The Rape of Monterey

David Jack left Crieff, Scotland, in 1841 to lessen the burden on his widowed mother. He worked for an army contractor in Williamsburg, Virginia, for a period, then read a letter in the New York Herald that changed his future.

The letter described the great wealth to be found in the California gold fields.

Jack decided to try his luck.

Before leaving Virginia, he took his entire savings of $1,400 and invested it in pistols, which he intended to resell in California.

The journey to California took 138 days. Jack arrived in San Francisco on April 30, 1849, and within 48 hours, sold his entire pistol inventory for $4,000.

David Jack then worked as an inspector at the Custom House, earning $100 a month. He cleverly put his $4,000 bankroll to work, lending portions of it at an interest rate of two percent per month.

In 1850, he made a trip to Monterey, and was so enamored by the town that he moved there.

His big break came when he pa rtnered with Attorney Delos Rodeyn Ashley. The attorney was hired by the City of Monterey to legitimize the land grant claims to 29,698.53 acres of land before the United States Land Claims Commission in San Francisco.

When Ashley proved successful before the land commission, he presented the City of Monterey with a bill for $991.50 legal fee.

The city treasury, however, was broke. The California State Legislature passed a bill that allowed the City of Monterey to auction off its city lands in order to pay Ashley.

When the auction to sell the 29,698.53 acres was held, the only bidders were David Jack and Delos Ashley.

The total selling price for the land was $1,002.50. Ashley sold his interests to David Jack.

The City of Monterey attempted twice to reclaim its lost lands. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in Jacks favor.

The event became known to local residents as The Rape of Monterey.

Jacks fervor to acquire land grew obsessive. He learned that Californians in the Salinas Valley were better cowboys than they were businessmen.

Many were forced to sell their cattle because of a succession of dry years. Some were delinquent in their taxes. Jack began paying overdue taxes on good land, often without notifying the landowners. He also foreclosed on defaulted mortgages.

Piece by piece, Jack added land to his holdings. At one time, Jack is said to have owned as much as 100,000 acres of Monterey County lands.

Californios, who lost their lands, considered Jack a land thief. Jack, in turn, considered the Mexicans as squatters on his property.

The confrontation led to the formation of an organization called The Squatters League of Monterey County. In 1872, the group wrote Jack: You have been the cause of unnecessary annoyance and expense to the settlersnow if you dont make that account of damages to each and every one within ten days, you son of a bitch, we will suspend your animation between daylight and hell.

Jack stayed on in Monterey and continued to amass land. The city lands that he controlled included some of todays richest and most valuable property in all of California.

His holdings included land occupied by the present-day cities of Pacific Grove, Del Rey Oaks, and Seaside, as well as the Del Monte Forest, Fort Ord and the spectacular 17-mile Drive and Pebble Beach.

(Alton Pryor has been a writer for magazines, newspapers, and wire services. He worked for United Press International in their Sacramento Bureau, handling both printed press as well as radio news. He traveled the state as a field editor for California Farmer Magazine for 27 years. He is now the author of 10 books, primarily on California and western history. His books can be seen at http://www.stagecoachPublishing.com. Readers can Email him at stagecoach@surewest.net.)

Author:: Alton Pryor
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