The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 7, 1902, Page 5

THE SUNDAY CALL. STAINED journeved. Tt was the meeting place of central committees. The First Ward was the principal battleground in the primary and other elections and the Rhoads & Townsend House was the depository of the coin for the influencing of the voters and the place at which it was disbursed. And sometifhes the was so handily accessible as to be almost free to the rab- ble. At one election for Chief of Pollce— an office of importance to the gamblin, element particularl for it meant muel f the incumbent would interfere with the games or not—a sack of several thousand dollars was left so conveniently behind the bar that it was looted to the tune of some $1500 by the boys, who made away with the siiver by the handful befors Rhoads became aware of what was going cn. But it was during State conventions and the leg sessions that the n Higgins and ! nmins made it their headquarters and lodging place. The place was a resort for people of high and low degree. State officers from Governcrs down, Judges of all gr courts, Congressmen_county and eci offi- cials and journalists from all over tne illar callers. “Frank™ ds was a remarkable character. He S a Philadelphian of Quaker extraction, and no man was more proud of his ances- try. In 180 he came to California and for a time mied in Nevada County. He then came to Sacramento and engaged in the draying business for about ten years. Then he opened the old Sacramento The- ater on Third street and a year later be- came a saloon-keeper. He was connected i r Fire Department in rom that naturally drift- In many respects he re- sembled David C. Broderick, of whom he was an ardent admirer. Like him, he vas a natural leader of men, an earnest and faithful friend, but an uncompromis- ing and vindictive hater. It was believed y some that he made money out of poli- tics, but by his intimates it is known that he also lost much, and in fact dled a poor man. When In circumstances he spent and lent his money right and left, and the little private safe that stood at the outer end of the bar at one time contained due bills and other evidences of indebtedness in his favor that would aggregate a pret- ty fortune. And in very many instances Pl i ow of each cheering, and there was a general stam- he block between pede for the statlon-house. Here efforts S on clliate the mob, but 8 Pn Tapiee Awning posts wers S into battering rams he station-house. was rs were over; w- an inner cell and c in get- d the pri: ner to 4 y staging had which the d Rev. M. er said that but in a fit to say for of age, an performed 1 around the thrown over [ being i - * = nd " ds, the Before 4 men sur- . The crowd rong in the chair. led, but could cond street and mmittee was appointed to ntence of the court was car- effect 2 ainst hi companions. The Stark rmed but i :men’s dress, ow square in front of the A wagon and the Sheriff, f deputies, were . The three p d Thomp: e wagon and ace of execu Sixth and lirected the house bel and the prisoner the mob. No real resistance wi oldiers. Another wagon w e ner placed in it and ed to the place of execution. with the two men a rose from the crowd: Bring him here and others!” A rush was brig, for the crowd 1ad occurred at the Some one Sprang upon i and shouted: “We've got He's within a square of here brought up as soon as the lown!” During the lull ch the muffled drums ing the “Dead ancing, and the knowing that re- 5 red. Robinson aced upon the d, remaining end calm. He made an earnest ch that produted a fa- among many in the ority demanded his fire the lot re- ober, 1853, when and the erected—a tw 40 feet on J street and Second. The lower floor was divid- i into four rooms. The one on the cor- - was used by the bank, the one to and S. Worm- d the two on rgo & Co.'s ” s C]'}:(‘m “AWNING POSTS WERE MADE INTO BATTERING RAMS AND THE DOOR OF THE STATION-HOUSE BEATEN DOWN. ions of the soundest financial institutions in and was imprisoned for contempt. Aside opened for the transactlon of business. Townsend had for several years conduct- nela at And it had a connection with t;‘: from. the 3853 the Leglsiature never Tnis laconic explanation was all that was ed the Union Hotel, an old-time and well- ng early day episode of Califor- found the slightest trace of what became conveved to the depositors by a note that known resort near’ the other en 9L the they represeusen mavances to men whom history. When the American or Of the money except from the statement was posted on the dm;r- g COYFEQWMG block on Second street. The var_t!m“-lmlg he had aided to office and who were fully ' Nothing” party swept the State DY the officers of the Hastings Bank that of the news received from San Francisco proke up over a little misunderstanding abie“to requite their obligations. At one in Dr. Henry Bates was clected Treas- during the excitement over the Vigilance that John Sime & Co. with whom this in which Rhoads shot his associate in the fime hie destroyed papers (hat represented sessions continuously from yrer and his office was in what is now Committee in San Francisco in .56 Rowe house is closely connected, could not open jeg, but the wound was not xou?.1 about 34000 of such loans, and no doubt . when the present State the Sheriff's office in the Courthouse, then had represented that there was danger to-day, we are compelled to close thiS was the estrangement of the men of 1008 before his death tore up the balance, for as completed. While the court the ~State Capitol. E. A, Rowe. the thata raid would be made upon the State office.”” The announcement created a duration. Thfgfl again joined, leased the they were not heard of among his effects. 1 the building at Sec and Deputy Treasurer, practically had charge treasury; that one night a number of bags flurry, but the depositors lost everything. old bank _building, christened it the For many years he managed railroad poli- reets the following Justices of the business of the department., The Of gold were quietly passed out of the And so the old building lost caste—it was «Rhoads & Townsend House,” and DY ties irf Sacramento and enjoyed the abso- Jlomon Heydenfeldt, Peter H. interest on the State bonds was payable Wwindow of the treasury office, loaded in no longer the seat of the judicial power of that name it has since been known ail Jute confidence of the head men of the cor- “eld, E. B. Crocker, in New York and the amount fof the & wagon and deposited in the vault of the the State or the home of a flourishing cver the State and bevond. The partners poration-particularly Senator Stanford, les H. Bryan, liguidation of the semi-annual installment Hastines Bank, but where they went to fiscal institution. were of different political faiths; Rhoads But at the last new men came into control of July, 1856—$88,520—was withdrawn from from there never developed. For a time it was distinguished by to ran the Republican and Townsend the and he was dropped, yet to the very last, the treasury in April and turned over to _Bates was impeached, resigned his of- iet signs and then the lower portion was Demccratic end of politics. r he sold out the old house. the the bank of Palmer, Cook & Co. of San fice before trial and the Legislature dis- rented to a produce firm and its floors A couple of smaller rooms in the rear of the “Little Napoleon,” a8 his Sanders: John Curry, A. L. Francisco for transmission to the East, qualified him from ever again holding of- were littered with cabbages, onlons, pota- were fitted up for card tables and places led him, was a potential factor Royal T. Sprague, William T. Wallace but it never reached its destination. The fice. Actions were brought against him tces and other truck; the upper part was for private consultation. The old bank vest on J street by clothing merchant. street by V y office and Herzog nts. The Leg aw that the s upreme Court should 1t of government, and it was lo- ted in rooms in the upper story of the 2 e State Library. highest tribunal in Cali- Mills & Co., w Reid and New York. But_with his depnrtm"e fmn} > e i 67 § ‘au 5 - ynsend House its sou - and J. B. Crockett. Legislature of 1857 instituted an investiga- and his bondsmen, but the State never cut up into lodging rooms. vault was made a storage room for liq & Townsen political and A'r)u banking house of B. F. Hastings & tion and it dfi\“e!nned that somethfng recovered a dollar of the enormous sum But the old building was destined to re- ucrs and cigars. Upstairs the rooms were the outside signs alone suggest- eral Winn _was the Co. was established in Sacramento at a like $300,000 in all had been taken from the that was abstracted. coup and to again take a position of fm- used for gambling games and for sleeping orical past; within disorder and { Native Sons. As very early day and at the time of the treasury without any warrant from the At noon on November 1, 1871, the doors portance in the public affairs of the State. quarters. The old building again became decay m: was read J, K and construction of the building and for years Controller. Rowe refused to answer any of the banking house of B. F. Hastings _ A. J. Rhoads, familiarly and popularly th> scene of constant activity. It was the with the loudest afterward was regarded as one of the questions de rapid inroads during the few years since it ceased to be the seat of po- concerning the missing money & Co. were closed, never again to be knowr as “Frank Rhoads,” and Isador mecca to which politicians of all parties litical power. WINFIELD J. DAVIS.