USA > California > A picture of pioneer times in California, illustrated with anecdotes and stores taken from real life > Part 13
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"Forty years?"
"Yes, every day of it. He came in 1826. Well, he gets about the same salary that he did to commence with. The other day he came to me saying, ' I ought to have died forty years ago.' 'You don't mean that,' said I. 'Yes,' said he; ' I mean that I have been buried in this building forty years, and I might as well have been buried in my grave, What's the difference between
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tombs? Of what advantage to myself have I been here? I had nothing when I came in and have nothing now. I am disqualified for anything. If I was turned out to-day I would starve to-morrow.' So much for a govern- ment position that you young men are so anxious to get. They'd better let it alone."
Yes; strictly speaking, this chapter is all a digression, but the subject came naturally and forcibly in view, while drawing to mind the good old times of the pioneers, when we had no State government to care for us or State taxes to grind us down. I do not exactly advocate going back to that condition, but I do advocate going three-quarters of the way back, and then we will have enough, and more than enough, of government left for all practical purposes. Do not fear, boys of California, sons of the pioneers, to strike boldly for such reforms, and be sure your success will be a glory to your native State.
CHAPTER XI.
STRANGE RECOGNITIONS-STOLEN MONEY RETURNED-MONTEREY-HOSPITAL- ITY OF ITS INHABITANTS-ITS DECAY-A FANDANGO-DON DAVID SPENSE AND DON JUAN COOPER-MEETING OF OLD FRIENDS-TALBOT H. GREEN- HIS GENEROSITY-REFUSAL OF NOMINATIONS FOR UNITED STATES SENATOR AND MAYOR-HIS MARRIAGE-RECOGNITION BY A LADY-THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION-GREEN'S IDENTIFICATION AS AN ABSCONDER-DENIAL OF THE CHARGE-HIS DEPARTURE FROM SAN FRANCISCO-SUBSEQUENT CAREER.
Many strange and curious recognitions occurred on this coast in 1849. Men supposed to be long dead were discovered living here under assumed names. I knew an instance, related to me in confidence, of this sort. In the early part of 1850 a gentle- man arrived here from Cincinnati with the intention of entering into mercantile business in this State. While looking up a good location, he met an old acquaintance who, seven years before, had disappeared with ten thousand dollars of his money, en- trusted to him to take to St. Louis. The absconder was then doing a flourishing business under an assumed name in San Francisco, and offered to pay the whole amount with interest, on condition of perfect secrecy being observed. This was agreed to, and half the lost money was paid down in gold, and the other half and interest was secured. The fortunate merchant took the first return steamer for his old home, satisfied with what California had done for him. The name of the discovered man was never made known to any one but to the lawyer chosen mutually by the parties to fix up the matter between them. This man always bore a good reputation in this State, married an amiable lady, is now dead, having left children and a valua- ble estate. It is believed that the family never knew of the one false step of the head of their house.
A more pleasing recognition was that which occurred to Don David Spense, of Monterey:
The old town of Monterey was once the most hospitable and agreeable town in the State. Thirty years ago it could boast of
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lots of pretty girls of refinement and education, and the jolliest lot of men and women that were ever congregated together. Now, to us pioneers, it looks terribly lonesome, and the less we see of it the better we feel, for the town is decay personified, and not agreeable to contemplate for those who know that they themselves have passed the summit, and are on the shady side of life's journey. As long as Don David Spense and the good Don Juan Cooper remained of the old crowd of long ago, the place was tolerable, their hospitality was a sunlight in itself, that made things look cheerful, but since they have passed away there is a chill in all the surroundings, that Davy Jacks, who now owns the whole town, and, they say, "has it fenced in," finds it impossible to dispel. In old times, it was the invariable prac- tice of the people of Monterey to give a grand entertainment or fandango to the officers of any war vessel that should visit their harbor, no matter what the nationality of the ship might be. Don David was always prominent on those occasions, for he was the very personification of fun and merriment. He was a Scotch- man by birth, and had left his native land while a boy in the employment of a mercantile house largely interested in the Pa- cific coast trade. He first came to Monterey as agent for that firm to purchase hides and tallow. He finally settled there and married a most excellent California young lady with whom he lived a long and happy life. On one occasion that an English man of war appeared in the harbor, Don David was dispatched by the inhabitants with the usual invitation to the Captain and officers to come on shore and partake of the hospitalities of the town, including, of course, a fandango. The English Com- mander informed Don David, after thanking him and the people of Monterey warmly for the proposed kindness, that he should have to put to sea that very night, so that an acceptance of the invitation would be an impossibility, but a general leave was given to the officers to go on shore and visit the city. The First Lieutenant now accepted a seat in Don David's boat to go on shore. As the boat glided over the water the Lieutenant thought the nationality of his new friend was plain, from the accent on his tongue. So he interrupted the conversation with: "If I am not very much mistaken, you are a countryman of mine." "I am Scotch," said Spense. "Ah, I thought so; where were you born?" "In the town of Blank." "Ah, that is my birth-place too; how strange." And now the English officer put his hand
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to his forehead as if in thought as he continued, while Spense looked all excitement. "Let me see, let me see; yes, I knew a widow Spense who lived there in a handsome house a long time ago-yes, and she had one son about my own age." While the Lieutenant was slowly repeating these words both men were star- ing full in each other's face, as if in a struggle to recall long lost memories. "Your name, Lieutenant, is-" "Is Blank," in- terrupted the Lieutenant. "Oh," said Spense, as he threw open his arms; "it is, it must be so; I know you now, you are the boy, who thirty-five years ago, I gave such a thrashing to for breaking my mother's window, on a Christmas morning." "The same," said the Lieutenant, and now the two strong men were locked in each other's arms in emotion that would have better become that long, long ago boyhood, they now so vividly recollected. The Commander of the man-of-war, on hearing of the recognition, concluded to remain over night, so they had the fandango, after all.
The most remarkable discovery of this nature that ever oc- curred in California was that in regard to Talbot H. Green, whose name will be found mixed up prominently with all early notes on California history, but in particular with the city government of San Francisco for the first three years of its organization. In Colton's "Three Years in California " Green is referred to in this way : "Long will the good old town of Monterey lament the departure of Talbot H. Green. His enterprise and integrity as a merchant and his benevolence as a citizen were everywhere felt. The widow or the orphan ever found in him a generous friend." When the South Carolina arrived in San Francisco, in June, '49, we found Green actively engaged with all that con- cerned the government and regulation of the city. He had a short time previously arrived from Monterey, at which place he had for some years been connected in mercantile business with Thomas O. Larkin. He was now .a member of the prosperous firm of Howard, Mellis & Co. He was a man of plain appear- ance, low in stature, and square built. In manners he was ex- ceedingly friendly, kind and off-hand towards all. He seemed to be a man of sterling, good common sense, and of fine judg- ment. He was a good accountant, and of reasonably good edu- cation. In all the Summer of '49 he was decidedly the most popular man of all the old Californians that we found here be- fore us. He was respected by all, and in nearly all disputes
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between business men, some of which involved fifty and even a hundred thousand dollars, Green was chosen as one of the ar- bitrators, and in very many cases as sole arbitrator, and I can- not recall an instance where his decision was disputed or appealed from by either party. For these services he never would receive a dollar, though I recollect some instances where both sides of the dispute, after the decision was rendered, joined in making him a handsome present. Wm. D. M. Howard, Thomas O. Lar- kin, Major Hensley, General Sutter, Sam Brannan, Leidesdorff, Captain Folsom, Colonel Stevenson, of the old American Cali- fornians, were Green's warm personal friends. The newcomers were all his friends. When the first Legislature of California met at San Jose, the State was not yet admitted into the Union, but her two first Senators had to be elected. Dr. Gwin and Col- onel Fremont were the prominent candidates, and were finally elected, but Green would certainly have been elected to one of these positions had he listened to the entreaties of his friends, and allowed his name to be used. As it was, some insisted on voting for him after his declaration that he would not take the position. When the first Mayor of San Francisco was to be chosen, in 1850, all eyes were turned to Talbot H. Green. He had only to say the word and his election was sure. This was a home office, and not very conspicuous, and Green seemed in- clined to accept it. However, John W. Geary, then Alcalde, besought of him not to accept the position, representing to Green that he had to send home his family to Pennsylvania for want of means to maintain them in San Francisco, and that if he was elected Mayor he could bring them back again. So Green, with his usual generosity, positively declined the position of Mayor, and Geary was, of course, elected. Thus stood Talbot H. Green in the estimation of all ; not a whisper or breath to his discredit was ever heard in the community, up to the celebration of the admission of California into the Union, in October, 1850.
In the Fall of 1849 he married the widow Montgomery. They were understood to have been engaged for some time, but on one pretence or another Green deferred the marriage until, at length, very properly, no excuse could be taken, so the marriage cere- mony was performed; but it was done in a private sort of a way, at Mrs. Montgomery's home by Frank Turk, who was then Assist- ant Alcalde of San Francisco. Two witnesses only were present,
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George H. Howard and W. F. White. This marriage proved to be Green's greatest stumbling block, as will appear when I explain.
On the 29th of October, 1850, the day the people celebrated the admission of California into the Union, Green had, as a matter of course, a prominent place iu the grand procession in which we all marched through the streets. As the procession was breaking up and dispersing on the Plaza, a lady who stood looking on suddenly walked forward to Green, and in an excited, astonished way, reached out her hand saying " Oh ! Mr. Geddis, can it be possible that you are here in California ?" Green, in apparent surprise, took her hand, and said with perfect coolness: " You must be mistaken, madam, in the person. My name is Green-Talbot H. Green." The lady drew back abashed, but said: "Why, certainly I am not mistaken. I cannot be mis- taken; I knew you all my life. I know your wife, your sister and your children." A gentleman who stood by said that Green turned pale, and that a tremor shook his frame, but with a forced smile he again denied his identity with Geddis, and in a calm, quiet way outfaced the lady, so that she turned away evidently astonished and doubting.
From this time forward, vague rumors got about that Green had been discovered to be a man sailing under a false name. No one believed the rumors or paid the least attention to them; and so matters ran on until the following year, when the Demo- cratic party called together a convention to nominate a candidate for Mayor of the city, and all other officers of the city govern- ment.
The convention met on Saturday afternoon, and organized by electing John A. McGlynn as Chairman. They adopted an or- der of business, that required the nomination for the least important office to be made first, and so continue up until they reached that of Mayor. The well-known intention of the con- vention was to nominate Green for that office. McGlynn had called on him, and he had consented to take the nomination, and his nomination was; in fact, a foregone conclusion. Before the convention had reached the nomination for Mayor, it ad- journed over until Monday evening. On Sunday morning there appeared in a flashy, irresponsible paper an article in which it was stated that the Democrats would on Monday evening, nominate a well-known merchant for Mayor, who was sailing under a
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false name, assumed at the time he had disappeared from his old home in Pennsylvania, with a large amount of money lie had been entrusted with by the Gettysburg bank. This charge was so plain and direct that it created a profound sensation, and every one spoke of it with astonishment and almost alarm. Brannan, Howard and Larkin, Green's old and warm friends, at once called on him, and, assuring him of unvarying friend- ship, besought him to confide in them without reserve, and that they would stand by him under all and every circumstance.
He was greatly agitated, but boldly asserted that he was no other than Talbot H. Green, and that it was a case of mistaken identity. They then proposed to call with him on the proprie- tor of the Sunday paper and demand his authority for the pub- lication he had made. To this Green at once agreed. The . editor of the paper, without hesitation, gave the name of a gen- tleman who had lately arrived from Gettysburg, Pa.
On this person Green and his friends then called, and asked him if he had authorized the publication of the statement of the Sunday paper. He answered: " Yes, of course I did, and Mr. Geddis knows that it is all true." "But you are mistaken," said Green. "I am not the man you think I am. It is a case of mistaken identity." His accuser looked at him with a smile of of ridicule as he replied: " Why, Paul, what nonsense you are talking. You and I knew each other from our childhood up; you know I know you, and now that you are rich, why don't you acknowledge to these gentlemen the true state of the case, and then go home like an honest man, and pay up the bank, and be just to your poor wife and children, and have done with it ?" Green still held out boldly, and replied: "Is there no differ- ence between me and the man you take me for ?" " Not a par- ticle, except such as ten years would naturally make in the appearance of a middle-aged man, which is very little in your case."
Green's friends were now thrown into doubt, and it appeared to them that the accusation against him must be true; so, on again reaching the street, they besought him to come out can- didly, and assured him that they would put up $25,000 each- or more, if necessary-to clear him from any debt he might owe the bank, and that they would in every way stand by him with brotherly fidelity.
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It is said that while Green listened to these generous offers of money and friendship he shook as if in an ague fit, and tears flowed fast over his cheek; yet, through it all, his only answer was that the charge was false, and that he would prove to them that it was so.
During the day (Monday) Green called on John A. McGlynn, and related to him just what I have told of this interview with his accuser, and then gave McGlynn the same assurance of the falsity of the charge. In this conversation with McGlynn he told him that it was his intention to leave for Panama the next day by steamer, on his way to his old home, in Pennsylvania, where he was going, he said, to get the necessary proofs to con- tradict the charges made against him. He then continued: " I want you, Mack, to give me the nomination for Mayor this evening, and I will then address you a letter declining it, thank- ing the convention for the honor intended, and that will give me the opportunity I want to denounce this scandal about me as false."
In this interview McGlynn said that Green showed great ex- citement and anxiety of mind. McGlynn had always been a warm personal friend of Green's, and promised to do what he requested with regard to the nomination for Mayor; but when the Convention met they had such a struggle over the nomina- tion of the other city officers that the whole evening was spent, and the Convention again adjourned until Tuesday evening, without reaching the nomination for the position of Mayor. On Tuesday morning it was rumored all around that Talbot H. Green's friends were requested to meet him at a large auction room on Montgomery street, and from there to escort him to the steamer that was to take him to Panama.
At the time named the large room was full to its utmost capacity. There was a large quantity of champagne opened, and Thomas O. Larkin got upon a table in the midst of the crowd, holding a glass of champagne in his hand. He gave the following as the sentiment of the meeting: "May the most honest man among us all here assembled be as honest, and always remain as hionest, as we believe Talbot H. Green to be." All drank the toast, and gave three rousing cheers for Green.
Green was now loudly called for. He got on the table, but as soon as he began to return thanks, his feelings overcame him, and not a word could he utter. His emotion was such that he
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fairly sobbed. We then formed ourselves into a procession and marched with him to the steamer, where he continued to shake hands with friends until it moved off from the wharf. Then we all turned away with a sad, sickening feeling, for the conviction was forcing itself on us more and more, as we thought it over, that there was to be in the future no such man as our old acquaintance, Talbot H. Green, and that in his place would figure one Paul B. Geddis, who had defrauded the bank of his native town and deserted and dishonored his wife and children. Yes; our feelings were far more disagreeable and sad, as we walked home, each to his own place of business, than they would have been if we had just been laying Talbot H. Green in a last resting place at Lone Mountain. In fact, this strange out- come of so prominent a citizen seemed to cast a shadow of gloom over the whole city that day, reaching every household. It seemed for a moment to check our wild, joyous onward career, and force us to stop to sigh, when we had no time to give to sighing. Another day, and San Francisco forgot it all.
As to Green's subsequent career, I can only state it as known to the general public, which I suppose to be in the main correct. Before leaving he conveyed a large part of his property to his California wife, Mrs. Montgomery that was, and his one child born of her. The remainder he intrusted to the care of his friend Thompson. He took with him, it is said, some $20,000 in drafts and gold. At the time of his departure he was one of the Commissioners of the Fund of Debt of San Francisco. He also held various other trusts, both private and public, all of which he resigned before leaving. On board the steamer, while shaking hands with his friends, he had more than once to stop to sign a resignation to one of these sort of trusts. For over a year after he left, no word or tidings of his whereabouts reached his San Francisco friends, and many supposed him dead. Sam Brannan was most active in trying to discover what had become of him. The last trace that could be found of him was in New Orleans, where he had his drafts cashed and where it was found he had registered his name at the hotel as T. Green. At length he was discovered in Cincinnati, it is said, without a dollar. Brannan and some two or three of Green's old friends wrote to him and got him to consent to meet them in the City of New York. This meeting did take place, and after it some of the parties went to Gettysburg and settled in 9
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full with the bank. It is understood also that Green and his wife were reconciled, and that he purchased a beautiful farm for his family on the Susquehanna river, to which they retired to live; but how this can be it is hard to say, at least so far as Green is concerned, for not long afterwards we heard of Green being in Texas under his own proper name of Paul Geddis in a land speculation.
It was announced that he was to return to San Francisco and go into business with Sam Brannan. In 1854 he did come back, but he looked broken down and wretched. He appeared to shun every one, and every one shunned him. I met him once after his return. We had been very intimate friends. The meeting was embarrassing and awkward. I did not know how to address him. With me Talbot H. Green was no longer in existence, and as to the poor, weak creature, Paul Geddis, I did not care for his acquaintance; so, without addressing him once by name, we parted. He soon left California, but has appeared here since more than once. But what has become of him in the end I have no knowledge. When Green's friends visited Gettys- burg they found the debt he owed the bank to be insignificant- less than $10,000. Geddis, it appears, was of one of the first families of that old town. His wife was an accomplished lady, and when he disappeared from there he had three lovely chil- dren.
Being about to visit Philadelphia, it is said, he was intrusted by the local bank with $7,000 of city bank notes. These he was to have got redeemed in the city and return the gold to the bank. On reaching the city of Philadelphia, he was entrapped into a gambling den and lost all his own money and nearly all that of the bank. Filled with despair and fright, he changed his name and pushed his way West. West, West he flew from fancied pursuers, until he finds himself Talbot H. Green, a val- uable clerk in the employment of Thomas O. Larkin, in Monterey, California. Riches came to him fast after his move to San Francisco from Monterey in 1849. Now plans of sending the money home to the bank and of returning to his wife and children came constantly to his mind; but from day to day he deferred the good act that his guardian angel urged on him, and then objections seemed to come in his way. What excuse could be given to Howard and Mellis, his partners, for drawing so large a sum on private account ? How could he ever tell them that he
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had assumed a false name ? " Oh, wait, wait," said the devil. " Next week will be time enough to send the money;" and "next week" and "next week" it was all the time. Then came another trouble. He is tempted, he yields, and is married. " Merciful Heaven," we fancy him to exclaim. "All is lost. Wife and children are dishonored. I must never meet or see them again." Poor Talbot H. Green! '49ers never harbor an unkind feeling towards you, and always sigh when they speak of your terrible, sudden downfall, though we now comprehend, of course, that your many elements of popularity were used by designing men to help them rob the city, and that you were, in fact, a weak tool in their hands.
In all this account of Green, of course there may be some errors, but there are none in the main facts, for they are given as known to us all.
CHAPTER XII.
WAGES AND MERCHANDISE-A SLOW ENGLISH FIRM-A CUSTOMER FOR BOWIE KNIVES-A SHREWD SPECULATION IN SHEETINGS.
Now let me add a word on some more of the misrepresenta- tions of the "Annals." On page 253 tell us that :
"Laborers' wages were a dollar an hour; skilled mechanics received from twelve to twenty dollars a day."
Pages 366-367, on " Merchandise," they say :
" Matters were, perhaps, not quite so bad as when, in the Spring of 1850, chests of tobacco were used to pave the streets or make a solid foundation for houses, and when nearly every article of merchandise went a-begging for buyers, and not finding one, was cast aside to rot or used to fill up mud- holes." * " In '49 a dollar was paid for a pill, and the same sum for an egg ; a hundred dollars for a pair of boots, and twice that for a decent suit of clothes. A single rough brick cost a dime, and a plank some twenty feet long was cheap at ten dollars. At one period of that mon- strous year common iron tacks of the smallest size sold for their weight in gold, and for a long period were in request at from five to ten dollars an ounce, but in '51 bales of valuable goods were sometimes not worth the storage."
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