The Blue Mud Wars of the Potrero

On Sunday, 28 February 1892, The Examiner published “Iliad of the Potrero,” an account of the rivalry between the McManus and Welch factions in San Francisco. Its illustration, captioned “A Battle in the Blue Mud of the Potrero,” gives the story a memorable image: a street confrontation involving clubs, a pistol and uniformed officers.

A rivalry around saloons and boarding houses

The newspaper puts Frank McManus, the “King of the Potrero,” and his brother Cornelius (Con) McManus, called “Gorsoon” in the article, at the center of the dispute. It connects the rivalry to the competition for customers and boarders around the Union Hotel, the Mechanics’ Saloon and the Monterey House.

The account describes Michigan Street and Illinois Street as opposing territories. It portrays the Union Hotel’s proximity to the ironworks as a business advantage, and mixes commercial competition with political allegiance and claims of influence over employers and police.

The confrontation described in the paper

The report says an argument following a fire at the Monterey House escalated into a nighttime clash involving firearms, knives and clubs. It names the Welch brothers among Frank’s opponents and describes injuries, arrests and weapons found afterward in the mud.

These are the newspaper’s allegations and descriptions. Its mock-heroic title, caricatured dialogue and predictions of future violence make this a source to read critically. The illustration is a newspaper depiction, not a photograph identifying each participant or independently proving the sequence of events.

A family-history lead to follow

The article calls Bill Phillips McManus’s brother-in-law. William Henry McManus’s 1901 funeral notice separately names a sister as Mrs. William Philips. The names and relationship make a useful lead, but the spelling varies and the two references have not yet been shown to identify the same couple. Marriage, census and directory records are needed before attaching either name to a particular sister.

Read William Henry’s obituary research.

Read the newspaper account

The existing Iliad of the Potrero transcription is retained, with its graphic restored. The source record contains the supplied clipping and a full-size image link.

Source

The Examiner, San Francisco, California, Sunday, 28 February 1892, “Iliad of the Potrero.” View the newspaper page on Newspapers.com, catalogued under The San Francisco Examiner. The issue citation and two image files were supplied by Kevin McManus. The online page was inaccessible during this review; this post uses the supplied images and the existing transcription.

Earlier report: 23 February 1892

A War on the Potrero covers the fire and confrontation in the Examiner five days earlier, including the pistol illustration and a disputed identification of Frank’s brother.