William G. Dryden
William G. Dryden | |
---|---|
2nd Los Angeles City Attorney | |
In office May 7, 1851 – May 4, 1852 | |
Preceded by | Benjamin Ignatius Hayes |
Succeeded by | Joseph Lancaster Brent |
Personal details | |
Born | Richmond, Kentucky | February 11, 1807
Died | September 10, 1869 Los Angeles, California | (aged 62)
William G. Dryden (11 February 1807 – 10 September 1869) was a 19th-century lawyer who was a judge and effectively the longest-serving city clerk in the history of Los Angeles, California.
Personal
Dryden was born near
Dryden was arrested by Mexican authorities "because of incriminating documents," and he was jailed in Chihuahua for thirteen months until his release in November 1842. He filed a bill of damages for the imprisonment, but failed to perfect his claim. Afterward, he was an editor of the bilingual Republic of the Rio Grande. He then lived on the Rio Grande near Matamoros and was an interpreter for Colonel David E. Twiggs, commander of the American forces occupying that city during the Mexican–American War.[1]
He was married twice, first to Dolores Nieto in 1851, and second to Ana Josefa (Anita) Dominguez of San Pedro in 1868, when she was about 37 and he was about 69. He had no children from either marriage. He died on September 10, 1869,[2][3] and was buried with Catholic rites.[2]
Vocation
Public affairs
Dryden arrived in Los Angeles from Texas by way of Mazatlán in 1850 when he was 43 years old.
In 1851, Los Angeles voters elected Dryden as the city's second city attorney, succeeding Benjamin Hayes. Dryden served one year.[2] A Democrat,[4] he ran for mayor in 1855, but he lost to Thomas Foster by a vote of 192 for Foster and 179 for Dryden.[5]
Dryden was a police judge or a
An informally voluble, genial, and very profane man, Dryden conducted his courts pretty much after his own personality traits. Lawyers and jurymen appeared coatless, and wearing firearms, if they so desired. Solemnity was lacking. Inkstands, canes, chairs, and jackknives were hurled at opponents during altercations. Judge and attorneys engaged in violent disputes. Dryden himself was guilty of blasphemy from the bench.[2]
Wallace wrote that she had found a "classic anecdote" in more than one source that, when two attorneys drew their "six-shooters" against each other, Dryden "got out of range of the blazing guns" and yelled angrily, "Shoot away damn you! and to hell with all of you!"[2]
Another anecdote, reported in 1900, has Dryden, after a jury rendered a verdict freeing a man who had been accused of
The defense attorney asked Dryden what he had said, and he replied: "I told your client, sir, he was discharged and could go about his business." The attorney asked, "What is my client's business?" and, according to the tale, the answer was:
"Horse stealing! horse stealing!! horse stealing!!! by G—, sir," exploded the court, with increasing emphasis and volume on each repetition of the word.[6]
Dryden was appointed to the Board of Education in 1859, 1862–66 and 1868.[2]
Private business
Dryden built the first
References
- ^ a b William E. Bard, "Dryden, William G.," Handbook of Texas, Texas State Historical Association, undated, with bibliography as cited there
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Clare Wallace, Los Angeles Public Library research file, 1938 and 1939, with sources as cited there" (PDF). Los Angeles Public Library.
- ^ "City Intelligence: From Los Angeles," Sacramento Daily Union, September 13, 1869
- ^ "Democratic County Convention," Los Angeles Star, August 8, 1863
- ^ "The Charter Election," Los Angeles Star, May 12, 1855
- ^ "In Pioneer Days," Los Angeles Herald, May 6, 1900