Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1865-07-15
Our San Francisco Correspondence.
SAN Francisco, July IL, lS6


ED. GOLD HILL News Dear Sir
We have had rather a pleasant and exciting
week in San Francisco, taking everything
into consideration. The weather has been
passable. We have had some capital speeches
from the Hon. Schuyler Colfax and Governor
Bross, and there has been a continuance OF
healthy and relishablc amusements for the
public, including
BILLY MuLLIGAN's EXIT,
which was a grand affair unfortunate in
that it took off one good man; but happy in
that it rid the city and the world of two as
thorough scoundrels as ever cursed the earth
with their presence, Mike Brannigan not en-
copied. I believe I had the honor OF chron-
telling in the columns of the Ne,cs the return
Of the late lamented Billy to San Francisco
over q year since; let mt assure you that |
write the story Of his final departure with far
greater satisfaction. 1t may look like in
humanity to the cursory observer-this re-
joicing over the death Of a fellow creature,
but on those who know the history OF Null
IlS1u anu n4CINuuUJ L Iutuh Nhe NNN '
hardly make IN impression. The citizens OF
San Francisco certainly breathed frcer when
they departed, and the only regret l have
heard on the subject was that a few more of
| Mikes friends could not have been induced
to 90 up the stairs as McNabb did while
Billy was alive and armed. The locals Of
San Francisco have long since saved me the
necessity Of going into the details of the
story. Suffice it, then to say, that long in
diligence in strong drink had rendered Null
ligan a semi-lunatic, and the idea that the
terrible Vigilants were once moro on his
track had so completely seized upon his min
that when his fits Of delirium came on he
would rave Of nothing else. Brannigan and
other kindred cut-throats had recently re-
turned to San Francisco, and there had in
fact, been considerable talk about their get
ting so thick in the community as to require
another vigorous wedding process by q
| Vigilance Committee-but still it was only
talk after all-and had Billy kept tOlerably
| sober the gang would have been able to man
| age the coming primaries IN their own way.
AS it is, l think the people Of San Francisco
may be reused to have something TO say OH
the subject. l hope so at least. No one
save the thieves and prostitutes with whom
| Billy associated, blames the police for killing
him as they did. The only wonder is that
they did not do it hours earlier, as they really
| should have done. However, it was done at
last, and well done. l never saw a man
killed so dead before, and I have seen many
die by violence. l was walking up the street
| with Doctor Murphy, when we saw a number
Of muskets fash in the sunlight, as Mulligan
stepped towards the window to fire a sixth
shot, and heard on the instant the sharp
crack Of q single gun then all was still as
death. Still as death did l say: Still IN
death / should have said. We walked leisur-
ly up the street q couple Of blocks and pushed
our way into the building. At the head Of
the stairs lay the remains OF a creature who
had been literally n human tiger n few min
utes before. His brains were scattered all
around, on door and wall, and ceiling and
floor, and pieces Of his skull lay twenty feet
off. Death by lightning could not have been
more sudden. II was literally instantaneous
On Saturday I saw the funeral cortege
move from the old Broderick Engine House,
on Sacramento, above kcarney, to the Sacra-
mento boat landing. l would that you could
have seen the mourners and pall-bearers.
There was the /" Bone Breaker" and all his
gang. Not a man who did no bear
o OF the few immortal names,
That were not born to die"
/ must say, that l admired their pluck,
little as I admire the men, Us / saw them file
down Montgomery street with the remains Of
required to " prejudice the public mind
against them and call out a committee of
inquiry as to the object and meaning Of their
presence in San Francisco.
The day Of mobs and mob violence in any
shape is, thank Heaven, over, and | trust
never to return. We have had too much Of
this thing in times past, and great as is the
evil Of the presence Of such characters, i
mob would be infinitely more to be deplored.
II coLFAx-BRoss OVATION.
The Colfax. Bross party have left for Orc
gon and Washington Territory via Sacra-
mento, Marysville, Red Bluff and Shasta,
and for their sake l am glad Of it. l think
that another week Of such continual lioniz-
ing, ~feasting, boreing and b~utton-holing from
every side would have killed them all, and
they are too goodmen to be murdered in that
style. Their speeches at Platt's Hall on
Saturday night were listened too with interest
by an immense audience, and applauded to
the echo; but, after all, q great deal Of doubt
seems to exist as to what they-or at least
Colfax-really said. He made an eloquent
address, but his ideas on the currency ques-
ton and SOM other important subjects were
so entirely satisfactory to everybody that
some people pretend to doubt as to which
side he is on whether with the advocates of
the Specific Contract Acts Of California and
Nevada or against them. However that may
be, their reception in San Francisco, as in
Nevada and the Pacific States generally, was
one Of which Kings might be proud. l re-
greet to add that "some" people have no
sense Of decency, and run the work button
holing and ax-grinding into the ground.
What's the use Of boreing a man to death ?
That's what I'd like to know! For my part,
I have contented myself with merely request
ing Colfax to have a bill passed through Con-
gress legislating everybody in Federal offices
in San Francisco out, aud so shaping the
the matter that l shall have the say" in all
future appointments, to get my witc's brother
appointed Minister to the Court Of st. James,
and my dear father-in-law appointed door
keeper or Sergeant-at-Arms to the House Of
Representatives. II he finds it convenient to
secure the appointment Of my brother to the
office Of Collector Of the Port Of New York,
and sees that l am compensated for my claim
Of S3S7 1854 80 against the Government for
failure to secure a contract which l asked
for, for transporting hay for the Government
cavalry across the Plains in 1864, during the
drouth, l shall have nothing to say against
it, but l shall not be MORALLY offended if he
don't, for these trifles should never be imper-
atively insisted upon. As for Bross, l have
asked him to appoint me his correspondent
on the Pacific coast, to mention me kindly
in the Chicago Tribune-I have an uncle
there who might like to see me in printer
somewhere else-to allow me to accept of his
gold watch as a keepsake, to sit for his por-
trait in oil-at his Owl expensc-for the
adornment Of my parlor, to lend me 800 in
greenbacks to pay my income tax, and a few
other insignificant favors. II other people
would be as considerate as l am, our visitors
would have had a real grand time here, and
gone home rested and pleased with their trip;
but they amt, my boy-they amt! And that
is what disgusts mo with San Francisco and
human nature generally. The s%elfshness Of
human beings, or those who call themselves
such, is perfectly sickening. I have half a