Part Two: Chapter XIII
THE JOURNALISM OF OLD SAN DIEGO
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The first paper published in the city of San Diego was the San Diego Herald. The initial number appeared on May 29, 1851, only twelve days after the first publication of La Estrella de Los Angeles (The Star of Los Angeles). In September of the preceding year a small sheet called the San Luis Rey Coyote had been issued by some army officers stationed at that mission, purporting to be edited by one C. Senior (Sí Señor). It was a comic journal neatly written, and contained a map and some useful information; but it was not in any proper sense of the word a newspaper, and only one number was published. It is not known how many copies were issued. The Herald was at first a four-page four-column paper, published every Thursday. The subscription price was $10 per annum, and the advertising rates were: 8 lines or less, $4 for the first insertion and $2 for each subsequent insertion; business cards at monthly rates and a discount offered to yearly advertisers. The reading matter in the first number, including a list of 320 letters which had accumulated in the San Diego post office, filled five and three-fourths columns. The local advertisements made two columns, and those of San Francisco advertisers eight and one-fourth columns. The paper contained quite a little local news and was well set up and printed. The editor and proprietor of this paper was John Judson Ames. He was born in Calais, Maine, May 18, 1821, and was therefore a few days past his thirtieth birthday when he settled in San Diego. He was a tall, stout, broad-shouldered man, six feet six and one-half inches high, proportionately built, and of great physical strength. His father was a shipbuilder and owner. Early in the 40's young Ames's father sent him as second mate of one of his ships on a voyage to Liverpool. Upon his return, while the vessel was being moored to the wharf at Boston, a gang of rough sailor boarding-house runners rushed on board to get the crew away. Ames remonstrated with them, saying if they would wait until the ship was made fast and cleaned up, the men might go where they pleased. The runners were insolent, however, a quarrel ensued, and one of the intruders finally struck him a blow on the chest. Ames retaliated with what he meant for a light blow, merely straightening out his arm, but, to his horror, his adversary fell dead at his feet. He was immediately arrested, tried for manslaughter, convicted, and sentenced to a long term in the Leverett Street Jail. The roughs had sworn hard against him, but President John Tyler understood the true facts in the case, and at once pardoned him. After this, he was sent to school to complete his education. A few years later, being of a literary turn, he engaged in newspaper work, and in 1848 went to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and started a paper which he called the Dime Catcher, devoted to the cause of the Whig party, in general, and of General Zachary Taylor's candidacy for the presidency, in particular. After the discovery of gold, he joined the stream of immigrants and came to California via Panama, arriving at San Francisco October 28, 1849, without a penny in his pockets. Borrowing a handcart, he engaged in the business of hauling trunks and luggage. He always kept as a pocket-piece the first quarter of a dollar he earned in this way. His financial condition soon improved and he formed a number of valuable friendships, especially among his Masonic brethren at San Francisco. He was present at the first meeting of any Masonic lodge in California, that of California Lodge (now No. 1); on November 17, 1849. On the following 9th of December he became a member of this lodge, presenting his demit from St. Croix Lodge No. 40, F. & A. M. of Maine. He also became interested in newspaper work, writing under the pen name of "Boston." The question naturally occurs at this point: What was it which induced a man thus situated to leave these friends and settle in a little town of five or six hundred inhabitants? Ames's own writings may be searched for the answer, in vain. It is scarcely sufficient to suppose that it was due to his desire for independent employment, for at that time the region could not support a paper which would pay its publisher a living. The matter has excited wonder in other quarters. Thus, a writer in the Sacramento Union says:
The answer to this question rests upon the testimony of living men, to whom Ames disclosed it in confidence, and is strikingly confirmed by the whole policy of the Herald. Ames established the Herald as the organ of United States Senator William M. Gwin, who expected to bring about the division of the state, the annexation of Lower California and the Sandwich Islands, and the construction of a Southern transcontinental railway terminating at San Diego. This, of course, would have made San Diego the capital of the new state, and probably the most important city on the Pacific coast. That Gwin had the purposes mentioned, and that the first transcontinental railway project was for a line on the 32nd parallel and intended as an ontlet for the Southern states, are historical facts too well known to require proof. From the first, the Herald vigorously supported Senator Gwin's policies, the project of state division, and the Southern transcontinental railway. Moreover, the surprisingly large volume of San Francisco advertisements in the Herald can scarcely be accounted for on any theory except that the paper was subsidized by means of these advertisements. It is scarcely reasonable to suppose that there was business enough here to justify San Francisco merchants in using more than half of Ames's space for their advertisements, at the start, and to keep this up for years. As a matter of fact, Ames took only a slight part in the public life of San Diego, and spent all the time he possibly could in San Francisco. Gwin failed in all these schemes, although he served as senator from California two full terms from 1849 to 1860. He also failed to keep his promises to Ames, and the editor's end, broken in health, fortune, and ambition, was truly a sad one. But this is anticipating; at the present point in our story, our editor is young, strong, and full of hope. In getting his paper established at San Diego, he had to overcome obstacles which, as he himself says, "would have disheartened any but a 'live Yankee.'" He issued a prospectus in December, 1850, and took subscription and advertising contracts on the strength of it. Had his plans prospered, the Herald would have been the first newspaper printed south of Monterey; but delays and difficulties followed. He says in his first number:
Some side lights are thrown upon his adventures, by the way, by those to whom he related them more in detail. On arriving at Chagres, he found much difficulty in getting his outfit transported across the Isthmus. The only means of conveyance was by barges or canoes up the Chagres River to the head of navigation at Gorgona or Cruces, and thence on the backs of mules to Panama. He engaged a bungo with a crew of native boatmen and started up the river. When the boat was snagged, the standard of the press, a casting weighing about four hundred pounds, was part of the sunken material and, although the river was shallow, the boatmen were unable to lift it up on the boat again. After watching their futile efforts for half a day, Ames lost his patience completely and, jumping overboard in a frenzy and scattering the boatmen right and left, he seized the press and placed it upon the boat, himself. Arriving at Cruces, he experienced great difficulty in getting his goods transported by mules, and had to pay exorbitant prices. When he reached Panama, he was compelled by the attack of fever to remain some time, along with a number of California immigrants waiting for a steamer. During this time of waiting, he set up his plant and published a paper called the Panama Herald, half in English and half in Spanish. It would seem that a man of so much strength and tenacity of purpose was of the sort to make a success of his newspaper venture at San Diego; and, indeed, though the Herald was somewhat erratic, it never lacked in vigor. Ames cast in his lot with the new town (Graytown, or Davis's Folly), which was then just starting. He had met William Heath Davis before coming, and the latter aided him to the extent of almost $1,000 in getting his press set up—a debt which was never discharged. The office of the Herald was over the store of Hooper & Co., at the corner of Fourth and California Streets. About two years later, when the new town had proven a temporary failure, the Herald was removed to Old Town, and for the greater part of its life occupied the second floor of a building owned by Louis Rose, at the northwest corner of the plaza. Ames's frequent trips to San Francisco, doubtless made for the purpose of looking after his political fences as well as his advertising patronage, began soon after his settlement in San Diego. It has been suggested that his readers, as well as himself, needed an occasional rest. Having no partner, it was his custom to leave the paper in charge of his foreman or some friend whom he could induce to undertake the burden. This course led to trouble on more than one occasion. It was quite the usual thing for an issue or two to be skipped at such a time. While he was away on these and other trips, it was Ames's custom to write long letters to the Herald, which he signed "Boston," and hence he became locally known as "Boston." His first trip to San Francisco seems to have been on October 30, 1851, when he left his foreman, R. M. Winants, in charge of the paper, "with a good pair of scissors and a vast pile of exchanges." On January 24, 1852, he went to San Francisco again, leaving "the amiable trio, Vaurian & Co.," to occupy the editorial chair. Vaurian was the pen name of a contributor to the Herald, whose identity is unknown. In the latter part of August, 1852, Ames left for the Atlantic States, and did not return until the following March. He left the keys of his office with Judge James W. Robinson, but in December a man named William N. Walton came to San Diego and, representing to Judge Robinson that he had arranged with Ames in San Francisco to publish the paper, was allowed to take possession. He proceeded to publish the paper in his own name from December 4 until Ames's return, March 19-21, 1853, when he suddenly disappeared. The only allusion Ames made to this affair upon his return was this:
Six years later this Walton was arrested in Portland, Oregon, on a charge of robbery, and the Herald, in commenting on this, says that at the time of the Walton episode he had closed the office "for the season." The Herald of August 13, 1853, contained the following announcement:
This was the prelude to the most amusing scrape that Ames's absences led him into, as it was the occasion when Lieutenant Derby edited the Herald for six weeks (instead of two) and changed its politics, as related farther on. Ames seems to have learned something from this experience, for upon starting again for San Francisco, about December 3rd, of the same year, leaving one "Borax" in charge, he gave the editor pro tem of the paper "strict injunctions not to change its politics," as Derby had done. In April, 1855, Ames went East again. It is said this trip was made on public business, but nothing has come to light to show what the public business was. Ames himself states that he was present at the convention of the American (Knownothing) party, in Philadelphia when Fillmore was nominated for president. It is a matter of record that he brought out Phoenixiana at this time, and it is also understood that he married and brought his wife to San Diego with him upon his return, some time the following spring. During this prolonged absence, Ames left Wm. H. Noyes in charge of the paper, who took good care of it, not only at this time, but also on several subsequent occasions when Ames went to San Francisco. In April, 1857, when about to depart on such a trip, Ames left the following savage attack upon certain officials for insertion in the next issue:
He then goes on to say that a party had a bill against the county, of long standing, which after some trouble he got approved, and demanded the issuance of scrip to him first, so that it would be the first paid when the county had any money. He charges that Couts promised to do this but evaded it and issued scrip clandestinely to his friends ahead of it.
This looks as though Gilbert had been reading the San Diego Herald when he drew his character of Pooh Bah, in the opera of the Mikado. In the next issue of the Herald Noyes repudiates this blast and "wishes it distinctly understood that it owes its paternity to the regular editor."
It is probable that on account of his relations with Senator Gwin, Ames had free steamer transportation during the first two or three years of the Herald's life. Derby seems to have had some such thought in his mind when writing this: "Facilis descensus Averni, which may be liberally translated: It is easy to go to San Francisco. Ames has gone." During the last year or two of the Herald's publication in San Diego it was not so "easy," for the paper severely criticises the Holliday steamship line, complains of its poor service and high fares, "which prevent the editor from going to San Francisco on pressing business," indicating, possibly, that the free pass had been called in. The political complexion of the paper was changed several times. The first issue announced it to be "Independent in all things, neutral in nothing," but soon afterward it supported Bigler for governor, and the full Democratic ticket nominated by the Benicia convention. But Ames was independent enough to kick over all party traces when he felt like it. He opposed President Pierce and severely criticised him at times; one reason for this doubtless being the fact that Pierce had vetoed a bill appropriating money for the improvement of the San Diego River. In April, 1855, he hoisted the name of General Sam Houston for president. In May, 1856, he came out for Fillmore and Donelson for president and vice-president, and went over completely to the Knownothing party, substituting for his original motto the following: "Thoroughly American in principle, sentiment and effort." This bolt to the Knownothing party appears not to have produced any results. The town and county were Democratic up to the time that Horton came, and for some little time thereafter. When the Knownothing movement died out Ames returned to the Democratic fold. In 1857 his motto was changed to: "Devoted to the interest of Southern California." It is clear that Ames suppressed many things which he thought might hurt the reputation of the town. The trouble with the San Francisco volunteers, following the Garra insurrection, is scarcely mentioned in the Herald. Again, while Ames was away on one of his trips, the editor pro tem. thought proper to write up and condemn certain disorders. Some of the citizens protested against this publicity in a letter in which they declared it was contrary to Ames's policy to have such items appear. It may be inferred from this that much interesting historical material has been lost, on account of this policy of suppression—a policy which is not yet extinct. The many difficulties under which the paper struggled would make an interesting story could Ames himself tell it. There was no telegraph, no telephone, no railroad in those days, and for news of the outside world he was dependent upon a semimonthly mail service by steamer, which service was poor and irregular. He seems to have depended for his exchanges almost entirely upon the pursers of the steamers calling at this port. In almost every issue of the paper he acknowledges the receipt of bundles of papers, or growls about the neglect of those who should deliver mail and do not. After the transcontinental stage line was opened to the East (August 31, 1857) matters went somewhat better. In the latter part of 1855 the Herald ran for some time a list of all the postoffices in California and at all times it was found necessary to fill up with miscellaneous matter. Another source of trouble was the difficulty of obtaining supplies of print paper, and several issues were printed on common brown wrapping paper, for the reason that the paper ordered had, through some neglect or blunder at San Francisco, not arrived. The failure of Gwin's schemes had a very depressing effect upon Ames, whose hopes and expectations had been very high, and other causes tended to discourage him. His wife died March 14, 1857, and not long after unknown parties mutilated and destroyed the monument at her grave. On October of this year, while he was absent in San Francisco, a gale blew down and completely demolished his house at Old Town, known as "Cosy Cottage." These things saddened and embittered him and, already somewhat given to indulgence in liquor, he became dissipated and broken in health. He married again, about 1858 or 1859. Soon after this, Brigham Young ordered the Mormons living at San Bernardino to come to Salt Lake to aid him in resisting the United States troops under Albert Sydney Johnston, and most of them sold out in haste for whatever they could get. The influx of Americans who bought them out, together with the discovery of gold in Holcomb Valley, made San Bernardino quite lively and Ames determined to remove his paper to that place. The last number of the San Diego Herald was issued April 7, 1860, and then Mr. Harvey C. Ladd, a Mormon who had been a resident of San Diego, hauled the outfit to San Bernardino, and Ames began the publication of the San Bernardino Herald. The new paper did not prosper, however, and in a short time he sold out to Major Edwin A. Sherman. Ames's end was now near, and he died on the 28th day of July, 1861. He had one son called Huddie, born in San Diego, November 19, 1859, and died in San Bernardino March 27, 1863. His widow married again, and she is now also deceased. The press which was used in printing the San Diego Herald was an old-fashioned Washington hand press, made by R. Hoe & Co., New York and numbered 2327. It is still in use, in Independence, Inyo County, where it prints the Inyo Independent. After using it for a time to publish the San Bernardino Patriot, at the beginning of the Civil War, Major Sherman employed Mr. Ladd to haul it across the mountains to Aurora, then in California, but now in Nevada, where in May, 1862, he commenced the publication of the Esmeralda Star. Three years later he sold the outfit to other parties, and it was later taken to Independence. It should be brought to San Diego to form the nucleus of an historical collection. There may be a few scattered numbers of the Herald in the hands of old residents, but the only collection known is that in the San Diego public library. A few numbers are missing, but it is almost complete. The preservation of this invaluable file is due to the care of Mr. E. W. Morse. In estimating the character and achievements of John Judson Ames, there are some things to condemn, but, on the whole, much to praise. He was large-hearted, generous, and enterprising. For that time, his education was good and he wrote with clearness and fluency. He had opinions of his own and was not backward about expressing them. In speaking of the New England Abolitionists, he refers to them as "such men as Garrison and Sumner, who are distracting the country with their treasonable and fanatical preachings." Like other journalists, he found it impossible to please all the people all the time, and there was frequently local dissatisfaction with his utterances. June 10, 1852, he published a letter, signed by nine residents and business men of San Diego, discontinuing their subscriptions, and made sarcastic comments on it; and a few months later he says: "There are several individuals in this city who don't like the Herald. We don't care a damn whether they like it or not." On another occasion he broke out thus:
It is probable that Ames's immense size kept him out of trouble, as no one cared to tackle him. There is no record of his having been engaged in a duel, or in any personal combat, except the mythical one with Lieutenant Derby, but an item in the Herald of August 13, 1853, shows that he was a valuable peace officer and something of a sprinter as well.
Soon after this occurrence, Ames advertised for the return of a sword cane. It also appears that he had some difficulty with Major Justus McKinstry, which mutual friends thought it necessary to arrange before Ames's departure for the East, in April, 1853, and J. R. Gitchell published a card stating that a reconciliation had been effected. It is clear that, notwithstanding his gigantic size, our first editor was not altogether a man of peace. It is also a fact that he was very remiss in the payment of his debts. That he had enemies in San Diego and vicinity is shown by the fact that he held but one elective office, and that a minor one. Lieutenant George H. Derby made San Diego his home for about two years, from 1853 to 1855, and left behind him memories which the people of San Diego cherish to this day. This, not merely because the scene of so many of the funny things in Phoenixiana is laid here, but quite as much on account of his lovable personality. It may be assumed that the reader is familiar with that delectable book and it will therefore not be profitable to reproduce any considerable part of it; but it is believed that something about Derby's life and personality, with a few selections of local interest from Phoenixiana and others from the old Herald files not so familiar to the public, will prove of interest. George Horatio Derby was born in Dedham, Massachusetts, April 3, 1823. He attended school in Concord and is remembered by Senator Hoar, who says in his Autobiography that Derby was very fond of small boys. Afterward he tended store in Concord, but failed to please his employer, "who was a snug and avaricious person." During the proprietor's weekly absences in Boston, Derby would stretch himself out on the counter and read novels, and at such times did not like to be disturbed to wait on customers and was quite likely to tell them the goods they wanted were out. He afterward entered West Point and graduated with distinction, in 1846. He served through the Mexican War, was wounded at Cerro Gordo, and was made a first lieutenant. In April, 1849, he arrived in California on board the Iowa, with General Bennett Riley and a part of the Second Infantry Regiment. He was employed on different tours of duty in the Topographical Corps, until July, 1853, when he was detailed to superintend the turning of the San Diego River to make it debouch into False Bay. His description of the voyage down and of the appearance of the town of San Diego at that period, in Phoenixiana, are among the funniest things he ever wrote. He met Judge Ames, and has this to say about him: "I fell in conversation with Judge Ames, the talented, good-hearted, but eccentric editor of the San Diego Herald . . . . I found 'the Judge' exceedingly agreeable, urbane and well informed, and obtained from him much valuable information regarding San Diego." Ames appears to have proposed to Derby almost immediately to take charge of his paper for two weeks, while be made one of his frequent trips to San Francisco. Ames and Derby had probably met in San Francisco. At least, it is quite certain they were acquainted, for Derby had been in San Diego during the preceding April, on business connected with the work on the river, and at that time visited the Masonic Lodge, of which order they were both members. He was undoubtedly well acquainted with Derby's reputation as a writer, as his sketches had appeared in the San Francisco papers over the pen name; of "John Phoenix" and "Squibob." Derby readily fell in with the proposal, doubtless foreseeing opportunities for no end of fun. The situation is developed thus in the Herald: In his issue of August 13th, Ames said:
Derby writes, in his letter to a San Francisco paper:
In the Herald he made the following announcement: Ames neglected to ask what Derby's politics were, or to give instructions respecting the policy of the paper during his absence. The result was disastrous, for Derby immediately changed its politics from Democratic to Whig. The mingling of fun and seriousness in his political leaders of this time is inimitable. He sometimes mixed up the two gubernatorial candidates, Waldo and Bigler, referring to them as "Baldo and Wigler," or "Wagler and Bildo." "Old Bigler," he declares, "hasn't paid the people of this county anything for supporting him (though judging by the tone of the Independent Press, he has been liberal enough above). We think therefore they will do precisely as if he had,—vote for a better man." Again:
On September 17th, Derby says that Ames had promised to write to the Herald regularly." We present to our readers this week the only communication we have received from him for publication, since his departure. It contains the speeches of William Waldo, advocating his own election; the remarks made by the Judge himself before the Railroad meeting, in favor of San Diego as the Western terminus; and the political principles in full of John Bigler. Apart from these matters of interest, it may be considered in some respects a model communication, for it contains no personal allusions whatever, nor anything that could cause a blush on the cheek of the most modest maiden, or wound the feelings of the most sensitive or fastidious. As a general thing, it may be considered the most entirely unexceptionable article the worthy Judge ever composed. Here it is : "Letter from J. J. Ames, Esq., for the San Diego Herald." (A blank space.) But although Ames was strangely silent for a time, he did write Derby, at last, protesting against his policy. This letter was not received, however, until after the election and remembering this fact it is interesting to note how Derby treated it:
The ticket which he "ran up" was as follows:
Concerning the Whig ticket he says:
The Whig ticket carried the county, but the Democrats carried the state. His comments upon the result of the election are interesting:
The friendly relations between Ames and Derby were never broken, and the combat which Derby describes was purely imaginary. The editor was a very large man, and had a reputation as a fire eater, while the lieutenant was small, and such a combat would have been a very unequal affair. Ames's own comments, in the first number after his return, show that, if he did not entirely relish the joke, he reconciled himself to bear it:
The files of the Herald give incontrovertible proof of the friendship which continued to exist between these two men, so long as they both lived. In 1855, Ames compiled Phoenixiana and superintended its publication. This was done against Derby's judgment, he apparently thinking the matter too ephemeral for such a setting. It is possible that he also doubted Ames's competency, and if so, he was justified, for a more sloppily gotten-up book has seldom been issued. Notwithstanding this, the naive humor and exquisite drollery with which it abounds made it a success and today it is a classic. It was with considerable pride that Ames announced, in 1859, that he had re-engaged the services of "John Phoenix" to write for the Herald exclusively. The fun which Derby had while conducting the Herald, aside from the famous political bouleversement, has received too little attention. In his first number, he added to the editorial column, under the name of Ames: "Slightly assisted by Phoenix." He had fun with ex-Governor McDougal, who chanced to visit the city:
The Herald having received a letter from the resident physician of the Stockton Insane Asylum, asking for a copy of the paper, Derby says he will send it, and anxiously inquires whether two could not be used? He also asks whether the idea of sending for the Herald was the doctor's or the patient's; and if the latter, "they're sensible to the last," "there's method in their madness," and "they ought immediately to be discharged, every mother's son of them." Derby was fond of San Francisco, and his writings abound with allusions to it. This remark may aid somewhat in the appreciation of the following:
While the work on the San Diego River was progressing, he allowed himself the luxury of a few jibes about it. Upon his arrival, he wrote:
A little later he noted that: "The report that Lieut. Derby has sent to San Francisco for a lathe, to be used in turning the San Diego River is, we understand, entirely without foundation."
One more quotation from his writings must suffice. In 1856, Colonel Warren, secretary of the California State Agricultural Society, invited Derby to deliver an original poem at the annual meeting of the society, in September. Derby accepted the invitation by letter, and wrote the following as a sample of what he could do: Here's to the land of potatoes and carrots, Listening to the stories told about him by old San Diegans, it becomes clear that Derby was an incorrigible joker and player of pranks. One lady recalls that, having one day climbed into an empty crockery cask, for fun, Derby slipped up and started the cask rolling with her, so that her dress was sadly torn on the projecting nails. She and her husband lived in upstairs rooms at the old Gila House, and Derby used to come into the room below, when he knew she was alone, and rap on the ceiling with his cane, to frighten her. Once while he and Mrs. Derby were calling on this lady and all sitting on the hotel piazza, Derby climbed upon the head of an empty barrel and began to make a burlesque speech. While he was in the midst of this, waving his arms and talking loud, the head of the barrel suddenly fell in with him and he took a tumble, to the great amusement of his audience. The house in which he and Mrs. Derby lived is still standing. He had a very remarkable memory, could recite chapter after chapter of the Bible, and, after hearing a sermon, could repeat it from beginning to end. It is said that he expected the appointment to make the Pacific Railroad survey and was greatly disappointed when he did not receive it. In later years he was employed in the erection of lighthouses on the coasts of Florida and Alabama. He died May 15, 1861, in the prime of his years, and his friend Ames died at San Bernardino two months later. His son, George McClellan Derby, is now a lieutenant-colonel in the army. [from William Ellsworth Smythe's History of San Diego, 1908, pp. 295-315]
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