I found this article from 1895, but referring back much further, to be of interest.
J.W. Potts is James Wesley Potts, alias "Little Potts" (evidently to distinguish him from his contemporary Andrew Wilson Potts), arriving in L.A. in September, 1852.
The top half of the first line is cut off in the original; but I think it's "Apropos of the adversity which is ex-".
LA Times, October 25, 1895.