Democratic banner., 1849-03-12

teen murders. In one instance an entire
household of ten pers0ns-a respectable
ranchero, his wife, two children, and six
servants, The man, whose name was Reed,
had been very successful in the digging du.
ring the summer, and had returned to his
home near Santa Barbara, with large a.
mount Of gold. His house was surprised
by an armed party, and the whole family,
as above stated, were barbarously murder
ed, and the house riAed of its golden treas
ure The perpetrators of this horrid deed
are still at large; Of the other FIVE cases,
four are highway robberies, committed on
persons returning with gold from the mines.
In a.word, may say with truth, that both
persons and property are insecure in Up
per California at this time; and I am sorry
to add that, in all eases Of outrage and vi
o~lence, as yet discovered, emigrants from
the United States, disbanded volunteers,
runaway sailors, and deseriers from tie ar
my aud navy, are believed to be the per-
petrators.
The mutinies, attended with murder, to
which / alluded in my letter No. 43, have
been fully confirmed, and-not without
good reascR-has caused much uneasiness
to shippers Of gold from this coast,
To guard each and every vessel sailing
hence with large sums in gold dust, would
require every ship of the navy. The best
that | can do is to keep the vessels Of this
squadron at sea as much as possible, ply
ing between the ports most frequented by
our mercantile marine. Enclosed is a copy
of a circular mo. 81 which 1 have found
it necessary to issue and make public, in
the hope that it may have some tendency to
prevent a repetition of such acts as have
recently occurred on board the English
schooner Amelia, and the Gillian barque
Adelina.
Arecent arrival from Callao reports that
the Adelina had been taken into that port,
and the mutineers, eighth number, prompt
ly executed.
had received a request from the gov
ernor Of Valparaiso, through Mr.. More
head, our consul at that port to arrest and
safe-keep the Adelina, should I be fortsf
nate enough to fall in with her on the Mexi-
can coast, where it was supposed the mutt.
neers might take her.
have the honor to be your nbedient ser.
want, THos. AP C. JONES,
Commander-in-chief us. Naval Forces,
Pacific Ocean.
The Hon. John Y. Mason, Sec'y
Of the Navy.
P. S. Since the above letter was written,
MA have ~aeensnts of more murdeIs-one
in the town Of Sonoma, and another in the
vicinity.
December 25th, 1s4s.
The following extracts are from a letter
from a printer, in the Nsw Hork Sun:
After gathering as much "dust'' as we
could without eRdangeriug our lives, our
party concluded to return to the settle
ments. We had been gone only twenty
four days, and in that time ten Of US sew
en- men and three boys) collected Eve hun
dred and seventy.eight ounces, which, at
sixteen dollars an ounce, the market price
here, was something over nine hundred dol.
lars for each hand.
lhave said that the mines are unlimited
lin extent, / mean. There is ~undoubted-
~ q limitto their productiveness, for three
placers have already been exhausted, and
/ do not believe that any veins have been
found In the mountains. Since June last,
four milliqns of dollars worth have been
washed cat, nearly One-fourth Of which has
been paidto South America and English
merchants for merchandise and supplies
sent here from all "along shore" Aquar-
ter Of a million has gone to the United
States, and the remainder is now coming
down to DO forwarded by the United States
ship Lexington, and other vessels, for New
York. The Lexington has nearly a half
mill 0n on board. The captain is in some
doubts about the propriety of taking any
more.
The merchants, kowever, are gathering
ths1argest share-of Ibis glorious harvest
Captain Suffer is selling off his last crop
at enormous advances. He is now enpae.
ing freighther for New York, on a large
smeARkef ore, reported at $4,000 on bis
eaNew York boys are g,ing
h64fl6a few weeks. Winter has Sc. in
aEthe placsrss they are compelled to ADAM
don the4s1sa, and what il would cost them
2ssalk hess~ atpresent prices would pay
NleiE eNsapgs home. They are returning
daily fFem the mines, being PERFECTLY dis.