USA > California > History of California, Volume VI > Part 23
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While the rebuilding of the burned district was still in progress, on June 14th, the alarm sounded once more near the old point of ignition, from the Sacramento house on the east side of Kearny st, between Clay and Sacra- mento. Cause, a defective stove-pipe, S. F. Directory, 1852, 16; in the kitchen, adds another, which the Annals S. F., 277, ascribes to a baker's chimney in the rear of the Merchants' hotel. The fire started just before S A. M. Within a few hours the district between Clay and California sts, from Kearny st to the water-front, lay almost entirely in ashes, causing a loss of over three million dollars. Stanley, as above, has $3,500,000; the Annals nearly $5,000,000; the Directory $3,000,000, embracing 300 houses. Jas King of William s bank was torn down; many ships were in danger. Cal. Courier, July 16, 1850, etc. This fire led to the erection of more substantial buildings of brick, and some stone.
The fourth great conflagration, on September 17, 1850, started on Jack- son street, and ravaged the greater part of the blocks between Dupont and Montgomery sts embraced by Washington and Pacific sts. The section was about equal to the preceding, but covered mostly by one-story wooden houses, so that the loss did not exceed half a million dollars-the Annals says between one quarter and one half million; yet Stanley has one million; 150 houses, and nearly half a million, according to S. F. Directory, 1852, 17 Details in S. F. Picayune, S. F. Herald, and Cal. Courier, of Sept 18, 1850, etc. In estimating values it must be considered that after 1849 material, labor, and method became cheaper and more effective year by year, so that the cost of replacing differed greatly from the original outlay. A scanty water supply and the lack of a directing head hampered the praiseworthy efforts of the fire companies. The fire began at 4 A. M. in the Philadelphia house, on the north side of Jackson st, between Dupont and Kearny, near Washington market. On October 31st a blaze on Clay-st hill consumed the City hospital, owned by Dr Peter Smith, and an adjoining building, where the fire began; loss, a quarter of a million; supposed incendiarism. It was marked by severe injury to several of the hospital inmates, before they could be rescued. Cal. Courier, Oct. 31, 1850. Less extensive but twice as costly was the blaze of Dec. 14th, on Sacramento street, which consumed several
204
SAN FRANCISCO. BURNT DISTRICT OF MAY 1851.
DUPONT
STREET
Post
fOffice
PORTSMOUTH
SQUARE
19
20
KEARNEY
25
-STREET
18
STREET
copSUMMER
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
MONTGOMERY
.13
13
14
10
ALLE
OHIO-STREET
-355
-LE-IDESDORFF
5
36
3
37
45
52
35 1
STREET
-SANSOME
53
54
55
56
57
WASHINGTON
JACKSON
PACIFIC
FRONT
STREET
The jagged line below Montgomery st indicates the extent of filled ground beyond the natural shore line. The larger portions even of the central blocks were covered by wooden buildings. The following list, referred to the plan by num- bers, embraces nearly all the notable exceptions, occupied by a large proportion of the leading business firms. The fire consumed also most of the streets beyond the water line, which, being really wharves on piling, burned readily.
1. City Hotel, brick building
2. Fitzgerald, Bausch, Brewster, brick
3. Capt. Folsom, iron building, adjoin- ing brick b. burned.
4. Custom-house, brick b.
5. Rising & Casili, brick and iron.
6. Cramer, Rambach, & Co., brick.
7 R. Wells & Co. banker, brick
8. Treadwell & Co , brick.
9. J. Hahn & Co. brick.
10. Standard office, brick
11. Johnson & Calfield, wooden b., ad- joining brick b burned.
12. Moffatt s Laboratory brick.
13. Quartermaster's office, brick.
14. Gildermeister. De Fremery, & Co .; brick
15. U S. Assayer's office, Dodge's Ex- press, F Argenti banker, brick
16. B Davidson, banker brick.
17 Wells & Co , bankers, brick.
18. California Exchange, brick.
19. Union Hotel brick
20. El Dorado gambling-place, brick.
21 Tallant & Wilde bankers, Page, Ba- con, & Co bankers, brick.
22. Gregory's Express, brick.
23 Delmonico's, brick, and three adjoin- ing brick b burned
24. Burgoyne & Co. bankers, brick.
25. The Verandah resort, brick.
57
' Gen. Harrison, store ship.
26. Ev Picayune, journal, brick. 58. Georgean,' store ship
27 28 Brick buildings.
59
Cross & Co. iron.
29. Markwald, Caspari, & Co., wooden b. 60 Bonded stores, iron.
30. Berenhardt, Jacoby, & Co., Hellman & Bros, wooden b.
31. Pioche Bayerque, brick and iron, several iron b. in rear.
32. Bonded warehouse, iron.
33 Starkey, Janion, & Co., b'k and iron.
34. I. Naylor, Cooke Bros, brick.
35. Helman & Bro., brick.
36. Starr & Minturn, and others, 2 iron and 2 brick b.
37 38. 39.
Hastler, Baines, & Co., brick.
Jones' Hotel, wooden. P M. Steam Navig. Co., brick.
40. W Gibb brick.
41. Godeffroy, Sillem, & Co., brick.
42 Bonded warehouse, iron.
43. Herald office, brick.
Courier office, brick. Niantic,' store ship.
Baldwin's Bank, iron.
J B. Bidleman, brick.
Cronise & Bertelot, iron.
Larco & Co., brick, iron adjoining.
50
Huerlin & Belcher, brick.
Balance office, brick.
52.
Dewitt & Harrison, brick.
53 Macondray & Co., brick, iron, and wood.
Appraiser's office, iron.
54. 55 Dunker and others, iron.
56 'Apollo, 'store ship.
PINE-
CALIFORNIA
STREET
BA-T-T-ERY-
SACRAMENTO
COMMERCIAL
CLAY
12|
35-
51
BROADWAY
29
STREET
STREET
60
Besides the above, a score and more of brick and iron buildings were destroyed.
44 45 46 47 48. 49
51.
205
ACTIVE REBUILDING.
ing to predict the doom of the city. Street preachers proclaimed the visitation to be a divine vengeance upon
iron buildings with valuable merchandise. It was below Montgomery st; loss about one million This shook the faith in corrugated iron walls. De- tails in Pac. News, and S. F. Picayune, of Dec. 15-16, 1850
Then followed an interval of fortunate exemption, and then with accumu- lated fury on the anniversary of the preceding largest conflagration, the cul- minating disaster burst upon the city Started undoubtedly by incendiaries, the fire broke out late on May 3, 1851, on the south side of the plaza, in the upholstery and paint establishment of Baker and Messerve, just above Bry- ant's hotel, at 11 P M., say most accounts; but Schenck, Vig., MS., 45, has 9:20; yet it is called the fire of May 4th, partly because most of the destruc- tion was then consuminated. "One of the gang headed by Jack Edwards, ' was the cause of it, says Schenck. Aided by a strong north-west breeze, it leape across Kearny st upon the oft-ravaged blocks, the flames chasing one another, first south-eastward, then, with the shifting wind, turning north and east. The spaces under the planking of the streets and sidewalks acted as funnels, which, sucking in the flames, carried them to sections seemingly secure, there to startle the unsuspecting occupants with a sudden outbreak all along the surface. Rising aloft, the whirling volumes seized upon either side, shrivel- ling the frame houses, and crumbling with their intense heat the stout walls of supposed fire-proof structures, crushing all within and without. The iron shutters, ere falling to melt in the furnace, expanded within the heat, cutting off escape, and roasting alive some of the inmates. Six men who had occu- pied the building of Taaffe and McCahill, at the corner of Sacramento and Montgomery, were lost; 12 others, fire fighters in Naglee's building, nar- rowly escaped; 3 were crushed by one falling wall; and how many more were killed and injured no one can say. The fire companies worked well, but their tiny streams of water were transformed into powerless vapor. More effectual than water was the pulling down and blowing up of buildings; but this proved effectual only in certain directions. Voluntary destruction went hand in hand with the inner devastation; the boom of explosion mingling with the cracking of timber, the crash of tumbling walls, and the dull de- tonation from falling roofs. A momentary darkening, then a gush of scintil- lating sparks, followed by fiery columns, which still rose, while the canopy of smoke sent their reflection for a hundred miles around, even to Monterey. It is related that the brilliant illumination in the moonless night attracted flocks of brant from the marshes, which, soaring to and fro above the flames, glistened like specks of burnished gold. Helper's Land of Gold, 144. Finally, after ten hours the flames abated, weakened by lack of ready materials, and checked on one side by the waters of the bay, where the wharves, broken into big gaps, interposed a shielding chasm for the shipping. Of the great city nothing remained save sparsely settled outskirts. All the business dis- trict between Pine and Pacific sts, from Kearny to Battery, on the water, presented a mass of ruins wherein only a few isolated houses still reared their blistered walls, besides small sections at each of its four corners. Westward and north-eastward additional inroads had been made, extending the devas- tation altogether over 22 blocks, not counting sections formed by alleys, and of these the greater number were utterly ravaged, as shown in the annexed plan. The number of destroyed houses has been variously estimated at from over 1,000 to nearly 2,000, involving a loss of nearly twelve million dollars, a sum larger than that for all the preceding great fires combined. Only 17 of the attacked buildings were saved, while more than twice that number of so-called fire-proof edifices succumbed. Schenck, Vig., MS., 44-8, who had some painful experiences during the fire, places their number at 68, including the only two insured buildings, one, No. 41 on plan, a single story, with 22- inch brick walls, earth-covered, and having heavy iron shutters. The long application for insurance on this building was granted at Harlem, unknown to
20€
SAN FRANCISCO
the godless revellers and gamblers of this second Sodom; and rival towns declared a situation so ex- posed to constant winds could never be secure or desirable But it is not easy to uproot a metropolis once started; and Californians were not the men to despair Many of them had been several times stricken, losing their every dollar; but each time they rallied and renewed the fight. Reading a lesson in the blow, they resolved to take greater precautions, and while frail shelter53 had temporarily to be erected, owing to the pressure of business and the demand for labor and material, it was soon replaced by substantial walls which should offer a check to future fires. If so many buildings supposed to be fire-proof had fallen, it was greatly owing to their being surrounded by combustible houses. This was remedied by the grad-
the owners, abont the time of its destruction. The policy for the other house, No. 14 of plan, came at the same time. Insurance companies had not yet opened here. The Jenny Lind theatre fell. The principal houses as reported in Alta Cal., the only unburned newspaper, were J. B. Bidleman, $200,000; E. Mickle & Co., $200,000; Dall, Austin, & Co., $150,000; Simonsfield, Bach, & Co., $150,000; Starkey Brothers, $150,000; De Boom, Vigneaux, & Co., $147,- 000; Oppenheimer, Hirsch, & Co., $130,000; Kelsey, Smith, & Risley, $125, - 000; Moore, Tichenor, & Co., $120,000; Treadwell & Co., $85,000; Thomas Maguire, $80,000; Adelsdorfer & Neustadter, $80,000; Fredenburg & Moses, $75,000; John Cowell, $70,000; J. L. Folsom, $65,000; W. D. M. Howard, $60,000; Baron Terlow, $60,000; Beck & Palmer, $55,000; J. & C. Grant, $55,000; Cross, Hobson, & Co., $55,000; Haight & Wadsworth, $55,000; W. O. Bokee, $50,000; Lazard Frères, $50,000; Annan, Lord, & Co., $50,000; Herzog & Rhine, $50,000; Nichols, Pierce, & Co., $50,000; S. Martin & Co., $50,000. In Annals S. F., 331, it is estimated that from 1,500 to 2,000 honses were ruined, extending over 18 entire squares, with portions of five or six more, or three fourths of a mile from north to south, and one third of a mile east to west; damage moderately estimated at $10,000,000 to $12,000, - 000. S. F. Directory, 1852, 18-19, assumes the loss at from $7,000,000 to $12,- 000,000; Stanley, Speech, 1854, gives the latter figure. Dewitt and Harri- son saved their building, g of plan, by pouring out 83,000 gallons of vinegar. Schenck's Vig., MS., 48. Rescued effects were largely sent on board ships for storage; shelter in the outskirts was costly. Garniss, Early Days, MS., 19, paid $150 for the use of a tent for 10 days, and more was offered. Rob- ber gangs carried off large quantities of goods, a portion to Goat Island, whence they were recovered, but effects to the value of $150,000 or $200,000 are supposed to have been carried away on a bark which had lain off the island. A govt vessel made a fruitless pursuit. In Larkin's Doc., vii. 287-8, are other details. The store-ships Niantic, Gen. Harrison, and Apollo were wholly or partly destroyed. The offices of the Public, Balance, Picayune, Standard, and Courier were burned. .
53 Larkin, Doc., vii. 287, writes on May 15th that 250 small houses were then rising, 75 already with tenants. Sansome st was much improved by filling.
207
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
ual exclusion of unsafe structures from within desig- nated fire-limits, by the improvement of the fire department, and other precautions, all of which com- bined to preserve the city from similar wide-spread disasters. One more did come, to form the sixth and last in the great fire series; but this occur- ring in the following month, June 1851, was due partly to the flimsiness of the temporary buildings, and partly to the lack of time to establish preventive measures and weed out incendiary hordes. The rav- aged district extended between Clay and Broadway streets, nearly to Sansome and Powell streets, cover- ing ten entire blocks, and parts of six more, with about 450 houses, including the city hall, and involving a loss of two and a half million dollars.54 Thus purified by misfortune, and by the weeding out of rookeries and much filth, the city rose more beautiful than ever from its aslies.55 Hereafter it was admirably guarded by a fire department which from a feeble beginning in 1850 became one of the most efficient organizations of the kind in the world.56
b4 Stanley's Speech, 1854. Annals S. F., 344, says $3,000,000; S. F. Direc- tory, 1852, 19, over 82,000,000. The fire started in a dwelling on the north side of Pacific street, below Powell, at about 11 A. M., on June 22d. The Jenny Lind theatre fell again, together with the city hospital, the old adobe City hotel, the Alta office, which had hitherto escaped, the presbyterian church, etc. The city hall, formerly the Graham house, was a four-story wooden building, on the N. W. corner of Kearny and Pacific sts; the chief records were saved. Dunbar's bank escaped though surrounded by fire. Sayward's Rem., MS., 30. Manager T. Maguire was burned out for the sixth time. Seven lives were lost, three by fire, the rest by the mob and police, as robbers and incendiaries, yet one was an honest man assisting his friends to save property. The fire companies were thwarted by lack of water, and by the opposition of owners to the pulling down of their buildings. Alta Cal., Sept. 21, 1851, wails over the destruction of old landmarks. The progress . of fire-proof buildings is shown in S. F. Directory of 1852, 16, which states that nearly all the west side of Montgomery street, between Sacramento and Washington, was lined by them. Their value was satisfactorily tested in Nov. 1852, when they restricted a dangerous fire on Merchant and Clay streets to 30 wooden buildings worth $100,000. For further details concerning the great fires of S. F., I refer to S. J. Pioneer, Feb. 16, 1878; Farwell's MS., 4; An- nals S. F., passim; S. F. Bull., Nov. 27, 1856; Cal. Courier, July 16, Sept. 18, 1850; Williams' Pion. Past., 41-8; Tiffany's Pocket Ex. Guide, 124-6; S. F. Call, May 14, 1871; S. F. Alta, July 1, 1850; S. F. Pac. News, May 4, Dec. 16, 1850; Polynesian, vii. 6, 30.
5ª As commemorated by the phoenix on its seal.
56 Before the fire of Dec. 24, 1849, there had been no serious occasion to drive the absorbed money-gatherers of the city to organized method for protec-
208
SAN FRANCISCO.
The mining excitement, with the consequent exodus of people, served to abate but partially the factious
tion against fire, and only three merchants had thought of introducing fire- engines, which were, indeed, of little value in an emergency. Starkey, Janion, & Co. owned one of them, the Oahu, which had been nearly worn out by long service in Honolulu; another was a small machine belonging to Wm Free, intended for a mining pump. The havoc made by the first great fire roused the people to the necessity for action, and assisted by experienced firemen like D. C. Broderick, F. D. Kohler, G. H. Hossefros, G. W. Green, W. Mc- Kibben, Ben. Ray, C. W. Cornell, J. A. McGlyun, Col Wason, Douglas, Short, and others, E. Otis organized the Independent Axe Company, the municipal authorities granting $800 for the purchase of hooks, axes, and other implements. S. F. Minutes Legisl., 1849, 101, 106, 112, 116, 127-36; Alta Cal., and Pac. News, Jan. 15, 17, 1850, etc. A hook and ladder company is also mentioned, also Mazeppa Fire Co., as well as payments and other acts by the fire committee. In January Kohler was appointed chief engineer by the council, at a salary of $6,000, with instructions to form a fire department, to which end he obtained the three engines in the city, and selected for each a company, Empire, Protection, and Eureka. No fire occurring for some time, the movement declined somewhat under absorbing business pursuits, so much so that the next disaster found scanty preparations to meet it, hose being especially deficient. After this the appeal to the public received greater at- tention, and in June 1850 the fire department was formally organized, with the Empire Engine Company No. 1, dating formally from June 4th, with D. C. Broderick as foreman, G. W. Green, assistant, W. Mckibben, secretary, and including F. D. Kohler, C. W. Cornell, J. A. McGlynn, D. Scannell, C. T. Borneo, J. Donohue, C. P. Duane, L. P. Bowman, A. G. Russ. It selected 'Onward' for a motto, and forined in 1857 a target company of 125 muskets. Company 2 was the Protection, succeeded by the Lady Washington, and subsequently, in 1852, by the Manhattan. According to the Alta Cal. it was first organized informally by Ben. Ray in 1849. Both of these were composed chiefly of New York men, and represented the New York element in politi- cal and other contests. Company 3 was the Howard, formed June 14th by Boston men under guidance of F. E. R. Whitney, foreman, first chief of the later paid department. It was named in honor of W. H. M. Howard, who presented to it a Hunneman engine, just brought by his order, and which for a long time remained unsurpassed. Among the members were J. G. Eagan, T. K. Battelle, G. L. Cook. This was originally the Eureka, with Free's toy engine, which lost the claim to No. 1 by a few hours of delay in organiz- ing. The fire of June 22d gave fresh impulse to organization, and on Sept. 7th the California, company 4, was formed, at first with an engine loaned by Cook Bros & Co., soon replaced by a mate to the Howard. The members, chiefly residents of Happy Valley, embraced M. G. Leonard, G. U. Shaw, W. N. Thompson, G. T. Oakes, G. Endicott, C. Hyatt, R. S. Lamott, and G. M. Garwood, foreman. Company 5 was the Knickerbocker, formed Oct. 17th, with a small wheezy engine nicknamed Two-and-a-half and Yankee Doodle. Foreman J. H. Cutter, with J. Wilson, C. E. Buckingham, R. R. Harris. Earlier than these two were the Monumental 6, 7, 8, which organized in June as independent companies, joining the department only in Sept., and so receiving a later number. It was composed of Baltimore men, with a mix- ture of Philadelphians, who sported three small engines, Mechanical, Union, and Franklin. Among the members were G. H. Hossefros, long foreman and subsequently chief, W. Divier, J. S. Weathred, J. Capprise, R. B. Hampton, W. H. Silverthorn, J. H. Ruddock, R. H. Bennett, W. L. Bromley, and W. Lippincott. Soon after resigning No. S the companies consolidated into No. 6, in 1854, with an improved engine, followed in 1861 by the first steam fire- engine in the city. No. 7 was filled by the Volunteer, and No. 8 by the Pa- cific. Earlier than these two, in 1822, were the Vigilant and Crescent, chiefly
209
POLITICAL DISCORD.
spirit roused by personal feelings and business ri- valry, and strengthened by an irritating subordina- tion to military power. But it fully revived with the return of population from the mines, and in December 1848 a new council was chosen.57 The result was far from pleasing to the old body, which, rallying its partisans, declared the election nullified by illegal votes, and held another in January. 58 To this
of New Orleans men; Columbian and Pennsylvanian, of Philadelphians, in- cluding the later Mayor Alvord. In 1854-55 followed the Young American and Tiger, Nos. 13, 14, the former at the mission, the latter on Second st.
In early days, when hose and water were scanty, the chief work fell on the hook and ladder companies, of which the department in June 1850 counted three, the St Francis, composed of E. V. Joice, S. H. Ward, C. P. Duane, W. A Woodruff, G. B. Gibbs, B. G. Davis, J. C. Palmer, foreman, and others; the Howard, succeeded by Lafayette, which consisted of Frenchmen, with a Parisian system and a uniform granted by Napoleon; the Sansome, sustained chiefly by rich business men. A. De Witt, F. Mahoney, C. L. Case, E. A. Ebbets, J. L. Van Bokkelen, G. A. Hudson, W. Adrain, H. A. Harrison, W. H. Hoffman, W. Greene, F. A Bartlett, R. L. Van Brunt, were among the members. Green, Ebbets, and Van Bokkelen were the first foremen. Some years later hose companies were added, making up the 20 companies called for by the legislative regulation of 1851. The department charter is dated July 1, 1850. Kohler, elected chief in Sept. 1850, was succeeded in the fol- lowing year by Whitney, of the Baltimore faction. He resigning, Hossefros of the Philadelphians held the position till 1853, when Duane entered. In May 1852 a board of firewardens was formed. The records of the department were lost in the fire of May 1851. A benevolent fund was then begun, which by 1855 amounted to $32,000 and grew to $100,000. For details, see Alta Cal., June 14, July 1, etc., 1850; Nov. 16, 1866; and scattered numbers of interme- diate years; also Pac. News, Oct. 18, 1850, etc .; Cal. Courier, Sept. 25, 1850; and S. F. Herald, June 17, 1850, etc ; S F. Bulletin, Dec. 3, 1866; S. F. Chronicle, Nov. 11, 1877; S J. Pioneer, May 25, 1878; S. F. Call, Apr. 14, 1878; Annals S. F , 614-25; and S F Directories, that of 1852, enumerates 14 companies, whereof 2 are for hook and ladder; No 4 was situated as far east as Battery, No. 9 on Stockton, near Broadway, the rest more central. The formation of companies, each as much as possible composed of men hailing from the same eastern town, led to clannishness and rivalry, which in a meas- ure was stimulating and useful, but also detrimental in leading to extrava- gance, political strife, and even bloody affrays. They shared in military exploits, and in August 1850 one company started for Sacramento to sup- press the land squatters. They vied with one another in elaborately fitting and decorating their fire stations. The Sansome company's station furniture alone cost $5,000, and had a library. While they merged finally at the close of 1869 into a paid department, their noble devotion in emergencies must ever be commended, leaving as they did business, pleasure, sleep, and comfort to voluntarily face toil and danger for the common good.
57 By a vote of 347 on Dec. 27th. Members, John Townsend, president, S C. Harris, W. D. M. Howard, G C. Hubbard, R. A. Parker, T. J Roach, I. Sirrine, numbering now seven, as resolved. Star and Cal., Dec. 16, 1848, etc. For earlier members, see preceding vol. v .; Calforman, Oct. 7, 14, 1848, etc .; Frignet, Cal., 122.
58 On the 15th, Harris and Sirrine were reelected, the latter becoming president. The other members were L Everhart, S. A Wright, D. Starks, I. Montgomery, and C. E. Wetmore. The election for delegates during the HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 14
210
SAN FRANCISCO
new corporation it transferred its authority, regard- less of protests, and of the December council, which sought to assert itself. The opportunity was eagerly seized by disappointed aspirants to air their elo- quence upon public rights and the danger of anarchy, and to assist in conjuring up a more exalted municipal power for the district in the form of a legislative as- sembly of fifteen members, together with three jus- tices of the peace.59 Their election, on February 21st,
preceding week tended to lower public interest in the event, and a much smaller vote was polled than before. The Alta Cal., Jan. 25, 1849, accord- ingly considers it void.
59 The justices were Myron Norton, T. R. Per Lee, both officers of Steven- son's regt, and W. M. Stewart; the members, T. A. Wright, A. J. Ellis, H. A. Harrison, G. C. Hubbard, G. Hyde, I. Montgomery, W. M. Smith, A. J. Grayson, J. Creighton, R. A. Parker, T. J. Roach, W. F. Swasey, T. H. Green, F. J. Lippett, and G. F. Lemon. U. S. Gov. Doc., Cong. 31, Sess. 1, H. Ex. Doc., 17, 730, with text of resolutions at the decisive meeting on Feb. 12th, reported also in Alta Cal., Feb. 15, 1849. The plan of the organization was presented by G. Hyde, formerly alcalde, who in his Stat., MS., 10-12, points out that only a few of the members obtained less than 400 out of the 602 votes cast. Placer Times, May 12, 1849, etc. According to McGowan, A. A. Green of the Stevenson regt gave a start to the meetings which created the legislative assembly. S. F. Post, Nov. 23, 1878. Ryan, Pers. Adv., ii. 250-2, calls this faction the democratic, Leavenworth heading the aristocratic land-grabbers. The assembly met on March 5th at the public institute, Dwinelle's Col. Hist., 106, doc. iv., although business began only on Mar. 12th; Lippett was appointed speaker; J. Code, sergeant-at-arms; E. Gilbert, printer; F. Ward, treasurer, later J. S. Owens; J. Hyde, district attorney; I. H. Ackerman, clerk, succeeded by A. A. Green and A. Roane. For rules, acts, and committee appointments, see S. F. Minutes Legisl., 5-46. Owing to the frequent absence of members and lack of quorum, their number was increased by ten, elected on May 11th, whereof W. A. and E. G. Buffum, A. A. Green, Theo. Smith, C. R. V. Lee, S. McGerry, and J. M. Huxley, took their seat on the 14th, Burke and P. H. Burnett subsequently. The proportion of Stevenson's soldiers in the body was large. For biographies, see preceding vols. An early measure was to forbid the sale of lots or other city property, which served to rally a host to the support of Alcalde Leaven- worth, including the displaced council members. Loud charges had been made against the alcalde for lavish grants of land, and in such a manner as to permit its accumulation by monopolists for speculation, also for maleadminis- tration. Hyde's Statm., MS., 13; Alta Cal., Mar. 29, 1849. This attitude led the assembly on March 22d to decree the abolition of the alcaldeship and the offices depending upon it, Norton, as the first justice of the peace, being appointed to fill the vacancy under the title of police magistrate, J. C. Pullis being shortly after elected sheriff to assist him. The appeal of the assembly to Gen. Smith for support proved futile. He sustained the alcalde. Greater impression was made upon Gen. Riley, who at this time entered as military governor. Less prudent and firm, he lent his ear first to one side and sus- pended Leavenworth on May 6th, then the old council of 1848 assisted in obtaining his reinstatement on June Ist; and notwithstanding repeated resignations he retained the alcaldeship. Correspondence in U. S. Gov. Doc., as above, 733-6, 758-60, 771; Placer Times, June 2, 1844. He was ineffi- cient, says Hawley, Stat., MS., 9. Even Commodore Jones writes, June 29th, that he was very obnoxious to the people. Unbound Doc., 55, 66, 228, 319-20.
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