The Los Angeles Common Council and Criminal Justice, 1851

As the city of Los Angeles entered its second year of existence as a chartered American-era town, its Common [City] Council was undergoing a good deal of flux not unexpected for a frontier town.

As 1851 dawned, Stephen C. Foster, who served as an alcalde (roughly, mayor) at the end of the Mexican period, and José Vicente Guerrero took their seats after a special election, but then council member Alexander W. Hope submitted his resignation, as did city marshal Thomas Cox, who'd only been in office a short time.  Consequently, the council called for a special election on the 15th.

Meanwhile, Mayor Manuel Requena took up a matter that was first broached a few months earlier by council member Morris Goodman, who'd soon after resigned, this being the creation of a dedicated police force.  Meantime, with Cox vacating the marshal's office, the council passed a resolution that Moses Searles "be appointed a special police officer charged with the duties of the Marshal until the latter's election.

On 8 January, the minutes recorded that

The Mayor submitted a communication from several citizens of Los Angeles offering their good offices in the formation of a Police force, whereupon Council passed a vote of thanks for the good disposition shown by the gentlemen.

Requena followed by observing that the example set by the nine unnamed men who sent the letter should be demonstrated through an invitation to the general public for a volunteer police force (distinguished from Goodman's proposal for a paid force) to be selected by its own membership.  A suggestion was made to call for citizens to form "a Police Corps for the maintenance of good order in this City" and another recommendation was for a mass public meeting at the Plaza the next Saturday afternoon, though no disposition of these was recorded.

Eight days later, the returns of the special election were recorded with John O. Wheeler, later publisher of The Southern Californian newspaper, elected to the open council seat, and Alexander Gibson elected as marshal.

For a time the situation was stable and the only matters of note had to do with Gibson's offer to clean the streets for $50 per month and a special committee's suggestion that this be accepted "on condition that he be allowed to use the prisoners of the City to do this this work."

A common problem arose as spring arrived and the city perpetually battled financial deprivation.  On 1 May, the council decided to accept a finance committee recommendation to revise salaries for city officials.  The mayor and city attorney saw their compensation reduced, while the marshal was to be paid in fees basd on ordinances passed and revised in October 1850 and the past March.

Two days later, treasurer F.P.F. Temple reported that the city's cash reserves amounted to just $84.68 and the finance committee pointed out that businesses were evading license fees, which were the source of much of the town's revenues.  It was also noted that the city recorder still had some fines from April that had not been turned over to Temple and this $32 was obviously desperately needed!

This is an 1842 print titled "Natives of California," from an original provided courtesy of The Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum, City of Industry.

In late May, the council amended its set of police ordinances to deal with the continuing problem of :the scandalous reunions of the Indians" on weekends and, specifically, "the gathering of the Indians [with respect to what was] called the game of the 'Pillon'" or Peon.  

Descriptions of the gambling game vary, but essentially Peon involved two teams of four men on either side of a bonfire.  Each had two pieces of bone or wood, one with a black band around it.  One of the men on each side held these pieces in each of his hands (these tied with leather thongs to prevent undue sleight-of-hand) under a blanket and the team on the other side had to guess which hand held the one without the band.  

Counters were used to determine how many incorrect guesses each side had and the first to reach fifteen counters for unsuccessful guesses was the losing side. Key was for the holder of the pieces to maintain a completely stoic expression to prevent the other side from guessing where the unmarked piece was when the other side pointed to the hand they thought it was in.

During the intense and lengthy process, games lasting many hours or even two or three days, songs were sung by women standing behind the players to spur the other side to fail, either in the guessing or for those holding the unmarked piece to betray by expression the hand it was in.   With alcohol and heavy wagers involved, violence often erupted during the games.

Consequently, the council amended its ordinances on 21 May so that "the game of 'Peon' is prohibited throughout the City, and reunions of Indians in the strets after night-fall are forbidden."  Perhaps because of the need to enforce this new ordinance and others that may have gone unenforced, the council agreed that "the Marshal shall have the right to appoint what number of deputies may be needed."  Further, "the Marshal and his deputies shall see to it that no intoxicating beverage is sold to the Indians" and take the proper steps with judicial authorities if this was violated.

Those Indians who ran afoul of these new prohibitions were subject to a fine of $2.50 or six days work on the chain gang.  As noted here previously, this week-long sentence was often followed by violations of the law on the seventh day and then a return to the "vicious cycle" of chain gang labor for the next week.  For those guilty of selling liquor to Indians, the fine was $20 or five days work on the chain gang or both, at the discretion of the mayor, who had jurisdiction on these matters.

There was one other change to the ordinances, which stated that the marshal and his deputies "shall wear a red ribbon in the button hole of their coats, by which they can be known as Police Officers."  The use of the term "police officers" is a segue into the next important action of the council in their criminal justice work--a topic that will be covered in the next post.