At the period of the operatic campaign conducted by me—which, beginning most auspiciously, ended in trouble, disaster, and a retreat that was again and again on the point of being cut off—contending railway companies had so arranged matters that access to San Francisco was easier than ever. The war of rates had been carried on with such severity that the competing railway companies had at last, in their determination of outstripping one another, reduced the charge for carriage from Omaha to Frisco to a nominal sum per head. £20 (100 dollars) was the amount levied for conveying a passenger to Frisco direct; but on his arrival at the Frisco terminus £19 was returned to him as "rebate" when he gave up his ticket.
The rates from Frisco to New York had also been considerably reduced; and it was not until, after a series of pecuniary failures, we were on the point of starting that, to our confusion and my despair, they were suddenly raised. I had a force of 160 under my command, with an unusual proportion of baggage; and this hostile move on the part of the railway companies had the immediate effect of arresting my egress from the city.
Ravelli, possibly at the suggestion of his oracular dog (who always gave him the most perfidious counsel), had laid an embargo on all the music, thus delaying our departure, which would otherwise have been effected while the railway companies were still at war. They seemed to have come to an understanding for the very purpose of impeding my retreat. Ravelli suffered more than I did by his inconsiderate behaviour, for he was entirely unable, with or without the aid of his canine adviser, to look after his own interests.
It must be understood that in America a creditor or any claimant for money, bonâ-fide or not, can in the case of a foreigner commence process by attaching the property of the alleged debtor. This may be done on a simple affidavit, and the matter is not brought before the Courts until afterwards.
All the foreigner can do in return is to find "bondsmen" who will guarantee his appearance at a future period, or, in default, payment of the sum demanded; and it has happened to me when I have been on the point of taking ship to be confronted by a number of claimants, each of whom had procured an order empowering him either to arrest me or to seize my effects. I used, therefore, on my way to the steamer, or it might be the railway station, to march, attended by a couple of "bondsmen" and a Judge. The "bondsmen" gave the necessary security, the Judge signed his acceptance of the proffered guarantee, and I was then at liberty to depart.
Once, as I have already shown, I had to suffer attachment of my receipts at the hands of a body of "scalpers," who, when I had liberated the money through the aid of two friendly "bondsmen" and a courteous Judge, abandoned their claim; though when next year I returned to Frisco they could, of course, had it not been absolutely groundless, have pressed it before the proper tribunal.
Among other extraordinary claims made upon me immediately after the affair of the "scalpers" was one for 400 gallons of eau de Cologne. Some such quantity had, it was alleged, been ordered for fountains that were to play in front of the Opera-house; but the dealers, in lieu of eau de Cologne, had furnished me chiefly with water of the country. They swore, however, that I really owed them the money they demanded, and an attachment was duly granted.
It was through the treachery, then, of the dog-fearing Ravelli that our misfortunes in Frisco were brought to something like a crisis. In seizing the music in which the whole Company had an interest the thoughtless tenor was, of course, injuring himself and preparing his own discomfiture. The effect of his action was in any case to stop for a time my departure. We had evacuated the city, and now found ourselves blocked and isolated at the railway station. The railways would not have us at any price but their own. The hotel keepers were by no means anxious for our return, and some of the members of my Company had a healthy horror of running up hotel bills they were unable to pay. This may in part at least have been inspired by the following notice which, or something to the same effect, may be found exhibited in most of the Western hotels:—
An Act to Protect Hotel and Boarding-house Keepers.
"Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the
State of Missouri as follows:—