The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1882-04-13
Vivid Reminiseence OF a Vigilance
.s.vn, Committee. .d a.sY

/ ID &1fsf. sOVhhlitltt. al s.sy ~.
Intthe summer of1S51 was resident
OF Neayergile,. Trinity, County. Califor-
lTnia, one Of the most PROSPEROUS mining
towns in the State at that, tinres A few
months previous to that time. the .yigi-
lants OF San Francisco had driven out 81
the city quite q large humberiof roughs
and thieyes who had. generally circulated
through the mining towns Of the State,
when theilVigilants of San Francisco
made it too hot for them. A large num-
Der of them were from Australia, and
| generally were known as ossSFdnev
ducks. 8 To be from Sydney was. equiy-
salent to being thief. Amongst the early
California miners nearly every mining
town had its vigilance committee, and
| lWeaverville was not behind her sister
towns in that respect, and your humble
| servant, was an active member. of the
/ aforesaid committee. Now there resided
in town two IEnglishfnen, aons lby the
name Of Hardgrayes, from Illinois,. and
the other by the name of Seymour, from
Sydney. They being fellow-country4nen
were naturally friendly with each other,
and passed their evenings frequently to-
| gether. Hardgraves1 was, a hard-works-
ing miner, but would sometimes let on
"a '.bust.' Seymour did not seem to Get
on yeryfWellii had no lhek3in, his copera-
tions and was generally out of money.
Hardgraves came to town one evening
and broughtw him his dust, mounting Q
/ to about 81 200, which he had in a,yeast
powder can, placed in his breast between
his shirts for safe keeping. durings his alb
fsence from his cabin. That same even,
ing Hardgraves took it in his head to get
on aglorious drunk with his friend Sey-,
fmour. Next morning Hardgrayes was
minus his dust, and of course he and
Seymour were together. that night, and
Seymour must be the thief. He was a
Sydney duck,n and that was sufficient
to hang him; and what was more, e heF
wore coat which, BY turning, one side
was red with blue facing when the other
sideswas out it was black swithrred facl
ings, and many of the honest miners
Thought and said that none but a thief
would wear such coat cSzg .sg1
- Well, Seymour was arrested ,by.the
Sheriff for the robbery. In those days
there was not much respect paid to the
civil law, as the county had neither iails
nor conrthouses. to confine or try her
! criminals in. The supposition was that.
Seymour would get away without proper,
punishment, 50 that the vigilantes took
the matter in hands appointex1 commit
tee to wait on Sheriff Nixon and demand
the prisoner. The writer Of this was " one te'
of the committee; andg gentleman that
i now holding AN important office in
California was another OF the committee.
We'll, we went with the full determina-.
ton Of having him, We made demand
for the prisoner from the Sheriff. He
told us he would not give shiinlup, but in
a moment the Sheriff was disarmed and.
the prisoner was in our custody. sWelI
do lTenember the look of horror that
overspready the prisoners countenance
when he thought his'last hotir ON earth
had come. Some werefor hanging him.
without trial. The, more cool were for,
giving him a trial. and IL found guilty
then hanging him Immediately, and.
thank. Godi the latter prevailed. There
was a Judge appointed on the SPOT, and
the jury: sworn in under, the shade ora
pine tree just below the town, and the
trial commenced. No law bubbles nor
teehnicahties were heardIin that Court
The trial proceeded, but. with very little
evidence against the prisoner. y Hard
graves was the first witness; ghetestifedl
to being drunk and in company with the
prisoner the hight the dust was stolen.
Others testified about thessanle thing I
The jury could not agree. on their YER,
Dict and the prisoner was held IN custo-
dy. with misunderstanding that he was
found guilty and was to be hung at ten
O'Clock that night About rirle q clock
the prisoner was taken out and made to
believe that his last hour had come. He
was taken to a large oak tree Just across
a gulch from the town., whichsyas after-i
wards known as s.hangman's tree,nn and,
there rope was placed over limb and
the ether end about his neck, with the
demand; !" Seymour, make your peace
with Your God, for you have Just fifteen
minutes to live" He first professionals
innocence before God and man as. to the
crime he was charged with, and in an
earnest manner prayed Godo to receive
his spirit in His heavenly keeping after
his foul murder here on earth. After
the fifteen minutes had expired he was
hauled up by the neck and suspended
until life was nearly extinct, When he
waslet down and stold'if he would cor
fess to the robbery he would have further
time, but be still persisted that he was
innocent of the crime that he was accused
of. Again he was hauled up, he begging
to be shot. and not tortured any more,
which was not granted. Again he was
let down to see If he would not confess,
but he would not confess his guilt, which
made many that were there about him
cry out: g Hang the guilty wretch this
time sure. - ~ a#'''.. - ''.s''
- But better counsel prevailed, and 1t
was agreed to make him leave the coun-
try under penalty Of death Il, he should
ever be caught therein after ,twenty-f -four
hours from that time, He was then taken
from the gallows,5 and made to believe he
would suffer death the next day. He 4
was placedin charge of . guard of two
men for the night, with the understand
ing that they would let him escape dur
ing the night. / was one of the guard. !
About twelve o'clock / went into the
cabin which was his rJrisoY, He vvvssts ~, 4