even fugitives from justice. They threw off all restraint, and perpetrated so many crimes, that the authorities were powerless. Prominent residents appealed to the more responsible Americans, and asked their co-operation in putting down the violence. Lieut. Commanding McArthur spoke Spanish fluently and accurately, and this coupled with the fact that he was an American officer, caused him to be put at the head of an impromptu vigilance committee. He and his colleagues took the lead so effectively that within forty-eight hours the lawlessness was ended.
When he reached Panama, here too were found many gold seekers, many ill from fever, and the place was overcrowded because of insufficient transportation to San Francisco. Passage tickets were commanding exorbitant prices.
Anchored near the island of Taboga was the ship Humboldt, 500 tons burden, owned by a Frenchman, J. B. Ferand, used as a store ship for coal, and bonded in a large sum to remain there in that service. So great was the pressure to leave Panama, that a delegation waited on Ferand, and persuaded him to forfeit his bond, and send the ship to San Francisco, if he could secure four hundred passengers at $200 each, and providing that no cooked provisions were to be furnished by him except as could be prepared "once a day in a large fifty-gallon kettle." Hot coffee was to be distributed in the morning, and hot tea in the evening, and from the perusal of Lieut. Commanding McArthur's letters, it seems probable that the tea and coffee were prepared in the same large kettle with the meat and vegetables.
Four hundred persons were found who would pay the price, and Ferand had the hulk overhauled. When the Humboldt was watered and victualled, Ferand found he had no captain, and he opened negotiations with McArthur, who agreed to navigate the ship to San Francisco, in order to clear the city of Panama of as many men as possible, as the fever was daily growing more prevalent.
McArthur boarded the ship after the passengers were on
