USA > California > California; an intimate history > Part 15
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Both the Law and Order party and the commercial and professional men in sympathy with the Vigilance Committee contained many known as "moderate men." A number of these formed themselves into a commission to bring about some sort of adjustment between the governor and the Vigilance Committee. Judge Joseph B. Crockett, F. W. Macondray, Henry S. Foote, Martin R. Roberts, Judge James D. Thornton, James Donahue, Bailey Peyton, and John J. Williams waited upon the executive board of the Committee, and after much palaver obtained a set of resolutions whereby the Committee pledged itself to keep its forces out of the public squares and streets and offer no resistance to the admission of any writ of habeas corpus on consideration that the gov-
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ernor would withdraw his proclamation and the forces of Law and Order disband.
On June 7th the governor started for San Francisco by boat, and the Citizens' Committee, accompanied by Sherman, took the up-river boat in order to meet the executive at Benicia. They arrived first; and Sherman, waiting at the wharf, saw, to his disgust, that his chief was accompanied by Volney E. Howard, Edward Jones, Edward E. Baker, and David S. Terry, Justice of the Supreme Bench-on his way down to play his part in that long and bloody drama of the fifties.
"All of these men," said Sherman, later, "were known to be of the most ultra kind, men of violent feelings, and who were determined to bring about a collision of arms if possible."
The governor went at once to the Solano Hotel, and, counseled by his fire-eaters, at first refused to see the Citizens' Committee. All were convinced that these men were secret Vigilantes, and they alternated uncom- plimentary epithets with wholesale denunciation of Gen- eral Wool. But Sherman finally succeeded in assuring them of this particular committee's moderation, and that Judge Thornton, on the night of Casey's arrest, had been one of the first to seize his pistols and rush to the assist- ance of Sheriff Scannell, in the name of law and order. He further assured the governor that all the arms in the state not in the possession of the army and navy, were owned by the Vigilance Committee.
Finally the Committee of Citizens was permitted to come up-stairs and enter the presence; and the manners of California society in the fifties, outside of exclusive Southern circles, cannot be better illustrated than by
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describing the attitude of Judge Terry, of the Supreme Bench, as the doors were thrown open, and, for the matter of that, throughout the interview. In the pres- ence of the governor of the state he sat with his hat on and his feet on the table. He had a smooth upper lip, and a long "political beard," and, I don't doubt, was chewing tobacco.
The conference was futile. The governor had been persuaded before he left Sacramento that the Vigilance Committee was really weak and ready to "cave in." He announced his determination to enforce the law; "and if unhappily a collision should occur, and injury to life and property result, the responsibility must rest upon those that disregarded the authorities of the state." It was then that Sherman resigned.
This was virtually a declaration of war, and the Vig- ilance Committee proceeded to intrench itself more securely. Sewers were examined, and the lines of patrol extended and doubled. The building in Sacramento Street was surrounded by a barricade of coarse "gunny" sacks filled with sand. These breastworks, six feet thick and ten feet high, and extending out from the front cor- ners of the building, made a large inclosure including the street. Embrasures were left for cannon, and there was an inside platform and openings for musketry fire. Cannon were also placed on the roof. Sympathizers in the neighborhood offered their stores and warehouses as depositories for arms and food, and for hospital purposes, and on the roofs of these buildings sentries were stationed. The immediate result was a great mass-meeting indorsing the Committee, and the men within "Fort Gunnybags" went on trying and banishing the bad characters of the city.
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The state under the law was entitled to a certain quota of arms from the federal arsenal, and these Governor Johnson finally managed to extract from Major-General Wool-six cases of muskets. Two men, Reuben Maloney and John C. Phillips, went secretly to Benicia for them, stowed them into a schooner, the Julia, and started for San Francisco. The Vigilance Committee having been notified of this move by the captain of another schooner, a force was sent to relieve the confidential agents of their burden. The Julia was boarded in San Pablo Bay, and both arms and men taken into custody. At San Fran- cisco the men were released and the muskets taken to Fort Gunnybags.
Then came a series of events which must have made the Committee wish that they had kept their hands out of one hornets' nest, at least. They determined to re- arrest Maloney and Phillips, and sent Sterling A. Hopkins, of their police force, to bring them to headquarters. Hopkins suffered from an excess of zeal and no little egoism. Maloney proved to be in the office of Dr. R. P. Ashe, a captain of one of the Law and Order companies. He was surrounded by Terry, Hamilton Bowie, and James McNab. Terry, as a peace officer, forbade the arrest in his presence.
Hopkins withdrew, but instead of going to head- quarters for instruction, doubled his forces and started for the office again. As he was marching down Jackson Street he met the Maloney party on their way to the armory of the San Francisco Blues on the northeast cor- ner of Dupont Street. They were armed with guns. Hopkins and his nine men bore down upon them and attempted to seize Maloney. Terry, whose fighting-blood
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always seems to have been on tap, rushed at Hopkins, brandishing his gun. The police officer caught it below the nozzle, and the two men struggled to gain sole pos- session, until Terry, now quite beside himself, drew his bowie-knife and plunged it into Hopkins's neck. The wounded man sank to the sidewalk streaming with blood. He was caught up and carried to the Pennsylvania Engine- house by his companions, who do not seem to have had the presence of mind to make an arrest.
The Law and Order citizens, their minds no doubt visited abruptly by a picture of those thirty men sitting in judgment behind a long table down at Fort Vigilance, ran for the armory, and, the usual crowd filling the nar- row streets at once, the doors were closed and barred. A few moments later that most ominous sound known to the fifties, the alarm-bell of the Vigilance Committee, sounded its single loud deep note. Within fifteen min- utes every fighting member of the Committee was armed and ready to march under the leadership of Marshal Doane on his white horse.
It was three o'clock when the tap sounded. Merchants, professional men, mechanics, the rich, the poor, dropped their work, seized their guns, and hurried to headquarters. Draymen unhitched the horses from their vehicles, mounted them, and galloped for Fort Gunnybags. At the end of another fifteen minutes not only the armory, but every building identified with the Law and Order forces was surrounded. The crowds retreated to the roofs. For blocks the streets were packed with silent rows of upright military - looking men, their muskets glittering in the sun. This was the first object-lesson the inimical party had received of the marvelous drilling,
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the appalling numbers, and the unanimity of spirit the Vigilance Committee was able to command with a single tap of its bell.
The horrified party inside the armory of the Blues sent out a letter to the Committee offering to surrender if assured of protection from violence. The letter was signed by Ashe, as captain of Company A, and Martin J. Reese, as first lieutenant of Company B. They re- ceived the assurance of protection provided they would surrender not only Maloney and Terry, but all the ammu- nition in the building. As the intrenched were disposed to dicker, two cannon were moved to a position command- ing the front of the armory. They were given fifteen minutes to accept or reject the terms, and the surrender of the others in the armory was now demanded in addi- tion to the original two. The men inside were no fools. They opened the doors without further parley, and a detachment of the Vigilance Committee forces marched in. Three hundred muskets and other weapons were carried out first, loaded on drays, and sent down to the fort. Then two carriages-"hacks," in local parlance- which always seem to have dogged those ominous mus- terings, drove up to the doors. The prisoners entered, police officers climbed to the box-seats and roof or hung on behind. Large bodies of infantry, which in turn was protected by cavalry, surrounded the hacks and began their march down to Fort Gunnybags. On their way they paused before other Law and Order strongholds, which gave up their arms, ammunition, and themselves without parley. Sherman must have been under a mis- apprehension when he informed the governor that all the arms in the city were in the possession of the Vigilance
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MILLS & VANTINE
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FORT VIGILANCE, OR FORT GUNNYBAGS.
WILLIAM T. COLEMAN PRESIDENT OF THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE
DAVID S. TERRY
Committee, for on that day alone they took six hundred muskets and a corresponding amount of powder and shot and other munitions of war. They also captured eleven cases of muskets and three boxes of pistols and ammu- nition sent down from Sacramento on the Mariposa. It is possible that Sherman, thoroughly disgusted and secretly believing in the righteousness of the other cause, did not care to arm the riffraff of the city, who were more likely to loot than to face the forces of the Vigilance Committee.
Terry had ruined the Law and Order cause as thor- oughly as if he had been its bitterest enemy, and he was a most unwelcome guest at Fort Vigilance. As a member of the Committee remarked, "They had gone gunning for ferrets and corralled a grizzly." Terry not only was a state officer, a sufficient embarrassment in itself, but he had been prominent in California ever since his arrival, and had served his country in the Mexican War. No man was more conspicuous as a bitter partisan in politics; he had indisputable legal ability, and he was brave and reckless to a degree that might have justified him in posing as a symbol of the times. Always retaining something of the Texas ranger in his swagger and dress- to say nothing of manners-he was a picturesque figure in spite of his beard, and, like all men of violent individuality, was rabidly loved and hated.
It is possible that if Terry had made off for the interior on horseback he would not have been hunted with ardor; but, although to hang a justice of the Supreme Bench of the state was the last thing the Committee had anticipated when organizing, they were prepared to go even that length if the wound he had inflicted proved mortal.
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Dr. Ashe, being a naval officer of the port, was almost as great an embarrassment; but, as he was innocent of attempted murder and gave his word to remain neutral and to hold himself at the disposal of the Committee, he was let out on parole. The Committee had no desire to get into trouble with the United States government. The other Law and Order prisoners were also dismissed after an uncomfortable night.
It is true that before Terry's arrest the majority of first-class men in the Law and Order party had resigned in disgust, not only because the governor, who should have adequately supported them, proved to be weak and obstinate, but they were men of brains and realized their own futility. The Vigilance party numbered thousands to their hundreds, and was supported by public opinion. They had dropped out one by one, and those that remained steadfast felt keenly the humiliation of being classed with the miserable crooks and gamblers and saloon hangers-on with whom they had been forced to fill their ranks; more- over of learning every few days that a fresh batch of these very "Law and Order soldiers" had been arrested and deported.
Of those that had remained until the day which wit- nessed the final overthrow of the party Gen. Volney Howard was the most conspicuous by reason of being in command of the Law and Order forces and his intimacy with Terry. He took his humiliation in no philosophical spirit, and, although a general without an army, blustered to the Vigilance Committee that he would put them down in sixty days, as he expected reinforcements from Washington. The Vigilance Committee did not even pause to smile, and he retreated to Sacramento and
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poured out his indignation over Justice Terry's arrest at the hands of law-breakers until some one interrupted him with the pertinent question: What business had a justice to leave his bench in Sacramento and engage in a street row in San Francisco? There was no doubt that the entire state, with the exception of the individual remnants of the former Law and Order party, and Terry's friends, was behind the Vigilance Committee; nevertheless, men of all opinions sincerely hoped that Hopkins would live.
Terry has been blamed for not remaining quiet, dig- nified, passive, refusing to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the Committee or in any manner to recognize its action. If he had maintained this lofty and judicial attitude it is argued that the hostile sentiment of the city would have yielded to admiration, and there might even have been a peremptory demand from members of the Com- mittee itself that he be discharged as outside of its juris- diction.
But when a man has a rope round his neck, helpless in the grasp of the most powerful and awe-inspiring secret tribunal the world has seen since the days of the doges, when he is a big-bodied full-blooded Texas ranger ac- customed to bluff, and to bellowing down opponents, the judicial attitude of mind is liable to suspension. He railed at the Committee, shouted over the top of his "cell," communicated with his friends outside through his wife, and never for a moment ceased to demand his liberty.
Great pressure was brought to bear upon the Com- mittee; even Commander Boutwell, United States sloop John Adams, then in the harbor, demanded that Terry,
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as a state judge, be imprisoned on board his ship. This move was intended to embroil the Committee with the United States government, an issue that Governor John- son, under the advice of Terry, had endeavored to com- pass from the beginning.
But, although such powerful men as Hall McAllister, Judge Thornton, and Alexander P. Crittenden managed to delay the trial on the pretext of negotiation between Terry and the executive committee-which involved many interviews-it all came to naught. Dr. Beverly Cole had testified on the day after the arrest that Hopkins was dangerously wounded, and once more San Francisco was in a state of wild excitement. Really one wonders how those agitated brains of the fifties ever survived into the more tranquil sixties, and what time they had to attend to their flourishing businesses. San Francisco, however, despite her many trials, has always manifested an almost uncanny ability to take care of herself.
Although the trial was postponed until Friday, the testimony of Dr. Ashe was taken on the Sunday after the arrest, and that same evening Terry was indicted on the following counts. In a brief space they give not only an insight into Terry's character and career, but into the searching methods of the Committee toward any prisoner before its bar.
Resisting with violence the officers of the Vigilance Committee while in the discharge of their duties.
Committing an assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill Sterling A. Hopkins on June 21, 1856.
Various breaches of the peace and attacks upon citizens while in the discharge of their duties, specified as follows:
I. Resistance in 1853 to a writ of habeas corpus on account of which one Roach escaped from the custody of the law, and the infant heirs of the Sanchez family were defrauded of their rights.
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2. An attack in 1853 on a citizen of Stockton named Evans.
3. An attack in 1853 on a citizen in San Francisco named Purdy.
4. An attack at a charter election on a citizen of Stockton named King.
5. An attack in the court-house of Stockton on a citizen named Broadhouse.
Although there were now practically no arms in the city save those in the possession of the Vigilance Com- mittee, it was feared that a sufficient number might be supplied by Boutwell to encourage the friends of Terry to rush the fort; and it is possible that this naval officer, who does not appear to have been a monster of judgment, might have done some practical meddling had he not been promptly called to order by Admiral Farragut, who had no intention of risking a rebuke from Washington. But meanwhile Fort Vigilance had extended its lines of guards in all directions, and Terry was transferred to a cell where he could not shout to possible friends on neighboring roofs.
An effort was made by the negotiators to induce Terry to resign his position on the Supreme Bench and promise to leave the state; but if his fearless spirit ever considered this road to liberty we have no knowledge of it. We do know, however, that Mrs. Terry said loudly that he never should leave the Committee fort alive save as a justice of the Supreme Court.
All the correspondence relative to the case, by the way, that issued from the Committee rooms was signed Secretary 33, a signature that caused as keen a thrill of terror in those days as the tap of the alarm-bell. The man behind was Isaac Bluxome, Jr. Finally all cor- respondence relative to Terry ceased and the trial began.
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Terry was led into the long room and directed to stand before the bar of the executive committee. It was a scene that Terry knew had daunted nerves as stout as his: that long table with its sober faces, Mr. Coleman in the middle, just and implacable, no one else in the room but the prisoner, the counsel, and one witness. Seventy- five men under arms were within the building; rank upon rank without. Gunners stood beside the cannon, and a drawbridge was in readiness to be lowered from the sec- ond-story window, that Terry might be spirited away in case of attack.
The taking of testimony and the examination of wit- nesses occupied three weeks. Terry was defended by Miers F. Truet. Thomas J. L. Smiley appeared for the prosecution. Terry plead not guilty to all the charges, and this attitude entailed the examination of a vast number of witnesses, all of whose testimony was thor- oughly sifted. Hopkins was on the road to recovery long before the trial was over, and this fact had restored all Terry's dashing confidence in himself and his destiny. On June 22d he plead his own case, reiterating what he had maintained from the beginning, that he merely had resented an insult and defended his life. This was pal- pably a lie, but the court was anxious to be rid of him now that he no longer was a potential murderer, and not only in his own person but as a state officer had been punished by much humiliation and loss of prestige. A vote of three-fifths was required to convict him. He was found guilty on the first charge and on one of the minor charges. Upon the second charge, that of assault with intent to kill, the committee sat up for two nights and finally pronounced him "guilty of assault." He was dis-
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charged and told to leave the state; but the order was not enforced.
There is no doubt that he owed his discharge not merely to the fact that he was a white elephant-for many members of the committee refused to consider the dig- nified position he held on the bench-but to the utter and universal contempt which Hopkins had managed to inspire. He strutted about like a swollen turkey cock as soon as he was able to be out, and while still in bed had held daily receptions. Finally he appeared before the Vigilance Committee and offered to compromise with Terry on a money basis. The executive committee, dis- gusted that such a creature should have crept into their ranks, were the more inclined to be lenient with Terry, who at least was a man.
Boutwell received the justice on board the John Adams and fired a salute in his honor. As soon as possible Terry took the river-boat for Sacramento. There he remained quiet for a while, to emerge later in a far more important and terrible rôle.
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BRODERICK
DAVID C. BRODERICK, the ablest man in California's political history and in many respects the most interest- ing, was also one of the most complete exponents of the Irish-American politician of the large successful type that the United States has produced. It would seem that only men of this peculiar breed can wage war against an aristocracy or oligarchy without becoming mere dem- agogues or deluding themselves with the fiction that they are working for the brotherhood of man, coining new names to explain themselves.
Broderick at all events cherished no delusions of that sort. He wanted the earth, and he wanted it for himself. A plebeian by birth, born in an era when the aristocracies of the republic were all-powerful, his great abilities ham- pered by the oligarchies he despised, he swore to conquer in spite of every intrenched and opposing force, and to achieve the highest ambitions that might be cherished by the "true-blue American." He was ambition incar- nate. If he had any weaknesses or vicious tendencies he plucked them out by the roots while he was still a young man, lest they interfere with his paramount object. He neither drank nor smoked nor looked upon woman. He had warmth, and humor, but he rarely allowed these too human tendencies to appear, lest they also retard his
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progress; nevertheless, they were to be divined, as well as his sense of fair play and gratitude; and in consequence his friends loved him as passionately as his enemies hated him. No man, however, was close to him-until those dark days when he knew that his political enemies had decreed that he must die, and for the first time his great soul was discouraged.
His personal magnetism and political acumen were so extraordinary that men of all ages followed him like dogs, only asking to be allowed to take orders from this born leader of men; and no one smiled when at the age of twenty-nine it was known that he had said to General Sickles, just before leaving New York for California, that he intended to return as United States Senator. He never admitted to cherishing a higher ambition still, but few doubted that if he had been permitted to outlive the Civil War he would have rounded out his career in the White House.
Broderick was born in the District of Columbia, Febru- ary 4, 1820. His father was a stone-cutter, and the marble columns that support the eastern front of the Capitol were the work in part of the laborer whose son was to be the first man of humble birth to invade the aristocratic Senate chamber and force its members to listen to him. The mason moved to New York and died when David was fourteen, leaving him with a family to support. He had been apprenticed to a stone-cutter, but, being a big strong fellow and eager to take good care of his mother and brother, he joined, when he was old enough, the New York Volunteer Fire Company. He soon became its most famous member. All New York firemen are fearless, and it was not easy to win a reputa-
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tion for reckless bravery; but he did, his reputation en- hanced by the ready and effective use of his fists. Before long he was foreman of his company, and drifted naturally into politics. To increase his influence as well as the comforts of his family he opened two saloons, to which his magnetic and enigmatical personality drew all the politicians of the neighborhood.
He was a Democrat; but, although he hated the Whigs, he hated the aristocratic and powerful wing of his own party far more. The "Albany Regency" of the state, and The "Old Man's Committee" of the city, made a formi- dable wall for any ambitious young plebeian to scale. Nevertheless, when he was twenty-one he obtained a position in the custom - house (a mere side -issue with him, however) through the friendship of no less a personage than President Tyler. Jeremiah Lynch relates an inci- dent which illustrates the daring and resource of this remarkable young man.
. .. President Tyler had received and accepted an invitation to visit New York City. A committee of officials, accompanied by eminent citizens and foreign guests, embarked on a steamer to meet the Presi- dent on the Jersey shore. Although elected as a Whig, Tyler was coquetting with the Democrats, and so Tammany Hall also selected a committee, or rather two committees, to tender homage to the Presi- dent.
One committee represented the ultra-aristocratic element-for Tammany was then respectable-and the other, also a Tammany selec- tion, was made up of young men as distinct from old men; in other words, the classes against the masses. Broderick was of the second committee, which was expected to gaze, be humble and silent. How- ever, the forty sachems-twenty and twenty-after disembarking from their steamer, walked to the President's residence, and while the mighty rich were awaiting on the lawn the President's appearance, Broderick strode to the door alone, opened it, entered, and presently returned with the President of the United States on his arm. Con- ducting Tyler to the astounded group, he saluted the President and
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