New-York tribune., 1871-09-13
SAN FRANCISCO VIGuANTFs
HOW THAT CITY SECURED AN HONEST cnv
FRNMENT

roiGar excite m'Et over local InsgoyeSnment to a..
"Xp"IICnc" Of San Francisco. and inGuirc how a..
city puriti~ itself Of thieves plunderers n,
rninan9 and secured for itself tho most hon..
mnnlrlral Gov'rn'nc It Of any city on the ploh.
Il has been too Oftcn and too generally sunno..a
by unthinking or partially informed people. tba,
E"rc brrIt Of poir'ar and misguided /,
dlgnation like that which hangs a snsnec,.d
thi or man-,aycr in Missouri or on the Missisa;nn;
H., bcon cc' .ual in Radically removing the causes
"l the cN."icnc5 of u cOl1Upt city government
~ Tho Ugh san Fmn'i,co were honestly governed
to-day bee im," a Controller was hanged, MAYO,
sent 10 Patapolia "1d few Supervisors wen
whipped al t.ic cats tail. None of thcse thinm
W'r" done, and th' result was Ic"chtd in no such
way. II is intorc t,no, on th" other band 10 traos
th' history Of the po.Tllr outbreaks the Uprising
Of the Pcople-and to discover how these eventually
led to polite Il action which could faOne keep pure
the fUun ans OF popular gOycrnmcnt.
THE TnsT VIGILANCE COMMITTEE
The discovery of r,!d III California, as everybody
knows, attracted thitcr yd, of adventures from
almost every quarter % the & OBJ. The better clas
OF these drftcd oil to the mines leaving in San
Francisco. in addition to the mercantile profession
vast element Of uneasy. thrfticls vagabondism-
ready for any sort Of mischief and alert for every
opportunity for lawlc,s schemes. Th"sc began to
show themselves at the ballot boxes and 10 soon "a
1870, men who shonld have boon vigant at the pola
began to neglect the primary step, which lead To
the establishment OF government. 1t was not in the
na!ure of thin-s, pcrha3', for busy merchants ab-
sorbed in the excitement Of rapid money getting Ia
give much time to political affairs The noyclties
of the business lie OF the new Golden Land, ths
eager thirst for wcalth thr high pitc! Of excitement
th" absorption OF every faculty in the FASCINATING
rrrsiit Of god-thesc will never be appreciated BY
ihos who never shared in their wild disorder: and
these must excuse tho better class Of the metrop
oils of the Pacific for their Indifference and neglect
when pnblc ailai.s seemed to call upon them mper
atiycly.
II WAS in June. 1852, before California had been
admitted as a State int the Union, that the frs
action looking toward the establishment Of
Vigilance Committee was held. The Common COun.
cil which had not zen long in Office, showed bad
determination to enrich t,cf at public expense. Th'
members of this body wcrc men Of low sOcia
position, originally chair-makcrs and iiremcn. per
haps, who had worked their way up, with fow
honorable EXCEPTIONS by those means Of craft and
political chiclne by which so many great cities OF
the Union come by their rulers. They wanted moneJ
and so they voted themselves salaries OF S6'"
DER wear in gold with salaries of $4,000 TO the chic
municipal officers John w. Geary, now Governor
of PENNSYLVANIA was Mayor Of the city, and strenu
ously opposed this extrayagant measure. The city
WAS DOOR, having been twice GcsOated by fire, and
even while the May yor's veto of the ordinance wa,
under consideration third great lire swept over the
peninsula. Many public meetings We're held upon
the subject, and the 9TH June $50 al q convoca
ton of four thousand e u le in the plaza. publ,
square, tho COmu0n Council was instructed To
abandon tho sc Icme of high salaries and excessive
taxation or res, IN and give pl to more patriotic
and efficient mcn" Vi lance Committee wa
appointed to wait upon TIE Council and obtain ther
answer but that body coolly laid tie address the
table. Just then the city was aga visited by an.
other great fire. which c.ectua y distracted public
attention from everything else for the time being
The result was, however that the Common COunch
reduced their demand to $4,000 per year, at which
their salaries were fixed. Later in the year th
State was admitted into the Union. and the founds
lions for firm city government were laid
THE SECOND VIGILANCE COMMITTEES.
But the very first Common Council of San Fran
cisco under the new order of things began to play
the same fantastic tricks which had Characterized
their predecessors and had given occasion for the for
nation of what might be called the second Vigilance
Committee. The Council appropriated large
aries and though they gave up one-third of THEN
prrquisitcs at the demand of the Peoples Commit
tee, they continued to grow rich at public expense
Mysterious bills for enormous amounts wero paid u
mysterious if not mythical. firms and persons-th'
Inrersoll & Co." and Mrs. Harris of those days
The Aldermen voted themselves a gold medal each
fer those public and extra-)'licial services which
were not covered by their 5000 annual salaries
In tho mean time the rougher element OF society
had begun to assert itself in brawls, midnight nur
dcrs. and finally, in open and undsguised robbeJ
and violence. The more rutiiany adventures wen
banded together under the name of The Hounds
they were made up of the scum of the penal settle
mens of Australia and Norfolk Island Chileno
were their lawful game and Whenever the Hounds
mct these people there was murder and ROBBERY
The braves were organized with a commander, ahe
they established headquarters in building wmct
was called Tammany Hall. The police were few, LII
paid and suspected of colludng with ta'
b. .!gands who ruled the city government ana INV
courts-at-law. b. false swearing al trlals a'aini
themselves OF mockery Of justice ana Siippis
quietly through the meShes OF the law ro4ues a"
criminals escaped, aud nobody was pnhlsh'l lux
city was ruled plandercrs and rutilans lhous'
thc population Of the city was not large and pup"
and private property had again and again been 20
stroyrd by fire. the expenses of the CITY government,
were extravagant and taxes excessive. Inc ~.A
cyprnditnres for the first nineteen months OF th'
city's existence were over S2O'0W. anu tre c"'
scrip. though it bore interest at 0"a p" ""' Pc
month, was so deprecated that the city enIci"
themselves bought il up at dlSconn' oi ~ VI
50 per cent, and thus made line thlhs oy ',s ~
ioy If over in Their several departments al par NV
civ Government was merely hihg m'u'
ND of men who had no other purpo'.
in office than the cnricbing OF themseis"
and their camp-ioowers. As the Local nv
tor;an of those times records Jobpine Az.
ncrul,tion were rank. and seemed the RUE IN inc
ri,, Government. Public honesty anu cohscien'