^3 



could command no respect and was effective only as it was 

 feared ; and it is from these sources that, as civilization 

 has advanced in such settlements, law and the administra- 

 tion of justice in their proper source and scope have been 

 evolved. But the early history of such settlements is 

 apt to produce a more lasting impression upon the char- 

 acter of the people. 



When the traditions of a people and the sources of their 

 law rest upon violence and the popular temper, they the 

 more readily turn to those means again in times of popular 

 excitement, and have less hesitancy in accepting them as 

 the means of redress for grievances. It is but a few years 

 ago that the vigilance committee of California was tem- 

 porariljM-eorganized, and under its old time leader gave 

 battle once and for all to the misguided followers of the 

 demagogue of the sand lots. But to men who come to a 

 new settlement, as men came to Essex, seeking only a 

 field wherein they might exercise the arts of peace, and 

 who sought no property or aggrandizement except as the 

 result of labor, and who from the very beginning enter- 

 tained correct views of the source of law and the exercise 

 of authority, irresponsible force was abhorrent. They 

 could never tolerate the rough and fitful administration of 

 justice that even in our own country has characterized the 

 communities that have located around the great mines and 

 on the grazing fields. Such traditions and characteristics 

 have left their permanent impress, and to the people of 

 Essex County it is almost inconceivable that there should 

 be an armed force exercising any power whatever, except 

 as that power was derived from the legally appointed 

 executive, and acting under the law of the land. Such a 

 people would endure many evils, and suffer the loss of 

 many cherished possessions, before they would think as a 

 means of relief, of surrounding the j^olls upon election 

 day with a body of armed men to intimidate voters. They 

 would withdraw in disgust from the political gathering 

 where the speakers were surrounded by men displaying 



