USA > California > Alameda County > The centennial year book of Alameda County, California : containing a summary of the discovery and settlement of California, a description of the Contra Costa under Spanish, Mexican, and American rule, biographical sketches of prominent pioneers and public men > Part 33
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The permanent seat of Alameda County was therefore declared to be located at the place selected, which was within a few blocks of the easterly limits of the city, and over a mile from the City Hall.
There was great interest evinced in the proceedings, and as the friends of Brooklyn were largely in the ascendant, the result was received with cheers and other signs of satisfaction.
The news flew at once through San Leandro, and was satisfactorily
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received throughout the surrounding country. Of course, there was much exultation in Brooklyn. In Oakland, however, the news was received with the utmost indignation, and " curses, loud and deep," were heard on every side. Talk of an " injunction " was at once set in circulation, and bets were freely offered that the county seat would not be two years in the locality selected.
The Supervisors at once advertised for tenders for a plan of a hall of records, the cost of which was not to exceed $10,000. In the meantime the citizens of Brooklyn set to work to provide temporary accommodations for the county officers, and with that view let a con- tract to Mr. George W. Babcock, for the erection of a building on a block adjoining that which had been accepted by the Supervisors.
There was another meeting of the Board, at San Leandro, on the 15th of April. After the transaction of some unimportant business, the county seat matter came up for rehearing. The Chair announced that petitions were in order. Councilman B. F. Ferris came forward, and stating that he was the Chairman of a Special Committee, ap- pointed on the previous evening by the Oakland City Council to wait upon the Board present, and read the following bond :
Know all men by these presents, that we, the undersigned, under- take and promise and hereby guarantee that the City of Oakland will faithfully carry out all that is expressed and contained in the resol- utions hereunto annexed :
RESOLUTIONS.
In the matter of furnishing the county with suitable buildings for county goverment, in case of removal of the county seat to Oakland, the City Council of the city of Oakland, at a regular meeting held Monday evening, March 10th, unanimously passed the following re- solutions :
Resolved, That in case the people of the County of Alameda, at the approaching election, vote for the removal of the county seat from San Leandro to the city of Oakland, the City Council of the city of Oakland do hereby tender to the county of Alameda the free use of the unoccupied portion of the City Hall, the same to be finished by the City Council, so as to accommodate the county government, within sixty days after notice from the Board of Supervisors of their accep- tance, for such time as the Board of Supervisors of said county may desire; and that whenever the Board of Supervisors deem it expedient to erect buildings for county seat purposes, the City Council will cause, free of cost to said county, to be dedicated for such purposes, the public squares, situated upon Broadway in said city, usually known as Washington and Franklin Squares, and also known as the plazas; and in the meantime, and for the purposes of securing the
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public records, the City Council will cause to be erected, free of costa to said county, a good and sufficient fire-proof building upon a lot ad- joining the City Hall, for the use of the county, free of charge, so long as the county may desire the use of the same for said purposes.
H. HILLEBRAND, City Clerk.
Attest :
B. F. Ferris, Wm. H. Glascock, P. S. Wilcox, James De Fremery, Mack Webber, Samuel Merritt, John Scott, Benjamin Akerly, Israel Knox, F. K. Shattuck, A. C. Henry, F. Warner, Henry Durant, Henry Rodgers, Gustave Touchard.
Mr. Ferris also read a resolution passed by the City Council Mon- day evening, April 13th, to build a Recorder's office, fire-proof throughout, free of expense to the county, and to cost not less than $20,000.
He also presented the following petition from the citizens of Washington Township :
To the Hon. Board of Supervisors of Alameda County :
The undersigned citizens of Washington Township respectfully request that you will reconsider your action in locating the county seat of Alameda County on Block 22, in the Town of Brooklyn, for three reasons :
1st. We believe that the location selected is not a desirable one.
2d. In our opinion it does not conform to the intentions of the majority as expressed in the recent election.
3d. We believe that it is not for the best interests of the county financially.
Samuel Marston, H. Crowell, J. C. Palmer, E. L. Beard, John M. Horner, Joseph Hirsch, A. O. Rix, Edward Rix, Ehrman & Bach- man, Stephen Murphy, N. Bergman, C. W. F. Bergman, J. L. Lang, Alfred K. Henry, Isaac L. Lang, Michael Rogan, T. W. Millard, H. M. Holland, M. Sigrist, Louis Sigrist, Henry Muller, Peter Wer- ringer, Geo. W. Cook, E. F. Palmer, Plutarco Vallejo, Joseph Her- bert, M. M. Smith, G. M. Walters, W. H. Mack, R. Threlfall, R. Blacow, W. Blacow, Peter Campbell, J. S. Marston, Lorenzo G. Yates, R. B. Hull, W. F. B. Lynch, Jacob Salz, S. Salz, Joseph Horner, John Lowrie, W. J. Egleston, Jos. Mckeown, August May, August Heger, O. P. Tuller, J. J. Stokes.
The bond, resolutions and petition presented by Mr. Ferris were laid on the table.
Mr. Estudillo sent in a statement, setting forth that the Estudillo family had, on the 30th day of December, 1854, deeded to Alameda County, as a site for a Court-house, so long as the county seat should remain at San Leandro, the grounds on which the Court-house stood,
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and requesting the Supervisors to execute a quit-claim deed of said block of land back to the Estudillo family.
The document was referred to the Judiciary Committee and the District Attorney.
Several plans for the Hall of Records were opened, and a motion . made to adopt the plans of Mr. Bugbee.
Mr. Goodrich, County Auditor, appeared before the Board, and asked if he had any right to issue warrants to pay for plans, if adopted ?
The District Attorney, Mr. Moore, being called to give an opinion in the case, said he thought there was no power in the Board to enable them to erect county buildings without first receiving authority to levy a tax. A decision had been made in Monterey County, in support of this view of the case.
The subject was finally referred to the Ordinance and Judiciary Committee, to be reported upon at the next meeting of the Board.
A meeting of the Board was held on the 20th of April, when Supervisor Clement, of the Ordinance Committee, reported that they had considered the question of the authority of the Board to order the payment of the premiums offered for plans and specifications for a Hall of Records, and reported " that the Board had sufficient power under the law to order the said payment, and it is its duty to do so."
The Board adopted the plans of S. C. Bugbee & Son for the Hall of Records, and ordered the clerk to advertise for bids for the Hall of Records, bids to be received up to Friday, April 25th. The adver- tisement was ordered published in the San Francisco Bulletin and Oakland Evening Torchlight.
S. C. Bugbee & Son here presented their bill of $250 for the plans and specifications for the Hall of Records, which was allowed. Mr. Bugbee took the bill to the auditor, Mr. Goodrich, who refused to audit it.
When this fact was reported to the Board, Clement said that, as the County Auditor had refused to issue the warrant, he would move that the chairman be authorized to employ counsel in the matter, as the County Auditor had been advised in his course by the District Attorney. The motion was adopted.
On the 25th of April a contract was awarded to Geo. W. Babcock for the erection of a Hall of Records, to cost $18,240, and a Build- ing Committee was appointed.
The next meeting of the Board took place on the 28th of April.
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Before the Board had fairly got to work, Under Sheriff P. R. Borein came into the room and served a complaint, made by Harry Linden, upon President Case, and upon him and each member present a copy of an injunction granted by Judge Samuel Bell McKee of the Third District Court, restraining the Board from entering, into any contract for the erection of any buildings for county purposes, or for the pay- ment of any bills against the county for such purposes. Summons were at the same time served on them requiring them to answer the complaint within ten days.
The complaint averred that the site selected by the Board of Su- pervisors was not within the City of Oakland ; that the location was procured by the votes and influence of President Case, who was charged with being interested in the adjacent property ; that the de- fendants had advertised for one week for proposals for the erection of a County Recorder's office upon said block, which would involve an expenditure of about $18,240 ; that such expenditures would be an incumbrance upon the tax-payers of the county, and that no author- ity of law existed for such expenditure ; that the Board had not yet acquired a title to the property, and that unless the Supervisors were restrained from proceeding with their proposed expenditure, great em- barrassment would result to the tax-payers and to the County. The complaint concluded by praying that the defendants might be enjoined from entering into any contract for the erection of a Hall of Records or other county buildings, and that said injunction might be made perpetua l.
The complaint was signed by Haight and Sawyer, plaintiff's attor- neys.
After the complaint was served, the Board adjourned, without proceeding any further. It appears that while the injunction had the effect of stopping the erection of the proposed buildings on Block 22, it did not prevent the work being proceeded with. Instead of building on the block donated to the county, the adjoin- ing Block 21 had been purchased by the Brooklyn Joint Stock Com- pany, on which the erection of the Hall of Records was at once proceeded with. A Court-house was also commenced on the same block, which was to embrace all the necessary county offices. This was the undertaking of the Brooklyn company, whose names have been already given.
By this proceeding the purpose of the injunction was avoided and the county seat fixed at Brooklyn. It looked now as if nothing but
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an Act of the Legislature could prevent its permanent location there, objectional as it was.
On the 20th of May a deed to Block 22 was presented by the Larue estate to the Board and was referred to the District Attorney to report on the title. On the 10th of June the District Attorney reported favorably upon the same.
James Larue and others made a proposition to the Board, offering the use of the wooden building lately erected on Block 21 for such a time as the Board may wish, at monthly rental of one dollar. Also, a proposition offering the use of the new Hall of Records, at a monthly rental of $75. The propositions were accepted, and the District Attorney directed to draw leases, conditioned that the county lease said property for one year, with the privilege of two- either party to vacate the lease upon notice of three months.
On Tuesday, June 17th, the Board adopted the following order, locating the county seat in Block No. 21 :
WHEREAS this Board did heretofore, by resolution duly passed and entered, in pursuance of law, designate the City of Oakland, in the County of Alameda, State of California, as the county seat and seat of justice of said county, from and after the 25th day of June, A. D. 1873 ; now be it further resolved and ordered, that the wood and brick buildings erected and being finished upon Block 21, of the late Town of Brooklyn (now Oakland), in said county, together with the land upon which they stand, is, and shall be from and after said 25th day of June, 1873, and until the further order of this Board, the county seat and Court-house of said county, and the abiding place of all the offices and records of said county.
The following order was passed locating the County Jail: It having been ordered by this Board that the seat of justice be from June 25th, 1873, at the City of Oakland, in this county, and it appearing to the Board that no adequate facilities exist in said city for the safe keeping and detention of prisoners and persons accused of crime, it is resolved and so ordered, that until the further order and action of this Board, the Jail of said county be and remain in the Town of San Leandro, and as at present used.
The closing scene was enacted, and the last meeting of the Board held in San Leandro adjourned. The old Court-house was stripped of its precious contents, the records removed from their hall, and on the 26th the place was deserted, the prisoners in the jail alone re- maining. Thus, in spite of them, was consummated an act against which the people of San Leandro and surrounding district persist-
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ently and strenuously battled for two years, but the fates and neces- sities of the times, the demands of progress, were against them. A San Leandro poet expressed his grief in the following doggerel rhymes :
Farewell to the Hall-the Temple Hall, Reared for Justice cause ; Where oft has resounded the call For mercy, and freedom's laws.
Where Baker, the soldier eloquent, And Williams, erratic, but true, And Stanley, the good and the prudent, Have struggled for those who must sue.
Here Foote and Weller contended, McDougall, too, having his say, What mighty shades surround you Deserted Hall of to-day.
Rocked by the earthquake shake, Its people stood by the corse, And we may not forget for thy sake, Here was won the fame of Morse.
Shades of the mighty departed, ยท Spirits of the good and true, Curse not those who so acted, By fraud for the destruction of you.
Grant as the New Halls rise, That they shall be good and true, And Mercy sharing in Justice cause, May yet atone for the great loss of you.
On the morning of the 26th of June the records and seals of the Courts were taken to Brooklyn, then beginning to be well known as East Oakland, and carefully deposited in their new resting place. The county officers took formal possession of their new quarters the same day, there to remain until some new action of the Courts or the Legislature might cause another disturbance. As it was, it seemed as if Brooklyn had it; but tenures are uncertain in young and rapidly changing communities. The temporary buildings erected by the Brooklyn people, although hastily constructed, were convenient and substantial. The buildings were situated on Block 21, corner of Fourteenth street and Twentieth avenue. The main building was a
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two-story frame structure. In it were situated the Court-room, Supervisors' room, Sheriff's, County Judge's, County Superintendent's, Auditor's, Tax Collector's, and County Attorney's offices. The rooms were well lighted, the ceilings high, and the ventilation good. Ample provision for lighting and heating had been made. The other build- ing was of brick, and only one story high, but furnished with iron shutters. Here were situated the Hall of Records, the Treasurer's, and the Clerk's offices.
The ground was elevated and the view fine, commanding a good deal of the surrounding country ; but in close proximity were a slaughter-house and a couple of tanneries, whose unpleasant odors, wafted to the seat of justice on the prevailing breeze, did not agree with the olfactory nerves of the fastidious or fault-finding Oaklander, and consequently caused the refractory County Fathers to be visited with no small amount of condemnation and reproach for the mal- odorous character of their choice of location.
The denouement was not yet, however, at hand. The county seat had been fixed in Brooklyn, but was it going to rest there? What was Oakland, so frequently baffled, going to do further about it ? Thoroughly aroused, with her feelings outraged, she was not disposed to submit and quietly yield the fruits of her hard-fought fight to her deceitful sister. The war was to be continued and the battle fought unto final victory or irretrievable defeat.
The Supervisors held their first meeting in the new building on the 5th of July, and the County Court was held there for the first time on the 7th. . Another meeting of the Supervisors was held on the 15th, when considerable discussion was had over the order of the previous meeting, accepting the deed to Block 22. The doubt was suggested that the title in fee simple still rested in the grantor, Larue, who did not propose to divest himself of the right to the land should the county neglect or be unable to build thereon. If the title is not in the county, any person objecting to buildings being put upon the land would have good cause for an injunction. On the other hand, should the fee simple of the land be vested in the county and the county not build, Mr. Larue would be the loser of his land. As the deed had been recorded and the acceptance of it on the minutes of the Board, it was decided to make no change in the minutes, but let the matter stand for further consideration.
The opinion of the Supreme Court on the application for an injunction was anxiously looked for, as the Supervisors were desirous
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of erecting a jail on Block 22, and those who were unfavorable to the location were in hopes of obtaining a restraining order. The application was filed on July 18th, and the decision was published July 19th. After mentioning the reasons given for demanding a temporary injunction, the decision was given as follows :
Waving the question of whether the action is properly brought by the plaintiff and against the defendants, without making the county by name a party thereto, we are satisfied that the complaint states no cause of action. It is settled in this State that no order made by the Board of Supervisors is valid or binding unless it is ordered by law. No claim against a county can be allowed unless it be legally chargeable to the county ; and if claims not legally chargeable to the county are allowed, neither the allowance nor the warrants drawn therefor create any legal liabilities. (People vs. Supervisors of El Dorado County, 11 Cal., 170 ; Branch Turnpike Company vs. Super- visors of Yuba County, 13 Cal., 190 ; Trinity County vs. McCam- mon, 25 Cal., 117.)
If, therefore, it be true, as alleged, that no authority of law exists for the expenditure proposed, and neither the defendants nor the , Board of Supervisors are authorized by law to make provision for the payment of any claim for or on account of the work proposed, it must follow, as a consequence, that by no legal possibility can the plaintiff or the other tax-payers of the county be injured by the sup- posed illegal acts of the defendants. The expenditure, if made, would, in that event, be no charge upon the plaintiff's property, and he has, therefore, no interest in the question presented. If illegal claims are allowed by the Board against the county, it will be the duty of the Auditor to refuse to draw warrants therefor ; and if war- rants are drawn it will then be the duty of the Treasurer to refuse to pay them. The presumption is that these officers will faithfully dis- charge their duty in the premises.
Order reversed ; remittitur to issue forthwith.
We concur : BELCHER, J. WALLACE, C. J. RHODES, J.
Of the five Supreme Judges, at this time, two (Messrs. Crockett and Niles) were residents of the contending districts-Judge Crock- ett, of Brooklyn, and Judge Niles, of Oakland-and, as will be seen, they took no part in the decision, lest they might be accused of prej- udice or favor. The decision determined nothing, only that defend- ants could not be restrained from building.
On the 28th of July the Board, feeling the decision to be in their favor, authorized the clerk to advertise for plans and specifications for a County Jail, to cost not exceeding $50,000, to be erected on Block 22, the plans to be presented to the Board August 2d, and a
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premium of $300 to be paid to the architect whose plans would be accepted.
On the 6th of August the Board accepted the bid of G. W. Bab- cock for building the proposed jail for $32,066, payment to be made in county warrants. At the same time James Larue presented a new deed for Block 22, which was accepted, and the building of a jail, the materials of which were brick, stone and iron, was at once proceeded with.
Up to this time the Board stood five to one in voting upon this vexed question. The Civil Code had provided for dividing counties into supervisor districts, according to population, and this required the re-arrangement of the districts in this county so as to take one supervisor from the country districts and give Oakland Township three instead of one, as heretofore. This was done prior to the Sep- tember election, when Oakland elected three supervisors, against four from the rest of the county, placing her in a much more improved and just position. It was clear that this advantage would enable her to carry on the fight with better results than before.
The new districts and the persons elected to serve them were as follows :
District No. 1 (Murray Township), J. A. Neal. District No. 2 (Washington Township), H. Overacker. District No. 3 (Eden Township), J. B. Marlin. District No. 4 (Brooklyn and Alameda Townships), Isham Case. District No. 5 (Precinct No. 1, Oakland), W. B. Hardy. District No. 6 (Precinct No. 2, Oakland), P. S. Wilcox. District No. 7 (Oakland Point and Temescal), F. K. Shattuck.
All the " Modocs," as the country members of the old Board were called by some of the Oakland papers, were re-elected, and on the county seat question the new Board stood, on a vote, four to three. Whatever was the cohesive power, the old members continued to ad- here to their ground and stick to each other through every vicissi- tude, and lively times were experienced within the walls of the Board-room.
The new Board met for the first time on the 6th of October, and things immediately became heated. There was a contest over the chairmanship, and some of the members allowed themselves to be betrayed into undue warmth of language. Finally Case, the old chairman, and the leader of the Brooklyn party, was elected by a strict sectional vote of four to three.
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At the next meeting of the Board, on the 13th of October, the bill of G. W. Babcock, for " labor and material furnished for County Jail as per contract," amounting to $5,000, was taken up, not ap- proved by the Finance Committee. A motion to lay it on the table was lost, and there ensued a good deal of word-sparring between Messrs. Case and Wilcox, but eventually a motion to allow the bill was carried.
Mr. Shattuck moved that P. S. Wilcox, J. B. Marlin, and W. B. Hardy be appointed a Committee to ascertain if a more suitable loca- tion could be secured for the county buildings. He said it had been suggested that a site could be selected in the neighborhood of Tubbs' Hotel, and he had been informed that property could be secured for county buildings on satisfactory terms. Marlin moved that Case be added to the Committee, which was carried.
Mr. Wilcox offered a resolution requiring that the District Attor- ney be instructed to ascertain if an injunction could not be got out against the building of the County Jail on Block 22. The motion was lost on the usual vote of four to three.
. On the 24th of November a proposition was made to the Board by T. A. Mudge, agent, offering them the Ghirardelli block, near Lake Merritt, for $16,000, and subsequently Mr. Wilcox offered a resolution to look into the matter of purchasing the Ghirardelli blocks, and to ascertain the best terms upon which they could be procured by the county. The resolution was lost. There were frequent squab- bles among the members about the payment of the bills of the con- tractor for the jail building, and at the end of the year the passions invoked in the county seat contest were far from being set at rest.
That another effort would be made to obtain relief from the Leg- islature was evident, but with what success remains to be seen, as here will have to be closed the narrative of the second year's contest over the location of the county seat of Alameda County.
The horse distemper, known as the epizootic, made its appearance here in March and ran its course, horses having been generally affected by it.
Surveying parties were in the field in Contra Costa County this spring, surveying proposed narrow-gauge railroad routes from Mar- tinez to Dublin, and from Walnut Creek to Oakland.
A fruit-drying and preserving association was formed in San Lo-
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renzo by a number of the residents of the locality in March. The members of the incorporation were Captain Roberts, E. T. Cranc, John Marlin, Wm. Meek, E. Lewelling, C. O. Hathaway, Silas Mc- Clure, W. C. Blackwood, Louis Knox, J. L. Shiman, Jos. Graham. W. C. Blackwood was sent east for machinery to establish the busi- ness, and was the first to introduce the Alden process on this coast.
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