The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Criminal Justice, 1859

The last year of the 1850s found the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors having relatively little business to conduct in the matter of the administration of criminal justice.

It may have been that, after the tremendous spate of violence that roiled the town and county during the tumultuous years of the Gold Rush and the peak of ethnic tension and violence of 1856 and 1857 with the Jenkins/Ruiz incident and the massacre of Sheriff Barton and his posse and the resulting manhunt, the situation was significantly calmer in terms of problems between the Latino and Anglo populations.  In fact, the next major community incident would not be until late in 1863 and even that didn't appear to be ethnically motivated.

Possibly, the economic downturn that came with the end of the Gold Rush by the middle Fifties, the national depression of 1857, and local malaise as cattle ranches were stuck with a glut in the inventory of livestock, kept some criminality lower than in the flush years before, especially property crimes like larcenies.

This isn't to say, however, that there weren't continuing spasms of violence.  For example, the 22 October 1859 edition of the Los Angeles Star lamented that "it is the misfortune of our city, to be infested by a band of worthless vagabonds, too lazy to work, but ready to steal, and murder, too, if necessary to carry out their depredations."

Vagabonds could imply that the moribund economy led drifters into the area, as the paper asserted they were "the offscourings of other localities."  The paper claimed none receny crimes could be attributed to local, permanent citizens.  Consequently, the article concluded "the crimes committed by these outlaws are charged against our community, and we have to bear the burden of their turpitude."

The Los Angeles Star of 22 October 1859 lamented the crimes committed by "vagabonds" from outside the county--a common complaint during the crime-ridden 1850s.

In any case, 1859 was a rather mundane year compared to its predecessors.  A sign of that was at the 7 February board meeting, when the county treasurer was ordered to transfer funds from the armed bandit fund, created to pay for expenses in hunting bandits during those rougher years earlier in the decade, to the Current Expense [General] Fund.

The following day the board reasserted the tax levy for the Jail Fund as 30 cents for each $100 of assessed property, which, again, shows how low tax rates were for a basic public service that took up a majority of the county's expenses.  Regarding the jail, the same 8 February meeting included an authorization by the board's Committee on Contingent Expenses to the jail physician to examine the quality of the food provided to prisoners, as per the order of 4 February 1858.

There had also been a change in the jailor.  Joseph H. Smith, who was defeated in the sheriff's race in 1858 by James Thompson, had been in charge of the facility, but was replaced by Richard Mitchell.  Mitchell years later would be among the several men deployed by Sheriff William R. Rowland in the well-planned and executed capture of famed bandit Tiburcio Vásquez in spring 1874.

Previous posts pointed out the matter of juror lists and the question of whether the ethnic imbalance in these pools were directly tied to whether defendants in the county's courts could receive justice.  After all, a trial by a jury of peers could, to some people, signify a balance of ethnicity (though not of gender, because women were not then allowed to serve on juries).  In the mid 19th century, however, peers simply meant persons from the community.

Moreover, as also stated here, an analysis by this blogger of over 1,200 criminal court cases from 1850 to 1875 and of those that had a stated disposition showed that the conviction rate differentials between those cases involving Spanish-surnamed defendants and those who were American or European were small.  In addition, even as juries became even more skewed towards American and European majorities after 1865, the conviction rate difference narrowed.

The only recorded jury lists in the 1859 minutes came in May and August, when 68 jurors were identified.  Of those, eight had Spanish-language surnames, comprising about 12% of the total, more or less consistent with previous lists, but still very low.  What isn't known, incidentally, is what proportion of Los Angeles County residents on the tax rolls were Spanish-surnamed and whether their representation on those rolls were significantly lower than for Americans and Europeans.

In 1858, a measure, approved by the California legislature, to put the matter of a $25,000 loan for a new court house before the county's voters was narrowly defeated in the early September election by a matter of just a few dozen votes.  The supervisors decided to take up the idea again in 1859 and secured the legislature's approval for a new ballot measure.

In August, as an aside, five new election precincts were created for Los Angeles County, with most of them having some connection to a mining boom that took place in what were then usually called the Sierra Madre, but later changed to San Gabriel, Mountains.  These precincts included two called the "Upper and Lower San Gabriel Mines" up in San Gabriel Canyon above the new precinct of Azusa, as well as San Francisco [San Francisquito] Canyon, near modern Santa Clarita and where there was mining activity, as well as Tehachapi.  The last of these was in Los Angeles County for seven years until the creation of Kern County in 1866.

Now all of these were sparsely populated regions of the county, so how much influence any or all of these could have had on the court house vote is questionable, given that most people either resided in the the city of Los Angeles or the township of that name that surrounded it.

Not that it really mattered, actually, as the published returns in the minutes of the 19 September board meeting revealed that the court house loan only secured 162 yes votes, while 1,766 persons voted no!  Is it any wonder that the county gave up the idea of trying to secure a loan for a new court house and turned once again to prominent citizen Jonathan Temple?

Recall that Temple, who paid for the Ord Survey of 1849, the first professional survey of Los Angeles, sold the Rocha Adobe to the county in 1853 for a little over $3,000 with the adobe housing the courts, as well as city hall and county offices.  In 1859, Temple, who two years before, built one of the earliest brick commercial structures in town, which became the first of several structures comprising the Temple Block, took an "island" between Main and Spring and between Temple and 1st streets, and built the Market House, which also contained the first true theater on its second floor--years before the Merced Theatre was constructed near the Plaza.

This has been discussed here on the blog before, but Temple's Market House, designed as a commercial structure after the fashion of Faneuil Hall in Boston, which was near Temple's hometown of Reading, Massachusetts, came at the wrong time because of the poor economy.  However, Temple and the city and county came to an agreement to convert the structure to the court house, as well as city and county offices.

Notably, Temple ran for supervisor in the September elections, along with his half-brother, former supervisor and city treasurer, F.P.F. Temple, Temple's father-in-law William Workman, half-owner of Rancho La Puente in the eastern San Gabriel Valley and thirteen other candidates.

This card taken out by Ezra Drown in the Star's edition of 27 August 1859 addressed accusations that he was a former "Know Nothing", a name for the nativist, xenophobic American Party that controlled local and state politics briefly in the mid-1850s and a "Black Republican" running for district attorney in a Democratic-dominated county, filled by Southerners.  As noted at the bottom by the paper, Drown actually worked on behalf of Democrats to counter "Know Nothing" politicians.

  There was an interesting political situation in Los Angeles, reflecting the national problem of the impending slide towards Civil War and respecting views of states' rights, slavery and so forth.  Mainstream Democrats, who ruled the political roost in Los Angeles, uniformly won elections, but there was an alternate group of Democrats, who weren't as solidly pro-Southern, who ran in this campaign, including Workman and a few others.

Yet, some office seekers were from the northern states and managed, on occasion, to secure election.  One of these was Abel Stearns, who came to Los Angeles in 1829, the year after his fellow Massachusetts native Jonathan Temple and, like him, became a prominent merchant.  Stearns managed to win a seat as a supervisor in the 1859 campaign, though both Temples were defeated (F.P.F. came fairly close at 160 votes behind Stearns, but Jonathan only secured 261 votes.)

The other winners for supervisor seats were Ransom B. Moore, Cristobal Aguilar, Antonio F. Coronel, and Gabriel Allen.  Aguilar and Coronel were prominent Californios, discussed here before, who held political office frequently in the first quarter century of the American era.  

Allen, a native of New York, came to California as a soldier in the Mexican-American War and then returned east for several years.  In 1852, he journeyed back to dig for gold, but shortly after came to Los Angeles.  He married a local Latina, and became known as a road builder, particularly the difficult Tejon Road, north from Los Angeles towards San Francisco.  After his single term oin 1859-60, Allen turned to ranching and farming, but returned to serving as a supervisor in the mid-1870s for a full term and part of another (they were then 2-year terms).  He owned property in what is now the Costa Mesa area of Orange County, near Tehachapi and mines in Arizona.  He lived in Los Angeles until his death at 80 in 1899.

Moore hailed from St. Joseph, Missouri, where he became a newspaper reporter and editor before migrating to California in 1853 and settling in the new "American town" of El Monte as a cattle rancher.  His only foray into politics was his single term as a supervisor though he was an election inspector for the "Old Mission" precinct south of El Monte, where the original site of Mission San Gabriel was at Whittier Narrows.  Moore later lived in San Bernardino and owned the Rancho San Gorgonio in the pass of that name. In the 1880s, he relocated to Arizona and died there in 1904.

This list of township justices of the peace and constables for Los Angeles County appeared in the 8 October 1859 issue of El Clamor Público.  Copies of this paper were provided courtesy of Paul Bryan Gray.

Other election results included the reelection of County Judge (who presided over the Court of Sessions where most criminal matters were heard) William G. Dryden by a vote of 1197-937 over attorney and federal district judge Kimball H. Dimmick; the election of Tomás Sánchez, who had a prominent role in the manhunt for Sheriff Barton's killers, as sheriff by a 938-815 margin over Joseph H. Smith, with Frank H. Alexander securing 439 votes; and Southern firebrand E.J.C. Kewen besting former incumbent Ezra Drown for district attorney, 1115-902.   

Among the several townships and elections for justices of the peace and constables, William C. Warren, a young, new arrival to town finished third as a constable for Los Angeles township, but he would later by marshal and get involved in an infamous gunfight with one of his constables--this will be recounted in a future post here.  At San Gabriel, Roy Bean, whose brother was murdered in another incident to be related later here, was reelected as a constable.  Bean would go on to notoriety in Texas as a judge known as "The Law West of the Pecos."

As for the latter part of 1859, news was pretty scanty regarding criminal justice administration matters.  On 14 November, the supervisors rejected a claim from Juan Sepulveda for guarding the jail because it stated that new sheriff Sánchez did not get board approval for Sepulveda's appointment. 

A week later, after proposals were sought for a jail physician, there was only one respondent, this being prominent doctor John S. Griffin, who came to Los Angeles with the invading American military in 1846 and became a well-known citizen (and staunch supporter of the South.)  Interestingly, another physician, J.C. Welsh, was given a contract on 2 December, to supply medicines to the jail and hospital at $50 per month, but this was rescinded and lowered to $19.25 per month.  It is not clear if this interfered with Griffin's contract, however.

On 21 November, the board ordered Sánchez to have a nuisance, involving some structure, in the jail yard at the Rocha Adobe abated "and caused the house to be removed and properly constructed," with the monies to come from the jail fund.  Former jailor Francis J. Carpenter was hired to carry out this work.  Two weeks later, at the 3 December meeting, the supervisors ordered the sheriff to have jail inmates build a ten-foot tall wooden fence around the jail yard.

As a tangential note, the 6 December meeting had a record of rumors reaching the supervisors of an impending effort to unite Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties (as noted here before, San Bernardino County was carved out of Los Angeles in 1853, which created what is still America's largest county by area).  The rumor seemed to have enough behind it that the board adoped a resolution protesting against such a move.  Whatever effort there was went nowhere, though.

Finally, it is worth pointing out that the end of 1859 also meant the final issue, on 31 December, of Los Angeles' first Spanish-language newspaper, El Clamor Público, which has been referred to many times in this blog, and will in future posts.  The economy, low subscriptions and the political and social problems felt by its proprietor, Francisco P. Ramirez, were among the factors for the shuttering of this remarkable newspaper.

We'll be coming back later to more of the Board of Supervisors minutes, but will move onto other criminal justice administration matters in the meantime.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Criminal Justice, 1858

If 1857 included plenty of high drama with the massacre of Sheriff James R. Barton and members of his posse hunting bandits near San Juan Capistrano, it would have been thought that the next year, 1858, would be much quieter.  To a significant degree that was true, if the Barton incident and its aftermath is viewed as the peak of lawlessness and disquiet in greater Los Angeles during the tumultuous decade.

But 1858 proved to have a shocking start.  In the prior fall's elections, Los Angeles marshal William C. Getman, a Mexican-American veteran and longtime city lawman, secured election as county sheriff.  Just days into the new year, however, Getman was called to the scene of a disturbance involving a man named Reed, who showed signs of violent mental illness.

Like Barton a brave, but reckless, individual, Getman stationed a few men around the scene where Reed holed himself up in a building, but brazenly approached the crazed man telling Reed to drop his gun and that he wouldn't shoot the sheriff.  Reed promptly fired, mortally wounding Getman, who died moments later.  William W. Jenkins, who was discussed in the blog for his role as a deputy constable in the homicide of Antonio Ruiz in July 1856, was one of Getman's sidekicks, and, stationed atop the building, fired through a space in a covered porch and killed Reed, ending the incident.

When the supervisors convened a special meeting on 7 January to honor Getman, it was supposed to nominate a successor to fill out the sheriff's term, but postponed this action until the 11th.  When that meeting was held, supervisor and prominent merchant Francis Mellus nominated Joseph H. Smith, an experienced lawman, while supervisor Francisco Ocampo put forward James S. Thompson, who had involvement in the manhunt for the Barton killers as a candidate.

Whatever the reason, the vote was 4-1 for Thompson, after which Mellus, who obviously voted for Smith, resigned, presumably because of his displeasure over the outcome, though nothing was stated in the minutes as to why Mellus quit.  His replacement was Ralph Emerson.

During February, there was some minor business, such as the creation of a new township of Los Nietos for areas on either side of the San Gabriel River (then the Rio Hondo) in modern Downey, Whittier, Pico Rivera and nearby areas and a requirement of new bondsmen for recently elected San Gabriel constable Roy Bean, who later became the famed "Law West of the Pecos" in Texas.

On the 4th, the supervisors reaffirmed the conditions of the maintenance of the county and city jail, located in the courtyard behind the Rocha Adobe, then used as the courthouse and city and county offices, situated on the west side of Spring Street just north of 1st Street.  It ordered Sheriff Thompson to be responsible "for the safe keeping and support of prisoners confined in the County Jail" by allotting 50 cents per person per day in food and other essentials, while providing Thompson $3 per day compensation.

Going to further levels of detail than previously recorded in the minutes, the board ordered that bedding, clothing and other articles that were requisitioned by the sherff was to be certified by a board committee and then approved by the entire body.  Moreover, each quarter a disbursement of $50 was to be provided for lights, fuel and water and the supervisors were sure to add that "the prisoners [were] to be furnished with plain wholesome food, and their persons as well as the Jail, to be kept clean."

Then, the body resolved that a tax levy of 30 cents per $100 of assessed property be implemented to pay for jail expenses, repealing previous orders of August and November of the previous year.  The vote, however, was 3-2, with members Stephen C. Foster, Emerson and Tomás Sánchez voting yes and Ocampo and Julián Chavez voting no. Incidentally, this was the only time that the supervisors had a Latino majority.

This 18 September 1858 article in the Los Angeles Star discusses statistics about the local economy provided by the deputy assessor, although the information was hard to gather, evidently.  Still, in the post-Gold Rush years, the economy was in stagnation, a condition that would considerably worsen in the first half of the 1860s,  For the administration of criminal justice, which consumed most of the county's meager budget, the hard times made matters much worse.

Financial issues were clearly continuing to be a problem, as noted here before with the Gold Rush petering out by mid-decade, a national depression breaking out in 1857, and the local economy in a serious downturn.  Revenues were never high because of low tax rates, but as property values dropped in the worsening economy, the problem became more acute.

Consequently, in a special meeting of 5 February, the board resolved that

a Court House and Jail Yard, are imperatively required as a Public necessity, and as the only means of effecting the same, that a loan should be effected, and that our delegation in the Legislature should be requested to use their best efforts to have a Law passed therefore.

As will be seen below, the legislature did pass an act allowing the county to put the matter of a loan before the voters in the fall election.

Matters were quiet for some time after this.  In the February and May meetings of the board, lists of jurors who served in the district court, where the most serious felony criminal cases were heard, were provided, showing that, of 120 voters who were called to service (though only some became trial jurors), 14 of them had Spanish-language surnames.  In August, a new listing for the district and sessions (which heard most criminal cases) courts, revealed that 7 of 44 jurors had Spanish-language surnames.  So, out of 164 persons, 21 were Latino, a rate of 13% generally matching that of previous years.

As mentioned in previous posts here, the disproportionate majority of Americans and Europeans on jury pools has led some historians to suggest that justice was not possible for Spanish-surnamed defendants in court.  This, however, is questionable as those surviving cases with dispositions do not show a dramatic difference in conviction rates for Latino defendants compared to their Anglo counterparts.

Incidentally, to give an idea of how large the administrative townships could be in the county, take in this description of the redefinition of the Los Angeles Township, certified by the supervisors on 6 August:

From Arroyo Seco south from the mountains to the city boundary to the northern boundary of San Antonio to San Gabriel River, down to southern boundary of San Antonio, along said line to Rancho de Los Cuerbos to dividing line of San Pedro rancho and Palos Verdes, from the Sentinela [Centinela] and Sausal Redondo to the ocean, north to the line between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties, along this to the eastward connection to the north line of Rancho San Francisco and along this to its eastern terminues and south along the eastern boundary of Los Angeles County and southerly along to point of beginning.

This is basically from where the Arroyo Seco comes out of the San Gabriels at Pasadena and La Cañada/Flintridge all the way south to modern Downey area along the old San Gabriel River channel, now the Rio Hondo (the current San Gabriel was created in the winter floods of 1867-68 ).

Then the boundary moved westward to about where South-Central Los Angeles is and to the ocean generally where Redondo Beach is situated.  From there the line followed the coast up to what is now the Ventura County line--Ventura having been carved out of Santa Barbara County fifteen years later, in 1873.

Then the line went east along the boundary of Los Angeles and modern Ventura County and basically took in part of the San Fernando Valley (there was a San Fernando township) and through Tujunga, Sunland, north Glendale, La Crescenta and La Cañada before meeting back at the Arroyo Seco.

Initial county election returns published in the 4 September edition of El Clamor Público match those reproduced in the 11 September minutes of the Board of Supervisors. including the races for county judge and sheriff and the vote on a $25,000 tax levy for a new court house, which was narrowly defeated.  Thanks to Paul Bryan Gray for providing the microfilm of this paper.

Speaking of Los Angeles Township, the election of early September was recorded in the minutes of the board from 11 September.  The vote for a loan for the county courthouse was defeated and the minutes showed the tally as 237-176.   Returns printed in El Clamor Público on the same date were different, with the vote recorded as 236-194.  Interestingly, the measure passed handily in the city of Los Angeles, 115-68 and won in San Fernando and San Pedro, but all 72 voters in El Monte, all but 3 of the 26 in Santa Ana, and all 19 each in San Pedro and Tejon voted against it.  What isn't clear is why there were only some 430 votes, when the races for county judge (won handily by incumbent Benjamin Hayes) and sheriff (with appointee James Thompson easily defeating Joseph H. Smith and 1857 appointee Elijah Bettis) each had between 1400-1500 voters.  

Four days later, given the defeat of the loan measure, the clerk was ordered by the supervisors to send a letter to Mayor Damien Marchessault and the Los Angeles Common [City] Council to present the board's views "upon the present dilapidated condition of the Court House Building" and to seek out their views on the matter and "to place the same and the archives of the County beyond the Contingencies of the weather."  Clearly voters did not see the urgency for better court facilities, even if it meant, as was clear in the last statement, that there were some significant exposure to the elements in the Rocha Adobe!

On 21 September, the minutes recorded that there was a response from Marchessault and the council, though these weren't detailed (neither was the matter reflected in the council minutes, covered in an earlier post on this blog).  However, it is obvious that their concern was manifested similarly to that of the supervisors, because the board's building committee was authorized to expend up to $300 on repairs and instructed to find a new office for the clerk.

Election returns were amended for reporting in the 11 September edition of El Clamor.

The remainder of the year consisted of mundane matters when it came to criminal justice related questions, such as the disqualification (the reason was not stated) of José Antonio Yorba the elected justice of the peace at San Juan Capistrano and the appointment of his replacement, Michael Krazewski and the same for Los Nietos constable F. Bachelor, replaced by O.P. Passons, the runner-up in the justice of the peace contest in that township.

There was also a matter of requesting from San Bernardino County for the reimbursement of prisoner maintenance costs at the county jail for persons wanted for crimes committed in that other locale and for canceling scrip (IOUs) issued to jailor Francis Carpenter for fees that were disallowed in a district court case that went against him.

The next post takes us to the last year of the tumultuous decade of the 1850s.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Criminal Justice, 1857

The year 1857 began with the horrific ambush of Sheriff James R. Barton and four members of the posse he led against a gang of thieves, known as the Flores-Daniel Gang, who had been committing robberies and a murder at San Juan Capistrano.  This incident has been discussed in detail here in this blog.

The first meeting of the year was on the 28th, soon after the murders, and the board's primary business was to order that the vacancies of the office of sheriff and for the two constables, Charles Baker and William Little, killed in the incident be filled.  The board then set the date of 7 February for their next meeting and to make those appointments.

Four of the five members, Manuel Dominguez being absent, were present and the chair was Tomás Sánchez, whose service under Andrés Pico, in the manhunt to capture the killers was very important.

A new supervisor was El Monte resident Richard C. Fryer, who was among that town's settlers in 1852.  An ordained Baptist minister, the first in the Los Angeles region, Fryer later moved to the town of Spadra, founded by former El Monte settler William W. Rubottom, in what is now Pomona and served in the state assembly.

Another neophyte to the board was San Gabriel-area farmer William M. Stockton, who was among the first to travel across Death Valley in 1849 on his way to the newly discovered gold fields of California.  In 1852, Stockton, who did well in the mines, moved to Los Angeles and acquired part of the Huerta de Cuati, a grant of land made to native Indian Victoria Reid.  Stockton acquired what was known as the "Pear Orchard," a remnant of the Mission San Gabriel's former fruit orchards and where he had a vineyard, and moved into an adobe home in what is now San Marino.  When times were bad in the drought-ridden mid-1860s, Stockton lost the property to two men, including his fellow Death Valley traveler William M. Manly, whose published reminiscences were widely read.  He remained in the area, however, and died in 1894.  Stockton was among those present when Miguel Soto, said to have been in the Flores-Daniel gang, and a few other Latinos were killed by San Gabriel-area citizens just as this meeting took place--his role is not certain, however.

Then there was Jonathan R. Scott, who has been mentioned in this blog before several times.  A native of New York, who lived in Missouri for a period, Scott abandoned a wife and children in his home state when he moved west.  Upon arriving in Los Angeles in 1850, he opened a law practice and was a justice of the peace.  He was the 6'4" giant who could reach up and crush termite-ridden ceiling joists in the Rocha Adobe courthouse not long before his election to the board, though he didn't complete his term.  Scott died in 1864 in Los Angeles, having owned considerable property downtown and a vineyard in what is today Burbank.

The four supervisors each voted for a candidate: Charles E. Hale, a lawman mentioned here before; El Monte resident Frank Gentry, John Reed, whose father-in-law, John Rowland, owned half of the massive Rancho La Puente in the eastern San Gabriel Valley, and Elijah Bettis, also mentioned in the last post.  After a second route stalemate, it was decided to wait until the next meeting, presumably with Dominguez, who was owner of the Rancho San Pedro and a delegate to the 1849 constitutional convention, could cast the deciding vote.  Meantime, William H. Peterson was appointed to serve out Little's term as constable, but Baker's position was not filled.

On the 14th, again with Dominguez assumed to be present, Baker's constable slot was filled by B.B. Barker and the vote was to appoint Bettis as sheriff.

The 2 March meeting contained more material related to the Flores-Daniel gang, in which District Attorney Cameron E. Thom suggested that the board appoint someone to petition the state legislature for approval of funds as provided for in a statute "to suppress armed banditti," in both Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties which was passed on 4 February in response to the Barton massacre.

Benjamin D. Wilson, a former city clerk and mayor in Los Angeles and later supervisor and state senator, who moved to the same Huerta de Cuati mentioned above and established his "Lake Vineyard" estate, where San Marino's Lacy Park is situated, was appointed to this task of obtaining a warrant from the state and, if the funds were not available from the treasury, to sell the warrant for cash.  The monies were to go into a special fund called the "Fund to Provide for the Arrest and Suppression of Bands of Armed Banditti in the County of Los Angeles."

This editorial from the Los Angeles Star, 25 April 1857, discusses the "disorganized state" in Los Angeles County that kept the region from assuming the "position and prospects" it deserved.  See below for the rest of the piece.

At the same meeting, Thom suggested that the board also approach the legislature about approving a special tax of 1/8 of 1% of the county's assessed property value for payment of the debt attached to the court house.

When three weeks later, on the 23rd, a special meeting was called to deal with unfinished business that did "serious injury" to the county, discussion was had about the county's finances going back to the previous summer and the meetings continued for two days, but there was no record of what transpired.  It was revealed at that meeting that Scott resigned and his replacement, former Los Angeles mayor, state senator, and constitutional convention delegate, Stephen C. Foster (who famously resigned the mayoralty to participate in the early 1855 lynching of convicted murderer, David Brown, and then was promptly returned to the office in the resulting special election), was elected chair.

In meetings in April and May, lists of jurors who served at the recent terms of the Court of Sessions and District Court were provided.  The last post noted that this was a new feature of the minutes and the ethnic breakdown of these juries have been the focus of speculation about whether justice in these courts was possible when the juries were so skewed towards European and American membership.

For these two months, the proportions were obvious.  Of 120 men listed, 17, of only 14%, had Spanish-language surnames.  In November, a smaller list of Sessions jurors, showed 3 of 21, also 14%, were Latino  Yet, surviving case files with dispositions noted for trials do not appear to suggest any bias solely because of jury composition given the relatively close rate of convictions for defendants who were Latino compared to those who were Anglo.

At the 8 May meeting of the board, there was a list of payments made out to those who provided a variety of materials and services in the hunt for the Flores-Daniel Gang.  These included medical care by doctors, the rent of rooms to posses, the hiring of horses, sundry supplies, food, ammunition and the building of gallows and provision of coffins for the men who were summarily executed (lynched).

Of the total of 51 items, about a third were from persons with Spanish-language surname, a notable point given that some historians argue that Flores and Daniel were vaguely identified "social bandits," who emjoyed substantial support and succor from fellow Latinos.  Whether this was true or not, it appears there were some Latinos who were willing, or perhaps were forced in some circumstances as there is no way to tell, to provide aid to those hunting the bandits.  In early November, another 12 persons were reimbursed for ammunition, horses and supplies.

An important financial matter was addressed at the meeting of 5 August, which was a levy of 35 cents on every 100 dollars of assessed property for expenses for the maintenance of the jail, always a major expense for the county, as well as payments on the Rocha Adobe, which comprised the court house and city and county offices, with the jail in its rear courtyard.

At the same meeting, the board voted, correspondingly, to increase the allowance, taken from the Jail Fund, for prisoner maintenance to 75 cents for each "white" person, including Latinos, and 50 cents per Indian.  Jailor Francis Carpenter had his salary increased to $1600 per year, though it was also resolved that

the jailor is to furnish at his own proper cost the necessary lights, water, wood, and to keep the jail in good order, and also to furnish the prisoners with good, wholesome food.  He is also to have the jail swept and whitewashed when necessary for which purpose the County is to furnish the necessary brooms and whitewash

In the September county election, there was only one candidate for county judge, incumbent William G. Dryden, but whether it was because of his popularity, or the difficulty and lack of desirability for the job cannot be determined.  The race for sheriff was between John Reed, who was one of four candidates for appointment earlier in the year after Barton's death, and Los Angeles marshal William C. Getman, who was reelected to that post (it was possible then to hold both!).  The campaign for district attorney was decisive, when Ezra Drown bested Samuel R. Campbell, 1262 to 107.  The new Los Angeles justices of the peace were Russell Sackett and Narciso Botello, the latter a long-time member of the Californio elite, but one of the few to hold elected office in those days.  Constables elected were Frank H. Alexander and Robert A. Hester, both of whom were to serve for extended periods in those positions.

The second portion of the Star editorial of 25 April 1857.

In San Gabriel, Roy Bean, mentioned in the last post and who later went on to be a notorious Texas judge, barely secured election by one vote over Felipe Valenzuela as a constable.  Another interesting character in town, disgraced former Los Angeles marshal, Alviron S. Beard, ran for justice of the peace but garnered only 3 votes!  

Then there was William W. Jenkins, the young deputy constable mentioned in the last post and previously in the blog.  After his killing of Antonio Ruiz in July 1856, which led to a standoff between Spanish-speakers and Anglos in Los Angeles and near violence, and, after his acquittal, Jenkins unsuccessfully sought a constable's position (but his loss saved his life, probably, because he would have been with Sheriff Barton when that massacre took place.)  In any case, Jenkins moved to the San Pedro township, by the harbor, and won election there as a constable.

At El Monte, a young man, Andrew Jackson King, whose family was embroiled in at least two Southern-style feuds in the 1850s and 1860s, was elected a constable.  He later went on to be a newspaper publisher, city attorney, judge , assembly member, and ran a prviate law practice for many years, dying in his 90th year.

At the 30 September meeting, there was an interesting reference to a District Court civil case in which jailor Carpenter was sued by the people and a judgment of $2500 was found against him--the matter needs further research, but it would appear it had something to do with his claims for fees and services.

Perhaps not coincidentally, at the 5 November meeting with the new board seated, his compensation was slashed to $3 per day (a good $500 or more reduction annually) and the prisoner maintenance costs were reduced to 50 cents a head with no distinction between whites and Indians.  It is possible that the worsening post-Gold Rush economy (a national depression also broke out in 1857) was the cause of the reductions, however.

In the last post, it was noted that payments for the purchase of the Rocha Adobe for the court house and city and county offices were being made to Luis Jordan, who held a note on the property before it was sold by the Rochas to Jonathan Temple, who then conveyed the adobe and lot for $3160 to the city and county.  At the 5 November meeting, the board authorized payment of over $2200 to Jordan's minor daughter, who had an appointed guardian, vineyardist Mathew Keller, for her interest in the structure.

Finally, another disgraced city marshal's situation came before the board at this meeting.  Alfred Shelby, who skipped bail and headed to Mexico as he was being readied for trial in a homicide he committed, had a surety who posted a bond for Shelby's good conduct in office.  The same situation applied to two Latinos for another individual and the board resolved to these three parties could satisfy and cancel in county scrip (an IOU) their forfeited amounts of bond within ten days.  Otherwise, District Attorney Drown was empowered to pursue legal action in court to recover those funds.

It was quite a busy year in 1857 and the situation would be calmer the following year as the next post will discuss.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Criminal Justice, 1856

The year 1856 marked the fourth full year of the existence of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.  One of the newer elements of the minutes that started around this time was lists of jurors called for the several courts.

For example, the meeting of 9 February provided names of jurors who served in the lates term of both the Court of Sessions (renamed the County Court in 1864) and the District Court.  As noted here before, the Sessions court heard most criminal matters, excepting the most serious, such as murder, rape and, sometimes, arson, which were heard at the higher-level District Court.

At this meeting there were two dozen men attending each court and a breakdown of general ethnic categories, stated for this blog as "Spanish-language surnamed" and "American and European", showed that 9 of the 24 at the Court of Sessions and 4 of the 24 at the District Court had Spanish-language surnames.

The 4 June meeting provides lists of 55 jurors for the Sessions court and a dozen for the District Court.  In this case, while 10 of the Sessions jurors had Spanish-language surnames, 9 of the 12 at District Court did.  On 6 August, all dozen list jurors for the Sessions court were American or European.

With the unusual proportion of Spanish-language jurors at the District Court, as reported in early June, the total representation of 127 listed jurors for the year showed 32 had Spanish-language surnames, or about 1/4 of the total.

While Spanish-speakers were a solid majority of the population of the county then, it should be remembered that jurors were taken from the rolls of taxpayers in the county.  However, state law also provided that jurors were to be selected at random from those rolls according to specific instructions, though whether statute was complied with is another matter.

It has been stated by some historians, notably Richard Griswold del Castillo in his 1979 work Los Angeles Barrio that the low proportion of Spanish-surnamed jurors meant that defendants of the same classification could not get justice in Los Angeles' courts.  Del Castillo's analysis of jury composition largely squares with what this blogger has found.  The problem is that jury composition is only part of the equation--the better portion is to look at those cases that contain dispositions and then see what the conviction and acquittal rates show.

In hundreds of cases analyzed by this blogger, it was found that conviction rate differences between Spanish-language surnamed and American and European defendants actually narrowed over time, even as jury composition became even more skewed towards Americans and Europeans.  This runs counter to del Castillo's assertions, though it has to be said that there were many cases without disposition, some missing, and, besides, the dynamics of what drove any individual jury set to decide a case cannot be easily squared with statistics, either way.

As noted in the last several entries, financial matters also are a crucial part of what is found in these minutes, especially because criminal justice administration took up the lion's share of the county's expenditures and because, all too often, revenues were just not enough to keep pace.

Much of the expense had to do with maintenace of the jail, but sometimes revenue shortfalls came into place.  So, at the 11 February meeting, Francis J. Carpenter, the jailor had over $1600 in bills, but for the lion's share of that, he was expended 60 cents to the dollar "equivalent to cash," which sounds like scrip (or, basically, an IOU).  Yet, the next day, the board agreed to raise Carpenter's daily rate of compensation to $5.33.

On 3 June, he issued a claim to the board for another $1444.16.  Two days later, the board voted to issue more scrip to Carpenter for his bills.  In November, after another round of submitted bills by the jailor, the board voted to give him just 40 cents to the dollar in scrip.

Another financial matter had to do with the Rocha Adobe, which was purchased by the county from merchant Jonathan Temple in 1853 and which housed the courts and city and county offices.  In the courtyard behind the adobe which faced Spring Street, the two-story city and county jail was located.  In 1855, there had been an issue with a clear title and it appears that unresolved matters continued into 1856, because at the 12 February meeting, Luis Jordan presented a claim based on an assignment of an interest in the lot given to him by Antonio F. Rocha before the sale.  After discussion, the board agreed to give Rocha a receipt for $500 for a joint warrant on the property to settle Jordan's claim.

For unknown reasons, there are gaps in the record from 12 February to 5 May and then again to 2 June.  An interesting problem that confronted the supervisors in early June was a sudden spate of vacancies in the most of the justice of the peace offices in most of the county's townships, either because of resignations or failure of qualifications discovered quite a bit late after the September 1855 county election.

This map from about the 1890s, shows downtown Los Angeles from Temple Street, top (north) to above First Street, bottom (south) and from Main, right (east) , to Broadway, left (west.)  The court house and jail in the Rocha Adobe, bought from Jonathan Temple, from 1854 on were located at the corner of Spring Street and what was called Jail or Court and then later Franklin Street at the lower center, where the Phillips Block No. 1, built by Pomona-area rancher Louis Phillips, is shown.  Note that the 1889 Court House was moved just slightly northwest of the Rocha Adobe site and due west of where the courthouse was located in Temple's Market House, on which site the Bullard Block was built about 1890, between Market and Court streets at the right center.  The Bullard Block and Temple Block, to its north, sites are now where city hall is located and Main and Spring have been straightened.

In any case, the board quickly appointed replacements for the remaining couple of months before the upcoming election.  One for the sparsely populated northern reaches of the county in the Tejon Township, where Fort Tejon had recently been founded, was Samuel A. Bishop.  Bishop, a native of Virginia, was a Gold Rush '49er who became involved in Indian wars and the transfer of natives to a new reservation in the Tejon Sinks.  He acquired to Rancho Castac [Castaic] and also briefly had a ranch in the upper Owens Valley during the early 1860s, for which a new town, Bishop, was named in his honor.  He lived in San Jose until his death in 1893.

At El Monte, Elijah Bettis, who came from Missouri to the "American town" settled a few years earlier, became the justice of the peace.  He left the office later to become deputy sheriff to James Barton, who lost his reelection campaign to the board of supervisors, but won election returning him as sheriff.  When Barton gathered a small posse just a few weeks into his term to hunt bandits at San Juan Capistrano, he left Bettis in Los Angeles and then was massacred with his compatriots.   Bettis became sheriff and served until the term was up and was later water overseer for Los Angeles.

Russell Sackett, the appointee for Los Angeles township, outside the town limits, was from New York and was an attorney there before he came to California in the Gold Rush and wound up in Los Angeles.  He practiced law, was superintendent of public instruction, postmaster and a one-term member of the state assembly, in addition to being a JP.  He died in Los Angeles in 1875.

San Pedro township's appointed justice was Thomas Workman, whose family arrived in 1854 from Missouri to join Thomas' uncle, William, co-owner of Rancho La Puente in the eastern San Gabriel Valley.  Although only 24 years old Workman demonstrated administrative ability and was a valued employee, as chief clerk, of Phineas Banning and his growing mercantile empire at the harbor area.  Workman, who lost a run for county clerk in the early 1860s, died in the April 1863 explosion of the steamer Ada Hancock, owned by Banning.

At San Juan Capistrano, Irish-born Thomas J. Scully, accounted as the first teacher in what later became Orange County and who married into the prominent Yorba family, was appointed JP, while he was engaged in his teaching duties.  He later lived in Corona in what became Riverside County and died there in 1895.

Yet another justice of the peace vacancy opened up in late October, when Los Angeles township JP Alexander Gibson died and Thomas F. Swim was appointed in his stead.

In the 3 June minutes, there was mention made in the minutes to 21-year old William W. Jenkins as a deputy constable--meaning that, unlike constables, who were elected, Jenkins was appointed by the local justice of the peace.  Jenkins, whose mother and step-father Elizabeth and George Dalton (the latter's brother was Henry Dalton, owner of several San Gabriel Valley ranches), came to town earlier in the decade and joined, at age 18, the Los Angeles Rangers, when the organization was formed in 1853.

A little over a month later, Jenkins was given a writ of attachment for a $50 debt in a civil matter before justice of the peace Gibson to serve on Antonio Ruiz.  When Jenkins tried to seize a guitar to satisfy the write, a struggle broke out with Ruiz and his common-law wife, and Jenkins shot and killed Ruiz who grabbed the deputy constable from behind during the altercation.

In the aftermath, a group of Latinos and French residents of Los Angeles gathered on a hill above the jail where Jenkins was confirned, after initially being freed on his own recognizance without bail, and tensions rose to a point where a riot was feared.

Eventually, after Marshal William Getman was grazed by a bullet in a foray to determine the position of those on the hill, the situation calmed.  Jenkins was acquitted on a manslaughter charge as was alleged ringleader of the hilltop gathering, Fernando Carriaga, tried for intent to incite a riot.

Notably, the board suspended meetings for a time, almost certainly because of the state of emergency that gripped community leaders during the Jenkins-Ruiz incident.  Moreover, Sheriff David W. Alexander resigned, though whether it was because of the incident is not known--Alexander did relocate to a ranch at the base of the San Joaquin Valley where he remained for some years.  Charles Hale, a Los Angeles constable, was appointed to fill Alexander's position and Charles K. Baker became constable in Hale's place.  When Sheriff Barton decisively defeated Hale in the early November county election by a vote of 821 to 346, and was killed two months later, Baker and newly elected constable William H. Little were among the posse members gunned down along with him.  Notably, William W. Jenkins ran for constable in that election, but finished last among the six candidates.  If he had won, he surely would have been killed in the Barton massacre.

Another interesting result of the election took place in the mission town of San Gabriel.  Dr. William B. Osburn, whose name has been mentioned here several times, had moved there from Los Angeles and was elected a justice of the peace.  In the aftermath of the Barton killing, Osburn was accused of brutalizing the corpse of Miguel Soto, said to have been in the gang that murdered the sheriff, which was a double accusation, given that Osburn was a judge and a doctor.  One of the losing candidates for constable was Roy Bean, the younger brother of a militia general and saloon keeper, Joshua Bean, whose late 1852 murder led to the lynching of an innocent man.  Roy Bean later became the famed judge in Texas known as "the law west of the Pecos."

It appears that there was either no meeting of the board after 11 November or the minutes have vanished, but this takes us to 1857 and the Barton massacre.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Criminal Justice, 1855

In 1854-55, the third full year of the operations of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, there was some reference early in the new year to the drama surrounding two murderers arrested in the fall of 1854 and then tried and convicted for their crimes.

These were Felipe Alvitre, who ambushed and killed James Ellington on what is now Valley Boulevard in El Monte, and David Brown, a short-term constable earlier in the decade, and who murdered Pinckney Clifford in a Los Angeles livery stable.  In addition, an El Monte dispute involved William B. Lee killing Frederick Leatherman and he, too, was convicted of the crime.

Lee and Brown were able to successfully appeal their death sentence and District Court Judge Benjamin Hayes, who tried all three cases, wrote in his diary that Alvitre's appear was delayed getting to the state supreme court.  So, when Alvitre was taken out for his legal execution in the jail yard and Lee trembled in his boots, a howling crowd stormed the jail, pulled Brown from his cell, sparing Lee, and hung him from the same gallows used for Alvitre.

Although the supervisors' minutes make no direct reference and, in fact, there is a gap of four months from the week just prior to the execution and lynching to early May, there are some notations about the cases.

At the 2 January meeting, for example, a bill was submitted from an unknown person who went hunting for Henry Hancock, best known for his surveying of regional ranchos for land claims cases, and who was a witness in the William B. Lee case, the dispute being over property boundaries.  William G. Dryden, a justice of the peace and later county judge from 1856-1869, submitted a bill for his role in Alvitre's defense, though this was disallowed for unspecified reasons by the board.

On the 3rd and the 6th, there were bills from jailor Francis J. Carpenter and Thomas Gordon for guarding the facility, though whether this was over concern for the safety of Alvitre, Brown and Lee is not stated.  On the latter date, there was a discussion amongst board members about paying the jurors their fees in the Lee case because the bill presented did not state whether Lee was convicted or acquitted.  Notably, the fee charged by County Clerk John W. Shore for writing up the transcripts and record of action in that matter totaled nearly $300, indicating how much work he had to do to document what took place in the case.

There were other matters including a report from District Attorney Cameron E. Thom that the title to the Rocha Adobe, which included the court house and city and county offices, was "vitally defective," though how was not indicated.  Thom was authorized by the board to take steps to quiet title and to let the City of Los Angeles know where the situation stood.

Then, there were the continuing large expenses involved in criminal justice administration.  For example, on 3 January, Sheriff Barton and jailor Carpenter submitted bills for their fees and expenses totaling over $1800 and Shore had hefty bills to present, as well.  The next day, P.C. Williams asked for payment of about $800 for repairs to the room of the District Court in the Rocha Adpbe.  As noted in recent posts, the financial picture was often precarious for the city and county in this period because of low revenues and major expenses in the administration of justice.

This article from the Southern Californian on 11 January 1855 discusses the recent meetings of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, including the fact that the board "audited and passed some $9000 of accounts, refusing some $2,000 or moe, which appeared to have been uncalled for and illegal."  While praising the board for its economizing, the paper also questioned decisions to disallow bills that could still be collected on a court order, racking up additional expenses.  The paper then complained about the refusal of the supervisors to allow one of its bills, while granting a similar one for much more money from its rival, the Star.

It is not clear why the minutes suddenly stopped on 6 January and did not resume until 8 May.  It is possible that, in the tumult surrounding the Alvitre/Brown affair, the board decided to postpone meetings for a time, but it seems inconceivable that there would be a cessation of record for that long. But, when the board met on 8 May, Williams submitted a bill for repair of the gallows and for the furnishing of a coffin, on order of Barton, for Alvitre.

Moreover, something of a backlog, suggesting meetings postponed for a lengthy period, are indicated by the submission of bills by Carpenter for $3000 at that meeting, on top of Thom's district attorney bill for $900 and about $600 requests by Barton.

The 8 May meeting also included a bill sent it by an unknown party or parties for the arrest at San Juan Capistrano for Jose Buenavida, Juan Gonzales, and Juan Flores.  The latter two were tried on 14 April at the Court of Sessions for grand larceny in the theft of three horses from teamster Garnett Hardy and were sent up to San Quentin.  In October 1856, the two escaped and Flores returned to San Juan Capistrano to wreak more havoc.  In early 1857, Flores, his co-captain Pancho Daniel and about a dozen other men ambushed Barton and a small posse searching for the gang, setting of a massive manhunt and series of executions that have been discussed here previously.

The next two days featured additional meetings, which may be indications of the long delay in gatherings of the board.  More bills were presented from William B. Osburn as both justice of the peace and jail physician, by a constable named Henry E. Lewis, from jailor Carpenter and from then-constable Alfred Shelby, who became marshal later in the year and, as noted here before, fled for Mexico when he killed a man while on duty and jumped bail before his trial.  There were orders to repair the jail, as well.

As stated here previously, payments to officials were sometimes down on scrip or warrants, which guaranteed future actual outlays for approved expenses.  On the 10th, with respect to Carpenter, the board authorized the county auditor "to indemnify him in accordance with an agreement with the Board, for the Discount that he has to pay on the account of Warrant No. 23—in order to make said warrant equivalent to cash, payable out of funds for current expenses,"  

Similarly, in July the board approved a warrant of $163.68 to Carpenter "to reimburse him for the discount on scrip issued to him . . . in order to make the same equivalent to cash."  This gives an indication of how expenses were met under the tenuous financial circumstances the county perpetually faced.

At the September election, there was a notable referendum presented to the voters of the couty, which was whether liquor should be abolished in Los Angeles County.  There were undoubtedly many reasons why temperance-minded sponsors would bring this to their fellow citizens and one might well have been the concern about the role of alcohol in the high rates of crime experienced in the region.  Yet, the vote was 606-75 against the imposition of such a law--this was about a resounding a defeat as could be imagined!

Notably, James R. Barton decided not to run for reelection as sheriff, after three years in the dangerous office, but did try for another term as supervisor, but he finished sixth, just missing out on a seat.  The new sheriff was former supervisor and board president, David W. Alexander, who edged out a victory over Deputy Sheriff George W. Work 

Other interesting result was in the race of justice of the peace in San Gabriel, where disgraced former Los Angeles marshal Alviron S. Beard was edged by ten votes, losing to future county sheriff James F. Burns (who was in office during the notorious Chinese Massacre of fall 1871). In early 1856, Beard was arrested and charged with allowing gambling at his home, but the indictment was set aside and the case dismissed.

The latter part of the year featured more news about the poor condition of the Rocha Adobe and the court house room, specifically the need to repair the roof, likely brought up before expected winter rains.

At the 7 November meeting, the problem of meeting jail expenses again came up when Carpenter submitted bills totaling nearly $2500, more than half of which was for prisoner maintenance.  The board resolved "to make his compensation equivalent to cash, as per previous special contract with the Board of Supervisors."  The jailor then appeared before the board to appeal this and it was declared that the contract was voided and that his payment "not be equivalent to cash" except for the portion related to prisoner maintenance.

Carpenter then appeared ten days later to request ventilation for his apartment at the jail, because he had his family living there with him and he claimed that they were ill, submitting a certificate fron Dr. John S. Griffin acknowledging this to be the case.  The board's building committee was asked to promptly address the matter.

With that, we'll continue the next post with the work of the board in 1856.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Criminal Justice, 1854

In October 1853, the third edition of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors convened, with David W. Alexander the chair as he was the previous year,  He was joined by Stephen C. Foster, who filled a vacancy created a few months as noted in the last post; Samuel S. Thompson, who was an early settler in the new "American town" of El Monte in 1852 and who died there about thirty-five years later; Juan Sepulevda (1814-1898), who was from a prominent Californio family; and Cristobal Aguilar (1816-1886), who served four terms on the Common Council, three as a supervisor, and was a three-term mayor.

As was discussed in the last post, the board confronted problems with the expenses of maintaining the jail with a paltry budget and the last board's decision to support the Los Angeles Rangers paramilitary group meant further expenditures, including $1000 given for materials as submitted by board member Foster and Collins Wadhams.  Sheriff James B. Barton had well over $500 in fees due him for his services and $100 for transporting prisoners from San Diego.  Jailor George W. Whitehorn sent in a bill for $566.75 for his salary and maintenance of prisoners.  To be confronted with over $2000 in bills at one meeting was a hefty expense for the board.

Not only that, but the board, on 4 October, approved a bill submitted by constable William B. Osburn for $320 in the matter of two brothers in the Lugo family and associated of theirs in a notorious matter involving accusations and a long drawn-out legal nightmare for the Lugos back in 1851.

There was also the matter of the county's recent agreement to buy the Rocha Adobe off Spring Street from merchant Jonathan Temple for the court house and county offices.  A building committee was asked to secure $1500 from the city of Los Angeles as part of their share in the structure and its improvements for public uses.

Jonathan Temple (1796-1866), seated at right, with his wife Rafaela Cota and son-in-law, Gregorio de Ajuria, was a prominent merchant and land owner in greater Los Angeles.  He sold the Rocha Adobe on the west side of Spring Street to the city and county of Los Angeles in 1854 for use as a courthouse and public offices.  In the rear of the structure, a two-story jail was built that served in that capacity for many years.  Photo courtesy of the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum.

Some of these improvements involved board chair David W. Alexander and his business partner, new arrival in town, Phineas Banning, later the father figure of the harbor at San Pedro/Wilmington.  This kind of conflict of interest, of course, would be disallowed today, but not in the looser operations of frontier Los Angeles.  OThere were others bills submitted by those involved in the work and the board gave $2000 to Foster and W.T.B. Sanford to distribute to contractors, while also empowering the two to collect $1000 from the city for its share of the work.

On 8 November, came an urgent request from the county clerk, John W. Shore, which led to a board resolution

that the room designated for his use in the County Buildings is insufficient for the proper performance of his duties . . . [and] for the safe custody & proper arrangment of his archives, therefore [it is] ordered that the room designated in the County Court House as a Jurors room, be taken possession of by the said Clerk and appropriated for his use in addition to the front room already intended for the use of said County Clerk.

It is not stated where the jurors were supposed to meet for the deliberations, but, if the clerk's quarters were not improved, who knows what would have happened to the minute books (and, this post would not have been possible!)  In fact, there was a fire in the county clerk's space later that also threatened to destroy the archival material, some of which has survived.

As 1854 dawned, major bills were submitted by the district attorney, Kimball H. Dimmick, for $345, William Osburn, who was also a doctor attending on the jail and charging $175,Sheriff Barton for $350, and for jailor Whitehorne for nearly $600.  There was also an interesting notation in which the board "allowed a/c/ [account] of Nelson Mason for dunner for 12 hungry jurymen."  Funds were also expended for the funeral of constable John (Jack) Wheelan, the first law enforcement officer in Los Angeles killed in the line of duty, when he was cut down in Sonoratown, north of the Plaza, a few weeks prior.

Another expenditure was the rent of the buildings used as the jail in recent months, including from Juan Dominguez for $200, although a quarter of that was in scrip (I.O.U.), a common procedure at the time for a frequently cash-strapped county, and from Francisco J. Alvarado, for the last two months of 1853, for $28.  As work on the jail continued, a bill for $216 was submitted by Alfred Foster for his contributions.

Another indication of financial stress and efforts to mitigate the rising costs payable by the county came with a petition from the board on 4 January to the state's supreme court calling for a reduction in fees paid to the sheriff for attendance at the courts, this "being too high and disproportionate to the fees of other offices and from the multiplicty of our Courts causing a heavy burthen [sic] on the revenues of this county,"

In March, Los Angeles witnessed its first legal execution, with Manuel Herrera was hung for the murder of Nestor Artiaga and, in early April, carpenter Ira Gilchrist was compensated an unknown amount "for services as Carpenter making Gallows &c."  At the same meeting of the 3rd, jailor Whitehorne submitted bills totaling nearly $700 for maintenance of prisoners and the facility, while Barton charged almost $750 for attendance at the courts.  It also appears that the appeal to the state's highest court for relief on the sheriff's fees went nowhere, because in early July, Barton and Whitehorne submitted bills totaling over $1000.

However, it was generally pretty quiet when it came to criminal justice matters for the remainder of the year, at least as reflected by County Clerk Shore in the minutes.  A new slate of supervisors took office on 2 October, led again by Alexander, who was obviously highly respected given his consistency in being elected and named chair of the board.

The only returning supervisor for 1854-55 was Cristobal Aguilar.  Newly seated members included David Lewis, another early settler in El Monte, when it was established a couple of years previously and two prominent men with long ties to the criminal justice system and politics in Los Angeles.

The first was James R. Barton, who was still serving as sheriff when he secured his seat with the supervisors (as seen a few times on this blog, it was possible then to hold two elected offices at the same time).  Yet, Barton would only serve the single term, perhaps finding that the excitement and, probably, the fees earned, as sheriff were preferable to being a politician.  As covered here in detail, though, Barton was killed, along with members of a posse, while hunting for the Flores-Daniel gang of thieves in what later became Orange County in early 1857.

The other major figure was Agustín Olvera, who had a number of positions of authority in the Mexican period, and was the first county judge, serving until 1853 and was simultaneously a member of the common council, before he went into private practice as an attorney for a couple of years.

What is interesting, though, is that, although there was a spate of crimes, including notorious murders committed in the latter part of 1854, these warranted almost no mention in the supervisor's minute book.  It was stated in early October that district attorney Benjamin Eaton submitted $175 in bills for charging criminals in indictments.  At the same meeting of the 3rd, a special constable, W. Burt, was mentioned briefly--perhaps he was hired because of the crime wave.

A week later, the board was presented with an account by Charles O. Cunningham of El Monte, E. O. Johnson, and John Weir for $30.75 in the pursuit of criminals.  It may be that the trio went hunting for the killers of James Ellington, a fellow El Monte resident of Cunningham.  Later, Felipe Alvitre and two others were found hiding in Soquel Canyon, in what is now the borderland of Orange and San Bernardino counties near Chino Hills and Brea.  Alvitre's story will be told later in this blog.

The same meeting, on 10 October, the board ordered an increase, despite the fiscal fragility with the county's budget, in prisoner maintenance, so that whites (this would include Spanish-speakers) would have their needs met at 75 cents per day, while Indians would have to get by on materials costing 50 cents.  At the end of November, it was ordered that, despite the lowering of it before, the salary of the district attorney was insufficient and that it should be increased by $150 per month, "considering the increasing amount of labor of his office."  Again, the recent crime wave was almost certainly a factor.

The next post takes us to 1855, which started off with a great deal of drama, but more on that next time around . . .

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Criminal Justice, 1853

The second group of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, at work in 1852-53, dealt significantly with the matter of building a new city and county jail, but did so in the context of mounting problems dealing with the fragile financial fortunes of the county.

As noted before, the cadre of five, elected in fall 1852, was an entirely new slate from its predecessors and was a mixture of little-known citizens, like G.A. Sturgis and Daniel M. Thomas  and prominent members of Los Angeles society, namely Benjamin D. Wilson and David W. Alexander.

As their predecessors found, there were some substantial claims made on the county for services rendered by public officials dealing with criminal justice.  One of the first meetings of the new board included an allowance of $1500 as salary for district attorney Kimball H. Dimmick, later a federal district judge, as well as over $300 to jailer George D. Robinson and another $600 to Sheriff James R. Barton, San Gabriel constable J.D. Barker, whose work was probably connected with dealing with the sensational murder of merchant and militia general against southern California Indians, Joshua Bean, justices of the peace and former sheriff George T. Burrill and J. S. Mallard and others.  Expenditures of $2500 at one meeting of the board must have taken a significant part of the county's meager coffers, as will be noted below.

The flow of money continued the next day, with new jailor George W. Whitehorne submitting bills for nearly $200, another $100 from Barton and a smaller amount of money from others, including supervisor Sturgis, who was also serving as justice of the peace at San Gabriel, Burrill, and Dimmick.  At this meeting, Sheriff Barton was also asked to oversee repairs to the Court House, a rented adobe that was, seemingly, in perpetual need of significant work, when band-aid repairs were usually what could be afforded.

Financial matters came to a head on 1 December, when Whitehorne submitted bills totaling a little over $160 for jail services and was informed that there was a lack of funds and he would have to wait until funds were received before getting paid.  The county treasurer, Francis Mellus, reported to the council that there simply were no funds to cover expenses.

In the first meeting of 1853, held on 3 January, the requests for payment kept coming, totaling well over $700 with most of the money being for jail expenses (this proved to almost always be the case) and to Sheriff Barton for summoning juries and for constable William B. Osburn for attending the justice court of Burrill in Los Angeles.

Two days later, the contract executed with J.D. Hunter to build the jail was annulled with the reason given that it was "by an act of Providence he is now prevented from proceeding with it," though what the providential act was did not get recorded.  The minutes also stated "that the locality of said Jail is unsuitable & the plan on which it was to be built not conforming to the requirements of the Law."  It also would appear that, given the financial strictures noted above, there was not enough money to contemplate continuing with the jail project.

In fact, at the 5 January meeting, it was reported that the county's debt was nearing $50,000, a significant sum given the low revenue it received and treasurer Mellus stated that this condition "will not suffice to build a suitable Jail, the imperative necessity of which is felt by all the people of the County."

Consequently, the board voted to petition the state legislature to pass a law "authorizing said Board to levy a tax upon all real and personal property in this County not to exceed one dollar upon every one hundred dollars worth of such property for the purpose of building a Jail."  This, evidently, went nowhere.

More expenditures, almost in mind-numbing sameness, came in the following few months, most of this, again, being for the maintenance of the jail, but also substantially comprised of fees for constables, the sheriff, and other officers for their work.  The board issued a new order for allowing the jailor $5 a day for his services and $1 per day for wood and candles.  Matters were such that county clerk Wilson W. Jones requested, through the District Court, that an audit of accounts be done because he was owned a considerable sum (unstated) for his services.

Perhaps the financial problems of the county were too much for Leonardo Cota and Daniel M. Thomas, who resigned in early July, just a few months shy of the end of the term.  William Foster and James R. Waite were appointed to finish out the term.

David W. Alexander, left, with long-time friend and rancher William Workman, shown in 1851 in New York, was chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in 1852-53 and later a sheriff in 1856 and 1876-77.  Courtesy of the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum.

At a meeting two days later, the board resolved that, "in view of the expense of the Rent of the building at present occupied as the Jail of Los Angeles County, [it is] ordered that the proprietor of said building be warned that the County will not continue to Rent said Building from him after the last day of this month."   The board ordered Sheriff Barton, who was the tax collector, to remit $70 from the first available funds and rent a new building, owned by F.I. Alvarado, for the jail, provided that Barton was "to repair the same as to make it suitable for that purpose," whatever "suitable" entailed.

The situation was such that, on 11 July, the board voted to slash the district attorney's salary in half from $1500 to $750, payable quarterly, while jailor's fees and those of the constables and sheriff continued to absorb most of the budget.

In early August, the board came to terms with prominent merchant Jonathan Temple to buy the Rocha Adobe, on the west side of Spring Street, for a court house and county offices, the price being $3160.  $1000 was apportioned immediately for repairs.  Further, the board "ordered that a County and City Jail be built on the Rocha lot aforesaid according to the law & specifications presented by S.C. Foster & filed with the Clerk and the said Foster and W.T.B. Sanford constitute a committee to contract for the materials and Building of said Jail."

The total cost of the jail was not to exceed $6000, with the city of Los Angeles having a 1/4 interest through a $1500 lien on the property.  The city jail was to occupy the first floor and the city and jailor were to share a room as an office.  Meanwhle, the city was granted the use of two rooms in the northeast corner of the Rocha Adobe for its use.  The city's total share of costs was to be $1500 up front and $1000 after a year.  The board also mandated that 10 cents on each 100 dollars of taxable property was to go to a contingent fund to aid in the purchase and building of county structures up to a maximum of $7000.

Foster would soon be mayor of Los Angeles during one of its frequent crime crises--this being the spate of murders in late 1854 that led to a notorious execution of Felipe Alvitre and lynching of Dave Brown in the first part of 1855, for which Foster helped lead the lynching after resigning as mayor.  He then was promptly reelected in the special election that followed!

Once the deals with Temple, Foster and Sanford were inked, a new issue came up as crime rose dramatically during the spring and early summer of 1853.  The supervisors, on 11 August, resolved that

whereas in the opinion of this Board, it is proper & necessary to aid the well directed efforts of certain citizens of this County, in their endeavour to preserve the public peace, and as the aforesaid Citizens have organized a Volunteer Company for that purpose, under command of A.W. Hope, [it is] ordered that, accounts for the expenses of maintaining horses & such reasonable acc[oun]ts for equipments &c to the amount of one thousand dollars & no farther under any consideration [was to be apportioned].

This was the county's official "seal of approval" for the Los Angeles Rangers, the best known of many militia groups that formed in Los Angeles over the first few decades of the American era and the one that was most successful in carrying out paramilitary operations in the area of criminal justice administration.

 A new board was seated in early October 1853 after the election of the month prior. More on this third edition of the Board of Supervisors in the next post.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Criminal Justice, 1852

By the terms of California's first constitution, ratified in late 1849, nearly a year before Congress belatedly bestowed statehood, the responsibility for the administration of counties was given to the Court of Sessions.

This body was headed by the county judge and assisted by two justices of the peace from among the county's townships--these latter were administrative entities aside from the incorporated towns and cities within the county.  For Los Angeles County, only the city of Los Angeles was incorporated for many years, so the outlying townships, such as El Monte, San Gabriel, San Juan Capistrano, and the Los Angeles township surrounding the city, had their justice of the peace and constables charged with maintaining law and order in their jurisdiction.

The Court of Sessions not only had to try to be the governing authority for the massive county, which, while having a small population of under just under 10,000 persons, stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Colorado River and from Ventura to San Diego counties, embracing part of which became Kern County later, but it had the bulk of the business to conduct in the administration of criminal and civil court matters, as well.  For criminal justice, the Sessions court heard all major crimes, except capital murder, rape and a few others, such as arson, though some of the types of cases changed over time.

So, while the court did its best to serve its legislated duties, it was clear from almost the beginning of its operations, starting in the very late spring of 1850, that something had to be done to divide responsibilities.  The state legislature responded by creating boards of supervisors for California's counties, with these entities to start their work in mid-1852.  Not long afterward, the decision was made to reduce Los Angeles County's incredible mass by creating San Bernardino County, which remains the largest county in size in all of America.

In the spring 1852 elections, five citizens were elected to the inaugural Board of Supervisors for Los Angeles County--and it remains that number today, which is stunning given the enormous population of the county of just under 10 million, rather than around 10,000 some 150 years ago.  These men included:

• Jefferson Hunt, a prominent member of the Mormon Battalion sent by the church from Utah to California at the end of the Mexican-American War and who, as an California assembly member introduced the legislation that created San Bernardino County, because the town of San Bernardino was then a Mormon town.  Hunt was back in Utah by 1860 and died in Idaho in 1879.
• Julián Chavez, a native of New Mexico who migrated to Los Angeles in the 1830s, who held political office from time to time between then and the early 1870s, and whose property in the hills north of downtown Los Angeles became the famed Chavez Ravine.  Chavez also died in 1879 in Los Angeles.
• Samuel Arbuckle, born in Pennsylvania, and who became a merchant and auctioneer in his many years in Los Angeles.  His sole turn in public office, however, was his one-year stint with the first cadre of supervisors.  He died in Los Angeles in 1874.
• Manuel Requena, a native of Campieto, Mexico, who came to Los Angeles in 1834 with the Hijar-Padres colony, which included the politically active Coronels and Olveras.  Requena, as already noted on this blog, was a member of the first common (city) council in Los Angeles and served at the same time as a supervisor--something that could be done in those days.  He served many terms as a council member and was briefly mayor, but served only two years as a supervisor.  Requena died in 1876.
• F.P.F. Temple, who was the only supervisor not born in the first decade of the century, being born in 1822 in Reading, Massachusetts near Boston.  He came to Los Angeles in 1841 to join a half-brother, Jonathan, often mentioned in this blog, and worked in his brother's store.  Married into the Workman family of Rancho La Puente in the eastern San Gabriel Valley, Temple was the second Los Angeles city treasurer. He, too, served a single term with the supervisors and was county treasurer in 1876-78, during which time his bank failed, leaving him the dubious distinction of being the only bankrupt treasurer (albeit with a deputy doing the day-to-day work)!

The first meeting was held on 5 July 1852, but basically only to present the certification of the election of the five supervisors.  Two weeks later, on the 19th, with Temple absent, the board conducted its initial business, including ordering a proposal to be advertised in the Los Angeles Star newspaper for a new jail.  The notice offered that the successful bidder would receive half the determined amount in cash for construction upon completion, but the other half in scrip (basically,an I.O.U. payable when the county had the money).  Proposals were due on 4 August.

On the meeting of that day (with Temple again absent), the board dealt with the matter of the existing contract with George Robinson, the jailor--namely, it ordered it canceled and a new one drawn up.  The provisions were that he be given $3 per day, half in cash and half in, you guessed it, scrip (no wonder that the performance of local officials was often questionable, to say the leased, if part of your compensation was provisional on available future funding!)  The agreement also specified that the jailor receive 50 cents a day for candles and two loads of wood per month, as well as 25 cents a day per person for food for prisoners.

F.P.F. Temple (1822-1880), with his son, John, about 1858, was on the first Los Angeles County of Board of Supervisors, though frequently absent during the first part of the abbreviated term, which lasted all of four months.  From the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum collection.

A special meeting of the 5th (again, Temple was not present), had a number of claims presented by officials for payment by the county.  Justice of the Peace J.S. Mallard requested $87 for attending as an associate justice at the Court of Sessions.  George T. Burrill, who was the first county sheriff, was in 1852 the county coroner and the other associate justice at the Sessions court and asked for $96 for the two offices.  Constable William B. Osburn, a veteran lawman in Los Angeles, requested $81.10. Current sheriff James R. Barton, murdered while on duty in 1857, placed his claims for $29,50 for general duties and $152 for attending the Sessions court as, basically, a bailiff, as well as serving summonses for trial and grand juries.  Notably, the board only approved $25 for the jury work and stated the remainder of his $127 court claims were invalid as not allowable by law.  Through his attorneys, Jonathan R. Scott and Lewis Granger, Barton filed an exception and it is not known what happened to that action.

The following day, the 6th (guess who wasn't there?), more officials came looking for payment.    Robinson asked for over $500 for various services, including guarding prisoners, candles, wood, and "feeding lunatics", among others.  There isn't a record, though, of what Robinson was given.  Lewis Granger, who served as the district attorney in 1851 and 1852, was actually ordered to remit $375 back to the county, evidently because of overpayment for his services.

On 30 August (yup, Temple did show up for this meeting and one prior), the board was presented with the offer of the successful jail contractor.  J.D. Hunter, a Mormon Battalion captain who came to town with Hunt in 1847, was awarded the contract, which called for him to be paid $3,000 in cash up front and $4,000 in cash when the work was done--obviously, the whole scrip matter was dispensed with, probably because no one would bid on a project with that provision.  Hunter, who offered a bond of $14,000 as security for the contact, was given nine months to finish the work.

As a fall election was on the docket, mid-September business for the board included confirming the existing townships of Los Angeles, San Gabriel, San Jose (present Pomona area), San Bernardino (soon to be spun off in the new county), Santa Ana (before the town in present Orange County was created but in the general area), and San Juan Capistrano.   Then, a new one, San Salvador, which embraced the former Agua Mansa community of principally New Mexican settlers, who came to the area in the early 1840s, was created in what later became Riverside County.

At the 15 September meeting, Dr. Alpheus P. Hodges, who had been Los Angeles' first mayor and coroner, presented a bill for $420, constituting 84 visits to the jail at $5 each.  Hodges, who only served a single one-year term as mayor, remained in town for a few years before returning to his native Virginia, where he died in 1858 at only 36 years of age.

Among the later business of the first board were more official claims for payment, including $230.50 for Sheriff Barton "allowed on mandamus and costs."  What mandamus essentially means is that Barton was negligent, intentionally or not, in carrying out his legally mandated duties, so a court order was issued to force him to do the work required.  The details are not known, but it is possible Barton chose not to carry out these duties because his previous claims for work had been rejected by the board, but this is only speculation. 

The abbreviated first term of the inaugural Board of Supervisors came to a close in mid-November, when the newly elected group of five were seated (Requena, the only incumbent seeking reelection narrowly lost his attempt to retain his seat).  These included:

• David W. Alexander, born in Ireland in 1811 and who migrated to California in 1842 from New Mexico.  Alexander was a merchant and rancher, who served twice as county sheriff in 1856 (resigning abruptly, probably because of a near riot that summer) and again in 1876-77.  He died in 1876
• Leonardo Cota, a native of Mexico who married into the prominent Yorba family and who was a captain in the Californio defense forces during the American invasion of 1846-47 alongside his cousin, General Andrés Pico, playing a valuable role in the Battle of San Pasqual victory over the Americans.  Cota was later a founder of Santa Ana and died in 1887.
• G.A. Sturgis is something of a mystery figure, there being almost no information about him, except that he served a single term from November 1852 to November 1853 on the board.
• Daniel M. Thomas was born in North Carolina about 1817 and came to Los Angeles from Utah, so he was likely a Mormon.  He was a farmer, but little else is known about Thomas, who also served a single term.
• Benjamin D. Wilson, of whom volumes can be (and have been) written.  Born in 1811 in Tennessee, Wilson spent eventful years in New Mexico, before coming to California in late 1841 intent on going to China.  Literally missing the boat, he bought the Rancho Jurupa in the present Riverside area, married into the Yorba family, like fellow supervisor Cota, and became exceptionally prominent in politics (serving, for example, as Los Angeles mayor and a state senator, as well as a federal Indian agent), ranching and business, and other enterprises.  He died in 1878.

The next post will pick up the work of the second set of supervisors for the remainder of 1852 and most of 1853.