REPRESENTATIVE
AND LEADING
MEN OF THE PACIFIC
FRANK TILFORD
By
THE EDITOR.
FRANK TILFORD is of Scotch-Irish descent,
and a native of Lexington, Kentucky. In the year 1745, a remote ancestor, John Tilford, emigrated with his family from the North of
Ireland and settled in the valley of the Shenandoah. The descendants of this
family are now scattered through the Western States. They belong to that hardy
race of pioneers, who, after driving the Indian tribes from their hunting
grounds in the Mississippi Valley, laid well and deep in their wilderness homes
the foundation of a free government.
In the spring of the year 1849, Frank Tilford, then twenty-seven years of age, with a small party
of youthful adventurers, started overland for the Pacific. He arrived in
California in August of that year, and from that time until now has resided on
the Pacific coast.
In the early days of San Francisco, when
the place was a Pueblo, Mr. Tilford was a member of
the AYUNTAMIENTO, and in that capacity contributed largely and beneficially to
the development of the future city. The cause of education received from him
earnest attention, and to his exertions we owe the first endowment ever
bestowed upon a public school in San Francisco. He endeavored, although
ineffectually, to procure an appropriation of some of the public lands
belonging to the corporation to the establishment of a College of the Pacific.
Had the scheme succeeded, we might, years ago, have had on this coast a
University richly endowed and ranking with the noblest educational institutions
of the land. At that time, unfortunately, a large majority of our people lived
only for and in the immediate present; few either appreciated or cared for the
magnificent future which awaited their adopted State; and the inevitable result
of such indifference was the failure of all propositions of a public character,
which did not promise a speedy remunerative return to the community.
In May, 1850, Mr. Tilford
was elected Recorder, or Criminal Judge, of San Francisco. He held the position
for one year. During his term of office, San Francisco was noted for the fierce
controversies which prevailed in regard to the title and possession of the
lands within her limits. These conflicts, commencing in acts of lawlessness,
ended, too often, in sanguinary violence, and became, therefore, the subjects
of investigation in the criminal courts. In all such cases the sympathies of
the Judge were with the actual and honest occupant, and the law was
administered to protect him against the aggressions of trespassers who sought
to obtain possession without the shadow of legal title or equitable claim. The
firm yet just course pursued by Recorder Tilford in
these troublesome disputes, won for him the esteem and regard of all
well-disposed citizens. His re-election to the same position, it was conceded,
was certain, had he been a candidate for Mayor at the municipal election in
April, 1851. The nomination was made against the earnest, openly-expressed
wishes of the candidate, and finally accepted with great reluctance. The
contest was animated, and rendered more interesting as being the first to occur
in California on strict partisan issues. The Whig party, then, for the first
time, organized, and under the leadership of T. Butler King, collector of the
port, achieved the most brilliant, and almost the only victory, which ever
rewarded its expiring efforts in California. The average majority against the
Democratic ticket was not less than one thousand, while the candidate for the
mayoralty was defeated by only four hundred votes.
Shortly after the election, Judge Tilford formed a law partnership with R. A. Lockwood and
Edmund Randolph, two gentlemen of commanding abilities, now deceased. This firm
instituted a suit which created intense and general excitement—Metcalf vs. Argenti and others—the cause célebre
of that day. The plaintiff complained of a trespass committed by the
defendants in entering his house and searching the premises. They (the
defendants) were members of the Vigilance Committee of 1851. The whole case
involved the legality and propriety of the action of the Committee. Plaintiff
laid his damages at fifty thousand dollars. There were two trials of this
cause, but the jury, on both occasions, were unable to
agree upon a verdict.
In the summer of 1851, Judge Tilford visited Oregon and remained some five months in
Portland, where he practiced law with considerable success. Feeling, at the end
of that short period, that he was out of the pale of civilization—Oregon being
but a dreary abiding place eighteen years ago—he returned to San Francisco
early in 1852, and resumed the practice. He obtained a high reputation at the
bar, but principally as a criminal lawyer.
From 1852 to 1856, during which time Judge
Tilford was practicing law, the San Francisco bar
numbered among its criminal lawyers, Col. Baker, Gov. Smith of Virginia, Bailie Peyton, Gov. Foote, Edward F. Marshall, Col. James,
and Harry Byrne, now, as then, District Attorney of San Francisco.
In 1854, he was nominated by the Democracy
for Judge of the Superior Court of San Francisco. In that year the Native
American party first appeared in California as a district political
organization. “Towering in its pride of place,” it swept all before it and
succeeded in electing every one of its nominees. The Whig party was crushed out
of existence. The Democracy held together, and although defeated, were not demoralized.
In 1855, Judge Tilford
received the compliment of the nomination, unanimously tendered him by the
county convention of his party, for State Senator. He took the field against
the enemy, before whose power he had fallen the previous year, and at the fall
election was chosen by a majority of twenty-five hundred votes.
The seventh session of the California
legislature was one of unusual interest to the political parties of the State.
The Native American party had been successful at the State election and
returned a majority of the legislature. In the assembly they had the decided
control, and in the senate, one majority. The first question which arose
was in reference to a joint convention to elect a United States Senator to
succeed Wm. M. Gwin, whose term had expired. The
Democrats opposed the convention and favored the postponement of the election.
Senator Tilford made the only speech on the
Democratic side; taking the ground that the State election had turned on local
and personal issues; was no just indication of the popular judgment, and that
it would be impolitic, if not disastrous to the public interests, to place in
the Senate of the United States the representative of a faction which had no
national existence, and whose career was destined to a speedy termination. This
speech was published in all the Democratic journals of the State, and was
generally accepted as defining the attitude of the Democracy.
The vote was taken on the motion to
indefinitely postpone the assembly resolution in favor of a joint convention,
and the motion was carried—Hon. Wilson Flint acting with the Democratic
members. The people of the State, at the election which took place in the fall
of 1856, sustained the course pursued by a majority of the senate.
Another debate of a political character
occurred in the senate, important as, in part, the cause and precursor of the
fall of the Native American party in California. The assembly, in which that
party had a large majority, as stated, had passed a resolution condemning the
election of Hon. N. P. Banks to the position of Speaker of the House of
Representatives at Washington, for the reason, as alleged, that he was “the
exponent of sectional ideas and principles diametrically opposed to the spirit
of the Constitution of the United States.” When this resolution came to the
senate, the Native American members after caucus held, unwilling to pass, yet
hardly prepared to oppose, resolved on tabling it. The discussion which arose
was the most interesting and exciting which, up to that period, had occurred in
the California Legislature. Hawks, Senator from San Francisco, and the eloquent
Ferguson of Sacramento, favored the tabling of the resolution. Senators
Mandeville and Tilford urged its passage. The motion
to table the resolution was carried by a clear vote; but in the discussion
which preceded the final vote, were sown the seeds of the ultimate dissolution
of the Native American party in the State. Upon the fall of that party, a large
number transferred allegiance to the victorious enemy, while another very
considerable element united with the National Republican party, then about
organizing. The speech of Judge Tilford on this
resolution was ordered to be published by the Democratic members of the legislature.
A comparison will show that this speech embodied the views, in almost the
identical language, afterwards set forth in the platform adopted by the
convention which at Cincinnati nominated James Buchanan for the Presidency.
While a senator from San Francisco, Mr. Tilford was a member of the judiciary committee, and during
the latter portion of his term was chairman of the same—a position which gave
him considerable control in the passage and defeat of bills. No little credit
is due to him for revising and preparing amendments to the criminal law of the
State. He reported two bills for that purpose, which passed the senate, and,
with some slight alteration from the assembly, became law. Among other features
in these bills, whipping for petit larceny, and the
death penalty at the discretion of the jury in cases of robbery and grand
larceny, were abolished; the attempt to commit a crime was made
punishable, and degrees in murder and other offences were introduced and
defined. The views of the author of these measures were set forth in a speech
on crimes and punishments, and the argument made that the certainty, not
the severity of punishment, deterred from the commission of crimes. This
speech was printed and extensively circulated, the leading ideas receiving the
general approval of the press and bar.
Judge Tilford
often recalls with pride his advocacy of a bill which became a law, to enable
aliens to inherit real and personal estate as fully as native born citizens—a
measure which, just in itself, has exercised a beneficial influence on the
prosperity of the State. He also advocated, with zeal and deep interest, a
confirmation of the celebrated Van Ness Ordinance by the legislature. The measure than failed, but in 1858 was adopted, and is now universally
admitted to have been one of the most salutary measures ever passed by a
California legislature.
To Horace Hawes, then a member of the assembly, is undoubtedly due the credit of the Consolidation
Bill. It originated with him. Yet, when it came to the senate, it met with a
violent opposition, and but for the cordial and active support which it
received from Senators Tilford and Shaw, must have
miscarried.
The property owners of San Francisco at
that time will always gratefully remember the constant, persistent opposition
which Mr. Tilford made to any and all schemes for the
control by individuals or corporations of the harbor and water front of the
city.
In 1856, Judge Tilford
was a candidate before the Democratic State Convention for Congress. His opponent
was the Hon. Charles L. Scott, who received the nomination by a small majority.
The party in California was then divided into two very distinct elements—the
chivalry, or Southern wing, and the more conservative portion, composed of men
from all sections of the country and opposed to radicalism in any shape. Judge Tilford belonged to the latter division. The Federal
office-holders acted generally with the chivalry wing; and gave an almost
unanimous support to the successful candidate.
The Legislature which convened on the
first Monday in January, 1857, was charged with the duty of electing two United
States Senators, in place of William M. Gwin and John
B. Weller. The Hon. David C. Broderick was nominated by the Democratic caucus,
and elected in joint convention, on the first ballot, to succeed John B.
Weller. Judge Tilford was an active, zealous,
untiring supporter of Mr. Broderick. He was selected to make the nomination,
which he did, accompanying it with a speech which was published and warmly
applauded by the friends of the new Senator.
In 1857, Judge Tilford
received from the President the appointment of Naval Officer of the Port of San
Francisco, which position he held for the full term of four years. This
appointment was made in acknowledgment of the many and faithful services
rendered by the appointee in behalf of his party.
Upon retiring from office, and on a final
accounting with the Treasury Department, he received not only an acquaintance,
but an order for money found to be due him—a practical endorsement of double
value.
During his stay in the Naval Office, he
participated in every political canvass which occurred in the State.
When, in 1860, the memorable division took
place in the ranks of the Democratic party resulting
in the nomination of Stephen A. Douglas and John C. Breckenridge, Judge Tilford’s earnest wish and efforts were for a reunion of
the party in California. He endeavored to prevail upon the party leaders to
present but one electoral ticket to the people. The candidates for presidential
electors were to cast the vote of the State as a majority of the ballots they
received might indicate the preference of the masses of the party. This plan
failing, Judge Tilford then gave his support to
Breckenridge. He canvassed the State with unflagging spirit, although his views
did not entirely coincide with those of either wing of the party. He had always
opposed secession as unconstitutional, wrong in theory and pernicious in
practice. On the other hand, in common with a large number of the leading
statesmen and journals of the North, he believed coercion a dangerous
remedy, liable to terminate in the subversion of States’ rights and the
centralization of power—that, while the Federal government had the undoubted
right to maintain and defend its own existence, imminent danger to popular
liberty was to be apprehended from standing armies and military dictatorship.
When it became apparent that an amicable adjustment of our national
difficulties was impossible, that the issue was to be presented to the arbitrament of the sword—he felt it his duty to sustain the
government under which he lived and to which he owed allegiance.
In the same year, a committee was
appointed by the San Francisco leaders of the Breckenridge branch of the
Democracy, to prepare an Address to the people of the State, vindicating the
course of the Baltimore Convention in nominating Breckenridge, and the claims
of their candidate to popular support. This committee consisted of Hon. O. C.
Pratt, since Judge of the 12th Judicial District, Hon. R. Augustus Thompson,
formerly a member of Congress from Virginia, and Mr. Tilford.
The address prepared and published by these gentlemen, set forth very ably and
eloquently all the positions which the press and speakers of the Breckenridge
wing afterwards sustained.
From 1861 to 1863, Judge Tilford was not engaged in the practice of his profession;
and, although feeling a profound interest in the events progressing in the
Atlantic States, abstained from any active participation in politics.
In the fall of the latter year he removed
to the then Territory of Nevada, and entered again on his professional labors.
In 1864, he was elected Superintendent of
Public Instruction in Storey County, and acted in that capacity until the
adoption of the State Constitution placed the control of the public schools in other hands. Shortly
afterwards he was appointed City Attorney of Virginia City, and retained by a
Board of Aldermen politically opposed to him. One incident in his career in
Nevada is particularly worthy of mention. It occurred in the summer of 1864. In
August of that year, a concerted and general uprising of the miners of the
Virginia District took place, caused by an attempt to reduce their wages. Labor
was suspended. Threats of violence were freely made against the Superintendent
of the Gould & Curry mine. At one time there appeared
serious danger of a wide destruction of property by the multitude. The
procession, numbering three to four thousand strong, marched through the
streets of Virginia, and finally assembled in front of the International Hotel.
At the earnest request of Mr. Stewart; now United States Senator, and other
prominent citizens, Judge Tilford consented to
address the exasperated crowd. His remarks were well-timed, well-received, and
had a very happy effect. The people gradually dispersed, and the whole
proceeding ended harmlessly.
In the spring of 1866, Mr. Tilford, feeling satisfied that there was no prospect of a
revival of prosperity in Virginia City, sought a new and more promising
locality.
At the time, the Excelsior Mining
District, in Nevada county, California, engrossed a
considerable share of public attention, and was believed to be one of the
richest mineral regions on the Pacific Coast. He was then, and for some time
past had been, largely interested in the mines of that section. Thither he
removed in May, and opened a law office in the town of
Meadow Lake, in connection with J. C. Foster, Esq. The district proved a
ruinous failure. The character and peculiar formation of the ledges, the vast
amount of rebellious sulphurets in the metalliferous lodes, and more than all, the length of the
winter, which, in this mountainous region, extends over eight months, united to
disappoint the expectations of thousands, who had invested their means in the
mines of the locality. While residing at “Meadow Lake,” Mr. Tilford
edited the “Sun,” an independent newspaper. He also prepared an
elaborate description of the mines, and history of mining operations, in
Excelsior; giving an account of the discovery, settlement, resources, scenery
and prospects of this romantic section of country. This interesting narrative first
appeared in Bean’s Directory of Nevada county, (1866)
and also, in a condensed form, in the CALIFORNIA SCRAP BOOK (1869). It is
replete with valuable knowledge concerning an extensive and almost unknown
region, (remarkable for its mineral richness as well as the beauty and grandeur
of its scenery) and being written in very attractive style, will repay
attentive perusal.
In the summer of 1866, the Democratic
convention of Nevada county met at Grass Valley.
Hearing that an effort would be made to give him some place on the ticket, and
having abandoned the field of politics, Judge Tilford
addressed a letter to the convention, declining any nomination. The convention,
however, aware of his popularity and abilities as a public speaker, unanimously
nominated him for State Senator. At the urgent request of some of the most
prominent Democrats of the county, he accepted the nomination. No one supposed
his election was possible. Nevada county had been, and
was still claimed as, the banner county of the Republican nominee for Supreme
Judge received one thousand majority. Judge Tilford
entered the canvass, and addressed the people almost every night in the months
of July and August, visiting nearly every town, village and mining camp in that
populous county—from the summit of the Sierras where the reign of winter is
unbroken, to the valleys where flowers are in continual bloom. His meetings
were large—the people never stayed at home when Tilford
was announced to speak. His political enemies confess, that, in conduct of this
campaign, he made the most gallant fight ever witnessed in Nevada county, while his friends were enthusiastic in their
expressions of admiration. His opponent was Hon. E. W. Roberts, who, on the
official count, was shown to be elected by a majority of ninety-one out
of a total vote exceeding five thousand.
When
the legislature met at Sacramento in December, 1867, Judge Tilford’s
name was brought forward by many of his friends as a candidate for United
States Senator, and submitted to the Democratic legislature caucus. The
universal esteem in which he was held by the people of his county was shown in
the fact that, before the Democratic caucus had agreed upon a candidate for
Senator, all Democratic and Republican papers of Nevada county
advocated his nomination and election.
In November, 1867, he returned to his
first home on the Pacific Coast, San Francisco, where he formed a partnership
with Tully R. Wise, formerly United States District Attorney, and applied
himself diligently to his profession. In the Presidential election of 1868, he
supported Seymour and Blair. He retains firmly the principles cherished through
his entire political career.
Judge Tilford
occupied a prominent place in the gifted band of orators whose appeals were
wont, in the olden times, to thrill and electrify the hearts of the multitude;
whose contests have become famous and whose achievements have passed into the
history of the State. The voices of BAKER, FERGUSON, HAWKS and GRIFFITH, in
life so eloquent, have long been hushed. Tilford
remains among the few who not only witnessed their triumphs, but gathered
laurels with them on the field of debate. He often recurs, with proud emotion,
to his old companionship with those gallant spirits. As a political debater and
popular speaker he has few equals in California. His prepared addresses to
literary and benevolent associations, of which he has delivered many, are ripe
and artistic productions. His command of language is remarkable and he is
always effective in addressing a jury.
At this time Mr. Tilford
is in the White Pine district, actively, and we trust, profitably, engaged in
conducting litigation. His home is, however, still in San Francisco, and
thither he expects, at no distant day, to return and spend the remainder of his
life.
Frank Tilford
has retired from the political arena. The conflicts of party and the contests
of politicians possess no attractions for him. Hereafter, he will devote his
talents and energies to professional pursuits, which, if less exciting, are in their
results more satisfactory than the toils or triumphs of a partisan. In one
respect he has been ever consistent, and to one aspiration always true—his devotion to the advancement, and confidence in the
grand destinies, of the Pacific Coast.
A glorious commonwealth of States,
extending along the shores of the Pacific, from the Arctic circle to Panama,
united by a common interest, with free institutions, a homogeneous population,
and in the enjoyment of a degree of prosperity unparalleled in history, is now,
and has been for the last twenty years, the cherished hope and day-dreams of
his existence.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Shuck, Oscar T., “Representative & Leading Men of the
Pacific”, Bacon & Co., Printers & Publishers, San Francisco, 1870. Pages 277-287.
© 2008 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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