Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • Page 8

8 SUNDAY MORNING 2a6Iamj Ctffiune JULY 2, 1916. 73v T7n SrI 2v TF fra ErTRl-f? TPTFl A "57? ttv 7 711 77 A TO 77? SF3 A IV (T AY 1 T- By ARTHUR LEWIS. '-J- the site now fccupied by the Muni- -1 ll cipal there stood many JfcSSj, I k-J I yarsgo two quaint and. for their -S 7 1 1 trucrore. foK (a I ''e 'Oi- hands, the clam, chowder and steam sign was hung out, which was the beginning of the end.

The summer garden no longer had Its well-groomed appearance, but was partly used as a store-yard for empty kegs and cases; drunken orgies were held in 'the once rose-bowered summer house, a badger game or two was pulled off, and the once well-ordered resort degenerated into a law, cheap saloon, But, in spite of all, it never lost the name by which it was so well known, only another letter was added to It, and as the character of the place was closely associated with the devil and his fiery domain, it became known as the "House of Blazes" -i- "i- THE SHACK OF DEASY: i Separated by about 600 feet-in distance, but about 600 miles in atmos phere, they sat serenely on their respective sites season after season and waxed exceeding until that all-Invading fores known as progress laid them low, i They were known, respectively, as the house of Blaxe and the shack of Peasy. The former was sltnated on Twelfth street, where Fallon cuts in those days it was known as the Twelfth Street was a rickety, dusty road" composed of fill In over piling: It Was the only earthen road connecting Oakland with the country beyond, and Just at th commencement of it stood the house of Blaze. i Over-the dam pasned every known make 'tend Tlhtage of vehicle, most of them drawn by nags that were no slower than three minutes, and many stepped off at 2. 'SO, for those were, the halcyon days 6f horseflesh. MANY.TIAXDS.

The house of Blaze was the first rpad house of the many dozens that marked the way beyond; although it was situated in the city, its fame as a restaurant caused many, vehicles to stop at its doors. Mona Blaze was a past master Iit'liekjing the palates and satisfying the stomyHi with good thlngp to eat and drink, for those who knew. The frogs' legs "a la the soups and the salads iad the subtle touch of the artist. Therefore, many notables and 1 bon vlvants came from far and near to regale and bo supremely content. The house was one-storied and unimposing, with no particular attempt it any style of architecture; a cozy summer garden was attached to it, shaded with elms and somber cypress trees; Its" neatly graveled walks were bordered with flower beds, andj-fBe perfume of the rose mingled with the spray oi a.

splashing fountain. Snug vine-covered tete-a-tetes flanked side, a cuisine built In the garden, a studio as It were where the artist chef prepared his wonderful dishes, and out of whose doors white-aproned gar- cons hurried, bearing up and away laden trays, leaving a swirling wisp of savory vapor in their wak e. And so it was with the house of WHERE PEASY' DWELT. Farther down the road the shack of Deasy catered to its own particular clientele. While it was never a rival to its French neighbor, it was contemporaneous, and its patrons smacked their chops with quite as much gusto, over an entirely different 1 The shack of Peasy.

was as different from the house bl Blaze as day is from night its history Is rather newsy. If seems, as the story goes, that, a Scotchman named. Muir begged, borrowed, stole or bought an old barge and floated it at high tide up "the arm of the estuary, which is the outlet of Lake Merrittr until he bumped it Into the Twelfth Street dam. Seeing the road house possibilities, and possibly wishing to put a crimp in his neighbor, he built thereon a house, for the purpose of conducting a cafe and restaurant. It wag run by a man named m.L.M 1.

1- Along one day came a product of Ireland, Peasy by name, who stuck some scantlings into the mud alongside Muir's barge and built thereon a restaurant. A VISITOR ARRIVES. One rainy day while seated in his barroom, the door opened and in jumps a wild-eyed Scotchman, wet inside and out, and lookirig for the blood of the man who Jumped his claim. It was Muir; he had heard of the new rivalry, and by the right of original "possession, thought he had a clear title to allthe mud flats in sight, boarding a fast rattle train out of Sacramento, where he was living, he came down to' throw the Interloper into thef lake and pull down his castle. Nothing serlougj happened, however, for when he i threatened Peasy with violence his bluff Was promptly and he was given five minutes to pas through the door he had entered or-have his head blown off.

Hibernian and Scotch profanity-were freely mixed, however, and it in a hand-shaking and a partnership, whereby Peasy was to take over the barge and run it for Muir, In place of Pickey, and thus the shack of Peasy came Into being It had no summer garden with graveled walks, no roses and violets to scent the air, but the sea breeze from the estijary blew auuut jaaen- wiui iuiu me uaii. marsn grasses: or the mud flats, in whose pools the sky and, setting. sun were reflected by day and the moon by SIMPLICITY IV FOOD. No splashing fountain or vine-covered arbors it boasted, but the sea birds wheeled and' screamed about its roof and the wild duck quacked in Its Peasy's piece de resistance was clam chowder, and he had the raw material right athis for when? the barge had settU-d on' its muddy floor at low tide" numerous Jets of water told where the clams lay burled, and they were soon boiling in the pot with the other incredlents. AVhat if they were full of sand and gravel, there was plenty of steam beer to counteract that, and as there were no pure food laws in' those das patrons of Deasy' were Just as content as tW gourmand who lolIed in Blaze's perfumed summer garden, filled to the utmost with frogs' legs a la poulette.

Often on mellow moonlight nights came floating Crom the rummer garden1 of the mouse of Blaze the sounds of revelry, the twarieing guitar ant melodious Voices, while shouts of lauphtrr filled the air as some raconteur got off a good one. These Bounds would float out over the marshes and tnud flat and mingle with the uproarious shout of glee, accompanied by the banging of steam beer glasses on the tables; as the patrons of the hark of Deasy listened to the tale of the Swede whom Deaay h4 employed, and who one day asked tance. but about 600 miles in atmos- It was finally closed, condemned and soon razed to the ground, passing out of sight forever. BEASY GOES, TOO. On the passing of its contemporary the shack oi teasy seemou 10 mouin oui oi sympatny; BanK lower and lower in Its muddy' bed and reeled drunkenly to starboard; the incoming tide gurgled through its rents and rotting Bides, making strange moans in the interior of the old hulk; It, too, finally died of inanition," was condemned and went the ajr of the Frenchman.

Twelfth Street, dam Js no longer series of Tits and chuck holes it was in those days. It is a well-paved, park-lined, brilliantly-lighted boulevard! over which swift' trolley cars speed as if on Incessant. But the site of the shack tf Peasy and the house of Blaze is no longer to be identified, only by old- timers with a memory for locations, ror th entire mud flats were reclaimed and another house, a great building of granite and marble and steel was built on the new ground, and when the sun in his setting is at the right angle- In the heavens a huge shadow is cast by the Auditorium, one" edge of which falls on the spot once occupied by the shack of Peasy, and the other edge rests where once stood the house of Blaze. a in 1776 with Luis Maria Peralta, soldier and adventurer, the first of the California Peralta Both were carved in Spain in the early part of the eighteenth century. "Luis Peralta left the two quaint relic to his on, Vicente Peralta, one of those among whom the original Peralta had divided his enormou grant of land from the crown.

"Vicente Peralta resided' in fields which are now covered by North Oakland and South Berkeley. The Peralta home itself was at the present site of Fifty-sixth street and Telegraph avenue. Here was established Oakland's first church the family chapel of the Peraltas and it was in this flrt church that these relic were placed. Another very Interesting Peralta relic at the museum is an old Spanish "metate," a stone block and pestle or crude rock roller, used in the mashy, ing of peppers and the grinding of corn. This used In the household of Antonla Maria Per erlta(i aoout 1835.

I Telling a story of the crudities that surrounded the men and women who carved their lives out tt the rock and gold of early California a chair which resposes in one corner of the relic room. This 1 a hand-made affair, crude, haky and uncomfortable to the nth degree. It waa taken from the cabin of a pioneer on Bean Creek, Butte county. ln ancient telegraph Instrument a sender "au unenuon in anotner part of the room. Tlil rusted old contrivance, clumsy an unwieldly 1 compared to the slender mechanisms' of today made by the inventor of the telegraph, F.

b. Mors? It was made in 1835 and the fingers of the man who made telegraphy possible first manipulated its now-rusted, 'usele key. The instrument wu Aral used, commercially, in Sacramento In the early flftiea. I 1 4' TtTW IFATTCin Tr A rv-m i for permission to borrow a hand suction pump to drain out the cellar of the shack, which he observed was full of water. THIS IX AMITY.

Permission being granted, he walked, thirteen blocks to Borrow' the pump, and after working several hours was persuaded to quit, only when convinced that to empty the cellar of the shack of Deasy he would have to pump out the Bay of gan Francisco. It never occurred to him that the water which surrounded the barge also found its way into the interior through gaping seams and holes bored by the toredtx Thus the two resorts kept the even tenor of their way for years, each serving its own patrons, each famous for its one particular dish. To, be sure, if clam chowder were mentioned to the artist who presided over, the shining copper skillets and pots In the cuisine of Blaze, the air- would be tinged a rich -violet with the and "bahs" of the chef, whose intelligence would be Insulted if asked to concoct something to eat outpf the of the mud flats. On the other hand, if frogs, snails and the like were mentioned In Peasy's kitchen, the expletives that would float therefrom, expressing contempt for anyone who would eat such things, would be bJue-penclled. And then by degrees things began to change; first, came the bicycle; the yellow one-horse car that plodded along "the dam about once an: hour gave way to swift electric cars, and these forced the drivers of fast horseflesh off the road.

The new-fangled Improvements whizzed by the house of Blaze and the shack of Penny as if in a. hurry to get- somewhere beyond, and all the old resorts got was their dust. Finally I-'flaze went on the long Journey arid the place fell into other hands. It was known for some time afterward as Rosso's cottage, and was quite well conducted. Rosso beirfg a genius at preparing special dishes for his especial friends.

A GEXTLEMAVLY CALLING. But progress had hit the place a knockout blow, and It was never the same; it dragged at the heel until it was down and out; then a wholesale liquor dealer in Oakland got 'possession of the books of the house, "in which he found' some well-known names down "for various sums for evenings Jovially THE I Ht3S intimate with the lusty early his- tory of California the Golden objects i i which were actually identified with. the loves and lives of the days of gold, and before form one of the most interesting collection of exhibits housed In the Oakla Public Museum. Xot only is it the most interesting, but it is th heat -ilk and studied of the' collections that are housed in that building that Is itself a curio at 1426 Oak street. There are several hundred article In this collection, all of much interest to the student of early California history.

There are miners' gold picks and shovels, the rusty edges of which uncovered fortunes in their day; religious relics and. family heirlooms of the days "before the grlngoes guns and pistols that figured in the wars that "preceded California's peace era; curiou household utensils Indispensable to the rude households of those days, and scores of other object that speak of the nimbus-headed past. There, protected from dust and curious hands in, abigp glass case, is the, -saddle In which county's first sheriff, Harry Morse, rode in many a' famous fight with the outlaws ithat "InfestedChTs part of the state. By its side reposes the revolver" -with which he shot down Joaquin Murletta, the Mexjnaj-bandit chief, and which blazed ft way throjiKh a "deal of Alameda's early history. flarry Morse was a big man in early California history big as men went in those days.

He i fought and he laughed and he played with the worst of them and with the best of them. And here are the saddle and the gun with which he did so much of his fighting and his playing. They are by other relics that were the prop-, erty of bad men that he captured or to the men 'who risked their live as hi deputies and asslst- nd to of in my of blood spent. The character of the iplace linked with some of the na'mes would not look very well if given any publicity, so he proceeded to' collect; some paid and some did not, so the liquor dealer pocketed acs ants in the mad chase nfter hnrna tvi av- whiv, V0 invariably ended in fierce pitched battle. In this same glass case are also unwieldly, cumbersome weapons wheih were used In the defense of Fort Sutter.

Another grim evidence of local warfare Is furnished in "Old Squatter," an ancient piece of ordnance which served as the chief battery of the Americans in" the-Oakland squatter wars of 1861, Blood, which occur as a by-product in abbatolrs, can now be sucjssf substituted for milk and eggs in making bread, according to Professor R'. Droste, staff apothecary and food chemist of Hanover, who has discovered a method of using denatured blood. "As. food substance," say Professor Droste, "blood la rich not nly in energy-producing nitrogenous compounds, but In those mineral salts which are so necessary to the body. Unfortunately ther8i's a widespread prejudice against the use of this valuable, food material, the smell, 'taste; and even the idea of blood as food being revolting most persons.

"Py using hydrogen peroxide in mixing the 'blood, bread' the sanguinary fluid, is bleached, sterilized and deodorized. Moreover, the quantities oxygen liberated when hydrogen peroxide comes contact with organic matter form a highly effective means of aerating or 'raising' the" bread, making the use Mf yeast or baking powder unnecessary, I have been 'using bread thus made in own family for six years, and find it highly satisfactory. "Blood is used in plac of water In mixing up Ml bread: made what he could get and went his way. But the gourmands seemed to have passed away with the original proprietor and the house sadly deteriorated, so, after passing through several of 1852 and 1853, when the proud grandees sought to drive interlopers from their rich lands. Ancient, Indeed, Is this gun, for it was one of the broadside guns of the U.

S. S. that carried Benjamin Franklin as ambassador to France. A wood-carved crucifix, grimly, crudely telling the old, old story of the Christ's death and a virgin and child of the same rough worktnanship, are two of the most. Interesting of the relics in tbe building.

These two holy relics came to California the dough. Then the peroxide is added. Besides the advantages mentioned, this powerful oxidizing agent kills destructive bacteria in the flour, such as the thread-spinning bacillus, etc. The decomposition products of the HO are, of course, water and oxygen, both of which are desirable constituents. "I was led to making this cheap, appetizing and body-building form of bread origlnafiy by my in- vestigat'ions on the subject of catalytic decom positions At first I used a 30 per cent solution of ordinary peroxide, but now I use a special per-hydrite.

The blood is aHowed to stand in the icebox for from 24 tp 86 hours. The clots are thVi removed by draining or filtering. The remaining serum with its richcontent of nitrogen and mineral salts is what is used to mix up the bread. It may also be used for all sorts of cajtes, biscuits and fancy breads." Irrigation projects under consideration for India Involve about 10,000,000 acres of land. For automobile' upholstery artificial silk being mad from spun glass in England, 1 OAKLAND.