ered round the jail to see the murderers of their countrymen, heavily ironed, taken from the wagons and thrust into jail. It did their hearts good thus to behold the brave Caucasians, and they went immediately to work gathering friends to give them a severe prosecution at the trial. Conway, he who first confessed and thereby betrayed them all, was kept at a safe distance from the other prisoners; he was brought over in a separate wagon and confined in a cell apart, lest they should tear him to pieces.
At half-past ten on the 30th of March the Chico stage drove up to the Oroville courthouse, and seven more of the incendiaries and murderers, closely guarded and heavily ironed, were added to the first. This completely filled the jail, and most of the cells contained two occupants. By this time all the bravado of the prisoners had left them ; that which at first they regarded as a good joke now assumed the gloomy aspect of death. Roberts was the coolest of any ; he believed he should be hanged, he said, and spent much time reading his bible. Conway was regarded as half idiot; he appeared indifferent as to what became of him. Ames, first president of the workingmen's association, was wild with excitement, and it was feared he would become wholly insane.
The 2d of April a grand jury was impanelled at Oroville, and the town was filled with people. Meetings were held by citizens and farmers of Butte county, who were determined to rid the country of the class then in prison. All members of the order of Caucasians and of labor unions were excluded. The 5th of April the grand jury came into court and reported true bills found against seven for murder and seven for arson. Among those indicted for murder were the five perpetrators of the Lemm's rancho villainy. Yet, as too often happens in the annals of crime, the most guilty, the instigators of the outrages were permitted to escape. To obtain their own discharge, members of the council of nine had but to
