Tamales! Red-Hot Tamales!

On their Facebook page, The Bakersfield Californian recently asked, “Christmas is here and we’re wondering where you go to get your holiday tamales?” Growing up in California, this question seems perfectly reasonable, but when I shared the question with my midwest and east-coast friends, they were both confused and amused. “Holiday tamales?” they asked, and I assured them that holiday tamales were indeed “a thing.” 

Tamales are ubiquitous in California’s Central Valley as well as throughout much of the American west and southwest. In Hispanic families, mothers, grandmothers, daughters, nieces, and extended female relatives gather during the holidays and, in an assembly-line fashion, make these cornmeal delicacies. Most of the tamales are for friends and family to enjoy, but some entrepreneurial women pack the tamales into ice chests (often the styrofoam kind that bait shops stock) and sell tamales door-to-door in business districts, set up little stands on busy street corners, or sell to their coworkers. Currently (2014), one of my coworkers has fliers posted in the break rooms advertising homemade tamales (chicken, beef, or cheese) for $3.00 a piece.  Tamales and tamale vendors have a long and interesting history, and while Bakersfield is certainly not unique, Bakersfield’s tamale history shows that the delicacy has been been “a thing” for a long time.

Tamales are the perfect convenience food: they can easily be prepared and cooked in bulk; are already perfectly portioned; and the corn husk in which they are cooked provides an easily portable receptacle, which later doubles as both plate and napkin. While considered a Mexican food today, tamales are actually Native American and could be found throughout the Americas wherever corn was grown. For example, Captain John Smith found Native Americans in the Virginia colony preparing a tamale-like food in 1612!

By the 19th century, tamales were associated with Mexican culture (or, even more confusing, Spanish culture) but were enjoyed by all walks of life. Specialized tamale vendors date back to at least the 1890s. In 1892, Robert H. Putnam of San Francisco founded the California Chicken Tamale Company with the goal to sell tamales throughout the country. That year, he had approximately 500 tamale vendors in Chicago in preparation for the World’s Fair. It doesn’t appear that any of the California Chicken Tamale Company’s tamale vendors were in Bakersfield, but Bakersfield had its own thriving tamale industry. On December 6, 1892, the Californian (a predecessor to today’s Bakersfield Californian) featured an article entitled “The Tamale Industry” that chronicles the tamale and tamale vendor in Bakersfield and throughout California:

The tamale man is not to be despised in any California community. From the rising of the sun to the going down thereof peace may reign, but when the shades of evening gather and the night is fully clothed in the somber garments of Erebus and silence sits ‘neath the stars in all the loveliness of June or December, the circumambient air is disturbed by the melodious cry of the vendor:

“Tamales! Red-hot tamales! Only ten cents apiece, or three for a quarter. Buy my tamales."

With bucket in hand he trudges along, and again, as if life depended upon the possession of one of his manufactured specimens of Spanish invention, he again cries out:

“Tamale; chicken tamale; fresh and hot chicken tamale”

And perchance he finds a purchaser, who unrolls the canny bundle wrapped in corn husks, fishing therefrom the layers of corn meal baked in steam and occasionally the bone of a chicken - probably a rabbit or squirrel or what is it? All these ingredients are so fantastically spiced with Chili pepper and other condiments that the most exquisite connoisseurs could not detect a fraud. His lips tingle with the sharp pricklings of the peppers, and he opens his mouth to invite the cool air, but he has a vast amount of courage in suppressing the thoughts and suggestions that take shape.

On every train from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and still on to a point where the

observation of man runneth not to the contrary, this eloquent and obtrusive vendor of the sacred tamale is found at every station during the night.

They have plants everywhere for the manufacture of this commodity, and in the still hours of the night the baleful voice of the vender [sic] is heard, regular as the town clock, until every light is extinguished and every brothel is closed. In Bakersfield and in Sumner the fiend has a home and a plant. Chickens do not seem to diminish nor prices increase. The jack-rabbit flourishes and the squirrel has his hole in the ground, but the tamale goes on forever - the chicken tamale.

The article references train station and brothels - both areas frequented by hungry men looking for a fast and cheap meal. In the 1890s, most of Bakersfield’s brothels were found in the area around 20th and K streets. At the time the above article was written, the only train depot was located in Sumner (East Bakersfield). In 1901, there were at least three separate tamale vendors who set up shop near the train depot, and in January they had an argument: “The three hot tamale vendors, who can be seen near the depot every night, had some kind of misunderstanding late last night and resolved to settle the difficulty with their fists. For several minutes a lively fight ensued, but finally two of the participants withdrew leaving the third to sell his wares as he saw fit to sell them.”

Not only were tamales sold by street vendors, but saloons also sold the delicacies. In 1903, the Peerless Saloon at 1819 Chester sold their “celebrated Peerless tamales” for 25 cents each or 3 for 50 cents. It is unclear why the  tamales were “celebrated.”

There was often a question of the quality of the tamales (Was that meat really chicken?). In 1905, the Louvre saloon at 19th and K (in the heart of Bakersfield’s red light district) assured customers that their tamales “will be of the finest quality and a lady who has had years of experience has been engaged to devote her entire time to making them for the Louvre.” 

In 1905, a restaurant specializing in tamales opened up at Chester avenue and 20th street: “Mrs. Cress, late of Fresno, will open her tamale grotto at 2011 Chester avenue, opposite the Grand Hotel, tomorrow night, and those fond of this delicacy or of Spanish dishes generally will do well to give Mrs. Cress a call. She has had a long experience in the business and is an expert in the line named.” The Tamale Grotto also served enchiladas and “Spanish dinners.” In 1909, the Tamale Grotto moved to 1528 Twentieth Street.

Tamales weren’t strictly a street food or food served to working or drinking men. Tamales were also served in the respectable parts of town. On January 25, 1894, the ladies of the Christian Endeavor Society hosted a “Hot Tamale Social,” which The Daily Californian reported was  “well attended and the tamales could not be excelled in quality and tamaleness by all of Mexico. Quite a handsome sum was netted for the benefit of Rev. A. B. Markle.” Tamales were also sold at fundraisers for the ladies’ auxiliaries of St. Paul’s Episcopal church as well as St. Francis Catholic church during the early 1900s. Various clubs and fraternal organizations also had tamale dinners during their meetings. In 1905, some Bakersfield residents even started the “Tamale Club,” but for what purpose is unclear although it seems like card games were usually played at meetings. 

The next time you open up the warm cornhusk wrapper and bite into the delicious cornmeal mush, remember that you are enjoying a taste that has been enjoyed for generations and by people from all walks of life.

For additional information about the tamale phenomena, please see:

Gourmet Sleuth - Tamales
and
SF Weekly - When We Were Red Hot

The Notorious Withington Family

Although most people in Bakersfield have never heard of the Withington family, at one time, they were one of Bakersfield’s most notorious families and owned much of Bakersfield’s redlight district. During Bakersfield’s early years, the activities of the family and their business were regularly in the news and were read about salaciously  By 1915, after Bakersfield authorities cracked down on illicit activities, Carlie Withington moved the family business to Mexicali. Along with Frank Beyer and Marvin Allen (ABW syndicate), he opened the Owl Cafe and Theatre, which at one time was the largest gambling resort in North America that included drinking, drugs, gambling, and prostitution. 

Carlie’s father Robert Withington, the patriarch of the family, came to Kern County even before Havilah became the county seat. While living in Havilah, he operated a freighting business between the Kern County mountains and Los Angeles. In 1870 or 1871, he moved down the hill to Bakersfield and purchased a large amount of property around 19th and K streets where he built a house (2005 K Street) and saloon. The saloon, near 19th and K, was the the third business in town after Livermore & Chester’s stage station and Herman Hirshfeld’s mercantile store. In 1873, Robert was one of the Trustees of Bakersfield’s First Incorporation and a signer of the petition to the Kern County board of supervisors asking to move the county seat from Havilah to Bakersfield. Robert was also a deputy sheriff in the 1890s and ran for constable in 1894. The Grand Jury later accused him of bribing voters, and he was indicted but charges were finally dropped. 

In 1889, Withington’s saloon was destroyed in the Great Fire that destroyed most of downtown Bakersfield. His loss was estimated at $4,000, but he quickly rebuilt. In Little Dramas of Old Bakersfield Rush Blodget wrote, “The big fire of 1889 burned your saloon, but you did not allow your patrons to thirst for long. With true western enterprise, you were telling the boys to line up and christen the new pine bar.” In addition to his saloon, he also leased part of his new building to M. Goldberg who had the C.O.D. store on the corner of 19th and K. The building also initially housed a barbershop and a restaurant.

Robert’s wife was Rachel Freeman, a daughter of a baptist minister. Together, they had nine children who lived to adulthood: John, Harriett (or Hattie), Robert, Callie Belle, Carlie, Claude, Lester, Norma, and Lysle. In one way or another, all of the children were involved in the family business. Robert died in 1897 at the age of 58 and Rachel followed a few years later in 1902.

The saloon was simply Withington’s saloon until 1900 when it started appearing in newspaper accounts as the Owl. It is unclear if, in addition to peddling liquor, Robert was also involved in prostitution, but by the time the saloon began to be called the Owl, the Withington family and the Owl were synonymous with the tenderloin and all that it entailed. Also by 1900, the Owl and related businesses, which included a boarding house, dancehall, and rows of cribs, were located at the northwest corner of 20th and L streets. On the saloon’s former site on 19th Street, they built a large brick building costing approximately $20,000, which they first leased to Thomas O’Brien for a saloon. In 1909, the Withingtons further expanded into prostitution and built 20 more cribs at the northwest corner of 20th and M streets. This brought the number of these small, one-room apartments from which prostitutes plied their trade to about 125. Women rented cribs for $1-$3 a day and then kept their earnings. The 1900 Bakersfield city directory listed Carlie’s occupation as “collector” suggesting that he collected the rent from the cribs’ tenants.

Eldest son John started managing the family business sometime in the 1890s, and this continued until his violent death in 1902. A little before midnight on August 2, 1902, John and his latest consort, one of his dancehall employees named Kittie York (aka “Fresno Kittie,” “Blonde Kittie,” and “Long Kittie”), left the Owl and walked to the City Restaurant on L street between 19th and 20th. While they were sitting down to dinner, Kittie’s ex-lover “Kid” Robbins walked in and shot Kittie pointe blank in the head. “Kid” then shot John in the stomach when he stood to confront “Kid.” Kittie died instantly while John lingered for just a few minutes. John was not the first Withington to meet a violent end. Two years earlier, 19-year-old Claude fell from the train while returning to Bakersfield from Fresno. His trunk was found suspended from the train’s braking unit, and the rest of his body was found scattered near Kingsburg. A unique scar on his thumbnail identified him.

After John’s death, Carlie took over managing the family business, and for a time, Lester managed the saloon. The Withingtons also had property that included saloons, brothels, dancehalls, and theatres in other towns including Reno, Nevada and San Francisco. In 1910, Carlie took a lease on vaudeville house on Market Street in San Francisco.

Bakersfield incorporated in 1898, and Bakersfield citizens began calling for the cleaning up of the redlight district soon after. In February 1904, the Kern County Grand Jury issued their report, and in regards to the redlight district, they wrote:

There is a law upon the statute books of this state (section 316 of the Penal Code) which prohibits the renting of property for the purpose of prostitution but being a misdemeanor it is with out the province of the grand jury. It is unquestionably for the best interests of Bakersfield that this law should be enforced and the time to enforce it is NOW. The property referred to is almost in the heart of Bakersfield, it adjoins the business district, and a portion of the residence district of the city.

The first attack on the district came during the 1905 liquor-license renewal process. The city trustees delayed in issuing the licenses while they investigated the saloons to see if illegal activity was taking place in them - mainly allowing entrance to minors and housing prostitutes. After a short time, the saloon owners sued the city, and the city trustees relented and issued liquor licenses. In the meantime, Carlie was arrested for operating a saloon without a license, but the charge was dropped after the Owl was granted its license. Although it was fairly obvious that saloons and dancehalls were associated with the brothels and cribs, it apparently couldn’t be proven. Also city trustees seemed to have mostly ignored the prostitution because not only did the city profit from the district but so too did many of the trustees. That year, the city made $13,000 from the liquor license applications alone, and the city granted City Trustee Ronald McDonald a wholesale liquor license. Later that year, McDonald was elected mayor, to which the outgoing mayor declared “the election is a victory for the ‘wide open town.’"  City leaders also had a more intimate relationship with the proprietors of redlight district; in 1909, Carlie borrowed $1,000 from McDonald for unknown purposes.

Throughout the early 1900s, outspoken citizens continued to harangue city officials to clean up the district, and the Owl continued to make sensational headlines. In March 1906, two dancehall girls were rescued from the Owl by evangelist “Mother” Florence Roberts. She took the girls to her halfway house in San Jose. A month later, a man was sentenced to 20 days in jail for beating a woman in the Owl. In October 1907, “Curly” Cameron shot and killed Jerry McElvain with a shotgun in the Owl saloon due to jealousy over the the affection of two dancehall girls. Cameron was arrested in the home of Lester Withington. In January 1908, an oilfield laborer accused the Owl of stealing $3,000 from him. Carlie’s accounting showed that the laborer spent that money in pursuits at the Owl in one night and in fact owed the Owl an additional $100. In September 1908, two women got into a fight in the Owl which resulted in one being arrested for assault with a deadly weapon. Carlie furnished her bail. 

In 1908, the Owl was raided and Carlie was arrested for renting property for the purpose of prostitution. He posted his $150 bail and was released. From newspaper accounts, nothing seems to have come from his arrest. In January 1909, when the Owl’s liquor license was again up for its yearly renewal, its accompanying dancehall was closed in order to make getting the license easier. Once the license was issued, the dancehall reopened. 

Ironically, the end of the Owl in Bakersfield was brought on by another denizen of Bakersfield’s redlight district. In December 1911, brothel owner Madame Brignaudy sued Carlie and other crib owners alleging that their cribs posed a menace to the occupants of her “rooming house” as well as brought down her property’s value. Additional property owners joined the suit, and feeling the pressure, Carlie closed the cribs but continued operating the saloon and moved girls into the rooming house above the saloon. Two months later, Madame Brignaudy alleged a complaint that Carlie was operating a brothel. At the same time, the Owl was denied its liquor license. Carlie closed the Owl in Bakersfield but his illicit activities continued. With the profitability of the West Side oilfields, Carlie moved his business to Boust City, a settlement devoted to drinking, gambling, and prostitution outside of Taft, where he built a saloon and associated cribs. Residents of Taft soon called for the cleaning up of Boust City.

By 1915, Carlie had moved his business across the California-Mexico border to Mexicali and, along with Frank Beyer and Marvin Allen (ABW syndicate), opened up the Owl Cafe and Theatre. Carlie managed the prostitution, which included over 300 women, while his associates managed the saloon and gambling. The casino advertised itself as “the largest gambling house on the American continent.” and had roulette wheels and tables for keno, faro, and poker. Liquor was served at “the longest bar in the in world.” In addition to the Owl in Mexicali, the syndicate also had clubs in Tijuana and Algodones. In Tijuana, they controlled the Monte Carlo, the Tivoli Bar, the Foreign Club, and horse racing at the Jockey Club. Carlie brought many of his employees and associates with him to Mexicali. In June 1915, one visitor to Mexicali noted that “there are enough ex-Bakersfield people in Mexicali to start a ‘Bak Home Club.’”

Although Carlie moved the prostitution business to Mexicali, the Withington’s retained ownership of their property in Bakersfield. The family leased their Bakersfield cribs to Madame Brignaudy until the city forced their closure after California passed the Red Light Abatement Act in 1913. Prostitution in Bakersfield continued (and continues) in one form or another.

When Carlie died in 1925, he left an impressive estate of more than $3,000,000. A portion of his estate went to his estranged wife, $20,000 was left to Lucille Moore, his latest girlfriend and former dancehall girl, and the rest was split equally among his surviving siblings - Hattie, Callie, Norma, and Lysle, with Lysle serving as executor.

While it doesn’t seem that Lysle and sisters worked directly in the family business, they profited from it. Carlie and Hattie were made executors of their father’s estate after his death, and they continued to manage the estate together until their siblings came of age. After Carlie’s death in 1925, his surviving siblings inherited his assets and took over managing the rental property in Bakersfield and elsewhere.

• Carlie: Carlie married at least 3 times. On February 14, 1908, his wife Edna (whom the San Francisco newspapers called a “young society matron”) died in a bathhouse in San Francisco. Another wife, Elizabeth, died in 1917 in Calexico after taking poison. When he died in 1925, he was married to Georgia Mae, whom he had married in 1919. They had been estranged for some time prior to his death, and he had been living with “cafe entertainer” Lucille Moore.
• Hattie: Hattie married blacksmith George LeMay in 1892. In 1942, the family home on K Street caught fire, and Hattie and her sister Norma succumbed in the flames.
• Robert: Robert died soon after his father in 1897. He was 29 years old.
• Callie Belle: Callie Belle was married to bartender William Sweitzer. He died in 1910. She was made administrator of the family’s estate after the death of her sisters in 1942. She died in 1951 in Los Angeles.
• Lester: Lester married Sylvia Burganne in 1914 in San Joaquin County. He may have been married once before. He died in 1918.  
• Norma: Norma never married. As a child and young adult, she was often ill and often went to the coast to convalesce. In 1942, she died along with her sister, Hattie, when the family home on K Street went up in flames.
• Lysle:  Lysle worked as a cashier for the Bank of Bakersfield and later Security Trust Bank. He served in WWI. In February 1915, he married Willie May Hays, and less than a month later, his bride sued him for abandonment. He countersued for an annulment, and she later sued his siblings for turning his affections away from her. It seems that they reconciled, for the 1930 census shows them living together. He died in 1967.

Dogs in Early Bakersfield

Bakersfield’s population almost doubled between 1890 and 1900 after the value of the area’s oil was realized. As the human population grew, so did the pet population. Faced with an overabundance of stray dogs, Bakersfield began requiring its citizens to pay $2.00 ($50.00 in today’s money) to license their animals; unlicensed dogs were impounded at the city pound, which had primarily been used to house stray horses and cows.

Fortunately for history, three of the early dog license books were donated to the Kern County Museum in Bakersfield. These books provide a wealth of information about dogs and their owners at the turn of the 20th century. The license books, which date from 1898, 1900, and 1901, record the owner, breed or description, and name of approximately 340 dogs. From saloon owners to bank tellers to madams to doctors and everyone in between – it seems that everyone in Bakersfield had a dog.

The books show that early residents were just as creative in the past as they are today in naming their animals. Contrary to what may be supposed, Fido and Spot were not popular names. In fact, the most prevalent name in the books is Prince, and it was bestowed on spaniels, setters, pugs, a poodle, and a bulldog. Naming a pet gives an owner an opportunity to illustrate his or her creativity, sense of humor, sophistication, and insight. On a more utilitarian level, names can signify the type of relationship between the animal and the owner. For example, while bank teller Charles Bickerdike may have taken his bird dog, Sport, with him while hunting, shoe-store owner Martin Gundlach’s pug, Mae, probably existed simply for the pleasure of her owner.

Interestingly, many of the names have a literary connection, indicating that early Bakersfield residents were well-read. Although not readily familiar to us today, Jip was one of the most popular names for dogs at this time; Jip became a trendy dog’s name after Charles Dickens featured a spoiled dog by that name in his novel David Copperfield Other literary dogs include Nemo (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), Jim (Huckleberry Finn), Crusoe (Robinson Crusoe), and James Whitcomb Riley (author of the poem “Little Orphant Annie”).

Most dogs live and die in relative obscurity, but because these dogs were licensed and records were donated to a museum, these much-loved dogs will be remembered for years to come.

Interesting and needing further research: most of the dogs in the books are male. Were early residents trying to control the dog population by killing most female pups?

Top Ten Dog Names in Turn-of-the-Century Bakersfield:

• Prince
• Jim
• Brownie
• Dick
• Sport
• Shep
• Bob
• Jack
• Jip
• Duke

Early Bakersfield Gardens

Bakersfield at the turn of the nineteenth century was little more than a frontier town, but despite its roughness, Bakersfield residents were able to beautify their surroundings. Early Bakersfield residents altered their landscape in both large and small ways to fit their preconceived ideas of how cities, homes, and gardens should appear. In addition to channeling the Kern River and draining the swamp that was Bakersfield, residents also planted hedges, shade trees, flowers, and lawns and built arbors and laid sidewalks in an effort to shape their surroundings.

Bakersfield imported a variety of non-native plants – many of which are familiar to the modern gardener and a few that have lost favor except to heritage gardeners. Bakersfield residents often chose plants that fit their ideas of what a garden should contain. Many of their ideas were shaped by their experience with gardens on the East Coast as well as in Europe. While many yards had pansies, roses, and lawns reminiscent of east coast yards, residents also experimented with other plants. For example, William Tevis had a large bamboo grove at his Stockdale farm and many Bakersfield residents marveled at century plants in both public and private gardens.

For this brief study, I focused on the time period from 1888 when famed photographer Carleton Watkins came to the area to photograph ranches and homesteads to 1905 when Bakersfield started to experience somewhat of a population boom. The following list was gathered from Carleton Watkins’ 1888 photographs (and his wonderful descriptions of the gardens), letters and diaries of early residents, and newspaper articles and advertisements. This is not an exhaustive list of all the plants that were used by early residents, but could be used as a starting point for someone wanting to recreate an early Bakersfield garden. But, a word to the wise, this article is not an endorsement of any plants; some of the plants that early Bakersfield residents planted are invasive and, in my opinion, should not be planted.

Flowers

African Lily
California Violet (native)
Canna Lily
China Lily
Chrysanthemums
Four O'clocks (native)
Geranium
Hollyhock
Honeysuckle
Hyacinth
Jessamine
Morning Glory
Pansy
Petunia
Poppy (native)
Smilax
Stock
Sunflower
Tiger Lily
Verbena
Virginia Creeper
Wisteria

Roses
Banksia
Cherokee
Cloth of Gold
James Sprunt
Marchal Neil

Trees
Acacia
Almond
Apple
Apricot
Ash
Cedar
Cottonwood
Cypress
Date Palm
Elm
English Walnut
Eucalyptus
Fan Palm
Fig
Gum
Japanese Maple
Locust
Lombardy
Nectarine
Olive
Orange
Peach
Pear
Pines
Plum
Pomegranate
Poplar
Prune
Quince
Tulip
Umbrella
Willow

A Little Shooting Bee with Dr. Lemke

Dr. Herman Lemke was living the proverbial American dream. Born in Berlin, Germany in 1864, Dr. Lemke “came from a very old and wealthy family and received a first class education.” He graduated from veterinary college at the age of 23, and after serving in the German army as a regimental veterinarian for a few years, he immigrated to the United States. He settled in Bakersfield in the early 1890s, and, after receiving his license to practice veterinary medicine from the State Veterinary Medical Board in 1893, he opened a practice on 18^th Street near Chester Avenue.

In October of 1893, he married Maud Roberts, the eldest daughter of a prominent local farmer and former Confederate colonel, Elisha M. Roberts (for whom Roberts Lane in Bakersfield is named). The couple celebrated the arrival of their first daughter, Eda, the following year: “Dr. Lemke is the proud and happy father of a daughter. He is doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances that it is his first.” Another daughter, Gertrude, was born two years later. If Dr. Lemke’s standing in Bakersfield wasn’t secure in the community with his marriage to Maud, he cemented his prominence by hiring the architecture firm of B. McDougall and Sons to design his residence.  B. McDougall and Sons also designed the Southern Hotel, Kern County Hospital, and the Noriega and Olcese homes.

Dr. Lemke was also successful in his professional life. He maintained a thriving veterinary practice that advertised “Latest improved operating table. No danger,” was the deputy health officer for Kern County, and was on the board of the California State Veterinary Medical Association. This world crumbled and Dr. Lemke’s seemingly perfect life ended on the evening of April 16, 1896. While sitting down with his wife and daughter for supper, Lyons Brown, a former employee seeking restitution, shot Dr. Lemke twice. Dr. Lemke died at noon the following day.

Lyons Brown had worked for Dr. Lemke for about eight months but had been let go a few days prior to the shooting for insulting the Lemke’s housekeeper, Angelina Sellinger. At the time of his dismissal, Dr. Lemke owed him about $70, or two months’ worth of wages. Dr. Lemke informed him that he would have to wait to get his pay until Dr. Lemke was paid at the first of the month.  On the morning of the shooting, Brown went to the house and again demanded his payment. Relenting, Dr. Lemke told him that he would try to get the money and would meet him at the bank that afternoon. When Dr. Lemke went to the bank, Brown was not there. At about 7 o’clock that evening, Brown went to the house – first to the barn to retrieve some clothing that he had left behind and then he entered the house through the back door. Walking through the kitchen, he walked into the dining room. Mrs. Lemke sat with her side and back partly toward the door and was holding her daughter in her lap. Dr. Lemke sat across from her facing the doorway through which Brown had entered.

Brown again demanded payment from Dr. Lemke.  Upset at having his supper interrupted and his family disturbed, Dr. Lemke told Brown to leave and that he would talk to him after supper. According to Brown’s account, Dr. Lemke then pulled his pistol and threatened Brown. Both Dr. and Mrs. Lemke claim that Brown drew his pistol first. Regardless, Brown shot first. The first shot hit Dr. Lemke in the shoulder while he was still sitting down. Rising, the next shot struck him in the lower part of the right side of his chest. Brown’s next four shots went into the wall behind Dr. Lemke. With his revolver empty, Brown turned to run, and Dr. Lemke got off two shots with a bullet striking Brown in the left shoulder.

As Brown ran out of the house and towards downtown Bakersfield, he reloaded his revolver. Upon reaching the Arlington Hotel at 19^th and Chester Avenue, Brown turned himself in to Deputy Canaday. Brown was taken to the County Hospital and held under guard.

In the meantime, the Drs. Rogers, Helm and Fegusson were called to attend to Dr. Lemke. It was determined that Dr. Lemke’s lung and possibly intestines and liver were pierced. An operation was conducted and a hypodermic injection was administered, but Dr. Lemke fell into a coma at 8am the following morning and died at noon.

Although Brown confessed to the killing, there were witnesses, and Brown had openly threatened to harm Dr. Lemke in the days previous to the shooting, the trial was not straight-forward. First, there was trouble sitting a jury; some potential jurors claimed to have a history with Dr. Lemke and others were prejudiced against Brown. Dr. Lemke was not as well liked by everyone in the community as his standing seemed to indicate. And there was also the question of Dr. Lemke’s pistol.

The trial began on June 12, 1896. The jury consisted of F. W. Snyder, J. B. Fisk, W. Canfield, F. C. Clark, Henry Pscherer, F. D. Foss, R. W. Gay, G. H. Deacon, J. M. Ruth, John O’Toole, R. M. Brown, and Charles Graves (who, incidentally, married Dr. Lemke’s widow in 1898). District Attorney Alvin Fay and by J. W. Mahon prosecuted the case.

The prosecution called Dr. Fergusson as the first witness and he testified to the wounds. W. R. Macmurdo was next to be called. He had surveyed the house and testified as to the location and range of the bullet holes.  Charles Maul, who sat on the Coroner’s Jury, was called to identify Dr. Lemke’s pistol. Brown had earlier stated that Dr. Lemke had pulled his pistol first but had difficulty cocking it. Maul showed that the pistol was in working order, although upon cross-examination the “cylinder never revolved at all.” Under-sheriff Pyle later testified for the defense that Dr. Lemke’s pistol did not work well when he examined it after the shooting. Angelina Sellinger and Mrs. Lemke were then next to testify.  Mrs. Sellinger testified as to the events leading up to the shooting: Brown stopping by the house in the morning and then again in the evening. She was not in the room when shooting occurred. Mrs. Lemke testified:

The doctor and myself and children were at the supper table. Brown came in from the kitchen and went around to the northeast side of the table. The doctor was sitting at the south end. When Brown came in he said to the doctor: “Have you been down town?”

“Yes sir,” replied the doctor.

“I did not see you.”

“May be you don’t think I was.”

“I don’t say so.”

“Go out of my house you ----- of -----.”

“I won’t do it. I have come for a settlement.”

“I tell you go. This is my family.”

“I know it.”

At this the doctor put his hands on the table, slightly pushing back his chair, and started to get up, and then Brown pulled his pistol and remarked: “You ----- of a -------, do you see this?”

“This is all I heard them say,” said the witness,  “and then the shooting began.”

 W. H. Scibner was the last to testify for the prosecution and he reported on his conversation with Dr. Lemke following the shooting: As soon as he heard the shooting, he and Mr. Cogdon ran over to the house and found Dr. Lemke lying on the sofa.  Dr. Lemke told him that “Brown had insulted the cook and they had had a shooting scrape.” According to Scribner’s testimony, Brown shot at Dr. Lemke three times and then Dr. Lemke fired twice. Missing him with the first shot, the second shot hit Brown in the shoulder.

Brown took the stand in his own defense. His version of the events placed Dr. Lemke as the aggressor:

“I told him I would go, and I hesitated, and he said ‘Are you not going,’ and then he began to stretch up and pull his pistol and said ‘By God I’ll settle you!’”

“He then tried to work his pistol. He was up by this time on his feet, and I called out: ‘Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot! If you don’t stop, ------- I’ll kill you!” I then pulled my gun and commenced to shoot.

 Defense attorneys Graham and Emmons called several witnesses to speak to the reputation of Dr. Lemke. Although it does not appear that anyone who knew Dr. Lemke testified, “ a number of [the witnesses] answered that [Dr. Lemke’s reputation] was bad, and they gave the names of citizens they had heard say so. Some of them had heard the same, but could not remember the names of those who had told them.”

Initially the jury was in a deadlock and asked to be discharged. The judge encouraged the jury to continue deliberating, and after an additional hour and a half of deliberation, they found Brown not guilty of killing Dr. Lemke. On leaving the court room one of the jurors was overheard telling Brown: “Be careful and don’t get into any more trouble like this.”

Leaving the courthouse, Brown boarded the train and headed to his home state of Kansas where the Tulare Register noted he will “likely find satisfaction after his arrival east in posing as a bad man from the wild west.” At least some Bakersfield residents weren’t happy with the outcome either: "It will scarcely be claimed by any one that the action of the jury in the case of Lyons Brown makes “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” in Kern county any safer than it has been in the past.”

But life went on. Dr. Lemke’s widow married one of the jurors, Charles Graves, and, after Mr. Graves died, she married Robert Davis. The Lemke’s youngest daughter Gertrude died at the age of twelve, and the eldest daughter married, had a family, and lived until the age of seventy-three. Lyons Brown’s whereabouts after leaving Bakersfield are a little more shrouded. According to an Ancestry.com search, there is a James Lyons Brown (1872-1938) who was born in Kansas and died in New Mexico and who married and had a family. Perhaps he took the juror's advice to heart.