The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-05-25
Three Members Who Live to Ride
on Float in the
Parade.
BARRACKS STILL STANDING.
Why Ezekiel Merritt Was Chosen at
His Own Request Captain of
the Party.

On tuesday next q special meeting of
the committee on the celebration of the
fiftieth anniversary of raising the bear
flag at Sonoma will be held in the office
OF the grand secretary of the Native Sons
of the Golden West. The committee con-
sists of F. T. Duhring, Henry Lunstedt
Robert P. Hill, David Q. Martin and G. NJ.
Belshaw. The object Of the meeting is to
have the Native Sons take part in the cele-
bration of the event, which has been I'M
der consideration for some time by the
Native Sons of Sonoma and the citizens
OF that place who are not native sons.
Mr.. Duhring, chairman of the commit
tee of arrangements of Sonoma, was in
this City yesterday with d. D. DAWSON,
also member of the committee, to make
suggestions.
1.-The people of Sonoma," said Chairman
Duhring, "are anxious to celebrate the
the great event. The Bear Party played
an important part in the history of early
days. We have made arrangements to Sc
cure from the Society of California Pho
neers the original bear flag
And which," said Mr.. DAVIDSON, twas
made from a petticoat that belonged to
the wife of John Sears, one of the original
members of the Bear Flag party"
''The flag" said the chairman resuming,
will be raised on a pole that stands on
the site of the original one, in one corner
of the plaza. right near the barracks that
were captured by the party from the Next
cans. The old building still stands, but of
course 1t has been modernizeG; still the
walls are there as they were fifty years ago.
The old church of the padres is still stand
ing near the barracks, but is now ware
house, and the home of the padres along
side OF that is also standing and is now
used by Mr.. Davisson as wine cellar.
I'VE have not quite completed our plans
for the celebration" said Mr.. DAWSON,
but can say that we have decided on
having a procession, in which we have
reason to believe the Pioneers of San Fran
cisco will take part. We shall have par
lors of Native Sons from different parts of
the county, the militia from Petaluma and
the school children, and we shall also have
float drawn by six white horses, to be
driven by James Albertson, who was q
stage-driver for Clark Foss, when he ran q
line OF, stages across the Hogs Back to
reach the Geysers.
''As to how that float will be arranged
the committee has not yet determined, but
upon it will ride three men who were origi-
nal mem bers of the Bear Flag party.
These are Harvey PottertieId of Napa,
Ben Z. Dewell of Sonoma and Henry Bea-
son OF Mendocino. There is one more,
William Potter of Texas, but we will not
be able to have him at the celebration.
William II. Todd was the man who
painted the innocent-looking bear on the
flag, and Ezekiel Merritt was the captain
OF the party, he having been chosen for
that position at his own request. And the
reason for his request was that he wanted
to be at the head of the party that was to
attack the Mexicans, because he and
another man had at one time been tied to
tree by Don Salvador Vallejo, had been
whipped by him with the fiat side of
sword, and he wanted to show the Next
cans that he was leader.
The history of the Bear Flag party and
the bear flag has been written, but the
straight story has never been given, so we
will have il written up from reliable data
by X. Thompson OF the Santa Rosa
Democrat. I suppose l have met fifty men
who claim that they were the ones who de-
signed the fiag-that is, each one claimed
that he designed IT."
will William B. Ide take part in the
celebration?"
Eyes, l know that he claims to have
been the leader of the movement, but that
is not SO; he did not have anything to do
with the original movement. No, he Will
not have anything to do with the matter
so lar as we are concerned.
eve expect to have 10000 people in our
town on the day of the celebration, the
18th OF June. There was some talk of co.,
tinuing it for two days, but it is doubtful
II the town can accommodate the number
OF people who will visit us. We have
made arrangements with the railroad to
convey people TO our place and home
again for one-way fare, and, as to Santa
Rosa, the round-trip fare will be but ST."