The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 18, 1898, Page 3

\ HE SAN FRANCI3CO CALL, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 189S. HOW D. M. TOMBLIN MANIPULATED AFFAIRS F THE JOHN BROWN COLONY AND ITS FEEDERS Startling Revelations of the Conduct of Bank Wreckers. Revelry and Extravagance Marked the History of of the Bankers and Their Tools. The announcement in The Call ye terday morning that there is in this city very valuable property of Dr. H. McDonald subject to attachm has created a sensation. For over five years defrauded creditors of the M Donald bank have been searching in vain for the evidence that was present ed in yesterday’s Call. The legal’sei ure of property that has been made in the courts of this city will be prosecut- ed to a conclusion as rapidly as po: ble. There is very little question that Horace W. Carpentier will make a de- fense to save the Market sft-eet prop- erty m the creditors of the bank, but the cvidence supplied bv ~he Call and other facts now in po: ion of this newspaper will demonstrate that Mr. Carpentier holds this valuable local real estate simply as the agent of Dr. McDonald. As soon as sufficient time has elapsed for the necessary legal advertisement of the summons the action will be tried. | ‘When the facts have been submitted will be placed in the hands of the cred- he McDonald banks to be used advantage and in liquidation y of their claims. The Call re- this morning the history of the secret correspondence of the McDonald itors of t to thel bank co; irators, beginning the pub- lication of a remarkable series of let- | ritten by D. M. Tomblin, one of | idential advisers of R. H. Mc- Donald Jr. The correspondence of D. M. Tomblin | reveals the operations of the powerful conspiracy that ruled the John Brown colony and the Madera Bank from Oc- tober, 1891, until long after the collapse of the Pacific Bank on June 22, 1893. A | brief outline of the history of the John | Brown colony and of the Madera Bank is necessary to understand Tomblin's letters and the position the writer oc- cupied in reference to the other con- spirators in the bank. In September of 1889 John Brown purchased thirty-two hundred acres of land in what was then Fresno County from Thomas E. Hughes and J. L. Martin. At a sub- sequent day two thousand acres more were purchased from E. W. Chapman. All of this land was within seven miles of the town of Madera. In payment for | the purchase Brown gave his notes, se- cured by mortgages on the land. He then began his scheme of colonization. | He assumed the superintendency of the | colony, while his associate, W. F. Baird, took practical control of the bank that was established at the town of Madera. Affairs continued with varying suc- cess for the colonizers for almost two years, when Brown and Baird discov- ered they needed money. Brown had posed as & model young man and had ingratiated himself in the good graces of Dr. McDenald by posing as an en- thusiastic advocate of temperance. | With this recommendation he went to Dr. McDonald in May, 1891, and asked | re the Superiér Court the property | the Pacific the Possession thetically reported the incident to the ¥ 2 Francisco banker. When “Spider” Kelly and young Johns in- dulged their ideal of the beautiful by attending a cockfight Mr. Tomblin was not slow in sending the information | to his employer. When Johns and the Spider” cleaned out a certain habita- tion and ruled a noisy establishment with more noise D. M. Tomblin meta- | phorically threw up both hands and | declared that the precious three we! on the road to ruin. It is from th | point of view the letters of D. M. ‘ Tomblin are valuable. The man kept a close watch upon those he believed | were his rivals for Dick's favor. The | financial transactions of young Johns | were carefully - noted and Tomblin | made accusations serious enough to | have the elder Johns threaten to kill | him. [ ‘When Mr. Tomblin himself was caught in the act of attending a cock- | fight and of betting on a prizefight he | admitted with true Christian humility that the fact was true, but said that as | | cashier of a big institution and dealing with men who constantly wanted mon- | ey he believed it his duty to study the | characters of these men and learn their | habi To gain the information he | desired he found it necessary to go among these men. That was the reason, he told Dick, why he went and remained a spectator of the brutal contests. Mr. Tomblin was probably too busy, however, to discuss with any degree of minuteness the financial operations of the Madera Bank. He may find more leisure some time perhaps to explain some rather curious entries in the books of the bank. Of the material interests of the McDonalds in Madera and at the colony D. M. Tomblin wrote nothing that was material except in reference glfl the manipulation of the Johns fam- ily. A DISCREPANCY OF THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS IN THE MADERA BANK. ‘When Tomblin took charge of the | Madera Bank, oung S in October, 1891, he wrote, “This bank is rotten to the co and the; a discrepancy of at least $30,000. For months he pursued his investigation and after the com- plete reorganization of the bank went north to investigate another wildcat scheme of Dick McDonald, the Cedar River coal mine. The McDonalds had been inveigled into this Seattle venture and had sunk thousands and thousands of dollars into it. Tomblin went to Seattle and to the mine and reported simply on the situation. The sugges- tions that he offered were not feasible and after several months in the north Tomblin returned to resume charge of the Madera Bank. He arrived at Ma- dera in September, 1892, and reported to Dick that it would be extremely un- Wwise to give up the Madera Bank or to sell it to certain persons who seemed eager to buy it. Tomblin had under consideration a project which was subsequently %eal- ized to erect a new bank building and increase the operations of the institu- tion. This, as a matter of course, assistance for a scheme of colonization. | Dr. McDonald at once permitted an | overdraft and the trouble began. There | seemed ne end to the financial nec | tles of the Bank of Madera and the | John Brown colony. Draft after draft on the Pacific Bank was honored, and the sum owed by the Bank of Ma- | dera rapidly increased until it was be- tween thirty and forty thousand dol- iars. Nothing could be done to reduce this enormous sum and the, McDonalds determined upon an investigation. They | gent D. S. Dorn, Dr. W. Jenuingson and | D. M. Tomblin to Madera to make an inquiry. At a subsequent day A. F.| Johns and Frank V. McDonald went | down and an imperative demand was | made upon Brown and Baird to give up | the bank and the colony to the Pa.ciflc] Bank. This was done without hesitancy, and the McDonalds took charge of the duu-’ gerous gpeculation. A. F. Johns was| made president and manager of the| John Brown colony and D. M. Tomblin | was made cashier of the Madera Bank. As affairs progressed Tomblin became | vice president of the Madera Bank and then president. In this capacity he had | the affairs of the bank absolutely under | his control. In addition tc his duties | as cashier he acted as a spy for Dick | and reported regularly the actions of A. F. Johns and his son and everybody | else remotely or intimately connected with the a of the bank. In his Jetters Tomblin permits not a single detail to pe his notice. When he found that W. .. Johns, the son of A.F. Johns, had been madesuperintencent of | the John Brown colony he kept a close | watch on the young man’s actions and with Boswellian accuracy reported them to his master, Dick McDonald. When W. E. Johns, who is better known to the public as “Billy Elmer,” exercised and displayed his love for horses and dogs Mr. Tomblin reported to R. H. | McDonald Jr. that W. E. Johns was paying a hundred dollars a month to take care of his bull pup and his horses. When young Johns and young “Dutchy” indulged in an innocent Sun- day afternoon pastime of punching each others’ heads for the edification of admirers D. M. Tomblin unsympa- | ing agent of the Pacific Bank to create | yond this h.s influence had no material | warned not to permit M. H. Sherman | was sprung. meant th expenditure of increased sums of money by McDonalds, but Tomblin had his way and the Pacific Bank was plunged deeper and deeper Into the scheme. At the same time Tomblin suggested that the McDonalds take an active interest in the agitation for the division of Fresno County and the creation of Madera County. = This *heme was also indorsed by Dick and eral more thousands of dollars were and its managers into the scheme. get out of it without being scorched. Moses H. In one of his letters to R. H. McDonald Jr., D. M. Tomblin submitted a report on the Los Angeles Electric declared his belief that the road would ultimately justify the McDonalds in their enormous expenditure of money, but at the same time he declared that Sherman had committed a wrong Tomblin reminded his employer that he had already warned him of the dangerous character of the speculation, but since he had gone into it his financial existence was dependent upon his ability to Part of Tomblin's letter on this subject is given in facsimile above. SHERMAN WAS WRONG TO TRAP THE PACIFIC BANK. Road. He in working the Pacific Bank the road was not prosperous and would not be for a long time. Excerpts from Tomblin’s letter are as follows: LOS ANGELES, Cal., Sept. 27, 1892. R. H. McDonald, V. P., San Fran- cisco.—My Dear Sir: 1 called upon Mr. Sherman this morning at the power house of the electric company. Everythin, perbly. and seems to be running su- is a very brilliant man rtainly accomplished won- ave been over a part of the em and must say that I think it s a grand plece of work, and I be- lieve will bring you out handsomely at some time not very far hence. You know I told you before you went into this scheme that I was afraid it was a very bad thing for the bank to go into, and I still think , but nevertheless you are in now d I am a-going to say that you are a-going to come out all right on it. Los Angeles has improved marvelously and this property u are interested in will increase rapidly in value and you will make money out of it. I think Mr. Sherman did wrong to work the Pacific Bank into the scheme, but I know of no one in the world who can come nearer in working them out than he. And I believe his entire energies are at work In that direction. He is a man of most wonderful resources, and I think this will be one of the deals that will ;io to the credit side o{ your balance. am, yours very truly, D. M. TOMBLIN. TOMBLIN URGED DICK TO FORCE THE DYERS T0 THE WALL. On September 28, 1892, Tomblin took the onportunity to characterize 0. T Dyer and his sister, Miss E. C. Dyer, with rather broad touches. He wrote as follows: “I do not think they are viciously dis- honest, but have been driven into their holes and are adopting tactics to stand us off, and now that they know we are after them at every turn they are going to come out and do something. They has B X ost to the depositors of the Pacific Hf:u:l;] ax;d thlmugh it to the depositors [ e People’s Bank. 19 Tmmblinp\\rule: 08 B Ebe “The people here are very active in pushing matters for a new county, and if successful Madera will be the county seat, which will put many thousands of dollars in our pockets. I think their claims are good, andé with pro; work they can accomplish the result ‘“SHERMAN DID WRONG T0 WORK THE PACIFIC BANK INTO THE SCHEME.” After writing this letter Tomblin left Madera to go to Riverside and investi- gate the affairs of the Riverside Bank. O. T. Dyer, the manager of that bank, was then in New York attempting to negotiate the securit of his . institu- tion. His sis Miss E. C. Dyer, the cashier of the institution, was at Riv- erside and Tomblin proceeded to bad- ger her to a point almost beyond en- durance. The lady, however, gave him no satisfaction, and Tomblin simply contributed as an officious and annoy- a run on the Riverside institution. Be- effect, and his letters’in connection with the incident possess no particular interest. ‘While Tomblin was carrying out his mission to annoy Miss Dyer and to force her to a realization of the serious condition of her affairs Tomblin penned an exceptionally important letter that demonstrates two points in the great conspiracy. In the first place the fact is proved that R. H. McDonald Jr. was to trap him into the Los Angeles elec- tric road scheme. Dick was deaf to the warning, however, and Sherman’s trap The other point that Tomblin’s letter establishes is the fact that the schemers surrounding the Mc- Donalds stood for themselves and al- ways against him after a scheme had been launched. In his letter Tomblin congratulates Dick upon the superb property he has obtained in the Los Angeles electric road. At that very time Sherman was writing to Dick that have been allowed to get into us, and now they must be pounded over their backs until they are out of the quick- sands and our load of coin delivered over to us. 'We must not ease down on them one bit. They are a great big pair and won't pull a pound unless we keep thumping them.” A few days later Tomblin character- ized them even in harder language and wrote: ‘“They cannot be handled with kid gloves any longer. If we could only get them on safe ground once, then we could get in and press them for full payment. I want to keep them moving right along all the time. They are like a pair of fat porkers. If you give them a chance to lie down they will make themselves altogether too comfortable, and when they are hot we will turn the hose on them and when cold and in- different will make a literal shield for them.” THE RIVERSIDE BANK WAS HOPELESSLY INSOLVENT, Two days later Tomblin wrote, still discussing the Dyers: “I returned from Riverside last night and found your letter, and will say it is not a case of love, but nevertheless Miss D. is a good one, and there is one person she is afraid of and you are the individual. This whole matter, I believe they can be got through this month, and when in our hands I think you should with- draw all support from them and let them go. It is my opinion they are hope- lessly insolvent. Many of the notes are worthless. The D. 8. Dorn overdraft of $35,000 represents right of way for a railroad that is now in the hands’of a receiver, which as an asset cannot be counted for over $3500 and probably not that. I am putting it mildly when I say that their entire capital stock is absorbed. I believe these are facts that we will be compelled to face unless we can get securities enough to slide out. Their tendency is still to accommodate their customers at all hazards, regard- less of your wishes.” On October 13 Tomblin was back again in Madera and had the follow- ing to say about “Jayhawker,” that ir- repressible individual who positively declined to leave the schemers of the Pacific Bank alone: “I will run 'Jayhawker’ in when I ar- rive at Los Angeles, if possible. | ald became very much interested. He declared his willingness to assist in every way possible and made D. M. Tomblin his agent in the matter. In He | reference to the affair Tomblin wrote was formerly a reporter on a Cincinnati | as follows: and Minneapolis paper and was run out “There was a committea of Madera of that country on account of a similar | citizens waited upon me to see what we transacticn. I have sent a tracer and hope to be able to face him with mat- would be willing to give toward getting the county seat at this place. I told ters that will forever close' his mouth. | them that I thought we coul th. | ght we could do that The old saying to fight the devil with | proposition more good by acting as an fire will probably apply How I do want to see you succeed in all your undertakings. and soul is with you.” WAR AMONG THE CONSPIRATORS AT THE JOHN BROWN COLONY. In a letter dated October 15, 1892, Tcmblin indicates the first quarrel among Dick McDonald's lieutenants at the John Brown colony. The fact is interesting, as the quarrel developed into a very serious affair before the end had come and the Pacific Bank had sunk over a quarter of a million dollars in its Madera enterprises. When the letter was written W. E. Johns had dis- charged George M. Mitchell and Tomb- lin tcok up the cudgel in Mitchell's be- half in the following letter: MADERA, Oct. 15, 1895. R. H. McDonald Jr,, V. P.,, San Francisco.—My Dear Sir: I received your telegram saying tofhave Johns discharge Mitchell. Now T do not an- ticipate there will, be any trouble in getting rid of him. In fact I am in- clined to think he will be rather glad to lay down his scepter as he is a very quiet, gocd-natured fellow, un- obtrusive, yet faithful, and I am in- clined to believe that no one who is familiar with the work he has done can justly charge him with unfaithful- ness and inability. The young man, Johns, is a ver bright young fellow, but a boy still. He, boy-like, loves honor and distinc- tion, which is all right, and so he has represented himself to be vice-presi- dent of the J. B. colony. Now as I do not care for that honor, although elected to fill that honorable’ position, 1 am quite willing to let my mantle fall on some one of age and experi- ence, and I do think one Johns, like unto the first, is enough. I am, yours truly, D. M. TOMBLIN. YOUNG JOHNS EMPLOYS A SONG AND DANCE MAN AS SUPERINTENDENT. Two days later Tomblin wrote:“Young Johns came here last night prepared to bounce Mitchell. I have told him that I have thought it best to tell Mitchell to have everything ready to turn matters over November 1.” On the same day Tomblin declared: “‘Johns told me he had employed a man by the name of Fowler to take the place of Mitchell at once. Now I do not know anything in the world regarding the capabilities of this party. He is a young man working in a dry goods store here, but I understand that he was formerly engaged as a song-and-dance man and is a horse jockey of some reputation, and from all I hear it will be a terrible mistake to intrust him with so impor- tant and responsible a pcsition. I am afraid the young man Johns was not deliberate sufficiently, although a pre- cocicus lad. He is altogether too young to direct in matters of such magnitude and it will be very expensive to the cor- poration should he do so.” ‘Writing from Los Angeles on Octo- ber 28, 1892, Tomblin declares in refer- ence to the motor rcad in Los Angeles: “It looks to me as if the Southern Pa- cific Railroad Company has got an eye on the property. Their man Fillmore came to Riverside in his special car over the motor road yesterday on some- thing besides a pleasure trip.” TOMBLIN WANTED TO GO TO SACRA- MENTO AS A LOBBYIST. On December 1, 1892, Tomblin wrote a letter that has an important bearing on the events that accompanied the di- vision of Fresno County and the crea- tion of Madera County. When this di- vision was first agitated Dick McDon- My whole heart | in his case. |independent committee, and if neces- sary I would go to Sacramento when the Legislature convened and help | 1obby the matter through. Further than | | | | | quered the pain and spoke out. this I could not commit myself. I told them I could satisfy them that the Pa- cific Bank would be toward the head | of the procéssion when it came to work for the county seat.” “BILLY ELMER” AND “SPIDER” KELLY RAN AMUCK IN FRESNO. It was not long after this that D. M. Tomblin elevated himself to a tower- ing pedestal of morality and in right- eous indignation reviewed what he con- sidered the scandalous escapades of W. E. Johns and ‘“Spider” Kelly. Mr. Tomblin felt pained that he was called upon to expose the actionsof these men, but in justice to his conscience and in consideration of the interests of his employer, Dick McDonald, he con- Johns had become utterly unreliable, and the “‘Spider” was leading him as merry a dance as the tenderloin of Fresno af- forded after the lights go out at mid- night. As one reads Mr. Tomblin’s let- ter it can be seen that he is sorely dis- tressed over the task of roasting Johns and the others. It should be remem- bered in this connection that D. M. Tomblin is not very unlike what they fall a hypocrite. His letter is as fol- ows: MADERA, Cal., Dec. 5, 1892. R. H. McDonald Jr., V. P., San Fran- cisco—My Dear Sir: I do not always like to be quoted as a person that has nothing but evil things to say of other people, but as you have told me that whenever things occur that cast reflec- tions on the fair name of the Pacific Bank that it was my duty to tell them and in this case I believe it is. While in Fresno yeslerdag' I heard that W. . Johns and “‘Spider” Kelly, a noted pugllist, and our superintendent were out on a lark and visiting houses of bad repute, and while at one of these places got into a quarrel with another crowd of fellows, which resulted in a fre r-all fight. “‘Spider’” Kelly and Johns cleaned out the gang. Young Johns is wholly and totally unreliable and the sooner he {s re- called the less trouble there will be to overcome. He is not to be found when wanted and he leaves no word with us when he will be found. He has re- ceived telegrams to which he has not replied and has gone off again with “Spider”” Kelly, I think to the city. I wish you would send Dr. Jenningson down here at once, as T don"t know as I have any authority in the matter, as the young man has always called him- self vice president of the colony since coming here, and I have supposed it ‘was b Kour authority. I don't think it wil e good policy to have the voung man under control here. There s no reliance to be placed upon him. This T am compelled to say after care- ful observation. am, yours very truly, D. M. TOMBLIN. The Call will continue to-morrow morning the publication of Mr. Tomb- lin’s letters, carrying the correspond- ence of this man up to the time when he became president of the Madera Bank and attempted to evade the con- sequences of the crash in whi¢h the Pacific Bank went down. In his letters Tomblin reveals all the inside manipu- lations that involved the Pacific Bank and its feeder, the People’s Home Sav- ings Bank, in a loss of $300,000 in the John Brown colony. Chessmasters Sign .articles. NEW YORK, Nov. 17.—Showalter and Janowski signed articles to-day for their match for seven games up at the Manhat- % Sl::. Play will begin to-morrow at AGUINALDO AGAIN PROCLAIMS HIS INDEPENDENCE Trying to Feel Surer of a Phil- ippine Republic by Claiming Its Existence. Interesting Holds an Nature of a “ National Malolos. Celebration in the Fiesta” at BY SOL N. SHERIDAN. Special Correspondence of The Cali. MANILA, Oct. 1.—Senor Don Emilio Aguinaldo, President and Dictator of the Republic of the Philippines, has once more proclaimed the independence of his country. it strikes me, as an ob- server, that the Senor Don, for & man who is altogether sure he has won t_he liberty of the Filipinos, does proclaim too much. Perhaps he feels surer, as a man who lies from the lust of lying comes presently to believe in himself— perhaps, I say, Aguinaldo feels surer of his republic the more often he asserts its existence. He did the trick of proclaiming,, this time, at his new capital, Malolos, on last Friday. Rather an unlucky day, Friday, for ships and republics to be- gin, but possibly Aguinaldo argued that he has made so many false starts one more or less could not make a great deal of difference. At all events, he started on Friday with a great flourish of trumpets, sending invitations to his celebration to the newspaper corre- spondents and to all the officers in the army below the grade of general, along with a programme in the way of a cir- cular calculated to commit to his inter- est all those Americans who should be present at the function. This circular kept most of the American officers away from Malolos. It did not keep the correspondents away. They could com- mit the nations to nothing—and, if they could, would not hesitate when it came to a matter of procuring news. The in- vitations to the celebration I send here- with. The circular which accompanied it, translated, reads as follows: PROGRAMME. et National Flesta for the 29th of Septem- ber, 1898. In the Morning. First—Reunited at 9:30 a. m. the Con- gress in the house of the Honorable President, with the authorities and popular commissions, are invited to the scene. The procession is to pass in re- view in the direction of the Congres- sional building, where they are received by the courts and correspondents of his high representation. gecon%—once inside the building when every one has his respectlve seat, the President of the Government will give a lecture on the act, and the Presi- dent of Congress will give another on the proclamation of independence. Third—The following act the Presi- dent proclaims the Philippines free and independent. After the applause ceases and the bells stop ringing the band will play the national air. Fourth—The removal of the proces- sion to the house of the Government will be in exactly the same form. The driveway by which the procession will proceed will be lined up with troops, Brigadier General Gregorio H. del Pilar commanding. Fifth—The towns of Malolos and Bar- asvain will be admitted in the flests this day. The houses must be decorated and streets made tidy, as it becomes a national holiday. Sixth—After the court returns to the Congressional building there will be a parade by the troops in front of the principal balcony, where the President of the Government and the President of the Congress will be sitting alone. The guard of Arabarderos will do the hon- ors to the Honorable President during the parade. Seventh—After the nspection the President will receive in his parlors the consuls and commissions that wish to celebrate and concur in the act. Eighth—A banquet will be given the troops and bands that celebrate the act. At Night. At 9 o’clock in the evening theatrical performances of the popular class. The celebration itcelf did not amount to a great deal. The village was crowd- ed with natives, and 2 number of curious Americans were there who went to see—and remained to be seen. The whole thing was rather an absurd imitation of European public functions, born of a desire on the part of Aguin- aldo to make it appear to the world that his people are perfectly up in the manners of civilized nations and of a mistaken notion that these manners consist largely of dress coats and silk hats of ancient vintage. Nelither “the silk hat nor the dress coat, with dll true respect to the Dictator-President, is the true badge of civilization—and when one appears in a silk hat and dress coat and goes barefooted, as one of Aguinaldo’s high officials did, the effect, to put it mildly, is odd. Senor Don Aguinaldo had his proces- sion, as he sald he would. About 3000 natives variously armed and more vari- ously attired, passed in review, the declaration of independence was for- mally read and the wheels of the Fili- pino Republic were started in due form. It will run along, possibly, until the meeting of the Paris Commission is over, because nobody will pay a great deal of attention to it. Then, If the United States proposes to keep the isl- ands, Mr. Aguinaldo will be softly but swiftly removed, the original mistake of Admiral Dewey set right and the whole structure will come tumbling down like a house of cards. I observe, on looking over this letter, that I have used a phrase calculated to puzzle the average American at this particular time. The words. “the orig- inal mistake of Dewey,” will naturally pass the understanding of men. Dewey is a popular idol, naturally, and the populace will never admit that its idol can err. Nevertheless, Dewey di 1 make an original mistake—led into it, there is not the least manner of doubt, by the American Consul General at Hongkong, Mr. Wildman. Mr. Wildmay, as San Francisco people know, is a ‘genius in his way. He is the man who took the Overland Monthly and succeeded in making it worse than it was before—a thing seemingly impossible, but true. Mr. Wildman, I have every reason to believe, is the man who persuaded the Admiral to bring Aguinaldo down here and give him arms wherewith to annoy the Spaniards pending the arrival of the American expeditionary force. Now, if Aguinaldo had never been brought down here and given arms, there would have been no proclamation of a Phil- ippine barefooted republic, no compli- cations with the Germans, no attempt to force upon General Merritt an al- liance with an army of rag-tag and 1 bob-tailed murderers, whose sole idea | tination at 8§:30 o'cl of war was massacre, whose sole notion of victory was loot, and who could not be depended upon to stand fire, no awk- ward situation growing out of the per- fectly legitimate desire of the American military governor to protect his Span- ish prisoners from murder, and Manila would have fallen in any event when- ever the admiral saw fit to demand its surrender. The city was wholly at his mercy from the hour of his great vie- tory at Cavite. In fact, the Spaniards to this day do not understand why he did not go ahead and take the city at that time. Also, if there had been no Aguinaldo on the ground, the Spaniards would have withdrawn just the same from San Roque, Cavite, Viejo, Bacoor, Los Pinos, Paianoque and Tombo before the advance of the Americans. The withdrawal of the Spaniards into Ma- nila was in the nature of a concentra- tion, not at all due to the operations of the insurrectors. That Spanish prison- ers were taken at the various places was due to the fact that the Spaniards were badly led, that the Spanish cam- paign directed from Manila was lacking in intelligent direction and that the Spanish soldiers, poorly fed, not paid at all, disheartened by Montijo's de- feat, and in fear of the long knives of the natives, preferred the chance of prison to the chance of death after their officers had deserted them. The original mistake of Dewey, you will see, was the mistake he made in bringing Aguinaldo down here at all That mistake having been made, the surest way to correct it is to take Aguinaldo away again—a thing more easy of accomplishment, I fancy, than appears on its face. ' An American reg- iment could go to Malolos and get him, despite his cabinet and his ragamuffin army—or, if the powers at Washington disapprove extreme measures, he could be bought off for a consideration rea- sonably small compared to the value of the islands. The Spaniards tried that plan with a measure of success. It is true he did not stay bought, and per- haps would attempt to break faith with the Americans—but a residence at Hon- olulu, say, or the Dry Tortugas, would have a strong tendency to discourage any filibustering enterprise in which he might wish to engage. As Dewey made the original mistake there is not the least doubt he would most cheer- fully agree to rectify it—and Dewey could do, out here, whatever he saw fit to do. With friend and foe alike, his name is a name to conjure with. I made a few remarks, in a recent let- ter to you, about General Greene. There is yet one more circumstance which should be placed to this gentleman’s credit when the people of California come to reckon with him for what he has done to the boys from California. ‘When the boys were at Camp Dewey Greene issued an official order that sick call should be held at 4:30 a. m., with the result that men stricken with fever or dysentery, if they wanted medical attention, were forced to tumble out of bed by candle light or were pulled out by their comrades, with what result even a layman can readily conjecture. Very often, too, they were called out in the rain, sick or half sick, and stood in line before the hospital tent, up to their knees in mud and water, waiting their turn to speak to the surgeon. That the California regiment kept as healthy as it did was due not at all to the care given his command by the brigade commander. The surgeons who exam- ined the men upon enlistment and passed only the best are entitled to all the credit. Of course the surgeons of the California regiment protested at this almost criminal order, but be a regimental surgeon never so faithful and efficient, his flat goes for little at brigade headquarters. Dr. Farrell, for instance, protested most strongly at Camp Dewey against keeping men in the waters of the bay all day, and Col- onel Smith forwarded the protest to Greene. When the men of one boat’s crew were stricken with illness the general, ignoring surgeon and colonel alike, calmly sent for another detail for boat duty. The California lads whose health had failed in Manila can justly lay to General Greene the fault that their originally strong constitutions have been undermined. Speaking of men passed bv the exam- ining surgeons, it is a pity those doctors who examined the recruits for the First California were not so particular as the original examiners. When a re- cruit sent into the trying climate of Manila has hemorrhage of the lungs on his second day ashore there would ap- pear fo be very grave fault somewhere. “Sam” is dead. Every National Guard officer in the State, every en- listed man, will remember “Sam,” Col- onel Duboce’s faithful man servant. His proper name was Willlam Guess, and he was probably between 25 and 27 years old. A more willing, pleasant, civil spoken colored lad never lived. He was everybody’s friend, even his own, and nobody's enemy. He was a part of the first expedition, a part of the First California Regiment. He was brave, too, as few men were brave. On that awful night of the 31st of July “Sam” followed Colonel Smith and Col- onel Duboce right into the "trenches, taking his baptism of bullets on the firing line with the rest. When daylight came it was “Sam " who hurried back to camp to bring out the colonel’s cof- fee before the relieving troops came. Neither man nor officer ever asked a favor of Sam and met refi 3al. He came into Manila with the regiment. and he died to-night, simply and suddenly. in the palace of Malacanan. The boy slept on a cot in the balcony of the room occupled by Colonel Smith and Colonel Duboce. He had complained during the afternoon of a severe pain in his left breast, but he smiled with it all and nobody could take “Sam’s” pains serlously. He did not take them seriously himself. At a little after 11 o’clock Colonel Duboce heard the boy groaning and heard him get up. The groans grew more terrifying, and the master hurried to the man’s assistance. It was then too late for human aid. “Sam” died in the arms of Colonel Du- boce, and as I write two soldiers with sad faces keep watch beside the body. The J. D. reters Reaches Stockton. STOCKTON., ' Nov. 17.—The California Navigation and Improvement Company's steamer J. D. Peters, which was sunk in San Francluco&:y by c:lll&mzswlth kche steam collier rina o e Spreckels Ctomp‘;; on the evening of Wednesday, ‘November 2. was brought to the ahl&y s in this city this morning, reaching its des~