Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • Page 11

mi VOL CXUV OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 1946 A NO. 167 his dreams Maxwell went first to the mines, go- 'ing up into the Klamath country via Sawyer Nevertheless, there are other things which have influenced its growth during the various periods was J. H. Hahoney, State senator from San Francisco in the late 1880's and early 1890's. An interesting disclosure by Mahoney was that Tom Sawyer operated a resort across from the mint.

Tom, a tremendously oversized man, hailed from Hannibal, and was said to POT checks on County Central Commit- tee returns in recent days have indicated that the complexion -of those bodies will not change materially in either party in Alameda" County, but the exact results will not be known until completion of the official canvass probably late week. The conv- mittees, comprising five members from each Assembly District, with the State Senator and Assembly nominees as ex-officio members, will meet July 9 at the courthouse to organize, select a chairman for the coming two years and map plans for the forthcoming campaigns. The State convention of each party to adopt a State platform will be held at Sacramento on July 20 and will assemble on delegate for each of the statutory officers of the State, all members of the State Board of Equalization, the Senators' and Representatives in Congress and all members of the State Legislature. On the following day will be the. official meeting of the State Central participants.

The clubs participating usually being: The Bay Cities, Garden Cities, San Jose Road Chjb, Alameda Cyclers, Olympic Club Wheelmen, Sacramento Cycles, Reliance Club and the hard-riding Acmes. O. L. Pickard, Acme, was the first to ride the 100 miles from San Francisco to Oakland via San Jose. His record held for years.

At about the height of 'ordinary' racing Bert Lund, unattached, entered the races held at the Oakland Trotting Park for benefit of building fund for the Fabi-ola Hospital. He had a cushioned-tired wheel and, in memory, some of those alive can hear the 'heluva protest' that went up. But it was a wheel to the judges and that was that. Early Boxing Bouts "A club run on 'ordinaries' was a grind. Along dirt roads, not so bad, up grade it was a case, of dismount and down a steep j.

grade a small tree was dragged to retard prog' ress if one could get the tree. Various types of hard-tired 'safeties' soon displaced the high wheels and these were followed by cushioned-tired, spring fork bicycles and then came the, 'pneumatic tired' racing machine a Phoenix, 36 pounds. Of the 10 men who rode the first 100-mile relay race around the Bay six are expected to be at the reunion: George Andy Bedburry, Theodore Schleuter, Jack Committee, comprising all delegates to the con- vehtions plus chairmen of all County Central Committees and three members chosen by each of the State convention delegates. That body will effect biennial organization and take whatever action deemed necessary in connection with the November campaign. Under the.

rotational system, the State chairmanship of the Republican Committee will switch to Northern California this year and the Democratic chairmanship will go South. As this was written sentiment had not crystallized in either party relative to potential candidates for the chairmanships. As the official returns were awaited for the County Central Committees and for other races left in doubt by the unofficial tabulations following the primary, the number of contests in November appeared to be dwindling. Errors caught in early tabulations in many dis- Vtricts cleared up various Assembly fights, for instance, and it presently appears that there will be less than 20 Lower House seats to be decided in November. Locally, the 17th and 18th Assembly District races are in question on the basis of the unofficial returns, and if those figures are near correct the two contests, may hinge on the absentee vote.

According tq the latest calcula tions, 29 Assembly seats have been clinched by Republicans and a like number by Democrats, so rlotorminntinn nf turtv rnntrnT nf that house hiust await the general electron. A battle for 'speakership of the Assembly is already in pros peqt with three strong contenders in the field on both sides. If Republicans retain control indications are that the contest will be between Assemblymen Albert C. Wollenberg, of San Francisco, administration floor leader; C. Don Field, of Glendal chairman of, the Republican caucus, and Sam L.

Collins, of Fullerton, Re publican floor leader. All three are popular, veteran members of the House and proven themselves outstanding legislators. In the event the Democrats win control the race is expected to be between Assemblymen Alfred Robertson, of Santa Barbara, the minority floor leader; Ralph Dills, of Compton, who was' said to have been interested in wresting control from Robertson at the last session, and Julian Beck, of San Fernando, who has taken an increasingly active part in Assembly affairs. Sonoma's Bear Flag Days With stunts in the air and on the ground, whirlwindj-festival and solemn ceremonies, Sonoma today is winding up a truly great, merry and inspiring celebration of the hundredth birthday of the Bear. Flag.

As other pages have given story and the pictures, the Knave is content with his own enjoyment of the experi ence and some few asides which may have es- Bar and Orleans Bar. There, in days when it was said men were being waylaid and killed daily, Maxwell's kindness to a eick Indian served to give him protection and saved-his 'life. He went to the Trinidad cairip. and there dis covered the Gold Bluff mine. From tha gold he recovered and the profits of a pack train he op- erated, he got enough money to buy the ranch.

was in 1879 he died and since that day some member of the family has lived there. A part of the celebration which the Knave believes no one overlooked was that played by the enterprising Sonoma Index-Tribune, which in addition to covering the affair fully in its regular edition, published a beautiful book replete with pictures and articles to supply the historic background. It, in itself, was a valuable souvenir of the occa- sion and an addition to the shelf of Calif orniana. J'Jje QQse 0f Frank CdSe In New York last week Frank Case died and the world of letters the theater mourned, genuinely mourned, for a true friend had gone. Irvin S.

Cobb once referred to him" as a "Santa Claus on a diet" for Case bore no resemblance whatsoever to the ruddy-faced, round-bellied driver of the December 25 reindeer chariot. He was tall and lean and as sharp of feature as a New England farmer, but that outward appearance wajs merely a snare and a delusion. Everything about Case was a snare and a delusion. He was a New Yorker to the marrow, yet he had none of New York's unfriendliness; he was a New Yorker to the marrow, yet he liked nothing better than to spend his time in Cali- ornia where he had friends in abundance in the fornia where he had friends Bay area and in Los Angeles. As a matter of fact it would be difficult to find a town in the United States where Frank Case did not have an immediate friend, more, a friend whom he had befriended at some time or other.

It was in 1907 that he went into the Algonquin Hotel on 44th Street just off Sixth Avenue in New York as a clerk. Twenty years later he owned the place. Yet if the money he had expended on the furtherance of talent in the theater ana the literary world in those 20 years had been rfivArt.Pfl into moneV-makinS enterprises he might have owned the Empire State Building and a "share of Brooklyn Bridge. He knew everybody and virtually everybody who was anybody knew him. He not only ran hotel but he wrote and in one of his books Irvin S.

Cobb penned a tribute that is almost a classic. Jjyjjj Cobb oh Frank Case Cobb was a young struggling reporter in New York about the turn of the century when he and the famous Frank O'Malley found themselves in a slight difficulty the matter of paying for a meal they had ordered. O'Malley, always resourceful, suggested that they duck around the corner from Jack's to the Algonquin and borrow "some spending money off Frank Case." Cobb wanted to know what the Algonquin was. O'Malley was indignant: ''It's a hotel. You've possibly heard of Grant's Tomb haven't you? Yoifve perhaps seen the Flatiron Building? Then, how come you've overlooked Frank Case and the Algonquin." To shorten a long Cobb stcry, the pair entered the lobby on a lope, sought out Case, got the necessary money and indulged in what Cobb termed "the laughable farciality of his accepting our joint I.O.U.

Later, Cobb meditated and wrote: "To myself I whispered: "I'd been thinking, that the Seven Wonders of New York would be seven Christians all at once. And I'd been longing some trust in human nature which passeth under standing, has been going on all the time. And from that moment was foaled a friendship which for one, trust and pray may endure until one or the other of us has checked out from here and gone along ahead to see whether they've got any reservations available up yonder in the Many Mansions House, with its all-night angel service and hot-and-cold running cherubim in every room." Cobb checked out first, so did John Barrymore and many others whom Case has now joined. They should be having a lot of fun reminiscingj The HaVWOrd Fault We do not brag about the Hayward Fault hereabouts where, indeed, a large number would be content to ignore it Yet, the Knave is convinced that R. R.

Stuart, writer, has performed a service in tackling the subject for its historical significance and, you might say, for the invitation in terrain it offered to explorers. We are privileged to have. Stuart tell the story which is one that must be run in installments. Writes Stuart for Knave readers: "I suppose everyone recognizes that Oakland's location at the gateway to the interior "valleys and on San Francisco Bay has always been 1fre greatest physical factor in its development "in its history: The redwoods of San Antonio, stone quarries near Hayward, the wide-spreading plains and rolling hills which provided ideal homesites, the San Francisco fire, and many other factors of greater or less im- portance. Recently a group of local amateur explorers considered another physical feature which-has played at least a minor role in the Eastbay's history and development Most people have either ignored its existence, or have thought of it as a fearsome thing which they hoped might never obtrude itself into their consciousness.

I refer to the Hayward Fault Line which crosses the cities of Berkeley, Oakland, San Leandro and Hayward. It seemed to us that it had influenced the history of this section in almost a store of ways some of which were quite beneficial; and all of them understandable. In the first place, the trans verse valleys which were caused by the fault, or that have developed through erosion, sub sequently, provide an extraordinary fine cross- town route- which is now being developed as Mountain Boulevard. Previously the same valleys had provided the road-bed for a half dozen miles of the Sacramento Short Line and for early streetcar routes in the Leona Heights section. Long before this highway was projected, these deep, fertile, and well-watered valleys produced magnificent stands of redwood, provided a number of excellent reservoirs for the water supply of early Oakland, and furnished the sites for many beautiful suburban homes.

Quake Qf 1RR8 "Geologists tell us that the Hayward Fault changed the direction of the streams across which it passed. Among others was Kohler Creek which flows down from the hills parallel to Thornhill Road until near the point of its intersection with Mountain Boulevard. At this junction it makes an abrupt turn to the right and empties into Lake Temescal. It is probable, too, that the Hayward Fault wasjm important factor in bringing the county seat to Oakland but that was back almost 80 years. ago and grew out of the destruction wrought by the earthquake of October 21, 1868, which is supposed to have been a disturbance on this fault.

San Leandro then housed the county offices in a big brick building on Davis Street at the site of the present St. Mary's School. After the quake was over, the courthouse was a mass of rubble, due to faulty or improper construction, according to some authorities. For a time the county work was carried on in the near-bv churches and in business houses in San Leandro. Eventually, the courthouse was rebuilt, but it never again proved satisfactory for its purposes, and the county seat was moved to Oakland shortly thereafter.

Of course, there were factors other than the earthquake, which brought about the change, but the apparent fact tnat there was greater destruction property San Leandro than in Oakland played its part the removal of the county offices. This qUak'e was not an unmitigated evil; it brought forth the first suggestions of a building code in the Bay section and many of the lessons then begun, were completed with the passage of the Riley Act by the State Legislature in 1933. Many of the early-day homes were poorly built no bracing, inadequate foundations, and often lacking'' the strengthening factor of in terior Almost Forgotten Scandal The Knave "bumped into" J. L. Mahoney the other day and was given some yarns which many old-timers may recall.

Mainly, they concerned the thriving business once conducted out of the Customs House in San Francisco in "certificates' to permit Chinese to enter this country. Mahoney, who was employed at the Customs house, tells me how the business started. It seems that when a Chinese wished to visit his home land, he was required to obtain a certi- ficate which enabled him to return. When a seemingly endless stream of these Chinese vis ited the office their interruptions of business were regarded as constituting a nuisance and then it was an official signed a stack of certificates at once and left their distribution to clerks. Someone discovered the papers could be very valuable and before long a business, conducted within the office but without the knowledge of superiors, began.

Billy Boyd, who was called Champagne Billy, figured in the case and was one who later turned State's evidence, admitting he had cleared as much as $1,500,000, and two others, sent to prison, made fabulous amounts. The method was to send an agent with the signed certificates to China and there sell them to natives desirous of coming to America. A thousand dollars a certificate was considered a modest price. Mahoney's refusal to have any- thing to do with business resulted in his leaving the office. For a whfle'ChAmpagne Billy, so-called because he was said to have taken a bath in the espensive drink, had so much money that he literally tossed it to the winds.

He died broke. Father ef my InformanW. I Mahoney, have documentary proof he was the hero of the famous Mark Twain story. In his resort were pictures of the country's famous, not over looking, of course, Mark Twain. And as for Twain, Mahoney knew him in the days before his fame, when he was a reporter in Buffalo.

'Doctor of the Old School' Old timers of the little mountain town of Dutch Flat will remember there in years gone by a "Doctor of the Old School" Dr. Noble Martin. From his residence at Auburn as a young minister shortly after the turn of the century, John W. Winkley learned much of the story of this remarkable man. The Golden State cannot afford to forget its heroic and unselfish pioneers.

Says Mn, Winkley: "Dr. -Noble Martin was born in 1820 in the State of Vermont, the third in a family of nine boys. He was a lineal descendant of the great New England divine, Jonathan Edwards. He was taken by his family to Chautauqua County, New York, as a boy, where he worked on a farm and as a youth learned the trade of a wagon-maker. Called in to nurse a sick neigh-, bor at one time, his efficiency in this service prompted the doctor to advise him to study medicine.

Martin agreed and pursued his studies as he worked at the bench. In time he set up practice as a physician. In 1853 he caught the 'gold fever' from a returned friend, and made his way to California, settling as a miner in Nevada County near Red Dog. He did well with his mining and sent sums of gold home to his mother and sister. But the miners in and around Red Dog soon discovered that he was a good physician and forced him into the practice of medicine again.

Red Dog is in the heart of the hydraulic mining region, and here Dr. Martin served the populace until about 1870 when he took over the medical practice of Dr. Nelson in Dutch Flat, Placer County, and continued there until the end of his days. He died along in the late 90's. His Own Fire Dept.

"Dr. Noble Martin never refused a call, day or night, rain or shine, near or far, hot or cold, for rich or poor. His old white horse 'Pomp' would be seen on all sorts of trails, carrying his master on errands of mercy. And the, loss of a patient was a personal disaster, especially if this was a child or mother. Once ih a while old 'Pomp would refuse to go out in a storm, at night, balking on his master.

This would anger Dr. Martin, who would express his direst threat to 'sell him to a Chinaman if he didn't appreciate his good One dark night Dr. Martin, horse and buggy fell -into a raging stream in 'Steep Hollow' and saved himself and horse by cutting the harness, setting the horse free. They were parted in the dark, and the doctor walked as swiftly a6 he could to 'Little roused a friend and secured another horse on which he rode to Dutch Flat before 'Pomp' arrived to alarm the community. Dr.

Martin was a lover not only of humans but all animals, and all cats counted him a benefactor. Sometimes as many as 14 cats could be seen trailing to his office of a morning where he fed them scraps frjm the butcher shop. Another characteristic gj' the man was his interest in fire-fighting. He owned a small hand-pump and always' on the first sound of alarm, the doctor would grab his pump and hasten to the scene of fire, frequently extinguishing it before the 'gang arrived. He was a man with a keen sense of hated sham and pretense, and was eloquent as a speaker in behalf of the things in which he believed.

Thus he served his fellow men, paid or unpaid, and maintained a loyalty to God and country." Jjgh-Wheeled DaVS The Knave's recent article "Recalls Cycling. Days," caused James M. Shanly of Auburn to dig into old possessions to uncover a picture of the times when the cycles had high wheels in front and the cyclists made imposing pictures in group formation and on cross-country runs. "On a typical run," says Shanly, one. could see Lou Lamory on his big '56', bucking the Alva-rado afternoon wind with Everett Dowdie, an athlete of marked ability, on his '42' riding on the lee side, both riding under the Acme Athletic Club's colors a red-winged acorn on a black background now used by the Athens CJlub, the dies for which were presented when' that club, came into being.

On a recent Sunday those remaining of the Acme celebrated its 64th anniversary at which time the champions of their day reveled in stories of racing ordinaries (high wheels), 'safeties, boxing. wrestling, fencing, rowing, swirflming, "gym 1 work, track racing, field activities, handball and the "parlor athletes will have their inning. An ordinary' race, track or road, was always both fascinating to witness and a hard grind to the Sampson, Manuel Rose and George Faulkner. Willis Sharpe was captain. Boxing conversation among the old-timers begins in 1882, when Rufus Hepburn named the club, and run through a list of such men as Eddie Wixcox, Jack Kitchen, Frank Leavitt, J.

Mack Polk, Bert Brown, Eddie Smith, Joe Fields, Billie Gallagher, George Simpson, Billie Hughes, Jim Drew, Jed Hanifin, Dr. Walter Smythe, Jimmie Fox and Charlie One fight, never to be forgotten tops for excitement, was that tween Walter Tye and George Kelley. The boys were disturbed by Chief of Police Thomas and. the entire detective force (Shorey and Holland) in their first go pn Eighth Street bridge. So decided to hold the jgiext event 1 under the auspices of the Acme Club, without the chief's sanction.

A fellow named J. M. Kane, allegedly tipped it off and a raid was staged. As Kane went through the door Fred Schleuter landed a haymaker on him, at the next landing Mack Polk took a flying kick and as he went through the door one of the boy gave him 'the Which brings to mind anV other bout the chief interrupted and, it was1 told, the same fellow lipped it off. The affairs, took place in the early morning hours at the Coliseum Theater, 12th near Webster, between 'Buffalo' Castello and Tom Cleary.

The place was surrounded by the police. All strangers were apprehended as were citizens not too well known, but men of 'standing' were permitted" to pass with nod. Each thinkjng how lucky he was to have, a 'pulL' One such person was Hugo Fuegal who. on the strength of his standin bail for many but that afternoon four of- ficers were busy serving warrants on those with rt the The names of Tim Scanlon, Harvey Sloper, Tom Mulvaney (Nolan's Big Boot at 11th and Broadway), George DeGolia, Clay Hawbaker, Judge Johnnie Allen, the Van Court -boys, Billie Hynes, Myron Whidden, Dr. O.

D. Hamlin all conjure memories of those who not, only made amateur athletics what they were but the club what it was. Baseball Memories T. (Jimmie) Moran organizer of the Green-hood Morans was another enthusiastic supporter of athletics. Few will forget the 'great ball' played in the league made up of the Pioneers and Haverleys of San Francisco," the Atlas of Sacramento and.

the Greenhoods Morans of Oakland and the time they chartered a broom-bedecked river steamer to go to' Sacramento and 'wipe up' the Atlas and brought a dustpan home. Nor will the ball game at Johnnie Croll's West Alameda Park, when John L. Sullivan umpired, be forgotten, for so dense was the crowd the fielders were among the audience. Across the tracks from the ball park was Scheutzen Park afterward the Alameda Bicycle Park where many of the famed riders of that age rode and broke records among them being Frank (Dutch) Waller, Acme, who lovered the six-day record. It was Waller w-ho rode from Oakland to San Jose and then up to Mt Hamilton on a bet of an icecream soda the first ever to accomplish, that feat Next to the cycling track was Long Branch, Terrace, Sunny Cove and Schmidt's swimming tanks.

The Terrace and Long Branch became a part of Croll's Gardens where Jack Dempsey (the Nonpariel) trained and excited great crowds by lighting a cigar with a $5 bilL Peter Jackson trained for the Jeffries affair there, but for the Corbet-Jackson 61-round draw he trained at Joe Leandro road resort Crcll was a general favorite and both managers sr. I trainers liked to be quartered with him, an i they all numbered among the topnotchers. fineras the record and standing of the Act Club not only locally but In the A-AlU. three out the States -Ti: EIAV caped the prints. For one thing as we were day to go all the way to India to gaze on the reminded by Everett Erie kinsman of Mary Taj Mahal.

Ignorant sucker that I was. Be-Todd Lincoln had part in that original iragrais- tause just a block and a half off Broadway ing. He was William Todd, said by many to this unparalleled human oddity, with a halo Vava Hecicrrnvl th Rpar Flaff. thnuffh did not tliimmwlno round his flawless dome, and a CE paint the Bear upon' it He was also a relative of Dr. F.

W. Todd, cousin of Mary Todd Lincoln, who was, as we read a week ago, the Todd of 'odd's Valley. The West surely had an appeal or theodd family. I noted also that on Friday here was a little ceremony which may have there was a little ceremony whicn may been lost to many in the general excitement It was the dedication on Somoma's plaza of a plaque honoring the late CoL Agoston Harasz-thy of Buena Vista, "Father of California Viticulture." The California Wine Institute, California State Chamber of Commerce and the Landmarks Committee of the Native Sons of the Golden West sponsored the dedication. I wonder howVany who attended the beautiful pageant given on a site one mile northwest of Sonoma were aware they were standing on the pioneer Maxwell Ranch.

It was settled by John Morgan MaxwelL grandfather of the present occupant, Mrs. Ruth Maxwell Barnes. Her father, George H. MaxwelL now 86, is a nationally known conservationist. The original Maxwell who settled on the ranch came to California in 1849 with a dream of independence and life on the farm where the spaces were wide.

He was shipwrecked on the journey tad narrowly escaped death, but arrived in San Francisco on the bark "Constitution' after being nine months 0 on the trip. Governor Bartlett of California was a shipmate. To get the money for the ranch of.