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 30
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
The books of the treasurer report ninety dollars raised from the sale of these certificates before March, 1852. In that month it was voted to make the purchase of certificates compulsory, an action which resulted in the sale of seventeen more during the ensuing weeks.40
The news items of the daily papers and their reports of court proceedings showed a constant fluctuation in the amount of crime. The worst of the Sydney men had undoubtedly been driven away through the action of the Committee, and their disappearance was a blessing. Other undesirables soon departed for the gold fields of Australia. The Herald of September 21 remarked that the city was far less dangerous at night, and that there was no quarter where it was unsafe for a peaceable
39 Papers, 712, 722.
40 See Papers, Frontispiece, and pp. 711, 734, 762. The Alta, 1852, Jan. 23 3%, described the certificate and said that its use indicated that the Committee would continue its vigilance as long as society was left at the mercy of criminals. The following notice appeared in the Herald, Jan. 21-28:
"Committee of Vigilance. The Members of the Committee of Vigilance of San Francisco, are hereby notified that their certificates of membership are now ready, and the Secretary will be in attendance, at the Chambers of the Committee, corner of Sacramento and San- some, to deliver the same, every day, between the hours of 12 and 2 o'clock.
Per order of the Executive Committee, ISAAC BLUXOME, JR., Secy."
350
Vigilance Committee of 1851
citizen to go about his business.41 On the next day the editor spoke with complacency of the increasing stability of society and of the influx from the East of families that intended to make their permanent home in California. In the issue of September 28 a long article signed by "Justice" defended the acts of the Committee against current attack in the Morning Post, likened its protest against inefficient laws to the historic protests of Revolutionary patriots, and asserted that erime and violence had almost disappeared as a result of its labors. The grand jury, reporting for the September term, corroborated this optimistic view and mentioned the marked diminution of crime.42 A few days later the Herald told of a daring burglary and a shocking murder. "perhaps dne to temporary suspension of the poliee regulations of the Vigilance Committee."43 Not long after it admitted that there was a slight increase of crime in the eity and state.++ By this time popular interest in humdrum trials had noticeably abated. Jury service was evaded so persistently that a sharp editorial in the Alta pointed out that such a shirking of the duties of citizenship would inevitably result in a revival of the activities of the Committee of Vigilance.45
Since the rainy winter months, as usual, drove to San Fran- cisco many rough characters from the mining regions it was not strange that crimes increased during that season. The papers again had canse to complain of robberies, fires, and murders. It was feared that another criminal gang had been organized, and to add to the confusion seventeen desperate men escaped from the prison brig, where they were confined while working for a private contractor.46 A correspondent in the Alta prophesied
41 Herald, 1851, Sept. 21 35.
43 Herald, 1851, Sept. 30 24; Oct. 1 %.
43 Herald, 1851, Oct. 11 26. See also Oct. 14 2%; Alta, Oct. 19 3%.
44 Herald. 1851, Nov. 15 21; 18 31; 20 36; 21 21; 27 3%; 28 34 ; Dec. 1 15. 45 Alta, 1851, Nov. 10 31.
46 See supra, p. 290; and Alta, 1852, Jan. 21 24; 25 21; Herald, Jan. 29 %; Feb. 18 %; 28 21: 29 31. The existing dangers led to the formation of a special police force. paid by individuals, but under the control of the city authorities (Herald, March 2 %, April 19 21).
-------
351
The Closing Months
that a continuation of existing conditions would necessitate "the same steps as were formerly taken by that much abused. but noble band of men, the Vigilance Committee, who devoted their time, money, and if need be their lives for the protection of society."47
In the meantime the Committee attempted little interference in public affairs. Its quiescence may have arisen from the fact that most of the tragedies in the city and in the state at large were attributed to sudden passion rather than to such deliberate intention as had signalized the operations of James Stuart and his confederates.48 But the members felt the necessity of con- tinuing their association for the time being, and when on Janu- ary 14, 1852, T. J. L. Smiley, one of the most faithful attendants. proposed an adjournment sine die, the motion was laid on the table.49 On February 4 the office of sergeant-at-arms was abol- ished ;50 on March 13 it was voted to discontinue the salary of the secretary.51
March 17 was the end of the six-month term of the reorgan- ized Executive Committee. Pursuant to a notice in the press over three hundred Vigilantes assembled at the old headquarters on Battery Street to elect new representatives.52 It was reported in the papers that the increase of crime in the city had roused the Committee to renewed activities; and the minutes and the new roll call showed that fresh interest was awakened. When the new Executive Committee met for organization58 G. W. Ryckman was elected president, S. E. Woodworth and Eugene
47 Alta, 1852, Jan. 25 31.
48 Herald, 1852, Jan. 16 3%; March 30 %. "Even when homicides were most frequent, the great majority of the people were secure in their lives and property; but the percentage of deaths was large among the gamblers, drunkards, holders of disputed land claims, thieves and borderers" (J. S. Hittell, Resources of California, 32).
49 Papers, 720.
50 Papers, 724.
51 Papers, 733.
52 Papers, 732-735; Herald, 1852, March 17 %; 18 %.
53 Papers, 738-740.
352
Vigilance Committee of 1851
Delessert vice-presidents, and G. R. Ward treasurer, Delessert having resigned that office in anticipation of a trip to Europe.5+ Isaae Bluxome, Jr. continued to act as secretary, in spite of a resignation dated April 7.33 The Executive Committee attempted to maintain the habit of weekly meetings, but the minutes give evidence of no action of any importance although conditions in San Francisco grew steadily worse.
Early in May it was voted to renew the volunteer patrol of the city,56 and the following notice appeared in the Herald on several days from May 5 to 21 :
Vigilance Committee attention! At a special meeting of the Executive Committee, held at their Chambers last evening, the following recom- mendations were directed to be promulgated through the public prints:
All members of the "General Committee of Vigilance" are requested to assemble in the respective wards in which they reside, and form them- selves into a "Night Patrol." From information received by the Execu- tive Committee, they have every reason to believe that there yet exists within the limits of our city an organized band of thieves and incendi- aries, who have within a few days past made several ineffectual attempts to fire the city, and the Executive Committee believe our strict observ- ance of vigilance may prevent the evil by an early detection of the fire, should it be the result of accident or design.
Information of an important nature will be communicated to the members of the different Ward Committees, authorized to receive the same by the Executive Committee, which will continue always in session.
SELIM E. WOODWORTH, Pres.
The Herald stated that the public was convinced of the existence of a band of misereants, and that in consequence of information to that effect the General Committee of Vigilanee would resume weekly meetings during May and June.57 Notices appeared in the papers, but minutes are preserved for only one meeting of the General Committee, on May 12, and for meetings of the Executive Committee on May 5, May 26, and June 30.58 The room for permanent headquarters was given up in May.
54 Papers, 734-735.
55 Papers, 742.
56 Papers, 746.
57 Herald, 1852. May 7 %; 12 31; Papers, 744 note.
58 Papers, 743-748.
353
The Closing Months
When the anniversary of the organization of the Committee drew near, it was suggested that the day, June 9, should be cele- brated by a dinner,59 but no other mention of such a banquet was made in the records or in the reminiscences of the members.
As one reviews the year of strenuous work, of defiance of law, of popular approval, and of ever increasing financial bur- dens, one is inclined to invert a phrase dear to American orators, and to assert that if taxation without representation is tyranny, the experience of the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance goes far towards proving that representation without taxation is insolvency.
The last financial experiment of the Vigilantes accented with grotesque humor the straits to which they were reduced. On April 2 it was voted to arrange a dramatic benefit for the pur- pose of raising funds, three leading members, Selim E. Wood- worth, Eugene Delessert, and W. A. Howard, being appointed a committee of arrangement.60 Several members of the theatrical profession immediately volunteered their services, among them Madame Eleanore, who was playing at the French Theatre, and the Committee returned its thanks in polite French for her kind offer.61 For unrecorded reasons the project was pushed no further, and we are fortunately spared the vision of the curtain of history descending upon the Committee of Vigilance amid the glitter of footlights and the clatter of perfunctory applause.
For the curtain is about to descend! The entries in the Minute Book of the Executive Committee close June 30. For several months there are no recorded activities, and it may be that the summer movement to the mines brought about a slight improvement in local affairs. Early in the fall the old apprehension of incendiaries recurred, and the editor of the Herald wrote for the warning of such outlaws: "The Vigilance
59 Papers, 746.
60 Papers, 739.
61 Papers, 743.
354
Vigilance Committee of 1851
Committee is not dead-it only sleeps, and woe to those whose rascality calls it into action again !''62
The sleeping guardian roused itself to momentary vigor in November, when a meeting of the General Committee was called for the nineteenth, although no minutes have been preserved.63 On the twenty-sixth the Executive Committee met and elected officers. and even discussed hiring new headquarters, since the building occupied in the spring had been demolished. It was decided, however, to ask hospitality from the fire engine com- panies and to avoid the expense of permanent chambers. Minutes of that meeting are preserved in a rough draft.64 and with them is filed a brief memorandum of the examination of Charles Talbot, who had been arrested the day before by S. E. Woodworth on suspicion of arson, and who was probably released without delay. No later archives reveal the secret bonds that continued to unite the brotherhood of the Vigilantes. although every man in California knew that those bonds had not been severed. For a time the continued existence of the Committee was indicated by the publication of two brief notices which appeared at frequent intervals in the Herald and the Alta, from November 24. 1852, to January 20, 1853:
Committee of Vigilance .- The citizens of the city of San Francisco are requested to furnish to the Committee of Vigilance such information as they may have that will lead to the detection or arrest of any person that has committed, or attempted to commit the crimes of Arson, Burglary or Highway Robbery.
ISAAC BLUXOME JR., Secretary.
Committee of Vigilance .- $2,000 Reward
will be given by the Committee of Vigilance of the city of San Francisco for the arrest, with sufficient testimony for conviction, of any person setting fire to any building in San Francisco. By order of the Committee.
SELIM E. WOODWORTH, President,
ISAAC BLUXOME JR., Secretary.
62 Herald, 1852, Oct. 28 32.
63 Herald, 1852, Nov. 17 24; Papers, 748-749 note. The meeting was called to adopt measures for the suppression of crime (Herald, Nov. 19 31).
64 Papers, 748-749.
355
The Closing Months
At some time after that date a further reorganization was effected, relieving from duty all of the members except a Com- mittee of Thirteen, which was entrusted with the obligation of keeping alive the spirit of vigilance and of summoning the general body should the need arise. No press notices of this change and no further calls for meetings have come to the attention of the writer in searching through the files of the Herald and the Alta for the succeeding three years.65 The association of the Vigilantes never formally dissolved. Ger- stäcker reported that the members had pledged themselves to a service of fifty years, and George E. Schenck wrote: "Once a Committeeman, always a Committeeman, according to the by- laws. ''66 In 1853 the organization silently disappeared from local attention, but it was the current conviction of the com- munity that although the Committee of Vigilance was shrouded in silence and secrecy, it was prepared to re-establish its dreaded tribunal whenever a public emergency should move the people to summon it from obscurity.67
65 Tuthill said that sometime in 1853 there was published a call for a meeting of the Executive Committee (California, 461). Mention of a recent meeting was made in the Democratic State Journal, 1853, March 7 %; Alta, March 13 3%.
66 F. W. C. Gerstacker, Narrative of a Journey round the World, 1853, p. 253; Schenck, MS Statement, 52. "At the end it [the Committee] adjourned, to be called together on any occasion when it might be required" Ryckman, MS Statement, 20).
67 " The Vigilance Committee has long ceased to act, but the association has never formally dissolved. The original members are doubtless ready, if ever an occasion should require, again to assert the right of self-preserva- tion, and the supremacy of natural law over defective civil rule" (Annals, 1855, p. 587). "Crime, since the organization of the Committee, has de- creased one half, and they have now ceased to make arrests, leaving all to the jurisdiction of the proper authorities. They, however, maintain their organization, and would, no doubt, act in case of emergency" California Illustrated [by Letts], 55).
CHAPTER XVII
PROBLEMS AND METHODS OF ADMINISTRATION
The previous chapters have recounted the history of the Committee of Vigilance in its chronological development, reserv- ing for special discussion various aspects of its work which require a grouping of episodes that were separated by intervals of time but related by logical connection. Certain useful sum- maries may be made from the records of the cases considered by the Committee, and from the receipt and expenditure of funds. Interesting deductions as to the spirit of the members may be formed by reviewing as a whole their relations to their prisoners, to each other, and to the general public. And finally, before the study is brought to a conelusion, it will be pertinent to ask what influences the work of the Committee may have exerted in San Francisco, in California, and in the country at large.
The relations that existed between the Committee and its prisoners are indicated not only by the general reports on the conduct of cases, but by brief allusions scattered through the minutes and miscellaneous papers.1
In the matter of providing for the physical necessities of those in confinement. the arrangements were very primitive. The inventories suggest that the prisoners' room was furnished with benches, straw mattresses, and blankets." No information is given of the aeeommodations provided for women prisoners, in spite of the fact that several women were detained for brief periods.3 Mrs. Hogan was probably in custody for a few days,
1 See Papers. Index under "C. of V .- Relations with prisoners."
2 Papers, 654.
3 See Papers, 420, 502, 574-575.
357
Problems and Methods of Administration
and so was Mrs. Robinson, charged with arson. On August 30 the wives of Robert Ogden and Joseph Turner were named among the prisoners. So was Jane Connolly, widow of the innkeeper, former friend of Jenkins and Burns, and later wife of one Martin Sanphy, who unkindly accused her of robbing him of twelve hundred dollars. Emma Jones, a Sydney immigrant, was held for deportation. But the personal experiences of the arrested women are unnoted alike in any of the records. in the papers of the day, or in the reminiscences of members.
The cost of maintaining the prisoners was a great burden on the overtaxed exchequer. One or two who had the means paid board while in confinement, but the others were fed at the expense of their jailers. Members of the Committees of 1851 and 1856 have told me that both Committees ordered the food of the prisoners from neighboring restaurants. The cash accounts for 1851 do not determine this point exactly, but they show that sums were expended for foodstuffs, such as cheese, crackers, and coffee, and also for refreshments purchased from hotels and eating- houses.+ When all is said that can be gathered from the records. we simply know that the men under arrest were lodged and fed -- their treatment was surely no worse, perhaps it was better than that accorded to prisoners in the city lockup.5
More definite information can be gained of the methods employed in the course of the criminal investigations and prosecutions. "It is the . . . intention of this Committee of Vigilance to act in such a way as to obtain the sanction of this community for each and every one of the steps it takes." So wrote Mr. James C. Ward on June 15, 1851, in a resolution which urged the Committee to act with circumspection in
4 See Papers, 442, 502, 625, 764, Appendix D, p. 824. I discussed the subject of provisions with Mr. Duff, of the Committee of 1851, and Mr. E. P. Flint, of 1856.
5 It was ordered that the prisoners and their room should be scrubbed every week. A doctor attended cases of illness (Papers, 408, 409).
358
Vigilance Committee of 1851
proceeding against Burns and Hetherington.6 George Gibson, advising caution in a different matter, declared that he felt "the awful character of our responsibilities.""" The sentiments expressed thus early in the life of the Committee were never forgotten in the excitement of the days that followed. The execution of John Jenkins had been summary in the extreme, but after that night no action of any apparent importance was under- taken without painstaking investigation and deliberation. As in the cases of Burns and Hetherington, witnesses were summoned not only for the prosecution, but also at the request of the defense, and the thoroughness with which the Committee sought to sift evidenee is proved by the preservation of verbatim state- ments made by nearly one hundred and fifty witnesses, and of written communications sent by many others. It is true that the technical evasions permitted by legal procedure were denied the prisoners of the Committee; no doubtful alibi was con- sidered in their favor. But from the first it was the custom to confront the accused with the witnesses in his case, and it was one of the rules of the association that no sentence should be pronounced until he had appeared in person to plead in his own behalf.8
The results of the policy of cautious investigation have been shown in the case of the Negro, Ben, whose false arraignment of Mrs. Robinson was so carefully sifted that it disclosed the plot designed to lead the Committee into extreme measures against a woman of open and well-known depravity. Again in the case of Church, the horse thief and deserter whose superior officer urged death as a just penalty for crimes against the public welfare, the Committee preferred to return their prisoner to the military authorities. The delivery to the authorities of Adams, Jimmy
6 Papers. 43. The unsigned report is in Ward's handwriting.
ī Papers, 61.
8 Papers, 197.
359
Problems and Methods of Administration
from Town, and Hamilton Taft, and the discharge of Jenks. are further instances of the self-control that dominated the leaders of the Committee. The same quality is further illustrated by the vote to lay on the table a motion to seize and hang the incendiary Lewis if he should be convicted of arson in his legal trial.9
Justice to the Committee forces the acknowledgment of its habitual self-control, and of its inclination towards mercy in doubtful cases. It was inevitable, however, that the methods necessary in the prosecution of its work entailed hardship, and in some cases real suffering upon the men who eame under its suspicion. Read, for example, the complaint of the excitable Frenchman, Vietor de Gray. an acquaintance of the Robinsons, who was "taken with violence and rudeness" and compelled to accompany the Committee as if a prisoner, was detained as a witness, and discharged only after his feelings and reputation were so damaged that he petitioned for a certificate that should exonerate him of suspicion, and for funds to enable him to depart from the scene of his humiliation.10
The case of Theodore Dahlgren is another illustration of the misfortunes of an innocent man. On the accusation of Mr. Tennant, a dealer in nautieal instruments, he was summoned to headquarters to clear himself of the charge of stealing a sextant. When he refused to obey, his personal property was seized and held as a sort of bail, and as soon as possible he himself was taken into enstody. After a period of confinement he was honorably discharged and his property restored. although his acknowledgement of its return indicated that some articles were still missing. Dahlgren's sensitive soul was torn with grief at these discreditable suspicions, and his letters were almost ludicrous in their hysterieal protests. Yet the intentions of his jailers were so evidently fair, and their consideration of his case
9 Papers, 328.
10 Papers, 117, 177, 204, 210-212.
360
Vigilance Committee of 1851
was so impartial that after his release he sent them a friendly letter and printed in the papers the following tribute to their integrity :11
To the Public-I was recently ordered to appear before the Committee of Vigilance on the charge of being a "notorious thief and swindler." Said charge has been inquired into and I have been honorably released. I merely wish thus voluntarily to say that I admit to the fullest extent the propriety of their action in my case, and that their course towards me has been marked by perfect courtesy, impartiality, and kind feeling, and that although the fact of my having come within the cognizance of the "Committee of Vigilance" might probably injure me, vet I fully admit their right to act as they have done, and consider that all good citizens should aid them in their endeavors to ensure security of life and property. This is especially intended to reply to an inquiry made to me to know if I was desirous of prosecuting them for their course towards me. I thus reply.
TH. DAHLGREN.
Another prisoner, William Wilson, was confined for a time under suspicions that are not definitely formulated in the records, and his friends feared for his health and for his reason under the strain and humiliation of his incarceration.12 And for many others who like Dahlgren and Wilson were finally discharged, the days or weeks of detention in the poorly equipped prisoners' room must have engendered a mood of desperation. A glimpse of such a mood was given in letters which John Arentrue wrote in the hope of invoking help from friends whom he desired to call as witnesses. Arentrue, formerly a street commissioner in San Francisco, had been named by Joseph Hetherington as an accomplice of Stuart. After that statement had appeared in the papers, he published an indignant denial of the charge and com- plained that he had been refused all opportunity to refute it before the Committee.13 HIe was later arrested by the Vigilantes
11 Herald, 1851, July 11 31. See also Papers, Index under "Dahlgren." 12 Papers, 587-588.
13 Alta, 1831, July 24 21. See also Papers, Index under "Arentrue,"
361
Problems and Methods of Administration
on suspicion of murder, and while he acknowledged that he was "treated very handsomely by the gentlemen in whose hands" he had fallen, he complained that he had great difficulty in com- municating with outside acquaintances, and was fearful of a conviction that might forfeit his life. It was always claimed by members of the Committee that prisoners were aided in securing whatever evidence they desired to present, and the large number of discharges justifies the inference that ample means were pro- vided for defense. But the letters of Arentrue, at least, were not dispatched to their destination-perhaps because it was decided to relinquish him to the authorities for a trial where he would have the benefit of counsel.
The records show that ninety-one prisoners were under arrest by the Committee of Vigilance. It is probable that this number does not include all the immigrants forbidden to land in San Francisco, or all the petty offenders who were turned over to the authorities,1+ although it is unlikely that any large number entirely escaped mention, either in the minutes or in the reports of subcommittees. It is possible to discover very exactly the indictments made against most of these ninety-one prisoners, to trace the course of their trials. and to determine their ultimate fate. Twenty-five were accused of being ex-convicts from Australia, thirty-one were charged with larceny of a more or less serious nature, nine with murder. five with keeping dis- reputable lodging houses, five with arson, three with horse steal- ing, and thirteen with a variety of crimes, from murderons assault to being, in general, a "bad man."15 Against some there was an array of charges, as in the case of Stuart, who was ex- convict, thief, and murderer, and who. for the purposes of this classification is listed only as murderer.
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.