Los Angeles herald., 1906-04-30


occasion when Stuart, Mckenzie and
Whitaker were hanged by a lnob--or-
| ganized, of course, but q mob in the
eye of the law for all that.
/ 1t was corruption in Office that had
made such mob necessary to the
good OF the city and the state alike.
OF course, 1t was the character OF the
sman who killed Mr.. King that caused
| the uprising. Had he met his death at
the hands of Col. Selover. Mr.. Wright
or David C. Broderick, people might
have regarded things differently, for
| he had spared no harsh language i'll
| his denuncia tons of those gentlemen.
J But to be killed by a man who had
served a term in a penitentiary for
grand larceny was. too much.
Eighteen months previously a young
| man named Rodman II. Backus had
shot and killed an inoffensive German
who had annoyed his mistress; Vir-
| ginia Heffington, otherwise known as
| Jenny French" And seven months
after that, a New Orleans gambler
named Charles Cora, the husband of
| notorious woman named Belle Cora,
had shot William II. Richardson as the
revival of an old quarrel that began
in New Orleans in 1S47. Richardson was
United States marshal for California
at the time of his death, but had been
q gambler in his earlier life. Neither
of these two cases caused any violent
outbreak of popular feeling, but when 1T
came to the death of AN exemplary
citizen like Mr. King, at the hands of
states prison bird, like Jim Casey, it
was time for action. James King of
William was shot OH Friday afternoon
and on Sunday at i:20 p. H., there
were 400 men with loaded muskets
and two pieces of brass artillery, drawn
up in front of the county jail. Early
in the morning. Sheriff Scannell had
taken "Rod" Backus down to the ship
at Pacific wharf and sent him over to
San Quentin in charge of a deputy
named John Tooney. Backus case was
under appeal to the supreme court and
he was only too glad to accept the
shelter of San Quentin under ten
years sentence rather than face the
angry mob that was gathering and
arming at the rate of a hundred men
to the hour. When Casey was removed
from the police station to the county
jail on Friday night, Cora glared upon
him like a Gagged lion as he growled'
out:
"Well, you id Irish -, you've
done us up brown, at last"
On Sunday, Scannell saw that resist
ance was useless, so he opened the door
of the Jail. Charles Doane was in
command of the vigilante forces, with
James F. Curtis and John S. Ellis next
in command. A carriage drove UP and
with Casey and Cora between them,
Doane and Curtis marched down the
steps and placed their prisoners in the
hack. That's all. Mr. Scannell," said
Doane, and they drove to an old sail
makers loft over Truett's grocery
store on Sacramento street, three doors
east of Front.
On Tuesday morning at 11:10 two men
with pinioned arms stood on little
hinged platforms from the upper VIM
dows of Truett's store. One of them
was Casey, who called God to witness
that he had not committed any crime
in killing a man who boasted that he
always carried arms and was ready for
any attack. After he had spoken
nearly ten minutes he closed his ut
terance.
Then Doane said to Cora do you
wish to speak?"
mo, d-n you, do your worst"
growled the little black wolf.
Robert Nixon cut one string at
single stroke and the two men dropped
about three feet. At the expiration Of
twenty minutes both men were pro-
nounced dead, Six weeks later Joseph
Hetherington and Charles l.. Brace
were hanged for murder also, and the
former, | shall always believe, acted
in self defense. They sent out OF the
state some twenty others, nearly all
of whom were pugilists and ballot-boX
suffers. of these, some half dozen
returned in the next ten years. Some
of them brought suit to recover money
for their deportation but none of them
ever got q dollar for their trouble.
Just about that time Horace Halves,
a queer and eccentric old man but
very brainy, individual, got a bill
through the legislature by which the
southern portion OF San Francisco was
set off into a new county to be called
San Mateo. The remainder was con-
soidated into a single government
called the "city and county of San
Francisco" by which a more economl-
cal government could be secured and
the tax rate greatly reduced. Horace
| HaWes was also author of the present
registration law, and the engrossed
| COPY of that act, which passed ooth
houses at the session of 1866, is III the
handwriting of Frederick Walton. who
has charge of James B. Lankershlm
business in this city. HaWes died IN
| sane leaving an almost incompfehen-
sible will which Judge Samuel II.
Dwinelle set aside and caused his prop
erty to be distributed among Mr..
Hawes rightful heirs / am afraid that
| none Of them have much of it left now,
| however.
shall never forget the celebration of
| De Santy's cable Gas it is now called by
electricians) >in 1855 1t was the first
great triumphal procession that the
| Golden City had witnessed. The orator
of the day was Col. Edward Dickinson
Baker, afterwards United States sena-
| tor from Oregon, killed at the battle OF
Bulls Bluff in 1862. OF all the elegant
English composition that ever heard
or read there is nothing to- surpass 1t
for beauty and grace OF dictlon: HIS
description of the two ships, Agamem-
non and Niagara, parting in mldocean
and paying out the cable as they went
was the most exquisite word picture
that ever fell upon my ears.
The election of 1860, which resulted IN
the choice of the grand old prairie
giant-Abraham Lincoln-to be chler
magistrate of this nation, was the
greatest period of excitement ever
known in this state. The stump orators
| Ill Hon