Pioneer Moore family knew Tiburcio Vasquez
Until his 1957 death at age 99, Walter Scott Moore, known to
friends as
”
Watt,
”
lived for decades in his imposing, blue Victorian house at the
corner of Sixth and Eigleberry streets. He purchased the home in
1906.
Pioneer Moore family knew Tiburcio Vasquez
Until his 1957 death at age 99, Walter Scott Moore, known to friends as “Watt,” lived for decades in his imposing, blue Victorian house at the corner of Sixth and Eigleberry streets. He purchased the home in 1906.
The house was originally built for Pleasant Hodges of the Whitehurst-Hodges Lumber Company, whose lumber yard and planing mill were located across the street, on the site of the present Wheeler Auditorium and police department parking lot.
Recognized for a time as Gilroy’s oldest resident, Moore was born in 1858 in Sacramento. His parents had come West in a covered wagon just after the Gold Rush. At age 1, Watt and his family moved to Sonoma, where his father operated Hermannson’s Hotel. In later years, Watt would recall the day in April 1865 when, as a seven-year-old, he learned the sad news of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, via a message brought in by pony express rider.
The Moores moved again in 1868, this time sending 10-year old Watt and his two brothers on horseback to lead a herd of cattle south to their new home in San Benito County. According to an interview later in life, Watt retained clear memories of the lengthy trip. The herd was driven first to Benicia, then loaded onto a ferry for Martinez. Back on land, the cattle were driven from Livermore to Mission San Jose, then south following the foothills east of San Jose to Old Gilroy, where they camped for two days. “There was no Gilroy to speak of,” he once said, reminiscing about his brief stay at San Ysidro. “There were only oak trees and grain fields. The railroad wasn’t even finished yet.”
From San Ysidro, the boys drove cattle south to Brown’s Valley. Once the parents arrived, the family settled in and Watt began attending school at Tres Pinos, making the five-mile trip on horseback. Later, the Moores moved to Panoche, where they occupied a one-room log cabin with a dirt floor. Water for basic living purposes had to be hauled in by bucket from its source, located about a three-block distance away. During those years, Watt worked with his uncle, S.T. (Sam) Moore, at the Panoche Store. In a 1948 interview, he recalled long days spent standing behind the counter waiting for the occasional customer. Weekly, he greeted the New Idria Stage on its run between the quicksilver mine and San Juan Bautista.
It was about this time life got exciting for young Watt. His sister, Lucilla Ann, had married Andrew Snyder, and the pair owned the Paicines General Store. They lived in a hotel located across the street. One day, when the stage from Hollister to New Idria came through Paicines, passengers were robbed by a gang of renegades headed by bandito Tiburcio Vasquez. Although the incident became the famous robbery and murder for which Vasquez would later be tried and hanged, the shooting incident, according to Watt, didn’t happen at Snyder’s store.
That horrific day, his family claimed, after each of the stage passengers were robbed of their valuables, the bandits only entered the store to pilfer goods. They later went across to the hotel and hassled the customers staying there. One killing, the Moores said, took place when a stage customer attempted to escape over a back fence behind Snyder’s store. Another person was shot inside the hotel across the street. An additional shooting killed a deaf man who, with his back to the criminals, did not hear them ordering him to halt as he walked away down the street.
Watt later recalled that earlier the same day he’d waited on Tiburcio, when the man came in to purchase some crackers and cheese at the Panoche Store. “There was hardly a country store or saloon between the 21-Mile House south of San Jose and King City that the Vasquez gang didn’t hold up.” He noted that many in the area knew Vasquez and his lieutenant, Luis Chavez. The men were said to be well-kept and those who treated them politely were never robbed.
Another family tale held that Watt’s uncle, S.T. Moore, once riding a horse up to Hollister, saw another rider up ahead. Hurrying to catch up, he rode alongside the handsome, well-groomed stranger, enjoying a visit while en route to town. He later realized his riding companion was none other than Luis Chavez, Vasquez’s right-hand man. After considerable bragging to friends about town about his adventure, S.T. one day received an anonymous letter advising him not to ride with people if he was going to talk about it later, lest it be the last time he ever rode.
In 1881 Watt joined the original Hollister Fire Department. By 1883, he was living in Gilroy, where he joined the Gilroy Fire Department, which held regular hose cart races with area rivals. On one occasion Watt’s team ran a 900-pound hose cart for 400 yards, unrolled 300 feet of hose, hooked it up and poured water on a set fire. The race time of 1: 9.3 remained unbeaten. Local fire department drills also caused attention. A dozen team members would participate, two to push the cart, and 10 to pull it. The events drew crowds to watch teams from Gilroy, Hollister, San Juan Bautista, Santa Cruz, Salinas and Watsonville.
After he moved to Gilroy, Watt met and married Emma Wolfrom in 1889 and the couple had two daughters, Vivian (1892) and Dorothy (1895.)
After his marriage, Watt worked for many years at the Henry Hecker Mercantile Company, and retired in 1928. Besides serving a number of terms on Gilroy’s City Council, his other civic pursuits included being a spectator at the first Salinas Rodeo and the first Gilroy Gymkhana. In later years, following his wife’s 1944 death, Watt remained in the family home on Church Street where his daughter, Dorothy, operated a women’s lodging house.
Watt’s daughter, Vivian Head, is still remembered by generations of Gilroyans as the music director in the Gilroy elementary schools, a capacity she served from 1915-1956.
