May 22d, the day of King's funeral, while the immense procession was
passing through Montgomery street, Casey and Cora were hanged. Two
projecting beams had been rigged from the roof of the building on
Sacramento street, occupied by the Committee, for the purpose. Out of
two of the windows of the second story, immediately under these beams
two stout planks, sixteen inches wide, were extended over the street to
an equal distance. At the outer end of each plank, on the under side,
were stout hinges connecting the traps upon which the two men were
placed, with the ropes about their necks, suspended from the beams. Two
other ropes held the traps even with the planks. The two men were led
out upon the traps. Permission was given to them to speak their last
words. Casey availed himself of the privilege and spoke a few minutes in
clear loud voice, in somewhat excited manner, denying his guilt of
murder and vindicating his action. Cora stood all the while as
motionless as a statue. Not a tremor or quiver was perceptible. The
white cap covered his head and face to below the chin. At the conclusion
of Casey's brief speech, the cap was drawn over his face, and as the
hangman pulled it down he whispered in his ear something that made the
doomed man start as if to break the bands which held his arms. In an
instant the signal was given, the traps sprung, by the two men on the
roof cutting the ropes which upheld them, and Casey and Cora were
launched for the death to quickly come. Casey struggled for a few
moments; Cora showed no sign of pain or life. After death the bodies
were cut down, and shortly afterward were delivered to friends who had
provided for their burial. The hangman of Casey was Sterling Hopkins, a
notorious character, with whom Casey once had a difficulty. He had
begged the Committee to officiate in the event of Casey's condemnation
to death by the rope, and the whispered words he hissed in Casey's ear,
as he subsequently boasted, were of exultation over his opportunity of
revenge, and of brutish import respecting the powerless victim, Casey
had been foreman of Crescent Engine Company, No. 10, located on Pacific
street, below Front. Cora's remains were given quiet interment. The
Sunday following the execution Casey was buried. A very large procession
followed his remains to the Mission Dolores Cemetery, in which a
monument was in due time erected to his memory. Upon it is inscribed the
manner of his death.
Governor Johnson had at first played into the hands of the Committee. He
had come down from Sacramento to San Francisco, in the middle of May,
and virtually caused the surrender of the county jail to the Vigilantes,
for the capture of Casey and Cora. At the instance of the leading men of
the Law and Order organization, he subsequently changed his course, and
endeavored to undo that which he had done. It was too late. The
Committee had already become the master of the situation. It was the
supreme power in San Francisco, and it had erected such harmony of
spirit with it in Sacramento, Marysville, Stockton, San Jose and other
interior cities and towns, that it was the paramount local authority and
formidable generally throughout the State. General Wool was at that time
in command of this Federal military department. The Federal Arsenal was
at Benicia. For the want of authority from the Federal government at
Washington, neither the military nor the naval forces could interfere,
and the hands of General Wool, the same of Commodore Farragut, were
practically tied, The only way in which the Federal authority could be
invoked was by due process of constitutional law. This required that the
Governor should convene the Legislature, that that body should call out
the State militia to quell the insurgent or rebellious Vigilantes; and,
these being insufficient for that purpose, then the call for the aid of
the Federal forces would be in order. It would take months to do all
this. Prompt action was the imperative necessity. Governor Johnson did
not act with promptitude. He sent on a committee of citizens to
Washington. President Pierce could do nothing under the circumstances.
He must first be satisfied that the Powers of the State had been
inadequate to overcome the trouble. This had not been done; and it was
of first importance before the strong arm of the Federal authority could
be ordered.
Meantime an incident occurred which helped to fortify the Committee and
to impair the power of the State, in the popular estimation. Upon order
of Governor Johnson, six cases of muskets were delivered to Jas. R.
Maloney, at Benicia arsenal, put aboard the schooner Julia, to be
delivered at San Francisco, to the Law and Order organization. The
Vigilance Committee Executive had been apprised of the transaction, and
adopted means to get possession of the arms. Accordingly, on June 21st,
as the Julia was on her way down from Benicia, she was boarded in San
Francisco Bay by C. E. Rand and John L. Durkee, in the employ of the
Committee, and the two captured the schooner, took possession of the
muskets, and delivered them into the keeping of the Committee. The six
cases contained 113 muskets. Action was brought against Rand and Durkee
for piracy, in the United States Circuit Court, Judge M. Hall McAllister
presiding, and Judge Ogden Hoffman sitting as associate. The trial came
off September, 1856, and on the 23d of that month the jury returned a
verdict of acquittal. Adjutant-General Kibbe, of the State militia,
meantime made unavailing demand upon the Executive Committee for the
arms. They were not returned to the State until after the Committee had
disbanded.
The next who suffered death at the hands of the Committee were
Hetherington and Brace. Hetherington was an Englishman, a man of
considerable wealth. He was six feet stature, of heavy form, strong in
muscular power, equally so in will and purpose; and he was overbearing
in his nature, violent in his passions. He was possessed of valuable
city property. In a difficulty over a lot toward North Beach, a few
years before, he had shot dead Dr. Baldwin, who had located upon it and
claimed it as his own. He was tried and acquitted. Hetherington had had
money transactions with Dr. Randall, formerly Collector of Monterey, and
owner of a large tract of land in Butte County. He had loaned a large
sum of money to Randall, which Randall seemed indisposed to pay. There
was some irregularity in the note or in the mortgage bond. Randall
contended that these were made at the instance of Hetherington himself,
and insisted upon the theory that no man can take advantage of a fault
of his own; that every man was bound to do exactly that to which the law
held him, and equally bound not to do anything to which the law did not
bind him. Consequently, inasmuch as the fault was Hetherington's, he was
therefore absolved from the payment of the note. One afternoon, Dr.
Randall took quarters in the St. Nicholas hotel, on Sansome street, west
side, between Sacramento and Commercial streets, kept by Colonel
Armstrong, and sat in the office room, in conversation with Colonel W.
W. Gift. Hetherington happened in, accosted Randall and abruptly
demanded the payment of the note. Randall responded evasively.
Hetherington's choler rose, and he came upon Randall in threatening
manner. Randall ran behind the office small counter. Hetherington
pursued him, caught him by his long beard, reaching to the middle of his
breast, and threw him upon the floor. As Randall rose, Hetherington drew
his pistol and fired. The shot was instantly fatal. In brief time,
Hetherington was arrested by an officer of the law. A force of vigilance
officers demanded his surrender, took him and hurried him to the
Committee rooms. Through this action the lawful authorities were
forcibly prevented passing upon his case.
Brace was a young man, almost a boy. He had killed a man miles away from
the City, but within the county. I have forgotten the circumstances of
the crime. The Committee had custody of him, however, and condemned him,
as well as Hetherington. Notice was publicly given that the two would be
hanged the afternoon Of July 29th. The gallows was erected on a vacant
half block on Front street, as I remember, between California and
Sacramento streets, west side. It was at least twenty feet high, with a
ladder from the ground to the platform. From the top cross-beam dangled
the ropes. The platform afforded standing space for half a dozen men. A
large crowd had gathered to witness the execution. From a cart on the
California corner, B. B. Redding and myself were onlookers. The
condemned men were brought to the place under strong guard. Each of them
mounted to the scaffold. Brace with quick-step; Hetherington with
composure. The hangman, named Dixon, was dressed in long black gown; a
black hood completely concealed his face; a clergyman, and two or three
of the Vigilance officers or guards followed. A strong guard under arms
was stationed about the foot of the gallows. Permission was given the
two to say anything they wished. Brace broke forth in a loud rant,
profane and obscene, and danced about like one demented. The clergyman
felt obliged to stop his blasphemous harangue by cramming his
handkerchief over his mouth. He broke away, nevertheless, and again
poured forth a tirade, declaring that he was being murdered. At length
he became exhausted and ceased speaking. All this time--and it was
fully five minutes--Hetherington stood composed and with dignified
mien, looking down upon the immense crowd, occasionally glancing at
Bruce, who was to his right, and manifested horror at his ravings. When
Bruce became silent he spoke. His manner was deliberate and his voice
low, clear and firm. He protested against the action of he Committee in
his case; in taking his life they were more guilty of murder than he
was, for it was in violation of the law. He asserted that he had not
committed murder. Then declaring he should die without malice or enmity
toward any, he courteously bowed and indicated to the officers that he
was ready for the ordeal. The nooses were adjusted, the caps drawn over
their heads, the signal given. The hangman cut the rope which held the
traps in place, and down plunged the pinioned bodies of the pair. Bruce
writhed and struggled a few moments; then hung as lifeless until his
body was taken down. He was of medium stature, slight figure and light
in weight. Hetherington's body swayed, but there was no perceptible
motion of his limbs. He met death with placid firmness, without bravado.
Henry H. Haight, his attorney for years, stated that he was one of the
most upright and honorable men in his dealings and general conduct that
he had ever known. These were the last that suffered death by sentence
of the Vigilance Committee.
It is now appropriate to relate some facts in relation to James King of
William. He had been a clerk in a banking house in Washington, and came
to California in the early years of the gold hunting. He established a
bank in San Francisco, corner of Montgomery and Commercial streets,
across from Davidson's. In a year or more Jacob R. Snyder became partner
in the bank; but withdrew after about a year. King afterwards merged his
bank in that of Adams & Co., of which J. C. Woods was manager. His name
was James King. He had suffixed the "of William" to be distinguished
from others of his name--as John Randolph used to sign himself "of
Roanoke."
Mr. King continued with Adams & Co. as manager of the bank until the
failure of that Company, He then became involved in trouble with the
Company. The bank failed one afternoon. Up to noon that day King had
received deposits. It was known to other banking houses in the city that
the bank would be obliged to close as it did. The word had got out, and
some of the depositors became alarmed, and a number withdrew their
deposits, notwithstanding Mr. King's assurance that the bank was solvent
and solid. Others took his word for it, allowed their deposits to
remain, and lost all they had in the bank. There was some mysterious
handling of the large amount of money known to be in the bank at the
time of the failure. The parties in charge refused to allow Mr. King any
part in their transactions as to the disposition of this money--reported
to be considerably more than $100,000 in gold coin. He demanded
$20,000 as his share. This was refused. He then published a statement
reflecting upon the persons in charge. This was responded to by a
scathing statement, published in the Alta, in which Mr. King was held up
for public condemnation as a dishonest man, guilty of faithlessness and
fraud. He was also accused of having swindled Page, Bacon & Co. of
$400,000, by the sale of bogus gold dust as genuine.
The popular sentiment at the time was that the charges were sustained,
and the feeling was strong against him. He was without means and out of
business. He conceived the project of going into the newspaper business,
of starting a daily evening paper, and obtained a loan of $250 for that
purpose from R. D. Sinton, of the real estate and auctioneer firm of
Selover & Sinton, then the leading firm in that line in the city. He
started the Evening Bulletin, a small sheet, and rented the small brick
building in Merchant street for the publication office. The Daily
Chronicle, published by Frank Soule and William H. Newall, had taken
side against the Committee, and soon afterwards ceased publication.
Employed on it as a writer was James Nesbitt, an Englishman, of superior
journalistic ability. King employed Nesbitt to assist him on the
Bulletin. It was made the medium of attack and animadversion upon State
and county and city officials, and some of its attacks were as
justifiable as are the attacks of the STAR upon rascals in high places
now, while others were actuated by personal spite.
The paper prospered. The multitude enjoyed its sharp, short, stinging
paragraphs; its vim and vehemence. At length its columns were turned
against Major Selover with unrestrained virulence. He had no equal means
of reply or defence at his command, but he had at last uttered threats
of personal nature, and published King as a liar, a swindler and a
coward. To all this Mr. King responded in his Bulletin, by stating in
that paper that he defied Selover; and he went on to state the place of
his residence; the time he left home to go to his office in the morning;
the route thither he usually took: and also the same details of his
customary way home every afternoon. Selover, or any other person who
felt aggrieved on account of anything which appeared in the Bulletin was
similarly apprised, and thus dared or invited to encounter him on the
street. To all of which was added the significant remark for the
consideration of Selover particularly, and all others generally: "God
have mercy upon my assailant." There was no mistaking this language. And
the common opinion was that whatever else would be said of James King of
William, he was a game and fearless man. Casey's own statement of the
deplorable affair--made in his cell to a friend who had been permitted
to visit him in his four by eight feet cell, the day before his death,
in the presence and hearing of the guard then on duty, was substantially
as follows: that after all Mr. King had said in his paper, any one who
attacked him should be well prepared against the worst to himself; that,
accordingly, after he had called early that afternoon upon Mr. King, in
his office, and told him what would be the consequence in case the
Bulletin should publish the matter against him, and it was published, he
very naturally expected that King would be prepared for the encounter.
But as he did not wish to take first advantage of him, but to allow him
fair chance, he cried out to him to prepare, and then fired. He expected
Mr. King to return the fire. He did not know whether the ball had hit
King or not, because King's loose talina covered his upper body and
prevented him from seeing its effect. That--to use Casey's own
words--"seeing he did not fire, and believing him a dung-hill,' I did
not shoot again, but turned to walk away, when I saw him falling; then
I knew that I must have hit him, and I went to the City Hall to surrender
myself."
To the same person, on the occasion first above referred to--and Casey
knew then that his death was certain at the hands of the Committee--he
remarked that he had no fear of death; that he would meet it with
composure, although he did not deserve it; that which troubled him was
that his aged mother should be told that her son was a murderer. This
pained him. She lived in New York. He had regularly remitted money to
her to maintain her in comfort in her old age; and now she must suffer
privation and misery, with the great burden of the knowledge of the
manner of his death to weigh her down to the grave. He wished to say
something of a confidential nature to his visitor, but the guard refused
to permit this, and said that he must hear everything that was uttered.
He stood close to Casey all the time, and maintained the utmost severity
of demeanor, the most inexorable nature, during the brief time allowed
for the visit.