Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 51

Introduced by Senator Stone

April 30, 2015

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 51—Relative to the Special Deputy Frank Hamilton Memorial Highway.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SCR 51, as introduced, Stone. Special Deputy Frank Hamilton Memorial Highway.

This measure would designate a portion of State Highway Route 371 in the County of Riverside as the Special Deputy Frank Hamilton Memorial Highway. The measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.

Fiscal committee: yes.

WHEREAS, In 1895, Frank Hamilton, a Native American and
a Cahuilla tribal member from the Anza area, was working as a
Riverside County special deputy sheriff. Hamilton acted as a law
enforcement officer for the Riverside County Sheriff's Office in
the areas surrounding the Cahuilla and Ramona Reservations
(Anza) area, including the area surrounding the town of San
Jacinto. Hamilton had family ties to both reservations; and

WHEREAS, Hamilton, who was 34 years of age and unmarried,
was the son of a prominent rancher, James Hamilton, namesake
of the Hamilton School in the community of Anza. He resided at
the family ranch, which was first in Cahuilla, now present day
Anza. The ranch then moved to Kenworthy, presently known as
Garner Valley; and

WHEREAS, In the early years of Riverside County, special
deputies were used throughout the county to support the operation
of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. In the first few years of
its existence, the Riverside County Sheriff's Office consisted of
one sheriff and two deputy sheriffs; and

WHEREAS, Riverside County was incorporated on May 9,
1893. Special Deputy Frank Hamilton was the first deputy sheriff
in Riverside County to be murdered in the line of duty and his
killing was the subject of the first murder trial held in Riverside
County’s history; and

WHEREAS, On the evening of April 8, 1895, Special Deputy
Frank Hamilton was in the town of San Jacinto tending to his duties
as a special deputy sheriff. He was in the town saloon when a
disagreement erupted between him and Charles Marshall, who had
greeted Special Deputy Frank Hamilton with a racial epithet; and

WHEREAS, Marshall became enraged over the disagreement
and left. Special Deputy Frank Hamilton had told Marshall to go
away and that he did not want any trouble with him, but Marshall
retrieved a revolver and went in search of Special Deputy Frank
Hamilton; and

WHEREAS, Marshall located Special Deputy Frank Hamilton
in an alleyway adjacent to the town saloon, and, without warning,
began firing, hitting Special Deputy Frank Hamilton twice as he
returned fire and managed to wound Marshall; and

WHEREAS, Special Deputy Frank Hamilton succumbed to his
gunshot wounds the following day, April 9, 1895; now, therefore,
be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the
portion of State Highway Route 371 from Howard Road to Tribal
Road near the community of Anza in Riverside County as the
Special Deputy Frank Hamilton Memorial Highway; and be it
further

Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested
to determine the cost of appropriate signs consistent with the
signing requirements for the state highway system showing this
special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate
sources sufficient to cover the cost, to erect those signs; and be it
further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of
this resolution to the Director of Transportation and the author for
appropriate distribution.