Month: December 2010

THE EDITOR’S DRUNKEN MUSE

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

Press Democrat editor Ernest Finley loved drunks, and if the tippler was also a hobo, so much the better.

Finley could write prose worthy of Mark Twain when the spirit moved him, and could sketch a memorable little portrait from just a routine court appearance (while likely inventing all the dialog in the scene). But Finley’s favorite muse was “Tennessee Bill,” a hobo with a window-rattling yell who also had a penchant for tearing off his clothes and setting fire to them. More of Finley’s poetics over the skunk-drunk can be found in the 1906 papers.

WAS WELL OFF BUT FORGOT

“Look here, Judge,” You let me go this time and I promise you I will not take a single drink. If I do and am brought before you again, you just give me the limit, six months, and I will not blame anybody but myself.”

So said Joe Fenton, an old offender to Judge Bagley on Tuesday morning shortly after his release from jail, where he had been doing time for over indulgence in liquor, when he was again presented before the magistrate.

“Very well,” said the magistrate. “Now, remember, you have made a bargain.”

Wednesday morning Fenton was picked up again, drunk and incapable. He was hauled before the police judge again, having been brought to court in the patrol wagon. Asked to explain the why and the wherefore, he said:

“Judge, I just took one drink.”

“That’s one more than you said you would. You told me to give you the limit. But sixty days.”

“All right sir.”

And Joe was taken over once more.

– Press Democrat, September 5, 1907
OLD JOKE THAT DID NOT WORK
“Tennessee Bill” Jailed in a Northern Calaboose, Burns His Clothes–Widely Known Specimen of Genus Hobo

William Cornelius Tennessee Goforth, familiarly known to all the officers of California from San Diego to Siskiyou and from the Sierras to the sea as “Tennessee Bill,” will probably drop into town in a day or two.

This noted specie of the genus hobo has been spending a few days of enforced retirement in the jail at Ukiah. The other day the people of that quiet Mendocino town were terrified by a series of most ungodly yells, and when the town marshal and the available police force investigated they found that the possessor of the powerful lung blast was none other than “Tennessee Bill.”

Bill was quickly gathered in and when taken before the magistrate was given a term in jail. It was necessary to prescribe a bath for Bill at Bastille soon after his arrival there. Then he tried on the same old joke he worked when he was last a guest at the county jail on Third street in this city. He watched an opportunity while the bath was being prepared and shoved all the old clothes he was wearing through the [illegible microfilm] as the flames preyed upon them. He reckoned without a realization that two can play a joke. Consequently instead of being passed out a brand new suit of overalls he was ordered at the conclusion of his ablutions to proceed to his cell and remain there wrapped in the folds of a blanket. Bill had to submit with all the grace he could commit under the circumstances in the long run, however he will win only when he is liberated he will get the clothes all right.

– Press Democrat, September 7, 1907
BUSY DAY IN THE POLICE CIRCLES
Hop Pickers Indulge Too Freely– “Tennessee Bill” Once More an Inhabitant of County Jail

There was something doing in police circles yesterday afternoon and Fourth street was kept alive with the jingle of the bell of the patrol wagon.

Half a dozen men, from the hop yards, celebrating the fact that they had been paid off, took a little too much hop brew aboard, and were overcome. Three of them required the assistance of the patrol wagon to reach a cool spot in the police station. Three of them were walked there. Police Officer Lindley was the arresting officer in each case.

Some time during the afternoon there was a lusty use of lung power and in response Constable Sam Gilliam hurried to Third street. Some how or other, the shouts seemed sort of familiar to the officer. It was none other than William Cornelius Tennessee Goforth, more familiarly known as “Tennessee Bill.” Bill went over to the county jail for fifteen days and thanked Justice Atchinson for the rest given. Bill finds the jails throughout the state the best homes he knows. He has been there often enough.

– Press Democrat, September 21, 1907

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MOBS HUNT MOLESTERS

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

Santa Rosa was a modern town in 1907, by standards of the day; many homes had telephones, so if trouble arose one could call the police station and have an officer dispatched on a bicycle. Or, you could grab your gun and join a mob prowling the streets, looking for suspects.

Below are two stories about women being assaulted that year, and in both cases their screams drew men from the neighborhood seeking to find the assailant. In the September incident, at least two of the men are armed.

Contrast these reports to the article from a year earlier, where a woman whose claim to have been attacked was dismissed as an “attempt to gain notoriety.”

MAN GRABS YOUNG WOMAN
Assails Girl In Presence of Two Companions

Three ladies were stopped by a bold man Tuesday evening as they were approaching their home near Ninth and Washington streets. The impudent man asked one of the young ladies if he might accompany her home and was told to mind his business. He then grabbed the young woman and threw her to the ground. The trio set up a fearful yelling and the assailant of the young woman fled. The officers have been given a good description of the man and expect to land him in jail. There were two young ladies in the party and they were being escorted by the mother of one of them. They had been attending the theater and were unaware that the man was following them. A thorough search was made of the vicinity, but no trace of the man could be discovered. Had he been found his punishment would have been inflicted at the hands of irate men who participated in the search.

– Santa Rosa Republican, June 12, 1907
EXCITEMENT CAUSED BY MAN’S ATTACK ON WOMEN
Jumps from the Dark and Grabs Them Last Night

There was considerable excitement shortly before eleven o’clock Saturday night in the vicinity of Spencer avenue and Nason street. Mrs. O’Brien and her niece, who reside on the avenue were returning to their home when a man suddenly jumped out of the darkness beside the path and grabbed them. They gave some lusty screams and the fellow released his grasp and ran off into the darkness again.

Police Officer I. N. Lindley responded with alacrity to a telephone call and when he arrived on the scene he found several men had assembled to assist in the search for the man. One of the party the officer found was armed [illegible microfilm] and another with a rifle. The neighborhoods was searched but the man had evidently made good his escape. Neither Mrs. O’Brien nor her niece could give a description of the assailant owing to the darkness and the suddenness of the assault.

Earlier in the evening Policeman Wilson was called to north Humboldt street where it was reported a man was hanging around dark corners and was following women. Some time after this a man whose identity was not learned was noticed on the same street almost dragging a woman, presumably his wife, and was beating a little child, who was with them. So that altogether this neighborhood had its exciting time Saturday night.

Not long ago it will be remembered a man attempted to grab two young ladies in the vicinity of Seventh and A streets.

– Press Democrat, September 8, 1907

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