Read All About It in the Los Angeles Express, 28 March 1874

by Paul R. Spitzzeri

As we offer another of the “Read All About It” series of posts, sharing material from historic greater Los Angeles newspapers in the Homestead’s collection, we turn to the 28 March 1874 edition of the Los Angeles Express, one of the three principal English-language dailies, along with the Herald and the Star, in town at the time (there was also the Spanish-language, La Crónica, which was, in the late 1880s and early 1890s, run by Thomas W. Temple II).

The Express arose in 1871 from the ashes of the Los Angeles News, published in different formats since 1860, and it boasted in this edition that it had “the largest circulation of any paper published in Southern California.” With the region nearing the peak of its first development boom, the origins of which dated back to around 1868, there was plenty of boosterism in the Angel City’s media, playing up the potential and promise of the area and the citing the climate, fertility of the soil, access to natural resources, prime location for transportation by rail, road and sea; and others.

An example was the main editorial on the second page of the sheet, under the heading of “It Must Come Here.” The paper observed that “all we require, says everybody, to bring out this section of the country to an unexampled perfection of prosperity, is capital” and Los Angeles was primed for an infusion because of “our commercial situation and our unsurpassed resources.” It added, however, that “our advantages for investment have not heretofore possessed an irresistible attraction to the capitalists of the financial centre of the Pacific Coast,” this being San Francisco.

Yet, there were problems in capital flows because “the plathora [sic] of money in the banks of San Francisco at the present time is enormous” but “the metropolis has been mortgaged to its utmost limit” even as “the astounding yield of [silver] bullion from the Comstock and other successful mines,” at Virginia City, Nevada, near Carson City and Reno, “is pouring money into the financial centre.” In the east, the depression that burst forth in 1873 “has had the effect to greatly lessen the absorption of [California] gold in Europe,” though the exports of Golden State grain “tended to establish a better financial equilibrium between the United States and foreign countries.”

With reports that here was more than $100 million locked up in the vaults of San Francisco banks, “but few loans have been made” because of the over-mortgaging of real estate. So, the Express wondered, “does it require any great degree of financial prescience to foresee that a large portion of the surplus money will be compelled to seek investment here?” The piece continued,

We have the most inviting field on the continent for the establishment of paying enterprises. Our climate and productive capacity give us an advantage which is no where else found for successful investment. The situation of our splendid city, with its rapidly opening harbor and its back country of illimitable agricultural extent and exhaustless mineral resource, is, beyond doubt, the most promising field for investment now open in the United States.

Securing some of the surplus in San Francisco was such that “will compel a large share of this capital to come to us” and, in fact, it was asserted that “we have already seen the harbinger of this imminent money-flow seeking investment here.” What was to come, the paper assured its readers, was that “it will soon be followed by such an abundance that our most sagacious minds will be exercised to find new avenues of employment for the great volume” rather than the current condition in which there was a struggle “to raise sufficient means to forward enterprises which possess the most palpable merit.”

Mining, as noted in the above quote, was obviously integral to California’s economy, as its moniker of the “Golden State” naturally attests. While the famous Gold Rush began in 1848 in the Sierra Nevada Mountains far north of this area, the first major discovery of the previous metal took place a half-dozen years prior, during the Mexican era, in Placerita Canyon, not far north of Los Angeles. One of those who sold gold dust in the eastern states was F.P.F. Temple, as previous posts here have discussed.

A correspondent known only as “An Old Prospector” and “J.A.T. provided the first of a series of essays on “The Mines of Our Back Region,” discussing the examples of Potosi and Amargosa, both in southwestern Nevada, east of Death Valley and west of Las Vegas, both of which were not too far from the Salt Lake Road, this being a large portion of the former Old Spanish Trail, which the Workman family used to get to Los Angeles more than three decades before.

On the other side of Death Valley, to the west, were the boom towns of Panamint and Cerro Gordo, among others, and Temple, along with his father-in-law, William Workman of the Homestead, poured large sums into developing their enterprises at the latter during this period. At the beginning of the essay, “J.A.T.” observed that,

In California, more than in any other country, the interests of our people are diversified. We have here a thousand industrial pursuits partially or absolutely undeveloped. In no one, as yet, has this fact become more patent than in the pursuit of mining. True, it has been for a number of years a favorite mode of “raising the wind” with a large number of our floating population—a means, when all else failed, of making “grub,” or a little more; but that time is nearly passed, and now capital, persistent labor, is required to wrest from Mother Earth her treasures.

The remark here is that the old placer mining, conducted near the surface, especially along rivers and streams, had long largely given way to more capital-intensive (and environmentally invasive) hydraulic mining through the blasting with concentrated bursts of water of hill and mountain sides. Yet, much of the work mentioned in this essay and elsewhere proved to be short-lived, even if productive, such as at Cerro Gordo (one of the many reasons for the failure of the Temple and Workman bank involved the large sums spent there without the anticipated results and financial rewards.)

As Los Angeles grew, it began to see, for the first time, a fairly steady stream of traveling entertainers, including actors, musicians and those passing themselves off as experts in medicine, spirituality and other pursuits, who could draw large crowds to such venues as the Merced Theatre (the building of which still stands on Main Street adjacent to the Pico House hotel structure and just off the Plaza), Stearns’ Hall (on the southwest corner of Aliso and Los Angeles streets) and Turnverein Hall (on Spring Street near 2nd Street).

On the editorial page was a brief piece about a “farewell testimonial,” these frequently offered by admiring citizens to performers who left a major impression, to Samuel W. Piercy at the Turnverein that evening. The Express remarked that the benefit was offered “as a compliment to his great talent and promise as an actor, and second, because he has always shown a large and liberal public spirit in his profession.” Piercy was to be the recipient of a program and “our best amateur talent has volunteered to assist,” including in dramatic set pieces, including the famed “Romeo and Juliet” balcony scene.

This event was mentioned in the 24 March edition of the paper previously highlighted here, as was a horrifying incident concerning the sexual assault of an unidentified ten year old girl, who was attended to by Dr. Kenneth D. Wise—whose opinion was that the unnamed child was not likely to survive because of fever and inflammation from the injuries caused.

This edition reported that, as the youngster did pass away, the coroner, Dr. Newton P. Richardson, held an inquest concerning the “foul crime.” While the cause of death was determined to be from the heinous rape, “so far the testimony fails to point with any degree of directness to any person as the perpetrator,” though, as the inquest was still in process, “the guilty author of the murder may yet be discovered.” It is not known, however, if this was the case.

In 1871, the first organized fire department in the Angel City was organized, comprised entirely of volunteers, but the members of Engine Company #1 were high displeased with City officials, as noted in the editorial page under the title of “As We Feared,” with the piece beginning with,

The firemen of our city are indignant, and have determined to disband, unless, they be provided with a span of fit horses to serve the ponderous fire steamer. There is justice in their demand, and we hope the Council we acceded to it. The full efficiency of the service of the Fire department can only be secured by having horses always ready to haul the engine to fires . . . We should not forget that we are enjoying the benefits of a volunteer Department, while nearly all other cities were steamers are employed have to maintain a paid Department. Some credit should be given on this score to our firemen; and it is not too much for them to ask that they be not made beasts of burden when a few hundred dollars will supply a more efficient substitute.

Other than a couple of what were called “hard-pan streets,” the paper remarked that “the entire Company has not strength enough to drag this ponderous steamer, and make anything like [good] time in going to a fire,” much less having personnel “arrive at the scene of action worn down and exhausted.” The editorial ended with the observation that “there is no sense in this” and the disbandment of the department would “inevitably increase insurance rates,” so the Common (City) Council was exhorted to provide the horses.

On the news page, with the title of “The Firemen Indignant,” it was reported that a special meeting the prior evening drew “a very large attendance” of personnel and that the denial of the request for horses “caused great indignation, and it was warmly discussed.” While three members of the Council, comprising the commission for fire and water were applauded for their support of the proposal, resolutions were adopted lambasting “the weakness of vacillation” and the decision to place “a higher value on the economy of horse flesh than of human vigor and muscle.”

The company threatened to end its existence at its 4 April meeting unless the situation changed with members appealing “the decision of the Honorable Council to the tribunal of their masters, the People, and ask them to instruct their servants in their duty.” The two dozen volunteers present included Foreman Thomas E. Rowan, who was also the county treasurer and a future mayor; Second Assistant George E. Gard, a future police chief and sheriff; and such members as hatter Daniel Desmond, police office J.C. Cox, merchant John C. Dotter, wagonmaker John Goller, Express founder George A. Tiffany (no wonder the paper devoted the space it did to the controversy), hotel-keeper Chris Fluhr and merchants Constant Meyer and Simon Nordlinger, these latter among the members of the city’s growing Jewish community.

What soon transpired was that very disbandment, followed soon after the formation of the 38s volunteer fire company, of whom Elijah H. Workman, William’s nephew and a frequent member of the Council, was a member. These firefighters were called upon to deal with all manner of structure fires and it is interesting to note the listing regarding “Building Going On” in the booming little city.

For example, The Farmers’ and Merchants’ Bank, led by Isaias W. Hellman, former partner of Temple and Workman, was constructing a two-story edifice “of the most substantial kind, measuring 18′ x 71′ and “built of brick with [an] iron front” on the west side of Main Street (with the institution leaving the Pico Building across the street and where predecessor Hellman, Temple and Company began and Farmers’ and Merchants’ formed) and to cost $12,000. Felix Signoret was to spend $13,000 on a three-story brick structure also on that principal thoroughfare.

As for residences, a mixture and frame structures were being erected for Dr. Joseph Kurtz, Eugene Meyer, Dolores Sepúlveda, Samuel Norton, Ramon Sotelo, and John Hall, this last one of more prominent African-Americans in town. It was also observed that “C.W. Gould, George Gard and others of our young married men, who have bought eligible lots from [future mayor Prudent] Beaudry,” his lands being in the hills west of downtown in what became Bunker Hill and Bellevue Terrace “are maturing plans for their future casas.”

In the “Local Items” column of brief news, it was commented that “a flock of about 3,000 sheep passed through Aliso street, early this morning, toward the Mission,” that road leading to the crossing of the Los Angeles River and through the new community of East Los Angeles, now Lincoln Heights, on the way out to San Gabriel. Sheriff William R. Rowland reported that he remitted to County Treasurer Rowan well north of $16,000, comprising the city and county taxes for the 1873-1874 assessment year.

William McPherson’s “new book was received at the Mirror [printing] office yesterday, and the publishers,” this being the Mirror Book and Job Printing Establishment, “propose to get the work,” titled Homes in Los Angeles City and County, “out with expedition.” The Los Angeles Public Library called the publication “the first boom pamphlet of any merit to be published in Los Angeles” and added that “it contains a wealth of information of interest to prospective land- owners and investors” while concluding that “this pamphlet was executed with superior craftsmanship in design and typography.”

St. Athanasius’ Episcopal Church, completed in 1864 as the first Protestant house of worship in the Angel City, stood at the southwest corner of Temple and New High streets, and the Express remarked that “Messrs. Griffith, Lynch & Co,” a prominent lumber firm in town, “will strengthen and improve” the edifice, which would serve to “make the building a complete and attractive place of divine worship.”

Another entertainer of note, Stephen Massett, widely known for his “Jeems Pipes” character, was to perform at the Merced and “open his carpet bag of Song, Sentiment and Fun,” with the paper remarking that “we are quite sure he will be pleased with his reception and we fully expecting to be pleased by him.” Readers were implored, “go early if you wish a front seat.” At the Turnverein the next evening, “two favorite German pieces will be enacted by the dramatic section of the Turners” organization.

Finally, close to a half-century before national Prohibition was enacted through the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, temperance advocates at the Good Templar Hall at Spring and 1st streets, met and “the question of the pledge of total abstinence was discussed at considerable length, and final adopted, and a committee of several ladies were appointed to canvass the town for signatures.”

We’ll be back soon with another “Read All About It” post, so be sure to keep an eye out for its delivery.