MARK TWAIN IN THE SAN FRANCISCO DRAMATIC CHRONICLE
1865
[EDITOR'S NOTE: These items have not been previously republished elsewhere. They are included in this collection because of their potential to be the work of Clemens and are deserving of further research and consideration. Throughout his career as a reporter in San Francisco, Clemens wrote often about Judge Philip W. Shepheard, a man he truly admired.]
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DEATH OF JUDGE SHEPHEARD
On Saturday afternoon, at about five o'clock, Judge P. W. Shepheard, recently re-elected judge of the Police Court, expired after a painful and lingering illness. He was one of our pioneers, having arrived in California in 1849. In early life, he was a seaman; and at the time of his arrival here he had risen to the position of Master of the Arkansas, the vessel that brought him to this port. In 1850, we believe, he was elected Justice of the Peace; after which he turned his attention to the law, and became prosecuting attorney in the Police Court, and afterward judge of that tribunal. He was a kind-hearted, right-minded man, of excellent sense and unquestioned integrity. Of course, no mere man can administer such an office as that of judge of a criminal court in a great city without giving more or less dissatisfaction to some. But so far as we are aware, the motives of Judge Shepheard were never questioned, and no more prominent man in this community than he. He was in his fifty-third year at the time of his death.
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HIS SUCCESSOR [p. 4]
The duty of appointing a Police Judge, to supply the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Shepheard, devolves upon the Board of Supervisors. We understand that there are already half a score of candidates in the field. Among these are Citizen Sam Platt, Judge Wells, Judge Lamb, Counsellor Zabriskie and the Hon. Henry R. Crosby. The irrepressible Sam has several times declined the office when it was attempted to be thrust upon him. As to Judge Wells, we shall take the liberty of counting him out. Counsellor Zabriskie can count upon the support of the Police Department, beyond which we suspect his backers will not be multitudinous. Crosby is a man whose talents would amply warrant him in aspiring to a much higher position, and from his record as a judge at Whatcom, we feel authorized in expressing the opinion that, should he be elected, he would find a summary and effectual method of putting a stop to the little eccentricities of the war-worn veterans of the gallant "Fourteenth."
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[transcribed from microfilm]
