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 39
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DR. DEEL RINALDO WILDER is a native of Allegany County, New York, and is thirty-eight years of age. Ile attended the schools of Cen- tral New York, and at eighteen years of age began the study of dentistry. After two years of practice in Pennsylvania, he moved to Chicago, Illinois, and there pursued liis profes- sion for twelve years. In 1884 he came to California, and in four days after reaching Los Angeles opened an office in the Nadeau Block, and started in business in partnership with Dr. Masser. The first year they did a business of $5,000. When the Nadean Block was fitted up for a hotel Dr. Wilder removed, May 15, 1886, to the Farmers and Merchants' Bank Building, corner of North Main and Commercial streets. Three years later he changed to his present commodious and beautiful offices in Robarts' Block, corner Main and Seventh streets. Dr. Wilder is a natural mechanic, and having de- voted nearly twenty years to the practice of fine operative dentistry, keeping pace with the most advanced ideas and discoveries in his profession, he ranks among the most skillful dentists on this part of the Pacific Coast. IIe was one of the first to introduce the bridge and erown work in Southierr. California, and has attained consid- erable celebrity in these and in artificial palate and cleft work. He has a very large and lucra- tive practice, ranging from $500 to $800.a month. Ile employs an assistant in the work.
Dr. Wilder is a charter member and one of the organizers of the Southern California Odon- tological Society. Mrs. Wilder was formerly Miss Taber, a native of New Bedford, Massa- chusetts.
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.
DR. WILLARD R. BIRD was born in Galena, Illinois, in April, 1856. In his childhood his parents moved to Mount Carroll, Illinois, where he was educated in the public schools and the seminary of that place. He came to California in his seventeenth year, and located in Nevada County, where he engaged in teaching school very successfully for several years, during which time he was preparing himself for the dental profession. Adding to his natural adaptation a thorough training for his chosen calling, he soon rose to the front rank of the profession.
In December, 1883, he came to Los Angeles, and at once opened an office in the cozy rooms he and his partner now occupy, at 23 South Spring street. Dr. Bird soon acquired more business than he could attend to, and in 1886 he formed a copartnership with Dr. Frank M. Palmer, which still continues. The superiority of their work has created such a popularity for these gentlemen that they have more business than they, with two assistants in the mechanical department, can do. Their offices are furnished and equipped with the latest improved appli- ances and instruments for convenience and rapid execution in both the operative and me- chanical departments, and the work turned out by Palmer & Bird is not surpassed, if equaled, in quantity or quality in Southern California. Being courteous and obliging in manners, and thorough masters of their art, their patients find it a pleasure to do business with them.
DR. LORING W. FRENCH, one of the pioneer dentists of the Pacific Coast, was born in the town of Rising Sun, Indiana, January 31, 1836. From 1852 to 1856 he was engaged with his brother, William M. French, in pub- lishing the Jeffersonville (Indiana) Republican. During the latter year he began the study of dentistry in Louisville, Kentucky, with Dr. J. A. MeClellen, consin of General George B. McClellen. Locating in Greensburg, Indiana, he practiced six years, and upon the breaking out of the civil war he enlisted as a private in the Seventy-sixth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, for the term of six months. His regiment did
post duty in Henderson, Kentucky, where he served a good portion of his term as Quarter- master. Soon after leaving the service he came to California, via the Nicaragua route, arriving in San Francisco in March, 1863. Going from there to Sierra County, and later to Plumas County, he settled in practice in La Porte, for- merly one of the most important mining towns in the State, remaining there six years. He in- vested a large portion of the earnings from his professional work in mines and prospecting- with loss. In 1868 he came to Los Angeles, then a place of between 4,000 and 5,000 population, when the land in close proximity to the town could be bought for 50 cents per acre. At that time the only dentists in Southern Cali- fornia were one or two who traveled about, stopping a few days in a place, and who left soon after Dr. French settled here. He soon controlled the entire dental business of this part of the State, his patients often coming a hundred miles, and even from Arizona, to have work done. Dr. French is one of the original members of the Odontological Society of South- ern California, and has been its treasurer from its organization. He is a member of the A. O. U. W., was a charter member of Golden Rule Lodge, No. 160, Los Angeles, and three times its presiding officer,
HENRY E. SMALL, who is one of the leading dentists of the Pacific Coast, has been a resident and an active practitioner of his profession in Los Angeles since the summer of 1883. He is one of that best type of American manhood denominated self-made men. Born in the State of Maine, thirty-five years ago, he became self- dependent before entering his teens, his father having died while in the defense of the "Old Flag," as a Union soldier in the war of the Re- bellion. Most of the early life of young Small was passed in Massachusetts. Possessing a genius and taste for the finer mechanical arts, he cliose dentistry as a vocation, and on reaching the proper age he entered the office of Dr. Fillebrown-now professor of operative dentistry in Harvard University-in Portland, Maine, as
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.
a student. Upon the completion of his course, Dr. Small engaged in the practice of his pro- fession in one of the suburbs of the city of Boston, until he started for California six years ago. He occupies a high rank in dental surgery and also in mechanical dentistry, and by the supe- riority of his work and gentlemanly treatment of his patients he has created a professional busi- ness rarely equaled anywhere, either in quality or volume. His offices, in the California Bank Building, corner of Fort and Second streets, are the most elegantly fitted and furnished den- tal rooms in the eity, being supplied with every instrument and appliance which will expedite work or aid in securing a greater degree of per- fection in results. Each instrument and ma- ehine is of the latest improved design and the highest order of workmanship. Indeed, there is no dental office in the country better equipped, and but very few as well.
DR. JAMES M. WINTE, dentist, No. 41 South Spring street, Los Angeles, is a native of Ken- tucky. He was thrown upon his own resources early in life, and earned the money with which to obtain an education. Ile graduated at the Kentucky University at Lexington before his twentieth birthday, after which he went with several of his college mates to Missouri. Be- coming acquainted with a prominent dentist in that State, he was persuaded by him to enter the profession of dentistry, and thus was his life-work incidentally chosen. After mastering the science he practiced his profession in the city of Carthage, Missouri, about thirteen years, when his health became so much impaired that he decided to come to California, and arrived in Los Angeles in 1883. Ilis health immediately improved and he resumed practice. Soon after locating liere he entered into partnership with Dr. J. S. Crawford, one of the oldest and most prominent practitioners in Southern California; but this relationship was discontinued in June, 1889. Dr. White has a very large and prosper- ons business. Although he has considerable real estate in this city, he concentrates his energies upon his profession, and his thoroughness in
work and manner of address are such as to make him a favorite among his professional brethren. "He is now the president of the Southern Cali- fornia Odontologieal Society. His fine suite of offices seem to be perfectly arranged and equip- ped. and are as large and commodious as any on the Pacific Coast.
While a resident of the State of Missouri, the Doetor was united in marriage with Mrs. A. V. Scales, nee Buckingham, a lady from the State of Mississippi. They have one son.
THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ODONTOLOGICAL SO- CIETY.
No city of equal population in America con- tains a greater number of practitioners of high rank in the dental profession than Los Angeles. Most of them studied for, and not a few of them had attained a prominent position in the pro- fession in the great centers of population in the East before coming to this sunny clime, and in order to maintain the highest standard and keep in the vanguard of progress of the pro- fession, the Southern California Odontological Society was organized November 19,1885, with the following objeets, as stated in the by-laws.
" The objects of this society shall be the dis- covery and promulgation of seientific truth relating to dentistry and oral surgery, and the promotion of the highest excellence in the art and science connected herewith."
The first officers were: Dr. J. S. Crawford, President; Dr. F. M. Palmer, Vice-President; Dr. J. C. McCoy, Secretary; Dr. L. W. French, Treasurer; Dr. HI. N. Urmy, Corresponding Secretary; Dr. R. G. Conningham, Librarian. The society elects its officers annually. The present officers are: Dr. James R. White, Pres- ident; Dr. E. L. Townsend, D. D. S., Secretary; Dr. W. R. Bird, Corresponding Secretary; Dr. L. W. French, Treasurer. The society numbers twenty active members, all active practitioners in good standing in the profession. The organi- zation is harmonious, and through its papers, discussions, and interchange of experience and ideas, is doing a good work for the advancement of dental seience.
HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.
245
CRIMES AND CRIMINALS.
CHAPTER XVII.
OS ANGELES COUNTY is not without its record of crimes, and dark and bloody it is. After the first spell of the gold fever, from 1848 to 1850, a large number of people were drawn here by the good times. The wine, fruit and cattle of Los Angeles found . a market in the mines, and money and gold dust were plenty. Men from every quarter of the globe, unaccustomed in the majority of instances to prosperity and away among strangers from the restraints of home, plunged into excesses of every kind. Gambling, drinking, fighting, etc., were openly indulged in, and crime flourished. Murders grew not only to be daily but hourly occurrences. This era of crime, usnal to all new countries, and sometimes re-ocenrring in older communities, at last ran its course.
In April, 1851, there came a party of thirty rough men from the northi, ostensibly bound for Arizona, under the command of a man named Irving. They threatened to hang two grandsons of José María Lugo, then in jail charged with a murder committed in Cajon Pass. They had pre- viously offered a certain sum to Lugo to resene the young men, but this he refused. They were prevented from carrying out their plans by the timely arrival of a military company. About the last of May the Irving party, then number- ing sixteen, left for Mexico, but endeavoring to kidnap some of the Lugos near San Bernardino
they were all slain by Indians, except one inan, in a ravine on the west side of Timoteo Valley.
October 26, 1854, Felipe Alvitre, a half- breed Indian, was arrested for the murder of James Ellington at El Monte. He was hanged January 12, 1855.
November 8, 1854, Mrs. Cassin, wife of a merchant, was murdered in her door by a Mex- ican. He was pursued and killed in the suburbs.
The following account is from B. C. Trumau's pamphlet on the bandit Vasquez:
"Shortly after the capture and death of Joa- quin Murieta, Luis Bulvia, one of his lieutenants, came to Los Angeles County, bringing with him a remnant of Mnrieta's gang. Here they were joined by Atanascio Moreno, a bankrupt mer- chaut, who in the reorganization of the party was elected Captain, Senati being a member of the same. Society in Los Angeles was in a most disorganized condition. It had been found necessary to equip a company of rangers, who, upon occasions, took the law into their own hands, and were always ready to assist in the arrest of malefactors or put down disturbances. In 1854 a party of lewd women, who had bnt lately arrived from San Francisco, signalized the opening of an elegantly fitted-up bagnio by a grand ball, to which certain men were invited. While the revelry was at its height, Moreno, with his gang, numbering eighteen men, swooped
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.
down upon the scene of the festivities, sur- rounded the house and demanded unconditional surrender. Certain of the party were detailed, who entered the ball-room and relieved every man and woman of all the valuables they had about them. Leaving the ball-room, they went to the house of a then resident of Los Angeles, recently deceased, and robbed it in the most thorough and systematic manner; after which they committed an outrage too horrible for re- cital. A perfect reign of terror existed. Citi. zens were under arms; the rangers were scour- ing the country, but outrages seemed to multiply. But a short time after the events just narrated the same band made another raid upon Los An- geles, robbed several houses and carried off a number of Mexican girls.
" During one of their forages a deputy city marshal was assassinated by Senati. A price was set upon his head; $1,500 was offered for his delivery at the jail-yard dead or alive. The jailor was awakened one night by a demand for admission. Opening his doors he found Mo- reno with an ox-cart containing the dead bodies of Bulvia and Senati. Moreno claimed that he had been captured by Bulvia's gang, and that he managed at once to free himself and compass the death of the men whose bodies were in the cart. Bulvia and Senati were identified by the women who had been so cruelly outraged, as members of the party by whom the offense was com- mitted. The reward offered for the delivery of Senati's body was paid to Moreno. For a few days he was the lion of the town, and lived royally upon his blood money. He happened one dny to step into the jewelry store of Charles Du- commun, who then did business on Commercial street, below his present stand, and offered a watch for sale. Mr. Ducommun recognized it at once as the watch taken from the husband of the woman above alluded to at the time of the assassination of her husband. Mr. Ducommun asked Moreno to wait until he stepped out for the money to complete the purchase. Instead of looking for money, Mr. Ducommun made a straight track for the headquarters of the rangers,
and informed Captain Hope, who was then in command, of the facts above stated.
"William Getman at once arrested Moreno. He was tried, convicted of robbery, and sent to the State Prison for fourteen years. It after- ward transpired that he had killed Bulvia and Senati in a most treacherous manner. He and Senati were left alone in camp, all the other members of the gang having left on a scout. While Senati was cleaning his saddle, Moreno blew his brains out, supposing he could get his body into town and obtain the reward before any of their companions returned. Bulvia, how- ever, had not, for some reason, gotten ont of sonnd of the shot which killed Senati. He re- turned to camp and asked the meaning of it, when Moreno told him that Senati's pistol had gone off accidentally. Bulvia inquired where Senati was, and was told that he was sleeping. Distrusting Moreno, he stooped to raise Senati's blanket from his face, when Moreno completed his murderous work by plunging a sword blade through his heart."
The bodies of Senati and Bnlvia were buried on Mariposa Hill, where they were disinterred in 1886 when excavations were made for the present county jail. Their bones were carted to the city's dumping grounds.
October 13, 1854, one David Brown killed Pinckney Clifford, in this city. This act created deep excitement. A public meeting on the next day was appeased only by the mayor's promise that if the laws should fail, he would resign and help to punish the murderer. Brown was tried November 30. The District Court-Ber jamin Ilayes, Judge-sentenced him to be executed on the 12th day of January, 1855. The same day had been fixed by that court for the execn- tion of Felipe Alvitre, for the murder of James Ellington, in El Monte. In Brown's case, his counsel, J. R. Scott and J. A. Watson, had ob- tained from the Supreme Court a stay of execu- ion. Publie expectation waited for it, but a llike stay did not come for the wretched, friend- ess Alvitre. This still more inflamed the na tive Californian and Mexican portion of the popula-
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.
tion. The fatal day arrived, and with it an early gathering at the county jail of a great multitude of all classes. Meanwhile, the mayor had re- signed. Sheriff Barton posted within the yard an armed gnard of forty men. Alvitre was hung-the rope broke, he fell to the ground. Arriba! arriba! (up! up!) was the cry from the ontside; all was instantly adjusted and the law's sentence carried into effect. Words fail to describe the demeanor then of that mass of eager, angry men. Suspense was soon over. Persuaded by personal friends, and in truth the odds against him seemed too great, Sheriff Bar- ton withdrew the guard. The gate was crushed with heavy timbers, blacksmiths procured, the iron doors, locked and well barred from within, were forced. Within the next hour Brown was dragged from his cell to a corral across the .
street, where, amidst the shouts of the people, he uttered some incoherent observations, but quickly was hung from a beam of the corral gate. It is stated credibly, that a week there- after was received an order of the Supreme Court, in favor of Alvitre, which had been de- layed partly by the bad mail arrangements of that time, and more by reason of his applica- tion having been first forwarded to the Gov- ernor. Another cell held a third person condemned for a later day; him the infuriated crowd did not molest. He was finally allowed a new trial by the Supreme Court, and at Santa Bárbara acquitted.
May 30, 1856, Nicholas Graham was hung in Los Angeles for the murder of Joseph Brooks on Jannary 18 previons. A large crowd attended, but the execution took place without disturbance, the murderer confessing his crime from the scaffold. IIe was a native of Ireland, and only twenty-four years of age.
In 1856 crime had increased to such a degree that a vigilance committee was organized, with Myron Norton as chairman and H. N. Alexan- der as secretary. They expelled a great many dangerons people, some of whom returned a dec- ade later to be greater frogs than ever in the angelic puddle.
On January 22, 1857, came the band of Pancho Daniel and Jnan Flores. Through the day they plundered the stores of Miguel Kra- zewsky, Henry Charles, and Manuel Garcia, finishing their work by cruel murder of the German merchant, George W. Pflugardt. Sheriff James R. Barton, on the night of the 22d, left this city with a party consisting of Win. H. Little, Charles K. Baker, Charles F. Daley, Alfred Hardy and Frank Alexander. Within fifteen miles of San Juan, on the San Joaquin Rancho, next morning, Little and Baker ad- vanced a few hundred yards in pursuit of a man in view on horseback. The bandits sallied ont from behind a hillock, eight in number, and in- stantly killed Little and Baker, and then attacked Barton and companions. After a short conflict Barton was killed, and Daley pursued with like fate. The other two, by the fleetness of their horses escaped and brought the intelligence to Los Angeles. Five companies, French, Ger- mans, and Americans, were at once organized, and two besides of native Californians; one also at El Monte, one at San Bernardino. A con- pany of United States Infantry came from Fort Tejon under Lieutenants Magruder and Pender. At San Diego an express had brought infor- mation of the death of Pflugardt. Under a warrant issned by the district judge, Captain H. S. Burton placed at the disposal of Sheriff Joseph Reiner thirty of his artillerymen, mounted, under Lieutenant Mercer, who pro- ceeded to San Juan. The Los Angeles com- panies scoured the country, and some of the bandits were taken and hung. A company under James Thompson was sent toward Tu- junga. Some of the United States Infantry with him were stationed on the look out at Simi Pass. Two of the soldiers, hid behind the rocks, suceeded in arresting a man who had come there for water. Hle was without arms, mounted on a poor horse, and had a little dried beef on the saddle behind him. Ile said his name was Jnan Gonzales Sanchez; that he be- longed to and had come from San Fernando Mission; was out hunting horses, and would go
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.
no further. Taken into camp, he was recognized by Don Pancho Johnson as Juan Flores. In the presence of alinost the entire population, near the top of Fort IIill, he was executed February 14, 1857, in accordance with a vote of the mass of the people. James R. Barton was cf Howard County, Missouri; emigrated to Mexico in 1841; came to California in 1843. William Hale Little was reared in Texas, near Palestine, An- derson County: aged thirty-three years. Charles K. Baker was born at Rock Spring, De Soto Connty, Mississippi; aged twenty-six years; he was last from Sequin, Texas. Charles F. Daley was a native of New York, thirty years of age. Pancho Daniel was captured by Sheriff Murphy in January, 1858, concealed in a haystack in the vicinity of San José. He was put in jail in Los Angeles. His case came before the district court. Various proceedings took place. It ap- pearing impossible to get a jury out of a venire of ninety-six persons, the case was continued. A challenge to the whole panel of ninety-six ju- rors was sustained by the triers, and a further panel of ninety-six jurors ordered to be returned on August 9. The court then sustained a challenge for bias of the coroner, and the case was continued nntil the next term, November 15, the Elisor was challenged for bias in sum- moning a panel of ninety-six jurors. This challenge was not sustained. A motion for a change of venue was then made, argued, and the case transferred to Santa Bárbara County. On November 30, about 6:30 A. M., Richard Mitch- ell, the jailor, was on his way to market. He was stopped by six or eight persons, who de- manded the keys of the jail, which he delivered after some hesitation. A piece of artillery was planted so as to bear npon the door of the jail, and a large number of men marched from a neighboring corral. The doors of the prison were opened and Pancho Daniel was summoned to leave his cell, which he did with coolness and resignation. At 7:20 A. M. he was hung within the jail yard. The body was delivered to his wife for interment. A coroner's jury examined a number of witnesses and rendered
a verdict that " he came to his death by being hanged by some persons to the jury unknown."
September 27, 1857, in the Montgomery saloon, at Los Angeles, Thonias King and Lafayette King quarreled over a game of cards. As the latter was leaving the house Thomas King stabbed him to the heart, killing him in- stantly. The murderer was arrested, tried and convicted of willful murder. He was executed in company with Lenardo Lopez at Los Angeles, February 16, 1858.
Late in the evening of March 30, 1857, James P. Johnson, of El Monte, entered the saloon of Ilenry Wagner, at Los Angeles, apparently in- tent on raising a disturbance. He was finally persuaded to leave, but returning, deliberately shot Mr. Wagner dead. After a long and tedi- ous trial he was convicted, and suffered death at Los Angeles, October 3, 1857.
About the time Sheriff Barton and party were murdered at San Joaquin Ranch the citizens of El Monte hanged four Mexican desperadoes. The citizens of Los Angeles went further by hanging eleven Mexicans for connection with criminal acts.
February 16, 1858, Lenardo Lopez was hanged for the murder of George W. Pflugardt at San Juan Capistrano, January 29, 1857.
January 7, 1858, Sheriff William C. Getman was killed by a maniac, who was in turn shot by citizens.
A noted Mexican desperado named Alvitre was hanged by a Mexican mob at El Monte, April 28, 1861, for the murder of his wife.
October 17, 1861, Francisco Cota was hanged by a mob for the murder of Mrs. Leck on Main street that morning.
January 24, 1862, Syriaca Arza was hanged for the murder of an Irish peddler named Frank Riley, the previous May.
November 17, 1862, John Rains, of Cuca- monga, was murdered near the Aznsa Ranch. A Mexican named Manuel Cerradel was hung by citizens on Banning's tug boat at Wilming- ton, while being taken as a prisoner to the steamer Senator. IIe had been sentenced to ten years in San Quentin.
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