USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs : also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I > Part 15
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him and Governor Figueroa and the diputacion for a time delayed the enforcement of the de- cree.
In the meantime, with the energy born of de- spair, eager at any cost to outwit those who sought to profit by their ruin, the mission fath- ers hastened to destroy that which through more than half a century thousands of human beings had spent their lives to accumulate. The wealth of the missions lay in their herds of cat- tle. The only marketable products of these were the hides and tallow. Heretofore a certain num- ber of cattle had been slaughtered each week to feed the neophytes and sometimes when the ranges were in danger of becoming over- stocked cattle were killed for their hides and tallow, and the meat left to the coyotes and the carrion crows. The mission fathers knew that if they allowed the possession of their herds to pass to other hands neither they nor the neophytes would obtain any reward for years of labor. The blow was liable to fall at any time. Haste was required. The mission butchers could not slaughter the animals fast enough. Con- tracts were made with the rancheros to kill on shares. The work of destruction began at the missions. The country became a mighty shambles. The matansas were no longer used. An animal was lassoed on the plain, thrown, its throat cut and while yet writhing in death agony, its hide was stripped and pegged upon the ground to dry. There were no vessels to con- tain the tallow and this was run into pits in the ground to be taken out when there was more time to spare and less cattle to be killed. The work of destruction went on as long as there were cattle to kill. So great was the stench from rotting carcasses of the cattle on the plains that a pestilence was threatened. The ayunta- miento of Los Angeles, November 15, 1833, passed an ordinance compelling all persons slaughtering cattle for the hides and tallow to cremate the carcasses. Some of the rancheros laid the foundations of their future wealth by ap- propriating herds of young cattle from the mis- sion ranges.
Hugo Reid, in the letters previously referred to in this volume, says of this period at San Gabriel, "These facts(the decree of secularization
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and the distribution of the mission property) being known to Padre Tomas (Estenaga), he, in all probability, by order of his superior, com- menced a work of destruction. The back build- ings were unroofed and the timber converted into fire wood. Cattle were killed on the halves by people who took a lion's share. Utensils were disposed of and goods and other articles distributed in profusion among the neophytes. The vineyards were ordered to be cut down, which, however, the Indians refused to do." After the mission was placed in charge of an administrator, Padre Tomas remained as min- ister of the church at a stipend of $1,500 per annum, derived from the pious fund.
Hugo Reid says of him, "As a wrong im- pression of his character may be produced from the preceding remarks, in justice to his memory, be it stated that he was a truly good man, a sin- cere Christian and a despiser of hypocrisy. He had a kind, unsophisticated heart, so that he be- lieved every word told him. There has never been a purer priest in California. Reduced in circumstances, annoyed on many occasions by the petulancy of administrators, he fulfilled his duties according to his conscience, withı be- nevolence and good humor. The nuns, who, when the secular movement came into opera- tion, had been set free, were again gathered to- gether under his supervision and maintained at his expense, as were also a number of old men and women."
The experiment of colonizing the Indians in pueblos was a failure and they were gathered back into the mission, or as many of them as could be got back, and placed in charge of ad- ministrators. "The Indians," says Reid, "were made happy at this time in being permitted to enjoy once more the luxury of a tule dwelling, from which the greater part had been debarred for so long; they could now breathe freely again." (The close adobe buildings in which they had been housed in mission days were no doubt one of the causes of the great mortality among them.)
"Administrator followed administrator until the mission could support no more, when the system was broken up." * * * "The Indians during this period were continually run-
ning off. Scantily clothed and still more scant- ily supplied with food, it was not to be wondered at. Nearly all the Gabrielinos went north, while those of San Diego, San Luis and San Juan overrun this country, filling the Angeles and surrounding ranchos with more servants than were required. Labor, in consequence, was very cheap. The different missions, however, had alcaldes continually on the move, hunting them up and carrying them back, but to no pur- pose; it was labor in vain."
"Even under the dominion of the church in mission days," Reid says, "the neophytes were addicted both to drinking and gaming, with an inclination to steal;" but after their emanci- pation they went from bad to worse. Those at- tached to the ranchos and those located in the town were virtually slaves. They had bosses or owners and when they ran away were cap- tured and returned to their master. The account book for 1840 of the sindico of Los Angeles contains this item, "For the delivery of two Indians to their boss $12."
In all the large towns there was an Indian village known as the pueblito or little town. These were the sink holes of crime and the favorite resorts of dissolute characters, both white and red. The Indian village at Los An- geles between what is now Aliso and First street became such an intolerable nuisance that on petition of the citizens it was removed across the river to the "Spring of the Abilas," but its removal did not improve its morals. Vicente Guerrero, the sindico, discussing the Indian question before the ayuntamiento said, "The In- dians are so utterly depraved that no matter where they may settle down their conduct would be the same, since they look upon death even with indifference, provided they can indulge in their pleasures and vices." This was their con- dition in less than a decade after they were freed from mission control.
What did six decades of mission rule accom- plish for the Indian? In all the older missions between their founding and their secularization three generations of adults had come under the influence of mission life and training-first, the adult converts made soon after the founding; second, their children born at the missions, and
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third, the children of these who had grown to manhood before the fall of the missions. How great an improvement had the neophytes of the third generation made over those of the first? They had to a great extent lost their original language and had acquired a speaking knowl- edge of Spanish. They had abandoned or forgotten their primitive religious belief, but their new religion exercised but little influence on their lives. After their emancipation they went from bad to worse. Some of the more daring escaped to the mountains and joining the wild tribes there became the leaders in frequent predatory excursions on the horses and cattle of the settlers in the valleys. They were hunted down and shot like wild beasts.
What became of the mission estates? As the cattle were killed off the different ranchos of the mission domains, settlers petitioned the ayuntamiento for grants. If upon investigation it was found that the land asked for was vacant the petition was referred to the governor for his approval. In this way the vast mission domains passed into private hands. The country im- proved more in wealth and population between 1836 and 1846 than in the previous fifty years. Secularization was destruction to the mission
and death to the Indian, but it was beneficial to the country at large. The dechine of the mis- sions and the passing of the neophyte had be- gun long before the decrees of secularization were enforced. Nearly all the missions passed their zenith in population during the second decade of the century. Even had the mission- ary establishments not been secularized they would eventually have been depopulated. At no time during the mission rule were the number of births equal to the number of deaths. When recruits could no longer be obtained from the Gentiles or wild Indians the decline became more rapid. The mission annals show that from 1769 to 1834, when secularization was enforced -an interval of sixty-five years-79,000 con- verts were baptized and 62,000 deaths recorded. The death rate among the neophytes was about twice that of the negro in this country and four times that of the white race. The extinc- tion of the neophyte or mission Indian was due to the enforcement of that inexorable law or decree of nature, the Survival of the Fittest. Where a stronger race comes in contact with a weaker, there can be but one termination of the contest-the extermination of the weaker.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE FREE AND SOVEREIGN STATE OF ALTA CALIFORNIA.
G OVERNOR FIGUEROA on his death- bed turned over the civil command of the territory to José Castro, who there- by became "gefe politico ad interem." The military command was given to Lieut .- Col. Nicolas Gutierrez with the rank of comandante general. The separation of the two commands was in accordance with the national law of May 6, 1822.
Castro was a member of the diputacion, but was not senior vocal or president. José An- tonio Carrillo, who held that position, was diputado or delegate to congress and was at that time in the city of Mexico. It was he who secured the decree from the Mexican Congress May 23, 1835, making Los Angeles the capital
of California, and elevating it to the rank of a city. The second vocal, José Antonio Estudillo, was sick at his home in San Diego. José Cas- tro ranked third. He was the only one of the diputacion at the capital and at the previous meeting of the diputacion he had acted as pre- siding officer. Gutierrez, who was at San Ga- briel when appointed to the military command, hastened to Monterey, but did not reach there until after the death of Figueroa. Castro, on assuming command, sent a notification of his appointment to the civil authorities of the dif- ferent jurisdictions. All responded favorably except San Diego and Los Angeles. San Diego claimed the office for Estudillo, second vocal, and Los Angeles declared against Castro be-
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cause he was only third vocal and demanded that the diputacion should meet at the legal capital (Los Angeles) of the territory. This was the beginning of the capital war that lasted ten years and increased in bitterness as it increased in age. The diputacion met at Monterey. It de- cided in favor of Castro and against removing the capital to Los Angeles.
Castro executed the civil functions of gefe politico four months and then, in accordance with orders from the supreme government, he turned over his part of the governorship to Comandante General Gutierrez and again the two commands were united in one person. Gutierrez filled the office of "gobernador in- terno" from January 2, 1836, to the arrival of his successor, Mariano Chico. Chico had been ap- pointed governor by President Barragan, Decem- ber 16, 1835, but did not arrive in California until April, 1836. Thus California had four governors within nine months. They changed so rapidly there was not time to foment a rev- olution. Chico began his administration by a series of petty tyrannies. Just before his ar- rival in California a vigilance committee at Los Angeles shot to death Gervacio Alispaz and his paramour, Maria del Rosaria Villa, for the mur- der of the woman's husband, Domingo Feliz. Alispaz was a countryman of Chico. Chico had the leaders arrested and came down to Los Angeles with the avowed purpose of executing Prudon, Arzaga and Aranjo, the president, sec- retary and military commander, respectively, of the Defenders of Public Security, as the vigi- lantes called themselves. He announced his intention of arresting and punishing every man who had taken part in the banishment of Gov- ernor Victoria. He summoned Don Abel Stearns to Monterey and threatened to have him shot for some imaginary offense. He fulminated a fierce pronunciamento against foreigners, that incurred their wrath, and made himself so odious that he was hated by all, native or foreigner. He was a centralist and opposed to popular rights. Exasperated beyond endurance by his scandalous conduct and unseemly exhibitions of temper the people of Monterey rose en masse against him, and so terrified him that he took passage on board a brig that was lying in the
harbor and sailed for Mexico with the threat that he would return with an armed force to punish the rebellious Californians, but he never came back again.
With the enforced departure of Chico, the civil command of the territory devolved upon Nicolas Gutierrez, who still held the military command. He was of Spanish birth and a cen- tralist or anti-federalist in politics. Although a mild mannered man he seemed to be impressed with the idea that he must carry out the arbi- trary measures of his predecessor. Centralism was his nemesis. Like Chico, he was opposed to popular rights and at one time gave orders to disperse the diputacion by force. He was not long in making himself unpopular by at- tempting to enforce the centralist decrees of the Mexican Congress.
He quarreled with Juan Bautista Alvarado, the ablest of the native Californians. Alvarado and José Castro raised the standard of revolt. They gathered together a small army of ranch- eros and an auxiliary force of twenty-five Amer- ican hunters and trappers under Graham, a backwoodsman from Tennessee. By a strategic movement they captured the castillo or fort which commanded the presidio, where Gutierrez and the Mexican army officials were stationed. The patriots demanded the surrender of the presidio and the arms. The governor refused. The revolutionists had been able to find but a single cannon ball in the castillo, but this was sufficient to do the business. A well-directed shot tore through the roof of the governor's house, covering him and his staff with the debris of broken tiles; that and the desertion of most of his soldiers to the patriots brought him to terms. On the 5th of November, 1836, he sur- rendered the presidio and resigned his authority as governor. He and about seventy of his ad- herents were sent aboard a vessel lying in the harbor and shipped out of the country.
With the Mexican governor and his officers out of the country, the next move of Castro and Alvarado was to call a meeting of the diputa- cion or territorial congress. A plan for the independence of California was adopted. This, which was known afterwards as the Monterey plan, consisted of six sections, the most im-
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portant of which were as follows: "First, Alta California hereby declares itself independent from Mexico until the Federal System of 1824 is restored. Second, the same California is hereby declared a free and sovereign state; es- tablishing a congress to enact the special laws of the country and the other necessary supreme powers. Third, the Roman Apostolic Catholic religion shall prevail; no other creed shall be allowed, but the government shall not molest anyone on account of his private opinions." The diputacion issued a declaration of independ- ence that arraigned the mother country, Mexico, and her officials very much in the style that our own Declaration gives it to King George III. and England.
Castro issued a pronunciamiento, ending with Viva La Federacion! Viva La Libertad! Viva el Estado Libre y Soberano de Alta California! Thus amid vivas and proclamations, with the beating of drums and the booming of cannon, El Estado Libre de Alta California (The Free State of Alta California) was launched on the political sea. But it was rough sailing for the little craft. Her ship of state struck a rock and for a time shipwreck was threatened.
For years there had been a growing jealousy between Northern and Southern California. Los Angeles, as has been stated before, had by a decree of the Mexican congress been made the capital of the territory. Monterey had per- sistently refused to give up the governor and the archives. In the movement to make Alta California a free and independent state, the An- geleños recognized an attempt on the part of the people of the north to deprive them of the capital. Although as bitterly opposed to Mex- ican governors, and as active in fomenting revo- lutions against them as the people of Monterey, the Angeleños chose to profess loyalty to the mother country. They opposed the plan of government adopted by the congress at Mon- terey and promulgated a plan of their own, in which they declared California was not free; that the "Roman Catholic Apostolic religion shall prevail in this jurisdiction, and any person publicly professing any other shall be pros- ecuted by law as heretofore." A mass meeting was called to take measures "to prevent the
spreading of the Monterey revolution, so that the progress of the nation may not be paralyzed," and to appoint a person to take mil- itary command of the department.
San Diego and San Luis Rey took the part of Los Angeles in the quarrel, Sonoma and San José joined Monterey, while Santa Barbara, al- ways conservative, was undecided, but finally issued a plan of her own. Alvarado and Castro determined to suppress the revolutionary An- geleños. They collected a force of one hun- dred men, made up of natives, with Graham's contingent of twenty-five American riflemen. . With this army they prepared to move against the recalcitrant sureños.
The ayuntamiento of Los Angeles began preparations to resist the invaders. An army of two hundred and seventy men was enrolled, a part of which was made up of neophytes. To se- cure the sinews of war José Sepulveda, second al- calde, was sent to the Mission San Fernando to secure what money there was in the hands of the major domo. He returned with two pack- ages, which, when counted, were found to con- tain $2,000.
Scouts patrolled the Santa Barbara road as far as San Buenaventura to give warning of the approach of the enemy, and pickets guarded the Pass of Cahuenga and the Rodeo de Las Aguas to prevent northern spies from entering and southern traitors from getting out of the pueblo. The southern army was stationed at San Fer- nando under the command of Alferez (Lieut.) Rocha. Alvarado and Castro, pushing down the coast, reached Santa Barbara, where they were kindly received and their force recruited to one hundred and twenty men with two pieces of artillery. José Sepulveda at San Fernando sent to Los Angeles for the cannon at the town house and $200 of the mission money to pay his men.
On the 16th of January, 1837, Alvarado from San Buenaventura dispatched a communication to the ayuntamiento of Los Angeles and the citizens, telling them vhat military resources he had, which he would use against them if it became necessary, but he was willing to confer upon a plan of settlement. Sepulveda and An- tonio M. Osio were appointed commissioners
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and sent to confer with the governor, armed with several propositions, the substance of which was that California shall not be free and the Catholic religion must prevail with the privilege to prosecute any other religion, "ac- cording to law as heretofore." The commission- ers met Alvarado on "neutral ground," between San Fernando and San Buenaventura. A long discussion followed without either coming to the point. Alvarado, by a coup d'état, brought it to an end. In the language of the commission- ers' report to the ayuntamiento: "While we were a certain distance from our ownforces with only four unarmed men and were on the point of coming to an agreement with Juan B. Alvarado, we saw the Monterey division advancing upon 11s and we were forced to deliver up the instruc- tions of this illustrious body through fear of being attacked." They delivered up not only the instructions, but the Mission San Fer- nando. The southern army was compelled to surrender it and fall back on the pueblo, Rocha swearing worse than "our army in Flanders" because he was not allowed to fight. The south- ern soldiers had a wholesome dread of Gra- ham's riflemen. These fellows, armed with long Kentucky rifles, shot to kill, and a battle once begun somebody would have died for his coun- try and it would not have been Alvarado's rifle- men.
The day after the surrender of the mission, January 21, 1837, the ayuntamiento held a ses- sion and the members were as obdurate and belligerent as ever. They resolved that it was only in the interests of humanity that the mis- sion had been surrendered and their army forced to retire. "This ayuntamiento, consider- ing the commissioners were forced to comply, annuls all action of the commissioners and does not recognize this territory as a free and sov- ereign state nor Juan B. Alvarado as its gov- ernor, and declares itself in favor of the Supreme Government of Mexico." A few days later Al- varado entered the city without opposition, the Angeleñian soldiers retiring to San Gabriel and from there scattering to their homes.
On the 26th of January an extraordinary session of the most illustrious ayuntamiento was held. Alvarado was present and made a lengthy
speech, in which he said, "The native sons were subjected to ridicule by the Mexican mandarins sent here, and knowing our rights we ought to shake off the ominous yoke of bondage." Then he produced and read the six articles of the Monterey plan, the council also produced a plan and a treaty of amity was effected. Alvarado was recognized as governor pro tem. and peace reigned. The belligerent sureños vied with each other in expressing their admiration for the new order of things. Pio Pico wished to ex- press the pleasure it gave him to see a "hijo del pais" in office. And Antonio Osio, the most belligerent of the sureños, declared "that sooner than again submit to a Mexican dictator as governor, he would flee to the forest and be devoured by wild beasts." The ayunta- miento was asked to provide a building for the government, "this being the capital of the state." The hatchet apparently was buried. Peace reigned in El Estado Libre. At the meeting of the town council, on the 30th of January, Al- varado made another speech, but it was neither conciliatory nor complimentary. He arraigned the "traitors who were working against the peace of the country" and urged the members to take measures "to liberate the city from the hidden hands that will tangle them in their own ruin." The pay of his troops who were ordered here for the welfare of California is due "and it is an honorable and preferred debt, therefore the ayuntamiento will deliver to the government the San Fernando money," said he. With a wry face, very much such as a boy wears when he is told that he has been spanked for his own good, the alcalde turned over the balance of the mission money to Juan Bautista, and the governor took his departure for Monterey, Icaving, however, Col. José Castro with part of his army stationed at Mission San Gabriel, os- tensibly "to support the city's authority," but in reality to keep a close watch on the city author- ities.
Los Angeles was subjugated, peace reigned and El Estado Libre de Alta California took her place among the nations of the earth. But peace's reign was brief. At the meeting of the ayuntamiento May 27, 1838, Juan Bandini and Santiago E. Arguello of San Diego, appeared
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with a pronunciamiento and a plan, San Diego's plan of government. Monterey, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles had each formulated a plan of government for the territory, and now it was San Diego's turn. Agustin V. Zamorano, who had been exiled with Governor Gutierrez, had crossed the frontier and was made comand- ante-general and territorial political chief ad interim by the San Diego revolutionists. The plan restored California to obedience to the supreme government; all acts of the diputa- cion and the Monterey plan were annulled and the northern rebels were to be arraigned and tried for their part in the revolution; and so on through twenty articles.
On the plea of an Indian outbreak near San Diego, in which the redmen, it was said, "were to make an end of the white race," the big can- non and a number of men were secured at Los Angeles to assist in suppressing the Indians, but in reality to reinforce the army of the San Diego revolutionists. With a force of one hun- dred and twenty-five men under Zamorano and Portilla, "the army of the supreme government" moved against Castro at Los Angeles. Castro retreated to Santa Barbara and Portilla's army took position at San Fernando.
The civil and military officials of Los Angeles took the oath to support the Mexican consti- tution of 1836 and, in their opinion, this absolved them from all allegiance to Juan Bau- tista and his Monterey plan. Alvarado hurried reinforcements to Castro at Santa Barbara, and Portilla called loudly for "men, arms and horses," to march against the northern rebels. But neither military chieftain advanced, and the summer wore away without a battle. There were rumors that Mexico was preparing to send an army of one thousand men to subjugate the rebellious Californians. In October came the news that José Antonio Carrillo, the Machiavelli of California politics, had persuaded President Bustamente to appoint Carlos Carrillo, José's brother, governor of Alta California.
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