The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-07-05
PROUD PIC PICO.
Why He Did Not Visit the
Worlds Fair.
NOT TO BE MADE A SHOW.
The Declining Years of the Once
Wealthy and Hospitable Gov
ernOr of California.
NOT TO BE MADE A SHOW.

| 1t is not generally known that Pho Pico.
the former Governor of this great state,
is now living in Los Angeles. hale ola
man of 81 years, and that he refused point
blank to attend the Worlds Fair at Chi'
cago.
Pioneers who remember the Ex-Governor
as one Of the gayest Of the gay statesmen
CT the good old days when money grew on
trees and gold dubbed out of the ground
at the slightest provocation will open
their eyes in aston ishment at his statemen
and exclaim in '49er drawl:
wal. what has California come ter, any
how, when one of Their biggest bloods
what Frisco and Sacramento ever seed
won't go on a spree ter ther big circus at
Chicago?'
The reason why the old man refused to
take the trip is simple one. He is so
proud that he would put the proverbial
old Virginia horse to shame, and he is
| just as poor.
At one time the ex-executive counted
| his acres in Southern California by the
| thousand, and. as for town property, why.
he simply owned two-thirds OF what is
now known as the City OF the Angels.
| He (Pco) had more money than he knew
what to do with, and yet he is Dauper
TO- day and lives on the charity of three or
four big-hearted gentlemen Of his race who
| allow him so much a month.
| His poverty has kept him away from
Chicago. notwithstanding the fact that
committee waited on him several times
and offered not Onlv to pay all OF his ex-
penses but to keep him In the same style
| that he maintained when he occupied the
gubernatorial mansion ID the palmy days
of the Golden West
! 4 will cait nnp PipO
through an interpreter, for two good
reasons. The first is because l am poor.
and the second Is because | do rot intend
to 90 to the big show to be one of the
animals on exhibit" and he refused to dis
cuss the matter further.
To an intimate friend after the COM
mitee had made its last visit and given
up in despair the ancient don put on his
most dgn fed look and CALCULATED in his
most vigorous Spanish:
"lf those gringos imagine for moment
that they can take me back there and show
me in a side tent at two bits a head they
| are very much mistaken"
And the old man called one OF his amigos
to assist him in his buggy and he drove off
with the air that plainly said, If l 90 not
own this town l used to-"
This horse and buggy are all that are
! left out If his immense fortune. and the
| old swell-fOr Don Pho Piro is still a
4
| about the city.
| He is almost always alone. and singular
! as 1t may seem for one of his advanced
/ age, he drives through the nest crowded
streets faster and builder than nineteen th,
| of the younger drivers.
His memory has begun to fail him dur
! ing the past few years, but he is in perfect
| health and it will not be a surprise to
many of his friends if he lives 10 be 125
| years of age.
Don Pho Pico should be one of the weat
! lest men in California to-day, but like q
large percentage OF his nationality his heart
was created first and the rest Of the man
| was built around it in a haphaZard style of
! architecture,
! When his wealth was so great that he
| believed it could not be exhausted lie
would not content himself with entertain.
! ing his kinfolks and a few intimate friends
He wanted the whole State for a guest.
and it is said by those who ought to know
| that he would entertain several hundred
| people at a time.
This kind of life was kept up for years.
and when the hospitabe Mexican gentle.
man began to get pinched for money be
sought the money-lenderS, and when once
in their hands no power under the sun
could save him.
Mortgage after mortgage plastered his
broad acres, and like hundreds of others
Of his people he woke up one morning
with the Sheriff in charge, and eX Gov
ernOr Don Pho PicO realized for the first
time that he Was pauper. But he is the
same elegant gentleman that he always
was, and IL was not in the noble old man
to lower his pride by attending the Worlds
Fair on the charity of strangers.