The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-25
CAREER OF W. S. MESICK.
Now Living a Hermit's Life In
the Mountains Near Santa
Barbara.
LOST HOME AND FORTUNE.
Eking Out an Existence on Little
Claim Far Up Romero
Canyon.

SANTA BARBARA, CAL, Aug. pa
sad story of misfortune and poverty, clos
ing the career of one who but few years
ago was the possessor of fame and riches,
is that of Judge w. S. Mesick, brother OF
the late Judge Mesick of San Francisco.
For thirty years the Mesicks were law
partners in Nevada, the attorneys for the
Comstock firm, and widely known as two
of the ablest jurists on the coast. Now the
surviving brother. penniless and forgotten
by the many he aided in years gone by, oc-
cupies little cabin that he built with his
OWL hands far up the mountainside, and
even in this lonely refuge is not free from
the prosecutions of the never-sated seeker
of the possessions of others.
Eight or nine years ago the brothers
dissolved partnership, and W. s. Mesick
came to Santa Barbara with a letter OF
credit for $4,000 in his pocket. Always
generous and free-handed and accustomed
to expanding large income, he was an
easy victim to the wiles of the impecuni-
Gus. The major portion of this sum had
disappeared before he realized it. Anxious
to retrieve his losses and carried away by
the speculative spirit of the "boom' times,
he invested the balance unwisely, and four
years ago his beautiful estate named
Oceanside, one mile beyond the great
Croker lemon ranch at Montecito, was
taken from him on a mortgage and the
lonely old gentleman turned out of house
and home, penniless, possessing only a
team of horses and wagon loaded with
meager household furnishings.
Undaunted by his misfortune the old
man bravery set his face toward the noun
tains and Government claim he knew OF
a mile away up the rugged but picturesque
Romero Canyon. No road led to this land /;
there was only steep, rough trail to fol-
low. Alone and unaided he laid out and
built an excellent road, sometimes carv-
ing it out of the rocky mountainside, fill
ing in the ugly hollows, bulkheading
dangerous slides and twice bridging noun
tain streams with logs, hewn from native
timber. He was six months reaching his
goal, where he finally built quaint little
cabin and has since resided.
The cabin stands in an old Spanish gar
den, with few fine orange and lemon
trees and vines. Here the famed jurist oil
former years dwells in a royal solitude
high mountain peaks all around him, the
stately forest growth fringing gay noun
tain stream speeding past. He has accom-.
piished marvels by his unaided strength
tilling the ground, gardening and laying
water pipe, but for the most part leads the
peaceful life OF Thoreau, learning every
nook of the mountains. Trails known to him
alone lead to almost inaccessible heights
from which he watches the phenomena OF
nature.
For months at time he does not see a
human face and his solitude is rarely in
truded upon by people of his own rank in
life. When any such present themselves
they meet with courtly and memorable
hospitality dispensed by this feeble. old
gentleman, shabblly clothed and in his
meager cabin, but preserving all the fastid-
ious habits which marked his days OF afau-
ence.
Far away as is this mountain claim and
possessing but few tillable acres redeemed
by Judge Mesick's indomitable persever-
ance, it has certain features, especially its
fine water, which make it coveted by others.
This has given rise to much trouble for
and petty persecution of the old gentle
man, which he has on two occasions re-
scented with the desperate indignation of
one who foresees his last foothold on earth
wrested from him.