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mand: "Ready ! Aim! Fire!" and Antonio Garra fell into his grave. He actually died laughing.
His firmness was real, lacking all bravado, and excited the admiration of all who
witnessed it. Editor Ames said: "In an instant the soul of a truly 'brave' winged its flight to
the regions of eternity, accompanied by the melancholy howling of dogs, who seemed to
be aware of the solemnity of the occasion, casting a gloom over the assembled hundreds,
who while acknowledging the justness of Antonio's fate, felt the need to drop a
tear o'er the grave of a brave man and once powerful chieftain." But notwithstanding
Ames's real admiration for Garra's courage, he could not refrain from indulging his propensity
to joke, and, in the next; issue of his paper, under the head of "Departures," inserted
the following: "Antonio
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[Col. J. Bankhead Magruder]
Garra, Tierra Caliente" (literally, for a hot country, i. e., hell). A large number of Indians
witnessed the execution and were doubtless duly impressed; at any rate, there was
never another Indian uprising, of like proportions, in the South.
But although there were no more Indian "wars," occasional murders, robberies,
and pillaging still occurred. A large number of Indians lived in and near San Diego all
through the 50's, 60's, 70's, and even far into the 80's, and there was an encampment in
Switzer's Canyon for many years. In 1876, an effort which had been going on for some
time to have the Indians settled upon reservations, took definite form in an executive
order by President Grant, setting apart a large area of lands in San Diego County "for
the permanent use and occupancy of the Mission Indians of Lower California." A copy of
this order, giving a description of the lands set apart, is given at the end of this chapter.
This was the foundation of the present Indian reservations.
One of the customs of the Mission Indians in early days was to camp on the seashore
near Ocean Beach, about the time of Lent, and remain till Easter, drying mussels,
clams, and fish. They formed the principal resource of the white population for laborers,
and were tolerably satisfactory so long as they did not get drunk. While Lieutenant
Derby was turning the San Diego river, in 1853, he employed a large number of Indian
laborers. He found it necessary, however, to offer a reward for
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the apprehension of any person selling liquor to the Indians. During the 50's, there was
something like a reign of terror in Old San Diego, due to the lawless acts of drunken Indians.
Severe measures were taken, but without very much effect. There was an Indian
alcalde who had a sort of authority over these Indians, and occasionally punished offenders
by tying them up to the old cannon which then stood muzzle downward in the
ground in front of a store at Old San Diego and was used for a hitching post, and whipping
them with a blacksnake whip.
During the years from 1853 to 1860, stabbing affrays were of nightly occurrence,
and very little effort was made to apprehend or punish the offenders. Editor Ames
waxed by turns indignant and grimly humorous over the matter. On one occasion, "our
able district attorney, instead of subjecting the county to about a thousand dollars ex-