The Squatter and the Don / A Novel Descriptive of Contemporary Occurrences in California

by María Amparo Ruiz de Burton

Resolved, That a select committee of seven members of this House be appointed by the Speaker, and such committee be and is hereby instructed to inquire whether or not any person connected with the organization or association commonly known as the ‘Contract and Finance Company’ of the Central Pacific Railroad Company, now holds any of the bonds, lands, or other subsidies granted said company, for the payment of which, or the interest thereon, the United States is in any way liable; and whether or not such holders, if any, or their assignees of such bonds, lands, or other subsidies, are holders in good faith, and for a valuable consideration, or procured the same illegally, or by fraud; * * * and to inquire into the character and purpose of such organization, and fully, of all the transactions of said Central Pacific Railroad Company, and all transactions had and contracted by and between the directors of the Central Pacific Railroad Company and Charles Crocker & Co.; and of all transactions and contracts made by said directors with the ‘Contract and Finance Company’ for the furnishing of material of every kind and character whatever, and the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad and other branch roads connected therewith; * * * and to report the facts to this House, together with such bill as may be necessary to protect the interests of the United States Government and the people, on account of any bonds, lands and subsidies of the class hereinbefore referred to, and against the combinations to defraud the Government and the people; and said committee is hereby authorized to send for persons and papers, and to report at any time.”

Here follows a long recital of frauds perpetrated by Messrs. Leland Stanford, Huntington, Crocker and Hopkins, under the name of “Central Pacific Railroad Company” and “Contract and Finance Company,” etc. Said frauds, Mr. Luttrell says, were against the Government and against the stockholders of the Central Pacific Company. A Mr. Brannan, in a long complaint, sets forth also how and when these gentlemen cheated the Government by presenting false statements of the cost of constructing the Central Pacific Railroad, and in other ways, and cheated the stockholders of said railroad by issuing to themselves the stock, and appropriating other subsidies, which should have been distributed pro rata among all the stockholders.

The entire statement is a shameful exposure of disgraceful acts, any one of which, were it to be perpetrated by a poor man, would send him to the penitentiary.

George was shocked to read Mr. Luttrell's “Preamble and Resolutions,” and Mr. Brannan's “complaint.” Mr. Lawrence Mechlin waited to read them in the evening, at his hotel.

“These two gentlemen ever since their arrival had heard strange rumors about Congressmen being ‘bribed with money,’ and in other ways improperly influenced by ‘a certain railroad man,’ who was organizing a powerful lobby to defeat the Texas Pacific Railroad.” In his endeavors to aid Tom Scott, Mr. Lawrence Mechlin had come across some startling facts regarding the manipulation of railroad bills, especially in the Congressional committees. Still, he was loth to believe that bribery would be so openly used. He was a man of strict probity, slow to think any man dishonorable. George, brought up in the same school, felt, also, a reluctance to believe that the Congress of these United States could be packed, bundled, and labeled, by a few of its treacherous members, who would sell themselves for money, in spite of their honest colleagues.

“Pshaw! the thing is too preposterous,” he had said to his uncle, who, with saddened voice, had answered.

“So it seems to me. Let us go to the Capitol again; I want to speak to some of the Representatives; I have only seen Senators; I must talk with the House a little.” And they had come, and were now listening to the House.

George's business with the Attorney General had been more satisfactory. The appeal was at last dismissed, and the joyful news had been telegraphed to Don Mariano. There was now no dispute about the validity of his title. The Government itself had said that the land belonged to him; would the squatters vacate now? We will see. Meantime, the remittitur had to be sent to the court below, and it was expected that Congress would soon make an appropriation to defray expenses of surveying lands in California. George wrote to Don Mariano not to engage any surveyor to survey his rancho, as there would be an appropriation made for lands to be surveyed by the Government.

Elvira and Mercedes were made very happy on hearing that the appeal was dismissed. They did not well understand what it all meant; but as they were told that now the Government of the United States had said that the rancho belonged to their father, they naturally concluded that the squatters would go away, and there would no longer be any trouble about the destruction of their cattle, and their father not be so worried and unhappy.

Thus, life seemed very sweet to those two innocents, and they enjoyed their visit to Washington to the fullest extent. The Gunthers and Seldens had stopped at the same hotel with the Mechlins, and the three families were constantly together. Their parlors in their evenings “at home” were filled with a crowd of distinguished visitors; other evenings were given to parties and receptions. One cloud only cast a shadow on Mercedes' brilliant surroundings, and this was the obvious misery she saw in Arthur Selden's dejected countenance, and a certain dread she felt at the silent coldness of Robert Gunther. His eyes seemed to her darker than they used to be, but perhaps they seemed so because he was so much paler. But what could she do? she asked herself, and wished very much that these two young gentlemen had remained in New York, for, surely, they couldn't expect that she would give up Clarence! No, indeed. Not for fifty thousand Gunthers, or two million Seldens.