186 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



of power and even of good will, failing, too, in protecting 

 the working citizen, wherefore they have decided to take 

 this duty upon themselves and thus to adopt a self-pro- 

 tecting law, vowing to stand all for one and one for all." 



After all present had affirmed the above by a solemn 

 oath, the next step was to increase the membership by 

 inviting men who were recommended and vouched for 

 by those present, who were looked upon as the charter 

 members of this young organization. In three days the 

 society counted no less than two hundred and eighty 

 members, all of them picked and sworn; this number 

 was considered sufficient to make an energetic start. Dur- 

 ing the second meeting, likewise armed, the members 

 were divided into committees and sections. At first a per- 

 manent watch was established at the meeting place on 

 Sansom street ; then a number of small patrols, well armed 

 but bearing no outward sign of any but the peaceful mis- 

 sion of their respective vocation or leisure's pursuits. 

 Thus hundreds of eager eyes kept watch by day and 

 night, enveloping the city like a network of vigilance. 

 And all this without the slightest knowledge of anybody 

 except the chosen few. They thus constituted a well or- 

 ganized secret police, acting without the knowledge or 

 aid of the municipal authorities. 



The second day after the vigilance committee had com- 

 menced its active and effective work, one of its patrols 

 succeeded in catching a thief, who had stolen a bag of 

 money from an office and, while trying to escape with his 

 plunder in rowing across the bay, fell into the hands of 

 the patrol. A meeting was called hurriedly at Sansom 

 street headquarters, the culprit brought before the presi- 

 dent and identified as one Jenkins, ex-Sydney convict. 

 The witnesses proved the correctness of the charge and 

 the president picked a jury of twelve persons, who, duly 

 sworn, returned a unanimous verdict of guilty. As not 

 one of those present voiced an objection, the president 

 condemned the defendant amidst profound silence to ex- 

 piate his crime on the scaffold, the hanging to take place 

 within half an hour. Meanwhile it had been ordered that 



