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 30
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other two, were sentenced to be hanged. On the following Sunday morning the doomed men were conducted to the top of Fort Hill, where the gallows stood. Sandoval made a brief speech, again declaring his innocence. The others awaited their doom in silence. The trap fell and all were launched into eternity. Years afterward one of the real murderers on his deathbed revealed the truth and confessed his part in the crime. The poor cobbler was inno- cent.
In 1854 drunkenness, gambling, murder and all forms of immorality and crime were ram- pant in Los Angeles. The violent deaths, it is said, averaged one for every day in the year. It was a common question at the breakfast table, "Well, how many were killed last night?" Little or no attention was paid to the killing of an Indian or a half breed; it was only when a gente de razon was the victim that the community was aroused to action.
The Kern river gold rush, in the winter of 1854-55, brought from the northern mines fresh relays of gamblers and desperadoes and crime increased. The Southern Californian of March 7, 1855, commenting on the general lawlessness prevailing, says: "Last Sunday night was a brisk night for killing. Four men were shot and killed and several wounded in shooting af- frays."
A worthless fellow by the name of David Brown, who had, without provocation, killed a companion named Clifford, was tried and sen- tenced to be hanged with one Felipe Alvitre, a Mexican, who had murdered an American named Ellington, at El Monte. There was a feeling among the people that Brown, through quibbles of law, would escape the death penalty, and there was talk of lynching. Stephen C. Foster, the mayor, promised that if justice was not legally meted ont to Brown by the law, then he would resign his office and head the lynching party. January 10, 1855, an order was received from Judge Murray, of the supreme court, stay- ing the execution of Brown, but leaving Alvitre to his fate. January 12 Alvitre was hanged by the sheriff in the jail yard in the presence of an immense crowd. The gallows were taken down and the guards dismissed. The crowd gathered
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outside the jail yard. Speeches were made. The mayor resigned his office and headed the mob. The doors of the jail were broken down; Brown was taken across Spring street to a large gateway opening into a corral and hanged from the crossbeam. Foster was re-elected by an almost unanimous vote at a special election. The city marshal, who had opposed the action of the vigilantes, was compelled to resign.
During 1855 and 1856 lawlessness increased. There was an organized band of about one hun- dred Mexicans, who patroled the highways, robbing and murdering. They threatened the extermination of the Americans and there were fears of a race war, for many who were not members of the gang sympathized with them. In 1856 a vigilance committee was organized with Myron Norton as president and H. N. Alexander as secretary. A number of dis- reputable characters were forced to leave town. The banditti, under their leaders, Pancho Dan- iel and Juan Flores, were plundering and com- mitting outrages in the neighborhood of San Juan Capistrano.
On the night of January 22, 1857, Sheriff James R. Barton left Los Angeles with a posse, consisting of William H. Little, Charles K. Baker, Charles F. Daley, Alfred Hardy and Frank Alexander with the intention of captur- ing some of the robbers. At Sepulveda's ranch next morning the sheriff's party was warned that the robbers were some fifty strong, well armed and mounted, and would probably attack them. Twelve miles further the sheriff and his men en- countered a detachment of the banditti. A short, sharp engagement took place. Barton, Baker, Little and Daley were killed. Hardy and Alexander made their escape by the fleetness of their horses. When the news reached Los Angeles the excitement became intense. A public meeting was held to devise plans to rid the community not only of the roving gang of murderers, but also of the criminal classes in the city, who were known to be in sympathy with the banditti. All suspicious houses were searched and some fifty persons arrested. Sev- eral companies were organized; the infantry to guard the city and the mounted men to scour the country. Companies were also formed at
San Bernardino and El Monte, while the mil- itary authorities at Fort Tejon and San Diego despatched soldiers to aid in the good work of exterminating crime and criminals.
The robbers were pursued into the mountains and nearly all captured. Gen. Andres Pico, with a company of native Californians, was most efficient in the pursuit. He captured Silvas and Ardillero, two of the most noted of the gang, and hanged them where they were cap- tured. Fifty-two were lodged in the city jail. Of these, eleven were hanged for various crimes and the remainder set free. Juan Flores, one of the leaders, was condemned by popular vote and on February 14, 1857, was hanged near the top of Fort Hill in the presence of nearly the entire population of the town. He was only twenty-one years of age. Pancho Daniel, an- other of the leaders, was captured on the 19th of January, 1858, near San José. He was found by the sheriff, concealed in a haystack. After his arrest he was part of the time in jail and part of the time out on bail. He had been tried three times, but through law quibbles had escaped conviction. A change of venne to Santa Bar- bara had been granted. The people determined to take the law in their own hands. On the morning of November 30, 1858, the body of Pancho was hanging from a beam across the gateway of the jail yard. Four of the banditti were executed by the people of San Gabriel, and Leonardo Lopez, under sentence of the court, was hanged by the sheriff. The gang was broken up and the moral atmosphere of Los Angeles somewhat purified.
November 17, 1862, John Rains of Cuca- monga ranch was murdered near Azusa. De- cember 9, 1863, the sheriff was taking Manuel Cerradel to San Quentin to serve a ten years' sentence. When the sheriff went aboard the tug boat Cricket at Wilmington, to proceed to the Senator, quite a number of other persons took passage. On the way down the harbor, the prisoner was seized by the passengers, who were vigilantes, and hanged to the rigging; after hanging twenty minutes the body was taken down, stones tied to the feet and it was thrown overboard. Cerradel was implicated in the mur- der of Rains.
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In the fall of 1863 lawlessness had again be- come rampant in Los Angeles; one of the chiefs of the criminal class was a desperado by the name of Boston Daimwood. He was suspected of the' murder of a miner on the desert and was loud in his threats against the lives of various citizens. He and four other well- known criminals, Wood, Chase, Ybarra and Olivas, all of whom were either murder- ers or horse thieves, were lodged in jail. On the 2Ist of November two hundred armed citizens battered down the doors of the jail, took the five wretches out and hanged them to the portico of the old court house on Spring street, which stood on the present site of the Phillips block.
On the 24th of October, 1871, occurred in Los Angeles a most disgraceful affair, known as the Chinese massacre. It grew out of one of those interminable feuds between rival tongs of highbinders, over a woman. Desul- tory firing had been kept up between the rival factions throughout the day. About 5:30 p. m. Policeman Bilderrain visited the seat of war, an old adobe house on the corner of Arcadia street and "Nigger alley," known as the Coronel build- ing. Finding himself unable to quell the dis- turbance he called for help. Robert Thompson, an old resident of the city, was among the first to reach the porch of the house in answer to the police call for help. He received a mortal wound from a bullet fired through the door of a Chi- nese store. He died an hour later in Woll- weber's drug store. The Chinese in the mean- time barricaded the doors and windows of the old adobe and prepared for battle. The news of the fight and of the killing of Thompson spread throughout the city and an immense crowd gathered in the streets around the build- ing with the intention of wreaking vengeance on the Chinese.
The first attempt by the mob to dislodge the Chinamen was by cutting holes through the flat brea covered roof and firing pistol shots into the interior of the building. One of the besieged crawled out of the building and attempted to escape, but was shot down before half way across Negro alley. Another attempted to es- cape into Los Angeles street; he was seized,
dragged to the gate of Tomlinson's corral on New High street, and hanged.
About 9 o'clock a part of the mob had suc- ceeded in battering a hole in the eastern end of the building; through this the rioters, with demoniac howlings, rushed in, firing pistols to the right and left. Huddled in corners and hid- den behind boxes they found eight terror- stricken Chinamen, who begged piteously for their lives. These were brutally dragged out and turned over to the fiendish mob. One was dragged to death by a rope around his neck; three, more dead than alive from kicking and beating, were hanged to a wagon on Los An- geles street; and four were hanged to the gate- way of Tomlinson's corral. Two of the victims were mere boys. While the shootings and hang- ings were going on thieves were looting the other houses in the Chinese quarters. The houses were broken into, trunks, boxes and other receptacles rifled of their contents, and any Chinamen found in the buildings were dragged forth to slaughter. Among the vic- tims was a doctor, Gene Tung, a quiet, inof- fensive old man. He pleaded for his life in good English, offering his captors all his money, some $2,000 to $3,000. He was hanged, his money stolen and one of his fingers cut off to obtain a ring he wore. The amount of money stolen by the mob from the Chinese quarters was variously estimated at from $40,000 to $50,000.
About 9:30 p. m. the law abiding citizens, under the leadership of Henry Hazard, R. M. Widney, H. C. Austin, Sheriff Burns and oth- ers, had rallied in sufficient force to make an attempt to quell the mob. Proceeding to China- town they rescued several Chinamen from the rioters. The mob finding armed opposition quickly dispersed.
The results of the mob's murderous work were ten men hanged on Los Angeles street, some to wagons and some to awnings; five hanged at Tomlinson's corral and four shot to death in Negro alley, nineteen in all. Of all the Chinamen murdered, the only one known to be implicated in the highbinder war was Ah Choy. All the other leaders escaped to the country before the attack was made by the mob. The
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grand jury, after weeks of investigation, found indictments against one hundred and fifty per- sons alleged to have been actively engaged in the massacre. The jury's report severely cen- sured "the officers of this county, as well as of this city, whose duty it is to preserve peace," and declared that they "were deplorably ineffi- cient in the performance of their duty during the scenes of confusion and bloodshed which disgraced our city, and has cast a reproach upon the people of Los Angeles county." Of all those indicted but six were convicted. These were sentenced to from four to six years in the state's prison, but through some legal technicality they were all released after serving a part of their sentence.
The last execution in Los Angeles by a vig- ilance committee was that of Michael Lachenias, a French desperado, who had killed five or six men. The offense for which he was hanged was the murder of Jacob Bell, a little inoffensive man, who owned a small farm near that of Lachenias, south of the city. There had been a slight difference between them in regard to the use of water from a zanja. Lachenias, with- out a word of warning, rode up to Bell, where he was at work in his field, drew a revolver and shot him dead. The murderer then rode into town and boastingly informed the people of what he had done and told them where they would find Bell's body. He then surrendered himself to the officers and was locked up in jail.
Public indignation was aroused. A meeting was held in Stearns' hall on Los Angeles street. A vigilance committee was formed and the de- tails of the execution planned. On the morning of the 17th of December, 1870, a body of three hundred armed men marched to the jail, took Lachenias out and proceeded with him to Tom- linson's corral on Temple and New High streets, and hanged him. The crowd then quietly dis- persed.
A strange metamorphosis took place in the character of the lower classes of the native Cal- ifornians after the conquest. (The better classes were not changed in character by the changed conditions of the country, but throughout were true gentlemen and most worthy and honorable
citizens.) Before the conquest by the Ameri- cans they were a peaceful and contented people. There were no organized bands of outlaws among them. After the discovery of gold the evolution of a banditti began and they produced some of the boldest robbers and most daring highwaymen the world has seen.
The injustice of their conquerors had much to do with producing this change. The Ameri- cans not only took possession of their country and its government, but in many cases they de- spoiled them of their ancestral acres and their personal property. Injustice rankles; and it is not strange that the more lawless among the native population sought revenge and retalia- tion. They were often treated by the rougher American element as aliens and intruders, who had no right in the land of their birth. Such treatment embittered them more than loss of property. There were those, however, among the natives, who, once entered upon a career of crime, found robbery and murder congenial occupations. The plea of injustice was no ex- tenuation for their crimes.
Joaquin Murieta was the most noted of the Mexican and Californian desperadoes of the early '50s. He was born in Sonora of good fam- ily and received some education. He came to California with the Sonoran migration of 1849, and secured a rich claim on the Stanislaus. He was dispossessed of this by half a dozen Amer- ican desperadoes, his wife abused and both driven from the diggings. He next took up a ranch on the Calaveras, but from this he was driven by two Americans. He next tried min- ing in the Murphy diggings, but was unsuccess- ful. His next occupation was that of a monte player. While riding into town on a horse bor- rowed from his half-brother he was stopped by an American, who claimed that the horse was stolen from him. Joaquin protested that the horse was a borrowed one from his half-brother and offered to procure witnesses to prove it. He was dragged from the saddle amid cries of "hang the greaser." He was taken to the ranch of his brother. The brother was hanged to the limb of a tree, no other proof of his crime being needed than the assertion of the American that the horse was his. Joaquin was stripped, bound
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to the same tree and flogged. The demon was aroused within him, and no wonder, he vowed revenge on the men who had murdered his brother and beaten him. Faithfully he carried out his vow of vengeance. Had he doomed only these to slaughter it would have been but little loss, but the implacable foe of every American, he made the innocent suffer with the guilty. He was soon at the head of a band of desperadoes, varying in numbers from twenty to forty. For three years he and his band were the terror of the state. From the northern mines to the Mexican border they committed robberies and murders. Claudio and some of his sub- ordinates were killed, but the robber chief seemed to bear a charmed life. Large rewards were offered for him dead or alive and numerous attempts were made to take him. Capt. Harry Love at the head of a band of rangers August, 1853, came upon Joaquin and six of his gang in a camp near the Tejon Pass. In the fight that ensued Joaquin and Three Fingered Jack were killed. With the loss of their leaders the or- ganization was broken up.
The last organized band of robbers which terrorized the southern part of the state was that of Vasquez. Tiburcio Vasquez was born in Monterey county, of Mexican parents, in 1837. Early in life he began a career of crime. After committing a number of robberies and thefts he was captured and sent to San Quentin for horse stealing. He was discharged in 1863, but continued his disreputable career. He united with Procopio and Soto, two noted ban- dits. Soto was killed by Sheriff Morse of Ala- meda county in a desperate encounter. Vasquez and his gang of outlaws committed robberies throughout the southern part of the state, rang- ing from Santa Clara and Alameda counties to the Mexican line. Early in May, 1874, Sheriff William Rowland of Los Angeles county, who had repeatedly tried to capture Vasquez, but whose plans had been foiled by the bandit's
spies, learned that the robber chief was mak- ing his headquarters at the house of Greek George, about ten miles due west of Los An- geles, toward Santa Monica, in a cañon of the Cahnenga mountains. The morning of May 15 was set for the attack. To avert suspicion Sheriff Rowland remained in the city. The at- tacking force, eight in number, were under command of Under-Sheriff Albert Johnson, the other members of the force were Major H. M. Mitchell, attorney-at-law; J. S. Bryant, city con- stable; E. Harris, policeman; W. E. Rogers, citizen; B. F. Hartley, chief of police; and D. K. Smith, citizen, all of Los Angeles, and a Mr. Beers, of San Francisco, special correspondent of the San Francisco Chronicle.
At 4 a. m. on the morning of the 15th of May the posse reached Major Mitchell's bee ranch in a small cañon not far from Greek George's. From this point the party reconnoitered the bandit's hiding place and planned an attack. As the deputy sheriff and his men were about to move against the house a high box wagon drove up the cañon from the direction of Greek George's place. In this were two natives; the sheriff's party climbed into the high wagon box and, lying down, compelled the driver to drive up to the back of Greek George's house, threatening him and his companion with death on the least sign of treachery. Reaching the house they surrounded it and burst in the door. Vasquez, who had been eating his breakfast, at- tempted to escape through a small window. The party opened fire on him. Being wounded and finding himself surrounded on all sides, he surrendered. He was taken to the Los Angeles jail. His injuries proved to be mere flesh wounds. He received a great deal of maudlin sympathy from silly women, who magnified him into a hero. He was taken to San José, tried for murder, found guilty and hanged, March 19, 1875. His band was thereupon broken up and dispersed.
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CHAPTER XXVIII.
FILIBUSTERS AND FILIBUSTERING.
T HE rush of immigration to California in the early '50s had brought to the state a class of adventurers who were too lazy or too proud to work. They were ready to engage in almost any lawless undertaking that promised plunder and adventure. The de- feat of the pro-slavery politicians in their at- tempts to fasten their "peculiar institution" upon any part of the territory acquired from Mex- ico had embittered them. The more un- scrupulous among them began to look around for new fields, over which slavery might be ex- tended. As it could be made profitable only in southern lands, Cuba, Mexico and Central America became the arenas for enacting that form of piracy called "filibustering." The object of these forays, when organized by Americans, was to seize upon territory as had been done in Texas and erect it into an independent gov- ernment that ultimately would be annexed to the United States and become slave territory. Although the armed invasion of countries with which the United States was at peace was a di- rect violation of its neutrality laws, yet the fed- eral office-holders in the southern states and in California, all of whom belonged to the pro- slavery faction, not only made no attempt to prevent these invasions, but secretly aided them or at least sympathized with them to the extent of allowing them to recruit men and depart without molestation. There was a glamour of romance about these expeditions that influenced unthinking young men of no fixed principles to join them; these were to be pitied. But the leaders of them and their abettors were cold, selfish, scheming politicians, willing, if need be, to overthrow the government of the nation and build on its ruins an oligarchy of slave holders.
The first to organize a filibuster expedition in California was a Frenchman. Race prejudices were strong in early mining days. The United 13
States had recently been at war with Mexico. The easy conquest of that country had bred a contempt for its peoples. The Sonoran migra- tion, that begun soon after the discovery of gold in California, brought a very undesirable class of immigrants to the state. Sailing vessels had brought from the west coast of Sontlı America another despised class of mongrel Spanish. It exasperated the Americans to see these people digging gold and carrying it out of the country. This antagonism extended, more or less, to all foreigners, but was strongest against men of the Latin races. Many French- men, through emigration schemes gotten up in Paris, had been induced to come to Califor- nia. Some of these were men of education and good standing, but they fell under the ban of prejudices and by petty persecutions were driven out of the mines and forced to earn a precarious living in the cities. There was a great deal of dissatisfaction among the French- men with existing conditions in California, and they were ready to embark in any scheme that promised greater rewards. Among the French population of San Francisco was a man of noble family, Count Gaston Roaul de Raousset-Boul- bon. He had lost his ancestral lands and was in reduced circumstances. He was a man of education and ability, but visionary. He con- ceived the idea of establishing a French colony on the Sonora border and opening the mines that had been abandoned on account of Apache depredations. By colonizing the border he hoped to put a stop to American encroachments. He divulged his scheme to the French consul, Dillon, at San Francisco, who entered heartily into it. Raousset was sent to the City of Mex- ico, where he obtained from President Arista the desired concession of land and the promise of financial assistance from a leading banking house there on condition that he proceed at
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once to Sonora with an armed company of Frenchmen. Returning to San Francisco he quickly recruited from among the French resi- dents two hundred and fifty men and with these he sailed for Guaymas, where he arrived early in June, 1852. He was well received at first, but soon found himself regarded with suspicion. He was required by the authorities to remain at Guaymas. After a month's detention he was allowed to proceed through Hermosilla to the Arizona border.
When about one hundred miles from Arispe he received an order from General Blanco, then at Hermosilla, to report to him. While halting at El Caric to consider his next move he re- ceived a reinforcement of about eighty French colonists, who had come to the country the year before under command of Pindray. Pindray had met his death in a mysterious manner. It was supposed that he was poisoned. The colon- ist had remained in the country. Raousset sent one of his men, Garnier, to interview Blanco. General Blanco gave his ultimatum-First, that the Frenchmen should become naturalized citi- zens of Mexico; or, secondly, they should wait until letters of security could be procured from the capital, when they might proceed to Arizona and take possession of any mines they found; or, lastly, they might put themselves under the leadership of a Mexican officer and then proceed. Raousset and his followers refused to accede to any of these propositions. Blanco began col- lecting men and munitions of war to oppose the French. Raousset raised the flag of revolt and invited the inhabitants to join him in gaining the independence of Sonora. After drilling his men a few weeks and preparing for hostilities he began his march against Hermosilla, distant one hundred and fifty miles. He met with no opposition, the people along his route welcom- ing the French. General Blanco had twelve hundred men to defend the city. But instead of preparing to resist the advancing army he sent delegates to Raousset to offer him money to let the city alone. Raousset sent back word that at 8 o'clock he would begin the attack; and at II would be master of the city. He was as good as his word. The Frenchmen charged the Mex- icans and although the opposing force num-
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