sociation for the maintenance of the peace and the good order of society, and the preservation of the lives and property of the citizens of San Francisco, and do bind ourselves each unto the other to do and perform every lawful act for the maintenance of law and order and to sustain the laws when faithfully and properly administered; but we are determined that no thief, burglar, incendiary or assassin shall escape punishment, either by the quibbles of the law, the insecurity of prisons, the carelessness or corruption of the police, or the laxity of those who pretend to administer justice."

The signal for assembling when necessary, was to give three taps on the bell of the California Fire Company.

The first alarm rang out in the night of June 10, 1851.

A man named Jenkins was caught stealing a safe containing a large amount of money. He looked for rescue at the hands of his confederates, but instead was arrested and found guilty of various charges and was hanged at half-past one o'clock the next morning.

Reverend T. Dwight Hunt, pastor of the First Congregational Church, in a sermon suggested by the execution, said:

"I cannot censure a people, if, having been long and needlessly outraged by a gang of villains, they rise in their sovereign majesty and quietly seize upon, try and condemn and execute one, even though they have to set aside the authority they dare not trust with the culprit. It is sometimes necessary to the existence of society thus to be its own lawyer, judge and executioneer."

James Stuart was hanged on July 11, 1851, for murder and other

crimes.

Whittaker and McKenzie, two other murderers, were hanged on August 24, 1851. The committee then disbanded, after having issued sentence of banishment against thirty desperadoes.

THE SECOND VIGILANCE COMMITTEE.

The second Vigilance committee of 1856, though in part composed of some of those who served in 1851, was a much larger body of citizens, and assumed a vaster importance at the time, wielding a greater influence in the years that followed, as the cause of its formation struck at the basic foundation of things, and the very existence of the city itself as a place in which to live and rear families.

It could not be called a revolution, as it was unlike any such that ever

took place. All other revolutions were a separation from the governments, and because of oppression and wrongs inflicted upon the suffering people that caused them to absolve themselves completely from the yoke that oppressed, and form a new state or nation.

This was a movement of the citizens to enforce the laws, which those to whom this power was delegated utterly failed to carry out. It was, therefore, a transcendency of the law rather than a violation of it. To comprehend this situation, it may be stated that the judiciary of the state was held in too many instances by men from the criminal element, or in complete sympathy with them, as shown by their own unlawful acts.

A few illustrations will suffice: Ned McGowan, who had served a term in the Pennsylvania state prison, upon arrival here succeeded in being made one of the judges of this city.

Hugh C. Murray, a corrupt and immoral man, was another.

Wm. B. Almond, through his friends "the Hounds," as the roughs and villains were called, secured another appointment.

One J. H. Hardy, judge of the 16th Judicial District, was indicted by the grand jury for the murder of Samuel T. Newell.

David S. Terry was another instance of how the judiciary of California was disgraced by the conduct of some of its leading members. He stabbed Stephen Hopkins of the Vigilance Committee, afterward killed David C. Broderick in a duel, and in later years followed Justice Stephen J. Field around the state in the determined attempt to kill him, which was frustrated by the United States marshal, who was too quick for him, and Terry met his fate. Then the most gigantic frauds were perpetrated upon the people at the polls.

The citizens voted, but their votes were not counted. The Vigilance Committee afterward discovered that the ballot boxes had secret drawers in them, in which the votes that were counted were deposited, and it usually took several days to have all the returns in. It was always noticed that those from the twelfth ward were several days late in being handed in, and could always be depended upon to register sufficient votes to elect the party in power; although to do this, it was necessary to record more votes cast than the resident population of that ward could number, including men, women and children.

The leader in manipulating the polls was James P. Casey, supervisor, and editor of the Sunday Times.

He had been elected supervisor without even going through the form of a nomination and through the method above shown. All officers, therefore, in the city and county of San Francisco, and all the appointees under them, owed their election to James P. Casey.

So long and shamelessly had this state of affairs continued, that he felt that he owned the city, and as will later appear, had no fear but that in an emergency he could count on the support of all those who were indebted to him for their places, together with their friends, who were nu

merous.

Crime, in the intervening years between the first and second Vigilance Committee, held high carnival, and the wrong doer easily secured immunity from his acts; so that the citizens soon learned that there was no protection for life or property. In walking the streets of the city, peaceful men usually took the middle of the road, instead of the sidewalk, in order to protect themselves as far as possible, from the unexpected attack of the assassin. And so year after year this state of affairs occurred, until it is stated that in the year 1855, the number of murders committed in this state was 535, and that only seven of the perpetrators were executed by the officers of the law. Arson, robbery, and other crimes were of constant occurrence, and so seldom was punishment inflicted, that the law was held in contempt, and men felt as they looked at each other, upon learning of some fresh outbreak, that the courts could offer them no protection at all; because they would not.

On the 8th day of October, 1855, the Evening Bulletin appeared with James King of William as its editor. He attacked corruption in high places, and was in a short time, through the city and the mountains and valleys of California, recognized as the champion of the people's rights. The Bulletin became eagerly sought for each day for tidings of the warfare it was waging on their behalf. On the other hand, the paper had not been three months in existence before it became universally understood that it was "war to the knife" between it and the shoulder strikers. One side or the other was now bound to go down. It was a struggle for the rights of the people that has had no counterpart in the history of our land.

On November 17, 1855, General William H. Richardson, the United States marshal, was murdered by a notorious gambler named Charles Cora, instigated by Belle Cora, a prostitute, whom he had taken to some place of amusement, and whom the virtuous Mrs. Richardson had offended, by simply conducting herself as a lady. Cora, after mutual friends had persuaded General Richardson to let the matter pass and take a drink with Cora as an evidence of settling the dispute, turned in a brutal manner and killed Richardson, as he unsuspectingly followed in the friendly act, which he presumed would close the affair.

The gifted Colonel Baker, who afterward lost his life at Ball's Bluff, was severely censured in those days, for using his forensic eloquence in the defense of Cora, and succeeding in getting a disagreement of the jury on his first trial. Forty thousand dollars had been raised by Belle Cora and her associates to defend Charles Cora, and no hope was entertained by the people that his dastardly crime would be punished.

The party in power, flushed by their long continued success in cheating the people at the polls, and running the courts to suit themselves, felt no uneasiness about the final acquittal of Charles Cora. And now they determined to reach out for one more victim, and that was the editor of the Bulletin, James King of William. In council of these plotters, it was agreed to cast lots to see who should do the shooting, and the lot fell to James P. Casey. He thought he had an easy job. To the many who were indebted to him for office or place he felt he could confidently turn for support, and the courts gave him no concern.

He never dreamed of the uprising of the citizens, and felt with the people's champion "under the sod" he would be free to continue his course with none to say him nay.

The patience of the people had, however, now reached its limit, as the events that followed the carrying out of the conspiracy to assassinate James King of William soon showed.

A man named Bagley, who had fallen out with Casey, sent on to New York and secured the documentary evidence which showed that James P. Casey had served out a term in Sing Sing prison. Armed with these, he carried them to the editorial rooms of the Bulletin.

James King of William, in commenting upon these papers, stated

in the Bulletin of May 14, 1856, "that the fact that Casey had been an inmate of Sing Sing prison in New York, is no offense against the laws of this state; nor is the fact of his having stuffed himself through the ballot box as elected to the board of supervisors from a district where it is said he was not even a candidate, any justification for Mr. Bagley to shoot Casey, however richly the latter may deserve to have his neck stretched for such fraud on the people. These are acts against the public good, not against Mr. Bagley in particular, and however much we may detest Casey's former character, or be convinced of the shallowness of his promised reformation, we cannot justify the assumption by Mr. Bagley to take upon himself the redressing of these wrongs."

That was sufficient for Casey. He determined now upon the assassination of James King of William, and it was an open secret among his friends, that the shooting would come off that afternoon.

Thomas S. King, James King of William's brother, who usually walked home with him, happened to be in Natchez Gallery on Clay street having his pistol cleaned, when he heard of it, and immediately started to prevent it, but arrived too late. The shot had been fired. Casey had called at the editorial rooms of the Bulletin to see James King of William. Instead of attacking him then, and giving him a fighting chance for his life, he simply found fault with what had been said in the Bulletin, and upon being asked if it were true, and retorting that he did not want such things printed about him, was shown the door and left muttering revenge.

Then in a cowardly manner he made all the arrangements for his attack and escape, and, hiding himself behind one of the wagons of the Pacific Express Company, standing at the corner of Montgomery and Washington streets, he waited for his victim to appear on the usual route he took going to his home. As he stepped on the sidewalk, Casey quickly approached him from the wagon and fired the fatal shot, without giving any warning. Seeing he had inflicted a mortal wound, he retreated to a convenient hack in attendance, with three of his chosen friends awaiting him, each of whom had his revolver drawn to defend the murderer from any attack that might be made by the crowd that soon gathered, and were driven to the jail where his friend, David Scannell, the sheriff, was ready to protect him with all that the city government could muster in his defense. Dr. W. O. Ayres