ain reasons. The Governor at length acceded in
general terms to the propositions of the Committee, and measurably
assured them his support. The Law and Order leaders were amazed,
incensed and disgusted at the weakness of Governor Johnson. He had as
good as surrendered the jail to them, and they had only to go and seize
it, and capture the prisoners. This was known in the city on Saturday,
and the Law and Order body prepared for the expected emergency--the
defence of the jail from the assault of the Committee. Steps were taken
for the defence of the jail by the Law and Order men, who volunteered
for the occasion. The Committee had likewise made preparations.
A digression of amusing nature will not be out of place here: The
steamboats from Sacramento then landed at Pacific street wharf, and
arrived usually about 9:30. The Oakland ferry boat made her last trip
over a few minutes after the Sacramento boat landed her passengers.
Governor Foote had his residence at Clinton. Saturday morning one of his
daughters called at my office and said that her father was at Benicia,
and they expected him home that night. "But," she continued, "you know
what a terrible excitement there is in the city, and how likely father
is to take active part in anything which enlists his sympathies or stirs
his feelings; and we all fear that he will do something imprudent. I
know he will be very strong on the Law and Order side, and it will be
better for us all if he will come directly home and not stay in the city
to get mixed up in these terrible troubles." She requested me,
therefore, to be at the boat that night when she landed, and to prevail
upon her father, if he were otherwise disposed, to take the boat for
Oakland. I promised, and that night I took a hack for the wharf, a
quarter of an hour before the usual time of the boat's arrival. As the
hack turned from Montgomery street into Washington, I noticed a crowd at
the door-way of the Bank Exchange. Calling to the driver to stop a
moment, I entered the saloon. I learned that the boat had already
arrived, a half hour ahead of ordinary time. My disappointment was in a
moment sunk in my surprise. I heard Governor Foote's voice in loud
tones, toward the front of the room. It was a surprise to see him in a
barroom, for he was not addicted to drinking, and except in the Orleans
at Sacramento during the Legislature, when he was candidate for United
States Senator, I had never seen him in a saloon. But
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