The herald., 1898-02-09
Tyler Longstreet, the Wan
derer, Returns
HIS TEN YEARS OF. TRAVEL
HAVE GIVEN A PERSPECTIVE OF
TIE TWO AMERICAS
Experiences of the Duello in Mexico.
Rotten Governments Below Pan
ama-How They Love Us

Tyler Longstreet has come back.
There may be some lNtter-day Ange-
lenos who do not know Lonsstreet, but
to all the old timers his name will recall
many hot times and "nuits blanches" in
the days of old-not so very old either,
olden times in LOS Angeles are not more
than fifteen years past. Those were the
times when the city was in all respects
q foreign place, non-American in every
detail of life. 1t was mixture of Mexi-
can and European life-indolent, happy,
Joyous, no hustling for business, no sub
aividing of suburban tracts. There was
more monte played than poker, and
cock fights were preferred to horse
races; the tinkle of the guitar was as
pronounced in it's way then as the gongs
of the trolley cars are now. 1t was
town of black coffee, cigarettes, love
making, some hard drinking, occasional
brawling, and sometimes a sudden trip
to Tia Juana, with case OF pistols or
q pair of rapiers carefully wrapped up.
1t was in the days before Downey Har-
yey became bald; when Walter Moore
was twenty inches less measurement
about the waist than he is now; When
Johnny Gaffey was even more OF
Charles O'Malley and Rory More COM
bined than he is now; when Tip How
ard was doing the best he could with a
big faro bank running wide open BACK
of the famous Fashion saloon; when
Johnny Tate was notable in the sport
ing world; when Poker Davis was still
q tenderfoot; when DoFS restaurant
was the most famous in the state out
side of San Francisco; when DeBartn
Shorb and General Banning and Don
Benito Wilson were lords in the land;
when-but what's the use. You remem-
Der if you were here, and If you We're
not you can never be made to under
stand the SAVIOR Of life in those times.
There was not much money, it is true,
but a gay heart does not bother about
bank accounts. But Longstreet is back,
and to look at him you would imagine
he had just been down to the Santa
Rosa ranch for a rodeo, or had been
learning a new bill of fare from the
regent of San Juan during few days
absence from Spring street.
'Where have l been?" he said to
Herald man yesterday. ut would take
less time IL / told you the places have
not been. South America, all around
and through and across. Up the Amazon,
where a white man is as rare as an
Eskimo is here. I have lived in all of
those countries and been of the people,
and have had enough and have come
home. Lovely here, is it not?
Eyes, l was in Mexico for year or
so. Gay place, Mexico. You have to
have your nerve with you, as well as
Joyous heart for if you do anything
fellow does not like down there you have
a little appointment made for you at
the field back of the castle of Cha
pultepec, and you see the sun rise there.
but are liable to take the last view of
that orb then, unless you know how to
handle a sword or can snuff a candle or
a life equally well with pistol ball.
"To illustrate; One evening I went
to dinner given to the chaplain of the
British ambassador, and towards morn
ing things began to get quite lively.
There were two or three Los Angeles
men there, and all of a sudden one Of
them got into a controversy with one
of the Mexicans and a challenge was
to pacify things got tangled up, and he
was challenged, and with great presence
of mind selected Col. Omano as his sec
cnd. The colonel was the most cele-
brated dueEist in the country, and it
meant business when he took charge
of an affair. Then the chaplain, who
was 1lot-headed Irishman, seeing every
one getting into a shndy, thought he
Il L, atl ,r,f,, 4
ireland, so he jumped at the first man
he could see, which happened to be the
Austrian minister, and he clutohed him
by the beard and pulled it nearly out.
What became of the other affairs do
not remember, but the American who
had Col. Omano for his second was
waited on by his opponent the next
morning, who wanted to arrange the
matter without a meeting. My friend
saw that his man was weakening, and
he knew that if he made his reputation
then as a fire eater he would probably
be exempt from further difficulties of
the kind, so he haughtily told the man
that he could not talk about it, but re-
ferred him to the colonel. The latter
said that there was but one way to
avoid % duel, and that was for the
man to apologize, which he at once
offered to do. Col. Omano, seeing the
chance for pretty scrmmage fading
away, hello that as his man had been
publicly affronted the apology must be
as public, and this was agreed TO- Then
Omano insisted that as there We're Amer
scans, Frenchmen, Germans and q Rus
sian present, the apology must be made
in all of these languages, one after the
other, to which, finally, the fellow agreed.
.So the company which had been pres
ent was assembled and the poor fellow
stood up and read off, one after another.
his amendes, but when he came to the
Russian one he made such q botrh of II
that the subject of the czar, for whose
benefit it was given, wanted to fight
him himself for insulting his language.
"Agramonte was down there while I
was there, and he, you know, was q
great fighter. He used to be in San Di
ego about ten years ago and is we'll
known here. He had so many affairs
that ended disastrously for his oppo-
nehts, that one day, when he was pre-
serted to Diaz. that ruler said to him
Gen. Agramonte, 1 am delighted to
meet youl for believe am indebted to
you for producing strong dislike OF
that reprehensible habit of duelling.'
Mr.. Longstreet, however, did rot
lead this life of the last century alto
gether. He was after business and he
got 1t, travelling all over the two Amer