USA > California > Placer County > History of Placer county, California > Part 68
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94
Mr. Filcher was married by Rev. Charles Luce to Miss Clara E. Tinkham, at Sheridan, January 19, 1873, the daughter of Hon. Samuel Tinkham. of Somerset County, Maine, and of one of the oldest families of that State. The mother of Mr. Filcher died at Auburn April 5, 1878.
PLACER DEMOCRAT.
The next paper started in Placer County, and pub- lished at Auburn, bore the name of Placer Democrat, the first number bearing date April 19, 1854. This was started by the Broderick wing of the Demo «ratie party, and struggled through the political campaign of that year. ceasing publication a few weeks after the September election. The first editor and proprietor was Philip Lynch, who was suc- ceeded, July Ist, by L. P. Hall, who was followed by John Shannon, all these names being well known among California journalists. Lynch afterwards published the Placer Courier, of Yankee Jim's, and established the News at Gold Hill. Nevada. Hall was connected with many papers throughout the State, being usually known as " hong Primer " Hall, and Shannon established the Delte at Visalia.
The object of the Broderickites was to elect their
296
HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
champion. David C. Broderick. to the United States Senate. The previous session Broderick bad made a great effort to bring on the election, and could he have succeeded in bringing on a vote would prob t- bly have been elected. The contest was the entering wedge to split the Democratic party. The cam- paign of 1854 was very bitter. The Senatorial can- didates were Wm. M. Gwin and D. C. Broderick. Southern men usually took the side of Gwin, and Northern men that of Broderick. but in Placer County, by a singular anomaly, this condition was reversed, Broderick having many Southern men, besides those of Irish descent, as his adherents.
The campaign in this county resulted in defeating the Democracy, that party having two tickets, and electing the Whig candidates by a small plurality. With this campaign the mission of the Democrat was ended, and it was succeeded by the Auburn Whiy. In the first number of this paper the following notice of its predecessor was published :-
The Placer Democrat, a paper representing the so-called Broderick Wing of the Democracy of this county, has been discontinued. Its publication com- menced April 19, of the present year, and ended about two weeks since. It has had the effect of causing rather stormy times in the Democratic Party during the late political canvass; but whether or not the object which it had in view has been entirely accomplished we do not know. That portion of the party whose organ it was, was badly beaten here by the Anti-Electionists, as well as throughout the State. The resignation of their County Central Committee. and the withdrawal of Milton S. Latham, one of their nominees for Congress, were undoubtedly serious drawbacks to their success, though, without these obstacles, the result might have been the same. The reason given for the discontinuance of the Democrat is. that "it will not pay," which, unquestionably is mite a satisfactory one to all interested. We wish Mr. Shannon better success in his private enterprise than has, in this instance, favored his political ones.
DEATH OF JOHN SHANNON.
As previously announced John Shannon. one of the publishers of the Placer Democrat established the Delta, of Visalia, Tulare County. a locality distin- quished for the intensity of feeling of its Democratic majority, and Shannon was fierce in his onslaughts on his opponents. Wm. Governeur Morris and Hugh A. Gorley, sinee distinguished as Captain of Volun- teers in the war, established a Republican paper in the same place. and the two papers maintained a most bitter controversy. On the 14th of November, 1860, Shannon entered the office of his rival, and. with a large pistol, struck Morris on the head, knocking him senseless to the floor, cutting open his scalp over the brow. Morris soon recovered con- sciousness and drew his pistol, when Shannon retreated toward his own office, Morris following. and, with one hand wiping the streaming blood from his eyes, fired at his assailant as he was entering the door of his office, the ball penetrating the intestines, vansing death in half an hour. Morris surrendered
to the authorities, and was discharged after an exam- ination by a Justice of the Peace. Mr. Shannon had resided for a number of years in Placer County, where he had many friends. At one time he was publisher of the Calaveras Chronicle, and had been connected with other papers. His wife, who died while a resident of' Auburn, was quite distinguished as a poetical and prose writer under the nom de phime " Enlalie."
THE AI BURN WILLG.
The " office " for a paper being ready, it was not. at this time, a very costly enterprise to start a paper and run it as long as the publisher- could hold their breath, or fast, or obtain credit. The county now having Whig officers, the prospect for supporting a Whig paper appeared very bright, and, on the 21st of October. 1854. Charles Winkley and A. L. Stinson issued the first number of the Auburn Whig, under the editorial control of M. E. Mills, recently elected District Attorney. The paper was ably conducted during its entire career of thirty-one issues.
Mr. Mills was its editor for the first three months, when he was succeeded by Mr. Iliram R. Hawkins, who remained the editor until it ceased publication on the 19th of May, 1555.
The party bearing the name had won the county election through the division of its opponents, and, being greatly in the minority was quietly but surely going out of existence. The total vote of the county had been, for Senator 5.389, of which the Whig candidate received 2.347. There was, however. great dissatisfaction with the party throughout the Nation, different sections giving different reasons. Ets leaders bad voted for the repeal of the . Mis- souri Compromise," thereby admitting slavery into the Territories north of 36° 30' of latitude, thus offending the North, and the incoming of great num- bers of foreigners who usually went upon the public lands, thus excluding slave labor, offended the South, and with these feelings at the bottom, the American Party was formed of its dissatisfied and beaten fragments. The members were commonly called Know- Nothings, because of their secret organization and their reticence. The rise of this party, in 1855, shelved the Whigs, and the conductors of the paper bearing the name, bowing to the influence of the new excitement, ceased their publication without notice or obituary.
THE PLACER PRESS.
On the 2d of June, 1855. the Placer Press first appeared under the proprietorship of Hiram R. Hawkins, A. L. Stinson, and Charles Winkley. with Mr. Hawkins as editor, being the same organization as that of the defunet Whig. The Press was ably edited, and was the organ of the American, or Know- Nothing party. After the election in September, resulting in the American triumph. Mr. Hawkins took a journey to his native home, leaving Mr. H.
PHOTOGRAPHED BY J. M JACOBS. J. A. Filcher.
297
JOURNALISM
E. Force as editor of the Press during the time of his absence.
These were generally lively times in Auburn; the mines of the surrounding country were yielding well, the Foreign Miners' License Tax. collected almost exclusively from the Chinese, produced a large revenue for the county, and money was plen- tiful; but extravagance was the fashion, wages were high, population unstable, and with ever-so-good prospects it was difficult to maintain a newspaper. During the campaign of 1856 the Press was the able advocate of its party, and its editor was compli- mented by nomination to the State Senate, receiving 1913 votes, the Republican candidate, Mr. C. J. Hil- yer, receiving 1016, but with this division of the anti-Democratic sentiment, the Democratic nominee, Mr. Joseph Walkup was elected, receiving 2,738 votes.
This was the first appearance of the Republicans in California politics. But, however much inclined the publishers and editor of the Press were to the principles of the party, the time had not come to make an open avowal or assume the name. The opprobrious appellation of " Abolitionist " was too commonly hurled at the members of the new party, and this the Democratic sympathizers with the South had made the most offensive word in the language. To surmount the unpopularity of this, or its congener, " Black Republican," was deemed impossible, and it was only by taking the new party in by small doses that it ever gained strength and respectability. Anti-Lecompton was the first dose, and the Press was the able advocate of that party.
The question of the admission of Kansas into the Union with or without slavery, the Lecompton Con- stitution representing the former, agitated the nation, and gave the foundation for the party, which staggered along in scattered ranks under the names of Free Soil, Anti- Lecompton, Squatter Sover- cignty, Douglas Democrats, Republicans, Aboli- tionists, and Unionists. These scattered elements, although really teuding to the same purpose, as charged by the Democracy, often denied each other, and gave poor support to the paper. The strong, noisy, bullying, popularizing crowd were Democrats, and the new party was hardly tolerated on the stump, and its papers were kept in the background.
On the 30th of May, 1857, upon the commence- ment of the third volume of the Press, it is announced that the publishers are IL. R. Hawkins and James P. Bull. October 31st Mr. Hawkins sold his inter- est to A. S. Smith, who assumed editorial control, Mr. Bull continuing in the paper until May, 1858. On the 22d of May the name of A. S. Smith appears as editor and proprietor, and on the 19th of June following Mr. Bull advertises to sell his " half" of the paper, and with the issue of July 24th his connection ceases entirely, the firm name being then Smith & Co.
A Directory of Placer County, published in 1861
by R. J. Steele, James P. Bull and F. I. Houston, says:
The Press from this time until its demise was the organ of the Anti-Lecompton party, and was accused of being strongly tinctured with Abolition- ism. The Press continued to make a regular weekly squeeze for a short time, under the direction of A. S. Smith; but eventually falling into the hands of J. W. Scobey, who continued the editorship, was con- ducted by him until December 4. 1858. when he took " ANOTHER GLANCE AT THE FIELD," and incont :- bently retired, the Press becoming a defunct insti- tution.
In this notice there crops out a feeling of spite against the editors of the Press, and the prevalent feeling of abhorrence of the term "Abolitionism." As Mr. Smith bas long and successfully published the Marysville Appeal, and seen the triumph of Abo- litionism, he may smile at the feeling expressed in 1861.
HIRAM R. HAWKINS.
The principal editor of the Press had been Hiram R. Hawkins. This gentleman was born at Lansing- burg, New York, in 1826, and emigrated to Califor- nia in 1849, arriving in San Francisco on the 11th of July of that year. He came .. around the Horn " on the ship Tamaroo, in which were many who have since become noted for their wealth. high position and public influence. He was one of the early set- tlers of Placer County, first mining at Deadman's Bar, on the North Fork of the American River. Upon the organization of the county. in 1851, he was a candidate for County Clerk, there being four candidates for the position, James S. Stewart receiv- ing 1,118 votes; Hiram R. Hawkins, 961; Wm. M. Jordan. 395, and John McNally, 219, electing Mr. Stewart, and Hawkins was made Deputy Clerk. Mr. Hawkins was afterwards Justice of the Peace of Auburn; in 1836 was a candidate for the State Senate on the American ticket, as has been related, and in 1858 was candidate for County Judge. In 1861 he was editor of the Union Advocate. In 1863 he removed to Gold Hill, Nevada, and became editor of the Gold Hill News, a strong Republican paper. The publisher was Philip Lynch, who had been associated with Mr. Hawkins in Auburn, and had published a paper at Yankee Jim's and at Forest Hill. As editor of the News he did stal wart service for the party, and in 1865 received the appointment of Consul at Tumbez, Peru. Mr. Hawkins had not been successful as a business man, and a Federal appointmont was sought in the bope of bettering his fortune. The kind (?) offer of the Consulship at Tumbez seems, now, more of a mockery than an honest reward to a deserving man for services rendered, and it proved an ignis futuus to the recipient. The locality was unhealthy and business stagnant. flere Mr. Hawkins died on the 20th of November, 1866.
While a resident of Auburn he was married to Miss Echols, and three children had blessed their
38
298
HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
union. Mrs. Hawkins and two of the children died, and their remains rest in the graveyard at Auburn, and the eldest son, John, was taken to the home of his grandfather, Ezekiel Hawkins, at Lansingburg, New York.
THE IOWA HILL NEWS.
On the 15th of September, 1855, Messrs. J. P. Olmstead and - Miller established a paper at Iowa Hill, which they named the News, professing neu- trality in politics. That town was then in high prosperity, and the " Divide," as the section between the North and Middle Forks is called, contained numerous busy and prosperous towns, as Todd's Valley, Forest Hill, Michigan City, Yankee Jim's, and others, of which Iowa Hill was the chief. To publish a paper in such a place with such surround- ings seemed a legitimate and safe enterprise, although not a county seat. But a county scat would be of great benefit to the paper, and if it could not get into the county seat, the News undertook to make a county seat of its own.
In the issue of the paper of December 22d, 1855. a notice was published calling a meeting of the citi- zens of the " Divide " to be held at Herrick's Hotel, in Yankee Jim's, on the 29th of the same month. to take into consideration the subject of a division of Placer County. The project was to have the Legis- lature of that session create the County of Wash- ington out of the eastern portion of Placer. This question beenme the distinguishing feature of the News, which, for a year or more, advocated the pro- ject with much energy, but failed in its accomplish- ment.
In November, 1857, the office was removed to North San Juan, in Nevada County, J. P. Olmstead and Thomas Waters then being the proprietors, and there commenced the publication of the San Juan Star, which was subsequently sold to Benjamin P. Avery, who changed the name to Hydraulic Press, Avery afterwards selling to Wm. Bausman, who changed the name to San Juan Press, the material at last resting in Nevada City, where the Gazette and other papers have been published with it.
MOUNTAIN COURIER.
In the winter of 1857. Messrs. Parker & Graves commenced at Yankee Jim's the publication of the Mountain Courier, which they continued for three months. The enterprise appears to have been an unprofitable one, or badly managed, as the office was attached for debt, and the publication of the paper stopped.
PLACER COURIER.
A good printer and vigorous writer entered the journalistic field of this county at this time, remain- ing through many years, continuing an honorable, if not exceedingly prosperous, career. This gentleman was Mr. E. B. Bonst, who on the 4th of July, 1857, issued the first number of the Placer Courier, at Yankee Jim's, on the material formerly used in the
Mountain Courier. The place proved not so bad for newspaper enterprise as the failure of the pre- ceding publication had indicated, as Mr. Boust made quite a success with his paper, continuing it until November, 1858, when he sold it to R. J. Steele, for- merly of the Columbia Gazette, who continued it at Yankee Jim's until the following April, when he removed the establishment to Forest Hill, where he published the paper until December 29, 1860. when he sold out to
PHILIP LYNCH.
Mr. Lynch continued the publication of the Cour- ier for a number of years, and, in 1863, removed to Gold Hill, Nevada, and there, October 12, 1863, established the Gold Hill News. This gentleman had been a prominent citizen of western Placer from early days, as a pioneer farmer and horticulturist; as an active public man and politician, representing the county in the Legislature of 1859. Ile had been connected with the Placer Democrat in Auburn, and other papers, was an excellent printer, and able writer. While publishing the Gold Hill News, the paper had the reputation of being the best printed of any on the Pacific Coast. Mr. Lynch died at Gold Hill, Nevada, February 13, 1873, leaving a widow, who subsequently married Mr. Dam, of Oak- land, California.
IOWA HILL PATRIOT.
January 22, 1859, E. B. Boust, recently of the Placer Courier, established the Patriot at Iowa Hill. This field had been tried by Messrs. Olmstead & Miller, who had " moved on " to North San Juan, in Nevada County.
Iowa Hill appears not to have been the best place in the world for a newspaper, judging from an arti- cle in the Patriot, in May, 1859. In the language of the farmer, sometimes used in a printing office, " the grass was getting short," and Mr. Boust gave vent to his feelings as follows :-
How, in the name of common sense, people can expect us to get out a newspaper, write editorials. do all the work, and cook for ourselves, and have a man at our elbow dunning for $10.00 when we haven't got a cent in the world, with another sitting opposite to us in an awful hurry to give the partieu- lars, benefits, etc., of a new patent medicine, that he has expended twenty-five cents on as a speculation, and is boring us for a puff-we say how can people expect us to issue a paper under such circumstances (not mentioning the washing of our own elothes), we can't tell. Yet there are communities that have no more gumption than to expect this; besides bring- ing us all the subscription papers for charitable objects, prefacing their presentation with the desire that we donate liberally and give a notice of the eause. Those who happen to owens take particular pains to " never mention it," and those we owe won't let us sleep. We would take the benefit of the " Aet entitled an Act to-get-out-of-debt," but we haven't got enough to take us through. To sum up the whole matter, we are getting desperate, and, as there is a chance for another Mormon war, we'll go
299
JOURNALISM
to it, distinguish ourself, and be rewarded with a good fat office-probably be appointed Governor over Brigham Young and all his wives.
Notwithstanding his much-complained-of hard- ships, Mr. Boust remained at lowa Hill and contin- ued the publication of the Patriot until May 1, 1860, when he, too, moved on, taking his material to the rising town of Dutch Flat, where the Patriot was changed into the
DUTCH FLAT ENQUIRER.
At Dutch Flat Mr. Boust prospered for a number of years, publishing a large and handsome weekly. The editor was a Democrat, and of course his paper could be nothing else, but polities did not appear the object of the publication, and the columns of the Enquirer were characterized for their liberality, con- servatism, and independence. An effort was made to publish it semi-weekly, and for a period it appeared as such, but business did not sustain the enterprise after the building of the Central Pacific Railroad past the town, and, in 1868, the publication ceased.
DEMOCRATIC SIGNAL.
The Presidential campaign of 1860 will be ever memorable. The regular Democratic nominations were John C. Breckenridge and General Joseph Lane; the Anti-Lecompton Democrats nominated Stephen A. Douglas and Reverdy Johnson; and the Republican nominees were Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin; and the Union party nominated John C. Bell and Edward Everett. The Brecken- ridge Democrats had the Herald as their organ, and the Douglas Democrats as a counterpoise established the Signal, the first number appearing August 4, 1860, under the proprietorship of S. T. Newell & Co., and edited by R. C. Poland, who was succeeded by Joseph W. Scobey.
The contest was severe and bitter, but the great leaders of the Nation, who appeared to regard them- selves as the supreme power in the Government, had, this time, reckoned without their host, and the derided Republicans won. There was no employ- ment for a Douglas Democratic paper after the election, and, on the 10th of December of the same year, the Signal went into the possession of R. J. Steele of the Placer Courier. Mr. Steele continued the publication of the Signal until the summer of 1861.
A DEPLORABLE TRAGEDY.
A most deplorable tragedy ended the life of Mr. Samuel T. Newell, the publisher of the Signal. After the disposal of his paper to Mr. Steele he removed to San Francisco. In Auburn resided Horace Smith, a prominent lawyer and Democratic politician, who formerly had been Mayor of Sacramento. Newell was charged with having slandered Mrs. Smith, and the offended husband followed Newell to San Fran- cisco, and, accompanied by bis brother-in-law, Judge
James Il. Hardy, on the Ist of January, 1861, muet the object of his search, and plunged a Bowie-knife through his heart, causing death in a few minutes.
The fate of Smith was equally dramatie and tragic. He was arrested and imprisoned, and, in due time, was indicted for murder by the Grand Jury of San Francisco. Hle applied for a change of venue to Placer County, which was denied by Judge Campbell of the Twelfth District Court. His friends then introduced a bill in the Legislature then in ses- sion, as a special Act, to change the place of trial of Horace Smith from San Francisco to Placer County. The bill was passed, but was vetoed by Governor Downey on the ground of its unconstitu- tiouality, but it was passed over the veto, by a vote of twenty-two yeas to nine noes in the Senate, and forty-five yeas to twenty-two noes in the Assem- bly. Notwithstanding this Judge Campbell refused to order the change, denying the right of legislation to interfere in such a manner, and an appeal was made to the Supreme Court, which body, on the 13th of April, decided in favor of the constitutionality of the Act, and the case was transferred. A most ear- nest discussion had been maintained in the news- papers during the controversy, the Union papers opposing the change as an unfair measure in the homicide's favor, while the Democratic papers upheld the Act.
The trial was set for May 6th, and at that date was postponed until July 8th following. June 10th the prisoner was admitted to bail in the sum of $40,000. The trial commenced, as ordered, July 8, 1861, before B. F. Myers, District Judge, and occu- pied three days, resulting in a verdict of not guilty. Great interest had been taken in the trial, and the citizens of Auburn applauded the verdict.
Smith subsequently removed to the Territory of Nevada, and entered into the practice of the law in Virginia City. On the 28th of October, 1863, he was engaged in a dispute about the receipt of some money with Capt. F. W. H. Johnson, agent of Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express, and knocked Johnson down with his cane, who, while in bis fallen position, shot Smith in the abdomen, from which wound be died on the 4th of December following, and the body was taken to San Francisco for burial. Jobnson was tried for the offense and acquitted.
THE STATES' RIGHTS JOURNAL.
The titles of papers will, of themselves, indicate the character of political sentiment. Publishers desire to catch the public favor, and in starting a paper give it that name they think will express the popular opinion. The period was one of changing politics, and Mr. Steele in changing from the Signal to the States' Rights Journal thought to express a great principle. The times however were not auspi- cious for such an advocate. The paper could have no hopes as a Democratic organ, and this title was an undefined expression of opposition to "Republi
300
HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
canism," with its ideas of consolidation of the nation and centralization of power, and thus was without a party. The first paper was issued August 10, 1861, lasting a few weeks, when it was succeeded by
THE UNION ADVOCATE.
This, also, was of that mixed class of politics which prevailed during that period, opposing seces- sion but hesitating about declaring directly for the Republican Party. This party name was usually styled, in 1861, "Black Republican," and all papers charged that it was "tinctured with Abolitionism." James P. Bull, a Democrat, was the manager of the Union Advocate, and Iliram R. Hawkins was editor. Mr. Hawkins, afterwards so strong a Republican, still wavered among the factions outside its ranks. In this manner the Union Advocate continued for two years and suspended.
JAMES P. BULL.
This gentleman, so long a resident of Placer County and connected with its press, removed in 1863 to Arizona, and there died at Hardyville in September, 1878. Of his death the Prescott Enterprise says: "There rests one of Mohave County's best citizens, who was always willing to lend a helping hand in time of need, and perfectly upright and honest in his convictions. In the death of James Perry Bull Mohave County has lost a good friend. Peace to his ashes.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.