San Francisco Committee of Vigilance facts for kids
The San Francisco Committee of Vigilance was a group of citizens who took law enforcement into their own hands. They formed in 1851 because of a crime gang called the Sydney Ducks. They started up again in 1856. This was because of a lot of crime and corruption in the government of San Francisco, California.
San Francisco grew very fast after gold was found in 1848. The small town of about 900 people quickly became a busy city of over 20,000. The people who started the committee said that the city's growth was too much for the police. This led to these citizen groups, called vigilante militias, forming. These groups executed eight people and made several elected officials leave their jobs. Each Committee of Vigilance gave up its power after about three months.
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The 1851 Committee: Taking Action
The 1851 Committee of Vigilance began on June 9. They announced their goals in a written statement. On June 10, they executed John Jenkins from Sydney, Australia. He was found guilty of stealing a safe in a trial the committee organized. At that time, stealing a lot of money (called grand larceny) could be punished by death in California.
On June 13, a newspaper called Daily Alta California printed a statement from the committee. It said that citizens felt unsafe and that the current laws and police were not working. The citizens decided to form a group to keep peace and protect lives and property. They promised to support the laws when they were fair. But they were determined that no thief, burglar, or killer would escape punishment. They felt that laws were too tricky, prisons were unsafe, police were careless, or judges were corrupt.
The committee had 700 members. They said they were working alongside, but also against, the city government. They used their headquarters to question and hold suspects. These suspects did not get the usual legal protections. The committee acted like police. They investigated suspicious boarding houses and ships. They also sent immigrants away and marched their militia through the streets.
The committee executed four people. One person was whipped, which was a common punishment then. Fourteen people were sent back to Australia. Fourteen others were told to leave California. Fifteen were given to the official police. Forty-one people were released. The 1851 Committee of Vigilance ended during the September elections. However, its leaders kept meeting until 1853.
The four people executed were:
- John Jenkins, from Sydney, Australia, accused of burglary, on June 10, 1851.
- James Stuart, also from Sydney, accused of murder, on July 11, 1851.
- Samuel Whittaker and Robert McKenzie, who were friends of Stuart. They were accused of "various serious crimes" and executed on August 24, 1851.
- Whittaker and McKenzie were caught after the committee stormed the jail. This happened during Sunday church services. The police had tried to protect the prisoners.
The committee also tried to punish people who set fires on purpose.
The 1856 Committee: Fighting Corruption
The Committee of Vigilance started again on May 14, 1856. Many of the same leaders from the first committee were involved. They used a changed version of their 1851 rules. This new committee was different from the first one. It cared not only about crimes but also about politics and government corruption.
The reason for this new committee was a murder. It happened during a political duel. James P. Casey shot a newspaper editor named James King of William. Many people in San Francisco, including King, were angry that Casey had been chosen for the city's board of supervisors. They believed the election was unfair. King had written an article in his newspaper, the Daily Evening Bulletin. He accused Casey of illegal actions and of having been in prison for grand larceny in New York. Because of the political anger and the article, Casey shot James King.
The 1856 committee was much larger than the 1851 one. It claimed to have 6,000 members. This committee worked very closely with the official government of San Francisco. William T. Coleman, the president of the Vigilance Committee, was a good friend of Governor J. Neely Johnson. They met several times to work together to make the town stable.
Another important person at this time was William T. Sherman. He later became famous in the Civil War. Sherman was running a bank when Governor Johnson asked him to lead the state militia in San Francisco. This was to stop the committee's actions. Sherman took the job two days before Casey murdered King.
The 1856 Committee of Vigilance ended on August 11, 1856. They celebrated with a "Grand Parade."
Political power in San Francisco went to a new political group. This group was started by the vigilantes and was called the People's Party. They ruled until 1867 and later joined the Republican Party. The vigilantes had succeeded in taking power from the Democratic Party political group that had controlled city politics. Important people included William Tell Coleman, Martin J. Burke, San Francisco mayor Henry F. Teschemacher, and San Francisco's first police chief James F. Curtis.
The vigilante headquarters in 1856 had meeting halls, a military kitchen, a place for weapons, a hospital, and prison cells. All these areas were protected with sandbags and cannons. Four people were officially executed again in 1856. But another person, James "Yankee" Sullivan, also died. He was an Irish immigrant and a boxer. He died after being held in a vigilante cell.
The 1856 committee also acted like police. They did investigations and held secret trials. But they were much bolder and more rebellious than the first committee. They took three shipments of weapons meant for the state militia. They even put the chief judge of the California Supreme Court on trial. However, almost all the militia groups in the city, including the California Guards, supported the committee.
Influence in British Columbia
A former member of the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance, a doctor named Max Fifer, moved to Yale, British Columbia. This was during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. He helped start a Vigilance Committee on the Fraser River in 1858. This was to deal with lawlessness and a lack of strong government. Many gold seekers had suddenly arrived in the new British colony.
The Vigilance Committee, which had gone after a lawyer named Ned McGowan in San Francisco, played a part in the peaceful McGowan's War on the lower Fraser River in 1858–1859. At the end of this "War," Judge Matthew Baillie Begbie found McGowan guilty of attacking Fifer in British Columbia. But McGowan's defense, which talked about the San Francisco vigilantes and his own experience, impressed Judge Begbie. Like Colonial Governor James Douglas, Begbie was determined to stop the goldfields in British Columbia from becoming chaotic.
See also
- Sydney Ducks
- Samuel Brannan
- William Tell Coleman
- McGowan's War
- List of incidents of civil unrest in the United States
