recommended lynch-law in the most rigorous
manner. "Except the extreme measure
of hanging by the neck, nothing can disturb
the culprits' equanimity." This phrase,
from the Californian Herald, became their
watchword. Meanwhile, the judges were
grossly insulted in their public sittings by
the populace. It became necessary to protect
the judges in the courts and the criminals in
the prisons by armed force. One evening an
immense crowd gathered round the new
country-prison and demanded peremptorily
that a murderer should be given up to them.
The militia at last yielded, and the crowd
rushed into the prison. But the cells were
empty. The jailors and prisoners had effected
their escape through a back-door. Such
scenes were repeated at short intervals.

While thus the excitement at San Francisco
was daily increasing, it was suddenly
announced in all the streets—in all the houses, but
nobody could or would tell by what authority
—that the upper classes, having yielded to
the general wish, several thousands of the most
respectable citizens, bankers, merchants, and
mechanics, belonging to all nations, and even
some citizens of the Celestial empire among
them, had formed themselves into a Vigilance
Committee. Shortly afterwards, large placards
were fixed to the walls of the houses, containing
the regulations under which the new
committee was to administer justice in the town.
The tolling of the bell of the monumental
fire-engine house upon the Plazza, was the
signal for the members to assemble fully
armed.

The ninth of June, eighteen hundred and
fifty-one, was as bright a day as in southern
climates alone can be witnessed. The bay
lay before me smooth and calm, reflecting
like a mirror the sky and the mountains.
Pelicans, swans, and an infinite number of
minor aquatic birds moved to and fro. I was
enjoying this scene, and preparing for a hunting
excursion, when I observed Blue Jacket,
whom I had not seen for a long time, hurrying
down the mountain-range.

"Crow's Head is prisoner of the Vigilance
Committee!" he exclaimed, when he had
approached near enough to be heard, "and
you must go immediately to town and try to
save him."

While Blue Jacket was catching and saddling
Old Cream, he told me that he would
not much care for Crow's Head, only that he
apprehended this most cunning of all criminals
would contrive to get away even from
the hands of the committee.

"In this case," Blue Jacket concluded,
"he would kill me to a certainty if I had
not done all that is possible to save him.
I, of course, dare not present myself before
the members of the committee, so you must
go."

I rode to San Francisco. The bell was
tolling from the engine-house, and an
immense crowd was assembled before the
committee-rooms. I tried to get access; but
in vain. The house was closely watched, and
the orders were strict. I asked then, if
Crow's Head was to be executed? "There are
three scoundrels who will be served right,"
was the answer. In the evening, the adjoining
streets were lighted by torches. At last,
two members of the committee came down
stairs, and read the confessions of the
culprits to a long list of crimes, committed under
various names. "And the committee has
passed sentence of death upon them," the
orator added. A general approval was the
answer. A priest was admitted to the
convicts. About a quarter of an hour later,
six or seven hundred members of the
Vigilance Committee, three abreast, came
forth from the committee-house. The
procession, with the culprits handcuffed and
pinioned, nearly in the centre, moved on to
the Plazza; formed round the gallows a hollow
square; and the execution took place. I
recognised the stout figure and ghastly face
of Crow's Head above the crowd, dangling in
the air.

When the crowd had dispersed, there
remained the excitement of joyous triumph
through the town, and quantities of
champagne and punch were drunk in the stores,
which served for drawing-rooms to the
merchants as well.

The next day the principal newspapers
published the proceedings of the Vigilance
Committee at full length, but without inserting
the names of the judges.

From that night, the sovereign authority
of the Vigilance Committee was established.
The constituted authorities, however, did not
discontinue such business as was left them.
His Honour, Mayor Brenham, remained in
office and issued a proclamation, desiring "all
good citizens to withdraw from the Vigilance
Committee, or associations of like character."
Judge Campbell, of the Court of Sessions, held
his assizes on the appointed days, and charged
the grand jury, " that all those concerned in
the illegal executions had been guilty of
murder, or were participes criminis." Lawyers
sued for habeas corpus on behalf of the
prisoners in the hands of the committee, and
in some instances even of the corpses of the
executed, and the writs were granted or
withheld according to the private opinions of the
judges. His excellency, the governor of the
state of California, Mr. Dougal, threatened
it with the horrors of civil war. But all the
proclamations of the governor, the mayors,
and judges, as well as the writs of habeas
corpus, remained of no effect.

In some instances, the constituted authorities
and the Vigilance Committees even
acted together. In Sacramento city, for
instance, the regular court of assizes had
pronounced the sentence of death upon three
culprits, Thompson, Gibson, and Robinson.
But Robinson was believed to be less guilty
than the others, and the governor of the