USA > California > Lassen County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 29
USA > California > Plumas County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 29
USA > California > Sierra County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 29
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A small storm ruffled the surface of the financial sea but a year after the county was organized, but it wrecked nothing save the reputation of the first sheriff, George W. Sharpe. The board of supervisors had been organized but two months when they were called upon to face the first financial calamity.
On the eleventh of July, 1855, Isaac Jennings made application to be released from the official bond of Sheriff Sharpe, and the coroner was directed by the board to serve a copy of said applica- tion upon the sheriff. At the same time an order was entered directing the delinquent sheriff to make an exhibit of the state of his accounts to the board at their next meeting. This does not seem to have been of particular interest to the recreant officer, for he departed suddenly the night before, without having the courtesy to bid his anxious bondsmen a tearful adieu. He went quietly and mysteriously, and when the board met on the twenty-first, no sheriff was there to give them a cheerful greeting and present a long bill for fees, as had been his wont of yore. The afflicted board dried their eyes long enough to enter the following order: "Ordered, that the clerk engage three suitable persons to go in search of G. W. Sharpe, sheriff of this county, owing to the unaccountable absence of said sheriff from the county seat; and that the persons so engaged be allowed reasonable compensation for their services and expenses." On the thirtieth the office was declared vacant, and the coroner, H. P. Russell, was directed to assume the duties of the office, in accordance with the statute "in such cases made and provided," for our wise legislators seem to have foreseen that so long as sheriffs were intrusted with the collection of county revenue there might occasionally be an "unaccountable absence " that would create a sudden vacancy in that office. The general qual ified accordingly, and once more Plumas had a sheriff. Search for the absconding officer was unavailing, as was also search for assets among his effects to make good the deficiency. The search for the amount of the defalcation was more successful, and revealed the fact that the pockets of foreign miners were lined with receipts, while the pockets of the fleeing sheriff were also lined with the cash they represented. A considerable amount of receipts for property taxes were also gath- cred in by his successor, and in this way it was ascertained that Sharpe was debtor to the county to a considerable amount. It was only two months before that the board had appropriated $100 to defray his expenses to Sacramento to procure these foreign miners' licenses, and after such a courtesy on the part of the board it was especially ungrateful for him to abscond with the proceeds
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of those licenses-the more so when the law allowed him twenty per cent. for twisting the China- men's pigtails long enough to collect it. Suit was directed to be brought against his bondsmen for the amount, but the bond was discovered to be defective, and nothing was done in consequence. Mr. Sharpe also received consideration at the hands of the grand jury, who proceeded to indict him for embezzlement; but even this kind attention failed to win the fugitive back to his first love. The case remained on the docket of the court of sessions several terms, awaiting Mr. Sharpe's appearance, but he apparently took no interest in judicial proceedings of that nature, and the indictment was finally dismissed. Besides the sorrowing tax-payers, the fugitive sheriff left behind him a wife and three children, whom he failed thereafter to support as becomes a good husband and father. On the thirteenth of July, 1859, four years and three days after Sharpe's " unaccount- able absence" commenced, his wife, Elizabeth A. Sharpe, was granted a divorce on the plea of desertion, the evidence taken in the case revealing the fact that the flitting sheriff had paid a clan- destine visit to his family the year following his disappearance. Three days after the decree a vin- culo was given, she married E. H. Pierce, afterwards sheriff of this county.
This small storm was succeeded by another in 1859. At that time the purse-strings of the county were held by T. J. Miner, who intrusted the management of his office chiefly to his deputy, J. C. Lewis. At the end of the term it was discovered that there existed a deficiency in the accounts to the amount of $2,274.15. Investigation disclosed the fact that the discrepancy was caused by the peculations of the deputy. To rectify matters, Mr. Lewis gave his note to the county, indorsed by T. B. Shannon and Richard Irwin. Suit was brought on the note the next year, John R. Buekbee being employed to assist the district attorney, W. D. Sawyer, in prosecuting the claim. The county was nonsuited, and realized nothing. The state authorities brought suit against T. J. Miner and his bondsmen, J. C. Church and D. R. Cate, for the amount of deficiency in his account with the state treasurer. At the October term, 1860, judgment was rendered in favor of the state for $2,670.18, and costs to the amount of $209.90. Nothing was paid, however, for General Allen Wood introduced a bill into the legislature, which became a law May 18, 1861, releasing the defendants from all liability on the judgment.
The next ripple on the financial sea was caused by the failure of Clark, Shannon, & Co., in 1861, in whose hands W. S. Ingersoll, the treasurer, had deposited funds of the county for safe keeping. [See biography of Mr. Ingersoll.] The treasurer made good the loss, and no blame was attached to him whatever.
The last financial trouble occurred in 1878, when the office of county treasurer was held by J. C. Chapman, who was enjoying his fifth term, and in whom the people placed so much confidence that it had been five times a futile effort to contest the office against "honest old John Chapman." Late in the fall of 1878 it was discovered that the treasurer's safe did not contain as much cash as the auditor's books called for, and an investigation was instituted. Mr. Chapman resigned, and L. F. Cate was appointed to administer the affairs of the office until the next election. An expert was employed, and a thorough examination of the books and vouchers revealed the fact that a deficit of nearly eight thousand dollars existed. Suit was brought by the county for $3,274.38, which was compromised for $2,455.77. The state also instituted proceedings to recover the sum of $4,565.09, the amount claimed to be due the state treasury, which action is still pending. This affair was a severe blow to Mr. Chapman and his friends, and is claimed by him to have had its origin in his willingness to accommodate the sheriff, I. C. Boring, by crediting him with amounts collected on taxes, in order to make the sheriff's account appear good, which sums had not been paid by the sheriff. Allowing this to have been the origin of the difficulty, it is certain that it had proceeded far beyond that stage when discovered.
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The debt of Plumas county is directly chargeable to the excellent roads that are to be found running through it in all directions. To build these avenues of travel and commerce, the county has spent vast sums of money, and issued bonds to a large amount. The debt amounted in 1875 to $97,411.98, but has since been reduced to $69,098.58. No inconsiderable item has been the amount expended for bridges across the streams that intersect the routes of travel. For this pur- pose $21,661 have been expended in the last two years for the Taylorville, Shoo Fly, Nelson Point, and Mohawk Valley bridges. The bonds that have from time to time been placed upon the market were issued by authority of the legislature for the following purposes: Under Act of March 31, 1866, for the Quincy and La Porte road, $20,000, fifteen years at 10 per cent .; under the Act of March 9, 1870, for'roads from Quincy to Indian valley, Quincy to Beckwourth valley, and Indian valley to Beckwourth, through Red Clover valley, $27,000, ten years at 7 per cent .; under Act of January 21, 1876, to fund road warrants, $24,850, ten years at 7 per cent .; by the Quincy school district, for building school-house, under the Act of April 3, 1876, $4,000, ten years ; under the Act of February 1, 1878, for redemption of La Porte and Quincy road bonds, $10,000, twenty years at 8 per cent .; under the Act of March 3, 1881, to redeem bonds, $30,000, twenty years at 6 per cent. Of these bonds there are outstanding $53,000.
The auditor's report shows the financial condition of the county to be as follows, October 31, 1881 :
Bonds outstanding, Act of January 21, 1876.
$23,850 00
Bonds outstanding, Act of March 3, 1881 30,000 00
Floating debt 14,991 00
257 58
Floating debt interest
Total debt outstanding.
$69,098 58
Cash in funded debt fund.
$4,308 46
Cash in road fund.
58 29
Cash in building fund
30 34
Cash in hospital fund.
197 13
Value of court-house
10,000 00
Value of jail
5,000 00
Value of court-house lot
3,500 00
Value of hospital
1,000 00
Value of hospital lot
500 00
$24,594 22
Excess of liabilities.
$44,504 36
One of the means devised for procuring revenue in the infancy of the state was the requiring of licenses for transacting nearly every kind of business. From this source alone Plumas county collected the sum of $2,510 during the eight months of its existence in 1854. As a matter of interest, we give the names, residences, and occupations of the business men who procured licenses in 1854:
H. J. Bradley & Co .. Quincy Tavern.
John Cornelison
Elizabethtown
Tavern.
John Mulrony Soda Bar Dram-shop.
.
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S. Aldridge & Co. Nelson creek
Merchandise, dram-shop.
George W. Robison.
Elizabethtown Bowling-alley.
James F. Ray & Co.
Elizabethtown
Grocery.
Kingsland & Co Marion Flat
. Grocery, merchandise. Tavern.
Albert Fitts. Fitts' hotel.
John Dickson & Co.
Blackhawk Grocery.
E. Perry
Blackhawk . Grocery.
Mather & Co.
Elizabethtown
Grocery, merchandise.
Joseph G. Cremonia
Indian Bar
Grocery.
Love & Every
Junction Bar
.Grocery.
O'Ferrall & Winzel.
Indian Bar
Merchandise.
Jones & Co. Rich Bar
Merchandise, grocery.
Nicholas Mathis. Rich Bar
Grocery.
John F. O'Neill.
O'Neill ranch
Merchandise.
Troughton & Sprigg.
Rush creek .
Merchandise, grocery.
Long, Haffley, & Co.
Rush creek
Merchandise, liquor.
M. M. Brown
Merchandise, dram-shop.
H. J. Mears
Peddler.
Licensis & Ellis
Merchandise, grocery.
R. H. Fairchild & Co.
Buck's Ranch
Merchandise, grocery.
McGee & Waite
Onion valley
Merchandise.
Friend & Co. Jamison
Merchandise.
Christopher Porter Rich Bar
Butcher.
John S. Root & Co. Nelson creek
Merchandise, grocery.
John W. Thompson & Co. Nelson Point.
Merchandise, tavern.
Merchandise, grocery.
S. Harper . .
Merchandise, grocery.
Clark, Wagner, & Co.
Eagle Ranch and Rich Bar
Merchandise, grocery.
. James L. McGinness.
Twelve-mile Bar
Merchandise.
Seth Bardell. Twelve-mile Bar
Merchandise, grocery.
Jobe T. Taylor. Indian valley
Tavern, merchandise. .
Tavern.
Meyerwitz & Ward. Indian valley .
E. W. Judkins & Co.
American valley
. Tavern, merchandise.
Wallech, Cole, & Co.
North fork
Merchandise.
Orlando Fuller
Spanish Ranch . Tavern, merchandise.
W. S. Dean
Meadow Valley Ranch.
Tavern, butcher, merchandise.
John S. Ross
Elizabethtown .
Butcher.
Elliott & Co. Kingsbury ferry.
. Grocery.
John H. Bradley & Co.
Mountain House
Grocery.
Pierson, Overton, & Co. Middle fork Grocery.
Charles Davis Indian Bar.
Tavern.
F. B. Smith
Hopkins creek
Merchandise, liquor.
J. W. Hardwick .
.. Eagle gulch Liquor.
Holliday & Co
Rich gulch
Merchandise.
D. O. Balcom
Merchandise, liquor.
James C. Sherwin Nelson Point
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D. W. Hambly
Nelson creek
Liquor.
Main, McDonald, & Co ..
. Independence Bar
Merchandise, liquor.
Myers & Co ..
Independence Bar
Liquor.
Manghan & Co.
Hopkins creek
Merchandise, liquor.
John McBeth
Meeker's Flat
Merchandise, liquor.
Charles Chapelain
Smith Bar
Merchandise, liquor.
Amasa Hoyt
: Merchandise, liquor.
Margaret Hanson
Liquor.
A. J. Welden Richmond Hill
Merchandise, liquor.
H. M. Tully
Merchandise, liquor.
John Fielding
Smith Bar
Merchandise, liquor.
A. Burnet.
Onion valley
Merchandise, liquor.
Gentry & Banks
Poorman's creek
Liquor.
Turner & Kelley
Hopkins creek
Merchandise.
George Martin .
Martin's Ranch
Liquor.
William Zimberman
Nelson Point
Liquor, merchandise.
Asa Kinney
Hopkins creek
Liquor.
Beckwourth & Co ...
Beckwourth Ranch
Liquor.
Merchandise.
Tipton & Lloyd .
Elizabethtown
Merchandise.
R. S. Flournoy, & Co.
Elizabethtown
Grocery.
J. H. Houck & Co.
. Quincy
Grocery.
Bath, Powers, & Co.
Nelson Point
Bowling-alley.
J. P. Bulware
Onion valley
Merchandise, liquor.
John Compton
Rich Bar
Liquor, merchandise.
John Coburn
Elizabethtown
Liquor.
D. J. Gloyd & Co.
Elizabethtown
Merchandise.
McManus & Co
Elizabethtown
Liquor.
Smith & Parsons
Hopkins creek
Merchandise.
W. W. Parker
. Nelson Point
Merchandise, liquor.
E. Whiting
American House
Liquor.
Samuel A. Russell
Quincy
Livery.
R. E. Garland
Quincy
Livery.
Lewis & Ellis
Independence Bar
Liquors.
O. Madden & Co.
Half-way House
Liquor, merchandise.
Richard Thompson
. Spanish Ranch
Merchandise.
Levy McCoy
Meadow valley
Liquor.
Frank Everts & Co.
Nelson Point
Bank.
Thomas Massey
Butterfly Ranch
Liquor.
W. D. Hudson
Elizabethtown
Liquor.
Caleb Holliday
Rich gulch
Merchandise.
I. E. Scott
Indian valley
Liquor.
F. D. Robinson
Elizabethtown
Liquor.
George Davis
Onion valley
Merchandise, liquor.
Blood & Shannon
Elizabethtown
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The following table shows the assessed valuation of property in the county for each year since the organization of the county, and the amount of taxes levied :
Assessed Valuation.
Taxes Levied.
Assessed Valuation.
1854
$311,003 00
1868
$1,485,520 00
Taxes Levied. $35,694 00
1855
$6,162 00
1869
1,197,775 00
27,815 00
1856
9,381 00
1870
. 1,209,600 00
28,184 00
1857.
. 1,333,608 00
20,004 00
1871 .1,515,663 00
47,205 00
1858
1,072,926 00
18,672 00
1872 1,989,440 00
49,737 00
1859
783,487 00
14,102 00
1873
1,799,112 00
53,973 00
1860
906,418 00
16,315 00
1874
1,421,906 00
42,636 00
1861
723,036 00
13,014 00
1875
1,735,981 00
48,607 00
1862
1,054,059 00
20,764 00
1876
1,980,877 00
50,512 36
1863
1,202,487 00
28,860 00
1877
2,040,966 00
51,034 26
1864
943,812 00
24,916 00
1878
.2,115,267 00
50,766 41
1865
1,085,934 00
27,691 00
1879 . 1,920,249 00
46,881 33
1866
1,183,612 00
26,394 00
1880 2,099,275 00
59,204 75
1867
. 1,267,885 00
27,893 00
1881
. 2,205,549 00
56,905 09
HISTORICAL REMINISCENCES.
From the many anecdotes that are related, and historical incidents that have occurred in the county, we have arranged the most important in the following pages, in the order of their antiquity. These stories show the real life of the people, and vacillate from grave to gay, from comedy to tragedy. They embrace the criminal annals, the legal and illegal punishments, as well as those other incidents that serve to make up a county's history. To many this will be the most interesting portion of the volume.
THE RICH-BAR PAINTING.
On another page will be found a copy of an old oil painting now in the possession of Mr. Whiting. It represents Rich bar, on the middle fork of Feather river, in the summer of 1851. The painting was made by Thomas C. Moore, of Harper's Ferry, Virginia, a pioneer of 1849. At the time it was executed the artist was mining on the river near by, in company with Mr. Whiting and others. As shown by the picture, a flume is constructed, carrying all the water of the stream, the river bed being drained in this manner to be worked by the miners with the occasional use of a rude hand pump. Near the lower end of the flume is seen a building, used as a trading-post. The other buildings are the camping places of the miners. Claims were forty feet square on the bar, and the river bed and bar were both exceedingly rich.
EARLY JUSTICE IN PLUMAS COUNTY.
During the four years that Plumas was attached to Butte county, there was no court of justice in this section, except the migratory court of Squire Bonner, an individual whose peculiarities will be related a few paragraphs below. For ordinary cases of disagreement, the miners had a rapid and satisfactory way of adjusting affairs, that admitted of no appeal, and was concurred in by all.
207
The miners' court was an institution much venerated and respected by the law-abiding gold- seekers, and as deeply feared by the wrong-doer. Occasionally mistakes were made in the sum- mary manner with which they dealt out justice to offenders, and it frequently-nay, generally- happened that the punishment inflicted bore but faint resemblance to the penalties borne upon the statute book. Law, as administered in courts, was but little regarded ; but to do even and exact justice was the aim and generally the result of the proceedings in a miners' court. When any dis- pute occurre i between rival claimants to a piece of ground, when any one complained of a wrong of any kind done him, when robbery had been committed or a murder perpetrated, the people were called upon to assemble. They generally met on Sunday, in and around some trader's cabin, or the most commodious saloon in the camp; and began proceedings by the election of a chairman, or judge, whichever was required by the nature of the business in hand, and a clerk. If it was a crim- inal case, a sheriff, jury, and two attorneys, one to prosecute and one to defend, were also selected. Witnesses were sworn and interrogated, the jury deliberated and decided, the judge directed the sheriff to execute the verdict, and that official did it to the very letter and spirit. If the business to be attended to was simply the adjustment of disputed claims, the matter was treated coolly and dispassionately, and from the decision of the meeting there was no appeal. In nearly every min- ing camp such assemblages as these occurred, and it is the boast of the participants that justice was more certain and expeditious under that system than it has been since it began traveling in the regular avenues of the law. A few instances will serve to illustrate the method of pioneer courts.
In the spring of 1851 Mr. F. B. Whiting was elected mining recorder by the miners on Rich bar, middle fork, and was allowed by the laws of the district the sum of one dollar for each claim he recorded. The question soon arose whether he was to be allowed one dollar for each claim of 200 feet allowed by the laws, or only that sum for the notice of a dozen men associating together as a company, and recording a dozen claims at once. A miners' meeting was called to pass upon the point. Mr. Whiting presented his argument, and a plea in favor of uniting claims in one notice was made by a lawyer named Polk. The matter was then submitted to a vote by the whole meeting, and was decided in favor of paying one dollar for the claim of each individual. Mr. Whiting enjoyed his triumph, and says that the perquisites of the office only supplied him with enough money to set the ten-pins rolling occasionally, and to treat his friends.
At Rocky bar, in 1852, one Granison McCubban kept a boarding-house for the entertainment of miners working on the bar. Aiding him in ministering to the wants of his numerous patrons were a man and wife, who one day called for a cash settlement from their employer, and were refused. They immediately made complaint, and a meeting was called to investigate the affair. A complete court was organized, including a sheriff, and the case was presented to the jury by the defrauded couple. Now the sheriff was a zealous officer, and was not content with simply serving the process of the court, and waiting to enforce judgment. He kept his official eye well of en, and espied the defendant suspiciously engaged among the brush on the side of the mountain. He kept his counsel, and abided the result of the trial. A verdict of seventy-five dollars was soon rendered in favor of the plaintiffs, but the defendant asserted that he had no money. Now was the time for the vigilant sheriff to prove himself equal to the emergency. He stalked up the hill, examined the place where he had previously observed the defendant, and found a quantity of dust. From this the damages were paid the plaintiffs, as well as ten dollars to the sheriff for his services, and all were happy, save the defeated and discomfited McCubban.
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THE PEREGRINATING JUSTICE.
Among the early institutions of the county was the migratory court of his honor Squire Bon- ner. In the summer of 1852 Thomas D. Bonner was elected justice of the peace in Quartz town- ship. He was not the only justice in the Plumas section of Butte county, as is generally supposed and frequently asserted, for the records of Butte county show that Edwin Fitch in 1851, J. B. McGee in 1852, and William Robertson in 1853, qualified as justices of Quartz township, and S. S. Horton, Samuel Carpenter, D. F. H. Dow, Lewis Stark, and H. M. Gazley for Mineral township during the same period. Nevertheless, Mr. Bonner seems to have been the only one who made any effort of consequence to discharge the duties of his office. Justice, in his hands, was not merely a blind goddess, with balances and sword, standing by her altar, ready to hear the plaints of the afflicted. Far from it. She was rather a lynx-eyed detective; or, more properly, a knight- errant, going from place to place seeking for an opportunity to apply the balances and use the sword. Realizing that but little business would come to him at Holmes's Hole, on Rush creek, where he resided, Squire Bonner put his "justice shop " on wheels, metaphorically speaking, and traveled from camp to camp in search of controversies upon which to adjudicate and collect the necessary fees. Upon all such journeys he was accompanied and fortified by a book, commonly supposed to be a law book of some kind, which served not only as a badge of authority, but a book of reference and a convenient substitute for the holy scriptures upon which to swear witnesses. Thus equipped, he made his appearance one day at Nelson Point, and announced himself as pre- pared to deal out justice with a liberal hand to all who felt called upon to indulge. in the commodity. There appeared before his honor one Ransmire, who sued for a writ of restitution and $500 damages against a certain party who held adverse possession of a mining elaim to which he felt himself entitled. The suit was commenced, and created much dissatisfaction among the miners, who had been accustomed to adjust all difficulties, and looked upon the invasion of a migratory justice with an unfriendly eye. Let it be remarked that it was one of the inflexible rules of Bonner's court that the fees must be paid. That was what he held court for, he said, and unless the costs of court were promptly liquidated, there was no joy in life for the worthy justice. It was customary for him to decide against the party whom he thought was the best able to pay the costs. Good business principles would not permit him to do otherwise. Another rule of his court was to allow no witness to testify until he had exhibited his poll-tax receipt; and at one time, on Rich bar, middle fork, he made Aaron Winters and several others weigh out three dollars in dust, and pay it to him for their poll tax, before he would permit them to go upon the stand to give testimony. But to return to the case in hand. As the trial progressed, his honor began to feel uneasy about the costs. The plaintiff had nothing, and so the aente justice had already determined to decide in his favor, and thus throw the costs upon the defendant, but he feared he would be unable to collect them. He therefore made an order that the defendant be required to give bonds for costs of suit, and five hundred dollars damages, so that a decision in favor of the plaintiff would be sure to gain this modern Solomon his coveted fees. The defendant was not overanxious to have the trial proceed, and refused to give the required sureties. Quite an indignant crowd had assembled to witness the contest, and when the mandate for bonds was issued they became doubly indignant. A meeting was at once called, and a committee appointed to wait upon the dignified justice, and request him to adjourn his court sine die. The members of the committee, J. H. Whitlock, Dr. Vaughan, J. Bass, Dr. Lewis, and Mr. Walker, walked into the court-room, and the spokesman thus addressed the court :
DUMP, SLUICE BOXES AND TIMBER SHED.
BOARDING HOUSE
OFFICE.
MACHINE SHOP .-.
BARN.
MONTE CHRISTO GOLD MINING CO'S. CAMP. (ALTITUDE 6350 FT.)
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209
" May it please your honor, I have been instructed by the people of the state to say to you that we can find no precedent in law where the defendant in a civil suit can be compelled to give security either for costs or damages in advance of judgment."
" Whom do you represent in this case, sir ?"
" I represent the people."
"The people have nothing to do with this case. My ruling must be complied with, or the parties will be bound over in contempt of this court." .
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