Lost Journals of a Pioneer.—I. [pp. 75-90]

The Lost Journals of a Pioneer.
looked several times into Queen's Hall,
which the church formerly occupied, and
with the exception of a Bible upon the desk,
some prayer-books scattered over the benches, the whole covered with thickly fading
dust, the chamber exhibited no signs of
former use..... It is therefore to me exceedingly problematical whether there is an
Episcopal church in Sacramento. I will
look into the old room again next Sunday,
unless I learn in the meantime that the congregation is located elsewhere, or has ceased
to exist.
Wednesday, 29th jannary. Variable,
cool. The majority of the Supreme Court
of California have recently, in several possessory actions taken before them, upon appeals from the judgments of the Superior
Court of San Francisco, indicated their opinions so strongly as to what is essential to
constitute actual possession, that squatterism
has suddenly come into vogue in that county, and set the non-landholding portion of
the city agog to seize unoccupied lands and
convert themselves into freeholders, at the
expense of the holders of Spanish, Indian,
and Alcalde titles, who are as violently chagrined and offended by these decisions as
the squatters are elated, and encouraged to
expect justice from them, in the cases now
pending in the Supreme Court upon appeal
from this county. The position which has
heretofore been maintained and insisted
upon by the squatters in this county, in the
multitudinous Forcible Entry and Detainer
suits, with which they have been harassed,
that known and definite lines, marked corners so manifest and positive as to be the
notice of possession, are absolutely requisite
to constitute possession in the absence of
actual occupancy and cultivation, receives
confirmation in these cases; and, also, that
without such occupancy and cultivation, or
other equivalent use, or the existence of direct and plain boundary lines, lands must be
considered waste and vacant, and open to the
entrance and occupancy of every man, as
public and unclaimed domain. These are
the true and just rules, and their adoption
as a rule of decision by the Supreme Court
of the State will be extremely salutary. It
will revolutionize the practice of the State,
and put an end to the absurd suits of Forcible and Unlawfuil Entry that have crowded
the justices' courts with deeply wronged and
injured suitors, founded upon fanciful, vague,
and imaginary possession, based upon fraudulently obtained paper titles, striding over
the country from river to river and mountain
to mountain, like the giant in his seven
league boots, and converting by the scratch
of a bad pen upon musty and dirty paper,
the wild and desert regions of California
into inclosed fields, and the home of the bear
and wolf into domesticated rancho, blooming with man's labor...........
Saturday, irst February. Variable, cool;
foggy, early. There are some men, even in
California, who possess a cool and calculating
spirit of liberality no forms of which virtue,
even the least creditable, are common with
us in this gold-disgraced region. One of
them it was my fortune to meet today,
much to my advantage. He has a little suit
in the Court of Sessions, and to retain me
more deeply in his interest, brought and
presented to me the first volume of " IMuckeldey's Roman Law," and four volumes of
"Halsted's New Jersey Reports." He inquired, after stating his case, what his prospects were, and what my fee would be. I
told him the first was good, if the facts he
stated could be proven; my fee was fifty dollars. That he could not pay. "Well,"
said I, "the books-" There he stopped
me: the books were nothing; he would pay
me what was right, but he could not give me
fifty dollars. I said, "Very well," and was
contented, for the books are worth, in this
country, at least one hundred dollars.
Saturday, 22d February. Clear, cool.Two men, charged with knocking a man
named Jansen down in his store, by striking
him with a bolt, and then robbing the premises of about two thousand five hundred dollars, were arrested this afternoon. One attempt was made to take them out of the
hands of the officers, during the hearing before the recorder, which was foiled, and the
hall cleared at the point of the bayonet by
80
[Jan.