The morning call., 1893-10-22
HATING THE RACE OF MEN.
Brief Story of a Most Remark
able Life.
,ULER OF AN ISLAND RANCH.
He Shot Down RuthlessIy a Chinese
Servant Who Sought to Leave
His Domain.

received to-day from Chicago announces
the death at Engewood OF Alexander P.
More. one of the pioneers of California
and owner of a large amount of property,
including Santa Rosa Island, one of the
largest of the Santa Barbara group. More
was bachelor. One brother, John More,
of this city, and several sisters, including
Mrs. E. Nj. Miller of Oakland, survive him,
and his wealth will probably go to these
relatives.
For more reasons than one the name of
Alex More, for so he will be known
always wherever he is known at all. will
live in the annals of Southern California.
In the old days, when California was just
passing from a pastoral to an agricultural
commonwealth. when the native land
owners were giving place to the shrewd
Yankees. who knew the value of the broad
acres that the old Spaniards were more
than willing to barter for a handful OF
shining gold pieces to hazard on horse
race or cock fight, the More brothers.
Alex. Henry and Tom. all dead now,
and the last-named victim to the
vengeance OF settlers whose homes he
sought to claim under the Sespe grant in
Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and what
is now Ventura counties. One of these
domains, of proportions so magnificent
that it came to be known as From Sunrise
to Sunset Rancho" stretched right down
the heart of the Santa Clara Valley iD
Ventura County, the richest land now
south of Tehachapi Mountain, and the
home of thousands of prosperous farmers,
and another was the island of Santa Rosa.
a principally in itself. and giving to. its
owners princely revenue of $500, 900 per
year.
On Santa Rosa Island. in later years,
Alex More was absolute sovereign,
with an absolute sovereign's rights, even
to the taking of life. This island goes to
his heirs. and there are other broad acres
on the mainland that will go to them, also,
for what passed into the clutches of the
older Mores. Alex and Henry, never was
released. Only the Ventura County prop
critics have gone. but they were Tom
More's, for the most part, and he was
younger brother and not so provident
Even the Sespe ranch, for which he lost
his life, is gone. but that passed to his
heirs and they were not provident at ALL
That, however, has nothing to do with
Alex More. now dead. He was provident
enough. too prevident.
Possibly Alex More may have begun
life with all the generous impulses COM
mon TO youth. If he did they fell from
him for in his old age he was hard, stern,
cold-a demonae in his hate and SEEM
ingly animated by a detestation of his
kind. Possibly tn 6 fact that he was a
martyr to dyspepsia accounted for this, at
least in part. To his physician and the
men in whom, ra rely. he eonfded, it was
known that be suffered physically the most
excruciating tortures, and no man can do
that without having his sufferings in time
affect his mentality aud his conduct toward
his fellows.
He had been known and feared and
hated in Santa Barbara. where he lived,
long before bis name was heralded through
the State as the inca rnation of the avepger.
That fame came to him in March, 1876.
one year after his brother. Thomas Wal
lace More. called to this day Tom More,
had been murdered by settlers. claiming
adversely their homes upon what had been
claimed also as part of the Sespe grant.
The story of the murder is an old one.
Briefly. one night in March, 1875, Tom
More was awakened to find his farm in
flames, and, going out to cut his horses
loose, was shot down by unseen men
from the circle Of darkness surrounding
the fire. One of the murderers. even ad-
vanced from the shadows as More lay
writhing upon the ground, shot to death,
and holding shotgun to the dying mans
hnn MI
double load of slugs. exclaiming: Cd
you, die!" One year later Frederick A.
Sprague. William G. Churchill, Charles
McCart. John Curlee, l. d. Ford, Jesse
Jones and Julius Swanson, who awas sub
sequently released, and one Hunt, jailed in
his place. all settlers on Sespe. we're ar
rested for the killing. and Alex More be-
came an avenger. The trial that followed
is matter OF State history, but so bitterly
did More pursue the men that public SEN
timent changed in Ventura County, and
though conviction in the case of Spragus,
the first man tried, was comparatively
easy, Churchill was acquitted, and CurIee,
sentenced to life Imprisonment, secured a
new trial and was never called to stand il,
and the others were discharged, conviction
being out of the question. Even Sprague
had his sentence TO be hanged commuted
to life Imprisonment and was subsequent
ly pardoned. had Alex More stayed away,
had he not shown willingness to resort
to any means to crafty his malignity. had
he not changed his nature spending money
freely 10 secure conviction, all the
sentiment hostile TO large landowners in
the southern counties would have slept,
and possibly murdererS would have re-
ceived their deserts.
1t was in 1886 that Alex More had his
next great bout with law. but this time be
beat it, He was in law, it is true, all his
life, like Horace w. Carpenter, but it was
civil and not criminal law. On the island
OF Santa Rosa, where there are sheep and
cattle. More kept employed a small army
of meD, among them a number of Chinese.
The anti-Chinese sentiment never touched
him. That is a popular sentiment. He
had also several small schooners running
between the island and the town of Santa
Barbara TO bring off wool and pelts and
hides and to carry supplies TO the island,
and IL was and is customary for the men
employed on the island to go back and
forth to the mainland on these schooners.
One day when More was on the island one
of his Chinese employees, cook. expressed
a