The record-union., 1897-12-01
TooTH-PULLER AND JUSTICE.
All Sorts of Occupations Profitable
in Early California Days.

when the gold fever broke out His
brother was a chaplain in the navy at
that time and his ship was stationed on
the California coast. The marines and
under officers ran away to the mines
Then the chaplain went to the mines
also with a party having provisions
TO sell, and returned in two months
with $4,000 as his one-quarter share
of the profits. Cotton heard of this,
and in February of the next year he
started for the mines by way of Cape
Horn. The journey took 10 days.
San Francisco was a camp. covered
with tents, with here and there an old
adobe house, said Mr. Cotton. "A few
wooden buildings We're being erected.
1t was too early to go to the mines,
as the water. in the river was too high
for surface digging. My four partners
hired out as carpenters at SO day
each, while | kept the tent and was
| chief cook and bottle washer. All that
| my partners knew about carpentering
was that they could drive nail. but
their employers were glad to get them
| at that
Finally we went up to the mines,
| where we worked four and a half
on. One night a big strapping fellow
came to our tent, woke me up and
| wanted me to draw a tooth for him. l
! told him L was no tooth drawer, though
| / had a pair of forceps with me.
| looked at the tooth; it was a big up
per molar. l said it was impossible for
me to draw that tooth. Well said he.
| l want you to try. I'll pay you
whether you get it out or not And
! so l applied the forceps and pulled,
and Wrenched and wrenched, using all
the power l had in my arms, but never
started it. Well" said he, I'm salts
| fled. You have scared the ache out of
it anyway. I'll pay you. And so /
only charged him SS half price. When
the rainy season came on we all re-
turned to San Francisco to spend the
winter. l had saved just $4OO and
had not gambled one dollar, as almost
| everybody did. San Francisco had
| grown to be almost a city. | wrote
home to my wife that California was
a humbug, but that / could do some
thing to make living during the win
| ter, and in the spring should come
home or return to the mines. She
wrote back that if I would come
| straight home and had my health she
| would never say a word about the Cal
ifornia Enterprise On the day be.
fore l received this letter l put a letter
into the office for my wife with drafts
| for $4,000 in it!
HOW did | get this money? In con-
nection with another man l opened a
hospital for the care of those needing
nursing. l borrowed money to fit up
the building, paying 10 per cent. a
month interest. 1t was the lowest in
terest at which money could be had
no matter how good the security, Soon
after this Governor Riley, who sue
ceeded my brother Walter. appointed
me the first Justice of the Peace for
San Francisco. This office gave me the
power to make land grants for town
lots, the Coroners business and the
trial of all causes under 500 (We
were then under the old Spanish laws)
l published my commission and opened
an office in the same building with the
Alcalde, Mr.. Geary, afterward Gov
ernor of Pennsylvania / had a smart
young lawyer for clerk, paying him
SoOU a month salary. There were no
statute laws then in California, and
tice between man and man. | knew
| nothing about law, but had a little
| common sense. Business came rush
ing in on me. The fees We're large in
those gold times. and 1 had all that l
could possibly attend to. In every law
| case l put plaintiff and defendant, with
their witnesses, under oath, and asked
every question in order to get at the
facts of the case. I then gave my de-
cision, from which there was no op-
peal. If l felt in doubt in regard to
the testimony I said to the losing party,
| Come in tomorrow and I will give
you the papers and you can take the
case up to the Court of First Instance
But l never had a case appealed.
In those times a hundred dollars
was but a drop in the bucket Many
of the cases brought before me were
| for cheating in gambling The only
satisfaction l could give either party
was to summon old gamblers to give
| testimony in regard to the rules of the
game. l never knew an old Californian
| charged with cheating. When the new
State Constitution came into power nv
Office ceased, and | came home. Be-
| fore leaving San Francisco the City
Council disputed my right to make land
grants and sued me for S250.00O. 1
had written authority and instructions
to make the grants from the Prefect of
the district, to whom the Council as
well as myself We're responsible for our
official acts. When this was shown
to the lawyers opposed to me the case
was abandoned before trial"
| In the early days in California It cost
| from 81 to S3 to get letter from home.
The men who brought them to the
mines from San Francisco had no reg.
ular rates, but charged according to the
trouble they had in handling the mail
matter. An old miner said that It was
an item of expense that no one OBJ
jected to.
"A letter from home was worth all
it cost" he said, and il made no diff
ference what it contained" There was
no money in circulation, but it was
customary in all places of business. no.
tells, barrooms, stores. shops and even
barber shops to have at some convent
ent place a pair of gold scales for
weighing the precious metal The value
of gold dust was estimated at SIG an
ounce, or so cents a pennyweight. and
that was the standard of value for all