bably, many persons in Europe, will remember a rather large white house which stood about a mile and a-half distant from the city. The body was built of stone, but the wings were mostly of wood, and its general appearance in the situation in which it stood was very attractive. This villa was the residence of a Mr. Norris, reputed one of the richest merchants of California. Beside being the owner of considerable house property in the city, he was the owner of several vessels, and was not more remarked for his riches than for his liberality in spending them. His house was open to his friends, and those who happened to pass there frequently, or who went there on business (which was not often, as he attended regularly at his office every day) noticed that he must have a large number of them, who seemed to make his house their home. It takes a man who has lived in a country in a condition little short of anarchy to realise how many crimes may be committed without attracting public attention. Individuals may he murdered, but unless they happen to have friends, or to be well-known characters, nobody troubles himself about the matter. The bodies are thrown into a hole, and except the persons who perform the last ceremony which civilisation demands, there are few who are even cognisant of what is going on around them. There is, however, an exception to this rule, as for example, when a series of murders are committed, attended with peculiar circumstances. Therefore, notwithstanding the greater part of the population of San Francisco was continually changing, and most of them were strangers to each other, people began to talk of the frequency with which dead bodies were discovered in a nude state. They were almost invariably stabbed to death, and no one could mention an instance in which this was not the mode of assassination employed, though it was sometimes accompanied with a fractured skull, showing that the victim had been probably struck down before the death-wound was inflicted. Sometimes the clothes were found near the body, torn or cut to pieces; but this was only in secluded places; generally they had disappeared altogether. Speculation became busy as to the reason why the perpetrators of these crimes should take the trouble to undress their victims; the most commonly received opinion was, that it was done to prevent identification of the body; but even those who accepted this theory felt there was something incomprehensible in this excessive precaution. Had they been aware that in every case the dead body was that of one who in his lifetime had been a customer of Lazarus Levi, the diamond merchant, they would not have been long in finding another explanation.
The secret society, or band, or whatever we please to call them (in their papers before me they style themselves “The Fifteen,” a somewhat dramatic denomination which they most likely borrowed from an old romance, for there is evidence in these very papers that the number was sometimes greater, sometimes less than this) held their meetings in Norris’s house, who was the prime mover and controller of the gang, and seems to have had the conduct of their affairs. for the business of merchant was carried on in a legitimate way, and yielded a very large sum annually, especially as it was conducted on the principle of receiving everything and paying nothing to large creditors who could, without exciting suspicion, be reduced to a condition in which they were rendered incapable of enforcing their rights. There was nothing like a military organisation of the association, no blind obedience to Mr. Norris’s commands, who could only suggest, or advise, the same as either of the others; but his influence for several reasons was very much greater, and chiefly from their having selected him to conduct their affairs. They had a common understanding that each should act honourably by the society, and as they were so numerous, and no man acted alone, with one exception, there was little chance of either of them defrauding his associates. The exception was Levi, who, in selling a diamond, had an opportunity of concealing a portion of the gold he received in exchange, of which opportunity he availed himself as far as he thought it safe to do, and I may as well relate at once with what result to himself.
It was a rule among the members of the band that they should abstain from calling at Norris’s office in the city, but there were three among them beside his principal assistant in his business (who was likewise one of them) who had a secret understanding with each other, and who paid no attention to this rule, though they carefully concealed their disregard of it from their companions. At the time when public attention became roused to the frequency of the commission of murders, under the circumstances already referred to, these met in Norris’s office, and, after a little talk, he told them that he had long suspected Levi of keeping back a part of the gold he received in exchange for their diamonds, and had satisfied himself of this on several occasions very easily. He then proposed that, as Levi had been dishonest to his associates, and, as it would be unsafe to continue the system of recovering their diamonds by dispatching his customers, for fear of leading to a discovery, it was advisable to put an end to the business and to Levi together. The suggestion was agreed to, and Levi was a little startled when he found them dropping in one after the other shortly after he had shut and barred his shop, for they scrupulously avoided calling upon him, as being a risk of leading to suspicion or discovery of their relations unnecessarily. He was soon relieved from puzzling his brain to account for the motives of their calling, by one of them saying:
“So, Levi, you have been making a little nest for your own separate use, it seems?”
“Ah! I thought you were come about something of that kind,” exclaimed Levi.
“The old story—a guilty conscience, &c. How much have you put away?”
“Look here, Abiram, I know very well you didn’t come here to ask me that question. You have made up your minds to do something, and I suspect that it is to murder me and get the diamonds for yourselves under the pretence that I have broken the rules of the society. Now, I don’t mind confessing that I have broken the rules so far as this—instead of spending any of the gold in indulging myself in Fine clothes and amusements,
