Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/424



pieces his  papers,  and  informed  him  if  he  valued  his life he  would  drop  that  business  and  go  home,  which Tracy was  very  glad  to  be  able  to  do. The band  then rode to  the  house  of  Pena,  where  Lugo,  one  of  the owners of  a  large  tract,  was  stopping  and  forced  him under threats  of  hanging  to  sign  an  article  of  release of title  to  certain  lands,  and  also  to  immediately  and forever retire  from  those  parts. Next the  mob  pro- ceeded to Healdsburg,  distant  from  the  former  frolic about six  miles,  in  search  of  Dr  Frisbie,  a  landholder whom they  proposed  to  force  into  the  relinquishment of Ills  title  to  a  portion  of  his  lands. The citizens rallied to  the  support  of  law  and  government,  and though the  squatters  threatened  to  burn  the  town, held their  ground,  and  the  free-land  men  retired.

At Suisun  in  December  1862  certain  squatters against whom  John  B.  Frisbie  had  obtained  judg- ment, and a  writ  of  restitution,  refused  to  A^acate when ordered  to  do  so  by  the  sheriff;  whereupon  that officer summoned  to  his  aid  a  posse,  and  marched agahist them  when  they  yielded.

The original  proprietors  of  Boise  city,  Idaho, bought the  town  site  from  ranchmen  who  had  settled there, surveying  it  and  laying  it  out  in  town  lots ;  to every  one  who  wished  to  build  a  dwelling  they  gave a piece  of  ground. Business lots  they  sold. All went well  until  in  the  autumn  of  1864,  a  judge  and two lawyers  dropped  upon  the  place  and  then  began lot-jumping and  litigation.

In some  way  the  sentiment  got  abroad  that  the proprietor's title  was  valueless,  that  the  ground  on which  the  city  was  built  was  public  domain,  and  that any one  might  settle  on  any  unoccupied  Spot. Then the two  lawyers  revelled  in  fat. Those who  had taken possession  of  their  neighbor's  property,  hoping to get  something  for  nothing,  after  submitting  to  ex- pensive litigations were  obliged  to  step  down  from their position  and  leave  the  land  to  its  original  occu- pants and their  successors.