USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > History of the San Francisco Committee of vigilance of 1851 : a study of social control on the California frontier in the days of the gold rush > Part 17
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Enough has already been said of William T. Coleman to show that he had initiative and courage- the courage that could control excited men and check mob violence." He was born in Cynthiana, Kentucky, in 1824, lived for a time in St. Louis, and arrived in California in August, 1849. He was greatly surprised by the honesty and serenity of the country, and
6 See Bancroft, Chronicles of the Builders, I, 300-391, portrait; Popular Tribunals, especially II, 117-121; Swasey, Early Days, 345-354; Phelps, Contemporary Biography, I. 272-280; A. S. Hallidie, "William T. Cole- man," Overland Monthly, ser. 2, XXIII (1894), 71-75.
WILLIAM TELL COLEMAN IN 1844
From a daguerreotype in the possession of his son, Mr. Robert Lewis Coleman.
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attributed that condition to the stern lessons of lynch law .? He devoted himself to commercial interests in Placerville, Saera- mento, and San Francisco, but said that he was practically un- known in the latter town until he suggested the extra-legal trial that saved Berdue and Windred from the violence of the mob.
Coleman was number 96 on the roll of those who signed the constitution of the Committee of Vigilance, and he acted on the subcommittee that superintended the first execution. On that occasion his reputation for justice and caution must have done much to win the approval of the spectators. His hearty co- operation during the earlier weeks inevitably tended to instill order and method into the work of the Committee. The minutes and reports, however, make little reference to his part in the deliberations, and as early as August 9 he resigned from his position on the Executive Committee, excusing himself on the grounds of the demands of business. His interest in the society remained unabated, he was a member of the Committee of Thir- teen that continued the organization after the cessation of open activities, and he led in the reorganization in 1856. In spite of his Southern birth and of his adherence to the Democratic party, he was always staunchly loyal to the Union. In contrast to Brannan, Coleman stands for the pioneer of sound judgment and firm balance, successful not only in winning friends and fortune but in long maintaining his position of leadership in the financial and social development of his adopted state. His photo- graph taken in 1856 reveals a personality that inspires confidence and admiration.8
Isaac Bluxome, Jr.,? was of Revolutionary stock, was born in New York in 1829, and educated in a private school in
7 Coleman, MS Statement, 2.
8 See Eldredge, California, III, 434.
9 See Popular Tribunals, especially I. 250-252; Phelps, Contemporary Biography, I, 269-271; description of the Bloxome Ranch, Alta, 1874, Aug. 24 16; obituary, San Francisco Call, 1890, Nov. 11 %. Bluxome was an influential Odd Fellow and a member of the Episcopal Church.
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Flushing, Long Island. He arrived in San Franciseo in June, 1849, immediately engaged in the commission business, and was burned out in three successive fires. He was prominent in the arrest and trial of the Hounds, and in the military companies subsequently organized. "Bluxome's Battery" became one of the most dashing units of the California Guards. He joined the Committee as member number 71 [67],10 and acted as secretary throughout its activities and also during the reorganization in 1856. Bancroft, who knew him intimately, deseribed him as a man of strong convietions and fearless spirit, although he was warm-hearted and genial in the ordinary relations of life. He led an honorable and snecessful business life in San Francisco, and owned for some years a large and beautiful ranch, known as Bluxomeville, near Cloverdale, Sonoma County. He died November 9, 1890.
Of these three men, only Bluxome kept up a long and aetive membership in the Committee of 1851, but the narrative of the Vigilantes will make us intimately acquainted with many others. As has been said, a few of the more important members will be introduced at this point. The names that follow are arranged in the order in which they were affixed to the constitution, as priority of membership has a definite significance in considering any man's importance in such a body.
The first who signed the roll was Selim E. Woodworth,11 in whom the urge of adventure had been so strong that at twelve years of age he shouldered a rifle and a knapsack and slipped away from his father's fireside in New York to look for big
10 The roll of members was copied by the sergeant-at-arms with a slight difference of arrangement. As his numbers were always used for purposes of identification they are included here in brackets, as they are in the lists printed in the Papers of the Committee.
11 Born in New York, 1815; died Jan. 29, 1871. See Annals, 794-798, portrait; Popular Tribunals, I. 247-248; Swasey, Early Days, 212-217; Eldredge, California, III, 134, portrait; Eldredge, San Francisco, II, 707- 708; Davis, Political Conventions, 8, 26; Alta, 1871, Jan. 30 34.
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game in the Rocky Mountains. He was intercepted and induced to return, and at a more mature age was able to gratify his tastes by exploring voyages in the South Seas, service in the United States Navy, and an adventurous trip across the continent to the Columbia River in 1846. From Oregon he came to California, and promptly distinguished himself by leading a party through the snowdrifts of the mountains to the relief of the ill-starred Donner camp. Resuming his naval duties he served on the Coast during the period of the war, but resigned in 1849 to accept a seat in the state senate, and held the position for two terms. While still a member of the legislature he was commissioned to raise a volunteer company and deal rigorously with horse thieves and Indians that were terrorizing Monterey County.12 He had the business acumen to build the first house above the unfilled water lots of San Francisco, and in consequence he and his part- ner for some time monopolized the lighterage of the port. His political affiliations were with the Whig party. He fought for the Union during the Civil War, resigning from the Navy after its close with the rank of commander.
A fellow Vigilante said that he was a man of great ability and honorable to a fault.13 He was made president of the Gen- eral Committee a few weeks after its organization, held that office throughout the period of activity, and served as vice-presi- dent of the Executive Committee after reorganization in Sep- tember.
Frederick A. Woodworth,14 number 4, a brother of Selim, arrived in May, 1849, and although his experiences have less notice in the records of the day he was widely known as an energetic and upright citizen. He was an Independent member
12 Noted in Alta, 1851, April 29 24; May 14 24; June 3 3g.
13 J. D. Farwell, Vigilance Committees in San Francisco, 1878, p. 10, MS in the Bancroft Library.
14 Mentioned in Alta, 1852, March 2 %; obituary, Alta, 1865, Feb. 3; 4; 7; 11; San Francisco Bulletin, Feb. 2 3%.
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of the state senate in 1857, and his death in 1865, at the age of forty-seven, was deeply regretted in the San Francisco press.
Colonel Jonathan D. Stevenson,15 former commander of the New York Volunteers, was number 18 [101]. He was a man of political experience in New York and Washington, and was the first grand master of the Free Masons in California. He had been somewhat successful in land speculations in San Fran- cisco, but in 1851 his interests had been assigned to his creditors. He emerged from financial embarrassments with a comfortable fortune, and until his death, February 14, 1894, he was a center of interest and affection in the cirele of California pioneers. It has been said that he tried to defend the Hounds on the ground of his responsibility to former members of his regiment,16 and if personal motives affected his attitude in 1849 they may have influenced him in 1851 to join the men who were determined to put down crime. for his office had been robbed earlier in the year,17 and the arson of Lewis had threatened the destruction of his property on Long Wharf.
Gerritt (or Garrett) W. Ryckman was number 57 [53]. and although he was fifty-three years of age, and therefore much older than most of his colleagues, his magnetic but fearless per- sonality made him one of the most influential members, and Bancroft paid a glowing tribute to his work.18 He came to California in October, 1849, from Albany, New York, where he had been by turns a printer, a brewer, and a state inspector of hops. He was engaged in business at the time the Committee was formed, but during the summer of '51 devoted himself to its work, to the absolute neglect of personal affairs. His State- ment dictated to Bancroft in 1877 or 1878 adds touches of real melodrama to the somber records of crime, trials, and executions,
15 See Annals, 784-789; Swasey, Early Days, 218-219.
16 Daniel Knower, Adventures of a Forty-niner, 1894, p. 86.
17 See infra, p. 307.
18 Popular Tribunals, I, 248-250.
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for he told of amateur detective expeditions under effective dis- guise, of dramatic episodes when the Vigilante revealed himself to dismayed antagonists, of threats against his own life, and of the moments when prisoners were moved to self-revelation. He became a member of the Executive Committee early in July, and was made the second vice-president in September. After that time he often acted as chairman, and was elected president in April, 1852. His attitude towards his companions was some- what censorious and in 1856 he refused to join the reorganized Committee, asserting that their course was timid and vacillating. Ryekman became a friend of Broderick, and something of a power in the Democratic party. It was even said that he "car- ried Governor Bigler in his pocket." He was also a prominent Mason and when he died at the age of eighty-four the papers spoke of him with admiration and respect.19
If Ryckman was the Nestor of the Committee "little George Ward," number 62 [58], was the enfant terrible. He is affec- tionately described as brave as Caesar, a perfect fire-eater, a bit of a dandy, and a favorite with the ladies. He was so short that when he once lost his temper over a business dispute with Michael Reese he could barely reach to the latter's chest, but, nothing daunted, he thrust his pistol against his opponent's portly waistcoat and thundered: "Be careful, Sir, or by God, I'll blow your brains out!"20 At the first Vigilante execution he flourished his firearms so desperately that an older man begged : "Take that pistol away from that boy, or he will hurt somebody !"21 However, no tragedy was reported as a result of his impetuosity. He curbed his rash temper in indefatigable work, and acted as treasurer during the latter months of the Committee's activities. In 1856 he had a much greater scope
19 See Alta, 1881, Jan. 26 16; San Francisco Call, 1882, April 3 3's.
20 San Francisco Bulletin, 1896, Nov. 21 135.
21 Ryckman, MS Statement, 2.
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for his belligerent proclivities, and played a leading part in the more sensational adventures of that day.22
George E. Schenck, number 72 [68], came of a race of pio- neers that had adventured in North America since one Schenck fitted out Hendrick Hudson's Half Moon, and another sailed upon her quarter-deck.23 He reached San Francisco in October, 1849, and immediately engaged in the exciting financial sport of buying cargos on invoice, sight unseen, and selling them for what the fluctuating market would allow. He had visited the mining regions but briefly, had attempted to stimulate public interest in the agricultural possibilities of the interior valleys, and had nearly lost his life in the fire of May, 1851. His long and interesting Statement is among the Bancroft manuscripts. It shows an accurate observation of the salient features of San Francisco business life, and also gives many important details of the work of the Committee of Vigilance, which he supported in the sincere conviction that the people had a right to displace their public servants when the latter proved unfaithful.
Captain Edgar Wakeman, number 95 [91], was a Yankee sailor typical of his generation. In 1851 he was tarrying awhile in the hospitable port of San Francisco, where he first cast anchor in July, 1850. Many of his adventures are recounted in a biog- raphy entitled The Log of an Ancient Mariner, but most unfor- tunately he made there but brief allusion to his services as chief of the water police of the Committee of Vigilance, leaving them for a later volume which was never completed.
The introduction to his reminiscences cites a letter from Mark Twain, who said of Wakeman :24
22 See Popular Tribunals, I, 235; II, 64, 382, 387; obituary, Alta, 1861, Feb. 13 21.
23 Schenck, MS Statement, 57-59.
24 Log of an Ancient Mariner, 1878, p. 10. In 1872 Mark Twain made an appeal for a subscription for Captain Wakeman, who was helpless from paralysis (Alta, Dec. 14 1/3 ; Dec. 22 1/2). Obituary, Alta, 1875, May 9; 10; 12.
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He is a burly, hairy, sunburned, stormy-voiced old salt, who mixes strange oaths with incomprehensible sailor-phraseology and the gentlest and most touching pathos, and is tattooed from head to foot like a Feejee Islander .... He never drinks a drop, never gambles, and never swears where a lady or child may chance to hear him.
James King of William, number 186, was destined by the tragedy of his death in 1856 to become one of the most famous men in California history.25 He arrived in November, 1848, and in 1851 he was already widely known as a man of education and business ability, who had started for California before the news of gold stirred the eastern states. At first he made a brief but successful adventure in the camp known as Dry Diggings (Placerville), but in 1849 he established in San Fran- cisco the banking house of James King of William, thus perpet- nating in California the quaint patronymic he had assumed in Georgetown, District of Columbia, to distinguish himself from others of the same name.26 Earlier experience in an eastern bank gave him excellent equipment for the work, and his insti- tution withstood a panie in 1850. He was custodian of some of the funds of the Committee of Vigilance, and in the archives of the society is a passbook recording the account with this pioneer bank. Of his active work the minutes give little trace, but his standing is indicated by the fact that on August 26, 1851, he was considered as a candidate for the important position of chief of police .?? An nnconfirmed anecdote relates that on one occasion he was so convinced of the innocence of an accused
25 King was born in Georgetown, District of Columbia, Jan. 28, 1822. Accounts of his life and death appear in all histories of California. See especially Shuck, Representative Men, 563-579; Phelps, Contemporary Biography, I, 202-206, portrait; Eldredge, California, IV, 62, portrait; Bancroft, California, IV, 700-701; Popular Tribunals, II, 22-68, passim.
26 As the son of William King, he assumed his father's given name, in place of the more usual designation of Junior.
27 Papers, 550.
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prisoner that he not only made strenuous intercession for his vindication but prepared to proteet him by force of arms if such a course proved necessary.28 The story is entirely credible, for King always had the courage of his convictions, even to the supreme point of refusing to "defend his honor" when formally challenged according to the Southern code which still prevailed in California in spite of laws against dueling.29
In 1853 he was worth about $250,000, but he became heavily involved in 1854, and his assets were transferred to Adams & Co., with the agreement that they should assume all his liabil- ities. Unfortunately the subsequent failure of that firm in- volved some of King's creditors in a loss for which he felt that he was in no way to blame. In October, 1855, he started the Evening Bulletin, in a crusade of protest against the corruption existing in San Francisco, and his denunciation of crying evils led to his assassination in May, 1856, and to the reorganization of the Committee of Vigilance.
Jacob L. Van Bokkelen, number 173, a pioneer of 1849, was the first chief of the Vigilante police. In civie activities he was prominent in the volunteer fire department, and was an alder- man of San Francisco in 1854.30
Felix Argenti, number 187, was the senior member of a banking house established in 1850. The curious episode which made him responsible for some of the most vexations problems that troubled the Committee of Vigilance will be detailed in a later chapter.31
James R. Malony was number 250, and thereby hangs a tale, for Rube Malony had such a reputation for friendship with the undesirable element in San Francisco that his admission to the
26 Shuck, Representative Men, 563.
29 Shuck. Representative Men, 574.
30 Annals, 624; Herald, 1854. Nov. 10 %.
31 Argenti is mentioned in Eldredge, California, V, 427; obituary, Alta, 1861, May 20 1/1. See also infra, p. 243.
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ranks of the Committee of Vigilance was a matter of regret to some of the influential members.32 He was excluded from cer- tain critical meetings by a change in the pass word, but he was never dropped from the rolls. In 1856 he took an open stand against the Vigilantes, was arrested by them, and banished from California. In retaliation Malony and Billy Mulligan, another exile, brought suit against Coleman and other committeemen while the latter were visiting New York. G. E. Schenck was in that city at the same time and appeared at a critical moment to testify that in 1851 Malony had participated in just such actions as he complained of in 1856. Schenck further main- tained that "once a Committeeman, always a Committeeman." A non-suit was granted on the ground that the New York courts had no jurisdiction in the matter and Malony died while the case was under appeal.
David Earl, number 264, like Malony, was recognized after his admission as an undesirable member, and it was found that he was already under indictment in the courts for bigamy and other offenses.33 More serious charges were made against him by prisoners of the Committee, and he was finally expelled, ar- rested, and ordered out of the state.
John Sullivan, number 269, was a boatman along the San Francisco wharves.34 He was instrumental in arresting the first prisoner brought before the Committee and probably joined the organization immediately after that event. His wide acquaint- ance with the "bad characters" of the water front laid him under suspicion in the early days of investigation, but it proved an invaluable asset when it enabled him to recognize and to prevent the discharge of an important conviet on presumption
32 Papers, 23 note 21; Schenck, MS Statement, 51-54; Popular Tribunals, Index under "Malony"; Alta, 1859, April 28 1/5.
33 See Papers, Index under "David Earl."
3+ See infra, pp. 208, 257; Papers, 30; and Vouchers nos. 4 (p. 771), 86-88.
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of innocence. One is compelled to note that as official boatman to the Committee he ran up accounts of appalling magnitude.
Eugene Delessert, number 439, was a prominent member of the French colony of San Francisco. and senior partner of the banking house of Delessert, Legieron & Co. He was for some months the treasurer of the Committee.33
There were other men who did conspicuous service in the Committee but left little record in the works of contemporary biography. At the same time some of the less active members achieved great political or commercial distinction, as will be seen from the notices in the Appendix. Research among family records would doubtless reveal interesting particulars concerning many others, but it is improbable that it would in any degree change the composite type that is presented by the sketches already collected. The names of Vigilantes often appeared on public committees of importance.26 Some were prominent in the earliest efforts to develop a transcontinental railroad. Some were quick to respond when public calamities called for emerg- ency measures of cooperative relief. One fact to their credit must be remarked. Of all their number only one or two attained unenviable distinction through political or financial misdeeds. Rube Malony was a notorious black sheep, and some half dozen members were dropped for various causes, among them being Captain Leonard Tuffs, who was convicted of forgery in 1852.37 A close serntiny of the leading papers from 1851 to 1856 and
35 Delessert led in the organization of the French benevolent associa- tion, Herald, 1851, Dec. 15 2%.
36 See, for instance, the railroad committees ( Herald, 1851, Nov. 28 %; Dec. 5 %; 1852, April 6 23), and measures for the relief of passengers on the wrecked North American ( Herald, 1852, March 31 24).
37 See the Index to the Papers for the cases of J. B. M. Crooks, W. W. McLean, J. P. Muldoon, Thomas Norris, C. H. Welling. The trial of Tuffs is noted in the Herald, 1852, May 20 22; June 19, 11; 22 %; July 25 9%; Alta, July 18 23 ; 25 23. His name is annotated as expelled in the list of members (C. of V., Constitution, 24). W. H. Parker is also marked as expelled, but the entry is probably an error, and should have been referred to the name of C'rooks.
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a search through the newspaper index in the State Library have failed to uncover any serious scandals connected with the names that were conspicuous in the work of the Committee of Vigilance of 1851.
It is a very curious circumstance that while so many of the members, even those of minor importance, have left behind them biographical records of more or less interest, little can now be learned of the man whose personality really dominated the most active months of the association. This was Stephen Payran, number 46 [42], who served as president of the Executive Com- mittee from about July 4 to November 12, 1851, and who wrote a large number of the more important papers filed during the intervening period.
In August, 1851, Payran stated in the newspapers that he had then been in California nearly three years.38 Other committee- men have said that he was a professional copyist from Phila- delphia,39 and the neatness and legibility of his handwriting testify to his skill in such an employment. More than any other member of the Committee he gave voice to the idea that the people had a right to assume direct control of public affairs, when their elected representatives failed to carry out their will. His sincere conviction, his quick imagination, and his ready pen gave him a power of expression that distinguished him as a sincere idealist from among the more practical merchants who did not extend their thoughts beyond the emergencies that con- fronted them. He was not always tactful, and evoked censure as an autocrat in administration.40 Ryckman, who was some- what unsparing in his criticism, hinted that he became addicted to stimulants during the stress of his exacting duties,#1 and
38 Alta, 1851, Aug. 31 %; Herald, Sept. 1 %.
39 Popular Tribunals, I, 246.
40 See infra, p. 336.
41 Ryckman, MS Statement, 4.
4
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Bluxome touched with exasperating vagueness upon an infatu- ation for a Sydney woman which ended his usefulness in the ranks of the Committee.42 Whatever may have been his romance or his tragedy, he was a respected resident of Petaluma in the decade of the sixties, where he acted as a justice of the peace, and as "Judge Payran" was much in demand as a public speaker. Mr. W. W. Carpenter, writing of him in 1874, de- scribed him as a man of seventy who looked twenty years younger, and who was still keenly interested in the Committee of 1851, of which, according to Carpenter, he was the real leader and hero.43 He lived on a ranch, then just east of the city limits, and even now the Payran School and Payran Street commem- orate his name. He died in Ukiah, on or about January 18, 1877, and the county records show that his estate was settled by the public administrator, that it amounted to less than $600, and that it was inherited by his brother Richard, then a resident of Illinois. A wife, from whom he had been for some time estranged, could not be found.4+
Stephen Payran signed his name to more than a hundred documents in the archives of the Committee of Vigilance. He was also the author of a resolution designed to preserve the archives, so that the actions of the Committee might be shown in good faith to any representative body that at a future date should desire to investigate them.45 Perhaps it was to his fore- sight that we owe the survival of those records, and their final presentation to the students of the present time.
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