History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches, Part 9

Author: Morrison, Annie L. Stringfellow, 1860-; Haydon, John H., 1837-
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1070

USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches > Part 9

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).

Organizing of a Vigilance Committee

Nieves Robles had been acquitted, though every one knew he was a murderer. The majority of the native Californians either resented or resisted punishing the criminals. Settlers would not come into a county where they were almost sure to meet death on the way. Other portions of the state were filling up with a good class of settlers. Here business was prostrate, life very unsafe and the county known far and wide as a camping ground for count- less thieves and murderers. From Monterey to Los Angeles stretched a country full of mountain hiding-places, pleasant pastures for horses, and abundant game. No wonder the bandits gathered here from all over the state. Jack Powers and ex-Judge "Ned McGowan," infamous Americans, who had fled from the San Francisco Vigilantes, came here and organized bands. They plotted and planned most of the crimes, while the natives exc- cuted them, alone if the leaders failed to take a hand at the critical moment. The Vigilance Committee of 1858 was the result, and they deserve great praise for the work they did that the courts could not do for lack of evidence, that is, sworn evidence in a court room.

The Pledge

"The undersigned hereby pledge themselves, each to the other, that in the case of the murder of two Frenchmen, Bartolo Baratie and M. Jose Borel, we will stand together and by all means whatsoever, discover the truth and punish the guilty. The first step shall be the personal restraint and intimidation to the prisoner now in jail, even if necessary to the danger of life. Signed: Walter Murray, Francisco Letora, Francisco Brizzolara, Charles Pellerier, B. Block, P. A. Forrester, Jacob J. Scheifferley, A. Alba- relli, Luis de la Cella, Domingo Garcia, Nicolo Ravello, T. P. Commay, J. J. Simmler, Rudolph Blum, B. F. Hamilton."

Roll of Members

"The undersigned citizens of San Luis Obispo sign our names as members of a body to be called the San Luis Vigilance Committee, the object of which is and shall be the repression and punishment of crimes by all means whatso- ever : Walter Murray, Fred'k Hillard. S. \. Pollard, Thos. Graves, Labat Pere. G. Leemo, P. A. Forrester, Jules Baume, Chas. Johnson, Wm. Coates, Ber- nardo Lazcano, Jose Cantua, Carl Dietz, Ferdinand Quievreux, Manuel Otero, Thomas Herrara, N. Amos, J. J. Simmler, Thos. R. Thorp, Leonardo Lopez. Ramon Baldez, J. A. de la Guerra, Pedro Ruperez, Trinidad Becerro, John

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS

Matlock, Cayetano Amador, Fabian Dastas, B. P. Brown, Miguel Serrano, A. Farnsworth, Joseph Stutz, Domingo Garcia, Dolores Herrara, Henry Tandee. W. L. Beebee, Daniel McLeod, B. J. Jones, Guadalupe Gonzales, D. P. Mallah, Basilio Castro, John Patton, A. Albarelli, J. T. Zamorano, Ysidro Balderana, Ysidro Silbas, Jerome A. Limas, John Bains, Albert Mann, Calistro Morales, L. H. Morrison, Captain John Wilson, F. Laburthe, Enrique Galindo, Feliz Buelna, A. Elgutter, Estevan Quintana, Jose M. Topete, Inocento Garcia, Didelot, Manuel Serrano, S. Rojas, James White, W. W. Gilfoyle, Blas Castro, Bentura Lopez, F. Wickenden, Chas. Pellesier, F. Martinez, Benjamin Wil- liams, Jose Canet, Luis de la Cella, R. Holford, F. Salgado, Ardadio Borgues, Jesus Olgin, Miguel Herrara, F. W. Slaughter, Nicolo Revello, Chas. W. Dana, Francisco Huares, A. Cordova, Jose Maria Ordunio, Modesto Carranza, Byron Olney, Lugardo Aguila, W. C. Dana, Antonio Paradeo, James A. Wright, S. O. Sweet, Francisco Brizzolara, D. D. Blackburn, Pedro Ortega, J. A. Chaves, Antonio Capuero, B. Clement, B. F. Davenport, A. Murray, Dr. Ed Albert, Rudolph Selm, A. Mullins, Isaac H. Bunce, G. F. Sauer, Reyes Enriquez, A. Stanwick, Peter Forrester, Robert Johnson, Chas. Varrian, W. J. Graves, John Daley, Juan Stanwick, Ygnacio Esquerre, H. Dallidet, Vic- torino Chavez, C. Dockes, Manuel Vanegas, William Church, William F. Gilkey, V. Mancillas, A. Herrera, C. G. Abbey, Bonifacio Manchego, B. F. Hamilton, John M. Price, Ricardo Durazo, J. Roth, B. La Rey, I. Mora, J. Garcia, Jose A. Garcia, Mariano Lazcano, Sandy Martin, Francisco Garcia, T. Ph. Schring, Augustin Garcia, Jose Carlon, P. W. Williams, P. Z. Taylor, A. P. Hartnell, Angel Barron, V. Mancillas, William Snelling, Noracio Car- roso, W'm. E. Borland, Gabriel Labat, W. C. Imos, James McNicol, J. M. Martinez."

The following subscribed for the expenses of the committee: Murray, $50: Thomas Herrara, $50; Albarelli & Co., $100; Pollard, $50; Beebee, $50; Lafayette, $50; Johnson, $30; Stone and Barns, $65; Dr. Thorp, $25; F. Wickenden, $30; Davenport, $40; Elgutter, $20; Alex Murray, $25; Pedro Labat, $5; John Wilson, $500; Capt. F. Hillard, $30; Joaquin Estrada, $200; F. 7. Branch, $300; Lazcano, $50; Domingo Garcia, $10; Fabian Dastas, $5: Dolores Herrara, $10; Ramon Valdez, $10; J. H. Hill, $10; Simmler & Co., $20; C. F. Roman, $20; Lenares, $50; Letora & Co., $50; Juan Price, $50; D. P. Mallah, $22; Horse, $37; ditto, $26; Stanish, $30; Block & Co., $25; Dana. $20. Total amount, $1,525; disbursements, $1,487 ; balance, $38.

Many more murders were committed besides those mentioned, but the mick work of the Vigilance Committee put a damper on crime and it was less openly boasted of and of much less frequency. The accounts of those crimes from 1850 to 1858, are taken from a series of letters written by Walter Wirray in 1858, to the San Francisco Bulletin. He came to San Luis Obispo in 1853, and was from the first a leading citizen, foremost in wiping off the alate of criminality, that for so long had made of the county a safe nest for all sorts of vagabonds. Murders and robberies still occurred, but at longer intervals.

The Mysterious Disappearance of O. K. Smith

One crime frequently referred to as we gathered data for this history was the disappearance of O. K. Smith. Strange to say, he was always spoken of as assessor and tax collector. The stories varied so in date that

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the writer determined to get at the facts, at least of his calling and the date of his disappearance, and so went to the one reliable and accurate source, the files of the Tribune. There we find that in August, 1869, O. K. Smith ran for assessor on the Republican ticket, receiving 393 votes, but James Buffum, Democrat, received 467 ; as the majority rules, this lets Smith out as assessor. Smith came to the county in 1866 and settled near Cambria. In 1861 he represented Tulare county in the legislature, and had also served as a deputy sheriff in that county. He began farming near Cambria, but being a man of considerable education and ability, he naturally took an active part in county affairs.

The Tribune of June 11, 1870, announced that Governor Morris had appointed O. K. Smith of San Simeon (this name then included all that upper coast country) census marshal of this county. A. M. Hardie worked with Smith taking the 1870 census. February 25, 1871, The Tribune pub- lished a letter sent from Cambria and signed by C. Mathers, in which Mathers states that "our friend" O. K. Smith had left Cambria on Friday, February 17, 1871, bound for San Luis Obispo; that a wagon thought to be his had been found on the beach near Morro Rock; and that it was feared that Smith had been drowned. On February 25, 1871, a letter was sent to the Tribune from Morro signed by Smith's Masonic brothers, G. S. Davis, G. Rothschild and G. M. Cole, telling about the same news and asking for help in the search for his body or any trace of him, his team or papers.

March 25, 1871, the following description was printed in the paper : "Two fair-sized strawberry roan mares, bearing the brand of K in a circle or circle K, one a little darker than the other. Gentle to work or ride. Any persons seeing such horses are requested to write to this office or to Z. B. Smith, Cambria. Papers throughout the state please copy." Now we have two facts at least : O. K. Smith was census marshal, not assessor ; and he was undoubtedly murdered, February 17, 1871.

One other fact was established. Smith was last seen alive Friday, Feb- ruary 17, 1871, at a saloon and road-house kept by George Stone on the road to San Luis Obispo. It stood on the rocky point just where the Old creek road enters the coast road, where the old unpainted shack now stands up on the rocky hillside to the right going to San Luis Obispo. A. M. Ifardie says it was a bad, stormy day; that Smith had a premonition that evil was to befall him and wanted his wife to go with him . also that at Stone's place he asked a man named Rudisill to go on with him, but Rudisill also refused. Mr. Hardic says that Stone and Rudisill helped Smith to harness up when, about two o'clock P. M., he started out on what proved to be his last ride, and that they used rope and wire to fasten the tugs to the whiffletrees. "The horses never got out of those tugs without help," said Mr. Hardic. Of course from the moment the wagon was found, and no trace of the body, the team or harness, foul play was suspected and suspicion placed upon several men now dead. Ilere are a few of the many stories told the writer.

In those days the farmers often sent their tax money to the office in San Luis Obispo by neighbors going down. This custom yet prevails. One man (we are going to eliminate names) says that after Smith's death men presented receipts given by him to them showing that he had nearly or quite $600 of tax money with him when he was killed. Certain it is that he had

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS

papers of some census reports, for a boy sixteen years old named Taylor, brother of Charlie Taylor, the present sheriff, found the wagon and a roll of wet papers belonging to Smith. The papers were taken home and dried out. Later some men rode up to the Taylor house and asked for the papers, which the boy gave to them. They were census reports, and Mr. Hardie received them from the boy, and was entitled to them as he was Smith's helper in taking the census. Now for stories weird and otherwise. If they are all just fabrications built upon the facts stated, they show brilliant imaginations and some good novelists have missed their calling. Story num- ber one follows :

A man about to die confessed that he and another man equally well respected were hard up and killed Smith.

Story number two is more elaborate in detail: On the night of Smith's disappearance, a man living on Morro creek went down to dig clams. He saw a fire burning on the beach and, turning back, went up on the bluff where he could see but not be seen. Looking over, he saw two men digging a great hole. They gathered beach wood and built a fire in it, meantime dig- ging another hole. Soon Smith's team, driven by a third man, came around Toro point ; Smith was very drunk and was being held in the light wagon. He was knocked on the head, stripped, rolled into hole number two and sand was scooped in on him. All his clothing, his gold watch, the harness from the horses, their halter ropes and the tongue and one wheel from the wagon were thrown upon the fire and burned. When burned down to coals sand was scooped into that hole and all traces of the doings destroyed by scraping and scratching about over the sand. Then the three men tied their own ropes about Smith's horses and led them up the creek to a rocky side cañon and shout them. The narrator said this yarn was told to him by a dying man mler a promise of secrecy until after his death, and that it was told to that was by another man. Upon asking why this story was kept secret so long, The min said it would have meant death to the teller had he told it then or while certain other men now dead were living.

This is written not as a fact but because it has thrills in it. It may or ToMy med le true ; no one will now ever know. The strange thing was that no trace of the harness or team was ever found. Two skeletons of horses, Dich with a bullet hole in the skull, were certainly found in a cañon not too far from the beach to have been led there by Smith's murderers. The wwwon When found had lost one wheel and the tongue.

Wal out the place where the wagon was found others had lost their Acest the quicksand in attempting to drive across when the tide was ont, lay their lundies or some trace of them was always found. There were MI MMHGelis circumstances, or so it seemed, about Smith's disappearance ; but one more curry, and then we will leave the subject.

Near the Witrance to Green valley in an old house lived a man named Kilpatrick. I. was the wreck of what had once been a well-educated, well- fored mange apoi was well acquainted with Smith. One night Kilpatrick on his den por Res Jon obispo camped in the "monte" or patch of willows all are ruben odli. 10 1 forth of Morro on the road to Cayucos. It was a beauti- fil moetifight night, made more so by a luminous sort of haze. Kilpatrick haMinst Andwww and composed himself when O. K. Smith, or so it seemed to hidi odled om of the willows and up to the foot of his shake-down. So

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SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS

sure was he that it was Smith that he exclaimed, "Where the devil have you been all this time!" Smith stood looking at him in silence for some moments ; then turned and disappeared into the willows. This might be called "a psychological moment."

CHAPTER VIII The Great Drought. The Early Pioneers

Many things conspired to hold back the development of the county after it became such. The murders and robberies related in the previous pages had much to do with this. Then it was said abroad that all the land in the county good for anything was held in the great grants. We know now that there was much fine land outside the grants, but it was only when a thorough government survey was made that the fact was established. The owners of the grants did not want their ranges interfered with and avoided exact boundaries. All along the coast extended the grants held by Spanish families or the five Americans, Dana, Price, Wilson, Sparks and Branch. Across the mountains were the Blackburn brothers, James and P. W. Murphy, and D. W. James, associated with the Blackburn brothers, who controlled immense tracts. P. W. Murphy had the Santa Margarita, AAtascadero and Ascunsion grants, in all 70,000 acres, by right of purchase from the original grantees, who seemed to have no appreciation of the value of their holdings. The Spanish grantees, no matter what their previous condition, when once they could claim thousands of acres as their own, tried to live in great style. Velvet and broadcloth for the men; silks, satins, laces and jewels for the women. Silver- or gold-trimmed sombreros, trappings for their saddle ani- mals adorned with gold, silver and even costly jewels. The men did no work, unless an occasional interest in counting up the cattle at a lively rodeo could be called work. The women were supposed to manage the household, but Indians and Mexicans did the work. A life of pleasure and ease wis all that was sought.

A pioneer woman, who braved great hardships, told the writer of being robbed and begged of the greater part of the supplies her husband brought with them, by members of a Spanish family who wore clothing stiff with gold lace when they went out to a fandango or fiesta. Among the things taken was a bottle of whiskey with garlic in it. This was supposed to cure worms in children. No doubt the "kiddies" were very glad when the bottle disap- peared, but it would be interesting to know what the other party thought about his liquor.

In order to live and not work, they eventually mortgaged the grants for large sums. When the mortgages became due, portions of the land were given in payment, and what was left was sold for almost nothing. There were no good roads. no railroads, nor, in spite of seventy miles of sea coast and three or four good harbors, no wharves where schooners or steamers could take on or deliver cargoes. Cattle could be driven off to market, so cattle it was and nothing else. After the gold discoveries the ranges of this section

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS

furnished meat for the miners of the northern section, and so things were until the great drought.

The Dry Years of 1862-63-64

Usually all the hills and plains were covered with abundant rich grass; wild oats six feet high covered the hills where the grass did not flourish. From the early winter rains to the end of May or June green feed was plenti- ful. Then the bunch grass ripened and furnished winter feed. No hay was raised, no attempt whatever was made to provide food for the cattle, if Nature failed to do it. At last Nature did fail ; while in the East men were fighting the awful battles of the Civil War and meeting death, here on the great ranges hundreds of thousands of cattle were fighting a losing battle with Nature and the long-horned Spanish cattle were literally wiped out of exist- ence. It meant ruin for the cattlemen in some instances, and years of effort to recover from their losses to the rest. Over across the mountains the cattle were driven to the swamps of the Tulare, and many of the herds were saved.

While many grew poor one man at least laid the foundation for his future fortune. J. P. Andrews bought up hundreds of the starving cattle for ten cents each, killed them, boiled them up and fed them to his hogs, which for lack of beef he sold at a high price. Also towards the close of the drought he bought two hundred head of steers for two hundred dollars ; and before December he had sold them for just twenty-five dollars per head, a neat little profit of $4,800. Any one else could have turned the deal. Mr. Andrews had no monopoly on the beef-bones-versus-hogs transaction ; but he later loaned his profits at big interest to some of those who looked on while their herds died, and he was called "skinflint." He was not; he was just a keen-witted, hard-working, brainy man, who looked out for chances to make honest money, which he held together while he lived.

Many thousands of cattle and horses were driven over the bluffs into the sea and drowned. The owners could not stand the moanings of their herds, nor bear to see them falling by hundreds before their eyes; for be it known, when starvation pursues the dumb animals, horses and cattle especially, no matter how "wild" they may have been before, they will crowd up to the ranch buildings, asking in their low moaning cries for food. Julian Estrada of the Santa Rosa grant drove hundreds of his cattle and horses over the bluffs into the sea up near Cambria. When the creatures are almost gone, they will form a circle, heads to the center, and, by pressing against one another. hold each other up. When one drops, the circle narrows. In 1898-99, (. "dry year" brought suffering and loss to many in the northern half of this county and Monterey county. We saw a few years later on several ranches the circles of cattle-skeletons, and were told how they came to be there.

When the grass grew again, after the great drought, it grew up through The skeletons and around the bleached bones of the Spanish cattle. The fulltle were gone, and few had money to restock their ranches. They must Offer their attention to other ways of making money ; so they began to think of pukovating the land. Some maintain the drought was a blessing, for it ridded the ants of the long horned, rangy Spanish cattle and started agriculture. If it blessed some, it was certainly not a blessing to a good many others. Nun the cattle were dead, the land likely to be sold cheap, the criminals reduced to a fair average with other communities, settlers began coming in and

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS

of course other things followed. Roads in time were built, wharves came as a matter of course, and later railroads. We will write of these in another chap- ter, but in this speak of the very early pioneers of the late sixties and early seventies, and of the conditions they met and overcame.

In a previous chapter we spoke of Rufus Burnett Olmstead, who was the first American settler in Green valley. Mr. Olmstead was a man of education, helped establish schools, and was at one time supported by his friends for county superintendent of schools. The Olmstead school in Green valley was built on his land and was named for him.

A Pioneer Woman

In March, 1868, Mr. and Mrs. Neal Stewart arrived from San Francisco, coming originally from Canada. They came by boat and were landed at Port San Simeon. Mrs. Stewart carried in her arms her oldest child, James, then a baby about a year old. The waves were tossing whitecaps. The steamer came to anchor well out from shore, a ladder was lowered to a small boat, and Mrs. Stewart, with her child in her arms, clambered down into the tossing rowboat. The surf was so bad, the waves so rough, that as soon as the boat came in close enough, two men carried Mrs. Stewart and her baby ashore. Mr. Stewart rented two rooms in the big adobe house of Julian Estrada, located on the Santa Rosa grant. It stood near the corner where the road from Green valley now joins the Cambria road. One room was weatherproof, but the other was only partly roofed. They brought with them supplies of groceries and food enough to last for some time, but Mrs. Stewart says it was a problem to keep it, especially the "poppas"-potatoes. Mr. Stewart homesteaded one hundred sixty acres in Green valley and later pre-empted one hundred sixty more. The Stewarts brought with them the sterling principles and sincere Christianity of their Scotch ancestry. They were in a wilderness devoid of schools or churches, but the family altar was set up and no lack of parental training or authority was ever let interfere with the upbringing of their children. Mrs. Stewart did all the work, wash- ing, cooking, sewing, and successfully mothered and reared ten children. She had no near neighbors and little time for what nowadays are called "social duties," which so often seem to replace all other duties. However, if a woman were to go through the throes of childbirth, or a child, or man, or any human being were ill, this woman left her home, carrying her baby along, if it couldn't be left, mounted her horse and rode any distance through any sort of weather to minister to the one in need. On horseback she rode to church with the baby in front and the one next in order behind.

When on rare occasions church services were held in a schoolhouse at Cambria or elsewhere, she attended; the stranger or acquaintance was al- ways made welcome, and kindness and charity were shown to all in need. When the children were old enough to go to school and none was within reach. Mr. Stewart moved over onto Toro creek, where he gave ground for a school yard. Others were coming in, and there at Fairview school the ten Stewart children received their grammar school education. In turn they were given the advantages of higher education. Four are graduates of the university, and others of normal schools. One daughter, Dr. Mary Marshall, has been a medical missionary to India for many years. Another daughter, Katherine, was also a missionary in India, where she died, in May,

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS

1917. from an attack of diphtheria, a disease almost unknown there. Her brother John died early in June, 1917, and word of her death was received a few days later. All are filling places of honor and trust. One daughter, Helen, a beautiful girl, died just in the flush of early womanhood in 1902. In 1904, Mr. and Mrs. Stewart, with the unmarried children, came to live in San Luis Obispo, renting their ranch of four hundred seventy-five acres on Toro creek to a Swiss for dairying purposes. Mr. Stewart died December 24, 1915, but "Mother Stewart," as she is known to so many, now a frail old lady, still lives at the family home on Monterey street.

There were many women of sterling worth among those who came about the time Mrs. Stewart did. The families settled mainly in the little valleys, each with its creek running to the sea. In Harmony valley, Alexander Cook, father of Mrs. Stewart, settled, bringing with him a family of sons and ditighters who have made worth-while citizens. There were the Buffington families, the Leffingwells, the Hazards, Swains, Kesters, Freemans, Floods, Taylors, Brians, Van Gordons, Rectors, Wallaces, Hardies, Mayfields, Hills, MePhersons, Murphys, Cass's. McFaddens, Archers, Harolds, Bickells, Pe- for-ens. De Vises, Yorks, Hudsons, Whitakers, Kingerys, Mables, Langlois's, Hoeking's and many others who lived along the coast or in the valleys along the greeks between San Simeon and Morro. The O'Connors, Wardens, Steele and Hollisters lived near San Luis Obispo. Musick, Fink, Hasbrouck, Negen, Lowler, Ryan and Branch were names of early settlers about Arroyo GraffH. Across the mountains were the Blackburns, Murphys, James's, and Medtry Wilson and others who ranched there before the coming of the South- ern Pacific Railroad in 1886. Then many others came, settling in the towns of Sah Raucl. Paso Robles, Templeton, and Santa Margarita, and buying up the & #thing tracts into which the large landholdings were then divided.

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History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches, Part 9

Author: Morrison, Annie L. Stringfellow, 1860-; Haydon, John H., 1837- Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company Number of Pages: 1070

Author: Morrison, Annie L. Stringfellow, 1860-; Haydon, John H., 1837-
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1070