USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > Los Angeles from the mountains to the sea : with selected biography of actors and witnesses to the period of growth and achievement, Volume I > Part 31
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Other attorneys prior to 1860 were Hon. S. F. Reynolds (afterward District Judge of San Francisco), J. R. Gitchell (in April, 1858, appointed district attorney). A. Thomas, William E. Pickett, Sasaneuva & Jones advertised December 13, 1851. This was Wm. Claude Jones, known so well in Missouri. Scott & Hayes were partners from March, 1850, until April 13, 1852; afterward Scott & Granger; then Scott & Lander.
Between 1852 and 1860 the land questions before the com- missioners and United States District Court brought almost as residents such distinguished lawyers as H. W. Halleck, A. C. Peachy, F. Billings, C. B. Strode, Wm. Carey Joney, P. W. Tompkins, Gregory Yale, J. H. Saunders, H. P. Hep- burn and others.
J. L. Brent stood high as a lawyer and statesman. He afterwards returned to Louisiana, near New Orleans. Mr. Granger was a fluent speaker; in 1852-3 partner of Judge Scott and one time a candidate for judge of the First Judicial District. General Drown lost his wife in the stranding of the steamer Independence. He died August 17, 1863, leaving a son-a man much thought of, and very successful in his profession. Hon. K. H. Dimmick, a captain in Colonel Steven-
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son's regiment, had been a member of the Constitutional Con- vention of 1849. J. H. Landers was born in 1829 in New York City. He was a graduate of Harvard. He was an ex- cellent office lawyer. For a long time he was court commis- sioner, with especial approbation of the bar. In 1852 he married Miss Margarita Johnson, a daughter of Don Santiago Johnson, so well remembered among the early business men of this coast before 1846. He died June 10, 1873.
S. R. Campbell was born near Nashville, Tennessee, and died in San Bernardino County early in January, 1863, near fifty years of age. His memory was most extraordinary. A poem or oration once read to him he could repeat word for word years afterward. He was in the habit, when familiarly illustrating this faculty, to recite in full, page after page of Blackstone's Commentaries. His son, Thornton P. Campbell, was a merchant and member of the City Council.
Col. J. A. Watson, in 1855, married Miss Dolores Do- minguez. He died at this city September 16, 1869, aged forty- five years. The latter part of his life was devoted to his vineyard and orchard. He had been a skillful politician and was esteemed as a lawyer.
Hon. Myron Norton was born in 1822, at Bennington, Ver- mont. He studied law in New York, was admitted to the bar in 1844, continued in practice at Troy until 1848, when he was ap- pointed first lieutenant of California volunteers, and in the summer of that year arrived at Monterey. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention from San Francisco; after- ward judge of the Superior Court of San Francisco. In 1855 he was the democratic candidate for judge of the Supreme Court of this state. He dwelled here in the agreeable- family of Don Agustin Olvera.
Don Manuel Clemente Rojo, our first abogado (lawyer), was a native of Peru, of finished education and excellent quali- ties of the head and heart. He was once sub-political chief of the frontier of Lower California, and practiced his profes- sion with marked distinction. An old emigrant named Wil- liams, throwing out of his wagon almost everything else, saved his son's law library. They reached John Roland's in December, 1849, the ambitious young attorney with his eye to
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the polar star. Roland, in his usual liberal style, outfitted, complete, son and father.
Sheriff Burrill in 1850 was punctilious, perhaps formal, but affable; and pleasantly conspicuous by the infantry dress sword which he wore in public through his term, as he said, according to official custom of Mexico, where he had lived a good while. His brother was author of a "Law Glossary." He was the hero of a "scene in court" one bright afternoon in the summer of 1850. Judge Witherby was hearing an ap- plication for bail, on a charge of murder against three native Californians. The large room was in the old Bella Union Hotel. Upon a side bench together sat the prisoners. The judge, Thomas W. Sutherland (acting district attorney), Benj. Hayes (county attorney), clerk and counsel, J. Lancaster Brent; present, none others-save twelve, fierce, determined fellows, "armed to the teeth," lmuddled up in the far corner of the room. Preliminaries disposed of, calm content smoothed the face of the sheriff, that sword by his side, when appeared eighteen of the First Dragoons at the critical moment. They dismounted, tied their horses to the Celis bal- cony and fell into line in front of the building. Bond ap- proved, a sergeant led the accused outside, placed them on horseback between his files, and so conducted them home. A pin might have been heard to drop, and, in the stillness, the court adjourned. Maj. E. H. Fitzgerald had encamped the night before on the edge of the town. This was the posse put at the service of the sheriff, and that left him pleased infinitely at its effect, almost like a charm, on this famous "Irving party" in the corner.
California was admitted into the Union September 9, 1850. Some of the principal offices, since 1850, have been filled as follows: District judge-Oliver S. Witherby, three years; Benjamin Hayes, eleven years; Pablo de la Guerra, Murray Morrison, R. M. Widney; Ignacio Sepulveda. County judge -H. K. Dimmick, W. G. Dryden, A. J. King, Ignacio Sepul- veda; Agustin Olvera, four years; Myron Norton, H. K. S. O'Melveny, 1876. County clerk-B. D. Wilson, Wilson W. Jones, C. R. Johnson, John W. Shore, Thomas D. Mott, Stephen H. Mott, A. W. Potts, 1876. Sheriff-G. T. Burrill,
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David W. Alexander, James R. Barton, W. C. Getman, James R. Barton (murdered Friday, January 23, 1857, while in discharge of official duty), Thomas A. Sanchez, James F. Burns, W. R. Roland; D. W. Alexander, 1876. Wm. Getman died January 7, 1858. County treasurer- Manuel Garfias, now American consul, Tepic, Mexico; Timothy Foster, Henry N. Alexander, Morice Kremer, T. E. Rowan; Francis P. F. Temple, 1876. District attorney-William C. Ferrel, now a mountain farmer of Lower California; Isaac S. K. Ogier, September 29, 1851; Kimball H. Dimmick, appointed July 10th, elected November 29, 1852; Ezra Drown, A. B. Chap- man, Volney E. Howard, A. B. Chapman, C. E. Thom; Rod- ney Hudson, 1876. County assessor-Antonio F. Coronel, 1867-1868; 1869-1875, Dionision Beteller; Andrew Ryan, 1876. County recorder-Ignacio del Valle, 1850-1851; J. W. Gillett, March 1, Monday, 1874; Charles E. Miles, March 1, Monday, 1876. Court commissioner (District)-George Clinton Gibbs.
In 1876 the county officers were: Under sheriff-H. Milner Mitchell. Deputy sheriffs-Wm. L. Banning, Emil Harris. Deputy county clerks-E. H. Owen, D. W. Maclellan. Deputy county treasurer-E. M. Spence. Deputy recorder-George E. Gard. Auditor-Andronico E. Sepulveda. Tax collector -Morice Kremer. County surveyor-T. J. Ellis. Deputy assessors-M. Ryan, W. H. A. Kidd. Coroner-Dr. Joseph Kurtz. School superintendent-Thomas A. Saxon. Super- visors-Geo. Hines, Gabriel Allen, Edward Evy, John D. Young, J. C. Hannon. Justices of the peace (city)-John Trafford, Pedro C. Carrillo, William H. Gray.
Don Ignacio Sepulveda, sometime district judge, was a native of this city. He was educated in the East. Oliver Spencer Witherby was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, February 19, 1815; Benj. Hayes of Baltimore, Maryland, February 14, 1815; Robern M. Widney, Miami Connty, Ohio, December 23, 1838.
Don Pablo de la Guerra was born in the Presidio of Santa Barbara, November 29, 1819. He was State Senator four terms from the district of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, and had been a member of the Constitutional Con- vention of 1849. His term of district judge commenced Jan- uary 1, 1864. He died February 5, 1874, having a short time
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before resigned the judgeship of the First District in conse- quence of ill health.
Hon. Murray Morrison was born at Kaskaskia, Illinois, in 1820; was admitted to the bar in 1842. In 1862 he married Miss Jennie White, daughter of Dr. Thomas J. White. In 1868, on the creation of the Seventeenth Judicial District, he was appointed judge by Governor Haight, and elected in 1869. He died at this city in 1871. Within three days a loving wife followed him to the tomb.
Hon. W. G. Dryden, in 1851, married Miss Dolores Nieto. His second wife was Miss Anita Dominguez; married Sep- tember 30, 1868. He died at this city, aged 70 years, Septem- ber 10, 1869.
The board to settle private land claims, organized in this city October, 1852. The commissioners were Hiland Hall, later governor of Vermont; Harry I. Thornton, Thompson Campbell. It expired in 1855. Robert Greenbow first, then Gen. V. E. Howard, then J. H. McKune, have been law agents of the United States; Cameron E. Thom, assistant law agent in 1854. In some of the subsequent land cases before the United States District Court, Isaac Hartman was special at- torney, in 1857, under. Attorney-General Black, and in 1861, under Attorney-General Bates. The United States District Court for the Southern District of California was instituted in 1855 with Hon. John M. Jones, judge; Pablo de la Guerra, marshal; Alfred Wheeler, district attorney; Samuel Flower, clerk. Judge Jones died November 14th, of that year. In September, 1854, Edward Hunter was appointed marshal in place of Pablo de la Guerra, resigned. Judge Ogier succeeded Judge Jones. Hon. Fletcher M. Haight succeeded Wheeler; then Pacificus Ord; then J. R. Gitchell.
Hon. Isaac Stockton Keith Ogier, for several years judge, was born at Charleston, South Carolina, May 24, 1817. He came to California in the year 1849. He died at Holcombe Valley, May 21, 1861.
CHAPTER XVII
THE CITY'S BREATHING SPOTS.
No city in the world has given or continues to give more earnest consideration, backed up by action, to the question of parks and playgrounds and recreation places for the peo- ple, than Los Angeles.
This has been true of Los Angeles from its very inception as a human habitation. It was a's we have here related, a Spanish settlement. And the Spaniard, wherever he built a town, at home or abroad, never failed, as almost his first act, to create a plaza or park in that town which was designed to be the common property of the people for their pleasure and recreation.
Los Angeles was no exception. When in the fateful year of 1781 Don Felipe de Neve, the gobernador, marched out from the Mission of San Gabriel to found the pueblo of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels, he had in the pocket of his military coat a drawn plan of the new settlement; and in that plan provision was made, first of all, for the plaza, a part of which remains to this day, in Los Angeles, as a public park.
And to this day you will see in the Plaza of Los Angeles a great deal of what remains here of the once dominant Span- ish race. And intermingling with those of the blood of Spain you will see the swart faces of the people of other Latin lands, as well as those who have drifted hither from the Orient and Cathay.
In the old days, when the Plaza was the only public park of which Los Angeles boasted, it was the scene of all public gatherings, and especially was it the scene of the great re- ligious processions and celebrations for which the city was famous. It stands at the door of the Church of Our Lady of the Angels, where the people went to pray and to be shrived
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to hear the mass on Sundays and holy days. And it was out of the door of that old church into the open and common ground of the Plaza that the religious processions of the old times came.
That we may have an idea of what these great religious celebrations were like, let us quote a description of the cele- bration of the feast of Corpus Christi in the year 1858 as published in the columns of the famous old Los Angeles Star :
"Immediately after Pontifical Vespers, which were held in the church at 4 p. m., a solemn procession was formed which made the circuit of the Plaza, stopping at the various altars which with great cost, elegance and taste had been erected in front of the houses where the sacred offices of the church were solemnly performed. The order of the procession was as follows : Music, Young Ladies of the Sisters' School bear- ing the banner of the school, followed by the children of the school to the number of 120 in two ranks. They were ele- gantly dressed in white, wearing white veils and carrying baskets filled with flowers which during the procession were scattered before the Bishop and the clergy. Next came the boys of the church choir. Then twelve men bearing candles; these represented the twelve apostles. Then came Father Raho and Bishop Amat, bearing the Blessed Sacrament, sup- ported on each side by the clergy, marching under a gor- geous canopy carried by four prominent citizens. These were followed by a long procession of men, women and children marching two and two. The procession was escorted by the Calfornia Lancers, Captain Juan Sepulveda commanding, and the Southern Rifles, Captain W. W. Twist in command.
"Very elaborate and costly preparations had been made by the citizens resident on the Plaza for the reception of the Holy Eucharist; among the most prominent of which we no- tice the residence of Don Jesus Domingua, Don Ignacio del Valle, Don Vincente Lugo and Don Augustin Olvera. These altars were elegantly designed and tastefully decorated, being ornamented with laces, silks, satins and diamonds. In front of each the procession stopped whilst sacred offices appropri- ate to the occasion were performed.
"Having made the circuit of the Plaza, the procession re-
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turned to the church, where the services were concluded, after which the immense assemblage dispersed, and the military escorted the young ladies of the Sisters' School on their re- turn home."
Those old days are no more. Los Angeles is a changed town since those days. And yet, it seems that something of these old traditions will always remain with us. The parks of Los Angeles now multiplied many fold from their old mother, the Plaza, are often the scenes of civic celebrations, and it is not a severe strain on the imagination to picture them as again being the scenes of religious celebrations.
At the time that this book is written, the parks of Los Angeles, under charge and in the care of the City Park Com- mission, with our distinguished and highly useful fellow cit- izen, Madame Leafie Sloan-Orcutt as the commission's ruling spirit, are as follows:
ELYSIAN PARK .- This park is what is commonly known as a rural or country park and the greater portion of same is a part of the original lands of the Pueblo of Los Angeles. Sev- eral small parcels have been acquired from time to time through purchases. It was dedicated for park purposes in March, 1886. The total area is 748 acres. ' Location: North Broadway, Park Drive, Valley View and Casanova streets. The improvements consist of about 71% miles of scenic drive, 5 miles of foot trails, 8 miles of water lines and very ex- tensive tree planting, consisting of the reforestation of about being that portion around the entrance near the North Broad- 500 acres. The section of the park known as "Fremont Gate," way bridge, is improved with lawn, flower beds, shrubbery, trees and walks. The nursery and service yard of the de- partment are also located in this park. A small portion of the park was set aside and dedicated as a memorial grove for the permanent planting of trees in honor of persons who sac- rificed their lives in the great World war. Small bronze tablets are placed at the base of each tree. These tablets show the name of the person in whose honor the tree was planted, mil- itary record and date of death. When the trees attain a sufficient growth, these tablets will be placed on the trunks as permanent records.
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EXPOSITION PARK .- This park is one of the largest of the neighborhood parks. It was acquired by lease in 1911 for a term of fifty years from the Sixth District Agricultural As- sociation and the State of California, and by purchase under condemnation proceedings in 1912. The area is 114 acres. It is located on Exposition Boulevard, Figueroa Street and Menlo Avenue. The southern boundary line extends 142 feet north from Santa Barbara Avenne. Improvements consist of two bowling greens, roqne courts, rose garden, sunken gar-
den, herbaceous border, California wild flower garden, band stand, picnic grounds, ornamental lighting system, toilet buildings, walks, drives, trees, etc., eight tennis courts, three baseball diamonds, football field and two swimming pools. The Government Armory, State Exposition Building and Mu- seum of History, Science and Art are located in this park.
GRIFFITH PARK .- This is the second largest municipal park in the United States. Acquired by deed of gift from Griffith Jenkins Griffith, March 5, 1898. Area, 3,051.75 acres. Loca- tion between the Los Angeles River and a line one-half mile north of and parallel to Los Feliz Avenue. There has been added to this park a parcel of land twelve acres in extent which was acquired by purchase throngh condemnation pro- ceedings in 1915 for an entrance to the park from Western Avenue. Also a parcel consisting of 24.75 acres, which was donated by Colonel Griffith in 1918, making a total area of 3,051.75 acres. The improvements consist of about 15 miles of scenic drive, 12 miles of water line, 5 miles of bridle trails, a full 18-hole golf course, with a field house containing locker, showers, dining rooms, kitchen and rest rooms. The Zoo of the department is also located in this park. Recently a play- ground for small children was installed, together with tennis courts for adults.
HOLLENBECK PARK .- Acquired by donation from Mr. W. H. Workman and Mrs. Elizabeth Hollenbeck January 16, 1892. Area, 21.74 acres. Location, East Fourth Street, St. Louis Street, Boyle Avenue and Cummings Street. Improvements consist of boathouse, tennis courts, walks, flowers, trees and shrubs. An ornamental lighting system was completed this vear.
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LAFAYETTE PARK .- Acquired by donation from Mrs. Clara R. Shatto, December 4, 1899. Area, eleven acres. Location, Sixth Street, Commonwealth Avenue and Benton Way. Ten- nis court, walks, trees, shrubs, lily pool. This park also con- tains playground apparatus for small children.
LINCOLN PARK .- Acquired by purchase March 11, 1881, from the Southern Pacific Company. Purchase price, $448.64. Dedicated for park purposes August 18, 1883. Location, Mis- sion Road and Alhambra Avenue. Improvements are con- servatory containing large collection of rare plants, boat- house, double tennis courts, corral, shrubbery and picnic grounds. The park also contains an ornamental lighting sys- tem, bungalow rest room and an artistic lattice sun shade in front of band stand.
PERSHING SQUARE is a part of the original lands of the Pueblo of Los Angeles. Dedicated for park purposes in 1866. Area is four acres. Location, Hill, Sixth, Olive and Fifth streets, in business district of city. Extensively improved with lawn, trees and shrubs. Seating capacity on walks for several thousand people.
SOUTH PARK .- Acquired by purchase January 30, 1899. Purchase price was $10,000. Area, nineteen acres. Location, South Park Avenue, Fifty-first and San Pedro streets. Con- tains tennis courts, lawns, flowers, trees and also playground apparatus for children.
SYCAMORE GROVE .- Acquired by purchase in 1905 for $22,- 500 and part by donation from Mr. E. R. Brainerd in 1907. Records do not show amount in acres acquired by purchase and donation. Total area is 15.44 acres. Location, Forty- eighth and Pasadena Avenue.
WESTLAKE PARK .- Acquired by the City of Los Angeles through an exchange in 1866. Area, 32.15 acres. Location, Seventh, Park View, Sixth and Alvarado streets. Contains boathouse, tool house, picnic grounds, lawn, trees. The orna- mental lighting system and the boathouse building constructed in this park cost approximately $22,000. Park contains also playgrounds for children.
CAMP GROUNDS .- Los Angeles provides a camping ground for automobile tourists. Accommodations consist of gas
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stoves for cooking, hot and cold shower baths, toilets, lavato- ries and laundry trays. Grounds are lighted by electricity and individual stalls provided for each automobile and car.
Emergency kits for use in case of accidents are provided in all parks, and employes are instructed in the proper use of the same. Through the efforts of Mrs. Sloan-Orcutt, play- ground apparatus such as swings, teeters, sand boxes, etc., are now provided in practically all the parks for the amusement and entertainment of children. Band concerts are held in Lincoln Park on every Sunday and holiday, and in many of the other parks concerts are given on special occasions.
CHAPTER XVIII MUSIC AND ART
There is a lilting cadence of music in the very sound of the word "California." For ages California has been musical- since the murmuring waves of the Pacific first sang their love songs to its shining shores, or, in their fury, when the great sea-breakers broke in mighty diapason of Wagnerian thunder against the rocks. In succession, the love songs and the war chants of the aborigines echoed along the shore or died away in the distance toward the mountains, followed by the Gregorian chants of the padres, the boisterous war songs of the Spanish musketeers, the seductive strains of the caballero serenading his lady love, or the quickening music of the fan- dango, and later, when the Gringo came, the roistering song of the miner, the hymn and the ballad of the home-seeker, the music of the bank, the choir, the orchestra, and even the aria of the grand opera found their way into all parts of California.
The meadow lark and the mocking bird added their notes to the ripples of the stream, or were drowned in the rush of the torrents. The stately firs on the mountain side in turn sang the requiem of the Indian, the priest, the cavalier, the soldier, the Spaniard, the Mexican, as well as the Americano. California has been musical from its creation.
Unlike architecture, sculpture and painting, music is nec- essarily ephemeral in its material form, and we therefore possess no specimen to acquaint us with its character during remote periods, yet something tangible bears witness to the fact that it has been cultivated in some form from time im- memorial, even among the most uncivilized races of men.
We trace its existence through the beautiful philosophies and mythologies of the Greeks; we have its mysterious powers symbolized in the Homeric legends of the sirens whose sweet
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songs lured the ill-fated mariners to destruction; we find its image engraved upon the ancient tombs and obelisks of Egypt, everywhere gilding the twilight of antiquity with its sug- gestive presence.
Other nations knew the Ambrosian songs under Constan- tine, and the Gregorian music of Gregory I. Even Charle- magne conducted the choir at Aix in person. King Robert of France was a favored writer and singer of sequences. The Crusaders sang martial music, and the folk songs and the music of the passion plays and the mysteries of the churches gradually gave way to the musical art of the troubadours and the minnesingers, who in like manner were succeeded by the meistersingers, and so music improved until the rise of the opera, the oratorio, and the symphony brought to the dawn of the nineteenth century a perfection which gradually found its way to the Pacific Coast.
Charles F. Lummis has made a collection of several hun- dred Indian chants, war songs, religious songs, and, in a way, folk songs of the various tribes inhabiting California in the early days. These songs have been handed down from gen- eration to generation, and although they may have lost some of their beauty and originality, they show distinctiveness of tribal ability and rhythm. The same thing can apply to many of the compositions found in the libraries of the old Fran- ciscan missions, and so we trace the music of California in this manner down to the Spanish occupation, the gradual cor- ruption of their music with the varied intonations of the intermixture of the Indian with the Spanish race, which dis- turbed the beauty and the purity of the Spanish tongue and music.
The first grand opera in the State of California was in 1847 when the Alvarez Grand Opera Company came from Lima, Peru, on a lumber vessel, lured to the camp of San Francisco by the munificent subscription of $10,000, the first guarantee for grand opera ever given in the history of Cali- fornia. Since that time grand opera has played an important part in the musical history of Los Angeles and Sacramento.
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