The Bay of San Francisco--Deserted Ships--The
Mission-Dolores--Manners of the Chinese Emigrants--The Black
Race--The Loungers of Jackson Street--Gaming Houses--The
Black Band--The Committee of Vigilance--On Hanging.
On the 21st of November, 1852, we came in sight of the little islands
called the Farellones, which lie at the mouth of the bay of San
Francisco, and of Bonetta Point, which, towards the left, juts out to
a considerable distance into the sea. At this spot, a pilot came on
board to conduct our schooner through the narrow straits, which
hereabouts are scarcely more than half a mile across. The steep rocks
and sandy hills, all overgrown with brambles, which line the shore on
every side next came into sight; and, immediately afterwards, a
magnificent spectacle was presented to our view. We came, all at once,
upon a fleet met together from every nation under heaven, as if to
attest the importance of this modern city. Turning from the
contemplation of these crowded masts, and parti-coloured flags, I
beheld with surprise the scene of desolation presented by the sandy
shores on the other side of the bay. There, all crowded together and
falling to decay, lay the ruins of another fleet, scarcely less
numerous than the first. Their faded flags hung in tatters from the
broken masts; their decks had given way; and the moss was already
growing in the interstices of the boards. They had long since been
abandoned by their crews, all of whom, once landed, had fled away to
the gold regions, and left their good ships to ruin and
decay--melancholy examples of the greed of gain! Before the discovery
of the gold mines, San Francisco was a harbour frequented by whalers,
who put in there to refit and take in provisions. The dealings between
the Indians and the European sailors were at that time limited to
exchanges of skins. About half a century ago, a party of Spanish
missionaries established themselves at some little distance from the
coast, and built a small church called the Mission-Dolores, which
exists to the present day. When these Californian solitudes were
overrun by Americans and Europeans in search of gold, that lonely
spot, whither religious faith alone had penetrated, became one of the
busiest haunts of San Francisco. A fine road was opened, buildings of
all kinds sprang up around the modest chapel, and the road of the
Mission-Dolores has now become one of the gayest promenades of the
city.
At the time of my arrival (November, 1852), San Francisco presented a
sufficiently curious aspect, with its sandy streets, its planked
foot-ways, and its houses built of wood, iron, and brick. A marvellous
activity prevailed in all parts of the city; and I was particularly
struck with the coming and going of this polyglot population, composed
of men and women of all races, complexions, and national costumes. I
was jostled every moment by the natives of eastern and western
America, of Tahiti, of the Sandwich Isles, and of every part of the
European continent. Emigration had been going on very extensively for
the three or four years preceding my arrival, and the population of
San Francisco had consequently augmented to a total of something like
sixty thousand souls.
But this city changes its aspect from day to day. Stone buildings were
even then springing up in every direction. Montgomery Street, one of
its handsomest thoroughfares, was paved, and bordered with superb
buildings. Shops, warehouses, cafes, and magnificent hotels enlivened
the street towards evening with thousands of lamps; and, seeing the
crowds that issue at night from the Metropolitan Theatre, one can with
difficulty believe that, only six years before, the Indians, lasso in
hand, scoured this very spot in pursuit of the wild horse and the
buffalo.
San Francisco had by this time become somewhat less expensive than
formerly. It was possible to hire a furnished room for forty piastres
per month, the value of a piastre being about four and twopence. This
was considerably cheaper than the rents of many previous years, when
shops were let at 100, 200, and sometimes 600 piastres per month. Meat
and game were also much more reasonable. Mutton was sold at one
piastre per pound, and veal at half a piastre. Milk, having at first
cost one piastre the bottle, had fallen to two shillings, one
shilling, and, finally, sixpence. Vegetables, on account of their
scarcity, were sold at enormous prices. A pound of potatoes was not
purchaseable at less than one shilling, and eggs cost from three to
six piastres the dozen. The washing of a dozen articles of linen cost
five piastres; a bottle of champagne, five piastres; and the cleaning
of a pair of boots, two shillings. On the other hand, salmon was
plentiful, and sold in all the markets at one piastre per pound. In
the early days of San Francisco, one piastre would scarcely pay for
the most simple repast without wine.
A great part of this population came originally from China; and if I
first name these emigrants, it is because their colony, established in
the midst of foreigners, presents many curious features. Their
unsocial habits are already well known. Although their industrial
inclinations drew them hither to this young and fertile country, they
nevertheless brought with them all the sullen and solitary instincts
of their race. Thus, to avoid mingling with the Europeans, they
congregated in a special quarter of the city. Sacramento Street, which
is the centre of their colony, presents all the characteristics of a
street in Canton, or any other Chinese city. Their commerce is
exclusively confined to the products of their own country; and, in
Dupont Street, they have gaming-tables always ready to tempt such of
their countrymen as may be disposed to risk their hard-won gold.
An equally curious population may be found in another part of San
Francisco. I allude to the blacks, who, like the Chinese, are settled
altogether as one great family. They inhabit one entire side of
Kearney Street; but the motives which have drawn them together arise
from quite a different source. The Americans hate the negroes, and
their antipathy is neither unknown nor dissembled. The contempt with
which they are always treated, has, naturally enough, caused these
latter to unite together in a quarter where they will neither trouble,
nor be troubled by, their oppressors.
The reciprocal hate of these two races, the one so timid, and the
other so arrogant, has induced between them a suspension of every
social relation. The blacks are excluded from all public places
frequented by their tyrants. They dare not show themselves at the
cafes, the restaurants, or the theatres; and, having no other resource
than dress, they parade the streets with cravats of the most dazzling
colours, fingers loaded with rings, and dresses the delicate tints and
textures of which contrast ridiculously with the ebon hue of the
wearers. You chance, now and then, to meet a negro who is doing his
best to imitate the manners of a gentleman; but he is sure to be
absorbed in the perfection of his boots and gloves, and is altogether
pervaded with an uneasy consciousness of his own dandyism. All the
efforts of Mrs. Beecher Stowe have not yet availed to elevate the
social position of the negro in the United States. The generous
sympathy which this lady has manifested towards the coloured
population appears simply ridiculous in the eyes of her own
countrymen; and even in this free land, where the social rights of man
have been at least conceded to them, the inferiority of their position
is still so painfully apparent, that, after all, they can scarcely be
said to have gained more than the mere privilege of making money and
being their own masters.
The rest of the population consists chiefly of Americans, French,
English, Germans, Dutch, Mexicans, Chilians, etc., etc.
Jackson Street is one of the most curious in San Francisco. On either
side, the primitive wooden huts of the first settlers are still
standing, and almost every dwelling is an eating-house, or "bar," as
it is here generally called. After dark, when the gas is lighted,
these establishments present a most extraordinary _coup d'oeil_. The
diggers, after a lucky day's labour, meet here for recreation; and
this assemblage, gathered together from all parts of the world, makes
up the strangest picture imaginable. The confusion of tongues and the
variety of costume baffle description. Negresses, Mexicans, Peruvians,
Chilians, and Chinese women decked out in furbelows and flounces, are
seen hand in hand, and side by side with men who drink, and dance, and
stamp, and shout for joy, to the sound of infernal music. Should you
pause for a few moments before the door of one of these haunts, you
are sure to witness some frightful quarrel, begun apparently in sport.
This quarrel is but the lightning which precedes the thunder. The
_melee_ soon becomes general, and you had best escape while yet you
may; for the quarter will be in a commotion for the rest of the
evening. Blood is sure to flow, and a formidable fight, in which many
lives are sacrificed, but too frequently follows.
Still more curious is it to observe these people in the gaming-houses.
There, by the light of glittering chandeliers, the contrast between
these white, black, and bronzed faces becomes more startling than
ever, crowded as they are around tables heaped with gold, silver, and
ingots. When these gaming-houses were first started, and the
gold-fever was at its height, many a serious fracas took place in the
rooms, and, more than once, the winners found themselves paid with a
pistol shot. It was then proposed to abolish the gaming-houses
altogether; but, as the government exacted enormous rents for the hire
of these establishments, they were eventually suffered to remain. The
games are various. The Mexicans play chiefly at monti; the French at
roulette, vingt-et-un, trente-et-quarante, and lansquenet; and the
Americans at faro. I shall never forget the countenances of those
professional gamblers who form, as it were, an essential part of these
establishments. They are ready to play for others as well as for
themselves, and there are few tables without three or four of these
auxiliaries. Unruffled and business-like, they play on perpetually,
and take no notice of whatever may be going forward. Playing for
themselves, they win, on the average, from four to five dollars per
diem; playing for others, they contrive to gain from eight to twelve.
The windfall-gatherers are also deserving of mention. They are mostly
Americans, who make it their business to pounce upon such stray coins,
as are not immediately claimed by the winners. Watchful of every
venture, they follow each turn of the cards, and, if a dollar be for
one instant forgotten or left upon the table, an eager hand clutches
and bears it off before the unsuspecting player has time even to
recognize the thief. The proprietors of the gaming-houses favour these
predatory individuals, and even help to distract the attention of the
novice whom they have selected for their victim. This system of
robbery is a sore trial to inexperienced players, and the consequences
are often serious. The player who finds himself defrauded, scruples
not to shoot the thief as if he were a dog. All these houses are
provided with good orchestras, and the music sounds well to the
chinking of the gold.
There is yet another and a more formidable class infesting these
places. It is known by the name of the Black Band, and consists of a
party of American swindlers. Well-dressed, skilful, and audacious,
they follow their daring craft with utter impunity, and are the terror
of the population. If they go into a gaming-house, it is with no idea
of wasting their time on the chances of the cards. They find it more
profitable and convenient simply to sweep off all the gold from the
tables, after which they coolly walk away, and no one dares to stop
them. These frauds are, as it were, consecrated by time and tradition.
The police and the local government have as yet no power to put a
stop to them, and, though the scandalous misdemeanours committed by
the members of the Black Band would fill a volume, they are yet
suffered to tyrannize over the entire community. Every day during my
stay, some merchant's house was plundered, and did the loser dare to
lodge a complaint against the robbers, they not only returned to the
charge, but destroyed everything of value that came in their way. Nor
was this all. They dined, drank, and helped themselves at all places
of public resort, with their customary audacity; and, although their
excesses had greatly diminished since the first peopling of the
colony, there was not yet established, in 1852, any legal force
sufficiently powerful to operate against them.
Arrived at San Francisco, we established ourselves in Montgomery
Street, and hired a little furnished apartment, at a rent of three
hundred francs per month. Considering that the walls were never dry,
and that our bed was always soaked in rainy weather, we may be said to
have paid somewhat dearly for our accommodation. We consoled
ourselves, however, with the panorama which lay extended before our
windows, and agreed that so glorious a prospect was cheap at any
price; for it comprehended, not only the greater part of the city and
the surrounding mountains, but included a bird's-eye view of the room
in which the Committee of Vigilance had established its tribunal.
This room was situated over a baker's shop, close under our windows,
and a piece of cord attached to a pulley hung out from the first
story, as an emblem of that simple and summary process known by the
name of Lynch law. Not many days after our arrival, an execution took
place. I chanced to awake very early that morning, and on opening my
window saw two men busily occupied in fixing a new and unusually long
cord to the pulley before mentioned. Already distant cries and the
trampling of many feet announced something unusual, and in another
moment the street was filled by an eager and angry crowd. I foresaw
the terrible scene which was about to take place, and, seized by an
overwhelming terror, dragged my sister from the room, and left the
house by a back door. In another quarter of an hour we were in the
country, where we remained and spent the day with some friends. I
afterwards ascertained that the criminal was a Spanish assassin.
Arriving at the scaffold with a cigar in his mouth, he calmly
addressed the crowd, and smoked till the very moment when the fatal
noose was tied. The story that I had heard, and the sight that I had
seen, left so painful an impression on my mind, that I was soon weary
of my lodging in Montgomery Street, and hastened to seek another.
This terrible Lynch law is so called after an unfortunate man of that
name, who became its first victim. The fatal and frequent errors which
must necessarily ensue from this illegal system, may easily be
conceived.