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 31
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14 For example, a suspected murderer was arrested by the Committee and sent to Stockton, and a fugitive from the San Francisco jail was captured and returned (California Courier, 1851, July 19 %).
15 See Papers, "List of Prisoners," Appendix E.
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Vigilance Committee of 1851
Of these ninety-one prisoners, the Committee hanged four ; whipped one; deported fourteen under direct supervision; ordered fourteen more to leave California at their own expense and on their own parole, with a threat of execution if they dis- obeyed ;16 delivered fifteen to the authorities for legal trial; and discharged forty-one. The disposition made of two others is not noted. but they were probably discharged. As a matter of fact, punishment was enforced only upon those hanged, those deported under supervision, and upon the one thief who was whipped, a total of nineteen. It is not certain that all, or most. of the Australians ordered to leave California did so; on the other hand, there were others who departed hurriedly without risking discipline at the hands of the Vigilantes.17
In carrying out the sentences imposed by the Committee, it seems that due attention was paid to the ordinary dictates of humanity. The illness of Mrs. Goff, for instance, whose husband was under orders to leave California by a specified date, secured for her family an extension of time.18 Valuables found upon the persons of prisoners were guarded and restored at the time of departure, and business affairs were adjusted for several who were deported under supervision of the Committee.19 Food and blankets were provided for those whe were unable to purchase supplies for the voyage to Sydney.20
However one may be inclined to judge the actions of the Committee. the record of its dealings with prisoners is a most significant indication of the aims, methods, and temper of its
16 Coleman said that about thirty people were banished (MS Statement, 24), but Bluxome, speaking with apparent exaggeration, said: "I suppose we sent back ... some three to five hundred at different times" ( MS State- ment, 15). The Herald, 1851, Oct. 17 21, stated that fifty-three had been sent away. There are bills for the passage of several (Papers, Voucher no. 5, p. 772, and nos. 35, 43).
17 Papers, 84, 124, 132, 279.
18 Papers, 195.
19 See Papers, Index under "Receipts for effects," and supra, p. 232.
20 Papers, 338, 625.
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Problems and Methods of Administration
members. Arrogating to themselves, as they did, the power of life and death and the right to lay hands on any man or woman, they were far more merciful to the majority of their prisoners than the courts might have been if juries had strictly interpreted the existing statutes. Whipping could be inflicted for petty larceny, but of all the petty thieves that came before them the Vigilantes whipped but one. Grand larceny, highway robbery, and horse stealing were liable to capital punishment in the state of California. There was clear proof that certain prisoners of the Committee were guilty of such crimes, but with four exceptions they were turned over to the authorities and given a chance to fight for their lives in legal trials.21 Cutler said that vigilance committees almost invariably incline to ready conviction and severe punishments.22 As the Committee of 1851 discharged out- right over forty-four per cent of its prisoners, its record deserves a place by itself in the annals of popular tribunals.
The records reporting the dealings of the Committee of Vigi- lance with its prisoners constitute the larger part of the seven hundred and fifty pages of the Minutes and Miscellaneous Papers. Another important source of information is to be found in the papers of the treasurers, which fill fifty more pages in the volume of documents.23 Some reference has been made to them in speak- ing of the financial difficulties of the organization. They will repay more extended study not only for their statistical value, but also for the light they throw on the methods of the Com- mittee and on local conditions in San Francisco.
During the early days of the Committee the sergeant-at-arms collected and distributed funds without strict supervision from any ranking officer or committee. He kept a cashbook, of which only a fragment has been preserved. His vouchers, also. are far from complete, so that his accounts show an expenditure of
21 The outcome of some of the legal trials is noted in the Papers, 825- 826.
22 Cutler, Lynch-Law, 135.
23 See Papers, 752-805.
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Vigilance Committee of 1851
$575.58 for which items cannot be assigned." On and after June 19, 1851, he was directed to pay funds into the hands of the treasurer, and to contract no expenses without the sanction of the Finance Committee.25
The papers of the treasurers are in more satisfactory con- dition. J. W. Salmon presented a single report on July 7, 1851, when he turned his work over to Engene Delessert, who aeted as treasurer until April 1. 1852. Delessert kept all his papers in a file separate from that of the secretary. His accounts were based upon the items of one hundred and three receipted bills, which are now carefully arranged in bundles and numbered consecutively. As the numbering of these vouchers often ignored sequence of date for a classifieation by subject, it is the opinion of the writer that Delessert arranged them just prior to his resignation and then eopied them in serial order into his eashbook. This theory is sustained by the uniformity of the handwriting in the book and by the fact that the footings of the pages were merely carried forward. without balances, until near the end of his term, when his successor. George R. Ward, andited the accounts. If such were his methods he risked inaeeuraeies that might have been avoided by more frequent balances, in fact a checking of his figures discloses an error of $100 in the addition of one column of receipts, a possible duplication of entries for liquors, amount- ing to $58, and another for the salary of the sergeant-at-arms, amounting to $280.26 George R. Ward approved the final accounts so that it is probable that they were understood at the time. It is only necessary to call attention to these features of the financial documents in order to caution the reader that their accuraey cannot be regarded as absolutely above question.
24 See Papers, 764, 765, 800-805. The fragment of McDuffee's cash book has not been printed.
25 Papers, 60, 91.
26 See Papers, 822 note. Delessert also made an error of one dollar in adding expenses, p. 757.
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Problems and Methods of Administration
From April 5 to November 24, 1852, the book was continued in Mr. Ward's handwriting. The receipts there recorded amounted to only $310 and the account was closed by some confused figures which apparently reported total receipts of $340.
Taken as a whole, the pages of "Finaneial Accounts and Vouchers" show the care exercised to provide safeguards against irregularities and carelessness, for except in the earlier vouchers of McDuffee the approval of two or three members of the Finance Committee was signed across nearly every bill that might involve questions of accuracy or of expediency. In preparing the docu- ments for publication it seemed advisable to make a classified analysis of expenses as a guide to any student who might care to note the prices current in California in 1851. That table appears in Appendix D of the Papers, but a summary will be interesting here since it gives a valuable clue to many of the activities of the Committee.
CLASSIFICATION OF EXPENSES OF THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE
Rent
June 9 to Sept. 17, 1851 $1,100.00 484.00
Sept. 17, 1851, to June 17, 1852
Total $1,525.00
Salary: Sergeant-at-arms
Secretary
300.00
Porter
257.00
2,138.11
Headquarters: Labor, equipment, stationery, lights
1,500.00
414.84
1,914.84
Advertising
280.00
62.75
342.75
Water police
1,317.24
125.00
1,442.24
Travel and pursuit of criminals
848,25
848.25
Livery
231.00
231.00
Passage of convicts
425.00
425.00
Liquor: at headquarters
on Adirondack
40.00
192.50
Liquor or refreshments
298.00
298.00
Refreshments
132.71
132.71
Cigars
19,50
19.50
Sundry
201.75
443.70
645.45
Unitemized balance
520.58
520.58
$7,807.53
$2,868.40
$10,675.93
152.50
$425.00 1,097.11
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Vigilance Committee of 1851
This segregation of expenses shows at a glance the cost of headquarters and of salaries. The vouchers for these groups of expenditures are indicated by number in the Appendix to the Papers. They show, for instance, that lumber sold at the rate of five and a half eents a foot, while carpenters' wages were $10 a day.27 George, the porter or servant at headquarters. received only $100 a month, with $3.50 for extra days. At the termination of his engagement, when his pay was $137.50 in arrears. he annotated his final receipt with the querulous com- plaint, "Paid me only 137 Dollars."28
The amount spent for advertising is a proof of the many notices issued through the Herald, the Alta, the Courier, the Picayune, and the Pacific Star; even the Morning Post, in spite of an unfriendly attitude, served as a medium of communication between the Committee and the public at large. The time and place of meetings were often matters of general knowledge, and the names of president and secretary were frequently subscribed to official notiees.
Traveling expenses and the pursuit of criminals cost the Com- mittee $848. The itemized account of the expenses of one expedi- tion included steamer fees and hotel bills for a party of three for several days, and showed charges surprisingly moderate for those early times.29
It is little wonder that the bills of the water police were paid under protest ! A single statement presented by Captain Water- man. possibly for service following the fire of June 22, called for $479. Another. in July, was for $192.30 The total cost of boats and boatmen amounted to $1317.
27 Papers, Voucher no. 27.
28 Papers, Voucher no. 54.
29 Papers, Voucher no. 10, p. 773.
39 Papers, Vouchers no. 6, p. 770, no. 4. p. 771. See also Vouchers nos. 86-88.
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Problems and Methods of Administration
One group of bills furnishes an interesting light on the morale of the Committee. During the early days of the association, while the sergeant-at-arms had a free hand, liquor to the amount of $150 was purchased for headquarters. The committee that examined the passengers on board the Adirondack was furnished with gin and brandy that cost $40 and cigars that cost $18.31 On July 2 a resolution of the General Committee ruled that in future no spiritous liquor should be introdneed into headquarters. Stimulants, if needed, were to be served only in the form of hot coffee.32 After the adoption of this motion there was a bill for a case of claret and for three gallons of "alcohol." These contraband articles were bought by McDuffee on July 31. For some reason ignored in the records, the sergeant-at-arms was officially censured by vote of the Executive Committee a few days later, and was asked to tender his resignation. He was allowed to continue in office only after promising to "abstain in future from the faults complained of." He finally gave up his position on August 29. No further purchase of liquor appeared among the vouchers.33 Refreshments amounting to nearly $300 were furnished from time to time by the Pioneer Club and the Oriental Hotel. A part of these charges may have been for drink, although the legitimate expense of feeding prisoners was undoubtedly large. We find, therefore, that in the first six weeks of its work the Committee expended over $200 on liquor but made almost no official purchases of that kind after July 25. It was a time when intoxicants were consumed in enormous quanti- ties in California, but whatever may have been the personal habits of individual committeemen, the records show that dissipation was frowned upon by the Committee as a whole and that the convivial tendencies displayed by Mr. Andrew Jackson MeDuffee were sternly checked by his fellow Vigilantes.
31 Papers, Vouchers nos. 14, 21, 57, 58, 111.
32 Papers, 339.
33 See Papers, Voucher no. 101, and pp. 418, 571.
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Vigilance Committee of 1851
Of one thing we may be very sure: The hundreds of pages preserved in the archives of the Committee were not written by men habitually under the influence of liquor. Their very faults of composition, spelling, and punetnation show that they are not revised copies prepared for publie inspection, and every hasty line gives evidence of the alert brain and the steady hand that directed the pen of the seribe. And this may be the place to emphasize the fact that these papers are clean-not only from the standpoint of a student of documents, but also from the standpoint of one who would judge the authors themselves by their reactions under sneh unusual circumstances. They dealt with the daily life of men and women who defied all restraints of decency, but the papers are never indecent. The few sentences expnrgated before publi- cation were consigned to oblivion only because their expressions were unnecessarily erude and startling in presenting certain facts that were fully established elsewhere. While it may have been necessary to check, by resolution, indecency of speech within the rooms,3+ the most trivial serap of official record shows that the writers were inspired with a sense of the dignity and importance of the work they had undertaken and had no desire to sully it with vulgarity of thought or word.
But little more need be said upon the subject of finances, for while the items of expenditure can be segregated with profit, the sources of the revenue can not be analyzed with exactness. Initiation fees, monthly dnes, fines, and outside subscriptions are confused in their entry. An approximate classification, dependent upon the judgment of the compiler in interpreting the items, may be given as follows :
RECEIPTS OF THE COMMITTEE
Initiation fees, dues and fines
$6,296.38
Subscriptions
3,933.77
Sale of certificates of membership
175.00
Sundry sources
269.78
$10,674.93
34 Papers, 397.
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Problems and Methods of Administration
In addition to this was the $4700 raised for the county jail. Therefore, if the analysis of receipts is approximately correct, total subscriptions donated in excess of standing assessments amounted to over $8000. The fact that a great part of this sum came from the merchants of the city, many of whom were not members of the Committee, is an indication of the public support that was extended to the association.35
It was only the existence of such general approval that made it possible for the Committee to carry out its program of un- authorized interference with the established institutions of the state. It is very clear that from the moment when Jenkins' sen- tence was approved by the crowd assembled beneath the sand dune rostrum on Market and Bush streets, the Committee was convinced that its organization had achieved a position fairly representative of the mind of the community. That conviction was constantly fostered by the open commendation of the press.36 Many exact citations from the daily papers have been incor- porated in this volume in order to associate with the initiative of the Committee the constant support received from the men outside its ranks. "We did not put them [the authorities] at defiance," said Ryckman. "It was the sound, sober sense of the people that recognized the Committee as just."37
35 See donation of Flint, Peabody and Company, and the facsimile of a list of subscribers, Papers, 527, 712.
36 " With one single exception the entire press of this city, Sacramento, Stockton, Marysville and Sonora have justified and sustained the citizens, regarding their action as the result of painful, deplorable necessity" ( Alta, 1851, June 16 3%). The exception was the Morning Post, an unimportant sheet, which ceased publication in November. The California correspondent of the New York Tribune thought the press of the state was so controlled by the advertising patronage of the merchants who led in the Committee, that disapproval would have been disastrous. The Alta indignantly denied the impeachment (Dec. 19 1), but it may have had some foundation, especially as the Herald was almost wrecked in 1856 by the withdrawal of advertising patronage in consequence of its disapproval of the reorganized committee (see infra, p. 410).
37 Ryekman, MS Statement, 9.
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Vigilance Committee of 1851
This outspoken and widespread approval, coupled with the frankness with which the Committee announced its purposes and its personnel. formed a combination that actually gave the anomalous body a definite standing even in the eyes of the con- stituted authorities, and made possible those eurious instances we have noted of cooperation between the lawful representatives of the people and the unlawful association that assumed power to supervise and override their proceedings. The governor of the state interfered only onee in all the exciting events of 1851. The mayor of the city interfered not at all. except at the sum- mons of the governor, and both of these magistrates met the Vigilantes, in amicable conference, within the sacred precincts of the Executive Chamber. Sheriff Hays, as we have seen, was aided in his official exertions by the generous sum raised for the completion of the jail, and it does not appear that these cordial relations were affected by his varying suceess in the service of writs of habeas corpus. or by the seizure and the subsequent recapture of Whittaker and Mckenzie. With punctilious for- mality President Payran would order his chief of police to hand over the body of a certain prisoner to the sheriff of the county. to take an acknowledgment of the transaction, and "herein fail not." With equal formality the sheriff or his deputy would accept the eaptive, and endorse on the order a receipt for the person named, from the hands of the "Chief of Police of the Vigilance Committee. "38
Other sheriff's seem to have approved of the methods of the Committee, and two such officials sent to headquarters deserip- tions of escaped prisoners with the request that they should be captured if possible. The sheriff of Butte County characterized one man as such a pest to society that any assistance "your honourable and gentlemanly Committee ean render. in retaking him will be highly appreciated by . .. this whole community. ''39
35 Papers, 346, 347, 426, 427.
39 Papers. 278.
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Problems and Methods of Administration
N. M. McKimmey, of Napa, was quite willing that the Commit- tee should hang without ado a certain blond Dutch horse thief, a linguist of sorts, who wore a white fur hat and a large blue coat closely buttoned to the chin."" Both of these fortunate rascals seem to have escaped detection in San Francisco for their names do not reappear in the annals of the Committee.
Officers of the army and the navy also cooperated with the officers of the Committee of Vigilance.41 The representatives of foreign nations gave the countenance of their presence on several occasions.42 More interesting still was the relation which existed between the Committee and the grand jury for the July term, on which served the eight Vigilantes who were charged by Judge Campbell with the Spartan duty of bringing against themselves indictments for the murder of Stuart. This was the jury that requested from the Committee information in the case of T. Belcher Kay. and visited headquarters to obtain it.43
But in all the history of the Committee there was no incident more significant of its place in the estimation of the people than was the gift of a large and handsome banner by the women belonging to Trinity Church. This flag was always considered one of the treasures of the Committee of 1851, and it was carried by the group of original members who participated in the great parade that marked the close of the activities of the Committee of 1856.++ It was finally given to Mr. John S. Ellis, as a souvenir of his services in both Committees. It is now in the possession
40 Papers, 621-622.
41 The attitude of Lieutenant Derby has already been noted (supra, p. 316) ; the captain and officers of the revenue cutter Polk gave useful information more than once (Papers, 134, 136, 203, 207, 209), and there were friendly relations with the officers of the sloop of war Vincennes (ibid., 438, 440). S. F. Blunt and Lafayette Maynard, listed as officers in the Navy, were members of the Committee (C. of V., Constitution, 56).
42 The British consul, George Aiken, attended Stuart's examination, and the French consul that of Le Bras (Papers, 176, 275. See also supra p. 340).
43 See supra, p. 283.
44 See infra, p. 403.
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Vigilance Committee of 1851
of members of his family, having by great good fortune escaped the fate that destroyed so many relics of pioneer days, and its beanty, softened but unimpaired by the lapse of years, still offers tribute to the Vigilantes of 1851.45
The banner was presented and accepted with appropriate remarks. The spokesman for the ladies stated that the gift was inspired by gratitude for the improved conditions brought about by the work of the Committee, and for the protection it afforded to the women who had formerly been distracted by constant fears of violence. He explained that the wreath of oak and fig and olive leaves that decorated one side of the banner was symbolic of the strength of the Committee of Vigilance and of the peace it had given to the homes of the city. The wreath of flowers on the reverse, enclosing the inscription of the donors, was emblem- atic of the gentler nature of the women who thus offered their thanks.
The response of the representatives of the Committee re- iterated the principle that the radical action of the Vigilantes was justified by the necessity for self-preservation when the safety of their families demand some prompt and energetic action. It may be inferred that Payran wrote the sentences which read :46
We are naturally and instinctively a law loving and law abiding people, and have those principles, inherited from our fathers, too deeply rooted ever to be eradicated. But we have also inherited another great principle, or rather we have it inherent, one of the fundamental principles of nature, and that is the principle of self preservation, "which springs eternal in the human heart." * * *
Our people submitted to repeated injuries and unheard of outrages, in the vain hope that the great majesty of the law would lend an ear to
45 The banner is now in the possession of Mr. Ashfield Ellis Stow, of San Francisco. Photographs are reproduced in the Papers, to face pp. 438, 439. A smaller banner was presented to the Committee by Messrs. Plum and Warner (Papers, 339).
46 From the Herald, 1851, August 12 %. Signed by Stephen Payran, Eugene Delessert, F. A. Woodworth, D. S. Turner, C. R. Bond and G. M. Garwood. Extracts from the presentation speech are printed in the Appen- dix, p. 471.
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Problems and Methods of Administration
their complaints and mete out impartial and even-handed justice. They submitted with patience until patience ceased to be a virtue, and their own safety and the safety of their families demanded some prompt and energetic action.
It was at this critical moment the Committee of Vigilance sprung, spontaneously as it were, into existence. The people from whom emanate all human laws, rose in their might, by common impulse, and resolved to carry out, themselves, the true spirit of the laws by which we are governed. In pursuance of their duties, the Committee have been ever sensible of the weight of responsibility they have assumed, the delicacy of their position before the world, and have endeavored always to be guided in their deliberations by a proper sense of reason and justice.
The addresses embody anew that spirit which we have already recognized as shaping American thoughts towards the conviction that "The People" might assume direct control of the govern- ment when the established order failed to function for the good of the community. It was the same spirit that inspired the an- nouncement of the policy of search without warrant ; that refused obedience to the writ of habeas corpus; that animated Stephen Payran when he wrote: "The people only can redress griev- ances," and again : "It is an old and popular doctrine, that it may be necessary to sacrifice the government to the people, but never the people to the government"; that prompted the Com- mittee of Sonora to say that in the existing dangers of society the people should resume the power they had delegated to in- capable or unfaithful servants; that impelled Schenck to write: "Let them [officials] know that they are the servants of the people, and to them they must surrender their trust when not faithfully executed."47 The logical process of this idea inevitably tended either towards anarchy or towards some modification of the social mechanism that would provide a lawful readjustment of the relations between "people" and "servants" in cases where friction was developed to an intolerable degree. But the Vigilantes of 1851 honestly thought they were defending their
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