188 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



select an Executive Body of two hundred men, known 

 henceforth as "Vigilance Committee" which would take 

 upon itself the authoritative patroling and general man- 

 agement of this protective policy. The city was divided 

 into districts, harbor, water front, city and suburban dis- 

 tricts; all had their vigilance patrols, while those mem- 

 bers of society who had not been detailed to duty formed 

 a sort of secret agency, which in all probability has never 

 been known to work with greater precision, greater har- 

 mony and consequently to better effect. So-called 

 "fences," that is, houses of people who harbor stolen 

 goods, were searched and a great many arrests were made 

 without giving newspaper publicity. In a short time 

 branch committees of the vigilance organization were 

 established throughout the state and many a criminal 

 fugitive from justice was caught in a far away hiding 

 place of the mining districts in the Sierras. Even steam- 

 ers were pressed into service to follow the tracks of 

 escaped culprits, to Mazatlan and Panama, in order to 

 return them to San Francisco jurisdiction. Naturally, 

 enormous sums of money were needed for such extensive 

 prosecution but that did not hinder the progress of the 

 movement, which had set for its purpose the complete 

 suppression of the lawless element and whenever the 

 monthly contributions of the members, five dollars a head, 

 proved insufficient, calls for public contributions were so 

 well responded to that whatever sums were needed could 

 be raised in a few hours. I suppose you will be shocked 

 to hear that but one form of punishment was dealt out— 

 the rope. Under these circumstances the state of affairs 

 improved hourly and the safety of the lives and property 

 of citizens became more and more evident. Any person 

 whose conscience accused him of misdeeds sought safety 

 in flight; for, to be caught, to be convicted and to be hung 

 was but the experience of a few hours. The former pos- 

 sibilities, yea probabilities of escape through legal loop- 

 holes were things of the past, as the lynch committee 

 would acknowledge no other testimony and deal out jus- 

 tice through no other channels but that of the conscience 



