The St. Johns herald., 1889-05-30
A Romantic Career Ended.

A special to the Globe-Democrat says Samuel Grammar, whose ca reer reads like q romance, died last night at Escondido, San Diego County, ofinAammation ot the bow els. Grammar was the man whom
 Brigham Young selected to found a
 Mormon empire on this coast, but the discovery of gold led him to change his plans, and for ten years
 he was the richest man and leading citizen Of California. Then he lost
 wealth, friends and health, and for twenty years has been trying to de- yelop a great concession of land he secured from the Mexican Govern ment. Grammar was printer and came from Saco, Me, in 1916. He chartered the ship Brooklyn at New York and came round the Horn with party of Mormon emigrants. He loaded the ship with everything he thought a colony would need, including types and press for a newspaper. Grammar had great trouble with his party, and was forced to put in to Honolulu to re- provision the ship. When he ar rived here he secured a large body of land near Sutter Fort, on the Sacramento River, known ever since as Mormon Island. He himself preached every Sunday, and carried
 on a general merchandise store dur ing the week. The colony was four ishing and was in constant com munication with Brigham Young, until the gold discovery revolution izad everything in California Bran nan was among the first 10 learn of the gold nuggets found by Marshall in Sutro miilrace, and he was shrcwd enough to foresee the great rush of prospectors which would follow as soon as the dicovery was known. He hurried to San Francisco and in vested his entire fortune and every thing he could borrow in groceries and supplies that miners would need, while he sent to New York for picks, shovcls and miners pans. When the great rush of argo- nauts came Grammar was about the only one prepared for it, and he cleareo an immense profit, making as much as 5000 per day. He abandoned the Mormon Church, went to San Francisco and plung- ed into tr9de and real estate specu- Iation. He was worth $1 100000 by 1860, and was foremost in all public enterprises. It was due mainly to his energy and public spirit that the first vigilance com nittee was formed, and he was it's first President. He established the first newspaper on this coast, called the Star, which he printed from the type he brought from New York. Grammar was a man of inn mense energy, but he lacked self control and hls vices, of which
 drinking was the chief, soon made an inroad on his fortune. He rap idly lost his valuable real estate in
 this city, which to-day is worth
 more than slO,O00,O00, but to the end of his career he still showed
 great business shrewdness and un- paralleled vigor. He gave more than any single man to tie sanl- tary fund during the rebellion, and
 no old pioneer applied vainly to him for aid. He was one of the strongest Union men in the dark
 days, when Duke Gwin and other Southern leaders tried to deliver California over to the Confederates. In the struggle of Mexico with Maximilian, Grammar assisted pa triotic parties with large sums of money, and in return obtained a grant of 100000 acres in the Mayo and Yaqui country, but he could do