San Francisco County
ALFRED CLARKE
Alfred Clarke.—The
subject of this sketch was born at Tramoan, in the
Young
Clarke became s sailor at an early age, taking employment on one of the
trans-Atlantic vessels belonging to Swallow & Co. In one of his voyages
ship fever broke out in a virulent form, and young Clarke was forced ashore by
the quarantine at
In
1850 Mr. Clarke sailed round the Horn in the ship Commonwealth, arriving here
the last day of November of that year. He at once proceeded to the mines in
During
Vigilante days Mr. Clarke was enrolled on the police force of the city, and
retained a connection with the force until 1887, when he resigned. During his
thirty years of service he was much employed about headquarters, and took up
the study of the law, thoroughly mastering it, and being admitted to the bar.
He contested the usage of making policemen perform duty as guards of deserting
soldiers, and received the thanks of General J. C. Kilton,
Assistant Adjutant General of the army, who says “The military may now feel
that hereafter the authority of their courts in such cases will everywhere be
respected. For this commanding officers everywhere will thank you.” In 1883 Mr.
Clarke prepared the papers upon which the extradition of John S. Gray for
forgery and embezzlement was demanded from
Notwithstanding the time expended in becoming so proficient in the law as these incidents indicate, Mr. Clarke was a most exemplary and efficient member of the police force during this time. He was a zealous promoter of the “Widows’ and Orphans’ Aid Association of the Police Department,” and chairman of the committee which gave the association its present valuable constitution and by-laws. As often as he would serve he was honored with the presidency. The Women’s Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church sent him a letter signed by all the officers, thanking him for his “prompt and efficient aid in the peculiar work we have to do in rescuing young Chinese girls from a life of slavery and vice, and training them in good morals and virtue. Without your assistance we should be powerless to rescue the girls from their cruel masters.” Later the Sisters of Mercy sent him hearty thanks for his assistance in some special cases, and closed: “All we can do in return for so much kindness is to pray continually that our Divine Lord may bestow on you His choicest blessings, and spare you for many years to come.” When Mr. Clarke retired from the police force, besides resolutions of commendation by the Board of Supervisors, the Widows’ and Orphans’ Aid Association, and the various other bodies, to which Mr. Clarke belonged, the Board of Police gave him a magnificently engrossed reminder of the high estimation in which he was held by them.
Since settling down to the practice of law exclusively,
Mr. Clarke has managed successfully some very difficult cases. The most noted
was where he appeared before Judy Sawyer, United States Circuit Judge, in an
appeal for the discharge of a client who was held in custody in consequence of
an adverse decision arrived at by the highest courts in California, after a
year of hotly contested litigation. This eminent jurist sustained Mr. Clarke in
every position taken by him, and discharged his client. This endorsement is as
marked an approval of Mr. Clarke’s knowledge of constitutional law, as was the
Attorney General’s in the extradition case of his intimate knowledge of
international law.
Transcribed
by David and Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: “The Bay of
San Francisco,” Vol. 2, Pages 343-345, Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
©
2006 David Rugeroni.