Unofficial Historical Website for the Palace Hotel, San Francisco.
Unofficial Historical Website for the Palace Hotel, San Francisco.
January 1st, 1895:
January 7th, 1895: A LADIES' GRILLROOM. The Palace Hotel to Have One Shortly. The ladies of San Francisco are soon to have a convenience thrown open to them for which a number of them have long been clamoring. The step will only be another triumph for the "New Woman," and this time the triumph will be a practical and useful one, consisting of the establishment of a grillroom for ladies at the Palace Hotel. ...It is in consequence of all the protest against this one-sided arrangement that the Palace Hotel has decided to add a grillroom to its establishment on or about February 1. To be known as a Ladles' Grillroom. The room will not be exclusively for ladies, however, as gentlemen, even those who do not come as escorts, will have the privilege of taking meals there. As for the service, it will be identical with that given at present, and promptitude will also be an especial feature. It was a disgruntled male writer who said that women's right's were men's wrongs, but the rights secured by the ladies in having a grillroom will not be of this order. The present grillroom will not be invaded at all. It will continue exactly as it is at present. The room now known as the "Restaurant" will be converted into the ladies' grillroom, and the gentlemen can still enjoy their old quarters in the old manner. The restaurant, or as it will be called after this month the "Ladies' Grillroom," will form a very commodious and welcome addition to the places where good meals can be obtained, and cooked while you wait, without any unnecessary consumption of time. It will comfortably seat 400 people, the tables being constructed for parties of two, four, six or eight persons. Judging from the numerous requests received by the management of the Palace Hotel to open a restaurant on the grillroom plan for ladies, the new departure may safely be expected to prove as attractive to the public as the present grillroom has undoubtedly done. Very few changes will be needed in the present handsome restaurant to fit it for its new walk in life. The greater part of the fittings will remain as they are. A range will of course be added as that is an indispensable feature of a grillroom: Ranges, however, are making, their way into restaurants and dining-rooms in all the large cities, and have consequently ceased to attract especial attention. The one at the Palace will of course have every modern convenience, and will have very little resemblance to the humble range of former days, which confined its sphere of activity to the kitchen. It is not to be supposed that because the present quarters of the restaurant are to be transferred to a ladles' grillroom that the Palace Restaurant will cease to exist for the public. The restaurant is to be transferred to the large American dining-room, which opens directly off the main office, and the service will be identical with that at present given. Truly, great is the city of San Francisco, and great is her "city of luxury within itself"— the Palace Hotel.
February 7th, 1895: Miss Frances J. Murphy is staying at the Palace Hotel, Room 118.
February 21st, 1895: Sneak thieves have made the billiard-room of the Palace Hotel the scene of their operations during the past two weeks, and several fine overcoats are missing in consequence. Patrick Reagan, assistant starter at the racetrack, and Thomas Griffin, a racing man, are among the sufferers. The police are working on the matter, and watchers are stationed in the billiard-room.
March 11th, 1895: SERIOUS PRACTICAL JOKE. How the Union League Club Was Shaken Up by the Explosion of a Cartridge. There was considerable excitement in the Union League Club yesterday. An explosion, which scared the guests in the Palace Hotel and drove the operator in the Western Union Telegraph office screaming from her quarters, was the cause of the trouble. There was a report, a jet of flame, a rush of guests from the club and all was over. An examination showed that a rifle cartridge had been thrown into the wastepaper basket and thence into the fire. The explosion that followed was the cause of all the excitement. When Oliver Patelon, one of the janitors, arrived at the clubrooms yesterday he found quite a number of the members in the assembly-room. He at once went to work to clear up the reception-room and get the place in order. A number of the members' hats and overcoats were lying on the chairs and these he proceeded to hang on the hooks. After his work of sweeping and dusting was over, he emptied the contents of the wastepaper basket into the grate and set a match to it. A few moments later came the explosion that caused all the excitement.
March 13th, 1895: The Knickerbocker Quartet made its first appearance at a concert given in the Maple Hall of the Palace Hotel last night, and had every reason to be satisfied with the reception given it by an audience which nearly filled the hall.
March 23rd, 1895:
March 26th, 1895: A LADIES' CAFE. The Palace Will Open That Kind of an Establishment. The Palace Hotel has taken a new departure in its service which is a decided innovation upon hotel management in this city. A ladies' cafe is now one of the fixtures of that model hostelry. The old city cafe, at the corner of Market and Annie Streets, in the Palace building, has been thoroughly renovated and arranged for this purpose. The old cafe was used principally as a resort for family parties in the past, but it was thought "by the management that a cafe devoted principally to the uses of ladies with or without escorts would prove an acceptable move in the eyes of the public", and so the change was made.
William Glennon, who was for several years a detective in Chinatown, has been appointed special officer at the Palace Hotel to succeed the late Fred Davis.
April 5th, 1895: The Church of the Holy Cross may very properly be called the pioneer church of San Francisco. It was built in 1852 on the site now occupied by the Palace Hotel. At that time, it was called St. John's Church. A few years later it was moved to Eddy Street, near Octavia, and in 1891 to its present location near Devisadero Street.
April 6th, 1895: Tragedy at the Palace. Carlos Enrico Reta Kills His Wife and Then Commits Suicide. DIED IN EACH OTHER'S ARMS. The Girl's Mother Had Opposed Their Union— He Was a Soldier. "Don't separate us, we wish to be buried together." With these words Carlos Enrico Reta and Miss Sophie Wolf, or Mrs. Reta, took leave of the world. They entered the Palace Hotel at 1:30 o'clock yesterday morning and were shown to a room. Reta seemed nervous and ill at ease as he wrote in the register "Mr. and Mrs. Reta, S. P." Mrs. Reta was perfectly self-possessed and watched the young man write the entry with a calm and critical eye. Yesterday afternoon both were found dead in bed with a bullet hole through their hearts. The instrument of death was almost a toy and the shots being fired under the bedclothes the report was not heard even in the next room. The couple died in each other's arms, Reta must have shot the woman and watched her last few death struggles. Then he put his arm around her neck, drew her closely toward him and fired the shot that sent "his own soul shuddering into eternity." The Coroner's
deputies had to unclasp the stiffened arms before the couple could be placed in separate coffins. On the table was a bottle of benedictine, three parts full, and a small vial almost empty. Both the liquor and the contents of the vial will be analyzed to ascertain whether they contained any drug or poison. The vial looked as though it might have contained cocaine. Where the young couple spent the night prior to their arrival at the Palace Hotel will probably never be known. It was probably in some restaurant, however, as they brought the bottle of benedictine with them to the hotel. Carlos Enrico Reta was a second lieutenant in a cavalry regiment of the Mexican army. His uncle, who is a wealthy resident of the city of Mexico, looked after the young man, and his parents, who live in Italy and are also said to be well off, kept him supplied with money. He lived at 607 Post Street, and he and Miss Wolf met in secret. The young lady was the daughter of Dr. Wolf, who formerly sold surgical instruments at 507 Kearny Street. A year ago he returned to Germany and since that time his wife has lived at 1305 Leavenworth Street. The mother was very strangely opposed to young Reta, and it "was only by stealth that the lovers were able to meet." It is said that they were married only a few hours before they went to their death, but if they were there was no evidence come to light so far. The first intimation that Mrs. Wolff received of her daughter's death was conveyed in a note. The young woman simply stated that her husband and herself were going to commit suicide in the Palace Hotel. When seen last night the heartbroken mother positively refused to talk about the tragedy. The body of the unfortunate young woman had just been brought home from the Morgue and was being prepared for burial. No one so far claimed the remains of Reta, so the last wish of the lovers is not likely to be carried out. People who live in the neighborhood of 1305 Leavenworth Street have a good word to say about Miss Wolf. She was a first class musician and a trained singer. Very few people called on her, and she was never seen in the company of young Reta. From others it was learned that the young people had tried to get married a year ago, but were prevented by the mother. Ever since they have urged her to relent, but she would not, so at last they gave way to despair and took refuge in oblivion. "The couple appeared to me like a bride and groom," said the clerk at the Palace Hotel last night. "They came in, and Reta told me they had only been married a few hours previously, and wanted a room. I assigned them to one, and he paid for it. "He was nervous and she looked worn and haggard, but was perfectly self-possessed. She looked over her husband's shoulder as he wrote, and a half-sad smile spread over her face. They went to their room and nothing more was heard of them until the housemaid found them there dead in each other's arms. It was the position they were in that gave rise to the rumor that they had poisoned themselves." Miss Wolf or Mrs. Reta was a handsome brunette about 22 years of age. She was tall and slender. Reta was a fine-looking young fellow, with a typical Italian face. He carried himself like a soldier, and must have known something about anatomy, for the bullets in each instance pierced the center of the heart. He was about 25 years of age, and was well known in the Italian colony here. His uncle in Mexico has been informed of his death. An inquest will be held tonight.
April 25th, 1895: Charles A. Patterson, cook at the Palace Hotel, last night slipped while carrying a cauldron of boiling water and had his arms and hands badly scalded. He was taken to the Receiving Hospital.
May 3rd, 1895:
Flowers of Every Hue
A Dazzling Display at the Rose Show in the Palace Hotel.
June 29th, 1895: Mention of a meeting being held in Parlor G of the Palace Hotel.
July 7th, 1895: Harry H. Harkley staying in Room 478 on the fourth floor of the Palace Hotel.
July 10th, 1895: Another of the pioneers has gone. M. Heverin, who was for thirty-five years at the head of the marble-cutting business in California, breathed his last at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. T. F. Harley, Belvedere, last Monday night. He was 70 years of age and an old-time member of the Exempt Firemen. His workmanship can now be seen in the Palace Hotel and Lick House, and City Hall.
July 14th, 1895: Died From Natural Causes. A sudden death was reported to the Morgue yesterday, found to have been from natural causes. John Kenyon, a driver for Wells, Fargo & Co., died in a chair in the office of the United Carriage Company in the Palace Hotel early in the morning. His residence was at 721 Geary Street. The Coroner gave the cause of death as heart disease.
Eugene Bianchi, the attorney, son of the late Eugenio and Madame Giovanna Bianchi, was married. on Wednesday evening last, at the Palace Hotel, to Miss Emily Gandolfo, daughter of L. Gandolfo, a retired merchant. The ceremony was performed by Presiding Justice of the Peace J. E. Barry, an old friend of the groom.
July 15th, 1895: FURTHER EVIDENCE OF "THE CALL'S" GREAT POPULARITY. Recent Editions Have Been Entirely Sold Out Before Noon—Why the Paper Is Winning Prestige Throughout the Entire City-Twenty-Six Authorities Talk of "The Call's" Wonderful Selling Powers From the Wharf to Buchanan Street.
Clarence sells The Call in the Grillroom of the Palace Hotel and says: "I sell about twelve there every day and those who are in the habit of buying it never take any other. A good many old gentlemen who eat there right along call for it the moment they get seated. Every day some new customer shows up and I am slowly building up a nice little business for The Call. A great many strangers, men I never saw before, ask for The Call as if they had heard of it all their lifetime. One man takes the paper because he says it is fit to take home."
July 17th, 1895: Around the Corridors. Congressman T. C. Joy of Missouri has done nothing for the last few hours but settle several demands for cold bottles, which seem to be on him very heavily. It seems that he came to the night clerk of the Palace Hotel a few evenings ago, and with a great display of secrecy handed him a little pasteboard box, with the information that it contained valuables. "I want this placed in the safe, Mr. Hammon," he said, "as many costly things are in it. I will go out this evening with Mrs. Joy and would prefer to have It in a secure place." "All right, sir," responded the clerk, with one of his justly celebrated bows, and the box was tucked away in a far corner, after which the combination was turned twice and the Congressman went his way rejoicing.
The next evening he returned to the office and politely said to Mr. Martin: "I will take the box of valuables left with you last evening." The box was delivered and Mr. Joy opened it before the clerk. Greatly to his surprise it contained nothing but a tortoise-shell comb and a few pieces of tissue paper. The clerk blushed and so did Mr. Joy. Both gentlemen looked confused. Several attempts at explanation were indulged in, but Mr. Joy could not account for the disappearance of the jewels, and Mr. Martin knew the box had not left the safe. There was a long, painful spell of heavy silence, and both gentlemen grew very polite to each other. Everything was looking peculiar to various people who stood around and thought all by themselves. Very little was said, however. Finally, Mr. Hammon, who received the package, was sent for. He also knew nothing. The participants were all on the defensive, but not a blow was struck. But it was getting frigid for somebody.
Presently the Congressman went upstairs to see Mrs. Joy about the strange disappearance. In a short time be returned and sneaked around to the cashier. Those who were near enough heard him whisper: "Say, old man, the wine is on me. My wife gave me the wrong box, and the jewels have been upstairs all the time." Mr. Joy is paying his losses like a man.
July 19th, 1895: William A. Pinkerton of detective fame is at the Palace Hotel with his nephew, Allan Pinkerton.
July 25th, 1895: R.I. Thomas of Nevada City married Miss May James of Oroville at the Palace Hotel last evening.
July 26th, 1895: George Warren, the assistant manager of the Palace Hotel, has returned from his summer outing in Plumas County.
August 13th, 1895: In the complaint section of the paper, Charles Warren Stoddard complains that San Francisco lacks color. "The excellent wisdom and taste which governed the designing of the Chronicle building was the cruelest of rebukes to the bay-windowed and gray ugliness of its vis-a-vis, the Palace Hotel."
August 29th, 1895: The directors of the Sharon Estate Company met yesterday to prepare for carrying out the work of making the proposed changes in the Palace Hotel. The most important of these are to enlarge the grillroom by adding to it the present billiard-room and making a billiard room downstairs. A new roof will be built over the court and a number of minor changes made.
September 2nd, 1895: Ex-Judge William C. Belcher died at 3 o'clock yesterday morning at the Palace Hotel. His death is attributed indirectly to an accident that happened years ago.
September 3rd, 1895: Joseph A. Ford, of the firm of Murphy, Grant & Co., died yesterday in his rooms at the Palace Hotel. He left his office last Thursday apparently in good health, but did not return on Friday as he felt slightly indisposed. However, he was not apparently in any danger until yesterday morning, when a collapse set in and he died at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. The cause of death was fatty degeneration of the heart.
September 7th, 1895: The will of Joseph A. Ford, who died last Monday, was read. "This will is written by my own hand at my room, No. 114, in the Palace Hotel, City and County of San Francisco, California. It is written and signed by me the 16th day of July, 1894."
September 11th, 1895: George A. Steinway, a son of the famous piano-maker, is a guest at the Palace Hotel.
September 15th, 1895: The contract for painting the Palace Hotel has been let. It is for paint on the outside only and will amount to fully $18,000. The color is to be a dull mouse, and the time consumed in completing the work will be several months The last time the hotel was painted the painters were brought from the East, but on this occasion none but local painters will be employed.
October 18th, 1895: The Union League Club's Headquarters in the Palace Hotel.
October 21st & 25th,1895:
November 2nd, 1895: Palace Hotel Letterhead
November 11th, 1895: Bert Roberts, a waiter in the Palace Hotel, had his left hand badly injured last evening in the "dumb waiter" that carries the food from the kitchen to the dining-room. The injury was dressed at the Receiving Hospital.
November 16th, 1895: Recalling a story about Sara Bernhardt's Great Dane, Myrtha. In 1891, her manager Henry E. Abbey, brought the dog to the Palace Hotel. On the first night, she destroyed $100 of furniture in the room and had to be taken back to Sara.
November 19th, 1895: Mention of Room 106.
November 23rd, 1895:
December 15th, 1895: Charles Mayne, the capitalist, died yesterday at 6 o'clock a. m. at his rooms in the Palace Hotel. A week before he was taken down with pneumonia while at the Pacific Club, and, owing to weakness of his heart, fainted at the time. He was removed to the hotel in an unconscious condition. After retraining consciousness, he gained strength for about a day, but since then gradually declined.
December 19th, 1895: Two well-known ladies, noted for their kindness and charity, passed away at almost the same moment at the Palace Hotel last night. One was the widow of the late Chief Justice R. H. Morrison of California, and the other was the wife of Joseph Powning of Oakland, who made a fortune here in manufacturing powder.
December 25th, 1895: MODERN SANITATION. Work of a Well-Known Firm in Some Large Buildings. The system of plumbing, drainage and ventilation of the Palace Hotel of this city has been entirely reconstructed by this firm, and all the material used for this work was supplied by them. The work of reconstructing the plumbing, etc., of this hotel is the largest ever undertaken in the United States.
December 26th, 1895: FIRE AT THE PALACE. Mrs. Marceau's Christmas Tree Destroyed. There was considerable excitement about the Palace Hotel at noon yesterday. It was caused by a fire in the room of Mrs. Marceau on the second floor of the building. Mrs. Marceau, wife of Colonel Marceau, gave a Christmas tree in her rooms. It was decorated with the usual festal offerings. In some manner the illuminations set fire to the tree, and consternation followed. The Fire Department was called out, but fortunately its services were not required. The flames were extinguished by the hotel force before much damage had been done.
January 2nd, 1896: New Year's Day at the Union League Club. Informal cordiality enthroned itself in the elegant headquarters of the Union League Club yesterday. The clubrooms in the Palace Hotel looked charmingly homelike, despite their rather imposing proportions, and many were the admiring comments on the tasteful decorations of the dining-hall. This apartment was naturally the Mecca of most of the visitors. Here congregated jurists and statesmen, luminaries in the social firmament and magnates in the marts of commerce, all enjoying the festal occasion. The dining-hall presented a most animated scene during the noon hour, when most of the members assembled for a late breakfast, or an early lunch.
January 8th, 1896: UNIFORMED CALL-BOYS. The Attendants at the Palace Hotel Now Clad in Blur, Silver and Gold. The entire force of colored callboys at the Palace Hotel, to the number of thirty, in the rotunda and on the various floors above, appeared yesterday in brand-new uniforms. The clothes which the force has hitherto worn have been of a very dark almost black color. It was uniform for all, but not so handsome as the new garb. The cloth of the latter is dark blue, the buttons silver and the braid bespangled with gold. A line of this gold braid runs down the trousers legs. The braid also describes several arcs, parabolas and other movements on the coats. Altogether the uniforms are quite an improvement on the old. They were evolved by a local tailor on an order given him by the management some time ago. On one side of the coat just above the chest is the word "Palace" and on the other "Hotel." The dark skullcaps hitherto used on which are the initials "P. H." are retained.
January 12th, 1896: WHAT THEY WOULD DO IN CASE OF FIRE. ...."I am greatly interested in a life-saving appliance that was tested and proved most satisfactory at the Palace Hotel a few years ago. I don't remember the name of the inventor nor the appliance itself, but it is the best invention of the kind I ever saw. There was a small metal box, within which was coiled a strong wire cord. One end of the cord could be attached to the bedpost and the box fastened to the waist by a belt. The cord uncoiled gradually, so that there would be no jar and positively no danger."
"A man so equipped could throw himself from a ten-story window with impunity and save others in the bargain, for the box could be sent back by the manipulation of a convenient button. The weight of the instrument is not more than three or four pounds, and it is so compact that it would take but a small space in a trunk or valise."
February 6th, 1896: Professor Alphonso Loisette, the well-known musician and lecturer of New York, died last night about 5 o'clock, at the Palace Hotel, of dysentery.
February 9th, 1896: ROYALTY MET AT COURT. Prince Luigi, Count Ceni and Prince Poniatowski met and regaled themselves over in the Palace Hotel court yesterday afternoon.
February 18th, 1896: A DINNER TO PADEREWSKI.
Samuel M. Shortridge Banquets the Distinguished Musician. FOURTEEN GUESTS PRESENT. A Menu That Was Nothing Less Than an Epicurean Dream Confronted the Feasters. The tapestry-room of the Palace Hotel glistened with carnation and white, the national colors of Ignace Paderewski, the master of music, whose wonderful hands have made harmony that has moved the people of two continents and wet millions of eyes with tears.
February 26th, 1896: REWARD for RETURN of short gold-mounted cigarette-holder; $5 for small silver matchbox marked T. J. P. Room 160, Palace Hotel.
March 8th, 1896: Champagne Sec. Of all champagnes Pommery Sec is most in demand in London. It is the favorite at all select gatherings, being preferred by the refined and fastidious classes of Europe rather than by the sporting fraternity. Among recent prominent affairs, Pommery Sec was served at the banquet in Atlanta tendered to President Cleveland, at the dinner in Hamburg, given to the German Emperor, and at the banquet in Bordeaux tendered to the President of the French Republic, and was a prominent feature at the dinner tendered to Paderewski at the Palace Hotel, being served exclusively on that occasion. By real connoisseurs Pommery Sec is considered the ideal champagne.
March 15th, 1896: Palace Hotel News Boys Uniformed. R. C. Wilber, the proprietor of the Palace Hotel news stand, in order to be in line with
the improvements going on about the hotel, has caused the corps of boys connected with the news stand, to don handsome uniforms. The uniforms are of a deep blue color. There are caps to match, each of which has the line in gold letters, "Palace Hotel News Stand." The suits are trimmed with black braid and glimmer with golden buttons.
March 25th, 1896: There was a very pretty and fashionable wedding at the Palace Hotel last evening, the contracting parties being Miss Ruby Lowenberg, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. I. Lowenberg, and Abraham Lincoln Brown, son of Mr. and Mrs. Morris Brown. The Maple Hall, where the ceremony was performed, was handsomely adorned with choice flowers. At the north end of the handsome hall a bower of apple blossoms, typical of spring, had been erected, and here the young people stood while the Rev. Dr. Voorsanger read the marriage ceremony.
March 29th, 1896: The Japanese Marquis Yamagata has a large portion of the first floor of the Palace Hotel, where some of the most luxurious apartments are located.
April 6th, 1896: A correspondent of the Tribune recalls how 50 years ago, the land which the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, is situated on was selling at $4 an acre.
April 13th, 1896:
Art Auction for Edwin Deakin Oil Paintings at the Palace Hotel.
April 25th, 1896:
The California Hotel Association throws their luxurious banquet at the Palace Hotel.
May 14th, 1896: MANY MEDICOS DISCUSS DISEASE. Homeopaths of California Convene to Exchange Ideas. Just One Hundred Years Since Hahnemann Founded This School. UNUSUAL INTEREST AROUSED. Attendance and New Members in Excess of Former Years— Women Well Represented. The California State Homeopathic Medical Society began its twentieth annual session yesterday forenoon in the Maple Room of the Palace Hotel. Over sixty doctors, about a fourth of them women, were present as representatives of various parts of the State.
**I have the menu for this event under the Menu section of the website.
Room 99 is mentioned in an article.
May 18th, 1896:
June 7th, 1896: Miss Mayne Worrall of Chester Lodge, Gilston Road. South Kensington, London, England, a highly connected and accomplished girl, about 22 years old, died suddenly in her room at the Palace Hotel about 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon. She was traveling around the world alone. The cause of her death appears to be heart disease, but it is quite possible that an autopsy, which will be held today, may reveal other causes of death. *A later report stated that she died from angina pectoris.
July 3rd, 1896: Pacific Coast Gas Association headquarters will be in Parlor "C" of the Palace Hotel.
July 9th, 1896: The executive committee of the Republican State Committee will meet at its headquarters, Room 166, Palace Hotel.
August 20th, 1896: Young Lady Wanted as Companion. Must speak Parisian French; good musician; good references. Call for three days, Room 70, Palace Hotel, 4th floor, 9 to 12.
September 4th, 1896: Harry Coben, a well-dressed young man, was charged at the City Prison yesterday with burglary. Wednesday afternoon he entered a room on the fourth floor of the Palace Hotel, occupied by a man from Stockton. The visitor happened to return to his room and found Cohen there with a tin box containing valuable papers under his arm, which he had taken from a trunk. The bellboy was summoned and Special Officer Glennon notified. Glennon placed Cohen under arrest and took him to the City Prison. The police know nothing of Cohen's past record. He gives his age as 18 years, although he looks much older.
September 25th, 1896: Headquarters of the Republican State Central Committee of California, Rooms 166-169, Palace Hotel, San Francisco.
October 9th, 1896: Chinese Out and White Men In. About forty-five Chinese who have been washing the various railings and glass in the upper corridors and elsewhere in the Palace Hotel have struck. There was a story in circulation that the boss of the Chinese was receiving a rake-off of from $2.50 to $5 a month of their wages, and that this was the reason of the strike. Manager Kirkpatrick denies this, and says the reason is that the boss has been querulous and hard to get along with, that he was therefore discharged, and the other Chinese followed. About the same number of white men have been added to the force since the evacuation of the Mongolians.
November 3rd, 1896: FAMOUS COLORED SERVANTS TO GO. The Picturesque Force at the Palace to Be Changed for White Men. Old Jerry, General Burnsides and Other Noted Characters to Step Out. EXPECTED FOR SEVERAL DAYS Many of Them There for Tears and When Senator Sharon Opened the Great Hotel.
The twenty-eight colored men, constituting those on the various floors, in the main office and at the doors of the Palace Hotel, a number of whom have been with the great caravansary since it opened, will go forth probably to-day to seek new positions. Their places have been filled by white men from the Baldwin, California and other hotels. The blue uniforms, spangled with golden braid and gold and silver buttons, have already been made for them. The change has been on the cards for some time.
It has been supposed that it would take place on November 1, and several conferences were had by some of the colored men. as committees of the whole, with Manager Kirkpatrick and Assistant Manager Warren. They could, so they tell, get no definite information about it till yesterday, when it was admitted that the change would take place. Among the colored men are some whose names are as well known among the wealthy and influential as any men, white or black, in the City. Old Jerry, otherwise Jerry Peterson, is one of these. He has long carried cards to the ladies in the parlor, and his white hair and long white moustache have made him a striking figure in the hotel. John Brodie, up on one of the upper floors, whose tremendous Dundreary whiskers have been responsible for the pseudonym of General Burnsides, which has been thrust on him, and Al Frazier are among the men. Brodie came from New York, and has been twenty-eight years at the hotel. Jerry Peterson has been there twenty-eight years. He also came from New York. Al Frazier has been at the hotel twenty-one years. He came from Kansas. Then there is Charley Tinsley, Joseph and Eb Saunders, John Randolph, James Longstreet, George Mitchell and others equally well known. These and the others are known to tens of thousands of people over the globe, who have at one time or another been guests at the Palace.
Some of the colored men have been in the employ of famous men previous to their coming here. Others served in the great caravansaries of Boston, New York Saratoga, Chicago, and St. Louis at one time or another. Then Ralston, Sharon, Senator Newton Booth and others, now passed from these scenes, were at the Palace. Some of these colored men waited upon them. The two watches who are to be replaced are as follows: Watch No. I— Captain George Mitchell, William Godair, Theodore Jackson, Samuel Wright, Charles Santacruz, James Brodie Alexander Avery, Charles Tinsley, Robert Champ, Jerry Peterson, Joe Lopaz, William Turner, William Jones and William Hane. Watch No. 2— Captain John Randolph, George Clarke, William MacAuston, James Longstreet, William Frazer, B. F. Terryal, Abanger Saunders, Alexandra Brown, Tully MacDanels. Julian Johnson, Henry Randolph, Joseph Saunders, Jerry Marshall and Leo Leavy.
The story of one of the colored men yesterday was that for some time past articles had been missed from the rooms, and that, without direct charges being made, it had been decided to get a new force. "The guests are for us." he said, "but that don't make any difference. You see, there are a lot of skeleton keys in the possession of different people, and they go and come as they please. The laundry-man has them; the housekeeper, of course, as that is to be expected, and is all right; the plumber, the locksmith and others. Then there have been some little disagreements. So the result is that we are all to go. I don't know what we will do. None of us know. We expected we would go on November 1, but we were not notified, and now the general understanding is that we won't go till after the election. A notice has been put up that hereafter all employes are to be paid by the day, so we think it applies to our case. It was settled to-day that the change is to take place soon. The uniforms of the white boys and men who are to succeed us have been finished and ready for them for several days." Probably no colored men throughout the Union are better known than those of the Palace Hotel. At one time among them was a very eloquent colored man, who won celebrity as a speaker through several political campaigns. The colored men say they were getting $30 a month, but that their successors get a little less, or from $20 to $25.
December 19th, 1896: Mr. M. Strauss announces in the papers that his entire art collection comprising of 125 oil paintings and sketches, will be auctioned off. In the Palace Hotel Maple Room, Tuesday December 22nd to Wednesday December 23rd.
December 27th, 1896: Alfred T. Tubbs, one of California's most successful pioneer business men, died very suddenly at the Palace Hotel yesterday morning about 9 o'clock. Mr. Tubbs had been unwell for about three weeks but seemed to be on the way to recovery. Christmas Day he went driving and was in excellent spirits. Yesterday morning he entered a bathroom at the Palace, and apparently had taken his bath and was about to dress when his heart failed and he fell dead.
January 20th, 1897: George H. Hallett, the oldest guest at the Palace Hotel, on Monday celebrated the twentieth anniversary of his experiences at that big caravansary. He antedates and overtops all the other guests in that he has not been there longer than anybody else, but that he has maintained his residence there. Several friends joined him in celebrating the event and the Palace sent him a colossal cake in commemoration of the event.
January 26th, 1897: Answer to Correspondents: Height of Buildings - The height of the Palace Hotel above the level of the street is 120 feet.
January 28th, 1897: FELL TO HIS DEATH. A Chinese Plunges Down One Hundred Feet in the Palace Hotel Tried to Get Into a Moving Elevator, but He Slid Under It Into the Shaft. Chin Wah Sing, a Chinese housecleaner employed in the Palace Hotel, fell down an elevator shaft yesterday morning and was killed. It was a shocking accident, for the distance be fell was from the fifth floor to the basement, something over 100 feet. When the Coroner's deputies reached the place they found Sing lying on a pile of pipes. Scarcely a bone in his body escaped unbroken: in fact, the man was literally crushed by the force of the fall. The accident occurred at the elevator on the Annie Street side of the building, the one chiefly used by the servants. The cage stopped on the fifth floor, going up, to allow James Casey, a carpenter, to enter. When the carpenter was safely inside Joe Gillispie, who was in charge of the elevator, closed the door. At that moment Sing ran to the elevator and seized the door before the latch caught, and throw it open sprang for the ascending cage, which was then about three feet above the level of the floor. In doing so he slipped and both feet went into the elevator shaft under the car and the force of the fall threw the Chinaman's body into the shaft. A moment later there was a sickening crash as the body of the man landed on the iron pipes over 100 feet below. From appearances the unfortunate fellow must have turned over completely as he went down, for his head was crashed out of all resemblance to that of a human being.
February 24th, 1897: Two hundred and fifty prominent citizens from representative walks of life, and from all parts of Northern California, assembled at the Palace Hotel last night to tender a farewell banquet to Hon. Joseph McKenna, who is soon to depart for Washington to accept a Cabinet position.
March 5th, 1897: Coroner Hawkins will make a test case of the legal difficulties over the effects of John M. Oakley, the Pittsburg millionaire who died at the Palace Hotel on Tuesday evening presumably from (and later confirmed) the effects of over-indulgence in champagne.
March 8th, 1897: Sir Bache Cunard of London, one of the owners of the celebrated Cunard line of steamships plying on the Atlantic, arrived here yesterday evening from the East and took apartments at the Palace Hotel.
April 6th, 1897: This is the height of the tourist season, and throngs of visitors from different parts of the East are arriving here every week. Nearly every day sees tourists reach here, and the attaches of the hotels, especially those of the Palace, to which most of the Raymond and Whitcomb tourists are ticketed, have all they can do to attend to them. The United Carriage company has for some time past, owing to the extra demands because of increased travel, had some difficulty in supplying the needed carriages. The tourist season, which opened earlier this winter than usual, and which has now reached such a point that it has not been equaled for three years, will last for probably a month more. Yesterday for several hours there was a crush and jam at the Palace that made the driveway and office look like a section out of the heart of Market Street, so many people here there to look after.
April 11th, 1897: Newspaper noted that the Palace Hotel has its own doctor's office.
May 10th, 1897:
Grill Room Ad
May 20th, 1897: Station K of the San Francisco Post Office, located inside of the Palace Hotel, brought in $175,000 in revenue last year.
June 21st, 1897: Earthquake in Salinas. ...The trembling of the earth alarmed some of the guests at the Palace Hotel. The shock was the first earthquake experience for some of the Eastern tourists, and they asked a good many questions of the clerks. The shock caused a feeling similar to seasickness. The guests at the Baldwin, Occidental and Lick felt the quaking distinctly, but did not run outdoors.
J. R. Regan, who was well known as the electrician of the Palace Hotel, died of pneumonia at St. Mary's Hospital yesterday morning at 4 o'clock. He was well known in New York and other cities as an expert in his line of electrical work. He wired the Palace eight years ago, and had charge of the electrical apparatus of that establishment until he was attacked with the disease which caused his death.
July 6th, 1897: Sensational Suicide at the Palace Hotel Barber Shop. The barber shop in the Palace Hotel was the scene of a sensational suicide yesterday morning shortly after 7 o'clock. At that time John C. Hall, a barber employed at the shaving establishment, walked in and poured a quantity of liquid in a glass. He swallowed the dose without making comment to his fellow barbers and then took a seat in a chair near the door leading to the office of the United Carriage Company. As he sat down he remarked that it would "soon be over" as he had taken a large dose of carbolic acid. Presently he spoke of the intense burning of his mouth and throat. As soon as the men in the shop realized that he had taken carbolic acid a physician was instantly summoned. Meanwhile the patient's agony was intense, but it was brief. Three minutes had not elapsed after he had taken the dose until he fell sideways from the chair, his head striking the tessellated floor. Blood flowed from the wounds caused by his fall. When Dr. Joseph O'Farrell arrived a minute or so later, Hall was beyond hope of medical aid. Two minutes later life was extinct. His body was conveyed to the Morgue.
July 14th, 1897: Trustees of the Union gathered in Room 390 of the Palace Hotel.
July 18th, 1897: THE NUMBER THIRTEEN IS A LOCAL HOODOO. The age of superstition has not passed away. There is the Palace Hotel, for instance. A magnificent caravansary, but it has no single room 13. The room which would bear that number is part of a suite, and when a guest is given it the number that goes on the register is 12. The affable chief clerk says that in his San Francisco experience he has never had a man object to room 13, but at the Metropole Hotel in New York years ago a titled foreigner, an English nobleman, Mr. Cummings thinks, came to the hotel and was assigned room 13. He would not have it. He knew he was foolish, he said, but as he was he was, he concluded, and he was given another room.
October 20th, 1897: Walter S. Hobart, the young multi-millionaire and fancier of thoroughbred horses, is to be operated upon tomorrow for appendicitis. Monday morning he came to this city from San Mateo and went immediately to the Palace Hotel, where the operation will be performed and where he has engaged for a month's time a suite of four large rooms on the fifth floor in the corner on Market and Annie Streets. Yesterday afternoon all the furniture, even to the carpets, was removed from one of the rooms, which to-day will be thoroughly sterilized preparatory to converting it into an operating chamber. Dr. Beverly MacMonagie, Mr. Hobart's physician, will be in charge of the operation.
October 24th, 1897:
November 6th, 1897: Manager John C. Kirkpatrick of the Palace Hotel has issued to each of the city newspaper interviewers a souvenir cardcase containing an invitation tendering the courtesies of the grillroom and the wine cellar to the bearer and his family on Thanksgiving Day.
December 9th, 1897: Dr. V. Condory has opened a physician office in Room 333 of the Palace Hotel.
December 12th, 1897: The Parade Committee held a prolonged session in Room 168, Palace Hotel.
December 25th, 1897: ELECTRIC LIGHTED CHRISTMAS TREE. Great Cypress in Palace Court Ablaze With Incandescent Globes. Brilliant Array of 800 Vari-Co!ored Burners Amid Rich Green Foliage. The Palace Hotel, following a pretty custom inaugurated last year, has erected in the great inner courtyard a beautiful Christmas tree resplendent with hundreds of vari-colored incandescent electric lights appearing among and pendant from the rich green branches as a plentiful crop of glowing and sparkling fruit. It is a symmetrical cone shaped young cypress tree forty feet in height and supplied with 500 sixteen candle power globes in five colors — red. blue, yellow, purple and frosted white. The effect, made more striking by the peculiar surroundings, is wonderfully brilliant and fairy like, particularly when the multiple reflections are observed in the glass of the tall main doorways. The wiring of the tree and the arrangement of the globes was the work of Edgar Gribble, the youthful electrician of the Palace Hotel. He was employed constantly all of Thursday night in perfecting the plan in order that the tree might be complete when hastily put in place yesterday afternoon. Last night about fifty little choir boys from the Good Samaritan Mission, all attired in surplices, gathered about the tree and sang Christmas carols. Hundreds of persons were present, and other hundreds came later to see the tree. Thousands of persons came to see the electric Christmas tree last year, and more are expected to see this one, which has more lights and more colors. This evening from 8 to 10 o'clock the tree will be lighted and on every successive night, at the same hours, until and including New Year's night.
December 26th, 1897: Max Schulhofer of San Francisco has come to this place to take full charge of the Palace Hotel the first of the new year. (Which I assume isn't true since Kirkpatrick is still noted as manager on January 26th in an article).
January 2nd, 1898: Charles Hooker of Louisville, Kentucky, and Miss Lillian Hendley of Santa Rosa, California, were married Thursday at noon in the parlor of the Palace Hotel.
February 19th, 1898: Mentions Schumacher & Co., Jewelers, in the Palace Hotel building.
March 21st, 1898: The Palace Hotel has thirteen electric meters to monitor electricity usage throughout. The bill can be in upwards of $30,000 a year.
March 31st, 1898: MIDNIGHT CAPERS OF A LOCAL TEMBLOR. At exactly 17 minutes to 12 o'clock last night, as shown by the halted hands of the clocks, San Francisco was shaken by the severest earthquake that has visited it in many years. There was no preliminary tremor, so far as downtown observers know, but without an instant's warning the rocking began. So long was the movement continued, and so violent was it, that reports the most exaggerated, born of the terror and surprise of the moment, were at once in circulation. It is probably no exaggeration to say the shook lasted ten seconds, but which way the earth was moved must be left to the determination of scientific instruments.
.....Walter Vail was in his bed at the Palace Hotel. So violent was the shock that it tore plastering from the ceiling, and he hastily dressed, bringing out a large piece of plastering with him. "I rushed into the street as soon as I could dress, for I felt sure that a shock that did so much damage in the hotel must have seriously hurt tall buildings."
May 3rd, 1898: Bushelman Wanted - Room 1001, Palace Hotel.
May 5th, 1898: Wanted - Young woman to sew for a few hours in mornings. Room 605, Palace Hotel.
May 28th, 1898: Major-General Wesley Merritt, Governor-General of the Philippines, has established his temporary headquarters in Rooms 78 and 80 and adjoining apartments on the fourth floor of the Palace Hotel.
June 16th, 1898: Walter D. Humiston attempted suicide in Room 766 at the Palace Hotel, but his body rejected the poison. His final note was sent to the coroner with a check to be cremated - and the coroner went to the Palace upon receiving it. That's where he found Humiston still alive and learned the story. It was believed he never took the poison at all and it was a trick to gain the affection of a woman who had rejected him.
June 25th, 1898: The headquarters of the State military - which have been located in the California Hotel since the first call for troops, will be moved tomorrow to the Palace Hotel, rooms 170 and 172, first floor.
June 29th, 1898: The Palace Hotel is noted as having an Oriental Room.
July 10th, 1898:
NEW WATER-CURTAIN, DESIGNED TO PROTECT BUILDINGS FROM NEAR-BY FIRES. The new water curtains, in action resembling a waterfall, are being rapidly introduced through the valuable buildings of Chicago. They are already in use in the big theaters of Paris. The sketch above shows how a water curtain would be used on the Palace Hotel should it be threatened by fire from the Grand Hotel opposite.
August 19th, 1898: There are forty-one voters who give their residence as the Palace Hotel.
September 2nd, 1898:
Drawing of John C. Kirkpatrick, manager of the
Palace Hotel.
October 22nd, 1898: THEY DANCED SIX FIGURES. The Entre Nous Cotillon Club Opens the Season at the Palace Hotel. The first dance of the season was held in the Maple Hall, at the Palace Hotel, last evening, when the Entre Nous Cotillon Club held its opening assembly and german, inaugurating its ninth season.
November 25th, 1898: Stories are being printed about the burning of one of San Francisco's other famous luxury hotels, the Baldwin.
November 29th, 1898:
While not Palace-related, I still thought it interesting to share that teams were sent into the Baldwin after the fire to save whatever they could before the walls were torn down.
December 3rd, 1898: The Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity of the University of California will give its annual banquet this evening at 7 o'clock in the conservatory of the Palace Hotel.
December 5th, 1898: FELL HEADLONG TO DEATH FAR DOWN BELOW. Fearful Fall of Charles Shaughnessy Down an Elevator Shaft in the Palace. Some Mystery Surrounds the Manner of the Accident — Broken Panes of Glass Lead to Complications in the Case.
Charles Shaughnessy, one of the night elevator men at the Palace Hotel, was instantly killed last night at 10:40 o'clock by falling down the elevator shaft from the third floor. Just exactly how he met his death no one can tell, for as far as can be learned there were no eye-witnesses to the sad tragedy. The first intimation that anyone had of the accident was a sound like that of falling glass. There were several people in the lobby at the time and they rushed to the elevator. On looking in the shaft they saw what was apparently a lot of broken dishes, and it was first thought that some one of the waiters had dropped a tray. The elevator was at the top of the shaft on the sixth floor. Gradually, as the eyes of those who peered into the bottom of the shaft became accustomed to the darkness, the form of a man was seen. Shaughnessy lay upon his back, with his left leg resting on the iron brace that supports the framework of the shaft. The back of his head was crushed to a pulp.
Night Clerk McDermott at once notified Manager Warren of the hotel, who immediately telephoned for the ambulance. By this time many guests and the waiters and bellboys, attracted by the noise, had gathered. Nearly all guests in the hotel heard the crash and came from their rooms alarmed. Shaughnessy's body was taken from the shaft and Dr. J. D. Whitney, who had been summoned, made a hasty examination. He said death had been instantaneous. His neck was broken. The bottom of the shaft is of wood and the floor had been broken by the force of the impact.
A. Akergren, employed in the hotel as a private detective, came rushing on the scene a few moments after the noise had been heard. According to his statement he was the last person who saw the unfortunate man alive. He was on the sixth floor and rang for the elevator to go to the third floor. He says that Shaughness came up to the sixth floor and took him down to the third, where he let him off. Akergren stated that he then left the elevator and turned into the hallway. As he did so he heard the noise of the fall and rushed back. The door of the elevator was open. The heavy plate glass above the door was broken and lay over the floor, shattered into a thousand pieces. Akergren rushed to the first floor, thinking that the elevator had fallen.
The most mysterious part of the sad accident, for which no one seems to be able to account, is how the glass came to be broken. The glass was in one solid piece about seven by five feet. It had been completely shattered and broken outward, for nearly all of it was on the floor, showing that something had struck it. Between the top of the elevator door and the glass there is a strong frame which would not permit of a body passing between it and the elevator. The explanation advanced by some is that Shaughnessy, who had a habit of standing in front of the elevator with his back to the door when waiting for a call, was doing this on the third floor, and that without his knowing it the elevator started, and that when some one rang he stepped back into the opening. This is not plausible, for if it were true it does not account for the broken glass. This same elevator on another occasion became unmanageable and ran from the first floor to the top of the hotel. Some are inclined to believe that Shaughnessy was standing on the landing of the third floor, that the elevator started and he sprang to get in, and in doing so was caught and dragged upward and thrown through the glass, and that not having had time to close the door his body when it struck the floor fell through the door again and down the shaft. On its face this is a plausible solution, but it would be impossible for a human body to be dragged between the frame of the door and the elevator, and this would have had to have been the case before Shaughnessy could have fallen through the glass.
Detective Akergren stated that the elevator did not stop at the fourth floor as he came down, and yet Thomas Morcum, a bellboy on the fourth floor, who heard the noise and who rushed to the elevator shaft immediately, declares that he found the door on the fourth floor open about six inches and that he closed it. The glass plate was about a sixth of an inch in thickness and it would have required a heavy blow to have broken it. Akergren says when he left the elevator and turned into the hall he had barely gotten around the corner before he heard the noise of the fall, so that the time between leaving the elevator and that when Shaughnessy fell to his death was hardly enough for the elevator to have got to the fourth floor, and yet the door on the fourth floor was open. Just how the poor man met his death will in all probability never be known and the only explanation to be had is that in some unaccountable way Shaughneesy fell through one of the elevator doors, but whether the elevator had got away from him or not will never be known. The body was taken at once to the Morgue. Shaughnessy lived at 1316 1/2 Mission Street. He was unmarried and about 37 years of age. He had been employed in the hotel continuously for ten years and bore the reputation of being sober and industrious. He once went to Guatemala on a mining expedition and lost his money and on his return here went back to work at the Palace and has been there ever since. He has several brothers living here.
December 13th, 1898: Mrs. Emilie D. F. Hanlon, one of the best-known residents of this city, died at 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon at the Palace Hotel after a brief illness of a little over two weeks. The deceased was the widow of the late Captain Daniel Hanlon, who was one of the early pioneers of this State. On November 25, after eating a hearty dinner, Mrs. Hanlon broke a blood vessel in her brain and became unconscious. From then until the hour of her death she was in a comatose condition.
December 18th, 1898: Mrs. Dr. Terry, Medium. There are three houses in San Francisco that are marked by the fire fiend. These three buildings are the Phelan building, the Parrott building and the Palace Hotel. All three of these are so well watched that it does not sound plausible to say that they are in any danger. But it is bound to come. While they will be more or less damaged none of them will burn to the ground. Nor will there be any loss of life. All three of these fires will take place within the next eight months.
December 25th, 1898:
MAMMOTH ELECTRIC CHRISTMAS TREE.
According to annual custom, the Palace Hotel management has on exhibition in the court a mammoth electric Christmas tree, which is attracting the admiration and amazement of the beholder. The tree is thirty-six feet high and nearly two feet in circumference at the base. On its massive branches are 502 incandescent lamps of seven different colors— red, white, blue, yellow, amber, purple and green, and the effect when the lights were turned on last night for the first time was marvelously beautiful. Edgar C, Gribble, chief electrician of the Palace, put the tree in place with the assistance of eight men. He says that it came from Sonoma County and when first received was a somewhat shapeless mass of leaves and branches. It weighs over a thousand pounds and it took four men four days to give it the symmetrical proportions It now possesses. Additional branches were attached. Mr. Gribble performed all the electrical work himself and he has been extremely fortunate in the resultant combination of colors. The tree will be on exhibition all this week. Last night the vested boys' choir of the Good Samaritan Mission pang several Christmas carols under the glare of the myriad of colored electric lights and a large crowd assembled to hear the sweet strains. Now on Exhibition in the Palace Hotel Court.
January 4th, 1899: Romaine Angel, a bellboy in the Palace Hotel, was arrested yesterday morning by Detectives Egan and Gibson and locked up in "the tanks" at the City Prison. A number of small articles of jewelry have been missing from the rooms of guests and an opal pin valued at $20. which was stolen from the room of A. H. Wheelhouse, a commercial traveler, in October last, was traced to Angel. It is not known yet whether he will be prosecuted.
January 6th, 1899: Miss Lucie Cahen, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Cahen, and Louis Stern of the firm Levi Strauss & Co. were married yesterday afternoon at 4 o'clock In the Maple Hall of the Palace Hotel. Rev. Dr. Voorsanger of the Temple Emanu-El spoke the binding words that made the happy couple husband and wife.
January 31st, 1899: Senator John Boggs, for the decedent represented the Eighth Senatorial District in the State Legislature, had been ill for some days. He died in his rooms at the Palace Hotel with his wife present at 8:30 this morning.
February 15th, 1899: IN A BOWER OF PEACH BLOSSOMS. Callaghan Byrne Weds Mrs. Hope Ellis Sherwood. One of the prettiest weddings of the season was that at high noon yesterday which made Mrs. Hope Ellis Sherwood and Callaghan Byrne man and wife as they stood together in the parlors of the Palace Hotel amid a fairy bower of peach blossoms, palms, ferns and lilies.
March 7th, 1899: H. L. Leighton, bellboy in the Palace Hotel, was arraigned before Judge Morgan yesterday on the charge of robbery, and the case was continued until Friday. He is accused of forcibly taking three rings from the fingers of Ethel Hall at the point of a revolver in the Silver State House, Mason Street, Sunday night, and threatening to kill her unless she married him.
March 19th, 1899: Tom Waucum, (a later paper has the last name as Morcom) formerly a bellboy in the Palace Hotel, was arrested last evening by Policeman Baxter, and now occupies a berth in the "tanks," pending an investigation of his conduct during the past week. He was removed from Stockton and Market Streets by the policeman, and without an opportunity to notify friends of his incarceration he was lodged among other men who are under suspicion of having committed crime. Waucum was a victim of his own lack of wisdom. Earlier in the evening he flashed a wallet containing a large number of greenbacks among his friends and enemies, and the latter having heard that he was discharged from the Palace for stealing, informed on him.
March 21st, 1899: LOST— small tan dog with brown stripe down back; tongue hangs out; answers to the name of "Wa Wa." Liberal reward and no questions asked by returning to Room 72, Palace Hotel.
April 28th, 1899:
C. P. HUNTINGTON IS FEASTED AND EXALTED BY HIS ASSOCIATES.
Vice President Stubbs Displays Rare Genius and Diplomacy in Seating the Guests.
George Crocker, as the Leader of the Fourteen Banquet-Givers, Occupies the High Position of Host — Speech of the Guest of Honor.
The expanded banquet given in honor of Collis P. Huntington at the Palace Hotel last evening by fourteen officers of the Southern Pacific was an affair worthy of our blessed railroad aristocracy. According to inside information obtained from the yellow building the dinner was tendered to President C P. Huntington and Vice President General Hubbard by the general officers of the company. Moet & Chandon brand of champagne was served exclusively.
May 5th, 1899: Steven M. White occupies Room 714 at the Palace Hotel. A joke in the paper noted that Governor Gage was staying in that room and Mr. White was flooded with visitors.
May 12th, 1899: A PLAYHOUSE PROPOSED FOR PALACE HOTEL. May Take Definite Shape. — MANAGEMENT CONSIDERING IT - PLENTY OF ROOM IN THE BIG CARAVANSARY. If the Theater Is Constructed It Will Be the Most Commodious and Best Equipped West of Chicago. The theater-going people of San Francisco will be pleased with the announcement that the construction of a theater, in the Palace Hotel is being considered by the owners of the caravansary. The proposition has been under discussion for some days and while favorably considered by those interested, as yet no definite plans have been entertained.
There are many reasons why such a new playhouse might be very popular and the most extensively patronized in San Francisco, and the managers of the place seem willing to give the proposition thorough consideration, with a result, perhaps, that they will commence the construction of the theater in a short time.
Two suggestions for its location have been made. The first is that it occupy the space now known as the Maple Room, and the second that it be placed on the Market Street side, in either the present dining room or where some of the stores have been given space. Should the first plan be adopted an entrance will be built on the Jessie Street side, the patrons will also have the advantage of the court driveway in wet or wintry weather. If the Market Street location is found to be the most feasible, the entrance will lead on to the main street of the city. When seen last night, Colonel Kirkpatrick said: "The proposition is quite feasible. We have it under consideration, but as yet it has assumed no definite shape. Should we attempt it, our intention is to make it the handsomest theater west of Chicago, and no expense will be spared in its construction. At present I cannot estimate what its cost would be. Such a thing would depend solely on the material used in its decoration. In size it would be larger than the Columbia. We recognize the great advantages to be gained by building a playhouse in connection with this hotel. Its convenient location for guests of the hotel is one and its seat in the heart of the city is another. Since the burning of the Baldwin Theater the hotel patrons of San Francisco have felt the necessity of a theater hotel and if our plans mature the bill will be filled."
June 9th, 1899: PALACE HOTEL WILL HAVE ITS THEATER. MANAGER KIRKPATRICK HAS ASKED FOR ESTIMATES. He Returned Last Evening After Having Inspected the Big Play Houses of the East. The Palace Hotel theater is to be a thing of the immediate future. So says Colonel John C. Kirkpatrick, manager of the Sharon estate, who returned last evening after a month spent in visiting the big hotels and theaters of the Eastern States. "From the way matters look at present," said he, "I think I may say the theater will be built and it will be one of the finest in the land. While in the East I called upon several prominent architects and they became more enthusiastic than I myself after I had described the hotel and its possibilities from an architectural standpoint. I requested two of these architects--one in Chicago and one in New York— to prepare estimates for me as soon as they possibly could, and I expect them out here within six weeks," continued Mr. Kirkpatrick. "We will have to make measurements for them out here and this we will do at once. The theater will be built in the Jessie Street end of the hotel and will require all that end of the building. There will be an entrance from Jessie Street, another from New Montgomery and one through the hotel from the court. We have everything here to make one of the finest theatres in this country and at much less expense than I at first thought. I confess I have come back more enthusiastic than when I left." Colonel Kirkpatrick could not say how soon work would be begun, but thought not long after the receipt here of the estimates he has requested.
July 29th, 1899: Charles Steele, of the firm of Seward, Guthrie & Steele, lawyers of New York has been given Suite 50 on the fifth floor of the Palace Hotel.
August 6th, 1899: Attended only by his valet, ex-Congressman William A. Piper died shortly after 11 o'clock yesterday morning in his rooms at the Palace Hotel. A combination of heart failure and dropsy were the immediate causes of his death, though he had been ailing for a long time, not only from these troubles but from a variety of maladies that generally attend on extreme old age. Mr. Piper was a native of Pennsylvania, 75 years of age.
August 20th, 1899: BOOKSELLER DOXEY'S FAILURE. He Filed a Petition in Insolvency for Liabilities of $51,000. William Doxey, the Palace Hotel book- seller, whose financial difficulties have been made public already, filed yesterday in the United States District Court a petition in insolvency.
August 22nd, 1899: EASTERN MAN WANTS BALDWIN HOTEL SITE. Contemplates Erecting a Building Larger Than the Palace Hotel. Milo M. Potter, proprietor of the Van Nuys Hotel here, stated this morning that be Is negotiating with an Eastern man who has offered $1,600,000 for the old Baldwin Hotel site In San Francisco. E. J. Baldwin, the owner, has not however, offered the site for less than $3,000,000. Should the gentleman associated with Mr. Potter secure the site, a hotel larger than the Palace Hotel will be built, and under the direction of Mr. Potter, be conducted on the plan of the Van Nuys here. The estimated cost of furnishings is $250,000.
August 23rd, 1899: Mrs. Martha Hitchcock died at the Palace Hotel last evening - after a very short illness. Mrs. Hitchcock was one of the best known of the pioneer women of the State.
September 15th, 1899: The Swedish-Americans of California tenured a banquet to Governor Lind of Minnesota in the Maple Room of the Palace Hotel last evening. The banquet hall was decorated with Swedish and American flags, under which, at the head of the table, sat Governor Lind.
October 21st, 1899: On Sunday morning the reception and business headquarters of the State Association will be opened by Secretary Benjamin in the chief corner suites of the Palace Hotel, of which door 162 will be the entrance.
October 25th, 1899: If Gretchen Kooiftra is unemployed call at room 868 Palace Hotel, between 4 and 5 today.
October 29th, 1899: C. H. Randall has been appointed leader of the Palace Hotel orchestra.
November 10th, 1899:
The Loan Exhibition and sale of needlework and laces now in progress in the Maple Room of the Palace Hotel is attracting considerable attention. A large crowd was present both yesterday afternoon and evening and there Is much merit in the unique collection of beautiful tapestries and antique specimens of laces.
November 12th, 1899: THE SUPPER ROOM. A New Feature at the Palace Hotel. The Palace Hotel management will on November 18 open their new supper room for the accommodation of those who desire refreshments during the evening. Formerly the American Dining Room, the room to be devoted to this new feature has an entrance from the main office and another from the grand court. When completed the luxurious furnishings, the artistic finish, together with the display of tropical palms, will make it one of the most beautiful rooms in the hotel. Myriads of incandescent lights will be employed to show the color effects and the harmony of the decorations. Each evening between 9:30 and 12 o'clock orchestral concerts will be rendered by the best musical talent under the direction of Mr. C. H. Randall. Among the distinguished performers who will assist are Signor Pietro Mareno, Messrs. Ford and Regensberger. The concerts are to be of a high order and will be greatly appreciated by the patrons of the supper room. The tapestry room adjoining is being refurnished and will be converted into a cloak room, where a maid will attend to the comfort of the lady patrons. The conservatory will be fitted up as a waiting or lounging room, and smoking will be permitted there as in the supper room. The perfection of the cuisine and service, combined with the moderate charges that have given the grill rooms at the Palace an international reputation, are to be in evidence in the supper room, which in itself is sufficient to justify us in making the prediction that the new departure will be a success from the start.
Mr. and Mrs. Edgar F. Preston gave a most enjoyable dinner on Thursday evening last In the main parlor of the second floor of the Palace Hotel.
December 6th, 1899: LOST— A roll of architectural drawings, at the Palace Hotel lavatory, early Friday morning. Liberal reward will be paid to finder at the Palace Hotel bar.
December 8th, 1899:
December 24th, 1899: Ordered to Vacate. Will remove in January to 735 Market Street, Olsen Grocery, and move back to 633 Market Street. Palace Hotel building. In February. Townsend Glace Fruit and Candy Factory, 627 Palace Hotel bldg.
December 28th, 1899: DEATH OF MRS. MARTIN. Wife of the Prominent Mining Capitalist Expires at the Palace. The many friends of William H. Martin, capitalist and owner of the famous Rawhide mine, will learn with a shock of the affliction that has fallen upon him by the loss of his wife, who died yesterday morning in her apartments in the Palace Hotel. Mrs. Martin has been an invalid for the past year and her death is due to a complication of troubles from which she had been suffering for a long time, principal among which was inflammatory rheumatism.
January 22nd, 1900: Lying on a slab at the Morgue is the body of Captain J. Friedman one of the best known of the city's capitalists, who died suddenly yesterday in his apartments in the Palace Hotel. The manner of his death was at first only a surmise. But from all appearances it was due to some heart trouble and was as sudden as it was painless.
January 25th, 1900: The extra session of the State Legislature was born last week in Room 962 — the room of Jack Wright — at the Palace Hotel. In this room Governor Gage, William F. Herrin, Dan Burns and Jack Wright met to prepare the call for the extra session, outline their policy and plan their campaign for the election of a United States Senator.
February 11th, 1900:
United States Senator Thomas R. Bard received last night an ovation and a reception which for their spontaneity and expressions of good fellowship and goodwill he will long remember. Under the direction of the Union League Club of this city. Republicans and Democrats, citizens of the metropolis and of the State, men of affairs and prominence in every walk of life, assembled to do him honor and wish him success and reward in the national field of politics to which he has been called. The great court of the Palace Hotel was brilliantly illumined for the occasion. Masked behind the palms an orchestra played stirring airs and shortly after 7 o'clock the crowd began, to rather. In a short while every gallery of the court, extending far toward the glass roof, was lined with eager spectators, who made a brilliant and an expectant throng. Scores of men and women moved about the court and in the gayly adorned rooms of the Union League Club there was excitement and activity.
March 15th, 1900: George Warren, for many years assistant manager of the Palace Hotel, has retired from that position owing to the delicate state of his health, which makes it imperative that he have more rest. He will go East within a short time to permanently reside. Mr. Warren's place will be filled by Obadiah Rich, chief clerk or the Grand.
April 13th, 1900: Friends of Professor Bernard C. Moses tendered him and his colleagues on the Philippine Commission a banquet last night in the ladies grillroom of the Palace Hotel. Tables were spread in the big apartment for upward of 400 guests, and every seat was occupied. The most representative citizens of both sides of the bay were present. The affair, associated as it is with one of the most important problems which confronts the nation, and one of especial moment to the Pacific Coast, attracted more than passing attention.
April 20th, 1900: Mrs. Nellie McPherson Young, sister of Mrs. Dr. E. S. Breyfogle, died at the Palace Hotel yesterday. She had been an invalid for several years and came West about a year ago in the hope that the change of climate would benefit her health.
May 20th, 1900: Diminishing Dread of Earthquakes in California. The damage caused by earthquake in the San Jacinto Valley proves that the shock, was severe, but it will not start the Californians to emigrating. They have ceased to fear earthquakes, reserving all their terrors for the thunderstorms of the East, which they do not have, and leave It to the delightfully frightened tourist to revel in his novel experience and tell his tale of hair-breadth escapes when he shall have returned home. ....When the Palace Hotel was erected in San Francisco a quarter of a century ago there was still considerable uneasiness over earthquakes, which was reflected in the plans of the architects. Immense foundations were provided for and thick pyramidal walls, which were designed to give the greatest possible power of resistance. Furthermore, in spite of these extraordinary precautions, it was not deemed prudent to carry the vast structure above some seven or eight stories. But the precedent is now completely ignored. Stone and brick, once prohibited materials, are freely used without any special means of security, and the steel framed sky-scraper is a common sight in the city. Cosmopolitan San Francisco goes serenely on its way as though such a thing as a seismic wave had never been heard of. Of course, such a working out of the theory of probabilities would not satisfy the man who never wound his watch for fear he would break the spring. Towns have been swallowed up through the action of earthquakes and others may be. But it is clear that the policy of the Californians is dictated by the rules of common sense. For it would be absurd to forego the most profitable use of property on the remote chance of a disaster which is never likely to occur.
May 25th, 1900: CAPTAIN ROBERT R. SEARLE, one of the oldest navigators in Western waters since the Pacific traffic became an object to the commercial world, died yesterday morning in his rooms at the Palace Hotel. For many years past he had been a sufferer from rheumatism and kindred ills.
May 31st, 1900: Smart young man to assist in tailoring store. El Paso, Texas. Apply WM. R. BRADSHAW. Room 953, Palace Hotel.
June 12th, 1900: Will D. Shea, secretary of the joint 9th of September celebration of the Native Sons of the Golden West, has opened headquarters in Rooms 190. 191, 192 and 193 on the first floor of the Palace Hotel.
July 8th, 1900: SCALDED TO DEATH IN A TREATMENT FOR POISONING. At a Physician's Dictation Two Painters Administer a Boiling-Water Bath to Paul Stadie, Who Had Taken Morphine to Commit Suicide. I find that Paul Stadie was literally boiled to death in a treatment to which he had been submitted for morphine poisoning. What part the poison played in causing his death is yet to be determined by a chemical analysis of the stomach. It was one of the most horrible cases I have ever seen. The epidermis of over three-fourths of the body had been peeled off. The statement of Dr. Noble that the man died of oedema of the lungs is erroneous. The autopsy failed to show any such condition. Paul Sadie, an eccentric German, took morphine with suicidal intent at the Palace Hotel yesterday. Shortly after his condition was discovered a physician was called and at his dictation the unfortunate man was submitted to a treatment by two painters in which he was literally boiled to death. His sufferings ended several hours later, and his horribly scalded body is mute evidence of the fearful manner of his death.
An autopsy performed last night by Dr. Thomas B. W. Leland showed that death was due principally to burns. The body presented a sickening spectacle as it lay on the Morgue slab. More than three-fourths of the epidermis had peeled off, exposing the nerves and blood vessels. In some places the blood oozed out and the condition was such that a rigid investigation of the horrible case will be made by the Coroner. Friday night he deserted his mean quarters and his family troubles and sought shelter beneath the roof of the great hostelry wherein to end his wretched existence. When a bell boy went to call him at 9 o'clock yesterday morning he found that he had taken poison and Dr. J. Albeit Noble was called. The physician recommended a hot bath and asked for nurses. None could be secured so a couple of painters were selected to do the job. They placed the unfortunate man in boiling water and cooked his flesh. About 5 o'clock in the evening the doctor says he realized that the man could not live and he was started for the Harbor Hospital. Before he reached there he was dead. Dr. Noble was later charged with negligence and that scalding was the cause of death.
September 8th, 1900: E. C. Thornton, who claims that he is an attorney from Portland. Or., is locked up in "the tanks" at the City Prison and will be detained until something definite Is learned by the police about him. He was discovered yesterday morning occupying a bedroom on the fifth floor of the Palace Hotel. How he got into the bedroom is a mystery, as the door was kept locked and no key was found on Thornton. He said that he was drunk and did not know how he got into the apartment.
September 9th, 1900: Yerba Buena Parlor No. 84 will entertain its friends in Rooms 170, 171, 172. 173 and 174 of the Palace Hotel. A concert will be given in the rooms tomorrow and Monday evening and refreshments will be served.
September 12th, 1900: FINE CONCERT IN THE PALACE COURT. Many hundred people gathered in the courtyard of the Palace Hotel last evening and enjoyed the concert given by the marine band of the United States training ship Pensacola. The musicians, forty-two in number, were placed in the palm garden, a delightful arrangement, permitting the stirring strains of the band being carried to all points of the vast caravansary. At 8 o'clock sharp Concert Master Stanton raised his baton and the band broke into the "Tancredi" overture of Rossini. At 11 o'clock the stirring strains of the "Star-Spangled Banner" smote the air and the concert was over. The music drew all sorts and conditions of people to the hotel's courtyard. The greater number wore the badges of the Native Sons, but there were quite as many of the hotel's guests who promenaded in all the glory of evening dress and lent a splendid dash to the whole assemblage.
September 16th, 1900: CRAZY DISHWASHER TRIES TO KILL HIMSELF. Enters the Basement of the Palace Hotel and Slashes His Throat and Arms. Fred Kessler, who was formerly employed as a sliver cleaner in the Palace Hotel, made a desperate attempt last evening to kill himself. He was discharged from the hotel about a year ago, and went to work as a dishwasher in the Union League Club. Yesterday afternoon he walked into the basement of the Palace and, taking out a penknife, stabbed himself in the breast over the heart. Failing to inflict a fatal wound he slashed his throat and his arms and then lay down to die. One of the employes of the hotel discovered him several hours later and had him removed to the Receiving Hospital, where his wounds, which are not considered fatal, were dressed by Assistant Police Surgeon Starr. It is believed that Kessler is mentally deranged. He would later jump from the second floor window of his room at the City and County Hospital, breaking his neck and dying.
September 19th, 1900: The credentials committee of the Republican County Committee will meet this evening at 7:30 at Room 184 Palace Hotel.
September 20th, 1900: Miss Blanche Breeden of Portland and H. C. Burmister were married at the Palace Hotel.
October 8th, 1900: Another chapter in the fairy book life of Frederick William Piper was added yesterday when the young man, who so lately came into a fortune from the estate of the late Congressman Piper, was married to Miss Gertrude Aiken. The ceremony took place at noon in the Maple Room of the Palace Hotel. Rev. Dr. S H. Willey. the great-uncle of the bride officiated.
October 31st, 1900: Leaves Hotel Mysteriously Without Settling His Board Bill. The management of the Palace Hotel would like to hear from George H. Proctor, who was a guest in Room 124 and left the hotel without the formality of settling his bill. Proctor came to the Palace on October 2, registering from New York. He claimed that he was a company promoter, and that he received such a large salary that the hardest work he had was to cremate his coin. His wardrobe was not very extensive. In fact, when he left the hotel last Saturday, he carried off nearly all his wearing apparel on his back, with the exception of a pair of old shoes which he left for the hotel management as a souvenir of his visit. Proctor is a very much sought after man and the hotel clerks are repeatedly questioned by anxious visitors as to whether or not the great mining magnate has resumed quarters at the hotel.
November 9th, 1900: Within a day or two all but a single room of the Republican headquarters at the Palace Hotel will be given up, but headquarters will be maintained there for several weeks.
November 11th, 1900: A decided acquisition in violin circles is Theodore Beresina, the new director of the Palace Hotel Orchestra, who will act as conductor of the Palace force tomorrow.
November 11th, 1900:
November 19th, 1900: State Miners Delegates to meet in Room 126, Palace Hotel.
November 26th, 1900: A sneakthief entered Room 123 at the Palace Hotel, occupied by Mrs. B. U. Steinman of Sacramento, Friday and stole a sealskin sack valued at $350. The police were notified and Detectives Ryan and O'Dea found the sack yesterday morning in a second-hand store on Fourth Street. They are now searching for the thief.
November 30th, 1900: Merchants' Association Banquet. The number of acceptances of invitations to the annual dinner of the Merchants' Association to be held next Wednesday evening has already exceeded the limit of accommodations. The largest dining room in the Palace Hotel has been secured for this occasion and will afford room for four hundred and fifty guests. The attendance will therefore be as large as it was last- year and sustain the record of the association in giving the largest annual banquet ever held in San Francisco. The board of directors regrets the necessity of being obliged to decline acceptances received after the full limit had been completed.
December 16th, 1900: THE PALACE HOTEL. San Francisco's Famous Caravansary. San Francisco enjoys to-day the proud distinction of having within her confines one of the finest hotels in the world. The Palace Hotel, which of course is alluded to, was constructed at an immense cost, and its appointments are of such a character as to render It the peer of any other caravansary in the United States. Its reputation is worldwide, and under its hospitable roof the representatives of every nation of the globe have gathered. The location of the Palace is superb, it being in easy walking distance of all the places of amusement and of all the more important points of interest in the metropolis. Various street car lines, which tend to every quarter of the city, pass its entrance. It occupies an area of nearly three acres, having a frontage of 275 feet on Market Street and a depth of 346 feet on New Montgomery Street. It contains 865 private apartments, besides a large number of public rooms, and has accommodations for 2000 guests, with the most complete appointments and conveniences known to modern construction.
The Palace Hotel affords every facility for private parties for the entertainment of guests, so as to secure perfect seclusion. The rates for these unsurpassed accommodations and unrivaled service are most reasonable, and in comparison with other hotels of like reputation surprisingly moderate. The grillroom is especially adapted to the wants of business men and the cafes to ladies and gentlemen of the best classes. It is by its superior service and the courteous treatment of patrons by the management that the hotel has won its reputation of being the favorite hostelry, not only of San Francisco but of the world.
Mrs. T. A. Temple, registering from New York, died at the Palace Hotel early yesterday morning after a brief Illness.
December 25th, 1900: Miss Virginia de Shields, formerly a teacher in Tehama County end later a member of the Board of Education there, was married, at the Palace Hotel Sunday to Henry E. Diggles, a popular traveling salesman and an officer of the Traveling Men's Association.
