The Los Angeles Common Council and Criminal Justice, 1853

In 1853, its fourth year of operation, the Los Angeles Common Council continued to deal with a range of criminal justice issues representative of an underfunded, understaffed frontier community.

One of these was about finances, as one of the main sources of revenue for the operations of the town of a few thousand consisted of fines for infractions of offenses of Los Angeles' ordinances.  In the first meeting of the year, on 4 January, the total submitted to the city treasurer from the prior month was a whopping $18.18.  At the next meeting, on the 17th, the council resolved to pay Francisco Alvarado a rent for two rooms used as the city jail at $16 dollars, so the fines of the prior month barely covered that expense.

On 5 February, the council reaffirmed its order "that the prisoners who are confirned for violations of the Ordinances be employed in cleaning the streets, and a few of them in canal and street repairs," this being in lieu of fines.

Speaking of the jail, while there had been movement in 1852 towards securing a better facility, the council's attention in the first part of the next year was towards raising funds for a city hall and a public school, the town having neither as dedicated structures.  However, when three bids were received by mid-April for a new city hall on Main Street not far from the Plaza, these were rejected and it was proposed that an existing house be purchased instead.  There would not be a city hall specifically built for that purpose until the late 1880s.

At the 13 May meeting, mayor Antonio Franco Coronel's message was included in the minutes and he discussed the issue of renting structures for the council chamber and mail noting the

importance of owning a building which would serve those purposes, and which not only would fill a long felt want, but also would save expenses, more particularly if in its construction the transgressors of the municipal ordinances were employed to serve out their punishment, which they could do by working in person or contributing with such fines as may be imposed for such offenses

The first day of May included the election for council seats and among the results was that Manuel Requena was again appointed president, while one of the two publishers of the Los Angeles Star newspaper, William H. Rand, was among the new council members.

William H. Rand, co-publisher of the Los Angeles Star, the city's first newspaper, served on the town's Common Council in 1853.  He then left Los Angeles and wound up in Chicago, where he formed what became the Rand McNally publishing empire.

He was to be joined by Pío Pico, former governor of Mexican-era California and one of the most prominent of the area's Californio elite.  However, on the meeting of 23 May, it was recorded that Pico failed to take his seat and was declared removed, with a special election held at the corridor the house of Ignacio Del Valle.  However, Pico was appointed the inspector, so it appears that his purchase of the Rancho Paso de Bartolo in 1852 was the main reason for his decision to forego serving on the council.  His home on that rancho is now a state landmark in Whittier.  As for Pico's replacement, that was Juan María Sepulveda of another prominent Californio family.

Another recurring issue came up at the late May meeting, when the town's new marshal, Alveron S. Beard, elected at the first of the month, made this request: "a petition of the Marshal was read wherein he asks to be paid a salary, and Council resolved that it considers the fees attaching to the office of Marshal as being sufficient."  Beard, it may be remembered, had just emigrated to Los Angeles and was appointed by the council as a school teacher for poor children.

It didn't take long for Beard to become a lightning rod for controversy.  At the 21 June meeting, the Finance Committee reported that Beard exceeded his authority in issuing licenses, rather than just collecting the fees for them, the issuance to be handled by Mayor Coronel.  Beard was at the meeting and "was given to understand that he has no authority to issue licenses."

Another problem raised at the same meeting had to do with a request for payment by the marshal for his arrest of two dozen Indians and four white men (this reflects the chronic problem of Indians arrested for public drunkenness and their consequent subjection to public labor in lieu of fines, referred to here before.)  Beard's claim was rejected because

Council resolved that since the persons arrested had not paid any fine because they succeeded in making good their escape owing to a lack of vigilance on the part of the Marshal, his claim must be denied, excepting two dollars charged for the arrest of a white man who served his sentence.

Jail breaks were, in fact, somewhat common, but this mass escape was egregious enough to be recorded in the minute book.

Then, at the 21 June meeting, Beard submitted a bill for $20 for cleaning the streets, repairing the jail and for the burial of an Indian and this was sent to the Finance Committee for its review.  On 7 July, the committee returned with its recommendation that payment of $10 be forwarded for the first two items, but that Beard's claim for $10 for the burial was "a matter which should have been attended to by the County officials," another example of the marshal's penchant for overstepping his bounds.

At the same July gathering, Mayor Coronel "explained the difficulties arising from employing City prisoners in the cleaning of the streets, and recommended that some steps be taken" to remedy the problem, though it was not stated that the issue was about the marshal's (mis)management.  The result was that the Council decided to take bids for street cleaning from a private contractor at rates up to $40 per month for the remainder of the year.

The matter of the jail and city offices returned to the agenda in August.  On the recommendation of William T.B. Sanford, a two-person Jail and City Offices committee of himself and Requena was formed to confer with the new county Board of Supervisors (the 5-person body took over county management from the Court of Sessions in 1852) "for establishing a jail and City offices in the same building that the County is using for a like purpose."  The two men were directed to not commit the city to any sum higher than $2500.

On 12 September, William H. Rand, a member of the Police Committee with Jose María Doporto, resigned and eventually returned east, where, in Chicago, he formed a printing firm that evolved into the Rand McNally corporation.  A special election brought newly-arrived Iowa attorney Ezra Drown to the council and to a seat on the police commission.

At the meeting of 6 October, county supervisor Stephen C. Foster submitted to the council a resolution from his board "inviting the city to come in jointly [with the county] with the City Offices and Jail" and a draft ordinance was submitted.  The total financial commitment was $2500, with $1500 of that going to the county for the house and lot and the balance due "when the house shall be finished and that portion of the jail belonging to the City according to resolutions of the Board of Supervisors shall have been turned over to the City."  The following day, at a special council meeting, this resolution was approved.

Work finally began late in the year at a building acquired west of Spring Street from former council member Jonathan Temple and, in late November, the key of a room for an office for city use was turned over, with the council agreeing to begin using that space in December.  Requena then reported that he was told by the construction superintendent for both the jail, which was a new structure in the courtyard, and for the city and county offices that it would "be a timely service . . . to anticipate the payment of one thousand dollars which the [city] is under obligation to pay for its share of the said buildings."

A circa 1870s photograph, later printer engraved, of Antonio Franco Coronel, mayor of Los Angeles in 1853 and later state treasurer.  From a biographical sketch of Coronel by Henry D. Barrows, published in the annual of the Historical Society of Southern California, 1900.

Meantime, on 13 December, Mayor Coronel reported to the council that Judge Benjamin Hayes of the District Court issued a ruling "that the City is not entitled to possess a Jail" and the council resolved to form a committee to meet with the judge "to ascertain the true state of affairs."  This discussion, to be led by council member Henry Myles was to be scheduled before members of the state assembly from Los Angeles were to leave for the next session of the legislature, presumably in case statutes needed to be changed.  At the same meeting, $1000 were forward to Sanford by the Jail and City Offices Committee as the city's share of the construction costs to be handed over to the Board of Supevisors.

Finally, as the year headed towards a close, the situation with Marshal Beard continued to be problematic.  In early October another bill from Beard was rejected as not being in proper form, to which three days later, the marshal again petitioned for a monthly salary and, once more, the council rejected his request "because his services are considered sufficiently compensated with the fees stipulated by ordinance."

Beard was nothing if not persistent and, on 23 November, he returned again to ask for a salary and wanted to be paid $65 per month for his services and work.  Exasperated, the council voted for a new resolution, stating that "if he is not satisfied with the fees appertaining to his office, he is at liberty to resign."  Moreover, his bills were such that, he was ordered to provide proof of the services and fees he was claiming, to which the council would give the bills due attention.

As 1854 dawned, the city had the good news of having a new building for city offices as well as a new jail readied, but it also had continuing problems with Marshal Beard to address.  More on that in the next post.