Historical and biographical record of southern California; containing a history of southern California from its earliest settlement to the opening year of the twentieth century, Part 26

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1366

USA > California > Historical and biographical record of southern California; containing a history of southern California from its earliest settlement to the opening year of the twentieth century > Part 26

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The process of Americanizing the people was no easy undertaking. The population of the city and the laws were in a chaotic condition. It was no easy task that these municipal legislators entered upon, that of evolving order out of the chaos left by the change of nations. The native population neither understood the language nor the customs of their new rulers, and the new- comers among the Americans had very little tol- cration for the Mexican ways and methods they found prevailing in the city. To keep pcace be- tween the factions required more tact than

knowledge of law in the legislator. Fortunately the first council was made up of level-headed men.

What to do with the Indian was the burning issue of that day, not with the wild ones that stole the rancheros' horses and cattle. For them when caught there was but one penalty for their of- fense, death.

It was the tame Indians, the Christianized ne- ophytes of the missions, that worried the city fa- thers. The Mission Indians constituted the labor element of the city and country. When sober they were harmless, but in their drunken orgies they became veritable fiends, and the usual re- sult of their Saturday night revels was a dead Indian or two on Sunday morning; and all the others, old and young, male and female, were dead drunk.

They were herded in a corral and worked in gangs on the streets, but the supply became too great for city purposes; so the council, August 16, 1850, passed this ordinance : "When the city has no work in which to employ the chain gang, the recorder shall, by means of notices conspicu- ously posted, notify the public that such and such a number of prisoners will be auctioned off to the highest bidder for private service; and in that manner they shall be disposed of for a sum which shall not be less than the amount of their fine for double the time which they were to serve at hard labor." It would have been a right- eous retribution on the white wretches who sup- plied the Indians with intoxicants if they could have been sold into perpetual slavery.

Evidently auctioning off Indians to the highest bidders paid the city quite a revenue, for at a subsequent meeting of the council "the recorder was authorized to pay the Indian alcaldes (chiefs) the sum of one real (12} cents) out of every fine collected from Indians the said alcaldes may bring to the recorder for trial." A month or so later the recorder presented a bill for $15, the amount of money he had paid the alcaldes out of fines. At the rate of eight Indians to the dollar, the alcaldes had evidently gathered up a hundred and twenty poor Los.

Usually poor Lo paid a higher penalty for sin- ning than his white brother, but there was one city ordinance in which this was reversed. "Ar- ticle 14-For playing cards in the streets regard- less of the kind of game; likewise for playing any other game of the kind as is played in houses that are paying a license for the privilege, the of- fender shall be fined not less than $10 nor more than $25, which shall be paid on the spot ; other- wise he shall be sent to the chain gang for ten days. If he be an Indian then he shall be fined not less than $3 nor more than $5 or sent to the chain gang for eight days." At first glance this

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ordinance might seem to have been drafted in the interest of morality, but a closer inspection will show that it is for revenue only. The gambling houses paid a license of $100 a month. So for their benefit the council put a protective tariff on all kinds of gambling.

The whipping post, too, was used as a reforma- tory agent to instill lessons of honesty and mor- ality into the Indians. One court record reads : "Chino Valencea (Indian) was fined $50 and twenty-five lashes for stealing a pair of shears ; the latter fine (the lashes) was paid promptly in full; for the former he stands committed to the chain-gang for two months, unless it is sooner paid." At the same session of the court a white man was fined $30 for selling liquor to the In- dians; "fine paid and defendant discharged." Drunkenness, immorality and epidemics-civili- zation's gifts to the aborigines-finally settled the Indian question-settled it by exterminating the Indian.

THE POST-OFFICE AND POSTAL SERVICE.

The post-office at Los Angeles was established April 9, 1850, nearly four years after California had passed into the possession of the United States. J. Pugh was the first postmaster. There had been a mail service in the territory and possi- bly a post-office in the pueblo under Spanish rule. Once a month military couriers picked up at presidios, pueblos and missions from San Francisco to San Diego, their little budgets of mail and carried them down the coast of Lower California to Loreto, where the mail was taken in sailing vessels across the gulf to San Blas. The couriers made the round trip in a month. The habilitados (paymaster) acted as postmas- ters at the presidios. At the pueblos the alcalde or some officer detailed for that purpose acted as administrador de correos (postmaster). As but few could read or write and there were no news- papers taken the revenue of La casa ó adminis- tracion de correos la estafeta (post-office) was not large, and it did not require much of a po- litical pull to secure the office of postmaster in Los Angeles a century ago.

Under Mexican rule there was an irregular land service, but most of the mail was carried by sailing vessels. There was a route by the Colorado River and Sonora much shorter than the Lower California post road, but the Indians had a bad habit of distributing the mail, and the mail carriers along the road, and it was used only when a military force made the trip. After the conquest, in 1847, the military authorities estab- lished a regular service between San Francisco and San Diego. Soldier-carriers starting from each end of the route met at Dana's Ranch, half way, and, exchanging mail pouches, each

then returned to his starting point. It took a fortnight for them to go and return. After the soldiers were discharged, in the latter part of 1848, the land service was discontinued and the mail was carried up and down the coast between San Francisco and San Diego in sailing vessels. Wind and weather permitting, a letter might reach its destination in a few days; with the ele- ments against it, it might take a month to get there.

In 1849, Wilson & Packard, whose store was on Main street where the Farmers & Merchants' Bank now stands, were the custodians of the let- ters received at Los Angeles. A tub stood on the end of a counter. Into this the letters were dumped. Anyone expecting a letter was at lib- erty to sort over the contents of the tub and take away his mail. The office was conducted on a free delivery system and every man was his own postmaster. Col. John O. Wheeler, who had clerked for the firm in 1849, bought out the business in 1850, and still continued the laundry post-office. After the establishment of the post- office an officious postal agent from San Fran- cisco found fault with the tub post-office and free and easy delivery system, and the colonel, who had been accommodating the public free of charge, told the agent to take his postal matter elsewhere.

The coast mail was carried by steamers after a regular line was established in 1851, but the service was not greatly improved. The Los An- geles Star of October 1, 1853, under the head of "Information Wanted," sends forth this doleful wail : "Can anybody tell us what has become of the United States mail for this section of the world? Some four weeks since the mail actually arrived here. Since that time two other mails are due. The mail rider comes and goes regularly enough, but the mail bags do not. One time he says the mail is not landed at San Diego. Another time there was so much of it his donkey could not bring it and he sent it to San Pedro on the steamer 'T. Hunt,' which carried it to San Francisco. Thus it goes wandering up and down the ocean." According to the Star, one mail was fifty-two days in transmission from San Fran- cisco to Los Angeles.

The first regular mail service Los Angeles ob- tained was by the Butterfield stage line. This was the longest mail stage line ever organized and the best managed. Its eastern termini were St. Louis and Memphis ; its western term- inus San Francisco. Its length was 2,881 miles. It began operation in September, 1858, and tlie first stage from the east carrying mail reached Los Angeles, October 7, 1858. The first service was two mail coaches each way a week, for which the government paid the stage company a sub-

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sidy of $600,000 a year. The schedule time be- tween San Francisco and St. Louis was twenty- four days. The Butterfield route southward from San Francisco was by the way of San José, Gil- roy, Pacheco's Pass, Visalia and Fort Tejon to Los Angeles. Eastward from Los Angeles it ran by way of El Monte, Temecula and Warner's ranch to Yuma. From there it followed about the present route of the Southern Pacific Rail- road to El Paso; then northward to St. Louis, branching at Fort Smith for Memphis. Los An- geles never has had a mail service more prompt and reliable. The Star, in lauding it, says: "The arrival of the overland mail is as regular as the index on the clock points to the hour, as true to time as the dial to the sun." The best time that it ever made between St. Louis and Los Angeles was nineteen days. In 1861 the Confederates at the eastern end and the Indians at the western destroyed the stations and got away with some of the stock. The coaches were transferred to the Central Overland route via Omaha and Salt Lake City to San Francisco. After the discontin- uance of the Butterfield stage line Los Angeles got her eastern mail by way of San Francisco, and had the old irregularities and delays until the railroad was completed in 1876. In 1882 the com- pletion of the Southern Pacific Railroad gave direct mail service east.

The first location of the post-office was on Los Angeles street, near the plaza. In fifty years it has wandered up and down four different streets from the plaza on the north to Eighthi street on the south. In June, 1893, it was moved into the building erected for it on the corner of Main and Winston streets and removed, March, 1901, to the corner of Eighth and Spring, while the gov- ernment building undergoes the slow process of reconstruction.

The postmasters in the order of their appoint- ment are as follows : J. Pugh, W. T. B. Sanford, William B. Osburn, James S. Waitc, J. D. Woodworth, T. J. White, William G. Still, Fran- cisco P. Ramirez, Russell Sackett, George J. Clarke, H. K. W. Bent, Isaac R. Dunkelberger, John W. Green, E. A. Preuss, J. W. Green, H. V. Van Dusen, John R. Mathews and Lewis A. Groff.

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS.

The only school of which there is any record in the Spanish era of Los Angeles history is one taught by Maximo Peña, an invalid soldier, in 1817 and 1818. His yearly salary was $140. The first school of the Mexican regime mentioned in the archives was taught by Luciano Valdez, beginning in 1827. His school was kept open at varying intervals until the close of 1831. On account of "the lack of improvement in the pub-

lic school of the pueblo," the ayuntamiento dis- charged him and employed Vicente Morago, who had the necessary qualifications for "civilizing and morally training the children," * * * "al- lowing him $15 monthly, the same as was paid the retiring citizen, Luciano Valdez." February 12, 1833, Morago was appointed secretary of the ayuntamiento at $30 per month and resigned his position as teacher. Francisco Pontoja was ap- pointed preceptor of the pueblo school. He taught to January, 1834, when he demanded $20 per month; the ayuntamiento, "seeing certain negligence and indolence in his manner of ad- vancing the children," discharged him and ent- ployed Cristoval Aquilar at $15 per month. He taught a year, and then asked for an increase in lis salary. "After discussion it was decided that his fitness for the position was insufficient." He was discharged. In 1835 Vicente Morago again took charge of the school. As he was satisfied with $15 per month his fitness was evident. In 1838 Don Yznacio Coronel taught the school. He received $15, and the parents, according to their means, paid certain amounts. His daughter, Soledad, assisted him, and she was the first lady teacher of Los Angeles.

January, 1844, Ensign Guadalupe Medina, an officer of Michieltorena's army, opened a primary school on the Lancastrian plan, which attained an attendance of 103 pupils and was the most successful school of the Mexican era. The Lan- castrian plan was an educational fad once poput- lar, but dead for fifty years. The gist of the sys- tem was the nearer the teacher was in education to the level of the pupil, the more successful would he be in imparting instruction. So the preceptor taught the more advanced pupils ; these taught the next lower grades, and so down the scale to the lowest class. Lieut. Medina's school was closed because the school-house was needed for army headquarters. Los Angeles was in the throes of a revolution. It could get along without a school, but a political eruption it must have about so often or dic. Next year the gringos came, and when school opened again another nation was in charge of affairs. In the seventy years the pueblo was under Spanish and Mexican rule it never built or owned a school- house ; nor was there a public school building in California.

The first school under American rule in Cali- fornia was taught by Dr. William B. Osburn in Los Angeles during the year 1847. It was under the auspices of Col. Stevenson, the military com- mander of the southern district.

When the council was organized July 3, 1850, Francisco Bustamente, employed by the ayun- tamiento, was in charge of the public school at $60 per month and an allowance of $20 for house

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rent. He taught until near the close of the year, when, on account of his large family, whom he could not support out of his meager salary, he asked for $100 per month. The council dis- charged him, but whether for unfitness or for too much family, records do not state.

In July, 1850, Hugh Overns petitioned the council to establish a school in which he would teach the English, French and Spanish lan- guages. The council allowed him from the pub- lie funds $50 per month for the privilege of send- ing to the school "six orphan boys or others whose parents are poor.", January 4, 1851, Rev. Henry Weeks and his wife opened a school, Weeks teaching the boys and his wife the girls. They received $150 a month and furnished their own school rooms. The first school ordinance was adopted by the council July 9, 1851. It pro- vided for an allowance of $50 per month to any educational institution in the city teaching the rudiments of English and Spanish languages.

August 13, 1852, by ordinance, ten cents on the $100 of the municipal tax was set apart for the support of public schools. July 25, 1853, an ordinance was passed for the establishment and government of the city's schools. It provided for the appointment of three commissioners, who shall constitute a board of education, the chair- man of which shall be superintendent of schools. J. Lancaster Brent, Lewis Granger and Stephen C. Foster were appointed a board of education, J. L. Brent becoming ex-officio school superin- tendent.

May 20, 1854, an amended ordinance was passed and Stephen C. Foster, then mayor, was made the first superintendent, and three mem- bers of the council constituted the board of edu- cation. That year school house No. 1, a brick two-story building, was built on the northwest corner of Spring and Second streets, where the Bryson block now stands. School was opened in it March 19, 1855, with William A. Wallace in charge of the boys and Miss Louisa Hayes in charge of the girls. Co-education was not al- lowed in those days. School house No. 2 was built in 1856. It was on Bath street, north of the plaza, now North Main street. These two school

houses supplied the needs of the city for ten years.

During the '60s, on account of sectional ha- treds growing out of the Civil war, the public schools in Los Angeles were unpopular. They were regarded as Yankee institutions and were hated accordingly by the Confederate sympathiz- ers, who made up a majority of the city's popula- tion. In 1865-66 the number of school census children in the city was 1,009. Of these only 33I were enrolled in the public schools during the year. The average attendance in the pri- vate schools was fifty per cent greater than in the public schools. Twenty-one negro children were enrolled in a separate school. The educa- tion of these twenty-one little negroes was re- garded as a menace to the future ascendancy of the white race. Out of such mole hills does po- litical bigotry contruct impassable mountains. The northern immigration that began to drift into Los Angeles in the early 'zos changed pub- lic opinion in regard to the common schools. The Los Angeles high school, the first in South- ern California, was established in 1873. From this onward the schools of the city have steadily progressed. The city school superintendents, in the order of their service, are as follows : J. Lan- caster Brent, ex-officio; Stephen C. Foster, Dr. William B. Osborn, Dr. John S. Griffin, J. Lan- caster Brent, E. J. C. Kewen, Rev. W. E. Board- man, A. F. Heinchman, G. L. Mix, Dr. R. F. Hayes, Rev E. Birdsell, Joseph Huber, Sr .; H. D. Barrows, A. Glassell, Dr. T. H. Rose, A. G. Brown, Dr. W. T. Lucky, C. H. Kimball, Mrs. C. B. Jones, J. M. Guinn, L. D. Smith, W. M. Freisner, Leroy D. Brown, P. W. Search and J. A. Foshay.

The office of superintendent in earlier years was filled by lawyers, doctors, ministers and business men. It was not until 1869 that a pro- fessional teacher was chosen superintendent ; since then professional teachers have filled the office.

The State Normal school building at Los An- geles was completed in 1882, and the school opened August 29, of that year. It is now next to largest Normal School in the state.

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CHAPTER XXVII.

THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES-Continued.

CRIME AND VIGILANCE COMMITTEES.

L OS ANGELES was a turbulent city in its youth. During the Spanish and Mexican eras of its history it was not the scene of many capital crimes, but during Mexican domination it became a storm center of political revolutions. These rarely resulted in bloodshed, and were more famous for noise than for physical violence.

The first vigilance committee on the Pacific coast of North America had its origin in Los Angeles in 1836, twenty years before the world- famous vigilance committee of 1856 was formed at San Francisco. Its story briefly told runs thus: The wife of Domingo Feliz, part owner of the Los Feliz rancho, who bore the poetical name of Maria del Rosario Villa, became infat- uated with a handsome but disreputable Sonoran vaquero, Gervacio Alispaz by name. She de- serted her husband and lived with Alispaz as his mistress at San Gabriel. Feliz, failing to reclaim his erring wife, sought the aid of the authorities. A reconciliation was effected, and the husband and wife started on horseback for the rancho. On their way they met Alispaz. An altercation occurred and Feliz was stabbed to death by his wife's paramour. The body was dragged into a ravine and covered with brush and leaves. Next day the body was found and the guilty pair ar- rested. The people were filled with horror and indignation, and there were threats of summary vengeance, but better counsel prevailed. It was the beginning of holy weck, and all efforts to bring them to punishment were deferred until after Easter. Monday morning, April 7, a large number of citizens assembled at the house of Juan Temple. An organization was effected. Victor Prudon, a native of Bréton, France, but a naturalized citizen of California, was made president, Manuel Arzaga, secretary, and Fran- cisco Arunjo, a retired army officer, commander of the vigilantes. Fifty-five persons were en- rolled in a vigilance committee. The organiza- tion was named Junta Defensora de La Seguri- dad Publico-United Defenders of the Public Safety. An address to the people and the au- thorities was formulated, setting forth the ne- cessity of the organization and demanding the immediate execution of the assassins. The ayun-

tamiento, alarmed at the threatening attitude of the people, assembled in extraordinary session. An attempt was made to enroll the militia to put down the uprising, but it was given up. A de- mand was made on the authorities for Alispaz and the woman. This was refused. The mem- bers of the Junta Defensora, all armed, marched in a body to the jail. The guard refused to give up the keys. They were secured by force and Gervacio Alispaz taken out and shot to death. A demand was then made for the key to the apartment (in a private house) where the woman was incarcerated. The alcalde refused to give it up. The key was secured. The wretched Maria was taken to the place of execution on a carreta and shot. The bodies of the guilty pair were brought back to the jail and the following com- munication sent to the alcalde, Manuel Requena :

"Junta of the Defenders of the Public Safety- To the First Constitutional Alcalde :

The dead bodies of Gervacio Alispaz and Ma- ria del Rosario Villa are at your disposal. We also forward you the jail keys that you may de- liver them to whomsoever is on gnard. In case you are in need of men to serve as guards we are at your disposal.

God and Liberty. Angeles, April 7, 1836. VICTOR PRUDON, President. MANUEL ARZAGA, Secretary.

A few days later the Junta Defensora de La Seguridad Publico disbanded, and so ended the only instance in the seventy-five years of Span- ish and Mexican rule in California of the people by popular tribunal taking the administration of justice out of the hands of the legally constituted authorities.

With the discovery of gold in California began the era of crime. In the decade following that event, to paraphrase one of the. Junta Defensora's metaphors, "the dike of legalrestraint was swept away by a torrent of atrocious infamy." Gold al- lured to California the law-defying as well as the law-abiding of many countries. They came from Europe, from South America and from Mexico. From Australia and Tasmania came the escape I convict and the ticket-of-leave man ; from Asia came the "heathen Chince:" and the United States usually furnished the heavy villain in all

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the tragedies. These conglomerate elements of society found the Land of Gold practically with- out law and the vicious among them were not long in making it a land without order.

The American element among the gold seek- ers soon adjusted a form of government to suit the exigencies of the times and the people. There may have been too much lynching, too much vigilance committee in it, and too little respect for lawfully constituted authorities, but it was effective in controlling the criminal element and was suited to the social condition existing. Los Angeles was far removed from the gold fields, but from some cause, or rather from several causes, it furnished more villains, vigilance com- mittees and lynchings than any other city in the state. San Francisco in its two famous commit- tees, that of 1851 and that of 1856, executed ten men and then gave up the business to the legal authorities. Los Angeles city and county be- tween 1851 and 1871 hanged thirty-five, con- demned by popular tribunal and executed by vig- ilantes. From 1850, for at least two decades the city was seldom or never without some form of a people's tribunal of last resort. The gal- lows tree in early times stood on Fort Hill. The first execution there was in 1852, when three na- tive Californians were hanged for the murder of two young cattle buyers on the banks of the San Gabriel river, December 4, 1852; threemore were hanged, two for complicity in the murder of Gen. Bean, and one for stabbing his friend to death on some slight provocation. One of the suspects for the murder of Bean, a poor cobbler by the name of Sandoval, died declaring his innocence. Years afterwards one of the real murderers on his death bed confessed that the cobbler was innocent.

January 12, 1855, David Brown, for the mur- der of his companion, Clifford, was taken from the jail and hanged to the gateway of a corral on Spring street opposite the prison. During 1855 and 1856 lawlessness increased. There was an organized band of about one hundred Mexi- cans who patroled the highways, robbing and murdering. On the night of January 22, 1857, Sheriff James R. Barton, with a posse consisting of William H. Little, Charles K. Baker, Charles F. Daley, Alfred Hardy and Frank Alexander, left Los Angeles in pursuit of this banditti, who under their leaders, Pancho Danicl and Juan Flores, had been robbing and committing out- rages in the neighborhood of San Juan Capis- trano. On the road near San Juan they encoun- tered a detachment of the bandits. A short, sharp engagement took place. Barton, Baker, Little and Daley were killed. Hardy and Al- exander escaped by the fleetness of their horses. This tragedy aroused the people to a determi-

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Historical and biographical record of southern California; containing a history of southern California from its earliest settlement to the opening year of the twentieth century, Part 26

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918 Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co. Number of Pages: 1366

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1366