The true stories of the Original Barbary Coast Vigilance Committees As many know, the "Barbary Coast" was a name given to the notorious San Francisco waterfront district between 1849 and 1906 (the beginning of the Gold Rush through the Big Quake of '06). The name was derived from the Barbary Coast of North Africa, known the world round as a lawless haven for "barbarians" (pirates and convicted criminals). It was due to this same reputation of rough, lawless and bawdy behavior that the densely populated "east side" district of saloons, brothels, opium dens and gambling houses located in the waterfront area in San Francisco became known as the Barbary Coast. Please vote for our website! Please click this box now. CLICK HERE TO VIEW PANORAMIC MAPS OF SAN FRANCISCO FROM THE 1846-1878 PERIOD In its heyday during the 1870's and 80's, the Barbary Coast's dim-lit streets were alive with bawdy songs of revelry and shrieks of mayhem. Murders were a common occurrence and police dared not enter alone without pistol and truncheon (nightstick). The Barbary Coast encompassed a 40-square block area bounded by East Street (now the Embarcadero) along the bay, Dupont Street (now Grant Avenue) to the west, Broadway north, and Commercial Street to the south. Kearny Street between Pacific and Broadway earned the nickname "Devil's Acre", where it was said "you could raise ten men for any adventure in as many minutes." Source: Walking San Francisco on the Barbary Coast Trail Vigilantes and vigilance committees (also known as "justice", "law and order" or "safety" committees) were commonplace across the then Wild West from the late 1850’s until the early 1900’s. For several reasons, many sections of the West and other parts of the new American frontier had few real courts and/or judges, and juries could often not be depended on for justice. The solution to this problem seemed to be vigilantism. Vigilance and justice committees were organized throughout the frontier territories. These local, extra-judicial, democratic organizations were usually made up of otherwise law abiding, responsible, citizens (including bankers, cattle barons and railroad men) whose primary desire was to safeguard their families, protect their business interests and ensure a state of peacefulness and order existed within their communities. They were committed to law and order, in spite of the corruption within their midst, and worked to to protect the lives and liberty of their families and neighbors, even if it meant breaking the law in the process. These Committees were not common mobs. On the contrary, their deliberations were documented and (for the most part) were conducted in accordance with the rules of evidence and penalties for crime accepted by civilized nations at the time. Most importantly, their power and authority was derived from the overwhelming support of the public. Contrary to current popular belief, in most cases, local vigilantes were the only groups protecting the rights of disfranchised minorities that were of no political "value" to elected officials. Their acts were an effort to seek justice for wrongdoing and generally were not motivated by bias or racism. The outlaws they punished included murderers, rapists, arsonists, cattle rustlers and train/bank robbers that would have otherwise escaped justice due to political coruption and/or the blundering of an ill equiped, underpaid, understaffed and often untrained law enforcement cadre, as well as appointed or elected judges that were frequently threatened, manipulated or corupted by money, politics and power. Painting of the San Francisco Bay, circa 1849 With the overwhelming influx of miners, settlers and immigrants in the late 1840's through the late 1850's, San Francisco experienced exponential growth and witnessed an equally large migration of swindlers, cutthroats, ruthless criminals, sporting girls, con-men and carpetbagger politicians.. the kinds of people that went where there was money to be had, the easier the better. The rapid growth of the little "City of Saint Francis" (formerly named "Yerba Buena" when under Mexican Rule) was completely out of control. At one point the population was doubled every 10 days. The city infrastructure was not equipped for the masses that were pouring in to the town and the immediate result was a worsening of the already rampant crime and corruption. This problem was temporarily remedied by an organized group that named itself "The Committee of Vigilance" and was known to the public as "The Vigilantes" or "The Committee" (later referred to as "The Vigilantes of 1851"). By all accounts, it was a terrible condition of affairs, some said it was the nearest approach to criminal anarchy that an American city had yet experienced, that ultimately brought about the formation of the first Vigilance Committee of San Francisco. In a secret meeting held early in June 1851 (in a building at Battery and Pine Streets owned by Samuel Brannan) after many hours of discussion and deliberation, a group of approximately 200 prominent citizens formed the first Vigilance Committee. The following extracts from the committee’s constitution sufficiently summarize its avowed aims: THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO - STATE OF CALIFORNIA 7TH DAY OF JUNE 1851 WHEREAS, it has become apparent to the citizens of San Francisco, that there is no security for life and property, either under the regulations of society as it at present exists, or under the law as now administered: THEREFORE, the citizens, whose names are hereunto attached, do unite themselves into an association for the maintenance of the peace and good order of society, and the preservation of the lives and property of the citizens of San Francisco, and do bind themselves, each unto the other, to do and perform every lawful act for the maintenance of law and order, and to sustain the laws when faithfully and properly administered; but we are determined that no thief, burglar, incendiary or assassin, shall escape punishment, either by the quibbles of the law, the insecurity of prisons, the carelessness or corruption of the police, or a laxity of those who pretend to administer justice. And to secure the objects of this association we do hereby agree: 1. That the name and style of the association shall be the COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE, for the protection of the lives and property of the citizens and residents of the city of San Francisco. 2. That there shall be a room selected for the meeting and deliberation of the committee, at which there shall be one or more members of the committee appointed for that purpose, in constant attendance, at all hours of the day and night, to receive the report of any member of the association, or of any other person or persons whatsoever, of any act of violence done to the person or property of any citizen of San Francisco; and if in the judgment of the member or members of the committee present, it be such an act that justifies the interference of the committee, either in aiding in the execution of the laws, or the prompt and summary punishment of the offender, the committee shall be at once assembled for the purpose of taking such action as a majority of the committee when assembled shall determine upon. . . . ..4. That when the committee have assembled for action, the decision of a majority present shall be binding upon the whole committee, and that those members of the committee whose names are hereunto attached, do pledge their honor, and hereby bind themselves to defend and sustain each other in carrying out the determined action of this committee at the hazard of their lives and their fortunes... Excerpted verbatim from the Constitution of the Committee of Vigilance (circa 1851), reference San Francisco Museum of History. The Vigilantes banded together secretly in an attempt to salvage their community from the epidemic of lawlessness that had given their city the distasteful affiliation with the vicious Barbary Coast of Africa. They convened in secret and operated behind the scenes quickly stamping out crime by bringing swift and certain justice, with and without the help of the elected constabulary. As their deeds of lynching and excommunicating criminals became well known and word of the dramatic decline of crime within San Francisco spread, The Vigilantes became popular heroes throughout the west. The Vigilantes of San Francisco's Barbary Coast are credited by many sources as being the very first large scale citizen's vigilante organization in the West. Contemporary news reports of their unprecedented success spawned organized vigilante groups throughout the Wild West. By the end of 1852, the first organized group of San Francisco's Vigilantes had formally disbanded and returned the enforcement of laws to the newly elected authorities, all of which were former members of the Committee. By the middle of 1855, San Francisco was again a hell-roaring swirl of crime and debauchery; once more the city swarmed with murderers, thieves, burglars, gamblers, prostitutes, and swindlers of every degree. Many felt the situation had become worse than it had been in 1851 when the first Vigilantes had formed. By 1856, things had gotten so out of control a group of law abiding citizens banded together and under the leadership of William T. Coleman (photo below), they reorganized the earlier version of "The Vigilantes of 1851" and called their new group "The Vigilance Committee of San Francisco" (also known as "The Committee" and the "Committee of Vigilance" and later known as "The 1856 Committee of Vigilance"). They had members from all walks of life including such celebrated citizens as Leland Stanford (railroad magnate who later became the 8th Governor of California 1861 to 1863, a CA State Senator 1885-1893 and the founder of Stanford University). In a secret meeting at 105 1/2 Sacramento Street, on May 15, 1856, a core group of nearly 100 members gathered together, drew up by-laws and set to work to bring law and order back to their town. By noon on the first day word got out that "The Vigilantes" were back in business, one thousand men enrolled for whatever service the Committee might see fit to demand of them, and by nightfall one thousand more had joined the membership rolls. The State Militiamen on duty at the jail sent their resignations to the Governor, stacked their rifles in the State Armory on Grant Avenue, and marched in a body to join up with The Committee. Horsemen carried the news into the rural and mining districts, and within a few days mass meetings in Sacramento, Placerville, Folsom, Nevada City (CA), and Marysville offered to send whatever armed assistance "The Committee" desired. Within a few weeks, their ranks numbered in excess of 7000 men. The vast majority of San Franciscans, and Californians alike, greeted the official (re)formation of the Vigilance Committee of San Francisco with great rejoice, hailing it as the only possible cure for the onslaught of evils which beset the city by the bay. The politicians, naturally enough, opposed it with great vehemence, for it threatened their very existence. In order to protect their identities, the core members of the Vigilance Committee were issued intricate badges, numbered 1 through 103. They used their numbers in place of names on all Committee correspondence. Their mottos were "Fait Justitia Rautctlum" and "No Creed, No Party, No Sectional Issue". This was in direct response to the problems they attributed to the corrupt local politics which were based upon petty district squabbles, racial bias and partisanship (political party affiliation) instead of truth and justice. Their brand of frontier justice was widely feared by criminals and corrupt politicians as it was harsh, swift and decisive as even a mere order of excommunication was backed by a death warrant, should the outcast return to the city within the prescribed time period. The headquarters and committee meeting rooms of the Vigilance Committee of 1856 were located at the wholesale liquor house of Truett & Jones, No. 41 Sacramento Street (surrounded by California, Front and Davis Streets, located at what is now 215 Sacramento Street), about a block from the water front and across the street from a bustling business area called "The Plaza." "Fort Gunnybags" 41 Sacramento Street, circa 1857 Their building was initially called "Fort Vigilance" but, was later nicknamed "Fort Gunnybags" (pictured left) on account of the burlap sandbags piled up in a 6' x 10' wall around the entire building. This barricade wall was about twenty feet from the building. Guards were stationed at the passage-ways throughout as well as all stairways and entrances to the building. On the roof was a huge 700 pound bell, the taps of which brought all of the guards to arms at once. The Committee took over law enforcement, mustering a full time cadre of "Vigilance Committee Police" that patrolled the streets, enforced Committee orders and served warrants on public officials, including judges, that were found guilty of conspiring to subvert the public interest by accepting bribes to dismiss criminal charges against the hired henchmen of corrupt politicians and political manipulators known to have participated in ballot tampering. Following a return of law and order to the city in addition to the election of a full slate of Committee of Vigilance members in the city elections of November 1856, the second Committee of Vigilance was formally disbanded. Robert B. Wallace (Wm. T. Coleman's friend and most trusted assistant) was appointed Deputy Sheriff under Sheriff George Ellis. For more information on the Vigilance Committees of San Francisco, follow the links below. ADDITIONAL ARTICLES: Full Text: The Vigilance Committee of '56 by Journalist James O'Meara (published in 1887) The story of the Vigilance Committee of 1856 at the Stanford.edu website. Info on the book: Shanghaied in San Francisco by Bill Pickelhaupt (published 1996) THE MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO WEBSITE.. GREAT READING! The story of the First Committee of Vigilance – 1851 The story of the Second Committee of Vigilance – 1856 The hanging of James P. Casey and Charles Cora for the murder of James King - 1856 The funeral of James King of William – 1856 Chief Justice David S. Terry stabs Sterling Hopkins, a Vigilance Committee Policeman – 1856 Gen. Sherman resigns after being ordered to stop the Committee of Vigilance – 1856 BEST Memoirs of an 1856 Committee of Vigilance Member A HISTORIC WALKING TOUR, RETRACING THE OLD SAN FRANCISCO WATERFRONT If you know of any other historical references for the Barbary Coast on-line, please e-mail Evil Swede with the URL. Drawing of San Francisco Waterfront District by Charles Méryon, circa 1856. You can read more about the history of the "Vigilantes of 1851" and the "Vigilance Committee of San Francisco" in The Barbary Coast, an Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld, by Herbert Asbury (first published in 1933). Chapters 3 and 4 are of particular interest. The following proclamation (pictured left) was published by the members of the Vigilance Committee of San Francisco in the Summer of 1856. It has been copied below, verbatim. For those interested in the storied history of San Francisco, it is a wonderfully telling document, capturing the observations and attitudes of good citizens, frustrated with the extreme state of corruption, social decay and marked disorder within their community.

PROCLAMATION O F    T H E VIGILANCE COMMITTEE O F    S A N     F R A N C I S C O JUNE 9th, 1856
TO THE PEOPLE OF CALIFORNIA.
The Committee of Vigilance, placed in the position they now occupy by the voice and countenance of the vast majority of their fellow citizen, as executors of their will, desire to define the necessity which has forced this people into their present organization. Great public emergencies demand prompt and vigorous remedies. The People- long suffering under an organized despotism which has invaded their liberties - squandered their property - usurped their offices of trust and emolument - endangered their lives - prevented the expression of their will through the ballot box, and corrupted the channels of justice - have now arisen in virtue of their inherent right and power. All political, religious and sectional differences have given way to the paramount necessity of a thorough and fundamental reform and purification of the social and political body. The voice of a whole people has demanded union and organization as the only means making our laws effective and regaining the rights of free speech, free vote and public safety. For years they have patiently waited and striven, in a peaceable manner, and in accordance with the forms of Law, to reform the abuses which have made our city a by-word, fraud and violence have foiled every effort, and the laws to which the people have looked for protection, while distorted and rendered effete in practice, so as to shield the vile, have been used as a powerful engine to fasten upon us tyranny and misrule. As Republicans, we looked to the ballot-box as our safe guard and sure remedy. But so effectually and so long was its voice smothered, the votes in it by Freemen so entirely outnumbered by ballots thrust through fraud at midnight, or nullified by false counts of judges and inspectors of elections at noon day, that many doubted whether the majority of the people were not utterly corrupt. Organized gangs of bad men, of all political parties, or who assumed any particular creed from mercenary and corrupt motives, have parcelled out our offices among themselves, or sold them to the highest bidders; Have provided themselves with convenient tools to obey their nod, as Clerks, Inspectors and Judges of election; Have employed bullies and professional fighters to destroy tally-lists by force, and prevent peaceable citizens from ascertaining, in a lawful manner, the true number of votes polled at our elections; And have used cunningly contrived ballot boxes, with false sides and bottoms, so prepared that by means of a spring or slide, spurious tickets, concealed there previous to the election, could be mingled with genuine votes. Of all of this we have the most irrefragable proofs. Felons from other lands and States, and unconvicted criminals equally as bad, have thus controlled public funds and property, and have often amassed sudden fortunes without having done and honest day's work with head or hands. Thus the fair inheritance of our city has been embezzled and squandered - our streets and wharves are in ruins, and the miserable entailment of an enormous debt with bequeath sorrow and poverty to another generation.		The Jury box has been tampered with and our Jury trials have been made to shield the hundreds of murders whose red hands have cemented the tyranny, and silenced with the Bowie knife and the pistol, not only the free voice of an indignant press, but the shuddering rebuke of the outraged citizen. To our shame be it said, that the inhabitants of distant lands already know that corrupt men in office, as well as gamblers, shoulder strikers, and other vile tools of unscrupulous leaders beat, maim, and shoot down with impunity as well peaceable and unoffending citizens, as those earnest reformers who, at the known hazard of their lives, and with singleness of heart, have sought, in a lawful manner, to thwart schemes of public plunder or to awaken investigation. Embodied in the principals of republican governments are the truths that the majority should rule, and when corrupt official, who have fraudulently seized the reigns of authority, designedly thwart the execution of the laws and avert punishment from the notoriously guilty, the power the usurp reverts back to the people from whom it was wrested. Realizing these truths, and confident that they are carrying out the will of the vast majority of the citizens of this country, the Committee of Vigilance, under a solemn sense of the responsibility that rested upon them, have calmly and dispassionately weighed the evidences before them, and decreed the death of some and banishment of others, who by their crimes and villainies, had stained our fair land. With those that were banished this comparatively moderate punishment was chosen, not because ignominious death was not deserved, but that the error, if any, might surely be on the side of mercy to the criminal. There are others so scarcely less guilty, against whom the same punishment has been decreed, but they have been allowed further time to arrange for their final departure, and with the hope that permission to depart voluntarily might induce repentance, and repentance amendment, they have been suffered to choose within limits their own time and method of going. Thus far, and throughout their arduous duties, they have been, and will be guided by the most conscientious convictions of imperative duty; and their earnestly hope that in endeavoring to mete out merciful justice to the guilty, their counsels may be guided by that Power before whose tribunal we shall all stand, and in vicissitudes of after life, amid the calm reflections of old age and in clear view of dying conscience, there may be found nothing we would regret or wish to change. We have no friends to reward, no enemies to punish, no private ends to accomplish. Our single heartfelt aim is the public good; the purging from our community, of those abandoned characters whose actions have been evil continually, and have finally forced upon us the efforts we are now making. We have no favoritism as a body, nor shall there be evinced, in any of our acts, either partiality for, or prejudice against any race, sect or party. While thus far we have not discovered on the part of our constituents any indications of lack of confidence, and have no reason to doubt that the great majority of the inhabitants of the county endorse our acts, and desire us to continue the work of weeding out the irreclaimable characters from the community, we have, with deep regret, seen that some of the State authorities have felt it their duty to organize a force to resist us. It is not impossible for us to realize, that not only those who have sought place with a view to public		plunder, but also those gentlemen who, in accepting offices to which they were honestly elected, have sworn to support the laws of the State of California, find it difficult to reconcile their supposed duties with acquiescence in the acts of the Committee of Vigilance, since they do not reflect that perhaps more than three-fourths of the people of the entire state sympathize with and endorse our efforts, and as that all law emanates from the people, so that, when the laws thus enacted are not executed, the power returns to the people, and is theirs whenever they may choose to exercise it. These gentlemen would not have hesitated to acknowledge the self-evident truth, had the people chosen to make their present movement a revolution, recalled all power they had delegated, and re-issued it to new agents, under new forms. Now, because the people have not seen fit to resume all the powers they have confided to executive or legislative officers, it certainly does not follow that they cannot, in the exercise of their inherent sovereign power, withdraw from corrupt and unfaithful servants the authority they have used to thwart the ends of justice. These officers whose mistaken sense of duty leads them to array themselves against the determined action of the people, whose servants they have become, may be respected, while their errors may be regretted; but none can envy the future reflections of that man who, whether in the heat of malignant passion or with the vain hope of preserving by violence a position obtained through fraud and bribery, seeks under the color of law to enlist the outcasts of society as a hireling soldiery in the service of the State, or urges criminals, by hopes of plunder, to continue at the cost of of civil war, to the reign of the ballot box stuffers, suborners of witnesses and tamperers of the jury-box. The Committee of Vigilance believe that the people have entrusted to them the duty of gathering evidence, and, after due trial, expelling from the community those ruffians and assassins who have so long outraged the peace and good order of society, violated the ballot-box, overridden law and thwarted justice. Beyond the duties incident to this, we do not desire to interfere with the details of government. We have spared and shall spare no efforts to avoid bloodshed or civil war; but undeterred by threats or opposing organizations, shall continue, peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must, this work of reform, to which we have pledged or lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor. Our labors have been arduous, our deliberations have been cautious, our determinations firm, our counsels prudent, our motives pure; and while regretting the imperious necessity which called us into action, we are anxious that this necessity should exist no longer; and when our labors have been accomplished, when the community shall be freed from the evils it has so long endured; when we have insured to our citizens an honest and vigorous protection of their rights, then the Committee of Vigilance will find great pleasure in resigning their power into the hands of the people, from whom it was received. Published by order of the Committee. No. 33 Secretary. (Seal of the Committee)
Published by Hutchings & Co., 201 Clay Street--Plaza--San Francisco Printed by Agnew & Deffebach, 130 Sansome Street--San Francisco
Reprinted On-Line (verbatim from the original) by the Barbary Coast Vigilance Committee, 2001

  
Calliope Rag (courtesy of www.PerfessorBill.com)
Composed by James Scott/Bob Darch, Performed by "Perfessor" Bill Edwards, 1991 Old-Time Piano World Champion.

This page is not maintained for profit.
	Courtesy of the Barbary Coast Vigilance Committee (BCVC) www.BCVC.net Copyright © 2001-2004 PointBlank Consulting & Website Design, All Rights Reserved.