USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > Men and memories of San Francisco in the "spring of '50" > Part 10
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The postage box in & Co's express- office was never balanced. It couldn't be done. No one ever attempted it, because no one knew how to do it. It was the custom for clerk, messenger or driver, who wished to lunch, or " wet his whistle," to dip in the postage box. There was nothing secret or sly about it; it was customary, and no one thought it anything out of the ordinary course, and we merely mention it to illustrate the liberality and looseness of those days. In the Sacramento office of the company the same custom prevailed.
One morning Charley King, the well known actor, came in and asked for Billy L-, one of the clerks in the office, noted for his exten- sive wardrobe, and an ambition to rival Dick Stanly in fashionable attire. "Where is Billy?" inquired King. "He is out just at this mo- ment-anything that we can do for you?" re- plied one of the accommodating clerks-and, by the way, the clerks in the express and bank- ing houses were accommodating in those days. "I want to pay Billy L- - ten dollars which I borrowed from him last night," said King, tak- ing an eagle from his pocket, and standing with it between his fingers, as if he wished some one to say they would give it to his friend L -. "I think he'll be in if you'll wait a moment,"
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said somebody. King seemed in haste, when " Blaize," who was behind the counter, said, with that irresistible humor of tone, peculiarly his own: " Oh, put it in the 'postage-box,' Charley ! He'll find it there!"
The express companies numbered six in early days. Adams & Co's express to " The United States" advertised to forward gold-dust and packages by every steamer. Their office was on Montgomery street, between California and Sacramento.
Berford & Co's express, on Clay street- Plaza-advertised to forward packages to San José every day, Sunday excepted.
Gregory's express-office on Jackson street wharf-advertised to forward gold-dust and packages to all parts of the world by every steamer; also to Sacramento and the northern mines daily.
Haven & Co's express-office on Montgomery street, where the London and Liverpool and Globe Insurance Co's office since stood-also advertised to do the same.
Hawley & Co's express office was on Mont- gomery, between Sacramento and California. They carried only to the interior California towns.
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Todd & Co's express, in the same block, car- ried to Stockton and the southern mines only.
The business of & Co's express office was so great-its ramifications so extended- that its president and directors were desirous to know its profits, its expenses and condition. Its chief and founder came out to ascertain. On the California steamer from New York, he was the recipient of such assiduous and obse- quious attention as might be offered to the President of the United States upon his travels. On the Panama railroad and on the Pacific steamers it was the same-one continued ova- tion until he reached the wharf in San Fran- cisco. Here the reception of the company's agents in California was so affectionate and overwhelming, that the worthy president, mod- est by nature, was helpless to resist the thought that he was at the head of a mighty power in the land. A gay barouche, drawn by four high- stepping steeds, awaited him, and, like a great conqueror making his triumphal entry, he rode to apartments worthy of a king. The dinner that awaited him opened wide his honest, prac- tical, old business eyes. The chef's artistic del- icacies in such profusion, the many and choice wines, the table equipage, and the attendants,
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bewildered the unassuming and industrious head of the company. A business warranting such luxury and splendor was far above his wildest flight of fancy.
One or two gentle expressions of surprise at the surroundings were received with the look of men not quite comprehending, or, perhaps, rather surprised at their honored guest's remark upon an every-day matter, but too well bred to notice it. After an elaborate dessert, the guest hinted his wish to retire early, that he might be prepared for business in the morning, and was escorted to rest by his solicitous and hos- pitable hosts.
Early the next morning-long before the agents or clerks came to their posts-the worthy president, neat, smooth-shaved, and dressed be- coming a business man, was pacing impatiently up and down the outer office. When the San Francisco managers appeared, they smilingly said, in answer to his proposition that they should proceed to business: "Not to-day! Oh, no, sir; not to-day ! You require rest; we can't allow you to fatigue yourself just off this long, tedious trip !"
It was useless to remonstrate-to protest that the whole journey had been one long rest; that he never felt better in his life, and was per-
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fectly ready for business; that his time was limited, and he must be expeditious. He was told in the most blandly courteous manner, that he must not forget that he never could, with impunity, exert or fatigue himself in this climate as at home; that the statements were preparing, and would be ready in a few days; but to-day a party had been made up to visit a certain place, in honor of himself, and they were about ready to start. What could he do? Nothing but acquiesce, then, and he went with his en- tertainers; but he resolved to go on no more pleasure parties until business was settled. His resolutions were of no avail.
New excursions, wonderful sights, great nat- ural curiosities, must be visited; it would never do to return without having looked upon these world-wide wonders; expressed desires, remon- strances, expostulations, all were smiled away ; they hurried him from place to place, in one continued whirl, received here and passed on there, with honors and attentions never ending. His methodical life up to this time was so broken in upon, his systematic habits so diverted, that his health was disturbed, and, like a prudent general, convinced of the futility of farther fighting, he wisely beat a retreat. His propo- sition to send out a trusty, plodding, old, confi-
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dential clerk to arrange the business which his delightful round of continued pleasure and ever in- creasing knowledge of the country's wonderful resources had caused him to neglect, was the only way by which he could cover his retreat with self-respect, and cheat himself into the belief that his crafty agents had not outwitted him. Soon as it was possible, after his return to his home on the Atlantic side, there came out to San Francisco a tall, grave, white-haired man, sedate and venerable, with full authority, etc. The agents and the old, confidential, white- haired emissary crossed their swords warily, fencing and parrying with utmost caution, until accident revealed, through a chink in the old man's armor, his weak spot-Schnapps. The crafty fencer touched with his keen rapier the vulnerable point; off fell the disguising armor, and the jolliest old man conceivable stood re- vealed. The hospitable hosts gave unremitting attention.
They whirled him faster than they had ever whirled his worthy chief. The old man laughed so incessantly that he could not give his mind to dry business details. He laugh- ingly proposed to leave for home, rode to the steamer, laughing, and laughed more than ever when he found his state-room lined with cases of his favorite schnapps, and sailed away still
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laughing. The managers laughed-within their sleeves-when he had gone, and held high car- nival. But soon the inevitable crash came, and the insiders, heads of the house and clerks, laughed in their sleeves immoderately; but the poor outsiders, save the bench and bar, felt like doing anything but laughing.
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CHAPTER XXI.
CAPTAIN CHARLES L. WIGGIN arrived in San Francisco on the schooner Eudorus, September 14th, 1849. The store subsequently occupied by C. C. Richmond, on Jackson, near the cor- ner of Montgomery, was part of the freight on board the Eudorus.
Captain Wiggin first stepped on shore where Montgomery now crosses Jackson. Then it was a sea beach, the tide sometimes coming as high as the present northwest corner of Montgomery and Jackson. Captain W. was the first officer of the steamer Midas, when she doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and subsequently was her commander.
The Midas was the first American steamer that ever doubled Good Hope or Cape Horn. She was a small propeller, built by Ericsson, and owned by R. B. Forbes, in whose employ the subject of our sketch sailed, from 1835 to 1849. Captain Wiggin was a boy on board one of Mr. Forbes' ships, in the harbor of Hong
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Kong, when the site of that now populous city was occupied only by bamboo huts.
The ship Oxnard, Captain Cole, arrived in San Francisco, November 22d, 1849, bringing twenty- five wooden houses, all numbered in sections, and fitted in Boston, for erection in San Fran- cisco. Charles R. Bond brought them out for Wm. D. M. Howard, who retained twelve of them, after selling twelve to Captain J. L. Fol- som, and one to Captain Cole.
Three or four of them were erected on Mis- sion street, near Third, Messrs. Howard, Mellus and Brannan occupying three of them. Cap- tain Folsom erected others on Mission, between First and Second streets; on Minna, Natoma, Tehama and Folsom streets. To Mrs. Van Winkle, Mrs. Cany and Mrs. Wakeman, whose husbands were all attached to his office, Captain Folsom gave each a cottage, and, we believe, nearly all of the buildings stand to-day. The house in which Mr. Howard resided, prior to the Oxnard's arrival, was on the northeast cor- ner of Washington and Stockton streets. Some years ago it was moved to Bryant street, be- tween Second and Third, where it stands at the present writing.
It is a fact worthy of record, that none of
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these houses brought out on the Oxnard were ever burned. The first Orphan Asylum in San Francisco was opened in one of these houses, on the corner of Folsom and Second streets, on General Halleck's land.
The house was contributed by Mr. Howard. The managers of the Asylum were Mrs. S. R. Throckmorton, Mrs. C. V. Gillespie, and, we believe, Mrs. Henry Haight and Mrs. R. J. Van- dewater. We are quite certain that some of these ladies have, through all the years since the little wooden cottage was given as a home to the fatherless, worked zealously for those "little ones." May the God of the widow and the fatherless bless them, and the memory of the late Abner Barker, who left twenty-five thousand dollars to that noble charity.
Wm. D. M. Howard's office, at the time of the fire of June 14, 1850, was on the southeast cor- ner of Leidesdorff and Long Wharf (now Com- mercial street), and in the same building with the P. M. S. S. Co's office.
There was a high gate across the head of the wharf, from the corner of this building. Sub- sequent to the fire, Mr. Howard took the old adobe kitchen of the Hudson Bay Co's house, roofed it, and made it suitable for an office,
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until the erection of the brick building so long occupied in the lower story by Wm. H. Keith, apothecary.
At the old office, in the adobe kitchen, and in the new one, and about its entrance, the old pioneers used to congregate. They were genial, hospitable men, with scarcely any exception; men whose word bound them entirely and sacredly. In 1849 a roundabout blue jacket and black pants in cool weather; in warm days, white was the costume. Even into 1850, some wore the old California style of dress. Mr. Vioget always did, and we believe we have seen others wearing the old style Californian cos- tume as late as the summer of 1850; but the fashions prevailing among the people drawn to San Francisco by the gold discovery, were adopted by all at last, save Mr. Vioget, whom we never saw dressed in them.
In the delicious January days of California, when the warm sun kisses the earth into new life and smiling brightness, and nature seems kinder to mankind than elsewhere, we always recall just such a time, when we saw a group of the early pioneers standing before the office of Wm. D. M. Howard, the kindest and noblest of them all. There was Captain Cooper, Jacob P. Leese, Mr. Vioget, Thomas O. Larkin, Henry
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Teschemacher, Alfred Robinson, Don Juan Fos- ter, Don Abel Stearns, Dr. Denn, Don Juan Thompson, Richardson, Robert A. Par- ker and several others.
Henry Teschemacher was then, always has been, and is to-day, the soul of honor, courage and modesty ; perfectly unassuming, proverbially courteous, extremely reticent as to himself, but never to be moved an inch, or ignored for an instant, when acting for his friends. In 184- a difficulty occurred between Lieut. Bonnycastle and Henry Mellus. Mr. Mellus received a chal- lenge; but Mr. Teschemacher insisted upon assuming the responsibility of the affair, upon the grounds that Mr. Mellus, being just married, ought not to jeopard his life, and could not be so well spared as his bachelor friend.
Mr. Teschemacher and Lieut. Bonnycastle fought with rifles; the former escaping unhurt, shooting off a finger from the hand of his an- tagonist. Mr. Teschemacher won the choice of weapons, and selected his antagonist's favorite rifle; otherwise the result might have been dif- ferent. Mr. Teschemacher never sought office; but the citizens of San Francisco thrice elected him to the office of Mayor by a most flattering majority, notwithstanding his earnest efforts to escape the honor.
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William D. M. Howard was a man to draw other men around him, not by self-assertion, by promises, or studied, conventional courteous- ness, but by the magnetism of his genuine, heartfelt cordiality. His fellow men intuitively recognized his nature, and liked to be with one of whom they felt so sure, in whom they fully trusted, without hesitation.
The native Californians ever found him a good adviser and true friend; and all who came to him, seeking their fortunes on these shores, were most generously befriended. If "he who giveth to the poor, lendeth to the Lord," Mr. Howard resigned earthly wealth for far greater treasure in Heaven.
Not all the pioneers were men of honor. There are exceptions to prove every rule, al- though it seems odd to find its application among the men who came to California as real pioneers, before the excited rush for gold. People of later days ask, "How is it that the old pioneers were such exceptional men? Was it not the fact that they were like any other men, only, being few in numbers and living under similar circumstances, peculiarly peaceful and contented, the strifes and contentions of politics and litigation were unknown, and their undisturbed friendship, so long continued, is
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now, in memory, surrounded by a halo, placing them apart from other men?" To which we reply, that undoubtedly those very circum- stances strongly cemented the ties then formed; yet they were men, by nature, of broader minds, and possessed of a foresight unusual in most men, freer in thought and habit-the very attri- butes belonging to pioneers, through which Nature herself set them apart from other men, constituting them the vanguard of the long, trans-continental march of emigration's endless army.
In 1847, J. J. Vioget made the first survey of San Francisco, or Yerba Buena, and laid out the plan for its streets. Had his design been carried into effect, it would, as a sanitary proposition, have been much better for the city's inhabitants. Every house would have had an equal share of the sun upon its front and rear during the day. Political scheming, that bane of republics, changed the plan to give one of its party favorites a job, causing, in this particular instance, injury to the health of thousands. Vioget's wisdom and experience sought to ob- viate and prevent this harmful condition of things, for he knew the value of the sun's light and heat in San Francisco, where he had lived
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much of the time since 1837, and noted the isothermal needs. M. Vioget was Swiss, of French descent, like the great Agassiz, who, when speaking, always reminds us of Vioget, so modest, earnest and fascinating in conversation, always imparting some new and useful knowl- edge; eager as a child to gain a scrap of information; and, withal, a wonderful way of drawing from you, by no effort of your own, better things than you imagined yourself capa- ble of saying-the most intoxicating of all flat- teries. Vioget resided on Kearny street, west side, adjoining the old City Hotel, which formed the southwest corner of Clay and Kearny. In stature he was about five feet eight and a half inches, and possessed of a good average avoirdu- pois. He carried his head a little inclined, like one listening; his hair was short, plentiful and very gray; he wore a full, gray " old guard'' moustache; and up to the last day that we saw him, he wore the old Californian costume-the short blue jacket and black pants. Few, to-day, save the old residents, seem to remem- ber him, so reticent was his nature. We
do not even find his name in Kimball's San Francisco Directory of 1850. But we should be happy to think that these pages might be the means of reminding the victims of malarious
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ills, of rheumatism, and chills and fever, that the subject of this sketch labored for their good a quarter of a century ago, though thwarted by that hydra-politics.
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CHAPTER XXII.
THERE was a real, old English strolling pan- pipe player in San Francisco during the days of which we write-a fellow who reminded us of the summer afternoon when Little Nell and the old man came upon Short and Codlin, sitting among the grave-stones of the old church-yard, repairing their fautoccini. Our pioneer pan- piper (we believe he was eligible to the associa- tion), played upon the cymbals, triangle, accor- deon and bass-drum-a genuine itinerant of the "Merrie Englande" fair and race grounds. He came from Sydney to this city, and was a char-
acter-a study. He wore the narrow-brimmed, very high-crowned hat, found only upon the heads of H. B. M. subjects-just the pattern in everything, save color, of the pioneer candy man's (also eligible) hat, on Montgomery street, -his hat being a rusty black, the pan-piper's a light brown. His shirt-collar and cravat were very elaborate, and the fashion of his coat and nether garments dignified and recondite. The
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expression of his face, as he jerked his head right and left, in the execution of an allegro vi- vace movement, with octave intervals, was truly indescribable. As his mouth traveled along the edge of the pipes, the action of the levator labii proprius and risible muscles, gave a hearty, en- joyable grin along the facial angle, contrasting ludicrously with the lachrymose appearance of his eyes, from the elevation of the inner extrem- ity of the eyebrows, the sensitive movement of the occipito frontalis, and the despondent droop of the eyelid, like one who had blown upon dying embers until the dizzy brain ached with the exertion. His face recalled Pliny's words:
" Frons hominis tristitiæ, hilaritatis, clementiæ, severitatis, index est."
One could not repress a smile, on giving him the most casual glance; but to stop one's ears, and watch his appearance for a moment, taking in its mingled absurdity and serious work-a-day earnestness, through the single sense of sight, was enough to convulse with laughter the most lugubrious of men. This disciple of the shep- herd's deity worked hard upon his pipes and drum, earning well the harvest that he gath- ered. Some time in the early part of '52 he disappeared-we suppose went to Australia, or some secluded village in old England, where he
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dreams away the evening of his life, discarding pipe of Pan for pipe nicotian. We can never forget him, nor the amusement he afforded us, being at that time fresh from the study of "The Anatomy and Philosophy of Expression, as con- nected with the fine arts," by Sir Charles Bell, K. H.
One of our San Francisco aristocracy was for- merly a crockery and earthenware dealer, on the Atlantic side of the continent, but did not per- sue his old trade in California, making more money in various ways, from hotel keeping to real estate speculating, etc. After accumu- lating a fortune, he, of course, followed the old, stereotyped path-went to some other country to spend it. Meeting a congenial spirit in Eu- rope, they traveled the grand tour together, each playing the rentier, the grand proprietaire, en- tirely ignoring any knowledge of business, of any nature whatsoever. They were together in Paris, on the Rhine, in Dresden, Berlin, Vienna, Venice, Florence, Rome, and finally came to Herculaneum and Pompeii, where they were lost in the wonders of the long buried past.
One day, as they were examining some curi- ous specimens of ancient pottery-bowls, cups, dishes and recondite platters, in one of the un-
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earthed palaces of Pompeii, our California ren- tier became genuinely interested in a singularly delicate thin bowl of very hard, bell-like mate- rial, that vibrated with a gentle ring in handling. Turning it carefully over, he scrutinized it in- wardly, outwardly and at its edge; held it up to the light, with every look and movement de- noting the expert, but all unconscious of the watchful eyes of his companion. Suddenly, after a long inspection, he tossed the bowl with his right hand, caught it on the extended finger-tips of his left, held it in silent poise, like a prestidigitateur, giving it a quick tap with the middle finger knuckle of the other hand. At the clear bell-like ring, his face glowed with the undisguised satisfaction of an approving virtuoso in Chinaware and crockery. " No! you don't say so? I used to be in that line too." "Eh, what did you say?" asked the California rentier, suddenly roused from his pre- occupation, and turning a dismayed face to his companion. " What line ? Don't understand you!" "Oh, bosh!" said the other, "I have been too many years in the business not to know you by the way you handled that bowl just now. We'll understand each other all the better now.'' "I don't understand you at all, sir,'' said the silly Californian, whose vanity was so
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wounded that he actually turned his back upon his good-natured companion, and never resumed the acquaintance.
There was a Mr. Baker-we believe his name was William Baker-who, we think, was one of the firm of S. H. Williams & Co., or a clerk in that house in the spring of '50. We remember Mr. Baker as being the most carefully and neatly dressed man in San Francisco at that time; not that there were not other men as well dressed in material, as neat and punctiliously clean, but people, as a general thing in those days, wore gray or brown, or blue, or drab, and spotted or striped shirts of fancy colors. This Mr. Baker always wore a full suit of black, and spotless linen; his hat, only, was an approach to color, being a soft, broad-brimmed, low, round- crowned beaver, of a brownish, raw umber · shade. We used to marvel at Mr. Baker's in- variably neat, spotless attire, and wonder how he preserved his wardrobe, amid the never- ceasing clouds of dust that were ever floating in the air through our unpaved streets. He never seemed in the least ruffled or annoyed by the trampling mule teams and their following clouds. He walked along as if on the clean swept walks of Philadelphia, Boston, or the
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Boulevards of Paris, his faultless shirt and col- lar, his ample wristbands, his Poole-like coat, vest and pants, his patent-leather boots, facing the flying, powdery nuisance more bravely than any flannel shirt and duck trousers in the whole town. His utter obliviousness to dust, and his unvarying suit of new black broadcloth, was ever a mystery to us, and we believed in the spring of '50, and still believe, that he had three hundred and sixty-five new black suits, with linen and patent-leathers to match.
Malachi Fallon was City Marshal in the spring of '50. He was a good officer and an honest man. In '51 Mr. Fallon opened the Rip Van Winkle House, on the corner of Pacific Wharf and Battery street. Subsequently he purchased of Messrs. E. V. Joice and Daniel Lockwood the Knickerbocker House, on the corner of Long Wharf and Battery street. Mr. Fallon is at the present time living in Oakland, and is to all ap- pearance in health and vigor. We hope he may live and enjoy another score of years. When Wells, Fargo & Co. opened in '52 at 114 Montgomery street, next door south of Barry & Patten's, Mr. Joseph Fallon (brother of Malachi), John Bell and Mr. Birdsall were the only employees of that express company. The
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office is still next door to Barry & Patten's, but on the opposite side of the street. John Bell and Birdsall are still in the office, and Mr. Fal- lon, we believe, is in Honolulu.
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