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 29
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
42 Papers, 631-632, 701.
43 Papers, 632-634.
44 Papers, 639; Herald, 1851, Sept. 18 %.
337
Politics and Reorganization
public courts and officers, and should suggest desirable statutes for the improvement of criminal legislation. It was expressly stipulated that the Executive Committee should have no authority to make arrests, but that it should summon the General Com- mittee in case of any emergency, and act only under instruction therefrom; and the members were solemnly warned that the entire body of the associates and the community at large would hold them strictly accountable for the faithfulness with which they fulfilled this delegated task.
This report was adopted; the Executive Committee was elected as nominated, and the five members of the committee on re- organization were added to their number. Almost all the old and active members were retained, Brannan and Coleman were again included, and additions were made from the ranks of those who had taken an active part in the work of the General Com- mittee.45
45 Papers, 642-644. The meeting was reported in the Herald, Sept. 18 %.
CHAPTER XVI THE CLOSING MONTHS
The new Executive Committee convened on September 17, and organized by electing l'ayran as president and Bluxome as secre- tary.1 The latter offered his resignation before long, as he could not afford the time necessary for the position, but he consented to remain in office when allowed a salary of $100 a month.2 D. L. Oakley, the sergeant-at-arms, was also given an equal salary to take care of the rooms, to keep them open day and night, and to admit members "agreeably to the rules of the Association."3
On September 27 by-laws were adopted which defined the duties of the officers and provided for weekly meetings of the Executive Committee with a necessary quorum of nine attend- ants. and for special meetings of the General Committee upon the written request of any five members.4 The Alta spoke of the reorganization as an "adjournment" of the General Committee and congratulated the association on the accomplishments that permitted a cessation of activities.5 But the Evening Picayune did not attribute the step to improved conditions, but to the great expense attending the work and to the very general con- demnation of the Committee expressed by the commercial papers of the eastern states." The editor thought that in spite of the appointment of the committee of forty-five it was unlikely that the association would be continued. owing to the danger in its methods. The Committee repudiated with vigor the insinuations
1 Papers, 645-646; revised list of members, 652.
2 Papers, 678.
3 Papers, 650.
5 Alta, 1851, Sept. 17 %.
4 Papers, 659-661.
6 Picayune, 1851, Oct. 1 4.
339
The Closing Months
of the Picayune, and took occasion to print full and frequent notices of its meetings in the advertising columns of the daily press.7
A week after the reorganization the Committee removed to smaller and less expensive quarters,8 which were described as follows in the Alta of November 3:
The V. C. Rooms .- The rooms of the Vigilance Committee, situated on the corner of Sacramento and Battery streets, over Middleton & Smiley's store, are handsomely furnished. The floor is carpeted. At one end is a handsome rostrum, containing an elegant chair for the President. In front of the desk hangs a small banner belonging to the Committee. Behind the President 's chair is an elegant mirror.9 Down the centre of the room is a table containing books, an ornamental inkstand, &c., &c. At the eastern end, opposite the rostrum, the daily papers are to be found on file. The windows are neatly curtained; while hanging against the wall are pictures and maps. The large banner which was presented to the Committee by the ladies of Trinity Church, is rolled up and deposited in a small room adjoining the room for meetings; where are also the hand cuffs, chains and other paraphernalia of the Committee.
Before the month was over members of the Executive Com- mittee began to chafe at the order which forbade them to make arrests. They therefore called a General Meeting for October 1, at which they recommended the restoration of the power of initiative in this respect.1º Apparently it was granted and was exercised on November 11 when Antonio Gonzales, who had engaged in a stabbing affray, was taken to headquarters. The committeeman who made the arrest stated that no police officer was present and that the bystanders requested him to take charge of the offender.11 Gonzales was immediately handed over to the authorities, and except for an obscure allusion to the "arrest of
7 See Papers, 673.
8 Papers, 651.
9 The mirror, found during the June fire, had been advertised without success (Papers, Voucher no. 70). The banners are mentioned infra, pp. 371, 372.
10 Papers, 671-673; Alta, 1851, Oct. 2 2%.
11 Papers, 689-692. Noted in Alta, 1851, Nov. 12 33 ; Herald, Nov. 13 24.
340
Vigilance Committee of 1851
Handy,"12 November 16, no other prisoner seems to have been in the hands of the Committee until Charles Talbot was arrested on the charge of arson, November 25, 1852.13
The records for these fourteen months are far less interesting and picturesque than those for the earlier periods. From Sep- tember 17, 1851. to March 17, 1852, twenty-five regular weekly meetings were held. with an average attendance of sixteen.14 The meetings, therefore, were not negleeted by the members, but the minutes indicate that they were devoted to routine business and to the effort to raise money, especially the sums needed to meet the expenses of the suits instituted by Peter Metealf.
One of the first matters that engaged attention was a com- munication from the collector of the port. Thomas Butler King. to the effect that he had been informed by an American consul in Franee that the French government was preparing to send to California a shipload of emigrants, among whom might be a large number of desperadoes. The Committee at onee appointed a delegation to wait upon the resident French consul, M. Dillon, and upon the representatives of Marizon & Company, agents for the emigrant vessels. to make inquiries relative to the proposed expedition. These gentlemen assured the Committee that the colonists would include only persons of approved respectability. They promised to write to Franee to warn those interested in the venture to take every reasonable precantion and to advise them of the "existence of a powerful association styled the Committee of Vigilance, who have combined together for the purpose of ridding the community of all disreputable characters, and who have the determination and the power to carry out their views."15 This
12 Papers, 704. The Alta, 1851, Nov. 21 23, noted the arrest by the Committee of a suspected incendiary, who had been handed over to the recorder.
13 See infra, p. 354.
14 See Papers, Roll Call, Appendix C.
15 Papers, 651, 662-664.
341
The Closing Months
promise was faithfully performed and the responses they received appeared as follows in the papers of a later date :16
Paris, Nov. 20th, 1851.
Messrs. Marziou & Co.,
San Francisco,
Gentlemen:
We have today seen Mr. Reyre, Government Commis- sioner, to whom we communicated the information received from you, relative to the action of the very honorable, the Committee of Vigilance, of your city. He has assured us that the solicitude of the American authorities would be completely satisfied through the proper diplomatic sources.
Among the emigrants there are no criminals ... and we concur with you, in deeming the accession to your new State, of four or five thousand industrious operatives . . . a subject of congratulation.
Havre, Nov. 26, 1851.
You may re-assure the members of the Committee of Vigilance, our emigrants are all honest people, emigrating voluntarily, and from whom testimonials of character are required before admission to the association. An official communication in regard to this subject will be made to the American Minister at Paris, for transmission to his government.
A thrill of the old-time excitement was experienced on October 15, when the Committee heard that Briggs and Osman, confederates of Stuart who had eluded arrest, had been seen in the city, and were supposed to be on board a vessel clearing for Australia. Since rich plunder was known to be in their posses- sion, a pursuit was hastily organized, the tug Fire Fly pressed into serviee, and a dash made outside the Golden Gate. One or two vessels were overhauled, but the fugitives were not found, and when her bunkers were empty the Fire Fly returned to port. So concluded the last recorded expedition of the water police of the Committee of Vigilance.17
16 Alta, 1852, Feb. 10 911. The expedition was financed by the Société du Lingot d'Or, which held a lottery on Nov. 16, 1851, and distributed as prizes the passage money for 5000 emigrants. See also Lévy, Les Français en Californie, 72-74.
17 Papers, 679, 710, 720, and Voucher no. 95. Among Bancroft's elip- pings is an undated serap (printed between Aug. 18 and Sept. 8, 1851),
342
Vigilance Committee of 1851
About the same time Andrew Goodwin appealed for help in recovering his nieee, Mary Lye, who had been taken from him by people named Kohle, and placed in a house of ill fame at Marysville.18 The case was mentioned but briefly in the records of the Committee, but it was more fully reported in the news- papers. The Herald said :
Her aged uncle went several times to Marysville, and though very poor, expended upwards of $400 in fruitless efforts, through the authori- ties and otherwise, to rescue the child. . .. Almost heart-broken by his want of success, he . . . applied to the Vigilance Committee for relief. A member of that body [Stephen Payran] was alone deputed to proceed to Marysville and take the child from those who detained her. laving conferred ... with the Marysville Vigilance Committee-a body that has been as efficient as any similar one in the State-accompanied by several of its members, he proceeded to the house and demanded the girl. Those who detained her were at first very boisterons and very menacing, but the threats were disregarded and the child was brought off and restored to her delighted relatives.
Many years later Mr. Payran reealled the incident with satis- faction.19 HIe said that he had been warned that the roughs of Marysville would try to prevent the rescue. Accordingly, after he had carried the child in safety to the hotel where he lodged, he took the other guests into his confidence, and fifteen or twenty miners instantly drew their revolvers and eseorted her to the boat. where she was guarded until she arrived in San Francisco. The little story furnishes one note of tender pathos in all the dreary record of crime and punishment. Sketches by unskilled hands have delineated the executions of Stuart. Whittaker, and MeKenzie, but no one has thought of pieturing Stephen Payran. the enthusiast and idealist, as he braved the guns of the gamblers
reporting that at some time a hoax was perpetrated on the Committee by indneing it to pursue a vessel under the mistaken idea that Briggs was on board.
18 Papers, 676-768; Herald, 1851, Oct. 16 33, 17 21.
19 Carpenter's letter in Oakland Transcript, 1874, March 29 11. Ernest Kohle wrote a letter of protest, and asked compensation for his care of the child. His communication was "laid on the table" (Papers, 696).
343
The Closing Months
to restore a little girl to guardians who were too feeble and too poor to accomplish her rescue by their own efforts.
The incident was Payran's last participation in the work of the Committee. On October 27 he resigned again, "owing to the cares incident to my business, and the larger active service of our Committee being at an end, combined with other causes."20 When requested to state his reasons more fully, he replied in a long letter that affords us valuable information on the con- dition of the Committee at the time.21 He pointed out that the large salaries of the sergeant-at-arms and the secretary in- creased the expenses of rent and incidentals to a minimum of $350 a month "without a dollar in the treasury to meet them." He condemned the policy that made the Committee, rather than individuals, responsible for the costs of the suits instituted by Metcalf. That liability then exceeded $2500, with the possibility of heavy damages if decision should be made for the plaintiff. He also alleged that the constitution and by-laws were so mis- interpreted or misunderstood by the officers that the Committee was kept in ignorance of the truth and criminals were allowed to escape. Conscious of the criticism of his own use of authority, he said that he had usually refrained from taking the chair since his re-election in September, and now felt that the time had arrived for his final resignation. It was accepted, with suitable expressions of esteem and regret, and his name appears no more upon the records of the Committee, the office of the chairman being filled thereafter by the vice-presidents, G. W. Ryekman and S. E. Woodworth.
A curious reversal of the usual relations between the Com- mittee of Vigilance and the authorities of San Francisco occurred late in October, in connection with an outbreak of public indig- nation against the captain and officers of the sloop Challenge as
20 Papers, 687-688.
21 Papers, 699-704.
344
Vigilance Committee of 1851
a result of charges of brutality during the voyage from New York, Crowds of angry sailors and longshoremen collected along the water front. demanding Captain Waterman and his mates, and threatening to lynch them as soon as they could be found. The excitement reached such a dangerous point on October 31 that the mayor ordered the bell of the Monumental Engine Company to be tapped as a signal to law-abiding citizens to assemble and disperse the mob. In obedience to the familiar summons the Vigilance Committee gathered at headquarters and sent to the chief executive an offer of any assistance he might require. The account of the affair in the Alta of November 1 said that the mayor "accepted the services of the Vigilantes, as a body of citizens. merely." The Herald reported that a strong detachment of the Committee appeared among the hundreds who responded to the call for help. Overawed by the reinforcements rallied about the anthorities, and placated by promises of thorough investigation, the mob finally dispersed.22 The Alta took occasion to say :
Where now are those who called the Committee a mob-who predicted that they would establish riot and ruin in our midst? Where are they who mourned over the ruins of the Constitution of the United States, the ruins of the laws, of the courts and of all legal forms? . .. Let the events answer. The Committee found society in a chaotic state. . . . They formed themselves together, conscious of the solemn responsibility which they were self-imposing. They seized upon culprits and promptly punished them . . . crime shrank before them, and Order sprang from the chaos. Having restored security to the city, they yielded their power to the regularly constituted authorities, trusting that they would be enabled, unassisted, to keep off the floodings of crime. And now the Committee are found on the part of the authorities, upholding the law. And they will be found there until the courts can no longer afford us protection.
If the Vigilantes surprised their detractors by assisting the constituted authorities in the Waterman affair. the eritie of
22 Farwell described the episode, and felt that it proved that the Com- mittee opposed mob violence (MS Statement. 11-12). Captain Waterman surrendered himself as soon as it was safe. He was tried and fined, in Feb- rnary, 1852.
345
The Closing Months
today will be scarcely less surprised when he reads of a move- ment they were inaugurating at the very date of the riots on the water front. G. E. Schenck, who had left San Francisco a few weeks earlier, in his note of resignation urged his former asso- ciates to use their influence "for the establishment of schools, academies and seminarys of learning and virtue."23 Seminaries of learning and virtue would appear to be institutions incon- gruous with the administration of lynch law, and history does not record that the members of the Committee of Vigilance ever attempted to found them. They did, however, make a definite effort to carry out the spirit of Schenck's suggestion when they decided to establish a library as a contribution to the intellectual life of San Francisco. Mention of their action in this matter does not appear in the minutes or reports. It can be found, however, in the papers of the day and in the recollections of Isaac Bluxome, Jr., who said :24
When the first committee was about to disband, we concluded that we would do something for the public at large. A man named Livingston suggested that we start a library for the public good, and Charles S. Eijenbraugh [Eigenbrodt] seconded the motion. I had a pretty good library for a private citizen of some five hundred volumes, which I con- tributed. Others did the same, and that is the foundation of the Merean- tile Library of this city. You will find my name in these books there, if not pasted over.
The Herald and the Alta of October 4, 1851. spoke of an effort to establish the San Francisco Library and Museum Com- pany. and commended the plan proposed as the city had lost its only library in the May fire. It was stated that the proposition had come from a group of members of the Committee of Vigilance who desired to keep up the ties of companionship and who proposed to limit the membership of the library asso- ciation to those who belonged to the Committee. This limitation was regretted by writers in both papers, and it was hinted that
23 Papers, 635.
24 Bluxome, MS Statement, 16.
346
Vigilance Committee of 1851
it would probably be removed before very long. Some donations were recorded from S. E. Woodward [ Woodworth ], Major Boyd, Captain W. A. Howard, and Mr. Shelton, the botanist. It was announced that the collection could be inspected in the room next to the Committee's headquarters, under the care of the Com- mittee's librarian. Other donors, it seemed, were reluctant to place books in the inflammable structure, and waited until a fire- proof building might be secured.25 The minutes of December 17 stated that fireproof accommodations were too expensive for the use of the Committee at that time.26 Late in November the California Institute was organized. with membership open to the public on the payment of moderate fees; rooms were secured on the south side of Pine Street, betwen Montgomery and Sansome ; D. L. Oakley, of the Committee, acted as librarian ; S. E. Wood- worth was president; and the list of officers and directors was made up almost entirely from the roll of the Committee.27
There is no evidence that this library became an important factor in the life of San Francisco. If Bluxome's statement was correct, however, a substantial nucleus of books was transferred to the Mercantile Library, founded a year later.28 Had not the fire of 1906 swept away the collection of that association, search might now reveal that the earliest volumes in that historie library were donated by the men who armed themselves in 1851 to execute summary justice upon the murderers and incendiaries that threatened the peace of the community.
25 Alta, 1851, Nov. 22 %.
26 Papers, 713.
27 President, S. E. Woodworth; Vice-Presidents, G. W. Ryckman, A. C. Wakeman; Treasurer, Eugene Delessert; Recording Secretary, J. R. Dungli- son; Corresponding Secretary, L. F. Zantzinger; Librarian, D. L. Oakley; Directors: G. M. Garwood, H. S. Gates, F. Argenti, F. C. Ewer, J. M. Swift, C. B. Lafitte, P. P. Hull, A. B. Stout, Henry Dreshfeldt, J. C. L. Wadsworth, Sam'l Taylor, J. S. Ellis, S. R. Gerry, D. J. Thomas, A. M. Macy, D. S. Turner. T. J. L. Smiley, L. W. Sloat. R. S. Lammot, A. J. Moulder ( Herald, 1851, Nov. 30 24 : Dec. 2 24; 8 34; Alta, Nov. 30 %; Dec. 8 4). All were Vigilantes except Dunglison, Zantzinger, and Moulder.
28 The organization of the Mercantile Library was noted in the Herald, 1852, Dec. 17 21; 23 21; 24 32.
347
The Closing Months
Metcalf's suit was called again in December, and the plaintiff then moved for a change of venue upon the following grounds :29
1st,-That an impartial jury cannot be had here, because the defend- ants are, or lately were, members of a numerous and powerful body, known as the Vigilance Committee, who have recognized the act charged upon the defendants as their own, and that the said Committee still exercises a controlling influence over the minds and actions of the people of this city, adverse to the cause of the affiant.
2d,-Because the said defendants and their associates through motives of fear or favor, and by means of their power and wealth, control the public press of this city and county, and have instigated and prompted the same to attack this affiant without provocation and unjustly, but with the utmost bitterness and malice, so that the people of this city and county are filled with prejudice toward this affiant.
3d,-That the affiant is a poor laborer, and that defendants are rich property holders; and that affiant is an English immigrant, who reached here by way of Australia, and is therefore known as a "Sydney man," a class of the population of this city who have been proscribed and persecuted by these defendants.
The case was transferred to the jurisdiction of the District Court of Santa Clara and was tried immediately. The result was a verdict for the plaintiff, with damages of $201, the lowest sum that would permit the jury to allow costs in his favor.30 Met- calf at once named Bluxome and others as defendants in another suit, which was tried in San Francisco and resulted in the nominal verdict of six cents for the plaintiff. The empty victory led to the dismissal of still other suits by which he sought to continue his action against the Vigilantes.31 Although many references show that these suits laid a heavy tax upon the
29 Alta, 1851, Dec. 13 24. In the issue of Dec. 22 21, the editor denied that the Committee exerted undue influence on the press, asserting that "the people who had the courage to sustain the Vigilance Committee, have the penetration to see through the film of shallow pretension which envelopes the cause. " Angelina Duclos sued Metcalf for the recovery of the value of her alleged loss, and in the course of that suit Mr. Argenti was arrested on a charge of perjury, but was soon dismissed. Mme. Duclos ultimately abandoned her case (Herald, 1851, Dec. 31 24; 1852, Jan. 1 34; 12 24; 13 34; Lockwood, The Vigilance Committee, 47 note).
30 Herald, and Alta, 1851, Dec. 8.
31 Papers, 731; Herald, 1852, Feb. 20 34; Alta, May 8 31.
348
Vigilance Committee of 1851
Committee only one actual payment is recorded-a bill of costs amounting to fifty dollars. In June, 1852, a special subscription was collected for the fees of counsel employed for the defense.ª2
Throughout the winter of 1851 to 1852 the Committee con- tinued to receive complaints concerning crimes committed in San Francisco and elsewhere. Most of them were filed without annotation, or were laid on the table.33 One was referred to the mayor of the city.34 In a few instances investigation was made. as in the case of an attack on Captain Ellis, of the Callao, who was taken from his vessel by men impersonating Vigilantes, and compelled to promise them money in order to save himself from instant death.35
On October 22 a committee of five was appointed "to inquire into the arts of the various judges on the bench," but its mem- bers made no reports of any importance.36 In fact, the larger part of the attention of the Committee was occupied with the ever pressing question of financial ways and means.
A short time prior to the reorganization there had been a deficit of $1296.56.37 By strenuous efforts this condition was improved. and on October 2 the Finance Committee reported that with a few exceptions all claims had been settled up to September 16, and that a small balance remained on hand.39 This happy state of things did not long continne; the liabilities of the association soon again exceeded its assets.
On December 10 the city was divided into collection districts and canvassed for subscriptions by members of the Committee.
32 See Papers, 748, Voucher no. 63, and Index under "Metcalf."
33 Papers, 696-699, 705, 706, 708-710, 719.
34 Papers, 708.
35 Papers, 713-716; Alta, 1851, Dee. 18 3%; 19 9%; 22 %; Picayune, Dec. 20 %; Holinski, La Californie, 129.
36 Papers, 680.
37 Papers, 767.
38 Papers, 675. This probably did not include expenses in the Metcalf suit. Treasurer Delessert offered to advance $1000 for two months, without interest, but it does not appear that the loan was accepted (ibid .. 651-652, 702).
349
The Closing Months
Two of these collectors, George R. Ward and T. J. L. Smiley. received the thanks of the society, January 28, for the three hundred dollars they had secured and for "their untiring efforts to rid the Committee of Vigilance from debt."39 An attempt was also made to raise money by the sale of engraved certificates of membership at five dollars each. The simple design showed some artistic skill. It bore several mottoes that expressed the senti- ments of the members : "Fiat justitia ruat Colum." "Be just and fear not." "Self-Preservation the first law of nature." It showed, also, the scales of justice and the Lietor's rods, sur- mounted by the open eye that was always the favorite insignia of the Vigilantes.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.