Samuel Blake (died 1878) was the Democratic Mayor of San Francisco from 1875 to 1878, preceding Walter Buckley. Blake was a pro-business Bourbon Democrat who steered a middle course between supporting the employment of Chinese laborers and opposing Chinese immigration, hoping to please both the business community (which backed his first campaign) and the Democrats' working-class Irish support base (whom he sought to appeal to during his re-election bid). He was later persuaded to take an actively anti-Chinese stance by US Senator Robert Crestwood, as he hoped to become Governor of California once the xenophobic Crestwood became President, and his murder by his wife Penelope Blake's Chinese manservant Jacob Fok resulted in a race riot that devastated Chinatown.
Biography[]
Blake eating with his wife
Samuel Blake was raised in San Francisco, California, coming from a wealthy family. He married Penelope Mercer, the daughter of industrialist Byron Mercer, and he became Mayor of San Francisco in 1875, running on a moderate Democratic platform. Blake toed the line between supporting Chinese labor and denouncing the Chinese community, while privately frequenting Chinese brothels to be serviced by both male and female prostitutes. In 1878, at the behest of industrialist Lymon Merriweather, Blake overhauled Chinatown policing by having Deputy Mayor Walter Buckley create the Chinatown Squad to tackle both the Chinese community and the nativist Workingmen thugs.
Blake and Buckley, 1878
Blake's popularity took a hit after the charges against murder suspect Ah Sahm were dismsised, and he avoided mentioning the Chinese in his speech given to calm the situation. Buckley urged Blake to take a hardline anti-Chinese stance, but Blake risked losing his industrial support due to the business community's reliance on Chinese labor. He proceeded to order a police raid on Ah Toy's brothel, and, after a bombing in Chinatown, Blake affiliated himself with the anti-Chinese US Senator Robert Crestwood. He gave Mercer a bid for the city's first cable car track, while Buckley helped him sort out the city's budget, which was in arrears. When Blake finally took a hard stance against Chinese labor, the electorate called him a hypocrite, as his wife's company employed "coolies". Blake's relationship with his wife, already frigid, deteriorated after she hired the Hop Wei Tong to guard her business amid race riots, and he took an official stance against the Chinese after the Fung Hai Tong firebombed Sergeant Bill O'Hara's home. Blake soon set his sights on the governorship as Crestwood planned to run for President, and he demanded that his wife call off her deal with Merriweather and sell her company. However, Penny instead demanded a divorce to solve their problems, causing a fight tob reak out. Penny's Chinese manservant Jacob Fok bashed Blake over the back of the head with an iron poker, killing him and sparking deadly race riots.
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