John L. Davie vs. The Octopus
The Octopus finally crossed interests with a man named John L. Davie. He wrote an autobiography which tells of a life of adventure touching the legends of our city's history. John Davie was a well fought man who liked to call his conflict with the railroads, "the greatest battle of his life".*
A Buckaroo's life, his autobiography, tells the romantic tale of a boy come west with cattle and grimy hands, man enough to build his dream ranch up by Lassen. And young enough again to sell it all, and head to Oakland.
In Oakland, Davie opened a store selling coal, but soon he traded in grain, salt, wood and other non-perishables. His story, is the story of Oakland, the story of the world, the slow chipping away at the corruption of our society.
John Davie loved books, eventually adding a bookstore onto his shop. He put a lounge in the back of the store, where he invited people to come and enjoy a good read.
Davie immersed himself in the heated discussions happening in that back room between the city's students, artists and politicians. He saw himself as part of the community of Oakland. Through the bookstore he formed friendships with the poets Ina Donna Coolbrith, Edwin Markham, and Joaquin Miller. Another young guest of his was an avid reader, Jack London.
But we want to hear about his battle with the railroad!
Okay--by the late 1880's Davie wanted to expand into wholesale, which meant getting access to the waterfront. But we twenty years on from the "Great Compromise," Oakland's waterfront was still controlled by Central Pacific Railroad.
After some foiled attempts, Davie finally leased a piece of land that is now a living monument to Oakland's history. It's where Johnny Heinhold's First and Last Chance Saloon stands to this day! Jack London and his oyster pirates had their shacks there. In fact, these young rascals would be the vanguard in the civilian army that rose to fight alongside of John Davie against the railroad.
This is how it went down:
Davie was almost done building his wharf. He'd already received his first shipment of wholesale coal even, when one Monday morning, he found a twelve foot fence surrounding his land and a gang of railroad toughs tearing his new buildings down!
Well, the railroad thugs gave Davie a good beating too, so he went home and got his six shooters and shotgun. Then he went to Heinhold's and had a drink. Then he went back down to his wharf and sent the whole group of toughs swimming home.
The Railroad called for John's arrest on the charges of trespassing. But when the police showed up, they found an army of armed citizens waiting alongside John. Davie. The cops didn't stand a chance against this mob, and when the sheriff finally showed up that day, he got tossed to the street by the seat of his trousers.
Public Sentiment + Leadership = Change
The railroad laid siege to John Davie's wharf, but Davie had an army of real people at his back. Armed with rifles, they chased off the railroad thugs, or even tossed them into the estuary (this was a popular thing to do...think sewage.)
Sweet talk couldn't convince Davie to surrender, and a blank check couldn't buy him off, so the railroad tried one last thing. They sent an army.
A hundred or so railroad toughs swarmed towards Davie's buildings, and they also moved a huge barge in to block his wharf. But hundreds of Oaklanders came to stand with John Davie.
Imagine this now--a huge melee down by Heinholds. Clubs swinging... Fists flying! John Davie and the people of Oakland sent those railroad hooligans swimming, and their barge drifting. In a frenzy, the Oaklanders ripped up railroad tracks, and even stole a whole rail station house and dropped it in city hall plaza. As Davie put it, "The company now realized that it could gain nothing by resorting to its usual tactics. Force, they found, would be met with force."**
Deadly men still trailed John in the night, but the railroad moved the battle from the streets into the courthouse.
The trial, according to Davie, was as dirty as the street fight. They were aiming to prove during the month-long trial that Davie was unlawfully holding railroad property by force of arms.
John says that he caught nine members of the jury in the act of getting paid off by a railroad man in a saloon. But he stormed into the scene talking of hemp and necks. Davie won a unanimous verdict in his favor from those jurors. The Railroad's appealed the case all the way to the US Supreme Court.
But Oakland wasn't alone in it's battle against the railroad's monopoly. Chicago had just won a similar case against the Illinois Central Railroad for fencing off their waterfront also. And finally, when the case against him was dropped, John Davie knew he'd beaten The Octopus.
Only a few more dominoes would need to fall for Oakland to regain ownership of its waterfront.
Mayor John Davie
Following his victory on the waterfront, Davie then challenged the railroad's ferry monopoly with his own fleet of steamers, offering faster service at one third the price. Davie's popularity grew on both sides of the bay as he continued to stand up to this previously invincible corporation. By 1995, he won the race for Mayor of Oakland by a landslide. Serving for two years, he and his council managed the city on only a fixed tax rate of one dollar on every hundred, which made him even more popular.
After these two years though, a bout with ill health spurred him to travel and seek business endeavors throughout America and Mexico. But when leaders like Pancho Villa, whom Davie says he encountered in person, brought about the Mexican Revolution of 1910, Davie escaped the fighting and headed back home to Oakland.
In 1915 he would again be elected to public office, serving for another fifteen more years and solidifying his place in history as the longest serving Mayor of Oakland ever.
* p 130 His Honor, The Buckaroo, The Autobiography of John L. Davie. Jack Herzog, 1988
** The Buckaroo, Davie.
The Octopus finally crossed interests with a man named John L. Davie. He wrote an autobiography which tells of a life of adventure touching the legends of our city's history. John Davie was a well fought man who liked to call his conflict with the railroads, "the greatest battle of his life".*
A Buckaroo's life, his autobiography, tells the romantic tale of a boy come west with cattle and grimy hands, man enough to build his dream ranch up by Lassen. And young enough again to sell it all, and head to Oakland.
In Oakland, Davie opened a store selling coal, but soon he traded in grain, salt, wood and other non-perishables. His story, is the story of Oakland, the story of the world, the slow chipping away at the corruption of our society.
John Davie loved books, eventually adding a bookstore onto his shop. He put a lounge in the back of the store, where he invited people to come and enjoy a good read.
Davie immersed himself in the heated discussions happening in that back room between the city's students, artists and politicians. He saw himself as part of the community of Oakland. Through the bookstore he formed friendships with the poets Ina Donna Coolbrith, Edwin Markham, and Joaquin Miller. Another young guest of his was an avid reader, Jack London.
But we want to hear about his battle with the railroad!
Okay--by the late 1880's Davie wanted to expand into wholesale, which meant getting access to the waterfront. But we twenty years on from the "Great Compromise," Oakland's waterfront was still controlled by Central Pacific Railroad.
After some foiled attempts, Davie finally leased a piece of land that is now a living monument to Oakland's history. It's where Johnny Heinhold's First and Last Chance Saloon stands to this day! Jack London and his oyster pirates had their shacks there. In fact, these young rascals would be the vanguard in the civilian army that rose to fight alongside of John Davie against the railroad.
This is how it went down:
Davie was almost done building his wharf. He'd already received his first shipment of wholesale coal even, when one Monday morning, he found a twelve foot fence surrounding his land and a gang of railroad toughs tearing his new buildings down!
Well, the railroad thugs gave Davie a good beating too, so he went home and got his six shooters and shotgun. Then he went to Heinhold's and had a drink. Then he went back down to his wharf and sent the whole group of toughs swimming home.
The Railroad called for John's arrest on the charges of trespassing. But when the police showed up, they found an army of armed citizens waiting alongside John. Davie. The cops didn't stand a chance against this mob, and when the sheriff finally showed up that day, he got tossed to the street by the seat of his trousers.
Public Sentiment + Leadership = Change
The railroad laid siege to John Davie's wharf, but Davie had an army of real people at his back. Armed with rifles, they chased off the railroad thugs, or even tossed them into the estuary (this was a popular thing to do...think sewage.)
Sweet talk couldn't convince Davie to surrender, and a blank check couldn't buy him off, so the railroad tried one last thing. They sent an army.
A hundred or so railroad toughs swarmed towards Davie's buildings, and they also moved a huge barge in to block his wharf. But hundreds of Oaklanders came to stand with John Davie.
Imagine this now--a huge melee down by Heinholds. Clubs swinging... Fists flying! John Davie and the people of Oakland sent those railroad hooligans swimming, and their barge drifting. In a frenzy, the Oaklanders ripped up railroad tracks, and even stole a whole rail station house and dropped it in city hall plaza. As Davie put it, "The company now realized that it could gain nothing by resorting to its usual tactics. Force, they found, would be met with force."**
Deadly men still trailed John in the night, but the railroad moved the battle from the streets into the courthouse.
The trial, according to Davie, was as dirty as the street fight. They were aiming to prove during the month-long trial that Davie was unlawfully holding railroad property by force of arms.
John says that he caught nine members of the jury in the act of getting paid off by a railroad man in a saloon. But he stormed into the scene talking of hemp and necks. Davie won a unanimous verdict in his favor from those jurors. The Railroad's appealed the case all the way to the US Supreme Court.
But Oakland wasn't alone in it's battle against the railroad's monopoly. Chicago had just won a similar case against the Illinois Central Railroad for fencing off their waterfront also. And finally, when the case against him was dropped, John Davie knew he'd beaten The Octopus.
Only a few more dominoes would need to fall for Oakland to regain ownership of its waterfront.
Mayor John Davie
Following his victory on the waterfront, Davie then challenged the railroad's ferry monopoly with his own fleet of steamers, offering faster service at one third the price. Davie's popularity grew on both sides of the bay as he continued to stand up to this previously invincible corporation. By 1995, he won the race for Mayor of Oakland by a landslide. Serving for two years, he and his council managed the city on only a fixed tax rate of one dollar on every hundred, which made him even more popular.
After these two years though, a bout with ill health spurred him to travel and seek business endeavors throughout America and Mexico. But when leaders like Pancho Villa, whom Davie says he encountered in person, brought about the Mexican Revolution of 1910, Davie escaped the fighting and headed back home to Oakland.
In 1915 he would again be elected to public office, serving for another fifteen more years and solidifying his place in history as the longest serving Mayor of Oakland ever.
* p 130 His Honor, The Buckaroo, The Autobiography of John L. Davie. Jack Herzog, 1988
** The Buckaroo, Davie.