USA > California > Solano County > History of Solano County...and histories of its cities, towns...etc. > Part 14
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By the terms of the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, the United States, upon proper showing of titles by grantees of the Mexican and Spanish Governments, was found to confirm them, and not only were perfect titles acquired by the inhabitants under Mexican domination agreed to be respected, but also such equitable claims as had their origin in the action of the Mexican Government, but were undeveloped and incomplete at the date of the treaty; and it was stipulated that such steps should be taken as were necessary to protect the same. The rights of property of the citizens of the ceded territory were to remain unchanged. By the law of
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nations those rights were sacred and inviolable, and the obligation passed to the Government of the United States to protect and maintain them by proper legislative action when the requisite protection could not be afforded by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings in the established tribunals or by existing legislation.
In many instances, however, the boundaries of the grants were indefinite, and the titles to some being imperfect, for years the affairs of the county were in an unsettled condition, consequent upon the frequent recurrence of acts of violence and bloodshed growing out of the litigation of land titles. Surveying parties were frequently forced to desist and driven off by armed gangs of squatters, who destroyed and removed monuments and land-marks, obstructed the officers of the law in the discharge of their official duties, and who carried their lawlessness to such an extent that many bona fide pur- chasers willingly disposed of their claims for a nominal sum and betook themselves to some more quiet county, where the danger of loss of life or limb was not a necessary concomitant upon the ownership of real estate.
The bitter and protracted controversy which arose out of the dispute as to the location of the line between the Suisun and the Armijo Grants, pre- sents a striking illustration of the indefinite and uncertain manner in which these grants were located by the original grantees, at a time when the question of a few hundred, or even thousand, acres was a matter of so little importance as to be unworthy of attention. But, subsequently, as the years rolled on, and the increase in values required the boundary lines to be distinctly and permanently settled, the latitude which had formerly been allowed to the original grantees in locating their grants, as necessity or convenience dictated, proved a source of almost interminable annoyance and vexation, as well as a heavy expense to those who purchased under them.
On the 16th of January, 1837, Francisco Solano, the chief of the tribe of Indians known as the Suisunes, presented to Commandant-General M. G. Vallejo a petition for a grant of land in the following terms :
" To the Commandant-General :
" Francisco Solano, principal chief of the unconverted Indians and born captain of the 'Suisun,' in due form before your Honor represents ;
" That, being a free man, and owner of a sufficient number of horses and cattle to establish a rancho, he solicits from the strict justice and goodness of your Honor, that you be pleased to grant him the land of the Suisun, with its known appurtenances, which are a little more or less than four square leagues from the 'Portzuela to the Salina de Sacha.' Said land belongs to him by hereditary right from his ancestors, and he is actually in possession of it, but he wishes to revalidate his rights in accordance with the existing laws of our Republic and of the order of colonization recently decreed by the Supreme Governement.
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" He, therefore, prays that your Honor be pleased to grant him the land which he asks for, and procure for him, from the proper sources, the titles which may be necessary for his security, and that you will also admit this on common paper, there being none of the corresponding stamp in this place.
" FRANCISCO SOLANO. (Signed)
" Sonoma, January 16, 1837."
To this petition the Commandant-General responded by issuing a decree, in which he granted to Solano, temporarily and provisionally, the use of the land petitioned for, to the amount of four square leagues, at the same time instructing the grantee to ask from the governmental of the State the usual titles, in order to make valid his rights in conformity with the order of colonization.
Accordingly, on the 15th of January, 1842, Solano presented a petition to Governor Juan B. Alvarado, accompanying it with the above petition to the Commandant-General, together with the temporary grant made by that officer, and asked for a permanent and perpetual grant of the premises.
In answer to this petition, Governor Alvarado, on the 21st of January, 1842, issued a grant in due form, of which the following is a copy :
[SEAL.]
" JUAN. B. ALVARADO,
"Constitutional Governor of the Department of the Californias.
" WHEREAS, The aboriginal, Francisco Solano, for his own personal benefit and that of his family, has asked for the land known by the name of Suisun, of which place he is a native, and chief of the tribes of the frontier of Sono- ma, and being worthy of reward for the quietness which he caused to be maintained by that unchristianized people; the proper proceedings and examinations having previously been made as required by the laws and regulations, using the powers conferred on me in the name of the Mexican nation, I have granted to him the above mentioned land, adjudicating to him the ownership of it, by these presents, being subject to the approbation of the most excellent Departmental Junta, and to the following conditions, to-wit :
1. " That he may inclose it, without prejudice to the crossings, roads, and servitudes, and enjoy it freely and exclusively, making such use and culti- vation of it as he may see fit; but within one year he shall build a house and it shall be inhabited.
2. "He shall ask the magistrate of the place to give him Juridical posses- sion of it, in virtue of this order, by whom the boundaries shall be marked out ; and he shall place in them, besides the land-marks, some fruit or forest trees of some utility.
3. "The land herein mentioned is to the extent of four 'sitios de ganado mayor,' (four square leagues) with the limits, as shown on the map, accom- panying the respective expediente. The magistrate who gives the possession
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will have it measured according to ordinance, leaving the excess, that may, result, to the nation for its convenient uses.
4. " If he contravene these conditions he shall lose his right to the land and it may be denounced by another.
" In consequence, I order that these presents be held firm and valid; that a register be taken of it in the proper book, and that it be given to the party interested, for his voucher and other purposes.
" Given this twenty-first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-two, at Monterey.
" JUAN B. ALVARADO.
(Signed) (Signed) " MANUEL JIMENO, Secretary."
In September, 1845, the Committee on Vacant Lands submitted to the Departmental Assembly a report in which the approval of the grant was recommended ; and, thereupon, in the following month, that body issued the following order :
"ANGELES, Oct. 3, 1845.
" In session of this day, the proposition of the foregoing report was approved by the most excellent Departmental Assembly, ordering the original expediente to be returned to His Excellency, the Governor, for suitable purposes.
(Signed) (Signed)
" PIO PICO, President. " AUGUSTIN OLONA, Secretary."
A copy of the order of approval was issued to Solano on the same day.
The first application of Armijo for his grant was made some two years subsequent to that of Solano, and was in the following language :
" Senor Commandant-General :
" Jose Francisco Armijo, by birth a Mexican, before your Honor, in the manner which may be best for me in the law, say: That having four sons, natives of the same country, without owning any lands to cultivate, finding myself owner of about one hundred head of cattle, the product of which I annually lose, supplicate that your Honor will be pleased to con- cede to me the place known to mne by the name of Tolenas. That in company with my son, Antonio Maria, I dedicate myself to the cultivation of my own land and the breeding of cattle, with the understanding that the land which I solicit is from the place already mentioned to Ololatos creek, containing about three leagues of land, more or less, and it joins with the Suisun rancho.
" For this I pray that you will be pleased to decree as I have petitioned, for which I respectfully forward, herewith, the map.
" This favor I shall perpetuate on my memory.
[Does not know how to sign.]
" Sonoma, Nov. 22d, 1839."
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THE HISTORY OF SOLANO COUNTY.
Immediately upon the receipt of the petition the Commandant-General made an order upon its margin, in which permission was given to Armijo to occupy the premises described therein upon condition that he should not in any manner molest or disturb the wild Indians who lived upon it ; but, on the contrary, he should endeavor to inspire them with confidence in the whites ; and should any act of rebellion occur among them he should imme- diately communicate the same to Solano, the chief of the "Suisunes," with whom, by reason of his proximity with both parties, it would be convenient to advise as to whatever might conduce to the lives and tranquility of the settlers. Armijo, upon this order, entered into the possession of the land, and subsequently presented a petition substantially the same as the one to the Commandant-General, to Jose Castro, the Prefect of the First District, asking for a permanent grant, in accordance with the law of colonization.
This petition the Prefect referred to the Governor, together with his Report upon the same, as follows :
" Most Excellent Senor Governor :
" The Prefecture being informed of the petition which Jose Francisco Armijo makes in claiming the land which he indicates, and of the order of the Senor Commandant-General, no objection is found to the concession which the Government ought to decree, provided the party interested ob- tains the necessary requisites to be attended to, and that the place which he solicits is found to be entirely vacant.
(Signed) JOSE CASTRO."
In response to the petition, Governor Alvarado, on the 4th of March, 1840, issued a grant to Armijo for the three square leagues, to which grant the same conditions were annexed as were contained in the grant to Solano, relative to the manner of acquiring possession, establishing boundary lines, and the planting of trees within its limits, to which an additional condition was annexed that through no motive whatever should he in any manner molest the Indians who were there located, nor the immediate neighbors with whom he would adjoin.
The grant was issued in all respects with due regard to form, with the single exception that it never received the approval of the Departmental Assembly, as was the case in the Suisun grant. However, it was subse- quently decided by the Supreme Court of this State that such lack of ap- proval did not in any way impair its title.
Solano's title to the Suisun grant was subsequently acquired by M. G. Vallejo, by purchase, and that of Armijo to the Tolenas, upon his death, in 1849, by his son Antonio.
Before the death of the elder Armijo, some time in the year 1847, a dis- pute arose between M. G. Vallejo, Solano's grantee, and Armijo, concerning
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the location of the boundary line between the two grants, which resulted in the institution of an action of tresspass by Vallejo against Armijo, before Alcalde L. W. Boggs, Armijo claiming that a certain arroyo seco, or dry gulch, formed the line, and Vallejo placing it some distance to the north- ward, the difference in question involving several thousand acres of land. It was finally, agreed, however, that the matter be submitted to two arbi- trators, whose decision should be final. Accordingly one Cajetano Juarez was selected as arbitrator on the part of Vallejo, and one Salvador Vallejo, on the part of Armijo.
The arbitrators held a meeting in August, 1847, at which time proofs and documents on both sides were presented to them, and on the 16th of that month they submitted the following award :
" We, the undersigned, appointed arbitrators by and for Mariano G. Vallejo, and Francisco Armijo, to decide upon the question existing between them for having the last trespassed his limits, and usurping part of the land be- longing to the farm of the first, as it is expressed in the complaint presented before the Alcalde of the jurisdiction, L. W. Boggs ; and after hearing the declaration of both parties, and examination made of the proofs and docu- ments presented to us, we find that the limits of each farm are clearly deter- mined, in their respective titles, being those of the Tolenas farm, according to the said, the Suisun creek, which runs to the N. N. E. of Suisun, and be- ginning from thence, at the first limits mentioned there are to be measured three leagues running at E. N. E. as the ridge (Sierra) runs ; leaving the said ridge the natural limits lying between the two farms, separate them, leaving one at the north and the other at the south. Thus neither of the both parties is prejudicated, and the titual meaning of the respective titles to both farms are fulfilled with, and in order to so not burden one part more than another, the costs of the judgment and those of the tribunal ought to be paid equally by both parties.
" And for the fulfillment of the contents of this present writing, we sign it by our hands and seals before the Alcalde of this jurisdiction, on the 16th day of August, A. D. 1847.
(Signed) CAJETANO JUAREZ, Arbitrator for M. G. Vallejo.
(Signed) M. G. VALLEJO.
(Signed) SALVADOR VALLEJO, Arbitrator for Francisco Armijo.
(Signed)
FRANCISCO ARMIJO."
This award as before stated, was made upon proofs and documents pre- sented by both parties, and was recived as a victory for the Armijo faction. For a time the matter was regarded as settled; but the question subse- quently came again into dispute between purchasers under the respective claimants, in which the Armijo faction claimed that the award was final
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and conclusive of the action in their favor, and they also offered testimony to show that Vallejo and others claiming under him had stated to certain parties that the arroyo seco, or dry gulch, in reality formed the north line of the Suisun grant, and contended that such admissions fixed the boundary at that point.
One Archibald A. Ritchie had in the meantime purchased Vallejo's in- terest, and procured a United States Patent for a large tract of land, which included in its limits that in controversy. The Ritchie purchasers claimed that the patent was in effect superior to the award made by the arbitrators, though issued at a later date, and for a time a bitter warfare, not un- attended with frequent acts of violence and bloodshed, was waged both in and out of Court. The matter finally culminated in the celebrated case of Waterman vs. Smith, in which it was decided upon appeal to the Supreme Court that the award was only conclusive until the action of the General Government.
The dispute was continued for several years, however, until all the land in controversy was finally settled by compromise, or otherwise, and the danger which had formerly been attendant upon its ownership being removed, it rapidly increased in value, amply repaying those who had suc- ceeded in retaining their claims after so many years of stubborn and tena- cious warfare.
The most noted litigation almost in the annals of the State, grew out of the Suscol and the so-called " El Sobrante," or Luco grants. In the case of the former, it was claimed that General M. G. Vallejo had at various times during the Mexican troubles furnished the Government with large sums of money and other supplies ; and in consideration of these favors and in part payment for his services as an officer in the Government employ, the Suscol, an eleven leagued grant, had been deeded to him. The title subsequently came into dispute ; and after a most vexatious and expensive contest in the Courts, the grant was declared invalid and became public land. The Con- gress of the United States came to the relief of purchasers under the Vallejo title by the enactment of a special Pre-emption Act, allowing them to enter such lands, at $1.25 per acre.
In the case of the " Sobrante," one Juan Luco claimed to have purchased from a Mexican vaquero a grant which he had received from the Mexican Government, of the stupendous quantity of two hundred and eighty-four thousand acres; but this grant, after a number of years of litigation, was rejected by the Courts, and that vast extent of territory added to the public domain.
In respect to the Vaca and Peña grant, nearly the entire property has gone out of the hands of the original grantees, they farming and owning but a very small portion of the original estate, while a history of the Los Ulpino grant will be found in the description of the township of Rio Vista.
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THE HISTORY OF SOLANO COUNTY.
MURDER TRIALS OF SOLANO COUNTY.
THE PEOPLE VS. EDWARD CROCKER - WILLIAM KEMP - BEVERLEY WELLS - GEORGE K. MANN-ROBERT B. MCMILLAN-PHILANDER ARNOLD-JACOB ZAESCK - MERRILL JAMES-D. H. FITZPATRICK-FRANK GRADY -WILLIAM WESTPHAL-D. G. GORDON-PANCHO VALENCIA-GUADALUPE VALENCIA- JAMES MALLON-JAMES LOWTHER.
Mention has been made in another portion of this volume, of the estab- lishment of Perfectures, and a Judge of First Instance; while the judg- ment decreed in a suit heard in the court of the latter, has been copied verbatim.
With the acquisition of California by the Government of the United States, and the increase of population, better provision was made for carry- ing out the law. County Courts were established, and the Seventh Judi- cial District Court, among others, inaugurated. The first Judge of this Court was Robert Hopkins, who was succeeded by E. W. Mckinstry, now of the Supreme Court.
In the following resume of the chief trials which have taken place in Solano county, we have confined ourselves to those of individuals who have been arraigned for the crime of murder. It has, however, been deemed best to refer to the following curious case as a starting point.
THE PEOPLE v. EDWARD CROCKER. - This was a case instituted at the instance of S. G. Hastings, Attorney-General, complaining that the defend- ant had intruded himself into the office of County Treasurer, and un- lawfully held and exercised the duties of said office, and received the emoluments thereof. The plaintiff represented the different appointments to the office from its incipience in 1851, until the election of November, 1832, when George Leviston was preferred to fill the unexpired term for which Osgood H. Evans, the original Treasurer, since dead, had been elected. That in due time his certificate of election had been granted and bond filed ; but, on demanding the books from S. C. Gray, the ap- pointee of the Court of Session as the locum tenens of Evans, prior to the general election, he refused to deliver them to the said Leviston, and continued to exercise the duties of the office and receive the emoluments until the 14th of December, 1852, when he left the county. That on or about the 16th of December, the defendant, Crocker, intruded himself into the office without legal authority, and unlawfully held the books and papers from Leviston, to the detriment of the public interests.
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THE HISTORY OF SOLANO COUNTY.
In answer, the defendant gave a general denial to the case as set forth in the complaint, which, on going to trial, Judge Mckinstry, on February 3, 1853, found for the plaintiff with costs.
THE PEOPLE v. PETER WILLIAM KEMP .- The first murder trial in Solano, county was that of Peter William Kemp, for the killing of Thomas Sullivan on the night of February 1, 1855. The victim was a fireman on board of one of the steamers then lying in the port of Benicia, while the slayer was a workman in the blacksmith's shop of the Pacific Works there. From the evidence adduced at the trial, it would appear that Sullivan and Kemp, who lived together, had a quarrel as to which of the two should cook their supper, and that the latter took up a Mississippi rifle which was within reach, and followed the former into a room, in the act of doing which the piece exploded, killing Sullivan. The verdict at the trial was one of not guilty.
Among the witnesses examined in this case for the prosecution were Bev- erley Wells, whose trial for murder immediately follows this, and that of his boon companion, John C. Heenan, the " Benicia Boy," of prize-fighting fame.
THE PEOPLE v. BEVERLEY T. WELLS .- The facts of this distardly deed are these : James H. Dunn, was Third Assistant Engineer of the Pacific Mail Steamer " Golden Gate;" he was killed by Beverley Wells, under the following circumstances : It appears that Dunn and Wells had been inti- mate friends for some time ; that whenever the "Golden Gate " was in port they were constant companions, and never had any difficulty previous to the 17th February, 1856. On that morning they went out together to take a pleasure ride in a buggy. In the evening they returned and proceeded to the steamboat landing. After remaining there a short time, Wells got into the buggy, and started up town ; Dunn ran after him, saying, "Hold on !" what, are you going without me ?" and caught the horse by the head. Some angry words passed between them, when Wells proceeded to the stable of the American Hotel with the buggy, and paid the bill. He then went to the store of Mr. T. Pander, and purchased a large knife, and then walked down towards the wharf. When about half-way along the plank road lead- ing from the ferry house to the landing, he was met by Dunn and a man named James Morgan. Dunn said : "Hallo; Beverley ;" and immediately Wells struck him with the knife several times in quick succession. Dunn fell, crying : " Morgan, run for a doctor-I'm stabbed ; Oh, Mother ! Mother ! Mother !" He expired in about ten minutes. On examining the body, four ghastly wounds were found, one in the abdomen at least six inches long, through which the bowels protruded; one in the right breast ; one in the right thigh, six or eight inches long, and another on the right arm, near the right shoulder, completely severing the muscles. Wells was a large, power-
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ful man : Dunn, about the medium size, slightly built. The murderer was at onee arrested ; but there being no jail in Benicia, where the foul deed was perpetrated, he was confined in Martinez prison, Contra Costa County.
The trial of the accused commenced on June 17th, and lasted the two following days; and was fully argued on both sides, when on the 19th the following verdiet was brought in: "The jury in the case of the People of the State of California vs. Beverley T. Wells, find the said Beverley T. Wells guilty of the crime of murder. John Doughty, Foreman."
Monday, the 23rd of June, was fixed by the Court to pronounce sentence, which was done as follows: It is ordered, adjudged and decreed by this Court, that the said Beverley T. Wells be remanded to jail in charge of the Sheriff, from whence he be taken to some suitable place, to be selected by said Sheriff, in Solano county, on Friday, August the eighth, A. D. 1856, between the hours of ten A. M. of that day, and four P. M. of the same day, and then hung by the neck until he be dead.
As the execution of Wells was the first to take place in Solano county, we reproduce an account of it from the "Herald" of August 9th, 1856 :
" Upon examination, it was found that our jail did not afford the neces- sary room, and no other place could be procured in town (Benicia) for the purpose. It was, therefore, necessary to have the scaffold erected in as secluded a spot as possible, in the hills adjacent to the town.
" The ferry-boat, 'Carquinez,' being laid up, repairing, the Sheriff found it necessary to provide a small vessel to transport the prisoner from Marti- nez (where he had been confined). An escort of twenty men was detailed from the Solano Engine Company, at the request of the Sheriff, to perform guard duty, and all left at an early hour for Martinez. The prisoner had been attended by the Rev. Mr. McDonald (at present writing, pastor of the Church of the Ascension, at Vallejo), and he was immediately taken on board the vessel, which arrived at the wharf at half-past eight - Rev. Mr. Woodbridge met them there. The prisoner appeared quite weak from loss of blood, but was calm, and expressed himself as prepared to die. He had a short interview with one of his counsel, to whom he renewed his assur- anee of the truth of his former statements of the affair, and referring to a letter he had written about the time of his first attempt to commit suicide, requested that it might be published after his death.
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