"Today I remitted the sentence of my prison cook. He is a Mulatto, a native of San Domingo; had drifted into California, was attached in a subordinate capacity to Colonel Fremont's battalion; and while the troops were quartered in town had robbed the drawer of a liquor shop of two hundred dollars. For this offence I had sentenced him to two years on the public works. Discovering early some reliable traits about the fellow, ... I soon made him cook to the rest of the prisoners, and allowed him the privilege of the town, so far as his duties in that capacity were required.... I have trusted him with money to purchase provisions, and he has faithfully accounted for every shilling. He has always been kind and attentive to the sick. For these faithful services I have remitted the remainder of his sentence, which would have confined him nine months longer, and have put him on a pay of thirty dollars per month as cook." The Alcalde settled family difficulties of all varieties, from the case of the grown son who struck his mother to that of the man who wanted a divorce because of suspicions he entertained of his wife's conduct during his absence in Mexico. The judge questioned the plaintiff severely as to his own behavior during the stay in Mexico, and convinced him that the wife, though indiscreet, was too good for him. [Illustration: From "_Sea and Shore_" WALTER COLTON Alcalde of Monterey in 1846. The position combined administrative, judicial and even legislative duties.] After nearly six months as Alcalde, Colton writes: "Of the women I have had to deal with here the washerwomen are the most unmanageable. Two of them entered my office today as full of fight as the feline antagonists of Kilkenny. It seems they had been washing in one of the pools created by the recent showers, when one had taken that part of the margin previously occupied by the other. War offensive and defensive immediately commenced. One drew a knife which had a blade two mortal inches in length, and the other a sharp ivory bodkin. But what their weapons wanted in terror, their ungentle anger supplied. "At last one cried out: 'The Alcalde'; the other echoed it, and both rushed to the office to have their difficulties settled. Their stories ran together like two conflicting rivulets forced into the same channel. When the tumult and bubble had a little subsided, I began cautiously to angle for the truth--a difficult trout to catch in such waters. But one darter after another was captured, till I had enough to form some opinion of those that had escaped. These we discussed till bitter feeling, like biting hunger, became appeased. Both went away declaring either margin of the pool good enough, and each urging on the other the first choice."