THE SCOURGE OF BIG TREES GROVE

Throughout the 1880s Big Trees Grove frequently suffered one of the vices of the era ... gambling. The first two grove managers, John Hooper (1876-1881) and David Aldrich (1882-1885) both had to contend with out-of-town gamblers setting up illegal games during large picnics.

Hooper “told the gamblers he had one hundred and sixty acres of land under his control, and that they could not throw a card for coin on the grounds. They believed him. When the San Jose roughs … undertook to ‘clean out the camp,’ Mr. Hooper gave them emphatically to understand that he was armed and ready to defend his life and property.”

David Aldrich supposedly felt that visitors “did not come to Santa Cruz to be fleeced by a horde of backlegs, and they were resolved not to stand by and see the green ones among them ‘done for.’” 

At the grove the gambling game often mentioned was the “thimble rig”. Otherwise known as the shell game, it is composed of a ball or pea which is hidden under one of three containers. The operator places a pea under one cup and rapidly rearranges all three and the player places a bet on which cup contains the pea. The thimble-rig game was ripe for sleight-of-hand maneuvers to cheat the uninitiated.

The following incident occurred during the 1889 picnic for Southern Pacific Railroad employees. “Soon after the first train arrived three Eastern crooks established a ‘thimble rig’ game on a hill near the grounds, and succeeded in relieving one ‘seeker after wealth’ of $250, and another of $40.  The police then stopped the game and sent the ‘crooks’ to San Francisco by the first train leaving for there."

During their 1883 picnic the Schuetzen Verein took action. "A pea and thimble sure thing gambler met with a rough reception at the Big Trees yesterday. While seeking for innocent Teutonians some of the Schuetzens learned of his presence and hunting him out by the river side demolished his stand, scattered $20 gold pieces, gave him rough treatment -- as he deserved, and drove him from the grounds." 

The Scheutzen Verein was organized in 1859 by German-speaking citizens of San Francisco. It was one of many ethnic-based citizens social and paramilitary groups formed after the Gold Rush. Though resembling a militia, it primarily served as a social club which hosted shooting tournaments and annual picnics at Big Trees Grove.

Santa Cruz Sentinel, July 17, 1888

Several times the mere presence of the San Francisco Schuetzen Verein in the grove proved helpful. "When the gambling attempts were discovered at the Big Trees the other day the officers of the German military company present signified to the management their willingness, if necessary, to bounce the players and their paraphernalia into the San Lorenzo river. They mean every word they said, but their assistance was not necessary."

Sources: Santa Cruz Daily Surf, July 23, 1888; “The Railroad Picnic,” Santa Cruz Sentinel, June 9, 1889; Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel, July 29, 1882; “San Francisco Schuetzen Verein,” The Museum of the City of San Francisco, http://www.sfmuseum.net/hist10/schuetzen.html.

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