The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1881-09-04


mandei by men Of good standing anc
known integrity. who would euforc,
the laws aud assume the duties which
had been for so long a time neglected
or mismanaged by an inefficient City
Government aud a corrupt Judiciary
In addition to the numerous assault.
aud robberies which were # common
occurrence in San Francisco, seyera
disastrous fires had caused great loss Of
property; and as these fires were sup.
posed TO be the work Of incenoiaries
the wish to make an example of tn,
+ villains became very strong in the pub
lie MUD
On the l9iA of February. 1851, about
s o'clock III the evening. a Mr.. Jansen
who had . store on Montgomery street,
was alone In his place of business. when
two men entered and asked to look al
tsome blanket. As Mr. Jansen turned to
take some blankets from shelf. b e was
struck with q slupgsh9t and knocked
senseless. Later on IN the evening the
attention of some one IN passing was
attracted by the shop door being open
at that hour. and on entering. Mr. Jau-
sen was found lying on the floor seri-
ously wounded. Ii was evident that
the ssssilants had beaten him until
they supposed him dead, and bad then
robbed the safe of its contents. Such a
daring robbery committed at an hour
when many persons were passing in the
street, which was one Of the most FREE
quented in the city, created much
alarm. The next day two men were
arrested on suspicion of having COM
nitted the assault and robbery. One
of these men. named Windred, denied
oil knowledge CT or participation in the
robbery. The other was supposed to
be- :one. james Stuart. who had lately
escaped from jail in Sacramento, where
he was awaiting trial for murder. This
man, however, maintained that bis
name was not Stuart, but Burdue, and
that he had never been in jail in Sacra
mento, nor did he know anything about
the attack on Mr. Jansen. On the fol-
lowing Friday Mr Jansen was sufficien.
tly recovered to give very coherent
account of the attack made upon him.
The two prisoners were brought to his
| bedside, aud he at once recognized
| Stuart as one OF the men who came into
his store. Windred he was not 50 sure
of, but Stuart he was willing TO swear
to.
There was strong feeling through
out the city that there was now all op
portunity for the people to insist upon
the enforcement of the law. They were
both sentenced to fourteen years i'm
prisonment.
On the evening of May 4. 1851. n
fire broke out in San Francisco. which
not only destroyed an immense amount
of property. but caused the death of
nearly Que hundred persons, while
many others were horribly disfgured
by the flames. IL was generally be-
lieved that this fire was the work of iu-
cendiarieS. Early In the month Of
June about 300 of the most influential
cit,zons of San Francisco formed an as
sociation to which they gave the name
of "A Committee OF Vigilance for the
maintenance of the peace aud good or
der Of society, and the preservation of
the lives and property of the citizens
of San Francisco Many persons joins
ed the committee, aud notice was given
that it was their intention TO punish
with the greatest severity any one found
guilty of murder. robbery or incendi-
arism. 1t was not long before the com
mittee was called into action. Ga the
evening OF June 10th. 1851. the atten-
tion of some boetmenat the end of Long
Wharf was attracted TO man carrying
9 sack apparently containing something
very heavy. BE put the sack into a
small boat and pulled out into the bay.
Directly after. Dir Virgin, who had a
shipping Office on the wharf. came to
the steps aud said that be had been
robbed Of q small safe contsinibg
considerable sum of money. Thereup-
on some Of the boatmen went in pur-
suit OF the supposed thief. After q
sharp pull they came up TO him. He
threw the sack overheard. aud while
some Of the boatmen secured the thief.
the others fished up the sack. which
was found to contain the missing safe.
When the boatmen reached the shore
with their prisoner he was taken into
custody by some Of the members of tIe
Vigilance Committee. aud was carried
Immediately to the rooms, where quite
q number Of members were assembled.
The prisoner proved to be an English
man fiom New South Wales. His name
was John Jenkins. with an alias Of
course, aud Was identified as one of the
gang Of desperadoes who had been for
50 long q time the terror of San Fran
cisco. Mr. Virgin appeared at the com
mite rooms aud opened the safe with
the key which he bad Ia his pocket.
The boatnen were then interrogated,
aud after hearing sill the restim ouy the
committee decided that the prisoner
~as guilty. During the examination
the Chief OF Police had applied for ud-
mittance to the committee room. and
had demanded that the prisoner should
be delivered to the proper authorities.
Bat his requests were, of course. re-
fused.
When the prisoner was declared gull
ty. the question arose as TO when. where
aud how be should be punished. To
hand him over 10 the city authorities
was simply TO give him his liberty. 1t
Was impossible for the committee to
keep the man 10 their own custody,
and to release him would be to Ac-
knowledge = defes, ai the very outset.
Although the crime he had con mitted
WAS not according to law capital Of
fense. yet it was decided that he should
be hanged, and that the execution
III 4