Vigilance Committee Of 1851

It was hard to say, in 1851, whether San Francisco suffered more from slightly organized crime such as the Australian Sydney Ducks gang^{1They wore trousers of heavy "duck" canvas, similar to what Levi Straus used for his riveted "jean" trousers in 1873, and had a characteristic swinging gait from years of wearing leg irons, as was fashionable in Australia at the time.}, from corrupt politicians arriving fresh from Tammany Hall, or from judges and police officers who saw bribes as their natural due. In any case, all three—crime, graft, and meretricious justice—worked together in rare harmony, a symphony of corruption. The city officials that wanted to act were powerless.
A perfect example of this was the pogrom of the Chilean and Mexican mining camp by the Hounds^{2Like Proud Boys, but with more of an eye for profit}, a Nativist gang, in July of 1849. They raped, killed, and looted with no fear of the law. A group of two hundred and thirty concerned citizens, led by Samuel Brannan and Captain Bezer Simmons, stepped in to round up the Hounds and bring them to court^{3These men were not vigilantes - they were all duly deputized by Alcade Leavenworth}. They were tried. They were found guilty. They were sentenced. And... nothing happened. There were enough Know Nothing^{4Know Nothings were the MAGA of the nineteenth century, but instead of ugly red hats they had silly hand gestures.} politicians in town to get all Hounds released. They left San Francisco as free men. Fortunately, many were shortly killed elsewhere.
The two hundred and thirty concerned citizens were, naturally, outraged, as were many others who did not go out Hound-hunting but sympathized. On top of that, a great fire engulfed San Francisco on May 3rd, 1851, destroying three-quarters of real estate. The signs of arson were obvious, and the Sydney Ducks were known to have set the fire of 1849.
All through June of 1851, citizens grumbled, newspapers fumed, and politicians collected bribes. Like their houses, San Franciscans' tempers only needed a spark.
That was provided by one John Jenkins, lately of Sydney.
On June 9th, Jenkins walked openly into a store, picked up a small safe in which the merchant kept his cash, and strolled out again to the Long Wharf, where he got into a boat. His plan was to row to Sydney-Town (he would have landed near Broadway and Battery Street corner), but the safe owner cried out for help. A group of bystanders, including John Sullivan and David Arrowsmith, went in pursuit. Seeing that they rowed faster than he, Jenkins threw the safe into the bay and surrendered, in sure hope of a quick release.
Unfortunately for him, he was not taken to the police station. Arrowsmith came to the wharf directly from a meeting at Sam Brannan's store. There, he and one hundred and two^{5Membership quickly grew to seven hundred} other law-abiding citizens subscribed their names to the rolls of the Committee of Vigilance, affirming that "no thief, burglar, incendiary, or assassin shall escape punishment, either by the quibbles of the law, the insecurity of prisons, the carelessness or corruption of the Police, or a laxity of those who pretend to administer justice."
Jenkins was the first man the Committee got hold of since they organized. Sullivan and Arrowsmith took him directly to the Committee meeting rooms, where he was briefly tried and sentenced to hang.
At 2 a.m., Jenkins was taken to the last standing structure in Portsmouth Square. You may be imagining a secret hanging in the dead of night—it was not. The Vigilantes weren’t alone. Jenkins' compatriots tried to fight their way to him. Senator Broderick led a crowd demanding his release. Senator Broderick believed in two things, and one of them was giving value for the bribes he took^{6The other one was abolition. Broderick was a typical Democratic politician - venal, but not evil.}. The execution had more of a character of a brawl, with Vigilantes pulling on a rope while Broderick's men pulled on Jenkin's feet^{7This does seem like an odd way of rescuing someone from a gallows, but even Senator Broderick could not have come up with a mob of clever people at 2 am with no advance warning.}.
That set the tone. On July 11th James Stuart (lately of Sydney) was executed for murder. On August 24th, the nascent police force arrested Samuel Whittaker and Robert McKenzie (of Sydney). The Vigilantes stormed the jail while the police were distracted by Sunday church services. In keeping with the Vigilante's embrace of law and order, Whittaker and McKenzie received a 20-minute trial and were hanged from the second-story windows of a law firm, Bullitt, Patrick & Dow.
Unlike the usual lynch mob, the Vigilance Committee did not operate in secrecy. Its members acted openly, signed their names to a formal pledge, announced the Committee's formation in the Alta California, and made no effort to hide their faces. Some of San Francisco’s most prominent men were among them, including Sam Brannan, William Tell Coleman, and Isaac Bluxome Jr. They saw that the official law had surrendered to venality, and stood up to "perform every lawful act for the maintenance of law and order, and to sustain the laws when faithfully and properly administered".
Accordingly, the Committee did not hang everyone they caught. While four men were executed, the Vigilantes acquitted over ten times that number. They flogged one victim, deported fourteen to Australia, banished another fourteen from California, and handed fifteen criminals over to the official courts as a sort of conciliation gift. Of those banished many, including Judge Terry, ignored their sentence or shortly returned.
Having put an end to the Ducks and seen Sydney-Town ascend from a hell of vice and deprivation into a mere den of sin, the Vigilance Committee disbanded as officially as it was formed. But the taste of self-administered justice was too good to forego, and in a mere five years William Tell Coleman became the leader of the Second Vigilance Committee.

^{1They wore trousers of heavy "duck" canvas, similar to what Levi Straus used for his riveted "jean" trousers in 1873, and had a characteristic swinging gait from years of wearing leg irons, as was fashionable in Australia at the time.} They wore trousers of heavy "duck" canvas, similar to what Levi Straus used for his riveted "jean" trousers in 1873, and had a characteristic swinging gait from years of wearing leg irons, as was fashionable in Australia at the time.
^{2Like Proud Boys, but with more of an eye for profit} Like Proud Boys, but with more of an eye for profit
^{3These men were not vigilantes - they were all duly deputized by Alcade Leavenworth} These men were not vigilantes - they were all duly deputized by Alcade Leavenworth
^{4Know Nothings were the MAGA of the nineteenth century, but instead of ugly red hats they had silly hand gestures.} Know Nothings were the MAGA of the nineteenth century, but instead of ugly red hats they had silly hand gestures.
^{5Membership quickly grew to seven hundred}Membership quickly grew to seven hundred
^{6The other one was abolition. Broderick was a typical Democratic politician - venal, but not evil.}The other one was abolition. Broderick was a typical Democratic politician - venal, but not evil.
^{7This does seem like an odd way of rescuing someone from a gallows, but even Senator Broderick could not have come up with a mob of clever people at 2 am with no advance warning.}This does seem like an odd way of rescuing someone from a gallows, but even Senator Broderick could not have come up with a mob of clever people at 2 am with no advance warning.