San Joaquin County, CA History Transcribed by Kathy Sedler This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter. All persons donating to this site retain the rights to their own work. History of San Joaquin County, California with Biographical Sketches - Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA - 1923 CHAPTER X THE MAYOR AND THE COMMON COUNCIL GOVERNMENT is an essential quality in every community, and it is especially necessary where there are assembled a band of criminals and those who have no respect for law, order and the rights of others. The press, knowing this, said in one of its earliest numbers: "We are the advocates of public organization because we know that the most respectable part of our merchants experience its necessity. For instance, the town and harbor are infested with peddlers who pay no taxes or rent, and who sell merchandise at ruinously low prices. This is a great injustice and should immediately be put down. The citizens should organize a local body which should have jurisdiction in this and other matters and a great good would be effected and peddlers would disappear." The editor then severely condemns the San Francisco common council, who were a set of grafters and a disgrace to any city, when he wrote, "Let it be decidedly understood, however, that we do not mean such a municipal government as that of San Francisco. We would not have our council men vote for themselves enormous salaries. We would not see an honorable member move that each merchant shall supply six buckets (for fire purposes) and then buying up all of the buckets in the town sell them at an immense profit. No, we would have such a public body as would be men of probity and standing, guarding carefully the pockets of the public and imposing taxes with a light hand." The newspaper editor who wrote this article was independent of parties. They had not been organized. His splendid admonition was not practiced until 1906, when a commission form of government was adopted. The councils were elected by parties, and partisan politics were the rule. The Unfortunate Town Council The condition of things in the town in 1849 were very unsanitary and unhealthy the food was bad and poorly cooked, the tents cold and cheerless, and the citizens, many of them not more than half clothed; ill smelling pools of water were everywhere and medicine scarce and high in price. It is not surprising therefore that there was much sickness from colds, fevers and dysentery, and much illness from drunkenness and other dissipations. Conditions were very bad, in some cases pitiful, and kind-hearted citizens requested Alcalde Belt to call an election for a town council, so that they could make some provision for the unfortunates. An election was held November 13, 1849, and the following men consented to run for the office and were elected, namely ; Richard W. Heath, David Douglas, John J. Stephens, Wm. A. Streeter, Thomas Van Buren, Monroe T. Robertson and George Glidden. They adopted ordinances, erected a cloth tent hospital and employed Dr. J. F. Clements to take charge of the hospital. After spending about $1,200 out of their own pockets they learned that their election was illegal and that there was no way for them to obtain any return for their heavy expenses. They then dissolved. After the courts were organized, Dr. Clements, before Judge Creanor, sued R. W. Heath for $4,300, his three months' salary. The judge decided it was a legal claim and the council were compelled to pay it. Subsequently a relief bill was introduced into the legislature to reimburse the town council for their loss, but it failed to pass. Movement for City Government After the dissolution of the town council no movement was made towards a town government for several months; as a consequence crime was unchecked, business unsettled and all manner of nuisances created. The streets and sloughs were reeking with garbage and filth, firearms were recklessly discharged without any regard for safety or life, all because of a want of authority and government. The first movement for the purpose of forming a government was made in March, 1850. A public meeting was held in the tent store of George Belt, the alcalde of Tuleburg. Then, as now, the boosting of business seems to have been their leading thought. The meeting was called "for the purpose of taking into consideration the propriety of establishing a newspaper to lay before the public and the world at large the advantages of the San Joaquin Valley." J. R. Meloney called the attention of the meeting to the nuisances of the levee, and Dr. J. W. Reins spoke in regard to the incorporation of the town. Mr. Mix, who seems to have been a man of high morality, called the attention of the citizens to the proceedings of Hodskiss & Company and their associates since their arrival in town. They must have been a bad lot, for several talks were made upon that subject and Dr. J. B. Clements, M. F. Sparrow, Thomas Ketchum and Richard Younge were appointed a committee "to wait on the parties and give them notice to leave town at the first opportunity." A splendid committee, comprising Samuel Booker, John Doak and Dr. J. W. Reins, was appointed in regard to the organization of a town government. Nothing further is known of this meeting. The movement towards the organization of a city government was progressing quite rapidly for there was plenty of action in those days. June 15, 1850, a second meeting was held in the Owens saloon. It was called to order by Thomas B. Van Buren, one of the rising young men of the state, and he was appointed president of the assembly; J. F. Stephens, R. W. Heath and Charles A. Leake, vice-presidents, and Dr. E. B. Bateman, secretary. On motion of Captain Wm. D. Farr, Ben S. Lippincott, Thomas McSpeddon, George D. Dickerson, M. F. Sparrow, Wm. N. Robertson, Geo. R. Buffum, B. F. Whittier, Geo. G. Belt and L. G. Chapman were appointed a committee to draft articles of incorporation for the city of Stockton. The committee on town incorporation reported June 21, the meeting again being held in Owens' saloon, for at that time the saloons were the only places convenient for the assembling of men. "Your committee find that when the inhabitants of a town or village containing 1,000 inhabitants shall deem it to the advantage of such town that it shall be incorporated, a majority of the legal voters residing therein may petition the Court of Sessions to declare such town incorporated as a city, by the name and within the boundaries as stated in the petition. Your committee have also taken into consideration whether or not it is best for the town of Stockton to seek a speedy incorporation, and they find the strongest reasons to recommend to their fellow-citizens immediate action upon the subject. Your committee find for example, that a vessel loaded with lumber or other goods may arrive at Stockton and appropriate to their own use as much of the public levee as the owners may desire, land their cargo, and without any charge or rent, establish a retail lumber or grocery store. Your town is at all times liable to be destroyed by fire; it has felt the shock of disaster (December, 1849), and has seen its sister city of San Francisco three times reduced to ashes. With a careless population such as we must acknowledge ourselves to be, and living in houses of such inflammable material as ours, the danger from fire is always great and much to be dreaded." The report was adopted unanimously, and a committee appointed to circulate a petition among the citizens to permit the incorporation of the city of Stockton. Judge Williams Orders an Election On July 25 the citizens assembled, this time in a circus tent, as Foley's circus was then giving performances. The meeting being called to order, the following officers were chosen to preside: Samuel Purdy, president, Asa C. Bradford, vice-president, and F. C. Andrews, secretary. Notice the nativity of these officers Purdy was a New Yorker, Andrews from Pennsylvania and Bradford from Virginia. President Purdy stated the object of the meeting and he then read the order of the Court of Sessions which had been issued July 23. "A petition from the citizens of Stockton, praying that the town might be incorporated under the name of the City of Stockton, according to the provisions of an act to provide for the incorporation of cities, was this day presented to the Court, and it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that said town had a population exceeding two thousand, that a majority of the qualified electors thereof have signed the above petition, and that legal notice has been given of the aforesaid application, it is therefore ordered by the Court, after hearing said application that in accordance with prayer of said petition, said town is incorporated by the name of the City of Stockton, with the following boundaries to wit: On the north by Flora Street; on the east by Aurora Street; on the south by Twiggs Street; on the west by Bragg or Tule Street as shown by Hammond's survey of said town, a map of which is deposited with this court. It is further ordered that the common council to be chosen under this act of incorporation shall consist of seven members. It is further ordered that notice be given of an election under the above act of the incorporation, to be held at the Central Exchange in Stockton, on Thursday the 1st day of August A. D. 1850, Benjamin Williams, Judge." After the reading of the order a committee of seven were appointed to recommend to the meeting suitable candidates for mayor and common council. They left the room, and returning in a few minutes reported the following: for mayor, Samuel Purdy; for councilmen, Dr. George A. Shurtleff, Dr. J. W. Reins, John Hyde, Wm. H. Robertson, Captain Charles M. Weber, B. G. Whittier and Hyram Green. Then and there party lines were drawn between the slavery and the anti-slavery men and the hatred which existed until after the Civil War was very noticeable. The nominees of the Owens House meeting were all anti-slavery men. The same evening a meeting was held in the Hotel de Mexico, kept by B. F. Cheatham, later as we noted a General in the Confederate army. A committee comprising Dr. R. P. Ashe, Ben F. Cheatham and J. R. Meloney were appointed to recommend names for mayor and councilmen. The following evening they reported David S. Terry for mayor. The election was held in the Central Exchange, then a canvas tent on the southeast corner of Main and Center streets. The party slogan was New York against Texas, Purdy being a New Yorker and Terry a Texan. About 4 o'clock the Terry advocates suddenly grabbed the ballot box and started with it on a run for the George Belt tent on the Levee. What their object was is not known, although ballot box stuffing was a well known practice in those days. The little scheme, whatever it was, did not work, for the Purdy men captured the box, and returning it to the Exchange it was thereafter well guarded until the closing of the polls. The result proved quite a disappointment to the Southern men for the entire ticket headed by Purdy was elected. As an illustration of the voting population on that occasion I give the result of the officers elected. The first named were of the Purdy party, Samuel Purdy 481, David S. Terry 288; recorder, C. M. Leake 486; J. M. Sloan 189; city attorney, Henry A. Crabb 650; assessor, Charles Edmonson, 378; R. W. Wilson 205; treasurer, George D. Brush 345; Edwin D. Colt 198; S. G. Phillips 131; marshal, T. S. Lubbock 361; W. M. Willoby 384. In this first election of city officers note the following names, for they in part became the builders of Stockton: in the council, Capt. Charles M. Weber and Dr. George Shurtleff, then D. S. Terry, Henry A. Crabb, Edwin D. Colt and George D. Brush. Samuel Purdy and David S. Terry Stockton's first mayor was the most notable officer ever elected to that position, because of his characteristics and general attainments. He was the exact antithesis to his opponent, David S. Terry. Born in New York of Knickerbocker stock in 1819, he was well educated and graduated as an architect. He came to California in 1849 and locating in Stockton, engaged in business with Captain Sparrow. Terry was born in Kentucky in 1827 of fighting stock, his mother being a sister of the notorious Shelby and Jackson Smith. Orphaned at thirteen years of age, Terry went to Mississippi to reside with an uncle, then governor of that state. He was captain of the Texas Rangers in the fight of that state for her independence, and in command of a company of immigrants that came to California in 1849. Purdy was well educated, not only along architectural lines, but in science, music, painting, sculpture and other avenues of art. Terry had no education except in the law and took no interest in things of beauty. Purdy was handsome in feature, with full side whiskers (the fashion of that day), physically well-formed, neat and fashionable in dress, a good dancer and an Adonis with the female sex. Terry was slouchy in dress, always wore the broad-brimmed Southern style of hat, physically a giant in build, heavy and clumsy in action, always avoided the female sex, although married. Following his wife's death, however, he met and married the notorious Sarah Althea Hill, who later was the cause of his death. Purdy was a leader in society, a patron of fine arts, the opera and the drama, a high liver and a jolly fellow among men. Terry kept aloof from society and had but few friends. His duel with Broderick may have been the cause of his lack of sociability, for men as a rule shunned him after that event. He was pointed out to strangers as the man who killed Senator Broderick. Purdy was polished and gentlemanly in manner, soft in speech and slow and deliberate in his actions. Terry was abrupt and boorish and ofttimes insulting in speech. Purdy loved children and they admired him. Terry apparently never noticed children, and they avoided him, although he was the father of seven children. Purdy, cool and dispassionate, never carried any weapons. Terry was very sensitive and fiery tempered and in early days carried a revolver and bowie knife, and the last weapon at all times. In this connection a story is told by Theodore Steiney when he was a boy. One evening the boys were having fun lowering a straw-stuffed dummy from a tree limb every time a person passed along the sidewalk. "Along came Judge Terry, huge shoulders swinging as he walked along. The boys lowered the dummy; Judge Terry's hand flashed into his hip pocket and before you could wink he drew a revolver and shot two bullets into the dummy. The two shots were close together and by the time the second shot was fired there wasn't a kid in sight." Purdy was a politician, smooth and diplomatic, and educated in schools of Tammany Hall, New York, and elected lieutenant governor, he honored the state and himself as an honorable man. While presiding in the senate the infamous San Francisco bulkhead bill came up before that body. It had passed the Assembly, was favored by Governor Bigler and was a tie vote in the senate. Purdy voted no, although he had been offered $50,000 for his vote. "By this vote," says the Historian Hittell, "he saved the water front of San Francisco, and the state from disgrace." On the other hand Terry dishonored the state by stabbing Hopkins, a Vigilante police, and fighting a duel, while Chief Justice of California. Purdy, after his retirement was lieutenant governor, lived in Stockton until 1860. Later he was appointed superintendent of construction of the city hall, San Francisco, and there died in February, 1884. Terry "died with his boots on," shot and killed in August,1889, in the Lathrop Hotel, then the Southern Pacific dining station at Lathrop. Between these two extremes in character, lies the gamut of life in San Joaquin County. Major Hammond Surveys Stockton Stockton is named after Commodore Richard F. Stockton, a naval officer famous in national history and commander-in-chief and military governor of California in 1846. Captain Weber made his acquaintance, and admiring the naval hero, named the embryo city in his honor. In the planning of Stockton by its founder, Captain C. M. Weber, we see the remarkable foresight of a man who looked far into the future. Had the city councils regarded his advice and wishes the city would be far in advance of its present progress in everything that goes to build up a city. His first act proves it, for as early as 1848 he engaged Major Richard P. Hammond, a competent engineer, to survey the town. Hammond was a civil engineer by profession, an officer in the Mexican war, and the father of John Hays Hammond, the engineer of world-wide fame. Hammond made a map of this survey and it was produced in court by Joseph H. Budd in 1885, during the Court House Square contest. This survey proved to be of little value, for in a few months came the rush of immigration to the mines; then Captain Weber saw immediately that a town of much larger scope than was a first project, must be planned. His dream since 1842 was about to be realized and Stockton was to become an important city, the depot of the great valley. Major Hammond was then engaged to resurvey the city on a much larger scale, one mile square. This survey was completed in November, 1849. A second map was plotted and it so pleased the Captain that he informed the Major that he would keep the original map, and a third map was drawn. This third map was sent on to New York and lithographed and the copies returned in eighteen months. The plan of a city a mile square was a big proposition in that day, but could the Captain have foreseen a century ahead, instead of fifty years, the extension of the city two miles square, then the annexation of the Homestead, the Fair Oaks, McCloud's addition, Tuxedo Park and Stockton Acres, he would have planned the city four instead of one mile square. Even so, he did in one particular plan the city centuries ahead, when he declared that the Stockton and Mormon channels must be open waterways to the general public forever. Pioneers offered him thousands of dollars for water front lots, but he refused all offers. Some of our councils have unwisely permitted corporations to close a part of the water front to the public use under the plea of commercial necessity. But the time is not far distant within the life of youth of today when every foot of the water front from the head of navigation, El Dorado Street, to the San Joaquin River, will be required by the shipping of interior and ocean steamers and vessels. Standing on the south bank of the Stockton Channel, Captain Weber extended his arm east and west as he told me, thus indicating to the engineer his desire to have all the streets along the water channels. This plan prevented all encroachment of the channels by private parties. As the streets were surveyed east and west naturally they were surveyed north and south, this forming square blocks. The blocks are 303 feet square and the streets running east and west 60 feet wide, and north and south 80 feet in width. The only exception is Weber Avenue, which is 120 feet wide east of Hunter Street. These dimensions do not apply to the recent additions for there the blocks and streets are all shapes and sizes, surveyed according to the whims and fancies of the original owners, when outside of the jurisdiction of the city. Naming the Streets Nearly all the streets of Stockton within the two-mile city limits were named by Captain Weber, or approved by him. He admired plants and flowers, and seldom was seen without a buttonhole bouquet. North of Fremont Street we read the names, Oak, Park, Flora, Poplar, Acacia, Magnolia, Rose, Vine, Willow. He was also a great admirer of American statesmen, presidents and patriots, and south of Market Street the student of history quickly recognizes the name of Washington, La Fayette, Jefferson and Clay. West of Center Street on the north side of the channel, Weber for some reason named the streets after animals, Beaver, Elk, Bear, Otter, Raccoon and Tule. These names years later were changed to Commerce, Madison, Van Buren, Lincoln and Harrison. Tule Street is now known as Edison Street. Major Hammond was a very enthusiastic Mexican War veteran and when the surveyors arrived south at Mormon Channel, Weber approved of the engineer's suggestion that the streets be named after famous United States generals in the Mexican War, and the victorious battles won, Scott Avenue, Taylor, Worth, Twigg and Jackson. Then came a host of Mexican names commencing at Aurora which was called Mexico, and going west, Victory, Smith, Contreras, Harney, Cerro Gordo, Huger, Vera Cruz, Palo Alto, Ringgold, Reseca, Ridgley, Monterey, Bliss, Buena Vista, Bragg. These names were soon abrogated and the names on the north side of Mormon Channel continued through to South Street. In the present name of two streets the Civil War is brought to mind. Twigg became a general in the Confederate army and the union loving city council blotted his name from the official record and substituted that of General Anderson, he who so heroically defended Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. When U. S. Grant won his famous battles, at Weber's request the council changed the name of the street called Jose Jesus, to Grant. The Indian was a faithful friend of Weber's, but his love of country was greater than his friendship. Main Street was so named because it was and is now the main traveled thoroughfare of the city. Center Street, when the city was organized was the center of business it is now the house number division line east and west, and Main Street is the corresponding street north and south. Lindsay Street was so named after Weber's overseer, Lindsay, who was killed on the Point by Indians. Fremont Square and Street were named in honor of Captain John C. Fremont, explorer and prominent in California affairs in 1846. Weber Avenue and Weber Levee and Park were named by the citizens in honor of the founder of Stockton. Miner Avenue was so called as the miners from the mountain camps made that street their principal place of travel. Hazelton Avenue, paralleling Mormon Channel, was named in honor of Dr. Wm. P. Hazelton, who gave the city $75,000 for the building of a free public library. West Street is now known as Pershing Avenue, named after General Pershing, commander of the American troops in France during the World War. The public plazas set apart by Captain Weber as "resting places for the people" have no names of any special significance. These squares were reserved from sale, together with a block bounded by Church, American, California and Hazelton Avenue, which was reserved for a church. The block directly opposite on the east was reserved for a hospital. Where now stands the Franklin school was reserved for a town hall, the greater portion of the city population living in that vicinity. A block fronting on Mormon Channel between Church and Sonora was reserved for a public market. In 1870 the city limits were extended one-half mile on each of the four compass points making the city two miles square. Within the past ten years additions have been made of Fair Oaks, Homestead, McCloud's addition, The Oaks, Sunnyside, Stockton Acres and Tuxedo Park, these additions making the city very irregular in shape. The Flood of 1852 The city elections were held annually until 1884. The mayor elected in May, 1851, was a distinguished person�John C. Edwards. Born in Kentucky in 1806, governor of Wisconsin in 1844-48, he came to California in 1849 and located in Stockton. The year of his election as mayor he married Miss Emma J. Richards, who is now living in this city, her husband dying September 16, 1888. Mr. Edwards took his seat as mayor under very discouraging conditions. The principal part of the town had been destroyed in the fire of May 5, and in the spring of 1851 came the first of those floods that since that time have caused hundreds of thousands of dollars damage because the citizens made no movement to prevent damage by floods until some ten or fifteen years ago. In the winter of 1851-52 a very peculiar condition of weather existed for it was the heaviest rainfall-17.98 inches in 1851; 27.40 inches in 1852 �in the history of the county, save that of 1862. The freshet was sudden and unexpected for there had been scarcely any rain in December, January or February. The storm commenced March 5 and continued with but little interruption for three days. "Then it swept through the city with the most astonishing rapidity, boiling and roaring in its fury." The greatest force of the current was along Main Street, carrying away a part of the bridge and the engine house; private parties also lost considerable property, and although there were no sidewalks or improved streets, the loss was over $25,000. One of the losses was that of the mayor who had a $1,700 interest in the Main Street bridge. A special meeting of the council was held and they selected a permanent place for the engine house and instructed the city marshal to employ men to take charge of the city's lumber and to erect and repair all of the bridges and those cross walks that had been washed away. The county surveyor was instructed to take a level of the water courses approaching Stockton. He declared there was no danger from the back water of the San Joaquin River and the only danger was from the overflow of the banks of the Calaveras River, which finds a channel across the plains through the city. He advised that all bridges be placed above the high-water mark about three inches and that all buildings be erected on stone or brick foundations, the walls in low places to run with the current of water. Reception to Peter Rothenbush One of the council elected in 1852 was Peter Rothenbush, a very popular young German, who polled the highest vote on the ticket. In October Peter concluded that he would go home and get a wife and the city fathers gave a supper in his honor. The press received an invitation to be present and said the reporter, "We sat down to the most recherche supper ever spread in Stockton. It was an occasion of more than ordinary interest as one of their number, Alderman Peter Rothenbush, was about to start on his travels in search of a wife. When we say that wine flowed freely, and that Captain Jordan was in 'tip top spirits' our readers will conclude that the affair went `merry as a marriage bell.' Mayor Baker presided. We must not forget to notice that the proprietor of the New York Hotel placed every luxury of the season on the table, fowl, game, an excellent dessert and a generous welcome." Peter returned with a "Frau" and for a time kept the Stockton Bakery Hotel, corner of Channel and California streets. In 1857 he purchased an interest in the El Dorado Brewery and continued in that business for many years. He died in Vallejo in August, 1892, sixty-eight years of age. He was an uncle of Jacob Simon, at one time a police and fire commissioner, and a brother of Daniel and Jacob Rothenbush; the latter died in March, 1922, at the age of eighty-four years. The Bridgers and Diggers When the city election of May, 1853, was at hand, there were two questions at issue; the improvement of the streets and numerous bridges across the shallow and main water courses. "The question is," said the editor, "will we have public improvements or shall we remain behind the times, 'a one-horse town.' " The leading issue was the building of a bridge across the Stockton Channel, either at Hunter Street or El Dorado Street. The narrow foot�bridge across the channel, midway between Hunter and El Dorado streets, had been washed away by the flood, and those living north of the Avenue together with the merchants of the Peninsula were practically isolated; the only way they could cross the water was by ferry boat. The two factions were known as the Bridgers and Diggers. The Diggers demanded that the slough be deepened to Hunter Street, "the head of navigation." As a proof of that assertion they pointed to an ocean brig lying at anchor where now stands the Turnverein hall. The brig was turned into a bowling alley, said James Kidd. The Bridgers comprised the merchants doing business on the Peninsula; they wanted the bridge built at El Dorado Street. And their friends declared, "To refuse to build a bridge at El Dorado Street would be a gross outrage to the residents and property holders on the Peninsula." The Bridgers planned and carried through a neat scheme by having the legislature, in April, declare El Dorado Street the head of navigation. Captain Weber strongly favored the El Dorado projects and he backed it up by offering to release to the city the block in dispute providing they built a bridge at El Dorado at least eighty feet in width. The head of the Bridgers' ticket was M. B. Kenney, a crockery merchant, who was one of the first settlers in the city. With him were two men for councilmen, B. W. Owens and Captain P. E. Jordan, two of the most popular men in Stockton and councilmen in 1852. The Diggers after considerable sparring for a candidate finally succeeded in getting Dr. Christopher Grattan to accept the nomination for mayor. On his ticket were several men for councilmen who were on the Kenney ticket, among them Austin Sperry, B. W. Owens and Andrew Wolf. The result was an overwhelming majority for the Bridgers, 610 to 351. The mayor-elect and the councilmen comprised M. B. Kenney. B. W. Owens, Andrew Lester, Austin Sperry, Wm. Vance, J. W. Carlisle, J. C. Cleghorn. P. E. Jordan, Andrew Wolf, Joel Clayton and V. M. Peyton. This was the council which in connection with the county judge, W. D. Root, erected the first court house. Mayor Kenney's Administration Mayor Kenney took his seat as Stockton's third chief official and the first one to deliver an inaugural address. In the address he said, "The city income for the past year ending in March was $51,129.31. The expense exceeded the income because of a heavy drain for hospital expenses and bridges, but the excess is so small that it can be kept down by being economical. There is much to be done, building bridges and improving streets, which should have a regular grade and be planked or graveled in a substantial manner. At the second meeting of the council, Owens' resolution was unanimously adopted that the property holders be notified that Center, Levee, Main and Hunter streets would be immediately planked with three-inch Oregon or Humboldt pine. There was an immediate remonstrance against planking the Levee, the protestants saying that "probably we would not have any rain this year." Center Street, which was the principal street of the city, because it led to French Camp, in December the previous year "was in a woeful condition. The council at considerable expense, carted soil from another part of the city to fill up the low places, but the rains came, the soil turned into mud, and now it is almost impossible to get across it." "Our partner, Dr. Radcliffe," said the editor, "attempted to cross it, and soon he was in the water up to his armpits. The following day a man on horseback floundered in the mud and nearly drowned." This press report is no stretch of imagination, for the author has seen these things time and again. In the heaviest winter storms, automobiles speed over Market Street today at twenty miles an hour. What was it in '53? The editor praising Councilman Owens for his planking resolution "as a move in the right direction." said, "We regret that he did not include Market Street. In no part of the year can a dray travel this thoroughfare without being in danger of submergence in the slough, which passes along it nearly from beginning to end." The streets were planked and it cost $80,000 to plank Main Street from Center to Hunter and El Dorado to Levee, over $25,000 a block, and it was not only dangerous because of the holes in the planking, but almost useless, as the mud would fly up through the ends whenever a team passed over it thus covering the street with mud and slime. One day it is said that a team heavily loaded started up Main Street from Center and broke every plank along the street. The days of planking soon ended and then they tried gravel. I have wandered a long way from the subject which I had in mind�bridges�but as the subject of bridges or planking will not again be noted, a few lines on bridges, for these two items were among the heaviest city expenses. One of the first wagon bridges, if not the first, was the bridge across Mormon Channel. It was built by the merchants as a business proposition in their trade with the mountain camps by the way of French Camp. They came before the council of 1853 and petitioned them to reimburse them for the money paid out. The council refused, as the city had paid half of the cost. In March, '53, a contract was given for the building of the El Dorado Street bridge at a cost of $27,000. It was 200 feet in length and 80 feet in width. The bridge was built on piles and for many years was an open waterway, the Chinamen passing through and tying their boats near the Hunter Street China houses. There were dozens of wagon and footbridges throughout the city, but now there are but few left, such is the city's progress. Assassination of Wm. A. Brown Considering the scarcity of funds in the city treasury it is peculiar the way in which they spent some of it. In April, '53, the council, through the mayor, offered $1,000 reward for the arrest of one William Bowlin, who shot and killed W. A. Brown, the Adams Express messenger between Stockton and San Andreas. The citizens, the county judge, the Masonic lodge, of which Brown was a member, and Governor Bigler also offered large rewards for the arrest of Bowlin. He was also in the employ of the express company and embezzling funds, was tried and acquitted. Brown was a witness against him and this so angered Bowlin that he determined to kill him. At this time Brown was boarding at the City Hotel, located on the east side of the present Masonic Hotel site and kept by I. V. Leffler. Bowlin planned well his escape from the scene of murder by placing a relay of fast horses from Stockton to Mariposa. There was no telegraph or telephone lines, no railroads and a long stretch of country sparsely settled between the two points. Bowlin knew Brown's habits and, riding to Stockton on a fast horse late on the afternoon of April 1, 1853, lay in wait for his victim at the end of the small footbridge across the present Hotel Stockton site. At dusk Brown came from the hotel and as he approached the middle of the bridge, Bowlin fired at him with a shotgun, so seriously wounding Brown that he died the following day. Bowlin then quickly jumped on his horse, which had been held in waiting by Glover O'Neil, a son of the sheriff, and sped away in the darkness. There was great excitement over the cowardly assassination, for the murdered man was very highly respected, and as soon as possible a company of mounted men started after the fugitive. Everything, however, was in his favor, the darkness, fast horses and several hours start. Brown was buried in the City cemetery, over 2,000 persons, Odd Fellows, Masons, officials and citizens attended the funeral. In the meantime it was learned that Bowlin was secreted in the mountains near Mariposa and, stimulated by the large reward, parties of men mounted and well-armed started forth to hunt for the murderer. In a few days a party of four found Bowlin afoot and alone in a ravine near Mariposa. As the men came within hailing distance Bowlin cried out, "I suppose I am the person you are looking for." On receiving an affirmative reply, he laid his bowie knife and revolver upon the ground and said, "Come and take me." and immediately swallowed a quick poison. One of the party then shouted, "He has taken poison." "I have," was his reply, "keep your distance, I am desperate," and reaching for his revolver he kept it in his hand until his death. Disposal of the Dead In the evolving of civilization in Stockton there is no progress more noticeable than the humane burial of the dead. Today in Rural Cemetery they peacefully sleep, in soil artistically laid off and surrounded by beautiful trees, shrubs and flowers, and some of them beneath handsome monuments and inclosed in costly mausoleums. Yesterday it was not so. Then the dead were disposed of as quickly and cheaply as possible in the most convenient spot, no prayer, nor funeral dirge. One grave was found while workmen were digging the foundation of a building on Main Street; another was found, late in the '60s on Hunter Street, corner of Market while workmen were cutting out an oak tree for the improvement of the street. It was the grave of a little girl. While the Chicard family were crossing the plains the little girl died, but the mother positively refused to leave the body buried on the plains, so the body was brought to Stockton. The family had had bad luck and on arrival were extremely poor. Captain Weber, hearing of the sad case, permitted them to live on a lot on the southeast corner of the streets named and the child was buried beneath an oak tree standing near by. For this neglect of the dead there were good and sufficient reasons; namely the conditions and the times. It's an old and a true saying, "What's everybody's business is nobody's business," and as there was no government, no one to take charge of this work, the men were all strangers to each other, here today and gone tomorrow never to return. Each man was dependent upon himself for his food, shelter, and even life, none of them were wealthy, and they had neither the time, inclination nor the money to give to strangers. Then another reason, deaths were very many in number for such a small population due from various causes. Many immigrants landed in Stockton with just money sufficient to pay their passage, lured to California with the absurd report that gold could be picked up off the earth. They took sick and died. Others came with some coin, they were also taken sick and going to the hospital, were turned out into the streets to die as soon as their money was exhausted. The physician was one of the most humane of men, but medicines, labor, material and food were high in price, and he could not act otherwise than as he did. Then there were many cases of men drunk with liquor who would mire down in the mud of winter, lie down and die. These were some of the conditions in the "days of '49." After the organization of the city government, quite a number of the dead were buried in the lot where now stands the county jail. Then by common consent the city authorities selected a piece of ground just east of the Western Pacific depot. An engine house is now located on the block. Soon after this selection of a burial place had been made a wail went up from the press, "For mercy's sake and for the love of God, good Christian gentleman, let us bury our dead." Then the reported declared, "The hogs are rooting in the dead bodies on the unfenced burial ground. Now we earnestly suggest," said he, "that the city council take this matter under serious consideration, as they could do no more popular act than enclose with a good fence the Stockton burial ground." In the previous year. July, 1851, the committee on public grounds had been authorized to advertise for "proposals, to build a fence around the graveyard belonging to the city." They had taken the squatters possession, and Councilman Howison, in January, 1852, offered a resolution which was adopted, that the committee on public grounds "be instructed to confer with Captain Weber and solicit from him a donation of the burial grounds." At the same time $1,000 was appropriated by the council towards inclosing the grounds. The citizens had previously obtained $500 by subscription for the same purpose, and they had requested the council to create the office of city sexton. "to take charge of the graveyard, superintend funerals and make monthly reports of burials to the council." Their request was approved and the council appointed Morris H. Bond as city sexton and Jacob Sutherland as grave digger. M. H. Bond was a curious figure in Stockton's society. He was less than five feet in height, heavy-set, near-sighted, and slow of comprehension; because of this he was the goat of many Jokes. He was a Mason, an Odd Fellow and at one time a member of the Stockton Cornet Band. For over thirty years he was a funeral director and several times coroner, his office and home being just east of the engine house on Weber Avenue. He was the first undertaker to purchase a hearse, in 1856, and it was a crude vehicle in comparison with the handsome automobile hearses of today. The donation of the grounds was cheerfully made by Captain Weber and soon after blocks of land were deeded to the Catholic and Jewish churches, and the Odd Fellows for the burial of their dead. In March, '61, a meeting of citizens was held in the city hall for the purpose of purchasing a new burial ground as "the city cemetery," they declared, "is being rapidly filled and will soon be unfitted for the purposes for which it is now used." The following year the old burial place was abandoned and the undertaker began the removal of the bodies, of those who had the money to pay for the work, to Rural Cemetery. Hundreds of bodies were left in the earth and the block, overgrown with dry grass, littered with broken tombstones and open graves was a disgrace to the city. The fence was broken in many places, cows fed and trampled over the graves and in '67 Captain Weber, at his own expense, engaged a carpenter to repair the fence, "for he is determined to keep the swine, horses and cattle from encroaching upon the graves." The legislature in 1893 authorized the removal of cemeteries from the city limits and Mayor W. R. Clark, recommending their removal, the city cemetery was obliterated, the Catholics selling their block to the Holt Manufacturing Plant, removing their dead to a new plot just north of North Street; the Odd Fellows, laying off a plot in the Rural grounds, sold their lot to the Western Pacific Railroad, and the Jewish cemetery still remains in the city limits. J. M. Buffington's Administration City elections every year, state and county elections every two years, kept the politicians busy. The proposal of the Democrats to carry the election of 1854 as they had carried the three previous elections, went glimmering. The Democrats assembled in the city hall April 20 and elected Captain P. E. Jordan president, and Abram Schell and Dr. Christopher Grattan secretaries. Dr. E. B. Bateman offered a resolution, which was adopted, that all candidates for office be pledged to support the convention nominees or withdraw their names. Apparently up to this time there had been no party lines drawn in city elections. The Whigs, assembled the day following the Democrats, declared "Whereas, the necessity has been forced upon us by the late Democratic convention of effecting an organization; Resolved, that we recommend competency and integrity as constituting the only real claim to public support for municipal honors." They appointed a committee of thirteen from the four wards to recommend a city-municipal ticket, they to report April 25. Reporting they said, "We have endeavored to select men whose interests are permanently identified with the city; men of sound practical judgment and unquestionable character, ability and integrity." They recommended for mayor, John M. Buffington, at the time was engaged in the grocery business, who was already a councilman, superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday school and of the public schools. The unusual thing happened in 1854, when the mayor of Stockton read to the council his report of the public schools as superintendent. All of the nominees were elected viva voce, a very unusual custom in elections, but the Whigs declared "Let every man show his hand." The Democratic press commenting on this method of voting asserted that B. Owens, the chairman, "is constituted the king of the crowd and the ballot box is repudiated and almost scoffed at." In 1854 the Democrats voted by the same method in their convention. Commenting on the Whig nominee for mayor, the editor declared, "We have one objection to Mr. Buffington, of a most serious character; he was the head and front of the movement for the issue of city bonds to the amount of thousands of dollars for the purpose of building costly school houses." The Democrats had placed at the head of their ticket William Vance for mayor, but he was defeated by the Whig nominee 518 to 410 votes. Mayor Buffington made a very able inaugural address before the council, in which he stated that the city revenue from taxation was $48,000, licenses $6,000, harbor dues $10,000, and rent of city property $5,000. The expense was, fire department $2,000, hospital, streets and wharves $16,000; schools $7,000, interest $20,000, and contingent $10,000. There was a balance of $25,000 which he hoped would be used in the liquidation of the debt. John M. Buffington was a very active business man and unfortunately for the city, he removed to San Francisco with his wife and four children in 1857 and there died in June, 1891. Born in Massachusetts in 1828, he attended the public schools of Boston, and coming to Stockton in 1849, he did his first work as a carpenter on the Presbyterian Church at sixteen dollars a day. He then opened a cracker bakery, where now stands the business college on Weber Avenue. He was a prominent Mason, and possessing considerable self-esteem, he had painted a life-sized oil painting of himself in the handsome Knights Templar uniform. It hung for many years on the wall of the Pioneer. One evening a woman lecturing on woman suffrage stated in her remarks, "They say the men are not self-conceited," and pointing to the painting, she quietly said, "Look at that." The applause was deafening, the men as well as the women enjoying the speaker's sarcasm. The City Rents Property An income of $5,000 a year from the rent of city property would not come amiss even in this day. The idea of leasing property was conceived in the first council, that of 1850, for the purpose of replenishing the exchequer, and it was thought more advisable than the ordinance which they had passed taxing the auctioneers $100 a month. Captain Weber had deeded to the city the west half of block 12, fronting on Hunter and Main Streets, and Phelps & Company had made the council an offer of $600 per month, payable in advance, for lots on Main Street, which they accepted. Reserving lot seven for the use of the Hook and Ladder company, they leased the balance of the property, the lessors to erect their own buildings. Much of the property was a deep slough in winter, but the buildings were erected on piles. On the corner was a saloon and to the east I. S. Locke's daguerrean car, which sat on wheels. The low one-story shacks remained until 1865 when the fire of May 5 wiped them out of existence, and the city out of considerable profit. Soon after the fire the Odd Fellows' Hall Association offered the council $5,000 for the corner lot 90x100 feet. The council accepted the offer, but Mayor Gray vetoed the ordinance, saying "the price was too cheap." The council passed it over his head and the Association erected the finest building, a three-story, in the San Joaquin Valley. In 1854 the council leased the southwest corner of the Court House Square to Webster & Barstow, a mercantile firm. They paid $250 a month for the rent of the ground, 50 feet on Main and 100 feet on Hunter street, and on piles of heavy timbers erected a one-story sheet-iron building. Some two years later they removed and Marks, the auctioneer, occupied the building until 1860. It was then voted by the council to fill in and improve the square and the building was torn down. The council moved into the city hall in April, 1854, as they owned the south half of the court house. "It was admirably arranged and brilliantly illuminated with three elegant hanging lamps reflecting an illumination sufficient to read or write in any part of the room. The lamps were filled with whale oil (you can imagine the brilliant illumination). It has a rostrum and desk, with a handsome mahogany railing around it. The room is complete and well arranged." This hall was used for all public assemblies, church festivals, conventions, Sunday and public school entertainments, until the building of Agricultural hall, where now stands the Yosemite Building. The city rented the hall to various parties, through the hall-keeper, Thomas Barnes. He opened the hall for the council meetings, receiving $1.00 per night. He also received a perquisite from each party to whom he rented the hall, each time giving the council five dollars. Although during the year the hall was occupied over thirty times the council received only seventy-five dollars from rents. There were too many "dead head" entertainments, and free rents given by councilmen through politics and favoritism. The largest and steadiest income of the council was the rent of wharf space. In 1855 they passed an ordinance "leasing out the new wharf in parts and parcels suitable for the vending of vegetables. The tents, six by eight or over, to pay $100 a month rent." The space was quickly occupied, as it was a fine business location for those who received their vegetables by water. These cloth tents gave the city quite an income, although in later days the rent was reduced to twenty dollars per month. In my day I remember along tent row Louie Vilhac, the fish market, L. L. Rowland & Co., Richard S. Bates, B. Howard Brown, Joseph Hale and Heeney & Lochhead. The town was rapidly growing and the demand for wharf room was so great that in 1864 the council notified the tent occupants to vacate. At this time Louie Wagerman, a butcher, had a wooden shack at the corner of the bridge where now stands the Lodi and Sacramento electric car office. He erected his own building and paid the city twenty dollars a month rent. After several years the place became an eye�sore and a nuisance, but as it was one of the best business locations in the city Wagerman refused to vacate. The council then raised his rent to $100 per month "payable in gold or silver coin." That clause was inserted because it was war times and Uncle Sam's paper money was at times below par. Victory of American Party In the following year, 1855, there was a city, county and state election, and a new party known as the American or Know Nothing party was organized. The party was composed of Whigs and Democrats, and in their city ticket they nominated Royal B. Parker, a leading grocer, for mayor. The Democrats nominated Alvin N. Fisher, a stage proprietor. Two men more honorable could not have been placed on either ticket. The Know Nothings swept the state in the September election and they elected every city officer, except their mayor and one alderman in the Second Ward. The party held no convention, but selected their candidates in a secret meeting and, said the Republican, "Citizens not invested with the password were not allowed to enter the circle that formed it. It is headed Citizens' Ticket, to which it is about as much entitled as old Nick to righteousness." As the Fourth of July drew near (the two previous councils had appropriated $500 towards the expenses of a celebration), the American council refused to appropriate a dollar and there was no celebration on that day. They also ordered the committee on public grounds to remove outside the town the old cannon which lay at the north end of the El Dorado Street bridge. This was simply spite work, and as the press truly stated, "We presume the old gun has chronicled too many Democratic victories to be tolerated by the Know Nothings." On the morning of the Fourth, a company of patriotic young men, procuring a wagon fastened ropes to the tongue and getting the cannon, loaded it on the wagon, drew it to the bridge and fired a salute. Then preceded by a fife and drum they marched around town, firing a salute at every corner. The gun was in charge of its owner, William Walls, who had not been consulted as to its removal. In the evening there were fireworks at the Zachariah gardens on Park Street, now a part of the State Asylum grounds. B. Walker Bours Elected Mayor The Democratic press were never so happy as when berating the opposition party and in 1857 they called the Democrat's attention to the fact in April that "the day of our annual election is approaching and it is time for the Democratic party to make their selection of public men to fill the various offices. It is perfectly certain that the combined forces of Know Nothingism and Black Republicanism will enter the field under the guise of a People's Party. Like a celestial army of Chinese they will come into the field with a clash of gongs and shouts of reform and what not, but then they are more disagreeable than dangerous, as it is known they are all foam and no cider." On the 29th the Democrats met in convention with H. T. Huggins as chairman and Allen Lee Bours and Edward M. Howison, secretaries. They resolved that no delegate should have the right to vote for any candidate unless he was a legal voter and would support the nominees. The election was again by viva voce. There were three nominations for mayor, Charles S. Stevens, Henry T. Compton and B. Walker Bours. The three named were vestrymen of the Episcopal Church, thus showing that in the early days men of religion were shaping the city government. In the city election Bours had no opposition and he was elected by a vote of 647: The entire Democratic ticket was elected except V. M. Peyton, J. P. D. Wilkins and A. J. Colburn, who were elected councilmen from the Third Ward on the People's ticket. The mayor elected was not new in politics, having been elected an alderman in 1854 from the First Ward, this only a few weeks previous to his marriage, May 18, to Miss Louise Faulkenberg. He was born in New York in 1823, and came early to California in the early days. In 1850 he came to Stockton and he and his brother, T. R. Bours, established the first banking house here, now the Bank of Italy. The mayor in delivering his message to the council said, "The financial affairs of the city are in a sound and healthy condition. Our taxes have already been reduced and our citizens look to you for still further reductions. The city charter allows you to expend only $16,000 a year. A fair estimate of the city's resources are as follows: Ground and office rents, $3,000; wharf stands, $3,400; liquor licenses, $3,500; wharfage, $9,000; dray licenses, $1,000; billiard licenses, amusements, etc., $1,000; totaling in all $21,000. The expenses are: Salaries�marshal, $2,400; city dray-man, $1,000; clerk, $800; assessor, $400; wharves, streets and city property, $6,400; fire department, $2,000; printing, stationery, $1,000; incidentals, $1,000; total $16,000. Dr. Grattan Deserts Democrats The city election of 1858 was another Democratic victory, the seventh victory since the organization of the city government. The entire Democratic ticket was renominated in the convention and reelected. Two who were defeated on the Independent ticket were the printer, E. D. Eldridge, later a prominent capitalist, and Jacob Sutherland, whom we recognize as the city burial ground gravedigger. In 1859 the political agitation in the East was felt in Stockton and the anti-slavery or Union men were beginning to marshal their forces for the great presidential election of 1860. We will hear more of this in a succeeding chapter. The Democrats met in the court house April 25 and Lot Day was elected chairman, the motion being put by William Lanius, the Stockton postmaster appointed by President James Buchanan. The secretary, Oscar M. Brown, two years later was a captain of cavalry in the California Volunteers. Bours was again nominated without any opponent, the delegates voting viva voce. In the evening the Citizens' Democratic party met in the court house and Dr. Christopher Grattan, who now had deserted his old-time Democratic friends, was elected chairman of the meeting. B. W. Owens nominated Dr. E. S. Holden for mayor and he was elected by acclamation. Owens was an anomaly in that day, an anti-slavery and a Union man, a native of South Carolina. The election was May 2 and Bours was beaten by Holden 409 to 350. H. W. Gillingham, elected collector on the Citizens' ticket, was elected mayor in 1856 on the Democratic ticket. Mayor Bours' Farewell Message Mayor Bours, in bidding good bye to the council, never again to take part in politics, said, "Our official connection ends this evening, and I beg to review the present condition of the city which is financially in a strong and healthy condition. The income from ground rents and licenses has proven to be amply sufficient for all general expenses, including salaries of officers and fire department. The city has no floating debt and for the past two years has paid cash for every demand against her as soon as audited. It is gratifying to be able to state that the credit of our city stands as high, if not higher, than that of any other city in the state. The receipts for the year have been $23,838.95 and the expenses $18,486.78. Among the disbursements of the fire department was that of repairing and constructing fire wells and cisterns, also the cost of the fire alarm bell, $1,636. A large outlay has been made for grading and graveling streets in front of city property, which was absolutely necessary because of the dilapidated condition of the old planking. During the present year a beautiful and commodious school house has been erected for the boys' school. The ordinance requiring the retailers of liquor to present a petition to the councilmen signed by three respectable citizens residing in the immediate neighborhood has had the desired effect of closing nearly all of the low dram and tippling places and a corresponding decrease in crime." Mayor Bours then retired, closing the first decade of Stockton's history, and vacating the mayor's seat in favor of Dr. E. S. Holden, who when elected mayor four times refused to longer serve as the city's servant.