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

The Lost Journals of a Pioneer
earliest days of the session, Judge Parsons
was to hold the April term for the county of
Solano; but having been obliged to attend
at San Jose during the current week, no term
has been held.
Sunday, r3th April. Clear, warm.- Episcopal services have been again discontinued,
not from want of a clergyman, but from the
disreputable unwillingness of those who pretend to be Churchmen to pay the pastor...
.. The church needs only a permanent establishment to prosper. $5000 would furnish us a church, small, but equal and more
than sufficient to the present needs of the
congregation. An assurance of an immediate salary of $3oo000 a year would secure to
us a clergyman, and in three months we
would be able to double, or if necessary,
triple, his salary, and build a good and substantial edifice.
Monday, a4th April. Variable, warm.California is disgraced by lynch law in every
section at present, and has been practically,
in consequence, without any law for the last
six months. Has it diminished crime, made
offenders less audacious than they were
before? On the contrary, with each mob
murder, these have become more daring in
their crimes, and more frequently have they
polluted the ground with murder. Why,
they read justifications of, nay, demands
for, mob murder in the newspapers, as they
are called; they see men seized, beaten or
hung at the instigation of malice by mobs,
and the offenders applauded as if they had
done a good deed! What, then, are the
thoughts that take posession of their minds,
and are in very sooth irrefutable? If a mob
of two hundred men may condemn and kill
a man accused of a legal offense against
them, an individual may punish with death
any person who inflicts a wrong upon him..
.. Each bloody act of regulation is repaid
on the criminals by losses of stock, and by
their own lives taken by mobs under like
charges for accusation is here proof.
There is only one remedy for this state of
things; but the prosecution of the regulators
-this will put an end to their proceedings,
give efficiency to the law, and introduce grad
ually good order into California communities. But we are without officers capable of
doing their duty under these circumstances,
and we must continue to suffer these wrongs
and their evil influence until some more revolting act than usual kindles indignation
against them in the whole community, and
they are accordingly hunted down as the
thugs of India or the banditti of Italy.
Friday, ISth April. Foggy early; variable,
cool, rather showery, P. M.-The Legislature
have just published the population of the
State.... It is much less than I should
have presumed, for at least 500,000 persons
must have entered and sojourned in California since I847, of whom it appears about one
in five now remains, the population being
II7,597, three counties remaining unheard
from.... These three would add nearly
8,ooo to the total, as we may estimate the
population of California as having been in
November last 125,00ooo.... The population of Sacramento County was barely I I,000ooo
in round numbers.... As this census was
taken during the cholera, and many had
fled from the disease who have now returned,
the population of the county may be fixed at
nearly I4,000-9,000 of which belong to the
city, the balance to the settlements in the
vicinity, and upon the skirts of the county,
in the mining districts. This population will
doubtless be doubled in two years throughout the State.
Sunday, 20/th April. Variable, cool, showery. The folly and criminality of lynchings
are exhibited markedly by a case occurring
yesterday. A fellow named Gregory had been
living with a man named Bowles for some
time, and in the course of mutual dealings
Bowles had become indebted to Gregory in
a small sum. During the absence of Bowles
from home, Gregory commenced suit against
him, and obtained judgment for about $I 50,
against which Bowles had set-offs amounting
to about $85. This exasperated Bowles very
much; and Gregory having ordered the seizure of two horses, the property of another
person, which Bowles was ranching, a suit of
replevin was commenced, in which I tooknonsuit, in consequence of the justice having
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I_Jan.