davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The San Francisco call., 1898-01-02
TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE FAMOUS HOUSES or PIONEER DAYS

July, 1853, and after the Rev. E. T. Gray resigned his post, it became the church of Thomas Starr King The church where he once poured forth his eloquence now bears a sign with the inscription, "A. M. E. Church of Zion"
 Chinatown boasts possession of what remains of the first Baptist church ever builded in San Francisco. The Rev. O. c. Wheeler started in a tent in 1S49. and later was enabled to build a very re- spectable looking building wherein to worship. But the corner stone that was laid with devout ceremony now holds aloft Chinese barber shop and the walls that were dedicated to holy uses now look upon strange sights in the dens within and at the filth and wretchedness without.
 There is another church of the same denomination on Mission street, fash ionable section some years later than '49 Its walls have a leaden look and its roof seems to shrink away from the light of day, and it is struggling to maintain its ancient dignity in the present garb of a secondhand store. In the place where the altar stood (al- though it seems an extravagant fancy) there stands a pile of old and rusted iron and dilapidated stoves. Along the walls hang every conceivable article that can be upheld by means of peg or nail. And high up the rafters are hung with cobwebs and the walls are covered with the dust of time.
 There is a little worn church on How ard street which bears it's broken win dOxuc and na0fartpA dir7or ! bravely and tries to hide its face behind the sign of an athletic associa- tion. On Clay street, near Battery, there is enc that the first settlers in San Francisco worshiped in and which now shelters all sorts of furniture.
 Another church which used to frown religiously at a Sunday smile now stares calmly at the greenness of our gracious park and supplies the Sun- day pleasure-seekers with cycles.
The San Francisco call., 1898-01-02

paper warehouse, was in the early fiftieS Chinese bazaar. It was kept by the man who in later yeas became noto- rious as the wrecker of the Pioneer Bank, and who also helped to build the safe deposit vaults now in the building at California and Montgomery streets MT. Duncan had periodical lottery of Chinese goods, and as his was the first enterprise of it's kind here he made fortune from it.
 Further down Commercial street, on the opposite side and near Battery, a granite front building, sadly neglected and filled to overflowing with the Chi nese, is all that remains of Hendrick- sons Railroad House, which in it's time was the finest restaurant San Fran cisco knew. After the earthquake of 1858 the upper story had to be rebuilt, but the lower story remains, apparent ly as it was in the beginning. The place was celebrated in it's early days for the paintings that covered its walls. They were executed by two of Califor- nia's earliest and most famous artists, Charles and Arthur Nahl. The most ecstatic imagination could not conjure up d pLCluIc tllOSC SdIIlC NdllS to- day. In fact, ray of light does not appear to have reached them for many year, and the spiders that live on foul air weave their webs unmolested.
 There were exciting times in the city at the time of the receipt of the news of the assassination of President Lin- coin. A mob attacked some of the newspapers. LEcho de Pacifiore. the News Letter. the Monitor and the Oc- cidental, edited by Zach Montgomery, all received due attention, and then the mob betook itself to the building wherein was published the Democrat ic Press. by Beriah Brown. The old red brick building still stands at 553 Washington street, and just at this time it is extensively decorated with dead turkeys; but out of those uppers. where the heads of Chinamen and the
The San Francisco call., 1898-01-02

about it seems to be a .WeHzzcroW.de!d saloon. =.
 On the south side of Commercial street. just below Dupont, stands the nsufficient-looking building: thdt was once known as the Union: ..Theater. McKean Buchanan, the. tragedlan, played vfrgfnius there, and. RoWena; Grantee, who wrote the first GaiAtornla; novel, also graced that stage -:..;'
 And in those same days MagQlre's Opera House stood at 616 Washington; street. The building looks tiny: now and dilapidated and is used ds:a .store=.,, house; but such artists s:.{ne. 'eIuer.: Booth, Mrs. Bowers, Ada fsaacs :Nen:, kens, Frank Mayo, the. eider IhoflE and Charles Thorn, Sophie : :-EdW1n,' Agatha and Amanda States; the. Man deville sisters and the Biancas.: per! formed there. And the ladies in their: great hoop skirts, beruffied. and: be- decked with ribbons, laces and flow CTS and tiny turbans and flowing veils. crowded the little opera house and listened with thrilling hearts and shining eyes to the masters of. =. the drama. .'..' = Nothing remains now but the: facade: of the once well-known Metropolitan Theater at 721 Montgomery. street, and, Vernon Hall, just across the. way, where once the crowds went to listen, to lectures and concerts, has been par tially transformed into a.: dwelling house. .:- ::-::..: :.-.
 The Wright building, at the corner, of Montgomery and Jackson sstreets, was built in 1853. It is the only re- maining type of a house of. the third: period in that portion of ..the tawh- The third period house was known by it's square roof and numerous yer- andas; the second period house, of which a sample still stands at. the corner of California and Battery. pos sessed numerous peaks about the roof and no porches. O..
 The Rock House, now standing at the corner of Kearny street and Broadway, is half of what was for meriy well known to the elite of early days as the Tehama House The. other half of it stands on Stevenson. street, just back of St. Patrick's Church.
The San Francisco call., 1898-01-02

drOns abound in jungles among the pines and mountain oaks.
 In addition to those transplantings, which have been made on a scale that is almost incredible, there are thou sands of other plants that only pro fessiOnal botanist would know the names of. It is said that there is not a specimen of -.ora in the world that is not represented at Biltmore, either on the estate or in the greenhouses And, by the way, these greenhouses themselves are as fine as any in this country. Mir. Vanderbilt's collection of palms is probably the finest in the world. He has one palm for which he paid the sum of $20, 900. The rest of his collection shows the same spirit of liberality, or rather, disregard of cost.
 One peculiarity of the Blue Ridge Mountains is that there are no lakes in them. George Vanderbilt recog- niZed the error of nature in construct ing a mountain range without lakes, and he has remedied it to the extent that he has built two magnificent arti- ficial lakes near Biltmore House. For many miles he owns both sides of the French Broad River, which flows through his estate, and it is said quite seriously in Asheville that it is MT. Vanderbilt's purpose to dam up this stream and thereby make an immense inland sea among the peaks of the that his brothers, Cornelius and Willie K. and Fred, can float their magnifi- cent ocean yachts on it's waters. Now rl,at NTr h. r., India, however, the people of Western North Carolina are not so certain that he will carry this enterprise to sue cessful completion.
 Winding through the valleys and over the mountains of Biltmore are the finest macadamized roads to be found in this country. They were laid out by Frederick Law Olmstead, the landscape architect of Central Park, and they traverse the finest park in the United States. It was Mir Van derbilt's intention to build fifty miles of these roads. He has already built thirty miles and the work is still go- ing on.
 The religious temperament of George Vanderbilt is illustrated by the erec- tion of a church at Biltmore station on the Southern Railroad and on his own property. Here are a rectory and the offices of his estate.
 Another interesting characteristic of this many-sided young man is shown in the elaborate preparations that he has made for all kinds of farming. He has a chicken farm, dairy farm, a truck farm, a nursery farm, and just the plain, old, common farm on his estate. Some idea of the way in which the young millionaire farms may be gained from the fact that he has accepted plans for s1O0,000 chicken-house. Re gently, at a fair at Raleigh, N C., George took nearly all the prizes for cattle and vegetables and he felt very proud of the result. He raises the best l tomatoes, asparagus, celery, radishes
The San Francisco call., 1898-01-02

lengths of pipes are plainly visible, the mob threw all of Beriah Browns type into the street and generally demol- ished things. When the mob left the wreck of Beriah Browns property it betook itself to the home of the Placer Times-Herald, on Sacramento street. near Montgomery. Here. however, it was met by the militia under McComb and the police, headed by Martin J. Burke, and was checked.
 The tall light building, which looks solemnly down on the narrow street plainly betraying it's own importance. was the abode of the Alta California. while the. Placer Times Herald was no more. Now an ordinary sign of Pic lures" is painted on the upper walls. and below nothing more unusual or ex citing is to be found than a very ordi- nary appearing saloon.
 Speaking of saloons, on Washington street there is the queerest little blue building, with equally queer signs. It began it's long existence as the "Auc- tion Lunch" and was kept by Floo1 & O'Brien long before the. California mining excitement made them 'bonan- Zd k1nSS.
 On the north side of Montgomery. near Washington street, there is a building where bread is now sold at the rate of three loaves for cents, but in that same building it cost the citizens of this same city 50 cents for shave-and the same price for a shampoo; $1 was the price of a hair cut, and likewise bath; and 20 cents was the minimum for a bootblack.
 The building still standing, and nunl- bering S20 Kearny street, was the once famous Eureka Minstrel Hall where, in the days gone by, Billy Birch, Charlle White and Charlie Backus led the San Francisco minstrels. For years it was one of the best show places to. be found; but it was finally turned into a bowling alley. and then an anatomical museum, and to-day the chief thing.
The San Francisco call., 1898-01-02

On the corner of Waverly place and Clay street is a plain two-story build ing, and Chinese occupy every square inch Of it. The lower portion is a mar ket, with a wondrous display of pecu- liar fish and vegetables and Chinese with ancient looks. No passer-by to- | day would believe that this place was the first postoffice in San Francisco, and the late Captain of Police John Short was the first Postmaster.
 Afterward the office was re- moved to the northeast cor ner of Kearny and Clay streets The offices of the stages that ran from here to San Jose and Santa Cruz and Monterey were in the front of the | building and the single fare to Mon terey by stage was S20. Formerly the Law and Order party occupied this same building, and it was also the first building in the city to be graced by the presence of melodeOn, and was where Lottie Crabtree made her debut in the Bella Union Theater and insured her future success.
 Within the environments of China town there are two other interesting | buildings whose complexion has con- ] siderably changed. On the northwest
  | corner of Jackson and Dupont streets | is the old Globe Hotel. At one time the tourists occupied the rooms and paid s a day for the privilege. Now the place that afforded comfort for about two hundred and fifty guests harbors nearly thousand Chinese, and it has | grown black in the face in the doing of it. And the awnings that once f1uttered | gaily now, tattered and torn, wave aloft Chinese signs and signals and torn umbrellas and garments that are strange in the fashioning. And there is melee of horns and hoofs and heads in windows and doors and cracks and the odors that come from the openings are st:fling.
 Just above Stockton street. on Jack son, Dr. Toland, the founder of Toland l College, built a home and built it ] strong and true for himself and his
The San Francisco call., 1898-01-02

heirs forever. Like it's fellows, it has fallen into the possession of the Chinese, and in the windows where Dr. Toland's lace curtains once hung gracefully, the habiliments of the graceless yellow man swing freely.
 The old building, which stands di- rectly opposite the Postoffice on Bat tery and Washington streets, was once for a short time practically the capitol building of the State. When it was first erected it had a large glass dome on top, and was used as a Merchants Exchange. In 1Se0-61 the Sacramento River flooded and the legislators sought council chamber in this city, The glass dome has been removed, and nothing is the same excepting the side walk in front of the building, which was laid in the year 1854 by Colonel Russ of New York simply as an ex- pertinent, and the experiment has worn out nearly every walk that has been laid since. It Is stated in con- nection with this same sidewalk that the batter of the footsteps of the plain. ordinary, working citizens so disturbed the legislators sitting within that the bark of trees had to be laid all along in front of the building to break the sound
 Commercial street was thorough fare of considerable importance in the early days when the water came up a short way above Leidesdorff street, and the 1200-foot wharf reached out to the river and Panama steamers. On the corner of Leidesdorff and Commer- cial streets-the northwest corner there stands the building formerly oc- cupied by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company as its first home. At present it shows shrinking roof and a sway ing veranda sign, where the ghosts of knives and razors are flying franti- cally in the air, and a cafe.
 On the south side of Commercial street, just below Leidesdorff. a queer looking building, now occupied as
The San Francisco call., 1898-01-02

Nature had not intended this mountain for a building such as Vanderbilt contemplated, and so George sat about to correct the errors of nature. He simply cut off the top of the mountain, and with that part which was cut Iff he built an addition to the part that was left, making the site on which Biltmore House now stands.
 And before we go any further, it is just as we'll to understand that in speaking of this wonderful Vanderbilt possession a distinction is made be- tween Biltmore and Biltmore House. Biltmore is the whole estate. Biltmore House is the castle.
 The fact that George Vanderbilt had undertaken to. alter the Blue Ridge Mountains to suit his purpose in erect ing a mansion at once called to him the attention of the whole of Western | North Carolina. A man that could move mountains must be a person of importance, the natives argued.
 There was something else about George, however, that proved even more attractive. It was the fact that he didn't seem to care what anything cost. Now, a man of that description anywhere is always a mark for people who have things to sell. He was a special mark in North Carolina. The | first tract of land that George Van derbilt bought there was known as the old Patton plantation. The year before | this property came into MT. Wander 1 bilt's possession it was offered in the l open market for s20,000. He paid $s7,- i 500 in cash for it.
 Just as soon as the terms of this sale became known everybody in Buncombe ! County wanted to sell George Wander | bilt real estate. He accommodated many of them. He bought farm after l farm adjoining his property at prices | that made the farmers hilarious with i joy.
 But this sort of acquisition was not rapid enough for the young millionaire. He wanted something big and he wanted it quick. The highest point in his immediate neighborhood was the 1 peak of Mount Pisgah. As there was nothing too high for George he bought | Pisgah. In order to get. the peak he | took with it what was known as the Pisgah forest tract. It was real estate belonging to the Cameron family, and numbered 107,0OO acres. The Camerons had paid 35 cents an acre for it. George ! paid Sl 50 an acre. But this was only a bagatelle to what the ultimate cost proved to be. He had surveys made. established new lines, marked new boundaries and altogether made i'm provements until the final cost to him was something like s20 an acre.
 At this time he seems to have had some little touch of that spirit of hunt ing that has led him away to India. He established a great game preserve on Mount Pisgah, and there built a hunt 1 ing lodge at the cost of $25, ,00O He stocked the preserve with deer and bear and game birds and fish at a cost corresponding to the rest of it. Ii George ever killed anything on the Pis- gah preserve nobody in Asheville ever l heard of it. It is known that he went a few times to the lodge, but it is not
The San Francisco call., 1898-01-02

recorded that he ever fired a shotgun there.
 On the posts at Biltmore House are marble figures of mythological crea- lures, half women and half lions, that were imported by George Vanderbilt from Rome for the decorative purpose that they serve. To the average visitor permitted to drive through the Biltmore estate, the rampe douce and the lion ladies are the only objects at Biltmore House that may be closely inspected. No stranger is permitted to come within a hundred yards of the house itself.
 This was not always so In the be- ginning George Vanderbilt very gener- ously permitted the general public to wander about and study his house closely from the outside. But the spirit of vandalism which makes itself ap- parent in the conduct of most tourists appeared here in such an aggravated form that the house, the statuary and all other objects that could be clipped with hammers were attacked and de- faced until it became necessary for the preservation of his property to forbid any one not MT. Vanderbilt's own guest to come within reaching distance of his perishable property.
 It required seven years to build Bilt- more House, and the cost of the struct- ure is estimated at S2, GOO 900. The in- terior of the house is far more inter- esting than the exterior. It has about ninety rooms in all. Of the most of these it is not necessary to go into any description. The interesting features are the library and the bathtub. The latter is very large and of solid Italian marble. and is round in shape like a baptismal font.
 The library is in height half that of the whole house, while the length is the breadth of the house-fully fifty feet It is finished in Circassian walnut, i'm ported for the purpose from the shores of the Red Sea. In one end is an inn mense fireplace, over which a stair runs to the second tier of book shelves. The ceiling is made of a tapestry brought from an old European palace. The shelves are filled with rare books. One of these is a copy of the first edition ot Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress"
 Leading from the library is George Vanderbilt's "den," which is finished like the larger room in the same Cir cassian walnut from the shores of the Red Sea- The door connecting the two apartments is carved so as to repre- sent the life-size figure of a monk lift ing his finger to his lips. the signal fol | silence. It is in these two apartments that George Vanderbilt takes his greatest joy in Biltmore House.
 Another room that invites study is known as the tapestry room, one side of which is hung with fine old portieres and the walls of which are devoted tc family portraits. Among these is ar excellent picture of himself and splen- did portrait of his mother.
 The latter occupies the place of honor and illustrates in that occupation the devotion of George Vanderbilt to one who, through his life and till she died was more to him than all else.
The San Francisco call., 1898-01-02

ORT GUNNY BAGS, the former
 home of the Vigilance Commit .EA tee," is the present abode of spices and such things. There
 are two windows near the dusty ~ staircase, and from one of these
 windows James P. Casey, who stabbed James King of William, the editor of the Bulletin, was hanged.
 At the same time the body of Charles Cora, who killed United States Mar shal Richardson, swung from the other window.
 On the day that Cora and Casey were hanged the majority of the popu- lation had gathered along the streets in front of the Unitarian church to pay slight tribute of respect to James King of William Pio- neers say that just as the pail bearers reached the first steps the bell on the top of the Vigilance Committees building was heard to toll distinctly thrice. Just what the Rev. F. T. Gray and the officiating pail bearers and mourners did is a matter of some dispute, but that signal was too well known to the citizens, and one and all made an earnest effort to reach the little gray building which is now storage place for spices.
 As they ran those who raised their eyes to the second story saw the two murderers swung out to their death.
 Afterward, when the labors of the Vigilance Committee" were no longer needed and the guarding six-pounders allowed outsiders to pass up the now dust begrimed steps, and enter through the unseen door, the rooms were visited by thousands of people,: They were decorated with such relics as the ropes with which Cora and Casey were hanged, the razor with which Yankee Sullivan" committed suicide, the arms taken from the Law and Order Com pany, and the sword worn by John l.. Durkee, whose membership in the com mittee itself did not prevent his being tried for piracy.
 The Unitarian CAurch from which James King of William was buried still stands in its original place on Stockton street, near Sacramento. It waS dedicated to it's sacred offices in