University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository History ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations Summer 7-15-2017 Bloody Bay: Grassroots Policeways, Community Control, and Power in San Francisco and its Hinterlands, 1846-1915 Darren A. Raspa University of New Mexico Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/hist_etds Part of the Asian American Studies Commons, Asian History Commons, Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons, Cultural History Commons, Ethnic Studies Commons, Intellectual History Commons, Labor History Commons, Latina/o Studies Commons, Legal Commons, Legal Theory Commons, Military History Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Political History Commons, Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons, Social History Commons, United States History Commons, and the Urban Studies and Planning Commons Recommended Citation Raspa, Darren A.. "Bloody Bay: Grassroots Policeways, Community Control, and Power in San Francisco and its Hinterlands, 1846-1915." (2017). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/hist_etds/175 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in History ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Darren Alan Raspa Candidate History Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Andrew K. Sandoval-Strausz, Chairperson Durwood Ball Samuel Truett Andrew Graybill i BLOODY BAY: GRASSROOTS POLICEWAYS, COMMUNITY CONTROL, AND POWER IN SAN FRANCISCO AND ITS HINTERLANDS, 1846–1915 by DARREN ALAN RASPA B.A., History, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, 2008 M.A., History, California State University, Northridge, 2010 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy History The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico July 2017 ii DEDICATION For Bo, and the blue sky he taught me to see again. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The work of an historian is often a lonely one. However, the research and writing of “Bloody Bay” could not have been completed without the assistance and support of several people and institutions. Foremost, I would like to express my appreciation and thanks for my stellar committee, led by my dissertation chair, Andrew K. Sandoval-Strausz. For over half a decade, Andrew guided my scholarly development and persistently challenged me to rise to my higher academic self. Durwood Ball is the finest and most careful editor I know, and poured himself into his tasking as a mentor and professor. For Dur, students truly do come first. Thanks also go to Sam Truett, who urged me to tell the stories of San Francisco and who always pushed me to see the cross-border connections in my work, as well as Andy Graybill, who could be relied on for his sense of humor and his appreciation for telling a good story that also so happens to have enormous historical veracity. Margaret Connell-Szasz, Cathleen Cahill, and Virginia Scharff’s interest in my project at its earliest stages also cannot go without mention. The History Department at the University of New Mexico under the leadership of Melissa Bokovoy provided valuable funding at key initial stages of this project, as did the estates of the late Heather Baures and Ferenc Szasz, as well as the New Mexico Office of the State Historian through their Scholars Program. Durwood Ball, managing editor Brianne Stein, and the New Mexico Historical Review also deserve thanks for keeping a roof over my head and for making me a better editor. I also graciously acknowledge the opportunities provided by the Henry E. Huntington Library in San Marino, California, and the estate of the late Gunther Barth and the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. The opportunity to travel and iv research extensively at two of the finest archival repositories in the world was truly remarkable. Without the assistance of the Russell J. and Dorothy S. Bilinski Fellowship at UNM this project would still be in process. The generous funding provided by the Bilinski Foundation allowed me the time and resources at the final key phase to complete my project. I would like to especially thank Development Coordinator Joann Comerford, who buttressed my constant, pestering questions with firm panache and humor, as well as the members of the Bilinski Committee, especially members Enrique Sanabria and Suzanne Schadl. I would like to thank the librarians and archivists who have aided me in the research for this project. First and foremost, Tom Carey at the San Francisco History Center deserves special recognition for his tireless pursuit of my broad requests, such as “Show me everything you have on the San Francisco Police Department.” Appreciation also goes to the librarians and archivists at the Huntington Library, the California Historical Society, the Bancroft Library, the Chinese Historical Society of America, and the Archivo Nacional in Santiago, Chile. John Boessenecker is also appreciated for picking me up at the BART station and opening his remarkable home and personal collection for my research. David Holtby has been a constant supporter of my work, and I have cherished our lunches together. The support and interest of Chris Agee was vital at several key formative periods of my project, and his work is a model of how law enforcement history should be performed. My thanks also go to John Heaton for his support and for making my time on the Western History Association council as the first chair of the WHA Graduate Student Caucus filled with moments of priceless scholarly and professional growth. I would also like to thank WHA council members Bill Deverell, Joan Troccoli, Christin Marín, Anne Hyde, Johnny v Faragher, and Betsy Jameson for their support during our spring and fall council meetings, as well as Peter Blodgett for supporting both myself and the students of WHA in our archival endeavors. Many of my graduate colleagues have been a wellspring of support over the years, the first and foremost being the late Jim Ersfeld, who was the first of many warm faces I would come to encounter in New Mexico. Late hours spent with Jim at Paul Hutton’s Western Writers of America office discussing baseball, his family, and the irascible Placitas Water Board were a joy; he is constantly missed. His co-conspirator, fellow CSUN Matador Meg Frisbee, is also appreciated for being one of the first to welcome me and warn me from driving on the Turquoise Trail at night. Late nights in the backyard of 110 Stanford with Becky Ellis, Julian Dodson, and Luke Smith are some of the best memories of UNM, and time spent with Mike Burns, Bryan Turo, Chris Steinke, Paul Sherick, and Cliff Hanna at “American Joe’s” provided the fuel to keep pushing for the doctoral finish line. Thanks also go to Jason Stuart for his rightful appreciation of the Dodgers, and for “escaping.” Thanks also go to Chad O’Connor, co-founder of the Sandia Mountain Boys Brewing Co., Willy Carleton for philosophically ambitious walks around campus, Maggie DePond for always having the classiest notebooks, Jen McPherson for seeing the academic value of a stiff Kentucky bourbon, Jairo for his California bear art, Moises Santos for being a cool dude who also so happens to be an intellectual powerhouse, Guy McClellan for his indomitable positivity, Mike Barthelemy for his good cheer (and good looks), and Leah Cook for knowing the most important thing about the history of the West is the right pair of boots. I would also like to thank my students over the years for helping to constantly renew my passion for telling stories of our past around the campfire of the classroom. I would also like to thank vi composers Jeremy Soule, Brian Tyler, and Zack Hemsey for writing the soundtrack to the “Bloody Bay” movie in my head. Steve Sederwall of Cold West Investigations has made my life more interesting, as have Carilyn Sederwall, Hambone, Nina McInnes, and Billy-the-Kid-of- Capitan, Brett McInnes. The support of Jeff Aiello of 18Thirty and Joe Weinstock and Kevin Duncan of Leftfield and their appreciation for the value of history disseminated for a large audience cannot go without mention. I would be remiss without acknowledging the irascibility and support of Bob Duffner of the Air Force Research Lab as well. Thank you to Bob and the 101st Airborne Division for showing me how to truly “ruck up.” The staff of the University of New Mexico History Department, including Dana Ellison, Barb Wafer, Hazel Mendoza-Jayme, and led by the phenomenal Yolanda Martinez, are of the highest caliber, both in the nation and the world. And no, a footnote is not needed for that assertion. Fourteen years ago I was training to become a firefighter when I signed up for Bill Jones’s “History of the Wild West” course at Mt. San Antonio College. Through his energy and passion for the stories of the past, Bill was the first, but certainly not the last, to cause me to rethink and re-chart my life course toward making history a career. Mahmood Ibrahim, the “Ibn Khaldun” of Cal Poly, Mat Gavin, Wil Lares, Daniel Force and Mahmood’s study abroad program to Morocco most assuredly must be included in the list of life changing people and events, as must fellow CPP Broncos Brendan Lindsay, Amanda Podany, and John Lloyd, as well as Rim, Hassan, Makumba, Lamiae, and the students of al-Akhawayn University in Ifrane for revealing the world to me. Josh Sides at Cal State Northridge must be thanked for opening my eyes to San Francisco and urban history, as must Chris Magra for helping me “taste the salt” of vii Atlantic History.