A Lawyer's Walking Tour of San Francisco Gerald F
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Santa Clara Law Santa Clara Law Digital Commons Faculty Publications Faculty Scholarship 1-1-1982 A Lawyer's Walking Tour of San Francisco Gerald F. Uelmen Santa Clara University School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/facpubs Recommended Citation 68 A.B.A. J. 958 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Santa Clara Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Santa Clara Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Lawyer's Walking Tour of San Francisco d, By Gerald F. Uelmen steps away. Join m , for a brief walking tour of" SAN FRANCISCANS are a litigious lot some of the legal land- Nearly every scandal that has rocke d marks of San Francisco. the city is preserved for posterity in th e pages of the appellate reports. Scoun drels are immortalized with an "In re " 1. The Fairmont Hotel in front of their names. The humbles:t California and Mason Streets citizens, as well as the most celebrated I We start our tour at appear with a "v." between thei r the top of Nob Hill in the names. Some of these cases are familia.r luxurious lobby of the Fair- as "landmarks" of the law. The rea.1 mont Hotel. The Fairnont "landmarks," where events chronicle d isnamed for James G. Fair, in the cases took place, are just a fexv who once planned to build a palatial mansion here, towering over his wealthy neighbors. Those plans fell victin to a bi[ter divorce. Fair was one of the quartel of lucky Irishmen who struck it rich on the Comstock Lode in Virginia City, Nevada, during the 1870s. Estimates of his fortune ranged upwards from $20 million. Enough, anyway. to buy a seat in the U.S. Senate, where he - served a term representing V Nevada. He died in 18q4. HeinOnline -- 68 A.B.A. J. 958 1982 In his will Fair placed his real prop- Fair's daughter, Tessie, therefore ac- the panoramic windows. As you drink erty in trust with the income to go to his quired title to this land and began con- in the sweeping view to the south, son and two daughters and on their struction of the Fairmont Hotel. The inagine what it would be like to claim deaths to be "transferred and con- hotel was nearly complete when the ownership of all that valuable land. veyed," one fourth to the descendants 1906 earthquake struck, and it was en- When Jos6 Limantour stood on this of each daughter and one gulfed in the ensuing fire. The gutted same hill in 1858. he surely felt a little half to his brothers and interior was rebuilt in short order. dizzy at the prospect of owning three sisters or their descendants. While Henshaw's flip-flop raised a few fourths of San Francisco. Even then the Fair's children challenged the eyebrows, it was largely forgotten for land had an assessed valuation of $15 will, arguing that the trust was 17 years. Shortly after he resigned from million. Limantour's claim was based invalid as a trust to convey real the California Supreme Court in 1917, on an 1843 Mexican land grant, and property-the real property after 23 years on the court, the San when his claim was confirmed by a should go directly to them Francisco Bulletin published an af- board of commissioners set up by the under the law of intestate fidavit of William J. Dingee, swearing new American government, panic 1succession. The children he personally delivered $410,000 in struck the burgeoning city of San Fran- won in the trial court, but cash to Justice Henshaw as a bribe from cisco.o on appeal the California the Fair children to get him to change Supreme Court his vote. Fremont Older, publisher of reversed in a four- the Bulletin, claimed he cWWfited Henshaw with the % j '7- Iiiniiour innounced he would ac- (:1t ciih svllIoinmnts from property onners %xhoiunlcd to quiet title to Iieir holdiing. lili one property owner to-thrcc felt ebpoeidlly threatened by Liman- decision, tour's claims-the United States gov- recognizing the affidavit in a meet- ernment. In addition to the 36 square will as vesting an ing at the Fairmont, and that Henshaw miles lying south of California Street, "equitable remainder" admitted the charge, pleaded with Limantour claimed Yerba Buena Island, in the brothers and sisters. A Older not to publish it, and agreed to Alcatraz Island, and Tiburon, all re- ( petition for rehearing was granted, resign from the bench. Henshaw died garded as important military defensive however, and one year later the in 1929, leaving an estate of $338,000. positions, as well as the islands of the court issued another four-to-three Not bad, on a salary of $6,000 per year. Farrallones opposite the Golden Gate, opinion reversing itself and declaring site of a very important lighthouse. The the will invalid. The change resulted 2. View of Limantour's land grant United States government sent in its from a switch in sides by Justice Frede- Crown Room, Fairmont Hotel best legal talent to challenge Liman- rick W. Ilenshaw, who wrote an erudite Board the glass elevator at the rear of tour's claim, a successful Washington, concurring opinion explaining his ac- the Fairmont and head for the Crown D.C. lawyer named Edwin M. Stanton. tion. In re Fair's Estate, 64 P. 1000, Room, where you can take a seat on a Stanton displayed the sort of determi- 1003-05 (1901). revolving cocktail lounge or stroll past nation that later made him President Illustration by Chuck Slack HeinOnline -- 68 A.B.A. J. 959 1982 p W_ most famous inmates of the federal penitentiary, which occupied the is- the earthquake and fire. It was built in land from 1934 to 1962. For most of 1886 at a cost of $2 million by James C. those years, Robert Stroud presided Flood, another of the lucky Irish quartet Buchanan's choice for attorney general, over an aviary as the "Birdman." who became known as the "Silver President Lincoln's choice for secretary How he got there is a curious story, Kings." Flood wanted to emulate the of war, and President Grant's choice for which began with Stroud v. United elegant brownstone mansions he saw the Supreme Court. (He was not Presi- States, 251 U.S. 15 (1919). While on a return visit to his native New York dent Andrew Johnson's choice for any- Stroud was serving another sentence at City. The brownstone was shipped thing, and Johnson's attempt to remove Leavenworth in 1916, he got into an al- 'round the Horn from a quarry in Con- Stanton from office directly led to tercation with a guard and killed him necticut. The elaborate bronze fence Johnson's impeachment.) with a knife. At his first trial, he was that surrounds the mansion once re- Stanton's investigation revealed a convicted of first-degree murder and quired a full-time servant to keep it monumental fraud. A detailed account sentenced to be hanged, but the convic- polished. of the evidence can be found in 26 F. tion was set aside by the circuit court of Cas. 947 (D.C.N.D. Calif. 1858) (No. appeals. He fared better at his second 15,601). It included proof that the paper trial. Although again convicted of on which one grant was printed was first-degree murder, the jury returned a not in existence at the time the grant binding recommendation against capi- allegedly was made, as well as the con- tal punishment. Once again, though, vincing expert testimony describing ex- the conviction was reversed, this time tensive forgeries. by the Supreme Court on a confession Jos6 Limantour was indicted on crim- of error. At his third trial, he struck out, inal forgery charges. He was released and this jury was not as merciful. He on $35,000 bail, and the criminal again was sentenced to death. charges later were postponed pending In appealing this verdict, he had the lengthy civil challenge to the land some persuasive arguments, not the grant. Limantour returned to Mexico least of which was his claim that the where he decided to stay once the land recommendation against capital pun- grants were proved fraudulent. The ishment at the second trial barred im- sureties who were left holding the bag position of the death penalty after the Flood's only son, James L. Flood, was went all the way to the United States third trial under the double jeopardy a notorious playboy in his youth. He Supreme Court to get their money back, clause. The court rejected the argu- married a beautiful actress, named arguing that the stipulation to postpone ment, and the death warrant was Rose, against his father's wishes. Six the trial indefinitely released them signed, sealed, and delivered. Only the years after their marriage, a baby girl from their obligation. Their claim was last minute intervention of President named Constance joined the family. denied by Justice Stephen J. Field, sit- Wilson saved him. Wilson commuted She was greatly petted and pampered. ting as circuit judge, 27 F. Cas. 746 his sentence to life imprisonment, and Rose died five years later, and after a (C.C.D. Calif. 1866) (No. 16,138). Justice Stroud put the remaining 43 years of year of mourning, James L. Flood mar- Field was famous for his consistency.