COMING OF THE IRON HORSE
1869
The Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad continued in 1869 to be the local
theme of most importance, although its construction did not go on as
rapidly as had been promised. The site for a depot, it is true, had
been selected; but by June 14th, only six miles were finished. Farmers
were loud in complaints that they had been heavily taxed, and in
demanding that the road be rushed to completion, in order to handle
the prospectively-large grain crop. Additional gangs were therefore
employed, and by the twentieth of July, seven more miles of track had
been laid. In the meantime, the Sunday School at Compton enjoyed the
first excursion, the members making themselves comfortable on benches
and straw in some freight cars.
As the work on the railroad progressed, stages, in addition to those
regularly running through from Los Angeles to Wilmington, began
connecting with the trains at the temporary terminus of the railroad.
People went down to Wilmington to see the operations, not merely on
the track, but in the machine shops where the cars for freight,
express, baggage, smoking and passenger service (designed by A. A.
Polhamus, the machinist) were being built under the superintendence of
Samuel Atkinson, who had been brought West by the San Francisco & San
José Valley Railroad, because of a reputation for railroad experience
enjoyed by few, if by any other persons on the Coast. The Company also
had a planing mill and wheelwright shop under the charge of George W.
Oden.
By the first of August, both the railroad and connecting stages were
advertising Sunday excursions to the beach, emphasizing the chance to
travel part of the way by the new means of transit. Curiously,
however, visitors were allowed to enjoy the sea-breezes but a short
time: arriving at Wilmington about ten or half-past, they were
compelled to start back for Los Angeles by four in the afternoon. Many
resorters still patronized the old service; and frequently the regular
stages, racing all the way up from the steamer, would actually reach
the city half an hour earlier than those transferring the passengers
from the railway terminus which was extended by August 1st to a point
within four miles of town.
When eighteen miles had been finished, it was reported that General
Stoneman and his post band would make an excursion on the first train,
accompanied by General Banning and leading citizens of the town; but
strong opposition to the Company laying its tracks through the center
of "The Lane," now Alameda Street, having developed, the work was
stopped by injunction. The road had been constructed to a point
opposite the old Wolfskill home, then "far from town," and until the
matter was settled, passengers and freight were unloaded there.
Great excitement prevailed here shortly after sundown on Wednesday
evening, August 21st, when the mail-stage which had left for Gilroy
but a short time before came tearing back to town, the seven or eight
passengers excitedly shouting that they had been robbed. The stage had
proceeded but two miles from Los Angeles when four masked highwaymen
stepped into the road and ordered, "Hands up!" Among the passengers
was the well-known and popular Ben Truman who, having learned by
previous experience just what to do in such a ticklish emergency and
"being persuaded that the two barrels of cold steel had somewhat the
proportions of a railway tunnel," sadly but promptly unrolled one
hundred and eighty dollars in bills, and quite as sadly deposited, in
addition, his favorite chronometer. The highwayman picked up the
watch, looked it over, shook his head and, thanking Ben, returned it,
expressing the hope that, whatever adversity might overwhelm him, he
should never be discovered with such a timepiece! All in all, the
robbers secured nearly two thousand dollars; but, strange to relate,
they overlooked the treasure in the Wells Fargo chest, as well as
several hundred dollars in greenbacks belonging to the Government.
Sheriff J. F. Burns and Deputy H. C. Wiley pursued and captured the
robbers; and within about a week they were sent to the Penitentiary.
On the same evening, at high tide, the little steamer christened _Los
Angeles_ and constructed by P. Banning & Company to run from the wharf
to the outside anchorage, was committed to the waters, bon-fires
illuminating quite distinctly both guests and the neighboring
landscape, and lending to the scene a weird and charming effect.
In a previous chapter I have given an account of Lady Franklin's visit
to San Pedro and Los Angeles, and of the attention shown her. Her
presence awakened new interest in the search for her lamented husband,
and paved the way for the sympathetic reception of any intelligence
likely to clear up the mystery. No little excitement, therefore, was
occasioned eight years later by the finding of a document at San
Buenaventura that seemed "like a voice from the dead." According to
the story told, as James Daly (of the lumber firm of Daly & Rodgers)
was walking on the beach on August 30th, he found a sheet of paper a
foot square, much mutilated but bearing, in five or six different
languages, a still legible request to forward the memoranda to the
nearest British Consul or the Admiralty at London. Every square inch
of the paper was covered with data relating to Sir John Franklin and
his party, concluding with the definite statement that Franklin had
died on June 11th, 1847. Having been found within a week of the time
that the remnant of Dr. Hall's party, which went in search of the
explorer, had arrived home in Connecticut with the announcement that
they had discovered seven skeletons of Franklin's men, this document,
washed up on the Pacific Coast, excited much comment; but I am unable
to say whether it was ever accepted by competent judges as having been
written by Franklin's associates.
In 1869, the long-familiar adobe of José António Carrillo was razed to
make way for what, for many years, was the leading hotel of Los
Angeles. This was the Pico House, in its decline known as the National
Hotel, which, when erected on Main Street opposite the Plaza at a cost
of nearly fifty thousand dollars, but emphasized in its contrasting
showiness the ugliness of the neglected square. Some thirty-five
thousand dollars were spent in furnishing the eighty-odd rooms, and no
little splurge was made that guests could there enjoy the luxuries of
both gas and baths! In its palmy days, the Pico House welcomed from
time to time travelers of wide distinction; while many a pioneer,
among them not a few newly-wedded couples now permanently identified
with Los Angeles or the Southland, look back to the hostelry as the
one surviving building fondly associated with the olden days. Charles
Knowlton was an early manager; and he was succeeded by Dunham &
Schieffelin.
Competition in the blacking of boots enlivened the fall, the Hotel
Lafayette putting boldly in printer's ink the question, "Do You Want
to Have Your Boots Blacked in a Cool, Private Place?" This challenge
was answered with the following proclamation:
Champion Boot-Black! Boots Blacked Neater and Cheaper than
Anywhere Else in the City, at the _Blue Wing_ Shaving
Saloon by D. Jefferson.
Brickmaking had become, by September, quite an important industry. Joe
Mullally, whose brickyard was near the Jewish Cemetery, then had two
kilns with a capacity of two hundred and twenty-five thousand; and in
the following month he made over five hundred thousand brick.
In course of time, the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad was completed
to the Madigan lot, which remained for several years the Los Angeles
terminus; and justly confident that the difficulty with the
authorities would be removed, the Company pushed work on their depot
and put in a turn-table at the foot of New Commercial Street. There
was but one diminutive locomotive, though a larger one was on its way
around the Horn from the East and still another was coming by the
Continental Railway; and every few days the little engine would go out
of commission, so that traffic was constantly interrupted. At such
times, confidence in the enterprise was somewhat shaken; but new
rolling stock served to reassure the public. A brightly-painted
smoking-car, with seats mounted on springs, was soon the "talk of the
town."
I have spoken of J. J. Reynolds's early enterprise and the competition
that he evoked. Toward the end of July, he went up to San Francisco
and outdid Hewitt by purchasing a handsome omnibus, suitable for hotel
service and also adapted to the needs of families or individuals
clubbing together for picnics and excursions. This gave the first
impetus to the use of hotel 'buses, and by the first Sunday in
September, when the cars from Wilmington rolled in bringing passengers
from the steamer _Orizaba_, the travelers were met by omnibuses and
coaches from all three hotels, the Bella Union, the United States and
the Lafayette; the number of vehicles, public and private, giving the
streets around the railroad depot a very lively appearance.
Judge W. G. Dryden, so long a unique figure here, died on September
10th and A. J. King succeeded him as County Judge.
A notable visit to Los Angeles was that of Secretary William H. Seward
who, in 1869, made a trip across the Continent, going as far north as
Alaska and as far south as Mexico, and being everywhere
enthusiastically received. When Seward left San Francisco for San
Diego, about the middle of September, he was accompanied by Frederick
Seward and wife (his son and daughter-in-law), General W. S.
Rosecrans, General Morton C. Hunter, Colonel Thomas Sedgwick and
Senator S. B. Axtell; and the news of their departure having been
telegraphed ahead, many people went down to greet them on the arrival
of the steamer _Orizaba_. After the little steamer _Los Angeles_ had
been made fast to the wharf, it was announced, to everyone's
disappointment, that the Secretary was not coming ashore, as he wished
to continue on his way to San Diego.
Meanwhile, the Common Council had resolved to extend the hospitality
of the City to the distinguished party; and by September 19th, posters
proclaimed that Seward and his party were coming and that citizens
generally would be afforded an opportunity to participate in a public
reception at the Bella Union on September 21st. A day in advance,
therefore, the Mayor and a Committee from the Council set out for
Anaheim, where they met the distinguished statesman on his way, whence
the party jogged along leisurely in a carriage and four until they
arrived at the bank of the Los Angeles River; and there Seward and his
friends were met by other officials and a cavalcade of eighty citizens
led by the military band of Drum Barracks. The guests alighted at the
Bella Union and in a few minutes a rapidly-increasing crowd was
calling loudly for Mr. Seward.
The Secretary, being welcomed on the balcony by Mayor Joel H. Turner,
said that he had been laboring under mistakes all his life: he had
visited Rome to witness celebrated ruins, but he found more
interesting ruins in the Spanish Missions (great cheers); he had
journeyed to Switzerland to view its glaciers, but upon the Pacific
Coast he had seen rivers of ice two hundred and fifty feet in breadth,
five miles long and God knows how high (more cheers); he had explored
Labrador to examine the fisheries, but in Alaska he found that the
fisheries came to him (Hear! hear! and renewed applause); he had gone
to Burgundy to view the most celebrated vineyards of the world, but
the vineyards of California far surpassed them all! (Vociferous and
deafening hurrahs, and tossing of bouquets.)
The next day the Washington guests and their friends were shown about
the neighborhood, and that evening Mr. Seward made another and equally
happy speech to the audience drawn to the Bella Union by the playing
of the band. There were also addresses by the Mayor, Senator Axtell,
ex-Governor Downey and others, after which, in good old American
fashion, citizens generally were introduced to the associate of the
martyred Lincoln. At nine o'clock, a number of invited guests were
ushered into the Bella Union's dining-room where, at a bounteous
repast, the company drank to the health of the Secretary. This brought
from the visitor an eloquent response with interesting local
allusions.
Secretary Seward remarked that he found people here agitated upon the
question of internal improvements--for everywhere people wanted
railroads. Californians, if they were patient, would yet witness a
railroad through the North, another by the Southern route, still
another by the Thirty-fifth parallel, a fourth by the central route,
and lastly, as the old plantation song goes, one "down the middle!"
California needed more population, and railroads were the means by
which to get people.
Finally, Mr. Seward spoke of the future prospects of the United
States, saying much of peculiar interest in the light of later
developments. We were already great, he affirmed; but a nation
satisfied with its greatness is a nation without a future. We should
expand, and as mightily as we could; until at length we had both the
right and the power to move our armies anywhere in North America. As
to the island lying almost within a stone's throw of our mainland,
ought we not to possess Cuba, too?
Other toasts, such as "The Mayor and Common Council," "The Pioneers,"
"The Ancient Hospitality of California," "The Press," "The Wine Press"
and "Our Wives and Sweethearts," were proposed and responded to, much
good feeling prevailing notwithstanding the variance in political
sentiments represented by guests and hosts; and everyone went home, in
the small hours of the morning, pleased with the manner in which Los
Angeles had received her illustrious visitors. The next day, Secretary
Seward and party left for the North by carriages, rolling away toward
Santa Barbara and the mountains so soon to be invaded by the puffing,
screeching iron horse.
Recollecting this banquet to Secretary Seward, I may add an amusing
fact of a personal nature. Eugene Meyer and I arranged to go to the
dinner together, agreeing that we were to meet at the store of S.
Lazard & Company, almost directly opposite the Bella Union. When I
left Los Angeles in 1867, evening dress was uncommon; but in New York
I had become accustomed to its more frequent use. Rather naturally,
therefore, I donned my swallowtail; Meyer, however, I found in a
business suit and surprised at my query as to whether he intended
going home to dress? Just as we were, we walked across the street and,
entering the hotel, whom should we meet but ex-Mayor John G. Nichols,
wearing a grayish linen duster, popular in those days, that extended
to his very ankles; while Pio and Andrés Pico came attired in blue
coats with big brass buttons. Meyer, observing the Mayor's outfit,
facetiously asked me if I still wished him to go home and dress
according to Los Angeles fashion; whereupon I drew off my gloves,
buttoned up my overcoat and determined to sit out the banquet with my
claw-hammer thus concealed. Mr. Seward, it is needless to say, was
faultlessly attired.
The Spanish archives were long neglected, until M. Kremer was
authorized to overhaul and arrange the documents; and even then it was
not until September 16th that the Council built a vault for the
preservation of the official papers. Two years later, Kremer
discovered an original proclamation of peace between the United States
and Mexico.
Elsewhere I allude to the slow development of Fort Street. For the
first time, on the twenty-fourth of September street lamps burned
there, and that was from six to nine months after darkness had been
partially banished from Nigger Alley, Los Angeles, Aliso and Alameda
streets.
[Illustration: Phineas Banning, about 1869]
[Illustration: Henri Penelon, in his Studio]
[Illustration: Carreta, Earliest Mode of Transportation]
[Illustration: Alameda Street Depot and Train, Los Angeles & San
Pedro Railroad]
Supplementing what I have said of the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad
depot: it was built on a lot fronting three hundred feet on Alameda
Street and having a depth of one hundred and twenty feet, its
situation being such that, after the extension of Commercial Street,
the structure occupied the southwest corner of the two highways.
Really, it was more of a freight-shed than anything else, without
adequate passenger facilities; a small space at the North end
contained a second story in which some of the clerks slept; and in a
cramped little cage beneath, tickets were sold. By the way, the
engineer of the first train to run through to this depot was James
Holmes, although B. W. Colling ran the first train stopping inside the
city limits.
About this time the real estate excitement had become still more
intense. In anticipation of the erection of this depot, Commercial
Street property boomed and the first realty agents of whom I have any
recollection appeared on the scene, Judge R. M. Widney being among
them. I remember that two lots--one eighty by one hundred and twenty
feet in size at the northwest corner of First and Spring streets, and
the other having a frontage of only twenty feet on New Commercial
Street, adjacent to the station--were offered simultaneously at twelve
hundred dollars each. Contrary, no doubt, to what he would do to-day,
the purchaser chose the Commercial Street lot, believing that location
to have the better future.
Telegraph rates were not very favorable, in 1869, to frequent or
verbose communication. Ten words sent from Los Angeles to San
Francisco cost one dollar and a half; and fifty cents additional was
asked for the next five words. After a while, there was a reduction of
twenty-five per cent, in the cost of the first ten words, and fifty
per cent, on the second five.
Twenty-four hundred voters registered in Los Angeles this year.
In the fall, William H. Spurgeon founded Santa Ana some five miles
beyond Anaheim on a tract of about fifty acres, where a number of the
first settlers experimented in growing flax.
It is not clear to me just when the rocky Arroyo Seco began to be
popular as a resort, but I remember going there on picnics as early as
1857. By the late sixties, when Santa Monica Cañon also appealed to
the lovers of sylvan life, the Arroyo had become known as Sycamore
Grove--a name doubtless suggested by the numerous sycamores there--and
Clois F. Henrickson had opened an establishment including a little
"hotel," a dancing-pavilion, a saloon and a shooting-alley. Free lunch
and free beer were provided for the first day, and each Sunday
thereafter in the summer season an omnibus ran every two hours from
Los Angeles to the Sycamores. After some years, John Rumph and wife
succeeded to the management, Frau Rumph being a popular _Wirtin_; and
then the Los Angeles Turnverein used the grove for its public
performances, including gymnastics, singing and the old-time
sack-racing and target-shooting.
James Miller Guinn, who had come to California in November, 1863 and
had spent several years in various counties of the State digging for
gold and teaching school, drifted down to Los Angeles in October and
was soon engaged as Principal of the public school at the new town of
Anaheim, remaining there in that capacity for twelve years, during
part of which time he also did good work on the County School Board.
Under the auspices of the French Benevolent Society and toward the end
of October, the corner-stone of the French Hospital built on City
donation lots, and for many years and even now one of the most
efficient institutions of our city, was laid with the usual
ceremonies.
On October 9th, the first of the new locomotives arrived at Wilmington
and a week later made the first trial trip, with a baggage and
passenger car. Just before departure a painter was employed to label
the engine and decorate it with a few scrolls; when it was discovered,
too late, that the artist had spelled the name: LOS ANGEL_O_S. On
October 23d, two lodges of Odd Fellows used the railway to visit Bohen
Lodge at Wilmington, returning on the first train, up to that time,
run into Los Angeles at midnight.
October 26th was a memorable day, for on that date the Los Angeles &
San Pedro Railroad Company opened the line to the public and invited
everybody to enjoy a free excursion to the harbor. Two trains were
dispatched each way, the second consisting of ten cars; and not less
than fifteen hundred persons made the round trip. Unfortunately, it
was very warm and dusty, but such discomforts were soon forgotten in
the novelty of the experience. On the last trip back came the
musicians; and the new Los Angeles depot having been cleared, cleaned
up and decorated for a dedicatory ball, there was a stampede to the
little structure, filling it in a jiffy.
Judge H. K. S. O'Melveny, who first crossed the Plains from Illinois
on horseback in 1849, came to Los Angeles with his family in November,
having already served four years as a Circuit Judge, following his
practice of law in Sacramento. He was a brother-in-law of L. J. Rose,
having married, in 1850, Miss Annie Wilhelmina Rose. Upon his arrival,
he purchased the southwest corner of Second and Fort streets, a lot
one hundred and twenty by one hundred and sixty-five feet in size, and
there he subsequently constructed one of the fine houses of the
period; which was bought, some years later, by Jotham Bixby for about
forty-five hundred dollars, after it had passed through various hands.
Bixby lived in it for a number of years and then resold it. In 1872,
O'Melveny was elected Judge of Los Angeles County; and in 1887, he was
appointed Superior Judge. H. W. O'Melveny, his second son, came from
the East with his parents, graduating in time from the Los Angeles
High School and the State University. Now he is a distinguished
attorney and occupies a leading position as a public-spirited citizen,
and a patron of the arts and sciences.
In his very readable work, _From East Prussia to the Golden Gate_,
Frank Lecouvreur credits me with having served the commonwealth as
Supervisor. This is a slight mistake: I was an unwilling candidate,
but never assumed the responsibilities of office. In 1869, various
friends waited upon me and requested me to stand as their candidate
for the supervisorship; to which I answered that I would be glad to
serve my district, but that I would not lift a finger toward securing
my election. H. Ábila was chosen with six hundred and thirty-one
votes, E. M. Sanford being a close second with six hundred and
sixteen; while five hundred and thirty-seven votes were cast in my
favor.
Trains on the new railway began to run regularly on November 1st; and
there still exists one of the first time-tables, bearing at the head,
"Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad" and a little picture of a
locomotive and train. At first, the train scheduled for two stated
round trips a day (except on steamer days, when the time was
conditioned by the arrival and departure of vessels) left Wilmington
at eight o'clock in the morning and at one o'clock in the afternoon,
returning at ten in the morning and four in the afternoon. The fare
between Los Angeles and Wilmington was one dollar and fifty cents,
with an additional charge of one dollar to the Anchorage; while on
freight from the Anchorage to Los Angeles, the tariff was: dry goods,
sixteen dollars per ton; groceries and other merchandise, five
dollars; and lumber, seven dollars per thousand feet.
After the formal opening of the railroad, a permanent staff of
officers, crew and mechanicians was organized. The first
Superintendent was H. W. Hawthorne, who was succeeded by E. E. Hewitt,
editor of the _Wilmington Journal_. N. A. McDonald, was the first
conductor; Sam Butler was the first and, for a while, the only
brakeman, and the engineers were James McBride and Bill Thomas. The
first local agent was John Milner; the first agent at Wilmington, John
McCrea. The former was succeeded by John E. Jackson, who from 1880 to
1882 served the community as City Surveyor. Worthy of remark, perhaps,
as a coincidence, is the fact that both Milner and McCrea ultimately
became connected in important capacities with the Farmers & Merchants
Bank.
The first advertised public excursion on the Los Angeles & San Pedro
Railroad after its opening was a trip to Wilmington and around San
Pedro Harbor, arranged for November 5th, 1869. The cars, drawn by the
locomotive _Los Angeles_ and connecting with the little steamer of the
same name, left at ten and returned at three o'clock in the afternoon.
Two dollars was the round-trip fare, while another dollar was exacted
from those who went out upon the harbor.
In the late seventies, a Portuguese named Fayal settled near what is
now the corner of Sixth and Front streets, San Pedro; and one Lindskow
took up his abode in another shack a block away. Around these rude
huts sprang up the neighborhoods of Fayal and Lindville, since
absorbed by San Pedro.
Probably the first attempt to organize a fire company for Los Angeles
was made in 1869, when a meeting was called on Saturday evening,
November 6th, at Buffum's Saloon, to consider the matter. A temporary
organization was formed, with Henry Wartenberg as President; W. A.
Mix, Vice-President; George M. Fall, Secretary; and John H. Gregory,
Treasurer. An initiation fee of two dollars and a half, and monthly
dues of twenty-five cents, were decided upon; and J. F. Burns, B.
Katz, Emil Harris, George Pridham, E. B. Frink, C. D. Hathaway, P.
Thompson, O. W. Potter, C. M. Small and E. C. Phelps were charter
members. A committee appointed to canvass for subscriptions made
little progress, and the partial destruction of Rowan's American
Bakery, in December, demonstrating the need of an engine and hose
cart, brought out sharp criticism of Los Angeles's penuriousness.
About the middle of November, Daniel Desmond, who had come on October
14th of the preceding year, opened a hat store on Los Angeles Street
near New Commercial, widely advertising the enterprise as a pioneer
one and declaring, perhaps unconscious of any pun, that he proposed to
fill a want that had "long been felt." The steamer _Orizaba_, which
was to bring down Desmond's goods, as ill luck would have it left half
of his stock lying on the San Francisco pier; and the opening, so much
heralded, had to be deferred several weeks. As late as 1876, he was
still the only exclusive hatter here. Desmond died on January 23d,
1903, aged seventy years, and was succeeded by his son, C. C. Desmond.
Another son, D. J. Desmond, is the well-known contractor.
Toward the close of November, Joseph Joly, a Frenchman, opened the
Chartres Coffee Factory on Main Street opposite the Plaza, and was the
pioneer in that line. He delivered to both stores and families, and
for a while seemed phenomenally successful; but one fine morning in
December it was discovered that the "Jolly Joseph" had absconded,
leaving behind numerous unpaid bills.
The first marble-cutter to open a workshop in Los Angeles was named
Miller. He came toward the end of 1869 and established himself in the
Downey Block. Prior to Miller's coming, all marble work was brought
from San Francisco or some source still farther away, and the delay
and expense debarred many from using that stone even for the pious
purpose of identifying graves.
With the growth of Anaheim as the business center of the country
between the new San Gabriel and the Santa Ana rivers, sentiment had
been spreading in favor of the division of Los Angeles County; and at
the opening of the Legislature of 1869-70, Anaheim had its official
representative in Sacramento, ready to present the claims of the
little German settlement and its thriving neighbors. The person
selected for this important embassy was Major Max von Stroble; and he
inaugurated his campaign with such sagacity and energy that the bill
passed the Assembly and everything pointed to an early realization of
the scheme. It was not, however, until Los Angeles awoke to the fact
that the proposed segregation meant a decided loss, that opposition
developed in the Senate and the whole matter was held up.
Stroble thereupon sent posthaste to his supporters for more cash, and
efforts were made to get the stubborn Senate to reconsider. Doubtless
somebody else had a longer purse than Stroble; for in the end he was
defeated, and the German's dream did not come true until long after he
had migrated to the realms that know no subdivisions. One of the
arguments used in favor of the separation was that it took two days's
time, and cost six dollars, for the round trip to the Los Angeles
Courthouse; while another contention then regarded as of great
importance was that the one coil of hose pipe owned by the County was
kept at Los Angeles! Stroble, by-the-way, desired to call the new
county Anaheim.
Major von Stroble was a very interesting character. He was a German
who had stood shoulder to shoulder with Carl Schurz and Franz Sigel in
the German Revolution of 1848, and who, after having taken part in the
adventures of Walker's filibustering expedition to Nicaragua, finally
landed in Anaheim, where he turned his attention to the making of
wine. He soon tired of that, and in 1867 was found boring for oil on
the Brea Ranch, again meeting with reverses where others later were so
successful. He then started the movement to divide Los Angeles County
and once more failed in what was afterward accomplished. Journalism in
Anaheim next absorbed him and, having had the best of educational
advantages, Stroble brought to his newspaper both culture and the
experience of travel.
The last grand effort of this adventurous spirit was the attempt to
sell Santa Catalina Island. Backed by the owners, Stroble sailed for
Europe and opened headquarters near Threadneedle Street in London. In
a few weeks he had almost effected the sale, the contract having been
drawn and the time actually set for the following day when the
money--a cool two hundred thousand pounds--was to be paid; but no
Stroble kept tryst to carry out his part of the transaction. Only the
evening before, alone and unattended, the old man had died in his room
at the very moment when Fortune, for the first time, was to smile upon
him! Eighteen or twenty years later, Catalina was sold for much less
than the price once agreed upon.