Volume 026-4 - October 1972 (5 pages)

JUDGE NILES SEARLS 1825-1907 The hazardous trip across the plains in 1849 experienced by Niles Searls and his life-long friend, Charles Mulford, is documented in the libraries of Nevada County. Here the reader becomes aware of their struggle to gain a footing in California, first by selling potatoes and onions on the Sacramento levee, then mining on the bars of the Yuba River, and finally running an express wagon with two mules from Marysville to Downieae before settling in Nevada City in Having been admitted to practice law in New York State in 1848, at the age of twenty-three, Niles Searls was qualified within a few days after arriving in the mining camp to become a candidate for Alcalde, Alderman or Justice of the Peace. His office was located in the back of Mulford’s bookstore on Main Street (corner of Bank of America and Union Alley). Here he sold books for Charlie, too, for an item in the Nevada Journal mentions him as a vender of ‘‘yellow-covered 2. literature!’? He sat on a_ nail keg at his pork-barrel desk, for a few months, and then left for Oregon. Because of this, he missed the fire of 1851 which took lower Main Street and the bookstore, causing Charles Mulford to leave for the East. Niles soon followed, but returned to Nevada in 1852 and went into partnership with William M. Stewart next door to the original Courthouse (site destroyed by construction of Broad Street bridge). In 1853, he again returned home and married Mary Niles on May 25. Charles Mulford and wife, Deborah, returned with them to Nevada City. Mary wrote to her Eastern friends, Oct. 24, 1853, “fAll along as we stopped at little towns we had to be introduced to friends of the boys who came to welcome them back. Niles and Charlie are about as happy as ever you saw two men, and I think we shall be too, when we get settled.. There has never arrived more than one lady at a time before. The men stand and gaze at us with mouth and eyes wide open every time we go out..’’ Niles and Charles had boarded at Phelps Hotel on Main Street, (Union Alley covers site), and it was here they took their young wives until homes were made ready for them. The law books, so carefully shipped from the East, sank in San Francisco Bay when the ship on which they were loaded went on to the rocks. A $1000 loss of books, a large amount in those days, and no library equaled it in the State. Niles resumed his partnership with Stewart, and also took over the editing of ‘‘The Young America,’’ a Democratic newspaper opposing A. A. Sargent’s Whig publication. The former editor, a young man named Davidge, had quarreled so violently with Sargent it came near ending in a duel, had Davidge not left town. Strong, clear-headed and logical, Niles Searls took an active part in politics after his editorial responsibjlities were assumed by I. J. Rolfe, The ‘‘North Star,’’ which had its origin in the County, the ‘‘Blue_ Ticket,’ ‘*Dark-Lanternites,’’ and ‘‘Know Nothings,’’ were political parties designed to keep any Southerner out of office. Searls belonged to each before affiliating with the Democratic party, saying he had only gone into the wigwam to clean out the ‘‘Chivalry.’? One joke he always enjoyed on himself in later years was as a delegate to a convention in San Francisco, he paid his train fare down, but was given a pass by the Central Pacific Railroad Company to come back! During the year of 1854, he was nominated District Attorney by the Democrats against C. Wilson Hall, a Whig, just at the time some horses were stolen near the town of Washington. The culprit was apprehended, and the Democrats and Whigs agreed that Searis should prosecute and Hill defend, and their performance in court be the deciding factor in electing the District Attorney. An immense crowd filled the courtroom, each political party backing its champion. Niles Searls introduced his evidence and made a clear case of stealing. Hill’s first question to a witness was, ‘‘Did you know the defendant in Rhode Island, and what was his character for honesty there?’’ Old Zeke. Dougherty as the Justice demanded, ‘‘What do you expect to prove by that?”’ “The prisoner’s good character,’’ replied Hill. “Good character, H--1l,’’ squealed old Zeke, ‘‘When he was found with stolen property and proved to be a d----d_ thief? Sheriff, take him to jail!” Hill had no chance to prove his skill, and the political prestige elected Searls. Located on Washington Street opposite the Catholic Church, stood the first Searl’s home, completed in 1854, It was here that Fred was born, Oct. 14, of that year. Niles became a candidate for the office of District Judge of the Fourteenth Judicial District in 1855, which comprised the counties of Nevada. Sierra and Yuba. The Nevada Journal recommended him for the office, ‘‘A man of irreproachable character, an accomplished lawyer, and one who commands the general respect of the public.’? He won that election, and again in 1858, The summer of 1856 found the little family homeless. Fire had devastated The Searls Home in Nevada City has long been a land mark with it’s expanse of trees and lawns and fronting on Main Street behind the last remaining board walk in the city. The wood frame building has served three generations of the Searls family. & @ @ @ the town and the Searl’s place went with it. The William Morris Stewart house Qn Zion Street was purchased, August 7, 1857, and Addison, their second child, was born here, March 6, 1859. A month later, Mary wrote to her mother, “I wish you could see what a patient, kind and in fact, what a model family man Niles has become. He spends nearly all of his evenings at home, dresses and undresses Fred, gets up in the night to wait on us all, and in many things excites my wonder and admiration daily ” A year later, Baby Addison wad dead! Niles Jr. arrived six months later on December 2, 1860. On May 23, 1862, the stately house was sold, and Mary’s desire to return to her Eastern home fulfilled. Niles followed a year later, and farmed in New York State for six years, until the lure of the west completely consumed him again, and he returned to Nevada City with his two sons in 1869. When Mary joined them, they rented the home of Attorney T. B. McFarland, corner of Nevada and Washington Streets, where they lived until purchasing a home of their own in 1871 at 545 Main Street. Niles opened offices in the Kidd & Knox building (Durbrow’s, 3.

JUDGE NILES SEARLS 1825-1907 The hazardous trip across the plains in 1849 experienced by Niles Searls and his life-long friend, Charles Mulford, is documented in the libraries of Nevada County. Here the reader becomes aware of their struggle to gain a footing in California, first by selling potatoes and onions on the Sacramento levee, then mining on the bars of the Yuba River, and finally running an express wagon with two mules from Marysville to Downieae before settling in Nevada City in Having been admitted to practice law in New York State in 1848, at the age of twenty-three, Niles Searls was qualified within a few days after arriving in the mining camp to become a candidate for Alcalde, Alderman or Justice of the Peace. His office was located in the back of Mulford’s bookstore on Main Street (corner of Bank of America and Union Alley). Here he sold books for Charlie, too, for an item in the Nevada Journal mentions him as a vender of ‘‘yellow-covered 2. literature!’? He sat on a_ nail keg at his pork-barrel desk, for a few months, and then left for Oregon. Because of this, he missed the fire of 1851 which took lower Main Street and the bookstore, causing Charles Mulford to leave for the East. Niles soon followed, but returned to Nevada in 1852 and went into partnership with William M. Stewart next door to the original Courthouse (site destroyed by construction of Broad Street bridge). In 1853, he again returned home and married Mary Niles on May 25. Charles Mulford and wife, Deborah, returned with them to Nevada City. Mary wrote to her Eastern friends, Oct. 24, 1853, “fAll along as we stopped at little towns we had to be introduced to friends of the boys who came to welcome them back. Niles and Charlie are about as happy as ever you saw two men, and I think we shall be too, when we get settled... There has never arrived more than one lady at a time before. The men stand and gaze at us with mouth and eyes wide open every time we go out...’’ Niles and Charles had boarded at Phelps Hotel on Main Street, (Union Alley covers site), and it was here they took their young wives until homes were made ready for them. The law books, so carefully shipped from the East, sank in San Francisco Bay when the ship on which they were loaded went on to the rocks. A $1000 loss of books, a large amount in those days, and no library equaled it in the State. Niles resumed his partnership with Stewart, and also took over the editing of ‘‘The Young America,’’ a Democratic newspaper opposing A. A. Sargent’s Whig publication. The former editor, a young man named Davidge, had quarreled so violently with Sargent it came near ending in a duel, had Davidge not left town. Strong, clear-headed and logical, Niles Searls took an active part in politics after his editorial responsibjlities were assumed by I. J. Rolfe, The ‘‘North Star,’’ which had its origin in the County, the ‘‘Blue_ Ticket,’ ‘*Dark-Lanternites,’’ and ‘‘Know Nothings,’’ were political parties designed to keep any Southerner out of office. Searls belonged to each before affiliating with the Democratic party, saying he had only gone into the wigwam to clean out the ‘‘Chivalry.’? One joke he always enjoyed on himself in later

years was as a delegate to a convention in San Francisco, he paid his train fare down, but was given a pass by the Central Pacific Railroad Company to come back! During the year of 1854, he was nominated District Attorney by the Democrats against C. Wilson Hall, a Whig, just at the time some horses were stolen near the town of Washington. The culprit was apprehended, and the Democrats and Whigs agreed that Searis should prosecute and Hill defend, and their performance in court be the deciding factor in electing the District Attorney. An immense crowd filled the courtroom, each political party backing its champion. Niles Searls introduced his evidence and made a clear case of stealing. Hill’s first question to a witness was, ‘‘Did you know the defendant in Rhode Island, and what was his character for honesty there?’’ Old Zeke. Dougherty as the Justice demanded, ‘‘What do you expect to prove by that?”’ “The prisoner’s good character,’’ replied Hill. “Good character, H--1l,’’ squealed old Zeke, ‘‘When he was found with stolen property and proved to be a d----d_ thief? Sheriff, take him to jail!” Hill had no chance to prove his skill, and the political prestige elected Searls. Located on Washington Street opposite the Catholic Church, stood the first Searl’s home, completed in 1854, It was here that Fred was born, Oct. 14, of that year. Niles became a candidate for the office of District Judge of the Fourteenth Judicial District in 1855, which comprised the counties of Nevada. Sierra and Yuba. The Nevada Journal recommended him for the office, ‘‘A man of irreproachable character, an accomplished lawyer, and one who commands the general respect of the public.’? He won that election, and again in 1858, The summer of 1856 found the little family homeless. Fire had devastated The Searls Home in Nevada City has long been a land mark with it’s expanse of trees and lawns and fronting on Main Street behind the last remaining board walk in the city. The wood frame building has served three generations of the Searls family. & @ @ @ the town and the Searl’s place went with it. The William Morris Stewart house Qn Zion Street was purchased, August 7, 1857, and Addison, their second child, was born here, March 6, 1859. A month later, Mary wrote to her mother, “I wish you could see what a patient, kind and in fact, what a model family man Niles has become. He spends nearly all of his evenings at home, dresses and undresses Fred, gets up in the night to wait on us all, and in many things excites my wonder and admiration daily ” A year later, Baby Addison wad dead! Niles Jr. arrived six months later on December 2, 1860. On May 23, 1862, the stately house was sold, and Mary’s desire to return to her Eastern home fulfilled. Niles followed a year later, and farmed in New York State for six years, until the lure of the west completely consumed him again, and he returned to Nevada City with his two sons in 1869. When Mary joined them, they rented the home of Attorney T. B. McFarland, corner of Nevada and Washington Streets, where they lived until purchasing a home of their own in 1871 at 545 Main Street. Niles opened offices in the Kidd & Knox building (Durbrow’s, 3.