An illustrated history of Los Angeles County, California. Containing a history of Los Angeles County from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day, Part 30

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1092

USA > California > Los Angeles County > An illustrated history of Los Angeles County, California. Containing a history of Los Angeles County from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 30

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He assumed the responsibilities of the office of district attorney on his thirty-fifth birthday, the 7th of January last, 1889, and has filled the office and donc the work required of him with ability and eredit to himself and his party.

Mr. Kelly has a good deal of executive ability, and has a knack of handling men, the public and business that makes the wheels of criminal justice run smoothly. His appointments in his office, the character and ability of his deputies, is a strong example of this executive quality. Mr. Kelly is a man of family, having married in June, 1885, Miss Lillian E. Porter-Bundy,

formerly of Lakeville, Conneetient, and has one child, Lucile B. Kelly, aged three years.

Mr. Kelly is also recognized as an able, in- teresting and eloquent speaker, and is always called upon in the general elections to " take the stump" in the interests of the Republican ticket. In the campaign of 1884 he made twenty speeches in the county in favor of Blaine, and in 1888 mnade fifty-one speeches for Harrison and Morton.

.COLONEL RICHARD BRYAN TREAT, one of the leading members of the California bar, was born in Tallmadge, Summit County, Ohio, Oc- tober 31, 1835; studied law in Warren, Trum- ball County, the same State, in the office of Hutchins, Cox & Ritliffe, the members of which firin subsequently won distingnished honors in State and National politics. He graduated at the Harvard Law School in 1859, and the same year was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Massachusetts at Dedham. In 1860 he commenced active practice at Canton, Ohio, as a partner with' Hon. B. F. Liter, formerly member of Congress from that place. On April 18, 1861, four days after the attack upon Fort Sninter, he responded to his country's call to defend her flag, and enlisted in Company F, Canton Zouaves, Fourth Ohio Infantry, and remained until the end of the war, being hon- orably discharged with the rank of Colonel, in October, 1865. The last two years he served npon the staff of Major-General Schofield, then commanding the Army of the Ohio. One of the memorable experiences of Colonel Treat during his four years and a half of service to maintain the stars of the old flag in the South- ern sky is the following historical incident: After the fall of Richmond the Confederate ar- chives, consisting of records of the State and war departments of the Confederate Government, were in the hands of General Joe Johnston, who turned them over to Major-General Schofield at Charlotte, North Carolina. They consisted of about ten tons of material, embracing all the battle-flags captured from the United States forces, official reports of Rebel commanders, and

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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

other public documents. After the assassina- tion of President Lincoln, Mr. Stanton, Secre- tary of War, ordered General Schofield to hurry these archives to Washington as soon as possible, and Colonel Treat was detailed with two officers and a company of soldiers for this duty, going by rail to Newberne, thence by canal to Norfolk, and by tug Martha Washington, via Fortress Monroe, to Washington. Certain documents were discovered among these archives tending to connect prominent officers of the Confederacy with the assassination plot, and Colonel Treat was a witness on the trial of the conspirators before the celebrated Military Commission.

After retiring from the army Colonel Treat engaged in business on Wall Street, New York City, being a member of the noted firm of Ful- ler, Treat & Cox, which was very successful until struck by the financial storm of " Black Friday " in 1868. After these reverses Colonel Treat drifted back to his profession, but did not engage actively therein until he came to Cali- fornia in November, 1875, since which time he has been steadily attaining prominence both as a criminal and civil lawyer until he now ranks among the first attorneys on this coast, espe- cially as a trial lawyer and advocate, as well as a safe and trusted counselor. While located in San Luis Obispo he was for five years the at- torney for the Pacific Coast Railway Company, and has been for the same length of time attorney for the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, and for other corporations and syndicates. He has also been in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company a portion of the time. Since settling in Los Angeles he formed a law -part- nership with Mr. Willis, under the firm title of Willis & Treat, which relation still continues.

Colonel Treat married, since coming to Cali- fornia, Miss Isabel Davis, an accomplished young lady, a native of the Golden State. Mrs. Treat's mother is now a resident of San Francisco.

ANDREW GLASSELL, retired lawyer and capi- talist, is a descendant from an old Scotch-Vir- ginia family, and is the fourth of his name in as many successive generations on the paternal

side of the house. On attaining his majority Andrew Glassell, the grandsire of the subject of this memoir, bade good-bye to the classic land of Burns and Scott to cast his lot in the new world, and settling in Virginia he became a farmer. He married into the Taylor fan- ily, of which General Zachary Taylor was a member, and Andrew, a child of this union, was born, and also married in Virginia, to Miss Susan Thornton, a native of that State. Of their six children, Andrew, of whom we write, is the only survivor. He was born September 30, 1827, and when seven years of age moved with his parents to Alabama, where his father engaged in cotton planting. Andrew was edn- cated in the University of Alabama, from which he was graduated in 1848. While pursning his law studies and early practice young Glas- sell enjoyed the benefits of contact with that great legal mind, Hon. John A. Campbell, at one time a justice of the United States Supreme Bench, and one of the most eminent of Amer- ican lawyers and jurists. Mr. Glassell was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court in 1853. In that year he came to California, and presenting a complimentary testimonial letter from Judge Campbell to the Supreme Court of the State, was admitted to practice here without a formal examination. A friend of his being United States District Attorney at San Francisco, Mr. Glassell received the appointment of Dep- uty United States Attorney, to assist in trying a large number of accumulated land cases pend- ing in the Federal District Court, and was thus employed about three years. Then resuming his private practice, he did a prosperous legal business till the civil war broke out. His friends and relatives, and hence his sympathies, being on the Confederate side, and not wishing to take part in the conflict by discussion or otherwise, Mr. Glassell withdrew from the practice, and for several years carried on the manufacture of lumber and staves near Santa Cruz, employing a large force of men in a steam saw-mill. Deciding, after the war was over, to return to his profession, he visited the

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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

principal points in the State, and selecting Los Angeles as his choice in which to live-and die, he formed a law partnership with Alfred B. Chapman, a former Captain in the regular United States army.

In about three years afterward Colonel George H. Smith, late of the Confederate States army, and a lawyer of ability, joined this partnership, under the firm style of Glassell, Chapman & Smith, and this firm continued until about the year 1880, enjoying a large and lucrative prac- tice in Los Angeles and the adjoining counties, and in the Supreme Court of the State.

In 1880 Mr. Chapman retired from practice and engaged in orange-growing on a large scale, on a fine estate near San Gabriel, where he now resides in comfort with his family.

In 1883 Mr. Glassell also retired from the practice, and in his own langnage, "having served his time in attending to other people's business, is now endeavoring to attend to his own business and let other people's business alone."

In 1855 Mr. Glassell married a daughter of Dr. H. II. Toland, an eminent physician of San Francisco, a South Carolinian, by whom he had nine children, all of whom are living. She died in 1879. In 1885 Mr. Glassell again married. His second wife is a daughter of William C. Micou, formerly an eminent lawyer and a member of the distinguished law firm of Ben- jamin & Micon, of New Orleans.

William T. Glassell, a younger brother of the subject of this sketch, and once a resident of Los Angeles County, was a prominent actor in one of the most daring events of the late civil war. He it was who conceived the idea of de- stroying the United States fleet of iron-clads off Charleston Ilarbor by blowing them up with torpedo boats; and after several fruitles efforts to obtain permission from the higher Confeder- ate officers to test the feasibility of his scheme, his request was finally granted. The little historic steam craft known as the cigar boat " David" was built at the private expense of Theodore Stoney and the ladies of Charleston,

South Carolina, to make the trial. It was fitted up according to Mr. Glassell's directions, and armed with a torpedo containing 100 pounds of powder. Everything being in readiness, the daring Lieutenant manned his boat with three other volunteers besides himself, and on tlie night of October 5, 1863, boldly sailed out under cover of the darkness on their mission of destruction, to attack the United States fleet which was blockading Charleston Harbor. Singling out the "New Ironsides," the most powerful war ship then in the world, Glassell steered the cigar boat for it, and although sighted and commanded to not approach by the ship's officer, he never swerved nor halted until he struck the "Ironsides" with the torpedo, which exploded with terrific force, so badly damaging the great vessel that she never after- ward fired a gun. The genins and daring of this young Confederate officer, which thus in- augurated a revolution in the methods of naval warfare, astonished the old naval warriors of two continents. Lieutenant Glassell and one of his companions were captured by the United States forces; the other two escaped and re- turned to Charleston. After being held as a prisoner of war about eighteen months, he was exchanged, and after the close of the war he came, at the invitation of his brother Andrew, to California. He subsequently laid out and founded the town of Orange, then in this county, where he passed the last years of his life, and died about ten years ago, much esteemned by all who knew him.

FRANK R. WILLIS, of the law firm of Willis & Treat, is a product of the old Bay State, born in North Adams, Massachusetts, in 1855. Two years after his birth his parents moved to Iowa, where he was reared and edneated, graduating at the State Normal School in 1879, and in the Law Department of the Iowa State University in 1881. He immediately began practice in Cherokee, that State. The following year he moved to Aurelia, Iowa, and the same year was elected mayor of that town, and re-elected in 1883, meantime pursuing the practice of law.

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In December, 1883, Mr. Willis left the Hawk- eye State for California, locating at once in Los Angeles, where he has been active in his pro- fession ever since. From 1886 to 1888 he was attorney for the Public Administrator, during which time and since he has done a large busi- ness in probate law, having handled more than 200 probate cases within the past three years. On Angust 1, 1888, Mr. Willis entered into a law partnership with Colonel R. B. Treat, under the firm style of Willis & Treat, which is fast winning recognition as one of the strong law firms of the Los Angeles bar. Besides their extensive probate practice they are attorneys for several corporations, and also handle some important criminal business. A noted case in this branch of practice now pending, in which Willis & Treat are the attorneys for the defense, is that of the People vs. Richard See, in which he is charged with a murder committed February 28, 1871, and for which he was arrested in Ellens- burg, Oregon, in May, 1889.

Mr. Willis is a Past Grand of Nietos Lodge, No. 197, I. O. O. F., and was a delegate to the Grand Lodge at its last annual session. He was married on March 8, 1882, to Miss Letitia Allin, at Iowa City, Iowa, and resides with his family at No. 31 North Johnson street, Los An- geles.

HON. R. F. DEL VALLE was born in Los An- geles, December 15, 1854, of one of the oldest and most distinguished Spanish families in this section, his parents being Ygnacio and Ysabel (Vareta) Del Valle. The father was one of the best known and most highly esteemed gentle- men of Sonthern California, of lofty character and unblemished reputation. He died in 1880, at the age of seventy-two years. Young Del Valle passed his childhood and yonth between the city home of his parents and their home at the "Cumulos " Ranch owned by them. This ranch has become famous in story as the scene of Helen Hunt Jackson's "Ramona." He re- ceived the best education locally attainable, and graduated after a full course in Santa Clara College, at San José, in 1873. He then studied

law in San Francisco and was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court in 1877. His energy and ability were soon recognized and he became an acknowledged leader in the party of his choice, the Democratic, at the age of twenty-five.

In 1879 he was eleeted a member of the As- sembly from his native county. The next year he was elected Presidential elector on the Han- cock ticket, and re-elected to the Assembly. He served with such credit and honor to him- self, such acceptance to the party at large, and such satisfaction to his constitueney, that in 1882 he was unanimously nominated as State Senator from this county and elected by a large majority. He was chosen president pro tem. of the Senate in 1883, and was a candidate for Congress from the Sixth District of this State in 1884. Ilis official services are owing to his fealty to party interests and a sense of duty to his country rather than to personal ambition. What he may feel of that infirmity of noble ininds is impenetrably hidden under a natural modesty that is as striking as it is attractive. Among our many distinguished fellow-citizens there is no one whose character and ability have endeared him to a wider circle of friends, no one who is more warmly esteemed or more cordially respected by those who know him in- timately and well or enjoy the privilege of his acquaintance. His latest public service was as chairman of the State Democratic Convention in this city in May, 1888, and that was so ably performed that it attracted general commenda- tion. From the opening to the close of the convention he filled the difficult position with a skill, adroitness and tact that showed him to be a leader of men. His keenness of perception and knowledge of parliamentary forms and rules, together with his genial appearance, his quick and graceful movements, his firm suavity, with gavel in hand, alike ready to accord proper recognition to a member or rap the discordant assembly to order, the clearness of his decisions and the emphasis and force of his remarks, whether directed to the maintenance of order or the dispatch of business, elicited the most

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favorable comments and were worthy of all praise as models of courtesy and firmness.

Both the marked deterioration in political methods, the absence of elevated aspiration and broad statesmanship, have rudely dissipated whatever charm public life may have once held for Mr. Del Valle, and he very decidedly pre- fers the practice of his profession and the quiet pursuits of private life.

HON. ANSON BRUNSON, solicitor of the Santa Fé Railroad System for California, was born in Portage County, Ohio, April 16, 1834; grad- uated at the University of Michigan in 1857, working at odd jobs to earn expenses; was ad- mitted to the bar in June, 1858; came to Cali- fornia in 1864, stopping at Napa; and finally settled here in Los Angeles in December, 1868. In the autumn of 1884 he was elected judge of the Superior Court, which position he resigned April 1, 1887.

HON. GUILFORD WILEY WELLS. Prominent among the score of leading members of the Los Angeles bar, who had earned distinction in their profession and in positions of public trust in the East before coming to Southern Cali- fornia, is Colonel G. Wiley Wells. He was born at Conesus Centre, New York, February 14, 1840, and is the youngest of three children of Isaac Tichenor Wells and Charity Kenyon, who were joined in marriage in Granville, New York, February 4, 1830. Isaac Tichenor Wells was born at Fairfax, Vermont, August 11, 1807, and died in Conesus Centre, November 2, 1868. The Wells family trace their geneal- ogy back to the time of William the Conqueror in England, and to the latter part of the six- teenth century in America, and number among their ancestors in direct line many illustrious personages on both sides of the Atlantic. Gnil- ford Wiley Wells was educated at Genesee Wesleyan Seminary and College, Lima, New York. Upon the breaking ont of the war of the Rebellion (while he was in college), Mr. Wells enlisted on the first call for volunteers, as a member of the First New York Dragoons, and gave nearly four years of valiant service to the

preservation of the Union and the defense of the "Old Flag." He fought under that intrepid hero of Winchester, General P. H. Sheridan; participated in thirty-seven battles, and rose by successive promotions for gallant services per- formed to the rank of Brevet Lientenant-Colonel; was twice wounded, the last time in February, 1865, so seriously as to permanently disable his left arm, and was discharged from the service on account of his wound February 14, 1865. Retiring from the army Colonel Wells resumed his studies, and in 1867 graduated in law at the Columbian College at Washington, D. C. In December, 1869, he moved to Holly Springs, Mississippi, to practice his profession. In June, 1870, he was appointed by President Gra it, United States District Attorney for the northern district of that state. The Recon- struction Act being passed by Congress about this time, the demoralizing effects of the war began to be manifest in the organized lawless- ness which prevailed, especially in Northern Mississippi, in the terrorism of the Ku-Klux Klan. Laws had been enacted for the punish- ment of these crimes, but they remained a dead letter on the statutes for the want of prosecuting officers with sufficient courage, tact and ability to enforce thein. The ablest men in the Mis- sissippi bar-which was one of the strongest in any State of the Union-were entployed to de- fend these defiers of law. Comprehending the situation, Colonel Wells determined to do his duty, and prepared as best lie could to wage battle with those giants of the bar. He drew the first indictment under the reconstruction act, and secured the first decision rendered in the South against Ku-Klux in District Judge R. A. Hill's court, thus winning the first legal fight and establishing a precedent which was adopted in other States, and finally resulted in the complete destruction of that organization. The Ku-Klux were hunted down, and their secret hiding places invaded, their murderous secrets were revealed, and the perpetrators of crimes punished according to their deserts. Mississippi was thus transformed froin one of

يعودنا بينما لا

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the most lawless to one of the most orderly States in the Union. This herculean task was performed at a great expenditure of labor and energy, and at great peril of life, but in per- formning it Colonel Wells won the esteem of the best element of society, who held him in high esteem therefor. Though having no desire to enter the arena of politics by the prominence of his official position and his contact with public inen, Colonel Wells was forced to assume a leading position in his party, and was chiefly instrumental in securing the nomination and election of General Ames (then United States Senator), to the Governorship of Mississippi in 1873. The Legislature chosen at the same time elected a United States Senator, and yielding to the importunity of his friends Colonel Wells consented to become a candidate. For some unaccountable reason, Ames, the man he had befriended, and who had hitherto professed a warm personal friendship for him, turned against his benefactor, and by a strenuous effort and the use of his official power prevented Colo- nel Wells' election to the United States Senate. Not content with this success against his old friend, Governor Ames exerted himself to defeat Colonel Wells's re-appointment to the United States District Attorney's office, but his faitlı- fulness and efficiency in that capacity had been too well demonstrated; and at the expiration of his first term in 1874, he was reappointed by President Grant, and his appointment was unan- imously confirmed by the Senate. In 1876 Colonel Wells received the nomination for Con- gress in the Second Mississippi District in opposition to A. R. Howe, the Ames candidate, over whom he was elected by 7,000 majority, receiving the full vote of his own party (Re- publican) and the support of the best element in the Democratic party. During his term in Congress Representative Wells served on several important committees, and though in the mi- nority politically, by his energy and fertility of resource he was recognized as one of the most influential working members of the House. Recognizing in Colonel Wells the qualities

adapting him for an important Government position, President Hayes tendered him, in June, 1877, the office of Consul General to Shanghai, China, which he accepted and sailed from San Francisco to his post of duty August 8, of that year. Previons to embarking he had received orders to investigate charges which had been preferred by his predeces. or, General Myers, against O. B. Bradford, Vice-Consul at Shanghai. Myers had been suspended by Minister George H. Seward, and the latter's friend Bradford placed in charge of the consu- late before the charges against Bradford could be investigated. Arriving in China and assum- ing charge of the Shanghai consulate September 13, 1877, Colonel Wells proceeded to examine the accusations against Bradford. He found him guilty, not only as charged by Myers, but of numerous other grave offenses, such as rob- bing the United States mails, embezzlement of Goverment fees, violation of treaty rights with China, extortions from American citizens, mu- tilation of records, conspiring with Seward to remove official records and papers from the Consul General's office, etc. Mr. Wells being convinced of Bradford's fraudulent and crimi- mal proceedings, had him arrested and placed in jail, reporting at once by telegraph and by letter to the State Department at Washington the result of his investigations and asking for further instructions. After inexcusable delays in replying to his communications, and other matters transpiring to convince Consul General Wells that an effort was being made by officials in high authority to shield Bradford and Sew- ard in their fraudulent proceedings, he tendered his resignation, turned over the affairs of the office in Shanghai, and sailed for home January 10, 1878. A committee subsequently created by the House of Representatives to investigate the Bradford charges returned a unanimous re- port that the charges were sustained, and filed articles of impeachment against Bradford. The investigation enlminated in the retirement of both Seward and Bradford to private life. Colo- nel Wells twice refused the tender of Consul

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to Hong Kong, deciding to resume the practice of his profession. Colonel and Mrs. Wells having come by the way of Southern California on their return trip from China, were delighted with the climate, and decided to make it their future home. Accordingly they settled in Los Angeles, in 1879, and have resided here ever since. Forming a law partnership with Judge A. Brunson, the firm of Brunson & Wells at once attained a leading position among the bar of Southern California. This relation continued until Judge Brunson was elected to the Superior Bench. Colonel Wells is now at the head of the firni of Wells, Guthrie & Lee, which does a very extensive legal business. Indeed, Colonel Wells has been professionally connected with nearly every notable case before the courts of Los Angeles and surrounding counties for the last decade. Colonel Wells' estimable wife was formerly Miss Katy C. Fox, daughter of Matthias and Margaret Fox, old settlers of Montgomery County, New York. The mar- riage of Colonel and Mrs. Wells took place in Avoca, December 22, 1864. Their son, Charles F., was born in Washington, D. C., November 9, 1869, and died December 24, 1872, in Holly Springs, Mississippi, leaving them childless. Such is the record of an extremely active life. It is liis reputation as an attorney which Colo- nel Wells justly enjoys that entitles him to especial distinction. His successful defense of Miss Lastancia Abirta for the killing of Chico Forster, and Miss Hattie Woolsteen for slaying Dr. C. N. Harlan, are notable events in the legal history of Los Angeles.

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Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1092

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1092