Chapter I: Preface

This is the story of San Francisco. When a newspaper editor summoned me from the mountains to write a serial he said:

"I've sent for you because I believe you love this city more than any other writer of my acquaintance or knowledge. And I believe the true story of San Francisco will make a more dramatic, vivid, human narrative than any fiction I've ever read.

"Take all the time you want. Get everything straight, and _put all you've got into this story_. I'm going to wake up the town with it."

To the best of my ability, I followed the editor's instructions. He declared himself satisfied. The public responded generously. The serial was a success.

But, ah! I wish I might have written it much better ... or that Robert Louis Stevenson, for instance, might have done it in my stead.

"Port O' Gold" is history with a fiction thread to string its episodes upon. Most of the characters are men and women who have lived and played their parts exactly as described herein. The background and chronology are as accurate as extensive and painstaking research can make them.

People have informed me that my fictional characters, vide Benito, "took hold of them" more than the "real ones" ... which is natural enough, perhaps, since they are my own brain-children, while the others are merely adopted. Nor is this anything to be deplored. The writer, after all, is first an entertainer. Indirectly he may edify, inform or teach. My only claim is that I've tried to tell the story of the city that I love as truly and attractively as I was able. My only hope is that I have been worthy of the task.

Valuable aid in the accumulation of historical data for this volume was given by:

Robert Rea, librarian, San Francisco Public Library;

Mary A. Byrne, manager Reference Department, San Francisco Public Library;

John Howell and John J. Newbegin, booksellers and collectors of Californiana, for whose cheerful interest and many courtesies the author is sincerely grateful.

THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS

I Yerba Buena.
II The Gambled Patrimony.
III The Gringo Ships.
IV American Occupation.
V An Offer and a Threat.
VI The First Election.
VII The Rancheros Revolt.
VIII McTurpin's Coup.
IX The Elopement.
X Hull "Capitulates".
XI San Francisco is Named.
XII The New York Volunteers.
XIII The "Sydney Ducks".
XIV The Auction on the Beach.
XV The Beginning of Law.
XVI Gold! Gold! Gold!
XVII The Quest of Fortune.
XVIII News of Benito.
XIX The Veiled Woman.
XX A Call in the Night.
XXI Outfacing the Enemy.
XXII Shots in the Dark.
XXIII The New Arrival.
XXIV The Chaos of '49.
XXV Retrieving a Birthright.
XXVI Fire! Fire! Fire!
XXVII Politics and a Warning.
XXVIII On the Trail of McTurpin.
XXIX The Squatter Conspiracy.
XXX "Growing Pains".
XXXI The Vigilance Committee.
XXXII The People's Jury.
XXXIII The Reckoning.
XXXIV The Hanging of Jenkins.
XXXV The People and the Law.
XXXVI Fevers of Finance.
XXXVII "Give Us Our Savings".
XXXVIII King Starts the Bulletin.
XXXIX Richardson and Cora.
XL The Storm Gathers.
XLI The Fateful Encounter.
XLII The Committee Organizes.
XLIII Governor Johnson Mediates.
XLIV The Truce is Broken.
XLV The Committee Strikes.
XLVI Retribution.
XLVII Hints of Civil War.
XLVIII Sherman Resigns.
XLIX Terry Stabs Hopkins.
L The Committee Disbands.
LI Senator Broderick.
LII A Trip to Chinatown.
LIII Enter Po Lun.
LIV The "Field of Honor".
LV The Southern Plot.
LVI Some War Reactions.
LVII Waters Pays the Price.
LVIII McTurpin Turns Informer.
LIX The Comstock Furore.
LX The Shattered Bubble.
LXI Desperate Finance.
LXII Adolph Sutro's Tunnel.
LXIII Lees Solves a Mystery.
LXIV An Idol Topples.
LXV Industrial Unrest.
LXVI The Pick-Handle Parade.
LXVII Dennis Kearney.
LXVIII The Woman Reporter.
LXIX A New Generation.
LXX Robert and Maizie.
LXXI The Blind Boss.
LXXII Fate Takes a Hand.
LXXIII The Return.
LXXIV The "Reformer".
LXXV A Nocturnal Adventure.
LXXVI Politics and Romance.
LXXVII Aleta's Problem.
LXXVIII The Fateful Morn.
LXXIX The Turmoil.
LXXX Aftermath.
LXXXI Readjustment.
LXXXII At Bay.
LXXXIII In the Toils.
LXXXIV The Net Closes.
LXXXV The Seven Plagues.
LXXXVI A New City Government.
LXXXVII Norah Finds Out.
LXXXVIII The Shooting of Heney.
LXXXIX Defeat of the Prosecution.
XC The Measure of Redemption.
XCI Conclusion.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

As they looked, the sunlight triumphed, scattering the fog into queer, floating shapes, luminous and fraught with weird suggestions.... One might have thought a splendid city lay before them, ... impalpable, yet triumphant, with its hint of destiny.

"Ah, Senor," Inez' smile had faded, ... "they have cause for hatred".

Men with shovels, leveling the sand-hills, piled the wagons high with shimmering grains which were ... dumped into pile-surrounded bogs. San Francisco reached farther and farther out into the bay.

Samuel Brannan rode through the streets, holding a pint flask of gold-dust in one hand ... and whooping like a madman: "Gold! Gold! Gold! From the American River".

Passersby who laughed at the inscription witnessed simultaneously the rescue of an almost submerged donkey by means of an improvised derrick.

Broderick's commanding figure was seen rushing hither and thither.... "You and two others. Blow up or pull down that building," he indicated a sprawling, ramshackle structure.

There sat the redoubtable captain, all the ... austerity of his West Point manner melted in the indignity of sneezes and wheezes.... "Money! God Almighty! Sherman, there's not a loose dollar in town".

"Draw and defend yourself," he said loudly. He shut his eyes and a little puff of smoke seemed to spring from the end of his fingers, followed ... by a sharp report.

In front of the building on a high platform, two men stood.... A half-suppressed roar went up from the throng.

Terry, who had taken careful aim, now fired. Broderick staggered, recovered himself. Slowly he sank to one knee.

The concourse broke into applause. Then it was hysteria, pandemonium. Fifty thousand knew their city was safe for Anti-Slavery.

Half a thousand jobless workers, armed and reckless, marched toward the docks. They bore torches.... "A hell-bent crew," said Ellis.

"My boy ... you're wasting your time as a reporter. Listen," he laid a hand upon Francisco's knee. "I've a job for you.... The new Mayor will need a secretary".

"Perhaps I shall find me a man--big, strong, impressive--with a mind easily led.... Then I shall train him to be a leader.... I shall furnish the brain".

"I am going South," Francisco told his son. "I cannot bear this".

All at once he stepped forward.... Tears were streaming down his face. Then the judge's question, clearly heard, "What is your plea?" "Guilty!" Ruef returned.

A HISTORY-ROMANCE OF THE SAN FRANCISCO ARGONAUTS