History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions, Part 52

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood
Number of Pages: 1206

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struck him on'the right side of the forehead, glanced over the skull and come out near the crown of the head, as indicated by two holes and blood in Strand's hat, which was left on the ground. Rallying, the assassin was about rushing upon the officer again, when Thomas fired a second shot, but it is doubtful if this took effect, but it served the purpose of saving his life, for now Strand fairly "bolted," with the officer in hot pursuit. He was duly arrested, tried at the July Term, 1876, and on August 2d sentenced to one year's imprisonment in the State Penitentiary.

It may be mentioned that on the night when the tragedy just alluded to was being acted in Brooklyn, Oakland was the scene of no less than three daring burg- laries, the perpetrators of which succeeded in effecting their escape.

During the month of March, 1876, Peter Chisholm and T. B. Mortee were employed as clerks in the office of Higgins& Conkling, stock-brokers, at 322 Montgomery Street, San Francisco. Forsome reason Mortee was discharged from his position and he accused Chisholm with being instrumental in his removal. On June 5th, together with a friend, H. La Grange, he went to Badger's Park, where the picnic of the California Theater Boat Club was being held. There he fell in with Mortee, and angry words immediately passed between them, which resulted in Chisholm's proposing that they go outside and settle their affair by fighting. Mortee objected to this manly way of terminating the difficulty, however, and instead picked up a piece of two by three scantling, with which he struck his opponent just over the ear, crushing the skull and making a horrible wound, from which he died. The slayer claimed to have acted in self- defense, and was held to answer before the next. Grand Jury. He was duly tried, but on the jury failing to agree, was discharged March 15, 1877.

During a quarrel about a woman at Alameda on July 13, 1876, Amedee Joseph Deligne was shot by Alfred Janin; while, on the 7th August, Carlos Quinthero was sentenced to imprisonment for life in the State Prison for the murder of "Indian Jim," near Niles, on the IIth of March. On August 4, 1876, the trial of Felix Polzinsky commenced in the Third District Court for the murder of a man named Joseph Kreuchefski, both being Russians. The crime was committed in the central part of the county in April, 1876, on the ranch of Mr. Sinkwitz, near Haywards. The deceased had recently rented the ranch. Soon after taking possession of the farm he suddenly disappeared. The defendant was subsequently found with some of the effects of the dead man, and some time in June the dead body was found, buried in a shallow grave on the ranch, with a bullet wound in the throat. Polzinsky admitted the killing, but claimed that the gun was accidentally discharged in a scuffle, the two men having quarreled about the measurement of some wood. He was indicted on July 13, 1876, the cause being transferred to the Third District Court, and sentenced to life imprison- ment, August 7, 1876.

1877 .- The pistol was early at work in this year On the evening of January 19, 1877, Lewis Shearer, of San Francisco, was shot and wounded by Henry W. Kind, the affair being the result of a personal matter which need not be here reverted to.

Of an other affair that occurred in the same month the Tribune, of January 23, 1877, says: "Last spring there appeared in Oakland a Frenchman, Leon Castangau by- name, claiming to have recently lived in Chicago, before that in New Orleans. Being

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of a jovial and convivial nature, and exceedingly liberal with his means, he soon acquired a large number of friends. He was also an expert at billiards, and became acquainted with the sporting portion of the community, by playing several public match games of billiards in this city. In the middle of July he took charge of the Grand Central Hotel billiard-room, and it was while in that situation that he got into the difficulty which has kept him a prisoner in the county jail for over three months. Castangau and one Henry Zweifel, a bar-keeper at the Grand Central, were in the habit of enjoying a convivial glass together, occasionally, and while liquor tended to make the excitable Frenchman still more vehement in his actions, the phlegmatic Zweifel would become stupidly prone to fits of alternate courtesy and discourtesy. On the afternoon that Cooper & Bailey's Circus gave its first exhibition in this city, Zweifel and Castangau attended that institution in company. Arriving back at the hotel after the performance, a dispute arose between the two and a fight occurred, during which the Frenchman suffered the loss of a portion of his left thumb, either by one of the two pistol shots fired at him by Zweifel, or by the latter's biting the member off, and the bar-keeper was stabbed in the loin. Castangau was arrested and held by the Police Judge to appear before the Grand Jury, who found a true bill against him of assault with intent to commit murder." He was duly tried, and adjudged not guilty.

On March 8, 1877, the trial of José Rodrigues for the killing of Joseph McDonald, at San Leandro, some three months previously, was commenced before Judge McKee of the Third District Court, when he was found guilty of manslaughter, and sentenced to three years' imprisonment in the State Prison.

At the July term, 1877, Edward Clancey was tried for the murder of Manuel Silva, the circumstances of the case being as follows: An intimacy had been formed between Clancey and Silva's wife, who was an Irishwoman. Clancey stated that Mrs. Silva had agreed to raise the window of her chamber on the night of the 4th of June last, in case Silva was not at home. Clancey was to give a signal by throwing pebbles against the side of the house. He gave the signal agreed upon, and did not await a response, but ran round to an outhouse near the Methodist Church, Haywards. He had a pistol in his pants' pocket. Silva followed and attacked him with a heavy club, and after receiving two blows, Clancey fired his pistol upon Silva and fled. He did not deny the killing, but claimed that it was in self-defense. He was found guilty of murder in the second degree.

Among the items of criminal history mentioned by us as occurring during the year 1869, was the arrest of Patrick Glancy for causing the death of Robert Light- body. Glancy or Clancey was convicted of this murder in the July term 1877, and sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment in the State Prison.

1878 .- At the April term, 1878, Chung Wong, a Chinaman, was indicted for murder. The case was transferred to the Third District Court, but on September 12, 1878, he was declared insane and committed to the Napa Asylum.

1879 .- During the year 1879, the only very serious case that we find in the records, was the conviction and imprisonment of Clark De Forrest, June 30th, for ten

Gray

F. F. Patton

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years in the State Penitentiary, for an assault to commit murder; other than this there were the usual quota of burglaries, and cases of larceny, but none of sufficient gravity that they should be remembered, save by the victims.

1880 .- The reader may remember the case of Frederick W. Clarke, who shot Zelotus Reed in 1871. In the meantime he had been charged with embezzling money due the estate of his father, H. K. W. Clarke, and on January 24, 1880, was once more arrested, on the complaint of A. B. Lawson, for the original crime. The case was eventually taken to the Supreme Court, under a writ of habeas corpus and that tribunal under date March 23, 1880, rendered its decision. The Court held that the fact that Clarke had already been before two Grand Juries, was no bar to the case being again examined into. Judge Mckinstry delivered the opinion, in the course of which he said :-

Inasmuch as there is no limitation of time applicable to prosecution for murder, and as a defendant in whose order a dismissal of the action has been made, has never heen pit in jeopardy, within the meaning of the Con- stitution, a new action on behalf of the people may in such case be initiated at any subsequent day, either hy pre- sentment of a Grand Jury or by a complaint filed with any magistrate.

As we have seen, if the Superior Court retains the power to resubmit a charge once or oftener dismissed by a Grand Jury, for any length of time after the prosecution has been dismissed, the power may be employed at the option of the Judge or of any number of successive judges, without complaint or evidence or any cause shown. The practicable difficulties inseparable from such construction of the statute seemed to have occurred to counsel, who suggested at the argument that the power should be exercised by the Superior Court only after the defendant had been rearrested under warrant issued out of that Court and his case re-examined. To authorize such a pro- ceeding we would have to supplement the section of the Code with other sections providing for the issue of such warrants, the admission to bail in certain cases, etc. In the first place the language of section 942 is plain, and does not contemplate any new warrant and examination in such case; in the second place, we are not empow- ered to legislate or provide machinery which the law-makers have not provided, but which they have rejected; and, in the third place, no benefit would accrue to a party charged with crime, since the result of the proposed changes in the law would only be to confer on the Judge of the Superior Court in another form the same power which he now possesses in common with all other magistrates, to wit: the power to issue a warrant and to examine and to hold to answer.

We have only to add that the main question involved in the present application was expressly decided in ex parte Cahill, 52 Cal., 463. In that case the facts were like those of the present, except that there the County Court had made an order resubmitting to the next Grand Jury, after it had dismissed the action, or discharged the defendant from custody. But the Conrt did not there hold that the power to resubmit continued after the prosecution had been dismissed, and there could have been no pretense that the order of resubmission in and of itself constituted a warrant or process which justified the Sheriff in restraining the party of his liberty. The Conrt in terms declared that the Sheriff was justified in holding his prisoner by the warrant of the Justice of the Peace. "The Court say: No bar to another prosecution having occurred, and the prisoner being at large without bail in consequence of the order of the County Court discharging him from custody, it was competent for any commit- ting magistrate of the proper county to examine the charge made against him, and if, upon such examination, he appeared to be guilty, to hold him to answer."

Judge McKee dissented from this opinion, and on the 29th May, in Department No. 2 of the Superior Court of Alameda County, Judge Greene, after listening to argument by General Irvine, and remarks by District Attorney Gibson, reviewed the case of F W. Clarke, charged with murder, dismissed the prosecution, and discharged the defendant, thus setting him once more free.

On the night of Monday, February 2, 1880, a ferocious assault was made on two Chinamen named Chu Fun and Chu Long, at a Chinese gambling-house on Webster Street, midway between Eighth and Ninth, by which the two Celestials named were

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terribly cut about the head and face. The affray occurred about eight o'clock over a game of tan, and the assaulting heathens were from Spofford Alley, San Francisco. As soon as the affair was known, officers Ross, Field, and Coughlan hastened to the scene of the probably fatal occurrence, and found the interior of the rooms bespattered with blood on all sides. Stains of blood were also found at the door-sill and on the boards leading to the side-walk. The mutilated Chinamen were carried out of the house soon after they had received their injuries and placed under the care of Doctor Li-Pu-Tai, a Chinese physician of San Francisco. They were subsequently taken to the San Francisco Hospital. Chu Fun was gashed fearfully across the middle of the face and through his nose, and from above the right temple through the cheek into the mouth. Chu Long was cut on the head, face, back, shoulder, and arm. On the 6th February Officer Ross captured Loh Ah Wing, one of the five murderous assail- ants, on Eighth Street, Oakland, and took him to the City Prison, and on the follow- ing day he was arraigned in the Police Court on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon. The case was, however, continued, as one of the wounded men was thought likely to die.

On Saturday, February 7, 1880, a very painful accident occurred on Second Street, when an unfortunate woman was shot while walking along the thoroughfare.

At the inquest eight of the jurors agreed upon the following verdict, and the ninth juror would not add his signature without the additional words which are given below :-

We, the undersigned jurors, after inspecting the body and hearing the testimony adduced, do find the deceased was named Ellen Stetson, a native of Wales, aged thirty-seven years. That she came to her death on the 7th day of February, A. D. 1880, by a pistolshot wound in the neck, causing immediate death, while she was crossing Second Street, near her residence. And the jury find that the shot was fired by one Jacob Lenz, from the grocery store of William Lenz, while in an altercation with Patrick McFadden.

(Signed) GEORGE W. SMITH, J. J. KANE, F. T. HALL, F. CURNIFF. J. W. TUCK, WVM. WILLIAMS,

JOHN SCOTT, WM. J. ATKINSON,

The above verdict I agree to, with the addition that I believe the shot was fired in self-defense.

ROBERT REED.

Perhaps no more exciting time was ever witnessed in Oakland than when the intelligence became public that Alfred Lefevre, a dentist, having his office at the corner of Eighth Street and Broadway, had been shot and killed by Edward F. Schroeder, a clerk in the London and San Francisco Bank, San Francisco, on Monday, July 26, 1880. The circumstances of the case need not be here repeated; the details will be found most elaborately portrayed in the periodicals of that time; the page of history is not the place to pamper to a morbid taste for meretricious literature. Suffice it to say that the most eminent legal talent was arrayed on either side; the speeches for the prosecution and defense teemed with erudition, notably those of Messrs. Hall McAllister, Foote, and Gibson, while the charge of Police Judge Yule will take rank side by side with the best efforts of older lawyers. It will not be readily forgotten with what thrilling interest Mr. McAllister held his audience as he defined the fine points of mania, transitory insanity, monomania, and malice, which were successful in clearing Schroeder from this most horrible crime.

On May 17, 1880, Low-Kee, a Chinaman, was indicted for the crime of murder, and on July 12th was sentenced to ten years in the State Prison.

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1881 .- On November 9, 1881, A. J. Ross, charged with an attempt to kill special officer Martin, was discharged from custody, and Martin, who was then arraigned, was convicted, but in consideration of the fact that he had suffered severely from knife wounds inflicted during the fight, the Court did not think it necessary to impose a fine.

On August 7, 1881, a man named John Taylor was grievously assaulted by one Poblec, near Livermore, from the effects of which he died. He was duly tried before the Superior Court.

Since this time the red hand of murder has happily been stayed, although several lives have been taken by accident, but as there did not appear to be any criminality connected with these it has not been thought advisable to mention them in this place. Suicides have been too common, and so will they continue, it is to be feared, so long as the public countenance this means of "shuffling off the mortal coil " and consider it as a right that every individual has. Surely, the life given us to maintain is no more ours to destroy than is that of our neighbor. To take both by violent means is equally heinous, and suicides will continue to be the part of the callous as long as the public look upon it as no particular sin. Thefts are too common to notice, and while we pen these lines a young man who had hitherto held a high position in the esteem of his fellows, is under order for trial for embezzlement of the public funds intrusted to his care. As the trial has not yet taken place, no good purpose would be served by making further mention of the circumstance. That crime is on the decrease is due to the efficiency of the officials of Alameda County.

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ALAMEDA TOWNSHIP.

G EOGRAPHY .- Alameda Township is bounded on the north by San Antonio Creek and Oakland Township; on the east by Brooklyn Township; on the south by the Bay of San Francisco; and on the west by the Bay of San Francisco.

TOPOGRAPHY .- The township of Alameda bears, in outline, some resemblance to the elbow of the human frame; is about one mile in width and three and a half in length, and has an area approximating twenty-two thousand acres. It has, however, no very marked topographical features, and may be described as a level, sandy plain covered with umbrageous oaks, which still give to the place an air of sylvan retirement. Its southern boundary is a well-defined water-front, somewhat abrupt, merging north- ward into marsh or overflowed lands, all of which are susceptible of reclamation.

STREAMS .- There are no streams in the Encinal or Alameda, but being a peninsula, as its name implies, it is necessarily waslied on three sides by water, those of the San Antonio Creek and San Leandro Bay being all-important, for here are we to have the capacious Oakland Harbor, with its adjuncts of shipping and commerce, in which Alameda will naturally share as well as its greater sister of Oakland.

CLIMATE .- Compared with San Francisco and Oakland the climate of Alameda is remarkably mild. The westerly sea winds of summer which sweep over the former and round the bay, are less than a mile high. They are gradually arrested by the Coast Range of mountains, and partly by the easterly current of air which overlaps the lower stratum. This easterly current is always dry in summer, coming, as it does over the arid soil of the San Joaquin Valley, where it encounters a solar temperature of nearly one hundred degrees Fahrenheit. First, then, we see that the resistance which is offered to the westerly current either modifies its force, or entirely overcomes it before it reaches the Encinal; and, as a secondary consequence, the fog-bank is not only held at bay, but it is absorbed by the hot, dry, easterly current which is contin- ually pushing seaward. Together these causes conspire to lessen the amount of summer winds, and to make fogs the exception to the general rule. Thus, while the citizens of San Francisco are immersed in dense fogs and subjected to high winds, Alameda, but twenty minutes of time distant, is enjoying the clear, calm sunshine of a delightful climate, which is neither so cold as to be uncomfortable, nor so hot as to be oppressive.

Though the same remarks will apply, to some extent, to the climate of Oakland, yet, owing to the fact that the northern boundary of that city being covered by the waters of the bay, and the city itself being nearly opposite the Golden Gate and thus more exposed to the direct force of the trade-winds, there is probably as much differ- ence between the climate of Oakland and Alameda as there is between San Francisco and Oakland.

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SOIL .- Nothing can be said in this regard but that nature has been more than usually benign to this favored spot. The soil though sandy is extremely productive, being especially adapted to the growing of small fruits and vegetables, while Bay Farm Island bears a reputation for its fertility which is unsurpassed.

PRODUCTS .- Alameda Township is not a farming district in the proper sense of the term. Its products are almost entirely confined to the raising of fruits, tubers, and vegetables, which, owing to the peculiarity of its climate, and to its warm, sandy soil, are usually the first in the San Francisco market. Flowers, too, grow with marked luxuriance as the many well-kept gardens can testify, while its nurseries are industries which fully sustain the above remarks.

Early in the year 1870, a correspondent of the Scientific Press while dilating on the delights of Alameda's temperature and its adaptability for the production of semi- tropical fruits, says: " At Mrs. Doctor Haile's residence I was shown the noted lemon tree, the seed of which the late Doctor Haile brought from Panama in his vest pocket and planted fifteen years ago, where it is now growing. The tree stands eighteen feet high, is very symmetrically formed, vigorous and thrifty, branching low, and spreading sixteen feet across. The lady informed me that at least two hundred and fifty lemons had been gathered from the tree that season, and I estimate the number on the tree now at three hundred and fifty. The tree has produced fruit several seasons. I saw lemons in all stages of growth from the blossom to the ripened fruit. The full-grown fruit is of medium size and very beautiful. The quality is excellent. The skin is rather thicker than the imported lemon, while the pulp, though acid, is exceedingly pleasant." It will thus be seen that the lemon and the orange will withstand here the ' frosts of winter, while who shall say of what the spring and summer months are capable ? The yield of such delicacies as asparagus and tomatoes is enormous and most profitable-five hundred dollars per acre of the first named has been cleared on Bay Farm Island-while all land for such purposes commands high rents. Of the numerous orchards what shall we say: As early as the month of February the eye is gladdened with the almond tree in full bloom; then come the white, snow-like blos- soms of the cherry, to be followed in quick succession by those of the plum, the apple, and the quince, which brings this gorgeous floral fête half-way into the month of April. Then comes with unerring certainty the growth and ripening of the fruits, accompanied by the springing of flowers. He who visits Alameda in the spring-time will be ravished by the beauties which surround him; his autumnal visit though not so kaleidoscopic still bears the sense of fruitful plenty and quiescent comfort, twin benefits that make man feel at rest with himself and the whole world.

TIMBER .- Nearly the whole peninsula of Alameda is covered with live-oaks, whose beautiful forms and ample boughs lend an air of pastoral retreat to the place. As the town has been laid out and the necessary thoroughfares graded, many of these have been removed, but enough remain to leave to the imagination the filling- in of the picture as it was when the first settler made his appearance in the quest of game among the thick undergrowth and gnarled trunks of these ancient groves. With the advance of time many other trees have been planted to embellish the homes

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of citizens, but none of these-variable species though they be-are so noble as the primeval oak, which, happily, are under the fostering care of the "city fathers." No oak may be laid low without permission of the Board of Town Trustees.

MEXICAN GRANTS .- This township has no especial Mexican Grant in itself, but was a portion of the Rancho de San Antonio, granted to Don Luis Maria Peralta, and by him given, with other property, to his son Antonio Maria Peralta. It was originally called "Bolsa de Encinal," and sometimes "Encinal de San Antonio," the first-named meaning the low-lying or level lands of the peninsula, and the last the peninsula of San Antonio, taking its style from the creek of that name.

EARLY SETTLEMENT .- Prior to that memorable year, 1848, when gold was discov- ered by James W. Marshall in the tail-race of Sutter's Mill at Coloma, the Encinal of . Alameda was, to all intents and purposes, a terra incognita to the Anglo-Saxon. It is true they may have looked upon it from the distant shores of Marin County, while their ships lay in the cove of Saucelito taking in supplies of water, or perchance have gazed upon its wooded area from the sand-dunes of Yerba Buena, and thought of it as a place where game should be found in more or less plenty ; but that it was ever visited by them is a matter of which there is no kind of record. That it was a land beautiful beyond comparison, we know from what we to-day see of its pristine groves whence it takes its name. With the advent of the immigrant its productiveness was soon put to the test, and at a very early date it became the resort of the hunter, the trapper, and the charcoal-burner, who on landing found the ground occupied by coyotes, quail, hares, rabbits, and possibly deer in companionship with stray herds of cattle that had found their way to this shady retreat through a brush-fence con- structed by Antonio Maria Peralta, the course of which is described as being from where the Fruit Vale Station of the Central Pacific Railroad now stands, along the line of the avenue leading to Park Street in the town of Alameda.

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History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions, Part 52

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood Number of Pages: 1206

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood
Number of Pages: 1206