Collection: Books and Periodicals > Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins

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Title: Volume 069-4 - October 2015 Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Collection Name: Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins # of Pages: 6 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

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Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

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NCHS Bulletin October 2015 descendants of miners who were here who wrote letters back East that are tucked away in attics somewhere. . . .” Myths and Legends It is ironic that most of the modern myths and legends about Rough and Ready’s “Great Republic” can be traced to respected members of the newly organized Nevada County Historical Society who edited its earliest Bulletins. In 1948 Doris Foley wrote about Rough and Ready, in which she described an incident said to have occurred in April 1850. According to Foley, a miner from Wisconsin named Joe had been cheated by a ‘slicker’ from Massachusetts, and had arranged a meeting of leading citizens to run the swindler out of town. When someone said they couldn’t do this because the man was an American citizen and hadn’t actually committed a crime, “a spell-binder proposed that they secede and establish a nation of their own, so they could ‘run Mr. Massachusetts out of town regardless. There wasn’t a single ‘no’ vote. E. F. Brundage was chosen president and appointed a cabinet. A few minutes later he and his Secretary of State called the ‘Yankee’ out of a saloon and gave him the order: ‘On your way.’” Doris Foley provided no source for her information, and none has yet been found. In the April 1950 Bulletin Foley’s story was repeated. In 1952 Andy Rogers published 4 Hundred Years of Rip and Roarin’ Rough and Ready. Rogers, a Rough and Ready resident, said he had spent years compiling the material for his book, consulting with “scores” of people and examining hundreds of documents. He claimed to have researched early-day records from coast to coast. Unfortunately for researchers and historians today, like Foley he did not divulge his sources. New in Rogers’ book are a “Manifesto” and a “Constitution.” Rogers claimed that “the miners were vexed by the declaration that a miners’ tax was to be levied by the government.” “Brundage had about one hundred citizens back of him this movement. Every man was prepared, if necessary, to shed the last drop of his blood to set for defense of the one hundred and twenty-five square miles of the Rough and Ready ‘Great Republic.’ So fantastic, high sounding manifest, a republic, a state within a state within a state, to fight to the last, regardless of odds, and armed only with picks, shovels and pistols. Powers were almost absolute and from their decisions there was no appeal from these citizens. Committee members President Brundage, Secretary Hans Q. Roberts, Emanuel Smith, E. W. Roberts, Amber Cox, Lucius Pomery, J. W. Walling. “William G. Ross was Justice of the Peace; he was shot soon and H. L. Roberts took Ross’ place.” In “Brundage’s Manifesto,” supposedly written and signed on April 7, 1850, by Justice of the Peace Hans Q. Roberts and the Committee on Resolutions, Andy Rogers corrected names of three committee members to “Abner Cook, Lucius Pomeroy and J. M. Walling.” Much of the content of 4 Hundred Years of Rip and Roarin’ Rough and Ready, including the Manifesto, was reprinted in the society’s February 1954 Bulletin, also written by Rogers. Debunking the Myths and Legends It is doubtful that many miners in Rough and Ready were concerned about the Foreign Miners Tax, for it did not affect American citizens. When enacted it was believed that if an act was passed requiring all foreign ROUGH AND READY TOWNSHIP DIRECTORY. 363 robbery of Jack Elder, Constable, caught under bis chin and lifted out of his saddle, pistol in hand, by.the limb of a tree; nor of the shooting of his partner, Wilson, while stealing a wagon load of barley left on the road; nor of Brundage’s mass meeting of the people, called in 1850, to organize the State of Rough and Ready, adopt a constitution, secede from the United States, and set up on our own hook an indeperdent government ; nor of the preacher who wanted “a show” when the boys staked off the grave yard into mining claims whilst he was saying the last prayer over the corpse, the prospect having been discovered “rich” in the loose dirt thrown out of the grave; nor of the fight between Smock and a certain limb of the law; nor of the first appearance of Lee & Marshall’s Circus, at Rough and Ready, in March, 1851 ; nor of Fordyce’s first contract for carrying the mail from Nevada to Marysville, in 1850, on mule-back ; nor of the stage ride in the first Marysville coach, one.day to Empire Ranch and all next day to get into Marysville; 2 The only known record of the Rough and Ready secession appears in Bean’s History and Directory of Nevada County, California, published in 1867. This account was written Edmund W. Roberts, who witnessed the events along with his brother, Hanson Q. Roberts.