Vigilance committee

“ Every day some one was robbed, or murdered, and thieves often set fire to houses that they might plunder. As the judges and police could not control these criminals, nearly two hundred good citizens formed a "vigilance committee." ”

“ On Thursday, of last week, warrants for the arrest of William and Ellen were issued by Judge Levi Woodbury, but no officer has yet been found ready or bold enough to serve them. In the meantime, the Vigilance Committee, appointed at the Faneuil Hall meeting, has not been idle. Their number has been increased to upwards of a hundred "good men and true," including some thirty or forty members of the bar; and they have been in constant session, devising every legal method to baffle the pursuing bloodhounds, and relieve the city of their hateful presence. ”

“ Casey shot King Wednesday afternoon, May 14th. After the organization of the Vigilance Committee, a number of prominent citizens who were opposed to every movement of that kind and believed in due obedience to the law and in submission to the constituted authorities under every circumstances, likewise organized under the title of the Law and Order Association. Impulse was given to the movement by an unlooked-for incident. The Daily Herald had been for four years annually voted by the guild of auctioneers the auction advertisements, which filled one whole page of the paper. ”

“ It would be difficult to find in any business vocation a more thoroughly effective and true man than he; but he honors the calling, and not the calling him. Without him and his fellow-detectives the civilization of New York could not be maintained, and throughout the country a sort of anarchy would bear sway. Vigilance committees would be needed in all our cities, and be made up of inexperienced citizens, who, not knowing what to do, would make confusion more confounded, and run riot themselves at last. But the skilled "vigilance committee," the educated detectives, keep things in order. ”

“ Vigilance Committee, in the United States, a self-constituted judicial body, occasionally organized in the western frontier districts for the protection of life and property. The first committee of prominence bearing the name was organized in San Francisco in June 1851, when the crimes of desperadoes who had immigrated to the gold-fields were rapidly increasing in numbers and it was said that there were venal judges, packed juries and false witnesses. At first this committee was composed of about 200 members, afterwards it was much larger. ”

“ A vigilance committee sprung from their actual necessity, and, in a short space of time, daily crime was reduced to the ordinary ratio it bears in civilization. Even in the great Eastern metropolis, during the past two or three [Pg 263] years, a similar necessity has been proclaimed, and a like exertion of the popular will has been predicted by some of the leading New York journals. There, however, law seems recently to have awakened from its long slumber, and, if consistently active and severe, will repress the lawlessness of passion or criminality. ”

“ But we are determined that no thief, burglar, incendiary, assassin, ballot box stuffer, or other disturber of the peace shall escape punishment, either by the quibbles of the law, the insecurity of prisons, the carelessness or corruption of the police, or the laxity of those who pretend to administer justice; and, to secure the objects of this association, we do hereby agree, that the name and style of the Association shall be "The Committee of Vigilance, for the protection of the ballot box, the lives, liberty, and property of the citizens and residents of the City, of San Francisco." ”

“ The printed manifesto of the Vigilantes was affixed to Morgan’s clothes with the warning words written across it, “Road Agents, beware!”
Outrages against person and property are still perpetrated occasionally, though much less frequently than is usual in settled countries; and it is to be hoped that regularly administered law will, for the future, render a Vigilance Committee unnecessary. The power behind the Throne of Justice stands ready, in Virginia City, to back the authorities ”

“ But Willy Cameron overruled that.
“We don't need that sort of stuff,” he said, “and if we begin that we might as well put it in the newspapers. We want men who can keep their mouths shut, and who will sign some sort of a card agreeing to stand by the government and to preserve law and order. Then an office and a filing case, and their addresses, so we can get at them in a hurry if we need them. Get me a piece of paper, somebody.”
Then and there, in twenty words, Willy Cameron wrote the now historic oath of the new Vigilance Committee, on the back of an old envelope. ”

“ The causes which had gradually been driving the people to assert their own power, as they did on this occasion, differed very materially from those which gave birth to the Vigilance Committee of ’51, when their object was merely to root out a gang of house-breakers. ”

“ The remedy for the social and political crimes which called the Committee of Vigilance into existence was a fearful one, and must be so regarded by all thinking and virtuous minds, and it would seem paradoxical to set up such a crowning act of disorder—that of the subversion of all legal authority, for even the shortest period—as an exhibition of a love of order and respect for the rights of persons and of property on the part of the actors ”

“ Terry and his whole party then ran and placed themselves for safety in the Blues Armory. Hopkins was immediately taken into the Pennsylvania Engine House. The news flew with lightning speed over the City. The bell of the Vigilance Committee Rooms sounded; and instantly the streets were swarming with members obedient at all times to its summons. As the sound struck his ear, every man discontinued the work upon which he was employed. ”

“ But where there is no law, save on sparsely rare occasions, as is sufficiently evidenced on the mountains, and in the valleys and plains bordering on California, the action of vigilance committees, or some restraint as sharp and certain, is a paramount necessity. ”

“ In the case of the Vigilantes of Montana, it must be also remembered that the Sheriff himself was the leader of the Road Agents, and his deputies were the prominent members of the band.
The question of the propriety of establishing a Vigilance Committee, depends upon the answers which ought to be given to the following queries: Is it lawful for citizens to [Pg 15] slay robbers or murderers, when they catch them ”

“ That the Vigilance Committees grasped the moral power is undeniable; that they used it for the public salvation is equally true; but the best advocates are far from showing that with skill and moderation they might not have thrown their weight into the scale with law, and conquered, by means of legislature, judge, and jury, a peace wholly free from the stain of lawless blood. ”

“ These commissioners had crossed the mountains together, and at Parkinson's ferry they found representatives from almost every town of four insurgent counties, two hundred in number, assembled in convention, having Judge Cook, of Fayette county, for their president, and Albert Gallatin, afterward a distinguished officer of the federal government, for their secretary. The business was in charge of a vigilance committee of sixty. Near the place of meeting, which was upon a commanding eminence under the shade of trees, stood a liberty-pole, bearing a placard with the words, “Liberty and no excise! ”

“ After the schooner sailed, McGowan succeeded in making his way out of the State and safe from the Vigilance Committee by the cunning and adroitness of his good friend Jack Powers. The Committee were foiled in their endeavor to capture the man, of all others, they were the most eager to catch and hang. There would have been short invoking of trial in his case and a hurried death by the rope. McGowan lives to relate his adventures and enjoy the narrative. ”

“ And our blind statesmen go up and down, with committees of vigilance and safety, hunting for the origin of this new heresy. They will need a very vigilant committee, indeed, to find its birthplace, and a very strong force to root it up. ”

“ Men went “prospecting” (?) who had [Pg 204] never been accused of such an act before; and a very considerable improvement in the average appearance of the population soon became visible.
A constant stream of miners and others was now pouring into the Territory, from the West, and the consequence was that thinking portion of the citizens of Helena began to see that a regular organization of an independent Vigilance Committee was necessary to watch over the affairs of the young city, and to take steps for both the prevention of crime and for the punishment of criminals. ”

“ That all good citizens shall be eligible for admission to this body under such regulations as may be prescribed by a Committee on qualifications; and if any unworthy persons gain admission, they shall, on due proof, be expelled. And, believing ourselves to be executors of the will of a majority of our citizens; we do pledge our sacred honor to defend and maintain each other in carrying out the determined action of this Committee at the hazard of our lives and our fortunes. ”

“ Tennyson has well remarked that there is no lie so baneful as one which is half truth. So it is in respect to these alleged reasons for the organization of that Vigilance Committee. It is not true that the Courts were corrupt, neglectful or remiss. Judge Hager presided in the Fourth District Court, and his integrity and judicial qualifications, or judgments, have never been questioned or impeached. Judge Freelon presided as County judge ”

“ The Committee was composed mainly of honorable men, deservedly high in the community, in every walk and relation of life. They doubtless acted from a conscientious sense of duty, and neither intended usurpation of the law, violence to justice, nor any wrong whatever. ”

“ Their appearance as they marched out of the building and up the street, each man with his blanket strapped across his shoulders, some with looks of dignified disgust, and others with a most crestfallen or woebegone expression was ludicrous in the extreme, and caused hearty laughter and many jokes at their expense. In addition to the offenders those secured in the Rooms of the Committee, there were many others at liberty for whom a quiet but unremitting search was kept up. ”

“ They are taking all reasonable and practicable steps to give effect to the suggestions put forward by the Mazengarb Committee, and that
(5) We express the hope that the utmost vigilance should be exercised over the choice, content, and timing of programmes—especially over those designed for the extended hours set apart for juvenile listeners—and that every effort be made to maintain the high standard that the Service has set for itself. ”

“ It had put to death four men. Of these at least two were not guilty of murder, as the law defines that crime. As to the other two, the course of justice in the Courts at that time gave no warrant for the presumption or belief that a fair and just trial would not have, been given them; that their conviction and the death penalty would not have followed. It is not too much to assert that, so far as escape from the penalty of murder is involved, there has been, any time these ten years, and there is now, in San Francisco, stronger cause for a Vigilance Committee than there was in 1856. ”

“ That some turbulent offenders, and largely too many of them, defied the law, is likewise true. But that they were countenanced or favored by the Judges, is utterly without truthful foundation. And it is remarkable that, of all the men hanged or expatriated by the Committee, only two had ever been complained of or arraigned before the Courts for any crime of violence ”

“ RATHHAUS (STRALSUND)
The significance of these courts has sometimes been missed. They arose, however, out of the justice loving spirit of the people themselves and were meant to supply legal enforcements when the regularly constituted authorities were unable to secure them. They remind one very much of the vigilance committees, which in our own country, in the cities of the distant West, bravely and with the admirable prudence of the race, have so often supplied the place of regular courts and have brought justice and order out of the chaos of lawlessness. ”

“ The offices were thus filled by rapacious and unscrupulous men. The agents who had helped to elect them, or impose them upon the people by fraud, were supported and protected in their villainies; and in the consciousness of impunity for crime, walked the streets heavily armed and ready on the instant to exact a bloody revenge for an interference with their infamous schemes, or an attempt to bring them to merited punishment.
In San Francisco the effects of all this were visible at an early period in the prevalence of crime and outrage; in the laxity with which offenders were prosecuted ”

“ One of the Executive Committee had served his term of two years in the Ohio State Prison for forgery; here in San Francisco he had, during two city elections, been the trusted agent and disburser of a very heavy sack in the honest endeavor to secure the nomination, and promote the election, of his principal to high office, yet this pure man was honored by his associates of the Committee, and became singularly active in pressing the expatriation of some of the very "ruffians and ballot-box-stuffers" he had patronized and paid. He had learned that "dead men told no tales." ”

“ As the guard descended the steps of the Jail with the prisoner amid the profound silence of the armed force, a shout was raised by a portion of the spectators several blocks off; but a gesture of disapprobation from one of the Committee was sufficient instantly to restore silence. The Committee arranged themselves in the carriages; the picked men filed in on each side; a heavy guard closed in on all sides in square; the people rushed in, packing the streets with a dense mass; and all moved on in silence to the Committee Rooms. ”