CHURCHES. - The Methodist Church. - In the
fall of 1849, A. J. Heustis, A. M., a local preacher from Wisconsin, came to
Sonoma with his family, and organized a class, preaching occasionally in the
town during the greater portion of the following year, when, removing to
Humboldt Bay, the people were without the ministration of the Word until
February, 1851, excepting one occasion, when Rev. J. Owen, then Presiding
Elder for the entire State, organized a Quarterly Conference, and promised
to send a minister as soon as possible.
This promise was fulfilled a few weeks
after, when Rev. S. D. Simonds, then but partially recovered from a severe
attack of the Panama fever, was placed in charge of the work, with
instructions to look after all our interests north of the bay.
A few weeks previous to this the Rev.
Matthew Lassetter, an English local preacher, settled in Napa Valley, and
preached regularly until the following autumn at the house of Mr. Harbin.
Bro. Simonds hired a house at Benicia, and
with his estimable wife, engaged with commendable zeal in the labors
assigned him, making appointments, Suisun, Harbins', Kellogg's, Sonoma
and Bodega, Bro. S. organized Sunday Schools, which it is believed were
well attended during the summer months. Sister S. also gathered around her a
few young children each Sabbath at Benicia giving them faithful instruction.
On Friday 2nd May, 1851, the first camp
meeting ever held in California was commenced almost one mile from
Sonoma near Kelsey's garden. Bro. J. W. Brier preached the first sermon. At
this meeting a number of persons professed religion and Bro. Owen baptized
one adult by pouring.
In the following September another camp
meeting was held in Napa Valley on the east side of the creek below Yount's
mills. The Rev. William Roberts of Oregon was present, having come to attend
to his duties as Superintendent of the Mission Conference held at San
Francisco immediately after the close of the camp-meeting.
Revs. James Carwine and Alexander McLean
were appointed at this conference to the work, the latter remaining but a
few months when he was put in charge of Plumas circuit.
In the following May, Rev. J. A. Swaney, one
of seven missionaries just arrived, was sent by Mr. Owen to assist Mr.
Carwine. They labored very acceptably and usefully during the conference
year.
During this year the work was divided into
the Benicia, Napa, and Sonoma Counties, and at the Annual Conference
following, Bodega circuit was set off from the Sonoma work, including
Petaluma and the Bodega country, Russian River, Anderson Valley, and Big
River, Rev. A. L. S. Bateman in charge.
In February, 1854, the Bodega Circuit ceased
to exist and of it were formed Petaluma and Russian River Circuits, Bro.
Bateman being appointed to the latter.
The Annual Conference held at San Jose
commencing August 27, 1856, divided the Russian River Circuit and formed the
Santa Rosa Circuit as recommended, placing R. W. Williamson in charge and
Colin Anderson, Assistant.
There seems to be a loss of minute business,
from the time of the second quarterly Conference for the year 1857-8 held at
Healdsburg February 22, 1858, until the first quarterly meeting of the next
Conference year held at Healdsburg December 4, 1858. Rev. E. Bannister being
elder.
Rev. M. C. Briggs was elder the previous
year.
At the Annual Conference held at Sacramento
September, 1858, the Santa Rosa Circuit was divided, and the northern part,
including the Russian River country below the canon, Dry Creek, Windsor, and
Alexander's, was constituted the Russian River Circuit.
At the Conference held at Santa Clara
September 12, 1860, the name of the circuit was changed to Healdsburg, Rev.
J. W. Stump, preacher in charge, who had just arrived on the Coast,
transferred from the Ohio Conference.
The circuit then consisted of four
appointments, Healdsburg, Windsor, Geyserville, and Alexander's.
We have been unable to gather a general
history of the other churches as complete as the foregoing, full chronicles
of the special congregations will, however, be found in other places, for
most of these annals have been provided by the ministers and clergymen
themselves, each of whom naturally takes a special interest in his own
church.
We will now pass on to other matters which
have tended to bring Sonoma county to its present state of perfection.
AGRICULTURE.- That it was not for some time after the
settlement of the county that its soil was thought to be prolific there is
no reason to doubt. The priests who first penetrated into these unknown
regions were unaware of the immense resources which yet remained unrevealed
in the bosom of mother earth; they imagined that if aught could be done, it
should be so attained by means of irrigation, for we find Father Altimira
entering in his Journal, these remarks: - "We started from Lema on the
morning of the 27th, about six o'clock, and explored the plain running east,
which is extensive enough for a Mission, the land being fertile and covered
with grass, but of little use for plants, requiring irrigation in the summer
season, for in that season the springs are dried up, as is also the brook
running on said plat, or plain, called Chocaimoi." This would appear to have
been penned in regard to lands, near the old adobe.
The first agriculturists in the county were
indisputably the Russians, and though they did not cultivate what is now
considered the best wheat soil, still, they made large shipments of grain to
their fur hunters in Russian America, quantities being despatched from
Bodega to Sitka. At Ross they planted orchards, the trees of which to-day
bear heavy crops of fruit, while the remains of their rude implements of
husbandry have been found at both these places.
In succession to the Muscovite were the
Spanish Priests who further developed the wonderful fertility of Sonoma. Ten
years after the founding of San Francisco Solano, an official report is made
by them that the mission owns three thousand horned cattle, seven hundred
horses, four thousand sheep, and the harvest that year had yielded three
thousand bushels of grain, and this was the product of the small tract which
they occupied in Sonoma Valley.
In the present day the vast resources of
Sonoma is a matter of notoriety; the country around Bodega, Bloomfield, and
down to Petaluma, is the renowned potato district, the northwestern part is
principally devoted to stock raising, the coast line id the home of the
dairy producer, while in all the level alluvial plains, grain of every kind
grows to a marvelous perfection. The wheat yield for this year has exceeded
that of any other since 1874, while the surplus is expected to amount to
upwards of one million and a half of bushels.
The splendid prices realized this year for
wool and hops have been a godsend to the producers of those staples. For
several years past prices have ranged low, and a poor market this year would
undoubtedly have worked the severest hardships with many. Not only are
prices high now, but they promise to remain so for another season at least.
The products this year will be all needed for immediate consumption, and
hence no surplus will possibly remain over to drug the market next season.
The best commercial authorities state that the production of wool at the
East and elsewhere than the Pacific Coast, is this year many millions short
of actual wants by the factories. This, coupled with the fact that a general
revival of business is putting in operation many factories for years idle,
would even indicate that the price of wool will remain high, for several
years to come. Hops are almost certain to be high next year, but the
prospects for their remaining so for a longer time than that, is not so
encouraging as is the case with wool.
VINICULTURE. - Next to the cultivation of cereals, the
vine engrosses the minds of the residents of Sonoma more than any other
agricultural production. On account of the adaptability of the soil, Sonoma
valley is the center of the grape-growing interest, although there are
several other localities where it flourishes. Here it was that the vine was
first planted, and here were first taken those measures which made the grape
and wine interest one of the chiefest importance to Sonoma County.
If there be any credit or any blame
attached to the inauguration of this industry, the onus must be borne by the
Mission Fathers, for to them is due the introduction of the grape, which was
that now ordinarily known as the Mission, then popularly supposed to be a
seedling from seed sent out from Spain, and from which, in a rude way, they
manufactured wine; adding spirits thereto to keep them sweet. The early
American settlers in their cultivation of the grape followed in the beaten
track of the Holy Fathers, both in regard to the quality and quantity of
vines planted, as well as their location. At that time it was believed to be
impossible to raise any crop without irrigation, therefore vines were only
planted where the convenience of water could be readily obtained and rich
soil was always chosen. The first person to doubt the correctness of this
theory, and who was willing to put these doubts to the proof was Colonel
Agoston Haraszthy, of Sonoma. This gentleman was a Hungarian Noble, of a
Court lineage, who was expatriated on account of the part he played, in a
political crisis, in his native land. After residing for some time in
Wisconsin he removed to California in 1849, and in 1856 came to Sonoma, and
devoted his whole attention to viniculture. His biographer tells us : "He
founded a Horticultural Society, and began importing vines from abroad. He
was the first to advocate the raising of vines without irrigation - planted
the most extensive vineyards, and at once put himself at the head of the
vine interest. He may with propriety be called the Father of Viniculture in
California. In 1858 he wrote a treatise on the culture of the vine and the
manufacture of wine, which was published by the State for gratuitous
distribution. This publication gave the first impulse to this interest, and
from that time California became the Wine State of the Western Continent. He
was the first to adapt the redwood timber to the making of casks for wine.
In 1861 he was appointed by the Governor of California as a Commissioner to
visit the wine countries of Europe, which resulted in the importation of
three hundred different named varieties of grapevines, which have now been
planted quite extensively in most of the vineyards of the State, from which
are made the most valuable wines we now produce. The book written by Col.
Haraszthy, entitled 'Grape Culture, Wines and Wine-Making,' is conceded to
be one of the best yet written. Upon his return from Europe in 1862 he was
chosen President of the State Agricultural Society, having been
Vice-President for three terms prior thereto. In 1863 he organized the
Buena Vista Vinicultural Society, to which he conveyed his four hundred
acres of vines in Sonoma." In 1868 Col. Haraszthy transferred his domicile
to Nicaragua, where he became actively engaged in different pursuits. On
July 6, 1869, he mysteriously disappeared. On that day he left his house to
go where he was having a saw-mill erected. His footsteps were traced to the
river. It is supposed that he endeavored to cross the stream by climbing the
branch of a tree, which breaking, he fell into the water and was devoured by
an alligator.
But to return to our subject: In the Winter
of 1858 Col. Haraszthy put into a high tract of land, east of the town of
Sonoma, eighty thousand vines, the progress and growth of which was keenly
watched by all interested in viniculture. The experiment succeeded beyond
the most sanguine expectations, and marked a new era in the cultivation of
the grape in California; henceforward the rich and heavy bottom lands were
abandoned for the hillsides.
About this period the securing of a wine
finer in flavor, by means of the introduction of foreign grapes, commenced
to be much canvassed. Connoisseurs had given as their dictum that the native
wines had not the excellence of the article produced abroad; it was either
too earthy or too fiery, or too sweet and insipid. This was unquestionably
owing, partially to the quality of the soil and the irrigation of the vine,
and in a great measure attributable to the want of experience on the part of
the grower, for, with further experience and more suitable soil, the
original mission grape has been made to produce wine of excellent quality.
In 1861 the Legislature appointed Col. Haraszthy, Mr. Schell, and Col.
Warren, as a Committee, to inquire into, and report upon, the best means of
promoting and improving the growth of the vine in this State. The former
visited Europe, as has been stated above, and made selections of different
varieties of grapes, which he imported; the latter reported upon the
condition of viniculture as then existed in California, and Mr. Schell upon
the culture of the grape in the South American States. Col. Haraszthy, on
his tour, selected three hundred and fifteen different varieties of grapes,
and brought to this country two hundred thousand rooted vines and cuttings.
These were distributed to various parts of the State, and each variety
matured its own peculiar kind of grape; some proved to be much superior to
others, these were selected, but none have been found that in this soil do
not maintain their distinctive European qualities; and the modes and
conditions of wine-making being equal, produces a wine identical with what
it does in Europe.
Arpad Haraszthy, son of the Colonel, in the
Overland Monthly (January, 1872), an able magazine, now, alas,
among the things that were, contributes an article, portions of
which we quote, on the advantages possessed by California as a wine-growing
country: -
California
has one advantage over any wine producing country on the
globe, and that is the certainty, constancy, and duration
od her dry season.
The grape is a fruit that needs, above all others, a warm
sunshine, without
interruption, from the time that the blossoms set forth
their tender flowers,
until they gradually develop into its rich, luscious fruit
in October. This advan-
tage has always existed here, as far back as our record
extends, and no
rain or hail ever destroyed the tender fruit. The sure and
uninterrupted dura-
tion of this dry weather secures a crop without a chance of
failure, and
ripens the grape to perfection. One of the most serious
drawbacks in all other
parts of the world is the uncertainty of the seasons and
the entire variance from
preceding ones, thus creating a great difference in the
quality of the wine pro-
duced in successive vintages. This difference in quality is
so great that it is
quite common to find the prices vary from one to two
hundred percent in the
same district. The products of the renowned vineyards are
known to have
fluctuated even to a greater extent. In Europe, they only
reckon to secure in
ten years one good crop of fine quality, small quantity,
and total failures. In
our State, the variation in quality seldom amounts to five
percent, while the
most disastrous years have not lessened the crop below the
ordinary yield
more than twenty-five percent in quantity. This very
variation in quantity, can be
fully known three months previous to the vintage, thus
allowing the producer
ample time to secure his casks, and furnishing him positive
knowledge as to
the number required. In other countries, even fourteen days
before the vintage,
there is no certainty of a crop, a wind, a rain, or a
hail-storm is apt to occur
at any moment and devastate the entire vintage. All is
incertainty there; nor
has the vintner any possible means of positively
ascertaining how many casks
he must provide. In abundant years in the old countries,
the exchange has
often been made of so many gallons of wine for an equal
number of gallons'
capacity of casks. The disadvantages of being forced to
secure such immense
quantities of casks in so limited a period are two easily
perceived, and we
certainly can not appreciate our own advantage too much in
being very diff-
erently situated. Another great benefit derived from the
long continuance of the
dry weather, is the exemption from weeds in our vineyards
after the final
plowing. Thus all the nourishment and strength of the soil
go wholly to their
destination, the vine, and hence the vigorous appearance
that even the most
delicate imported varieties acquire even inn our poorest
soils. They necessarily
bear much more. This circumstance will also explain, in a
measure, why our
cultivation does not cost as much per acre as that in
European countries,
though our labor is so much higher. The advantage of our
dry weather does not
end here : it precludes the possibility of continued
mildew, and allows the
vintner to leave his vines unstaked, the bunches of grapes
actually lying, and
securely ripening, upon the very ground, without fear of
frost or rotting. In this
condition, the grapes mature sooner, are sweeter, and, it
is believed, possess
more flavor.
* * *
* * * *
Above and beyond the ability and advantage we have of producing all kinds of
grapes to perfection, of making from them wines that are pleasant, inviting
to the taste, and which will keep, with but little skill and care, for
years, whose limit has not yet been found, we still have a greater advantage
over European vintners in the cheapness of our cultivation. Labor, material
and interest are all very high with us; but, nevertheless, the setting out
and cultivation of an acre of vineyard costs less in California than it does
in France. For this we are as much indebted to our improved means of
cultivation as to the nature of our climate. All labor, in the majority of
the wine districts of Europe, is done by hand. We use the horse and plow,
while they use the prong-hoe and spade, and they actually dig and hoe up
their entire vineyards, with few exceptions. After our spring cultivation is
over, we need not go into our vineyards, and, having no summer rains,
weeding is not necessary, and still their freeness from weeds and clean
appearance strike the stranger with surprise. Owing on the contrary, to the
wet season of Europe, the vine-dressers are constantly kept among the vines,
trying to give them a clean appearance, but in spite of all their efforts,
they but imperfectly succeed, and their vineyards never possess that
appearance of high and perfect cultivation that is so apparent in our own.
California Wines. - The following
article is produced from the San Francisco Chronicle: -
It is obvious that in the nature of things
the Comstock Lode which now absorbs all our superflous coin, cannot last
forever. There is one argument against it as an investment which ought to be
fatal to it, and that is the amount of silver which has already been drawn
from its bowels. All scientific men believe that fresh developments may be
made, but the chances against their being general are simply enormous. Many
holders of stock believe that any discovery in any mine must advance the
price of others, and it has hitherto done so without a doubt. But the fatal
argument of the amount of silver that has been realized must weigh upon
men's minds and must tend to prevent any general rise. The discovery of
silver in one mine is in reality an argument against other discoveries in
other parts of the lode, upon general principles of logic, and aside from
any investments in mining stock - that such a placing of money cannot be
permanent. The odds are against success; but even should success come, the
investor must watch his investment, or, after being raised to the seventh
heaven, he will be lowered to the uttermost depths. The merchant has his
bench, the servent his duties, and they are all in the hands of men who
naturally desire to make money whatever happens. Hence the situation is
unreal. Even if successful, the beginning is big and the end small. It is an
investment that grows backwards, a man that dwarfs into an embryo. And there
is a wide-spread general belief that fair play is seldom shown upon the
Comstock, though this may be the only excuse and shift of dealers to account
for failures for which they are themselves responsible. They get up accounts
of success before it comes, and profit alike by the inflation and the
collapse. Then when the success does arrive tardily some eight months
afterwards, they have a story of foul play at the mine, which, perhaps, is
entirely fictitious. But this much is certain, that if all were honest, if
all were fair on the Comstock and the exchange, the investment would be a
lottery and not an investment as shall be perpetual and grow with the growth
of the State.
Now this is the exact condition of
California wine culture. All those who have examined the subject are
satisfied that the wine is superior on the average to any other wine of any
other country, not even excepting France. This industry has fought its way
into the front rank. It was once a little cloud not bigger than a man's
hand, and now it looms large, and is destined, in the opinion of many, to
cover all of California. And it has numberless advantages over other
industries, which men begin to realize. Everything which is connected with
it receives a permanent benefit, for instead of being compelled to diminish
and disappear, like mining, it constantly increases and enlarges and waxes
strong. The more men are engaged in growing grapes the more mouths have to
be fed by California farmers, and they know full well that the great profit
of growing wheat is in the market on the other side of the hill, and not the
other side of Cape Horn. Commercially speaking, there is no possibility of
over production in wine, for immediately that a nation embraces wine-making
it becomes wine-consuming also. France that has by its system of almost
infinite subdivision of lands compelled the peasant proprietor to raise
grapes whether the soil be suitable or not, is not able to supply the home
demand, although vines are planted to the injurious exclusion of other
products because they pay far better than anything else. And the time will
certainly come when all of America will be wine-consuming, and
whisky-drinking be a thing of the past. To-day in the restaurants of San
Francisco, native wine can be had at an almost nominal charge, and with our
rapidity of progress it cannot be doubted that the style of our restaurants
will spread to Chicago and St. Louis, thence to Cincinnati and Indiana,
thence to New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. The whole of the United States
will be covered as by a golden net with establishments where the good cheap
wine of California can be drunk. At present California drinks about three
million gallons of her own wine annually, and will this year export more
than two millions and a half to New York. But, unfortunately, in New York,
the wine is bottled and sold as French.
If the capital which is absorbed by the
ever-thirsty Comstock, that gapes like a dusty sponge, could be turned
toward the wine interest, this condition of our export business would be
materially changed. Had our wine-handlers the capital, our best wines would
be bottled and kept for several years, until mature, and would be sold by
California agents in all the large cities of the East in open competition
with the French; and our average grade wines would be sold even cheaper than
they are now, so as to place them within the reach of all Eastern
restaurants. At present this is the course pursued on a very limited scale
in California; but with our restricted capital, we cannot extend the sphere
of our operations beyond our own State. Hence California wine is under a
great disadvantage, and her dealers suffer a loss of prestige and profit.
The New York dealers by a cheap average of our wines - that is to say, fair
wines about a year old - and pass them off upon the public for French
superior wines. So immense and wholesale is the swindling perpetuated in the
French wine ports, Cette, Marseilles and Bordeaux, that the public is
actually benefitted by the New York trickery. For though these wines which
masquerade as superior French wines are in reality inferior California
wines, yet they are far better than the French vins de cargaisons
or export wines. There is no attempt on the part of the friends of
California wine to claim equality with the French Chateau wines,
but it has been demonstrated by analysis, based upon the invoices of wine in
the United States Consular offices of the ports named, that these fine wines
do not come to America. If any American wants them he must go to the
vineyards and buy the vintage over the heads of other buyers, but these fine
wines are not exported from France on commission, as nineteen-twentieths of
the French wine that comes to America actually is. The wine is notoriously
fabricated from bad wines, both white and red, flavored in imitation,
sweetened with brown sugar, strengthened with alcohol distilled at Hamburg
from potatoes, and colored with fuchsine, one of the petroleum colors. This
delectable compound is brought down to the correct claret pitch with water,
and the whole comes in cask to New York, accompanied by cases filled with
empty bottles, assorted packets of grand labels, straw, corks and
everything necessary to give the wine the air of having been bottled in
France. The known price of this vin de cargaison is from six to
seven cents a gallon. Now, our California wines that take the place of this
villainous stuff are pure and good, but they have not been given the time to
mature, and are consequently often crude and acrid. A peach is delicious,
but an unripe peach is by no means a delicate morsel. So it is with wine.
The better it is in quality, the longer it takes to ripen. Wines that have a
low level of quality soon reach it, for they have not far to go; wines that
are very superior have far to go, and it takes them a corresponding length
of time.
It is hard that one of the worst enemies of
California wine is an enemy within the gates - a household foe. Our wealthy
men in general affect to disdain California wine, and speak with rapture of
French. It is really a matter for just complaint that the leading California
industry - for such it truly is - should be slandered by the very men who
are in honor bound to maintain and assist it. California patriotism is
notorious; yet it is a fact that the very men who claim that whatever is
done or made in California is better than anything made or done elsewhere,
make an exception against our wine. Singular anomaly! They brag of things
that are doubtful, and they deny that which is certain! If this sentiment is
based upon the cheapness of California wine, then their is a depth of
snobbishness exhibited which the mind recoils from and refuses to fathom.
Can anything more revoltingly purse-proud be imagined than a man who insists
upon buying a bad foreign article because it is dear, and who despises and
refuses a good home article because it is cheap? If these men had been born
in the purple, if they had drunk French claret all their lives, one would
condone their offense against patriotism, and explain their prejudices by
the supposition that their palates were so depraved by the constant use of
what was bad, that they had lost the power of discriminating what was good.
But this apology would not hold, because we know well enough that these
millionaires strengthened their tissues in the old days of their struggles
against poverty with corn whisky, and the use of claret is only a device
born of millions, and a pretense of habits, aristocratic, and luxurious, to
which they are in reality strangers. These men drink claret and sigh for
lager, they degustate Burgundy and wish to heaven that cider was a
fashionable beverage. It would be a sign of true nobility to drink what they
liked without the assumption of tastes which are foreign to them. But if
they must drink wine, let them drink California wine, and then they will at
least have the consolation of patriotism.
SQUATTING TROUBLES. - For the benefit of our readers we quote
the following lucid statement of facts in regard to the squatting
disturbances near Healdsburg which appeared in the Sonoma County
Democrat of June 19, 1862: -
"The rancho Sotoyome, upon which the lands
in dispute are situate, was granted by the Mexican Government to Henry D.
Fitch in 1844. We are told by attorneys now in attendance upon the District
Court that a title more perfect in all respects was never presented to the
courts for adjustification. Mr. Fitch died in 1849, leaving several
children, the plaintiff Mrs. Bailhache among the number. The rancho was
confirmed by the courts, and in April, 1858, a patent issued therefor from
the United States Government. Previous to this, and while the title to the
rancho was pending before the United States Courts, the rancho was divided
into small tracts, and sold under an order of Probate Court of this county.
At that sale Mrs. Bailhache became the purchaser of the lands in dispute
(some fourteen hundred acres) as her interest in the estate of her father.
After the issuance of the patent for the rancho to the heirs of H. D. Fitch,
Mrs. Bailhache brought a suit in ejectment against the parties in possession
of the premises claimed by her, and after long and patient litigation, she
finally, in October, 1859, obtained judgment for the restitution of the
premises, against three of the parties in possession. In June, 1860, a
judgment by confession in open court was entered against the balance of the
occupants, with a stipulation that it should not be enforced until the first
of December following. In July, 1860, a writ of restitution was issued out
of the District Court against Messrs. Bice, Miller, and Neely, the parties
against whom the judgment was obtained in October, 1859, when they, for a
mere nominal sum, entered into a lease, by the terms of which they agreed to
deliver up the quiet and peaceable possession of the premises occupied by
them on the first of December following.
"On the first of December, 1860, demand was
made for the premises in accordance with the terms of stipulation, and
leases, and proposals made to sell or lease the premises. No arrangement
seems to have been made, and in January, 1861, a writ of restitution was
placed in the hands of the Sheriff against one C. C. Clark. It appears Clark
was put out, the plaintiff put in possession, and on the same night the
plaintiff was ousted by an armed force, and Clark returned. About this time
suit was brought on the leases, upon which the plaintiff again recovered
judgment and small damages. It was upon the execution issued in this last
case that the farce of selling some stock for ten cents was enacted by
Deputy Sheriff Campbell, last winter. At the February term of the District
Court the plaintiff recovered judgment against the defendents Bice, Miller,
and Neely, for some eleven hundred dollars, the value of rents and profits
of the lands held by them. To the execution in this last judgment, the
resistance was made last week. And to the execution of the writ of
restitution the resistance is now made.
"From the foregoing facts it appears that
the defendents in this matter have chosen to resort to law for the
settlement of their rights - that they had no standing in court - and have
had repeated judgments against them. It appears further, that they, by their
own terms, should have delivered up the possession of the property long ago.
That they have had the opportunity to buy or lease, and have had the use and
occupation of the land at least four years, against the title of the
plaintiff. On their part, we are informed, they say that the title of the
plaintiff is invalid in consequence of some irregularity in the probate
sale. Admit that it is imperfect, the courts have determined that it is good
against them, and resistance to that decree will not give them a title.
"Many hardships have no doubt been worked
upon settlers in this State; but we can find no apology for the action of
the defendants in this matter. They litigated themselves out of court, have
enjoyed the use of the land for years free of taxation, and now that the
plaintiff asks simply what the court says is hers, if they cannot buy the
land at prices which they can afford to pay, like true men and abiding
citizens, they should leave the premises, without compelling the officer of
the court to resort to force to remove them, as he is certain to do, if they
persist. Have not these men some one among their number capable of weighing
the great responsibility they assume in armed resistance to the law? It is
more serious than the settlement of any disputed rights between the parties.
The whole community, county and State, become interested in the result, and
looking beyond any grievances the parties themselves may think they have
suffered, must come to the support of the law as the only safety we have as
a people, in determining and protecting our rights in person and property.
Though these men may be successful for a day, they cannot derive any
permanent rights or benefits, and finally must yield with greater loss to
themselves."
On the 15th July, the Sheriff, with two
hundred and thirty of a posse comitatus, proceeded to the spot, but
were unable to gain any end, as is shown in the subjoined affidavit made by
prominent citizens, who were present on the occasion: "State of California,
County of Sonoma. - The undersigned, citizens of Sonoma County, being each
duly sworn, depose and say - that they were of the posse comitatus
summoned by J. M. Bowles, Sheriff of said county, to assist him (the
Sheriff) in the execution of certain writs of restitution or possession in
favor of Josephine Bailhache, and against J. N. Stapp, Alexander Skaggs,
Thomas L. Forsee, Cornelius Bice, Robery Neely, James Miller, and A. M.
Green, and were present with said Sheriff and posse on the 15th day
of July, 1862, when an attempt was made to execute said writs. That upon the
approach of said Sheriff and posse to the premises of the said
Cornelius Bice, they found drawn up in line in front of the house situated
upon the premises, of which possession was to be given, a body of men,
numbering about forty, armed with guns. That upon the Sheriff and his
posse coming up to them and informing them that he was there for the
purpose of executing said writs, the said body of armed men declared that
they were there for the purpose of resisting, and would, with all their
force, resist and prevent, if they had the force to do so, the execution of
any and all said writs, and forbade the Sheriff or his posse to
enter the gate to the yard in which they were standing, with their guns
presented towards the Sheriff and posse. That the Sheriff more than
once commanded them to disperse and permit him peaceably to perform his duty
and execute the writs, and that they refused to do so, and reiterated their
determination to forcibly prevent their execution. That the posse
of the Sheriff was unarmed, and from actual observation and intercourse with
them then and there, deponents know that the most of them were unwilling,
and a great many of them absolutely refused to risk an encounter with the
said body of armed men. Deponents further say that, from their information,
they believe that the said body of armed men in front of said house was not
more than one-sixth of the whole body of armed men that had assembled in
that immediate vicinity for the purpose of resisting the execution of these
writs, and that the remainder of said body were within such convenient
distance to those in front of the house as to render them assistance upon
the occurrence of any conflict. Deponents further say that it would have
been rash and dangerous to life, and, in their opinion, a useless sacrifice
of unarmed citizens, to have made any further attempt than was made to
execute the said writs then and there, and they believe that they cannot be
executed by such a posse of citizens as the Sheriff can summon in
the county, and believe they can be executed only by the assistance of
military power." In order to carry out the law the Emmet Rifles and Petaluma
Guards, under the command of Captains Baylis and Hewlett, respectively, were
detailed for this duty, and proceeded to Healdsburg, where they, with a
posse of civilians, proved themselves able to cope with the rebellious
squatters. Skaggs, Stapp, Miller, and others were tried before the District
Court for contempt, on October 24th, and each fined five hundred dollars,
and sentenced to five days' imprisonment on the county jail. But here the
question did not end. On February 9, 1862, Deputy-Sheriff J. D. Binns, with
a posse, served a writ of restitution upon Cornelius Bice, who had
still remained in occupation, when he, with his family, were removed and J.
N. Bailhache put in possession. That night the premises were burned, by
parties unknown. On the following evening Robert Ferguson was wounded by a
gun-shot, while moving some rails from the premises of one of the
defendants, from the effects of which he died on the 15th.