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403 Chapter 20 Vigilantism during the Gold Rush Mary Marki and Christopher Clayton Smith A lthough acts of vigilantism were common prior to the discovery of gold in Ca- lifornia in 1848, it was the Gold Rush that rapidly transformed the territory and served as a catalyst for a new era of vigilantism. California in the 1850s was far from a stable, law-abiding community. The United States had acquired the territory as part of the Mexican Secession in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the war with Mexico in 1848. Ironically , John Marshall discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill that same year and when the news spread, California’s population exploded with droves of prospectors hoping to make their fortune in the California gold fields. As gold seekers soon realized, California resembled not the proverbial El Dorado but more accurately a chaotic frontier, lacking even a semblance of law and order. In this chaotic atmosphere , vigilante committees emerged almost as a necessity in the absence of legal remedies, and individuals were increasingly willing to take the law into their own hands in hopes of achieving order and stability. The term vigilante derives from the Latin root meaning “to watch” or “guard.” A vigilante is a person who implements personal justice in the absence of legal authority. Mexican Period One of the first cases of a vigilante committee in California occurred in Los Angeles during the Mexican era. Vigilante acts in California during this period usually stemmed from the fact that the public perceived the judicial system as inadequate. During the Mexican era, California government functioned under the alcalde system. The word alcalde derives from a Moorish term meaning “village judge.” The alcalde were town mayors who acted as judges, legislatures, and executives in California. American visitors to California during the Mexican period often commented on its lack of a formal judicial system.1 The alcalde system did not always function to the satisfaction of the populous, which led to instances of vigilantism. Sometimes the mayors were simply not willing or able to resolve criminal cases, leaving the local population frustrated and willing to take it upon themselves to act. The first recorded case of vigilantism in California occurred under these circumstances in Los Angeles. In 1836, a crowd of men decided to take justice into their own hands in a case involving a man and a woman accused of murdering the woman’s husband. Although the local mayor had taken the couple into custody, local citizens 404 Mary Marki and Christopher Clayton Smith assumed that the alcalde would not act, so they seized the couple and shot them both dead.2 R. H. Dana provides another account of discontent over an alcalde’s indifference toward a criminal case. Dana recounts the story of a Yankee man who had moved to Los Angeles and was naturalized as a citizen of Mexico. When he was stabbed to death in his home, a group of Yankees accused a Spaniard of the murder and took him into custody. They contacted the alcalde demanding that justice be done. After the mayor refused to act, the group appointed their own impromptu judge and jury, and ultimately tried, convicted, and sentenced the man to be shot.3 Government and Law A Transitional Period From the beginning of the Mexican-American War through the signing of the peace treaty, U.S. military commanders governed California, utilizing the governmental system established under Mexican rule. A litany of experienced American military men who had long participated in military activities in California accepted the position of military governor and operated from the city of Monterey. These governors exercised equal or greater authority than the California mayors during the Mexican period because they had power to make certain modifications to the government if they deemed it necessary. Local governments continued to function under the alcalde system, but the local mayors looked to the governor for assistance from the state militia. Vigilantism and the Gold Rush While vigilantism was not unique to the Gold Rush, this lawless era acted as a catalyst to inspire a multitude of new vigilante groups. The influx of tens of thousands of gold seekers and the upsurge in criminal activity that followed provided an environment friendly to vigilantism. The resort to private justice is a reoccurring theme during the Gold Rush years for one primary reason. Citizens facing the anarchy of lawlessness in the wake of the multitude of newcomers that flooded the gold fields organized...

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