 Chapter 14 of Sixty Years in Southern California, 1853 to 1913, by Harris Newmark. During 1856 I dissolved with my partners, Rich and Laventhal, and went into business with my uncle, Joseph Newmark, JP Newmark, and Maurice Kramer, under the title of Newmark, Kramer, and Company. Instead of a quasi wholesale business, we now had a larger assortment and did more of a retail business. We occupied a room about 40 by 80 feet in size in the mascarelle and berry block on the south side of Commercial Street, then known as Commercial Row. Between Maine and Los Angeles streets, our modest establishment being almost directly opposite the contracted quarters of my first store and having the largest single storeroom then in the city. And there we continued with moderate success until 1858. To make this new partnership possible, Kramer had sold out his interest in the firm of Lazard and Kramer Dry Goods Merchants, the readjustment providing an amusing illustration of the manner in which the business, with its almost entire lack of specialization, was then conducted. When the stock was taken, a large part of it consisted not of dry goods as one might well suppose, but of cigars and tobacco. About the beginning of 1856, sisters of charity made their first appearance in Los Angeles, following a meeting called by Bishop Amat during the preceding month to provide for their coming, when Abel Stearns, presided, and John G. Downey acted as secretary. Benjamin Hayes, Thomas Foster, Ezra Drown, Louis Vigners, Ignacio de Valle, and Antonio Coronel cooperated while Manuel Racuena collected the necessary funds. On January 5, sisters Maria Scolastica, Maria Corzina, Anna, Clara, Francesca, and Angela arrived, three of them coming almost directly from Spain, and immediately they formed an important adjunct to the Church in matters pertaining to religion, charity, and education. It was to them that B. D. Wilson sold his Los Angeles home, including ten acres of fine orchard at the corner of Alameda and Macy streets, for eight thousand dollars, and there for many years they conducted their school, the Institute and Orphan Asylum, until they sold the property to J. M. Griffith, who used the site for a lumberyard. Griffith, in turn, disposed of it to the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. Sister Scolastica, who celebrated in 1889 her fiftieth anniversary as a sister, was long the mother superior. The so-called first public school having met with popular approval, the Board of Education in 1856 opened another school on Bath Street. The building, two stories in height, was of brick and had two rooms. On January 9, John P. Brody assumed charge of the Southern Californian. Andres Pico was then proprietor, and before the newspaper died in 1857, Pico lost, it is said, ten thousand dollars in the venture. The first regular course of public lectures here was given in 1856 under the auspices of a society known as the Mechanics Institute, and in one of Henry Dalton's corrugated iron buildings. George T. Burrell, first county sheriff, died on February 2nd, his demise bringing to mind an interesting story. He was sheriff in the summer of 1850, when certain members of the infamous Irving Party were arraigned for murder, and during that time received private word that many of the prisoner's friends would pack the little courtroom and attempt a rescue. Burrell, however, who used to wear a sword and had a rather soldierly bearing, was equal to the emergency. He quickly sent to Major E. H. Fitzgerald and had the latter composed haste to town and court with the detachment of soldiers. And with this superior disciplined force, he overalled the bandits' compañeros, who, sure enough, were there and fully armed to make a demonstration. Thomas E. Rowan arrived here with his father, James Rowan, in 1856, and together they opened a bakery. Tom delivered the bread for a short time, but soon abandoned that pursuit for politics, being frequently elected to office, serving in turn as supervisor, city and county treasurer, and even, from 1893 to 1894 as mayor of Los Angeles. Shortly before Tom married Miss Josephine Meyerhofer in San Francisco in 1862, and a handsome couple they made, the Rowans bought from Louis Mesmer, the American bakery, located at the southwest corner of Main and First Streets, and originally established by August Ulyard. When James Rowan died about 40 years ago, Tom fell heir to the bakery, but as he was otherwise engaged, he employed Maurice Mauricio as manager, and P. Golta afterward a prosperous businessman of Bakersfield as driver. Tom, who died in 1899, was also associated as cashier with I. W. Hellman and F. P. F. Temple in their bank. Rowan Avenue and Rowan Street were both named after this early comer. The time for the return of my brother and his European bride now approached, and I felt a natural desire to meet them. Almost coincident therefore with their arrival in San Francisco, I was again in that growing city in 1856, although I had been there but the year previous. On April 9th occurred the marriage of Matilda, daughter of Joseph Newmark, to Maurice Cramer. The ceremony was performed by the bride's father. For the subsequent festivities, ice from which ice cream was made was brought from San Bernardino. Both luxuries on this occasion being used in Los Angeles, as far as I can remember, for the first time. To return to the Los Angeles Star. When J. S. Waite became postmaster in 1855, he found it no sinecure to continue even such an unpretentious and, in all likelihood, unprofitable news sheet, and at the same time attend Uncle Sam's mail bags. And early in 1856 he offered the entire establishment at one thousand dollars less than cost. Business was so slow at that time, in fact, that Waite, after perhaps roofily looking over his unpaid subscriptions, announced that he would take wood, butter, eggs, flour, wheat, or corn in payment of Bill's due. He soon found a ready customer in William A. Wallace, the principal of the boy's school, who on the twelfth of April bought the paper. But Waite's disgust was nothing to that of the schoolteacher, who after two short months' trial with the editorial quill, scribbled a last, doleful adios. The flush times of the pueblo, the day of large prices and pocket books, are passed, Wallace declared, and before him the editor saw only picayunes, bad liquor, rags, and universal dullness, when neither pistol shots nor dying groans could have any effect, and when earthquakes would hardly turn men in their beds. Nothing was left for such a destitute and discouraged quillman, but to wait for a carreta and get out of town. Wallace sold the paper, therefore, in June 1856, to Henry Hamilton, a native of Ireland, who had come to California in 1848, an apprentice printer, and was for some years in newspaper work in San Francisco, and Hamilton soon put new life into the journal. In 1856, the many-sided Dr. William B. Osburn organized a company to bore an artesian well west of the city, but when it reached a depth of over 700 feet, the prospectors went into bankruptcy. George Lehmann, early known as George the Baker, who shop at one time was on the site of the Hayward Hotel, was a somewhat original and very popular character who, in 1856, took over the round house on Main Street between 3rd and 4th, and there opened a pleasure resort extending to Spring Street and known as the Garden of Paradise. The grounds really occupied on the one hand what are now the sites of the Pritam, the Pinney, and the Turn Vreen, and on the other the Henney, the Breed, and the Lancashim Blocks. There was an entrance on Main Street and one with two picket gates on Spring. From the general shape and appearance of the building, it was always one of the first objects in town to attract attention. Ann Lehmann, who, when he appeared on the street, had a crooked cane hanging in his arm and a lemon in his hand, came to be known as Round House George. The house had been erected in the late forties by Raimundo, generally called Ramon, or Raymond Alexander, a sailor who asserted that the design was a copy of a structure he had once seen on the coast of Africa, and there Ramon and his native California wife had lived for many years. Partly because he wished to cover the exterior with vines and flowers, Lehmann nailed boards over the outer Adobe walls and thus changed the cylinder form into that of an octagon. An ingenious arrangement of the parterre and a particular distribution of some trees, together with their profusion of plants and flowers, affording cool and shady bowers, somewhat similar to those of a typical beer or wine garden in the Fatherland, gave the place great popularity, while two heroic statues, one of Adam and the other of Eve, with a conglomeration of other curiosities, including the apple tree and the serpent, all illustrating the old world story of Eden, and a moving panorama made the garden unique and rather famous. The balcony of the house provided accommodation for the playing of such music, perhaps discordant, as Los Angeles could then produce, and nearby was a framework containing a kind of swing then popular known as Flying Horses. The bar was in the garden, near a well sweep, and at the Main Street entrance stood a majestic and noted cactus tree which was cut down in 1886. The Garden of Paradise was opened toward the end of September 1858, and so large were the grounds that when they were used in 1876 for the Fourth of July celebration, 2600 people were seated there. This leads me to say that Arthur Mackenzie Dodson, who established a coal and woodyard at what was later the corner of Spring and Sixth Streets, started there a little community which he called Georgetown. As a compliment, it was said to the famous roundhouse, George, whose bakery, I have remarked, was located on that corner. On June 7, Dr. John S. Griffin, who had an old-fashioned classical education and was a graduate in medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, succeeded Dr. William B. Osburn as superintendent of the Los Angeles City Schools. In these times of modern irrigation and scientific methods, it is hard to realize how disastrous were climactic extremes in an earlier day. In 1856, a single electric disturbance accompanied by intense heat and sandstorms left tens of thousands of dead cattle to tell the story of drought and destruction. During the summer, I had occasion to go to Fort Tejon to see George C. Alexander, a customer, and I again asked Sam Meyer if he would accompany me. Such a proposition was always agreeable to Sam, and having procured horses, we started, the distance being about 115 miles. We left Los Angeles early one afternoon and made our first stop at License Station, where we put up for the night. One of the brothers, after whom the place was named, prepared supper. Having to draw some thick black strap from a keg, he used a pitcher to catch the treacle, and as the liquid ran very slowly, our sociable host sat down to talk a bit, and soon forgot all about what he had started to do. The molasses, however, although it ran pretty slowly, ran steadily, and finally, like the mush in the fairy tale of the enchanted bowl, overflowed the top of the receptacle and spread itself over the dirt floor. When Lyons had finished his chat, he saw to his intense chagrin a new job upon his hands, and one likely to busy him for some time. Departing next morning at five o'clock, we met Psy Lyons, who had come to Los Angeles in 1849, and was then engaged with his brother Sanford in raising sheep in that neighborhood. Psy was on horseback, and had two pack animals loaded with provisions. Hello boys, where are you bound? he asked, and when we told him that we were on our way to Fort Téjon, he said that he was also going there, and volunteered to save us forty miles by guiding us over the trail. Such a shortening of our journey appealed to us as a good prospect, and we fell in behind the mounted guide. It was one of those red-hot summer days characteristic of that region and season, and in a couple hours we began to get very thirsty. Noticing this, Psy told us that no water would be found until we got to the Rancho de la Libre, and that we could not possibly reach there until evening. Having no bote de agua handy, I took an onion from Lyons' pack and ate it, and that afforded me some relief. But Sam, whose decisions were always as lasting as the fragrance of that aromatic bulb, would not try the experiment. To make a long story short, when we at last reached the Ranch, Sam, completely fagged out and unable to alight from his horse, toppled off into our arms. The chewing of the onion had refreshed me to some extent, but just the same, the day's journey proved one of the most miserable experiences through which I have ever passed. The night was so hot at the Ranch that we decided to sleep outdoors in one of the wagons, and being worn out with the day's exposure and fatigue, we soon fell asleep. The soundness of our slumbers did not prevent us from hearing, in the middle of the night, a snarling bear scratching in the immediate neighborhood. A bear generally means business, and you may depend upon it that neither Sam, myself, nor even Psy were very long in bundling out of the wagon and making a dash for the more protecting house. Early next morning we recommenced our journey toward Fort Tejon, and reached there without any further adventures worth relating. Coming back we stopped for the night at Gordon's station, and the next day rolled fully seventy miles, not so inconsiderable an accomplishment perhaps, for those not accustomed to regular saddle exercise. A few months later I met Psy on the street. Harris said he, do you know that once, on that hot day going to Fort Tejon, we were within three hundred feet of a fine cool spring? Then why in the devil I retorted, didn't you take us to it? To which Psy with a chuckle answered, well, I just wanted to see what would happen to you. My first experience with camp meetings was in the year 1856, when I attended one in company with Miss Sarah Newmark, to whom I was then engaged, and Miss Harriet, her sister, later Mrs. Eugene Meyer. I engaged a buggy from George Carson's livery stable on Main Street, and we rode to Ira Thompson's Grove at El Monte, in which the meeting was held. These camp meetings supplied a certain amount of social attraction to residents, in that good-hearted period, when creeds formed a bond rather than a hindrance. It was in 1856, that in connection with our regular business, we began buying hides. One day a Mexican customer came into the store, looking around, and said, Comprocueros, do you buy hides? Sí, señor, I replied, to which he then said, Tengo muchos en mi rancho. I have many at my ranch. Where do you live? I asked. Between Cajuega and San Fernando Mission, he answered. He had come to town in his carreta, and added that he would conduct me to his place if I wished to go there. I obtained a wagon, and a company by Samuel Cohen went with the Mexican. The native jogged on, carreta fashion, the oxen, lazily plotting along, while the driver with his ubiquitous pole kept them in the road by means of continual and effective prods, delivered first on one side, then on the other. It was dark when we reached the ranch, and the night being balmy, we wrapped ourselves up in blankets and slept under the adobe veranda. Early in the morning I awoke and took a survey of the premises. To my amazement, I saw about one little kip skin hanging up to dry. When at length my Mexican friend appeared on the scene, I asked him where he kept his hides. Donde tiene usted los cueros? At which he pointed to the lone kip, and with a characteristic and perfectly indifferent shrug of the shoulders said, No tango mas. I have no more. I then deliberated with Sam as to what we should do, and having proceeded to send Fernando Mission to collect there, if possible, a load of hides, we were soon fortunate in obtaining enough to compensate us for our previous trouble and disappointment. On the way home we came to a rather deep ditch preventing further progress. Being obliged, however, to get to the other side, we decided to throw the hides into the ditch, placing one on top of the other until the obstructing gap was filled to a level with the road, and then we drove across, if not on dry land, at least on dry hides, which we reloaded into the wagon. Finally, we reached town at a late hour. In this connection I may remind the reader of Dana's statement in his celebrated two years before the mast, that San Pedro once furnished more hides than any other port on the coast, and may add that from the same port, more than forty years afterward, consignments of this valuable commodity were still being made, I myself being engaged more and more extensively in the hide trade. Colonel Isaac Williams died on September 13th, having been a resident of Los Angeles and vicinity nearly a quarter of a century. A Pennsylvanian by birth, he had with him in the west a brother, Hiram, later of San Bernardino County. Happy House was most of Colonel Williams's life, tragedy entered his family circle, as I shall show, when both of his sons-in-law, John Reigns and Robert Carlisle, met violent deaths at the hands of others. Jean-Louis Vignet came to Los Angeles in 1829 and set out the Aliso vineyard of 104 acres which derived its name, as did the street, from a previous and incorrect application of the Castilian Aliso, meaning Alder, to the Sycamore Tree, a big specimen of which stood on the place. This tree, possibly a couple of hundred years old, long shaded Vignet's wine cellars and was finally cut down a few years ago to make room for the Philadelphia Brew House. From a spot about 50 feet away from the Vignet's adobe, extended a grape arbor, perhaps 10 feet in width and fully a quarter of a mile long, thus reaching to the river, and this arbor was associated with many of the early celebrations in Los Angeles. The northern boundary of the property was Aliso Street, its western boundary was Alameda, and part of it was surrounded by a high adobe wall, inside of which, during the Troubles of the Mexican War, Don Louie enjoyed a far safer seclusion than many others. On June 7th, 1851, Vignet's advertised Aliso for sale, but it was not subdivided until much later when Eugene Meyer and his associates bought it for this purpose. Vignet Street recalls the veteran viticulturist. While upon the subject of this substantial old pioneer family, I may give a rather interesting reminiscence as to the state of Aliso Street at this time. I've said that this street was the main road from Los Angeles to the San Bernardino country, and so it was. But in the 50s, Aliso Street stopped very abruptly at the San Sivane Vineyard, where it narrowed down to one of the willow-bordered picturesque little lanes so frequently found here, and paralleled the noted grape arbor as far as the riverbank. At this point, Andrew Boyle and other residents of the Heights and beyond were want to cross the stream on their way to and from town. The more important travel was by means of another lane known as the Aliso Road, turning at a corner occupied by the old Aliso Mill and winding along the Hoover Vineyard to the river. Along this route, the San Bernardino stage rolled noisily, traversing in summer or during a poor season, what was almost a dry wash, but encountering in wet winter raging torrents so impassable that all intercourse with the settlements to the east was disturbed. For a whole week on several occasions, the San Bernardino stage was tight up, and once at least, Andrew Boyle, before he had become conversant with the vagaries of the Los Angeles River, found it impossible for the better part of a fortnight to come to town for the replenishment of a badly depleted larder. Lover's Lane, willowed and deep with dust, was a narrow road now variously located in the mines of pioneers, my impression being that it followed the line of the present date street, although some insist that it was the Macy. Pierre Saint-Savain, a nephew of Veniers, came in 1839 and for a while worked with his uncle. Jean-Louis Saint-Savain and another nephew arrived in Los Angeles in 1849, or soon after, and on April 14th, 1855, purchased for forty-two thousand dollars the Vineyard, Sellers, and other property of his uncle. This was the same year in which he returned to France for his son, Michael, and remarried, leaving another son, Paul, in school there. Pierre joined his brother, and in 1857 Saint-Savain brothers made the first California Champagne, first shipping their wine to San Francisco. Paul, now a resident of San Diego, came to Los Angeles in 1861. The name endures in Saint-Savain Street. The activity of these Frenchmen reminds me that much usually characteristic of country life was present in what was called the City of Los Angeles when I first saw it, as may be gathered from the fact that in 1853 there were a hundred or more vineyards hereabouts, 75 or 80 of which were within the city precincts. These did not include the once famous Mother Vineyard of San Gabriel Mission, which the Padres used to claim had about fifty thousand vines, but which had fallen into somewhat picturesque decay. Near San Gabriel, however, in 1855, William M. Stockton had a large vineyard nursery. William Wolfskill was one of the leading vineyardists, having set out his first vine, so it was said, in 1838, when he affirmed his belief that the plant, if well cared for, would flourish a hundred years. Don José Serrano, from whom Dr. Leon's Hoover bought many of the grapes he needed, did have vines, it was declared, that were nearly a century old. When I first passed through San Francisco on route to Los Angeles, I saw grapes from this section in the markets of this city, bringing twenty cents a pound, and to such an extent, for a while did San Francisco continue to draw on Los Angeles for grapes. That banning shipped thither from San Pedro in 1857, no less than twenty-one thousand crates averaging forty-five pounds each. It was not long, however, before ranches near San Francisco began to interfere with this monopoly of the south, and as a consequence, the shipment of grapes from Los Angeles fell off. This reminds me that William Wolfe's Kill, sent to San Francisco, some of the first northern grapes sold there, they were grown in a Napa Valley vineyard that he owned in the middle of the fifties, and when unloaded on the long wharf, three or four weeks in advance of Los Angeles grapes, brought at wholesale twenty-five dollars per hundred weight. With the decline in fresh fruit trade, however, the making and exportation of wine increased, and several who had not ventured into vineyarding before, now did so, acquiring their own land or an interest in the establishments of others. By 1857, Jean-Louis Venier boasted of possessing some white wine twenty years old, possibly of the same vintage about which Dr. Griffin often talked, in his reminiscences of the days when he had been an army surgeon, and Louis Wilhart occasionally sold wine, which was little inferior to that of Jean-Louis. Dr. Hoover was one of the first to make wine for the general market, having for a while a pretty and well situated place called the Clayton Vineyard, and old Joseph Huber, who had come to California from Kentucky for his health, began in 1855 to make wine with considerable success. He owned the Foster Vineyard, where he died in July, 1866. B. D. Wilson was also soon shipping wine to San Francisco. J. L. Rose, who first entered the field in January, 1861, at Sunnyslope, not far from St. Gabriel Mission, was another producer, and had vineyard famous for brandy and wine. He made a departure in going to the foothills, and introduced many varieties of foreign grapes. By the same year, or somewhat previously, Matthew Keller, Stearns and Bell, Dr. Thomas J. White, Dr. Parrot, Kiln Messer, Henry Dalton, H. D. Barrows, Juan Bernard, and Ricardo Vejar had wineries, and John Shoemaker had a vineyard opposite the site of the city gardens in the late seventies. L. H. Titus, in time, had a vineyard known as the Dew Drop, near that of Rose. Still, another wine producer was Antonio Maria Lugo, who set out his vineyard on St. Pedro Street, near the present second, and often dwelt in the Long Adobe House, where both Steve Foster, Lugo's son-in-law, and Mrs. Wallace Woodworth lived, and where I have been many times pleasantly entertained. Dr. Leon's Hoover, who died on October 8, 1862, was a native of Switzerland, and formerly a surgeon in the Army of Napoleon, when his name, later changed at the time of naturalization, had been Huber. Dr. Hoover in 1849 came to Los Angeles with his wife, his son, Vincent A. Hoover, then a young man, and two daughters, the whole family traveling by ox team and prairie schooner. They soon discovered rich, placer gold beds, but were driven away by hostile Indians. A daughter, Mary A., became the wife of Samuel Briggs, a New Hampshire Yankee, who was, for years, Wells Fargo's agent here. For a while the Hoover's lived on the Wolfskill Ranch, after which they had a vineyard in the neighborhood of what is now the property of the Cutty Packing Company. Vincent Hoover was a man of prominence in his time. He died in 1883. Mrs. Briggs, whose daughter married the well-known physician Dr. Granville McAllen, sold her home on Broadway between 3rd and 4th streets to Homer Laughlin when he erected the Laughlin Building. Hoover Street is named for this family. Accommodated by his son William, Joseph Huber Sr. in 1855 came to Los Angeles from Kentucky, hoping to improve his health, and when the other members of his family, consisting of his wife and children, Caroline, Emmeline, Edward, and Joseph, followed him here in 1859 by way of New York and the Isthmus. They found him settled as a vineyardist, occupying the foster property, running from Alameda Street to the river, in a section between 2nd and 6th streets. The advent of a group of young people, so well qualified to add to what has truthfully been described by old-time Angelenios as our family circle, was hailed with a great deal of interest and satisfaction. In time Miss Emmeline Huber was married to O.W. Childs, and Miss Caroline was wedded to Dr. Frederick Preston Howard, a druggist who, more than 40 years ago, bought out Theodore Wallweber, selling the business back to the latter a few years later. The prominence of this family made it comparatively easy for Joseph Huber Jr. in 1865 to secure the nomination and be elected county treasurer, succeeding M. Kramer, who had served six years. Huber Sr. died about the middle 60s. Mrs. Huber lived to be 83 years old. Jose de Rubio had at least two vineyards when I came, one on Alameda Street, south of Wolfskills, and not far from Coronels, and one on the east side of the river. Rubio came here very early in the century after having Mary Juana, a daughter of Juan Maria Morón, a well-known sea captain, and built three adobe houses. The first of these was on the site of the present home of William H. Workman, on Boyle Heights. The second was near what was later the corner of Alameda and 8th streets, and the third was on Alameda Street near the present Vernon Avenue. One of his ranches was known as Rubios, and there many a barbecue was celebrated. In 1859, Rubio leased the Sepulveda landing at San Pedro, a commenced to Hall Freight to and fro. Sr. and Sr. Rubio survived her husband many years, dying on October 27, 1914, at the age of 107, after residing in Los Angeles 94 years, and footnote. Had 25 children, of whom five are now living. Another Los Angeles vineyardist who lived near the river when I came was a Frenchman named Clemente. Julius Wise also had a vineyard, living on what is now 8th street near San Pedro. A son, H.G. Wise, has distinguished himself as an attorney and has served in the legislature. Another Otto G. married the widow of Edward Naught, while a third son, Rudolph G., married a daughter of H.D. Barrows. The Reyes family was prominent here, a daughter married William Nordholdt. Ysidro had a vineyard on Washington Street, and during one of the epidemics he died of smallpox. His brother Pablo was a rancher. While on the subject of vineyards I may describe the method by which wine was made here in the early days, and the part taken in the industry by the Indians, who always interested and astounded me. Stripped to the skin and wearing only loincloths, they tramped with ceaseless tread from morn till night, pressing from the luscious fruit of the vineyard the juice so soon to ferment into wine. The grapes were placed in elevated vats from which the liquid ran into other connecting vessels, and the process exhaled a stale acidity, sending the surrounding air. These Indians were employed in the early fall, the season of the year when wine is made and when the thermometer, as a rule in southern California, reaches its highest point. And this temperature coupled with incessant toil caused the perspiration to drip from their swarthy bodies into the wine product, the site of which in no wise increased my appetite for California wine. A stable article of food for the Indians in 1856, by the way, was the acorn. The crop that year however was very short, and streams having also failed in many instances to yield the food usually taken from them, the tribes were in a distressed condition. Such were the aborigines straits in fact that rancheros were warned of the danger, then greater than ever, from Indian depredations on stock. In telling of the Sisters of Charity I have forgotten to add that after settling here they sent to New York for a portable house, which they shipped to Los Angeles by way of Cape Horn. In due time the cows arrived, but imagine their vexation on discovering that although the parts were supposed to have been marked so that they might easily rejoin together, no one here could do the work. In the end the sisters were compelled to send east for a carpenter, who after a long interval arrived and finished the house. Soon after the organization of a Masonic Lodge here in 1854, many of my friends joined, and among them my brother J. P. Newmark, who was admitted on February 26, 1855, on which occasion J. H. Stewart was a secretary, and through their participation in the celebration of St. John's Day, the 24th of June, I was seized with a desire to join the order. This I did at the end of 1856, becoming a member of Los Angeles Lodge number 42, whose meetings were held over Potter's Store on Main Street. Worshipful Master Thomas Foster initiated me, and on January 22, 1857 Worshipful Master Jacob Elias officiating, I took the third degree. I am therefore in all probability the oldest living member of this now venerable Masonic organization. End of Chapter 14 Chapter 15 of 60 years in Southern California 1853 to 1913 by Harris Newmark. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Kay Hand. Chapter 15 Sheriff Barton and the Banditos. 1857 In the beginning of 1857 we had a more serious earthquake than any in recent years. At half past eight o'clock on the morning of January 9th a tremor shook the earth from north to south. The first shocks being light the quake grew in power until houses were deserted. Men, women, and children sought refuge in the streets, and horses and cattle broke loose in wild alarm. For perhaps two or two and a half minutes the timbrelore continued and much damage was done. Los Angeles felt the disturbance far less than many other places, although five to six shocks were noted and twenty times during the week people were frightened from their homes. At temples Rancho and at Fort Tejon great rents were opened in the earth and then closed again, piling up a heap or dune a finely powdered stone and dirt. Large trees were uprooted and hurled down the hillsides and tumbling after them went the cattle. Many officers including Colonel B. L. Beale, well known in Los Angeles circles, barely escaped from the barracks with their lives and until the cracked adobes could be repaired officers and soldiers lived in tents. It was at this time too that a so-called tidal wave almost engulfed the seabird plying between San Pedro and San Francisco as she was entering the Golden Gate. Under the splendid seamanship of Captain Salisbury Haley however his little ship weathered the wave and he was able later to report her awful experience to the scientific world. This year also proved a dry season and consequently times became very bad with two periods of adversity even the richest of the cattle kings felt the pinch and many began to part with their lands in order to secure the relief needed to tide them over. The effects of drought continued until 1858 although some good influences improved business conditions. Due to glowing accounts of the prospects for conquest and fortune given out by Henry A. Crabbe, a Stockton lawyer who married a Spanish woman with relatives in Sonora, a hundred or more filibusters gathered in Los Angeles in January to meet Crabbe at San Pedro when he arrived from the north on this steamer seabird. They strutted about the streets here displaying rifles and revolvers and this would seem to have been enough to prevent their departure for Sonita a little town a hundred miles beyond Yuma to which they finally tramped. The filibusters were permitted to leave however and they invaded the foreign soil but Crabbe made a mess of the undertaking even failing and blowing up a little church he attacked and those not killed in the skirmish were soon surrounded and taken prisoners. The next morning Crabbe and some others who had paraded so ostentatiously while here were tied to trees or posts and summarily executed. Crabbe's body was riddled with a hundred bullets in his head cut off and sent back in mezcal. Only one of the party was spared Charlie Evans, a lad of 15 years who worked his way to Los Angeles and was connected with a somewhat similar invasion a while later. In January also when threats were made against the white population of southern California Mrs. Griffin, the wife of Dr. J. S. Griffin, came running in all excitement to the home of Joseph Newmark and told the members of the family to lock all their doors and bolt their windows as it was reported that some of the outlaws were on their way to Los Angeles to murder the white people. As soon as possible the ladies of the Griffin, Nichols, Foy, Mallard, Workman, Newmark and other families were brought in together for greater safety in Armory Hall on Spring Street near second while the men took their places in line with the other citizens to patrol the hills and streets. A still vivid impression of this Starlink episode recalls an Englishman, a Dr. Carter, who arrived here some three years before. He lived on the east side of Main Street near first where the McDonald Block now stands and while not prominent in his profession, he associated with some estimable families. When others were volunteering for sentry work or to fight, the doctor very gallantly offered his services as a committee of one to care for the ladies, far from the firing line. On hearing of these threats by native bandidos, James R. Barton, formerly a volunteer under General S. W. Kearney and then Sheriff, at once investigated the rumors. In the truth of the reports being verified, our small and exposed community was seized with terror. A large band of Mexican outlaws led by Pancho Daniel, a convict who had escaped from San Quentin Prison and included Luciano Tapia and Juan Flores, on January 22 had killed a German storekeeper named George W. Flegart in San Juan Capistrano, while he was preparing his evening meal. And after having placed his body on the table, they sat around and ate what the poor victim had provided for himself. On the same occasion, these outlaws plundered the stores of Manuel Garcia, Henry Charros, and Miguel Krajewski, or Krasuski, the last name escaping by hiding under a lot of wash in a large clothes basket. When the news of this murder reached Los Angeles, excitement rose to fever heat and we prepared for something more than defense. Jim Barton, accompanied by William H. Little and Charles K. Baker, both constables, Charles F. Daly, an early blacksmith here, Alfred Hardy and Frank Alexander, all volunteers, left that evening for San Juan Capistrano to capture the murderers and soon arrived at the San Joaquin Ranch, about 18 miles from San Juan. There, Don José Andrés Sepolveda told Barton of a trap set for him, and that the robbers outnumbered his posse two to one and urged him to send back to Los Angeles for more volunteers. Brave but reckless Barton, however, persisted in pushing on the next day, and so encountered some of the marauders in Santiago Canyon. Barton, Baker, Little, and Daly were killed, while Hardy and Alexander escaped. When Los Angeles was apprised of this second tragedy, the frenzy was indescribable and steps were taken toward the formation of both a committee of safety and a vigilance committee, the latter to avenge the foul deed and bring in the culprits. In meeting this emergency, the El Monte Boys, as usual, took an active part. The city was placed under martial law, and Dr. John S. Griffin was put in charge of the local defenses. Suspicious houses, thought to be headquarters for robbers and thieves, were searched, and 40 or 50 persons were arrested. The state legislature was appealed to and at once voted financial aid. Although the committee of safety had the assistance of special foot police in guarding the city, the citizens made a requisition on Fort Tejon, and 50 soldiers were sent from that post to help pursue the band. Troops from San Diego, with good horses, and plenty of provisions were also placed at the disposition of the Los Angeles authorities. Companies of mounted rangers were made up to scour the country, American, German, and French citizens vying with one another for the honor of risking their lives. One such company being formed at El Monte, and another at San Bernardino. There were also two detachments of native Californians, but many Sonorans and Mexicans from other states, either from sympathy or fear, aided the murdering robbers, and so made their pursuit doubly difficult. However, the outlaws were pursued far into the mountains, and although the first party sent out returned without effecting anything, reporting that the Desperados were not far from San Juan and that the horses of the pursuers had given out, practically all of the band, as will be seen, were eventually captured. Not only were vigorous measures taken to apprehend and punish the murderers, but provision was made to rescue the bodies of the slain and to give them decent and honorable burial. The next morning, after nearly one hundred mounted and armed men had set out to track the fugitives, another party, also on horseback, left to escort several wagons filled with coffins, in which they hoped to bring back the bodies of Sheriff Barton and his comrades. In this effect the posse succeeded, and when the remains were received in Los Angeles on Sunday about noon, the city at once went into mourning. All business was suspended and the impressive burial ceremonies conducted on Monday were intended by citizens en masse. Only enough there was not a Protestant clergyman in town at the time, but the Masonic Order took the matter in hand and performed their rites over those who were masons, and even paid the respects with a portion of the ritual to the non- Masonic dead. General Andres Pico, with a company of native mountain Californians who left immediately after the funeral, was especially prominent in running down the outlaws, thus again displaying his natural gift of leadership, and others fitted themselves out and followed as soon as they could. General Pico knew both land and people, and on capturing Silvas and Arderillo, two of the worst of the banditos, after a hard resistance, he straightaway hung them to trees at the very spot where they had tried to assassinate him and his companions. In the pursuit of the murderers, James Thompson, successor in the following January to the murdered sheriff, Guttman, let a company of horsemen toward the Tehunga, and at the seamy pass, high upon the rocks, he stationed United States soldiers as a lookout. Little San Gabriel, in which J. F. Burns, as deputy sheriff was on the watch, also made its contribution to the restoration of order and peace. For some of its people, captured and executed three or four of Daniels' and Flores' band. Flores was caught on the top of a peak in the Santiago Range. All in all, some 52 culprits were brought to Los Angeles and lodged in jail, and of that number eleven were lynched or legally hung. When the vigilance committee had jailed a suspected murderer, the people were called to sit in judgment. We met near the veranda of the Montgomery, and judged Jonathan R. Scott having been made chairman, a regular order of procedure, extra legal though it was, was followed. After announcing the capture and naming the criminal, the judge called upon the crowd to determine the prisoner's fate. Thereupon someone would shout, hang him. Scott would then put the question somewhat after the following formula. Gentlemen, you have heard the motion. All those in favor of hanging, so and so, will signify by saying I. In the citizen's present, unanimously answered I. Having thus expressed their will, the assemblage proceeded to the jail, a low adobe building behind the little municipal and county structure, and easily subdued the jailer, Frank J. Carpenter, whose daughter Josephine became Frank Burns' second wife. The prisoner was then secured, taken from his cell, escorted to Fort Hill, a rise of ground behind the jail, where a temporary gallows had been constructed and promptly dispatched, and after each of the first batch of culprits had there successively paid the penalty for his crime, the avengers quietly dispersed to their homes to await the capture and dragging in of more cutthroats. Among those condemned to by vote at a public meaning in the way I have described was Juan Flores, who was hanged on February 14, 1857, well up on Fort Hill, in sight of such a throng that it is hardly too much to say that practically every man, woman, and child in the Pueblo was present, not to mention many people drawn by curiosity from various parts of the state who had flocked into town. Flores was but 21 years of age, yet the year previous he had been sent to prison for horse-stealing. At the same time that Flores was executed, Miguel Blanco, who had stabbed the militiaman Captain W. W. Twist in order to rob him of a thousand dollars, was also hanged. Espinoza and Lopez, two members of the robber band, for a while eluded their pursuers. At San Buena Ventura, however, they were caught, and on the following morning Espinoza was hung. Lopez again escaped, and it was not until February 16 that he was finally recaptured and dispatched to other realms. Two days after Juan Flores was sent to a warmer climb, Luciano Tapia and Thomas King were executed. Tapia's case was rather regrettable, for he had been a respectable laborer at San Luis Abispo until Flores meeting him, persuaded him to abandon honest work. Tapia came to Los Angeles, joined the robber band, and was one of those who helped to kill Sheriff Barton. In 1857 the Sisters of Charity founded the Los Angeles Infirmary, the first regular hospital in the city, with Sister Anna, for years well known here as Sister Superior. For a while temporary quarters were taken in the house long occupied by Don Jose Maria Aguilar and family, which property the sisters soon purchased. But the next year they bought some land from Don Luis Arenas, adjoining Don Jose Andres Sepulveda's, and were thus enabled to enlarge the hospital. Their service being the best, in time they were enabled to acquire a good-sized two-story building of brick in the upper part of the city, and there their patients enjoyed the refreshing and health restoring environment of garden and orchard. It was not until this year that on the corner Valamita and Bath streets Oscar Macy, city treasurer in 1887-88, opened the first public bath house, having built a water wheel with small cans attached to the paddles to dip water up from the Alamita Zangia as a medium for supplying his tank. He provided hot water as well as cold. Oscar charged 50 cents of bath and furnished soap and towels. In 1857 the steamship Senator left San Francisco on the fifth and 20th of each month and so continued until the people wanted a steamer at least once every 10 days. Despite the inconvenience and expense of obtaining water for the home it was not until February 24th that Judge W. G. Dryden who, with a man named McFadden had established the nucleus of the system was granted a franchise to distribute water from his land and to build a water wheel in the Zangiamadre. The Dryden, formerly known as the Abila Springs and later the source of the Bodri supply were near the site selected for the San Fernando Street railway station and from these springs water was conveyed by Assange to the plaza. There in the center a brick tank perhaps 10 feet square and 15 feet high was constructed and this was filled by means of pumps while from the tank wooden pipes distributed water to the consumer. So infrequently did we receive intelligence from the remoto parts of the world throughout the 50s that sometimes a report especially if apparently authentic when it finally reached here created real excitement. I recall more or less vividly the arrival of the stages from the senator late in March and the stir made when the news was passed from mouth to mouth that Livingston the explorer had at last been heard from and far off an unknown Africa. Los Angeles schools were then open only part of the year the school board being compelled in the spring to close them for one of money. William Wolfe's kill however rough pioneer though he was came to the board's rescue. He was widely known as an advocate of popular education having as I have said his own private teachers into his lasting honor he gave the board sufficient funds to make possible the reopening of one of the schools. In 1857 I again revisited San Francisco during the four years since my first visit a complete metamorphosis had taken place. Tents and small frame structures were being largely replaced with fine buildings of brick and stone. Many of the sand dunes had succumbed to the march of improvement. Gardens were much more numerous and the uneven character of streets and sidewalks had been wonderfully improved. In a word the spirit of western progress was asserting itself and the city by the golden gate was taking on a decidedly metropolitan appearance. Notwithstanding various attempts at citrus culture in southern California some time elaps before there was much of an orange or lemon industry in this vicinity. In 1854 a doctor Halsey started an orange and lime nursery on the Rowland Place which he soon sold to William Wolfskill for four thousand dollars. And in April 1857 when there were not many more than a hundred orange trees bearing fruit in the whole county Wolfskill planted several thousand and so established what was to be for that time the largest orange orchard in the United States. He had thrown away a good many of the lemon trees received from Halsey because they were frostbitten. But he still had some lemon orange and olive trees left. Later under the more scientific care of his son Joseph Wolfskill who extended the original Wolfskill Grove this orchard was made to yield very large crops. In 1857 a group of Germans living in San Francisco bought 1200 acres of waste sandy land at two dollars an acre from Don Pacifico on DeVaris and on it started the town of Anaheim a name composed of the Spanish Ana from Santa Ana and the German Heim for home and this was the first settlement in the county founded after my arrival. This land formed a block about one and one quarter miles square some three miles from the Santa Ana River and five miles from the residence of Don Bernardo Yorba from whom the company received special privileges. A. Langenberger a German who married Yorba's daughter was probably one of the originators of the Anaheim plan at any rate his influence with his father-in-law was of value to his friends in completing the deal. There were 50 shareholders who paid $750 each with an executive council composed of Ottmar Kahler President G. Charles Kohler Vice President Cyrus Bycene Treasurer and John Fisher Secretary while John Frolling R. Emerson Felix Bachman who was a kind of sub-treasurer and Louis Jayzinski made up the Los Angeles Auditing Committee. George Hansen afterward the colony's superintendent surveyed the tract and laid it out in 50 20 acre lots with streets and a public park around it a live fence of some 40 to 50,000 willow cuttings placed at intervals of a couple of feet was planted. A main canal six to seven miles long with a fall of 15 to 20 feet brought abundant water from the Santa Ana River while some 350 miles of lateral ditches distributed the water to the lots. On each lot some 8 or 10,000 grapevines were set out the first as early as January 1858. On December 15, 1859 the stockholders came south to settle on their partially cultivated land and although but one among the entire number knew anything about winemaking the dream of the projectors to establish there the largest vineyard in the world bade fair to come true. The colonists were quite a curious mixture two or three carpenters four blacksmiths three watchmakers a brewer and a graver a shoemaker a poet a miller a bookbinder two or three merchants a hatter and a musician. But being mostly of sturdy industrious German stock they soon formed such a prosperous and important little community that by 1876 the settlement had grown to nearly 2000 people. A peculiar plan was adopted for investment sale and compensation. Each stockholder paid the same price at the beginning and later all drew for the lots the apportionment being left to chance. But since the pieces of land were conceded to have dissimilar values those securing the better lots equalized in cash with their less likely associates. Soon after 1860 when Langenberger had erected the first hotel there Anaheim took a leading place in the production of grapes and wine and this position of honor it kept until in 1888 a strange disease suddenly attacked and within a single year killed all the vines after which the cultivation of oranges and walnuts was undertaken. Kohler and Frohling had wineries in both San Francisco and Los Angeles the latter being adjacent to the present corner of Central Avenue and Seventh Street and this firm purchased most of Anaheim's grape crop although some vineyard owners made their own wine. Morris L. Goodman by the way was here at an early period and was one of the first settlers of Anaheim. Hermann Heinch a native of Prussia arrived in Los Angeles in 1857 and soon after engaged in the harness and saddle array business. On March 8, 1863 he was married to Mary Hap. Having become proficient at German schools in both music and languages Heinch lent his time and efforts to the organization and drill of Germans here and contributed much to the success of both the Teutonia and the Turn Vareen. In 1869 the Heinch building was erected at the corner of commercial and Los Angeles streets and as late as 1876 this was a shopping district. A Mrs. T. J. Baker having a dress making establishment there. After a prosperous career Heinch died on January 13, 1883. His wife followed him on April 14, 1906. R. C. Heinch a son survives them. Major Walter Harris Harvey a native of Georgia wants a cadet at West Point but dismissed for his pranks who about the middle of the 50s married Eleanor oldest full sister of John G. Downey and became the father of J. Downey Harvey now living in San Francisco settled in California shortly after the Mexican war. During the first week in May 1857 or some four years before he died Major Harvey arrived from Washington with an appointment as register of the land office in place of H. P. Dorsey. At the same time Don Agustin Olivera was appointed receiver in lieu of General Andrés Pico. These and other rotations in office were due of course to National Administration changes President Buchanan having recently been inaugurated. One of the interesting legal inquiries of the 50s was conducted in 1857 when in the district court here Antonio Maria Lugo crowned with the white of 76 winters testified at a hearing to establish certain claims to land as to what he knew of old ranchos hearabouts recalling many details of the pueblo and incidents as far back as 1785 he had seen the San Rafael ranch for example in 1790 and he had also roamed as a young man over the still older domingas and nietos hills Charles Henry Forbes who was born at the mission San Jose came to Los Angeles County in 1857 and though but 22 years old was engaged by Don Abel Stearnes to super intent his various ranchos becoming Stearnes business manager in 1866 with a small office on the ground floor of the Arcadia block. In 1864 Forbes married Donia Luisa Oliveira daughter of judge Augustine Oliveira and a graduate of the sisters school. On the death of Don Abel in 1871 Forbes settled up Stearnes large estate retaining his professional association with Donia Arcadia after her marriage to Colonel Baker and even until he died in May 1894. As I have intimated the principal industry throughout Los Angeles County and indeed throughout Southern California up to the 60s was the raising of cattle and horses and undertaking favored by a people particularly fond of leisure and knowing little of the latent possibilities in the land so that this entire area of magnificent soil supported herds which provided the whole population in turn directly or indirectly with a livelihood. The livestock subsisted upon the grass growing wild all over the county and the prosperity of Southern California therefore depended entirely upon the season's rainfall. This was true to a far greater extent than one might suppose for water development had received no attention outside of Los Angeles. If the rainfall was sufficient to produce feed dealers came from the North and purchased our stock and everybody thrived. If on the other hand the season was dry cattle and horses died and the public's pocket book shrank to very unpretentious dimensions. As an incident and even a much later period than that which I here have in mind I can distinctly remember that I would rise three or four times during a single meal to see if the overhanging clouds had yet begun to give that rain which they had seemed to promise and which was so vital to our prosperity. As for rain I am reminded that every newspaper in those days devoted much space to weather reports or rather to gossip about the weather at other points along the coast as well as to the consequent prospects here. The weather was the one determining factor in the problem of a successful or a disastrous season and became a very important theme when ranchers and others congregated at our store. And here I may mention apropos of this matter of rainfall and its general effects that there were millions of ground squirrels all over this country that shared with other animals the ups and downs of the season. When there was plenty of rain these squirrels fattened and multiplied but when evil days came they sickened starved and perished. On the other hand great overflows due to heavy rainfalls drowned many of these troublesome little rodents. The raising of sheep had not yet developed any importance at the time of my arrival. Most of the mutton then consumed a Los Angeles coming from Santa Cruz Island in the Santa Barbara Channel though some was brought from San Clemente and Santa Catalina Islands. On the latter there was a herd of from 8 to 10,000 sheep in which Oscar Macy later acquired an interest and L. Harris father-in-law of H. W. Frank the well and favorably known president and member of the Board of Education also had extensive herds there. They ran wild and needed very little care and only semi-yearly visits were made to look after the shearing, packing and shipping of the wool. Santa Cruz Island had much larger herds and steamers running to and from San Francisco often stopped there to take on sheep and sheep products. Santa Catalina Island for years the property of Don Jose Maria Covarrubias and later of the eccentric San Francisco pioneer James Lick who crossed the plains in the same party with the L. Franko Brothers and tried to entice them to settle in the North was not far from San Clemente. And there throughout the extent of her hills and veils roamed herd after herd of wild goats. Early seafarers I believe it has been suggested accustomed to carry goats on their sailing vessels for a supply of milk probably deposited some of the animals on Catalina but however that may be hunting parties to this day explore the mountains in search of them. Considering therefore the small number of sheep here about 1853 it is not uninteresting to note that according to old records of San Gabriel for the winter of 1828-29 there were then at the mission no less than 15,000 sheep while in 1858 on the other hand according to fairly accurate reports there were fully 20,000 sheep in Los Angeles County two years later the number had doubled. George Carson a New Yorker who came here in 1852 and after whom Carson Station is named was one of the first to engage in the sheep industry. Soon after he arrived he went into the livery business to which he gave attention even when in partnership successively with Sanford Dean and Hicks in the hardware business on Commercial Street. On July 30th 1857 Carson married Donia Victoria a daughter of Manuel Dominguez but it was not until 1864 that having sold out his two business interests the livery to George Butler and the hardware to his partner he moved to the ranch of his father-in-law where he continued to live assisting Dominguez with the management of his great property. Some years later Carson bought four or five hundred acres of land adjoining the Dominguez acres and turned his attention to sheep. Later still he became interested in the development of thoroughbred cattle and horses but continued to help his father-in-law in the directing of his ranch. When rain favored the land Carson and common with his neighbors amassed wealth but during dry years he suffered disappointment and loss and on one occasion was forced to take his flocks then consisting of 10,000 sheep to the mountains where he lost all but a thousand head. It cost him $10,000 to save the latter which amount far exceeded their value. In this movement of stock he took with him as his lieutenant a young Mexican named Martín Cruz whom he had brought up on the rancho. Carson was one of my cronies while I was still young and single and we remained warm friends until he died. Almost indescribable excitement followed the substantiated reports received in the fall of 1857 that a train of immigrants from Missouri and Arkansas on their way to California had been set upon by Indians near Mountain Meadow, Utah on September 7th and that 36 members of the party had been brutally killed. Particularly were the Gentiles of the Southwest stirred up when it was learned that the assault had been planned and carried through by one Lee a Mormon whose act sprang rather from the frenzy of a madman than from the deliberation of a well-balanced mind. The attitude of Brigham Young toward the United States government at that time and his alleged threat to turn the Indians loose upon the whites added color to the assertion that Young's followers were guilty of the massacre but fuller investigation has absolved the Mormons I believe as a society from any complicity in the awful affair. Some years later the two Oatman girls were rescued from the Indians by whom they had been tattooed and for a while they stated Ira Thompson's where I saw them. In 1857 J. G. Nichols was reelected mayor of Los Angeles and began several improvements he had previously advocated especially the irrigating of the plain below the city. By August 2nd Zange number two was completed and this brought about the building of the Aliso Mill and the further cultivation of much excellent land. One of the passengers that left San Francisco with me for San Pedro on October 18th 1853 who later became a successful citizen of Southern California was Edward and McDonald a native of New York State. We had sailed from New York together and together had finished the long journey to the Pacific Coast after which I lost track of him. McDonald had intended proceeding further south and I was surprised at meeting him on the street some weeks after my arrival in Los Angeles. Reaching San Pedro he contracted to enter the service of Alexander and Banning and remained with Banning for several years until he formed a partnership with John O. Wheeler's brother who later went to Japan. McDonald subsequently raised sheep on a large scale and acquired much ranch property and in 1876 he built the block on Main Street bearing his name. Sixteen years later he erected another structure opposite the first one. When McDonald died at Wilmington on June 10th 1899 he left his wife an estate valued at about one hundred and sixty thousand dollars which must have increased in value since then many fold. N. A. Potter a road islander came to Los Angeles in 1855 bringing with him a stock of Yankee goods and opening a store. And two years later he bought a two-story brick building on Main Street opposite the Belling Union. Louis Jezynski was a partner with Potter for a while under the firm name of Potter and Company but later Jezynski left Los Angeles for San Francisco. Potter died here 1868. Possibly the first instance of an Angelenio proffering a gift to the President of the United States and that too of something characteristic of this productive soil and climate was when Henry D. Barrows in September called on President Buchanan in Washington and on behalf of William Wolfskill Don Manuel Recrena and himself gave the Chief Executive some California fruit and wine. I have before me a ledger of the year 1857. It is a medium sized volume bound in leather and on the outside cover is inscribed in the bold old-fashioned handwriting of fifty odd years ago the simple legend Newmark, Kramer, and Company. Each page is headed with the name of some still remembered worthy of that distant day who was a customer of the old firm and in 1857 a customer was always a friend. According to the method of that period the accounts are closed not with balancing entries in red lines but in the blackest of black ink with the good straightforward and positive inscription settled. The perusal of this old book carries me back over the vanished years as the skull in the hand of the ancient monk so does this antiquated volume recall to me how transitory is this life and all its affairs. A few remain to tell a younger generation the story of the early days but the majority even as in 1857 they carefully balanced their scores and this old ledger have now closed their accounts in the great book of life. They have settled with their heaviest creditor they have gone before him to render their last account. With few or no exceptions they were a manly sterling race and have no doubt that he found their assets far greater than their liabilities. End of chapter 15 Chapter 16 of 60 years in Southern California 1853 to 1913 by Harris Newmark This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Recording by Kay Hand Chapter 16 Marriage The Butterfield Stages 1858 In January 1858 I engaged in the sheep business. After some investigation I selected and purchased for an insignificant sum just west of the present Hollenbeck home on Boyle Avenue a convenient site which consisted of 20 acres of land through which a ditch conducted water to Don Felipe Lugos San Antonio Rancho a flow quite sufficient at the time for my herd. These sheep I pastured on adjacent lands belonging to the city and as others they often did the same no one said me nay. Everything progressed beautifully until the first of May when the ditch ran dry. Upon making inquiry I learned that the city had permitted Lugo to dig a private ditch across his 20 acre tract to his ranch and to use what water he needed during the rainy season. But that in May when the authorities resumed their irrigation service the privilege was withdrawn. I was thus deprived of water for the sheep. Despite the fact that there was an adobe on the land I could not dispose of the property at any price. One day I half-breed known as the chicken thief called on me and offered a dozen chickens for the adobe but not a chicken for the land. Stealing chickens was this man's profession and I suppose that he offered me the medium of exchange he was most accustomed to have about him. Sheriff William C. Getman had been warned in the tragic days of 1858 to look out for a maniac named Reed but almost courting such an emergency Getman once a dashing lieutenant of the Rangers and bearing grape-shot wounds from his participation in the siege of Mexico went on the 7th of January with Francis Baker to a pawnbroker whose establishment near Los Angeles and Aliso streets was popularly known as the Montepillo. There the officers found Reed locked and barricaded in a room and while the sheriff was endeavoring to force an entrance Reed suddenly threw open the door ran out and to the dismay of myself and many others gathered to witness the arrest pulled a pistol from his pocket discharged the weapon and Getman dropped on the spot. The maniac then retreated into the pawnbrokers from which he fired at the crowd. Deputy Baker later assistant to Marshal Warren who was shot by die finally killed the desperado but not before Reed had fired 20 to 30 shots four or five of which passed through Baker's clothing. When the excited crowd broke into the shop it was found that the madman had been armed with two derringers two revolvers and a bowie knife. A convenient little arsenal which he had taken from the money lenders stock. The news of the affray spread rapidly through the town and everywhere created great regret. Baker who had sailed around the horn a couple of years before I arrived died on May 17th 1899 after having been city Marshal and tax collector. So much trouble with men inclined to use firearms too freely was not confined to maniacs or those bent on revenge or robbery. On one occasion for example about 1858 while passing along the street I observed Gabrielle Allen known among his intimants as Gabe Allen a veteran of the war with Mexico and some years later a supervisor on one of his jollifications with Sheriff Gettman following close at his heels. Having arrived in front of a building Gabe suddenly raised his gun and aimed at a carpenter who was at work on the roof. Gettman promptly knocked Allen down whereupon the ladder said you've got me Billy. Allen's only purpose it appeared was to take a shot at the innocent stranger and thus test his marksmanship. This Gabe Allen was really a notorious character though not altogether bad. When sober he was a peaceable man but went on a spree he was decidedly warlike and on such occasions always shot up the town. While on one of those jamborees for example he was heard to say I'll shoot if I only kill six of them. In later life however Allen married a Mexican lady who seems to have had a mollifying influence and thereafter he lived at peace with the world. During the changing half century or more of which I write Los Angeles has witnessed many exciting street scenes but it is doubtful of any exhibition here ever called to doors windows and dusty streets a greater percentage of the entire population than that of the government camels driven through the town on January 8th 1858 under the marshal and spectacular command of Ned otherwise lieutenant and later general and ambassador E.F. Beal and the forebear of the so called hundred million dollar McLean baby the same lieutenant Beal who opened up Beal's route from the Rio Grande to Fort Tejon. The camels had just come in from the fort having traveled 40 or more miles a day across the desert to be loaded with military stores and provisions. As early as the beginning of the 50s Jefferson Davis then in Congress had advocated but without success the appropriation of $30,000 for the purchase of such animals believing that they could be used on the overland routes and would prove especially serviceable in desert regions and when Davis in 1854 as secretary of war secured the appropriation for which he had so long contended he dispatched American army officers to Egypt and Arabia to make the purchase. Some 70 or 75 camels were obtained and transported to Texas by the store ship supply and in the Lone Star State the herd was divided into two parts half being sent to the Gadsden purchase afterward Arizona and half to Albuquerque In a short time the second division was put in charge of Lieutenant Beale who was assisted by native camel drivers brought from Broad. Among these was Philip Tedro or Hi Jolly who had been picked up by Commodore Dave Porter and Greek George years afterward host to bandit Vasquez and camels and drivers made several trips back and forth across the Southwest country. Once headquartered at Fort Tejon they came to Los Angeles every few weeks for provisions each time creating no little excitement among the adult population and affording much amusement as they passed along the streets to the small boy. To return to Pancho Daniel the escaped leader of the Barton murderers he was heard from occasionally as foraging north toward San Luis Obispo and was finally captured after repeated efforts to entrap and round him up by Sheriff Murphy on January 19th, 1858 while hiding in the haystack near San Jose. When he was brought to Los Angeles he was jailed and then released on bail. Finally Daniel's lawyers secured for him a change of venue to Santa Barbara and this was the last abuse that led the public again to administer a little law of its own. Early on the morning of November 30th Pancho's body was found hanging by the neck at the gateway to the county jail yard a handful of men having overpowered the keeper secured the key and the prisoner and sent him on a journey with a different destination from Santa Barbara. On February 25th fire started in Childs and Hicks store on Los Angeles street and threatened both the Bella Union and El Palacio then the residents of Donable Stairns. The brick in the building of the Felix Bachman and Company and the Volunteer Bucket Brigade prevented a general conflagration property where thousands of dollars was destroyed Bachman and Company alone carrying insurance. The conflagration demonstrated the need of a fire engine and a subscription was started to get one. Weeks later workmen rummaging among the debris found $5,000 in gold which discovery produced no little excitement. Childs claimed the money as his saying that it had been stolen from him by a thieving clerk but the workmen undisturbed by law kept the treasure. A new four-page weekly newspaper appeared on March 24th bearing the suggestive title The Southern Vineyard and the name of Colonel JJ Warner as editor. By December it had become a semi-weekly. Originally Democratic it now favored the Union party. It was edited with ability but died on June 8th 1860. On March 24th I married Sarah second daughter of Joseph Newmark to whom I had been engaged since 1856. She was born on January 9th 1841 and had come to live in Los Angeles in 1854. The ceremony performed by the bride's father took place at the family home at what is now 501 North Main Street almost a block from the plaza on the site of the Brunswick Drug Company and there we continued to live until about 1860. At four o'clock a small circle of intimates was welcomed at dinner and in the evening there was a house party and dance for which invitations printed on lace paper in the typography characteristic of that day had been sent out. Among the friends who attended were the military officers stationed at Fort Tejon including Major Bell the commanding officer and Lieutenant John B. Magruder formerly Colonel at San Diego and later a Major General in the Civil War commanding Confederate forces in the peninsula and in Texas and eventually serving under Maximilian in Mexico. Other friends still living in Los Angeles who were present are Mr. and Mrs. S. Lazard Mrs. S. C. Foye William H. Workman C. E. Tom and H. D. Barrows. Men rarely went out unarmed at night and most of our male visitors doffed their weapons both pistols and knives as they came in spreading them around in the bedrooms. Their ladies brought their babies with them for safekeeping and the same rooms were placed at their disposal. Imagine if you can the appearance of this nursery arsenal. It was soon after we were married that my wife said to me one day rather playfully but with a touch of sadness that our meeting might easily have never taken place and when I inquired what she meant she described an awful calamity that had befallen the Greenwich Avenue School in New York City which she attended as a little girl and where several hundred pupils were distributed in different classrooms. The building was four stories in height the ground floor paved with stones was used as a play room. The primary department was on the second floor the more advanced pupils occupied the third while the top floor served as a lecture room. On the afternoon of November 20th, 1851 Miss Harrison the principal of the young ladies department suddenly fell in a faint and the resulting screams for water being misunderstood led to the awful cry of fire. It was made known that the pupils made a dash for the various doors and were soon masked around the stairway yet a difference of opinion existed as to the cause of the tragedy. My wife always said that the staircase which led from the upper to the first floor and caracol gave way letting the pupils fall while others contended that the banister snapped asunder hurling the crowded unfortunates over the edge to the pavement beneath. A frightful fatality resulted. Hundreds of pupils of all ages were precipitated in heaps onto the stone floor with a loss of 47 lives and a hundred or more seriously crippled. My wife who was a child of but 11 years was just about to jump with the rest when a providential hand restrained and saved her. News of the disaster quickly spread and in a short time the crowd of anxious parents kinsfoken friends who had hastened to the scene in every variety of vehicle and on foot was so dense that the police had the utmost difficulty in removing the wounded dying and dead. From Geneva, Switzerland in 1854 a highly educated French lady Memoiselle Theresa Brie whose oil portrait hangs in the county museum reached Los Angeles and four years later married François-Henryl a gardener by profession who had come from La Belle France in 1851. Together on First Street near Los Angeles they conducted a private school which enjoyed considerable patronage removing the institution in the early 80s to the Arroyo Seco district. This matrimonial transaction on account of the unequal social stations of the respective parties caused some little flurry in contrast to her own beauty and ladylike accomplishments François's manners were unrefined his stature short and squatty while his full beard although it inspired respect if not a certain feeling of awe when he came to exercise authority in the school was scraggly and unkempt. Madame Enois died in 1888 aged 87 years and was followed to the grave by her husband five years later. In 1858 the Outlook for Business brightened in Los Angeles and Don Abel Stearns who had acquired riches as around Charo built the Arcadia block on the corner of Los Angeles and Arcadia streets naming it after his wife Donia Arcadia who since these memoirs were commenced has joined the silent majority. The structure cost about $80,000 and was talked of for some time as the most notable business block south of San Francisco. The newspapers hailed it as an ornament to the city and a great step toward providing what the small and undeveloped community then regarded as a fireproof structure for business purposes because however of the dangerous overflow of the Los Angeles River and rainy seasons Stearns elevated the building above the grade of the street to such an extent that for several years his storerooms remained empty. But the enterprise at once bore some good fruit. To make the iron doors and shutters of the block he started a foundry on New High Street and soon created some local iron casting trade. On April 24th Senora Guadalupe Romero died at the age it is said of 115 years. She came to Los Angeles I was told as far back as 1781 the wife of one of the earliest soldiers sent here and had thus lived in the Pueblo about 77 years. Some chapters in the life of Henry Mellis are of more than passing interest. Born in Boston he came to California in 1835 with Richard Henry Dana in Captain Thompson's Brigh Pilgrim made famous in the story of two years before the mast. Clerked for Colonel Isaac Williams when that Chino worthy had a little store where the later Bella Union stood. Returned to the east in 1837 and came back to the coast the second time as super cargo. Settling in San Francisco he formed with Howard the well-known firm of Howard and Mellis which was wiped out by the great fire in 1851. Again Mellis returned to Massachusetts and in 1858 for a third time came to California at length casting his fortune with us in growing Los Angeles. On Dana's return to San Pedro and the Pacific coast in 1859 Mellis who had married a sister of Francis Mellis's wife and had become a representative citizen entertained the distinguished advocate and author and drove him around Los Angeles to view the once familiar but little altered scenes. Dana bore all his honors modestly apparently quite oblivious of the curiosity that is displayed toward him and quite as unconscious that he was making one of the memorable visits in the early annals of the town. Dana street serves as a memorial to one who contributed in no small degree to render the vicinity of Los Angeles famous. Just what hotel life in Los Angeles was in the late 50s or about the time when Dana visited here may be gathered from an anecdote often told by Dr. W. F. Edgar who came to the city of the Angels for the first time in 1858. Dr. Edgar had been ordered to join an expedition against the Mojave Indians which was to start from Los Angeles for the Colorado River. And he put up at the old Bella Union expecting at least one good night's rest before taking to the saddle again and making for the desert. Dr. Edgar found however to his intense disgust that the entire second story was overcrowded with lodgers. Singing and loud talking were silenced in turn by the protests of those who wanted to sleep. But finally I guessed too full for expression but not so drunk that he was unable to breathe hoarsely staggered in from a Sonora town ball tumbled into bed with his boots on and commenced to snort much like a pig. Under ordinary circumstances this inflection would have been grievous enough but the inner walls of the Bella Union were never over thick and the rhythmic snoring of the latecomer made itself emphatically audible and proportionately obnoxious. Quite as emphatic however were the objections soon raised by the fellow guests who not only raised them but threw them one after another. Boots, bootjacks and sticks striking with heavy thud the Snorer's portal but finding that even these did not avail the reman's strengths in various forms of decibel rushed out and began to kick the door of the objectionable bedroom. Just at that moment the offender turned over with a grunt and the excited army of lodgers baffled by the unresisting apathy of the sleeper retreated each to his nest. The next day breathing a sigh of relief Edgar Forsook the heavenly regions of the Bella Union and made for Cajom Pes eventually reaching the Colorado and the place where the expedition found the charred remains of emigrant wagons the mournful evidence of Indian treachery and atrocity. Edgar's nocturnal experience reminds me of another in the good old Bella Union. When Cameron E. Tom arrived here in the spring of 1854 he engaged a room at the hotel which he continued to occupy for several months or until the reigns of 1855 caused both roof and ceiling to cave in during the middle of the night not altogether pleasantly arousing him from his slumbers. It was then that he moved to Joseph Newmark's where he lived for some time through which circumstance we became warm friends. Big husky hardy Jacob Kurtz by birth a German and now living here at 81 years of age left home as a mere boy for the sea visiting California on a vessel from China as early as 1848 and rushing off to Placer County on the outbreak of the gold fever. Roughing it for several years and narrowly escaping death from Indians Jake made his first appearance in Los Angeles in 1858 soon after which I met him when he was eking out of livelihood doing odd jobs about town a fact leading me to conclude that his success at the mines was hardly commensurate with the privations endured. It was just about that time when he was running a dray that attracted by a dance among Germans Jake dropped in as he was but how sorry an appearance he made may perhaps be fancied when I say that the doorkeeper eyeing him suspiciously refused him admission and advised him to go home and put on his Sunday go to meetings. Jake went and what is more important fortunately returned. For while spinning around on the naughty floor he met fell in love with an ogled frowline Susan Bunn whom somewhat later he married. In 1864 Kurtz had a little store on Spring Street near the Adobe City Hall and there he prospered so well that by 1866 he had bought the northwest corner of main and first streets and put up the building he still owns. For 12 years he conducted a grocery and a part of that structure living with his family in the second story after which he was sufficiently prosperous to retire. Active as his business life has been Jake has proved his patriotism time and again devoting his efforts as a city father and serving sometimes without salary as superintendent of streets chief of the fire department and fire commissioner. In 1858 John Temple built what is now the south wing of the temple block standing directly opposite the Bullard building but the main street stores being like Stan's Acadia block above the level of the sidewalk and therefore reached only by several steps proved unpopular and did not rent although Tischler and Schlesinger heading a party of grain buyers stored some wheat in them for a while or until the grain through its weight broke the flooring and was precipitated into the cellar and even as late as 1859 after telegraph connection with San Francisco had been completed only one little space on the Spring Street side in size not more than eight by ten feet was rented the telegraph company being the tenants one day William Wolfskill pointing to the structure exclaimed to his friends what a pity that temple put all his money there had he not gone into building so extravagantly he might now be a rich man Wolfskill himself however later commenced the construction of a small block on main street opposite the Bella Union to be occupied by S. Lazard and Company but which he did not live to see completed later on the little town grew and as this property became more central temple removed the steps and built the stores flushed with the sidewalk after which wide awake merchants began to move into them one of temple's first important tenants on main street was Daniel Desmond the Hatter his store was about 18 by 40 feet Henry Slaughterbeck the well-known gunsmith was another occupant he always carried a large stock of gunpowder which circumstance did not add very much to the security of the neighborhood on the court street side Jake Philippi was one of the first to locate and there he conducted a sort of canipa his was a large room with a bar along the west side the floor was generously sprinkled with sawdust and uncomfortable arm chairs around the good old fashion redwood tables frequently sat many of his German friends and patrons gathered together to indulge in a game of Pedro, Scat or Wist and to pass the time pleasantly away some of those who thus met together at Jake Philippi's at different periods of his occupancy were Dr. Joseph Kurtz H. Heinch Conrad Jacobi Abe Haas C. F. Heinzeman P. Lazarus Edward Pollitz A. Alasasser and B. F. Dreckenfeld who was a brother-in-law of Judge Erskine M. Ross and claimed descent from some dwellers on the Rhine he succeeded Frank Le Corvier as a bookkeeper for H. Newmark and Company and was in turn succeeded on removing to New York by Pollitz while the latter was followed by John S. Stauer an Englishman now residing in London whose immediate predecessor was Richard Astl Dreckenfeld attained prominence in New York and both Alstl and Pollitz in San Francisco of these Dreckenfeld and Pollitz are dead most of these convivial frequenters of Philippi's belonged to a sort of Deutsche Club which met at another period in a little room in the rear of the corner of Main and Rakina streets just over the cool cellar then conducted by Bayer and Sattler a stairway connected the two floors and by means of that communication the club attained its supply of lager beer this fact recalls an amusing incident when Philip Louth and Louis Schwartz succeeded Christian Henne in the management of the brewery at the corner of Main and Third Streets the club was much dissatisfied with the new brew and forthwith had Bayer and Sattler send to Milwaukee for beer made by Philip Best getting wind of the matter Louth met the competition by at once putting on the market a brand more winnly than appropriately known as Philip's Best Sattler left Los Angeles in the early 70s and established a coffee plantation in South America where one day he was killed by a native wielding a machete the place which was then known as Joe Bayer's came to belong to Bob Eckert a German of ruddy complexion and Auburn hair whose good nature brought him so much patronage that in course of time he opened a large establishment at Santa Monica John D. Woodworth a cousin so it was said of Samuel Woodworth the author of The Old Oaken Bucket and father of Wallace Woodworth who died in 1883 was among the citizens active here in 1858 being appointed postmaster on May 19th of that year by President Buchanan then the post office for a 12 month in the old Lenfrenko block was transferred north on Main Street until a year or two later it was located near Temple and Spring Streets in June the surveyor general of California made an unexpected demand on the authorities of Los Angeles County for all the public documents relating to the county history under Spanish and Mexican rule the request was at first refused but finally despite the indignant protests of the press the invaluable records were shipped to San Francisco I believe it was late in the 50s that OW Childs contracted with the city of Los Angeles to dig a water ditch perhaps 1600 feet long 18 inches wide and about 18 inches deep as I recollect the transaction the city allowed him $1 per running foot and he took land and payment while I cannot remember the exact location of this land it comprised in part the wonderfully important square beginning at 6th Street and running to 12th and taking in everything from Main Street as far as and including the present Figueroa when Childs put this property on the market his wife named several of the streets because of some grasshoppers in the vicinity she called the extension of Pearl Street now Figueroa grasshopper or calle de los chapules footnote Mexican corruption of the Aztec chapulin grasshopper and footnote her faith street has been changed to flower for the next street to the east she selected the name of Hope while as if to complete the trio of the graces she christened the adjoining roadway since become grand charity the old child's home place sold to Henry E. Huntington some years ago and which has been subdivided was a part of this land none of the old settlers ever placed much value on real estate and Childs had no sooner closed this transaction than he proceeded to distribute some of the land among his own and his wife's relatives he also gave to the Catholic Church the block later bounded by 6th and 7th streets between Broadway and Hill where until a few years ago stood St. Vincent's College opened in 1855 on the plaza on the site now occupied by the Pecan Curio store in the boom year of 1887 the church authorities sold this block for $100,000 and moved the school to the corner of charity in Washington streets Andrew A. Boyle for whom the eastern suburb of Los Angeles Boyle Heights was named by William H. Workman arrived here in 1858 as early as 1848 Boyle had set out from Mexico where he had been in business to return to the United States taking with him some 20,000 Mexican dollars at that time his entire fortune safely packed and a fortified claret to box while attempting to board a steamer from a frail skiff at the mouth of the Rio Grande the churning by the paddle wheels capsized the skiff and Boyle and his treasure were thrown into the water Boyle narrowly escaped with his life but his treasure went to the bottom never to be recovered it was then said that Boyle had perished and his wife on hearing the false report was killed by the shock quite a serious perhaps was the fact that an infant daughter was left on his hands the same daughter who later became the wife of my friend William H. Workman confiding this child to an aunt Boyle went to the isthmus where he opened a shoe store and later coming north after a San Francisco experience in the wholesale boot and shoe business he settled on the bluff which was to be thereafter associated with his family name he also planted a small vineyard and in the early 70s commenced to make wine digging a cellar out of the hill to store his product the brick house built by Boyle on the heights in 1858 and always a center of hospitality is still standing although recently remodeled by William H. Workman Jr. brother of Boyle Workman the banker who added a third story and made a cozy dwelling and it is probably therefore the oldest brick structure in that part of the town Mendel was a younger brother of Sam Meyer and it is my impression that he arrived here in the late 50s he originally clerked for his brother and for a short time was in partnership with him and Hilliard Lohenstein in time Meyer engaged in business for himself during a number of his best years Mendel was well thought of socially with his fiddle often affording much amusement to his friends all in all he was a good-hearted jovial sort of a chap who too readily gave to others of his slender means about 1875 he made a visit to Europe and spent more than he could afford at any rate in later life he did not prosper he died in Los Angeles a number of years ago Thomas Copely came here in 1858 having met with many hardships while driving an ox team from Fort Leavenworth to Salt Lake and tramped the entire 800 miles between the Mormon capital and San Bernardino on arriving he became a waiter and worked for a while for the sister's hospital subsequently he married a lady of about twice his stature retiring to private life with a competence another rival of the late 50s was Manuel Ravenna and Italian he started a grocery store and continued the venture for some time then he entered the saloon business on Main Street Ravenna commissioned Wells Fargo and Company to bring by express the first ice shipped to Los Angeles for a commercial purpose paying for it an initial price of 12.5 cents per pound the ice came packed in blankets but the loss by melting plus the expense of getting it here made the real cost about 24 cents a pound nevertheless it was a clever and profitable move and brought Ravenna nearly all the best trade in town John Butterfield was originally a New York stage driver and later the organizer of the American Express Company as well as projector of the Morse Telegraph Line between New York and Buffalo as the head of John Butterfield and Company he was one of my customers in 1857 he contracted with the United States in 1858 as president of the Overland Mail Company to carry mail between San Francisco and the Missouri River to make this possible sections of the road afterward popularly referred to as the Butterfield Route were built and the surveyors Bishop and Beale were awarded the contract for part of the work it is my recollection that they used for this purpose some of the camels imported by the United States government and that these animals were in charge of Greek George to whom I have already referred Butterfield chose a route from San Francisco coming down the coast to Gilroy, San Jose and through the mountain passes on to Visalia and Fort Tejon and then to Los Angeles in all some 462 miles from Los Angeles it ran eastward through El Monte San Bernardino Temecula and Warners Ranch to Fort Yuma and then by way of El Paso to St. Louis in this manner Butterfield arranged for what was undoubtedly the longest continuous stage line ever established the entire length being about 2880 miles the Butterfield stages began running in September 1858 and when the first one from the east reached Los Angeles on October 7th just 20 days after it started there was a great demonstration accompanied by bonfires and the firing of cannon on this initial trip just one passenger made the through journey W. L. Ormsme a reporter for the New York Herald this stage reached San Francisco on October 10th and there the accomplishment was the occasion as we soon heard of almost riotous enthusiasm stages were manned by a driver and a conductor or messenger both heavily armed profiteur and relief stations were established along the route as a rule not more than 20 miles apart and sometimes half that distance the schedule first called for two stages a week then one stage in each direction every other day and after a while this plan was altered to provide for a stage every day there was little regularity however in the hours of departure and still less in the time of arrival and I recollect once leaving for San Francisco at the unearthly hour of two o'clock in the morning so uncertain indeed were the arrival and departure of stages that not only were passengers often left behind but males were actually undelivered because no authorized person was on hand in the lone hours of the night to receive and distribute them such a ridiculous incident occurred in the fall of 1858 when bags of mail destined for Los Angeles were carried on to San Francisco and were returned by the stage making its way south and east fully six days later local newspapers were then more or less dependent for their exchanges from the great eastern centers on the courtesy of drivers or agents and editors were frequently acknowledging the receipt of such bundles from which with scissors and paste they obtained the so-called news items furnished to their subscribers George Lechler here in 1853 who married Henry Hazard's sister drove a Butterfield stage and picked up orders for me from customers along the route B.W. Pyle a Virginian by birth arrived in Los Angeles in 1858 and became as far as I can recall the first exclusive jeweler and watchmaker although Charlie Dukomun as I have said had handled jewelry and watches for some years before in connection with other things Pyle Stor joined that of Newmark Kramer and Company on Commercial Street and I soon became familiar with his methods he commissioned many of the stage drivers to work up business for him on the Butterfield route and as his charges were enormous he was enabled within three or four years to establish himself in New York he was an exceedingly clever and original man and a good student of human affairs and I well remember his prediction that if Lincoln should be elected president there would be civil war when the United States government first had under consideration the building of a trans-ismus canal Pyle bought large tracks of land in Nicaragua believing that the Nicaraguan route would eventually be chosen shortly after the selection of the Panama survey however I read one day in a local newspaper that B.W. Pyle had shot himself at the age of 70 years in 1857 Phineas Banning purchased from one of the Dominguez brothers and extensive tracked some miles to the north of San Pedro along the arm of the sea and established a new landing which in a little while was to monopolize the harbor business and temporarily affect all operations at the old place here on September 25th 1858 he started a community called at first both San Pedro New Town and New San Pedro and later Wilmington the latter name suggested by the capital of Banning's native state of Delaware Banning next cultivated a tract of 600 acres planted with grain and fruit where among other evidences of his singular enterprise there was soon to be seen a large well connected with a steam pump of sufficient force to supply the commercial and irrigation wants of both Wilmington and San Pedro Banning's founding of the former town was due in part to heavy losses sustained through a storm that seriously damaged his wharf and in part to his desire to outdo JJ Tomlinson his chief business rival the inauguration of the new shipping point on October 1st 1858 was celebrated by a procession on the water when a line of barges loaded with visitors from Los Angeles and vicinity and with freight was towed to the decorated landing a feature of the dedication was the assistance rendered by the ladies who even tugged at the hauser following which host and guests liberally partook of the sparkling beverages contributing to enliven the festive occasion in a short time the shipping there gave evidence of Banning's wonderful go ahead spirit he had had built in San Francisco a small steamer and some lighters for the purpose of carrying passengers and baggage to the large steam ships lying outside the harbor the enterprise was a shrewd move for it shortened the stage trip about six miles and so gave the new route a considerable advantage over that of all competitors Banning sometimes dubbed the Admiral about the same time presented town lots to all of his friends including Eugene Meyer and myself and with Tim's landing the place became a favorite beach resort but for one of foresight most of these same lots were sold for taxes in the days of long ago I kept mine for many years and finally sold it for $1,200 while Meyer still owns his as for Banning himself he built a house on Canal Street which he occupied many years until he moved to a more commodious home situated half a mile north of the original location at about this period three packets plied between San Francisco and San Diego every 10 days leaving the commercial street wharf of the northern city and stopping at various intermediate points including Wilmington these packets were the Clipper Brigg Pride of the Sea Captain Joseph S. Garcia the Clipper Brigg Boston Commander W. H. Martin and the Clipper Schooner Lewis Perry then new and in charge of Captain Hughes in the fall of 1858 finding that our business was not sufficiently renumerative to support four families Newmark, Cramer and Company dissolved in the dissolution I took the clothing part of the business Newmark and Cramer retaining the dry goods in November or December Dr. John Griffin acquired San Pasqual Rancho the fine property which had once been the Pride of Dom Manuel Garfillas the latter had borrowed $3,000 at 4% per month to complete his menorial residence which cost some $6,000 but the ranch proving unfavorable for cattle and Dom Manuel being a poor manager the debt of $3,000 soon grew into almost treble the original amount when Griffin purchased the place he gave Garfillas an additional $2,000 to cover the stock horses and ranch tools but even at that the doctor drove a decided bargain as early as 1852 Garfillas had applied to the land commission for a patent but this was not issued until April 3rd, 1863 and the document especially interesting because it bore the signature of Abraham Lincoln brought little consolation to Garfillas or his proud wife Ne Abila who had then signed away all claim to the splendid property which was in time to play such a role in the development of Los Angeles, Pasadena and their environs on November 20th Don Bernardo Yorba died bequeathing to numerous children and grandchildren and inheritance of $110,000 worth of personal property in addition to 37,000 acres of land sometime in December, 1858 Juan Domingo or as he was often called Juan Cojo or Lame John because of a peculiar limp died at his vineyard on the south side of Aliso Street having for years enjoyed the esteem of the community as a good substantial citizen Domingo who successfully conducted a wine and brandy business was a hollander by birth and in his youth had borne the name of Johann Groningen but after coming to California and settling among the Latin element he had changed it for what reason will never be known to Juan Domingo the Spanish for John Sunday the coming of Domingo in 1827 was not without romance he was a ship's carpenter and one of a crew of 25 on the brig Danube which sailed from New York and was totally wrecked off San Pedro only two or three souls among them Domingo being saved and hospitably welcomed by the citizens on February 12th 1839 he married a Spanish woman Raimunda Feliz by whom he had a large family of children a son J.A. Domingo was living until at least recently a souvenir of Domingo's lameness in the county museum is a cane with which the Doty sailor often defended himself Samuel Prentis a Rhode Islander was another of the Danube's shipwrecks sailors who was saved he hunted and fished for a living and about 1864 1865 died on Catalina Island and there in a secluded spot not far from the seat of his labors he was buried as a result of a complicated lumber deal Captain Joseph S. Garcia of the Pride of the Sea obtained an interest in a small vineyard owned by Juan Domingo and San Sevén and through this relation Garcia became a minor partner of San Sevén in the Cucamonga winery Mrs. Garcia is living in Pomona the captain died some 10 years ago at Ontario apropos of the three Louis referred to Brewer Lichtenberger and Roder all of that German stock which makes for good American citizenship I do not suppose that there is any record of the exact date of Brewer's arrival although I imagine that it was in the early 60s Lichtenberger who served both as a city father and city treasurer arrived in 1864 while Roder used to boast of the ship on which he sailed to San Francisco just prior to his coming to Los Angeles in 1856 brought the first news of Buchanan's election to the presidency of the three Brewer who was known as Iron Louis on account of his magnificent physique suggesting the poet's Smith with large insinue hands and muscles as strong as iron bands was the least successful and truly till the end of his days he earned his living by the sweat of his brow in 1865 Lichtenberger and Roder formed a partnership which in a few years was dissolved each of them then conducting business independently until in comfortable circumstances he retired Roder an early and enthusiastic member of the pioneers is never so proud as when paying his last respects to a departed comrade his unfamed sorrow at the loss apparently being compensated for if one may so express it by the recognition he enjoyed as one of the society's official committee two of the three Louis are dead footnote Louis Roder died on February 20th 1915 and footnote other early wheelwrights and blacksmiths were Richard Maloney on Aliso street near lamborn and Turner's grocery and page and gravel who took John Gowler's shop when he joined F. Foster at his Aliso street forge end of chapter 16