"CRAZY SHAW"
Frederick M. Shaw's Letters to the Los Angeles Times
1883-1887
Although 19th century Los Angeles produced no one as colorful as San
Francisco's Emperor Norton, a number of unforgettable eccentrics whose exploits
would still be retold a century later called the city home. In the 1890s, as
paternalistic attitudes developed regarding the community's responsibility for
the mentally unstable and as society increasingly scorned the more blatant
taunting of those deemed odd, the Emperor Nortons of Los Angeles became less
visible though they did not disappear. During the 1880s, however, they still
roamed the city's streets, often the object of cruel teasing.
William Spalding, who had been in the city since 1874, reminisced in his
1931 history of Los Angeles about one of the oddest characters he encountered:
Nicolas Martinez. From a huge bucket that he carried on his head, Martinez
sold hot tamales in winter and ice cream in summer, served fastidiously, as
Harris Newmark remembered, with tobacco-stained fingers.
Equally memorable was Pinnecate, or Pinikahti in the Newmark version.
Spalding wrote that he was Indian; Newmark labeled him "half Indian and half
Mexican." Both agreed that he was mentally unsound, a trait commonly ascribed
to those considered "odd" at the time. Never without his flute, fashioned from
bamboo, Pinnecate played but one tune - "repeatedly," Spalding lamented.
One of the area's earliest Anglo eccentrics was San Gabriel resident
William Money, who frequently published letters to the editor in the Los
Angeles Star and was described by William Rice in his history of that paper as
its "most eccentric contributor." Money, whose anti-clerical diatribes
enlightened, or irritated, Angelenos for years, was remembered by Spalding as
an astrologer whose "wonderful hieroglyphics and inexplicable drawings" covered
an entire wall of the city library during the 1870s.
In the 'eighties Angelenos made a running joke of "Prof. Brewster," better
known by his stage name of "Savariej," or "Savarie J.," as it was sometimes
spelled. The professor was a frequent competitor in walking races, entered,
Harris Newmark suggested, not because he was a real contender but because as an
eccentric he drew crowds. Whether participating as a hopelessly outclassed
entrant in a race or demonstrating a lack of talent on his violin or homemade
dulcimer, Savariej commanded the attention of a crowd of hecklers who took
pleasure in making him the butt of their joke, sometimes provoking him to
fight.
Early in 1882 Los Angeles Times editor Samuel Mathes denounced Saveriej's
persecution by street mobs:
It is a common and disgraceful scene to see this poor
demented man chasing boys and almost grown men around the
streets, because every smart Aleck, knowing no better,
delight in persecuting him. It should be stopped. He is
perfectly harmless if let alone....
Even the new proprietor of the Times, Harrison Gray Otis, could not resist
participating in the fun at the expense of the professor. Otis published a
letter, ostensibly from Savariej, announcing a violin concert he was to give.
The letter, of course, appeared in the Times after the date scheduled for the
performance.
One of their contemporaries was another eccentric with a talent for letter
writing: Frederick M. {usually F. M.} Shaw, author of at least 28 letters
printed in the Times from 1883 to 1887 and the paper's most prolific
correspondent in that decade. Shaw had written letters to Los Angeles editors
long before the Times began publication and had contributed to the Star, as
Money had done, during the 1870s.
Born in Castleton, Vt., in 1827, Shaw sailed to California in 1849 as a
cook on the brig "Sea Eagle." Landing in San Francisco in September, he later
claimed to have been involved in the construction of that city's first three-
story building. When he arrived in Los Angeles is unclear; none of his letters
give any indication. But he was in town by the early 1870s.
On rare occasions he was referred to as "Colonel Shaw," sometimes as
"Professor Shaw," and frequently as "Dr. Shaw." This last title resulted from
the claim, made in his letters and other public statements, that he had
graduated from several colleges, was a "regular" physician, and had practiced
in hospitals during the Civil War.
In 1883, at age 56, the year his first letter appeared in the Times, a
reporter described him as a man of ordinary height and weight, with white hair,
gray side whiskers and mustache, and clear blue eyes. Newmark recalled that
he was over six feet tall. Spalding depicted Shaw as
a large man of serious face and commanding air, gray as to
his hair and stubby side whiskers--old style--with a little
forward bend of the shoulders, as from age or scholarly
habits, and he walked with a limp.
Shaw's letters to the Times were as eccentric as the man himself. He wrote
on a wide variety of topics. Frequently his correspondence dealt with matters
of a scientific nature: climate, the earth's rotation, geology and, in his
final letter of the decade, a prediction that man would fly. Other letters
reflected his passion for public health and personal hygiene, although his own
appearance as noted by several observers would raise questions about his
adherence to the practices he espoused. He offered advice on bees, lima beans,
fruit growing and other topics of interest to the large numbers of farmers who
read the Times. And his series of letters on the breakwater and harbor
indicated more than a passing knowledge of the subject.
A) SHAW THE SCIENTIST
His first letter in the Times appeared on April 3, 1883, and was typical
Shaw, replete with ideas only remotely related to each other, although his
environmental concern reads like that of a modern-day conservationist. His
second letter, ostensibly commenting on a recent report that well diggers had
unearthed a buried forest near San Bernardino, became a vehicle for detailing a
theory, mentioned in the first letter, that the earth had changed its axis.
After publication of his third letter that month, editor Otis commented that
Shaw
has a penchant for writing and has written frequently some
very readable articles, some of which have appeared in the
Times, and while the sentiments may have been oddly expressed
they have been marked with good sense, at least.
Readers may have scoffed at his theory that the earth's polar axis shifts,
but in holding that theory Shaw was in the forefront of science. Either he
came upon the idea independently or he was aware of a study begun in the early
1880s by Harvard astronomer Seth C. Chandler, who reached the same conclusion
although offering a different explanation than the one put forth here by Shaw.
While Shaw's middle name was printed more than once in the Times as "Moulton,"
in the Great Register it is listed as Merrill.
{Times, April 3, 1883, p. 1}
Fires Make Drouth.
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: There is much trash
written and talked about weather and the "probabilities." If
the fact be accepted that Earth has changed her polar axis
(and there is now no reasonable doubt of that fact), and may
change again, the phenomena of weather may be relegated to
those members of the barnacle family that are in want of
occupation doing nothing for good pay. The present is all we
have that can certainly be counted on. It will take fifty
years to undo or repair the mischief done in the last twenty-
five years by the carelessness of stock men and others in
allowing fires to destroy the shrubs and trees that clothed
our hills and mountains at one time. To these destructive
fires is attributable the diminution of condensation, and
consequent diminution of springs and rivulets that once were
plentiful along this coast. Now is the time to remedy these
losses by a STRINGENT interpretation of the regulations for
the suppression of these fires and by a liberal
interpretation of the so-called Timber-culture Acts.
F. M. SHAW.
{Times, April 22, 1883, p. 1}
That Buried Forest in the San Bernardino Valley.
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: As to the timber found
in well-boring, it is easily accounted for if we admit the
hypothesis of the change of the earth's polar axis. These
changes have been sudden. They occurred in the glacial
periods. Volcanic action in its highest intensity has been
as likely to occur at or near one or both poles as elsewhere.
These, creating land in those regions, gave room for the
formation of ice. Glacial action is rapid under such
conditions, soon disturbing the balance and causing the
changes of axis. The laws of motion are inevitable and
easily calculable; as whenever glacial action has proceeded
to make the longer axis through the poles, the hour that
condition arrives, the largest axis will seek the line of
greatest motion. These changes involve greater dynamic
forces than are easily estimated; sufficient to move
mountains. For with the oceans filled with ice mountains in
motion or floating, whenever these come in contact with the
bottom under the velocity obtained by the sudden displacement
of -- say twenty miles of depth of water, it can be easily
seen that the rasping off of the tops of the ridges and the
placing of the debris in the valleys would proceed at a
terrible velocity. This is the way some forests are buried.
FREDERICK MOULTON SHAW.
Cahuenga Mts. April 18, 1883.
B) "CRAZY SHAW"
In Northern California, a few years earlier, another visionary obsessed
with a grandiose scheme had earned the sobriquet "Crazy Judah." Theodore
Judah, an engineer with a plan to span the continent with a railway terminating
in California, became so dedicated to his cause that he was dismissed by
critics as a crank. Eventually the soundness of his proposal, despite its
scope, won the support of capitalists and government. Judah's inability to
direct the project once he had financial backing resulted in his unsuccessful
attempt to buy out the Sacramento merchants who controlled the Central Pacific
railroad, leading indirectly to his premature death - another eccentric
martyred for a cause.
Angelenos looked upon Shaw in much the same way. Spalding and Newmark
wrote that he was always involved in some glorious venture - the harbor, a
health resort, a railroad. Never without a bundle of papers and maps under an
arm as he went about town, Shaw was ready to tell anyone and everyone about his
latest enterprise. For a time he had the support, though perhaps grudgingly,
of some of Southern California's most prominent men.
But unlike "Crazy Judah," whose nickname was simply the result of his
overzealousness, Shaw was found to be legally insane by a Los Angeles judge.
On April 27, 1883, Shaw was in court, having charged that E. W. Doss, a
neighbor, had threatened him with a gun. The two lived in Laurel Canyon in
what was then called the Cahuenga range, later the Hollywood hills. The
approach to Shaw's property was across land owned by Doss, who had blocked the
road both with barriers and with two bulldogs. Armed with a shotgun, Shaw, who
had recently reminded readers that his "Quaker proclivities keep me peaceable
but I get fighting mad at times," called on Doss in an effort to settle the
matter. When Doss emerged from his house with his own shotgun Shaw astutely
moved behind a tree and engaged in conversation until breaking off the
encounter.
The matter eventually ended up before Judge Robert A. Ling the day after
Shaw's third letter of the month had been printed. Doss' defense was that Shaw
was insane and he asked that Shaw be examined. Ling agreed to interview Shaw.
During the examination it was noted that Shaw had married a New Jersey woman by
telegraph. {It is unclear if he had met her prior to the marriage.} Spalding
later garbled the story, claiming incorrectly that when the woman arrived in
California and first saw Shaw she was so taken aback by his unkempt appearance
and tree house that she immediately returned home. Contemporary accounts
disagreed. The Herald said she left him after two years, desiring "beefsteak,
bread and butter, ... clean clothes, a roof, floors and square meals." The
Times claimed she still lived with Shaw and that their life together was
harmonious. At the end of the proceeding Ling declared Shaw insane and
committed him to the asylum at Napa.
The Herald ridiculed Shaw in its report. Otis, however, ran a front page
appeal in the Times urging a reversal of Ling's decision:
That Mr. Shaw is eccentric no one will attempt to deny,
but that he is insane and that it is necessary that he should
be confined in a lunatic asylum but few will admit. He is a
hard-working, peaceably disposed old man, {Shaw was 56} who
if left alone will injure no one....
An effort should be made to stay the proceedings in this
matter, as it seems nothing short of an outrage to condemn
the old man to a life in a lunatic asylum. His Honor, Judge
Hines, might, we think, at least review the case without any
harm to the cause of justice.
In addition to the editorial, the Times' printed three letters from readers who
supported Shaw.
On April 30 Judge Hines reheard the case. Attorney G. Wiley Wells, one of
Shaw's defense attorneys, was among the most prominent lawyers in town, having
successfully defended Lastancia Abarta for the murder of Chico Forster. He
would gain additional stature later in the decade by winning an acquittal for
accused murderess Hattie Woolsteen {see chapter on women.}
District Attorney Stephen White, who would become a United States Senator
in the 1890s, testified that there was something indescribable about Shaw that
made White think that he was "not exactly right." White said that Shaw's
conduct during the meeting in which Shaw had lodged his complaint against Doss
was such that White preferred to sit near the door.
Both Doss and his wife told the court that they believed Shaw was insane,
citing his strange diet, hygiene, dress and the fact that he slept in a tree.
Judge Ling testified that for three months Shaw had pestered him about having
Doss arrested and that during the trial Shaw's conduct was "silly."
But most of the witnesses testified on behalf of Shaw. Isaac Kinley,
former editor of the Star, praised Shaw's writing for that paper as "sensible,"
conceding that Shaw was eccentric but not of unsound mind. Porcupine editor
Horace Bell admitted that he had talked with Shaw about a proposal to harness
whales to ships as a source of power, but characterized Shaw's most recent
letter to the Times as "philosophic." Since Shaw had frequently written on
agricultural matters, editor George Rice of the Rural Californian and prominent
citrus grower Thomas Garey provided relevant testimony, calling Shaw's letters
on agriculture sound and indicative of more than ordinary intelligence.
Near the end of the hearing Shaw took the stand. During questioning from
George Gibbs, one of his four attorneys, Shaw was asked:
Gibbs: Was there ever any insanity in your family?
Dr. Shaw: Yes, I had an uncle that went insane.
Gibbs: What was its nature - mild or violent?
Shaw: Oh, it was very mild - he had peculiar ideas about
hygiene.
Wrote the Times' reporter:
The roar of laughter from bar and lobby capped by a
smile from the Court at this sally, wrought a powerful
conviction as to his perfect soundness of mind.
Judge Hines then ordered Shaw's release.
In the remaining twenty-five letters that Shaw published in the Times he
never referred to his encounter with Doss or to his sanity hearing. One
letter, however, complained about the illegal blockage of roads that prevented
development of hill country and urged the legislature to make it a penal
offense to obstruct transit in canyons, which Shaw saw as natural highways.
C) SHAW ON HEALTH
Even before the city's great population increase in the mid-1880s, which
brought the number of inhabitants to an estimated 80,000 by late 1887, sewage
disposal had become a major problem in Los Angeles. One option was the
creation of sewage farms, utilizing the outflow to fertilize crops. Concerned
about the dangerously unhealthy effect of this solution, Shaw wrote to the
Times.
{Times, Sept. 9, 1883, p. 3}
Sewage not Fit to Irrigate With.
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: I see it suggested by
a cotemporary that the sewage be used to irrigate land below
the city. The experience of London, (England), in that
direction is not favorable. Grass and vegetables grown on
land so irrigated was found to be unfit for forage. The milk
from cows fed upon it produced fatal diseases in those that
used it. The only way to utilize the sewage was found to be
by an expensive process of chemical decomposition whereby a
phosphate was obtained that was innocous. There was a
company formed there called the Phosphate Sewage Company that
undertook to render the sewage of London innoxious and I
believe, succeeded in so far as to neutralize the poison
sufficiently to render the product available as a fertilizer.
But the use of sewage as it comes from the drains is not safe
as proven by the experiments referred to. An epidemic broke
out in London among the users of the milk coming from animals
fed on the forage grown on lands fertilized by crude sewage,
that was attended with terrible fatality. I have seen
scarlatina spread along the zanjas in this place by similar
means.
F. M. SHAW.
If readers replied to Shaw's letters the Times did not print them. An
exception occurred when "Milkman" felt economically threatened by Shaw's
suggestion that consumption of milk hindered good health. The reference to
"Moore or Mormon" alludes to two subjects that were frequent topics of letter
writers at that time. Republican Walter Moore, seeking the office of Secretary
of State, was bitterly opposed by fellow Republican Otis in the 1886 campaign.
Mormonism was periodically a "live topic" in the Times.
{Times, Sept. 28, 1886, p. 1}
On Milk.
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: I do not know that it
makes any material difference to you whether the topic of the
hour is Moore or Mormon, so that the subject matter is
clearly stated. You in your immediate realm, imagine the
world you talk to, and in a measure control, is sufficient;
but I can tell you of a theme you have not exhausted. The
problem is whether the "milk of human kindness" and cows'
milk are identical. In a long and elaborate investigation,
just terminated, the writer has come to a negative
conclusion. Looking over the races of men that have led a
pastoral life, and following their history down to this day,
it appears that those who use milk of kine most liberally are
the most cold-blooded and calculating despots-- all other
things being equal. We will take our near neighbor John Bull
as an example. The old gent is well enough in his way, but
goodness! it is a terrible way when viewed from a liberal and
cosmopolitan standpoint. Now all this comes from cows' milk!
It will not do to put this aside as a joke; facts are
stubborn things, and this branch of the Anglo-saxon race are
fast drifting in the same direction. Let us call a halt
before it is too late, and see if there is not some way out
of this terrible road we are traveling. Milk, as the patient
investigators of science have shown, is intended for the
young, before dentition has enabled them to masticate more
substantial food. To put it to use as food for adults is an
outrage on nature! It is like drinking blood; and it may be
added that it undoubtedly has the tendency to produce the
same tigerish disposition.
FREDERICK M. SHAW.
{Times, Oct. 2, 1886, p. 2}
Milk and Philosophy.
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: In the Times of the
28th inst., Frederic M. Shaw, our "backwoods philosopher,"
has given utterance to some of his conclusions, which I
consider not only derogatory to the interests of us poor
milkmen, but which are also apt to bias public opinion and
convey an erroneous impression to the community at large.
That is, he has proven, after "an elaborate investigation,"
in his own scientific way, that the "milk of human kindness"
and cow's milk are not identical. Now I have the audacity to
contend that just the opposite is the case, or rather that
one begets the other. I am not a philosopher, not even a
backwoods one, but have had some practical experience of my
own in this matter. I have delivered milk to all parts of
this city and to all kinds of individuals, and after a very
painstaking investigation, I have reached the conclusion that
when my customers get their cow's milk at the right time, and
in quantities to suit, they are possessed with a greater
amount of the "milk of human kindness" than when the milkman
is late or his measure short. Now, as before stated, I am
not at all scientific, and very much dislike to dispute
scientific theories given by scientific men, but "facts are
stubborn things" and must be recognized, all fanciful
conclusions of Dr. Shaw's to the contrary.
MILKMAN.
{Times, Oct. 5, 1886, p. 2}
"Mil-luk!"
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: It is not usual for me
to answer any one who assails me or my position from behind a
mask or nom de plume, but the temptation in the present case
is great. It reminds me of the time when Joe Saunders and
myself were "b'ys" together in Boston. Joe's master had
become converted to better ways and had ceased to water his
milk. Not long after there was a customer on Lowell street
that had never been outside of the city, and evidently knew
but little of the chemistry of milk. This woman, soon after
Joe's master's change of heart (and milk), came out to Joe
one morning with a long face, declaring that she could stand
it no longer; the milk for the several days previous had a
nasty yellow scum on the top; and that she must have the sky-
blue article, or none!
This so-called milkman, who pretends to doubt my
premises and conclusions, if he is poor, as he intimates, it
must be on account of his not being a milk and-water man; but
really, a milkman like Joe's master, who had become too
honest to dilute his goods with questionable compounds. It
is well known by all who have observed the usual course of
diseases about cities, that the milk that comes from certain
quarters carries the germs of disease in dangerous
quantities. A certain quarter of London that was supplied
with milk where the cows had access to the fields irrigated
by the sewerage waters from the city, was never clear of
scarletina and many other fatal diseases of children. Around
all large towns and cities there are dairies that feed slops
and garbage, gathered in the town, these foods being
considered absolutely necessary to the business at seasons
when fresh green feed is not plenty. But aside from sanitary
considerations there are weighty reasons for the disuse of
milk by adults. The age is too fast, and it behooves those
who have the welfare of society in mind to point out these
things. The use of milk by adults is in its effect like
putting a strong person with two good legs on crutches, and
tying the legs up; eventually the persons so using themselves
cannot go without the artificial limbs. Just so with those
who use a milk diet. The stomach refuses eventually to
digest stronger and more substantial food. At least that is
the tendency. Moreover, it is, as stated previously, like
drinking blood. It has the same stimulating and irritating
effect on the person. Milk in its composition is suitable
only as food for infants. It decomposes very quickly,
producing thereby a large amount of heat, which is required
to warm the bodies of little babes and the young animals. To
use it as food for adults is an outrage on nature. The most
successful physicians discard it in all chronic cases of
diseased liver or lungs.
F. M. SHAW.
D) SHAW THE PROMOTER
How Shaw managed to finance his various enterprises puzzled many. Harris
Newmark offered one explanation:
Long ago, he established his own pension bureau, conferring
upon me the honor of a weekly contributor; and when he calls,
he keeps me well-posted on what he's been doing. His busy
brain is ever filled with the phantoms of great inventions
and billion-dollar corporations, as his pocketful of maps and
diagrams shows; one day launching an aerial navigation
company to explore the moon and the next day covering
California with railroad lines as thick as are automobiles in
the streets of Los Angeles.
One of those visions was construction of the Southern California Sanitary
Hotel and Industrial College, devised in 1873 as a resort for health seekers.
Shaw, as usual, was slightly ahead of his time. John Baur, whose Health
Seekers of Southern California is the seminal book on the area's health resort
industry of the late 19th century, notes that Shaw {whom he described as
"eccentric"} won temporary support from prominent Angelenos. He had selected a
site on the Santa Anita Ranch but interest waned as time passed and he failed
to construct any facilities. Baur concluded that the idea was not irrational.
In 1886, as the migration of health seekers and others neared its climax, Shaw
used a Times report that hotels were full in Pasadena to suggest the
resurrection of his plan. There was no response.
{Times, May 6, 1886, p. 2}
Dr. Shaw to the Rescue.
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: Your item of April
15th, "Filled to Overflowing," should remind the public that
it is simply time to reorganize the Southern California
Sanitary Hotel Company. My plans will accommodate fifteen
hundred persons at least. The stock is all taken but a few
shares, but those behind me in this matter are anxious to see
some Angelenos that can be trusted (out of sight) take, at
least, shares enough to form a working business quorum in an
incorporation. If something of this kind should occur soon,
I pledge myself to have a hotel of the capacity named ready
for guests in less than one year from date.
F. M. SHAW.
Laurel Canon, April 18, 1886.
E) SHAW THE FARMER
Shaw was equally at home writing on agricultural matters. Whether
advocating cultivation of north slopes, which he claimed could produce fruit
crops without irrigation, or explaining the proper time of year to take honey
from bees, {between October and May,} Shaw was always ready to publicize his
theories. The only editorial postscript Otis added to a Shaw letter came at
the end of this one on lima beans.
{Times, Dec. 4, 1884, p. 4}
The Muscular Mattock and the Agile Bean .
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: Those sensible people
that live in the country and know what to plant, will be
having all the good things about these days. Nearly all the
fruits have ripened and been preserved au naturel for table
use, and the vegetables that are not in season (but what
vegetable is out of season here if one selects their ground
properly?) are potted or canned and are on hand to meet the
wants of those who desire them. Now is the time the Lima
beans are more useful than at any other season, because their
second crop is just right to serve green. With tomato sauce,
not too much spiced, they are relished wonderfully well these
cool days, and they contain such an amount of muscle-making
material that is needed to take out the grubs and roots that
are in the way of the plough. The mattock is the tool that
is most frequently required now in the foot-hills and on new
land, and there is no tool that draws so largely on the
muscle as the mattock. This is why the Lima beans are so
appropriate at this season, and then they are the best bean
in use anyway. Those who live to enjoy life as it should be,
and are not merely money grubbers, have a patch of Lima beans
outside of the field crop that can be permitted to stand and
bear green beans all winter. They are flowering plentifully
now, and the blossoms are so welcome to the bees at this
season of scarcity. The wild currant and a few hybrids of
the lettuce family are about all the natural flowers except
the Lima beans now available.
F. M. SHAW.
Cahuenga Mountains, Dec. 1, 1884.
[Accompanying the above was a bag of toothsome Limas,
which have been duly eaten, and great muscular results are
looked for poco tiempo. Spring poets and people with
grievances against the editor will take notice and stand from
under. Also came with the frijoles an olive twig loaded with
handsome berries clipped from a tree 13 years old, grown from
a cutting planted by Dr. Preuss on the Rancho Rodeo de los
Aguas, and produced upon non-irrigable land.--Ed. Times.]
F) SHAW AND THE HARBOR
In late 1885, before Los Angeles and the Southern Pacific waged their epic
struggle over whether the primary harbor for the region should be located at
San Pedro or Santa Monica, Shaw published the first of several letters
advocating the use of an artificial breakwater to create a deep water port.
Although his letters never stated specifically where it would be located,
Spalding later insisted that Shaw was promoting a wharf at Santa Monica. Over
a span of several months, while others were seeking federal financial aid to
develop a harbor, Shaw reiterated his belief that it could be undertaken with
local resources. His claim that he had a long-standing interest in development
of the port and that he made oceanographic surveys cannot now be documented.
For purposes of clarity, the following letters are not in chronological order.
The heading, "There's millions in it," was added by Otis and was a cliche of
the real estate boom. The sketch of the breakwater that Shaw included in one
letter has been omitted.
{Times, Feb. 21, 1886, p. 5}
Dr. Shaw's Big Scheme.
"THERE'S MILLIONS IN IT."
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: Does it not appear
childish and ridiculous that this section should be an
applicant for national aid in the matter of a harbor, or
breakwater, when our natural resources are such as to make
us, of all sections, the most able to help ourselves? Every
evidence points to the fact that an artificial harbor is
required in this vicinity. There is nothing to prevent
building one, and on ground where it will be permanent and as
beneficial as a natural harbor. The scheme of floating
protection to wharf and shipping is impracticable.
The only practicable harbor that comes up to the
requirements of our case is the one devised by myself for the
exigencies of our case. It is the section of an equilateral
triangle placed in two segments of a circle, overlapping each
other to form the entrance; and, in order to be permanently
useful, a point on the coast has to be chosen to make this
available. All points would not do, and especially such as
the one where the present landing is being carried on. The
very nature of the ground and the currents make it the worst
place on the coast for any work of that nature. A clean
bottom and good depth of water near shore are indispensable.
There is the best reason to know that this work will pay
interest on cost.
F. M. SHAW.
{Times, Dec. 4, 1885, p. 2}
"There's Millions in it."
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: There is a deal of
wind wasted on resolutions and getting them printed and
before the gang that meet at Washington, while the same
amount of force given in the right direction would give us
the needed improvements while the others are talking about
it. It is well known that there is a place on our coast line
where deep water and safe anchorage can be had at a merely
nominal cost compared with the importance of the work. This
point will be utilized as soon as the people see its value.
By the use of the triangle-shaped, hollow, moveable
breakwater, two miles of which in a crescent shaped line
divided so that the outer ends of each segment of the circle
overlap the other to form the entrance{, g}iving ample room
inside for a still water anchorage, and wharf in water deep
and calm enough at all seasons to accommodate any business we
are likely to have. All the fuss and delay in transferring
goods and people to ship and shore now endured can be done
away with.
There are millions of private money now seeking just
such investments. I have been eleven years quietly making
surveys to know just how much the cost of such improvements
will be; and as soon as properly sustained by the public am
prepared to enter upon their construction.
F. M. SHAW.
Three to four million dollars can be thus used that will
pay interest and taxes on the investment.
{Times, Jan. 29, 1887, p. 2}
REASONABLE SUGGESTIONS.
Laurel Canyon, Jan. 27.--[To the Editor of The Times.]
Seasons like the present emphasize the importance of terrace
culture as compared with irrigation. On all slopes that have
any great declivity, especially on the northern slopes, where
cultivation has been thorough, no failure to crops can occur,
even where there is not more than 5 inches of rainfall. It
is true that the crop may not be as abundant, yet it will be
of superior quality and flavor. This applies to fruits and
nuts, more than grains or vegetables. The grain crop is one
that can be kept from year to year with little loss, and the
prudent husbandman is never without three or four crops on
hand in this country. Now permit me to say a few words on
the situation as to the outlook for business to employ the
incoming thousands.
The writer has been "behind the scenes" from the first,
in this wonderful drama--the planting of the Empire State of
this republic--California. He foresaw her needs and her
possibilities. There being no harbor between San Francisco
and San Diego, and this most desirable coast between being
among the greatest of lands where the capacity for sustaining
a dense population is considered; we began our hydrographic
surveys as early as 1849 to find a place for an artificial
harbor similar to the one at Auxborg, on the coast of France.
The coast between Santa Barbara and San Diego has been gone
over many times with lead and line. At one time the writer
built a raft 150 feet long (just the length of the longest
cassion required for the outer points of the breakwater) with
no help or assistance, and with only two small anchors and a
flat-bottom rowboat, went to sea, and was absent twenty days.
This was needed to know the character of the floor of the
ocean where these great cassions must be planted. A small
reaf or any other inequality would be fatal to the success of
such an undertaking.
Moreover, the drifting sands and currents is another
important item in the matter. A harbor that needs constant
dredging is of little value. With a harbor where all sizes
of craft can freely enter, and where no deposit is to be
feared, our vicinity would soon become a great manufacturing
center. Glass works, foundries, watch factories, woolen and
cotton mills and tanneries and shoe factories would give
employment to millions of people. Take these employments and
those of horticulture and agriculture and there is hardly a
limit to the numbers that can find constant employment and
healthful homes here.
FREDERICK M. SHAW.
{Times, Mar. 14, 1886, p. 5}
Frederick Moulton Shaw on Breakwaters.
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: As early as 1872 it
was seen that an artificial harbor would be required
somewhere between Newport and Point Duma on this coast. To
meet this want, and to advance the cause of hygienic and
industrial education, the writer undertook the survey of this
section with a view to build such harbor and a short line of
railway to connect it with the back country, where building
material could be had in variety and abundance. Eleven years
time and several thousand dollars have been expended in these
surveys and researches to fully determine that a work of such
magnitude would pay interest and tax on so large a sum as
would be required to complete it. When the estimates were
first made, the cost would have been nearly $25,000,000; but,
owing to the fall in cost of steel, the work can now be done
for less than $10,000,000. Money, too, is to be had on
better terms than it would have been possible to have
obtained it at that time.
There is a growing tendency to place large sums in such
investments--investments that are permanent, and that are
likely to remain in a fairly safe way of paying dividends;
even small ones. In this way it is now possible to obtain
the means to carry out this enterprise, in a way to do credit
to ourselves and be satisfactory to those who furnish the
"tools" to do the work.
F. M. SHAW.
Room 114 Nadeau Hall.
March 13, 1886.
G) SHAW AS PHILOSOPHER
Shaw purposely avoided two subjects: politics and religion. In one letter
he rejected theosophy but his reasoning was more philosophical than religious.
The closest thing to a political letter came in response to Republican concerns
that the election of Grover Cleveland might lead to federal pensions for
confederate veterans or a resumption of the Civil War. While suggesting that
such ideas were nonsense he refused to take a partisan position, noting that he
had never affiliated with a political party nor did he ever intend to.
More to his liking was an examination of mind-boggling questions. Does the
early bird really catch the worm?
{Times, Sept. 11, 1886, p. 2}
For the Horny-handed Sons of Toil.
To the Editor of the Times--Sir: How many of the old
saws and other worn-out tools hang on to us like grim death
and cast their malevolent shadows across the path of the
honest farmer? One in particular it is a pleasure to
disprove--"that it is always the early bird that catches the
worm." On the contrary, the worm usually catches the early
bird. To this distasteful conclusion I have been forced by a
long and bitter experience. Many farmers keep bees. These
little helpers I have been associated with ever on the farm.
They eat with me persistently, as I always eat, if possible,
in the open air. Millions of them go out for an early
breakfast and never return. This is the way most of them
perish: They get full of honey, or water, or pollen, and
their wings being too much worn to fly, they attempt to walk
home, and of course, it is their last move. So with other
animals and insects, most of which are worms of some
description, at some time. This idea that early morning work
is good is liable to be carried to extremes. In the summer
it is judicious to work while it is cool, but there are only
a few weeks in this climate when the heat in the middle of
the day is at all burdensome. The rest of the year, all the
work, that the average person can endure and enjoy good
health, can be done between sunrise and sunset. It is the
drones and moths in the human hive that start these
fallacious axioms.
F. M. SHAW.
H) SHAW THE FUTURIST
After his 1883 insanity trial Shaw's contributions were absent from the
letters column until September. How many were published in 1884 cannot be
ascertained since the existing Times file is missing all issues from Dec.,
1883, until October, 1884. Still he managed to get three into the paper in
November and December. After publication of a letter in January, 1885, he
disappeared from the column for ten months, followed by a flurry of letters.
He published ten in the Times in 1886, and six more in the first half of 1887.
Then his letters stopped again. This time they did not resume, although he
continued to author letters printed in at least one other Los Angeles paper.
His last letter to the Times in the 1880s no doubt amused readers, who
surely smiled and shook their heads as they read another one of the doctor's
hair-brained observations. Trains that cross canyons without bridges? Hang-
gliding off the bluffs along the Pacific? "Crazy Shaw!"
{Times, June 15, 1887, p. 6}
Walking or Flying.
A CORRESPONDENT WHO THINKS
THAT MEN WILL YET LEARN TO FLY.
Los Angeles, June 14.--[To the Editor of The Times.]
The multiplication of means of locomotion is one of the
marked features of our age. It is only in its infancy as far
as practical results are concerned. The writer, in his
investigations into electric railway construction, found that
it was quite possible at a rate of speed of 100 miles per
hour, to safely cross a gap with a railway train without a
bridge. Of course the weight of the train would have to be
known exactly to the engineer in order to regulate his speed.
Whether it will ever be advisable or necessary to use this
airy bridge, is another matter. Undoubtedly railway
construction is just in its infancy, as far as the safety of
passengers is concerned. But it is evident that railway
trains, as well as human beings, can safely fly under proper
conditions. Given the requisite velocity and there is no
difficulty or danger in passing an open space with a heavy
train of cars. This has been demonstrated by actual trial.
The problem of flying by man himself has not been so
satisfactorily proven. However, that will be done in time.
All that is needed is the will and a sufficient courage to
enable the human birds to launch themselves in air. But
there will have to be some other regimen and training used in
order to fit them for aerial locomotion than has been
applied. The late Bulwer Lytton in his "Coming Race,"
foretells the existence of flying men and women, and claims
this continent as their habitation. Now, I know of no place
as favorable as this for putting that theory into practice.
It can be done safely on the plains near the ocean, and the
new fledged birds can alight in the water. This would avoid
the accidents of bone-breaking that might occur if all the
trials were made on land alone. A pair of wings, that are of
sufficient size to sustain an ordinary person, could be
constructed so as to swing as the sword swings in its
scabbard, until needed; then by inserting the arms in the
sheaths, the wings can be put in motion, just as the same are
used to propel one in the water when swimming. To obtain a
momentum sufficient to carry one off the ground, a slide or
incline might have to be used at first. But the human bird
would soon develop speed enough in running to make the start
without the incline.
All this will come, however, as the bicycle has--by
stages. The human birds must train themselves to the utmost
condition of efficiency in physical exercises before any
attempts at flying will be likely to succeed.
How often have we heard some ambitious person exclaim,
"Oh, how I wish I could fly!" That is a perfectly laudable
desire, and sooner or later it will be realized.
F. M. SHAW.
While Savariej died alone in the middle of the desert according to
Newmark, perhaps fantasizing he was in a long distance foot race, and Pinnecate
drank himself to death, Shaw's fate was equally tragic. In his 1931 history of
Los Angeles Spalding said Shaw was a well-known figure in the city for about
twenty years but did not know what happened to him. Newmark, writing in 1913,
implied that Shaw was still living at that time. In fact, he was.
Despite the many letters, the grandiose schemes and the insanity trial,
the only citation for Shaw in the Times' microfilm index is for Nov. 22, 1914.
As the reporter's story unfolds, those who remembered Shaw the dreamer must
have been taken back momentarily some thirty years or more as the old man,
still carrying his papers and diagrams, tried one last time to interest a
listener in yet another marvelous enterprise. Eccentric to the end, not even a
life-threatening calamity could deter him from his quest.
{Times, Nov. 22, 1914, sec. I, p. 10}
ASPIRING TO FLY, MAY NEVER WALK.
OLD MAN WHO HAS GIVEN LIFE TO ONE IDEA
SLIPS ON BANANA PEEL.
After having worked in vain for fifty years on an
invention which he hoped would solve the problem of aviation,
Frederick Merrill Shaw, 87 years old, No. 237 North Grand
avenue, slipped on a banana peel at First and Main streets
yesterday morning and sustained injuries from which
physicians at the Receiving Hospital say he can never
permanently recover.
"It's the irony of fate," the old man said. "I have
devoted nearly all my life to my invention, which when
perfected would in reality permit men to fly in the clouds
with the safety of birds and here I am on a hospital cot as
the result of a simple accident on the ground."
Mr. Shaw is suffering from a fractured limb, his left
leg having been broken near the hip. Owing to his advanced
years it is not considered likely that he will ever be able
to walk.
While discussing the accident and his life work, Mr.
Shaw, who is one of the city's well-known eccentric
characters, took from his pocket a sheet of paper on which
was drawn a diagram of the air machine he had labored on for
so many years. He exhibited it with pride, declaring if he
only had more time and a little money, he could yet perfect
it. His device is of the famous Darius Green type, providing
huge wings to be operated by men birds. About twenty years
ago he thought he had finished his invention and in giving a
public demonstration fell from the roof of a two-story
building and broke a number of bones.
Upon three different occasions he attempted to prove to
the world that he had mastered the air problem and each time
fell to the ground, twice breaking the same limb that was
fractured yesterday.
Mr. Shaw organized the Stein Transit Company in the
early eighties when he believed he had perfected his
invention and several thousand dollars were spent in a
endeavor to place it on the market, but when the time came
for its supreme test and he broke his leg in demonstrating
it, the project was dropped.
Accompanying the diagram of the air machine are some
verses upon which Mr. Shaw said he had based his hope of
conquering the air. They are:
"Oh, that like doves I had two wings,
The ancient bard of Israel sings;
Then I would fly and be at last
Secure from foes that have oppressed.
And many are the seers of old
Who have of angels' pinions told
And now the good at last shall rise
To join their host above the skies."
Mr. Shaw wept when told that he probably will never be
able to walk again. He was removed to the County Hospital.
Shaw's death on Dec. 7, 1914, was recorded on a single line in the official
death notices printed in the Times. There was no obituary, no editorial, no
remembrance by readers of the letters column. The city's last 19th century
eccentric was gone.