We are apt to connect the voice of conscience with the stillness of midnight. However, we wrong that innocent hour. It is that terrible next morning, when reason is wide awake, upon which remorse fastens it fangs. It almost goes without saying that some events are more likely to cause stress than others. A stressor is a condition or event, in the environment that challenges or threatens a person.

The historic landmark, in downtown, Napa, California, USA, has held strong and severed the 25 August 2014 earthquake. Many fine Victorians have endured similar cliffhangers in recent years only to quietly give up the ghost. However, the night the earthquake struck, it became clear that the Magiliavacca was not just another pretty Victorian. Not many people know this, but the mansion has been moved twice and in a legend in Napa Valley, but it is also said to possess a spirit, which has made the mansion its home, and has no plans of moving.

A study done with test subjects shows how unpredictable events add to stress. On 16 August 1833, Giacomo Migliavacca was born in Pavia, Italy, and was educated at the University of Pavia. When the revolution broke out in 1848, he entered the Noble Guard de Milano, and after concluding his service, with honors, he returned to his home in Pavia.

It was in 1857 that he emigrated to California, coming on the streamer Golden Gate. Giacomo Migliavacca married Miss Madeline Semorile, who was born in Italy.  What a life of struggles between the head and the heart! In 1866, Giacomo moved to Napa with his wife. After a few weeks, Giacomo had severe stomach ulcers. It is not an easy matter to hit a conscience exactly between wind and water. Pressure occurs when a person must meet urgent extremal demands or expectations. For example, Giacomo opened a grocery store in 1887 with an extraordinary selection of fresh and conventional organic fruit and vegetables, and delicious prepared foods with healthy ingredients and clear labeling.

There were premium products that were grown and produced locally, and also hard-to-find grass-fed meets, ready-to-cook organic and free-range chicken, and a well-stocked selection of just-caught seafood. Soon the store was known for its fine wine selection and before long, Giacomo was creating his own varieties. Giacomo had to seep up, when deadlines had to be met, when extra work was added unexpectedly, or when he had to work near maximum capacity for lord periods. Yes. People generally feel more stress in situation over which they have little or no control. Giacomo also established the Migliavacca Wine Co. 30 March 1893, and he was the president. The building was constructed of brick.

Giacomo Migliavacca became good friends with Southern Pacific Railroad detective Len Harris, as he used to ship wine all over California and to Europe. Len Harris used to spend summers at the Migliavacca mansion. Len Harris was born in upstate New York about 1827, Harris first arrived in California during the Gold Rush, and moved to Sacramento, California, USA in the mid-1850s, he was warden at the Sacramento County jail, and during the 1860s, he regularly escorted convicted criminals to San Quentin. However, he did not like the job and joined the police force.

Detective Harris frequently worked with Truckee Constable James Reed in solving local crimes. In the Spring of 1880, unknown vagrants walking the tracks between Reno and Summit Station, at Norden went on a rampage stealing merchandise, tools and anything of value from Southern Pacific. The loot somehow seemed to disappear without a trace. Finally, someone tipped off Detective Harris and James Reed that they might find a stash house east of Truckee.

The two lawn men crawled through a hole in the wall to surprise a dozen men lazing about, amidst a room full of stolen property, mostly railroad ties. The den of thieves was taken to the Nevada County jail to spend the next month. Over the years, Detective Harris earned a stellar reputation as a smart, but tough detective willing to take on the most violent criminals.

In September of 1881, Len Harris single-handedly took on the notorious Sontag and Evans gang on Stanislaus County. Outgunned, Harris stood his ground until he was shot by a blast that caught him in the neck, the throat wound was serious. Harris lingered for many months between life and death. At the time, the doctors thought that Len Harris would be permanently disabled. However, being strong men, Harris fought his way back to health and escaped the grave.

Officer Len Harris

However, honorable Detective Len Harris’ final act of bravery occurred on 15 May 1894, when he helped foil a plot to rob the Wells Fargo express office, on the Southern Pacific Coast Railway, in Santa Cruz County. However, Detective Len Harris was shot, he took two bullets to the abdomen, and it ended the life of one of the West’s most dedicated and respected law officers. The 1894 murder of Len Harris, by Anthony Azoff, marked a tragic end of one peace officer’s remarkable career. Len Harris had served as a lawman for more than 40 years, a lifetime of unflinching bravery and dedication to duty.

When emotional shocks are intense or repeated, unpredictable, uncontrollable, and linked to pressure, stress will be magnified and damage is likely to result. Constructed of the finest materials available, in 1895, work began on Giacomo Migliavacca’s Queen Anne Victorian mansion, a lighter, airier design, which developed as an alternative to the traditional ornate Gothic architecture of the classic English Victorian. The three story house reflected essential Queen Anne elements—stained glass windows, a prominent Middle Eastern rounded tower, steeply pitched gables and an aggressively sharp roof line, and varied textures—at the loveliest. The upper two stories were imported Italian slate shingles over redwood sheeting and the prominent corner turret has a slate roof and curved windows.

Before a clear conscience, and for no bills without receipts, the first floor consisted of a front parlor, sitting room and reception hall complete with a coachman’s corner, where visitor’s coachmen awaited their employers. The evil of any pleasure is not in the act itself, but in its consequences. An oak staircase led to the second floor with its center hallway, five bedrooms and a full Victorian bathroom. The third floor really took the cake, however, it was the grand ballroom and really razzle and dazzled guest. The walls were hand carved redwood, with the exception of the hand carved oak in the reception area. The details and quality used in the mansion make modern architectural duplication virtually impossible. This mansion is one of Napa’s largest and most flamboyant.

Giacomo Migilavacca, was also a local banker, and helped open found the Bank of Italy (which later became the Bank of America). At work, chronic stress sometimes results in burnout, a pattern of emotional exhaustion. Giacomo was showing clear signs of burn out, a condition in which workers are physically, mentally or emotionally drained. He got sick easily, usually with the flu. Giacomo was fatigued, tense, apathetic, and suffering from physical ailments. He felt used up and like he did not give a damn anymore. Giacomo no longer seemed to care about his clients and treated them coldly, like they were objects. Giacomo was feeling a reduced sense of personal accomplishment and his self-esteem slumped. Giacomo retired in 1908, and turned the winery over to his children Joseph Migilavacca was the president.

Burnout may occur in any job, but it is a marked problem in emotionally demanding helping professions, it is ironic that the same work that produces burnout can also be highly rewarding. However, in 1919, when prohibition was enforced, which out lawed liquor production and consumption, the winey was dissolved. However, Giacomo invested in real-estate all over Napa, Oakland, and San Francisco, he owned many houses. And Giacomo and his wife Angelina died in 1921, in the house, and last member of the immediate family sold the proud mansions in 1925.

Talk of the devil and you shall see his horns. During World War II, the second and third floors of the mansion were divided into small sleeping rooms, to house Mare Island employees, and among them was Anna Wurz, and her family. They often complained to Jess Doud, who was at the time the executive director of the Napa County Historical Society that the house was haunted. Night after night the Wurz family, occupying the third floor of the house, which was formerly the ballroom—was awakened by the sound of footsteps approaching them on the stairs. They said that a pleasant African American woman, who claimed to be part of the underground railroad, lived in the mansions and she was helping slaves escape their master, and took on civil rights cases out of the office she had in the mansion.

I heard on facebook you were hoin’.

She said that her name was Mary Ellen Pleasant, but they called her Mammy. The Wurz family also heard laughter and old fashion music and wanted nothing more than to leave, but housing was in short supply during the way. Anna did some research and it turned out that Mary Ellen Pleasant was real and that after she donated money to her friend John Brown, he raided the federal armory at Harper’s Ferry, W.Va., in 1859, and that John Brown and Mary Pleasant were hunted down by General Robert E. Lee and that Mary Pleasant narrowly escaped prosecution.

It was also discovered that Mary Pleasant did in fact file several law suits to help fight injustices against African Americans, including one against a trolley company that prohibited black people from riding in their cars. What must become of the lady whom love itself gives up, and conscience cannot plead for? Mary Pleasant died in Napa in 1904.

It is with the best of hearts as with the best of pears—a dangerous experiment to linger too long upon the scene. We live and learn; but it is odd that, when we whip her, Madam should love us more. When the World conflict ended, the mansion stood empty. There were other owners, but no one ever remained for long. Then in 1970, the property was purchased by Napa County for $20,400 ($124,161.81 adjusted for inflation) and was scheduled for demolition to make way for a new library. At the last minute, Trost Housemovers came to the rescue and the house was jacked up and moved one block to the bank of the Napa River, awaiting a barge trip to a new location in Benicia, California. Unfortunately, when houses are moved, they lose their basements, please make room for historical properties and trees in your city plans so we can save our history without unleashing havoc, and end up settling in court.

Honey is none the worse for passing through the bees’ bellies. Bureaucratic roadblocks shattered that hope. Benicia did not want a potential fire trap—least of all one with ghost. Another potential buyer surfaces with plans to relocate the house a short distance down the river. However, more redtape strangled that idea. His name was Captain John Greenwood, he was attacked (in his home), the robbers drugged John Greenwood and shot him in the head three times, but were dissatisfied with the lack of values in his home.

When John’s wife came home, during the robbery, the two robbers took her jewelry and killed her. Meanwhile, the robbers Carl Schmidt and William Roe made like vandals and looters, and used chains saws to remove the staircase and light fixtures, while leaving John Greenwood for dead, but he survived the attack and went for help.

Authorities caught the two men responsible for the murder, Carl Schmidt and William Roe. Carl Schmidt was sent to San Quentin prison for his role in the crime and eventually died in prison.

William Roe was executed by hanging in front of the old Napa County Courthouse on Coombs Street, making the last time we have known of a public execution that was carried out by a county in California. Future executions were carried out by the state at San Quentin Prison and Napa State Hospital.

The young who avoid Romance escape the title of Fool at the cost of a celestial crown. A grift-ridden Greenwood had his late wife’s VW Buggy disassembled and reassembled inside of his house, and slept next to the vehicle until his death. Many preservationists questioned whether a professional demolition job was not preferable to a slow, tortuous death. Jackals of the night were literally tearing the house to pieces. Condemned once more, a last minute reprieve was sought by Tom Connell, a young and successful idealistic man, resolved to do the job that had totally defied the so-called experts.

In 1975, he moved the Magliavacca house, for a second time, selecting a lot close to its original location. Full of confidence, he predicted that the mansion would be fully restored within six months. In reality, the project took three years. Employees claimed to have uncovered the body Lucina Greenwood, stopping work, the building stood forlornly smothered by scaffolding, and the interior was gutted. Fear breedeth wit; anger is the cradle of courage; joy openeth and enableth the heart; sorrow, as it closet, so it draweth it inward to look to the correcting of itself; and all of them have power towards some good by the direction of reason.

Nothing is more painful to the human mind than, after the feelings have been worked up by a quick succession of events, the dead calmness of inaction and certainties which follow and deprives the soul both of hope and fear. However, Tom Connell’s perseverance paid off. The Magiliavacca Mansion was turned into a showplace and was listed on the National Register of Historical Places, which means it cannot be torn down or altered. The mansion once more radiates Victorian splendor—however, the third floor is no longer used as a ballroom, nor do coachmen wait in the front hallway, the floor was divided into 7 houses, and used for office. Laughter is anything, but eerier, cheerful voices echo through the halls, brisk footsteps are, but at night…well, no one ever really liked to work too late….

The property now sits at 1475 Fourth Street and had been owned by Ed Keith, a well known Napa Valley businessman, owner of Catacula Lake Winey and the Mervyn’s building in downtown Napa, passed away on 15 September 2006. Dr, Robert White, Keith’s son-in-law and family spokesman, reported that family members were not certain of Keith’s age, but he was roughly 90 and worth well over $20 million. The home was listed, in 2007 for $1.75 million. However, the kitchen in the house was missing because it was left behind in the move, along with the basement. Much of the redwood and oak paneling and features like pocket doors have been preserved. However, walls have been added, doors moved, and vinyl flooring installed. The mansion was originally designed by local architect William Harris Corlett, also known for numerous other houses downtown and the Franklin station post office.

The Migliavacca mansion is located at 1475 Fourth Street, Napa, California sold in February of 2008. It took only ten minutes for Napa attorney Robert Johnson to buy the historical mansion for $1.325 million. The mansion has good electrical wiring, new plumbing and heating and cooling. Robert Johnson removed all the carpet, and refinished the oak floors, added an elevator at the rear of the 4,000 square foot house, there is a fireplace on the first and second floor, with a chimney that vents to the outside. How much did he spend on renovation?

Robert Johnson replied, I do not use a budget because the home is designated as a landmark, and the tenants do not pay enough rent to cover monthly expense, but that is okay, as the purchase was not financially motivated. It should be as it was. His son Blair Johnson, who is also an attorney, and loves the color yellow, said his father kept calling the mansions a piece of art.

The LORD spoke to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of his people. He said, Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear and do not dread it. THE LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to dread, and he will be a sanctuary; but for both houses, he will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the ungodly, he will be a trap and a snare. Many of them will stumble, they will fall and be broken, and they will be snared and captured. Bing up the testimony and seal up the law among my disciples, I will wait for the LORD.