requent
arbiter of important civil cases, especially in the set- tlement of squatter disputes, and in swindles affecting the general public. Whatever was wrongfully accom- plished by law, the people who had learned to look upon themselves as above the law, deemed it incum- bent upon them to make right, and this they did in the surest and most direct manner.
The town of Oakland was thrown into a state of great excitement on the 27th of August, 1853, arising from the claims of Carpentier, Moore, and others to the long line of water property along the front. A meeting was held and resolutions passed repudiating these claims, and determining to divide such property equitably among the people. This, with the assist- ance of club and pistol, they proceeded to do. Two hundred and fifty citizens signed a pledge to stand by each other at all hazards. Then at it they went. Business was suspended; fighting was free to all; and the result was that Carpentier's men were beaten and ignominiously driven from the field.
Nowhere did the energy and audacity of the squat- ters assume greater proportions than on the lands of John A. Sutter, in the Sacramento valley. Sutter's claim was beyond all question valid. He was the pio- neer in this region. He had received from the Mex- ican authorities a genuine grant, in due time confirmed by the United States government. He built a fort, cultivated the soil, and raised flocks and herds. If there were anywhere rights and conditions entitled to respect by immigrants, they were here present.
The 14th of August, 1850, witnessed a serious afiray between the citizens and an organized band of squatters composed of emigrants who had taken up claims on unoccupied lands in and adjoining Sacra- mento. It appears that a case had lately been tried and decided against the squatters, the judge denying an appeal. This decision, together with what they deemed an illegal attempt on the part of an inferior court -^o make it final, ?o exasperated the squatters
