came from my earnings.  I paid every creditor but one in full; to each I gave his pound of flesh, I mean his interest, at ten per cent. a month.  I never asked one of them to take less than the stipulated rate.  The exceptional creditor was Mr. Berry, a brother lawyer, who refused to receive more than five per cent. a month on a note he held for $450.  By this time I had become so much interested in my profession as to have no inclination for office of any kind.  On several occasions I was requested by influential party leaders to accept a nomination for the State Senate, but I refused.  I am inclined to think that I had for some time a more lucrative practice than any lawyer in the State, outside of San Francisco.  No such fees, however, were paid in those days as have been common in mining cases since the discovery of the silver mines of Nevada and the organization of great corporations to develop them.

The Bar of Marysville during this period, and afterwards while I remained in that city—­which was until October, 1857—­was a small, but a very able body of men.  Many of its members have since attained distinction and held offices of honor and trust.  Richard S. Mesick, who settled there in 1851, became a State Senator, and after his removal to Nevada, a District Judge of that State.  He ranks now among the ablest lawyers of the Coast.  Charles H. Bryan, who settled there the same year, was an eloquent speaker, and in his forensic contests gave great trouble to his opponent whenever he got at the jury.  He was on the Supreme Court of the State for a short period, under the appointment of Governor Bigler.  Jesse O. Goodwin, of whom I have already spoken, settled in Marysville in 1850.  He was a ready speaker, and sometimes rose to genuine eloquence.  He was distinguished in criminal cases.  As already stated, he was elected District Attorney in 1850, and afterwards became County Judge, and is now State Senator.  Gabriel N. Swezy, who settled there in 1850, was learned in his profession, and quick of apprehension.  Few lawyers could equal him in the preparation of a brief.  He afterwards at different times represented the county in the Assembly and the Senate of the State.  William Walker, who afterwards figured so conspicuously in the filibustering expeditions to Nicaragua, and was called by his followers “the grey-eyed man of destiny,” had an office in Marysville in 1851 and ’52.  He was a brilliant speaker, and possessed a sharp but not a very profound intellect.  He often perplexed both court and jury with his subtleties, but seldom convinced either.  John V. Berry, who came to Marysville from the mines in 1851, was a fine lawyer, deeply read in the law of adjudged cases.  He died in 1853 from poison given to him in mistake by a druggist.  Edward D. Wheeler, who came there in 1850, and Thomas B. Reardon, who came in 1853, were both men of strong minds.  Mr. Wheeler represented Yuba County at one time in the Senate, and is now the District Judge of the Nineteenth District, at San