Los Angeles herald., 1905-08-20

Ever since the American occupation
Los Angeles has had strong sprink
ling of a sturdy German stock In iti
population who have assisted material
" in developing the prosperity Of thu
place. Some of these original settlers
are amongst us now, while those who
have gone beyond are represented by
valuable and progressive citizens. The
Golfers, Lichtenbergers Roeders Haus
ers and others were right bowers in the
upbuilding Of our city, to say moth
ing of the Hellmans whose names are
at the head Of some of the soundest and
most extensive banks of the Pacific
oast.
Amongst the old timers is Louis
toeder, who landed in Rev York from
iermany In 1s5l-ffty-fou years ago.
lie went from New York to San Fran
''isco in few ye1rs. and was WORKING
asf wagon maker there in 1855 when
his boss received a letter from Los An
~cles fiom John Collier to send him
! Roeders fellow workman, whom OIL
Ter named. This artisan was expecting
his wife from New York and besides,
! did not wish to go to the Angel city.
where, he understood. Notwithstanding
its beatific name, man or two was
served up for breakfast every morn
ing, which was indeed the case in those
days. Roeder. having no marital ties,
asked to be sent instead Of his fellow,
and got here in time to vote for Bu
chanan for president. He is now a hale
thing he did on settling down was to
subscribe for whatever Democratic pa
per which was then published here.
Read HeraId's Every Issue
1t may be of interest as to this
staunch old Democrat to mention the
fact that he subscribed to The Herald
the first day 1t appeared and has read
and paid for every issue since. He is
a verifcation of the aphorism of Solo
mon that the industrious man shall
stand before Kings" and is spending
the closing years of his life rich and
respected.
John Golfers wagon-making and
blacksmithing shop, in those days, rep
resented a great industry for what was
then frontier town. He was making
wagons for Arizona and the extensive
region which was then, and is now,
tributary to Los Angeles. Collier was.
besides, engaged in staging and for
warding between Wilmington and Los
Angeles, running opposition to the re-
doubtable Gen. Phineas Banning. The |
competition in that business was white |
hot, and Collier was losing about as
much money in the transportation and
forwarding business as he made in the |
wagon and blacksmithing lines. He
accordingly availed himself of an op-
portunity to sell out his interest in tho
Wilmington venture to ]. M. Griffith,
the well-known lumberman.
The firm of Tomlinson G. Griffith, it
is generally supposed, made an ar
with Banning by which
they could both make money, and, for
years and years, the rival stages
would dash down Main street, gener-
ally pretty near together, one pulling
Of that thoroughfare and the other at
the Lafayette, on the west side. It'll
was in those gala days that old John
Reynolds won such a grand reputation
as vertable Jehu, the son of Nimshi.
The selected broncos of those DAYS
were capable of performing miracles of
speed on hard pan, which made bet
ter roads than can be found in Los
Angeles now.
Fine Fellowship
AS an instance of the fine fellow feel
ing which existed amongst these old
began to be known to the world 1t may
be well that l should tell a perfectly
rue story of a certain transaction be-
tween Collier and Yeager. the latter
,orwarder of Yuma whose name is
even Today a household word in ART
iona. The merchant of the sun-kissed
and had got into debt with Collier to
he extent of $4,000 and Collier pressed
or payment Yeager made a mighty
,ffort and landed the amount in Golfers ,
'afe banks in these days being un- ,
ynown in the Angelic city. Having ad-
usted the matter the friends adjourned
o the Bella Union bar and celebrated
he happy affair with champagne &
blow out. and suppes which was of {
curse on Collier. The next morning =
hey both got up a little the worse for {
year After several chairs of the dog" :
tc., etc, Yeager said TO Collier: S
Look here John, | have paid you S
hat $4,000, haven't II" \
Sure" replied Collier. O
"But l haven't tole you dot it will S