Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1880-05-06
The VigiIantes Of Fifty-six.

Divine, the foreman of the
composing room of that paper
on the situation Of San Francis.
co and the state of things that
pre- vailed there in 1856. Mr.
Divine believes in condolences
and began the conversation by
remarklng that he" "waniedDenis
Kearney and his sand-lot hye.
mas to keep up their howling
until the 18th of next May
which it seems will be the TWEEN,
ty-fourth anniversary of the
eliminating one of a long series
of deeds OF robbery and blood
which led TO the formation of
the famous San Francisco vigi-
lance committee of 1856.
At a theater one night in 1856
General Richardson, a United
States marshal, looked long and
earnestly through his opera glass
at a beautiful and wealthy court
esan named Bella Cora. The
woman was offended, and told
her man, a gambler named Co
ra, that she would not be salts
fled until he had killed Richard
son. The gambler and the mar
shai met at a drinking place,
and the latter, being taxed with
the insult, apologized. The a
pology was accepted and the
two drank together in token of
friendship; but they had nc
sooner passed outside of the sa :
loon than Cora shot Richardson
dead. Cora was arrested and
put in Jail by Sheriff Dave Scam
nell, notorious New York ruff
fan; but there were no hopes
that he would be brought to tri-
al. The excitement following
this murder would have died a.
way, but directly thereafter--on
the 14th day of May-James
King Of William, editor of the
Bulletin, which had declared
war on the ruflians, was killed
by Jim Casey, who had been
denounced by King as a grad
uate of Sing Sing. Casey, who
gave himself up to his friend
the sheriff, apparently having
little fear OF punishment, be-
came the Jail companion of
Cora.
The news Of that murder
brought al of San francisco TO
its feet. Business houses were
closed, and merchants, mechan-
les, the best citizens Of every
class, came out in the streets.
There were men speaking at
nearly every street corner, urg-
ing that the time had come for
the people to take the law into
their own hands. Mr.. Divine
made his first and last speech on
this occasion, at the corner of
Merchant and Montgomery
streets. At the close OF the
speech he was told that he was
wanted at a large warehouse on
SAMSON street, and going there,
with others, he registered his
name as one of the vigilance
committee and took his number,
which was 1896. The next
morning all the papers except
the Herald, printed by John Nu-
gent (whose death, by the way,
is just announce denounced
the killing of King. The Her
aid was the leading democratic
paper of the Pacific coast and
its advertising patronage was
enormous; but it lost its power
and patronage in a'day and APP
peared thereafter as an Sx1O
sheet, the organ of the ruffians,
who were known, oddly enough,
as the claw and ORDER party.
The vigilantes met in large
hall the next two or three
nights, elected officers, ,and were
divided into regiments. No
man was called by name; each
each had his number. The force
soon numbered six thousand
men and was composed of cav
airy, artillery, amounted rlfemen,
aud infantry. Nobody knew
who the leader was; he was
simply known as"Thirty-threc. y
! A large building in Sansom-
street was soon occupied, lin
which were cells, a courtroom,
storagc-rooms for arms, etc. 1T
was thoroughly guarded at
every point. On the ground
were sandbag embankmeIlts, s,and
there were four cannon upon
the roof, while numerous pieces
of artillery We're pointed down
from the roofs of adjacent build
lings. There were six thousand
stand Of small arms and thirty
cannon. A sloop loaded with
arms was sent from San Fran
cisco to the law and order
party, but was seized by the
Evigilantes. A large bell was
placed on the quarters IN San
som street, and when three taps
were sounded every vigilante
was 10 come instantly toFihe