USA > California > Alameda County > History of Alameda County, California. Volume I > Part 24
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Schools
Sites $ 8,958.70
Buildings $ 13,909.84
Total
Allendale
$ 22,868.54
Bay
14,757.50
14,289.11
29,046.61
Campbell
8,591.10
37,412.48
46,003.58
Claremont
6,000.00
93,878.22
99,878.22
Clawson
7,350.00
4,108.77
11,458.77
Cleveland
21,150.00
43,354.82
64,504.82
Cole
ยท 33,450.00
33,450.00
Durant
25,860.00
179,233.47
205,093.47
Elmhurst
5,750.00
5,750.00
18V1
27-
HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY
Schools
Sites
Buildings
Total
Emerson
54,988.70
163,233.73
218,222.43
Franklin
204,343.45
204,343.45
Fremont
11,400.00
80,087.17
91,487.17
Frick
8,696.00
8,696.00
Fruitvale
17,000.00
17,000.00
Garfield
16,450.00
16,450.00
Grant
29,860.00
89,495.23
119,355.23
Harrison
7,600.00
171.00
7,771.00
Hawthorne
5,000.00
5,000.00
Highland
6,950.00
6,950.00
Jefferson
32,000.00
112,196.23
144,196.23
Lafayette
56,850.00
41,538.30
98,388.30
Lakeview
63,450.00
76,220.54
139,670.54
Laurel
8,620.00
8,620.00
Lazear
16,000.00
75,900.53
91,900.53
Lincoln
54,750.00
223,878.95
278,628.95
Lockwood
52,842.80
77,792.72
130,635.52
Longfellow
21,150.00
203,313.03
224,463.03
Manzanita
19,850.00
19,850.00
McChesney
9,000.00
66,788.94
75,788.94
Melrose
17,550.00
17,550.00
Oakland
38,000.00
38,000.00
Piedmont
12,500.00
12,500.00
Prescott
58,875.00
211,157.72
270,032.72
Santa Fe
59,525.00
53,820.87
113,345.87
Sequoia
800.00
800.00
Technical High
80,000.00
528,245.04
608,245.04
Tompkins
36,770.00
168.00
36,938.00
Washington
25,000.00
223,333.37
248,333.37
Grand Total
$3,971,765.82
PUBLIC MUSEUM ESTABLISHED
The establishment of the Oakland Public Museum dates back to 1907, when the city purchased the noted ornithological collection gath- ered by Walter E. Bryant. The collection was purchased through the efforts of Miss Bertha Chapman, then a teacher in the Oakland schools, and E. P. Flint. The City Council was induced to assume some respon-
275
HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY
sibility for the new and humble institution, and by an amendment to the city charter the museum was placed under the control of the Board of Library Trustees. C. P. Wilcomb was appointed curator of the museum, and assumed his duties in April, 1909. After the purchase of the Bryant collection, two additional collections of California Indian ethnological material were secured, and an agent sent out to make a collection representing colonial life and customs. The Board of Public Works set aside the old Josiah Stanford mansion on the western shore of Lake Merritt as the home for these collections, and it was fitted up for exhibition purposes. It was opened to the public on October 21, 1910, and at that time contained about 12,000 specimens. Within the next five years 24,000 additional specimens and objects were annexed to the interesting exhibit. Of the 36,800 objects contained in the mu- seum in 1915, about 18,000 were donated by friends and supporters of the interesting institution.
Additions to the building after it was occupied by the collection became necessary, and four more exhibit rooms and a lecture room were added. The museum rapidly built up a field of educational usefulness for itself. One of the special features was the children's room, in which was assembled a most beautiful and curious collection from the world of nature and the hand of man, arranged to teach valuable lessons by a most interesting method. Teachers and pupils soon commenced mak- ing frequent visits to study the collections, and illustrated lectures were prepared and delivered by the museum lecturer. Within the four years after it was established over two hundred thousand persons had visited it, including the 15,000 students who had attended the illustrated lec- tures. It soon became a local center for scientific study, as well as affording a most interesting place in which to spend a few idle hours, and it thus became the meeting place for two organizations devoted to research work. These were the California Botanical Society and the Alameda County Historical Society. The institution now includes a very valuable collection of a historical nature relative to the pioneer days of Alameda County.
CIVIL SERVICE RE-ORGANIZATION
Under the provisions of the new charter for Oakland, the Civil Service Department was organized on August 29, 1911, by the appoint- ment of B. H. Pendleton, Harrison S. Robinson and L. N. Cobbledick as members of the first board. Their first meeting was held on Sep-
276
HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY
tember 5, 1911, when Harrison S. Robinson was elected president. On March 31, 1914, Roscoe D. Jones was appointed a member of the board to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Cobbledick. There were at the time of the creation of the board about twelve hundred city em- ployes, and the first important work of the board was the classification of places of employment. The board divided the positions and classified them as follows: medical service, engineering service, clerical service, police service, fire service, inspection service, supervising service, trained labor service, and labor service. After a study of wages was made, salaries were fixed on a basis equal to the pay given to employees for the same kind of work under local corporations or employers. Va- rious departments of the city were re-organized under the civil service board. The license department was re-organized, and placed under the city treasurer. A purchasing department was created.
OTHER CITY DEPARTMENTS
Brief mention should be made of several city departments of govern- ment and their progress during these ten years. In 1905 the police de- partment was composed of sixty-five men, including the head and a few subordinate officers. The "plain clothes" division included a few detectives. The equipment of the department was somewhat meager and was becoming obsolete. There was no ambulance, and the patrol wagons were a couple of ancient horse-drawn vehicles-relics of a fast disappearing age. There was a number of scattered, ill- kept and unsanitary lockups serving as detaining jails. The main police headquarters and jail were in the gloomy basement of the old city hall. During the period from 1905 to 1915 the police department was thoroughly re-organized, upon a military basis, and at the latter date had 208 men. The city was divided into districts, and modern police stations equipped in the several divisions. Several new bureaus were created, including the bureau of criminal investigation and the bureau of criminal identification. Traffic regulation squads were formed, and the inspection of all mercantile licenses was taken over by the depart- ment. With the erection of the new city hall a splendid central head- quarters and city prison were secured by the city, the latter with a well arranged women's section. A modern receiving hospital was also pro- vided, and motor-driven ambulances placed in operation. Within five years the mileage patrolled by the police department was increased from 300 to 530.
277
HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY
The Oakland fire department experienced a change as marked as the police department during these ten years in which Oakland grew so rapidly. The number of men increased during the period from 136 to 303, and much of the horse-drawn apparatus was replaced by motor- driven machines. A high pressure salt water pumping system was in- stalled to aid in fighting fires. During 1906 a lot was purchased on Magnolia Street, near Fourteenth, for a fire house, and new equipment was added. During the following year a new truck company was added at the Golden Gate station, and three new steam fire engines were bought, a new fire house built and another automobile purchased. Dur- ing the next year twenty-nine men were added to the force, two new reinforced concrete buildings erected to take the place of two old ones, and three additional new houses were erected. Eighty-four new men were added to the force between June, 1911, and June, 1912, and new equipment included three steam fire engines, three combination hose wagons, three automobiles, two automobile combination hose wagons, a new fire house at Elmhurst, and the purchase of a lot in Allendale. By the close of 1915 the department had nine pieces of auto fire appara- tus, six automobiles for the chiefs, 44,200 feet of hose; and the de- partment consisted of seventeen engine companies, five truck companies, four hose and chemical companies, two automobile combination wagons for high pressure service, and twenty-two houses. Fire losses during the period demonstrated that the department was efficient and that the equipment was adequate.
In 1905 the fire alarm department was housed on the top floor of a brick engine house. The equipment then consisted of but ten box and six engine house circuits, connected to 117 boxes, eight engine com- panies, and three chemical companies, and one ten-circuit automatic repeater. There were then about 160 miles of overhead wire, supplying both the police and the fire department. The police equipment con- sisted of sixty-two patrol boxes. Ten years later the system consisted of 826 miles of overhead copper wire, supplying service to 280 fire alarm boxes, seventeen engine companies, five combination hose and chemical companies, five fire chiefs, 188 police boxes, and fifty-five police flash light signals. The appropriation for this electrical depart- ment grew from $8,926 for the fiscal year of 1904-1905 to $52,740 for 1914-1915. In 1907 the inspection of electrical wiring in all build- ings was commenced by the department, and a regular and systematic inspection of theatres, public buildings and business structures was started, all with the aim of reducing fire hazards. In 1905 the modern
278
HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY
fire-proof central station was erected on the shore of Lake Merritt, for the repair of electrical apparatus and for manufacturing needed equip- ment. In 1905 the street lighting system consisted of 755 arc lights, costing $7.25 per lamp per month. In 1915 the lighting system con- sisted of about 1,200 arc lamps, 900 series tungstens, 1,167 electroliers, and 893 gas lights.
Health problems and sanitary questions in Oakland in 1905 were in the hands of the Municipal Health Department, consisting of ten per- sons, using four conveyances, and were met by an appropriation of $11,900 for the year. A decade later the annual budget was $57,300, and the force had been increased to thirty-six persons, using eight auto- mobiles and three horses and buggies. During this time the staff was enlarged in the field inspection work, including food, meat, milk, plumbing and sanitary inspection. The San Francisco fire of 1906 placed a severe strain upon the Oakland police and health departments, requiring the utmost care that unsanitary conditions caused by the thousands thrown upon the city would not create any epidemic. The health department, as was true of the police department, handled the situation admirably. The inspection of all meats was commenced in 1910. During the following year the health department was completely re-organized. The extension of the city boundaries in 1910 presented new sanitation problems, for about ninety per cent of the houses in the territory annexed were without sewer connections. Within five years almost every house had modern plumbing and sewer connections. This annexation also added numerous small dairies, and thus increased the duties of the department along this feature of their work. The remark- able low death rate of Oakland and other Bay cities indicates that an efficient health department is safeguarding the public health to augment a most delightful and healthful climate. The local death rate is much lower than the average for the nation. The Oakland death rate for the period from 1901 to 1905 was 13.31; for the United States, 15.9. In 1913 it was 13.8 for the nation and 11.9 for Oakland. For that year Oakland ranked second for all cities with more than one hundred thou- sand population.
CHAPTER X
THE OAKLAND POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENTS
EARLY DAYS- THE DEPARTMENT UNDER MAYOR SPAULDING, 1872 - THE JULY RIOTS- DEATH OF CAPTAIN RAND, 1877-THE DEPART- MENT IN THE LATE '70S-THE DEPARTMENT IN 1880-THE PER- SONNEL IN 1886-THE NEW CHARTER OF 1889-THE POLICE FORCE IN 1890-"POLITICS" AND THE FORCE-THE POLICE DEPARTMENT FROM 1905 TO 1915-ROSTER OF THE DEPARTMENT, MAY 1, 1916- THE DEPARTMENT IN 1928
THE OAKLAND POLICE DEPARTMENT
EARLY DAYS
Oakland was still a township when the police organization was first formed which developed into the large metropolitan force of the pres- ent day. Scarcely three years after the Patten brothers had made the first actual settlement on the site of the future City of Oakland in Feb- ruary of 1850, and a few months before Oakland was incorporated as a municipality, the Town Council passed an ordinance creating a police force. The measure was enacted on September 14, 1853, and on the 15th of October, John McCann was made Chief of Police. On October 18th "An ordinance supplementary to an Ordinance to organize a Po- lice Department for the Town of Oakland" was passed.
The first guardians of Oakland's peace were paid a monthly salary of $150 for the time they actually served, according to an ordinance of November 12, 1853. An allowance of $75 was provided by the Council on December 24th of the same year for the purchase of badges. Pro- vision had been made for the erection of a station-house on November 5th.
The need for some sort of body to keep the peace in the future East Bay metropolis was felt by citizens soon after the incorporation of Oakland as a town on March 25, 1854. In his message to the Council
279
280
HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY
on April 29, 1854, H. W. Carpentier, Oakland's first mayor, pointed out that precautions must be taken to prevent the infestation of Oak- land by criminals from the larger City of San Francisco, to which it was so near as almost to form a part. On May 6th of that year, John Hill was elected Captain of Police, and R. W. Kellog and William McCaw, policemen.
One of the first duties of the newly organized police force was to enforce certain blue laws passed by the trustees on February 4, 1854, upon the petition of the more conservative element of the population. The native Californian had continued his favorite amusements of bull- fighting, bear-baiting, and gambling after California was admitted into the Union in 1850. In 1854, however the State Legislature stepped in with "An Act to prevent Noisy and Barbarous Amusements on the Sabbath." Sunday was the day on which the fandango houses were kept open and bull-fights held in Oakland and other towns. The local or- dinance was a repercussion of the state law.
From 1854 to 1864 the records are not particularly illuminating with respect to the activities of the Oakland Police Department, but it is to be inferred that the force was on duty during this decade. An ordi- nance of October 25, 1864, establishes a police force with general super- vision over all the city. The city was divided into districts and a system of routine inaugurated on May 18, 1867. On the 25th of the same month, the police commissioners, then in charge of the force, were em- powered to employ special policemen on Sundays, or when required, to keep order among the many roistering visitors who came to the East Bay on holidays.
Despite the number of criminals who infested San Francisco, after October 4, 1869, when the office of Captain of Police was made perma- nent, Oakland appears to have been fairly free of rogues and miscreants. F. B. Tarbett was appointed Captain on October 11th. On May 28, 1877, an ordinance was passed for the uniforming of the police. That the office of policeman was no sinecure, however, is attested by the story of the murder of Officer Richard B. Richardson at the corner of Ninth and Castro streets, in the City of Oakland, on October 22, 1867, by John Thomas, an old negro. Officer Richardson was shot down by the negro as he attempted to eject the latter from a small lot of land near Market street station, the property of a certain General Wright, then deceased. The negro had refused to leave the premises, maintaining that General Wright had given him permission to reside there until his return. The general had been lost at sea. Thomas discharged one
POLICEMAN RICHARD B. RICHARDSON Killed on duty October 22, 1867
CHIEF ADELBERT WILSON AND HIS STAFF IN A NEW POPE-HARTFORD POLICE AUTOMOBILE IN 1910
282
HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY
barrel of an old fashioned double-barrelled shotgun at the officer, vir- tually decapitating him, just as the latter was attempting to serve him with a warrant for his arrest. The negro was arrested and hurried to the jail at San Leandro to prevent lynching, attempts at which were rumored. Richardson was only thirty-five years old at the time of his death and left a wife and three small children.
Again, on the night of June 30, 1876, Officer W. D. Thomas, while in the discharge of his duty, was desperately wounded by Louis Strand, a Norwegian mechanic, in East Oakland. Thomas had halted Strand on account of his suspicious appearance as he was walking along East Eleventh Street on the evening mentioned. The officer had surprised him in the act of stealing a box of bottles filled with liquor from a former employer. As the officer was bending over to inspect the box the man had been carrying, Strand seized a hatchet lying near-by and struck at him with it in the intention of severing the officer's spine or cutting the jugular vein. The officer dodged in time to receive only a nasty wound in the left forearm. Before the officer could recover, his assailant had struck him again on the left hand. Thomas was mean- while endeavoring to reach for his pistol, but was virtually felled by a blow upon the jaw. Fortunately, however, the officer fell against a pile of lumber. The force of the impact threw him forward upon one foot and one knee, leaving his pistol hand and arm free. Before the would- be assassin could advance to follow up his advantage, Thomas got his pistol out and fired, almost in his face, shooting him in the forehead. But this was not sufficient to stop him, and Thomas had to fire a sec- ond shot before the man took to flight. The officer finally caught him and took him into custody. The man was tried at the July term, 1876, and on August 2nd sentenced to one year's imprisonment in the State Penitentiary.
THE DEPARTMENT UNDER MAYOR SPAULDING
There were only ten regular policemen on the Oakland department in 1872, when Nathan W. Spaulding was mayor. The regular force, however, was augumented by four special policemen, whose salary was paid by property owners and business men. Mayor Spaulding was ex-officio president of the Board of Police Commissioners, the two other members being E. H. Pardee and Perry Johnson. The city coun- cilmen at that time were E. H. Pardee, A. L. Warner, W. S. Snook, Thomas J. Murphy, Franklin Warner, Mack Webber and Benjamin F.
283
HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY
Ferris. Pardee was president of the council. Anselin H. Jayne was police judge, his salary being $2,000 per year with certain fees as addi- tional compensation. The clerk of the court was Edward Hoskins, who was appointed by the city council, and whose salary was $1,200 per year. Henry H. Havens was city attorney. F. B. Tarbett, with a sal- ary of $150 per month, was captain of police. The two detectives were David H. Rand and Eburn H. Woolsey, who received $1,500 per annum. The regular policemen were William Aldrich, Charles Barlow, William P. Brant, James Brown, George H. Carleton, Charles P. Mc- Kay, John A. Moore, Spencer Poole, Albert Shorey and William H. Summers. Barlow was the draw-tender at the Alameda bridge. These men received $100 per month for their services. The special policemen paid by property owners were G. F. Blake, G. H. Tilley, J. H. Tyler and A. Wilson.
"THE JULY RIOTS"
In the year 1877 the Oakland Police Department was called upon to stand in readiness to suppress any outbreak of lawlessness of the type that was sweeping the East in the wake of railway strikes and which had been felt even in San Francisco in the disturbances known as the "July riots." In that year, as a result of the constant reduction in wages and the bitterness which followed the attacks on labor unions after the Panic of 1873, the virtually unorganized workers on some of the more important railroads struck for higher wages. The situation was parti- cularly acute in New York and Pennsylvania. In five cities the strikes developed into bitter contests between the police and the militia on one hand and the strikers and the mobs which sympathized with them on the other. The governors of two states called on President Hayes for as- sistance, and federal troops were called out to quell the riots. In San Francisco these disturbances took the form of the famous "Kearney Workingmen's Movement."
The action taken by Oakland authorities to prevent lawlessness in the East Bay region can be inferred from the following extract from the minutes of the council entered upon the official record of July 25, 1877 :
"At a special meeting of the City Council held this date at 9:30 o'clock A. M., were present Messrs. Fish, Sohst, Grinnell, Miller, Fonda, Miner and President Walter. The city clerk read the notice of the call, and the President explained more fully the object of convening
284
HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY
the council-in the main to prevent any insurrection or riots similar to those at the East, and under the present excitement to allay any lawless- ness which might arise, and enact prompt and decisive measures to arrest the same. He called upon his Honor, the Mayor, to address the Council; who stated that he had supposed that Oakland would be free from any lawlessness, but became convinced that decisive measures should be taken. After listening to a speech by Mr. Redstone, on the evening previous, he had therefore requested the President of the Council to call the same together, in order that the legislative body of the city might cooperate and assist the Executive. He had ordered Captain Rand to enroll five hundred special policemen to be ready if such emergency existed. Dr. Merritt and Hon. A. C. Henry then addressed the Council, concurring fully in what had been expressed by his Honor, the Mayor. Captain Rand stated that in accordance with an order he had issued from the Mayor, many had made application to become specials, and he had ordered them to report at one o'clock P. M. to-day."
Following the endorsement by resolution of the action of the mayor in calling for 500 special policemen the council adopted an address re- ceived from the committee calling upon all citizens to abstain from acts of violence and from any assemblies for unlawful purposes. The organ- ization of a Committee of Public Safety, to be formed of citizen volun- teers, was also authorized by the council before it adjourned its special session. More than nine hundred and fifty citizens offered their services to this committee and this large body, divided into seven separate companies, one for each ward, cooperated with the Police Department in keeping Oakland quiet while the emergency lasted.
DEATH OF CAPTAIN RAND
The Oakland Police Department met with a serious loss in 1877 in the death of Captain of Police Rand, one of the ablest members of the force. On October 3rd, at a special meeting of the council, the follow- ing resolutions were unanimously passed :
"WHEREAS, By the stern decree of Divine Providence, D. H. Rand, late Captain of Police of this city, has left for that 'bourne from whence no traveler returns,' it is due to his memory that this 'sprig of green' be in memoriam. Whatever he did was done well; nothing was left undone that could be consummated; he shirked no duty, dared
285
HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY
to face danger and his hand went quickly out to arrest the violator and disturber of the law ; in every sense of the term he was a true citizen and a bold exponent of the right. In his loss the Police Department of this city has been bereft of a competent director ; this city an upright official and useful citizen; and his family a beloved husband and father. To his widow we offer every consolation which humanity can give, and we would extend to her this truth, and that to the memory of her late husband, 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant.' And be it fur- ther
"Resolved, That the Council and city officials attend his funeral in a body, together with the Police Department of the city. And be it further
"Resolved, That this preamble and these resolutions be spread upon the Minutes of the Council, and the City Clerk transmit a copy thereof, under the seal of the city, to the widow of the lamented departed."
In an address to the council Mayor E. H. Pardee spoke feelingly of the virtues of the deceased captain. "The city of Oakland has lost a good and faithful officer," he said, "and we, as their representatives, a warm-hearted and genial friend. Captain Rand," he added, "had his peculiar idiosyncracies of temperament ; his heart was illuminated from the lamp of goodness, and the soul and pride of his ambition was to do good, always believing that it was better to err on the side of mercy and poor, suffering humanity than to have the applause of the whole world and the sting of consciousness of having done a wrong whereby the heart of man would be made heavy and despondent. His test of Christianity was: 'Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you.' "
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