San Francisco Vigilance Committee of 1856 | Page 8

power of which they were the depositaries; and cheerfully resign it whenever the work of the regeneration of society was accomplished. If this conviction should be shaken, the association must instantly be dissolved and each of these leaders and directors of it be left to die upon the scaffold. Well might any person of the slightest sensibility look on such a body of men with the utmost interest and curiosity, and in the contemplation be filled with deep and solemn thought.
The Constitution likewise provided for a Board of Delegates, with whom the Executive Committee might confer whenever matters of vital importance should require it. This body was organized by the choice by each company of two of its members, who, with the Captain, should be its Delegates. When the military organization of the force was completed, the field officers were added to the Board of Delegates; and when the organization included many regiments, the number of Delegates was of course larger. Whenever the death penalty had been decided upon by the Executive Committee, the whole evidence upon which it was based was submitted to the Board of Delegates, and a two-thirds vote of that Board in confirmation of the Executive vote was required before it could be inflicted. The element of discussion thus introduced into a body essentially revolutionary, and whose success might be supposed to depend upon the secrecy, promptness and unfaltering determination of its councils and of the blows it struck, was thought at the time to be likely to detract from its efficiency, if it did not endanger its existence. But the good sense and prudence of the members restrained the innate Yankee propensity to speech making, and this danger, with many others, which from time to time threatened to make shipwreck of the organization, was happily surmounted.
The Constitution having been adopted, the doors of the Committee Rooms on Sacramento Street were opened for initiation into the body. The greatest caution was exercised to prevent the admission of any disreputable or unreliable man. Every person presenting himself was carefully scrutinized at the outer door by a trusty guard and at the stair head within by another; and if unknown to them, was required to be vouched for by two respectable citizens. From Thursday the 15th until Saturday the 17th at two o'clock P. M. a crowd of people were constantly pressing forward for admission. On Thursday both battalions of the City military refused to act further as a guard upon the Jail; and the companies for the most part disbanded; several of them reorganizing as part of the Vigilance Committee force. The defense of the Jail being thrown entirely upon the Sheriff; he placed arms and ammunition in it; and made strenuous efforts to provide a force which might suffice with his Deputies, the Police & co. to accomplish that object. On Friday his Deputies were very busy in serving printed notices upon all citizens whom they could induce to receive them, or to listen to their reading. The summons was to meet at the Fourth District Court Room in the City Hall at half past three o'clock to aid him in keeping the peace. The meeting took place at the time and place appointed, but for various reasons, did not prove a very decided success. The replies made when the question was propounded to each individual whether he was prepared to proceed with the Sheriff to the Jail to defend it against all assailants, were very various. A merchant said he had been summoned, but he refused most positively to move, and wished it to be most distinctly understood that he was not a member of the Vigilance Committee, nor did he intend to act against it. A lawyer declined serving, and on his reason for doing so being required, said he was afraid; as he was afterwards in the ranks of the Vigilance Committee, with a musket on his shoulder, it may be presumed that his fear was of fighting against the people. A medical man professed great doubts about his ability; said he was not accustomed to the use of firearms, and thought it not unlikely that he might wound himself or kill his neighbor. At length, a party started with the Sheriff for the Jail; but whether their sober second thought was discouraging; or they had no stomach for the fight; or found their courage oozing out of their finger ends; the number began to diminish immediately after starting; at every corner some would detach themselves from the group; at every saloon or restaurant a distressing hunger or thirst would silently but imperiously demand a halt; and as the Jail was neared, a light pair of heels was frequently put in requisition without the slightest ceremony. As might be supposed, the number that