1904

CATCHING UP WITH THE OATES

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1904 was surely a taxing year for James Wyatt Oates. Now 54 and still alone at his law practice that sometimes called him out of town several times a month, Oates was also one of fifteen men appointed to draft the new Santa Rosa City charter. The family also moved that year and was involved in the planning stages for their grand house. No surprise that the Press Democrat reported in August that Oates was taking a “well-earned vacation” (a comment probably made by Wyatt or wife Mattie when providing the item to the newspaper).

Several items of interest appeared in the PD that summer. Already reported here was that Oates sold their home at 431 Tenth Street to Mr. and Mrs. Mark McDonald Jr. (Junior would later inherit and return to the Mableton mansion). The Oates family moved to a house at the intersection of Tenth and Mendocino, where the newspaper described a tea party Mattie held in August. The vacation item also mentions Mrs. Solomon, so we can assume that his mother-in-law was living with the couple even before their new home was built. Most interesting, however, are the two references to Miss Anna May Bell, who is presumably Anna May Dunlap as a child. Eleven years from then, Anna May would be watching over Oates as he died of double pneumonia, following a visit to her in Los Angeles. Much later in 1950 she would make an unusual donation to the city in remembrance of Oates, 35 years after his death.

Attorney James W. Oates, accompanied by Mrs. Oates, Mrs. Solomon, and Miss Anna May Bell, leave today for San Francisco where they will spend a few days, and where Mr. Oates will enjoy a well-earned vacation.

– Press Democrat “Personal Mention,” August 17, 1904

SHASTA DAISIES ADORNED PARLORS
PRETTY SOCIAL FUNCTION AT THE OATES RESIDENCE ON MENDOCINO STREET
Tea in Honor of Mrs. Bell and Miss Anna Bell of Visalia Given by Mrs. Oates–Forty Guests Present

Shasta daisies in the reception rooms and red the color of the effective decorations in the dining room made the interior of the Oates residence at Tenth and Mendocino streets very pretty for a charming social function which took place there yesterday afternoon.

Mrs. James W. Oates entertained informally and very delightfully about forty lady friends at a tea given in honor of Mrs. Bell and her daughter, Miss Anna May Bell, of Visalia. Miss Bell has been Mrs. Oates guest here for several weeks. The guests admired the daisies and the decorations very much. The tea tables were tastefully arranged.

– Press Democrat news item, August 27, 1904

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THE TALES OF TENNESSEE BILL

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There was no more colorful figure in 1904 Santa Rosa than “Tennessee Bill,” a well-known loquacious drunk who popped up in the spring and again in midsummer. The Press Democrat so loved reporting on Bill that they even lifted an entire story from the rival Petaluma Argus. Writing about the man seemed to bring out the poet in PD editor Finley: “Bill’s distances are uncertain” is a turn of phrase worthy of Yeats.

Asked why he started a fire in his cell, “he answered that it needed fumigation and took it upon himself to accomplish the deed,” according to the Santa Rosa Republican, July 29.

Believes it Himself
William Charles Cornelius Tennessee Goforth, more briefly “Tennessee Bill,” was in town yesterday and left on the afternoon train for somewhere. Bill’s distances are uncertain, as he is arrested in almost every town he visits on a charge of vagrancy or of intoxication. In almost every city in the State that he visits he has his “old mother buried out in the cemetery.” Bill has told this story so many times that he believes it himself. He told the same story ever again here yesterday. Not long since an exchange told how he had “a mother buried” in a cemetery in southern California. He tells a similar yarn when he reaches Petaluma, Sonoma, or wherever he lands and can find an ear to pour in his troubles. His tale of woe usually terminates with “I was just about to ask you to give me a quarter. I have not had a bite to eat all day and — you know old Bill.” Yes everybody knows him.

– Press Democrat, July 27, 1904

TENNESSEE BILL AGAIN
Sets Fire to the City Jail in Petaluma and Burns His Clothing
When Tennessee Bill left Santa Rosa on Wednesday afternoon he told people at the depot that he was going to San Francisco and the south. Instead he jumped off at Petaluma and next morning landed in jail as usual, having taken too much liquor aboard, a failing that Bill encourages. Shortly after he was incarcerated he started a fire in the jail and destroyed the meagre furnishings and his own clothes. The Argus describes the conflagration as follows:

“At noon on Thursday William Cornelius Goforth, Esq., more commonly called “Tennessee Bill,” was arrested by Constable Sullivan on a charge of being drunk and was locked up in the city prison to sober up. At 2:30 persons passing the city hall noticed heavy volumes of smoke issuing from the windows of the city prison in the basement of the city hall building. Assistant Fire Chief Myers was passing at the time and he notified Marshal Collins who was upstairs in his office. The jail door was hurridly [sic] opened and the entire jail was found filled with smoke while Tennessee without a stitch of clothing on, was dancing around a big fire in the west corridor. Every blanket in the jail, mattresses, brooms, etc., were consumed and all of Tennessee’s clothing, including his shoes. Hose Co. No. 3 is stationed in the building and two length of hose were quickly taken from the cart and attached to the hydrant in front of the building, and Messrs. Collins, Myers, L.L. Goss and Frost flooded the place and extinguished the fire. Tennessee persisted in getting in the way and was struck by the stream and spun around like a top. He touched the ceiling a couple of times, was buffetted around like a frog in a puddle and finally had to swim out. A number of ladies were attracted by the excitement and went to the jail door but did not stay long. Tennessee’s vocabulary is not all parlor tongue.”

– Press Democrat, July 30, 1904

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THRONGING AROUND THE STEREOPTICON

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Given the small size of the “vast throng,” it probably would have been easier to write the returns on a chalkboard, or just yell them out the newspaper’s window. But ah, the allure of technology.

CROWDS WATCHED THE STEREOPTICON
VAST THRONG GATHERED OUTSIDE THE PRESS DEMOCRAT OFFICE LAST NIGHT
The Election Returns Thrown on the Canvas Kept Crowd Interested For Many Hours

For hours on Wednesday night the large square in front of the Press Democrat office was thronged with hundreds of people. The crowd also thronged the Courthouse plaza. It was a large, interested throng, and during the evening cheers were frequently raised as the stereoscope the names and the votes of the candidates who were forging ahead on the large screen.

For a number of years the Press Democrat has carried out this means of giving the election news to the public, and the effort has been greatly appreciated by everybody.

As usual, the paper arranged a system of messenger communication with the various polling places, and the messages were hurriedly transmitted to the office and the slides were rapidly made.

Frank Cherry used his fine stereopticon and gave excellent service. The crowd stayed until an early hour on Thursday morning, and the interest was maintained throughout.

In addition to the stereopticon service, several hundred queries were answered over the telephone. “How’s the election going?” was the favorite query asked and answered.

– Press Democrat, April 7, 1904

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