USA > California > Santa Clara County > History of Santa Clara County, California : including its geography, geology, topography, climatography and description > Part 44
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Mention has been made several times in the foregoing report of the "Five- hundred-acre lots;" let us here record that peculiar document :-
"June 29, 1847. The Junta being called together for the purpose of taking into consideration petitions of several citizens for the obtainment of portions of the Pueblo Lands :-
" We, the Junta, do decree that all the citizens of this pueblo who are heads of families shall each be entitled to two thousand varas square, to wit, two thousand varas square to each family, the same to be loaned to them and their heirs forever.
" We also further ordain and decree, that each tract of two thousand varas square shall pay to the said pueblo an annual tax of three dollars per annum, to be paid on the first day of January of each year.
" And we further ordain, that all the lands left after the present citizens of this pueblo shall have received their portions as aforesaid, shall be appor- tioned among those who may come in afterwards and become citizens of said pueblo in the order in which they shall become such.
" And we further ordain that the acting Alcalde shall give notice to the people of this pueblo to assemble at an early day to give their consent to these ordinances.
" We further ordain, that the said Alcalde shall choose from the aforesaid number of lots one of them of two thousand varas square for the use of a Public Pueblo School, and said tract shall be reserved for said purpose for- ever. But in said school no religious teaching shall ever be allowed, but the teaching shall be confined solely to literature, the arts and sciences.
" We further ordain, that those persons who shall receive their titles from the Alcalde after the passing of these regulations, and in accordance with them, use said land for the raising of cattle and for general agricultural purposes.
" We further ordain, that no person shall be entitled to any advantages from these ordinances unless he or his family shall be an actual permanent settler or resident of this pueblo.
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" We further ordain, that if the said lands of this pueblo shall have been surveyed, there shall not be sufficient quantity found belonging to said pueblo to allow each head of a family the quantity heretofore specified, then in that case said land shall be divided into equal parts according to the number of those who wish to obtain them at the date hereof, in accordance with the foregoing decrees and in that mode so apportioned to the citizens, and the aforementioned taxes shall be in proportion to the quantity given at the rate of three dollars for two thousand varas square.
" CHARLES WHITE, " JULIAN HANKS, ISAAC BRANHAM, " JOHN BURTON, SALV'R M. CASTRO, " JAMES W. WEEKES, FELIZ BUELNA, " ANTONIO SUÑOL, DOLORES PACHECO."
WM. FISHER,
December 21 a resolution was adopted, authorizing the Chairman to select two persons from the Protestant denominations, two from the Roman Catholic, and two from the Jewish Faith, who, together with the County Surveyor, should lay off the burial grounds-a portion to each faith, as also one for a Potter's Field. On the 9th a petition was read from R. Jordan, praying the Council to grant him the use of Washington square for ninety- nine years. On the same day permission was granted to property-holders to open an old acequia running across Market street, near the house of Captain Hanks, and on the 16th the following petition was received: "Your peti- tioner would most respectfully represent to Your Honorable Boly, that for some time past she has been paying into the city treasury the enormous sum of five hundred dollars per month for license to gamble in this city, and that she has good reason to believe that games which are not banking games, such as poker, euchre, and the Spanish gime of Moliya Brisci, and others of a similar nature, are being constantly played in this city, in a secretive man- ner, so as to elude the vigilance of the officers, and that these games, although they have no visible bank, yet money (at times to a large amount) is continu- ally changing hands, and that the profits accruing from the eatables and drinkables consumed by the persons directly interested in such games goes to the benefit of the owner, or owners, of the houses where such games are played, and that the aforesaid owner or owners pay no gambling license or other consideration into the city treasury whatever for this class of profit which they are continually receiving. Therefore, your petitioner prays that she may receive that protection which is guaranteed to her by the ordinance on gambling, and in such manner that when an officer does arrest any per- son found gambling without a license, that the ordinance be strictly enforced, and that they be made to pay the penalty attached thereto immediately without any quibble of a Higher Law interfering, for your petitioner takes it for granted that if a Higher Law does interfere, it does most undoubtedly
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interfere on both sides of the question, and that if Your Honorable Body had the power to exact that amount of license it also must have power to give protection to those who pay, by attaching penalties to those who break the law in the manner aforesaid."
December 2, 1853, a petition from Davis Devine, President of the Pacific and Atlantic Railroad Company, and E. O. Crosby, Chairman of the Execu- tive Committee of the Board of Directors, praying " that the company is duly incorporated under the laws of the State of California. That said company propose to begin the construction of that portion of the road between the city of San José and the city of San Francisco early in the ensuing Spring provided the right of way can be obtained on satisfactory terms. That they desire to locate a depot in the city on that piece of ground known as St. James square, provided the city authorities would grant them the use of the same for that purpose. The great advantages which will accrue to your city by the early completion of the road from San Francisco to this point are so obvious that the undersigned deem it unnecessary to recite them here. The undersigned would, however, remark that the views of the Directors in refer- ence to the early commencement of the work will be greatly promoted if Your Honorable Body would donate to the company the use of said square so long as it may be used for the purpose above set forth."
The first subject of general interest which occurred in 1853, was the rob- bery of the County Treasury in January, when un ler the charge of William Aikenhead. Notice of this circumstance has been fully put before the reader in our chapter on the Legislative History of the County.
The year is also notable for one of the most disastrous accidents that has ever occurred on the coast of California. On April 9, 1833, the steamer Jenny Lind left San Francisco on a pleasure excursion to San José. On the 10th she started from the embarcadero on her return trip, having on board about one hundred and fifty passengers, among whom were a number of ladies and children. At ten minutes past twelve-the boat being then about four miles from the west shore of the bay-a violent tremor was felt throughout the craft, and in a second after, a tremendous report was heard, and the whole vessel was enveloped in a dense cloud of scalding steam. The dead in this catastrophe amounted to forty ; the wounded to about twenty. Of the former were Bernard Murphy, Jr., Charles White, of San Jose; and among the later Jacob D. Hoppe, the last named of whom died of his injuries. It is only necessary in this place to say that San Jose could little afford to lose such able and prominent citizens; when in her infancy she could little spare them.
The month of February saw the Bascom Institute opened under the con- duct of the Pacific Conference, with Mrs. R. C. Hammon las Principal, and was for a long time the only Protestant seminary of the kind in the valley.
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In March a common school was organized, with the Rev. Horace Richard- son at its head, and in June another institution of learning was opened in the Baptist church by Orrin Hinds, who, in August, was transferred as Assistant to Principal Samuel Lea, in the superintendence of the San José Academy. In this year, too, the Sisters of Notre Dame commenced the erection of the brick college, a description of which will be found further on.
On March 29th the State House, of which we have heard so much, became a prey to the devouring element, when the adobe building of F. Lightston, on Lightston alley, was transformed into a temporary Court House, the Hall of Justice being afterwards removed to the " What Cheer House," on the corner of San Fernando and Second.
In this year were laid out by James R. Lowe, Sr., the elegant grounds now owned by Mrs. Samuel J. Hensley, which were then purchased by her husband. This beautiful private park contains twenty-five acres. Here may be seen some beautiful specimens of the magnolia tree, which blossoms throughout the Summer, together with many rare trees and plants from the tropics, all thriving luxuriantly in the open air. The grounds, which are kept with scrupulous neatness, are among the most noted and attractive features of San José.
In the month of October, 1853, the two cities of San Jose and San Fran- cisco were connected by telegraph, while about the same time, owing to a belief that railroad communication would soon be opened between these points, the price of real estate in the former town advanced in a great degree. By the first of December nearly all the stock in the Railway Com- pany was subscribed for; Elliott Reel disposed of his cottage, situated just north of the Court House, for five thousand dollars; Dr. Devigne sold, for eight thousand dollars, to Bonacino & Protolonzo the house that had been erected by him on Santa Clara street; and a lot belonging to Frank Light- ston, at the south-west corner of First and Santa Clara streets, where the First National Gold Bank now is, was bought for three thousand five hun- dred dollars. Not long afterwards these properties were worth a great deal more.
In this year F. B. Murdoch obtained control of the Santa Clara Register, and changed its name to the San José Telegraph. As such its publication was continued until 1860, when it went into the hands of W. A. Slocum, and in the following year was merged into the San Jose Weekly Mercury.
The Telegraph, of November 10, 1853, whose back numbers have been courteously placed at our disposal by Mr. Murdoch, its then editor and pub- lisher, informs us, in that year eleven hundred and fifty thousand burnt bricks of excellent quality had been used during the season in building homes in San José, nine thousand of these being manufactured in the city, and the balance coming from the kilns of Santa Clara. These were used
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principally in the construction of some of the one hundred houses which were raised in that year, among them being the Mariposa Store of Auzerais Brothers, on Market street; the brick dwelling-house near the corner of Fifth and St. John streets; and the building at the south-east corner of Santa Clara street and Pacheco alley.
1854 .- The first subject of interest to occur in the year 1854, was the introduction, on January 6th, of a resolution that the interest of the city in the San Jose Land Company should be sold at auction, after thirty days public notice; but the matter was afterwards postponed indefinitely, it not meeting with the approbation of the Council.
On January 13th, a petition was received from George Hale, S. Waterman and J. Braun, a committee on the part of the San Jose Hook and Ladder Company, No. 1, praying the Council to take such action as should be best calculated to perfect their arrangements ; as also to appropriate such sums of money, as should be necessary for the purchase of apparatus, etc. Accom- panying the memorial, were the Constitution and By-Laws of the organiza- tion. The question was referred to Aldermen Wilson and Emerson, who were directed to confer with the Foreman, and draw up an ordinance to cover the grounds embraced in the prayer. The committee were further ordered to secure the lease of a lot whereon to erect a suitable building for the accommodation of the company, and to ascertain what the probable cost of such would be. On the 3d February, they reported that Frank Lightston had generously tendered a piece of land, to the Mayor and Common Council for ten years, at the nominal rent of twenty-five cents per annum, provided the Council would erect a suitable building within twelve months. In the meantime the company was quartered in the room adjoining the Mayor's office. On June 26th, the following Fire Wardens were appointed: Ward, No. 1, J. H. Scull; Ward, No. 2, Dr. J. C. Spencer; Ward, No. 3, F. G. Appleton; Ward, No. 4, Peter Davidson. On this date Aldermen Wilson, Houghton, and Bodfish were chosen a committee to ascertain if a suitable fire engine could be purchased in San Francisco, who, July 17th, reported that one could be so obtained for eighteen hundred dollars cash; that hose could be procured at one dollar and fifty cents per foot; and that the follow- ing cisterns would be required: one in the square of Market and Santa Clara streets; one in the square of Santa Clara and First streets; one in front of the Mariposa Store; and one in front of Jones' store ( where the Eintruet is now located). To defray these expenses, a sum of thirteen hundred and fifty- five dollars was collected, and the necessary balance raised on City Warrants, the total cost being two thousand five hundred and forty-six dollars. twenty- five cents. On July 24, 1854, Empire Engine Company, No. 1, was organ- ized, and admitted into the Fire Department.
Alderman Wilson, January 20th, gave notice that in the year 184S. a
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number of lots in the city had been set apart and reserved for school pur- poses, he therefore moved that a committee of two be appointed to inves- tigate the subject. This was done, and, on the 27th, they reported that Charles White, Alcalde, in order to comply with the voice of the people, as manifested in a convention assembled June 30, 1847, did select fifty-two lots of fifty varas square each, for the benefit of public schools.
March 3d, Alderman Stafford moved that a select committee, consisting of Aldermen Murphy and Daniels, be appointed to confer with the Board of Township School Commissioners, and the Board of Trustees elected by the citizens of the city at a meeting held, February 28th, for the purpose of ascertaining the cost of a suitable building for the uses of common schools. The resolution was adopted, and the matter further discussed on March 10th, when the plan of a house, presented by Rev. Eli Corwin, meeting with the views of the Council, avas accepted, and a determination arrived at to request Levi Goodrich to make an estimate of its probable cost. Mr. Goodrich laid the expense at five thousand dollars. A committee was now chosen to con- sult with the Commissioners of Common Schools, the Council in the mean - time unanimously passing an ordinance, appropriating the sum of thirty-five hundred dollars towards the construction of the building, a measure, how- ever, which was repealed the 24th March.
On April 6th, just before the election, the city debt amounted to three thousand four hundred and eight dollars. Three years previously it had been sixty thousand dollars.
The result of the election held, April 10, 1854, was as follows: Mayor, Thomas W. White; Common Council, John M. Murphy, President, John Wilson, S. O. Houghton, J. McGill, Charles Moody, Frank Lightston, George H. Bodfish; Marshal, George Hale: Attorney, A. C. Campbell; Treasurer, T. L. Vermeule ; Assessor and Clerk, E. P. Reed. On the 5th December, O. H. Allen was elected to the Civic Chair, in place of His Honor Thomas W. White, who had ceased to be a resident of the State.
A committee that had been appointed to ascertain the feasibility of con- ducting the water of the Acequia through pipes into cisterns placed in different parts of the city, reported, July 3d, the matter entirely practicable, and recommended the construction of such receptacles, with the necessary pipes, of redwood. On the 16th October, Joseph Aram and William N. Stafford were elected to the Council, vice Aldermen Bodfish and Murphy, resigned; and, November 18th, an ordinance authorizing the issue of City Bonds, bearing interest two and a half per cent. was adopted.
During the year 1854, the subject of a City Hall attracted considerable attention. The first mention in the records, of any step being taken in the matter, is on August 14th, when a committee consisting of Aldermen Wilson, Moody and McGill, were appointed to call for proposals for building such a
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Hall, in accordance with plans and specifications lying in the office of the City Clerk. Meanwhile offers of edifices, looked upon as eligible, were made ; on the 20th September, the American House was tendered for the purpose, while, on October 2d, a numerously signed petition, from tax-payers, was presented to the Common Council, praying that, "at an early date, a large, substantial brick building, suitable for a Town Hall, and, if necessary, to accommodate the Legislature of the State during their next session, should be constructed." The petititon was accompanied by a communication from His Honor the Mayor, urging that the prayer receive immediate attention; and a committee composed of Aldermen Wilson, Lightston and Moody, were appointed to take the matter in hand. At the suggestion of Alderman Houghton, a preamble and resolution was adopted, leaving it to the decision of the people, at the ensuing election, whether or not they were in favor of the erection of a City Hall, at a cost not to exceed the sum of twenty thousand dollars. At the election held October 16th, two hundred and sixty-five votes were cast in favor of the building, and fifty-seven against it. On the 25th of October the committee, chosen for the purpose, reported in favor of the lot offered by Dr. Cory, for fifteen hundred dollars cash, as a suitable site for the building, while an ordinance was passed authorizing a loan of twenty thousand dollars, at a rate of interest not to exceed three per cent. per month, to be used in its construction. Meanwhile the subject assumed another phase. The committee appointed to examine such buildings as might be suitable for a City Hall, and also answer the purpose of a Legislative Hall, November 15th, reported a proposition from D. Emanuelli, which being read and discussed, was, on motion, accepted. It was as follows: "I will sell my lot and new adobe houses, situated on North Market street, to the city of San José, for eight thousand dollars; two thousand dollars to be paid in cash, and six thousand dollars to be paid in twelve months, bearing interest, from date, at two and one-half per cent. per month." An acceptation committee was appointed to make the necessary alterations, raise funds for carrying them out, and examine into the titles of the lot.
Perhaps no greater boon has been conferred on a city than has been received by San José in supplying it with water from artesian wells. In the year 1854 was this benefaction introduced. Early in January Merritt Brothers employed a well-borer to obtain water for their premises on Fifth street. After boring to the depth of eighty feet a stream of water was struck which gushed up to the surface in a bold rapid stream almost enough to turn a mill. The boring was done with a six-inch auger. Others at once commenced to be constructed in different portions of the city and coun- try, until to-day there are considerably more than a thousand of these in the county.
In March, 1854, smarting under the loss of the capital, the question as to
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the legality of its removal to any other town than San Jose was presented to the Supreme Court in the shape of a writ to construe the Act of Removal. It was decided by a majority of the Judges that San José was still the cap- ital. On the strength of this judgment a writ of mandate was issued out of the Third District Court, against all the State officers, commanding them to remove their offices to San José, or show cause why they should not do so. After the argument was heard the Court sustained the writ, holding that San José was the capital. An appeal from this decision was taken to the Supreme Court, who now decided that San Jose was not the capital of the State, yet, there are those who maintain that the Garden City was wrong- fully deprived of her well-earned honors.
On the 6th of May a meeting was held in the Mayor's office under the presidency of H. C. Melone when a County Agricultural Society was organ- ized with the following officers appointed May 20th: President, Dr. L. H. Bascom; Vice-President, J. F. Kenney; Recording Secretary, E. P. Reed; Corresponding Secretary, W. S. Letcher; Treasurer, F. G. Appleton; Board of Managers, Frost of Fremont, J. B. Allen of Gilroy, James Houston of Alviso, Joseph Aram, W. R. Bassham, Dr. Langhorn and Lemuel Robinson of San José.
In the month of June robberies would appear to have been more than ordinarily numerous. On the night of the 22d, the store of L. Lazarus & Co. was broken into and five hundred dollars' worth of goods stolen, while on the 26th, an attempt was made upon the premises of Mr. Devoto on North Market street. In this month too the Hook and Ladder Company erected an alarm bell weighing four hundred and nineteen pounds, on a temporary belfry at the rear of the engine house. The bell cost four hundred and four dollars which was entirely contributed by members of the company and some citizens. About midnight on the 1st July the cry of fire was heard and the clear-toned bell rang out the alarm. The scene of the conflagration turned out to be the Baptist church situated on Santa Clara street, between First and Second, it was undoubtedly the work of an incendiary for no fire had been used in the building for a considerable period. On the 4th of this month the Sun Jose Semi-Weekly Tribune issued its first number; while about the same time the fare from San Francisco to San José by Dillon, Hedge & Co.'s stage line was reduced from eight to six dollars. On the 22d July Demasio Berreyessa was hanged by the Vigilance Committee. Of this transaction the Telegraph says: "On Friday night one of those dreadful deeds was done in this city, shocking to all our moral sensibilities and our notions of social duties and rights, but which too often occur in new and ill- regulated communities, and among a people over whom a faithful and vigor- ous administration of the law, has not yet attained a corrective agency in the punishment of heinous offenses. Early on Saturday morning a man
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was seen suspended by the neck to the limb of a tree, in the south-eastern part of the city. His hands were tied behind him; his tongue discolored, was protruding from his mouth; and the whole appearance of the unfortu- nate victim of a misguided sense of duty, indicated that he had been dead for an hour or two. On this terrible tragedy being communicated to Justice Murdoch, he repaired to the spot, and summoned a Jury of Inquest, who found that the name of the deceased was Demasio Berreyessa whose residence was near the New Almaden mines, and that he came to his death by being hung by the neck from the tree, with a rope, by persons, to the Jurors unknown. Demasio Berreyessa is a young man of about thirty years of age; a wife, three small children, a mother, and several brothers survive him. The family are the proprietors of a large and valuable tract of land near the New Almaden mines, upon which they reside; and the family connection is very large numbering many among the most respectable, as well as many of the most worthless, of the California race. The general reputation of this particular family is bad. Violent, brutal, revengeful and blood-thirsty, the Berreyessas have been looked upon as bad citizens and dangerous men. But it is but justice to the memory of the deceased to say, that among all his brothers, Demasio was considered the best.
" The particular grounds or evidence of guilt which led to this man's fear- ful end at the hand of a secret association, we have not been able to learn, but rumor alleges that it is on account of a supposed participation in the murder of Alexander W. McClure. * * The friends of the deceased, and the California population generally, deny that Demasio had any participation in the murder of McClure; while there are not a few among the Americans, who doubt his guilt, and seek in another direction for the perpetrators of the crime. Others are not backward in expressing their contempt for the min- 'isterial officers of the law, who, regardless of their oaths and duty, if they do not openly encourage, do nothing to stay such lawless proceedings. On Sunday the body of the unfortunate Demasio, in an open coffin, was carried on the shoulders of his friends and relatives, through the city, followed by a number of his countrymen and women, whose wails were painfully distress- ing-it was taken to Santa Clara for interment."
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