Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1882-03-09

Brief Sketch of the Career Of q Dis
tf~ngufshed Californian.

III lh1tHCW
San Francisco Examiner.
Few men have had such an eventful
and brilliant career az the distinguished
gentleman who played such a prominent
part in the history OF California. Ger
tainly no man in the political history of
the United States ever started out in life
with nj capital but q commanding intel
lect, and in less than ten years succeeded
in being elected a member of the House of
Representatives, Governor of a State and
United States Senator before he was 80
years old. Governor Latham was born
May 90, 1927, in the State Of Ohio, and
was not quite IS years old at the time Of
his death. He graduated at Jefferson Col
lege, Pennsylvania, in 1916, and the same
year vent to Russell County, Alabama,
where he taught school for two years., dur
ing which time he studied law, and was
admitted to the bar in 1847. Shortly after
this the wondrous stories OF California,
with her gold felds-the promised land
for ambitious young men-reached the
ears of young Latham, already, by his
energy and ambition, giving signs Of the
distinguished career that awaited him.
STARTS FOR CALIFORNIA.
He at once started for the promised land
and arrived in California April Is, 1850.
Times were booming in San Francisco
then, and the future Governor drove q
dray the day after his arrival, earning SIS
for his days work. Shortly after his adj
vent upon this coast he was appointed Clerk
in the Recorders Court, presided over by
Judge Frank Tilford. In August, 1850,
Mr.. Latham removed to Sacramento and
commenced practicing law with John Big
Ter, but in 1851 turned his attention to
politics, and from that time his rise was as
rapid as it was extraordinary. At the first
general election after his arrival in Califor-
mia he was chosen District Attorney of
Sacramento County. He remained in this
Office seven or eight months. and afterward
entered into q law partnership with J.. b.
Haggin and A. G. Monson. and practiced
law until the Fall of 1852, when he was
elected to Congress, being only Is years
old. In 1855 he was appointed Collector
of the Port of San Francisco, which posi-
ton he filed with great ability for two or
three years. In 1859 he was nominated by
the Democrats for Governor, and carried
the State by a large majority.
IS ELECTED sENAToR.
He had hardly taken his seat when he
was elected to the United States Senate as
a successor to David G. Broderick. He
took his seat in March, 1860, and after the
expiration of his term made a prolonged
visit to Europe, and while there organized
the London and San Francisco Bank, OF
which he remained in charge until his
resignation in 1878, thus carrying out his
intention, long declared, of retiring from
active business when he reached the age OF
80 years. When the Bank of California
failed and panic-stricken depositors were
rushing with pallid faces into all the banks
of the city demanding their money, Gov
ernor Latham had the foresight to tele-
graph to the United States Sub-Treasury
for credit, and standing behind the coun-
ter of the London and San Francisco
Bank, by his smiling demeanor and cour-
ageous bearing did much to stay a inan-
cial crisis that would have brought ruin to
thousands Of California homes. About
the time Of his retirement from the man
agement Of the bank he became almost the
entire owner of the North Pacific Coast
Railroad = al enterprise which, although
beDefting the section of country through
it passes, besides the State at large,
to Governor Latham a disastrous VEN
ture, his large fortune being almost en-
lost. About three years ago he went
to New York to reside. and had been
en%deavoring to retrieve his broken
up to the time Of his death. He
leaves a wife and one child, q boy about11
years old.