Consumption
INTERESTING.—We are indebted to a friend for furnishing us with
the following statistics, showing the number of foot passengers, equestrians,
&c., that passed in over the planked road, after the races on Sunday
last. Our informant stationed himself at the toll-gate at three o'clock
P.M., during which time there passed as follows: Four-horse teams, (not
including Hall & Crandall's coaches) 7; two-horse vehicles, 35; one-horse
vehicles, 64; saddle horses, 252; foot passengers, 1467. Our informant
writes that "the difference of the account taken at the Mission toll gate,
of those that passed there and went to the Mission is more than twenty
per cent. over the above figures. There must, therefore, have been over
two thousand of our citizens that spent the Sunday at the Mission and vicinity.
One can easily realize from this the amount of money that was spent for
recreation day before yesterday. If there were two thousand persons only
a very moderate computation of the amount of liquor drank would be 5000
glasses. Five thousand glasses of liquor down the great throat of the San
Franciscan population! The smoke of six thousand cigars, at least, most
of them villainous, must have gone up to heaven, and that race course must
be a perfect charnel house of "dead soldiers." When we come to add to the
above the numbers that went out to the Presidio, those that went over to
Contra Costa, those that went to the regatta, and those that stayed in
town, the realization that we are thus enable to arrive at by taking our
population in parts, of the quantity of liquor drank, and the number of
cigars smoked, and the money spent for horses and excursion tickets, &c.,
is absolutely startling.
Source: Daily Alta California, 01 November 1851, page 2.
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