found  the  white  men  stronger  than  he,  and 
wisely  consented  to  be  forgiven,  and  fed  for  the  re- 
mainder of  his  days.  B(vsides  he  was  chief,  and  a 
cliitf  nmst  have  a  respectable  following;  therefore  liis 
achice  to  the  Modocs  was  to  keep  the  treaty,  and 
avt)id  hostilities  with  the  Ufiited  States  government. 
He  had  been  rewarded  for  his  good  behavior  by  being 
allowed  to  tjike  his  people  to  Camp  Yainax,  near  liisi 
former  home,  in  S[»rague  valley,  about  the  time  that 
Jack  left  the  reservation. 

The  Klamaths  used  formerly  to  be  the  friends  of  the 
Modocs,  though  they  seemed  not  to  have  be(>n  so 
thoroughly  Imse  in  th<;ir  dispositions.  Under  Lalako 
they  hail  been  known  to  be  guilty  of  murder  and 
other  atrocities ;  but  after  coming  on  the  reservation, 


and 

depo 

the  I 

their 

whici 

form] 

frient 

KJaiij 

with 

cause 

tJie  ni 

againt^ 

tlie  t\\ 

enemy 

until  t 

of  Jac 

Kiauia 

I  lia 

i'lg  nee 
tJie  wJi 

()r-or(,„ 

iioissan* 
to  tlie  i 
J-ugone 
«'i!id  the 

beilijr  ui 
of  farine 
imnjeroi 
ridges,  v 
«iiid  j\l(,t 
settlers 
over  tile 
the  Tule 
Since 
*ion  of  tl 
}>y  Meac 
ig'iorant- 
leJt  some 


ATTITUDE  OF  THE  SAVAGES. 


and  being  instructed,  and  especially  after  Lalake  was 
deposed  and  a  reniarkublo  youni^  savage,  named  by 
the  agent  Alien  David,  i)ronioted  to  tlie  chieftainship, 
their  ambition  seemed  to  be  to  advance  in  civilization, 
which  they  were  aware  could  be  done  only  by  con- 
forming to  treaty  regulations  and  cultivating  the 
friendship  of  the  government.  This  conformity  of  the 
Klamaths,  a  source  of  pride,  and  perhaps  of  boasting 
with  them,  was  obnoxious  to  Captain  Jack,  and  a 
cause  of  his  late  feeling  of  hostility  to  the  Klamaths; 
the  more  so  that  the  latter  had  acted  with  the  whites 
against  the  lu>stile  Snakes,  and  had  hel[)ed  to  arrest 
tl.e  two  Moilocs  guilty  of  carrying  amnmnition  to  the 
enemy,  and  afterward  held  in  chains  at  Fort  Klamath 
until  the  war  ended.  Such  was  the  relative  position 
of  Jack  and  his  band  to  Sconchin's  band  and  the 
Klamaths  in  the  summer  of  1870. 

I  have  elsewhere  remarked  that  the  constant  scout- 
ing necessary  during  the  Indian  wars  had  revealed  to 
the  wliite  men  every  feature  of  eastern  and  southern 
Ongon,  hitheiio  but  little  known.  Drew's  rccon- 
noissance  from  Fort  Klamath  to  the  Owyhee  had  led 
to  the  construction  of  the  central  military  road  from 
l^ugene  city  to  the  eastern  boundary  of  the  state; 
and  the  adaptal)ility  of  the  country  to  stock-raising 
Ix'ing  underst»)od,  invited  its  settlement  by  that  class 
«»f  furmers,  who  began  to  establish  themselves  in  the 
numerous  small  valleys  lying  between  the  frequent 
ridges,  very  soon  after  the  confirmation  of  the  Klamath 
and  Modoc  treiity;  so  that  in  1870  there  were  many 
settlers  living  in  secluded  homes  miles  apart,  scattered 
over  the  Klamath  basin  from  the  reservation  south  to 
the  Tule  and  Clear  lakes. 

Since  Jack  had  resolved  to  lay  claim  to  that  por- 
tion of  the  country  about  Tule  lake — a  claim  favored 
by  Meacham,  of  which  fact  Jack  could  not  have  been 
ignorant — tht;  settlers  in  the  vicinity  of  Lost  river  had 
felt  some  uneasiness,  which  was  increased  to  alarm 


456 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


when  in  August,  Jack's  band  began  to  kill  their  cattle, 
a  sure  indication  of  a  deterniiiiation  to  bring  on  hos- 
tilities. He  hatl  at  this  time  about  200  followers, 
S  vmchin  having  succeeded  in  withdrawing  from  his 
influence  nearly  seventy,  who  had  been  living  at 
Camp  Yainax,  and  which  addition  to  his  following 
made  him  the  equal  with  Jack  in  point  of  numbers. 
Just  before  depredations  were  begun,  Agent  Knapp 
held  a  council  with  Jack,  whom  he  met  in  Yreka, 
when  the  latter  informed  him  that  he  would  not  uro 
upon  the  reservation,  and  refused  even  to  come  to 
Camp  Yainax  to  see  the  superintendent  who  was  ex- 
pected there.  Having  thus  thrown  down  the  gaunt- 
let, it  was  but  one  step  more  to  kill  the  stock  of  tlie 
settlers. 

Now  commenced  that  preliminary  warfare  the 
froiiticrsmen  only  too  well  understood.  Roaming 
about  the  country  in  small  parties,  selecting  a  time 
when  the  men  belonjjjini;  to  a  farm  were  absent 
from  their  houses  to  dash  up  to  the  doors  on  horse- 
back, dismount  and  demand  a  cooked  meal  of  the 
frightened  women,  during  the  preparation  of  whicli 
tliey  freely  occupied  chairs  or  beds,  making  insulting 
jiostures  and  remarks — these  were  the  indications  of 
what  was  surely  to  follow.  To  these  outrages  tlic 
settlers  singly  dared  offer  no  resistance;  nor  could 
tliey  collectively  have  done  more  than  to  hasten  the 
outbreak.  It  was  the  duty  of  the  superintendent  to 
call  for  the  arrest  of  these  savages,  and  of  the  com- 
mander of  Fort  Klamath  to  perform  i+^i;  but  for  rea- 
sons already  alluded  to,  no  arrests  were  made. 

During  the  summer  of  1871  the  insolence  of  Jack's 
band  increased  alarmingly.  They  frequently  came 
ujjon  the  reservation,  and  about  Forts  Klamath  and 
Warner,  behaving  in  a  defiant  manner,  saying  that 
they  had  friends  in  Yreka  who  gave  them  passes  and 
they  should  go  wh ere  they  pleased.  So  far  as  the  asser- 
tion that  they  had  "papers"  was  concerned,  it  was  true 
that  they  carried  letters  written  by  persons  of  presumed 


respe 

condi 

some 

vous 

tiiat  j 

might 

At 

rostin< 

irjg    a 

as   he 

hers  ol 

WIS  so 

tions,  t 

niakino 

Indians 

applicai 

an   attc 

Klamat 

ineff'ecti 

(Iocs,  th 

l>y  the  i 

InO( 
vation, 
superint 
attempts 
change  ( 
Jackson, 
with  liis 
When  A 
of  the  CO 
desired  t 
t'oee  slioi 
afc  the  sai 
AppJegat 
This  desi 
Canby,  tl 
P<-'id  any 
his  follow  J 


A  UTTLE  MURDER, 


487 


respectability  living  in  Yreka,  testifying  to  the  good 
conduct  of  Captain  Jack ;  and  it  was  also  true  that 
some  of  the  settlers  liviiiij  nearest  to  Jack's  rendez- 
vous  were  averse  to  his  heinsr  removed,  fei'linj;  sure 
that  the  attempt  would  bring  on  a  conflict  which 
might  prove  fatal  to  them. 

At  length  Jack  precipitated  the  necessity  for  ar- 
resting him  by  going  ui)on  the  reservation  and  kill- 
ing an  Indian  doctor  of  Sconchin's  band,  who 
as  he  alle<'ed,  had  caused  the  death  of  two  mem- 
hers  of  his  family.  Whether  he  believed  that  this 
was  so,  or  only  wished  to  carry  out  his  defiant  inten- 
tions, the  result  was  the  same;  the  terms  of  the  treaty 
making  it  the  duty  of  the  government  to  defend  tlie 
Indians  on  the  reservation  from  their  enemies,  and  on 
application  of  Ivan  Applcgate,  connnissary  at  Yuinax, 
an  attempt  was  made  by  the  connnander  at  Fort 
Klamath  to  arrest  Jack,  which  effort  was  renderetl 
ineffectual  bv  those  white  friends  of  the  renejxade  Mo- 
docs,  the  squaw  men,  living  along  the  route  travelled 
by  the  troops  in  going  to  Yreka. 

In  October  1870  Agent  Knapp  of  Klamath  reser- 
vation, was  relieved  by  John  Meacham,  brother  of  tlie 
superintendent,  who  was  in  charge  at  the  time  of  the 
attempted  arrest  of  Jack.  There  had  also  be(;n  a 
cliange  of  commanders  at  the  fort.  Captain  James 
Jackson,  1st  cavalry,  having  been  ordered  to  this  post, 
with  his  company,  B,  and  to  assume  the  command. 
When  Agent  Meacham  informed  the  superintendent 
of  the  course  pursued  by  the  Motlocs,  that  functionary 
desired  that  no  arrests  should  be  made  until  a  confer- 
ence should  have  been  had  with  Jack  and  his  band, 
at  the  same  time  naming  John  Mcacliam  and  Ivan 
A]>plegate  as  his  representatives  to  confer  with  tlicm. 
This  desire  havincj  been  connnunlcated  to  (General 
Canby,  that  officer  directed  Captain  Jackson  to  sus- 
pend any  measures  lookhig  to  the  arrest  of  Jack  or 
his  followers  until  further  advice,  but  to  keep  his  com- 


45S 


ROME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


inantl  in  reatliness  to  act  promptly  and  efficiently  f.>r 
tho  protection  of  the  settlers  in  the  vicinity,  should 
the  conduct  of  the  Indians  make  it  necessary.  At 
the  same  tune  a  confidential  order  was  issued  to  the 
commandin*;  officer  at  Vancouver  to  place  in  ett'ective 
condition  for  field  service  two  companies  of  infantry 
at  that  post. 

In  the  meantime  the  superintendent  was  pursuing 
his  temporizing  [)olicy,  advising  the  government  to  stul- 
tify itself  by  yielding  to  the  demands  of  these  Indians, 
and  setting  the  example  to  other  discontented  hands,  of 
which  the  warlike  Snakes  constituted  several,  to  make 
similar  requirements.  His  recommendations  were 
met  by  counter  advice  from  other  persons  interested  in 
tho  proper  settlement  of  the  Indian  question,  and  were 
not  yet  acted  upon;  while  the  encouragement  thus 
held  out  to  Jack's  band  to  consider  the  Lost  river 
country  as  their  own,  was  doing  its  work  in  augmcnt- 
inir  their  stubbornness  and  insolence. 

John  Meacham,  acting  under  instructions  from  the 
superintendent,  sent  Sconchin  to  find  Jack  and  en- 
deavor to  obtain  a  conference.  Sconchin  carried  a 
letter  to  a  man  named  Fairchild,  living  on  the  road 
from  Tule  lake  to  Yreka,  well  known  to  the  Indians, 
and  influential  among  them.  Fairchild  and  Schoii- 
chin,  together,  found  and  conversed  with  Jack,  wlio 
would  not  agree  to  the  proposition  for  a  conference, 
and  Sconchin  returned  to  Camp  Yahiax. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  summer  of  1871,  Jesse  Ap- 
plegate  settled  at  Clear  lake  upon  a  tract  of  land 
owned  by  J.  D.  Carr,  and  lying  partly  in  Oregon  and 
partly  in  California,  which  was  selecte«l  as  a  stoc  k 
rancho  from  the  swamp  lands  of  the  states,  and  of 
which  Applegate  v/as  agent.  On  the  settlement  hv- 
ing  made  at  Clear  lake,  Jack  demanded  of  Applegate 
a  stated  allowance  of  subsistence  in  consideration  of 
having  permission  to  settle  in  the  country  that  le 
claimed,  which  demand  was  promptly  refused,  Apple- 


gate 

sessnj 
India 
by  A| 
friend 
riors, 

people 
coniph 
the  su 
to  obtii 
was  gi' 
Would 
time  in 
tonduci 
At  1 
tliat  he 
JJointed 
l)rovidei 
tended 
liave  wi 
inent  Je 
Vainax, 
paired  i 
white  n 
The  dist 
arrived  i 
surround 
featliers 
Tlie  c( 
onibarras 
occupied 
military 
iuvectivp, 
'onnnissic 
as  a  reaso 
I>o    fearec 
yainax,  w 
^iom  the 


COMMISSION   AXD  CONFERENCE. 


450 


gate  not  choosing  to  recognize  his  right  to  levy  as- 
sessments on  citizens  residing  on  land  to  whidi  the 
Indian  title  had  ijeen  extinguished.  On  this  retusid 
by  Applegate,  Jim,  one  of  the  firmest  of  Jack's  cliostii 
friends,  at  the  head  of  fifteen  or  twenty  V(»uu*'  war- 
riors,  set  out  upon  a  tour  of  the  farms  in  Sangtll  val- 
Ky,  lying  to  the  north  of  Clear  lako,  alarming  the 
people  by  their  insolent  behavior,  and  causing  thom  to 
complain  to  the  agent  at  Yaiiiax,  and  through  him  to 
the  superintendent.  These  things  led  to  the  attempt 
to  obtain  a  conference  with  Jack,  to  secure  which  he 
was  given  to  understand  that  the  killing  of  the  doctor 
would  be  overlooked,  and  he  allowed  to  remain  forthe 
time  in  the  Lost  river  country  upon  his  promise  to 
conduct  himself  peaceably. 

At  length  he  hiformed  Applcgate  of  Clear  lake 
tliat  he  would  consent  to  see  the  connnissioners  ap- 
jiointed  by  the  superintendent  to  confer  with  him, 
l)rovided  they  would  come  to  him  at  Clear  lake,  at- 
tended by  not  more  than  four  men,  he  agreeing  to 
liave  with  him  the  same  number.  On  t\  '\s  aimouncc- 
inent  Jesse  Applegate  sent  a  mes.senger  in  haste  to 
Yainax,  and  Ivan  Applegate  and  John  Meacham  re- 
paired at  once  to  the  rendezvous,  attended  by  two 
white  men  and  two  Indians  from  the  reservation. 
The  distance  to  be  travelled- was  sixty  miles,  and  they 
arrived  there  on  the  15th,  where  they  found  Jack 
surrounded  by  twenty-nine  warriors  in  the  paint  and 
feathers  of  war. 

The  conference  opened  awkwardly,  Jack  seeming 
embarrassed  and  dismclined  to  talk.  But  Black  Jim 
occupied  some  time  in  denouncing  the  officers  of  the 
military  and  Indian  departments  in  terms  of  bitter 
iuvectivp,  after  which  Jack  found  words,  and  gave  the 
connnissioners  a  history  of  his  grievances.  He  gave 
as  a  reason  for  not  returning  to  the  reservation  that 
lie  feared  the  Klamath  "medicine,"  though  Camp 
Yainax,  where  the  Modocs  were  living,  was  forty  miles 
from  the  Klamath  agency.     He  complained  that  the 


I 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


I.I 


iiM  mil  2.5 


12.2 


2.0 


1.8 


1.25      1.4       1.6 

= =             : 

"^ 6"     

► 

Photographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  M580 

(716)  873-4503 


W 


U.X 


fA 


m 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


Klarnaths  made  him  angry  by  assuming  to  own  the 
wood,  grass,  and  water  on  the  reservation,  drawing 
an  effective  picture  of  the  miseries  of  such  a  state  <-f 
dependence.  He  denied  that  his  people  had  ever  done 
anything  to  disturb  the  settlers,  though  they  had  in 
the  summer  of  1870  driven  away  several  families  who 
had  settled  around  the  north  end  of  Tule  lake  the 
previous  winter,  when  Jack  and  his  band  were  on  the 
reservation,  where  he  was  expected  to  remain.  H. 
F.  Miller  subsequently  returned,  and  made  some  ar- 
rangement with  the  Indians,  paying  them  an  assess- 
ment, and  being  one  of  those  whites  opposed  to  the 
removal  of  the  Indians  from  interested  motives.  Jack 
demanded  to  know  who  had  given  information  against 
him,  but  the  knowledge  was  withheld,  for  obvious 
reasons. 

The  conference  amounted  to  this,  that  Jack  prom- 
ised to  listen  to  the  agent's  advice,  not  to  do  anything 
to  annoy  the  settlers,  and  not  to  resist  tlie  military, 
and  was  given  permission  to  remain  where  he  was 
until  the  superintendent  should  come  to  see  them. 
Agent  Meacham  vrote  to  the  superintendent  that  no 
danger  was  to  be  apprehended  at  that  time  of  any 
serious  trouble  between  the  Modocs  and  the  settlers. 
Yet  on  that  same  night,  after  the  commissioners  had 
started  on  their  return  to  Yainax,  it  was  warmly  de- 
bated in  the  Modoc  camp  whether  or  not  to  open  hos- 
tilities at  once  by  killing  the  Clear  lake  settlers. 

The  report  of  Meacham's  conference  with  Jack,  and 
his  assurance  that  no  immediate  danger  existed,  was 
communicated  by  the  superintendent  to  Canby,  wlio 
in  turn  communicated  the  same  to  the  commander  of 
the  division  at  San  Francisco,  and  the  matter  restetl. 
This  impression  was  strengthened  by  the  report  of  the 
military  hispector,  Ludingttm,  who  entered  Oregon 
from  the  south  by  the  route  passing  by  camps  Bid- 
well,  Warner,  and  Harney,  that  the  people  along  the 
route  seemed  free  from  any  fear  of  Indians,  and  that 
any  rumors  to  the  contrary  were  occasioned  by  the 


petty 
India] 
\iolen 
ing  tl 
Jucksc 
not  be 
ailairs, 
to  giv( 
tiers  o: 
reportc 
But 
atli,  an 
tniry, 
affairs, 
oft]ie( 
ration, 
surli  th 
in  the  c 
roinove( 
conflict 
n'turnii 
alarmeti 
Thci 
tors  unt 
l)c'en  in 
Mere   n 
Fort  K 
ill  tlied( 
to  be  m( 

On 

the  peti' 

'»o  renio 

less  thai 

roniovin; 

acconipa 

military. 

To  M 

fonsiden 

tlie  pern 


SLUMBERING  SORROWS. 


461 


petty  annoyances  of  individuals  or  small  parties  of 
Indians  visiting  the  settlements,  but  unattended  by 
violence  or  threats.  The  military  department,  except- 
ing the  inspector,  who  did  not  visit  Klamath,  and 
Jackson,  who  should  have  been  better  informed,  could 
not  be  blamed  for  not  knowing  the  true  position  of 
allairs,  since  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Indian  department 
to  irive  such  information  as  the  welfare  of  either  set- 
tiers  or  Indians  required,  and  the  superintendent  had 
repcjrted  that  there  was  no  danger. 

But  so  the  settlers  of  Lost  river,  Link  river,  Klam- 
ath, and  Tule  lake  districts  did  not  feel.  On  the  con- 
trary, they  petitioned  the  superintendent  of  Indian 
affairs,  and  the  general  commanding  the  department 
of  the  Columbia,  to  remove  the  Modocs  to  the  reser- 
vation, Raying  that  the  conduct  of  the  Indians  was 
such  that  they  dared  not  allow  their  families  to  remain 
ill  the  country,  and  in  fact  a  number  of  families  were 
removed  to  Rogue  River  valley,  in  anticipation  of  a 
conflict  with  the  Modocs,  some  families  going  and 
returning  several  times  as  they  were  more  or  less 
alarmed. 

The  petition  of  the  settlers  did  not  reach  headquar- 
ters until  late  in  January  1872,  though  it  nmst  have 
been  in  the  superintendent's  hands.  That  complaints 
were  made  by  the  citizens  to  the  commander  at 
Fort  Klamath  is  shown  by  the  correspondence  on  file 
in  tlie  department.  Captain  Jackson  having  been  asked 
to  be  more  explicit  in  making  statements. 

On  the  25th  of  January  tlie  superintendent  sent 
tlic  petition  to  Canby,  witli  a  request  that  the  Modocs 
lie  removed  to  Camp  Yainax,  and  suggt  sting  that  not 
less  than  fifty  troops  be  sent  to  perform  the  duty  of 
ronioving  them.  Jesse  Api>logate  was  instructed  to 
accompany  the  expedition,  if  not  objected  to  by  the 
military. 

To  Meacham's  letter,  Canby  replied  that  he  had 
considered  the  Modoc  question  temporarily  settled  by 
the  permission  given  them  to  remain  where  the  com- 


402 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


missioners  had  found  them  in  the  previous  August ; 
and  that  he  did  not  tliink  it  would  be  expedient  to 
send  a  military  torce  against  them  until  they  had  been 
notified  of  the  determination  of  the  government  to 
make  the  change  contemplated,  and  notice  given  of 
^he  point  selected,  as  well  as  the  time  fixed  upon  for 
removal ;  but  that  in  the  meantime  the  commanding 
officer  at  Fort  Klamath  would  be  directed  to  take  all 
necessary  measures  to  protect  the  settlers,  or  to  aitl 
in  the  removal  of  the  Modocs  should  forcible  means 
be  required. 

In  reply  to  Canby,  Meacham  gave  as  a  reason  for 
previous  action  that  in  his  report  for  1871,  he  had 
recommended  that  a  small  reservation  be  made  for 
the  Modocs  at  the  north  end  of  Tule  lake,  but 
that  the  department  had  not  yet  taken  any  action  in 
the  matter;  and  accounted  for  his  change  of  policy  in 
asking  for  their  removal  to  Yainax  by  saying  that 
they  had  agreed  to  remain  where  the  council  was  hold 
at  Clear  lake,  whereas  they  were  then  at  Tule  lake, 
sixty  miles  from  the  council  ground,  and  had  conse- 
quently forfeited  all  claims  to  forbearance.  He  re- 
peated his  request  f  jr  their  removal  to  the  reservation, 
and  recommended  that  Captain  Jackson  be  instructed 
to  arrest  Jack,  and  five  or  six  of  his  head  men,  and 
hold  tliem  in  confinement  until  further  orders  were 
received  from  Washington:  but  the  militarv  orders 
sliow  that  Jackson  was  only  instructed  to  keep  the 
department  informed  of  the  condition  of  affairs  rela- 
tive to  the  Modocs. 

There  was  at  this  time  a  continual  interchange  of 
correspcmdence  between  the  superintendent  and 
Canby;  and  it  appears  that  Meacham  was  able  to 
thoroughly  infuse  into  the  mind  of  the  general  tliat 
the  Modocs  were  in  the  position  of  a  helpless  and  in- 
jured people,  who  had  been  driven  from  the  reserva- 
tion by  their  enemies  the  Klamaths.  In  a  letter  to 
Canby  dated  February  18,  1872,  he  repeated  that 
they  were  abused  by  the  Klamaths,  and  that  the  sub- 


con  fo 


APPEAL  TO  AUTHORITIES. 


468 


agent  failing  to  protect  them  they  left  the  reserva- 
tion, having  been  upon  it  but  three  months,  in  the 
winter  of  186'J-70.  Why  they  had  refused  to  come 
upon  tlie  reservation  before  that  time,  he  did  not  say, 
nor  make  any  reference  to  the  fac  that  they  were 
coerced  into  connng  at  tliat  time;  and  that  conse- 
quently their  dislike  to  the  reservation  did  not  have 
its  foundation  in  the  conduct  of  the  Klamaths  during 
those  three  months.  Thus  while  Canby  was  asked  to 
compel  the  Modocs  to  go  upon  their  reservation,  he 
was  furnished  with  a  cogent  reascm  for  hesitating  to 
do  so;  and  was  placed  by  the  statements  of  the  sup- 
erintendent of  Indian  aifairs  in  the  position  too  often 
occupied  by  the  military  department,  of  opposition  to 
the  people  whose  property  and  lives  were  involved. 
And  not  only  Canby,  but  the  commander  of  the 
division,  who  received  his  information  from  Canby, 
was  influenced  in  like  manner. 

Alarmed  by  the  delay  in  arresting  Jack  and  his 
confederates,  a  petition  was  forwarded  by  the  people 
of  Klamath  basin  to  Governor  Grover,  of  Oregon,  to 
urge  the  superintendent  to  remove  the  Modocs,  or  in 
c;ue  this  was  not  done,  to  authorize  the  organization 
of  a  company  of  mounted  militia,  to  be  raised  in  the 
settlements  for  three  months'  service,  unless  sooner 
discharged  by  the  governor.  In  this  petition  the  set- 
tlers reiterated  their  former  statements,  saying  they 
had  been  harassed  for  four  years  by  the  Modocs, 
who  were  about  250  in  number,  with  about  eighty 
warriors  every  day  growing  more  insolent. 

The  military,  said  the  petitioners,  are  keen  to  ex- 
tend the  desired  protection,  but  are  subject  to  the 
superintendent's  order,  who  has  turned  a  deaf  ear  to 
our  numerous  petitions;  and  unless  the  governor 
could  help  them  there  was  no  further  authority  to 
wliich  they  could  appeal.  They  were  scattered  over 
a  large  area  of  country,  and  in  case  of  an  outbreak  the 
loss  of  life  would  be  heavy,  a  contingency  they  were 
seeking  to  avoid 


18    ' 


464 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


Governor  Grover  at  once  called  upon  Superintend- 
ent Meacham,  who  thus  urged  renewed  his  applica- 
tion to  General  Canby  for  troops  to  arrest  Jack, 
seconded  by  a  letter  from  the  governor.  To  this 
application  Canby  replied  that  he  had  sent  an  order 
to  the  connnanding  officer  of  the  district  of  the  lakes 
to  establish  in  the  threatened  neighborhood  a  cavalry 
force  sufficient  to  protect  the  settlers;  adding  that 
until  the  questions  submitted  by  the  superintendent 
to  the  commissioners-  of  Indian  affairs  at  Washington 
should  be  settled,  it  was  his  duty  to  prevent  a  war  if 
possible;  but  if  that  could  not  be  done,  all  the  forces 
needed  to  suppress  the  Indians  would  be  applied. 
According  to  these  instructions  Major  E.  Otis  sent  a 
detachment  of  fifty  cavalry  and  three  officers  to  es- 
tal>lish  a  temporary  camp  in  the  Lost  river  district, 
wiiicli  for  the  time  relieved  tlie  settlers  without  re- 
liioving  the  cause  of  their  anxiety. 

Early  in  April  Meacham  was  relieved  of  the 
superintendency,  and  L.  B.  Odeneal  appointed  in  his 
place.  The  position,  owing  to  the  Modoc  difficulty, 
was  not  without  serious  responsibilities,  and  so  Ode- 
neal felt  it  to  be.  One  of  his  first  acts  was  to  take 
counsel  of  Major  Otis  in  regard  to  the  propriety  of 
permitting  Jack's  band  to  remain  any  longer  where 
they  were.  Otis  made  a  formal  recommendation  in 
writing,  that  the  permission  given  them  by  Meacham 
the  previous  August  should  be  withdrawn,  and  they 
be  directed  to  go  upon  the  reservation ;  but  that  the 
order  should  not  be  given  before  September,  so  that 
in  case  they  refused,  the  military  authorities  coukl 
put  them  upon  it  during  the  winter  season,  which  was 
considered  the  most  favorable  time  for  the  under- 
taking. Otis  further  recommended  placing  Jack  and 
Black  Jim  on  the  Siletz  reservation,  or  any  other 
place  of  banishment  from  their  people;  and  stated  as 
his  reason  for  this  advice  that  in  his  judgment  there 
would  be  no  peace  for  the  people,  to  whom  they  were 


THE  HATEFUL  RESERVATION. 


4G5 


insolent  and  insulting,  so  long  as  permitted  to  roam 
about  the  country,  without  the  presence  of  a  consid- 
erable military  force  to  compel  good  behavior.  In 
order  to  make  room  for  the  Modocs,  and  remove  all 
cause  of  complaint  it  was  proposed  to  place  Otseho's 
band  of  Snakes,  together  with  Wcwawewa's  and  some 
others,  on  a  reservation  in  the  Malheur  country.  The 
same  suggestion  was  made  in  a  communication  to 
Canby  April  15th. 

While  these  matters  were  under  discussion  an 
order  arrived  from  the  commissioner  of  Indian  affairs 
to  remove  the  Modocs,  if  practicable,  to  the  reserva- 
tion already  set  apart  for  them  under  the  treaty  of 
October  1864,  and  to  see  that  they  were  properly  pro- 
tected from  the  Klamaths — showing  that  Jack's  story 
of  abuse  had  reached  Washington.  The  superintend- 
ent, if  he  could  not  remove  them,  or  could  not  keep 
them  on  the  reservation,  was  instructed  to  report  his 
views  of  locating  them  at  some  other  point,  naming 
and  describing  such  place  as  he  selected. 

Not  wishing  to  make  the  journey  to  Klamath, 
Odeneal  wrote  to  agent  Dyar  at  the  reservation  and 
Commissary  Ivan  Applegate,  at  Yainax,  to  see  Cap- 
tain Jack,  and  endeavor  to  persuade  him  to  return  to 
the  reservation.  Previous  to  this  order,  on  the  3d  of 
March,  Major  Otis  had  made  an  attempt  similar  to 
the  one  now  required  of  the  agent  at  Klamath.  By 
means  of  his  Indian  scouts  under  Donald  McKay,  he 
o[)cned  communication  with  Jack,  assuring  him  of 
the  peaceable  nature  of  his  mission,  and  inviting  him 
to  meet  him  at  Linkville,  a  settlement  founded  by 
George  Nourse  at  the  lower  end  of  the  upper  Kla- 
math lake.  But  Jack  declined  to  meet  the  major 
anywhere  but  in  his  own  country.  After  considerable 
negotiation  it  was  arranged  that  the  meeting  should 
take  place  at  Lost  river  gap,  the  soldiers  to  be  left 
at  Jjinkville,  and  Jack's  warriors,  except  half  a  dozen 
men,  to  be  left  away  from  the  council  ground.  Otis 
went  to  the  rendezvous  with  Agent  High,  two  gf 


Cal.  Int.  Poc.  30 


466 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


the  Applcgates,  three  or  four  settlers  as  witnesses, 
and  three  or  f«)ur  Klamath  scouts,  and  found  Jade 
awaitint^  him  with  thirty-nine  figliting  men,  as  on  a 
previous  oceasit)n  he  had  met  Meacliam.  The  council 
proved  as  little  productive  <(  satisfactory  results  as 
the  former  one. 

When  the  order  came  from  the  commissioner 
through  Suiierintendent  Odeneol  to  inform  the  ^lo- 
docs  of  the  wish  of  the  government  that  they  should 
comply  with  their  treaty  obligations,  Schonchin  was 
emi)loyed  to  act  as  messenger  and  arrange  for  a  con- 
ference. As  before  he  required  the  agents  of  the 
government  to  come  to  him,  and  the  rendezvous  was 
appointed  at  the  military  camp  at  Juniper  sj)rings  on 
Lost  river.  Dyar  and  Api)legate,  attended  by  the  hvm  I 
men  of  the  reservation  Modocs,  met  Jack  and  his  favor- 
ite warriors  on  the  14th  of  !May,  when  every  argument 
and  inducement  was  held  out  to  influence  them  to 
keep  the  treaty ;  but  all  to  no  puqv)se.  Promises  of 
ample  protection,  subsistence,  and  privileges  were  of 
no  effect.  The  unalterable  reply  of  Jack  was  ever  to 
the  effect  that  he  should  stay  where  he  was,  and 
would  not  molest  settlers  if  they  did  not  locate  them- 
selves on  the  west  side  of  Lost  river  near  the  moutii, 
where  he  had  his  winter  camp.  The  settlers  he  s;ii(l 
were  always  lying  about  him  and  trying  to  make 
trouble;  but  his  people  were  good  people  and  would 
not  frighten  or  kill  anybody.  He  desired  only  ])ea(  e, 
and  was  governed  by  the  advice  of  the  people  of 
Yreka  who  knew  and  understood  him. 

At  this  conference  Sconchin  made  a  strong  appeal 
to  the  Modocs,  urging  them  to  accept  the  benefits  of 
the  reservation,  and  pointing  out  the  danger  of  resist- 
ing the  efforts  of  the  government  to  induce  them  to 
comply  with  the  terms  of  the  treaty.  But  all  was  in 
vain,  and  Jack  as  heretofore  occupied  his  position  of 
defiance  to  the  government. 

As  the  commissioners  were  instructed,  in  case  the 
Modocs  refused  to  go  upon  the  reservation,  to  select 


and  t 

po.se  ( 

repor 

had  b 

purpo 

uj),  ar 

as  stat 

in  thei 

their  n 

fore,  tJ 

TJiis 

forwan 

Walkei 

W'liich  y 

taken  t 

should  i 

roniovec 

pJishnic; 

On  recei 

tlie  com 

der  to  r( 

tion,  "p, 

tlie  time 

Onth 

conferen< 

quiet,  gi' 

that  tinu 

tJirougli 

londerint 
f'oniment 
fa  nip,  to 

tiy.    Tin 

the  last  c 
the  troopi 

excitemen 
i'"rty  arm( 

roservatioi 
beliaved  ii 
to  the  res( 


ATTITUDE  OF  THE  MODOCS. 


407 


and  describe  some  other  location  favorable  to  the  pur- 
pose of  carrying  out  the  attempt  to  tame  thorn,  they 
re[)orted  that  no  situation  outside  of  the  reservation  ♦ 
had  been  found  so  suitable  as  the  reserve  itself  for  the 
purpose,  all  the  good  agricultural  land  being  taken 
u[),  and  most  of  the  grazing  land  having  been  locat«d 
as  state  land  In  additit)n,  the  settlers  were  determined 
in  their  opposition  to  having  the  Modocs  located  in 
their  midst  at  Lost  river.  They  recommended,  there- 
fore, that  they  be  placed  on  the  reservation. 

This  report  being  sent  to  the  superintendent  was 
forwarded  to  the  commissioner  at  Washington,  F.  A. 
Walker,  together  with  his  own  opinion  on  the  subject, 
which  was  that  the  head  men  should  be  arrested  and 
taken  to  some  point  remote  from  their  tribe  until  they 
sliould  agree  to  keep  the  laws,  and  the  remainder  b^ 
removed  to  Yainax;  the  time  suggested  for  the  accom- 
plishment  of  this  plan  being  the  last  of  Septend)er. 
On  receiving  thisconmiunication,  which  was  approved 
the  commissioner  issueil  to  the  superintendent  an  or- 
der to  remove  the  Modocs  to  the  Klamath  reserva- 
tion, "peaceably  if  you  can,  forcibly  if  you  must,"  at 
the  time  suggested. 

On  the  11th  of  ^lay,  Otis  reported  that  since  his 
conference  with  them  in  March,  the  Modocs  had  been 
quiet,  giving  no  cause  of  complaint.  They  Were  at 
that  time  scattered  from  Yreka  to  Camp  Yainax,  and 
through  the  mountains  in  the  vicinity  of  Lost  river, 
rendering  the  camp  at  that  place  useless,  and  he  re- 
commended its  withdrawal,  proposing  instead  of  a 
camp,  to  make  an  occasional  tour  through  the  coun- 
try. The  troops  were  accordingly  withdrawn  about 
the  last  of  the  month.  No  sooner,  however,  were 
tlie  troops  returned  to  Fort  Klamath,  than  the  same 
excitement  prevailed  as  before.  Captain  Jack  with 
I'orty  armed  men  presented  himself  at  a  camp  of  the 
roservation  Indians,  off  on  their  summer  furlough,  and 
behaved  in  such  a  manner  as  to  frighten  them  back 
to  the  reservation  in  great  haste.     The  settlers  were 


SOME  IXDIAX  KPISODES. 


liardly  less  alarmed,  and  talked  of  or^anizini^  a  militia 
coinj)any  for  protection.  The  usual  corresiH)n(leni'o 
followed  between  the  Indian  and  military  departments, 
Canby  assuring  the  superintendent  that  the  settlors 
would  be  protected. 

While  the  Modoc  question  was  thus  approaching  a 
climax,  influences  unknown  to  the  departments  were  at 
work  to  confirm  Captain  Jack  in  his  defiant  course, 
his  friends  in  Yreka  having  encouraged  him  to  believe 
that  an  arrangement  could  bo  made  by  which  he  could 
remain  at  Lost  river  by  offering  to  secure  the  per- 
mission of  the  ijovernment.  This  offer  led  to  furtlicr 
opposition  by  the  Modocs,  who  in  their  ignorance  of 
government  affairs,  and  respect  for  Steele — whom  they 
still  regarded  as  clothed  with  authority  to  direct  them, 
and  whom  they  trusted  as  their  confidential  friend— ^ 
believed  they  would  be  defionded  in  resisting  the  au- 
thorities in  Oregon — a  mistake  which  was  to  lead  to 
the  most  deplorable  consequences. 

It  was  now  definitely  settled  by  the  proper  author- 
ities that  the  Modocs  were  to  be  removed  to  the  res- 
ervation before  winter.  For  this  purpose  superintend- 
ent Odeneal  repaired  to  Klamath  where  he  arrived 
on  the  25th  of  November,  whence  he  sent  James 
Brown,  of  Salem,  and  Ivan  Applegate  to  Lost  river 
to  request  the  Modocs  to  meet  him  at  Linkville  on 
the  27th.  At  the  same  time  the  messengers  were  in- 
structed to  say  that  the  superintendent  had  only  the 
kindest  feelings  for  them ;  that  he  had  made  ample 
provision  for  their  comfortable  support  at  Yainax, 
where,  if  they  would  go  within  a  reasonable  time, 
they  should  be  fairly  dealt  with  and  fully  protected ; 
and  if  they  would  go  there  at  once  with  Applegate, 
he  would  meet  them  there,  but  if  they  refused  he  re- 
quired them  to  meet  him  at  Linkville  in  order  that  a 
final  understanding  with  them  might  be  had. 

Captain  Jackson  had  been  superseded  in  the  com- 
mand of  Fort  Klamath  by  Major  Hunt,  who  in  turn 


CArTAIN  JACK  DEFIANT. 


4m 


was  relieved  July  17,  1872,  by  Major  John  Green,  in 
counuand  at  this  time.  ^lajor  Otis  had  also  been  re- 
lieved of  the  connnand  of  the  district  of  the  Lakes, 
June  18th,  by  Colonel  Frank  Wheaton,  "Jlst  infantry. 
To  Wheaton,  Odeneal  addressed  a  communication  at 
the  same  time,  informing  him  of  the  purpose  of  his 
visit,  to  carry  out  the  instructions  of  the  conunissionor 
to  remove  the  Modocs  to  the  reservation.  Odeneal 
had  been  of  the  opinion,  when  he  came  into  office, 
that  force  would  not  be  necessary;  but  on  learning 
more  about  the  matter,  and  conferring  with  Ivan 
Applegate,  he  asked  to  have  a  force  in  readiness  suffi- 
cient to  overawe  the  Indians,  should  they  prove  refrac- 
tory on  receiving  his  message,  so  sugixestinjj:  to  Wheaton 
in  preferring  his  request  to  have  the  troops  ready 
for  immediate  action  in  case  they  were  needed. 

On  the  27th  the  superintendent,  in  company  with 
Dvar  from  the  Klamath  agency,  went  to  Lhikville  to 
meet  the  Modocs,  as  he  had  appointed,  but  there 
found  only  his  messengers,  who  informed  him  of  Jack's 
refusal  either  to  go  upon  the  reservation  or  to  meet 
liim  at  Link\  ille.  "Say  to  the  superintendent,"  said 
Jack,  who  with  a  part  of  his  men  was  in  camp  at  Lost 
river,  "that  we  do  not  wish  to  see  him,  or  to  talk 
Mith  hhn.  We  do  not  want  any  white  men  to  tell  us 
what  to  do.  Our  friends  and  counsellors  are  men  in 
Yreka.  They  tell  us  to  stay  where  we  are,  and  we 
intend  to  do  so,  and  will  not  go  upon  the  reservation. 
I  am  tired  of  being  talked  to,  and  am  done  talking." 

It  being  now  apparent  that  nothing  short  of  an 
armed  force  could  influence  these  Indians  to  submit  to 
the  government,  the  superintendent  sent  a  report  of 
tlie  late  conference  of  his  messengers  with  Captain 
Jack,  and  of  the  reply  of  Jack  to  his  proposals,  together 
with  the  order  of  the  commissioner,  to  Green,  with  a 
request  that  he  should  furnish  sufficient  force  to  com- 
]>el  the  Modocs  to  go  upon  their  reservation ;  and  in 
case  it  became  necessary  to  use  compulsorj'  measures, 
to  arrest  first  of  all  Jack,  Black  Jim,  and  Scarfaced 


m 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISOPES. 


Charley,  holding  them  subject  tt)  his  orders.  In  re- 
ply to  this  demand,  Green  sent  word  that  Jackson 
would  at  once  leave  the  iK)8t  with  about  thirty  men. 

It  had  never  been  in  contemplation  by  the  superin- 
tendent or  agents,  or  by  General  Canby,  that  any 
number  of  troops  under  fifty  should  attempt  to  arn  st 
Jack  and  his  head  men.  Indeed,  the  general  had  is- 
sued a  special  order  early  in  September,  giving  the 
commander  of  the  district  of  the  Lakes  control  of  the 
troops  at  Fort  Klamath,  that  in  an  emergency  he 
might  have  men  enough  to  make  the  attempt  at  re- 
moval successful.  On  receiving  these  instructions 
Wheaton  rei)lied  that  he  had  directed  Green  to  keij* 
him  fully  and  promptly  advised  by  courier  of  any 
change  in  the  attitude  of  the  Modocs,  and  should  it 
be  necessarv  he  should  move  into  the  Modoc  country 
with  every  available  mounted  man  from  Camp  Har- 
ney, Bidwell,  Warner,  and  Klamath. 

Had  a  strong  force  of  cavalry  been  called  out,  and 
proceeded  with  proper  caution,  doubtless  the  arrest 
might  have  been  made.  But  the  officers  at  Foit 
Klamath  flattered  themselves  that  the  Indians  would 
yield  at  once  to  the  troops,  the  more  so  that  tlie 
weather  was  stormy  and  uii  worable  to  escape. 
Green,  therefore,  after  despatching  a  courier  to 
Wheaton,  did  not  wait  for  instructions  or  reenforcc - 
ments,  but  sent  upon  this  doubtful  errand  a  force  of 
thirty-six  men,  believing  that  if  surprised  the  Indians 
would  surrender. 

The  troops  left  Fort  Klamath  at  noon  on  the  28th 
of  November,  officered  by  Jackson,  Boutelle,  and 
McEldery.  Odeneal,  who  had  sent  his  messenger 
Brown  to  notify  all  settlers  who  would  be  endangeiod 
by  an  unsuccessful  engagement  with  the  Indians,  also 
met  Jackson  on  the  road  about  one  o'clock  on  tlio 
morning  of  the  29th,  and  directed  him  to  say  to  the 
head  men  of  the  Modocs  that  he  had  not  come  to 
tight  them,  but  to  conduct  them  peaceably  to  Yainax, 


ATTACK  OF  TIIK  TROOPS. 


471 


"whorc  arrangeinenta  had  been  made  for  thoir  rccop- 
tit)ii ;  not  t<)  fire  a  gun  except  in  seH'-defeiuo,  afcer 
they  had  first  fired  upon  him;  and  in  every  way  to 
guard  against  any  appearance  of  hostility. 

Guided  by  Ivan  A])plegate,  the  troops  moved  on 
through  a  heavy  rainstorm,  arriving  near  Jack's  cam}) 
about  daybreak.  Jacksi)n  then  formed  his  troops  in 
hue  and  advanced  rapidly  ujwn  the  Modocs  wJio 
were  surprised  but  not  unprepared.  Halting  his  men 
at  tiie  edge  of  tlie  camp,  Jacks»)n  called  to  them  to 
lay  down  their  arms  and  surrender,  Applegate  inter- 
preting and  explaining  the  meaning  of  the  visit,  ask- 
ing them  to  yield  to  the  authority  of  the  Indian  de- 
jKii-tnient.  A  part  of  them  seemed  willing  to  do  so, 
but  Scarfaced  Charley,  Black  Jim,  and  some  others 
retained  their  guns  making  hostile  demonstratioi  ;. 

Three-quarters  of  an  hour  was  spent  in  parleying, 
during  which  UicbO  few  leaders  grew  more  detcrminr<!, 
and  at  loi\',rth  Jackson  ordered  Boutelle  t'>  take  some 
men  from  the  line  and  arrest  them.  As  Boutelle  ad- 
vanced in  front  of  his  men,  Scarfaced  Charkv  ex- 
claimed  with  an  oath  that  he  would  kill  one  officer, 
and  fired  at  him.  This  was  the  signal  for  hostilities 
to  commence.  A  volley  from  both  sides  opened 
sinmltaneously,  and  Boutelle  lost,  almost  at  the  first 
volley,  one  man  killed  and  seven  wounded.  The 
troops  kept  up  a  rapid  firing,  killing  in  a  short  time 
fifteen  Indians. 

Up  to  the  time  that  firing  commenced,  Jack  had 
taken  no  part  in  the  conversation,  but  lay  sullenly  in 
his  tent,  refusing  to  come  forth  or  make  anv  answer 
to  the  propositions  When  hostilities  began,  how- 
ever, he  showed  himself  prepared  and  retreated 
fighting. 

Mr  Applegate  says  that  the  Modocs  had  for  a 
long  time  vigilantly  guarded  against  surprise;  and 
after  Ivan  and  Brown  had  left,  Jack  gathered  the 
warriors,  so  that  at  the  time  of  the  fight  their  aggre- 
gate number  of  men   and   boys  capable   of  bearing 


¥  Hi 


472 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


arms  was  probably  twice  as  great  as  at  the  time  of 
Ivan's  visit.  Every  circumstance  indicated  that  they 
were  prepared  for  any  emergency.  The  horses  were 
all  gathered  hi  bands  near  the  encampments,  and  an 
Indian  evidently  on  guard,  fired  liis  gun  and  ran  for 
camp  shouting  soldiers  1  soldiers  1  when  Jackson's 
troops  first  appeared. 

The  great  error  of  attempting  the  arrest  of  the 
Modoc  leaders  with  so  small  a  force  became  now  ap- 
parent. Had  Jack  and  a  few  others  been  taken, 
there  would  have  been  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
others,  who  would  have  been  restrained  by  apprehen- 
sion ot'  punishment  falling  on  their  leaders.  But  no 
arrests  being  made,  the  advantage  was  all  on  the  side 
of  the  savages.  The  already  too  light  force  of  Jack- 
son was  rendered  less  efficient  by  having  to  care  for 
the  wounded  whom  he  dared  not  leave  in  camp,  kst 
the  Modoc  women  who  still  remained  should  kill  and 
mutilate  them.  Leaving  only  a  light  skirmish  line  in 
charge  of  Boutelle,  he  was  forced  to  employ  the  re- 
mainder of  his  men  in  removing  the  dead  and  wounded 
to  the  north  side  of  the  river  in  canoes,  and  thence 
half  a  mile  below  to  the  cabin  of  one  Dennis  Crawley. 
Having  done  this  he  returned  to  the  southwest  side 
of  the  river  and  dismantled  the  Indian  camp,  destroy- 
ing whatever  property  it  contained,  among  otlier 
things  three  rifles  and  two  saddles  found  in  Jack's 
wickiup.  In  the  meantime  a  party  of  settlers  con- 
sisting of  Oliver  Applegate,  James  Brown,  J.  Bur- 
nett, Dennis  Crawley,  E.  Monroe,  Thurber,  Caldwell, 
and  others,  who  had  collected  at  Crawley's  to  await 
the  event  of  the  attempted  arrest,  attacked  a  smaller 
camp  on  the  north  side,  and  had  one  man,  Thurbtr, 
killed.  They  then  retired  to  Crawley's  i)lace,  and 
kept  up  firing  at  long  range,  preventing  the  Indians 
from  crossing  the  river  and  attacking  Jackson's  com- 
mand on  the  flank  and  rear.  Tv^hile  the  fight  was 
going  on,  two  settlers  William  Nus  and  Joseph  Pi'ii- 
ning,  coming  up  the  road,  unaware  of  danger,  were 


OPENING  OF  TKE  MODOC  WAR. 


I 


473 


fired  upon  and  wounded,  Nus  fatally,  within  half  a 
mile  of  the  house,  which  thev  reached  before  Nus 
died.  Applegate,  Brown,  Burnett,  and  others  then 
v/eut  in  various  directions  to  warn  the  settlers  that 
liostilities  had  begun,  which  left  but  a  small  force  at 
Crawley's  to  protect  the  wounded  and  the  other 
inmates. 

During  the  forenoon  Crawley  came  to  Jackson  with 
the  information  that  the  Indians  on  the  north  side 
under  two  noted  Modocs,  Hooker  Jim,  and  Curly- 
headed  Doctor,  were  preparing  to  attack  his  place. 
On  this  hiformation,  he  mounted  his  men  and  rode 
rapidly  up  the  river  eight  miles  to  the  ford,  wliere 
alone  the  cavalry  could  cross,  arriving  at  Crawley's 
late  in  the  afternoon.  In  the  meantime  the  Indians 
burned  some  hay,  and  conimitted  some  minor  de[)re- 
dations  in  sight  of  the  troops.  Darkness  brought  a 
cessation  of  hostilities. 


While  these  events  were  taking  place,  no  one  seemed 
to  have  thought  of  the  danger  that  threatened  the 
settlers  in  the  lower  country  art»und  Tule  lake.  Cap- 
tain Jackson  was  ignorant  that  there  were  any  inliab- 
itants  in  the  vicinity  who  had  not  been  warned;  but 
on  the  morning  of  the  30th,  having  heard  that  there 
was  a  family  named  Boddy  about  three  and  a  l;alf 
miles  below  Crawley's,  he  sent  a  detachment,  guided 
by  Crawley,  to  ascertain  their  condition.  At  Boddy  s 
house  no  one  was  found;  but  everything  being  in  order, 
with  no  signs  of  violence,  and  the  horses  being  In  the 
corral,  Crawley  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  family 
had  been  warned,  and  had  tied  southward,  warning 
thers,  and  he  thereft)re  returneil  with  a  corresponding 
report.     Such,  however,  was  imt  the  fact. 

While  the  fight  was  g<nng  on,  during  the  morning 
of  the  !21)th,  a  party  of  Modocs,  escaping  aiid  making 
their  wav  toward  their  afterward  celebrated  stronjrhold 
m  the  lava  beds,  had  killed  three  men  and  one  boy  of 
this  family  who  were  found  in  the  woods  at  work  cut- 


o 


474 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


tinsj  and  haulincj  fire  wood.  The  women,  two  m  num- 
ber,  were  permitted  to  escape.  The  Boddj  family 
consisted  of  William,  his  wife,  his  daughter  and  her 
husband,  Nicholas  Schira,  and  his  step-sous,  William 
and  Richard  Crav'^an.  Mrs  Schira's  narrative  was 
suljstantially  as  follows :  On  the  morning  of  the  2*Jth 
Mr  Schira  was  looking  after  some  sheep  on  the  border 
of  Tule  lake,  and  came  in  during  the  forenoon  with 
some  ducks  he  had  shot,  changing  his  muddy  boots, 
and  afterward  taking  his  team  and  going  to  the  woods 
for  a  load.  Mrs  Schira  subsequently  took  the  wet 
boots  out  in  the  sun  to  dry  them,  and  it  being  a  quar- 
ter past  eleven,  she  thought  it  time  for  her  husband 
to  be  returning.  Looking  up  the  road,  she  saw  the 
team  coming  without  a  driver.  She  went  up  to  the 
mules  and  stopped  them,  took  up  the  lines,  and  saw 
that  they  were  bloody.  She  informed  her  mother 
that  something  had  happened  to  her  husband,  and 
after  putting  the  animals  in  the  stable,  the  two  women 
walked  up  tlie  road  together.  About  a  half  mile  from 
the  house  they  found  Schira,  dead,  shot  through  the 
head  with  a  revolver.  Mrs  Schira  then  remembered 
her  brother  Richard,  who  would  be  coming  home  witli 
her  husband,  and  ran  on,  leaving  her  mother,  who 
could  not  keep  up  with  her.  As  she  ran,  she  saw 
Hooker  Jim's  Indian  wife  emerge  from  the  sage-brush, 
and  afterv/ard  Hooker  Jim,  Curly-headed  Doctor. 
Long  Jim,  One-eyed  Mose,  Rock  Dave,  and  Huuijjv 
Jerry,  all  well-known  Modocs.  They  did  not  inter- 
cept her,  but  went  toward  her  mother,  who  was  still 
beside  the  dead  man,  and  asked  her  if  there  were  any 
men  at  the  house.  Knowing  well  that  nmch  depeiuh  J 
on  her  reply,  she  feigned  not  to  understand  their  pur- 
pose, answering,  "No,  the  mules  have  run  away  ami 
killed  the  driver,  and  I  am  looking  for  our  men."  At 
this  answer  they  left  Mrs  Boddy  without  molesting' 
her,  but  could  not  have  gone  to  the  house,  perliaps 
fearing  to  find  men  there  notwithstanding  Mrs  Bodd\  s 
denial.     Other   Ijidians  who   came   that  way  a  day 


THE  BODDYS   AND  BROTIIERTONS. 


475 


later  robbed  the  place  of  $800,  every  article  of  value, 
and  t(j()k  seven  horses  besides.  The  bodv  of  Schira, 
wliicli  was  not  mutilated  when  she  left  it,  before  she 
saw  it  aixain  was  much  mangled.  After  finding  the 
l)(>dy  of  her  brother,  Mrs  Schira,  with  her  mother, 
tied  over  the  timbered  ridge  toward  Crawley's,  but 
while  on  the  crest,  happening  to  see  the  men  gathered 
at  that  place,  they  mistook  them  for  Indians,  and 
turned  toward  the  highest  hills  between  them  and 
Linkville,  where  thev  found  snow  Iving,  through  which 
they  travelled  until  late  at  night,  when  they  sat  down 
under  a  juniper  tree  to  wait  for  daylight,  by  whidi 
time  Mrs  Schira's  feet  were  so  swollen  that  she  could 
not  wear  her  shoes.  Tearing  up  part  of  her  dress, 
Mrs  Boddy  bound  up  her  daughter's  f 'ct,  and  tlicy 
continued  their  Hight,  having  eaten  nothing  since  the 
previous  morning.  When  near  the  bridge  on  Lo.st 
river,  about  halfway  to  liinkville,  tluy  were  met  by 
Mr  Cole,  who  conducted  tliem  to  the  bridge,  from 
which  place  they  were  taken  to  Linkville  in  a  wagon 
l)v  Mr  Roberts,  where  for  the  first  time  they  heard 
of  the  affair  of  the  dav  before,  which  had  caused  tiieir 
terrible  calamities.  On  the  2d  of  Drceinl)er  Mrs 
Sehira  returned,  with  a  party  of  f  )ur  volunteers,  in  a 
wagon  furnished  l>y  ]Mr  Xourse,  to  look  for  her  de-ad. 

()n  arriving  at  Crawlev's  she  found  that  Boutelle 
had  that  morning  gone  down  with  three  men  on  the 
same  errand,  and  when  he  returned  had  found  three 
of  the  bodies,  Schira,  Boddv,  and  liichard  Boddv. 
The  younger  brother  was  not  found  for  twelve  days, 
having  fled,  on  being  attacked,  from  tlie  ])]ace  where 
he  was  herding  slieep,  and  where  they  t!X}»ected  to 
find  him,  into  the  thick  woods,  where  he  was  over- 
taken and  killed.  The  Boddv  faniilv  were  from  Aus- 
tral'ia,  and  were  industrious  worthy  ]>eoj)h\ 

It  did  not  appear  that  the  part}'  of  Indians  com- 
mitted anv  further  nmrders  that  dav.  On  tlie  follow- 
nig  day  they  killed  a  immber  of  persons  about  the 
border  of  Tule  lake,  and   among    others  their  good 


476 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODE!?. 


friend  H.  F.  Miller,  just  when  and  how  there  were  no 
witnesses  to  relate.  Living  within  seventy-five  yards 
of  Miller's  house  was  a  family  named  Brotherton, 
three  men  of  which  were  killed.  The  remainder  of 
the  familv  would  have  shared  the  same  fate  but  for 
the  courage  of  Mrs  Brotherton,  who  defended  her 
house  and  children  until  relief  arrived,  three  days 
after  the  slaughter  of  her  husband  and  sons. 

The  account  Mrs  Botherton  gave  when  rcscuc<l 
was.  that  on  Saturday,  the  30th  of  November,  be- 
tween two  and  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  she  saw 
at  some  distance  approaching  the  house,  eight  Indian 
men  and  eiixht  women,  who  had  the  horses  belon^ino- 
to  her  husband.  They  surrounded  the  liouse  of  John 
l?]iroeder,  in  sight  of  her  own,  and  sliot  Shroedcr, 
who  was  on  horseback,  and  who  tried  to  escape  by 
running  liis  horse,  but  was  overtaken  and  killed. 
Joseph  Brotherton,  fifteen  years  of  age,  was  in  com- 
pany with  Shroeder,  but  being  on  foot,  and  t)nly  a 
boy,  they  gave  all  their  attention  to  the  man  on 
horseback.  Mrs  Brotherton  soeiuix  her  son  runninu^ 
toward  the  house,  went  out  to  meet  him  with  a  re- 
volver. A  younger  boy,  Louis,  fearing  for  his 
mother,  called  her  back  and  ran  after  her,  but  she 
ordered  him  back  to  the  house  to  ijct  his  Henrv  ritlc, 
telling  him  to  elevate  the  sight  800  yards,  and  fire  j:t 
the  Indians.  He  obeyed — his  little  sister  wiping  ar.d 
handllni;  the  cartritli^es.  In  this  mamu^r  the  mother 
was  })rotected  by  one  stm,  while  she  rescued  another. 
She  returned  safely  to  the  luHise  and  the  door  was 
closed  and  fastened.  The  Indians  then  rode  past, 
half  a  mile,  to  the  tules,  where  they  left  their  lu)rs(  s, 
and  came  back,  on  foot,  keeping  ^Miller's  house  br- 
tween  them  and  the  Henry  rifle.  Entering  jMillers 
house,  they  pillaged  it,  having  alreatly  killed  him. 
Under  Mrs  Brothertoii's  directions,  tlicFO  was  a  poit 
hole  bored  on  the  side  of  her  house  toward  JSIiller  s. 
As  the  auger  came  through  the  Indians  saw  it,  and 
fired,  but  without  hitting  anyone.     The  boy  at  the 


SLAUGHTER  OF  SETTLERS. 


477 


hole  returned  the  fire  and  wounded  Long:  Jim.  One 
Indian  was  killed  by  ^Irs  Brotherton. 

While  this  was  going  on,  an  Indian  woman  who 
had  been  living  with  Sover  as  his  wife,  came  to  Mrs 
Brotherton's  door,  wishhig  to  be  taken  in.  The  Ind- 
ians ordered  her  away,  and  threatened  to  kill  her  if  she 
refused  to  go.  Slie  told  them  to  kill  lier,  if  they  wished, 
being  then  in  deep  grief  for  her  white  husband ;  but 
they  replied  tliat  they  killed  Boston  men,  not  women. 
At  lengtli  Mrs  Brotherton,  whose  sympathy  was 
aroused  for  the  poor  creature,  opened  the  door  to  atl- 
mit  her,  and  Hooker  Jim,  who  was  waiting  for  this 
(•pportunity,  shot  into  the  opening,  fortunately  with- 
out liitting  anyone.  At  dark  the  Indians  went  awa\', 
and  did  not  return,  tliouijh  Mrs  Brotherton  dared  not 
relax  her  guard,  and  was  not  relieved  until  the  third 
da}',  wlien  a  party  under  Ivan  Applegate  came  that 
May,  and  took  the  family  to  Crawley's,  ten  miles 
above. 

On  leaving  Mrs  Brotherton's,  the  Indians  pn^ceeded 
along  the  eastern  border  of  the  lake  to  the  house  of 
Louis  Land,  a  stock  raiser.  What  transpired  tliero 
could  only  be  surmised  by  those  who  afterward  found 
the  cabin  destroyed,  and  the  dead  body  of  his  herder 
in  the  road  near  the  Brotherton  place,  where  he  had 
fiillen  after  a  chase  of  over  nine  miles.  Land  was  ab- 
sent; but  a  man  in  his  service,  Adam  Shillinglow, 
was  killed;  also  Erasnms,  Collins,  and  two  strangers 
riding  along  the  road.  The  nunibor  of  wliite  men 
killed  on  the  29th  and  30th  of  Noven>ber  was  eiixhteen. 


n 


The  distance  from  Orav/lev's,  which  was  now  the 
central  point  of  interest  in  the  Klamatli  valley,  to 
Fort  Klamath  was  nearly  sixty  miles.  The  agency 
was  a  few  miles  nearer.  Camp  Yai.iax  was  about  the 
same  distance.  It  was  twenty -three  miles  to  Link- 
ville,  where  the  road  to  the  Rogue  River  vallej'  left 
the  Klamath  basin  at  Link  river;  and  sixty-five  miles 
from  there  to  Ashland  on  the  other  side  of  the  Cas- 


478 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


J 
I 


cade  mountains.  These  distances  in  a  new  country 
without  telegraph  linos  or  railroads,  were  insupt-rablc 
obstacles  tt)  tlic  swift  movement  necessary  to  the 
emergency  which  had  overtaken  the  people  in  Klam- 
ath valley.  Nevertheless,  what  could  be  done  \>\' 
rapid  riding  was  done.  Couriers  flew  in  every  dhec- 
tion  with  news  of  the  disasters  of  the  '21)tli. 

As  soon  as  the  intelliijence  reached  Klamatli  ai^eiuv, 
Dyar  raised  a  company  of  thirty-six  Klamaths.  whom 
he  placed  under  D,  J.  Ferree,  and  sent  to  Crawley's 
to  reinforce  Jackson.  Oliver  Applegate  hastened  to 
Yainax,  and  after  talking  to  Schonchin,  who  assured 
him  of  tlie  good  faith  t)f  the  Modocs  at  that  eamj). 
placed  fifteen  of  Sehoncliin's  people  on  guard  under 
the  white  employes,  and  takin*j:  with  him  nine  res(  r- 
vation  Indians,  part  ^lodoes  and  part  KhmuUlis, 
without  any  other  white  man  he  crossed  the  Sprague 
river  mountains  into  Lani^ell's  valley,  and  to  Clear 
lake,  the  residence  of  his  uncle.  Jesse  Applegate. 
This  severe  test  of  the  good  will  of  the  reservation 
Indians  was  nobly  borne  by  them,  demonstrating  on 
their  part  the  utmost  regard  for  Applegate's  person 
and  safety  on  the  dan<j:erous  iourney. 

Arriving  at  Clear  lake  on  the  '2d  of  December,  he 
found  his  brother  Ivan  with  a  party  of  six  citizens 
from  Linkville,  who  had  been  through  the  country  to 
warn  the  settlers.  They  left  Linkville  on  the  1st  (»t' 
December,  having  been  compelled  to  wait  for  arms  to 
be  sent  from  Fort  Klamatli  before  setting  out.  ai'd 
accompanied  by  five  cavalrymen,  detached  from  Jai  k- 
son's  connnand   had  already  visited  all  the  settU'ments 

If 

known  to  them,  and  learned  the  fate  of  the  settlers 
on  Tule  lake,  sending  the  remains  of  the  l^rotherton 
family  to  Crawley's,  as  alreatly  related. 

Leaving  the  cavalrymen  at  Clear  lake  to  protect 
the  family  of  Jesse  Applegate,  Ivan  and  Oliver  join,  d 
their  forces  and  searched  the  countrv  to  recover  tlie 
bodies  of  the  nmrdered  men,  without  success  on  tlint 
day.     On  tlie  3d  Oliver  Applegate's  i)arty  found  Sliil- 


ATPLEGATE'S  PARTY. 


479 


llnglow'g  body,  which  one  of  the  Indian  volunteers,  a 
son  of  old  Schonchin,  bound  upon  a  horse. 

Ivan  Applegate's  party  were  scattered  over  several 
miles  of  country  looking  for  tlie  dead.  Two  men, 
Charles  Monroe  and  George  Fisck,  were  left  witli  a 
wagon  at  the  Brotherton  ])lace  to  find  the  body  of 
S(  hroeder.  Wlien  they  saw  the  party  of  Modocs  and 
Klaniaths  approaching,  with  their  leader  disguised  as 
an  Indian,  supposing  them  to  be  the  enemy,  they 
ik'd  into  the  cover  of  the  tall  siige-brush  and  con- 
cealed themselves  until  undeceived  l)v  the  voice  of 
Applegate,  wheti  they  joined  him  and  went  with  him 
t<  •  the  house.  Wliile  Applegate  looked  over  the  prem- 
ises his  Indian  volunteers  sat  outside  on  their  horses, 
an<l  Fisck  returned  to  his  search  for  the  missing 
1)  )(lies.  Being  in  the  stable.  Applegate  heard  h)ud 
slirieks,  and  lookiui;  out  saw  Fisck  ridiiiLT  at  the  top 
of  his  speed,  pursued  by  Scarface  Charley  and  fifteen 
others.  At  Schroeder's  ciibin  some  of  the  savages 
lialted  to  set  fire  to  it,  while  Scarface  kept  up  the  pur- 
suit of  Fisck,  who  finally  gained  the  stable,  which 
Apj)legate  had  already  began  to  fortify,  piling  uj)  logs 
to  strengthen  the  wall,  while  three  of  his  !Modocs 
stood  guard  outside. 

As  the  enemy  api)roached,  the  guards  fired.  The 
fire  was  returned,  when  Scarface  i)assed  by,  and 
stopped  about  four  hundred  yards  away  to  counsel 
with  his  party.  In  ortler  to  gain  time,  Applegate 
directed  Jim  Sconchhi  to  go  out  to  them  and  hold  a 
jtarley.  That  Applegate  had  the  most  entire  <oiifi- 
dtnce  in  his  Indian  allies  was  shown  bv  this  attion; 
t'lr  had  Jim  the  least  desire  to  join  the  enemy,  some 
<it'  whom  were  his  relatives,  the  opportunity  was  fur- 
nished. So  far  was  he  from  betraying  his  almost 
single-handed  white  leader,  that  he  quite  deceived 
Scarface  and  his  followers,  pretendit»g  to  tluin  to 
have  a  party  of  sympathizers  at  the  stable,  and  oft'er- 
ing  to  brinij  them  out  to  confer  with  him. 

Uunng  this  conference  Jim  learned  that  the  hostile 


r 


480 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES, 


Modocs  had  planned  to  finish  the  work  of  spoliation 
on  that  day.  Captain  Jack,  with  eighteen  warriors, 
was  to  operate  on  the  west  side  of  Lost  river  to  the 
stone  ford,  cross  there,  and  join  Scarface.  After  they 
had  killed  all  the  men  who  were  out  lookin*^  for  the 
dead,  and  burned  all  the  houses,  they  would  return 
to  Crawley's  the  same  night,  and  attack  Jackson's 
camp.  Charged  with  these  particulars,  Jim  returned 
to  the  stable,  which  had  been  hurriedly  converted 
into  a  fort,  with  port-holes  bristling  with  guns. 

Scarface  waited  some  time  for  the  return  of  his 
supposed  ally,  who  not  coming,  he  cautiously  advanced, 
and  seeing  tlie  preparations  made  to  receive  him  knew 
he  had  been  outwitted.  Fearing  to  make  a  charge 
from  that  side,  he  to(jk  a  ci'"cuit  and  when  out  of  rifie 
range  started  at  a  brisk  gait  to  swoop  down  upon  the 
stable  from  the  rear.  A-^ain  Jim  Sconchin  filled  the 
breach  of  danger,  darting  a'cross  the  open  space  be- 
tween the  stable  and  a  hayric  k,  and  firing  the  hay. 
It  flamed  u\\  and  the  attacking  party  retired  to  the 
shelter  of  the  sage-brush,  half  a  mile  off. 

In  the  meantime  the  party  of  white  men  under  Ivan 
Applegate  were  at  no  great  distance  away,  and  saw 
nmch  that  was  transpiring  without  understanding  it. 
Mistaking  his  brother's  party  of  Indians  for  the  enemy, 
and  having  witnessed  the  pursuit  of  Fisck  by  Scarface 
and  the  subsequent  burning  of  the  hayrick,  Mr  Apple- 
gate  supposed  that  the  greater  part  of  Jack's  force  was 
at  the  Brotherton  place,  and  signaling  his  men  to 
come  together,  they  hastily  retreated  to  Crawley's  to 
inform  the  commander  of  the  military  forces  of  the 
whereabouts  of  the  enemy,  and  also  that  Fisck  and 
Monroe  were  killed,  as  he  believed  they  were,  and  as 
they  would  have  been  but  for  his  brother. 

The  guns  that  were  fired  as  signals  by  Ivan  Apple- 
gate  were  equally  misinterpreted  by  those  in  the  stable, 
who  feared  that  Captain  Jack  had  already  reached 
that  side  of  the  river,  and  was  attacking  the  other 
party.     In  this  supposed  imminent  peril,  a  Klamath 


TERILOUS  ENCOUNTERS. 


481 


railed  Whistler  was  entrusted  with  the  dangerous 
duty  of  carrying  a  message  to  the  niilitar}-  camp  under 
a  flag  of  truce.  As  he  did  not  return,  and  it  was  not 
considered  exi)edient  to  stand  a  siege  under  tlie  cir- 
cumstances, when  ni«^ht  came  on  the  party  mounted 
and  set  out  for  Crawley's,  preferring  the  risk  of  meet- 
ing the  enemy  to  remaining  shut  up  until  Jack  should 
ap}»ear. 

But  the  non-appearance  of  Jack,  and  the  apparent 
inaction  of  Scarface,  were  not  occasioned  by  a  fij/lit  else- 
where,  as  was  conjectured.  The  company  oi'  Klam- 
atlis  before  mentioned  as  sent  by  Dyar  to  reenforce 
Jackson,  had  been  on  a  scout  down  the  west  side  of 
tlie  river  under  Blow,  one  of  the  head  men  on  the 
reservation,  and  returning  was  seen  by  Jack,  who 
prudently  kept  concealed.  Scarface,  too,  had  been 
frustrated  hi  his  designs  by  the  flight  toward  Yainax 
of  two  of  Sconchin's  Modocs,  held  by  him  since  the 
aftuir  of  tlie  21)th.  Seizing  a  favorable  ^moment,  they 
set  ofl:'  at  full  speed,  pursued  by  half  the  hostile  party, 
which  depletion  of  his  numbers  left  Scarface  without 
the  strength  to  make  an  attack.  These  at  the  time 
unknown  but  favorable  circumstances  deprived  the 
retreat  of  a  portion  of  the  danger  in  which  it  was 
thought  to  be  involved,  and  also  prevented  the  plan 
of  an  attack  on  the  military  camp  from  being  carried 
into  efl:ect  as  designed. 

Half  way  on  their  journey,  Applegate's  party  were 
met  by  Whistler,  accompanied  by  the  Klamath  cliiefs 
Dave  Hill  and  Blow,  with  their  company  of  scouts, 
who  returned  with  them  to  Crawley's,  where  the 
forces  were  so  arranged  for  the  night  that  the  Indians 
could  not  attack  without  exposing  themselves  to  the 
fire  from  two  camps  a  short  distance  apart.  It  was 
discovered  next  morning  that  some  of  the  Indians  had 
crawled  up  within  two  hundred  yards  of  the  camps, 
but  fearing  to  attack  had  contented  themselves  with 
taking  two  horses  to  show  their  daring. 

On  the  morning  of  the  4th  a  party  of  seven  citl- 

Cal.  Int.  Poc.    81 


tn 


i  \ 


482 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


zens,  with  thirty-threo  Klaniaths  and  frIoiKlly  IVrodocs, 
returned  to  Tule  lake  and  brought  in  all  the  deatl  ex- 
cept Miller,  whose  remains  were  found  about  Christ- 
mas, horribly  mutilated;  and  the  Younger  Bodtly, 
who  was  discovered  two  weeks  earlier.  ()n  the  way 
to  Linkville  to  bury  the  dead,  on  the  5th,  Applegate's 
brothers,  who  were  in  charge  of  the  property  that 
remained  undestroyed,  and  of  the  expedition  gener- 
ally, met  a  party  of  fifteen  volunteers  under  Captain 
Kelly,  and  learned  that  their  father,  L.  Apfilegate, 
had  started  for  Clear  lake  with  seven  men  from  Ash- 
land. Fearing  he  might  fall  into  danufer  with  so 
small  a  force,  they  hastened  back  to  camp  that  night. 
and  joining  Kelly's  comp  my  went  on  to  Brotherton's 
place  with  them  on  the  morning  of  the  Gth.  When 
near  the  lake  they  could  sec  about  a  mile  away  a 
party  of  eight,  whether  Indians  or  not  they  could 
not  tell,  and  riding  along  the  edge  of  the  lake  two 
white  men,  who  they  feared  were  all  that  was  left  of 
the  Ashland  party.  Ivan  Applegate  rode  forward, 
and  found  them  to  be  two  advanced  guards  of  a  com- 
pany of  cavalry  from  Camp  Bidwell  on  its  way  to 
Crawley's.  Taking  Applegate,  whose  face  was  paliited. 
for  an  Indian,  the  guards  would  not  permit  him  to 
come  near,  but  conversed  with  him  at  a  distance  until 
informed  of  their  mistake.  The  party  of  eight,  wlio 
were  now  known  to  be  white  men,  and  believed  to  ho 
the  Ashland  party,  also  concealed  themselves  in  tho 
rocks  on  the  approach  of  Kelly's  party,  nor  would 
they  come  out  until  the  soldiers  went  to  them  and 
explained  that  their  friends  wished  to  join  them.  It 
was  then  found  that  the  party  consisted  of  the  seven 
Ashland  men,  under  Jesse  Applegate,  his  brotlur 
being  unable  to  ride  any  farther.  They  were  tryini,' 
to  save  st)mc  of  the  property  and  stock  belonging  to 
the  murdered  men  or  their  bereaved  families. 


brnm 

l)i'aiii 

■•It  th 

(lie  ( 

tliat 

•  ■liter 

ereek 

nanuM 

Botwi 

campi 

a  S']U£ 


Entering  lower  Klamath  lake  from  the  scuth  is  a 
ismall  stream  forking  toward  the  west,  the  southern 


INDIAN  PREPARATIONS. 


branch  Vinj:?  known  as  Cottonwixxl,  and  the  wostorn 
hiancli  as  Willow  crt'ok.  On  fuch  of  those  branolu's, 
;it  tlio  crossini^  of  the  roads,  was  a  ranclio;  tluit  on 
tlio  Cottonwood  helno;  owned  hv  Van  Brewer,  and 
that  on  Willow  ereek  l>v  Fairchild.  Anotlier  stream 
entering  the  lake  on  the  west  side  was  known  as  Hot 
creek ;  and  here  too,  at  the  crossing,  was  a  settler 
named  Dorris.  Others  were  livin*;  in  the  vieinltv. 
Between  Dorris'  and  Fairehild's  places  was  an  en- 
(  aiiip:nent  of  forty-five  Indians  called  the  Hot  Creeks, 
a  sniialid  band,  not  yet  hostile,  but  which  might  be- 
come so  if  left  to  the  persuasions  or  coercion  of 
Captain  Jack.  These  the  settlers,  after  the  fight  at 
Lost  river,  determined  to  remove  to  the  reservation. 
The  Indians  were  not  unaware  of  the  position  in 
Avliich  Jack's  band  was  placed  by  their  refusal  to  go 
U|>()U  the  reservation.  Being  greatly  frightened  they 
easily  yielded,  and  <m  the  5th  of  Decend)er  started 
for  the  reservation  under  the  charge  of  Fairchild, 
Dorris,  Colver,  and  others  whom  Dyar  had  been 
notified  to  meet  at  Linkville,  where  the  Indians 
Avould  be  turned  over  to  him.  I3ut  being  told  bv  a 
drunken  German  that  if  they  stjirtetl  for  the  reserva- 
tion they  would  be  killed  on  the  way,  they  fled. 

Fairchild,  Dorris,  l^all  and  Beswick  then  deter- 
mined to  make  an  effort  to  persuade  Captain  Jack  to 
surrender,  submit  to  the  authorities,  and  prevent  the 
iin|)ending  war.  Being  personally  well  known  to  the 
Iiulians,  they  went  accompanied  by  three  of  the  Hot 
Creeks,  and  without  arms,  to  seek  Jack  among  the 
Juniper  ridges  between  Lost  river  and  the  lava  beds 
soutli  of  Tule  lake.  Thev  were  successful  in  finding 
hhn.  and  used  every  argument  to  influence  him  to 
acetpt  the  proftered  peace  but  without  avail.  Jack 
reject(\l  any  and  all  overtures  that  looked  toward  any 
inti'rference  with  his  liberty,  and  boldly  declared  his 
<lesirc  to  fight,  telling  Fairchild  that  he  wished  the 
soldiers  to  come,  and  was  prepared  for  them.    Toward 


i  ■■■. 


n  ri 


S    I 


!■'"( 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES., 


his  visitors,  who  ho  knew  wore  actuated  by  a  desire 
to  Have  him  as  well  as  tiie  white  men,  he  condueti'd 
himself  in  a  friendly  mamier,  even  lendinj^  Fairchild 
a  horso  to  ride,  his  own  havini^  strayed,  or  having 
been  stolen  by  Jack's  band. 

In  this  conference  Jack  reiterated  his  charges 
against  the  Indian  department,  and  denied  all  respon- 
sibility in  the  matter  of  the  fight  of  the  29th  of 
November,  saying  that  the  troo[)s  fired  first;  also 
denying  that  he  or  Scarface  had  had  anything  to  do 
with  the  murder  of  the  settlers  which  followed,  say- 
ing that  L(mg  Jim  was  accountable  for  those  atro- 
cities; pretending  to  bo  quite  above  killing  settlers, 
and  able  to  fight  armed  men.  The  result  of  the  con- 
ference was  twofold.  It  gave  Jack  an  opportunity 
to  gain  over  the  Hot  Creeks  who  accompanied  Fair- 
child  and  through  them  the  whole  band ;  and  it 
convinced  the  military  that  no  terms  need  be  de- 
manded of  the  Modocs  until  they  could  enforce  an 
unconditional  surrender.  War  was  inevitable ;  and  the 
settlers  along  the  route  from  Lost  river  to  Fairchild's 
immediately  removed  their  families  to  Yreka,  wl  ilc 
those  in  other  parts  of  the  country  were  removed  to 
Rogue  River  valley.  Men  who  must  remain  in  iso- 
lated localities  surrounded  themselves  with  stockades. 

When  Colonel  Wheaton  received  the  letter  of 
Superintendent  Odeneal,  before  referred  to,  it  found 
him  confined  to  his  bed  with  quinsy.  He  immediately 
answered  that  steps  had  already  been  taken  to  con- 
centrate, if  nee  ssary,  all  the  available  mounted  nu  ii 
of  Harney,  Bid  'ell,  Warner,  and  Klamath  to  compel 
the  removal  of  ick's  band  to  the  reservation,  should 
they  resist;  but  e  trusted  there  would  be  no  serious 
difficulty  when  ti     attempt  came  to  be  made. 

In  reply  to  th  letter  of  Colonel  Green  informing 
him  of  Jack's  refusal  to  move,  or  even  to  listen  to  any 
further  parley  on  the  subject,  and  of  Superintendent 
Odeneal's  requisition  for  a  force  to  intimidate  hiiu, 


1 


\ 


n 
f( 


Whe 

niand 

uud  c 

cut's 

to  th 

tain  1 

dutacj 

(I  K 

men 

gati! 

di  recti 

every  a 

iiig  thii 

Would 

subinisf 

f^ufficiei 

fore  W 

miscJiie 

The 
Camp  \ 
tJiu  way 
ordered 
all  the  n 
t]ie  sanu 
rnad.     I 
iioKI)  eni 
3<i  of  D 
Biilwell, 
noon  of 
make  for 
trains,  w[ 
tliat  C(»ul( 
oj.portuni 
stronghoh 
<Ji"  supplie, 

In  orde: 
otlier  sett 
seemed  th 


COXCKNTR.VrroX  OP  TROOPS. 


480 


Whoaton  ronllcf}  th^i.  i    • 

■'"■"di-'g  '>*oer  at  Fort^'';;?' '"■''«  -'iroctal  tI,o  con,. 
••""  •'"■"IH-l  the  M„d,,™t,^  :.""*''.  '"  '•'■T'vs.'nt  l,i,„, 
'Mt's  autl.„rity,  U8i„./l||  H,r?"""  ""•"  ""I'-^riiitoa,!- 

t;.m  Perry's  troop  i'  Z"J"  "-^mfiTeo  hi,,,  witi,  Cap- 
.  ota<.|,„.„„t  fro,,,  'Ca„;p  B  w.  II  „?!  '?'•  "'"'  "'«'  » 
<'•  Kyle,  wliich  would  , rive  1^,   •  I  L,eute„a.,t  J. 

'"<■"  m  addition  to  Jaefs  ,A  ^^^''"'y-fivo  cavalry. 
Katu  force  of  150  conmin    i  '>  '""'''"«  »"  a««ro. 

'li'''-t«I  hi,n  to  proc  'd  r^'  "'"'1''*''  '■»™''y-  He 
;'>'0-way  sustainCheln  r""'"';'  "P""  *'"^  <'"ty.  in 
"«  tl.at  nothing  2re  t,,an  r"/'''""'^"-'"*-  ''"'  aJd- 
«"uld  be  requi^^d  Ta  ^  i.tv  'T  "['"'I'^^y  f'«e 
™h„„s.,on.  Tl,e  consome,  ce^:/!'"";'  *^"''"^''  ""« 
»nffi.',ent  show  of  such  fo^f,  „| ,"",'"}""*''  """'«  » 
f";o  Wheaton's  order  arrK-pd  „*   p*'^  ,'<""»'"      Be- 

■>"-l"ef  had  been  con'sSed     ''"'■'  ^''""''*  *« 
ilio  nionient  that   news   of  ti       ,• 

Ca'np  Warner,  WheatonTh-,,?!  i  ,  p'^^'f  •''"^'''^'l 
tile  way  of  Yainax  to  ioin  T  t  ^''"y"  '""'P.  by 
'>;;'ored  Captain  Ber,Sfr  [uT"'  Crawley 's  ,'^L„5 
«  1  the  n,en  that  could  be  sr^Pf  ''  ?,'<'""^"'  *'"• 
tliu  ^n,e  point,  by  the  way  of  ?,  ?,  *'""  !"«'.  *« 

>■".■«      Perry's  co.npany  {.f!  r"-  T'*^'""  ^■'"i'mnt 
".Mth  end  of  Goose  lake  vallv    "*''*,'"''"<■''"'  •"  «>« 
^1  "t  December,  and  CaS  Re   *'"!,."'•"'"  "^  «'« 
y«eU  „i„ety.six  miwC,  r^w?'*':'^ '  *'"""1'  '' '* 
'"";"  of  the  followinir  dav      «?,"•>  "'  ""  *''"  '•'■■«. 
;"".ke  forced  marches,  anTnoft      ^*-<?f«  ""ie.c.l  to 
t;«iiis,  which  w,,uld  fo  C     "  I     'i  '™"  ""•  SKpl'ly- 
l«'t  <-"„ld  be  inadt  ateelT'  hij,"^^*,"'-''' ,""  «»  '-'^te 
"I'l'ortunity  afforded  the  \r  '^'ai'sed,  and  ample 

*-"nsbold'they  mtht'',3^°j'7  t"  rcnove  to  Z 

—  -  «.t  a„dl-i-- 1;;-',-. 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


Bernard's  troop  was  stationed  at  Land's  place,  which 
was  on  the  east  shore  of  Tule  lake,  on  the  border  of 
volcanic  country  popularly  known  as  the  lava  beds, 
and  which  extended  around  the  southern  shore  of  the 
lake  westward  for  fifteen  miles.  From  Bernard's 
camp  to  that  particular  portion  of  the  lava  beds  where 
the  scout  had  discovered  Captain  Jack's  band  to  be 
safely  stationed,  was  about  thirteen  miles,  the  trail  to 
the  stronghold  being  over  and  among  masses  of 
broken  rock  of  every  size,  and  similar  in  character  to 
that  which  had  aflforded  the  Pit  Rivers  their  secure 
hiding-places  when  General  Crook  attacked  them  in 
the  autumn  of  1867.  On  the  west  side  of  the  lava 
beds  was  stationed  Perry's  command,  at  Van  Bre- 
mer's rancho,  distj.  t  twelve  miles  from  the  strong- 
hold, at  the  crossing  of  Cottonwood  creek  by  what 
was  known  as  Lickner's  road,  and  not  far  south  of  the 
crossing  of  the  Yreka  road ;  while  Jackson  remained 
at  Crawley's  where  Green  had  his  headquarters. 

As  fast  as  transportation  could  be  procured,  the 
material  of  war  was  being  gathered.  The  governors 
of  Oregon  and  of  California  were  called  upon  for  aid 
by  the  citizens  of  both  states,  the  war  being  almost 
equally  in  both.  Governor  Booth  of  California  re- 
sponded by  sending  arms  and  ammunition  on  the  call 
of  the  settlers  near  the  boundary,  the  arms  being  out 
of  date,  and  the  ammunition  two  sizes  too  large  for 
tlie  arms  Governor  Grover,  requested  by  Superin- 
tendent Odencal  tv>  furnish  arms  to  the  people  of 
Oregon,  responded  by  forwarding  an  immediate  sup- 
ply. The  Washington  Guard  of  Portland,  Captain 
Charles  S.  Mills,  tendered  its  services  to  the  state, 
but  were  declined  only  because  a  company  of  volun- 
teer militia  organized  at  Jacksonville,  and  anotlior 
company  raised  in  Klamath  basin  had  already  been 
accepted;  the  former  under  John  E.  Ross,  and  the 
latter  under  O.  C.  Applegate.  Applegate's  company 
consisted  of  seventy''  men,  nearly  half  of  whom  were 
Indians  from  the  reservation,  mixed  Klamaths,  Mo- 


THE  SEVERAL  LEADERS. 


487 


docs,  Snakes,  and  Pit  Rivers.  They  were  occupied 
during  the  time  the  regular  troops  were  massing  their 
material,  in  scouting  through  the  country,  to  prevent 
not  only  fresh  outrages  on  citizens,  but  to  intercept 
Jack's  messengers  and  spies,  whose  visits  to  Camp 
Yalnax  were  a  source  of  some  uneasiness. 

Now  that  Jack  had  decided  upon  war,  his  great 
endeavor  was  to  gain  over  the  Modocs  on  the  reser- 
vation as  he  had  done  the  Hot  Creeks,  and  in  order 
to  do  this  he  employed  threats  as  well  as  entreaties. 
Those  who  would  not  help  him  were  to  be  considered 
his  enemies,  and  killed  as  if  they  were  whites.  The 
Hot  Creeks,  being  oiF  the  reservation  and  uirprotected, 
were  easily  convinced  tliat  their  safety  lay  in  follow- 
ing Jack;  the  reservation  Indians  were  differently 
placed.  So  long  as  they  were  loyal  to  their  treaty 
obligations,  they  could  demand  the  protection  of  the 
government.  It  was  even  for  their  interest  to  assist 
in  putting  down  Jack,  who  they  knew  would  scruple 
at  nothing  to  carry  his  points,  or  to  draw  them  into 
the  trouble  he  was  himself  in.  Sconchin  and  the 
most  intelligent  of  the  reservation  Modocs  understood 
this  perfectly.  At  the  same  time  there  was  always 
tlic  possibility  that  Jack  might  carry  out  his  threat 
to  destroy  the  camp  at  Yainax,  in  which  case  trouble 
would  follow,  either  through  the  coi.llict  of  the  two 
bands,  or  through  the  reservation  Iiidlans  being 
frightened  into  complianci^  witli  Jack's  demands.  Nor 
was  compulsion  alone  to  be  feared,  but  tlie  influence 
of  the  feeling  of  kinship,  which  is  strong  among  the 
Indians  In  order  to  guard  against  a  surprise,  the 
agency  buildings  were  enclosed  by  palisades,  and  a 
guard  maintained  day  and  night. 

When  Canby  received  the  report  of  the  battle  of 
the  20th  of  November  and  the  subsequent  slaughters, 
he  ordered  Colonel  Mason,  with  a  battalion  number- 
ing sixty-four  men,  to  proceed  to  the  Klamath  coun- 
try to  join  the  command  of  the  district  of  the  Lakes, 


488 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


i  I 


On  the  evening  of  the  3d  of  December  Mason  left 
Portland  by  special  train,  accompanied  by  captains 
George  H.  Burton  and  V.  M.  C.  Silva,  and  lieutenants 
W.  H.  Boyle  and  H.  De  W.  Moore.  On  arriving  at 
Roseburg,  the  roads  being  very  heavy  with  mud  and 
the  transportation  of  baggage  difficult,  the  remainder 
of  the  march  to  Jacksonville  and  over  the  mountains 
in  rain  and  snow  occupied  nearly  two  weeks,  so  that 
it  was  past  the  middle  of  December  when  Mason  re- 
ported to  Green  at  Crawley's.  It  was  not  until  about 
the  same  time  that  Wheaton,  having  recovered  from 
his  indisposition,  reached  Green's  headquarters  from 
Camp  Warner  by  the  way  of  Fort  Klamath,  where  he 
found  the  supply  of  ammunition  nearly  exhausted  by 
issues  to  the  settlers  on  the  day  after  the  battle  at 
Jack's  camp,  necessitating  the  sending  of  Captain 
Bernard  with  a  detachment  and  wagons  to  Camp 
Bidwell  for  a  supply. 

Meantime  neither  the  Indians  nor  the  troops  were 
idle.  Captain  Perry  was  still  at  Van  Bremer's  with 
forty  cavalrymen.  Colonel  Ross,  in  command  of  the 
Jacksonville  volunteers,  was  at  Snell's  place,  near 
Whittles'  ferry.  On  the  IGth  of  December  detach- 
ments frtmi  both  companies  made  a  reconnoissance  of 
Jack's  position,  approaching  it  within  a  mile,  and  be- 
ing led  to  believe  that  it  could  be  surrounded  so  as  to 
compel  him  to  surrender.  Of  the  strength  of  the 
Modoc  position  the  military  authorities  knew  nothing 
except  by  rumor  up  to  this  time,  and  had  not  yet 
learned  definitely  much.  Few  whites  had  ever  visited 
tliis  place,  the  access  to  whicji  was  extremely  difficult. 
It  was  known  that  the  lava  beds  contained  an  area  of 
ten  miles  square,  broken  by  fissures  and  chasms  from 
ten  to  a  hundred  feet  in  width,  many  of  them  a  hun- 
dred feet  deep,  and  that  it  abounded  in  caves,  one  of 
which  was  said  to  contain  fifteen  acres  of  clear  space, 
with  an  abundance  of  good  water  and  many  openings, 
the  largest  of  which  was  of  the  size  of  a  common  door. 
There  were  places  in  the  lava  beds  where  grass  grew 


THE  LAVA  BEDS 


489 


in  small  flats,  the  trails  to  which  were  known  onlv  to 
the  Indians,  and  where  their  horses  were  secure. 
From  the  rocky  pinnacles  with  which  the  region  was 
studded,  the  advance  of  an  enemy  could  be  discovered 
five  miles  off,  while  from  their  secure  liiding-i)laces 
the  dwellers  in  this  savage  Gibraltar  could  watch  their 
approach  within  twenty  feet.  When  the  stores  col- 
lected in  the  caves  were  exhausted,  they  could  steal 
out  through  the  winding  passages,  and  watching  their 
opportunity  drive  in  the  cattle  found  grazing  outside 
the  lava  beds ;  or  could  in  the  same  stealthy  manner 
procure  fish  and  fowl  from  the  lake.  Nothing  could 
bo  stronger  or  better  chosen  than  the  Modoc  position. 
Should  amnmnition  fail  them,  they  could  still  make 
arrows.  Even  in  cold  weather  little  snow  foil  in  the 
lava  bods,  and  that  little  soon  melted  away  from  the 
warm  rocks.  The  reconnoissance  revealed  many  if 
not  all  these  advantages,  and  impressed  all  minds  with 
tlie  certainty  that  it  would  be  by  hard  fighting  that 
Jack  would  be  dislodged.  Amotig  other  things,  it 
revealed  the  apparent  necessity  of  using  howitzers  and 
shells  to  drive  them  out  of  their  hiding-places,  and 
terrify  them.  An  order  was  accordingly  sent  to  Van- 
couver for  two  howitzers,  waiting  for  which  occasioned 
still  further  delay  and  much  impatience  among  the 
troops,  both  regulars  and  volunteers,  the  latter  having 
enlisted  for  thirty  days  only,  and  the  time  being  al- 
ready half  spent  in  comparative  inaction.  The  weather 
was  very  cold,  besides,  and  the  state  troops  but  ill 
supplied  with  blankets  and  certain  articles  of  [)rovision. 
Another  difficulty  presented  itself  The  volunteers 
being  state  troops  had  organized  to  fight  in  their  own 
territory,  whereas  the  Modoc  stronghold  lay  just  over 
tlie  line  in  the  state  of  California;  but  Wheeler  and 
(xreen  recognized  and  letjalized  the  invasion  of  Cali- 
Umua,  by  ordering  Ross  to  pursue  and  fight  the  hostile 
Indians  wherever  they  could  be  found,  regardless  of 
state  lines.  ^ 


m 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES 


Actual  hostilities  were  commenced  on  the  22d  of 
December  by  Jack's  band  in  force  attacking  a  wagon 
from  Camp  Bidwell,  with  a  small  detachment  under 
Bernard,  when  within  a  mile  of  camp  at  Land's,  on 
the  east  side  of  Tule  lake.  One  soldier,  five  horses, 
and  one  mule  were  killed  at  the  first  fire  delivered 
from  an  ambuscade.  The  sound  of  their  guns  being 
heard  at  camp.  Lieutenant  Kyle  hastened  to  the  res- 
cue with  nearly  all  the  troops,  only  ten  being  mounted. 
Skirmislnng  was  kept  up  throughout  the  day,  the 
Indians  being  driven  from  one  rocky  ledge  to  another 
by  tlie  superior  arms  of  the  troops,  the  range  of  which 
seemed  to  surprise  them  greatly.  Their  object  in  at- 
tacking was  to  capture  the  ammunition  in  the  wagon, 
in  which  attempt  they  failed,  losing  their  horses,  and 
four  warriors  killed  and  wounded.  A  buijler  whom 
they  pursued  outran  them,  and  made  good  his  escape 
to  Crawley's,  when  Jackson's  troop  was  at  once  sent 
to  the  aid  of  Bernard,  but  before  h's  arrival  tlie  Ind- 
ians had  retreated.  About  the  same  time  the  Indians 
showed  themselves  in  small  parties  on  Lost  river,  op- 
posite the  military  headquarters,  invithig  the  attack 
of  the  soldiers,  and  also  on  the  mountain  near  Van 
Bremer's,  wliere  Perry  and  Ross  were  encamped. 
Evidently  the  apparent  hesitation  of  the  troops  had 
given  them  much  encouragement. 

About  the  25th  of  December  Wheaton,  who  was 
awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  howitzers  and  of  amnmnition 
from  Camp  Bidwell  before  making  an  attack  on  the 
M(jdoc  stronghold,  had  as  above  mentioned  ordered 
the  Oregon  volunteers  to  the  front.  Captain  Apple- 
gate,  anticipating  an  early  engagement,  and  fearini; 
what  might  happen  in  the  event  of  the  ^lodocs  beinjj; 
driven  from  the  lava  beds  witliout  being  captured, 
sent  information  of  the  coming  battle  to  the  settlers, 
and  instructed  them  to  fortify.  The  people  in  Lan- 
gell  valley  nearest  the  stronghold,  preferred  going  to 
Linkville ;  and  while  a  party  of  five  families  were  en 
route  they  were  fired  upon  by  Modocs  concealed  in 


I! 


LrniLY    FIGHTING. 


491 


had 

was 

ition 
the 
3red 


red, 

^ers, 

jan- 

t.) 
en 
II  ill 


the  rocky  ridge  near  the  springs  on  Lost  river,  twenty 
miles  from  that  place,  but  were  relieved  and  escorted 
to  their  destination  by  a  scouting  party.  A  supply 
train  on  its  way  from  Fort  Klamath  to  headcjuarters 
was  also  attacked,  and  a  party  of  the  escort  wounded, 
being  relieved  in  the  same  manner  by  the  volunteers. 

Applegate  having  transferred  the  case  of  Camp 
Yainax  to  Dyar,  who  with  a  guard  of  fifteen  men 
proceeded  to  take  charge,  and  watch  over  the  friendly 
Modocs  in  case  of  a  visit  from  the  hostilos,  hastened 
to  join  Green's  forces  at  the  front,  where  drilling  and 
S(()utlng  continued  to  occupy  the  time.  Green,  who 
retained  command  of  the  troops,  under  Wheaton, 
was  ordered  to  attack  the  Indians  whenever,  in  his 
judgment,  sufficient  supi)lies  and  amnmnition  had 
been  received,  but  not  to  attack  until  these  had  been 
furnished,  and  in  the  meantime  to  make  frequent  re- 
connoissances. 

Green  had  never  fought  the  Oregon  Indians,  and 
was  confident  that  when  his  preparations  were  com- 
\Acte,  he  should  achieve  an  easy  victory.  With  the 
howitzers,  and  one  snow  storm,  he  said,  he  was  ready 
to  betjin. 

On  the  5th  of  January^  Captain  Kelly  of  the  vol- 
unteers, with  a  party  of  twelve  men,  and  five  Indian 
scouts,  made  a  reconnoissance  to  look  for  a  more  prac- 
ticable route  than  the  one  in  use  from  Van  Brim- 
mer's, Green's  headquarters,  to  the  ^lodoc  stronghold. 
On  the  way  they  came  upon  a  party  from  Jack's  camp 
of  about  twenty  warriors,  evidently  upon  a  fiTaging 
expedition,  who  retreated  toward  camp  on  being  dis- 
covered, and  were  pursued  by  the  volunteers  for  three 
miles.  When  overtaken  they  had  dismounted  and 
fortified.  The  volunteers  also  dismounted,  answering 
the  fire  from  the  rocks  which  soon  brought  to  the 
rescue  of  the  beseiged  the  remainder  of  Jack's  war- 
riors. The  soldiers  then  retreated  to  an  open  field, 
followed  by  the  Modocs,  who,  finding  their  position 
unfavorable  for  attack,  returned  to  their  stronghold. 


Hi 
at 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


A  run  by  Applegate  with  twenty  men,  around  Van 
Brimmer's  hill,  as  the  ridge  between  Van  Brimmer's 
and  the  lava  beds  was  called,  rev^aled  the  fact  that 
the  Modocs  used  this  height  as  an  observatory  whence 
they  informed  themselves  of  the  movements  of  the 
troops.  Scarface  afterward  said  that  Applegate's 
party  passed  within  twenty  feet  of  his  hiding  place, 
but  he  could  not  safely  attack.  On  the  12th  of  Jan- 
uary a  scouting  expedition,  consisting  of  thirteen  men 
under  Perry,  a  few  Klamath  scouts  under  Donald 
McKay,  thirty  men,  half  of  them  Indians,  under  Ap- 
plegate, and  the  whole  under  Green,  made  a  recon- 
noissance  to  the  lava  beds  from  Van  Brewer's,  to  as- 
certain the  practicability  of  taking  wagons  to  a  posi- 
tion in  their  front.  On  the  appearance  of  Green  with 
Perry's  detachment,  the  Modoc  pickets  fired  on  them 
from  a  rocky  point  of  the  high  bluff,  on  the  verge  of 
the  lava  beds.  Perry  returned  their  fire,  and  drovv. 
the  Modoc  guard  over  the  bluff,  shooting  one  of 
Shacknatjfcy's  men  through  the  shoulders.  Applegate 
came  up  in  time  to  observe  that  the  Modocs  were 
scattering  in  small  parties  to  ascend  the  bluff  and  get 
on  the  flank  of  the  troops,  when  he  distributed  his 
Indians  along  the  bluff  for  a  considerable  distance,  in 
the  rocks,  to  intercept  them. 

Scarface,  who  was  standing  upon  a  high  point  in 
the  lava  beds,  discovered  the  movement,  and  cried  out 
in  a  stentorian  voice  to  his  warriors,  "keep  back,  I 
can  see  them  in  the  rocks."  The  Modoc  guard  then 
fell  back  half  way  down  the  hill,  where  they  made  a 
stand,  and  uttered  speeches  of  defiance  to  the  soldiers, 
and  entreaty  to  their  Indian  allies,  reproaching  them 
for  joining  themselves  to  their  natural  enemies  the 
white  men.  Captain  Jack  and  Black  Jim  were  very 
confident,  daring  the  troops  to  come  down  and  fight 
them  on  the  lava  beds.  Hooker  Jim  said,  once  he 
had  been  a  peace  man,  but  was  now  for  war,  and  if 
tho  soldiers  wanted  to  fight,  the  opportunity  should  be 
afforded  them.      One   of  their   medicine   men   then 


MODOC  BRAGGADOCIO.  498 

made  an  address  to  the  scouts,  entreating  them  to 
join  the  Modocs,  saying  that  if  all  the  Indians  should 
act  in  concert  they  would  be  few  enough.  Donald 
McKay  answered  them  in  the  Cayuse  tongue  that 
their  hands  were  red  with  the  blood  of  innocent 
white  people,  for  which  punishment  would  surely  fall 
upon  them.  Jack  then  said  he  did  not  want  to  fight 
Cayuses,  but  soldiers ;  and  growing  indignant,  finally 
invited  them  to  come  and  fight  him,  saying  he  could 
whip  them  all.  The  Klamaths  asked  permission  to 
reply,  but  were  checked  by  Green,  who  did  not  think 
the  comnmnication  profitable  to  either  side. 

A  retreat  was  ordered,  it  not  being  the  intention  of 
Green  to  fight  on  that  day,  and  with  so  small  a  force. 
To  this  Applegate's  Klamaths  were  opposed,  saying 
that  the  troops  had  the  advantage  of  position,  and 
could  easily  do  some  execution  on  the  Modocs.  As 
the  force  of  Green  withdrew.  Jack's  men  resumed 
their  position  on  the  high  bluff,  and  Applegate's  com- 
pany being  then  on  the  summit  of  the  second  ridge 
wished  to  open  on  them,  but  were  restrained,  and  the 
command  returned  to  headquarters. 

It  was  now  the  middle  of  January,  and  nothing  had 
been  done  to  relieve  the  public  suspense.  The  settlers 
in  Klamath  valley  remained  in  the  fort.  The  road  from 
Tule  lake  southward  was  closed.  Fairchild  and 
Dorris  had  converted  their  places  into  fortified  camps. 
There  was  talk  of  other  settlers  being  exposed,  and  of 
volunteer  companies  forming  in  some  of  the  northern 
California  towns  to  go  to  their  assistance ;  in  fact  Mr 
Dorris  had  been  selected  to  make  personal  application 
to  the  California  governor  in  their  behalf.  But  this 
functionary  had  other  advisers,  and  had  made  or  did 
soon  make  a  recommendation  to  the  government  to 
set  apart  five  thousand  acres  of  land,  in  the  vicinity 
preferred  by  Captain  Jack,  as  a  reservation  for  the 
Atodocs ;  and  implied  at  least  that  it  was  a  desire  for 
speculation  on  the  part  of  the  Indian  department  m 


m 


4M 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


Oregon  which  brought  on  the  war ;  a  charge  justly 
resented  by  the  people  of  southern  Oregon  The 
government,  however,  declined  to  yield  any  further 
to  the  demands  of  Captain  Jack  or  his  intercessors. 

On  the  IGth  of  January,  everything  being  in  readi- 
ness and  the  weather  foggy,  which  answered  in  lieu 
of  a  snowstorm  to  hide  the  operations  of  the  troops, 
the  army  moved  upon  Jack's  stronghold.  General 
orders  had  been  issued  on  the  12th  concerning  the 
disposition  of  the  troops,  and  the  most  perfect  under- 
standing prevailed  as  to  the  duty  expected  of  every 
division  of  the  forces.  The  regulars  in  the  field 
numbered  two  hundred  and  twenty-five,  and  the  vol- 
unteers about  one  hundred  and  fifty.  The  latter  con- 
sisted of  the  Jacksonville  company,  the  Klamath  com- 
pany, and  Fairchild's  California  company  of  twenty- 
four  sharpshooters  who  offered  their  services  on  the 
16th. 

At  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  Colonel  Green,  with 
Captain  Perry's  troops,  moved  up  to  the  bluflf  on  the 
south-west  of  Tule  lake,  to  clear  it  of  Modoc  ])i('kets 
and  scouts,  and  cover  the  movement  of  the  main 
force  to  a  camp  on  the  bluff  three  miles  west  of  tlie 
Modoc  stronghold,  located  so  as  not  to  be  observed 
by  the  enemy.  By  three  in  the  afternoon  the  whole 
force  on  the  west  side  of  the  lake,  consisting  of  Mason's 
battalion ;  two  companies  of  infantry  under  Captain 
Burton  and  Lieutenant  Moore ;  a  detachment  of  an- 
other company,  under  sergeant  John  McNamara; 
the  Oregon  volunteers,  commanded  by  General  John 
E.  Ross ;  two  companies  under  captains  Hugh  Kelly 
and  O.  C.  Applegate;  Lieutenant  Miller's  howitzer 
battery ;  Captain  Fairchild's  sharpshooters — all  but 
seven  of  the  scouts, dismounted,  and  provisioned  with 
cooked  rations  for  three  days,  had  been  meanwhile 
encamped  in  a  juniper  grove,  with  a  picket  line 
thrown  out  along  the  edge  of  the  bluff,  and  another 
around  the  camp. 

Captain  Bernard's  force  on  the  east  side  of  the 


CRAWLING  INTO  THE  STRONGHOLD. 


495 


lake,  consisting  of  his  own  and  Captain  Jackson's 
couipanios,  and  twenty  regularly  enlisted  Klaniatli 
scouts  under  Dave  Hill,  had  been  ordered  to  move  up 
to  a  point  not  more  than  two  miles  from  the  Modoc 
position,  to  be  in  readiness  to  attack  at  sunrise  ;  but 
proceeding  in  ignorance  of  the  ground,  he  came  so 
near  to  the  stronghold  that  he  was  attacked  and 
obliged  to  retreat  with  four  men  wounded. 

The  camp  was  early  astir  on  the  morning  of  the 
17th.  As  the  troops  looked  down  from  the  high 
blutf  upon  the  lava  beds,  the  fog  which  ovorl^ung  it 
resembled  a  quiet  sea.  They  were  to  plunge  down 
into  til  is,  and  feel  for  the  positions  assigned  them. 
Mason  with  the  infantry  occui)ied  a  position  on  the 
left  of  the  line,  resting  on  the  lake,  with  Fairchilds 
sharpshooters  flanking  him;  to  the  right  of  the  in- 
fantry were  the  howitzers;  in  the  centre  General 
Whcaton  and  staff,  Major  General  Miller  and  General 
Ross  and  staff;  on  tlie  right  of  the  generals  cai)tains 
Kelly  and  Applegate;  and  on  the  extreme  right 
Captain  Perry's  troops,  dismounted  ;  Colonel  Green 
in  command  of  the  whole.  Descending  the  bluff  by 
the  narrow  trail,  surprised  at  meeting  no  Modoc 
pickets,  the  troops  gained  their  positions  in  the  order 
given  about  seven  o'clock.  Hardly  had  the  line 
formed  when  the  Modocs  opened  fire.  It  had  been 
the  desii'n  of  Wheaton  to  move  out  on  the  riuht  until 
Green's  command  met  Bernard's  in  front  of  the 
Modoc  position,  when  three  shots  should  bo  fired  by 
the  howitzers  to  announce  a  parley,  when  Captain 
Jack  would  be  given  an  op[)ortunlty  to  surrender. 
But  to  carry  out  this  progrannne,  it  was  soon  dis- 
covered, was  impossible.  The  Modocs  were  not  to 
be  surrounded  in  their  stronghold  and  asked  to  cajjitu- 
late,  but  forced  the  troops  to  fight  for  every  foot  of 
ground  on  the  way  toward  it. 

On  account  of  the  density  of  the  fog — which  now 
was  found  to  be  an  obstacle  instead  of  a  help  to  suc- 
cess in  reaching  the  central  cave,  the  Indians  having 


406 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


the  advantaj^e  of  being  familiar  with  the  passages 
among  the  rocks,  whereas  the  troops  were  obliged  to 
scramble  over  and  among  them  as  best  they  could, 
at  the  risk  of  falling  any  moment  into  an  anjbush — 
the  movement  aimed  at  on  the  right  was  extremely 
slow.  Nevertheless,  it  was  steadily  pushed  forward, 
all  caution  being  used,  the  men  sometunes  lying  down 
and  crawling  prone  over  the  rocks  within  a  few  yards 
of  the  Indians,  who  could  be  heard  talkhig,  but  who 
seldom  could  be  seen,  though  they  were  able  to  see 
through  openings  in  their  defences  the  approaches 
of  the  troops  as  far  as  the  fog  would  permit. 

The  howitzers,  which  had  been  so  much  relied 
upon  to  demoralize  the  Indians  proved  useless  so  long 
as  the  enemy's  position  was  concealed  from  view. 
The  line,  after  advancing  a  mile  and  a  half,  was 
halted,  and  a  few  sheila  thrown,  causing  some  excite- 
ment among  the  Modocs,  over  whose  heads  they 
passed,  falling  beyond  Bernard's  line  on  the  east  side 
of  the  stronghold ;  but  through  fear  of  hitting  Ber- 
nard's troops  the  firing  of  the  battery  was  suspended 
and  Green  pushed  on  the  west  line  by  a  series  of 
short  charges  another  mile  and  a  half  passhig  over 
ravines  running  and  sounding  the  war-whoop. 

It  is  related  by  Applegate  that  Green,  who  during 
this  advance  carried  one  of  his  gloves  carelessly  iu 
his  hand,  was  frequently  shot  at  by  the  concealed 
Modocs,  who  attributed  his  immunity  from  harm  to 
some  charm  or  "medicine"  contained  in  this  glove. 
They  also  shot  at  Captain  Applegate  and  his  brother 
Ivan  who  accompanied  him,  with  similar  results,  from 
which  they  inferred  these  persons  had  received  pro- 
tection from  a  miraculous  power,  and  that  powder 
and  shot  were  wasted  upon  them.  The  recklessness 
of  Green  was  remarked  upon  by  his  command  as  well 
as  by  the  Indians. 

About  one  o'clock  the  extreme  right  of  the  line, 
which  now  enveloped  the  stronghold  on  the  west  and 
south,  was  brought  to  a  halt  by  an  immensely  deep 


APPLEGATES  NARRATIVE. 


497 


and  wide  ravine  which  soparuted  it  from  Bernard's 
line  on  the  otlier  side,  and  which  strongly  guarded 
tlie  stronghold,  being  close  at  hand.  Green  at  once 
saw  that  it  could  not  be  crossed  without  an  inunense 
sacrifice  of  life.  A  consultation  with  Wheaton  and 
other  officers  led  to  a  change  of  plan,  and  it  was  de 
termined  to  move  the  west  line  by  the  left  around 
tlie  north  side  of  the  Modoc  position,  along  tlie  shore 
of  the  lake,  connecting  with  the  right  of  Bernard's 
force  from  that  direction.  An  order  was  given  to 
reorganize  the  Hue  for  withdrawal,  which,  owing  to 
the  difficult  nature  of  the  ground,  was  not  understood 
by  all  the  officers,  and  created  a  confusion  which  but 
for  the  all-enveloping  fog  might  have  resulted  in  a 
heavy  loss. 

"  While  we  were  charijing  down  this  ravine,"  writes 
Applogatc,  "I  fell,  probably  from  the  etl'ect  of  a  shot. 
RL'Covering  myself,  I  joined  the  line,  jumped  the 
canon  at  the  bottom,  and  took  up  position  on  a  sage 
plain  on  the  otlier  side.  Such  a  volley  met  us  that 
the  sage  brush  was  mown  down  above  our  heads 
where  we  lay.  Then  came  the  order  Look  out  for 
Bernard!  The  volley  was  from  his  line.  While  pre- 
paring to  charge  the  stronghold,  I  saw  the  troops  on 
the  left  withdrawing.  I  did  not  understand  the 
movement,  but  kept  place  in  the  skirmish  line.  I 
saw  a  soldier  fall,  one  of  Perry's  men,  and  took 
cliarge  of  him.  On  nearing  the  brink  of  the  strons:- 
hold  I  found  most  of  the  troops  had  passed  under 
the  bluff,  and  the  rapid  firing  gave  notice  that  a 
severe  conflict  was  going  on  there.  A  message  was 
received  from  General  Wheaton  to  report  to  head- 
quarters for  orders,  which  I  did,  and  found  that  the 
regulars  had  already  passed  around  to  the  north  side 
of  the  lava  bed  to  join  Bernard,  and  that  Wheaton 
wanted  the  volunteers  to  remain  with  the  headquar- 
ters. I  was  ordered  to  take  my  men  to  the  lake  for 
water,  after  which  I  formed   a   line   in   advance    of 

cal.  Int.  Poc.   82 


^H 


m 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES 


headquarters  in  a  series  of  crags  parallel  witli  tlie 
stroni^liolcl,  and  fought  the  Modocs  as  we  moved. 

"Hooker  Jim  was  lying  behind  a  wall  of  stone, 
appearint'  to  command  the  Modocs  on  the  left  of  tlio 
stronghold.  His  voice  was  known  to  the  Indians 
with  me;  he  was  callin«j  attention  to  the  fact  that  tlie 
regulars  were  hopelessly  separated  from  the  volun- 
teers, and  that  by  moving  around  our  right  flank  tliey 
could  cut  off  our  retreat.  I  sent  Lieutenant  Hizer 
to  headquarters  to  report  this.  I  then  saw  a  signal- 
fire  s[)ring  up  beh.ind  Hooker  JimV  position,  and  then 
anoth(;r,  three  hundred  yards  to  the  west,  and  heard 
the  war-cry  repeated  there,  and  knew  the  Modocs 
were  making  a  movement  to  cut  us  off.  I  then  went 
to  headquai-ters  myself  and  reported  the  situation. 
General  Wheaton  had  made  preparations  to  remain 
in  a  little  cove  on  the  shore  of  the  lake  over  night, 
but  now  determined  to  return  to  the  hi<rh  bluff  We 
could  not  safely  have  remained  with  only  a  hundred 
men,  burdened  with  the  wounded  and  artillery,  and 
after  fighting  the  Indians  all  ni^ht  we  should  have 
been  prevented  getting  to  the  bluff,  and  probably  all 
massacred. 

■*  On  getting  my  report.  General  Wheaton  ordered 
me  to  withdraw  from  the  rocks  and  lead  the  retreat, 
Kelly  to  cover  tlie  rear,  and  to  fall  back  four  milos. 
I  kept  out  a  skirmish  line  to  the  left  until  the  men 
were  exhausted  and  falling.  When  it  became  so  dark 
it  became  difficult  to  follow  the  trail,  I  put  one  of  my 
Modocs  on  the  advance  as  guide,  who  led  us  out  to 
tlie  top  of  the  bluff.  So  suddenly  was  the  movement 
effected   that  the   eiienn'  did   not   discover  it.     We 

ay 

reached  camp  at  elevca   »'clock,  wearied  to  death." 

The  Modocs  resorted  to  many  devices  to  deceive 
the  troops,  such  as  wearing  sage-brush  fastened  on 
their  heads  to  conceal  their  movements,  and  settin<5 
up  rocks  of  the  size  of  a  man's  head  on  their  breast- 
works to  draw  the  fire  of  the  soldiers,  who  shot  hun- 
dreds of  bullets  before  they  discovered  the  trick. 


r 


A  DISCOUIIAOINO  DAY. 


409 


By  the  time  the  volunteers,  who  during  the  skir- 
mishing along  the  route  had  changed  pt)aiti«)n  with 
Perry's  troop,  reached  headquarters, the  regulars,  who 
were  now  all  in  the  advance,  had  made  the  coimection 
hv  their  left  with  BernartI,  encountering  a  destructive 
fire  as  they  iwissed  between  the  stronghold  and  the 
lake,  where  was  a  ravine  only  less  danj'erous  than  that 
on  the  south  side.  A  detachment  oi  Burton's  coni- 
l»any  of  infantry  and  Fairchild's  riHemen  had  pushed 
forward  and  taken  position  in  a  pile  of  rocks  near  this 
crossing  to  cover  the  troops  as  they  passed.  But,  as 
Wlieaton  afterward  expressed  it,  on  their  side  there 
"was  nothing  to  fire  at  but  pufl's  of  smoke  issuing 
from  cracks  in  the  rocks,"  while  every  movement  of  a 
soldier  was  likely  to  be  observed  by  the  Modocs,  who 
swarmed  behind  their  well  selected  defences.  The 
most  of  the  troops  passed  by  crawling  over  the  rocks 
on  their  hands  and  feet,  suffering  terribly,  but  Burton's 
and  Fairchild's  companies  were  not  able  to  extricate 
themselves  until  after  dark.  After  passing  the  first 
ravine,  Bernard,  who  could  not  be  seen  for  the  fog, 
called  across  a  point  of  the  lake  to  say  that  he  was 
within  four  or  five  hundred  yards  of  the  Modoc  posi- 
tion, and  Green  determined  to  join  him  if  possil>le,  and 
charge  the  stronghold  before  dark,  but  after  advancing 
aloiujj  the  lake  shore  under  fire  from  the  overhanjjinj' 
clifl's,  he  found  himself  confronted  with  a  deep  chasm 
ill  Bernard's  front  so  well  defended  that  he  had  not 
been  able  to  cross  it  all  day,  and  had  also  to  defend 
himself  from  a  flank  movement  by  the  Modocs  on  his 
left.  While  in  this  discouraging  position,  the  fog 
lifted,  and  a  signal  was  received  from  the  general. 

The  day  was  now  well-nigh  spent,  and  it  was  by 
tliis  time  evident  that  there  was  nothing  to  be  gained, 
even  with  plenty  of  time,  by  exposing  the  volunteers 
to  the  same  ordeal  through  which  the  rci^ulars  had 
l>assed.  It  was  plainly  impossible  to  capture  the 
stronghold  with  the  men  and  means  at  command. 
AVheaton  therefore  ordered  the  volunteers  to  remain 


000 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


where  they  were,  signalled  Green  to  come  into  camp 
if  he  thought  best,  while  he  himself  prepared  to  spend 
the  night  in  a  small  cove  on  the  shore  of  the  lake. 

But  the  Indians  had  observed  the  separation  of  the 
volunteers  from  the  regulars,  and  were  making  prei)a- 
rations  to  surrc/und  them  by  getting  between  tlieni 
and  the  high  biuff  where  stores  of  amnmnition  and 
supplies  had  been  left  in  charge  of  only  ten  men. 
Signal  fires  were  already  springmg  up  in  that  direc- 
tion, and  other  indications  given  of  the  intentions  of 
the  Indians.  Upon  this  discovery  Whoaton  deter- 
mined to  fall  back  to  camp,  and  again  signalled  Green 
of  his  change  of  plan,  authorizing  him  to  withdraw  to 
Bernard's  camp  at  Land's  rancho,  fourteen  miles  dis- 
tant. The  forces  on  the  west  side  were  all  of  Koss' 
command,  a  portion  of  Perry's  troop,  and  the  infantry 
reserve,  separated  by  the  fog  from  the  main  force 
during  the  flank  movement.  Just  at  dark  the  retreat 
to  camp  began,  Applogate's  company  leading,  tlio 
wounded  with  the  artillery  in  tlie  centre,  Kelly's  com- 
pany and  Lieutenant  Ross'  detachment  skirmisl dug 
with  the  Indians  in  the  rear.  As  night  advanced  tlic 
Modocs  withdrew,  and  stumblmg  along  the  rocky 
trail  the  command  on  the  west  reached  the  camp  i)f 
the  night  before  about  midnight,  thoroughly  ex- 
hausted. 

But  if  they  found  a  march  of  four  miles  under  the 
circumstances  exhausting.  Green's  forces  wore  in  a 
worse  position.  Fearing  to  expose  his  men  a  second 
time  to  the  peril  of  passing  the  Modoc  position,  when 
night  had  fallen  he  commenced  the  march  of  fourteen 
miles  over  a  trail  fit  only  for  a  chamois  to  travel,  car- 
rying the  wounded  in  blankets,  or  on  the  backs  of 
ponies  captured  during  the  day.  One  of  Fairchilds 
men.  Jerry  Crook,  whose  thigh-bone  was  shattered. 
rode  the  whole  distance  with  his  leg  dangling.  ]  lis 
comrades  tied  a  rope  to  it  by  which  it  could  be  lifted 
out  of  the  way  of  obstacles;  but  nothing  could  pre- 
vent frequent  rude  shocks  from  the  rocks  and  bushes. 


iiiij. 


MODOC  VICTORY. 


601 


The  sufferings  of  the  wounded  were  horrible.  Nor 
were  they  ended  when  they  came  to  Bernard's  camp, 
for  on  the  lOth  they  were  sent  to  Fort  Klamath,  sev- 
enty miles  away,  over  a  rougli  road,  three  miles  of 
which  were  naked  boulders.  And  there  were  others 
whose  sufferintjs  were  aujoniziny;  to  bear  or  to  behold. 
It  was  not  until  between  one  and  two  o'clock  p.  M.  of 
the  18th  that  Green's  command  reached  camp.  When 
a  halt  was  called,  the  men  fell  asleep  standing  or  rid- 
iiiij.  Their  clothes  were  in  shreds  from  crawlimj 
among  the  rooks;  their  shoes  were  worn  away  from 
their  feet.  If  tliey  had  been  a  month  in  the  field, 
tliey  could  not  have  looked  more  used  up  in  every 
way.  After  making  arrangements  for  the  removal  of 
the  wounded  to  Ftirt  Klamath  under  charge  of  Jack- 
son with  an  escort  of  twenty  men  on  the  night  of  the 
I'Jth,  Green  and  Mason  returned  to  headijuarters  on 
tlie  night  of  the  18th,  attended  by  ten  Indian  scouts, 
takinjj  the  road  around  tlie  north  side  of  the  lake. 

The  loss  sustained  in  tlie  reconnoissance — it  was  no 
more — of  tlie  17th  was  nine  killed  and  thirtv  wounded, 
including  in  the  latter  list  Captain  David  Perry  and 
Lieutenant  John  G.  Kyle  of  tlie  regulars,  both  wounded 
at  the  crossing  of  the  ravine  before  the  stronghold, 
and  Lieutenant  George  Roberts  of  the  Calif  :rnia  vol- 
unteer riflemen.  The  dead  were  left  upon  the  field, 
or  if  alive  when  left,  were  soon  despatched  by  tlie 
Indian  women.  There  was  no  doubt  that  the  army 
had  suffered  a  total  defeat  at  the  hniids  of  the  Modocs, 
or  that  the  army  officers  were  surprised  by  it.  Their 
utterances  after  the  affair  were  very  different  from 
their  confident  predictions  before  the  trial.  "The 
ditticulties  encountered  in  moving  to  connect  our  lines 
l)y  the  lake  side  were  very  great,"  Wheaton  reports, 
"tlie  troops  being  hardly  able  to  crawl  over  the  sharp 
locks  and  lediT'^"  that  separate  them,  and  at  the  same 
time  fight  a  Nvcil-entrenched  and  desperate  enemy, 
jiroverbially  skillful  as  marksmen,  and  armed  with 
good  rifles.     Bernard  had  been  unable  during  the  en- 


602 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


n  ! 


tire  day  to  advance  across  the  gorge  in  Lis  front;  tlie 
movement  toward  his  right  was  not  accompHshed 
until  nearly  dark,  and  sunset  found  the  troops  too 
nmch  exhausted  to  render  a  night  attack  practicable. 
It  was  evident  to  all  that  we  had  not  force  enough 
to  invest  the  enemy's  position,  or  artillery  enough  to 
shell  him  out  of  it.  ...  I  have  never  before  encoun- 
tered an  enemy,  civilized  or  savage,  occupying  a  posi- 
tion of  such  great  natural  strength  as  the  IModoc 
strt)nghold,  nor  have  I  ever  seen  troops  engage  a  bet- 
ter armed  or  more  skillful  foe." 

"It  is  utterly  impossible  tt)  give  a  description  of  the 
place  occujMed  by  the  enemy  as  their  strongliold,"  says 
Green.  "  Everything  was  done  by  officers  and  men 
that  could  be  done ;  troops  never  behaved  better. 
They  contended  gallantly  with  an  enemy  hidden  by 
rocks,  deep  gorges,  and  fog ;  we  tried  it  on  every  side 
with  the  same  result."  "I  will  leave  it  to  others," 
remarks  Mason,  "to  find  language  to  convey  an 
ade(juate  idea  of  the  almost  impassable  charactir 
of  the  country  over  which  these  operations  were 
conducted,  and  which  make  the  Modoc  posititui 
a  second  Gibraltar."  And  Bernard  savs,  "I  have 
wished,  respectfully,  to  say  that  the  place  the  Indian 
now  occujiy  cannot  be  taken  by  a  less  force  than  si'Vi  ii 
hundred  men;  and  to  take  the  place  by  an  assault  by 
this  force  will  cost  half  tlie  C()mmand  in  killed  and 
wounded.  A  large  force,  well  supi)lied,  judicit)usly 
handled,  moving  at  night  by  ap[>roaches,  piling  np 
rocks  to  ])rotect  themselves  so  they  can  operate  dur- 
ing the  day,  may  take  the  place.  Howitzers  could  bo 
eilectually  used  on  the  east  side  of  the  lava  beds." 

No  blame  could  attach  to  any  hi  consequence  of 
defeat.  The  soldier  should  have  antici})ations  of  vii'- 
torv,  and  a  tjeneral  should  believe  in  his  own  skill. 
There  had  been  no  drawbacks;  the  officers  had  gono 
into  the  fight  fully  prepared,  even  to  the  fog  niii(  h 
was  to  conceal  their  advan(e;  and  though  tiiis  »ir- 
circumstance,     ov     its     constant    coutiimancc,    was 


BICKERINGS  OF  THE  WHITE  MEN. 


son 


mentioned  as  tletrinicntal,  there  could  be  no  doubt 
that  it  was  a  great  protection  to  the  troops,  and  that 
\vithout  it  the  loss  would  have  been  twice  as  great. 
All  through  the  Indian  wars  there  was  no  small  jeal- 
ousy between  volunteers  and  regulars.  In  this  in- 
stance Applegate  was  accused  of  doing  nothing  with 
his  company  when,  in  reality,  he  was  pre[)aring  to 
charge  the  stronghold  at  the  other  end  of  the  line 
wlien  ordered  to  withdraw,  and  lost  two  of  his  men. 
Bo  vie  savs  the  Orcijon  vt)lunteers  were  discouraged, 
and  therefore  failed  to  keep  up  the  connection  with 
the  riglit  of  Perry,  when  the  fact  is  that  so  far  from 
ht  M^  discouraged  or  reluctant  to  join  Perry  on  their 
hey  had  passed  Perry  and  were  on  his  right, 


ri'i 


iiwi  s(,  far  in  advance  of  him  that  when  the  connnand 
was  given  to  withdraw  toward  tlie  left  they  did  not 
luar  it  and  were  left  behind.  A  portion  of  Perry's 
troop  which  failed  to  connect  was  excused  on  account 
nf  the  fog.  Boyle  dismisses  the  volunteers  with  the 
rciuark  tliat  altliouy-li  there  were  a  few  brave  men 
among  the  volunteers,  notabl}'.  Captain  Kelly  and 
JiieutenantReam,  "their  services  did  not  renmnerate 
tl  10  government  for  the  rations  consunied  and  the  large 
amount  of  forage  furnislied  their  horses."  Boyle,  be- 
ing (|uartermai-iter,  may  have  felt  tlie  drain  on  his 
siij)pJio&;  but  as  t.(.  the  value  to  the  government  of 
anything  tl'Jt  vk,'  done  in  the  Modoc  country  about 
this  time,  lux  alight  have  been  grave  question  with- 
out casting  shu'^  up*»u  the  pco})le  of  Oregon. 

For  some  re.'^*--  n,  vvhich  could  probably  be  explained 
in  military  circles,  Boyle  also  blames  Cajitain  Bcrnaid 
t' »r  the  slaughter  whicli  occurred  in  passing  tlu"  strong- 
hold on  the  north,  sayinij  that  he  did  ni>tobev  Colonel 
<  Irien  s  order  to  advance  his  left  and  draw  the  tire  of 
the  ModtK's  while  the  troops  were  trying  to  make  the 
<'onnectioi\  vith  his  forces;  and  this,  although  Green 
says  in  ln.>  .port  that  he  "sent  Bernard  with  his 
troop  to  di'^  them — the  Indians — back,  whicli  he 
dill  successiUi.y,"     Bernard  had  more  than  his  share 


f 

■ 

{. 

■n 

i  IKS 

ji. 

h 

H 

p[-1 


t  t 


k 


nr 


im 


SO:\IE  INDIAN  EriSODES. 


cf  ihc  fii'litiii'i  to  do,  the  Indians  in  front  of  him  bcinix 
in  greater  numbers  than  at  any  other  point.  In  a 
desperate  encounter,  such  as  this  one,  the  troops 
needed  the  inspiration  of  cool  and  confident  officers  ; 
but  Captain  Jackson  was  so  ill  this  day  that,  accord- 
ing to  Bernard,  he  should  have  been  in  the  hospital, 
"  falling  several  times  upon  the  ground  from  exhaus- 
tion." Doubtless  his  lieutenants  behaved  valorously, 
but  it  is  plain  that  Bernard  had  his  hands  full,  and 
that  he  received  blame  which  should  not  have  been 
accorded  to  him. 

o^  the  Modocs  was  unknown, 
0  great.     They  were  consid- 


nidition  for  making  sudden 


The  loss  on  the  s\^>" 
but  was  not  thought 
ered  to  be  in  as  good 

descents  on  the  settlements  as  before  the  battle  ;  and 
Applegate's  company  was  sent  to  Lost  river  to  pro- 
tect tliose  nearest  to  the  stronghold.  In  fact  thcv 
were  scouting  within  six  miles  of  Lost  river  on  the 
19th,  wlien  Lieutenant  Ream  with  twenty -five  volun- 
teers was  on  his  way  to  Bernard's  camp  with  the 
horses  belonging  to  Fairchild's  company.  They  ];ad 
captured  the  arms  and  annnunition  of  the  fallen  sol- 
diers, which  was  considerable,  as  the  troops  were  or- 
dered to  have  one  hundred  rounds  on  their  ^  ^sons, 
and  fifty  rounds  lU  close  reserve.  The  time  for  which 
the  Jacksonville  volunteers  had  enlisted,  thirty  days, 
had  expired  on  the  Gth,  the  prospect  of  a  battle  only 
having  detained  them  beyond  that  time;  and  as  tlioy 
had  left  their  homes  and  business  without  preparation, 
at  a  moment's  warning,  they  were  now  anxious  to  re- 
turn. The  possibility  that  the  result  of  the  battle  of 
the  17th  miffht  cause  an  excitement  on  the  reserva- 
tion,  rendered  the  presence  of  Captain  Applegate  at 
Yainax  desirable. 

In  consideration  of  these  circumstances.  General 
Wlieaton,  on  reaching  Van  Brimmer's,  sent  a  dispat('\ 
to  Portland  bv  the  wav  of  Yreka,  askinix  General 
Canby  for  tliree  hundred  foot-troops  and  four  mortars, 
and   suuyresting  that  the  governor  of  California  be 


PE.VCE  POLICY. 


505 


called  upon  "to  send  volunteers  to  protect  that  portion 
of  his  state  open  to  incursions  from  the  jModocs.  To 
this  demand  Canby  responded  by  ordering  two  com- 
panies of  artillery  and  two  of  infantry  from  the  de- 
]>.irtment  of  California,  and  one  of  artillery  and  one  of 
infantry  from  the  department  of  the  Columbia ;  and, 
as  the  inliabitants  of  Surprise  valley  apprehended  an 
uprising  of  the  Snakes  on  account  of  the  !Modoc  ex- 
citement, a  company  of  cavalry  was  sent  to  their 
protection,  making  the  number  of  troops,  when  the 
reinforcements  should  arrive  in  the  Modoc  country, 
six  hundred  exclusive  of  ihe  garrisons  at  the  several 
posts  in  the  district  of  tiie  Lakes.  But  even  with 
these,  the  country  being  in  parts  inadequately  guarded, 
the  general  sent  a  recommendation  to  army  lieadquar- 
tors  at  Washington  that  conditional  authority  should 
ho  given  him  to  call  upcm  the  governors  of  Califc^rnia 
and  Oregon  for  two  companies  of  volunteers  from  each 
state. 

On  the  23d  the  encampment  at  Van  Brimmer's  was 
abandoned,  the  troops  and  stores  being  removed  to 
Lost  river  ford,  where  a  permanent  encampment  was 
made,  and  where  preparations  were  carried  on  for  re- 
newing the  attack  when  the  reinforcements  should 
arrive.  These  preparations  consisted  in  constructing 
two  mortar  boats  with  which  to  attack  from  the  lake- 
side, while  attacking  at  the  same  time  from  the  land, 
surroundino;  and  batterin<i  down  the  stronL^hold — a 
})lan  which,  had  it  been  suffered  to  go  mto  execution, 
would  have  put  an  end  to  the  Modoc  war. 

But  now  occurred  one  of  those  blunders  of  admin- 
istration which  have  periodically  marred  our  Indian 
policy 

On  the  30th  of  January  General  Slierman  was  di- 
rected by  the  secretar\'  of  war  to  notify  General  Canby 
by  telegraph  that  offensive  operations  against  the  Mo- 
docs  should  cease,  the  troops  being  used  only  to  pro- 
ti'ct  the  citizens  and  repel  attacks.  The  explanation 
soon  followed      A  peace  commissioner  was  to  under- 


606 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


take  to  acconipliLih  what  the  inilitar}^  had  fiiilcd  to  tlo 
— conquer  tlie  obstinate  hostility  of  the  Modocs  and 
obtain  their  consent  to  go  upon  some  reservation,  if 
not  upon  that  one  where  by  the  terms  of  treaty  they 
belonged. 

But  if  Wheaton  was  surprised  at  this  wholly  unex- 
pected change  of  policy,  he  was  equally  mortified  at 
being  relieved  of  his  command  at  the  same  time  by 
Colonel  Alvan  C.  Gillem  of  the  1st  cavalry.  Nor 
was  the  dissatisfaction  on  this  account  confined  to 
himself,  but  was  shared  by  most,  if  not  all,  of  Ins  offi- 
cers, and  the  state  authorities  and  people  as  well. 

That  Canby  regarded  the  change  of  policy  as  a  re- 
flection on  himself  also,  seems  to  be  indicatetl  bv  his 
t  >leorram  to  Sliernian,  in  answer  to  the  new  order 
from  the  president  and  war  department.  He  said 
tliat  hostilities  with  the  Modocs  could  not  have  been 
avoided,  as  they  were  determined  to  resist,  and  had 
made  their  preparatiims ;  that  he  had  been  solicitous 
that  they  should  be  fairly  treated,  and  had  taken  care 
that  they  should  not  be  coerced  until  their  claims  had 
been  decided  upon  by  the  proper  authority;  liavi:i^' 
done  tliat,  he  now  thought  tliev  should  be  treated  like 
any  other  criminals,  as  there  would  be  no  peace  on 
the  frontier  until  they  were  subdued  and  punished. 
Two  or  three  months  later  the  government  was  pre- 
pared to  acknowledge  Canby 's  good  judgment. 

Slierman  rejilied  to  Canby  protest :  "Let  all  de- 
fensive measures  proceed,  but  order  no  attack  on  tlic 
Indians  till  the  former  orders  are  modified  or  changed 
by  the  President,  who  seems  disposed  to  allow  tln^ 
]ieace  men  to  try  their  hands  on  Captain  Jack."  How 
significant  of  his  opinion  of  what  was  going  on  at 
Washington  is  Sherman's  dispatch  1  In  the  mean- 
time the  President  and  Secretary  Delano  had  an  in- 
terview with  Secretary  Belknap,  after  which  Delano 
informed  the  secretary  of  war  that  he  had  decided  to 
sond  to  the  scene  of  the  difficulties  a  commission  con- 
sisting of  three  persons,  witb  instruction  to  ascertain 


PEACE  COMMISSIOJf. 


807 


tlio  causes  which  led  to  the  existing  liostilitics,  and 
tlie  most  eftective  measures  for  preventing  their  con- 
tinuance. The  Secretary  of  the  Interior  further  gave 
it  as  his  opinion  hi  the  instructions,  that  it  was  advis- 
able to  remove  the  Modocs  to  some  new  reservation, 
invsumably  the  Coast  reservation;  and  directed  the 
commissioners  to  endeavor  to  get  their  consent  to  be 
})laoed  there,  unless  in  their  judgment  some  other 
]>lace  should  be  better  adapted  to  accomplishing  the 
purpose  of  the  department  to  make  peace.  The  com- 
missioners were  directed  not  to  interfere  with  the 
military,  otherw.se  than  express  a  wish  that  no  unnec- 
t'ssary  violence  should  be  used  toward  the  Modt)cs, 
whose  confidence  the  government  desired  to  obtahi, 
uiul  their  voluntary  consent  to  whatever  regulations 
miiiht  be  made. 

As  the  chairman  of  the  commission,  IMeacham,  had 
to  come  from  Washington,  some  time  nmst  elapse  be- 
fore the  object  for  which  it  was  organized  could  be 
accomplished,  or  the  business  begun.  This  interval 
was  not  without  its  exciting  episodes.  Between  the 
17th  of  Januarj'  and  the  4th  of  Februar}^  eight  Mo- 
docs had  been  killed,  as  many  wounded,  and  nearly 
all  then- horses  captured,  their  princli)al  loss  occurring 
oil  the  25th  of  January,  when,  emboldened  by  tlieir 
hito  victory,  they  attacked  the  rear  guard  of  Bernard's 
tiain  while  moving  camp  from  the  southeast  corner  of 
Tule  lake  to  Clear  lake.  They  captured  one  wagon, 
when  Bernard  returned  and  fought  tlu'm.  No  losses 
Wire  sustained  by  the  troops.  The  capture  of  their 
liorses  was  a  serious  blow  to  the  Modocs,  who  were 
tlms  deprived  of  the  means  of  making  their  predatory 
excursions  into  the  surrounding  country,  either  for 
pui'|)()ses  of  attack,  or  to  procure  subsistence. 

Being  shorn  of  a  part  of  his  strength,  Captain  Jack 
resorted  to  his  native  cunniny:,  and  allowed  it  to  be 
s'M(l  tlint  he  was  tired  of  war.  A  constant  connnuni- 
cation  was  kept  up  between  Jack's  camp  and  the  Ind- 


1  '^ 


m 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


ion  women  living  with  wliite  men  in  Siskiyou  county, 
the  latter  visiting  the  lava  beds  and  carrying  informa- 
tion. Soon  after  the  battle  of  the  17th,  and  about 
tlie  time  of  Bernard's  last  skirmish,  an  Indian  woman 
from  Dorris'  made  a  stolen  visit  to  Jack's  camp,  bring- 
ini;  back  with  her  when  she  returned  another  Indian 
woman  named  Dixie,  who  conveyed  a  message  to 
Dorris  and  Fairchild  from  Jack,  requesting  them  to 
meet  him  for  a  conference,  at  a  place  appointed,  where 
they  might  come  unarmed,  without  being  molested. 
Dixie  brought  the  further  news,  that  on  the  1 8th  a 
quarrel  had  occurred  among  the  Modocs  because  Jack 
and  Bogus  Charley  had  not  fought  on  the  day  of  the 
battle,  and  that  in  tlie  difficulty  Jack  had  been  shot 
tlirough  the  arm,  all  of  which  was  intended  to  create 
the  belief  tliat  there  was  a  peace  party  among  tlie 
Mod(Jcs,  of  wliich  Jack  was  the  head. 

Tliis  familiar  phase  of  Indian  diplomacy  did  not  de- 
ceive anyone  ;  but  Fairchild  beint;  anxious  to  converse 
with  Jack,  if  indeed  he  wished  to  have  a  conference, 
went  out  to  the  bluff  overlooking  the  lava  beds,  and 
sent  Dixie  to  inform  Jack  that  he  would  see  him 
there,  and  that  should  he  come  he  would  not  bo 
harmed ;  but  Jack  refused  to  leave  his  camp.  After 
sending  messages  back  and  forth  for  some  time,  Jack 
offered  to  come  half-way,  a  proposition  declined  by 
Fairchild,  who  finally  sent  word  he  would  receive  him 
at  his  camp  on  the  blufT  anytime  up  to  the  evening  of 
the  1st.  Jack,  however,  did  not  come;  and  it  was 
believed  by  many  that  he  had  only  made  an  effort  to 
get  Fairchild  into  his  power,  wliile  others  thought  ho 
really  desired  peace,  but  was  afraid  to  risk  being  cap- 
tured. Whatever  his  motives  were,  a  scouting  party 
of  his  men,  after  a  quiet  interval  of  two  weeks,  ven- 
tured out  and  burned  the  house  of  Denis  Crawley, 
made  historical  by  the  events  of  the  29th  of  Novem- 
ber, and  escaped  again  to  their  caves,  though  pursued 
by  the  troops. 

Meantime  the  forces  ordered  to  the  Modoc  country 


lllOf 


SETTLERS  INDIGNANT.    ' 


809 


by  Canby  were  slowly  collecting,  embarrassed  by  the 
difficulty  of  inoviug  in  midwinter.  Gillem  proceeded 
to  Yreka,  where  he  was  met  by  Major  Throckmorton 
from  San  Francisco,  with  h.is  infantry  comma.id,  and 
tooether  they  pushed  forward  to  Van  Brimmer's 
through  a  heavy  snowstorm,  the  troops  having 
marched  all  the  way  from  Redding.  A  company  had 
been  ordered  from  Camp  Gaston,  which  was  compelled 
to  march  fifteen  days  in  severe  weather  before  arriv- 
ing at  Yreka.  The  transportation  of  supplies  was 
even  more  difficult  than  moving  troops,  though  it 
went  steadily  on. 

On  the  3d  and  4th  of  February  the  Oregon  volun- 
teer regulars  nmstered  out.  There  were  at  this  time 
200  men  at  Wlieaton's  camp  on  Lost  river,  and  100 
at  Bernard's  new  camp  at  Applegate's  on  Clear  lake, 
while  Perry's  company  was  divided  between  Dorris', 
Fairchild's  and  Small's  places  for  their  protection. 
The  artillery  and  other  troops  were  still  en  route ; 
but  there  were  men  enough  in  the  immediate  vicinitv 
of  the  Modoc  stronghold  to  prevent  any  very  open 
demonstrations  on  their  part  had  it  been  their  inten- 
tion to  make  them.  On  the  4th  of  February  Gillem 
took  up  his  headquarters  at  Van  Brimmer's,  as  being 
nearer  the  telegraph  station  of  Yreka,  soon  after  es- 
tablishing a  tri- weekly  line  of  couriers  to  and  from 
tliat  place.  While  these  preparations  were  making 
for  war,  the  commissioners  who  were  to  bring  about 
a  peace  were  also  on  their  way  to  the  front. 

When  the  people  most  interested  in  all  these  pro- 
ceedings learned  that  an  effort  was  to  be  made  to 
coax  the  Modocs  to  accept  peace  and  the  reservation 
of  their  choice  instead  of  punishing  them,  there  was 
a  general  feeling  of  indignation,  and  the  grand  jury 
of  Jackson  county  on  the  14th  of  February  indicted 
eight  of  Jack's  band  as  being  guilty  of  the  slaughter 
of  the  29th  and  30th  of  November  on  the  evidence 
of  Mrs  Brotherton  and  her  son  who  identified  them. 
This  step  was  taken  in  order  to  forestall  the  possible 


I 


! 


610 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


action  of  the  peace  commission  in  removing  tliom  be- 
yond the  reach  of  the  laws.  The  sentiment  of  the 
sufferers  by  the  Modoc  outbreak,  and  those  best  in- 
formed upon  the  subject,  was  that  it  was  an  insult  to 
the  state,  and  an  outrage  upon  mdividuals  for  the 
govcrmnent  to  open  this  door  of  escape  for  Jack  and 
his  band. 

The  connnissloners  appointed  by  the  government 
to  conduct  the  negotiations  with  Captain  Jack  wire 
at  first  A.  B.  Meacham,  L.   B.  Odeneal,  and  J.  H. 
Wilbur;  but  Meacham  refusing  to  serve  with  either 
of  these  men  for  personal  reasons,  Jesse  Applcgatc 
and  Samuel  Case  were  substituted.     Canby  was  ad- 
vised of  the  appointments,  and  also  that  the  commis- 
sions wore  instructed  to  meet  and  cimfer  with  him 
at  Linkville  on  the  15th  of   February.     The  com- 
mission was  not,  however,  organized  until  the  18tli, 
owing  to  the  failure  of  Meacham  to  arrive  on  the 
day  appointed.     There  was  a  general  feeling  that  tl.e 
conunission  would  be  a  fiiilure,  a  fact  which  was  ac- 
knowledged by  its  chairman  while  j-^et  at  Yreka,  in  a 
telegram  to  Washington,  conveying  the  intelligence 
that  Governor  Grovcr  had  filed  a  protest  with  tie 
board   against  any  action  of  the  commission  wlii<  ]i 
should  purport  to  condone  the  crimes  of  the  ]Modo(  s, 
who  should  be  given  up  and  delivered  over  to  the 
civil  authorities  for  trial  and  punishment ;  and  hisist- 
ing  that  the  commissioners  could  have  no  power  to 
declare  a  reservaticm   on   the  surveyed  and  settled 
lands  of  Lost  river  anv  more  than  on  the  settled 
lands  in  any  other  portion  of  the  state.     To  this  pro- 
test, which  was  forwarded  to   the  secretary  of  the 
hitcrior,  Delano  returned  answer  that  the  commissi(  u 
should  proceed  without  reference  to  it;  and  that  if 
the   authority  of  tlie  United  States  was  defied  or 
resisted,  the  government  would  not  be  responsible  fr 
the  results,  and  the  state  might  be  left  to  take  care 
of  the  Indians  without  assistance  from  Washington. 
To  this  somewhat  insolent  message  the  people  could 


SAVACIE  AND  CIVILIZED  DIPLOMACY. 


511 


only  reply  by  still  protesting.  The  commissioners, 
UiidcT  tiie  orders  of  the  government,  repaired  to  Fair- 
child's  rancho  in  order  to  be  nearer  Captain  Jack's 
headquarters,  as  well  as  to  be  placed  in  earlier  connnu- 
iiication  with  army  headquarters  and  with  Washington 
1  ly  meansof  courier  and  telegraph,  and  conmienced  their 
labors.  On  his  way  to  Fairchild's,  at  Yreka,  ^leacham 
expressed  the  opinion  in  public  that  Jack  was  an 
hont)rable  man,  and  would  go  upon  a  reservation  if 
requested  by  him  to  do  so;  but  in  his  dispatches  to 
Secretary  Delano  he  Avas  l(>ss  hopeful.  A  messenger 
was  immediately  sent  to  Whittle's  ferry  to  secure  the 
services  of  Bob  Whittle  and  his  Indian  wife  Matilda 
in  carrvinoj  on  negotiations  with  Jack.  Pendinof  the 
result  of  Matilda's  interview  with  Jack,  she  havinjx 
been  sent  to  solicit  a  conference  between  the  Modocs 
and  the  commissioners,  the  board  entered  upon  an 
invest!' >-ation,  so  far  as  thev  were  able,  of  the  causes 
of  the  present  attitude  of  the  ^lodocs  toward  the 
government  and  the  people  of  Oregon. 

On  the  "Jlst  of  February,  the  chairman  telegraphed 
to  tlie  actinij  commissioner  of  Indian  affairs  at  Wash- 
iiiirton,  that  his  messenjjer  to  Jack  had  returned  brinor. 
ing  tlie  intelligence  that  the  Modocs  were  expecting 
some  one  to  come  to  them  with  a  message;  that  they 
wore  tired  of  living  in  the  rocks,  and  desired  peace; 
were  glad  to  hear  from  Washington,  but  did  not  wish 
to  talk  with  anvone  who  had  been  en«jja<j;ed  in  the 
war;  and  that  if  Case  and  Meacliam  would  meet  them 
outside  the  rocks  they  should  not  be  harmed.  That 
was  not,  however,  what  was  reported  to  the  commis- 
sion by  Bob  Whittle,  who  said  that  the  Indians, 
twentv  in  number,  met  him  accidentallv  a  mile  and  a 
lialf  from  camp.  The  two  parties  advanced  within 
TOO  yards  of  each  other,  dismounted,  and  laying  down 
tlieir  arms,  went  forward  and  shook  hands.  Jack 
and  Sconchin,  with  seventeen  armed  men,  soon 
came  up,  and  dismounting,  also  shook  hands.  Whit- 
tle then  made  known  his  errand,  and  Jack  consented 


'■'■ 


612 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


to  a  confereHce  if  Steele  and  Roscborougli,  of  Yreka, 
and  Faircliild  should  bo  presuiit,  but  declined  to  meet 
the  conunissionerd,  saying  that  though  their  hearts 
might  bo  good  they  Were  unacquainted  witli  them,  and 
desired  their  friends  to  be  present. 

The  president  had  already  anticipated  their  wishes, 
and  by  the  advice  of  Canby  appointed  lloseborougli 
as  one  of  the  conmiissionera;  and  in  comi)any  witli 
Stoijle,  who,  it  was  thought,  would  bo  useful  in  com- 
municating with  the  Modocs,  the  new  commissiom  r 
was  on  his  way  to  the  front,  when  a  second  interview 
was  had  with  Captain  Jack.  At  this  meeting,  on  the 
24th  of  February,  Whittle  was  met  a  mile  from  the 
lava  beds  by  a  party  of  forty  Modocs  heavily  armed, 
carrying  needle  guns,  but  declaring  that  tliey  had  no 
disposition  to  fight,  and  only  wanted  peace.  Jack 
boasted  to  Whittle  that  he  was  not  yet  so  thoroughly 
incensed  as  ho  might  be,  and  pointed  hi  evidence  t  > 
the  fact  that  the  houses  of  Dorris,  Faircliild,  Van 
Brimmer,  Small,  and  Wliittle,  were  yet  standing; 
saying  again  that  he  would  consent  to  talk  wit 
Steele,  Roseborough,  or  Faircliild.  No  propositi( 
on  either  side  were  made  for  peace,  negotiations  (-. 
this  character  being  left  to  be  considered  in  general 
council,  should  a  council  be  arranged.  Meantime 
Jack  was  growing  impatient,  and  expressed  a  desire 
to  have  the  meeting  with  the  commissioners  ovei-. 
A  Modoc  named  Dave  returned  to  the  camp  of  tlio 
commissioners  with  Whittle,  and  on  the  following 
day  took  a  message  to  Jack  that  Faircliild  would  visit 
him  on  the  26th  to  arrange  for  the  council. 

Accordingly,  on  that  day  Fairchild  visited  Jack, 
accompanied,  not  by  Whittle  and  Matilda,  but  by 
Hiddle,  and  his  Indian  wife  Toby,  as  interpreters. 
He  was  charged  to  tell  Jack  that  the  commissioners 
would  come  in  good  faith  to  make  peace,  and  thougli 
he,  Fairchild,  could  not  give  them  the  terms,  he  would 
fix  upon  a  place  and  time  of  meeting,  and  whatever 
he  agreed  to  would  be  accepted.     But  Jack  would 


MORE  CONFERENCES. 


513 


not  consent  to  come  out  of  the  lava  beds  to  Iiold  a 
council,  nor  would  Fairchild  agree  that  the  coininis- 
sioiKirs  should  go  unarmed  into  the  lava  beds.  Fair- 
child  therefore  returned  without  having  come  to  any 
urrant'eniont:  and  with  him  camu  several  of  the  worst 
of  Jack's  band,  Hooker  Jim,  Curly-hi^aded  Doctor, 
a:i(l  Shacknastv"  Jim,  who  wished  to  make  terms  with 
Lalake,  tlie  old  chief  of  the  Klaniaths,  for  the  return 
of  a  banil  of  sixty  horses  which  the  Klamaths  had 
taken  from  the  Alodocs  during  the  war,  and  which 
Ldake  now  promised  to  restore.  No  one  had  any 
iiuthority  to  interfere  or  to  prevent  the  Modocs  thus 
supplying  themselves  with  liorses,  while  pretending  to 
bj  waiting  to  make  peace  with  the  agents  of  the 
government. 

Oil  the  arrival  of  Roscborough  and  Steele  the 
h  )ard  of  commissioners  met,  when  the  terms  of  peace 
which  should  be  presented  to  Jack  were  discussed. 
The  discussion  resulted  in  ofFcring  a  g-  iieral  anuujsty 
to  all  Modocs,  on  condition  of  their  full  and  complete 
suTendcr,  and  consent  to  remove  to  a  distant  roser- 
v.itioii  within  the  limits  of  Oregon  or  California;  all 
c  )iiiinlssioners  voting  for  these  terms  except  ^leacham. 
Fiiirchild  was  also  instructed  to  say  that  Cauby  would 
make  peace  and  conclude  terms,  !Meacham  also  dis- 
senting from  this  proposition. 

With  tlioso  instructions  Steele  proceeded,  on  the 
otli  of  March,  in  company  with  R.  II.  Atwcll,  a 
newspaper  rcportor,  Fairchild,  and  the  interpreters, 
lliildle  anJ  his  wife  Toby,  to  the  Modoc  strongiiold, 
a;  1(1  had  a  conference  with  tlie  head  men  concerning 
tli'j  acceptance  of  these  propositions  of  the  peace  com- 
nussion.  Captain  Jack  gave  his  consent  to  the  terms 
offered,  and  a3  Steele  supposed  accepted  for  his  band, 
though  there  was  evidently  some  dissatisfacti(>n  on 
the  part  of  a  portion  of  his  men.  As  Steele  had  but 
little  knowledge  of  the  Modoc  language,  and  as  Jack 
spoke  no  English  except  a  few  English  names  of 
tilings,  Steele  was  deceived  as  to  the  real  import  of 

Cal.  Int.  Poc.   S3 


514 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


what  was  going  on,  and  misunderstanding  Jack's  pro- 
fessions of  peaceable  intent,  fully  believed  he  had 
bound  his  people  to  surrender  to  the  government  and 
accept  its  mercy.  The  mistake  seems  to  have  been  a 
singular  one,  inasmuch  as  Riddle  and  his  wife  were 
the  best  of  interpreters,  and  both  Steele  and  Fairchild 
familiar  with  Indian  manners;  besides  which,  Scarface 
could  speak  English,  and  probably  some  of  the  others. 

On  returning  to  headquarters  Steele  reported  that 
peace  was  made ;  the  Modocs  accepted.  An  immedi- 
ate feeling  of  relief  was  experienced  by  the  commis- 
sioners, who  set  about  preparing  despatches  and 
sunnnoning  couriers,  when  Fairchild  declared  there 
was  a  mistake  in  the  report;  the  Modocs  had  not 
agreed  to  a  surrender  and  removal.  So  confident  was 
Steele  that  he  had  understood  Jack  correctly  tliat  he 
proposed  returning  and  having  a  second  interview. 
Fairchild,  equally  positive  there  had  been  a  misunder- 
standing,  and  fearing  the  effect  when  Steele's  report 
became  known  to  the  Modocs,  declined  to  expose  him- 
self to  their  rage.  Meacham,  in  view  of  these  con- 
flicting opinions,  cautiously  reported  that  he  had  reason 
f  )r  believing  an  honorable  and  permanent  peace  would 
be  concluded  within  a  few  days,  at  the  same  time  so 
guarding  his  statements  as  to  commit  himself  to  no 
particular  theory. 

This  caution  was  well  timed,  as  the  result  of  Steele's 
second  interview  proved.  On  returning  to  the  cave 
the  same  evening,  he  found  the  Indians  nnich  excited, 
by  what  it  was  difficult  to  toll.  Hooker  Jim  and  tlie 
others  who  visited  the  camp  at  Fairchild's  might  have 
been  alarmed  by  stories  received  from  go-between 
Indian  women  and  vicious  white  men ;  this  was  the 
view  adopted  by  the  friends  of  the  Modocs.  But 
there  were  other  circumstances  that  looked  like  pie- 
meditated  deceit  and  treachery.  The  Modocs  liad 
been  reiinforced  by  twenty  warriors,  though  Captain 
Jack  still  professed  peace  principles.  S?onchin  was 
openly  hostile,  and  professed  great  anger  at  the  pro- 


JACK  DEFIANT. 


615 


posal  to  surrender,  rejecting  emphatically  all  offers  of 
j)eace.  Even  Steele,  whose  confidence  in  the  Modocs 
was  so  great,  was  alarmed.  That  night  he  slept  in 
the  bed  of  Scarface,  who  sat  beside  him  until  morning 
to  protect  him  from  the  bloodthirstiness  of  others. 

In  the  morning  Jack  wore  instead  of  his  own  a 
woman's  hat,  and  Sconchin,  as  on  the  previous  even- 
inu^,  made  a  war  speech,  violent  in  tone  and  manner. 
When  ho  had  finished,  Jack  threw  off  his  woman's  hat 
and  hypocrisy  together,  and  made  a  very  determined 
war  speech,  declaring  that  he  would  never  go  upon  a 
nservation  to  be  starved.  When  told  bv  Steele  of 
tlio  power  of  the  American  people,  and  the  futility  of 
resistance,  he  listened  with  composure,  and  then  re- 
plied, "Kill  with  bullets  don't  hurt  much ;  starve  to 
death  hurt  a  heap  1 " 

He  referred  also  to  the  punishment  inflicted  on 
his  people  when  he  was  a  boy  by  the  Yroka  volun- 
teers under  Ben  Wright,  and  having  made  as  strong 
a  case  as  he  could  to  justify  his  actions  plaiidy  defied 
tlio  i)(>wcr  of  the  United  States.  As  much  in  sym- 
jiatliy  with  them  as  was  Steele,  he  was  glad  to  be 
permitted  to  return  to  Fairchild's  on  the  morning  of 
tlio  4th  of  March.  No  full  report  of  this  interview 
was  ever  made  public.  It  was  understood  that  the 
peace  commissioners  offered  anmesty  to  all  the  Modocs 
who  surrendered  as  prisoners  of  war,  to  remove  them 
to  Auixel  Island  in  San  Francisco  bay,  and  feed  and 
shelter  them  until  a  reservation  could  bo  found  for 
tlieni  in  a  warmer  climate,  presumal)ly  in  Arizona. 
They  were  to  be  comfortably  clothed  and  shtltercd 
wliere  they  were  until  conveyed  to  Angel  Island,  and 
Canl)y  ofl'ered  to  secure  permission  for  Captain  Jack 
to  visit  the  president  of  the  United  States  in  com- 
pany with  some  of  his  head  men. 

Tliese  offers  were,  to  the  comprehension  of  Jack, 
but  signs  of  weakness.  Why  should  Canby  and  the 
coinnnssiniiors  extend  forgiveness  to  an  enemy  if  they 
could  kill  him?     Such  an  offer  could  only  proceed 


S16 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


from  a  conviction  that  the  Modocs  in  their  caves 
were  invincible ;  or  otherwise  the  proposition  must  be 
a  trick  to  get  them  out  of  their  stronghold.  Jack 
made  a  counter  proposition,  to  be  forgiven  and  loft  in 
the  lava  beds.  He  had  only  twenty-three  warriors, 
he  said,  forgetting  that  on  the  previous  evening 
Steele  had  seen  sixty-nine  at  the  council.  He  wanted 
Meacham  and  Applegate.  with  six  men,  unarmed,  to 
come  on  the  following  day  and  shake  hands  with  him 
in  conclusion  of  a  peace. 

On  returning  from  this  interview  Steele  advised 
the  commissioners  to  cease  all  negotiations  until  the 
Indians  should  themselves  solicit  terms;  that  the 
Modocs  thought  the  white  men  were  afraid  of  them, 
and  carried  on  negotiations  solely  in  the  hope  of  get- 
ting Canby  and  Gillem,  Meacham  and  Ap|)legate  in 
their  power,  in  which  event  they  could  certainly  kill 
them.  As  for  himself  he  would  not  take  the  risk 
again  of  going  to  the  Modocs. 

The  second  report  of  Steele  produced  a  decided 
change  in  the  prospects  of  the  commission,  and  Mea- 
cham at  once  telegraphed  Delano  that  the  Modocs 
rejected  all  offers,  and  that  their  proposal  to  meet  in 
full  force  two  of  the  commissioners  and  six  men,  un- 
armed, in  the  lava  beds  signified  treachery i  that  tlic 
commissioners  were  still  willing  to  meet  the  Modocs, 
but  not  on  their  terms;  that  the  Indians  had  lieen 
reiinforced  from  some  source ;  that  protection  liad 
been  offered  to  all  who  would  come  out  of  the  lava 
beds;  but  that  the  conmiicsion  was  a  failure  and  lie 
waited  for  instructions. 

To  this  candid  statement  Delano  telegraphed  that 
he  did  not  believe  the  Modocs  meant  treachery;  that 
the  mission  should  not  be  a  failure ;  that  he  belicvid 
he  understood  the  unwillingness  of  the  Modocs  to 
confide  in  him,  and  that  negotiations  should  be  con- 
tinued. How  the  honorable  secretary  came  to  know 
so  nmch  my  authorities  do  not  say.  Canby  tele- 
graphed to  Sherman  on  the  5th  that  the  reports  fruia 


ALLEGED  WRONGS. 


517 


the  Modocs  indicated  treachery  and  a  renewal  of 
hostilities.  In  reply  Sherman  said  on  the  Oth  that 
the  authorities  at  Washington  confided  in  him  but 
not  in  the  commissioners,  and  placed  the  matter  in 
his  hands. 


o 


While  the  negotiations  with  Jack  had  been  in 
progress  the  commissioners  were  engaged  in  examin- 
ing;, according  to  the  instructions  of  the  Secretary  of 
tlie  Interior  into  the  cause  of  the  war.  On  the  22d 
f  February  their  first  report  was  formulated,  in 
wliicli  was  recited  all  the  alleged  wrongs  of  the 
Modocs,  as  alread}^  known  to  the  reader  of  my  general 
liistory,  dissatisfaction  with  the  Klamath  reservation 
as  a  place  of  residence,  owing  mainly  to  the  domina- 
tion of  the  Klamaths  and  ill  treatment  by  the  agents. 
With  reference  to  these  charges,  the  commissioners 
n marked  that  concerning  the  latter  complaint  it  was 
well  founded;  they  were  satisfied  the  fault  lay  in  the 
treaty,  and  not  in  the  conduct  the  agents  and  em- 
ployes of  the  reservation.  If  food  and  clothing  had 
IxH'U  insufficient  they  had  nevertheless  been  impar- 
tially distributed.  No  indulgences  had  been  granted 
to  one  tribe  or  band  not  extended  to  all;  and  wliile 
the  Klamaths,  Snakes,  and  Sconchin's  band  of 
Modocs  were  contented.  Jack  and  his  followers  alone 
found  cause  to  justify  a  refusal  to  perform  their  treaty 
stipulations. 

Out  of  this  refusal  had  grown  the  causes  which  led 
to  the  war ;  the  assertion  by  the  Modocs  of  a  right  to 
a  country  which  they  had  conveyed  b}-  treaty  to  the 
I'nited  States,  and  which  was  subsequently  settled 
upon  in  good  faith  by  citizens  of  Oregim;  their  per- 
sistence in  rf)amhig  over,  and  refusal  to  abate  their 
pretensions  to,  this  country,  treating  the  settlers  as 
tlieir  tenants,  and  committing  acts  which  must  inevita- 
lily  lead  to  collision  between  the  races.  Then  followed 
the  attempt  to  compel  them  to  go  where  they  belonged 
— an  attempt  ordered  by  the  Indian  department  at 


518 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


Waslilngton — and  their  resistance.  These  were  the 
causes  which  led  to  the  war,  as  found  by  the  commis- 
sioners. 

Their  instructions  also  required  them  to  devise  the 
most  judicious  and  effective  measures  for  preventing 
the  continuance  of  hostilities,  and  for  the  restoration 
of  peace.  The  findings  upon  this  question  were  rather 
ne::^ative  than  positive.  The  commission  decided  that 
in  any  settlement  of  the  existing  hostilities  it  would 
be  inadmissible  to  return  them  to  the  Klamath  reser- 
vation, or  to  set  apart  a  reservation  for  them  on  Lost 
river,  or  anywhere  in  the  vicinity.  They  objected, 
also,  to  a  poace  on  the  basis  of  a  general  amnesty, 
which  would  bring  the  federal  and  state  governments 
in  conflict,  and  furnish  a  precedent  calculated  to  cause 
misconduct  on  reservations,  besides  greatly  offending 
the  friends  and  neighbors  of  the  slain  settlers.  It 
was  their  opinion  that  the  eight  warriors  indicted  in 
Jackson  county  should  be  surrendered  to  the  state 
autliorities  if  demanded,  though  the  government 
should  assign  them  counsel  for  defence,  and  secure 
them  an  impartial  trial,  protecting  thtra  from  lawless 
vi(jlence.  Should  the  terms  which  the  commission 
would  submit  to  the  Modocs  be  accepted,  namely,  a 
general  amnesty,  with  the  exception  of  the  eight  war- 
riors, and  removal  to  a  new  reservation  far  away,  they 
should  be  taken  away  at  once  to  some  fort,  other  than 
Fort  Klamath,  where  they  could  be  protected  and 
kept  under  surveillance  until  their  final  destinati(»u 
was  decided  upon. 

The  reasons  assigned  for  these  conclusions  were 
that  although  before  the  29th  of  November  it  might 
have  been  practicable  to  have  assigned  the  !Modocs  a 
reservation  on  Lost  river,  the  events  of  that  day  ren- 
dered such  a  proposition  absurd,  even  had  not  the 
previous  misconduct  of  the  Indians  made  it  impolitic'. 
There  could  be  no  real  peace  with  the  Modocs  in  that 
vicinity.  On  the  Klama  li  reservation  there  could  ho 
scarcely  less  cause  of  conflict,  since  the  Klamaths  luul 


DIVERS  OPINIONS. 


519 


taljen   part  in   the  war  against  the   Modocs.     The 
Klaaiaths  themselves  would  object  to  having  the  res- 
ervation made  a  penal  colony  for  thieves,  with  whom 
they  were  expected  to  live  on  terms  of  equality.     The 
objections  to  a  general  amnesty  were  founded  upon 
the  history  of  the  Modoc  rebellion  from  first  to  last, 
culminating  in  resistance  to  United  States  authority, 
and  the  slaughter  of  settlers.     To  the  report  of  the 
conmiissioners  Canby  gave  his  approval,  with  the  ex- 
ception that  he  held  the  opinion  that  the  Indians  by 
surrendering  as  prisoners  of  war  would    be  exempt 
fiuni  process  and  trial  in  either  Oregon  or  California. 
From  this  opinion  Iloseborough  dissented,  but  thought 
neither  state  would  attempt  to  punish  the  warriors  if 
satisfied  they  would  be  removed  to  some  distant  coun- 
try beyond  the  possibility  of  a  return.     This  was  so 
far  as  the  people  of  California  were  concerned,  who 
seemed  to  have  more  sympathy  for  the  Modocs  than 
for  the  suffering  settlers.     But  the  people  of  south- 
ern Oregon  were  extremely  sensitive  on  the  subje(  t  <  f 
a  general  anmesty,   and   expressed   themselves    in  a 
manner  that  was  construed  by  the  Modoc  apologists 
to  mean  general  bloodthirstiness  on  their  side.     It  is 
not  unlikely  that  representations  to  that  effect  found 
t!ieir  way  to  Washington  through  other  avenues  than 
tlie  California  newspapers,  and  that  the  secretary  of 
tiie  interior  feared  the  effect  of  such  utterances  upon 
the  members  of  the  commission  ;  hence  the  authority 
givon  to  Canby  to  select  two  other  commissioners  to 
fill  the  i)laces  of  Applegate  and  Case,  resigned.     That 
Ai)plogate  would  have  resigned  had  not  his  relatives 
been  impugned  by  the  allegations  of  Captain  Jack, 
into  which  mquiry  was  ordered  to  be  made,  is  rendered 
j)robable  by  his  separate  report  made  on  the  'Jth  of 
March. 

"  The  commission  appointed  to  examine  into  the 
causes  and  bring  to  a  conclusion  the  Modoc  war, 
liaving  concluded  its  labors,"  writes  Jesse  Applegate, 
"  it  was  atfreed  that  each  member  should  submit  his 


620 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


own  views  and  opinions  of  the  subject  as  a  final  re- 
port. In  pursuance  of  which  agreement  I  submit  the 
following  opinions:  1st.  The  causes  leading  to  the 
war  were  the  dissatisfaction  of  Captain  Jack's  band 
of  Modocs  with  the  provisions  and  execution  of  the 
treaty  of  October  14,  1864,  and  refusal  to  abide  there- 
by. To  what  extent  wrongs  justified  resistance,  the 
commission,  having  no  power  judicially  to  investigate, 
cannot  say.  2d.  The  immediate  cause  of  hostilities 
was  lesistance  by  the  Indians  to  military  coercion, 
3d.  Unconditional  surrender  of  the  Indians,  and  the 
trial  and  punishment  of  the  guilty  by  the  civil  author- 
ities, would  have  been  more  satisfactory  to  the  whites, 
and  a  better  example  to  the  Indians,  than  more  len- 
ient conditions.  4th.  Terms  of  surrender  were  offered 
the  Indians  to  save  the  further  effusion  of  blood,  and 
secure  a  permanent  peace  by  the  removal  of  the  whole 
tribe  out  of  the  country  ;  a  result  scarcely  to  be  hoped 
for  by  continued  hostilities.  5th.  The  terms  agreed 
to  by  the  commission  were  suggested  and  must  be 
carried  into  effect  by  the  military.  A  commission  to 
negotiate  a  peace  was  therefore  unnecessary.  6th.  A 
commission  to  inquire  into  the  causes  of  the  war 
should  be  composed  of  men  wholly  disinterested  in 
the  findings  of  the  commission,  directly  or  indirectly, 
and  clothed  with  full  power  to  investigate.  7tli. 
Some  of  the  personnel  of  this  connnission  being  ob- 
noxious to  the  Indians,  it  was  a  hindrance  to  negotia- 
tions. Having  no  power  to  administer  oaths,  or  send 
for  persons  or  papers,  and  the  official  acts  of  the  chair- 
man to  be  reviewed,  its  findings  nmst  have  been  im- 
perfect and  unsatisfactory  in  regard  to  the  causes  of 
the  war.     I  therefore  consider  the  commission  an  ex- 

{)ensive  blunder."  Mr  Applegate's  compensation  had 
leen  fixed  at  ten  dollars  a  day,  and  expenses;  but 
with  that  chivalrous  independence  which  ever  char- 
acterized the  man  though  accepting  the  service  lie 
declined  the  pay. 

Prom  the  6th  of  March,  it  might  be  said  that  no 


pe? 
hai 
of 
tici 


JACK'S  SCHEMING. 


821 


peace  commission  existed.  Everything  was  in  the 
hands  of  General  Canby,  who  was  the  representative 
of  the  military  power  in  Oregon.  As  if  Jack  had  an- 
ticipated something  of  this  kind,  and  feared  hostilities 
would  be  recommenced  before  the  end  for  which  he 
was  now  scheming  could  be  accomplished,  on  the  day 
following  Steele's  final  visit  to  the  stronghold  he  sent 
his  sister  Mary  to  Canby,  to  say  that  he  accepted  the 
terms  offered  on  the  3d  of  present  protection  and 
support  and  removal  to  a  distant  country ;  aski.ig 
that  a  delegation  of  his  people  might  be  permitted  to 
accompany  the  government  officers  in  search  of  a  new 
home  while  the  remainder  of  the  band  waited  under 
the  protection  of  the  military.  He  likewise  proposed 
that  his  surrender  should  take  place  on  Monday, 
March  10th.  To  this  proposition  Canby  assented, 
informing  Mary  that  Jack,  and  as  many  of  his  band 
as  were  able  to  come,  would  be  expected  that  evening, 
or  the  next  morning,  and  that  wagons  would  be  sent 
to  tha  edtje  of  the  lake  to  bring  in  the  others  on 
^Monday ;  also  that  if  Jack  did  not  c(nne  tlie  matter 
would  be  referred  to  the  military.  But  Jack  did  not 
come  as  expected  on  Thursday  evening.  Messengers 
wore  sent,  instead,  saying  that  the  Modocs  were 
burying  their  dead,  and  could  not  yet  leave  the  lava 
beds,  but  would  do  so  soon. 

When  Mary  came  the  second  time,  she  brought  the 
followinsj  messatjes  from  Jack  and  Sconchin,  in  refer- 
ence  to  the  threat  of  Canby  to  send  the  troops  unless 
Jack  and  the  head  men  came  at  once.  Sconchin 
said,  "I  have  heard  the  talk  tliey  have  sent.  I  don't 
want  to  fight  any  more.  I  don't  want  to  shoot  any 
more  soldiers,  and  I  don't  want  anv  soldiers  to  shoot 
my  people.  I  have  but  a  few  men,  and  I  don't  want 
to  fight  with  more  men  than  I  have  got.  I  didn't 
think  the  peace  connnission  would  get  mad  so  quickly, 
or  the  soldiers.  The  talk  looks  as  if  tliey  were  mad. 
I  want  to  live  in  peace.  I  don't  want  to  go  anywhere 
to  fight.     I  want  to  live  in  my  own  house,  and  I  want 


522 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


to  live  in  pea«e.  I  want  to  know  what  officer  got 
mad  so  quickly.  There  are  only  two  head  men  of  us, 
and  we  didn't  get  mad ;  we  wanted  to  live  in  peace. 
Do  they  want  to  come  and  shoot  us  again  ?  I  don't 
want  to  slioot  anyone,  and  I  don't  want  anyone  to 
shoot  my  men.  I  have  thrown  away  my  country,  and 
now  I  want  to  go  away  and  hunt  another.  I  thougl  t 
they  were  to  come  and  take  me  away  at  once.  I 
wanted  time  to  take  my  people,  some  ot'  them  are  sick, 
wouldn't  be  able  to  go  away  at  once ;  and  I  don't  want 
them  to  go  to  killing  them  again.  I  have  got  all  my 
people  to  say  yes,  that  they  are  willing  to  go,  and  not 
talk  bad  any  more.  I  don't  want  this  country  any 
more — I  want  a  warmer  country.  I  explained  this 
to  my  children,  and  they  all  say  yes  and  sanction  it. 
I  want  to  remain  a  little  while.  Some  of  my  pe<jple 
are  sick  and  can't  go,  and  then  the  military  can  go 
with  them." 

Jack  said:  "I  am  very  sad.  I  want  peace  quick, 
or  else  let  the  soldiers  come  and  make  haste  and  fight. 
I  want  to  stay  here  a  little  while,  so  that  my  people 
can  get  ready  to  go.  I  say  yes  to  going  to  a  wainicr 
country;  and  this  is  tlio  first  time  I  have  said  yes.  I 
don't  want  my  people  shot.  I  don't  want  my  men  to 
go  with  guns  any  more.  I  have  quit  forever.  I  have 
buried  the  past,  and  don't  want  to  be  made  answera- 
ble for  the  past.  I  have  heard  that  they  wanted  to 
shoot  me.  That  would  be  like  shooting  an  old  woman. 
I  want  to  talk  good  words  onl}-.  I  don't  want  to 
shoot  or  be  shot.  I  don't  want  anyone  to  get  mad  as 
quick  as  they  did  before.  I  want  to  live  in  peace.  I 
want  to  go  and  see  my  people  on  the  reservation.  My 
mind  is  made  up  to  say  yes.  I  have  a  good  heart, 
and  want  no  mistake  made  this  time,  to  live  with  go»)d 
heart  and  talk  truth.  I  have  no  paper  men,  and  can't 
write  on  the  papers.  The  papers  called  me  batl,  and 
lied  about  me.  If  they  don't  lie  to  me  I  won't  lie  to 
them.  I  want  to  give  up  shooting.  I  never  have  born 
out  snice  I  came  on  here.     If  they  had  come  I  would 


REMARKS  OF  CAI'TAIN  JACK. 


88S 


liave  sliot  them.  I  never  have  seon  any  white  men 
except  tliose  who  came  here.  I  want  Fairchikl  and 
Kiddle,  and  anyone  else  willing  to  come  out.  I  want 
to  see  my  people  at  Yainax.  I  have  thrown  away 
niy  country,  and  unless  I  go  I  never  exi)ect  to  see  my 
people  again ;  and  then  I  want  to  go  to  town,  and 
then  I  will  go  away  and  never  expect  to  return.  I 
want  to  see  what  they  have  to  say  My  nnnd  is  made 
up,  and  I  have  little  else  to  say.  They  have  got  my 
heart  now,  and  they  nmst  look  after  it  and  do  right. 
I  am  nearly  well  and  have  a  gt)od  heart  now.  I  ex- 
l)ect  Mr.  Meacham  is  very  sick  and  couldn't  come.  I 
am  nearlv  well,  but  am  afraid  o'l  account  t)f  the  sol- 
diers  on  the  road.  There  are  so  many  soldiers  around. 
There  are  sokhers  on  Lost  river,  on  Clear  lake,  and 
l^ernard's  soldiers.  Wouldn't  they  be  afraid  if  they 
were  in  the  same  situation  ?  I  want  to  ,' ee  their  head 
men  who  never  have  been  here.  I  have  heard  of  so 
many  soldiers  connng  I  was  afraiil.  When  they  visited 
me  they  laid  down  and  slept  and  were  not  pestere<l. 
I  had  a  bad  heart  yesterday  morning  when  ^Ir  Steele 
lift  here,  to  thiidc  that  he  would  not  come  bade  or 
believe  me.  If  I  knew  the  new  country  I  would  go 
out  when  he  came  in.  I  want  to  visit  my  peo[»le, 
then  the  new  country,  and  want  the  peace  connnis- 
sion  to  go  with  me  and  show  it  to  me.  ]. 
wish  to  live  like  the  white  men.  Let  everything  ba 
wii)ed  out,  washed  out,  and  let  there  be  no  nj'.rj 
blood.  I  have  got  a  bad  heart  about  these  warriors. 
I  Iiave  got  but  a  few  men,  and  don't  see  how  I  can 
give  them  up.  Will  they  give  up  their  peo])le  who 
nmrdercd  my  people  while  they  were  asleep?  I  niiver 
asked  for  the  })eo[)le  who  murdered  my  people.  I 
only  talked  that  way.  I  can  see  how  I  could  give 
u[)  my  horse  to  be  hanged,  but  I  cannot  see  how  I 
could  give  up  my  men  to  be  hanged.  I  could  give 
up  my  horse  to  be  hanged  and  wouldn't  cry  a'  out  it ; 
but  if  I  gave  up  my  men  I  would  have  to  cry  about 
it.     I  want  them  all  to  have  good  hearts  now.     I 


524 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


have  thrown  away  everything.  There  must  be  no 
more  bad  talk.  I  will  not.  I  have  spoken  forever. 
I  want  soldiers  all  to  go  home.  I  have  given  up 
now,  and  want  no  more  fuss.  I  have  said  yes,  and 
thrown  away  my  country.  I  want  soldiers  to  go 
away,  so  I  will  not  be  afraid.  When  I  go  to  Yainax 
I  don't  want  to  come  back  here,  but  want  to  go  to 
town,  and  then  to  the  new  country.  I  wanted  to  go 
to  a  new  country  and  not  come  back  any  more  to  see 
my  people;  that  is  why  I  wanted  to  go  to  Yainax. 
I  want  to  see  how  many  of  my  relations  would  go 
with  me.  I  feel  bad  for  my  people  in  the  lava  beds. 
I  would  cry  if  I  did  not  see  my  people  at  Yainax. 
I  don't  know  the  new  country,  and  they  wouldn't 
know  where  they  were.  I  know  no  country  but 
Shasta  and  Pitt  river.  But  I  say  yes,  and  consent 
to  everything  and  go  away.  I  don't  want  to  live  here 
any  more,  because  I  can't  live  here  any  more  in 
peace.  I  wish  to  go  to  the  southern  country  and  live 
in  peace.  I  want  my  people  to  stay  here  till  I  and 
some  of  niy  head  men  go  and  look  at  the  new  coun- 
try'. I  want  Riddle  and  sojne  others  to  go  with  me. 
I  want  clothing  and   food  for  my   men.     I  want  it 


given  t.>  them  here, 
am  deceivin<'  them. 


I  don't  want  them  to  think  I 
I  want  my  people  to  be  taken 


care  of  while  I  am  looking  for  the  new  country, 
want  to  know  where  they  can  stay  and  eat  wlien  I 
am  gone.  I  want  to  stop  with  Fairchild.  I  want  to 
know  if  they  got  mad  at  me  so  quick  because  I  could 
not  believe  them  at  once.  I  could  not  come;  I  had 
but  two  horses,  and  the  Klamaths  took  my  good  one. 
I  have  no  saddle,  and  my  horses  have  been  ridden  so 
much  they  are  not  fit  to  ride.  I  am  a  chief;  am 
proud ;  am  ashamed  to  ride  a  poor  horse.  I  under- 
stand their  tall.  now.  It  seems  now  that  I  have  been 
with  them,  and  talk;,  1  with  them  and  seen  them.  I 
talk  with  my  mouth.  They  have  paper  men  to  write 
down  what  I  say.  I  want  Fairchild  to  come  to- 
morrow to  see  me.     Mary  has  brought  back  good 


PEACE  PREFERRED. 


fi25 


news.  I  want  to  see  them  as  bad  as  they  want  to 
s«>e  nic.  I  don't  want  Fairchild  to  be  afraid  to  come 
nut  with  Mary.  I  want  and  hope  Mary  will  come 
back  with  message  and  say  yes,  just  as  I  have  done." 
Toby  Riddle,  who  interprcitcd  the  messages  sent  by 
Jack  and  Sconchin,  and  who  saw  through  their  sinis- 
ter meaning  warned  Can  by  of  treachery.  And  read 
now,  in  the  liglit  of  subsequent  events,  their  inten- 
tion is  plain.  Stripped  of  iteration  and  verbiage,  the 
messages,  while  pretending  to  be  for  peace,  were  cun- 
ningly arranged  to  hide  a  deep-laid  scheme.  Scon- 
cliin  affected  surprise  that  the  commissioners  were  so 
soon  offended  by  the  faithlessness  of  the  Modoc  lead- 
ers, and  inquired  the  name  of  the  officer  who  was  so 
impatient.  Jack  wanted  peace  or  war  at  once,  but 
preferred  peace.  He  promised  not  to  lie  to  the  com- 
missioners if  the  white  men  who  were  sent  to  him 
would  tell  the  truth,  he  of  course  to  be  the  judge, 
lie  was  tired  of  being  confined  to  the  lava  beds  by 
soldiers  on  every  side  of  him,  and  wanted  liberty  to 
go  to  Yainax  and  to  Yreka;  after  which  he  would 
consent  to  look  up  a  new  country  for  his  people,  but 
wished  the  principal  military  officers  and  the  peace 
commissioners  to  accompany  him,  while  all  his  people 
but  those  he  should  select  to  accompany  him  should  be 
allowed  to  remain  in  the  lava  beds,  having  first  re- 
ceived food  and  clothing  to  make  them  comfortable 
(luring  his  absence.  He  did  not  like  the  demand 
that  he  was  told  had  been  made  for  the  surrender  of 
tl.o  murderers,  saying  that  he  had  never  made  any 
su<h  demand  of  the  white  men  for  killing  his  people; 
and  proved  his  magnanimity  by  the  fact  that  Steele 
and  the  intrepreter  had  slept  unharmed  in  his  camp. 
He  was  surprised  and  angry  that  Steele  had  not 
trusted  him  enough  to  return  again,  and  wanted  Fair- 
cliild  to  come  and  see  him.  Though  there  were  pro- 
fuse professions  of  a  desire  for  peace,  there  was  little 
in  Jack's  me3sage  to  indicate  an}^  degree  of  humility. 
On  tlie  contrary,  the  terms,  if  complied  with,  would 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODfiS. 


leave  him  master  of  the  situation — the  sohlicrs  with- 
drawn, his  people  clothod  and  fed,  and  allowed  to 
remain  on  Lost  river,  while  lie  went  forth  free. 

In  spite  of  these  signifirant  demands  of  tin*  ^fodoc 
leaders,  Canhy,  who  had  been  forced  into  a  position 
where  he  felt  that  he  must  vindicate  the  j)ower  and 
the  ri}^hteou8ncs8  of  the  government,  as  well  as  his 
own  ability  as  a  representative  of  both,  proceeded 
with  the  preparations  for  receiving  the  Alodocs  on 
the  10th.  Tents  were  put  up  to  shelter  them,  with 
hay  for  beds,  new  blankets,  and  plenty  of  food  and 
firewood,  besides  many  articles  of  convenience  and 
even  of  luxury  for  the  leaders.  Four  wagons,  under 
the  char<je  of  Steele  and  a  te^amster  named  David 
Horn  were  dispatched  to  the  place  agreed  upon,  at 
Point  of  Rocks  on  lower  Klamath  lake,  where  they 
expected  to  find  Jack  and  his  party.  After  waiting 
for  several  hours  and  no  Modocs  appearing,  Steele 
returned  to  Fairchild's  and  reported  the  failure  of 
the  expedition. 

After  this  breach  of  faith,  Meacham  telegraphed 
the  connnissioner  of  Indian  aft'airs  at  Waslihiinton 
that  every  honorable  means  to  secure  peace  had  be(  n 
exhausted;  that  the  Modocs  broke  every  promise, 
and  offered  terms  that  were  entirely  inadmissil)l(!; 
that  messengers  were  unwilling  to  return  to  their 
camp;  and  intimated  that  he  C(m8idered  the  mission 
of  peace  as  closed,  but  awaited  orders.  He  received 
from  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  an  order  to  submit 
his  telegrams  thereafter  to  General  Canby  for  approval, 
and  in  all  proceedhigs  to  be  governed  by  his  advice 
until  further  directed  by  the  department. 

In  the  meantime  Canby  had  telegraphed  that 
although  the  Modocs  had  failed  to  keep  their  apjioint- 
ment,  and  some  movement  of  the  troops  might  hv 
necessar}%  simply  to  keep  them  under  close  observa- 
tion ;  he  did  not  regard  this  last  action  as  decisive, 
and  should  spare  no  efforts  to  bring  about  the  result 
desired.     With  this  the  secretary  was  better  pleased, 


FEARS  OP  THE  FARMERS. 


827 


id 


nnrl  in  a  note  to  the  Secretary  of  War  commented  on  it 
warmly  in  contrast  with  tlie  expressions  of  the  chair- 
mau  of  the  peace  commission.  Sherman,  liowever, 
was  not  HO  san«j;uine.  lie  rei)Hed  to  Canhv's  tcleirram 
tluit  it  was  manifestly  (losircd  hy  all  in  authority  that 
the  peace  measures  should  surcoed  and  counselled 
patience.  "But  shouM  these  peaceful  measures  fail, 
and  shcmld  the  Modocs  presume  too  far  <»n  the  for- 
bearance of  th(!  ijovernment  and  a<jain  res(»i't  to  de- 
ceit  and  treachery,  I  trust  you  will  make  such  use;  of 
the  military  force  that  no  other  Indian  trihe  will 
imitate  their  example,  and  that  no  reservation  for 
them  will  be  necessary  except  graves  among  their 
chosen  lava  Vxds  " 

At  this  tlm(.^  Meacham  would  willingly  liave  seen 
the  peace  commission  dissolved,  and  more  than  once 
liad  signified  his  readiness  to  make  his  final  report  at 
Washington.  The  peace  commission  was  extremely 
unpopular  in  his  own  state,  and  was  likely  to  ruin  liis 
cliances  for  any  future  i)olitieal  prefernu'ut.  Subser- 
vient as  it  had  been  from  the  first  to  the  advice  of  the 
military,  by  order  of  the  government  it  occupied  a 
position  antagonistic  to  i)eace,  os  it  did,  by  tlie  terms 
offcired  by  the  military,  to  the  authorities  of  Or(>gon 
and  the  sense  of  the  people.  All  the  other  connnls- 
sioners  had  resigned  and  gone  honu;.  The  delavs 
caused  by  the  connnission  m  the  operations  of  tlie 
military  forces  were  liki'ly  to  defeat  the  object  for 
which  tliey  were  assembled,  as  with  the  approach  of 
spring  the  Modocs  would  escape  into  the  mountains, 
where  no  number  of  troops  could  hope  to  cajiture 
them,  and  whence  they  could  descend  i»i  small  parties 
to  steal  and  nmrder  at  will.  The  stock-raisers  in  tlic 
vicinity  of  the  lava  beds  complained  that  their  cattle 
and  sheep  were  lassoed  not  only  by  the  Indians,  who 
killed  all  they  needed,  but  by  the  army  teamsters  and 
soldiers  also,  who  took  fresh  meat  when  they  desired, 
thinking  they  might  as  well  have  it  as  the  Indians. 
The  time  was  at  hand  for  putting  in  crops,  but  no 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


t 


fanner  in  that  rej^ion  would  venture  to  do  any  thing 
on  liis  land  until  the  Modoc  difticulty  should  be  set- 
tled. Fears  were  entertained  that  the  Piutes,  Pitt 
Rivers,  and  Snakes,  aggregating  two  or  three  thou- 
sand warriors,  would  be  induced  by  Jack's  success  in 
resisthig  the  United  States  authorities  to  commence 
hostilities,  and  combine  with  him  in  a  war  Avhich 
might  become  general.  Already  that  portion  of  tlie 
Nez  Perces  who  had  always  been  disaffected  toward 
the  treaty  of  1855  were  making  trouble  in  the  Wal- 
lowwa  valley,  on  the  eastern  border  of  the  state.  No 
formal  treaty  had  ever  been  made  between  the  gov- 
ernment and  the  Indians  subdued  by  General  Crook's 
operations  a  few  years  previous,  who  now  openly  re- 
joiced over  the  rumors  that  Captain  Jack  still  defied 
the  power  of  the  soldiers  who  had  conquered  them, 
and  the  inhabitants  were  already  calling  for  protection 
by  petitions  to  the  governor.  That  this  threatening 
attitude  of  the  Indians  was  directly  due  to  the  influ- 
ence of  the  peace  connnission  all  were  aware;  and 
hence  arose  the  opposition  of  those  not  inunediately 
interested  in  having  the  Modocs  punished  for  crimes 
committed  by  them.  Of  the  importance  of  these 
matters  to  his  state  Meacham  was  fully  cognizant; 
and  having  become  convinced  that  no  satisfactory 
terms  could  be  made  with  the  Modocs,  he  was  quite 
willing  the  whole  problem  should  be  left  with  tlie 
military  for  solution.  Bat  he  was  not  permitted  to 
dispose  of  the  enterprise  into  which  he  had  brought 
himself  and  others  in  that  way.  Instead  of  that, 
Odeneal,  who  declined,  and  then  Dyar,  was  appointc  d 
on  the  commission  in  the  pla'-e  made  vacant  by  tlio 
resignation  of  Case,  and  Jesse  Applegate's  place  was 
filled  by  E.  Thomas,  a  method ist  clergyman  of  Peta- 
luma,  he  being  the  choice  of  Canby.  Thus  the  com- 
mission was  reorganized. 

The  day  after  Jack's  failure  to  keep  his  word  with 
the  commissioners,  a  reconnoissance  of  the  lava  beds 


SCONCHIN'S  RELUCTANCE. 


was  ordered  by  a  cavalry  company  under  Colonel 
Biddle,  but  nothing  was  seen  of  the  Modocs.  Ac- 
cording to  a  previously  expressed  desire  of  Jack's,  a 
messenger  was  sent  to  Yainax  to  invite  Chief  Sconchin 
and  sub-chief  Charley  Riddle  to  visit  him,  an  invita- 
tion seconded  by  the  commissioners.  After  several 
days  of  deliberation,  Sconchin  reluctantly  consented, 
fooling  convinced  beforehand  how  useless  would  be 
his  intervention.  At  starting  he  said,  "Let  me  once 
look  into  their  eyes,  and  I  will  know  what  to  report." 
Thereupon  he  went,  and  looked  into  the  eyes  of  Jack 
and  his  brother,  and  returning  assured  the  commis- 
sioners to  hope  for  nothing,  that  all  future  negotia- 
tions would  be  unavailing.  There  could  be  but  one 
reason  why  the  outlaws  wished  to  see  him,  which 
would  be  an  appeal  to  him  for  that  assistance  which 
iiad  already  often  been  refused  to  the  messengers  sent 
to  Yainax.  That  communication  was  kept  up  between 
tlie  loyal  and  the  rebel  Modocs  there  was  plenty  of 
evidence;  indeed,  the  messenger  sent  to  bring  in 
Sconchin  found  Long  Jim,  one  of  the  warriors  under 
indictment,  at  Yainax. 

On  the  1 3th  Biddle,  while  reconnoitering  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  the  lava  beds,  captured  thirty-four  horses, 
and  n)i<;lit  have  killed  a  number  of  savayjos  had  not 
his  orders  forbidden  it.  The  capture  of  the  horses, 
though  an  act  of  hostility  not  entirely  consonant  with 
pt'uce  measures,  was  thought  necessary  to  lessen  the 
chances  of  escape  from  the  lava  beds  before  a  surren- 
der could  be  effected.  In  the  meantime  negotiations 
had  been  carried  on  by  means  of  the  Indian  women 
living  about  the  settlements,  one  of  whom  after  visit- 
ing the  stronghold  brought  word  that  Jack  wished  for 
a  conference,  but  was  afraid  to  couie  out  of  the  lava 
hods  lest  Canby  should  ni»t  be  able  to  control  his  sol- 
diers, in  proof  of  which  he  mentioned  the  taking  of 
his  horses.  Being  afraid  to  come  out,  he  wished 
Fairchild  and  Meacham  to  come  to  him  in  his  strong- 
hold. 

Cal  Int.  Poc.   84 


Ill 


530 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


About  the  middle  of  March,  Canby  and  the  peace 
commission  removed  headquarters  to  Van  Brimmer's, 
and  the  troops  now  numbering  between  500  and  600, 
were  drawn  closer  to  the  lava  beds. 

No  material  change  took  place  in  the  attitude  of 
affairs  for  ten  or  twelve  days.  The  material  of  war 
was  slowly  brought  nearer  to  Jack's  stronghold  to 
convince  him  of  the  futility  of  all  attempts  at  escape. 
If  Jack  was  waiting  to  gain  time,  when  the  snow  be- 
ing off  the  mountains  the  Snakes  could  come  to  his 
assistance,  he  was  in  apparent  danger  of  being  frus- 
trated, though  that  he  occasionally  gained  some  re- 
cruits from  renegades  of  other  bands  was  credited. 

On  the  1 9th  Meacham  wrote  to  the  commissioner 
of  Indian  affairs  at  Washingttjn,  that  he  had  not  en- 
tirely abandoned  hopes  of  success;  even  that  he  was 
satisfied,  had  no  outside  treachery  intervened,  pea(  o 
would  have  been  accomplished  before  this.  The  Mo- 
docs,  he  said,  had  been  informed  that  the  authorities 
of  Oresron  demanded  the  warriors  indicted  :  also  that 
Jack  would  surrender  them,  but  dared  not.  In  tlils 
letter  he  advocated  a  meeting  on  Jack's  terms ;  and 
said  if  left  to  him  he  should  have  visited  Jack  in  IJio 
lava  beds ;  and  that  he  was  ready  to  do  so  at  that 
time,  but  was  restrained  by  Canby. 

It  did  not  appear,  however,  that  anything  had  oc- 
curred that  should  have  changed  his  mind  since  he 
had  written  that  the  Modocs  meant  treachery.  That 
he  did  not  at  this  time  enjoy  the  confiilenoe  of  t]\o 
departments  is  placed  beyond  doubt  by  a  telegram 
from  Sherman  to  Canby,  authorizing  him  to  remox  i' 
from  the  commission  any  member  he  thought  unfit, 
and  devolving  upon  him  the  entire  management  of 
the  Modoc  question. 

Canby  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  remove 
Meacham,  the  only  member  of  the  connnission  then 
on  the  ground,  particularly  as  he  was  clothed  with 
supreme  power.  But  even  Canby  could  not  make  .ill 
his  reports  agree,  for  on  one  day  he  thought  that  t\\o 


FURTHER  PROTESTATIONS. 


m 


Modocs  would  readily  consent  to  go  to  Yainax,  should 
tliat  be  thought  best,  and  the  next  was  obliged  to  re- 
}H)rt  that  they  were  not  in  a  disposition  favorable  to 
any  arrangement;  they  had  sent  one  of  their  women  in- 
to camp  to  say  that  at  the  last  moment  their  hearts 
failed  them,  and  they  could  not  make  up  their  minds 
to  go  to  a  new  country.  Time,  the  general  said,  was 
becoming  of  great  importance,  as  the  melting  of  the 
s  low  would  soon  enable  the  Indians  to  live  in  the 
mountains,  but  he  hoped  by  a  system  of  gradual  com- 
pression, and  an  exhibition  of  the  force  to  be  used 
ii'j;ainst  them,  to  satisfy  them  of  the  hopelessness  ot 
further  resistance,  and  give  the  peace  party  sufficient 
.strength  to  control  the  band.  On  the  22d  generals 
Canby  and  Gillem  made  a  reconnoissance  with  a  cavalry 
company,  during  which  an  accidental  mooting  was 
liad  with  Captain  Jack  and  a  party  of  his  warriors. 
A  conference  between  the  generals  and  Jack  and 
Sconchin  was  arranged;  but  instead  of  Sconchin,  Jack 
brouijht  Scarface,  the  acknowledi;ed  war  chief.  Not).- 
iiig  could  be  elicited  from  Jack  but  protestations  that 
lie  did  not  want  to  fight,  nor  to  be  shut  up  in  the  lava 
beds,  but  would  go  back  to  Lost  river.  The  gradual 
compression  went  on;  headquarters  were  once  more 
removed  to  the  foot  of  the  high  bluff,  witliin  throe 
miles  of  the  stronghold  ;  while  three  other  camps  woie 
established  within  distances  varying  from  four  to 
tliirtoen  miles. 

At  length  on  the  24th  the  new  commissioners, 
Tlionias  and  Dyar,  arrived  at  headquarters;  and  also 
Cajitaln  ().  C.  Applogato,  with  five  reservation  Mo- 
does  who  had  been  sent  for  by  General  Caid)v  to  as- 
sist  if  possible  in  the  peace  negotiati(ms.  On  tlie  'JHth 
Oenoral  Gillem  and  Commissioner  Thomas  had  an 
interview  with  Bojjjus  Charley  who  had  bi'on  itassinir 
frcelv  between  the  stronghold  and  the  camn  of  tie 
connnissionors  for  several  weeks.  In  this  interview 
it  was  once  niore  agreed  that  the  Modocs  sjiould  come 
out  the  following  day ;  but  according  to  their  usual 


I U  i\ 


k 


532 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


tactics  a  delegation  consisting  of  Bogus  Cliarkv, 
^laiy,  another  Indian  woman  named  Ellen,  and  Bos- 
ton Charley,  was  sent  in  their  place  with  a  message 
to  the  commissioners  and  Canby  of  a  private  nature. 

The  impression  given  out  at  the  several  interviews 
held  up  to  this  time  was  that  there  were  two  pai-tics 
among  the  Modocs,  a  war  party  and  a  peace  party, 
and  that  Jack  was  of  the  peace  party,  while  Sconchin, 
his  rival,  was  striving  for  the  chi^'ftainship  by  at- 
tempting to  lead  the  majority  or  war  party.  That 
this  was  simply  a  device  to  deceive  the  connnissioners 
as  to  their  real  strength  and  purpose  was  afterward 
made  apparent ;  but  at  the  time  it  succeeded,  as  the 
telegrams  of  Canby  show.  After  the  meeting  of  the 
'J 2nd  he  said;  "The  result  confirmed  the  impression 
l)reviously  reported,  that  the  war  faction  is  still  pro- 
dominant.  Captain  Jack's  demeanor  was  that  of  a 
man  under  duress,  and  afraid  to  exhibit  his  real  feil- 
iiigs.  Important  questions  were  evaded  or  not  an- 
swered at  all."  "^his  created  a  feeling  of  compassion 
toward  Jack  in  the  mind  of  the  general  who  was 
conducting  the  negotiations,  and  led  him  to  believe 
more  in  the  final  success  of  the  peace  commission, 
^leacham,  feeling  compelled  to  follow  the  lead  given, 
as  ordered  by  Delano,  after  the  late  unsatisfactory 
meetings,  again  wrote  to  the  commissioner  of  Indian 
artulis  that  the  principal  impediment  to  the  surrender 
of  the  Indians  was  the  fear  that  the  offending  wamors 
would  be  punished,  and  that  this  fear  was  willfully 
increased  by  bad  white  men,  who  desired  to  have  the 
war  prolonged  from  mercenary  motives. 

This  accusation,  which  gained  most  credence  at  the 
greatest  distance  from  the  seat  of  war,  was  easy  of 
refutation,  since  the  only  men  having  the  opportunity 
at  first  to  connnunicate  with  the  Indians  were  those 
sent  by  the  connnissioners,  and  another  class  who 
lived  upon  terms  of  equality  with  !Modoc  women,  and 
who  could  have  little  of  anything  to  gain  by  the  con- 
tinuance of  hostilities,  b  it  whose  profits  had  formerly 


CAUSE  OF  FEAR. 


6o3 


floponded  greatly  upon  the  trade  of  the  very  Indians 
now  rendered  unable  to  carry  on  commerce  by  reason 
of  the  war.  It  was  m  the  power  of  the  military  at 
any  time  to  have  prevented  the  communication  exist- 
ing  between  these  women,  who  picked  up  all  sorts  of 
stories  in  their  intercourse  with  low  white  men  and  the 
Indians  in  the  lava  beds,  had  they  chosen,  simply  by 
sending  them  to  their  people  with  orders  to  remain 
there  until  Jack  surrendered.  That  this  was  not  done 
was  a  miUtary  blunder.  On  the  other  hand,  the  peace 
oounnission,  which  was  military  in  its  feelings,  being 
desirous  of  establishing  the  character  of  the  govern- 
ment for  magnaminity,  encouraged  the  Modocs  while 
still  avoiding  hostility  to  send  small  parties  almost 
<laily  to  headquarters,  where  they  could  observe  all 
that  was  going  on,  and  where  they  were  sure  to  hear 
from  those  who  were  most  likel}'  to  seek  their  society 
auvthinij  and  evervthing.  These  blunders  were  the 
direct  cause  of  the  fear  which,  if  any,  possessed  tlie 
Indians,  which  fear  was  therefore  chargeable  to  those 
conducting  tlie  peace  commission,  and  not  to  any 
other  persons.  Above  all,  the  authorities  at  Wash- 
ington, who  had  sot  their  hearts  upon  the  success  of 
a  doubtful  experiment,  by  insisting  upon  pacific  meas- 
ures when  these  measures  had  been  persistently  re- 
jected by  armed  savages,  possessed  of  considerable 
kniAvledgc  of  the  government,  were  responsible  for 
the  present  condition  of  aftairs. 

So  far  was  this  infatuatiisu  rnrrird,  that  on  receiv- 
ing Canby's  telegram  saying  that  Jack  still  wished  to 
return  to  Lost  river,  Delano  instructed  the  general 
not  to  require  that  any  of  the  propositions  heretofore 
made  should  be  accepted,  but  if  the  Modocs  insisted 
on  not  going  elsewhere,  to  allow  them  a  reservation  on 
Lost  river;  and  if  they  were  opposed  to  the  surrender 
of  the  offending  warriors,  not  to  insist  upon  that,  but 
to  include  them  also  in  the  amnesty. 

From  the  26th  to  the  1st  of  April  nothing  occurred 


i.iii 


634 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


of  importance  at  headquarters,  though  news  was 
brought  from  Langell  valley  that  Hooker  Jim  and  a 
party  of  Modocs  had  shown  themselves  near  Alkali 
lake  and  driven  ofF  a  large  band  of  horses;  also  that 
on  the  night  of  the  24th  they  were  at  Yainax  where 
they  talked  until  moniing,  trying  to  persuade  the  res- 
ervation Modocs  and  Klamaths  to  join  Jack,  telling 
them  that  five  tribes  had  promised  to  take  the  war 
path  with  him  as  soon  as  he  left  the  lava  beds,  and 
that  unless  they  united  with  the  war  confederacy  they 
would  not  be  safe.  They  sent  their  women  to  a  man 
named  Jordan,  who  lived  with  an  Indian  woman,  to 
buy  powder,  but  failed  to  obtain  any.  This  move- 
ment of  the  Modocs  greatly  alarmed  both  the  white 
men  and  Indians  in  Sprague  River  valley ;  and  as  the 
conduct  of  the  Snakes  in  Goose  Lake  valley  was 
alarming,  a  petition  was  presented  to  the  governor  of 
Oregon  for  protection. 

The  raid  of  the  Modocs  into  Langell  valle}",  and 
their  threats  to  the  reservation  Indians,  somewhat 
alarmed  the  families  at  the  Klamath  agency,  who 
were  almost  entirely  unprotected,  Dyar  being  absent 
on  the  business  of  the  peace  commission,  and  the  other 
white  men  assisting  the  Indians  with  their  farms  on 
diflferent  parts  of  the  reservation.  Knowing  that  the 
Modocs  might  in  one  night  make  a  descent  on  the 
agency,  Captain  Pollock,  in  command  at  the  fort,  ad- 
vised the  temporary  removal  of  the  families  to  the 
post,  and  made  a  requisition  on  General  Gillem  for  a 
few  men  to  guard  the  government  property  on  the 
reservation,  which  requisition  was  not  honored  on  ac- 
count of  the  need  of  all  the  troops  about  the  lava  beds. 

The  messenger  who  carried  the  despatch  at  his  own 
instance  circulated  the  rumor  in  Linkviile  that  the 
Klamaths  had  joined  the  Modocs,  the  families  at  the 
agency  had  taken  refuge  at  the  fort,  and  the  country 
was  in  a  state  of  alarm.  Happily  Captain  Applegato 
chanced  to  be  at  Linkviile,  on  his  return  from  tlie 
headquarters  of  the  peace  commission  with  his  Modoc 


MOVEMENTS  OF  THE  TROOPS. 


delegation  from  Yainax,  and  was  able  to  quiet  the 
apprehensions  occasioned  by  this  unauthorized  allega- 
tion against  the  Klaniaths.  The  people  on  tlie  reser- 
vation were  at  no  time  afraid  of  the  Klamaths,  although 
tliey  were  just  then  under  apprehensions  in  regard  to 
tlio  hostile  Modocs.  The  Indians  on  the  reservation 
vere  fearful  of  an  attack.  "Jack  had  long  before  the 
war  told  old  Sconchinand  other  Yainax  Indians,"  says 
Applegate,  "tliat  in  case  of  a  war  with  the  whites  he 
would  destroy  Yainax,  and  kill  the  Indians  tliere  if 
they  did  not  join  him.  Old  Sconchin  told  me  this 
oaily  in  the  war,  and  said  if  Jack's  band  came  to 
Yainax  on  a  raid,  his  men  would  die  fighting  ft)r  the 
place  and  their  white  friends.  The  Modocs  did  scout 
in  the  vicinity  of  Yainax,  and  it  is  altogether  probable 
tliat  had  we  not  been  constantly  on  the  alert  a  descent 
would  have  been  made  on  us  during  the  first  months 
of  the  war." 

On  the  Slst  of  March  a  movement  by  the  troops  in 
f  )rcc  was  made,  three  hundred  marching  to  the  upper 
end  of  Lower  Klamath  lake,  and  thence  on  the  1st  of 
April  to  Tule  lake  and  the  lava  beds.  On  the  2d  the 
Modocs  siijnified  their  willingness  to  confer  with  the 
coinnnssioners  at  a  point  midway  between  headquar- 
ters and  the  stronghold.  Jack  reiterated  his  terms, 
to  be  allowed  to  have  Lost  river,  with  a  general  am- 
nesty, and  to  have  the  troops  all  taken  away.  The 
most  that  was  accomplished  was  to  obtain  consent  to 
erect  a  council  tent,  the  weather  being  stormy  and 
coltl,  at  a  place  on  the  lava  beds  about  a  mile  and  a 
quarter  from  tlie  camp  of  the  connnissioners,  where 
future  nesiotiations  could  be  carried  on.  On  tlie  4th 
a  request  was  made  by  Jack  that  Meacham,  Rosebo- 
rougji  and  Fairchild  should  meet  him  with  a  few  of  his 
men  at  the  council  tent.  They  went,  accompanied  by 
Riddle  and  his  wife  Toby  as  interpreters.  Jack  was 
accompanied  by  six  warriors  and  the  women  of  his 
own  family. 

Colonel  Mason  had  been  ordered  to  move  his  com- 


I 


"I- 
I'l 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


li 


pany  to  camp  two  miles  from  the  stronghold  on  the 
east  side,  and  the  movement  seemed  to  have  had  some 
effect  in  bringing^  about  the  interview.  The  council 
was  opened  by  Roseborough,  who  explained  to  the 
Indians  their  position.  Jack  and  Sconchin  both  re- 
plied that  they  wanted  the  Lost  river  country,  and 
reiterated  their  former  demands.  Roseborough  replied 
that  it  was  useless  talking  about  Lost  river,  because 
they  had  sold  it,  and  could  not  have  it  back;  that 
blood  had  been  spilled  tliere,  and  the  Modocs  would 
not  be  able  to  live  there  in  peace.  Jack  replied 
that  his  young  men  had  done  wrong  in  spilling  the 
blood  of  innocent  men,  but  declared  that  had  no  set- 
tler been  in  the  fight  of  the  29th  of  November,  none 
would  have  been  killed. 

He  then  recited  his  grievances  while  on  the  reserva- 
tion. But  when  shown  by  the  commissioners  that  ho 
could  not  have  his  demand  for  the  Lost  river  country 
complied  with,  or  if  complied  with  that  he  could  not 
enjoy  peace  there  after  what  had  happened,  he  said 
that  if  he  could  not  have  that  he  would  say  no  more 
about  it,  but  would  accept  a  small  reservation  in  Cali- 
fornia, including  Willow,  Cottonwood,  and  Hot  creeks, 
with  the  lava  beds.  This,  too,  was  refused  as  imprac- 
ticable. 

When  Meacham  addressed  the  Indians,  they  lis- 
tened with  indifference.  Tne  council  lasted  for  five 
hours,  when  it  was  sn.ddenly  terminated  by  the  Ind- 
ians, who  retired,  saying  if  they  changed  their  mind 
in  the  matter,  they  would  report  next  day. 

On  the  following  morning  Boston  Charley  came  to 
the  commissioners'  camp  and  wished  to  see  Rosebo- 
rough, to  whom  he  said  that  Jack  desired  another  in- 
terview, when  Roseborough  replied  that  he  did  not 
wish  to  talk  any  more  with  Jack  until  he  had  ma«lo 
up  his  mind  what  he  would  do.  Boston  then  remarkeil 
that  the  Indians  might  all  come  in  the  next  day, 
which  led  Roseborough  to  think  they  really  contem- 
plated surrender.     A  message  was  immediately  sent 


SUSPICIONS  AROUSED. 


m 


by  Toby  Riddle  conveying  a  proposition  to  Jack  to 
surrender  with  any  others  who  might  elect  to  do  so. 
The  proposition  was  not  only  declined,  but  in  such  a 
manner  that  on  her  return  Toby  assured  the  commis- 
sioners and  Canby  that  it  would  be  no  longer  safe  for 
tlieni  to  meet  the  Modocs  in  council.  Tht;  informa- 
tion was  lightly  treated  by  the  generals,  and  by  Thomas 
— the  former  feeling  behind  them  the  power  of  the 
federal  government,  the  latter  trusting  in  the  power 
of  the  almighty — but  was  regarded  as  of  more  con- 
sequence by  Meacham  and  Dyar,  who  better  under- 
stood the  characters  of  the  informer  and  of  the  Indians 
informed  against.  Through  the  indiscretion  of  Thomas, 
the  Modocs  were  made  aware  that  their  contemplated 
plan  of  assassination  was  understood,  a  knowledge 
which  undoubtedly  hastened  its  consummation. 

On  the  morning  of  the  8th  Jack  sent  a  messenger 
to  the  commissioners,  requesting  a  conference  at  the 
council-tent,  and  a  proposition  to  meet  them  with 
only  six  unarmed  men.  But  the  signal  officer  at  the 
station  overlooking  the  lava  beds  reporting  six  Indians 
at  the  council-tent  and  twenty  more  in  the  rocks  be- 
hind them,  all  armed,  the  invitation  was  not  accepted, 
and  no  meeting  was  had.  Jack  understood  from  this 
rejection  of  his  overtures  that  he  was  suspected,  and 
tliat  whatever  he  did  must  be  done  quickly.  He  had 
jj^ained  by  his  baffling  course  the  time  needed,  so 
that  should  he  be  compelled  to  leave  the  lava  beds  he 
could  escape,  and  join  or  be  joined  by  the  Snakes  on 
tlie  east.  This  he  intended  to  do,  first  destroying 
the  army  generals  and  the  peace  commission,  by 
wliich  he  expected  to  throw  the  troops  into  temporary 
confusion,  and  during  the  confusion  to  carry  out  his 
plans. 

Therefore  on  the  morning  of  the  10th  a  delegation 
from  Jack's  camp  consisting  of  Boston  Charley, 
Hooker  Jim,  William,  or  Whim  as  he  was  called,  and 
Tfiive  visited  the  commissioners  at  headquarters  about 
three  miles  from  the  stronghold,  and  brought  a  propo- 


638 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


a 


sition  from  Jack  that  generals  Canby  and  Gilleni, 
with  the  peace  comuiissioners,  should  meet  the  Mo- 
docs  in  conference.  The  interpreters  were  sunt  out 
to  learn  Jack's  wishes,  and  also  to  convey  to  him 
protest  from  the  commissioners,  whioli  was  in  writinjj;, 
and  which  Riddle  read  to  Jack,  containing  the  terms 
before  offered — a  general  amnesty  and  a  new  reserva- 
tion in  a  warmer  climate. 

It  was  evident  to  Riddle,  from  the  manner  of  the 
Modocs,  that  they  were  not  acting  in  good  faith. 
Jack  threw  the  paper  sent  him  upon  the  ground, 
saying  he  had  no  use  for  it;  he  was  not  a  white  man, 
and  could  not  read.  He  also  insisted  upon  the  com- 
missioners coming  a  mile  beyond  the  council-tent, 
saying  he  would  go  no  farther  to  meet  them.  Light 
remarks  concerning  the  conmiissioners  were  made  in 
the  hearing  of  Riddle  by  others  of  the  Modocs. 
They  had  also  been  killing  and  were  drying  heef,  and 
had  thrown  up  breastworks  of  stcme  to  strengthen 
certain  points ;  all  of  which  were  to  the  interpreters 
hidications  that  they  were  preparing  for  war  rather 
than  for  peace. 

After  a  good  deal  of  negotiating,  Riddle  advising 
against  any  meeting,  it  was  finally  agreed — Thomas 
being  chairman  in  the  temporary  absence  of  Meacham 
— that  the  conference  should  be  held  between  Canby 
and  the  commissioners  on  one  side,  and  Jack  with  five 
men  on  the  other,  all  to  go  unarmed,  and  to  meet  at 
the  place  selected  by  Jack,  an  extensive  basin  sur- 
rounded by  rocks,  at  eleven  o'clock  on  the  forenoon 
of  the  11th.  After  this  decision  Riddle  called  on 
Canby  and  advised  him  to  send  twenty-five  or  tliirty 
men  to  secrete  themselves  in  the  rocks  near  tlie 
council  ground,  as  a  safeguard  against  any  treacher- 
ous movement  on  the  part  of  the  Modocs.  To  this 
proposal  the  general  replied  that  it  would  be  an  insult 
to  Captain  Jack  to  which  he  could  not  consent;  and 
that  besides,  the  discovery  of  such  a  movement  by 
the  Modocs  would  probably  lead  to  hostilities,  and  be 


CANDY'S  CONFIDENCE. 


8S9 


unwise.  But  aside  from  this  it  was  a  silly  sujjfsjfos- 
tion.  If  Jack's  men  were  hidden  behind  the  1(m  ks 
the  soldiers  of  course  would  have  been  discovend; 
if  they  were  not  there  the  ])resonce  of  tiie  soldiers 
waH  unnecessary.  Again,  l^oston  Charity  came 
into  Gillem's  ramp  on  the  evtnin*^  of  tlie  lOtli,  and 
remained  there  until  the  connnissioners  left  to  iro  to 
tlie  council  tent  next  morning,  seeing  and  reporting 
evcrvthiiii;. 

When  Meacham  heard  of  the  arrangement,  he  re- 
monstrated against  going  into  the  hole  in  the  rocks 
Jack  had  designated,  and  indeed  against  any  meeting 
at  all ;  but  he  finally  yielded  to  the  wishes  of  Canby 
and  Thomas,  when  Jack  consented  to  change  tlie 
})lace  of  meeting  to  the  council-tent,  which  he  did 
on  the  morning  of  the  11th. 

Everything  being  now  arranged  so  far  as  it  could 
bo  f)r  what  all  wished  might  be  a  conclusive  confer- 
ence, Riddle  once  more  warned  the  commissioners 
tliat  in  his  belief  the  Modocs  meant  to  kill  them  at 
this  meeting,  and  Toby  said  the  same.  But  Caidjy 
was  confident  that  they  dare  not  attack  him  with 
Mason's  force  where  it  could  be  put  into  the  strong- 
hold before  the  Indians  could  reach  it;  that  the  road 
to  the  council-tent  had  been  watched  from  the  signal 
station  all  the  morning,  and  that  only  the  number  of 
I'ldians  agreed  upon  were  on  the  ground,  and  they 
apparently  unarmed.  With  simple  and  refreshing 
faith  Thomas  said,  "There  is  no  danger;  let  us  put 
our  trust  in  God ;  surely  he  will  not  let  harm  come 
to  mon  engaged  in  so  good  a  work." 

"Trust  God,  if  you  want  to,"  growled  Riddle, 
"  but  I  tell  you  don't  trust  them  Indians."  Indeed, 
so  earnest  was  Riddle  that  it  should  be  well  under- 
stood that  it  was  all  against  his  judgment,  that  he 
requested  Canby  and  all  the  commissioners  to  accom- 
pany him  to  the  tent  of  Gillem,  who  was  ill,  that  he 
inicrht  make  a  formal  protest  in  the  presence  of  that 
officer,  plainly  stating  that  he  consented  to  make  one 


HJ„|1, 


:i:,ii-; 


S40 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES, 


<»f  the  party  rather  than  lay  hhnself  open  to  the 
charge  of  cowardice,  and  the  declaration  was  there 
made.  Then  Riddle  proposed  that  if  the  meeting; 
must  take  place,  the  party  should  carry  concealed 
arnjs.  To  this  Canby  and  Thomas  objected,  ileter- 
niined  on  keeping  faith  with  the  Indians,  though  so 
strongly  assured  of  their  treacherous  intent.  Neither 
Meacham  nor  Dyar  entertained  the  same  scruples 
regarding  the  savages,  nor  the  same  trust  in  the  jus- 
tice of  heaven  and  the  protecting  arm  of  providence ; 
though  opposed  to  the  meeting,  like  Riddle  they 
would  go  rather  than  be  called  cowards,  or  charged 
with  deserting  Canby  and  Thomas.  Accordingly 
Meacham  and  Dyar  concealed  each  a  small  pistol 
upon  his  person  to  be  used  in  case  of  emergency. 

At  the  time  appointed  the  party  set  out  for  the 
council-tent.  There  were,  besides  the  connnissioners, 
Canby,  the  interpreter  Riddle,  and  Toby.  Mea- 
cham and  Dyar  took  their  horses  to  ride,  though  the 
nature  of  the  ground  made  horseback  travel  slow. 
Toby  also  rode,  all  the  others  walked.  On  arriving 
at  tlie  ground,  they  found  Jack  awaiting  them  with  the 
number  of  followers  agreed  upon ;  but  these  with  the 
addition  of  Bogus  Charley  and  Boston  Charley,  who 
had  spent  the  night  at  GUlem's  camp  and  accompa- 
nied the  commissioners  to  the  rendezvous,  gave  Jack 
just  twice  as  many  as  were  on  the  other  side,  exclu- 
sive of  the  two  interpreters. 

Jack  was  indeed  a  cunning  fellow,  and  nowhere 
was  his  shrewdness  ever  more  craftily  displayed  than 
in  this  instance,  where  by  making  two  of  his  confed- 
erates accompany  the  intended  victims,  he  could  not 
be  accused  by  them  of  bringing  more  than  the  num- 
ber agreed  upon. 

The  commissioners*  party  joined  the  Indians,  who 
were  sitting  in  a  semicircular  group  about  a  campfirc 
near  the  tent.  Canby  offered  them  cigars,  which  they 
smoked  for  a  little  while.  The  council  was  then 
opened  by  the  general,  who  spoke  in  a  kind  and  fatli- 


THE  FATAL  MEETIN'O. 


Ml 


erly  way,  saying  ho  had  for  many  years  hcen  ac- 
quainted with  Indians,  and  thought  he  underatood 
them;  tliat  he  had  come  to  tliis  meeting  to  talk  in  a 
friendly  manner  to  them,  and  conclude  upon  a  peace ; 
and  that  whatever  he  promised  them  that  day,  they 
might  be  sure  they  would  receive. 

Meacham  followed  with  allusions  to  his  office  as  a 
commissioner  sent  by  the  government  to  make  jxjace, 
and  take  the  Modocs  away  from  a  place  where  blood 
liad  been  shed,  to  a  new  and  happier  home,  where 
they  would  be  provided  with  a  comfortable  support. 
Thomas  made  some  similar  remarks.  Jack  then 
spoke,  saying  he  did  not  wish  to  quit  the  country  ho 
was  in ;  that  it  was  the  only  country  known  to  him. 
}[o  had  given  up  Lost  river  and  he  wanted  Cotton- 
wood and  Willow  creeks  instead.  He  wanted  the 
soldiers  taken  away,  and  wanted  to  be  left  in  posses- 
sion of  the  lava  beds  It  was  soon  evident  that  no- 
thing would  be  gained  by  the  conference. 

Meanwhile  the  air  began  to  thicken  with  treacliery. 
As  the  savages  manifested  uneasiness  on  seeing  a 
white  man  not  of  the  party  approaching  the  place 
along  the  trail,  Dyar  mounted  his  horse  and  riding  forth 
turned  back  the  intruder,  that  the  Indians  might  not 
suspect  duplicity.  When  he  returned  he  did  not  rejoin 
the  circle,  but  threw  himself  on  the  ground  at  a  little 
distance  from  it,  still  holding  his  horse  by  the  bridle. 

Mcacham's  horse  had  been  standing  loose;  but  as 
tlie  conference  drew  toward  a  close,  Meacham  secured 
tlie  animal,  still  continuing  his  part  in  the  discussion, 
tlie others  remaining  seated  or  reclining  on  the  ground. 
In  the  midst  of  Meacham's  remarks  Sconchin  threw 
ill  some  disrespectful  words  in  his  own  tongue  which 
the  commissioners  did  not  understand.  Hooker  Jim 
tlicn  arose,  and  going  to  Meacham's  horse  took  the 
overcoat  from  the  horn  of  the  saddle  and  put  it  on. 
Then  with  mocking  gestures  he  strutted  back  and 
forth  saying  iu  English,  "Don't  I  look  like  old  man 
Meacham?" 


';oii:< 


548 


SOME  TVDIAN  EPISODES. 


■■  I 


Every  one  present  understood  fully  the  significance 
of  the  affront  Treachery  was  rapidly  unfolding 
into  death.  None  durst  show  alarm;  and  though 
each  was  anxious  to  catch  the  eye  of  the  others,  none 
must  indulge  in  a  significant  glance,  lest  it  should  be 
made  the  signal  for  what  all  felt  was  impending. 
True,  no  guns  were  visible,  but  revolvers  could  bo 
plainly  seen  beneath  the  raiment  of  the  savages. 

Calmly  the  general  rose  from  his  seat,  again  refer- 
ring to  his  early  acquaintance  with  different  tribes  o'' 
Indians,  and  pleasantly  related  that  one  tribe  had 
elected  him  chief,  and  given  him  a  name  signifying 
"  Indian's  friend  ;"  and  another  had  made  hun  cliief, 
and  given  the  name  of  the  "tall  man;"  that  he  had 
never  deceived  them,  but  had  always  dealt  fairly  with 
them ;  that  he  was  there  that  day  by  order  of  the 
president  of  the  United  States;  that  he  had  no  au- 
thority to  remove  the  troops,  who  were  there  by  tlio 
president's  order,  and  also  to  see  that  everything  was 
done  that  was  rigl\t,  by  both  Indians  and  settlers. 

Sconchin  replied  with  the  demand  tliat  they  sliould 
be  given  the  Willow  Creek  or  Hot  Creek  countrv, 
and  that  the  troops  should  all  be  taken  away.  Wliilc 
his  speech  was  being  interpreted,  Jack  arose  and 
walked  around  behind  Dyar's  horse.  At  the  same 
time  two  Indians,  carrying  several  guns  each,  sudden- 
ly appeared,  as  if  arising  out  of  the  gn)und. 
Jack  returned  to  a  position  in  the  circle  opposite  to 
Canby,  and  as  Meacham  demanded,  "  Wliat  does  that 
moan  ? "  Jack  gave  the  word  in  his  own  lansjcuaijjo, 
which  meant  "all  ready,"  and  drawing  a  revolvd* 
from  his  bosom  fired  at  Canby  who  was  within  a  few 
feet  of  him. 

When  the  Indians  carrying  guns  first  came  in  sight. 
all  but  Toby  Rid<lle  had  sprung  to  tlieir  feet.  Toby 
lay  flat  on  the  ground.  Simultaneously  with  Jack  s 
attack  on  Canby,  Sconchin  fired  on  Meacham,  and 
Boston  Charley  on  Thomas. 

At  the  first  motion  of  Jack  to  fire,  Dyar,  who  was  a 


CULMINATED  SAVAGERY. 


643 


very  tall  man,  and  had  an  advantage  of  a  few  feet  in 
distance,  started  to  run,  pursued  by  Hooker  Jim. 
Findinj^  Viimseif  close  pressed,  when  he  had  gone  150 
yards,  he  turned  and  fired  witli  his  pistol,  which 
ciipcked  the  advance  of  the  enerny.  By  repeating 
this  manoeuvre  se/eral  times  he  escaped  to  the  picket 
line.  Kiddle  also  escaped  by  runnintj,  though  ho  was 
pursued  by  Shacknasty  Jim,  assisted  by  Branclio,  who 
with  Scarface,  Steamboat  Frank,  and  Sloluck,  had 
been  r-oncealed  in  the  rocks  near  the  council-tjround. 
Toby  escaped  with  only  a  blow  given  her  by  one  of 
the  Indians  who  coveted  her  horse ;  Ju ck  interfer- 
ing, she  was  permitted  to  follow  lier  husband. 

It  was  but  a  few  moments  after  Jack  had  uttered 
liis  ''all  ready,"  when  General  Canby  lay  stripped 
naked  upon  tlie  ground  with  a  bullet  hole  through 
his  head.  A  short  di.stance  from  him  was  Thomas, 
ill  so  d(!ad,  and  nearly  naked.  Near  the  clergyman 
lay  Meacham,  stripped,  and  with  five  bullet  wounds — 
in  the  ftice,  the  left  hand,  the  right  wrist,  the  lobe  of 
one  ear,  and  the  side  of  the  head,  and  a  knife-cut  on 
tlie  other  side  of  the  head.  With  all  these  injuries, 
liowever,  he  was  not  dead,  and  revived  half  an  hour 
later  when  the  troops  reached  the  spot.  Can  any 
one  tell  why,  what  is  so  freciuently  the  case,  that  the 
two  men  who  trusted  in  the  Lord  perished,  while 
t'.iosc  who  did  not  were  saved? 

Some  would  say  tl;:<t  tliese  chivalrous  persims 
slioiild  have  exercised  better  judgment,  and  not  have 
(U'penuled  on  God  to  work  a  miracle  to  save  men  from 
(h'struction,  who,  v'hiM;  fairlv  warned  of  their  danixcr 
(leliherately  walk  into  it.  Even  the  ph-a  ofdutv  does 
not  here  obtain,  for  there  was  no  oblii^ation  restinji 
on  them  to  risk  their  lives;  no  principle  involved  in 
it.  no  important  issue  turning  upon  it.  It  made  no 
whit  difference  to  any  (me  whether  or  not  those  sav- 
aj^i's  were  seen  on  that  particular  day,  by  those  par- 
ticular persons,  and  in  that  particular  way.  The  last 
telt.'grani   from  Canby  on  the  subject,   dated  April 


Jl 


544 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


12tli,  contained  those  words  ;  "In  my  judgment  per- 
manent poac  y  caiHiot  be  secared  if  they  are  allowed  to 
remain  in  this  innnediate  neighborhood.  The  Modo(  s 
are  now  sensible  that  they  cannot  live  in  peace  on 
Lost  river,  and  have  abandoned  their  claim  to  it,  but 
wish  to  be  left  hi  the  lava  beds.  This  means  license 
to  plunder,  and  a  stronghold  to  retreat  to,  and  was 
refused.  Their  last  proposition  is  to  come  in  and  have 
the  opportunity  of  lookhig  for  a  new  home  not  far 
away,  and,  if  they  are  sincere  in  this,  the  trouble  will 
soon  be  ended ;  but  there  has  been  so  much  vacilla- 
tion and  duplicity  in  their  talks  that  I  have  hesitated 
about  reporting  until  simie  definite  result  was  at- 
tained. All  the  movements  of  the  troops  have  been 
made  deliberately  and  cautiously,  so  as  to  avoid  col- 
lision and  to  impress  the  Indians  that  we  have  no  un- 
friendly intent ;  thus  far  we  have  succeeded  very  W(3ll, 
but  their  conduct  has  given  so  much  reason  to  appre- 
hend that  they  were  only  trying  to  gain  time,  that  I 
have  organized  a  party  of  scouts  to  operate  with  the 
troops  if  they  should  go  to  the  mountains  or  renew 
hostilities." 

Before  General  Canby  had  left  camp  at  headquar- 
ters he  requested  General  Gillem,  should  anythiuLf 
ha})pen  to  confirm  him  in  his  suspicions  of  the  treach- 
erous designs  of  the  !Modt)cs,  to  send  Doctor  Cabaniss 
to  notify  him.  Soon  after  the  commissioners  reach<'<l 
the  council-tent,  an  Indian  approached  the  jdcket-liiu' 
about  Colonel  ^Mason's  canjp,  which  was  located  at 
Hospital  Rock,  about  two  miles  east  of  tlu;  stronghold, 
carrviuij  a  white  flaj;.  Lieutenant  Sherwooil  was 
sent  to  meet  him.  He  soon  returned  and  re|H»rtr(l 
that  three  !Modocs  wished  to  have  a  talk  with  the 
conuuander  of  the  post.  Sherwood  was  then  sent  to 
inform  the  Indians  that  if  they  wished  to  sec  the 
colonel  tlKy  niust  ct»me  inside  the  picket-lhie.  Liiu- 
tenant  Boyle  of  the  same  regiment,  who  happened  ti» 
be  present,  asked  permission  to  accomi)any  Sherwood, 
and  the  two  officers  a«rain  went  out  to  meet  the  lla' 


INDIAN  TREACHERY. 


546 


r)f  truce,  which  was  lialf  a  mile  outside  the  lino  of 
pickets.  Just  before  tluy  came  to  it  tliey  wore  met 
hy  one  of  the  Indians,  wlio  gave  his  name  asWooley- 
liaired  Jake,  and  tlie  names  of  his  Ci»m})anions  as 
Comstock  Dave,  and  Steamboat  Frank.  He  then 
in(juirod  if  Lieutenant  Boyle  was  the  connnanding  of- 
ficer, and  on  being  told  that  he  was  not,  invited  tlie 
ofHcers  to  go  on  to  where  tlie  flag-bearer  was  in  wait- 
ing. The  manner  of  the  Indians  seemhig  to  indicate 
tivachery,  the  two  officers  being  unarmed,  declined, 
Imt  aLireed  to  talk  with  them  if  tliev  W()uld  come  to 
tlu!  jticki't-post.  This  the  Indians  refused,  and  Sher- 
wood and  Boyle  started  for  their  camp,  a  mile  distant. 
Xo  sooner  were  their  backs  turned  than  the  Indians 
began  firing,  and  they  began  dodging  from  rock  to 
r(H'k  as  they  ran.  Sherwood  soon  fell  mortally 
wounded;  but  Boyle  escaped,  Ix'ing  protected  by  the 
liio  »»f  the  picket-guard  who  kept  the  Indians  back. 
1''  '  troops  soon  turned  out  aiul  brought  in  the 
svuMi.ded  lieutenant,  who  <liod  three  davs  afterward. 

This  occurred  while  Canby  was  smoking  and  chat- 
ting with  the  consi)irators  at  the  council-ground,  and 
was  [lart  of  the  plan  by  which  Jack  meant  to  deprive 
the  army  at  once  of  its  principal  officers.  Had  th.e 
sclii'iiie  succi'edcd  as  Jack  intended,  the  troops  placed 
hy  ( Jilleni  near  the  stronghold  for  tlu'  purpose  of  bi'- 
iiij;  ready  in  this  or  any  other  emergency,  would  have 
hull  thrown  hito  temptmir}'  confusion,  rendering 
tht  in  unable  to  interfere  with  the  slaughter  of  the 
roniinissioners.  In  Jack's  plan  there  was  nothing 
lacking. 

Tin-  officer  at  the  signal  station  overlooking  !Mason's 
cani|)  telegraphed  Gilleni  what  had  occurred,  and  the 
{Iiiicral  Sent  for  Cabaniss.  A  message  was  written, 
and  the  doctor  fullv  informed  of  the  damper  of  his 
mission,  which  indeed  he  knew  beforehand,  anil  was 
willing  to  encounter  for  the  sake  of  General  r'anby 
wlidin    ho    jrreatlv  loved.     But  at  the  moment   the 

• 

message  was  handed    to   hiui,  the  signal    officer    on 

Cal,  Int.  I'oc.    Hi 


■  iil> 


i 


I 


i  ll 


i 


540 


SO]ME  IXDTAX  ITISOPES. 


the  west  side  cried  out  "  Tliey  arc  firing  on  the  couii- 
cil-tent!"  The  men  turned  out  at  the  first  ahiriii, 
Sergeant  Wooten,  of  K  company  of  cavahy,  head- 
ing a  party  without  orders.  Tlie  wikh^st  confusion 
prevailed;  yet  in  the  soh^  intent  if  possible  to  save 
Canby  and  the  otiiera  tliere  was  a  kind  of  order. 
CilK'ni  ga\e  his  commands  rapidly,  and  the  troops 
Were  only  too  eager  to  get  at  the  assassins  Coloru  1 
]\riller's  battery  E,  4th  artillery,  Major  Throcknio'- 
ton's  batteries  IM  and  K,  4th  artillery,  and  con(pa- 
nies  E  and  (x,  I'Jth  hifantry,  under  Colonel  Wriglit 
and  Captain  Howe,  moved  forward  as  rapitlly  as  they 
could  iTet  over  the  rouu^h  ijrou!Kl  But  before  tliev 
had  proeeetled  far  they  met  l)\'ar,  with  the  story  of 
the  fatal  catastrophe.  On  reaching  the  council- 
ground  !M(\acham  was  found  to  be  alive,  and  was 
rescued.  The  Indians  retreated  to  their  stronghold, 
and  the  troops  followed  for  half  a  mile,  when  they  wore 
halted,  and  at  night  withdrawn  to  camp. 

Ihus  ended  the  peace  commission,  conceived  by 
placo-huntors,  and  al'toiward  conscientiously  ii^fisted 
upon  by  well-meaning  but  uninformed  officers  of  tlic 
government  in  opposicion  to  the  opinions  and  ferliiius 
of  the  white  people  most  concerned,  and  of  tlie 
Indians  themselves.  Secretary  Delano  was  jiangul 
in  effig}^  at  Yn^ka,  and  imblic  meetuiga  held  to  dn 
lionor  to  the  nuMnory  of  General  Canby  in  Portland, 
where  nctthhig  that  had  hap[M nod  since  the  assassina- 
tion of  President  Lincoln  had  so  afleete-d  the  whole 
connmnnty. 

In  justice  to  Delano  it  should  Ik^  said  tbat  he  lind 
been  subjected  to  a  strong  outsi<le  pressure  finni 
people  with  philaMthopic  theories  and  no  knowledge 
of  the  subject.  Letters  pourod  into  the  department 
in  behalf  o?  the  ^fodocs  fn»m  individuals  and  secic- 
ties  of  every  quality  and  quarter.  Oil  tiie  I'.Xli  of 
March  a  letter  was  sent  to  the  ])resident  by  Pron-^'in 
Murray  of  New  York.  re])roaching  him  for  emf»lnv- 
ing  the  army  against  the  Modoca.     "  If  true,  what 


S((>ol(> 

the   M 

whv  si 

go  n  Ian 

(five  t 

idorie  i 

there 

tlit'ir  b] 

,uivcd  {) 

The 

^WO(I(»fg 

'*L;ain.st 

flvrly  ,! 
Many  I 
I'he  peo 

Ordori 

tlie  Ar<„i 

'•"uneil-n 
line,  fotv 

nn\\'(>vor 

infi'uitry, 
"lish  bcir 
the  Mod, 
tfi'gi'apJi 
J'''ad\-  to 
^vliich  M; 
l'"sition  a 

^'lllcii,  th 

"i'Jit;  no 

slicltiT  liii 

I  laving  nr; 
^Vrhv^  se 
''d!'T  it  !h' 
'■"•4-igo   in 
Jlfni  on  ]| 

''."'d,  with 
^■'^'''t;  aii« 


TARPY  RESOLUTION. 


547 


Stoolo  is  roportod  sayin;^,  that  the  prcsulcnt  knows 
till'  ]\[t>cl(»('s  are  not  to  hlanic  in  tliis  niattiT,  then 
wliy  sliould  n<»t  the  army  be  turned  against  the  Oiv- 
HKiiians  ?.  .  .Can  you  not  leave  tlie  iModoos  at  rest? 
(Jive  them  long,  long  time.  Throw  upon  Oregon 
iilone  the  nvsponsihility  of  this  grave  injustice.  Is 
there  no  way  but  that  our  army  must  recinve  hi 
their  breasts  the  bullets  which  are  shot  because  of  the 
;^recd  and  covetousness  of  the  Orcgoniansr' 

The  quakers  also  interested  themselves  for  the 
Mixlocs,  Alfred  H.  Love,  of  Pliiladelphia,  ])rotestnig 
;i'';iinst  em])loving  the  army  in  forcing  them  to  nuike 
pr.ice,  and  saving  the  Peace  Society  of  that  city 
t'i(  ely  discussed  iwul  dee[»ly  deplored  such  a  cause. 
?ihuiy  newspajHTS  took  tliis  view  of  the  subject. 
The  jieople  of  Oregon  survive. 

Oiders  now  came  fr<nn  Wasliington  to  wipe  out 
tlie  Afodocs.  On  tiie  day  after  tlie  massacre  at  tlie 
(niincil-ground,  tlie  Indians  attacked  Mason's  skirmish 
line,  forcing  the  left  [ticket  post  to  give  way.  It  was. 
however,  retaki'ii  l>y  Lieutenant  Thellar,  of  the  'J  1st 
iiitaiitrv,  with  a  porti«»n  of  Company  I,  a  sliarp  skii'- 
tiii^ih  being  ke[»t  up  all  day  and  a  pait  (»f  the  l.'5th. 
the  ^^()d(^cs  attackinii.  On  the  14th  (Jeiieral  (Jillem 
trhgraphed  Colonel  ^Tason  asking  if  he  could  be 
ivady  to  adviiiice  on  the  morning  of  the  Kith;  to 
wliieh  !M;ison  rei^lied  thot  lie  }ircferred  to  get  his  fii'st 
I'nsition  at  night,  and  was  ready  to  move  that  night. 
f  liHem  thtMi  ordered  him  to  tak(>  his  position  on  that 
iii^ht;  not  to  make  any  persistent  attack,  atid  to 
sh(  her  his  men  as  well  as  possible.  Donald  McKay 
h.iviiig  arrived  M'ith  a  company  of  seyentv-two  Warm 
Si'niig  scouts,  which  Caiiby  had  order«<l  organized 
ill'; er  it  !>eca:ne  apparent  that  t)ie  jSIodocs  might  n^- 
ciigagc  in  hostilitic>s,  ^lason  was  dii'ected  to  ))ost 
tli<Mii  on  his  left,  or  on  the  north  side  of  his  strong- 
iiohl.  with  onlers  to  woi-k  around  toward  (Jreens 
ri.;lit;  and  bo  sure  to  wear  their  uniforms  to  prevent 


I  I 


Hll! 


' 


I  .: 


V 


I    1 


\' 


648 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


n)istakcs;  not  to  use  his  artillery  except  ^vhen  lio 
thought  it  would  h<  <  iToctive;  and  to  hold  every  iiuli 
of  ground  gained.  "Tell  your  men,"  he  said,  "  b) 
remember  Geneml  Canby,  Slierwood,  ami  the  flag." 

The  niovement  began  at  midnight,  and  before  day- 
light the  tnn)ps  were  in  position,  about  400  yards 
east  of  the  stronghold,  the  right  infantry,  und  r 
Captain  Burtoh,  resting  on  the  lake,  and  on  the  ht>, 
the  cavalr}%  dismounted,  under  Captain  Bernard,  a 
section  of  mountain  howitzers  under  Lieutena:it 
Chai»in  being  held  suljject  to  speeial  order.  Tlic 
men  had  thrown  up  breastworks  of  stone  to  conccul 
their  exact  position  from  the  tnemy.  Soon  aft<  r 
daylight  the  howitzers  opened  fire,  and  skirmishinj; 
conmienced. 

On  the  west  side  Perry  and  Cranston  of  the  cavalry 
moved  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  a  pohit  l)t  - 
yond  the  main  portion  of  the  .stronghold  on  the  soutli, 
where  they  concealed  tlicir  men,  waiting  to  be  j(»iiii(l 
at  daylight  by  the  infantry  and  artillery  under  Alilli  r 
and  Throckmorton,  with  Green  and  stafi".  These  h  fl 
camp  at  seven  o'clock,  and  soon  united  with  Perry's 
conunand.  Miller  had  the  extreme  riglit,  Throck- 
morton on  his  left,  and  two  companies  of  infantry  in 
the  centre;  while  the  cavalry  Nwre  on  the  extreme 
left,  touchinij  the  lake,  the  intention  beinix  to  elo.sf  in 
gradually  on  the  stronghold  from  every  side. 

The  day  was  warm  and  still,  and  it  could  be  im 
Ioniser  .said,  in  defence  of  failure,  that  i'jfnorance  'if 
the  nature  of  the  ground  or  obscurity  from  fog  pK  - 
vented  success;  besides,  every  man  had  a  [ujrsiitiiil 
interest  in  retrieving  the  honor  of  the  army  from  tla' 
humiliati<m  of  the  I7th  of  January.  The  first  op]"'- 
sition  was  encountered  a  mile  and  a  half  from  Jack's 
camp,  when  straggling  shots  at  long  range  began  t<» 
fall  among  the  troops,  who  advanciid  in  oj)en  skirmish 
order  along  the  lake  shore,  sheltering  theniselves  as 
best  tlev  could  under  cover  of  the  ritcks  in  their  wav. 
On  rcachnnj:  the  gorge  under  the  blulP,  a  galling  lire 


v";is  pn 

station 

was  gi' 

and  ra| 

;uid  till 

time  M 

iittentid 

(langerc 

was  woi 

Several 

also  woi 

to  advar 

li'iitenai 

li'tlf-pas< 

the  line 

"pposite 

fi''>iit  wit 

M'"llled 

tloop.s ; 

thro\vin<» 
thrill  a  ,) 

W    lit  U'ej 

111  p'>S-40SJ 

iniiii  |)Ia( 
••i^Cfl,  only 
si  lo,  ajso, 
"f  ilef('nc 
Ill"ll  l)V  f( 
At  .six 
^^•'f'l.   an: 

st|'()i|_r!io|( 

"i'4'ht  M;),,.^ 
-Moilors  \v 
'i"'(  cl..s,., 
'filled,  anrl 
'li-'Jiifs  Were 
''^■'''•y  sid(> 

'^'l-nipthi 


11; 
if' 


BATn.E  OF  THE  LAVA  BEDS 


R40 


vnn  poured  into  tlicni  from  a  large  party  of  !Modocs 
stiitioiiod  tliero.  The  reserves  comiiijr  up  an  order 
was  given  to  cliargc,  wliich  was  done  with  suoli  force 
luid  rapidity  that  the  Indians  were  ohliged  to  retire, 
and  the  troops  took  their  position.  At  the  same 
time  Mason  was  doinnr  nil  in  Jiis  j)ower  to  divide  the 
attention  of  tlie  Modoes,  wl;ilo  the  army  passed  tliis 
dangerous  point.  In  tlio  eliargo,  Li(>ut<'nant  Ka'fan 
wa>5  wouikIcmI  in  tlio  tliigh,  but  did  not  leave  the  field. 
Several  privates  of  IVIiller's  artillery  oonnnand  w<re 
also  wounded.  At  two  o'clock  the  order  was  given 
to  advance  the  mortars  under  Captain  Thomas  and 
li'  iitiMiants  (.^'anst(m  and  Howe,  4th  artillery.  By 
li;df-j)ast  four  t!i(\v  were  in  position,  and  the  left  of 
the  line  on  the  west  had  deployed  down  the  lake 
opposite  to  the  stronghold,  crossing  the?  ojten  space  in 
fiMiit  without  loss.  Half  an  hour  later  the  Modoes 
^ii'Uied  to  he  concc^ntrating  their  fire  on  Mason's 
troops;  hut  just  at  this  time  the  mortars  hegan 
tliiowing  shells  into  the  Modoc  "^losition,  which  gave 
tli'iii  a  (jiversion  and  arrested  their  fire.  So  far  all 
w  lit  W(dl.  Tlu!  hlulF  tak<  n  by  the  charge  was  still 
ill  pos>iession  of  Miller's  men,  between  wliom  and  the 
111  liii  jdateau  or  mesa,  in  which  the  cavs  were  situ- 
ateil,  oidy  two  ledges  of  rock  intervened.  On  !^^ason's 
silo,  also,  the  Modoes  had  abaiirlone*!  their  outer  Hue 
of  defences;  but  the  cidouid  would  not  yet  ex[)ose  his 
iii'ii  by  fidlowing  them. 

.Vt  six  o'(doek  the  mortars  were  again  moved  ftr- 
w.ird.  and  by  nightfall  the  trot»[)S  in  front  of  the 
stronghold  were  ready  to  seah;  the  heights.  At  mid- 
tii^lit  Mason  took  u[)  the  position  abandoned  by  the 
Modoes  within  100  yards  of  tlieir  <lefences.  The  day 
had  closed  with  eight  soldiers  wounded  and  three 
Killed, and  one  citizen  su])pose(l  to  be  killed.  The  In- 
dians wore  nearlv  surrounded,  and  fouglit  tlu;  troops  oji 
•  vi'iv  side,  seemin*if  to  indicate  more  stretwrfh  than 
tlii'v  w(>ri'  supposed  to  ])ossess.  !^fortar  ]ttartiee  was 
K'pt  n[)  throughout  the  night  with  inlcrvals  of  teumin- 


850 


SOME  INDIAN  ETISODES. 


utos.  The  troops,  wlio  wcro  jjrovitled  with  tlirco  duys 
c«)oke(l  rations,  ovorcoats,  M.aiikct.s,  and  100  rounds  of 
annnunition  eacli,  rcniainod  on  tlio  field  without  chan;_'- 
insjj  ])o.sition. 

Findinjjf  when  daylij^ht  came  on  the  IGth,  tliat 
^Eason's  k'ft  untk'r  Tlichar  had  p  ),sscssion  of  tlio  mesa, 
with  the  Warm  Spring  scouts  on  his  riglit,  and  tlie 
whole  line  unhrokcn,  the  Modocs  ahantloncd  tluir 
strong  defences,  and  i)assed  out  Ity  unseen  trails,  g(  t- 
ting  on  his  left  and  in  his  rear,  pr^'venting  his  joiuing 
(irei'u's  riglit,  as  directed  by  a  dispatch  from  (jillein. 
Subsequently  he  was  ordered  to  advance  his  right, 
and  join  (ireeu  on  the  shore  of  the  lake,  which  move- 
ment cut  the  Indians  ofl'  from  water.  A  sharp  iii- 
gagement  took  place  in  ])revi'nting  the  Indians  fr<iiii 
getting  to  the  lake.  J^y  ivii  o'clock  (ireen's  liiif 
had  scaled  tlie  bluff,  and  reached  the  to[)  of  tlie  riclij:e 
next  to  the  stronghold,  meeting  but  little  o[t[)ositioii; 
but  it  was  decided  not  to  push  the  troops  at  this 
point,  as  there  might  be  a  heavy  loss  without  luiy 
gain  ;  and  the  want  of  water  would  soon  drive  th* 
jVIodocs  out  of  tlieir  caverns  an<l  dc'fences,  while  it 
was  not  likely  they  couhl  find  a  stronger  position  anv- 
where.  The  work  of  the  ilay  consisted  simply  in 
skirmishing.  Nojunction  was  effected  between  !^las- 
on's  left  and  (Jrei'u's  right,  the  principal  resistauci- 
being  made  to  this  m(»vement,  the  object  of  wliieh 
was  apparent  at  a  latter  period  of  the  battle. 

In  the  evenin«j  tlie  ^^lodocs  having  a  large  fire  in 
their  camp  Thomas  dropped  two  shells  into  it  wliicli 
wi'fc  followed  by  war  w]k)»»[)S,  and  also  l)y  crits  df 
rage  and  pain.  After  this  the  ]\Iodoes  sliowed  thnn- 
selv(!S  and  cliallenged  the  soldiers  to  do  tlu;  same, 
IJut  the  soldiers  were  hiddi'U  behind  stone  breast 
Works  in  groups  of  five  or  six,  with  orders  at  no  tiim' 
to  allow  themselves  to  be  surprisi'd.  In  the.se  little' 
forts,  built  at  niglit,  they  slieltered  ^^hemselves,  and 
caii;;lit  a  little  sleep,  two  at  a  time,  while  the  others 
watched. 


'■ 


CLOSINfi  IN. 


851 


The  hardest  fi^lit  during  tho  day  occurred  wlicn 
Miller  was  endeavoring  to  form  u  junction  witli  tho 
Warm  Spring  scouts,  and  failed  As  ho  was  cross- 
ing a  chasm,  tho  !Modocs  suddenly  appeared  and 
tut  him  oft'  with  thirteen  inon.  They  fortified  theni- 
srlvos,  and  fought  desjRrately  until  ahout  four  in  the 
afternoon,  when,  shellsbeginning  to  fall  in  that  vicinity, 
tlit y  left  cover  and  ran  into  the  lims  amid  a  shower 
(  f  i)ulK'ts,  losing  two  men  killed  and  one  woundid. 
Agahi  in  the  evening  the  Modocs  made  a  movement 
to  hreak  through  tho  lines  and  get  to  tlie  lake,  hut 
Wire  checked  by  a  heavy  fire  from  tho  troops.  Tho 
second  dav  ended  with  some  further  advance's  made 
upon  tlie  ^Fodoe  stronghold,  and  tho  moilar  batteries 
in  better  itosition.  The  blaze  of  musketrv  along  tho 
jiike  sliore  In  the  closinjjf  enya-'ement  at  nine  o'clock 
in  the  evi'ning  was  likened  to  the  dartinLj  of  Hanies  on 
;i  burning  pniirio  seen  at  niglit.  Once  more  tho  troops 
remained  over  night  in  the  field,  having  nothing  warm 
with  tJieir  rations  but  coffee  served  to  them  hot. 

Tlie  conditi(»n  of  the  jNlodoes  nmst  have  been  vi'ry 
niiseral)le,  hennni'd  in  as  they  were,  cut  off  from 
Wiitei',  and  not  allowed  a  moment's  rest  from  fi\  ini; 
.•-IhHs.  Those  who  watched  them  through  field- 
ulasses  ((uriuiX   the  dav  stiid  that  thev  nm  from  one 

'  ^  Of/  » 

jioint  of  rocks  to  another  back  and  forth,  with  no  ap- 
parent motive,  seemhigly  dismayed  by  the  peril  that 
*  ii\  irone<l  them.  But  tlie  work  of  ext(>rniination  did 
not  go  on  as  (Tillem  desire<l.  The  Warm  Spring  war- 
riors reported  killing  four  ^Fodocs  and  losing  one  of 
tlicifown  men.  How  many  wen;  killed  in  their  cavt  s 
was  unknown.  The  casualties  on  the  part  of  the 
tioops  in  the  two  days'  fight  amounted  to  seventeen, 
only  five  being  killed. 

Cauglit  thus  in  his  own  trap,  tho  time  had  come 
when  Captain  Jack  should  surely  bo  juit  to  death. 
<  Ml  the  morning  of  tlii^  17th  the  lines  nu't  without  ini- 
1'    'iiiient,  and  (.h)sed  hi  on  the  stronghold,  finding  few 


•  hW 


m 


'':W'i 


i 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


Modocs  to  dispute  their  passage.  About  eleven  the 
Indians  seemed  to  rally,  and  the  troo})s  niu,de  a  gciieial 
moveiiieiit  to  sw('«;p  the  lava  beds.  Down  upon  the 
fated  band  they  poured,  each  soldier  eager  to  be  first. 
No  quarter  now  ;  think  of  Canby  1  Thus  tliey  ruslied 
pell  niell  into  the  stronghold.  With  uplifted  sword 
and  gun  ready,  all  breathless  they  prepared  to  strike. 
But  what  is  this  ?  Where  are  the  dastardly  red 
skins?  Utterly  vanished  I  An  examination  of  the 
ground  showed  a  fissure  in  the  pedregal  leading  from 
the  oaves  to  tlie  distant  hills.  This  pass  had  l)een 
marked  with  rocks  and  poles  so  that  it  could  be  fol- 
lowed in  the  darkness;  and  tlirough  it  had  been  con- 
veyed to  a  place  of  safety  the  families  and  property  of 
tlie  savages,  men  enough  only  having  been  left  to 
keep  ui)  an  appearance  of  fighting  during  retreat.  It 
was  the  eff  )rt  to  keep  the  pass  open  and  undiscov- 
ered, that  had  so  long  prevented  the  junction  of  iVIas- 
on's  left  witli  Green's  right.  After  having  succi'ss- 
fully  retreated  to  a  place  of  safety,  a  poi"tion  of  tin; 
Modoc  warriors  returned  and  enyfaged  the  trooijs  for 
about  one  liour.  Before  quitting  the  scene  altogctlier 
a  party  of  them  esca[)ed  to  the  rear  of  (rreen's  com- 
mand, and  between  him  and  his  camp  killed  a  tcan)- 
stor  from  Yreka  named  Eugene  Hovey,  nmtilating 
his  body  horribly,  and  taking  from  him  four  horses 
and  a  nmle.  Two  newspaper  correspondents  were 
fired  on  but  they  escaped  by  running. 

The  news  that  the  stronghold  had  been  evacuat'^d, 
and  the  Modocs  had  escaped,  was  carried  by  messen- 
gers in  every  direction,  and  the  greatest  excitement 
l)revailed.  The  intelligence  was  received  in  Yreka 
witli  "tlie  greatest  amazement,"  so  sure  had  been  tli 
hope  of  tlie  s[)eedy  close  of  the  war  whenever  the 
military  were  jX'rmitted  to  act  in  their  proper  capac- 
ity. Even  now  people  tried  to  comfort  themselves  by 
repeating  tliat  the  stronghold  was  captured.  But  tlie 
mere  possession  of  tlie  classic  caves,  now  that  .Ta(  k 
was  out  of  them,  and  free  to  carry  on  a  guerilla  war- 


EVACUATION   OF  THE  STRONG  HOLD. 


r):.3 


faro,  was  a  matter  of  small  felicitation,  if  not  of  posi- 
tive solicitude. 

In  the  caves  were  found  evidences  of  the  death  of 
scventeeu  of  the  Modocs  as  it  was  believed.  It  ap- 
jiiared  that  most  of  tlie  women  and  cliildren  had 
\kvii  removed  previous  to  the  assassination.  Many 
siiells  wore  found  to  have  exiJoded  in  and  ahout  the 
^[odoc  camp,  from  which  it  is  judged  that  they  nmst 
liuve  had  many  wounded.  A  body  was  found  which 
was  supposed  to  be  that  of  Scarface  Charley,  tlu; 
su[>position  being  confirmed  by  an  old  woman  found 
ill  tiie  cave  and  taken  prisoner.  It  was  also  believed 
that  Sconchin  was  killed.  This  was  afterwards  learned 
to  be  an  error.  Their  scalps  were  still  saft;  on  tlieir 
heads,  though  a  sergeant  of  troop  K,  8th  cavalry, 
thought  he  had  secured  tliat  of  Scarface  as  a  trophy. 
(^>uery:  because  savagism  scal}>s,  may  civilization? 
Does  it  make  devils  of  men  to  fight  the  devil  with 
his  own  weapon? 

Smoke  from  fires  in  the  southeast  indicated  that 
tlio  Indians  were  fleeing  in  the  direction  of  CJooso 
lake  or  Willow  springs.  The  cavalry  was  ordered  to 
pursue.  Captain  Perry  setting  out  on  the  morning  of 
the  18th  to  make  a  complete  circuit  of  the  lava  beds, 
which  compelled  him  to  march  about  eighty  miles. 
The  Warm  Spring  scouts  also  were  scouring  the 
country  to  the  eastward.  Both  connnands  were  out 
tun  days  witliout  seeing  the  enemy.  In  the  mean- 
time !^tason  was  ordered  to  hold  tlie  ]\I<)doc  fortress 
with  his  couHuand,  and  the  property  of  his  camp  at 
Hosj)ital  rock  was  removed  to  his  former  camp  on 
tho  peninsula  or  Scorpion  point.  The  cavalry  not 
with  Perry  were  ordered  to  this  camp.  This  left  tho 
tiiiil  along  the  lake  exposed  to  attack  from  tlie  enemy's 

Scouts. 

On  the  18th  the  Modocs  came  in  plain  sight  on  a 
ildn'o  about  two  mil?s  oft",  and  seemed  by  their  largo 
liies  to  be  burning  their  dead.     They   also  fired   an 


w. 

m 

***■■?,„, 
^^::';!|| 


(L 


i 


■:  ..IS 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


I.I 


1.25 


;^iiiiiM  iiM 

t^  IIM    III  2  2 

i'~        ,i.;„n 


1.8 


U    III  1.6 


<^ 


V 


Photographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


\ 


•SJ 


^\ 


[V 


4s 


23  WIST  MAirM  :  TREET 

WEBSTER, NY.  M580 

(716)872-4503 


^2^14 


^ 


'«*?^ 


S^  1 


654 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


occasional  shot  during  the  clay  from  nearer  points. 
On  the  morning  of  the  19th  as  a  pack-nmle  train  was 
on  its  way  from  Scorpion  point  to  Mason's  camp  on 
the  lava  beds  with  supplies,  escorted  by  twenty  men 
under  Lieutenant  Howe ;  it  was  attacked  by  eleven 
]\Iodocs  in  ambush,  who  were  driven  back.  Lieuten- 
ant Leary,  coming  to  meet  the  train  with  an  escort, 
had  been  less  fortunate,  losing  one  man  killed  and 
one  wounded  in  passing  the  same  spot.  As  the  train 
was  entering  the  lava  beds  it  was  again  fired  on ;  and 
again  on  returning,  at  both  the  attacking  point:;. 
Dunng  tlie  day  the  Indians  crept  up  to  within  a  few 
hundred  yards  of  the  pickets,  firing  a  volley  into 
camp.  A  shell  dropped  among  them  by  Captain 
Thomas  scattered  them  for  that  day.  They  showed 
tliemselves  liowever  on  the  20th;  going  to  the  lake 
for  water  they  fired  on  the  Warm  Spring  warriors 
burying  their  dead,  and  even  had  the  audacity  to 
batlie  themselves  in  the  lake  in  sight  of  camp,  only  a 
feeble  attempt  being  made  to  get  at  them  by  the  as- 
tonish  (1  soldiery.  In  fact,  they  exhibited  no  fear 
about  approacliing  the  army  camps,  and  the  Warm 
Spring  warriors  were  posted  at  the  head  of  the  bay 
between  the  lava  beds  and  Hospital  rock  to  prevent 
the  Indians  visiting  the  abandoned  camp  to  pick  u}) 
cartridges,  coming  to  the  lake  for  water,  or  stealing 
into  Gillem's  camp  to  gather  information  as  spies. 

Why  did  not  the  troops  go  forward  and  grind  tlio 
savages  to  powder?  The  men  were  impatient  enougli 
to  be  doing  something,  and  vexed  because  General 
Gillem  preferred  to  wait  for  two  companies  of  the 
4th  artillery,  en  route  from  San  Francisco  to  Fort 
Crook  under  Cai)tain  John  Mendenhall  and  H.  C. 
Hasbrouck,  but  which,  on  the  news  of  the  escape  of 
the  Modocs  at  headquarters  department  of  California 
were  telegraphed  to  proceed  by  the  way  of  Shasta 
valley  to  report  to  Gillem.  They  now  thought  they 
knew  that  the  IModocs  could  not  be  surrounded;  or 


THE  MODOCS  AT  LARGK 


855 


waling 


id  tlie 
iiougli 
cucral 
of  the 
,   Fort 

H.  C. 
cape  of 
Uforuia 
Shasta 

it  they 
led;  or 


if  they  were  they  had  to  be  assailed  in  their  strong 
position,  and  killed  or  captured.  To  accomplish  this 
it  was  not  numbers  that  could  effect  it,  but  skill  and 
daring.  The  officers  as  well  as  the  troops  shared  in 
the  general  impatience  at  the  course  of  the  command- 
ing officer,  and  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  he  consid- 
ered only  his  own  personal  safety,  remaining  in  camp 
during  the  throe  days'  battle,  and  after  the  kittle 
having  all  the  troops  that  could  be  spared  posted  at 
his  camp. 

When  the  peace  commission  was  terminated  by  the 
assassination  of  Canby  the  whole  frontier  was  thrown 
into  a  state  of  alarm  followed  by  an  attempt  t(j  place 
it  on  the  defensive.  Governor  Grover  was  informed 
1)V  telegraph  that  the  road  from  the  Rogue  river  to 
Klamath  valley  was  dangerous  and  that  the  settlers 
had  been  warned.  He  was  asked  to  order  out  300 
volunteers;  and  did  issue  a  proclamation  calling  for 
that  number  of  men  to  serve  on  exposed  portions  of 
the  frontier.  He  ordered  Ross  to  raise  a  volunteer 
company,  and  open  the  road  from  Jacksonville  to 
Linkville,  and  to  take  to  the  settlers  in  the  Klamath 
basin  forty-eight  needle  guns  with  300  rounds  of  am- 
munition, which  had  been  issued  a  month  previous 
in  anticipation  of  difficulties  following  the  failure  of 
the  peace  commission,  and  stored  at  Jenny  creek  on 
the  road  to  Linkville.  At  the  same  time  the  gov- 
ernor sent  dispatches  to  United  States  senators  J. 
K.  Kelly  and  J.  H.  Mitchell,  directing  them  to  ob- 
tain an  order  from  the  war  department  for  500  needle 
''uns  to  be  turned  over  to  the  state  of  Oret;on  for  the 
nearest  arsenal,  200  of  which  were  due  on  a  former 
refjuisition,  and  the  remainder  to  be  credited  to  the 
state  on  quotas  due  in  the  future,  which  arrangement 
was  effected.  When  it  became  known  that  the 
^[odocs  had  left  their  stronghold,  great  consternation 
l)ievailed  among  the  inhabitants  of  northern  Cali- 
fornia, and  the  wildest  rumors  gained  credence.     On 


:m 


556 


SOME  nsT)IAN  EPISODES. 


the  19th  J.  K.  Luttrel  of  the  third  congressional 
district  of  CaUfornia  arrived  in  Yreka  with  the  intel- 
ligence that  the  Indians  of  the  lower  Klamath  and 
Salmon  rivers  were  fully  informed  on  the  Modoc  war, 
and  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  Modoc  runners  had 
visited  all  the  northern  California  and  southern  Ore- 
gon tribes.  He  had  joined  a  company  of  volunteers 
going  out  to  bring  in  the  remains  of  young  Hovey, 
shot  on  the  I7th,  for  the  purpose  of  visiting  the 
scenes  of  hostilities,  and  to  make  a  report  upon  them 
in  his  position  as  representative.  The  information 
he  acquired,  however,  was  obtained  in  Yreka,  and 
from  the  same  source  that  furnished  all  the  informa- 
tion that  was  permitted  to  reach  Washington  at  this 
time. 

On  the  20th  the  courier  from  headquarters  to  Yreka 
was  fired  on  while  riding  express  about  four  miles 
west  of  camp,  the  news  of  which  alarmed  the  settlers 
on  Willow  and  Hot  creeks,  who  apprehended  visits 
from  small  marauding  bands  of  Modocs,  and  sent 
their  families  to  Yreka.  To  add  to  the  excitement, 
the  Indians  on  the  lower  Klamath  and  in  Scott  valley 
were  holding  mysterious  dances  and  ceremonials, 
decked  in  their  war  paint.  The  same  rites  had  been 
observed  in  Goose  Lake  valley,  where  also  much 
alarm  was  felt. 

Fresh  direction  was  soon  imparted  to  operations  by 
the  discovery  of  the  Warm  Spring  scouts  that  the 
Modocs  were,  after  all,  within  the  lava  bed  limits, 
although  six  miles  to  the  south  of  the  former  camp. 
Here  they  had  strongly  intrenched  themselves,  and 
were  adding  to  their  supplies  and  courage  by  frequent 
descents  on  goods-trains  and  wayfarers.  Their  retreat 
revealed,  they  became  more  daring,  and  ventured  with 
great  bravado  within  range  of  the  military  headquar- 
ters only  to  disappear  as  if  by  magic  before  pursuers. 
It  liad  been  learned  by  experience  that  in  these  nat- 
ural strongholds,  with  their  knowledge  of  the  ground, 
they  could  defy  a  manifold  superior  force  in  compara- 


THE  MODOC'S  SURRENDER, 


657 


tive  safety,  while  the  besiegers  were  exposed  at  every 
turn  or  advance. 

The  press  and  pubhc  alternated  between  expressing 
apprehension  of  Indian  raids  and  condemnation  of 
military  maneuvres,  and  seemed  to  favor  a  proposal 
of  certain  rash  spirits  for  hunting  down  the  miserable 
remnant  of  Modocs  at  so  much  per  scalp,  as  the 
cheapest  and  surest  way  of  settling  the  difficulty.  In 
dealing  with  fiends,  fiendish  measures  were  allowable, 
they  argued.  Regular  warfare  wa^i  evidently  ineffi- 
cient, and  would  involve  the  needless  sacrifice  of  blood 
and  money. 

The  military  naturally  scouted  the  imputation  cast 
on  their  ability,  notwithstanding  repeated  missteps. 
During  the  first  march  toward  the  new  Modoc  retreat, 
they  allowed  thomselves  to  be  surprised  by  the  enemy, 
which  fell  upon  the  reconnoitering  force  of  Major 
Thomas,  and  scattered  it  in  confusion,  with  the  loss  of 
twenty-two  killed,  and  a  number  of  wounded,  while 
only  one  Modoc  perished,  through  his  own  carelessness. 
The  result  was  another  period  of  inaction,  to  await 
reenforcements,  during  which  the  soldiers  freely  ex- 
pressed their  lack  of  confidence  in  officers  whose  only 
achievements  seemed  to  be  leading  them  into  traps. 

Lack  of  water  compelled  the  Modocs  once  more  to 
seek  a  new  refuge.  On  their  way  to  Snow  mountains 
they  came  upon  a  detachment  sent  to  head  them  off 
from  so  undesirable  a  direction.  In  the  effort  to 
stampede  this  force,  like  that  of  Major  Thomas,  they 
were  foiled,  partly  through  the  promptness  of  the 
Warm  Spring  Indians.  The  pursuit  by  the  soldiers 
was,  moreover,  so  hot  that  the  attacking  band  lost  its 
horses,  together  with  the  reserve  ammunition.  Thus 
crippled,  they  were  obliged  to  turn  toward  Indian 
Springs,  there  to  be  speedily  surrounded  by  the 
troops.  In  this  dilemma  they  negotiated  through 
Fairchild,  offering  to  surrender  to  him  if  promised 
their  lives.  This  was  agreed  to,  and  on  May  2 2d 
Fairchild    brought   in  seventy  captives,  including  a 


%W 


558 


SOME  INDIAN  EPISODES. 


dozen  warriors,  among  them  Steamboat  Frank,  Sliack- 
nasty  Jim,  Bogus  Charley,  and  Hooker  Jim. 

The  band  proved  to  be  mainly  Cottonwood  Creek 
Indians,  who  under  accumulating  reverses  had  tired 
of  danger  and  hardships.  Not  content  with  abandon- 
ing their  comrades,  the  above  leading  spirits  actually 
volunteered  to  aid  in  capturing  Jack,  who  with  twenty 
braves  had  pushed  eastward  to  Willow  creek.  Guided 
by  these  renegades,  captains  Jackson  and  Hasbrouck 
came  so  close  upon  the  fugitives  that  several  of  their 
squaws  were  secured.  After  being  i>ursued  to  Langell 
vallev,  half  their  number  surrendered,  includinij:  Scar- 
face  Charley  Jack  availed  himself  of  the  parley  to 
hasten  away,  only  to  be  intercepted  by  a  detachment 
under  Captain  Perr}-,  to  whom  he  gave  himself  up 
on  June  1st  tojjether  with  a  few  followers.  Nearlv 
all  the  remainder  were  fathered  in  durinfj  the  follow- 
ing  three  daj's.  Thus  ended  the  six  months  campaign 
of  the  Modocs,  which  cost  the  government  one  third 
of  a  million  in  dollars,  exclusive  of  pay  and  equipment 
of  troops,  and  a  casualty  of  one  hundred  soldiers, 
killed  and  wounded,  not  counting  hapless  settlers  and 
their  heavy  losses  in  property.  Of  the  eighty  war- 
riors who  started  the  war,  fifty  sur\'i\ed,  with  over  a 
hundred  women  and  children. 

General  Davis  was  ordered  to  try  the  captives  by 
court-martial,  regardless  of  the  demand  by  Oregon 
for  the  surrender  of  certain  nmrderers  amomv  them  to 
her  civil  authorities  for  trial.  Meanwhile  a  band  of 
Hot  Creek  Indians,  under  transmission  to  Boyle's 
camp,  were  attacked  by  m?.sked  men  and  four  of  them 
shot.  No  investigation  followed  this  cowardly  deed. 
The  court-martial,  which  sat  between  the  5th  and  9tli 
of  July,  condemned  to  death  Captain  Jack,  Boston 
Charley,  Sconchin,  Black  Jim,  Watch-in-tate,  and 
Sloluck.  The  sentence  of  the  last  two  was  commuted 
to  imprisonment  for  life  at  Alcatraz,  where  they  died ; 
the  other  four  expiated  their  crimes  on  October  3d, 
at  Fort  Klamath.     The  reneirades  who  had  assisted 


FINAL  DISPOSAL. 


ino 


to  rapture  them  wore  granted  their  lives,  yet  two  of 
these  were  ringleaders,  and  the  worst  characters  in 
the  band.  The  remnant  of  the  Modocs,  one  hundred 
and  fifty-five,  including  foi-ty-two  males,  were  moved 
to  Indian  territory,  under  the  chieftainship  of  Scar- 
faced  Charley,  their  most  cultured  representative. 
Scho  il  and  aijricultural  trainiuijc  has  made  them  «j;cntle 
and  nearly  self-sustainhiij.  Old  Sconchhi  remains 
with  his  peaceable  followers  on  the  Oregon  reser- 
vation. 

Whatever  the  opinion  concerning  Modoc  character 
and  claims,  a  certain  admiration  must  be  accorded  to 
the  stubborn  determination  of  the  band,  and  its  suc- 
cess in  so  lontj  resistino-  with  a  mere  handful  of  war- 
riors  the  overwhelming  military  forces,  supported  by 
a  wide-spread  connnunity  bitterly  hostile  to  Indians. 
The  country  was  favorable  to  guerilla  warfare,  how- 
ever. The  ISIodocs  were  acquainted  with  every  foot 
of  the  ground,  and  used  to  a  flitting  forest  life,  while 
tlie  troops  were  hampered  not  alone  by  inexi)erience 
in  this  respect,  but  by  rigid  regulations  unduly  enforced 
bv  officers  with  deficient  trahiinij;  for  such  service. 
The  former  had,  moreover,  secret  allies  among  the 
apparently  neutral  tribes  of  the  region,  which  were 
onlv  too  olad  to  aim  an  indirect  blow  at  the  white  in- 
viiders.  Nor  were  traders  lacking,  or  even  oflHcials, 
who  found  it  to  their  interest  to  prolong  the  cam})algn. 
Once  started  on  the  war-path,  the  Indians  were 
l>ronii)ted  both  by  fear  of  vengeance  and  by  the  hope 
for  some  happ}'-  turn  of  affairs  to  persevere. 

Eastern  people,  safe  in  their  seclusion,  could  not 
understand  the  danger  and  sufl^bring  of  pioneers  with 
wives  and  children  and  scanty  means,  exposed  to  the 
mercy  of  exasperated  natives.  They  felt  inclined 
rather  to  sympathize  with  a  brave  minority  api)arently 
fighting  for  hearth  and  home,  for  existence,  against 
ruthless  frontiermen  and  soldiers,  intent  alone  on 
usurpation  and  glory.  Their  representations  before 
an  admuiistratiou  equally  unconscious  of  the  real  state 


k,4 


r  m 


M 


560 


SOME  INDIAN  EPIFODKS. 


of  affairs  brought  about  the  issue  of  instructions  which 
tied  the  hands  of  both  settlers  and  troops,  and  werc! 
the  principal  cause  for  the  prohmgation  of  the  war 
and  the  many  attendant  misfortunes. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


SOME  CHINESE  EPISODES. 

Bom. — So  have  I  heard  on  Afric's  burning  shore 
A  hungry  lion  give  a  grievous  roar; 
The  grievous  roar  echoed  along  the  shore. 
Artax. — So  have  I  heard  on  Afric's  burning  shore 
Another  lion  give  a  grievous  roar. 
And  the  tirst  lion  thought  the  last  a  bore. 

— Bomlxitttat  FurioM. 

In  the  annals  of  our  coast  there  is  no  fouler  blot 
tlian  the  outrages  perpetrated  at  various  times  and 
places  upon  Indians,  Mexicans,  and  Chinese.  Viewed 
from  any  standpoint  the  aspect  is  revolting.  As  a 
free  and  forward  nation  we  fling  over  the  walls  of  a 
close  despotism  sentiments  which  would  have  disgraced 
feudalism.  As  a  progressive  people  we  reveal  a  race 
jtrejudice  intolerable  to  civilization;  as  Christians  we 
art'  made  to  blush  beside  the  heathen  Asiatic;  as  just 
and  humane  men  we  slaughter  the  innocent  and  vie 
with  red-handed  savages  in  deeds  of  atrocity. 

Let  the  diabolism  rest  where  it  belongs,  with  un- 
principled demagogues  and  our  imported  rulers  from 
the  lower  social  strata  of  Europe;  such  is  surely  not 
tl;e  sentiment  of  true,  high-minded  American  citizens. 
It  is  infamy  enough  for  our  people  to  bear,  that  sucli 
tilings  are  permitted  in  our  midst.  Since  our  first 
occupation  of  these  shores  the  better  class  of  citizens 
from  the  eastern  United  States  have  discountenanced 
impositions  upon  foreigners.  The  foreigners  them- 
selves, and  chief  among  them  the  low  Irish,  are  the 
ones  who  must  bear  the  blame.  To  question  a  right 
guaranteed  by  constitution  and  treaty,  to  punish  the 
innocent,  to  prosecute  the  unoffending,  cruelly  to  en- 


Cal.  Int.  Poc.    36 


(Obi) 


mAm 


562 


SOME  CHINESE  EPISODES. 


tcrtairi  the  weak,  and  despitofuUy  to  treat  the  poor  is 
11;)  part  of  An^^lo-Aincricaii  character.  I  have  }  ot  to 
find  the  first  instance  where  atrocities  upon  the  Chi- 
nese were  not  condemned  by  the  connnunity,  by  nine- 
tontlis  of  them,  and  Ijy  those  who  op[)os(xl  by  every 
fair  and  humane  means  the  presence  of  Asiatics  in  our 
midst.  Accursed  bo  tlie  day  that  made  from  the  dis- 
tempered slums  of  European  ce.ss-pools  tlie  first 
American  citizen,  and  gave  liim  power  so  to  influence 
for  evil  our  politics  1 

Prominent  among  the  outrages  in  California  upon 
the  Chinese  are  those  at  Los  Angeles  in  1871,  and  in 
Chico  in  1877.  There  are  thousands  of  minor  impo- 
sitions, from  the  stoning  of  a  pig-tail  by  school  boys, 
to  the  massacre  of  a  Chinese  mining-camp  by  bad- 
blooded  diggers,  many  of  which  I  have  given  else- 
where, but  most  of  which  were  unrecorded,  save  by 
the  avenLjing  an*jel.  Yet  these  two  instances  illus- 
trate  the  extreme  to  which  this  spoliation  has  been 
carried  in  California. 

Negro  Alley  was  the  Barbary  Coast  or  Chinatown 
of  Los  Angeles.  The  alley  itself  was  a  small  street 
connecting  this  hotbed  of  human  depravity  with  the 
business  portion  of  the  city.  The  two  quarters,  so  near 
and  yet  so  socially  distant,  were  in  marked  contrast,  as 
marked  as  the  Five  Points  and  Broadway,  or  as  St 
Giles  and  Piccadilly  ;  old-fashioned,  low,  one-storied, 
whitewashed,  tiled,  windowless  adobe  buildings  stand- 
ing amidst  filthy  and  unkept  surroundings  charac- 
terizing the  one,  and  brick  warehouses,  banks,  and 
gay  shops  the  other.  The  denizens  of  Negro  Alley 
comprised  the  dregs  of  the  nations.  Asiatic,  African, 
and  European,  Latin  and  Indian  there  lived  in  un- 
holy association,  and  for  vocation  followed  thiev- 
ing and  murder.  This  was  the  nest,  the  city  quar- 
ters of  that  large  fraternity  of  crime  that  fed  on 
southern  California,  Arizona,  and  northern  Mexi- 
co. It  was  the  rendezvous  of  bandit,  burglar,  pi  tty 
thief,  and   gentlemanly  highwayman,  of  men   of  all 


sorts, 
small 
In 

addin 

demo 

brotli^ 

As  el; 

Were 

Itroke 

fisiicu; 

uliicli 

a  rule 

trials  { 

tliems( 

cution 

eeedini 

Women 

for  vik 

Bv  thr 

ing  or 

Were  o 

their  li' 

On  A 

of  tJie 

f'onipan 

one  oft] 

one  of  t 

company 

then  ab( 

suhmitte 

Were  dn 

befi^re  tJ 

Yo  Hin 

day  a  pi 

tico  of  tl 

the  folio 

t^ase  .$!,( 

forward 

arising  ai 


AFFAIR  IN  LOS  ANGELES. 


sorts,  to  bo  bought  with  money,  and  some  for  a  very 
small  amount. 

In  this  the  lowest  of  terrestrials  made  their  abode, 
adding  their  full  (juota  to  the  general  fund  of  filtli  and 
demoraliaition.  One  of  their  institutions  alone,  the 
hi'otliel  system,  occupied  about  two-thirds  of  a  block. 
As  elsewhere  among  the  Chinese  in  California  there 
were  two  rival  companies  who?e  antagonisms  often 
hi'oke  out  in  battles  of  'jjri'ater  or  less  degree,  from 
fis^icuft'to  firearms.  A  case  arose  concerning  a  woman 
wliicli  excited  unusual  animosity  between  them.  As 
a  rule  the  Chinese  were  able  to  manage  their  own 
trials  and  punisliments,  and  admhiister  justice  among 
tliemselves  after  their  own  fashion,  even  to  the  exe- 
cution of  offenders  ca})itally,  and  to  keej)  their  pro- 
ceedings covered  from  the  eyes  of  the  law.  But  their 
women,  almost  all  of  whom  were  held  as  chattels  and 
f  )r  vile  purposes,  were  sometimes  too  nmcli  for  them. 
By  throwing  ofl*  the  yoke  for  the  purpose  of  marry- 
ing or  other  object,  and  appealing  to  the  law  they 
were  of  course  protected  from  their  owners,  though 
their  lives  were  endangered  thereby. 

On  Monday  the  23rd  of  October,  187 1,  the  prologue 
of  the  present  tragedy  was  recited.  The  Ah  Choy 
company  accused  tiie  Yo  Hing  company  of  abducting 
one  of  their  women,  and  marrying  her  Melican  fashion  to 
one  of  their  own  men,  in  order  to  deprive  the  Ah  Choy 
company  of  their  claim  to  her.  Women  were  worth 
thin  about  $400  each,  and  the  outrage  was  not  to  be 
sul)mitted  to.  Loud  caterwauling  ensued ;  then  knives 
weie  drawn  and  pistols  fired.  No  damage  was  done 
befiire  the  contending  parties  were  arrested  though  a 
Yo  Hing  jacket  was  pierced  by  two  bullets.  Next 
day  a  preliminary  examination  was  had  before  a  jus- 
tice of  the  peace,  and  bail  fixed  for  appearance  in  court 
the  following  day,  in  one  case  $500,  and  in  another 
case  .$1,000.  The  manager  of  the  Ah  Choy  came 
forward  and  proffered  security,  when,  the  question 
arising  as  to  his  ability  to  pay,  an  officer  was  sent  to 


■",'*¥ 


564 


POME  CHINESE  EPISODES. 


I 


examine  his  effects.  Tlie  exhibit  of  $3,000  in  gold 
and  a  large  package  of  greenbacks  was  reported  as 
the  result,  and  the  bond  accepted.  This  display  of 
wealth  may  have  had  its  influence  in  feeding  the  fires 
of  violence  which  followed. 

Free  again,  the  Chinamen  returned  at  once  to  their 
fight.  Their  hatred  for  each  other  was  now  thor- 
oughly aroused;  fighting  men  had  been  brought  from 
a  distance,  and  to  death  or  any  other  consequence 
they  had  become  ravingly  indifferent.  Renewal  of 
the  contest  having  bc^en  anticipated,  scarcely  were 
their  shots  aijain  heard  when  mounted  officers  were  on 
tlie  spot  attempting  new  arrests.  But  the  Chinese,  in- 
furiated by  tlie  interference  of  law,  as  well  as  by  their 
own  quarrel,  pointed  their  weapons  at  the  approaching 
officers,  and  firiny:  fled  to  their  dens.  S!)ectators  coni- 
ing  to  the  rescue,  the  officers  agam  advanced,  and 
were  again  fired  upon,  this  time  with  more  fatal  eftect. 
An  officer,  and  a  citizen,  Robert  Thompson,  were 
struck,  the  latter  dying  in  an  hour  and  a  half  Others 
were  also  wounded.  The  assailants  retiring,  the 
Asiatics  for  a  moment  were  masters  of  the  field. 

Thus  far  the  Chinamen  were  wrong  and  deserved 
punirhment,  while  the  officers  ar,  '  the  people  acted 
rightly.  But  now  followed  one  of  those  outbursts  of 
demoniacal  passion  but  too  common  in  countries  where 
the  people  are  accustomed  to  think  and  act  for  them- 
selves. Attracted  by  the  firing,  a  crowd  had  gathered. 
Houses  in  the  neighborhood  had  been  closed,  and 
iron  shutters  fastened.  And  now  at  the  sight  of 
blood,  quicker  than  it  takes  to  write  it,  a  chain  of 
men  was  thrown  around  the  block  so  that  none  might 
escape.  The  evil  element  of  the  place,  some  in  hope 
of  plunder,  others  from  love  of  slaughter,  rushed  to 
the  front  and  assumed  the  offensive.  Scores  of 
pistols  were  drawn,  and  for  a  moment  the  shot  rattled 
briskly  against  the  Chinese  tenements ;  then  all  was 
still.  But  it  was  the  murderous  stillness  of  the  mon- 
ster making  ready  its  death  grip.     Then  low  curses 


CELKSTIALS  CAflED. 


60S 


were  heard,  hissed  and  whispered  at  the  first,  but 
risiiij^  into  louder  deaunciat'ioiis  against  tlio  whole 
heathen  brotherhood  as  it  ran  alony:  the  lino.  Fire 
was  proposed  to  burn  them  out;  but  fear  of  general 
conria«;rations  brought  forward  those  whoso  property 
would  bo  endangered,  and  the  plan  was  abandoned. 
(fOod  citizens  interposed  their  cooler  counsel,  but 
without  avail.  The  opportunity  for  blood  and  plunder 
was  too  good  to  bo  lost,  Ilevenge  upon  a  weak  and 
l;('ll)less  race,  upon  those  who  had  never  injured  tiicni, 
upon  those  whose  only  crime  was  a  too  plodding  in- 
dustry, was  likewise  u[)permost  in  the  minds  of  many. 

Presently  one  of  the  besieged  attempted  escape. 
With  a  hatchet  in  his  hand  ho  issued  from  on"  if 
tlio  houses,  and  running  along  the  front  a  slu)rt  dis- 
tance endeavored  to  cross  the  street,  when  he  wus 
captured  by  an  otlicer,  and  led  away  toward  tlie  jail. 
The  crow  !  followed  cryiiuj:  *'  lEani;  him  1"  "Take  liini 
from  Harris  1"  "Hang  liiml"  One  of  the  mob 
tried  to  plunge  a  knife  into  his  back.  He  was  a 
littlo  Chinaman  for  sue  h  bi«j  reveuLre.  Finallv  when 
half  way  or  more  to  the  prison  he  was  taken  from 
the  not  unwilling  officer's  hands  and  hanged,  hanged 
to  the  crossbeam  of  a  gateway  convenient,  bung- 
iiiolv  hanjjed  until  tlic  little  fellow  was  verv  dead. 

Tlio  dance  of  death  >vas  now  fairly  oj)ened.  Like 
the  flames  of  a  city  burning,  the  conflagration  of 
Hsjiulish  passion  roared  and  surged  round  tlie  hapless 
inmates  of  the  Chinese  block,  as  the  crowd  with 
brutal  ferocity  fell  afresh  to  their  sanguinary  task. 
The  sheriff  with  all  his  assistants  sought  now  to 
divert  the  fury  of  the  fiends.  The  citizens  likewise 
lent  their  aid.  But  all  in  vain.  Satan  himself  was 
piping  for  his  own  to  dance. 

With  yells  of  savage  blasphemy  in  answer  to  the  cry 
for  more  blood,  another  rush  was  made  upon  the  build- 
ings. Mounting  the  roofs,  they  tore  away  the  tiles 
a;id  fired  upon  the  inmates,  an  exultant  yell  followinir 
each  successful  shot.     Wherever  it  was  possible  about 


SOME  CHINESE  EPISODES, 


the  tenements  to  open  with  axe,  or  bar,  or  sledge  an 
aperture  through  which  to  fire,  it  was  done.  For 
three  hours  this  continued  at  sickening  length.  At 
last  the  doors  of  tlie  charnel-house  were  broken  open 
and  a  sea  of  horror,  shrouded  by  the  dismal  night, 
rolled  stifling  over  the  senses.  Sprawling  in  their 
gore,  crouching  in  corners,  and  under  banks  were  ti:c 
mangled  forms  of  moaning  men,  and  women,  and  chil- 
dren upon  whoui  this  terrible  destruction  had  come 
thus  suddenly.  Little  respite  the  rabble  gave  them. 
Dragging  from  their  hiding  places  the  trembling  in- 
mates, one  by  one  they  brought  them  to  the  door, 
where  others  halted  and  hurried  them  to  execution. 
A  cluster  of  three  were  hanged  to  the  end  of  a 
gutter-spout  overhanging  a  corridor;  other  three 
were  dangled  from  the  edge  of  an  awning ;  four  were 
strangled  at  the  sides  of  a  wa^on:  four  were  taken 
to  the  gateway  where  the  first  was  executed  and  sus- 
pended from  the  same  beam.  When  the  rooms  were 
emptied  of  their  living  occupants,  the  bodies  of  three 
who  had  been  shot  to  death  remained,  and  many 
others  wounded.  Of  those  hanged  one  was  a  mere 
child,  and  children  assisted  at  the  execution.  "Most 
of  the  whites  engaged  in  the  hanging,"  writes  an  eve- 
witness  to  the  San  Francisco  Bulletin,  "  were  men  of 
Hibernian  extraction,  men  in  whose  countenance  you 
could  easily  distinguish  the  brute  nature  that  con- 
trolled all  their  actions,  but  none  of  that  face  divine 
we  are  so  often  delighted  in  looking  upon.  And  these 
men  had  all  their  brutal  passions  wrought  to  the 
highest  pitch.  But  were  any  stronger  evidence  ne( - 
essary  of  the  utter  demoralization  of  this  mob  than 
that  already  adduced,  we  find  it  in  the  fact  that  tlio 
city  gamins  were  sprigs  of  humanity  not  jet  having 
entered  their  teens,  and  alasl  women  participated  in 
the  night's  hellish  proceedings.  Instances  of  both 
actually  came  under  my  own  observation.  At  tlie 
place  of  execution  on  Los  Angeles  street,  a  little 
urchin,  not  over  ten  years  old,  stood  on  the  top  of 


MURDER  AND  ROBBERY. 


B07 


the  awning  from  which  the  Chinese  were  hanged. 
He  was  as  active  as  any  one  in  doing  the  hangnig. 
His  childish  voice  sounded  strangely  at  that  time  and 
place,  as  he  called  aloud  for  more  victims  to  sacrifice 
to  the  demon-god ;  and  it  was  a  stranger  and  sadder 
sight  still  to  behold  him  lay  his  hand  to  the  rope, 
and  help  them  haul  them  up.  And  in  the  background 
was  a  woman  looking  on.  Her  brogue  betrayed  her 
extraction.  She  loudly  congratulated  the  lynchers 
on  the  performance  of  their  diabolical  work,  and  en- 
couraixed  them  to  continue."  Three  of  the  four 
Chniamen  who  fired  at  the  officers  escaped,  and  only 
one  of  those  killed  is  known  to  have  in  any  wise 
offended  the  law.  It  was  a  most  inhumane  massacre 
of  innocent  men. 

Satiated  somewhat  with  blood,  the  mob  now  per- 
mitted the  sheriff  to  drive  such  unslaughtered  Asiatics 
as  he  could  find  to  prison  for  safe-keeping.  Then  the 
work  of  robbery  began,  which  action  stamps  at  once 
tlie  character  of  those  by  whom  the  murdering  was 
done.  Locks  were  broken  and  general  pillage  fol- 
lowed. Every  room  of  the  Cliinese  houses  in  Negro 
alky  was  ransacked,  and  every  shelf,  trunk,  and 
drawer  cleared  of  its  contents.  Even  the  pockets  of 
the  murdered  men  were  picked,  and  from  one,  a  Chi- 
nese doctor,  the  clothes  were  stripped  while  he  was 
yet  hanging.  From  one  was  taken  $400  wiiile  on  his 
way  to  jail;  $7,000  was  found  in  the  money-box  of  a 
store ;  the  amount  secured  by  the  mob  was  estimated 
at  from  $20,000  to  $30,000.  The  whole  affair  occu- 
})led  about  four  hours,  closing  with  half-past  nine  on 
the  night  of  Tuesday  the  24th.  At  1 1  o'clock  all 
was  quiet  in  Negro  alley,  but  it  was  the  quiet  of  death 
and  desolation. 

Attempts  were  made  to  bring  the  nmrderers  to  jus- 
tice ;  but  law  is  poor  and  puny,  in  such  a  case  it  did 
what  it  could.  At  the  coroner's  examination  wit- 
nesses were  extremely  careful  how  they  testified  lest 
thoy  should  implicate  a  friend  or  bring  upon  them- 


868 


SOME  CHINESE  EPISODES. 


selves  the  vengeance  of  desperate  men.  "  The  evidence 
so  far,"  says  a  telegram  of  Thursday,  "implicates  two 
Irishmen,  one  having  boasted  that  he  helped  to  get 
away  with  three  Chinamen."  And  writes  another, 
"  Let  those  at  a  distance  not  be  too  hasty  in  passing 
judgment  in  this  matter.  These  acts  of  atrocity  were 
perpetrated  by  a  comparatively  small  number  of  men, 
of  the  very  worst  class  in  the  community."  The 
grand  jury  of  Los  Angeles  indicted  thirtv-scven  per- 
sons for  riot.  Two  of  them  were  also  indicted  for  as- 
sault with  deadly  weapons,  two  for  assault  to  commit 
murder,  and  twenty-five  for  murder. 

They  stated  in  their  report  that  the  parties  engaged 
in  the  disgraceful  scenes  of  the  24th  of  October  were 
"  the  worst  elements  of  society,  and  in  their  cruelty, 
and  savage  treatment  of  unoffending  human  beings, 
their  eagerness  for  pillage  and  blood-thirstiness  ex- 
ceeded the  most  barbarous  races  of  mankind.  No 
attempt  was  made  by  any  officer  to  arrest  person's  en- 
gaged in  the  taking  of  human  life  even  in  their  prc.- 
e:ice.  Hundreds  of  law  abiding  citizens  ,  who  were 
u.iwilling  witnesses  of  the  sad  spectacles  of  that  nl'ijht, 
would  have  quickly  and  clieerfully  assisted  in  endhig 
tlie  anarchy  had  some  resolute  man,  clothed  with 
authority,  placed  himself  at  their  head.* 

One  dark,  rainy  night  in  December  1876,  fifty  or 
sixty  men,  most  of  them  armed  with  guns  and  pi  jtols, 
met  in  the  woods  near  Chico  for  the  purpose  of  adopt- 
iacf  measures  for  the  exteruunation  of  the  Chinese  in 
that  vicinity.  Their  immediate  plan  was  to  fire  the 
Sierra  mill,  where  Asiatics  were  employed,  and  to 
bum  both  Chinatowns.  During  the  session  their 
emissaries  were  out,  gathering  with  guarded  intima- 
tions recruits  from  among  those  known  as  favorable 
to  the  cause,  who  as  they  approached  the  assemblage 
cried  "You"  and  were  answered  "You"  such  beinix 
the  pass- word.  After  some  parley  t!ioy  began  to 
divide  into  three  parties  for  the  three  proposed  burn- 


AFFAIR  m  CHICO. 


639 


ings,  when  opposition  arose,  some  saying  tliat  they 
were  opposed  to  Chinese  labor,  but  they  were  also 
opposed  to  burning  property.  Many  wore  in  favor 
of  the  most  sanguinary  measures,  which  should  stop 
at  nothing  short  of  killing  all  the  Chinese  together 
with  their  white  employers.  The  discussion  waxed 
warm,  and  continued  so  late  that  action  was  postponed, 
and  the  conspirators  departed  to  meet  openly  m  the 
town  hall  the  second  night  thereafter.  At  the  place 
named,  and  at  two  subsequent  open  meetings  the 
question  was  freely  discussed,  many  opposed  to  vio- 
lence taking  an  active  part  in  the  proceedings. 

But  there  were  those  bent  on  blood  whom  mild 
measures  would  not  pacify.  These  met  secretly  again 
at  Armory  hall ;  and  when  those  who  favored  clearing 
that  locality  of  Chinese  by  killing  and  stanipeding  them 
were  called  upon  to  enroll  their  names,  some  sixty  or 
seventy  came  forward  and  and  signed  the  compact. 
Constitution  and  b^'-laws  were  then  adopted.  The 
organization  was  named  the  Anti-Chinese  and 
Workingmen's  Association.  Ofiicers  were  to  be  elected 
In'  ballot  to  serve  for  a  term  of  six  months,  and  were 
to  consist  of  a  president,  vice-president,  secretary, 
corresponding  secretary,  treasurer,  marshal,  inside 
guard,  and  outside  guard.  To  be  eligible  for  member- 
sliip  the  applicant  must  be  not  less  than  eiofhtet^n 
years  of  age,  and  nmst  hold  opinions  opposed  to  the 
presence  of  Asiatics,  and  to  those  who  employ,  i);it- 
r  tn'ize,  or  advise  them,  or  lease  them  houses  or  lands. 
An  initiation  fee  of  one  dollar  was  named,  an<l  signs, 
grips,  and  passwords  adopted.  Officers  of  the  law 
were  to  be  resisted  if  nt^cessarv,  and  the  word  "Nine" 
was  the  cry  of  distress.  The  arm  raised  over  the 
head  with  the  palm  of  the  open  hand  forward  was  a 
signal  for  help. 

For  greater  efficiency  the  management  was  en- 
trusted to  a  Council  of  Nine,  consisting  of  three  cap- 
taii;s  and  six  lieutenants,  who  were  thems' Ives  to 
execute  their  decrees,  though  they  might  call  on  any 


I  mm 
III 

1%, 


S70 


SOME  CHINESE  EPISODES. 


member  for  assistance,  and  do  all  the  necessary  burn- 
ing and  killing,  which  latter  might  include  white  men 
as  well  as  Chinamen.  Oaths  were  administered 
promising  secrecy  and  implicit  obedience  to  the  or- 
ders of  the  council  of  nine,  under  penalty  of  death. 
Over  150  members  were  enrolled  upon  this  basis. 
The  council  of  nine  had  their  secret  place  of  meet 
ing,  which  was  over  a  butcher's  shop,  where  they  en- 
tered one  at  a  time. 

Most  Californian  towns  are  satisfied  with  one  Chi- 
nese quarter.  Chico  had  two,  besides  scattered 
clumps  of  Celestials  in  their  shingle  shanties  or  white 
tents  wherever  they  happened  to  be  at  work. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  council  of  nine  was  held 
in  February  1877,  on  which  occasion  it  was  proposed 
to  burn  old  Chinatown.  Failing  to  reach  a  conclu- 
sion, the  meeting  adjourned  to  the  second  night  after, 
when  the  proposition  came  up  to  burn  both  China- 
towns. As  time  and  the  cause  progressed  the  killing 
of  six  prominent  citizens  was  seriously  discussed.  John 
Bidwell  was  specially  obnoxious  for  employing  Chi- 
nese, and  opposing  coercion.  Said  Wrlt^ht  the  stable- 
man on  one  occasion,  "If  the  council  orders  me  I 
will  go  out  and  return  immediately  with  Bidwell's 
scalp." 

A  secret  society  called  the  Order  of  Caucasians  had 
existed  for  some  time  on  this  coast,  based  upon  igno- 
rant and  fanatical  opposition  to  Mongolians.  This 
organization  was  composed  mostly  of  foreigners,  with 
a  few  American  mountebanks,  who  for  the  privilege  of 
acting  as  leaders  did  not  hesitate  to  pander  to  the 
lowest  passions  and  prejudices  of  the  demented  fana- 
tics. While  affecting  great  regard  for  law  and  order, 
they  bound  themselves  to  principles  tending  to  tlio 
most  diabolical  crimes.  Caucasian  clubs,  or  encanqi- 
ments  as  they  were  called,  were  scattered  throughout 
the  entire  country.  Second  only  to  their  outrageous 
measures  against  Mongolians  was  their  declared  an- 
tagonism against  American  citizens  who  employed  or 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


in 


befriended  the  Chinese.  Was  ever  such  impudence 
heard  of?  By  tliese  alien  hodcarriers,  and  the  iMjllti- 
cal  pimps  their  associates,  such  citizens  of  the  L'nitcd 
States  as  preferred  to  employ  Chinese  to  Irish  were 
denounced  as  public  enemies,  whom  to  injure  within 
their  coward  limit  of  law  was  imposed  as  a  duty  1 
The  followinj'  extract  from  the  Caucasian  constitution 
speaks  their  condenmation  in  stronger  terms  than  mine. 
"  Each  camp  and  every  individual  Caucasian,  and  every 
encampment,  and  the  supreme  camp,  pled<^es  to  each 
and  every  merchant,  manufacturer,  and  trader,  trav- 
eler, mochanic,  and  laborer,  thus  acting,  all  their  indi- 
vidual and  combined  influence,  power,  advertisement, 
and  patronage;  and  shall  oppose  to  annihilation  by 
every  manner  and  means  within  the  thin  gauze  of  the 
law  all  others. 

"And  it  shall  be  the  bounden  and  solemn  duty  of 
every  Caucasian,  of  every  camp,  encampment,  and 
the  supreme  camp,  to  pursue  and  injure  every  one 
while  he  remains  on  the  list  of  public  enemi(!S,  and 
each  and  everv  one  forever,  in  all  their  walks  of  life, 
save  religion,  morality,  and  person. 

"Every  Caucasian,  every  camp,  every  encampment, 
and  the  supreme  camp,  shall  labor  to  impede,  harass 
and  destroy  a  public  enemy  by  every  mode  and 
means,  and  manner,  known  and  unknown,  wltliin  the 
reach  of  brains  and  thought  and  act,  and  within  the 
bounds  of  law. 

"In  his  business,  his  means,  his  substance,  his  peace 
and  success,  publicly,  privatv,ly,  socially,  commercially, 
and  abov  .    U  politically. 

"Should  property  be  lost  because  of  such  duty, 
tho  same  not  being  insured,  upon  the  pro[)er  show- 
ing encam[)ment  shall  pay  the  fullest  insurance  that 
might  have  been  secured  upon  such  property ;  and 
Insured  or  not,  encampment  shall  aid  the  faithful 
l)rf>ther  financially  and  in  his  credit  to  replace  all 
losses. 

"Should  loss  be  occasioned  because  of  the  duty  of 


ip\ : 


■1! 


572 


SOME  CHINESE  EPISODES. 


Caucasians  in  regard  to  the  property  of  public  ene- 
mies, camps  shall  appraise  the  loss,  pay  it  immediately 
to  the  fullest  farthing,  and  forward  receipt  and  certi- 
fied copy  of  such  appraisure  to  the  secretary  of 
the  encampment. 

"A  Caucasian  who  knowingly  breaks  his  pledge  as 
regards  public  enemies,  shall  be  charged  with  perjury, 
and  if  guilty,  declared  a  public  enemy,  and  if  an  offi- 
cer perpetual  public  enemy." 

With  no  other  charge  than  that  an  employer  had 
discharged  white  labor  and  substituted  Chinese,  or 
contemplated  doing  so,  threats  were  made  of  fire  and 
death ;  and  humiliating  was  it  to  see  these  free  white 
Americans  come  forward  and  disclaim  such  intention, 
tacitly  admitting  the  right  of  the  questioners  to  place 
them  under  bonds.  The  evil  eflects  of  this  society, 
besides  frequent  outbreaks  of  violence  which  might  be 
traced  directly  or  indirectly  to  it,  were  seen  in  the  bold 
defiant  tone  assumed  by  its  members,  and  in  the  idlers 
that  crowded  the  streets  and  who  would  not  work  ex- 
cept at  exorbitant  wages. 

Living  at  this  time  in  Chico  was  a  launder,  John 
Slaughter,  a  name  significant  of  celestial  achievement, 
native  of  Arkansas,  born  of  a  Cherokee  mother,  and 
aged  twentv-three.  He  was  a  member  of  the  work- 
ingman's  association,  to  join  which  he  discharged  all 
the  Chinese  in  his  service,  hoping  thereby  to  obtain 
the  patronage  of  the  members.  Philip  Rondos  was 
his  partner,  and  the  Chinese  washermen  ran  them  a 
strong  opposition. 

Not  long  after  John  Slaughter  had  joined  the 
league,  a  stableman,  Henry  C.  Wright,  also  a  mem- 
ber of  the  brotherhood,  who  had  killed  his  man  in 
Nevada,  and  with  H.  J.  Jones  had  burned  Bidwell's 
soap  factory,  informed  John  Slaughter  that  he,  his 
brother  Charles  Slaughter,  Wright,  and  F.  Conway, 
were  ordered  by  the  council  to  assist  at  the  burnini,' 
of  the  Chinese  quarters  at  a  time  named,  and  that  all 

divulge  the 


were  to  take  an  ironclad  oath  never  to 


CONSPIRACY  AND  CRIME. 


679 


plot  nor  to  be  taken  alive.  Meanwhile  some  difficulty 
arising  between  the  council  and  their  president  A. 
M.  Ames,  the  adventure  was  postponed. 

After  this,  meetings  of  the  order  were  regularly  held 
Monday  nights,  the  council  discussing  proposed 
l)urnings  and  killings.  It  was  ordered  that  Een  True 
sliould  be  r.ssassinated  for  guarding  the  Chinese  quar- 
ter after  the  attempt  to  burn  their  liouses  had  failed. 
( )n  the  night  of  March  8th,  Eugene  Roberts  and  John 
Slaughter  met  opposite  the  Chico  hotel. 

'*  Business,"  ejaculated  John. 

"What  business?"  asked  Roberts. 

"Some  of  us  are  going  to  burn  old  Chinatown," 
John  replied. 

In  an  open  space  in  the  rear  of  the  town  thoy  met 
a1)C)ut  twelve  ochxjk  that  night.  One  of  the  number, 
Holderbaum,  obtained  three  sacks  of  straw,  and  sat- 
urating them  well  with  coal  oil  started  for  the  Chi- 
nese quarter.  For  half  an  hour  after  the  dogs  barked 
so  loudly  they  were  obliged  to  keep  off,  but  finally 
tney  succeeded  in  shoving  the  straw  under  a  house 
occupied  by  a  Chinawoman  and  igniting  it. 

Next,  the  incendiarism  of  the  Butte  Creek  Gardens, 
wliose  tenements  were  rented  by  Chinese  was  ordered, 
and  this  time  more  distinguished  action  followed  the 
order.  By  the  council  of  nine  James  Fahey  was 
directed  to  reconnoiter,  while  the  others,  armed,  should 
hold  themselves  in  readiness. 

"  There  is  a  big  lot  of  Chinamen  down  there,"  said 
Fahev  on  his  return. 

"It's  got  to  be  done,  1  suppose,"  ejaculated  Wright. 

"We  have  to  begin  some  time  and  somewliere;  &o 
far  it  has  been  all  talk  and  no  cider." 

"  I  didn't  know  I  had  to  murder  men  when  I 
joined,"  said  Slaughter. 

"The  council  have  to  father  this  job,  as  I'm  out  of 
it,"  growled  Fahey,  as  he  walked  off  toward  the  room 
over  the  butcher's. 

At  7  o'clock  on  the  night  appointed,  near  Chico 


ih-i*} 


87* 


SOME  CHIN'ESE  EPISODES. 


Creek  bridge  on  the  Dayton  road,  the  men  again  met, 
and  immediately  set  out  through  the  fields  west  of 
the  race-track  to  Edgar  slough,  and  then  up  the 
Oroville  road  to  the  first  Chinese  camp  opposite 
which  they  stopped.  Charles  Slaughter  was  now  of 
the  party,  and  also  Eugene  Roberts,  a  native  of  Con- 
cord, New  Hampshire,  twenty  years  of  age,  a  butch- 
er's butcher  by  occupation.  The  latter  did  not  know 
what  infatuation  led  him  into  the  folly,  nor  did  any 
one  else,  unless  it  was  the  inspiration  of  the  council 
of  nine  that  overshadowed  him  as  he  sawed  bones 
and  cut  and  chopped  meat  in  the  room  below.  In 
the  vicinity  were  three  Chinese  camps;  and  filled 
now  with  the  demon  of  destruction  Fahey  wished 
to  burn  them  all;  but  it  was  thought  best  by  the 
others  to  take  the  first  one  that  night  and  leave  the 
others  for  another  time. 

Close  at  hand  where  they  now  stood,  and  near  the 
huts,  was  a  barn  partially  filled  with  straw,  to  which 
through  a  crack  Roberts  applied  fire.  Then  they 
aii  ran  down  behind  the  banks  of  the  creek  near  by 
and  made  ready  their  pistols  to  fire  upon  the  Asiatics 
as  they  came  out.  Rare  sport  1  A  dog  givhig  the 
alarm  the  fire  was  put  out.  Then  crawling  up  to  the 
shanty  nearest  the  barn  they  began  to  fire  into  it. 
The  inch  boards  of  which  it  was  made,  with  the  spa<?c3 
exposed  by  the  cracks  and  windows,  afforded  not  tlio 
safest  protection,  and  the  occupants  watching  their 
chance  opened  the  door,  dodged  the  bullets,  and  ran 
into  the  bushes.  Charles  Slaughter  then  fired  the 
barn  for  the  second  time,  and  it  burned  to  the  ground. 
This  was  laurels  sufficient  for  the  nijjht.  Returnhi<j 
to  headquarters  and  reporting,  they  were  commended 
for  the  bravery  and  skill  with  which  they  opened  tlic 
campaign.  John  Slaughter  was  made  lieutenant  and 
others  promoted. 

On  the  Humboldt  road  two  miles  east  of  Chico, 
at  Chris  Lemm's  ranch,  stood  a  shanty  tenented  oii 
the  night  of  March  14,  1877,  by  six  Chinamen,  whose 


MORE  MURDER. 


573 


occupation  just  then  was  clearing  a  piece  of  ground 
by  contract,  which  work  had  been  previously  offered 
to  white  men,  and  by  thein  refused,  at  four  dollars  an 
acre  more  than  the  Mongolians  received. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  day  mentioned,  Roberts 
called  at  Slaughter's  laundry  and  asked  John  to  ac- 
company him  to  the  slaughter-house  and  assist  in 
turning  up  beef.  John  assented.  While  engaged  at 
their  work  Roberts  paused  as  if  a  thought  had  sud- 
denly struck  him. 

"  Let's  gf)  up  and  burn  the  China  cabin  on  Lemm's 
ranch,"  he  said. 

"Agreed."  replied  Slaughter.     "  Who  will  go  ? " 

*'  Fred  Conway  and  I,  Thomas  Stainbrook,  and 
Charles  Slaughter,  making  five  in  all,"  said  Roberts. 

The  party  met  according  to  agreement  just  above 
the  house  of  Roberts  father  shortly  after  7  o'clock, 
and  proceeded  up  the  Humboldt  road  toward  Lemm's 
rancho,  Roberts  and  John  Slaughter  marched  before, 
aiul  the  others  followed.  Roberts  was  captain  of  the 
occasion.  A  wagon  passing,  all  hid  themselves  behind 
a  log.  Neither  Conwav  nor  Steinbrook  knew  the 
exact  nature  of  the  work  to  be  done ;  hence  they 
were  somewhat  startled  upon  Robert's  cooly  remark- 
ing as  they  neared  the  hut,  "Unless  we  kill  the 
Chinamen  we  will  be  arrested."  They  did  not  object 
to  rob  them  and  burn  the  premises,  but  thc}'^  were 
not  prepared  to  murder.  The  others  wore,  however, 
and  it  was  too  late  now  for  any  to  retreat.  None  of 
them  were  disguised.  Scaling  a  fence  the  party 
a])proached  the  house  and  entered.  Within  were  six 
Chinamen  lounging  off  the  fatigues  off  a  hard  day's 
work  in  various  attitudes  about  the  room.  Instantly 
every  one  of  them  were  covered  by  revolvers  in  the 
hands  of  the  assaulting  party.  They  were  then 
ordered  to  come  forward  and  seat  themselves  close 
toorether  on  the  floor.  While  three  of  the  assailants 
stood  guard  over  them,  two,  Roberts  and  Charles 
Slaughter  emptied  their  pockets  and  examined  the 


i 


i,  1  I' 

III 


m 


SOME  CHINESE  EPISODES. 


premises.  A  carpet-bag  and  valise  were  broken  open 
but  nothing  of  value  discovered.  Taking  from  his 
pocket  a  bottle  of  kerosene  Roberts  emptied  it  upon 
the  victims  and  about  the  floor.  Then  calling  upon 
all  to  make  ready,  he  cried  "  Fire  I "  and  each  select- 
ing his  man  four  of  the  six  unfortunates  fell  dead, 
and  the  other  two  so  badly  wounded  that  they  were 
suppf)sed  to  be  killed.  Some  of  the  party  fired  twice. 
The  nmrderers  then  fled,  taking  different  routes  back 
to  town,  and  neglecting  in  their  awe-stricken  haste  to 
fire  the  premises  as  they  had  intended. 

It  was  about  9  o'clock  that  the  killing  was  done, 
and  at  ten  the  murderers  were  at  their  homes  and 
most  of  them  in  bed.  Peaceful  must  have  been  their 
slumbers  that  night.  It  had  been  agreed  that  in 
case  any  of  them  were  arrested  Wright  should  swear 
they  were  in  his  stable  at  the  time. 

The  1 6th  of  March  a  public  meeting  was  held  at 
which  it  was  agreed  *  that  the  citizens  of  Chico  view 
with  horror  the  assassination  of  peaceful  Chinamen, 
and  the  indiscriminate  destruction  of  property  which 
has  prevailed  recently  in  our  midst,  and  v/e  pledge 
ourselves  to  use  our  utmost  power  to  bring  to  justice 
the  perpetrators  of  these  outrages,  and  to  this  end 
will  cheerfully  second  any  effiirts  of  our  oflScers."  In- 
dignation ran  high  on  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day, 
when  it  was  discovered  that  a  notice  had  been  posted 
on  the  office  door  of  the  Keefer  rancho  cautioning  tlio 
proprietor  against  the  employment  of  Chinese  un- 
der penalty  of  destruction  of  the  premises.  Two  men 
were  arrested  on  suspicion. 

Next  day  the  excitement  was  still  more  increased 
by  the  receipt  by  many  citizens  of  threatening  notices, 
all  mailed  after  eight  o'clock  the  night  previous.  "  Get 
rid  of  your  Chinese  help  within  fifteen  days  or  suffc  r 
the  consequences."  Signed  "Committee."  A  threat 
was  sent  to  an  officer  by  mail  that  if  lie  took  any  meas- 
ures for  the  detection  of  the  murderers  of  the  China- 
men, he  himself  would  be  killed.     The  question  of 


ARRESTS. 


577 


forming  a  vigilance  committee  vas  seriously  tlisrusscd 
l)y  the  citizona.  The  law  seamed  petrified  ;  if  any- 
tlilnij  was  to  be  accomplished  the  people  nmst  do  it. 
A  reward  jf  ^1,500  waaotfered  by  the  people  of  Chico, 
$,)00  by  the  Chinese  association  called  the  Six  Ccmii- 
))anies  of  San  Francisco,  and  $1,000  by  the  governor 
<.'f  the  state.  By  the  27th  eleven  arrests  had  been 
nuule,  one  of  a  man  caught  mailiiu'  an  anonvinous 
] -tter  to  an  officer  threateinng  death  if  he  attempted 
to  arrest  the  incendiaries.  All  were  members  of  the 
workingmen's  association,  and  six  were  reputed 
Caucasians. 

The  first  arrest  was  that  of  Conway  who  was  de- 
tected mailing  threatening  letters.  Shadowed  for  two 
(lays  he  was  finally  arrested,  and  after  two  days  con- 
finement exposed  the  wjjole  plot.  Wright,  and  the 
brothers  Slaughter,  each  confessed  on  being  brought 
to  prison.  After  a  preliminary  examination  at  Chico 
tlie  prisoners  were  moved  to  Oroville  for  trial  the 
27th  of  March.  An  attempt  at  rescue  by  the  frater- 
nity was  feared  on  the  day  of  removal,  and  eight  men 
armed  with  Winchester  riflus  acted  as  escort.  Four 
thorough-brace  wagons  conveyed  them  from  the  Chico 
prison  to  Oroville.  A  large  throng  gathered  to  wit- 
ness their  departure.  The  prisoners  were  in  fine 
sph'its.  They  seemed  to  feel  the  sustaining  presence 
of  the  brotherhood,  and  that  the  people  were  with 
t!iem.  Not  one  of  the  five  murderers  manifested  the 
s]ij;htest  fear  of  punishment,  though  by  their  own 
co:»fessions  guilty  of  most  dastardly  villainy  and  doubly 
worthy  death. 

Arrived  at  Oroville,  the  prisoners  were  met 
by  a  large  concourse  of  people.  Here  for  the  first 
time  they  began  to  show  signs  of  fear.  They  noticed 
the  change  in  the  atmosphere;  there  were  few  admir- 
i  ig  or  sympathetic  glances  from  that  crowd;  and  the 
same  guard  which  so  lately  kept  them  from  their 
friends,  now  stood  between  them  and,  perhaps,  more 
summary  justice.     All  the  Chinese  at  Oroville  gath- 

CAt.  INT.POC.     87 


Btl 


SOME  CHINESE  EPISOPES. 


ered  round  the  jail  to  Bee  tlie  murderers  of  their 
countrymen,  heavily  ironed,  taken  from  the  wagons 
and  thrust  into  jail.  It  did  their  hearts  good  thus  to 
lu-hold  the  brave  Caucasians,  and  they  went  immediate- 
ly to  work  gatiioring  friends  to  give  them  a  severe  pros- 
ecution at  the  trial.  Conwav,  ho  who  first  confessed 
and  tliereby  betra3'ed  them  all,  was  kei»t  at  a  safe 
distance  from  the  other  prisoners;  he  was  brought 
over  in  a  sejiaratc  wagon  and  confined  hi  a  cell  apart, 
lest  tJiey  should  tear  him  to  pieces. 

At  half-past  ton  on  the  30th  of  March  the  Chico 
stage  dr(»ve  up  to  the  Oroville  courtliouse,  and  seven 
more  of  the  incendiaries  and  nmrderevs,  closely  guarded 
and  heavily  ironed,  were  added  to  the  first.  This 
completely  filled  the  jail,  and  most  of  the  cells  con- 
tained two  occupants.  By  this  time  all  the  bravado 
of  the  prisoners  had  left  them;  tliat  whicli  at  first 
thoy  regarded  as  a  good  joke  now  assumed  the  gloomy 
aspect  of  death.  Roberts  was  the  coolest  of  any  ;  ho 
believed  he  should  be  hanged,  he  said,  and  spejit 
nmch  time  reatliiuj:  his  bible.     Conwav  was  reganltd 

O  I/O 

as  half  idiot;  he  appeared  indifferent  as  to  what  he- 
came  of  him.  Ames,  first  president  of  tlu;  working- 
men's  association,  was  wild  with  excitement,  and  it 
was  feared  he  would  become  wholly  insane. 

The  "Jd  of  April  a  grand  jury  was  impanelled  at 
Oroville,  and  the  town  was  filled  with  people.  Meet- 
ings were  held  by  citizens  and  farmers  of  Butte 
county,  who  were  determined  to  rid  the  country  of 
the  class  then  in  prison.  All  members  of  the  order 
of  Caucasians  and  of  labor  union°  were  exclutled. 
The  5tli  of  Apri  the  grand  jury  came  hito  court  anJ 
reported  true  bill  found  against  seven  for  nmrder  and 
seven  for  arson.  \.mong  those  indicted  for  munlir 
were  the  five  per^  trators  of  the  Lemm's  rancho  vil- 
lainy. Yet,  as  tc  often  happens  in  the  annals  of 
crime,  the  most  gi  Ity,  the  instigators  of  the  outrai^es 
were  permitted  t"  escape.  To  obtain  their  own  di>^- 
charire,  members  of  the  council  of  nine  had  but  to 


TRIAUS  AND  COXVICTIONS. 


BTT 


i;,Mioro  participation  In  or  Banctiou  of  tiio  niurtlors. 
Tlui  people  of  Butte  county  were  indignant  wlicn  tliey 
Karued  that  the  arcli-conspirators  liatl  been  so  quickly 
jil)('rp,t«.d,  and  gjod  men  overvwhere  were  dissjip- 
])iiint(d.  But  tliis  is  the  old,  old  story  Instead  of 
(  aiioiiization,  our  courts  need  renovating,  revolutionlx- 
iii'jr,  remodeling.  They  are  a  disgrace  to  civilization. 
We  want  twice  the  efficiency,  twice  the  detection, 
conviction,  and  punishment  of  crhne  for  one-half  the 
iiionev  it  now  costs 

On  the  7th  of  April  those  indicted  for  arson  alone 
were  arraigned.  Among  these  was  the  .stal>leman  H. 
V.  Wright,  the  coolest  and  most  reckless  of  them  all. 

"  Have  you  a  lawyer  i "  as^  .d  Judge  Saft'ord  of 
him. 

"No  sir." 

'Do  you  want  one  ?" 

"No 'sir." 

"Are  you  guilty  or  not  guilty?"  then  asked  the 
ell  rk. 

"Guilty,"  said  Wright. 

Adam  Holderbaum  pleaded  guilty  to  arson  in  the 
second  degree.  Five  were  convicted  of  arson  in  the 
second  (Kgree  and  sentenced,  one  to  twenty  years,  two 
to  ten,  and  one  to  five  years  in  the  state  prison.  The 
18th  of  A])ril  H.  T.  Jones  was  brought  into  court 
and  convicted  of  arson  in  the  first  deijree. 

While  this  trial  was  in  progress  a  barn  was  fired  by 
tlie  incendiaries  and  burned  to  the  ground.  Charlcss 
Siaughter  then  pleaded  guilty  to  arson  in  the  second 
thgree.  Next  John  Mahoney  was  tried  for  arson, 
and  John  Slaughter  attempted  to  assist  him  by  false 
swearing.  Thomas  Stainbrook's  case  was  called  for 
trial  the  23d  of  j\Iav,  and  was  followed  bv  those  of 
Charles  and  John  Slaughter,  E.  R.  Koberts,  and  E. 
Conway.  Stainbrook  was  sentenced  to  twenty-seven 
and  a  half  years'  imprisonment,  and  tlie  others  to 
tw(^nty-five  years  each. 

Perhaps  we  should  be  satisfied  with  an  aggregate 


580 


SOME  CHINESE  ETISOBES. 


of  little  less  than  two  centuries  of  servitude  for  the 
killing  of  three  Asiatics,  and  the  burning  of  a  few 
buildings.  The  presence  of  too  many  low  Mongol- 
ians in  our  midst  is  not  conductive  to  the  highest 
civilization ;  and  yet  these  Chinese  were  men ;  they 
were  coolly  and  wilfully  murdered  ;  the  assassination 
was  as  foul  and  deliberate  and  unprovoked  as  any 
to  be  found  in  the  annals  of  crime ;  the  law  makes 
such  killing  punishable  by  death ;  and  yet  these 
murderers  were  not  so  punished. 

About  this  time  M.  Atherton  was  tried  at  San 
Josd  for  the  murder  of  Edgar  May  at  Santa  Cruz, 
while  the  latter  wag  in  a  state  of  helpless  intoxication, 
and  the  murderer  likewise  drunk.  Atherton  was  sen- 
tenced twenty-five  years  imprisoimu  nt.  Now 
these  sentences,  all  of  them,  done  into  English,  simply 
say  that  the  killing  of  Chinamen,  and  killing  t!one  l>v 
drunken  men  is  not  murder.  It  is  difficult  to  under- 
stand why  courts  and  juries  any  more  than  vigilance 
committees  have  the  right  to  break  the  law,  or  to 
subvert  its  just  operation. 

During  these  proceedings  a  Citizen's  Safety  Com- 
mittee had  been  organized  at  Chico,  of  which  Mr 
Theil  was  appointed  treasurer.  Hung  upon  the  shut- 
ter of  Mr  Thiel's  store  on  Second  street  the  night  of 
April  8th  was  found  the  following  missive  written  <  n 
a  half  sheet  of  dirty  note  paper.  It  is  hardly  up  to 
the  standard  of  averajxe  comnmnications  of  this  sort, 
though  it  caused  much  uneasiness,  particularly  amor.g 
owners  of  grain-fields. 

*'  The  devil  dreeme  on  the  Chinese  question.  There 
are  three  or  four  men  in  this  city  has  been  making 
dam  fools  of  themselves  in  regard  to  the  daimd 
Chinese  that  will  get  anufe  of  it  before  the  first  of 
Aui^ust.  You  must  remember  it  seldom  rains  hoij 
after  the  first  of  June,  and  when  ever3'^thing  is  dry  a 
match  v/ill  burn  without  sacks  of  straw  or  karseeii 
citlier,  and  we  will  also  give  the  farmers  of  this  country 
notice  to  look  out  this  season  for  everi  grain.     Eveiy 


FOI.LY  OF  SUCH  ACTIONS. 


£81 


iTians  ranch  reaped  or  stacked  by  the  Chinaman  is 
liable  to  tak  fire  from  the  Heat  of  the  sack  or  the 
.spark  from  tlie  smoke  sack.  It  looks  bad  to  do  sucli 
uoik  but  if  our  state  oficers  done  do  something  in 
jKji-tection  of  the  poore  we  will  half  to  carry  it  out 
ourselves  and  it  will  be  in  a  ruflf  manner  to  from 

T.    O.    MUGINS. 

"To  the  Public." 


The  instruments  of  the  Chico  outrages  were  less 
fanatics  than  fools.  Individually  they  had  nothing 
to  gain  and  everything  to  lose  by  becoming  the  blind 
t  lols  of  those  who  had  nothing  to  lose  and  every- 
tiling  to  gain  by  warring  on  a  mm-voting  class.  The 
antagonism  of  the  stableman  and  the  butcher's  clerk 
to  Chinese  laborers  was  inspired  neither  by  race 
antipathy,  fanatical  hatred,  nor  industrial  interest. 
^  ulgar  brutality  seems  to  have  been  the  primary 
instinct  prompting  them,  and  next  to  this  petty 
plunder.  Believing  themselves  safe  from  punishment 
l)V  reason  of  their  secret  associations,  ilattcred  by 
tliose  who  set  them  on,  they  flung  forward  the  bridle 
n  in  of  their  evil  natures,  and  let  their  low  tastes  lead 
thoni  whither  they  would.  Secret  societies  organized 
fir  the  accomplishment  of  a  pretended  public  good, 
and  then  lendin«:  theuiselves  to  the  commission  of 
crime,  cannot  be  too  severely  denounced  by  every 
lover  of  honest  law  and  open  liberty. 


rf!;r' 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 

Conrad. — Away  !  you  are  an  ass,  you  are  an  ass. 

Dni/l/erri/. — Dost  tliou  not  suspect  my  place  ?  Dost  then  not  suspect  riy 
years?  O  that  he  were  hero  to  write  nie  down  an  a«s  !  But,  niii:itL'r.s,  lo- 
nieinber  that  I  am  an  ass;  tlmugh  it  be  notMTitten  Jowu,  yet  forget  not.  th.it 
I  am  an  ass.  No,  thou  villain,  thou  art  full  of  piety,  as  shall  lie  proved  upi  n 
thee  by  good  witness.  1  am  a  wise  fellow;  and,  which  is  more,  uu  orticrr, 
and,  which  is  more,  a  householder;  and,  wliich  is  more,  as  prolty  a  piece  (t" 
flesh  as  any  is  in  ^Messina;  and  one  that  knows  the  law,  go  to;  and  a  riili 
fellow  enough,  goto;  and  a  fellow  that  hath  had  losses,  and  one  that  ha  ili 
two  gowns  and  everything  handsome  about  him.  Bring  him  away.  O  tluit 
I  had  ])een  writ  down  an  ass  ! 

— Much  Ai/oA/xiiit  Xollibt'j. 

l.-if,  Clown. — Argal,  he  that  is  not  guilty  of  his  own  death  shorteuj  not  Iks 
own  life. 

iJ:l  Clnirn.—Mut  is  this  law? 

1st  Cloion. — Ay,  marry  is'L;  crowuer's  cpiest  law. 

— Hamlet. 


Courts  of  justice  in  California  were,  in  early  times, 
eijual  if  not  superior  to  those  of  any  new  country  (  r 
border  settlement  founded  since  the  days  of  Jus- 
tinian— equal  if  not  superior  in  ability,  stupidity,  cr 
what  you  will.  Anything  that  courts  of  justice  could 
do  anv  where  or  under  anv  circumstances,  ij;()od  or 
bad,  ours  could  achieve.  Yet  I  may  safely  say  th;it 
the  judges,  on  the  whole,  were  honest  men ;  ainl 
while  frecjuently  neither  educated  in  law  nor  n[)eciall\' 
fitted  for  the  position,  they  were  far  above  the  avci- 
age  magistrates  in  general  intelligence  and  practical 
judgment.  On  the  supreme  bench  and  presiding  ovi  r 
the  district  and  county  courts,  particularly  in  tl  •' 
cities  and  more  thickly  populated  parts,  have  bet  ii 
from  the  first  occupation  of  the  territory  by  citizi  lis 
of  the  United  States  until  tlic  present  day,  as  ;il 
and  erudite  jurists,  men  of  as  broad  and  enliglitemil 
intellects,  as  might  be  found  elsewhere  in  J']urope  m 

(082) 


111' 


CHARACTER  0?  THE  JUDICIARY. 


jt  ir.s 


incs, 
(  r 

J  us- 
er 
ul.l 
or 

tlwit 

iallv 

ivcr- 

fuvl 

OVCl" 

tl  I' 

Im'(  n 
l)('  til' 


America.  Sonic  v/orc  «lissipatetl,  but  for  tlic  most 
l)art  tliov  wore;  nita  of  iuteoritv.  Even  tlurinu;  the 
most  lawlo8s  times  tliere  were  sitting  on  the  judicial 
beach  of  CaUfornia  men  whose  purity  of  hfe  and 
character  was  never  questioned.  And  to-day  a  cor- 
rupt jud-jje  is  t!ie  exce[)tion,  not  the  rule.  Witli  pride 
I  point  to  our  judiciary,  and  to  the  better  class  of 
attorneys  who  practice  in  our  courts.  True,  a  judge 
nuiy  be  bribed  sonietiujcs,  not  knowing  it;  or  he  may 
he  swayed  by  public  opinion,  not  knowing  it;  he  may 
he  feasted  by  bonanza  men,  or  given  a  free  ride  across 
tlie  continent  by  tlie  wholesale  corruptionists  of  the 
railroads,  and  so  warp  his  decision  in  their  favor — not 
knowing  it.  Unfortunately  as  much  cannot  truth- 
fully be  said  of  our  legislators  and  political  office- 
holders who,  during  the  usually  short  term  of  their 
<ic(  upancy,  seek  rather  to  s«  rve  themselves  than  the 
pui)lic.  These  are  never  bril)ed  without  knowing  it, 
as  they  always  require  [)aj'^  in  advance. 

During  the  Hush  times,  the  days  of  which  I  write, 
we  find  some  dolts  and  sonie  wilfully  wicked  nun 
seated  even  on  our  higher  judicial  benches.  Through 
the  ab  ence  of  strict  social  restraint  arose  laxity  in 
moral  observances  and  ieoal  formulas.  Amony:  the 
])oople,  vigor  of  mind  broke  out  into  numerous  eccen- 
tricities ;  or,  rather,  the  preoccupied  citizen,  acting 
naturally  and  hulependently,  not  thinking  wholly  of 
himself,  his  dress,  and  manner,  clahning  for  himself 
th(!  utmost  freedom,  eating,  sleeping,  walking,  speaking 
as  best  jdcased  him,  threw  aside  some  of  the  eccen- 
tric Ities  of  fashion,  and  in  so  doing  to  the  unen- 
franchised appeai'cd  eccentric.  Leaving  the  marts  of 
Itusiiiess  for  church  worship,  the  same  eccentricity  of 
thought,  or  lack  of  it,  is  manifest,  though  in  fonn 
devotion  was  not  greatly  changed.  In  such  a  so(  ietv 
it  is  but  natural  that  from  tribunals  of  justice,  as  well 
as  from  its  ministers,  some  part  of  that  severe  decorum 
wliich  characterizes  nuire  staid  and  superstitious  com- 
munities should  be  re  noved. 


584 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AXD  COURT  SCETTES. 


Wlience  arose,  carrying  in  some  things  their  Hberty 
into  Hbertinisni,  the  not  unusual  sights  at  one  time  of 
chief  justice  and  courtesan  promenadmg  the  busiest 
thoroughfare  in  company ;  of  supreme  judge  seated 
behind  a  gambling  table  dealing  faro,  arid  surrounded 
by  lawyers,  politicians,  prostitutes,  and  friends;  of 
supreme  judge  drinking  to  drunkenness,  carousing 
all  night  in  elegantly  furnished  halls  of  infamy,  fight- 
ing duels,  assaulting  citizens,  and  burdened  so  heavily 
with  debts  incurred  by  licentious  living  as  to  become 
the  willing  tool  of  whomsoever  would  buy  him  up 
and  offer  him  for  cancellation  by  the  easy  though 
conscienceless  method  of  warped  judicial  decisions. 

While  such  a  state  of  things  existed  at  the  fountain- 
head  of  justice,  we  should  not  be  surprised  to  fintl  its 
Icnver  channels  somewhat  turbid  in  their  flow.  While 
Mammon  and  Gannnon  sat  upon  the  supreme  bench 
it  was  not  difficult  to  determine  what  sort  of  ]>lead- 
ing  was  required  to  win  a  cause  before  that  tribunal. 
While  he  who  durinij  the  morning  hours  listened  as 
associate  justice  to  the  cases  brought  before  one  of 
the  upper  courts  of  the  metropolis,  in  tlie  afternoon 
stood  by  and  witnessed  a  deliberate  murder,  of  which 
he  had  foreknowledije  and  was  accessory,  beinir  the 
murderer's  friend  he  would  naturally  hurry  him  to 
prison  as  to  a  place  of  safety. 

Between  these  two  extremes  of  the  best  and  the 
worst,  in  the  city  and  in  the  country,  every  shade  of 
character  was  to  be  found  among  the  judiciary  of 
California.  Nor  did  personal  immorality  by  any 
means  imply  judicial  corrujjtion.  At  a  time  when  the 
female  element  was  meagre,  deference  was  paid  by  all 
classes  to  the  female  form,  even  thout'h  its  dress  cov- 
ered  corruption;  nor  was  it  very  damaging  to  any 
man's  reputation,  when  everything  was  public,  to  bo 
seen  in  conversation  with  a  public  woman. 

Gambling   and   drinking    saloons   were    places  of 

?ublic  resort;  all  classes  there  met  and  mingled  freely, 
'he  person  so  prudish  as  to   hold  aloof  from  such 


EARLY  CALIFORNIA  JURISTS. 


5S6 


places  made  few  friends.  There  was  nothing  dis- 
reputable at  that  time  in  being  seen  in  a  saloon, 
and  a  man  would  be  regarded  mean  who  enjoyed 
night  afte  r  ilight  the  shelter,  light,  and  society  of  the 
place  without  ever  spending  a  dollar  there.  Judges 
of  course  frequented  drinking  saloons;  men  who 
never  patronized  such  places  were  seldoin  made 
judges.  A  judge's  morals  were  his  own,  they  said ;  his 
olHcial  acts  alone  belonged  to  the  public. 

The  men  of  chivalry,  who  indulged  in  the  duels 
and  street  encounters,  being  of  all  men  devoid  of  the 
pure  article,  were  of  all  others  the  most  sensitive  to 
what  they  called  their  honor.  It  so  happened  among 
tliose  of  them  who  were  judges  that  their  ideas  of 
lionor  accorded  with  equitable  decisions;  though  like 
many  professors  in  otiuT  directions  their  practice  was 
ill  no  wise  hi  keeping  with  their  tenets.  But  for  the 
most  part  chivalrous  judges,  though  they  might  in- 
dulge freely  in  drunkenness,  gambling,  and  licentious- 
n  ss,  when  no  one  was  at  hand  to  bribe  them,  were 
just  and  equitable  ma  ^istrates. 

It  s;)  happened  again  tliat  the  t  rm  gentleman  im- 
])]lcd  fair  judgment ;  though  this  by  no  means  was 
always  the  case.  It  was  with  them  as  with  the  pom- 
pous and  punctilious  of  other  ages  who  had  nothing 
but  their  pride  to  be  proud  of  As  to  what  consti- 
tutes a  gentleman  depends  enthely  upon  time  and 
place.  (Toorgo  the  Fourth  of  England,  voluptuary, 
(k'l):mcheo,  (Egotist,  and  false-hearted,  was  called  in 
his  day  the  first  gentleman  in  Europe.  Later,  dandy- 
ism, with  some  intellectual  pretensions,  in  the  person 
of  the  Frenchman  Couiit  d'  Orsav.  becanu^  the  ortho- 
dox type.  To  dress  well,  to  iltie  well,  to  swim,  shoot, 
box,  wrestle,  and  play  cricket  well,  were  the  accom- 
plishments that  crowned  the  gentleman.  Lord  Ches- 
terfield's gentlemen  were  made  of  manners  and  hollow- 
lieartechiess.  California's  judges  were  all  of  them 
gentlemen,  howsoever  corrupt  or  debased  they  were. 

While  ill  tiie  cities,  and  in  the  higlier  courts  of  the 


! 


R86 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


more  settled  localities,  court  proceedings  and  rulings 
were  governed  by  precedents  and  legislative  en- 
actments; throughout  the  nining  regi  >u,  or  other 
distant  or  thinly  populated  districts,  common  sense 
took  the  place  of  connnon  law,  wliUe  statute-hooks 
and  precedents  were  flung  to  the  wind  as  unworthy  a 
sane  man's  consideration.  Such  equipage  might  do 
for  jurists  like  "tliat  bloated  p]iil()st>[)her,  wlio  mis- 
took declamation  for  eloquence,  and  affectation  for  feel- 
ing "  as  Lamartine  said  of  Kaynal;  but  then  if  tiiey 
could  not  reach  the  truth  witJiout  the  aid  of  boolcs 
and  hook-leariung,  tliey  could  not  with  them.  Away 
from  their  bit  and  harness,  these  jurists  of  all-domi- 
nating rules  and  statutes  were  like  that  blindly  wan- 
dering wisdom  which  looks  one  way  and  walks 
another,  and  when  asked  a  question,  and  no  hooks  are 
at  hand,  nil  illcif,  or  like  Ignaro,  foster-father  of 
Argoglia,  answers  "I  cannot  tell." 

And  they  were  riglit.  Simple  and  ignorant  judges 
of  simple  differences  between  ignorant  men,  the  sini- 
]>lost  and  most  direct  method  was  the  best  for  them. 
All  the  while,  be  it  remembered,  these  uncouth  jurists 
were  in  [)raetical  sagacity  no  whit  behind  their  more 
intellectually  cultured  brethren  of  the  woolsack.  It 
was  a  broad  unfolding  in  the  evolutioi.  of  jurispru- 
dence, that  such  an  element  as  that  which  infested  the 
foothills  from  1848  to  I80G  sliould  be  so  easily  and  so 
thoroughly  kept  in  order  by  their  own  regulations, 
carried  out  by  men  chosen  from  among  their  own 
number,  and  with  little  aid  from  statutory  enactments. 

As  in  religion  so  in  jurisprudence,  meaningless  forms 
are  beccnning  obsolete,  and  substance  is  the  tliir.;- 
considered.  Much  superfluous  tackling  has  alread,- 
fallen  from  court  proceedings,  and  there  is  more  which 
might  profitably  be  stripped  from  them;  that  tlio 
well-aj)pointed  library  of  an  attorney  in  fair  practice 
must  number  its  volumes  by  tens  of  tliousands,  and 
that  rulings  and  decisions  nmst  be  compiled  from 
those  who  sat  and  judged  thirty  or  three  liundnd 


FORMS  AND  IRECEDENTS. 


587 


years  ago,  suggests  a  further  advancement  in  this 
(lircctiou.  What  we  want  is  less  precedent ;  in  rcHgion 
less  of  Patristic  dogmas,  and  in  law  less  reverting*  to 
the  past  for  the  solution  of  questions  which,  if  we 
have  availed  ourselves  of  our  advantages  we  should 
understand  better  than  our  forefathers. 

Knowledge,  either  in  law  or  elsewhere,  is  not 
alone  a  looking  back,  but  an  eternity  of  inquiry 
roncerning  not  only  what  has  been  but  what  is  and 
sliall  be.  When  we  can  no  more  conceive  of  a  bound- 
{Mv  to  knowledge  than  we  can  conceive  of  a  boundary 
to  space,  it  is  not  wise  in  us  to  revivify  by  all  our 
powers  dead  or  dying  formulas;  for  if  such  a  course 
does  not  lead  to  the  nihilism  of  Georgius  of  Leontini, 
there  is  at  all  events  but  little  progress  in  it.  This 
some  (^fcoruius  after  all  is  not  altonethor  wron<jc  in  his 
iittirmation  that  nothing  is,  or  if  it  bo  that  it  cannot 
bo  known.  Our  knowlcd«je  comes  from  nothing  and 
ends  in  nothing.  "Philosophy  begins  in  wonder," 
f^ays  IMuto,  "  for  Iris  is  the  child  of  Thaumas." 
Nature-worship  is  tlie  mythoh)gy  of  science,  and  the 
myths  of  Greece  reduced  to  system  in  tlie  writings  of 
llesiod  and  Homer  enfolded  the  germ  of  all  that 
followed.  The  i)ursuit  of  knowledge  is  a  journey 
from  the  sublime  to  the  ridiculous.  Tlie  end  of 
knowledge  is  to  plunge  us  yet  deeper  in  the  gulf  of 
ignorance.  The  progress  of  religion  is  from  the 
mighty  and  majestic  gods  of  Homer  to  the  buffoons 
burlesqued  by  Lurian;  from  the  deities  of  savagism, 
moving  clouds,  speaking  thunder,  smiling  sunshine 
and  soft  kissing  breezes,  tlirougli  monotheism  and 
Christianity  to  the  infidelity  generated  by  seien(  e. 
Science  in  its  turn  on  every  side  soon  strikes  tlie  un- 
knowable, and  throws  back  the  inquirer  after  ultimate 
truth  upon  something  akin  to  nihiHsm.  In  the 
progress  of  literature,  as  elsewhere,  we  see  the  same 
])rin('iple  manifest.  In  its  earliest  stages  it  assumes 
the  form  of  epic  or  lyric  poetry,  of  tragedy  and  his- 
toric narrative — the  bloody  and  the  real ;  later,  with 


588 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  CJURT  SCENES. 


a  higher  intellectuality,  we  have  comedy  and  romance 
— the  contemplative  and  ideal. 

Now  the  day  is  coming  when  law  shall  find  wisdom 
in  less  learning;  when  from  the  mountains  of  ancient 
and  accunmlative  legal  lore,  as  from  thg  Cretan 
labyrinth  for  the  imprisonment  of  the  Minotaurs, 
the  thread  of  simple  justice  shall  be  followed  until 
the  searcher  for  the  direct  path  shall  be  brought 
out  into  the  clear  light  of  open  day.  Then  it  will 
be  manifest  to  all  that  between  the  natural  rights 
of  man  as  arrived  at  by  the  gold-diggers,' and  right 
as  proclaimed  by  the  law  and  tauglit  by  tribunals, 
the  difference  is  less  real  than  pretended ;  that  the 
justice  of  the  miners,  like  their  gold,  though  it  liad 
not  the  statutory  stamp  upon  it  was  none  the  less 
pure  metal. 

Mucli  truth  is  treasured  up  in  proverbs  and  legal 
maxims,  and  yet  what  oceans  of  absurdities  are  swal- 
lowed when  codified  under  the  fornmlas  of  truth ! 
There  are  few  of  them  but  would  fit  mankind  as  well 
reversed,  that  is,  if  made  to  say  cxac\.ly  the  op}>(;site 
of  what  they  do  say.  I  have  often  followed  as  a  pas- 
time this  reversing  of  maxims,  and  the  effect  some- 
times is  marvelous.  What  matchless  subtlety  of 
thought  do  we  find  in  words  thus  broutjht  out,  such 
as.  An  honest  god  the  noblest  work  t)f  man.  Policy  is 
the  best  honesty,  and  a  host  of  others;  while  for  tht 


multitude  of  such 


dess 


meanmgiess  expressions 


as 


Live 


each  day  as  though  it  were  your  last,"  we  find  by  al- 
lowing the  mind  to  dwell  upon  it  for  a  moment  that 
not  the  thinor  said  was  meant  at  all,  but  somethinu 
eke.  No  one  could  make  a  greater  mistake  than  by 
following  literally  such  injunctions.  Bnt  thry  are 
not  intended  to  be  taken  literally;  all  that  isnuaiit 
is  to  live  well  every  day.  Then  would  it  not  be  better 
to  say  so,  and  not  to  elevate  into  a  maxim,  and  innnor- 
talize  in  the  name  of  golden  truth,  brazen  absurdity. 
Better  the  sage  remark  of  the  crank,  Don  Quixote, 
"Everyone  is  like  everybody  else,  only  a  great  deal 


worse 
societ 
sions 
Thi 
and  n 
man,  ^ 
logical 
court 
I)rotec 
It  is 
Wiiere 
Nveapoi 
btjen  ei 
gradua 
Duri 
nocessii 
lower  c 
side  of , 
bing  ju 
^.lake  o 
posing 
formity 
honest, 
otiier  ol 
Any  on( 
years  of 
leadintr 
variably 
sliootincr 
f  )r  drawi 
tlie  law 
those  wh 
class  was 
^vhy    wa« 
tliose  ma 
shelter  tl 
the  confl] 
from  one 
and  socia 


LAW  AND  ORDER. 


worse";  or  that  of  any  onr  of  tlie  several  classes  in 
society,  each  of  which  has  a  series  of  formal  ex[)re8- 
sions  containing  little  or  no  meaning. 

Thus  we  sec  there  is  much  in  forms  and  precedents 
and  maxims  which,  if  blotted  from  the  memory  of 
man,  would  leave  the  course  of  justice  more  clear  and 
logical.  There  is  nmch  cumbersome  machinery  in 
court  procedure  which  retards  rather  than  assists  in 
j)rotecting  the  innocent  and  punishing  the  guilty. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  too  often  in  our  courts, 
where  reason  and  sound  argument  should  be  the  only 
weapons,  coarse  expletives  and  pliysical  violence  have 
\Kien  employed,  but  happily  the  logic  of  brute  force  is 
gradually  becoming  unfashionable. 

During  the  time  when  vigilance  committees  were  a 
necessity,  it  is  a  most  significant  fact  that  besides  tlie 
l;)wer  class  of  evil-minded  persons  marshalled  on  tiie 
side  of  law  and  order  were  all  licentious  judges,  stab- 
bing jurists,  duelling  editors,  and  fighting  lawyers. 
}<Iake  out  lists  of  the  individual  members  of  the  op- 
posing factions  and  you  will  find  with  singular  uni- 
formity one  composed  of  persons  quietly  disposed, 
honest,  industrious,  intelligent,  and  virtuous,  and  the 
other  of  quarrelsome,  irate,  waspish  work-despisers. 
Any  one  who  will  go  carefully  over  the  first  seven 
years  of  the  annals  of  the  state,  as  recorded  by  the 
leading  writers  of  the  time,  will  find  it  almost  in- 
variably the  case,  that  those  officials  prominent  in 
shooting-scrapes,  those  lawyers  fined  most  frequently 
f)r  drawing  deadly  weapons  in  courts,  those  limbs  of 
the  law  who  of  all  otiiers  oftenest  broke  tlie  law, 
those  whom  only  the  law  was  made  to  punish— this 
class  was  usually  loudest  in  support  of  law.  And 
why  was  this  ?  Briefly,  for  two  reasons.  First, 
these  manipulators  of  the  law  could  tlie  more  easily 
slielter  their  misdeeds  under  the  law ;  and  secondly, 
the  conflict,  on  one  side  at  least,  had  degenerated 
from  one  for  principle  to  one  politically,  sectionall}', 
and  socially  partisan.     Some  were  made  to  govern, 


600 


COURTS  OF  JU.TICE  AND  COURT  SCKNES. 


otliors  to  1)0  governed,  was  the  doctrine  held  by  law 
and  order. 

In  a  f(^w  instances,  before  the  year  1850  liad  expired, 
justices  of  the  peace  and  judges  had  been  impeached 
and  driven  from  their  seats  by  the  people.  But  com- 
pared with  those  who  at  this  time  were  accustomed, 
eitlier  openly  or  in  secret,  to  take  illegal  fees,  to  ex- 
tort, ac(  ept  bribes,  or  otherwise  violate  their  oath  of 
oftice,  the  number  punished  was  insignificant.  The 
money-makers  had  no  time  to  chastise  their  criminals, 
to  say  nothing  of  judges.  True,  there  was  the  short, 
quick  way,  tlie  only  practicable  way  in  ordinary  cases; 
but  then  they  did  not  exactly  like  to  hang  judges, 
"as  it  might  be  ag'in  law,  like,"  though  tliey  often 
tlireatencd  to  do  so. 

In  tlie  first  nmnber  of  the  Califomua  Star,  published 
nt  Yerba  Buona  January  9,  1847,  are  the  following 
pertinent  remarks  on  the  custom  of  smoking  in  court: 
''Among  the  many  good  rules  adopted  by  our  late  al- 
calde, and  broken  by  the  present  one — not  to  nieiition 
the  hio'h-handed  violation  of  the  dearest  ritjhts  of 
freemen,  a  refusal  of  trial  by  jury,  of  which  hereafter 
—is  that  of  smoking  in  the  court-room,  and  this,  too, 
practised  almost  solely  by  the  judge  and  his  clerk, 
wlio  are  more  than  half  their  time  puffing  forth  clouds 
of  smoke  from  their  'long  nines,'  greatly  to  the  an- 
noyance of  persons  having  business  in  court,  particu- 
larly those  not  in  tlie  habit  of  smoking.  Besides,  I 
would  ask,  does  it  look  very  dignified  for  a  judge  to 
be  delivering  a  decision  in  an  important  case  with  a 
cigar  in  his  mouth,  stopping  every  half  minute  in  his 
address  to  give  a  pufi' or  two?" 

The  following  scene  in  court,  which  happened  at 
Ran  Francisco  in  February  1848,  is  but  one  of  a  class. 
Two  individuals  met  in  a  liquor  saloon,  drank,  quar- 
relled, fought.  One  received  a  stab  in  the  breast. 
The  other  was  arrested  by  a  posse  of  citizens,  and  taken 


AN  INTIMIDATED  JUDOE. 


BOl 


before  the  magistrate,  who,  after  an  examination, 
liinted  of  quarters  in  the  ealaboose.  The  oatha  with 
wliieh  the  prisoner  interhirded  liis  speeeli  may  bo 
omitted  witlumt  h)S8. 

Prisoner  (to  tlie  judge).  ''This  is  a  bailable  case, 
sir,  and  you  can't  put  me  thar." 

Magistrate.     "It  is  n«)t  a  bailable  case,  sir,  and — " 

Prisoner  (interrupting).  "I  know  its  a  bailable 
case;  I  am  somethinij:  of  a  lawyer  if  I  am  dressed  in 
l)U(ks)\in.     You  can't  put  mo  in  the  calaboose,  sir." 

jSIagistrate.  "  Stop,  sir,  stop,  you  will  have  to  go 
to  prison  if — " 

l^iisoner.  "I  go  to  prison?  No,  sir!  and  you 
can't  put  me  thar  I" 

^Magistrate.     "Yes,  sir.     We'll  seel" 

I'risoner.  "We'll  seel  and  if  you  go  to  put  me  in 
tliat  thar  calaboose  you  can't  live  in  tlils  place.  Yes, 
sir,  I  know  you,  you  are  a  rascal,  and  you — " 

Magistrate.     "  Be  silent  sir  1     Will  you  hear  me?" 

Prisoner  (in  high  fever).  "  Yes,  sir,  I'll  hear  vou:  vou 
are  no  gentleman  1  You  can't  put  me  hi  that  prison; 
\ou  are  a  villain.  Don't  you  dare  to  put  me  in  that 
jirison.  I  never  was  in  prison  yet,  and  if  you  put  me 
tliar  and  want  to  live  you  had  better  leave  this  place  1" 

The  judge,  who  was  scarcely  fit  for  the  emergency, 
not  relishing  the  aspect  of  affairs,  would  have  kept 
the  prisoner  confined  without  sending  him  to  jail  had 
not  the  citizens  and  mendiers  of  that  town  council 
interfered  and  compelled  him  to  do  so. 

Early  in  1849  there  was  a  man  of  somewhat  intel- 
](>rtual  aspect,  fair  address,  free  and  easy  manner,  and 
that  shrewd,  practical  instinct  which  in  those  days 
passed  current  for  its  full  worth,  who  stood  about  the 
streets  in  San  Francisco  selling  peanuts.  Although 
tlie  person  was  greatly  superior  to  his  calling,  he 
seemed  by  no  means  ashamed  of  it.  Before  he  came  to 
California  he  was — nobody  knew  what.  No  one  knew 
or  cared  to  know  who  any  person  was  before  he  came 


III 


r  ■;:<; 

'l   ,!■■ 


■  if 


502 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


hither.  It  was  enough  now  to  be  of  California;  a 
now  exiHte  ICC  dutecl  from  the  lanUhig  at  the  whurf  in 
fcJan  Francisco. 

This  peanut-sollc>r  may  have  be' n  a  doctor,  jud«jfo, 
drayman,  or  printer  btf)re  cominj^  hero;  now  ho  was 
a  business  citizen  of  Cahfornia's  embryo  metropohs, 
His  business  was  a  good  one;  nay  more,  it  was  lari;e 
and  profitable.  There  was  no  such  thing  at  a  small 
business  in  those  days;  scarcely  such  a  thing  as  an 
unpr>)fitable  business.  One  might  lose  by  fire  or 
8peculati:)n,  but  every  well-managed  legitimate  buwl- 
noss  w.is  very  remunerative.  Even  peanuts  paid. 
At  a  dollar  a  cup-full  when  one  roasted  them  one's 
self,  and  passed  them  out  lively,  one  could  easily 
afford  to  dress  fairly  and  board  at  a  five-dollar-a-day 
hotel  as  our  friend  did. 

The  i)earmt-merchant  made  many  friends.  He 
seemed  as  nmch  at  homo  in  the  best  society  as  in  the 
worst;  he  was  well  informed  upon  all  the  leading 
topics  of  the  day,  read  the  news  from  all  parts  of  the 
world  on  the  arrival  of  every  steamer,  and  was  .it 
home  in  conversation  equally  with  the  lawyer,  me- 
chanic, or  petty  politician.  It  seemed  never  to  occur 
to  him,  it  scarcely  seemed  to  occur  to  others,  that 
there  was  anythir.g  about  his  calling  low  or  humiliat- 
ing. Ho  had  come  to  California,  as  had  all  the  rest, 
to  make  money;  and  like  a  wise  man  he  engaged  in 
that  which  oflered  the  most  flatteriiig  inducements. 
Yanderbilt  himself  could  not  have  found  a  more 
lucrative  occupation  with  so  siuall  an  outlay  and  ri^^k. 

But  the  peanut  poddler  was  n  (t  without  his  quid 
ambition.  His  traffic  had  taken  him  many  times  a 
day  to  the  little  court-house  cpposite  the  plaza,  and 
he  was  upon  the  most  easy  terms  with  the  alcalde, 
clerk,  and  constable,  besides  the  lawyers  and  hangers- 
on  about  the  place.  Being  a  man  of  intelligent  ob- 
servation, he  had  noticed  how  the  increasing  business 
crowded  upon  the  ancient  and  yet  unawakened  mag- 
istrate of  Spanisli  associations,  and  that  although  the 


THE  PEANUT  SELLER. 


quality  of  the  justice  there  administered  was  none  of 
tlio  best,  it  usually  coniman  led  a  ^imd  price. 

An  idea  struck  hiui.  He  would  start  a  court  and 
he  a  judj^e  himself  He  believed  he  C(»uld  make  a 
hotter  thing  of  it  than  of  peanuts.  He  would  do 
it.  But  how?  Easy  enough.  He  knew  tlie  ring- 
loaders  of  the  Hounds;  knew  intimately  Sam  Roberts, 
St  John,  and  many  more  of  them.  He  had  treated 
them  to  peanuts  fifty  times,  ai\d  had  often  talked  with 
thorn  by  the  hour  about  politics,  raids,  gold-mines, 
and  tJie  expulsion  of  the  Chilenos.  Then  there  were 
his  lawyer  friends,  his  court  friends,  and  a  host  of 
others;  and  as  he  had  saved  a  little  money,  the  tlung 
was  not  hard  to  do  ;  and  it  was  done. 

Indeed  the  business  of  young  San  Francisco  had 
so  incroased,  and  was  still  so  rapidly  growing,  that 
tlie  organization  of  another  court,  superior  to  tliat  of 
tlie  alcalde,  seemed  a  necessity;  and  backed  by  his 
political  friends,  the  peanut  merchant  with  no  great 
difficulty  prevailed  upon  the  governor  to  authorize 
liiin  to  establish  such  a  tribunal. 

The  peanut  peddler  was  now  William  B.  Almond, 
Esquire,  judge  of  the  court  of  First  Instance,  with 
civil  jurisdiction  in  cases  involving  sums  exceeding 
Olio  hundred  dollars.  His  court  was  held  in  a  little 
slianty,  called  the  old  school-house,  situated  (m  the 
soutliWost  comer  of  the  plaza,  on  the  Clay  strtxjt  side, 
near  the  Monumental  engine-house,  while  the  alcalde 
still  remained  at  his  old  quarters  near  the  southeast 
corner  of  Washington  and  Kearny  streets  fronting 
the  plaza. 

Tlie  12th  of  December,  1849,  saw  Judge  Almond's 
court  open  and  ready  for  business.  Salary  was  a 
tiling  unknown  at  that  time  among  court  officials. 
Judges,  sheriffs,  clerks,  constables,  all  drew  coinpensa- 
ti(»ii  for  their  services  in  fees,  generally  fixed  by 
tlioiiiselves.  Running  a  court  was  a  speculation,  like 
running  a  hotel,  or  a  store ;  it  was  conducted  to  make 
money,  and  was  valued  at  what  it  would  pay.     To 

Cal.  Int.  Poc.   88 


B  ii ! 


tm 


Hi 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCEXES. 


make  its  decisions  valid  certain  elections  or  appoint- 
ments were  necessary,  and  these  were  obtained  as  the 
exigencies  of  the  times  seemed  to  require.  It  was 
not  until  several  years  later  that  all  the  municipal  of- 
ficers were  put  upon  a  salary  basis ;  nor  until  the  offi- 
ces of  sheriff,  tax-collector,  and  ihe  like  were  esti- 
mated as  worth  to  the  occupant  forty  thousand  dol- 
lars per  annum.  These  tempting  baits  were  the 
source  of  great  evils,  both  in  the  manner  of  obtaining 
office,  and  in  the  execution  of  its  duties. 

Behold  now  the  mercantile  grub  transformed  to 
winged  justice.  All  hail  to  the  rising  sun  I  Money 
and  merriment  were  the  prominent  characteristics  of 
this  tribunal.  As  a  matter  of  course  the  mill  nmst 
gnnd  steadily,  and  with  tolerable  fairness  ;  otherwife 
the  institution  would  acquire  an  evil  reputation,  which, 
like  a  gambling-shop  famous  for  its  cheating,  would 
repel  litigants,  and  with  them  their  dollars.  Tliere 
was  no  harm,  however,  in  having  it  thoroughly  under- 
stood that  ui  this  court  time  was  money.  Tliis  was 
no  less  a  desirable  feature  with  suitors  than  with  the 
judges;  those  were  busy  days,  and  no  one  wished  to 
wrangle  long  over  a  few  hundred  dollars,  when  prob- 
ably they  could  make  twice  the  amount  during  the 
same  time  by  attending  to  their  legitimate  business. 
Money  was  the  burden  of  Judge  Almond's  sittings ; 
no  cnminal  cases  were  allowed.  Ounces  were  the 
sharp-edged  Al  Sirat  which  should  bridge  the  infeli- 
cities of  law  to  the  heaven  of  rest  beyond. 

Seated  sidewise  by  the  comer  of  a  table,  exposing 
a  profile  view  of  a  sharp-featured  decisive  face,  grown 
somewhat  stern  by  reason  of  its  owner's  elevation, 
and  thin,  perhaps  from  care  and  new  responsibility; 
seated  in  tlie  favorite  American  posture,  balancing  lii^^ 
tipped-back  chair  with  feet  planted  against  the  wall 
higlier  than  his  head,  paring  his  finger-nails,  which 
seemed  to  grow  according  to  the  volume  of  busin<\ss 
presented  before  the  court,  Judge  Almond  was  pre- 
pared to  listen  to  all  who  should  come  to  him.     And 


JUDGE  ALMOND'S  COURT. 


5d5 


when  case  after  case  was  called,  iniperturbably  ho  sat, 
like  Olympian  Jove  weighing  in  the  balance  the  fates 
of  Greek  and  Trojan,  with  no  change  of  occupation, 
nor  shiftings  of  position — only  from  his  mouth  shot 
thunderbolts  of  judgment,  short,  sharp  and  decisive. 

In  front  of  the  table  were  usually  three  or  four 
clerks  and  reporters,  back  of  whom  were  litigants, 
lawyers,  and  witnesses,  while  a  crowd  of  spectatora 
and  hangers-on  filled  the  remainder  of  the  room.  The 
nuisance  of  a  jury  was  seldom  tolerated  in  this  court. 
Decisions  were  reached  partly  by  evidence  and  partly 
by  intuition.  The  judge  did  what  was  right,  as  Soph- 
ocles said  of  --lEschylus,  without  knowing  it.  Sel- 
dom did  he  hear  a  case  throuiih,  but  wlien  lie  thouijht 
he  fairly  comprehended  it,  he  directed  the  clerk  to 
enter  judgment  and  call  another  case;  and  often  tlieso 
summary  proceedings  would  continue  until  nine  or  ten 
o'clock  at  night. 

Now  it  must  not  be  inferred  from  all  this  that  jus- 
tice was  not  administered  in  this  court,  or  that  it  was 
more  uncertain  here  than  elsewhere,  or  that  it  was 
more  uncertain  under  tlie  free  and  informal  rulings  of 
Almond,  the  quondam  peanut-seller,  than  it  would 
have  been  had  Mansfield,  or  Marshall,  or  Stepliens, 
or  Story  been  seated  in  his  place.  In  balancing  the 
short,  sharp  encounters  of  busy  men  undergoing  new 
and  abnormal  exi)orience3,  their  learning  vvoukl  have 
hampered  them  like  superfluous  equipment,  while  tlie 
clear,  free  judgment  of  Ahnond  directed  his  finger 
hnmodiately  to  the  root  o**  a  difficulty,  whicii  miglit 
1)0  then  eradicated  witl)  )ut  the  aid  of  precedent.  All 
tlieir  skilled  intelligence  would  be  employed  in  fitting 
experience  to  forms,  while  he  had  only  the  tiling  itself 
to  deal  with. 

Almond  determined  the  causes  brought  before  him 
quickly,  courageously,  righteously,  liude,  uncouth, 
illitero*.  w  far  as  law  learning  went,  there  was  a 
directness  about  him  that  suited  the  tenq)er  of  the 
time.     Everybody  drank  in  those  days;  at   lo.i.st  all 


■ ';!!  ' 


"t':iW 


m 


-<  m 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


who  wished  could  do  so,  as  I  have  said,  without  los- 
ing caste.  Almond  saw  nothing  hampering  t(j  the 
wheels  of  justice  in  his  drinking,  provided  he  did  not 
drink  too  much,  or  alone;  if  he  drank  at  all,  he  would 
do  so  openly,  before  all  the  world.  Yet  he  was  no 
soi  faineant  in  his  rulings;  it  was  generally  the 
opinion  among  Californians  of  that  day  that  forms  of 
law  were  rather  a  curse  than  a  blessing,  at  least  to 
tliis  special  community. 

Moreover,  he  was  equal  to  the  emergency.  What 
he  was  before  he  sold  peanuts,  as  I  observed,  nobody 
knew,  except  that  he  was  not  a  lawyer  and  had  never 
studied  law.  But  he  had  somewhere  gained  experi- 
ence, had  learned  to  know  men  and  the  right  and 
wrong  of  things,  judging  from  a  natural  and  common- 
sense  standpoint.  Says  John  Morlcy,  writing  of 
George  III.,  "There  is  nothing  more  fatal,  either  in 
private  life  or  in  the  larger  affairs  of  state,  than  for 
an  incompetent  man  to  grasp  a  principle  of  action  that 
is  too  big  for  him."  Herein  lies  the  secret  of  success 
ill  any  walk  in  life.  Almond  grasped  the  running  of 
a  law  court  as  completely  as  he  had  grasped  the  pea- 
nut occupation.  He  was  by  no  means  an  admirable 
character,  yet  he  was  for  that  emergency  a  good  judge. 
He  was  as  full  of  oaths  as  Charles  Lamb  was  of  puns, 
and  his  blasphemy  was  not  of  the  most  refined  qualit}'. 
It  is  well  to  note  how  such  a  person  could  place  him- 
self in  such  a  position  among  the  intelligent  people  of 
California  and  maintain  it,  still  holding  their  respect. 
Yet  he  was  an  honest  man,  and  judged  equitably 
between  men  who  were  in  no  humor  to  be  trifiod 
with.  Had  such  not  been  his  character  and  repu- 
tation, the  frame  school-house  would  not  long  have 
been  Judge  Almond's  courtroom. 

The  judge  was  coarse  rather  than  otherwise  in  his 
tastes.  He  used  to  delight  in  worrying  the  poor  and 
pompous  attorneys,  and  after  bringing  them  to  grief 
to  laugh  at  their  chagrin.  To  their  displays  of  elo- 
quence  he  was  profoundly   iuditferent;    their  legal 


knowh 

only  vi 

and  to 

(men  I 

niony  I 

and  his 

One 

ing  jud: 

of  a  shi 

during  1 

s(3nger, 

the  vail 

sented,  t, 

to  tell  \« 

sible.     1 

''tiier  wi 

evidence 

plain   si  I 

tliorougl 

"Verv 

tainly  he 

case?" 

"That 
"and  wo 
Ji  warded 
c'ase." 

In  a  m 
occurxod 
liavo  \rM  ;■ 
i>u  e  ;-'.s  r 


♦  'luitably 
law,  coulc 
Half  the. 
iiig  the  d 
services,  a 
Frank 


"e  this 
'ved  1 


SUMMARY  PROCEEDINGS. 


607 


knowledge  was  wholly  thrown  away  on  him ;  those 
only  who,  with  homely  logic,  spoke  plainly,  briefly, 
and  to  the  point  might  hope  to  move  him  with  words. 
Often  before  the  first  witness  had  concluded  his  testi- 
mony his  quick  discei'nment  had  reached  an  opinion, 
and  his  mind  once  made  up,  nothing  could  shake  it. 

One  day  a  physician  appeared  before  the  court  ask- 
ing judgment  for  five  hundred  dollars  from  the  captain 
of  a  ship  for  attending  such  of  the  crew  as  were  sick 
during  the  voyage.  The  dtx;tor  had  shipped  as  pas- 
senger, and  the  demand  was  widely  at  variance  with 
the  value  of  his  services.  The  case  was  briefly  pre- 
sented, and  a  witness  called  whom  the  judge  instructed 
to  tell  what  he  knew  about  it  in  as  few  words  as  pos- 
sll)le.  This  done,  the  plaintiff's  attorney  called  an- 
other witness,  but  the  judge  informed  him  that  further 
evidence  was  unnecessary.  The  witness  had  told  a 
])lain  simple  story,  the  court  understood  the  case 
thoroughly,  and  its  mind  was  made  up. 

"Very  well,"  said  the  counsel,  "but  you  will  cer- 
tainly hear  us  speak  as  to  the  points  of  law  in  the 
case  ? " 

"  That  would  be  entirely  useless,"  replied  the  judge, 
"and  wo  have  no  time  to  waste.  The  plaintitt"  is 
awarded  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars ;  call  the  next 
case." 

In  a  mf)re  pretentious  court  this  case  would  have 
orcup",d  one,  two,  or  three  days,  and  might  easily 
hai'o  IrMn  postponed  from  time  to  time  so  as  to  con- 
s;ii  e  ;«  nany  weeks  or  rionths.  Half  an  hour  suf- 
ficed Jii  'jje  .Mmond  to  dispose  of  it  as  fairly  and 
cijuitabiy  c^s?  anyone,  however  learned  or  skilled  in  the 
law,  could  have  done  in  six  weeks  or  six  months. 
Half  the  award  went  to  the  plaintiff^s  attorney,  leav- 
iii,i(  the  doctor,  even  at  that  rate,  well  paid  for  his 
services,  and  there  was  an  end  of  it. 

Frank  Turk  on  a  certain  cxncasion  having  business 
1><  *"  "e  this  court,  with  profound  respect  on  entering 
i<  .  'vod  his  hat,  a    broad-brimmed,   pointed-crown, 


698 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


Guy  Fawkes  affair,  and  laid  it  carefully  on  the  floor 
three  or  four  yards  from  the  judge's  feet.  Wrapped 
ill  meditation  upon  the  intricacies  of  the  case  before 
him,  and  following  his  usual  practice,  his  honor  un- 
consciously made  Turk's  hat  a  mark  for  his  tobac<'c 
tainted  ejections.  A  head-dress  of  that  kind  and 
quality  was  worth  two  or  three  ounces,  and  Turk  was 
particularly  proud  of  his  hat,  as  well  as  sensitive  as 
to  its  treatment  He  sought  to  catch  the  judge's  eye, 
coughed,  moved  his  hat  as  he  thought  beyond  the 
reach  of  danger,  moved  it  twice,  thrice ;  but  ever  the 
somnambulic  eye  of  the  judge  followed  it,  and  ever 
with  unerr  j  ?i*m  the  discharge  from  his  mouth  did 
iilthy  execui.  Turk  could  endure   it  no  longer. 

Boiling  with  iiiuignation  he  stepped  up  to  the  judge, 
shook  his  fist  in  his  face,  and  fairly  yelled  his  curses. 
This  demonstration  and  the  roar  which  followed 
awoke  the  judge  to  a  realizing  sense  of  things,  and  he 
laughed  with  the  rest. 

It  was  a  dry  business  listening  to  dry  cases,  and 
spurting  tobacco-juice  at  a  mark  across  the  room  by 
the  hour,  and  the  judge  was  not  the  man  to  sit 
and  suffer  through  the  day.  He  was  now  a  groat 
man;  but  great  men  grow  thirsty.  All  great  men 
in  California  at  that  time  were  th'^sty  men.  In- 
deed thirst  was  a  mark  of  greatness,  and  the  more 
thirsty  a  judge  the  more  was  he  esteemed  fit  for  tie 
position.  There  was  nothing  at  all  strange  then  tLat 
Judge  Almond  should  pause  occasionally  in  his  pro- 
ceedings to  quench  his  thirst.  And  this  was  done  witli 
characteristic  openness,  though  not  in  defiance  of  any 
sense  of  public  propriety.  There  were  always  those 
about  the  court,  accuser  and  accused,  counsel,  jury- 
men witnesses,  ready  to  drink  as  often  as  the  judge 
desired,  especially  if  some  beside  themselves  paid  for 
it.  Hence  there  were  no  decisions  emanating  from 
that  bench  which  met  with  greater  generrl  approval 
than  when  the  judge  paused  in  the  midst  of  a  case, 
and  raising   himself  to   his   full   height  announced, 


A  THIRSTY  COURT. 


800 


"  The  court's  dry  ;  the  court's  adjourned ;  let's  take  a 
drhik  1" 

Whether  or  not  this  might  be  called  a  court  of 
original  jurisdiction,  it  was  certainly  a  court  of  origi- 
nal rulings.  The  witness  who  asked  to  be  excused 
from  giving  bail  for  his  appearance  when  required  was 
answered:  "Yes,  on  payment  of  the  customary  fee 
of  one  ounce."  If  an  attorney  wished  to  make  a  mo- 
tion the  judge  replied,  "  The  motion  is  granted  on 
payment  of  the  fee,  one  ounce."  Either  side  could 
have  a  case  postponed  on  payment  of  one  ounce ;  or  if 
both  parties  to  the  suit  requested  it,  then  each  m  ist 
pay  into  court  an  ounce  of  gold-dust.  Sometimes  the 
judge's  table  wouivl  be  half  covered  with  gold-dust, 
and  Judge  Almond's  ounce  became  a  byword.  It 
was  by  a  sort  of  argument  urn  ad  ujnoraiitiam  that  the 
judge  arrived  at  this  decision.  Himself  ignorantof  the 
fixcts,  if  the  order  asked  for  by  a  responsible  attorney 
was  not  proper  his  adversary  would  quickly  appear  and 
ask  to  have  it  cancelled;  and  then  the  ounces  1  Never 
was  there  a  court  in  California  where  injunctions 
could  be  so  easily  obtained  or  so  quickly  set  aside. 

It  caimot  be  denied  that  Judge  Almond,  between 
haste  and  an  eye  to  the  main  chance,  sometimes 
strained  his  opinions  to  meet  emergencies.  During 
the  winter  of  1849  a  Sacramento  river  boatman  at 
the  mouth  of  Suisun  bay  picked  up  a  dismantled 
launch  and  brouijht  it  to  San  Francisco.  There  be- 
ing  on  board  of  it  eight  or  ten  bales  of  goods  the 
boatman  claimed  salvage,  which  the  owner  of  the 
goods  deemed  exorbitant  and  refused  to  pay.  The 
case  came  up  before  Judge  Almond,  who  after  one  of 
liis  usual  quick  and  careful  hearings  awarded  the 
boatman  $100  for  his  trouble;  but  learning  before 
judgment  was  entered  that  the  boatman's  coun- 
sel fee  and  court  costs  amounted  to  $200,  he  raised 
die  judgment  to  that  amount.  The  owner  still  re- 
fusing to  pay,  the  goods  were  sold,  and  being  dam- 
aged brought  only  $150,  whereupon  a  caiii  and  horse 


¥ 


000 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


belonging  to  the  owner  of  the  goods  were  sold  to 
make  up  the  remainder.  Here  was  a  case  where 
even  the  machinery  of  Judge  Almond's  court  proved 
sufficient  to  defeat  the  ends  of  justice;  for  the  boat- 
man who  saved  the  goods  got  nothing,  while  the 
owner  was  compelled  to  pay  more  than  their  value  for 
the  saving  of  them. 

With  John  W.  Geary  as  alcalde  in  1850,  and  a 
city  charter  and  two  boards  of  aldermen,  a  grand  jury 
was  in  order  in  the  pretentious  town  of  San  Fran- 
cisco. Very  respectable  men  were  selected,  and  pro- 
ceedingrs  were  conducted  in  staid  New  England  man- 
uer.  Particularly  was  the  oath  administered  de- 
voutlj'  and  solemnly,  every  witness  being  required  to 
kiss  the  book  with  reverential  demeanor.  Frivolity 
and  blasphemy  had  disgraced  our  tribunals  long 
enough,  thought  the  new  city's  pro  tempore  masters. 
A  healthful  example  should  now  be  set.  Their  delib- 
erations over,  the  jury  were  about  to  be  called  into 
court  to  receive  their  discharge,  when  unluckily  one 
of  their  number,  cursed  with  evil  curiosity,  picked  up 
the  book  upon  which  all  had  been  so  furiously  swear- 
ing, and  opened  it  when,  O  mores  I  it  was  Tupper's 
Proverbial  Philosophy.  Now  to  let  it  be  known  that 
they,  a  genuine  Yankee  jury,  anti-chivalry,  anti-slav- 
ery, anti-law-and-order,  anti-swearers  and  tobacco- 
chewers,  men  of  clean  white  shirts  and  consciences, 
Sunday-school  men,  decent  in  all  things,  men  of  mark 
on  Battery  and  Front  streets,  men  who  never  in- 
dulged in  any  drink  stronger  than  hard  cider,  and  if 
they  ever  drove  out  at  all  it  was  always  with  one 
horse  to  four  persons — that  these  prim  puritans' 
sons  should  so  far  demean  themselves,  their  ante- 
cedents and  their  surroundings,  as  to  mistake  the 
sickly  sentimentalism  of  the  maledict  Martin  for  the 
new  testament,  was  pitiful  to  contemplate.  Had 
it  been  only  a  Webster's  Spelling  Book  there  would 
not   attach    to    it    so  foul  a  disgrace,  but   Martin 


TUPPER  OR  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 


601 


Tapper's    rhymes — ^the    error    could  never    be    for- 


given. 


What  should  be  done  ?  All  their  proceedings,  so 
far  as  the  virtue  of  book  in  the  administering  of  oaths 
was  concerned,  were  of  course  invalid.  If  the  book 
was  essential  to  the  sound  administration  of  law,  they 
had  signally  failed  in  using,  in  place  of  the  sacred 
scriptures  a  volume  of  maudlin  verses ;  if  the  book  is 
not  essential,  then  why  add  to  the  nmltitude  of  idle 
forms  by  which  justice  is  hampered  ?  The  free  and 
easy  tribunals  of  audacious  rulings  connnitted  no  such 
stupid  blunders  as  this.  A  long  and  solemn  silence 
followed  this  discovery,  as  the  men  of  merchandise 
gazed  one  upon  another  in  blank  chagrin.  Finally  an 
intelligent  juror  of  very  respectable  wealth  opened  his 
mouth  and  slowly  articulated,  half  soliloquizing: — "I 
would  not  like  wittingly  to  do  such  a  thing ;  my  busi- 
ness needs  my  attention ;  we  cannot  well  go  over 
these  days  of  arduous  labors ;  an  oath  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Almighty  is  equally  binding,  perhaps,  whether 
the  swearer's  hand  rests  on  a  Tupper  or  on  a  Paul,  so 
long  as  the  man  himself  does  not  know  it;  the  sacred- 
ness  of  forms  should  be  sustained  and  the  etiquette  of 
courts  preserved  ;  I  think  on  the  whole  we  had  better 
say  nothing  of  this  to  the  judge.  If  we  keep  the 
secret  to  ourselves  the  oath  is  just  as  binding  and  the 
law  just  as  good  as  if  the  swearing  had  been  done  up- 
on a  veritable  bible ;  though  it  staggers  me  somewhat 
to  think  to  what  use  unlearned  and  ungodly  jurists 
might  put  this  train  of  argument."  So  it  was  agreed 
and  so  done.  The  jury  went  into  court ;  Alcalde 
Geary  complimented  them  after  the  usual  fashion 
for  the  faithful  performance  of  their  duties,  a|X)logized 
for  his  inability  to  pay  their  fees  owing  to  the  con- 
spicuous emptiness  of  the  city  treasury,  and  discharged 
them. 


When  the  Jenny  Lind  theatre  was  metamorphosed 
into  a  city  hall  there  was  quite  a  reform  instituted  in 


602 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


courtroom  manners,  coarse  jesting,  profane  swearing, 
and  smoking  were  no  longer  permissible.  An  Irish 
excursionist,  on  entering  one  of  the  rooms  newly  fitted 
up  for  the  district  court,  saw  twelve  pine  sticks  placed 
in  a  row  in  front  of  the  jurors'  seats.  Prompted  by 
curiosity  he  asked  an  attendant  their  significance  and 
use,  and  was  informed  that  they  were  called  desk-pro- 
tectors, and  that  it  was  made  part  of  his  duty  to  pro- 
vide whittling  timber  for  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury. 

It  was  said  that  McGowan,  before  coming  to  Cali- 
fornia, was  sentenced  to  the  state  prison  of  Pennsyl- 
vania for  the  robbery  of  the  Chester  bank,  and  that 
he  was  afterward  pardoned  by  the  governor  on  condi- 
tion that  he  would  leave  the  state.  The  fact  is.  Nod 
forfeited  his  bail  and  was  never  pardoned.  Many 
criminals,  however,  have  been  set  at  liberty  on  these 
conditions,  which  course  is  assuredly  wrong  on  the 
part  of  any  community  or  nation  except  under  extra- 
ordinary circumstances.  The  only  plea,  on  the  part 
of  a  judge  or  a  ruler,  for  adopting  such  a  course  is 
that  in  another  country  a  criminal  may  reform  and 
live  a  virtuous  life.  But  no  matter  how  the  penitent 
may  promise  this  is  seldom  the  result.  Far  oftener 
happens  it  that  the  pardoned,  sent  from  a  society 
which  knows  and  watches  him,  to  one  where  he  is 
unknown  and  consequently  may  with  greater  safety 
commit  new  villainies,  enters  upon  a  career  of  wicked- 
ness wider  than  ever.  Having  served  an  apprentice- 
ship and  become  skilled  in  crime  in  one  place,  he  is 
offered  the  most  tempting  facilities  for  profiting  by  liis 
past  experience,  and  for  gaining  the  confidence  of  a 
new  community,  where  he  may  practise  his  profession 
with  the  fullest  success.  A  bad  man,  entering  one 
state  from  another,  may  rightly  be  sent  back  to  tlie 
place  in  which  his  wickedness  was  bred ;  but  to  turn 
him  unwhipt  upon  the  world  is  about  as  righteous  as 
to  turn  into  your  neighbor's  vineyard  the  fox  caught 
in  your  own  because  you  dislike  to  kill  it.     If  any 


count 
inals 
the  n 
own  I 
that  1 
prim  i 
reprol 
their  i 
We 
seat  II 
chanofc 
nia  coi 
friend 
Doubt] 
though 
man. 
wicked 
Solomo 
One 
had  a  c 
landed 
Horn, 
their  jo; 
was  ner 
as  mucli 
The  pas 
and  ask 
case  for 
passengf 
his  seat, 
a  bull-d( 
owner  ol 
laid  his  s 
upon  th€ 
large  rec 
turned 
seated  hi 
The  h 
seen  that 


JUDGE  NED  McOOWAN. 


608 


country  ever  possessed  the  right  to  drive  out  its  crim- 
inals instead  of  punishhig  them,  it  was  California,  for 
the  ruffians  that  infested  her  shores  were  not  of  lier 
own  breeding.  They  had  come  from  older  countries 
that  had  no  right  to  uncage  them ;  from  communities 
prim  and  puritanical,  that  regarded  with  pharisaical 
reprobation  the  land  upon  which  they  had  emptied 
their  prison-pens. 

Well,  Ned  came  to  Cahfomia,  and  coolly  took  his 
seat  upon  the  judicial  bench.  Quite  an  agreeable 
change  from  a  Pennsylvania  penitentiary  to  a  Califor- 
nia court ;  as  marked  a  change  as  was  that  of  his 
friend  Casey,  from  Sing  Singing  to  supervisoring. 
Doubtless,  now  that  he  was  justice  of  the  peace,  he 
thought  he  was  a  better  man,  a  reformed,  a  very  good 
man.  The  wicked  poor  he  punished  roundly ;  the 
wicked  rich  he  made  pay  him  handsomely.  Could 
Solomon  have  dealt  out  justice  more  wisely? 

One  day  an  attorney  who  had  known  him  of  old 
had  a  case  in  his  court.  The  lawyer  had  but  lately 
landed  from  a  long  and  tedious  passage  round  Cape 
Horn.  Some  of  his  fellow-passengers  had  manifested 
their  joy  at  landing  a  little  too  loudly.  Ned's  party 
was  nervous  in  those  days  and  abhorred  noise  almost 
as  much  as  hght.  Besides,  there  was  money  in  it. 
The  passengers  were  arrested  for  disorderly  conduct, 
and  asked  their  friend  the  lawyer  to  conduct  their 
case  for  them.  At  the  hour  appointed  for  trial  the 
passengers'  attorney  entered  the  court-room  and  took 
his  seat.  The  judge  had  not  yet  arrived.  Presently 
a  bull-doggish  face  emerged  from  a  side  door,  the 
owner  of  which  stepped  upon  the  judge's  platform, 
laid  his  sword  cane  and  deeply  craped  white  "plug" 
upon  the  desk  before  him,  took  from  his  pocket  a 
large  red  handkerchief  and  blew  loudly  his  short  up- 
turned nose,  and  with  pugilistic  grace  and  dignity 
seated  himself  upon  the  bench. 

The  lawyer  looked  and  was  bewildered  "  I  have 
seen  that  face  before,"  he  thought.  "Can  it  be?  Surely 


tn:  ^li 


1\ 


604 


COURTS  OP  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


I  am  not  mistaken."  Unable  to  restrain  himself  fur- 
ther he  arose  to  his  feet. 

"Is  it  Edward  McGowan  I  have  the  honor  of  ad- 
dressing i "  blandly  asked  the  attorney.  *'  That's  my 
name,"  said  Ned,  running  his  fingers  through  his 
well-oiled  hair.  The  attorney  was  satisfied.  His 
course  was  clear.     Turning  to  his  clients  he  said : 

"  Gentlemen,  you  have  no  use  for  me.  You  may 
as  well  come  down  heavy  with  the  coin  first  as  last ; 
it  is  your  only  chance." 

Among  other  court  notices  in  the  San  Francisco 
Evening  Picayune  of  the  20th  of  August,  1850,  appears 
the  following :  "  Justice  McGowan's  court.  An  in- 
teresting case  came  ofl*  this  morning,  interesting  be- 
cause several  interesting  young  ladies  appeared  as 
witnesses.  Thomas  Jackson  claimed  $200  for  wages 
as  barkeeper  against  Eliza  Crothers  and  her  husband, 
Owen  Crothers,  and  presented  as  evidence  in  his  be- 
half Miss  Maloney  and  Miss  Margaret  Waring,  two 
young  ladies  of  rare  attractions  and  fashionable  ap- 
parel. The  judge,  of  course,  could  do  nothing  less 
than  render  a  verdict  in  favor  of  the  plaintiff." 

Throughout  the  whole  vigilance  excitement  of 
1856  the  courts  were  treated  with  profound  respect 
by  the  committee  except  in  the  few  instances  where 
they  interfered  with  the  performance  of  the  line  of 
duty  marked  out  by  the  committee.  Not  so  the 
criminals,  in  whose  estimation  courts  of  justice  seemed 
to  have  sunk  into  contempt.  On  the  28th  of  May, 
one  John  Brown,  whose  impudence  was  equalled  only 
by  his  egotism,  was  called  from  the  mayor's  dock. 

"  Who  are  you  ?  "  demanded  the  mayor. 

"A  son  of  a  sea  cook,"  was  the  reply. 

"  What  is  your  name  ? " 

"  I  am  a  sea-lawyer.  I  shipped  before  the  mast  as 
a  matter  of  form,  but  practised  law  in  the  forecastle 
all  the  voyage." 

"  Was  your  court  recognized  by  the  captain  ? " 


HUGH.   C.   MURRAY. 


605 


"Yes,  about  as  much  as  yours  is  by  the  people." 

**  Beware,  sir.    What  have  you  to  say  for  yourself? " 

**  I  deny  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court,"  exclaimed 
the  prisoner,  "to  try  the  case,  on  the  ground  that  this 
court  has  no  legal  existence,  the  people  having  taken 
the  authority  into  their  own  hands.  I  am  prepared 
to  argue  the  question  if  I  be  permitted." 

"Have  you  no  other  defence?" 

"Yes,  I  am  a  friend  of  Bill  Lewis  and  Billy  Mulli- 
gan," said  the  prisoner. 

"Why,  the  man  is  mad!"  exclaimed  the  mayor;  "I 
will  send  you  before  the  county  judge  to  try  the  ques- 
tion of  your  sanity." 

"You  will  find  I  am  not  crazy." 

"Silence,  sirl"  thundered  the  mayor.  "Officer, 
take  him  away." 

Probably  the  most  notorious  of  all  our  supreme 
judges  was  Hugh  C.  Murray,  a  man  utterly  abandoned 
iu  character,  immoral,  venal,  and  thoroughly 
corrupt.  Even  in  those  days  of  unblushing  laxity 
lie  was  prominent  for  impudent  indecorum.  Among 
gamblers  he  was  always  at  home,  and  could  deal  faro 
with  tlie  best  of  them  ;  of  drinking  saloons  he  was  a 
constant  habitue,  having  long  scores  at  all  the  first- 
class  bar-rooms  of  Sacramento  and  San  Francisco,  for 
liu  seldom  paid  for  his  drinks,  or  for  anything  else 
which  could  be  obtahied  upon  credit.  Shoulder- 
strikers  were  his  friends,  lewd  women  his  companions; 
he  was  a  Californian  Caligula,  with  his  adherent  poli- 
ticians, gladiators,  and  courtesans. 

As  supreme  judge,  the  profits  were  surer  than 
ill  dealing  monte.  To  anyone  having  a  suit  which 
sliould  be  brought  before  him,  he  did  not  hesitate  de- 
liliorately  to  become  indebted,  neither  side  ever  ex- 
pocting  payment.  Though  wearing  a  bland  and 
l^olished  exterior,  inwardly  he  was  as  stumpy,  mis- 
shapen, and  graceless  as  a  Scandinavian  troll.  And 
what   made  it  the  worse  for  the  country  was  that 


^\ 


m 


6M 


COURTS  OP  JUSTTCE  AND  COmiT  SCENES. 


from  his  decisions  there  was  no  appeal — only  from 
Hugh  Murray  drunk  to  Hugh  Murray  sober  We 
say  that  he  was  so  self-adaptive  to  circuinstanct  s 
as  to  quickly  become  a  Californian ;  but  of  a 
truth  such  men  were  California ;  they  were  one 
with  the  land,  and  sea,  and  sky  of  the  California 
flush  times ;  it  was  they,  with  other  elements  inter- 
mingled, who  made  the  country  what  it  was,  and 
without  all  of  which  California  would  not  have  been 
California. 

Murray  was  of  the  chivalrous  school,  genial,  gentle- 
manly, with  a  host  of  friends,  and  many  admirers. 
Like  the  epicurean  Atticus,  he  was  elegant  in  his 
tastes  and  easy  in  his  morals;  selfish  he  was,  as  most 
of  us  arc,  but  he  was  of  the  self-indulgent  type  ratht  r 
than  that  which  fosters  unkindness  or  indifference  to 
others.  He  was  a  very  able  judge,  and  even  when 
bought  by  one  side,  he  could  render  a  most  plausible 
opinion.  Like  some  others  of  his  class,  he  carried 
with  him  a  superstition  which  he  called  his  honor, 
which  led  him  into  eccentricities  past  the  comprehen- 
sion of  ordinary  minds.  For  example,  though  he 
would  gladly  sell  an  opinion,  he  objected  to  giving  the 
transaction  that  name,  and  the  money  must  not  be 
paid  to  him  direct.  Then  again,  after  a  debauch,  ho 
was  particular  about  paying  the  gambler,  but  cared 
little  for  the  claims  of  the  liquor  and  cigar-sollor, 
while  the  tailor  and  launder  he  would  not  insult  by 
the  offer  of  money.  This  disgraceful  honor  of  his 
compelled  him  to  pay  the  man  who  took  from  him  Ms 
money  giving  him  notliing  in  return,  while  to  him 
who  of  his  substance  clothes  and  feeds  him  he  mav, 
if  it  pleases  him,  give  nothing.  But  when  honor 
compels  a  person  who  has  received  an  injury  to  invite 
the  one  who  gave  it  to  shoot  him,  we  must  not  expc(  t 
to  understand  all  its  subtle  ways,  for  undoubtedly  tlic 
honor  these  gentlemen  are  so  careful  to  humor  must 
be  a  thing  of  importance. 

A  man  of  repartee  was  this  chivalrous   upright 


judge 

was  n 

"M 

deal  () 
know 
"Tl 

ray,  " 
to  stu< 
upon  I 
before 
fit  of], 
Suiti 
f<>r  a  fa 
utmost 
tlie   thj 
would 
But  if  J 
Wlioljy 
social    (j 
keep   a 
J>rove:it 
o:i  the  ( 
inari.st.K 
often  pi 
do  and  a 
sides. 

Justic 

like   eve 

greatly  c 

quiet  iiil 

uioniuni. 

"lill,  sev( 

Were  ope 

the  walls 

others sta 

met  and 

this  traflS 


JUDICIAL  COMPLAISAXCE. 


607 


judge.  When  candidate  for  the  supreme  bench,  he 
was  met  one  day  by  Brannan. 

"Murray,"  said  Sam,  "you  must  have  a  «lcviliah 
deal  of  impudence  to  run  for  that  office ;  what  do  you 
know  about  law?" 

"That's  just  what's  the  matter,  Sam,"  replied  Mur- 
ray, "I  don't  know  nmch  about  it,  and  I  am  too  lazy 
to  study.  If  I  am  elected,  knowledge  will  llow  in 
upon  mo  spontaneously.  Every  lawyer  who  comes 
before  mo  will  be  a  teacher,  and  I  will  reap  the  bene- 
fit of  Ilia  studies  unworn  by  midnight  vigils." 

Suits  involving  large  amounts,  where  both  sides  bid 
for  a  ftvvorable  decision,  called  forth  Judge  Murray's 
utmost  skill  in  legal  legerdemain.  It  was  scarcely 
tlie  thhig  to  take  a  bribe  on  both  sides;  honor 
would  not  permit  it ;  with  honor  lost,,  all  is  lost. 
But  if  a  litigant  should  make  the  judge  n  present 
wholly  on  account  of  his  genial  company  and  fine 
social  qualities,  or  should  the  judge  be  asked  to 
keep  a  sum  of  money  until  called  for,  would  this 
l»roveiit  an  honorable  judge  from  receiving  a  bribe 
0:1  the  other  side?  Such  were  the  points  the  early 
nui'ifistrates  were  obliged  to  decide,  and  wliich  very 
often  proved  a  severe  strain  upon  tlieir  learning  to 
do  and  at  the  same  time  to  satisfy  and  conciliate  both 
sides. 


Justice  at  Sutter's  fort  during  the  autumn  of  1848, 

•1  ■ «  •  ■  •     •      •  • 

like  everything  m  that  vicinity  at  that  time,  was 
greatly  demoralized.  Gold  was  the  cause  of  it.  The 
quiet  hills  and  sleepy  canons  suddenly  became  pande- 
monium. Soon  after  the  discovery  of  gold  at  Sutter's 
mill,  several  stores  f  )r  the  sale  of  general  merchandise 
were  opened  at  the  fort.  Some  of  these  were  within 
the  walls,  occupying  the  angles  of  the  enclosure,  and 
others  standing  without.  Merchants  and  miners  there 
met  and  exchanged  their  commodities ;  and  as  round 
this  traffic,  like  thirsty  flocks  about  a  spring,  strag- 


6Q8 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


glers  began  to  settle,  two  alcaldes  were  chosen,  a  first 
and  a  second,  following  the  Mexican  fashion. 

Among  the  storekeepers  of  the  place  was  one 
Pickett,  afterward  surnamed  "the  philosopher,"  so 
that  Philosopher  Pickett,  which,  indeed,  is  but 
another  name  for  Fool  Pickett,  became  famous 
throughout  California.  Now  Pickett  unfortunately 
shot  a  man  dead  in  self-defense ;  and  Pickett  must  be 
tried  for  it.  It  was  the  duty  of  Bates,  first  alcalde, 
to  place  the  homicide  under  arrest.  But  Pickett  was 
a  man  of  pronounced  proclivities;  and  to  handle  hiiu 
roughly  was  regarded  a  little  dangerous.  Bates 
promptly  resigned  office.  The  second  alcalde,  Fowler, 
was  then  urged  to  perform  the  same  duty,  and  he 
also  resigned. 

Sam  Brannan,  the  man  of  emergencies,  and  one 
who  feared  neither  philosopher  nor  fool,  was  then  the 
chief  merchant  of  the  place,  his  store  bemg  in  an 
adobe  building  east  of  the  fort.  Brannan  called  a 
meeting  of  the  people  to  consider  the  matter.  This 
was  before  the  days  of  popular  action  jure  divino,  when 
to  punish  informally  was  infinitely  worse  than  not  to 
punish  at  all ;  hence  it  was  thought  necessary  to  hold 
an  election  for  the  purpose  of  filling  the  vacancies 
caused  by  the  resignation  of  the  trembling  officials. 
One  alcalde,  however,  was  deemed  sufficient,  and 
Brannan  was  chosen  for  the  position.  A  prosecuting 
attorney  was  likewise  required,  but  no  one  seemed  to 
relish  the  office,  as  each  person  nominated  immediately 
declined  and  proposed  another.  Finally  Brannan  was 
obliged  to  accept  that  office  also.  A  sheriff  was  then 
elected,  the  offender  arrested,  a  jury  empanelled,  and 
the  trial  begun.  On  being  brought  into  court,  which 
was  held  in  a  room  on  the  western  side  of  the  fort, 
Pickett  was  requested  to  lay  his  arms  on  the  table, 
which  he  did.  On  the  same  table  stood  a  plentiful 
supply  of  brandy  and  a  pitcher  of  water,  of  which 
judge,  jury,  prisoner,  and  spectators  partx)ok  at  pleas- 
ure during  the  trial ;  the  brandy,  from  its  rapid  dis- 


EASY  DECISION. 


609 


appearance,  being  evidently  more  to  their  taste  than 
the  water.  Then  the  question  seriously  arose  whether 
in  a  criminal  court,  where  a  man  was  on  trial  for  his 
life,  smoking  was  proper.  Appetite  presses  a  strong 
argument;  precedent  was  found  in  the  California 
women  who  smoked  at  bull-fights,  executions,  and 
funerals,  and  if  ladies  indulged  in  the  practice,  tobacco 
could  not  be  out  of  place  anywhere. 

The  trial  proceeded;  equity  in  its  broadest  forms 
alone  was  sought,  but  still  there  must  be  the  form. 
At  length  the  judge  rose  and  began  a  plea  for  the 
prosecution. 

"Hold  on,  Brannan,"  said  Pickett,  you  are  the 
judge. 

**  I  know  it,"  Brannan  replied,  "and  I  am  prosecut- 
ing attorney  too." 

Brannan  the  pleader  then  addressed  Brannan  the 
judge  in  conjunction  with  the  jury;  after  which 
Pickett  arose,  tossed  oft'  a  glass  of  brandy,  and  made 
a  telling  speech,  for  he  was  an  able  man.  As  soon 
as  it  was  over,  the  night  being  well  advanced, 
tlie  jury  scattered,  more  intent  on  finding  their  beds 
than  a  verdict.  Then  the  question  arose  "  What  shall 
be  done  with  the  prisoner?  "Place  him  in  confine- 
ment," said  the  judge.  "  There  is  no  prison,"  replied 
tlie  sheriff.  "Put  him  in  irons."  "Got  none,"  said 
the  officer  of  the  law.  Making  a  virtue  of  necessity 
tlie  judge  then  called  the  ayes  and  noes,  whether  the 
prisoner  should  be  admitted  to  bail.  The  ayes  had  it. 
The  prisoner  took  from  the  table  his  revolver  and 
bowie-knife,  and  marched  off.  Next  day  the  jury 
wore  drunmied  together,  held  a  conference,  and  dis- 
agreed. A  new  trial  was  ordered  and  the  prisoner 
ac(juitted. 

In  the  spring  of  1849  an  election  was  held  for 
muuifipal  officers  in  the  town  of  Stockton.  First  and 
second  alcaldes  were  wanted,  a;id  George  Belt  and 
James  C.   L.  Wadsworth  were  elected.     After  the 

Cal.  Int.  Poc.   89 


l» 


010 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


election  the  boys  voted  themselves  a  banquet.  A 
champagne  supper  was  ordered  and  the  electors  made 
a  night  of  it.  In  the  morning  the  bill,  amounting 
to  $2,500,  was  divided  equally  between  the  newly 
elected  alcaldes,  and  sent  to  them.  Each  paid  his 
share,  $1,250,  without  a  murmur.  Being  unable  to 
obtain  a  bible  in  the  town,  Mr  Wadsworth  says  he 
used  to  swear  witnesses  on  an  old  memorandum  book. 
Horse-thieves  were  the  most  numerous  class  of 
offenders  brought  before  him. 

Let  him  who  holds  in  low  esteem  youthful  justice 
as  manifest  in  the  popular  tribunals  of  the  mining- 
camps,  and  in  the  alcalde  courts  of  the  larger  towns, 
during  the  flush  times  of  California,  read  the  follow- 
ing and  then  despise  not  the  day  of  small  things. 
Stephen  J.  Field,  subsequently  upon  the  supremo 
benches  both  of  the  state  and  of  the  United  States, 
was  in  the  rough  year  of  1850  alcalde  of  the  roaring 
town  of  Marysville,  so  called  from  one  Mary,  a  woman 
out  of  whom  the  seven  devils  were  not  cast.  Field's 
first  bench  was  somewhat  ruder  than  his  last  one ; 
and  there  was  more  difference  still  in  the  buildings 
which  held  the  respective  courtrooms.  Indeed  one 
of  his  first  cases  came  up  while  walking  the  street ; 
nor  was  this  the  first  peripatetic  trial  or  open  air 
court  held  in  California. 

A  well-known  citizen  riding  a  horse  which  he  had 
just  purchased  was  met  by  another  citizen  who  claimed 
the  animal  as  his  own.  Field  passing  by  and  hearing 
the  dispute  stopped.  Naturally  enough  both  nun 
agreed  at  once  to  leave  the  matter  for  decision  to 
tiieir  newly  elected  justice  of  the  peace.  Swearing 
the  disputants  where  they  stood,  he  heard  the  story 
of  each,  and  decided  in  favor  of  the  walking  claimant, 
to  whom  the  horse  was  immediately  delivered.  The 
judge's  fee,  an  ounce,  was  cheerfully  paid ;  and  after 
adjourning  for  a  brief  space  to  an  adjacent  saloon,  the 
crowd  which  had  gradually  collected  during  the  trial 


POLITICAL  Self-abnegation. 


611 


dispersed  apparently  well  satisfied  with  their  young 
alcalde. 


The  following  story  was  told  of  W.  T.  Barbour 
once  judge  of  the  district  court  at  Marysville.  After- 
ward he  was  candidate  for  the  legislature,  and  on 
election  day  was  about  the  polls  watching  his  inter- 
ests. An  unlettered  umd-plastered  voter,  who  knew 
neither  his  alphabet  nor  the  candidates  for  legislative 
honors,  approached  Judge  Barbour  with  a  Douglas 
ticket  and  requested  him  to  read  it. 

"  With  pleasure,"  said  the  judge,  and  he  began  to 
read,  "for  president,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  for  vice- 
president,  Herschel  V.  Johnson." 

"All  right,"  said  his  unlearned  friend,  "go  on." 

So  he  read  over  the  names  of  the  electors.  Again, 
"all  right,  go  on." 

"For  senator,  C.  E.  De  Long." 

"Yes,  go  on." 

"  For  assembly,  W.  T.  Barbour." 

"Hold  on,  there;  strike  him  off." 

Barbour  turned  toward  the  man  an  eye  of  suspicion 
to  see  if  he  was  being  played  upon,  but  notli'mg  sig- 
nificant of  sarcasm  was  apparent  in  the  voter's  features. 

"Why,  friend,"  said  the  judge,  "what  have  you 
against  him  ? " 

"I  don't  like  him." 

"  Do  you  know  him?"  inquired  the  judge. 

"No,  but  I  have  heard  of  him,  and  that's  enough. 
Strike  him  off;  I  don't  think  he  ought  to  be  elected 
to  tliat  place." 

The  judge  touched  the  point  of  his  pencil  to  his 
tongue,  then  slowly  drew  it  over  his  own  name. 

"Whose  will  you  have  in  Barbour's  place?"  now 
inquired  the  judge. 

"  Let  me  see ;  you  may  put  in  Magruder." 

"Well,  I'm  sure,"  said  the  judge,  "Barbour  is  as 
good  a  man  as  Magruder,  but  have  your  own  way; 
you  are  entitled  to  vote  for  whom  you  please.     But, 


ill, I 


612> 


COURTS  OF  JUSnCE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


my  friend,  I  know  Barbour,  and  somebody  has  been, 
slandering  him  to  you." 

So  saying,  and  without  waiting  for  a  reply,  he 
wrote  down  the  name  of  Lloyd  Magruder  to  take  the 
place  of  hiy  own,  and  read  on  down  the  ticket,  name 
bv  name,  but  not  another  of  them  did  his  imlearned 
friend  order  scratched.  The  man  then  deposited  his 
vote.     The  judge  was  beaten. 

They  used  to  do  similar  things  in  Ireland,  if  we 
may  believe  Curran,  who  gives  the  following  exami- 
nation of  a  witness : 

"Did  you  vote  at  the  election?" 

"I  did,  sir." 

"Are  you  a  freeholder?" 

"I'm  not,  sir." 

"Did  you  take  the  freeholder's  oath?" 

"I  did,  sir." 

"  Who  did  you  vote  for?" 

"  Mr  Bowles  Daly,  sir." 

"Were  you  bribed?" 

'*  I  was,  sir." 

"  How  much  did  you  get  ? " 

"  Five  guineas,  sir." 

"What did  jrou  do  with  it?" 

"I  spintit,  sir." 

"You  may  go  down." 

"I  will,  sir. '^ 

Few  places  could  boast  of  courts  with  speedier  juris- 
diction than  Folsom  and  vicinity.  By  one  justice  a 
man  was  sentenced  to  be  hanged  within  ten  days, 
without  benefit  of  clergy.  By  another,  before  whom 
three  miners  were  brought  for  obstructing  the  high- 
way, time  was  refused  for  sending  for  counsel ;  ci»ii- 
tinuance  of  the  case  was  next  refused ;  then  the  court 
objected  to  both  jury  and  witnesses ;  finally  the  men 
were  tried  at  midnight,  found  guilty,  and  imprisoncu. 
Next  day  they  were  brought  before  the  district  judge 
upon  a  writ  of  Jiabeas  corjmSf  and  discharged. 


ORDEAL  BY  CRIBBAGE. 


613 


In  the  matter  of  a  change  of  venue  in  a  certian  case 
which  came  before  the  district  judge  of  the  sixteenth 
judicial  district  in  1852,  the  defendant's  attorney 
wished  it  to  be  sent  to  El  Dorado  county,  while  the 
district  attorney  chose  Amador.  Preferring  the  law- 
yers should  settle  it,  and  knowing  that  both  prided 
themselves  on  their  skill  at  cribbage,  the  judge  sug- 
gested that  they  shouid  retire  to  an  adjoining  room, 
and  peg  twice  round  the  board.  The  lawyers  agreed. 
After  an  absence  of  some  twenty  minutes  they  re- 
turned. 

"Well,  gentlemen,"  said  the  judge  "have  you 
agreed  to  what  court  your  case  shall  be  sent  ? " 

"  May  it  please  your  honor,"  replied  the  defendant's 
attorney,  "  you  may  send  it  to  El  Dorado." 

"  By  how  much  ? "  asked  the  judge. 

"  Two  points,"  was  the  reply. 

In  the  minds  of  men  accustomed  to  see  punishment 
follow  quickly  their  deliberations,  there  was  no  little 
difficulty  experienced  in  segregating  wholly  practical 
results  from  theoretical  forms.  In  the  alcalde's  court 
at  San  Diego,  in  1849,  a  negro  was  tried  for  killing 
ail  Indian,  before  a  jury  composed  principall}'  of 
Americans.  They  found  the  prisoner  guilty  of  man- 
slaughter. Aware  that  their  duties  terminated  at 
this  point,  and  knowing  that  they  had  not  the  power 
according  to  law  to  pronounce  punishment,  3^et,  as 
there  was  no  other  tribunal  at  hand  to  sentence  the 
offender,  they  appended  to  their  verdict  the  penalty 
of  one  hundred  lashes  and  one  year's  work  with  ball 
and  chain. 


The  miners  of  the  Stanislaus,  not  wishing  to  be 
behind  other  localities  in  assuming  the  forma  of  civi- 
Hzation,  elected  one  of  their  number,  their  best  man, 
justice  of  the  peace.  It  happened  soon  after  the  es- 
tablishment of  this  tribunal  that  a  travelling  attorney, 
carrying  about  more  bluster  and  bowie-knives  than 


614 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


common  sense,  in  a  case  before  the  court  laid  down 
the  law  ill  such  a  nianner  as  to  call  in  question  the 
ability  of  the  unlearned  judge  to  deal  fair  justice. 
The  judge  retorted  in  terms  neither  mild  nor  refined. 
The  lawyer  then  declared  that  the  judge  took  advan- 
tage of  his  position  to  insult  him,  and  that  if  he 
would  walk  ten  steps  from  the  sacred  precincts  of 
the  court  he  would  give  him  a  sound  beating. 
Whereat  the  judge  laughed  inwardly,  for  of  such  was 
his  strong  suit,  as  he  termed  it;  and  rising  immediately 
from  his  bench,  and  wringing  the  lawyer's  nose  by 
way  of  stimulant,  as  he  passed  out  he  punished  the 
attorney  until  the  latter  was  glad  to  go  back  and  con- 
tinue the  case.  And  never  again  did  that  lawyer 
impeach  the  integrity  or  ability  of  a  Stanislaus  judge. 

The  alcalde  of  Badger  hill  was  unwell ;  yet  justice 
was  healthful  in  his  hands,  and  never  slept.  He  had 
been  elected  by  the  miners  and  boarded  at  the 
Cherokee  house.  The  court-room  was  wherever  ho 
happened  to  be.  If  working  his  claim,  the  nearest 
log  or  stump  afforded  a  judicial  bench ;  and  an}-  case 
which  happened  to  come  before  him  was  disposed  of 
with  a  disregard  of  forms  and  precedents  worthy  of 
Solomon. 

He  to  whom  the  wronged  of  Badger  hill  looked 
for  redress  was  an  invalid.  He  sat  up  in  his  bunk  to 
hear  the  case,  while  round  his  head  was  tied  a  red 
bandana.  Green  was  the  culprit ;  a  large  powerful 
man,  and  as  cowardly  as  he  was  strong.  He  had 
borrowed  forty  dollars  of  little  Shortey,  borrowed  it 
in  the  dead  of  winter  when  he  lacked  a  pinch  of  gold- 
dust  with  which  to  buy  a  loaf  of  bread ;  and  though 
he  had  a  good  claim,  and  was  now  taking  out  quanti- 
ties of  thr  'ollow  metal,  he  would  not  pay  it.  All 
the  muscles  in  Shortey 's  body  ached  to  angrily  embrai  e 
the  lubberly  ingrate ;  but  since  the  miners  of  Bad^tr 
hill  had  a  judge  of  their  own  creation,  it  was  no  longer 
deemed  exactly  the  thing  to  ignore  his  ofiice  and 


MIGHT  AND  RIGHT. 


615 


settle  disputes,  as  formerly,  by  single  combat.  Time 
was  when  the  right  of  fisticuff  was  the  privilege  of 
all;  revolver  and  bowie-knife  the  common  law  of  the 
land,  to  which  he  who  would  might  virtuously  appeal; 
but  since  justice  was  made  incarnate  at  Badger  hill, 
the  miners  had  tacitly  agreed  that  thenceforth  muscle 
and  steel  should  be  subordinated  to  mind.  They 
could  trust  the  alcalde  fully  ;  for  he  was  a  man  after 
their  own  heart,  who  had  "  fit  his  fought "  as  often 
and  as  successfully  as  the  best  of  them. 

It  was  a  cold  rainy  night,  but  in  and  round  the 
sleeping-room  of  the  Cherokee  house  were  over  two 
hundred  miners  assembled ;  men  with  long  beard  and 
tangled  hair,  patched  pants,  rimless  hats,  and  toeless 
boots,  for  they  scented  fun  if  not  blood.  The  plain- 
tiff submitted  his  evidence ;  the  defendant  had  little 
to  say. 

"  Proved  clar  enough,"  decided  the  judge.  "  Shortey 
must  have  his  money  and  this  yer  court  her  fees, 
and  if  yer  won't  fork  over  calm-like,"  turning  to 
Green,  "  I'll  send  them  inter  yer  camp  what  '11  take 
it" 

"  May  it  please  your  honor,"  exclaimed  Shortey, 
"It  ain't  his  dust  I  want;  only  let  me  whale  him 
and  I'll  forgive  the  debt  and  pay  the  costs  besides." 
Thereupon  Shortey  "  sailed  in  under  kiver  of  the 
law,"  as  the  alcalde  classically  expresses  it  in  his 
minutes.  Green  squared  himself,  trusting  his  bold 
front  might  be  preserved  to  him  by  the  sanctity  of 
the  place.  The  bystanders  rushed  in  to  prevent  what 
tlie  future  historian  of  Badger  hill  might  call  a  dis- 
graceful scene.  Meanwhile  the  judge  jerked  from 
his  head  the  bandana,  and  springing  from  his  bunk 
stood  in  short  white  robes  between  the  crowd  and 
the  contestants. 

"  Gentlemen,  stand  back ! "  he  cried.  "  Ef  the 
parties  to  this  yer  action  wish  to  effect  a  compromise, 
let  'em  do  it." 

Green  was  then  so  soundly  pummelled  by  the  ac- 


<16 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


tive  and  energetic  little  prosecutor,  that  he  was  soon 
glad  to  buy  escape  by  paying  the  claim  and  all  the 
costs. 

When  men  first  began  to  steal  along  the  happy 
foothills,  the  delving  innocents  regarded  the  matter 
lightly,  often  flippantly.  A  case  is  cited  in  which  a 
man  was  taken  before  the  justice  at  Downieville  in 
1850  for  stealing  a  pair  of  boots.  The  justice  was 
keeper  of  a  saloon.  The  culprit  was  found  guilty 
and  adjudged  first  to  restore  the  stolen  property  and 
then  by  way  of  fine  to  treat  the  crowd.  The  court 
and  all  present  adjourned  to  the  bar  of  the  saloon  to 
drink  and  joke  at  the  criminal's  expense.  Ridicule 
is  often  a  severer  scourge  than  stripes.  Regardless 
of  the  reckoning,  and  of  the  convict's  ability  to  pay, 
drink  after  drink  was  called  on  and  poured  down  the 
throats  of  the  jovial  assemblage  until  all,  including 
judge,  jury,  and  executioner  became  more  engrossed 
in  the  pleasing  pastimes  than  in  watching  the  prisoner, 
who,  taking  advantage  of  the  opportunity,  slipped 
out,  packed  his  little  property  and  was  soon  over  the 
hills  and  out  of  sight.  The  chagrin  of  the  justice 
may  be  imagined,  w^ho,  when  his  bar-keeper  summed 
up  the  bill  for  payment,  found  that  his  fine  had  been 
inflicted  upon  his  own  pocket. 

High  in  the  foothills,  on  the  south  Yuba,  during 
the  saturnian  summer  of  1850,  stood  a  tented  gold- 
field  glorying  in  the  name  of  Washington ;  glorying 
in  its  laxity  and  looseness,  in  its  unincorporated  social 
sentiment  and  dishevelled  morals,  in  its  free  and  easy 
justice  and  its  alcalde  of  original  rulings,  and  in  its 
general  indifference  to  Christian  customs  and  institu- 
tions. Until  recently  the  miners  of  this  locality  had 
revelled  under  the  rule  of  an  unhallowed  theocracy, 
but  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty's  fourth  '^f  July  hav- 
ing just  passed  with  the  adoption  of  a  name,  which  of 
itself  should  be  sufficient  for  the  maintenance  of  good 


THE  MAN  AND  THE  PLACE. 


617 


citizenship,  it  was  determined  that  an  alcalde  should 
be  chuseii  and  civilization  inaugurated. 

Nor  was  choosing  a  magistrate  regarded  by  them 
as  a  matter  of  little  moment.  He  who  should  minis- 
ter to  them  in  judicial  things  must  be  learned  in  their 
whimsicalities;  he  should  be  equitable  at  the  horse- 
race and  wrestling-match,  honest  in  his  dealings  at 
poker,  and  withal  of  muscular  powers  sufficient  to 
enforce  the  mandates  of  the  court.  Above  all  he 
must  be  a  man  of  character  and  respectability,  one 
who  could  treat  the  crowd  easily  and  often,  and 
wholly  free  from  the  effects  of  those  stultifying 
studies  orighiating  in  Sunday-schools  and  week-day 
lessons. 

Now  a  stranger  might  think  that  in  so  small  a  com- 
munity it  would  be  difficult  to  find  embodied  in  one 
person  all  the  necessary  attributes.  But  such  was 
not  the  case.  There  was  George  Kelsey ;  if  you  had 
a  thousand  to  select  from,  you  could  not  find  a  better 
man.  First,  his  great  round  tent,  standing  in  the 
business  centre,  cool  and  pleasant  by  day  and  well 
lighted  at  night,  would  serve  splendidly  as  a  courJ;- 
liouse.  True,  the  clarion  note  of  justice  might  some- 
times be  drowned  by  the  clinking  of  coin  and  the 
rattling  of  glasses;  for  in  this  greatest  of  buildings 
was  conducted  the  greatest  of  businesses,  the  dealing  o*^ 
cards  and  the  dispensing  of  drinks.  But  then,  with 
cards  and  drink  law  would  fit  well,  and  as  already  the 
place  was  a  dispensary  of  no  mean  pretensions,  to 
medicines  for  mind  and  purse  add  one  for  conduct 
much  needed,  indeed,  and  Kelsey's  law,  drinking,  and 
gambling  saloon  becomes  an  institution  of  which  even 
tlie  young  ambitious  town  of  Washington  might  well 
be  proud.  It  was  understood  at  the  beginning  that 
there  should  be  no  taxes  connected  with  the  erection 
of  the  municipality,  and  to  find  judge,  courthouse, 
business,  and  refreshments  all  combined  was  ceitainly 
a  fine  thing. 

As  for  character,   George   Kelsey  could    match 


618 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


Caesar's  wife.  He  stood  six  feet  two  in  his  shoes,  and 
was  broad  and  strong  in  proportion.  His  head  was 
large ;  he  was  thick-lipped,  snub-nosed,  and  corpulent 
as  Socrates,  and  though  his  features  were  coarse  and 
without  much  show  of  intellectuality,  he  had  limbs 
and  sinews  like  an  emigrant's  ox,  so  that  what  he 
lacked  in  mind  he  made  up  in  muscle.  When  in  the 
absence  of  the  dealer  he  would  sometimes  seat  himself 
at  the  nionte  table,  his  friends  flocked  round  to  win 
his  money  without  fear  of  imperfect  pack  or  waxed 
cards.  Moreover,  George  possessed  a  coat,  a  relic  of 
former  days,  and  on  extraordinary  occasions  he  ap- 
peared in  a  white  shirt.  There  was  no  fitter  man  for 
magistrate  in  all  those  parts  than  George  Kelsey. 

The  principal  business  before  a  justice's  court  held 
in  any  of  the  towns  along  the  Sierra  drainage  at  this 
time  was  the  settlement  of  disputes  concerning  min- 
ing claims.  Thieving,  highway  robbery,  and  delib- 
erate murder  had  not  yet  assumed  the  rank  proportion 
of  a  year  later,  and  such  cases  as  did  come  up,  the 
miners  preferred  to  deal  with  summarily  themselves. 
There  was  something  stimulating,  somewiing  resolute 
and  audacious  in  thus  dealing  single-handed  with  the 
monster  crime  which  well  accorded  with  their  humor. 
Peace  was  a  commodity  little  coveted,  so  that  bowie- 
knife  encounters  and  pistolings  were  left  to  take  their 
own  course,  while  in  free  fights  the  alcalde  was  morcs 
disposed  to  stand  by  and  maintain  fairness  than  to 
interpose  his  staff  of  office  to  prevent  them. 

Among  other  difficulties  encountered  by  George 
Kelsey  in  assuming  the  somewhat  hazardous  position 
of  arbiter  between  the  diggers  of  Washington  camp 
was  that  general  indifference  to  court  rulings  and  de- 
cisions common  in  the  early  history  of  Californian 
jurisprudence.  If  at  any  time  during  the  progress  of 
a  case  either  party  to  the  suit  fancied  his  chances  bet- 
ter without  than  within  the  pale  of  law,  there  was  no 
hesitancy  on  his  part  to  drop  proceedings,  walk  out  t)f 
courtroom,  and  throw  himself  upon  the  miners,  or 


FULL-COATED  JUSTICK 


419 


fight  it  out  with  guns  and  pistols.  Such  a  case  oc- 
curred within  the  classic  walls  of  the  round  tent 
shortly  after  its  proprietor  had  assumed  the  responsi- 
bilities of  office. 

Timothy  Loker  brought  suit  against  Amber  John 
—one  of  the  positive  and  usually  popular  characters 
of  the  camp,  so  styled  from  the  peculiar  color  of  his 
somewhat  wrinkled  skin — for  extending  his  claim  up 
the  side  of  the  ravine  beyond  the  limits  allowed  by 
the  regulations,  so  as  to  include  part  of  a  spot  staked 
off  by  one  of  Loker's  men,  for  the  nmtual  benefit  of 
himself  and  his  employer. 

The  case  came  up  during  the  quiet  hours  of  the 
afternoon  while  the  miners  were  yet  at  work,  and  the 
town  indulging  in  a  semi-siesta  preparatory  to  its  noc- 
turnal awakening.  Behind  a  monte-table  in  the  now 
well-nigh  deserted  tent  sat  the  judge,  ermined  in  the 
only  coat  the  camp  could  boast,  with  the  litigants  be- 
fore him. 

It  was  evident  from  the  beginning  that  Amber  John 
was  angry,  and  on  his  metal.  Miners'  justice  was  good 
enough  for  him.  In  five  minutee  the  crowd  at  work 
out  in  the  ravine  could  determine  the  right  and  wrong 
of  it  without  all  this  round-tent  clap-trap,  and  if  that 
decision  did  not  suit,  they  had  only  to  fight  it  out. 
He  didn't  believe  in  courts ;  they  were  useless,  and  a 
nuisance,  but  for  once  he  would  try  it  and  see  how  it 
worked. 

First  of  all  he  demanded  that  Loker  should  give 
security  for  costs  of  suit.  If  he  wanted  law,  he  would 
give  him  law;  besides,  he  didn't  believe  any  white 
man  would  go  bail  for  the  onery  cuss.  Loker,  how- 
ever, easily  and  cheerfully  procured  the  required  se- 
curity, clinchipg  the  character  of  his  bondsman  as  he 
laid  the  paper  on  the  table  by  quietly  adding,  "  who 
is  well  known  to  bo  in  the  round-tent  interest." 

It  was  now  the  defendant's  turn  to  go  through  the 
same  process  aiid  file  his  security,  but  when  this  was 
demanded  o.'  him  he  declined,  coolly  remarking  that 


620 


COURTS  OP  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


he  never  had  intended  to  pay  any  costs  or  iudgment, 
or  to  abide  the  court's  decision,  but  should  lay  lils 
cause  before  the  miners  in  mass  meeting.  Thereupon 
the  plaintiff  withdrew  his  suit,  swearing  that  he  had 
had  enough  of  such  nonsense,  and  avowing  his  purpose 
to  settle  upon  the  claim  and  defend  it  with  his  rifle. 
To  tliis  proposition  the  defendant  heartily  acquiesced, 
addinj'  that,  after  all,  the  only  way  to  settle  differences 
amicably  was  to  burn  powder  over  them.  Besides 
being  the  honorable  and  gentlemanly  way,  it  was  the 
only  method  which  left  no  unpleasant  feelings  to  stir 
up  subsequent  strife. 

All  which  the  judge  marked  with  eyes  and  ears 
attentive;  marked  in  dignified  and  meditative  silence, 
with  thought  sluggish  at  the  first,  but  gradually  re- 
volving, and  with  accelerated  swiftness,  until  from  the 
unwonted  friction  there  rose  to  the  eyes  electric  fire, 
and  a  red  deeper  and  more  indignant  than  that  of 
rum  suftused  the  face.  How  long  should  these  things 
be  ?  How  long  should  the  blind  goddess  of  the  round 
tent  be  insulted  by  the  vile  rabble  ?  How  long  should 
appeals  begun  in  prayer  abruptly  terminate  in  blas- 
phemy? George  Kelsey,  alcalde  or  no  alcalde — that 
was  the  next  case  to  be  tried  in  the  round-tent,  a  case 
in  which  the  arm  of  the  law  should  appear  in  corporeal 
visitation. 

Slowly  rising,  he  stepped  from  behind  the  table 
and  laid  aside  his  coat.  Insignia  of  office  seemed  suf- 
f(x;ating  just  then.  While  bundled  in  dignity  he  was 
less  a  man  than  when  facing  upon  common  ground 
those  who  had  elevated  him  out  of  himself.  Calling 
to  the  absconding  litigants,  he  said,  "Tim  Loker, 
John,  a  word  before  you  go.  I  question  no  man's 
right  to  carry  his  quarrel  to  any  mill  he  thinks  will 
grind  it  best;  but  once  set  in  motion,  the  wheel  of 
round-tent  justice  stops  only  at  the  master's  bidding. 
You  have  honored  me  by  elevation  to  office;  you 
have  honored  me  by  bringing  here  your  cause ;  now 
I  purpose  to  give  you,  Amber  John,  a  sound  thrash- 


a 


litigai 
iiig  b 

tlioy 


MINER'S  ARGUMENT. 


G21 


ing,  for  you  liavo  Insulted  mo.  Then  under  the  sub- 
duing influence  of  a  loaded  revolver  which  will  be 
placed  upon  the  table,  I  shall  proceed  to  try  and  de- 
termine this  suit,  after  which  v^o  will  call  honors  easy. 
Gentlemen,  this  is  the  first  time  since  you  elected  me 
alcalde  that  my  honor  has  been  called  in  question. 
To  my  family  in  Missouri  I  am  ai;countable  for  my 
conduct  as  a  man,  and  to  the  miners  who  elected  me 
for  my  conduct  as  a  magistrate.  I  am  abig  man  with 
a  big  heart;  that  is  why  they  elected  mo  alt  aide,  be- 
cause I  am  a  man  big  enough  to  execute  the  sentence 
1)rocecding  from  a  big  heart.  I  am  no  trirkster;  I 
Lnow  no  law  but  common  law,  and  that  of  the  com- 
monest kind ;  but  as  long  as  I  am  alcalde,  I  propose 
to  deal  out  that  quality  of  justice  that  suits  me,  and 
if  it  don't  suit  you,  then  select  anothei'  man." 

At  this  juncture  in  answer  to  tlio  judge's  nod 
spirits  appeared  upon  the  table;  mollifying  spirits, 
whose  presence  seemed  to  soften  the  asperities  of  the 
litigants,  but  now  bristling  in  bowie-knives  and  breath- 
ing bullets.  **  Go  on  judge,"  they  both  exclaimed,  as 
*;l;'y  drew  near  and  poured  each  for  himself  a  liberal 
potation.  The  case  was  continued  without  the  pun- 
ishment promised  by  tlie  judge,  whose  words  had 
answered  in  the  place  of  blows  ;  and  it  is  needless  to 
say  that  the  decision  was  in  favor  of  the  plaintiff 
who,  as  well  as  his  surety,  was  "well  known  to  be  in 
the  round  tent  interest." 

Far  below  anything  in  quality  that  obtained  along 
the  mining  belt  in  forty-nine  or  fifty  is  tliat  disgrace- 
ful union  of  gin  and  justice  occasionally  found  in  later 
times.  It  was  a  very  different  matter,  the  early  trial 
held  in  a  saloon  with  the  proprietor  acting  as  judge, 
and  the  thing  as  sometimes  seen  to-day.  Then  sak)on- 
koeping  was  a  respectable  occupation ;  now  it  is  not. 
Then  the  best  citizens  frequented  those  places ;  now 
they  do  not.  Respectability  springs  from  conformity  to 
the  moral  ideal  of  society,  whether  that  ideal  be  right 
or  wrong ;  and  so  does  intrinsic  worth,  for  virtue  loves 


622 


COURTS  OP  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


recognition.  The  gambler  of  1849,  other  attributes 
being  equal,  was  not  so  immoral  a  man  as  the  gambler 
of  1889. 

I  find  nowhere  in  the  early  records  of  jurisprudence 
on  the  coast  anji;hing  which  strikes  me  as  so  utterly 
humiliating  to  lovers  of  judicial  decency,  or  which 
brings  law  into  such  low  abasement,  as  a  signboard 
which  as  late  as  1877  disgraced  the  intelligence  of 
the  good  citizens  of  Vallejo.  Upon  it  was  inscribed 
the  words  "C.  W.  Riley,  Dealer  in  Imported  Wines 
and  Liquors,  and  Choice  Cigars;  also  Justice  of  the 
Peace." 

Law  and  liquor ;  happy  union  I  Let  not  their 
former  association  be  confounded  with  the  later  one. 
Tlie  interpretation  of  this  sign-board  of  One-eyed 
Rile}',  as  ho  was  called,  may  be  given  in  these  words : 
American  politics  seek  the  low  haunts  of  vice  rather 
tlian  the  more  retired  paths  of  virtue.  There  is 
something  radically  wrong  in  the  system  which  places 
the  administration  of  justice  in  the  hands  that  mix 
poisonous  drinks  for  their  fellows;  that  place  the 
political  power  of  a  community  at  the  disposal  of  the 
class  that  frequents  and  patronizes  drink  ing-saloons. 
In  this  instance  the  bar  of  justice  and  the  bar  cf 
vile  potations  occupied  adjoining  rooms,  communicat- 
ing by  a  door  which  offered  easy  access  one  to  the 
other. 

As  to  the  workings  of  this  mongrel  institution  I 
offer  a  single  illustration,  which  should  be  sufficient 
to  incite  the  intelligent  and  enterprising  citizens  i)f 
Vallejo  to  a  healthy  reform.  It  happened  one  night 
during  the  early  part  of  the  year  before  mentioned, 
that  two  officers  belonging  to  a  Russian  war  vessel 
then  lying  m  the  stream  off  Mare  island  had  spent 
the  evening  ashore,  and  about  eleven  o'clock  set  out 
to  return  to  their  ship.  Arrived  at  the  wharf,  they 
hailed  a  boat  to  take  them  oft";  and  while  waiting  its 
appearance  they  were  attacked  afid  knocked  senseless 
with  a  slungshot  by  a  ruffian  named  HoUis  Rand, 


BELLICOSE  COURT  OFFICIALS. 


e» 


who  thereupon  proceeded  to  rob  them,  but  was 
frightened  from  his  purpose  by  a  police  officer,  Mc- 
Donald, brought  to  the  spot  by  their  cries.  Hand 
made  his  escape;  but  was  captured  next  morning  and 
brought  before  One-eyed  Riley.  It  appears  that  the 
robber  and  the  judicial  drink-seller  were  friends  hav- 
ing business  relations,  the  former  being  a  tenant  of 
the  latter,  who,  besides,  was  in  arrears  about  $100 
for  rent.  Rand  was  liberated  on  his  own  recognizance 
by  Riley,  and  when  the  case  came  up  for  examina- 
tien  it  was  dismissed  with  little  formality. 

In  June  1850  a  fracas  occurred  among  the  judges 
at  Marysville,  in  which  contemptuous  words,  fines, 
and  arrests  were  freely  bandied,  and  weapons  drawn 
by  dignitaries  seated  on  their  bench  in  open  court. 
Then  the  crowd  without  took  the  matter  up,  marched 
from  the  house  of  one  belligerent  justice  to  that  of 
another,  midst  cheers  and  groans  and  the  firing  of 
pistols.  Finally  the  mob  dispersed,  the  excitement 
died  away  and  nobody  was  hurt. 

It  was  not  an  unconnnon  occurrence  for  attorneys 
and  officers  of  the  court  durin*'  a  trial  to  fall  into 
disputes,  become  heated,  pass  the  lie  back  and  forth, 
and  draw  pistols.  I  know  of  one  instance  which 
occurred  in  the  recorder's  court  at  Sacramento  as  late 
as  May  1856,  in  which  a  quarrel  between  the  defend- 
ant's counsel  and  a  testifying  police  officer  tlireatoncd 
to  involve  the  whole  court-room  in  a  fight.  Peace 
being  at  length  restored,  the  judge  fined  the  attorney, 
who  liad  given  the  policeman  the  lie  direct,  ij^lOO  for 
contempt  of  court;  l)ut  an  apology  from  the  oflcndcr, 
in  which  the  court  was  assured  that  the  w<»rds  were 
spoken  in  the  heat  of  the  moment,  and  with  no  in- 
tended indignity  to  the  court,  brought  a  speedy 
remission  of  the  fine. 


I 


The  Laura  D.  Fair  trial  is  interesting  in  its  psy- 


624 


COURTS  OP  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


chological  aspect  rather  than  in  a  professional  way. 
Laura  coveted  money,  but  she  coveted  men  more; 
she  could  love  a  little,  but  she  could  hate  stronger; 
she  could  be  insane  somewhat,  but  her  lunacy,  whicli 
was  of  the  emotional  kind,  was  always  subservient  to 
her  sense.  If  to  see  her  lover  kiss  his  wife  madci  l:tr 
a  lunatic,  wit  waited  on  revenge  to  the  instantaneous 
accomplishment  of  that  which  lay  nearest  her  litjart. 
With  rare  skill  Laura  gave  in  her  testimony  at  tl.e 
trial.  It  was  very  clear  she  was  not  insane  then.  It 
was  very  plain  that  she  was  not  a  lunatic  innncdiately 
before  and  after  the  deed.  She  did  not  wish  it  under- 
stood that  she  was  beside  herself  but  for  the  moment, 
and  like  a  mind  lost  in  a  mist  of  ever-increasing 
density,  so  was  her  giving  of  evidence,  clear  and  vivid 
at  a  little  distance  from  the  deed,  both  before  and 
after,  but  gradually  growing  indistinct,  until  at  the 
moment  of  the  murder  all  was  opaque  blackness. 
Her  memory  at  that  point  was  a  blank.  Hovering 
about  the  fatal  moment  were  mingled  facts  and  fan- 
cies hurrying  hither  and  thither  like  imps  of  dark- 
ness, until  she  could  not  tell  what  was  real  and  what 
imaginary.  They  were  beyond  her  description,  be- 
yond her  knowledge.  A  soul  dropped  by  the  mes- 
senger-angel upon  a  dark  and  angry  ocean  was  not 
more  lost  to  itself  than  was  she  at  the  time.  Laura 
manifested  no  less  ability  in  the  escape  than  in  the 
killing.  Some  of  the  scenes  in  court  were  quite 
characteristic. 

"  I  am  sure  he  was  the  only  friend  I  had  in  the 
world,"  she  exclaimed  on  one  occasitm  from  the  wit- 
ness-box. "  I  would  not  have  harmed  him  for  a  hun- 
dred worlds.  Had  he  been  living,  gentlemen,  when 
Mr  Campbell  insulted  me  the  other  day,  he  would 
have  made  Mr  Campbell  on  his  bended  knees  apt)lo- 
gizo  for  it."  There  were  present  certain  sympathizing 
women  of  strong-minded  proclivities,  who  took  occa- 
sion at  this  juncture  to  applaud,  such  being  deemeil 
by  them  one  of  their  denied  rights. 


SOME  LADY  ENTHUSIASTS. 


023 


"  Silence  1 "  cried  the  judge,  his  face  reddening  for 
the  unblushing  females.  "  Officer,  bring  forward  any 
who  applauded."  The  officer  after  some  search  re- 
ported his  inability  to  find  such  a  one.  Then  spoke 
Laura : 

"Judge,  it  was  all  my  fault." 
■  "  Madam,"  said  the  judge,  turning  sharply  upon 
lier,  "  speak  only  in  answer  to  such  questions  as  are 
put  to  you.  You  are  not  blamed  for  the  disturbance." 
Well,  judge,"  replied  Laura,  **  human  nature  could 
not  stand  it."  Emily  Pitt  Stevens  was  now  pointed 
oat  as  one  who  applauded. 

"Did  you  applaud  ?"  demanded  the  judge  of  her. 

"  Judt'e,  I  was  not  aware  that  I  could  not  applaud 
in  court, '  replied  Emily. 

"  Did  you  applaud  ?  '  cried  the  judge. 

"  I  said  *  good.'  " 

"  What  is  your  name  ?  " 

"  Emily  Pitt  Stevens." 

•*  You  applauded  in  court,  did  you  ? " 

"  I  said  '  good '  and  I  put  my  hand  down  on  the 
desk  so." 

"  Did  you  make  any  noise  ?  " 

"  I  made  no  noise  with  my  feet." 

"  Did  you  with  your  hands  ? " 

"Withmy  hantlsl  did." 

"  You  are  fined  twentv-five  dollars." 

"  I  will  pay  it,"  cried  Laura. 

"  Thank  you,"  smiled  Emily. 

Another  of  the  sisterhood,  Mrs  Booth,  was  then 
accused. 

"  I  did  not  applaud,"  said  she. 

"You  did,"  answered  her  accuser. 

"  Judge,"  exclaimed  tlie  female  rising  and  address- 
ing the  bench,  "  I  was  not  aware  that  I  could  not 
applaud." 

*'  What  is  your  name  | » 
"  Mrs  Booth." 
"Did  you  applaud?" 

Cal.  Ikt.  Poc.    40 


I 


02G 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


"I  stamped  my  foot,  I  was  not  aware  that  it  was 
against  the  rules." 

"  Enter  a  fine  of  twenty-five  dollars,"  said  the  juJge 
to  the  clerk. 

"I  will  pay  it,"  put  in  Laura  again. 

"  Thank  v<^u,"  said  good  Mrs  Booth. 

"  You  will  have  to  draw  heavily  on  your  purse  if 
you  pay  the  fines  of  all  of  them,"  remarked  the  judge 
to  Laura. 

"  I  do  not  think,  your  honor,  that  these  ladies  un- 
derstood the  rules  of  the  court,"  said  l^ura. 

"Well,  they  understand  them  now,"  replied  the 
judge. 

A  gay  demoiselle  of  Pacific  street,  prosecuting  in  the 
recorder's  court  a  lover,  who  one  night  while  she  was 
slcepiiig  off  the  fumes  of  champagne  rose  from  her  side, 
rifled  hor  room  of  its  valuables  and  departed,  was  asked 
by  the  judge  to  state  the  particulars  of  the  case,  who 
slie  was  and  where  she  lived.  Turning  toward  him 
with  an  arch  smile,  Angelina  replied,  "  Ah  I  judge, 
you  know  all  about  it  1 " 

Uncle  Zeke  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace  at 
Nevada  city  in  1852,  and  when  called  upon  to  taki; 
the  oath  of  office  it  was  for  the  first  time  ascertained 
that  his  name  was  Ezokiol  Dougherty.  A  man 
arrested  for  horse-stealing  was  once  brought  before 
him  and  jmt  upon  trial.  Evidence  was  strong  against 
t!ie  prisoner,  it  being  fully  proved  that  he  was  a  bad 
cliaracter.  The  prosecution  rested,  and  the  prisoner's 
counsel  called  a  witness. 

"  I  don't  see  what  you  want  of  witnesses,"  said 
Uncle  Zeke. 

"  May  it  please  your  honor,"  replied  the  attorney, 
"  the  object  of  the  testimony  which  I  now  propose  to 
offer  is  to  prove  the  general  good  character  of  the 
accused." 

"What  in  hell  is  tie  use  of  trying  to  prove  his 


PHARISAICAL  EVASION". 


627 


good  character  when  he  is  already  proved  to  be  a 
thief? "  roared  the  judcfe. 

"Your  honor,  notwithstanding  the  one-sided  evi- 
dence, the  tlieft  is  not  proved ;  moreover  it  is  a  pre- 
sumption of  law  that  a  man  is  nniocent  until  he  is 
proved  guilty." 

"Yes,  my  friend,"  concluded  Uncle  Zeke,  "and 
there  is  another  presumption  of  law,  and  that  is  that 
a  justice  of  the  peace  is  not  bottomed  with  cast-iron. 
You  may  go  on  with  your  speech  if  you  like,  but  I 
am  going  for  my  bitters  right  now." 

Cerruti  tells  the  story  of  a  scene  which  occurred  in 
a  justice's  court  at  Sonoma  while  he  was  there  engaged 
in  writing  from  General  Vallcjo's  dictation. 

A  Jew  shop-keeper,  at  the  instigation  of  his  com- 
petitors, was  arrested  for  violating  the  Sunday  law, 
which  decreed  that  all  places  of  business  in  California 
should  be  closed  on  the  sabbath.  The  offender  was 
fined  ten  dollars,  which  materially  reduced  that  Sun- 
day's profit.  Thus  forced  to  do  reverence,  the  Jew 
thought  he  might  as  well  keep  his  own  sabbath  as  the 
Christian's,  and  so  secure  a  better  day  for  traffic  liere, 
and  tlie  seed  of  Abraham's  reward  hereafter.  So  the 
next  week  he  sacredly  regarded  Saturday,  and  kept 
open  shop  as  usual  on  Sunday.  Arrested  Monday 
morning,  he  was  asked  why  he  had  transgressed  the 
law  a  second  time. 

"  I  have  broken  no  law,"  he  declared ;  "  I  kept  Sat- 
urday, which  18  the  Jewish  sabbath." 

"Sir,"  said  the  judge,  "do  you  propose  to  transplant 
JcTusidem  to  California?  Clerk,  enter  a  fine  against 
the  prisoner  of  twenty-five  dollars." 

Often  in  early  times,  as  we  have  seen,  justice  and 
juleps  were  administered  by  the  same  hand;  some- 
times the  storekeeper  or  the  postmaster  would  add  to 
his  regular  occupation  the  duties  of  alcalde.  At  Agua 
Frio  we  find  in  1852  an  unsuccessful  miner  metamor- 


i 


I 


628 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


pliosed  at  one  turn  of  the  moon  into  doctor  both  of 
medicine  and  law.  He  did  not  hesitate  even  to  accept 
the  office  of  justice  ;  but  he  found  it  quite  impossible 
to  know  all  that  was  contained  in  books  about  the 
rendering  of  judgments.  An  important  case  was 
once  before  him  in  which  one  of  the  attorneys  cited  a 
decision  of  Justice  Story,  and  opening  the  book  began 
to  read  it,  when  the  judge  impatiently  exclaimed : 
"  Mr  Wade,  Judge  Story  was  undoubtedly  good  au- 
thority in  his  day,  but  he  won't  do  for  this  court.'* 

This  same  medico-jurist  owed  a  certain  mechanic 
for  work.  Repeated  dunnings  proving  of  no  avail, 
the  man  finally  threatened  to  bring  suit  against  the 
judge.     As  it  happened,  there  was  another  hall  of 

i'ustice  not  far  from  Agua  Frio,  into  which  if  our  un- 
earned friend  should  fall  lie  knew  it  would  go  hard 
with  him,  for  the  mechanic's  claim  was  a  just  one. 
I^Ieeting  the  man  one  day,  the  judge  drew  him  aside 
and  insinuated  in  a  friendly  though  dignified  manner, 
that  if  he  must  bring  suit  it  would  be  better  for  botli 
sides  that  it  should  be  done  in  his  own  court,  thus 
saving  useless  trouble  and  expense.  After  some  hesi- 
tation the  man  consented,  made  out  his  bill,  $97  50, 
and  handed  it  to  the  justice  for  collection.  The  suit 
then  underwent  all  the  forms  usual  in  such  cases ;  the 
justice  issued  sunnnons  against  himself,  acknowledged 
service,  and  fixed  the  day  of  trial.  At  the  appointed 
h»)ur  the  mechanic  appeared  in  court. 

"As  I  shall  not  dispute  your  bill,  I  see  no  necessity 
for  calling  a  jury,"  remarked  the  judge. 

"  I  agree  with  you,"  replied  the  mechanic. 

"  Then  we  will  proceed  at  once  to  the  examination 
of  the  case,"  said  the  judge.  "Let  me  see,  your  hill 
is  for  $97  50.  I  admit  the  claim  ;  you  did  the  work 
well,  and  earned  the  money ;  I  am  perfectly  satisfied. 
My  bill  against  you  is  just  $100." 

"  Your  bill  against  me !     What  do  you  mean  ?" 

"  My  bill  for  medical  attendance ;  doubtless  you 
have  forgotten  it;  it  was  for  that  pulmonary  attack, 


A  GENERAL  I'RACTITIONER. 


es» 


you  know;  it  has  boon  standing  for  some  time.  I 
should  have  sent  it  in  sooner,  I  know ;  I  am  very 
negligent  in  money  matters,  but  I  do  not  like  to  in- 
convenience my  patients." 

"I  remember,  some  seven  or  eight  months  ago, 
when  sufl'ering  with  a  ccld,  you  advised  me — " 

"That  is  sufficient,"  broke  in  the  judge.  "You 
acknowledge  the  service.  For  that  advice  my  charge 
is  $100;  in  serious  cases  I  never  take  less,  I  shall 
liave  to  enter  judgment  against  you  for  two  dollars 
and  fifty  cents  and  costs,  twelve  dollars — it  would 
have  been  forty  if  taken  to  the  other  court — payable 
immediately,  as  it  is  a  rule  of  court  for  all  judgments 
to  be  settled  at  once." 

There  was  no  help  for  the  mechanic  but  to  pay  the 
money. 

John  C.  Murphy  one  day  innocently  borrowed 
without  permission  a  horse  belonging  to  William 
(Jordon,  a  stronix-minded  matjjlstrate  of  Yolo  countv. 
Hearing  of  it,  the  justice  sent  the  ccmstable  after 
jMurphy,  who  was  brought  before  Gordon,  tried,  con- 
victed, and  sentenced  to  be  handed  that  afternoon. 
The  magistrate  was  in  earnest ;  and  it  was  with  the 
utmost  difficulty,  and  only  by  appealing  to  his  sense 
of  fairness,  and  to  his  reputation  as  a  magistrate  in 
criminating  a  man  where  the  judge  was  prosecutor, 
that  delay  was  gained.  Finally  the  case  was  referred 
to  another  court,  and  the  prisoner  discharged,  greatly 
to  the  disijust  of  (iordon  who  immediatelv  resjoiu'd 
office,  affirming  he  would  no  longer  be  judge  where 
he  could  not  administer  justice. 

In  the  days  when  women  were  scarce  and  justic  e 
easy,  Thomas  A.  Springer,  magistrate  near  Ueorge- 
town.  El  Doratlo  county,  divorced  a  wife  one  after- 
noon, and  married  her  to  a  new  husband  the  same 
evening. 


880 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COUllT  SCENES. 


Ill  the  spring  of  1849  a  Biiiall  band  known  as  the 
Texan  company  started  for  the  southern  mines. 
Among  the  members  was  one  Richard  C.  Barry,  who 
had  obtained  the  title  of  major  during  the  Mexican 
war,  where  he  commanded  a  company  of  Texan 
rangers.  Attracted  by  stories  of  the  marvellous 
richness  of  the  Tuolumne  diggings,  Major  Barry  and 
his  party  went  to  what  is  now  known  as  Sonora. 
Emigration  increased  rapidly,  and  it  became  neces- 
sary that  there  should  be  a  town  organization,  and 
Major  Barry  was  chosen  one  of  the  justices  of  the 
peace.  The  position  was  one  that  gratified  his  pride, 
and  filled  the  measure  of  his  ambition  ;  he  required  his 
orders  to  be  implicity  obeyed,  and  the  great  dignity 
of  his  position  to  be  respected.  Justice  Barry  was 
a  stout,  red-faced  man,  of  medium  height,  with  an 
air  of  great  resolution.  His  literary  and  legal  attain- 
ments may  be  determined  from  the  record  of  his 
rulings  taken  verbatim  et  liberatim  from  his  docket, 
which  consisted  of  loose  s  raps  of  paper  carried  about 
in  his  hat  and  pockets.  His  intrepidity  and  integrity 
of  character  elevated  him  to  an  office  where  courage 
and  resolution  were  often  demanded.  His  court  was 
omnipotent,  and  if  disrespect  was  shown  it  a  fine  of 
from  ten  dollars  to  twenty  ounces  was  imposed  In 
his  processes,  forms,  and  ruHng,  he  displayed  ajustessr 
de  V  esprit  truly  charming,  as  the  following  transcripts 
from  his  docket  show. 

Begin  with  case  numbered  101.  "  In  a  caze  where 
one  James  Knowlton  brings  sute  again  joss  Sancliis 
fer  felonously,  and  surreptiously,  taking,  stealing,  and 
robbing  the  said  James  Knowlton,  late  of  San  Fran- 
cisco. One  buckskin  purs  or  sack  of  gold-dust  of  tlic 
value  of  $4,000. 

"  After  heering  the  evidence  projuced  in  the  case,  I 
demand  of  Jose  Sanchis  whether  he  was  going  to 
plead  guilty  or  not.  Jose  answered  me  thus,  you 
find  out.  For  which  insolent,  and  abominable  con- 
tempt of  court  I  find  him  3  ounces,  and  adjudged  him 


BARRY,  OF  TUOLUMNE. 


«!. 


guilty.  I  sentenced  him  to  restore  tlio  goold  dust  to 
tlio  Court,  and,  to  receive  well  lade  on  40  lashes  on 
liis  bare  back,  and  to  pay  the  Costs  of  the  Court. 

*'  Cost  of  Court  5  ounces  which  Jose  not  having  I 
rooled  that  James  Knowlton  should  pay.  Deducted 
tlie  amount  and  returned  the  balance  to  the  owner 
James  Knowlton. 

July  9,  1851.        RICH'D  C.  BARRY,  J.  P. 
U.  H.  Brown,  Constable." 

"In  caze"  number  51G  the  "Costs  of  coort"  seems 
to  be  the  idea  momentarily  ruling  the  judsjfe's  mind. 
"  This  is  a  sute  for  nmle  steehng,  in  which  Jesus  Ra- 
mirez is  indited  for  steeling  one  black  marc  nmle, 
branded  O  with  a  5  in  it,  from  Sheriff  Work.  George 
swaros  the  nmle  m  question  is  hisn,  and  I  beleeve  so, 
too;  on  hearing  the  caze,  I  found  Jesus  Ramirez  gilty 
t)f,  felonously  and  against  the  law  made  and  provided 
and  the  dignity  of  the  people  of  Sonora,  steelifi'  the 
aforesade  mare  mule,  sentenced  him  to  pay  the  cost 
of  court,  $10,  and  fined  him  $100  more  asaterrourto 
all  evil-dooers.  Jesus  Ramirez  not  having  any  munny 
to  pay  with,  I  rooled  that  George  Work  should  pay 
the  costs  of  coort  as  well  as  the  fine,  and  hi  default  of 
payment  that  the  said  one  mare  nmle  be  sold  by  the 
constable,  John  Luney,  or  other  officers  of  the  court, 
to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  costs  of  coort,  as  also  the 
payment  of  the  fine  aforesaid. 

"R.  C.  BARRY,  J.  P. 

"Sonora,  Aug.  21,  1851. 

"Joi.w  Luney,  Constable. 

*'N.  B.  Barber,  the  lawyer  for  George  Work,  in- 
solently told  me  there  were  no  law  for  me  too  rool  so. 
I  told  him  I  didn't  care  a  damn  for  his  book  law,  that 
I  was  the  law  myself.  He  continued  to  jaw  back.  I 
told  him  to  shet  up,  but  he  wouldn't;  I  fined  him  $50, 
and  committed  him  to  goal  5  days  for  cf)ntempt  of 
court  in  bringing  my  roolings  and  dississions  into  dis- 
roputableness  and  as  a  warning  to  unrooly  persons  not 
to  contradict  this  court." 


hi 


632 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


Case  606  displays  a  little  difference  between  the 
judge  and  certain  attorneys:  "This  was  a  sute  be- 
tween two  ganiboleers.  E.  Krohe  the  ganiboleer  who 
sooed  Sam  Heed  the  ganiboleer  to  recover  3,000 
dolers  won  at  ceards.  After  much  swarin  one  way 
and  another  the  lawyers,  H.  P.  Barber  and  Leander 
Quint,  argooed  the  caze,  which  after  a  long  time  they 
got  through  with.  I  discided  that  Barber  was  right, 
whereupon  Quint  said  please  your  honor  I  never  can 
get  justice  in  your  coort;  putting  out  his  finger  and 
thumb,  i  told  him  the  likes  of  him  in  my  country 
often  lost  their  fingers  stealing  com  or  chickens,  and 
that  if  i  had  anything  to  say  he  never  shood  have 
justice  here.  I  ordered  him  to  hold  his  tung  and 
shet  up  when  he  went  out  of  coort  he  began  to  grum- 
ble again ;  i  ordered  John  Luney  the  constable  to  ar- 
rest him  and  bring  him  into  coort  before  me,  which  he 
done,  and  I  then  fined  him  $25  for  contempt  of  court. 

"Costs  of  court  $100,  which  was  paid. 

"R  C.  BARRY,  J.  P. 

"Sonora,  September  10,  1851. 

"Constable." 

Case    997  seems  from  the  following  summons  to 

have  been  one  of  a  class  not  infrequent  in  those  days, 

which  is  judged  first  and  tried  afterward  : 

ucjj.  i.      e  r*  A'c      •  \  To  the  Sh'ff  or 

"btate  ot  Calitorma,  f  /-«      i.  ui        r 

^       ,     m     1  >  any   Constable    ot 

County  luolumne.  (  c         •  i 

•^  )  atoresaid  co. 

"  Greeting : 

"You  are  commanded  to  summens  Maberry  and 
Street  to  appear  before  me  at  my  office  on  the  eight 
day  of  November,  A.  D.  1851,  at  the  hour  of  9 
o'clock,  to  answer  to  complaint  filed  in  the  court  by 
D.  T.  Donnalld,  where  in  he  charges  them  with  a 
nucense  by  putting  a  privvy  on  a  lot  which  they  have 
jumped  belonging  to  pl'ff,  as  a  possesor  right  he  now 
comes  to  claim  his  right  as  an  American  citizen  by 
claiming  a  writ  to  dispossess  them  to  have  restitution 
according  to  law,  with  appropriate  demmages  for  the 


A  LEARNED  JUDOE. 


68t 


Imposision  now  about  to  be  carried  out  a<^ainat  liim 
by  sieh  hitjh  handed  and  morcanary  arrovvgance  on 
the  part  of  the  Accused. 

"Sonora  city,  November  5,  1851. 

"R.  C.  BARRY,  J.  P." 

The  duties  of  coroner  devolved  upon  a  justice  of 
the  peace.  Barry  liad  a  pecuhar  mode  of  recording 
liis  procedures,  which  is  best  illustrated  by  quoting 
from  his  writings. 

No.  3.  "George  Williams  who  cutt  his  throt  with 
a  razor  October  20, 1850.  Having  heerd  tlie  evidense 
it  is  evident  it  is  a  case  of  felloday  see.  Said  Williams 
had  no  property  that  I  could  find  out. 

"Justice  fees,  $10. 

"R.  C.  BARRY." 

"  No  5.  T.  Newly  killed  by  Fuller  who  shot  him 
with  a  gunn,  Jaimary  30,  1851,  I  found  no  property 
on  the  diseased.  After  trying  Fuller  and  finding  him 
gilty,  he  was  comitted  by  me,  and  sentenced  by  the 
cort  to  two  years'  confinement.  He  broke  jale  and 
run  off." 

"  No.  1 6.  Inquest  on  the  boddy  of  a  Chileno  boy, 
one  of  Snow's  murderers,  hunix  bv  tlie  mob  on  Dar- 
gun  creek,  June  25,  1851.  Noboddy  seems  to  no 
who  did  it,  he  deserved  to  die." 

A  knotty  case  arose  at  Calaveras  in  1852,  which 
is  not  settled  to  this  dav.  Provender  durinjj  that 
winter  was  very  scarce.  One  night  several  donkeys, 
the  property  of  certain  well-known  citizens,  ruminat- 
ing upon  their  hungry  lot,  encountered  a  ( lothes-line, 
the  only  one  in  those  parts  which  could  display 
among  its  gray  ai«d^  woolen  bunting,  that  blood- 
tingling  sight,  a  sacred  white  petticoat. 

No  st)oner  had  he  espied  the  prize  than  lifting  up 
Ills  voice,  the  oldest  donkey  blew  loudly  his  horn, 
whereat  he  and  his  comrades  made  a  general  attack. 
Soon  the  clothes-line  was  cleared  and  the  shivering 
bowels  of  the  nmles  were  comforted  with  a  coverinjr 


If 


HI 


COURTS  OP  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


of  divers  garments  such  as  men  and  women  use. 
The  question  for  the  Themis  of  the  foothills  to  settle 
was  whctherthese  clotlus.  so  .safely  locked  within  hairy 
peripatetic  trunks,  mi;.(ht  he  recovered  by  action  of 
replevin  or  left  to  di»(estion.  A  Chniaman  who  was 
asked  his  opinion  replied  ''Jackass  eaty  Melican  man 
shirt,  belly  good,  belly  good  1 " 

An  account  of  a  law  suit  in  the  mountains  given 
by  an  eyewitness,  pictures  the  justice  seated  on  a 
claret-box  before  a  fire  in  his  splitboard  shanty 
fr^'ing  a  beefsteak  for  his  dinner.  The  defendant  enters. 

"  How  are  you  judge.  Isn't  it  time  to  begin  the 
trial  i  This  is  the  fourth  time  I  have  come  here ; 
first  the  plaintiff  was  not  ready  with  his  witness,  then 
your  honor  was  absent,  and  the  third  time  the  plain- 
tiff's witness  did  not  swear  to  suit  him.  Now  I 
think  we  had  better  try  the  case  before  another  jus- 
tice as  I  want  you  for  a  witness  myself." 

"Await  the  arrival  of  the  others  and  we  will  see," 
replied  the  judge,  cutting  off  a  piece  of  the  steak  and 
beginning  to  eat.  While  thus  engaged  the  plaintiff 
enters  with  his  attorney. 

"Well,  judge,  we  are  ready;  don't  want  any  wit- 
ness. I'll  tell  you  the  story  and  that  will  settle  the 
matter.  My  client  owed  the  defendant  fifteen  dollars, 
and  was  the  owner  of  a  horse  which  he  turned  over 
to  the  defendant  with  a  writing  stating  that  if  he  did 
not  pay  the  fifteen  dollars  within  ten  days,  the  de- 
fendant might  sell  the  horse  and  pay  himself  out  of 
the  proceeds.  The  ten  days  passed  and  neither  tlio 
money  was  paid  nor  the  horse  sold.  Now  we  tender 
the  money  and  sue  to  recover  the  horse.  That's  the 
whole  of  it ;  now  take  a  pen  right  away  and  render 
judgment  in  favor  of  the  plaintiflf." 

"The  defendant  wants  me  for  a  witness,"  said  tlio 
judge,  munching  his  bread  and  beef-steak,  "  and  there- 
fore asks  to  have  the  case  brought  before  another 
justice,  but  I  don't  think  it  necessary." 


A  JUDGE  AS  WITNESS. 


OSS 


"  No,  no,"  exclaimed  the  lawyer.  "Of  course  not," 
echoed  his  client. 

"Yes,  it  Is  necestJarv,"  j»(Tsisted  tlie  defendant, 
"and  I  will  have  the  case  tried  in  anotiior  court." 

"Try  it  wliore  you  like,  hut  we'll  fix  the  Im^iness 
here  now.  Don't  vou  think  I  can  y;ive  niv  evidence 
hi  this  court  as  well  as  in  another  r'  demanded  tlio 
judge.  Then  rising,  but  without  being  sworn,  he 
testified  what  he  know  of  the  matter,  and  resuming 
his  scat  witliout  another  word,  he  entered  in  his 
docket  judgment  for  plahitiflT. 

"That's  right,  judge,"  said  the  lawyer,  who  there- 
upon immediately  withdrew. 

"WhatI"  exclahned  the  victim  of  these  sunnnary 
proceedings,  "render  a  verdict  without  a  trial  i  liow 
can  you  act  as  witness,  jury,  and  judge  all  at  the  same 
time?     I'll  tell  vt>u  what  I  will  do — " 

"Do  what  you  danmed  please  1"  said  the  judge  as 
he  arose  from  the  table,  wlju'd  ];is  mouth  with  the 
back  of  his  hand,  and  started  for  his  mining  eluhn. 

A  territorial  leixislature  and  countv  officials  had 
just  been  chosen  by  tiie  people  of  Wasliington,  and 
Jolm  W.  Champ,  justice  of  the  peace,  antl  Cliarles 
W.  Denter,  constable,  opened  the  first  law  court  evi  r 
held  at  Showlwater  bay,  and  entered  ui)on  tlieir  first 
case. 

All  which  proceedings  the  oystermen  of  this  beach 
regarded  with  })rofound  contempt.  Wliat  did  they 
want  with  law  ?  The  country  had  been  ai)le  to  get 
along  wtll  enough  without  it  so  far.  The  peo}>le  wc  re 
disposed  to  be  peaceable.  All  had  tiieir  own  aflairs 
to  attend  to;  their  rights  and  wrongs  were  very  sim- 
ple. Each  found  it  pleasantcr  to  be  frientls  with  all 
the  rest,  to  have  their  good  opinion  and  fellowship 
than  their  emnity ;  if  a  disturber  of  the  peace  dropped 
ffom  so.ne  pass'.ng  ship,  l;e  was  quietly  advised  to 
continue  his  rambles,  and  not  stop  there.  If  wliisky 
assumed    the    soverei<j:ntv,    a    little    fist-fiLjht    would 


63C 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AXD  COUHT  SCENRS. 


usually  heal  all  feuds,  and  bring  the  belligerents  to 
their  senses.  Law  was  not  wanted  at  Showlwater 
bay,  but  now  they  had  it  they  must  use  it.  Nobody 
thougiit  of  going  to  court  until  the  court  came  to 
th(>m. 

Clianip  was  a  tall,  nmscular  Vermonter  of  sixty-five, 
wliose  inner  qualities  as  microscoped  by  rye  wliisky 
were  cra.«j:sxv ;  Biij  Charlcv,  as  Dcntcr  was  called,  was 
dropped  on  Showlwater  Beach  by  a  Maine  whale  as 
too  lazy  for  the  service.  Two  better  men  fi)r  their 
respective  positions  could  not  have  been  found  by 
searching  diligently  with  a  candle;  it  is  a  peculiarity 
of  our  political  system  that  certain  offices  arc  better 
filled  by  manikins  than  men.  The  first  case  was  Pub- 
lic Opinion  against  Bowman.  Bowman  was  a  waif; 
how  he  lost  himself  no  one  knew.  The  Beach  did 
not  want  him.  Give  him  things  to  watch,  and  more 
of  theiu  would  be  missing  than  if  left  exposed.  Mr 
Ilussell  lost  a  small  sum  of  money  by  him  in  tliat 
way.  Before  the  establishment  of  a  court  the  man 
would  have  been  hunted  hence,  and  that  would  hav<> 
been  the  end  of  it,  but  law  was  master  now.  Besides, 
the  justice  wished  to  try  the  new  machine. 

Ajiainst  Bowman  there  was  neither  prosecutor  nor 
proof;  but  these  slight  impediments  were  easily  sur- 
mounted by  Champ,  who  was  not  hampered  by  legal 
knowledge. 

The  united  wisdom  (»f  the  Beach  produced  a  pajier 
which  seemed  to  touch  the  evil  remedially,  which  was 
made  to  take  the  place  of  wliat  in  more  exi)erienr((l 
courts  would  be  a  warrant  for  tlie  arrest  of  Bowman. 
This  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  tlie  constable,  whoso 
wholesome  fear  of  the  obnoxious  straggler,  together 
witli  his  constitutional  aversioti  to  either  mental  or 
muscular  exertion,  rendered  the  serving  of  the  war- 
rant, as  it  was  supposed  to  be,  a  serious  matter.  By 
one  idea  alone  his  mind  was  filled  as  lie  dragged  his 
slow  lind)S  through  the  sand.  How  should  he  get 
th<j  man  before  the  judge  ?     Assuming  an  indifference 


ON  SHOWLWATER  BAY. 


m 


which  ho  was  far  from  feeling,  he  entered  a  boatman's 
hut  wliero  Bowman  happened  to  be  quartered  for  tlie 
time,  and  asked  for  something  to  drink.  Bowman 
replied  that  he  had  none,  of  which  fact  Big  Charley  was 
well  aware,  otherwise  the  man  would  not  be  sober. 

"  Old  Champ  has  just  got  a  demijohn  of  first-rate 
whisky,"  said  the  constable,  "let's  go  and  got  some." 

"That  suits  me,"  replied  Bowman,  whose  thirst  for 
tho  ardent  was  unquenchable. 

A|iproaching  tho  unfledged  hall  of  justice,  they 
found  the  squire  feeding  his  chickc  ;>.v  Seeing  his 
first  order  thus  so  promptly  obeyed,  tlio  judge  gave  a 
final  flinyf  to  the  wetted  bran  which  he  was  scattorinix 
to  the  infinite  satisfaction  of  the  poultry,  and  enter- 
ing the  courtroom  with  unusual  alacrity,  took  his 
seat,  a  crowd  was  gathering,  and  within  the  hour  the 
reputation  of  the  tribunal  would  be  forever  fixed. 

"  Order  in  court  1  "  began  the  judge,  with  as  stern 
an  expression  as  he  could  call  up  on  so  short  a  notice. 
Then  turninu  to  Bowman  he  beuan : 

"Well,  sir;  what  have  you  to  say  for  yourself  " 

"  Nothing  in  particular,  judge ;  have  you  any 
wliisky,  here  ?" 

"  Whisky  1  exclaimed  the  judge,  somewhat  angered 
by  the  unhaUowod  intimation,  "do  you  take  this  for 
a  rum-mill,  sir  ?  W^hat  have  you  been  doing,  hey ; 
guilty  or  not  guilty  ? " 

"  Capital,  judg'\"  renlied  Bowman,  with  a  not  alto- 
gether happy  smiie.  "  You  would  alwaj^s  have  3our 
little  joke  ;  bui  where's  that  new  demijohn  of  whisky; 
Tin  as  dry  as  a  cured  salmon." 

"  I'll  salmon  you  for  bringing  this  court  into  con- 
tempt," cried  the  judge,  whose  irate  emotions  were 
iidw  running  away  with  his  syntax.  "Do  you  know 
tliatyou  are  arrested, sir ;  that  you  are  on  trial,  sir?" 

"  No,  I  did  not  know  it,"  was  the  reply.  "  What 
is  the  charge  ?  " 

"  Charley,  you  lubber,"  said  the  judge  addressing 
the  constable,  "  didn't  you  show  him  that  paper  ? " 


«.,  i.J 


I 


638 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


"  Of  course  I  did,"  was  the  reply. 

*'  That's  a  lie;  I  haven't  seen  any  paper." 

"  Order  in  the  court  1  "  roared  the  judge.  "  Give 
him  that  paper,  you  big  lump  of  whale  blubber,  and 
lawfully  arrest  William  Bowman,  in  the  name  of  the 
United  States." 

Big  Charley  handed  the  paper  to  Bowman,  who 
opened  it  and  read  as  follows:  "You  are  hereby 
commanded  to  leave  the  bay  within  twenty-four  hours 
or  receive  twentj'-five  lashes.  And  may  the  Lord 
have  mercy  on  your  soul.  John  W.  Champ,  justice 
of  the  peace." 

"  This  looks  more  like  a  viiiilanre  notice  than  a 
warrant  of  arrest,"  said  Bowman.  "  Of  what  am  I 
accused,  and  by  whom?" 

"Accused  I "  exclaimed  the  judge.  "Of  everything, 
and  by  the  whole  Beach.  You  know  you  stole  Mr 
Russell's  money,  and  that  you  are  a  pirate  and  a 
red  rover." 

"Who  says  I  stole  money;  who  makes  such  a 
charge,  and  who  are  the  witnesses,"  said  the  prisoner, 
nt)w  fairly  aroused. 

"  See  here.  Bowman,"  replied  the  judge.  "  Wo 
don't  want  any  witnesses  in  this  matter.  You  know 
all  about  it  without  being  told;  and  as  for  the  cluirge, 
I  bring  that  myself,  and  to  sjive  time  I  wrote  out 
what  vou  had  to  do,  and  that's  the  end  of  it." 

"Court  was  then  adjourned;  Bowman  was  put 
upon  a  vessel  for  Astoria,  and  thus  terminated  tin- 
first  legal  trial  at  Showl water  bay. 

Not  long  aft(Tward  a  deserted  sailor,  callo<:l  Bob, 
was  discovered  stealing  a  pair  of  sJioes  from  a  storr. 
The  oystermen  from  what  they  have  seen  of  the  new- 
machinery  at  Champ's,  thought  themselves  fully  as 
capable  as  the  United  States  to  act  in  the  matter; 
so  without  going  near  the  judge  they  whipped  the 
offender  and  shipped  liim  down  the  coast. 

The  registrar  of  the  United  States'  land  office  may 


ARMED  OR  UNARMED. 


9$ 


not  punish  for  contempt,  hence  those  bringing  cases 
bofore  him  may  be  as  belligerent  as  they  please  In 
the  case  of  Ketchum  versus  the  State  of  California, 
before  Mr  Haverstick  of  Los  Angeles,  among  the 
attorneys  on  either  side  were  Mr  Gould  for  plaintitf 
and  R.  M.  Widney  for  the  defense.  Ketchum  him- 
self was  on  the  stand,  and  Gould  was  examining 
him  ;  both  sides  indulged  freely  in  invective. 

"What  became  of  Lachenais  ?'"  asked  Gould  of  the 
witness. 

**  He  was  hanged  by  Wldncy  and  others." 

Widney  rose  from  his  seat,  and  drawing  from  his 
p;)cket  a  pistol,  and  holding  his  hand  down,  as  one 
draws  and  holds  a  handkerchief,  thus  addressed  the 
witness : 

"You  say  I  murdered  a  man,  you  lie,  you  perjured 
villain.  I  was  not  present  when  Lachenais  was 
hanged,  and  knew  nothing  about  it.  If  you  and  your 
party  are  armed  to  a.ssassinate  me,  as  I  have  been  in- 
formed is  your  avowed  intention,  now  is  your  oppor- 
tunity." 

"  We  are  not  armed,"  said  Mr  Gt>uld. 

"Then  I  will  put  away  my  weapon,"  replied  Wid- 
ney. "And  in  continuing  the  case  this  afternoon,  I 
wish  to  have  it  distinctly  understood  whether  wo 
come  together  armed  or  unarmed." 

Mr  Haverstick  ruled  that  the  case  was  to  be  con- 
tinued by  unarmed  disputants. 

A  case  came  up  in  the  district  court  of  San  Fran- 
<isco  in  Sq)tembcr  1852,  which  shows  liow  widely 
separated  are  justice  and  the  jury  hi  many  suits  at 
law.  It  illustrates  at  the  same  time  how  impatient  of 
forms  and  technical  restraint  is  the  material  ct)mpo8- 
ing  our  juries,  and  how  utterly  foolish  atid  fickle  are 
i'.irvmen  sometimes,  and  how  farcical  are  nnnv  of  our 
jury  trials.  Suit  was  brought  by  Green  8,'ainat  Min- 
turn  for  certain  improvements  on  leased  land,  which 
iini>ro\oments  had  been  valued   by  an  appraiser  at 


m 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


$4,000.  Green  had  refused  to  abide  by  the  decision 
of  the  appraiser,  and  so  brought  tlie  suit.  The  trial 
ended,  tlie  jury  brought  in  a  verdict  of  $8,000  for  the 
plaintiff,  8ti[)uiating  that  no  imputation  of  unfairness 
sliould  lay  at  the  door  of  the  appraiser.  The  judge 
told  them  that  the  latter  clause  of  their  verdict  was 
superfluous,  and  must  be  stricken  out.  The  jury 
again  i  etired,  and  in  a  few  minutes  brought  in  a  ver- 
dict f(  r  the  defendant,  with  some  $.')00  costs  which 
the  plamtiff  must  pay,  whereat  the  court  and  all  pres- 
ent smiled  audibly. 

A  Sacramento  court-room  was  the  scene  of  a  some- 
what undignified  emeute  on  the  Ifitli  of  June,  1832, 
growing  out  of  squatters'  troubles,  respecting  which 
there  were  still  many  sniothered  feuds.  No  sooner 
was  the  court  adjourned  at  noon  than  one  McKune, 
of  whom  the  associate  judge,  Wilson,  had  mado  some 
cUsi)araging  remarks,  stepped  forward  and  demanded 
an  apology.  This  liis  honor  refused  to  make,  when 
McKuno  and  a  friend  of  his,  Caulfit^ld,  attacked  the 
judge,  and  beat  him  over  the  head  vith  a  walking- 
stick.  Judge  Wilson  carried  a  sword-cane,  which  lie 
drew,  aiul  plunged  the  steel  into  the  body  of  his  as- 
sailant. Pistols  were  then  employed  ;  Caulfield  fired 
once  and  the  judge  once.  The  jail-keeper  rusliing 
between  the  combatants  re»?elved  in  his  body  the  ball 
intended  for  the  judge.  There  was  great  excitement 
througliout  tlu;  city  respecting  the  affair,  and  much 
talk  of  lynching. 

A  prosperous  mining  district  always  furnisiied  tin- 
courts  an  abundanci!  of  business,  and  the  lawyers  t'iit 
fe(!S.  Titles  and  bounderies  to  claims  were  the  cliii  t' 
causes  of  dissension,  and  if  the  contestants  were  able, 
their  advocates  had  no  difficult}''  in  making  them  i)ay 
well  for  indulging  in  the  luxury  of  law. 

Jos.se  Nilt)S,  made  magistrate  of  D<jnkeyville  by  an 
overwhelmh)g  majority  of  the  people,  was  a  long,  sin- 


ewy,  h« 

could  rt 

words,  a 

lils  nam 

hence  Ik 

packed  1 

in  such  ( 

tice.     R 

1  -w,  and 

donee,  ca 

It  was 

represent 

injf  comp 

with  trou 

Farland  c 

I>.iss  in  \\i 

Niles,  as 

through  1 

gravf.)  sati 

ties  appoaj 

at  ojiu  (>'(•] 

"^\\o,    fare  I 

'"'•trd,  anil 

dignity  of' 

'■•"d  he  rea 

If"  was  dt 

f 'r  himscJ 

^^pcniiW  1 

self: 

"If  the 

j"ctions, 
'"''ativvhiie 
slioiddor  in 
tlic  Jionora 
f  'ur,se  it  di 
^"•ir  too  poll 
ti"it.  tJu;  ju 
I'liiintiir,  \vi( 
*iii'.  the  (tcf 


NILES,   OP   DONKEYVILLE. 


OH 


ewy,  hard-fisted,  and  tliuk-licadod  ladianian,  who 
could  road  wiUumt  spelling  imt  any  but  the  longest 
words,  and  if  you  gave  him  tii>»c  enough  could  write 
Ills  name.  His  decisions  were  emhientlv  practical; 
I'.ence  lie  was  eminently  popular.  Legal  lore  was  not 
jxicked  between  the  coarse  convolutions  of  his  brain 
in  such  quantity  as  to  wholly  defeat  the  ends  of  jus- 
tice. Rascalitv  could  not  shield  itself  under  cover  of 
\:av,  and  a  sworn  alibi,  in  the  face  of  undoubted  evi- 
dence, carried  little  weight. 

It  was  a  great  day  for  Justice  Jesse  Niles  when  the 
representatives  of  the  two  largest  and  wealtliiest  min- 
ing companies  of  Donkeyville  district  came  into  C(»urt 
with  troubled  determination  in  their  faces.  The  IMc- 
Farland  company  ( harged  the  Old  Kentuck  with  tres- 
]»ass  in  having  worked  over  on  their  ground.  Justice 
Niles,  as  he  fixed  the  time  of  trial,  ran  his  fingers 
through  his  thick,  tangled  liair  as  best  he  could,  witji 
grave  satisfaction.  At  the  appointed  hour  both  })ar- 
ties  a|»peared  in  court;  the  jury  was  empanelled,  and 
»t  onv.  o'clock  all  were  ready  to  proceed  witli  the  case. 
The  foreman  of  the  McFarlund  rose,  stroked  lis 
h"iird,  and  glanced  round  the  room.  The  h  >nor  and 
dignity  of  the  company  had  been  placed  in  his  hands, 
and  he  realized  fully  the  responsibility  of  the  situation. 
J["  was  determined  to  leave  no  effort  untried  to  win 
i'»r  liimself  laurels,  and  for  liis  c(»mp,iny  tlieir  cause. 
Opening  his  mouth,  in  slow  jerks  ho  delivered  him- 
self; 

"If  the  court  please,  and  the  defendant  has  no  ob- 
j'ctions,  I  propose  we  adjourn  for  five  minutes," 
iiieatiwhiie  giving  his  tlaunb  a  lateral  lling  from  his 
shoulder  in  the  direction  <>f  the  Diana  saloon,  of  whieli 
tlie  honorable  judge  was  proprietor.  As  a  matter  of 
f'lurso  it  did  please  the  court,  an<l  the  defiiulant  was 
far  too  polite  to  object.  After  their  comforting  p«)ta- 
ti'iu.  the  jury  listeiied  to  the  case,  as  |)resented  by  the 
Iili'-intiif,  with  marked  attention.  Too  sympatlietic,  by 
tar,  the  detciidant  thought,  for  the  good  of  his  cause, 

C!al,  Int.  I'oc.    41. 


m 


\  m 


Aitt 


COURTS  OP  JUSTTfE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


and  as  the  remedy  lay  only  in  the  disease,  he  felt  it 
incumbent  on  him  also  to  ask  an  adjournment  of  five 
minutes.  And  these  pleasant  little  compliments  were 
continued  by  both  sides  until  by  eight  o'clock  there 
had  been  no  less  than  twenty  adjournments. 

irnder  the  circumstances  the  judge  was  certainly 
excusable  if  in  summing  up  the  case  to  the  jury  his 
ideas  ai)poared  a  little  confused,  and  liip  tongue  some- 
what tliick.  It  so  happened  that  one  of  the  twelve, 
whose  fate,  he  used  to  say,  it  always  was  to  be  [)lactd 
upon  the  jury  with  eleven  fools,  and  whose  leathery 
brain  no  measure  of  the  most  villainous  compound 
ever  sold  for  drinking  purix)ses  could  saturate,— it 
happened  that  this  man  gave  mortal  offence  to  tjie 
judge  by  asking  in  wliat  book  the  law  laid  down  by 
his  honor  could  be  found. 

Now  the  judge  was  particularly  sensitive  about  his 
metliod  of  expounding  tlie  law  m  Jiis  ohargt'  to  tlit; 
jury,  as  we  all  are  sensitive  in  our  vulnerable  parts, 
and  the  frequent  adjournments  seemed  rather  to  have 
increased  than  to  have  diminislicd  his  irritation.  In 
his  present  state  of  mind,  it  seemed  to  him  clear  tliat 
tlie  ermine  had  been  insulted,  and  that  tlie  imperti- 
tuftcc  Muist  l>e  resented.  With  clenclied  hands  ami 
cr.ntractcd  brow,  he  fixed  his  angry  eyes  upon  the 
juror, 

•'The  book,  is  it,"  he  exclaimed,  "it's  the  law  you 
want  ? " 

"Y-y-yes,"  meekly  replied  the  juror.  "I  asked 
your  lienor  where  it  might  be  found." 

"Confound  you,  sir,"  roared  tlie  judge,  "I  would 
have  you  know  when  I  ttdl  you  a  thing  is  law,  its 
law,"  and  drawing  a  bowie-knife  he  made  a  spring  for 
the  offender. 

The  jur}^  broke  and  ran,  the  infuriated  justice  lianl 
after  them,  and  for  a  time  it  was  doubtful  how  this 
charge  of  the  judge  should  terminate.  At  length 
reaching  a  hill  outside  of  the  canij),  the  jury  scattt  ivd 
and  were  lost  in  the  darkness,  while  the  judge  return- 


ing to 
alone,  i 
j'is  in  a 

A  mi 

f  >r  mur 
Sometii; 
ported  i 
the  prls( 
the  decii 

Two  r 

pocuniou 
up  to  tin 
sweat  for 
"  Wha 
alrearly," 
"That' 
h'!  struck 
as  a  free 
your  cou 
We'll  swo 
"  Wei 
thep-'fcti 
"  Voil 
you  after 
A  wa,rr 
into   eour 
"^uit  appro 
"See  )i 
f'f  a  fix. 
piison   for 
•■^"d  I  ran 
<«re  a  free 
"  CJieap 
iiionev  am 
At  the  r 
^\'!»s  enterei 
J' let  by  Le 


LAW  AND  DUTY. 


643 


ing  to  his  bench  was  obliged,  in  deciding  the  case 
alone,  to  exercise  the  right  of  desperate  necessity — 
jiis  in  cdsu  necessitatis, 

A  man  in  Plumas  county,  sentenced  to  be  hanged 
for  murder,  appealed  his  case  to  the  supreme  court. 
Sometime  afterward  tlie  sheriff  seeing  the  case  re- 
))ortcd  in  the  Sacramento  Union  as  affirmed,  Itanged 
the  prisoner.  In  a  few  days  an  order  came  reversing 
the  decision  of  the  court. 


Two  men  fought  at  Cacheville  one  day.  An  im- 
pocunious  lawyer  regarded  it  speculatively.  Stepping 
up  to  the  victor  he  said :  "  Lewis,  you  can  make  him 
sweat  for  that ;  he  struck  you  first." 

"What  do  I  care;  I  have  sweated  him  enough 
already,"  replied  Lewis. 

"That's  all  v(>ry  well,"  persisted  the  lawyer,  "hut 
liv;  struck  first;  ho  broke  the  law,  and  it  is  vour  dutv 
as  a  free  American  citizen  to  see  the  institutions  of 
your  country  sustained.  Give  me  five  dollars  and 
we'll  sweat  him." 

"  Well,  I  don't  mind,"  grinned  Lewis,  as  ho  handed 
the  pettifogger  the  money.  "Sweat  him  good, will  you'" 

"  Von  hot;  he  will  respect  you.  all  men  will  respect 
you  after  this." 

A  warrant  was  issu<^d  and  the  beaten  man  brought 
into  court.  The  same  lawyor  who  instigated  the 
suit  ap[)roached  him  confidontijilly 

'•See  here,  Sam;  you've  got  yourself  into  a  dovil 
f»r  a  fix.  Do  you  know  you  can  be  .sent  tf>  the  state 
IM-isoii  for  this.  But  I'm  on  the  other  side,  Sam, 
in  1(1  I  can  save  you.  Give  me  five  dollars  and  you 
it!o  a  free  man." 

"Cheap  enough,"  said  Sam,  as  he  handed  over  the 
nioMoy  and  walketl  out  of  court. 

At  the  request  of  the  prosecution  a  nolle  prosequi 
was  entered  and  the  case  dismissed.  The  lawyer  was 
II lit  by  Lewis  shortly  after  who  accosted  him. 


'--■  !  I 


COURTS  OF  JU.STICE  AXD  COURT  SCENES. 


*'  How  is  this ;  how  about  trial,  example,  and  insti- 
tutions i " 

"Well  you  see  the  jud«je  was  against  us;  so 
rather  than  risk  a  trial  I  withdrew  for  an  appeal — " 

"A  'peal  ?  I'll  peal  you  if  you  don't  peal  backtiiat 
five  dollars,"     The  learned  counsel  pealed. 

The  following  statement  displays  one  phase  of  the 
workings  of  law,  which  goes  far  to  show  that  it  is 
often  better  to  submit  quietly  to  injuries  sustained 
than  to  attempt  redress  in  the  courts. 

"  To  the  officers  of  Calaveras  county. — Gentlemen: 
On  the  24th  day  of  February  last,  while  travelling 
through  your  country,  I  was  waylaid  by  a  highway- 
njan,  who,  after  robbing  the  stage  of  Wells,  Fargo  & 
Co.'s  express  box,  forced  me  to  give  up  my  purse, 
containing  about  eighty-three  dollars.  I  am  in- 
formed the  amount  obtained  from  Wells,  Fargo  & 
Co,  was  eighty-one  dollars.  On  the  next  day  the 
robber  was  arrested  in  your  county,  and  no  effort 
made  to  search  him,  except  to  take  from  him  his 
pistol ;  neither  was  he  searched  for  money  nor  iden- 
tifying articles  in  his  possession  until  he  was  in- 
carcerated in  San  Andreas  jail,  although  ho  was 
known  to  have  over  one  hundred  dollars  upon  his 
person,  until  lie  had  emplo3'c>l  one  Mr  Hopkins  to 
defend  him,  securing  his  services  by  giving  him  a 
j)ortion  of  the  money  stolen  from  me.  The  prisoner 
was  then  searched  and  over  forty  dollars  found  on  liis 
])erson.  I  was  summoned  by  the  proper  authorities 
of  said  county  to  api)ear  in  said  San  Andreas  on 
three  separate  occasions,  to  wit ;  before  the  commit- 
ting magistrate,  before  the  grand  jury,  and  on  tlic 
trial  before  the  county  court,  to  each  of  which  sum- 
mons I  went  as  a  witness  from  this  city,  my  home. 
A  few  days  before  the  final  trial,  the  sheriff  of  said 
county  expended  a  portion  of  the  money  found  on 
the  jirisoner  in  purchasing  him  clean  underclothing. 
On  April   25  th  the    prisoner,   under  the   name  of 


Wrig] 
of  J)i^ 
fiftt^en 


lodi, 


jet 


"III 


county 

rofuse( 

plied  t 

lars  of 

me  tJie 

sheriff" 

decline 

order  c 

wit :     'i 

and  my 

by  lettc 

tried  an 

tlie  nioi 

Bkar 

niake  an 

tlie  nion 

nioney  v 

^vas  the 

tlie  lattc 

Hu!  cour 

H\  il  acti 

i"  justic 

•sluiriffs 

Iiave  rec( 

viction,  a 


"Ifthc 
<»f  the  sta 
f^iK'li  is  tl) 
if  I  am  8< 
man,  I  wi 


LEFT-HANDED  JUSTICE. 


C45 


Wright,  was  convicted,  as  cliar^ed  in  the  indictment, 
of  highway  robbery,  and  has  since  been  sentenced  to 
fifteen  years  in  tiie  [wnitentiary,  where  he  is  now 
lodged  and  boardetl  at  the  expt^nse  of  tiie  state. 

"  Immediately  after  his  conviction,  I  applieil  to  the 
county  judge  for  mileage  or  traveling  expenses,  who 
rofused  to  make  any  allowance  for  either.  I  then  ap- 
plied to  th3  district  attorney,  who  claimed  thirty  dol- 
lars of  the  money  in  the  sherift^s  hands,  as  he  Informed 
me  the  law  allowed  it  to  him.  I  then  applied  to  the 
slicriff  for  the  money  taken  from  the  prisoner,  who 
declined  to  pay  out  any  of  the  money,  except  on  the 
order  of  the  judge,  as  several  parties  claimed  it,  to 
wit:  The  prisoner's  attorney,  the  district  attorney, 
and  myself.  After  the  sentence  of  Wright,  I  applied 
by  letter  to  the  county  judge  before  whom  he  was 
tried  and  convicted,  for  an  order  on  the  sheriff  to  pay 
the  money  to  me.     His  answer  is  as  follows: 

San  Andkkas,  May  1,  1877. 
Miln  Hnadlerj,  Esq.,  San  Francisco. 

Dkar  Sir: — I  do  not  think  the  court  entitled  to 
make  any  order  directing  the  sheriff  to  }»ay  over  to  you 
the  nioney  taken  from  Wright.  It  was  in  proof  that 
money  was  taken  from  you  by  Wright.  ]^ut  that  it 
was  the  identical  coin  was  not  proved,  and  even  in 
the  latter  cas(^  would  not  have  been  under  control  of 
tlu!  court  till  after  conviction.  Your  remedv  was  bv  a 
civil  aetion  for  monevs  had  and  received,  tonnnenced 
ill  justice's  court.  By  attaching  tlu;  coin  in  the 
sluTitrs  hands  before  the  trial  of  Wright,  you  could 
have  recovered  judgment  against  him  u[)()n  the  con- 
viction, and  so  received  what  the  sheriff' held. 

Yours,  Respectfullv, 

IRA  H.  REED. 

"  If  the  law,  as  practised  in  your  country,  is  the  law 
of  the  state,  it  is  time  it  was  changed;  and  so  long  as 
such  is  the  practise  under  the  law  or  against  the  law, 
it'  I  am  so  unfortunate  as  to  meet  another  highway- 
nuui,  I  will  settle  the  matter  by  a  draft  on  sight  or 


!  If 


COURTS  OP  JUSTICE  AND  COUUT  SCENES. 


pocket  the  loss,  and  I  advise  my  friends  to  pursue  tlie 
same  course.  As  the  money  stolen  from  me  has  been 
appropriated  to  defend  and  clotlic  the  prisoner,  and 
as  I  have  been  compelled  to  pay  my  own  ex[>cnsos  for 
over  nine  hundred  miles  of  travel,  besides  occupying 
two  weeks  of  my  time,  I  may  expect  a  bill  from  your 
county  for  board  and  lodging  of  the  prisoner,  as  also 
the  expenses  incurred  in  sending  him  to  the  state 
board-ht)Use. 

Respectfully  Yours, 

MILO  HOADLEY. 
San  Francisco,  May  4,  1877." 

A  miner  committed  suicide  on  Feather  river.  A 
coroner's  jury,  a  new  institution  in  these  parts,  was 
empanelled,  which  after  hearing  and  wei<;hing  tlie 
evidence,  brought  in  a  verdict  that  the  dead  man  was 
*'  a  damned  fool." 


Henry  Lark,  in  1854  justice  of  the  peace  at  Ama- 
dor, held  court  in  the  bar-room  of  the  Magnolia  wi- 
loon,  that  being  his  favorite  resort  when  not  enjiaired 
in  trading  horses.  One  day  Jim  Wall,  the  sheriH" 
brought  in  an  Irishman  accused  of  stealing  messes  of 
meat  at  different  times  from  his  neighbor's  cabin. 
The  justice  was  deep  in  old  sledge  with  the  bar- 
keeper, Pitts,  for  a  dollar  a  side,  being  far  too  shrewd 
to  waste  his  time  at  any  one-sided  whisky  game. 

**  Here,  judge,  give  me  your  hand  wliile  you  settle 
this  business,"  said  the  sheriff,  approaching  the  table. 

"  Git,  and  don't  bother  me,"  responded  his  honor. 
But  recalling  the  dignity  of  his  office  as  he  raked  in 
the  dollar  at  the  end  of  the  game,  he  arose,  and  giv- 
ing the  sheriff  his  seat,  threw  his  leg  over  the  adjoin- 
ing table,  and  with  his  eye  took  in  the  prisoner. 

"  Well,  what  you  got  to  say  for  yourself?"  at  length 
demanded  the  judge. 

"  I  beg,"  clearly  and  promptly  fell  from  the  lips  of 
the  bar  keeper, 


CARDS  IX  COURT. 


647 


"  I'll  sec  you  clainiicd  firat,"  respoiulo*]  Wall. 

"Sheritf,  kt'e|)  silence  in  the  court,"  intei'iKisecl  the 
judge.  Then  turning  to  the  prisoner,  he  begun  again. 
"  Well,  sir—" 

Sheriff.      'Cut  the  kerds,  barkecp." 

Barkeeper.     *'  Run  'en»." 

Prisoner.  *'  I  was  only  borrowin'  the  mate,  yer 
honor,"  with  a  most  winning  smile. 

Judge.     "Why  didn't—" 

Barkeeper.  "No  you  don't,  Mr  Wall;  put  your 
little  old  jack  on  that  ace,  and  no  nigging  " 

Judge.  "Either  this  court  or  that  game  nmst  ad- 
journ if  you  don't  make  less  noise." 

Barkeeper.  "One  moment,  judge;  count  your 
game,  Wall." 

Judge.     "  How  much — " 

Sheriff.     "High,  jack,  game." 

Judge.     "Silence  hi  ctmrtl" 

For  a  few  moments  the  i)la3^ers  were  comparatively 
quiet  while  the  judge  continued  the  examination.  At 
length  the  sheriff,  again  forgetting  himself,  cried  t)ut, 
"Six,  and;  ri[)  ahead,  old  boss!"  Tlus  judge  rose  in 
anger,  but  as  he  turned  toward  the  players  he  saw  the 
king  and  ten  of  trunips  in  the  bar-keeper's  hand,  and 
the  case  was  instantly  forgotten. 

"  Wall,  I'll  bet  you  five  dollars  your  beaten,"  ex- 
clain»ed  the  judge. 

"  Done!"  said  the  sheriff.  "Come  down  with  the 
casji ;  no  fraud." 

With  cautious  circumspection  the  point  was  played 
for.  The  whole  attention  of  the  judge  was  absorbed 
in  the  game.  The  sheriff  won.  Meanwhile  the  pris- 
oner quietly  withdrew. 

"Fraud  and  cheating,"  cried  the  judge.  "I  fine 
you  both  ten  dollars  for  contempt  of  court,"  and  so 
concluded  the  trial. 


.r\ 


Before  the  county  court  of  Lake  county,  in  1865  I 
think  it  was,  D.  J.  McCarty  was  brought  for  whip- 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-S) 


1.0    !ffitt  IM 


I.I 


1.25 


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1.4 


1.6 


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Hiotographi 

Sciences 

Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


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648 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


ping  his  wife.  The  case  had  provoked  much  scandal, 
and  the  courtroom  was  crowded.  The  district  attor- 
ney', J.  H.  Thompson,  had  stated  his  case,  and  was 
ready  with  his  witnesses,  when  a  question  was  raised 
as  to  the  admissibiUty  of  certain  evidence.  The  at- 
torney offered  to  produce  authorities  to  sustain  his 
position,  but  as  he  was  slow  in  finding  them  the  judge 
became  impatient,  and  ruled  the  evidence  out. 

"The  deuce  you  do  1"  said  the  attorney,  "I'll  read 
you  the  law,  and  bet  you  a  thousand  dollars  I  am  right." 

"Silence,  sirl"  cried  the  judge.  "I'll  commit  you 
for  contempt  of  court." 

"Commit  and  be  damned!"  said  Thompson.  "I 
know  my  rights,  and  intend  to  maintain  them." 

" Sheriff  1  Criglerl"  roared  th3  infuriated  judge, 
"take  Thompson  to  jail,  and  adjourn  court  for  twenty- 
four  hours." 

"  Neither  Crigler  nor  any  other  man  shall  take  me 
to  jail,"  Thompson  replied. 

Crigler  stepped  forward  to  obey  the  mandate  of 
the  court,  but  seeing  that  in  Thouipson's  air  and  atti- 
tude significant  of  danger  he  hesitated.  Meanwhile 
Thompson  went  on  with  his  authorities,  artfully  min- 
gling apologies  with  his  remarks  to  the  bench  until 
the  judge  became  pacified,  and  the  trial  proceeded. 

In  a  justice's  court,  at  one  of  the  mountain  towns  of 
Calaveras,  a  case  came  up  involving  the  ownership  of 
a  mining  claim.  The  defendant  was  in  possession. 
But  the  plaintiff  claimed  that  he  could  prove  a  prior 
possession,  and  that  the  defendant  had  unjustly  seized 
and  held  with  intent  to  defraud  that  to  whicli  he  had 
no  right  or  title.  The  plaintiff  was  represented  by 
counsel,  dressed  in  civilized  fashion,  the  defendant 
pleaded  his  own  cause.  Witnesses  were  called  on 
both  sides,  but  their  testimony  was  not  of  that  kind 
which  gave  the  jury  confidence  in  placing  either  party 
in  possession.  After  the  comisel  for  the  plaintiff  had 
spoken,  tlie  defendant  arose. 


A  SERMOX  ON  LAWYERS. 


649 


"Gentlemen  of  the  jury,"  said  he.  "I  appear  be- 
fore you  as  my  own  counsel,  a  man  of  like  passions 
and  liabiliaments  with  you,  supported  by  the  right- 
eousness of  my  cause,  and  by  an  implicit  confidence 
in  your  sense  of  justice.  My  opponent  lias  sum- 
moned to  his  aid  a  lawyer,  attired  in  a  Shanglut 
coat,  and  pitted  him  against  an  humble  but  honest 
miner.  Gentlemen  of  tlie  jury,  is  this  proper;  is  it 
right?  I  have  always  been  led  to  believe  that  tlie 
honest  and  intelligent  miners  of  Calaveras  would 
resist  to  the  death  the  introduction  of  Shangha 
coats,  and  narrow-legged  pantaloons.  What  tlien  do 
I  see  ?  What  is  my  surj)ri3e  to  behold  in  this  com- 
munity of  hard-working,  bearded,  and  woolen-shirted 
men,  fastened  upon  us  like  a  black  sheep,  the  thing 
they  call  a  gentleman;  a  learned  man,  a  lawyer,  a 
shyster,  one  who  1  reeds  broils,  who  lives  by  his  wits, 
a  shaved  man,  a  soft-handed  man ;  a  monkey  arrayed 
in  patent-leather  boots,  white  sliirt,  stand  up  collar, 
and  black  coat  and  pants.  Fellow  citizens  we  want 
no  gentlemen  or  lawyers  here.  We  are  honest 
miners,  hard-working  miners,  and  capable  of  taking 
care  of  our  own  affairs,  of  makinyr  our  own  laws,  of 
conductmg  our  own  trials,  and  of  doing  our  own 
hanging.  Are  there  among  us  any  cut-throats, 
this  man  is  their  friend;  are  there  here  any  thieves, 
or  murderers,  or  claim-jumpers,  this  person  will  be 
to  them  as  a  brother — for  a  consideration.  He 
it  is  who  befriends  the  wicked,  wlio  assists  those 
wlio  will  not  work,  those  who  live  like  himself  by 
their  wits.  And  as  for  my  opponent,  think  you  any 
man  with  a  just  cause  would  employ  such  assistance? 
No  my  fellow-citizens;  such  a  course  impcaclu^s  your 
intelligence,  and  brands  him  a  renegade,  an  outlaw, 
and  places  him  witliout  the  pale  of  tlie  rights  of 
humanity.  I  don't  mean  to  appeal  to  your  prejudices, 
but  I  can  and  will  prove  my  prior  possession  to  the 
claim  in  question." 

Plaintiff,     •«  That's  a  lie  1" 


1 


650 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES 


Justice.  "  Fine  the  plaintiff  ten  dollars  for  con- 
tempt of  court." 

Defendant.  "Assertion  is  not  proof,  neither  are 
the  bloatings  of  a  black -coated  hireling  evidence; 
and  when  the  plaintiff  accuses  n)e  of  lying  he  insults 
the  majesty  of  the  law,  the  sanctity  of  justice,  and 
the  holiness  of  truth." 

The  jury  retired  to  deliberate ;  and  on  returning 
into  court  the  foreman  took  his  seat  as  near  as  possi- 
ble to  the  door.  The  verdict  was  then  rendered  that 
neither  of  the  claimants  had  proved  possession,  and 
that  the  claim  was  vacant.  Tlie  mine  was  a  rich 
one,  and  if  indeed  it  was  now  without  a  legal  owner, 
the  first  upon  the  ground  could  take  it  up  and  hold 
it.  Scarcely  had  the  foreman  delivered  the  verdict 
when  he  made  a  rush  for  the  door,  followed  by  the 
litigants,  the  lawyer,  and  the  remainder  of  the  jury, 
The  race  was  a  hot  one,  several  arriving  on  the  spot 
sinmltaneously,  when  a  general  melee  set  in  for  the 
possession,  which  was  finally  settled  by  a  game  of 
freeze-out  poker. 

Cut-eye  Foster  was  Yreka's  first  alcame,  and  the 
year  of  his  reign  was  1851.  He  departed,  with  un- 
seendy  speed  it  is  said,  and  left  no  docket.  George 
C.  Vail  then  assumed  the  duties  of  office,  and  no  law- 
book ever  embarrassed  justice  in  his  court.  Vail's 
docket  should  be  placed  among  the  curiosities  of 
literature.  In  it  the  history  of  each  case  was  fully 
written. 

The  following  incident  found  recorded  in  its  pages 
illustrates  the  wa\'s  of  justice  within  this  precinct. 
A  lad  came  into  court  one  day,  a  hard-working  ojRn- 
faced  fellow,  and  complained  that  a  certain  man  for 
whom  he  had  worked  all  winter,  and  had  driven  a 
team  from  Oregon,  had  sold  all  his  effects  and  was 
about  leaving  the  place  without  paying  him.  The 
boy's  appeai'ance  added  truth  to  his  story.  With 
two  constables  Vail  started  after  the  man,  and  found 


SISKH^OU. 


651 


him  on  the  road  with  his  back  toward  the  town,  mak- 
ing the  best  time  possible,  arrested  and  brouglit 
into  court.  He  did  not  deny  the  boy's  claim,  but 
affirmed  that  he  had  not  the  money  to  pav  it. 

"Constable,"  said  Vail,  "take  that  man  and  stand 
him  on  his  head  ;  then  shake  him  well,  and  listen  if 
you  can  hear  anythnig  drop." 

The  prisoner  was  seized  and  the  test  applied ;  when 
from  his  pocket  dropped  a  bag  containing  $2,000  in 
gold  dust,  out  of  which  was  paid  the  boy's  claim  of 
$300.  The  alcalde  then  atljudged  himself  and  the 
two  constables  one  ounce  each,  and  after  weighing  it 
the  bag  of  gold-dust  was  handed  back  to  the  man, 
who  was  then  permitted  to  take  his  departure. 

Scott  Bar,  Siskiyou  county,  in  1851  aspired  to  the 
dignity  of  possessing  a  justice  of  the  peace.  The 
candidates  were  Bill  Simmons  and  Buffalo  John. 
The  friends  of  each  were  sanguine.  Money  flew, 
whisky  ran  like  water,  and  the  excitement  grew  in- 
tense. Buffalo  John  was  the  popular  candidate,  and 
the  boys  elected  him  without  a  doubt;  but  the  three 
men  on  the  board  of  canvassers  were  pecuniarily  in- 
terested in  the  election  of  Sinnnons.  Their  only 
hope  of  ever  getthig  certain  money  which  he  owed 
them  was  by  making  him  a  justice,  so  they  declared 
him  elected.  Their  plea  was  that  BufRilo  John  had 
such  a  habit  of  opening  his  mouth  every  time  he 
crooked  his  elbow  as  would  disqualify  him  from  wear- 
ing the  ermine.  An  attempt  was  made  to  contest  the 
election,  but  the  decision  of  the  board  was  unchange- 
able, and  Bill  was  installed,  and  contirmod  to  g(^t 
deeper  and  deeper  in  debt  to  his  old  friends  until 
1859,  when  he  rolled  up  his  blankets  and  departed 
for  parts  unknown. 

A  Truckee  jury  had  been  out  four  hours  when  tlie 
judge  sent  the  sheriff  to  ascertain  if  they  had  found 
a  verdict.     As  he  approached  the  room  the  sheriff 


p  hi 
lii  (■(■■■ 


i  •  *  ii  I 


652 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCEXES. 


hearing  a  great  commotion  stopped  to  listen.  Tlien 
he  called  tlie  judge,  who  had  first  an  ear  and  then  an 
eye  to  the  key-hole.  The  tableau  wliich  presented 
itself  should  be  engraved  and  hung  in  every  court- 
room where  jury  trials  obtain. 

In  tlie  middle  of  the  room  was  a  table  on  which 
stood  a  demijohn  of  whisky,  a  pall  of  water,  and 
half  a  dozen  glasses.  There  was  much  condensed 
comfort  in  the  demijohn,  as  was  evident  from  tlie 
attitude  of  the  already  hilarious  twelve,  who  were 
marching  in  single  file  round  the  table.  P^irst  was 
a  man  with  a  huge  base  drum  upon  his  back,  followed 
by  the  foreman  pounding  it  with  all  his  might.  The 
third  was  a  snare-drummer,  and  the  fourth  a  juror 
with  a  shrill  whistle  in  imitation  of  a  fife.  The  rest 
were  singing. 

Suddenly  the  sheriff  opened  the  door  and  the  oflH- 
cials  stood  before  them. 

"Hello,  judge,"  hiccuped  the  foreman.  "We 
couldn't  agree  nohow,  so  we  thought  we  would  put  in 
the  time  social  like  s'  long  as  we  were  a  congenial 
company." 

William  Blackburn  was  an  alcalde  at  Santa  Cruz 
in  1847  and  1848.  As  an  illustration  of  his  unique 
decisions,  the  story  is  told  of  a  native  Callfornian 
who  quarrel(id  with  a  countryman,  and  being  defeated 
in  tlie  contest,  revenged  himr«elf  by  shaving  the 
mane  of  his  antagonist's  horse.  The  case  was  brought 
before  the  judge  for  trial ;  the  horse  was  present  as  a 
co!ivincing  witness,  and  a  crowd  thronged  the  court- 
house with  curiosity  to  hear  the  judge's  decision. 
After  a  deliberate  examination  of  the  witnesses,  the 
malicious  Californian  was  sentenced  to  receive  pun- 
ishment in  conformity  with  holy  writ,  which  demanded 
an  eye  for  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth.  "Lead 
out  the  prisoner  and  let  his  mane  be  shaved  in  like 
manner  as  he  served  the  horse,"  was  the  sentence,  and 
its  immediate  execution  afforded  intense  amusemeut 


to  tl 
saddl 
so  tl 
mane 
wouk 
his  aj 
tion  o 
then  I 
emplo 

VVh 

fornia 
iastau' 
one  of 
a  supe 
daj's,  I 
great 
fiery   1 
^Santa 
^\^^s  pi 
all  ni<> 
wj)en  1 
his  lies 
tlie  un; 
One 
f  harnfO) 
pcarceh 
numbej 
genial  j 
gJorioui 
twixt  a 
to  go  i 
fatnona 
unstabL 
of  a  ha 
control 
so  that 
ill  speec 
heroes. 


BRONA'N,  OF  SANTA  CRUZ. 


JBft 


to  the  spectators.  The  judge  then  ordered  that  a 
saddle  should  he  stuffed  with  the  hair  of  the  prisoner, 
so  that  justice  might  ride  triumphantly  upon  the 
mane  of  vice.  It  was  expected  that  the  alcaUlos 
would  send  their  decisions  to  the  governor  and  await 
his  ajjproval,  but  Blackburn,  to  secure  speedy  execu- 
tion of  justice,  usually  carried  out  his  sentence  first,  and 
then  reported  to  gubernatorial  power.  The  only  book 
employed  in  this  court  was  a  New  York  directory. 

When  the  early  administration  of  justice  in  Cali- 
fornia swelled  from  the  alcalde's  courts  of  the  first 
instance,  Santa  Cruz  becoming  ambitious  organized 
one  of  these  superior  tribunals,  and  a])}»(;int(d  over  it 
a  superior  judge.  As  all  good  jurists  drank  in  those 
days,  and  as  tlie  legal  learning  of  a  judge  was  to  a 
great  extent  measured  by  his  capacity  for  carrying 
fiery  liquids,  by  this  measuren-iCnt  Judge  Brown  (f 
Santa  Cruz  was  a  most  able  man.  The  depth  of  him 
w.is  profound.  Late  into  the  night,  and  oftentimes 
al)  night,  saw  him  at  his  mellownig  devotions;  and 
M iien  next  morning  he  took  his  seat  upon  the  bench 
his  head  was  seemingly  so  enlarged  as  to  encompass 
tlie  universe  with  all  its  whirling  worlds. 

One  morning  a  Spaniard  was  brought  before  him 
cliariied  with  stealiny:  a  horse.  The  iudije  was 
?::<  arcely  himself  that  day ;  his  facuuies  seemed  be- 
numbed, lukewarm,  dissolved  in  spate,  neither  in  the 
genial  glow  of  original  potations,  nor  yet  in  a  state  of 
glorious  insensibility.  He  was,  as  he  would  say,  be- 
twixt and  between ;  too  good  to  go  to  hell,  too  bad 
to  go  to  heaven,  and  fit  only  to  swell  the  limhits 
fituonim  of  paradisiacal  fo(»ls.  At  such  times  the 
unstable  consciousness  his  mind  could  grasp  was  not 
of  a  happy  kind  ;  on  the  contrary  while  having  least 
control  of  himself  lie  was  most  self-willed  and  savage, 
so  that  on  this  morning  he  was  almost  as  boastful 
in  speech  and  as  merciless  in  heart  as  any  of  Honker's 
heroes. 


;  f  r 


v*! 


1!  k 


Ml 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  AND  COURT  SCENES. 


Only  a  few  days  before,  the  judge  himself  had  lost 
a  valuable  horse,  stolen  from  a  vacant  lot  adjacent  to 
his  house,  which  circumstance  tended  in  no  wise 
toward  the  restoration  of  equanimity  or  general  amia- 
bility oi'  the  magistrate  on  the  morning  nicntionod. 
The  prisoner  was  a  hard-featured,  wicked-eyed  man, 
whose  appearance  to  the  dimmed  vision  and  cloudy 
brain  of  the  judge  now  seemed  absolutely  hideous. 
Unfortunately,  the  two  ideas  of  his  stolen  horse  and 
the  liorse-thief  here  present  came  together,  and  went 
bobbing  and  circling  through  his  brain,  until  joining 
in  weird  embrace,  the  pitching  of  the  pair  over  some 
precipice  into  stygian  shades  awoke  the  judge  with  a 
start,  and  lighted  for  a  moment  his  eye  with  dire  in- 
telligence. 

"Pedro  Castro,  stand  up!  I  believe  you  are  the 
damned  scoundrel  who  stole  my  horse.  The  sentence 
of  the  court  is  that  before  the  sun  shall  set  you  shall  bo 
hanged  by  the  neck  until  you  are  dead,  de-ad,  d-e-a-tl." 

"  But,  your  honor,"  savs  the  district  attorney,  "the 
man  has  not  been  tried.' 

"  Sit  down,  sir  I  This  court  knows  its  business,  and 
wants  none  of  your  interference.  Mr  Sheritf,  see  the 
judgment  executed  immediately;  this  court  stands 
adjourned." 

All  present  were  astounded,  but  all  knew  too  well 
the  temper  of  the  judge  to  trifle  with  him  in  his  pros- 
ent  humor ;  so  the  condemned  was  removed  to  prison 
while  the  judge  went  home  and  tucked  himself  in  bed, 
witii  a  bottle  of  his  favorite  fluid  within  reach,  and 
soon  was  snoring  soundly. 

The  officers  of  the  court  were  in  a  dilemma.  As  a 
matter  of  course,  the  immediate  execution  of  the 
prisonor  was  not  to  be  thought  of,  b  xt  how  to  meet 
the  anger  of  the  judge  when  he  shoui  1  have  learned 
that  his  order  had  been  disobeyed  ?  After  much  dis- 
cussion it  was  finally  agreed  that  the  clerk  should 
enter  judgment  in  the  records,  and  the  sheriff*  make 
return  that  he  had  executed  the  prisoner. 


EXECUnOX  AND  TRIAL. 


IBS 


Next  mcrning  the  judge  awoke  feeling  unusually 
well.  There  are  epochs  in  the  experience  of  a  drunk- 
ard when  the  opaque  mists  hefogging  the  mind  van- 
ish, and  the  return  of  nitelligence  opens  transparent 
as  an  arctic  sky  in  midwinter,  and  this,  too,  hn medi- 
ately following  a  series  of  debauches.  So  shone  the 
transplendent  discrimination  of  the  Santa  Cruz  judge 
as  he  smilingly  took  his  seat  upon  the  bench  next 
morning  sober.  The  courtroom  was  neath'  appointed. 
Before  the  judgment  desk  sat  the  busy  clerk  writing ; 
every  officer  was  in  his  place,  attentive,  while  the  un- 
covered spectators,  awe-inspired  of  ignorance,  stood 
with  under-jaw  dropped  on  their  breast,  or  si)eaking 
one  with  another  in  low  whispers.  Glancing  over  the 
calendar,  the  judge  called  the  case  of  The  People  ver- 
sus Pedro  Castro. 

"  Your  honor,"  respectfully  replied  the  sheriff,  "the 
man  has  been  hanged." 

"  Hanged  1 "  exclaimed  the  judge,  as  forebodings  of 
something  fearfully  wrong  crept  over  him,  "  I  do  not 
understand  you,  sir ;  there  has  been  no  trial  yet." 

"No,  your  honor,"  said  the  clerk,  "but  yesterday, 
you  will  remember,  your  honor  waived  trial,  sentenced 
the  defendant,  and  peremptorily  ordered  thesherifl'to 
carry  the  sentence  into  immediate  execution." 

"Hanged,  did  you  sa}''?"  meditatively  remarked 
tlie  judge  as  the  situation  gradually  dawned  upon  him, 
"  well,  never  mind,  let  the  trial  proceed  mine  pro  hinc. 
All  orders  and  judgments  of  this  court  must  be  justified 
by  due  legal  proceedings,  and  if  the  sheriff'  has  so  far 
erred  in  his  understanding  of  the  court  as  to  lead  to 
the  commission  of  an  unhappy  blunder,  the  court  will 
harbor  no  anger  on  that  account,  but  will  endeavor, 
so  far  as  strict  probity  will  admit,  to  reconcile  the  acts 
of  the  officers  with  the  rulings  of  the  court." 

The  sheriff  thus  mildly  admonished  then  brought 
before  the  judge,  whose  learned  complacency  once  more 
fully  possessed  him.  the  prisoner,  who  after  a  sober 
but  speedy  trial  was  duly  condenuied  and  executed. 


4 


1 
i 


COURTS  OF  JUSTICE  ANP  COURT  SCENES. 


The  bcncli  and  b.ar  of  San  Jose  from  the  first  num- 
bered as  many  able  jurists  as  might  be  found  in  any 
thriving  town  of  equal  size  in  America.  To  the  more 
refined  gravity  of  sedate  societies  their  manner  might 
seem  a  little  coarse,  and  their  expletives  irreverent, 
but  their  law,  and  the  practical  application  of  it,  could 
not  be  questioned.  The  court  of  scssioLs  of  San  Jose, 
in  1850,  as  then  organized,  exercised  jurisdiction  in 
criminal  cases  of  the  hiijhest  degree.  Judyre  Rogers 
was  a  large,  broad-featured,  big-mouthed,  Johnsonian 
sort  of  man,  able,  profane,  and  almost  brutal  in  his 
vulgarity,  yet  withal,  beh)W  the  superficial  asperities 
of  his  nature,  genial  and  sympathetic. 

One  day  It  became  his  painful  duty  to  sentence  a 
[Mexican  who  had  been  tried  before  him  to  death. 
The  prisoner  did  not  speak  English,  and  the  judge 
deemed  it  proper  that  the  sentence,  as  delivered, 
should  be  done  into  Spanish.  The  clerk  of  the  court 
being  competent  was  asked  to  act  as  interpreter,  but 
as  he  was  a  man  of  shrinking  sensibilities,  he  expressed 
abhorrence  at  the  thought  of  being  the  medium  of 
communicating  the  death  intelligence  to  a  human  be- 
ing.  There  are  moods  in  the  temper  ot  strong  men 
in  which  impediment  only  excites  determination.  All 
early  Californians  had  a  smattering  of  Spanish.  When 
the  clerk  declined  the  office  of  translator,  with  a  big 
round  oath  Judge  Rogers  swore  he  would  make  the 
man  understand. 

"  You,  sir,  get  up  I  levantate  1  arriba  1  Sabe  ?  You 
been  tried;  tried  by  jury;  damn  you!  sabe?  You 
have  been  found — what  the  devil's  the  Spanish  for 
guilty  ?  Never  mind — sabe  ?  You  have  been  found 
guilty,  and  you  are  going  to  be  hanged ;  sabe  ? 
Hanged  ?     Entiende  ? " 

The  Mexican  was  as  courageous  as  the  judge  was 
coarse.  Evidently  he  did  understand,  for  with  the 
characteristic  nonchalance  of  his  race,  he  replied,  il- 
lustrating by  signs  and  gurglings  the  hanging  and 
choking  process : 


HARDIHOOD 


657 


"Si,  seiior,  debo  ser  colgado  con  chicote  ;  ahorcado 
asi ;  no  es  nada  ;  jj^racias  li  Yd."  "  Yes,  sir,  I  am  to 
be  hanged  at  a  rope's  end ;  strangled,  so ;  it  is  nothing ; 
thank  you." 


Cal.  Int.  Poc.    42 


9    ;    i 


%\ 


m 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

DRINKING. 

Over  wide  streams  and  mountains  great  we  went 
Anil,  Have  when  Bacchus  kept  his  ivy-tent, 
Onwani  the  tiger  ami  tiio  leopard  pants 

With  Auian  elephantj: 
We  follow  Bacclius!     Bacchus  on  the  wing 

A-conquering! 
Bacchus,  young  Bacchus!  good  or  ill  betide 
We  dance  l>efr»re  him  through  kingdoms  wide 
Come  hither,  lady  fair,  and  joined 

To  our  wild  minstrelsy. 

— Keiita'  Emlymion. 

A  NOT  unfitting  opening  for  some  reflections  on  life 
would  be  a  dissertation  on  death.  Were  there  no 
death  the  term  life  would  have  no  sii^nificance. 
Did  we  not  love  life  we  should  not  fear  death.  How- 
ever full  of  hateful  conditions  earthly  existence  may 
be,  all  thii  js  having  life,  man,  animals,  plants,  cling 
to  it ;  the  uncertainties  of  death  are  more  dreaded 
than  the  certain  ills  of  life.  Then,  too,  life  is  exist- 
ence, being ;  a  dead  thing  is  nothing,  having  no  ex- 
istence, no  being. 

Yet  further,  life  feeds  on  death ;  life  lives  on  deatli ; 
by  the  destruction  of  life  alone  is  life  sustained ;  were 
there  no  death,  under  the  present  economy  of  things, 
there  could  be  no  life,  no  continuinsj  state  of  exist- 
ence.  Death  is  the  grand  and  universal  interatance 
of  life ;  the  infant's  first  breath  is  the  breath  of  the 
dying.  The  whole  scheme  of  animated  nature  througli- 
out  the  planet,  concocted  and  put  in  running  order  by 
a  so-called  beneficent  creator,  involves  the  consumma- 

r  (658) 


tion 

man 

suwtij 

toth 

sunie 

one  L 

small 

the  Ji 

Is  the 

versa] 

is  livii 

ergo,  j 

such  tj 

Tiie 

Japan ; 

would  i 

arrow  f 

'lia  wh( 

wis(?  is 

plexy,  i 

always, 

f'rinkint 

death  is 

make  a 

to-iiiorr( 

Whet 

is  not  w 

'^'^  cann( 

t\\Q  ques 

nover  ha 

of  lias  ev 

us,  we  m 

f"r  n)ore 
^vo  will 

S'Hse,  th£ 
*''<''r  satii. 
f^'ftion  of 
'"^'e,  and  V 
Contented 


DEATH  AND  THE  DRAM-SHOP. 


659 


tion  of  a  hundred  deaths  to  maintain  one  life.  Ho'^v 
lUJiiiy  lives  of  birds  and  beasts  and  fishes  are  taken  to 
sustain  the  life  of  one  human  being  from  the  cradle 
to  the  grave  ?  How  many  fishes  does  a  whale  con- 
sume during  its  lifetime ;  how  many  small  fishes  will 
one  large  fish  eat;  how  many  smaller  fishes  will  a 
small  fish  eat ;  how  many  lives  does  it  take  to  sustain 
tlie  life  of  the  tiniest  hisect  the  eye  can  distinguish  ? 
Is  then  death  so  terrible,  behig  so  beneficial,  so  uni- 
versal ?  For  all  that  lives  is  dying ;  all  that  to-day 
is  living,  to-morrow  is  dead ;  all  that  is  living  is  dying, 
ergo,  living  is  not  living  but  dying,  and  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  life,  all  nature  bcin  ^  either  dead  or  dying. 

The  dead  willow  is  the  symbol  <  )f  decay  and  death  in 
Japan ;  in  California  if  such  a  symbol  was  required  we 
would  take  a  dram-shop.  1  ,  ancient  tiuies  it  was  the 
arrow  of  Apollo  that  brought  sudden  death ;  in  Califor- 
nia when  a  man  drops  dead  upon  llie  street,  or  other- 
wis(i  is  taken  oft"  suddenly,  Ave  call  it  heart  disease,  apo- 
l)lexy,  the  result  of  high  living,  usually,  though  not 
always,  meaning — rum.  And  men  are  called  ff>olg  for 
drinking  themselves  to  death,  when  we  have  just  seen 
death  is  essential  to  life,  is  inevitable  to  all,  does  not 
make  a  pin's  difference  whether  it  comes  to-day  or 
to-morrow — particularly  to-morrow. 

Whether  we  like  the  idea  of  death  or  dislike  it,  it 
is  not  wise  greatly  to  trouble  ourselves  ab(iut  it,  as 
■ve  cannot  long  delay  it  by  any  such  means.  As  in 
tlie  question  of  life  or  no  life  beyond  the  grave,  as  it 
never  has  been  determined,  as  no  one  that  we  know 
of  has  ever  come  back  from  beyond  the  grave  to  tell 
us,  we  mi^ht  as  well  cease  thinking  about  it,  and  wait 
for  more  light — ^this  being  what  we  must  do  whether 
we  will  or  not.  Those  who  through  some  seventh 
sense,  that  not  every  one  possesses,  have  been  told  to 
their  satisfaction,  and  can  themselves  tell  to  the  satis- 
faction of  a  hundred  houses  full,  what  life  and  death 
are,  and  what  the  strte  of  affairs  beyond,  should  rest 
contented;  even  if,  atcer  expecting  a  future  existence, 


\  I 


DRINKING. 


thoy  wake  up  in  the  next  world  and  find  it  not  so, 
tiiat  is  if  they  find  anything. 

Man  is  the  only  beast  that  drinks  to  make  himself 
drunk.  In  this  he  is  more  beastly  than  any  other 
beast,  and  yet  he  has  the  impudence  to  employ  a  term 
beneath  any  which  may  be  applied  to  himself  in  order 
to  emphasize  a  vice  too  low  for  any  created  thing  but 
himself  to  indulge  in.  I  hold  it  groat  injustice  to 
beasts  for  man  to  call  his  own  base  indulgences  beastl}-, 
Buasts  are  less  beastly  than  men.  It  would  be  nearer 
right  for  beasts  to  charge  the  more  excessively  dis- 
gusting of  their  practices  humanly,  for  beasts  are  not 
denaturalized  by  their  ppssions  like  men.  And  along 
with  drunkenness,  and  the  necessit}'^  of  establishing 
laws  under  which  to  liv^e,  place  the  faculties  of  speech 
and  abstraction,  the  one  used  to  no  small  extent  in 
lying  and  swearing,  and  the  other  in  cheating  and 
ovcrreachinij,  and  we  have  before  us  all  the  tanuible 
differences  between  human  and  animal  societies. 

The  word  whisky  is  from  the  Gaelic  ooshk'-a-pai, 
which  signifies  "water  of  health."  Usquebaugli, 
Irish,  nistje -a-hagh,  also  the  French  cau  dc  vie  may  be 
rendered  "water  of  life."  The  whisky  taken  to  the 
mhies,  however  much  water  there  may  have  been  in 
it,  was  neither  "of  health"  nor  "of  life."  The  truth 
is,  if  anything  could  breed  distemper,  disease,  and 
death  it  was  this  same  strychnine  whisky.  In  regard 
+f^  '.vaU-r,  too  often  it  was  like  Father  Tom's  puncli 
brewed  in  the  parlor  of  the  Vatican — conspicuous  for 
its  absence.  "Put  in  the  sperits  first,"  said  he  to  the 
pope,  "and  then  put  in  the  sugar;  and  remendxr, 
every  dhrop  ov  wather  you  put  in  after  that  spoils  tliu 
punch." 

Satan  once  presented  himself  before  Noah,  if  \vc 
may  credit  the  Tahnud,  to  drink  wine  with  him.  T!,o 
devil  in  <'his  instance  must  have  been  teachinor  mor;il- 
ity,  for  to  show  the  patriarch  the  several  effects  of 
W'ne  in  vari(jus  quantities,  he  slew  a  lamb,  a  lion,  a 


drinki 
kings. 

made  ; 

the    S 

hangin 

and  tJi 

There 

away 

wJio 

"obbed 
who  W( 
utterly 

bowed 
WJioiii 

Jiieinor) 
many 
tbomsol 
tlicy  th, 
TJien  tJi 


HANDY  HAPPINESS. 


661 


pig,  and  an  ape,  the  first  being  emblematic  of  man 
before  drink,  the  second  of  the  effect  of  wine  in  mod- 
eration, the  third  tiie  condition  of  a  sot,  and  the  fourth 
the  senseless  chatterings  of  the  imbecile  drunk. 

In  Greek  carousals  one  of  the  first  things  to  be 
considered  was  whether  it  should  be  optional  or  com- 
pulsory as  to  the  quantity  each  should  drink. 

Intemperance  is  treated  as  a  vice  in  one  of  its  phases 
only.  The  drunkard,  so  runs  the  tone  of  society,  is 
an  immoral  beast,  whom  to  scorn  and  sliun  is  Christian 
and  praiseworthy.  Yet  wine  in  moderation  is  a  bless- 
ing, and  not  a  curse.  So  arsenic  and  strychnine  have 
their  uses,  otherwise  it  was  a  mistake  of  the  creator 
to  have  made  them. 

Like  everything  else,  drinking  took  on  its  own  form 
iji  California.  From  a  drinking-shop  arose,  outside 
Sebastopol,  the  fortified  town  and  famous  tower  of 
Malakotf,  which  in  the  Crimean  war  was  the  cause 
of  so  much  annoyance  to  the  allied  army,  from  a 
drinking-shop  arose  in  San  Francisco  a  race  of  bonanza 
kings. 

Men  steeped  their  souls  in  drink.  Anything  was 
made  a  pretext — the  arrival  of  news,  the  4th  of  July, 
the  Sunday  festivities,  the  death  of  a  comrade,  a 
hanging  scrape,  or  simply  being  seized  with  thirst, 
and  the  whole  camp  would  be  taken  suddenly  drunk. 
There  were  always  those  about  bar-rooms  putting 
away  for  years  apparently  upon  the  same  cigar,  and 
who  were  never  entirely  sober,  and  who  hob- 
nobbed, chinked  glasses,  and  drank  tete-a-tete  with  all 
who  would  pay  the  sct)re.  Then  there  were  thousands 
utterly  alone  in  this  wilderness  of  civilized  wild  men, 
bowed  down  to  the  earth  bv  their  misfortunes,  to 
wliom  forgetfulness  obliterating  woes  was  better  than 
memory  to  keep  alive  the  good,  and  this  forgetfulness 
many  would  have  at  any  cost.  They  would  drink 
themselves  into  a  state  of  most  unbeastly  intoxicaticm; 
they  then  would  go  to  cind  drink  themselves  sober. 
Then  there  was  the  coming  out  of  it,  the  hardest  of 


662 


DRINKING. 


all,  the  blues,  the  shakes,  the  shame  of  it  all ;  but  out 
of  it  they  must  come  or  die,  and  that  no  one  feels 
more  keenly  than  the  drunken  man  himself. 

Rum  they  found  not  less  potent  in  its  cure  of  dis- 
appointment, melancholy,  and  heart-aches  than  the 
nepenthes  of  Helen,  that  draught  divine  which  lifted 
the  soul  above  all  ills.  Their  breath  was  almost  as  foul 
as  that  of  Macamut  the  Sultan  of  Cambava  who,  if  wo 
may  believe  Purchas,  lived  on  poison,  and  became  so 
saturated  with  it  that  his  touch  or  breath  caused 
instant  death. 

Sometimes  half  the  members  of  a  mining  camp 
would  fall  into  the  habit  of  periodical  sprees  which 
would  last  usually  from  two  to  three  days.  A 
stranger  once  arriving  at  Rich  Bar  on  Feather  river 
about  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  dismounted  from 
his  mule  before  a  hotel  grocery,  being  led  thither  by 
the  glimmering  of  a  light.  A  sound  of  revelry  was 
heard  within,  but  as  all  the  other  houses  of  the  place 
was  wrapped  in  darkness  the  stranger  made  bold  to 
enter  and  inquire  concerning  accommodations  for  him- 
self and  beast.  After  arranging  his  affairs  for  the 
night,  or  rather  for  the  rest  of  the  morning,  he  re- 
marked casually  to  the  keeper :  ' 

"  It  strikes  me  your  customers  are  rather  late 
to-night." 

"  Oh  1  no,  stranger,"  replied  the  landlord,  "  the  boys 
of  Rich    Bar  generally   run  for   forty-eight   hours. 
It's  a  little  late  this  n?orning  perhaps  for  night  before 
last,  but  for  last  night,  why  bless  you,  it's  only  just 
in  the  shank  of  the  evening  1 " 

Time  was  when  in  our  now  staid  and  solemn-visaged 
communities  everybody  drank,  everybody  sometimes 
drank  too  much.  They  were  measured  by  the  number 
of  bottles  they  could  carry,  and  the  always-sober  man 
was  a  rarity.  If  appetite  flagged  thirst  was  excited  hy 
condiments.  Drink  was  dealt  out  in  horns  and  pointed- 
bottom  cups  that  would  not  stand  so  that  the  drinker 
must  finish  the  draft  before  laying  down  the  cup. 


T 

to  SJ 
and 
Win 
ica,  i 
chiei 
drinl 
less  ( 
a  fri: 
HasI 
tinue 
Sp 
to  dr 
there 
than  ] 
Lit 
day  a< 
body  J 
enterti 
freely, 
to  exc( 
Doc 
than  oi 
to  win 
decent 
were  m 
you  pr 
bottle  c 
gone  oi 
smoke 
eyes,  ai 
us.     Y( 
quires  s 
from   tc 
Juan  has 
i»g  with 
Thus 
all  over 
god  Dioi 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  INTOXICATIOK. 


663 


The  weak,  the  weary,  the  beaten  in  life's  battle, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  lazy  and  profligate  of  all  ages 
and  climes,  seem  to  crave  stimulation  or  stupefaction. 
"Wine,  spirits,  beer,  and  tobacco  in  Europe  and  Amer- 
ica, hasheesh  in  Egypt,  and  opium  in  China  are  the 
chief  indulgences,  but  there  are  multitudes  of  minor 
drinks  such  as  Indian  hemp  and  Aztec  pulque  of  no 
less  deadly  intoxicating  virtues.  All  these  prevail  to 
a  frightful  extent  and  constitute  the  national  vice. 
Haslieesh  first  elates  and  then  depresses,  and  con- 
tinued indulgence  results  in  idiocy  or  death. 

Speaking  to  Bos  well  of  one  who  urged  his  quests 
to  drink  immoderately  at  table  Johnson  said  **  Sir, 
there  is  no  more  reason  for  your  drinking  with  him, 
than  his  being  sober  with  you." 

Little  Pope  drank  his  bottle  of  burgundy  every 
day  at  dinner,  thus  warming  his  diminutive  dried-up 
body  into  that  comfort  which  made  itself  known  by 
entertaining  gaiety.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  drank 
freely,  and  greatly  enjoyed  it,  but  he  seldom  indulged 
to  excess. 

Doctor  Johnson  observed  that  "our  drinking  less 
than  our  ancestors  was  owing  to  the  change  from  ale 
to  wine."  "I  remember,"  said  he,  "when  all  the 
decent  people  in  Liclifield  got  drunk  every  night,  and 
were  not  the  worse  thought  of.  Ale  was  cheap,  so 
you  pressed  strongly.  When  a  man  nmst  bring  a 
bottle  of  wine,  he  is  not  in  such  haste.  Smoking  has 
gone  out.  To  be  sure,  it  is  a  shocking  thing,  blowing- 
smoke  out  of  our  mouths  into  other  people's  mouths, 
eyes,  and  noses,  and  having  the  same  thhig  done  to 
us.  Yet  I  cannot  account  why  a  thing  wliich  re- 
quires so  little  exertion,  and  yet  preserves  the  mind 
from  total  vacuity,  should  have  gone  out.  Ever)' 
man  has  something  by  which  he  calms  himself;  beat- 
ing with  his  feet,  or  so." 

Thus  it  was  that  all  along  the  foothills,  and  indeed, 
all  over  California,  coequal  with  Plutus  reigned  the 
god  Dionysius,  sometimes  one  and  sometimes  the  other 


664 


DRINKING. 


having  for  the  moment  the  supremacy.  All  nature 
here  was  filled  to  overflowing  with  that  intoxicatinsj: 

•  •  • 

power  which  carries  men  onward  m  their  wild  career 
to  happy  success  or  soul-crushing  destruction.  Here 
so  often  they  might  with  the  Cyclops  sing, 

"Ha!  hal  I  am  full  of  wine, 
Heavy  with  the  joy  divine." 

Thousands  every  day  were  as  drunk  as  birds  of  para- 
dise— so  drunk  that  ants  might  eat  their  legs  off. 

There  have  never  been  lacking  those  who  in  a 
breath  would  solve  all  social  riddles,  and  eradicate  all 
social  evils.  There  are  temperance  fanatics  as  well  as 
religious  and  political  fanatics,  and  anti-slavery,  anti- 
tobacco,  and  anti-tea-and-coffee  fanatics.  It  is  not  by 
grinding  still  deeper  in  the  mire  the  unfortunate  and 
vicious  that  gambling  and  prostitution  are  eradicated. 
"The  California  wines  are  a  disappointment  and  a 
failure,"  says  Dr  Holland  rejoicingly.  "  They  are  not 
popular  wines,  and  we  congratulate  the  country  that 
they  never  can  be."  This  is  not  only  untrue,  but  it  is 
both  a  wicked  and  a  silly  sentiment. 

Lecky  perceives  a  remedy  in  the  use  of  tea,  coflee, 
and  chocolate,  which  checks  "tJie  boisterous  revels 
that  had  once  been  universal,  and  raising  woman  to  a 
new  position  in  the  domestic  circle,  they  have  contrib- 
uted very  largely  to  refine  manners,  to  introduce  a 
new  order  of  tastes,  and  to  soften  and  improve  tlie 
character  of  men." 

The  Norsemen  taught  the  English  to  dismiss  their 
ladies  from  their  drinking-paiiies ;  the  Vikings  fol- 
lowed the  same  custom. 

The  custom  of  pledging  in  wine  arose  during  the 
tenth  century,  when  it  was  considered  a  necessity  for 
a  person,  while  drinking,  to  have  some  one  to  watcli, 
lest  he  should  be  killed  by  some  enemy  or  strangor 
during  the  act. 

In  drinking  to  their  lady-loves,  the  Romans  used  to 
take  a  glass  for  every  letter  of  the  name ;  spelling  with 
beer-glasses,  Hudibras  called  the  custom. 


and 


him 

men, 

brandj' 

niost 

Soonest 

At  ano 

with 

wlion 

drunk; 
drunk 
a  man  \ 
a  man 
in  inch 


ANCIEXT  AND  MODERN  CUSTOMS. 


COo 


Of  a  truth,  they  played  well  the  Greek  in  their 
cups.  E  pithi  e  apithi!  QuafF,  or  be  oft" I  Cut  in,  or 
cut  out  1  Or  in  the  language  of  our  time,  to  pro- 
mote hilarity  it  was  the  rule  that  every  man  should 
tell  a  story,  sing  a  song,  or  treat  the  crowd. 

The  drinking  customs  of  California  were  peculiar,  as 
I  have  said,  but  not  all  the  drinking  and  drunkenness 
of  this  world  has  been  confined  to  California.  "  I  was 
afraid  he  might  have  urged  drinking,"  says  Boswell  of 
Johnson,  "as  I  believe  he  used  formerly  to  do,  but 
lie  drank  port  and  water  out  of  a  large  glass  himself, 
and  let  us  do  as  we  pleased.  .  .  .  After  supper  Dr 
JoJmson  told  us  that  Isaac  Hawkins  Browne  drank 
freely  for  thirty  years,  and  that  he  wrote  his  poem, 
Dg  Animi  Immortalitate,  in  some  of  the  last  of  these 
years.  I  listened  to  this  with  the  eagerness  of  one 
who,  conscious  of  being  himself  fond  of  wine,  is  glad 
to  hear  that  a  man  of  so  much  genius  and  good  think- 
ing as  Browne  had  the  same  propensity."  Again : 
"  I  reminded  him  how  heartily  he  and  I  used  to  drink 
wine  together  when  we  were  first  acquainted,  and  liow 
I  used  to  have  a  headache  after  sitting  up  with  him. 
He  did  not  like  to  have  this  recalled,  or  perhaps  think- 
ing that  I  boasted  improperly." 

Jolinson  expressed  great  contempt  for  claret,  say- 
ing, "a  man  would  be  drowned  by  it  before  it  made 
hhn  drunk.  Claret  is  the  liquor  for  boys,  port  for 
men,  but  he  who  aspires  to  be  a  hero  nmst  drink 
brandy.  In  the  first  place,  the  flavor  of  brandy  is 
most  grateful  to  tlie  palate,  and  then  brandy  will  do 
soonest  for  a  man  what  drinking  can  do  for  liiui." 
At  anothc"  time  he  said,  "  Drinking  may  be  practised 
with  great  prudence ;  a  man  who  exposes  himself 
wlien  he  is  intoxicated  has  not  the  art  of  getting 
drunk;  a  sober  man  who  happens  occasionally  to  get 
(h'unk  readily  enough  goes  into  anew  company,  whicli 
a  man  who  has  been  drinking  should  never  do.  Such 
a  man  will  undertake  anj'thing.  He  is  without  skill 
in  inebriation.     I  used  to  slink  home  when  I  had 


DRINKING. 


drunk  too  much.  A  man  accustomed  to  self-exami- 
nation will  be  conscious  when  he  is  drunk,  thouf^h  an 
habitual  drunkard  will  not  be  conscious  of  it.  I  knew 
a  physician  who  for  tv/enty  years  was  not  sober." 

In  the  cities  and  towns  there  was  a  noticeable  ab- 
sence of  homes.  Stores,  saloons,  restaurants,  board- 
ing-houses, and  hotels  made  a  metropolis,  and  to  this 
day  the  habits  of  herding  then  contracted  hang  upon 
the  people.  In  1849  almost  every  house  and  tent, 
public  and  private,  received  lodgers  for  pay.  A  regu- 
lar lodjiintj-house  consisted  of  one  room,  with  shelf-like 
bunks  ranged  round  the  sides,  each  of  which  held  a 
straw  mattress  reeking  with  filth  and  vermin,  and  a 
pair  of  musty  blankets.  Cots  occupied  the  centre  of 
the  room,  and  sleeping-places  were  chalked  out  on  the 
floor,  where,  after  the  beds  were  filled,  others  might 
stretch  themselves  in  their  own  blankets  at  a  dollar  a 
night.  Merchants  slept  in  their  offices,  with  then- 
employes  scattered  about  the  premises  on  counters, 
benches,  tables,  trunks,  boxes,  or  bunks.  Cooking 
was  also  done  in  many  places  of  business.  Then  eat- 
ing-houses arose  of  every  grade,  from  the  Chinese 
chow-chow  to  the  Montgomery  street  saloon  where, 
in  1854,  a  hundred  attaches  waited  on  three  thousand 
hungry  applicants  daily. 

The  so-called  hotels  which  sprang  up  in  the  mining 
camps  were  usually  built  of  rough  boards,  being  of 
one  story,  with  a  common  sleeping-room,  or  of  two 
stories  with  separate  apartments  above.  The  front 
door  opened  into  the  bar-room,  which  was  also  ofiire 
and  billiard  and  gambling  saloon.  There  execrable 
wine  and  spirits  were  sold  at  twenty-five  or  fifty  cents 
a  glass  to  the  filthiest  scum  of  human  kind  that  ever 
congregated  to  eat,  drink,  smoke,  chew,  spit,  gamble, 
shoot,  stab,  and  blaspheme.  Adjoining  was  the  dining- 
room,  where,  on  a  long  clothless  table,  flanked  by 
wooden  benches,  beefsteak,  beans,  boiled  potatocp, 
dried-apple  sauce,  dusky  bread,  pickles,  and  molasses, 


ing, 


gong 


PLUSH  TIMKS  HOTELS. 


667 


are  served  to  miners,  teamsters,  traders,  gamblers, 
and  politicians,  who  sit  down  together,  the  washed 
and  the  unwashed,  without  regard  to  quality  or  caste. 
On  the  same  bench  may  be  seated  a  clergyman,  a 
Sydney  convict,  an  Oxford  graduate,  a  New  York 
blackleg,  and  the  professional  drunkard  of  the  town. 

Sometimes  for  bunks  canvas  was  stretched  over 
wooden  frames ;  a  hay  pillow  and  a  pair  of  blankets 
comprised  the  bed.  Fifty  or  a  hundred  of  these 
berths  were  sometimes  constructed  in  one  room ;  each 
was  numbered,  and  on  signifying  his  wish  to  retire, 
the  traveller,  on  payment  of  a  dollar  to  the  hotel- 
keeper,  might  hunt  out  his  place,  and  without  undress- 
ing, deposit  his  bag  of  gold-dust  and  revolver  under 
his  pillow,  and  go  to  sleep — if  the  fleas  would  let  him. 
Outside  the  door  stands  a  barrel  of  water,  and  on  as 
many  kegs  three  or  four  tin  basins  with  a  chunk  of 
washing-soap  convenient,  where  morning  ablutions 
may  be  made.  Against  the  house  hangs  a  piece  of 
looking-glass,  and  a  well-worn  brush  and  comb  are 
conveniently  fastened  to  a  chain  or  string.  After  a 
wash  and  a  gin  cocktail,  the  boarder  is  ready  for  his 
breakfast,  which  is  despatched  with  marvellous  rapid- 
ity. At  meal  times,  if  business  is  brisk,  the  bell  or 
gong  does  not  fail  to  create  a  stampede  toward  the 
dining-room  door ;  a  rush  is  made  for  seats,  and  tlie 
disappointed  retire  and  wait  for  the  next  sitthig.  In 
the  evening:  all  coni^reijcate  in  the  bar-room,  liorht 
their  pipes,  lift  up  their  obscene  voices  in  boisterous 
jokes,  and  strut  about  ready  to  give  "  particular  hell" 
to  any  who  dare  question  the  rights  of  liberty -loving 
American  citizens  to  do  as  they  please. 

Stores  also  had  their  bars,  where,  beside  the  sale 
of  calico,  canvas,  clothing,  hardware,  canned  fruits  and 
meats,  sugar,  flour,  bacon,  and  tobacco,  the  dice  were 
tlirown,  quarters  flipped,  or  a  game  of  cards  plaj-ed 
for  the  drinks.  For  this  purpose  a  table  and  chairs 
were  provided,  where  cans  might  be  opened  and  oys- 
ters eaten. 


DRINKING. 


The  restaurant  is  a  prominent  feature  in  the  feetling 
economy  of  the  country.  The  best  are  kept  by  for- 
eigners, Germans,  French,  Itahans;  American  res- 
taurants are  invariably  second,  third,  or  fourth  rate. 
The  typical  American  can  keep  a  hotel  such  as  no 
foreigner  may  liope  to  equal,  but  when  it  comes  to 
restaurant-feeding,  the  tables  are  turned.  The  cause 
may  be  traced  to  the  facts  that  the  American  hotel  is 
an  American  institution,  while  the  restaurant  is  as 
fully  European. 

In  1854  a  Parisian  rotisseric  was  set  up  on  Kearny 
street,  where  fish,  flesh,,  and  fowl  for  the  millit)n  might 
be  roasted.  In  the  fire-place,  beneath  a  chinmey  six 
fe'^t  wide,  and  resting;  on  an  iron  <j:ratini;,  was  a  louij 
fire  of  wood,  parallel  to  which,  and  about  eight  inches 
from  it  in  front,  were  three  iron  rods,  with  numerous 
prongs  upon  which  to  hang  meat  to  be  roasted,  and 
wheels  rigged  to  turn  it  so  as  to  cook  it  equally  on 
every  side.  Meat  and  game  to  be  roasted  might  be 
purchased  there  or  elsewliere,  or  it  might  be  bouglit 
there  ready  cooked,  but  it  had  to  be  taken  away  as 
soon  as  ready,  for  eating  on  the  premises  was  not  per- 
mitted. Half  a  dollar  was  charged  for  roasting  a  duck 
or  chicken,  and  no  frying,  boiling,  or  broiling  was 
done — nothing  but  roasting,  and  that  for  a  specific 
consideration.  Thus  was  the  division  of  labor  in  this 
cosmopolitan  city  applied  to  the  laudable  art  of  cookery. 

Bar-room  boarders  formed  a  class  peculiar  to  the 
countr3\  They  niight  be  seen  lounging  about  tJio 
court-house,  the  hotels,  and  the  saloons  without  occu- 
pation or  visible  means  of  support.  They  were  fat, 
sleek,  well-dressed,  with  independent  mien,  with  gold 
and  silver  jingling  in  their  pockets,  and  contentment 
smiling  in  their  faces.  They  were  never  known  to 
work;  how  then  did  they  live?  I  see  one  with  a 
gold-headed  cane  in  well- fitting  beaver  coat  and  pants, 
with  a  glossy  silk  hat,  pluming  his  well  kept  nmstaolie 
and  whiskers  in  front  of  a  first-class  boot-black  estalt- 
lishment  where  an  extra  polish  had  just  been  given  to 


and 


SEVEN  TIMES  ONE  ARE  SEVEN. 


6Cd 


his  rcd-toppcd  boots.  A  licavy-caserl  watch — was  it 
gold? — which  ho  drew  from  his  pocket  told  him  it  was 
tt'U  o'clock:  a  brother  bummer  came  sauntonny;  aloiiLj 
the  street,  sidled  U[)  to  him  with  scarcely  a  percep- 
table  simi  of  rccoofnition,  and  bewail  a  conversation 
remarkable  for  its  fewness  of  words.  As  amoiiy: 
beasts  and  lovers  in  the  simple  presence  of  each  other 
there  was  a  nmte  understajiding  untranslatable  into 
the  vuk^ar  tongue.  Presently  they  turned  and  walked 
awjiv,  under  the  guidanceof  their  particular  providence. 

The  system  of  free  lunches  has  not  been  wholly  free 
from  abuses.  While  it  was  a  point  of  lionor  in  pat- 
rons neither  to  eat  nor  drink  too  nmch,  often  there 
were  those  so  carried  away  by  the  eflcct  of  the 
savory  viands  on  their  unruly  appetites,  that  the 
proprietors  lost  money  by  their  i)atronage.  In 
Novcnd)er  1854  a  movement  was  made  by  some  fifty 
or  si/ty  fashionable  saloon-kee})ers  in  San  Francisco 
to  al  olish  this  original,  yet  honored  institution ; 
but  S(s  firm  was  fhe  hold  upon  the  popular  stomach, 
that  it  was  found  to  be  impracticable.  It  was  esti- 
mated that  at  least  five  thousand  persons  were  directly 
interested  in  the  movement,  aiid  dependent  on  the 
result  for  their  daily  refreshments.  The  connnittee 
reported  in  favor  of  abolishing  the  free  lunch  system, 
but  the  proprietors  failed  to  adopt  it,  and  the  custom 
was  indefinitely  continued. 

The  hotel  system  of  1849  reached  a  state  of  per- 
fection under  the  auspices  of  a  certain  shrewd  genius 
of  Sacramento.  In  those  days  whisky  as  a  means  of 
warmth  was  more  plentiful  and  profitable  to  inn- 
keepers than  blankets.  One  landlord  had  in  his  bar- 
room seven  bunks,  one  over  another,  made  of  flour 
and  coffee  sacks  stretched  between  two  horizontal 
poles  fastened  to  posts,  forming  an  uncomfortable 
hollow  just  wide  enough  for  a  medium-sized  man  to 
droj)  into.  For  these  seven  bunks  there  were  but  one 
])air  of  blankets,  and  liow  to  satisfy  seven  custonu>rs, 
and  get  pay  for  suveu  bcda   with   but   one   l)air   of 


i 


|!  I 


in 


DRINKING. 


blankets  was  the  question.  But  the  genius  of  the 
landlord  was  equal  to  the  emergency.  The  niglits 
were  wet  and  cold,  and  naturally  enough  as  the  boys 
came  in  from  their  supper  they  sat  down  to  play  for 
the  whisky  before  going  to  bed.  The  liquor  was 
strong,  the  drafts  upon  it  copious,  and  in  due  time 
one  after  another  beginning  to  feel  its  comforting  and 
somnolent  effects  would  ask  for  a  bed.  The  afiable 
and  ready  landlord  promised  to  accommodate  them 
all  if  they  would  be  quiet  and  take  their  turns.  Con- 
ducting the  first  applicant  to  the  bunk-side  of  the 
room  which  was  shielded  from  view  by  barrels  and 
boxes,  he  assisted  him  into  the  topmost  berth  and 
covered  him  nicely  with  the  blankets.  Then  waiting 
until  the  man  was  fast  asleep  he  removed  from  him 
the  blankets,  and  spreading  them  in  another  berth 
called  for  the  next,  and  so  on  until  all  were  put  to 
bed  and  asleep.  Then  taking  the  blankets  from  the 
bed  of  the  last  customer,  the  landlord  rolled  himself 
comfortably  in  them,  threw  himself  upon  the  floor, 
and  slept  soundly  until  morning. 

The  first  man  awakes  shivering  with  cold;  the 
effects  of  the  fiery  fluid  have  passed  away,  and  the 
blankets  are  gone.  "Who. has  stolen  my  blankets," 
he  growls.  This  wakens  the  next  who  also  finds 
himself  uncovered,  and  the  next,  until  all  are  up  and 
on  the  floor  cursing  in  unison  the  thief.  Soon  the 
landlord  makes  one  of  the  party,  and  mourns  the  loss 
of  his  blankets.  "  Well  1  I  must  get  out  of  this," 
says  the  first.  "  Landlord,  how  much  is  to  pay  ? " 
"Two  dollars."  "Two  dollars  1"  isn't  that  rather 
tall  for  sleeping  on  two  poles  ? "  "  It  is  only  a  dollar 
a  pole,"  replied  the  landlord,  "and  I  think  it  very 
cheap;  besides  I  have  lost  seven  pairs  of  blankets 
which  you  ought  to  pay  for,  so  you  should  be  satis- 
fied." Fearing  if  they  further  demurred  they  would 
have  the  blankets  to  pa}-  for,  each  paid  his  two  dollars 
and  withdrew,  while  the  landlord  made  up  his  beds 
for  the  next  night. 


.  w 

was  ( 
of  A 
and  y 

in  po 
befon 
uuitec 
iiiima 
iforiiii 

first  8( 

of  the 

excliai 

Son 

i'lg  his 

before 

tJie  pic 

niay  U 

wJiich  I 

withoui 

pliemes 

The  cu 

dates  b 

the   eai 

i;^iigiou 

si  II  Of  s: 

the  ear 

moon  tl; 

Hebrew 

the  lion 

and  Clu 

drink  y( 

to  majcs 

ries  of 

Were  ceh 

feature. 

tloes  not 

hcaltli 

you  to 

ijf  the  m 


n 


ORIGIN  OF  HEALTH  POTATIONS. 


m 


*  Wine,  women,  and  the  gods  comprehended  all  that 
was  divine  among  the  ancients.  After  the  discovery 
of  America,  however,  the  settlers  becoming  godless, 
and  yet  not  willing  to  be  behind  their  primogenitors 
in  point  of  felicities,  substituted  tobacco,  and  never 
before  did  wine,  women,  and  tobacco,  severally  and 
unitedly,  lend  their  charms  to  solace  and  derange 
humanity  as  in  the  case  of  mammon-martyrs  of  Cali- 
ifornia.  The  last  was  considered  a  necessity,  and  the 
first  soon  became  the  cordial  of  success,  the  consoler 
of  the  unfortunate,  and  the  medium  of  courteous 
exchanges. 

Some  of  man's  distinguishing  characteristics,  show- 
ing )iis  great  superiority  and  true  nobility  of  soul, 
before  intimated,  lies  in  the  creation  of  appetites  for 
the  pleasure  their  gratification  gives;  apj)etites  which 
may  be  renewed,  not  satisfied  by  the  indulgence,  but 
which  grow  from  what  they  fed  on.  He  alone  eats 
without  hunger,  drinks  without  thirst,  smokes,  blas- 
phemes, seeking  for  body  and  mind  new  sensations. 
The  custom  of  drinking  healths  and  rememberance 
dates  back  to  periods  of  the  remotest  antiquity.  In 
the  earliest  ages  as  at  the  present  time  it  was  a 
i^ligious  as  well  as  a  social  ceremonial.  As  Anacreon 
sings:  "Does  not  the  earth  drink  the  waves,  the  tree 
the  earth,  the  sea  the  air,  the  sun  the  sea,  and  the 
moon  the  sun  ?  Then  why  should  I  not  drink  ?"  The 
Hebrews  had  their  drink  offerinjis,  the  Greeks  and 
the  Romans  poured  out  their  libations  to  the  gods, 
and  Christians  to  this  day  observe  the  conunand, 
drink  ye  all  of  it.  From  these  beginnings  drinking 
to  majesty  naturally  followed;  the  health  and  victo- 
ries of  Augustus  were  drcank  in  Rome;  and  feasts 
were  celebrated  in  which  drunkenness  was  the  chief 
feature.  The  Greek  proverb  adopted  by  the  Romans 
does  not,  however,  say,  I  drink  in  order  that  your 
health  may  be  improved  or  preserved,  but  I  invite 
you  to  drink  by  drinking  myself.  It  was  the  fame 
of  the  mistress  rather  than  her  health  that  was  to  be 


■  ■■'■ 


072 


DRINKING. 


Eromotcd  by  the  ceremony.  A  piece  of  toasted 
read  was  thrown  into  a  tankard  of  ale,  and  toast- 
drinking  followed.  The  custom  grew  in  favor;  men 
a>id  women  were  glad  of  any  excuse  for  indulging  the 
gnnving  appetite,  so  that  finally  health-drinking  fell 
into  general  observance.  Healths  were  drank  to  form 
or  cement  friendships,  to  bind  a  bargain,  to  the  honor 
of  those  who  came  and  went,  to  the  memory  of  the  de- 
parted— though  health-drinking  to  the  dead  was,  in- 
deed, carrying  the  custom  to  an  absurdity.  Under 
its  auspices  war  was  declared,  and  peace  ratified, 
sworn  enemies  became  friends,  and  friends  enemies. 
Senthnent  being  thus  mingled  with  drink,  the  rever- 
ence and  love  expressed  were  in  proportion  to  the 
quantity  of  liquor  quaffed ;  this  as  well  as  the  sup- 
posed mark  of  manliness  in  being  able  to  stand  up 
under  large  potations  made  excessive  drinking  fash- 
ionable. He  whose  pliysical  strength  should  longest 
endure  while  the  mental  and  moral  faculties  were 
undergoing  debasement  was  the  best  fellow  ;  but  this 
sad  merit  is  now  restricted  in  its  recognition  to  brain- 
less boys  and  silly  men.  -^sop,  the  slave,  waiting  at 
table,  marked  the  effects  of  excessive  wine-drinking 
in  three  stages ;  first  voluptuousness,  second,  drunk- 
enness, and  third,  fury. 

That  liquor-drinking  should  have  been  carried  to 
excess  in  Calift)rnia  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  The 
temptations  were  strong.  Some  who  blame  as  sense- 
less folly  this  species  of  suicide  may  or  may  not  have 
done  better  under  similar  conditions;  with  different 
mental,  morl,  and  physical  organization  and  training 
— accidents  reflecting  no  special  credit  on  the  posses- 
sor— similar  to  those  of  the  gambler,  the  thief,  the 
drunkard,  the  murderer,  under  like  circumstances  to 
theirs,  the  immaculate  man  of  self-complacency  would 
certainly  have  been  one  or  all  of  these.  Men  cannot 
long  endure  a  heavy  strain  upon  their  faculties  witli- 
out  letting  down.  This  letting  down  may  be  accom- 
pliahed  by  some  in  one  way  and  by  others  in  anotln  r 


way. 
Sund 
But) 
do  ni 
maste 
readii 
the  p 
vvithir 
resort 
good 
and  in 
chess 
self-im 
unsocif 
forge*^' 
selves 
and  wi 
hand,  ^ 
applied 
of  stim 
and  wh 
sudden, 
get  war 
always  > 
to  get  u 
and  tlie 
an  excu 
simply  V 
seized  ai 
selves  di 
noble  na 
quished 
was  alree 
In  the 
iiess  was 
was  comn 
atmosphe 
Were  at  fi 
elsewhere 


THEORY  OP  TIPPLING. 


073 


way.  Piety  will  do  it  in  frequent  instances;  sabbath, 
Sunday-school,  church,  prayer,  and  bible  reading. 
But  all  men  have  not  piety,  never  were  trained  to  it, 
do  not  know  what  it  is.  Intellectual  culture,  the 
mastery  of  mind  over  base  passion,  which  leads  to 
reading,  thinking,  writing,  will  sometimes  accomplish 
the  purpose,  but  still  fewer  have  these  resources 
within  them.  To  produce  self-forgetfulness,  the  miners 
resorted  to  out-door  amusements,  and  generally  with 
good  effect;  horse-racing,  foot-racing,  ball-playing, 
and  indoor  novel-reading,  card-playing,  checkers,  and 
chess  were  common.  Lonely  and  desolate  in  their 
self-imposed  ostracism,  they  were  neither  cynical  nor 
unsocial.  They  felt  the  necessity  for  periods  of  self- 
forge<-*'ulness,  and  did  what  they  could  to  make  them- 
selves boys  again.  But  this  was  not  always  sufficient, 
and  with  an  antidote  to  every  ill  always  ready  at 
hand,  with  characteristic  directness  they  too  often 
applied  it.  During  the  hours  of  occupation  some  sort 
of  stimulant  seemed  necessary  to  keep  up  the  steam, 
and  when  work  was  over,  the  stop  nmst  not  be  too 
sudden.  So,  if  hot,  they  drank  to  get  cool,  if  cold  to 
get  warm,  if  wet  to  get  dry,  if  dry — and  some  were 
always  dry — to  keep  out  the  wet.  When  they  wanted 
to  get  up  an  appetite  for  breakfast,  they  took  a  drink, 
and  then  another  to  aid  digestion.  Any  shadow  of 
an  excuse,  any  cause  except  the  true  cause — which 
simply  was  to  solace  or  excite  the  brain — was  readily 
seized  and  offered.  Thousands  thus  drank  to  them- 
selves damnation,  thousands  are  to-day  drinking  it ; 
noble  natures  which  nothing  else  could  overcome,  van- 
quished at  last  by  the  arch-fiend.  Often  tlie  heart 
was  already  broken  before  the  demon  was  let  in. 

In  the  early  days  of  California,  however,  drunken- 
ness was  not  the  vice  so  nmch  as  drinking.  Tippling 
was  common  from  the  beginning  ;  the  excitements  and 
atmosphere  of  the  country  were  congenial  to  it.  There 
were  at  first  no  more  confirmed  drunkards  here  than 
elsewhere,  nor,  indeed,,  so  many,  for  these  were  not 


Cal.  Imt.  Poc.    48. 


m 


DRINKING. 


the  kind  that  came  to  California.  For  the  enormous 
quantities  of  liquor  consumed,  the  number  of  drunken 
men  was  few.  It  was  later  that  multitudes  were 
overcome  of  this  evil.  Then  no  one  regarded  drink 
in  the  light  of  an  enemy  to  steal  away  his  brains,  but 
rather  as  a  friend  that  promoted  good  fellowship,  that 
cheated  of  their  tediousness  the  slowly-passing  dismal 
hours,  that  banished  sorrow,  that  lifted  care  with  in- 
stantaneous magic  hand  from  off  the  brain,  and  gave 
it  sweet  oblivion,  that  inspired  bold  thoughts,  that 
enlarged  the  soul,  that  etherealized  the  tamest  joys, 
and  threw  a  halo  over  coarse  surroundings.  Hard 
work  and  hard  drinking  with  many  went  hand  in 
hand ;  but  such  men  drunkenness  seldom  overtook,  or 
if  it  did,  it  was  occasional  rather  than  common. 

It  has  been  said  that  there  is  something  in  the  cli- 
mate of  California  which  superinduces  delirium  tre- 
mens with  less  provocation  than  elsewhere.  I  do  not 
know  what  it  is,  unless  itbe the  same  that  superinduces 
business  and  social  delirium,  auri  sacra  fames.  These 
were  the  days  of  delirium,  and  he  who  was  not  de- 
lirious might  thank  his  numbness  and  stupidity  for  it. 
California  life  was  but  a  succession  of  alternate  periods 
of  delirium  and  apathy. 

Drinking-saloons  were  a  prominent  feature  in  all 
the  mining  camps.  Sometimes  of  logs,  sometimes  of 
white  cloth  nailed  over  a  frame,  but  usually  of  boards, 
lined  on  the  inside  with  cloth  or  paper,  or  both,  not 
more  than  one  or  two  stories  in  height,  but  spreading 
over  considerable  ground,  they  were  conspicuous  in 
appearance,  and  generally  occupied  a  central  position. 
Before  the  door,  or  if  the  weather  was  cold,  inside 
around  the  stove,  were  seats  which  any  one,  whether 
patrons  or  not,  might  occupy.  On  one  side  of  the 
room  was  the  bar,  over  which  liquor  was  sold,  and  in 
various  parts  of  it  were  green  baize-covered  card 
tables  and  chairs,  where  "poker,"  "seven-up,"  and 
"  euchre"  were  played,  both  for  money  and  for  drinks. 
<One  or  more  large  long  tables,  surrounded  by  benches 


FREE  LUNCH. 


875 


and  chairs,  stood  near  the  centre  of  the  room,  where 
professional  gamblers  presided,  and  sometimes  two  or 
three  billiard  tables  were  placed  in  the  end  farthest 
from  the  bar.  Private  rooms  for  gambling  purposes 
opened  from  the  main  saloon,  where  two  or  three 
days  were  often  spent  by  one  party  without  intermis- 
sion. At  the  back  door,  huge  piles  of  bottles,  casks, 
cans,  and  cigar  and  tobacco  boxes  conveyed  some  faint 
idea  of  the  extent  of  the  business  within. 

In  the  larger  saloons  tobacco  and  cigars  were  sold 
from  a  stand  fitted  up  in  one  corner,  and  an  elaborate 
luncheon  was  set  out  on  a  table  once  or  twice  a  day, 
of  which  he  who  bought  a  drink  might  partake  with- 
out extra  charge.  This  "  free  lunch,"  as  it  was  called, 
consisted  at  first  of  only  crackers  and  cheese,  but  com- 
petition gradually  enlarged  the  ideas  of  saloon  propri- 
etors until  finally  it  grew  into  a  sumptuous  repast  of 
soups,  fish,  roast  meats,  and  side  dishes.  At  these 
places  one  could  obtain,  in  addition  to  a  drink  which 
cost  perhaps  twenty-five  cents,  a  dinner  which  else- 
where would  cost  twice  or  thrice  that  sum. 

As  a  matter  of  course  there  were  all  grades  and 
descriptions  of  saloons,  from  the  lowest  **  bit "  house, 
where  "rot-gut"  whisky,  "strychnine"  brandy,  and 
divers  other  poisonous  compounds  with  slang  names 
were  sold,  to  the  most  gorgeous  drinking  palaces,  with 
large  mirrors  and  magnificent  oil  paintings,  and  whose 
fittings  and  furnishings  alone  cost  sometimes  ten, 
twenty,  or  thirty  thousand  dollars.  In  1853  there 
were  in  San  Francisco  537  places  where  liquor  was 
sold,  46  of  which  were  public  gambling  houses,  743 
bartenders  officiating.  No  wonder  that  hard  times 
set  in.  A  thousand  leeches,  poison-mongers,  in  half 
a  thousand  houses,  in  a  comparatively  small  society, 
as  San  Francisco  was  then,  this  alone  was  enough  to 
bring  the  curse  of  God  upon  the  place,  not  to  mention 
prostitution,  political  bribery,  mercantile  dishonesty, 
and  twenty  other  forms  of  demoralization. 

The  saloon-keeper  was  one  of  the  dignitaries  of  the 


676 


BRINEmO. 


town;  he  interfered  to  prevent  bloodshed,  was  the 
umpire  in  disputes  occurring  within  his  precincts,  and 
after  the  battle  attended  the  wounded,  cared  for  the 
dying,  and  buried  the  dead.  In  the  more  lawless  dis- 
tricts, a  barricade  of  bags  of  sand  or  other  bullet-proof 
barrier  was  constructed  inside  the  bar  under  the 
counter,  so  that  when  shooting  became  lively  the  bar- 
tender had  only  to  drop  behind  his  fortification  and 
be  comparatively  safe,  while  those  in  the  middle  of 
the  room  must  drop  flat  on  the  floor,  or  shield  their 
hearts  with  table,  chair,  or  bench. 

Comedy,  however,  was  the  rule,  and  tragedy  the 
exception,  and  the  saloon  was  the  scene  of  many  prac- 
tical jokes.  Catch-bets  for  drinks,  and  tricks  to  bring 
the  uninitiated  into  ridicule  and  make  them  "  treat, ' 
commanded  the  resources  of  the  inventive  brain.  A 
common  "sell"  was  for  some  one,  usually  a  judge  or 
other  respectable  and  dignified  personage,  to  invite 
the  crowd  to  participate,  with  the  welcome  words, 
"  Come,  boys,  let's  all  take  a  drink  1 "  Soon  the  bar 
is  surrounded  by  a  score  of  ready  fellows,  each  watch- 
ing in  happy  mood  the  concocting  of  his  favorite 
draught.  Touching  their  glasses  all,  and  bowing  ac- 
knowledgments to  their  inviter,  twenty  arms  are  up- 
lifted, twenty  heads  thrown  back,  twenty  watering 
mouths  are  opened,  and  down  twenty  itching  throats 
twenty  nectareous  potations  erode  their  way,  and 
as  the  glasses  touch  the  counter  again,  the  inviter 
sotto  voce  observes,  "And  now,  boys,  let  us  all  pay 
foriti" 

Innumerable  were  the  toasts  given;  besides  the 
world-wide  and  stereotyped  "  I  drink  your  health," 
"I  pledge  you,"  "here  is  to  you,"  "my  regards," 
"my  respects,  gentlemen,"  were  local  and  individual 
toasts,  as  well  as  those  improvised  for  occasions. 
Usually  they  were  short  and  caustic.  "Here's  luck," 
"here's  fun,"  "here's  at  you,"  "here  we  go,"  "here's 
all  the  hair  off^  your  head,"  "  I  am  lookmg  towards 
you,"   "until   to-morrow,"   "here's   another    nail  iu 


you: 

you 

T 

adap 
tome 
mear 
fessic 
noble 
practj 
and  g 
derly 
Dec 
formir 
brilliai 
arm's  J 
ract. 
nient 
display 
list  of  c 
There 
brandy 
torn  an 
mode 
taken 

Sund 

the  gei 

There 

there  a 

prospect 

once  the 

blaspliei 

lighted 

«iid  chai 

and  tabl 

of  lonel 

tractive 

i'nproper 

sc'on  ther 

as  was  oft 


n 
I 


THE  ARTISTIC  BAR-TENDER. 


877 


your  coffin,"  "here's  hoping  these  few  lines  will  find 
you  enjoying  the  same  blessing." 

The  apt  and  chameleon-like  bar-keeper,  who  could 
adapt  himself  to  the  color  and  moods  of  every  cus- 
tomer, though  not  a  proprietor,  was  a  person  of  no 
mean  consequence.  Studying  his  business  as  a  pro- 
fession he  rose  in  it,  ennobling  himself  while  he  en- 
nobled his  occupation,  as  he  acquired  skill.  With 
practice  his  clumsy  fingers  became  pliable,  and  bottles 
and  glasses  flew  from  shelf,  hand,  and  counter  in  or- 
derly confusion. 

Decanters  tipped  their  several  ingredients  into  the 
forming  compound  with  magic  nicety,  and  cascades  of 
brilliant  liquids  poured  from  glass  to  glass  held  at 
arm's  length  with  the  precision  of  a  rock-bound  cata- 
ract. Nor  was  the  profession  restricted  in  its  advance- 
ment to  mere  mechanical  skill.  Ingenuity  was 
displayed  in  concocting  new  nectar,  and  soon  a  long 
list  of  delicious  beverages  became  as  household  words. 
There  was  the  champagne  cocktail,  the  mint  julep, 
brandy  smash,  hot  whisky  punch,  sulky  sangaree, 
tom  and  jerry,  and  a  host  of  others,  but  the  usual 
mode  of  taking  drink  was,  as  most  other  things  were 
taken  in  California — straight. 

Sundays,  evenings,  and  at  all  times  saloons  were 
tlie  general  rendezvous  for  the  entire  population. 
There  loafers  congregated  and  business  men  met; 
there  all  flocked  to  learn  the  news,  to  talk  over  the 
prospects  of  the  times,  to  beguile  tedious  hours,  and 
once  there  smoking,  drinking,  gambling,  stag-dances, 
blasphemous  yells,  and  shooting  followed.  Brilliantly 
lighted  at  night,  with  a  roaring  fire  in  cold  weather, 
and  chair  and  benches  on  which  to  sit  and  smoke, 
and  tables  at  which  to  drink  and  play,  in  those  days 
of  loneliness  and  discomfort  they  were  the  most  at- 
tractive places  in  the  town.  Nor  was  it  considered 
improper  or  disreputable  for  a  respectable  man  to  be 
soon  there  as  I  have  before  remarked,  even  although, 
as  was  oftentimes  the  case,  the  scene  was  graced  by 


078 


DRINKING. 


the  presence  of  the  painted  jeaebels,  and  the  walls 
adorned  with  pictures  of  female  figures  with  opulent 
undraped  charms,  and  bunds  dispensed  loud  music  to 
devil-inspired  dancers,  and  the  smoky  air  was  thick 
with  oaths  and  imprecations.  "  There  is  nowhere 
else  to  go,"  the  solitary  and  forlorn  T*ould  say,  and 
when  compelled  to  choose  between  their  miserable 
homes  and  these  flaunting  halls  of  hell,  the  average 
conscience  became  quite  pliable  and  accommodating. 

In  such  society  and  with  such  surroundings  it  was 
almost  impossible  for  one  to  live  and  never  drink ; 
and  he  who  in  righteous  wrath  repudiates  the  idea  as 
absurd  knows  nothing  about  it.  Man  must  associate 
with  his  fellows;  he  cannot  long  remain  alone. 
Neither  can  he  live  long  individual  and  peculiar  in 
his  habits  unless  he  be  possessed  of  a  hermit's  nature 
— and  I  know  of  no  hermit  who  ever  came  to  Cali- 
fornia. Hence  it  is,  sooner  or  later,  he  is  bound  to 
fall  into  the  ways  of  those  about  him.  An  invitation 
to  drink,  in  those  days,  was  almost  equivalent  to  a 
command,  and  to  decline  was  frequently  to  give 
offense.  He  who  refused  was  deemed  either  prudish 
or  churlish,  neither  of  which  qualities  his  companions 
were  disposed  long  to  tolerate.  The  honest  miner, 
the  unshaven,  woollen-shirted,  drinking,  swearing  man 
was  the  social  ideal,  it  was  dangerous  for  a  man  to 
pretend  to  be  better  than  his  fellows.  Often  men 
have  been  mobbed  in  the  mines  for  wearing  a  stove- 
pipe hat,  or  black  coat,  or  for  shaving  his  chin,  or 
for  doing  in  any  way  as  others  did  not  do.  Then  if 
you  accept  an  invitation  to  drink  with  others  j  ou 
must  sometimes  return  the  compliment ;  failing  to  do 
so  is  worse  than  not  to  drink  at  all. 

The  English  custom  which,  within  the  bounds  of 
respectability,  limited  drinking  to  dinner  and  evening 
did  not  here  obtain.  Having  just  dined  was  oftener 
an  excuse  for  declining  than  a  pretext  for  accepting. 
Dinner  did  not  divide  the  day  as  in  older  and  more 
staid  communities;  there  was  as  much  to  be  done 


ROUGHS  AND  ROARING  CAMPS. 


67!) 


after  dinner  as  before,  and  people  came  higher  to  work 
ratlier  than  to  enjoy  themselves.  Every  moment 
not  devoted  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  purpose 
that  tore  them  from  home  and  friends  seemed  wasted. 

To  drink  alone  was  to  demean  one's  self;  it  smacked 
too  niuch  of  drinking  for  the  love  of  it,  which  even 
in  their  wild  times,  and  notwithstanding  all  men  did 
it,  was  held  disgraceful.  Such  a  one  was  cither  an 
*onery  cuss*  or  a  'whiskey-bloat,'  or  both;  and  so 
with  the  high-minded  and  open-handed,  the  bar- 
keeper must  drink  if  there  was  no  one  else  available. 

Not  unfrequently  in  the  remoter  and  more  isolated 
camps,  from  snow  or  flood,  supplies  would  become 
low  and  prices  advance  enormously.  In  such  cases  a 
scarcity  of  food  was  more  philosophically  endured 
than  the  total  absence  of  liquor  and  tobacco.  After 
such  a  season  of  abstinence,  the  first  train  arriving 
would  be  surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  thirsty  souls 
with  bottles,  cups,  coffee-pots,  and  saucepans,  all 
eager  for  a  supply  of  the  precious  liquid.  Ten  dollars 
was  once  offered  for  the  privilege  of  using  a  straw  at 
the  bung  of  a  keg  of  New  England  rum.  Excess 
followed  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  soon  every  phase 
of  inebriety  was  manifest,  from  prattling  jocundity  to 
roaring  intoxication.  Patriotism  would  break  forth 
in  song  and  dance ;  wliitli  thick  tongues  and  husky 
throats  the  sons  of  Erin  would  sound  the  glories  of 
the  Emerald  Isle,  the  Germans  of  their  fatherland, 
the  Frenchmen  of  sweet  France;  Yankees  apostro- 
phized their  growing  country.  Englishmen  chal- 
lenged all  the  world  to  mortal  combat,  Spaniards, 
mounted  on  mule  or  mustang,  dug  their  long  rowels 
into  the  animal's  bleeding  sides,  and  rushed  hither 
and  thither  making  the  hills  ring  with  their  delirious 
shouts.  Old  quarrels  were  revived,  and  the  flash  of 
steel  and  discharge  of  revolvers,  as  much  to  the  dan- 
er  of  bystanders  as  to  the  combatants  themselves, 
ent  their  peculiar  charm  to  the  occasion. 

Iklany  drank  spasmodically ;  hard  workers  attending 


680 


DRINKING. 


closely  to  business  for  days  and  weeks  without  touch- 
ing a  drop  of  liquor,  then  took  to  drink  for  a  day 
or  a  week,  r  nd  after  their  debauch  returned  to  their 
work  with  new  vigor.  Business  is  one  thing  and 
pleasure  another,  they  say — one  should  be  wholly 
distinct  from  the  other.  In  Europe  all  drink  and 
without  ceasing,  but  usually  in  moderation,  fend  mixed 
with  their  work  which  is  light ;  in  California  the  two 
were  somewhat  separated,  and  the  work  was  harder. 

Gulliver  assured  his  horse  friends,  the  Houyhnhnms, 
"that  wine  was  not  imported  among  us  from  foreign 
countries  to  supply  the  want  of  water  or  other  drinks, 
but  because  it  was  a  sort  of  liquid  which  made  us 
merry,  by  putting  us  out  of  our  senses,  diverted  all 
melancholy  thoughts,  begot  wild  extravagant  imagin- 
ations in  the  brain,  raised  our  hopes  and  banished 
our  fears,  suspended  every  oftl  3  of  reason  for  a  time, 
and  deprived  us  of  the  use  of  our  limbs,  till  we  fell 
hito  a  profound  sleep,  although  it  must  be  confessed 
that  we  always  awoke  sick  or  dispirited,  and  that  the 
use  of  this  liquor  filled  us  witli  diseases  which  made 
our  lives  uncomfortable  and  short."  This  was  at  a 
time  when  Swift's  contemporary.  Sir  Richard  Steel, 
says  of  England  that  "the  common  amusement  of 
our  young  gentlemen,  especially  of  such  as  are  at  a 
distance  from  those  of  the  first  breeding,  is  drinking." 
And  furthermore  that  "it  is  very  common  that  evils 
arise  from  a  debauch  which  are  Mital,  and  always  such 
as  are  disagreeable." 

There  are  many  like  the  learned  Samuel  Johnson 
and  Hazlitt,  who  can  abstain  wholly,  but  who  cannot 
practise  abstinence.  There  are  men,  who  from  their 
very  nature,  can  do  nothing  in  moderation.  Men  of 
genius,  particularly,  being  of  necessity  unevenly  bal- 
anced in  mind,  tend  to  every  species  of  excess.  Broad 
laxity  follows  severe  effort,  and  free  indulgence  tem- 
porary abstinence.  For  '.any  years  Johnson  drank 
no  wine;    but   toward  his  latter  days  he  took  it  up 


SOME  OLD-TIME  DRINKERS. 


681 


again,  and  greedily  swallowed  large  goblets  of  drink, 
niostly  in  private.  Often  he  advised  Boswell  to 
abandon  the  bottle,  but  Bozzy  loved  his  potationt;,  and 
preferred  his  sottish  enjoyments  to  any  other. 

Johnson.  "I  did  not  leave  off  wine  because  I 
could  not  bear  it ;  I  have  drunk  three  bottles  of  port 
without  being  the  worse  for  it.  University  college 
has  witnessed  this." 

Boswell.     "  Why,  then  sir,  did  you  leave  it  off?" 

Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  because  it  is  so  much  better 
for  a  man  to  be  sure  that  he  is  never  to  be  intoxi- 
cated, never  to  lose  the  power  over  himself  I  shall 
not  begin  to  drink  wine  again  till  I  grow  old  and 
want  it." 

Boswell.  "  I  think,  sir,  you  once  said  to  me  that 
not  to  drink  wine  was  a  great  deduction  from  life." 

Johnson.  "It  is  a  diminution  of  pleasure,  to  be 
sure ;  but  I  do  not  say  a  diminution  of  happiness. 
There  is  more  happiness  in  being  rational." 

A  Boswell  will  tell  you  that  benevolence  lies  at  the 
root  of  drunkenness.  A  friend  asks  you  to  drink  with 
him,  your  entertainer  begs  you  to  take  wine  with 
him,  and  rather  than  offend,  or  seem  discourteous,  or 
send  a  chill  round  the  table,  you  throw  aside  your 
scruples,  drink  once,  then  again  and  again,  and  soon 
know  next  to  nothing. 

The  practice  of  urging  persons  to  drink  cannot 
be  too  plainly  condemned.  To  some,  drink  is  dis- 
tasteful, to  others  hurtful,  to  others  maddening,  to 
not  a  few — death.  It  may  be  pleasure  for  him  who  can 
with  ease  command  his  appetite,  for  him  to  whom  ex- 
cess in  drink  has  no  temptations,  by  appealing  to 
friendship,  good-fellowship,  and  in  the  name  of  hospi- 
tality to  wrap  around  those  he  pretends  to  love  a 
sheet  of  flaming  fire  which  shall  consume  them. 

Said  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  "  At  first  the  taste  of 
wine  was  disagreeable  to  me,  but  I  brought  myself  to 
drink  it  that  I  might  be  like  other  people.  The 
pleasure  of  drinking  wine  is  so  connected  with  pleasing 


682 


DRINKINO. 


your  company,  that  altogether  there  is  something  of 
social  goodness  in  it." 

Though  wine  may  make  us  better  pleased  with  our- 
selves, it  does  not  always  make  others  better  pleased 
with  us.  Such  is  not  always  the  effect,  I  say,  but 
sometimes  it  is.  Many  become  more  agreeable  in 
society  as  they  forget  themselves,  so  that  they  do  not 
go  too  far  and  forget  others.  Although  drink  fur- 
nishes one  with  neither  wit  nor  learnhig,  it  often  breaks 
down  the  barriers  and  liberates  such  abilities  as  be- 
fore were  confined.  It  anlraatcL  what  before  was 
dormant.  It  thaws  congealed  ideas,  and  unlocks  the 
tongue.  The  effect  of  this  may  be  pleasing  or 
otherwise. 

After  all  it  is  a  skulking  for  brilliant  effect  which 
manliness  despises.  Better  a  mind  so  cultivated  and 
manners  so  assured  that  a  man  can  be  as  much  him- 
self while  in  his  senses,  as  when  beside  himself 

When  alone,  as  well  as  when  in  company,  laboring 
under  a  humiliating  sense  of  awkwardness  or  inferi- 
ority, many  drink  to  get  rid  of  themselves.  They  would 
send  their  thoughts  far  away  from  themselves,  from 
the  proximate  objects  and  events  that  annoy  them  to 
more  pleasing  scenes  and  subjects.  Thus  wine  gives 
pleasure  by  taking  from  us  pain.  And  in  every 
pleasure  we  have  the  right  to  indulge  unless  it  brings 
evil  upon  ourselves  or  others.  Then  the  right  is  no 
longer  ours.  A  good  which  is  counterbalanced  by  an 
evil  is  not  good  but  evil,  as  it  tends  to  evil,  and  is  but 
the  pleasurable  beginning  of  an  evil  which  has  a  pain- 
ful ending. 

There  is  little  difference  between  drunkenness  and 
insanity,  and  you  may  as  well  look  for  fixed  resolve 
and  determinate  principle  in  an  idiot  as  in  the  hab- 
itual drunkard.  Having  passed  certain  stages,  he 
is  absolutely  powerless  to  reform;  and  when  jeers 
and  insults  are  heaped  upon  one  of  these  unfortunates, 
one  hardly  knows  which  to  pity  most,  the  sot  or  the  in- 
human rabble ;  when  one  sees  the  so-called  respectable 


INTEMPERANCE  AND  IMBECILITY. 


68S 


of  untried  virtue,  scoff  at  the  fallen  of  any  quality,  one 
hardly  knows  which  to  pity  most,  the  vanquished 
fight'  r  of  life's  battle,  or  the  pharisee,  proud  in 
in  being  so  unlike  these  publicans. 

How  the  big,  blustering  coward  is  sometimes  de- 
ceived by  the  slender  form,  and  modest  demeanor,  and 
thin,  pale  face  which  often  cover  firmness  and  true 
courage  I  Yet  the  closer  observer  sees  in  the  eye, 
and  mouth,  and  features,  lineaments  as  plainly  indica- 
tive of  character  as  lines  chiseled  by  the  sculpter's 
graver. 

Once  there  was  a  half-drunken  Irishman  at  Foster's 
bar  who  attempted  to  force  a  small,  sickly-looking 
youth  to  drink.  Seizing  the  boy  by  the  arm,  he 
dragged  him  to  the  counter  where  a  glass  stood  ready. 

"  Drink  that  or  I'll  murder  you,"  said  the  Irishman. 

"I  will  not,"  calmly  replied  the  boy,  not  a  trace  of 
color  appearing  in  his  face. 

"Then,  damn  you,  you  shall  clear  out  I"  exclaimed 
the  infuriated  Irishman,  and  taking  the  boy 
by  the  collar  of  his  shirt  he  kicked  him  into  the 
street.  The  youth  caught  the  awning-post  with  his 
left  arm  and  continued  to  swing  round  it,  boy  like. 
His  right  hand  he  put  behind  him. 

"  You  dare  not  follow  me  out,"  said  he,  in  the  same 
low,  passionless  voice  which  had  characterized  his 
whole  conversation.  Instantly  the  Irishman  made  a 
spring  at  him.  The  boy  swung  himself  once  or  twice 
round  the  post  to  gather  force;  then  as  he  came 
round  he  sprang  upon  his  burly  foe  and  drove  a  long, 
sharp,  double-edged  knife  into  his  breast  kilhng  him 
instantly.     The  boy  was  tried  and  acquitted. 

Rum  has  ruined  its  thousands,  is  still  ruining  them. 
War  with  all  its  horrors,  pestilence,  and  famine  are 
harmless  as  compared  with  the  deadly  work  of 
the  demon  drink.  A  five  years'  war  four  times  every 
century,  each  as  disastrous  to  life  as  was  that  for  the 
Union,  would  not  kill  as  many  men  as  excessive 
drinking  now  is  killing  every  day.     Dead  they  are, 


m 


DRINKINO, 


though  their  vile  breath  has  not  yet  left  the  body,  and 
though  their  staggerings  betoken  corporeal  animation. 
'*  I  have  bought  my  ticket  through,"  said  a  poor 
heart-broken  wretch  as  he  stood  upon  the  wharf  in 
conversation  with  a  friend  while  waiting  the  departure 
of  the  steamer.  He  was  a  young  man,  not  yet 
thirty,  tall,  well  built,  and  intellectual,  but  his  dress 
betokened  poverty.  Broken  sentences  came  through 
quivering  lips ;  despair  was  pictured  in  his  face,  and  in 
his  eyes  stood  moisture  wrung  by  misfortune  from  the 
heart.  "  I  have  bought  my  ticket  through,"  he  said, 
"but  I  shall  not  go  home.  Seven  years  I  have  spent 
in  California,  and  all  that  time  I  have  drunk  to  excess. 
What  is  home  to  me  now — home  without  hope? 
Doubtless  I  shall  join  Walker,  in  Nicaragua;  I  care 
not  what  becomes  of  me  1 "  So  have  sunk  from  sight 
a  hundred  thousand  and  more  of  the  immigration  of 
the  first  decade. 


CHAPTER  XXIIL 


GAMBLING. 

(htio,    I  believe  in  dioet 

Without  a  penny  for  the  price, 
Full  often  have  they  got  me  meat, 
Good  wine  to  drink  and  friends  to  treat; 
And  sometimes,  too,  when  luck  went  worse. 
They've  stripped  me  clean  of  robe  and  purse. 

—RuUif(f^f, 

There  needeth  not  the  hell  that  bigots  frame 

To  punish  those  who  err;  earth  in  itself 

Contains  at  once  the  evil  and  the  cure; 

And  all-suflicing  nature  can  chastise 

Those  who  transgress  Iier  law — she  only  knows 

How  justlv  to  proportion  to  the  fault 

The  punishment  it  merits. 

—Shelley. 

Johnson.  Depend  upon  it,  sir,  this  is  mere  talk.  Who  is  ruined  by 
gaming?  You  will  not  tind  six  instances  in  an  age.  There  is  a  strange  rout 
made  about  deep  play,  whereas  you  have  many  more  people  ruined  by  ad- 
venturous trade,  and  yet  we  do  not  hear  such  an  outcry  against  it. 

Thrale.  There  may  I>e  few  absolutely  ruined  by  deep  play,  but  very 
many  are  much  hurt  in  their  circumstances  bv  it. 

Johnson.    Yes,  sir,  and  so  are  very  many  by  other  kinds  of  expense. 

•  •  •  »  •  •  • 

Johnson.  It  is  not  roguery  to  play  with  a  man  who  is  ignorant  of  the 
game  while  you  are  master  of  it,  and  so  win  his  money,  for  he  thinks  he  can 
play  better  than  you,  as  you  think  you  can  play  better  tlian  he,  and  the  su- 
perior skill  carries  it. 

Erskine.    He  is  a  fool,  but  you  are  not  a  rogue. 

Johnson.  That's  much  about  the  truth,  sir.  It  must  be  considered  that 
a  man  who  only  does  what  every  one  of  the  society  to  which  he  belongs 
would  do,  is  not  a  dishonest  man. 

BoswelL  So,  then,  sir,  yon  do  not  think  ill  of  a  man  who  wins,  perhaps, 
forty  thousand  pounds  in  a  winter  T 

Johnson.  Sir,  I  do  not  call  a  gamester  a  dishonest  man,  but  I  call  him  an 
unsocial  man,  an  unprofitable  man.  Gaming  is  a  mode  of  transferring  prop- 
erty without  producing  any  intermediate  good.  Trade  gives  employment  to 
numbers,  and  so  produces  mtermediate  g<rad. 

— BonotWa  Johnton. 


A  PRIMARY  principle  of  ethics  is  that  every  indi- 
vidual may  freely  act  his  pleasure  as  long  as  he  docs 
not  interfere  with  the  rights  of  othere.  He  may 
claim  for  himself  every  gratification  which  does  not 


(685) 


680 


OAMBUNO. 


limit  others  in  their  gratifications.  He  may  come 
and  go,  he  may  buy  and  sell,  he  may  marry,  preach, 
or  develop  a  mine,  and  in  all  this  legitimately  better 
his  condition,  provided  he  does  not  make  worse  the 
condition  of  those,  or  any  of  them,  with  whom  he 
comes  in  contact. 

The  true  theory  of  business  is  that  traffic  which 
does  not  result  in  reciprocal  advantages  to  buyer  and 
seller  is  illegitimate,  or  at  least  abnormal.  Let  it  be 
registered  in  men's  minds  that  he  who  accumulates 
wealth  to  the  loss  of  another  is  a  bad  man  following 
a  bad  business.  He  is  a  swindler,  and  should  be  pun- 
ished as  one. 

In  this  way  men  may  build  railroads;  but  they 
must  not  employ  the  power  thus  acquired  in  imposi- 
tions upon  the  people,  subsidizing  competition  to  keep 
up  iniquitous  prices,  buying  legislators,  and  corrupt- 
ing morals  and  society,  building  up  or  ruining  this 
man  or  that  town  or  industry,  and  exercising  a  hate- 
ful tyranny  over  a  long-suffering  and  pusillanimous 
people.  Men  may  buy  and  sell  wheat,  but  they  may 
not  so  '  corner '  it  as  by  their  trickery  to  make  con- 
sumers pay  twice  or  thrice  its  value.  Men  may  in 
good  faith  develop  mines;  but  the  manipulation  of 
mining  stocks  as  practised  by  brokers  and*  bonanza 
chiefs  is  worse  than  ordinary  gambling  and  stealing — 
being  more  on  a  par  with  three-card  monte,  and  like 
cheating  and  confidence  games. 

We  all  know  the  evils  of  gambling ;  how  It  dissat- 
isfies society  in  its  daily  occupations,  absorbs  thought, 
dissipates  energy,  and  renders  men  unfit  for  that 
stca'iy  application  and  reasonable  economy  which 
alono  make  a  community  prosperous.  It  destroys  the 
fuu;r  qualities  both  of  mind  and  feeling;  it  makes 
men  moody  and  nervous,  makes  them  live  a  life  of 
extremes,  now  exhilarated  by  success,  now  despondent 
through  failure.  What  folly  I  Some  play  for  money, 
but  with  the  percentage  against  them  they  should 
know  that  in  the  end  they  are  sure  to  lose.     Some 


ploy  for  pie 

they  must  k 

that  is  sure 

Epicurus  ( 

No  one  has  1 

ure  in  any  n 

"This   kind 

therefore  ess 

cultivates  a  ] 

deterioration 

occupations  u 

money  receiv 

Is  not  socie 

am>',  prostltu 

dined  to  carr^ 

gambling  gan 

of  our  way  t 

questionably  i 

gamblers.     T] 

wax  cards  or 

variety  of  wa; 

an  inferior  art 

due  advantage 

who  will  not 

that  as  a  rule 

ing  and  overrt 

than  in  the  s 

many  of  the 

assert  that  thi 

political,  comm 

trated  by  the 

one  day  than  U 

tutes,  and  poly: 

Since  very  ej 

famous  by  mos 

a  gamester  to 

laws   against   ^ 

Saturnalia,  wert 

theless  the  peo 


FOR  PROFIT  OR  PLEASURE. 


687 


ploy  for  pleasure ;  but  if  thev  ponder  for  a  moment 
they  must  know  that  like  dnnk  it  is  but  a  pleasure 
that  is  sure  to  end  in  pain. 

Epicurus  dcnouncecfall  pleasures  productive  of  pain. 
No  one  has  the  moral  right  to  obtam  money  or  pleas- 
ure in  any  manner  detrimental  to  public  well-being. 
"This  kind  of  action,"  says  Herbert  Spencer,  "is 
therefore  essentially  anti-aocial,  sears  the  sympathies, 
cultivates  a  hard  egotism,  and  so  produces  a  general 
deterioration  of  character  and  conduct."  All  moral 
occupations  imply  the  rendering  of  an  equivalent  for 
money  received. 

Is  not  society  here,  as  in  other  cases,  such  as  polyg- 
amy, prostitution,  monopoly,  and  mongolianism,  in- 
clined to  carry  the  sentiment  against  the  professional 
gambling  game  to  an  extreme  ?  Why  go  so  far  out 
of  our  way  to  play  the  prude  or  hypocrite?  Un- 
questionably there  are  honest  gamblers  and  dishonest 
gamblers.  There  are  professional  gamblers  who  will 
wax  cards  or  use  an  imperfect  pack,  or  cheat  in  a 
variety  of  ways,  just  as  a  shop-keeper  will  sell  you 
an  inferior  article,  overcharge,  or  otherwise  take  un- 
due advantage ;  there  are  gamblers  and  shop-keepers 
who  will  not  do  these  things.  It  is  safe  to  assert 
that  as  a  rule  there  is  proportionately  no  more  cheat- 
ing and  overreaching  in  the  clubrooms  of  our  cities 
than  in  the  stock  boards  of  our  cities,  or  in  very 
many  of  the  avenues  of  commerce.  It  is  safe  to 
assert  that  there  is  more  iniquity  committed,  more 
political,  commercial,  and  social  demoralization  perpe- 
trated by  the  monopolists  of  the  United  States  in 
one  day  than  is  achieved  by  all  the  gamblers,  prosti- 
tutes, and  polygamists  in  a  twelve-month. 

Since  very  early  times  gambling  has  been  held  in- 
famous by  most  civilized  nations.  Aristotle  declared 
a  gamester  to  be  no  better  than  a  thief.  Stringent 
laws  against  games  of  hazard,  except  during  the 
Saturnalia,  were  passed  by  the  Roman  senate;  never- 
theless the  people  played.     Jews,  Mahometans,  and 


i 


688 


GAMBLING. 


Christians  all  set  their  faces  against  games  of  chance. 
The  Talmud  censures  them.  No  Hindoo  gambler 
was  allowed  to  testify  in  courts.  The  duke  of  Clai- 
eiice  in  1469  prohibited  gambling  in  his  household 
except  at  the  '*  xii  dayes  in  Christmasse." 

Silly  Charles  VI.  of  France  played  with  painted 
cards ;  some  say  they  were  first  made  for  his  use  in 
1392,  though  of  this  there  is  no  proof;  since  which 
time  the  mischief  has  often  been  played  with  them, 
though  this  was  not  the  fault  of  the  cards. 

During  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  card-playing  was 
very  generally  in  vogue  ;  so  much  so  that  it  was  prohib- 
ited by  law.  Apprentices  the  edict  especially  regarded, 
forbidding  them  to  play  with  cards  except  during 
the  Christmas  holidays,  and  in  their  master's  houses. 

Peculiar  as  was  the  character  of  some  of  the 
wagers  in  California,  there  were  none  here  so  inde- 
cent or  irreverent  as  were  exposed  by  the  law  courts 
of  England  fifty  years  ago — instance  the  case  of 
Joanna  Southcote,  an  unmarried  woman,  upon  whose 
delivery  of  a  male  child,  a  new  Messiah,  within  cer- 
tain days  was  bet  £200  to  £100;  a  wager  that 
Napoleon  would  be  removed  from  St  Helena  within 
a  certain  time,  a  wager  upon  the  sex  of  a  feminine- 
looking  man,  upon  a  decree  of  a  court,  upon  the 
death  of  one's  father,  and  the  like. 

The  merchant  does  not  grow  rich,  as  moralists 
sometimes  aver,  by  the  debauched  lives  of  the  young, 
nor  the  husbandman  by  the  scarcity  and  consequent 
dearness  of  his  grain,  nor  the  architect  by  the  deca}'^ 
of  buildings.  It  is  true  that  doctors  live  by  the 
diseases  of  mankind,  and  priests  by  the  principle  of 
evil,  and  lawyers  by  disputes.  Grood  springs  from 
evil,  and  life  from  death.  As  Montague  says,  *'  Ce  que 
considerant,  il  m'est  venu  en  fantasie,  comme  nature 
ne  se  desment  point  en  cela  de  sa  general  polici,  car 
les  physiciens  tiennent  que  la  naissance,  nourissement, 
et  augmentation  de  chacque  chose  est  I'altdration  et 
corruption  d'une  aultre." 


CHANCE  OR  SUPERSTITION. 


689 


Some  teach  us  how  to  be  learned,  others  how  to  bo 
rich,  and  others,  again,  how  to  bo  lucky.  Gamblers 
liave  their  doctrine  of  chances  and  runs  of  luck.  Thus, 
if  a  particular  number  or  card  wins  twice  or  thrice  in 
succession,  the  chances  are  in  favor  of  its  winning 
once  or  twice  more. 

Chance  is  a  superstition;  tlierc  is  no  such  thing  as 
accident,  no  deviation  from  the  inexorable  laws  of  na- 
ture, any  more  than  there  is  a  veritable  war-god, 
weather-god,  or  Great  Cloud  Manipulator. 

The  laws  of  fortune  are  not  unjust  norpartial  because 
they  tend  to  unequal  favors.  We  may  not  blaspheme 
fortune  for  sending  the  ball  into  the  wrong  pocket, 
when  with  our  own  hand  we  forced  it  there ;  or  for 
jliv'ing  us  inferior  cards,  when  with  our  own  finjjcers 
we  shuttled  and  dealt  them.  Like  all  the  laws  of  na- 
ture and  of  man,  the  laws  which  govern  chance  are 
reasonable  and  just.  Tliore  is  no  guardian  angel  or 
spiteful  demon  lurking  near  the  cards  or  dice  to  turn 
them  in  our  favor.  We  turn  them  with  t)ur  fingers. 
The  operation  is  jairely  a  n)echanical  one.  Put  the 
dice  into  the  cup  always  exactly  hi  tlie  same  manner, 
and  shake  tliem  alwa3's  the  same,  and  the  same  side 
is  always  sure  to  be  up[)ermost.  It  is  not  true  that 
the  dice  of  the  gods  arc  always  loaded.  Men  may 
load  their  dice  to  suit  themseh'^es,  and  blind  chance 
be  frustrated  if  tliey  have  the  ability.  That  is  to 
say,  dice  will  fall  as  they  are  thrown  and  there  is  no 
chance  about  it, 

Gaml)i  iig  is  reprobate  not  chiefly  because  it  tends  to 
the  ruin  cfliira  who  indulges  in  it,  his  family  and  friends ; 
not  chiefly  because  of  its  evil  associations  and  aliena- 
tion from  healthy  pursuits,  but  because  it  produces 
profit  and  pleasure  to  one  at  the  cost  of  loss  and  pain 
to  another.  It  nmst  be  admitted  that  while  many 
came  to  California  to  seek  their  fortunes,  some  came 
to  seek  for  other  people's  fortunes. 

We  are  apt  to  regard  gambling,  drunkenness,  licen- 
tiousness, indulgence  in  the  use  of  tobacco  and  the 

Cal.  Int.  I'of.    44 


r 

•.'if 


GAMBUNG. 


like,  as  unnatural  or  artificial  tastes  and  passions. 
But  is  this  the  fact  ?  Gambling  has  been  practised 
by  all  people  in  all  ages.  In  the  infancy  of  the  race, 
and  in  rude  societies,  it  assumes  the  form  of  games, 
physical  and  animal  contests ;  in  more  advanced  com- 
munities, stocks  and  securities  become  the  favorite 
gamble,  and  indeed,  the  spirit  of  gambling  underlies 
all  commerce  and  industrial  activities.  And  so  with 
regard  to  the  other  vices  named,  there  appears  to  be 
in  man  natural  appetites  craving  indulgence.  Intox- 
icating drink  is  common  to  all  time  and  places  and  to 
avoid  excess  in  this  or  other  things  is  simply  perfec- 
tion. Why  did  all  the  world  take  so  quickly  and  so 
naturally  to  the  use  of  tobacco  when  it  was  discovered, 
if  the  craving  for  it  did  not  spring  fron.  a  natural 
appetite  ? 

So  with  a  hundred  other  great  and  small  ly  fannies 
and  swindles,  such  as  those  so  frequently  perpetrated 
by  gas  and  water  companies,  by  boards  and  oflfice- 
holders,  by  men  in  any  and  every  position  where  they 
happen  to  hold  some  power  over  their  fellows.  So  long 
asthese  gross  iniquities  are  permitted ;  so  long  as  the 
grinding  monopolist  and  the  unprincipled  stock-jobber 
ate  permitted  to  ply  their  nefarious  trade,  why  be  so 
harden  the  honest  gambler  who  stoops  to  no  such  vile 
advantage  ?  He,  alone,  who  makes  it  a  profession  is 
disgraced.  He,  alone,  is  infamous.  An  honest  man 
he  may  be,  courteous,  chivalrous,  unselfish,  yet  the 
filthiest  blackguard  that  *  bucks'  against  his  bank  may 
hold  him  in  social  contempt. 

The  prudish  English  put  the  finest  point  on  this 
absurdity.  It  is  all  right  to  play  whist  and  liko 
games,  all  betting  "just  to  make  it  interesting,  you 
know,"  all  of  necessity  pretending  that  they  care 
nothing  for  the  money ;  but  change  the  game,  and 
bet  a  little  more  freely,  and  the  clergymen  and  women 
particularly  are  horrified.  The  game  of  poker  is  be- 
coming reputable  in  America  among  free-and  asy 
and  not  over-refined  people,  provided  the  stak'  »<  .  vfi 


DISTINCTIONS  WITHOUT  A   DIFFERENCE. 


G»l 


not  too  high.  But  what  are  high  stakes  ?  In  a  com- 
pany of  spinsters,  in  the  drawing-room  of  a  second- 
class  Connecticut  boarding-house,  five  cents  'ante' 
might  be  deemed  extravagant,  while  in  the  south, 
during  the  glorious  days  of  slavery,  a  negro  ante  and 
twenty  on  the  call  was  deemed  moderate  playing. 
All  these  distinctions  are  without  a  difference ;  aiid 
men  and  women  miserably  fail  in  thus  trying  to  befool 
themselves  into  making  certain  phases  of  gambling 
respectable  while  holding  other  phases  of  it,  equally 
honest  and  fair,  as  illegal  and  disreputable.  On  a  par 
with  the  rest  are  the  English  ethics  which  makes  it 
right  to  swindle  your  taflor,  but  very  wrong  not  to 
pay  a  gambling  debt.  Debts  of  honor,  these  last  are 
called. 

Of  course  there  are  always  a  thousand  excuses  ready 
for  whatever  folly  or  iniquity  society  chooses  to  indulge 
in.  Gambling  in  stocks  encourages  mining ;  gambling 
at  the  races  promotes  horse-breeding;  gambling  in 
churches  helps  to  buy  an  organ  or  pay  a  debt.  But 
have  we  no  excuses  for  our  honest  banking  games  ? 
Listen  to  Lecky,  the  foremost  of  English  moralists: 
"Even  the  gambling  table  fosters  among  its  more 
skillful  votaries  a  kind  of  moral  nerve,  a  capacity  for 
bearing  losses  with  calmness,  and  controlling  the  force 
of  desires,  which  is  scarcely  exhibited  in  equal  perfec- 
tion in  any  other  sphere."  Likewise  the  immaculate 
Boswell,  whose  name,  however,  is  scarcely  worthy  of 
mention  in  connection  with  the  other:  "There  is  a 
composure  and  gravity  in  draughts  which  insensibly 
tranquillizes  the  mind,  and  accordingly  the  Dutch  are 
fond  of  it,  as  they  are  of  smoking,  of  the  sedative  in- 
fluence of  which,  though  he  himself  never  smoked,  he 
had  a  high  opinion.  Besides,  there  is  in  draughts 
some  exercise  of  the  faculties." 

Dishonest  gamblers  sometimes  mark  their  cards 
with  punctures  so  minute  as  to  be  imperceptible  to 
the  ordinary  touch,  and  to  detect  them  themselves 
they  are  obliged  to  apply  acid  to  the  fingers  to  increase 


I    : 


692 


GAMBLING. 


their  sensitiveness.  .^uch  disreputable  practices 
should  be  discountenanced  by  all  good  gamblers,  the 
same  as  putting  sand  in  sugar,  discriminating  in 
freights,  and  salting  a  mine. 

The  evils  of  stock  gambling,  ruining  thousands  upon 
thousand  of  families  in  the  city  and  throughout  the 
land,  as  compared  with  those  of  professional  gambling, 
are  infinitely  against  the  former.  Nowhere  as  in  this 
mad  desire  to  be  suddenly  and  immensely  rich  were 
the  souls  of  men  so  staked.  It  was  worse  than  Me- 
phistopheles  betting  with  the  Lord  that  the  integrity 
of  Faust  should  fail  him,  or  Satan  laying  a  like  wager 
■p  regard  to  Job.  • 

•-rotwithstanding  that  mining  since  the  world  began 
luiA  boon  a  hundred  times  proven  the  most  ruinous  of 
speculations,  to  this  day  wherever  is  a  discovery  of 
the  precious  metals,  thither  may  be  seen  a  rush  from 
every  quarter. 

"K  man  who  subjects  things  to  chance  rather  than 
to  tlio  operation  of  definite  and  calculable  laws,  gam- 
bles," says  Bcecher. 

Here  in  California  the  advice  of  Plautus,  "  Habeas 
ut  nactus :  nota  mala  res  optima' st,"  "  keep  what 
you've  got ;  the  evil  that  we  know  is  best,"  was  sadly 
out  of  place.  To  be  "ptuck  in  stocks,"  made  sweating 
sore  by  them,  screwed  lighter  in  them  than  the  village 
villain's  feet  in  that  old-time  punishing-machine,  was 
at  one  time  common  to  all. 

In  stock  speculation  there'  is  wanting  that  same 
element  of  utility  which  we  find  lacking  in  faro  and 
monte,  and  by  which  alone  society  is  benefited  in  the 
interchange  of  values  among  its  members.  In  ordi- 
nary transactions,  he  who  makes  money  is  not  bene- 
fited as  much  as  he  suffers  who  loses  it,  and  in  gambling 
the  difference  is  largely  increased. 

What  is  it  that  causes  the  price  of  stocks  to 
change?  What  is  it  that  causes  any  fluctuations  in 
values  when  there  has  been  no  corresponding  develop- 
ment in  the  mines  or  change  in  the  money  market? 


nicn 

talJizf 

inqui] 

<  »rac]( 

any 

They 

knowi 

to  gar 

ing   Ii 


STOCKS  AND  OTHER  SPECULATION^. 


093 


Opinion ;  simply  opinion.  In  all  their  politics,  religion, 
and  social  ethics,  men  are  essentially  imitative  in 
their  beliefs.  Now  money  being  as  sensitive  as  any 
species  of  morality  is  very  quick  to  embrace  popular 
belief  without  stopping  to  consider  whether  it  be 
sound  or  not.  Indeed,  that  it  is  the  popular  belief  is 
sufficient ;  for  this  alone  will  send  securities  up  or 
pull  them  down.  And  the  worst  feature  about  all 
this  is  that  the  people  do  not  buy  and  sell  stocks  on 
the  intrinsic  value  of  the  mine;  they  care  nothing 
about  such  value,  do  not  take  it  into  consideration 
scarcely,  but  gamble  to-day  on  what  will  be  the  price 
of  shares  to-morrow. 

The  rise  and  fall  in  stocks  may  sometimes  indicate 
the  demand  and  supply,  which  again  are  governed  by 
the  disposition  of  men  to  purchase  more  than  nitrinsic 
value  or  change  of  condition  justify.  If  nuiiiy  per- 
sons at  tlie  same  time  seek  to  buy  large  quantities  of 
a  stock  it  is  sure  to  advance;  if  tliey  all  at  one  time 
wisli  to  soil  it  is  sure  to  go  down.  And  yet  the  mine 
may  bo  twice  as  valuable  when  it  depreciates  as  when 
it  appreciates. 

Hard  times,  commercial  collapses,  monetary  crises 
are  oftener  the  result  of  apprehension  tlian  of  a  real 
cause.  When  every  one  says  times  are  good  and 
acts  accordingly,  investing,  improving,  circulating  liis 
nioni!}',  that  alone  will  make  business  nnd  prosperity. 
But  as  a  rule  it  is  safe  to  say  of  stock-boards,  build- 
ings, and  the  mass  of  wealtli  heaped  up  by  bonanza 
men  and  stock-i(/bbers,  that  tliev  all  are  but  tlie  crvs- 
tallizatioji«  of  crime.  To  tlieir  dearest  friends  who 
inquired  of  them  as  to  their  fortune,  they  were  false 
oracles,  ready  to  sacrifice  heaven,  if  tliey  ever  had 
any  chance  there,  in  order  to  fill  tlieir  pockets. 
They  would  cheat,  mother,  brother,  and  I  have  even 
known  of  a  man  giving  his  wife  money  witli  wliich 
to  gamble  in  stocks,  simply  for  the  pleasure  of  beat- 
ing  her   out   of    it.      Meanwhile,   into   all   sorts   of 


I': 


m 


% 


;i 


694 


CrAMBLTNG. 


extravagance  their  victims  plunged,"  as  if  their  money 
was  immortal. 


In  the  early  days  of  California  gambling  was  but 
a  more  direct  expression  of  the  spirit  of  speedy  accu- 
mulation manifest  in  common  and  in  so-called  legiti- 
mate speculation.  Mining,  merchandising,  real  estate 
operations  in  those  days  of  uncertainty  were  all  species 
of  gambling.  The  coming  hither  in  the  first  instance 
was  but  a  staking  of  time,  energy,  and  health  against 
the  hidden  treasures  of  the  Sierra. 

The  origin  of  this  vice  must  be  sought  in  the  un- 
sounded depths  of  turbid  human  nature  ;  its  practice 
dates  back  to  the  remotest  past.  Thousands  of 
years  before  the  coming  of  Europeans  to  these  shores 
gaming  was  the  chief  delight  of  the  inhabitants. 
The  gentle  savage  would  stake  on  some  aboriginal 
game  of  chance  or  skill  his  shell-money,  his  peltries, 
his  hunting  and  household  implements,  his  wives, 
with  an  outward  indifference  as  to  the  results  that 
in  1849  would  have  made  him  the  envy  of  the 
subtlest  and  skilfullest  faro  dealer  of  the  day.  Losing 
all  else  he  would  throw  himself,  his  liberty  into  the 
pot,  and  losing  this  he  would  march  off,  the  naked 
slave  of  the  winner,  with  a  stoicism  most  pleasing  to 
behold.  The  European  with  all  his  superior  mechan- 
ism of  mind,  his  culture  and  philosophy,  has  never  l)een 
able  to  outdo  the  childlike  and  passionate  wild  man 
in  those  qualities  of  skill  and  self-command  essential 
to  success  in  this  fascinating  calling. 

From  what  Horace  tells  us  it  appears  that  the 
vice  was  not  prohibited  by  the  Romans  on  account  of 
its  demoralizing  tendency,  but  because  it  diverted  the 
youths  from  manly  sports  and  made  them  effeminate. 
And  so  in  later  times,  and  among  other  peoples,  it 
was  not  so  much  the  rioting  and  drunkenness  and 
murders  it  led  to,  as  the  blow  it  aimed  at  the  moral 
ideal  of  the  nation,  that  made  it  offensive.  In  early 
times  the  ethical  ideal  was  patriotism ;  and  as  gaming 


LEGAL  AND  ILLEGAL  GAMBLING. 


ees 


interfered  with  military  art  it  was  put  down.  In 
California  the  central  idea  embodying  the  right  in 
social  ethics  is  what  comes  under  the  name  of  legiti- 
mate money-making.  Here  the  great  good  is  not 
patriotism,  art,  or  literature,  but  the  accumulation  of 
wealth  ;  not,  however,  by  such  processes  as  shall  in- 
jure or  make  your  neighbor  poorer,  but  by  originating, 
creating,  or  producing,  making  additions  to  the  gen- 
eral fund,  but  which  you  may  hold  as  your  own. 
Here,  gambling  interfered  with  that  labor  which  was 
to  eviscerate  the  Sierra  drainage,  and  develop  the 
resources  of  the  lowlands,  as  in  Rome  it  interfered 
with  the  making  of  good  soldiers;  and  so,  later,  Cali- 
fornia passed  laws  that  drove  it  under  cover,  but  its 
spirit  still  stalks  abroad,  and  enters  into  almost  every 
avocation.  One  sees  it  in  the  speculations  of  labor- 
ing men,  in  the  ventures  of  merchants  outside  of 
their  regular  business,  in  the  gift  enterprise  shops,  in 
the  church-fair  raffle  and  grab-bag.  As  I  have  be- 
fore stated,  buying  shares  in  the  stock  market  in  the 
hope  of  a  rise  not  based  on  development  is  as  pure 
gambling  as  putting  money  on  a  monte  card,  and 
its  evil  effects  are  seen  by  the  hundreds  of  working 
men  practically  ruined  thereby.  Of  the  two  evils, 
the  open  and  public  gaming-table  and  stock-gambling, 
I  hold  the  latter  to  be  more  deleterious  to  society,  for 
it  is  but  the  old  wicked  principle  galvanized,  and 
made  respectable  by  law.  A  lottery,  legalized  by  the 
legislature  for  the  benefit  of  the  Mercantile  library  of 
San  Francisco,  caused  for  a  short  time  an  almost 
entire  suspension  of  business  for  a  hundred  miles 
around 

During  the  pastoral  days  of  California,  men  were 
free,  and  might  gamble  if  they  chose.  It  came 
rather  hard  on  them,  therefore,  when  the  straight- 
laced  Yankee  alcalde  of  Monterey  placed  a  veto  on 
the  pastime.  Says  the  reverend  jurist  on  the  subject, 
writing  the  18th  of  October,  1846:  "  I  issued,  a  few 
days   since,  an   ordinance  against  gambling — a  vice 


t" 


■i 

I 


GAMBLING. 


which  shows  itself  here  more  on  the  sabbath  than  any 
other  day  of  the  week.  The  effect  of  it  has  been  to 
drive  the  gamblers  from  the  town  into  the  bushes.  I 
have  been  informed  this  evening,  that  in  a  ravine,  at 
a  short  distance,  some  thirty  individuals  have  been 
engaged  through  the  day  in  this  desperate  play. 
They  selected  a  spot  deeply  embowered  in  shade,  and 
escaped  the  eye  of  my  constables." 

On  the  12th  of  May  following,  the  order  was  thus 
enforced  :  "A  nest  of  gamblers  arrived  in  town  yes- 
terday, and  last  evening  opened  a  monte  game  at  the 
hotel  honored  with  the  name  of  the  Astor  House.  I 
took  a  file  of  soldiers,  and  under  cover  of  night 
reached  the  hotel  unsuspected,  where  I  stationed 
them  at  the  two  doors  which  afforded  the  only 
egress  from  the  building.  In  a  moment  I  was  on 
the  stairs  which  led  to  the  a[)artment  where  the 
oamesters  were  conjxrcijated.  I  heard  a  whistle  and 
then  footsteps  flying  into  every  part  of  the  edifice. 
On  entering  the  great  chamber,  not  a  being  was  visi- 
ble save  one  Sonoranian  reclininor  a<jainst  a  lar<je  ta- 
ble,  and  composedly  smoking  his  cigarito.  I  passed 
the  compliments  of  the  evening  with  him,  and  de- 
sired the  honor  of  an  introduction  to  his  companions. 
At  the  moment  a  feigned  snore  broke  on  my  ear  from 
a  bed  in  the  corner  of  the  apartment — *  Ha  1  Dutrc, 
is  that  you  ?  Come,  tumble  up,  and  aid  me  in  stir- 
ring out  the  rest.'  He  pointed  under  the  bed,  where 
I  discovered,  just  within  the  drop  of  the  vallance  a 
nmltitude  of  feet  and  leos  radiatiuij  as  from  a  connnon 
center.  'Hallo  there,  friends — turn  out,"  and  out 
came  some  half-dozen  or  more,  covered  with  dust  and 
feathers,  and  odorous  as  the  nameless  furniture  left 
behind.  Their  plight  and  discovery  threw  them  into 
a  laugh  at  each  other.  FroiU  this  apartment,  accom- 
panied by  my  secretary,  I  proceeded  to  others,  where 
I  found  the  slopers  stowed  away  in  every  imaginable 
position — some  in  the  beds,  some  under  them,  several 
in  closets,  two  in  a  hogshead,  and  one  up  a  chimney. 


MONTEREY  AND  SAN  FRANCISCO. 


697 


Mr  R.  from  Missouri — known  here  under  the  sou- 
briquet of  the  'prairie-wolf — I  found  between  two 
bedticks,  with  his  coat  and  boots  on,  and  half  smoth- 
ered with  the  feathers.  He  was  the  ringleader,  and 
raises  a  nionte  table  wherevei  he  goes  as  regularly  as 
a  whale  comes  to  the  surface  to  blow.  All  shouted 
as  he  tumbled  out  from  his  ticks.  Among  the  rest  I 
found  the  alcalde  of  San  Francisco,  a  gentleman  of 
education  and  refinement,  who  never  plays  himself, 
but  who,  on  this  occasion,  had  come  to  witness  the 
excitement.  I  gathered  them  all,  some  fifty  in  num- 
ber, into  the  large  saloon,  and  told  them  the  only 
speech  I  had  to  make  was  in  the  shape  of  a  fine  of 
/wenty  dollars  each.  The  more  astute  began  to 
demur  on  the  plea  of  not  guilty,  as  no  cards  and  no 
money  had  been  discovered;  and  as  for  tlie  beds,  a 
man  had  as  good  a  right  to  sleep  under  one  as  in  it. 
I  told  them  that  it  was  a  matter  of  taste,  misfortune 
often  made  strange  bedfellows,  and  the  only  way  to 
get  out  of  the  scrape  was  to  pay  up.  Dr  S.  was  the 
first  to  plank  down.  'Come,  my  good  fellows,'  said 
the  doctor,  'pay  up,  and  no  grumbling,  tliis  money 
goes  to  build  a  schoolhouse,  where  I  hope  our  chil- 
dren will  be  taught  better  principles  than  they  gather 
from  the  example  of  their  fathers.'  The  'prairie-wolf,' 
planked  down  next,  and  in  ten  minutes  the  whole 
Chillanos,  Sonoranians,  Orogonians,  Californians, 
Englices,  Americanos,  delivered  in  their  fines.  These, 
with  the  hundred  dollar  fine  of  the  keeper  of  the 
hotel,  filled  quite  a  bag.  With  this  I  bade  them 
goodnight,  and  took  my  departure." 

The  town  council  of  San  Francisco,  on  the  11th  day 
of  January,  1848,  passed  stringent  resolutions  against 
gambling  which  had  then  been  on  the  increase  for 
four  years  past.  So  startling  were  the  proportions 
it  had  assumed,  and  so  enraptured  were  the  people 
by  the  fascinating  vice  that  it  seriously  interfered 
with  business;  but  a  great  reform  was  considered  out 
of  place  in  a  small  town,  and  therefore  at  the  next 


t>U8 


GAMBLING. 


meeting  of  the  council  the  law  was  repealed,  Icavintr 
everythhig  lovely  in  this  respect  for  the  great  Inferno 
now  so  near  at  hand. 

Some  were  of  the  opinion  that  gambling  should  not 
be  interfered  with  by  law  any  more  than  interest  on 
money  or  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors.  To  extin- 
guish this  vice,  said  they,  was  impossible ;  the  passion 
appears  to  be  deep-seated  in  man's  nature,  alike  in 
high  and  low,  civilized  and  savage.  The  principle  is 
one  with  that  of  speculation,  and  tinges  even  commer- 
cial ventures.  As  is  often  claimed  for  religion,  there 
never  has  been  known  a  nation  without  its  gambling 
games  of  some  sort.  So,  continued  these  reasonera, 
it  is  better  to  license  the  vice,  give  the  state  the  rev- 
enue, and  not  make  it  a  crime,  than  to  drive  it  into 
dark  comers  and  guarded  club-rooms,  for  it  is  not  that 
which  is  done  in  public  that  does  the  most  harm. 
Men  will  not  voluntarily  exhibit  their  worst  side  to 
the  world.  He  who  ruins  himself  and  family  at  the 
gaming-table  does  it  generally  in  private.  Then,  too, 
the  opportunities  for  practising  the  arts  and  devices 
of  the  trade  are  much  greater  than  at  a  table  in  a 
public  room,  surrounded  by  scores  of  eyes  as  keen  and 
as  watchful  as  those  of  the  dealer. 

Gambling  in  San  Francisco  was  tolerated  for  the 
revenue  that  was  derived  from  it,  long  after  public 
opinion  was  against  it. 

In  due  time  the  saloons,  those  impious,  blazing  land- 
marks, had  to  give  way  before  a  revised  public  sen- 
timent. The  old  El  Dorado,  corner  of  Dupont  and 
Washington  streets,  was  one  of  the  last  to  succumb. 
In  full  blast  from  1850  till  1856,  there  were  nightly 
collected  the  largest  crowds  of  the  worst  of  all  classes, 
all  who  had  a  few  dollars  to  gamble — that  is,  until 
public  gaming  was  prohibited — or  an  hour's  time  to 
while  away,  gazing  at  the  people  coming  and  going,  at 
the  nude  pictures  on  the  walls,  and  the  movements  of 
the  barkeepers,  and  listening  to  the  chink  of  coin,  and 
the  really  fine  music  of  the  band.     About  the  time 


SOME  NOTABLE  SHOPS. 


699 


this,  one  of  the  last  relics  of  gambling  saloons,  fell 
forever  out  of  sight,  a  new  iron  fence  enclosed  the 
plaza,  fresh  grass  covered  its  hitherto  unsightly  face, 
and  the  citizens  of  San  Francisco  looked  hopefully 
forward  to  the  good  time  which  had  been  so  long  in 
coming. 

The  gambler  is  almost  always  well  dressed.  No 
class  in  California  are  so  scrupulously  neat  in  all  their 
belongings.  Nor  is  he  always  an  idler,  knave,  or 
fool.  He  knows  that  his  profession  is  not  ranked 
among  the  most  honorable,  but  he  does  not  intend 
always  to  follow  it.  He  would  make  a  fortune  and 
then  retire.  He  is  not  without  generous  impulses, 
but  they  spring,  like  the  sympathy  of  a  spoiled  child 
or  the  passion  of  a  femme  perdu,  from  apparently 
trifling  causes  rather  than  from  principle. 

The  Alta  of  the  27th  of  May,  1850,  announces  the 
completion  of  the  Empire  gambling  saloon  and  the 
main  floor  of  the  Parlcer  House  as  one  would  speak 
of  the  opening  of  the  Suez  canal  or  the  bridging  of 
Niagara.  "The  room  is  about  140  feet  in  length," 
says  the  editor,  "by  50  in  width,  with  a  lofty  ceiling, 
and  is  decorated  in  the  most  magnificent  manner.  It 
is  painted  in  fresco  by  Messrs  Fairchild  and  Duchean, 
and  is  certainly  a  most  creditable  evidence  of  their 
artistic  skill  and  taste.  We  do  not  know  of  any  pub- 
lic room  in  any  portion  of  the  United  States  of  so 
great  an  extent,  or  possessing  such  elegant  decorations 
and  embellishments.  Our  New  Orleans  and  New 
York  friends  would  scarcely  believe  that  they  could 
be  so  far  excelled  in  California.  The  Parker  House, 
the  lower  floor,  was  also  opened.  The  room  is  of 
about  the  same  size,  and  hanrlsomely  fitted  up,  al- 
though not  with  quite  so  mucij  *  legance  as  the  Em- 
pire. As  yet  but  one  story  is  completed,  but  it  is  con- 
templated to  carry  out  the  entire  building  on  the  same 
extensive  and  elegant  plan.  The  rapidity  with  which 
these  places  of  public  resort  have  been  completed 
speaks  much  for  the  enterprise  of  the  proprietors." 


i'.'i 


nil 


700 


GAMBLING. 


A  writer  in  the  Marysville  Herald  iaL*s  discourses 
on  banking  games.  "A  banking  game,"  he  says,  "is 
any  kind  of  game  played  with  cards,  dice,  or  other 
device,  in  which  one  or  more  persons  risk  their  money 
in  opposition  to  the  nmltitude.  The  banker  may  be 
denominated,  in  the  parlance  of  the  day,  the  inside 
bettor,  and  the  populace  the  outside  bettors.  A  man, 
for  instance,  who  deals  monte,  places  before  him  on 
the  table  a  thousand  dollars,  more  or  less,  in  money. 
He  shuffles  and  deals  the  fcards,  lays  two  of  them  out 
before  the  multitude,  and  asks  them  to  stake  their 
money  on  a  guess  of  which  card  will  win.  In  this 
case  the  dealer  of  the  cards  would  be  the  banker,  or 
the  inside  bettor,  whilst  those  who  wagered  their 
money  on  a  guess  would  be  the  outside  bettors.  So 
in  any  other  game  of  chance,  where  there  is  an  inside 
bettor  and  an  outside  bettor,  tlie  inside  bettor  is  al- 
ways looked  upon  as  the  banker.  He  pays  out  to  all 
who  win  from  him,  and  takes  in  all  that  the  outsiders 
lose.  The  games  that  coir  immediately  under  the 
head  of  banking  games,  ai  which  there  is  no  dis- 

pute, are  faro,  Mexican  raoute,  French  monte,  rouge 
et  noir,  twenty-one,  and  most  other  games  played 
with  cards ;  also  roulette,  the  tiger,  elephant,  and 
other  wheel  games  of  similar  character,  sweat  cloths, 
and  all  other  games  played  with  dice,  and  many  other 
kinds  of  games  not  necessary  to  enumerate. 

"  Lansquenet  and  rondo  differ  from  other  bankin;j; 
games  in  this  particular:  The  banker  in  the  games  <>f 
monte  or  faro  deals  himself,  and  permits  all  wiio  wish 
it  to  bet  against  him;  whilst  in  lansquenet  and  rondo 
the  bank  is  generally  made  by  an  outsider,  and  con- 
sists of  a  certain  specified  sum,  which  may  be  tapped 
by  one  or  more  persons,  as  circumstances  will  atlniit 
of.  It  is  not  necessary  that  the  banker  in  lansquenet 
or  rondo  should  deal  himself;  any  person  may  do  it 
for  him,  but  the  man  who  throws  up  his  dollar  to  1)0 
tapped  is  as  much  a  banker  as  he  would  be  if  sitting 
behind  a  table  with  a  bank  of  a  thousand  dollars  deal- 


BANKINd  (;AMES. 


701 


ing  montc.  Lansquenet  is  dealt  with  cards,  generally 
out  of  a  faro  box,  or  sardine  box,  as  it  is  called. 
Rondo  is  played  upon  a  billiard  table  with  eight  small 
balls,  each  ball  about  the  size  of  a  quail's  egg,  or 
somewhat  larger,  and  depends  upon  the  skill  of  the 
l»anker,  or  his  substitute,  in  rolling  an  even  imniber 
of  balls  into  a  pocket.  If  an  odd  number  enters  the 
pocket,  it  is  called  culo,  and  the  banker  loses;  if  an 
even  number  of  balls  be  pocketed,  it  is  called  rondo, 
and  the  banker  wins.  On  each  winning  the  stake  is 
doubled.  As,  for  instance,  if  the  banker  connuences 
with  a  half  dollar  and  makes  a  rondo,  he  has  a  dollar 
in  bank;  on  a  second  winning  he  would  have  two  dol- 
lars in  bank,  and  so  on,  doubling  the  stake  at  each 
winning,  unless  he  sees  proper  to  draw  out  a  portion 
of  his  capital,  which  he  can  do  whenever  he  i)leas('S. 
After  each  second  wiiming  the  table  or  gamekee[>er 
draws  out  one  hnlf  of  the  original  amount  invested, 
as  a  percentage.     This  is  the  game  of  rondo. 

"tfustice  Jenks  of  Sacramento,  in  an  elaborate 
opinion,  defines  a  bankuig  game  as  signifying  one  in 
which  the  manager  ()r  conductor  not  only  receives  tlie 
stakes,  but  also  on  his  own  part  makes  a  bank  against 
them ;  that  is,  when  the  conductor  stakes  his  own 
funds  against  the  stakes  of  all  others  who  participate 
in  the  game. 

"  Webster  defines  a  bank  to  be  a  collection  or  stock 
of  money  deposited  by  a  number  of  persons  for  a  par- 
ticular use,  that  is,  an  aggregate  of  particulars,  or  a 
fund  that  is  a  joint  fund;  the  place  where  a  collection 
of  money  is  deposited,  etc.  Justice  Jenks,  in  com- 
menting upon  this  definition  of  a  bank,  says :  '  It  is 
not  necessary  that  the  conductor  or  manager  of  the 
game  should  own  part  of  the  money.  It  is  sufficient 
that  a  fund  is  raised,  and  by  any  device  whatever, 
that  fund,  or  any  part  of  it,  changes  hands  by  chance 
or  by  skill  in  playing.  The  learned  justice  further 
remarks,  that  in  playing  rondo  two  funds  are  raised, 
one  against  the  other,  and  these  funds  are  as  much 


p. 


ri 


■'i!l! 


'    . 


702 


GAMBLING 


banks  as  though  OM^ned  by  the  person  who  keeps  the 
tabic'  The  justice,  in  concluding  his  opinion,  says, 
'the  coincidence  existing  between  the  game  of  lansque- 
net, expressly  classed  by  the  statute  in  the  list  of 
banking  games,  and  the  game  in  question,  rondo, 
compels  me  to  decide  by  the  rule  of  construction 
wliich  the  statute  gives — rondo  is  a  banking  game.' 
"  Now  we  agree  perfectly  with  Justice  Jenks.  If 
lansquenet  is  a  banking  game,  so  is  rondo.  They  are 
precisely  similar,  although  one  is  played  with  cards 
and  the  other  with  balls.  The  banks  in  both  are 
made  by  outsiders.  Tlie  table-keepers  in  both  games 
have  no  interest  except  in  the  percentage,  and  in 
playing  either  game,  it  is  not  necessary  that  the  per- 
son who  makes  the  banks  should  participate  in  either 
drawing  the  cards  from  the  box  or  rolling  the  balls 
into  a  pocket.  It  was  clearly  the  manifest  intention 
of  our  lawmakers  to  put  an  end  to  all  kinds  of  gam- 
bling in  our  state ;  and  although  the  word  rondo  does 
not  appear  among  the  proscribed  games  in  the  law  of 
last  winter,  we  are  clearly  of  the  opinion  that  it  is 
proscribed  by  that  law." 

From  the  time  of  the  gold  discovery,  which  made 
all  around  of  the  roseate  hue,  there  was  an  openness 
in  all  kinds  of  wickedness,  a  dash  and  abandon  quite 
refreshing.  Perhaps  they  play  as  heavily  at  the 
London  gaming  houses,  and  at  the  German  springs, 
but  the  charm  and  freshness  of  unhackneyed  nature 
is  not  there.  In  London,  or  even  at  the  German 
springs,  one  would  not  often  see  a  Sydney  convict,  a 
i'lergyman  not  three  months  from  his  preaching,  a 
Harvard  graduate,  a  Pennsylvania  farmer,  and  a  New 
York  newsboy  all  betting  at  the  same  table  at  the 
same  time. 

In  California  gambling  there  is  little  attempt  at 
that  quasi-respectability,  or,  more  plainly  speaking, 
humbug,  with  which  the  lovers  of  a  money  hazard 
would  fain  gloss   over  their  whist,  chess,  or  horse- 


PERSONNEL  OF  THE  PliOFESSION. 


708 


racing.  It  is  the  money  men  gamble  for  here,  and 
they  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  so;  hence,  in  a 
promiscuous  assembly,  each  is  attracted  to  such  game 
as  he  fancies  himself  an  adept  in.  The  billiard-player 
gambles  at  pool,  the  card-sharper  at  poker,  euchre,  or 
old  sledge,  the  lover  of  horses  at  racing,  while  the 
unskilled  or  indifferent  lay  down  their  gold  at  roulette, 
faro,  or  monte,  notwithstanding  in  banking  games  the 
table  has  twenty  or  thirty  per  cent  the  advantage. 
The  open-handed  well-to-do  Californian  who  flings 
his  dollars  around  for  the  mere  pleasure  of  seeing 
others  scramble  for  them  would  call  staking  a  few 
hundreds  fun  rather  than  gambling ;  but  the  individ- 
ual earnest  and  constant  at  the  tables,  whatever  the 
game  or  the  amount  staked,  you  may  be  sure  is  after 
*  blood,'  as  he  hiinself  would  tell  you. 

There  is  the  legitimate  gambler,  one  who  keeps  a 
table  and  pays  his  dues  to  society  in  shape  of  license, 
rent,  and  bar  bills,  like  an  honest  citizen.  Then  there 
is  the  professional  gambler,  who,  like  the  itinerant 
preacher,  may  have  an  occupation  without  fixed  abode. 
He  may  deal, or  *cap,'  or  bet  on  the  outside;  he  may 
grace  this  or  that  house  or  town  as  circumstances 
offer.  He  is  not  the  legitimate,  legalized,  solid  man 
of  the  fraternity,  but  he  is  none  the  less  a  professional 
gambler.  Next  comes  the  gentleman  gambler,  who 
cultivates  the  hazard  of  dice  or  cards  as  a  recreation, 
openly  and  unblushingly.  He  may  deal  occasionally 
as  an  amateur,  not  as  a  legitimate  or  professional ;  but 
usually  he  exhausts  the  time  in  midnight  poker  or 
faro.  Tinctured  with  politics,  and  ho  is  welcomed  at 
political  clubs ;  if  pleasing  in  manner  and  free  with  his 
money,  women  of  a  certain  quality  cultivate  him.  If 
a  business  man,  it  is  necessary  for  him  to  be  guarded 
and  sly  in  his  gambling  operations ;  and  if  a  church- 
goer or  salaried  clerk,  the  vice  proclaimed  is  absolute 
ruin. 

In  the  professional  gambler  there  is  or  should  be 
much  that  is  repugnant  to  the  right-minded  and  hon- 


704 


GAMBLING. 


est  workingman.  Although  the  latter,  in  every  blow 
he  strikes,  nut  knowing  the  outcome  of  it  whether  it 
shall  prosper  or  not,  makes  a  direct  appeal  to  the  god- 
dess Fortune  ;  but  having  honestly  struck  the  blow, 
lie  feels  he  has  a  right  in  thus  making  the  appeal. 
But  the  shaved  and  whitc-shh'ted  faro-dealer  is  not 
Fortuna,  but  rather  a  monev-demon,  a  soul-subdui  r. 
an  emissary  of  Satan,  a  C(muncrcial  traveller  in  the 
interests  of  hell.  May  he  then  be  honest  ?  Why  yes, 
if  he  does  not  cheat.  Is  not  Satan  honest  ?  And  are 
not  his  agents  to  be  trusted  as  fully  as  those  of  his 
enemies,  nine-tenths  of  whom,  by  their  own  showing, 
each  measuring  another,  are  not  what  they  seem. 

There  is  no  excuse  for  crime  or  wron<»;  doinij:  but  I 
have  yet  to  find  the  man,  or  class  of  men  or  woukii 
without  nmcli  that  is  y;ood  as  well  as  nmch  that  is 
evil  in  them.  The  nmrderer  and  the  harlot  did  nut 
become  such  because  they  were  utterly  depraved,  but 
because  they  were  overtaken  by  some  evil  more  tlu 
fault  of  their  enviromnent  than  of  their  original  natuiv. 
The  honest  and  the  chaste  may  tliank  for  their  uii- 
tempted  virtue  conditions  void  of  the  allurement- 
which  otljerwise  might  have  made  them  the  thni^ 
they  so  contemptuously  scorn.  Tiiousands  who  walk 
the  street  with  head  erect,  honored  and  respected, 
would  long  since  have  met  the  felon's  fate,  had  their 
courage  been  equal  to  their  desires. 

During  the  flush  times  games  were  employed  to 
suit  all  tastes.  There  were  the  purely  games  of 
chance,  as  faro,  nionte,  dice ;  games  partly  of  chance 
and  partly  of  skill,  as  whist,  euchre,  poker,  backgam- 
mon; games  of  skill,  as  chess,  checkers,  billiards, 
(lames  which  require  much  thought  or  skill  are  never 
resorted  to  for  ]»oj)ular  heavy  gambling.  They  are  t(»o 
slow  and  there  is  too  nmch  labor  connected  with  tiieni. 
Something  more  quick  and  soul-stirring  is  what  is 
wanted.  Next  to  the  pleasure  of  winning  is  tlir 
[deasure  of  losing  :  stagnation  is  unendurable. 

The  term  gambler,  in  California,  refers  only  to  the 


prof( 
one  ^ 
tlie  ^ 
does 
bets  1 
that  i 
ever  J 
alway 
dresse 
turbal 
air,  a  I 
slowly 
inclitfei 
Servant 
sockets 
people 
contrac 
,  The  « 
times  if 
nature, 
tilized  ; 
is  crysti 
pom  man 
innnerse 
apl)ear  i 
^>n  thee 
f>utchery 
f^ion.     H 
own.     C 
iii(>n.     p 
attack  a  ( 
t^^'f-ept   a 
figlits  or 
stakes  to 
K;»od-]iuin 
United  wi 
ago.     He 
Pi'k,  but  1 
^viJl  kill  a 


Cal. 


TYPICAL  FLUSH-TIMES  CxAMBLER. 


708 


professional,  not  being  used  in  the  abstract  sense  of 
one  who  gambles.  The  grocer  deals  out  sugar  and 
the  gambler  cards;  he  who  buys  a  pound  of  sugar 
does  not  thereby  become  a  grocer ;  neither  is  he  who 
bets  upon  the  cards,  in  California,  called  a  gambler, 
that  term  being  applied  to  a  class  sui  generis.  Where- 
ever  found,  in  the  city  or  in  the  mines,  one  can  almost 
always  pick  them  out  in  a  crowd.  They  are  the  best 
dressed  men  one  meets ;  their  pale,  careworn,  imper- 
turbal)le  faces  wear  an  absent  but  by  no  means  greedy 
air,  and  as  they  stand  listlessly  on  the  corner,  cr 
slowly  and  carelessly  walk  the  street,  by  no  mtans 
iiiditferent  to  a  pretty  female  ankle,  their  calmly  ob- 
servant eyes,  which  are  somewhat  sunken  in  their 
sockets,  seem  to  possess  the  faculty  of  looking  through 
})eople  while  not  looking  at  them,  which  habit  was 
contracted  at  the  gamiiiij  table. 

The  character  of  the  typical  gambler  of  the  flusli 
times  is  one  of  the  queerest  mixtures  in  hunuiu 
nature.  His  temperament  is  mercurial  })ut  non-vola- 
tilized; like  quicksilver  in  cinnabar,  its  subtle  vivacity 
is  crystalized  or  massed  in  suli)hur.  Supreme  self- 
command  is  his  cardinal  quality;  yet,  except  when 
immersed  in  the  intricacies  of  a  game,  his  actions 
appear  to  be  governed  only  l)y  impulse  and  faney, 
()n  the  other  hand  his  swiftest  vengeance  and  cruellest 
butchery  seem  rather  the  nsult  of  policy  than  pas- 
sion. His  crimes  are  his  profession's  rather  than  liis 
own.  Confident  with  women,  he  is  audacious  with 
iiu^n.  Prompt  in  action,  expert,  he  is  as  ready  to 
attack  a  dozen  as  one.  He  is  never  known  t<  >  steal 
except  at  cards;  and  if  caught  cheating  hv.  either 
fiijjhts  or  blandly  smiles  his  sui  away,  suffers  the 
stakes  to  be  raked  down  without  a  nmnnur,  treats 
good-humoredly,  and  resumes  the  game  unruffled. 
United  with  the  coolest  cunninij  is  the  coolest  cour- 
ao;c.  He  is  as  ready  with  his  pistol  as  with  his  tooth- 
l>i<k,  but  ho  never  uses  it  unless  he  is  right;  then,  he 
Will  kill  a  man  as  mercilessly  as  he  would  brush  a  fly 


Cal.  Int.  Voc.    45 


706 


GAMBUNG 


from  his  immaculate  linen.  Yet  in  his  lonely  dispo- 
sition he  is  not  quarrelsome,  and  never  murders  ex- 
cept professionally.  He  is  a  man  to  be  feared,  and 
in  early  times  he  was  highly  respected.  He  is  all 
nerve,  electrical  in  his  organization,  and  depends 
wholly  upon  his  own  resources  for  justice  and  protec- 
tion. He  knows  not  fear;  life  to  him  is  but  a  shuffle 
and  a  deal,  in  which  the  chances  have  already  been 
calculated,  and  death  at  most  is  but  the  losing  of  the 
game — all  matters  of  indifferent  moment.  In  his 
disposition  he  is  magnanimous;  in  his  bearing  noble; 
in  his  actions  chivalrous.  He  will  not  do  a  mean 
thing;  he  discharges  his  pecuniary  obligations  with 
scrupulous  exactitude,  thus  putting  to  shame  the  so- 
called  English  gentleman,  and  never  disputes  a  bill. 
Desperate  in  an  emergency,  he  is  the  foremost  to 
bravo  peril;  the  most  unselfish  in  suffering,  and  en- 
dures misfortune  with  heroic  fortitude.  He  will  fight 
for  a  friend  as  quickly  as  for  himself,  and  share  his 
last  ounce  with  an  unfortunate  comrade.  He  will 
take  every  dollar  from  his  victim  should  chance  so 
order  it,  but  he  will  as  often  give  him  back  a  portion 
should  he  stand  in  need  of  it.  He  has  even  been 
known  to  hand  back  money  won  from  a  simple-mind  id 
youth,  with  the  advice  not  to  indulge  in  play  until  lie 
understands  it  better.  Should  a  secret  connnittee  of 
some  mining  camp,  seized  with  a  spasm  of  moral  re- 
form, order  him  to  leave  the  town,  he  receives  the 
sentence  with  calm  equinimity;  siiould  death  be  his 
portion  he  meets  it  with  barbaric  stoicism. 

His  pockets  are  alwa^-s  open,  but  his  philanthropy 
knows  no  formula;  he  will  contribute  to  estiiblisli  a 
church  or  a  brothel,  to  support  a  Sunday-school  or  a 
swindle.  He  has  his  code  of  honor;  but  such  thiii*j;s 
as  orthodox  conscience  or  conventional  morality-  he 
knows  not  and  cares  not  what  they  are.  In  niatt(  rs 
of  justice  he  will  act  the  unpopular  part  of  advocate 
for  a  penniless  horse  thief,  or  falsely  swear  an  alibi  to 
save  a  friend.     Over  and  over  are  told  of  them  tales 


oft! 

by  s 

panic 

penal 

of  w] 

rchgii 

Tiiere 

tJiat  ii 

tliis  p 

In  tlic 

holdtj  < 

accust( 
sary  c£ 
He  is  I 
numb 

Ivcencst 
tloalino- 

patron's, 
I»uts  on 
cut.     }r 
f''  >id,  an 
is  no  tre 
tlie  coIo] 
pression 
i'ldifferei 
l>ankrupt 
once  befi 
^'vo  feati 
••Z"  life  ar 
t'vo,  and 
profession 
fonsequer 

foinpJacei 
ti"Ms  of  1 
file  mere. 

i'xlifferenc 
fathers,  is 
'"'ss,  but 
tiiose  wh 


THE  TYPICAL  FORTYNmEE, 


707 


of  the  highest  heroism ;  how  one  and  another  stood 
by  some  contemptible,  ill-deserving,  chance  com- 
panion, knowing  all  the  time  that  death  was  the 
penalty  of  chivalric  devotion.  Chance  is  his  god, 
of  whom  he  is  a  most  faithful  minister.  Luck  is  his 
religion,  and  in  it  he  is  a  firm  believer  and  devotee. 
There  is  but  one  thing  certain  about  it  however,  and 
that  is,  sooneror  later  it  will  change.  To  know  when 
tliis  point  is  reached  is  the  sum  of  all  knowledge. 
In  the  practise  of  his  profession,  so  long  as  his  luck 
lioldb  out  good  he  never  tires,  and  takes  no  rest.  He 
accustoms  himself  to  do  without  sleep,  and  if  neces- 
sary can  go  for  several  days  and  nights  without  rest. 
He  is  a  temperate  man,  being  far  too  shrewd  to  be- 
numb his  faculties  when  he  requires  (jf  them  the 
keenest  perception.  Every  now  and  then,  while 
dealing  his  game,  he  orders  drinks  and  cigars  for  his 
patrons,  but  sips  sparingly  from  his  own  glass,  as  one 
puts  on  coal  merely  to  prevent  the  fire  from  going 
out.  He  deals  his  game  with  the  most  perfect  sang 
fr  )id,  and  when  undergoing  the  heaviest  losses  there 
is  no  trembling  of  fingers  or  change  of  expression  in 
the  colorless  face,  no  twitching  of  nmscles  nor  com- 
pression of  lips;  eye  and  manner  maintain  their  cold 
indifference,  and  if  compelled  at  last  to  announce  his 
bankruptcy  he  does  it  with  a  smile  such  as  never 
once  before  throughout  the  game  lighted  his  impas- 
sive features.  His  views  as  to  the  common  conduct 
of  life  are  philosophic  ;  in  manner  he  is  undemonstra- 
tive, and  in  speech  reticent.  In  the  practise  of  his 
profession  he  is  bold  in  his  operations,  and  fearless  of 
consequences.  His  listless  lounging  and  grave  self- 
complacency  contrast  strongly  with  the  fier}'  ebulli- 
tions of  his  surroundinsrs.  The  restless  emotion  <jf 
the  merchant  and  miner  he  regards  with  tranquu 
indifference.  He  interferes  little  in  the  affairs  of 
others,  is  not  specially  skilled  in  matters  of  busi- 
ness, but  he  weighs  and  measures  the  character  of 
those  who  play  with  him  with  the  utmost  nicety. 


708 


GAMBLINO. 


He  knows  perfectly  well  whether  one  who  draws  a 
pistol  or  a  knife  means  to  use  it ;  and  on  the  instant 
takes  measures  acccordingly.  His  brightly  polished 
weapons  are  always  at  his  elbow  ready  for  inmiediate 
use,  but  he  never  touches  them  unless  he  deems  it 
neccssar}^  and  then  only  to  use  them.  He  is  studi- 
ously neat  in  his  habits,  and  tends  to  foppishness  in 
his  costume.  In  the  city  his  coat  is  of  the  latest 
cut,  diamonds  adorn  his  shirt,  his  high  silk  hat  is 
black  and  glossy,  and  with  a  fancy-headed  cane  in  a 
gloved  hand  he  taps  his  closely-fitting  well-polislud 
boots.  In  the  mines  he  sometimes  atftcts  the  miner's 
dress,  but  his  woollen  shirt  is  gaily  embroidered,  and 
his  slouched  hat  clean  and  graceful.  A  chain  i.f 
gold  specimens  linked  together  is  attached  to  a  mas- 
sive hunting  watch,  and  massive  rings  of  virgin  gold 
and  quartz  encircle  his  soft  white  fingers.  His  sleek 
and  well  oiled  hair  is  neatly  brushed,  his  face  clostly 
shaven,  leaving  perhaps  a  mustache,  but  never 
whiskers  long  enough  for  exasperated  losers  to  seize 
hold  of  A  fine  cloth  cloak  is  sometimes  thrown 
loosely  over  the  shoulder,  and  round  the  waist  a  brig] it 
scarlet  silk  sash  supports  his  murderous  weapons. 
When  in  funds  he  travels  on  a  fat,  sleek  mule,  wirli 
yellow  buckskin  guantlets,  broad-brimmed  hat,  and 
large  silver  spurs;  if  overtaken  by  adversity  lie 
walks. 

The  professional  gambler  seeks  the  best  mines  and 
the  largest  crowds.  When  gold  begins  to  fail  he  mi- 
grates with  the  miners,  following  the  diggers  as  the 
sea  gull  follows  the  pelican.  Should  the  occupants  of 
one  camp  become  impecunious  or  disgusted  and  de- 
cline further  play,  he  quietly  packs  up  his  tools, 
mounts  his  mule,  and  is  off  for  another.  Thus  he 
may  have  to  go  for  mam  days  before  he  gets  a  game. 
In  mountain  towns  his  quarters  may  be  a  log  cabin, 
with  open  broad  fireplace,  larger  than  the  other 
cabins,  but  always  occupying  a  central  position.  In 
tenting  times  his  encampment  was  conspicuous  for  its 


ample 
juid  iti 

ItM 

I'ranci 

•sion  wi 

III  185 

i'lgs  de 

^^'ore  tl 

^  ous,  tl 

d;th.     J 

'•y    coil 

«l>lendoi 

\vas  sup 

^\(  re  gre 

fine  Iarg( 

•  xtendin, 

from  the 

tlie  mino 
"f  coin  a 
"■<'>N  like  I 
^>i'i,i,^htnes 
Til  ore  1 
tables  on 
.u'lttorino- 
and  bag's 
"'iglit  clio 
gaiiibling 
Withdi 
pi'oniiscuoi 
1  ill 're  wer 
••^'id  sliinin; 
*'"s;  miner 
•  's  CJiilian 
a'l'i  China] 
tontly  watc 
smoking,  c 
aiul  then  dr- 


IN  THE  CITY. 


709 


ample  accommodations,  the  whiteness  of  its  canvas, 
unci  its  gay  trimmings. 

It  was  in  the  larger  cities,  however,  such  as  San 
Francisco,  Sacramento,  and  Marysville,  that  this  pas- 
sion with  the  most  unbriddled  license  was  displayed. 
Ill  1850  on  two  sides  of  the  plaza  were  brick  build- 
ings devoted  almost  exclusively  to  gambling.  There 
wore  the  El  Dorado,  the  Bella  Union,  the  Rendez- 
vous, the  Empire,  the  Parker  House,  and  the  Veran- 
dah. Here  large  halls  were  fitted  up,  some  of  them 
Ity  companies  formed  in  France,  with  oriental 
splendor.  In  one  the  ceiling,  rich  in  fresco  and  gilt, 
was  supported  by  glass  pillars,  pendant  from  which 
were  great  y;lass  cha:ideliers.  Around  the  walls  were 
fine  large  paintings  of  nude  female  figures,  and  mirrors 
extending  from  floor  to  ceiling.  Entering  at  night 
from  the  unlighted  dismal  street  into  an  immense 
iDom  lii^hted  with  dazzling  brilliance,  and  loud  with 
the  minified  sound  of  nmsical  instruments,  the  clink 
of  coin  and  glasses,  and  the  hum  of  human  voices, 
was  like  passing  from  the  dark  deptlis  to  celestial 
brightness. 

There  were  long  rows  of  leather-covered  mahogany 
tables  on  which  were  temptingly  spread  out  heaps  of 
glittering  gold  and  silver  coin,  nuggets,  slugs,  bars, 
aiul  bags  of  dust,  and  whore  tlie  votaries  of  chance 
might  choose  from  every  game  known  to  the  civilized 
gambling  world. 

With  difficulty  one  elbowed  one's  way  through  the 
promiscuous  crowd  that  here  nightly  congregated. 
There  were  men  in  black  clothes,  immaculate  linen, 
and  shining  silk  hats,  merchants,  lawyers,  and  doc- 
tors; miners  in  woollen  shirts,  greasy  Sandwich  Island- 
ers, Chilians,  and  Mexicans;  Irish  laborers,  Negroes, 
and  Chinamen,  some  crowded  round  the  tables  in- 
tently watching  the  games,  others  lounging  about, 
smoking,  chewing,  spitthig,  drinking,  swearing,  now 
and  then  dropping  a  dollar,  or  a  five,  or  ten,  or  twenty. 


^.r,M 


710 


GAMBLING, 


or  fifty-dollar  piece,  with  real  or  well-feigned  indiffer- 
ence as  to  the  result.  Now  and  then  the  games  were 
momentarily  interrupted  by  the  crack  of  a  pistol,  and 
the  loungers  became  a  little  deuKiralized  as  the  ball 
whistled  past  their  ears  and  lodged  in  the  wall.  If  a 
man  was  killed  or  wounded  he  was  taken  out,  but  the 
nature  of  the  affray  was  left  to  be  learned  from  tlio 
morning  papers,  and  in  a  few  moments  all  was  as  h.'- 
fore.  Some  of  the  saloons  were  open  day  and  niglit, 
and  paid  enormous  rents;  six  thousand  dollars  a 
month  was  paid  for  the  El  Dorado.  There  were  also 
many  private  clubs  or  suits  of  rooms,  where  the  play- 
ers were  more  select  and  play  ran  higher.  Notliiiig 
but  gold  coin  was  used  in  these  i)laces,  and  tlie  stakes 
ran  into  the  hundreds  and  tliousands.  A  bet  of  any 
sum  less  than  five  dollars  was  regarded  as  contemi>ti- 
ble.  These  rooms  were  often  graced  or  disgraced  l)y 
the  presence  of  beautiful  women,  and  sumptuous  sup- 
pers were  served,  with  the  best  of  wines,  all  free  to 
the  i)atronizing  visitors. 

Like  those  of  the  pretty-waiter  saloons  and  dance 
cellars  of  later  times,  the  band  may  be  an  orchestra  of 
regular  nmsicians,  a  company  of  negro  minstrels,  a 
quartette  of  Mexican  guitars,  a  piano,  or  if  the  room 
and  counters  be  celestial,  a  Chinese  scrape,  squeak, 
and  slam-bang. 

Gambling  from  1849  to  1852  was  followed  in  Sau 
Francisco  as  a  regular  business,  and  there  was  no  dis- 
grace attached  U)  the  profi'ssion.  Among  tlie  dealers 
of  gambling  games  at  that  time  were  some  of  the 
most  influential  and  talented  citizens.  But  they  were 
a  transient  race  ;  they  have  gone  forever.  As  a  more 
refined  civilization  crept  in  and  overwhelmed  the  low, 
the  loose,  and  the  vicious,  gambling  sank  into  disre- 
pute. Law  drove  it  behind  locked  doors  and  into 
windowless  rooms.  Then  the  gay  gamblers  of  the 
olden  time  left  the  profession  to  a  different  class,  niicl 
sought  out  new  fields  of  distinction,  perhaps  in  poli- 
tics, law,  or  speculation. 


MONTE  AND  FARO. 


711 


The  position  of  monte-dealer  is  a  most  trying  one. 
Surrounded  by  the  clamor  of  the  crowd  ;  his  t'yes, 
while  apparently  intent  on  his  cards,  closely  scru- 
tinizing the  faces  and  fingers  of  the  Bettors  be- 
fore him;  his  mind  meanwhile  occupied  by  the 
progress  of  the  game,  which  involves  intricate 
and  continuous  calculation ;  then,  should  he  wish 
to  indulge  in  feats  of  skill  or  cheating,  he  must 
perform  them  at  the  peril  of  his  life,  under  scores  of 
eyes  riveted  with  vigilant  scrutiny  upon  his  fingers, 
and  be  ready  at  any  moment  to  resent,  if  deemed  best, 
with  knife  or  pistol,  the  merest  suspicion  of  dishonesty, 
sliould  any  one  of  the  players  imprudently  intimate 
it.  Faro  was  considered  the  more  dignified  and  re- 
spectable of  all  the  games,  and  was  played  mostly  by 
Englislimen  and  Americans,  while  monte  was  a  favorite 
with  the  French  and  Spanish.  Besides  tliese  were 
roulette,  rouge-et-noir,  rondo,  vingt-un,  chuck-a-luck, 
with  dice,  and  many  other  games. 

The  usual  stake  was  from  a  dollar  to  five  dollars, 
though  it  was  not  unconnnon  in  the  flush  times  to  see 
hundreds  or  even  thousands  ventured  on  the  turning 
of  a  card.  A  bet  of  $20,000  was  once  made  at  a 
faro  game  and  won  by  the  customer.  The  dealer 
counted  out  tlie  money  with  as  nmch  nonchalance  as 
if  it  liad  been  twenty  dollars  he  had  lost  instead  of 
twenty  thousand.  There  is  something  fascinating  in 
standing  by  and  watching  the  game,  as  the  painted 
cards  turn  up  their  leering  faces  and  read  the  [(layers 
the  meloilrame  of  their  folly.  It  seems  like  siiorting 
with  destiny,  and  telling  out  tV'o  tale  of  life  by  wor- 
shipful spots  and  figures. 

It  is  a  fine  thhig  to  get  a  peck  or  a  bushel  of  gold 
just  by  betting  for  it,  and  tlie  tremulous  rapture  of 
mingled  hope  and  fear  is  almost  compensatitui  enough 
even  if  one  loses.  And  after  all  "bucking"  at  a  faro 
bank  was  no  more  uncertain  and  nmch  less  trouble- 
some than  staking  time  and  sinews  against  the  Sierra's 
secret  pockets  and  auriferous  banks.     There  are  men, 


'm 


fi*; 


712 


GAMBLING. 


among  whom  may  be  classed  Sonorians  and  Chilians, 
who  mine  only  that  they  may  gamble,  whom  neither 
hunger  nor  thirst  nor  any  other  known  incentive  could 
stir  up  to  labor.  No  matter  how  purely  the  game  is 
one  of  chance,  the  player  arrogates  to  himself  some 
certain  skill.  Luck,  like  the  stellar  system,  has  its 
law  which  patient  study  is  sure  to  develop.  Then 
every  one  has  his  own  individual  luck,  which  like  a 
personal  deity,  should  be  conciliated;  so  tliat,  very 
naturally  and  very  properly,  the  player,  if  he  won, 
could  thank  himself  for  it,  whereas,  if  he  lost,  his  luck 
was  at  fault. 

The  gambler,  when  play  grew  slack,  would  stroll 
away,  sometimes  leaving  his  table  unguarded  in  the 
midst  of  a  heterogeneous  crew  of  cut-throats,  tempt- 
ingly loaded  witli  the  stuff  all  men  covet,  apparently 
regarding  it  as  safe  as  if  locked  in  the  vaults  of  tlie 
bank  of  England.  Few  possessed  the  temerity  to  rob 
a  gambler,  and  least  of  all  hi  a  place  where  sununary 
justice  would  be  quickly  meted  out  by  the  bystanders. 

In  certain  localities,  various  games  were  paraded 
hi  the  street,  or  from  low  shops  opening  on  the  side- 
walk. One  would  deal  three-card  monto  on  the  head 
of  a  barrel;  another  would  tempt  the  gaping  crowd 
with  thimblerig  played  with  a  golden  pea  upon  his 
leg ;  well-dressed  young  men  and  boys,  as  well  as  vll- 
lainous-lookhig  cut-throats  would  follow  soft-looking 
strangers  about  the  streets  offerin<j  to  bet  $100  or 
$200  on  some  trick  which  offered  to  the  outsider  an 
apparently  sure  thing.  On  Long  Wharf,  whc>re  at 
that  time  were  most  of  the  arrivals  and  de[)artures  to 
and  from  San  Francisco,  this  base  traffic  was  plied 
most  persistently.  At  almost  every  hour  of  the  day 
or  nioht  the  cries  of  the  French  monte-dealer  mijifht 
lie  heard:  "  The  ace  of  spades  1  the  ace  I  the  ace  I  A 
hundred  dollars  to  any  one  who  will  tell  tlie  ace  of 
spades ! "  But  these  were  the  bohemians  of  the  frater- 
nity, of  very  different  metal  from  the  regular  artist, 

Gathered  round  the  table  are  men  of  all  nations, 


play 

turc! 

lean, 

play( 

eyes, 

and  J 

inay 

M( 

consi( 

ties  ft 

-^fexic 

til  ere 

witli  t 

it  cam 

feature 

H'ill   SI 

niakeri 

Innu 
the  slir 
told  tal 

A  y( 

niission 
Fifteen 
^v!len,  i 
liave  al] 
tlie   mil 

i>itched 

to  his  d 

Allot 

lionio. 

I'eiiiaindi 

«it  a  nion 

^^'cre  ad( 

took  the 

tlie  reme 

A  1ms 

^'laku  his 

to  stay. 


SOME  EXAMPLES, 


m 


playinpf  or  watchin;^  with  morbid  curiosity  the  ven- 
tures of  others.  There  you  may  always  find  the  Mex- 
ican, the  most  constant  and  the  most  intrepid  of 
players,  with  his  broad  sombrero  drawn  well  over  his 
eyes,  and  in  his  bright-colored  serajie,  symbol  of  pride 
and  ])overty,  are  placed  his  well-worn  weapons.  You 
may  be  sure  if  he  is  not  playing  he  has  no  money. 

Monte  is  the  favorite  game  of  the  Mexican,  as  he 
considers  the  chances  nearer  equal  and  the  op[)ortuni- 
ties  for  foul  play  smaller.  Between  the  experienced 
^lexican  <;ambler  and  the  iimocent,  audacious  Yankee 
tliere  is  a  marked  contrast.  The  former  gambles 
with  the  coolness  of  a  fatalist;  what  nmstbe,  will  be, 
it  cannot  be  changed.  The  latter,  with  tongue  and 
feature,  displays  anger  or  joy  at  every  venture ;  lie 
will  succumb  before  no  destiny ;  are  not  Americana 
makers  of  destiny  ? 

Innumerable  are  the  stories  told  of  worshippers  at 
the  shrine  of  the  fickle  goddess,  beside  the  many  un- 
told tales. 

A  3'^oung  man  from  the  mines  conceived  it  his 
mission  to  break  a  gambler's  bank  in  Sacramento. 
Fifteen  hundred  dollars,  his  all,  were  speedily  lost, 
when,  turning  to  the  gambler,  he  exclaimed,  "You 
liave  all  my  money  ;  give  me  an  ounce  to  get  back  to 
the  mines  with."  Without  a  word  the  gambler 
])ltched  him  a  doubloon,  and  the  young  man  returned 
to  his  diijjjjin*;. 

Another  arrived  in  town  with  $19,000,  on  his  way 
home.  Depositing  $10,000  with  a  friend,  with  tlie 
rcinalnder  he  entered  a  brilliant  saloon,  seated  himself 
at  a  monte  table,  and  began  betthig  Soon  the  $3,000 
were  added  to  the  bank.  The  infatuated  man  tlicn 
took  the  remainder  of  liis  money,  and  notwithstanding 
the  reuKmstrances  of  his  friend,  staked  and  lost  it  all. 

A  husband  and  father  having  secured  sufficient  to 
iiiakii  his  family  comfortable,  determined  to  go  home 
to  stay.     The  night  before  he  was  to  have  started, 


^      « 


714 


OAMBLINO. 


being  overcome  of  liquor  taken  amidst  numerous  fare- 
wells, he  staked  and  lost  all  his  money  at  the  monte 
table.  Overwhelmed  by  the  thought  of  what  he  hail 
done,  In  his  drunken  frenzy  ho  seized  his  lost  gold  and 
broke  away  with  it,  when  the  dealer  drew  a  pistol 
and  shot  him  dead.  He  had  written  home  that  he 
should  arrive  by  the  next  steamer  1 

A  miner  entered  a  Sacramento  gambling  house  with 
$5,000,  and  sat  down  to  play.  In  less  than  an  hour 
he  won  .^100,000.  Continuing  with  the  determination 
to  break  the  bank,  his  winnings  were  reduced  to 
,^r)0,000,  when  thinking  bett'jr  of  the  undertaking,  he 
pocketed  the  njoney  and  withdrew. 

A  graduate  of  Harvard  law  school  came  to  Califor- 
nia in  1850.  He  was  betrothed  to  a  charming  girl, 
whom  he  hned  devotedly,  being  willing  to  endure  the 
pangs  of  separation  and  tlie  hardships  of  unaccustomed 
toil  to  secure  enough  to  support  her.  He  worked 
fait]  1  full V  on  Feather  river  for  ten  months,  durin*i 
which  time  he  lived  temperately,  and  neither  drank 
n.  r  gambled  to  any  extent,  llaxing  secured  some 
$12,000,  he  concluded  to  return  homo,  so  packing  up 
his  I'rt'ects  he  went  down  to  the  bay,  put  up  at  a  hotel 
in  San  Francisco,  and  there  waited  the  departure  of 
the  steamer.  In  strolling  through  the  gambling 
houses  of  the  town,  listening  to  the  "Home,  Sweet 
Home,"  or  other  nmsic  of  the  bund  that  stirred  his 
heari  and  carried  him  back  to  other  scenes,  as  every- 
body  did  in  those  days  he  now  and  then  dropped  a 
coin  on  the  table,  more  for  pastime  than  any  desire  of 
iiain.  One  nijjlit  he  allowed  himself  to  be  tarried 
away  by  the  fascinations  of  the  game,  until  almost 
before  he  was  aware  of  what  he  was  about,  more  than 
half  Ills  money  was  gone.  Then  in  a  moment  of  pas- 
sion tlie  infatuated  man  took  the  remainder,  and  rais- 
ing his  hand  and  bringing  it  down  upon  a  card  with  a 
heavy  blow,  cried  out,  "  Home  or  the  mines  I "  Slowly 
the  dealer  drew  the  cards  that  told  the  rash  man's 
destiny,  and  breathlessly  he  waited  who  thus  invoked 


HOME  OR  THE  MINES. 


716 


his  fate.  Another  instant,  liis  muscles  relaxed,  and 
he  sank  back  hito  his  seat  witli  the  hoarse  whisper, 
"The  mines,  by  Godl" 

One  day  a  monte-doaltT  appeared  upon  a  bar  which 
was  yielding  good  returns  and  making  rich  its  diggers. 
It  was  a  virgin  field  ;  no  one  of  ids  profession  had  ever 
before  outspread  his  encliantmenta  in  tliat  locality. 
Tlie  camp  was  stagnating  for  an  excitement;  its  occu- 
pants were  ready  to  seize  u[)on  any  pretext  for  relax- 
ation from  Iheir  long  and  profitable  labor.  They  had 
no  more  disposition  to  bet  than  they  had  to  fight 
IiidiaMs  or  hang  a  horse-thief,  l)ut  they  were  eager 
for  any  excuse  wliich  should  enable  them  to  rest  their 
limbs,  distract  their  minds,  and  increase  their  pota- 
tions. The  "sport"  took  up  his  quarters  at  the  best 
saloon,  and  drawing  forth  several  bags  of  lieavy  dust, 
round  and  fat,  and  gold  doubloons  and  silver  Spanish 
dollars,  temptingly  heaped  them  upon  his  table.  After 
invithig  all  hands  to  drink,  he  seated  himself  behind 
his  bank,  placed  his  weapons  conveniently,  then  care- 
fully unrolling  a  cliamois-skhi  package,  he  produced 
several  packs  of  thin  tough  well-kept  monte-cards, 
which  he  deposited,  not  without  an  eye  to  effect,  be- 
side the  gold.  Taking  up  one  pack  after  another,  he 
carefully  examines  each,  observes  closely  the  backs 
and  edges,  counts  them  over  several  times  to  see  that 
none  are  missing,  for  if  short  or  over  a  single  card  Jiis 
opponent  might  claim  the  whole  of  any  ;3tako  whether 
he  won  it  or  not.  Selecting  a  pack  which  best  suits 
his  fancy,  he  dexterously  shutttes  them  long  and  thor- 
oughly, passes  them  to  be  cut,  then  holding  them  sci- 
entifically half  crushed  in  his  soft  white  hand,  with 
the  faces  downward,  he  draws  from  underneath  tlie 
bottom  two  cards,  and  tlircnvs  them  face  ui)permost 
on  the  table,  crying,  "All  ready  1  Comedown;  make 
your  game,  gentlemen;  seven  of  spades  in  the  door; 
the  game  is  made ;  all  down.  No  morel"  Meanwliile 
tlie  miners  who  had  taken  their  seats  at  tlie  ends  ajid 
opposite  sides  of  the  table  from  the  dealer  put  down 


' 


r  1' 


716 


GAMBLING. 


their  bets,  some  on  one  card  and  some  on  the  otlier. 
Then  tummg  up  the  cards,  the  dealer  begins  to  draw 
from  the  top,  and  the  game  goes  on. 

At  first  the  gambler  lost  heavily ;  yet  quietly,  with 
uninipassioned  face  he  continued,  and  the  miners  were 
elated.  The  saloon-keeper  drove  a  thriving  trade,  and 
all  warmed  up  to  the  business.  Others  came,  in  twos 
and  threes,  until  not  a  man  was  left  at  the  diggings. 
Work  being  thus  suspended,  the  camp  yielded  to  the 
seductive  influence  of  play.  At  length  luck  left  the 
miners.  The  gambler  won.  Gradually  the  pile  on 
the  table  enlarged  until  after  three  days  of  roaring 
jollification  the  miners  were  bankrupt.  The  gambler 
and  saloon-keeper  had  all  the  money.  Instead  of 
returning,  with  their  returning  senses,  to  their  work, 
two  thirds  of  the  luckless  and  chagrined  individuals 
left  the  camp  within  a  week. 

There  was  a  beautiful  little  French  woman  who 
kept  a  roulette  table  at  the  north  end  of  Montgomery 
street.  There  were  many  such  in  San  Francisco. 
The  room  was  elegantly  furnished  like  a  boudoir. 
The  syren  sat  behind  the  table,  elegantly  arrayed  in 
black  silk,  her  face  fronting  the  open  door,  whirling 
her  wheel  most  bewitchingly  Before  her  lay  a  pile 
of  silver  dollars  and  gold  ounces.  A  tall  bony  New 
Englander,  brought  up  on  mush,  catechism,  and 
Poor  Richard's  almanac,  passing  by  stopped  to  survey 
the  scene.  He  caught  the  infection.  Throwing 
looks  of  languishing  love  into  her  melting  eyes,  gaz- 
ing upon  her  luscious  lips  and  voluptuous  form,  he 
entered  and  seated  himself  before  her.  First  he  lay 
down  gold  pieces,  then  silver,  all  the  time  almost  in- 
variably losing.  Then  he  brought  out  a  watch,  then 
another  watch,  and  another.  He  had  had  a  lucky 
game  of  poker  the  night  before  which  accounted  for 
the  watches.  The  charmer  swept  them  all  to  her 
side  of  the  table.  Finally  he  drew  a  ring  from  his 
finger. 

"  Combien  ?"  asked  the  woman. 


GOING  A  "BUND"  AT  MONTE. 


717 


"Three  ounces,"  answered  the  New  Englander 
despairingly. 

"Ohl  no,  no,  no,"  laughed  the  garaestress,  "une 
montre,  pas  plus." 

The  ring  brought  Imck  one  of  the  watches,  but  the 
next  whirl  swept  them  both  away  and  the  man  retired 
to  meditate  and  begin  the  world  anew. 

It  was  a  common  practise  for  miners  to  lay  an  un- 
opened bag  of  dust  upon  a  card,  call  the  amount  of 
his  venture,  and  if  he  won  receive  the  same  from  the 
dealer  without  opening  his  bag  at  all.  At  Stockton 
in  1850,  a  'sucker,*  as  one  of  his  nativity  was  called, 
entered  a  gambling  saloon  and  cast  his  eye  over  the 
several  monte  tables.  It  was  an  eye  which  with  its 
surroundings  resembled  a  dead  coal  dropped  into  a 
can  of  lard.  In  long  bristles  the  hair  hung  from  a 
flat  rakish  head  resting  on  shoulders  fit  for  a  Khodian 
Colossus,  and  surmounting  a  puncheon-shaped  body 
stuck  upon  keg-like  legs.  Stepping  up  to  a  table 
which  seemed  to  strike  his  fancy  he  leaned  over  and 
peered  into  the  face  of  the  dealer. 

"D*  ye  'low  a  man  to  bet  his  pile  on  one  kyerd?" 
he  innocently  asked. 

"Yes,  you  may  bet  your  pile,"  answered  the  dealer. 

After  a  long  search  within  the  folds  of  his  shirt  he 
drew  forth  a  bag  containing  his  treasures  and  slapping 
it  onthe  'caballo'  exclaimed :  "  I  go  two  ounces  on  that 
hoss."  The  first  time  he  lost;  the  next  he  won. 
Half  an  hour  of  fluctuations  saw  the  lUinoisan  loser  to 
about  the  extent,  as  the  dealer  thought,  of  what  the 
contents  of  the  bag  would  cover.  Hence  the  game 
waa  arrested  and  the  process  of  settlement  begun, 
"While  the  dealer  was  adjusting  the  scales,  the  little 
thick  man  stood  immovable  as  ft  pillar,  a  roseate  hue 
meanwhile  mounting  his  flabby  face;  but  when  the 
bag  was  open  and  bits  of  lead  instead  of  gold  greeted 
with  dull  unwelcome  stare  the  gamblcrs's  gaze,  tbe 
tub-like  man  began  to  revolve,  and  gathering  mo- 
mentum as  he  approached  the  door,  disappeared  amidst 


lis 


GAMBLING. 


the  uproar  of  laughter,  flying  tumolers,  and  broken 
curses  which  followed. 

One  night,  a  Mexican  with  his  face  half  con- 
cealed in  an  old  serape,  entered  the  El  Dorado,  and 
edging  his  way  through  the  crowd  stepped  before  a 
monte  table,  After  following  the  game  for  a  short 
time,  he  drew  forth  an  old  linen  bag  of  coin,  supposed 
of  course  to  be  silver  dollars,  and  placing  it  upon  a 
card  leaned  over  the  table,  and — apparently  forsaken 
by  his  usual  stoicism — watched  the  dealer's  fingers 
with  breathless  anxiety.  The  Mexican  won;  ^  <e 
dealer  with  quiet  indifference  pulled  the  bag  over  to 
him,  untied  the  string,  and  emptied  out  the  contents. 
His  face  turned  white  as  a  sheet,  even  his  customary 
coolness  deserted  him;  for  out  of  the  bag  had  rolled, 
not  silver  dollars  as  every  one  supposed,  but  golden 
doubloons,  more  than  enough  to  break  the  bank.  The 
gambler,  however,  borrowed  sufficient  from  his  neigh- 
bors and  paid  the  Mexican  who  withdrew  as  quietly 
as  he  had  entered. 

One  day  a  Mexican  rode  up  to  a  gambling  saloon  at 
the  Mission  Dolores.  Dismounting,  he  tied  his  horse, 
entered,  and  began  betting.  Soon  his  money,  pistols, 
and  all  his  belongings  were  gone.  Finally  his  horse 
was  staked  and  lost ;  but  this  was  more  than  he  could 
endure,  and  he  detennlned  to  save  it.  As  he  rose 
from  the  table  he  managed  to  upset  it,  and  while  all 
were  engaged  in  picking  up  the  scattered  money,  he 
slipped  out,  mounted,  and  galloped  away. 

There  was  in  San  Francisco,  about  1855,  a  specu- 
lator whose  business  consisted  in  organizing  lotteries 
on  a  scale  hitherto  unknown.  He  went  to  Europe 
for  the  purpose  of  collecting  an  interminable  assort- 
ment of  objects  of  all  kinds  suited  to  the  American 
taste,  and  during  several  months  had  a  great  exposi- 
tion in  one  of  the  principal  toWns  of  the  Union,  used 
all  kinds  of  wise  stratagems  to  announce  it,  and  ended 
by  realizing  a  profit  of  $50,000  or  $60,000.  The  col- 
lection which  he  exhibited  at  San  Francisco  was  a 


gall, 

ateu 

Titii 

Jotte 

was 

W 

erat(j 

offb^ 

recov 

for  t 

enoui 

he  ge 

at  th 

would 

and  k 

lose  it 

known 

an  asy 

The 
early  j 
what  1 
introdi 
less  iut 
and  be 
shroud( 
is  the  I 
receivt( 
the  ear 
the  stii 
dered,  t 
means 
into  fai 
has  lost 
tlie  mar 
and  exc 
gay  and 
almost, 
play  wit 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  POKER. 


719 


gallery  of  pictures,  which  were  much  admired  by  am- 
ateurs. They  were  miserable  copies  of  Reubens, 
Titian,  etc. ,  but  the  lucky  ones  who  drew  them  in  the 
lottery  had  perfect  faith  in  their  originality,  which 
was  guaranteed  in  the  catalogue. 

Wliile  threshing  near  Marysville,  a  man  with  invet- 
erate gambling  proclivities  had  both  of  his  legs  torn 
off  by  the  machine.  As  soon  as  he  had  sufficiently 
recovered,  he  started  on  a  tour  through  the  mountains 
for  the  purpose  of  raising  by  subscription  money 
enough  to  buy  him  two  cork  legs;  but  no  sooner  did 
he  get  together  $100  or  so  than  he  gambled  it  away 
at  the  firbt  gaming-table  he  could  find.  Then  he 
would  start  out  agam,  trailing  the  ground  on  crutches 
and  log-stumps,  begging  more  money  only  to  bet  and 
lose  it  again,  until  his  untoward  ways  became  generally 
known,  when  he  was  arrested  and  incarcerated  in 
an  asylum. 

The  following  tribute  to  the  game  of  poker  was 
early  paid  by  an  able  writer.  "  We  do  not  know  in 
what  happy  clime  the  great  game  of  poker  was  first 
hitroduced ;  the  name  of  the  man  out  of  whose  fathom- 
less intellect  it  soared  into  the  world  of  created  things 
and  began  to  fascinate  the  hearts  of  the  people  is 
shrouded  in  oblivion ;  but  we  do  know  that  California 
is  tlie  land  where  the  game  has  been  most  favorably 
received  and  industriously  cultivated  as  a  science.  In 
the  early  days  the  passion  for  taking  chances,  which 
the  stirring  incidents  of  mining  life  naturally  engen 
dered,  and  the  want  of  more  refined  and  ennobling 
means  of  amusement  caused  it  to  be  taken  at  once 
into  fjivor  by  the  Californians;  and  in  later  years  it 
has  lost  nothing  of  its  singular  popularity — rising  with 
tlie  march  of  civilization,  from  the  cabin  to  the  palace, 
and  exchanging  the  plebean  bean,  as  a  marker,  for  the 
gay  and  ornamental  ivory  cliip.  Every  Californian, 
almost,  understands  the  nature  of  the  game,  and  can 
play  with  more  or  less  art,  according  to  the  measure 


790 


OAMBUKG. 


of  his  intellect,  and  the  opportunities  he  has  had  for 
becoming  proficient."  The  future  historian,  whose 
name  will  naturally  be  written  on  the  highest  peak  of 
the  sun-crowned  Sierras  of  fame,  on  whom  shall  fall 
the  godlike  task  of  tracing  the  rise  and  progress  of 
draw  poker  in  this  state,  will  find  the  pathway  that 
leads  him  back  in  his  researches  to  the  barbaric  splen- 
dor of  1849,  strewn  with  rich  incidents  and  racy  anec- 
dotes of  notable  "hands"  that  have  been  held,  heroic 
"calls"  that  have  been  made,  and  gigantic  "blinds" 
that  have  been  promptly  seen." 

In  September  1858  a  little  game  of  "draw"  was 
played  on  the  classic  banks  of  Georgiana  slough,  in 
Sacramento  county,  which  is  worthy  of  notice,  for  the 
reason  that  it  proves  the  plastic  character  of  the  game, 
and  the  illimitable  resources  that  it  affords  the  skillful 
and  experienced  gambler.  One  evening  a  young 
man,  named  Stone,  who  had  been  de\  oting  his  atten- 
tion to  the  cultivation  of  sweet  potatoes  on  the  slough, 
and  had  just  disposed  of  his  crop,  was  seduced  into  a 
triangular  game  of  poker  with  two  professional  players, 
Budd  Davis  and  Garland  Adams,  who,  of  course,  had 
entered  into  a  conspiracy  to  pluck  the  young  and  in 
experienced  potato-merchant.  Retiring  to  a  little 
cabin  in  the  suburbs  of  Georgiana,  the  trio  sat  down 
at  a  rude  pine  table,  one  corner  of  which  was  gar- 
nished by  a  descendant  of  the  house  of  Bourbon,  of 
the  capacity  of  a  quart,  more  or  less,  and  by  the  dim 
and  flickering  light  of  a  tallow  candle,  began  to  court 
the  favor  of  fortune.  Stone  was  rather  a  flhity  sub- 
ject to  handle  for  the  reason  that  he  would  not  drink. 
and  was  so  excessively  cautious  that  he  would  not  bet 
unless  he  held  an  almost  invincible  hand.  For  a  time 
the  gamblers  were  undecided,  and  played  along  in 
meditative  silence,  winning  but  little  more  than  tl.c 
mere  ante-money  from  Stone,  who  paid  no  attention  tt) 
the  presence  of  the  royal  visitor,  and  could  not  be 
coaxed  with  ordinary  full  hands  and  fours  to  loosen 
hii  grip  on  the  potato^moaey.    Budd  Davis  finally 


DIVERS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


721 


took  a  long  pull  at  the  bottle  and  wns  equal  to  the 
emergency.  He  dealt  the  cards.  There  waa  some 
betting  before  the  draw,  and  soon  things  began  to  get 
lively.  Before  the  draw,  Stone  held  a  pair  of  kings ; 
he  drew  to  his  kings,  and  colored  to  the  very  roots  of 
his  hair  as  he  picked  up  the  cards  he  had  drawn,  and 
found  two  additional  kings  and  an  ace — making  his 
hand  absolutely  invincible.  His  agitation  was  plainly 
visible,  his  hand  trembling  pitifully  as  he  saw  Adams* 
bet  of  $20,  and  raised  him  $180  back.  Good  heavens  I 
can  it  be  possible  that  Budd  Davis  is  going  to  play 
against  that  invincible  hand  ?  Yes,  he  slowly  counts 
out  the  twenties  until  he  has  seen  the  $200  and  goes 
$260  better.  Adams  steps  out  for  the  appearance  of 
the  thing,  and  an  ominous  silence  reigns  round  the 
board.  Stone  has  $420  in  his  pocket,  but  a  suspicion 
that  something  is  wrong  begins  to  dawn  upon  his 
mind  and  the  flush  fades  from  his  face.  He  sees  no 
way  of  escape,  however,  and  stands  the  raise.  The 
hands  are  shown  down  and  Budd  defeats  his  four 
kings  and  an  ace  with  four  aces !  Of  course,  in  gam- 
bling parlance,  he  had  lifted  a  cold  hand  on  the  young 
man,  that  is,  one  already  prepared  from  another  deck 
of  cards  and  secreted  somewhere  about  his  person. 
He  was  arrested  at  the  instance  of  Stone,  and  tried 
before  a  justice  of  the  peace,  but  was  discharged  without 
Itunishment.  After  that,  we  presume.  Stone  devoted 
his  attention  to  raising  potatoes  instead  of  raising 
bets  and  going  it  blind. 

I  do  not  know  of  any  other  time  or  place  where 
could  be  found  a  servant  of  the  living  God  going  to 
an  emissary  of  Satan  for  aid  to  build  a  temple  to  the 
former,  for  the  express  purpo.se  of  utterly  confounding 
and  placing  under  foot  the  latter.  It  was  not  a  very 
praiseworthy  act  for  the  preacher  to  go  to  the  gam- 
bler on  such  a  mission,  and  of  the  two  the  man  of  sin 
shows  to  the   better  advantage.     The    omnipotent 


Cal.  Int.  Poc.   46 


722 


GAMBLING. 


creator  of  the  universe  begging  of  the  devil  a  few 
dollars  to  help  build  a  church  I 

It  was  in  Sacramento  in  the  winter  of  '49-50,  and 
the  man  was  a  well-known  baptist  clergyman. 
Passing  a  gambling  shop  and  hearing  the  chink  of 
the  much  desired  metal,  he  entered,  approached  a 
table,  and  made  known  his  want  to  a  man  with  an 
open  pleasing  face,  who  was  busy  bucking  at  the  tiger. 

'Church,  oh  yesl  People  want  churches  as  well 
as  gambling  houses.     How  much  do  you  want  ?  " 

"Whatever  you  choose  to  give,"  blandly  replied 
the  preacher. 

"Well,  you  see  the  twenty  on  that  card.  If  it 
wins  it's  forty,  and  it's  yours." 

It  won  and  the  preacher  took  the  forty  dollars 
from  the  courts  of  Belial  to  give  it  to  his  God. 

"Hold  on,"  exclaimed  the  gambler.  "  I  have  a  ten 
on  that  other  card.  You  may  have  that."  It  won; 
and  the  preacher  desired  to  be  off.  "Stop  a  minute," 
cried  the  man  of  sin.  "Put  your  sixty  dollars  on 
that  card,  and  you'll  have  a  hundred  and  twenty 
sure,  and  if  you'll  stand  by  me  we'll  win  enough  to 
build  the  whole  damned  concern." 

"Who  do  you  belong  to?"  apked  a  passenger  of  a 
colored  boy  on  the  Sacramento  boat  bound  down 
in  1850. 

"Don't  know,  sir,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Why  don't  you  know  ?" 

"Well,  when  I  come  aboard.  I  blong  to  mass  Sam 
White,  but  he  went  me  on  two  little  par,  and  de  clerk 
ob  dis  boat  he  win  me.  Den  Kernel  Smiff  he  beat  <lo 
clerk  on  a  bluff,  and  he  had  me  last;  so  I  can't  tell 
who  I  b'longs  to  till  the  game  closes." 

Many  a  man  has  fancied  in  vain  that  he  has  or  can 
devise  a  system  by  which  he  can  surely  win  in  tlie 
long  run.  "  One  of  the  marvels  of  San  Francisco,"  says 
an  English  adventurer,  "  is  its  instant  transformation 


at  a  ( 

into  J 

stores 

Jlng  I 

lifc,  op 

cit  J  w 

and  b 

usual 

few  w 

the  pi] 

I  foun 

it  mig] 

fortune 

directi( 

a  table 

ing.     i 

was  rai 

interva 

"K 

outside 

good  tu 

"'Y( 

sume  ? " 

'"Ce 

"'Th 

"'W 

win  ?  • 

"  'Dil 

"'Bu 

the  inte 

stake  is 

of  winnii 

" '  No 

how  yoi 

just  the 

win  as  n 

of  the  ba 

" '  The 

I  see  peo 


GOOD  ADTtCE. 


723 


at  a  certain  hour  each  evening  from  a  place  of  business 
into  a  city  of  hells.  The  closing  of  the  offices  and 
stores  is  the  signal  for  the  opening  of  a  host  of  gamb- 
ling saloons.  They  are  all  on  the  ground  -oor,  well 
lit,  opening  on  the  streets,  and  so  numerous  as  to  ex« 
cit .!  wonder  at  night  as  to  where  the  stores  can  be, 
and  by  day  where  the  saloons  are.  These  are  the 
usual  evening  resort  of  all  classes.  And  there  are 
few  who  do  not  occasionally  attempt  to  win  some  of 
the  piles  of  gold  and  silver  that  glitter  on  the  tables. 
1  found  myself  strongly  attracted  by  the  thought  that 
it  might  be  possible  to  cut  my  labor  short  by  a  few 
fortunate  ventures;  but  I  had  not  done  much  in  one 
direction  or  the  other  when  I  found  myself  playing  at 
a  table  where  one  of  my  fellow-passengers  was  deal- 
ing. As  I  had  barely  observed  the  man  on  board,  I 
was  rather  surprised  by  his  whispering  to  me  in  an 
interval  of  the  game: 

"'Keep  your  money  in  your  pocket,  meet  me 
outside  at  noon  to-morrow,  and  I  can  do  you  a 
good  turn.* 

"  *  You  come  to  California  to  make  money  I  pre- 
sume ? "  was  the  greeting  when  we  met  next  day. 

*'  *  Certainly,'  I  replied. 

"  'Then  take  my  advice,*  said  he,  'and  don't  play.* 

" '  Why,*  I  asked  laughingly,  *  is  it  so  difficult  to 
win?' 

"  *  Difficult  1'  said  he,  'it's  impossible.* 

" '  But  wlien  the  chances  are  so  nearly  even,  surely 
the  interval  between  the  minimum  and  niaximuiu 
stake  is  great  enough  to  allow  almost  a  certainty 
of  winning,*  I  said. 

"  '  Not  a  bit  of  it,*  was  the  answer.  *  No  matter 
how  you  arrange  your  stakes,  in  the  long  run  it  is 
just  the  same  as  if  they  were  all  of  one  size;  you'll 
win  as  many  as  you  lose,  and  have  the  percentage 
of  the  bank  against  you.' 

"  '  Then  all  those  symptoms  and  calculations  which 
I  see  people  following  are  a  delusion  ? ' 


724 


OAMBUNO. 


"  '  Entirely  so.  Thejr  are  merely  playing  against  a 
certain  event,  which  is  bound  in  the  long  run  tu 
happen  just  once  in  the  time  it  takes  for  them  to  win 
as  much  as  they  lose  when  the  event  happens ;  so  that 
they  can  make  nothing  by  it.* 

"  'But  surely  some  events  are  far  rarer  than  others, 
and  may  be  considered  impossible/  I  observed. 

"'Nothing  is  impossible  to  the  cards,  because  the 
events  don't  depend  on  each  other,'  was  the  answer ; 
and  he  continued.  'This  dollar  has  only  two  sides; 
suppose  I  toss  it  up  and  you  guess  wrong,  does  that 
make  you  any  more  likely  to  guess  right  next  time  ? 
Certainly  not.  I've  seen  men  guess  wrong  more  than 
twenty  times  together.  Besides,  if  you  play  only 
against  a  very  rare  event,  your  winnings  will  be  pri)- 
portionably  small;  and  consequently,  in  order  to 
double  your  capital,  you  must  play  so  long  as  to  give 
the  event  a  good  chance  of  happening.  Suppose  you 
play  against  losing  ten  times  running ;  you  can  tell 
exactly  how  often  you  will  do  so  by  reckoning  how 
much  your  stake  becomes  if  left  on  to  win  ten  times 
running.  One  piece  doubled  up  ten  times  becomes 
a  1024  ;  therefore  just  once  in  that  number  of  coups 
you  must  lose  or  win  ten  times  running;  and  you 
must  play  that  number  of  coups  to  win  as  much  as 
you  lose  when  it  comes.  The  game  can't  be  played 
without  risking  to  lose  as  much  as  you  can  win,  and 
the  best  way  of  doing  that  is  to  put  down  the  wholo 
sum  at  once.  You  have  just  as  good  a  chance  of 
doubling  it  as  by  any  way  of  dividing  it  into  uuall 
stakes,  and  you  don't  expose  it  to  being  dribbled  away 
in  percentage  to  the  bank.  But  if  you  are  wise  you 
won't  touch  the  thing  at  all.  I  noticed  you  in  the 
Killoojiey,  and  though  we  never  spoke  that  I  recol 
lect,  I  took  a  liking  to  you,  and  I  don't  mind  telling 
you  that  you  are  too  good  for  the  business.  If  you 
have  won  keep  what  you  have  got,  and  if  you  have 
lost  put  up  with  it.     No  gambler  is  ever  the  richer  for 


winni 

tiirouj 
(i  ar 

fessioi 

in  fi^u 

possibi 

tern  m 

In  a  gj 

the  lor 

time  tt 

the  ma 

extraor 

it.     li 

do  not  I 

pf  winn 

interest* 

until  th( 

have  ma 

which  a1 

fortunate 

ence,  I  g 

soon  den 

when  I 

leave  off 

being  ev< 

Ifc  wouldii 

such  an  c 

down  for 

labor,  ma 

should  be 

Every  un 

doubtful 

Every  pro 

tJie  future 

that  cannc 

"ThisC 

Perhaps  t 

deeming  p 

Probably 


THE  DOCTRINE  OP  CHANCE. 


725 


winning,  and  many  a  good  man  becomes  a  scoundrel 
tiirough  it.' 

"  Two  or  three  further  conversations  with  my  pro- 
fessional friend,  and  a  careful  analysis  of  the  chances 
in  figures,  convinced  me  that  he  is  right  as  to  the  im- 
possibility of  winning  by  systematic  play.  Any  sys- 
tem may  win  for  a  time,  but  all  must  lose  eventually. 
In  a  game  of  pure  chance,  luck  is  everything;  and  m 
the  long  run  that  must  equalize  itself.  In  the  mean- 
time the  bank  is  gaining  a  certain  steady  profit,  and 
the  maximum  stake  is  placed  so  low  as  to  prevent  any 
extraordinary  event  from  inflicting  a  serious  loss  upon 
it.  I  have  discovered  that  I  am  no  gambler,  since  I 
do  not  care  to  play  unless  I  think  I  have  a  certainty 
of  winning.  I  can  quite  understand  any  one  being 
interested  in  constructing  various  systems  to  play  by 
imtil  the  discovery  conies  that  none  are  infallible.  I 
have  made  several,  and  examined  many  more,  each  of 
which  at  first  seemed  as  if  they  must  win  forever ;  but, 
fortunately,  instead  of  testing  them  by  actual  experi- 
ence, I  showed  them  to  my  professional  friend,  who 
soon  demonstrated  their  weak  points.  He  says  that 
when  I  thoroughly  understand  the  chances,  I  shall 
leave  off  figuring.  He  says  the  very  fact  of  a  chance 
being  even  makes  it  impossible  to  beat  it,  otherwise 
it  wouldn't  be  even.  It  is  a  great  pity.  It  would  be 
such  an  easy  way  of  making  a  fortune  if  one  could  sit 
down  for  a  few  hours  a  day,  and,  without  risk  or 
labor,  make  a  certain  sum.  I  don't  see  why  there 
should  be  such  a  prejudice  against  gambling  in  itself. 
Every  undertaking  in  life  is  a  venture  more  or  less 
doubtful.  All  these  merchants  here  are  liable  to  fail. 
Every  profession,  marriage  itself,  is  a  lottery,  in  which 
tlie  future  happiness  of  a  life  depends  on  an  experiment 
that  cannot  be  undone. 

"  This  Califomian  expedition  of  mine  is  nothing  less. 
Perhaps  the  necessity  of  labor  and  judgment  are  re- 
deeming points  in  all  but  mere  chance  speculations. 
Probably  the  real  evil  of  gambling  consists  m  its 


726 


GAMBLING. 


looking  onl^^  to  the  end  or  reward,  and  aflbrdlng  no 
employment  for  the  higher  faculties  in  the  pursuit. 

"  It  is  impossible  to  fancy  any  artist  attaining  a  high 
degree  of  inspiration  who  thuiks  solely  of  the  money 
he  is  to  get  for  his  work.  I  see  how  it  is  with  me. 
In  this,  as  in  all  my  other  engrossments,  I  have  boii 
seeking  for  the  absolute.  It  seems  to  me  a  species  of 
atheism  to  say  that  there  is  no  infallible  system,  even 
for  playing  monte.  The  remark  that  'in  the  long 
run  nothing  is  impossible,  because  the  events  do  not 
depend  on  each  other,'  seems  capable  of  being  ai>plied 
to  a  very  different  line  of  thought.  If  in  the  long  run 
of  events  all  things  can  happen,  there  can  be  no  doni- 
onstration  of  a  special  providence,  neither  can  a  man 
who  believes  in  the  absence  of  a  controlling  will  or 
character  have  any  reason  for  objecting  to  any  system 
of  religion  on  the  score  of  its  improbability.  However 
great  niay  be  the  chances  against  an  event,  tlio-se 
chances  are  only  against  its  occurring  at  any  given 
moment.  If  the  opportunity  be  repeated  exactly  as 
often  as  there  are  chances  against  the  event,  it  is  an 
even  chance  that  it  occurs  once  in  that  number  of 
times.  If  oftener,  the  chances  are  actually  hi  favor 
of  its  happening.  It  is  an  even  chance  every  time 
whether  red  or  black  wins;  yet  I  am  told  that  one 
has  been  known  to  win  thirty  times  together.  The 
odds  against  such  a  series  are  over  a  thousand  millions 
to  one ;  but  in  that  number  of  attempts  it  becomes  an 
even  chance  that  it  occurs.  And,  inasmuch  as  tlie 
past  and  future  are  entirely  independent  of  each  other, 
the  most  improbable  event  may  show  itself  directly 
the  game  begins,  and  may  be  repeated  many  times  in 
rapid  succession.  Moreover,  an  event  is  brought  no 
nearer  to  happening  after  the  game  has  gone  on  for 
an  indefinite  time  without  its  coming.  It  does  not 
become  more  likely  after,  or  less  likely  before,  many 
hands  have  been  dealt.  Under  the  government  of 
chance,  therefore,  the  most  violently  improbable 
event  not  only  may,  but  must,  sooner  or  later  occur." 


O 

were 

the  ] 

they 

coun 

man^ 

Tlie 

befor 

the  si 

theb 

to  In( 

An 

tall  ai 

and   8 

wliich 

Duke 

so  nob 

this  Wi 

He 

or  smt 

and  sl( 

mind, 

dwellin 

the  wh 

had  noi 

as  he  w 

He 
and  as 
rather 
wealth, 
which 
the  mou 
There 
time  ev( 
sional  gj 
rum-sel]< 
fraternit 


ON  RICH  BAR. 


727 


So  ai^ued  this  Englishman. 


On  Rich  bar  of  Feather  river,  a  wild  rocky  region, 
were  gathered  in  1852  a  community  consisting  fur 
the  most  part  of  experienced  miners,  old  Californians 
they  might  almost  call  themselves,  having  been  in  the 
country  during  those  days  of  rapid  development, 
many  of  them  for  the  full  period  of  three  years. 
The  houses  were  mostly  of  cloth  in  the  spring,  but 
before  winter  log  cabins  were  scattered  along 
the  stream,  with  great  gashes  cut  by  the  miners  in 
the  bank  hill-sides  at  short  intervals  all  the  way  down 
to  Indian  bar. 

Among  the  rest  was  a  young  man  of  fine  physique, 
tall  and  strong,  well  built,  broad  shouldered,  muscular 
and  sinewy,  with  an  open,  frank,  intelligent  face, 
wliich  commanded  at  once  friendship  and  respect. 
Duke  John  was  the  nickname  the  miners  gave  him, 
so  noble  was  he  in  mind,  and  heart,  and  bearing,  and 
this  was  all  the  name  he  was  ever  known  by  there. 

He  was  steady  in  all  his  habits;  he  did  not  drink, 
or  smoke  or  gamble;  he  took  care  of  himself,  ate 
and  slept  regularly,  and  rested  on  Sundays.  His 
mind,  which  evidently  had  been  >ultivated,  seemed 
dwelling  on  some  object  or  purixjse  which  buoyed  up 
the  whole  man,  for  in  his  daily  work,  to  which  he 
had  now  become  quite  accustomed,  he  was  as  happy 
as  he  was  prosperous. 

He  had  some  money  when  he  came  to  the  bar; 
and  as  he  confined  himself  to  coyoting  in  the  banks 
rather  than  fluming  the  river  bed,  he  added  to  his 
wealth,  until  there  was  of  it  some  $20,000,  with 
which  before  the  snows  set  in  he  intended  to  leave 
the  mountains  and  return  home. 

There  were  gamblers  here  of  course.  By  this 
time  every  prosperous  mining  camp  had  its  profes- 
sional gamblers,  as  surely  as  its  butcher,  doctor,  or 
rum-seller.  The  very  fact  of  the  presence  of  the 
fraternity,  in  fat,  sleek  proportions,  was  the  best  proof 


OAMBUNO. 


of  the  prosperity  of  the  miners.  There  was  one 
gambler  in  particular,  Hudson  his  name  was,  a 
modest  and  refined  fellow,  thoroughly  honest  and 
sober — even  though  his  hair  was  of  the  dissembling 
color,  red — who  attended  to  his  business  as  faithfully 
and  methodically  as  did  the  merchant,  the  miner,  or 
the  baker,  dealing  usually  till  twelve  o'clock  at  night 
on  Indian  bar,  and  then  walking  up  to  his  boarding- 
house  on  Rich  bar  to  sleep.  Hudson  every  day 
passed  by  Duke's  claim ;  and  though  each  had  a  good 
word  for  the  other,  and  there  existed  the  best  of 
feeling  between  them,  Duke  never  thought  any  more 
of  patronizing  Hudson's  game  than  of  hiring  the 
doctor  to  amputate  a  perfectly  sound  leg.  He  did 
not  want  the  gambler's  money ;  he  was  very  sure  he 
did  not  want  the  gambler  to  get  his  money ;  he  had 
other  thoughts  and  occupations  for  both  his  mind  and 
money  than  gambling.  It  had  been  so  with  him 
ever  since  he  was  in  the  country,  now  three  years ; 
he  lived  a  perfect  life,  amidst  many  wild  and  abnormal 
doings,  and  all  without  knowing  it. 

One  Saturday  night,  after  a  hard  week's  work, 
during  which  he  had  been  much  alone,  feeling  that 
he  would  like  to  meet  and  talk  with  the  boys,  lie  went 
down  to  Indian  bar,  and  entered  the  large  canvas 
house  which  stood  in  the  middle  of  the  town  and 
served  as  drinking,  gambling,  and  general  congrega- 
tion shop.  With  its  strong  subdued  light  radiating 
far  into  the  darkness,  while  yet  upon  the  high  divide, 
separating  the  two  bars,  the  wayfarer  looked  down 
upon  it  as  on  a  great  glow-worm ;  or  if  fancy  struck 
another  strain,  then  as  the  canopied  entrance  to  the 
Anacheron  pit. 

It  was  early  yet,  and  gambling  had  not  fairly  set 
in.  To  drinking  saloons  and  gaming  tables  Duke 
John  was  as  indifferent  as  to  the  pack-saddles  and 
molasses  kegs  of  the  merchandise  store  when  he  had 
no  need  for  either.  He  would  not  drink  at  a  bar  any 
more  than  at  a  brook  when  he  was  not  thirsty.     His 


DUKE  JOHN. 


blood  was  warm  enough,  and  ran  its  happy  course 
through  healtliful  veins;  why  should  he  want  to 
quicken  it  with  poisonous  draughts?  He  knew  some- 
thing of  cards,  of  course;  he  had  seen  the  manipula- 
tion of  them  with  checks  and  coin  and  gold-dust  so 
often  and  continuously  of  late  that  he  knew  the  various 
games  as  well  as  any  one.  Indeed,  he  did  not  refuse 
to  play  upon  occasion,  or  if  he  felt  like  it ;  he  was  no 
prude  or  fanatic,  nor  was  he  at  all  afraid  of  himself;  he 
was  his  own  master,  but  he  was  no  gambler — that 
everybody  knew — and  he  really  never  felt  any  desire 
to  play. 

There  was  a  poker  game  in  the  room,  which  had 
just  started.  Two  of  the  persons  sitting  at  it  Duke 
knew;  the  other  two  seemed  to  be  late  arrivals — one 
of  them  was  clearly  not  a  miner,  or  woiking-man,  but 
from  his  dress  and  manner  would  be  called  a  sport. 
The  other  stranger  was  of  that  nondescript  cast  which 
would  not  surprise  a  bystander  to  see  it  assume  any 
shape  at  any  moment.  Duke  seated  himself  on  a 
bench  by  the  players  with  his  back  against  the  wall, 
and  listlessly  watched  the  game  while  discussing  the 
news  of  the  day. 

Presently  his  friend  was  unexpectedly  called  away, 
and  as  he  rose  to  go  he  said :  "  Here,  Duke,  i)lay  my 
hand  ;  I'll  be  back  directly,"  Duke  assented,  and  for 
half  an  hour  or  so  did  little  more  than  chip  in  cA 
keep  his  place  in  the  game. 

His  friend  not  returning,  Duke  gradually  paid  a 
little  more  attention  to  the  game,  and  became  really 
quite  aroused  when  he  found  himself  with  a  very  good 
hand  at  a  moment  when  the  two  strangers  entered 
upon  some  high  betting. 

"  Fifty,  is  it?"  said  the  sharper,  for  so  we  must  de- 
nominate the  sporting  man.  "  I  will  see  it,  and  go  a 
hundred  better."  It  was  now  Duke's  turn,  who  went 
in  and  raised  the  stake  a  hundred.  The  other  stranger 
passed  himself  out.  "  Five  hundred  better,"  exclaimed 
the  sharper,     "  Take  it,"  said  Duke,  who,  sitting  be- 


730 


GAMBLING. 


hind  three  jacks,  was  satisfied  that  he  had  the  better 
hand,  but  did  not  like  to  risk  so  largely  his  friend's 
money,  thoi^h  by  this  time  he  hardly  knew  whether 
he  was  playing  on  hi?  own  account  or  for  the  other. 
"  Cheap  enough,"  sneered  the  sharper,  as  he  spread 
out  on  the  board  his  hand,  which  could  boast  nothing 
hij^her  than  two  fours. 

I)uke  detested  bluffing.  His  nature  was  too  single 
and  straightforward  to  enjoy  indulging  iii  such  trickery 
himself,  and  he  did  not  like  any  better  to  have  it 
played  upon  him.  The  sharper  was  quick  enough  to 
discover  this;  he  discovered  also  that  Duke  was  not 
greatly  interested  in  the  game,  being  apparently 
unconcerned  whether  he  won  or  lost,  and  certainly 
having  no  intention  of  high  play.  And  a  sardonic 
satisfaction  warmed  the  scoundrel's  heart  as  he  saw 
that  at  last  he  had  been  able  to  put  his  finger  upon 
this  immaculate  young  man's  weakness,  upon  the  soft 
spot  in  the  character  of  one  whom  long  before  he  had 
become  satisfied  was  of  a  superior  order. 

For  an  hour  or  more  the  game  went  on,  and 
Duke's  friend  did  not  return.  Meanwhile  the  bet- 
ting became  heavier,  several  pots  rising  up  into  the 
thousands,  and  Duke  was  lai^ely  loser.  Of  course, 
now  he  was  playing  for  himself;  he  would  not  for  a 
moment  expect  his  friend  to  suffer  for  his  folly.  But 
he  himself  could  not  afford  to  lose  so  much  money, 
representing  as  it  did  weeks  and  months  of  toil  and 
self-donlal  He  would  play  for  even,  and  then  quit, 
he  said  to  himself;  and  here  should  end  his  first  an  1 
last  attempt  at  real  gambling.  For  he  felt  in  his 
sinking  heart,  in  his  boiling  blood,  in  his  face  flushed 
half  in  shame  and  half  in  anger — in  anger  at  his  own 
folly  and  at  the  leenng,  sneering  sharper  that  this  man 
was  playing  him  like  an  angler  a  fish  which  could 
not  escape  the  toils. 

On  went  the  game,  the  unfortunate  Duke  becoming 
more  and  more  involved.  He  had  not  with  him  so 
much  to  lose,  but  he  had  already  through  the  keeper 


Duk( 
tliat 


CAUGHT  IN  THE  TOILS. 


731 


of  the  saloon  made  his  credit  good  at  the  game,  for 
all  knew  well  that  he  would  never  be  led  to  venture 
what  he  could  not  pay. 

*'  Five  thousand  more  1 "  Hissed  forth  by  the  sharper 
came  these  words,  while  his  snake-like  eyes  were 
riseted  on  his  victim.  There  was  already  fifteen 
thousand  at  stake  on  the  board.  Duke  held  a  very 
good  hand,  three  kings  and  two  sevens ;  but  the  game 
had  drifted  into  such  wild  and  reckless  bluffing,  that 
the  best  hand  was  by  no  means  always  allowed  to 
take  the  money.  Even  now  the  sharper  might  have 
nothing  highe?"  than  a  ten  spot,  or  he  might  have 
four  aces ;  there  was  no  way  to  tell.  Duke's  hand 
was  good,  very  good,  considering  everything.  The 
chances  were  at  least  ten  to  one  the  sharper  could 
not  beat  it.  That  pot  would  make  him  whole,  and 
he  would  then  be  free  from  the  infernal  toils  in  which 
he  so  unexpectedly  found  himself.  On  the  other 
hand  it  was  ruin,  absolute  and  eternal  ruin,  he  felt 
and  knew  it  to  be,  if  he  lost.  But  his  hand ;  at  least 
ten  to  one  in  his  favor. 

Pale  was  the  face,  the  heart  irregular  and  jerking, 
and  hollow  and  sepulchiai  the  voice  as  the  words 
came  forth  "I  call  I" 

The  sharper  could  measure  accurately  enough  the 
Duke's  hand ;  he  knew  as  well  as  if  he  had  seen  it 
that  it  was  not  so  very  strong,  for  had  it  been  the 
young  man  would  have  manifested  more  confiden^-e. 
Nor  was  it  by  any  means  a  poor  hand,  else  he  would 
iot  have  called  him.  He  was  sure  enough  of  his 
victim,  as  with  a  Satanic  smile  he  slowly  laid  down 
on  the  table  one,  two,  three,  four  queens. 

Without  speaking  a  word  Duke  laid  his  cards  upon 
the  pack,  rose  from  his  seat,  and  beckoning  the 
saloon  man  to  follow,  walked  out  into  the  darkness, 
walked  on  through  the  darkness  until  he  came  to  his 
cabin,  when,  scraping  the  dirt  from  under  one  corner, 
brought  forth  four  bags,  each  containing  $5,000  in 
gold  dust.     ''This  will  make  it  good,"  he  said,  as  he 


iiilll 


7tt 


OAlfBUNO. 


handed  it  to  the  saloon  man,  who  thereupon  marched 
back  through  the  darkness. 

The  ruined  young  man  Hkewise  stepped  forth  into 
the  night  The  cabin  was  too  close  for  him ;  he  could 
not  breathe  within  those  so  lately  happy  walls.  "It 
is  like  a  dream ;  a  horrid,  horrid  dream.  So  sudden, 
so  accidental  I  Yet  it  is  no  dream,  would  to  Grod  it 
were !  Fool,  fool,  fool  I  No,  not  fool ;  fate  I  A  pistol 
ball  crashing  through  my  brain  as  I  entered  that 
room  would  have  been  no  less  looked  for,  could  have 
held  me  scarcely  less  responsible.  Why  fate,  or 
providence,  or  almighty  God  could  be  so  cruel  as  to 
tear  from  me  my  hard  earnings,  my  consecrated  gold, 
and  give  it  to  that  thief,  I  cannot  understand. 
Punishment?  I  deserve  no  punishment.  Punish- 
ment for  what?  I  am  an  honest  man,  aye  an  honest 
man,  and  thou  God  knoweth  it;  that  thing  is  a  thief, 
and  thou  God  knoweth  it.  This  is  omnipotent  jus- 
tice; hell  is  full  of  such  justice.  My  gold,  aye,  my 
consecrated  gold,  consecrated  to  her.  Ah  Christ  I 
to  her,  my  love  I  my  love  1 " 

Long  he  sat  upon  a  stone,  his  head  buried  between 
his  hands ;  then  slowly  arose,  walked  into  the  cabin, 
took  from  his  breast  a  well-worn  picture,  and  holding 
it  close  under  the  dim  light  of  the  candle,  drank  from 
its  lineaments  the  last  draught  of  a  thirsty  soul. 
"  Farewell,  sweet  angel ;  thine  have  I  ever  been ; 
thine  now  no  longer  ! "  Tearing  up  the  pasteboard  he 
scattered  the  fragments  about  his  cabin  floor,  blew 
out  the  light,  stepped  forth,  fastening  the  door  after 
him,  and  took  the  trail  up  the  river  to  the  high 
divide,  then  zig-zag  up  the  mountain.  The  moon  was 
now  abroad,  throwing  its  pale,  impotent  light  as  far 
as  it  could  into  the  black  caflon,  at  the  bottom  of 
which  shone  a  thread  of  silver  foam. 

"  Suicide  ?  Bah  1  I  am  no  sick  simpleton.  I  am 
a  man.  I  am  not  afraid  to  live.  I  can  suffer. 
Powers  of  heaven  or  hell,  I  defy  you  I  As  you 
have  done  to  me,  so  would  not  I  to  you.     Take  from 


A  RUINED  LITE. 


733 


the  honest  man  and  give  to  the  thief  I  Take  gold 
consecrated  to  the  highest  and  purest  affections,  and 
cast  it  before  swine  1  Omnipotent  justice  ?  Bah  I 
again,  I  say.  There  Is  none  such ;  no  omnipotence 
and  no  justice." 

Up,  up,  through  the  pale  moonlight,  zigzag  to  the 
mountain-top,  then  over  the  eternal  snows,  and  down 
toward  the  great  river  flowing  oceanward,  life,  love, 
justice,  heaven — words,  mere  words,  windy  words, 
words,  words  I 


e  'i 

Mil 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

DUELLING. 

Falntnff.  Honour  pricks  mo  on.  Yea,  Unt  how  if  honour  prick?  m*  off 
when  I  come  on?  How  then  ?  (Jan  honour  uet  to  a  leg?  No.  Or  an  arm? 
No.  Or  take  away  the  grief  of  a  wound?  No.  H.mour  liatli  no  Hkill  in 
surgery,  then?  No.  VVTiat  is  honour?  A  word.  Wliat  ia  in  tliat  word, 
lioiiiiur?  What  is  that  honour?  Air.  A  trim  reckoping !  \\\m  hath  it? 
Ho  that  died  o'WednescJay.  Uoth  he  foul  it?  No.  Doth  he  lu-ar  it?  No. 
'Tis  inspusihlo,  then.  Yea,  to  tlio  death  But  will  it  not  live  with  the  living? 
No.  Wiiy  ?  DetrfkCtion  will  not  suffer  it;  therefore  I'll  none  of  it;  honour  is 
a  mere  'scutcheon  and  so  ends  my  oatechism. 

The  time  is  i)ast  when  to  nii  average  intellect  the 
neeessitv  exists  of  deuounciou:  fluelliny;,  and  we  have 
now  only  to  regard  with  aatonisliment  the  boiHJnge  of 
our  a'H'estors  to  this  follv.  In  tiie  evolution  of  pro- 
gress, fashion,  that  ia  to  say  actively  exju-esscd  opinion 
or  belief,  is  constantly  undergoing  change  ;  indeed, 
change  of  belief,  and  corresponding  action,  is  ])rogr('ss. 
And  as  some  of  the  beJitfs  of  past  ages  arc  to  us  ab- 
surdities so  gross  that  wo  can  only  wonder  hf»w  some 
minds  could  for  a  niomeut  have  entertained  them,  so 
will  certain  of  our  creeds  and  conduct  appear  to  gen- 
erations following. 

Take  for  example  woman;  alonj;  the  liiL'hwavs  of 
liistory  how  variable  her  condition  I  Alternately 
slave  and  saijit,  n»»w  she  is  tlic  drudge  and  chattel  (vf 
man  and  nt>w  his  comj)anion  and  idol.  To  us  the 
strangest  of  all  strange  pa-ssions  that  ever  blotted  the 
human  heart,  seems  that  fnun  which  s])rung  the  cruel 
treatment  of  women  which  forn!(>d  a  prominent  feature 
in  ai.eient  ami  half-civihzed  warfare.  What  to  us 
could  possi!)ly  seem  more  unnotund  than  the  pietnre 
of  an  enraged  soldier  in  whom  blind  furvlmd  so  swal- 

( -■■.•» ) 


lowe 

byt: 

fair  ( 

Tl 

with 

SL-pp( 

whicl 

as  m 

beat 

huma 

blush 

own  i 

TJj. 

savagi 

vidual 

Ids   w 

tribes, 

ing  th( 

now  th 

mcmbt 

Tlie 

stition 

Were  n 

•Suflfere 

arbitra 

lible;  ( 

in  the 

intellec 

the  aln 

these  tl 

fastene* 

turios 

eradicat 

It    W'i 

tournai 
and  foHt 
that  th( 
tiona. 
place  of 


I 


] 


OBIOIN  OP  THE  DUELLO. 


78B 


lowed  all  other  passions  that  he  should  delight  to  drag 
by  the  hair  about  the  streets  of  a  conquered  city  its 
fair  dauiihters  in  torn  robes  and  with  bl^^ofUng  limbs  ? 

Then  there  is  the  institution  of  slavery,  which 
within  these  few  centuries  had  half  the  world  for  its 
supporters,  that  most  anomalous  of  social  anomalies, 
which  under  the  laws  of  man  enable  man  to  hold  man 
as  merchandise,  to  own  him,  order  him,  bind  him, 
beat  him,  kill  him — no  one  to-day  openly  upholds 
human  slavery  as  in  the  abstract  right  but  would 
blush  for  his  opinion  did  he  but  know  the  depth  of  liis 
own  ignorance  and  error. 

Tlie  origin  of  the  duello  may  be  sought  in  that 
savage  sentiment  of  justice  which  made  e\ery  indi- 
vidual the  indicator  of  liis  rijjlits  and  tlie  avi-Uiier  of 
his  wrongs.  Before  tlie  coalescence  of  wandering 
tribes,  and  in  the  absence  of  a  central  power  embody- 
ing the  delegated  riglit  of  individuals,  that  wliich  is 
now  the  tdtima  ratio  regum,  was  then  the  riglit  of  every 
member  of  the  patriarcltal  association. 

Thence  tlie  sentiment  assunie<i  tlie  form  of  super- 
stition. The  earlier  methods  of  deterinining  guilt 
were  no  less  imperfect  than  tlioso  at  present  m  force. 
Sufferers  saw  that  governors  and  judges  appointed  to 
arbitrate  betw(?en  accuser  and  accused  were  not  infal- 
lible; consequently  appeal  to  a  higher  power  direct, 
in  the  form  of  combat,  became  a  custom.  When  tlie 
intellect  v/as  so  far  emancipated  as  to  perceive  that 
the  almighty  did  not  interpose  the  finger  of  justice  in 
tlie.se  trials  of  brute  force,  tl.j  practice  hadalrtiuly  so 
fastened  itself  upon  society  as  a  fashion,  that  for  cen- 
turies neither  right  nor  reason  was  abU;  wholly  to 
eradicate  it. 

It  was  during  the  ago  of  clilvalry  wheji  tilts  and 
tournaments  encouraged  a  dis[>lay  of  personal  prowess. 
and  fostered  the  worship  of  couragu  and  punctilio, 
that  the  .luel  assumed  its  most  magnificent  propor- 
tions. In  legal  proceedings  it  sometimes  took  the 
place  of  an  oath,     Public  opinion  kept  the  practice  iu 


m 


736 


DUELUNO. 


vo 


J,  e  long  after  its  folly  was  seen  and  admitted,  even 
by  those  who  felt  obliged  to  recognize  the  code. 
Duelling  was  attackeo.  by  reason,  sarcasm,  and  elo- 
quence, long  with  little  apparent  avail.  The  best  cure 
was  to  withhold  all  sympathy  both  from  the  murderer 
and  the  murdered.  The  death  of  Hamilton  at  the 
hand  of  Burr  excited  national  sympathy;  yet  why, 
with  his  more  than  ordinary  insight  into  the  absurdi- 
ties of  the  practice,  and  his  more  than  ordinary  ab- 
horrence of  it,  he  should  be  entitled  to  extraordinar}" 
pity  in  the  display  of  his  weakness  I  cannot  understand. 

Why  is  it  that  when  of  all  animals,  civilized  man 
alone  finds  a  code  of  laws  necessary  to  his  social  exist- 
ence, that  in  his  fighting  attributes  the  nearer  lie  ap- 
proaches to  bull-dog  pluck  and  game-cock  endurance, 
the  nearer  he  imitates  the  prizefighter  and  the  sav- 
age in  his  killing  qualities,  the  more  manly  a  man  is 
he  ?  In  fighting,  points  of  emulation  and  honor  are 
taken  from  boasts,  but  in  the  necessities  of  govern- 
ment and  law  even  beasts  and  savages  may  well  hold 
us  hi  contempt. 

When  King  John  of  England,  for  the  health  of  his 
soul,  as  he  affirms,  though  in  truth  for  the  safety  of 
his  head,  reluctantly  granted  his  mailed  barons  the 
magna  cliarta,  the  keystone  of  English  liberty,  as 
Hallam  calls  it,  was  laid.  When  Martin  Luthor 
raised  his  protest  against  the  iniquities  and  errors  of 
the  church  bv  nailing  his  theses  to  the  door  of  tli(> 
Schlosskirke  at  Wurtenberg,  the  bull  of  excommuni- 
cation that  followed  enfranchised  half  Christendom. 
When  Thomas  Jefferson's  declaration  of  independence 
was  passed  by  the  congress  assembled  at  Philadelphia, 
the  latest  and  fairest  type  of  liberty  appeared,  stain- 
loss,  save  one  foul  blot,  and  that  by  the  emancipation 
proclamation  of  Abraham  Lincoln  was  washed  awav. 
We  who  inherit  the  fruits  of  these  several  displays  of 
progressional  phenomena,  and  which  embody  all  tho 
benefits  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  ;  we  whoso  gov- 
ernment is  the  mildest  uudcr  which  civilized  man  has 


A  VILE  PRACnCE. 


7»7 


yet  lived,  being  imposed  unconditionally  by  ourselves ; 
Vv'e  whose  beliefs  are  unsiiaekled,  and  whose  intellects 
are  wanton  as  the  air — were  it  an  attribute  of  human- 
ity to  be  absolutely  free,  surely  we  might  boast  our 
freedom. 

But  absolute  freedom  is  not  an  attribute  of  human- 
ity, or  if  it  be,  the  germ  of  such  freedom  does  not 
appear.  Since  the  days  of  feudal  serfdom,  of  trial  by 
combat,  of  inquisition  and  impositions,  some  progress 
has  been  made,  but  progress  only  of  certain  kmds  and 
in  certain  directions.  Palpable  bondage  we  object  to, 
and  thanks  to  our  forefathers  are  fairly  enough  rid  of, 
but  bondage  impalpable,  as  far  exceeding  the  other  as 
the  infinite  exceeds  the  finite,  yet  remains.  Fetters 
whicli  we  cannot  feel  we  wear  as  gracefully  as  ever. 

And  no  fetters  imposed  by  the  tyranny  of  fashion 
on  stupid,  ignorant  man  liave  been  more  galling  to  the 
wearers,  Imve  been  worn  witli  less  comfort,  bringing 
ikpon  tho.se  under  bondage  to  it  that  very  contempt  to 
avoid  which  they  subjected  themselves  to  it,  render- 
ing them  by  means  of  their  unhappy  adornment  all 
t]\e  more  ridiculous  in  the  eves  of  all  sensible  men — 
none  more  absurd  and  wicked  than  the  duello. 

Nor  may  we  yet  boast  our  freedom  from  it.  Though 
by  every  rigiitminded  member  of  society  a  duellist— 
juid  no  less  those  who  aid  and  abet  him — is  regarded 
a  nmrderer,  the  slave  of  a  savage  superstition  civilized 
by  senseless  fashion,  and  is  denounced  as  a  thing  vile 
atul  contaminating,  yet  the  wars  which  myriads  of  men 
itnlulgc  in  as  the  ultimate  appeal  in  the  settlement  of 
their  differences  is  but  another  phase  (»f  the  same 
superstition. 

What  can  there  be  more  hateful  and  unholy,  what 
rin  there  be  less  in  accord  with  their  profession,  and 
the  spirit  of  the  divine  Christ  which  they  aim  to  in- 
culcate, than  for  ministers  of  the  gospel,  ranged  on 
cither  side  of  a  bloody  arbitration,  to  mount  their 
)>ulpits  and  solemnly  invoke  the  god  of  battles  to  give 
them  victory  for  the  justness  of  their  cause  and  the 

C'Ai..  Int.  Poc.   47 


Ytl 


DUELLING. 


glory  of  his  name?  "Very  wonderful  1"  as  Dr  John- 
son would  say.     "Would  that  it  were  impossible." 

This  is  exactly  what  individual  combatants  did  a 
few  centuries  ago,  and  which  we  now  so  righteously 
condemn.  The  only  vital  diflerence  between  war  and 
the  duello  is  that  one  is  a  national  and  the  other  an 
individual  affair;  and  we  are  not  yet  sufficiently  ad- 
vanced in  reason  to  realize  that  what  is  wrong  in  a 
unit  of  the  nation  is  wrong  in  the  nation.  True,  when 
the  units  of  society  delegate  their  rights  to  a  general 
government  acting  for  the  common  good,  it  is  their 
duty  to  leave  them  there,  and  not  to  interfere  wicli 
the  functions  of  government  by  breaking  its  laws  in 
the  effort  to  right  their  own  wrongs.  Society  alone 
possesses  tlie  right  to  chastise.  But  should  the  gov- 
ernment become  impotent  or  corrupt,  and  fail  to  dosil 
justly  with  the  individuals  composing  it,  then  the  in- 
dividuals may  withdraw  the  rights  delegated,  and  act 
for  tliemselves  if  they  have  the  power.  Either  duel- 
ling is  right  or  war  is  wrong. 

In  Christian  countries  the  actions  of  men  are  meas- 
ured by  two  tests,  the  approbation  of  the  creator,  and 
the  happiness  of  the  creature,  though  as  tlie  subject 
is  more  closely  inspected,  one  test  appears  to  bo 
equivalent  to  the  other.  How  nmch  needless  disput'; 
there  has  been  about  reason  and  revelation,  their  con- 
tradictions and  absurdities.  Between  the  two  there 
is  no  discord,  else  reason  is  unreason  and  revelation  a 
lie.  The  law  of  nature  and  of  morality  and  the  law 
of  God  are  one;  not  that  God  and  nature  are  therein' 
made  one,  but  nature's  law  and  nature's  morals  arc 
God's  law  and  morals. 

Some  call  this  appeal  to  battle  Gr-d's  plan,  and  so, 
indeed,  it  is  ;  else  in  place  of  this  now  apparently  only 
way,  he  would  appoint  some  other.  Probably  reli- 
gious wars  have  exceeded  all  otliers  in  extent  and 
intensity  among  civilized  nations.  Now,  why  shouM 
God  wisl)  a  hundred  thousand  of  his  creatures  in  God's 
name  to  slay  another  hundred  thousand  who  asseniblj 


ABSURDITIES  OP  WAR. 


780 


to  the  slaughter  for  the  love  of  God  ?  Is  truth  found 
and  opinion  reconciled  tliereby  ?  Is  man  in  his  ulti- 
mate endeavor  only  physical  ?  The  killing  alters  no 
facts  in  the  case.  Must  reason,  then,  gu  for 
naught  ?  Can  no  way  but  brute  force  be  found  to  set- 
tle ultimate  dilferences?  Then  give  the  brutish  in 
our  nature  the  glory,  and  talk  no  more  of  the  ma- 
jesty of  mind. 

All  admit  that  war  is  an  evil — a  necessary  evil, 
some  say,  though  necessary  evil  implies  good,  for  the 
presence  of  the  evil  is  better  for  us  than  the  absence 
of  it;  hence,  war  is  not  an  evil  but  a  benefit.  In 
other  words,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  necessary  evil. 
War  is  an  evil;  who  is  to  blame  for  it?  Not  you  or 
I,  for  we  would  put  an  end  to  it  if  we  could  ;  not  tlio 
nation,  which  is  but  an  aggregation  of  you's  and  I's; 
not  the  rulers  of  mankind,  who  can  do  nothing  of 
lasting  moment  without  the  acquiescence  of  the  ruled. 
We  simply  know  that  it  is  ;  not  why  nor  whence. 

Virtue  they  call  it,  on  both  sides  the  same;  they 
are  noble  men  and  true,  they  who  fight  for  the  ideal, 
whatever  it  may  be,  religion,  country,  freedom.  Vir- 
tue then  wars  on  virtue;  this  is  the  truth  of  it,  for 
virtue  is  never  wholly  on  one  side,  and  he  is  virtuous 
who  fights  for  what  he  believes  right,  whether  he  be 
right  or  not.  Virtue  then  slays  virtue,  as  vice  kills 
vice.  War  and  religion;  strange  companion?<hip. 
One  kills  to  cure,  and  the  other  cures  to  kill.  Kill 
and  call  it  honor;  serve  God  and  butcher  his  people! 

Why  should  hate  be  glorified  ai.d  deadly  strife; 
that  thing  we  so  despise  in  brutes,  prize-figliterw, 
bull-fighters,  duellists, and  all  that  ilk,  why  in  nations 
should  we  so  exalt  it?  Both  to  the  memory  of  the 
slain  in  battle,  and  to  those  who  kill  them,  poots  raise 
their  most  exalted  strains,  and  God's  ministers  bless 
them  from  sacred  desks.  Hirelings  or  haters  it  is  all 
the  same,  if  they  fight  brutally  well  let  them  be  ex- 
alted. Let  truth  and  humanity  be  taught,  instead  of 
fanaticism  and  brute  force,  and  war,  liko  any  other 


710 


DUELLING. 


Ravagism,  will  l)ecoine  a  disgrace,  and  the  Boldicr  will 
carry  on  his  brow  the  curse  of  Cain. 

Single  combats  for  the  deciding  of  special  difTer- 
en(  e8  come  down  to  us  from  ancient  dates.  Many  are 
found  in  the  Illiad  of  Homer,  and  the  Hebrew 
scriptures,  the  Mahometan,  Greek,  and  Roman  records 
contain  the  accounts  of  some.  But  it  was  during  the 
Dark  Age  that  trial  by  combat  assumed  its  deepest 
color  of  superstition.  Attended  with  religious  cere- 
monies the  wager  of  battle  was  then  a  direct  appeal 
to  the  decision  of  the  almighty,  and  success  was 
proof  of  right.  The  ordeal  was  recognized,  and  in 
(criminal  cases  which  seemed  to  be  soluble  in  no  other 
way,  ganctioned  by  law. 

Upon  the  establishment  of  the  dogma  of  Francis 
T.  that  "  the  lie  was  never  to  be  put  up  with  without 
satisfaction,  but  by  a  baseborn  fellow,"  lies  were 
classified  and  thirty -two  distinct  methods  of  satisfac- 
tion pronounced.  From  France  duelling  then  spread 
ia[)idly  all  over  Europe.  During  the  reign  of  Louis 
XIII.  duelists  would  join  the  left  handa  and  stab 
each  other  with  the  right;  they  would  enter  a  dark 
or  lighted  room  and  there  remain  until  only  one  could 
]o.a\c.  Females  have  fought  their  duels  in  France 
Finally  edicts  were  issued  for  its  suppression,  but  the 
custom  had  become  so  rooted  to  the  sentiment  of 
honor  that  pardons  were  almost  as  frequent  as  the 
offence. 

To  obviate  the  necessity  of  personal  encounter, 
tribunals  of  honor  for  the  reconciliation  of  disputes 
in  the  army  were  established  in  Prussia;  if  the  court 
failed  in  its  purpose  the  duel  took  place,  and  after 
the  offence  imprisonment.  The  students  of  the  Ger- 
man universities  indulged  freely  in  ^.his  pastime,  wear- 
ing armor  and  fighting  with  swords;  but  the  boys 
seldom  hurt  each  other.  In  England  duels  became 
more  common  as  society  became  more  refined  and 
orderly;  disputes  were  settled  by  the  individuals 
themselves  rather  than  by  more  general  engagements. 


Eng 

ignoi 

dueli 

Two 

in  A 

often 

leade 

parti* 

In 

there 

all  tj 

hearti 

to  ki] 

thems 

the  CO 

event 

which 

how  a 

a  wron 

greatei 

husbai] 

infamo 

To  call 

tagonia 

duellist 

all  men 

ing  bra 

tardy  " 

for  thei 

Bytl 

butcher 

follow  f( 

as  a  fag 

grossly 

sort   of 

efficiency 

very  qua 

iraltntion 

order  wii 


THE  CODE  IN  CALIFORNIA. 


741 


England's  gi'eatest  statefsnicn  were  not  so  great  as  to 
ignore  the  custom.  The  Irish  were  famous  for  their 
dueUstic  proclivities.  The  Scotch  were  more  wary. 
Two  Plymouth  serving-men  inaugurated  the  system 
in  America  in  1621,  and  subsequently  Boston  has 
often  indulged  in  this  method  of  arbitration.  The 
leaders  of  the  revolution,  and  of  subsecjuent  political 
parties  were  not  above  this  superstition. 

In  the  hostile  encounters  of  the  California  miners 
there  was  that  same  directness  which  characterized 
all  their  proceedings.  Simple-minded  and  single- 
hearted  they  did  not  understand  why,  if  they  wished 
to  kill  a  man,  they  should  at  the  same  time  set 
themselves  up  to  be  killed  by  him.  That  might  bo 
the  code;  but  it  was  a  very  foolish  code.  In  any 
event  it  was  murder;  but  it  made  a  vast  difference 
which  did  the  killing.  They  could  not  understand 
how  a  debt  should  be  cancelled  by  increasing  it,  how 
a  wrong  should  be  avenged  by  covering  it  with  a 
greater  wrong,  or  how  the  honor  of  the  outraged 
husband  or  father  should  be  healed  by  permitting  the 
infamous  tempter  of  female  chastity  to  shoot  him. 
To  call  it  cowardly  to  take  at  disadvantage  an  an- 
tagonist was  of  no  avail,  for  they  would  tell  you  that 
duellists,  whipped  to  position  by  public  opinion,  are  of 
all  men  the  greatest  cowards.  Therefore,  with  blaz- 
ing brain  and  blood  red  hot  they  did  not  wait  for  the 
tardy  "lie  direct;  the  "reply  churlish"  being  enough 
for  them. 

By  those  who  deal  in  human  blood,  who  make  the 
butchering  of  their  fellows  a  profession  which  they 
follow  for  gain  or  glory,  as  well  as  those  who  adopt  it 
as  a  fashion,  the  terms  courage  and  cowardice  are 
grossly  misapplied.  In  civilized  warfare  courage  is  a 
sort  of  military  idolatry,  fostered  for  the  greater 
efficiency  of  the  organization.  It  is  composed  of  the 
very  qualities  which  it  affects  to  despise,  emulation, 
imitation,  and  fear.  The  soldier  dare  not  brave  an 
order  with  an  opinion,  dare  not  appear  to  be  afraid, 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
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Photographic 

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23  WEST  MAIN  ST^fET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14S80 

(716)  872-4503 


«y  S'3^  ///// 


fA 


DUELLING, 


dare  not  listen  to  conscience,  to  humanity,  to  right  or 
reason.  Soul  and  sense  alike  are  sunk  in  a  slough  of 
brute  persistence.  Discipline  demands  it,  we  are 
told ;  and  the  more  fully  this  dehumanizing  process 
has  been  carried  out,  the  more  effective  the  army. 
The  brutalization  of  the  man  is  the  first  step;  then 
infure  a  fiendish  spirit,  and  place  all  under  the  re- 
strictions of  necessary  forms,  and  you  have  an  organ- 
ization fit  for  scientific  slaughter.  And  the  more  to 
blind  our  eyes  to  the  hideous  creation,  we  make  it 
the  nation's  moral  ideal.  Courage  becomes  synono- 
mous  with  virtue;  whatever  interferes  with  the 
growth  and  exercise  of  courage  is  deemed  vicious. 
With  the  ancient  Romans  the  culture  of  the  fine  arts 
was  regarded  a  vice. 

The  sentiment  as  found  in  the  duel  is  much  more 
frivolous.  The  bravery  of  the  duellist  is  bravado; 
his  heroism  is  based  on  pusillanimous  timidity.  No 
man  whose  hate  is  so  deep-seated  and  vindictive  as  to 
be  satiated  only  by  another's  blood,  will  place  his  own 
life  within  the  range  of  equal  probabilities  of  sacrifice 
unless  driven  to  it  by  that  power  most  appalling  to  its 
votaries,  public  opinion.  Cowardice  underlies  the 
courage  of  the  duellist.  He  fights  because  he  dare 
lii  t  refuse.  Religion,  right,  reason,  are  swallowed  in 
the  abject  terror  inspired  by  the  frown  of  his  asso- 
ciates. Half  crazed,  it  may  be,  in  the  performance 
of  his  unwelcome  obligation,  he  stands  before  his  ad- 
versary the  captive  slave  of  cowardice,  whose  uncon- 
trollable thoughts  seem  to  whirl  him  along  in  frenzied 
dance  like  an  Orestes  or  a  Hamlet. 

To  all  such  scarecrows  as  sv)ciety  courage,  the  cut- 
throats of  the  Californian  Inferno  were  profoundly 
indifferent.  Did  one  wish  to  kill  another,  one  sought 
the  other  and  slew  on  sight.  Or,  if  fired  by  ambition, 
the  informal  duellist  might  give  notice  that  he  was 
then  upon  the  war  path,  and  should  shoot  a  certain 
man  if  not  first  shot  by  him.  But  it  was  only  where 
murder  was  raised  to  a  fine  art,  as  among  journalists, 


MISSION  DUELLING  GROUNDS. 


743 


politicians,  and  those  whose  bread  depended  upon 
public  opinion,  that  persons  were  found  so  lost  to 
moral  courage  and  manliness  as  to  decline  to  fight 
where  they  had  no  desire  to  slay. 

Glacus,  the  Spartan,  consulted  the  oracle  at  Delphi 
concerning  the  restoration  of  certain  money  in  his  pos- 
session to  the  rightful  owner.  "  May  I  not"  he  asked, 
"  purge  myself  by  oath  after  the  Greek  fashion  and  so 
keep  the  money  ? '"  Thus  from  his  courage,  as  Glacus 
from  his  honestv,  the  duellist  in  vain  beseeches  his 
gods  to  deliver  him. 

Socrates,  if  he  wished  to  punish  an  enemy,  would 
let  him  escape  punishment.  "If  he  has  stolen  a  sum 
of  money  "  he  says,  "  let  him  keep  it,  and  spend  it  on 
him  and  his,  regardless  of  religion  and  justice  ;  and  if 
he  has  done  things  worthy  of  death,  let  him  not  die, 
but  rather  be  immortal  in  his  wickedness."  So  would 
not  the  miners  of  California. 

Of  all  men  in  the  community  during  that  epoch  of 
our  history  when  insult  could  be  washed  out  but  by 
blood  alone,  those  who  mouthed  it  most  loudly,  and 
with  sanctimonious  visage  sighed  over  the  desecration 
of  our  holy  law,  were  the  first  to  break  it  when  what 
they  called  their  honor  was  at  stake. 

The  duelling  grounds  in  early  times  were  at  the 
Mission.  There  was  no  need  of  secrecy  in  those  days, 
for  sheriffs  and  judges  never  attended  except  as  spec- 
tators. Some  of  the  most  noted  duellists  of  the  day 
sat  upon  the  supreme  bench  and  talked  soberly  about 
the  unsound  principles  of  the  anarchic  and  revolu- 
tionary vigilance  movement,  and  how  by  it  all  rights 
of  persons  and  security  of  prt)perty  founded  on  consti- 
tutional compact  and  legal  form  would  be  destroyed. 

How  vain  and  absurd !  Honest,  order-loving  men 
may  not  strike  one  blow  at  a  public  scourge,  one  blow 
for  the  commonwealth,  for  themselves,  their  friends, 
yet  their  judges  and  those  who  denounce  them  shall 
forsooth  be  praised  for  jumping  from  the  bench  and 
breaking  the  law  for  the  simple  gratification  of  a  hot 


:7U 


DUELLING. 


passion.  What  was  the  duello,  which  code  most  of 
these  men  recognized,  but  an  appeal  to  private  combat 
for  offences  alleged  to  have  been  committed  against 
the  arbitrary  rules  of  society,  against  courtesy  or  eti- 

3uette,  so-called  laws  of  honor,  which  courts  of  law 
id  not  recognize  ? 
Journalists  and  politicians  were  those  who  most 
delighted  in  this  sort  of  argument.  Their  honor 
seemingly  required  more  care  than  that  of  others,  and 
it  was  necessary  to  keep  it  well  patched,  and  not  ex- 
pose it  too  recklessly.  But  among  the  sporting  fra- 
ternity the  code  found  some  adherents,  and  now  and 
then  a  butcher  and  a  baker  attempted  to  balance  their 
books  in  that  way,  so  that  altogether  there  was  at  one 
time  a  new  duel  for  every  issue  of  the  Sunday's  paper. 
"Je  veux  biendtretue;  mais  mouille,  non."  "lam 
willing  to  be  killed,  but  I  am  not  willing  to  be  wet," 
cried  Sainte-Beuve  as  lie  stood  in  the  rain  before  Du- 
bois, and  regardless  of  the  expostulations  of  the  sec- 
onds, fired  four  shots  from  under  an  umbrella. 

Among  the  encounters  of  the  early  Spanish  Amer- 
ican adventurers  were  those  of  Velasco  and  Ponce  de 
Leon,  who  during  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
chose  a  narrow  bridge  near  Madrid,  where  they  were 
to  fight  without  armor,  in  doublet  and  hose,  with 
spears ;  of  Ojeda  and  Nicuesa,  who  at  Santo  Domingo 
talked  of  settling  their  differences  by  combat,  until 
the  latter  stipulated  that  each  should  put  up  $25,000 
to  fight  for;  of  Nunez,  the  young  page  of  Cortes,  who 
at  Mexico  in  1521  begged  permission  to  accept  the 
challenge  of  a  Mexican  of  great  prowess,  who,  armed 
with  sword  and  buckler,  defied  the  Spaniards  to  single 
combat.  After  a  desperate  struggle  the  page  slew 
his  antagonist,  and  bore  to  Cortes  the  spoils  of  victory. 
But  the  most  notable  afiair  of  those  in  which  America 
was  interested,  was  the  challenge  and  almost  immedi- 
ate death  of  Diego  Alvarado,  who  oiFered  to  fight 
with  Hernando  Pizarro  in  Spain  in  1539.     Pizarro 


EARLY  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


1# 


had  unjustly  condemned  and  executed  Almagro,  Al- 
varado's  friend.  Five  days  after  sending  the  challenge 
Alvarado  died,  and  dark  suspicion  fell  on  Pizarro, 
whose  misdeeds  in  Peru  were  well  known,  and  who 
was  subsequently  confined  for  twenty  years.  Cortes 
himself  had  frequent  affairs  of  honor  before  coming  to 
America. 


Pillet,  of  the  Pacific  Fur  Company,  in  May  1813 
at  the  Spokane  house  in  Washington,  fought  a  duel 
with  Montour  of  the  Northwest  Company  with  pocket 
pistolsat  six  paces.  Both  were  hit ;  one  in  the  coatcollar 
and  the  other  in  the  trowsers'  leg.  Two  men,  one 
from  each  of  the  respective  companies,  acted  as  sec- 
onds.    The  wounds  were  all  duly  healed  by  the  tailor. 

Unhappy  the  day  that  brings  accursed  culture  to  a 
simple  home.  Civilization  teaches  savagism  how  to 
cheat  at  gambling,  how  to  give  and  accept  a  challenge, 
but  when  it  comes  to  actual  fighting  then  each  pre- 
fers its  own  way.  In  August  1814  a  chief  at  Fort 
Spokane  was  accused  by  a  gigantic  Scotch  trapper, 
McDonald,  of  having  played  unfairly  while  gambling, 
and  was  told  that  he  must  come  out  and  fight,  for  he 
had  been  insulted  and  either  he  or  the  Scotchman 
must  die,  for  the  world  was  not  large  enough  to  hold 
a  Scotchman  and  a  Spokane  who  had  gambled  and 
quarrelled.  When  the  chief  was  informed  of  the  or- 
thodox way  affairs  of  thail  kind  were  conducted,  he 
greatly  wondered  that  men  could  be  so  foolish  as 
openly  to  stand  before  each  other's  fire,  and  insisted 
that  they  should  retire  to  the  woods  where  each 
might  choose  a  tree  to  stand  behind,  and  dodge  for 
the  first  fire.  Failing  to  agree,  friends  interposed  and 
the  belligerents  were  pacified. 

In  1845  a  man  was  brought  before  a  judge  in  Ore- 
gon for  challenging  another  to  fight  a  duel,  and  in 
accordance  with  a  law  just  passed,  he  was  fined  $500 
and  disfranchised  for  life.  In  truth  there  seemed 
to  be  more  challenging  than  fighting,  a  genuine  chal- 


'ii'M 


I     I 


m 

ti 


746 


DUELLING. 


lenge  being  almost  equivalent  in  importance  to  a  duel 
in  many  places. 

In  1 8 1 6  Jose  de  la  Guerra  y  Noriegn  and  one  Aspiroz 
were  dining  at  Governor  Sola's  house  when  they 
quarreled,  and  the  former  challenged  the  latter.  The 
governor  and  two  padres  \vrote  to  Aspiroz  begging 
him  to  withdraw  the  challenge.  There  the  matter 
rested,  but  the  feud  was  not  wholly  healed  until  five 
yeois  later. 

It  was  common  among  the  Hispano-Californians  to  re- 
sort to  the  duello  as  a  cure  for  jealousy,  and  for  quarrels 
over  cards  or  elsewhere.  They  usually  fought  with 
knives  or  old  swords,  and  they  cut  one  another  at  a  terri- 
ble rate  until  fatigued,  when  they  would  rest,  or  until  one 
cried  enough,  when  the  other  would  dictate  terms. 
Witnesses  were  not  allowed.  Common  places  of 
meeting  were  the  Huerta  Vieja,  the  Huerta  del  Rey, 
and  Canada  de  la  Segunda. 

In  a  Canada  near  Santa  Bdrbara,  in  1825,  Cabo 
Canuto  Borondo  and  Meliton  Soto,  paisanos,  fought  a 
duel.  Soto  was  the  challenger,  and  there  were  no 
witnesses  to  the  affair.  Civil  proceedings  were  insti- 
tuted, and  the  matter  was  likewise  referred  to  the 
ecclesiastical  court.  Father  Duran  as  vicario  foraneo 
made  the  following  report.  The  church,  he  says,  can 
not  look  with  indifference  on  the  almost  certain  and 
eternal  damnation  of  those  who  die  in  a  duel,  and  has 
accordingly  imposed  the  most  terrible  punishment  to 
prevent  such  wickedness,  namely,  "excommunion 
mayor  late  sententia  ipso  facto  incurrenda."  The  bull 
"detestibilum"  of  Pope  Benedict  XIV.  denied  burial 
in  consecrated  ground  for  those  who  died  in  conse- 
quence of  this  offence,  an  offence  springing  from  a 
most  pernicious  custom,  introduced  by  the  devil  to 
capture  men's  souls.  The  plea  of  ignorance  would 
not  answer  for  an  excuse ;  only  absolution  ad  causelam 
would  make  right  the  hereafter. 

In  the  mission  archives  of  San  Diego  I  find  that  in 


CALIFORNIA  CASES. 


747 


1836,  for  sending  a  challenge  to  fight  a  duel,  Thomas 
Russell  was  fined  ten  dollars  and  confiscation  of  hia 
pistol,  or  ten  days  in  the  guard  house.  In  1841 
Uribe  was  fined  five  dollars  for  offering  to  fight  a  duel 
with  a  bone ;  and  Ybarra  was  fined  a  dollar  and  a  half 
for  accepting  the  challenge.  This  last  mentioned 
amount  was  more  than  Terry  paid  for  killing 
Erode  rick. 

In  1843  the  noted  Indian  chief,  Gdscolo,  was  the 
terror  of  the  San  Josd  jurisdiction,  which  for  jears  he 
had  kept  in  a  state  of  constant  alarm.  He  was  tall  in 
person,  of  a  deep  bronze  color,  and  with  a  look  of  cau- 
tion in  his  eyes ;  very  ferocious,  and  in  a  hand-to- 
hand  fight  as  valiant  as  he  was  savage.  Ever  an  en- 
emy of  the  white  man,  during  his  long  career  of  de- 
predation and  murder  he  never  pardoned  him  wlio  fell 
into  liis  hands.  Francisco  Palomares,  a  noted  Indian 
fighter  and  by  his  own  showing,  although  de  razon  no 
less  of  a  savage  than  Gdscolo,  thus  describes  the  lat- 
ter's  death 

Having  committed  some  peculiarly  atrocious  mur- 
ders near  San  Josd,  G6scolo  was  pursued  by  Corporal 
Pena,  and  the  escolta.  of  that  mission,  consisting  of 
some  five  or  six  men,  accompanied  by  100  of  the  mis- 
sion Indians  de  giierra.  Pena  came  upon  Goscolo's 
band  unawares,  and  arranged  his  vastly  superior  force 
in  a  circle,  which  gradually  contracted  round  Goscolo 
and  his  followers,  who,  to  a  man,  died  fighting  within  it. 

One  of  Pena's  auxiliaries,  a  personal  encni}'^  of  G6s- 
colo,  asked  leave  of  his  commander  to  challenge  him 
to  single  combat.  This  permission  was  given,  Pena 
ordering  the  battle  to  be  temporarily  suspended. 
Thereupon  the  mission  Indian  in  his  own  tongue 
challenged  G6scolo,  who  accepted,  and  moved  to  an 
unobstructed  spot  near  by,  whither  the  challenger 
followed  him.  The  high  contending  parties  were  each 
armed  with  a  bow  and  arrows.  Within  view  of  the 
opposing  forces  they  began  to  shoot  at  one  another. 
At  each  shot  both  advanced  a  little,  or  mauceuvred 


i 


\  \W\ 

m ! 


I; 


w 


DUELLING. 


for  better  position.  This  continued  for  nearly  an 
hour  before  either  was  wounded.  Finally,  after  they 
had  advanced  to  within  a  few  yards  of  each  other, 
the  niissicn  Indian  contrived  to  drive  an  arrow  through 
his  adversary's  heart. 

Goscolo's  death  was  the  signal  for  the  resumption 
of  the  suspended  battle,  and  his  disheartened  followers 
soon  succumbed.  Pena  caused  Goscolo's  head  to  be 
brought  to  him,  and  with  his  own  hands  affixing  it  to 
his  lance,  carried  it  to  the  mission  of  San  Jose,  where 
he  ordered  it  nailed  to  a  tree  in  front  of  the  church 
door,  and  there  it  remained  for  two  or  three  months. 
After  G6scolo's  death  there  was  a  notable  diminution 
of  Indian  depredations  in  the  San  Jose  jurisdiction. 

Fremont  and  Mason,  while  at  Angeles  in  1847,  in- 
dulged in  the  pastime  of  making  faces  and  calling  each 
other  bad  names.  Fremont  did  not  like  Mason  over 
him  as  master,  and  Mason  did  not  admire  Fremont's 
behavior  as  subordinate.  Fremont  thought  Mason's 
plan  was  to  provoke  a  challenge,  and  then  to  kill  him 
with  a  shotgun,  in  the  use  of  which  Mason  was  very 
expert,  while  Frdmont  was  not.  Fremont  then  studied 
patience,  but  that  was  worse  than  the  shot-gun;  his 
distempered  thoughts  at  length  broke  into  violent 
words,  and  almost  before  he  knew  it,  trial  by  shotgun 
was  upon  him.  Then  swiftly  passed  death-missivrs 
to  and  fro,  and  a  fearful  preparation  for  combat,  wlicn 
General  Kearny  placed  his  veto  upon  the  sanguinary 
frolic,  and  the  soil  of  California  was  spared  the  threat- 
ened draught  of  bad  blood. 

Joshua  W.  Collett,  captain  in  the  United  States 
army,  was  slain  in  a  duel  in  Mexico  in  1848.  In  De- 
cember of  this  year  Salvador  Nieto  was  condemned 
to  six  months'  public  labor  by  a  jury  of  six  of  Lis 
countrymen  for  challenging  Nicolas  Silvas  to  combat 
and  firing  a  pistol  at  him.  Silvas  was  subjected  to 
three  months'  labor  for  accepting  the  challenge. 

At  Eureka  in  1850  the  somewhat  stale  play  of  a 


A  SHAM  DUEL, 


749 


sham  duel  came  off,  the  only  feature  ahout  it  making 
it  worthy  of  mention  being  the  narrow  escape  from 
tleath  of  the  victim.  The  fact  is,  those  wonmnless 
towns  would  do  anything  for  fun.  Two  friends,  Ray- 
mond and  Tucker,  quarreled;  the  former  challenged, 
and  the  latter  accepted.  Both  were  brave  and  noble 
young  men,  but  Tucker  was  the  best  shot.  He  did 
not  wish  to  kill  his  friend,  however  easily  he  might 
do  so;  indeed,  he  would  not  hurt  a  hair  of  his  head. 
Sliotguns  were  the  weapons,  but  instead  of  balls, 
which  had  been  agreed  upon,  the  guns  were  loaded 
with  blank  cartridges.  This  was  known  to  Tucker, 
but  not  to  Raymond  or  his  second.  To  the  five  hun- 
dred opt;n-mouthed  and  panting  spectators  the  trick 
was  likewise  unknown  and  unsuspected.  At  the  first 
fire  Tucker  fell,  and  the  red  gore  spilled  from  his 
breast.  The  crowd  was  stricken  with  horror.  The 
prostrate  man  was  carefully  taken  up,  and  borne  to 
the  house  of  a  friend.  Raymond  fled,  and  escaped  the 
fury  of  tlie  people,  for  Tucker  was  a  favorite.  The 
man  who  acted  as  Raymond's  second,  however,  was 
less  fortunate,  and  before  he  was  fairly  away,  amidst 
angry  cries  of  "  Seize  him  1"  "Hang  him  1"  a  rush  was 
made,  and  it  was  only  by  declaring  to  them  the  joke 
tliat  his  life  was  saved.  Raymond  lived  three  weeks 
in  the  belief  that  he  had  killed  his  friend. 

Following  is  a  copy  of  a  California  challenge  : 

San  Francisco,  August  3,  '54. 
Mr  W.  R.  Graham. 

Sir — Your  denial  this  morning  of  the  arrangement 
made  between  us,  and  your  insulting  conduct  in  that 
connection,  leaves  me  no  resource  but  to  demand  the 
redress  that  a  gentleman  has  a  right  to  expect. 

Tliis  will  be  handed  you  by  my  friend,  Judge  Mc- 
Gowan,  who  has  full  authority  to  act  for  me. 

Respectfully, 

M.  E.  Flannaoan. 

Some  time  in  January  1851,  Mr  Walker,  one  of  the 
editors  of  the  San  Francisco  Herald  expressed  fears 


M'    Ml" 


li  i 


750 


DUELLING. 


that  the  public  administrator  and  probate  judge  had 
pickled  rather  than  preserved  a  certain  estate.  Tlie 
administrator  took  exceptions  to  such  personalities 
and  threatened  to  cowhide  the  editor.  W.  H.  Gra- 
ham, a  friend  of  the  probate  judge,  then  wrote  an  in- 
sulting letter  to  the  editor  which  provoked  a  challongo. 
They  fought  with  pistols  and  Walkf^r  was  woundid. 
Captain  Folsom  assisted  in  loading  tiie  pistols,  wliich 
the  seconds  seemed  unacquainted  with,  and  witnossotl 
the  fight.  Graham  was  arrested  and  held  to  bail  in 
the  sum  of  $5,000. 

The  same  year  W.  H.  Graham  and  H.  Lemon  ex- 
changed several  sjiots  with  revolvers,  one  of  which 
wounded  the  latter  in  the  shoulder. 

A  difficulty  arose  between  Hopkins,  deputy  collector 
and  Taylor,  inspector  at  San  Francisco  in  1851.  They 
agreed  to  meet  at  Benicia,  but  Taylor  was  arrested 
and  placed  under  bonds  to  keep  the  peace. 

E.  Stanley  and  S.  W.  Inge,  representatives  in  con- 
gress at  Washington  in  1851,  one  from  North  Caro- 
lina and  the  otlier  from  Alabama,  after  a  foolish  and 
empty  jangle  of  words  upon  tlie  floor  of  the  house, 
withdrew  with  pistols  in  order  to  kill  each  other. 
After  the  exchange  of  one  shot,  fearing  if  continued 
some  one  might  be  hurt,  an  aperture  of  escape  was 
found,  and  the  farce  ended.  These  men  both  figured 
subsequently  in  California. 

S.  Wethered  and  otie  Schaffer  exchanged  sliots 
with  guns  in  1851  and  were  stopped  by  the  authorities, 

If  Christians  fight,  may  not  heathen  ?  Meek  in 
manner  and  peaceful  in  action  as  the  Chinese  ordina- 
rily are,  they  are  yet,  on  occasions,  capable  of  the  most 
coid-blooded  savagery,  and  will  slash  each  other  to 
pieces  with  diabolical  zest.  Their  ideas  of  the  code 
are  particularly  murderous.  A  dispute  occurring:; 
among  a  number  of  them  on  the  Mokelumne  river  in 
the  spring  of  1851,  relative  to  certain  money  matters, 
the  interested  parties  locked  themselves  in  a  (^•^l•k 
room,  and  proceeded  to  arbitrate  the  matter  sum  ma- 


DURING  THE  FLUSH  TIMES. 


m 


rlly  with  knives  and  iron  bars,  resultin*?  in  the  slaying 
and  maiming  of  most  of  tiionj.  How  they  distin- 
guislied  friend  from  foe  is  a  mystery  ;  but  to  do  so 
was  part  of  the  performance.  Bloodless  barbarians 
as  they  are,  these  people  are  not  wanting  in  that 
reckless  disregard  for  life  which  more  civilized  nations 
soberly  term  heroism. 

During  the  first  week  in  September  1851  George 
McDougal  and  E.  C.  Kemblc,  editor  of  the  Alta  ('(di- 
fnniia,  met  twice,  Komblo  being  the  challcngor.  The 
law,  jealous  perhaps  of  the  ancient  form  of  trial  by 
combat,  interfered  at  both  meetings,  and  meanwhile 
the  blood  of  the  belligerents  cooled. 

Out  among  the  bushes  in  the  suburbs  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, on  the  10th  of  September,  1851,  Joseph  L. 
Folsom,  graduate  of  West  Point,  captain  in  the 
United  States  army,  chief  of  the  quartermaster's  de- 
partment on  the  northwestern  coast,  first  American 
collector  in  California,  and  operator  in  Leidesdorff  es- 
tate and  Yerba  Buena  sand  hills,  met  A .  C.  Kussell, 
both  bent  upon  offering  on  the  altar  of  their  vengeance 
the  life  of  the  other,  that  honor — without  which 
Mexican  wars  and  advance  in  San  Francisco  real 
estate  brought  no  solace — now  smeared  and  sulky, 
might  be  appeased.  It  was  just  becoming  dark  on 
the  evening  of  that  day,  when  these  men  mt  t  to  kill 
each  other.  The  rabbits  and  quails  paused  he  fore  re- 
tiring, to  witness  the  singular  spectacle.  None  of 
them  had  ever  before  seen  a  duel  fought,  as  the  cus- 
tom did  not  obtain  among  any  species  of  beast  kjiown 
to  them.  After  two  shots  each,  the  fiery  combatants 
embraced  and  went  home.  The  rabbits  and  quails 
were  disi^usted. 

A  conundrum  was  the  cause  of  it ;  it  takes  but 
little  stirring  to  set  effervescing  bad  blood  mixed  with 
bad  whiskey.  Wine  they  called  it  this  time;  wine, 
conviviality,  and  conundrums.  In  October  IKfil  at 
Nevada,  George  M.  Dibble,  a  whilom  midshipman, 


m 


DUELLING. 


told  E.  B.  Lundy,  a  Canadian,  that  ho  was  a  liar. 
Now  it  is  a  small  matter,  comparatively,  to  bo  a  liar, 
but  a  threat  one  to  be  told  of  it.  Lundy  replied  with 
opprobrious  epithets,  when  Dibble  challenged  him. 
The  figiit  came  off  on  the  Yuba,  about  eighteen  niihs 
from  Nevada;  pistols,  fifteen  paces.  Dibble's  pluit 
was  to  draw  Lundy's  fire  and  then  deliberately  to  kill 
him.  At  the  signal  Lundy  fired,  and  with  an  oatli 
Dibble  exclaimed.  *'You  have  fired  too  soonl"  Dib- 
ble's second  asked  him,  "Are  you  satisfied?"  Whero- 
ui)on  Dibble  opened  his  coat  and  exposed  the  places 
where  the  ball  had  passed  through  his  body.  Ho 
was  thoroughly  satisfied.  Pushing  aside  those  who 
offered  to  sui)i)ort  him  he  walked  about  1 50  yards  and 
fell,  dying  in  about  twenty  minutes.  If  all  trials  by 
combat  might  end  as  justly  as  this,  one  could  almost 
sanction  this  species  of  arbitration.  Tlie  man  killed 
gave  the  insult  and  gave  the  challenge  ;  it  was  simply 
right  that  he  should  die.  Lundy  was  arrested  and 
the  seconds  gave  themselves  up  voluntarily. 

John  Morrison  killed  William  Leggett  at  the  third 
fire  in  1852.  This  was  a  year  prolific  in  pistoling. 
A.  C.  Peachy,  legislator,  and  James  Blair,  goverment 
officer,  figure  in  the  duelling  annals  of  1852.  About 
the  first  of  March  o  this  same  vear,  a  war  of  words 
occurred  at  Sacramento  between  ex-governor  William 
Smith  and  David  C.  Broderick,  which,  however,  was 
amicably  settled.  The  governor's  son,  J.  Caleb 
Smith,  was  not  satisfied,  and  came  out  in  a  card  in  the 
Democratic  State  Journal  of  March  10th,  publishing 
Broderick  as  a  liar,  scoundrel,  and  blackguard.  Both 
were  in  San  Francisco  at  the  time,  and  it  was  ex- 
pected that  soon  there  would  be  a  first-class  street 
fight.  Nearly  a  week  passed  without  a  collision,  and 
the  crowds  began  to  grow  tired  of  congregating  on 
the  corners  to  witness  the  show.  At  length  the  gladia- 
tors appeared  near  the  comer  of  Front  and  Sacra- 
mento streets.  Five  hundred  people  were  soon  on 
hand  to    be  again  disappointed.     During  this  time 


IIAYKS  A\l>  NUCKXT. 


m 


mutual  fritMulH  wore  nejjfotiatiu^  ;  Siiiitli  witlitlrow  tlio 
(•K'lisivc  card,  and  chalK'iV'-fd  Jiis  aiitajjjonlst.  Tliov 
nu't  oil  tlio  I7tli  across  the  l)ay,  a  mile  from  slu.re,  on 
a  flat  |)icco  of  «.^round,  four  seconds  and  two  sunjfcons, 
with  a  county  judij^e  and  sluTifl*  bein^  in  the  distance. 
Weajxins,  Colts'  navy  revolvers.  Smith  won  the 
choice  of  ijrround,  distance  ten  paces.  Twelve  shots 
wore  fired  in  all.  Smith's  third  shot  hit  Broderick's 
watch,  passinjjj  through  it  and  slit»htly  woundinij  him. 
At  the  second  fire  Broderick's  pistol  failed  t(»  revolve, 
and  from  that  time  his  whole  front  was  exposed  to 
Smith's  fire,  as  ho  was  compt^lled  to  u;  <  1>otii  haiuls. 
Both  were  cool.  Smith  was  8atisfi(»d.  X'o  arrests 
were  made,  as  in  the  case  of  McDongal  a  short 
time  before. 

On  board  the  boat  from  San  Francisco  to  Sacra- 
mento in  May,  a  dispute  arose  between  \V.  J  f.  Cart<>r 
and  ii.  A.  DeCourcy,  editor  of  the  Caiav^ras  ('linni- 
icle,  in  which  Carter  slapped  DeCourcy's  face.  Do- 
Courcy  then  challenged  Carter,  and  on  reachmjj;' 
Sacramento  they  crossed  the  river  and  fought  witli 
pistols  twenty  paces.  i^eCourcy  was  struck  at  the 
first  fire  and  the  battle  ended. 

The  16th  of  June  a  duel  was  fought  by  two  French- 
men at  Sonora,  California,  in  which  one  of  them  was 
killed.     A  mining  claim  was  the  matter  in  dispute. 

Near  the  racecourse  at  San  Fraticisco,  the  8th  of 
July,  Wethered  and  Winter  fought  with  Colt's  revol- 
vers at  ten  paces.  After  the  first  shot  Winter's  pist(»l 
revolved  with  difficulty,  and  at  the  fourth  shot  ho 
received  a  ball  in  the  side  which  struck  his  ribs  and 
gliding  round  made  a  Hesh  wound  which  terminated 
tho  affair. 

At  a  banquet  tendered  to  Colonel  Magruder  of 
San  Diego  by  the  Angeles  citizens,  in  1852,  tlie  (|ucs- 
tion  of  groat  men  came  up,  and  a  doctor  made  mellow 
with  wine  declared  that  his  father  was  the  greatest 
American.  Magruder  called  ohe  doctor  a  danined 
fool.      A  challenged  followed :    derringers  across  a 


i    ; 


Cal.  Int.  Poc.    48 


754 


DUELLING. 


table  at  a  restaurant;  to  be  fired  after  "ready  I  fire  I 
one,  two,  three  1"  At  the  word  "ready"  the  doctor 
fired  and  missed,  whereupon  the  Colonel  marched 
round  the  table  upon  his  terrified  opponent.  Aftrr 
a  vain  attempt  to  escape  by  the  door  which  had  bi'ci 
barred  by  the  spectators,  the  doctor  crept  under  tl  c, 
table  and,  embrachig  the  legs  of  Magruder,  cri.-d : 
"Colonel  Magruder,  for  the  love  of  God,  spare  n;o 
for  my  family's  sake."  the  colonel  gave  him  a  ku  k 
and  left. 

John  Nugent,  editor  of  the  San  Francisco  Ifrrahl, 
and  John  Cotter,  alderman  from  the  fourth  ward, 
fought  with  pistols  at  ten  paces  the  15th  of  July, 
1852,  at  Contra  Costa.  The  hour  fixed  for  tlio 
meeting  was  twelve  o'clock.  The  principals  crossed 
to  Contra  Costa  the  night  previous.  About  half 
past  eleven  the  steamboat  arrived  with  the  sur- 
geons, seconds,  and  a  crowd  of  friends  and  news- 
mongers. It  was  very  much  like  going  to  a  horse- 
race. The  moment  the  boat  landed  a  rush  was  ma«!(^ 
for  conveyance  to  the  ground  about  two  miles  distant. 
Soon  upon  the  road  thither  was  a  line  of  horses  and 
vehiclesof  every  description.  Cotter  was  on  the  ground 
and  ready  at  five  minutes  before  twelve,  but  Nugent 
by  some  misunderstanding  did  not  make  his  appear- 
ance until  half-past  two.  Inunediately  on  Nugi'nt's 
arrival  the  pistols  were  loaded,  the  distance  measurtc', 
and  tlie  combatants  placed  in  position.  At  the  woid 
the  first  shot  was  fired  simultaneously  and  withoi.t 
effect.  Nugent's  pistol  snapped  and  bending  to  ank 
it  Cotter's  ball  struck  his  left  thigh,  producing  a 
compound  fracture.  Had  he  not  moved  the  ball 
would  not  have  touched  him.  Nugent  fell  and  w;:s 
carried  off  by  the  surgeons.  The  ball  was  extracted, 
and,  with  honor  repaired,  the  wound  was  not  slow  to 
heal. 

It  seemed  incumbent  on  Nugent  to  shoot  aldermen, 
or  rather  to  be  shot  by  them,  for  again  the  followinLi; 
year  we  find  him  fiiiLtino;  Alderman  Haves  with  rlHe^ 


GILBERT  AND  DEN\'ER. 


736 


at  twenty  paces.  As  before,  a  large  number  of  s]K'o- 
tators  were  present,  and  at  the  second  tire  Nugent 
fell  severely  wounded. 

Terms  of  duel  between  Haves  and  Nu<jjent. 

San  Francisco,  June  8,  1853. 
Mr  H.  Bowen. 

Dr  Sir — The  terms  that  I  propose  with  roferenro  to 
the  contemplated  meeting  between  Mr  Hayes  and 
Mr  Jolm  Nugent  are  as  follows : 

Place  in  rear  of  Mr  Green's  residence. 

Time  eight  o'clock  a.  m.,  June  9th. 

Distance  18  paces. 

Weapons  to  be  used  by  both  parties,  compottMit 
army  Colt  revolvers. 

Challenge  of  John  Nugent  by  W.  H.  Jones. 

San  Francisco,  Aug.  11,  1852 
^Ir  Jno.  Nugent. 

Sir — The  insult  oHorod  me  requires  satisfat  tion. 
!M\'  friend  Mr  Lewis  Tral  is  authorized  by  me  to  make 
the  arrangements. 

Your  Ob't  S't, 

Wm  H.  Jones. 

Edward  Gilbert,  member  of  the  convention  f«ir 
forming  the  state  constitution,  one  of  the  first  Cal':- 
fornian  representatives  to  congress,  and  senior  editor 
of  the  AHa  California  newspaper,  at  tlie  tuwe  only 
thirty -three  years  of  age,  was  killed  by  J.  W.  Deli- 
ver, state  senator  from  Klamath  and  Trinity  countii  s, 
the  2d  of  August,  1852,  at  Oak  Grove  near  Sacra- 
mento.  The  men  had  never  seen  each  other  until 
they  met  upon  the  fatal  field.  A  bill  for  th(>  relief  of 
overland  inunigrants  had  been  passed  by  Uw  last 
legislature,  which  Gilbert  believed  to  be  inrtfettuid 
and  wrong,  and  done  solely  in  the  interests  of  ])()li- 
ticians.  Denver  was  pron)inent  in  the  atfair.  being  a 
personal  friend  of  Bigler,  and  coimected  with  the 
relief  train.  With  a  great  show  of  charity,  which 
Gilbert  ridiculed,  Bigler  had  escorted  the  supply 
train  out  of  Sacramento.     In  reply  to  Gilbert's  arti- 


ri'iiiiif 


756 


DUELLING. 


cles,  Denver  published  a  card  couched  in  uncourteous 
language.  Gilbert  replied  and  Denver  retorted; 
Gilbert  challenged  and  Denver  accepted.  Thej'' 
fougiit  at  sunrise  with  Wesson's  rifles,  at  forty  paces. 
The  first  fire  was  without  eftect.  At  the  second  fire 
Gilbert  fell,  the  ball  entering  just  above  the  left  hip. 
His  second  immediately  rushed  up,  when  Gilbert 
turned  his  face  toward  him  with  a  smile,  and  died 
without  a  groan. 

On  the  11th  of  December,  1852,  a  few  days  after 
he  ceased  to  be  governor,  John  McDougal  met  A.  C. 
Russell,  one  of  the  editors  of  the  San  Francisco 
Picayune,  in  an  affair  of  honor.  The  cause  was  an 
offensive  article  in  the  Picayune,  of  which  Russell  was 
the  author.  They  met  on  the  San  Jose  road  in  Santa 
Clara  county,  ten  paces,  pistols.  Russell  received  a 
bullet  in  the  breast  at  the  first  fire,  inflicting  a  slight 
wound,  which  ended  the  fight. 

In  sanguinary  unrest,  with  grey  eyes  murderously 
set,  W.  M.  Gwin  and  J.  W.  McCorkle,  professional 
politicians,  met  in  1853  near  the  Santa  Clara  line,  to 
blot  out  in  blood  some  horse-race  talk.  After  one 
grand  shot  with  rifles  at  thirty  paces,  both  seemed 
thoroughly  satisfied.  If  the  thing  was  continued,  it 
miglit  cease  to  be  amusing;  rifles  were  rifles,  and 
thirty  steps  were  not  far.  So  the  two  braves  smiled, 
and  the  deputation  of  punctilious  spitfires  smiled,  and 
swore  it  was  all  a  mistake,  that  nobody  meant  any- 
thing, and  that  everybody  else  was  only  too  glad  that 
everybody  else  was  glad.  And  so  wise  men  and 
knaves  all  went  home  together.  In  truth,  it  is  a 
wonderful  phenomenon,  this  mixture  of  folly,  gun- 
powder, and  fear. 

Oliver  T.  Baird,  in  1853,  at  the  second  fire  shot  C. 
J.  Wright  in  the  neck. 

The  3d  of  November,  1853,  C.  Krug,  editor  of  the 
San  Francisco  Frcie  Presse,  independent  German  paper, 
and  Dr  Loehr,  editor  of  the  Califoniia  Democrat,  the 


Gerr 
edltd 
med£ 

AttJ 
thel 
some 

m 

Rovve 

the  5i 

Pel 

oflScer 

and  su 

agaiijs 

San  F 

tols  a 

years  c 

Ciia: 

with  d« 

of  Feb 

ieft  an 

A]fr( 

challen 

sistant 

fifteen 

throu 

"ightof 

Rust, 

the  He 

their  pij 

poreally, 

Durin 
for  duels 
tier-strik 
of  this  y( 
a  week  o 
meeting 
other  as 
J.  P.  Il 


1 


THE  MANIA  OF  1854. 


m 


German  state  administration  organ,  settled  certain 
editorial  ditferences  just  back  of  San  Antonio  in  Ala- 
meda county.  Colts'  navy  revolvers,  at  six  paces. 
At  the  third  fire  Loehr's  thumb  was  carried  away  by 
the  bullet  of  his  antatjonist.  The  trouble  arose  from 
some  objectionable  personalities  in  the  Democrat. 

May,  senator  from  Trinity  county,  shot  Edward 
Rowe,  express  agent,  in  the  neck  at  twenty  paces  on 
the  5th  of  November,  1853,  at  Weaverville. 

Peter  Smith,  son  of  Pinckney  Smitli  of  Mississippi, 
officer  under  Jefferson  Davis  in  the  war  with  Mexico, 
and  subsequently  connected  with  the  Lopez  expedition 
against  Cuba,  fought  with  WilUam  H.  Scott  at  the 
San  Francisco  racecourse  the  3d  of  August,  with  pis- 
tols at  eight  paces.  Smith  was  only  twtnty-four 
years  of  age.     He  was  killed  at  the  second  fire. 

CJiarles  Somers  and  Thomas  D.  P.  Lewis  fought 
with  derringers  at  ten  paces  at  San  Francisco  the  1  Itli 
of  February,  1853.  Somers  received  a  shot  in  the 
left  arm. 

Alfred  Crane,  physician  from  Louisiana,  in  1853 
challenged  Edward  Toby,  clerk  of  San  Francisco  as- 
sistant aldermen.  They  fouglit  with  navy  pistols  at 
fifteen  paces.  At  the  second  fire  Crane  was  shot 
through  the  abdomen,  and  died  next  morning  after  a 
night  of  agony. 

Kust,  editor  of  the  Expresi^,  and  Stidger,  editor  of 
the  Herald,  dropped  their  })ens  one  day  and  S(  izetl 
their  pistols.  The  latter  was  slightly  wounded  cor- 
poreally, but  honor  was  healed. 

During  the  year  1854,  there  appeared  to  be  a  mania 
for  duels.  Editors  fought.  Lawyers,  judges,  shoul- 
der-strikers, doctors,  loafers  fought.  The  legislature 
of  this  year  was  called  the  fighting  legislature,  and  if 
a  week  or  two  passed  without  the  notice  of  a  lu)stile 
meeting  in  the  public  journals,  men  looked  at  each 
other  as  if  something  were  wrong. 

J.  P.  Rutland,  clerk  in  the  state  treasurer's  office, 


ill 


'IH'' 


111!  I 


7S8 


ruErj,ixG. 


taking  offence  at  some  remark  of  P.  W.  Thomas  of 
Auburn,  sent  him  a  challenge  by  James  P.  Dickson, 
lu^spital  physician  at  San  Francisco.  Thomas  refus- 
iiig  to  fight  with  Rutland,  on  the  ground  that  he  was 
no  gentleman,  was  then  challenged  by  Dickson,  and 
on  the  next  day,  March  10th,  the  parties  met  at  Oak 
Grove.  Thomas'  second  was  Hamilton  Bowie,  and 
tlie  second  of  Dickson  was  the  Honorable  Judge  Ed- 
ward McGowan.  Weapons,  duelling  pistols,  distance, 
thirteen  paces,  Dickson,  who  had  the  choice  of 
ground  and  the  word,  received  Thomas'  first  fire  just 
under  the  ann,  and  the  ball  passed  through  his  body. 
Thomas  fired  first,  otherwise  it  was  thought  that  he, 
too,  must  have  been  hit,  as  Dickson's  ball  struck  the 
ground  directly  at  his  feet.  Dickson  died  next  day, 
his  death  causing  great  excitement,  as  he  was  a  young 
man  of  promise.  Rutland  felt  grieved  that  Dickson 
should  have  died  in  his  place,  and  threatened  to  shoot 
Thomas  on  sight  unless  he  fought  him,  too. 

The  10th  of  April  a  duel  came  off  at  the  Pioneer 
racecourse  between  H.  Chaviteaux  and  M.  Richards. 
The  second  of  the  former  was  Conite  de  Raoussel- 
Boulbon ;  forthe  latter  E.  Cavallier  officiated.  French 
duelling-pistols  were  the  wea[»ons,  and  the  distance  of 
twenty-five  paces  made  matters  quite  safe.  Three 
shots  were  exchanged,  when  the  fiery  French  gentle- 
men came  to  their  serifi-es.     No  harm  was  done. 

Agreement  upon  details  in  a  pr<)i;K)sed  duel: 

The  weapons  to  be  duellhig  pistols,  distance  10 
paces.  Place  of  meeting,  back  of  the  racecourse  near 
the  mission.  To  fire  between  the  word^re  and  three. 
To  toss  for  choice  of  weapons.  Then  tor  the  pistols. 
Then  for  the  word.  Then  for  choice  of  position  on 
ground.  Any  infringement  of  rules  by  either  of  the 
principals  "will  be  mett  by  certain  death." 

Lewis   Teal, 
Edw'p  MoGowan. 

The  10th  of  May  an  affair  of  honor  came  off  near 
the  presidio  between  James  Hawkins,  of  Tuolumne, 


ALL   ABOUT  A  CHAIR. 


7r>9 


and  Christopher  Dowdigan  of  San  Francisco.  Tlie 
second  of  the  former  was  Philip  T.  Herbert,  subse- 
quently member  of  congress  from  Califoniia,  and  of 
the  latter  William  Mulligan,  shoulder-striker  and 
politician.  Weapons,  rifles ;  distance,  forty  yards, 
liesult,  D>)wdigan  shot  in  the  left  arm. 

On  the  night  <if  May  17th,  N.  Hubert,  ex-member 
of  the  assembly,  and  George  T.  Hunt,  a  San  Francisco 
attorney,  had  a  personal  difficulty  in  the  JNtetropolitan 
theatre.  It  was  all  about  a  chair.  Hunt's  fo<'t  were 
resting  on  it,  and  Hubert  wished  to  occupy  it.  Words 
passed,  and  then  blows.  Next  day  tlie  case  caino  be- 
fore the  recorder.  Both  were  fined  fifty  dollars, 
though  Hunt  was  declared  the  chief  offender.  The 
following  Saturday  Hunt  challenged  Hubert  to  mecit 
him  at  tlie  Pioneer  racecourse,  and  next  morning  at 
half- past  five  they  were  on  the  ground.  Hunt's  sec- 
onds were  Knox  and  Fox,  while  Hubert  was  attended 
by  Charlo"  S.  Fairfax,  ex-speaker  of  the  assembly. 
Weapons,  duelling  pistols;  distance,  ten  paces.  At 
the  third  shot  Hunt  fell,  with  the  bullet  in  his  abdo- 
men, and  immediately  calling  Hubert  to  him  forgave 
everything.  He  died  that  evening.  Hubert  was 
greatly  affected  as  lie  left  the  grounds.  An  editorial 
appeared  in  the  Alfa  of  May  2 2d,  called  out  by  the 
killing  of  Hunt  by  Hubert.  The  same  day  Hubert 
was  arrested.  Tlie  next  day  two  men,  Thomas  L. 
Benson,  native  of  London,  and  Richard  Menzies,  hav- 
ing a  difficulty  over  some  business  matter,  met  in  the 
outskirts  with  seconds  and  a  surgeon.  Weapons, 
^olt's  revolvers,  distance,  fifteen  paces.  The  combat- 
ants would  have  compromised  through  the  interfer- 
ence of  friends,  but  Benson's  second  objected,  and 
hurried  him  on  to  the  ground.  The  first  round  Ben- 
son's pistol  hung  fire.  The  second  time  he  received 
his  antagonist's  ball  in  the  breast,  and  died  next  day. 

The  coroner's  jury  recommended  the  grand  jury  to 
punish  the  offenders. 

David  E.  Hacker  and  J.  S.  London  fought  in  Gal- 


I  '    !i 


,1 
i 


760 


DUELLING. 


ifornia  in  1854.  Politics  was  the  trouble;  London 
was  killed.  T.  W.  Park  and  M.  C.  Brazer,  both 
members  of  the  fighting  legislature,  escaped  an  en- 
counter unharmed.  Washington  wounded  Washburn 
badly;  both  were  editors;  there  were  good  writers 
and  Qjood  fitjchters  in  California  about  this  time. 

This  time  a  woman  was  at  the  bottom  of  it,  and  tlie 
combatants  were  Frenclimen,  Ellseler  and  Dubert  by 
name.  The  compact  was  that  they  should  fight  with 
broadswords  until  one  or  both  were  dead  or  disabled. 
Both  were  skilled  in  the  use  of  the  weapon ;  and  as 
desirable,  French-speaking  women  were  not  plentiful 
in  California  in  those  days,  the  battle  promised  blood. 
Eight  minutes  of  scientific  gyrations  resulted  in  a 
severe  cut  in  Ellseler's  sword-arm.  It  was  now  pro- 
posed to  terminate  the  affair ;  but  how  sliould  they 
divide  the  wimian  between  them  ?  Fight  it  out  when 
the  wound  was  healed?  No;  women  were  tot)  un- 
certain. So  at  it  they  went  again,  hotter  tlian  ever, 
and  in  twenty  minutes  more  Ellseler's  sword  was 
sheathed  in  Dubert's  body.  This  was  the  Gth  of 
June  ;  Dubert  died  next  morninij. 

The  22d  of  September  Rasey  Biven  of  Stockton, 
and  H.  P.  Dorsey  of  Los  Angeles,  met  near  Oakland. 
The  seconds  of  Dorsey  were  Governor  ]\IcDougal  and 
Mr  Watson.  Surgeon,  C.  M.  Hitchcock,  Seconds 
of  Biven,  Senator  Crabb  and  Mr  Bandol[)h.  Surgeon, 
Briarly.  Weapons,  duelling  pistols.  Distance,  ten 
paces.  Word  was  given  by  Biven's  friends.  At  the 
first  fire  Dorsev  was  wounded  in  the  abdomen  and 
Biven  in  the  wrist. 

The  duellistic  event  of  this  year,  1854,  was  the 
planting  in  the  heart  of  Devereaux  J.  Woodlief,  a  ball 
by  Achilles  Kewen,  on  a  wheel  and  fire,  with  rifles  at 
forty  paces.  It  was  a  splendid  shot,  one  of  which 
Achilles  might  well  be  proud.  It  is  something  to  tell 
one's  children ;  right  through  the  heart  and  at  forty 
paces,  wheel  and  fire.  My  dear  children,  I  hope  you 
will  all  learn  to  shoot — to  wheel  and  shoot  right 


RYER  AND  LANGDON. 


m 


through  the  heart.     A  misunderstanding  concorning 
a  politiral  matter  was  the  cause  of  the  trouble. 

Eiuly  in  185G,  a  committee  of  the  legislature  in- 
vestigated the  management  of  the  State  Insane  Asy- 
lum under  Dr  K.  K.  Keid,  whose  place  had  been 
made  vacant  by  Governor  Johnson,  in  order  that  it 
might  be  filled  by  Dr  Samuel  Langdon,  a  gentleman 
from  North  Carolina.  Dr  Washington  M.  llyer,  a 
native  of  New  York,  and  an  experienced  and  skilful 
surgeon  and  physician,  testified  regarding  the  compara- 
tive care  of  the  insane  patients  under  Dr  Keid  and  his 
success(  )r,  Dr  Langdon.  His  testimony  was  decidedly 
favorable  to  the  former,and  anything  butcomplimcntary 
to  the  latter.  This  was  an  indignity  ui)on  Langdon,  so 
his  southern  friends  were  pleased  to  construe  it,  and  a 
plan  was  devised  to  get  rid  of  Dr  Ilyer.  One  night, 
about  three  weeks  after  the  investigation,  liver  was 
struck  from  behind,  on  the  arm,  by  a  ])istol.  Ho 
turned  about,  and  saw  Dr  Langdon  and  Dr  Hunter, 
each  with  a  pistol  in  hand  ;  he  was  himself  unarmed. 
"  Which  of  you  gentlemen  desires  to  insult  me  ? "  he 
asked.  Hunter  replied,  "  Dr  Langd(ni."  Hyer  calmly 
said:  "Dr  Langdon,  to-morrow  I  will  hunt  you." 
But  Lanixdon's  business  took  him  out  of  town  for  scv- 
eral  days,  and  Ryer  was  not  able  to  find  him.  Samuel 
A.  Booker,  Esq.,  a  Virginia  gentleman,  advised  liyer 
not  to  follow  Langdon  up;  that  he  would  be  taken 
at  a  disadvantage,  and  allowed  no  show  for  his  life, 
and  counselled  him  to  settle  the  matter  by  the  code. 
A  challenge  was  duly  sent  and  accepted.  The  weap- 
ons selected  Vjy  the  challenged  party,  who  was  familiar 
with  all  the  devices  of  the  art  duello,  were  a  brace  of 
pistols  owned  by  Dr  Aylett.*"  When  asked  by 
Colonel  O'Neill,  Langdon's  principal  second,  to  choose 
one  of  them,  Mr  Booker,  Ryer's  principal  second, 
chose  one  and  discreetly  kept  it  until  the  meeting 


*If  these  pistols  were  subsequently  used  in  a  celebrated  <lucl  in  California, 
this  may  account  somewhat  for  tlie  result  to  one  of  the  principals,  wlio  was 
not  auj'ait  in  their  use. 


DUELLIXC. 


oocurretl.  It  was  a  most  treacherous  weapon,  with- 
out some  fainiUarity  witli  which  Ryer  might  well  have 
sacrificed  himself.  The  hair-trigger  of  this  pistol  had 
been  made  so  sensitive  that  the  mere  motion  to  ele- 
vate the  nmzzle  would  discharge  it  in  tlie  hand  of 
one  not  knowhi^  tlie  weapon.  February  24,  1857, 
the  fight  having  been  twice  before  hindered,  the  parties 
confronted  each  other  on  Rough  and  Ready  island, 
four  miles  from  Stockton.  Tlie  choice  of  position  fell 
to  Langdon's  lot,  and  he  stood  with  his  back  to  the 
west.  Ryer,  opposite,  received  the  rays  of  the  setting 
sun  full  in  his  face.  To  the  proposition  whether  an 
a})()logy,  if  offered,  would  be  acceptable,  Ryer  firmly 
said  "  No.  No  apology  could  atone  for  a  blow." 
Neither  wns  hurt  by  the  first  fire.  Overtures  for  a 
reconciliation  were  again  di'clined,  and  the  second  fire 
took  place;  no  blood.  At  the  third  shot,  Langdon 
fell,  severely  wounded  below  the  ligament  of  the 
knee-cap.  Colonel  O'Neill,  his  second,  then  came 
forward  and  asked  if  the  challenging  party  was 
satisfied.  "Yes,"  said  Ryer,  "he  has  fallen."  The 
wounded  man  escaped  with  his  life,  but  was  a  cripple 
until  he  died  in  1880.  Dr  Ryer  had  the  largest  prac- 
tice in  California;  he  had  served  as  a  regular  surgeon 
in  the  United  States  army  through  the  Mexican  war. 
His  friends  claim,  and  not  without  reason,  that  there 
was  absolutely  no  alternative  for  him  but  to  fight,  and 
that  his  living,  his  life,  perhaps,  depended  upon  his 
taking  advantage  of  the  code  itself. 

Ferguson,  state  senator  from  Sacramento,  told  a 
story  in  which  a  young  woman  acquaintance  of  G. 
P.  Johnson's  figured,  in  a  way  which  Johnson  did 
not  like  ;  so  he  called  Ferguson  over  to  Angel  Island, 
on  the  21st  of  August,  1858,  and  killed  hhn.  So 
horrible  was  the  offence  of  taking  in  vain  the  name 
of  a  young  woman  happening  to  know  G  P.  John- 
son, that  death  alone  was  sufficient  atonement ;  hence 
the  terms  of  the  murderous  compact  were  pistols,  ten 
paces,  and  advance.     The  fourth  shot  brought  the 


FERGUSON  AND  JOHNSON. 


7«i 


combatants  within  six  steps  of  each  other;  at  wliich 
distance  one  would  think  a  school  boy  in  an  iij^uo  tit, 
who  had  never  seen  a  pistol,  could  kill  the  dasiardly 
villain  who  made  faces  at  his  sister,  (jeovge  Pen 
Johnson  could  hit  Ferojuson  at  that  distance  at  all 
events ;  he  could  shatter  at  six  paces  the  thigh  bone 
of  him  who  in  a  dramshop  dared  speak  in  other  than 
courtly  phrases  of  a  damsel  fortunate  enough  to  be 
under  the  chivalrous  protection  of  a  Johnson  ;  could 
with  a  bullet  at  six  steps  inflict  a  torturous  wound 
upon  this  fhppant-tongued  honorable,  whidi  should 
cause  him  twenty-four  days  of  acutcst  suffering  and 
finally  death  under  amputation.  Ferguson  could  well 
enougli  be  spared,  and  if  he  had  taken  Johnson  with 
him  California  would  not  have  been  the  loser.  Among 
those  who  call  themselves  gentlemen,  who  pretend  to 
that  honesty  and  culture  which  give  manners  to  so- 
ciety, such  scenes  are  by  no  means  attractive — less 
so,  indeed,  than  those  of  the  mad  miners  en- 
camped along  the  gold  belt,  v/ho  shot  and  slashed  each 
other  in  their  bacchanals  and  cared  neither  fi)r  (:rod 
nor  man.  Law  now  steps  in  to  give  the  final  touch 
to  tliis  ghastly  farce.  Surrendering  to  the  authorities 
of  Marin  county,  Johnson  was  tried,  and  acquitted, 
on  the  ground  that  Ferguson  did  not  die  from  tiie  ef- 
fects of  the  shot,  but  because  he  would  not  submit  to 
earlier  amputation  1  Most  worshipped  law ;  incor- 
ruptible, direct,  void  of  hypocrisy  and  guile,  let  all 
good  villains  bow  at  the  mention  of  thy  name  1 

The  most  notable  of  Californian  duels  was  that 
fought  b}'  David  S.  Terry,  associate  justice  of  the  su- 
preme court ;  and  David  C.  Broderick,  United  States 
senator  from  California.  Both  of  these  men  were 
actively  opposed  to  the  vigilance  connnittee ;  both 
made  politics  a  profession,  both  were  high  in  official 
position,  derived  their  influence  and  support  imme- 
diately from  the  government,  and  held  themselves  up 
as  lights  of  the  law  shining  upon  the  obscured  intel- 
lects of  mechanical  and  mercantile  plodders.     Now, 


764 


DUELLING. 


at  this  time  in  California  the  law  against  duollhig;  was 
plain  enough,  and  stringent  enough,  but  chivalrous 
lawmakers  paid  no  further  attention  to  it  than  to 
euii)loy  it  as  a  scapegoat  in  their  unlawful  murders. 
Duellists  were  disqualified  by  law  from  holding  office; 
tlie  majority  of  duellists  were  (»ftice-holders  ;  office- 
holders fought  duels  and  yet  retained  oflfice.  Whence 
it  appears,  following  their  example,  tliat  the  highest 
crime  recognized  by  law  may  be  perpetrated  with  im- 
punity by  the  highest  officers  of  the  law,  while  the 
most  righteous  acts  of  citizens,  if  done  outside  of  the 
prescribed  forms  of  law,  cannot  be  too  severely  de- 
nounced and  punished.  No  duellist  has  ever  suffered 
the  punishment  prescribed  by  law  in  California. 

Midsummer  1859  saw  Terry  a  defeated  candidate 
before  the  democratic  convention  for  renomination  to 
the  supreme  bench.  Broderick  was  a  rough  man, 
and  a  violent  politician  of  New  York  hybrid  republi- 
can proclivities,  madly  determined  his  head  should  be 
higher  set,  either  in  the  affairs  of  state  or  else  upon  a 
stake ;  and  it  was  to  him  and  his  party  that  Terry 
owed  his  defeat.  In  a  speech  at  Sacramento,  deliv- 
ered before  the  convention  held  in  Benton's  church 
the  24th  of  June,  while  professing  resignation  yet 
smarting  under  defeat,  Terry  said,  "Who  have  we 
opposed  to  us  ?  A  party  based  on  no  principle,  ex- 
cept the  abusing  of  one  section  of  the  country  and  the 
aggrandizement  of  another;  a  party  which  has  no 
existence  in  fifteen  states  of  the  confederacy,  a  party 
whose  principles  never  can  prevail  among  free  nn  n 
who  love  justice  and  are  willing  to  do  justice.  What 
other?  A  miserable  remnant  of  a  faction  sailing 
under  false  colors,  trying  to  obtain  votes  under  false 
pretences.  They  have  no  distinction  the}'^  are  en- 
titled to ;  they  are  followers  of  one  man,  the  personal 
chattels  of  a  single  individual,  whom  they  are  ashamed 
of.  They  belong  heart  and  soul,  body  and  breeches, 
to  David  C.  Broderick.  They  are  yet  ashamed  to 
acknowledge  their  master,  and  are  calling  themselves, 


BRODERICK-TERUY  AFFAIR. 


7C5 


forsooth,  Douglas  democrats,  when  it  is  known,  well 
known  to  thoni  and  to  us,  that  the  gallant  senator 
from  Illinois,  whose  voice  lias  always  been  lieard  in 
the  advocacy  of  democratic  princijdes,  who  now  is  not 
disunited  from  the  democratic  party,  has  no  atKliation 
with  them,  no  feeling  in  common  with  them.  l*er- 
liaps  I  am  mistaken  in  their  right  to  claim  Douglas 
as  their  leader.  Perhaps  they  do  sail  under  the  flng 
of  Douglas,  but  it  is  the  banner  of  the  black  Doug- 
las, whose  name  is  Frederick,  not  Stephen." 

These  and  other  remarks  of  like  nature  were  printed 
in  the  Sacramento  papers,  and  copied  generally 
throughout  the  state.  Broderick  read  them  next 
morning  while  at  breakfast  at  the  International 
Hotel,  and  very  naturally  broke  out  in  a  fit  of  violent 
personalities  against  Tcrrj'.  It  hajjpened  that  D. 
W.  Perley,  friend  and  former  law  partner  of  Terry, 
was  seated  at  the  table  near  Broderick,  and  heard 
what  he  said.  Perley  claimed  that  Broderick's  re- 
marks were  directed  to  him  ;  at  all  events  he  replied 
to  them,  and  Broderick  retorted.  Women  being 
present  at  t^.e  table,  Perley  withdrew,  and  soon  after 
sent  Brciderick  a  challenge. 

Under  date  of  Juno  20th,  Broderick  wrote  in  reply 
to  Perley  that  the  publicity  of  the  affair,  if  for  no  other 
cause,  prohibited  a  hostile  meeting.  Other  reasons, 
however,  did  exist  which  placed  it  beyond  the  power 
of  Broderick  to  give  the  satisfaction  demanded. 
Within  the  past  few  days  Perley  had  made  oath  that 
he  was  a  subject  of  Groat  Britain,  and  at  the  time  of 
the  alleged  insult  and  in  the  presence  of  gentlemen 
the  writer  had  said  that  he  could  not  accept  a  chal- 
lenge from  one  who  had  no  political  rights  to  be 
affected  by  Indulgence  in  the  practise  of  the  code. 
"  For  many  years,"  continued  Broderick,  "and  up 
to  the  time  of  my  elevation  to  the  position  I  now 
occupy,  it  was  well  known  that  I  would  not  have 
avoided  any  issue  of  the  character  proposed.  If 
compelled  to  accept  a  challenge;  it  could  only  be 


m 


DUELUNO. 


from  a  gcntloman  lioUliuj^  a  position  equally  clovatoa 
aiui  rospoiisibie,  and  there  are  no  circumstances  wliicli 
coukl  induce  me  even  to  do  thus  during  the  pcndi-ncy 
of  the  present  canvass.  Wlien  I  authorized  tiie  an- 
nouncement that  I  would  ad<lres8  the  people  of  Cali- 
fornia durin_!4  the  campaign,  it  was  suggested  that 
efforts  would  be  nuule  to  force  me  into  dUHcuUies, 
and  I  tii'termined  to  take  no  notice  of  attacks  from 
anv  source  during  the  canvass.  If  I  were  to  accriit 
your  challenge,  there  are  probably  many  other  gentle- 
men who  would  seek  similar  opportunities  for  hostile 
meetings,  for  the  ])urpose  of  accomplishing  a  jxjlitiotl 
obj'ct,  or  to  obtain  public  notoriety.  I  cannot  atlbrd 
at  the  present  time  to  descend  to  a  violation  of  the 
constitution  and  the  state  laws  to  subserve  either 
their  (»r  your  purposes." 

Perlcy  then  in  a  card  to  the  public  pronounced 
Brodcrick's  letter  a  tissue  of  evasive  falsehoods,  mean, 
quibl)rmg.  dastardly,  and  that  the  writer  was  no  Ic  ss 
void  of  courage  than  of  principle,  and  tluit  thence- 
forth he  had  no  right  to  the  name  of  gentleman. 

Two  months  elapsed,  when,  election  being  over, 
and  the  term  of  the  supreme  judge  near  comjiletion, 
Terry  descended  from  his  bench  and  demanded  by 
letter  of  Broderick  an  apology  for  the  abusive  words 
spoken  by  him  in  the  presence  of  Perley  at  the  bn  ak- 
fast  table  of  the  International  hotel.  Broderick  asked 
particular  mention  of  the  language  used.  Terry  gavi; 
it  as  follows:  "I  have  heretofore  considered  and 
S]»okcn  of  Judge  Terry  as  the  only  honest  man  on 
the  upreme  court  bench ;  but  I  now  take  it  all  bark." 
Or  \  those  were  not  the  exact  words,  said  Tc  rrv, 
thei  ny  words  reflecting  on  his  character  as  a  gentle- 
man    id  a  magistrate. 

To  this  Broderick  replied  that  his  words  were 
occasi  ned  by  offensive  allusions  to  him  made  liy 
Terr\  at  the  Sacramento  convention,  and  that  as 
nearly  as  he  recollected  the  language  used  at  the  In- 
ternational  hotel   was  as   follows;   "During   Judge 


THE  MEETING. 


707 


Terry's  inoarcoration  l>y  the  vigilnnro  comrnittpo,  I 
paid  ,f-J()()  u  wvvk  to  8Up[K>rt  a  newspaper  in  liis  ile- 
foiice.  I  iiavo  also  stated,  liert't(>ru»'o,  that  I  cnn- 
sidcred  him  the  only  li(most  man  on  the  Bupreme 
heiich,  but  I  take  it  all  hack."  At  a  thiie  when  vitu- 
peration was  the  lan«jjua}j;o  current  in  political  cindcs 
Brodcrick  was  sonjuwhat  surpined  that  w«)rds  so 
mild  should  be  selected  as  the  pretext  for  a  nu'cting 
and  he  could  add  in  liis  letter  to  Judge  Terry  :  "  You 
are  the  best  judge  as  to  whether  the  languan'c  affords 
«j;o(«l  grounds  of  offence."  To  this  letter  Broderii  k 
received  a  reply  from  Terry  demanding  the  usual 
satisfaction. 

Long  before  tliis  the  issue  of  the  correspondence 
haii  l)een  determined,  so  that  preliminaries  were 
brief  Brodorick  held  that  before  he  could  retiact 
the  words  spoken  by  him  at  the  International,  'i'erry 
must  retract  the  offensive  language  used  by  him  at  Sac- 
ramento.and  nothing  was  further  from  Terry's  purpose. 
The  fermentations  of  political  hate  had  n  aciied  the 
murderous  stage,  and  one  or  tlie  other  of  tlie  leaders 
nmst  die.  "Evil  doers  are  punished,"  says  l*rota- 
goras  "not  in  retaliation  for  past  wrong,  but  to  jne- 
V  Mit  future  Mrong;"  so  these  politicians  looked  before 
rather  than  behinil  them. 

Just  over  the  San  Francisco  boundarA^  in  San 
Mateo  county,  on  the  morning  of  the  1 1  Ai  of  Sep- 
tember, the  combatants  met;  but  before  their  l)]()ody 
work  began,  Burke,  chief  of  the  San  Francisco  ])olice, 
appeared  upon  the  ground  armed  with  a  wanant  of 
arrest  from  each  county.  Arrived  at  the  ]>()]ice  court 
tlie  charge  was  dismissed;  and  the  two  men  were 
given  their  liberty  on  the  ground  that  there  had  been 
no  violation  of  the  law. 

Two  days  later,  at  a  quarter  to  seven  o'clock,  on 
the  morning  of  the  13th  of  September,  at  Davis' 
rancho,  about  two  miles  south  of  the  east  end  of  Lake 
Merced,  being  another  point  in  San  Mateo  county 
some  twelve  miles  distant  from  San  Francisco,  they 


ri 

i 


768 


DUELLING. 


met  again  and  with  more  fatal  result.  The  morn- 
ing was  fair,  and  the  sun  dropped  gently  its  re- 
freshing warmth  as  if  in  one  last  attempt  to  soften 
the  steeled  hearts  of  these  murderous  men.  So^ne 
sixty  persons  were  present,  and  among  them  no  in- 
terfering police.  Coolness  and  indifference,  either  felt 
or  assumed,  was  manifested  by  both  principals,  who 
stood  apart  conversing  cheerfully  with  their  attend- 
ants while  preparations  were  in  progress.  The  choice 
of  weapons  was  won  by  Terry,  and  the  choice  of 
position  and  word  by  Broderick.  Eight-Inch  Belgium 
pistols,  both  set  with  hair  trigger,  were  the  weapons 
used,  and  the  distance  was  ten  paces.  Lagrode,  who 
loaded  the  pistols,  testified  before  the  coroner  that 
B  '  dcrick's  was  more  delicate  on  the  trigger  than  tlie 
one  used  by  Terry.  The  word  was  to  be  the  usual 
"Fire;  one,  two,  three  1" 

The  C(5mbatants  were  placed  in  position.  Broderick 
seemed  careless  and  awkward.  "Terry  was  as  cold 
as  a  marble  statue,"  says  the  French  journal  Le  Phare, 
"not  a  muscle  of  his  body  moved;  his  eyes  were  fixed 
on  Broderick,  and  in  his  attitude  was  recognized  the 
practised  duellist.  He  mahitained  his  position  as  erect 
as  an  I,  the  arms  straight  along  the  body,  the  feet  close 
together,  and  reducing  his  height  as  much  as  possible." 
According  to  the  Alta's  report,  a  second  then  stepped 
forward  and  called  the  word  "Are  you  ready,  gentle- 
men?" Fixing  his  eye  keenly  on  his  antagonist 
Terry  promptly  replied  "I  am  ready."  Broderick, 
grasping  his  weapon  more  firmly,  likewise  answered 
"ready;"  meanwhile  partly  turning  from  his  vertical 
position,  exposing  a  fuller  form  as  a  mark  for  his  ad- 
versary. Broderick's  hat  was  drawn  partly  over  his 
eyes  and  he  seemed  to  be  scanning  a  line  on  the 
ground  between  him  and  his  antagonist.  Terry,  on 
the  contrary,  stood  perfectly  motionless,  and  eyed  his 
enemy  calmly.  Then  at  the  word  "Fire;  one,  twol" 
Broderick  partly  raised  his  arm  when  his  pistol  dis- 
charged prematurely,  and  the  ball  entered  the  ground 


DEATH  OF  BRODERICK. 


799 


a  few  feet  in  advance  of  where  Terrj  stooa.  Not 
more  than  two  seconds  after  Terry,  who  had  raised 
his  weapon, deliberately  covering  with  it  the  breast  of 
his  opponent,  fired.  The  ball  penetrated  Broderick's 
right  breast,  causing  him  to  fall  before  his  seconds 
could  reach  him.  "The  shot  is  not  mortal,"  exclaimed 
Terry.  "  I  have  struck  two  inches  to  the  right.'* 
When  he  saw  his  proud  enemy  stretched  upon 
the  ground,  he  slowly  retired  with  his  friends.  How 
these  murderers  can  live,  basking  in  the  wrath  of 
heaven,  as  Juvenal  would  say,  is  a  mystery  to  those 
who  feel  within  them  conscience  and  humanity. 

For  four  days  Broderick  lingered,  suffering,  when 
not  delirious,  the  greatest  agony.  "They  have  killed 
me  because  I  was  opposed  to  the  extension  of  slavery, 
and  a  corrupt  administration,"  he  exclaimed  in  one  of 
his  conscious  moments.  On  the  morning  of  the  I7th 
of  September  he  died.  The  city  was  profoundly 
moved.  Two  thousand  citizens,  beside  the  Pioneers 
who  buried  it,  followed  the  body  to  Lone  Mountain 
cemetery,  where  a  granite  monument  now  marks  its 
resting-place.  Broderick  seemed  to  find  politics  prof- 
itable, as  he  left  an  estate  of  some  $400,000.  He  left 
a  will  at  Washington,  which  was  vigorously  contested 
at  San  Francisco,  one  of  his  seconds  playing  a  con- 
spicuous part  in  it,  but  was  finally  admitted  to  probate. 

Writing  the  day  ot  Broderick's  death,  the  editor  of 
the  San  Fr&ncim'o  BuUetin  says:  "  Whoever  reads  the 
corresponuence  between  Messis  Broderick  and  Terry 
that  preceded  the  late  fatal  duel,  must  be  struck  with 
the  trifling  nature  of  the  original  quarrel  between  the 
parties,  and  the  absence  of  everything  like  an  impera- 
tive caute  for  a  hostile  meeting.  Judge  Terry,  in  the 
heat  of  an  extemporaneous  speech,  used  language  of 
a  general  nature  calculated  undoubtedly  to  excite 
anger  in  the  breast  of  Mr  Broderick.  Yet  that  lan- 
guage, when  analyzed,  did  not  reflect  upon  Broderick's 
personal  character  or  honor.  It  was  injurious  to  his 
l>'>litical  interests,  being  calculated  to  estrange  hiii 


{'AL.  Tnt.  Poc.     49. 


770 


DUELLING. 


political  adherents.  Broderick,  in  reading  Terry's 
speech,  in  a  momentary  fit  of  anger,  as  appears  most 
abundantly  from  the  facts,  declares  that  he  had  for- 
merly believed  that  Terry  was  an  honest  judge,  but 
that  he  took  back  his  former  opinion.  This  remark 
being  reported  to  the  judge,  the  latcer  is  induced  to 
wait  two  months,  until  the  election  campaign  was 
over,  when  he  writes  to  the  senator,  and  asks  him  to 
retract  his  intimation  upon  his  honesty. 

"  Taking  the  matter  at  this  point,  we  say  that  the 
quarrel  was  not  of  such  a  deadly  character  as  to  make 
it  absolutely  necessary  that  a  meeting  should  take 
place.  Say  that  the  seconds  and  advisers  of  both 
parties  had  been  peaceably  disposed,  had  been  gov- 
erned by  a  strong  desire  to  prevent  the  shedding  of 
blood,  and  we  hold  that  it  would  have  been  easy  to 
have  prevented  a  duel.  Mr  Broderick  distinctly 
stated  that  his  remarks  at  the  International  hotel 
were  called  out  by  Judge  Terry's  speech  in  Mr  Ben- 
ton's church.  Now,  what  prevented  Judge  Terry 
from  saying  that  in  that  speech  he  did  not  intend  to 
say  anything  personally  dishonoring  or  offensive  to  the 
senator?  After  reading  that  speech,  we  think  that 
such  a  disclaimer,  while  it  would  in  all  probability 
have  led  to  an  amicable  settlement,  would  have  'been 
in  consonance  with  the  truth.  Mr  Broderick,  after 
such  a  disclaimer,  if  proper  counsels  had  prevailed, 
could  with  honor  have  withdrawn  his  passionate  re- 
marks made  at  the  International ;  and  what  has  ter- 
minated in  a  sad  calamity  might  then  have  ended  in 
an  exchange  of  courtesies.  But  even  if  Terry  had 
been  obstinate,  and  refused  to  modify  his  first  obnox- 
ious language,  since  that  of  itself  was  properly  no  cause 
of  mortal  quarrel,  it  would  have  been  more  magnani- 
mous and  honorable  in  Broderick  to  soften  the  bad 
spirit  of  his  own  remarks  so  as  to  have  taken  away 
even  the  pretext  of  a  duel.  Where  there  is  a  will 
there  is  a  way.  The  honor  of  Mr  Broderick,  we 
think,  could  have  been  preserved  in  the  eyes  of  all 


CENSURE  OP  SECONDS. 


rti 


honorable  men  if  only  his  friends  had  taken  the  kind- 
est and  best  course  for  their  principal. 

"  But  unfortunately,  opposite  counsels  on  all  sides 
prevailed.  Both  principals  seemed  to  have  been  sur- 
rounded by  a  set  of  bloody-minded  hotspurs,  who  were 
disposed  to  urge  on  the  meeting  to  a  fatal  issue  rather 
than  allow  on  either  side  the  minutest  waiving  of 
punctilio.  Though  Terry's  original  speech  was  given 
doubtless  with  no  thought  of  provoking  Broderick  to 
a  duel,  and  Broderick's  rejoinder  was  made  in  hot 
blood  at  the  instant  of  receiving  a  strong  provocation, 
neither  was  allowed  to  state  the  truth,  to  bring  about 
a  reconciliation,  but  were  hurried  to  the  field,  with 
deadly  weapons  in  their  hands,  to  shed  blood  without 
justification  or  reasonable  cause.  We  hold  that  the 
seconds  of  these  duellists  are  strongly  to  blame.  They 
should  have  prevented  a  meeting  on  such  trifling 
grounds.  Failing  to  do  so,  they  must  be  considered 
as  accessories  before  the  fact  to  a  cruel  homicide,  and 
the  law  should  vigorously  be  enforced  by  the  proper 
authorities  to  bring  them  to  justice. 

"  But  we  go  further  than  this,  and  maintain  that 
the  seconds  are  the  true  instigators  and  promoters  of 
all  duels.  The  principals  in  their  hands  are  men  of 
wax,  and  can  be  moulded  as  they  will.  If  people 
of  good  standing  in  society  will  refuse  to  throw  the 
mantle  of  their  position  over  the  angry,  deadly  pas- 
sions of  would-be  duellists,  the  practice  itself  of  duel- 
ling would  soon  expire.  The  seconds  think  that, 
without  any  bodily  danger  to  themselves,  they  have 
the  reflected  honor  of  their  principal's  bravery  and 
contempt  of  death;  then  let  them  also  have  their  re- 
flected punishment.  Let  that  be  made  as  exemplary 
as  the  punishment  of  the  surviving  principal  and  we 
may  soon  hear  less  of  duelling.  The  seconds  or  friends 
of  Mr  Broderick  were  Joseph  McKibbin,  ex- member 
of  congress,  and  David  D.  Colton,  ex-sherifl*  of  Siski- 
you county.  Those  of  Judge  Terry  were  Thomas 
Hayes,  ex-county  clerk  of  San  Francisco,  and  Calhoun 


772 


DUELLING. 


Benham,  a  lawyer  in  this  city.  All  the&e  men  deserve 
the  penitentiary  equally  with  Judge  Terry." 

And  now,  after  this  cold-blooded  exhibition  of  in- 
humanity and  wanton  insult  of  the  law,  comes  the 
prostitution  of  the  law,  for  the  shielding  of  its  august 
offender.  Throughout  life  Terry's  actions,  if  they 
speak  at  all,  imply  simply  this :  laws  are  made  for  the 
masses,  who  must  be  taught  to  respect  them,  to  re- 
gard it  as  impious  to  break,  or  even  so  much  as  vio- 
lently to  touch  them.  We  who  make  and  construe 
the  law,  while  outwardly  showing  it  the  greatest  def- 
erence for  ourselves  and  our  ermine's  sake,  may  in- 
dulge in  a  little  license ;  at  all  events  we  will  so  indulge 
and  break  it  when  we  please.  Knowing  thoroughly 
its  temper,  pliability  and  capability,  should  we  find 
ourselves  at  any  time  unfortunately  without  the  pale 
of  it,  we  will  bend  it  to  our  purpose.  Teach  the  peo- 
ple to  bow  before  law  as  before  any  superstition,  and 
we,  the  ministers  of  the  law,  may  gratify  our  lawless 
passions  as  we  please. 

Seeing  the  destruction  he  had  wrought  upon  his 
adversary,  Terry  retired  to  his  farm  twenty-five  miles 
from  Stockton.  Before  the  duel  he  had  given  his 
resignation  of  office  to  a  friend  to  be  handed  to  the 
governor  in  case  the  affair  came  off.  On  the  17th  of 
September  Terry  was  arrested  by  policemen  Lees  and 
Ellis,  on  a  warrant  sworn  out  by  P.  W.  Shephard,  and 
issued  by  M.  P.  Blake,  county  judge.  He  was  brought 
before  the  court  and  released  on  giving  $10,000  bail. 
F.  Truett,  his  defender  before  the  vigilance  committee, 
was  one  of  his  bondsmen.  The  case  was  several 
times  postponed  and  shifted  from  one  court  to  another, 
until  after  nine  months  of  dexterous  manipulation  it 
was  sent  by  Hager  of  the  district  court  to  Marin 
county.  "Few  of  our  readers  will  be  surprised  at 
this  result,"  says  the  Bulletinoi  the  11th  of  June  1860. 
"  To  use  a  vulgar  phrase,  it  was  one  of  those  things 
which  had  been  cut  and  dried,  and  most  people  here- 
abouts were  expecting  it.     The  history  of  this  prose- 


THE  TRIAL  FARCE. 


773 


cution  is  not  calculated,  however,  to  give  people  abroad 
a  very  high  opinion  of  the  impartiality  of  criminal 
proceedings  in  California.  By  a  general  law,  Terry's 
case  should  have  been  tried  by  our  court  of  sessions ; 
but  Terry  did  not  like  our  court  of  sessions ;  and  so, 
not  being  able  to  dispute  the  authority  of  that  court 
to  try  him,  he  asks  the  legislature  to  pass  a  law  tak- 
ing all  such  cases  out  of  courts  of  sessions.  This  the 
legislature  did ;  in  order  to  prevent  a  man  charged 
with  a  crime  from  being  tried  before  a  court  he  does 
not  like,  courts  of  sessions  all  over  the  state  are  de- 
clared incompetent  to  try  duellists.  That  was  the 
first  step.  The  case  then  came  before  Judge  Hager 
of  a  district  court.  There  Terry  made  a  new  demand : 
he  asked  now  to  select  his  own  place  of  being  tried, 
and  his  own  judge.  All  this  has  been  granted.  The 
case  is  sent  to  Marin  ;  and  J.  H.  Hardy,  it  is  plain  to 
see,  will  be  the  judge.  How  the  trial  will  terminate 
is  not  hard  to  divine.  A  Marin  jury  acquitted  the 
duellist,  Johnson,  who  also  killed  his  man ;  and  it  would 
be  strange  if  they  do  less  for  Terry." 

Plate  sin  with  gold 

And  the  strong  Ittnce  of  justice  hurtless  breaks ; 

Clothe  it  in  rags,  a  pigmy's  straw  doth  pierce  it. 

Hardy,  a  personal  friend  of  Terrj^'s,  and  a  most 
chivalrous  and  fire-eating  judge  of  the  law-and-order 
stamp,  came  down  from  Mokelunnie  Hill  for  the  ex- 
press purpose  of  presiding  temporarily  at  tlie  seventh 
district  court  held  at  Marin  county,  in  order  to  free 
his  friend.  Wliat  liad  these  men  to  fear  from  the  law 
when  they  could  so  play  upon  it  that  it  would  sing 
any  tune  that  best  pleased  them  ?  And  now  liear  the 
conclusion  of  the  whole  matter.  The  day  is  fixed  for 
trial,  the  hour  has  arrived;  the  witnesses  from  San 
Francisco  who  should  have  been  present  are  becalmed 
upon  the  bay ;  the  court  waits,  and  drinks,  and  smokes, 
and  swears  a  little;  then  the  prosecuting  attorney  moves 
a  nolle  prose/jui,  and  the  trial  of  the  Honorable  David 
S.  Terry,  late  judge  of  the  supreme  court  of  California, 


774 


DUELLING. 


for  the  killing  of  the  Honorable  David  C.  Broderick^ 
late  United  States  senator  from  California,  ends  be- 
fore it  begins. 

A  record  of  Hardy's  acts  while  on  the  bench,  and 
at  other  times,  would  tend  in  no  wise  to  raise  the 
character  of  these  proceedings  in  the  eyes  of  good 
men.  I  give  but  one  incident  among  many:  While 
judge  of  the  sixteenth  judicial  district  in  March  1861, 
he  was  iiidicted  by  the  grand  jury  of  San  Francisco 
for  mur  Jer,  as  being  accessory  before  the  fact  to  the 
killing  of  Samuel  T.  r^ewell.  It  was  said  that  Horace 
Smith,  brother-in-law  of  Hardy,  visited  the  city  the 
New  Year's  day  previous,  for  the  purpose  of  killing  • 
Newoil.  This  adds  but  another  case  of  ruffian  justice 
to  the  long  list  which  disgraces  the  record  of  the  ad- 
herents of  law-and-order. 

Were  I  permitted  but  one  word,  one  argument  in 
favor  of  vigilance,  I  would  point  to  such  men  as  these. 
Behold  them  on  the  bench,  behold  tham  as  politicians, 
as  lawyers,  as  members  of  the  commonwealth ;  be- 
hold their  blood-stained  hands,  their  ever-ready  and 
bloody  weapons,  behold  them  in  public  and  in  private, 
at  home  and  abroad,  insulting  the  law  and  constitu- 
tion, which  so  used  to  impress  their  sense  of  duty  in 
vigilance  times  1  behold  them  anyhow  or  anywhere, 
and  they  bespeak  in  stronger  words  than  mine  the 
necessity  of  vigilance  committees  in  all  places  where 
such  characters  abound.  As  I  love  such  men,  so  hate 
I  law,  justice,  and  morality. 

Among  the  merry  men  of  Shasta  in  1859  d> 
sham  duel  was  arranged  between  Grove  K.  Godfrey, 
superintendent  of  common  schools,  and  William  B. 
Stoddart,  trustee,  the  latter  alone  of  the  two  princi- 
pals being  privy  to  it.  The  meeting  was  to  take  place 
at  French  gulch,  the  weapons,  derringers,  and  the 
distance  ten  paces.  The  pistols  \v  are  loaded  with  bul- 
lets of  cork  covered  with  tin  foil,  in  the  presence 
of  the  assemblage  which  consisted  of  about  sixty  per- 


GATEWOOD  AND  GOODWIN. 


775 


sons,  including  most  of  the  notables  of  the  district. 
The  challenger,  Stoddard,  failed  to  appear  and  his 
second,  Levi,  took  his  place.  It  was  arranged  that 
Levi  should  fall,  but  Godfrey's  pistol  failing  to  dis- 
charge, the  joke  soon  leaked  out,  and  so  enraged  was 
the  dupe,  that  Levi  narrowly  escaped  with  his  life. 

It  was  "  conducted  upon  the  most  humane  and  hon- 
orable terms  known  to  the  code,"  they  said,  when  on 
the  16th  of  September  1859,  William  J.  Gatewood 
shot  P.  Goodwin  in  the  abdomen  with  a  rifle  at  forty 
yards,  so  that  he  died  in  excruciating  agony  within 
three  hours.  The  killing  was  done  in  a  very  gentle- 
manly manner.  Gatewood  was  a  lawyer,  and  Good- 
win a  doctor. 

"  Doctor  I  am  very  sorry  that  this  affair  has  term- 
inated so ;  very  sorry  indeed,"  said  Gatewood. 

"  I  am  glad  to  know  that  you  acted  like  a  gentle- 
man," replied  Goodwin. 

It  was  beautifully  done ;  and  so  sentimental  like  I 
One  would  think  the  lawyer  would  almost  rather 
have  been  shot  himself,  and  that  the  doctor  found  it 
sweet  to  die  at  the  hand  of  so  gentlemanly  a  slayer. 
The  people  of  San  Andreas  where  the  two  men  lived 
were  likewise  sorry ;  they  were  both  good  fellows  and 
had  their  friends.  They  did  not  approve  of  an  incen- 
sate  fashion  based  upon  feudallstic  superstition  and 
brute  force,  but,  said  they,  "  when  the  supreme  judge 
of  the  state  lays  aside  the  ermine  to  fight  a  duel; 
when  a  United  States'  senator  does  not  think  it  so 
terrible  to  face  the  shot  of  an  experienced  marksman 
at  ten  paces,  as  to  look  public  opinion  in  the  eye  and 
incur  its  scorn  by  refusing  to  accept  a  challenge; 
when  society  and  the  people  lavish  their  favors  and 
caresses  upon  those  who  have  fought  duels,  and  honor 
the  successful  slayer — we  see  no  recognized  crime  or 
violence  to  the  commonwealth  in  the  act."  Goodwin 
spoke  sharp  words  to  Gatewood ;  Gatewood  struck 
Goodwin ;  Goodwin  challenged  and  Gatewood  killed. 
Glory  to  Gatewood  I     Poor  Goodwin  !     Gatewood 


IS 


776 


DUELLING. 


sorry  to  kill  him,  but  he  should  not  have  spoken 
hastily. 

There  were  principals,  seconds,  surgeons,  friends, 
and  gapers  to  the  measure  of  five  carriages,  which 
conveyed  them  before  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  from 
San  Andreas  to  a  flat  near  Torman's.  Here  the  high 
slaughterers  descended  from  their  vehicles  and  took 
their  positions.  At  the  word  both  sprang  their  rifle 
locks,  but  Goodwin's  gun  hung  fire  and  Gatewood's 
ball  sped  upon  its  death  mission.  Evidently  Gate- 
wood  contemplated  blood  in  some  quarter,  for  he 
brought  to  the  field  a  vehicle  suitable  for  the  easy 
carriage  of  a  dying  man,  and  this  he  magnanimously 
left  to  the  one  he  had  made  to  feel  the  need  of  it. 

Duels  this  year  were  quite  the  thing,  particularly 
among  jurists.  Only  three  days  after  the  aflair  at 
San  Andreas  the  town  of  Sonora  sent  forth  its  shrill 
crow  over  a  first-class  fight.  Sylvester  Knight  and 
J.  E.  Easterbrook  were  the  combatants ;  Knight  fell 
at  the  first  fire. 

Daniel  Showalter,  of  Mariposa,  thirty -two  years  of 
age,  speaker  pro  tempore  of  the  assembly,  and  Charles 
W.  Piercy,  aged  twenty -four,  member  from  San  Ber- 
nardino, two  light-headed  boys  lately  from  declaiming 
school,  fought  eight  miles  from  San  Rafael,  at  four 
o'clock.  May  25th,  1861,  with  rifles  at  forty  paces. 
Upon  our  legislative  floor  hourly  in  accordance  with 
their  well-paid  duty  stood  these  two  wise  and  most 
honorable  young  gentlemen  making  laws  for  sufiering 
humanity,  when  one  day  upon  a  certain  question 
Showalter  asks  leave  to  explain  his  vote.  Piercy  ob- 
jects. Showalter  has  nothing  but  contempt  for  any 
gentleman  who  objects.  Piercy  challenges  and  Sho- 
walter kills  him  at  the  second  fire.  Had  the  aflair 
happened  thirty  years  later,  possibly  Showalter's  shot 
might  have  dissipated  more  common-sense. 

"  The  logic  of  the  Enterprise  editor  is  like  the  love 
of  God."  These  mysterious  words  appeared  in  the 
editorial  of  a  certain  issue  of  the  Virgmia  Union  dur- 


his 


FIERY  EDITOK.S. 


777 


ing  the  autumn  of  1863,  of  which  Thomas  Fitch  wa8 
editor ;  and  he  of  whom  they  were  written  was  I.  T. 
Goodman,  editor  of  the  Territorial  Enterprise.  Good- 
man's aticle  which  called  out  the  mystic  rejoinder 
was  more  slashing  than  sound ;  and  when  the  writer 
first  read  the  criticism  he  thought  that  Fitch,  with 
a  forgiving  spirit,  intended  it  as  a  compliment.  Tlie 
love  of  God  was  surely  good,  and  so  must  be  likewise 
his  logic. 

But  the  reporters,  literary  bummers,  and  wise  men 
of  Virginia  city  began  to  question  among  themselves 
what  deep  or  dire  significance  lay  wrapped  in  the 
words.  Whose  were  they  and  what  was  their  con- 
nection ?  Mark  Twain  thought  the  words  were  from 
Byron.  Dan  de  Quille  was  sure  he  had  seen  them 
in  Baxter's  Saints'  Rest.  The  astute  Goodman  himself 
claimed  them  for  Shakespeare.  But  finally  a  thin- 
haired  rosy-vlsaged  occupant  of  the  bench  beside  the 
entrance  to  the  Fashion  saloon,  who  had  once  been 
whipped  for  running  away  from  Sunday  school,  sug- 
gested the  bible.  After  due  search  a  copy  of  the 
book  was  found,  and  the  passage  brought  to  light, 
with  its  continuation — "in  that  it  surpasseth  human 
understanding."  The  astute  Goodman's  eyes  were 
opened,  and  he  immediately  set  about  to  mend  his 
logic  by  sending  Fitch  a  challenge  to  mortal  combat. 

The  editors  of  Virginia  were  at  that  time,  as  a 
rule,  pugilistic  in  their  proclivities ;  what  they  lacked 
in  logic  they  made  up  for  in  pistolings;  hence  most  of 
them  were  already  under  bonds  to  keep  the  peace, 
and  new  indulgence  must  be  sought  beyond  the  limits 
of  the  territory.  So  the  valley  called  Dry,  over  the 
Californian  boundary,  was  chosen  for  the  further  in- 
terpretation of  this  scripture  passage.  Sophistical 
as  Goodman  was  with  the  pen,  he  was  no  less  illog- 
ical with  the  pistol.  Ferrend,  his  second,  recommended 
a  few  lessons,  and  two  days  before  the  appointed  time 
the  two  went  over  into  the  valley  to  practise.  A 
pine  burr  placed  midway  between  Goodman  and  a 


778 


DUELLING. 


large  tree  served  as  a  target.  The  instructions  were 
"  Fire  low  and  raise  your  pistol  in  a  line  with  the 
burr."  The  instructor  gave  the  word,  and  the  pupil 
fired.  Both  burr  and  tree  remained  untouched. 
Before  the  two  days  had  expired,  however,  much  am- 
munition had  been  spent,  and  many  burrs  shattered. 
The  morning  of  the  meeting  broke  cold  and  crisp. 
A  large  fire  had  been  built  of  dry  pine  limbs,  at  which 
the  injured  Goodman  was  warming  hiijiself  There 
lie  stood  awaiting  his  enemy,  half  in  hope  and  half 
in  fear,  as  Hector  waited  the  appearance  of  Achilles 
before  the  walls  of  Troy.  Presently  Fitch,  attended 
by  his  friends,  drew  near.  The  combatants  were  soon 
placed  in  position  and  the  word  given  to  fire.  Simul- 
taneously the  shots  rang  through  the  valley,  the 
astute  Goodman  stood  erect,  but  Fitch  dropped  his 
pistol,  grasped  his  knee,  and  turning  half  round  fell 
to  the  ground.  Then  all  went  back  to  their  re- 
spective avocations,  happy  in  the  consciousness  of  a 
duty  well  performed,  of  a  great  principle  vindicated, 
and  of  an  intricate  question  solved.  Meanwhile  the 
astute  Goodman  thought  to  mend  his  logic,  while 
Fitch  thought  only  of  his  knee. 

Billy  Mulligan  and  Tom  Coleman  having  quarreled, 
proceeded  according  to  the  custom  of  such  gentlemen 
to  settle  the  difficulty  by  an  informal  shooting.  Meet- 
ing one  day  in  April  1864  at  Austin,  Nevada,  Cole- 
man drew ;  but  Mulligan  from  long  association  with 
the  law  and  order  party,  with  governors,  congress- 
men, legislators,  and  judges  for  his  friends,  was  becom- 
ing somewhat  fastidious  in  his  tastes,  and  proposed 
the  matter  should  be  conducted  on  the  latest  and 
most  approved  method.  Coleman  agreed.  Next  day 
they  met  and  fought  with  revolvers  at  ten  paces. 
After  exchanging  six  shots,  in  which  Coleman  was 
twice  wounded,  once  in  the  finger  and  once  in  the  leg, 
the  distinguished  gentlemen  retired  from  the  field. 

At  Laguna  Honda  near  San  Francisco  in  June  1865, 


VERY  POOR  SHOOTINi;. 


779 


a  mock  duel  came  ofl'  between  a  tailor  and  a  barber, 
the  latter  only  being  cognizant  of  the  joke.  The  de- 
tails are  ttx)  childish  for  record. 

At  Music  hall  in  Virginia,  Nevada,  on  the  9th  of 
March,  1805,  a  difficulty  arose  between  Boss  Fouke 
and  Charles  Safford,  well  known  in  the  sporting  circles 
of  that  vicinity.  Fouke  drew  a  weapon.  Safford 
said  he  was  not  anned ;  and  besides,  that  was  no  way 
for  gentlemen  to  fight.  If  Fouke  would  name  a  time 
and  place,  Safford  would  meet  and  remain  witli  him 
as  long  as  he  should  desire  his  comimny.  Fouke  ac- 
quiesced ;  and  the  next  morning  an  agreement  was 
drawn  up  in  writing,  and  signed  by  both,  to  meet 
that  day  at  five  o'clock  at  Long  valley,  and  with  navy 
six-shooters,  at  ten  paces,  to  fire  at  the  word,  and 
then  to  advance  at  pleasure,  and  to  continue  firing 
until  all  the  chambers  should  be  discharged  if  one  of 
them  was  not  disabled  in  the  meantime.  Accordingly 
they  met,  about  150  persons  being  present.  Each 
had  two  seconds ;  Fiimegan  and  Louis  La  Page  act- 
ing for  Safford,  and  Dr  Colombo  and  Jack  McNabb  for 
Fouke.  The  combatants  were  stationed,  the  weapons 
placed  in  their  hands,  and  the  word  given.  Fouke 
was  struck  at  the  first  fire;  but  swerving  to  the  right 
with  his  head  bent  downward  he  continued  to  shoot. 
Safford  advanced  two  paces  in  a  direct  line  keeping 
up  the  fire.  Every  shot  on  both  sides  was  expended 
but  there  was  no  hit  after  the  first  fire,  which  sent  a 
ball  through  the  fleshy  part  of  Fouke's  breast  making 
a  bloody  but  not  dangerous  wound.  The  men  became 
reconciled,  then  each  desired  that  the  other  might 
live,  and  shaking  hands  they  returned  to  their  homes. 

Two  friends,  a  book-keeper  and  a  lawyer,  living  in 
Virginia,  Nevada,  in  1865,  fell  in  love  with  the  same 
female  and  quarrelled.  The  woman  favored  the 
book-keeper.  At  a  party  the  two  men  came  to  blows 
and  pistol  shots.  Next  day  the  lawyer  challenged 
the  book-keeper  to  fight,  but  the  latter  declined. 
Toward  evening  the  two  men  met  on  the  street.     The 


ii 


780 


DUJaj.lNO. 


lawyer  drawing  at  once  a  whip  and  a  revolver  struck 
the  book-keeper  and  exclaimed,  **  You  won't  tight,  eh  1 
Then  take  that  I  and  thatl"  accompanying  the  first 
exclamation  with  a  blow  of  the  whip  on  the  head, 
and  the  next  with  a  pistol-shot  which  took  effect  in 
the  side.  The  book-keeper  staggered  back  for  a 
moment,  then  drawing  a  pistol  both  fired  simultane- 
ously, the  ball  from  the  book-keeper's  pistol  entering 
the  lawyer's  brain.  The  book-keeper  married  the 
girl.  This  is  a  very  common-place  story ;  but  its 
frame- work  will  answer  for  a  hundred  others. 

Charles  Anderson  and  a  Mr  Lewis,  in  January 
1866,  at  Sinker  creek,  ten  miles  below  the  Ainsworth 
mill,  in  Owyhee  county,  Idaho,  quarrelled  about  some 
hay,  and  fought  with  knives.  Both  were  killed ;  one 
died  immediately,  and  the  other  shortly  afterward. 

The  TerrUorial  Enterprise  of  the  31st  of  March, 
1857,  thus  takes  off  a  fight  which  occurred  at  Dayton 
between  B.  F.  Leetingham  and  A.  L.  Buck,  the 
combat  being  the  ultimate  appeal  in  the  settlement  of 
a  dispute  concerning  a  piece  of  sluicing-ground. 

"  The  dispute  between  the  parties  was  about  a  piece 
of  sluicing  ground,  but  no  matter  about  that.  The 
fight  began  about  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when 
Leetingham  came  into  the  ring  smiling,  and  knocked 
a  chip  off  Buck's  shoulder.  Buck  in  return  gave 
Leetingham  a  look  which  cut  him  to  the  soul.  First 
blood  for  Buck  I  The  bottle-holders  advanced,  and 
sponged  their  mouths  and  nostrils.  Time  being  called, 
the  principals  resumed  their  places.  Till  half-past 
eight  o'clocP.:  the  parties  stood  face  to  face,  neither 
moving  a  muscle.  Then  it  was  thought  by  some  of 
Buck's  baclii^i's  that  Leetingham  was  observed  to 
wink,  and  they  called  upon  the  referees  to  decide  the 
dispute.  On  looking  for  the  referees  they  were  no- 
where to  be  seen.  A  committee  started  toward  the 
town  to  find  them,  as  some  one  said  they  had  gone  off 
in  that  direction  nearly  an  hour  before  to  get,  as  was 
supposed,  a  supply  of  blue-ruin  whisky.     About  half 


8Pi<X3IMEN  OK  NEVADA  HUMOR. 


781 


way  between  the  ring  and  the  town  they  were  found, 
sitting  flat  on  the  ground  with  a  gallon  measure  of 
whisky  between  them,  and  each  a  clay  pipe  in  his 
mouth.  One  was  backing  Buck  and  the  other  Leet- 
ingham.  Both  were  naked  as  the  day  they  were  born, 
having  bet  all  their  valuables,  then  their  hats,  and 
one  article  of  clothing  after  another,  piling  them  up 
in  a  heap,  till  nothing  was  left  but  their  pipes,  which 
they  were  in  the  act  of  betting  when  found.  As  they 
were  too  drunk  to  stand,  they  were  not  disturbed. 
Meantime  the  fight  was  growing  more  furious.  It 
had  been  asserted  that  Buck  wmked  at  about  the 
same  time  that  Leetingham  had  done  so,  and  the  sec- 
onds were  about  to  call  it  a  draw  and  advance  and 
sponge  them  off  when  Buck  made  a  mouth  at  Leet- 
ingham. Leetingham  could  no  longer  bo  restrained, 
and  established  rules  had  no  meaning  for  hhu.  He 
advanced  a  step  toward  Buck,  and  thrust  his  tongue 
out  at  him.  The  fight  was  now  a  regular  rough  and 
tumble.  Leetingham  continued  to  advance  upon 
Buck,  punishing  him  severely  in  the  manner  we  have 
stated,  till  both  were  far  out  of  the  ring,  the  crowd 
following  and  cheering  for  Leetuigliam.  This  con- 
tinued to  be  the  position  of  this  brilliant  and  stub- 
bornly contested  affair  till  half-past  nuie  o'clock,  two 
to  one  being  offered  on  Leetingham,  with  no  takers. 
Leetingham  now  made  an  attempt  to  take  a  chew  of 
tobacco,  but  in  doing  so  made  a  bad  mistake,  as  the 
moment  his  tongue  was  in  his  mouth.  Buck  seeing 
his  chance,  at  once  thrust  forth  hie  own,  and  having 
thus  turned  the  tables  on  his  antagonist,  caused  him 
to  retreat.  In  going  backward,  Leetingham  fell  into 
a  shafb  some  280  feet  in  depth.  A  windlass  was  pro- 
cured, and  he  was  hoisted  out.  On  reaching  the  sur- 
face he  was  still  unconquered.  Placing  his  thumb 
upon  his  nose,  he  made  a  charge  upon  Buck,  twirling 
his  fingers  savagely.  At  noon,  the  fight  being  still 
in  this  position,  the  spectators  all  went  to  town  to 
dinner.     Returning  about  one  o'clock,  they  searched 


782 


DUELLINO. 


till  about  four  in  the  evening  for  the  combatants,  bets 
being  high  all  this  time  on  Leetingham,  when  they 
were  at  last  found  on  a  rocky  point  projecting  over 
the  surging  waters  of  the  Carson.  Leetingham  was 
crouched  upon  the  farthest  projecting  point  of  a  crag, 
begging  pitifully  for  quarter,  while  Buck  was  seated 
complacently  before  him,  triumphantly  pulling  down 
the  lower  lid  of  his  left  eye  with  his  unsparing  right 
forefinger,"  This  very  funny  and  instructive  story 
was  doubtless  by  Goodman. 

Ferrend — major,  they  used  to  call  him,  in  recherche 
affairs  every  second  must  have  a  title  if  he  has  noth- 
ing else — Ferrend  had  many  calls  of  this  kind  during 
the  early  days  of  Nevada.  He  was  easily  found, 
smelling  blood  from  afar,  and  was  always  ready  to 
assist  at  a  funeral  of  this  sort.  One  day  in  Wood  and 
Wilson's  saloon,  Jack  Hunter  knocked  Bill  Pitcher 
down.  Pitcher  arose,  found  Ferrend,  and  challenged 
Hunter.  The  latter  assented,  and  named  dragoon  six- 
shooters,  next  morning  at  sunrise,  at  the  ravine  below 
the  Gould  and  Curry  mill,  all  of  which  was  satisfac- 
tory. But  when  Hunter  specified  that  all  the  cham- 
bers of  the  revolvers  should  be  loaded,  and  that  after 
the  word  was  given  firing  should  continue,  if  possible, 
until  the  six  shots  were  discharged.  Ferrend  regarded 
it  murderous,  which  strikes  one  unlearned  in  the  tech- 
nicalities of  refined  murder  as  the  irony  of  duelling  ; 
since  why  should  they  fight,  if  not  to  kill,  and  after 
one  was  killed,  what  did  it  matter  how  many  extra 
bullet-holes  were  made  in  his  carcass?  Nevertheless, 
it  was  voted  barbarous ;  killing  should  be  done  gen- 
teelly, and  with  decorum.  Placed  in  position,  the 
word  was  given,  and  simultaneously  the  two  weapons 
rang  one  report.  "I  think  I  can  stand  another  shot," 
said  Hunter,  but  before  the  seconds  could  reload  he 
fainted,  having  been  shot  through  the  hips.  Three 
days  afterward  he  died. 

A  duel  was  fought  by  two  distinguished  French 
gentlemen  in  the  vicinity  of  Lone  Mountain  cemetery 


THE  CODE  IN  PRISON. 


783 


in  April  1869  with  swords.  Amidst  circlings,  and 
divers  jumping-jack  manoeuvrs,  they  pricked  each 
other  until  the  blood  began  to  flow,  when  they  con- 
cluded they  did  not  like  it,  and  went  home. 

A  duel  was  fought  with  Kentucky  rifles,  thirty 
paces,  wheel  and  fire,  at  Los  Angeles  the  25th  of 
March,  1870.  The  high  contending  principals  were 
John  B.  Wilson,  son  of  a  senator,  and  Charles  E. 
Beane,  journalistic  scribe  ;  cause,  wine  and  politics, 
a  common  but  unhealthy  mixture.  Taking  with  them 
a  surgeon,  which  signified  blood,  the  belligerents  gat 
themselves  beyond  the  city  limits,  and  prepared  each 
for  the  other's  death.  Wilson  was  the  challenger. 
At  the  signal  Wilson  turned  quickly  and  pulled,  but 
the  guu  refused  to  fire,  and  Beane  magnanimously 
withheld  his  shot.  Re-loading  Wilson's  piece  the 
order  was  again  given  and  both  fired.  Beane  was  un- 
liarmed  but  Wilson  dropped  his  gun,  his  honor  satis- 
fied. A  flesh  wound  was  found  in  the  left  arm. 
Then  followed  a  scene  of  sweet  reconciliation,  and  the 
heroes  departed  to  their  homes. 

Confinement  does  not  always  wring  all  passion  from 
the  man,  and  the  inmates  of  prisons  deem  their  right 
to  cut  and  kill  each  other  in  a  gentlemanly  way  as 
good  as  that  of  prize-fighters,  judges,  and  legislators. 
Feter  Hanley  and  John  O'Brien  lived  at  San  Quen- 
tin,  lived  there  upon  compulsion.  One  day,  it  was 
the  4th  of  June,  1877,  as  for  their  sins  they  were  car- 
rying the  hod,  they  indulged  in  an  argument  upon  the 
moral  character  of  a  Barbary  coast  bar-keeper.  Wax- 
ing warm  in  t'-eir  dispute,  and  unable  to  injure  each 
other  with  vords,  they  agreed  to  settle  the  discussion 
with  knives,  which  they  forthwith  secured  for  that 
purpose  from  one  of  the  shops.  Retiring  to  a  secluded 
spot  behind  one  of  the  new  buildings,  they  engaged  in 
some  really  cutting  arguments,  until  the  alarm  was 
given  and  they  were  separated.  O'Brien  was  badly 
injured.  Hanley  was  gashed  somewhat  about  the 
face,  but  not  so  badly  as  to  be  unable  to  endure 


I  'If  I 


784 


DUELLING. 


twenty-five  lashes,  which  were  administered  upon  the 
bare  back.  It  is  a  pity  that  judges,  senators,  editors, 
and  others  of  that  stripe,  could  not  have  had 
some  of  the  same  medicine  administered  to  them. 

Two  old  and  respected  inhabitants  of  Mariposa 
county,  old  enough  to  know  better,  and  respected 
enough  to  do  better,  met  informally  and  fought  with 
shotguns  in  September  1877.  David  Evans  living 
six  miles  from  Homitos  was  one,  and  Moses  v. 
Northrup  the  other.  Seven  or  eight  years  before 
Evans'  bam  was  burned,  and  he  said  that  Northrup 
did  it ;  said  so  gently  at  first  and  then  more  positively, 
and  kept  saying  so  for  seven  years,  until  the  latter 
became  tired  of  hearing  it.  So  one  day  he  called  up- 
on his  enemy  with  a  shotgun  and  told  Evans  to  brjag 
out  his  and  meet  him  on  equal  terms.  Evans  sxm 
appeared  with  his  gun  and  asked,  "  Are  you  read  -  ?  ' 
"  Ready,"  said  Northrup,  and  the  two  men  fireu 
almost  shnultaneously.  Evans  was  killed,  while 
Northrup  remained  unharmed.  Thus  the  God  of 
battles  adjudged  Northrup  innocent  of  having  fire<l 
Evans'  barn.  A  plain,  practical,  common-senso 
solution  of  a  question  which  never  otherwise  might 
have  been  solved. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


TALES  OP  THE  TIMES. 


How  indestmctively  the  Good  grows,  and  propagates  itself,  even  among 
the  weedy  entanglements  of  Evil. 

— Sartor  Resartus. 


« 


Op  tales  of  the  times  I  have  enough  at  hand  to 
fill  volumes.  I  can  only  give  brief  specimens.  No- 
where in  the  world's  business  did  fortune  ever  turn 
her  wheel  more  tauntingly ;  dealing  right  and  left 
sudden  and  unfamiliar  changes,  her  ways  being  out- 
side of  ordinary  experiences,  so  that  the  shrewdest 
heads  were  little  better  than  those  supporting  ass-ears 
for  interpreting  the  future.  A  hundred  instances 
might  be  cited ;  in  fact  every  man  of  those  days  was 
the  hero  of  an  unwritten  romance.  Bootblack  and 
banker  alike  might  give  each  his  remarkable  histor}', 
only  the  former  would  perhaps  far  exceed  the  latter 
in  incident  and  vivid  interest.  What  a  thousand  and 
one  tales  they  would  have  made,  could  some  seer  have 
reid  and  repeated  them,  the  Ufe's  doings  and  changes 
o^  all  those  varied  characters  in  the  gulches  and  in 
the  towns ;  clerks,  cooks,  merchants,  mechanics,  gam- 
biers,  preachers,  doctors,  and  the  rest  I 

With  the  great  emigration  to  Oregon  in  1846  came 
Simeon  Pettigrove,  distantly  related,  I  cannot  now 
exactly  say  how,  to  that  Pettigrove  who  once  owmd 
the  ground  that  Portland  stands  on,  and  who  should 
have  been  one  of  the  richest  and  most  influential  men 
of  that  rich  and  hospitable  city,  instead  of  chinking 
glasses  during  his  latter  days  with  Van  Bokkelen  and 
Sv/an  in  the  hotel  at  Port  Townsend. 


Cal.  Int.  Poc.   60 


(78B> 


;86 


TALES  OF  THE  TIMES. 


Of  the  same  wagon-train  with  young  Pettigrove  in 
crossing  the  continent  was  Mary  Wilder,  a  brawny 
maid  of  eighteen,  who  walked  beside  her  father's  oxen 
with  a  long  whip,  having  a  sharp  gad  at  the  thick  end 
to  prod  them  on  through  the  powdered  alkaline  plains, 
and  all  the  long  way  of  that  wearisome  journey,  tak- 
ing entire  charge  of  the  team  while  her  father  helped 
a  neighbor  with  his  live  stock.  Pleasing  was  she  to 
lot)k  upon,  although  her  face  was  saffroned  by  the  sun 
and  dust,  and  her  clothes  bcgreased  and  tattered,  and 
her  feet  broad  and  bare,  for  her  head  and  hair  were 
beautiful,  and  when  iii  the  vein  the  light  and  warmth 
of  :  countenance  might  kindle  tlie  campfire.  Heart 
anci  gs  were  stout,  and  her  hands  well  formed — fcr 
yoking  cattle;  and  woe  betide  the  bullock  that  pulled 
too  much  to  riglit  or  left,  or  pressed  its  neck  too 
lightly  against  the  yoke.  All  the  Wilders'  wealth 
was  in  that  wagon,  where  sat  the  mother  'midst  the 
younger  children — all  theirwealth  except  the  daughter 
Mary,  a  precious  property,  who  must  make  a  good 
match,  and  help  to  raise  the  family  respectability. 

Along  by  the  willows,  through  the  sagebrush,  over 
the  sandy  desert,  and  over  the  rugged  mountains, 
Simeon  walked  with  her,  talking  with  her  much,  and 
loving  her  more.  He  a.  l;ed  the  father  mi'dit  he 
marry  her.  No.  She  had  nothing;  she  must  marry 
something,  and  Simeon  had  no  more  than  s]:e. 

He  went  his  way,  and  came  again,  and  went  and 
came  as  did  the  winter  and  the  summer  "How 
much  must  he  have  who  marries  Mary  ? "  'At  the 
least,  a  thousand  dollars."  Simeon  was  in  dcsi)air. 
As  wages  then  were  in  Oregon,  he  could  not  lay  by 
that  amount  in  five  years.  Tlie  mines  of  California 
now  began  to  be  talked  about,  and  an  expedition  was 
organized  to  go  and  dig  for  gold.  Here  was  his  op- 
portunity, and  Pettygrove  was  among  the  first  to  join. 
And  as  he  wound  by  the  base  oi  Shasta  butte  down 
into  the  valley  he  took  a  solcnni  oath  never  to  return 
without  the  money  which  should  buy  Mary. 


MARY'S  LOVER. 


787 


Oil  Feather  river  he  bcfjan  to  diix.  How  his  heart 
beat,  how  his  soul  gloated  over  the  first  half  ounce 
secured;  how  beautiful  it  was  to  gaze  at,  how  sweet, 
how  lovely,  how  pure  1  But  not  more  pure  or  lovely 
or  sweet  or  beautiful  than  Mary,  who  was  awaiting 
him  away  back  in  Oregon.  As  his  pile  increased,  his 
darling  yellow  pile  which  was  to  secure  the  loved  ob- 
ject, he  could  not  contain  himself  for  joy.  His  com- 
rades soon  learned  his  heart's  ambition,  and  once  the 
ice  was  broken  he  was  forever  talking  of  it.  Soon  it 
was  the  standing  joke  of  the  camp.  "  Pet,  how's  your 
gal  ?"  the  boys  used  to  ask  when  they  wished  to  know 
of  the  A-\'^'s  success.  "  It's  all  right,  boys.  I'll  get 
her,  sure,'"  was  the  customary  reply.  When  fifty 
ounces  were  safely  bagged — "She's  mine,  boys,  slic's 
mine,"  he  used  to  say,  or  rather,  sing;  for  his  heart 
was  singing,  and  the  voice  would  echo  it  whether  he 
would  or  no. 

A  hundred  ounces,  "Well,  boys,  I've  got  what  I 
came  for;  I  reckon  I  better  go  back  and  marry  Mary 
now."  Rather  tamely  this  was  said  as  compared  with 
the  late  wild  overflow  of  feeling.  The  fact  is,  his 
claim  was  paying  well,  and  fascinated  with  gold-gath- 
ering, Simeon  did  not  much  like  to  leave  it.  Easily 
persuaded  was  he  to  remain  and  work  a  little  longer. 

After  this  the  yield  began  rapidly  to  increase,  until 
Simeon  had  secured  five  thousand  dollars.  With 
store  clothes  he  put  on  a  thoughtful  and  subdued  de- 
meanor, hired  men  to  take  his  place  in  the  ditcli,  and 
was  soon  worth  ten  thousand  dollars,  then  twenty 
thousand.  Little  was  said  these  days  regarding 
Mary  Finally  he  was  asked,  "Pet,  how  about  that 
Oregon  gal?'  Simeon  hung  his  head  a  little  as  he 
said,  "  Well,  the  fact  is,  boys,  her  folks  are  mighty 
connnon,  and  couldn't  give  her  nmch  of  a  bringing  up, 
and  while  she's  good  enough  for  a  thousand  dollars,  I 
think  I  can  afford  a  better  one  now." 


One  may  be  moderately  shrewd  with  comparative 


788 


TALES  OF  THE  TIMES. 


safety,  but  to  exhibit  talents  for  circumvention  and 
overreaching  of  too  pronounced  a  character  is  dan- 
gerous. 

Early  in  the  fifties  there  arrived  at  Rough  and 
Ready  one  day  a  double-edged  native  of  Cape  Cod. 
The  next  morning  he  spent  in  watching  and  quizzing 
the  miners  who  were  at  work.  While  thus  engaged, 
he  encountered  the  owner  of  a  claim  who  had  sunk  a 
shaft  between  two  very  rich  claims,  and  was  now 
within  a  few  inches  of  an  expected  strike.  The  owner 
of  the  shaft  having  business  elsewhere  wished  to  sell, 
and  thought  perhaps  a  better  price  might  be  obtained 
before  uncovering  the  precious  deposit  than  afterward. 
In  any  event  he  was  willing  to  gamble  on  it  a  little. 

"  Three  thousand  dollars  was  taken  out  o'  that  thar 
hole,"  said  the  shaft-sinker,  "and  nigh  on  to  two  thou- 
sand out  o'  this  yer  'n,  and  there's  no  reason  why 
mine  ain't  as  good  as  them." 

Dinner  time  came  round,  and  the  diggers  on  the 
way  to  their  cabins  stopped  to  talk  about  it,  and  at 
length  quite  a  crowd  collected  about  the  place.  One 
offered  $100  for  the  claim,  another  $200,  another 
$250,  but  the  owner  peremptorily  declined  them  all. 
Finrlly  the  man  from  Cape  Cod  opened  his  mouth, 
and  in  a  shrill  voice  pitched  at  F  sharp  spoke. 

"Look  a-here,  stranger,"  said  he,  "you  don't  know 
me,  and  I  don't  know  you,  but  if  you  believe  what 
you  say  I'll  make  you  an  offer  you  can't  refuse." 

"  How  is  that  ? "  said  the  shaft-owner,  while  all 
eyes  were  directed  toward  the  sharpened  visage  of 
the  newly  arrived. 

"  Well,  I'll  work  your  hole  for  you  on  these  condi- 
tions. If  more  than  $200  are  taken  out,  you  shall 
have  the  whole  of  it;  if  less  than  $200  it  shall  all 
belong  to  me." 

The  owner  pondered  a  moment.  "Surely,"  he 
thought,  "there  is  more  than  $200  there.  This  fellow 
fresh  from  Cape  Cod  is  a  fool.  Well,  it  will  do  him 
no  harm  to  purchase  of  me  a  little  experience  at  the 


bei 


A  YANKEE   TRICK. 


789 


price  of  three  or  four  weeks'  labor."  Turning  to  the 
Yankee  he  said:  "Let  a  friend  of  mine  work  with 
5"ou,  you  giving  him  eight  dollars  a  day  should  you 
take  out  less  than  $200,  and  put  it  all  in  writing  and 
I'll  do  it." 

"All  right,  stranger,"  replied  the  Yankee,  and  in  a 
few  minutes  the  thing  was  done. 

The  purchaser  immediately  went  to  work,  and  by 
noon  next  day  had  taken  out $180.  Then  he  paused; 
he  considered ;  he  looked  at  his  little  pile,  then  quietly 
laying  down  his  pick  he  went  to  the  owner  of  the 
claim. 

"  I  guess  I'll  stop  now,"  he  remarked  meekly. 
'Stop,"  said   the  other,   "why   you've   only  just 
begun  1 " 

"I  know,"  replied  the  Yankee,  "but  I  think  I  had 
better  knock  off  now,  so  there  is  your  claim  whenever 
you  want  it.  I  have  paid  your  friend  eight  dollars 
for  one  day's  work,  for  I  always  do  as  I  agree  and 
pay  my  debts,  I  don't  ask  any  odds  of  anybody.  My 
father  is  a  deacon,  and  we  all  keep  Saturday  night. 
I  was  brought  up  never  to  tell  a  lie,  nor  to  let  any 
one  get  the  start  of  me  swapping  jack-knives; 
stranger,  there's  your  claim." 

In  vain  the  shaft-owner  insisted  that  the  Yankee 
should  work  out  the  claim  thoroughly,  and  finally 
brought  suit  to  compel  him  to  do  so.  The  terms  of 
the  contract  were  plain,  and  it  was  decided  tliat  the 
Yankee  had  the  right  to  stop  working  wheneve-r  he 
pleased.  It  was  a  very  fair  return  for  the  first  day's 
work,  but  the  deacon's  son  was  obliged  to  continue 
his  perigrinations,  as  the  diggers  of  Rough  and 
Ready  felt  hardly  at  home  in  company  with  a  genius 
so  superior  to  themselves. 

A  reckless  youth  of  twenty-two,  named  Prudon, 
whose  home  was  in  Louisiana,  being  put  financially 
upon  short  allowance  by  his  father  for  having  lost 
money  betting  on  Clay's  election — a  game  the  boy 


f^ 


TALES  OF  THE  TIMES. 


did  not  understana,  as  the  father  said — set  out  for 
CaHfoniia  overland  and  after  trying  his  fortune  unsuc- 
cessfully at  Placerville,  then  Hangtown,  he  continued 
his  journey  and  arrived  at  Sacramento  in  the  midst 
of  the  cholera  season  of  the  autunm  of  1850.  The 
streets,  swarming  with  teams  loaded  and  loading, 
presented  to  one  just  from  tlie  lonely  dusty  plain  a 
stirring  scene,  and  the  hotels,  taverns,  and  gambling 
saloons  were  so  much  to  his  liking  that  he  concluded 
to  settle  there. 

He  had  been  educated  by  his  fatlier  for  the  presi- 
dency of  the  United  States,  and  as  he  had  understood 
that  it  was  necessary  to  undergo  certain  routine  before 
seatinjj:  himself  in  the  White  House,  he  determined 
now  to  adopt  the  profession  of  politics,  whereupon  he 
ratified  his  determination  by  taking  a  drink.  Selling 
tlie  poor  mule  that  had  carried  him  from  the  Missis- 
sippi river,  the  proceeds  of  which  constituted  his  entire 
capital,  he  chose  a  hotel  on  a  par  with  his  pretensions, 
and  after  a  substantial  luncheon  he  bethought  him  of 
letters  from  home,  and  started  for  the  postofhce. 

The  steamer  had  lately  arrived,  and  at  the  window 
was  a  line  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred 
men,  at  the  foot  of  which  he  was  obliged  to  take  his  place 
and  wait  his  turn.  It  was  a  tedious  process,  standing 
and  stepping  at  long  intervals,  as  one  after  another 
was  served.  The  sun  poured  down  hot,  and  tlie 
young  scapegrace,  feverish  and  thirsty  from  his 
fatiguing  journey,  hailed  a  passing  watermelon  cart, 
and  bought  and  ate,  and  bought  another  and  another. 
Thus  in  due  time  he  reached  the  window  but  found 
no  letters. 

To  console  himself  for  the  loss  of  so  much  time  and 
the  attending  disappointment,  he  treated  himself  to  a 
glass  of  brandy  and  water,  and  as  it  pleased  him  he 
took  another.  This  caused  him  to  feel  so  well  that 
he  concluded  to  take  several  more  so  that  he  might 
feel  better ;  in  fact  he  would  feel  his  best. 

Brandy  iu  doses  sufficiently  strong  and  frequent, 


WATERMELON  AND  BRANDY. 


Wi 


taken  directly  after  watermelon,  when  the  system  is 
somewhat  reduced  by  travel,  and  the  still,  incandcHcent 
air  is  epidemic  with  disease,  often  makes  one  feel  like 
retiring;  so  our  young  Louisianian  ought  his  bed, 
and  soon  was  sleeping  heavily.  Strange  to  say,  about 
three  o'clock  he  awoke  with  violent  pains  and  called 
for  a  physician.  The  doctor  came  and  dosed  him. 
He  was  comfortless;  no  more  brandy  and  watermelon 
now.  He  kept  up,  though  he  knew  the  cholera  had 
clutched  him.  It  seemed  to  him  the  streets  were  full 
of  hearses,  and  once  he  caught  a  driver  closely  eyeing 
him  as  if  casting  in  his  mind  about  how  long  it  would 
be  before  his  services  would  be  required. 

Day  after  day  he  grew  weaker,  and  finally  was  con- 
fined to  his  room.  The  landlord  gave  him  up,  and 
disliking  him  to  die  in  his  house  lest  it  should  frighten 
away  his  guests,  he  reconmiended  him  to  the  hospital. 
A  long,  low,  adobe  building  at  the  fort,  a  little  dis- 
tance out,  was  used  for  that  purpose.  Our  young 
friend  was  not  much  pleased  at  the  thought,  but  he 
was  now  so  weak  that  he  could  not  offer  nmch  oppo- 
sition. The  hospital  wagon  was  ordered  round,  and 
the  sick  man  was  carried  out  on  a  mattress.  AnotluT 
invalid  was  called  for  and  taken  in,  who  was  yet  more 
ill ;  at  all  events  he  groaned  fearfully  all  the  way  out. 

The  ride  and  the  fresh  air  seemed  to  revive  Prudon, 
and  when  he  reached  the  hospital  he  was  able  to  stand 
alone,  and  while  they  were  carrying  in  his  fellow-pas- 
senger, he  seated  hhnself  in  a  chair  that  stood  under 
the  verandah  which  ran  round  the  building.  Just 
then  a  small,  pleasant-looking  man  in  a  green  cap  and 
tassel  made  his  appearance  at  the  door. 

"  I  say,  stranger,"  ventured  Pruuon,  "can  I  have  a 
glass  of  water?" 

"Why,  are  you  a  patient ?  '  asked  the  little  man. 

"I  should  say  I  was,"  replied  Prudon,  "I  came 
her6  in  that  wagon." 

Much  to  the  joy  of  Prudon,  who  was  very  thirsty, 
the  little  man  disappeared  within  the  door  with  alac- 


792 


TALES  OF  THE  TIMES. 


ritv.  He  soon  returned,  but  instead  of  water  he  held 
a  book  in  his  hand,  and  approaching  the  invalid  he 
opened  it  and  drew  from  his  pocket  a  pencil. 

**  What  is  your  nanle '( " 

"  Prudon.'*^ 

"  Give  it  to  me  in  full  if  you  please ;  and  have  you 
any  friends  here,  and  where  is  your  home  ? " 

"  Answer  me  one  question  first,"  replied  the  patient, 
now  growing  weak  and  irritable,  "  why  are  you  so 
particular  about  all  that  ? ' 

"  So  that,  in  case  you  die,  vou  know,  I  may  be  able 
to  write  home  for  you." 

Piudon  began  to  feel  that  he  was  indeed  booked 
for  the  next  world,  and  looked  at  the  small  door  cut 
through  the  thick  adobe  as  the  opening  to  his  grave. 
He  now  asked  to  be  taken  in,  for  he  was  getting  weak 
again,  and  was  almost  choked  with  thirst.  The  little 
man  called  two  attendants,  who  took  him  up,  and  en- 
tering the  door  laid  him  on  a  bed.  The  room  was 
about  seventy  feet  in  length  by  thirty  in  width,  and 
contained  nearly  one  hundred  invalids  in  every  stage 
of  the  disease.  They  were  stretched  on  cots  ranged 
in  rows  across  the  room.  Some  were  groaning  and 
some  were  cursing,  but  most  of  them  lay  quite  still. 
They  were  cared  for  as  well  as  might  be  at  such  a 
time  and  in  such  a  place,  but  it  was  pitiful  to  see  them 
lying  there  alone,  and  dying  alone,  and  at  such  a  fear- 
ful rate.  For  every  morning  when  the  attendant 
went  round  he  was  sure  to  find  three  or  four  of  them 
cold  and  stiff,  having  died  without  a  word,  and  appa- 
rently without  a  struggle.  Of  such  the  attendants 
merely  straightened  the  limbs  and  covered  the  head 
with  the  blanket ;  then  taking  up  the  cot,  they  carried 
it  out  at  the  back  door,  put  the  bodies  in  a  rough 
board  coffin,  and  stacked  them  up  to  be  carted  away. 
Truly,  never  went  men  so  far  to  find  a  death  so  sad. 

Our  Louisiana  friend  did  not  like  this  night  dying, 
and  so  he  took  care  to  waken  early  in  the  morning, 
that  he  might  not  be  carried  out  and  boxed  up  asleep. 


A  CONVERTED  SINNER. 


703 


A  <fn(fd  doctor  helped  him  through,  however,  and  in 
time  ho  was  convalescent.  Then  with  return  in*;  ap- 
petite, how  he  thought  of  home,  and  longed  for  some- 
thing from  his  mother's  table  I 

Discharged  at  last,  he  walked,  or  rather,  crawled, 
one  morning  into  the  city,  ragged,  dirty,  and  without 
a  dollar  in  money.  After  walking  about  some  time, 
weak  and  fainting,  he  seated  himself  upon  a  step. 
Matters  were  getting  serious  with  him.  Ho  was  not 
yet  fit  for  work,  although  he  was  well  enough  to  leave 
the  hospital ;  but  to  earn  or  make  or  get  his  dinner 
and  a  place  to  sleep,  he  had  not  the  remotest  idea  how 
or  where.  Fortune  now  smiled  on  him  in  a  way  he 
least  expected.  Seated  thus,  ho  saw  crossing  the 
street  one  he  should  know.  Could  it  be  possible, 
Caleb  Anderson,  his  old  friend  and  college  mate? 
"Cabel"  he  shouted.  The  man  turned  and  looked  at 
him,  looked  earnestly.  He  saw  it  all.  Dress,  feature, 
attitude — what  volumes  were  written  tliere  to  the 
friend  who  could  read  them  I  Approaching  his  old 
comrade,  he  lifted  him  up,  and  drawing  his  arm  within 
his  own  he  led  him  away,  speaking  scarcely  a  word. 
The  meeting  of  friends,  often  under  circumstances  the 
most  peculiar,  each  of  whom  had  come  to  California 
unknown  to  the  other,  if  told  upon  the  pages  of  fiction 
would  be  pronounced  improbable.  Prudon's  troubles 
were  over,  and  he  was  soon  in  a  position  to  help 
others,  as  he  had  been  helped. 


A  godless  gold-digger  strolled  into  a  new  methodist 
church  at  Forest  City  one  Sunday,  and  after  gazing 
listlessly  about  for  some  time,  his  attention  was  at 
length  arrested  by  the  story  which  the  mitiister  told 
of  a  miner  who  had  miraculously  escaped  death  on 
falling  into  a  shaft  while  in  a  state  ni  i  itoxication. 
So  impressed  was  this  man  by  a  sense  ot  the  danger 
he  had  escaped  that  he  immediately  sought  religion 
and  found  it. 

"After  sitting  one  hour  on  the  repcntant's  seat," 


m 


TALES  OF  THE  TIMES. 


said  the  preacher,  "God  forgave  liiin  his  sins  «»nd 
thenceforth  he  was  a  new  man." 

Now  it  happened  that  the  hsteuer  hhnself  liad  like- 
wise one  night  not  long  since  become  beastly  drunk, 
stumbled  into  an  old  uncovered  shaft  on  his  way 
home,  and  escaped  unliarnied.  The  force  of  example 
fell  upon  him.  He  became  uneasy,  twisted  himself  in 
his  seat,  and  finally  rising  up  called  out  to  the 
speaker,  "Is  that  a  fact?"  "It  is  certainly  true," 
replied  the  preacher.  Turning  to  the  one  seated 
nearest  him,  he  exclaimed,  "  My  case  exactly  ;  I  fell 
into  a  hole,  came  out  all  right ;  religion  must  be  a 
good  thing  ;  by  God  I'll  try  it  on  too  1 "  Therewith 
he  marched  forward  and  took  his  seat  under  the  more 
immediate  droppings  of  the  sanctuary. 

Among  the  miners  at  Carson  creek,  near  the 
Stanislaus  river,  was  an  old  man  who  had  been  there 
some  months — it  was  generally  believed  that  lie  had 
been  successful — no  one  knew  what  he  did  with  his 
gold,  for  he  was  a  man  of  economical  liabits,  and  free 
from  the  vice  of  gambling.  People  '  oved  that  he 
buried  his  gold.     One  day  the  old  threw  the 

whole  camp  into  excitement  by  frantically  rushing 
about  and  declaring  that  he  had  been  robbed  of  his 
gold.  He  was  rather  liked  and  most  of  the  miners 
sympathized  with  him,  and  oflered  to  assist  him  in 
finding  the  gold,  and  in  catching  and  punishing 
the  robber. 

After  numerous  inquiries  of  the  old  man,  it  was  as- 
certained that  he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  burying  his 
treasures  in  different  places ;  and  that  the  amount  of 
which  he  had  been  robbed  was  concealed  in  a  leathern 
bag  at  the  foot  of  a  certain  tree — which  particular 
bag  was  filled  with  lump  gold,  specimens,  etc.  He 
took  several  persons  to  the  spot  and  showed  them  the 
hole  cornered  by  a  flat  stone. 

Upon  examining  the  place  carefully,  a  large  go- 
pher's hole  was  discovered  in  the  side  of  the  cavity  in 


GOPHER  STORIES. 


wliich  the  bag  had  been  dcpoHitod.  One  of  the  party 
suggested  to  seart'h  the  goplier's  hole.  A  shovel  was 
brought  and  the  side  drift  carefully  followed.  After 
tracing  it  about  ten  or  twelve  feet,  there  was  found  a 
little  ante-room  or  chamber  of  about  six  inches  deep, 
made  in  the  side  of  the  main  road  or  hole,  with  a 
neatly  paved  floor  of  lumps  of  gold,  and  in  the  rear  of 
this  extravagantly  furnished  apartment  was  found  a 
portion  of  the  old  man's  leathern  bag. 

The  den  of  the  robbers  had  evidently  been  found, 
but  only  a  small  portion  of  the  gold — where  was  the 
rest?  Following  the  trail  of  the  robber  a  little  far- 
ther, they  came  upon  a  succession  of  apartn)ents  or 
niches,  and  found  each  one  as  regularly  and  beautifully 
paved  with  gold  as  if  done  by  tlie  hand  of  man,  while 
in  each  was  found  a  small  portion  of  the  leathen  bag, 
as  if  used  as  a  lounge  or  mattress.  Not  a  single  [)ar- 
ticle  of  gold  was  found  along  the  line  of  the  main 
road  ;  all  had  been  carefully  carried  into  and  deposited 
in  the  side  rooms.  Tin;  whole  amount  was  weighed, 
and  found  to  be  exactly  equal  to  the  gold  the  old  man 
had  buried  in  the  bag.  The  gopher  succeeded  in  escap- 
ing unharmed.  Such  is  the  gopher  story  of  the 
Stanislaus. 


We  have  another  gopher  story.  "Last  Monday  our 
usually  quiet  burgli  was  awakened  by  the  intelligence 
that  new  diggings  had  been  discovered  within  a  few 
hundred  yards  of  the  town,  paying  twelve  dollars  to 
the  pan.  Hundreds  inunediately  flocked  with  picks 
and  spades  to  the  place,  and  in  a  short  time  had 
staked  oft'  the  whole  hillside.  They  worked  very 
diligently  until  evening,  when  the  discoverers,let  some 
of  their  friends  into  tlie  secret.  They  had  buried  bags 
of  gold  dust  there  last  spring,  and  in  digging  for  it 
found  that  the  gophers  had  eaten  the  buckskin  bags, 
obliging  them  to  wash  the  surrounding  earth.  Ten 
minutes  after  this  announcement  there  was  not  a 
miner  or  tool  to  be  seen  about  the  new  diggings." 


796 


TALES  OF  THE  TIMES. 


Italian  straw  hat?  were  m  favor  at  one  time  to  the 
disgust  of  a  Panamd  hat  dealer  who  vainlv  souijht  to 
get  rid  of  his  high-priced  wares.  One  day  he  bethought 
himself  to  buy  five  dozen  hats  from  the  Italian  rival, 
and  donate  them  to  the  chain-gang  working  in  the 
street.  When  the  straw-hat  wearers  saw  these  men 
decked  therein,  they  at  once  discarded  theirs  and 
patronized  the  dealer. 

Swan  tells  the  following  story  of  a  tall  Irishman 
named  Frank,  whom  he  knew  at  the  mines  in  '48. 
Frank  found  a  great  deal  of  gold,  but  threw  it  away 
on  drink.  He  used  to  go  on  a  spree  for  two  or  three 
days  at  a  time.  One  day  he  was  drinking  at  a  liquor 
tent,  and  had  his  buckskin  bag  open  in  his  hand,  A 
looker-on  told  him  to  be  more  careful  or  he  would  lose 
his  gold ;  whereupon  he  seized  the  bag  by  the  bottom 
and  scattered  it  all  around  on  the  ground  outside  the 
tent,  saying  he  could  get  plenty  more.  He  had 
three  pounds  in  the  bag  at  the  time,  and  it  was  nearly 
all  lost.  Some  time  after  that  Frank  made  $7,000 
at  the  Middle  fork,  which  lasted  him  just  six  weeks. 

In  the  summer  of  1850  five  dollars  was  not  an  un- 
usual price  to  be  paid  for  a  watermelon  in  the  mines. 
Joshua  Griffith,  an  old  pioneer,  planted  six  acres  in  the 
spring  of  1851  on  the  Merced,  and  confidently  ex- 
pected to  realize  a  handsome  sum  from  them  when 
ripa.  Sometime  previous  to  this  he  had  purchased  a 
thousand  straw  hats  which  he  still  had  on  hand,  their 
sale  being  dull  and  when  the  young  watermelon 
plants  came  up,  to  protect  them  from  the  frosts,  he 
determined  to  utilize  the  hats,  and  at  night  each  vine 
would  be  carefully  covered  ;  and  in  the  morning  when 
the  sun  would  commence  to  pour  his  warm  beams  on 
the  earth  the  vines  would  be  uncovered.  Everything 
was  auspicious,  until  one  morning  Griffith  went  as 
usual  to  uncover  the  vmes,  when  not  a  hat,  vine,  nor 
any  of  the  soil  that  had  been  turned  up  by  the 


CLEBOYMEN. 


7d7 


plough,  was  to  be  seen.  All  had  been  swept  away 
by  the  rivjjr  which  had  risen  during  the  night,  while 
poor  Griffith,  in  a  dream,  was  selling  luscious  water- 
melons at  three  dollars  apiece. 

California  has  always  offered  peculiar  attractions 
to  clergymen.  The  opportunities  for  doing  good  were 
great  during  the  flush  times,  and  many  availed 
themselves  of  them.  As  a  rule  the  most  talented 
preachers  at  the  east  were  glad  to  come  to  California 
upon  a  good  call  with  a  fair  salary.  Their  congrega- 
tions here  were  so  fresh,  so  full  of  the  fire  and  entliu- 
siasm  of  3'oung  manhood,  so  keenly  appreciative,  that 
it  was  a  pleasure  to  labor  among  them. 

Ministers  were  obliged  to  work  harder  here  than 
in  more  settled  comnmnities,  but  few  cared  for  that. 
Everybody  worked  harder.  There  was  much  to  do, 
and  the  emissaries  of  Satan  were  no  less  active  than 
were  the  servants  of  God.  They  had  their  old  ser- 
mons to  fall  back  upon,  which  was  a  great  help,  par- 
ticularly to  those  somewhat  advanced  in  years.  Very 
old  clergymen  California  did  not  care  for. 

It  only  shows  with  what  thin  pabulum  those  who 
sit  in  pews  are  satisfied  when  they  expect  a  man  of 
ordinary  ability  to  write  two  sermons  a  week,  to  make 
frequent  parochial  visits,  indulge  in  society  gossip, 
attend  marriages  and  nativities,  and  offer  the  consola- 
tions of  religion  to  the  dying. 

This  is  right  enough  when  one  has  the  fathomless 
well  of  genius,  like  Beechcr,  to  draw  from,  but  it  will 
not  do  for  those  who  are  obliged  to  elaborate  tlieir 
slow  stale  thoughts,  as  most  men  are,  in  the  clt)set. 
One  sermon  fit  to  preach  before  a  really  intelligent 
audience  requires  the  diligent  thought  and  study  of 
an  ordinary  intellect  for  at  least  a  fortnight. 

It  were  infinitely  better  for  the  average  clergyman 
to  read  printed  sermons  than  to  preach  the  trash  ho 
does.  How  few  discourses  have  any  thing  new  or 
really  instructive  in  them !    The  same  ideas,  hashed 


TALES  OF  THE  TIMES. 


from  time  immemorial  in  the  same  words,  become  un- 
interesting after  a  while  to  the  really  hungry.  The 
mind  alive  to  the  swift  whirl  of  progress  wants  some- 
thing besides  ancient  and  oft-repeated  stories  and 
traditions.  The  moment  one  begins  to  think,  seats  in 
churches  grow  hard. 

We  have  had  many  good  men  in  California  as  spir- 
itual teachers,  many  saintly  men,  many  true  patriots, 
many  of  marked  talents.  No  man  exercised  greater 
or  more  beneficial  influence  durincj  a  crisis  which  was 
to  determine  the  destinies  of  the  state  than  Thomas 
Star  King,  who  spared  neither  voice  nor  pen  to  save 
the  republic  from  dissension.  In  Doctor  Scott  the 
Californians  of  early  days  saw  her  Saint  Paul,  and 
the  divine  Saint  John  was  not  more  heavenlv-niinded 
than  Doctor  Wadsworth,  overflowing  as  he  was  with 
pure  though  peculiar  genius. 

But  among  the  many  good  men  of  the  ministerial 
class,  as  among  others,  there  were  some  bad  men.  Of 
tliese,  few  knew  of  their  badness  themselves  when 
they  left  their  homes.  Throughout  their  lives  ser- 
mon had  followed  Sunday  school,  and  college,  cate- 
chism, and  they  really  regarded  themselves  as  saintly. 
No  one  was  more  surprised  than  they,  after  they  had 
been  in  the  mines  a  short  tune  to  catch  themselves 
drinking  at  a  bar,  betting  at  monte,  or  frequenthig  a 
house  of  ill-fame. 

Of  all  plants,  probably  a  youtliful  clergjmian  in  a 
stormy  climate  is  the  most  tender.  Educated  into  tlie 
belief  that  belief  is  everything,  while  actually  not 
knowhig  what  belief  is;  taught  to  think  himself  by 
reason  of  his  profession  alone  whiter  than  others  in 
his  purity,  stronger  in  his  strength,  when  bereft  of 
these  stays  he  often  falls  deej)er  than  any. 

It  was  so  in  flush  California.  Hundreds  of  those 
who  came  hither  fell,  fell  very  low,  lower  than  some 
who  professed  less.  Many  took  on  the  Hverv  of 
Satan  before  they  touched  the  shore — in  New  York, 
on  the  steamer,  or  at  the  Isthmus ;  so  that  when  they 


CLERGYMEN. 


799 


arrived  in  California  they  never  made  it  known  that 
they  had  ever  been  clergymen.  Some  entered  a 
course  of  systematic  swindling  which  lasted  for  years, 
during  the  whole  of  which  they  never  ceased  to 
parade  their  cloth.  They  were  ministers  of  the  Lord, 
incapable  of  iniquity,  and  so  their  blackest  sins  they 
covered  with  robes  of  white. 

Finding  preaching  in  the  interior  unpopular  and  un- 
profitable, some  became  miners;  but  as  a  rule  they 
did  not  take  kindly  to  work.  Their  theology  had  in- 
structed them  that  although  the  Lord  might  pay  his 
servants  poorly,  yet  he  did  usually  pay  them  scjuie- 
thing ;  and  that  lucre  alone  was  In  their  estimation 
sanctified  which  came  without  labor.  They  were  the 
Lord's,  as  indeed  was  the  country,  the  golil,  the  corn, 
and  the  wine,  and  the  cattle  on  a  thousand  hills. 
Their  instructors  had  told  them  that  three  years'  read- 
ing theology  had  made  them  different  from  other  men; 
that  God  loved  them  better  for  it,  and  would  do  more 
for  them  than  for  those  who  had  been  all  this  time 
digging  potatoes,  or  doing  something  useful.  It  is 
the  most  pernicious  and  ruinous  doctrine  in  the  world. 

Yes,  thev  were  different  from  other  men,  ditt'erent 
by  reason  alone  of  their  holy  teachings,  their  holy 
professions  and  protestations  ;  so  different,  that  the 
business  man  would  immediately  suppoct  one  who 
slumld  utter  the  name  of  Christ  in  connection  with  a 
moneyed  transaction. 

Some,  on  reaching  California,  sunk  their  reverend 
titles  and  turned  gamblers.  Here  they  saw  at  once 
that  the  parade  of  their  profession  would  not  pay,  that 
piety  and  prayers  in  a  game  of  poker  woultl  be  suspi- 
cious of  aces  and  kings  tucked  away  in  sleeves  or  other 
stiintly  receptacles.  So  scores  went  down  into"  the 
depths,  and  never  after  saw  the  light ;  often  changing 
their  names  so  that  their  friends  should  never  again 
hear  of  them. 

But  by  far  the  greater  number  refused  to  throw 
away  the  holy  appellations  which  had  cost  tluur  pa- 


TALES  OF  THE  TIMES. 


rents  and  themselves  so  much  to  acquire.  The  masses 
in  California,  except  in  money  matters,  were  soft  in 
heart  and  conscience  toward  old  family-altar  and  Sun- 
day-school memories,  and  the  colors  of  the  childish 
superstitions  concerning  clergymen  had  not  yet  been 
wholly  eradicated  by  the  toils  and  tumults  of  Califor- 
nia. Quack  medicine  was  a  little  more  efficacious 
coming  from  holy  hands.  It  was  not  quite  so  unpal- 
atable being  cheated  by  a  soft,  smooth-tongued,  glow- 
ing gospeler,  as  by  a  Jim  Stuart  or  a  John  Jenkins. 
This  the  pious  pilgrims  soon  ascertained;  and  so  many 
turned  clerical  tramps,  going  from  place  to  place, 
preaching  cheap  nonsense  here  and  there  to  stupid 
prayer-lovers,  picking  up  such  nuggets  and  knowl- 
edge as  they  could  lay  their  hands  on,  paying 
for  their  breakfast  with  a  hymn  of  praise,  and  on  the 
whole  satisfied  with  their  three  years'  reading  of  stale 
theology  and  the  Lord's  care  of  them  therefor. 

A  favorite  plan  was  to  turn  insurance  agent,  or 
take  a  sewing-machine  or  patent  medicine,  and  beg 

f)eople  for  Christ's  sake  to  buy  of  them,  and  for  the 
ove  of  Christ  many  would  so  buy.  So  easily  are 
men  duped  on  the  side  of  their  prejudices.  In  this 
way,  during  a  long  business  career,  from  the  most  hal- 
lowed opinions  of  the  cloth  which  had  been  instilled 
in  their  minds  since  infancy,  good,  honest-minded  men 
came  to  regard  them  as  they  were.  But  it  was  slowly, 
and  at  the  cost  of  numerous  losses,  that  the  eyes  were 
opened.  Then  people  saw  the  country  full  of  canting, 
hypocritical  humbug,  which,  in  the  name  of  religion, 
preyed  upon  the  poor  and  credulous.  As  insurance 
agents  they  became  very  expert,  quickly  learning 
whenever  they  encountered  a  man  how  much  of  sal- 
vation or  danmation  to  mix  with  their  wares,  or 
whether  to  dish  up  for  their  customer  piety  or  profanity. 
Twenty  broad  examples  might  be  cited  of  their  ras- 
cality, which  happened  under  the  direct  observation 
of  the  community,  but  one  will  here  suffice,  as  it  is 
not  a  very  delightful  theme. 


AN  OILY  CUSTOMER. 


801 


An  insurance  office  on  California  street  in  San 
Francisco,  was  for  many  years  under  the  efficient 
and  zealous  management  of  Mr  C.  T.  Smith.  His 
opinion  of  the  honesty  of  clerical  insurance  agents 
>vas  bad  enough,  but  they  were  among  his  most  suc- 
cessful men,  and  he  was  obliged  to  employ  them,  and, 
as  far  as  he  could  do  so  with  safety,  to  accommodate 
them. 

One  Saturday  afternoon,  the  banks  being  closed, 
Smith  brought  to  the  cashier  of  liis  company  a  cler- 
gyman, one  of  his  best  agents,  long  and  favorably 
known  to  him,  with  a  request  for  the  loan  of  $160  for 
half  an  hour. 

The  cashier  had  filled  his  phace  ft)r  many  years,  and 
ever  proved  the  faithful  guardian  and  vigilant  Cerbe- 
rus of  the  company's  strong-box.  Moreover,  he  was 
gentlemanly  and  accommodating.  There  was  no  one 
on  California  street  who  would  go  farther  to  do  a 
favor  tha!i  he,  but  a  battalion  could  not  force  him  to 
break  a  rule  of  the  company,  or  take  any  liberty  with 
the  funds  entrusted  to  him. 

In  this  instance  he  hesitated.  There  stood  an  agent 
of  the  company,  a  good  man,  a  clergyman,  whose  re- 
quest was  urged  by  the  mana[>er  of  the  department 
with  which  he  transacted  his  business.  The  head  of 
the  establishment  was  not  present  at  the  time,  and 
thus  the  whole  of  the  responsibility  was  thrown  on 
the  cashier.  He  did  not  like  either  to  refuse  or  to 
acquiesce. 

*' Accommodate  him  if  you  can,"  said  Smith. 

"One  hundred  and  sixty  dollars,"  muttered  the 
cashier,  as  his  hand  slowly  sought  the  knob  of  the 
safe,  "and  for  only  half  an  hour;  Saturday  afternoon, 
has  money  in  the  bank,  can't  get  it— hum,  ahem  I" 

"I  will  certainly  return  it  you  within  the  half  hour," 
said  the  clergyman  in  sepulchral  tones,  smiling  blandly. 

"It  seems  to  me  a  little  strange,"  replied  the  cashier, 
"that  having  been  in  town  all  day,  and  knowing  that 
you  would  require  this  money  this  afternoon  when  the 

Cal,  Int.  Poc.    U 


802 


TALES  OF  THE  TIMES. 


banks  were  closed,  you  did  not  draw  it  before.  Be- 
sides, what  can  you  want  with  the  money  for  only 
half  an  hour?" 

"Sir,  do  you  know  who  I  am?"  demanded  the 
minister. 

"Yes,  I  know  very  well  who  you  are,"  replied  the 
cashier,  "  and  all  I  can  say  is  that  1  have  no  authority 
to  loan  you  this  money." 

"  Let  him  have  it  and  charge  it  to  me,"  exclaimed 
Smith,  somewhat  impatiently,  thinking  the  cashier 
too  particular. 

The  cashier  gave  the  minister  the  money  and  made 
a  ticket  of  it  to  Smith.  The  borrower  hurried  away. 
When  he  had  gone  the  cashier  turned  to  Smith,  who 
had  not  yet  left  the  place. 

"Mark  my  word,"  said  he,  "that  money  goes  upon 
the  tiger." 

"  But  he  is  a  clergyman,  and  one  of  our  best 
agents,"  returned  Smith. 

"  I  don't  care,"  said  Tom,  "clergyman  or  no  clergy- 
man, while  we  are  talkhig  your  money  is  on  the 
gambler's  green  cloth,  and  not  a  stiver  of  it  will  you 
ever  see  again.  Mind  you,  for  only  half  an  hour. 
Besides  being  a  rascal  the  man  is  a  fool.  Anybody 
but  a  preacher  would  have  made  a  better  story  than 
that." 

Smith  grew  uneasy.  He  was  of  a  nervous  sanguine 
temperament,  not  easily  excited  in  his  suspicions, 
being  the  soul  of  integrity  himself;  but  once  aroused 
nothing  stayed  him.  There  appeared  to  him  now 
much  truth  in  what  the  cashier  said ;  indeed  there 
was  no  other  way  of  accounting  for  the  reverend 
borrower's  behavior.  Smith  fidgeted,  walked  from 
the  desk  a  short  distance  and  hastily  returned,  swore 
a  few  gentle  oaths,  and  finally  s<,lzed  his  hat  and 
started  off  at  a  brisk  pace  turning  up  Kearny  street. 

Almost  to  the  plaza  he  walked,  then  back  to  Cali- 
fornia street,  where  turning  he  repeated  his  steps  first 
taken.     He  had  not  proceeded  far  on  this  second  tack 


SMITH  GOES  FOR  THE  CLEROYMAN. 


803 


when  he  saw  his  friend  coming  toward  him  with  bended 
head  and  a  slouched  hat  drawn  well  oves  his  eyes. 
His  whole  appearance  betokened  the  ruined  gamester, 
and  that  such  he  was  there  could  be  no  longer  any 
doubt. 

Smith  went  for  the  man  of  God. 

"  Where  is  my  money  ? "  he  demanded,  waking  the 
clergyman  to  a  realizing  sense  of  things  by  a  tre- 
mendous slap  upon  the  back. 

"  I  left  it  with  a  friend." 

"Where  is  my  money?"  roared  Smith,  seizing  the 
reverend  collar  and  shakmg  the  rising  lie  from  the 
reverend  lips. 

"  Lost  every  dollar  of  it,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Take  me  to  the  place  ? " 

"I  cannot." 

"You  will;  quickly,  now,  if  you  would  avoid  a 
scene." 

Slowly  the  good  man  turned  and  walked  about  a 
block,  ascended  a  flight  of  stairs,  passed  through  an 
ante-room  into  a  large  saloon  where  stood  several 
tables,  and  thence  into  a  back  parlor,  Smith  following 
closely  at  his  heels.  In  this  room  behind  a  table  was 
a  large  and  highly  ornamental  safe  well  filled  with 
money.  On  one  side  stood  a  secretary  writing,  and 
on  the  other  a  big  burly  short-haired  Irish  shoulder- 
striker.  Smith  saw  no  danger,  but  only  the  safe, 
and  one  whom  he  took  for  the  proprietor,  who  was  in 
the  act  of  opening  the  door  of  his  treasure-house, 
when  the  former,  now  pale  with  passion,  walked  up  to 
him  and  exclaimed : 

"I  want  my  money." 

"  What  name  ? "  asked  the  man,  as  calmly  and  as 
politely  as  if  in  answer  to  the  most  common  and 
reasonable  of  requests. 

" insurance  company,"  was  the  reply. 

The  gambler  looked  at  Smith  and  then  at  the  par- 
son. He  took  it  all  in  at  a  glance.  With  his  hand 
still  upon  the  knob,  in  the  attitude  the  intruders  first 


804 


TALES  OP  THE  TIMES. 


found  him,  he  meditated  an  instant,  but  only  an  in- 
stant, when  he  opened  the  door  of  the  safe  and 
c(junted  out  the  money.  The  gambler  saw  that  he 
was  caught,  that  Smith  could  and  would  make  him 
nmch  more  trouble  than  the  money  would  do  him 
good,  and  that  this  was  by  far  his  best  way  out  of  it. 
Smith  took  the  money  and  departed,  the  good  man 
meekly  following. 

Even  in  the  interior,  Califomians  concluded  in  1850 
that  there  were  sufficient  conveniences  to  render  life 
»X)nifortable,  while  in  San  Francisco  the  man  with 
money  might  indulge  in  luxuries  to  any  extent,  and 
even  board  at  a  hotel  having  a  notice  posted  "Pota- 
toes at  every  meal."  True,  there  were  some,  who, 
like  the  Englishman,  seemed  to  expect  as  much  of  a 
plac!e  which  had  called  itself  a  city  but  for  twelve 
months  as  of  a  metropolis  twelve  hundred  years  old. 
This  John  Bull,  with  more  belly  than  brains,  and 
characteristically  prolific  in  left-handed  compliments 
to  tliose  who  showed  him  attention,  was  invited  by  a 
friend  to  a  public  dinner,  which,  considering  the  new- 
ness of  things,  and  the  fact  that  the  market  was  neces- 
sarily supplied  entirely  from  abroad,  was  really  elegant. 
The  Englishman  feasted  himself  to  his  heart's  con- 
tent, and  rose  from  the  table  with  happiness  shining 
from  every  corner  of  his  face.  His  entertainer,  natu- 
rally proud  of  the  capabilities  of  so  new  a  countr}, 
slapped  him  on  the  shoulder  and  exclaimed,  "  Well, 
sir,  was  not  that  a  good  dinner?  "  "  Very  good,  very 
good,"  replied  the  Englishman  but  then  its  nothing  to 
what  I  have  eaten  in  London ! " 

One  Sunday  immediately  after  the  receipt  of  the 
news  of  Louis  Napoleon's  doings  in  the  Crimea,  a 
clergyman  of  Nevada  took  occasion  to  refer  in  riattering 
terms  to  the  Bonaparte  family  in  general.  A  volatile 
Frenchman  happened  to  form  one  of  the  congrega- 
tion.    Scarcely  had  the  preacher  reached  the  culmi- 


THE  FAITHLESS  HUSBAND. 


806 


nating  point  of  his  encomiums,  when  up  jum|>ed  the 
Gaul,  and  thrusting  his  hand  deep  iii  his  pocket  drew 
forth  a  ten-dollar  piece,  and  marching  up  to  the  pulpit 
deposited  it  upon  the  desk  hi  front  of  the  speaker. 

One  morning  after  breakfast  a  woman  sat  quietly 
looking  over  the  paper,  when  glancnig  her  eye  down 
the  list  of  passengers  to  sail  by  the  'femieasee,  April  1, 
1851,  she  started  as  if  stung.  There,  about  the  middle 
of  a  list  of  two  or  three  hundred,  she  saw  the  niiine 
of  her  husband.  It  is  true  his  trunk  was  packed, 
but,  as  he  had  informed  hor,  for  a  short  trip  into  tlit; 
country.  Her  first  impulse  was  to  create  a  disturb- 
ance; but  being  a  sensible  woman,  on  reflection  sl.e 
concladed  such  a  husband  was  not  worth  having,  and 
he  might  go.  As  he  was  then  absent  from  the  house 
making  preparations  for  his  long  voyage,  slie  unlocked 
his  trunk  and  examined  the  contents.  Sure  enough 
there  was  the  evidence,  in  the  shape  of  all  his  mov- 
able property,  of  his  intention  to  abandon  her;  and 
among  the  rest  $8,000  in  cohi.  "At  all  events,"  she 
said  to  herself,  *  he  shall  leave  me  some  means  of 
support."  So  she  took  from  the  amount  $.*},()00,  a 
moderate  division  on  her  part,  locked  the  trunk  and 
bade  her  husband  farewell,  giving  no-  signs  of  her 
knowledge  of  his  intentions.  Th'isboth  played  their 
little  first  of  April  trick,  and  the  wife  was  not  the 
loser. 


The  grizzly  bear  is  the  king  of  Californian  beasts, 
rivalling  in  courage  and  stnuigti  the  royal  lion  him- 
self They  are  bold  and  cunning  and  in  early  days 
were  very  ])lentiful.  Then  the  old  hunters  of  Mis- 
s,)uri  ami  Kentucky,  who  had  been  tempted  by  the 
piomise  of  lucre  from  the  traffic  of  their  love,  often 
turned  for  a  few  hours  from  their  digging  to  chase  or 
be  chased  by  the  grizzly.  Early  one  morning  in  1849 
a  M issourian,  called  by  his  comrades  Graygritz,  took 
up  his  rifle  and  started  out  fo/  a  buck.     He  had  not 


806 


TALES  OF  THE  TIMES. 


proceeded  far  before  lie  came  upon  a  herd  feeding, 
which,  scenting  liiui  before  he  could  get  a  shot,  niaile 
off'  up  the  hill  and  along  the  comb  of  the  ridge.  Gray- 
gritz  followed  at  the  top  of  his  speed.  Approaching 
a  little  thicket,  the  hunter  noticed  that  the  deer  sud- 
denly shied  and  took  a  wide  circuit  round  the  covered 
spot,  Graygritz  paid  little  attention  to  it,  however, 
and  cut  across,  passing  by  the  very  verge  of  the 
thicket.  Suddenly  a  tremendous  crash  was  heard, 
and  out  rushed  an  enonnous  grizzly  with  o|x.'n  mouth 
and  angry  eye.  There  was  not  a  moment  to  lose,  the 
beast  was  upon  him.  Instinctively  the  hunter  raised 
his  gun,  fired,  and  missed.  There  was  no  time  to 
turn ;  the  hot  breath  of  tlie  hifuriated  animal  the  hun- 
ter could  feel  upon  his  cheek.  Swinging  the  barrel 
over  his  head  he  struck  desperately  at  his  assailant, 
thus  clubbing  off  the  terrible  foe,  until  in  making  a 
blow  the  weapon  flew  from  the  hunter's  hand,  leaving 
him  without  the  slightest  means  of  defence.  There 
was  nothing  now  but  to  run  for  it.  Darting  down 
the  hill,  running  obliquely  so  as  to  take  the  bear  at  the 
greatest  disadvantage,  the  fearful  race  began.  Down 
the  steep  hillside  rattled  the  loose  stones,  and  every 
leap  of  the  bear  made  the  chaparral  crash.  Again 
and  again  the  bear  was  almost  upon  him,  striking  at 
him  its  ponderous  paws  with  such  force  as  to  bring  it 
to  its  knees.  Thus  they  rushed  along  until  they 
reached  the  foot  of  the  hill,  when  the  fugitive  became 
conscious  that  his  strength  was  gone.  He  saw  before 
him  a  horrible  death;  there  was  no  escape,  great 
drops  of  agony  fell  from  his  forehead ;  his  limbs  tot- 
tered ;  in  sheer  desperation  he  turned  upon  his  foe, 
and  boldly  facing  it,  uttered  an  unearthly  yell.  The 
beast  stopped  amazed,  drew  back,  then  turned  and  fled. 

A  Mexican  and  an  Irish  woman  once  went  to  a 
clergyman  to  be  married.  The  bride  could  not 
speak  the  Mexican's  language,  and  the  groom  could 
speak  no  Irish.     The  clergyman,  who  was  a  good 


THE  FORTY-NINER. 


807 


linguist,  tried  first  to  tie  the  knot  in  English,  but 
the  Mexican  lauglied  so  immoderately  and  so 
persistently  when  called  upon  to  repeat  the  omin- 
ous words,  that  the  man  of  matrimony  became  angry, 
closed  his  book,  and  left  the  pair  only  half  united. 
Bridget  rushed  after  him  and  begged  him,  with  tears 
in  her  eyes  to  finish  the  business,  assuring  him  her 
loved  one  meant  no  disrespect.  Returning  ho  admin- 
istered the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Irish  in  English, 
and  to  the  Mexican  hi  Spanish,  and  the  united  pair 
went  their  happy  way. 

Here  arc  two  sketches ;  one  the  forty-niner  and  the 
other  the  fifty-sixer: 

"Burled  anumg  the  recollections  of  by-gones  are 
the  go<jd  old  times  when  eight  feet  square  was  a  claim, 
and  a  crowbar,  sheath-knife,  and  pan  constituted  a  full 
set  of  mining  tools.  When  working  with  a  rocker 
was  considered  rushing  business,  and  holding  two 
claims  a  mono|x>ly  ;  when  jxjtatoes  were  an  expensive 
luxury,  and  flap-jacks  passed  current  for  bread ;  when 
men  tlisdained  to  speak  of  dollars  and  cents,  but  reck- 
oned their  small  change  in  ]X)unds  and  ounces;  when 
the  abodes  of  honest  miners  were  not  dignified  by  the 
modern  terms  of  houses,  towns,  and  cities,  but  were 
known  as  cabins,  camps,  and  ranches;  when  Judge 
Lynch  disposed  of  all  desjierate  cases  in  a  summary 
manner,  through  the  simple  medium  of  a  jury  of 
nuners;  and  such  things  as  petty  swindling,  petty 
thievhjg,  and  pettyfoggers  were  unknown ;  when  the 
only  sickness  in  vogue  was  a  headache  after  a  big 
spree,  and  the  only  medicine,  the  liair  of  that  same 
dog.  Alasl  the  country  is  getting  civilized,  alarm- 
inolv  civilized  1 

"  Such  are  the  reflections  of  an  old  fortv-nmer,  who, 
having  outlived  his  time,  now  smokes  the  pipe  of 
peace  and  poverty — an  honorary  member  of  tlie  Can't- 
get-away  club.  He  has  flourished  in  the  season  of 
big  strikes,  and  can,  if  he  chooses,  give  you  a  leaf 


eo8 


TALES  OF  THE  TIMES. 


from  his  experience  concerning  rich  pockets,  and  turn 
liis  own  inside  out  without  spilling  anything.  Like 
Wilkius  Micawber,  he  has  great  hopes  of  something 
turning  up  ;  so  ho  prospects,  contenting  himself  when 
unsuccessful,  as  he  generally  is,  with  simply  cursing 
his  luck,  but  will  see  you  where  the  climate  is  anything 
but  cool  before  he  will  work  for  wages.  Thinks  hon- 
est industry  is  a  mighty  fine  tiling  to  talk  about,  but 
big  luck  is  a  fortune,  and  is  the  peculiar  gift  of  the 
Muggins  family.  Believes  that  old  clothes  are  an 
honor  to  the  wearer,  but  has  a  lurking  suspicion  that 
men  with  white  shirts,  tall  hats,  and  black  coats  are 
preachers,  office-seekers,  or  monte-sharps.  Is  fond  of 
white  folks  and  whisky,  but  hates  greasers  and  Cliina- 
men;  is  a  firm  advocate  of  lynch  law,  and  thinks  the 
California  legislature  a  humbug,  not  excepting  the 
doings  of  our  last  body  of  lawgivers.  He  has  many 
other  peculiar  notions,  which  he  pretends  are  fijunded 
on  experience,  but  being  the  opinion  of  an  old  fogy, 
are  of  course  behind  the  times,  and  extremely  liable  to 
be  erroneous.  Gold  mining  is  his  favorite  tliei:.c.  If 
you  wish  to  draw  him  out  on  that  particuU"  sn'>if!ct, 
just  say  to  him  that  he  has  been  in  the  country  l(^ng 
enough  to  have  a  waijon-load  of  dust.  He  will  give 
you  a  knowing  wink  and  a  sagacious  shrug,  seeming 
to  say,  I  could  a  tale  unfold,  and  then  proceed  to  un- 
fold a  remarkably  long  one." 

Next  we  have  the  later  comer. 

"  That's  him,  with  the  stovepipe  hat,  black  pants, 
satin  vest,  white  shirt,  and  cravat  with  two  round 
turns  and  a  square  knot  1  See,  he  carries  a  car[)et- 
bag,  and  bless  me  1  if  he  hasn't  got  a  full-grown  um- 
brella, tool  No  old  inhabitant  would  ever  mistake 
him  for  a  forty-niner.  We  know  their  sort  by  their 
backs.  Does  not  his  countenance  beam  with  the  light 
of  great  expectations?  Isn't  he,  even  now,  cogitating 
upon  some  safe  plan  of  investing  his  dust? — discussing 
in  his  own  mhid  whether  he  had  better  trust  it  to  the 
tender  mercies  of  a  banking-house,  or  bury  it  in  some 


THE  FIFTY-SIXER. 


800 


secure  comer?  That  emphatic  gesture  with  the  um- 
brella I  Ahl  he  has  concluded  to  bury  it — banks  are 
mif|hty  uncertain — even  banks  of  earth,  but  he  don't 
realize  tl.at  yet.  Don't  make  his  acijuaintance  till  he 
gets  naturalized,  and  has  the  wire  edge  taken  ott',  un- 
less you  wish  to  be  most  essentially  bored.  Ho  is  a 
harp  of  a  thousand  strings,  and  will  vex  your  ear  with 
a  multitude  of  tiresome  yarns  about  his  personal  ad- 
ventures on  the  route,  hard  fare  on  the  steamers,  in- 
dignation meeting  of  the  steerage  passengers,  what 
they  resolved  to  do,  what  they  didn't  do,  what  the 
captam  swore  he  would  do,  what  the  mate  said,  how 
an  old  woman  and  five  children  were  dreadful  sick  all 
the  way  from  New  York  to  Aspinwall,  terrible  tinje 
on  the  Isthmus,  Panamti  fever,  lost  his  trunk  and  paid 
a  big  nigger  five  dollars  reward  for  finding  it,  has  no 
doubt  but  it  was  the  same  identical  nijiiier  who  stole 
it.  Arrival  in  San  Francisco,  feller  tried  to  rope  him 
into  a  game  of  chuck-a-luck,  too  smart  to  be  caught, 
surprised  at  finding  that  five-franc  pieces  pass  f<ir  a 
dollar ;  how  like  thunder  they  charge  for  meals  on  the 
road  from  Stockton,  and  so  forth. 

"  After  he  has  emptied  his  budget  of  wonders,  he 
opens  his  volume  of  catechisms,  and  will  ask  you 
more  foolish  questions  than  it  is  pleasant  to  listen  to, 
or  profitable  to  answer — among  which  you  are  sure  to 
hear  the  following :  How  long  does  it  take  a  man  to 
make  his  pile,  s'posin*  he's  industrious  ?  How  far  is  it 
to  the  northern  mines?  Where  is  the  best  plaee  for 
mining  in  California?  How  long  does  the  rainy 
season  last?  Is  it  necessary  for  a  man  to  have  an 
oil-cloth  suit?  How  much  will  the  dirt  average  from  the 
top  down,  in  Mary  Posey  county  ? — and  last,  unkind- 
est  cut  of  all — when  will  that  water  company  have  their 
ditch  completed  ?  My  rule  is  to  stave  off  his  ques- 
tions, as  well  as  possible,  till  he  comes  down  to  that, 
which  I  answer  by  saying  'next  3'ear,'  at  the  same  time." 


In  early  times  Heinrich  Hcrz  came  to  San  Fran- 


810 


TALES  OF  THE  TIMES. 


CISCO.  It  was  then  the  place  alike  for  prince,  pianist, 
and  porter.  The  forests  of  masts  sporting  the  flags 
of  all  nations  astonished  him ;  Ukewise  the  bustle  of 
business  and  the  confusion  of  tongues  that  greeted  his 
ears  on  landing,  but  his  enthusiasm  cooled  somewhat 
when  on  seeking  lodgings  he  was  shown  a  cloth-lined 
closet  of  a  bedroom  at  six  dollars  a  day. 

"  Never  mind,"  thought  he,  "  is  it  not  something  to 
be  the  pit)neer  pianist  in  these  parts  ? "  A  knock  in- 
terrupted his  meditations. 

"  Do  not  enter,"  cried  Herz.  Nevertheless,  the 
door  opened,  and  a  slight  young  man  with  a  fair  com- 
plexion, long  hair,  earnest  manner,  and  German  accent 
stood  at  the  entrance. 

"Is  this  the  celebrated  Heinrich  Herz,"  asked 
the  visitor. 

"  I  am  he,"  replied  the  pianist,  "  and  if  you  will 
come  in,  you  must  first  permit  me  to  go  out,  as  the 
room  will  not  hold  two." 

"  I  come,  sir,  on  purpose  to  take  you  from  it;  to 
beg  of  you  to  accept  a  room  in  my  house." 

"  Ah  I  you  are  a  hotel  keeper." 

"  No,  sir,  I  am  a  pianist." 

"  Pianist,"  cried  Herz,  thunderstruck  at  finding  a 
brother  artist  before  him  in  the  mingled  nmdflats 
and  sandhills  of  that  town  of  tents  and  board  slian- 
ties  planted  on  a  tongue  of  land  at  the  very  outer 
verge  of  the  earth's  confines.  "  How  long  have  you 
been  here  ? " 

**  A  year.  When  I  arrived  there  were  but  fourteen 
huts  ;  but  I  found  an  Italian  who  had  a  piano  occupy- 
ing one  of  them  and  giving  lessons  and  concerts.  One 
of  his  pupils,  taking  exceptions  to  his  method  of 
training,  murdered  him,  and  I  inherited  his  piano  and 
his  patrons.  I  have  bought  me  a  house  and  shall  be 
the  liappiest  of  men  if  Herr  Heinrich  Herz  will  accept 
my  hospitality."  The  invitation  was  accepted  as  cor- 
dially as  it  was  given.  The  home  was  perched  on 
stilts  under  the  brow  of  a  steep  hill,  and  the  great 


HEINBICH  HERZ. 


811 


musician,  after  spending/  one  night  in  the  front  room 
which  overlooked  "the  declivity,  called  to  his  host: 

"You  will  think  me  very  whimsical,  no  doubt,  but 
could  you  without  inconvenience  give  me  a  room  on 
the  other  side  of  the  house.  I  fancied  I  heard  during 
the  night  a  settling  of  sleepers  and  rattling  of  rocks. 
All  imagination,  doubtless;  but  if  you  can,  please 
humor  me." 

"  Do  as  you  like,"  said  the  young  householder, 
"  but  rest  assured  this  is  one  of  the  safest  houses  in 
the  city." 

Scarcely  had  they  transported  the  professor's  ef- 
fects to  another  room  than  that  side  of  the  house  foil 
with  a  crash.  Herz  escaped  by  a  miracle  ;  the  young 
man  was  in  despair.  "I  would  not  mind,  it  he  ex- 
claimed ;  "  but  my  piano  is  gone.  It  was  a  poor  one 
it  is  true,  cracked,  and  of  only  five  octaves;  but  it 
answered  my  purpose ;  it  was  my  fortune,  and  now 
there  it  lies  smashed,  and  buried  in  the  rubbish." 

"Never  mind,"  said  Herz,  "I  have  two,  and  you 
shall  have  one  of  those  ;  so  cheer  up,  and  repair  your 
house,  while  I  go  and  bring  them  up." 

Passing  a  restaurant  he  met  a  man  whom  he  had 
known  in  Paris,  talking  with  two  others,  not  extrava- 
gantly dressed,  but  genthsmanly  in  their  appearance. 
Accosting  him,  he  casually  spoke  of  his  errand,  and 
inquired  whom  he  could  get  to  move  his  pianos. 

"I  will  do  it,"  said  his  friend,  "and  these  gentlemen 
will  lielp  me." 

"But  you  are  not  serious?"  said  Herz. 

"  Never  more  so.  Everybody  works  in  California." 
The  pianos  were  well  and  promptly  moved. 

"How  much  is  it?"  asked  Herz  of  his  friend. 

"  Three  hundred  dollars,"  was  the  reply. 

"Three — what?"  exclaimed  the  musician. 

"I  assure  you  it  is  the  price,"  said  his  friend,  in 
which  assertion  he  was  backed  by  his  host,  fo  that, 
turning  it  off  with  a  laugh,  Heiz  paid  it,  and  instantly 
sat  down  to  reckon  how  many  tickets  to  his  concert, 


Bid 


TALES  OF  THE  TIMES. 


at  three  dollars  each,  he  would  have  to  sell  to  pay 
expenses. 

The  following  is  but  one  of  innumerable  like  mat- 
rimonial adventures:  A  young  man  of  twenty-fivo 
arrived  in  California  from  one  of  the  southern  states 
in  1849,  and  settled  in  Marysville.  By  the  exercise 
of  industry  and  economy,  in  1855  he  found  himself  in 
possession  of  money  and  property  to  the  amount  of 
sixty  or  eighty  thousand  dollars.  But  tlie  poor  fel- 
low was  wifeless,  and  hence  lonely  and  dissatisfied. 
His  m<mey  did  not  bring  him  happiness ;  his  life  was 
passing  away,  and  he  making  no  mark.  His  existence 
was  incomplete,  hollow,  comfortless.  He  must  have 
a  wife,  and  as  women  in  his  vicinity  were  few  and 
scarcely  to  his  liking,  he  set  out  for  the  bay  city  with 
matrimonial  Intent.  There  he  found  one  whom  he 
concluded  to  try  at  a  venture,  but  she  would  none  of 
him.  And  so  it  was  with  all ;  those  w  ho  would  marry 
him,  he  would  not  marry;  those  whom  he  would 
marry  would  not  marry  him.  Giving  it  up  he  returned 
home,  a  disappointed  man. 

One  day,  m)t  long  after  his  return,  he  happened  to 
meet  a  friend,  a  young  married  woman,  at  a  moment 
when  he  was  in  a  confiding  humor.  Ho  told  her  the 
tale  of  his  eore  heart,  of  his  attempt  and  failure,  and 
her  sympathies  were  immediately  enlisted.  Where  is 
the  woman  whose  blood  does  not  warm  in  such  a 
cause?  The  young  man  was  worthy  and  wealthy. 
During  the  convui'sation  his  fair  friend  happened  to 
think  of  a  sister  she  had  left  in  New  Jersey,  two  years 
younger,  and  the  counterpart  of  herself;  perhaps  she 
might  be  induced  to  come  to  California  and  fill  the 
void  in  this  man's  affections.  She  hinted  as  much  to 
her  companion,  who  eagerly  made  a  direct  offer.  He 
agreed  to  pay  all  the  young  woman's  expenses  out, 
and  to  marry  her  on  her  arrival.  On  behalf  of  her 
sister,  his  friend  accepted  the  proposal,  forwarded  the 
young  man's  money  to  his  intended  bride,  who  on  re- 


SHARP  PRACTICE. 


813 


ceipt  of  it  came  immediately  to  California  and  was 
married.  This  true  tale,  with  variations,  might  apply 
to  thousands  of  marriages  during  the  fast  flush  times. 

In  the  town  of  Marysville,  in  1853,  there  lived  a 
man  of  virtues  invisible,  but  of  faults  palpable  and  too 
apparent.  His  reputation  for  honesty,  like  his  form, 
was  lean  and  angular.  He  would  steal  so  skillfully, 
holding  in  his  hands  the  spoils  and  peering  meanwhile 
at  his  victim  through  the  meshes  of  the  law  with  such 
consummate  cunning  that  one  could  do  no  less  than 
beat  him  now  and  then.  But  such  chastisements 
seemed  rather  to  refresh  him  than  otherwise.  He 
felt  all  the  while  that  he  deserved  so  much  worse  at 
the  hands  of  his  fellows  than  they  could  give  him,  that 
even  in  his  punishments  he  enjoyed  the  inestimable 
privilege  of  cheating  them. 

Fortune  smiled  on  skill  and  industry,  and  under 
real  estate  manipulations,  shaving  short  paper  by 
turning  it  down  one  half,  and  loaning  money  on  good 
security  at  ten  per  cent  a  month,  and  managing  so  as 
to  get  all  his  interest,  a  portion  of  his  principal,  and 
then  cheating  the  lender  out  of  the  collateral  pledged, 
his  capital  grew  rapidl}'. 

But  happily  for  humanity  the  inevitable  laws  of 
traffic  preclude  the  possibility  of  the  eternal  success 
of  villahiy  ;  otherwise  our  Napoleon  of  finance  would, 
ere  this,  have  been  the  happy  owner  of  all  Marysville. 
Up  to  this  time  he  had  reigned  rascal  supreme,  but 
now  waves  of  trouble  rolled  over  him,  and  a  horrible 
incubus  settled  upon  his  affairs  in  the  form  of  two 
lately-arrived  lawyers,  keen  wiry  fellows,  hungrier 
and  sharper  than  himself 

These  two  briefless  sharks  rented  an  office  of  our 
financier,  the  rent  after  the  first  quarter  to  be  paid 
quarterly  in  advance.  Promptly  at  the  expiration  of 
the  first  three  months  the  cadaverous  visage  of  the 
landlord,  lengthened  by  the  thought  of  the  half  year  b 
rent  now  due,  appeared  in  the  lawyer's  office,  apptared 


814 


TALES  OP  THE  TIMES. 


there  day  after  day,  and  apjDeared  manifestly  dissatis- 
fied. Finall}/  his  patience  deserted  him,  and  he  in- 
dulged in  the  injudicious  remark  that  in  his  opinion 
his  tenants  were  a  pair  of  swindling  vagabonds,  and 
that  they  should  be  incontinently  ejected. 

Following  this  remark  the  landlord  stepped  out, 
stepped  hastily  out  of  the  door,  followed  by  two  or 
three  sticks  of  stove-wood  stolen  from  his  own  wood 
pile.  Consolation  came  to  him  in  the  form  of  oiie  of 
the  lawyers,  who  apologized  for  the  indignity  and  de- 
nounced the  conduct  of  the  other,  a  wicked  disgraceful 
man,  thenceforward  no  longer  his  associate.  Disso- 
lution of  partnership  was  the  least  reparation  he  could 
make  the  landlord;  moreover,  he  professed  to  be  an 
honest  man ;  he  would  pay  the  rent  himself,  though 
parting  with  his  shirt  should  be  the  consequence. 

But  would  not  the  landlord  sue  and  eject  the  im- 
pudent vagabond.  It  was  a  simple  case,  and  lawless 
lawyers  should  be  taught  behavior  as  well  as  cut- 
tliroats.  Yes,  it  was  his  duty  as  a  wealthy,  high- 
mi  p.  led  citizen,  who  had  the  interests  of  our  great 
Amorican  institutions  at  heart,  to  do  it.  The  land- 
lord did  not  like  the  law,  but  anger,  interest,  and  pride 
all  urged  him  on.  Suit  was  brought;  the  landlord's 
attorney  argued  the  case  for  several  days;  he  had 
plenty  of  time,  he  wished  to  brush  up  his  legal  lore, 
astonish  the  natives,  and  earn  the  respectable  sura 
which  reputation  and  the  honor  of  his  profession 
compelled  him  to  charge  his  client.  The  justice  de- 
cided against  the  landlord,  that  being  the  only  way  to 
secure  his  fee — two  ounces.  The  much-abused  tenant 
then  sued  the  landlord  for  defamation  of  character, 
and  summoned  his  associate  as  witness. 

The  unhappy  landlord  now  saw  clearly  that  he 
had  fallen  among  thieves.  Having  so  long  and  so 
sweetly  enjoyed  cheating,  he  now  might  take  the 
pleasure  of  being  cheated.  He  saw  that  graceful 
discretion  was  better  than  blustering  valor;  so  he 
told  his  tenants   that   they   were  welcome  to  their 


AMONG  THIEVES. 


813 


room  as  long  as  they  would  favor  it  with  their  pres- 
ence, if  so  be  they  would  kindly  withdraw  their  suit 
for  damages.  The  injured  but  forgiving  pair  ac- 
quiesced. One  thing  only  now  remained.  A  little 
bill  of  $500  for  professional  services  oh  the  part  of 
the  landlord's  attorney.  Groaning  in  spirit  the  land- 
lord paid  it,  and  the  lawyers  divided  it  between  them. 
They  also  kept  the  defamation  action  m  terrorenit 
whereat  the  landlord  ever  after  was  very  meek. 

During  the  season  of  1848-9  some  men  wintered  in 
the  region  of  Calaveras  and  Mokelumne,  and  before 
spring  gold  was  more  plenty  than  creature  comforts. 
Hence  it  was  that  the  first  spring  traders  reaped  rich 
harvests. 

In  February  1849,  a  man  named  Ricord,  with  a 
body  guard  of  three,  to  each  of  whom  he  paid  $400 
for  two  weeks'  services  for  man  and  horse,  started 
from  Staples,  then  McKenzie's  rancho,  on  the  Moke- 
lumne river,  for  the  spot  later  known  as  Robinson's 
ferry  on  the  Stanislaus.  Ricord  drove  nine  pack  ani- 
mals loaded  with  200  pounds  each  of  assortetl  goods, 
composed  largely  of  liquors.  The  rains  had  so  soft- 
ened the  ground  as  to  greatly  impede  their  ])rogress, 
but  the  sales  which  they  made- — clay  pipes  two  dollars 
each ;  blankets  forty  dollars  a  pair ;  liquor  twenty 
dollars  a  bottle,  one  ounce  the  tin  cup  full  or  two  dol- 
lars a  drink:  boots  forty  dollars  a  pair,  and  beads, 
powder,  and  medicines,  weight  for  weight  in  gold — 
this  description  of  barter  reconciled  the  trader  to  the 
rain  and  mud. 

Passing  Angel's  and  Carson's,  even  at  that  early 
day  regarded  as  worked  out,  though  later  considered 
good  diggings  still,  they  finally  reached  their  point  of 
destination  at  the  foot  of  Murphy's  gulch,  on  the 
Stanislaus.  No  more  riotous,  roaring  camp  ever 
frightened  the  coyotes  of  the  Sierra  drainage.  There 
congregated  the  diggers  from  every  quarter,  and  held 
high  carnival  as  long  as  their  money  lasted.     Was  it 


818 


TALES  OF  THE  TIMES. 


not  strange  that  these  men  should  leave  pleasant 
homes,  travel  three,  six,  ten  thousand  miles,  and  sub- 
ject themselves  to  the  discomforts  of  a  houseless  Cali- 
fornian  winter,  for  gold,  only  to  pour  it  into  the  pocket 
of  t)ie  first  whisky-seller  that  came  to  their  camp! 

Ricord  drove  into  camp  about  sunset.  For  six 
long  weeks  the  place  had  been  absolutely  dry — of 
whisky.  No  sooner  was  it  noised  abroad  that  asup- 
ply  of  the  bliss-producing  poison  was  at  hand,  than 
eager  applicants  with  outstretched  hands  holding 
cups,  bottles,  kettles,  bowls,  dishes,  anything  that 
would  hold  water,  approached  from  every  direction, 
craving  each  a  portion  as  eagerly  as  if  a  draught  of  it 
conferred  upon  them  immortality. 

Whereunto  shall  we  liken  the  tapping  of  those 
whiskey  kegs  in  that  uproarious  camp  of  the  gold-dig- 
gers ?  It  was  like  the  opening  of  Pandora's  box  which 
should  let  fly  all  the  evils  incident  to  man  ;  or  like  the 
mud-born  serpent  Python  crushing  all  within  its  coils; 
or  like  the  HarpyisB  sweeping  flighty  souls  away  in 
the  storm  wind ;  or  like  the  Eumenides  taking  from 
men  all  peace  of  mind  and  leading  them  into  misery 
and  misfortune.  The  flow  of  this  fiery  liquid  was  like 
the  pouring  out  of  the  seven  vials  of  wrath  by  the 
apocalyptic  angels,  which  should  send  abroad  disease, 
turn  elements  of  life  into  elements  of  death;  which 
should  scorch  with  fire,  darken  the  intellect,  dry  up 
the  affections,  and  cause  men  to  blaspheme  the  God 
of  heaven  because  of  their  pains  and  sores ;  or  like 
the  surgings  of  the  river  of  Erebus,  the  dark  and 
gloomy  passage  to  stygian  realms. 

For  all  these  ills,  and  more,  it  would  require  to 
consummate  the  scene  that  followed.  In  less  than  an 
hour  were  heard  the  ominous  breathings  of  the  ap- 
proaching storm.  By  nine  o'clock  there  was  scarcely 
a  sober  man  in  camp.  On  every  side  was  rioting, 
hair-pulling,  striking,  brandishing  of  knives,  and  firing 
of  pistols,  accompanied  with  no  little  blood-letting. 
All   nature  was  that  ni;j:ht  intoxicated.     Even  the 


A  WHISKY-SMITTEN  CAMP.  g,; 

river  seemed  to  reel,  and  the  hills  and  sky  to  roll  to- 
gether  in  sudden  drunkenness.  The  morning  sun.  blear- 
eyed  and  red  rose  upon  a  picture  disgusting!  damnable 
Scattered  about  the  streets,  stretehed  at  foil  length 
on  their  Wks  and  sides,  and  faces,  mider  lo^.  fnd 
beside  their  cloth  houses,  were  mingled  promiscuously 
tamed  men  of  Europe.  Asia,  and  Africa,  and  milS 
mannered  women  of  America,  drunk,  dead  drunk,  and 

RW^  t'flr.  ^1  "^^*^^   ^y  ^^^^   ««"owful  sun 
Ricord  left  them  there;  left  with  them  and  in  them 

every  drop  of  his  detestable  poison  ;  but  carried  away 

gold,  as  much  as  he  could  several  times  lift. 


Cal.  Int.  Poc.    53 


INDEX. 


Acapnlco,  descript.  of,  209-13. 

Adams,  G.,  story  of,  720-1. 

Agua  Frio,  justice  at,  1852,  627-9. 

Alaska,  want  of  prison  facilities  in, 
434. 

Almond,  W.  B.,  peanut  peddler,  1849, 
591-2;  judge,  59.3-000. 

Alvarado,  D.,  death  of,  744-5. 

Alvarado,  Gov.,  "  Historia  de  Cali- 
fornia," 41;  statement  of,  46. 

Amador,  justice  at,  1854,  646-7. 

Ames,  A.  M.,  the  Chico  riots,  1877, 
573. 

Anderson,  C,  duel  with  Lewis,  1866, 
780;  story  of,  793. 

Angel    thond,  duelling  at,  1858,762-3. 

Applegato,  I.,  mention  of,  457;  con- 
ference v'th  Capt.  Jack,  1871, 
459-60;  1872,  465-6;  the  Modoc 
outbreak,  471,  478-82;  campaign 
at  the  lava  beds,  1872-3,  496. 

Applegate,  J.,  Capt.  Jack's  demands 
on,  1871,  458-9;  conference  with 
Capt.  Jack,  1872,  465-6;  the  Mo- 
doc outbreak,  1872,  478-82;  peace 
commissioner,  1873,  510;  resigns, 
519;  rept.  of,  519-20. 

Applegate,  L.,  the  Modoc  outbreak, 
1872,  482. 

Applegate,  0.,  the  Modoc  outbreak, 
1872,  478. 

Applegate,  O.  C,  the  Modoc  outbreak, 
1872,  486-7;  campaign  at  the  lava 
beds,  1872-3,  490-504;  at  Link- 
ville,  1873,  5.34-5. 

Ashley,  discoveries  of,  90. 

Aspinwall,  descript.  of,  1852,  15&-60. 

Atherton,  M.,  trial  of,  1877,  580. 

Atwell,  R.  H.,  mention  of,  513. 

Auctions,  descript.  of,  346-7,  350-1, 
358-9. 

Austin,  duelling  at,  1864,  778. 

Azanza,  M.  J.  de,  exploration  of, 
81. 


B 


Babbitt,  A.  W.,  mention  of,  434. 
Badger  Hill;  justice  at,  614-15. 
Baird,  O.  T.,  duel  with  Wright,  1853, 

756. 
Baldwin,  J.,  death  of,  404. 
Bancroft,    H.    U.,   voyage    to  CaL, 

1853,  124-224. 
Bandini,  J.,  remark?  of,  55. 
Banking,  James,  descript.  of,  700-3. 
Barbour,  W.  T.,  story  of,  611-12. 
Barlow,  Capt.  G.,   voyage  of,  1719, 

30. 
Barry,  Justice  R.   C,   administ.  of, 

1851,  630-,2. 
Bates,  Alcalde,  mention  of,  608. 
Beane,  C.  E.,  duel  with  Wilson,  1870, 

783. 
Beideman,    H.,   challenge  of,    1854, 

761. 
Belt,  G.,  alcalde,  etc.,  1849,  609-10. 
Benedict  XIV,  Pope,  bull  of,  746. 
Benham,  C,  Teriy's  second,  771-2. 
Benson,  T.   L.,   duel  with  Menzies, 

1854,  759, 

Bernard,     Capt.,    the    Modoc    war, 

1872-3,  485-504,  548. 
Bein,  W.,  rascality  of,  1857,  342. 
Bennett,  gold  found  by,  58. 
Briddle,    Col.,     reconnoissancea    of, 

1873,  528-9. 
Bidwell,  J.,  mention  of,  570-2. 
Bigler,  Gov.,  the  gold  discov.,  76-81. 
Biven,   R.,  duel  with  Dorsey,  1854, 

760. 
Blackburn,    Alcalde    W.,    story  of, 

652-3. 
Blair,  J.,  duel  of,  1852,  752. 
Blake,  H.  B.,  statement  of,  43. 
Blake,  M.  P.,  mention  of,  772. 
Boddy,  Massacre,  descript.  of,  1878, 

473-5. 
Boddy,  R.,  killed  by  Modocs,  1872, 

474-5. 
Boise  city,  disposal  of  lotn  at,  412. 
(810) 


INDEX. 


»M 


Boildy,  W.,  killed  by  Modocs,  1872, 

474-5. 
Boise  County  Jail,  mention  of,  431. 
Bonneville,    Capt.,     adventures    of, 

1832,  91. 
Booth,  Gov.,  the   Modocs'  outbreak, 

1872,  486. 
Booth,  Mrs,  the  Laura  D.  Fair  trial, 

625-6. 
Borondo,  0.  S.,  duel  with  Soto,  1826, 

746. 
'Boston    Charley,'    interview    with 

Roneborough,    536;  surrender  and 

execution  of,  5i38. 
Bontelle,   affray  with  Modocs,  1872, 

470-1. 
Bowie,  H.,  mention  of,  758. 
Boylc,  Capt.  W.  H.,  the  Modoo  out- 
break, 1872,  488. 
Boyle,  Lieut,  escape  of,  544-5. 
Boyle,    Quartermaster,   campaign  at 

the  lava  beds,  1872-3,  50.3. 
Bowman,  trial,  etc.  of,  63G-8. 
Braunan,   S.,  stories  of,  246-7,  607; 

trial  of  Pickett,  1848,  608-9. 
Brazer,  M.  C,  duel  with  Park,  1854, 

760. 
Briarly,  Surgeon,  mention  of,  760. 
Broderick,  D.  C,  duel  with  Smith, 

1852,  752-3;  with  Terry,  IS-W,  76.3- 

72;  (juarrel  with  Perley,  765-6. 
Brothcrton    Massacre,    descript.    of, 

474-7. 
Brotherton,  Mrs,  narr.  of,  476-7. 
Brown,  J.,  story  of,  604-5. 
Brown,  Judge,  administ.  of,  653-6. 
Bull-fighting,  descript.  of,  283-5. 
Burn  ton,  G.  H.,  the  Modoc  outbreak, 

1872,  488. 
Burton,  Capt.,  campaign  at  the  lava 

beds,  1872-3,  494,  499,  548. 


C 


Cabaniss,  Dr,  mention  of,  544-5. 

Cal>ello,  L.,  works  of,  28. 

Calaveras  county,  justice  in,  648-50. 

Calaveras  grove,  descript.  of,  15. 

California,  valleys  of,  2-13;  moun- 
tains, 2-22;  scenery,  2-24;  climate, 
6-7;  gold  discoveries,  25-88;  overl. 
and  travel  to  89-120;  the  voyage 
to,  121-224;  mining  in,  228-47, 
364-6,  381-95,  early  miners  of, 
249-59;  descript.  of  8an  Francisco, 
260-93;  society,  294-314;  pursuit 
of  wealth,  316-18;  profanity,  319- 
20;  travel,  326-31;  pack  trains, 
331-2;  commerce,  33(5-58;  stock- 
broking,     336-7;    strikes,    330-40; 


California,  coinage,  340-1;  l>ank  and 
business  failures,  341,  344;  prices 
347-61  ;re8t't8,  .349-50;  business  de- 
pression in,  1851-4,  366-7;  progress 
of,  359-60;  life  and  cliaracter  in, 
361-80;  the  Jewish  element,  .S72-4; 
lack  of  gov't  in,  375;  evil  repute  of, 
376-6;  squatter  troubles,  etc.,  in, 
306-412;     land      commission     for, 

1851,  398-9;  prisons,  413-:iO;  the 
Modoc  war,  446-.')60;  outrages  on 
Chinese,  1871,  1877,561-81;  justice 
and  judiciary,  582-657;  <lrinktng, 
661-84;  hotels,  6(56-7;  restaurunts, 
668;  saloons,  669,  674-8;  gambling, 
694-733;  duelling,  741-84,  801-4; 
miscell.  stories,  <85-817;  churcli, 
797-805. 

Canby,  Gen.,  appointment  of,  1870, 
453;  petition  to,  461;  corresiiond. 
with  Meacham,  460-4;  with  Wlieat- 
ton,  470;  the  Mwloc  outbreak,  1872, 
487;  dispositions  of,  1873,  ."yM-o; 
correspond,  with  Sherman,  503-6; 
616-17,  626-7;  reply  to  peace  com- 
mis.,  519;  negotiations,  etc.,  of, 
521,  631;  messages  to,  521-5;  re- 
ports of,  530-2;  conference  with 
Modocs,  638-42,  543-4;  death  of, 
642-3. 

Cardwell,  stories  of,  44.3-5. 

Carmelo  creek,  gold  discov'd  on, 
68-9. 

Carpentier,  M.  le,  collection,  etc.  of, 
44-6. 

Carson  hill,  disturbance  at,  237-40. 

Carson  jail,  buildings,  etc.,  426;  es- 
capes from,  1871,  1877,  426-30. 

Carson's  creek,  gopher  story  at,  794- 
6. 

Carson,  J.  H.,  'Early  recollections,' 
etc.,  3.3-4. 

Carter,  W.  H.,  duel  with  De  Courcy. 

1852,  753. 

Case,  S.,  peace  commissioner,  187.3, 

610;  resigns,  619. 
Castillo,  descript.  of,  201. 
Castro,  P.,  story  of,  6.")4-5. 
Catalfi,  Padre,  M.,  prediction  of,  40. 
Caucasians,  order  of,  described,  570-2. 
Caulfield,  affray  with  Judge  Wilson, 

1852,  640. 
Cavallier,  E.,  mention  of,  768. 
Cave,  story  of,  442. 
Cemeteries,  descript.  of,  290-1. 
Cerruti,  story  of,  627. 
Chagres     river,    boating    on,     1852, 

162-9;  descript.  of,  166  9. 
Champ,  Justice  J.  W.,  administ.  of, 
635-8. 


INDEX. 


Chagres,  desoript.  of,  1852,  168. 
Chapin,  Lieut,  canii>aign  at  the  Uva 

Ii«ds,  1872-3,  548. 
Chaviteaiix,  H.,  duel  with  Bioharda, 

1804,  758. 
Chico,  outrages  on  Chineae  in,  1876- 

508-81. 
Chineae,  outrages  on,  1871, 1877,661- 

81;  duelling  among,  1851,  760-1. 

Church,  sketch  of  in  Cal.,  797-806. 
City  Hall,   San  Francisco,   desoript. 

of,  1849,  265. 
Cliffoi^I,  the  Carson  jail  Omenta,  1871, 

426-7. 
Climate,  (Cal. )  descript.  of,  6-7. 
Clinton,  Dr,  story  of,  361. 
Coinage,  mention  of,  340-1. 
Coleman,   T.,    duel    with  Mulligan, 

1 864  778. 
CoUett,  J.  W.,  death  of,  1848,  748. 
Coloma,  gold  discov.  at,  62-8i6;  min> 

ing  dispute  at,  1861,  245-6. 
Colombo.  Dr,  mention  of,  779. 
Colton,   D.   D.,   Broderick's  second, 

771. 
Cr)lton,    Rev.,    statements,  etc.,    of, 

69-60;  story  of,  437-8. 
Commerce,  descript.  of,  336-68. 
Congress,  land  commission  app'd  by, 

1861,  398-9;  memorial  to,  400. 
Conway,    F.,  the  Chico  riots,    1877, 

572-6;  arrest,  etc.,  of,  577-9. 
Cotter,  J.,  duel  with  Nugent,  1862. 

754. 
Crabb,  Senator,  mention  of,  760. 
Crane,    A.,   duel  with  Toby,    1868, 

857. 
Cranston,    Lieut,    campaign    at  the 

lava  beds,  1872-3,  648-9. 
Crawley,   D.,   affray    with    Modocs, 

1872,  472-3. 
Crook,  Oen.,  petition  to,  etc.,  1869, 

460;   removal  of,    1870,  443;  cam- 
ugn   at  the  lava  beds,   1872-3, 


Dans,  J.  D.,  remarks  of,  46-7. 

D&vila,  P.,  founds  FanamA,  etc,  178. 

Davis,  B.,  story  of,  720-1. 

Death,  remarks  on,  658-60. 

De  Courcy,  H.  A.,  duel  with  Carter, 

1852,  763. 
Deer  Lodge  Prison,  descript.  of,  431- 

4. 
Delano,  Secretary,   the  Modoc  war, 

1872-3,  606-7;  answer  to  Orover's 

protest   1873,   610. 


Delano,  Secretary,  letter  to  Meacham, 

616;  correspond,  with   Canby,  633; 

indignation  against,  646-7. 
Den,  mention  of,  411. 
Denter,  C.  W.,  story  of,  636-8. 
Denver,   J.   W.,   duel  with  Gilbert, 

etc.,  1862,  756-6. 
Denver,   Lieut  Gov.,   the  ^meute  at 

Carson  jail,  1871,427-8. 
Devil's  Cafion,  duelling  at,  1866,  761- 

2. 
Dibble,    O.    M.,   duel    with  Lundy. 

1861,  761-2. 
Dickson,  J.    P.,   duel  with  Thomas. 

1854,  758. 
Donkeyville,  justice  at,  640-3. 
Donner  tragedy,  descript.  of,  93-109. 
Dorris,    recommendation,     etc..    of. 

493-4. 
Dorsey,  H.  P.,  duel  with  Biven,  1864. 

760. 
Dougherty,  E.,  story  of,  1862,  626-7. 
Dowdigan,   C.   duel  with    Hawkins. 

1864,  758-9. 
Downieville,  justice  at,  1850,  616. 
Drake,  Sir  F.,  vovage,  etc.,  of,  26-7. 
Dress,  descript.  of,  295-6. 
Drew,  reconnoissance  of,  466. 
Drinking,    evils,    etc.,     of,     660-84; 

stories     about,    662-84;    customs, 

664-6,  671-2;  saloons,  669,  674-8; 

toasts,  676-7. 
Dubert,  duel  with  EUseler,  1864,  760. 
Duelling,  origin,  etc.,  of,  736-6;  folly, 

etc.,  of,  737,  742-4;  hist,  of,  740-1; 

in  Cal,  741-84;  in  Spanish  Amer., 

744-6.  *^ 

•  Duke  John,'  story  of,  727-33. 
Duran,  Father,  report  of,  1825,  746. 
Dyar,  Agent,  conference  with  Capt. 

Jack,  etc.,  1872,  466-6;  the  Motloo 

outbreak,     1872,     478;    at    Camp 

Yainax,   491;  peace  commissioner, 

1873,  628;  conference  with  Modocs, 

638-42;  escape  of,  542-3. 

B 

Eagan,  Lieut,  campaign  at  the  lava 

beds,  1872-3,  649. 
Easterbrook,  J.  £.,  duel  with  Knight, 

1859,  776. 
Eddy,  W.  H.,  the  'Donner  tragedy,' 

93-106. 
Eggleston,  G.,  story  of,  348. 
EIDorado,  name,  etc.,  226-7. 
fillsellpr,  duel   with    Dubert,   1884, 

760. 
Estill.  J.   M.,  prison   contracts   of, 

1861-6,  416-16. 


INDEX 


821 


*Euph6tnia,*  prison    ship,   pnrchuo, 

etc.,  of.  1849,  415. 
Eureka,  dnelling  at,  1850,  748-0. 
Evans,  D.,  duel  with  Northrop,  1877, 

784. 
Evans,  O.  M.,  ■tatementa,  etc.,  of, 

55-8. 
Ewer,  letter  of,  27&-S1. 


Fahey,  J.,  the  Chioo  riots,  1877, 
673^. 

Fair,  L.  D.,  trial  of,  623-0. 

Fairchild,  Capt.,  campaign  at  the 
lava  l)eds,  1872-3,  4i>4-504;  n.  ^o- 
tiations  of,  512-14;  the  peace  >  .>m- 
mission,  613-14;  interview  with 
Capt.  Jack,  535-6;  Mo<loos  sur- 
render to,  557-8. 

Fairfax,  C.  S.,  mention  of,  750. 

Feather  river,  alleged  gold  discov.  on, 
1818,  37-8. 

Fellen,  relief  of  Donner  party,  102, 
107. 

Ferguson,  Senator,  duel  with  Johnson, 
1858,  762-.^ 

Ferree,  I).  J.,  the  Modoo  outbreak, 
1872,  478. 

Ferrend,  Major,  mention  of,  782. 

Field,  Judge  S.  J.,  story  of,  1850, 
610-11. 

Finncgan,  mining  claim  of,  239-40. 

Fisck,  G.,  the  Modoc  outbreak,  187" 
479. 

Fitch,  T.,  duel  Mrith  Goodman,  etc., 
1803,  770-8. 

Flannagan,  M.  K,  challenge  of,  1854, 
749. 

Fletcher,  story  of,  387-8. 

Folsom,  justice  at,  612. 

Folsom,  Capt,  squatter  troubles  of, 
404. 

Folsom,  duel  with  Russell,  1851,  751. 

ForlKJs,  A.,  statements  of,  18:)5,  42-.3. 

Foreigners,  polit.  influence  of,  561-2. 

Fouke,  duel  with  SaflFord,  1805,  779. 

Fremont,  Gen.,  story  of,  748. 

Frisbie,  J.  B.,  mention  of,  412. 


O 


Galvez,  J.,  exploration  of,  31. 

Gambling,  evils,  etc.,  of,  686-08;  laws 
against,  687-8;  tricks  in,  687,  691- 
2;  prevalence  of,  680;  inCal.,  694- 
733;  efifect  of,  695;  banking  games, 
700-3;  lasauenet,  700-3;  rondo, 
701;  gamblers,  the  personnel  of, 
703-9. 


Gaming-honses,  708-10;  monte,  711; 

stories,  695-7,713-.^%  801-4;  poker, 

719-20;  chances  in,  72:{-6. 
Oatewood,    W.   J.,  duel  with  (iioid- 

win,  1859,  775-6. 
Geary,  J.  W.,  alcalde,  1850,  600-1. 
Geysers,  descript.  of,  17-21. 
Gilbert,  E.,  duel  with  Denver,  etc., 

1852,  756-6. 
Gillem,    (icn.      A.      C,     superset  U-ii 

Wheaton,    1873,    506;  tlio   Modco 

war,  509,  547-69. 
Gillespie,  story  of,  .346-7. 
Glover,  A.,  relief  of  Donner  l>arty, 

102-6. 
Godfrey,  G.  K.,  sham  duel  of,  18.'9, 

774-6. 
Gold  Discoveries,  in  Cal.,  2.'>-88. 
Gold-dust,  trattic  in,  340. 
Gonard,  the  ^ineute  at  Carson  jail, 

1878,  4.30. 
Goodale,  Lieut,  at  Ft  Klamath,  18i;9, 

450-3. 
Goodman,   I.    T.,   duel  with   Fitch, 

1863,  776-8. 
GocMlwin,  P.,    duel  with  Gatewood, 

1859,  775-6. 
Gordon,  W.,  story  of,  629. 
frorgonii,  descript.  of,  170-1. 
(Soscolo,  Chief,  death  of,  747-8. 
Gould,  story  of,  639. 
Graham,  W.  H.,  duels,  etc.,  of,  1851, 

750. 
Graham,  W.   R.,    challenge  sent  to, 

1854,  749. 
Grand  Jury,  descript.  of,  1850,  600-1. 
Gray,  statement  of,  41. 
Gniyson,  A.  J     the  Donner  tragetly, 

04-5. 
Green,  Col  J.,  iit  Ft  Klamath,  *    '2, 

469-70;  corrcHpond  with  Wheatoa, 

484-5;  campaign  at  tlio  lava  hvdn, 

1872-.3,  491-503,  548-52. 
Griffith,  J.,  story  of,  1851,  796-7.  ^ 
Grover,  Gov.,  petition,  etc.,  to,  1872, 

463-4;  to  Modoc  outbreak,    1872, 

486;    protest  of,    610;    orders    of, 

1873,  555. 
Guzman,    T.    de,    discovers   site    of 

Panamfi,  1615,  178. 
Gwin,  W.  M.,  duel  of,  185.3,  756. 


Habana,  descript.  of,  151-2. 
Hacker,  D.    K.,  duel  with  London, 

1864,  759-60. 
Hager,  Judge,  the  Terry  case,  772-3 
Hanley,  P.,  affray  with  O'Brien,  etc., 

1877,  783-4. 


822 


INDEX. 


Hamlileton,  Mrs,  death  of,  2.18-9. 

Ihtrdcooii,  death  of,  117-8. 

lliirdy,  .ludgo  J.  H.,  tlio  Terry  case, 

18.V.>,  773;  indicted  for  iiiuider,  774. 
}iara.s/,thy,  Auguxtin,  of  U.  8.  branch 

mint,  :U2. 
Hari^raves,  story  of,  63. 
llasbrouck,  H.  C,  mention  of,  534, 
ll!i>!ting!4,  L.  W.,  the  Downer  tragedy, 

'Jl». 
llaverstick.    Registrar,   trial  before, 

g:«). 

Hawkins,    J.,  duel   with  Dowdigau, 

]HM,  738-9. 
Hayes,  Alderman,  duel  with  Nugent, 

1853,  754-5. 
Hayes,  T.,  Terry's  second,  771. 
Hoaldsluirg,  squatter  troubles  near, 

411-11». 
Herbert,  P.  T.,  mention  of,  759. 
Hertz,  H.,  story  of,  8()!t-12. 
Hill,  !>.,  campaign  at  the  lava  beds, 

1872-3,  495. 
Hitchcock,  C.  M.,  mention  of,  760. 
lli/.er,  Lieut,   campaign  at  the  lava 

bods,  1872^,  498. 
H  oat  Hoy,  M.,  robbery,  etc.,  of,  1877, 

044-0. 
lloldcrbaum.    A.,    the    Chico     riots, 

1877,  573;  trial  of,  579. 
Holiday,  outrage  of,  410-11. 
'Hooker  .lim,' campaign  at  the  lava 

beds,    1872-3,   492,    498;  surrender 

of,  558. 
Hot  creek,  Indians  of,  483-4,  487. 
Hovey,  E.,  death  of,  652. 
Howard  &  Melius,  mention  of,  345. 
Howe,   Lieut,  campaign  at  tlie  lava 

beds,  187-23,  549,  554. 
Hoyt,  exped.  of,  .3.3. 
lluliert,    N,,  duel  with  Hunt,   1854, 

759. 
Hudson,  story  of,  728-.32. 
Hunt,  ii.  T.,  duel  Mith  Hubert,  1854, 

759. 
Hunt,  Major,  mention  of,  468. 
Hunter,  J.,  duel  with  Pitcher,  782. 
Huntington,    Superintendent,    treaty 

with  Indians,  1864,  446-7. 


Idaho,  convicts  of,  431. 

Innnigration,  character  of,  361-3. 

Irish,  polit.  influence  of,  561. 

Indians,  traffic  with,  436-7;  employ- 
ment of,  438-42;  treaties  with, 
1864,  446-50;  the  Motloc  war,  440- 
560. 

Inge,  S.W.,  duel  with  Stanley,  750. 


Jack,  Capt.,  treaty  with,  1864,  446- 
50;  negotiations  with,  450-1,  457-9; 
40i)-9,  483-4;  at  Mo<b)0  point,  451; 
at  Lost  river,  451,  454;  complaints 
of,  4.')2;  land  claimed  by,  4.'')3-5; 
raids,  etc.,  of,  1870-1,  45.")-7;  con- 
ference witli,  1871,  459-00;  1872, 
465-6;  insolence  of,  46li  9;  at- 
tempted arrest  of,  470^3;  campaign 
at  the  lava  licds,  1872-3,  488-504, 
547-57;  message  to  t'anby,  522-5; 
conference  with  {>oaco  commi.ss., 
538-42;  massacre  of  comniiss.,  542- 
6;  surrender  and  execution  of,  558. 

Jackson,  Capt.  J.,  at  Ft  Klamath, 
1870,  457;  aflFray  with  Modoc<, 
1872,  470-2;  campaign  at  1.!ie  lava 
beds,  1872-3,  490-504. 

.Tews,  status,  etc.,  of  in  Cal.,  372-4. 

Jimeno  grant,  disturbance  at,  1853, 
410. 

Jones,  H.  J.,  the  Chico  riots,  1887, 
572. 

Jones,  H.  T.,  conviction  of,  1877,  579. 

Jones,  W.  H.,  the  Hayes-Nugent 
duel,  1833,  755. 

Johnson,  Dr,  sayings  of,  663-6. 

Johnson,  (r.  P.,  duel  witli  J-^Tguson, 
1858,  762-3;  trial  of,  703. 

Jolinsou,  Sheriff,  mention  of,  403-4. 

Judiciary,  character  of,  582-5,  5SK); 
stories  of  the,  691-657. 

Justice,  administ.,  etc.,  of,  586-656. 


Kanakas,  employment  of,  441-2. 

Koarn,  U.,  nuaition  of,  448. 

Kelly,  Capt.  H. ,  the  Modoc  outbreak, 

1872,   482;  campaign   at  tlie   lava 

beds,  1872-3,  491-503. 
Kelsey,  (1.,  story  of,  1850,  617-21. 
Kemble,  E.  C,  duel  with  McDougal, 

1851,  751. 
Ketchum,  suit  of,  639. 
Kewen,  A.,  duel  M'ith  Woodlief,  etc., 

1834,  760-1. 
Keys,  Capt.,  m^-ntion  of,  403. 
Kiesburg,  the  Donner  tragedy,  97-8, 

106-8. 
King,  T.  S.,  influence  of,  798. 
Kingston,  descript.  of,  133. 
Klamath  basin,  petition  from  settlers 

of,  1872,  463. 
Klamath,  Fort,  reservation  at,  450; 

forces  at,  1870,  464. 
Klamaths,  treaty  with,  1864,  446-50; 

raids  of,  1863,  447. 


INDEX. 


Klain.iths,  raids  of,  at  Motloc  point, 
■i.'i.'-.'i:  ciiiii|iiiign  at  tlio  lava  Itoila, 

Kiiaiip,  1*.  v.,  at  Ft  Klamath,  1870, 
4'}\-'i;  ineutiiig  with  Capt.  Jack, 
45(>;  naiovcd,  1870,  4.')7. 

Knight,  (i.,  voyage  of,  1719,  SO. 

Kuif;lit,  S.,  dud  with  Eastorbrook, 
1851),  77«. 

Kriig,  C,  duel  with  Loehr,  1853, 
7o(>-7. 

Kylu,  Lieut,  J.  G.,  the  Modoo  out- 
lireak,  1872,  485;  campaign  at  the 
lava  beds,  1872-3,  490-501. 


La  Paco,  L.,  mention  of,  779. 
Lagrode,    the  Tcrry-Broderick  duel, 

708. 
Lake  county,  justice  in,  1865,  647-8. 
Lalako,   Chief,   raids  of,    1863,   447, 

4.")4-5. 
Land  commission,  appointment,  etc. 

of,  1851,  398-S). 
Langell  valley,  Modoc  raids,  73,  534. 
Langdon,  S. ,  duel  with  llyer,  '57, 761-2 
Lark,  Justice  A.,  administ.  of,  1854, 

640-7. 
Larkin,    T.    O.,  statements  of,  1846, 

53-4. 
Lauiiqncnct,  deacript.  of,  700-3. 
Lava  beds,  deacript.  of,  488-9;  cam- 
paign of  tlie,  1872-3,  490-505,  647- 

57. 
Law-courts,   298;  descript.    of,   590- 

656. 
f .awson,  F. ,  mention  of,  400. 
Leary,  Lieut,  mention  of,  554. 
Lee,  B.,  story  of,  354-5. 
Leggett,    W.,    duel    with   Morrison, 

1852,  752. 
Lcmni,  C,  the  Chico  riots,  1877,  574. 
Leon,  P.  de,  thiel  with  Velasco,  744. 
Levi,  sham  duel  of,  1859  775. 
Lewis.  T.  D.  P.,  duel  with   Somers, 

185.3,  757. 
Lewis,    duel    with   Anderson,    1806, 

780. 
Lick,  J.,  squatter  troubles  of,  405. 
l.inkville,  alarm  at,  1873,  534-5. 
Loehr,    l)r,    duel  witli  Krug,    1853, 

750-7. 
Loker,  T.,  suit  of,  1850,  619-21. 
London,    J.   S.,    duel  with   Hacker, 

1854,  759-60. 
Lopez,    F.,   gold  discov'd  by,    1842, 

47-8. 
Los  Angeles,  descript.  of  Negro  Alley, 

562-3;  Chinese  not  at,  1871,  563-4. 


Los  Angeles,  ntttniges  on  Chinese  at, 
564-7;  iniiiicHt  at,  567-8;  duelling 
at,  1852,  Y'^3-4;  1870,  78.3. 

Lost  river,  Indian  raids  near,  1864, 
449;  1870-1,  455-7;  camp  on,  1873, 
505. 

Lower  California,  coast  of,  216. 

Ludingtou,  In8|)ector,  report  of,  1871, 
460-1. 

Lundy,  E.  B.,  duel  with  Dibble,  etc., 
1851,  751-2. 

Luttrell,  J.  K.,  mention  of,  656. 


M 


Magrudcr,  Col,  mention  of,  753-4. 
Manoney,  J.,  trial  of,  1877,  579. 
Mammoth  trees,  descript.  of,   14-15. 
Manoa,  fabled  treasures  of,  226. 
Manzanillo,  descript.  of,  215. 
Mariposa,  grove,  descript.  of,  15. 
Marshall,  J.  W.,  the  gold  discov..  57- 

8,  63-76;  mining  adventure  of,  232. 
Martinez,  adventure  of,  226. 
Marysville,  justice  at,    1850,  610-11, 

623. 
Mason,    Col,    the    Modoc   outbreak, 

1872,  487-8;  campaign  at  the  lava 

beds,  1872-3,  4'.»4-5,  502,  547-50. 
Mason,  story  of,  442. 
MattlicwRon,    the  emeute  at   Carson 

jail,  1877,  429-.m 
May,  E.,  murder  of,  .580. 
May,  Senator,  duel  witli  Rowe,  185.3, 

757. 
Mazatlan,  descript.  of,  215-16. 
McChristian,  P.,  story  of,  .38,'>-6. 
McCorkle,  J.   W.,  duel   with   Gwin, 

1853,  756. 

McDonald,  story  of,  1814,  745. 
McDougal,    G.,    duel   with    Kemble, 

1851,  751. 

McDougal,  Gov.,  menti<m  of,  760. 
McDougal,    J.,    duel     witli    Russell, 

1852,  756. 

McEldery,  affrav  with  Modocs,  1872, 

470. 
McFarland  co.,  suit  of  the,  641-2. 
McGowan,  E.,  stories  of,  602-4. 
McKay,    J).,    campaign  at  the   lava 

beds,  1872-3,  492-3,  547. 
McKibbin,    J.,    Broderick's    second, 

771. 
McKune,  affray  with  Judge  Wilson, 

1852,  640. 
McNabb,  J.,  mention  of,  779. 
McNamara,   Capt.,  J.,  camjiaign   in 

the  lava  beds,  1872-3,  494. 
Meiggs,   H.,    defalcation,     etc.,     of, 

1854,  287-90. 


INDEX. 


Meacham,  Snperintendeilt,  negotia- 
tions  of,  420-1;  treatment  of  In- 
dians, 452;  policy  of,  467-8;  at  Ft 
Klamath,  1870,  457;  conferetio* 
with  Capt.  Jack,  1871,  459  60; 
correapond.  of,  1871-3,  4fiO-4,  630- 
2;  relieved,  1872,  464;  chairman  of 
peace  commission,  1873,  607;  in- 
structions to,  526'  disgust  of,  627-8; 
taterview  with  Capt.  Jack,  635-6; 
conference  with  Modocs,  538-42; 
attempted  assass.  of,  643. 

MendennaJ),  Capt  J.,  mention  of, 
654. 

Menxies,  R.,  duel  with  Benaon,  1854, 
759. 

Miller,  H.  F.,  mention  of,  460;  death 
of,  476. 

Miller,  Lieut,  campaign  at  the  lava 
beds,  1872-3,  494-5,  548-9. 

Mills,  Capt  C.  S.,  mention  of,  486. 

Miners,  characteristics,  etc.,  of,  247- 
69,  364-6,  381-95;  fortune  and  mis- 
fortunes, 383-4;  stories  of,  385-94. 

Mining,  descript.  of,  228-30;  diacrimi- 
natiou  against  foreigners,  2.32-6; 
regulations  and  disputes,  2.%-47; 
camps,  381-2,  394;  stories,  385-94, 
807-y,  815-17. 

Mo<loc8,  name,  446;  treaty  with, 
1864,  44(V-50;  raids  of,  1863,  447; 
1870-2,  435-82;  removed  to  reser- 
vation, 450-1;  treatment  of,  451-2; 
aflfray  with,  1872,  470-3;  campaign 
of  the  lava  beds,  1872-3,  488-504; 
647-57;  the  peace  commiss.,  505-42; 
massacred  i)y,  542-6;  surrender 
and  disposal  of,  557-9. 

Mokelumne  river,  duelling  on  the, 
1851,  750-1. 

Money  making,  remarks  on,  302. 

Montana,  penitentiary  frf,  431-2. 

Monterey,  descript.  of,  222. 

Montour,  duel  with  PiUet,  1813,  745. 

Monte,  descript  o^  711. 

Moore,  H.  de  W.,  the  Modoc  out- 
break, 1872,  488. 

Moore,  Lieut,  campaign  at  the  lava 
beds,  1872-3,  494. 

Morgan,  A.,  mining  claim  of,  237-40. 

Mormon  island,  Indians  at,  1848, 
438-41. 

Morrison,  J.,  duel  with  Leggett,  1852, 
752. 

Mountains  of  Cal.,  descript.  of,  2-16. 

Mulligan,  W.,  mention  of,  759;  duel 
with  Coleman,  1864,  778. 

Murchison,  Sir  R.,  remarks  of,  47. 

MHri)hy,  J.  C,  trial,  etc.  of,  629. 

Murphy,  camp  of,  441. 


Murray,  B.,  letter  of,  646-7. 
Murray,  Judge,  H.  C,  ch{>racter,  et<r. 
of,  605-7. 


N 


Negro  alley,  (Los  Angelee)  descripi;. 

of,  1871,  563-3. 
Nevada  city,  justice  at,  1852,  626-7; 

duelling  at,  1861,  751-2. 
Newell,  S.  T.,  kiUing  of,  774. 
NezPerces,  trouble  with,   1873,  528. 
Nicaragua,  Lake,  descript  of,  201-2. 
Nicaragua  route,  descript  of  tlic,  198- 

202. 
Nieto,  S.,  mention  of,  748. 
Niles,  Justice  J.,  administ,  etc.   of, 

640-3. 
'North  America,'  wreck  of  the,  21^ 

14. 
Northrup,  M.  V.,  duel  with  Evans, 

1877,  784. 
Nugent,  J.,  duels  of,  1852,  754-6. 


Oak  grove,  duelling  at,  1852,  755-6; 

1854,  758. 
Oakland,  disturbance  in,  185.'),  408. 
O'Brien,  J.,  affray  with  Hanley,  1877, 

783. 
Odeneal,  L.  B.,  Ind.  superintendent, 

1872,  464-70;  peace  commissioner, 

1873,  510. 

Ohio  Diggings,  search  for  the,  231-2, 
Old  Kent.U(^  Co.,  suit  against  the, 

641-2. 
Oregon,  prisons  of,  4.30-1 ;  the  Modoc 

war,  446-50. 
Oroville,  rioters  tried  at,  1877,  577-9. 
Otis,    Major,    the    Modoc    troubles, 

1872,  464-9. 


Pacific  Mail  Co.,  origin  of,  125,  opera- 
tions, 125-6. 

Pack-trains,  descript.  of,  331-2. 

Palomares,  F.,  narr.  of,  747-8. 

Panama  bay,  descript.  of,  184-5. 

Panamd  city,  hist,  sketch  of,  158-9; 
descript.  of,  1852,  179-^7. 

Panamli,  Isthmus,  descript.  of,  155- 
88;  travel  across,  1852,  156-77; 
population,  183;  climate,  184. 

Park  bar,  mining  dispute  at,  1851, 
246-7. 

Park.  T.  W.,  duel  with  Brazer,  1854, 
760. 

Parker,  R.,  story  of,  348. 


INDEX. 


825 


Parsons,  G.  F.,  the  gold  dUcov.,  72-3. 

Pattie,  J.  O.,  explorations  of,  1832, 
9(>-l. 

Pawnbroking,  descript.  of,  324-6. 

Peace  comnussion,  appointment,  etc. 
of,  1873,  605-11;  negotiations,  SH- 
IS; report  of,  517-19;  conference 
with  Modoca,  538-42;  commiss. 
massacred,  542-6. 

Peachy,  A.  V.,  duel  of,  1852,  762. 

Pearl  islands,  descript.  of,  185. 

Pearson,  H.,  mention  of,  406. 

Pefla  Corpiiral,  mention  of,  747-8. 

Perley,  D.  W.,  quarrel  with  Broder- 
ick,  705-6. 

Perry,  Capt.,  the  Modoc  outbreak, 
1872,  485-^;  campaign  at  the  lava 
beds,  1872-3,  490-503,  5-(8,  553; 
Capt  Jack  surrenders  to,    •S, 

Pettigrove,  S.,  story  of,  785-7. 

Phyiiician»,  fees  of,  1850,  351. 

Pickett,  E.  £.,  statements  of,  50,  55; 
story  of,  365-7;  trial  of,  1848, 
608-9. 

Piercy,  C.  W.,  duel  with  Showalter, 
1861,  776. 

Pile-<lriving,  descript.  of,  1849,  264-5. 

Pillet,  duel  with  Montour,  1813,  745. 

Pitcher,  W.,  duel  with  Hunter,  782. 

Pizarro,  H.,  mention  of,  744-6. 

Pollock,  Capt.,  at  Ft  Klamath,  1873, 
534. 

Post  office  (San  Francisco)  descript. 
of,  1851,  278-9. 

Pojtal  delivery,  descript.  of,  272-4. 

Potter,  E.  W.,  mention  of,  448. 

Powers,  J.,  squatter  disturbance  of, 
185.3,  411. 

Prices,  extravagance  of,  1849-50, 
.>i7-51. 

Prisons,  San  Quentin,  413~26;  the 
'Euphemia,'  415;  management  of, 
417-22;  Carson,  426-30;  Salem, 
430-1;  Sttilacoom,  431;  Boise 
c^m.'y,  431;  Deer  Lodge,  431-4; 
of  Al.ska,  434;  of  Utah,  434;  of 
Arizona,  434-5. 

Pnifanity,  prevalence  cif,  319-20. 

Prudon,  story  of,  789-93. 


R 


Raleigh,    Sir  W.,    exped's,    etc.,  of, 
1595,  1017,  226-7. 
liandoli)!),  mention  of,  700. 

Raoussel-Boulbou,    Cmiite   de,    men- 
tion of,  758. 

Raymond,  duel  with  Tucker,  749. 

Ream,   Lieut,  campaign  at  the  lava 
beds,  1872-3,  503-4. 


Reed,  J.  F.,  the  Donner  tragedy,  93- 
105. 

Restaurants,  descript.  of,  349-50. 

Reynolds,  W. ,  mention  of,  407. 

Rich  Bar,  stories  of,  662,  727-33. 

Richards,  M.,  duel  with  Chaviteaux, 
1854,  758. 

Richard,  8.  R.,  prison  inspector, 
1854  434. 

Ricord',  story  of,  1849,  815-17. 

Riddle,  T.,  warning  of,  525;  inter- 
preter to  peace  commiss.,  etc., 
1873,  537-40;  escape  of,  54.S. 

Riley,  C.  VV.,  saloon  keeper  and 
iudge,  622-3. 

Riley,  Gen.,  mention  of,  415. 

Roberts,  E.,  the  Chico  riots,  1877, 
67»-6;  trial,  etc.,  of,  578-9. 

Roberts,  Lieut  G.,  wouiuled  at  the 
lava  beds,  1873,  501 

Robinson,  Dr,  the  squatter  riots, 
1849-50,  410. 

Rockwood,  A.  P.,   prison   inspector, 

1854,  4.34. 

Rogers,  Judge,  story  of,  6r)6. 

Rogue  river  valley,    Indian  raid  in, 

1855,  '45-6. 

Romles,    P.,   the   Chico   riots,    1877, 

672. 
Rondo,  descript.  of,  701-2. 
Roseborougli,     peace     coiumissioner, 

1873,512-13;  interview  with  (apt. 

Jack,  5.35-0;  with  Boston  Charley, 

530. 
Roos,  C.  L.,  stf^-y  of,  .?45  fi. 
Ross,    Gen.  J.   K.,    the    Modoc   war, 

1872-3,  486-95.  500. 
Rough   and  Ready,  camp,  story  of, 

7J»-9. 
Rowe,  E.,  duel  with  May,  18.'i.3,  7.". 
Rnelle,  J.  R.,  story  of,  .Vi. 
Russell,    A.    C,    duel   with    Folsom, 

1851,  751. 
Russell,  T.,  mention  of,  747 
Russell,  duel  with  McDougal,  '.^S,  7.'0. 
Rust,  duel  with  Stidgcr,  IS").'!,  7.")7. 
Rutlantl,  .T.  P.  quarrel  with  Thomas, 

etc.,  1854,  757-8. 
Ryer,  W.  M.,  duel  with  Langdon,  '.")7, 

761-2. 


Sacramento  squatter  riot,  IS.TO,  408- 
10;  justice  at,  1856,  623;  affray  at, 
1852,  640;  gambling  incidents,  1850, 
722;  cliolora  at,  1850,  75)0-2. 

Snfford,  C,  duel  with  Fouke,  '65,  770. 

Safford,  Judge,  trial  uf  Chico  rioturs, 
I      1877,  579. 


R'Jll 


INDEX. 


f^ali'iu  prison,  dcscript.  of,  4.T0-1. 

tSaliHins,  (iuMuript.  of,  074-8. 

San  Anilreiw,  justice  at,  1S77,  044-5; 
dwelling  near,  \Sii',),  775-0. 

San  Antonio,  dwelling  at,  1853,  750- 
7. 
•San  Bias,  dcscript.  of,  215. 

San  Diego,  descript.  of,  1852,  217; 
stfirni  at,  184'.(,  'J17-21;  justice  at, 
1840,  (ii:{;  duelling  lined  at,  1830- 
41,  740-7. 

San  Francisco,  l>a)'  of,  21-3;  Imild- 
ings  and  streets  of,  1841),  200-5, 
281-2,  280  7;  j)ile-<lriving  in,  '2CA- 
5;  character  ot  population,  20.V0; 
tlie  drama,  207-0;  arrival  of  steam- 
ers, 270- 2;  pust<al  delivery,  272-4; 
steamer-day,  275-0;  post-otlice, 
278-0;  poverty  in.  1852-3,  283; 
liuU-ligliting,  283-5;  promenades, 
28.");  cemeteries,  200-1;  homes,  2i)l- 
2;  climate,  202;  the  new  city,  202- 
3;  society,  21>4-314;  pawnhroking, 
324 -(i;  commerce,  ."ill.")-. 58;  stock - 
broking,  330-7;  strikes,  330-40; 
coinage,  340-1 ;  hanks  and  husincss 
failures,  341,  'M4;  auctions,  'M6-7, 
3.")0  1,  3.")8-0;  prices,  347  51;  hu.si- 
ness  depression  in,  1851-5,  3.jO-7; 
sijuattt-r  trouhlcs,  etc.  in,  .30(>-407; 
prisons,  415;  law-courts,  500,  023- 
0,  0:V.)  40;  grand  jurv,  1850.  000-1; 
gaiiihling  ni,  007-727;  duelling, 
lS.-.lliO,  740-83. 

Tvin  Isidro,  alleged  gold  discov.  near, 
40. 

Sail  .Tose,  jtistico  at,  O-^O;  ftoscolo's 
imtragtN,  etc.  at,  747-8. 

Sin  .I'lau  del  Norte,  dcscript.  of,  109. 

San  (j'uentin,  name,  413;  under 
Spanish  rejiime,  414-15;  statc- 
pvisou  huiltat,  410;  contracts,  etc., 
410-17;  site,  41S;  ImiMmgs.  418- 
10;  treatnu'ut  of  prisoners,  410-22; 
e<cap(M  from,  42.5-0;  atiray  at, 
1S77.  783  4. 

San  Uafael.  disturbance  near,  407; 
town  of  surveyed,  407;  duelling 
near,  1801,  77f). 

Sanilils,  l)r,  explorations  of,  51-2. 

Santa  liarhara,  duelling  at,  1825, 
740. 

Santa  Craz,  justice  at,  052-5. 

Sivila,  Count,  'Nouvelles  Annates,' 
:t.-)  (i. 

'  .'"■(•aiface,  Thiof,'  campaign  at  the 
iiiva  IkmIs.  1872-3,  402;  surrender 
of,  .5,58. 

Scenery.  (Cal.)  dcscript.  of,  2-24. 

Schira,  Mrs,  uarr.  of,  474-5, 


Schira,  N.,  killed  by  Mndocs,    1872. 

474-5. 
Sconchin,  Chief,  raids  of   18C3,  447; 

at  Modoc  point,  451-4;  the  Modoc 

outbreak,    1872,  400,  478-81,   487; 

the  peace  commission,  511,  514-15; 

message  to  Canby,  621-2;  mediation 

of,   520;  insolence   uf,    541;  execu- 
tion of,  558. 
Schroedcr,    J.,    killed    by    Modocs, 

1872,  470. 
Scott,  l)r,  mention  of,  708. 
Scott,  W.  H.,  duel  with  Smith,  1853, 

757. 
Scott  bar,  election  at,  1851,  051. 
Settlers,  definition   of  word,    .396-7; 

contrasted  with  .scpiatters,  307. 
Sheldon,  mining  dispute,  etc.  of,  246. 
Shelvocke,  G.,  voyage,  etc.  of,  1710- 

22,  20.30. 
Shephard,  P.  W.,  mention  of,  772. 
Sherman,    (ien.,     the    Modoc    war, 

1872-3,    505-0;    correspond     with 

Canby,  510-17,  520  7. 
Sherwood,  Lieut,  ileath  of,  .544-5. 
Sliillabcr,  T.,  menti(m  of,  403. 
Shillingow,    A.,    killed    by   Modocs, 

1872,  477. 
Shoalwatcr  bay,  justice  at,  0.35  8. 
Showalter,    D.,    duel     with    rierry, 

1801,  770. 
Silva,  Capt.,    ("!.  M.    C,  the   Mount; 

outlircak,  1872,  488. 
Silv.as,  N.,  mention  of,  748. 
Sinnnons,   W.,  judge   at  .Scott  Bar, 

etc.,  1821,  051. 
Simpson,  11.  I.,  story  of,  4.38-41. 
Sinclair,  story  of,  385-0. 
Siskiyou  county,  petition  from,  1869, 

4.50. 
Slanglitcr,  C.,  the  Chico  riots,  1877, 

57'i-O;  iirrcst,  etc,  r)f,  577-9. 
Slavery,  question  of,  3(»5. 
Shiat,  L.  \V.,  prediction  of,  54. 
Smith,  C.  T.,  story  of,  801-4. 
Smith,  (>.,  story  of,  71-2. 
Smith,  11.,  menlinn  of,  774. 
.Smitli,  il.,  gold  vliscov'd  by,  39. 
Smith,  .1.  v.,    duel   with  Broderick, 

1852,  752  3. 
Smith,  v.,  duel  with  Scott,  18,5.3,  7.57. 
Smith,  explorations  of,  00. 
Society,  dcscript.  of,  2tU-314,  301-80. 
Sonuirs,  C,    duel    with    Lewis,  1853, 

7.57. 
Sonoma,  justice  at,  627. 
Sonora,  JH.stice  at,  1851,6.30-3;  duel- 
ling at,  18.52,  753;  18.59,  770. 
Soto,   M.,  duel  with  Borondo,  1825, 

4U7. 


INDEX. 


827 


(Spanish  Ainorica,  duolliiig  in,  744-5. 
Sparks,  Dr,  story  of,  351. 
Spokane,  Furt,  tlueilingat,  1814,  745. 
tSpi-agiiu,  T.,  atatenicnt  of,  39. 
Springer,  T.  A.,  mention  of,  62S). 
Sipiatterisin,  name,  3*JG;  descript  and 

oviU  of,  397-412. 
Sipiatterii,    name,    39G  7;    contrasted 

witlj  settlers,  307;  greuil  of,  397 -S; 

power  of,  401-2;  riots,  etc.,  402-12. 
St  Helena,  Mount,  descript.  of,  16. 
St^iging,  descript.  of,  327-31. 
Stainlirook,  T.,  the  Chico  riots,  1877, 

r)75-<>;  trial  of,  579. 
Stanley,    E.,    dnel   with   Inge,   1851, 

7.")0. 
Steamer  day,  descript.  of,  275-4). 
Steele,     K.,   mention    of,    443;    Ind. 

Hi4)erinteiident,    18(53,  447;   treaty 

with  Indians,  IS(U,  44S-50. 
Steele,    negotiations,    etc.,    of,    1873, 

512-15. 
Stt'ilacoom,  prison,  mention  of,  431. 
Stevens,  K.,  exped.  of,  .VJ. 
St(!vens,    K.    1'.,    the   I^tira   1).  Fair 

trial,  ()25. 
Stidgor,  duel  with  Uust,  18.").3,  757. 
Stuekltroking,  ileseript.  of,  3.'U>-7. 
Stuck   ganililing,    evils,  etc.,  of,  086, 

(I'.i'J  5. 
Stockton,     electi(m,    etc.,     at,    1849, 

ti09  10;  gambling  incident  at,  18.")0, 

717-18;  duelling  at,  1S.54,  7G(). 
Stoddard,  \V.  1'.,  mention  of,  774-5. 
Stone,  story  of,  720. 
Slii(kl;inil,    E.  A.,  attempted  escape 

of.  421). 
Strikes,  descript.  of,  339-40. 
Suis\in,  sipiatter   trouMe  near,   18152, 

412. 
'Sunday    l)isi>atch,'  letter   in,    1851, 

279-81. 
Sunset,  trojiical,  descri})t.  of,  203-5. 
Sui'prise  valley,  protection  of,    1873, 

.■)(»."> 
SiUti'r,  (Jen.    .T.  A.,  the  gold  discov., 

(19  7(5,    84;    sipiatter    trouMes     of, 

|S,")((, -108;  I'xpcrience  with  Indians, 

etc.,  4H    2. 
Sutter's  fort,  justice  at,  1848,  007-9. 


Taylor,  ('.,  story  of,  3.'");i-5. 

Terry,   D.   S.,   duel    witii    Hroderick, 

etc.,  7t)3-72;  trial,  etc.,  of,  772-4. 
Thellar,  Lieut,  campaign  at  the  lava 

heds,  1872  3,  517,  5.-)0. 
Thik'l,  tUu  Chiuu  riots,  580. 


Thomas,  Rev.  E.,  )>oacn  commissioner, 

1873,     528;    indiscretion     of,    5.S7; 

conference  with.    Mmlocs,   5;i8-42; 

death  of,  542  3. 
Thonia«,  Major,  campaign  at  tlie  lava 

hods,  1872-3,  549  .50;  .5.54-7. 

Thomas,  I*.  W.,  duel  with  Dickson, 

18.54,  758. 
Tliompson,  .1.  H..  story  of,  048. 
Thompson,  W.    F.,  gold  discovM  hy, 

1839,  4.5. 
Tlirockmorton,    Major,    mention     of, 

.509;  camjiaign   at    the   lava   heds, 

1882  .3,  548. 
Toi)in&  Duncan,  auction  rooms,  etc., 

of,  18.52-3,  3.50-7. 
Tohy,  E.,  duel  with  (.'rane,  18.53,  757. 
Tracy,  outr.age  upon,  411-12. 
Travel,  descript.  of,  32(5-31. 
Truckec,  justice  at,  051-2. 
True,  B.,  the  Chico  riots,    1877,   573. 
'J'ruett,  E.,  mentiim  of,  772. 
Tucker,  duel   with   liaymond,    18.50, 

749. 
Tule  lake,  Ind.  outrages  near,   1S72, 

473  7. 
Turk,  F.,  story  of.  .597-8. 
Tuthill,  F.,  remark  <.f,  47. 


U 


Usury  laws,  remarks  on,  34.3-4. 
UtJih   penitentiary,  lucution  of,  4.34. 


Vail,  O.  C,  alcalde  of  Yreka,   1851, 

(5.50  1. 
N'allejo,  justice  at,  722  .3. 
Vallcjo,    (leu.    M.    (J.,    '  Historia  de 

C'alifornia,'  38;  pri.son  contract  of, 

1852,  415. 
Van   Hutten,  exped.   of,  1.541-5.    ."Jt.. 
Vaughn,  ("aj)t.  (J.,   voyage  of,  1719, 

m. 

Vel.asco,  duel  witli    Police   de   Leon, 

744. 
Veiialih',    .1.     W.,    journey   to    Cal., 

1849.  191    2. 
Vcr  .Mclir,  I  M',  niciition  of,  2(>~ 
Viuder,  I'adre,  pi'cild'lions  of,  40. 
Virginia  city,  diU'lling,  etc.  at,    18(55, 

779  82. 
Vi/.casiio,  S.,  voyage,  etc.  of,  27-8. 
Voorliics,  \V.   \',in,  address  of,  1853, 

2li3  4. 

Wadswordi,    C.    L,,    alcalde,     etc., 
1849,  009-10. 


828 


INDEX. 


Wadsworth,  Dr,  mention  of,  798. 

Wa|5oner,  Mrs,  death  of,  185fi,  445-6. 

Waiuwright,  J.  E.,  Beideman's  chal- 
lenge to,  1854,  761. 

Walker,   duel  with    Graham,    1851, 
749-50. 

Wall,  J.,  story  of  «4ft-7. 

War,  remarks  on,  737-42. 

Warner,  Camp,  force  at,  1870,  454. 

WashUurn,  Editor,  duel  with  Wash- 
ington, i854,  760. 

Washington,  (Cal.)  justice  at,  1850, 
616-21. 

Wanhingt<in,  Editor,  duel  with  Wash- 
Imrn,  1854,  760. 

Washington  territory,  convicts  of. 
431. 

Water-lots,  appropriation,  etc.  of, 
405-7. 

Watson,  mention  of,  760. 

Wealth,  pursuit  of  in  Cal.,  316-18. 

Wethered,  duel  with  Winter,  1852. 
753. 

Wijeaton,  Col.  F.,  supersedes  Otih, 
1872,  469:  oorrosponcf.  with  Canhy, 
470:  the  M.-doc  war,  I872-.3,  484-5, 
488,  490-504;  superseded,  50<}. 

Wheeler,  W.  F.,  mention  of,  432-4. 
V53. 


Whittle,  R.,  the  peace  oommisiion, 

1873,611-12.      ^^  ^ 

Widney,  R.  M.,  mention  of,  639. 
Wiener,  Mrs,  the  gold  discov.,  74-6. 
Wilbur,  J.  H.,  peace  commissioner. 

1873,  510.  ' 

Wilder,  M.,  story  of,  786-7. 
Wilson,  J.  B.,  duel  with  Beane,  1870, 

783. 
Wilson,  Judge,  affray  with  McKeune, 

1852,  640. 
Winter,   duel  with  Wctherefl,  1852, 
Woman,  sphere  of  in  Cal.,  305-54. 
Woodlief,   D.  .1.,  duel  with   Keweii, 

etc.,  1874,  760  1. 
WmMiruff,  W.,  prison  insjiector,  1854, 

Wright,  G.  J.,  duel  with  Baird.  18r)3, 

7r)6. 
SVright,  H.  C,  the  Chico  riots,  1877, 

570-6;  arrest,  etc.  of,  577-9. 
Wyeth,  Capt.,  expeds,  etc.  of,  91. 

Y 

Yolo  county,  justice  in,  629. 
Yreka,  justice  at,  1851,  650-1. 
Yosemite  valley,  dewcript.  of,  6-13, 
Yu«aft  Jail,  mention  of,  434-5.