SOCIETY. 375 
bers, organized for the purpose of defeating Spanish land 
claims on which squatters have settled, and for the purpose of 
resisting the ejectment of squatters when possible. This se- 
cret society has the support of thousands of squatters who 
are not members. In May, 1861, these squatters refused to 
allow some trespassers to be ejected under legal process from 
the Chaboya rancho near San José. Fifteen hundred armed 
men collected to set the law at defiance, and when the gov- 
ernor proposed to send troops, the squatters of Sacramento, 
Sonoma and Marin counties promised to send two armed men 
for every soldier. At one time there was serious danger of 
bloodshed, but the affair was settled by granting some squat- 
ter demands not at all consistent with the dignity of the gov- 
ernment. This secret organization, and the seditious feeling 
among a multitude of persons not members, still exist, and 
may yet cause serious trouble. 
§ 264. Anti-Chinese Mob.—The white miners have a great 
dislike to Chinamen, who are frequently driven away from 
their claims, and expelled from districts by mobs. In such 
cases the officers of the law do not ordinarily interfere, and no 
matter how much the unfortunate yellow men may be beaten 
or despoiled, the law does not attempt to restore them to their 
rights or avenge their wrongs. 
§ 265. Deeds of Blood.—California has obtained a sad no- 
toriety for its deeds of blood, and although the number of 
these has very much decreased, still fatal affrays are common. 
During 1855 a list was kept of all the homicides in the state, 
and no list has been kept since that year, and therefore I refer 
to a time so remote for statistics. It appears, then, from the 
records of that year, that five hundred and thirty-eight persons 
died by violence. Of these three hundred and fifty-seven were 
whites, one hundred and thirty-three Indians, thirty-two Chi- 
namen, and three negroes. The number of Indians killed by 
the whites was no doubt much greater, for the two races were 
at war in various parts of the state, and the skirmishes, which 
almost invariably proved disastrous to the red men, were in 
