USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > The annals of San Francisco; containing a summary of the history of California, and a complete history of its great city: to which are added, biographical memoirs of some prominent citizens > Part 48
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Some individuals having chosen to throw obstacles in the way of the Vigilance Committee's action, that body issued the follow- ing notice to the public. It is here given to show the spirit of their proceedings, and the ceaseless watchfulness with which they were conducted. Not a word need be said as to their illegality ; that is confessed by all.
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ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
"VIGILANCE COMMITTEE ROOM :- It having become necessary to the peace and quiet of this community that all criminals and abettors in crime should be driven from among us, no good citizen, having the welfare of San Francisco at heart, will deny the Committee of Vigilance such information as will enable them to carry out the above object. Nor will they interfere with said committee when they may deem it best to search any premises for sus- picious characters or stolen property. Therefore,
" RESOLVED, That we the Vigilance Committee do CLAIM to ourselves the right to enter any person or persons' premises where we have good reason to believe that we shall find evidence to substantiate and carry out the object of this body ; And further, deeming ourselves engaged in a good and just cause-WE INTEND TO MAINTAIN IT.
" By order of
" THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE, No. 67, Secretary."
" San Francisco, July 5, 1851."
The next striking occasion when the Vigilance Committee exercised its power was on the 11th of July following. A person of the name of James Stuart-the real party of that name, and for whom Burdue had been mistaken in the affair of the 19th of February preceding, had been for some days in the hands of the committee upon various charges. He had been regularly and fairly tried, found guilty, and was sentenced to be hanged. Subse- quently he made a full confession of his crimes, and acknowledged the justice of his punishment. He was an Englishman, and had many years before been transported from Great Britain to Aus- tralia for forgery. At that time he was only sixteen years of age. His whole life afterwards was one continued tissue of the most daring crimes. After wandering about various parts of the Pacific, he lighted at last upon California, and during his short residence there was supposed to have perpetrated more murders, burglaries, and other crimes of every dark and desperate descrip- tion, than any other villain in California. His confession revealed an extraordinary state of social impurity, and showed, clearly and minutely, the alarming mass of villany which existed among the community, and the support it received from the lax and culpable behavior of the executive. This confession was imme- diately published, and the people warned against the many persons whom it named and implicated in the crimes acknowledged.
About nine o'clock on the morning of the 11th, the customary taps on the bell of the Monumental Engine House, which showed
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that a matter of life and death was under consideration, summoned together the Vigilance Committee. Immediately a numerous assemblage of members convened at their rooms, and proceeded to try the prisoner. Evidence was duly led and considered, and Stuart's guilt being fully established, he was sentenced by a unanimous voice, to immediate death by hanging. Before the execution, Col. J. D. Stevenson went forth to the crowd of peo- ple waiting outside, and addressing them, stated the facts of the case briefly, as established by evidence, the subsequent confession of the prisoner himself, and the proposed judgment of the com- mittee. He then inquired whether the people approved of their proceedings, and would confirm the sentence. A loud shout in the affirmative from a great crowd answered his inquiry, against which there were only several voices in the negative. During this time the committee were in consultation as to their further proceedings, while the prisoner remained manacled in an adjoining room. He appeared quite reckless of his fate, and only at times said that the business was "d-d tiresome." He begged a piece of tobacco from one of the members, which he continued to chew until he heard his doom. When sentence was delivered, he was permitted to have a delay of two hours, to frame his mind to the solemnity of the occasion ; and to that end the assistance of a clergyman was given, although the prisoner seemed very indifferent about religious duties. This clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Mines, was closeted with the condemned during the time . granted. In the interval, the members present of the committee -some four hundred in number, sat grimly on their seats, silent and determined. They felt the responsibility and unpleasant nature of the task before them ; but they did not hesitate. It was for the good of the community and their own safety that they had been laboring, and while conscience approved of their proceedings, they did not so much court, as they hoped and ex- pected the confidence and applause of their fellow-citizens. The silence in that chamber of judgment was profound ; a pin could have been heard to fall on the floor.
After the two hours' grace, the condemned was led forth, still manacled, and closely surrounded by those who had the direct charge of watching over him. The rest of the committee formed
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in a line behind. They were all well armed, and prepared to resist any attempted rescue, either by the prisoner's friends, or the authorities themselves. In this order they marched, two by two, as in funeral procession, after Stuart and his guards, along Battery street to Market street wharf, down which they pro- ceeded to its extremity. A great crowd of citizens followed.
Hanging of James Stuart.
Hitherto the prisoner had preserved much coolness, but towards the close, fear was beginning to overcome him, and he was at last obliged to be supported by two of his guards. At the end of the wharf every thing had been hastily arranged for the exe- cution. So soon as the procession reached the spot, the fatal rope was fastened, and the condemned quickly hoisted up with a jerk upon a derrick. He did not struggle much. After hanging a few seconds his hat fell off, and a slight breeze stirred and gen- tly waved his hair. This was a sorry spectacle-a human being dying like a dog, while thousands of erring mortals, whose wicked-
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ness only had not yet been found out, looked on and applauded ! But necessity, which dared not trust itself to feelings of compas- sion, commanded the deed, and unprofitable sentiment sunk abashed. Reason loudly declared-So perish every villain who would hurt his neighbor ! and all the people said Amen !
About twenty-five minutes afterwards, when life was supposed to have fled, the body was lowered, and possession allowed to be taken on the part of the authorities. These had, previous to the execution, made some attempts to recover the person of the deceased ; but were resolutely opposed, though no overt act of violence took place. The verdict of the coroner's jury was as follows :- " We, the jury, find that the deceased came to his death by strangulation by hanging, at the hands of a body of men styling themselves the Vigilance Committee of San Francisco." It is, perhaps, unnecessary to say that the authorities took no legal action on this verdiet. The grand jury empanelled for the special July term by the court of sessions, towards the close of a. long report on the state of crime in San Francisco, and in which they had made allusion to the Vigilance Committee, took occa- sion to say :-
" When we recall the delays and the inefficient, and we believe that with truth it may be said, the corrupt administration of the law, the incapacity and indifference of those who are its sworn guardians and ministers, the frequent and unnecessary postponement of important trials in the District Court, the disregard of duty and impatience while attending to perform it manifested by some of our judges, having criminal jurisdiction, the many notorious villains who have gone unwhipped of justice, lead us to believe, that the members of that association have been governed by a feeling of opposition to the manner in which the law has been administered and those who have administered it, rather than a determination to disregard the law itself.
" Under institutions so eminently popular as those under which we live, the power of correcting all these abuses is with the people themselves. If our officers are unfit for the stations they occupy, if the laws are not faithfully executed, if an arraigned criminal procures his own friends to be placed on the jury that tries him, where is the fault, and where the remedy ? If those of our citizens who are most interested in having good and wholesome laws, and in seeing them well and purely administered, will not give sufficient attention to our elections to secure proper and sober legislators, judicial and other offi- cers, and neglect to obey the mandates of our courts when summoned as ju- rors and witnesses, as has been too often the case, can they expect to see jus- tice prevail or crime punished ? And is it not in the neglect of their duties in these important particulars, that they may find the true fountains from
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whence have sprung many of the evils we have suffered ? The Grand Jurors, believing, whilst they deplore their acts, that the association styling them- selves the 'Vigilance Committee,' at a great personal sacrifice to themselves, have been influenced in their actions by no personal or private malice, but for the best interest of the whole, and at a time too when all other means of pre- venting crime and bringing criminals to direct punishment had failed, here dismiss the matter, as among those peculiar results of circumstances that sometimes startle communities, which they can neither justify, or by a pre- sentment effect any benefit to individuals or the country ; and with the as- surance that there is a determination on the part of all well-disposed citizens to correct the abuses referred to by selecting proper officers to take the place of those who have violated their trusts, and by performing each his part in the administration of the laws. When this is done, the axe will have been laid at the root of the tree-the proper remedy applied for the correction of the grievous evils our city and country have so long suffered, and there will be no necessity for the further action of that committee. To them we are indebted for much valuable information and many important witnesses."
The above testimony to the purity of motives and prudence of conduct in the Vigilance Committee is highly important ; and shows the estimation in which they were held by some of the most enlightened members of the community, who themselves had a legal duty to perform respecting crime in the district. The public press, excepting as before, continued to give cordial and effective aid, and even from the pulpit was heard a sound of applause. As for the commonalty, it was almost unanimously in favor of the committee. In consequence of the examples made of Jenkins and Stuart, crime was now fast diminishing in San Francisco, and the number of notorious criminals was much reduced.
The next great occasion on which the committee figured was in August following. They had had in their custody for some time back, two persons of the names of Samuel Whittaker and Robert Mckenzie, who were charged with the various crimes of burglary, robbery and arson. These persons had been fairly tried, had confessed their guilt, and were sentenced to be hanged. The particular time for the execution had not yet been fixed, although a rumor spread abroad, on the evening of the 20th August, that it would take place next day.
Meanwhile the governor of the State, the Hon. John Mc- Dougal, issued (on the 20th August,) a proclamation to the people in the County of San Francisco, directed against the Vigi-
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lance Committee by name, and which called upon " all good citi- zens of said county to unite for the purpose of sustaining public law and tranquillity, to aid the public officers in the discharge of their duty, and by all lawful means to discountenance any and every attempt which may be made to substitute the despotic control of a self-constituted association, unknown and acting in defiance of the laws, in the place of the regularly organized government of the country." To this proclamation the following strange certificate was published in answer :-
" San Francisco, August 20th, 1851.
" We, the undersigned, do hereby aver, that the present governor, Mc- Dougal, asked to be introduced to the Executive Committee of the Commit- tee of Vigilance, which was allowed, and an hour fixed. The governor, upon being introduced, stated that he approved the acts of the committee, and that much good had taken place. He hoped that they would go on, and endeavor to act in concert with the authorities, and in case any judge was guilty of mal-administration, to hang him, and he would appoint others," &c.
Comment upon the above document is unnecessary. It shows that although the governor, in prosecuting the duties of his office, felt bound to oppose the proceedings of the Vigilance Committee on the ground of their illegality, as an individual, he was willing to acknowledge their beneficial effects. Indeed, the private opinion and well-wishes of the "good citizens" upon whom he called for aid against the actions of the committee, were nearly tmanimous in their favor.
On the morning of the 21st, before dawn, the sheriff, Col. John C. Hayes, holding a warrant of habeas corpus, procured upon the affidavit of Governor McDougal himself, went with one of his deputies to the rooms of the committee, which he entered without experiencing any resistance. A party of policemen fol- lowed behind, to be ready in case of need. There were a suffi- cient number of the committee at hand to have forcibly and successfully resisted the authorities ; but, taken by surprise, and unwilling to proceed to actual blows and bloodshed, they suf- fered the prisoners to be removed. Some of the committee, however, hastening from the apartment, immediately began to ring the bell of the California Engine House. This soon aroused the numerous members of the committee from slumber, and sent
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them quickly to the scene of action. By the time they arrived the sheriff had left with the prisoners. There was something strange and unexpected in the whole affair, and treachery on the part of some of the prisoners' guards was suspected. The au- thorities had known for weeks that Whittaker and Mckenzie had been in the hands of the committee, and during that time they had made no effort to procure their release. It was gene- rally believed indeed that the authorities, knowing the good the committee had done in diminishing crime, took ready advantage of their situation in protesting that feebleness alone kept them quiet. Yet now they were perilling all the benefits that had already resulted from the action of the committee. The latter deeply deplored the hasty conduct of the officials, but resolved to be cool and proceed cautiously in their farther steps. Villany meanwhile looked stealthily on, and began to breathe more free- ly. The old tribunals, and old delays-perjury-quibbles and technical errors-corrupt and bribed prosecutors-ignorance and corruption among the jury-misunderstood and misapplied laws -ay, life itself, and freedom again to run a long course of rapine and murder, all were suddenly opened, by this legal stroke of the executive, to the astonished and delighted criminal ! As for the authorities themselves, they were wonderstruck at, and almost afraid of their own boldness and success ; and many could scarce- ly believe that they had managed, at last, to circumvent the formidable Vigilance Committee. So they made preparations to resist any attempt that might be tried to rescue the prisoners ; while fear and trembling, arising from many different causes, filled the hearts of all " good citizens."
About half-past two o'clock, on the afternoon of Sunday, the 24th of August, an armed party, consisting of thirty-six mem- bers of the Vigilance Committee, forcibly broke into the jail, at a time when the Rev. Mr. Williams happened to be engaged at devotional exercises with the prisoners, among whom were Whit- taker and Mckenzie. The slight defence of the jailers and guards was of no avail. The persons named were seized, and hurried to and placed within a coach, that had been kept in readiness a few steps from the prison. The carriage instantly was driven off at full speed, and nearly at the same moment the
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ominous bell of the Monumental Engine Company rapidly and loudly tolled for the immediate assemblage of the committee and the knell itself of the doomed. The whole population leaped with excitement at the sound ; and immense crowds from the remotest quarter hurried to Battery street. There blocks, with the necessary tackle, had been hastily fastened to two beams which projected over the windows of the great hall of the com- mittee. Within seventeen minutes after the arrival of the pris- oners, they were both dangling by the neck from these beams. The loose extremities of the halters being taken within the building itself and forcibly held by members of the committee. Full six thousand people were present, who kept an awful silence during the short time these preparations lasted. But so soon as the wretches were swung off, one tremendous shout of satisfaction burst from the excited multitude ; and then there was silence again.
After the bodies had hung about half an hour, the people were addressed by Mr. Brannan, Dr. Robinson and Mr. Peyran ; and shortly afterwards they slowly dispersed. In the course of an hour later, the bodies were delivered over to the authorities, and the same evening a coroner's jury returned the following verdict :- " In accordance with the foregoing testimony, the jury, after deliberate consideration, have come to the conclusion, and accordingly render their verdict, that Samuel Whittaker and Robert Mckenzie came to their death by being hanged by the neck, thereby producing strangulation, by the act of a body of citizens styling themselves the 'Vigilance Committee of San Francisco,' on the afternoon of Sunday, August 24th, instant, at about three o'clock, in front of the Vigilance Committee Rooms, on Battery street, near California street, from the second story thereof." As heretofore, no steps were taken by the authorities to implement the verdict of the jury.
This was the last time the committee took or found occasion to exercise their functions. Henceforward the administration of justice might be safely left in the hands of the usual officials. The city now was pretty well cleansed of crime. The fate of Jenkins, Stuart, Whittaker and Mckenzie showed that rogues and roguery, of whatever kind, could no longer expect to find a
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safe lurking-place in San Francisco. Many of the suspected, and such as were warned off by the committee, had departed, and gone, some to other lands, and some into the mining regions and towns of the interior. Those, however, who still clung to Cali- fornia, found no refuge any where in the State. Previously, dif- ferent cases of Lynch Law had occurred in the gold districts, but these were solitary instances which had been caused by the atro- city of particular crimes. When, however, the Vigilance Com- mittee of San Francisco had started up, fully organized, and began their great work, Sacramento, Stockton, San José, as well as other towns and the more thickly peopled mining quarters, likewise formed their committees of vigilance and safety, and pounced upon all the rascals within their bounds. These associ- ations interchanged information with each other as to the move- ments of the suspected ; and all, with the hundred eyes of an Argus and the hundred arms of a Briareus, watched, pursued, harassed, and finally caught the worst desperadoes of the country. Like Cain, a murderer and wanderer, as most of them were, they bore a mark on the brow, by which they were known. Some were hanged at various places, some were lashed and branded, but the greater number were simply ordered to leave the country, within a limited time, under penalty of immediate death if found after a stated period within its limits. Justice was no longer blind or leaden-heeled. With the perseverance and speed of a bloodhound, she tracked criminals to their lair, and smote them where they lay.
Thus by almost a universal-a national effort, was our beau- tiful country, which had so long contained and been defiled by the sweepings from the prisons and the thieves'-alleys of other lands, once more made pure, sweet and safe. Hercules did no greater labor when he cleansed the Augean stable by turning a river through it. The people of California, and more particular- ly the people of San Francisco, had turned the great stream of justice, from its former slow, devious and uncertain course, and sent its waters headlong to overwhelm criminals and wash society clean from the stains that crime had left. For a long time after- wards, the whole of California remained comparatively free from outrages against person and property.
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From all the evidence that can be obtained, it is not supposed that a single instance occurred in which a really innocent man suffered the extreme penalty of death. Those who were execut- ed generally confessed their guilt, and admitted the punishment to have been merited. We have seen that it was so in the case of three of those hanged at San Francisco.
The Vigilance Committee has long ceased to act, but the association has never been formally dissolved. The original members are doubtless ready, if ever sad occasion should require, again to assert the right of self-preservation, and the supremacy of natural law over defective civil rules, tedious if not corrupt tribunals, mastery of scoundrels and the quirks of professional tricksters, if thereby the substantial ends of justice can be best or alone obtained, and society relieved from the horrors of un- checked and triumphant villany. Let rogues then beware ! It is, however, to be sincerely hoped, that never again shall there need to be revived those terrible times of 1851. California is perhaps not yet quite so subject to the influence and strength of LAW as most of the Atlantic States or the more civilized coun- trics in Europe ; but she is fast being gently and securely broken in to its majestic and salutary sway. Her career has been unlike that of any other modern nation, and the many anomalies in her history must be peculiarly and leniently judged. GOD SAVE CALIFORNIA !
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Yerba Buena Cemetery
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DEATHS AND BURIALS.
THIS is a melancholy subject for a chapter in our "Annals." The approaches of death are terrible every where, but especially in places like San Francisco. In his native land and own home, the sinking invalid is cheered by the sweet, loving attentions of the woman,-it may be mother, wife, sister, or daughter,-that is dearest to him, and the kind inquiries, visits and discourse of the friends of his youth or ripened years. He thinks that death has lost its chief terrors when he sees only gentle faces, hears soft and soothing tones, and knows that his worldly affairs are arranged, and that those dearest to his heart will be protected when he has gone. Few of such consolations attend the dying in San Francisco. It is so still ; but that was more particularly the case in the times of the great immigration of 1849, 1850, and 1851. It is to these years, and especially to the first named, that the chief interest of the city attaches ; and we are natu- rally inclined to dwell more upon the events of that strange time. Although the climate of San Francisco is admitted to be un-
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usually salubrious, the mortality which prevailed in the years mentioned was very great. Most of the immigrants had arrived in a state of body which was far from sound. The majority camne by sea, and had been subjected to all the ills which a voy- age of five or six months' duration usually induces. The ships were generally small, old and inconvenient, having never been properly fitted to carry passengers ; while all were crowded to excess. The provisions were in many cases scarcely fit to be eaten ; and in all there was naturally a deficiency of fresh vege- tables and meats. The general diet was of course quite unlike that to which the passengers had been accustomed. Salt, dry and stale food, bad water, want of exercise, and confinement for many hours daily in close, unaired cabins ; all these things within half a year's time impaired the strongest constitution, and afflicted many with scurvy and kindred diseases. When such people landed at San Francisco those who were least sick thought they were well enough, for hope at the moment was strong and buoyant. Those, again, who were confessedly unwell, found there was no suitable accommodation or sanitary treatment to be had. Both classes, while they now had fresh, and perhaps better food than before, had much worse habitations than when they lived on shipboard. Canvas-covered tents, with the bare earth for flooring, were miserable lodgings for sick people at any season, but when the heavy winter rains set in, they became only the abodes of disease and death. As if previous sickness, change of diet, bad lodging, exposure to excessive damp, and sometimes personal dissipation, were not enough to kill, disap- pointed hopes came in the end to blast the principle of life, and put an end to further misery.
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