USA > California > San Diego County > San Diego > History of San Diego, 1542-1908 : an account of the rise and progress of the pioneer settlement on the Pacific coast of the United States, Volume I > Part 21
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JOHN R. BLEECKER, JOHN HENSLEY, Judges of Election.
D. BARBEE, Clerks of Election.
D. L. GARDINER,
SECOND PRECINCT-POLL LIST.
Pursuant to notice from the Prefeet of the District of San Diego, the electors, residents of the Playa San Diego, met at the store of Messrs. Gardiner and Bleecker at ten o'clock a. m. on the 1st of April, and proceeded to elect Edward T. Tre- maine Inspector of Election, who forthwith proceeded to appoint John R. Bleecker and John Hensley Judges of Election, and David L. Gardiner and Daniel Barbee Clerks, whereupon the polls were declared open, and the following is a list of the voters:
P. H. HOOFF,
232
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO
1. George P. Tibbitts.
2. Albert B. Smith.
3. Samuel P. Heintzelman.
38. Tobias Bedell.
39. George B. Tallman.
40. James White.
6. David L. Gardiner.
7. Frederick Emmil.
S. Edward T. Tremaine.
9. William B. Banks.
10. Jonas Cader.
11. Thomas D. Johns.
12. Festus G. Patton.
13. Francis Mason.
14. William H. Hemmenway.
15. Peter S. Reed.
49. Henry Hopp (objected to).
50. Thomas Fox.
51. Daniel Barbee.
52. Oliver Dupree.
53. Edward Brennan.
54. Michael Vickers.
55. Michael Cadle.
56. James Blair.
57. Thomas Kneeland.
58. Francis Dushant.
24. Patrick Symeox.
25. Henry Wilber.
59. Edward Murray.
26. John Brown.
60. Lawrence Kearney.
61. John Hensley.
62. Michael Fitzgerald.
63. Sylvanus Gangouare.
64. Moses O'Neil.
65. James MeGlone.
66. William Nettleton.
67. Allen Inwood.
34. John MeHue.
68. Rudolph Richner.
35. John Edwards.
69. James Sullivan.
We hereby certify that the whole number of votes polled at this election was 68.
JOHN HENSLEY, JOHN R. BLEECKER,
-Judges of Election.
D. L. GARDINER,
D. BARBEE, Clerks of Election.
The following is a list of the first county officials elected : district attorney. Wm. C. Ferrell ; county judge, John Hays; county elerk, Richard Rust; county attorney, Thos. W. Suth- erland; county surveyor, Henry Clayton; sheriff, Agostin Haraszthy ; recorder, Henry C. Matsell; assessor. José Antonio Estudillo ; coroner, John Brown ; treasurer, Juan Bandini. The first district judge was Oliver S. Witherby, who was appointed by the legislature and not voted for at the election. For some reason Bandini refused to qualify as treasurer, and Philip Crosthwaite was appointed in his place.
4. John E. Summers.
5. John R. Bleecker.
41. Edward Eustis.
42. Joseph Cooper. 43. Edward Daily.
44. Joseph Kufter.
45. Michael Leahv.
46. Bartholomew Sherman.
47. John Warner.
48. Patrick Newman, (objeeted to).
16. John Adams.
17. William Pearl.
18. William Botsford.
19. Jacob Gray.
20. John Kenney.
21. John Latham.
22. James Reed.
23. Patrick MeDonnah.
27. James Johnson.
28. Peter Mealey.
29. John Corbett.
30. Peter McCinehie.
31. James McCormick.
32. Thomas McGinnis.
33. Frederic Toling.
36. Antern Giler.
37. Timothy Quin.
233
THE FIRST GRAND JURY
The first term of the district court was held May 6, 1850. The judge and the elerk were present, but no business was transaeted, as it was found that the laws had not been received nor the officers properly qualified. On the 2nd of the follow- ing September the court was duly organized, grand and trial jurors summoned, and six cases tried. Two other cases were continued.
The seal of the District Court was designed by Wm. II. Leigh- ton, the other seals by Chas. H. Poole.
The names of the first grand jurymen were: Charles Harasz- thy, Ramon Osuna, James Wall, Loreto Amador, Manuel Rocha, J. Emers, Bonifacio Lopez, Holden Alara, Seth B. Blake, Louis Rose, Wm. H. Moon, Cave J. Couts, José de Js. Moreno, Cristobal Lopez, and Antonio Aguirre. This body found no indictments, but made one presentment. The prac- tieing attorneys enrolled in this year were: James W. Robin- son, Thomas W. Sutherland, John B. Magruder, and Wm. C. Ferrell .. At the session of the District Court held in April. 1856, Messrs. D. B. Kurtz and E. W. Morse were examined and admit- ted to practice.
San Diego was incorporated as a city by the legislature of 1850 and the first election under the charter took place on June 16th of that year. Joshua II. Bean was chosen the first mayor, while the councilmen were Charles Haraszthy, Atkins S. Wright, Chas. P. Noell, Chas. R. Johnson, and William Leamy; treas- urer, José Ant. Estudillo; assessor, Juan Bandini ; city attor- ney. Thos. W. Sutherland ; marshal, Agostin Haraszthy. The council met and organized on June 17th. On July 20th, Henry Clayton was chosen city surveyor, and on August 12th, George F. Hooper was elected councilman in place of Johnson. resigned. On August 24th, Noell resigned, and on Sept. 8th. Philip Cros- thwaite was chosen to fill the vacancy. Bandini refused to serve and Richard Rust became assessor in July.
On June 29th, an ordinance was passed, against the protest of Noell, fixing the amount to be appropriated for salaries of city officers at $6,800 per annum. There were $10,610.54 in the treasury. The mayor vetoed this "salary grab," and a new sal- ary ordinance was passed, fixing the total sum to be appropri- ated at $2,400 per annum.
The mayor and couneil appear to have been at loggerheads in September, but the cause of the trouble is not apparent at this day. On October 14th, the conneil appropriated $500 for a com- plimentary ball to be given to the officers of the U. S. Coast Sur- vey, and on October 18th, they set aside $300 for a ball in honor of the admission of California into the Union.
In 1852. the city charter was repealed and the government of the town vested in a board of trustees. The Herald says of this :
234
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO
"From and after Monday next our hitherto busy, bustling city dwindles into a quiet village. A little less than two years ago, with some $12.000 or $13.000 in the treasury, and when land speculation was rife throughout the city, our precocity showed itself in a wonderful manner. Now, with an empty treasury and in debt deeply, we return to 'first principles.' "
There were no more charter changes until the new town grew up at Horton's Addition. Elections were held from time to time, but frequently the trustees held over. The business of both town and county was small and several offices were often held by one man. It is said that in 1852, Philip Crosthwaite, who was then county clerk and recorder, was deputized by all the other county officers to act for them while they went to attend a bull-and-bear fight, and thus for a short time held all the county offices, at once. Captain George A. Pendleton, who was county elerk and recorder for many years, also held for a time, in addition to these offices, those of auditor, clerk of the board of supervisors, and county superintendent of schools-all this regularly, not as deputy.
On March 18. 1854, a publie meeting was held at the court house to consider the state of the country. Col. Ferrell. made an address, referring to the failure to secure a share of the State school funds, the neglect of persons elected to qualify for their offices, etc. It seems that the sheriff had resigned and the asses- sor declined to serve; the county judge was absent and had been so for several months, while the retiring judge first called an extra session of the court of sessions and then declined to go on with it. April 8, 1854, Editor Ames complains that "we are now without judge, assessors, supervisors, or any proper legally qual- ified officers, except trustees and attorneys, and the clerk and county treasurer : and to sum up, a term of the district court soon to be held, with prisoners out on bail."
The administration of justice in these early days presents many features of interest. In the first state laws, district and county courts were provided for and two years later a court of sessions was created. Oliver S. Witherby, the first judge of the district court, was a prominent citizen of San Diego for many years. John Hays, the first judge of the county court, was not a lawyer. He served four years. The first justice of the peace in San Diego was Charles Haraszthy, a Hungarian. The story of how Squire Haraszthy gave judgment for costs against the defendant, because the plaintiff was impecunions, has become a classic in the annals of San Diego. The best account is that of Captain Israel, who was an interested party :
Agostin Haraszthy was the first sheriff. His father was a justice of the peace, and he was the man who told me we must always give the judgment to the man who paid the costs.
235
SOME PECULIAR JUSTICE
I was city marshal, and a Mexican named Morales came to me and told me that Blount Couts owed him money and he wanted to sue him for it. We agreed that I was to have $15 for my services if he won the suit. I went to Haraszthy and got out a summons and sent it out to the Soledad, and Couts came in when the cause was to be tried. He began to cross- question Morales: He would say: "Didn't I pay you so much on such a date?" And Morales would say, "Yes, sir, so you did." And in a little while I saw my $15 going glimmering. I said to Morales, "Shut up, you fool, he'll have you owing him money, in a minute!" "Well but, Señor," says he, "it is true." Couts kept on until he had proved by the plaintiff's own evidence that he was the one to whom money was owing, and not Morales. "Vell," says Haraszthy, "vat ve goin' to do now?" "Well," said I, "there is nothing I can see to do except to enter judgment." "Vell," says Haraszthy to Couts, "I shall gif shudgment against you for twenty-five cents." (That was the balance which Morales owed Conts.) "I'll be damned if I'll pay it," says Blount "the man has acknowl- edged himself indebted to me!" and he got up and left. "Vell,"' says Haraszthy to me, "vat ve goin' to do, now?" "Well enter judgment against this Mexican for twenty-five cents." "Vell, but dis man, he got no moneys. Ve must gif de shudg- ment to de man vat gifs us de pizness." Couts was mad, and he found out that this Mexican had a fine horse, saddle and bridle in my corral. I thought Couts would be after this horse, so I told Morales his horse would be seized. He wanted to know what he should do. I told him perhaps he could find some- body to buy them. "Well, why don't you buy them?" "Well, I don't want them, but to keep them from being seized, I will take them at $65, and pay you $50 cash, if you will allow me the $15 I was to have out of the case." So he agreed and the barkeeper made out a bill of sale and the Mexican made his mark, and I had just paid him $50 and put the bill of sale in my pocket when in steps Agostin Haraszthy with an at- tachment. He asked me if Morales had a horse, saddle, and bridle in my yard? I said "No." "Well, he did have." "Yes, but he has none now; he has just sold them," and I showed him the bill of sale. He threw it down and swore that it was "one of our damned Yankee tricks!" He always hated me, after that.
E. W. Morse is authority for the following story :
Philip Crosthwaite was county treasurer in 1850, and as the law then required each county treasurer to appear in per- son in Sacramento and pay over the money due the State and settle with the State treasurer, he proceeded to Sacramento at the required time, and paid over the funds due the State- somewhat less than $200. As his traveling fees amounted to $300, he returned with more money than he took up, having made his annual, and, to him, very satisfactory settlement. But it is said the State treasurer suggested to him that under similar conditions it would be more satisfactory to the State if he should play the role of the embezzler and run away with the State funds before settlement day.
236
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO
The political life of the early days was thoroughly character- istic of pioneer conditions, yet many able and high-minded men were engaged in the public service, though there were doubtless others who were illiterate and incompetent. Social customs have improved since judges adjourned court in order to take a drink or to witness a bull-and-bear fight. It was the customs rather than the courts that were to blame for such things.
In 1851 a strong agitation began in favor of dividing the state and organizing Southern California as a separate territory. Pub- lie sentiment in San Diego supported the movement, and a com- mittee was appointed to co-operate with Los Angeles. Santa Bar- bara, and Monterey in bringing it to fruition. In 1859 the legis- lature submitted the question to a referendum vote in the six southern counties. It was carried by a two-thirds majority. but the legality of the vote was questioned, much opposition arose, and the effort was abandoned.
Under date of Feb. 13, 1849, James Buchanan, Secretary of State, issned instructions for running the international boundary line between the United States and Mexico. The head of the Commission, who came to San Diego in connection with the work, was Colonel John B. Weller, of Ohio, afterward governor of California and one of its representatives in the United States Senate. He was accompanied by Andrew B. Gray, surveyor. Wm. H. Emory, astronomer, and Oliver S. Witherby, quarter- master and commissary. The instructions of the Commission were to "run and mark that part of the boundary consisting of a straight line from a point on the coast of the Pacific Ocean distant one marine league due south of the southernmost point of the port of San Diego, to the middle of the Rio Gila, where it unites with the Colorado." The initial point of the boundary was fixed 18 miles south of San Diego, on a spot 500 feet from the ocean and 42 feet above its level. The monument was erected in June. 1851.
There was some disappointment in California at the failure of the United States to obtain the Peninsula in the settlement with Mexico, and genuine dissatisfaction with the result on the part of some citizens of Lower California. As a consequence. there was some sympathy with William Walker when he made his filibustering attempt upon the Peninsula in 1853-4. When the effort collapsed, some of Walker's associates, among them his secretary of state, were arrested in San Diego and taken to San Francisco for trial.
The politics of San Diego city and county was strongly Dem- ocratie in the early days of American rule. Many, probably a majority, of the first American settlers were from the South- ern States, and the following incident shows the social temper of the time.
237
SOLVING A SCHOOL PROBLEM
Miss Mary C. Walker arrived in San Diego on the morning of July 5, 1865, having been sent from San Francisco by the state superintendent of schools to fill a vacancy as teacher. She was a native of New England and entertained no prejudices against negroes. On the voyage from San Francisco, she suf- fered from mal de mer and was attended by the stewardess, a quadroon. Some weeks later, while her school was in progress, she found this negress in Manasse's store, eating a lunch of crackers and cheese, and feeling a friendly interest in the woman, invited her to take dinner with her at the Franklin House. When they entered the dining-room and sat down at the table together, a number of people who were there at once got up and left, and Miss Walker and her guest had the table and the room to themselves.
There was a storm, at once. The teacher's dismissal was de- manded and most of the children were taken out of school. The Yankee school-ma'am did not understand things clearly, and made the matter worse by some unguarded remarks comparing the complexion of certain of the protesting Californians with that of her guest. The school trustees at the time were Dr. D. B. Hoffman, E. W. Morse, and Robert D. Israel. Hoffman felt that, whatever the merits of the case, the school money could not be wasted keeping an empty schoolroom open. Israel was an old soldier and a Republican, and his sentiments are best ex- pressed in his own words: "'Morse,' said I, 'I'll be damned if I wouldn't take that school money and throw it in the bay as far as I could send it, before I would dismiss the teacher to please these copperheads ! You may do as you please. but I will never consent to her dismissal.'" It is easy to believe that the Captain would have stood his ground, but it proved that the third trustee. Morse, was a diplomatist. He was then a wid- ower and had matrimonial designs upon the teacher. She ten- dered her resignation and became Mrs. E. W. Morse. and thus the country was saved once more.
CHAPTER X
ACCOUNTS OF EARLY VISITORS AND SETTLERS
HE Panama Steamship Line was established in T 1849, and San Diego became a port of call. By 1850 it had nearly 500 population, with as many more at La Playa, and with a new settlement sprouting on the site of the pres- ent city. It was a period of fluctuating hopes and fortunes, but without important achieve- ment. In the two decades which separated the war with Mexico from the beginning of the great Horton enterprise, the steamers brought many visitors as well as settlers who became citizens of note. Several of these men and women left interesting accounts which furnish a clear idea of the appearance of town and country and of the features of local life.
Thus, Philip Crosthwaite tells us that in 1845, there was not a house between Old Town and the Punta Rancho, owned by Don Santiago E. Argüello. The San Diego Mission was partly dilapidated, but the main church edifice and some of the wings were in good condition. The priest then in charge of the mis- sion was Father Vicente Oliva, and he came to the presidio on Sundays to celebrate mass. Besides olive orchards and vine- yards, the mission owned some horses, cattle, and sheep. Near the mission was a large Indian village or rancheria. The prin- cipal business was the raising of cattle for their hides and tallow.
Major Wm. II. Emory, who came with General Kearny in December, 1846, made these observations :
The town consists of a few adobe houses, two or three of which only have plank floors. It is situated at the foot of a high hill on a sand-flat, two miles wide, reaching from the head of San Diego Bay to False Bay. A high promontory, of nearly the same width, runs into the sea for four or five miles, and is connected by the flat with the main-land. The road to the hide-houses leads on the eastward of this promontory. .
. The bay is a narrow arm of the sea indenting the land for some four or five miles, easily defended, and having twenty feet, making the greatest water twenty-five feet.
feet of water at the lowest tide. The rise is said to be five
San Diego is, all things considered, perhaps one of the best harbors on the Coast, from Callao to Puget Sound, with a
239
VISIT OF BAYARD TAYLOR
single exception, that of San Francisco. In the opinion of some intelligent navy officers, it is preferable even to this. The harbor of San Francisco has more water, but that of San Diego has a more uniform climate, better anchorage, and per- feet security from winds in any direction.
One of the most famous visitors of early days was Bayard Taylor, who was here in 1849, and managed to impress his lit- erary genius upon his record. In his book, El Dorado, or, Ad- ventures in the Path of Empire (dedicated, by the way, to Lieu- tenant Edward F. Beale), he says :
JOSE GUADALUPE ESTUDILLO
One of the most prominent citizens of San Diego in early American days. He held numerous offices and was State Treasurer one term
Two mornings after, I saw the sun rise behind the moun- tains back of San Diego. Point Loma, at the extremity of the bay, came in sight on the left, and in less than an hour we were at anchor before the hide-houses at the landing place. The southern shore of the bay is low and sandy; from the bluff heights at the opposite side a narrow strip of shingly beach makes out into the sea, like a natural breakwater, leaving an entrance not more than three hundred yards broad. The har- bor is the finest ou the Pacific, with the exception of Acapulco, and capable of easy and complete defense. The old hide- houses are built at the foot of the hills just inside the bay, and
240
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO
a fine road along the shore leads to the town of San Diego, which is situated on a plain, three miles distant and hardly visible from the anchorage. Above the houses, on a little eminence, several tents were planted, and a short distance fur- ther were several recent graves, surrounded by paling. A num- ber of people were clustered on the beach, and boats laden with passengers and freight, instantly put off to us. In a few mo- ments after our gun was fired, we could see horsemen coming down from San Diego at full gallop, one of whom carried be- hind him a lady in graceful riding costume. In the first boat were
JOSE ANTONIO ALTAMIRANO
One of the prominent early residents of Old San Diego. During the Mexican War he served on the American side
Colonel Weller, U. S. Boundary Commissioner, and Major Hill of the Army. Then followed a number of men, lank and brown as is the ribbed sea-sand-men with long hair and beards, and faces from which the rigid expression of suffering was scarcely relaxed. They were the first of the overland emi- grants by the Gila route, who had reached San Diego a few days before. Their clothes were in tatters, their boots, in many cases, replaced by moccasins, and except their rifles and some small packages rolled in deerskin, they had nothing left of the abundant stores with which they left home.
We hove anchor in half an hour, and again rounded Point Loma, our number increased by more than fifty passengers.
241
PRESIDIO IN 1850
The Point, which comes down to the sea at an angle of 60 degrees, has been lately purchased by an American, for what purpose I cannot imagine, unless it is with the hope of specu- lating on the Government when it shall be wanted for a light- honse.
The emigrants we took on board at San Diego were objects of general interest. The stories of their adventures by the way sounded more marvellous than anything I had heard or read since my boyish acquaintance with Robinson Crusoe, Captain Cook, and John Ledyard. Taking them as the average expe- rience of the thirty thousand emigrants who last year crossed the plains, this California crusade will more than equal the great military expeditions of the Middle Ages in magnitude, peril, and adventure. The amount of suffering which must have been endured in the savage mountain passes and herbless deserts of the interior, cannot be told in words. Some had come by way of Santa Fe and along the savage hills of the Gila; some, starting from the Red River, had crossed the Great Stake Desert and taken the road from Paso Del Norte to Tueson in Sonora; some had passed through Mexico and after spending one hundred and four days at sea, run into San Diego and given up their vessels; some had landed, weary with a seven months' voyage around Cape Horn; and some, finally, had reached the place on foot, after walking the whole length of the Califor- nian Peninsula.
The reminiscences of E. W. Morse are among the richest we have and are necessarily drawn upon in many connections. He says :
When I first saw the presidio (in 1850), the adobe walls of the church and portions of other buildings were still standing. The roofing tiles and most of the adobes and other building materials had been utilized in building up the new town, on the flat. It was not long, however, before even the church walls were carried away, probably by some nndevout "gringo."
There was then no doctor at Old Town, either American or Spanish. The army surgeon at the Mission Barracks did some gen- eral practice, and he was the only physician in the country. There was literally no agriculture, and most of the live stock business was in the hands of the Spanish. Abel Stearns, in Los Angeles county, and Don Juan Forster, had large ranches. The biggest fenced field in the country was in the San Luis Rey Valley; it contained about ten acres and belonged to some Indians. The only bridge in the county was ont near Santa Ysabel, and it was built by the Indians. Some years later we had an assessor who was a cattleraiser, and in his re- port to the State Comptroller he said that no part of the coun- try was fit for agriculture. That was what people honestly thought, at the time.
The river then ran in close to the high ground at Old Town, making a bluff of ten or fifteen feet near the McCoy house, where it undermined and caved down an old adobe house. There were a good many people who came here by the overland route, on their way to the mines.
242
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO
J. M. Julian, in later days editor of the San Diegan, was in San Diego Bay on May 4, 1850, on board the steamer Pan- ama, en route to the Isthmus. The steamer stopped to bury a passenger who had died en route and to examine the bay in the interest of the steamship company. Julian records that the site of the present eity was "as green and pretty as any place we had ever seen, and covered with a growth of small trees." Hle carried away the impression that Old Town was a flourish- ing place.
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