But the case which made the greatest impression upon the people, and did more to confirm my authority than anything else, was the following:  There was a military encampment of United States soldiers on Bear River, about fifteen miles from Marysville, known as “Camp Far West.”  One day an application was made to me to issue a warrant for the arrest of one of the soldiers for a larceny he had committed.  It was stated that a complaint had been laid before the local Alcalde near the camp; but that the officer in charge had refused to give up the soldier unless a warrant for that purpose were issued by me, it being the general impression that I was the only duly commissioned Alcalde in the district above Sacramento.  On this showing I issued my warrant, and a lieutenant of the army brought the soldier over.  The soldier was indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced to be publicly whipped with the usual number of lashes, and the officer stood by and saw the punishment inflicted.  He then took the soldier back to camp, where it was afterwards reported that he received an additional punishment.  But before the lieutenant left me that day, and while we were dining together, he took occasion to say that, if at any time I had any trouble in enforcing the law, I had but to send him word and he would order out a company of troops to support me.  This offer I permitted to become known through the town; and people said—­and with what effect may be imagined—­“Why here is an Alcalde that has the troops of the United States at his back.”

I have already stated that I had the banks of the Yuba River graded so as to facilitate the landing from vessels.  I will now mention another instance of my administration as general supervisor of the town.  There were several squatters on the landing at the river, which, according to the plan of the town, was several hundred feet wide.  The lots fronting on this landing being the best for business, commanded the highest prices.  But on account of the squatters the owners were deprived of the benefit of the open ground of the landing in front of their property, and they complained to me.  I called upon the squatters and told them that they must leave, and that if they were not gone by a certain time, I should be compelled to remove them by force, and, if necessary, to call to my aid the troops of the United States.  This was enough; the squatters left, the landing was cleared, and business went on smoothly.

In addition to my ordinary duties as a judicial officer and as general supervisor of the town, I acted as arbitrator in a great number of controversies which arose between the citizens.  In such cases the parties generally came to my office together and stated that they had agreed to leave the matter in dispute between them to my decision.  I immediately heard their respective statements—­sometimes under oath, and sometimes without oath—­and decided the matter at once.  The whole matter was disposed