Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1907-07-12
TWO OLD GUNS GONE
Los ANGELES, CAL, WORRIED
OVER THEIR DISAPPEARANCE.
Interesting History Attached to ere.
mont" cannon-Formed Link Be-
tween Bear Flag Days and
Old Glory.

. .
Los Angeles, Cal-What has be-
come of the two old Fremont can
mons dug up by worlunen at CONNER
cial and Main streets some time ago?
No one seems able to reply. 1t Is
said the, cannons were taken to the
Fort Mill summit and placed near the
nag pole where Gen. Fremont once
aligned his forces, but the cannons
are not visible in that vicinity, and no
ono In the neighborhood knows about
them.
These cannons were valuable ac-
QUESTION to California's archaeological
possessions, and formed connecting
link between the old days of the Bear
Flag and the final rising of Old Glory.
An interesting history is attached to
them of which perhaps no man in
southern California Is more familiar
than Uncle Billy" Workman, pioneer
banker and real estate man of Los
Angeles. Uncle Billy" is interested
in the preservation of these cannons,
and speaks of them in earnest, en-
dearing terms. The very mention of
them assemblies a host. of romantic
recollections of pueblo days.
The two cannons dug up at the
corner of Main and Commercial
Streets" said Mr.. Workman, 81 think
were brought from Mexico by an old
Spanish tramp-trading vessel in 1919.
They probably were sent to the peo-
pie here by the Mexican government
for use against American invasions.
The inhabitants of this country even
then did not call themselves Mexi-
cans, but native Californians."
When Gems. Fremont and Kearney
came to Los Angeles these same ma
tive Californians used the two can
mons to attack them. When Commo-
dore Stockton was bringing his troops
from San Pedro he met the natives
near the Dominguez rancho where an
encounter ensued and in which the
cannons were captured. They were
hauled into Los Angeles on carretas.
The Americans spiked both guns and
later threw them into the ocean at
San Pedro, where for years they lay
forgotten.
s After the Americans took posses
sion Of the country the cannons were
found and fished out Fifty-three
years ago, when first came to Los
Angeles. they were hidden away in a
lot on Also street. When became
member of the city council, several
years later, we decided to preserve
these weapons as mementos of the
past, and to make them useful as well.
We placed them at the corner of
Commercial and Main streets as
guard to protect building from turn
ing wagons. They were firmly embed
ded there, and attracted considerable
attention for some years. As recall
1t now, this building was torn down,
and the street somewhat changed,
with the result that the cannons be-
came deeply buried under the dirt and
debris, and in the rapid progress Of
incoming civilization were at last for
gotten"
An examination of the two gans re-
veals that they are considerably over
200 years old. Local historians esti-
mate their age at from three to six
centuries, and it is pointed out that
they are of the type used by the early
Spanish conquerors,z Cortez and 9TH.
ers. A cannon of the same pattern,
but of larger bore, said to have been
used by Cortez III his famous stand
against the forces of Montezuma and
later exhumed from ruins on the
shore of Tehauntepee, now is on ex-
hibit in the National museum in the
City of Mexico. This leaves the infer.
ence that the two cannons found here
We're Of contemporary vintage, hence
1t is only to be surmised in how many
Spanish-Aztec or Mexican-American
encounters the guns, have figured. I