Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-01-01
SAN FRANCISCO LETTER.
HOW DULL TIMES AFFECT THE
HOLIDAY TRADE.
A Hit at Female Styles-Boss Buck
ley and the Gamblers-The
SharOn-Hill Case-Etc.

| ley and the Gamblers-The
SharOn-HiIl Case-Etc.
| SAN FRANCISCO, December q, 1885.
During the entire week prior to Christ
mas it was raining cats and dogs" here,
and the streets presented quite funereal
aspect-with the multitude of females in
gossamer attire fitting from one shop to
another worrying the poor clerks almost
to distraction. The miserable weather and
scarcity of money among the masses tended
to call forth unceasing lamentations from
shopkeepers, who for months were living
in anticipation of fair holiday trade. 1t
is estimated that the Indictment week dimin-
ished the sale of holiday goods to the extent
of $1,000, 000-at least, SO says one of the
leading jewellers here. However, the
weather has cleared up bit, and, like the
condemned murderer anxiously awaiting a
| respite, the San Francisco tradesman (who
has dozen prices for everything in his
shop is living in delusive hopes of reaping
! bonanza between now and New Year
Speaking of New Year, the time-honored
custom of
PRDMIscUoUs CALLING
| Has almost become obsolete here, because
of its abuse. l well remember when gen.
tlemen prided themselves upon the num-
Der of visits they made on such occasions !;
and the ladies receiving them would deem
| it nothing amiss when their male friends
| entered their reception rooms in anything
but an orderly condition, frequently accom-
panied by men whom the ladies would not
dream of recognizing on the day following.
But all this has undergone great change
| since San Francisco society" has become
so extremely exclusive" Only old and
valued friends are now expected to present
their respects on the first day of the new
year; and should they presume to intro
duce a stranger on that occasion they would
incur the greatest displeasure of their host
ess, unless the intruder carried with him
incontrovertible evidence that the fluid of
life circulating through his veins is of a
cerulean hue.
WHAT A NAUsEATING SHAM
San Francisco society is, after all There
is nothing real nor substantial about it, a
fact that early becomes apparent to an in
| teiligent observer. One hears nothing but
insipid small talk, which grows inexpressi-
bly, wearisome in very short time Dress
is the popular theme of conversation of
the fashionable woman of this city, and
she knows so little about it! Why, on the
warmest day she will persist in wearing a
sealskin on the sunniest side of Kearny
street, while the perspiration rolling from
her face in great beads obliterates all that
| artificial complexion which renders her so
charming at a fhomentary glance.
PROSPEROUS CALLING.
In the streets of Naples one cannot throw
stone without striking mendicant, and
here one cannot miss male or female in
surance solicitor. While as l have re-
marked before, trade is unprecedentedly
depressed, the fire and marine insurance
business is ever growing in magnitude and
prosperity, owing to the constantly increas-
ing values that require to be covered, or Sc
| cured against loss to the owners. The for
| eign agencies and home offices located in
this city represent capital exceeding
$500, 5000 dollars, exclusive of the life
| life insurance companies. and they give
| employment to 5000 persons, 900 being
| solicitors. The people engaged in soliciting
| fire insurance embrace every imaginable
type-from the formerly affiuent banker,
wealthy stock broker and lady of fashion,
| down to the poor little Hebrew, who in ali
his life never possessed 500 that he could
| rightfully call his own. There are some
| engaged in this business who do not
! require the investment of a dollar, deriv-
| ing revenue of from $1,000 to $1,000 per
month, and from that down. The business
of soliciting fire insurance in this city
especially, requires the greatest amount of
energy, patience and Christian meekness !;
| and the man or woman most invulnerable
| to coarse rebuffS is the most successful in
| this line. There are also ladies moving
in the best circles " engaged in this occupa-
ton, and making quite good income
Among the number is the daughter of a
lawyer very famous in your city during
ante belltm days, who is earning from $500
to 5000 per month. Her clients, however,
are principally Southern people, and sine
does not have to exert herself much to
| secure their business. l am personally ac-
quainted with few ladies who some years
since lived in sumptuous style, waited
upon by liveried servants, and so forth,
| now soliciting fire insurance and doing
| well. OF course, they are not driven to
solicit business from the riff-raff, but those
who enjoyed their hospitality in more pros
porous days aid them in making their
career successful one. The underwriting
business is simply enormous, and it is
city are comfortably supported from its
results.
THE " BOSS IN NEW ROLE.
During the past year the " heightened
sports of San Francisco have been in a
very demoraliZed condition, owing to Chief
! of Police Crowley's edict that no game of
| hazard, excepting the one PLAYED in the
Board of Brokers' should be tolerated with
in the city limits. Many of the odd
timers" began to look miserably seedy,
whereas formerly they were the best-drcssed
men on the street; and they were not
averse to subsisting at free-lunch tables,
| with drink generously donated by late
frequenter of their dens of destruction
Within the past week, however, these hui
man parasites seem to be infused with
fresh hope and vigor. The report is cur
rent and pretty well authenticated that
early after the LIST proximo they will be
permitted to resume their nefarious
occupation. Gamblers can be met
in small knots in the vestibules
of hotels, saloons and other places, wear
ing facial expressions of the serenest pla-
cidity, in confidential communion with
each other. Rumor credits Chris Buckley,
the Democratic "boss," with the diplomacy
that has created this millennium for the San
Francisco gambler, and that be will derive
a handsome revenue from them for his in
tercession in their behalf no one doubts.
But another fact in connection with this
move must not be lost sight of, and that is
the political influence of
THE METROPOLITAN GAMBLER.
In 1856 there will be an election for city
and county officers here, and the num-
Der of gamblers is not an insignificant one.
who can and will throw their power into
the quarter where they expect the least
interference with their trade. l predict
that within sixty days faro games will be
conducted with the same degree of impu-
nifty as in the past, and no police raids will
be made upon them-at all events not I'M
til after the municipal election, which
takes place in November next. In the
meantime many sportively inclined clerk
will find ample opportunity to diminish
the assets of his employer, and take
chances of rusticating a few years in the
Isalubrious climate of San Quentin. But
politics make strange bed-fellows. and the
lamb and the lion will peaceably lie down
together just few months before the time
for choosing fresh municipal officers.
THAT CYCLONE.
The denunciatory decision by United
States District Judge Deadly, in the Sharon