page_title: James Van Ness
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: James Van Ness / Career
caption_attribution_description: Hanging of James P. Casey and Charles Cora in front of the vigilance committee rooms, San Francisco, California. See en:San Francisco Vigilance Movement.
context_page_description: James Van Ness was an American politician who served as the seventh Mayor of San Francisco from 1855 to 1856.
context_section_description: As a San Francisco alderman, he sponsored the "Van Ness Ordinance", which ordered all land within the City limits that was undeveloped at that time (that is, west of Larkin Street and southwest of Ninth Street) to be surveyed and transferred to their original deedholders. Because there were many fraudulent deed holders at that time, this law led to many lawsuits for many years.
  In 1855, Van Ness was elected Mayor as a Democrat. However, his administration proved ineffectual in the face of three major crises that arose. First, his election was called into question following allegations of irregularities in the outcome. Then, on November 18, 1855, Charles Cora fatally shot U.S. Marshal William H. Richardson. Cora sought the safety of the sheriff at the City Jail, and Van Ness pleaded with the mob that had surrounded the jail to disperse. Another high-profile murder occurred on May 14, 1856, when James P. Casey shot newspaper editor James King of William after King wrote an unfavorable article about Casey. After King died on May 20, the Vigilantes reformed, tried Cora and Casey, and convicted them of murder.
  Van Ness tried in vain to have California Governor J. Neely Johnson send State militia forces into the city to stop the executions. Yet, ultimately, he watched helplessly as the Vigilantes executed Cora and Casey. Van Ness would leave office in July under the terms of the Consolidation Act (passed by the State legislature on April 29, 1856), which provided for the merger of the City and County governments into one unit. The Van Ness Ordinance was the first step in the formation of the Western Addition district.
  Van Ness would be the last mayor to be referred to as such during his term until 1862. Until then, the mayor would be known as the "President of the Board of Supervisors"
  In 1860, he moved to San Luis Obispo County to practice law and, in 1871, became a State Senator.
caption: The hanging of Cora and Casey
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