USA > California > Amador County > History of Amador County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 22
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REPORT NOVEMBER 5, 1860.
Calaveras indebtedness, excluding interest. .$10,086.05
Other 66 12,249.51
Total $22,335.56
Cash on hand-
Calaveras Fuud. $4,108.05
General 7,907.47
Hospital 2,575.98
Road 684.56
Due from Sacramento county . 2,120.00
66 Calaveras 116.00
Total . $17,512.06
Total debt, exclusive of interest, and less the amount in . the treasury.
$,823.504
This method of making reports was not well cal- culated to give the people any correct idea of the state of the finances. The interest on warrant 103 alone, now amounted to twenty thousand dollars or more; much of it was duc, having accumulated to upwards of ten thousand dollars before any por- tion of principal or interest was paid.
The Supervisors, beginning with September 3d, were :--
District No. 1-C. Y. Hammond.
District No. 2-R. Stewart.
District No. 3-Geo. McWilliams.
The latter taking his seat September 3d, succeed- ing J. Linzee.
POLITICAL PARTIES IN 1860.
Some of the waves raised by the political storm that was raging in the Eastern States began to be felt in California. The prospect of carrying the Presiden- tial election and sharing the official patronage induced the Republicans to put forth greater efforts, and for the first time in the history of the party, it looked possible to carry some of the county offices. The Democratic party seemed to be disintegrating, having divided into the Douglass and Breckenridge factions, while members of the old Whig party, con- fident in their principles, thought to rally round them all the conservative elements and quiet the storm which threatened to engulf the nation. There are some questions that are so positive in their nature as to admit of no compromise; all or nothing being the only terms of settlement. The Republicans took strong ground against the extension of slavery, though denying any thonght of interfering with it where it then existed. The Douglass Democrats wished to leave it to the Territories and States to determine for themselves whether slavery should or should not exist within their boundaries, thus exclud- ing the matter from Congressional action. The Breckenridge party contended that having been
94
HISTORY OF AMADOR COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
recognized by the Constitution as an element in the social compact of States, it could not be excluded from the Territories either by National or Territorial legislation without manifest injustice to the States wherein slavery existed. Each party endeavored to prove that a true interpretation of the Constitution would justify the proposed measures of exclusion, rele- gation of the matter to the States and Territories, or general protection and recognition everywhere under the flag. Careful readers of the early history of the United States cannot fail to discover the ten- derness, evasion even,with which the subject of slavery was treated. The word slavery had no mention in the Constitution, those opposed to it hop- ing that it would cease of itself; those in favor of it satisfied with its partial recognition. Able writers on political economy assert that Constitutions are growths of public opinion; that no constitutional enactments ean stand long against overwhelming public sentiment; that the courts and government shape the enactment when they execute the law, and, that public sentiment establishes the government. Threc large parties accused each other of trying to subvert the Constitution, each professing to see, in the success of either of the others, utter ruin and destruction. We shall see, as history progresses, the truth of the principles alluded to, for the meaning of the Constitution was eventually fixed at a cost of a million of lives and billions of money.
First-class orators, as well as many who were not rated at all, traversed the country, not omitting Amador in their labors. Thousands of documents bearing on the question, were sent through the mails or circulated by means of committees.
R. Burnell, afterwards conspicuous in Amador poli- tics, made his appearance for the first time. He was a lawyer by profession, from the central part of New York. Having accumulated considerable money by raising stock on the plains around Sacramento, he spent a Winter in the capital, took a notion to mingle in political affairs, and made Amador County a start- ing-point. He was a man of graceful presence, pleasing address, a fluent speaker, with a good train- ing in the New York school of politics, of which Martin Van Buren was the best specimen and ideal, whose political gospel was " neither give nor take offense." He rapidly made his way upwards, being first elected to the Assembly, where he was elected Speaker, and afterwards two terms to the Senate. He was also a prominent candidate for Congress.
FIRST APPEARANCE OF TOM FITCH.
This celebrated orator was sent into the country to try his strength of wing in the woods and chap- arral. Though he had spoken once or twice on the steamer on which he was a passenger to this State, and again once or twice after landing, the general impression was that he was speaking a piece that some one had written for him. His appearance was
boyish in the extreme. His plump and rather girlish face, his lips with the babyish cupid's bow still giving them shape, and his extremely youthful appearance, (not over twenty at least), did not impress one at first sight, or give any indication of his oratorical powers. The first meeting at which he appeared was in Ione. Very few had heard of him, and it was supposed that the State Central Committee had sent, as they often had done before, some troublesome aspirant for oratorical honors, where he would do the least harm. James M. Hanford, M. W. Belshaw and two or three local politicians were announced to speak, and confident in their strength, inquired of Fitch which part of the evening he would prefer, and also how much time he would like to occupy, for it was intended to give the boy a chance for success. He rather dignifiedly answered that he would be satis- fied with any arrangements that might be made; so he was generously allowed the closing speech! After the several speakers had plodded wearily through the evening, the President introduced Thomas Fitch. The writer of this, who was present, recollects well the shade of disgust that passed over the faces of the audience at the prospect of sitting out another hour of dullness. He bowed dignifiedly to the Pres- ident and audience. His boyish appearance was already gone, giving place to the ease and self-posses- sion born of conscious strength. He commenced with a few long, Ciceronian sentences, as stately and beautiful in structure as a Grecian temple, and what was more, he kept them up for a full hour, never faltering for a word, never missing a note in the lofty song which he commenced, winding up with a burst of eloquence in favor of universal freedom that Colonel Baker might have cqualed, but never surpassed. There was none of the school-boy in the oration. The sentences, pondcrous as they were, came out of his mouth as if propelled by an intellectual steam engine. Had the people seen a train of cars dragged by a single pony, going a hundred miles an hour, their astonishment could not have been greater. The fol- lowing night he spoke at Lancha Plana to a large audience, that had gathered, as much out of curiosity as anything else, to hear the prodigy. Those who had not heard him still contended that he must have repeated what had been written for him by some one else; but a circumstance occurred which set that question at rest. A few minutes before he ascended the stand the news came that Colonel Baker had been elected United States Senator for Oregon- Oregon, the home of Joe Lane, the immovable Dem- oeratic State! The subject was one worthy the power of an orator, and Fitch did it justice. " The waves of public opinion, sweeping a continent in their course, are rocking the strongest citadels of slavery." Those who came out of curiosity remained, entranced. Perhaps he was the only man who ever spoke in Amador county that would hold every one of his audience to the close.
Though a born orator, of unsurpassed ability, his
95
AT THE BEGINNING OF 1860.
moral qualities were not of corresponding great- ness. He sadly disappointed the hopes of his early admirers, and is now only a fourth rate lawyer.
Among the prominent speakers engaged in this campaign was James H. Hardy, candidate for Judge of the Sixteenth Judicial District, who ably sup- ported the Breekenridge side of the question.
The general vote was : Lincoln, 995; Douglass, 1866; Breekenridge, 945; Bell, 178; total, 3984, being the largest vote ever polled in the county.
OFFICERS ELECTED IN 1860.
Judge of 16th Judicial District-J. H. Hardy.
Assemblymen-R. Burnell, Thomas Horrell.
Sheriff-R. Cosner.
Clerk-J. W. Bieknell .*
Treasurer-C. A. LaGrave.
Distriet Attorney-J. Foot Turner.
Assessor-F. McGrath.
Publie Administrator-E. Gallagher.
Superintendent of Schools-Samuel Page.
Surveyor-J. M. Griffith.
Coroner-W. E. Fifield.
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
Township No. 1-H. J. Bostwiek, M. J. Little.
Township No. 2-W. C. Pratt, Charles English.
Township No. 3-J. M. Hanford, S. S. Hartram.
Township No. 4-Harvey Wood, D. R. Gans.
Township No. 5-C. W. N. Hinkson, George W. Haines.
Township No. 6-H. Bell, B. Nicholls.
Township No. 7-J. MeMurren, S. H. Loree.
AMADOR WAGON ROAD VOTED ON.
The diseovery of the Comstoek mines gave an inereased desire for the building of a wagon road to Carson valley. The Legislature, by an aet ap- proved Mareh 23, 1861, required the Board of Super- visors of Amador, to eall a special election of the voters of Amador eounty to submit to them a pro- position to issue bonds of said eounty, not exeeeding in the aggregate the sum of forty thousand dollars, to be expended in the eonstruetion of a wagon road, com- meneing at Antelope Springs, in Amador eounty, on the ridge dividing the waters of the Mokelumne and Cosumnes rivers, and following thenee the best praeti- cable route to Hope valley on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and for the purpose at the same time of eleeting one Road Commissioner in each Supervisor Distriet of said eounty.
The proposition was rejected by the following vote: For building the road, 1495; against, 1683.
A year later the subjeet was revived and earried through.
NAMES OF AMADOR MOUNTAINEERS,
Enrolled 1861, for service on the plains, guarding the mail route to Fort Laramie :-
Wm. MeMullen, Capt. A. R. Abbott,
D. B. Haskell, 1st. Lieut. John Davis,
R. M. Crandall, 2d. Lieut. Joseph Willet,
John Parsons, Brev. Lieut.
J. Dennis,
W. L. Rhynerson,
F. Robjent,
J. M. Griffith,
John Ennis,
J. H. Bradley,
A. Allen,
Albert Moore,
W. R. MeCormick,
D. B. Trimble,
C. H. Ashby,
J. Hall,
L. D. Winehester,
T. J. Yager,
Geo. Teas,
B. J. Thompson,
John Ferguson,
Geo. Monroe,
I. N. Swan,
John Evans,
F. Brill,
H. R. Brown,
J. Johnson,
John Dickinson,
P. H. Repp,
T. H. Dickin,
John Morris,
Chas. Walton,
Isaae Perrin,
A. Carpenter,
W. S. Cooledge.
P. Brady,
Joseph Alyea,
E. McCaugherty,
A. R. Martin,
W. Kelly,
J. C. H. Wagner.
[The publishers intended to furnish a list of all the volunteers who left the county, but were unable to get their names.]
The Supervisors made the following report of finan- eial matters May 7, 1861 :-
Amounts of all warrants drawn on Treas- ury from Nov. 5, 1860, to May 7, 1861, on General Fund ... .$22,991.26
Total receipts for same time exclusive of Calaveras and School Funds .. . 31,366.81
Total amount of indebtedness exclusive of interest on outstanding warrants and Calaveras debt. 4,936.05
Calaveras indebtedness including interest on same .. 5,769.69-$10,754.74
Assets-County buildings and furniture .. 14,500.00
Cash on hand including solvent debts . . 6,955.86-$21,455.86
Above indebtedness. . . $10,701.06
RATE OF TAXES FOR 1861.
For State purposes on each $100. .60c.
County purposes,
66
10c.
Indigent sick, 66
20c.
Calaveras debt, 66
.30c.
Road purposes,
5c -- $1.75
Also $6.00 poll-tax for State and County purposes.
CALAVERAS INDEBTEDNESS DENIED.
At a meeting of the Board of Supervisors, Decem- ber 26, 1861, the following proeeedings were had :-
" WHEREAS, By the quarterly financial report of the Auditor and Treasurer of Amador county, sub- mitted to the Board on the first Monday of Decem- ber, 1861, it appears that there was, upon that day, in the hands of said Treasurer, the sum of six thou- sand one hundred and fifty-five dollars and four eents, eredited to a fund known as the Calaveras County Fund; and,
"WHEREAS, It is the opinion of this Board that the object for which said fund was created, no longer exists (the debt formerly due from Amador county to said Calaveras county, having been fully paid).
"It is therefore ordered that the said Treasurer of Amador county be, and is hereby direeted, to trans-
*J. W. Bicknell was nominated in the Convention by a bit of sharp practice. Alvinza Hayward, a friend of Bicknell's, went around among the delegates, asking them to give the old gentleman a complimentary vote, saying that he could not get the nomi- nation, but it would please him to get a good votc. When the complimentary vote was counted, it was found to be the requisite number to nominate him. There was no chance to retreat; so the Convention bore the joke as well as they could.
50c.
School purposes, 60
J. P. Ewing,
96
HISTORY OF AMADOR COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
fer from the said Calaveras County Fund to the Gen- cral Fund of Amador county, the sum of six thousand dollars, and also that all such sum or sums as may be paid into the said Treasury after the said first Monday of December, 1861, upon said Calaveras County Fund, be credited to the General Fund of Amador county."
From the records of the Board of Supervisors, it appears that on the second day of December, 1861, they entered into an agreement with J. Foot Tur- ner, by which the said Turner agreed to evade or satisfy the payment on the part of Amador county, of the sum of six thousand one hundred and fifty- eight dollars, then on hand and in the treasury, due to the county of Calaveras as a part of the Cala- veras indebtedness on warrant 103, which he seems to have done, as he was allowed the commission of ten per cent. on the same, at a meeting of the Board September 1, 1862. Subsequently, however, the mat; ter came before the District Court. In the suit of Beals, the holder of warrant No. 103, against the Supervisors of Amador county, in 1864, the records showed that a writ of mandamus was issued from the District Court, S. W. Brockway presiding, to the Board of Supervisors of Amador county, requir- ing them to levy a special tax for the payment of the balance of the Calaveras indebtedness, amount- ing to $7,556.16, in accordance with a law approved April 27, 1855. The matter was appealed to the Supreme Court, where the decision of Judge Brock- way was confirmed. The amount of the warrant when drawn, was $26,517.32; up to 1865, $31,292.83 had been paid on it when the county, by the advice of J. Foot Turner, refused to pay anything further. The judgment given by Brockway, $7,556.16, was avoided until it amounted to $11,000, making over $40,000 in all that was paid on the warrant, the costs, and attorneys' fees, swelling it to at least $50,- 000, before the demand was settled.
ENORMOUS PROFITS OF THE OFFICE-HOLDERS. .
It is said that the offices of Sheriff and County Clerk were worth from fifteen to twenty thousand dollars per year. The latter was also Recorder of Deeds, and acted as the Clerk of the Board of Super- visors and Equalization; also, as Auditor of Accounts, for all of which he drew high pay. At a meeting of the Board of Supervisors, February 6, 1861, present, James H. Allen and George McWilliams, it was ordered that the Auditor, J. W. Bicknell, be paid, as salary, two hundred and forty dollars per montb, in quarterly installments; though October 9th, follow- ing, his salary was reduced to one hundred and sixty- five dollars per month. The following items from the records of the Board of Supervisors will show how the money went :---
November 18, 1861-Allowed J. W. Bicknell $300 for making assessment roll; also, $58 as Clerk to the Board of Equalization.
October 3, 1862-$100 per month for signing poll- tax receipts, and foreign miners' licenses.
October 3, 1862-(Page 435, Vol. B, minutes of Board of Supervisors.) Allowed J. W. Bicknell quar- terly salary as Auditor, $495; quarterly salary as Clerk of Board of Supervisors, $167.50.
October 8th-Recording bonds of county officers, $153.
November 8th-Allowed for acting as Clerk of Supervisors, $96. Each of the Board also allowed themselves, November 8, 1862, $48, as members of the Board of Equalization.
July 1, 1861-George F. Tripp, allowed fees in criminal cases, $2,155, a fourth claim-$810-being rejected. For a few minutes' serviees as interpreter, involving no loss of time worth mentioning, $5.00 was allowed. $24 was allowed for moving a person twelve miles.
February 14, 1863-Treasurer LaGrave allowed three per cent., amounting to $64, for apportioning School Fund.
June 2, 1862-C. Y. Hammond and other Super- visors allowed each $32 for services on the wagon- road election, which services should have been ineluded in the ordinary duties of Supervisor. The Chairman was allowed $25 per month for signing road receipts.
July 7, 1863-Board of Supervisors allowed them- selves $8.00 per day for twenty-three days, for act- ing as members of the Board of Equalization.
July 7, 1863-Allowed fees to Sheriff for month of June, $549 53; also, for copying summons to Jurors, $339.
March 3, 1863-Allowed County Treasurer $143 for signing licenses; same date, J. W. Bicknell $330 for acting as County Auditor.
April 8, 1863-Treasurer allowed $88.40 for appor- tioning School Fund; June 6th, for same, $119.34.
January 6, 1863-For printing blank road receipts, $150.
April 8, 1863-Allowed $251 for printing county blanks; also, June 2d, for same, $120.
June 6, 1863-Quarterly salary of $495 allowed J. W. Bicknell as Auditor.
September 9th-$285 rent allowed for county buildings for month of August.
September 9, 1863-$627 allowed as Sheriff's fees for last month.
September 21, 1863-Supervisors allowed them- selves $8.00 a day as canvassers of the election returns.
October 7, 1863-J. W. Bieknell allowed $200 for making out duplicate military list.
December 16, 1863-County Auditor allowed $495 as quarter's salary.
All services rendered seemed to be the subject for special fees. It is not strange that candidates should spend a thousand or two in trying to get a nomination when a nomination was equivalent to an election, or as much when the result of the election was doubtful.
POLITICAL PARTIES IN 1861.
Soon after the election of Lincoln, the old land- marks, which had stood for many years as guides to the various political crafts, went down out of sight. Men who had for a quarter of a century anchored to the Whig or Democratic doctrines, found themselves without soundings. Professed politicians, who were accustomed to weigh public opinion and move accordingly, were now unable to tell where the surging waters and contrary currents would permit
1
RESIDENCE OF D. B. SPAGNOLI, JACKSON, AMADOR COUNTY, CAL.
LITH. BRITTON & REY, S.F.
SPRINGDALE: RESIDENCE AND FARM OF A. CAMINETTI, FOUR MILES N. E. OF JACKSON, AMADOR COUNTY, CAL.
97
AT THE BEGINNING OF 1860.
secure anchorage. When everything is in eonfusion, it sometimes happens that a single commanding voice will turn a wavering crowd to its own course. The steady disruption of the Southern States, the boldness of their friends in California, who certainly evinced no fear of consequences, made the prospect of cutting out California from the Union, quite imminent. The newspapers, usually, are but the mouth-pieces of public sentiment. During this uncer- tain condition of affairs, the Ledger, which, since 1856, had been acting with the Democratic party, while speaking of the breaking off from the Union of Southern States, remarked: "For the present the interests of California seem to be, to remain with the old Union."
This sentiment prevailed to a great extent among the politicians. Among the first to raise the alarm of danger, was R. M. Briggs, a Douglass Democrat, who called public meetings in different parts of the county, and proclaimed to the people the designs of some of the ultra-Breckenridge Democrats to carry California out of the Union. He made speeches in his peculiar style of oratory, in several of the larger towns; introduced strong Union resolutions, with no uncertain sound, which were usually adopted. At
Ione he was met with a solid Union club of one. hundred, from Muletown, headed by the president, Jack Miller, who pledged his company to the main- tenance of the Union, though some of his political friends persuaded him afterwards that he was a little premature in his promises. There is no doubt that . these demonstrations, made previous to the firing on, and surrender of, Fort Sumter, helped to shape public sentiment, so that when the time came for an expression of public opinion, it was overwhelmingly in favor of the perpetuity of the Union. The Fourth of July celebrations in the different towns of the county were hearty and enthusiastic-nearly the whole population participating.
The Douglass Democratic Convention at Saera- mento, which met to nominate a candidate for Governor, took strong Union grounds, denouncing hesitation as cowardice, and doubt as treason.
The three parties put forward full sets of eandi- dates. All professed to be in favor of union. The Republicans favored the maintenance of the Union by prosecuting the war until all rebellion was crushed out, at whatever expense; the Douglass Democrats, by conducting the war according to the Constitution, with Democratic generals under a Democratic admin-
ELECTION RETURNS BY PRECINCTS-1861.
GOVERNOR.
LT. GOVERNOR.
MEN MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.
ASSEMBLYMEN.
John Conness, D. D ..
John R. McConnel, A. D.
Leland Stanford, R ..
Richard Irwin.
Jasper O'Farrell.
J. F. Chellis, R ..
H. E. Edgerton.
J. C. Mckibben.
H. P. Barber.
D. O. Shattuck.
T. G. Phelps, R ..
A. A. Sargent.
F. F. Low.
J. R. Getchel.
G. W. Seaton. .
W. A. Waddell.
C. B. Swift ..
James A. Brown. .
T. C. Boucher.
M. W. Belshaw.
Amador.
11
51
73
22
50
64
23
22 10
51 1
51
64
62
63
1
18 12
22
48
52
65 63
Arkansas.
10
1
11
10
1
11
10
14
14
14
25
25
25
17
12
9
14
24
Boston Store.
18
]1
18
25
21
28
42
23
22
26
49
15
15
62
62
63
81
49
15
13
38
59
Fiddletown.
45
101
73
46
101
14
15
4
4
14
14
15
15
29
29
18
21
33
12
12 64
107 118
108
Lancha Plana
61
38
48
62
38
47
67
66
38
38
42
42
5
58
86
29
31
42
40 2
Middle Bar ..
24
24
19
1
8 36
12
12
Q
New York Ranch
15
8
21
30
25
36
6
25
36
36
6
6
25
24
24
35
35
7
7
23
24
Putt's Bar ..
18
24
33
21
84
106
113
112
84
84
103
107
72
26
106
110
84
83
99 102
Upper Rancheria.
22
53
39
21
236
100
195
241
241
102
10]
189
189
179
231 29
34
6
35
5
37
36
1
3
3
3
15
3
22
7
22
9
2
22
22
8
8
2
1
1
43
1
1
43
13
1
1
1
1
36
43
1
1
1
1
Totals.
1258
827 1299 1448
838 1099 1487 1478
841 844 1063 1058
843 27 1370 1477
819
826 1024 1083
1
11
11
11
Badger's Store.
16
12
25
14
14
25
]4
18
18
11
1]
22
12
11
11
24
24
19
9
11
13
Butte City
40
41
37
20
30
48
48
35
41
Clinton . .
27
53
S
26
48
14
64 71
48
46
102
102
72
68
8
48
30
98
103
63
83
Foster's Ranch.
2
5
3
14
14
13
14
Forest Home
32
20
33
131
67
112
139
136
66
66
106
109
109
111
Jackson ..
306
97
117
232
97
103
328
328
98
98
97
96
62
275
4
8
4
6
7
5
6
7
8
3
2
6
6
8
8
2
Muletown.
35
12
4
35
12
4
8
6
3
30
7
8
6
6
29
30
7
8
7
5
Rich Bar ..
8
8
8
21
25
24
33
23
21
19 25
27
Sutter Creek.
34
82
186
112
55
38
25
25
54
55
35
35
35
41
33
50
50
19
101
188
1
6
White's Bar. .
15
15
.
15
15
Yeomet.
21
21
8
8
French Bar.
43
12
S
12
29 8
20
20
30
30
12
12
8
8
8
30
127
63
95
100
11
8
Ione City
117
66
128
25
S
.
.
S 37
37
25
25
25
31
2]
2]
30
27
26
32
201
95
236
233
105
35
15
15
18
19
18
23
Ranch .
26 28
21
35
30
8
12
12
24
9
Pine Grove.
33
6
27
20
26
19
Volcano. ..
26 195 6
Willow Springs.
16
3
22
12
26
25
22
28 53
28
53
9
9
9
17
29
51
52
9
10
Drytown.
46
14
68
14
17
28
Iowa Flat.
112
Martin's Ranch
7
24
31
24
35
18
20
11
Buena Vista.
23
21
14
17
28
45
53
9
26
49
8
7
12
1
PRECINCTS.
9
10 26
9
29
27
33
329
33
13
98
HISTORY OF AMADOR COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
istration, believing that genuine Democracy was a cure for all the ills that could befall a State. The Breckenridge Democrats were supposed to be, to some extent, in sympathy with the Rebellion, but they confined their arguments mostly to charging the Administration with numerous faults, and a systematie violation of the Constitution. Axtell, Farley, and Eagan were able speakers, and repre- sented the Nation as having been hurried into a needless war by the infatuation of half-crazy fanatics, who, unless prevented, would ruin every- thing to give liberty to a race that was little above the beasts of the field in intellectual and moral devel- opment. It was their object generally to represent the South as the aggrieved party, that was willing, even anxions, to return to the Union when their rights were secured to them. Occasionally a speaker, like the Hon. A. B. Dibble, of Nevada, would take up the old story of negro equality, and draw a lively picture of a
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