LUGO, Hilario
LUGO, Hilario José (1858-1941), Santa Barbara native, son of Jose Lugo and Juana Ruiz, and long-time Santa Cruz Island Company employee whom Clifford McElrath remembered:
"Hilario Lugo, an old vaquero, finally got too old to ride and I put him out at the Christy Ranch as cook. It was an easy job and he was happy to have it. One day the foreman called me on the telephone and said that Hilario had run a sliver under his fingernail. He had dug at it with his knife and infected it and now had blood poisoning. The men had suggested various remedies which they had tried. The first was a bread and milk poultice. When this did no good somebody suggested a horse liniment poultice. This took all the hide off his hand and spread the blood poisoning. He now had swollen glands in his armpit and red lines running up the inside of his arm. The foreman wanted to know what they should do next. I told him to put Hilario on a gentle horse and bring him to the ranch right away. I knew that once on a horse he would be able to make it faster and with greater comfort than in a wagon. In the course of a few hours Hilario arrived at the ranch with the foreman. The last thing the men at Christy did for him was to apply the last resort of some old-time cowboys. They put a poultice of fresh cow manure from his hand to his shoulder. He was a sweet-smelling mess… I put him on the boat for Santa Barbara… A couple of days later… I asked about Hilario. The captain’s son, Pete [Olivari] answered me… when we pull up to the wharf that old man jump ashore and run like hell… You don’t need worry about that old Indian. He got to some old Indian woman and she put a poultice of yerbas on his arm and he is gonna be alright, but putah he is drunk.’ And so it was. In less than two weeks he was back suffering more from a hangover than from his close brush with blood poisoning. Truly they were a tough breed." [McElrath On Santa Cruz Island, pp. 98-100].
At the end of his life, Hilario Lugo was widowed. He lived at 636 East Ortega Street. He died on July 29, 1941 at 83 years of age, and is buried in Calvary Cemetery, Santa Barbara.
In the News~
February 9, 1909 [Italia]: “Pro' Danneggiati. Il nostro buno amico ed abbonato Signor U. Revel, residente a Santa Cruz Island in Contea di Santa Barbara, assunto il gentile e patriottico incarico di raccogliere sottoscrizioni fra i connazionalli di quella nostra colonia a pro degli sventurati del grande disastro italiano, non solo comincio a sottoscrivere personaimente per la somma di 19 dollari, ma riusel a raccogliere $80 che egli el ha rimessi inseime alla lista che qui appresso pubblichiamo: Ulrico Revel $10.00; Grazzini Michele 0.50; Pietro Nocetti $2.00; Bartolomeo Passamount $1.00; Guiseppe Vendrame $1.00; Guglielmo Grazzini 0.50; Pasquale Sacconaghi $2.00; Pietro Olivari; Angelo Bosio $1.00; Antonio Sacconaghi $1.00; Pietro Micono $1.00; Rodolfo Sartori $1.00; Giovanni Zanetti $1.00; Lorenzo Raimondo 0.50; Giovanni Pasquetti $3.00; Attilio Bozzella $1.00; Pietro Erbetta $1.00; Giovanni Cantoni $1.00; Battista Mezzanotte $1.00; Marco Cavalli $2.00; Pietro Lazzarotto $1.00; Primo Cavalli $2.00; Domenico Rava $1.00; Ambrogio Mainini $1.00; Abramo Cavestri $1.00; Domenico Rava $1.00; Ambrogio Mainini $1.00; Abramo Cavestri $1.00; Antonio Re $1.00; Amabile Bosio $1.00; Spirito Welchior $2.00; Alpivolo Cortopassi $1.00; Alessandro Delboca $1.00; Domenico Dezzutti $1.00; Fiore Piasani $1.00; Enriquo Lopez $1.00; Battista Perini $1.50; Battista Pasquetti $1.00; Bernardo Donchi $ 1.00; Avelino Lugo $5.00; Pedro Lugo $1.00; Ilario Lugo $1.00; Giovanni Cagnazzi $10.00; Carlo Carnaghi $5.00; Giuseppe Saccomaghi $1.00; Secondo Cavalli $1.00; Gerolamo Offredi $1.00; Angelo Castagnola $1.00; Giorgio Nidever $1.00; Jacobo Nidever $1.00.”
Translated: Pro 'Damaged. Our good friend and subscriber Mr. U. Revel, residing in Santa Cruz Island in Santa Barbara County, assumed the polite and patriotic task of collecting subscriptions among the connections of that colony of ours for the unfortunate of the great Italian disaster, not only do I begin to sign personally for the sum of 19 dollars, but he managed to collect $ 80 which he put back together with the list that we publish below:...
February 23,1920 [SCICo]: “Hilario Lugo, the cook at Christy developed blood poisoning from a splinter under his fingernail last week. They did not report it to me until they had taken all the skin off his finger with horse liniment, laundry soap etc. and the poison had started up his arm. He arrived too late in the day to send him to Santa Barbara so I cleaned it up and the next morning he felt better. He is getting better but won’t be able to work for a few days, so I am sending him to Santa Barbara to let Dr. Boeseke look at it.”
February 24, 1920 [SCICo]: “Dr. Boeseke, Santa Barbara. I am sending to you for treatment Hilario Lugo, who has an infected hand, and Mike Mullenary who has a sprained ankle. Yours truly, Clifford McElrath, Superintendent.”
March 1, 1920 [SCICo]: “The schooner left for Santa Barbara Tuesday, February 24th at 8:10 A. M. carrying Hilario Lugo and Mike Mullenary, G. Novero, and A. Lorenzetti. The first two are going to doctors because of blood poisoning and a sprained ankle.”
August 6, 1920 [SCICo]: “The schooner [Santa Cruz] left Tuesday, August 3 at 8:15 A.M. and returned Thursday August 5th at 1 P.M. bringing freight, Mr. Troup, Pagliavotti and Hilario Lugo returning to work.”
October 3, 1920 [SCICo]: “Zucconi replacing Hilario Lugo as cook at Scorpion.”
[p. 23,24, 31 etc., payment log from Mary B]
