All language subtitles for The Californians s02e14 The Man Who Owned San Francisco.eng

- [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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