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1-1-1982 A Lawyer's Walking Tour of Gerald F. Uelmen Santa Clara University School of Law, [email protected]

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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 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. , publisher of reversed in a four- the Bulletin, claimed he cWWfited Henshaw with the % j

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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

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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. his life to good use. ried her sister, Maud, and moved into His decision was reversed unanimously If you want to get a closer look at his this mansion. by the Supreme Court, in an opinion cell, or the cell occupied by Al Capone, But young Constance was no longer authored by Justice Stephen J. Field. the National Park Service offers guided with the family. Her disappearance re- See Reese v. United States, 9 Wall. 13 tours several times each day, leaving mained a mystery until James L. Flood (1869). from Fisherman's Wharf. died 28 years later in 1926, leaving his 3. View of Alcatraz Island widow Maud and their two children. Crown Room, Fairmont Hotel 4. Flood Mansion The mystery then was exposed in a suit While here, pause a moment to gaze (Pacific Union Club) brought by Constance against the Flood on the barren rock of Alcatraz Island 1000 California Street estate. She claimed that she was James to the north. It is enshrouded with Back on the ground, leave the Fair- L. Flood's illegitimate daughter by an legends, many of which have found mont's main entrance and walk across actress named Eudora Forde. She al- their way into law books. My favorite Mason Street. There you will find the leged that she had been "legitimatized" "Alcatraz case" concerns one of the only Nob Hill mansion that survived when Flood and his first wife took her

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HeinOnline -- 68 A.B.A. J. 960 1982 5. Site of Crocker's spite fence On November 6, 1963, Inspector Nall Taylor and Sacramento Streets of the Department of Public Health, Di- Continue west on California Street. vision of Housing Inspection, came A Crossing Taylor Street you may want to knocking at this door. When Roland stop to admire the Ghiberti doors at the Camara answered, Nall explained that entrance to Grace Cathedral. They were the permit of occupancy for the prem- cast from molds of the originals at the ises was restricted to commercial use 4' Baptistery in Florence. Grace Cathedral and that he was there to inspect the ~I took 50 years to complete, from 1914 to premises to see if their use was in com- ) 1964. It was built on the site of Charles pliance with that permit. Roland, who Crocker's massive redwood Victorian was living at the rear of the store, re- mansion, destroyed in the earthquake fused to allow the inspector to come in. and fire of 1906. He then was charged with a mis- Next to the cathedral, at the corner of demeanor violation of a housing code Taylor and Sacramento, is the Epis- provision requiring compliance with copal diocesan office. At one time this an officer's right to enter premises in was the site of the humble residence of performance of his duties. a Chinese undertaker named Yung. As Roland sought a writ of prohibition into their home as an infant and Flood Crocker saw things, Yung just didn't to halt the prosecution, but he was un- acknowledged her as his daughter. know his proper place, which certainly successful since a four-year-old prece- After Flood's remarriage, he sent the wasn't to be nestled among the man- dent of the Supreme Court clearly up- young girl to a convent, where she was sions of San Francisco's elite. When held the right of health and safety in- given a new name. Yung refused to sell his property to spectors to enter premises without a The allegations resulted in one of the Crocker, the railway king built a gigan- warrant. Frank v. Maryland, 359 U.S. most spectacular trials in California's tic 40-foot wall around three sides of 360 (1959). Nevertheless, he insisted on history. Eudora Forde testified that an- Yung's property. The California Su- going all the way to the Supreme Court. other playboy other than Flood was preme Court upheld a property owner's After all, Frank was a five-to-four deci- Constance's father, but she was im- right to spite in Western Granite and sion, and its author, Felix Frankfurter, peached by showing she "switched Marble Company v. Knickerbocker, 37 had retired. sides," renouncing her claim that Jim P. 192 (1894). But times have changed. Roland's persistence paid off in Flood was the father only when Con- Section 841.4 of the California Civil Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. stance's lawyer's "fell behind in their Code now declares that one's spite may 523 (1967), in which the Court over- payments" and the Flood family began not exceed ten feet in height without ruled Frank and held that, after entry giving her "regular remittances." After being declared a private nuisance. has been refused, a health and safety a three-week trial, the trial judge di- inspector must obtain a warrant to enter rected a verdict in favor of the Flood the premises. In a shrill dissent Justice family. His decision was so unpopular Tom Clark predicted that the greatest that he was unseated at the next elec- disaster since the San Francisco tion- by the lawyer who had repre- l's earthquake would result from Camara, sented Constance! Nor did his decision "jeopardizing the health, welfare and fare any better when it was reviewed by safety of liternlly millions of people." the California Supreme Court, which Complimenting San Francisco for its reversed the judgment and remanded cleanliness and safety, he noted that for a new trial in In re Flood's Estate, 21 190,000 health and safety inspections P. 2d 579 (1933). The case then was set- had been carried out in the city in tled out of court. Constance received 1965-66, with only ten refusals. He more than $1 million. As part of the set- predicted a general rebellion with a tlement, she agreed not to use the name "significant increase" in refusals to of Flood. permit inspections. The Flood mansion now houses the 6. Camara's Castle Curious whether Justice Clark's dire Pacific Union Club, one of the last bas- 223 Jones Street predictions came true, I called the tions of male exclusivity. It is reported Go back to California Street and con- housing inspectors (now called En- that the only female ever admitted in- tinue west one block to Jones Street. vironmental Health Services) and asked side after the club took over the man- Turn left and go south eight steep how many inspection warrants had to sion was Maud Flood, who returned to blocks, all downhill. be issued since Camera was decided. see what they had done to her former If you look to the right when crossing The answer: zero. Roland Camara is the home. Geary Street, you will see one of the only "rebel" they have ever encoun- There is a quiet little park next door most bizarre fagades in San Francisco, tered. to the Flood mansion. It is called Hunt- the Alcazar Theatre. It was built in 1917 ington Park in honor of railroad mag- as a Shriners' temple. When you get to 7. Hastings College of the Law nate Collis P. Huntington, whose man- the humble storefront labeled "Go Go 198 McAllister Street sion once stood here. In the park is a Kitchen Soul Food" at 223, you will not Jones Street converges with McAllis- lovely fountain graced by three dancing find a front door to match Ghiberti's. ter Street at Market. The impressive cherubs. It is inscribed with Maud's But the Supreme Court held that it still columned portico of Hibernia Bank has name-Mrs. James L. Flood. is entitled to great reverence. graced this corner since 1892. Noting

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HeinOnline -- 68 A.B.A. J. 961 1982 Tie lastlings family tree is ininior- which featured testimony describing talized in Xiaud '. Cthcrwood, 155 P. the effect of "Twinkie" consumption 2(1 111 (1945), wh cli settled a dispute on his blood sugar. See California v. belween Iis grandchildren and great White, 172 Cal. Rptr. 612 (1981). Out- grandchildren over distribution of the raged San Franciscans stormed City proceeds of a Irust lie established in Hall in a surge of rioting to protest the 1874. 1t is the loading California case on verdict. Once the defense of "di- pIercapita vercis iier stirpes distribu- minished capacity" was dubbed the tion, and itstill is required reading for "Twinkie defense," it was doomed. The students of trusts and wills at Hastings. California legislature enacted a pro- One of the first students of Hastings vision in 1981 that precludes evidence was Clara Shortridge Foltz, but she had of a mental disorder to negate the ca- to carry a lawsuit to the California Su- pacity to form criminal intent. preme Court lo get admilted. Foltz X. Hoge, 54 Cal. 28 (1879). She went on to a lot of other firsts-first woman admit- ted to the California bar, first woman that "each case is but an excursion into deputy district attorney, founder of the history," Justice Tobriner explored the Califoinia parole system, and originator fascinating history of Hibernia Bank in of the public defender system. rejecting a series of ownership claims by descendants of the "few Irish Gen- tlemen" who founded it in 1859. See ,,* q ,'!al 'ii!,'i, i%t'.,', , 9 Cal. Rptr. 867-909 (1960). Go right 45 . two blocks on McAllister and you will see the high-rise buildings that now house Hastings College of the Law, the oldest law school in California-with the oldest professors. Hastings operates a unique program to attract distinguished professors who have reached mandatory retirement age at other law schools. Basking in the California sun, they continue teaching many years. Thus, the tradition of the founder is carried on. Serranus Clinton The rotunda is inscribed with the Hastings lived a long life, too. When he name of , who served as took on a new young wife at the age of San Francisco's mayor from 1912-31 70, he was sued by a disappointed and then went on to become governor young lady for breach of promise. of California. You also will find a bust Founding Hastings College of the of Rolph to the right of the Polk Street Law was merely the capstone to a entrance to City Hall. "Sunny Jim" was career that included service as the chief 8. San Francisco City Hall one of California's more colorful gov- justice of two state supreme courts! Be- McAllister and Polk Streets ernors. When a lynch mob in San Jos4 fore he came to California in 1849, Continue west two blocks on McAl- dragged two prisoners out of jail and Hastings served a year as chief justice lister and you will see the green-ribbed hanged them in the City Park in 1933, in Iowa. Within a year of his arrival in dome of San Francisco's City Hall, built Governor Rolph announced a guaran- California, lie was elected first chief in 1915. The magnificent interior, rich teed pardon if any members of the justice of the California Supreme Court. in detail, is well worth a peek inside. lynch mob were charged, adding, "I On leaving the court, he served a term The vast rotunda beneath the dome would like to parole all kidnappers in as state attorney general. He endowed rises four stories. City Hall was the San Quentin and Folsom to the fine Hastings as a department of the Univer- scene of recent tragedy that still is re- patriotic citizens of San Jos6." sity of California in 1878, and he served verberating through California court- If you exit City Hall on the Van Ness as the first dean. The charter provided rooms and legislative halls. Avenue side, you will be across the that the governing board always would In 1978 Mayor and street from the War Memorial Opera include some heir or representative of Supervisor Harvey Milk were shot to House, where the conference to form S.C. Hastings. This provision was up- death in their offices in this building. A the United Nations met in 1945. held by the California Supreme Court former supervisor, Dan White, was against a challenge by the university, charged with the murders. When you 9. U.S. Court of Appeals which later claimed its own trustees enter City Hall, you will be required to Mission and Seventh Streets should govern the law school. People pass through a metal detector. White When you leave City Hall, walk back ex. rel. Hastings v. Kenwen, 10 P. 393 avoided the metal detector by entering to the Polk Street side and-through (1886). The board of directors today in- through a basement window. He was the Civic Center park toward Fulton cludes a grandson of Serranus Clinton convicted of manslaughter, based on a Street. You will pass the Main Public Hastings. defense of "diminished capacity," Library at the corner of Larkin and Ful-

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HeinOnline -- 68 A.B.A. J. 962 1982 pwr turning to Market Street and taking a bus or a Bart train to the next exit. At the corner of Fifth and Mission, you will find the oldest stone building in San Francisco, built in 1874. The Old Mint now houses a fascinat- ing museum, where you can watch a history film, see $6 million worth of gold bars and nuggets, and strike your own souvenir medal on a 160-ton press. Official medals also are on sale, includ- ing the new series on chief justices of the United States. (So far, medals have been struck of Jay, Rutledge, Warren, and Burger.) The museum is open 10 A.M. to 4 P.M., Tuesday to Saturday. ton, a gift of Andrew Carnegie. The judges of the Ninth Circuit now While the Old Mint was the scene of The library stands on the site of the are hoping soon to occupy the first floor many financial transactions, the one first city hall, one of the few buildings space vacated by the post office since that took place on May 24, 1906, was to collapse in the 1906 earthquake. the recent expansion of the court to 23 somewhat unusual. Only a month had (Most of the devastation was caused by judges makes for rather cramped quar- passed since the disastrous earthquake the ensuing fire.) In the rubble San ters. The former chief judge, Richard N. and fire. San Francisco's banks still Franciscans found evidence of the graft Chambers, spent 25 years raiding fed- were closed, so the mint was function- and corruption that pervaded their city eral courthouses throughout the United ing as an emergency bank. By order of government. The "marble" columns States to find furniture suitable for this Patrick Calhoun, the lawyer grandson holding up the city hall rotunda were magnificent courthouse. You can find of John C. Calhoun, who served as pres- revealed to be plaster columns filled the table Al Capone sat at during his ident of United Railroads, which oper- with sand. Chicago trial for tax evasion, as well as ated all trolley cars in San Francisco, Fulton Street runs into U.N. Plaza, chairs occupied by counsel during the $200,000 was transferred from the east where you will find your exact latitude Teapot Dome trials in Cheyenne. Judge to the mint in San Francisco. On May and longitude well marked. Bear left at Chambers added another personal 24, 1906, Tirey L. Ford, chief lawyer for the fountain, and cross Market Street at touch in the bathrooms that adjoin each United Railroads and later a member of Seventh. One block south you will see conference room. The marble walls are the state board of prison directors, the Main Post Office Building, which adorned by four and one half stars that withdrew $50,000 in gold from Cal- houses the United States Court of Ap- were installed when he was informed houn's account at the mint, converted it peals for the Ninth Circuit. You will that court of appeals judges rank in of- to cash, and took it to the offices of find inside the most opulent interior of ficial protocol between a four- and a United Railroads, where it was deliv- any courthouse in America. five-star general. If you would like to ered to , the lawyer who be- The corridor of the third floor is a tour the courtrooms, prior -ar- came "political boss" of San Francisco long colonnade of 48 white Italian mar- rangements should be made with the while served as mayor. ble pillars. The walls of Courtroom No. circuit executive (telephone 415/556- The remaining $150,000 was delivered 1 are black-and-white veined pavon- 6128). later to Ruef in installments. azzo marble on a base of red African The money was the payoff for an or- Numidian marble. The coffered ceiling dinance that sailed through the board is elaborately decorated with sculpture, of supervisors three days earlier, per- mosaics, and leaded-glass skylights. mitting United Railroads to convert its Among the infamous defendants who trolley lines to overhead electrical stood trial in this courtroom was "To- wires. According to Ruef, $85,000 of kyo Rose," who was convicted of the cash went to the supervisors, and treason for her wartime propaganda r $50,000 went to Mayor Schmitz. broadcasts on behalf of the Japanese. I The whole sordid story is immor- See D'Aquino v. United States, 192 F. talized in California v. Ruef, 114 P. 54 2d 338 (9th Cir. 1951). (1910). Ruef's bribery conviction was Two other courtrooms are equally ex- upheld despite the claim that a mistrial travagant. All this was made possible should have been declared when the by a fortuitous drop in the price of steel chief prosecutor, Francis J.Heney, was after Congress appropriated $2.5 mil- 4...... shot through the head in the courtroom lion for construction during the 1890s. just as the jurors were returning from a Rather than return the surplus to the p recess. Heney miraculously survived. Treasury, architect James Knox Taylor He was shot by a man he had rejected lavishly spent it on the interior, import- 10. Old U.S. Mint rudely as a prospective juror in a previ- ing Italian artisans to do the work. The Fifth and Mission Streets ous trial. The assistant prosecutor then building was completed in 1905 and Go two blocks east on Mission Street took over and completed the trial. Al- survived the earthquake and fire intact to Fifth. These are rather long blocks, so though his closing argument contained one year later. those who are foot-sore may prefer re- some highly objectionable statements,

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HeinOnline -- 68 A.B.A. J. 963 1982 the court excused this as harmless and Wo Lee. None of the 80 non- machines and Telex wires, why is it we exuberance, and the zealous prosecutor Chinese who operated laundries were must wait years for a Supreme Court rode into the governor's office on the arrested, although only ten San Fran- decision, when Lee Yick and We Lee, a crest of his victory. His name was cisco laundries were in buildings made century ago, only had to wait 15 weeks? Hiram L. Johnson. Johnson was Teddy of brick or stone. Yick was convicted Roosevelt's running mate in the 1912 and sentenced to pay a fine of $10 or "Bull Moose" campaign, and he is the remain in jail until the fine was satis- only California governor in this century fied at a rate of $1 a day. He sought a -so far-who went from the governor's writ of habeas corpus from the Califor- office to the United States Senate. nia Supreme Court, but it was denied in Abe Ruef served four and a half years In re Yick We, 9 P. 139 (1885). of a 14-year sentence in San Quentin We Lee, on the other hand, sought and was disbarred, but he returned to relief in federal court. Judge Lorenzo San Francisco and prospered as a real Sawyer was sympathetic, noting that estate broker until his death in 1936. the discrimination that motivated the ordinance "must be apparent to every citizen of San Francisco who has been here long enough to be familiar with the cause of an active and aggressive branch of public opinion and of public notorious events. Can a court be blind 12. The Palace Hotel to what must be necessarily known to 633 Market Street every intelligent person in the state?" Walk north on Third Street back to In re We Lee, 26 F. 471, 475 (1886). Market and turn right. You will find Nevertheless, exercising a restraint yourself less than a block from the hardly characteristic of modern federal Palace Hotel, which reigned over San judges, he felt bound by the decision of Francisco's society for nearly a century. te cCalifornia Supreme Court in Yick Itis now called the Sheraton Palace, but and concluded "... we do not con- to San Franciscans ...... , , ,.: 1 ", : .. it's still just "The .y..re it to be our duty to overrule the Palace." Woodrow Wilson, while pres- action of the supreme court of the state ident, made a famous speech here urg- 11. Site of Yick Wo Laundry unless it be upon the clearest and most ing our entry into the League of Na- Third and Folsom Streets indubitable grounds." tions. Warren Harding, while presi- One more block east on Mission He urged the Supreme Court to grant dent, died here. Stop and have lunch at Street, then a block south, brings us to speedy review of the cases, however, the Garden Court, one of the most mag- the new Moscone Convention Center, and his recommendation certainly was nificent dining rooms in the world. The which will open in December. Behind followed. Judge Sawyer's opinion was green goddess salad was first presented the cavernous meeting hall is the site announced on January 26, 1886. Less to actor George Arliss here, who named that was occupied by a ramshackle than 15 weeks later, on May 10, 1886, it for the play in which he was then wooden building a century ago. the Supreme Court announced its starring. Lee Yick came to San Francisco from landmark opinion in Yick We v. Hop- The original Palace was built on this China in 1861. For 25 years he sweat kins, 118 U.S. 356 (1886), which is still site in 1875 by William Ralston, presi- over steaming washtubs on this site, quoted today as the origin of the de- dent of the Bank of California. Ralston operating a tiny laundry. In 1886 there fense of discriminatory prosecution. sailed into San Francisco Bay as a were 320 similar laundries in San Fran- Somewhere along the line, Lee Yick's young man in 1851 and accumulated cisco, 240 of them owned by Chinese. name was confused with the name he an incredible fortune by investing in But the Chinese were not particularly had given to his laundry. Yick We was gold and silver mines and real estate. popular in the San Francisco of the a popular business name in the Chinese Some of his ventures, however, were 1880s. Largely for that reason, the San community, signifying harmony and not bonanzas. He was chief victim of Francisco Board of Supervisors enacted tranquillity. The Supreme Court there- one of the most notorious swindles in an ordinance requiring a license to op- fore unwittingly granted a writ of American history-the Galconda Dia- erate a laundry, and a condition for is- habeas corpus to a laundry, and Lee mond Mine, which turned out to be a suance of the license was the recom- Yick missed his opportunity to achieve gravel pit in Colorado that swindlers mendation of 12 citizens of the block immortality in the U.S. Reports. This had "salted" with diamonds. His where the laundry was to be operated. year ground was broken in San Fran- scheme to control all of the water This ordinance was declared uncon- cisco's Chinatown for a new elementary supplies to San Francisco had col- stitutional in In Re Quong Woo, 13 F. school. It will commemorate the con- lapsed. On August 26, 1875, when a 229 (1882). tribution made to civil rights by laun- serious fall in the stock of Virginia City The supervisors then re-enacted the dryman Lee Yick. But it will be called Silver Mines precipitated a run on the ordinance as a general prohibition Yick We Elementary School. The origi- bank, Ralston was called to account. against operating any laundry without nal site of Yick We Laundry is now a The books showed he was more than $9 a permit unless it was in a building of parking lot. million in debt, with only $4.5 million brick or stone. The ordinance was en- After reviewing the fascinating his- in assets. The solution, forced on forced by the arresting of 150 Chinese tory of these cases, only one question Ralston by the hoard of directors, was laundry operators, including Lee Yick remains in my mind. With our Xerox that he sign over a deed of trust to all

964 American Bar Association Journal

HeinOnline -- 68 A.B.A. J. 964 1982 his assets to his partner, William Sha- hours before his final swim. There is no to Nob Hill, where your walk began. ron, a senator from Nevada, and resign reported opinion in Ralston v. Sharon, The cable car will take you past another as bank president. however. The senator settled with the great San Francisco hotel, the St. Fran- Ralston left the bank, walked two widow out of court for $250,000. cis, which faces Union Square between miles to North Beach, donned a bathing When the 1906 earthquake struck, Geary and Post. suit, and began swimming toward Al- Enrico Caruso was thrown out of his The St. Francis always has been catraz Island. Fifteen minutes later his bed in the Palace Hotel. The hotel sur- popular with actors. John Barrymore body was pulled from the icy water. A vived the quake, but it was gutted in the fell from a bed at the St. Francis when hastily convened coroner's jury, com- ensuing fire. The present hotel was re- the earthquake struck. posed of many of his business associ- built on the same site and the Palace The actor whose stay at the St. Fran- ates, deliberated for ten minutes before reopenedMI in 1909. cis attracted the most attention, how- pronouncing a verdict of accidental ever, was Fatty Arbuckle. In Suite death by drowning. His distraught 1219-21, 12 stories up from the corner widow at least was assured of collect- of Powell and Geary, Arbuckle was en- ing on his $68,000 life insurance pol- tertaining some friends in September, icy. 1921. Shortly after the party, one of his The outpouring of public sympathy female guests died from the effects of a was unlike any the city had ever seen. ruptured bladder. Arbuckle, then at the Fifty thousand people (half of San height of his popularity with movie Francisco's adult population) joined fans, was charged with rape and mur- the three-mile funeral cortbge. The re- der. He was subjected to three sensa- organized bank opened five weeks tional trials. The first two ended with later, and it has grown and prospered hung juries. At the third the jurors and ever since. A week after that the Palace alternates took the unusual step of sign- Hotel opened its doors. Sharon deliv- ing a statement read by the foreman ered a touching eulogy, dedicating the when their verdict of "not guilty" was hotel, which he now owned, to Billy announced: Ralston's memory. Sharon apparently "Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe managed to come out ahead after pay- 13. St. Francis Hotel Arbuckle, we feel that a great injustice ing off Ralston's debts. At least that is 335 Powell Street has been done him ... We wish him what Ralston's widow claimed in a suit When you leave the Palace Hotel, success, and hope that the American against Sharon challenging the legality cross Market Street and walk back to people will take the judgment of four- of the trust instrument Ralston signed Powell, where you can catch a cable car teen men and women who have sat tis- tening for thirty-one days to the evi- dence, that Roscoe Arbuckle is entirely There's more, if your feet are willing innocent and free from all blame." The American people did not accept REDUCING this tour to a compact and ing officials is a denial of due process. that judgment, however. Arbuckle's walkable route for most people required The governor who subsequently par- film career was over at the age of 35. omitting a number of memorable "legal doned Mooney was then defeated for re- The judge who presided over all landmarks." If your appetite is suffi- election by the attorney general who ciently whetted and your feet are willing, loudly denounced the pardon- Earl three trials was Harold Louderback, you may want to seek out these addi- Warren. who himself won a rather hollow ac- tional monuments: Site of David Terry's contempt. The quittal ten years later. After his ap- Blacky Toy's Opium Den. At 1733 corner of Sansome and Washington pointment as a federal judge, Louder- Leavenworth Street you will find the Streets is the site that was occupied by back was impeached by the House of building referred to as "Oye's Laundry" the federal circuit court in 1888. That Representatives on charges of cronyism in Wang Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. summer U.S. Supreme Court Justice in the appointment of receivers. On 471 (1963), the leading case on the "fruit Stephen J. Field was "riding circuit" and May 24, 1933, after a full trial before the of the poisonous tree" doctrine. announced an opinion against Sarah Senate, Louderback was acquitted on a Marron's Speakeasy. At 1249 Polk Althea Hill, who claimed a substantial vote of Street, in the walkup above a sidewalk share of the estate of Senator Sharon, 45 guilty to 34 not guilty, short restaurant, you will find the premises owner of the Palace Hotel and the Bank of the two thirds required for convic- that were raided by prohibition agents in of California. Sarah's lawyer (and hus- tion. 1924, giving rise to a landmark case on band) was David Terry, who had previ- If you stay on the cable car-the sys- searches incident to arrest, Marron v. ously sat with justice Field on the tem now has national landmark status United States, 275 U.S. 192 (1927). California Supreme Court. Sarah greeted -you'll clang up Nob Hill and return to Site of Preparedness Day explosion. At Field's announcement of his opinion the Fairmont. Happy walking.jjf/15 ,/ the end of Market Street, on the corner of with a string of epithets, and Terry's at- Market and Steuart Streets, a bomb tempt to "rescue" her from the iiarshals (Gerald F. Uelmen is a professor of exploded on July 22, 1916, killing ten who removed her resulted in a contempt law at Loyola Law School of Los and injuring 50 parade watchers. The conviction upheld by the Supreme Court Angeles. He acknowledges the helpful subsequent conviction of labor agitators in Ex porte Terry, 128 U.S. 289 (1888). Tom Mooney and Warren Billings cul- Six months later Terry attacked Justice suggestions of John M. Naff, Jr., counsel minated in Mooney v. Holohan, 294 U.S. Field in the Lathrop Railway Station, and for special projects, U.S. Court of Ap- 103 (1935), which held that knowing use Terry was killed by Field's bodyguard. peals for the Ninth Circuit, and Leo J. of perjured testimony by state prosecut- See In re Neagle, 135 U.S. 1 (1889). O'Brien, a professor at Hastings College of the Law.) St Francis photo courtesy San Francisco Visitors Bureau August, 1982 e Volume 68 965

HeinOnline -- 68 A.B.A. J. 965 1982