A Chinese Western Not A Chinaman's Chance In Chico: a true tale of the Old West by David Edward Martin - HTML preview

The Sacramento Daily Union Newspaper of 3 April was full of interesting information about the Chico Massacre and the prosecution of the cases:

Sacramento daily union 3 April 1877:

The Daily Union noted the following headings followed by the articles:

“Necessity of enforcing the law.

(Concern for states image, Jury selection old law versus new law of selection, Dissolution of the Labor Union, genius of American institutions, Lawlessness, infamous crimes, Judge Saffords charge to the Jury, Jury selection, T.F. Rheinhart refuse to answer membership, Dr Glenn dares order to burn him out)

The universal demand of public opinion for justice upon the murderers of the Chinamen at Chico has been partially satisfied by the capture of those were alleged to committed the crime, and such disclosures have been made in consequence of these arrests as appear to promise well for the conviction of the criminals. But it is necessary to bear in mind that the vindication of the law has not yet been achieved, and that the reputation of the State will suffer seriously if by any loophole of evasion the assassins are permitted to escape the penalty they have earned. A few years ago it would have been extremely difficult to secure justice in a case of this kind, not because there was any less strongly marked public sentiment against such dastardly outrages, but because the law itself interposed almost insuperable obstacles to its own proper administration, by allowing jurors to be challenged for particular bias on the ground that they had an opinion on the merits of the case founded upon some knowledge of the material facts. The effect of this absurd provision was to exclude from the jury on every important case the most intelligent citizens, and to confine the panel to a dead level of abnormal stupidity or ignorance. The law in fact operated to sift the intelligent element out of the panel, to select his jurors only such imbeciles as opposed neither the capacity nor the inclination to inform themselves concerning current events. This irrational and pernicious provision still defaces our Civil Code, but happily it has been extirpated from our criminal procedure at present the law provides that no person shall be disqualified as a juror by reason of having formed or expressed an opinion upon the matter or cause to be submitted to such jury, founded upon the public rumor, statements in public journals, or common notoriety; provided it appear to the court, upon his declaration, under oath or otherwise, that he can and will, notwithstanding such opinion, act impartially and fairly upon the matters to be submitted to him. This provision is in accordance with the enlightened view of the change in the condition of public opinion, caused by the growth of the press, and it is clear that it should apply equally to all legal procedure, civil as well as criminal. Under the code, however, it is apparent that there need to be no difficulty in getting a jury to try the Chico murder cases, since the chief former stumbling block no longer stands in the way of justice, and jurors cannot now be rejected merely because they've read the newspapers and are acquainted with the material facts in the cases that are to be submitted to them.

If, therefore, the court and the prosecuting officers do their duty, it will be impossible for the counsel for the defendants to secure a jury of idiots, and a reasonably intelligent and trustworthy panel may be obtained. We need hardly point out the importance of excluding from the jury all who belong or have belonged to either of the secret societies organized for the purpose of antagonizing the Chinese, but in as much as the membership of these orders are considerable, much care will have to be exercised in the selection of the panel in order to make sure that they are not represented upon it. We trust, indeed, that every precaution will be adopted which can tend to render the conviction of the assassins more certain. The case is not an ordinary one, on the contrary involves reputation of the State. Its course will be watched by the entire nation with interest, and is liable to have a marked effect upon the future action of Congress in regard to the Chinese question. If the murderers of these Chinese escape it will be quite useless to appeal to the general government for protection against Mongolian immigration, for the sympathy of the country will be alienated, and the cause of white labor on this coast will be seriously imperiled. It has been alleged, we know not with what authority or truth, that the order of Caucasians has procured counsel to defend the Chico murderers, and that it intends making their cause its own. We are unwilling to believe that any organization could be so infatuated us to take a position of this kind, especially at such a juncture as the present, and after the same organization has professed equal indignation with the public that the crime committed. If the expressions of the Caucasians at the time of the massacre were sincere it is impossible to perceive upon what grounds a plausibility such a step as has been attributed to them since, could have been taken, and therefore perhaps it is in order for their officers to state categorically whether, report wrongs them or not. Of this we are certain, that where men stand charged with crimes so heinous, so cowardly, and so brutal, it is impossible for any organization to volunteer for their defense without incurring the imputation of sympathy with them, and that sympathy with the perpetrators of deeds so odious is altogether incompatible with good citizenship. Whoever defends them, however, it is to be hoped that the prosecution will be vigorous and persistent. It is absolutely necessary that the public detestation of assassination should be marked in the most emphatic way, and that the law should be vindicated so clearly and fully that all the world will recognize and respect the sentiment in the civilization of California.”

“Last Saturday night the citizens of Chico held a meeting to which only those who were neither members of the Caucasians nor labor union were admitted. It was a gathering of the farmers from all over this part of the Valley, to take steps looking to the protection of their property during the coming summer. They are determined to rid this part of the state of the class of men now in jail. Not one of them will give employment to a single person known to belong to either order.”

“It is reported today on good authority that Dr. Glenn called together his men and discharged all who were members of the order of Caucasians, telling them to burn him out if they dared to.”

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

DR. HUGH JAMES GLENN CONTEMPORARY OF BIDWELL WITHOUT THE SAME HAPPY ENDING

In the Sacramento Daily Union of, 3 April 1877, in the section referred to as, The Pacific Slope News, the newspaper made mention of Dr. Hugh James Glenn and his proclamation to members of the Order of Caucasians and Laborers Union.

Glenn lived in Jacinto California, a town owned by Glenn which consisted of His Mansion, The Glenn Company store, Glenn Hotel and Glenn Stables. Glenn declared that members of the Order of Caucasians and Labor Union and any Anti-Chinese movement were not welcome working on his ranch.

Jacinto California was named for the first Spanish Land Grant holder of the property, Jacinto Rodrigues, who received the land grant in 1844. Jacinto is about 30 miles west of Chico and like Bidwell’s Rancho which was on the east side of the Sacramento river, Jacinto was Rancho Chico’s mirror on the west side of the Sacramento River only bigger. Jacinto was in Colusa County but in 1891 as California continued to subdivide its original 27 Counties, Glenn County was created in honor of Dr. Glenn.

The Pacific Slope News of 3 April 1877 stated:

“It is reported today on good authority that Dr. Glenn called together his men and discharged all who were members of the order of Caucasians, telling them to burn him out if they dared to.”

Dr. Glenn’s comment daring them to burn him out was a very bold one since Glenn had 6000 acres planted in wheat. Dr. Glenn like John Bidwell was an early pioneer to the opportunities of the California Gold Rush. He came to California in 1850 and chased the yellow elusive gold for a while but then opened a Livery Stable in Sacramento, California. Glenn was already familiar with California prior to the Gold Rush since he had served with Colonel Alexander William Doniphan of the Missouri Volunteers in the Mexican war from 1846 to 1848. Glenn was known as Doctor Glenn since he was a graduate of McDowell’s Medical School in Saint Louis Missouri. After he sold his Stable in Sacramento he purchased Jacinto which was 70 miles north of Sacramento. There he raised cattle and began growing wheat. He had almost twice the land than Bidwell, at 45,000 acres but his land wasn’t as good as Bidwell’s Vina loam soil but it was still good land for growing. Like Bidwell he ran for Political Office. In 1879 he lost the election for Governor of California to George Clement Perkins, who would later play an important role in the Chico arson and murder convictions.

Although land rich and successful like Bidwell he apparently didn’t have Bidwell’s ethics. In 1877 Dr. Glenn was 53 years old. A thin muscular man with a long red and gray beard and red hair, a man prone to never sitting still and never feeling he had enough money. Dr. Glenn had a Hotel and ranch store on his property and gave credit that was collected when payday for the ranch hands came. Often the ranch hand would end up owing Dr. Glenn money come payday. This forced them to be indebted to Dr. Glenn and his ranch and farming empire. In addition Dr. Glenn did not pay wages with cash or coin but on a bank draft. The problem was that Dr. Glenn paid these drafts to his ranch hands on a Sacramento bank that could be cashed there and there only. Dr. Glenn would cash the check for a ten percent fee. All of this type business activity may have been why Dr. Glenn favored Chinese labor so much, they seldom complained and if they did there were always many more Chinese labor to fill their place. Employee’s of Dr. Glenn joked that Dr. Glenn M.D. didn’t stand for Medical Doctor but for Mule Driver for the way he treated his laborers.

Just six short years after Dr. Glenn made his challenge to the Order of Caucasians and Labor Union to burn him out if they dared; Glenn was to meet a substantially different fate than his contemporary, John Bidwell.

In 1874, Dr. Glenns friend from Missouri, Huram Miller who was 11 years Glenn’s junior, came to California and went to work for Glenn in the fields and then worked in Glenn’s company store for a while. Both men were from Paris, Missouri as were both of their wives. In 1883, Huram Miller returned to Jacinto to work for Dr. Glenn after Dr. Glenn had fired his bookkeeper for drunkenness. Prior to Miller’s return, Dr. Glenn’s new mistress, Carrie B. Posten who was commonly referred to as “The Rosebud” had moved into the Jacinto Hotel and was in charge of the payroll deductions of the laborers. This included the 10 percent check cashing fee for the check that Glenn made out to the employees for wages. Miller didn’t like the financial abuses being perpetrated against the ranch hands and he didn’t like Dr. Glenn’s Mistress, The Rosebud and her bookkeeping methods. The Rosebud was getting very wealthy by charging the 10 percent check cashing fee. Miller clashed with The Rosebud who wanted even more money from the laborers. Miller, Glenn’s ranch bookkeeper offered to resign but Dr. Glenn, made a fateful decision and convinced Miller to stay on. Miller did but Glenn sided with The Rosebud on the exploitation of the ranch hands.

The animosity between Huram Miller and The Rosebud continued and on 9 February, 1883, a year that would later become very important to the Chico Murderer’s, Miller insulted The Rosebud at dinner in Glenn’s mansion. Dr. Glenn, the protective lover became enraged and beat the drunken Miller and then imprisoned him in one of the mansion rooms and beat him some more while The Rosebud held a gun on him. Glenn told Miller to shut up about the check cashing scheme and that he would kill Miller if he told anyone. When Dr. Glenn and The Rosebud finally let Miller go, Miller fled Jacinto. On 17 February, 1883, Miller returned, he said to sell his belongings so he could leave the area. Miller had a double barreled 12 bore shotgun loaded with Number 12 Goose Shot.

Miller saw Dr. Glenn standing on the porch of the Glenn hotel. Witness testimony conflicts as to what happened next. Miller confronted Glenn, saying later that Glenn tried to wrestle the shotgun from Miller’s hands and the gun went off. Some said that Miller assassinated the “Wheat King of California” by shooting him above the right ear with a single barrel of the Goose Shot from ten feet away. Most of the ranch hands sided with Miller even if they didn’t see what happened.

Miller made a hasty getaway on foot. The ranch superintendent, R. M. Cochran and eight ranch hands got their rifles and horses and took after Miller. They cornered Miller a short time later and put a bullet through his leg to prevent him running anymore. Many laborers knew Glenn as a ruthless greedy Wheat King who got what he deserved. Glenn’s rich friends and fellow ranchers didn’t see it that way. Glenn, dead at 58 years old had an elaborate burial at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California. The Rosebud didn’t attend since she was now out of a job and out of a rich lover.

Miller’s first trial ended in a hung jury after he told his story. At the second trial Miller was convicted of First Degree Murder and sentenced to Life in Prison at Folsom Prison. It was said that Miller’s conviction was secured through bribes from Mrs. Glenn. Many of Dr. Glenn’s friends worked to clear his name from the roles of evil greedy19^th century robber barons.

Miller’s 19 year old daughter, almost immediately began working for her father’s release from prison. After a few years she contacted the jurors and obtained letters from them in support of a pardon for Miller. She obtained hundreds of letters in support of a pardon from citizens who were familiar with the case and those familiar with Miller. Two U.S. Senators wrote letters of support for Miller and the Governor of Missouri wrote California Governor Waterman a letter in support of Miller’s pardon.

Katherine “Kate” Miller Garnett’s efforts didn’t go unrewarded. On 9 December 1890, Huram Miller’s sentence was commuted to 15 years. On 3 January 1891, Huram Miller’s daughter’s devoted efforts for her father payed off again and Governor Waterman Pardoned him and he was released, 13 days before the 7 year anniversary of the killing.

The true hearted Kate Miller Garnett wrote about her efforts to obtain a pardon for her father in 1927, 30 years after Huram Miller’s death. In her letter she did confirm her father’s temper and drunkenness and placed part of the blame for the murder on him but found Dr. Glenn and The Rosebud were mainly at fault.

The supporters of Dr. Hugh James Glenn worked on his behalf as well and petitioned the California Legislature to name the newly subdivided portion of Colusa County, Glenn County. On 5 March, 1891, just 3 months after Miller was pardoned and released, Glenn County was incorporated and named in Dr. Hugh James Glenn’s memory; it remains an agricultural powerhouse in California.

CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

THE CHINESE QUESTION AND LAND BARONS

Most of the local newspapers at the time of the Massacre were weekly. The murders occurred on the 14^th and they were only confirmed the morning of the 15^th. The local newspapers next weekly date for publication was 16 March, 1877 and all the local newspapers were abuzz with information about the murders, the Chinese question, as it was called, the suspected organization behind the murders and the facts about the scene of the murders.

For many months to come, the local, state and even national newspapers would make discussion of the Chico Massacre. Each day when the papers came out townspeople would read each article about the progress of the murder investigation and the various commentaries on the Chinese labor and immigration question. It all made for intense and interesting discussion among the community.

The newspapers made erratic discussion often, decrying the murders while taking the position against Chinese immigration. Some of the newspapers provided very logical commentary on the problems facing the United States at that time.

One of the logical analyses from the newspapers was the discussion of land barons and land ownership inequality. The newspaper pointed out that the ownership of large tracts of land by a few men made the sharing of wealth a myth and set up a servile class of workers who could never get ahead to make their own fortunes. This argument, well merited, was to haunt John Bidwell who was in ownership of a majority of the land surrounding Chico Township. As a businessman he sought advantage and profit. As a socially responsible progressive he recognized that his business success did indeed leave a vacuum for shared wealth.

General John Bidwell had built his great Empire in the northern Sacramento valley where the soil and water was so abundant it made for easy empire building. Like all self made wealthy men Bidwell had no guilt about his good fortune.

The subject of land wealth came up in discussions with Bidwell’s equally land rich friends. Bidwell would point out the origin of the concept of fortune, the ancient Roman Goddess, Fortuna, who delivered both good and bad fortune. General John Bidwell just could not feel guilt for having good fortune that was in large part due to his own very hard and tireless work as well as the many personal and financial risks that he took to achieve what he had obtained in life. Bidwell always looked back to his land claim in Missouri being stolen and how that had taught him that you had to take every advantage for yourself in life as no one else will do this for you.

Bidwell pointed out his frequent food hunger and water thirst in his migration to California in the Bidwell-Bartleson wagon train that made its way across a wild and hostile western America to California. He pointed out that his early migration and choice of Northern California placed him in the perfect position to get rich in the California Gold rush. He felt no guilt about taking extreme risks to receive extreme reward; this was the simple law of economics, and the laws of the Goddess Fortuna who treated Bidwell very well. But how does one man own and maintain 26,000 acres of prime farm, timber and grazing land? Is there a specific amount of land that one person should be allowed to possess and control?

John Bidwell’s own friend and former clerk of the Mansion, Charles Stilson, had once bragged about John Bidwell’s vast and productive land holdings. Stilson had written the Chicago Tribune Editor a letter comparing John Bidwell’s productive Rancho Chico to the large and productive Illinois farm land of Dalyrymple and Alexander. Stilson’s comments to the eastern press were that Rancho Arroyo Chico was actually superior to Dalrymple and Alexander’s farm. Stilson commented to the Chicago Tribune: “that the Bidwell Ranch, consisting of twenty-five thousand acres, in character, richness of soil and productiveness, was superior to any farming section in the United States, the famous Dalrymple and Alexander Farms in Illinois not excepted.”

The Chico massacre brought forth a discussion among the various newspapers about the “CHINESE QUESTION”. The Chinese question was a simple proposition, was Chinese immigration into the United States harmful to the Citizen Labor force in America? Can Chinese immigration, especially given the vast numbers in China available to immigrate to the U.S., be allowed to continue unfettered? Is this voluminous immigration harmful to the well being of the still young nation? Who was benefiting from the vast amounts of Chinese immigration into the United States? Was it the nation? Was it the working classes? Or, on the other hand, was it the accepted theory, to benefit the wealthy classes whose businesses required laborers and the cheaper the labor the higher the profit.

The newspapers were of course unanimous, that the massacre of innocent, unarmed Chinese laborer’s was repugnant, vile and fiendish and deserved the severest punishment.

The Massacre did, however, take on another incarnation outside of murder, prosecution and punishment that is the normal venue of these matters.

Newspapers pointed out that Chinese immigration brought forth from China a very hard working, tenacious and industrious people to compete with American citizens for the laboring jobs available in the growing nation. This very willing and uncomplaining foreign work force was being exploited by the wealthiest Americans as a class of slave labor. Given the abundant slave labor Chinese to fill labor posts, this reduced the American laborers to an unequal competitive stature. At the time of the Chico Massacre almost one in five people in Butte County was from China. The Chinese since the beginning of the California gold rush had grown to become about eighteen to twenty percent of Butte County’s population and representatively eighteen to twenty percent of Chico Township’s population as well.

Even John Bidwell knew that Chinese immigration was placing intense friction between the laboring classes and the wealthy industrialists and farmers, in the United States. Bidwell would point out that this friction was not as intense prior to the economic collapse of the early 1870s, a collapse that was now still being felt all over the nation.

Bidwell would again use his Bidwell-Bartleson wagon train experiences as a metaphor as to what was happening in America with the Chinese question.

Bidwell would point out that on the trail to California many places were sparse of game to eat and had little to no water. When these became short, the normally kind members of the party became greedy and vengeful. Bidwell pointed out that many times he thought one of their party would murder another for a canteen of water. They generally had enough water in their storage barrels to easily survive until the next water hole, creek or river, but when water became rationed, peoples mindsets changed and a wall of tension built into the wagon train. Bidwell was fond of pointing out the simple fact to his businessman friends that: remember Gentlemen, life has only a finite amount of resources for each of us and when these finite resources become even more finite, then our attitudes of sharing and compassion change. I don’t say it is the Christian way or appropriate behavior, merely human nature in its most basic and rawest form. We all turn into barbarians for a mere crumb of bread when we hunger for food.

Although not named, Bidwell was the definite target of the newspapers comments about the root causes of the Chinese labor resentment. The newspapers pointed out that one of the frictions between citizen labor and imported Chinese labor was in large part due to the private ownership of large land holdings. Private ownership of large tracts of land by too few men simply meant that there were fewer men who could invest in their own farm or ranch to try their hand at their own fortune. With too few land holdings available to people this left the only alternative for laborers was just that, to labor for other men, other men who held the majority of the land.

Large land holdings were too cumbersome to be family run as the smaller more manageable ranches were. To own a vast tract of land meant that you needed laborers to run your operations. Laborers meant that a land owner needed the most amount of work for the least amount of money; this was the rule of simple success in economics. By importing vast amounts of Chinese labor that were willing to work cheap and work hard for low wages, the average national wages were suppressed. This situation only benefitted the employer and not the common laborer in a time before minimum wage laws.

The newspapers continued their open discussion on “THE CHINESE QUESTION”. They discussed it in basic terms that the Chinese Question was a very simple one. How much immigration from China was beneficial to the emerging Nation in the deep throes of industrial revolution; also in the deep throes of an economic depression? Was cheap Chinese labor the cause of the continuation of this economic depression? How many of its own citizens could China supply to America? Could they supply enough of its own population to make America a Chinese suburb? How much American wealth was being exported to China via its American immigrants?

In Butte County the 1870 census showed the County was around 20 percent Chinese. The number was constantly growing. By 1877 the number could have been 22 to 25 percent partially due to the difficulty making census of the secluded culture of the Chinese communities. The Chinese immigrants were in almost every community of the West and the East as well. They were a heavy presence in the United States and there was a juggernaut boom of the shipping industry of packing large ships with immigrants coming to the United States.

The Chico Enterprise edition of April 6 1877 reprinted articles about the Chinese Question as discussed in eastern newspapers. The eastern views on the Chinese Question were very enlightening as to the growing feelings of the general public towards heavy Chinese immigration. Many of these same issues have become a mainstream debate in the America of the 21^st century.

The Chico Enterprise Newspaper edition of Friday evening, April 6, 1877, made note:

“The Chinese question from an Eastern standpoint.

One of the most careful and accurate presentations of the Chinese question furnished by the Eastern press appeared recently in the Boston advertiser. After stating the main facts of the situation with considerable candor that the Journal observes:

“Two views, quite opposite in every sense, may be taken of the duty which this condition of things imposes upon either the state or the national government. Heartless political economy says that cheapness of production is the first consideration. If white labor cannot sustain the shock of Mongolian immigration let it remove, or starve, or turn to something else. The demagogue says that America is for the white race, that labor has already too small a share of the profits of production; that the workingman, meaning the white working man, has a right to employment and relief from the killing competition of men who differ so little in tastes and habits from brute beasts. There is a large element of justice in both views, but neither is to be taken to its full extent. The difficulty of the situation arises from the impossibility of reconciling the two, or of affecting a compromise between them."

This, says the Chico Enterprise, is a tolerably fair statement of the case, and represents forcibly enough the inherent and most serious obstacles to a satisfactory solution. It is not, however, sufficiently, if at all, considered, that one of the main difficulties arises from the conflicting tendencies of theory and practice among the white men who are opposed to Chinese labor. The truth is that the usefulness of the Chinese is not to be denied, and when things where people are useful they are certain to be used. It is a fact that at this moment there are hundreds of Chinese habitually employed by the wives of men who as habitually denounce Chinese labor, and it is not less true that there are many branches of manufacture now carried on by the aid of Chinese which could not be carried on at all with any higher paid labor. In connection with farm help it may be doubted whether the change would not be disastrous, since to supply the place of the Chinese there would then remain only that tramp element which under any and all circumstances is the worst conceivable.”

The Chico Enterprise went on to again raise the issue of a portion of the problem being a lack of shared wealth when it came to arable land for small family farms. Although Bidwell was not named specifically he was certainly one of those the commentary was directed to as was Dr. Glenn who held 20 thousand more acres than Bidwell.

The Chico