The Squatter Wars
Colonel L. A. Norton, Life and Adventures
I had built up quite a practice in the valley, and one day as I was on the floor addressing a jury in the US District Court, a friend stepped up to me and said, "Give them hell, Norton, you are gone in at home." When I had finished my argument, I asked my friend what he meant. He replied, "Placerville is entirely wiped out by fire; nothing has been saved." I returned home, and learned that a fire had broken out near the Carey House, at the foot of Main Street, at the west end of the city, and as the town was in a canyon running nearly east and west, and there being a strong west wind, and everything very dry, the flames would leap forty and fifty feet from building to building, firing the roofs, and in less than thirty minutes the town was all in flames. It was Sunday, and my wife was in church, not far from my office. She rushed to the office, and with the assistance of a few friends had secured the most of my library, conveying the books to the rear of the building into a mining tunnel. My house was situated on a hill outside of the town, and was safe. But my entire block of buildings on Main Street, that I had just finished at a cost of thirteen thousand dollars, was entirely destroyed, and I was left with my library and one thousand dollars (my fee in the case I was trying) and with three thousand dollars owing me from T. B. Andrian & Co., mill men, to be paid in lumber. There was no insurance in those days in Placerville.
This fire occurred on the 5th of July, 1856. In the course of a couple of months I had filled the burned space in my tract with a block of cheap buildings, and again continued my business till the summer of 1857, when I found that many of the mines were exhausted, and that Placerville had seen its best days. And I had further become satisfied that every blow struck in a mining county was exhausting the native wealth of the county, while each blow struck in an agricultural county was increasing its wealth. Hence I was resolved to seek a location in an agricultural region, and having favorable reports from Sonoma County, I made up my mind to visit that quarter with a view to finding a location. Having relatives living in Green Valley, Sonoma County, I mounted my horse and set out for that point. I had paid them a flying visit in 1855, but saw very little of the country. On my second visit I spent a short time with my friends and in the coast country, when A. J. Steele, my brother-in-law, suggested that we visit the Geysers, which we accordingly did.
Returning from this tour, I became favorably impressed with the then small hamlet of Healdsburg, and the broad acres of Dry Creek and Russian River bottomland lying on each side of the town site, while the little town itself was embowered in and overshadowed by a luxuriant shade of native oaks, with its varied and picturesque scenery, with water as pure as ever flowed from a crystal fountain, a healthful climate, without sand-flies, gnats, or mosquitoes to afflict humanity. I resolved to settle in Healdsburg, and take my chances to make a living at my profession. Among the first to renew an acquaintance at this place was "old man" Forsee, with whom I had been acquainted in El Dorado County. The old man informed me that there was a fine opening in Sonoma County, but that I must not go in with the land-grabbers. This was all new to me, and I was led to make inquiries as to what he meant by land-grabbers, when he proceeded to inform me that the country was covered with spurious grants, purporting to be Mexican grants, but which were all fraudulent; and that he (Forsee) had united himself with the settlers to resist the claimants under Mexican title, both legally and forcibly.
Judge Forsee also said that the Fitch or Sotoyome Rancho was a fraud, that the patent issued therefor was a fraud, that on two sides there were no boundaries, etc., etc. I visited Santa Rosa for the purpose of learning the facts from the records, when, instead of finding the grant without boundaries, I found the entire estate defined by the most substantial lines, and that the United States patent had been on record for more than five years. I returned to Healdsburg and opened an office, and soon found that all legal proceedings at this place amounted to a grand "comedy of errors,"--deeds embracing sales of both real and personal property, one-half of them without a seal, many without acknowledgments, etc.
The first case in which I was engaged was, The People of the State of California vs. Charles P. McPherson, charged with an assault with a deadly weapon. I was employed on the defense, and one James Reynolds (now dead) was prosecutor. The justice, instead of sitting as a committing magistrate, took jurisdiction of the case to try it. I did not demur to the jurisdiction of the court. The evidence disclosed the fact that my client had, in the town of Geyserville, struck the complaining witness with a small stick, about one inch in diameter; but, unfortunately, there was a large-sized splitting chisel at one end of it, used for splitting iron in a blacksmith shop. I convinced the jury that it was not among the deadly weapons described in the statue, and my man was acquitted on that charge, but, under the advice of his counsel, McPherson pleaded guilty to an assault and battery. Receipts of first month's practice, thirty dollars.
About this time a gentleman stepped into the office and introduced himself as Egbert Judson, of San Francisco, and said: "I am part owner and agent of the new Sotoyome Rancho. The ranch is covered with redwood timber, and is only valuable for the timber, and I am being robbed by more than a hundred trespassers, who are cutting down and carrying away my timber in lumber, pickets, shakes, rails, and for other uses. The entire valley has been and is being fenced from my land. I started up here to see if I could do anything to save it. I stated my object to Col. S. H. Fitch, on the boat coming up, and told him that I was going to see if I could employ some attorney in Santa Rosa who would try and save my property. He replied that the man I wanted was in Healdsburg, that he knew you well, having served through the Mexican War with you, and if you undertook it you would accomplish it or die trying. He at the same time remarked that the squatters were a set of desperate men, and that he expected they would kill any one who should attempt to stop their trespassing. I told him that his assurances were truly refreshing, nevertheless, for a reasonable consideration, I would undertake it. After having fixed on a compensation, I said: "Go back to San Francisco; you are afraid of these men, and within two weeks you will find your worst fears realized, or I will be in possession of your land."
Judson returned to San Francisco, and I was in somewhat of a quandary how to commence my task, being fully alive to the magnitude of the undertaking; I was aware that about a month before my arrival in Healdsburg, a mob had taken and destroyed the field notes of Surveyor-General Tracy, gave him four hours to leave or hang, and that a like mob had chased Dr. L. C. Frisbie, he only escaping by being mounted on a fleet horse, and from the known character of some with whom I had to deal, I could scarcely hope to come out of the contest alive. First I thought I had better commence in the district court and call to my aid a sheriff's posse comitatus, and again I feared that that course would induce the trespassers to think that I was personally afraid of them; but a notice from them two days after my appointment, decided my course of action.
The notice which I received informed me that, if I dared to show myself in the redwoods, I would be hanged to the first tree. Accordingly the next day I loaded myself down with iron and steel, got a horse, and started for the redwoods alone, having previously learned that their leader was a six-foot-and-a-half Irishman, a perfect giant, by the name of McCabe, who would sally forth from his mountain hiding-place, come to Healdsburg, get half drunk, whip out the town, and return to the redwoods, where he had his family. On my approach to the redwoods I inquired for McCabe's shanty, and on reaching it I found him seated on his shaving-horse making shingles. I dismounted, hitched my horse, advanced toward him and said, "Is your name McCabe?" He replied in the affirmative. I added, "Fighting McCabe?" "They call me so sometimes." I then said, "Well, sir, I am that detested Judson's agent that you propose to hang to the nearest limb, and have come to surrender myself for execution; my name is Norton." He dallied a moment with his drawing-knife and then said, "Suppose we carry our threat into execution?" I made answer that no doubt they had force enough in the woods to do it, but there would be some of them that would not be worth hanging by the time it was done. He then queried, "Well, Norton, what do you propose to do with us?" I replied, "Mack, I intend to put every devil of you out of the woods, unless you carry your threat into execution." He was silent for a minute, then said: "Well, you look and act as if you meant all you say." I answered, "I mean every word of it." "Well," said he, "in case I leave, how long will you give a fellow to get off with his stealings?" I said, "How long do you want, Mack?" He replied, "A week or ten days." I asked, "Is two weeks sufficient?" He replied, "It is." "Will you leave at that time?" "I will." I said, "That is enough between gentlemen." Mack left according to agreement.
I then went out into the woods where the axes were cracking on every side, some chopping, some splitting rails, others sawing bolts; in fact, it was a busy place. When I approached them I asked what they thought they were doing there, if they did not know they were trespassers? They wanted to know who I was and what business I had there. I answered, "I am the agent of Egbert Judson, the owner of this land and timber, and I forbid you to cut another stick, and intend to make you pay for the trespass already committed. They commenced to gather around me, using the most insulting language; one of them, pointing to a large limb on a spreading oak, said, "We will give you just two minutes to get out of this, and, unless you are gone by that time, we will string you up to that limb." I drew a revolver and cocked it, and told them to keep their distance, that I would kill the first one that attempted to advance. I then asked them to give me their names, as I intended to prosecute them, each and every devil. They gave me a laughable list, which I will not attempt to copy here. After informing them that they were a set of cowardly scoundrels and not a gentleman in the crowd, I left them and returned to Healdsburg.
Johnson Ireland was the justice of the peace, and a firm, positive, honest man; and being satisfied that I could trust him, I brought about a hundred suits, using all the aliases I could think of, placed the papers in the hands of an officer, with instructions to serve on all he could find in the woods, except my Irish giant, and to obtain their real names if possible. The actions were for trespass upon personal property, for taking and carrying away posts, rails, pickets, etc. I think the officer got service on sixty-two persons. The cases were set for hearing at twelve o'clock noon. The parties did not arrive in time, and I took a default against the crowd; but at two o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, as I was seated in my office (which was on the second floor over a store on West Street) conversing with a friend, I heard some one hallooing on the street. I walked to the balcony and saw that the street was crowded with men. Their spokesman called out, "Well, old fellow, there is a friend of mine up in the redwoods who wants to compromise with you." I inquired his friend's name. He replied: "Damn you, if you want his name find it out the way you found ours." I said, "It is very unkind in you not to give your friend's name, but as the business of the day is over with me, I will attend to it; I think, however, you are mistaken in your man. It is not Norton you are hunting; it is Surveyor-General Tracy, or Dr. Frisbie that you are after; but as you will not give your friend's name, I will accompany you to see him. I will go with one of you, two of you, or three of you, or I will go with your crowd; or I will be fairer still, I will agree to come down there and whale any one of you so blind that your wife will not know you when you get home again. I know your kind better than you know yourselves." Instead of rushing for me, as my friend had anticipated, they commenced gathering in knots, and at the end of an hour there was not one of them on the street. Thus ended their first and last attempt to mob me.
My next adventure was in removing squatters from the east side of Russian River. Judson had sent a man by the name of A. J. Soules with a flock of sheep on his own land on the Sotoyome Rancho, to pasture. The squatters (numbering sixteen families) went and removed Soules and the sheep from the grant, admonishing him that it would not be safe to return. Judgement in ejectment was obtained against those men in the federal court at San Francisco, but no one had dared to attempt to enforce it. Having been successful in driving the trespassers from the redwoods, Judson came to the conclusion that perhaps I might gain possession of his other land. After consultation, I directed him to send me a deputy from the United States marshal's office, with the writs of ejectment, which he did. We went over to the field of our new labors about five o'clock in the evening, having previously sent them notice of my intention to remove them unless they would enter into a lease, and recognize our title.
We found them all at the house where we proposed to commence, all armed with knives or pistols. Over an hour was consumed in trying to get the party to sign a lease, but to no purpose. The evening was chilly, and I could not think of throwing a woman and small children out at that time of the evening. Accordingly, I told them that I would be there at eight o'clock the following morning to put them out. At the appointed hour we were on hand, and found them all there. I again tendered the lease, which was refused. I cocked my revolver, took my position in the gateway, and directed the marshal to throw the goods out of the house, which he proceeded to do. They made a demonstration as though they intended to make a rush. I warned them to keep back. The marshal got all out but the woman. He came to the door and said, "I cannot get this woman out." I told him to take my revolver and keep the men back, and I would attend to her. I walked in, found her seated in the middle of the floor, and said, "Madame, it becomes my unpleasant duty to remove you," at the same time stepping quickly to her back, bending over and putting my hands beneath her so as to carry her out. She sprang to her feet, exclaiming, "I guess I can go out myself." After the woman had surrendered the citadel, the man (whose name, I believe, was Weber) remarked that, if it were not too late, he would sign the lease. I replied that it was never too late for me to ameliorate the condition of my fellow-man, and handed him the lease, which he signed. We then went from house to house and all the occupants signed leases. Thus Judson was restored to his land on the old Sotoyome Rancho.
The Russian River and Dry Creek valleys at this time were nearly all in the hands of the squatters, which territory was covered with Mexican grants, as follows: Sotoyome or Fitch Grant, eight leagues; New Sotoyome, three leagues; the Tzabaco Grant, containing something over four leagues. The titles were all confirmed, and patents issued and on record. Notwithstanding all this, the squatters in possession had their secret leagues all over the county, and forcibly resisted all efforts to dispossess them, and the law seemed to be entirely a dead letter; actions in ejectment were prosecuted to judgment; writs of restriction were issued and placed in the hands of officers, but resistance was made by armed force; the military was called out--a requisition for the militia on one side, and Captain Forsee mustering two thousand squatters on the other side. Parties would be evicted one day, and the next morning would find them in possession of the same premises they had been ejected from the day before. Two thousand men had met and confronted each other in bloodless combat; both parties marched and countermarched until the farce was played out. By express command of the sheriff, I was excluded from these wars, and the affair was finally left where it commenced. Though the fairest domain on which the sun ever shone, yet people shunned it, as there was no title or undisputed possession.
Things were in this condition when Dr. L. C. Frisbie of Vallejo, employed me to look after his interests in the Sotoyome Rancho. I took his business in hand, and succeeded in making some sales and getting along pretty smoothly for a few months; but it became necessary to bring several suits in ejectment, which I prosecuted to judgment. One of them was against Riland Arbuckle, on a portion of the Sotoyome Rancho, and as he was a boastful, blowing fellow, I thought I would go for him first. The sheriff dispossessed the party, and levied upon a quantity of sacked barley, which we removed to the house for safety. The squatters said they would not resist the officer, but that Arbuckle should be placed in possession again before morning, and that old Norton had better leave with the sheriff if he knew what was good for him. I, however, thought differently. My client was not there, and I had determined to try strength of nerve with them, and had secured the servies of seven young men to aid me. We were all supplied with double-barreled shot-guns and plenty of ammunition. The sheriff had retired, and about a dozen of the squatters lingered for a time. I had gone out to reconnoiter the premises, when they commenced talking very rough to the boys, telling them that they had better leave, as every one of them would be killed before morning, etc. The boys were telling them that they were not there to fight, but merely to hold possession under the law. In the early part of the conversation I had slipped up behind a large oak tree where I could hear every word that passed, and at this juncture I sprang from my concealment and exclaimed, "You are a bombastic set of cowards; you have dared me to hold these premises; now go home and rally your forces for your night attack; you will find `old Norton' at his post." My boys all bustled up and told them to go or they would boot them, and finally bluffed the fellows from the ground; but on riding off they called back that we would see them again before morning.
We then made breast-works of the sacks of barley in the house, with loop-holes through the thin siding, and before it was quite dark I placed patrols up and down the road with intructions, if they should see the enemy approach in force, to retreat to our fortification and notify us; but if the enemy advanced too fast, they were to fire a revolver as a signal and make good their retreat. About eleven o'clock I heard the discharge of a revolver, and the two outposts came rushing in and said there was a large company of horsemen rapidly approaching. I formed the command outside of the house, under a large laurel tree, where it was quite dark. I ordered them to drop down upon their faces on the ground. On came the horsemen, from eighty to one hundred strong. When they got opposite to us and about four rods distant, I ordered, "Ready!" All the locks clicked audibly. I said, "Reserve your fire till they attempt to cross the fence." The horsemen wavered for a moment, then with a right-about-face made equally as good time in getting away as they did in coming. I was satisfied that we had not seen the last of them, and in consequence of this impression I kept a vigilant watch. About two o'clock in the morning one of my sentinels came running in and said there was a large crowd creeping along the fence. I ordered my force to keep perfectly quiet. I took my old rifle that I had had in camp, and skulked along the fence to within about a hundred yards of the foremost of the approaching party, when I slipped out and fired a shot about ten feet over their heads. At this there was another general stampede, and we were again in peaceable possession of the Arbuckle place.
I continued to eject the squatters from Frisbie's tracts, with greater or less resistance, until I had reduced the whole to possession. It now seemed to be the general opinion that I was the only one who could successfully cope with squatters, and John N. Bailhache, as one of the Fitch heirs, or rather tenant by courtesy, having married Miss Josephine Fitch, had a large tract of land covered by squatters, and had made many futile attempts to expel them. They had become so well organized, and so confident of their ability to forcibly hold the premises, that they actually paraded the streets of Healdsburg, both men and women, with music and banners waving, and seemed to think that if they could only get rid of Bailhache they would be secure in their homes. In accordance with this idea, they made a raid on him and forced him to secrete himself in the Raney Hotel. Seeing his danger, I marched out with a cocked revolver in each hand, meeting the mob, and persuaded them that I was the man they wanted, and not Bailhache; but they came to the conclusion that they did not want either of us, and retired, still holding forcible possession of his lands. Mr. Bailhache about this time discovered that he had business at Fort Yuma; so he moved his family to Santa Rosa and departed.
A few months afterward I received a letter and power of attorney from Mr. Bailhache at Fort Yuma, giving me full authority to enter upon any and all his lands in Sonoma County, and expel squatters, etc. I commenced operations under this power, but not until after I had convinced the sheriff that his was not much of an office anyhow, and he had agreed to turn it over to his under-sheriff in case he could furnish the necessary bonds, which I believe were about thirty thousand dollars; and I agreed to furnish ten thousand, in consideration of having the privilege of selecting my own deputy for Healdsburg. This was carried out, and I chose J. D. Bins, and adopted a new system of warfare. I put in teams and went to work hauling off the fencing from the farms on the west side of Dry Creek, thus rendering the land useless to the holders. This drove them to desperation. The teams had been hauling all day, and at evening when they were coming in with the last load for the day, as they were approaching Dry Creek, my team being in the rear with five or six men upon the wagon, my brother among the number, two shots from rifles were discharged in rapid succession, and a bullet from one of them struck a Mr. Ferguson just above the knee, and running down the leg shattered the bones in a terrible manner; it was a death shot. My brother drove him to town as fast as possible, but he never rallied from the nervous shock, and died the next day.
Until this murderous attack I had not been thoroughly aroused, but after the death and burial of young Ferguson I took a posse of ten men, all thoroughly armed, and went with them in person. Stationing a few outposts to prevent any further shooting from the brush, I commenced throwing out goods from the houses and burning the buildings to the ground. In this way I went from house to house, until I burned down all the dwellings on the Bailhache premises occupied by squatters. They followed us up en masse, and at length one of them said, "I would like to know who sets those buildings on fire; I would make them smart legally." I replied, "What, you appeal to the law, who have so long trampled law and justice beneath your feet! You shall be gratified!" I said, "Jim Brown, fire that house." The house was soon in flames. I then said to the squatters, "Now take your legal remedy." Brown (a brother of Mayor Brown, of Santa Rosa) was indicted, but a nol. pros. was entered in the case, as the house was mine, and I having authorized the act; there being no property of others in it, nor no living being, under our statute the act was legal. Some of the houses were good two-story buildings, but I treated them as I would have done a lot of rats' nests; under the circumstances there was no alternative.
Although I had reduced the dwelling to smouldering ruins, the squatters continued to hang around, like the French soldiers around a burning Moscow, until the elements drove them away to the hills, where some of them put up temporary abodes on the adjacent Government land. In our attempt to keep the raiders from the different places, we had only been successful in gaining possession of a small portion, and in order to perpetuate my possession, I commenced repairing the fences, and on two or three occasions in the night they fired them. But I was ever on the alert, and discovered the fire in time to prevent much damage.
My next effort was to find some one who would dare take possession of some one of the places. At last I found a man by the name of Peacock, a powerful, resolute fellow, who proposed to purchase a piece of the land which a man by the name of Clark had been claiming, and whose house had been burned down. He contracted and entered into possession, and guarded a fine lot of hay, a volunteer crop growing on the place. The hay had matured and he had cut and cocked it, but in the meantime, contrary to my counsel, he had made great friends with and confidents of the squatters who had been evicted, and among other things told them that he was going to see my brother the next day, to get his team to bale hay, and should be absent that night. I strongly opposed it, while he assured me that everything would be safe, but did not convince me. I was on the watch, and about two o'clock in the morning I discovered a bright light arising from the neighborhood of Peacock's hay. I rushed around, awakened Bailhache, Ransom Powell, and two or three others, and started for the scene of the fire. We succeeded in saving about one-third of the hay.
On Peacock's return it was impossible to convince him that the Prouses had any hand in this, or that they knew anything of it. He continued his former relations with them for about a month after this time, having gone to board with them. One day a dispute arose at the dinner table, and the two Prouse brothers set upon him, one of them armed with something that the evidence afterwards disclosed as being somewhat like a butcher's cleaver. They cut and hacked Peacock up in a terrible manner, so that for a long time his life was despaired of. For this offense I had Daniel Prouse sent to the penitentiary, and we continued to hold possession. The land being desirable farming land, others, seeing that our title could be maintained, commenced purchasing; and thus Bailhache was restored to his possession, which put an end to the squatter diffculty on the Sotoyome Rancho.
About the time I was requested to take charge of the Tzabaco Rancho, by John B. Frisbie and W. H. Patterson, of San Francisco, sending the request by James Clark, then sheriff of Sonoma County, who held writs of ejectment against all the settlers on the Russian River side of the grant. I had been acting for them for more than two years as their agent, selling and leasing the Dry Creek portion, where they met with but little opposition to their title. But before stating my action on the Russian River Valley, I must state one incident that occurred on the Dry Creek portion. I had been up Dry Creek serving some notices on parties who had not paid up, and was returning, mounted on a gentle little mare; and while jogging along, right opposite the widow Bell's old place, where there was an old watering trough and spring at a large redwood stump, surrounded by dense growth of redwood sprouts, a shot was fired. I felt a concussion, and at the same instant my mare made a jump sideways, nearly throwing me from my saddle. I recovered myself and dismounted. I saw the brush wiggle and shake, and made for the point. The party took to his heels, running through the thick brush and up a very steep hill, and I only got a sight of his back. He wore a bluish-gray coat and a low black hat, and was rather a short man, and that was all I could tell of my would-be assassin. I was unarmed and had no way of stopping him. On examination, I discovered that the bullet had passed through both sides of my vest, having entered the right side high in the breast, passing through my outer shirt, in front, and out at the left side. This was at a time when strangers thought us a set of desperadoes here, and there was but little said about it, as I did not wish to add to our reputation in that line. When I came in I showed it to Bailhache, D. F. Spurr, and, may be, two or three more. I still have the vest, and if this reaches the eye of the perpetrator of the deed he may congratulate himself on the fact that I could not recognize him.
And now to the squatters on the Russian River side of the grant, hostile almost to a man. When the sheriff informed me that he was under my instructions, I told him to go home and if I needed him I would let him know. I then wrote to Frisbie and Patterson, and told them that in case I entered upon the hazard of attempting to manage the squatters, they must give me an unconditional power to survey, segregate, and sell all the lands upon such terms and time as I should deem proper, being accountable to no one for my actions in its disposition. They immediately sent me the power, which was communicated to the settlers in a very exaggerated manner, they being led to believe that I would eject them from their homes without an opportunity of purchasing at any price. Whereupon their secret organization met, I having two trusty friends in that organization, who hastened to me and communicated to me so much of the proceedings as in their judgment was necessary to preserve my life. I was told by them that it was determined in counsel that my death was essential in order to defeat the measures about to be carried into effect; and they had adopted a resolution that if I ever showed myself upon the Tzabaco Rancho I was to be killed like a snake by whoever discovered me; and in addition to this, they balloted to see whose duty it was to be my special executioner and hunt me out and kill me. These men begged of me, under the circumstances, not to come onto the grant. I fully comprehended the fact that the settlers were in a state of desperation, as we held one judgment over them in the sum of ten thousand dollars, for use and occupation of the premises, and another judgment of ten thousand dollars obtained on injunction bond, making a total of twenty thousand dollars; together with writs of ejectment against every one of them.
After due reflection, I resolved to "beard the lion in his den," and to fight the devil with fire, and when I was all ready, I hitched my pony to the buggy, and started for the Tzabaco Rancho. After placing a quart bottle of old Bourbon under the buggy seat, and arming myself in case of trouble, I drove to the ranch, which is about six miles from Healdsburg, following the Geyserville road, and adjoining the Sotoyome Rancho on the west. I drove up opposite the house of one Captain Vessor, then living close to the line, and saw the old captain in his yard hewing out a plow-beam. I stopped my horse, and called out, "Captain Vessor, will you step this way?" He dropped his ax, and came to the road; when about five or six feet from the buggy he raised his spectacles, and recognizing me, he instantly became as black as a thunder-cloud. I jumped out of the buggy, and confronting him, said, "I am informed that you men have in solemn conclave determined to shoot and scalp me if I ever came on this grant, and as shooting is a game that two may play at, I will commence now," at the same time running my hand under the buggy seat. The old captain threw up both hands and commenced running backwards, exclaiming, "Don't, don't." "I'll be hanged, if I don't!" said I, at the same time bringing the whisky bottle to bear upon him. A pleasurable sensation, after the most abject fear, wrought another change in the captain, when he laughingly exclaimed: "Oh, God! you might have shot me with that long ago." I then gave the old man a "shot in the neck," and bade him get into the buggy; but I franky told him that I was through joking and meant business; that for the present he was my prisoner, and must go with me. He very reluctantly complied and I drove to Geyserville, only holding him hostage to insure my own safety.
At this place I met Dr. Ely, who I had good reason to believe was the brains and managing man of the squatters, he being a man of intellect, and a fair-minded, reasonable man upon all subjects excepting the one at issue. I disnissed Vessor, "shot" Ely, and took him in the buggy, and continued my journey through the Tzabaco Rancho. I informed the doctor that I came up to sell them their lands, and that I proposed to give every man a reasonable chance of paying for the farm I sold him. I was aware that the lands had been held too high; that the owners were honest in their convictions of the value of the land, but were mistaken; and for that reason I had refused to take the agency until they gave me carte blanche to dispose of them according to my own judgment. "But," he said, with apparent surprise, "you do not propose to sell me my place?" "Why not?" I asked. He replied, "I have always heard that you said you would not sell my place, but had selected it for yourself." "That," said I, "is just as true as many other things you have heard about me. I am a Western man, and am anxious to see every man have his home, and will sell to you just the same as to the rest." "But," said he, "if disposed to purchase, how can we? We are bankrupts; with the twenty thousand dollars judgments hanging over us, we can do nothing." I told him that it was not necessary to tell me that they were bankrupts, for I knew it; and continued, "It is not necessary to tell me that you are a set of ruined and desperate men; I know it. It is not necessary for you to stay, in case I attempt to execute the writs of ejectment which I hold against you, that these fair domains will be left blackened ruins, and that the inhabitants will retire to their mountain fastnesses and wage war against human nature at large, for I already know it, and in my present action have given due heed to it all; yet I am going to sell every man of you your farms, and as fast as you purchase I shall wipe the judgment out against the purchaser and again place you in the position of freemen."
The doctor frankly admitted that if that was my intention, then I had been greatly misrepresented to them. I told him that, having unlimited power, I intended to be a benefactor and not an oppressor of the people. The doctor took me at my word, rode through the settlement with me, and advised the settlers to purchase their homes, which seemed to them unusual advice. I notified them that, on the following Thursday, I would be at Captain Vessor's for the purpose of going with them over every man's place, and fixing a price upon it per acre.
I was there at the time appointed, and met the entire settlement, and went over every place, fixing my price upon the land as I passed over, and to my surprise and satisfaction every one of them thought that I had put a fair price upon his neighbor's land, but had got his a little too high. The result was that every man purchased his farm within the ensuing six weeks, paying one-fourth down and getting three years to pay the balance, at one per cent per month interest. And what was still more satisfactory, by the enlargement of time of payment, all succeeded in paying for their farms, and thus ended the squatter war that had been kept up for over seven years in the northern portion of this county.
But before dismissing the subject I must say, in justification of these men, that the most of them, in my judgment, were honest in their convictions that the claimants either had no title to the lands, or if they had a title it was fraudulent; and that many of them today are among our most respected and prominent citizens. Our old feuds are now looked upon as a feverish and disturbing dream, or treated as a subject of mirth, and as for myself, the most of the men who once wanted to see my throat cut are among my warmest friends. I will here append a set of resolutions, expressing their feelings toward me after our fight was over:
"At a meeting of the citizens of Washington Township, and on the `Tzabaco Grant,' held this day, without distinction of party, the following preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted:
"Whereas, It having become known to us that statements are being publicly made to the effect that Captain L. A. Norton, of Healdsburg, is regarded with unfriendly feelings by the citizens and settlers of this township, and knowing such statements to be wholly untrue and unjust to Captain Norton, it is hereby
"Resolved, That we recognize in Capt. L. A. Norton, a gentleman of great firmness of purpose, and energy in the discharge of duty; entirely impartial as agent between grant holders and settlers and that his courtesy and friendship as evinced toward all who wished to secure their homes, demand and receive our hearty approbation and respect, and that we entertain for him none but the kindliest feelings.
"Resolved, That all statements and assertions made in relations to Capt. L. A. Norton in connection with ourselves, which are not in accordance with the above, are untrue, and very unjust to both Captain Norton and ourselves.
"Resolved, That the Secretary forward a copy of the proceedings of this meeting to the Sonoma Democrat, and one to the Russian River Flag, requesting them to publish the same.
"(Signed) Downing Lamb, President, "Elisha Ely, Secretary."
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