USA > California > Lassen County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 28
USA > California > Plumas County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 28
USA > California > Sierra County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 28
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1855. James C. Church. J. N. Hartzell.
John C. Lewis ... . 18T. B. Shannon. . Joseph Winston.
1856. 10J. H. Whitlock.
John L. Davis. .14Jobe T. Taylor .. I. J. Harvey.
1857. J. H. Whitlock.
C. E. Smith Jobe T. Taylor. . . C. Crowley.
W. W. Hudson .. . D. A. Jones.
1858. J. H. Whitlock. . James C. Church. L. E. Miner
F. B. Clark. S. S. Stinson. .
1859. J. H. Whitlock. . James C. Church. John B. Overton. . Jobe T. Taylor. .. John McBeth. . 1860. J. H. Whitlock. . . James C. Church. John B. Overton .. Jobe T. Taylor. . N. K. Wright. 1861. J. H. Whitlock. .. James C. Church. John B. Overton. . James H. Yeates. N. K. Wright. 1862. 11James C. Church.A. S. Titus John B. Overton .. James H. Yeates. Andrew Miller.
1863. E. R. Nichols. . A. S. Titus 15 Jackson Urie ... . James. H. Yeates. Andrew Miller.
1864. 12J. J. L. Peel . ... A. S. Titus Jackson Urie. . James Ford. Andrew Miller.
1865. J. T. Taylor. . G. W. Meylert. . . Jackson Urie ..... James Ford Andrew Miller.
1866. 12J. D. Compton. . G. W. Meylert. . . 16William Gilbert. James Ford.
Andrew Miller. 1867. J. D. Compton. . G. W. Meylert. . . William Gilbert. . 17Thomas J. True. Andrew Miller.
1868. David Taylor .G. W. Meylert. . . 18C. E. Smith.
.19Thomas J. True. M. D. Smith.
1869. 24 David Taylor .. . G. W. Meylert. . . C. E. Smith
Thomas J. True. . M. D. Smith.
1870. A. W. Keddie. S. S. Boynton . . . . C. E. Smith. J. S. Carter. M. D. Smith.
1871. A. W. Keddie
. S. S. Boynton
. C. E. Smith
J. S. Carter. .
Wm. H. Miller.
1872. T. F. Emmons J. A. Edman. . John M. Hinds. . . 20J. S. Carter Wm. H. Miller.
1873. T. F. Emmons .. J. A. Edman
.. 21H. Washington .. J. S. Carter Wm. H. Miller.
1876. A. W. Keddie W. S. Church . F. J. Winchel . E. D. Hosselkus. . Wm. H. Miller.
1877. A. W. Keddie W. S. Church F. J. Winchel ... E. D. Hosselkus. . Wm. Wagner.
1878. D. W. Jenks F. G. Hail 23Geo. S. McLear . E. D. Hosselkus. . Wm. Wagner.
1879. D. W. Jenks. F. G. Hail Geo. S. McLear .. . E. D. Hosselkus . Wm. Wagner.
1880. C. W. Hendel .F. G. Hail. Geo. S. McLear .. . E. D. Hosselkus .. Wm. Wagner.
1881. C. W. Hendel ... F. G. Hail. Geo. S. McLear .. . E. D. Hosselkus. . Wm. Wagner.
10 Church resigned and Whitlock appointed January 7, 1856.
11 Major Whitlock enlisted, and Church was appointed to the vacancy May 7, 1862.
12 Appointed to fill vacancy,
13 Resigned Oct. 2, 1855. P. O. Hundley elected Oct. 15.
14 Elected March 17, 1856, P. O. Hundley having resigned.
15 E. A. White elected and resigned. Urie elected Jan. 28, 1863.
16 John Geiger elected and failed to qualify. Gilbert elected Nov. 29, 1865.
17 Failed to hold election in 1866. Special election April 9, 1867.
18 Chosen in place of Gilbert who resigned August 31, 1867.
19 Whole board resigned June 11, and were all re-elected August 25, 1868.
20 Tie on 169 votes with E. D. Hosselkus. Special election Nov. 30, 1872.
21 Appointed by couuty judge, Dec. 20, 1873.
22 Resigned, and F. J. Winchel appointed by county judge, July 8, 1875.
23 Appointed by county judge in May, 1878.
24 Resigned, and A. W. Keddie appointed September 6, 1869.
. John M. Hinds. . . J. S. Carter Wm. H. Miller.
1874. A. W. Keddie . W. S. Church
1875. A. W. Keddie. . W. S. Church.
. . . 22S. B. Hinds. . J. S. Carter . Wm. H. Miller.
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SENATORS AND ASSEMBLYMEN.
When Plumas county was cut off from Butte it still formed, with the mother county, the fourteenth district, of which Elisha T. Peck was the senator, holding over till 1855, and John B. McGee, Seneca Ewer, and Richard Irwin, were the assemblymen, whose terms were just expiring. These gentlemen all resided in Plumas county, save Seneca Ewer, and were instrumental in passing the bill organizing this county. The Act of April 6, 1857, gave the fourteenth district two senators and three assemblymen. A senator was elected from Butte and Plumas on alternate years each, and the two counties alternated in electing two assemblymen, the other chosing but one for the same session. By the Act of March 16, 1874, Butte, Plumas, and Lassen were combined in the twenty-sixth senatorial district, with one senator and two assemblymen, Butte to elect one of the latter, and Plumas and Lassen the other.
The senators who have represented the Plumas section of the district have been as follows : Elisha T. Peck, 1853-4; John B. McGee, 1855-6; John Coulter, 1857; S. A. Ballou, 1858-9; Richard Irwin, 1860-1; Thomas B. Shannon, 1862; F. M. Smith, 1863-6; John Conly, 1867-70; David Boucher, 1871-3; George C. Perkins, 1873-6; William H. Crane, 1877-9; William A. Cheney, 1879-82.
During the same time Plumas has been represented in the assembly by the following gentlemen : 1854, Asa Kinney; 1855, Ripley C. Kelley and Joseph Winston; 1856, Richard Irwin; 1857, S. A. Ballou and J. L. C. Sherwin; 1858, Thomas B. Shannon; 1859, Thomas B. Shannon and P. O. Hundley; 1860, Allen Wood; 1861, Thomas B. Shannon; 1862, M. D. Howell; 1863, Robert A. Clark ; 1865, John D. Goodwin; 1867, John R. Buckbee; 1869, John Lambert; 1871, B. W. Barnes; 1873, James D. Byers; 1875, John S. Chapman ; 1877, James H. Whitlock; 1879, Charles Mulholland ; 1880, William W. Kellogg.
ELISHA T. PECK, a native of New York, was the first senator that the territory of Plumas sent to the legislature. At the time of his election, in the fall of 1853, he was a clerk in the store of Davis & Brother, at Onion valley. The democrats nominated him, and he was easily elected by the party in Butte county. Peck soon became famous for having been approached with a bribe in legislative halls, and much feeling was engendered both for and against him in the affair. He afterwards settled in San Francisco, and took a position in the custom-house as drayage contractor. HIe now resides in that city.
JOHN B. MCGEE .- He was born in North Carolina, emigrated to Missouri, and from there came to California. He was engaged early in 1855 in operating the Mammoth quartz-mine on Jamison creek, and labored with the mine for a number of years, finally abandoning it when heavily embarrassed. In 1855 he became the know-nothing candidate for joint senator from Butte and Plumas counties, running against John Bidwell, whom he defeated. Mr. McGee served two years in the senate. He was a live member, and a man of considerable ability. Among his closest friends he numbered David C. Broderick. Some years afterward he went to Nevada, and was successful at mining. He now resides at San Francisco.
RICHARD IRWIN was born at Uniontown, Pennsylvania. At the age of seventeen he entered the Mexican war, and served with distinction through the campaigns on Aztec soil. In 1849 he emigrated to California, and engaged in mining at Rich bar on the east branch of Feather river in 1851. He frequently practiced before the miners' courts as an attorney. In 1852 he was elected to the state assembly from Butte county, with Charles C. Thomas, and was re-elected in 1853. In the spring of 1855, with Robert M. Blakemore, he purchased the business of Clark, Wagner, & Co.,
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merchants at Rich bar-taking charge of a pack-train, while his partner ran the store. In 1856 Plumas county sent him to the assembly, and in 1860 he was elected joint-senator from Butte and Plumas counties. Two years after, he was defeated for the same position by Thomas B. Shannon. In 1861 he was the democratic candidate for lieutenant-governor, with John Conness at the head of the ticket, which was defeated. Mr. Irwin was a warm personal friend and supporter of David C. Broderick. In the spring of 1865 the firm of Irwin & Blakemore dissolved partnership, and the former continued the business at Rich bar until his death, which occurred February 15, 1869. He died at the age of forty-one, leaving a widow without children, and is buried at the Rich bar cemetery. A fine inclosure and marble slabs mark his resting-place. His widow survived him till 1871, when she died in Quincy, and is buried by his side.
THOMAS B. SHANNON is a native of Pennsylvania. In early life he emigrated to Illinois, where he worked at the tinsmithing trade. In 1849 he came to California, and worked at his trade for E. C. Ross in Marysville. From there he removed to the upper Sacramento region, and engaged in gaming and sporting. In 1854 Shannon came into Plumas county, and with James A. Blood started a store at Elizabethtown. Under the law creating the boards of supervisors, Shannon was elected a member of the Plumas board April 9, 1855, from district No. 2. He was re-elected that fall, but resigned in October; and at the same time sold his business at Elizabethtown, and purchased a one-third interest in the firm of Clark, Wagner, & Co., at Meadow valley-Shannon assuming control of the business. Injudicious speculation caused the firm to collapse in 1861, with liabilities amounting to $50,000. Shannon was elected to the assembly in 1858 over Dr. Walker, and re-elected in 1859 as a Douglas democrat, over Parsons, the Breckenridge candidate. He was again run for the assembly in 1861, appearing on the political turf as the unconditional-union can- didate, and was elected, defeating William Wagner and William Jacks. Shannon became an intense war man from this period, and declared in favor of the emancipation as the best means to preserve the union. In 1862 Shannon was pitted against Richard Irwin for the state senate, and beat him by 261 votes. He now gave up his residence in Plumas, and in the canvass of 1863 was elected to congress from the third district. He has since served as surveyor of the port of San Francisco, a member of the assembly from that city, speaker of the assembly, and collector of the port of San Francisco. He was married in August, 1856, to Miss Avis Folger, at Meadow valley.
WILLIAM H. CRANE, a native of the state of New York, came to California from Michigan in 1858. He is an old resident of Lassen county, where he held the office of county treasurer for six years. In 1877 he was elected by the republicans to represent Butte, Plumas, and Lassen counties in the senate. He resides at Susanville.
WILLIAM A. CHENEY. See Bench and Bar.
ASA KINNEY .- The first man who had the honor of representing Plumas county in the assembly, after her organization, was Asa Kinney. He came over the plains in the summer of 1853 from the state of Wisconsin, leaving his property there much involved. He settled in Plumas, and followed mining on Poorman's creek, from which locality he emerged and appeared in the democratic convention of 1854, receiving the nomination for assemblyman. He was elected, and went to the state capital in the fall of 1854. He was a candidate for speaker of the assembly, and came within two votes of getting it. He was a live representative and an able man. He left the assembly and went directly to Wisconsin, without returning to Plumas, and still resides in the Badger state.
RIPLEY C. KELLEY was the discoverer of the diggings on Willow bar, below Junction bar, on the north fork of Feather river. He went on the bar in August, 1850, to prospect, and found gold
197
in abundance. In one day he panned out twenty-two ounces. One day in September, being out of provisions, Joe Barnett, a stranger, came along, and Kelley left his claim in charge of him while he went to his friends on Nelson creek for supplies. He found them, the Wisconsin company, taking out such good pay-dirt that they induced him to remain with them. Other parties soon settled on his claim at Willow bar, and made fortunes in a few weeks. However, he made a good sum on. Nelson creek, and went back to Wisconsin in the winter. He afterwards returned to Plumas, and was elected assemblyman in 1855, with Joseph Winston. Since his brief official career, he has been continuously interested in mining pursuits, and is now mining on Poorman's. creek.
JOSEPH WINSTON .- Joe Winston was residing at Meadow valley in the spring of 1855, when he became the candidate for supervisor, and was elected in the third district. He served until the fall of that year, when he resigned, and was succeeded by I. J. Harvey of Spanish Ranch. He and Ripley C. Kelley were the successful candidates for the assembly in the fall of 1855, against Daniel R. Cate and T. F. Emmons.
JAMES L. C. SHERWIN .- This gentleman was the democratie candidate for the assembly in the campaign of 1857. He defeated Sylvester A. Ballou, John K. Lovejoy, and Samuel Black. Mr. Sherwin was from Nelson creek, where he had followed mercantile pursuits, and also engaged in mining. Jim got enough of legislative life, and did not want more of it. When he bade adieu to the assembly hall, he publicly offered to wager a thousand dollars that he could beat any man living, on foot, to " Nelson P'int." A brother law-maker inquired : " Where in the d-l is Nelson P'int ?" At which Jim expressed his supreme disgust at the man's lamentable ignorance. A few years after he left the county, and never returned, but is still living in one of the southern mining counties.
P. O. HUNDLEY. See Bench and Bar.
GENERAL ALLEN WOOD was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the year 1812. He was raised in Connecticut, and in early life moved to Indiana, where he married a lady who still lives, hale and hearty. In 1839 he moved to Arkansas and settled, and was twice elected to the legisla- ture of that state. In the first call for troops for Mexico he raised a company ; but living quite a distance from Little Rock, he was just an hour too late in reporting, and his company was rejected, under the ten-regiment bill. However, he received a captain's commission from President Polk, and again raised an Arkansas company, and joined General Scott at Pueblo. His command belonged to the twelfth infantry, under Colonel Bonham, and fought in the battles of Contreras and Cherubuseo, August 19 and 20, 1847. On the latter day he took command of the regiment, Colonel Bonham having been wounded the night before; and on that day they finished the battle of Con- treras, and fought Cherubusco. For his gallant conduct in these engagements, he was made a brevet major. In the fall of 1856 he came to California, and settled in Butte county. In 1858 he moved to Humbug valley, Plumas county, now Longville. He built a fine, large hotel there, which . was subsequently burned, almost bankrupting the proprictor. In 1860 he was elected on the Douglas ticket to the assembly. During his legislative term General Wood was instrumental in hav- ing established several postal routes through Plumas county. He was the first to take steps for the organization of a commandery of Knights Templar at Susanville, where he now resides.
JOHN D. GOODWIN, JOHN R. BUCKBEE, WILLIAM W. KELLOGG. See Bench and Bar.
JAMES D. BYERS. See County Officers.
MAJOR JAMES H. WHITLOCK was born May 15, 1829, in Union county, Illinois. Early in 1850 he started on the long journey across the plains to California. He left his home on the second of
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April, went to St. Louis, and paid in advance for a passage on a wagon train. Going to Fort Leavenworth by steamer, they started overland on the fourth of May. They met with many reverses on the journey, and when they reached Salt Lake City most of the horses were dead, and the proprietor of the train was a bankrupt individual. Mr. Whitlock and two others accepted one horse as their share, and started on foot to complete the journey, accompanied by one hundred emigrants, most of whom were in the same predicament. They hired a Mormon to pilot them into California ; but after getting them across the desert, during the passage of which some of the emi- grants died, he suddenly disappeared. On the twentieth day from Salt Lake City they finally dis- covered the emigrant trail, and after many hardships and privations, arrived at Hangtown (Plac- erville) on the twenty-fourth of August, Mr. Whitlock having lost sixty pounds of flesh on the trip. He engaged in mining during the fall and winter on Weaver creek, and make about $2,000. In March, 1851, he came to Nelson creek, now in Plumas county, where he sunk all his money in a river claim in six weeks. Then he mined six miles farther up, with better success. He. and his two comrades took a contract to furnish lumber for a flume, and made considerable at it by Christ- mas. In the spring they all engaged in fluming, and came out dead-broke in the fall, with numerous debts to pay. They then mined at Fiddler's flat and Henpeek flat, on Nelson creek. In January, 1853, their camp being without the means of subsistence, they left one man to take care of the claims, and the rest, twelve in number, went below for food. They experienced terrible hardships in breaking a trail through the snow, and finally the party got divided, Mr. Whitlock's party reaching a house on the third day. The others were not so fortunate. When they were rescued Walter Goodspeed was dead ; H. Brown lived about two weeks, and William Phillips died six months afterward from the effects of the trip. At the fall election in November, 1854, Mr. Whitlock was elected county surveyor on the whig ticket, and was re-elected four successive subse- quent times. Though elected in the fall of 1861 he did not qualify. He then raised a company of sixty-six men, was elected captain, and they were mustered in as company F., fifth infantry, Cali- fornia volunteers. Mr. Whitlock's commission dated from October 2, 1861. The company left Sacram nto, February 2, 1862, established Camp Drum in Los Angeles county, now Wilmington, and from there went into Arizona. Whitlock was commanding officer at Tucson until April, 1863, when he was ordered to New Mexico, and did active service against the Indians. For gallant con- duet in a battle with the Apaches in March, 1864, when a government train was recaptured from them, Mr. Whitlock was brevetted major. In October his company was mustered out, and he took a position in another regiment; he had charge of Fort Seldon, most of which he built, and after- wards was at Fort Garland, in Colorado, with the command of General Kit Carson, where he served the balance of his time until discharged at Santa Fe, December 5, 1866. He returned to Plumas county in April, 1867, having been absent five years and a half. In the fall he was engaged in merchandising at Taylorville, but sold in 1868, and in 1870 embarked in the same business at Greenville, which he followed until 1876, when he sold again, went to the centennial, and was mar- ried in March, 1877, at Warren, Illinois, to Miss M. H. Baldwin, by whom he has had one son, Robert Greenleaf, now three years old. He returned to Plumas in April, 1877, and was elected .to the legislature by the republicans, with a very large majority. In the fall of 1878 he commenced business at Quincy, and was appointed postmaster October 28, 1878.
.
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PRESIDENTIAL AND GUBERNATORIAL VOTE.
Year. Election.
Candidate.
Party.
Vote.
Total.
1855. Gubernatorial
J. Neely Johnson
. Know-Nothing. 1,111
John Bigler
.Democrat
736-1,847
1856. Presidential.
James Buchanan.
Democrat
1,124
John C. Fremont
Republican
217
Millard Fillmore
American
865-2,206
1857. Gubernatorial
John B. Weller
Democrat 1,460
Edward Stanly
Republican 199
George W. Bowie
American
236-1,895
1859. Gubernatorial
Milton S. Latham
Democrat
882
John Currey Leland Stanford
A. L. Democrat 649
Republican
193-1,724
1860. Presidential
Abraham Lincoln
Republican
458
Stephen A. Douglas
. Independent Democrat 503
John C. Breckenridge
Democrat.
453
John Bell .
Con. Union . .
211-1,625
1861. Gubernatorial
Leland Stanford
Republican 659
John R. McConnell
Democrat .
517
John Conness
Union Democrat
602-1,778
1863. Gubernatorial
Frederick F. Low
Union
1,288
John G. Downey
Democrat
766-2,054
1864. Presidential
Abraham Lincoln
Republican
828
George B. McClellan Democrat
669-1,497
1867. Gubernatorial
. Henry H. Haight
. Democrat 708
.George C. Gorham Republican
781
Caleb T. Fay
Independent Repub.
24-1,513
1868. Presidential
Ulysses S. Grant
Republican
711
Horatio Seymou
Democrat .
554-1,265
1871. Gubernatorial.
Newton Booth
. Republican 645
Henry H. Haight Democrat.
601-1,246
1872. Presidential.
Ulysses S. Grant
Republican
512
Horace Greeley
. Liberal and Democrat ..
280
1875. Gubernatorial
William Irwin
Democrat .
550
T. G. Phelps
Republican
230
John Bidwell . ..
Independent
425-1,205
1876. Presidential.
. Rutherford B. Hayes
Republican 584
Samuel J. Tilden Democrat 502-1,086
No
358- 890
1879. Gubernatorial.
. George C. Perkins Republican
702
Hugh J. Glenn . New Const. and Dem. 500
William F. White. Workingmen 100-1,302
Charles O'Conor
. Democrat .
792
1879. Adoption of New Const. .. Yes
532
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Year. Election.
Candidate.
Party.
Vote. Total.
1880. Presidential
James A. Garfield .
. Republican
645
Winfield S. Hancock Democrat 698
James B. Weaver
National Greenback 1-1,344
PLUMAS COUNTY FINANCES.
Despite the fact that the county treasury has been several times invaded by embarrassed officials to bolster up their waning finances or improve their pecuniary condition, the financial condition has never been bad, and now its credit is so firmly established that six per cent. bonds bring a premium in the market.
The organic act of the county having provided that a proper proportion of the Butte county debt should be paid by Plumas, a statement of the financial condition was submitted on the twenty- first of September, 1854, by French Paige, auditor of Butte county, showing the financial condition of that county on the first of April of that year. The total debt of Butte county was $38,748.84; property assessed in Butte in 1853, $2,024,142.75 ; in that portion set off to Plumas, $294,200; proportion of the debt to be paid by Plumas, $5,632. This amount was paid within the next three years by the creation of a special fund for that purpose.
Not having been formed until the creation of property to form a basis for taxation had advanced to a considerable extent, and the expensive habits that had so involved the counties in debt during the first four years of the state's existence having been to a large degree overcome, Plumas was prepared from the start to be self-sustaining in its county government. A very im- portant source of revenue for a number of years was the tax on foreign miners. By the Act of March 30, 1853, the legislature provided that any one not a citizen of or born within the United States, who desired to extract gold from the earth, must first procure a license for that purpose. This legislation was especially directed at the Chinese, and after the first few years was seldom enforced against any other class of foreign-born miners. The Chinese are a class of people that own but little valuable property in this country, and in consequence pay but little to the support of the government. They live in little shanties, tents, and patched-up cabins, own but little prop- erty besides mining claims, and consequently occupy a small place on the tax list. To derive a proper share of revenue from this class was the reason for the statute requiring them to procure a license to engage in mining. The price was fixed at four dollars per month. The sheriff was made collector of the license, for which he received twenty per cent., the remainder being divided equally- between the state and county. The revenue derived from this source by Plumas county was as follows : 1854, $9,180; 1855, $12,824; 1856, $11,498; 1857, $4,852; 1858, $3,572; 1859, $4,728; 1860, $3,036; 1861, $4,032; 1862, $12,936; 1863, $27,460; 1864, $28,283; 1865, $19,460; 1866, $15,660; 1867, $12,328; 1868, $10,224; 1869, $6,932; making a total of $187,010, of which the col- lector received $37,402, the state and county $149,608. The collection of the license ceased in 1870, by operation of the civil-rights bill passed by congress that year. The amount of revenue received from this source was largely in excess of the amount paid by the county for salary of county officers during the same period. Since the abolition of the tax but little revenue has been realized from the Chinese. The census of 1870 reported 911 Chinese adults in Plumas county, and of this number but twenty-four appeared on the assessment list, and paid taxes to the amount of $221.08 only-an average of but 243 cents each. The same census showed a white population of 3,571,
E.V.C.
GEORGE S. MCLEAR.
PLUNGE BATH HOUSE,
BATH HOUSE.
SULPHUR SPRINGS HOTEL, GEO. S. Mª LEAR, PROPRIETOR, MOHAWK VALLEY, PLUMAS CO. CAL.
201
who paid taxes to the amount of $27,963.20; or an average of $32.14 per capita. The few tax- payers among the Chinese are the merchants and traders, one of whom is to be found in every · mining camp or settlement where happen to congregate twenty Chinamen. They subsist chiefly upon products which are imported from China; wear clothing imported ready made from their native land, or manufactured here by their countrymen out of material brought from home, to procure which the gold dug from our hills and streams is shipped to China. It is true that on certain feast-days they adorn their tables with American chickens, some of which they purchase from the farmers, and the others they procure by magic or raise themselves. There are numbers of them engaged as cooks and servants in hotels and private families, at prices ranging from four to six dollars per week ; but it is the general conviction that they steal more than their wages come to. They have the well-deserved reputation of being the most expert petty thieves in the world. The county has expended a great deal of money in prosecuting Chinese for burglary and other crimes, each one of them costing the county more than one thousand dollars. They are a very undesirable class of people, and the citizens of California feel that if they must be inflicted with the scourge, they should be compelled in some manner to bear their proportion of the burden of sustaining the government that protects them.
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