Original subtitles

- [Narrator] One of the greatest sources of controversy,

even bloodshed, in early California,

was the clouded condition of property titles.

By armed force and legal methods,

land-grabbers and squatters took advantage of the situation

to cheat lawful owners

out of millions of dollars worth of real estate.

This is a true story,

the famous case of Jose Limantour,

who was the most daring and controversial of all.

It happened in San Francisco in the summer of 1855.

- Miss? Senor Jeremy Pitt?

(people chattering)

Which of you have I the honor

to address as Senor Jeremy Pitt, attorney at law?

- Not me, I'm Mrs. Fansler.

This is Marshal Wayne, and this is Mr. Pitt.

- And I am Jose Lopez,

and (speaking in foreign language) Limantour,

late of Mexico City.

- What can I do for you, Senor?

- I'm the rightful owner of property

which at present is unlawfully occupied

by others in this city.

- Which part of the city?

- All of it.

(dramatic music)

* California

* California

- [Announcer] The Californians.

* California

* I've come to live where life is best *

* In the golden West

* I'm gonna strike it rich in California *

* California

(dramatic music)

- If this document is authentic,

Senor Limantour doesn't own quite all of San Francisco,

but he does have title to over two square miles

in the heart of the city.

Won't you sit down, senor?

- Is this a bill of sale?

- It is a Spanish land grant, Senora Fansler.

And I assure you, it is authentic.

- There seems to be another party involved,

a Louisa Limantour.

- My sister, she places her claim in my name

in order to simplify any litigation, if there is any.

- There'll be litigation, you can bet on that.

People are sick and tired of paying for property

and then have it taken away from them.

Been too much of that in San Francisco.

- Why did you wait so long to make your claim, senor?

- I did not know of the existence of this document

until lately, senor.

When my sister and I were but children,

my father General Limantour was killed

in the services of Governor Micheltorena.

Out of gratitude to my father,

the governor granted my sister and me this land.

My aunt took my sister and me to Mexico City,

she was unaware of the importance of this document.

It was only after her death that it was discovered.

- You mean forged, don't you?

- Give it back, Dan.

- Let him have it, Marshal,

it is but a copy of which I have several.

The real document is safe.

- Why did you pick me to represent you, Senor Limantour?

- I was told you were a great expert on such matters, senor.

Not finding you in your office,

I inquired, and the hotel clerk directed me here.

It is such a pleasure,

I meet the fairest flower of San Francisco.

- Jose.

- Louisa.

- What are you doing in this disreputable place?

- I run this place, and what's disreputable about it?

- Let's all be friends.

This lady is Senora Fansler.

This gentleman, Marshal Wayne,

and Senor Pitt is going to be my counselor.

- I'm charmed.

- And what brings you here, Louisa?

- There are stranger men at the hotel,

I was afraid to be alone.

Will you come with me now?

- Gladly. Would you accompany us, Senor Pitt?

There are many things I want to ask.

- Adios, Senora Fansler. Marshal.

(people chattering)

- Can't make me believe they're brother and sister.

You really think the land grant is real, authentic?

- Whether it is or not,

I think it'll stir up more trouble than I can handle.

I think it's starting right now.

(dramatic music)

(ominous music)

(gun firing) (dramatic music)

- What's all this, Matt?

- He was aiming at your client.

- [Louisa] He is dead?

- No, just unconscious.

- Why should this man wish to kill me?

- And since he did, why did you not kill him, Marshal?

- Because up to now, he's been a model citizen.

But what else did you expect,

announcing your plans to a roomful of people?

- My brother likes to attract attention.

- He succeeded.

Did you really think you could dispossess hundreds of men

from land they bought and paid for

without anybody putting up a fight?

- I did not intend to dispossess them by force of arms,

but by law.

I demand that hereafter you protect me

from such desperadoes.

- I'll give you all the protection I can,

but that land grant better be authentic,

or you'll have to answer to me.

- I admire your spirit.

Soon I shall own San Francisco.

I may even keep you on as marshal.

- Say, Matt, you threatened my client.

- I didn't threaten him, that was a warning.

I've got some advice for you, Jeremy.

Tread lightly, keep your eyes peeled,

and don't let anybody get behind you.

Somebody might try to kill you, too.

- Well you can't let that happen to me, Matt,

I'm a San Francisco taxpayer, and you're paid to protect me.

- Bert Parker, head of the Land Office Commission,

he's in the Bella Union Hotel,

ask him to meet me in my office as soon as he can.

Give me a hand with Dan.

(dramatic music)

(Dan groans)

You must have been out of your head

to do what you did, Dan.

- You realize that I spent enough money

defending title to my property to have paid for it twice?

Now it looks like I'm gonna have to pay for it a third time.

- The Land Commission may even reject the claim.

- I hope you're right, Matt.

- Where do you think you're going, Dan?

- Home. - Oh no, not in your mood.

I'm arresting you for attempted armed assault.

- [Dan] Since when have you started putting your friends

in jail to protect land grabbers?

- I'm putting you in jail to protect you from yourself.

It's a lucky thing I didn't shoot you tonight.

- I almost wish you had.

- Thanks for coming, Bert. - Matt.

- I suppose you know why I wanted to see you.

- It's all over town,

looks like there's a kettle full of trouble brewing.

- It'll be worse if Limantour's claim is upheld.

What do you think of it?

- What I think personally doesn't count, Matt.

But officially, as head of the Land Commission,

it's frightening.

Of course, we've heard mention of this land grant

in Governor Micheltorena's papers.

Matt, we've been living in fear, trembling,

that some day somebody would come up with it.

And now it's happened!

- If that land grant is a forgery,

probably means Limantour has all sorts

of forged identification to go along with it.

Do you know anybody who could identify him in person?

- They tell me that there's a Pio Valdez,

a former alcalde of Monterey

that was very close to the Limantours.

He's supposed to be in San Francisco.

Matt, I've searched high and low,

and I can't find a trace of him anywhere.

I understand that Limantour's got

a mighty sharp lawyer on his side, Jeremy Pitt.

- Yeah, a friend of mine.

Right now I wish he'd stayed in Illinois.

(dramatic music)

- You're right, Matt,

somebody did take a shot at me last night.

Only a block from my place, too.

- Yeah, so I heard.

- I hate to say this,

but nobody seems to like you anymore, Jeremy.

- I'm only doing my duty as an attorney,

and an attorney as an officer of the court.

- But people are frantic.

If that Limantour claim is upheld,

it'll mean a worse disaster than a fire.

- Yeah, I agree with you, Matt,

but I tried to get off the case,

but the Bar Association insisted

that Limantour's entitled to representation.

I don't know, sometimes I think I'm in the wrong business.

(Matt chuckles)

- Well, Louisa, What you brings you back

to this disreputable place?

- I am considering its improvement.

- [Wilma] You are?

- This place is included

in the Limantour land grant, senora.

- Well I'm not gonna let you touch it.

I'm gonna fight, no one's gonna steal this place from me.

- Calm down, Wilma.

- What sort of improvements do you have in mind, Louisa?

- I shall build a home nearby.

This would make a good stable for my horses.

- Fear not, lovely one, I shall build you a new casino

and see that there is no competition around you.

- Thanks, but I like this place just as it is.

(dramatic music)

- Hello, Matt.

- Bert, I was just on my way out to your place.

- Well I wanted to talk to you too.

- What's on your mind?

- Well, I located this old alcalde

that was a friend of the Limantours.

He refuses to talk, says he'll be killed if he does.

And I couldn't serve the paper because he shot at me.

Matt, this subpoena will force him to testify,

will you serve it?

- Where is he?

- Out at the old Shane Ranch at the edge of town.

- I'll bring him in.

- Matt?

In more ways than one, the fate of many people

in San Francisco depend on you.

For heaven sakes, don't let anything happen to him.

- Don't worry.

(ominous music)

(gun fires)

(dramatic music)

- I see you.

Surrender or you die.

I shall count three, and then I shall shoot.

One, two.

- Three. (gun fires)

- You are a coward, you shot me from the rear.

- You're not hurt, that bullet missed you by three feet.

- But next time you would not miss.

- If I had any intention of shooting you, you'd be dead.

- Who are you?

- [Matt] The marshal of San Francisco.

- Ah, Senor Wayne.

- That's right.

Why were you so anxious to kill me?

- I thought you were an enemy.

Since my friendship with General Limantour became known,

my life has been threatened many times.

- [Matt] By whom?

- Some wish me to testify for the imposters.

Others want me to expose them.

- Why do you call them imposters?

- I was as a father to Jose and Louisa Limantour.

They loved me.

If they were alive they would have sent word to me long ago.

They're dead.

- If they were alive, do you think

you could possibly identify them after all these years?

- They could never grow too old

for me not to recognize them.

- [Matt] In that case, I'm gonna have to subpoena you

to appear before the Land Commission.

- I refuse.

Why should I be killed in a quarrel

over who owns San Francisco?

- I'm sorry, I have to take you along with me.

- Well.

(gun fires) (dramatic music)

(glass breaking)

(guns firing) (suspenseful music)

- I shall kill the leader.

- No, wait!

They're friends.

- No gringo's a friend of mine.

Excepting you, marshal, you have the courage of a Mexican.

- I'm honored.

- [Bert] Matt, you in there, you all right?

- Come on in, Bert.

What brought you up here?

- Well, it seems everybody in town

has heard about Pio and how important he is

in the Limantour claim.

There was talk of a gang coming out here to kill him,

I thought we'd come out here to protect him.

- Well we'd better get moving before they try again.

You ready, Senor?

- Yes sir.

(dramatic music)

- Gentlemen, I've given you conclusive evidence

of the validity of the Limantour land grant.

The authorities have already testified

that the handwriting is that of Governor Micheltorena.

- I say it's a forgery.

- Unfortunately, Mrs. Fansler, the others disagree with you.

I shall now give you further evidence.

Senor Valdez, please?

Do you wish to question him, Mr. Parker?

- Senor Valdez.

These two represent themselves

as being son and daughter of General Limantour.

Tell me, do they in any way look familiar to you?

- No.

- How can you say that, you hardly glanced at them.

- They do not resemble my friend, the general.

- Others often said that we favored our mother,

(speaking in foreign language), do you not remember?

- (speaking in foreign language), only Jose called me that.

- Much time has passed since I fell off

the pony you gave me, (speaking in foreign language).

- Ah, si, the pony.

Only Jose would know that.

There was a scar from that fall.

Jose!

Jose, the son of my friend!

There is no mistaking it, Senores,

this is Jose Lopez (speaking in foreign language) Limantour.

- What about the girl?

They say they're brother and sister.

I say they're not.

- Louisa was such a homely child,

and this one is so beautiful.

Bueno, there's only one way to tell.

Louisa Limantour had a birthmark,

that of a turtle on her shoulder blade.

- I have not.

- Then you are not Louisa Limantour.

- Then I am not Louisa.

- Mr. Commissioner, I suggest that the lady,

out of feminine vanity, is concealing the truth.

I demand that she be examined for her birthmark.

- Well don't look at me.

Mrs. Fansler, you are an interested party in this hearing,

would you like to do the honors?

- With pleasure.

Well, are you gonna take them off,

or do I have to tear them off?

(sighs) She does have a birthmark,

and it does look like a turtle.

But I still say she's not his sister.

(dramatic music)

- I served a term in jail for trying to kill Limantour,

I'm sorry I didn't succeed!

Because now the law is on his side.

Are we gonna stand around like a bunch of sheep

and let him take our property away from us?

- [Crowd] No!

- Once we had the vigilantes to protect our rights,

where are they now?

(crowd murmuring) (dramatic music)

- Matt, they've got Valdez.

- You tell the truth, or you get this.

- [Matt] Here, here, here, come on now.

Men, you're not gonna get anywhere hanging an innocent man.

- Well he lied at the hearing,

he'll lie again st the appeal.

- Pio Valdez is an honorable man, a distinguished citizen.

He may be mistaken, but he's no liar.

Now come on, men, go home.

Give the court a chance to settle this.

- All right, we'll go.

But if we've lost the appeal, watch out for us, Matt.

- I'm losing patience with you, Dan.

- I didn't intend to go through with the hanging,

we were just trying to scare him into telling the truth.

- That's the wrong way to get at the truth.

Pio, I'm gonna see that you're guarded from now on.

- Thank you, senor.

- What do you know about Bert Parker?

- Parker, head of the Land Commission?

He's on our side.

- Then why do you suppose he's been visiting

the Valdez Ranch almost every day?

(dramatic music)

- You think they're working together? Why?

- I don't know.

Leave Valdez to me, I'll find out.

- "Land Grant Appeal Heard Today.

Bloodshed's Feared if Denied."

- That story is true.

Thousands of our people face the loss

of everything they've worked for.

And when I say our people, I mean yours and mine.

We're all Californians, you know.

- You honored me when you called me that once,

a Californian and a man of honor.

- I meant it then.

- And you no longer consider me a man of honor?

- That depends.

Senor Valdez, you lied at that hearing, didn't you?

- Yes.

- Why, to help the Limantours?

- Partly.

Mostly to protect myself.

- Explain that.

- Once most of the land between here and Monterey

belonged to my family.

I had a land grant too.

The gringos came and took our property from us,

piece by piece.

- Why didn't you appeal that to Bert Parker,

the head of the Land Commission?

- I did.

And Senor Parker threatened to take

the one small ranch I have left

unless I would do as he said.

- That's why you lied at the hearing.

- Yes.

I'm no longer a man of honor.

- I don't believe that, Pio.

Would you testify again, against Parker?

- If it's not too late.

- What do you mean too late?

- Go to my ranch, Senor, Parker's on his way there now

to destroy important evidence.

(dramatic music)

(suspenseful music)

(door thudding)

- Come up here to kill me, Bert?

- Kill?

Oh, no, Matt, I came up here to help you

like the last time when I saved your life.

- You weren't interested in my life then,

it was Pio Valdez.

You needed him.

- Oh no, Matt. Matt, you're making a big mistake.

- My only mistake was not realizing

that as head of the Land Commission

you were in a perfect position

to have a land grant forged and make it stick.

Let's get moving, Bert.

(dramatic music)

- Your honor, I move that the appeal be denied

and that this court reaffirm the decision

of the California Land Commission.

- Your honor.

The Limantour land grant was a fraud,

perpetrated by the head of the Land Commission.

- Your honor, I protest.

- [Judge] Denied.

Have you any proof of that, marshal?

- In Senor Valdez's effects, I found this letter,

which proves that Jose and Louisa Limantour

died of a fever, Mexico City, in the spring of 1843.

- No! (sobbing)

(crowd murmuring)

- Your honor.

It is true.

But I beg you to absolve my sister.

Our name is Limantour, but we are not the true heirs.

Even though I convinced Louisa we were.

- Well, we'll consider the matter.

(dramatic music)

(dramatic music)

- This is one case I didn't mind losing.

- I told you all along that that land grab was a forgery.

- And you were right, but for the wrong reason.

Your suspicions were based on the notion

that Jose and Louisa were not brother and sister.

- But I still say they aren't!

- You don't give up easy, do you?

- No.

- [Matt] Snyder!

- Oh, yes sir?

- [Matt] I thought you were on duty at the jail.

- Yes, sir.

But Louisa gave me this note from you telling me

to put Jose Limantour on the boat to Mexico.

What is this, I just gave her a pass to see her brother.

This is a forgery.

When does that boat sail?

- Sailed two hours ago, right after the wedding.

- [Wilma] They were married?

- Yes, under their real names, Lopez and Caspero.

(Wilma laughs)

I'm sorry, Marshal, but that girl sure fooled me.

- Oh, that's all right, Snyder, she fooled me too.

Don't worry about it, it's my fault they got away.

Have a drink on me at the bar.

- Oh, thanks, Marshal.

- Don't blame yourself, nobody else will.

They'll be too happy about getting their land back.

But I promise not to tell you I told you so.

Not once.

But I did tell you so.

- I'll remember that.

You know, I might even make you a deputy one of these days.

- [Matt] Following the imprisonment

of the ring leaders of the plot,

San Francisco did forgive the city marshal his blunder,

especially after Jose and Louisa

were arrested in Mexico City.

And San Francisco became safe

from land grabbers for many years.

* California

* Oh I've traveled here, I've traveled there *

* I guess I've been most everywhere *

* But I like where I am today

* And here is where I'll stay

* Now one thing I just can't endure *

* Is being broke and being poor *

* So I come West to take the cure *

* And here is where I'll stay

* I've come to California, California *

* There's gold in them there hills in California *

* I've come to live where life is best *

* In the golden West

* I'm gonna strike it rich in California *

* California

* California

* There's gold in them there hills *

* In California

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