Unofficial Website for Historical Artifacts from the Palace Hotel.
Unofficial Website for Historical Artifacts from the Palace Hotel.
January 3rd, 1889: Mrs. Mary Therese Austin, better known to the literary world as "Betsy B.," died at the Palace Hotel at about five o'clock Tuesday afternoon, after an illness of eighteen months.
February 26th, 1889: Seth Cook, a well known mining operator, died at the Palace Hotel this morning from paralysis of the heart. He was a native of New York and 59 years old.
March 16th, 1889: The well-known capitalist, Morton Cheesman, died at the Palace Hotel yesterday from laryngitis, at the age of 65 years.
March 20th, 1889: Mrs. Josephine Wormser, wife of Louis Wormser, a retired New York banker, died suddenly at 5 o'clock Monday evening in the Palace Hotel of paralysis of the heart. The lady was a sister of Maurice Schmitt, the stockbroker, and sister-in-law of Joseph Naphtaly.
March 23rd, 1889: Manager Livingstone, of the Palace Hotel, has forbidden his brunette waiters from wearing white vests. He is also using a back issue of table clothes with the tea and coffee advertisements left in. This saves washing and is therefore economical as well as pious.
May 12th, 1889: Representatives of Palace Optical Co., 621 Market Street, under the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, are now here, and may be consulted from 10 to 12 a.m., and 2 to 4 p.m.
July 9th, 1889: THE HOTEL MYSTERY. Meyer Eckstein Passes Away Without Apparent Cause for Suicide. The death of Meyer Eckstein occurred at the Palace Hotel between 12 and 1 o'clock yesterday morning, and the whole matter is enshrouded in mystery. He arrived in San Francisco from New York on June 24th, and registered at the Palace Hotel, where he was assigned to Room H, which is near Parlor A. Eckstein was a commercial traveler, and every year or two came to the Pacific Coast in the interest of several Eastern commercial houses. He was about 24 years old and has several wealthy relatives in this city. He spent Friday evening in company with Karl Klau of 100 California Street and a Mr. Davis. They had a sociable time, and at 11 o'clock Eckstein left them, apparently to return to his room.
The deceased, from all accounts, was a man of means, and had no reason to worry over financial matters. He left several letters that he had written to his father and others. They are all written in a cheerful vein, telling of what a good time he has had in California and seemingly hopeful of the future. This being so, no cause is apparent why he should have been weary of the world and desire to take his own life.
A servant knocked at his door on Saturday morning, but, receiving no response, and observing that the gas was lit, concluded that the person inside had not yet left the apartment. Returning at 1:30 she noticed that the gas had been turned off and knocked for admission. Again, there was no response, and she tried her pass key. It would not work, and she called to a bellboy. They opened the window and were almost paralyzed with the strong odor of gas. On entering the room, they saw Eckstein lying on the floor with his head propped against the wall. He was half dressed and the gas jets were turned on, emitting their poisonous fumes. Dr. Rosenstirn was then called, when all the necessary measures were taken to resuscitate the insensible man. On Saturday evening a continuous current of oxygen was administered and a saline solution injected to replace the quantity of poisoned blood that had been withdrawn from his body. On Sunday evening from eight to ten ounces of human blood was transfused into his veins, a man having been found, willing to suffer the loss of the vital fluid for a consideration. Whether the letters breathing such a cheerful and hopeful spirit were written by the deceased as a blind to hide the secret trouble that prompted him to end his life is simply a matter of conjecture, but in any case, there is an air of mystery surrounding the case that may or may not be removed later. The remains of deceased are still at the Palace Hotel.
The following day, his funeral arrangements appear in the paper, giving him the name Moritz Eckstein.
July 23rd, 1889: AN ARTIST'S PRIDE. A Painter Who Refused to Tell a Lie with His Brush. Some years ago, when the Palace Hotel was being built, M. Tavernier, the artist, accepted a commission from William C. Ralston to make a painting of the vast pile from the architect’s drawings. The same was to be lithographed and spread broadcast for advertising purposes. “Tees prostitution” Jules would shout to friends who entered the studio while this commercial enterprise was under way. “Tees prostitution, and l am ashamed. But what would you ’ave? The money is ver’ nec’sary. Ah, the money! D— the money! But for that should we not be happy? Here you see me, doing what? Degrading myself sure, degrading myself, like I would not if I carry the hod like an honest man. I make myself infamous for the money!” This was not said humorously, but in dead earnest. The speech generally ended by a throwing down of palette and brushes, a seizing of the hat, and a rush for fresh air and refreshments.
At last, the degrading and infamous painting was finished, and Ralston came to see it. Ralston was a man who usually knew what he wanted, and the picture was not to his liking. He was frank enough to say so. “Ess it not exact, Ees it not your ’otel?” inquired M. Tavernier, calmly and politely. “Yea, that's all right,” agreed Ralston, but you only show a part of it” “Sare,” replied the artist, “the point of view is from Montgomery Street, where more of your 'otel can be seen than from any other point” “Well,” grumbled the capitalist, “you ought to have stretched your imagination a little and put the whole house in. Don’t you think you’ve made the roof there run up mighty sharp! Is that quite the color you ought to have got on the New Montgomery Street side.” “Meestaire Ralston,” said M. Tavernier, with forced composure, “you ’ave offer me five hundred dollaire to paint your 'otel. There it ees. You now ask me for that live hundred dollaire to lie with my brush. In addition you are good enough to instruct me in my ar-r-rt. You are a very reech man; I am a very poor one. Five hundred dollaire es nothing to you; it ees a great deal to me. See—l weel show you what I weel do!”
Here he seized a knife and made a lunge —not at the astonished capitalist, but at the canvas, which in an instant be had slashed into strips. “There ees the door, sare.” resumed Jules, pointing to it. “When next you veesit the atelier of an artist, remember that, although you have meelions. you know no more than peeg, Meestaire Ralston. You are a very impudent as well as an ignorant man, sare. Good day, sare.” Tom Hill got the commission, and he made Montgomery Street 100 feet wide, so as to admit a full view of the Palace Hotel. “To geeve a lesson to a bourgeois, M. Tavernier is wont to say, in speaking of the incident, “is worth mooch more than 500 of the dollaires which alone make them better than savages. To me these men of business are odious, sare.”
July 25th, 1889: A VALUABLE SOUVENIR A Silver Menu Card Used at a Palace Hotel Dinner in 1876. Washington, July 24. Detective Block of this city has recovered a silver menu card, weighing six ounces, that was used at the dinner given to ex-Senator Sharon at the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, February 8th, 1876 by the ex-Senator’s old friends of the Comstock Lode. The card is supposed to have been stolen from one of the guests at the dinner, and is held at police headquarters for a claimant. It was placed in a pawn-shop here for $6.
August 27th, 1889: Mrs. Leonardie Burling has begun suit against the Sharon estate to compel the return of $572,047, which she claims was paid by her husband to Sharon to settle debts of W. C. Ralston. Ralston borrowed the money from the Odd Fellows’ Bank on notes given by Burling and gave as security Bank of California stock. Sharon claimed this stock was an overissue and also that Ralston was indebted to him. Mrs. Burling claims that Ralston was the legal owner of the stock and that instead of Ralston being indebted to Sharon, the opposite is the case. The ownership of the Palace Hotel is involved.
ERECTING POLES. The New Company Is at Work on Market Street. The Electric Improvement Company commenced placing poles in position on Market Street, ten carloads having been received at the narrow-gauge depot. ...He states that the company is now placing 9,500 incandescent lights in the Palace Hotel, San Francisco.
September 20th, 1889: Tuey Gwak Ling, the new Chinese Minister to Washington, arrived at San Francisco from China on Wednesday. His suite occupied thirty rooms in the Palace Hotel.
October 1st, 1889: Death of a Pioneer Lady. Mrs. Nancy Payne, widow of the late Theodore Payne who was a pioneer and a wealthy banker, died at the Palace Hotel yesterday. Notice of the funeral has not yet been given.
October 19th, 1889: One John Roberts was killed in the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, last Mon Comique dive (Yes, it says this) in San Francisco by a waitress named Mary Clery. The waitress claims that the man tried to injure her and to protect herself she stabbed him with the scissors, which she had on her person.
October 23rd, 1889: James McCarthy, a small boy, was arrested Tor stealing an umbrella from a store under the Palace Hotel on Monday evening. A young man named Henry Fenzer, who saw McCarthy arrested, said that it was "a ----- shame to arrest a boy for taking an umbrella when it's raining." Fenzer was arrested for using vulgar language.
October 27th, 1889:
C. H. Livingston, Manager of the Palace Hotel, was very pleasantly surprised yesterday. A short time ago, Mr. Livingston, after a service of two years and a half in the position of Manager of the hotel, handed in his resignation, to take effect on November 1st. The employees of the hotel were determined that he should not be allowed to leave without some mark of the esteem in which he is held by them. Yesterday afternoon about 3 o'clock Mr. Livingston, from whom all knowledge of the contemplated action had been carefully withheld, was informed that his presence was desired in Parlor A of the hotel. Reaching the room, he found himself confronted by about 175 employees of the hotel including Mr. Arnold, the Assistant Manager, several of the clerks, the housekeepers, chambermaids, dining-room and restaurant waiters, floor and bellboys, and, in fact, representatives from every department of the hotel help. Mr. Arnold, who acted as spokesman, greeted Mr. Livingston, and in a neat speech expressed the regret of himself and his fellow employees, from the highest to the lowest, at his retirement from the management.
He concluded by asking Mr. Livingston to accept, as a slight token of the esteem of those who had been associated with him, a handsome solitaire diamond stud, a pair of diamond sleeve buttons and a gold pencil, purchased with the contributions of every employee in the house, from the heads of the departments down to the smallest boy. Mr. Livingston was at first completely overcome, but as soon as he had recovered himself, he made a brief speech, in which he expressed his extreme gratification at this mark of good will. Coming as it did from those who had served under him, representing as it did the mite withdrawn from the earnings of the daily toil of each and every employee of the hotel, this evidence of their esteem had afforded him even greater pleasure than the handsome manner in which the proprietors of the hotel had marked their appreciation of his services and their regret at his retirement. In conclusion, he assured them that if the hotel under his management had had an unprecedented success, he felt it his duty to say that much of that success was due to the employees, without whose cordial co-operation he could not have accomplished what he had. He deeply regretted that he was about to sever the relations which had so long existed between them, but he had felt that his health must give way if he continued in his present position, and this, and the fact that he had other business interests which demanded his attention, had impelled him to resign. The jewels presented to Mr. Livingston are remarkably handsome specimens of the jeweler's art. They were made by A. W. Stott of 3 Montgomery Street, and reflect great credit on the taste and skill of the designer. The stud is spiral with a large solitaire Old Mine diamond. The sleeve-buttons are square and made of opalized gold, and in the centre of each is a large diamond set in a star. The whole are enclosed in a velvet case, on the cover of which is a silver tablet bearing the following inscription:
Another surprise was in store for Mr. Livingston later in the day. About 9 o'clock last evening he was informed that his presence was required in one of the parlors, and on proceeding there, found a number of guests waiting for him. Mr. Ariel Lathrop stepped forward, and producing a beautiful solitaire diamond ring, presented it to the popular manager, with a few well-chosen remarks. Speaking for the patrons of the house, he expressed extreme regret at Mr. Livingston's departure, and thanked him for the kindly interest he had taken in their welfare. This was a greater surprise to Mr. Livingston than the events earlier in the day, and he was at a loss at first to express his gratification and thanks. As soon as he recovered himself he thanked those present for the beautiful gift. He stated that during his regime as manager their interests had been his, and now that he was to leave the hotel he hoped that the intimacy which existed would not be severed. The diamond is a beautiful one, of great purity, and though of medium size, is valued at $700. The donors were: Senator J. P. Jones, Ariel Lathrop, W. S. Hobart, W. H. Brown, A. C. Hamilton, J. D. Whitney, Dr. A. Warner, Chales F. Samson, Thomas H. Williams, Charles E. Paxton, Orrin Hickok, Maurice Schmitt, Joseph Marks, Ira Ramsdell, R. T. Carroll and Louis Lissak. Mr. L. Sisenvine, proprietor of the Palace Hotel cigar stand, presented Mr. Livingston with a handsome toilet set in a plush case, for which the recipient warmly thanked him.
October 31st, 1889: A HANDSOME PRESENT. Palace Hotel Guests Compliment Manager Livingston. A PUNCH-BOWL PRESENTATION.
How the Residents at the Palace Testify Their Regret at Mr. Livingston’s Retirement.
Mr. C. H. Livingston, who tonight resigns the managership of the Palace Hotel, a position which he has filled for the past three years, has been given many valuable and beautiful tokens of the esteem in which he is held by the employees and guests of the hotel, but the climax was reserved for last night. At 9 o’clock about 100 guests of the hotel gathered in the main parlor, where a magnificent punch-bowl, surrounded by cut-glass decanters, glasses and silver salvers, lay on a table in the center of the room. Mr. Livingston was sent for, and on his appearance was presented with the following address, read by General J. F. Houghton:
Mr. Livingston: The guests of the Palace Hotel who have been with you from the time of your advent as manager to the eve of your resignation (now too soon to take effect) feel that they cannot permit the occasion to pass without some expression of their grateful appreciation of your successful efforts for their comfort while in your charge. And to give emphasis to these sentiments in a more enduring and substantial manner, we beg your acceptance of this punch-bowl, salvers and glasses in token of such appreciation. We trust that wherever your lot may be cast in the future, when your eyes rest upon this bowl, either to admire it as a work of art or to seek good cheer, comfort or inspiration from its profound depths, you will be pleasantly reminded of the old hotel and its guests. J. F. Houghton, (Signed), A. L. Tubbs, Charles Morris, Isaac Trumbo, A. P. Williams. Committee for the guests. Mr. Livingston responded feelingly to the address and said that he needed no such present to be reminded of their cordial relations, but he would accept it in the spirit in which it was given. As manager of the hotel, it had been his aim and duty to look after the comfort of his guests, and this acknowledgment that they had appreciated his efforts was extremely gratifying to him. Mr. Livingston then raised the cover from the bowl, whose contents were served out to those present. His health was first drunk and then that of the guests, while a light collation was partaken of. The punch-bowl is of solid silver of most artistic design and with the accompanying glasses and decanters cost $1000. The bowl is of large size, lined with gold, and mounted on a gold stand. The body of the bowl is in oxidized silver, with a beautiful design in bas-relief, representing a hunting scene, worked around it. The decanters are of cut glass, three in number, and are enclosed in a silver stand. Three solid silver salvers, with numerous delicate glasses, accompany the present. On each article was the inscription, “Presented to Charles H. Livingston by the guests of the Palace Hotel, on his retire from its management, October 31, 1889.” Among those who witnessed the presentation and participated in the ceremonies were Charles Layton and wife, L. Gilson and wife, S. W. Rosenstock and wife, A. L. Tubbs and family, A. P. Williams and wife, Mrs. Samuel Moore, Charles Maine and wife, Dr. Breyfogle and wife, John Carroll and family, A. D. Sharon and wife, Isaac Hecht and wife, Messrs. Martin, Sykes, Shaw and Gregory, accompanied by their wives, Colonel Isaac Trumbo and wife, Dr. Whitney and wife, Wendell Easton and wife, General Houghton and family, A. N. Towne and wife, George H. Rice and wife, R. J. Wieland and wife, Dr. Sawyer and wife, Mrs. and Miss Higgins, Mrs. Mills, Mrs. Deane, Ed Curtis and A. D. McKinley.
The Woman's Exchange Ball.
S. F. Thorn, Manager of the Grand Hotel, who wilI tomorrow take charge of the Palace Hotel, in place of C. H. Livingston, has notified the Woman's Exchange that whenever the Directors wish to give the grand charity bail, which was postponed on account of the death of Mrs. Charles Crocker, he will let them have the use of the Palace. He will also carry out the plans made by Mr. Livingston to insure the success of the ball.
November 1st, 1889: Manager Thorne to be Serenaded. S. F. Thorne, the manager of the Grand Hotel, will take charge as manager of the Palace Hotel today. He will be serenaded by the First Regiment band to-night, and later on will be tendered a reception by the guests of the two hotels. Mr. Thorne will not, at present, make any changes in the personnel of the Palace staff. A few changes in the minor departments of the hotel are intimated.
November 2nd, 1889: Palace Staff Changes. The new manager of the Palace Hotel, Mr. Thorne, has made several changes in his staff. L. D. Cafferty, formerly of the Fifth-avenue Hotel of New York, Boggs' Hotel of Utica and the Byan of St. Paul, supersedes Mr. Arnold, who has resigned. J. Young is now steward, and Mail Clerk Davies has been succeeded by Messrs. McDermott and Walters, who will take six -hour watches. Manager Thorne has arranged to have a concert every Monday and Friday evening during the year, from 7:30 to 9 o'clock. Last night Casser's Military Band played, and the music was enjoyed by a large number of guests and visitors. The lamps in the large court and on the balconies were lighted for the first time since September, 1879, when General Grant was here.
November 8th ,1889
November 9th, 1889: THE NEGRO MUST GO. White Cooks and Waiters To Be Employed In The Palace Hotel.
A complete change is being made in the working department of the Palace Hotel. On the 1st of the month Manager Thorn installed J. W. Young as head steward. Mr. Young's first move was to discharge thirty cooks and hire a new crew in their place. The object of this change, it was stated, was simply to get new ideas in the culinary line. A change will be made this morning at 6 o'clock that will provoke widespread consternation in local colored society. All of the colored waiters and pantrymen, numbering about one hundred and fifty persons, will be replaced by white help. The object of this movement is to do away with colored help altogether and have only white men in the kitchen and dining room. A few bell-boys and porters will be excepted, and retained for the time being. Up to a late hour last night the negro servants in and about the Palace had not been informed that their services would not be required hereafter. They will be paid off at 6 o'clock this morning.
November 10th, 1889: WHITE WAITERS PREFERRED. Manager Thorn of the Palace Hotel Discharges the Colored Waiters.
In accordance with announcement Manager Thorn yesterday morning dismissed from further service in the Palace Hotel all the colored waiters, 123 in number. The places of the discharged waiters were filled at once with white men, fifty of whom recently came from the Hotel Coronado at San Diego, the remaining seventy-three being obtained in this city. The discharge does not affect the twenty-six colored bellboys and the seventeen colored porters and bootblacks. Of the force the head waiter, of the American dining-room is direct from Coronado, and the head waiter of the European plan dining-room is from the Union Club, this city; so there will be no lack of efficient supervising. One of the principal causes for the change was the disposition on the part of the colored waiters to disregard new rules established by Manager Thorn when he assumed charge on the 1st inst. One of the new rules was that the waiters and others connected with the dining-room and kitchen should be searched, if deemed necessary, to satisfy the detective they were not carrying home more than belonged to them. It is said that before the colored gentlemen knew of the order some of them, taken unaware, were caught carrying home tenderloin steaks, fruit, chickens and even silverware. The waiters became indignant at the manager for establishing such a rule and on Friday evening tried to coerce Mr. Thorn by organizing a strike. It was then that Manager Thorn determined to show that the hotel was not dependent on its employees by replacing the entire crowd.
On the other hand the discharged employees are considerably down-hearted at the turn affairs have taken. One of them, in speaking of the matter, said: "Mr. Thorn said that a long and continuous experience in the hotel business had shaken his reliance on the probity of colored servants generally, so he decided to inaugurate the system of search. Thus, he heaps an indignity upon our race at unmerited as it is unjust, for we think the record of hotel management in the United States will substantiate us in our claim that colored help, male or female, wherever employed, in hotels or elsewhere, has proved to be fully equal in honesty and fidelity to white help. We will not, even in self-defense, make use of information in our possession tending to prove that the white help employed at various times in the Palace Hotel has been proved to be deficient in integrity. With that we have nothing to do. We simply labor to vindicate ourselves."
November 13th, 1889: A DARING BURGLARY. A Large Amount of Valuables Stolen From the Palace Hotel.
A daring burglary was committed last Thursday or Friday in the Palace Hotel. One of the transient guests, a drummer for a jewelry house in the East, is reported to have lost between $2500 and $3000 in money and jewelry. While the drummer was absent from his room on the second floor the thief entered, rifled the sample cases and departed. Two or three overcoats were stolen at about the same time. The police and detectives are at work on the case, but they are all very reticent in regard to the burglary. An Alta reporter interviewed Manager Thorn of the Palace on the subject. Mr. Thorn admitted that something of the kind had occurred. He was not at all disposed to talk of the matter.
December 13th, 1889: Dr. Thomas Boyson has commenced suit in the Superior Court against F. G. Newlands and F. W. Sharon, executors of the estate of William Sharon, to recover $25,000 damages, alleged to have been sustained by himself and family at the hands of S. F. Thorn, manager of the Palace Hotel, at which place they have been stopping for some time. The dispute grew out oi an advance in the rent of the apartments occupied by the plaintiff from $100 to $120 per month.
December 22nd, 1889: On January 1st all the porters, call boys and elevator men at the Palace Hotel will appear in blue uniforms, with gold buttons bearing the letter "P." Skull caps bearing the same letter will also enhance their beauty. The alterations in the hotel will begin as soon as the wet weather ceases.
January 10th, 1890: Work has been commenced on the changes in the ground floor of the Palace Hotel. Manager Thorn says that he expects to have the alterations completed in ninety days. The new Palace Cafe, which will be where the dining-room now is, will have a wide entrance from Market Street and will equal in elegance and equipment the best in New York City, and San Francisco can no longer rom plain that it "has no restaurant to compare with Delmonico's." A needed change. As a business proposition, it is a mistake to locate a hotel restaurant and hotel bar out of sight and a long distance from the street.
January 12th, 1890: On Wednesday evening last, the marriage of Miss Clara Luning and James Cunningham was solemnized. The bride is the youngest daughter of Mr. Nicholas Luning, the well-known capitalist of this city. The groom is a nephew of D. O. Mills, and a civil engineer by profession. The wedding took place at the Palace Hotel in the apartments of Mr. Luning.
January 13th, 1890: DEATH FROM DRINK. A Philadelphian Expires Suddenly After a Debauch. George Maris, the son of John F. Maris, a millionaire glass-blower of Philadelphia, was found dead in his room at the Palace Hotel early Saturday morning. Maris, who was about thirty-three years old, arrived here in company with Clifford Harris, an Englishman, December 28th, on the ship Elizabeth, having made the passage on her from New York. He and Harris took the trip for their health and in order to recover from the effects of dissipation, both having been heavy drinkers. They were 136 days in making the voyage and arrived here in good health. They engaged adjoining rooms at the hotel and immediately commenced drinking again. They finally reached such a state of intoxication that a further supply of liquor was refused to them. They obtained it in some manner and continued the spree. On Thursday Dr. Dennis was called in, and found both men in a terrible state of intoxication. Maris could not eat and was suffering from alcoholism. The doctor warned him against using any more whiskey, but he obtained some Friday afternoon about 4 o'clock. Saturday morning the doctor was sent for to attend Maris, who had grown suddenly worse, and when he reached the room, found him lying on his face on the floor, dead. A certificate of death from natural causes was given, and the dead man's friends were notified by telegraph. The body was embalmed yesterday, and will await the arrival of Maris' father, who started from Philadelphia last night. Harris is still too intoxicated to talk coherently, and is under the doctor's care. He will be sent to the Home for Inebriates if he does not stop drinking.
January 14th, 1890: Colonel James Allison, the Australian the atrical manager who died at the Palace Hotel last Sunday, will be buried at 11:30 to-day from the First Congregational Church. Rev. Dr. Barrows will officiate. The interment will take place in the Masonic Cemetery.
January 17th, 1890: Night Clerk Rucker of the Palace Hotel has quite a bad attack of influenza and barely manages to keep about.
January 18th, 1890: Thomas Boyson has sued F. G. Newlands of the Palace Hotel to recover $25,100 damages. Mr. Boyson states in his complaint that he hired apartments in the Palace Hotel for $100 a month; that a few weeks after he and his family took possession of the rooms Manager Thorn ordered him to leave the hotel, alleging as one reason that the rental of the rooms was $120 a month. Mr. Boyson complains that by the order of Manager Thorn the servants have refused to furnish his family with food from the restaurant.
January 31st, 1890: Distress at San Francisco. The S. F. Post says there is dire distress in that city at the present among the poor and poverty stricken, as times are worse than ever before known, and many worthy people have to depend upon charity for an existence. At the Palace Hotel alone from two in three hundred people a day are given food saved from the tables. They stand in line and their baskets are furnished in rotation.
February 1st, 1890: An Expensive Cook. M. Du Bois, who for many years was cook at the Cafe Anglais and Restaurant Bignon, Paris; the Hotel de Paris, at Monte Carlo and later in the employ of Fred Vanderbilt of New York, has been engaged to take charge of the cuisine at the Palace Hotel. While in Vanderbilt's employ he was paid $8000 a year for his services. In addition to M. Du Bois' assistant cooks from Delmonico's have been engaged, as well as a corps of Delmonico's best waiters.
The guests of the Palace Hotel were greatly surprised last night to hear, of the summary dismissal of John A. Jackson, who for fourteen years has been head watchman at the Palace Hotel. He was well known by all the regular patrons of the hotel, and was regarded as a fixture. Manager Thorne said that he had been discharged for neglect of duty, visiting a barroom and disobedience of orders. His place will be taken by Charles Manton, one of the watchmen of the hotel.
February 4th, 1890: The San Francisco Union of the Brotherhood of Painters and Decorators of America has sent several communications to Manager Thorn of the Palace Hotel in reference to his paying $40 per month to the men engaged in painting and whitening the hotel. The union will not admit to membership any man so employed by Manager Thorn, but the work goes on just the name, and when the painting and whitening are at an end, the work of tearing out the sickly gas burners to make room for the incandescent light will begin. Sentinel.
February 13th, 1890: The exterior of the Palace Hotel is being much improved by a coat of white paint.
February 16th, 1890: The partnership existing between Fourquet and Merganthaler, proprietors of the Palais Royal Restaurant, at 303 Sutter Street, near Grant Avenue, was dissolved on the 1st inst. F. W. Mergenthaler will continue in the business, and will maintain a first-class restaurant in every respect. Mergenthaler was for a long time head chef in the Palace Hotel, and as a culinary artist he ranks second to none in the United States.
Adelina Pattu Nicolini's 47th Birthday Dinner
Palace Hotel
February 19th, 1890
February 20th, 1890: The Palace Hotel is being whitewashed—beg pardon, Ghost Sharon, receiving a new coat of white paint.
February 27th, 1890: An Elevator Accident. John Skelly, who is employed in the Palace Hotel to run the baggage elevator, was seriously injured on Tuesday evening. He stuck his head and shoulders out of the elevator while it was in motion and was jammed under the cross beam near the top of the door. The elevator was lowered and Skelly was removed; unconscious, to his room. It is believed that his jaw was broken.
March 1st, 1890: It is rumored that Joe White has been offered a position as mixologist in the Palace Hotel bar, San Francisco. Joe says he would accept the position but for one reason. He does not like the idea of wearing a white coat, which he would be compelled to do if he accepted the offer.
March 4th, 1890: Colonel J. Mervyn Donahue, President of the San Francisco and Northern Pacific Railway, died at the Palace Hotel this evening. He has been confined to his bed for over two months suffering from a complication of lung and stomach troubles. Of late his stomach has been so weak that no food could he given him except that in a fluid state. He was 30 years of age.
March 7th, 1890: A. Raffo, who for the ten years occupied the position of chief cook at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, has severed his connection with that house and has moved with his family to their ranch, the ‘’Mount Isabela,’ on Stevens creek.
March 14th, 1890: Arthur McCausland, a painter who was at work on the Annie Street side of the Palace Hotel, fell from a swinging staging, a distance of about forty-five feet this morning, and in addition to being badly injured internally sustained a compound fracture of the left leg. He was removed to his home at 110 Fourth Street, where he was attended by a neighboring surgeon.
March 28th, 1890: Palace Hotel Improvements. The improvements at the Palace Hotel are progressing rapidly. The main dining-room for serving meals on the American plan is now in use. The room is finished in white and gold and presents a cheerful and beautiful aspect. The hotel office will probably not be changed, as the proposed new one, on New Montgomery Street, has been found to be too small. The alterations, including the conservatory to the left of the main dining-room and the cafe in the court, will probably not be finished for six months.
Palace Hotel Ad
March 28th, 1890
March 31st, 1890: The Palace Hotel presents a very handsome appearance with its new coat of paint.
April 7th, 1890: Mr. S. Marcus and Miss Eva M. Carter were quietly married at the Palace Hotel a week ago Saturday evening.
April 16th, 1890: The San Francisco and North Pacific Company has given up its down-town office under the Palace Hotel. Colonel Donahue formerly used it as his private office, but since his death the company has had no use for the room.
April 20th, 1890: BOGUS DETECTIVES. An Agency Claiming to Have an Office in the Palace. A few days ago a young woman, who is employed in a printing establishment on Montgomery Street, and who resides with her relatives on Mason Street, received a letter bearing the printed heading, "California Detective Agency, Room 430, Palace Hotel, San Francisco." ....The head clerk of the Palace Hotel says that neither the California nor any other detective agency has rooms there; that there is no room in the hotel numbered 430, and that there is no guest there named Mrs. G. Y. Gregory. The supposition Is that the bogus detective agency is trying to blackball the person mentioned and may be trying the same with others.
April 22nd, 1890: In this city, April 19, at the Palace Hotel, Theodore, eldest son of Theodore F. and Mary Pauline Payne, aged 8 years and 8 months.
The Chef de Cuisine at the Palace Will Be Investigated. The Musicians' Union has received information that the manager of the Palace Hotel has recently imported a cook from France, in violation of the Contract Labor law. The union has no love for the Palace Hotel or its manager, because musicians who are not members of their organization are employed to charm the ears of the Palace s guests. They will, therefore, make an investigation, and if they find that the new chef has been engaged in violation of the law, his employer will be prosecuted. In this movement the musicians expect to receive the assistance of other unions.
May 4th, 1890: Horned Toads as Pets. "Why, I sold one to a lady who lived at the Palace Hotel, and she allowed him the freedom of her apartments when she went out, and she told me that on her return he would run to meet her, no matter where he had hidden himself. He was finally stepped on."
May 13th, 1890: Hon. George M. Sabin, United States District Judge for the District of Nevada, died yesterday morning about 7 o'clock at the Palace Hotel after an illness of inflammatory rheumatism of about two weeks. He was 56 years of age.
May 17th, 1890: Mentions Room #980 as an office in the Palace Hotel.
June 2nd, 1890: As Mr. White was himself in town, a Call representative called upon him and found in Room 46 on the fifth floor of the Palace Hotel, engaged in looking over the notes of an address which it is his intention to deliver to-night before the Alumni Society of the Santa Clara College.
June 3rd, 1890: Baron Antoinette Rothschild a member of the wealthy and famous Rothschild family of Paris, preferred to visit San Francisco incognito, and so successfully did he carry out his plan that not even the clerks at the Palace Hotel were aware until last Sunday that they had so distinguished a guest, although he had been there since May 11th, says the Examiner.
June 8th, 1890: A string orchestra has been substituted for the brass band at the Palace Hotel, and has been found to be much better adapted to the acoustics of the court. The concert on Friday evening was a well-selected one and attracted a large number.
June 21st, 1890: The Chronicle Building - The Paper's New and Elegant Home on Market Street. ...By means of the elevator, which is run by steam, access was quickly gained to the top floor whence a circular stairway led up into the clock tower and out on the roof. From this high elevation the spectator looked down upon the skylights which illumined the court of the Palace Hotel.
June 25th, 1890: A horse attached to an express wagon took fright yesterday afternoon and charged into the Palace Hotel courtyard through the Montgomery Street entrance. It brought up against the west side and fell down. Several bystanders secured the animal before any damage could be done.
A horse owned by H. C. Bourne, 28 Second Street, took fright yesterday afternoon and dashed into the Palace Hotel courtyard. He ran across the court over the marble floor and fell, striking the west wall. Several employes had hold of the affrighted animal before he could rise again. The horse was not injured, but he smashed a large pane of plate glass in the front door.
July 24th, 1890: The Elevator Manipulators at the Palace Out on a Strike. Yesterday afternoon, the elevator men at the Palace Hotel went out on a strike as the result of a series of grievances. The principal of these was that their wages were cut down $15 per month not long since. This was submitted to with but ill grace, but when these men were told yesterday that hereafter they most 'take their meals' in the basement along with the menials, instead of in the 'officer's room" upstairs, where the clerks, engineers, etc.. eat, they rebelled. Their places were quickly filled and the elevators were not long idle.
The Palace Hotel has a new assistant manager, a Mr. G. Percival Smith of London, England, who was employed by Frederick Sharon two months ago. He was formerly steward of the Century Club, the swell organization of the London cockneys. There is some talk of the engagement of Smith being in violation of the contract labor law, although it is claimed that no contract exists.
July 26th, 1890: The Palace Hotel Office. The unsightly scaffolding which has been in place in the office of the Palace Hotel during the last seven weeks was removed early yesterday morning, the frescoing having been completed. The ceiling and walls have received a groundwork of paint of an old ivory color. Rosettes of plaster of paris, richly gilded, adorn the paneled ceiling in which are placed incandescent electric lights. Gilded festoons and garlands stretch around the four sides of the room near the ceiling. The office was illuminated Thursday (24th) evening for the first time, and the improvements produced a most gorgeous and brilliant effect. Work on the public restaurant and new location of the bar on the Market Street court will commence in a few days. It will be some months before all the contemplated improvements will be finished.
July 27th, 1890: Joe Parker, the old-time bar-keeper at the Palace Hotel, and the only one it is said that was ever there that could mix a cocktail to suit the palate of the guests, has been discharged by Manager Thorn. It is understood that he was allowed to go because he wanted a longer vacation than Thorn was willing to give him.
August 1st, 1890: FIRE AT THE PALACE. Flames on the Entresol Quickly and Quietly Extinguished. What might have been a disastrous fire occurred at the Palace Hotel yesterday. The vigilance of an employe alone prevented a sensational scene and saved the huge building from the dangers of a conflagration. About 4 o'clock in the afternoon smoke was seen issuing from a room on the entresol in the corner of the building on Market and New Montgomery Streets, and on opening the door it was found that the interior was on fire. No alarm was given, but water was quickly applied by means of a small hose kept at hand and the flames extinguished. It was done so quickly and so quietly that but few knew of the occurrence until it was all over. The damage was small, and the fire is supposed to have owed its origin to the dropping of a lighted cigarette by some careless guest.
August 13th, 1890: Nicholas Luning, the millionaire, died of heart disease in his rooms in the Palace Hotel shortly after midnight yesterday morning. During the day he appeared to be in his usual good health and spirits and he took a long walk in the afternoon and another tramp soon after dinner. In the evening, he accompanied his sister-in-law, Miss Dempsey, to the theatre, returning to his apartments about 11 o'clock. Soon after he reached his room, he became ill, and a little after midnight he passed away. For the past twelve years he occupied a suite of apartments at the Palace Hotel, where he resided with his daughters. He amassed a fortune worth between $12,000,000 and $15,000,000. He was 68.
August 14th, 1890: William D. English, another one of the Democratic aspirants for the nomination for Governor, opened his headquarters last night at Room 163 of the Palace Hotel.
August 31st, 1890: Justice of the Peace Hebbard has decided in favor of the plaintiffs in the suit of the Palace Hotel elevator men against Manager Thorn for wages due them.
September 2nd, 1890: John Banks, a colored callboy in the Palace Hotel, was arrested last evening and charged with an attempt at burglary. He was found in Room 654 of one of the lodgers, Captain Harry Morse, with a satchel belonging to the latter. As the young fellow had no business in the room he was turned over to the police.
September 7th, 1890: The Mutual Patent Manufacturing Company intends giving a public exhibition of a patent fire escape at the Palace Hotel tomorrow evening, also at the Baldwin Hotel in the afternoon, and has invited the Board of Supervisors to be present.
October 1st, 1890: Information of a reliable nature has been disclosed to the effect that an English syndicate is negotiating for the purchase of a piece of the most valuable real estate in the city. For some time past Captain White, an English gentleman, has been acting ostensibly as assistant manager of the big caravansary on Market Street— the Palace Hotel — but in reality, the chief object of his mission has been to look into the value of the property in the interests of a syndicate of English capitalists -who, no doubt, look upon San Francisco real estate as a desirable investment. It is also known with a degree of certainty that the owners of this, the largest and most complete hotel in the world, have been anxious to dispose of it for reasons which it is unnecessary here to speak of, and should Captain White's report prove satisfactory to the principals, for whom he is said to be acting, the consummation of the sale may be looked for within the next few weeks, when the Captain will, in all likelihood, assume the management. It is reported in connection with the above statement that the present manager, Mr. Thorn, is ready to resign, as he has a very fine ranch near Santa Cruz which requires his undivided attention. When English capital, involving several millions of dollars, is earnestly in search of realty in this city it is safe to remark that no better security for investment can today be found in the country. The Palace Hotel is owned by Lady Hesketh, Frank G. Newlands and Fred Sharon.
October 18th, 1890: On Wednesday evening, October 15th, at the Palace Hotel, Mr. William Marshall Burnop of Utica, N. Y., and Mrs. Julie Nellis Livingston of East Oakland were united in marriage by the Rev. Dr. Lathrop, in the presence only of a few friends of Mr. R. H. Lloyd, the lady's legal guardian.
October 27th, 1890: An article makes note of the parlors at the Palace Hotel being newly remodeled.
November 4th, 1890: A HOTEL IN RUINS. The Grand and Burlington Block Nearly Wiped Out by Fire. The Loss Amounts to Almost Half a Million Dollars. Five Hours' Battling with the Flames on Market and Second Street — Escape of the Guests.
The fire in the Grand Hotel and Burlington lodging-house was burning furiously when the Alta went to press yesterday morning, but nevertheless a good report of the blaze, was given considering the hour. The fire started a few minutes before 3 o'clock, and the whole of the Fire Department was hard at work until alter 7 o'clock before the flames were subdued. It was one of the largest fires in this city in the past two years. It started in the basement of the paint, oil and varnish store of Hueter Bros., at 601 Market Street, and spread both out and upward. Police Officer Bush was the first to see it and turn an alarm into box 38, which brought out the fire engines in the district. Chief Scannell saw the danger which threatened the entire building and ordered a second alarm, which was given about twenty-five minutes alter the first, and all of the fire apparatus east of Van Nees Avenue was soon on the ground.
The firemen directed their attention to holding the fire in the basement, but their efforts proved fruitless, for the flames continued eating their way up through the wooden structure driving out the inmates and guests of both the Burlington and Grand. The Chief called out the new fire tower, and the machine did excellent service. Half a dozen lines of hose were joined and forced through the tower in a three-inch stream, which was directed on the windows in the third story and on the roof. The roof was flooded, and hundreds of gallons of water streamed down through the blazing mass below. For some time, the battle was fought from the Second Street side, but finally the flames were seen bursting out of the stores on Market Street, and the hose men gave that part of the building their attention. It was not long after this that the flames burst out of the second and third stories of both hotels, notwithstanding the dozens of streams of water that were being played into the building on all sides. For a time, it was feared that the Palace Hotel and the annex to the southeast of the Grand were in danger, but luckily this catastrophe was averted.
THE BURNT BLOCK. Only One Half of It Insured— History of the Building.
The Grand Hotel was originally designed for stores and offices, and there was no intention of devoting it to hotel purposes. Later, however, when the first story was up, it was decided to use the building for hotel purposes, and it was finished for G. S. Johnson & Co. But, owing to the earthquake fear, it was not extended beyond the four stories. It was opened on May 3, 1870, by Messrs. Johnson. It was, as stated, four stories high, and had a frontage of 205 feet on Market Street and 346 feet on New Montgomery Street. The hotel was built on leased ground, owned by two different parties, and which eventually passed into the hands of the Sharon and Wadsworth estates. Two years ago, the lease on the land expired and the building, by the terms of the lease, reverted to the owners of the ground. There was trouble between the two owners about a renewal of the lease, and that part of the building owned by the Wadsworth people was partitioned off and turned into the Burlington Hotel. The loss on the Burlington building is about $85,000 or $90,000. There was a rumor on the street that the Wadsworth estate had, at the expiration of the lease, offered their interest in the building, which embraces what was the Burlington, to the Sharon estate for $90,000, but the Sharon heirs thought the price too high and refused to buy it. The only insurance on the building was $25,000 on the Burlington end, which was carried by the Butler &. Haldan and T. C. Grant agencies. The Sharon estate declined to insure either the building or the furniture that it contained on account of the very high rate.
.....The Underwriters' Fire Patrol men did excellent service in saving property both by removal and covering up goods with their rubber blankets. Strange to say none of the hose burst, which is contrary to the usual custom at large fires. The firemen were served with a substantial lunch by the manager of the Palace Hotel. It is noted that the Grand was only partially destroyed and could be rebuilt, but the Burlington was nothing but a charred shell.
November 5th, 1890
November 20th, 1890: As will be seen by an interview published elsewhere in the Alta to-day, there is absolutely no truth in the industriously circulated rumor that the Sharon heirs are anxious to sell the Palace Hotel.
November 23rd, 1890: The annual ball of the Woman's Exchange will take place on December 11th at Pioneer Hall. The Exchange balls have heretofore been given in the parlors of the Palace Hotel, but the parlors are being torn up and will not be available for weeks. Consequently, the managers of the Exchange gratefully accepted the generous offer of the Pioneers of their ballroom.
November 27th, 1890: The average monthly consumption of provisions at the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, is as follows: Beef 30,000 pounds, lamb 5,000 pounds, veal 2,000 pounds, pork 7,000 pounds, flour 1,000 barrels, sugar 20 barrels.
November 29th, 1890: The total number of employees in the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, is 484.
December 1st, 1890: Death of a Well-Known San Franciscan. Charles H. Livingston, manager of the Palace Hotel and President of the Alta Publishing Company, died this morning after a few days' illness of pneumonia. He was 65 years of age.
December 3rd, 1890
December 5th, 1890: King Kalakaua arrives at the Palace Hotel, where a reception is held in his honor. He occupies sleeping rooms, ante-chambers, council halls and reception apartments on the first floor of the Palace Hotel, the quarters of His Royal HIghness facing on New Montgomery Street.
At the Palace Hotel, the clerks have long had the habit of twice using the slips containing the names of guests. Every time a guest registers his name is written neatly on a small slip about two inches long and threequarters of an inch wide, and then stuck up in a slot where it may be easily read. The custom of the clerks has been instead of throwing these cardboard slips away to preserve them in a box alter a guest leaves, and write the names of later arrivals on the other side as they come. Clerk Warren has often taken these slips after they have been twice used and compared the names on both sides.
December 24th, 1890: Extensive changes are to be made in the arrangement of the Palace Hotel, which will make it the best equipped
hotel in San Francisco. There are to be three entrances from the Market Street side, where before there was only one. Interior changes on a large scale will be made.
December 27th, 1890: Roaming About the Palace With a Pistol. James Clarke, formerly employed in Main &. Winchester's harness-making factory, is under arrest, charged with carrying concealed weapons. He was taken into custody last night by Policeman Matt Wilson and Special Officer P. Garrity. About 9 o'clock he was found roaming about the Palace Hotel, with a pistol in one hand and a small axe in the other, searching for an imaginary enemy, who, he said, had threatened to take his life. He says that the man, whose name he did not know, had promised to carry his threat into execution, and Clarke, fearing that his life might be taken at any moment, decided to prepare for the inevitable. Clarke is evidently crazy. The policemen say they have learned that he went to Main & Winchester's establishment and borrowed the axe which he carried. Clarke will probably be examined by the Lunacy Commissioners to-day.
January 1st, 1891: Happy is the land where bountiful nature and capricious chance enter into royal rivalry to bestow their gifts with prodigal hand, where he good gifts of the one fall as a heritage to those worthy of the favors. Nature was in her grandest mood when she moulded this wonderful land by the western seas. Over sky-piercing crags she poured waterfalls that are the wonder of the world; on mountain slope she placed mammoth trees, beside which the monarchs of other forests are but pigmies; upon the bosom of broad plains she strewed a soil that nourishes every product of earth; she smote the rocks and the warm, life-giving waters gushed forth for which De Leon vainly sought; and she led mighty rivers through fertile lands to find an outlet in a peerless bay where the navies of all the nations might find repose. But it was left to Chance, after her treasures had been hidden from civilization for untold centuries, to turn hither the wandering footsteps of men with minds mighty to conceive the worth of these matchless gifts and with energy powerful to shape them to mankind's uses. Among these were many who easily became inspired with the immensity of their surroundings and sought to erect monuments of human handiwork that would not seem insignificant in the midst of Nature's proud efforts. Among the happiest of these inspiration, as
being the one to most immediately and attractively impress the visitor who came to view our wealth of magnificent scenery, climate and productions, was the one to build here the largest, most perfect, and most beautiful hotel in the world. How that thought grew into fruition is a part of the history of the State, and how unapproachable was the triumph of the endeavor is attested by countless thousands who have passed beneath the portals of the Palace Hotel in this city to go out again into every habitable part of the globe. And that the name is selected in all that it implies of comfort, beauty and of luxury, every guest who has enjoyed its hospitality is a willing witness, however abnormally his State or national pride may centre in other spots. Covering over two acres of ground, rearing its magnificent proportions seven stories in height and presenting fronts on four streets, its outside appearance, grand and imposing as it is, gives little forecast of the luxuriance and comfort that pervade its interior. The guest arriving from ferry or depot is driven through the carriage portal, on New Montgomery Street, alights in a rotunda that is itself sufficient in size for a considerable establishment, and his enraptured eye gazes upward on colonnade upon colonnade, with pillars, arches, lattice-work and traceries, tinted with patient care by the painter's skill in hues of old ivory and gold, till it reaches the vast crystal dome that crowns it all, admitting light and warmth, but excluding rain and wind. And if, perchance, it should be by night when the myriad electric lights flash their challenge of brightness to each delicate bit of golden tracery, he may well imagine himself in fairyland; for he has but to pass into the magnificent office and make his desires known to the courteous clerks, when they are granted with a celerity that vies with the magic power of Aladdin's lamp. His name is no sooner upon the register than a touch upon an electric bell summons one of the score of porters, and in swift and noiseless elevators he is taken to the floor assigned, through corridors laid with rich and yielding carpets, to apartments that are regal in their sumptuous elegance. No fear need he have of the traveler's bete noir, a dark room, for of all the 755 guest chambers, each fronts on a street or one of the quadrangles, for besides the one already described, there is another smaller one, also glass-domed, east of the office and main dining-room. Refreshed by the bath which may be found in every suite, the new arrival has his choice of an elegant meal quickly served in his own apartments by waiters employed for that special duty, may enter a superb apartment where he may dine upon the American plan, or in another equally magnificent hall, where meals are served on the European plan. He need go outside the establishment for no reasonable purpose. At a bar where no tumult is ever heard, he may procure liquid refreshment, at an adjacent cigar-stand he will find his favorite brand of Havanas, on splendid tables he may engage in billiards, a telegraph office is at hand, and he may secure the latest papers, periodicals or novels at the news stand. One especially attractive feature of this great hotel is the quiet and order that prevail. None of the machinery which necessarily pertains to such an establishment is obtruded upon his attention. Even the perfect appliances tor the prevention of fires are invisible, for there are experienced watchmen on all sides who know how to bring all these appliances into use. But one may gain an idea of the magnitude of the work of carrying on the immense hotel by going through the kitchen, which is on the Annie Street side of the edifice, and from there down into the basement. Few who traverse the rotunda, the reading or dining room ever think that under their feet is a colony of busy workers, that down there are dynamos for the generation of the electricity by which the establishment is lighted, machinery which manufactures the four and live tons of ice used daily, great boilers in which is heated the water for bath and other purposes and to generate the steam for warming the rooms, cold storage rooms which are veritable frost caves, where the carcasses of the beeves, mutton and poultry used for daily consumption are kept: the laundry, with its steam mangles and great tubs; the store-room for the groceries used that resembles a great mercantile warehouse; the wine and liquor room, where a stock is carried in excess of some wholesale establishments; the carpenter shop, plumbing shop, etc.. all traversed by corridors that a team might be driven through.
But extensive as it is, and perfect as it seems in all its arrangements, a constant study of possible improvements engages the management, and many have recently been made, while ethers of a more radical character are contemplated. They relate principally to a rearrangement of the departments on the ground floor, and so general will this be that but little of the present conditions will remain save the grand quadrangle and the office. The most important changes are to be made in the service of meals, and improvements in this line are being made that are a revelation in hotel life, in addition to private dining and banquet-rooms there will be four different apartments in which one may dine or sup. As at present, there will be meals served upon the European and American plans in rooms and by a service distinct from the other, but in addition there will be a City Restaurant and a gentlemen's business lunch room. The City Restaurant is proposed to be run practically separate from the hotel, and is largely intended to accommodate ladies either alone or with escorts. The entrance to it will be through a corridor constructed along the Annie-Street side of the hotel. This passageway is constructed of brick manufactured expressly for the purpose, of a peculiar and pleasing tint. Through an archway on Market Street entrance is gained, through double non-vibratory doors, into a vestibule, whose walls are of buff terra-cotta finish, with mosaic pavement. This vestibule opens into the entrance corridor proper, the walls of which are finished in Rouge Royale marble, imported from Belgium, and antique oak roofed with crystallized plate glass and finished with antique copper electroliers. Entering the vestibule to the restaurant, one finds himself in an apartment which is a poem. A mosaic floor in beautiful designs first attracts attention, then the high wainscoting of Saint Baum marble, imported from France, above which are plaster decorations and relief ornaments, the wood finish being of ivory white and gold. Tin the ceiling will be art glass skylights, and two large windows will also admit light. Passing through gorgeous areaway with beautiful panels, down four marble steps, you enter the Palace City Restaurant, which, it is claimed, will be the most beautiful dining room in the world. It will be 100 x50 feet, with 25-foot ceiling. The side walls will be divided into a series of richly-decorated tinsels between windows which latter are arched and deeply recessed, with panels in recesses and richly-carved pilasters on each side. In the center of each of the wall panels will be an elegantly-designed combination gas and electric burner. On either side of the main entrance are medieval fireplaces with Saint Baum marble facings, mosaic hearths, gold rims around the fireplace opening and copper plated back. The rear of the room will be filled three immense mirrors, reflecting the whole room; The ceiling will be divided into panes by heavy corbelled beams with decorated cornice. From the sides of these beams will project electric burners, there being 220 in the ceiling alone. The woodwork in is room is all hand-carved, and colored in old ivory touched with gold. The wall panels are of delicate tan color, and the spaces above the arches of a light blue. The style of architecture in the fitting of this room is of the early Renaissance, it should be added that there is an entrance to it from the southwest corner of the main court of the hotel. Connected with it is a ladles cloak and toilet-room, finished in white marble and with perfect plumbing.
The present bar and billiard-room are to be turned into a dining-room on the American plan, and will be fitted to correspond with the room described in elegance. The bar and billiard tables will be removed near the Market Street side. Entrance to these departments will be obtained through a stone archway on Market, about the middle of the block. The vestibule, 10x18.6 feet, is wainscoted in Rouge Royale marble. Through a corridor, 18.6 x 60 feet, entrance is gained to the bar. That corridor is in the early colonial style, in antique oak with high wainscoting. It will be lighted with electric burners on the ribs of the arched ceiling. Down a flight of mosaic steps, through another vestibule, richly finished, you pass into the gentlemen's business lunchroom, now the American-plan dining-rooms. It will be finished in the colonial style, with heavy oak beams and panels. Around three sides of the room will run a counter where gentlemen may quickly be served with a lunch. From the same corridor that leads to the business lunch one may turn to the left and reach the bar. This room will not be large, but it is intended to make it the handsomest in America. It will be wainscoted four feet high in Numidian marble, the walls above to the spring of the arched roof paneled in selected mahogany. In the larger panels will be French plate mirrors and in the smaller sold electroliers, each panel surrounded by gilded moulding that will be a piece of artistic metal work. The semi-circular ceiling will be a skylight of plates of amber glass made from special designs. At each end of the room the semicircular panels formed by the arch of the roof will be filled with rich plastic-relief ornaments and bas-relief sculpture. The bar will be of red Numidian marble with massive mahogany top. All the work in this room is in the style of the First Empire. From this room passage can be had either to the lunchroom referred to or to the billiard room. The latter will be the northern part of what is now the American plan dining-room, and will be entered directly from the west side of the court. It will be finished in the style of the English Renaissance and be of equal beauty with the other apartments. Above a high wainscoting the finish will be in quarter-sawed sycamore, with numerous mirrors and abundantly lighted. There will be six new tables of special design to correspond with the furnishings of the room. It would take columns to describe in detail all the contemplated improvements. Suffice it to say that without interference with the comfort of the guests all will be pushed forward as rapidly as possible. The City Restaurant and the barroom are now nearly ready for occupancy. As soon as they are finished the present bar and billiard room will be fitted up in a style equal to the other work for the American plan dining-room. Then the present rooms used for that purpose will be fitted for the billiard and business lunch rooms. And then the present European plan hall will be refurnished. The quadrilateral between the present restaurant and the billiard hall will be converted into a conservatory, the barber shop and bathrooms back of the office and next Stevenson Street will be changed into a luxurious reading room, while the barbers will remove their chairs to the large apartment facing on New Montgomery and now used as a reading room. The designs for the improvements are by J. M. Wood, the Chicago architect, with offices in the Flood Building.
January 10th, 1891: King Kalakaua Indisposed. On account of indisposition King Kalakaua did not go to Sacramento yesterday, but remained in his apartments at the Palace Hotel. It is expected that he will very shortly return to Honolulu.
January 12th, 1891: Market, corner New Montgomery — Interior fittings to new annex of Palace Hotel; owners trustees of Sharon estate: architect, J. M. Wood; contractors, Carsley &. East Manufacturing Company of Chicago; cost. $15,200.
January 18th, 1891: THE PALACE HOTEL. A Change in the Management of This Famous Hostelry.
S. F. Thorn, manager of the Palace Hotel, has been ill for some months, and is now traveling for his health. Mr. Thorn undertook a task beyond his strength in endeavoring to add the management of the Palace Hotel to his care in the management of the Grand. He has recently sent in his resignation as manager of the Palace Hotel, but if his health permits, he will continue the management of the Grand.
January 19th, 1891: King Kalakaua's Illness. Inquiry at the Palace Hotel yesterday revealed the fact that King Kalakaua is still quite seriously ill, and that Chamberlain Mcfarlane is also confined to his bed. Colonel Baker stated to an Alta reporter that there is no reason to fear that the King's malady, Bright's disease, will assume an acute or malignant form. There are no convulsions or vomiting or other signs of blood poisoning, and the secretions from the kidneys are not of the smoky hue observed in bad cases of the malady. Colonel Baker said, however, that the King had some lever, and was altogether unwell. The date for the King's return to the Islands has not been fixed, and at present he refuses to see anybody.
January 20th, 1891: KALAKAUA DYING. The Last Sacrament Administered to Him by Rev. E. B. Church. Anxious Watchers at the Bed of Hawaii's Monarch. His Malady Is an Acute Form of Bright's Disease, and Absolutely No Hope Is Held Out for His Recovery.
Last night the physicians in attendance on King Kalakaua were very much alarmed at his condition, and some fears were entertained that he would not live until morning. In the evening a messenger was sent to Trinity Church for Rev. J. Sanders Seed, but in his absence, the Rev. Edward B. Church, Assistant Rector of Trinity Church, went immediately to the Palace Hotel to administer the last rites of the church in the event of impending dissolution. His Majesty was entirely unconscious during the administration of the holy communion, which was partaken in by Colonel R. H. Baker, Chief of Staff, Mr. George W. Gibbs, Mrs. D. A. McKinley and Mrs. Price.
January 20th, 1891: King Kalakaua died at 2:30 this afternoon, the Palace Hotel in this city.
February 4th, 1891: BRITISH BENEVOLENCE. The regular monthly meeting of the British Benevolent Society was held at 531 California Street yesterday afternoon, J. H. Dobinson, President, in the chair, Benjamin Clark Secretary. Captain Percy C. Smith, manager of the Palace Hotel, and H. Holtby were elected to membership in the society.
February 5th, 1891: Mrs. Mary Emma Rice, wife of George H. Rice general traffic manager of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, died last evening at the Palace Hotel a few minutes after 8 o'clock. Deceased was a native of New York and 38 years of age. She leaves one child, a daughter, aged 15. Mrs. Rice had not enjoyed good health for several years, and for the past eleven months was treated constantly for cancer of the stomach, to which she succumbed last evening, leaving to mourn her loss a wide circle of admiring friends and loving relatives.
Death of A. M. Jewell. At a reception given on Wednesday evening at the Palace Hotel by Mrs. Ackerson, as Mr. A. M. Jewell was bidding his hostess goodnight, he was suddenly attacked with heart disease, and although a doctor was immediately summoned, he was dead before he arrived. Mr. Jewell was a well-known lumber-dealer of this city for many years. His death was a great shock to all present, aa it was entirely unexpected.
February 21st, 1891: CRIME AND REMORSE. George Joseph, a Negro Thief, Attempts to Commit Suicide.
George Joseph, a negro bellboy at the Palace Hotel, who lives at 654 Folsom Street, tried to kill himself last evening on being caught in the act of stealing from the room of one of the guests at the hotel. For several days past money has been stolen from the rooms of the guests on the fourth floor. Other articles of value were also missed. Joseph, who answered bells on that floor, was suspected, and a watch was put upon him. Special Officer P. Garrity marked some coins and put them in a purse on a table in the room of a guest. He secreted himself in a room across the hallway. About 7 o'clock last evening Joseph entered the room with a passkey and took the money out of the purse. As he was leaving, he was arrested and taken to the bellboys' closet, near the elevator, where ice and glasses are kept. Garrity sent downstairs to have a woman who saw a man leave her room the night previous go up and identity Joseph. While waiting Joseph unbuttoned his vest, reached behind the ice cheat, seized his pistol and fired two shots in rapid succession. The first was probably premature, but the second bullet struck Joseph below the left nipple. He was removed to the Receiving Hospital by Officer Walsh and Special Garrity. Drs. Bunker and O'Brien cut the bullet out of Joseph's back, near the backbone. It went through the liver and probably through the right lung. The wound may result fatally. A charge of burglary was entered opposite Joseph's name on the prison register. *Later accounts say he survived and was held accountable.
February 23rd, 1891: A Fire in the Palace Hotel. At 6 o'clock yesterday morning a fire broke out in the dryroom in the laundry in the Palace Hotel, in the basement on the Jessie Street side. Not knowing how serious it might be the watchman sounded an alarm which called out the Fire Department. But little damage was done as the blaze was contained to the dryroom which is lined with asbestos. A few dozen towels were destroyed. Repairs have recently been, made in this part of the laundry and the work is not finished. It is supposed that the fire was caused by towels being placed too near the heaters. Considerable excitement was caused among the employees of the hotel, but the guests were not disturbed.
March 4th, 1891: S. Kellett, of the firm of Kellett & McMurray, designers and manufacturers of interior ornamental decorations in plastic relief and composition, says that they have been engaged in decorating the Palace Hotel in San Francisco the past eighteen mouths, and that they have about eight months more work to do there. Their decorations are said to be very fine.
March 8th, 1891: The damage caused by the fire at the Palace Hotel on February 22nd amounted to $1168 and has been settled by the insurance companies interested. The total insurance held on the building amounts to $919,250.
March 11th, 1891: The special train bearing the remains of the late Senator Hearst will arrive here at about noon on Thursday next. The names of those on the train will be telegraphed from Ogden to the committee here. The party is evidently quite a large one, as the Sergeant-at-Arms has telegraphed for twenty-five rooms at the Palace Hotel.
March 22nd, 1891: A Typo Falls From Grace. The Palace Hotel barber-shop was the scene of great commotion for a few minutes last evening. At about 8 o'clock a young man entered the shop from the hotel corridor, and after leisurely surveying things for a moment, walked up to a clothing-rack and selected the best-looking garment hanging thereon and walked away. His act was observed by nearly everybody in the shop, and one of the barbers made a dash at the fellow to intercept him, but he got away and dashed out of the door into New Montgomery Street, followed by the excited barbers, customers and Chinese attendants, whose yells added to the din. The fellow was stopped on the corner of Mission and Second streets by Officer Meehan, who brought him back to the barber-shop, where be was identified as the party who stole the coat. At the Southern Station the man gave the name of William Morgan. The coat was kept as evidence. Morgan says he is a printer by trade and has been on the coast but a few weeks, having just arrived New York via Portland. He denies stealing the coat.
March 24th, 1891: CAPTURED AT LAST. Arrest of Walter Curtis, a Very Clever Room-Thief. A Man Who Has Stolen Thousands of Dollars' Worth of Valuables From Guests in Hotels.
....On March 20th Steven M. Barrows, an English Government official of Ceylon, arrived in this city and went to the Palace Hotel. In the evening he went to dinner with his family and during his absence a thief entered his room through the window of an adjoining room. When Mr. Barrows returned he found his traveling bag, dispatch box, umbrella, his wife's silk dress and their jewelry case gone. The jewelry case contained a large lot of precious gems and jewelry which had required several years to accumulate. Among these was a star stone, a rare and valuable and most beautiful gem. These jewels cost about $1000, but in this country their like cannot be purchased for many thousands of dollars.
April 5th, 1891: Arrest of a Hotel Clerk. San Jose, April 4th — Detective Dan Coney of San Francisco this evening arrested a clerk of the Palace Hotel, who, it is charged, decamped three days ago with over $1900 belonging to the hotel. The warrant is for Fred Smith. He was arrested in the Lamolle House. He answered to his name before he knew the detective. He was disguised, having shared his mustache off and donned a jockey's cap. When searched at the police station $1395 was found on his person. The detective will take him to San Francisco tomorrow morning.
April 6th, 1891: A DEFAULTING CASHIER. The Fall of F. M. Smith of the Palace Hotel Caused by Drink.
Frederick M. Smith, the night cashier at the Palace Hotel, was brought back from San Jose early yesterday morning, in the custody of Detective Dan Coffey, to be tried for grand larceny. He embezzled about $1800 from his employers and fled to the Garden City in the latter part of last week. Drink was the cause of the cashier's fall. Captain C. P. Smith, the manager of the Palace Hotel, stated that Cashier Smith was engaged, on the high recommendation of several prominent businessmen, about seven months ago, and until recently proved to be a bright and efficient employee. Within the past two weeks he was noticed to be drinking more than was good for him. On Tuesday night, about 11 o'clock, after the cash accounts had been made up for the day, Cashier Smith went behind the counter and took the money from the safe. He asked Night Clerk Ruddick to help him count it. After counting it he took the money, which was in currency and gold, and left the hotel. On the following morning Chief Clerk Warren discovered the shortage and reported the matter to Manager Smith. As Cashier Smith failed to appear for duty at the usual hour the police were called into the case and after some search located him in San Jose. A warrant was sworn out for his arrest iv Police Court No, 2 and Detective Dan Coffey went to San Jose Saturday night and placed the embezzler under arrest. On being searched $1305 in currency and $30 in gold was found in his possession. This was booked as evidence against him on the prison register. Smith has a wife and son, who live in the Van Winkle House on Jones Street, but on learning of her husband's trouble Mrs. Smith went to live with her father.
Cashier Smith was seen yesterday by an Alta reporter. He is below the medium size and shaves smooth. He is about forty years old. Smith stated that his only excuse for getting into trouble was that he was 'crazy drunk' on Tuesday when he took the money. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday he was in San Francisco, Oakland and Alameda, and on Saturday he went to San Jose. He denies the statement published in a morning paper that he took $100 from his wife, leaving her in destitute circumstances. Smith is very much depressed over his predicament, but states that his friends have rallied around him loyally, and promise to make good all losses sustained by the hotel people on his account.
April 12th, 1891
Advertisement with Room 611.
April 15th, 1891: President Harrison visits San Francisco and stays at the Palace Hotel in a suite of apartments. A reception will be held from 9t o 11 o'clock, and the main parlors have been reserved for his use. R.P. Hammond estimated that the decorations of the Palace Hotel and the rooms for the use of the President's party would cost at least $1500.
Wm. Marshall, head waiter of the Palace Hotel Restaurant, "pen paralysis” of the hand. Cured with a single treatment.
April 18th, 1891: Harrison's Reception. Following is the plan for decorating the Palace Hotel: Palm tree in each corner of the ground floor of court. In each corner of first floor facing court, Australian spreading palm. In rear of court 5, forty feet American flags draped first floor down. The seventy pillars, first floor, wound with smilax. Large bunch mistletoe over entrance to parlor. Six arches in parlors decorated by means of wooden frames covered with smilax and flowers. Frames and mirrors in Mrs. Harrison's parlor and dining room twined with smilax, basket of flowers on table large floral piece for window, basket flowers for small round table. Design, "Hospitalities of California," to Postmaster-General Wanamaker, to be placed in bis room. Flowers for the rooms to be occupied by Mrs. McKee and Mrs. Dimmick.
April 20th, 1891: C. P. HUNTINGTON'S DINNER. Thirteen Thousand Miles of Transportation Lines Represented. The President of the Southern Pacific Company Wines and Dines Its Officials.
C. P. Huntington's dinner at the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, on Saturday night, a brief telegraphic account of which appeared in the Sunday Union yesterday, was a most enjoyable affair. It was his fifth annual banquet and reception to the officers and chiefs of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Leland Stanford, who is ill at Menlo Park, was unable to be present. It was estimated by some of the exports that the total mileage of road and waterway represented at the dinner was 13,000 miles, and the total capital represented was $300,000,000.
The big dining-room of the Palace was brilliantly lighted with the new electric burner, and the wit, music, humor and funny stories of the evening kept the merriment ringing until long after midnight. Eleven courses were served with eleven kinds of wine. Masses of exquisite roses on the table filled the room with the fragrance of a garden. Steward J. W. Young, formerly of the Manhattan Beach Hotel at Coney Island, New York, said it was the best of all the railway banquets yet served at the Palace. A pastry cook from Savarin's, New York, displayed pyramid and Swiss cottages of the latest fancies in Parisian confectionery. Mr. Huntington sat at the head of the table with Vice-Presidents Crocker and Stubbs on his right, and General Manager Towne and Land Commissioner Mills on his immediate left.
April 25th, 1891: Some esthetic but careless patron of the Palace Hotel gave Judge G. W. Nicol and Beu Mock of Tuolumne a sudden fright and a narrow escape on Saturday afternoon. As they were passing along the sidewalk they were startled by a crash on the pavement near their feet, which sounded like the report of a pistol. After they had made high jumps in concert they looked around and saw that a large and heavy vase of magnificent La France roses and carnations had fallen from some window above and struck within less than two feet of them, the vase being dashed into a thousand fragments. The force with which the vase struck showed that it must have fallen from one of the upper stories, and if it had hit someone’s head instead of the pavement there would probably have been another case at the Morgue.
Palace Hotel Floral Decorations for President Harrison's Visit.
Gift to Mrs. Harrison from San Francisco.
April 26th, 1891
*Click to view each.
May 2nd, 1891: The visual details of the banquet for President Harrison.
May 6th, 1891
Referencing Room #912
May 10th, 1891: Small Fire In the Palace Hotel. Fire started in the new billiard-room at the Palace Hotel tonight but was extinguished before much damage was done. The fire was caused by sparks from an unprotected electric light dropping on the board scaffold.
Another article on the fire from a different paper at right:
May 12th, 1891: The charge of grand larceny against Fred M. Smith was dismissed in the Police Court yesterday. Smith was the night clerk at the Palace Hotel who a month or so ago took $1500 from the hotel safe and fled to San Jose, where he was arrested. The reason for the dismissal was that the proprietors of the hotel refused to prosecute Smith.
May 25th, 1891: Re: Harrison's Visit: In San Francisco the invitation to the Palace Hotel banquet was on a thick gold card; his menu card was another gold plate, and the freedom of the city came on a superbly wrought square of gold.
June 11th, 1891: For the first time since the remodeling of the Palace Hotel began the new dining room was utilized last night, the occasion being the anniversary banquet of the Chamber of Commerce, which is always a notable gathering.
June 20th, 1891: Two painters at the Palace Hotel, McAvoy and Walsh, were both trying to court a young woman from Market Street. They taunted each other until they ended up fighting on the roof of the Palace Hotel. "All employes who could leave their posts, a number of men in the lobbies and bar and several men about town. Including Hiram Smith and Fred Davis repaired to the roof of the Palace, a spot selected not only because it insured freedom from interruption, but also because the contestants at that altitude could discern the home of their mutual inamorata and so could derive additional inspiration and courage. A ring on the roof. A 16-foot ring was formed, and the battle was fought according to Marquis of Queensberry rules, except that no gloves were used, just a degree of hatred. McAvoy was completely knocked out, nose broken, and his right eye blacked out and swollen."
June 24th, 1891: The manager of the Palace Hotel told him that of the 303 bottles of Champagne used at the banquet to the president, only three bottles were of California manufacture.
June 30th, 1891: Hotter than Ever, The Mercury Takes a Sudden, Spasmodic Jump. About the only really cool place in town was the courtyard of the Palace Hotel, and those who discovered this fact slipped through the great arched entrance and breathed a sigh of relief when they reached
the cool interior. Even there, however, the thermometer registered 83°, and whenever Captain Smith, the manager, took a look at it he would immediately disappear in the direction of the bar, and show up again with a suspicious odor of mint clinging to his handsome mustache. The ladies kept within doors throughout the day, and the statues throughout the corners for once deprived of any means by which to employ the time, slunk away, and remained in seclusion until the breezes of evening began to cool the heated atmosphere.
July 22nd, 1891: General B. Guirala, who arrived from San Salvador last Friday, reports to the police that thieves entered his apartments at the Palace Hotel on Sunday and stole $300 in gold coin and jewelry valued at $2000. The stolen valuables were in a small satchel behind the bureau. When General Guirala and his family returned from luncheon they discovered that a hole bad been cut in the bottom of the valise and the contents stolen.
August 4th, 1891: In the hotel where I stopped, they have a picture of the Palace Hotel in San Francisco all covered with snow. I supposed that was its normal condition in winter.
September 19th, 1891: "San Francisco was a little adobe village, with an Indian camp on the present site of the Palace Hotel, and coyotes howling over the ground now occupied by the post office."
September 23rd, 1891: Mrs. Frackelton's classes in china painting will be held dally at the Palace Hotel, Room 76, for six weeks. Beginners received.
September 28th, 1891: Elegant, new upright piano; cheap. Palace Hotel, third floor, Room 695.
October 8th, 1891: John Wooldredge, a retired merchant of Boston. Mass., died suddenly on Sunday night at the Palace Hotel, while sitting in a chair conversing with friends. He had been stopping in this city since September 20th, with his wife and Miss Dunbar, a friend.
October 12th, 1891: AN OLD-TIME SHAKE. The Severest Shock of Many Years Experienced. Buildings Trembled and People Frightened From Their Rooms— Clocks Stopped at the Ferry— Guests Alarmed.
At 10:28 o'clock last night those of San Francisco's citizens who chanced to be awake stopped to see what would be next, and those who were asleep awoke to await developments. MOST SEVERE IN YEARS. The cause was an earthquake which lasted about twenty seconds, but which, judging from the opinions of many residents here, was the most severe that has been experienced for years. After the shock had passed all other topics for a short time were dropped, and nothing but "how it affected me" and 'incidents I noticed" were heard on the street corners and in the down-town resorts where men do most congregate.
...AT THE OCCIDENTAL. The night-clerk at the Occidental said the shock was not very noticeable in the office, which is on the ground floor, but the shake was quite severe in the upper stories. Some of the guests sought the street for safety. At the Lick House the night-clerk was reading a paper which was renting on the desk when the quake make itself felt by shaking the desk violently to and fro. Quite a number of guests strolled downstairs, three steps at a time, just to inquire about trivial matters. The guests of the Grand were badly shaken up, especially as regards their nerves.
COMMOTION AT THE PALACE. When the shock struck the Palace Hotel there was a good deal of commotion. There are at the present time a large number of Eastern people there who have never been in San Francisco before, and they were especially worried. Most of them had retired, and when they felt their couches begin to oscillate they rushed frantically to the electric buttons, and for the next few minutes the bell-boys on every floor were at their wit's end trying to keep run of the indicators. The windows, especially on the Montgomery Street side, were lined with heads, the owners if which were trying to discover the cause of the disturbance. TROUBLE IN THE CELLAR. A gentleman sitting in the office at the time said: "I felt yes, but did not think it an earthquake. I thought there must be some trouble with the machinery in the cellar underneath me." In the Railroad Saloon on Market Street. just above Montgomery, the shock was especially severe, all the lights being put out. One of the guests at the Palace, a lady, was made "seasick" by the oscillation of her couch.
October 14th, 1891: Baron de Braam, the noted French engineer who superintended the laying of the first trans-Atlantic cable for Cyrus W. Field in 1858, is now a guest at the Palace Hotel.
November 19th, 1891: Mrs. J, W. Maddrill and family left on the steamer Queen Tuesday evening to join her husband in San Francisco, where be has secured a very lucrative position aa manager of the Palace Hotel printing office.
December 10th, 1891: MARRIED GREABON-SHEPPARD—On Thursday, Dec. 3rd. at the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, by Rev. W. H. Stoy. Mrs. Emma E. Sheppard of San Rafael, and Mr. George S. Greason of U. S. Navy, a resident of San Francisco.
December 16th, 1891: MILITARY BANQUET. Governor Harkham and Staff Feted at the Palace Hotel. Division and Brigade Officers Extend a Pretty Compliment to the State Executive. A Convivial Success. *Photos below.
December 24th, 1891: Sealskin jacket, half price. Room 714, third floor, Palace Hotel.
December 29th, 1891: Mr. Fred W. Griffing, of the local firm of R.D. Duke & Co., and Miss Mabel Butler, daughter of Dr. A. B. Butler of Lemoore, Tulare County, were married on Sunday at the Palace Hotel by Rev. Dr. Fergusson of the Christian Church.
January 13th, 1892: A new room called the Marble Hall is mentioned at the Palace Hotel as a gathering place for a ladies' committee afternoon tea.
January 20th, 1892: Injured by a Freight Elevator. Arthur Darwall, a laborer employed at the Palace Hotel, met with a painful accident yesterday afternoon. He was working under the sidewalk on the New Montgomery Street side and started a freight elevator. His head was caught between the platform and the trap-doors in the sidewalk and badly crushed. At the Receiving Hospital it was found that his left ear was almost torn off and that his scalp was badly torn and lacerated.
January 29th, 1892: Ants in a Hotel Dining-Room. “See that?’ asked a waiter in the Palace Hotel, holding up a dish tilled with black insects. “Caviar?" inquired a San Francisco Examiner reporter to whom the question was addressed. “No; ants,” was the sententious reply. “This is my harvest since noon. Every other gentleman in this dining room has collected as many more. The house is literally overrun with them and has been for three years to my certain knowledge. “Trying to evict these little crawlers has cost the Sharon estate $10,000 and it will cost many a thousand more before any effect will be made on these intruders. They creep in everywhere and there is no way invented to keep them out. I don’t think we can get rid of them without moving the hotel. They are in lots of houses and nothing has been found that will feaze them. They are worse than flies, because poison doesn't have any effect on them, and they are worse than cockroaches, because they are smaller. “Do you see those gentlemen across the room? They appear to be brushing crumbs off the table, but they an't; it’s ants. Every gentleman here has a small covered dish like the one I just showed you, which he just fits into his left hand. All the spare time he has is occupied in collecting ants. Unless a gentleman turns in his quota at night he gets a black mark, because it shows that he has been lazy, and if he keeps it up, he is discharged lor neglect of duty. That is one of the things that makes the work so hard for us gentlemen in the dining-room. Excuse me,” and with a gentle sweep of the hand he brushed a score of ants into his little box, which he deftly closed in time to prevent the original occupants from creeping out.
January 30th, 1892: Henry Weatherbee, engaged in the lumber business here many years, died at the Palace Hotel this afternoon. Deceased was sixty-four years of age.
February 5th, 1892: The first mention of the Maple Banquet Room in the Palace Hotel, where Mr. Harry Gillig threw a dinner party.
The Stanford Kickers
March 20th, 1892
The Lick House became the headquarters of the Stanford University boys and the Palace for the State University crowd.
April 7th, 1892: Judgment was promptly ordered by Judge Hunt compelling Jules Catoir, the head butcher at the Palace Hotel, to pay £100 forthwith and hereafter 825 semi-monthly, first payment beginning on the 15th, for the support of bis invalid daughter, Elizabeth, by a former wife.
April 13th, 1892: A Junketing Millionaire. Captain J. J. Vandergrift, one of the Standard Oil millionaires is in this city with his family on pleasure bent. They have 15 rooms in the Palace Hotel.
April 20th, 1892: SAN FRANCISCO'S SHAKE. Front Wall of an Old Church Falls. Scared Hotel Guests. San Francisco, April 19. The greatest damage done here by the earthquake was to the old church corner of California and Dupont Streets, which was being remodeled into a variety theater. The front wall was insecure and it fell with a loud crash. ....The guests in the Palace Hotel were somewhat frightened, a number of them rushing into the corridors to ascertain the cause of the vibrations. The only damage sustained was the breaking of a few statuettes and some glass, which were thrown to the floor.
April 23rd, 1892: Rich But Despondent. San Francisco April 22. Charles D. Smith, a wealthy resident of New York, was found dead in his room at the Palace Hotel this morning, having shot himself during the night. It is supposed that he committed suicide on account of despondency. Smith came to this city about three weeks ago, and at once went to the Palace. He was not communicative, and it is very little indeed that the people at the hotel knew about him. He spent money freely, and always had plenty of cash about him. From one or two of his remarks it is believed he was a capitalist with a very large income. He was seen by a bell-boy to go to his room, No. 275 on the fourth floor, shortly before midnight. Strangely enough, no one heard a sound in his room after that. About 1:30 o'clock this afternoon a chambermaid, who had knocked at the door of the room several times during the forenoon without getting an answer, reported the matter at the office. A man with duplicate keys was sent upstairs at once and the room was opened. Smith was found lying dead on the bed. An old-fashioned revolver, that had apparently dropped from his hand, was on the coverlid nearby. The dead man had on only his underclothes, a shirt and a pair of trousers. Appearances indicated that he had placed the muzzle of the weapon against his chest and pulled the trigger, the ball passing through the heart. No note was found to throw any light upon the matter. However, yesterday Smith, while in conversation with one of the hotel employes, said that he had been sick so much of late that he was very blue.
April 30th, 1892: ELEGANT UPRIGHT PIANO FOR SALE CHEAP. Room 613. Sixth floor. Palace Hotel.
May 23rd, 1892: Mr. William P. Redington entertained a number of friends in the new tapestry-room of the Palace Hotel on Wednesday night. A beautiful arrangement of roses distinguished the table, and the mantel was banked with flowers.
May 29th, 1892
Mrs. Thomas Boyson
One of the permanent residents of the Palace Hotel. She moved in with her husband 15 years ago after getting married.
June 3rd, 1892: THE PALACE RESTAURANT. Thirty Waiters Thrown Out of Employment by Its Temporary Cloning. The restaurant of the Palace Hotel, off the main office, was closed yesterday, and hereafter for some time meals will be served on the European plan. In the language of the hotel the table d'hote is done away with to make place for the a la carte system. The reason assigned for the closing of the main dining-room is that travel is very light at this season of the year, the Raymond excursions being over and many people being at country resorts. The other restaurant of the hotel will be amply sufficient to accommodate all guests. It is slated, however, that the closing of the main restaurant is only temporary, and that it will be fitted up during the vacation months and reopened when travel becomes brisker. By the closing of the restaurant the chief waiter and 30 assistants were thrown out of employment, borne of these will be employed in the cafe, but the majority will be compelled to seek employment elsewhere.
June 5th, 1892: An Old and Well-Known Physician and Philanthropist Passes Away. Dr. Washington M. Ryer, one of the oldest and best-known physicians on the died yesterday afternoon, at the age of 70 years, in the Palace Hotel. Dr. Ryer was a native of New York, and while still a novice in the profession served as a surgeon all through the Mexican War.
July 16th, 1892: Berkley Powder Works Explodes. San Francisco and Oakland Property Destroyed. ....The Palace Hotel stood the shock very well, but the guests and the employes were badly scared and sought refuge in the street immediately after the first explosion. Considerable glass was broken and the furniture in several parts of the building was disturbed, but no serious damage was reported.
July 28th, 1892: Captain Hey Bradford, for the past 14 years superintendent of construction at the Palace Hotel, has resigned. He will have no immediate successor, there being no building projected at the hotel just now.
September 1st, 1892: ANSWER TO YOUR CARD, SIR. A New Device in Use at the Palace Hotel. A Local Invention to Secure aa Intelligent Answer From a Bellboy — The Slip and Time Stamp. Many reforms have recently been introduced in the methods of administration at the Palace Hotel. C. F. Johnson, who is Mr. Newlands' general business manager, has devised a scheme which he has copyrighted, and which is proving in operation a great boon to the people calling on guests of the hotel. Its object is to do away with the vexatious delays arising from the tardiness or idleness of dilatory bellboys. As soon as a caller hands his card to the desk-clerk to be sent to a room, the bellboy is also given a blank slip, of which the following is a copy:
The first thing the boy does Is to get the slip stamped with the date and time of the day. For this purpose a time stamp is always on the desk. The stamp has the word 'Received' upon it, below which is the print of a dial with an arrow point indicating the time to within a quarter of an hour. When he returns from the room, he again stamps the card on the back. The guest fills in one of the blank space and the slip is handed to the caller. The system thus far has worked exceedingly well and has given the greatest satisfaction to all concerned. As the slip is copyrighted, Mr. Johnson is likely to profit greatly by its general introduction in all the big hotels throughout the country.
September 3rd, 1892: Henry A. Wiley of the cruiser Charleston has slung his hammock in Room 619, Palace Hotel.
September 10th, 1892: A Cat That Gets Drunk Three Times a Day. His Daily Visits to the Place Where He Obtains His Fill of Mutton, Beer and Whisky.
J. D. Spencer, who has charge of the billiard-room at the Palace Hotel, owns one of the most remarkable cats in this section of the country. *The article basically talks about the cat drinking throughout the day, but I wanted it noted who ran the billiard room from the article.
September 19th, 1892: DEATH OF CONSUL McKINLEY. Attacked by a Second Stroke of Paralysis, He Passed Away Unconsciously at Eleven Yesterday Morning— A Long and Honorable Career.
D. A. McKinley, Consul-General for Hawaii and one of the most popular of our Californian residents, died in his rooms at the Palace Hotel at 11 o'clock yesterday morning. Toward 4 o'clock on Saturday afternoon the deceased rallied considerably from the paralytic seizure of the morning. He buffered little or no pain, and was anxious to rise and exchange his bed for a chair, being unconscious of his paralyzed condition. Toward midnight he suffered from a second stroke of paralysis, and remained unconscious from midnight to the last moment. He was attended through his illness by Dr. G.H. Martin, Dr. H. Curtis being called into a consultation toward the end.
The deceased, who was aged 63, is a brother of the famous Major W. McKinley, Governor of Ohio, to which State the family belongs and where his father and mother, aged 85 and 83, are still residing.
October 7th, 1892: INGENIOUS CONTRIVANCES. The Palace Hotel Fitted With New Labor-Saving Devices.
It would seem as if the managers of the Palace Hotel must have almost reached the limit of the application of mechanical means to practical ends. Within the last week, however, they have added two or three more contrivances to the list. Instead of worrying away five or ten minutes in making the laundress understand that Mr. A. must have his laundry Sunday night instead of Monday morning, the clerk simply slips a card into the pneumatic tube, and the laundry is informed at once. Then they have wearied of wasting a minute or two in having a bellboy come to the desk and carry your card to the card clerk's little office. So now the card is placed in a machine and shot across without the need of a bellboy all. A new telephone arrangement, with bells, etc., communicates with the bellboys on each floor. This replaces the old affair, which had to be blown and whistled into. The mail department is a complete success. It has 530 boxes. The names are arranged by vowels. Mr. C. F. Johnson, F. G. Newlands' business manager, who has recently been visiting at the hotel, has suggested nearly all of these arrangements.
October 9th, 1892: Fred Davis, at one time a detective of this city, who during the Sharon trial was bodyguard to the late William Sharon, is lying at the point of death in the Palace Hotel. He has been ill but a few days, and there is no hope of his recovery. After, the death of the ex-Senator, he was detective for the Palace Hotel, but resigned that position to become a Chinatown guide for the guests of that hotel.
October 20th, 1892
Letter typed on Palace Hotel stationery from the head pastry chef. Printed as an advertisement for Dr. Price's Cream Baking Powder.
October 30th, 1892: An article made reference to the Palace Hotel having its own private coach, to which the Olympic Boys were taken on after winning a big football game. It was decorated in blue and gold colors for the event.
November 2nd, 1892: A Strike in the Palace. The Entire Engineer Staff Walk Out of the Hotel.
There has been an upheaval in the basements of the Palace Hotel, but Captain Smith, always cool and collected, has so handled the helm that the patrons of the building are little aware of the risk they ran of being plunged into darkness, deprived of hot water and subjected to manifold discomforts and annoyances incidental to a sudden collapse of the engineering department and a "walkout" of the employes of the same from chief to stoker Yesterday morning Chief Engineer J. E. Burness, who has been in charge of the engineering department of the hotel for the past sixteen years, left off work and all his men, numbering some twenty, followed suit and left their posts. Their places were promptly filled by members of the Electric Light and Improvement Company, and Chief Engineer Morgan with Consulting Engineer J. C. H. Stutt are now in provisional charge.
"Chief Engineer Burness thought his toes were being trodden upon and came to me asking for certain changes in organization which I have no power to make." said Captain Smith to a Call reporter. "I told him to put his grievances upon paper and send them to me in that shape so that I could take better action "Instead or doing so he sent in a written resignation of his post, and as he gave me to understand that he had a better position offered him I saw nothing fairer to do than to accept it. I have been in charge here for thirty months and l have never had a fault to find with him. He took action entirely upon his own account. The only reason that I can assign for all his men leaving is that they supposed a new chief would probably pick out his own help. Personally, I have had no trouble at any time with any of my engineers." In this Captain Smith is warmly supported by all his employes, who speak of him in the highest terms. The shoe pinches elsewhere.
"This thing has been coming to a head for some time," said Chief Burness, at his home on Hill Street. "I haven't a word to say against Captain Smith. He and I have never had a hitch; but for some time past certain subordinates have been interfering in my department and slighting me and I grew tired of it. I have served sixteen years in that hotel, and never an accident or breakdown has occurred. It's too bad to have youngsters interfering with me now. I went to have a talk with Captain Smith about it on Thursday, and he said he would see to the matter. On Thursday I sent in my resignation and on Friday it was accepted. Eight of our men were discharged and the rest walked out. They have held on to our last month's pay. which I don't think fair. They claim we left them in the lurch, without handing over to our successors, but I don't think that's fair. They would have dismissed us at a day's notice if they wanted to."
November 25th, 1892: George Vanderbilt arrives at the Palace Hotel.
November 28th, 1892: Three little persons as big in reputation as they are small in stature are making a flying visit to San Francisco for the purpose of shaking hands with old friends and acquaintances. Count and Countess Magri, the latter being perhaps better known as Mrs. General Tom Thumb, are staying at the Palace Hotel with Baron Magri, brother of the Count.
December 5th, 1892: A HELLO SYSTEM. The Palace Hotel and Its Telephones. Twenty-One of Them and a Central Exchange, All for the Hotel's Private Use. The engineer, painter and the chef de cuisine of the Palace Hotel can have lots of fun with the chambermaids on the filth floor if they want to, and Manager Smith don't hear of it. The Palace Hotel has more telephones in it than a good many small cities, and this week it will have more than it has now. This big hostelry has a complete telephone system within it, independent of the city system, and with a regular central office.
There are only twenty-one telephones in this private system now, but there will be several more put in this week. It seemed to be a sort of a novelty, and a Call reporter investigated it yesterday. When one realizes the size of the hotel and of the army of employes and heads of departments it ceases to seem strange that a whole independent telephone system should be needed. Speaking-tubes are out of the question; it would require miles of them, almost, and it would require an army of messenger boys and a way of calling them in from anywhere to make this way of communication prompt and convenient. Now, when Manager Smith wants to make kick to the pastry chef or the housekeeper, he merely turns to the telephone by his desk and rings. In a moment he says, "Hello, Central, give me No. 7. Hello, hello, is that you? I wish you'd come to my office at once." So, if the engineer down cellar wants the janitor who is up on the roof to put a dab of paint on a new steam pipe, he can talk into the painter's ear in about fifteen seconds.
The central office is in one corner of the coat room, and a boy sits by the switchboard all day long answering calls and making connections. There is an immense amount of telephoning too. Not three minutes pass that a bell does not ring and an indicator fall. During the night one of the bellboys is
required to be the operator at "central." This is the way the twenty-one telephones are placed according to lie central list: Manager Smith, private office, cashier, laundry, timekeeper, storeroom, engineer, chef de cuisine, housekeeper, grillroom, printer. Mr. Johnson's room, main office, main court, restaurant, private stand, guardman's room, fifth floor, painter, gasfitter, electrician.
December 21st, 1892: THE PALACE MAN. Chef Mergenthaler Airs His Culinary Philosophy. "For $10 to six persons one should be able to provide a good dinner," said Chef Mergenthaler of the Palace Hotel as he thoughtfully stroked his smooth-shaven chin and ran his mental eye over an historical retrospect of marketing experiences. The chef is a Parisian, but has been a naturalized American for twenty years past, of which five have been spent in California. "For $20 one should provide a very good dinner indeed. Of course, turkey Is an element which cannot be separated from American Christmas dinners. In such a case have boiled turkey and roast game or roast turkey and boiled game as the basis to build upon. To enjoy a good dinner, eat sparingly of many small dishes in lieu of heavily of one or two. The effects next morning are far pleasanter. A glass of Vermouth Torreno before a meal makes a wonderful difference in the enjoyment of the feast. Appetizers, such as anchovies, stuffed olives or caviar on toast, are excellent things to aid the digestive powers, but don't touch radishes at dinner time. That is a positive crime against the stomach. They are only fit for the early morning meal. Salted almonds should be placed on every table. Their effect in bringing out the virtue of your wines are simply magic and is worth noting. It is a mistake for a lady who can supervise or cook a good plain dinner to toy with elaborate dishes the preparation of which she is not familiar with. This is a hint worth noting. Light sweets such as omelette soufflee or light puddings with wine sauce are excellent adjuncts to an artistic meal. I am not in favor of plum puddings or mince pies. They are crude barbarities and only adjustable to ostrichs' stomachs, but I bow to the exigencies of Christmastide. Californians are more French in their culinary tastes than any other people in the United States. I have to pay as much attention to local orders here in that respect as I have ever had to at Delmonico's. Cafe Savaric, Hoffman House, the Brunswick or any of the fastidious culinary arenas of New York."
December 22nd, 1892: Politician Stephen M White is headquartered in Room 574 of the Palace Hotel. It is now the popular meeting place of the Democratic politicians of the State.
December 24th, 1892: Wrecked by the Wind. ...The electric wires back of the Palace Hotel off New Montgomery Street became fouled and an entertaining pyrotechnic display was the result. As the live wires clicked and banged against each other millions of sparks were emitted, and those fortunate enough to be in the vicinity enjoyed a rare scene.
January 1st, 1893: The Maple Room of the Palace Hotel becomes a popular room during this year for concerts, parties and events. It is mentioned weekly in newspapers for these reasons.
January 12th, 1893: Palace Hotel. — The American dining-room temporarily closed during the summer months, has been reopened, and guests can now enjoy the home comforts associated therewith and the delights of its unsurpassed table.
January 29th, 1893
Article on Palace Hotel Manager C. Percy Smith and other prominent men of the city.
"How Well Dressed Men Care for Clothes"
Pictured right: Manager Smith
February 1st, 1893: All Quit Work. Strike at the Grillroom of the Palace Hotel. Chefs and waiters left on strike due to a reduced force and wage intereferement.
February 21st, 1893: Jose. M. Rascon, Mexico's Minister to Japan, died in his room in the Palace Hotel Sunday night from dropsy. Mr. Rascon had been ailing for some time, and he took passage on the overdue steamer City of Peking for this city, thence to Mexico. On arriving here his health had completely failed and he was obliged to take to his bed.
February 28th, 1983: Another change was made at the Palace Hotel yesterday. George Warren, who for some months has been day clerk at the counter, was promoted to his former position as assistant manager. The place left vacant by his promotion was filled by Le Grand. F. Rucker, who was night clerk up to a short time ago, and whose position was filled by J. McDermott, has returned from Tulare to become alternate chief day clerk. It is rumored that the superintendency of the building, which has been vacant for about eight months, will again be filled.
Henry Martin, who for over seventeen years has been a guest at the Palace Hotel, died yesterday of peritonitis. Mr. Marin's illness was brought about by anxiety and fretting over the illness of his wife. Mrs. Martin has been sick for some months and is now at the point of death. Mr. Martin was largely interested in mines in Deadwood, Cal., and at the time of his death was considered to be very wealthy.
Advertisement for Wilkie's Ballad Concerts in the Maple Room of the Palace Hotel. These have been going on since January.
March 1st, 1893
March 19th, 1893: A brief in a newspaper states that the construction of the Palace Hotel began in 1872.
March 28th, 1893: PERCY SMITHS DEPARTURE. The Manager of the Palace Hotel Will Go to New York. - The Palace Hotel Is about to lose its present manager. Captain Percy Smith has returned from New York, where he accepted the position of manager of the Union Club of that city, and within a few weeks he will leave for the East. He came here a total stranger three years ago. There are few men who can acquire as large a circle of friends in so brief a period as he has managed to do. Among the guests as well as among the employes he was extremely well liked, and the big caravansary prospered under his skillful superintendence. In a social way he was also very successful, and it is safe to say that clubmen and society people will regret his departure greatly. No higher compliment could be paid to Captain Smith than the offer of the management of the Union Club, which he has accepted, for this is the highest salaried and most coveted position for a man in his line in the whole United States. Although Captain Smith will not enter upon his new duties until June, he will leave some time next month to enjoy a brief vacation, the first he has had since he arrived from England to take charge of the Palace Hotel, three years ago. G. B. Warren, who has for fourteen years been connected in a clerical capacity with the Palace and is now its head clerk, will succeed Captain Smith as manager, while J. C. Kirkpatrick will be the managing director in the interest of the Sharon estate.
March 31st, 1893
April 12th, 1893: MOVED BY MUSIC. Free Circus in the Palace Hotel Court. Wells-Fargo's White Horse Began to Dance When the Band Played a Familiar Waltz.
April 15th, 1893: The Duchess of Buckingham arrives to stay at the Palace Hotel.
April 16th, 1893: A PARTING GIFT. Presentation to Captain C. P. Smith at the Palace Hotel. A pleasant ceremony took place In the Maple Hall of the Palace Hotel yesterday afternoon, the occasion being the presentation of a valuable and beautiful silver wine set to Captain Smith by the employes of the hotel. The recipient of the gift was completely taken by surprise, so secretly and well had the whole affair been carried out. At 2:30 p.m. George P. Warren, the new manager of the hotel, made the presentation in the presence of almost the entire staff of the huge hostelry. He read the following resolution:
"Whereas, the retirement of Captain Charles Percy Smith as manager of the Palace Hotel presents a suitable opportunity of expressing the high esteem in which the employes of this hotel hold him; therefore be it. Resolved, that the warmest thanks of the 400 employes are due him for the able and impartial manner in which he has always discharged the in my onerous duties falling to his lot and that we sincerely regret his departure from us. Resolved, that in leaving this position he carries with him our regards and good wishes and we trust that his future will be in every way as bright and prosperous as he can desire." Maple Hall, Palace Hotel, April 6, 1893.
The resolutions were engraved upon a silver tablet and inclosed in an embossed leather case. Captain Smith, though unprepared, returned his thanks in a speech of fifteen minutes' duration, and concluded by cordially shaking hands with all present. The set consists of a large silver, three decanters and six glasses, encased in open silver work. Upon the salver is the following inscription: "Presented to Captain Charles Percy Smith by his associates of the Palace Hotel, April 15, 1893."
April 17th, 1893
Ad for the Pacific Coast Steamship Co.
Office at the Palace Hotel
April 25th, 1893: Prince Roland Napoleon Bonaparte, a grandnephew of Napoleon the Great, arrived in San Francisco. He and his suite are occupying some of the best apartments at the Palace Hotel.
April 27th, 1893: NOT THE MUSTACHE. The Palace Hotel Strike Nipped in the Bud. The threatened strike of waiters at the Palace Hotel upon the mustache question is not likely to come to anything. It seems that the men know when they are well off, and are not likely to take any foolish step which would possibly result in their losing good positions and liberal pay. The Palace Hotel is well known to be the greatest "tip" establishment in town, and almost any waiter is content to suffer a smooth lip in silence when the prospect of fat fees from liberal patrons is ever present. It has been the custom of this hotel for years past to engage none but clean shaved men as waiters, and there is no recently formed regulation affecting the presence of hair upon the face of the condescending gentlemen who serve the patrons' meals in the cafe or grillroom. Victor Reiter, one of the stewards of the house, who has the management of the staff of waiters, said last night: "There is not the slightest probability of a strike here, as the men know too well when they are well off. The success of recent strikes in the calling, and the great talk of a waiters' strike in New York, has evidently incited some of them to try and get in a little excitement of that sort on their own account. No complaints have ever been made before as to the men not being allowed to wear their mustaches. In fact, a few do have that ornament on their faces, but as a general thing it was regarded as 'one of the rules of the house and a condition on which they accepted work.' Some of the men came to me yesterday and announced that they composed a committee appointed by the others to agitate for the removal of the rule of clean shaving, This was only a pretext as it was their intention if possible to make trouble and then demand higher wages or something else. "I thought it was best to nip the thing in the bud, so promptly discharged the committee, who were the ringleaders. Thus I expect to save further trouble by stopping the discontent at the outset."
In 1923, Victor Reiter wrote a book, Palace Hotel Waiters' Guide. A short, but very detailed guide to service throughout the hotel, including rules for room service, banquets, general catering, times for cooking cuts of meat (not provided as cooking instruction but for the proper timing of the meal). "Particular stress has been placed where errors are most frequent."
I ordered a copy I found on eBay in 2022, but it was lost or stolen from the mail. If anyone comes across this, please let me know via my email on the home page.
April 28th, 1893: A LIQUOR SEIZURE. The Palace Hotel Now in the Toils. A Charge of Illegal Rectifying and a Prospect of Heavy Fine and Imprisonment.
...."The charge against the Palace Hotel is somewhat different from that which was pending against the Baldwin. I received information that the law was being violated in the hotel cellar. We visited the place, and as a result of our observations seized about 400 gallons of whisky, gin and brandy, together with various tubs, instruments and chemicals, and coloring liquids. There was undoubted evidence that mixing and rectifying spirits was going on in a wholesale manner. The goods mentioned were taken possession of by the revenue officers, and the revenue seal placed upon the door of the cellar which they were in. The charge is one of false rectifying and changing proof or strength of liquors without a rectifier's license. This is not a mere misdemeanor, but a penitentiary offense, and the penalty is a fine of $500, In addition to a one year's imprisonment. The fine will undoubtedly be imposed in full. I have telegraphed to Washington for instructions and expect to take further action on receipt of a reply." No information concerning this could be gleaned at the hotel up to a late hour last night, The new manager, Mr. Kirkpatrick, was not on the premises, and there appeared to be no one who could throw any light upon the affair or would so if they could. George B. Warren, the acting manager, was asked, and he declared his absolute ignorance of any seizure having been made by the revenue authorities.
May 27th, 1893: Richard S. Mesick, the well-known attorney, died at the Palace Hotel last night at 7 o'clock of chronic bronchitis, after an illness that has confined him to his room for the past six months.
May 28th, 1893: FAMOUS HOTELS. THE PALACE HOTEL.
New Features of That Great Hostelry. That San Francisco people take the greatest pride, almost amounting to affection in the Palace Hotel Is something that no man will dispute after hearing its vastness and wonders enthusiastically described by a native or resident. It Is felt that however much fame California has acquired as the home of great things, there can be no mistake in saying that the Palace is the largest, the finest, the most magnificent and the most solidly built of all the hotels in all the world. Globe-trotters and Eastern men who have listened to the tale of its marvels with some incredulity admit as soon as they enter its walls that the tale has not all been told and gracefully concede that in the Palace Hotel there is one subject of the Californians' boast that has not been exceeded. Within the past two years there have been many improvements made in the hotel, upon which a vast amount of money has been expended and which was rendered necessary only because a demand for greater luxury from the patrons of the hotel made a compliance by us encouragement as indicative of a determination that the Palace should not be exceeded In the magnificence of its appointments by any hotel in the world.
The long suite, embracing the ladies' reception-room, marble hall, the maple room and annex mom extending along the first floor of the south side of the hotel, well deserve the appellation of "magnificent", which is always the expression of one who beholds it for the first time. The pavilion in the court is also a noticeable improvement, and the "grill" room opening from Market Street and the
court is an instance of ornate ornamentation and convenience that is delightful to the senses and adds renewed zest to the appetite of the man who lunches there; and apropos, the "grill" room is an innovation in hotels which was first adopted in America at the Palace. Its particular convenience is to businessmen who have less time to indulge in a meal than could be given in the regular dining-room, but who are fastidious as to the style and quality of the food which they consume. The same excellence of food, with a menu quite identical with that of the dining-room, is accessible to the guest whose time may be limited. On the marble counters of the grillroom are displayed the meats from which the guest chooses. He can make his own selection and give directions as to his preferred method of cooking and serving, and then seating himself and waited upon by polite and well-trained servants he can fully enjoy the delight of an appetizing meal, surrounded by all that can attract the eye or satisfy the senses.
To a connoisseur in meats it may not be necessary to remark upon the immense satisfaction which fresh meats properly cured in cold storage refrigerators give over meats that are consumed immediately after being butchered. At the Palace a stock of fresh meats sufficient for a two weeks' consumption is always kept ahead in the cold storage chamber at a temperature below the freezing point. This is the secret of the magnificent reputation which the grillroom and the hotel has gained for the excellence of its meats. A steak at the grill is a revelation.
The maple room and annex, before referred to, is a feature which has been added to the Palace during the past year with the especial object of affording accommodations for social and other meetings of an aristocratic character. The room is in increasing demand by those to whom a fashionable reception at their own homes offers almost insurmountable difficulties and annoyances. It is needless to recapitulate what these consist of, for every lady knows too well the anxiety and care which are attendant upon a formal reception at her own house, no matter now liberal are her facilities, but at a reception in maple hall in the Palace every difficulty Is surmounted. The hall itself is of only moderate size and can be filled with palms or flowers and made to resemble a bower of beauty. If more room is needed, marble hall can be connected, and if these two are not enough the ladies' reception-room can be added, forming three magnificently furnished parlors adequate for an unlimited number of guests. For a dining-room the "annex" to maple hall affords every needed requirement, and up a grand staircase all the dressing-rooms can be appropriated that may be necessary. At a reception this part or the hotel is excluded and the utmost privacy is maintained. An especial advantage in giving a reception at the maple hall is that the perfect menu of the Palace is at the disposal of the host and the well-drilled service at his command. How infinitely preferable such a reception can be made than in a private house.
One is seldom permitted an invasion of the kitchen of the Palace, but the writer was one of the favored few. It was to have been supposed that the utmost cleanliness and order would be observed, but the actual was far beyond the most vivid anticipations of the observer. The kitchen fairly shines and reflected the light of the sun upon the well-burnished utensils. The appetite was stimulated by the sight.
Two especially new features have been added to the Palace which emphasize the determination to keep abreast of all the improvements of the times. Both are designed to increase the promptness of service in which complaints are sometimes made in the most carefully conducted hotel. One is the "pneumatic service" by which communication with the main office is almost instantaneous. This involves a complicated and unique system of tubes extending to the several floors, by which communication is made so rapidly as to astonish one. The other improvement referred to is that of the mailing service. A regular post office for distribution and delivery is maintained, with great convenience to the guests resulting. The splendid facilities of maple hall and annex for social functions are being more and more highly appreciated.
The last reception of the Impromptu Club, under the lead of Hall McAllister, was given there, and was rightly regarded as one of the most successful and elegant ever given by that noted club. The whole charge of decorations, menu and service was by the hotel, and the arrangements were declared in be absolutely perfect, and gave the most complete satisfaction to the managers of the affair.
Down in the basement of the hotel and wandering about the maze of the apartments one gathers renewed ideas of the magnitude of the building and the immense task that must lay upon the manager to keep everything subject to the great work of serving the public. A huge grocery-store, with a large stock, requires the services of several clerks; there are cold storage rooms filled with meats and game; an immense ice machine turns out tons at a time, while numberless pumps are ever in operation furnishing water to the hotel. It takes over 400 employes to run the house, but notwithstanding there is never any confusion or conflict, so admirably is everything systematized by the ever-watchful manager.
May 30th, 1893
Oregon Guests Visit the
Palace Hotel.
June 2nd, 1893: Mesick Wrote His Own Will. The holographic will of R. S. Mesick was filed for probate yesterday, and application made by George H. Maxwell, the executor appointed therein. The will is of recent date, and is all in testator's handwriting. It runs thus: "Last will and testament of R. S. Mesick. First, I evoke any and all wills by me heretofore made. Second, of all that belongs to me I give and bequeath to George H. Maxwell, my former partner, one half, and to my servant, John Rivers, the remaining half. Third, I appoint the said George H. Maxwell my sole executor. This will is written by my own hand at my room, number one hundred and twelve, in the Palace Hotel, city and county of San Francisco, California. It is written and signed by me this, the twenty-seventh day of February. A. D. 1893. R. S. Mesick. After death I wish to be cremated. R. 8. M.
The estate Is valued in the neighborhood of $25,000.
June 11th, 1893: Warren Leland, the first manager of the Palace Hotel, died yesterday in Port Chester, NY. He was also in charge of interior arrangements and furnishing the hotel when it opened.
June 20th, 1893: UNIQUE FIRE ALARM. A New System Inaugurated at the Palace Hotel. W. J. Walters, the draughtsman at the Palace Hotel, has invented a new fire alarm system for the Palace Hotel which was successfully inaugurated yesterday. A series of alarm boxes throughout the hotel, to which the night watchmen carry keys, connect with the sleeping apartments of the carpenters and mechanics, the yardmen and other male employes. In case of a fire in any part of the hotel nearly every man employed about the big hostelry is awakened by the ringing of a bell on his bedstead, and a small fire department is thus immediately summoned to the floor and room where the fire is located. A similar system for day use, but entirely distinct from the night system, is also being constructed.
July 30th, 1893: PERKINS HONORED. Prominent Republicans at the Banquet Table. A FLOW OF ABLE SPEECHES. The New Senator Is Cheered by More Than a Hundred of His Party. The Maple Hall of the Palace Hotel was crowded last night by more than 100 of the most prominent Republicans of California, invited by the Republican State Central Committee to do honor to the newly appointed Senator, George C. Perkins.
August 16th, 1893: Invasion of Chinese Buttons. Arrival of the New Minister and His Suite. Yung Yu, the new minister of China visited the Palace Hotel via the steamer Gaelic. The dragon flag was run un over that hostelry and they were immediately assigned rooms on Floor 1 in the Northeast corner.
August 29th, 1893: AFTER EIGHTEEN YEARS. Stack & Lacombe Transfer Assets to a Creditor. Collection day passed off yesterday without any personal inconvenience to speak of in commercial circles. Collecting money was easier work than a few weeks ago, and in general an improvement was apparent. Only one failure came with the day. The old-established business of Stack & Lacombe, the hatters at 639 Market Street, under the Palace Hotel, failed to meet its engagements. For eighteen years this house was engaged in the hat business, having been established in 1875.
September 9th, 1893: Fred Ellis was arrested on Thursday on a charge of petty larceny in having stolen some plated-ware from the Palace Hotel.
September 10th, 1893: One of the greatest pianists and musical composers of the age arrived in this city just evening and is now a guest at the Palace Hotel. He is Chevalier de Kontski, court pianist and composer to the Emperor of Germany.
October 2nd, 1893: Palace Hotel Sold. The nominal sale of the Palace Hotel, Grand Hotel properties, Wells, Fargo & Co.'s building, on and near New Montgomery Street, was recorded on Saturday. The property was conveyed by Francis. G. Newlands, as trustee of the estate of William Sharon to the Sharon Estate Company, recently incorporated in the State of New Jersey. The consideration of the transfer consists of stocks and bonds of the new company, of which Mr. Newlands is president, so that the transaction is only regarded as an adjustment for convenience. No change in the running of the big hotel is anticipated under the management of the Sharon Estate Company.
October 18th, 1893: Society Notes. There will be a brilliant wedding in the Maple Room at the Palace Hotel this evening, when Miss Bertha Wangenheim, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sol Wangenheim, will be married to Benjamin Arnhold of the Alaska Commercial Company.
October 21st, 1893: The Union League Club last night decided by an almost unanimous vote, there being only one voice in the negative, to surrender the lease of their present house and move to the New Montgomery side of the Palace Hotel.
October 26th, 1893: Palace Hotel Souvenirs. A very handsome souvenir of the Palace Hotel has just been issued by the management of that world-renowned hostelry. It contains a number of plates of great artistic merits with short descriptive matter. The covers are in tinted cardboard, with the name and monogram of the hotel in raised letters. It is a beautiful piece of work and cannot fall to attract visitors to San Francisco.
November 15th, 1893: A big $200 plateglass window in the northeast corner of the Palace Hotel building was broken yesterday by a piece of iron falling from the roof, and several passers-by narrowly escaped injury from the same cause.
November 30th, 1893: TO THE RESCUE. A Squad of Police Saves the Palace. The Unemployed Were Annoyed by a False Publication and Find It a Hoax. The Palace Hotel was stormed yesterday by a small band of resolute men with a purpose which could not be shaken. Their appearance in the grand court was so unusual it created some excitement and a great deal of curiosity. For these men were not attired in raiment like the lilies of the field, and consequently were strangely out of place in their fashionable surroundings. They were the unemployed, or at least a delegation from the unfortunates' ranks. And they were drenched with the rain, cold with the wet, sadly in need of overcoats and clothing even more necessary, perhaps wanting breakfast. It was then well on in the afternoon. Ladies looked down from the verandas in astonishment, and loungers of the cafe and court opened their eyes wide and asked what it all meant.
Then the manager appeared, and one of the unbidden visitors held a brief interview with him. "We represent the unemployed men," said the leader, producing a copy of a morning paper containing an article which represented that the manager, who had liberally supplied them with food, was not able to get one of them to work for him at $1 a day. "This is what we come to ask you about. We know nothing of this, and it is a shameful way of treating men who are willing to work." The manager explained that he was ignorant of what had appeared in the paper, and added that he could give them no further answer, and as he did not need them they
could leave. During the excitement of their marching into the hotel, someone telephoned for police. In a few minutes a patrol wagon with five policemen dashed up to the New Montgomery Street entrance. Three officers were there already and the eight men marched around the court and made a deep impression generally. Meanwhile the unemployed filed out in good order and the incident terminated in a laugh.
December 2nd, 1893: CUT TO PIECES. Horrible Death of Young Charles Fay. He Was Employed at the Palace Hotel Electric Works and Was Caught in the Machinery. A horrible accident occurred last night at the electric-light works of the Palace Hotel on New Montgomery Street, near Mission. Charles Fay, an oiler, 22 years of age, was caught by the belt that connects the dynamo with a pulley 6 feet 6 inches in diameter, and was cut to pieces between the flying band and the rapidly revolving wheel. The pulley revolves at a distance of twenty-two feet from the dynamo, and it is not a difficult matter to slip between the upper and lower parts of the belt. Fay was a short man, and disregarding a rule long established by the managers, he, instead of walking around the pulley, tried to step over the flying wheel. His foot slipped and, face downward, he was swiftly borne over the outer rim of the great wheel. His body was cut into four parts and fell at one side of the wheel, which at that time was making 320 revolutions a minute. Charles Dober, the electrician, was the only witness of Fay's death. He said: "It was all done in a moment. Fay wanted to cross the dynamo-room and intended to make a crosscut by stepping over the belt. I saw him as he stepped between the upper and lower parts. Then his body shot like lightening to the top of the wheel and fell mangled and dismembered to the floor. Legs, arms and trunk lay in a bloody heap. Such a sight I never saw before and if God is good to me such a sight I will never. see again." A cloth was thrown over the body and it lay upon the floor for three hours. The Coroner's wagon had been sent for another case and tarried until 11 o'clock. The men employed in the room thought it was an outrage that the body should be left there so long, but there was no help for it. Fay bad been fifteen months in the employ of the hotel. He was a bright young man, very popular among his companions. He was an orphan and lived with a married sister at 325 Broadway.
December 8th, 1893: KERAMIC LADIES. A Crowded Reception at the Palace. CHINA CLUB EXHIBITION. Its Members Make a Display of Clever Work. PURCHASERS IN ABUNDANCE. Rose Bowls, Plaques, Vases, Cups, Saucers, Etc. Held in the Maple Room of the Palace.
December 22nd, 1893: Thomas A. Brown, the colored head bellboy at the Palace Hotel, who gave out that he was chloroformed and robbed of $480 by two men in the Wells-Fargo building, has been held by Judge Joachimsen to answer to the Superior Court on the charge or grand larceny in $2000 bonds.
December 29th, 1893: The Children's Society of San Francisco gave a Christmas entertainment yesterday afternoon in Maple Hall at the Palace Hotel for the benefit of the City Front Boys' Club. The programme consisted of tableau, wax figure posing. It was executed entirely by children ranging in age; from 4 to 13 years. The children were drilled by Miss Bertha Heath, and their performance was a wonderful display of
performers, and a Christmas tree stood at the opposite end.
January 19th, 1894: “I don’t know whether the inside history or the order requiring the waiters of the Palace Hotel to shave off their mustaches has ever been told or not,” remarked an old guest of that house last night, “but it will in any event bear repetition. Some months ago during a banquet in the house, Fred Sharon entered the dining-hall in evening dress and while stopping for a moment near one of the tables, to look over the assemblage, one of the guests tapped him familiarly on the shoulder and said, 'Waiter, will you bring us a little more bread?' Mr. Sharon’s indignation may well be imagined, and it was only a short time after that the edict went forth which deprived the attendants of their prized moustachios."
February 6th, 1894: APPEAL DISMISSED. Mrs. Mitchell Gets No Damages. Her Action in Law Against Fred W. Sharon Is Dismissed by the Court of Appeals. ...The document came into Mrs. Mitchell's hands through Charles H. Livingstone, who was at one time manager of the Palace Hotel, and who had been in one way or another associated with the several parties to the Sharon suit, including Justice Field. It was represented at the time that Mrs. Mitchell had used the letters in an endeavor to extort money from several of the parties concerned. She was said to have offered to dispose of them to the Sharon people for various sums, ranging from $50,000 down to $15,000.
February 24th, 1894: The Palace Hotel people were treated to a surprise Thursday, when Brown, the colored bellboy, was discharged from custody; on a charge of robbery. It will be remembered that some weeks ago he was sent across the street from the hotel to Wells Fargo's office with $480 in gold for which It was desired to secure change, Brown claimed that he was held up, chloroformed and relieved of the money by thieves. He is a tall, slender fellow, over 40 years of age and has been employed, about the hotel for a number of years. It was thought that sufficient evidence had been secured to hold him, but the result proves different, and the hotel people will be compelled to bear their loss without the satisfaction of having caught the thief.
April 12th, 1894: LIGHTS ARE LOW. Private Electric Plants Abandoned. The Edison Electric Light Company Inaugurates Radical Changes in Its Plant and System. An improvement in electrical machinery has taken place in this city with the result that private plants for lighting by electricity are being abandoned as more expensive than direct currents from the public light company. For nearly two years the Palace Hotel has maintained an elaborate and quite extensive electric-light plant on New Montgomery and Mission streets. This system ranks among the largest private light-producing works in America. It supplied over a thousand rooms, basements, corridors, courtyards, offices, etc., with numberless incandescent lights. But its engines are to be cleaned, oiled and covered with sheets, and its generators and storage batteries are to have a long, indefinite rest, because it is cheaper now to buy the subtle fluid from the large works on Stevenson Street, whence San Francisco receives much of its brilliancy after sunset. Other private producers are expected to follow this example without delay, as production has become such a science in making the most out of the least on largest scales possible no inducement oilers in competing with the great supply system owned by the Edison Light and Power Company.
April 17th, 1894: Eugen Sandow, the "Perfect Man", gives a presentation on his muscles and physique at the Maple Hall, Palace Hotel.
April 26th, 1894: A quiet, little wedding occurred at the Palace Hotel yesterday. It was that of D. M. Hunt and Mrs. S. C. Gray, both of Benicia. Most of the friends of both parties reside in this city and for that reason the ceremony was performed here.
June 18th, 1894:
Delegates at the Palace. Gossip of Politicians Going to the Convention.
June 30th, 1894: NEWTON IN A FIX. What Came of His Night Prowling. Arrested Under Suspicion of Surreptitiously Entering Palace Hotel Rooms.
There was a small-sized sensation on the fourth floor of the Palace Hotel early yesterday morning, which ended in the arrest of S. C. Newton, a guest at the hotel, upon a charge of assault with a deadly weapon. During the past week complaints have been made to the police that sneakthieves were operating in the hotel, and that money and other valuables had been abstracted from rooms. After a watch had been set it was learned that Newton, who had registered as a broker from New York, was in the habit of wandering around the corridors in his stocking feet at late hours of the night. Naturally suspicion fastened upon him, and when Detective Seymour was detailed on the case, he concluded that Newton would bear watching. He could not be there all the time, though, and when he was obliged to be absent. Officer Tyrrell took his place. They made their headquarters in a room opposite to that occupied by Newton. About 4 o'clock yesterday morning the watching officer saw Newton leave his room. He was fully dressed, with the exception of shoes, and be made no noise as he glided along the corridors. He seemed to be awake, too, despite the reputation he had gained, on account of his midnight wanderings, of being a somnambulist. After leaving his room the officer saw Newton peer cautiously around and then sneak down to the floor below his own. He tried, according to the officer, to get in several doors, but they were locked. While he was working at one of them the officer and the hotel watchman, who had been summoned, jumped upon him. Newton at once drew a pistol and pointed it at his assailants, but they were prepared for such a movement and grabbed him before he could discharge the weapon, if such had been his intention. He was taken to the City Prison, and locked up on the charge mentioned. When he appeared before Judge Conlan yesterday morning Newton said that he was going to the bathroom at the time the officers sprang upon him. He thought they were men who wanted to rob him, and so drew the pistol in self-defense. He was greatly excited and said that he was being disgraced without any reason and that he had committed no crime. The police are inclined to believe that Newton is not a stockbroker, as he pretended. His case was continued until Monday.
July 3rd, 1894: S.C. Newton, the Palace Hotel guest, had a charge of burglary entered against him at the City Prison yesterday by Detective Seymour. The charge against him is that of entering Room 470, occupied by Ernest Bloch. When arrested last Wednesday morning he was charged with an assault with a deadly weapon upon the night watchman, who caught him. Newton pretends he is a New York broker, but the police do not believe it and are making inquiries about him.
July 8th, 1894: S. C. Newton, the alleged Now York broker, was sentenced to six months in the County Jail by Judge Conlan yesterday morning. The charge of burglary in the Palace Hotel could not be proven against him, and the charge of assault with a deadly weapon upon the nightwatchman was reduced to exhibiting a deadly weapon.
August 8th, 1894: The Palace Hotel managers are making alterations in the electric system of the house which contemplates the abandonment of their private plant and a future patronage of the Edison Company.
August 16th, 1894: $100 REWARD WILL BE PAID AND NO questions asked for return of, or any information that would lead to the recovery of a satchel taken from Room 537 Palace Hotel, August 7, between 12 and 3 p.m.
September 2nd, 1893: STANTON IS OUT. He Becomes Incapacitated for Work at the Palace. Fred O. Stanton is no longer a clerk at the Palace Hotel. John C. Kirkpatrick said last night: "The story published in a morning paper has just this grain of truth to it. Mr. Stanton is no longer connected with the Palace Hotel. Mr. Stanton realized six months ago that his position with the Palace might become vacant, and spoke of resigning then.
September 5th, 1894: AN APE'S REVENGE. He Attacks a Man in the Palace Hotel. Despite Count d' Alma's Protests the Animal Is Removed to the Baggage-Room. John d'Alma Comte de I'ile de Cuba and suite occupy a room on the first floor of the Palace Hotel. John d' Alma's suite consists of a Javanese ape with the vivacity of a French danseuse and the expression of a Polynesian.
Last night a man named Paddy Webb visited the Count's room on engagement to take care of the Count's suite. He entered the Count's rooms, and after recovering from the dazzling effects of a bouquet of diamonds, which the Count invariably wears in the buttonhole directly beneath his shin collar, sat down to question "da monk." He spoke to it tenderly, and then caressingly pulled the ape's hair the wrong way. In a moment there was a row like a thrashing machine in the room. Patrick Webb made a break for the door with the Javanese ape holding on to his collar like grim death. Count d'Alma. shouted, Patrick Webb shouted and the Javanese didn't do a thing but scratch, bite and hug Webb in the corridor where the latter had fallen overcome with fright. There would have been nothing left of Patrick Webb had not the Count appeared on the scene and dragged his animal off. Then Webb grabbed his hat and skipped.
The affair made a prodigious row in the hotel, and the story got round that the ape had gone after a space-writer whose resemblance to himself annoyed him when he interviewed the creature. As a matter of fact, the ape is a performer, and the Count d'Alma earns his living by exhibiting his room-mate's power. Not all the influence of the Count, however, could prevent his pet being taken to the baggage-room last night to prevent further rows. Count d'Alma has come direct from Havana with his ape and his diamonds. He rents a phonograph wherever he goes and gets the ape to talk into it. He hopes by this to understand his ancestor the better after a while. As a rule, they meet on an equal footing, but the master has not yet conquered the sibilants of the ape. He has also found it impossible to make his ape get used to the headlights he wears, but he thinks he will overcome that in time. The ape will probably be exhibited in a local theater.
September 13th, 1894: Wedding Ceremony and Banquet at the Palace. Sol Oppenheimer, a hardware merchant of Portland, Or., was married to the daughter of Nathan Dejbanco of this city, by Rabbi Voorsanger, at the Palace Hotel last evening.
October 18th, 1894: The wedding of Miss Rose Hart of this city and Charles Heymann of Paris will take place this evening in the Maple Room at the Palace Hotel.
October 25th, 1894: The Fire Department battled with a blaze in the Palace Hotel for nearly two hours last night before the flames could be extinguished, and when the fire was finally put out the hotel had sustained a loss of nearly $1500 from the effects of the flames, the blows of the firemen's axes and the damage incident to water and smoke.
Quite a crowd collected in the court and the adjacent rooms when it became known that the building was on fire. The more timid of the guests hastened down stairways and elevators, though there was nothing approaching a panic. The employes on every floor assured the guests that no danger need be feared. At the outset S. M. Shortridge looked over the balcony from an upper floor, and with it that characteristic wave of his hand plainly discernible through the smoke — which accompanies his arguments in court, declared that it was nothing. The fire started in the framework of the grillroom, between the stucco and the brick wall which separates that apartment from the billiard-room. It was probably due to some imperfection in the range connecting with the flue, which leads directly to the roof, though there are some who assert that the electric wires started the blaze.
It was about 7:30 o'clock when the odor of smoke became too apparent to all in the billiard-room, barroom and grillroom to have any doubt that a fire was in progress. A little investigation showed that the timbers
back of the stucco had got beyond the smoldering stage and were fairly ablaze. Even then it was several minutes before the city Fire Department was summoned, as everyone in authority seemed absent from the hotel, and no one present appeared to know just what to do. By the time the firemen arrived the smoke was blinding in the court, and had filled the halls and passageways on the upper floors, entering many of the rooms as well.
A hose was hastily carried from the court to the grillroom, and the firemen began their work. Ladders were placed on the counter, and the axes made havoc with the stucco and the timbering. The whole north wall of the grillroom, from the door to the billiard-room, to the court, was chopped and hacked. Chandeliers came crashing down with the stucco, while a curious crowd, which had quickly gathered, watched the progress of the wreckage. The first blows of the axes let enough air into the passages between the stucco and the brick wall to fan the sparks into a lively blaze. As the hose played upon one aperture tongues of fire would leap out from another vent made by the firemen's picks. The firemen were at a great disadvantage in fighting the hidden fire. A detachment was sent to the story above, and the floor of one of the sleeping apartments, and an entryway was ripped up and the hose played from above on the blaze with no marked success. It was only when the whole stucco-face of the wall had been pretty well battered away that any real progress was made in checking the progress of the fire. Had the discovery of the fire came a little later, when it had progressed far enough above to reach the open in the rooms above, the experience of the Grand Hotel of several years ago might have been repeated and a good portion of the interior of the Palace might have been destroyed. As it was it was after 9 o'clock when the tinmen left and the blaze was out. All the interior woodwork along the brick wall was found to be charred to a crisp. The heavy oak moldings and cornices will have to be replaced as they are burnt half through from within, and the repairs will necessarily entail much labor. The grillroom was a picture of wreckage, broken glasses from the incandescent lamps and broken chunks of stucco were trod into the mosaic floor and the water from the hose converted all into a sticking gritty paste. The ceilings of both the billiard-room and the grillroom are badly discolored by the smoke.
A similar fire occurred in the grillroom some time ago but was checked before it reached the proportions of this one.
November 22nd, 1894: IN MARBLE HALL. Wedding of Miss Flora Levy and Henry Cahen. Under a beautiful floral canopy and surrounded by the more intimate of their friends. Miss Flora Levy, daughter of Mrs. and the late Jacob S. Levy, and Henry Cahen, for many years secretary of the Cercle Francaise, were united in marriage last evening at 7 o'clock in the Marble Hall of the Palace Hotel, it was indeed a representative society event in Jewish circles, and the wealth mid beauty of the fair city of San Francisco was represented.
December 6th, 1894: Mrs. Mary Antoinette Main, wife of the harness manufacturer, died Tuesday after two months' illness at the Palace Hotel. She came to this country from New Hampshire, her native State, in the early days with her husband. Her husband and a daughter, Mrs. Charles F. McDermott of Oakland, survive her. The funeral will take place tomorrow.
