[Vigilance Committee of 1856]:

$9,500 · Offered by William Reese Company

COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE OF SAN FRANCISCO. REORGANIZED 15th MAY 1856 FOR THE MUTUAL PROTECTION OF LIFE'S PROPERTY [caption title]. A large, lithographed membership certificate for the second Vigilance Committee of San Francisco, one of the exceedingly rare copies printed on vellum for members of the Executive Committee. The second so-called Committee of Vigilance was formed in May of 1856, and only lasted through the summer, despite its enduring infamy. The membership was larger than the first Vigilance Committee (formed in 1851), and its methods were more extreme—at least four men were hanged as a result of its activities. The chief catalysts for the formation of the Committee were the murder of newspaper editor James King (an executive member of the first committee) by James Casey, and the killing of U.S. Marshal William Richardson by the outlaw Charles Cora. The day after King was shot, a meeting of the second Vigilance Committee was called, and within a few days the culprits of both crimes had been snatched out of prison, summarily tried by the newly formed Committee, and publicly hanged before a crowd of some twenty thousand spectators. The Committee's ranks soon swelled to the thousands, with leadership positions filled by the most prominent merchants and businessmen of the city. The Committee relinquished control of San Francisco in August, electing to peacefully disband rather than clash with a state militia under the command of William Tecumseh Sherman.Prominent member

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