ical staff
of forty odd physicians. There were in this body one hundred and fifty
men who had served in the old Committee in 1851. After the parade the
men halted, the assemblage broke up into companies, the companies into
groups; and thus, quietly, with no vaunting of themselves and no
concealment of their acts, there passed away one of the most singular
and significant organizations of American citizens ever known. They did
this with the quiet assertion that if their services were again needed,
they would again assemble; and they printed a statement covering their
actions in detail, showing to any fair-minded man that what they had
done was indeed for the good of the whole community, which had been
wronged by those whom it had elected to power, those who had set
themselves up as masters where they had been chosen as servants.

The "Committee of Vigilance" of San Francisco was made up of men from
all walks of life and all political parties. It had any amount of money
at its command that it required, for its members were of the best and
most influential citizens. It maintained, during its existence, quarters
unique in their way, serving as arms-room, trial court, fortress, and
prison. It was not a mob, but a grave and orderly band of men, and its
deliberations were formal and exact, its labors being divided among
proper sub-committees and boards. The quarters were kept open day and
night, always ready for swift action, if necessary. It had an executive
committee, which upon occasion conferred with a board of delegates
composed of three men from each subdivision of the general body. The
executive committee consisted of thirty-three members, and its decision
was final; but it could not enforce a death penalty except on a
two-thirds vote of those present. It had a prosecuting attorney, and it
tried no prisoner without assigning to him competent counsel. It had
also a police force, with a chief of police and a sheriff with several
deputies. In short, it took over the government, and was indeed the
government, municipal and state in one. Recent as was its life, its
deeds to-day are well-nigh forgotten. Though opinion may be still
divided in certain quarters, California need not be ashamed of this
"Committee of Vigilance." She should be proud of it, for it was largely
through its unthanked and dangerous safeguarding of the public interests
that California gained her social system of to-day.

In all the history of American de