History of Sacramento County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, 1923, Part 26

Author: Reed, G. Walter
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1026

USA > California > Sacramento County > History of Sacramento County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, 1923 > Part 26

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But this was found entirely inadequate for protection in 1852. It was severely criticized by the "Union" of March 8, and on the 10th the mayor recommended to the council the building of a levee on I Street to Sixth, thence along the high ground to abreast of Sutter's Fort, and thence to the "Ridge." This was done, and the people felt secure once more. But on the night of December 19, 1852, a break occurred between Stewart's house on the American, and the Ridge. It widened to eighty feet and the city was once more inun- dated. The water again entered the city Jan- uary 2, 1853, but did little damage. July 29, 1853, an ordinance was passed appropriating $50,000 for raising and strengthening the levee, the work to be paid for in "levee scrip," bearing interest at two per cent per month. This levee ran "from the intersection of the levee on the Sacramento River and I Street ; thence following the line of levee as built, down I Street to Sixth; thence north along Sixth to the bank of the slough; thence along the slough northeasterly to A Street; thence easterly along A Street to Thirty-first ; thence

southerly, inside of the slough (Burns') to R Street ; thence along R Street to the river ; thence along Front Street to the begin- ning." No provision was made in the $50,000 appropriation for the levee down R Street and along Burns' Slough, this being voted after- wards by the citizens as a loan. Up to Janu- ary 1, 1854, the sum expended for the levee was about $600,000.

In November, 1860, the levee at Rabel's tan- nery was strengthened by building a new piece of levee and a wing dam to turn the current away, but all precautions proved to be useless, for in March, 1861, the American River rose suddenly, carried away the wing dam, and seriously damaged the levee, but did not enter the city. December 9, 1861, the Thirty-first Street levee broke near Burns' Slough, and broke again two weeks later, but was rebuilt. January 9, 1862, the American rose again, piling up the water at Rabel's tannery two feet higher than at any other part of the chan- nel. It overflowed the levee and caused a large crevasse. A subscription of $50,000 was raised to close the break, and a new levee was built inside the old one. But this gave way on February 22, a crevasse 800 feet wide being washed out. This was repaired and in the spring and summer of 1862 the whole system of levees was strengthened, raised and put in good condition.

The project of turning the American River so that it would flow into the Sacramento Riv- er some miles below the city, as proposed by Mr. Zueblin and Mr. Robinson and brought into notice again lately, is not a new one, hav- ing been advanced by engineers in 1862.

In 1861, owing to the previous floods which had devastated the city, the matter of provid- ing levees for its protection became a live issue, and the state board of swamp-land com- missioners was formed, the City of Sacramen- to being included within the limits of Swamp Land District No. 2. B. F. Leet was appointed by the board as engineer of the district. He made a report recommending that the levee for the protecting of his district should com- mence at Brighton on the American River, following the river down to the Sacramento City levee, and following the line of the levee down the Sacramento to Y Street and thence down the east bank of the river. All of this levee above the city and in it was certified to the city levee commission, and C. C. Tracy was appointed the engineer to finish the job. From data secured by them on the flood of Jan- uary 10, 1862, the engineers arrived at the con- clusion that, as the reclamation of the valleys progressed, thus contracting the area through which the water brought down by the two rivers must flow, it would be necessary to

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raise the levees each year, and that eventually Sacramento would find itself in the same posi- tion in which Marysville is today-that of dis- charging the flood waters on a level with the tops of the houses. An alternative proposi- tion was presented, the cutting of a large canal from the bend of the American River at Brighton to the low ground in the vicinity of Freeport, turning the American into the canal. and thus relieving Sacramento from the con- tinual menace of the flood waters. This solu- tion of the question has never been attempted, but has been seriously discussed.

April 9, 1862, the legislature created a board of city levee commissioners, to consist of five members, and pending the regular election, named H. T. Holmes, Charles Crocker, Wil- liam F. Knox, Charles H. Swift and Francis Tukey to act until the election should be held. In 1878 the citizens voted to build a levee from Front and Y Streets, along the old line of the American River to the northern boundary of the city and thence to Brighton, on the line of the Central Pacific, to the embankment of the Sacramento Valley road. The cross levee of the railroad on R Street was the only pro- tection of the city on the south until the Y' Street levee was built in December of that year. As all the breaks of the levees in the early years except one had been from flood waters of the American River, this danger was minimized by turning the course of the Amer- ican River. This was done in 1868, by cutting a canal from a point just below the railroad bridge over the American, through a point of land, by which the channel of the river was changed and the stream was made to empty into the Sacramento about a mile north of its old mouth. The current was thus thrown away from the levee, and the intervening ground has grown up to willows, thus rendering the north levee secure. The sharp bend which flung the river current against the levee at Twenty-eighth Street, at Rabel's tannery, and which the engineers reported in the floods of 1861 and 1862, piled the water up two feet higher than it was below the bend; the bend has been filled in with sand and detritus, a spur levee having been built by property-owners to deflect the current.

Some years ago the Southern Pacific Com- pany proposed to the city trustees that, if given the privilege of storing their extra cars on the levee north of the city, they would widen it and keep it in repair, and the offer was accepted. Since that time the levee has been greatly widened and strengthened, and is considered almost, if not quite, impregna- ble to the waters. This levee has been repeat- edly raised since 1867, when the American River rose to the greatest height known till that time, and might have inundated the city again, if the railroad embankment to the bridge, which at that time was solid, and ob- structed the free course of the water, had not given way, and relieved the situation. A num- ber of years ago the Y Street levee was raised several feet and widened, after the Lovdal break had convinced the city authorities that the safety of the city would be conserved thereby.

For many years the levees have been consid- ered as securing the absolute safety of the city, as in times of flood the levees on the Yolo side generally gave way or else the levees be- low the city yielded, as in the case of the Lov- dal break and the Edwards break. But some ten years ago the levee on the Yolo side above the city was greatly raised and strengthened by the Vallejo Northern Electric Company, while the reclamation work being done by the Natomas Consolidated Company will still fur- ther contract the carrying capacity of the American and Sacramento Rivers in flood times. This increases the danger to the city levees from a great and sudden rise of the rivers in an unusual rainy season. In view of this fact, the idea of the engineers in 1862 has been revived and is being seriously discussed, as a means of relieving the situation, and var- ious plans are proposed. Perhaps the most feasible and permanent solution of the ques- tion would be that suggested in the report of the United States reclamation and irrigation surveys, that a series of immense storage res- ervoirs could be constructed on the torrential streams tributary to the Sacramento River, impounding the flood waters and conserving them for summer use in irrigating the valley lands, instead of allowing them to run to waste to the sea, inflicting sometimes immense dam- age to the dwellers of the lowlands.

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CHAPTER XIX LOCAL JUDICIARY AND ATTORNEYS By Judge W. A. Anderson (Deceased)

T HERE could be nothing more instructive and interesting than the origin and de- velopment of the judicial system and the aids thereto by the bar of Sacramento City. In fact the history of the bench and bar of this great state had its inception in Sacra- mento, where the great legal minds were located in the early history of the state.

The southern part of the state was gov- erned chiefly by the old system of Mexico; but in Sacramento the common law was at once established, and common sense was at all times interwoven into the decrees and judg- ments, in the start somewhat crude in their construction, but very soon developed into a splendid system with the aid of the bright genius of the early members of the bar. In this sketch it will be our endeavor to make brief reference to many of those brilliant men who have long since crossed the Dark River, and who in their time labored in the local field for the betterment of the law and the administration of justice.

Under Mexican rule the government of California was conducted under the laws of March 20 and May 23, 1837, and those laws were observed on the acquisition of the coun- try by the United States, until the organiza- tion of the state government. They provided for the selection of alcaldes, whose duties were to care for good order and public tranquillity, to see that police regulations, laws and decrees were enforced, to provide for the apprehension of criminals, and in some cases to impose fines and imprisonment upon malefactors. There were also justices of the peace, who served as municipal and judicial officers. There was in the territory a superior tribunal, consisting of four judges and an attorney-general, which had the general review of cases tried before inferior courts. There were also courts of "first instance," in which cases both criminal and civil were originally brought.

The first legislature, by an act passed March 16, 1850, divided the state into nine judicial districts and constituted the counties of Sac- ramento and Eldorado the sixth judicial dis- trict. Afterwards the counties of Sacramento and Yolo composed that district, and it so

existed until the taking effect of the constitu- tion of 1879, which abolished that court.

The same legislature, by an act passed April 13, 1850, created a county court in each coun- ty, and by an act approved on the 11th day of that month. the court of sessions was cre- ated, to be composed of the county judge and two justices of the peace, who were to serve as associate justices. The latter were chosen by the justices of the peace of the county. That court had jurisdiction in cases of misde- meanor, and also exercised functions now per- formed by the board of supervisors, such as the supervision of claims against the county, and management of roads, etc. Subsequently the court of sessions was abolished and its jurisdiction vested in the county court. Its legislative and supervisorial powers were transferred to the board of supervisors. The present state constitution abolished all of these courts and provided for the organiza- tion of a superior court in the county, with two departments and two judges, with civil and criminal jurisdiction.

Local Judiciary

In the latter part of August, 1849, General B. Riley, acting military governor of Califor- nia, appointed James S. Thomas judge of the court of first instance, with criminal jurisdic- tion. On the 2nd of September, 1849, Thomas entered upon the duties of his office. A suit was instituted for the recovery of money. A summons was made returnable the same day at four o'clock, at which time judgment was entered and execution ordered. This gives some idea of the rapidity with which business, even of a judicial character, was transacted at that early period of Sacramento's history. On the 3rd of September, Judge Thomas ap- pointed J. P. Rogers clerk of his court. The latter gentleman served in that capacity until the 19th of November following, and resigned, whereupon James R. Lawrence was appointed. He continued until the 27th of December, at which time Presley Dunlap was appointed to the position.

Judge Shannon opened his court for crimi- nal business in September, 1849. R. A. Wilson was appointed clerk, and S. C. Hast-

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ings, afterwards chief justice of the supreme court of the state and subsequently attorney- general, also the founder of Hastings Law College, acted as prosecuting attorney. D. B. Hanner, who had been elected sheriff by the people in their primary capacity, attended both civil and criminal courts. The first case before Judge Shannon was a prosecution against a party for stealing a cow from Sam- uel Norris. During the trial defendant's coun- sel objected to the proceedings because they were not in conformity with the constitutional provision guaranteeing to every party accused of high crime, that before he could be put upon trial he must have been indicted by a grand jury. The court held that inasmuch as the defendant had not raised the question in the beginning of the case, he was deemed as waiving his right, and that the trial must pro- ceed. The defendant was found guilty and fined $200 and costs, which amounted to $515; rather costly beef !

About December 1, 1849, R. A. Wilson suc- ceeded to the bench, vice Shannon, deceased. On January 11, 1850, he appointed A. J. Mc- Call clerk of his court for Sacramento, and on January 26 he appointed Stephen J. Field clerk of his court, to reside at Marysville. Mr. Field was afterwards supreme justice of the State of California, and associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. During the time Sacramento was flooded that winter, Wilson held his court at Marysville. The two courts alluded to did the judicial business of the district, both civil and crim- inal, until the organization of the judiciary under the state constitution, May 30, 1850.

The first district judges were elected by the legislature March 30, 1850, and James S. Thomas, was elected judge of the sixth judi- cial district. He resigned November 9 fol- lowing. Tod Robinson was appointed by the governor to succeed Judge Thomas, January 2, 1851, and assumed office upon the eighth day of the same month. Ferris Forman suc- ceeded Robinson by appointment on August 13, 1851; and in September of the same year, Lewis Aldrich assumed the office. He re- signed November 19, 1852, and A. C. Monson was appointed by Governor Bigler on Novem- ber 26, 1852. Judge Monson took office on the 1st of December of that year. Monson had been elected at the general election on November 2, 1852. He resigned August 17, 1857, and Governor Johnson, on the 3rd of September. 1857, appointed Charles T. Botts to succeed him. At the general election held September 1, 1858, John H. McKune was elected, and was reelected October 21, 1863. On October 20, 1869, Lewis Ramage was elected, and on October 20, 1875, Samuel C. Denson was elected. . Judge Denson served 10

until the new constitution, abolishing the office, took effect.

Judge Thomas, after his resignation, re- turned to the East, and died at St. Louis, in 1857 or 1858. Robinson, who was a promi- nent member of the bar and belonged to a family of distinguished lawyers, died in San Mateo County, October 27, 1870. Forman was afterwards secretary of state. Judge Aldrich died at San Francisco, May 18, 1885. Judge Monson moved East, and died there. Judge Botts was a brother of John Minor Botts. He had been a member of the first constitutional convention of the state and was afterwards state printer. He died in San Fran- cisco, October 4, 1884. Judge Ramage re- moved to Kansas City, and died there, Febru- ary 14, 1879. Judge Denson was afterwards elected superior judge of Sacramento County, resigned that office, and then engaged in the active practice of the law in San Francisco.

As has been stated, the court of sessions was composed of the county judge and two associates. The latter were elected by a con- vention of the justices of the peace, held on the first Monday of October of each year except the first convention, which was held May 20, 1850. C. C. Sackett and Charles H. Swift were then elected associates. The asso- ciates held office for two years. On Novem- ber 27, 1850, the county treasurer resigned, and Swift was appointed to fill the vacancy. James Brown was elected associate in his stead, and assumed the duties of his office February 7, 1851. On August 14 following, D. D. Bullock succeeded Brown. The last meeting of the court of sessions was held July 6, 1862. The following is a list of the subsequent judges of the court from October, 1851, to October, 1862:

1851 .- E. J. Willis, judge; George Wilson and James R. Gates, associates.

1852-53 .- E. J. Willis, judge; he resigned November 18, and John Heard was appointed. James R. Gates and J. T. Day were associates.

1853-54 .- John Heard, judge; H. Lockwood and B. D. Fry, associates.

1855-56 .- John Heard. judge; S. N. Baker and C. C. Jenks, associates.

1856-57 .- Same.

1858-59 .- Robert Robinson, judge; James Coggins and W. B. Whitesides, associates.

1859-60 .- Robert Robinson, judge; James Coggins and Hodgkins, associates.

1860-61 .- Robert C. Clark, judge.

1861-62 .- Robert C. Clark, judge; James Coggins and George Cone, associates.

After the abolishment of the court of ses- sions Judge Clark continued county judge, was successively elected to that office and oc-

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cupied it until the abolishment of the county court by the operation of the new constitu- tion. The county court also exercised func- tions of a probate court.

Judge Willis left Sacramento and returned to the East in early days. Wilson died in one of the northern counties of this state a num- ber of years ago. Judges Day and Heard are dead. Judge Jenks removed to Oakland and held public office there. Judge Coggins died a number of years ago. Judge Cone was aft- erwards a member of the state legislature from this county, and is now dead. Judge Clark had been a senator and an assembly- man, and after the abolishment of the county court he was elected, with Judge Denson, a judge of the superior court and held office until the time of his death.

At the first election held under the new constitution, September 3, 1879, Samuel C. Denson and Robert W. Clark were elected judges of the superior court of the county of Sacramento. Judge Denson resigned De- cember 16, 1882, and on the 18th day of the same month, Governor Perkins appointed Thomas B. McFarland to fill the vacancy. The latter was elected by the people to suc- ceed himself at the general election held November 4, 1884; and at the general election held November 2, 1886, Judge McFarland was elected one of the justices of the state supreme court. He resigned the office of superior judge, and Governor Stoneman, on December 31, 1886, appointed John W. Armstrong to the office. At the general election held November 6, 1888, Armstrong was elected to succeed himself. He has been dead for some years.

Judge Clark died January 27, 1883, and Governor Stoneman appointed John W. Arm- strong to succeed him. At the general elec- tion held November 4, 1884, W. C. Van Fleet was elected for the full term. In 1890 A. P. Catlin and W. C. Van Fleet became judges of the superior court. Then came Catlin and Matt F. Johnson, Judge Van Fleet having become a member of the supreme court. In 1895 a third court was created by the legis- lature, and Governor James H. Budd ap- pointed Add C. Hinkson as the judge thereof. Judge Hinkson died in this city in July, 1911. At the next election, J. W. Hughes and E. C. Hart, with Judge Matt F. Johnson, were elected. Judge Johnson died during his term, and Governor Budd appointed Peter J. Shields in his place. The bench then consisted of Hughes, Hart and Shields. Judge Hart be- came a member of the appellate court, third district, and Governor Pardee appointed C. N. Post to the vacancy thus created. At the succeeding election, in 1908, Judges Post, Shields and Hughes were elected, to serve for six years. Judge Hughes died, and Malcolm

C. Glenn was appointed on April 13, 1914, to serve the unexpired term. Herbert E. White and Martin I. Welch were elected to serve a short term, of a few months, in 1914; and in the fall of that year Charles O. Busick, Mal- colm Glenn, and Peter Shields were elected, and took office on January 6, 1915. They are still serving.

Courts in the early days were very crude affairs in their manner of adjudicating the rights of litigants. Justices' courts are pro- verbial at times for the quaint way of admin- istering justice. It was before one of these august tribunals, we recall, that a case was tried at Mormon Island in this county in 1851, in which A. P. Catlin perpetrated a great trick upon S. W. Sanderson, a young attorney of Coloma, Eldorado County. It seemed that Sanderson's clients were working on an old river bed, and constructing a dam for that purpose. Catlin desired to stop this work, and conceived the idea of hoodwinking the old justice of the peace to grant an in- junction to stop the work. Acting upon the thought, he gravely proceeded to secure an injunction and had it served and enforced. Sanderson was sent for, and came before the justice armed with books and authorities and tried to convince him that he had no jurisdic- tion of such cases, and appealed to Catlin not to impose on the court. Catlin looked wise and spoke approvingly of the court's procedure, which made the old justice obdurate, and he stuck to his injunction. Sanderson left for the county seat in a towering rage to secure proper relief, but before he could secure the same the object Catlin had in view had been accomplished by the justice's injunction.

It may not be generally known that in the early history of California other crimes than murder were, by statute, made punishable by death, but such is the fact. On the 14th day of April, 1852, George Tanner was tried in the court of sessions of Yuba County for the crime of grand larceny, in having stolen flour, potatoes, etc., of the value of $400. The ver- dict of the jury was "guilty of grand larceny, punishable with death." The defendant ap- pealed to the supreme court, which affirmed the judgment, and the prisoner was executed July 13, 1852. Chief Justice Murray deliv- ered the opinion of the court and evidently did not concur with the principles of law, for after setting forth the statute, he used the following language: "It is not our purpose to discuss the policy of this law, although we regret that our legislature has considered it necessary to thus retrograde, and in the face of the wisdom and experience of the pres- ent day, resort to a punishment for a less crime than murder, which is alike disgusting

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and abhorrent to the common sense of every enlightened people."

The following novel civil case is quoted from the "New York Graphic": "A remark- able case of mistaken identity was recently related by Attorney Paschal H. Coggins be- fore the Medical Jurisprudence Society in Philadelphia, as having come under his per- sonal observation. Two men - John A. Mason, of Boston, and John A. Mason, of Illinois-left their respective homes and went to California in search of health and wealth. They were both wagon-makers. One left a wife and two sons in Boston, and the other a wife and two daughters in Illinois. The Boston wife heard nothing of her husband after three years' absence, and twenty years later heard of the death of John A. Mason, a wagon-maker. She brought suit for his prop- erty, his photograph was identified by twenty witnesses, but at the last moment the Illi- nois wife turned up and proved that the man was her husband, and the later developments showed that the Boston pioneer died alone and friendless."

Upon this the "Themis" comments as fol- lows: "The Coggins referred to was a resi- dent of this city, and at one time a law part- ner of Creed Haymond. He was also a jus- tice of the peace here, married a daughter of one of our pioneer citizens, and afterward re- moved to Philadelphia, where he has since re- sided. He is a son of Paschal Coggins, at one time one of the editors of the Sacramento 'Union,' and who represented this county two terms in the assembly. Coggins, Sr., ran for congress against H. F. Page in 1872, on the Independent ticket. The case referred to was that of Supervisor John A. Mason, of this city. It was certainly one of the most remark- able cases that ever came up in court, but the statement in the 'Graphic' is not strictly correct. The case was tried before the late Judge Clark. In the contest Haymond and Coggins appeared for the lady contestant, and the late George Cadwalader and W. A. Anderson for the will. It was developed that there were two John A. Masons; that they followed the same trade - carriage-making ; and that they came to California about the same time; one, however, by steamer, and the other overland. By a strange coincidence the Mr. Coggins referred to was a passenger on the same steamer with the Mason who came by sea, and he was referred to in the printed passenger list as an 'infant.' It fur- ther developed that the two Masons worked at their trades in the same block in Sacra- mento City-Third Street between I and J. After the death of Supervisor Mason, his sons, grown men, applied for letters on his estate; their issuance was contested by a lady and

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History of Sacramento County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, 1923, Part 26

Author: Reed, G. Walter Publication date: 1923 Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1026

Author: Reed, G. Walter
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1026