Vigilantism

Vigilante and vigilantism are terms most commonly associated with the American West. The term vigilante was coined from the “Committees of Vigilance” that were active in the western United States in the days following the California Gold Rush. The story is that vigilantism began in California in 1851, when the discovery of gold attracted a large population of miners eager to make their fortunes and many outlaws that were just as eager to steal theirs. The law in the area was unable to handle the crime so the citizens began taking the law into their own hands. However, while it is romantic to believe that vigilantism was a moral man's way of maintaining order in society, the truth is that vigilantism has existed for as along as there have been groups of people.

Vigilantism, as defined, is distinctly different from the action of a mob responding to a single highly emotional event, frequently fueled by alcohol. The “Vigilance Committees” held meetings, elected officers, and determined what action they deemed appropriate to punish a specific individual. This action might be flogging, banishment, or, in extreme cases, hanging. “Posting” was a common practice. The committee printed and posted handbills throughout a settlement naming criminals and warning them to leave the area by a specified date. These “postings” normally included some colorfully worded suggestions about the consequences to the malefactor if they failed to comply, for example, becoming a “guest of honor at a necktie party” (a colloquialism for lynching). Examples of posting bills from Las Vegas, New Mexico, and San Francisco survive today. In most areas of the American West, the membership of vigilance committees was kept secret. The isolation that most communities experienced led to depredations by outlaw bands and the very justified fear of reprisals, making it essential that individual citizens not be identifiable to these predators.

San Francisco and the surrounding areas produced perhaps the best known examples of vigilance committees in the American West, which operated there for a longer period that in most other areas. These committees should not be confused with “miner's courts,” which were somewhat spontaneous courts of selected citizens organized in communities when a crime occurred, for example, in mining towns, in the absence of any formal court or law enforcement service. The court consisted of a judge, jury, and two or more individuals representing the concerned parties, all elected by whatever local residents were present at the time. It heard evidence, usually without the benefit of cross-examination or formal evidence procedures, and then pronounced judgment on the offender. Punishments could be anything up to and including a death sentence. This impromptu organization differed from a vigilance committee action in that a trial by [Page 495]jury determined the resulting punishment, and the organization was disbanded after resolving the immediate crisis.

Newspaper articles written throughout the West in the period from 1850 to 1870 show an attitude of considerable tolerance for the impromptu administration of justice. The articles are written in a style that suggests a casual acceptance of the practice. The phrase “jerked to Jesus” is not uncommon in referring to a hanging by a vigilance committee.

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