San Mateo County Gazette Redwood City, San Mateo County, California Saturday Morning, November 24, 1860, Vol. 2 No. 34 DIED On M.L. Brittan’s ranch, near Redwood City, Monday, Nov. 19th, FREDERICK ABE, aged 32 years, a native of Pennsylvania, late of Ohio. At Searsville, on Wednesday, Nov. 14, Mrs. THEODORE (note: not positive does start TH----) GARDNER, of New York, aged 36 years. ~ ~ ~ ~ DIED OF LOCKED-JAW – Mr. Frederick Abe, the notice of whose demise we publish in this week’s paper, was an old and much respected resident of this county, and his untimely death is sincerely mourned by all who knew him. About ten days before his death, in leaping a fence, he stepped upon a nail, which pierced his boot and penetrated his foot to the depth of nearly an inch, which wound was not at first properly attended to, and resulted in locked-jaw. Every possible attention was bestowed by Dr. S.S. Stanbaugh, who was called in too late, however, and by the sufferer’s friend, M.L. Brittan, Esq. He died in the utmost agony. THE NEW CLOTHING STORE – Messrs. Steinheiser & Weinschenk have established a new clothing and dry goods store, near the corner of Maine and Bridge streets, where they invite all to visit them who wish to purchase a first rate article of dry goods or clothing at a very low price. They are resolved to give entire satisfaction to their patrons, and ask but a trial. QUARTERLY MEETING M.E. CHURCH SOUTH. – This meeting will take place in Redwood City, Saturday and Sunday, 1st and 2d inst., at 11 A.M. and 6 ½ P.M. each day and evening. The people generally are invited to attend. M. Evans, Presiding Elder of the San Francisco District, and Pastor F.M. Staton will conduct the services on the occasion. NEW TIN AND STOVE STORE. – We would call attention to the advertisement of Mr. Wm. Durham, in to-day’s paper. Mr. D.’s prices are low, and his wares and work cannot be excelled. Give him a portion of your patronage. We invite special attention to the advertisements of G.W. Snell, in this paper. His establishment is the old favorite house of Park & White, with large additions of the choicest goods from the eastern market. ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION. – A desperate case of butchery and attempted assassination took place in San Francisco on Saturday evening. A Mexican, or Chileno, named Camilo Subiata, had for a considerable length of time been living with a young Chileno woman, called Marquita Marquez, but latterly they quarreled, and Marquita forbade him the house and managed to keep him away. On Saturday evening, driven desperate by jealousy and liquor, he proceeded to the place armed with a knife and two pistols. He knocked at the door and as Marquita opened it, shot her in the breast. She fell to the floor, but the would-be assassin went on completing his hellish work, lifted her up, shot her again and then stabbed her several times. He then left her weltering in her blood and ran across the street, where he was soon afterwards arrested. Another account of the affair is to the effect that Camilo commenced his attack by using the knife first and then shooting with the pistols. One of the balls penetrated the right breast and is supposed to have gone into the lungs. The second ball entered the back near the right shoulder blade. There were several knife wounds, the principal of which was in the left breast SCHOOL MATTERS. _ According to the School Census returns, there are 829 children in San Mateo county under 21 years of age – 16 between the ages of 18 and 21 years; 624 between the ages of 4 and 18 years; and 189 under the age of 4 years. There are four school district, No. 2 being classed as “primary,” the others as “mixed.” The total number of children attending school is set down as – boys, 102; girls, 89. There are eight schools in the county. Receipts for school purposes from all sources, during the years, was $2846.92. Total amount paid for teachers’ salaries, $2465. 18. Amount expended for school purposes, $2922.53. There were four male and three female teachers employed during the year. The schoolhouses and furniture are valued at $3130.53 OUR COUNTY It is not for the present reader alone that the journalist of to-day records his observations of occurrences, and his ideas of the times. Scores, perhaps hundreds, of years hence, his writings will be data for histories for the use of after-coming millions. We can imagine a production such as this, after having been preserved by the successors of some of the present generations in the family archives, and finally presented as a curiosity of ancient date, which those who will then read can hardly persuade themselves is truthful, so changed will everything be at that distant period. As though the veil which hides futurity were lifted, we can picture in our “mind’s eye” the interest with which descriptions such as these we write will be read when the expanse of country composing the isthmus, of which this county is a part, will have been, upon all its hill-sides and valley, peopled by millions instead of hundreds, as at present; when the county road of to-day will be a thoroughfare such as Cheapside or Broadway, and where now the chirping squirrel gambols among his burrowed hillocks, busy trade will reign in its many forms; and instead of a single way farer, jostling thousands will meet and pass each minute. When the palaces of the merchant princes of the Pacific will grace, in many-pinnacled fancy architecture the hill-side groves where now the lowing herds alone are seen, and when the hand which writes and the eye which now reads this, will have long been cold, immoveable, and forgotten dust. Redwood City, viewed from the northern approach, is a beau ideal of a picturesque village, seeming to be embowered among trees, its house-tops peering above the surrounding foliage of the invariable live oaks everywhere seen in its vicinity; but the green mask being removed on a near approach, it is found that but very few of the shady trees which appeared to cluster among the houses are to be seen. It may be said, with no view of disparagement, however, that “distance lends enchantment to the view” of ostentatiously named Redwood City. No steeple-topped church, with spire pointing its people to heaven, as yet attracts the attention from a distance, but the court-house looms up in “fair proportions,” indicative of more attention to things of earth. The appearance of the oak-groves upon the farms in the neighborhood are exceedingly beautiful, and our oldest inhabitants, even, never tire of admiring them. To the left, as we approach from the north, extends the broad marsh or “tule” lands, through which winds the Redwood Creek, as it is called, but which is in reality but an estuary of San Francisco Bay, having no spring source, but made entirely by the current caused by the ebb and flow of the tide-water. This with many similar water-courses, form, throughout the whole marsh – which extends from the dry land about four miles into the Bay, along nearly its whole western side – an interminable net-work of steams and diminutive lakes, rendering the higher land unapproachable except through the principle channels, which are navigated to the various embarcaderos or landings, by the small craft used for shipping the staples of the county to a market, and return freighted with goods. The older portion of the town, like most of the original town settlements in California, is built principally along a single street, which is now considered the business portion, while the western part is principally made up of dwellings. The number of new buildings and other improvements, including stores, and business in various forms, in the western portion, all having an air of permanency, and the fact that the town-lots in the eastern portion are all sold and occupied, with no present room for further additions in that direction, show that future expansion must be limited to the western side, where a fine, level plain of considerable extent, laid out in town and villa lots, now awaits purchasers; which will not long be the case, if the improvements visible during the past year are a criterion by which to judge. We predict, that in a year or perhaps less, a furor for speculation in property in and about Redwood City will take place, which will astonish the people, as the construction of the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad will by that time be fairly under way, and public attention will naturally be directed to this neighborhood as a business locality, and as a most desirable place of residence, on account of the unsurpassed climate. It requires no great stretch of the imagination to conceive that the pleasant oaks groves in our vicinity, if they can be purchased, will, when they can be reached in an hour or less from San Francisco, be greedily sought as building sites, as a retreat from the cares of business and from the cold winds and other disagreeables of that city. There are many interesting reminiscences of Redwood City and the “Pulgas,” a name by which this locality was best known in early days, which are interesting, but are fast being forgotten, showing a peculiar phase of California life, and will be read even now with serious doubts by some as to their reality. (Continued Next Week.) To see other old newspapers, visit http://www.newspaperabstracts.com/index.php