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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4642-h.zip b/4642-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..892c32d --- /dev/null +++ b/4642-h.zip diff --git a/4642-h/4642-h.htm b/4642-h/4642-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f1eb6f1 --- /dev/null +++ b/4642-h/4642-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2227 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of The Vigilance Committee of '56, +by James O'Meara +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.transnote {font-size: 80%; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.intro {font-size: medium ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Vigilance Committee of '56, by James O'Meara + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Vigilance Committee of '56 + +Author: James O'Meara + +Posting Date: August 18, 2009 [EBook #4642] +Release Date: November, 2003 +First Posted: February 20, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE OF '56 *** + + + + +Produced by David Schwan. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +The Vigilance Committee of '56. +</H1> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +By a Pioneer California Journalist +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +[James O'Meara] +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +[Updater's note: There was no indication of the location +of Chapter VI in this file] +</H5> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="14%"> +<A HREF="#chap01">I</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="14%"> +<A HREF="#chap02">II</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="14%"> +<A HREF="#chap03">III</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="14%"> +<A HREF="#chap04">IV</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="14%"> +<A HREF="#chap05">V</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="14%"> +VI +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="14%"> +<A HREF="#chap07">VII</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter I. +</H3> + +<P> +Many accounts of the Vigilance Committee of San Francisco have been +published, but all of them, so far as I have seen, were from the pen of +members of that organization, or else from persons who favored it. As a +consequence their accounts of it were either partial, to a greater or +less degree, or imperfect otherwise; and much has been omitted as well +as misstated and misrepresented otherwise. I was not a member of the +Vigilance Committee, nor was I a member of the opposing organization, +known as the Law and Order body, of which General Sherman was the head +and Volney E. Howard next in rank. I have never been in favor of mob or +lynch-law in any form, and, therefore, had neither sympathy with nor +disposition to join the Vigilance Committee. And while I was earnestly +in support of Law and Order, I did not feel that I could better subserve +that cause by joining the organization formed at that time, for the +avowed purpose of maintaining the one and enforcing the other. I had +many friends on each side, and I also knew many in each organization who +were unworthy of fellowship in any good or honorable cause or +association; and some of these bore prominent rank in each organization. +As was said of the Regulators of Texas, who directed their energies +chiefly against horse thieves and robbers, that some of the worst and +most guilty of them hastened to join the band, in order to save +themselves from arrest and the rope or bullet, likewise were there some +prominent in the Vigilance Committee of 1856, who undoubtedly joined it +for similar reasons—to escape the terrors of the organization; and the +Executive Committee was not exempt from these infamous characters. +</P> + +<P> +The Executive Committee, forty-one in number, was thus composed in +membership: William T. Coleman, James Dows, Thomas J. L. Smiley, John P. +Monrow, Charles Doane, James N. Olney, Isaac Bluxome, Jr., William +Meyers, Charles Ludlow,—Christler, Richard M. Jessup, Charles J. +Dempster, George R. Ward, E. P. Flint, Wm. Rogers, Aaron M. Burns, Miers +F. Truitt, W. H. Tillinghast, W. Arrington, Charles L. Case, J. D. +Farwell, W. T. Thompson, Eugene Dellesert, J. K. Osgood, J. W. Brittan, +Jules David, C. V. Gillespie, Calvin Nutting, E. Gorham, N. O. +Arrington, F. W. Page, O. B. Crary, L. Bassange, D. Tubbs, Emile Grisar, +E. B. Goddard, Henry M. Hale, Chas. Ludlow, M. J. Burke, J. H. Fish, C. +P. Hutchings, J. Seligman. +</P> + +<P> +W. T. Coleman was President, Thomas J. L. Smiley Vice-President and +Prosecuting Attorney, John P. Morrow, Judge Associate, James Dows, +Treasurer, Wm. Meyer, Deputy Treasurer, Isaac Bluxome, Jr. the notorious +"33"—Secretary. Charles Doane was Grand Marshall, James N. Olney, +Deputy Grand Marshall, R. T. Wallace was Chief of Police, John L. +Durkee, Deputy Chief. +</P> + +<P> +The military organization of the Vigilance Committee, rank and file, +numbered nearly 5,000 men. Several of the Executive Committee were alien +residents who never became citizens; and in the Committee, serving as +troops, as police, and in other lines, were a large number of aliens, +not naturalized, many of whom had not acquired sufficient proficiency in +the English language to speak it or understand it. The military body +comprised four regiments—infantry and artillery—together with +battalions of cavalry, pistol companies and guard of citizens. A medical +staff was duly organized. The roster, as here given, is copied from a +recent publication in the Alta, stated to be authentic. The dashes which +mark omission of the names, appear as they are placed in the Alta: +</P> + +<P> +Charles Doane, Major-General. Staff officers: N. W. Coles, +Quartermaster-General and Colonel of Cavalry; R. M. Jessup, +Commissary-General and Colonel of Infantry; Aaron M. Burns, Deputy +Commissary-General and Lieutenant-Colonel of Infantry; James Dows, +Paymaster-General and Lieutenant-Colonel of Infantry; William Meyer and +Eugene Dellesert, Paymaster-Generals and Majors of Infantry; Cyrus G. +Dwyer, Adjutant and Inspector-General and Major of Infantry: Henry +Baker, Quartermaster and Major of Infantry; R. R. Pearce and M. McManus, +Assistant Quartermasters and Captains of Infantry; J. W. Farrington, +Assistant Commissary and Captain of Infantry; R. Beverly Cole, Surgeon +of the staff and Major of Infantry; Geo. C. Potter, aid to Major-General +and Major of Cavalry; N. B. Stone, A. M. Ebbetts, T. M. Wood, O. P. +Blackman, George R. Morris, T. A. Wakeman, Felix Brissac, C. H. Vail and +George R. Ward, aids to Major-General and Majors of Infantry, James B. +Hubbell, John M. Schapp and B. F. Mores, aids and secretaries to +Major-General and Captains of Infantry, J. N. Olney, Jr., aid and +secretary to Major-General and First Lieutenant of Infantry; James N. +Olney, Brigadier-General; R. S. Tammot, Henry Jones and R. M. Cox, aids +and Captains of Infantry. +</P> + +<P> +Artillery—Thomas D. Johns, Colonel; J. F. Curtis, Lieutenant-Colonel; +R. B. Hampton, Major; Company A, J. Mead Huxley, Captain; Company B, +James Richit, Captain; Company C, H. C. F. Behrens, Captain; Company D, +J. H. Hasty, Captain; James F. Curtiss, Lieutenant-Colonel, commanding +Reserved Artillery. +</P> + +<P> +Battallion Cavalry—Frank Baker, Major; First Squadron, G. G. Bradt, +Captain; Second Squadron, J. Sewell Read, Captain. +</P> + +<P> +Infantry—First Regiment,—Colonel; J. S. Ellis, Lieutenant-Colonel; +John A. Clark, Major; J. P. H., Wentworth, Quartermaster; H. H. Thrall, +Adjutant; L. S. Wilder, Commissary; R. M. Cox, Sergeant-Major; H. W. F. +Hoffman, Quartermaster's Sergeant and composed of eight companies, viz: +Company A, W. C. Allen, Lieutenant commanding; Company B, H. L. Twiggs, +Captain; Company C, A. L. Loring, Captain; Company D, J. V. McElwee, +Captain; Company One,, J. M. Taylor, Captain; Company Two (Riflemen), L. +W. Parks, Captain; Company Three, Jonathan Gavat, Captain, Company +Seven, Geo. H. Hossefros, Captain. +</P> + +<P> +Battallion Citizens Guard—Belonging to First Regiment, composed of A, +B, C, and D, G. F. Watson, Major. +</P> + +<P> +Second Regiment—J. B. Badger, Colonel; J. S. Hill, Lieutenant-Colonel; +A. H. Clark, Major, Giles H. Gray, Quartermaster; E. B. Gibbs, Adjutant; +F. A. Howe, Commissary;—Sergeant-Major; Judah Alden; +Quartermaster-Sergeant, and composed of eight companies, viz: Company +Six, W. R. Doty, Captain; Company Twelve, C. G. Bailey, Captain; Company +Eight, — Godfrey, Captain; Company Four, A. H. King, Captain; Company +Five, C. R. Bond, Captain; Company Ten, J. Wightman, Lieutenant +commanding; Company Eleven, George Gates, Captain; Company Nine, J. +Wood, Captain. +</P> + +<P> +Third Regiment—H. S. Fitch, Colonel; Caleb Clapp Lieutenant Colonel;—, +Major;—, Quartermaster;—, Adjutant;—, Commissary;—, +Sergeant-Major;—, Quartermaster-Sergeant, and composed of eight +companies, viz: Company Thirteen, E. J. Smith, Lieutenant commanding; +Company Fourteen, W. E. Keyes, Captain; Company Fifteen,—, Lieutenant +commanding; Company Sixteen, B. S. Bryan, Captain; Company Seventeen +(Riflemen), C. E. S. McDonald, Captain; Company Eighteen, P. W. +Shepheard, Captain; Company Nineteen, R. H. Bennett, Captain; Company +Twenty, S. Gutte, Captain. +</P> + +<P> +Fourth Regiment—Francis J. Lippitt, Colonel; John D. G. Quirk, +Lieutenant-Colonel, —— , Major; —— , Quartermaster; B. L. West, +Adjutant;—— , Commissary;—— , Sergeant-Major;—— , Quartermaster's +Sergeant, and composed of eight companies, viz: Company Twenty-five, J. +Sanfrignon, Captain; Company Twenty-eight, L. Armand, Captain; French +Legion,—— Villaseque, Major; Company Twenty-four, W. H. Patten, +Captain; Company Twenty-seven, C. H. Gough, Captain; Company Twenty-one, +S. Meyerbock Captain; Company Twenty-three, J. T. Little, Captain; +Company Thirty, W. O. Smith, Captain; Company Twenty-two, J. L. Folger, +Captain; Company Twenty-nine, S. L. Harrison, Captain; Company +Twenty-six,—— , Captain. +</P> + +<P> +Pistol Battalion—Two companies, commanded respectively by Captains +Webb and E. S. Gibbs. +</P> + +<P> +The roll of Division No. 4 is thus given: +</P> + +<P> +J. A. Collins, Commander, Geo. G. Whitney, 1st Lieut. W. H. Parker, 2d +L't, J. H. Mallett, Orderly Sergeant, R. R. H. Rogers, Second Orderly +Sergeant, Wm. H. Wood, Third Orderly Sergeant, Charles D. Cushman, +Fourth Orderly Sergeant. Privates—D. Morgan, Jr., P. G. Partridge, +John Burns, E. W. Travers. Giles H. Gray, Martin Prag, John Wright, +James Wells, Jas. W. White, Judah Alden, Alfred Rix, J. W. Farrington, +W. L. Waters, W. F. Hall, J. T. Bowers, J. L. N. Shepard, Lucius Hoyt, +David Laville, H. A. Russell, E. Stevens, Theo. B. Cunningham, M. +McMannis, Wm. H. Gibson, Edmund Keyes, George T. Bohen, I. M. Bachelder, +R. T. Holmes, W. F. Shankland, B. Argyras, John R. Chute, John S. +Davies, James McCeny, Geo. H. Tay, Sohn Bensley, L. Bartlett, Joseph W. +Housley, Robert Wells, Samuel Fullerton, Newell Hosmer, J. J. Lomax, G. +K. Fitch, Wm. Hayes, Robert A. Parker, Samuel Soule, A. Wardwell, Isaac +E. Davis, M. McIntyre, F. E. Foote, Thomas A. Ayres, William K. +Blanchard, J. F. Eaton, J. Frank Swift, J. O. Rountree. +</P> + +<P> +These names of Secretaries of the Committees of the Executive Committee +are added: On Evidence—J. H. Titcomb and D. McK Baker; on +Qualification—E. T. Beals. +</P> + +<P> +First, as to the cause or pretence for the organization of the Vigilance +Committee: It is declared by its ex-members and supporters, or +apologists, that it was necessary for the reason that the law was not +duly administered; that the Courts, the fountains of justice, were +either corrupted or neglectful of their duties; that Juries were packed +with unworthy men in important criminal cases, that there were gross +frauds in elections, by which the will of the people was defied and +defeated, and improper and dishonest men, some of them notorious rogues, +were counted in and installed in public office; and that there was a +class of turbulent offenders who had the countenance, if not the support +of judges and officials in high places, and who, therefore, felt +themselves to be above or exempt from the law. Tennyson has well +remarked that there is no lie so baneful as one which is half truth. So +it is in respect to these alleged reasons for the organization of that +Vigilance Committee. It is not true that the Courts were corrupt, +neglectful or remiss. Judge Hager presided in the Fourth District Court, +and his integrity and judicial qualifications, or judgments, have never +been questioned or impeached. Judge Freelon presided as County judge; +the same can be remarked of him. There was no material fault alleged +against the Police Court. It is true, however, that in important +criminal cases, and sometimes in civil suits, the juries were often +packed. But why? I will state: Merchants and business men generally had +great aversion to serve on juries, particularly, in important criminal +cases, which are usually protracted; and the jury were kept in +comparative close condition, because their time was too valuable, and +their business interests required their constant attention. They +preferred, therefore, to pay the fine imposed, in case they were unable +to prevail upon the Judge to excuse them. Jury fees were inconsiderable +in comparison with their daily profits; but it was the loss of time from +their business which mainly actuated them. Yet these fees were +sufficient to pay a day's board and lodging, and to the many who were +out of employment, serving on a jury was the means to both. There is, in +every large community, the class known as professional jurymen—hangers +about the Court, eagerly waiting to be called. There were men of this +kind then; there are more than enough of them still loitering about the +Courts, civil and criminal. San Francisco is not the only city in the +United States in which defendants in grave criminal cases have recourse +to every conceivable and possible means, without scruple, to procure +their own acquittal, or the utmost modification of the penalty, by +proving extenuating circumstances, or that the indictment magnifies the +crimes. This was true of 1856; here, as elsewhere in the land; it is +equally true now. Had the merchants and solid citizens then drawn as +jurors, fulfilled their duty to the cause of justice, to the +conservation and maintenance of law and order, they would have had no +cause or pretence for the organization which they formed. The initial +fault was attributable to themselves; the jury-packing they complained +of was the direct consequence of their own neglect of that essential +duty to the State, in the preservation of law and order; and they cannot +reasonably or justly shift the onus from themselves upon the Courts. +</P> + +<P> +Concerning the frauds in election: yes, there were frauds, outrageous +frauds, at every election; repeaters, bullies, ballot-box stuffing, and +false counts of the ballots to count out this candidate and count in the +one favored of the "boys." More than one member of the Vigilance +Executive Committee had thorough knowledge of all this, for the very +conclusive reason that more than one of them had engaged in these +frauds, had not only participated in them directly and indirectly, but +had actually proposed them; employed the persons who had committed the +frauds, and paid these tools round sums for the infamous service. The +reward of these employers and accessories before, during and after the +frauds, was the office that was coveted; and the "Hon." prefixed to +their names was as the gilt which the watch stuffer applies to the brass +thing he imposes upon the greenhorn as a solid gold watch. Out of the +Committee, of the Executive Committee, the detectives of that body might +have unearthed these honorable and virtuous purifiers and reformers; +with them, perhaps others whose frauds were no less wicked and criminal; +but in business transactions, and not in political affairs. One of the +Executive Committee had served his term of two years in the Ohio State +Prison for forgery; here in San Francisco he had, during two city +elections, been the trusted agent and disburser of a very heavy sack in +the honest endeavor to secure the nomination, and promote the election, +of his principal to high office, yet this pure man was honored by his +associates of the Committee, and became singularly active in pressing +the expatriation of some of the very "ruffians and ballot-box-stuffers" +he had patronized and paid. He had learned that "dead men told no +tales." This pure-character did not stand alone in his experience of +penal servitude, as birds of a feather, and he was under no necessity of +examplifying Lord Dundreary's bird, to go into a corner and flock by +himself. That some turbulent offenders, and largely too many of them, +defied the law, is likewise true. But that they were countenanced or +favored by the Judges, is utterly without truthful foundation. And it is +remarkable that, of all the men hanged or expatriated by the Committee, +only two had ever been complained of or arraigned before the Courts for +any crime of violence; not one of them all had been here accused or +suspected of theft or robbery, or other felony. This is more, as I have +just above stated, than can be said of some of the forty-one members of +the Executive Committee. And among the members of the rank and file of +the five thousand or six thousand enrolled upon the lists of the +Committee—of natives and English-speaking citizens or residents—there +were scores of scoundrels of every degree, bogus gold-dust +operators, swindlers and fugitives from justice. Of the members of other +nationalities—some of whom had not been in the country long enough to +acquire English—I have no occasion to pass remark; but the fear of +communism and disturbance, from the increase of its incendiary votaries +in our country, east and here, cannot be lessened or composed by the +recollection of the conduct of many of the same nationalities who then +swelled the ranks of the Committee troops. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter II. +</H3> + +<P> +Saturday Nov. 19, 1855, between 5 and 6 o'clock, the community was +startled by the report that General Richardson, United States Marshal, +had been shot dead by a gambler. The shooting occurred on the south side +of Clay street, about midway between Montgomery and Leidesdorff streets. +The fatal shot was fired from a deringer pistol by Charles Cora. Cora +was a gambler, yet he did not look the character. He was a low-sized, +well-formed man; dressed in genteel manner, without display of jewelry +or loudness; was reserved and quiet in his demeanor; and his manners and +conversation were those of a refined gentleman. I first saw him at the +Blue Wing, a popular rendezvous for politicians, on Montgomery street, +east side, between Clay and Commercial streets, and my impression then +was that he was a lawyer or a well-to-do merchant. General Richardson +was a morose and at times a very disagreeable man. He was of low +stature, thick set, dark complexion, black hair, and usually wore a +bull-dog look. He was known by his intimate friends to be a dangerous +man as a foe, and he always went armed with a pair of deringers. The +Thursday night prior to the shooting General Richardson and Col. Jo. C. +McKibben, afterwards member of Congress, were at the Blue Wing in +company. After midnight Richardson went out for a moment on the +sidewalk. A man passed him, made a jocular remark and entered the +saloon. Richardson followed him in, and asked of Perkins his name. He +had been drinking heavily. McKibben prevailed upon him to start for his +home. It was on Minna street, near Fred Woodworth's, just above Jessie +street. Jo. accompanied him most of the way. Richardson spoke to him of +an "insult" he had received from "that fellow Carter"—as he seemed to +think the name to be—and declared his purpose to make him answer for +it. McKibben knew Cora, and that Cora was the man to whom Richardson +referred; but he likewise knew enough of Richardson to not correct him, +and let him believe that "Carter" was the name, in the hope that, in his +condition, he would either not think of the occurrence the next day, or +would not be able to recognize Cora if he did. The following Saturday +afternoon a party of us—Jo. McKibben, John Monroe, Clerk of Judge +Hoffman's Court, E. V. Joice, Pen. Johnston, Josh Haven and myself were +in the Court Exchange, corner of Battery and Washington streets. +Richardson came in while we were there, and was in drinking humor. He +became sullen and, as we all knew his nature, it was quietly agreed +among ourselves that we would leave and try to get him away. He was +devoted to his wife, whom he married in San Francisco. McKibben and +myself accompanied him on his way home, as far as the old Oriental +Hotel, within a few blocks of his residence. There he insisted on a +"last drink," and we left him—he to go straight home. It turned out +that he did not. He brooded over the "insult" of Carter, as he still +called him, and made his way to the Blue Wing to find him, Unfortunately +he found Cora there. He called him out, and, as one man wilt lead +another by his side, walked with him around the corner into Clay street, +halting just in front of the store of a French firm—I do not remember +the name—and so managed as to put Cora on the iron grating, of the +sidewalk inside, with his back to the brick wall of the store. Cora had +not the slightest idea that Richardson had taken offence at his remark +on Thursday night—for it was in no light offensive or insulting but +simply a bit of ordinary pleasantry, and therefore, he was not aware of +Richardson's object in asking him to come out from the saloon. But many +of Richardson's intimate friends, who felt his death keenly, and were at +that time disposed to the extreme penalty of the law upon the man who +shot him, after due reflection and deliberation came to the conclusion, +that under the circumstances, standing as he was placed before +Richardson, who stood with his hands in his pockets, and a deringer in +each pocket, pressing his demand on Cora, the latter had one of two +things to do: either to kill Richardson or allow Richardson to kill him. +</P> + +<P> +There were not many on Clay street, near the fatal scene, at that hour, +but the discharge of Cora's pistol soon brought several to the spot. +Richardson's body was carried through the side-door entrance on Clay +street, into the drug store then on that corner of Montgomery street, +and there hundreds viewed it. Cora was taken in charge. Dave Scannell +was Sheriff. That excitement over, the feeling increased every hour, and +many urged the summary hanging of Cora. Scannell had duly prepared for +all this, and order was preserved, although several hundred men formed +in line and proceeded to the County Jail to force their way in, seize +Cora and hang him forthwith. Sunday morning the excitement had +diminished in spirit of violence, but had increased in volume and +disposition to bring Cora to justice. Eminent lawyers, the personal +friends of Richardson, had already volunteered to assist in the +prosecution of the man who shot him. The application of Cora's friends +to several of the most noted criminal lawyers in the city, to defend +him, was in many instances declined. Cora had one to his support, +however, who proved more successful in engaging counsel in his behalf. +This was the woman known as Belle Cora, the keeper of a notorious house, +with whom Cora lived. She was rich and possessed of indomitable spirit. +She was devoted to Cora. In this connection I will relate that which +Governor Foote imparted to myself and J. Ross Browne, on a trip to +Oregon, late in the summer of 1857. It was substantially this. Belle +Cora had gone herself to the law office of Colonel E. D. Baker, to +engage him as counsel for Cora, and had succeeded. The fee was to be +$5,000; one-half this sum was immediately paid to him. She then applied +to Governor Foote to engage him to assist in the case: He declined, but +assured her that he should not appear for the prosecution. In a few +days, on account of the intense popular feeling toward Cora, and also +because the law partner of Colonel Baker had strenuously objected to his +acting as counsel for Cora, as it would greatly damage their +professional business the community, Baker and their personal standing +in called upon Governor Foote and requested him to see Belle Cora and +apprise her that she must employ some other counsel; that he felt that +he must withdraw from the case—the $2,500 already paid would be +returned to her. To extricate his professional brother from his +unpleasant situation, Governor Foote consented to undertake the +disagreeable mission. The woman was immovable in her determination to +keep Colonel Baker to his engagement. And she intimated in terms not to +be misunderstood that she was determined that he should fulfill his +obligation. Colonel Baker was a man of dauntless courage in facing dangers +of human quality; but he was in constant fear at sea; and it seems there +was another quality of peril which overmastered his intrepid spirit. +When Governor Foote related to him the result of his mission, he advised +the Colonel to see the woman himself. Colonel Baker did go, Governor +Foote accompanying him. The Governor said he had never witnessed such a +manifestation of a woman's power and irresistible influence. Belle Cora +was inspired to the height of heroism, in her devotion to Cora, her +purpose to secure his acquittal and prevent his sacrifice. She first +appealed, implored, begged Colonel Baker to stand by his engagement. He +making no response, and seeming not to yield, she commanded that he +must, that he should. She would double his fee. She would have him +appear as Cora's counsel, if he did no more than sit in Court with Cora +near him, and speak no word at all. But go in Court and have it known +that he was Cora's counsel, he must. She was inflexible in this. And +when the day of trial came Colonel Baker did appear, together with +General James A. McDougall, Colonel James and Frank Tilford—as counsel +for Charles Cora, and it was on that trial that he made the most +eloquent and extraordinary argument and plea of his life in a criminal +case. It was not a packed jury in Cora's case. Care had been taken to +empanel only good, respectable citizens, some of whom, a short time +afterward, became members of the Vigilance Committee, and in great or +less degree participated in the seizure of Cora from the county jail and +in his condemnation and execution. Three of the jury were prominent +Front street merchants. Notwithstanding all the feeling against Cora, +the popular unrelenting prejudice, and the great preponderance of the +foremost legal minds of the San Francisco Bar, to his prosecution, Alex. +Campbell, General Williams and Colonel Sam. Inge, U. S. District +Attorney, to assist the public prosecutor, the jury disagreed, and of +the jurors who held out against a verdict of guilty of murder were three +Front street merchants and others of equal high standing in the +community. Cora was held for another trial, and it was while awaiting +this that he was seized by the Vigilance Committee, taken to their rooms +and hanged. +</P> + +<P> +The excitement consequent upon the killing of Richardson did not +culminate in the formation of a Vigilance Committee, similar to that of +1851, but it influenced the public mind in that direction. It was the +piling of the combustibles which required only the next spark from the +electric battery to fire the heap to consuming flames. There were still +in the city a round number of the early Vigilance Committee which had +ridden San Francisco of the "Sydney thieves;" some who had also, in +1849, suppressed the "Hounds;" and they were prepared again to meet +violence and lawlessness with the stronger arm of organized force and +the quick, sharp vengeance of the lex talionis. +</P> + +<P> +The occasion soon came. May 14th, 1856, between 4 and 5 o'clock, +afternoon, James P. Casey shot James King of William on Montgomery +street, at the corner of Washington, He fired only one shot. King was +facing Casey as he fired; he immediately staggered and fell. A crowd +gathered in a very few moments. Casey was taken into custody and Sheriff +Scannell hastened him to the county jail in a hack. The excited crowd +followed and clamored for his life; they wanted to hang him at once. +Then followed the organization of the Vigilance Committee, mainly +directed by members of the Committee of '51. An Executive Committee of +forty-one members composed the head and governing branch; a military and +patrol department was organized, duly officered. The rank and file in a +few days numbered between 5,000 and 6,000 men, armed, drilled and +disciplined. The second floor of the Truitt brick block, southeast +corner of Front and Sacramento street, embracing half a dozen stores +below, was made the Committee headquarters. All around in front of the +block, nearly to the middle of the street, gunny bags filled with sand +were piled five feet high, and two pieces of artillery were mounted at +the ends, for offensive and defensive purposes. The name of "Fort Gunny +Bags" was given to it. Guards were constantly on duty inside the fort +and at the two narrow passageways to the doors on the lower floor, from +which the stairs led up to the rooms occupied by the Committee. At the +doors, at the foot of the stairs, midway on the steps, at the top of +each flight, before every door to every room, and in the passages which +led to the different rooms, guards were stationed, with muskets loaded +and bayonets fixed. Fort Gunny Bags was as a garrison in time of active +war. A very large triangle was hung from the roof of the block occupied +by the Committee to sound the signal-call to duty of every member, at +any time of day or night; also a bell contributed from Monumental Fire +Engine Company, whose leader was George Heossafros, (ex-Chief of the +Fire Department). The Executive Committee Court hall and rooms, the +rooms of the officers, the rooms for the guards, and the small, close, +crimped cells for the prisoners, were all upon the second floor—the +upper floor of the block. The entire place was thoroughly guarded. +</P> + +<P> +Casey shot King Wednesday afternoon, May 14th. After the organization of +the Vigilance Committee, a number of prominent citizens who were opposed +to every movement of that kind and believed in due obedience to the law +and in submission to the constituted authorities under every +circumstances, likewise organized under the title of the Law and Order +Association. Impulse was given to the movement by an unlooked-for +incident. The Daily Herald had been for four years annually voted by the +guild of auctioneers the auction advertisements, which filled one whole +page of the paper. John Nugent was owner and editor. He had approved and +upheld the Vigilance Committee of 1851 in the Herald. It was expected +that he would approve the Committee just organized. He adopted the +contrary course. The Herald denounced the Committee in strong terms. The +merchants had generally approved and joined the Committee. That morning +every copy of the Herald was gathered, a pile of the papers made in +Front street, and burned. It was the significant rebuke which the +merchants made; but they did not stop at that—they erased their names +from the carriers' lists. Thousands of other citizens did the same. That +morning the Herald was a sheet of forty columns, with the largest +advertising patronage and largest circulation of any daily newspaper in +San Francisco. The next morning it appeared, a small sheet, not much +larger than a sheet of foolscap, of twenty-four columns. The Herald was +the favorite organ of the Democracy, of the anti-Broderick and Southern +wing of the party, particularly. The especial organ of that wing, the +Times and Transcript, had ceased publication a few months before, and +its patronage went mostly to the Herald. Nugent was opposed to Gwin, the +powerful leader of the anti-Broderick party, more than he was to +Broderick; but this was overlooked by many of Gwin's supporters. The +friends, of General McDougall were his warmest friends and backers, They +now rallied to his support and to the sustenance of the Herald. General +Volney E. Howard, J. Thompson Campbell, Judge R. Augustus Thompson, W. +T. Sherman, the manager of Lucas, Turner & Co.'s banking house here—now +General Sherman—Austin E. Smith, Sam. E. Brooks, Gouverneur +Morris, Hamilton Bowie, Major Richard Roman; and the solid old merchant, +Captain Archibald Ritchie, With hundreds others, stood steadfast by +Nugent, for Law and Order, and against the Committee. J. Neely Johnson +was Governor of the State, and controlled the militia. He was petitioned +by the Law and Order Organization to take action and issue a +proclamation requiring the Vigilance Committee to disband. Governor +Johnson came from Sacramento to San Francisco by steamboat on Friday +night, and was met at the wharf by a deputation of the Law and Order +body. Subsequently, up town, a committee from the Vigilance Committee, +accompanied by Col. Baillie Peyton, met him, and with them he held a +long conference. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter III. +</H3> + +<P> +The particular subjects at issue, on each side, were the status of the +Committee, the authority of the Governor to command its disbandment. The +Committee had expressed the desire or the intention to have Casey +committed to their custody, alleging that his escape from the jail was +not unlikely for certain reasons. The Governor at length acceded in +general terms to the propositions of the Committee, and measurably +assured them his support. The Law and Order leaders were amazed, +incensed and disgusted at the weakness of Governor Johnson. He had as +good as surrendered the jail to them, and they had only to go and seize +it, and capture the prisoners. This was known in the city on Saturday, +and the Law and Order body prepared for the expected emergency—the +defence of the jail from the assault of the Committee. Steps were taken +for the defence of the jail by the Law and Order men, who volunteered +for the occasion. The Committee had likewise made preparations. +</P> + +<P> +A digression of amusing nature will not be out of place here: The +steamboats from Sacramento then landed at Pacific street wharf, and +arrived usually about 9:30. The Oakland ferry boat made her last trip +over a few minutes after the Sacramento boat landed her passengers. +Governor Foote had his residence at Clinton. Saturday morning one of his +daughters called at my office and said that her father was at Benicia, +and they expected him home that night. "But," she continued, "you know +what a terrible excitement there is in the city, and how likely father +is to take active part in anything which enlists his sympathies or stirs +his feelings; and we all fear that he will do something imprudent. I +know he will be very strong on the Law and Order side, and it will be +better for us all if he will come directly home and not stay in the city +to get mixed up in these terrible troubles." She requested me, +therefore, to be at the boat that night when she landed, and to prevail +upon her father, if he were otherwise disposed, to take the boat for +Oakland. I promised, and that night I took a hack for the wharf, a +quarter of an hour before the usual time of the boat's arrival. As the +hack turned from Montgomery street into Washington, I noticed a crowd at +the door-way of the Bank Exchange. Calling to the driver to stop a +moment, I entered the saloon. I learned that the boat had already +arrived, a half hour ahead of ordinary time. My disappointment was in a +moment sunk in my surprise. I heard Governor Foote's voice in loud +tones, toward the front of the room. It was a surprise to see him in a +barroom, for he was not addicted to drinking, and except in the Orleans +at Sacramento during the Legislature, when he was candidate for United +States Senator, I had never seen him in a saloon. But that which most +astonished me was the Governor's warmth of approval of the Vigilance +Committee, and his animadversions and regrets in regard to some of his +friends, who had taken active part on the Law and Order side. He stood +the centre figure of the crowd close about him, declaiming with his +accustomed fluency and energy. I left the saloon, dismissed the hack, +and walked to my own quarters, ruminating on the common saying that, +"white man is mighty uncertain." Thence on Governor Foote was a red-hot +"Vigilante." +</P> + +<P> +Sunday morning, May 18th, there were, besides the Sheriff and his +deputies, the officers and guards, a force of 106 Law and Order men, +armed with muskets, inside the County Jail, ready to defend it against +the expected attack of the Vigilance troops. Before noon they came from +every part of the city, several thousand strong. A piece of artillery +was trained in front of the jail entrance, with men to handle it. The +armed force in the jail and upon the wall appeared ready for the +encounter. The Commander of the Committee forces demanded from the +Sheriff the surrender of Casey and Cora. It was refused. There was some +parleying. It ended in the withdrawal of the jail guard, and of the Law +and Order forces also, the admission of the Vigilance officers into the +jail, and the surrender to them of Casey and Cora, who were taken to the +rooms of the Committee, and put in the separate cells prepared for them. +The whole affair occurred within the space of an hour. The State and +City and County authorities had succumbed to the Committee without +resistance, and the law was usurped by the new and self-constituted +power. The Courts were virtually overborne and ignored, if not derided; +and the will of the Vigilance Committee became the supreme law in San +Francisco. +</P> + +<P> +In the County Jail at the time was Rod. Backus, a young man of good +family, cousin of Phil. Backus, an auctioneer of considerable prominence +in mercantile and social circles. Rod. Backus had shot dead a man whose +face he had never seen until the moment before he shot him, a dozen +paces distant. It was in Stout's alley. It was a murder, a wanton +murder, without provocation, excuse, extenuation or palliation whatever. +Rod. Backus was a frequent visitor at a house of the demi-monde in the +alley, and one Jennie French was his favorite. As he came to visit her +one evening, at dusk, she was standing in the doorway, at the head of +the iron stairway which led to the entrance on the second floor. On the +opposite side of the alley, walking slowly toward Jackson street, was a +man of ordinary appearance. As Rod met her on the top platform, Jennie +said to him: "Rod, that fellow has insulted me; shoot the ——." At +the word Backus drew his pistol and fired. The man fell. He had turned +his face the moment Backus fired. It was an instantly fatal shot. Backus +had influential friends among business men and politicians. The Coroner +held an inquest. A jury to hold Backus blameless had been secured, but +they overshot their mark—the thing was too transparent, too +bare-faced. The murdered man was a German much respected by his +countrymen. They determined to press the matter to justice. Backus was +indicted, tried, convicted of murder and sentenced to death. None of +just mind questioned the righteousness. But his case was appealed, and +at last he had his crime reduced in degree, and received sentence of a +short term—three or five years in San Quentin prison. This easy +let-off did not satisfy him; he wanted a verdict of acquittal, and +expected still to get it. Accordingly he again appealed his case, and +while in the County Jail awaiting the action of the Supreme Court upon +his appeal, the Committee had seized and taken away Casey and Cora. He +was not molested; nevertheless, his fear of consequences impelled him to +withdraw his appeal, submit to his sentence, and serve his term at San +Quentin. He even begged to be taken there at once, and he was. The +explanation made by the Committee leaders for not taking Backus was that +the law had already passed judgment in his case, and the Committee was +not disposed to interfere with the judgments of the Courts. The +explanation was puerile and inconsistent with their action in the case +of Cora, who was also in the hands of the Court and was awaiting another +trial. A portion of the jury, among this portion Front street merchants +and other respectable business men, had held him to be not guilty; and +surely this was more than any juror had expressed in the case of Backus. +Moreover, Backus had himself demonstrated his dissatisfaction with the +very mild verdict in his last trial, and was, the same as Cora, awaiting +the issue of another trial. The common belief was that Backus owed his +exemption from the grasp of the Committee and from the dread penalty +which Casey and Cora suffered, not to any doubt as to his guilt, but +solely on account of his relationship and his social standing. He had +been boon companion of many of the young men of the Committee before he +committed the murder in Stout's alley. +</P> + +<P> +Now, as to Casey: he has been described as a ruffian and villain of +irredeemable depravity—desperate to the last degree. James P. Casey +was a young man of bright, intelligent and rather prepossessing face, +neat in his person, inclined to fine clothes, but not flashy or gaudy in +his attire. He was of low stature, slender frame, lithe and compact, +sinewy, nervous, and very agile. His eyes were blue and large, of bold +expression. His voice was full and sonorous. He had served as Assistant +County Treasurer for two years, handled a large aggregate of money in +that capacity, and his accounts squared to a cent when he handed over +the books to his successor. He was twice Supervisor. His record in that +office will favorably compare with that of any who have succeeded him. +During his lifetime in San Francisco he was never accused of crime; +never suspected of criminal offence. Ballot box stuffing was charged to +his account; also fraudulent counting in elections. Doubtless there was +foundation for each charge. But there were members of the Executive +Committee who had been associated with him in these gross wrongs, and at +least one of them had gained place and profit therefrom; and these +equally or more guilty men voted to hang their former associate in evil +deeds. It may be remarked, further, that in the face of the colossal +frauds of Returning Boards and Canvassing Boards within the last dozen +years, in States South and in the States North, by which the people were +defrauded of their choice for President on two occasions, the offences +of Casey in the comparatively small matter of a municipal election, are +better left unmentioned. Even now, in San Francisco, how many are there +in local office who can with clear conscience declare their innocence of +crookedness or corruption, or fraud in elections? When it comes to +throwing the stone at the staked sinner, conscience palsies the arm of +many who feel disposed to throw it. Casey was once in the city prison +for riotous conduct. At a very hotly contested democratic primary +election, in the early fall of 1855, between the Broderick and Gwin +wings of the party, Casey got into trouble. The polls were on Kearny +near Pine street. Toward the close nearly all on each side who had +participated in the election were in inflamed condition. Casey had gone +to the polling place to ascertain the result. He carried no weapon. +Immediately he was set upon by five of the wing, to which he was +opposed—Bob Cushing, J. W. Bagley, and three others, all armed with either +knife or pistol—two of them with both. Casey did not know fear; he was +game from crown to toe. One ball grazed his forehead on the right side, +another the occiput just behind the left ear, and shot off his hat. His +shiney bald head made that a conspicuous mark, but the range was too +short and the shooters were too excited for accurate aim. Casey had been +taken by surprise, but the slight creasing of the bullets, abrading the +skin and stinging, instantly impelled him to rapid and desperate action. +He rushed upon one of his assailants and wrested a knife from his grasp. +With this he turned upon Cushing, plunged it in his body just above the +lower ribs, and as Cushing was sinking to the ground, he turned the +knife and cut upwards with such power as to cleave the rib the blade +struck against. One of the five had become so nerveless at the sight, +that he dropped his pistol. Casey leaped and secured it. He shot at +Barley and the ball penetrated his breast. As he fell, Casey likewise +secured his pistol. The two others were game, but confused and shot +wildly. The bullets went through Casey's coat and vest, riddling each in +a dozen places; but not one of them did so much as to graze his skin. +The third man had been paralyzed with fright after the first clash. +After emptying their revolvers ineffectually the two others left the +ground; Casey remained the master of it. Not for long, however. A +policeman who had watched the affray from a safe distance then rushed +up, arrested Casey, took him to the City prison, and booked him for +assault with a deadly, weapon. That evening I met Colonel Baillie +Peyton, Colonel Jo. P. Hoge, and Colonel Ed. Beale on Kearny street. +They had been told of the encounter, and expressed the desire to see +Casey to compliment him for his bravery, and congratulate him upon his +miraculous escape. Accordingly we visited the prison and saw Casey, with +his clothes shot to shreds from the left shoulder pit down to his waist, +and no wounds other than the slight creases upon his forehead and +occiput, neither of these so deep as to draw blood. All of us expressed +surprise that the policeman had arrested him—attacked and fighting for +his life in clear self-defence, as he had been—and letting his +assailants go free. Colonel Hoge and Colonel Peyton volunteered to act +as counsel for him in Court; and bidding him go good-night, whit hearty +shake of hands, we all came away. Next morning no one appeared to +prosecute him, and Casey was discharged. +</P> + +<P> +It will serve to state the offence for which Casey was sentenced to +State Prison in New York, before he left for California. He had, the +same as many other young men, taken up with a girl of loose character, +whose chastity had been spoiled by another, and hired and furnished an +apartment for her. The two lived as man and wife—much as too many live +in that same relation, for they quarreled and separated. In his hot +temper one day, he saw her upon the street, and instantly the thought +flashed upon his mind that he would go to her apartment and have the +furniture taken from it. He still kept a key to the door. He hired a +wagon, and carried out his determination. The landlady supposed it to be +all right. He had paid the rent in advance and she was that much the +gainer. He took the furniture to a second-hand furniture dealer, sold it +and kept the money. As he bought it, he felt that it was his to sell. On +the return of the girl, the landlady told her what had occurred. In +taking the furniture, he had also carried away some articles which +belonged to the girl. She hurried to the police Court, made charge +against him, and he was arrested. He made no defence and was convicted. +The sentence was eighteen months in Sing Sing prison. He served his time +and came to California. This was the damning record which James King of +William had threatened to publish in his Bulletin. He did not publish +the facts of the case; but only the fact of the indictment, the +conviction, the sentence and imprisonment. King had been told all this +by a man who had been clerk to the District Attorney, and was cognizant +of all the facts. He was a prominent Broderick man, hated Casey for +having left that wing of the party and joined the other wing, and +adopted this means to blast him in reputation. Casey was morbidly +sensitive on the subject. He had been apprised that King intended to +publish the matter; and early in the afternoon of the day of the +shooting he called upon Mr. King in his office, and warned him to desist +from the publication. King gave no heed to the warning; the matter +appeared in the Bulletin that day. Casey was exasperated to madness. He +armed himself, watched for King on Montgomery street, but he did not +conceal himself. It was King's invariable custom to leave his office in +the small one-story brick building which so long obstructed Merchant +street on the east side of Montgomery, soon after the Bulletin was +issued, walk to the cigar store on the north-west corner of Washington +and Montgomery streets, and thence out Washington street homeward. He +usually wore a talma of coarse fabric, loose and reaching to his hips. +It was sleeveless, concealing his arms and hands. As he came out of the +cigar store, Casey hailed him. The distance between the two was about +forty feet. Casey shouted to him, "Prepare yourself!" and fired. King +tottered and sunk upon the sidewalk. He had frequently made notice in +his paper that any whom he denounced in its columns had the privilege of +adopting their own mode of recourse; stated the route he usually took to +and from his office, and with the significant hint, "God help any one +who attacks me," defied that method of redress. Casey took him at his +word. King was borne to the room in Montgomery block, in which he died a +few days afterward. The ball had penetrated his body from the left side +of his breast, just below the line of the arm pit, and ranging upward +and outward to the back of the left shoulder. The surgeons pronounced it +a dangerous but not a mortal wound. Dr. Beverly R. Cole was +Surgeon-General to the Committee brigade, and a member of the Committee. +Months afterward he declared in a public statement of the case that King +died from the unskillful treatment of the surgeons, and maintained that +with proper treatment he would have recovered. Still it was the wound +which superinduced his death; and Casey had fired the ball which made +it. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter IV. +</H3> + +<P> +May 22d, the day of King's funeral, while the immense procession was +passing through Montgomery street, Casey and Cora were hanged. Two +projecting beams had been rigged from the roof of the building on +Sacramento street, occupied by the Committee, for the purpose. Out of +two of the windows of the second story, immediately under these beams +two stout planks, sixteen inches wide, were extended over the street to +an equal distance. At the outer end of each plank, on the under side, +were stout hinges connecting the traps upon which the two men were +placed, with the ropes about their necks, suspended from the beams. Two +other ropes held the traps even with the planks. The two men were led +out upon the traps. Permission was given to them to speak their last +words. Casey availed himself of the privilege and spoke a few minutes in +clear loud voice, in somewhat excited manner, denying his guilt of +murder and vindicating his action. Cora stood all the while as +motionless as a statue. Not a tremor or quiver was perceptible. The +white cap covered his head and face to below the chin. At the conclusion +of Casey's brief speech, the cap was drawn over his face, and as the +hangman pulled it down he whispered in his ear something that made the +doomed man start as if to break the bands which held his arms. In an +instant the signal was given, the traps sprung, by the two men on the +roof cutting the ropes which upheld them, and Casey and Cora were +launched for the death to quickly come. Casey struggled for a few +moments; Cora showed no sign of pain or life. After death the bodies +were cut down, and shortly afterward were delivered to friends who had +provided for their burial. The hangman of Casey was Sterling Hopkins, a +notorious character, with whom Casey once had a difficulty. He had +begged the Committee to officiate in the event of Casey's condemnation +to death by the rope, and the whispered words he hissed in Casey's ear, +as he subsequently boasted, were of exultation over his opportunity of +revenge, and of brutish import respecting the powerless victim, Casey +had been foreman of Crescent Engine Company, No. 10, located on Pacific +street, below Front. Cora's remains were given quiet interment. The +Sunday following the execution Casey was buried. A very large procession +followed his remains to the Mission Dolores Cemetery, in which a +monument was in due time erected to his memory. Upon it is inscribed the +manner of his death. +</P> + +<P> +Governor Johnson had at first played into the hands of the Committee. He +had come down from Sacramento to San Francisco, in the middle of May, +and virtually caused the surrender of the county jail to the Vigilantes, +for the capture of Casey and Cora. At the instance of the leading men of +the Law and Order organization, he subsequently changed his course, and +endeavored to undo that which he had done. It was too late. The +Committee had already become the master of the situation. It was the +supreme power in San Francisco, and it had erected such harmony of +spirit with it in Sacramento, Marysville, Stockton, San Jose and other +interior cities and towns, that it was the paramount local authority and +formidable generally throughout the State. General Wool was at that time +in command of this Federal military department. The Federal Arsenal was +at Benicia. For the want of authority from the Federal government at +Washington, neither the military nor the naval forces could interfere, +and the hands of General Wool, the same of Commodore Farragut, were +practically tied, The only way in which the Federal authority could be +invoked was by due process of constitutional law. This required that the +Governor should convene the Legislature, that that body should call out +the State militia to quell the insurgent or rebellious Vigilantes; and, +these being insufficient for that purpose, then the call for the aid of +the Federal forces would be in order. It would take months to do all +this. Prompt action was the imperative necessity. Governor Johnson did +not act with promptitude. He sent on a committee of citizens to +Washington. President Pierce could do nothing under the circumstances. +He must first be satisfied that the Powers of the State had been +inadequate to overcome the trouble. This had not been done; and it was +of first importance before the strong arm of the Federal authority could +be ordered. +</P> + +<P> +Meantime an incident occurred which helped to fortify the Committee and +to impair the power of the State, in the popular estimation. Upon order +of Governor Johnson, six cases of muskets were delivered to Jas. R. +Maloney, at Benicia arsenal, put aboard the schooner Julia, to be +delivered at San Francisco, to the Law and Order organization. The +Vigilance Committee Executive had been apprised of the transaction, and +adopted means to get possession of the arms. Accordingly, on June 21st, +as the Julia was on her way down from Benicia, she was boarded in San +Francisco Bay by C. E. Rand and John L. Durkee, in the employ of the +Committee, and the two captured the schooner, took possession of the +muskets, and delivered them into the keeping of the Committee. The six +cases contained 113 muskets. Action was brought against Rand and Durkee +for piracy, in the United States Circuit Court, Judge M. Hall McAllister +presiding, and Judge Ogden Hoffman sitting as associate. The trial came +off September, 1856, and on the 23d of that month the jury returned a +verdict of acquittal. Adjutant-General Kibbe, of the State militia, +meantime made unavailing demand upon the Executive Committee for the +arms. They were not returned to the State until after the Committee had +disbanded. +</P> + +<P> +The next who suffered death at the hands of the Committee were +Hetherington and Brace. Hetherington was an Englishman, a man of +considerable wealth. He was six feet stature, of heavy form, strong in +muscular power, equally so in will and purpose; and he was overbearing +in his nature, violent in his passions. He was possessed of valuable +city property. In a difficulty over a lot toward North Beach, a few +years before, he had shot dead Dr. Baldwin, who had located upon it and +claimed it as his own. He was tried and acquitted. Hetherington had had +money transactions with Dr. Randall, formerly Collector of Monterey, and +owner of a large tract of land in Butte County. He had loaned a large +sum of money to Randall, which Randall seemed indisposed to pay. There +was some irregularity in the note or in the mortgage bond. Randall +contended that these were made at the instance of Hetherington himself, +and insisted upon the theory that no man can take advantage of a fault +of his own; that every man was bound to do exactly that to which the law +held him, and equally bound not to do anything to which the law did not +bind him. Consequently, inasmuch as the fault was Hetherington's, he was +therefore absolved from the payment of the note. One afternoon, Dr. +Randall took quarters in the St. Nicholas hotel, on Sansome street, west +side, between Sacramento and Commercial streets, kept by Colonel +Armstrong, and sat in the office room, in conversation with Colonel W. +W. Gift. Hetherington happened in, accosted Randall and abruptly +demanded the payment of the note. Randall responded evasively. +Hetherington's choler rose, and he came upon Randall in threatening +manner. Randall ran behind the office small counter. Hetherington +pursued him, caught him by his long beard, reaching to the middle of his +breast, and threw him upon the floor. As Randall rose, Hetherington drew +his pistol and fired. The shot was instantly fatal. In brief time, +Hetherington was arrested by an officer of the law. A force of vigilance +officers demanded his surrender, took him and hurried him to the +Committee rooms. Through this action the lawful authorities were +forcibly prevented passing upon his case. +</P> + +<P> +Brace was a young man, almost a boy. He had killed a man miles away from +the City, but within the county. I have forgotten the circumstances of +the crime. The Committee had custody of him, however, and condemned him, +as well as Hetherington. Notice was publicly given that the two would be +hanged the afternoon Of July 29th. The gallows was erected on a vacant +half block on Front street, as I remember, between California and +Sacramento streets, west side. It was at least twenty feet high, with a +ladder from the ground to the platform. From the top cross-beam dangled +the ropes. The platform afforded standing space for half a dozen men. A +large crowd had gathered to witness the execution. From a cart on the +California corner, B. B. Redding and myself were onlookers. The +condemned men were brought to the place under strong guard. Each of them +mounted to the scaffold. Brace with quick-step; Hetherington with +composure. The hangman, named Dixon, was dressed in long black gown; a +black hood completely concealed his face; a clergyman, and two or three +of the Vigilance officers or guards followed. A strong guard under arms +was stationed about the foot of the gallows. Permission was given the +two to say anything they wished. Brace broke forth in a loud rant, +profane and obscene, and danced about like one demented. The clergyman +felt obliged to stop his blasphemous harangue by cramming his +handkerchief over his mouth. He broke away, nevertheless, and again +poured forth a tirade, declaring that he was being murdered. At length +he became exhausted and ceased speaking. All this time—and it was +fully five minutes—Hetherington stood composed and with dignified +mien, looking down upon the immense crowd, occasionally glancing at +Bruce, who was to his right, and manifested horror at his ravings. When +Bruce became silent he spoke. His manner was deliberate and his voice +low, clear and firm. He protested against the action of he Committee in +his case; in taking his life they were more guilty of murder than he +was, for it was in violation of the law. He asserted that he had not +committed murder. Then declaring he should die without malice or enmity +toward any, he courteously bowed and indicated to the officers that he +was ready for the ordeal. The nooses were adjusted, the caps drawn over +their heads, the signal given. The hangman cut the rope which held the +traps in place, and down plunged the pinioned bodies of the pair. Bruce +writhed and struggled a few moments; then hung as lifeless until his +body was taken down. He was of medium stature, slight figure and light +in weight. Hetherington's body swayed, but there was no perceptible +motion of his limbs. He met death with placid firmness, without bravado. +Henry H. Haight, his attorney for years, stated that he was one of the +most upright and honorable men in his dealings and general conduct that +he had ever known. These were the last that suffered death by sentence +of the Vigilance Committee. +</P> + +<P> +It is now appropriate to relate some facts in relation to James King of +William. He had been a clerk in a banking house in Washington, and came +to California in the early years of the gold hunting. He established a +bank in San Francisco, corner of Montgomery and Commercial streets, +across from Davidson's. In a year or more Jacob R. Snyder became partner +in the bank; but withdrew after about a year. King afterwards merged his +bank in that of Adams & Co., of which J. C. Woods was manager. His name +was James King. He had suffixed the "of William" to be distinguished +from others of his name—as John Randolph used to sign himself "of +Roanoke." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. King continued with Adams & Co. as manager of the bank until the +failure of that Company, He then became involved in trouble with the +Company. The bank failed one afternoon. Up to noon that day King had +received deposits. It was known to other banking houses in the city that +the bank would be obliged to close as it did. The word had got out, and +some of the depositors became alarmed, and a number withdrew their +deposits, notwithstanding Mr. King's assurance that the bank was solvent +and solid. Others took his word for it, allowed their deposits to +remain, and lost all they had in the bank. There was some mysterious +handling of the large amount of money known to be in the bank at the +time of the failure. The parties in charge refused to allow Mr. King any +part in their transactions as to the disposition of this money—reported +to be considerably more than $100,000 in gold coin. He demanded +$20,000 as his share. This was refused. He then published a statement +reflecting upon the persons in charge. This was responded to by a +scathing statement, published in the Alta, in which Mr. King was held up +for public condemnation as a dishonest man, guilty of faithlessness and +fraud. He was also accused of having swindled Page, Bacon & Co. of +$400,000, by the sale of bogus gold dust as genuine. +</P> + +<P> +The popular sentiment at the time was that the charges were sustained, +and the feeling was strong against him. He was without means and out of +business. He conceived the project of going into the newspaper business, +of starting a daily evening paper, and obtained a loan of $250 for that +purpose from R. D. Sinton, of the real estate and auctioneer firm of +Selover & Sinton, then the leading firm in that line in the city. He +started the Evening Bulletin, a small sheet, and rented the small brick +building in Merchant street for the publication office. The Daily +Chronicle, published by Frank Soule and William H. Newall, had taken +side against the Committee, and soon afterwards ceased publication. +Employed on it as a writer was James Nesbitt, an Englishman, of superior +journalistic ability. King employed Nesbitt to assist him on the +Bulletin. It was made the medium of attack and animadversion upon State +and county and city officials, and some of its attacks were as +justifiable as are the attacks of the STAR upon rascals in high places +now, while others were actuated by personal spite. +</P> + +<P> +The paper prospered. The multitude enjoyed its sharp, short, stinging +paragraphs; its vim and vehemence. At length its columns were turned +against Major Selover with unrestrained virulence. He had no equal means +of reply or defence at his command, but he had at last uttered threats +of personal nature, and published King as a liar, a swindler and a +coward. To all this Mr. King responded in his Bulletin, by stating in +that paper that he defied Selover; and he went on to state the place of +his residence; the time he left home to go to his office in the morning; +the route thither he usually took: and also the same details of his +customary way home every afternoon. Selover, or any other person who +felt aggrieved on account of anything which appeared in the Bulletin was +similarly apprised, and thus dared or invited to encounter him on the +street. To all of which was added the significant remark for the +consideration of Selover particularly, and all others generally: "God +have mercy upon my assailant." There was no mistaking this language. And +the common opinion was that whatever else would be said of James King of +William, he was a game and fearless man. Casey's own statement of the +deplorable affair—made in his cell to a friend who had been permitted +to visit him in his four by eight feet cell, the day before his death, +in the presence and hearing of the guard then on duty, was substantially +as follows: that after all Mr. King had said in his paper, any one who +attacked him should be well prepared against the worst to himself; that, +accordingly, after he had called early that afternoon upon Mr. King, in +his office, and told him what would be the consequence in case the +Bulletin should publish the matter against him, and it was published, he +very naturally expected that King would be prepared for the encounter. +But as he did not wish to take first advantage of him, but to allow him +fair chance, he cried out to him to prepare, and then fired. He expected +Mr. King to return the fire. He did not know whether the ball had hit +King or not, because King's loose talina covered his upper body and +prevented him from seeing its effect. That—to use Casey's own +words—"seeing he did not fire, and believing him a dung-hill,' I did +not shoot again, but turned to walk away, when I saw him falling; then +I knew that I must have hit him, and I went to the City Hall to surrender +myself." +</P> + +<P> +To the same person, on the occasion first above referred to—and Casey +knew then that his death was certain at the hands of the Committee—he +remarked that he had no fear of death; that he would meet it with +composure, although he did not deserve it; that which troubled him was +that his aged mother should be told that her son was a murderer. This +pained him. She lived in New York. He had regularly remitted money to +her to maintain her in comfort in her old age; and now she must suffer +privation and misery, with the great burden of the knowledge of the +manner of his death to weigh her down to the grave. He wished to say +something of a confidential nature to his visitor, but the guard refused +to permit this, and said that he must hear everything that was uttered. +He stood close to Casey all the time, and maintained the utmost severity +of demeanor, the most inexorable nature, during the brief time allowed +for the visit. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter V. +</H3> + +<P> +Casey and Cora were hanged on Thursday, May 22d. On Monday, June 2d, a +meeting of the advocates of Law and Order was held in the Plaza. +Thousands of the Committee members and supporters assembled about the +square. Nothing effective came of it. Governor Johnson had meantime been +prevailed upon by prominent citizens, on the side of Law and Order, to +adopt a course calculated to suppress the Committee. It was too late. +The Law and Order element had organized a military force under the State +militia 1 ws. W. T. Sherman was made General. Governor Johnson issued a +proclamation commanding the State militia to hold themselves in +readiness for duty, and to report to General Sherman. In the city a +force of about three hundred mustered. It was totally inadequate, and +not enough could be expected from the country. In the harbor, in front +of the city, the war-ship John Adams, Commander Bontwell, was anchored. +Commodore Farragut, commandant of this naval station, was at Mare +Island. It was rumored that the Adams would support the authorities in +case of conflict with the Committee. Another rumor was that cannons were +to be placed upon the hills and at points which commanded the city, to +be used if necessary. The excitement continued and increased. A +deputation was sent to Washington, at the instance of the Governor, to +represent the condition of affairs to the President, and prevail upon +him to order the services of the military and naval forces to the +suppression of the Committee and the restoration of law and order. The +deputation took the next steamer and proceeded to the national capital. +President Pierce replied that the federal government had no authority to +interfere until the request came from the State government after the +Legislature had assembled, acted upon the matter, and the State +authorities had exhausted every means to put down the Committee and +failed. +</P> + +<P> +While the excitement was heightened by these rumors and proceedings, an +incident occurred which augmented it to frenzied quality. The armory of +the Law and Order forces was in the capacious brick building, northeast +corner of Dupont and Jackson streets. On Jackson street, near by, a +number of its members and sympathizers were standing in groups. Sterling +Hopkins, the volunteer hangman of Casey, of the Vigilance police, came +up and attempted the arrest of Reub. Maloney, a notorious politician, +whose impudence of speech and reckless ways in partisan devices had made +him an unenviable reputation. His bravery was in his mouth; his mouth +beyond his own control. Judge David S. Terry, then of the State Supreme +Court, interposed to prevent the lawless arrest, and in the struggle he +drew a knife and dangerously wounded Hopkins. In a few minutes word had +reached the Committee headquarters, and the alarm was sounded with +unexampled vigor. The Committee forces, marshalled and led by the +Commander-in-chief, Charles Doane, Major General, marched in quick time +to the scene. Judge Terry had gone to the armory, Maloney and others +with him. The Law and Order troops were less than three hundred strong. +The Vigilance force numbered several thousand. A surrender was demanded. +It would have been folly to resist, and with Terry and Maloney as +prisoners, and the Law and Order troops as prisoners of war, so to say, +the Vigilance forces marched back to their fortified quarters. The +arrest of Judge Terry wrought the excitement to its climax. What would +the Committee do with him? was the question asked by every one. His +residence was temporarily in Sacramento, but Stockton was his home place. +Governor Johnson was devoted to him; David S. Douglass, Secretary of +State, was a bosom friend. Hundreds in the capital city were prepared to +go to any length to rescue him. His thousands of friends in San Joaquin, +everywhere in the San Joaquin Valley, were aroused to the extremity of +desperation. All over the State the feeling for Judge Terry was very +strong. Harm to him would have precipitated a domestic row, which would +have caused immense sacrifice of life, and the destruction of San +Francisco. It would have extended into the interior, and raged there in +bloodshed and devastation. The peaceful way out of the difficulty was +thought the better course, if it could be accomplished. The occasion was +extraordinary, and never contemplated—the exigency beyond immediate +solution. As James Dows, one of the coolest in judgment and wisest in +counsel of the Executive Committee, pertinently described the situation +in the pithy remark, "We started in to hunt cayotes, but we've got a +grizzly bear on our hands, and we don't know what to do with him." The +Executive Committee were not themselves masters of the situation. Behind +them, subject to them and ready to obey their commands on ordinary +occasions, were the 5,000 members of the Committee who carried arms, and +felt themselves superior to even the Executive Committee, if occasion +should happen to test the matter. Of their number nearly one-third were +of foreign nationality, and of these a considerable proportion did not +very well speak English—they were of revolutionary, if not +insurrectionary temper—and had participated in uprisings in their +native land against the government. Many of the native born members were +of similar disposition. It had been resolved by this element of the +Committee, that if Hopkins should die, Terry must hang; and the only +alternative of the Executive Committee would be to order the execution +or spirit him away, at the peril of their own lives. To hang a Justice +of the highest judicial tribunal of the State, was a very serious matter +to contemplate—a most hazardous extremity in any event. If spared from +the fury of their troops, by ordering the execution, their death was +certain at the hands of Judge Terry's avengers. In this quandary, the +Executive Committee were as anxious for a safe way out, without blood or +sacrifice, as any of the friends of Terry. Secretary of State Douglass +came to San Francisco. He persuaded ex-Senator Gwin to interpose on +Terry's behalf. Gwin dispatched Sam. J. Bridges, Appraiser-General, to +Mare Island, to request Commodore Farragut to meet him in San Francisco +on Wednesday, June 25th. On the afternoon of that day, Farragut, Gwin +and two others, on behalf of Law and Order, met four members of the +Executive Committee, in a room on the third floor of the Custom House. +Senator Gwin explained the object of the conference—to secure the +release of Judge Terry. Commodore Farragut then made the proposition: +that he would have a boat sent from the John Adams to a stipulated +landing place on Market street wharf, at midnight; that the Executive +Committee should have Judge Terry escorted to the landing place at that +hour; that the Adams should immediately sail for Mare Island; and that +there he (Commodore Farragut) would exact a promise from Judge Terry, +before he left the vessel, that he would go into the interior of the +State, not visit San Francisco inside of six months, and meantime +neither excite nor encourage any popular feeling against the Vigilance +organization. To this James Dows responded on behalf of the Executive +Committee: that the Committee had already submitted to them a +proposition from Judge Terry himself, to the effect that he would resign +his place upon the Supreme Bench, consent to have the Committee put him +on board the next steamer for Panama, and not return to California +within the succeeding six months. He added that, although this +proposition had been before the Executive Committees twenty hours, no +definite action had yet been agreed upon; the recovery or death of +Hopkins was the paramount factor in the case, because of the intense +feeling against Terry among the larger proportion of the Committee +troops. At this juncture, J. D. Farwell, also one of the Executive +Committee, spoke. He was voluble and vehement. He said that the +Vigilance organization acknowledged no authority to be superior to +itself. "We have," he continued in loud tone and gasconading temper, +"proved ourselves the superiors of the City and County, government, and +of the State government; and if the Federal government dares"—He got +no further. Commodore Farragut sprang to his feet, his eyes flashing +fire, as electric sparks in brilliancy; his face betokening his fierce +indignation; his whole frame seeming a prodigy of the grandeur of human +passion highest wrought—the incarnation of the noblest majesty and +sublimest patriotism. "Stop, sir!" he thundered—Farwell had stopped +and sunk into his seat. And then the heroic Commodore went on to declare +what the duty of a citizen was; that which he should do, if occasion +required; and closed his less than five minutes burst of withering +rebuke and eloquent counsel with an impressive appeal to the other +members of the Committee present. The folly and rashness of Farwell had +thwarted the wise intentions of the parties who invited the conference. +It ended with Commodore Farragut's thrilling words. In a week or more +Hopkins was considered past danger from his wound, and Judge Terry was +thereupon set free. The Committee had now accomplished about all that +had been contemplated at its organization. It had put to death four men. +Of these at least two were not guilty of murder, as the law defines that +crime. As to the other two, the course of justice in the Courts at that +time gave no warrant for the presumption or belief that a fair and just +trial would not have, been given them; that their conviction and the +death penalty would not have followed. It is not too much to assert +that, so far as escape from the penalty of murder is involved, there has +been, any time these ten years, and there is now, in San Francisco, +stronger cause for a Vigilance Committee than there was in 1856. The +administration of the law was better then in general criminal procedure +than it is now. There were fewer heinous crimes then, in the ratio of +population, then the record of any year for the past ten years will +show. In the category of crimes, such as forgery, perjury, embezzlement, +frauds by which large sums of money or valuable property is obtained, +were then infrequent; now of daily occurrence. But in crimes of violence +the record is enormously against this period in comparison with that; +the infliction of penalties by the Courts was then more certain than it +is now. And as to ballot-box stuffing and frauds in elections, surely +the worst ever charged against the manipulators of that period, pales +and sinks into insignificance when compared with the colossal fraud +committed in San Francisco, in 1876, by which not only the will of the +people of the State was overborne, but also the will of the people of +the United States. Yet the perpetrators of the unparalleled fraud have +never been called to account or punished; to the contrary they are +recognized as gentlemen of respectability, even by those who, in 1856, +forcibly and lawlessly, as Vigilance Committee members, banishement for +stuffing ballot-boxes to secure merely a local advantage by the success +of a ward ticket. Straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel never had +more conspicuous illustration. And the burning fact remains incredible +that among the members of the Executive Committee were some who had +themselves obtained office by bribery and corruption, by calling into +play the stuffing of ballot-boxes, and by all the wicked and infamous +means which were at that time practiced. Another member was, as I have +stated before, a felon who had served his time in the Ohio State Prison; +another, still living and a highly respectable church member who +professes holy horror of fraud, had in early years colluded with his +brother to get possession of valuable wharf property, of which the +brother was agent and care-taker by appointment of the owner, who had +returned to his home in the East, to be gone a year. The scheme of these +brothers was a fraud of villainous conception, but it was clumsy and +therefore failed. On his return the Courts restored the property to the +rightful owner. I might go on and point out other members of the +Executive Committee who had committed deeds which, had they been duly +brought to answer in the Courts, would have put upon them the felon's +brand and the convict's stripes, in some instances; in others, pilloried +them as rogues and swindlers, unworthy of trust, unfit for respectable +association. +</P> + +<P> +But were one to trace the career of several others of that body, the +tracks would be through the sloughs and conduits of shame and turpitude, +rascality and crime, and finally to self-murder. It was as bad—it +could hardly have been worse, except in numbers, proportioned to the +greater numerical force—in the Vigilance rank and file. It is against +reason and sense to expect that in a body of five thousand men, there +will be none who are not good and honorable; that there will be no base +and disreputable characters, no rogues and scoundrels. Therefore it was +not strange that of the Committee's entire force, so many were of the +vile stamp, notorious gold-dust "operators," who robbed the honest miner +of his "Pile," by bare-faced fraud; mock auction sharpers, high-toned +frauds and swindlers of low degree; and others who neither toiled nor +spun, yet feasted and fattened. All these found in the ranks of the +Committee their own security from the incarceration and banishment +enforced in the case of so many less culpable than themselves. But the +onus rests upon the Executive Committee—they constituted the head and +front of the grave offending of the very laws they usurped; they were +the counselors and administrators, the accusers and arbiters, of the +fate of their powerless victims. Their's was a tribunal organized to +convict—they were the prosecutors, the jurors, the judges, from whose +fiat of condemnation there was no appeal; and defense was not allowed. +Arrest meant death or banishment. The accused were prosecuted by the +promoter or participant with them in the charged offence or crime, and +convicted by the verdict in which some who had been accessories were +most strenuous for conviction. It is a rule of law that the accuser +shall come into Court with clean hands. +</P> + +<P> +Ignoring this just rule and in defiance of law, in usurping the seat of +justice, the Executive Committee gave opportunity to several of its +members to "compound for sins they were inclined to, by damning those +who had no mind to;" to sit in judgment on those whose testimony or +confession in a Court of Justice would have turned the tables and +wrought the conviction of their accusers, prosecutors and judges. But +these strictures do not apply to the greater number of the Executive +Committee—to only about a half dozen of its members. The Committee was +composed mainly of honorable men, deservedly high in the community, in +every walk and relation of life. They doubtless acted from a +conscientious sense of duty, and neither intended usurpation of the law, +violence to justice, nor any wrong whatever. They believed it incumbent +upon them to reform what they regarded as the maladministration of +public affairs, and to cleanse the city of the corruption which +existed—as it has existed and always will exist in populous communities, +agreeably to the sentiment of Jefferson, that "cities are scabs upon the +body politic." And with the best of motives they believed that the +organization of the Vigilance committee was the better and surer +remedial agent to these wholesome and commendable purposes. But their +action was akin to that of the thousands of citizens who refrain from +voting at primary elections, where the seed is planted which will +produce its kind in the fruiting on the day of the final and determining +election, and subsequently complain of the incompetency or dishonesty of +the incumbents whose election is largely attributable to the neglect of +these very citizens, to make it their special care that only good and +qualified and worthy men shall be elected at the primaries. +</P> + +<P> +I shall now pass to the conduct of the Executive Committee in their +arrests, their domiciling visits, and their enforced banishments. Among +their victims in the category, banished from the State with the penalty +of death if they returned to it, were Charles P. Duane, Billy Mulligan, +Billy Carr, Reub. Maloney, Bill Lewis, Martin Gallagher, Woolley +Kearney, Yankee Sullivan the pugilist, and John Crowe. These, with the +exception of Charley Duane, were all Democrats, devoted to Broderick. +Duane had been a Whig, was opposed to the Democrats, yet felt kindly +toward Broderick. On the other side—they could not be called +Republicans, but were always against the Democrats, and had at last +affiliated with the Know-Nothings—were men as notorious as any named +above, and of really worse character; but not one of these did the +Committee molest. They were either received into its military ranks or +were permitted to remain in the city. It was a noticeable +discrimination; no reason for it was apparent or expressed on the part +of the Executive Committee. +</P> + +<P> +Charley Duane was a man of extraordinary character in his line of life. +He had made reputation as a "handy man in a fight" and a very hard one +to master before he came of age, in New York. He came to San Francisco +early in 1850, in company with Tom Hyer, the champion prize-fighter. He +had got the sobriquet of "Dutch Charley" in New York, notwithstanding +his Irish blood. Hyer euphonized this into "German Charles." Hyer +returned to New York, Duane remained here. He was a zealous, very active +Whig, an equally zealous and active fireman; and was once elected Chief +Engineer of the Department, against George Hossefross. Subsequently he +was appointed one of the Sheriff's deputies. He had killed a Frenchman +in a difficulty, was tried for the deed and acquitted. No charge of +dishonest nature—theft, fraud, swindling, embezzlement, or anything of +the kind, was ever brought against him. But he was somewhat prone to +fight, and this was the worst that could be charged upon him. I am not +aware that he was ever accused of crookedness in elections except in his +zeal to secure the election of Delos Lake, Whig, as District Judge, in +1851. When the Vigilance Committee was organized, in 1856, he openly and +boldly denounced it, and was an ardent supporter of the Law and Order +side. On what charge he was arrested and banished I have never been able +to ascertain. The manner of his arrest added no laurels to the parties +who conspired to effect it and the participants in the arrest. It bore +the tokens of jealousy and spite sprung from his election years before +as Chief Engineer, more than of any present cause. He was entrapped, +seized, hauled to the committee cells and banished, nevertheless. +</P> + +<P> +Billy Mulligan was the incarnation of fearlessness, fight and +frolic—dangerous frolic it was sometimes to any he did not like. Of low +stature, slight frame, active as a cat, the expression of a +bull-terrier, and as, quick to an, encounter, Mulligan was not a man to +pick a quarrel with—the other party invariably second best. He had +served under Colonel Jack Hays in his troop of Texan Rangers, and +Colonel Hays gave the praise that he was one of the bravest, pluckiest, +most daring and desperate fighters he had ever had in his command. Billy +had his full share of the vices of drinking, gambling, fighting and a +fast life. He was active in politics and "went in to win." But he had +the virtue not to lie; and he would not betray any confidence reposed in +him, turn faithless to any promise he made. He was bold, frank, manly, +magnanimous except towards those he despised as well as hated, and to +these he was implacable and merciless. The world's wealth couldn't +seduce or bribe him from the support of the men he liked, no matter how +poor they might be; and he would on every occasion interpose to protect +the helpless and defenseless from the violence or maltreatment of +others. Crime of any degree was never alleged to his account. He had +faithfully served as collector of moneys for the County Treasurer two +years, and fully accounted for every dollar that he received. Beyond his +fighting bouts and his conduct in elections—about the same as prevails +now—there was nothing to warrant his arrest and banishment. But the +terrors of Fort Gunny Bags did not intimidate Mulligan. One of the +committee remarked to me, on the occasion of his death by the rifle shot +of a policeman while he was wild with delirium tremens, that he was the +only prisoner ever put in the committee cells who did not "weaken." He +was a character the community could well spare; but he had given the +committee no offence to justify his banishment. +</P> + +<P> +Yankee Sullivan's character is notorious. He was a professional +prize-fighter—ready to try conclusions in the fistic ring with any in +the world; but he feared a pistol or a knife as an ordinary man would +fear a blow from his powerful arm. He had helped Mulligan and Casey in +some of their election operations, and for that he was arrested. There +was no charge of any other nature than this and his fighting quality to +warrant his arrest. His courage or spirit broke down while confined in +the close cell, and one morning his lifeless body was found stiff in the +cell. He had opened a vein in his arm and bled to death. The rumor at +the time was—and it is still believed—that he was driven to the deed +by the remark made by one of the Vigilance guards outside the cell, but +spoken in tone calculated for Sullivan to hear it, that he was to be +hanged the next morning. To escape the ignominy of such a death, he +anticipated it by his own hand. +</P> + +<P> +Martin Gallagher and Billy Carr were boatmen, and active in party +manipulations in the interest of Mr. Broderick in the First Ward. They +were tough men to handle in a fight, and usually forced their own way in +anything they undertook. With Mulligan they often sat as delegates in +city, county and State conventions of the Democracy—together with +several other of their associates and kind, who are still more or less +prominent in city politics—some of them Democrats, some Republicans. +Bill Lewis was sent out of the country none too soon. He was a great, +powerful, terrorizing fellow, desperate and unscrupulous, and one to +beware of. He took active part in politics, and was terrible in a +"scrimmage. Of his redeeming, traits I never obtained information. +Doubtless he had some. Unlest it was on account of Woolley Kearney's +facial configuration, I have never been able to divine why the Committee +banished him. He was the homeliest, ugliess looking mortal I ever saw. +Had the Committee compelled him to go as the Veiled Prophet, with a +gunny sack instead of silver veil, there would have been at least the +essence of justice in their action. His battered, flattened, twisted, +gnarled nose, was at every point of the compass, and more hideous at +every turn. Why he didn't blow it off when he blowed it, blow'd if any +could conjecture. His eyes were squinted, his mouth a monstrous +curiosity. Every feature seemed in revolt at that nose. It would have +struck awe to the spirit of an Ogre, Woolley was no doubt ready and +willing to do any crooked deed, but none who knew him would employ him +on any mission in which skill and fidelity were required. His banishment +had, perhaps, a good effect upon the unborn generation, whose parents +had not then entered the matrimonial state. Whatever other purpose it +subserved, except to show to other communities the "latest novelty" from +California, is the unfathomable conundrum. John Crowe was a noisy, +blatant, meddlesome fellow, the keeper of a livery stable on Kearny +street, and a fierce denouncer of the Committee. There was nothing else +to his discredit, so far as I could learn at the time. Reub. Maloney was +a compound character—a good deal of a knave, something of the man in +his fidelity to his friends, reckless of everything except his own +safety in any transaction calculated to damage the cause to which he was +opposed; indifferent to what might happen to an adversary, He was a most +valiant "brave"—with his mouth; the noble quality had never penetrated +his cuticle. His passion when bloviating was furious and terrible to +look upon; but there was nothing to it more than sound and pretense. His +face would redden to congestive hue, his voice swell to sonorous volume; +but the simple kindly invitation in quiet tone: "Never mind, Reub, come +and take a drink," would unbind him in a moment, and coming up relaxed, +smiling to "smile," he would gulf down the dram, and with stated manner +remark, "Well, boys, I said about the right thing, didn't I?" He was the +faithful henchman of General James A. McDougall; hated Senator Gwin, and +between the two preferred Broderick. +</P> + +<P> +Maloney had been a drummer for a large importing house in New York, his +field of labor in the South. He had also been employed in the western +states, and endowed with good address, portly figure, much volubility, +unfailing check and invincible assurance, he successfully pushed his +way. He came to California during the fall of '47, located in Stockton, +subsequently in San Francisco, and took up "Politics" as his means of +support. To gain his point in a partisan deal, he would do anything that +was not personally dangerous. He cared for ends, and was utterly +regardless of means. He was ceaselessly putting up jobs to promote the +cause he advocated, and to break down that of the antagonists. With the +courage of Babadil he had the honesty of Ancient Pistol, the habits of +Falstaff, and the temptations of Anthony would have been to him as +pastures green to the hungering herd. Poor old Reub, his incarceration +in the Vigilance cells nearly frightened the life out of him, and his +release even under banishment, was as the open door to the caged wild +bird. He never did much harm to any cause or party that he opposed. The +Committee would have better spared him and exiled many who were +worse—some from their own ranks. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter VII. +</H3> + +<P> +The last in the list is Edward McGowan—"Old Ned"—Chief of Police, +Judge, Emigration Commissioner, politician, fugitive, "ubiquitous" +soldier, retired sporting man, and still in life, nearly eighty years of +age, clear in all his faculties. He was a devoted, trusted confidential +friend of Broderick, and unpurchaseable in his friendship. He had been a +prominent actor in many hard contests in behalf of Broderick, and aided +materially in the successes which elevated that extraordinary man to the +Senate of the United States. McGowan was a warm friend to Casey—his +adviser on many occasions. He received intimation the night of Casey's +arrest, that his own was contemplated. He was not seen again in San +Francisco until his return to the State a year or more afterward, to +surrender himself and demand trial upon whatever charge the Committee, +or any, could prefer against him. His acquittal was the consequence. +</P> + +<P> +Never was fugitive more assiduously and desperately hunted than he. +Domiciliary visits, the intrusion of the Vigilance police into the homes +of citizens, of every house and room in which it was suspected McGowan +would be caught. Every friend of his was shadowed to get a clew to his +place of concealment. Yet he was for weeks securely hidden within five +miles of the city. Thence he made his escape to Santa Barbara, through +the aid of true and sagacious friends; was sheltered and protected there +by another—Jack Powers, one of the Stevenson's regiment, a fearless, +dare-devil, desperate, wily man, accustomed to wild adventures, and +hair-breadth escapes, whose own many exploits, including pursuit and +search, will some day find publication, to rival the most interesting +and exciting narratives of frontier life, and the daring and heroism of +the men bred to such life. Jack Powers had on several occasions escaped +the capture and death his Mexican pursuers had deemed inevitable. His +ingenuity now came to do service on behalf of his friend McGowan. Chief +of Police Curtis had got word that McGowan was in Santa Barbara. He was +a zealous, Vigilance man. A schooner was chartered, and a strong, armed +force sailed on her for Santa Barbara, to capture the fugitive. They +landed, searched everywhere, particularly the house, premises and +surroundings of Jack Powers' residence. Powers and McGowan both well +knew that catching meant hanging beyond all hope. After a thorough quest +Curtis and his armed band gave up the hunt and returned to San +Francisco. At Powers' home they had searched every place except that in +which McGowan was concealed. They had been within a toot of him; had +nearly stepped on him; were so close that he heard their whisperings and +cursings. But they never suspected his hiding place. He was simply +rolled in a great mass of old floor matting, at one side of the house, +which was covered with dust and leaves, and bits of straw, to give it +the appearance of having been there, just as it seemed, for months. +After the schooner sailed, McGowan succeeded in making his way out of +the State and safe from the Vigilance Committee by the cunning and +adroitness of his good friend Jack Powers. The Committee were foiled in +their endeavor to capture the man, of all others, they were the most +eager to catch and hang. There would have been short invoking of trial +in his case and a hurried death by the rope. McGowan lives to relate his +adventures and enjoy the narrative. +</P> + +<P> +To give some idea of the manner of procedure and the discipline of the +Committee, I will relate an experience of my own: One beautiful +moonlight evening I was visiting the family of a prominent member of the +San Francisco Bar. About nine o'clock the door bell was rung. Thinking +that some friend of the family was at the door, the mistress of the +house went herself to see who was there. In the doorway stood a strange +man. He asked—mentioning my name—if I was in. She called to me and I +went to the door. He requested me to accompany him to the rooms, of the +Committee. I wished to know for what purpose, and at whose instance he +came. He said he could not tell; he was ordered to request my attendance +at once, and could say no more. I got my overcoat and went with him. On +the way down he informed me of the diligent hunt he had made to find +me—mentioning half a dozen families whom I frequently visited. At last we +reached Fort Gunny Bags. He led the way to the Front street door, in the +rear of the building. Two rows of guards with muskets, had position from +the curb-stone to the door-way. He gave the password to these and we +passed through. At the door were other guards—the same giving of +pass-word there. We mounted the narrow stairs—my escort in advance. +Midway on the stairs were two guards—one of them Dr. Rabe, with whom I +had been intimate since 1850. Again the pass-word. And again at the head +of the stairs to the four guards there. My escort opened the door of a +medium-sized room, which fronted on the street, and requested me to be +seated. He left me alone in the room. For an hour I had the room to +myself. Then the door was opened, and I saw David C. Broderick over the +head of the person who had evidently escorted him, and requested him to +be seated. Broderick entered, and the door was closed, and locked from +the outside. We had no more than shaken hands and mutually wondered what +we were wanted for, when the key was turned, the door again opened, and +in came tall Jo. McKibben, taller even than Broderick. As he entered, +the door was again locked on the outside. The situation was too amusing, +and we all laughed over it. But why were we there? On relating the +manner of the "request" and escort, each had been served in similar +manner—neither could conjecture the purpose in having us there. No +other person was let in until about an hour. "Old Jim" Dows, as he was +familiarly called, came to see us. We had known each other for years. He +appeared surprised to see us, and McKibben and myself exchanged some +pleasantries with him. I said to him, at last, that I wished the +Executive Committee would hasten whatever business they had in my case +and let me go, as I was eager to return to the house I had been +visiting. He said he would and in ten minutes returned to apprise me +that I could go right then if I wished. He accompanied me to the head of +the stairs, and in loud voice ordered the guards to let me pass out—that +it was "all right." With this he passed into the hall. The guard at +the head of the stairs duly let me pass. At the middle of the stairs Dr. +Rabe, who so well knew me, and must have heard Dows' order, demanded the +pass-word, and refused to allow me to proceed. I said, "Why, Doctor, I +don't know the pass-word, and you heard Jim. Dows' order to let me pass +out." The guard at the head of the stairs cried out to him, "it was all +right," and I was then allowed to pass down. But at the foot of the +stairs the guard made similar demand, and again the word had to be +shouted from above, that I was to be allowed to pass out. One of the +guards then took my arm, escorted me through the file of outside guards, +into the street, and I was, finally, "all right." But I felt curious in +regard to Broderick and McKibben, The next day Dows told me we had all +been wanted as witnesses on behalf of one of the prisoners in the +custody of the Committee, but that he had got me excused. From Broderick +I subsequently learned that he had given his testimony and had then come +away. Also had McKibbon. +</P> + +<P> +Rumors had been circulated that Broderick was to be arrested by the +Committee. Whether true or false, I never learned, At all events he soon +left San Francisco and made a tour of the mountain counties, to promote +his canvass for the Senatorship, which he achieved the following year. +His devoted friends were all violently opposed to the Committee, and any +harm to him, by that body, would have been the occasion of very serious +trouble. +</P> + +<P> +Colonel E. D. Baker had defended Charles Cora, at his trial, as I have +related. He was positive and unreserved in his denunciation of the +Committee. Whether he was ever threatened with arrest I do not know; but +he likewise left the city and went into the interior Northern Counties +and there practiced his profession until September, when he entered into +the Presidential campaign as chief orator of the Republican party, for +Fremont, and in November returned to his practice in San Francisco. +</P> + +<P> +The Vigilance Committee disbanded their military forces late in August. +The Executive Committee held to them for future emergencies, but ceased +their meetings. Fort Gunny Bags was dismantled. The rooms were +abandoned; but as a closing scene, a grand review of the military was +held near South Park, and the rooms were thrown open to the public. +Thousands, ladies and gentlemen and children went there, and looked at +the stuffed ballot-box, at the nooses and ropes used in the hanging of +Casey and Cora, of Hetherington and Brace, at the shackles and gyves, at +all the other instruments and paraphernalia of the gallows and the +cells, into the narrow cells and their scant furniture, and at all the +ghastly curios of these haunted rooms of life and death, of mental +torture and bodily suffering, of forced suicide and the mocking of the +crazed victim of his own despair and desperation. It was a remarkable +sight for women, an astounding treat to ladies, and such an example to +children, boys and girls! But comment is not required. +</P> + +<P> +The city and county election was soon to follow. The Committee men did +not neglect the opportunity which their powerful organization had given +them. The Executive Committee became practically a self-constituted +nominating convention. Their rank and file were not forgotten. General +Doane was nominated for Sheriff. For every other office Vigilance men +were named the candidates. None others had chance or hope. Their ticket +was elected. They obtained the reward of their services in the +organization, and profited accordingly. Thirty-one years have now passed +since the existence of the Committee. Many of its executive members are +numbered with the dead. Some of them passed away in a manner to remain +as an enduring sorrow to their kindred and connexions. A few have +prospered and occupy high places in community. A very few enjoy office +bestowed by the party they aided so much to destroy in 1856. On the +monument erected over the ashes of Casey is the scriptural admonition +for all mankind. "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, and I will repay." +Retribution is with God alone. The generation of this period will best +subserve the good of community by conformity to the divine injunction. +And this would never have been written were it not for the many and +frequent ex parte, and incorrect publications, which have been put forth +as faithful and impartial accounts of the Vigilance Committee of 1856, +of the character of those who suffered death and banishment at its +hands, and of the causes which led to its organization. The task is +done. May another similar to it never be required. The law of the land +should suffice for every exigency. It sets no bad or dangerous example, +but is always the conservator of the public welfare, the best protector +of all, the voice of the people in accordance with the laws of God. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Vigilance Committee of '56, by James O'Meara + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE OF '56 *** + +***** This file should be named 4642-h.htm or 4642-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/6/4/4642/ + +Produced by David Schwan. HTML version by Al Haines. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Vigilance Committee of '56 + +Author: James O'Meara + +Posting Date: August 18, 2009 [EBook #4642] +Release Date: November, 2003 +First Posted: February 20, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE OF '56 *** + + + + +Produced by David Schwan. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + + +The Vigilance Committee of '56. + + + +By a Pioneer California Journalist + +[James O'Meara] + + + + +Chapter I. + + +Many accounts of the Vigilance Committee of San Francisco have been +published, but all of them, so far as I have seen, were from the pen of +members of that organization, or else from persons who favored it. As a +consequence their accounts of it were either partial, to a greater or +less degree, or imperfect otherwise; and much has been omitted as well +as misstated and misrepresented otherwise. I was not a member of the +Vigilance Committee, nor was I a member of the opposing organization, +known as the Law and Order body, of which General Sherman was the head +and Volney E. Howard next in rank. I have never been in favor of mob or +lynch-law in any form, and, therefore, had neither sympathy with nor +disposition to join the Vigilance Committee. And while I was earnestly +in support of Law and Order, I did not feel that I could better subserve +that cause by joining the organization formed at that time, for the +avowed purpose of maintaining the one and enforcing the other. I had +many friends on each side, and I also knew many in each organization who +were unworthy of fellowship in any good or honorable cause or +association; and some of these bore prominent rank in each organization. +As was said of the Regulators of Texas, who directed their energies +chiefly against horse thieves and robbers, that some of the worst and +most guilty of them hastened to join the band, in order to save +themselves from arrest and the rope or bullet, likewise were there some +prominent in the Vigilance Committee of 1856, who undoubtedly joined it +for similar reasons--to escape the terrors of the organization; and the +Executive Committee was not exempt from these infamous characters. + +The Executive Committee, forty-one in number, was thus composed in +membership: William T. Coleman, James Dows, Thomas J. L. Smiley, John P. +Monrow, Charles Doane, James N. Olney, Isaac Bluxome, Jr., William +Meyers, Charles Ludlow,--Christler, Richard M. Jessup, Charles J. +Dempster, George R. Ward, E. P. Flint, Wm. Rogers, Aaron M. Burns, Miers +F. Truitt, W. H. Tillinghast, W. Arrington, Charles L. Case, J. D. +Farwell, W. T. Thompson, Eugene Dellesert, J. K. Osgood, J. W. Brittan, +Jules David, C. V. Gillespie, Calvin Nutting, E. Gorham, N. O. +Arrington, F. W. Page, O. B. Crary, L. Bassange, D. Tubbs, Emile Grisar, +E. B. Goddard, Henry M. Hale, Chas. Ludlow, M. J. Burke, J. H. Fish, C. +P. Hutchings, J. Seligman. + +W. T. Coleman was President, Thomas J. L. Smiley Vice-President and +Prosecuting Attorney, John P. Morrow, Judge Associate, James Dows, +Treasurer, Wm. Meyer, Deputy Treasurer, Isaac Bluxome, Jr. the notorious +"33"--Secretary. Charles Doane was Grand Marshall, James N. Olney, +Deputy Grand Marshall, R. T. Wallace was Chief of Police, John L. +Durkee, Deputy Chief. + +The military organization of the Vigilance Committee, rank and file, +numbered nearly 5,000 men. Several of the Executive Committee were alien +residents who never became citizens; and in the Committee, serving as +troops, as police, and in other lines, were a large number of aliens, +not naturalized, many of whom had not acquired sufficient proficiency in +the English language to speak it or understand it. The military body +comprised four regiments--infantry and artillery--together with +battalions of cavalry, pistol companies and guard of citizens. A medical +staff was duly organized. The roster, as here given, is copied from a +recent publication in the Alta, stated to be authentic. The dashes which +mark omission of the names, appear as they are placed in the Alta: + +Charles Doane, Major-General. Staff officers: N. W. Coles, +Quartermaster-General and Colonel of Cavalry; R. M. Jessup, +Commissary-General and Colonel of Infantry; Aaron M. Burns, Deputy +Commissary-General and Lieutenant-Colonel of Infantry; James Dows, +Paymaster-General and Lieutenant-Colonel of Infantry; William Meyer and +Eugene Dellesert, Paymaster-Generals and Majors of Infantry; Cyrus G. +Dwyer, Adjutant and Inspector-General and Major of Infantry: Henry +Baker, Quartermaster and Major of Infantry; R. R. Pearce and M. McManus, +Assistant Quartermasters and Captains of Infantry; J. W. Farrington, +Assistant Commissary and Captain of Infantry; R. Beverly Cole, Surgeon +of the staff and Major of Infantry; Geo. C. Potter, aid to Major-General +and Major of Cavalry; N. B. Stone, A. M. Ebbetts, T. M. Wood, O. P. +Blackman, George R. Morris, T. A. Wakeman, Felix Brissac, C. H. Vail and +George R. Ward, aids to Major-General and Majors of Infantry, James B. +Hubbell, John M. Schapp and B. F. Mores, aids and secretaries to +Major-General and Captains of Infantry, J. N. Olney, Jr., aid and +secretary to Major-General and First Lieutenant of Infantry; James N. +Olney, Brigadier-General; R. S. Tammot, Henry Jones and R. M. Cox, aids +and Captains of Infantry. + +Artillery--Thomas D. Johns, Colonel; J. F. Curtis, Lieutenant-Colonel; +R. B. Hampton, Major; Company A, J. Mead Huxley, Captain; Company B, +James Richit, Captain; Company C, H. C. F. Behrens, Captain; Company D, +J. H. Hasty, Captain; James F. Curtiss, Lieutenant-Colonel, commanding +Reserved Artillery. + +Battallion Cavalry--Frank Baker, Major; First Squadron, G. G. Bradt, +Captain; Second Squadron, J. Sewell Read, Captain. + +Infantry--First Regiment,--Colonel; J. S. Ellis, Lieutenant-Colonel; +John A. Clark, Major; J. P. H., Wentworth, Quartermaster; H. H. Thrall, +Adjutant; L. S. Wilder, Commissary; R. M. Cox, Sergeant-Major; H. W. F. +Hoffman, Quartermaster's Sergeant and composed of eight companies, viz: +Company A, W. C. Allen, Lieutenant commanding; Company B, H. L. Twiggs, +Captain; Company C, A. L. Loring, Captain; Company D, J. V. McElwee, +Captain; Company One,, J. M. Taylor, Captain; Company Two (Riflemen), L. +W. Parks, Captain; Company Three, Jonathan Gavat, Captain, Company +Seven, Geo. H. Hossefros, Captain. + +Battallion Citizens Guard--Belonging to First Regiment, composed of A, +B, C, and D, G. F. Watson, Major. + +Second Regiment--J. B. Badger, Colonel; J. S. Hill, Lieutenant-Colonel; +A. H. Clark, Major, Giles H. Gray, Quartermaster; E. B. Gibbs, Adjutant; +F. A. Howe, Commissary;--Sergeant-Major; Judah Alden; +Quartermaster-Sergeant, and composed of eight companies, viz: Company +Six, W. R. Doty, Captain; Company Twelve, C. G. Bailey, Captain; Company +Eight, -- Godfrey, Captain; Company Four, A. H. King, Captain; Company +Five, C. R. Bond, Captain; Company Ten, J. Wightman, Lieutenant +commanding; Company Eleven, George Gates, Captain; Company Nine, J. +Wood, Captain. + +Third Regiment--H. S. Fitch, Colonel; Caleb Clapp Lieutenant Colonel;--, +Major;--, Quartermaster;--, Adjutant;--, Commissary;--, +Sergeant-Major;--, Quartermaster-Sergeant, and composed of eight +companies, viz: Company Thirteen, E. J. Smith, Lieutenant commanding; +Company Fourteen, W. E. Keyes, Captain; Company Fifteen,--, Lieutenant +commanding; Company Sixteen, B. S. Bryan, Captain; Company Seventeen +(Riflemen), C. E. S. McDonald, Captain; Company Eighteen, P. W. +Shepheard, Captain; Company Nineteen, R. H. Bennett, Captain; Company +Twenty, S. Gutte, Captain. + +Fourth Regiment--Francis J. Lippitt, Colonel; John D. G. Quirk, +Lieutenant-Colonel, ---- , Major; ---- , Quartermaster; B. L. West, +Adjutant;---- , Commissary;---- , Sergeant-Major;---- , Quartermaster's +Sergeant, and composed of eight companies, viz: Company Twenty-five, J. +Sanfrignon, Captain; Company Twenty-eight, L. Armand, Captain; French +Legion,---- Villaseque, Major; Company Twenty-four, W. H. Patten, +Captain; Company Twenty-seven, C. H. Gough, Captain; Company Twenty-one, +S. Meyerbock Captain; Company Twenty-three, J. T. Little, Captain; +Company Thirty, W. O. Smith, Captain; Company Twenty-two, J. L. Folger, +Captain; Company Twenty-nine, S. L. Harrison, Captain; Company +Twenty-six,---- , Captain. + +Pistol Battalion--Two companies, commanded respectively by Captains +Webb and E. S. Gibbs. + +The roll of Division No. 4 is thus given: + +J. A. Collins, Commander, Geo. G. Whitney, 1st Lieut. W. H. Parker, 2d +L't, J. H. Mallett, Orderly Sergeant, R. R. H. Rogers, Second Orderly +Sergeant, Wm. H. Wood, Third Orderly Sergeant, Charles D. Cushman, +Fourth Orderly Sergeant. Privates--D. Morgan, Jr., P. G. Partridge, +John Burns, E. W. Travers. Giles H. Gray, Martin Prag, John Wright, +James Wells, Jas. W. White, Judah Alden, Alfred Rix, J. W. Farrington, +W. L. Waters, W. F. Hall, J. T. Bowers, J. L. N. Shepard, Lucius Hoyt, +David Laville, H. A. Russell, E. Stevens, Theo. B. Cunningham, M. +McMannis, Wm. H. Gibson, Edmund Keyes, George T. Bohen, I. M. Bachelder, +R. T. Holmes, W. F. Shankland, B. Argyras, John R. Chute, John S. +Davies, James McCeny, Geo. H. Tay, Sohn Bensley, L. Bartlett, Joseph W. +Housley, Robert Wells, Samuel Fullerton, Newell Hosmer, J. J. Lomax, G. +K. Fitch, Wm. Hayes, Robert A. Parker, Samuel Soule, A. Wardwell, Isaac +E. Davis, M. McIntyre, F. E. Foote, Thomas A. Ayres, William K. +Blanchard, J. F. Eaton, J. Frank Swift, J. O. Rountree. + +These names of Secretaries of the Committees of the Executive Committee +are added: On Evidence--J. H. Titcomb and D. McK Baker; on +Qualification--E. T. Beals. + +First, as to the cause or pretence for the organization of the Vigilance +Committee: It is declared by its ex-members and supporters, or +apologists, that it was necessary for the reason that the law was not +duly administered; that the Courts, the fountains of justice, were +either corrupted or neglectful of their duties; that Juries were packed +with unworthy men in important criminal cases, that there were gross +frauds in elections, by which the will of the people was defied and +defeated, and improper and dishonest men, some of them notorious rogues, +were counted in and installed in public office; and that there was a +class of turbulent offenders who had the countenance, if not the support +of judges and officials in high places, and who, therefore, felt +themselves to be above or exempt from the law. Tennyson has well +remarked that there is no lie so baneful as one which is half truth. So +it is in respect to these alleged reasons for the organization of that +Vigilance Committee. It is not true that the Courts were corrupt, +neglectful or remiss. Judge Hager presided in the Fourth District Court, +and his integrity and judicial qualifications, or judgments, have never +been questioned or impeached. Judge Freelon presided as County judge; +the same can be remarked of him. There was no material fault alleged +against the Police Court. It is true, however, that in important +criminal cases, and sometimes in civil suits, the juries were often +packed. But why? I will state: Merchants and business men generally had +great aversion to serve on juries, particularly, in important criminal +cases, which are usually protracted; and the jury were kept in +comparative close condition, because their time was too valuable, and +their business interests required their constant attention. They +preferred, therefore, to pay the fine imposed, in case they were unable +to prevail upon the Judge to excuse them. Jury fees were inconsiderable +in comparison with their daily profits; but it was the loss of time from +their business which mainly actuated them. Yet these fees were +sufficient to pay a day's board and lodging, and to the many who were +out of employment, serving on a jury was the means to both. There is, in +every large community, the class known as professional jurymen--hangers +about the Court, eagerly waiting to be called. There were men of this +kind then; there are more than enough of them still loitering about the +Courts, civil and criminal. San Francisco is not the only city in the +United States in which defendants in grave criminal cases have recourse +to every conceivable and possible means, without scruple, to procure +their own acquittal, or the utmost modification of the penalty, by +proving extenuating circumstances, or that the indictment magnifies the +crimes. This was true of 1856; here, as elsewhere in the land; it is +equally true now. Had the merchants and solid citizens then drawn as +jurors, fulfilled their duty to the cause of justice, to the +conservation and maintenance of law and order, they would have had no +cause or pretence for the organization which they formed. The initial +fault was attributable to themselves; the jury-packing they complained +of was the direct consequence of their own neglect of that essential +duty to the State, in the preservation of law and order; and they cannot +reasonably or justly shift the onus from themselves upon the Courts. + +Concerning the frauds in election: yes, there were frauds, outrageous +frauds, at every election; repeaters, bullies, ballot-box stuffing, and +false counts of the ballots to count out this candidate and count in the +one favored of the "boys." More than one member of the Vigilance +Executive Committee had thorough knowledge of all this, for the very +conclusive reason that more than one of them had engaged in these +frauds, had not only participated in them directly and indirectly, but +had actually proposed them; employed the persons who had committed the +frauds, and paid these tools round sums for the infamous service. The +reward of these employers and accessories before, during and after the +frauds, was the office that was coveted; and the "Hon." prefixed to +their names was as the gilt which the watch stuffer applies to the brass +thing he imposes upon the greenhorn as a solid gold watch. Out of the +Committee, of the Executive Committee, the detectives of that body might +have unearthed these honorable and virtuous purifiers and reformers; +with them, perhaps others whose frauds were no less wicked and criminal; +but in business transactions, and not in political affairs. One of the +Executive Committee had served his term of two years in the Ohio State +Prison for forgery; here in San Francisco he had, during two city +elections, been the trusted agent and disburser of a very heavy sack in +the honest endeavor to secure the nomination, and promote the election, +of his principal to high office, yet this pure man was honored by his +associates of the Committee, and became singularly active in pressing +the expatriation of some of the very "ruffians and ballot-box-stuffers" +he had patronized and paid. He had learned that "dead men told no +tales." This pure-character did not stand alone in his experience of +penal servitude, as birds of a feather, and he was under no necessity of +examplifying Lord Dundreary's bird, to go into a corner and flock by +himself. That some turbulent offenders, and largely too many of them, +defied the law, is likewise true. But that they were countenanced or +favored by the Judges, is utterly without truthful foundation. And it is +remarkable that, of all the men hanged or expatriated by the Committee, +only two had ever been complained of or arraigned before the Courts for +any crime of violence; not one of them all had been here accused or +suspected of theft or robbery, or other felony. This is more, as I have +just above stated, than can be said of some of the forty-one members of +the Executive Committee. And among the members of the rank and file of +the five thousand or six thousand enrolled upon the lists of the +Committee--of natives and English-speaking citizens or residents--there +were scores of scoundrels of every degree, bogus gold-dust +operators, swindlers and fugitives from justice. Of the members of other +nationalities--some of whom had not been in the country long enough to +acquire English--I have no occasion to pass remark; but the fear of +communism and disturbance, from the increase of its incendiary votaries +in our country, east and here, cannot be lessened or composed by the +recollection of the conduct of many of the same nationalities who then +swelled the ranks of the Committee troops. + + + + +Chapter II. + + +Saturday Nov. 19, 1855, between 5 and 6 o'clock, the community was +startled by the report that General Richardson, United States Marshal, +had been shot dead by a gambler. The shooting occurred on the south side +of Clay street, about midway between Montgomery and Leidesdorff streets. +The fatal shot was fired from a deringer pistol by Charles Cora. Cora +was a gambler, yet he did not look the character. He was a low-sized, +well-formed man; dressed in genteel manner, without display of jewelry +or loudness; was reserved and quiet in his demeanor; and his manners and +conversation were those of a refined gentleman. I first saw him at the +Blue Wing, a popular rendezvous for politicians, on Montgomery street, +east side, between Clay and Commercial streets, and my impression then +was that he was a lawyer or a well-to-do merchant. General Richardson +was a morose and at times a very disagreeable man. He was of low +stature, thick set, dark complexion, black hair, and usually wore a +bull-dog look. He was known by his intimate friends to be a dangerous +man as a foe, and he always went armed with a pair of deringers. The +Thursday night prior to the shooting General Richardson and Col. Jo. C. +McKibben, afterwards member of Congress, were at the Blue Wing in +company. After midnight Richardson went out for a moment on the +sidewalk. A man passed him, made a jocular remark and entered the +saloon. Richardson followed him in, and asked of Perkins his name. He +had been drinking heavily. McKibben prevailed upon him to start for his +home. It was on Minna street, near Fred Woodworth's, just above Jessie +street. Jo. accompanied him most of the way. Richardson spoke to him of +an "insult" he had received from "that fellow Carter"--as he seemed to +think the name to be--and declared his purpose to make him answer for +it. McKibben knew Cora, and that Cora was the man to whom Richardson +referred; but he likewise knew enough of Richardson to not correct him, +and let him believe that "Carter" was the name, in the hope that, in his +condition, he would either not think of the occurrence the next day, or +would not be able to recognize Cora if he did. The following Saturday +afternoon a party of us--Jo. McKibben, John Monroe, Clerk of Judge +Hoffman's Court, E. V. Joice, Pen. Johnston, Josh Haven and myself were +in the Court Exchange, corner of Battery and Washington streets. +Richardson came in while we were there, and was in drinking humor. He +became sullen and, as we all knew his nature, it was quietly agreed +among ourselves that we would leave and try to get him away. He was +devoted to his wife, whom he married in San Francisco. McKibben and +myself accompanied him on his way home, as far as the old Oriental +Hotel, within a few blocks of his residence. There he insisted on a +"last drink," and we left him--he to go straight home. It turned out +that he did not. He brooded over the "insult" of Carter, as he still +called him, and made his way to the Blue Wing to find him, Unfortunately +he found Cora there. He called him out, and, as one man wilt lead +another by his side, walked with him around the corner into Clay street, +halting just in front of the store of a French firm--I do not remember +the name--and so managed as to put Cora on the iron grating, of the +sidewalk inside, with his back to the brick wall of the store. Cora had +not the slightest idea that Richardson had taken offence at his remark +on Thursday night--for it was in no light offensive or insulting but +simply a bit of ordinary pleasantry, and therefore, he was not aware of +Richardson's object in asking him to come out from the saloon. But many +of Richardson's intimate friends, who felt his death keenly, and were at +that time disposed to the extreme penalty of the law upon the man who +shot him, after due reflection and deliberation came to the conclusion, +that under the circumstances, standing as he was placed before +Richardson, who stood with his hands in his pockets, and a deringer in +each pocket, pressing his demand on Cora, the latter had one of two +things to do: either to kill Richardson or allow Richardson to kill him. + +There were not many on Clay street, near the fatal scene, at that hour, +but the discharge of Cora's pistol soon brought several to the spot. +Richardson's body was carried through the side-door entrance on Clay +street, into the drug store then on that corner of Montgomery street, +and there hundreds viewed it. Cora was taken in charge. Dave Scannell +was Sheriff. That excitement over, the feeling increased every hour, and +many urged the summary hanging of Cora. Scannell had duly prepared for +all this, and order was preserved, although several hundred men formed +in line and proceeded to the County Jail to force their way in, seize +Cora and hang him forthwith. Sunday morning the excitement had +diminished in spirit of violence, but had increased in volume and +disposition to bring Cora to justice. Eminent lawyers, the personal +friends of Richardson, had already volunteered to assist in the +prosecution of the man who shot him. The application of Cora's friends +to several of the most noted criminal lawyers in the city, to defend +him, was in many instances declined. Cora had one to his support, +however, who proved more successful in engaging counsel in his behalf. +This was the woman known as Belle Cora, the keeper of a notorious house, +with whom Cora lived. She was rich and possessed of indomitable spirit. +She was devoted to Cora. In this connection I will relate that which +Governor Foote imparted to myself and J. Ross Browne, on a trip to +Oregon, late in the summer of 1857. It was substantially this. Belle +Cora had gone herself to the law office of Colonel E. D. Baker, to +engage him as counsel for Cora, and had succeeded. The fee was to be +$5,000; one-half this sum was immediately paid to him. She then applied +to Governor Foote to engage him to assist in the case: He declined, but +assured her that he should not appear for the prosecution. In a few +days, on account of the intense popular feeling toward Cora, and also +because the law partner of Colonel Baker had strenuously objected to his +acting as counsel for Cora, as it would greatly damage their +professional business the community, Baker and their personal standing +in called upon Governor Foote and requested him to see Belle Cora and +apprise her that she must employ some other counsel; that he felt that +he must withdraw from the case--the $2,500 already paid would be +returned to her. To extricate his professional brother from his +unpleasant situation, Governor Foote consented to undertake the +disagreeable mission. The woman was immovable in her determination to +keep Colonel Baker to his engagement. And she intimated in terms not to +be misunderstood that she was determined that he should fulfill his +obligation. Colonel Baker was a man of dauntless courage in facing dangers +of human quality; but he was in constant fear at sea; and it seems there +was another quality of peril which overmastered his intrepid spirit. +When Governor Foote related to him the result of his mission, he advised +the Colonel to see the woman himself. Colonel Baker did go, Governor +Foote accompanying him. The Governor said he had never witnessed such a +manifestation of a woman's power and irresistible influence. Belle Cora +was inspired to the height of heroism, in her devotion to Cora, her +purpose to secure his acquittal and prevent his sacrifice. She first +appealed, implored, begged Colonel Baker to stand by his engagement. He +making no response, and seeming not to yield, she commanded that he +must, that he should. She would double his fee. She would have him +appear as Cora's counsel, if he did no more than sit in Court with Cora +near him, and speak no word at all. But go in Court and have it known +that he was Cora's counsel, he must. She was inflexible in this. And +when the day of trial came Colonel Baker did appear, together with +General James A. McDougall, Colonel James and Frank Tilford--as counsel +for Charles Cora, and it was on that trial that he made the most +eloquent and extraordinary argument and plea of his life in a criminal +case. It was not a packed jury in Cora's case. Care had been taken to +empanel only good, respectable citizens, some of whom, a short time +afterward, became members of the Vigilance Committee, and in great or +less degree participated in the seizure of Cora from the county jail and +in his condemnation and execution. Three of the jury were prominent +Front street merchants. Notwithstanding all the feeling against Cora, +the popular unrelenting prejudice, and the great preponderance of the +foremost legal minds of the San Francisco Bar, to his prosecution, Alex. +Campbell, General Williams and Colonel Sam. Inge, U. S. District +Attorney, to assist the public prosecutor, the jury disagreed, and of +the jurors who held out against a verdict of guilty of murder were three +Front street merchants and others of equal high standing in the +community. Cora was held for another trial, and it was while awaiting +this that he was seized by the Vigilance Committee, taken to their rooms +and hanged. + +The excitement consequent upon the killing of Richardson did not +culminate in the formation of a Vigilance Committee, similar to that of +1851, but it influenced the public mind in that direction. It was the +piling of the combustibles which required only the next spark from the +electric battery to fire the heap to consuming flames. There were still +in the city a round number of the early Vigilance Committee which had +ridden San Francisco of the "Sydney thieves;" some who had also, in +1849, suppressed the "Hounds;" and they were prepared again to meet +violence and lawlessness with the stronger arm of organized force and +the quick, sharp vengeance of the lex talionis. + +The occasion soon came. May 14th, 1856, between 4 and 5 o'clock, +afternoon, James P. Casey shot James King of William on Montgomery +street, at the corner of Washington, He fired only one shot. King was +facing Casey as he fired; he immediately staggered and fell. A crowd +gathered in a very few moments. Casey was taken into custody and Sheriff +Scannell hastened him to the county jail in a hack. The excited crowd +followed and clamored for his life; they wanted to hang him at once. +Then followed the organization of the Vigilance Committee, mainly +directed by members of the Committee of '51. An Executive Committee of +forty-one members composed the head and governing branch; a military and +patrol department was organized, duly officered. The rank and file in a +few days numbered between 5,000 and 6,000 men, armed, drilled and +disciplined. The second floor of the Truitt brick block, southeast +corner of Front and Sacramento street, embracing half a dozen stores +below, was made the Committee headquarters. All around in front of the +block, nearly to the middle of the street, gunny bags filled with sand +were piled five feet high, and two pieces of artillery were mounted at +the ends, for offensive and defensive purposes. The name of "Fort Gunny +Bags" was given to it. Guards were constantly on duty inside the fort +and at the two narrow passageways to the doors on the lower floor, from +which the stairs led up to the rooms occupied by the Committee. At the +doors, at the foot of the stairs, midway on the steps, at the top of +each flight, before every door to every room, and in the passages which +led to the different rooms, guards were stationed, with muskets loaded +and bayonets fixed. Fort Gunny Bags was as a garrison in time of active +war. A very large triangle was hung from the roof of the block occupied +by the Committee to sound the signal-call to duty of every member, at +any time of day or night; also a bell contributed from Monumental Fire +Engine Company, whose leader was George Heossafros, (ex-Chief of the +Fire Department). The Executive Committee Court hall and rooms, the +rooms of the officers, the rooms for the guards, and the small, close, +crimped cells for the prisoners, were all upon the second floor--the +upper floor of the block. The entire place was thoroughly guarded. + +Casey shot King Wednesday afternoon, May 14th. After the organization of +the Vigilance Committee, a number of prominent citizens who were opposed +to every movement of that kind and believed in due obedience to the law +and in submission to the constituted authorities under every +circumstances, likewise organized under the title of the Law and Order +Association. Impulse was given to the movement by an unlooked-for +incident. The Daily Herald had been for four years annually voted by the +guild of auctioneers the auction advertisements, which filled one whole +page of the paper. John Nugent was owner and editor. He had approved and +upheld the Vigilance Committee of 1851 in the Herald. It was expected +that he would approve the Committee just organized. He adopted the +contrary course. The Herald denounced the Committee in strong terms. The +merchants had generally approved and joined the Committee. That morning +every copy of the Herald was gathered, a pile of the papers made in +Front street, and burned. It was the significant rebuke which the +merchants made; but they did not stop at that--they erased their names +from the carriers' lists. Thousands of other citizens did the same. That +morning the Herald was a sheet of forty columns, with the largest +advertising patronage and largest circulation of any daily newspaper in +San Francisco. The next morning it appeared, a small sheet, not much +larger than a sheet of foolscap, of twenty-four columns. The Herald was +the favorite organ of the Democracy, of the anti-Broderick and Southern +wing of the party, particularly. The especial organ of that wing, the +Times and Transcript, had ceased publication a few months before, and +its patronage went mostly to the Herald. Nugent was opposed to Gwin, the +powerful leader of the anti-Broderick party, more than he was to +Broderick; but this was overlooked by many of Gwin's supporters. The +friends, of General McDougall were his warmest friends and backers, They +now rallied to his support and to the sustenance of the Herald. General +Volney E. Howard, J. Thompson Campbell, Judge R. Augustus Thompson, W. +T. Sherman, the manager of Lucas, Turner & Co.'s banking house here--now +General Sherman--Austin E. Smith, Sam. E. Brooks, Gouverneur +Morris, Hamilton Bowie, Major Richard Roman; and the solid old merchant, +Captain Archibald Ritchie, With hundreds others, stood steadfast by +Nugent, for Law and Order, and against the Committee. J. Neely Johnson +was Governor of the State, and controlled the militia. He was petitioned +by the Law and Order Organization to take action and issue a +proclamation requiring the Vigilance Committee to disband. Governor +Johnson came from Sacramento to San Francisco by steamboat on Friday +night, and was met at the wharf by a deputation of the Law and Order +body. Subsequently, up town, a committee from the Vigilance Committee, +accompanied by Col. Baillie Peyton, met him, and with them he held a +long conference. + + + + +Chapter III. + + +The particular subjects at issue, on each side, were the status of the +Committee, the authority of the Governor to command its disbandment. The +Committee had expressed the desire or the intention to have Casey +committed to their custody, alleging that his escape from the jail was +not unlikely for certain reasons. The Governor at length acceded in +general terms to the propositions of the Committee, and measurably +assured them his support. The Law and Order leaders were amazed, +incensed and disgusted at the weakness of Governor Johnson. He had as +good as surrendered the jail to them, and they had only to go and seize +it, and capture the prisoners. This was known in the city on Saturday, +and the Law and Order body prepared for the expected emergency--the +defence of the jail from the assault of the Committee. Steps were taken +for the defence of the jail by the Law and Order men, who volunteered +for the occasion. The Committee had likewise made preparations. + +A digression of amusing nature will not be out of place here: The +steamboats from Sacramento then landed at Pacific street wharf, and +arrived usually about 9:30. The Oakland ferry boat made her last trip +over a few minutes after the Sacramento boat landed her passengers. +Governor Foote had his residence at Clinton. Saturday morning one of his +daughters called at my office and said that her father was at Benicia, +and they expected him home that night. "But," she continued, "you know +what a terrible excitement there is in the city, and how likely father +is to take active part in anything which enlists his sympathies or stirs +his feelings; and we all fear that he will do something imprudent. I +know he will be very strong on the Law and Order side, and it will be +better for us all if he will come directly home and not stay in the city +to get mixed up in these terrible troubles." She requested me, +therefore, to be at the boat that night when she landed, and to prevail +upon her father, if he were otherwise disposed, to take the boat for +Oakland. I promised, and that night I took a hack for the wharf, a +quarter of an hour before the usual time of the boat's arrival. As the +hack turned from Montgomery street into Washington, I noticed a crowd at +the door-way of the Bank Exchange. Calling to the driver to stop a +moment, I entered the saloon. I learned that the boat had already +arrived, a half hour ahead of ordinary time. My disappointment was in a +moment sunk in my surprise. I heard Governor Foote's voice in loud +tones, toward the front of the room. It was a surprise to see him in a +barroom, for he was not addicted to drinking, and except in the Orleans +at Sacramento during the Legislature, when he was candidate for United +States Senator, I had never seen him in a saloon. But that which most +astonished me was the Governor's warmth of approval of the Vigilance +Committee, and his animadversions and regrets in regard to some of his +friends, who had taken active part on the Law and Order side. He stood +the centre figure of the crowd close about him, declaiming with his +accustomed fluency and energy. I left the saloon, dismissed the hack, +and walked to my own quarters, ruminating on the common saying that, +"white man is mighty uncertain." Thence on Governor Foote was a red-hot +"Vigilante." + +Sunday morning, May 18th, there were, besides the Sheriff and his +deputies, the officers and guards, a force of 106 Law and Order men, +armed with muskets, inside the County Jail, ready to defend it against +the expected attack of the Vigilance troops. Before noon they came from +every part of the city, several thousand strong. A piece of artillery +was trained in front of the jail entrance, with men to handle it. The +armed force in the jail and upon the wall appeared ready for the +encounter. The Commander of the Committee forces demanded from the +Sheriff the surrender of Casey and Cora. It was refused. There was some +parleying. It ended in the withdrawal of the jail guard, and of the Law +and Order forces also, the admission of the Vigilance officers into the +jail, and the surrender to them of Casey and Cora, who were taken to the +rooms of the Committee, and put in the separate cells prepared for them. +The whole affair occurred within the space of an hour. The State and +City and County authorities had succumbed to the Committee without +resistance, and the law was usurped by the new and self-constituted +power. The Courts were virtually overborne and ignored, if not derided; +and the will of the Vigilance Committee became the supreme law in San +Francisco. + +In the County Jail at the time was Rod. Backus, a young man of good +family, cousin of Phil. Backus, an auctioneer of considerable prominence +in mercantile and social circles. Rod. Backus had shot dead a man whose +face he had never seen until the moment before he shot him, a dozen +paces distant. It was in Stout's alley. It was a murder, a wanton +murder, without provocation, excuse, extenuation or palliation whatever. +Rod. Backus was a frequent visitor at a house of the demi-monde in the +alley, and one Jennie French was his favorite. As he came to visit her +one evening, at dusk, she was standing in the doorway, at the head of +the iron stairway which led to the entrance on the second floor. On the +opposite side of the alley, walking slowly toward Jackson street, was a +man of ordinary appearance. As Rod met her on the top platform, Jennie +said to him: "Rod, that fellow has insulted me; shoot the ----." At +the word Backus drew his pistol and fired. The man fell. He had turned +his face the moment Backus fired. It was an instantly fatal shot. Backus +had influential friends among business men and politicians. The Coroner +held an inquest. A jury to hold Backus blameless had been secured, but +they overshot their mark--the thing was too transparent, too +bare-faced. The murdered man was a German much respected by his +countrymen. They determined to press the matter to justice. Backus was +indicted, tried, convicted of murder and sentenced to death. None of +just mind questioned the righteousness. But his case was appealed, and +at last he had his crime reduced in degree, and received sentence of a +short term--three or five years in San Quentin prison. This easy +let-off did not satisfy him; he wanted a verdict of acquittal, and +expected still to get it. Accordingly he again appealed his case, and +while in the County Jail awaiting the action of the Supreme Court upon +his appeal, the Committee had seized and taken away Casey and Cora. He +was not molested; nevertheless, his fear of consequences impelled him to +withdraw his appeal, submit to his sentence, and serve his term at San +Quentin. He even begged to be taken there at once, and he was. The +explanation made by the Committee leaders for not taking Backus was that +the law had already passed judgment in his case, and the Committee was +not disposed to interfere with the judgments of the Courts. The +explanation was puerile and inconsistent with their action in the case +of Cora, who was also in the hands of the Court and was awaiting another +trial. A portion of the jury, among this portion Front street merchants +and other respectable business men, had held him to be not guilty; and +surely this was more than any juror had expressed in the case of Backus. +Moreover, Backus had himself demonstrated his dissatisfaction with the +very mild verdict in his last trial, and was, the same as Cora, awaiting +the issue of another trial. The common belief was that Backus owed his +exemption from the grasp of the Committee and from the dread penalty +which Casey and Cora suffered, not to any doubt as to his guilt, but +solely on account of his relationship and his social standing. He had +been boon companion of many of the young men of the Committee before he +committed the murder in Stout's alley. + +Now, as to Casey: he has been described as a ruffian and villain of +irredeemable depravity--desperate to the last degree. James P. Casey +was a young man of bright, intelligent and rather prepossessing face, +neat in his person, inclined to fine clothes, but not flashy or gaudy in +his attire. He was of low stature, slender frame, lithe and compact, +sinewy, nervous, and very agile. His eyes were blue and large, of bold +expression. His voice was full and sonorous. He had served as Assistant +County Treasurer for two years, handled a large aggregate of money in +that capacity, and his accounts squared to a cent when he handed over +the books to his successor. He was twice Supervisor. His record in that +office will favorably compare with that of any who have succeeded him. +During his lifetime in San Francisco he was never accused of crime; +never suspected of criminal offence. Ballot box stuffing was charged to +his account; also fraudulent counting in elections. Doubtless there was +foundation for each charge. But there were members of the Executive +Committee who had been associated with him in these gross wrongs, and at +least one of them had gained place and profit therefrom; and these +equally or more guilty men voted to hang their former associate in evil +deeds. It may be remarked, further, that in the face of the colossal +frauds of Returning Boards and Canvassing Boards within the last dozen +years, in States South and in the States North, by which the people were +defrauded of their choice for President on two occasions, the offences +of Casey in the comparatively small matter of a municipal election, are +better left unmentioned. Even now, in San Francisco, how many are there +in local office who can with clear conscience declare their innocence of +crookedness or corruption, or fraud in elections? When it comes to +throwing the stone at the staked sinner, conscience palsies the arm of +many who feel disposed to throw it. Casey was once in the city prison +for riotous conduct. At a very hotly contested democratic primary +election, in the early fall of 1855, between the Broderick and Gwin +wings of the party, Casey got into trouble. The polls were on Kearny +near Pine street. Toward the close nearly all on each side who had +participated in the election were in inflamed condition. Casey had gone +to the polling place to ascertain the result. He carried no weapon. +Immediately he was set upon by five of the wing, to which he was +opposed--Bob Cushing, J. W. Bagley, and three others, all armed with either +knife or pistol--two of them with both. Casey did not know fear; he was +game from crown to toe. One ball grazed his forehead on the right side, +another the occiput just behind the left ear, and shot off his hat. His +shiney bald head made that a conspicuous mark, but the range was too +short and the shooters were too excited for accurate aim. Casey had been +taken by surprise, but the slight creasing of the bullets, abrading the +skin and stinging, instantly impelled him to rapid and desperate action. +He rushed upon one of his assailants and wrested a knife from his grasp. +With this he turned upon Cushing, plunged it in his body just above the +lower ribs, and as Cushing was sinking to the ground, he turned the +knife and cut upwards with such power as to cleave the rib the blade +struck against. One of the five had become so nerveless at the sight, +that he dropped his pistol. Casey leaped and secured it. He shot at +Barley and the ball penetrated his breast. As he fell, Casey likewise +secured his pistol. The two others were game, but confused and shot +wildly. The bullets went through Casey's coat and vest, riddling each in +a dozen places; but not one of them did so much as to graze his skin. +The third man had been paralyzed with fright after the first clash. +After emptying their revolvers ineffectually the two others left the +ground; Casey remained the master of it. Not for long, however. A +policeman who had watched the affray from a safe distance then rushed +up, arrested Casey, took him to the City prison, and booked him for +assault with a deadly, weapon. That evening I met Colonel Baillie +Peyton, Colonel Jo. P. Hoge, and Colonel Ed. Beale on Kearny street. +They had been told of the encounter, and expressed the desire to see +Casey to compliment him for his bravery, and congratulate him upon his +miraculous escape. Accordingly we visited the prison and saw Casey, with +his clothes shot to shreds from the left shoulder pit down to his waist, +and no wounds other than the slight creases upon his forehead and +occiput, neither of these so deep as to draw blood. All of us expressed +surprise that the policeman had arrested him--attacked and fighting for +his life in clear self-defence, as he had been--and letting his +assailants go free. Colonel Hoge and Colonel Peyton volunteered to act +as counsel for him in Court; and bidding him go good-night, whit hearty +shake of hands, we all came away. Next morning no one appeared to +prosecute him, and Casey was discharged. + +It will serve to state the offence for which Casey was sentenced to +State Prison in New York, before he left for California. He had, the +same as many other young men, taken up with a girl of loose character, +whose chastity had been spoiled by another, and hired and furnished an +apartment for her. The two lived as man and wife--much as too many live +in that same relation, for they quarreled and separated. In his hot +temper one day, he saw her upon the street, and instantly the thought +flashed upon his mind that he would go to her apartment and have the +furniture taken from it. He still kept a key to the door. He hired a +wagon, and carried out his determination. The landlady supposed it to be +all right. He had paid the rent in advance and she was that much the +gainer. He took the furniture to a second-hand furniture dealer, sold it +and kept the money. As he bought it, he felt that it was his to sell. On +the return of the girl, the landlady told her what had occurred. In +taking the furniture, he had also carried away some articles which +belonged to the girl. She hurried to the police Court, made charge +against him, and he was arrested. He made no defence and was convicted. +The sentence was eighteen months in Sing Sing prison. He served his time +and came to California. This was the damning record which James King of +William had threatened to publish in his Bulletin. He did not publish +the facts of the case; but only the fact of the indictment, the +conviction, the sentence and imprisonment. King had been told all this +by a man who had been clerk to the District Attorney, and was cognizant +of all the facts. He was a prominent Broderick man, hated Casey for +having left that wing of the party and joined the other wing, and +adopted this means to blast him in reputation. Casey was morbidly +sensitive on the subject. He had been apprised that King intended to +publish the matter; and early in the afternoon of the day of the +shooting he called upon Mr. King in his office, and warned him to desist +from the publication. King gave no heed to the warning; the matter +appeared in the Bulletin that day. Casey was exasperated to madness. He +armed himself, watched for King on Montgomery street, but he did not +conceal himself. It was King's invariable custom to leave his office in +the small one-story brick building which so long obstructed Merchant +street on the east side of Montgomery, soon after the Bulletin was +issued, walk to the cigar store on the north-west corner of Washington +and Montgomery streets, and thence out Washington street homeward. He +usually wore a talma of coarse fabric, loose and reaching to his hips. +It was sleeveless, concealing his arms and hands. As he came out of the +cigar store, Casey hailed him. The distance between the two was about +forty feet. Casey shouted to him, "Prepare yourself!" and fired. King +tottered and sunk upon the sidewalk. He had frequently made notice in +his paper that any whom he denounced in its columns had the privilege of +adopting their own mode of recourse; stated the route he usually took to +and from his office, and with the significant hint, "God help any one +who attacks me," defied that method of redress. Casey took him at his +word. King was borne to the room in Montgomery block, in which he died a +few days afterward. The ball had penetrated his body from the left side +of his breast, just below the line of the arm pit, and ranging upward +and outward to the back of the left shoulder. The surgeons pronounced it +a dangerous but not a mortal wound. Dr. Beverly R. Cole was +Surgeon-General to the Committee brigade, and a member of the Committee. +Months afterward he declared in a public statement of the case that King +died from the unskillful treatment of the surgeons, and maintained that +with proper treatment he would have recovered. Still it was the wound +which superinduced his death; and Casey had fired the ball which made +it. + + + + +Chapter IV. + + +May 22d, the day of King's funeral, while the immense procession was +passing through Montgomery street, Casey and Cora were hanged. Two +projecting beams had been rigged from the roof of the building on +Sacramento street, occupied by the Committee, for the purpose. Out of +two of the windows of the second story, immediately under these beams +two stout planks, sixteen inches wide, were extended over the street to +an equal distance. At the outer end of each plank, on the under side, +were stout hinges connecting the traps upon which the two men were +placed, with the ropes about their necks, suspended from the beams. Two +other ropes held the traps even with the planks. The two men were led +out upon the traps. Permission was given to them to speak their last +words. Casey availed himself of the privilege and spoke a few minutes in +clear loud voice, in somewhat excited manner, denying his guilt of +murder and vindicating his action. Cora stood all the while as +motionless as a statue. Not a tremor or quiver was perceptible. The +white cap covered his head and face to below the chin. At the conclusion +of Casey's brief speech, the cap was drawn over his face, and as the +hangman pulled it down he whispered in his ear something that made the +doomed man start as if to break the bands which held his arms. In an +instant the signal was given, the traps sprung, by the two men on the +roof cutting the ropes which upheld them, and Casey and Cora were +launched for the death to quickly come. Casey struggled for a few +moments; Cora showed no sign of pain or life. After death the bodies +were cut down, and shortly afterward were delivered to friends who had +provided for their burial. The hangman of Casey was Sterling Hopkins, a +notorious character, with whom Casey once had a difficulty. He had +begged the Committee to officiate in the event of Casey's condemnation +to death by the rope, and the whispered words he hissed in Casey's ear, +as he subsequently boasted, were of exultation over his opportunity of +revenge, and of brutish import respecting the powerless victim, Casey +had been foreman of Crescent Engine Company, No. 10, located on Pacific +street, below Front. Cora's remains were given quiet interment. The +Sunday following the execution Casey was buried. A very large procession +followed his remains to the Mission Dolores Cemetery, in which a +monument was in due time erected to his memory. Upon it is inscribed the +manner of his death. + +Governor Johnson had at first played into the hands of the Committee. He +had come down from Sacramento to San Francisco, in the middle of May, +and virtually caused the surrender of the county jail to the Vigilantes, +for the capture of Casey and Cora. At the instance of the leading men of +the Law and Order organization, he subsequently changed his course, and +endeavored to undo that which he had done. It was too late. The +Committee had already become the master of the situation. It was the +supreme power in San Francisco, and it had erected such harmony of +spirit with it in Sacramento, Marysville, Stockton, San Jose and other +interior cities and towns, that it was the paramount local authority and +formidable generally throughout the State. General Wool was at that time +in command of this Federal military department. The Federal Arsenal was +at Benicia. For the want of authority from the Federal government at +Washington, neither the military nor the naval forces could interfere, +and the hands of General Wool, the same of Commodore Farragut, were +practically tied, The only way in which the Federal authority could be +invoked was by due process of constitutional law. This required that the +Governor should convene the Legislature, that that body should call out +the State militia to quell the insurgent or rebellious Vigilantes; and, +these being insufficient for that purpose, then the call for the aid of +the Federal forces would be in order. It would take months to do all +this. Prompt action was the imperative necessity. Governor Johnson did +not act with promptitude. He sent on a committee of citizens to +Washington. President Pierce could do nothing under the circumstances. +He must first be satisfied that the Powers of the State had been +inadequate to overcome the trouble. This had not been done; and it was +of first importance before the strong arm of the Federal authority could +be ordered. + +Meantime an incident occurred which helped to fortify the Committee and +to impair the power of the State, in the popular estimation. Upon order +of Governor Johnson, six cases of muskets were delivered to Jas. R. +Maloney, at Benicia arsenal, put aboard the schooner Julia, to be +delivered at San Francisco, to the Law and Order organization. The +Vigilance Committee Executive had been apprised of the transaction, and +adopted means to get possession of the arms. Accordingly, on June 21st, +as the Julia was on her way down from Benicia, she was boarded in San +Francisco Bay by C. E. Rand and John L. Durkee, in the employ of the +Committee, and the two captured the schooner, took possession of the +muskets, and delivered them into the keeping of the Committee. The six +cases contained 113 muskets. Action was brought against Rand and Durkee +for piracy, in the United States Circuit Court, Judge M. Hall McAllister +presiding, and Judge Ogden Hoffman sitting as associate. The trial came +off September, 1856, and on the 23d of that month the jury returned a +verdict of acquittal. Adjutant-General Kibbe, of the State militia, +meantime made unavailing demand upon the Executive Committee for the +arms. They were not returned to the State until after the Committee had +disbanded. + +The next who suffered death at the hands of the Committee were +Hetherington and Brace. Hetherington was an Englishman, a man of +considerable wealth. He was six feet stature, of heavy form, strong in +muscular power, equally so in will and purpose; and he was overbearing +in his nature, violent in his passions. He was possessed of valuable +city property. In a difficulty over a lot toward North Beach, a few +years before, he had shot dead Dr. Baldwin, who had located upon it and +claimed it as his own. He was tried and acquitted. Hetherington had had +money transactions with Dr. Randall, formerly Collector of Monterey, and +owner of a large tract of land in Butte County. He had loaned a large +sum of money to Randall, which Randall seemed indisposed to pay. There +was some irregularity in the note or in the mortgage bond. Randall +contended that these were made at the instance of Hetherington himself, +and insisted upon the theory that no man can take advantage of a fault +of his own; that every man was bound to do exactly that to which the law +held him, and equally bound not to do anything to which the law did not +bind him. Consequently, inasmuch as the fault was Hetherington's, he was +therefore absolved from the payment of the note. One afternoon, Dr. +Randall took quarters in the St. Nicholas hotel, on Sansome street, west +side, between Sacramento and Commercial streets, kept by Colonel +Armstrong, and sat in the office room, in conversation with Colonel W. +W. Gift. Hetherington happened in, accosted Randall and abruptly +demanded the payment of the note. Randall responded evasively. +Hetherington's choler rose, and he came upon Randall in threatening +manner. Randall ran behind the office small counter. Hetherington +pursued him, caught him by his long beard, reaching to the middle of his +breast, and threw him upon the floor. As Randall rose, Hetherington drew +his pistol and fired. The shot was instantly fatal. In brief time, +Hetherington was arrested by an officer of the law. A force of vigilance +officers demanded his surrender, took him and hurried him to the +Committee rooms. Through this action the lawful authorities were +forcibly prevented passing upon his case. + +Brace was a young man, almost a boy. He had killed a man miles away from +the City, but within the county. I have forgotten the circumstances of +the crime. The Committee had custody of him, however, and condemned him, +as well as Hetherington. Notice was publicly given that the two would be +hanged the afternoon Of July 29th. The gallows was erected on a vacant +half block on Front street, as I remember, between California and +Sacramento streets, west side. It was at least twenty feet high, with a +ladder from the ground to the platform. From the top cross-beam dangled +the ropes. The platform afforded standing space for half a dozen men. A +large crowd had gathered to witness the execution. From a cart on the +California corner, B. B. Redding and myself were onlookers. The +condemned men were brought to the place under strong guard. Each of them +mounted to the scaffold. Brace with quick-step; Hetherington with +composure. The hangman, named Dixon, was dressed in long black gown; a +black hood completely concealed his face; a clergyman, and two or three +of the Vigilance officers or guards followed. A strong guard under arms +was stationed about the foot of the gallows. Permission was given the +two to say anything they wished. Brace broke forth in a loud rant, +profane and obscene, and danced about like one demented. The clergyman +felt obliged to stop his blasphemous harangue by cramming his +handkerchief over his mouth. He broke away, nevertheless, and again +poured forth a tirade, declaring that he was being murdered. At length +he became exhausted and ceased speaking. All this time--and it was +fully five minutes--Hetherington stood composed and with dignified +mien, looking down upon the immense crowd, occasionally glancing at +Bruce, who was to his right, and manifested horror at his ravings. When +Bruce became silent he spoke. His manner was deliberate and his voice +low, clear and firm. He protested against the action of he Committee in +his case; in taking his life they were more guilty of murder than he +was, for it was in violation of the law. He asserted that he had not +committed murder. Then declaring he should die without malice or enmity +toward any, he courteously bowed and indicated to the officers that he +was ready for the ordeal. The nooses were adjusted, the caps drawn over +their heads, the signal given. The hangman cut the rope which held the +traps in place, and down plunged the pinioned bodies of the pair. Bruce +writhed and struggled a few moments; then hung as lifeless until his +body was taken down. He was of medium stature, slight figure and light +in weight. Hetherington's body swayed, but there was no perceptible +motion of his limbs. He met death with placid firmness, without bravado. +Henry H. Haight, his attorney for years, stated that he was one of the +most upright and honorable men in his dealings and general conduct that +he had ever known. These were the last that suffered death by sentence +of the Vigilance Committee. + +It is now appropriate to relate some facts in relation to James King of +William. He had been a clerk in a banking house in Washington, and came +to California in the early years of the gold hunting. He established a +bank in San Francisco, corner of Montgomery and Commercial streets, +across from Davidson's. In a year or more Jacob R. Snyder became partner +in the bank; but withdrew after about a year. King afterwards merged his +bank in that of Adams & Co., of which J. C. Woods was manager. His name +was James King. He had suffixed the "of William" to be distinguished +from others of his name--as John Randolph used to sign himself "of +Roanoke." + +Mr. King continued with Adams & Co. as manager of the bank until the +failure of that Company, He then became involved in trouble with the +Company. The bank failed one afternoon. Up to noon that day King had +received deposits. It was known to other banking houses in the city that +the bank would be obliged to close as it did. The word had got out, and +some of the depositors became alarmed, and a number withdrew their +deposits, notwithstanding Mr. King's assurance that the bank was solvent +and solid. Others took his word for it, allowed their deposits to +remain, and lost all they had in the bank. There was some mysterious +handling of the large amount of money known to be in the bank at the +time of the failure. The parties in charge refused to allow Mr. King any +part in their transactions as to the disposition of this money--reported +to be considerably more than $100,000 in gold coin. He demanded +$20,000 as his share. This was refused. He then published a statement +reflecting upon the persons in charge. This was responded to by a +scathing statement, published in the Alta, in which Mr. King was held up +for public condemnation as a dishonest man, guilty of faithlessness and +fraud. He was also accused of having swindled Page, Bacon & Co. of +$400,000, by the sale of bogus gold dust as genuine. + +The popular sentiment at the time was that the charges were sustained, +and the feeling was strong against him. He was without means and out of +business. He conceived the project of going into the newspaper business, +of starting a daily evening paper, and obtained a loan of $250 for that +purpose from R. D. Sinton, of the real estate and auctioneer firm of +Selover & Sinton, then the leading firm in that line in the city. He +started the Evening Bulletin, a small sheet, and rented the small brick +building in Merchant street for the publication office. The Daily +Chronicle, published by Frank Soule and William H. Newall, had taken +side against the Committee, and soon afterwards ceased publication. +Employed on it as a writer was James Nesbitt, an Englishman, of superior +journalistic ability. King employed Nesbitt to assist him on the +Bulletin. It was made the medium of attack and animadversion upon State +and county and city officials, and some of its attacks were as +justifiable as are the attacks of the STAR upon rascals in high places +now, while others were actuated by personal spite. + +The paper prospered. The multitude enjoyed its sharp, short, stinging +paragraphs; its vim and vehemence. At length its columns were turned +against Major Selover with unrestrained virulence. He had no equal means +of reply or defence at his command, but he had at last uttered threats +of personal nature, and published King as a liar, a swindler and a +coward. To all this Mr. King responded in his Bulletin, by stating in +that paper that he defied Selover; and he went on to state the place of +his residence; the time he left home to go to his office in the morning; +the route thither he usually took: and also the same details of his +customary way home every afternoon. Selover, or any other person who +felt aggrieved on account of anything which appeared in the Bulletin was +similarly apprised, and thus dared or invited to encounter him on the +street. To all of which was added the significant remark for the +consideration of Selover particularly, and all others generally: "God +have mercy upon my assailant." There was no mistaking this language. And +the common opinion was that whatever else would be said of James King of +William, he was a game and fearless man. Casey's own statement of the +deplorable affair--made in his cell to a friend who had been permitted +to visit him in his four by eight feet cell, the day before his death, +in the presence and hearing of the guard then on duty, was substantially +as follows: that after all Mr. King had said in his paper, any one who +attacked him should be well prepared against the worst to himself; that, +accordingly, after he had called early that afternoon upon Mr. King, in +his office, and told him what would be the consequence in case the +Bulletin should publish the matter against him, and it was published, he +very naturally expected that King would be prepared for the encounter. +But as he did not wish to take first advantage of him, but to allow him +fair chance, he cried out to him to prepare, and then fired. He expected +Mr. King to return the fire. He did not know whether the ball had hit +King or not, because King's loose talina covered his upper body and +prevented him from seeing its effect. That--to use Casey's own +words--"seeing he did not fire, and believing him a dung-hill,' I did +not shoot again, but turned to walk away, when I saw him falling; then +I knew that I must have hit him, and I went to the City Hall to surrender +myself." + +To the same person, on the occasion first above referred to--and Casey +knew then that his death was certain at the hands of the Committee--he +remarked that he had no fear of death; that he would meet it with +composure, although he did not deserve it; that which troubled him was +that his aged mother should be told that her son was a murderer. This +pained him. She lived in New York. He had regularly remitted money to +her to maintain her in comfort in her old age; and now she must suffer +privation and misery, with the great burden of the knowledge of the +manner of his death to weigh her down to the grave. He wished to say +something of a confidential nature to his visitor, but the guard refused +to permit this, and said that he must hear everything that was uttered. +He stood close to Casey all the time, and maintained the utmost severity +of demeanor, the most inexorable nature, during the brief time allowed +for the visit. + + + + +Chapter V. + + +Casey and Cora were hanged on Thursday, May 22d. On Monday, June 2d, a +meeting of the advocates of Law and Order was held in the Plaza. +Thousands of the Committee members and supporters assembled about the +square. Nothing effective came of it. Governor Johnson had meantime been +prevailed upon by prominent citizens, on the side of Law and Order, to +adopt a course calculated to suppress the Committee. It was too late. +The Law and Order element had organized a military force under the State +militia 1 ws. W. T. Sherman was made General. Governor Johnson issued a +proclamation commanding the State militia to hold themselves in +readiness for duty, and to report to General Sherman. In the city a +force of about three hundred mustered. It was totally inadequate, and +not enough could be expected from the country. In the harbor, in front +of the city, the war-ship John Adams, Commander Bontwell, was anchored. +Commodore Farragut, commandant of this naval station, was at Mare +Island. It was rumored that the Adams would support the authorities in +case of conflict with the Committee. Another rumor was that cannons were +to be placed upon the hills and at points which commanded the city, to +be used if necessary. The excitement continued and increased. A +deputation was sent to Washington, at the instance of the Governor, to +represent the condition of affairs to the President, and prevail upon +him to order the services of the military and naval forces to the +suppression of the Committee and the restoration of law and order. The +deputation took the next steamer and proceeded to the national capital. +President Pierce replied that the federal government had no authority to +interfere until the request came from the State government after the +Legislature had assembled, acted upon the matter, and the State +authorities had exhausted every means to put down the Committee and +failed. + +While the excitement was heightened by these rumors and proceedings, an +incident occurred which augmented it to frenzied quality. The armory of +the Law and Order forces was in the capacious brick building, northeast +corner of Dupont and Jackson streets. On Jackson street, near by, a +number of its members and sympathizers were standing in groups. Sterling +Hopkins, the volunteer hangman of Casey, of the Vigilance police, came +up and attempted the arrest of Reub. Maloney, a notorious politician, +whose impudence of speech and reckless ways in partisan devices had made +him an unenviable reputation. His bravery was in his mouth; his mouth +beyond his own control. Judge David S. Terry, then of the State Supreme +Court, interposed to prevent the lawless arrest, and in the struggle he +drew a knife and dangerously wounded Hopkins. In a few minutes word had +reached the Committee headquarters, and the alarm was sounded with +unexampled vigor. The Committee forces, marshalled and led by the +Commander-in-chief, Charles Doane, Major General, marched in quick time +to the scene. Judge Terry had gone to the armory, Maloney and others +with him. The Law and Order troops were less than three hundred strong. +The Vigilance force numbered several thousand. A surrender was demanded. +It would have been folly to resist, and with Terry and Maloney as +prisoners, and the Law and Order troops as prisoners of war, so to say, +the Vigilance forces marched back to their fortified quarters. The +arrest of Judge Terry wrought the excitement to its climax. What would +the Committee do with him? was the question asked by every one. His +residence was temporarily in Sacramento, but Stockton was his home place. +Governor Johnson was devoted to him; David S. Douglass, Secretary of +State, was a bosom friend. Hundreds in the capital city were prepared to +go to any length to rescue him. His thousands of friends in San Joaquin, +everywhere in the San Joaquin Valley, were aroused to the extremity of +desperation. All over the State the feeling for Judge Terry was very +strong. Harm to him would have precipitated a domestic row, which would +have caused immense sacrifice of life, and the destruction of San +Francisco. It would have extended into the interior, and raged there in +bloodshed and devastation. The peaceful way out of the difficulty was +thought the better course, if it could be accomplished. The occasion was +extraordinary, and never contemplated--the exigency beyond immediate +solution. As James Dows, one of the coolest in judgment and wisest in +counsel of the Executive Committee, pertinently described the situation +in the pithy remark, "We started in to hunt cayotes, but we've got a +grizzly bear on our hands, and we don't know what to do with him." The +Executive Committee were not themselves masters of the situation. Behind +them, subject to them and ready to obey their commands on ordinary +occasions, were the 5,000 members of the Committee who carried arms, and +felt themselves superior to even the Executive Committee, if occasion +should happen to test the matter. Of their number nearly one-third were +of foreign nationality, and of these a considerable proportion did not +very well speak English--they were of revolutionary, if not +insurrectionary temper--and had participated in uprisings in their +native land against the government. Many of the native born members were +of similar disposition. It had been resolved by this element of the +Committee, that if Hopkins should die, Terry must hang; and the only +alternative of the Executive Committee would be to order the execution +or spirit him away, at the peril of their own lives. To hang a Justice +of the highest judicial tribunal of the State, was a very serious matter +to contemplate--a most hazardous extremity in any event. If spared from +the fury of their troops, by ordering the execution, their death was +certain at the hands of Judge Terry's avengers. In this quandary, the +Executive Committee were as anxious for a safe way out, without blood or +sacrifice, as any of the friends of Terry. Secretary of State Douglass +came to San Francisco. He persuaded ex-Senator Gwin to interpose on +Terry's behalf. Gwin dispatched Sam. J. Bridges, Appraiser-General, to +Mare Island, to request Commodore Farragut to meet him in San Francisco +on Wednesday, June 25th. On the afternoon of that day, Farragut, Gwin +and two others, on behalf of Law and Order, met four members of the +Executive Committee, in a room on the third floor of the Custom House. +Senator Gwin explained the object of the conference--to secure the +release of Judge Terry. Commodore Farragut then made the proposition: +that he would have a boat sent from the John Adams to a stipulated +landing place on Market street wharf, at midnight; that the Executive +Committee should have Judge Terry escorted to the landing place at that +hour; that the Adams should immediately sail for Mare Island; and that +there he (Commodore Farragut) would exact a promise from Judge Terry, +before he left the vessel, that he would go into the interior of the +State, not visit San Francisco inside of six months, and meantime +neither excite nor encourage any popular feeling against the Vigilance +organization. To this James Dows responded on behalf of the Executive +Committee: that the Committee had already submitted to them a +proposition from Judge Terry himself, to the effect that he would resign +his place upon the Supreme Bench, consent to have the Committee put him +on board the next steamer for Panama, and not return to California +within the succeeding six months. He added that, although this +proposition had been before the Executive Committees twenty hours, no +definite action had yet been agreed upon; the recovery or death of +Hopkins was the paramount factor in the case, because of the intense +feeling against Terry among the larger proportion of the Committee +troops. At this juncture, J. D. Farwell, also one of the Executive +Committee, spoke. He was voluble and vehement. He said that the +Vigilance organization acknowledged no authority to be superior to +itself. "We have," he continued in loud tone and gasconading temper, +"proved ourselves the superiors of the City and County, government, and +of the State government; and if the Federal government dares"--He got +no further. Commodore Farragut sprang to his feet, his eyes flashing +fire, as electric sparks in brilliancy; his face betokening his fierce +indignation; his whole frame seeming a prodigy of the grandeur of human +passion highest wrought--the incarnation of the noblest majesty and +sublimest patriotism. "Stop, sir!" he thundered--Farwell had stopped +and sunk into his seat. And then the heroic Commodore went on to declare +what the duty of a citizen was; that which he should do, if occasion +required; and closed his less than five minutes burst of withering +rebuke and eloquent counsel with an impressive appeal to the other +members of the Committee present. The folly and rashness of Farwell had +thwarted the wise intentions of the parties who invited the conference. +It ended with Commodore Farragut's thrilling words. In a week or more +Hopkins was considered past danger from his wound, and Judge Terry was +thereupon set free. The Committee had now accomplished about all that +had been contemplated at its organization. It had put to death four men. +Of these at least two were not guilty of murder, as the law defines that +crime. As to the other two, the course of justice in the Courts at that +time gave no warrant for the presumption or belief that a fair and just +trial would not have, been given them; that their conviction and the +death penalty would not have followed. It is not too much to assert +that, so far as escape from the penalty of murder is involved, there has +been, any time these ten years, and there is now, in San Francisco, +stronger cause for a Vigilance Committee than there was in 1856. The +administration of the law was better then in general criminal procedure +than it is now. There were fewer heinous crimes then, in the ratio of +population, then the record of any year for the past ten years will +show. In the category of crimes, such as forgery, perjury, embezzlement, +frauds by which large sums of money or valuable property is obtained, +were then infrequent; now of daily occurrence. But in crimes of violence +the record is enormously against this period in comparison with that; +the infliction of penalties by the Courts was then more certain than it +is now. And as to ballot-box stuffing and frauds in elections, surely +the worst ever charged against the manipulators of that period, pales +and sinks into insignificance when compared with the colossal fraud +committed in San Francisco, in 1876, by which not only the will of the +people of the State was overborne, but also the will of the people of +the United States. Yet the perpetrators of the unparalleled fraud have +never been called to account or punished; to the contrary they are +recognized as gentlemen of respectability, even by those who, in 1856, +forcibly and lawlessly, as Vigilance Committee members, banishement for +stuffing ballot-boxes to secure merely a local advantage by the success +of a ward ticket. Straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel never had +more conspicuous illustration. And the burning fact remains incredible +that among the members of the Executive Committee were some who had +themselves obtained office by bribery and corruption, by calling into +play the stuffing of ballot-boxes, and by all the wicked and infamous +means which were at that time practiced. Another member was, as I have +stated before, a felon who had served his time in the Ohio State Prison; +another, still living and a highly respectable church member who +professes holy horror of fraud, had in early years colluded with his +brother to get possession of valuable wharf property, of which the +brother was agent and care-taker by appointment of the owner, who had +returned to his home in the East, to be gone a year. The scheme of these +brothers was a fraud of villainous conception, but it was clumsy and +therefore failed. On his return the Courts restored the property to the +rightful owner. I might go on and point out other members of the +Executive Committee who had committed deeds which, had they been duly +brought to answer in the Courts, would have put upon them the felon's +brand and the convict's stripes, in some instances; in others, pilloried +them as rogues and swindlers, unworthy of trust, unfit for respectable +association. + +But were one to trace the career of several others of that body, the +tracks would be through the sloughs and conduits of shame and turpitude, +rascality and crime, and finally to self-murder. It was as bad--it +could hardly have been worse, except in numbers, proportioned to the +greater numerical force--in the Vigilance rank and file. It is against +reason and sense to expect that in a body of five thousand men, there +will be none who are not good and honorable; that there will be no base +and disreputable characters, no rogues and scoundrels. Therefore it was +not strange that of the Committee's entire force, so many were of the +vile stamp, notorious gold-dust "operators," who robbed the honest miner +of his "Pile," by bare-faced fraud; mock auction sharpers, high-toned +frauds and swindlers of low degree; and others who neither toiled nor +spun, yet feasted and fattened. All these found in the ranks of the +Committee their own security from the incarceration and banishment +enforced in the case of so many less culpable than themselves. But the +onus rests upon the Executive Committee--they constituted the head and +front of the grave offending of the very laws they usurped; they were +the counselors and administrators, the accusers and arbiters, of the +fate of their powerless victims. Their's was a tribunal organized to +convict--they were the prosecutors, the jurors, the judges, from whose +fiat of condemnation there was no appeal; and defense was not allowed. +Arrest meant death or banishment. The accused were prosecuted by the +promoter or participant with them in the charged offence or crime, and +convicted by the verdict in which some who had been accessories were +most strenuous for conviction. It is a rule of law that the accuser +shall come into Court with clean hands. + +Ignoring this just rule and in defiance of law, in usurping the seat of +justice, the Executive Committee gave opportunity to several of its +members to "compound for sins they were inclined to, by damning those +who had no mind to;" to sit in judgment on those whose testimony or +confession in a Court of Justice would have turned the tables and +wrought the conviction of their accusers, prosecutors and judges. But +these strictures do not apply to the greater number of the Executive +Committee--to only about a half dozen of its members. The Committee was +composed mainly of honorable men, deservedly high in the community, in +every walk and relation of life. They doubtless acted from a +conscientious sense of duty, and neither intended usurpation of the law, +violence to justice, nor any wrong whatever. They believed it incumbent +upon them to reform what they regarded as the maladministration of +public affairs, and to cleanse the city of the corruption which +existed--as it has existed and always will exist in populous communities, +agreeably to the sentiment of Jefferson, that "cities are scabs upon the +body politic." And with the best of motives they believed that the +organization of the Vigilance committee was the better and surer +remedial agent to these wholesome and commendable purposes. But their +action was akin to that of the thousands of citizens who refrain from +voting at primary elections, where the seed is planted which will +produce its kind in the fruiting on the day of the final and determining +election, and subsequently complain of the incompetency or dishonesty of +the incumbents whose election is largely attributable to the neglect of +these very citizens, to make it their special care that only good and +qualified and worthy men shall be elected at the primaries. + +I shall now pass to the conduct of the Executive Committee in their +arrests, their domiciling visits, and their enforced banishments. Among +their victims in the category, banished from the State with the penalty +of death if they returned to it, were Charles P. Duane, Billy Mulligan, +Billy Carr, Reub. Maloney, Bill Lewis, Martin Gallagher, Woolley +Kearney, Yankee Sullivan the pugilist, and John Crowe. These, with the +exception of Charley Duane, were all Democrats, devoted to Broderick. +Duane had been a Whig, was opposed to the Democrats, yet felt kindly +toward Broderick. On the other side--they could not be called +Republicans, but were always against the Democrats, and had at last +affiliated with the Know-Nothings--were men as notorious as any named +above, and of really worse character; but not one of these did the +Committee molest. They were either received into its military ranks or +were permitted to remain in the city. It was a noticeable +discrimination; no reason for it was apparent or expressed on the part +of the Executive Committee. + +Charley Duane was a man of extraordinary character in his line of life. +He had made reputation as a "handy man in a fight" and a very hard one +to master before he came of age, in New York. He came to San Francisco +early in 1850, in company with Tom Hyer, the champion prize-fighter. He +had got the sobriquet of "Dutch Charley" in New York, notwithstanding +his Irish blood. Hyer euphonized this into "German Charles." Hyer +returned to New York, Duane remained here. He was a zealous, very active +Whig, an equally zealous and active fireman; and was once elected Chief +Engineer of the Department, against George Hossefross. Subsequently he +was appointed one of the Sheriff's deputies. He had killed a Frenchman +in a difficulty, was tried for the deed and acquitted. No charge of +dishonest nature--theft, fraud, swindling, embezzlement, or anything of +the kind, was ever brought against him. But he was somewhat prone to +fight, and this was the worst that could be charged upon him. I am not +aware that he was ever accused of crookedness in elections except in his +zeal to secure the election of Delos Lake, Whig, as District Judge, in +1851. When the Vigilance Committee was organized, in 1856, he openly and +boldly denounced it, and was an ardent supporter of the Law and Order +side. On what charge he was arrested and banished I have never been able +to ascertain. The manner of his arrest added no laurels to the parties +who conspired to effect it and the participants in the arrest. It bore +the tokens of jealousy and spite sprung from his election years before +as Chief Engineer, more than of any present cause. He was entrapped, +seized, hauled to the committee cells and banished, nevertheless. + +Billy Mulligan was the incarnation of fearlessness, fight and +frolic--dangerous frolic it was sometimes to any he did not like. Of low +stature, slight frame, active as a cat, the expression of a +bull-terrier, and as, quick to an, encounter, Mulligan was not a man to +pick a quarrel with--the other party invariably second best. He had +served under Colonel Jack Hays in his troop of Texan Rangers, and +Colonel Hays gave the praise that he was one of the bravest, pluckiest, +most daring and desperate fighters he had ever had in his command. Billy +had his full share of the vices of drinking, gambling, fighting and a +fast life. He was active in politics and "went in to win." But he had +the virtue not to lie; and he would not betray any confidence reposed in +him, turn faithless to any promise he made. He was bold, frank, manly, +magnanimous except towards those he despised as well as hated, and to +these he was implacable and merciless. The world's wealth couldn't +seduce or bribe him from the support of the men he liked, no matter how +poor they might be; and he would on every occasion interpose to protect +the helpless and defenseless from the violence or maltreatment of +others. Crime of any degree was never alleged to his account. He had +faithfully served as collector of moneys for the County Treasurer two +years, and fully accounted for every dollar that he received. Beyond his +fighting bouts and his conduct in elections--about the same as prevails +now--there was nothing to warrant his arrest and banishment. But the +terrors of Fort Gunny Bags did not intimidate Mulligan. One of the +committee remarked to me, on the occasion of his death by the rifle shot +of a policeman while he was wild with delirium tremens, that he was the +only prisoner ever put in the committee cells who did not "weaken." He +was a character the community could well spare; but he had given the +committee no offence to justify his banishment. + +Yankee Sullivan's character is notorious. He was a professional +prize-fighter--ready to try conclusions in the fistic ring with any in +the world; but he feared a pistol or a knife as an ordinary man would +fear a blow from his powerful arm. He had helped Mulligan and Casey in +some of their election operations, and for that he was arrested. There +was no charge of any other nature than this and his fighting quality to +warrant his arrest. His courage or spirit broke down while confined in +the close cell, and one morning his lifeless body was found stiff in the +cell. He had opened a vein in his arm and bled to death. The rumor at +the time was--and it is still believed--that he was driven to the deed +by the remark made by one of the Vigilance guards outside the cell, but +spoken in tone calculated for Sullivan to hear it, that he was to be +hanged the next morning. To escape the ignominy of such a death, he +anticipated it by his own hand. + +Martin Gallagher and Billy Carr were boatmen, and active in party +manipulations in the interest of Mr. Broderick in the First Ward. They +were tough men to handle in a fight, and usually forced their own way in +anything they undertook. With Mulligan they often sat as delegates in +city, county and State conventions of the Democracy--together with +several other of their associates and kind, who are still more or less +prominent in city politics--some of them Democrats, some Republicans. +Bill Lewis was sent out of the country none too soon. He was a great, +powerful, terrorizing fellow, desperate and unscrupulous, and one to +beware of. He took active part in politics, and was terrible in a +"scrimmage. Of his redeeming, traits I never obtained information. +Doubtless he had some. Unlest it was on account of Woolley Kearney's +facial configuration, I have never been able to divine why the Committee +banished him. He was the homeliest, ugliess looking mortal I ever saw. +Had the Committee compelled him to go as the Veiled Prophet, with a +gunny sack instead of silver veil, there would have been at least the +essence of justice in their action. His battered, flattened, twisted, +gnarled nose, was at every point of the compass, and more hideous at +every turn. Why he didn't blow it off when he blowed it, blow'd if any +could conjecture. His eyes were squinted, his mouth a monstrous +curiosity. Every feature seemed in revolt at that nose. It would have +struck awe to the spirit of an Ogre, Woolley was no doubt ready and +willing to do any crooked deed, but none who knew him would employ him +on any mission in which skill and fidelity were required. His banishment +had, perhaps, a good effect upon the unborn generation, whose parents +had not then entered the matrimonial state. Whatever other purpose it +subserved, except to show to other communities the "latest novelty" from +California, is the unfathomable conundrum. John Crowe was a noisy, +blatant, meddlesome fellow, the keeper of a livery stable on Kearny +street, and a fierce denouncer of the Committee. There was nothing else +to his discredit, so far as I could learn at the time. Reub. Maloney was +a compound character--a good deal of a knave, something of the man in +his fidelity to his friends, reckless of everything except his own +safety in any transaction calculated to damage the cause to which he was +opposed; indifferent to what might happen to an adversary, He was a most +valiant "brave"--with his mouth; the noble quality had never penetrated +his cuticle. His passion when bloviating was furious and terrible to +look upon; but there was nothing to it more than sound and pretense. His +face would redden to congestive hue, his voice swell to sonorous volume; +but the simple kindly invitation in quiet tone: "Never mind, Reub, come +and take a drink," would unbind him in a moment, and coming up relaxed, +smiling to "smile," he would gulf down the dram, and with stated manner +remark, "Well, boys, I said about the right thing, didn't I?" He was the +faithful henchman of General James A. McDougall; hated Senator Gwin, and +between the two preferred Broderick. + +Maloney had been a drummer for a large importing house in New York, his +field of labor in the South. He had also been employed in the western +states, and endowed with good address, portly figure, much volubility, +unfailing check and invincible assurance, he successfully pushed his +way. He came to California during the fall of '47, located in Stockton, +subsequently in San Francisco, and took up "Politics" as his means of +support. To gain his point in a partisan deal, he would do anything that +was not personally dangerous. He cared for ends, and was utterly +regardless of means. He was ceaselessly putting up jobs to promote the +cause he advocated, and to break down that of the antagonists. With the +courage of Babadil he had the honesty of Ancient Pistol, the habits of +Falstaff, and the temptations of Anthony would have been to him as +pastures green to the hungering herd. Poor old Reub, his incarceration +in the Vigilance cells nearly frightened the life out of him, and his +release even under banishment, was as the open door to the caged wild +bird. He never did much harm to any cause or party that he opposed. The +Committee would have better spared him and exiled many who were +worse--some from their own ranks. + + + + +Chapter VII. + + +The last in the list is Edward McGowan--"Old Ned"--Chief of Police, +Judge, Emigration Commissioner, politician, fugitive, "ubiquitous" +soldier, retired sporting man, and still in life, nearly eighty years of +age, clear in all his faculties. He was a devoted, trusted confidential +friend of Broderick, and unpurchaseable in his friendship. He had been a +prominent actor in many hard contests in behalf of Broderick, and aided +materially in the successes which elevated that extraordinary man to the +Senate of the United States. McGowan was a warm friend to Casey--his +adviser on many occasions. He received intimation the night of Casey's +arrest, that his own was contemplated. He was not seen again in San +Francisco until his return to the State a year or more afterward, to +surrender himself and demand trial upon whatever charge the Committee, +or any, could prefer against him. His acquittal was the consequence. + +Never was fugitive more assiduously and desperately hunted than he. +Domiciliary visits, the intrusion of the Vigilance police into the homes +of citizens, of every house and room in which it was suspected McGowan +would be caught. Every friend of his was shadowed to get a clew to his +place of concealment. Yet he was for weeks securely hidden within five +miles of the city. Thence he made his escape to Santa Barbara, through +the aid of true and sagacious friends; was sheltered and protected there +by another--Jack Powers, one of the Stevenson's regiment, a fearless, +dare-devil, desperate, wily man, accustomed to wild adventures, and +hair-breadth escapes, whose own many exploits, including pursuit and +search, will some day find publication, to rival the most interesting +and exciting narratives of frontier life, and the daring and heroism of +the men bred to such life. Jack Powers had on several occasions escaped +the capture and death his Mexican pursuers had deemed inevitable. His +ingenuity now came to do service on behalf of his friend McGowan. Chief +of Police Curtis had got word that McGowan was in Santa Barbara. He was +a zealous, Vigilance man. A schooner was chartered, and a strong, armed +force sailed on her for Santa Barbara, to capture the fugitive. They +landed, searched everywhere, particularly the house, premises and +surroundings of Jack Powers' residence. Powers and McGowan both well +knew that catching meant hanging beyond all hope. After a thorough quest +Curtis and his armed band gave up the hunt and returned to San +Francisco. At Powers' home they had searched every place except that in +which McGowan was concealed. They had been within a toot of him; had +nearly stepped on him; were so close that he heard their whisperings and +cursings. But they never suspected his hiding place. He was simply +rolled in a great mass of old floor matting, at one side of the house, +which was covered with dust and leaves, and bits of straw, to give it +the appearance of having been there, just as it seemed, for months. +After the schooner sailed, McGowan succeeded in making his way out of +the State and safe from the Vigilance Committee by the cunning and +adroitness of his good friend Jack Powers. The Committee were foiled in +their endeavor to capture the man, of all others, they were the most +eager to catch and hang. There would have been short invoking of trial +in his case and a hurried death by the rope. McGowan lives to relate his +adventures and enjoy the narrative. + +To give some idea of the manner of procedure and the discipline of the +Committee, I will relate an experience of my own: One beautiful +moonlight evening I was visiting the family of a prominent member of the +San Francisco Bar. About nine o'clock the door bell was rung. Thinking +that some friend of the family was at the door, the mistress of the +house went herself to see who was there. In the doorway stood a strange +man. He asked--mentioning my name--if I was in. She called to me and I +went to the door. He requested me to accompany him to the rooms, of the +Committee. I wished to know for what purpose, and at whose instance he +came. He said he could not tell; he was ordered to request my attendance +at once, and could say no more. I got my overcoat and went with him. On +the way down he informed me of the diligent hunt he had made to find +me--mentioning half a dozen families whom I frequently visited. At last we +reached Fort Gunny Bags. He led the way to the Front street door, in the +rear of the building. Two rows of guards with muskets, had position from +the curb-stone to the door-way. He gave the password to these and we +passed through. At the door were other guards--the same giving of +pass-word there. We mounted the narrow stairs--my escort in advance. +Midway on the stairs were two guards--one of them Dr. Rabe, with whom I +had been intimate since 1850. Again the pass-word. And again at the head +of the stairs to the four guards there. My escort opened the door of a +medium-sized room, which fronted on the street, and requested me to be +seated. He left me alone in the room. For an hour I had the room to +myself. Then the door was opened, and I saw David C. Broderick over the +head of the person who had evidently escorted him, and requested him to +be seated. Broderick entered, and the door was closed, and locked from +the outside. We had no more than shaken hands and mutually wondered what +we were wanted for, when the key was turned, the door again opened, and +in came tall Jo. McKibben, taller even than Broderick. As he entered, +the door was again locked on the outside. The situation was too amusing, +and we all laughed over it. But why were we there? On relating the +manner of the "request" and escort, each had been served in similar +manner--neither could conjecture the purpose in having us there. No +other person was let in until about an hour. "Old Jim" Dows, as he was +familiarly called, came to see us. We had known each other for years. He +appeared surprised to see us, and McKibben and myself exchanged some +pleasantries with him. I said to him, at last, that I wished the +Executive Committee would hasten whatever business they had in my case +and let me go, as I was eager to return to the house I had been +visiting. He said he would and in ten minutes returned to apprise me +that I could go right then if I wished. He accompanied me to the head of +the stairs, and in loud voice ordered the guards to let me pass out--that +it was "all right." With this he passed into the hall. The guard at +the head of the stairs duly let me pass. At the middle of the stairs Dr. +Rabe, who so well knew me, and must have heard Dows' order, demanded the +pass-word, and refused to allow me to proceed. I said, "Why, Doctor, I +don't know the pass-word, and you heard Jim. Dows' order to let me pass +out." The guard at the head of the stairs cried out to him, "it was all +right," and I was then allowed to pass down. But at the foot of the +stairs the guard made similar demand, and again the word had to be +shouted from above, that I was to be allowed to pass out. One of the +guards then took my arm, escorted me through the file of outside guards, +into the street, and I was, finally, "all right." But I felt curious in +regard to Broderick and McKibben, The next day Dows told me we had all +been wanted as witnesses on behalf of one of the prisoners in the +custody of the Committee, but that he had got me excused. From Broderick +I subsequently learned that he had given his testimony and had then come +away. Also had McKibbon. + +Rumors had been circulated that Broderick was to be arrested by the +Committee. Whether true or false, I never learned, At all events he soon +left San Francisco and made a tour of the mountain counties, to promote +his canvass for the Senatorship, which he achieved the following year. +His devoted friends were all violently opposed to the Committee, and any +harm to him, by that body, would have been the occasion of very serious +trouble. + +Colonel E. D. Baker had defended Charles Cora, at his trial, as I have +related. He was positive and unreserved in his denunciation of the +Committee. Whether he was ever threatened with arrest I do not know; but +he likewise left the city and went into the interior Northern Counties +and there practiced his profession until September, when he entered into +the Presidential campaign as chief orator of the Republican party, for +Fremont, and in November returned to his practice in San Francisco. + +The Vigilance Committee disbanded their military forces late in August. +The Executive Committee held to them for future emergencies, but ceased +their meetings. Fort Gunny Bags was dismantled. The rooms were +abandoned; but as a closing scene, a grand review of the military was +held near South Park, and the rooms were thrown open to the public. +Thousands, ladies and gentlemen and children went there, and looked at +the stuffed ballot-box, at the nooses and ropes used in the hanging of +Casey and Cora, of Hetherington and Brace, at the shackles and gyves, at +all the other instruments and paraphernalia of the gallows and the +cells, into the narrow cells and their scant furniture, and at all the +ghastly curios of these haunted rooms of life and death, of mental +torture and bodily suffering, of forced suicide and the mocking of the +crazed victim of his own despair and desperation. It was a remarkable +sight for women, an astounding treat to ladies, and such an example to +children, boys and girls! But comment is not required. + +The city and county election was soon to follow. The Committee men did +not neglect the opportunity which their powerful organization had given +them. The Executive Committee became practically a self-constituted +nominating convention. Their rank and file were not forgotten. General +Doane was nominated for Sheriff. For every other office Vigilance men +were named the candidates. None others had chance or hope. Their ticket +was elected. They obtained the reward of their services in the +organization, and profited accordingly. Thirty-one years have now passed +since the existence of the Committee. Many of its executive members are +numbered with the dead. Some of them passed away in a manner to remain +as an enduring sorrow to their kindred and connexions. A few have +prospered and occupy high places in community. A very few enjoy office +bestowed by the party they aided so much to destroy in 1856. On the +monument erected over the ashes of Casey is the scriptural admonition +for all mankind. "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, and I will repay." +Retribution is with God alone. The generation of this period will best +subserve the good of community by conformity to the divine injunction. +And this would never have been written were it not for the many and +frequent ex parte, and incorrect publications, which have been put forth +as faithful and impartial accounts of the Vigilance Committee of 1856, +of the character of those who suffered death and banishment at its +hands, and of the causes which led to its organization. The task is +done. May another similar to it never be required. The law of the land +should suffice for every exigency. It sets no bad or dangerous example, +but is always the conservator of the public welfare, the best protector +of all, the voice of the people in accordance with the laws of God. + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Vigilance Committee of '56, by James O'Meara + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE OF '56 *** + +***** This file should be named 4642.txt or 4642.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/6/4/4642/ + +Produced by David Schwan. HTML version by Al Haines. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +The "legal small print" and other information about this book +may now be found at the end of this file. Please read this +important information, as it gives you specific rights and +tells you about restrictions in how the file may be used. + +*** +This etext was produced by David Schwann <davidsch@earthlink.net>. + +The Vigilance Committee of '56. + + + +By a Pioneer California Journalist +[James O'Meara] + + + + +Many accounts of the Vigilance Committee of San Francisco have been +published, but all of them, so far as I have seen, were from the pen of +members of that organization, or else from persons who favored it. As a +consequence their accounts of it were either partial, to a greater or +less degree, or imperfect otherwise; and much has been omitted as well +as misstated and misrepresented otherwise. I was not a member of the +Vigilance Committee, nor was I a member of the opposing organization, +known as the Law and Order body, of which General Sherman was the head +and Volney E. Howard next in rank. I have never been in favor of mob or +lynch-law in any form, and, therefore, had neither sympathy with nor +disposition to join the Vigilance Committee. And while I was earnestly +in support of Law and Order, I did not feel that I could better subserve +that cause by joining the organization formed at that time, for the +avowed purpose of maintaining the one and enforcing the other. I had +many friends on each side, and I also knew many in each organization who +were unworthy of fellowship in any good or honorable cause or +association; and some of these bore prominent rank in each organization. +As was said of the Regulators of Texas, who directed their energies +chiefly against horse thieves and robbers, that some of the worst and +most guilty of them hastened to join the band, in order to save +themselves from arrest and the rope or bullet, likewise were there some +prominent in the Vigilance Committee of 1856, who undoubtedly joined it +for similar reasons - to escape the terrors of the organization; and the +Executive Committee was not exempt from these infamous characters. + +The Executive Committee, forty-one in number, was thus composed in +membership: William T. Coleman, James Dows, Thomas J. L. Smiley, John P. +Monrow, Charles Doane, James N. Olney, Isaac Bluxome, Jr., William +Meyers, Charles Ludlow, - Christler, Richard M. Jessup, Charles J. +Dempster, George R. Ward, E. P. Flint, Wm. Rogers, Aaron M. Burns, Miers +F. Truitt, W. H. Tillinghast, W. Arrington, Charles L. Case, J. D. +Farwell, W. T. Thompson, Eugene Dellesert, J. K. Osgood, J. W. Brittan, +Jules David, C. V. Gillespie, Calvin Nutting, E. Gorham, N. O. +Arrington, F. W. Page, O. B. Crary, L. Bassange, D. Tubbs, Emile Grisar, +E. B. Goddard, Henry M. Hale, Chas. Ludlow, M. J. Burke, J. H. Fish, C. +P. Hutchings, J. Seligman. + +W. T. Coleman was President, Thomas J. L. Smiley Vice-President and +Prosecuting Attorney, John P. Morrow, Judge Associate, James Dows, +Treasurer, Wm. Meyer, Deputy Treasurer, Isaac Bluxome, Jr. the notorious +"33" - Secretary. Charles Doane was Grand Marshall, James N. Olney, +Deputy Grand Marshall, R. T. Wallace was Chief of Police, John L. +Durkee, Deputy Chief. + +The military organization of the Vigilance Committee, rank and file, +numbered nearly 5,000 men. Several of the Executive Committee were alien +residents who never became citizens; and in the Committee, serving as +troops, as police, and in other lines, were a large number of aliens, +not naturalized, many of whom had not acquired sufficient proficiency in +the English language to speak it or understand it. The military body +comprised four regiments - infantry and artillery - together with +battalions of cavalry, pistol companies and guard of citizens. A medical +staff was duly organized. The roster, as here given, is copied from a +recent publication in the Alta, stated to be authentic. The dashes which +mark omission of the names, appear as they are placed in the Alta: + +Charles Doane, Major-General. Staff officers: N. W. Coles, +Quartermaster-General and Colonel of Cavalry; R. M. Jessup, +Commissary-General and Colonel of Infantry; Aaron M. Burns, Deputy +Commissary-General and Lieutenant-Colonel of Infantry; James Dows, +Paymaster-General and Lieutenant-Colonel of Infantry; William Meyer and +Eugene Dellesert, Paymaster-Generals and Majors of Infantry; Cyrus G. +Dwyer, Adjutant and Inspector-General and Major of Infantry: Henry +Baker, Quartermaster and Major of Infantry; R. R. Pearce and M. McManus, +Assistant Quartermasters and Captains of Infantry; J. W. Farrington, +Assistant Commissary and Captain of Infantry; R. Beverly Cole, Surgeon +of the staff and Major of Infantry; Geo. C. Potter, aid to Major-General +and Major of Cavalry; N. B. Stone, A. M. Ebbetts, T. M. Wood, O. P. +Blackman, George R. Morris, T. A. Wakeman, Felix Brissac, C. H. Vail and +George R. Ward, aids to Major-General and Majors of Infantry, James B. +Hubbell, John M. Schapp and B. F. Mores, aids and secretaries to +Major-General and Captains of Infantry, J. N. Olney, Jr., aid and +secretary to Major-General and First Lieutenant of Infantry; James N. +Olney, Brigadier-General; R. S. Tammot, Henry Jones and R. M. Cox, aids +and Captains of Infantry. + +Artillery - Thomas D. Johns, Colonel; J. F. Curtis, Lieutenant-Colonel; +R. B. Hampton, Major; Company A, J. Mead Huxley, Captain; Company B, +James Richit, Captain; Company C, H. C. F. Behrens, Captain; Company D, +J. H. Hasty, Captain; James F. Curtiss, Lieutenant-Colonel, commanding +Reserved Artillery. + +Battallion Cavalry - Frank Baker, Major; First Squadron, G. G. Bradt, +Captain; Second Squadron, J. Sewell Read, Captain. + +Infantry - First Regiment, - - Colonel; J. S. Ellis, Lieutenant-Colonel; +John A. Clark, Major; J. P. H., Wentworth, Quartermaster; H. H. Thrall, +Adjutant; L. S. Wilder, Commissary; R. M. Cox, Sergeant-Major; H. W. F. +Hoffman, Quartermaster's Sergeant and composed of eight companies, viz: +Company A, W. C. Allen, Lieutenant commanding; Company B, H. L. Twiggs, +Captain; Company C, A. L. Loring, Captain; Company D, J. V. McElwee, +Captain; Company One,, J. M. Taylor, Captain; Company Two (Riflemen), L. +W. Parks, Captain; Company Three, Jonathan Gavat, Captain, Company +Seven, Geo. H. Hossefros, Captain. + +Battallion Citizens Guard - Belonging to First Regiment, composed of A, +B, C, and D, G. F. Watson, Major. + +Second Regiment - J. B. Badger, Colonel; J. S. Hill, Lieutenant-Colonel; +A. H. Clark, Major, Giles H. Gray, Quartermaster; E. B. Gibbs, Adjutant; +F. A. Howe, Commissary; - - Sergeant-Major; Judah Alden; +Quartermaster-Sergeant, and composed of eight companies, viz: Company +Six, W. R. Doty, Captain; Company Twelve, C. G. Bailey, Captain; Company +Eight, - - Godfrey, Captain; Company Four, A. H. King, Captain; Company +Five, C. R. Bond, Captain; Company Ten, J. Wightman, Lieutenant +commanding; Company Eleven, George Gates, Captain; Company Nine, J. +Wood, Captain. + +Third Regiment - H. S. Fitch, Colonel; Caleb Clapp Lieutenant Colonel; - , +Major; - , Quartermaster; - , Adjutant; - , Commissary; - , +Sergeant-Major; - , Quartermaster-Sergeant, and composed of eight +companies, viz: Company Thirteen, E. J. Smith, Lieutenant commanding; +Company Fourteen, W. E. Keyes, Captain; Company Fifteen, - , Lieutenant +commanding; Company Sixteen, B. S. Bryan, Captain; Company Seventeen +(Riflemen), C. E. S. McDonald, Captain; Company Eighteen, P. W. +Shepheard, Captain; Company Nineteen, R. H. Bennett, Captain; Company +Twenty, S. Gutte, Captain. + +Fourth Regiment - Francis J. Lippitt, Colonel; John D. G. Quirk, +Lieutenant-Colonel, - - , Major; - - , Quartermaster; B. L. West, +Adjutant; - - , Commissary; - - , Sergeant-Major; - - , Quartermaster's +Sergeant, and composed of eight companies, viz: Company Twenty-five, J. +Sanfrignon, Captain; Company Twenty-eight, L. Armand, Captain; French +Legion, - - Villaseque, Major; Company Twenty-four, W. H. Patten, +Captain; Company Twenty-seven, C. H. Gough, Captain; Company Twenty-one, +S. Meyerbock Captain; Company Twenty-three, J. T. Little, Captain; +Company Thirty, W. O. Smith, Captain; Company Twenty-two, J. L. Folger, +Captain; Company Twenty-nine, S. L. Harrison, Captain; Company +Twenty-six, - - , Captain. + +Pistol Battalion - Two companies, commanded respectively by Captains +Webb and E. S. Gibbs. + +The roll of Division No. 4 is thus given: + +J. A. Collins, Commander, Geo. G. Whitney, 1st Lieut. W. H. Parker, 2d +L't, J. H. Mallett, Orderly Sergeant, R. R. H. Rogers, Second Orderly +Sergeant, Wm. H. Wood, Third Orderly Sergeant, Charles D. Cushman, +Fourth Orderly Sergeant. Privates - D. Morgan, Jr., P. G. Partridge, +John Burns, E. W. Travers. Giles H. Gray, Martin Prag, John Wright, +James Wells, Jas. W. White, Judah Alden, Alfred Rix, J. W. Farrington, +W. L. Waters, W. F. Hall, J. T. Bowers, J. L. N. Shepard, Lucius Hoyt, +David Laville, H. A. Russell, E. Stevens, Theo. B. Cunningham, M. +McMannis, Wm. H. Gibson, Edmund Keyes, George T. Bohen, I. M. Bachelder, +R. T. Holmes, W. F. Shankland, B. Argyras, John R. Chute, John S. +Davies, James McCeny, Geo. H. Tay, Sohn Bensley, L. Bartlett, Joseph W. +Housley, Robert Wells, Samuel Fullerton, Newell Hosmer, J. J. Lomax, G. +K. Fitch, Wm. Hayes, Robert A. Parker, Samuel Soule, A. Wardwell, Isaac +E. Davis, M. McIntyre, F. E. Foote, Thomas A. Ayres, William K. +Blanchard, J. F. Eaton, J. Frank Swift, J. O. Rountree. + +These names of Secretaries of the Committees of the Executive Committee +are added: On Evidence - J. H. Titcomb and D. McK Baker; on +Qualification - E. T. Beals. + +First, as to the cause or pretence for the organization of the Vigilance +Committee: It is declared by its ex-members and supporters, or +apologists, that it was necessary for the reason that the law was not +duly administered; that the Courts, the fountains of justice, were +either corrupted or neglectful of their duties; that Juries were packed +with unworthy men in important criminal cases, that there were gross +frauds in elections, by which the will of the people was defied and +defeated, and improper and dishonest men, some of them notorious rogues, +were counted in and installed in public office; and that there was a +class of turbulent offenders who had the countenance, if not the support +of judges and officials in high places, and who, therefore, felt +themselves to be above or exempt from the law. Tennyson has well +remarked that there is no lie so baneful as one which is half truth. So +it is in respect to these alleged reasons for the organization of that +Vigilance Committee. It is not true that the Courts were corrupt, +neglectful or remiss. Judge Hager presided in the Fourth District Court, +and his integrity and judicial qualifications, or judgments, have never +been questioned or impeached. Judge Freelon presided as County judge; +the same can be remarked of him. There was no material fault alleged +against the Police Court. It is true, however, that in important +criminal cases, and sometimes in civil suits, the juries were often +packed. But why? I will state: Merchants and business men generally had +great aversion to serve on juries, particularly, in important criminal +cases, which are usually protracted; and the jury were kept in +comparative close condition, because their time was too valuable, and +their business interests required their constant attention. They +preferred, therefore, to pay the fine imposed, in case they were unable +to prevail upon the Judge to excuse them. Jury fees were inconsiderable +in comparison with their daily profits; but it was the loss of time from +their business which mainly actuated them. Yet these fees were +sufficient to pay a day's board and lodging, and to the many who were +out of employment, serving on a jury was the means to both. There is, in +every large community, the class known as professional jurymen - hangers +about the Court, eagerly waiting to be called. There were men of this +kind then; there are more than enough of them still loitering about the +Courts, civil and criminal. San Francisco is not the only city in the +United States in which defendants in grave criminal cases have recourse +to every conceivable and possible means, without scruple, to procure +their own acquittal, or the utmost modification of the penalty, by +proving extenuating circumstances, or that the indictment magnifies the +crimes. This was true of 1856; here, as elsewhere in the land; it is +equally true now. Had the merchants and solid citizens then drawn as +jurors, fulfilled their duty to the cause of justice, to the +conservation and maintenance of law and order, they would have had no +cause or pretence for the organization which they formed. The initial +fault was attributable to themselves; the jury-packing they complained +of was the direct consequence of their own neglect of that essential +duty to the State, in the preservation of law and order; and they cannot +reasonably or justly shift the onus from themselves upon the Courts. + +Concerning the frauds in election: yes, there were frauds, outrageous +frauds, at every election; repeaters, bullies, ballot-box stuffing, and +false counts of the ballots to count out this candidate and count in the +one favored of the "boys." More than one member of the Vigilance +Executive Committee had thorough knowledge of all this, for the very +conclusive reason that more than one of them had engaged in these +frauds, had not only participated in them directly and indirectly, but +had actually proposed them; employed the persons who had committed the +frauds, and paid these tools round sums for the infamous service. The +reward of these employers and accessories before, during and after the +frauds, was the office that was coveted; and the "Hon." prefixed to +their names was as the gilt which the watch stuffer applies to the brass +thing he imposes upon the greenhorn as a solid gold watch. Out of the +Committee, of the Executive Committee, the detectives of that body might +have unearthed these honorable and virtuous purifiers and reformers; +with them, perhaps others whose frauds were no less wicked and criminal; +but in business transactions, and not in political affairs. One of the +Executive Committee had served his term of two years in the Ohio State +Prison for forgery; here in San Francisco he had, during two city +elections, been the trusted agent and disburser of a very heavy sack in +the honest endeavor to secure the nomination, and promote the election, +of his principal to high office, yet this pure man was honored by his +associates of the Committee, and became singularly active in pressing +the expatriation of some of the very "ruffians and ballot-box-stuffers" +he had patronized and paid. He had learned that "dead men told no +tales." This pure-character did not stand alone in his experience of +penal servitude, as birds of a feather, and he was under no necessity of +examplifying Lord Dundreary's bird, to go into a corner and flock by +himself. That some turbulent offenders, and largely too many of them, +defied the law, is likewise true. But that they were countenanced or +favored by the Judges, is utterly without truthful foundation. And it is +remarkable that, of all the men hanged or expatriated by the Committee, +only two had ever been complained of or arraigned before the Courts for +any crime of violence; not one of them all had been here accused or +suspected of theft or robbery, or other felony. This is more, as I have +just above stated, than can be said of some of the forty-one members of +the Executive Committee. And among the members of the rank and file of +the five thousand or six thousand enrolled upon the lists of the +Committee - of natives and English-speaking citizens or residents - +there were scores of scoundrels of every degree, bogus gold-dust +operators, swindlers and fugitives from justice. Of the members of other +nationalities - some of whom had not been in the country long enough to +acquire English - I have no occasion to pass remark; but the fear of +communism and disturbance, from the increase of its incendiary votaries +in our country, east and here, cannot be lessened or composed by the +recollection of the conduct of many of the same nationalities who then +swelled the ranks of the Committee troops. + + + +Chapter II. + + + +Saturday Nov. 19, 1855, between 5 and 6 o'clock, the community was +startled by the report that General Richardson, United States Marshal, +had been shot dead by a gambler. The shooting occurred on the south side +of Clay street, about midway between Montgomery and Leidesdorff streets. +The fatal shot was fired from a deringer pistol by Charles Cora. Cora +was a gambler, yet he did not look the character. He was a low-sized, +well-formed man; dressed in genteel manner, without display of jewelry +or loudness; was reserved and quiet in his demeanor; and his manners and +conversation were those of a refined gentleman. I first saw him at the +Blue Wing, a popular rendezvous for politicians, on Montgomery street, +east side, between Clay and Commercial streets, and my impression then +was that he was a lawyer or a well-to-do merchant. General Richardson +was a morose and at times a very disagreeable man. He was of low +stature, thick set, dark complexion, black hair, and usually wore a +bull-dog look. He was known by his intimate friends to be a dangerous +man as a foe, and he always went armed with a pair of deringers. The +Thursday night prior to the shooting General Richardson and Col. Jo. C. +McKibben, afterwards member of Congress, were at the Blue Wing in +company. After midnight Richardson went out for a moment on the +sidewalk. A man passed him, made a jocular remark and entered the +saloon. Richardson followed him in, and asked of Perkins his name. He +had been drinking heavily. McKibben prevailed upon him to start for his +home. It was on Minna street, near Fred Woodworth's, just above Jessie +street. Jo. accompanied him most of the way. Richardson spoke to him of +an "insult" he had received from "that fellow Carter" - as he seemed to +think the name to be - and declared his purpose to make him answer for +it. McKibben knew Cora, and that Cora was the man to whom Richardson +referred; but he likewise knew enough of Richardson to not correct him, +and let him believe that "Carter" was the name, in the hope that, in his +condition, he would either not think of the occurrence the next day, or +would not be able to recognize Cora if he did. The following Saturday +afternoon a party of us - Jo. McKibben, John Monroe, Clerk of Judge +Hoffman's Court, E. V. Joice, Pen. Johnston, Josh Haven and myself were +in the Court Exchange, corner of Battery and Washington streets. +Richardson came in while we were there, and was in drinking humor. He +became sullen and, as we all knew his nature, it was quietly agreed +among ourselves that we would leave and try to get him away. He was +devoted to his wife, whom he married in San Francisco. McKibben and +myself accompanied him on his way home, as far as the old Oriental +Hotel, within a few blocks of his residence. There he insisted on a +"last drink," and we left him - he to go straight home. It turned out +that he did not. He brooded over the "insult" of Carter, as he still +called him, and made his way to the Blue Wing to find him, Unfortunately +he found Cora there. He called him out, and, as one man wilt lead +another by his side, walked with him around the corner into Clay street, +halting just in front of the store of a French firm - I do not remember +the name - and so managed as to put Cora on the iron grating, of the +sidewalk inside, with his back to the brick wall of the store. Cora had +not the slightest idea that Richardson had taken offence at his remark +on Thursday night - for it was in no light offensive or insulting but +simply a bit of ordinary pleasantry, and therefore, he was not aware of +Richardson's object in asking him to come out from the saloon. But many +of Richardson's intimate friends, who felt his death keenly, and were at +that time disposed to the extreme penalty of the law upon the man who +shot him, after due reflection and deliberation came to the conclusion, +that under the circumstances, standing as he was placed before +Richardson, who stood with his hands in his pockets, and a deringer in +each pocket, pressing his demand on Cora, the latter had one of two +things to do: either to kill Richardson or allow Richardson to kill him. + +There were not many on Clay street, near the fatal scene, at that hour, +but the discharge of Cora's pistol soon brought several to the spot. +Richardson's body was carried through the side-door entrance on Clay +street, into the drug store then on that corner of Montgomery street, +and there hundreds viewed it. Cora was taken in charge. Dave Scannell +was Sheriff. That excitement over, the feeling increased every hour, and +many urged the summary hanging of Cora. Scannell had duly prepared for +all this, and order was preserved, although several hundred men formed +in line and proceeded to the County Jail to force their way in, seize +Cora and hang him forthwith. Sunday morning the excitement had +diminished in spirit of violence, but had increased in volume and +disposition to bring Cora to justice. Eminent lawyers, the personal +friends of Richardson, had already volunteered to assist in the +prosecution of the man who shot him. The application of Cora's friends +to several of the most noted criminal lawyers in the city, to defend +him, was in many instances declined. Cora had one to his support, +however, who proved more successful in engaging counsel in his behalf. +This was the woman known as Belle Cora, the keeper of a notorious house, +with whom Cora lived. She was rich and possessed of indomitable spirit. +She was devoted to Cora. In this connection I will relate that which +Governor Foote imparted to myself and J. Ross Browne, on a trip to +Oregon, late in the summer of 1857. It was substantially this. Belle +Cora had gone herself to the law office of Colonel E. D. Baker, to +engage him as counsel for Cora, and had succeeded. The fee was to be +$5,000; one-half this sum was immediately paid to him. She then applied +to Governor Foote to engage him to assist in the case: He declined, but +assured her that he should not appear for the prosecution. In a few +days, on account of the intense popular feeling toward Cora, and also +because the law partner of Colonel Baker had strenuously objected to his +acting as counsel for Cora, as it would greatly damage their +professional business the community, Baker and their personal standing +in called upon Governor Foote and requested him to see Belle Cora and +apprise her that she must employ some other counsel; that he felt that +he must withdraw from the case - the $2,500 already paid would be +returned to her. To extricate his professional brother from his +unpleasant situation, Governor Foote consented to undertake the +disagreeable mission. The woman was immovable in her determination to +keep Colonel Baker to his engagement. And she intimated in terms not to +be misunderstood that she was determined that he should fulfill his +obligation. Colonel Baker was a man of dauntless courage in facing dangers +of human quality; but he was in constant fear at sea; and it seems there +was another quality of peril which overmastered his intrepid spirit. +When Governor Foote related to him the result of his mission, he advised +the Colonel to see the woman himself. Colonel Baker did go, Governor +Foote accompanying him. The Governor said he had never witnessed such a +manifestation of a woman's power and irresistible influence. Belle Cora +was inspired to the height of heroism, in her devotion to Cora, her +purpose to secure his acquittal and prevent his sacrifice. She first +appealed, implored, begged Colonel Baker to stand by his engagement. He +making no response, and seeming not to yield, she commanded that he +must, that he should. She would double his fee. She would have him +appear as Cora's counsel, if he did no more than sit in Court with Cora +near him, and speak no word at all. But go in Court and have it known +that he was Cora's counsel, he must. She was inflexible in this. And +when the day of trial came Colonel Baker did appear, together with +General James A. McDougall, Colonel James and Frank Tilford - as counsel +for Charles Cora, and it was on that trial that he made the most +eloquent and extraordinary argument and plea of his life in a criminal +case. It was not a packed jury in Cora's case. Care had been taken to +empanel only good, respectable citizens, some of whom, a short time +afterward, became members of the Vigilance Committee, and in great or +less degree participated in the seizure of Cora from the county jail and +in his condemnation and execution. Three of the jury were prominent +Front street merchants. Notwithstanding all the feeling against Cora, +the popular unrelenting prejudice, and the great preponderance of the +foremost legal minds of the San Francisco Bar, to his prosecution, Alex. +Campbell, General Williams and Colonel Sam. Inge, U. S. District +Attorney, to assist the public prosecutor, the jury disagreed, and of +the jurors who held out against a verdict of guilty of murder were three +Front street merchants and others of equal high standing in the +community. Cora was held for another trial, and it was while awaiting +this that he was seized by the Vigilance Committee, taken to their rooms +and hanged. + +The excitement consequent upon the killing of Richardson did not +culminate in the formation of a Vigilance Committee, similar to that of +1851, but it influenced the public mind in that direction. It was the +piling of the combustibles which required only the next spark from the +electric battery to fire the heap to consuming flames. There were still +in the city a round number of the early Vigilance Committee which had +ridden San Francisco of the "Sydney thieves;" some who had also, in +1849, suppressed the "Hounds;" and they were prepared again to meet +violence and lawlessness with the stronger arm of organized force and +the quick, sharp vengeance of the lex talionis. + +The occasion soon came. May 14th, 1856, between 4 and 5 o'clock, +afternoon, James P. Casey shot James King of William on Montgomery +street, at the corner of Washington, He fired only one shot. King was +facing Casey as he fired; he immediately staggered and fell. A crowd +gathered in a very few moments. Casey was taken into custody and Sheriff +Scannell hastened him to the county jail in a hack. The excited crowd +followed and clamored for his life; they wanted to hang him at once. +Then followed the organization of the Vigilance Committee, mainly +directed by members of the Committee of '51. An Executive Committee of +forty-one members composed the head and governing branch; a military and +patrol department was organized, duly officered. The rank and file in a +few days numbered between 5,000 and 6,000 men, armed, drilled and +disciplined. The second floor of the Truitt brick block, southeast +corner of Front and Sacramento street, embracing half a dozen stores +below, was made the Committee headquarters. All around in front of the +block, nearly to the middle of the street, gunny bags filled with sand +were piled five feet high, and two pieces of artillery were mounted at +the ends, for offensive and defensive purposes. The name of "Fort Gunny +Bags" was given to it. Guards were constantly on duty inside the fort +and at the two narrow passageways to the doors on the lower floor, from +which the stairs led up to the rooms occupied by the Committee. At the +doors, at the foot of the stairs, midway on the steps, at the top of +each flight, before every door to every room, and in the passages which +led to the different rooms, guards were stationed, with muskets loaded +and bayonets fixed. Fort Gunny Bags was as a garrison in time of active +war. A very large triangle was hung from the roof of the block occupied +by the Committee to sound the signal-call to duty of every member, at +any time of day or night; also a bell contributed from Monumental Fire +Engine Company, whose leader was George Heossafros, (ex-Chief of the +Fire Department). The Executive Committee Court hall and rooms, the +rooms of the officers, the rooms for the guards, and the small, close, +crimped cells for the prisoners, were all upon the second floor - the +upper floor of the block. The entire place was thoroughly guarded. + +Casey shot King Wednesday afternoon, May 14th. After the organization of +the Vigilance Committee, a number of prominent citizens who were opposed +to every movement of that kind and believed in due obedience to the law +and in submission to the constituted authorities under every +circumstances, likewise organized under the title of the Law and Order +Association. Impulse was given to the movement by an unlooked-for +incident. The Daily Herald had been for four years annually voted by the +guild of auctioneers the auction advertisements, which filled one whole +page of the paper. John Nugent was owner and editor. He had approved and +upheld the Vigilance Committee of 1851 in the Herald. It was expected +that he would approve the Committee just organized. He adopted the +contrary course. The Herald denounced the Committee in strong terms. The +merchants had generally approved and joined the Committee. That morning +every copy of the Herald was gathered, a pile of the papers made in +Front street, and burned. It was the significant rebuke which the +merchants made; but they did not stop at that - they erased their names +from the carriers' lists. Thousands of other citizens did the same. That +morning the Herald was a sheet of forty columns, with the largest +advertising patronage and largest circulation of any daily newspaper in +San Francisco. The next morning it appeared, a small sheet, not much +larger than a sheet of foolscap, of twenty-four columns. The Herald was +the favorite organ of the Democracy, of the anti-Broderick and Southern +wing of the party, particularly. The especial organ of that wing, the +Times and Transcript, had ceased publication a few months before, and +its patronage went mostly to the Herald. Nugent was opposed to Gwin, the +powerful leader of the anti-Broderick party, more than he was to +Broderick; but this was overlooked by many of Gwin's supporters. The +friends, of General McDougall were his warmest friends and backers, They +now rallied to his support and to the sustenance of the Herald. General +Volney E. Howard, J. Thompson Campbell, Judge R. Augustus Thompson, W. +T. Sherman, the manager of Lucas, Turner & Co.'s banking house here - +now General Sherman - Austin E. Smith, Sam. E. Brooks, Gouverneur +Morris, Hamilton Bowie, Major Richard Roman; and the solid old merchant, +Captain Archibald Ritchie, With hundreds others, stood steadfast by +Nugent, for Law and Order, and against the Committee. J. Neely Johnson +was Governor of the State, and controlled the militia. He was petitioned +by the Law and Order Organization to take action and issue a +proclamation requiring the Vigilance Committee to disband. Governor +Johnson came from Sacramento to San Francisco by steamboat on Friday +night, and was met at the wharf by a deputation of the Law and Order +body. Subsequently, up town, a committee from the Vigilance Committee, +accompanied by Col. Baillie Peyton, met him, and with them he held a +long conference. + + + +Chapter III. + + + +The particular subjects at issue, on each side, were the status of the +Committee, the authority of the Governor to command its disbandment. The +Committee had expressed the desire or the intention to have Casey +committed to their custody, alleging that his escape from the jail was +not unlikely for certain reasons. The Governor at length acceded in +general terms to the propositions of the Committee, and measurably +assured them his support. The Law and Order leaders were amazed, +incensed and disgusted at the weakness of Governor Johnson. He had as +good as surrendered the jail to them, and they had only to go and seize +it, and capture the prisoners. This was known in the city on Saturday, +and the Law and Order body prepared for the expected emergency - the +defence of the jail from the assault of the Committee. Steps were taken +for the defence of the jail by the Law and Order men, who volunteered +for the occasion. The Committee had likewise made preparations. + +A digression of amusing nature will not be out of place here: The +steamboats from Sacramento then landed at Pacific street wharf, and +arrived usually about 9:30. The Oakland ferry boat made her last trip +over a few minutes after the Sacramento boat landed her passengers. +Governor Foote had his residence at Clinton. Saturday morning one of his +daughters called at my office and said that her father was at Benicia, +and they expected him home that night. "But," she continued, "you know +what a terrible excitement there is in the city, and how likely father +is to take active part in anything which enlists his sympathies or stirs +his feelings; and we all fear that he will do something imprudent. I +know he will be very strong on the Law and Order side, and it will be +better for us all if he will come directly home and not stay in the city +to get mixed up in these terrible troubles." She requested me, +therefore, to be at the boat that night when she landed, and to prevail +upon her father, if he were otherwise disposed, to take the boat for +Oakland. I promised, and that night I took a hack for the wharf, a +quarter of an hour before the usual time of the boat's arrival. As the +hack turned from Montgomery street into Washington, I noticed a crowd at +the door-way of the Bank Exchange. Calling to the driver to stop a +moment, I entered the saloon. I learned that the boat had already +arrived, a half hour ahead of ordinary time. My disappointment was in a +moment sunk in my surprise. I heard Governor Foote's voice in loud +tones, toward the front of the room. It was a surprise to see him in a +barroom, for he was not addicted to drinking, and except in the Orleans +at Sacramento during the Legislature, when he was candidate for United +States Senator, I had never seen him in a saloon. But that which most +astonished me was the Governor's warmth of approval of the Vigilance +Committee, and his animadversions and regrets in regard to some of his +friends, who had taken active part on the Law and Order side. He stood +the centre figure of the crowd close about him, declaiming with his +accustomed fluency and energy. I left the saloon, dismissed the hack, +and walked to my own quarters, ruminating on the common saying that, +"white man is mighty uncertain." Thence on Governor Foote was a red-hot +"Vigilante." + +Sunday morning, May 18th, there were, besides the Sheriff and his +deputies, the officers and guards, a force of 106 Law and Order men, +armed with muskets, inside the County Jail, ready to defend it against +the expected attack of the Vigilance troops. Before noon they came from +every part of the city, several thousand strong. A piece of artillery +was trained in front of the jail entrance, with men to handle it. The +armed force in the jail and upon the wall appeared ready for the +encounter. The Commander of the Committee forces demanded from the +Sheriff the surrender of Casey and Cora. It was refused. There was some +parleying. It ended in the withdrawal of the jail guard, and of the Law +and Order forces also, the admission of the Vigilance officers into the +jail, and the surrender to them of Casey and Cora, who were taken to the +rooms of the Committee, and put in the separate cells prepared for them. +The whole affair occurred within the space of an hour. The State and +City and County authorities had succumbed to the Committee without +resistance, and the law was usurped by the new and self-constituted +power. The Courts were virtually overborne and ignored, if not derided; +and the will of the Vigilance Committee became the supreme law in San +Francisco. + +In the County Jail at the time was Rod. Backus, a young man of good +family, cousin of Phil. Backus, an auctioneer of considerable prominence +in mercantile and social circles. Rod. Backus had shot dead a man whose +face he had never seen until the moment before he shot him, a dozen +paces distant. It was in Stout's alley. It was a murder, a wanton +murder, without provocation, excuse, extenuation or palliation whatever. +Rod. Backus was a frequent visitor at a house of the demi-monde in the +alley, and one Jennie French was his favorite. As he came to visit her +one evening, at dusk, she was standing in the doorway, at the head of +the iron stairway which led to the entrance on the second floor. On the +opposite side of the alley, walking slowly toward Jackson street, was a +man of ordinary appearance. As Rod met her on the top platform, Jennie +said to him: "Rod, that fellow has insulted me; shoot the - -." At +the word Backus drew his pistol and fired. The man fell. He had turned +his face the moment Backus fired. It was an instantly fatal shot. Backus +had influential friends among business men and politicians. The Coroner +held an inquest. A jury to hold Backus blameless had been secured, but +they overshot their mark - the thing was too transparent, too +bare-faced. The murdered man was a German much respected by his +countrymen. They determined to press the matter to justice. Backus was +indicted, tried, convicted of murder and sentenced to death. None of +just mind questioned the righteousness. But his case was appealed, and +at last he had his crime reduced in degree, and received sentence of a +short term - three or five years in San Quentin prison. This easy +let-off did not satisfy him; he wanted a verdict of acquittal, and +expected still to get it. Accordingly he again appealed his case, and +while in the County Jail awaiting the action of the Supreme Court upon +his appeal, the Committee had seized and taken away Casey and Cora. He +was not molested; nevertheless, his fear of consequences impelled him to +withdraw his appeal, submit to his sentence, and serve his term at San +Quentin. He even begged to be taken there at once, and he was. The +explanation made by the Committee leaders for not taking Backus was that +the law had already passed judgment in his case, and the Committee was +not disposed to interfere with the judgments of the Courts. The +explanation was puerile and inconsistent with their action in the case +of Cora, who was also in the hands of the Court and was awaiting another +trial. A portion of the jury, among this portion Front street merchants +and other respectable business men, had held him to be not guilty; and +surely this was more than any juror had expressed in the case of Backus. +Moreover, Backus had himself demonstrated his dissatisfaction with the +very mild verdict in his last trial, and was, the same as Cora, awaiting +the issue of another trial. The common belief was that Backus owed his +exemption from the grasp of the Committee and from the dread penalty +which Casey and Cora suffered, not to any doubt as to his guilt, but +solely on account of his relationship and his social standing. He had +been boon companion of many of the young men of the Committee before he +committed the murder in Stout's alley. + +Now, as to Casey: he has been described as a ruffian and villain of +irredeemable depravity - desperate to the last degree. James P. Casey +was a young man of bright, intelligent and rather prepossessing face, +neat in his person, inclined to fine clothes, but not flashy or gaudy in +his attire. He was of low stature, slender frame, lithe and compact, +sinewy, nervous, and very agile. His eyes were blue and large, of bold +expression. His voice was full and sonorous. He had served as Assistant +County Treasurer for two years, handled a large aggregate of money in +that capacity, and his accounts squared to a cent when he handed over +the books to his successor. He was twice Supervisor. His record in that +office will favorably compare with that of any who have succeeded him. +During his lifetime in San Francisco he was never accused of crime; +never suspected of criminal offence. Ballot box stuffing was charged to +his account; also fraudulent counting in elections. Doubtless there was +foundation for each charge. But there were members of the Executive +Committee who had been associated with him in these gross wrongs, and at +least one of them had gained place and profit therefrom; and these +equally or more guilty men voted to hang their former associate in evil +deeds. It may be remarked, further, that in the face of the colossal +frauds of Returning Boards and Canvassing Boards within the last dozen +years, in States South and in the States North, by which the people were +defrauded of their choice for President on two occasions, the offences +of Casey in the comparatively small matter of a municipal election, are +better left unmentioned. Even now, in San Francisco, how many are there +in local office who can with clear conscience declare their innocence of +crookedness or corruption, or fraud in elections? When it comes to +throwing the stone at the staked sinner, conscience palsies the arm of +many who feel disposed to throw it. Casey was once in the city prison +for riotous conduct. At a very hotly contested democratic primary +election, in the early fall of 1855, between the Broderick and Gwin +wings of the party, Casey got into trouble. The polls were on Kearny +near Pine street. Toward the close nearly all on each side who had +participated in the election were in inflamed condition. Casey had gone +to the polling place to ascertain the result. He carried no weapon. +Immediately he was set upon by five of the wing, to which he was opposed +- Bob Cushing, J. W. Bagley, and three others, all armed with either +knife or pistol - two of them with both. Casey did not know fear; he was +game from crown to toe. One ball grazed his forehead on the right side, +another the occiput just behind the left ear, and shot off his hat. His +shiney bald head made that a conspicuous mark, but the range was too +short and the shooters were too excited for accurate aim. Casey had been +taken by surprise, but the slight creasing of the bullets, abrading the +skin and stinging, instantly impelled him to rapid and desperate action. +He rushed upon one of his assailants and wrested a knife from his grasp. +With this he turned upon Cushing, plunged it in his body just above the +lower ribs, and as Cushing was sinking to the ground, he turned the +knife and cut upwards with such power as to cleave the rib the blade +struck against. One of the five had become so nerveless at the sight, +that he dropped his pistol. Casey leaped and secured it. He shot at +Barley and the ball penetrated his breast. As he fell, Casey likewise +secured his pistol. The two others were game, but confused and shot +wildly. The bullets went through Casey's coat and vest, riddling each in +a dozen places; but not one of them did so much as to graze his skin. +The third man had been paralyzed with fright after the first clash. +After emptying their revolvers ineffectually the two others left the +ground; Casey remained the master of it. Not for long, however. A +policeman who had watched the affray from a safe distance then rushed +up, arrested Casey, took him to the City prison, and booked him for +assault with a deadly, weapon. That evening I met Colonel Baillie +Peyton, Colonel Jo. P. Hoge, and Colonel Ed. Beale on Kearny street. +They had been told of the encounter, and expressed the desire to see +Casey to compliment him for his bravery, and congratulate him upon his +miraculous escape. Accordingly we visited the prison and saw Casey, with +his clothes shot to shreds from the left shoulder pit down to his waist, +and no wounds other than the slight creases upon his forehead and +occiput, neither of these so deep as to draw blood. All of us expressed +surprise that the policeman had arrested him - attacked and fighting for +his life in clear self-defence, as he had been - and letting his +assailants go free. Colonel Hoge and Colonel Peyton volunteered to act +as counsel for him in Court; and bidding him go good-night, whit hearty +shake of hands, we all came away. Next morning no one appeared to +prosecute him, and Casey was discharged. + +It will serve to state the offence for which Casey was sentenced to +State Prison in New York, before he left for California. He had, the +same as many other young men, taken up with a girl of loose character, +whose chastity had been spoiled by another, and hired and furnished an +apartment for her. The two lived as man and wife - much as too many live +in that same relation, for they quarreled and separated. In his hot +temper one day, he saw her upon the street, and instantly the thought +flashed upon his mind that he would go to her apartment and have the +furniture taken from it. He still kept a key to the door. He hired a +wagon, and carried out his determination. The landlady supposed it to be +all right. He had paid the rent in advance and she was that much the +gainer. He took the furniture to a second-hand furniture dealer, sold it +and kept the money. As he bought it, he felt that it was his to sell. On +the return of the girl, the landlady told her what had occurred. In +taking the furniture, he had also carried away some articles which +belonged to the girl. She hurried to the police Court, made charge +against him, and he was arrested. He made no defence and was convicted. +The sentence was eighteen months in Sing Sing prison. He served his time +and came to California. This was the damning record which James King of +William had threatened to publish in his Bulletin. He did not publish +the facts of the case; but only the fact of the indictment, the +conviction, the sentence and imprisonment. King had been told all this +by a man who had been clerk to the District Attorney, and was cognizant +of all the facts. He was a prominent Broderick man, hated Casey for +having left that wing of the party and joined the other wing, and +adopted this means to blast him in reputation. Casey was morbidly +sensitive on the subject. He had been apprised that King intended to +publish the matter; and early in the afternoon of the day of the +shooting he called upon Mr. King in his office, and warned him to desist +from the publication. King gave no heed to the warning; the matter +appeared in the Bulletin that day. Casey was exasperated to madness. He +armed himself, watched for King on Montgomery street, but he did not +conceal himself. It was King's invariable custom to leave his office in +the small one-story brick building which so long obstructed Merchant +street on the east side of Montgomery, soon after the Bulletin was +issued, walk to the cigar store on the north-west corner of Washington +and Montgomery streets, and thence out Washington street homeward. He +usually wore a talma of coarse fabric, loose and reaching to his hips. +It was sleeveless, concealing his arms and hands. As he came out of the +cigar store, Casey hailed him. The distance between the two was about +forty feet. Casey shouted to him, "Prepare yourself!" and fired. King +tottered and sunk upon the sidewalk. He had frequently made notice in +his paper that any whom he denounced in its columns had the privilege of +adopting their own mode of recourse; stated the route he usually took to +and from his office, and with the significant hint, "God help any one +who attacks me," defied that method of redress. Casey took him at his +word. King was borne to the room in Montgomery block, in which he died a +few days afterward. The ball had penetrated his body from the left side +of his breast, just below the line of the arm pit, and ranging upward +and outward to the back of the left shoulder. The surgeons pronounced it +a dangerous but not a mortal wound. Dr. Beverly R. Cole was +Surgeon-General to the Committee brigade, and a member of the Committee. +Months afterward he declared in a public statement of the case that King +died from the unskillful treatment of the surgeons, and maintained that +with proper treatment he would have recovered. Still it was the wound +which superinduced his death; and Casey had fired the ball which made +it. + + + +Chapter IV. + + + +May 22d, the day of King's funeral, while the immense procession was +passing through Montgomery street, Casey and Cora were hanged. Two +projecting beams had been rigged from the roof of the building on +Sacramento street, occupied by the Committee, for the purpose. Out of +two of the windows of the second story, immediately under these beams +two stout planks, sixteen inches wide, were extended over the street to +an equal distance. At the outer end of each plank, on the under side, +were stout hinges connecting the traps upon which the two men were +placed, with the ropes about their necks, suspended from the beams. Two +other ropes held the traps even with the planks. The two men were led +out upon the traps. Permission was given to them to speak their last +words. Casey availed himself of the privilege and spoke a few minutes in +clear loud voice, in somewhat excited manner, denying his guilt of +murder and vindicating his action. Cora stood all the while as +motionless as a statue. Not a tremor or quiver was perceptible. The +white cap covered his head and face to below the chin. At the conclusion +of Casey's brief speech, the cap was drawn over his face, and as the +hangman pulled it down he whispered in his ear something that made the +doomed man start as if to break the bands which held his arms. In an +instant the signal was given, the traps sprung, by the two men on the +roof cutting the ropes which upheld them, and Casey and Cora were +launched for the death to quickly come. Casey struggled for a few +moments; Cora showed no sign of pain or life. After death the bodies +were cut down, and shortly afterward were delivered to friends who had +provided for their burial. The hangman of Casey was Sterling Hopkins, a +notorious character, with whom Casey once had a difficulty. He had +begged the Committee to officiate in the event of Casey's condemnation +to death by the rope, and the whispered words he hissed in Casey's ear, +as he subsequently boasted, were of exultation over his opportunity of +revenge, and of brutish import respecting the powerless victim, Casey +had been foreman of Crescent Engine Company, No. 10, located on Pacific +street, below Front. Cora's remains were given quiet interment. The +Sunday following the execution Casey was buried. A very large procession +followed his remains to the Mission Dolores Cemetery, in which a +monument was in due time erected to his memory. Upon it is inscribed the +manner of his death. + +Governor Johnson had at first played into the hands of the Committee. He +had come down from Sacramento to San Francisco, in the middle of May, +and virtually caused the surrender of the county jail to the Vigilantes, +for the capture of Casey and Cora. At the instance of the leading men of +the Law and Order organization, he subsequently changed his course, and +endeavored to undo that which he had done. It was too late. The +Committee had already become the master of the situation. It was the +supreme power in San Francisco, and it had erected such harmony of +spirit with it in Sacramento, Marysville, Stockton, San Jose and other +interior cities and towns, that it was the paramount local authority and +formidable generally throughout the State. General Wool was at that time +in command of this Federal military department. The Federal Arsenal was +at Benicia. For the want of authority from the Federal government at +Washington, neither the military nor the naval forces could interfere, +and the hands of General Wool, the same of Commodore Farragut, were +practically tied, The only way in which the Federal authority could be +invoked was by due process of constitutional law. This required that the +Governor should convene the Legislature, that that body should call out +the State militia to quell the insurgent or rebellious Vigilantes; and, +these being insufficient for that purpose, then the call for the aid of +the Federal forces would be in order. It would take months to do all +this. Prompt action was the imperative necessity. Governor Johnson did +not act with promptitude. He sent on a committee of citizens to +Washington. President Pierce could do nothing under the circumstances. +He must first be satisfied that the Powers of the State had been +inadequate to overcome the trouble. This had not been done; and it was +of first importance before the strong arm of the Federal authority could +be ordered. + +Meantime an incident occurred which helped to fortify the Committee and +to impair the power of the State, in the popular estimation. Upon order +of Governor Johnson, six cases of muskets were delivered to Jas. R. +Maloney, at Benicia arsenal, put aboard the schooner Julia, to be +delivered at San Francisco, to the Law and Order organization. The +Vigilance Committee Executive had been apprised of the transaction, and +adopted means to get possession of the arms. Accordingly, on June 21st, +as the Julia was on her way down from Benicia, she was boarded in San +Francisco Bay by C. E. Rand and John L. Durkee, in the employ of the +Committee, and the two captured the schooner, took possession of the +muskets, and delivered them into the keeping of the Committee. The six +cases contained 113 muskets. Action was brought against Rand and Durkee +for piracy, in the United States Circuit Court, Judge M. Hall McAllister +presiding, and Judge Ogden Hoffman sitting as associate. The trial came +off September, 1856, and on the 23d of that month the jury returned a +verdict of acquittal. Adjutant-General Kibbe, of the State militia, +meantime made unavailing demand upon the Executive Committee for the +arms. They were not returned to the State until after the Committee had +disbanded. + +The next who suffered death at the hands of the Committee were +Hetherington and Brace. Hetherington was an Englishman, a man of +considerable wealth. He was six feet stature, of heavy form, strong in +muscular power, equally so in will and purpose; and he was overbearing +in his nature, violent in his passions. He was possessed of valuable +city property. In a difficulty over a lot toward North Beach, a few +years before, he had shot dead Dr. Baldwin, who had located upon it and +claimed it as his own. He was tried and acquitted. Hetherington had had +money transactions with Dr. Randall, formerly Collector of Monterey, and +owner of a large tract of land in Butte County. He had loaned a large +sum of money to Randall, which Randall seemed indisposed to pay. There +was some irregularity in the note or in the mortgage bond. Randall +contended that these were made at the instance of Hetherington himself, +and insisted upon the theory that no man can take advantage of a fault +of his own; that every man was bound to do exactly that to which the law +held him, and equally bound not to do anything to which the law did not +bind him. Consequently, inasmuch as the fault was Hetherington's, he was +therefore absolved from the payment of the note. One afternoon, Dr. +Randall took quarters in the St. Nicholas hotel, on Sansome street, west +side, between Sacramento and Commercial streets, kept by Colonel +Armstrong, and sat in the office room, in conversation with Colonel W. +W. Gift. Hetherington happened in, accosted Randall and abruptly +demanded the payment of the note. Randall responded evasively. +Hetherington's choler rose, and he came upon Randall in threatening +manner. Randall ran behind the office small counter. Hetherington +pursued him, caught him by his long beard, reaching to the middle of his +breast, and threw him upon the floor. As Randall rose, Hetherington drew +his pistol and fired. The shot was instantly fatal. In brief time, +Hetherington was arrested by an officer of the law. A force of vigilance +officers demanded his surrender, took him and hurried him to the +Committee rooms. Through this action the lawful authorities were +forcibly prevented passing upon his case. + +Brace was a young man, almost a boy. He had killed a man miles away from +the City, but within the county. I have forgotten the circumstances of +the crime. The Committee had custody of him, however, and condemned him, +as well as Hetherington. Notice was publicly given that the two would be +hanged the afternoon Of July 29th. The gallows was erected on a vacant +half block on Front street, as I remember, between California and +Sacramento streets, west side. It was at least twenty feet high, with a +ladder from the ground to the platform. From the top cross-beam dangled +the ropes. The platform afforded standing space for half a dozen men. A +large crowd had gathered to witness the execution. From a cart on the +California corner, B. B. Redding and myself were onlookers. The +condemned men were brought to the place under strong guard. Each of them +mounted to the scaffold. Brace with quick-step; Hetherington with +composure. The hangman, named Dixon, was dressed in long black gown; a +black hood completely concealed his face; a clergyman, and two or three +of the Vigilance officers or guards followed. A strong guard under arms +was stationed about the foot of the gallows. Permission was given the +two to say anything they wished. Brace broke forth in a loud rant, +profane and obscene, and danced about like one demented. The clergyman +felt obliged to stop his blasphemous harangue by cramming his +handkerchief over his mouth. He broke away, nevertheless, and again +poured forth a tirade, declaring that he was being murdered. At length +he became exhausted and ceased speaking. All this time - and it was +fully five minutes - Hetherington stood composed and with dignified +mien, looking down upon the immense crowd, occasionally glancing at +Bruce, who was to his right, and manifested horror at his ravings. When +Bruce became silent he spoke. His manner was deliberate and his voice +low, clear and firm. He protested against the action of he Committee in +his case; in taking his life they were more guilty of murder than he +was, for it was in violation of the law. He asserted that he had not +committed murder. Then declaring he should die without malice or enmity +toward any, he courteously bowed and indicated to the officers that he +was ready for the ordeal. The nooses were adjusted, the caps drawn over +their heads, the signal given. The hangman cut the rope which held the +traps in place, and down plunged the pinioned bodies of the pair. Bruce +writhed and struggled a few moments; then hung as lifeless until his +body was taken down. He was of medium stature, slight figure and light +in weight. Hetherington's body swayed, but there was no perceptible +motion of his limbs. He met death with placid firmness, without bravado. +Henry H. Haight, his attorney for years, stated that he was one of the +most upright and honorable men in his dealings and general conduct that +he had ever known. These were the last that suffered death by sentence +of the Vigilance Committee. + +It is now appropriate to relate some facts in relation to James King of +William. He had been a clerk in a banking house in Washington, and came +to California in the early years of the gold hunting. He established a +bank in San Francisco, corner of Montgomery and Commercial streets, +across from Davidson's. In a year or more Jacob R. Snyder became partner +in the bank; but withdrew after about a year. King afterwards merged his +bank in that of Adams & Co., of which J. C. Woods was manager. His name +was James King. He had suffixed the "of William" to be distinguished +from others of his name - as John Randolph used to sign himself "of +Roanoke." + +Mr. King continued with Adams & Co. as manager of the bank until the +failure of that Company, He then became involved in trouble with the +Company. The bank failed one afternoon. Up to noon that day King had +received deposits. It was known to other banking houses in the city that +the bank would be obliged to close as it did. The word had got out, and +some of the depositors became alarmed, and a number withdrew their +deposits, notwithstanding Mr. King's assurance that the bank was solvent +and solid. Others took his word for it, allowed their deposits to +remain, and lost all they had in the bank. There was some mysterious +handling of the large amount of money known to be in the bank at the +time of the failure. The parties in charge refused to allow Mr. King any +part in their transactions as to the disposition of this money - +reported to be considerably more than $100,000 in gold coin. He demanded +$20,000 as his share. This was refused. He then published a statement +reflecting upon the persons in charge. This was responded to by a +scathing statement, published in the Alta, in which Mr. King was held up +for public condemnation as a dishonest man, guilty of faithlessness and +fraud. He was also accused of having swindled Page, Bacon & Co. of +$400,000, by the sale of bogus gold dust as genuine. + +The popular sentiment at the time was that the charges were sustained, +and the feeling was strong against him. He was without means and out of +business. He conceived the project of going into the newspaper business, +of starting a daily evening paper, and obtained a loan of $250 for that +purpose from R. D. Sinton, of the real estate and auctioneer firm of +Selover & Sinton, then the leading firm in that line in the city. He +started the Evening Bulletin, a small sheet, and rented the small brick +building in Merchant street for the publication office. The Daily +Chronicle, published by Frank Soule and William H. Newall, had taken +side against the Committee, and soon afterwards ceased publication. +Employed on it as a writer was James Nesbitt, an Englishman, of superior +journalistic ability. King employed Nesbitt to assist him on the +Bulletin. It was made the medium of attack and animadversion upon State +and county and city officials, and some of its attacks were as +justifiable as are the attacks of the STAR upon rascals in high places +now, while others were actuated by personal spite. + +The paper prospered. The multitude enjoyed its sharp, short, stinging +paragraphs; its vim and vehemence. At length its columns were turned +against Major Selover with unrestrained virulence. He had no equal means +of reply or defence at his command, but he had at last uttered threats +of personal nature, and published King as a liar, a swindler and a +coward. To all this Mr. King responded in his Bulletin, by stating in +that paper that he defied Selover; and he went on to state the place of +his residence; the time he left home to go to his office in the morning; +the route thither he usually took: and also the same details of his +customary way home every afternoon. Selover, or any other person who +felt aggrieved on account of anything which appeared in the Bulletin was +similarly apprised, and thus dared or invited to encounter him on the +street. To all of which was added the significant remark for the +consideration of Selover particularly, and all others generally: "God +have mercy upon my assailant." There was no mistaking this language. And +the common opinion was that whatever else would be said of James King of +William, he was a game and fearless man. Casey's own statement of the +deplorable affair - made in his cell to a friend who had been permitted +to visit him in his four by eight feet cell, the day before his death, +in the presence and hearing of the guard then on duty, was substantially +as follows: that after all Mr. King had said in his paper, any one who +attacked him should be well prepared against the worst to himself; that, +accordingly, after he had called early that afternoon upon Mr. King, in +his office, and told him what would be the consequence in case the +Bulletin should publish the matter against him, and it was published, he +very naturally expected that King would be prepared for the encounter. +But as he did not wish to take first advantage of him, but to allow him +fair chance, he cried out to him to prepare, and then fired. He expected +Mr. King to return the fire. He did not know whether the ball had hit +King or not, because King's loose talina covered his upper body and +prevented him from seeing its effect. That - to use Casey's own words - +"seeing he did not fire, and believing him a dung-hill,' I did not shoot +again, but turned to walk away, when I saw him falling; then I knew that +I must have hit him, and I went to the City Hall to surrender myself." + +To the same person, on the occasion first above referred to - and Casey +knew then that his death was certain at the hands of the Committee - he +remarked that he had no fear of death; that he would meet it with +composure, although he did not deserve it; that which troubled him was +that his aged mother should be told that her son was a murderer. This +pained him. She lived in New York. He had regularly remitted money to +her to maintain her in comfort in her old age; and now she must suffer +privation and misery, with the great burden of the knowledge of the +manner of his death to weigh her down to the grave. He wished to say +something of a confidential nature to his visitor, but the guard refused +to permit this, and said that he must hear everything that was uttered. +He stood close to Casey all the time, and maintained the utmost severity +of demeanor, the most inexorable nature, during the brief time allowed +for the visit. + + + +Chapter V. + + + +Casey and Cora were hanged on Thursday, May 22d. On Monday, June 2d, a +meeting of the advocates of Law and Order was held in the Plaza. +Thousands of the Committee members and supporters assembled about the +square. Nothing effective came of it. Governor Johnson had meantime been +prevailed upon by prominent citizens, on the side of Law and Order, to +adopt a course calculated to suppress the Committee. It was too late. +The Law and Order element had organized a military force under the State +militia 1 ws. W. T. Sherman was made General. Governor Johnson issued a +proclamation commanding the State militia to hold themselves in +readiness for duty, and to report to General Sherman. In the city a +force of about three hundred mustered. It was totally inadequate, and +not enough could be expected from the country. In the harbor, in front +of the city, the war-ship John Adams, Commander Bontwell, was anchored. +Commodore Farragut, commandant of this naval station, was at Mare +Island. It was rumored that the Adams would support the authorities in +case of conflict with the Committee. Another rumor was that cannons were +to be placed upon the hills and at points which commanded the city, to +be used if necessary. The excitement continued and increased. A +deputation was sent to Washington, at the instance of the Governor, to +represent the condition of affairs to the President, and prevail upon +him to order the services of the military and naval forces to the +suppression of the Committee and the restoration of law and order. The +deputation took the next steamer and proceeded to the national capital. +President Pierce replied that the federal government had no authority to +interfere until the request came from the State government after the +Legislature had assembled, acted upon the matter, and the State +authorities had exhausted every means to put down the Committee and +failed. + +While the excitement was heightened by these rumors and proceedings, an +incident occurred which augmented it to frenzied quality. The armory of +the Law and Order forces was in the capacious brick building, northeast +corner of Dupont and Jackson streets. On Jackson street, near by, a +number of its members and sympathizers were standing in groups. Sterling +Hopkins, the volunteer hangman of Casey, of the Vigilance police, came +up and attempted the arrest of Reub. Maloney, a notorious politician, +whose impudence of speech and reckless ways in partisan devices had made +him an unenviable reputation. His bravery was in his mouth; his mouth +beyond his own control. Judge David S. Terry, then of the State Supreme +Court, interposed to prevent the lawless arrest, and in the struggle he +drew a knife and dangerously wounded Hopkins. In a few minutes word had +reached the Committee headquarters, and the alarm was sounded with +unexampled vigor. The Committee forces, marshalled and led by the +Commander-in-chief, Charles Doane, Major General, marched in quick time +to the scene. Judge Terry had gone to the armory, Maloney and others +with him. The Law and Order troops were less than three hundred strong. +The Vigilance force numbered several thousand. A surrender was demanded. +It would have been folly to resist, and with Terry and Maloney as +prisoners, and the Law and Order troops as prisoners of war, so to say, +the Vigilance forces marched back to their fortified quarters. The +arrest of Judge Terry wrought the excitement to its climax. What would +the Committee do with him? was the question asked by every one. His +residence was temporarily in Sacramento, but Stockton was his home place. +Governor Johnson was devoted to him; David S. Douglass, Secretary of +State, was a bosom friend. Hundreds in the capital city were prepared to +go to any length to rescue him. His thousands of friends in San Joaquin, +everywhere in the San Joaquin Valley, were aroused to the extremity of +desperation. All over the State the feeling for Judge Terry was very +strong. Harm to him would have precipitated a domestic row, which would +have caused immense sacrifice of life, and the destruction of San +Francisco. It would have extended into the interior, and raged there in +bloodshed and devastation. The peaceful way out of the difficulty was +thought the better course, if it could be accomplished. The occasion was +extraordinary, and never contemplated - the exigency beyond immediate +solution. As James Dows, one of the coolest in judgment and wisest in +counsel of the Executive Committee, pertinently described the situation +in the pithy remark, "We started in to hunt cayotes, but we've got a +grizzly bear on our hands, and we don't know what to do with him." The +Executive Committee were not themselves masters of the situation. Behind +them, subject to them and ready to obey their commands on ordinary +occasions, were the 5,000 members of the Committee who carried arms, and +felt themselves superior to even the Executive Committee, if occasion +should happen to test the matter. Of their number nearly one-third were +of foreign nationality, and of these a considerable proportion did not +very well speak English - they were of revolutionary, if not +insurrectionary temper - and had participated in uprisings in their +native land against the government. Many of the native born members were +of similar disposition. It had been resolved by this element of the +Committee, that if Hopkins should die, Terry must hang; and the only +alternative of the Executive Committee would be to order the execution +or spirit him away, at the peril of their own lives. To hang a Justice +of the highest judicial tribunal of the State, was a very serious matter +to contemplate - a most hazardous extremity in any event. If spared from +the fury of their troops, by ordering the execution, their death was +certain at the hands of Judge Terry's avengers. In this quandary, the +Executive Committee were as anxious for a safe way out, without blood or +sacrifice, as any of the friends of Terry. Secretary of State Douglass +came to San Francisco. He persuaded ex-Senator Gwin to interpose on +Terry's behalf. Gwin dispatched Sam. J. Bridges, Appraiser-General, to +Mare Island, to request Commodore Farragut to meet him in San Francisco +on Wednesday, June 25th. On the afternoon of that day, Farragut, Gwin +and two others, on behalf of Law and Order, met four members of the +Executive Committee, in a room on the third floor of the Custom House. +Senator Gwin explained the object of the conference - to secure the +release of Judge Terry. Commodore Farragut then made the proposition: +that he would have a boat sent from the John Adams to a stipulated +landing place on Market street wharf, at midnight; that the Executive +Committee should have Judge Terry escorted to the landing place at that +hour; that the Adams should immediately sail for Mare Island; and that +there he (Commodore Farragut) would exact a promise from Judge Terry, +before he left the vessel, that he would go into the interior of the +State, not visit San Francisco inside of six months, and meantime +neither excite nor encourage any popular feeling against the Vigilance +organization. To this James Dows responded on behalf of the Executive +Committee: that the Committee had already submitted to them a +proposition from Judge Terry himself, to the effect that he would resign +his place upon the Supreme Bench, consent to have the Committee put him +on board the next steamer for Panama, and not return to California +within the succeeding six months. He added that, although this +proposition had been before the Executive Committees twenty hours, no +definite action had yet been agreed upon; the recovery or death of +Hopkins was the paramount factor in the case, because of the intense +feeling against Terry among the larger proportion of the Committee +troops. At this juncture, J. D. Farwell, also one of the Executive +Committee, spoke. He was voluble and vehement. He said that the +Vigilance organization acknowledged no authority to be superior to +itself. "We have," he continued in loud tone and gasconading temper, +"proved ourselves the superiors of the City and County, government, and +of the State government; and if the Federal government dares" - He got +no further. Commodore Farragut sprang to his feet, his eyes flashing +fire, as electric sparks in brilliancy; his face betokening his fierce +indignation; his whole frame seeming a prodigy of the grandeur of human +passion highest wrought - the incarnation of the noblest majesty and +sublimest patriotism. "Stop, sir!" he thundered - Farwell had stopped +and sunk into his seat. And then the heroic Commodore went on to declare +what the duty of a citizen was; that which he should do, if occasion +required; and closed his less than five minutes burst of withering +rebuke and eloquent counsel with an impressive appeal to the other +members of the Committee present. The folly and rashness of Farwell had +thwarted the wise intentions of the parties who invited the conference. +It ended with Commodore Farragut's thrilling words. In a week or more +Hopkins was considered past danger from his wound, and Judge Terry was +thereupon set free. The Committee had now accomplished about all that +had been contemplated at its organization. It had put to death four men. +Of these at least two were not guilty of murder, as the law defines that +crime. As to the other two, the course of justice in the Courts at that +time gave no warrant for the presumption or belief that a fair and just +trial would not have, been given them; that their conviction and the +death penalty would not have followed. It is not too much to assert +that, so far as escape from the penalty of murder is involved, there has +been, any time these ten years, and there is now, in San Francisco, +stronger cause for a Vigilance Committee than there was in 1856. The +administration of the law was better then in general criminal procedure +than it is now. There were fewer heinous crimes then, in the ratio of +population, then the record of any year for the past ten years will +show. In the category of crimes, such as forgery, perjury, embezzlement, +frauds by which large sums of money or valuable property is obtained, +were then infrequent; now of daily occurrence. But in crimes of violence +the record is enormously against this period in comparison with that; +the infliction of penalties by the Courts was then more certain than it +is now. And as to ballot-box stuffing and frauds in elections, surely +the worst ever charged against the manipulators of that period, pales +and sinks into insignificance when compared with the colossal fraud +committed in San Francisco, in 1876, by which not only the will of the +people of the State was overborne, but also the will of the people of +the United States. Yet the perpetrators of the unparalleled fraud have +never been called to account or punished; to the contrary they are +recognized as gentlemen of respectability, even by those who, in 1856, +forcibly and lawlessly, as Vigilance Committee members, banishement for +stuffing ballot-boxes to secure merely a local advantage by the success +of a ward ticket. Straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel never had +more conspicuous illustration. And the burning fact remains incredible +that among the members of the Executive Committee were some who had +themselves obtained office by bribery and corruption, by calling into +play the stuffing of ballot-boxes, and by all the wicked and infamous +means which were at that time practiced. Another member was, as I have +stated before, a felon who had served his time in the Ohio State Prison; +another, still living and a highly respectable church member who +professes holy horror of fraud, had in early years colluded with his +brother to get possession of valuable wharf property, of which the +brother was agent and care-taker by appointment of the owner, who had +returned to his home in the East, to be gone a year. The scheme of these +brothers was a fraud of villainous conception, but it was clumsy and +therefore failed. On his return the Courts restored the property to the +rightful owner. I might go on and point out other members of the +Executive Committee who had committed deeds which, had they been duly +brought to answer in the Courts, would have put upon them the felon's +brand and the convict's stripes, in some instances; in others, pilloried +them as rogues and swindlers, unworthy of trust, unfit for respectable +association. + +But were one to trace the career of several others of that body, the +tracks would be through the sloughs and conduits of shame and turpitude, +rascality and crime, and finally to self-murder. It was as bad - it +could hardly have been worse, except in numbers, proportioned to the +greater numerical force - in the Vigilance rank and file. It is against +reason and sense to expect that in a body of five thousand men, there +will be none who are not good and honorable; that there will be no base +and disreputable characters, no rogues and scoundrels. Therefore it was +not strange that of the Committee's entire force, so many were of the +vile stamp, notorious gold-dust "operators," who robbed the honest miner +of his "Pile," by bare-faced fraud; mock auction sharpers, high-toned +frauds and swindlers of low degree; and others who neither toiled nor +spun, yet feasted and fattened. All these found in the ranks of the +Committee their own security from the incarceration and banishment +enforced in the case of so many less culpable than themselves. But the +onus rests upon the Executive Committee - they constituted the head and +front of the grave offending of the very laws they usurped; they were +the counselors and administrators, the accusers and arbiters, of the +fate of their powerless victims. Their's was a tribunal organized to +convict - they were the prosecutors, the jurors, the judges, from whose +fiat of condemnation there was no appeal; and defense was not allowed. +Arrest meant death or banishment. The accused were prosecuted by the +promoter or participant with them in the charged offence or crime, and +convicted by the verdict in which some who had been accessories were +most strenuous for conviction. It is a rule of law that the accuser +shall come into Court with clean hands. + +Ignoring this just rule and in defiance of law, in usurping the seat of +justice, the Executive Committee gave opportunity to several of its +members to "compound for sins they were inclined to, by damning those +who had no mind to;" to sit in judgment on those whose testimony or +confession in a Court of Justice would have turned the tables and +wrought the conviction of their accusers, prosecutors and judges. But +these strictures do not apply to the greater number of the Executive +Committee - to only about a half dozen of its members. The Committee was +composed mainly of honorable men, deservedly high in the community, in +every walk and relation of life. They doubtless acted from a +conscientious sense of duty, and neither intended usurpation of the law, +violence to justice, nor any wrong whatever. They believed it incumbent +upon them to reform what they regarded as the maladministration of +public affairs, and to cleanse the city of the corruption which existed +- as it has existed and always will exist in populous communities, +agreeably to the sentiment of Jefferson, that "cities are scabs upon the +body politic." And with the best of motives they believed that the +organization of the Vigilance committee was the better and surer +remedial agent to these wholesome and commendable purposes. But their +action was akin to that of the thousands of citizens who refrain from +voting at primary elections, where the seed is planted which will +produce its kind in the fruiting on the day of the final and determining +election, and subsequently complain of the incompetency or dishonesty of +the incumbents whose election is largely attributable to the neglect of +these very citizens, to make it their special care that only good and +qualified and worthy men shall be elected at the primaries. + +I shall now pass to the conduct of the Executive Committee in their +arrests, their domiciling visits, and their enforced banishments. Among +their victims in the category, banished from the State with the penalty +of death if they returned to it, were Charles P. Duane, Billy Mulligan, +Billy Carr, Reub. Maloney, Bill Lewis, Martin Gallagher, Woolley +Kearney, Yankee Sullivan the pugilist, and John Crowe. These, with the +exception of Charley Duane, were all Democrats, devoted to Broderick. +Duane had been a Whig, was opposed to the Democrats, yet felt kindly +toward Broderick. On the other side - they could not be called +Republicans, but were always against the Democrats, and had at last +affiliated with the Know-Nothings - were men as notorious as any named +above, and of really worse character; but not one of these did the +Committee molest. They were either received into its military ranks or +were permitted to remain in the city. It was a noticeable +discrimination; no reason for it was apparent or expressed on the part +of the Executive Committee. + +Charley Duane was a man of extraordinary character in his line of life. +He had made reputation as a "handy man in a fight" and a very hard one +to master before he came of age, in New York. He came to San Francisco +early in 1850, in company with Tom Hyer, the champion prize-fighter. He +had got the sobriquet of "Dutch Charley" in New York, notwithstanding +his Irish blood. Hyer euphonized this into "German Charles." Hyer +returned to New York, Duane remained here. He was a zealous, very active +Whig, an equally zealous and active fireman; and was once elected Chief +Engineer of the Department, against George Hossefross. Subsequently he +was appointed one of the Sheriff's deputies. He had killed a Frenchman +in a difficulty, was tried for the deed and acquitted. No charge of +dishonest nature - theft, fraud, swindling, embezzlement, or anything of +the kind, was ever brought against him. But he was somewhat prone to +fight, and this was the worst that could be charged upon him. I am not +aware that he was ever accused of crookedness in elections except in his +zeal to secure the election of Delos Lake, Whig, as District Judge, in +1851. When the Vigilance Committee was organized, in 1856, he openly and +boldly denounced it, and was an ardent supporter of the Law and Order +side. On what charge he was arrested and banished I have never been able +to ascertain. The manner of his arrest added no laurels to the parties +who conspired to effect it and the participants in the arrest. It bore +the tokens of jealousy and spite sprung from his election years before +as Chief Engineer, more than of any present cause. He was entrapped, +seized, hauled to the committee cells and banished, nevertheless. + +Billy Mulligan was the incarnation of fearlessness, fight and +frolic - dangerous frolic it was sometimes to any he did not like. Of low +stature, slight frame, active as a cat, the expression of a +bull-terrier, and as, quick to an, encounter, Mulligan was not a man to +pick a quarrel with - the other party invariably second best. He had +served under Colonel Jack Hays in his troop of Texan Rangers, and +Colonel Hays gave the praise that he was one of the bravest, pluckiest, +most daring and desperate fighters he had ever had in his command. Billy +had his full share of the vices of drinking, gambling, fighting and a +fast life. He was active in politics and "went in to win." But he had +the virtue not to lie; and he would not betray any confidence reposed in +him, turn faithless to any promise he made. He was bold, frank, manly, +magnanimous except towards those he despised as well as hated, and to +these he was implacable and merciless. The world's wealth couldn't +seduce or bribe him from the support of the men he liked, no matter how +poor they might be; and he would on every occasion interpose to protect +the helpless and defenseless from the violence or maltreatment of +others. Crime of any degree was never alleged to his account. He had +faithfully served as collector of moneys for the County Treasurer two +years, and fully accounted for every dollar that he received. Beyond his +fighting bouts and his conduct in elections - about the same as prevails +now - there was nothing to warrant his arrest and banishment. But the +terrors of Fort Gunny Bags did not intimidate Mulligan. One of the +committee remarked to me, on the occasion of his death by the rifle shot +of a policeman while he was wild with delirium tremens, that he was the +only prisoner ever put in the committee cells who did not "weaken." He +was a character the community could well spare; but he had given the +committee no offence to justify his banishment. + +Yankee Sullivan's character is notorious. He was a professional +prize-fighter - ready to try conclusions in the fistic ring with any in +the world; but he feared a pistol or a knife as an ordinary man would +fear a blow from his powerful arm. He had helped Mulligan and Casey in +some of their election operations, and for that he was arrested. There +was no charge of any other nature than this and his fighting quality to +warrant his arrest. His courage or spirit broke down while confined in +the close cell, and one morning his lifeless body was found stiff in the +cell. He had opened a vein in his arm and bled to death. The rumor at +the time was - and it is still believed - that he was driven to the deed +by the remark made by one of the Vigilance guards outside the cell, but +spoken in tone calculated for Sullivan to hear it, that he was to be +hanged the next morning. To escape the ignominy of such a death, he +anticipated it by his own hand. + +Martin Gallagher and Billy Carr were boatmen, and active in party +manipulations in the interest of Mr. Broderick in the First Ward. They +were tough men to handle in a fight, and usually forced their own way in +anything they undertook. With Mulligan they often sat as delegates in +city, county and State conventions of the Democracy - together with +several other of their associates and kind, who are still more or less +prominent in city politics - some of them Democrats, some Republicans. +Bill Lewis was sent out of the country none too soon. He was a great, +powerful, terrorizing fellow, desperate and unscrupulous, and one to +beware of. He took active part in politics, and was terrible in a +"scrimmage. Of his redeeming, traits I never obtained information. +Doubtless he had some. Unlest it was on account of Woolley Kearney's +facial configuration, I have never been able to divine why the Committee +banished him. He was the homeliest, ugliess looking mortal I ever saw. +Had the Committee compelled him to go as the Veiled Prophet, with a +gunny sack instead of silver veil, there would have been at least the +essence of justice in their action. His battered, flattened, twisted, +gnarled nose, was at every point of the compass, and more hideous at +every turn. Why he didn't blow it off when he blowed it, blow'd if any +could conjecture. His eyes were squinted, his mouth a monstrous +curiosity. Every feature seemed in revolt at that nose. It would have +struck awe to the spirit of an Ogre, Woolley was no doubt ready and +willing to do any crooked deed, but none who knew him would employ him +on any mission in which skill and fidelity were required. His banishment +had, perhaps, a good effect upon the unborn generation, whose parents +had not then entered the matrimonial state. Whatever other purpose it +subserved, except to show to other communities the "latest novelty" from +California, is the unfathomable conundrum. John Crowe was a noisy, +blatant, meddlesome fellow, the keeper of a livery stable on Kearny +street, and a fierce denouncer of the Committee. There was nothing else +to his discredit, so far as I could learn at the time. Reub. Maloney was +a compound character - a good deal of a knave, something of the man in +his fidelity to his friends, reckless of everything except his own +safety in any transaction calculated to damage the cause to which he was +opposed; indifferent to what might happen to an adversary, He was a most +valiant "brave" - with his mouth; the noble quality had never penetrated +his cuticle. His passion when bloviating was furious and terrible to +look upon; but there was nothing to it more than sound and pretense. His +face would redden to congestive hue, his voice swell to sonorous volume; +but the simple kindly invitation in quiet tone: "Never mind, Reub, come +and take a drink," would unbind him in a moment, and coming up relaxed, +smiling to "smile," he would gulf down the dram, and with stated manner +remark, "Well, boys, I said about the right thing, didn't I?" He was the +faithful henchman of General James A. McDougall; hated Senator Gwin, and +between the two preferred Broderick. + +Maloney had been a drummer for a large importing house in New York, his +field of labor in the South. He had also been employed in the western +states, and endowed with good address, portly figure, much volubility, +unfailing check and invincible assurance, he successfully pushed his +way. He came to California during the fall of '47, located in Stockton, +subsequently in San Francisco, and took up "Politics" as his means of +support. To gain his point in a partisan deal, he would do anything that +was not personally dangerous. He cared for ends, and was utterly +regardless of means. He was ceaselessly putting up jobs to promote the +cause he advocated, and to break down that of the antagonists. With the +courage of Babadil he had the honesty of Ancient Pistol, the habits of +Falstaff, and the temptations of Anthony would have been to him as +pastures green to the hungering herd. Poor old Reub, his incarceration +in the Vigilance cells nearly frightened the life out of him, and his +release even under banishment, was as the open door to the caged wild +bird. He never did much harm to any cause or party that he opposed. The +Committee would have better spared him and exiled many who were worse - +some from their own ranks. + + + +Chapter VII. + + + +The last in the list is Edward McGowan - "Old Ned" - Chief of Police, +Judge, Emigration Commissioner, politician, fugitive, "ubiquitous" +soldier, retired sporting man, and still in life, nearly eighty years of +age, clear in all his faculties. He was a devoted, trusted confidential +friend of Broderick, and unpurchaseable in his friendship. He had been a +prominent actor in many hard contests in behalf of Broderick, and aided +materially in the successes which elevated that extraordinary man to the +Senate of the United States. McGowan was a warm friend to Casey - his +adviser on many occasions. He received intimation the night of Casey's +arrest, that his own was contemplated. He was not seen again in San +Francisco until his return to the State a year or more afterward, to +surrender himself and demand trial upon whatever charge the Committee, +or any, could prefer against him. His acquittal was the consequence. + +Never was fugitive more assiduously and desperately hunted than he. +Domiciliary visits, the intrusion of the Vigilance police into the homes +of citizens, of every house and room in which it was suspected McGowan +would be caught. Every friend of his was shadowed to get a clew to his +place of concealment. Yet he was for weeks securely hidden within five +miles of the city. Thence he made his escape to Santa Barbara, through +the aid of true and sagacious friends; was sheltered and protected there +by another - Jack Powers, one of the Stevenson's regiment, a fearless, +dare-devil, desperate, wily man, accustomed to wild adventures, and +hair-breadth escapes, whose own many exploits, including pursuit and +search, will some day find publication, to rival the most interesting +and exciting narratives of frontier life, and the daring and heroism of +the men bred to such life. Jack Powers had on several occasions escaped +the capture and death his Mexican pursuers had deemed inevitable. His +ingenuity now came to do service on behalf of his friend McGowan. Chief +of Police Curtis had got word that McGowan was in Santa Barbara. He was +a zealous, Vigilance man. A schooner was chartered, and a strong, armed +force sailed on her for Santa Barbara, to capture the fugitive. They +landed, searched everywhere, particularly the house, premises and +surroundings of Jack Powers' residence. Powers and McGowan both well +knew that catching meant hanging beyond all hope. After a thorough quest +Curtis and his armed band gave up the hunt and returned to San +Francisco. At Powers' home they had searched every place except that in +which McGowan was concealed. They had been within a toot of him; had +nearly stepped on him; were so close that he heard their whisperings and +cursings. But they never suspected his hiding place. He was simply +rolled in a great mass of old floor matting, at one side of the house, +which was covered with dust and leaves, and bits of straw, to give it +the appearance of having been there, just as it seemed, for months. +After the schooner sailed, McGowan succeeded in making his way out of +the State and safe from the Vigilance Committee by the cunning and +adroitness of his good friend Jack Powers. The Committee were foiled in +their endeavor to capture the man, of all others, they were the most +eager to catch and hang. There would have been short invoking of trial +in his case and a hurried death by the rope. McGowan lives to relate his +adventures and enjoy the narrative. + +To give some idea of the manner of procedure and the discipline of the +Committee, I will relate an experience of my own: One beautiful +moonlight evening I was visiting the family of a prominent member of the +San Francisco Bar. About nine o'clock the door bell was rung. Thinking +that some friend of the family was at the door, the mistress of the +house went herself to see who was there. In the doorway stood a strange +man. He asked - mentioning my name - if I was in. She called to me and I +went to the door. He requested me to accompany him to the rooms, of the +Committee. I wished to know for what purpose, and at whose instance he +came. He said he could not tell; he was ordered to request my attendance +at once, and could say no more. I got my overcoat and went with him. On +the way down he informed me of the diligent hunt he had made to find me +- mentioning half a dozen families whom I frequently visited. At last we +reached Fort Gunny Bags. He led the way to the Front street door, in the +rear of the building. Two rows of guards with muskets, had position from +the curb-stone to the door-way. He gave the password to these and we +passed through. At the door were other guards - the same giving of +pass-word there. We mounted the narrow stairs - my escort in advance. +Midway on the stairs were two guards - one of them Dr. Rabe, with whom I +had been intimate since 1850. Again the pass-word. And again at the head +of the stairs to the four guards there. My escort opened the door of a +medium-sized room, which fronted on the street, and requested me to be +seated. He left me alone in the room. For an hour I had the room to +myself. Then the door was opened, and I saw David C. Broderick over the +head of the person who had evidently escorted him, and requested him to +be seated. Broderick entered, and the door was closed, and locked from +the outside. We had no more than shaken hands and mutually wondered what +we were wanted for, when the key was turned, the door again opened, and +in came tall Jo. McKibben, taller even than Broderick. As he entered, +the door was again locked on the outside. The situation was too amusing, +and we all laughed over it. But why were we there? On relating the +manner of the "request" and escort, each had been served in similar +manner - neither could conjecture the purpose in having us there. No +other person was let in until about an hour. "Old Jim" Dows, as he was +familiarly called, came to see us. We had known each other for years. He +appeared surprised to see us, and McKibben and myself exchanged some +pleasantries with him. I said to him, at last, that I wished the +Executive Committee would hasten whatever business they had in my case +and let me go, as I was eager to return to the house I had been +visiting. He said he would and in ten minutes returned to apprise me +that I could go right then if I wished. He accompanied me to the head of +the stairs, and in loud voice ordered the guards to let me pass out - +that it was "all right." With this he passed into the hall. The guard at +the head of the stairs duly let me pass. At the middle of the stairs Dr. +Rabe, who so well knew me, and must have heard Dows' order, demanded the +pass-word, and refused to allow me to proceed. I said, "Why, Doctor, I +don't know the pass-word, and you heard Jim. Dows' order to let me pass +out." The guard at the head of the stairs cried out to him, "it was all +right," and I was then allowed to pass down. But at the foot of the +stairs the guard made similar demand, and again the word had to be +shouted from above, that I was to be allowed to pass out. One of the +guards then took my arm, escorted me through the file of outside guards, +into the street, and I was, finally, "all right." But I felt curious in +regard to Broderick and McKibben, The next day Dows told me we had all +been wanted as witnesses on behalf of one of the prisoners in the +custody of the Committee, but that he had got me excused. From Broderick +I subsequently learned that he had given his testimony and had then come +away. Also had McKibbon. + +Rumors had been circulated that Broderick was to be arrested by the +Committee. Whether true or false, I never learned, At all events he soon +left San Francisco and made a tour of the mountain counties, to promote +his canvass for the Senatorship, which he achieved the following year. +His devoted friends were all violently opposed to the Committee, and any +harm to him, by that body, would have been the occasion of very serious +trouble. + +Colonel E. D. Baker had defended Charles Cora, at his trial, as I have +related. He was positive and unreserved in his denunciation of the +Committee. Whether he was ever threatened with arrest I do not know; but +he likewise left the city and went into the interior Northern Counties +and there practiced his profession until September, when he entered into +the Presidential campaign as chief orator of the Republican party, for +Fremont, and in November returned to his practice in San Francisco. + +The Vigilance Committee disbanded their military forces late in August. +The Executive Committee held to them for future emergencies, but ceased +their meetings. Fort Gunny Bags was dismantled. The rooms were +abandoned; but as a closing scene, a grand review of the military was +held near South Park, and the rooms were thrown open to the public. +Thousands, ladies and gentlemen and children went there, and looked at +the stuffed ballot-box, at the nooses and ropes used in the hanging of +Casey and Cora, of Hetherington and Brace, at the shackles and gyves, at +all the other instruments and paraphernalia of the gallows and the +cells, into the narrow cells and their scant furniture, and at all the +ghastly curios of these haunted rooms of life and death, of mental +torture and bodily suffering, of forced suicide and the mocking of the +crazed victim of his own despair and desperation. It was a remarkable +sight for women, an astounding treat to ladies, and such an example to +children, boys and girls! But comment is not required. + +The city and county election was soon to follow. The Committee men did +not neglect the opportunity which their powerful organization had given +them. The Executive Committee became practically a self-constituted +nominating convention. Their rank and file were not forgotten. General +Doane was nominated for Sheriff. For every other office Vigilance men +were named the candidates. None others had chance or hope. Their ticket +was elected. They obtained the reward of their services in the +organization, and profited accordingly. Thirty-one years have now passed +since the existence of the Committee. Many of its executive members are +numbered with the dead. Some of them passed away in a manner to remain +as an enduring sorrow to their kindred and connexions. A few have +prospered and occupy high places in community. A very few enjoy office +bestowed by the party they aided so much to destroy in 1856. On the +monument erected over the ashes of Casey is the scriptural admonition +for all mankind. "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, and I will repay." +Retribution is with God alone. The generation of this period will best +subserve the good of community by conformity to the divine injunction. +And this would never have been written were it not for the many and +frequent ex parte, and incorrect publications, which have been put forth +as faithful and impartial accounts of the Vigilance Committee of 1856, +of the character of those who suffered death and banishment at its +hands, and of the causes which led to its organization. The task is +done. May another similar to it never be required. The law of the land +should suffice for every exigency. It sets no bad or dangerous example, +but is always the conservator of the public welfare, the best protector +of all, the voice of the people in accordance with the laws of God +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Vigilance Committee of '56 +by James O'Meara +******This file should be named vigco10.txt or vigco10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, vigco11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, vigco10a.txt + +This etext was produced by David Schwann <davidsch@earthlink.net>. + +*** + +More information about this book is at the top of this file. + + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. 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