Narrative of Edward McGowan
Subtitle: including a full account of the author's adventures and perils while persecuted by the San Francisco vigilance committee of 1856, together with a report of his trial, which resulted in his acquittal ...
Contributors: Russell, Thomas C.
Publisher: Printed by T.C. Russell, at his private press
Published: 1917
Place of publication: San Francisco, Cal
Language: eng
Number of pages: 240
Subjects: San Francisco Committee of Vigilance of 1856; Law and politics -- California; San Francisco -- History
Description: Edward McGowan (1807-1893) left behind a controversial career as a former Pennsylvania legislator and police superintendent when he came to San Francisco in 1849. There he entered Democratic politics and earned the nickname "the ballot box stuffer." He was acquitted when the Vigilance Committee indicted him for complicity in the killing of James King of William in 1856, but his power in California was at an end. He later served in the Confederate Army and had brushes with the law in Canada before returning to San Francisco in his old age. Narrative of Edward McGowan (1857; reprinted 1917) presents his version of his role in James King's shooting by James Casey in May 1856. Next he discusses the subsequent creation of the Vigilance Committee and his flight from the vigilantes and his life as a fugitive in the Santa Barbara area. He closes with a lengthy discussion of the promise that prompted him to emerge from hiding to stand trial.
Notes: No known restrictions on publication.
"Reprinted line for line and page for page, from the original edition, published by the author in 1857, complete with reproductions in facsimile, of the original illustrations, cover-page title, and title-page."
"Limited edition of two hundred copies, printed upon hand-set type, and the type distribution." This copy not numbered.
Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site.