BILL NUMBER: SCR 51 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
ADOPTED IN SENATE JULY 2, 2015
ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 27, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Senator Stone
APRIL 30, 2015
Relative to the Special Deputy Frank Hamilton Memorial Highway.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCR 51, 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.
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.