New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-07-22

larly safe Tor solitary traNeiicrs, anu
many murder was committed with impunity.
When tho returning miner was on board tho
steamer his perils were not past, for professional
thieves travelled regularly on both sides Of the
Isthmus Just rs the monte sharps at later period
infested the trains on the Pacifc railroads until
the corporations took strong measures against
them. In the ffties, however, nobody was con-
cerned to protect the returning Californians, and
often they escaped pundering by the merest acci-
dent As to those who stayed in California, few
indeed succeeded in keeping what they made at
first The general example was of course very
influential Everybody was extravagant, wildly
So It was light come, light 60" Even the
merchants of San Francisco were more like Wall
Street BROKERS when stocks arc booming than re-
spectacle, steady-going traders. The disastrous
fires which three times swept over San Francisco.
each time running hundreds Of solid' men, added
to the gambling fever Nobody felt Of anything
he possessed. Everybody was pcrpetually willing
to stake everything upon chance Commerce was
just wild gambling as faro, and involved the
same desperate risks.
Naturally, in abnormal state of society
there was good deal of drinking, but the very
desperateness of the prevailing speculation
had in 1t one saving conditions II
caused the majority to cleave to straight"
whiskey. Now, it is matter of experience
that the drinlyer of whiskey alone can
as rule stand more drinking than he who dalies
with any other variety of vanity" The
whiskey will perhaps kill him in time, but what
is called mixed drinking will do so much more
quickly. Certainly the Cafornians who did not
encounter accidents" with knife pistol or
dangling ropes upon unstable scaffods have held
their own bravely, and goodly number of po-
chic Ia la fhnt-f
drink, nevertheless with persistent thirst which
would have reused the unqualified admiration of
Grandgousier himself. There were no abstainers
for it was dangerous to decline an invitation to
I" take something" the scorner being liable to
challenge for harboring an insolcnt purpose. and
being in any case regarded with sharp suspicion
and as sharp dislike, unsocal and abnormal
creature, perchance disposed to put on airs To
be singular in any primitive community is to be
offensive, and many tenderfoot' has been
wofully treated in some mining camp because he
wore stove-ppe hat" or a billed shirt in the
latitude Of woolen shirts and slouched felt head
coverings The class which remained longest at
the mines and did the hardest physical work drank
most and got rid of its earnings quickest; but 1t
did not follow that the most temperate class Jared
best for the professional gamblers were usually
sober men, and though many of them made a great
deal Of money few succeeded in keeping any of
their gains.
1t is at first sight singular that while prices were
almost incredibly high for all the necessaries OF
life and most of the luXuries there was consider
able period during which champagne by the case
could be purchased at New York rates. This was
owing to the fact that the market was overloaded
with cargoes of wine and though the demand for
it very strong the supply continued excessive
As far back $40, as the books kept at Suffers
Fort showed, while tallow candles were one dol
lar pound and pair of gum boots brought
sevcnty-five dollars, a basket of champagne sold
for twenty-five dollars The time did not encour
age thrift. The utmost prudence could not avert
crushing misfortune often. Mr. Bancroft tells
story illustrating this. An experienced business
man took wellselected goods to California to the
amount of sl5O,000. Soon after he had opened
his store in San Francisco one of the great fires
destroyed half his Stock and few weeks later
another con1agration consumed the remainder and
left him penness. But the early Californans rose
superior to fortune. They refused to accept de-
feat They were full of audacity and resource.
Men who had failed three, four or five times tried
again and finally achieved success. 1t was no.
thing to be down where every one was liable TO
the same vicisstudes and even conservative East
ern men soon adapted themselves to the new and
strange conditions.
Mr. Bancroft gives full and exact account Of
the Modoc war and other Indian troubles, and also
of several of those raids upon the Chinese which
reflect so much discredit upon the communities
that permitted them. He also deals entertainingy
with the oddities and absurdities which occurred
in many of the early courts The pioneer justices
were often men who not only knew nothing of
written law, but were strongly preiudiced against
il. Sometimes these officials were saloon-keepers
sometimes rough miners and sometimes mere bum
mers and loafers who owed their position to init
macy with the lawless class which used them free
ly When miners were on the bench rude justice
was apt to be administered, but with the saloon
keepers and friends of the gamblers and Hounds
nothing could be had which was not literally paid
for Venality in such courts was the rule, and the
jurisdiction of the higher tribunals was constantly
invaded More than one Justice OF the Peace I'M
dertook to inhict capital punishment, and some
times when the defendant was friendless Mex
lean or Chileno there is ground for believing that
such lawless sentences were actually executed. NO
forms were observed In one court the only book
of reference was an old New-York Directory. In
another it was discovered that grand jury had
been sworn upon a copy Of Tupper's Proverbial
Philosophy" instead of New Testament This
too was in San Francisco. In the mining camps
court procedure was if possible still more primitive
On one occasion judge drew bowie-lnife upon
Juror for asking question which His Honor
thought involved a reflection upon the court, and
the whole jury rushed into the street, pursued by
the furious judge Elsewhere presiding justice
calmly took off his coat and descended TO bout Of
fsticuffs with an attorney who had been guilty of
contempt of court.
coroners Jury sitting on a miner who had com
mitted suicide brought in verdict the declaration
that the deceased was a damned fool" Ned Nc
Gowan. who had served term in an Eastern pen-
Tertiary, became Judge in California, and ran his
court very much as if it had been gambling hell
He took brides Systematically from both sides;
practice which Lord Bacon has declared TO be
quite inadmissible, and besides. liable to lead to
serious dilemmas and possibly scandals. Hugh O.