Los Angeles herald., 1905-09-10
BRITTSHERS' LARGE PART
IN LOS ANGELES HISTORY
Large Colony of Them Here Thirty Years AgoArthur Bull
lock, Plunger-Bg Bets on Horse Racing-Hanchette
and His Mysterious Disappearance


1 have dwelt in several previous pa
pers upon the large part German
Americans played in the early settle
ment of the City of the Angels. In
truth we live in the most cosmopoll-
tan of cities and all the great nations
have been represented in the several
stages OF our growth.
Thirty years ago there was con-
siderable colony of Great Britain and
Ireland scattered all over Southern
California, running from men of large
means who invested in this and the
adjoining counties to the remittance
man" and adventurer, some of the lat
ter of whom left their country, pre-
sumably, for their country's good.
The English for some reason, why L
have never exactly understood, gath
cred around the Temple & Workman
bank. The attraction was reciprocal,
for F. P. r. Temple educated one of
his sons at oxford. When that bank
In the fall of 1875 failed, owing Its de-
positors million and quarter dol
hit hard. According to rumor, another
section of that world oonquering race
hit the bank quite as hard If not
harder.
The English who clustered around
that bank were a gay lot. In the bank
itself, as cashier and teller, were two
of the best known and most popular
men about town, Cashier Ledyard ana
Teller Bullock, Ledyard was hand
some fellow. of winning address and
good business qualifications, and thor
oughly capable of keeping his end up
as a promoter of joy. The failure OF
the bank, in eclipsing his fortunes,
seemed to rob him of all ambition, and
to the regret of a large circle of friends
he committed suicide ultimately.
An Attractive Character
Neither Thackeray nor Dickens ever
drew a more distinctive character than
Arthur Bullock. You would identify
him as a typical Englishman If you
were to see only one of his shoulders
peare's whats in name?" there is
everything in a name, and you would
naturally be expected to be introduced
to this gentleman as to Mr.. Bull or
Mr.. Bullock. He perfectly looked his
name and even exhaled 1t. He met
some pretty hard knocks when the
bank closed and went up to San Fran
cisco. In a moment of inspiration he
continued to the Puget Sound country
and plunged into the real estate busi-
ness at the psychological moment,
made a big killing and went back to
England, where he is now living.
In those days, as in all days, here in
Los Angeles and everywhere, your
Englishman was a great sport. Ten
mis- and polo were, not in great vogue
hereabouts, but Agricultural park was
as great a resort then as the Ascot
course is now, and quite as much
money parted ownership then as In
these more pretentious days. The last
of the Mexican governors, Pho Pico,
had lost as much as $4,000 on horse
on a Los Angeles track. The early
English colonists patronized the turf
literally and played their money freely
on the splendid horses from the stables
of Rose and Titus and Baldwin, and
Hancock Johnston and Capt. George
A. Johnston of Penasquitas, San Diego
county.
In their day Goldsmith Maid and
Rarus and other famous eastern horses
performed on the Agricultural park
course. The young English bloods, to
whom 1 refer, not only bet their money
but they entertained their Los Ange-
les friends with hurdle races, and these
were indeed a sight to see. Capt.
Hutchinson, a wealthy young Eng
lishman who came to Los Angeles be-
cause he thought his health was deli
cate, and who is now a robust ranchero
in Fresno county, a handsome young
patrician named Seymour, and half
dozen others would ride these hurdles,
and the way they would knock them
down and fall over each other in their
ground and lofty tumblings was a
caution.
Seymour the Victor
Seymour was always the victor. He
always kept we'll behind the others
and when the hurdles had been
knocked out of his way cantered
to the post an easy winner, while his
discounted fellow Britons were try
ing to recapture their mounts. have
no recollection of ever having seen an
American or native Californian enter
one of these contests. They seemed tc
be perfectly willing to have all the
profit and glory accruing from them
engrossed by John Bull.
Capt. Hutchison, in addition to being
one of our early time sports, had a
weather eye for a good real estate
speculation and picked up the Cienega
ranch, which formerly belonged to Dor
Tomas Sanchez-some 1000 acres of the