USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > San Francisco, a history of the Pacific coast metropolis, Volume II > Part 49
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
In the attitude of the Eastern press may be found an explanation of the general misunderstanding concerning conditions in San Francisco and on the coast generally. The same causes which operated in inducing the people of the older sec- tions of the Union to accept as typical the bizarre creations of Bret Harte and the other early writers who were able to impart the California atmosphere to their work has endured to this day because no story out of the West is deemed interest- ing unless it has what are deemed to be the peculiar characteristics of the country. Thus it happened that when the sand lot agitation was in progress the impression obtained at the East that it was an extraordinary manifestation of riotousness when in fact it was merely a reflection of what was occurring on the other side of the Rocky Mountains with the exception that in San Francisco the alleged abuses were made the basis of a demand for political reform. During the entire struggle the press of the East only dwelt on the minor disorders growing out of the agi- tation, utterly ignoring its real significance which was only forced on their atten- tion years after the movement had subsided. To the persistent practice of printing criminal happenings to the exclusion of all other events occurring in the City must be attributed the gross misconceptions concerning San Francisco life and the aims and efforts of its people.
The preceding details which prosaically describe the activities of the people of San Francisco in all the fields in which good men and women are striving to over- come the evil tendencies of their kind should prove sufficient to establish that the City is not tolerant of vice or indifferent to its existence, and the fact that they are frequently in commotion over the subject instead of being counted against them should suggest to the outside critic that there is a better prospect of their efforts resulting in satisfactory solutions of their problems than could be attained through adherence to the erroneous idea that the nasty things had better be hid away from sight and not be talked about. San Francisco is a great seaport, and from the time of the discovery of gold it has proved a powerful magnet to attract
Eastern Press Misrepresents the Coast
Abnormal Features of Social Life
810
SAN FRANCISCO
adventurous characters, and the latter are not invariably the product of religious training or shining examples of the results of wholesome family influences. The presence of a relatively large number of this class in the early days led to the evil consequences described, but after the application of the drastic remedy of the rope by the Vigilantes, and the determination shown for a time by those who took part in the uprising against loose methods and crime to attend to their civic duties, San Francisco became a city in which the conditions were as satisfactory as those of any other large community in the land. There were occasional manifestations, suggestive of the earlier days of loose relations, which received undue attention because of the prominence of the actors, as was the case when Sarah Althea Hill attempted to compel ex-Senator William Sharon by means of divorce proceedings to recognize an alleged contract marriage. That the affair was most discreditable to all the parties concerned is undeniable, but the disgusting notoriety given to all the circumstances by dragging Sharon into court, and the subsequent tragedies effectually ended the vicious recognition of relations contracted without the inter- vention of minister of religion or officer of the law.
The action against Sharon by Miss Hill to compel recognition of an alleged contract marriage was instituted in the latter part of 1883 and occupied the atten- tion of the courts for many months. Miss Hill had been an inmate of the Grand hotel; she was well connected and moved in the best social set of her time. Sharon was a widower, the owner of the hotel and a man of great wealth. When the action was brought against him he declared that it was for blackmail and denied having made any contract and asserted point blank that his relations with the plaintiff were solely governed by financial considerations. Miss Hill secured the assistance of able counsel, her chief adviser being David S. Terry, who carried his aggressive- ness of early days into the conduct of the case. The proceedings in court were marked by disgraceful scenes, which have not been even remotely approached since that date excepting during the course of the trial of Abraham Ruef after the great conflagration. Recrimination marked every stage of the inquiry, and there were frequent outbursts which neared the edge of violence. On one occasion it became necessary to disarm the plaintiff, and Terry at all times during the trial dis- played his truculent disposition. Fines for contempt of court had to be imposed and there was constant intriguing outside the court room. A trap was set for one of the lawyers on the side of Sharon into which he stepped and lost a brilliant reputation. The case could not be decided by the lower courts and was appealed and after the plaintiff had lost, Terry, who during the proceedings became enam- ored of his client and married her, brought charges against two justices of the supreme court which were referred to the judiciary committee at a special ses- sion of the legislature in 1886. The failure of Terry to swear to his charges caused the committee to indefinitely postpone their consideration. Three years later Terry who had made threats against the life of Justice Field of the United States su- preme court met that official in an eating house at Lathrop. The justice was at- tended by a United States marshal who acted as his body guard. Terry was accompanied by his wife. An encounter had been expected and when Terry arose and walked over to where the justice was sitting and slapped his face, the guard fired twice, killing the assailant of Field. Mrs. Terry, whose suit against Sharon was the cause of the assault made by her husband acted like a fury, and attempted to participate in the affair but was disarmed. The shooting of Terry
The Sharon- Hill Case
811
SAN FRANCISCO
occurred on August 15, 1889, and not long afterward Mrs. Terry, completely dis- traught, was immured in the asylum at Agnews where she died a few years later.
The scandal attending the Sharon-Hill case was in some particulars matched by that which followed the death of Thomas Bell, a large land holder, who died under circumstances which revealed an extraordinary career. Bell's death oc- curred on the 15th of October, 1892, at his residence on the corner of Post and Octavia streets. It was asserted that he fell down the stairs in the rear of his house, and that he died from the injuries caused by the fall. It was generally sup- posed at the time of his demise that he was a man of great wealth, but the admin- istrators found the estate bankrupt. For years Bell had in his home a colored woman named Mammy Pleasant, who acted as his housekeeper, and who appeared to have carte blanche to conduct affairs as she pleased despite the fact that he had a wife, the mother of five children, who lived in the house. After the death of Bell it was discovered that Mammy Pleasant was privileged to draw on his bank ac- count, and that her expenditures for household affairs aggregated $3,000 monthly. The influence of the negress over Bell was extraordinary and its cause was never fully revealed. She had been at one time the keeper of a house of ill fame, and it was supposed that her relations with him dated from that period. Mrs. Bell was apparently a negligible quantity in the household, and the assumption that hier effacement was voluntary seemed to be borne out by the revelations of the long drawn-out court proceedings which the settlement of the estate necessitated. Mammy Pleasant was mixed up in the Sharon-Hill suit in its early stages and the charge was made that she financed Miss Hill's case. During the protracted period of settlement of the Bell estate the most extraordinary stories concerning the lives of the inmates of the large mansion at Post and Octavia streets were told and it became known as "the house of mystery." Mammy Pleasant was accused of practicing the arts of the voodooist, and she was also represented as having by her machinations secured possession of a large part of the property accumulated by Bell during his life time. A settlement of the estate was effected on May 15, 1902, but claims were presented as late as 1905. After many years of the domination of the colored intriguante Mrs. Bell asserted herself, and the final outcome of the sensational case, owing to an advance in property values, and the presence of oil on some of the lands acquired by Bell in early days, she was en- abled to sell at figures far exceeding the estimate of the appraisers and became a rich woman.
Another highly sensational case illustrating the looseness of relations in the early days developed after the death of Thomas H. Blythe in 1882. He left an estate valued at about $4,000,000 composed chiefly of the triangular block bounded by Grant avenue, Market and Geary streets. A host of claimants at once arose but after much litigation the courts declared that his natural daughter, Florence Blythe of Liverpool, England, was his legal heir. During his lifetime Blythe, whose manners were eccentric, appeared to have no friends anywhere in the wide world, but after his death an army of relatives appeared on the scene, all clamoring for the dead man's estate. They came singly and in troops; they fought individually and as joint stock companies, and protracted the squabble during more than a quarter of a century. The estate was not finally settled until October, 1907, when a decision of the United States supreme court affirmed the validity of the titles of several firms and individuals who had purchased from Florence Vol. II-22
Mysteries of the Bell Family
The Contest for Blythe's Millions
812
SAN FRANCISCO
Blythe. There were echoes of the dispute in 1910 when a relative hitherto unheard of turned up, and questions were raised about the ownership of a large tract of land in Mexico for which Blythe had supplied the purchase money. During the long drawn out legal struggle a large part of the valuable block which is situated -in the heart of the City remained covered with the unsightly shacks, most of them only a story in height, erected by Blythe in the late Fifties. They were swept away by the fire of 1906 and the site was covered with modern buildings in 1911 and 1912.
A Claimant for the Fair Estate
The death of James G. Fair was also attended by a scandal made possible by the disregard of the conventionalities and the failure of the California law to safeguard the marital relation. Fair had been divorced by his wife several years before his death and did not marry again. When he died he left a will which in- dicated the expectation of trouble, as it made provision, after a fashion, for any one who should set up a claim to having been his wife. His anticipations were realized. A woman named Mrs. Nettie Craven, a principal of one of the public schools, in due time appeared on the scene with a document purporting to be a contract of marriage. As in the case of Sharon there was plenty of evidence of illicit relations, but the community and the courts decided that the attempt of Mrs. Craven was a barefaced effort to grab part of the estate of the deceased ex-senator, and she failed of her purpose.
Secret Marriages no Longer Recognized
These scandalous affairs would not deserve a place in a sober recital of events if they did not point a moral the force of which was subsequently recognized by California legislators by the enactment of a law which absolutely does away with secret marital covenants, and requires for marriage the safeguard of forms and absolute publicity. Perhaps there is less excuse for including in a history the par- ticulars of crimes which the police in their annals describe as celebrated cases. Unless their narration can be shown to bear directly upon the fortunes of the whole community it is not probable that the inquirer a hundred years hence will be inter- ested in the recital of details which no matter how striking, or abnormal, they may have seemed at the time of the commission of the crimes, are likely to be regarded as commonplace occurrences when measured against others equally awful or revolt- ing. There are some features of the criminal history of the period 1883-1906 which, however, deserve more than passing mention. The evil they indicate is nationally prevalent and has been denounced by presidents and publicists and some reference will be made to it later. The Pacific coast metropolis, however, statistically considered, does not appear to have more pronounced criminal tenden- cies than other large American cities. Police records owing to their unscientific character, make it appear that there is an extraordinary number of criminals, when as a matter of fact a single individual's offenses may be recorded in such a manner as to create the impression that the criminals are as numerous as the crimes or misdemeanors reported. It is idle therefore to attempt to treat the sub- ject from that standpoint, for the number of arrests and convictions when they exceed those of another city may merely prove that the police of the community are enforcing the law with more vigor in the places where the excess is noted.
Technicalities and the Law's Delays
But while the records are undependable in this particular, and afford no information of value to the, sociologist or publicist, there were striking circum- stances connected with the attempts to bring notorious malefactors to an account- ing for their crimes, which explain the earnest efforts made in San Francisco since
PREPARING TEMPORARY BUSINESS HOUSES ON VAN NESS AVENUE IMMEDI- ATELY AFTER THE FIRE
A MOUNTAIN OF TWISTED PIPES FROM THE RUINS
813
SAN FRANCISCO
the fire to effect a reform in the procedure of the courts which it is believed is responsible for so many criminals escaping the whip of justice. A mere recital of the extent of the law's delays in certain cases would not convey an idea of the cause of the vice. That can only be done by making it clear that it is the element of notoriety which contributes most to the deprecated result. If criminal prosecu- tions were unattended by publicity; if newspapers could be prevented publishing the names of lawyers prosecuting or defending men accused of crime; in short if inquiries into crime were conducted without publicity there would be less com- plaint about the law's delay. But secret inquisitions are incompatible with demo- cratic institutions, and as attorneys are eager to profit through the advertising they receive a reformation is not likely until the pressure of public opinion be- comes strong enough to compel the adoption of methods of procedure which will minimize the opportunities of lawyers to keep in the public eye. The police annals of the period between 1883 and 1906 contain accounts of several failures of justice due to interminable delays, the most noted of which was that which fol- lowed the poisoning on August 9, 1898, of Mrs. John P. Dunning, by a woman named Botkin, with whom the husband of the murdered woman had maintained illicit relations during the absence of his wife in Dover, Delaware. Mrs. Botkin sent to her victim a box of candy which had been impregnated with poison and Mrs. Dunning unsuspectingly ate some of it and died. Every conceivable tech- nicality was resorted to in order to save the wretched poisoner, and it was not antil October 29, 1908, that her sentence to life imprisonment was affirmed. There was little or no doubt concerning the guilt of the accused woman, but intricate questions of jurisdiction were raised, and every device that the ingenuity of counsel could suggest was resorted to with the result that the criminal was kept out of state prison for ten years. She died at San Quentin in 1910 of softening of the brain.
Another case almost as notable was that of a physician named J. Milton Bowers, who was charged by a coroner's jury on November 12, 1885, with having caused the death of his wife by poisoning her with phosphorus. Bowers was ably defended, but after a protracted trial was found guilty of murder in the first degree. His case was appealed and just before the decision according him a new trial on the ground of insufficient cvidence, on October 23, 1887, the body of Henry Benhayon, the brother of the poisoned woman, was found in a room under circumstances which indicated that he had committed suicide by using cyanide, but there were many remarkable facts connected with his death pointing to his having been murdered. A letter purporting to be written by Benhayon which blackened the character of his sister was found in the room. There was also a letter in which Benhayon made what appeared to be a confession exonerating Bowers in which a scheme to poison the doctor to get the insurance on his life was outlined. As the suspected object of the murder of Mrs. Bowers was to accomplish the same purpose, she and the doctor having secured insurance at the same time, the genuineness of the document was called into question. There were other complications which suggested a conspiracy to get rid of Benhayon in which Bowers' housekeeper, who married a man named Dimmig, figured. Dim- mig in the course of the trial, it was shown, tried to rent the room in which the body of Benhayon was found; there was also proof that he had been in communi- eation with the alleged suicide shortly before his death. Dimmig later was charged
A Remark- able Poison- ing Case
814
SAN FRANCISCO
with having murdered Benhayon. In the course of his trial it developed that Ben- hayon had frequently expressed his hatred of Bowers to Dimmig, and that the latter had sustained intimate relations with the accused doctor and in his capacity of salesman for a drug establishment had provided him with samples of the poison with which Mrs. Bowers had been killed. Dimmig was tried twice and the jury disagreed in each case and the charges against him were finally dismissed in December, 1888. The disagreement of the jury was attributed to the testimony of experts who declared that the Benhayon letters were genuine. Bowers ulti- mately escaped punishment despite the great quantity of circumstantial evidence which satisfied the community, if not the jury, that he had been guilty of the crime charged, and that he had also rid himself of another wife in nearly the same fashion. Another woman was bold enough to take her chances of being his wife after his discharge from prison. He died in San Jose in 1905.
These two protracted cases which occupied the attention of the courts for years illustrate the facility with which criminals were able to avail themselves of the safeguards which society has invented to prevent the possibility of an inno- cent person being punished. They by no means stand alone; they are merely cited because they absorbed a great deal of attention during and after the trials. There is a long list of miscarriages of justice attributable to the cause assigned, and a study of the circumstances accompanying them effectually refutes the too common assumption that the abuses of the law are wholly for the benefit of the rich. There are many instances on record of criminals without means having been defended for years, but the crimes of which they were accused were usually of a sensational character, the relation and reiteration of which were calculated to keep the actors in the court drama in the public eye. And on the other hand there was a formidable number of offenders who were swiftly dealt with and sent to penal institutions, but few to the gallows.
Perhaps the most striking exception to the tendency to allow capital pun- ishment to fall into desuetude was presented in the case of Theodore Durrant, whose crimes created a profound sensation in the City and attracted the amazed attention of the rest of the country to San Francisco and helped earn for it a not entirely undeserved notoriety. On April 13, 1895, the corpse of a young woman named Minnie Williams was found in the library of Emanuel Baptist church. Her clothes were torn from her body, and she had been repeatedly stabbed, gagged and outraged. On the following day, Easter Sunday, the body of a girl named Blanche Lamont was found in the belfry of the church. The remains were en- tirely nude and decomposition had progressed to such an extent it was impossible to determine whether she had suffered the same fate as the Williams girl. Miss Lamont had mysteriously disappeared from sight on the 3d of April and was seen in the company of Durrant on that day by several persons. Durrant was ar- rested on the day of the discovery of the remains of Miss Lamont. The trial of the case began July 22, 1895, and fifty witnesses testified for the prosecution. Although the evidence was entirely circumstantial it was conclusive, and the jury found him guilty of murder in the first degree and he was hanged on January 7, 1898. Efforts were unavailingly made to induce the governor to pardon him. The tes- timony given at the trial and subsequent revelations established that Durrant was a pervert. A most remarkable circumstance connected with this crime was the persistence of a rumor printed in an obscure paper in another state that the
The Murders in Emanuel Baptist Church
Publicity a Help to Criminals
815
SAN FRANCISCO
pastor of Emanuel church had confessed after the execution of Durrant that he had committed the crimes. There was absolutely no foundation for the state- ment. All the evidence disproved the accusation, and he remained the pastor of Emanuel for many years afterward. If Durrant made a confession it is buried in the bosom of the priest who ministered the consolations of religion to the doomed man who became a Catholic on the eve of his execution.
During the prevalence of the sand lot troubles the impression was assiduously cultivated at the East that San Francisco was a turbulent city, quickly disposed to mob violence and altogether regardless of the law. The easily accepted belief was a heritage from Vigilante days, but there was nothing to support the assump- tion except misrepresentation of trivial occurrences which were magnified into extraordinary demonstrations. With the exception of the difficulties growing out of the labor troubles, which were in no wise comparable to those the East under- went almost at the same time that they were experienced here, San Francisco has not had any manifestation of lawlessness deserving the term riot since the days of the Vigilance Committee in 1856. On the occasion of the murders in Emanuel church excitement ran high, but there was no evidence of the lynching disposition. Perhaps the nearest approach to summary vengeance was witnessed in November, 1886, when a young man named Alexander Goldenson, wantonly shot a school girl named Mamie Kelly, killing her instantly. He at once fled to a police station pursued by the crowd. The news of the atrocious crime spread rapidly and a big mob surrounded the city prison where he had taken refuge. The police were compelled to freely resort to their clubs to effect a dispersal which was accomplished at the cost of a few sore heads, but the majesty of the law was maintained. Two years later the murderer was hanged, but it was never learned what had caused him to shoot his victim. The only thing developed on the trial was that the girl had a childish infatuation and had written him a note on the previous day reproaching him with indifference.
The curious interested in criminology can have their penchant gratified by turning to the pages of a book written by Captain Duke of the police force, which is chiefly valuable for us as a presentation of the fact that while San Fran- cisco during the period under review had some startling criminal experiences it was no worse than many communities where the disposition to regard it as the wickedest city in the country existed. The captain, without intending to imi- tate the example of Plutarch unconsciously adopted the comparative habit, and showed his readers that crime occurs in the older seats of civilization as well as in pioneer regions, and that the savage instincts of the abnormal man assert themselves in all sorts of places, and that the peaceful countryside has its tragedies as well as the congested quarters of the town. The latter produces one type of criminals; the former another. The malpractitioner flourishes in the city; the fiend who mur- ders whole families performs his atrocious work in sequestered places far from the busy haunts of men. The footpad plies his vocation on the streets of the marts of commerce; the train robber pursues his game in convenient "get away" places. The housebreaker is oftener heard of in the city because the style of plunder he affects is more easily obtainable where jewels and plate and other valuable objects are abundant. Bank robberies are less common in crowded centers than in small towns, but when they are attempted in cities they are likely to have a tragic outcome as was the case in March, 1894, when a thief named Fredericks
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.