doc241 - Schoenherr Home Page in Sunny Chula Vista

oundary was fixed 18 miles south of San Diego, on a spot 500 feet from the ocean and
42 feet above its level. The monument was erected in June, 1851.
There was some disappointment in California at the failure of the United States to
obtain the Peninsula in the settlement with Mexico, and genuine dissatisfaction with the
result on the part of some citizens of Lower California. As a consequence, there was
some sympathy with William Walker when he made his filibustering attempt upon the
Peninsula in 1853-4. When the effort collapsed, some of Walker's associates, among
them his secretary of state, were arrested in San Diego and taken to San Francisco for
trial.
The politics of San Diego city and county was strongly Democratic in the early
days of American rule. Many, probably a majority, of the first American settlers were
from the Southern States, and the following incident shows the social temper of the
time.
Page 237
Miss Mary C. Walker arrived in San Diego on the morning of July 5, 1865, having
been sent from San Francisco by the state superintendent of schools to fill a vacancy as
teacher. She was a native of New England and entertained no prejudices against negroes.
On the voyage from San Francisco, she suffered from mal de mer and was attended
by the stewardess, a quadroon. Some weeks later, while her school was in progress,
she found this negress in Manasse's store, eating a lunch of crackers and
cheese, and feeling a friendly interest in the woman, invited her to take dinner with her
at the Franklin House. When they entered the dining-room and sat down at the table together,
a number of people who were there at once got up and left, and Miss Walker
and her guest had the table and the room to themselves.
There was a storm, at once. The teacher's dismissal was demanded and most of
the children were taken out of school. The Yankee school-ma'am did not understand
things clearly, and made the matter worse by some unguarded remarks comparing the
complexion of certain of the protesting Californians with that of her guest. The school
trustees at the time were Dr. D. B. Hoffman, E. W. Morse, and Robert D. Israel. Hoffman
felt that, whatever the merits of the case, the school money could not be wasted keeping
an empty schoolroom open. Israel was an old soldier and a Republican, and his
sentiments are best expressed in his own words: "'Morse,' said I, 'I'll be damned if I
wouldn't take that school money and throw it in the bay as far as I could send it, before I
would dismiss the teacher to please these copperheads! You may do as you please, but
I will never consent to her dismissal.' "It is easy to believe that the Captain would have
stood his ground, but it proved that the third trustee, Morse, was a diplomatist. He was
then a widower and had matrimonial designs upon the teacher. She tendered her resignation
and became Mrs. E. W. Morse, and thus the country was saved once more.
Page 238
PART II. CHAPTER X. ACCOUNTS OF EARLY VISITORS AND SETTLERS
The Panama Steamship Line was established in 1849, and San Diego became a port of
call. By 1850 it had nearly 500 population, with as many more at La Playa, and with a