Part 2 (1/2)
There was great difficulty about the title to lots at that time There were contentions set up, and clairants, as it becauaranteed by the United States, at the treaty of Hidalgo, when California was ceded to us, that all titles that were good under the Mexican governnized by us L, the chaplain of Stevenson's regiold was discovered
They, as a farce, elected him alcalde of San Francisco, which position is a coe, as ould understand it, and his election was declared illegal Then they elected him for spite He served one year There was a Mexican law that in any village in that country a person had a right to settle on one hundred veras of land so many feet, about three hundred, and if he put up any kind of a building on it, and held undisputed possession for one year, he could go to the alcalde, and by paying 16, get a good and valid title When the lots becaold was discovered, rants becaold L became quite wealthy, it was said, by advances in real estate There were ruus titles in the names of dead soldiers and others who had left the country, but could be traced to no authentic source He was estimated to be worth several hundred thousand dollars, made in the rise of real estate I met hi al title of that kind
HIS STORY
He said he was a book-keeper for a firm in Newport, Rhode Island, at a small salary He made up his mind that if they would not raise his pay 100 per year on the 1st of January he would leave them They refused, so he lost his situation, and it was dull tiet another one, so he shi+pped on a whaling vessel as a sailor His health was poor, and he found he could not stand the hardshi+ps of that life
The vessel put in the harbor of San Francisco for water and fresh meat on their way to the Arctic ocean, so he deserted the shi+p and secreted hi there for a living, so he squatted on one hundred veras of land on the beach, and put up a shanty and sold fruit and probably so
No one disturbed him for one year He applied to the alcalde and paid his 16 and got a good, valid title After the gold was discovered it beca business with him he had a three-story brick store, which he owned The whaling shi+p had been gone to the Arctic ocean two or three years and had heard nothing of the discovery of the gold, and wonderful changes in San Francisco, and the captain thought he would put in that port on his return and hunt up his runaway sailor, and behold, his absconding sailor was rich enough when he found hio of whale oil I was introduced by hiood talk over it Wherein does our stories of fiction, of our boyhood, of Arabian Nights, surpass the actual events of life, of the wonderful fluctuations of fortunes in California in the days of the Forty-niners?
[Illustration: THE CAPTAIN AND THE RUNAWAY SAILOR]
On the death of President Taylor, afuneral obsequies there in his honor A man was named for president of the day Then it was proposed to name a vice-president for each State and Territory, which was done There were persons in the crowd from every one of them A day was set apart for the cere procession on that day, and the eneral turned out in full force, including the Chinese, ere sh to think it would make a favorable impression in their favor After the parade was dismissed in the plaza, the Chinese were requested to remain, and a missionary addressed thee I noticed that their language was much more condensed than ours It took about a third of the time for him to translate what the missionary said When the ether in another and a better world
It seemed to them so absurd that they looked at each other and sood joke In those early days there were no particular prejudices against theans, as we call them, practised the Christian virtues toward their own countryreet the newcomers, whom they had never seen before, and invite theainst theht We cannot afford to run the risk of having the institutions of our country injured by an eone too far in that line already, not from selfishness, but to perpetuate the institutions founded by our revolutionary ancestors, in their purity, for the interests of mankind
I received a letter from my blanket friend He informed me that he could not sell the blankets, and had traded them off for flour, and would start the next day for the Yuba, which was the old river
That was all a lie He did that so that I would not follow him up He had not a dollar invested in the with a rascal, but I was powerless to do any thing about it, so I wrote hi; and that I had it running to Stockton, and he could take ventures up on that and make up e had lost on the blankets, and much more
(More of him later on)
THE GAMBLING OF THAT DAY
It was public ame, Monte, the Mexican and Roulette The Eldorado, on the corner of the plaza, was thehouse of that ti it up It had an orchestra of fifteen persons It was run all night and day, with two sets of hands It was gorgeously fitted up What they used to stir up the sugar in the drinks cost 300 It was solid gold Nuold and silver, to tempt the better, behind which were hired dealers The owners of the Eldorado were not known Many a miner has come with his few thousand dollars to San Francisco to sail for hoot interested in the different gaions broken and penniless to try his luck over again I heard of one that lost his all three tiold, which contained 5,000, bet 1,000 on one turn of the card at Monte He lost While I was looking at hiht what independence that aiven some family in the East
In those early days there was often but a muslin partition between you and the next room, and you could hear every word in the next apart I aken by twothe next roo a Roulette table on the plaza They seemed to be considerably excited They said they would be willing to lose soet rid of that tapper Of course, I could not understand, at first, what they meant by that expression, but come to find out froed so that they could make the ball stop on the red or black, as it happened to be for their interest to have it do So, if there were 20 bet upon the red, the tapper would bet 10 on the black, and they could notthe black win So the tapper was getting half of their gains I would advise all my friends to let Roulette alone, unless they are sure they can place the on the plaza I took a look into a gaainst Monte all night, and had had wonderful luck He announced that he would tap the bank for 1,800, which was more ain, which meant that he would bet that amount for whatever sum the dealer could show to meet it on the turn of one card He lost, and the dealer showed 1,800 in the bank and took all his ame of Mexico, and his idea of Paradise is to be able to break a Monte bank
Mr B fro the passengers when out of New York I saw hiold watch, a valuable one, and bet it behind the queen, on the game of Faro, for 100 He was evidently about broke It won Then he went the 200, and it won again Then he went it the third time, and it won In about twenty minutes he had his watch back and 700, then he left Some one asked me a few months after that if I knew that he orth 80,000? He had been very lucky, and that he was to run for sheriff of San Francisco county on the Des had noer Hayes had been in the Mexican war
It was told of him that when the American and Mexican armies were encamped opposite each other, that a Mexican officer, splendidly equipped, caed any Ale coo, and he killed hiold watch and personal effects He afterward learned who he was, and that he left aHe sent all his personal effects to her as a present Of course, ere interested warmly on his side, and he was elected They say Colonel B
spent all his 80,000 on his side and was defeated No reputable citizen of San Francisco or businessat any of the public ga character I a to portray the scenes of those days exactly as they occurred, and if I left the ga scenes out it would not be a true history
At first public offices went a begging; nobody wanted them Fine clothes were at a discount He was looked upon as a tender-foot who knew nothing about the gold regions But a flannel-shi+rted, roughly-dressed ions The governor appointed a loafer fellow, in the early days, Port Warden
nobody wanted it, and he was indorsed by one firrew very rapidly the office soon becaovernor what kind of a overnor wrote hi to him what representations had been made to him about his character, which, if he had known, he would not have appointed hi to him, he had better read the papers and look after his own character The governor was up for re-election and the opposition papers were pitching into him
THE GRIZZLY BEARS
One warht ould take a walk over to Pesedeo; that was about three miles to the Pacific ocean The seal rocks is where the sea lions or seals can always be seen It was the entrance to the Golden Gates, where the roar of the Pacific ocean is twice that of the Atlantic, it being six thousand miles broad, twice that of the Atlantic On our e stopped into a tent to get a drink of water We found it occupied by three miners, one of as quite lame I inquired of him as the rizzlies I asked him how it happened He said they went up to the Trinity river to dig for gold I knew that was the old river He said they were lucky and found rich diggings, but after awhile their provisions gave out and they could not procure any unless they returned to the settle on horseback, they caerous to attack theht if they could kill one of them it would supply them with meat, so they finally decided they would take their chances and fire on them, which they did, and wounded one The other two took after the man whose hip was dislocated He fled and caot up in it, the bears came on under it After awhile they found they could not reach hi it after hiht his last hour had come; all the events of his life seemed to rush on hisbook, where the man plays dead on the bear, caht his only chance was to drop from the tree and hold his breath, and play dead on the bear, which he did, and fell on his face One bear grabbed hi, dislocated his hip He had a thick overcoat on which they tore to pieces He held his breath After awhile they went off and left him After a little while he raised his head to see if they were gone, and they caain, and went away again, he holding his breath Then he laid a long ti to move, and his companions came up
”Each fainter trace that lance, the soul beholds, And all that was at once appears”
In the cases of ier such is said to be the case It is evident that is what saved this er than fiction
[Illustration: PURSUED BY THE GRIZZLIES]