The herald., 1897-08-28
A Touch of Romance at
Happy Valley
MRS. SEPULvEDA'S PROPERTY
BRooDING OVER HER LOSS HAS
CRAZED HER
Plan of the Department of Agriculture
to Encourage Road Making.
Wide-Tire Wagon Act

There was quite sensation at San
Pedro yesterday when Mrs. Sepulveda
was arrested. Led through the streets
with manacled hands, her hair stream
ing down her back, and with clothing
disarranged and torn, her piteous condi-
tion was sad commentary upon the
muta bility of human affairs.
About twenty-five years ago the pres
ent wreck of a woman known as Mrs.
Sepulveda was a pretty young Spanish
girl. happy with her husband in mod
est home. The couple owned small in
terest in the San Pedro rancho that was
mortgaged for an inconsiderable
amount. The husband died and the Sen
ora Sepulveda was left to battle with the
world alone. Like very many of the
Spanish people, she knew nothing OF the
American business methods, and when
the mortgage was foreclosed upon her
small property she failed to comprehend
the significance of the action and never
redeemed it. OF course the property was
lost to her. But the woman could never
be made to realize how and why her
property had been forfeited, and by con-
tinually brooding over the loss of her
patrimony she became a monomaniac-
insane upon this question. Twice she was
sent to the insane asylum, each time
being released after short incarcera
ton.
1i0o a (
woven into her life. Col. ]. G. Eastman,
one of the brightest lawyers and ora
tors that ever appeared in Southern Call
ifornia, fell in love with the pretty widow
and married the Sonora Sepulveda. Not
in the regular way, however, nor in the
way prescribed by the statute, but in the
loose manner that was quite common in
earlier days. Eastman was for time
the law partner of the late Judge Brun-
son, and gathered around him many
friends who admired him for his bril-
liant talents as lawyer and political
speaker. But drink got the best of him,
and the Incompatible lawyer degener-
ated into veritable sot. Minus prac-
tice and friends, he stood alone in the
world save for the wife, who seemed to
care for him the most assiduously as the
need for care became the greater.
Toward the end all the lovable. quail
ties of Eastman's character were in
eclipse. Tattered and forlorn, his rubi-
cund face did not invite confidence. Old
time friends at the bar Clipped in to send
him to the islands to recuperate, but he
wouldn't leave his wife behind and the
scheme fell through. Every resource had
been exhausted by the Sonora Sepulveda
in obtaining money to procure medicines
and comforts needed by Eastman in his
last days. Faithful, with the unreason
ing faith of the lower creation, this
woman clung to him TO the very last and
finally closed his eyes in their last sleep
while whispering prayer over the
wretched body of the man she had loved
After this the sonora lived on with
her mother in hovel in Happy Valley
the delectable part of San Pedro. Per-
fectly sensible on all topics save one, she
steadily adhered to the belief that she
owned extenSoive property. The original
holding had become enlarged in her dis
torted mind until the whole of San Pc
dro was hers and her children's. Her old
mother believes in the justice of her
claim, and when her daughter would go
into the bank or a business house and
demand the rent, neither of the women
for a moment seemed to realize they
were guilty of anything odd or peculiar.
So once again the sonora was arrested
for disturbing the peace in trying to
collect her rental and for malicious mis-
chief in breaking down a signboard
when her demand was refused. But her
arrest was not made without difficulty
The officers went to her home and We're
lucky enough to find the mother absent
They demanded admittance in the DO
tent name of the law.
mo, gentlemen, you'll have to walk
over my dead body before you come in, ,
was the response.
Expostulation was vain and the Of.
ficers broke into the house. But the,
had to face woman transformed by he
imagined wrongs into a f1end. Armed
with keen -edged knife, she held the Of
fcers at bay.
This is my town. said she, land II
defend it with my life. defy you.''
Suiting her actions to the words sh
showed bold front and only by alert
ness did the officers escape injury at tn
hands of the fury. But finally she wa
disarmed though not subdued. Sh
fought like a tigress and only after
sharp struggle were her hands manacle
and she reduced to a state of impotency
Then she was taken to Justice Down
ing's office and Assistant District Attor
ney Williams was present also. Pro
crossing through her little town she lift
ed her shackled hands and invoked NAL
-edictions upon her oppressors and calle
\ upon God to avenge her wrongs.
The pity of it all was that the woma
was thoroughly imbued with the ide
that she had in very truth been robbed
and aside from the one delusion is san
and sensible.
Upon the advice of the assistant dis
trict attorney the sonora was sen
through to this city to be examined o.