OX AMERICAN SOIL 193 



by order of the regular authorities, that is, by finesse. It 

 came therefore to pass on Sunday, the twenty-fourth of 

 August, that one of the initiated obtained permission to 

 enter the city prison, while the prisoners were assembled 

 in the chapel to attend Divine Service. When the door 

 was partly opened to receive him this man took such a 

 position that it became impossible for the doorkeeper to 

 close the gate without using force. Before he had a 

 chance to call for aid the visitor had given a signal in 

 answer to which forty heavily armed strangers appeared 

 upon the scene to give the first visitor their aid. Whit- 

 taker and MacKenzie were then overpowered without any 

 trouble, placed in a waiting vehicle, which drove them 

 at full speed to the Battery street branch of the vigilance 

 committee, where they were made to expiate their crimes 

 by means of a rope, which was fastened to the window 

 casements, whilst an enormous crowd cheered lustily 

 without. 



This was the last public act of the vigilance committee 

 during the past year, as it slowly yielded its power to the 

 proper municipal authorities, not, however, without a 

 very plain, explicit understanding that its services could 

 again be relied upon should public safety require them. 



San Francisco owes this body of clean, tried men a 

 great deal more than the world will ever know. As al- 

 ready mentioned, safety to life on our streets is at pres- 

 ent as effectually assured as it is anywhere in large cit- 

 ies; and although the majority of citizens continue to 

 go about armed, it is more from the force of habit ac- 

 quired than by reason of fear. It is true, however, that 

 one has to be on one's guard and avoid quarrel, as the 

 least word-duel is apt to end in a pistolade, as there seems 

 yet to be much inclination to meet an insult with a bullet. 

 But all peaceably minded persons who go quietly about 

 their daily occupation, avoiding everything that is not 

 part of their legitimate line of work, but who seek only to 

 earn daily bread will seldom be annoyed by ruffians. 



It cannot naturally be expected of me to have gained 

 a reliable insight into the business affairs of this great 



