“His Whole Life Was Dedicated to Acts of Charity and Kindness”: Some History of Henry Wartenberg of Los Angeles, 1857-1879, Part Two

by Paul R. Spitzzeri

After a decade in Los Angeles, the Polish-born Jewish merchant Henry Wartenberg made his mark in the social and public welfare realms of the Angel City through his involvement in Jewish organizations like the Hebrew Benevolent Society, as well as broader fraternal societies such as the Free and Associated Masons and the International Order of Odd Fellows. He also served on a few terms of the county grand jury, while the store he ran with fellow Eastern European Jew Wolf Kalisher prospered and the two expanded into mining and real estate.

In December 1868, Wartenberg won election to the Los Angeles Common (City) Council and he was in what was called the first class, meaning that he was among those serving a two-year term, while others had a one-year stint. It was no surprise that President John King appointed him to the Finance Committee as well as the one overseeing policing.

Warternberg’s two years on the council, ending in December 1870, were largely uneventful, though he appears to have attended meetings faithfully and was part of special committees, while also issuing motions for the approval of items coming under the purview of the standing committees of which he was a member.

Perhaps the only controversy of substance taking place during his service came when, as a member of the finance committee, he was involved in the issuing of scrip, a form of currency paid out in lieu of cash, as bills were presented by contractors and vendors for work done for the City.

A letter to the Los Angeles Star of 18 December 1869, shortly after new members of the council, including Elijah H. Workman, were sworn-in after that one-year term was ended, from “Tax Payer” charged that since the death of County Judge William G. Dryden (a longtime associate of William Workman), who was also the council clerk, a majority of that body, styled a “ring,” illegally issued scrip.

The writer continued that Finance Committee Chair José Mascarel “demanded an explanation of this extraordinary embezzlement of the city funds,” but was voted down “in the most shameless and brutal manner.” It was then asserted that “the prosiest [talkative?] and most stupid member of the ‘ring'” purportedly had more than $5,000 issued to him, this apparently referring to Louis Roeder, while,

the “Shylock” of the finance committee, [had issued to him] $10,000, all to pay for the sewer on Commercial street. The whole amount protested [issued] may amount to $50,000 . . . The “ring” looked horror-stricken, and the “Shylock” of the finance committee, shameless as he is, retired after the installation of the new members, not having valor enough to face the music of an investigation.

The use of the term “Shylock,” the name of a character in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice that was a stereotype of the grasping and greedy Jewish merchant, was clearly a reference to Wartenberg and an anti-Semitic attack on him. The next day’s Los Angeles News featured a reply from him and Roeder to the “grossly slanderous article” in which they remarked that they were authorized to issue the scrip because there was no gold coin in the city coffers to pay bills.

They added that some of the scrip was issued individually in their names and would have been to Mascarel, as well, “if he had taken any interest in the matter.” Roeder and Wartenberg added that the scrip “has been sold by them and coin realized therefrom and paid over to the City creditors in strict conformity to their powers derived from the Common Council.” Moreover, they continued, “the vouchers of their operations are on file.”

The two men commented that “the leading capitalists of the City were applied to for negotiation of the scrip,” while “not one dollars has passed into the pockets” of either of them. Mascarel, they observed, “was fully aware of the action of his associates,” while “Tax Payer” was “well known for his vilifying tendencies, and is not the proper person to effectually darken the character of any member of our community.” Blasting the “gross and unfounded rumors,” Roeder and Wartenberg, having been “unjustly assailed,” requested “the most scrutinizing investigation.”

In the Christmas Day 1869 edition of the Los Angeles News, the matter was further covered as Wartenberg offered further commentary about the incident and was paraphrased as arguing,

Creditors were clamoring for pay and the City had no money. The Scrip could scarcely be sold at any price. It was issued in the name of members of the Finance Committee, simply that it might be readily transferred. The Committee had labored earnestly and faithfully and had at all times kept within the bounds prescribed by the Council. He had vouchers for every dollar that had passed through his hands. He indignantly repelled any imputation upon his official integrity, and denounced the author of the charges as having hands not free of stain. He concluded by demanding a Committee of investigation, with ample powers, which should report at the next meeting.

Mascarel resigned from the council on 13 January 1870, though three of five members, including Workman, initially voted to refuse it. He wrote a defense for the Star of the 22nd, stating that once Ozro W. Childs resigned, he felt he had to follow because he had no choice as a minority voice on the council. He also asserted that he, designated president, was left out of important actions of the finance committee and, when it came to the Commercial Street sewer contract, he relied on Mathew Keller, a prominent vineyard owner and wine-maker, for the translation of documents, as Mascarel, a native of Marseille, France, did not read English.

Moreover, asserted Mascarel, he learned that the sewer project was completed by the firm of Perry and Woodworth, a well-known lumber firm, and, though he said he was told by a fellow committee member that the scrip might fetch up to 65 cents on the dollar, he learned that it was sold at 50 cents to the bank of Hellman, Temple and Company, of which F.P.F. Temple and William Workman were partners with the prominent Jewish merchant, Isaias W. Hellman.

Mascarel continued that he approached Hellman to ask how much he paid for the scrip and was rebuffed and, when he asked for record of the transaction, could find none in the council’s records, though he found those two amounts, totaling more than $15,000, issued to Roeder and Wartenberg for the sewer project.

He concluded his missive by reminding readers that, when he was mayor in 1865-1866, the value of sold scrip more than doubled to 85 cents, while the city tax was cut and debt paid down. It is true that the local economy, battered in the first half of the decade by flood, drought and other conditions, improved during his tenure. Mascarel, however, was offended at his treatment by fellow council members and the News, which issued reports “too filthy and uncalled for to deserve a reply.”

Moreover, Keller, who was indicted for an alleged “carelessness” in working with Roeder and Wartenberg, as well as Moritz Morris, to receive and sell scrip, was able to get a nolle prosqeui, or decision not to pursue prosecution, in his case. Apparently, whatever accusations were leveled against him in the sewer scrip matter were not sufficient to continue with an indictment and trial. Wartenberg’s part in the controversy also seems to have receded with nothing further found about it in subsequent media reports of council meetings.

Notably, this was also a period in which former mayor Joel H. Turner, as well as council members King, Roeder and Morris, were under indictment for alleged criminal actions in controversies involving the council and which led a wholesale replacement of members in 1868, during which time three seats were added as the city was undergoing the early stages of its first significant and sustained period of growth. So, aside from the usual bickering in local politics, the condition in the Angel City was hardly angelic and this may have led Wartenberg to serve his two-year term and not seek reelection.

Business, however, might also have motivated his decision, though he did seek a return, as an independent, to the council in 1876, by which time there was a ward system, but he finished seventh of eight candidates for the Second Ward seat. The following year, he tried to secure a position as a delegate for the Democratic Party county convention, but was unsuccessful in that effort.

Wartenberg, however, did serve at least twice more on the county grand jury, including as foreman in summer 1878 with the usual report to the county judge issued under his name. When criminal cases were called up early in 1872 to the District Court following the horrific Chinese Massacre of the previous October, one was for the prosecution of A.L. Crenshaw and F.P.F. Temple was the jury foreman.

During questioning of potential jurors, Wartenberg was asked what all of the pool was queried about; namely, whether he’d ever been a member of a vigilance committee. While he claimed he could be impartial, the former council member and grand juror did admit to serving on one such committee in 1859 or 1860—recall from part one that, when he was on a grand jury in November 1863, a mob stormed the jail and lynched several men, including a few under indictment by the jury.

While he maintained his partnership with Kalisher, Wartenberg also benefited from his long involvement as a senior official in the Odd Fellows lodge to secure the agency, in 1870, for the Pacific branch of the Widow and Orphan Fund Life Insurance Company, which was under the “patronage” of the national fraternal society.

He and Kalisher also continued their real estate dealings, including land on the Rancho Cajon de Santa Ana in the modern Anaheim and Yorba Linda areas and property in the Sonoratown section north of the Plaza, in what is now Chinatown, of Los Angeles. In February 1875, the pair sold some of the latter property to former Union Army Brevet Brigadier General Edward Bouton and F.P.F. Temple (who had lumber and saw mill investments together in the San Jacinto Mountains near Palm Springs and Idyllwild).

The Kalisher and Wartenberg store was supplemented by the opening, in 1870, of what they called the Pioneer Tannery and the Star of 25 June ran a feature titled “Trade of Kalisher & Wartenberg. It began by noting that

This store is in the block remodeled [after the 1867 fire mentioned in part one] by Mr. Bell [at the southeast corner of Los Angeles and Aliso streets], and surrounded as it is for three hundred feet with balcony, and asphaltum pavement, it is thus rendered the coolest one in town.

Moreover, the partners kept their stock in separate quarters located near the depot of the Los Angeles and San Pedro Railroad, which was built during Wartenberg’s tenure on the council. Among the items sold at the establishment were boots, clothing, hats, groceries, grain and shoes, “as well as specimens of the fine harness leather being turned out at their Tannery.” This was situated near the storage building and the article concluded, “this firm is combining capital, enterprize [sic] and vim; and success, with these constituents, is undoubted.”

A couple of weeks later, in its 7 July edition, the Star went into more detail about the tannery, noting that Kalisher and Wartenberg long shipped hides and skins to San Francisco, but they finally decided, realizing that profits on rendered goods were substantial and they were losing out on this revenue stream, to enter the business. The paper added that this was the only tannery in Los Angeles and the southern California region generally—notable, because such businesses as the saddlery and harness shop of Elijah H. and William H. Workman relied on tanned hides and skins, though it was added that small tanneries did previously exist in town.

The paper continued that,

This one has all the elements of success, the principal being plenty of capital to sustain in its preparatory operations. It is located back from Alameda street, in front [north?] of the Railroad Depot [which stood across Alameda from the terminus of Commercial Street], and is known as the Los Angeles Pioneer Tannery.

Notably, the material for the process comprised tree bark and the Star remarked that “it is said that the live oak here contains more tannic acid than elsewhere in the State, it being a fact that that the farther south the bark is grown the stronger it is in tannic acid.” Moreover, “the raw material, the hides, are also said to be better here than elsewhere, as Spanish animals give better hides than American,” while butchering techniques were reported to be much improved to reduce waste.

The tannery employed nine men during the spring and they worked on hundreds of cattle hides and sheep skins, with carriage manufacturers like John Goller as well as Roeder and Louis Lichtenberger, while efforts were undertaken to provide leather for shoe soles. There were no rolling mills in the business, so all work was done by hand and it was added that,

The establishment contains 25 vats, five large tanks, finishing room, store room and drying room, besides large vats for lime and liquor; a bark mill, driven by horse power; a hydraulic ram for pumping the river water [from the adjoining Los Angeles River]. Parties have been engaged to strip bark.

The Star continued that Kalisher and Wartenberg planned to double capacity as the rapid growth of Los Angeles and environs should warrant. It was also remarked that “the Pioneer is in a pretty locality—surrounded by vineyards and orchards of peach, walnut and orange,” while the piece concluded with a wish for continued success with adequate community support for an enterprise it asserted met a long-felt need.

The News of 15 February 1871 also devoted some substantial column space to the tannery, noting how many items were processed, though also observing that the owners were also marketing their products in San Francisco, as regional demand was not quite meeting supply or, in many cases, locals were buying imported products tanned elsewhere, which struck the paper as strange.

The remainder of the article questioned this attitude and wondered what the logic was behind the fact that “a hide-producing country ships its raw material five hundred miles away only to have it manufactured for its own consumption, not only losing freights but taking out of the country money which might be retained in it.” In decades past, this was the case, but it was one of necessity, as there was not enough local capital for even the most modest and simplest of manufactories.

The News also remarked that a core motive power for the Kalisher and Wartenberg tannery was the “self-acting pump lifting [water] from the zanja immediately beneath the works,” the ditch carrying water from the Los Angeles River. Despite the owners plans for expansion, the paper felt compelled to state,

We hope those engaged in an attempt to found and foster a new industry may succeed as they deserve, but our people seemed incline to forget that they are interested in encouraging home manufactures, not only on account of their direct benefits, but as well for increasing the value of home productions, and this neglect manifests itself not only in this, but in other vital interests . . . Is this policy a wise one, or rather, are not people who persistently pursue it not only blind to public wants, but heedless of private interest?

Relative little could be found about Wartenberg for most of the 1870s, though part of that could be the depressed state of the economy after the summer 1875 panic that included Los Angeles’ first major business failure, that of the bank of Temple and Workman. In spring 1878, it was reported that the merchant resided “near Brooklyn Heights,” a community recently founded adjacent on the north to the similarly new Boyle Heights.

The 11 January 1879 edition of the Star, however, noted that “Mr. Henry Wartenberg, one of the old Los Angelenos, is reported to be dangerously ill at the French Hospital,” located on what then was Castelar Street, now Hill Street, at College Street (where there was no college as the LA Street Names website points out and which operated until 2017. He died about a month later and, notably, no substantial obituary about his life, including more than two decades of active business, political and social life, could be located.

Fortunately, Stern’s little book, although with just 200 copies printed, provides something of Wartenberg’s life and this post hopes to be a supplement and continuation of it. As for his farewell message to the Hebrew Benevolent Society, given on 10 July 1870 and printed in the Star two days later, he identified that,

The first and most important of the declarations of the founders of our society was, to purchase a piece of ground to be set apart and dedicated as the last resting place for our mortal remains where we may lie down together to wait the solemn summons of the Great Day, and where the poor and needy, as well as the stranger, may repose among those of their own faith.

The Hebrew Cemetery, as it was then known, covered three acres, and Wartenberg, who was buried there and then moved to the Home of Peace Cemetery in East Los Angeles with his tombstone carved with the words “his whole life was dedicated to acts of charity and kindness,” called for the creation of avenues and walks and planting of evergreen trees, “the emblems of undying life.” He added that the Society, though comprised of Jewish members, “extended charity, not only to hose of our own faith, but to every sect who applied for the same,” with aid rendered by need, not religion.

After noting by-laws changes regarding changing meetings from quarterly to monthly, increasing dues from fifty cents to a dollar a month, that new Jewish residents should join within three months, and that the cemetery, in single and family lots, should have monies used for maintenance and the additions mentioned above. He thanked the Society for its support during his six years as president and hoped he met expectations, while assuring that he would remain active, “devoting such ability as God has given me, to the promotion of its interests.”