The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1896-05-28

S1ERMAN'S MEMOIRS.
fCopfiuued frorr, first

| Continued from first page.)
was cook, chambermaid, and everything,
thoughtless of himself and struggling,
out of the slimmest means, to compound
breakfast for a large and hungry
family. Breakfast would be announced
any time between 10 and II, and
dinner according to circumstances.
Many a time have / seen Gen. Smith,
with can of preserved meat in his
hands, going toward the house, take off
his hat on meeting negro, and, on
being asked the reason of his politeness,
he would answer that they were the only
real gentlemen in California. | confess
that the fidelity of Col. Mason's boy
"Aaron," and of Gen. Smiths boy
Isaac" at time when every white
man laughed at promises as something
made to be broken, has given me
kindly feeling of respect for the negroes,
and makes me hope that they will find
an honorable status in the tumble of
affairs in which we now live. That was
dull, hard Winter in San Francisco; the
rains were heavy and the mud fearful.
l have seen mules stumble in the streets
and drown in the liquid mud Mont
gomery street had been filled up with
brush and clay, and 1 always dreaded
to ride on horseback along it, because
the mud was so deep that horses legs
would become entangled in the bushes
below, and the rider was likely to be
thrown and drowned in the mud. The
only sidewalks were made of stepping
stones of empty boxes, and here and
there few planks with barrelstaves
nailed on. All the town lay along
Montgomery street, from Sacramento to
jackson, and about the Plaza.
GAMBLING WAS THE CHIEF OCCUPATION
of the people. While they were waiting
for the cessation of the rainy season, and
for the beginning of Spring, all sorts of
houses were being put up, but of the
most fimsy kind, and all were stores,
restaurants, or gambling saloons. Any
room 20 by 60 feet would rent for 81 900
a month. | had, as my pay, $40
month, and no one would even try to
hire servant under $500. Had it
not been for the 81, 800 | had made in
the store at Coloma, | could not have
lived through the Winter. About the
1st of April arrived the steamer Oregon,
but her Captain (Pearson) knew what |
was the state of affairs on shore, and ran |
his steamer alongside the line-of-battle-
ship Ohio at Saucelito, and obtained the
privilege of leaving his crew on board
as prisoners y" until he was ready to
return to sea. Then, discharging his
passengers and getting coal out of some
of the ships which had arrived, he re-
took his crew out Of limbo and carried
the first regular mail back to Panama
early in April. In regular order ar
rived the third steamer, the Panama,
and, as the vessels were arriving with
coal, the California was enabled to hire
a crew and get off. From that time for
ward these three ships constituted the
regular line of mail-steamers, which has
been kept up ever since. BY the steamer
Oregon arrived out Maj. r. p. Ham
mond, J. NJ Williams, James Blair and
also the gentlemen who, with
Maj. Ogden, were to compose joint
commission to select the sites for the
permanent forts and navy-yard of Cali
fornia. This commission was composed of
Mais. Ogden, Smith, and Leadbetter, of
the Army, and Capts. Goldsborough,
Van Brunt, and Blunt of the Navy
These officers, after most careful study
Of the whole subject, selected Mare Isl
and for the navy-yard and Benicia for
the storehouses and arsenals of tile
Army. The Pacific Mail Steamship
Company also selected Benicia as their
depot. Thus was again revived the old
struggle for supremacy of these two
points as the site of the future city of
the Pacific. Meantime, however, San
Francisco had secured the name. About
500 ships were anchored there without
crews, and could not get away and
there the city was and had to be.
Nevertheless, Gen. Smith, being dis
and unprejudiced, decided ON
Benicia as the point where the city
ought to be, and where the Army
should be. By the Ore
ron there arrived at San Francisco a
nan who deserves mention here
BARON sTEINBERGER-
He had been great cattle dealer in the
United States, and boasted that he had
nolnod To hraaE the IInitod Stntn- Rnnir | ,