SAN FRANCISCO COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE SIGN - 1851, 1856

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SAN FRANCISCO "COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE" SIGN 1851 – 1856 The San Francisco Committee of Vigilance was a popular ad hoc organization formed in 1851 and revived in 1856. Their purpose was to rein in rampant crime and government corruption. They were among the most successful organizations in the vigilante tradition of the American Old West. These militias hanged eight people and forced several elected officials to resign. Each Committee of Vigilance formally relinquished power after three months. The 1851 Committee of Vigilance was inaugurated on June 9 with the promulgation of a written doctrine declaring its aims and on June 10, followed up with the hanging of John Jenkins, from Sydney, convicted in a trial organized by the committee of stealing a safe from an office (grand larceny was punishable by death under California law at the time). It boasted a membership of 700 and operated parallel to, and in defiance of, the duly constituted city government. Committee members used its headquarters for the interrogation and incarceration of suspects, who were denied the benefits of due process. The Committee engaged in policing, investigating disreputable boarding houses and vessels, deporting immigrants, and parading its militia. In total, four people were hanged by the Committee; one was whipped (a common punishment at that time); fourteen were deported to Australia; fourteen were informally ordered to leave California; fifteen were handed over to public authorities; and forty-one were discharged. The 1851 Committee of Vigilance was dissolved during the September elections, but its executive members continued to meet into 1853. Among those killed were John Jenkens, an Australian from Sydney, accused of burglary, who was hung on June 10, 1851; James Stuart, also from Sydney, accused of murder, hung on July 11, 1851; and Samuel Whittaker and Robert McKenzie, associates of Stuart accused of "various heinous crimes", hung on August 24, 1851. The lynching of Whittaker and McKenzie occurred three days after a standoff between the Committee and the nascent police force trying to protect the prisoners; the Committee nabbed Whittaker and McKenzie after storming the jail during Sunday church services. The Committee offered a $5,000 reward for the capture of anyone found guilty of arson, and committee members patrolled the streets at night to watch for fires. After these actions were taken, fires in San Francisco diminished noticeably. The Committee of Vigilance was reorganized on 14 May 1856 by many of the leaders from the first one and adopted an amended version of the 1851 constitution. Unlike the earlier Committee, and the vigilante tradition generally, the 1856 Committee was concerned with not only civil crimes but also politics and political corruption. The catalyst for the Committee was a political duel in which James P. Casey shot James King of William. The 1856 Committee was also much larger, claiming 6,000 in its ranks. The 1856 Committee of Vigilance dissolved on 11 August 1856, and marked the occasion with a “Grand Parade.” Political power in San Francisco was transferred to a new political party established by the vigilantes, the People's Party, which ruled until 1867 and was eventually absorbed into the Republican Party. The vigilantes had thus succeeded in their objective of usurping power from the Democratic Party machine that hitherto dominated civic politics in the city. THIS MODERN ERA SIGN IS IN EXCELLENT CONDITION WITH GREAT COLORS. ALL WOOD WITH VERY MINOR PAINT LOSS ELEVEN INCHES IN DIAMETER AND ONE INCH THICK. EASY PAYMENT WITH PAYPAL / $7 SHIPPING IN CONTINENTAL U.S. California Gold Rush / California History / Mining / San Francisco read more

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