The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 24, 1907, Page 4

o= o 2574 By Horatio F. Stoll aber South Park a was escents whic various e ornamental e key thereto ts of each of retentious it was in the for the . However, on ° 1 was thought diss Hall ge nose. € s 2 of cross « Provoke fiss Hall for trifie, Patsle. said to her ‘It I ite eize O i of the United States Vellie Gordon friends as bly more that of any rtrude Ather- as the hero- tory, “A e,” which, in the ctua] facts Gordon, scussed was ivancement cisco. He the fash+ established, 1 subject and s, e had his country He bought the tract of ipied by Stanford Univer- built there a beautitul t it was admirably situated / i 7 2 i) 2 s occupancy hat it was sub- Senator Stan- d = s country resi- ford dwelt there up to the Hawaiian Islands, uddenly. in establishing a do people in that 1 T. Doyle and le, two friends, were also enlo Park. Faxon Atherton, frie had a fine close at hand re speedily s and Beau- e died so country places w 1 anticipated riingame of tod The Leland University occuples what was sordon’s vinevard. was a small, well-built is time had fron-gray opped beard and mustache restless eyes, 1e was a education, of agreeable 1 raveled, was extremely well ness He accumulated about half a . a great fortune in those days, nd retired, selling his sugar refinery, the first in the State, to Claus Spreck- els. The wife of George Gordon was a tall, slender w nan, with dark eves and a Madonna face. She had exquisitely emall hands and feet and was a charm- ing hostess. There were some gossips who declared that she had been 2 bar- mald in England, but she showed no trace of vulgar origin. However, she was unfortunate in having a love for liquor and transmitted this fatal app«l}:e to her daughter Nellie, an child was petite, daintily formed and exquisitely neat and attractive, She had inherited her mother's beauty and her father's brains. he was intelli- gent, well read, and a sparkling con- versationist. Her father, without meking her wait for his death, had given her stocks and bonds bringing in an income of more than $4000 a —a large sum in those early days. The Gordon family were in the habit of making trips abroad. It was not so easy in those days as it is now, where we are only four days from New York and ten days from London. At that time the only practical way of reaching New York was via Panama and it took six or seven weeks. On oné of their European trips Nellie Gordon, to while away the tedium of a tropical voyage, began a nirtation with the steamer’s surgeon, one Dr. C. Gordon. ' But it :;xmed out more than en ocean flirta- on The doctor kept up an intimate cor- respondence with the beautiful heiress and on her return to California suc- ceeded in Inducing her to consent to & secret mar: °.. George Gordon had taken a violent dislike to his name- sake, Dr. Gordon, who was not related to hié family. So Nellie Gordon, in or- der to evade the paternal vigilance, made frequent rendezvous with Dr. Gordon at the nome of one of her dear- est friends in San Fraucisco. At length a0 NN\ one day, the 234th of November, 1869, the young heiress, accompanied by her mother, who sided with the daughter against the stern parent, came up from Menlo Park and drove to the rooms of Joseph Gordon, a lawyer, and brother of the intending bridegroom. There they were met by Dr. Gordon and the Rev. Dr. Wyatt, who at once made them husband and wife. When George Gordon learned of this marriage his rage was incontrollable. He repuised his daughter in all her at- tempts at reconciliation, cursed her violently and refused ever to see her again. He left his beautiful home at Menlo Park and came to San Francisco and here, at & hotel, on May 22, 1869, he died.! On his deathbed he sent for Nellle was reconciled to her, but not to her husband. ¥ Atter the death of Gordon, and her husband went to Menlo Park and Nved with Mre, Gordon in the old family home, which was called Mayfield Grange. After a few months, however, Dr. and Mrs. Gordon Jeft for a long trip East, and Mrs. Gordon, the widow, being left alone, sent to Englana for her ‘brother to come . out and reside with her, which he dfd. Sad End of the Gordons Dark stories were told of the terrible drinking bouts which went on in the old ‘Gordon home. Not long after this, Nellife Gordon returned to visit her mother. This added another to the group of tipplers. It was never known exactly what took place, but one night poor Nellie was found .at the foot of/ the stalrcase, stunned and bleeding. Nellle She may have fallen down or been thrown down. No one ever knew. She never recovered consciousness, and passed into the unknown bearing her secret with her. Her body was brought up to the cify and she was laid beside her father in Laurel Hill Cemetery. . The final chaptérs in the ‘terriple’ AT = M‘ - ,' iy’ story were even darker. The widow of George Gordon finaliy died a drunk- ard's death. The property went to the brotier, also a heavy drinker. Hs married his cook and they, too, lived for a few years in a state of #ontinual {ntoxication. Iis death followed and the property went to the cook. But she soon passed away and the large estate of George (ordon, once one of San Franct most public-spirited citizens, went to g group of peasants in the west part of Ireland. In the early seventles, that period of startling vals and downfalls, when had suddenly. become m)llxog Tes. and rich men found them- selves "paupers, there was a gradual secassion from Soutl Park, for by this tlme the north . side of the. city and Nob HUl and the Western Addition were dotted with new mansions and it was no longer considered fashionable 1o live south of Market. The once stylish homes passed Into the hands of pegple of less means, thrifty business men who had no de- sire to shine ®ocially, but welcomed.the opportunity to live opposite the pic- turesque liftle park, where their wives might have cheerfyl surroundings and thelr children coylq play on green lawns or breathe the fresh ain per- fumed with the keen, acrid odor of the eucalyptus, as they sat on the benches and basked in the synshine. . About 2 week hefore the fire of last Aprll I visited South Park \quite. by accldent. Tt was late in the afternoon and the park was fijled with romping children just home from school. They Wwere watching with great interest the paneuvers of the horses of the Fire Department ag they circled about at quite a pace. In the park were. seated mothers, ‘reading gpd sewing, and nurses with youngsters,and infants out' of these averages six' for an airing. 'yt seemed to me I had |never seen so many ljttle ones outside a ac!mpl‘or‘the playgrounds at Gelden i ~ PIEI FROT 7R ST SOUTH PARK eIt Gate Park.. Wheth ‘was & mere - coincidernce: or the ' usual ‘thing ‘I ‘did not know. ¥ : The. other morning,-however, when I made my special trip over to _the park camp, T was surprised to find only three ‘tiny girls pldying on the street. . This seemed strange indeed, and in striking contrast. to that other day in’April, when the grounds were swarming with ‘youngsters of every. age, . Upan .inquiry T found that there are about 100 children in the camp, t during ¥he day they are nearly at Rincon School and St Patrick's, the two nearest educational. institutions, Now the Hogée of Refugees' ' But if ‘T missed the. children, T a ihissed the airy, inviting liftle’ park. Gone ‘are the neat 1little' walks, ‘the green lawn, and the border of tall cucalyptus trees.. Every avallable foot of ground is covered by/fourteen rec- tangular two-story buildings which ex- tend the' full. width ! of thie ‘park. ‘Al are ‘pslntpqlgcryen and Jettered alpha-- betically. . In each buildipg there are . elght tWwo-room’ apartments, and each ts, for ‘the total populationjis.nearly 700, gnd since its establishment there have'been no vacan: in“the‘camp. ~ ¥ g -The San Francisco Sunday Call When Mr. D. Chenhall, the camp osm= mander, was informed that he was te be transferred from the camp at La- fayette Park-to South Park heseas full of misgivings. South of Market street meant everything that was undesirable to. him—the .people, the surroundings. the life. Today he laughs when he recalls his fears, for he declares that the residents of South Camp are an industrious, sober, clean class of pe: ple, better than those he has encount- ered in any other part of the city. Most of the refugees lived in the immediate viclnity before the fire, and are occu- pYing their present quarters partly be- cause they cannot elsewhere secure apartments at -a reasonable rent in proximity —to thelr place of work and partly because they are Influenced by sentiment. “Many - touchi cidents took place,” said Mr 1. #when the refugees fed Some broke down coi ely ‘'in teiling of their los can never repls they are respectfu rilling to comply with my 1test request. We hav not had to eject a single he polics officers who trict say It 1s the most . There bave been and drunk- gs they prized and At:all times ; | SOUTH FARK TOv4T COVZRZO BY RFFUGCEE HOUSES ards and rowdles are unknown in our midst. ‘When the camp was first established it was decided that every resident should pay rent, $1.50 for upstairs rooms per month and $1 for those be- low. - Tue Mayor and the Board of Su- pervisors, however, " objected to the refugees being forced to pay rent, and passed an ordinance prohibiting the collection of remts by ‘the Relief Cor-. poration and rendering any person found guilty subject to a fine of $500 or' six months’ imprisonment. After congiderable discussion a compromise ‘was’ arranged by which the refugees _3gere able to pay for their cottages by nstallments, so that when the camps were abolished they might move the tages elsewhere. South Park, how- ever, did not come under this provision, because the bulldings which are erect- ed there house eight families, end so could not be sold to one.” Therefore, pending Turther arrangements, no pay- ments are béing collected. Despite the Mayor's order. however, it is to the, credit of, the ;South Park colony that every resident appeared at the office of the commander when they found that interfererice’ was being made by the city authorities, and ten- dered the rent so as to bis RS GOR®ON 56 f. position good. Of eBurse it could not be accepted. In the camp thers are no single men. They were all weeded out months ag. The camp 18 provided with where there are sixt washing “elott bathrooms, wi water, a-sterilizer f water, and a drying-r There {8'also a ¢ and physician ar apartment .is prov plumbing, and ers are In a ning water in gas stoves and This is Tt cozlly red. inspect ‘several found the occu us through their As we ascende out, “Be caref! door or y atch cold And when we knocked at dining-room and we found a sweet, bespecta with her sleeves rolled family er kitchen washroom ing. a bit taken b She b 4 den appearance. but she didn onr intrusion in the least, for sha quickly asked: “And what can I do for you this morning?” “Just let my friend h take & pesp at your rooms,” said Mr. Chanhall "Shure, that 1 right. Just r yourself at hom And with that bent over her tub and started to away for dear life. Here Was Home Indeed The orderliness and cleanliness of the rooms impressed me most. The floor ‘was covered with linoleum, the cooking utensils were neatly arranged near the stove, and the soft little white curtains and . prints and pictures on the wall made the room quits cozy and homelike. The’ living-room was even more In- viting.. The walls) as well as cefling, were covered with claret-colored bv lap and the room was liberally sprin- kled with sftractive poster and photographs. Two cou covered with faney pillows, o the side walls and with the carpet car- ried out the same claret color scheme. Two potted planjs and some huckle- berry, tastily arranged, gave the room a very cheerful Ssqueascs Seated near the sewing machfhe, on the cover of which rested 2 birdcage, was a dain- 3 ke ty little bit of blonde femininity sewing dresses for her dollie. Books and mag- azines added an intsilect touch to the reom. Altogether. the fmpregsion galned from a visit to South Park was that the refugees were very comfortable, living in amity with one another, and a heipful factor, instead of a drawback, in the upbuilding of this once crowded section of the city. However, as I left the office of the camp commander and passed the tiny stretch of grass on way to Third streat, I could not refr: f back apd picturing the sc in the early fifties. Nor could I help speculating what would be the feelings of ‘George Gordon if he could ses his cherished: park covered with refugee buildings, and the once exclusive resi- dences either In ruins or replaced with chedp' lodging-houses, Oriental stores, grog shops and bustling business con- cerns. - Was ever the ficklegess of fate 834 fertune poge strikingly Pustrateq? niy from looking