HISTORY OP CALIFORNIA. 229 



cans were alarmed, and the town was cleared in five 

 minutes. Our peace now seemed threatened by about 

 five thousand men outside, and no inconsiderable 

 alarm was created in town. The citizens armed them- 

 selves, and expresses were sent to Mormon Creek and 

 Sullivan's Diggings, from which places about five 

 hundred well armed Americans arrived, and marched 

 through the streets with guns and rifles on their 

 shoulders. The demonstration was sufficient ; the 

 crowds in the vicinity soon dispersed, and quiet was 

 restored. The only thing to be feared, is the mis- 

 guided zeal of our own citizens, who although gene- 

 rally sympathizing with the discontent occasioned by 

 the unjust tax, are incensed that the foreigners should 

 presume to take the law into their own hands, and 

 may not be willing to allow the affair to rest where 

 it is. 



A serious affray took place this afternoon, in which 

 a Mexican was seriously wounded. A man was 

 noticed parading the streets with two or three pistols 

 and a knife in his belt ; the man was intoxicated, and 

 the sheriff arrested him, or rather took his arms from 

 him. While in the act, a Mexican came up behind 

 and made a stab at the officer with a large knife. The 

 murderous intent was frustrated by a bystander, who, 

 with a bowie knife, struck the man, wounding him 

 severely. Mr. Work, the sheriff, was happily un- 

 touched. 



This state of affairs, if allowed to last, will ruin 

 the prosperity of the whole southern mines, and your 

 own town of Stockton will be the first to suffer 

 thereby. 



Monday, May 20. — A guard was kept up all last 



17 



