however the robber was brought to quick justice by
the miners. Robbery was not countenanced in the
camps. If one should steal, his fellows would
rise up, try him in a hastily convened court, and
condemn him to death, and hang him on the nearest
tree. It was a rule that the body should be exposed
for twenty-four hours as a warning to others.
All this may seem harsh, but under the circumstances
it was the only way in which justice could be dealt
out to offenders. The camps were in consequence
orderly and safe. We must not think, because
the Vigilance Committees of the mining camps and of
the city took the administration of law into their
own hands that therefore they were lawless and that
their rule was that of the mob. No, this was
the only way in which peaceable citizens could be
protected from the violence and crimes perpetrated
by the turbulent and disorderly and vicious elements
of society. In the years 1851 and 1852 there
was great lawlessness in San Francisco. Bad men,
who had served terms in prisons for their misdeeds,
and men who wished to disorganise society, who had
the spirit of anarchy in their breasts, organised
themselves into bands for the purpose of stealing
and killing, and good citizens stood in mortal fear
of them. Buildings were burned at pleasure, houses
were broken open and robberies committed, and even
murder was resorted to when the wrongdoers found it
necessary in the accomplishment of their hellish purposes.
The officials of the city were careless in punishing
offenders, indeed they were powerless to do so, and
the lawbreakers knew this. It is said that over
a hundred persons were murdered during the period
of six months; and the blood of these victims cried
to Heaven for vengeance. To assert the majesty
of law and to punish criminals a large number of the
best citizens, who grieved over the evils which prevailed,
organised themselves into the famous Vigilance Committee.
The seal which they adopted showed their worthy purpose.
In the centre was the figure of a human eye to denote
watchfulness. Above the eye was the word, Committee,—beneath,
Vigilance; then the name, San Francisco. Around
the edge of the seal ran the legends: “Fiat
Justitia Ruat Coelum. No creed; no party; no
sectional issues.” While not constituted
exactly like the Court of Areopagus, yet the Vigilance
Committee of San Francisco did for a time exercise
authority over life and death like the Athenian judges
on Mars’ Hill. The shaft of lightning first
fell on an ex-convict who was caught stealing.
Eighty members of the Committee tried and convicted
him, and on the same night he was hanged in Portsmouth
Square in view of the saloons. A thrill ran through
the whole community, and when, the next morning, the
people read the names of the prominent citizens who
served on the Committee, their action made a deep
and salutary impression. The Vigilance Committee
prosecuted its work till the city was purged of its
evils, and it exercised from time to time its authority