The record-union., 1897-09-09
LATE N. GREENE CURTIS.
An Eastern Friend Writes Com
corning Him.

{
rist, who had a national reputation,
and I was anxious to meet him, and as
my time on this occasion was limited
to the dinner hour the most favorable
time to see a man at his best, l deter
mined to make the most of the one
short hour in studying him; and while
the minutes flew too fast for my pur-
pose, yet before the hour had past [
was like the Queen of Sheba who came
from earth's dark limits to visit King
solomon. Like her, I was ready to
exclaim, Behold the one-half had not
been told me, for he exceeded the
fame which | had heard,' and when [
took my leave Of him it was with a
longing desire to some day meet him
again, that l might find the secret of
this mans wonderful influence, which
had so impressed me, and as Schiller
said Of Goethe, All one need to do was
to shake the tree when ripe apples
would tumble down all around you
1T was not until the spring of 1894,
that this longing desire to meet Judge
Curtis was gratified. 1 left my home
in Hamilton, O., in the spring of 1891
for the purpose, as my friends sup
posed, of writing up California-the
fruit ranches and cities on the Pacific
slope for some Eastern papers, but re-
ally and Ostensibly to fulfill a promise
I had made to visit Judge Curtis, and
on my arrival in Sacramento I lost no
time in calling upon him at his pala-
tial residence, where 1 was received
with open arms and with such a warm
and sincere pressure of his hand as
to cause me to look into my palm to see
if a precious jewel had not been left
in my hand.
Il was at once ordered to bring bag
and baggage and take up my abode in
his house, and was peremptOrily order
ed not to depart until he gave me leave
under the pains and penalties of for
fixture of his friendship. But as my
stay in Sacramento, because of pre-
engagements, could not possibly be
prolonged beyond the period of ten
days, I determined to make hay While
the sun was shining, and began to in
terview him on the very first day of
my arrival Well said he, What
shall I talk about; certainly not about
myself for l never do that?'
Well I said I want to hear all
about the early history of California
and her great men, for from what I
had heard of him 1 knew it was to him
an open book
After a moments pause he said that
California in it's early struggles and
during it's first throes of life was one
of wild adventures. A land of sad
histories, of many shattered hopes and
unrighted wrongs. That fierce waves
of adventure, lawless license, Haunting
vice and social Reorganization made its
early life one of mad chaos. The In
dams had persisted rudely despoiled.
The old Dons had faded into the gray
mist of the dead past, the early Ar
gonauts had lived out the fierce fever
Of their wild lives, and then, as if a
great and grievous burden had been
lifted from his mind, he exclaimed that
all honor was due to that noble band
of pioneers who had brought order out
of chaos and had laid deep and broad
and lasting the foundation of the So
cial fabric which led to the present
happy condition of the people.
During this extensive and in fact
all subsequent interviews it was
noticeable feature that he never utter
ed one disparaging word against the
great men with whom he had differed
in politics, but on the contrary. he put
the most charitable construction upon
their official acts. To say [ was charm
ed with this element in his character
does not half express my feelings and
love for this the grandest Roman of
them all.
But / wanted to know more of his
own history and LIES work, and it was
interesting to me to hear how he play
ed the adroit lawyer in evading my
questions on this point, and for several
days he parted my questions, until at
last 1 told him 1 only wanted to know
something about his public and pri-
vate life for my own personal graft
fication, and it was not for publica-
ton.
1T was then he unlocked the door of
his wonderful storehouse of knowl-
edge and let me into the sacred pre-
cincts and chambers of the inner court.
He told me how he left Memphis, and
went to Sacramento, Cal, to engage in
gold mining and how he met with a
severe accident While crossing the 18TH
mus of Panama and while suffering
from the accident he contracted the
chagres fever and from which he
owed his recovery to his strong consti-
tuition How on arriving at Sacra-
mento City, thoroughly equipped with
men and mining tools and provisions,
he located a mine in one of the can
yons Of the Sierra Nevada and of the
unfriendly attitude of the Indians who
on the first day he arrived at the camp
made their appearance and each day
the number increased with war paint
which he knew meant mischief. And
as discretion was the better part of
valor he retreated at night and re-
turned to Sacramento disguised with
the business of hunting gold and told
his brother he had decided to return to
Memphis, Tennessee And of his
brothers advice to him to go to San
Francisco and get him a law library
and open an office for the practice Of
law. That just then a man on horse
back galloped up leading an extra
horse and engaged him to go UP to a
mining camp in the mountains and de-
fend a man who was held for murder
and in twenty minutes he was on his
way and on arrival induced the Squire
to open the case And as there Was
no other but Spanish law he was tried
in that way and he proved that the
murder was committed in self defense.
and he cleared his client, and having
received a voluntary fee of nearly five
thousand dollars for his services which
decided him to remain in California and
also to confine himself to the criminal
practice.
1 have been fortunate in meeting