The Journal of San Diego History - San Diego History Center

Charles C. Painter
San Jacinto Viejo, a Mexican land
grant of 1844. When the ranch was
partitioned in 1882, Matthew Byrne,
a San Bernardino businessman,
acquired 700 acres that included the
village. In 1883, an adjoining 3,100
acres were set aside as a reservation
by Executive Order. Byrne sued in
San Diego County Superior Court
in 1883 to remove the villagers.
Jackson followed the case closely
and hired the Los Angeles law firm
of Brunson & Wells at her own
expense to defend the Indians. See
her article, “The Fate of Saboba,”
The New York Independent (December
13, 1883): 1-2. When the government
refused to cover Brunson &
Wells’ expenses, they withdrew,
and Painter appealed to President
Chester A. Arthur, who appointed
Shirley C. Ward as a special attorney
to carry on their defense. After the
San Diego County Superior Court
ruled against the villagers, Ward
carried an appeal to the California
State Supreme Court in 1886, arguing
that under Mexican law, the
villages had held a possessory right
to their lands, and that by the treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the United
States had pledged to honor all
Anna May Davis, wife of Edward H. Davis, in their cottage
©SDHS #OP 15362-434. Photo by E.H. Davis.
existing land rights in California. The court agreed, and on January 31, 1888, ruled in favor of the
Indians (Bryne v. Alas, 74 Cal. 628). This was the first and only time the courts upheld the Indians’
possessory rights in California. See Mathes, Helen Hunt Jackson and her Indian Reform Legacy, 96-97,
109, 111-13, 117, 123. The government was later able to acquire Byrne’s land through a tax sale,
and in 1911 it was finally added to the Soboba Reservation. Van H. Garner, The Broken Ring: The
Destruction of the California Indians (Tucson: Westernlore Press, 1982), 75-95 outlines some of the
long and complex history of Soboba’s land and water rights. See also John W. Robinson and Bruce
D. Risher, The San Jacintos (Arcadia: Big Santa Anita Historical Society, 1993), 101-121 for more on
what they call the “ordeal of a people;” and The Case of the Mission Indians in Southern California
(Philadelphia: Office of the Indian Rights Association, 1886).
51. A joking reference to the Know Nothing Party which emerged during the 1840s in the midst of
an anti-Catholic movement. When asked about their political leanings they simply said “I know
nothing.”
52. The Rancho Santa Ysabel (Painter consistently errs by calling it “San” Ysabel) was a Mexican
land grant of 1844. When Jackson visited in 1883, it was owned by Captain A. Hartshorn Wilcox.
The ranch, well-known for its dairy farms, was described by her as “well-wooded, well-watered,
beautiful country, much broken by steep and stony mountains.” Jackson and Kinney found one
hundred and seventy-one Indian residents in the village, see Jackson, “The Report,” 492.
53. Like all the Mission Indian Agents, John S. Ward struggled to control the liquor traffic on the reservations,
but it was difficult to police the scattered reservations and trials were held in federal
courts. Opinions on whether he was diligent differed. In 1887 a correspondent from San Jacinto
reported to the Los Angeles Times that a local man had been fined $200 for selling liquor to the
Indians. “This ought to awaken Indian Agent Ward, of San Bernardino,” he said. “Probably Mr.
Ward will need no further waking up,” the Times of July 11, 1887, commented. About the same
time Ward had seven “hard-looking” men arrested at Capitan Grande for selling liquor on the
reservation. They were brought up before U.S. Commissioner Van Dyke and pled not guilty. Bail
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