54 
CALIFORNIA ILLUSTRATED. 
The citizens were appalled. That it was the work of incen¬ 
diaries no one doubted, yet to detect them seemed impossible, so 
skillfully were their plans laid, and so adroitly executed. Added 
to this, the sequeh proved that some of their number had got 
into “high places,” were conniving at their acts, and sharing 
their ill-gotten booty. This, in part, accounts for the tardy pro¬ 
ceedings against those who were arrested, and the numerous re¬ 
prieves of those who were clearly proved guilty. Property to 
the value of some twenty millions of dollars had already been 
destroyed, hundreds of citizens had been reduced from affluence 
to bankruptcy, others were in momentary fear of sharing the 
same fate. They had lost confidence in the city authorities, and 
there seemed no alternative but to take the matter into their 
own hands. They consequently organized themselves into what 
was termed a “Vigilance Committee,” with the determination of 
bringing every suspicious person to a strict account. Many of 
the most influential and wealthy citizens were the first to enrol 
themselves, and they called upon all to join them in their effort 
at self-protection. Their head-quarters was at the engine-house 
of a fire company, the tolling of the bell being the signal for all 
to assemble. This well-known signal was always heard when 
an arrest was made, and became the death-knell to many a 
wretch, who for his villainies was hastily summoned into another 
world. The meetings of the Committee were strictly private, 
none but members being admitted. The proceedings were sum¬ 
mary, and if the prisoner was proved guilty his sentence was 
carried into immediate effect. None were executed, however, 
without the unanimous consent of members present, this being 
one of the provisions of their constitution. Those who were 
executed were not only proved guilty, but confessed their guilt 
before their execution. Most of those who fell under the ban of 
the Committee were “Sidney convicts,” and subsequently they 
were all ordered to leave the country within a specified time, 
upon the pain of death. The Mayor issued a proclamation 
against the proceedings of the Committee, and the coroner’s 
juries summoned over the bodies of those who were executed, 
found against them; yet it is a question of doubt, whether 
any one was secretly opposed to their proceedings. 
Persons living in well-regulated communities, and looking at 
