Monkey Block San Francisco's Golden History
Monkey Block San Francisco's Golden History
S4 Ep4 Drinking in Yerba Buena 1847 - Seven Rules and Regulations at Public Houses
Have you ever felt like some stories should feel more connected than they do in your brain but instead they feel like untethered facts that are somehow connected? This episode is about just that.
I want to understand how my past few episodes fit together, since they feel stand alone. I revisit some of my recently covered sources which might point me in the right direction.
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Today’s thank you goes out to Michele in San Francisco who became a regular monthly contributor and a Hide and Tallow member. Welcome to the party Michele. Your contribution is greatly appreciated. I promise not to drink all the Pisco Punches at the same time. Only one a month.
Have you ever felt like some stories should feel more connected than they do in your brain but instead they feel like untethered facts that are somehow connected? This episode is about just that.
I really want to understand how my past few episodes fit together, since in my mind, they feel stand alone. And, I know that’s not the case, but I have a gap in my knowledge making it feel that way. I probably need to revisit some of my recently covered sources which might point me in the right direction.
My episodes are directly based on a distillation of my research for a specific topic. Today, my research is my episode, moment by moment. A partial look into what it looks like when I make an episode.
It’s my thought process as it happens. A stream of consciousness.
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After reading “The Laws of the Town of San Francisco 1847” with Jonathon Lammers, a few thoughts continued to rattle in my head.
· The laws discussed assault, deserting sailors, and the selling of spiritous liquors.
o Okay, but why?
· Was the United States, who had recently come into possession of California, trying to establish a foundation for public conduct, or were there specific reasons for these laws?
o I’m willing to bet there were specific reasons.
· The laws that I reviewed were written from September, October and November of 1847, over a year after the US takeover.
· Which, if any, laws governed Yerba Buena from the day of the takeover, on July 1846 – September 1847 when the laws in the pamphlet were written?
· Did Mexican Yerba Buena have laws for the US to continue using?
o It did seem kind of lawless but still self managed.
· Also, the last episode mentioned a healthy dose of speculation, and that is off-brand for my podcast. I need to support what I said with some facts.
o Let’s see if I can support the ideas we put out there, or do a correction if needed.
I feel like these answers are an arm’s length away. My answers are likely scattered among the many books and articles I’ve read this recently. I’ve read so many books at this point. But, there has to be clues to my questions in earlier research. It’s like an itch I can’t scratch. Which sources should I revisit? Thinking, thinking, thinking.
Oliver: Two days later… <harp>
Then, as if the information was dropped into my brain, I woke up one morning, recalling two specific things I had a hunch would answer some of my questions:
1. March 2024, at the Bancroft Library, Heller Reading Room, I photographed a list of handwritten Rules and Regulations related to very specific elements of drinking in San Francisco in 1847.
But, now that I think about it, these rules weren’t in the pamphlet I reviewed in my last episode. ‘The Laws of the Town of San Francisco 1847’. At this moment, I’m glad I took a photo and sent it to a bartender friend. At least I can go back to our texts and find it there. But, I am pretty sure I also saved it to my computer. Maybe?
2. And then I additionally remembered I had read Henry Bulls Watson’s Marine Journal, covering his time in Yerba Buena, with extreme boredom. Actually, I’ve read it a few times. His journal captured the day-to-day affairs of Yerba Buena right after the takeover. During this period in the takeover, Watson was responsible for reporting the activities and, policing Yerba Buena, writing fines, and reporting it all back to his boss, Captain John B. Montgomery. There has to be something there, if I go back and look besides reports about the weather.
If my sudden recall is correct, these two items should provide more insight. The glue I’m looking for to make my untethered facts stick together.
Oliver: Please allow for Girlina’s soliloquy moment. Breaking the fourth wall, if you will. In three. Two. One.
Off topic, I have zero logical reasons why I feel so compelled to understand this exact time and place to the extent I do.
Without a deeper understanding of this pivotal moment in Yerba Buena history, these are just loose individual facts and stories. And, I feel like there is more there.
Oliver: And, now back to the episode. You’ll listen to Girlina’s real-time research and thought process.
Description
I’ll first revisit that photo of the Rules and Regulations regarding drinking in Yerba Buena. I need to find it, though. Going through my computer files. Monkeyblock folder. Books and research folder. Bancroft folder. Searching for files dated March 2024.
There it is!
I held the original, handwritten, piece of paper that still has the red wax stamp that once sealed it closed. Your letter was on one side of the page, you’d fold it, address it, and stamp it closed with the wax to seal which also provided security. Oh my god. 1847 and the wax was still there. Insanely cool.
Let’s read over these rules. There’s a story in each one, I’m sure.
Rules and Regulations
The following Rules and Regulations are hereby established for the Government of Public Houses, under license, to keep and sell spirituous liquors, and wines, to be drank on the premises.
(Okay, so wine was included in the spirituous liquor category.)
1st – No liquors to be kept or supplied elsewhere than in the Public Bar.
(All alcoholic beverages are being controlled by bars. You can’t keep or serve liquor at your house.)
2nd - No person will be permitted to drink to intoxication, and no one, but the Inn Keeper, being responsible for the good order and quiet of the house. His authority to refuse to sell liquors to anyone, at any time, is not to be called in question by any guest in the house.
(As a patron you are responsible for maintaining your sobriety. The bartender is responsible for ensuring a safe environment which I assume includes ensuring the exiting patrons are quiet as they enter the residential neighborhood of Yerba Buena. And, the bartender has the right to refuse service without question.)
3rd – No intoxication will be permitted on the premises and any violation of the regulations will forfeit the license, close the house, and cause the enforcement of the Bond.
(The previous rule was about the patron’s responsibility for their sobriety. But, this rule puts the responsibility on the bartender to stop serving patrons before intoxication, or they can lose their license to sell spiritous liquor, which means we had already enacted liquor licenses when these rules were written.)
4th – The house to be closed at 9 PM and not open to admit anyone but boarders or lodgers for the night until sunrise - at the closing of the doors, all residents of the town are asked to leave the house.
(Proof San Francisco has always been an early-to-bed kind of town, even in 1846 or 1847. The last call was 9 p.m., the bar doors closed, and they stopped serving alcohol. I’m curious if this also implied a town curfew. See, Dear Listener? I told you, you are along for the ride on my research, this time.)
5th – No private soldier or seaman in the service of the United States, or vessels in the Bay, are to be permitted to visit the house as a guest.
(Soldiers and sailors couldn’t visit bars for a time. This supports my speculation that the laws were about curbing the behavior of incoming sailors, whether from the United States or elsewhere. I knew it!)
6th – No sale or disposal of liquors to be made to anyone to carry or take out of the house.
(No drinks to go, fellows. I can’t fill your flask and send you on your way. I also can’t have you drinking out on the sidewalk. We do know that one Marine officer did just that and caused a huge ruckus when he fired his gun. So much for rules.)
7th – No loud and boisterous noises disturbing the quiet of the neighborhood can be permitted. It is hoped that all visitors to the house will maintain a quiet and mild deportment observing the above Rules, else the house will be again closed.
(When you leave the bar, be respectful of your neighbors That’s our hope. That you will be quiet and act mild.)
It’s interesting that many of these rules are relevant today.
Oliver: Girlina’s thoughts regarding The Seven Rules and Regulations for Public Houses.
The rules I just read were not included in the pamphlet called “The Laws of the Town of San Francisco 1847” written after San Francisco became the official name of Yerba Buena, and it covered laws written in September, October, and November of …1847. So, when were these seven rules and regulations written? And why are they ‘rules and regulations’ and not ‘laws’?
First Thought: The letter with the seven rules and regulations about public houses and drinking was addressed to Alcalde Washington Bartlett in ‘the Yerba Buena’. That contains two data points. Bartlett officially changed the name of Yerba Buena to San Francisco on January 30, 1847. So, these rules were written before that.
The other data point to consider is that Bartlett was alcalde for six months, between August 22, 1846 – February 22, 1847.
So, between those two data points, I can tell the seven rules and regulations were written before January 30, 1847 and would had been addressed to him in San Francisco, not ‘the Yerba Buena’.
Second Thought: It appears the United States came in heavy with the liquor laws as illustrated in the seven “rules and regulations”. But, I have a remaining question as to ‘why’? Making a comment in my notes to follow up and see if I find anything to support this.
Third Thought: Not a clue and not a data point, but more of a hunch. I’m willing to bet these seven rules and regulations were written very early into the US takeover of Yerba Buena and Alcalde Bartlett’s term in office. Maybe a month or two after the takeover. Making a note to see if I can pinpoint anything to support this hunch.
Fourth Thought: The pamphlet “The Laws of the Town of San Francisco 1847” were written a little over a year after the US takeover on July 9, 1846. The laws were less restrictive than the earlier ‘rules’ I just read.
Still Unknown: Why were many laws in the pamphlet discussing sailors, overall behavior, and drinking, while the seven rules, written earlier, and only about drinking? Kinda tells you something, doesn’t it?
Oliver: The Military Journal
Why the universe is nudging me to revisit this ‘not so interesting’ Military Journal, I don’t know. But, I’ll listen to this hunch and see where it goes.
Will this Journal provide further insight into what was happening in Yerba Buena from the day the United States took possession through 1847.
A little background. Henry Bulls Watson was a second lieutenant on the USS Portsmouth for 2.5 years. Watson, being on the USS Portsmouth, was anchored in Sausalito when the Bear Flag Revolt happened.
Also of note, it was Watson who managed the Marines who marched off the USS Portsmouth and raised the US flag in Yerba Buena’s La Plaza Grande.
I’m diving back into this journal hoping there are data points I didn’t pick up the first or second time I read it. Focusing on his time in Yerba Buena.
July 10, 1846 – We start with a rumor. The day after the US takeover of Yerba Buena.
“A man by the name of Francisco Guerrero, late subprefect of this place, has by lying and by all the arts of the most insidious imposition, visited every cottage and house not only in this place, but the neighborhood, and told the defenseless women and helpless children, that the Americans were putting to death everybody that they met, helpless infants, decrepit old age, and blushing innocence, he represented to be no screen from the blood thirsty Americans, by these means he prevailed upon all ages and conditions to leave their homes and conceal themselves in the dense forest of the mountains.
(Starting off with a bang! Whether Guerrero said and did that I don’t know. It sounds hyperbolic to me. For different reasons, Californios did end up moving out of Yerba Buena as this was now an American-run town, soon to be renamed San Francisco. And, the indigenous had also moved out for different and some similar reasons.)
July 13, 1846 - A few days later.
“I have confined in double Irons Private Phillip McGowen. The circumstances connected with his case are these. Yesterday afternoon he asked permission of me to walk about the square and around the Barracks. I granted his request, cautioning him not to go out of hailing distance. He disobeyed this order, went into a grog shop, became intoxicated, and then went to the House of old milk women, and by his blustering manner, frightened the females of the house very much.”
(Sounds like the Americans really are scaring the blushing innocent.)
July 20, 1846 – Things heat up on a Sunday, two weeks after the takeover. Warning. Watson uses outdated language which is questionable, today.
“Several arrests were made of persons who have violated the peace and good order of the place. Mr. Smith who keeps a shoemaker establishment and grog shop, for fighting and having a disorderly house. Also Mr. Patterson, and Elick, both persons either partners, or employed by, Smith in his establishment.
A sailor belonging to the Barnstable was concerned in the fight, this man can be identified by one of the witnesses present at the time. A sailor was arrested in the night, being found by the watch person, drunk and lying in the street.
An Indian was arrested and confined yesterday evening for an assault and battery upon an Indian woman.
“The negro ,Francis Elias confined in double Irons, for insolence and drawing a knife on the Consul. (William Alexander Leidesdorff, I guess?)
I have reason to believe that both Midshipmen Johnson and Parish were persuaded to the house of this man Smith, by Smith himself, and they, being under the influence of liquor, brought on the fight in a quarrel with this man. “
(So, Smith, the grog shop owner convinced two sailors to visit his bar, then got in a fight with sailors Johnson and Parish.)
“The shop of this man Smith is a very low and dirty concern to which I am informed sailors generally resort, and that these rows and fights are very common.”
(Okay, this is what I came for. Thank you for that data point, Watson.)
“The Indians are furnished liquor from these public nuisances and the sabbath seems to be the day set apart by these ignorant beings for drinking, carousing, and fighting. “
(As opposed to sailors… At this moment, we have at least two grog shops/bars in Yerba Buena and this is starting to explain why so many of the 1847 laws centered around sailors and drinking.)
August 1, 1846 – This needs shortening but is a good story. Girlina will paraphrase.
The short version. Watson had the uncomfortable task of reporting his comrade Corporal William Smith for drunkenness, which he had observed on three occasions prior to this official report.
Watson took an intoxicated Corporal Smith back to the ship, scolded him for public drunkedness, and put him to bed, telling him not to leave the ship and to sober up, under orders from Watson, himself.
But, Corporal Smith, after being put to bed, snuck off the ship, clearly revisited the bar, and returned to the ship even more drunk than before. And, Watson was not amused by Smith’s disobedience.
For disobeying his orders, Watson asked Captain Montgomery to lower Smith’s rank from Corporal to Private. I can hear the Benny Hill theme playing here. I wish I had more information about this specific story because it sounds like an episode. But, this is all I have.
August 3, 1846 – The ship Brooklyn with the 200 Mormons arrived two days prior.
“There was no riotous or disorderly conduct in the town during the past twenty-four hours, and with the exception of the firing of pistols by a man by the name of Samuel Brannan, who I believe is the leader of the immigrants which recently arrived at this place.
Mr. Brannan was standing in the Consul’s corridor and firing his pistols at the door of the necessary, in the yard of Mr. Ridley. I stopped him and told him of the impropriety of such conduct. He says that he was not aware, that it was against the regulations of the place.”
(That firing a gun where the Vice Consul of the United States and people live is improper conduct?)
“I am informed that this same man, in company with some officer from the ship, rode out to the Mission yesterday evening & amused themselves by ringing the Church bells.”
(Haaahaaa! Sam Brannan is guilty of disorderly conduct.)
By this point, Captain John Montgomery had enough of the pueblo’s Tom Foolery based on the reports he was receiving from Watson. The reports made it clear more order was needed.
August 14, 1846 - A month and a half after the US takeover a law, not a rule, was written that temporarily shut down bars in Yerba Buena. A copy was found in Watson’s journal. It read:
“Daily offenses against the peace and good order of the town of Yerba Buena, resulting from the unrestricted, and intemperate use of Spirituous liquors furnished by retail vendors of the same; demanding the adoption of effectual means of prevention:
(San Francisco’s first Prohibition, I guess.)
It is hereby ordered; that from, & after this date, no person within the town and environs of Yerba Buena, shall vend or dispose of by retail; or in less quantity than one gallon; Alcoholic, or intoxicating drinks of any kind: And that all persons convicted of violating this Law shall be fined in a sum not exceeding ten dollars for each offense.
(So, they can’t sell drinks, or they will be fined $400 in today’s money.)
The officer of the guard, will immediately proceed to give notice of this Law to the Keepers of grog shops, and stores in the town: The latter only, being permitted to keep for sale, and disposal of intoxicating drinks in the manner herein prescribed and cause them to be closed forthwith.
Persons giving information to the officer of the guard, against violation of this Law, shall receive one half of the fines recovered in such cases. (The stool pigeon reward as Jonathon Lammers put it.)
Given this 14th day of August in the year of our Lord 1846 By order of John B. Montgomery, Commanding the U. S. Forces Bay of San Francisco
(You can’t sell liquor in less than one-gallon measurements which means bars are shut down.)
(Two days later, this new law was posted in the bowling alley and the two bars where spiritous liquors were sold. To the best of my knowledge, merchant stores like Howard and Mellus’ store that occupied the old Hudson Bay Company still sold liquor in gallon and other large measurements. What’s interesting is that August 1846 seems to be when the rules were tightened, which coincides with my hunch that the US realized they had to establish order very quickly into the takeover.)
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I’ll let you make your own conclusions about who was getting drunk and causing issues in the early days of US Yerba Buena. By the way, you can see the photo I took of these seven rules on my buy me a coffee page, under the posts.
In September 1846, Watson started making a series of entries regarding runaway sailors, which makes me wonder if more ships started arriving after the US takeover? I actually know the answer to that and it’s yes. I’ll skip those and focus on a few more of Watson’s interesting Yerba Buena entries. But, it is interesting that a year later, the pamphlet would discuss runaway sailors as often as it did, so this problem must have persisted.
October 19, 1846 Watson writes to Captain Montgomery about a rumor regarding Francisco Sanchez.
“I heard it rumored about the place, last night, that Francisco Sanchez had on leaving the place, a few days since, remarked that he had no use for his parol now, (Sanchez held a position in the Yerba Buena government prior to the takeover and was expected to remain in his position), and that he would not be seen in the Yerba Buena again soon. I have endeavored to trace this to some reliable source, but I have been unable to do so. I nevertheless thought it my duty to inform you of it.”
(I don’t blame Sanchez for wanting to distance himself from the rapidly changing Yerba Buena and retire peacefully at his Ranch San Pedro in Pacifica. Unfortunately, in a few weeks, he will lead his most defining battle, in the Battle of Santa Clara, which I’m very proud of my research and the way those two episodes turned out, if I say so myself.)
November 5, 1846 – Three weeks later we have an entry regarding Charles Webber’s … reputation.
“I have arrested a man by the name of John Coppinger from the following words spoken by the said Coppinger last night in the house of Verdeiuon Bennett, to wit. "That Mr. Webber was a robber, that he was stealing all the horses, & even went into the bedrooms of people and turned women out of their beds, And that he Coppinger had a private revenge for him, threatening Webber's life at the same time. He further stated that if the American Government or the authorities of that Government in California, went on taking the horses & destroying the cattle, the whole up country would be up in arms, and that he Coppinger had fifty men which were ready at a moment's notice, and that he would lead the people to put down these abusive proceedings. He charged Capt Fremont, when Fremont first came to California, with hoisting the American Flag, and robbing the churches. And he, the said Coppinger, did use other contemptuous and abusive words of the Government and authorities of the United States.”
(Almost a month later, Charles Webber, goes on to cause the Battle of Santa Clara. But, Watson arrested John Coppinger, a Californio for speaking poorly of Webber and the American government. We didn’t have free speech in Yerba Buena, yet.)
(I didn’t catch this the first time I read it. In my Battle of Santa Clara episodes, I discuss a loose rumor regarding a Northern Californio uprising regarding horse theft. And, it seems I just found it. This is speculation on my part, but seeing as this came to fruition, you have to wonder if the local residents were discussing it. Which would mean Jose de la Cruz’ ploy at the Mission wasn’t as happenstance as Bartlett made it out to be. But, we will never know.)
Later that day, November 5 Garinemo Mace, a Californio, who did not speak English, was arrested and charged with using abusive language in relation … to Mr. Webber. Most of his words were spoken in Spanish.
“The only English words he spoke were "Webber, dam Rascal, dam him." I have arrested him as a suspicious person.”
(I guess someone must had translated Mace’s words for Watson? Interesting topic and timing. A month and a half before the Battle of Santa Clara started because of…Charles Weber, the dam rascal was being accused of stealing horses. How did I miss this the first time I read it?)
Watson’s entries in Yerba Buena end after November 21st, and he leaves Yerba Buena for I believe an unrelated Californio uprising in San Diego.
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Wow. That wasn’t so boring after all. Now, with a fresh pair of eyes and more knowledge about the topics, this was helpful.
After revisiting those two resources, did I find my answers? I’ll revisit my original questions:
· The laws discussed assault, deserting sailors, and the selling of spiritous liquors.
o Watson’s journal showed that sailors wasted no time getting off the ship and enjoying themselves on shore, enough so that rules around drinking had to be put in place, temporarily shutting down bars a month after the US takeover.
· Was the United States, who had recently come into possession of California, trying to establish a foundation for public conduct, or was there a reason for these laws?
o That would seem to be the case based on Henry Bulls Watson’s journal entries.
o He captured several other drunken altercations, most of which were about…drunk sailors or civilian Americans.
o I didn’t mention the many passports Watson wrote for Californios to leave the area. And, I have to assume, some did not return. Francisco Sanchez being one of them.
· The pamphlet ‘laws’ were written from September, October and November of 1847, a year after the US takeover. Which laws governed Yerba Buena from July 1846 – September 1847?
o The ‘rules for drinking’ precede the pamphlet ‘laws’, but I still can’t find existing Mexican laws that governed Yerba Buena pre-US takeover
· Did Mexican Yerba Buena have laws for the US to continue using?
o The pamphlet introduction points out that the Americans, upon arrival, couldn’t find existing laws to continue to uphold in Yerba Buena or California. I don’t know if that means they didn’t exist or if they couldn’t find them.
· The last episode mentioned a lot of speculation which is off-brand for the podcast.
o Thankfully, my assumptions regarding the heavy-handed rules curbing sailor behavior, drinking and runaway sailors were supported by Henry Bulls Watson’s Marine journal entries.
o The seven rules and regulations seem to coincide with behavior Watson was describing.
o So, yes. There was definitely a reason the rules and the laws were written based on Watson’s entries. Hurray! I followed by hunch and it wasn’t a dead end.
Oliver: Some Takeaways
The seven rules and regulations regarding bars in Yerba Buena helped me understand how quickly the United States felt they needed to establish order. And that’s compared against the later written Laws of the Town of San Franisco that seemed to lighten the grip around drinking but tighten the grip around sailor behavior.
Upon first reading, Watson’s journal captured what seemed like mundane day-to-day occurrences, but unintentionally described the immediate changes in Yerba Buena after the US flag went up. At least from a United States perspective and from a point of keeping track of public disturbances and issues.
It’s so interesting how little I understood the same entries out of context. But now that I know more about the Battle of Santa Clara and some of the laws, it hits me differently. This certainly fills in some of my knowledge gaps.
To me, the biggest find in rereading Watson’s journal today was the entry regarding the rumor of a Californio uprising against Charles Webber. This tells me that the government was aware of his horse stealing and that his actions were upsetting the locals. This might have been the very moment that rumor started. Charles Webber. Damn rascal. Damn him.
We will never know if there was any validity to Coppinger’s rantings that landed him in jail and started the rumor, or if it was just a coincidence that the Battle of Santa Clara started a month later and was closely based on what Coppinger said.
While I didn’t read you all of the entries today, it captured every passport Watson wrote to get in or out of Yerba Buena. It captured Yerbabuenans getting passports to leave the area, but I don’t see them getting passports to return, which tells me that was a one-way ticket out of Yerba Buena. Francisco Sanchez is an example of this.
By the way, speaking of Lieutenant Marine Henry Bulls Watson, the man granting these passports, and making arrests for drunk and disorderly behavior in his military entries, he was the same Henry Bulls Watson responsible for starting “the Spaniards are in the brush” debacle. Watson was secretly asking John Henry Brown, a bar owner, to fill his flask with whiskey as he did every night during his night watch. Nice. I wonder if that after the rule against selling liquor in ‘less than a gallon’ was removed?
We have entered a new phase in Yerba Buena’s history. While the last 3.5 years of my podcast centered around a Spanish-speaking Yerba Buena and the District of San Francisco, finding information about this specific period has not been easy. Not many records exist. And, trying to read them in Spanish, when legible, isn’t easy for me either.
The only constant is change, so I march forward into the United States governed Yerba Buena, soon to be renamed San Francisco. I’m sad to look in my rearview mirror and see the Pueblo de Yerba Buena already fading. But, I look forward to accessing easier-to-find resources, written in English.
Goodbye Yerba Buena. Hello San Francisco.
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The Journals of Marine Second Lieutenant Henry Bulls Watson 1845 - 1848
Pages 162 - 364
https://www.marines.mil/portals/1/Publications/The%20Journals%20of%20Marine%20Second%20Lieutenant%20Henry%20Bulls%20Watson%201845-1848%20%20PCN%2019000400000.pdf
Seven Rules and Regulations for Drinking in Public Houses
Finding Aid to the Official documents relating to early San Francisco, 1835-1857
BANC MSS C-A 370, Folder 202 1847