Lynch Law in California.
291
LYNCH LAW IN CALIFORNIA.' ONE of the first instances of the applica tion of lynch law in California was in proceedings taken in January, 1849, ^rom which Hangtown, now Placerville, derived the former name. The facts appear to be about as follows : five men had been caught in the act of attempted robbery and larceny. The feeling of the miners ran high, as it gen erally did in cases of robbery, larceny and murder. No court, it seems, was organized in the town, hence, a provisional judge and jury were called to try the case. The pro ceedings were conducted in an orderly man ner, and the sentences rendered that the prisoners should be given thirty-nine lashes each. Hardly had the sentence been exe cuted, before other charges were presented against three of the men for robbery, and attempt to murder, committed on the Stanis laus River in the previous autumn. A jury of all the miners in camp, about two hundred in number, heard the evidence, and sen tenced the unhappy prisoners to be hanged. Only one man seems to have protested against the sentence, but his protests were quieted under threats of death. The defend ants suffered the penalty thus imposed upon them. . . Although it may be said the punishment devised for the offenders was swift and merciless, .yet even here is pressented the beginnings of order; the regard for law is illustrated in the adherence, imper fect and prejudiced though it was, to those forms and methods of procedure with which the citizens were already acquainted. Ford's Bar, on the middle fork of the American River, had, as early as May, 1849, acquired the reputation of being the worst place on the river. In the month indicated a' drunken row between two of the miners occurred at this place. One of the com' Extract from an article by John G. Jury, in " History nf the Bench and Bar of California," edited by Oscar T. Shuck, Los Angeles, California : The Commercial Printing Company.
batants was struck so violently with a crow bar that he fell into the stream. The other followed, and the two infuriated men fought in the water. The fight almost resulted in a general combat between the friends of both parties. Better judgment prevailed, and after calm was restored, seeing that recur rences of such disgraceful scenes should be prevented, the men called a meeting and vol untarily agreed upon a few simple rules cal culated to secure the peace and quiet of the camp. The code of laws thus improvised provided for the trial of certain specified of fences by a jury consisting of three persons It is amusing to read the first application of the law, thus devised, to the case of a tinker who had been arrested for assaulting a party with a' junk bottle. His antagonist retali ated by drawing a knife, and with it inflict ing several severe cuts and gashes upon the tinker. Both men were arrested and taken before Alcalde Graham, who evidently was the leading spirit in the administration of justice in the camp. The tinker, although the offending party, was acquitted, "because there was no law against using a bottle as a weapon," while his antagonist was con victed of unlawfully drawing a knife, an of fence which had been expressly legislated upon in their simple code of laws. This in cident illustrates in an amusing way the lay man's view of the established principle of the common law, that criminal statutes must be strictly construed. It may be well im agined that the decision of the alcalde met with much disfavor in the camp, for ordin arily such refinements were given scant ap proval. The feverish haste exhibited at lynch law proceedings may be illustrated by a case which occurred in Columbit, Tuolumne County, on Wednesday, October 10th, 1855. A man named John H. Smith became in volved in a quarrel with the proprietress of a
