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 17
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guna de Alvires. A treaty was signed in which Micheltorena agreed to ship his cholos back to Mexico.
This treaty the governor deliberately broke. He then intrigued with Capt. John A. Sutter of New Helvetia and Isaac Graham to obtain as- sistance to crush the rebels. January 9, 1845, Micheltorena and Sutter formed a junction of their forces at Salinas-their united commands numbering about five hundred men. They marched against the rebels to crush them. But the rebels did not wait to be crushed. Alvarado and Castro, with about ninety men, started for Los Angeles, and those left behind scattered to their homes. Alvarado and his men reached Los Angeles on the night of January 20, 1845. The garrison stationed at the curate's house was surprised and captured. One man was killed and several wounded. Lieutenant Me- dina, of Micheltorena's army, was the com- mander of the pueblo troops. Alvarado's army encamped on the plaza and he and Castro set to work to revolutionize the old pueblo. The leading Angelenos had no great love for Juan Bautista, and did not readily fall into his schemes. They had not forgotten their en- forced detention in Vallejo's bastile during the Civil war. An extraordinary session of the ayuntamiento was called January 21. Alvarado and Castro were present and made eloquent ap- peals. The records say: "The ayuntamiento listened, and after a short interval of silence and meditation decided to notify the senior member of the department assembly of Don Alvarado and Castros' wishes."
They were more successful with the Pico brothers. Pio Pico was senior vocal, and in case Micheltorena was disposed he, by virtue of his office, would become governor. Through the influence of the Picos the revolution gained ground. The most potent influence in spread- ing the revolt was the fear of Micheltorena's army of chicken thieves. Should the town be captured by them it certainly would be looted. The department assembly was called together. A peace commission was sent to meet Michel- torena, who was leisurely marching southward, and intercede with him to give up his proposed invasion of the south. He refused. Then the
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assembly pronounced him a traitor, deposed him by vote and appointed Pio Pico governor. Recruiting went on rapidly. Hundreds of sad- die horses were contributed, "old rusty guns were repaired, hacked swords sharpened, rude lances manufactured" and cartridges made for the cannon. Some fifty foreigners of the south joined Alvarado's army; not that they had much interest in the revolution, but to protect their property against the rapacious invaders- the cholos-and Sutter's Indians,* who were as much dreaded as the cholos. On the 19th of February, Micheltorena reached the Encinos, and the Angelenian army marched out through Cahuenga Pass to meet him. On the 20th the two armies met on the southern edge of the San Fernando valley, about fifteen miles from Los Angeles. Each army numbered about four hundred men. Micheltorena had three pieces of artillery and Castro two. They opened on each other at long range and seem to have fought the battle throughout at very long range. A mustang or a mule (authorities differ) was killed.
Wilson, Workman and Mckinley of Castro's army decided to induce the Americans on the other side, many of whom were their personal friends, to abandon Micheltorena. Passing up a ravine, they succeeded in attracting the atten- tion of some of them by means of a white flag. Gantt, Hensley and Bidwell joined them in the ravine. The situation was discussed and the Americans of Micheltorena's army agreed to desert him if Pico would protect them in their land grants. Wilson, in his account of the bat- tle, says :; "I knew, and so did Pico, that these land questions were the point with those young Americans. Before I started on my journey or embassy, Pico was sent for; on his arrival among us I, in a few words, explained to him what the party had advanced. 'Gentlemen,' said he, 'are any of you citizens of Mexico?' They answered 'No.' 'Then your title deeds given you by Micheltorena are not worth the paper
they are written on, and he knew it well when he gave them to you; but if you will abandon his cause I will give you my word of honor as a gentleman, and Don Benito Wilson and Don Juan Workman to carry out what I promise, that I will protect each one of you in the land that you now hold, and when you become citi- zens of Mexico I will issue you the proper ti- tles.' They said that was all they asked, and promised not to fire a gun against us. They also' asked not to be required to fight on our side,' which was agreed to.
"Micheltorena discovered (how, I do notknow) that his Americans had abandoned him. About an hour afterwards he raised his camp and flanked us by going further into the valley to- wards San Fernando, then marching as though he intended to come around the bend of the river to the city. The Californians and we for- eigners at once broke up our camp and came back through the Cahuenga Pass, marched through the gap into the Feliz ranch, on the Los Angeles River, till we came into close proximity to Micheltorena's camp. It was now night, as it was dark when we broke up our camp. Here we waited for daylight, and some of our men commenced maneuvering for a fight with the enemy. A few cannon shots were fired, when a white flag was discovered flying from Micheltorena's front. The whole matter then went into the hands of negotiators ap- pointed by both parties and the terms of sur- render were agreed upon, one of which was that Micheltorena and his obnoxious officers and men were to march back up the river to the Cahuenga Pass, then down on the plain to the west of Los Angeles, the most direct line to San Pedro, and embark at that point on a vessel then anchored there to carry them back to Mex- ico." Sutter was taken prisoner, and his Indians, after being corralled for a time, were sent back to the Sacramento.
The roar of the battle of Cahuenga, or the Alamo, as it is sometimes called, could be dis- tinctly heard in Los Angeles, and the people remaining in the city were greatly alarmed. William Heath Davis, in his Sixty Years in Cal- ifornia, thus describes the alarm in the town: "Directly to the north of the town was a high
*Sutter had under his command a company of In- dians. He had drilled these in the use of firearms. The employing of these savages by Micheltorena was bitterly resented by the Californians.
tPuh. Historical Society of Southern California, Vol. III.
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hill" (now known as Mt. Lookout). "As soon as firing was heard all the people remaining in the town, men, women and children, ran to the top of this hill. As the wind was blowing from the north, the firing was distinctly heard, five leagues away, on the battle-field throughout the day. All business places in town were closed. The scene on the hill was a remarkable one, women and children, with crosses in their hands, kneeling and praying to the saints for the safety of their fathers, brothers, sons, husbands, lovers, cousins, that they might not be killed in the bat- tle; indifferent to their personal appearance, tears streaming from their eyes, and their hair blown about by the wind, which had increased to quite a breeze. Don Abel Stearns, myself and others tried to calm and pacify them, assuring them that there was probably no danger; some- what against our convictions, it is true, judg- ing from what we heard of the firing and from our knowledge of Micheltorena's disciplined force, his battery, and the riflemen he had with him. During the day the scene on the hill con- tinued. The night that followed was a gloomy one, caused by the lamentations of the women and children."
Davis, who was supercargo on the Don Quixote, the vessel on which Micheltorena and his soldiers were shipped to Mexico, claims that the general "had ordered his command not to injure the Californians in the force opposed to him, but to fire over their heads, as he had no desire to kill them."
Another Mexican-born governor had been deposed and deported, gone to join his fellows, Victoria, Chico and Gutierrez. In accordance with the treaty of Cahuenga and by virtue of his rank as senior member of the departmental assembly, Pio Pico became governor. The hijos del pais were once more in the ascendency. José Castro was made comandante-general. Al- varado was given charge of the custom house at Monterey, and José Antonio Carrillo was ap- pointed commander of the military district of the south. Los Angeles was made the capital, although the archives and the treasury remained in Monterey. The revolution apparently had been a success. In the proceedings of the Los Angeles ayuntamiento, March 1, 1845, appears
this record: "The agreements entered into at Cahuenga between Gen. Emanuel Michel- torena and Lieut .- Col. José Castro were then read, and as they contain a happy termination of affairs in favor of the government, this Illustri- ous Body listened with satisfaction and so an- swered the communication."
The people joined with the ayuntamiento in expressing their "satisfaction" that a "happy termination" had been reached of the political disturbances which had distracted the country. But the end was not yet. Pico did his best to conciliate the conflicting elements, but the cld sectional jealousies that had divided the people of the territory would crop out. José Antonio Carrillo, the Machiavel of the south, hated Cas- tro and Alvarado and was jealous of Pico's good fortune. He was the superior of any of them in ability, but made himself unpopular by his intrigues and his sarcastic speech. When Cas- tro and Alvarado came south to raise the stand- ard of revolt they tried to win him over. He did assist them. He was willing enough to plot against Micheltorena, but after the overthrow of the Mexican he was equally ready to plot against Pico and Castro. In the summer of 1845 he was implicated in a plot to depose Pico, who, by the way, was his brother-in-law. Pico placed him and two of his fellow conspirators, Serbulo and Hilario Varela, under arrest. Car- rillo and Hilario Varela were shipped to Mazat- lan to be tried for their misdeed. Serbulo Va- rela made his escape from prison. The two exiles returned early in 1846 unpunished and ready for new plots.
Pico was appointed gobernador proprietario, or constitutional governor of California, Sep- tember 3, 1845, by President Herrera. The su- preme government of Mexico never seemed to take offense or harbor resentment against the Californians for deposing and sending home a governor. As the officials of the supreme gov- ernment usually obtained office by revolution, they no doubt had a fellow feeling for the revolt- ing Californians. When Micheltorena returned to Mexico he was coldly received and a com- missioner was sent to Pico with dispatches vir- tually approving all that had been done.
Castro, too, gave Pico a great deal of uneasi-
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ness. He ignored the governor and managed the military affairs of the territory to suit him- self. His headquarters were at Monterey and doubtless he had the sympathy if not the en- couragement of the people of the north in his course. But the cause of the greatest uneasi- ness was the increasing immigration from the United States. A stream of emigrants from the western states, increasing each year, poured down the Sierra Nevadas and spread over the rich valleys of California. The Californians rec- ognized that through the advent of these "for- eign adventurers,"as they called them, the "man- ifest destiny" of California was to be absorbed by the United States. Alvarado had appealed to Mexico for men and arms and had been an- swered by the arrival of Micheltorena and his cholos. Pico appealed and for a time the Cali- fornians were cheered by the prospect of aid.
In the summer of 1845 a force of six hundred veteran soldiers, under command of Colonel Iniestra, reached Acapulco, where ships were ly- ing to take them to California, but a revolution broke out in Mexico and the troops destined for the defense of California were used to overthrow President Herrera and to seat Paredes. Cali- fornia was left to work out her own destiny unaided or drift with the tide-and she drifted.
In the early months of 1846 there was a rapid succession of important events in her history, each in passing bearing her near and nearer to a manifest destiny-the downfall of Mexican domination in California. These will be pre- sented fully in the chapter on the Acquisition of California by the United States. But before taking up these we will turn aside to review life in California in the olden time under Spanish and Mexican rule.
CHAPTER XV.
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT-HOMES AND HOME-LIFE OF THE CALIFORNIANS.
U NDER Spain the government of Califor- nia was semi-military and semi-clerical. The governors were military officers and had command of the troops in the territory, and looked after affairs at the pueblos; the friars were supreme at the missions. The municipal government of the pueblos was vested in ayun- tamientos. The decree of the Spanish Cortés passed May 23, 1812, regulated the membership of the ayuntamiento according to the popula- tion of the town-"there shall be one alcalde (mayor), two regidores (councilmen), and one procurador-syndico (treasurer) in all towns which do not have more than two hundred in- habitants; one alcalde, four regidores and one syndico in those the population of which ex- ceeds two hundred, but does not exceed five hundred." When the population of a town ex- ceeded one thousand it was allowed two al- caldes, eight regidores and two syndicos. Over the members of the ayuntamiento in the early years of Spanish rule was a quasi-military offi-
cer called a comisionado, a sort of petty dictator or military despot, who, when occasion required or inclination moved him, embodied within him- self all three departments of government, judi- ciary, legislative and executive. After Mexico became a republic the office of comisionado was abolished. The alcalde acted as president of the ayuntamiento, as mayor and as judge of the court of first instance. The second alcalde took his place when that officer was ill or ab- sent. The syndico was a general utility man. He acted as city or town attorney, tax collector and treasurer. The secretary was an important officer; he kept the records, acted as clerk of the alcalde's court and was the only municipal officer who received pay, except the syndico, who received a commission on his collections.
In 1837 the Mexican Congress passed a decree abolishing ayuntamientos in capitals of depart- ments having a population of less than four thousand and in interior towns of less than eight thousand. In 1839 Governor Alvarado
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reported to the Departmental Assembly that no town in California had the requisite population. The ayuntamientos all closed January 1, 1840. They were re-established in 1844. During their abolition the towns were governed by prefects and justices of the peace, and the special laws or ordinances were enacted by the departmental assembly.
The jurisdiction of the ayuntamiento often extended over a large area of country beyond the town limits. That of Los Angeles, after the secularization of the missions, extended over a country as large as the state of Massachusetts. The authority of the ayuntamiento was as ex- tensive as its jurisdiction. It granted town lots and recommended to the governor grants of land from the public domain. In addition to passing ordinances its members sometimes acted as executive officers to enforce them. It exercised the powers of a board of health, a board of education, a police commission and a street department. During the civil war be- tween Northern and Southern California, in 1837-38, the ayuntamiento of Los Angeles raised and equipped an army and assumed the right to govern the southern half of the terri- tory.
The ayuntamiento was spoken of as Muy Ilustre (Most Illustrious), in the same sense that we speak of the honorable city council, but it was a much more dignified body than a city council. The members were required to attend their public functions "attired in black apparel. so as to add solemnity to the meetings." They served without pay, but if a member was absent from a meeting without a good excuse he was liable to a fine. As there was no pay in the office and its duties were numerous and onerous, there was not a large crop of aspirants for council- men in those days, and the office usually sought the man. It might be added that when it caught the right man it was loath to let go of him.
The misfortunes that beset Francisco Pantoja aptly illustrate the difficulty of resigning in the days when office sought the man, not man the office. Pantoja was elected fourth regidor of the ayuntamiento of Los Angeles in 1837. In those days wild horses were very numerous. When the pasture in the foothills was exhausted
they came down into the valleys and ate up the feed needed for the cattle. On this account, and because most of these wild horses were worthless, the rancheros slaughtered them. A corral was built with wings extending out on the right and left from the main entrance. When the corral was completed a day was set for a wild horse drive. The bands were rounded up and driven into the corral. The pick of the caballados were lassoed and taken out to be broken to the saddle and the refuse of the drive killed. The Vejars had obtained permission from the ayuntamiento to build a corral between the Cerritos and the Salinas for the purpose of corralling wild horses. Pantoja, being some- thing of a sport, petitioned his fellow regidores for a twenty days' leave of absence to join in the wild horse chase. A wild horse chase was wild sport and dangerous, too. Somebody was sure to get hurt, and Pantoja in this one was one of the unfortunates. When his twenty days' leave of absence was up he did not return to his duties of regidor, but instead sent his res- ignation on plea of illness. His resignation was not accepted and the president of the ayunta- miento appointed a committee to investigate his physical condition. There were no physi- cians in Los Angeles in those days, so the com- mittee took along Santiago Mckinley, a canny Scotch merchant, who was reputed to have some knowledge of surgery. The committee and the improvised surgeon held an ante-mortem in- quest on what remained of Pantoja. The com- mittee reported to the council that he was a physical wreck; that he could not mount a horse nor ride one when mounted. A native Californian who had reached such a state of physical dilapidation that he could not mount a horse might well be excused from official du- ties. To excuse him might establish a danger- ous precedent. The ayuntamiento heard the report, pondered over it and then sent it and the resignation to the governor. The governor took them under advisement. In the meantime a revolution broke out and before peace was re- stored and the governor had time to pass upon the case Pantoja's term had expired by limita- tion.
That modern fad of reform legislation, the
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referendum, was in full force and effect in Cali- fornia three-quarters of a century ago. When some question of great importance to the com- munity was before the ayuntamiento and the regidores were divided in opinion, the alarma publica or public alarm was sounded by the beating of the long roll on the drum and all the citizens were summoned to the hall of sessions. Any one hearing the alarm and not heed- ing it was fined $3. When the citizens were con- vened the president of the ayuntamiento, speak- ing in a loud voice, stated the question and the people were given "public speech." The ques- tion was debated by all who wished to speak. When all had had their say it was decided by a show of hands.
The ayuntamientos regulated the social func- tions of the pueblos as well as the civic. Ordi- nance 5, ayuntamiento proceedings of Los Angeles, reads: "All individuals serenading pro- miscuously around the street of the city at night without first having obtained permission from the alcalde will be fined $1.50 for the first of- fense, $3 for the second offense, and for the third punished according to law." Ordinance 4, adopted by the ayuntamiento of Los Angeles, January 28, 1838, reads: "Every person not having any apparent occupation in this city or its jurisdiction is hereby ordered to look for work within three days, counting from the day this ordinance is published; if not complied with, he will be fined $2 for the first offense, $4 for the second offense, and will be given com- pulsory work for the third." From the reading of the ordinance it would seem if the tramp kept looking for work, but was careful not to find it, there could be no offense and conse- quently no fines or compulsory work.
Some of the enactments of the old regidores would fade the azure out of the blue laws of Connecticut in severity. In the plan of gov- ernment adopted by the sureños in the rebellion of 1837 appears this article: "Article 3, The Roman Catholic Apostolic religion shall pre- vail throughout this jurisdiction; and any per- son professing publicly any other religion shall be prosecuted."
Here is a blue law of Monterey, enacted March 23, 1816: "All persons must attend mass
and respond in a loud voice, and if any persons should fail to do so without good cause they will be put in the stocks for three hours."
The architecture of the Spanish and Mexican eras of California was homely almost to ugliness. There was no external ornamentation to the dwellings and no internal conveniences. There was but little attempt at variety and the houses were mostly of one style, square walled, tile cov- ered, or flat roofed with pitch, and usually but one story high. Some of the mission churches were massive, grand and ornamental, while others were devoid of beauty and travesties on the rules of architecture. Every man was his own architect and master builder. He had no choice of material, or, rather, with his ease- loving disposition, he chose to use that which was most convenient, and that was adobe clay, made into sun-dried brick. The Indian was the brickmaker, and he toiled for his taskmasters, like the Hebrew of old for the Egyptian, making bricks without straw and without pay. There were no labor strikes in the building trades then. The Indian was the builder, and he did not know how to strike for higher wages, because he received no wages, high or low. The adobe bricks were moulded into form and set up to dry. Through the long summer days they baked in the hot sun, first on one side, then on the other; and when dried through they were laid in the wall with mud mortar. Then the walls had to dry and dry perhaps through an- other summer before the house was habitable. Time was the essense of building contracts then.
There was but little wood used in house con- struction then. It was only the aristocrats who could indulge in the luxury of wooden floors. Most of the houses had floors of the beaten earth. Such floors were cheap and durable. Gilroy says, when he came to Monterey in 1814, only the governor's house had a wooden floor. A door of rawhide shut out intruders and wooden-barred windows admitted sunshine and air.
The legendry of the hearthstone and the fire- side which fills so large a place in the home life and literature of the Anglo-Saxon had no part in the domestic system of the old-time Califor- nian. He had no hearthstone and no fireside,
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nor could that pleasing fiction of Santa Claus coming down the chimney with toys on Christ- mas eve that so delights the children of to-day have been understood by the youthful Califor- nian of long ago. There were no chimneys in California. The only means of warming the houses by artificial heat was a pan (or brasero) of coals set on the floor. The people lived out of doors in the open air and invigorating sun- shine; and they were healthy and long-lived. Their houses were places to sleep in or shelters from rain.
The furniture was meager and mostly home- made. A few benches or rawhide-bottomed chairs to sit on; a rough table; a chest or two to keep the family finery in; a few cheap prints of saints on the walls-these formed the furnish- ings and the decorations of the living rooms of the common people. The bed was the pride and the ambition of the housewife. Even in humble dwellings, sometimes, a snowy counterpane and lace-trimmed pillows decorated a couch whose base was a dried bullock's hide stretched on a rough frame of wood. A shrine dedicated to the patron saint of the household was a very essen- tial part of a well-regulated home.
Fashions in dress did not change with the sea- sons. A man could wear his grandfather's hat and his coat, too, and not be out of the fashion. Robinson, writing of California in 1829, says: "The people were still adhering to the costumes of the past century." It was not until after 1834, when the Hijar colonists brought the latest fash- ions from the City of Mexico, that the style of dress for men and women began to change. The next change took place after the American con- quest. Only two changes in half a century, a garment had to be very durable to become un- fashionable.
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