Virgil Nikola Bakulić

BAKULICH, VIRGIL Goldminer-Police Inspector

Read this except from the April, 1946 of Police and Peace Officer's Journal and see if you have life experiences to match those of Inspector Bakulich. If you do, then you might write your autobiography and retell the escapades and adventures of your life story. While Inspector Bakulich is certainly not the last San Francisco Police Officer to became a published author, it is entirely likely that he was the first! And read about his ironic chance meeting with one of the great American writers of the 19th Century. Could that encounter have been the inspiration for Inspector Bakulich to became a writer? One of San Francisco's most colorful, efficient, and courageous police officers, who served in the San Francisco Department from July 11, 1894 to March 19, 1919, is completing for publication a book entitled "The Flight of My days," which could well be titled "The Recollections of a San Francisco Policeman". This former police officer is Virgil N. Bakulich, who now with his wife resides in San Jose. A giant of man, standing 6 feet 4 1/2 inches when he joined the department, Virgil Bakulich was a most imposing figure. A native of the Island of Brac, Dalmatia, Croatia he left that country in 1881 and arrived in California, then teeming with gold miners and the usual camp followers. He was the most able linguist the department has ever had, speaking, reading and writing Greek, Russian,(Croatian)Slavonian, Italian, German and English. During his service as a police officer he figured in the capture of many hardened criminals and solved many crimes, all of which are ably presented in his autobiography. To give an idea of the contents of his forthcoming book we will present many of the most important topics he has prepared after careful research and from his personal diary of events that few men have occasion to experience: A preface of his autobiography in which he tells of his parents, his native country, its antiquities, of the visit of Emperor Franz Joseph to Dalmatia in 1869, and of his departure for America in 1881. He tells of the gold fever that drew his father to California and how his father lost his life by drowning in the Lincoln Mine, Amador County. His arrival in California was the beginning of many hair-raising escapes and a series of personal attainments in law enforcement and athletics. He tells of his narrow escape after falling down a 1100 foot mining shaft in Plymouth, California, shortly after arriving in this country. He moved to Sonora, Toulumne County in 1885, and two years later found $5,000 in gold in a gold pocket on Brown's Flat. He tells of many escapes from caveins, falls and blasting. Also he recites the instance where he prevented a tar and feather party in 1888. He sets forth how he left the mining country in 1889, and came to San Francisco, and one of the first things he did was to find $475 in a lavatory at 151 Eleventh Street. He joined the Olympic Club, and as a novice won the coast championship for tossing the 56-pound weight. At the old Woodward Gardens he participated in a stubbornly contested international tug-of-war contest which lasted one hour and 47 minutes, with Bakulich's team winning. On July 11, 1894 he joined the Police Department and from that time his life was filled with action as following list of cases he took part in working on. He visited his native land in Dalmatia in 1900 with his father's remains, thus fulfilling his promises to his mother when a boy. Cupid's darts and arrows in Split ending in matrimony December 20, 1900. Return to America. Earthquake and fire in San Francisco, April 18, 1906. Robert Louis Stevenson's very valuable ring and jewelry recovered. Arrest and conviction. Retired from the San Francisco Police Department march 19, 1919. With Peter Dragicevich opened a steamship and insurance office. Second visit to Dalmatia in 1922. Out of gratitude for favors received and his instantaneous cure, built a memorial chapel to his beloved parents dedicating it under the auspices of St. Theresa of Lisleux to the greater glory of God.

Returned to California in 1939. This book of Virgil Bakulich is bound to be interesting to many of the old timers of this city and we wish the old detective sergeant all the success in the world. We knew him well, and he was a fearless, hardworking and loyal peace officer.

• Source: http://www.croatia.org/crown/croatians/www.croatians.com/BIOGRAPHY-...

MKV 20.12.1900 - https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-899X-FRJH?i=177&wc...

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• San Francisco Police Department
• Croatians in California, 1849-1999, Adam S. Eterovich
• The Van Court Scientific Boxing Course
• Crocker-Langley San Francisco Business Directory
• https://www.newspapers.com/search/#lnd=1&query=Virgil+Bakulich+obit...