The Squatter and the Don

After a two-hour wait, Mariano, Mechlin, and Holman meet Stanford, whom Mariano finds “eminently ridiculous.” Stanford says he cannot help San Diego and argues that a railroad to San Diego “won’t pay.” The three others argue the bounty of San Diego County, but Stanford callously dismisses their concerns in favor of his potential earnings if he “strangles” San Diego. The three San Diego men offer viewpoints of various thinkers that would oppose Stanford’s logic, calling his morality “subverted,” but the former governor is unmoved. The three men leave, despairing of their home’s future and ashamed of the men in power in the United States.

The narrator uses a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote about Napoleon Bonaparte to criticize the capitalist railroad men, arguing that “good profits” cannot come from the misery of others. The three San Diego men discuss their meeting with Stanford, shocked at how openly he bragged about wielding “influence” (obtained via bribery) over Congress. They struggle to face their upcoming financial loss and consider moving to another city not doomed to financial ruin.

Mariano falls suddenly ill and is bedridden for several days, with Gabriel and Lizzie attending him. The doctor warns the Alamars that Mariano must not stress his heart or lungs. Mariano struggles with the boredom of his recovery, though he enjoys Victoriano’s company, as the younger man’s legs are still recovering. Despite his son’s encouragement, Mariano still refuses to use Clarence’s money, citing that he did not deliver the cattle and thus doing so would be unjust.

The Alamars and the Mechlins congregate at the Alamar rancho for Christmas. Mr. Mechlin confides in Mariano that he is considering dying by suicide, as it is only his poor health that keeps his family in unprosperous San Diego. Mariano advises against this, arguing that “the grief and horror of knowing that [he] took [his] own life would [be] a million times worse than the supposed exile [he imagines] to be so objectionable” (254). Mechlin laments his ongoing financial losses.

Their grandchildren interrupt the two men, and the family (including the Darrells) enjoys a happy holiday. Late that night, however, Mariano wakes suddenly, certain he is dying. He summons his family to his side to bid them farewell, citing his death as due to “the sins of our legislators!” (256). He dies, leaving his family grief-stricken. Several days later, Mr. Mechlin dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, leaving his family uncertain as to whether this was death by suicide or an accident.

The narrator argues that, when judges can be bribed, there is no such thing as justice. Roper, intending to take advantage of this, conspires with Gasbang to seize the Mechlin’s house near the Alamar rancho. One of the squatters, Hogsden, “quit-claim[s]” his land as a legal pretense for seizing the Mechlins’ property. Roper has secured a congressional nomination and begins campaigning throughout Southern California. However, he oversteps his effort to be humorous, leaving crowds unhappy with his crass attitude. His political aspirations are thus quickly ended.

George, Gabriel, and Lawrence Mechlin all travel to San Diego after James Mechlin’s death; they are angry to learn of Roper’s scheme to steal their family house. A lawyer they consult cautions that there is no quick way to get rid of Roper, as the San Diego judge will decide in his favor and the Mechlins will be forced to appeal. The stress causes George’s gunshot injury to become inflamed; Mercedes, Josefa, and Mrs. Mechlin fall ill.

Roper’s response to Mrs. Mechlin’s legal complaint is “a masterpiece of unblushing effrontery […] brazen falsehoods and other indecencies” (264). The complaint argues that Mechlin never owned his land, did not build his house, or even lived on his property. They accuse Josefa and Mrs. Mechlin of a “fraudulent conspiracy” to secure the land in Mrs. Mechlin’s name. The judge, predictably, finds in Roper’s favor. The narrator notes that this injustice would not have occurred if the Texas Pacific had been built, as San Diego would have grown and had oversight.

Gabriel and Lizzie return to San Francisco and fall upon hard times, struggling to make ends meet. George and Elvira go to Germany at the advice of George’s physician. Victoriano’s legs become re-injured, mysteriously and suddenly not working. Everett has helped the Alamars by paying them from the money of Clarence’s that Mariano refused to spend. Gabriel, upset by his failure to support his family, confesses to Lizzie that he has been learning masonry, which he considers a lower position. Lizzie secretly writes to Josefa, asking for funds to travel back to San Diego, her pride pricked at having a tradesman husband. Victoriano writes to Gabriel, asking him to come home.

In Paris, Elvira and George are astonished by a sudden visit from Clarence. Clarence explains that a miscommunication led to him initially not getting the letters from the Alamars; bereft that Mercedes no longer loved him (or so he thought), he traveled across South America and throughout Europe and northern Africa. He recently received the misplaced letters and quickly began returning to the US. He telegraphs Mercedes that he is traveling with the Mechlins and will arrive imminently.

Mercedes, the Alamars, and the Darrells are thrilled to hear of Clarence’s return. Lizzie hopes Clarence will open a bank, thus giving Gabriel useful employment. Gabriel agrees to return to San Diego after giving notice at his masonry job; on his last day there, he falls off a ladder while carrying bricks. He is taken to the hospital, but a procession of wealthy carriages delays the journey. She looks for an alternate route, she sees George and Clarence in a carriage; the two help Lizzie take Gabriel to the hospital. George and Clarence are shocked that poverty led Gabriel to take a dangerous, menial job.

Clarence laments that his absence led the bank to give Gabriel’s job to another and wishes Don Mariano had used the money left behind to start a bank, even if it was in another location than San Diego. As the rest of the family predicted, Clarence considers the cattle loss his loss, not the fault of Mariano. George explains the saga of Roper stealing the Mechlin house.

Lizzie privately reflects on how her society friends rejected her after Gabriel’s lost employment, spurred by racism against the “native Spaniard.” The narrator suggests that Gabriel’s movement from wealthy landowner to brick-carrier was “not only his own sad experience [but] the entire history of the native Californians of Spanish descent” (276), who were not only impoverished by American conquest but then blamed for their poverty via racist narratives.

Clarence watches over Gabriel as he recovers and prepares his house so that Gabriel and Lizzie have a comfortable place while Gabriel recovers. Lizzie encourages George to write to Mercedes and Josefa, encouraging a quick marriage between Clarence and Mercedes so Mercedes can come to San Francisco and help nurse Gabriel. Clarence is grateful for the plan. Though she regrets that her father will not see Clarence’s return, Mercedes is thrilled.

Although Clarence is thrilled to see his family, he is anxious about reuniting with his father. He is shocked to see Darrell looking older than his years, which Darrell attributes to guilt over his bad behavior toward Clarence and Mariano. He blames himself for Mariano’s death and now considers the squatter laws unjust. Clarence encourages the whole family to live in San Francisco, offering Josefa a high price for the Alamar land, which he frames as an investment rather than charity.

When Josefa, Victoriano, and his sisters, Carlota and Rosario, go north to San Francisco, they take the Southern Pacific Railroad, the project that led Stanford and others to stand against the Texas Pacific. Victoriano hopes they lose money, though his mother scolds him for this “unchristian” thought. In San Francisco, Josefa weeps watching a nearby mansion where one of the “railroad kings” who undermined the Texas Pacific lives. This “king,” at his wedding, encourages attendees to similarly seek his fortune, though the guests gossip about how he made that fortune by bribes. Josefa rebels against the idea that speaking against these rich railroad men will leave her a society outcast.

The narrator compares the rich of California to the corruption of Napoleon the First, encouraging Californians to “take the law in their own hands” (289), cautioning against the danger of “monopolists.” The narrative quotes at length Huntington’s letters, published in 1882, which revealed his bribery and corruption. The narrative then quotes various contemporary politicians who speak out against the monopolists, calling for a “[denunciation] of power” in California (292).

The narrative points out the hypocrisy of thinking the Texas Pacific not likely to be profitable while also fearing that this railroad would cut into their own profits. The narrator contends that the monopolists knew it would be profitable and laments that the monopolists have used their profits to build in other countries while leaving San Diego unaided. The novel ends on a reminder that the monopolists did not pay for the land they built upon, which was given as government subsidies, and calls for “a Redeemer who will emancipate the white slaves of California” (294).