Justice In 1850s California Was A Mix Of Law And Vigilantes -- Part One

EXECUTION OF JOSEPH BRADLEY.

Joseph Bradley killed Jacob Bateman 

In 1856, Joseph Bradley killed Jacob Bateman at the latter's cabin near Auburn, California. Both parties were negroes. Bradley was arrested, and in July 1857, was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged on the 18th of September following. Upon the day appointed, the execution took place. 

The gallows was erected about a mile and a quarter above town, near the junction of the Nevada, Illinoistown, and Yankee Jim's road. A procession was formed at the jail, the escort being the [local militia] Placer Rifles Military Company, under the command of Capt. James Anderson. 

A coffin was placed in a light wagon, and Sheriff King, Under Sheriff Bullock, and Deputy Sheriff Sherman, having Bradley in charge, seated themselves upon it. Mr. Zentmyer, the driver, and a gentleman who conducted the religious ceremonies, occupied the front seat. A body of horsemen and many citizens brought up the rear of the procession. 

Upon arriving at the place of execution at half-past two o'clock. Captain Anderson formed his men in a square around the gallows. Sheriff King assisted Bradley from the wagon and walked with him upon the scaffold, followed by his assistant officers. The coffin was placed upon the platform. And Bradley, seating himself upon it, listened with composure to the reading of the death warrant by Mr. Bullock. 

This over, at request, he rose, took off his hat and neck-handkerchief. On being asked if he desired to say anything, he made some remarks. He thanked the officers for their kindness to him while in prison and so on. 

Having finished speaking, he was placed upon the trap, his hands and feet were tied, a black robe put over his person, the noose adjusted around his neck, and a black cap drawn over his head by the Sheriff 

This done, a prayer was offered by the gentleman officiating, and as the solemn Amen announced its conclusion, the Sheriff drew the lever, the trap fell, and the spirit of Joseph Bradley winged its way to the realms of eternity. After remaining until life was extinct, the body was taken down and buried near the foot of the gallows. Bradley conducted himself with firmness throughout the whole scene. About 500 persons witnessed the execution.

Bradley was born in Maryland, near the District of Columbia. He was thirty-nine years of age and had a wife and three children living in Washington City. He made a short confession in which he acknowledged killing Bateman, but that the killing was not premeditated.

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MURDER AND LYNCHING IN AUBURN

The town of Auburn, says The Herald of February 18, 1858, was thrown into a state of excitement by the report that one of its oldest citizens had been killed. Investigation proved that Mr. James Murphy had been killed by a negro, named Aaron Bracey. 

The men owned adjoining lands, and Murphy had recently purchased some of the negro's land. They met near their boundary line, and Bracey struck his victim with a pickaxe, driving the steel into his brain. 

He (the negro) then came to Auburn and gave himself up, telling the officers that he had accidentally struck Murphy, and feared he had hurt him bad. The negro was placed in jail, and a posse of citizens went to attend to Murphy. He was found with a fearful hole in the back of his head, from which the blood and brains were oozing. He lived quite a while and told the circumstances of his murder. 

In the early part of the evening following the deed, a rumor was current on the streets that an attempt would be made to lynch the murderer. Everything was quiet, however, until about half past two o'clock the next morning, Constable Boggs informed the Sheriff that a body of men were approaching the jail. 

As the Sheriff and deputies came out, they were seized and held, and the keys were demanded. While this was going on, a posse busted the doors in with a sledgehammer, and taking the murderer to the outskirts of the town, they proceeded to hang him. 

After Bracey had been taken from the jail, Father Quinn, who had come up from Sacramento to see Mr. Murphy, interceded for the prisoner and tried to quell the citizens. There were about sixty-five or seventy concerned in the lynching, though probably fully one hundred witnessed the hanging. 

The negro was the same one who killed a Chinaman in Auburn, in the spring of 1856, for which crime he was acquitted. Murphy died on the 25th, leaving a wife and two children. Bracey had a wife and family in Camden, New Jersey. He had been in California for several years.

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ROBBERY AND BATTLE.

The store of Otto Thiele & Co. of Danville, California, was entered by robbers, five in number, at a late hour in the night, on March 19, 1859, after the proprietors had retired. They secured the key to the safe, but unable to open it, they awakened the men, and with threats of death if resistance was offered, compelled one of them to open the safe. 

The robbers then obtained about $l350 in gold dust and amalgam, and in coin. They then proceeded to feast themselves on whatever the store offered for a good lunch, and each one of the party provided himself with a new suit of clothes, leaving the old ones in their stead.

The alarm was given next morning, and Sheriff King and Constable Boggs repaired to Danville, where they discovered the trail of the robbers, which led to a point on Bear River. Swimming the river, they made their way to the Nevada Road beyond Bear River, and took the stage running through Auburn to Nevada City, and went as far as Grass Valley.

The harbor of the thieves was ascertained to be in a cabin some two miles from Grass Valley, and a party consisting of Under Sheriff Van Hagan, Deputies Burrell, Johnson, and Lockwood, of Nevada County, and Constable Boggs, of Auburn, proceeded to the cabin for the purpose of effecting a capture. 

Upon arriving, they found the cabin to contain eight desperadoes, who started the fight by firing upon the officers. Shooting on both sides continued until the ammunition of the officers gave out, and they were forced to retire.

Early the next morning, they again returned to the cabin and found one of the robbers had been killed outright, and another wounded in the leg. The balance of the gang had fled. The name of the man killed was Ned Whitney, the murderer of Constable Leary at Columbia, Tuolumne County. Bill Riley was the wounded one. 

Deputy Sheriff Lockwood was shot through the arm; none of the other officers were injured. The result of this fight was the breaking up of one of the most successful gangs that ever operated in that locality.

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The 1850s in California, the years immediately following the Gold Rush, witnessed a period of instability and a rise in "citizen justice" or vigilantism. This was mainly in response to failures of formal law enforcement and the huge influx of people from all over the world. The gold rush resulted in a chaotic society of fortune-seekers, which led to a dramatic population increase and a society lacking established legal structures in many areas.

High crime rates, claim jumping, violence, and violence became commonplace in many areas. Formal law enforcement was in its infancy. Because the people struggled to cope with the huge volume of crime and land disputes, vigilante groups, also known as citizens committees and committees of vigilance, were formed to address the breakdown of law and order. 

As strange as it might sound to folks today, because Hollywood has given people the impression that all Vigilante Groups were drunken mobs, it might surprise folks to learn that such "Citizens Committees" engaged in policing and investigations while maintaining the peace when organized law enforcement was not around. 

In mining camps, which were the majority of the places with the largest populations because that's where thousands of people flocked in search of riches, miners often established their own rules and procedures for resolving disputes, relying on informal gatherings and local customs. In most cases, there were public trials. In most cases, a person being accused did not have legal representation. In some capital cases, the accused were hanged. In other cases, they may have been tarred and feathered, whipped, or maybe banished.  

So, while the 1850s California justice system was a complex mix of law enforcement and vigilante groups, it was evolving and definitely in transition from Mexican rule. This led to both formal legal proceedings and informal justice systems, which resulted in citizens having to create a justice system that worked for them to address crime and maintain order when formal law enforcement was either inadequate or non-existent. This mix of formal legal proceedings and informal justice systems was something that would take place throughout the Old West for years to come.

Tom Correa