The Hi-Lead

Hi-Lead No. 3: Wanted / Not Wanted

This month, we've organized an exhibit on the theme Wanted / Not Wanted, and this issue of the Hi-Lead (pronounced high-leed) highlights ten items where individuals were wanted and groups were not wanted. Some of it's not very pretty, but it's all part of our past.

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Eureka Books
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Indian "Troubles" Begin in Northern California

"Indians are even more ready to listen to reason than the lawless whites."

[Fort Humboldt] [Davis, Jefferson].

Message from the President of the United States to the Two Houses of Congress, at the Commencement of the Thirty-Fourth Congress. Part II [Report of the Secretary of War].

Washington DC: Cornelius Wendell, 1855. [1-3] 4-574 pages. The Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, later the president of the Confederacy, reports to President Franklin Pierce on the status of the military in 1855, including reports on conflicts with Indians near Fort Humboldt (now located in the city limits of Eureka, California).

$200

Indian Island Massacre Excused

"Now, they are heavy taxpayers, and they are losing all they possess. So, they get desperate, and perhaps are prompted to deeds of desperation."

Van Ness, B.

"The Humboldt Bay Massacre-Statement of the Sheriff of Humboldt County" in the March 31, 1860, issue of the National Intelligencer, a newspaper published in Washington, D.C.

On the evening of Saturday, February 25, 1860, a small group of men sailed into Humboldt Bay, landed on Indian Island, and attacked an encampment of Wiyots. At least fifty and perhaps as many as eighty people were killed, mostly women and children. The Wiyots were butchered with knives and axes within earshot of the residents of Eureka, who later expressed outrage but did nothing at the time. Humboldt County Sheriff B. Van Ness did nothing to investigate the Indian Island massacre or the other massacres carried out in nearby communities that bloody weekend, virtually exterminating the Wiyot tribe in the space of 48 hours. In fact, Van Ness quickly sailed for San Francisco and offered an explanation for the massacres to the San Francisco Bulletin. It is this explanation that is reprinted here. 

$95

Bledsoe's Indian Wars

Bledsoe, A[nthony]. J[ennings].

Indian Wars of the Northwest: A California Sketch.

San Francisco: Bacon and Company, (1885). First edition.

The classic account of the Indian wars in far northwest California. The encounters between the native tribes of Humboldt, Del Norte, and Trinity counties were swift and brutal.
SOLD

First (Book) Account of the Chinese Exclusion from Humboldt County

 
"All that portion of Humboldt county which is, so to speak, within the domain of civilization, have been thoroughly, and it is believed permanently, ridded by peaceable means of this objectionable class."

Humboldt County, California. A Pamphlet Descriptive of its Climate, Resources and Advantages: Together with a Carefully Compiled Statement of Its Lumber Output and Exports of Natural Products for the Year Ending August 1, 1887 [cover title]. 

Eureka: Commissioners of Humboldt County, Cal., to the State and Mechanics' Institute Fairs and the Chamber of Commerces of the City of Eureka, 1887. 

First edition. 12-page pamphlet, printed by C. W. Nevin & Co. in San Francisco. 

An early and scarce (OCLC records six copies) promotional pamphlet for Humboldt County, and the first to describe the forced removal of all ethnic Chinese just two years before.

SOLD

A California Indian Speaks to Her People

"Our noblest men sleep in narrow graves with the best, the proudest of the race, dead around them."

Thompson, Lucy (Che-na-wah Weitch-ah-wah)

To the American Indian

Eureka: (Self-published), 1916.

A rare and important book describing the life of a Yurok woman and the culture of her tribe, which inhabits the northern part of Humboldt County. When the book was written, Thompson was one of the few remaining native Yurok speakers and the descendant of a clan of chiefs and priests.

SOLD

Wanted for Crimes Against Nature

Reilly, W. H.

$50 Reward

(N.-pl. but likely Sacramento): State Printing Office, 1908.

Partially printed wanted poster (8.5 by 11 inches) issued by the warden of Folsom Prison for a parole breaker who was serving 25 years for "crime against nature."

$175

Mein Kampf: Full Paper Jacket

Hitler, Adolf.

Mein Kampf

Munich: Zentralverlag der NSDAP, 1936.

188./189. auflage. An early German edition of one of the most influential and calamitous books in history.

SOLD

Japanese Relocation Map

[Areas Restricted to Enemy Aliens]

(N.-pl.): (U.S. Army?), (ca. 1942). A map measuring 19 by 20 inch printed using a mimeograph-style technique on thin paper.

The map shows Washington, Oregon, California, and Arizona, with "military areas" marked by hatching. "Prohibited" zone "A-1" runs along the coast and the Mexico border. "Restricted" zone "B" extends farther inland, to about the middle of each state. A series of specific "prohibited" locations, numbered A2 to A99, are marked with dots. There is no printed title, but written in pencil in the upper right corner is "Areas Restricted to Enemy Aliens / official map prepared by U.S. Army."

This map appears to relate to Lt. Gen. John L. DeWitt's Military Proclamation No. 1, which began to implement Executive Order 9066, which ordered the removal of persons of Japanese descent from the West Coast of the United States. Proclamation no. 1, issued on March 2, 1942, established prohibited and restricted zones on the West Coast. All persons of Japanese ancestry were to be removed from zone A-1. Proclamation no. 3, effective March 27, instituted a curfew for all Japanese Americans and enemy aliens who were citizens of Italy or Germany. The affected persons were not allow out from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. and were prohibited from traveling more than five miles from home except to go to work.

SOLD

Japanese Relocation Posters

[Japanese Relocation] De Witt, J. L., Lieutenant General, U.S. Army.

 

Original Posters Announcing and Implementing the Removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast

Presidio of San Francisco: Headquarters, Western Defense Command and Fourth Army, May 1942.

Broadsides measuring 14 by 22 inches, printed letterpress on thin paper.

These posters appeared in 110 communities in California, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona. They informed residents of Japanese descent (whether citizens or not) when and where to report for removal, first to assembly centers and then to internment camps.

Priced from $500 to $750 each

(see below for details)

 

Silence = Life?

[Victor Keppler] Office of War Information.

Wanted! For Murder: Her Careless Talk Costs Lives

(N.-pl.): U.S. Government Printing Office, 1944.

A 20-by-28-inch poster designed by Victor Keppler (1904-1987) to remind civilians that discussing military information could (in theory at least) lead to catastrophic consequences.

SOLD