Old West Hangings -- Dancing On Air

By Terry McGahey
Associate Writer / Historian

As most of us know Hollywood very rarely gets anything correct when it comes to situations that took place in the Old West. In the case of legal hangings, lynching, and mobs storming the jail house to lynch a prisoner, these things actually did take place. Also, the myth that some men to be hung had faced their mortality bravely was not a myth. Some truly did face the hangman's noose with bravado right up to the time they dropped through the gallows floor and entered into their lasting eternity.

Take for instance the legal hanging of the Halderman brothers, Thomas and William, who were hanged in Tombstone on November 18, 1900 at 12:40 P.M. They were convicted of killing a constable and a eighteen year old boy along with the shooting of the constables assistant. According to the Tombstone Epitaph, when the iron door opened leading from the jail a solemn hush prevailed and all eyes of the crowd turned in that direction.

As they appeared the younger of the two, Thomas, said, "Hello Hombres, the sun's hot ain't it?"

William then stepped up to the front under the dangling noose and surveying the crowd below said with a wave of his hand, "Nice looking crowd."

 He even smiled and remarked "Some of you fellers are shaking already." Thomas then held the rope and also looked over the crowd, then turned to his brother and said. "Those people look all right." He then looked at the noose and placed it over his own head.

After the formality of the death warrant had been read they were asked if they would like to make a statement. Thomas spoke up promptly and in a clear voice he said, "I have nothing to say and guess it would not do any good anyway, I forgive you all and hope you will forgive me."

William then said, "This will be an experience that ought to benefit all of you. I hope I will meet you all. I pray for you and hope you will pray for me."

The black caps were then drawn over the heads of the prisoners and both men in chorus said, "Goodbye boys. pray for us."

Each said "good bye," and the crowd answered "Good bye." The Trap was sprung and the bodies were cut down just 28 minutes later.

Below is a Headline by the Tombstone Epitaph:
Dancing On Air

The Bisbee Bandits Atone for Their Crimes on the Scaffold; An Ignominious but Well-Merited Fate  Bravely Met The "Final Launch Into Eternity" Successfully Accomplished by Sheriff Ward.

In the instance of the Bisbee Massacre not only do we have the legal hanging of five men all at once, but we also have one of the proven circumstances where a lynch mob took a prisoner from jail and lynched him.

By 1883 Johnny Behan was no longer the sheriff of Cochise County, he had lost by a landslide to Sheriff J. H. Ward who, unlike Behan was able to find deputies who were no friends of outlaws, in fact just the opposite.

Five desperadoes as well as another who wasn't there during the holdup but who had planned it, held up a general store owned by Mr. A. A. Castanada in the copper camp of Bisbee, Arizona on December 8, 1883. The men who actually pulled off the robbery were Dan Dowd, Red Sample, Tex Howard, Bill Delaney, and Dan Kelly. The man who planned the robbery was a fellow by the name John Heath.

Three of these men plundered the store while two others, Dowd and Delaney, stood guard outside and callously murdered three men and one woman. The plan was to force any citizen who happened by into the store during the robbery. The first man killed was J.C. Tappenier who had attempted to retreat from the situation and was ruthlessly shot down and killed instantly.

John Heath Lynched Arizona 1884

The report of gunfire brought many citizens into the street, when at that time, the bandits began firing indiscriminately up and down the street which led to the killings of three more individuals.

The bandit's victims were D. T. Smith, J. R. Nolly, and Mrs. R. H Roberts, bringing the total of four citizens callously murdered by the actions of these bandits. As they were running toward their horses Deputy Sheriff Daniel began shooting at the bandits wounding Red Sample.

Almost immediately Deputy Sheriff Daniel organized a posse of which John Heath was a member, and who had helped garner people for the posse which followed pursuit shortly after the dastardly deed had been committed.

News of the tragedy had been sent by courier to Tombstone and Deputy Sheriff Bob hatch, Si Bryant, and others were also put into the field searching for the bandits but all trace of them had been lost.
From some of the ranches the posse had stopped at, they were able to get full descriptions of the men along with their names. Evidence was also obtained implicating Heath as the prime mover of the whole affair and immediately upon Daniel's return Heath was arrested.

Rewards of $1,500.00 per man was offered and circulars (wanted posters) were distributed which helped lead to the successful capture of each and every one of the bandits.

First captured was Kelly, who was disguised as a tramp in Deming New Mexico. Then followed the arrests of Howard and Sample in Graham County by Deputy Sheriff Hovey of that county.

Deputy Sheriff Daniel received information that Dowd and Delaney were in Mexico where he followed them and captured Dowd at Corralitas, in the state of Chihuahua.

Delaney was captured soon after at Minas Prietas, in the state of Sonora. All of the bandits had been captured in just 45 days after their heinous crimes had been committed on the streets of Bisbee.

All six men were held and tried in Tombstone being that it was the county seat. The trial began on February 9th of 1884 and all were convicted of murder in the first degree on February 11th, then sentenced to hang on the 19th with the exception of John Heath who had requested his own trial instead of being tried with the others.

Heath was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the Bisbee Massacre as it was called, and the people of Bisbee were outraged to say the least.

After hearing of Heath's conviction it is said that somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 men from Bisbee stormed the jail in Tombstone and took Heath, leaving the others behind because they were already sentenced to hang.

The lynch mob then took Heath to Toughnut Street, either to 2nd or 3rd street or somewhere in between and hung him from a telegraph pole on February 22nd in the year 1884.

As for the others they were hung legally on March 28, 1884. All except John Heath were interned into a mass grave in Tombstones Boot Hill Cemetery.

   

Let's Talk About Supposed Scandinavian Socialism

I believe Socialism is the last step before Communism. I believe it takes and does not give to those working to achieve something more than what they have. It robs the soul. And frankly, there isn't anything out there that will ever convince me that Socialism and Communism doesn't enslave people. 

If for any other reason, Socialism enslaves people by forcing some to pay for the benefits being used by others who may be able-bodied but simply refuse to work because those benefits are an incentive not to work. And yes, Socialist programs makes people too dependent on the government -- no different than how a pig is too dependent on the farmer for its food.

As for the information that I receive on what's going on in the Scandinavian countries? I'm in contact with many of my Scandinavian readers. 

For one thing, they write to tell me that Scandinavian Socialism is more myth than reality. They tell me that Socialism doesn’t work. And yes, that is why a country like Norway has a Conservative Right-Wing government which is lightening the load on its people by cutting taxes and encouraging the growth of private business.

They also tell me that some of the Scandinavian nations are almost two-tiered in that they have the well-off and the poor. They have a very small middle class and poverty in the Scandinavian nations is extremely high among those who refuse to get off of government programs. 

They tell me that the poor are extremely dependent on the government, all while the top 10% there hold almost 70% of the country's household wealth. And as for who pays for everything? Who is paying those enormous taxes? 

They tell me that Scandinavian nations are extremely Capitalistic countries. Capitalism works so much that they say that most Scandinavian nations rank higher than the United States when it comes to business freedom, monetary freedom, and the freedoms with which to invest. 

Why? Well first they are not Socialists. Socialism is where the government owns industry and manufacturing, agriculture, and so on, that's not the case in most Scandinavian nations. Sure they have their forms of Social Security and Welfare, and other social programs, but they are actually Capitalists! 

Unlike the Democrat Party's version of Socialism that is being practiced here in America where the government essentially takes over businesses through more and more demands, and making businesses adhere to piles of unreasonable rules and regulations, they have less government rules, regulations, and restrictions than American businesses do. 

And why is their Capitalism working so well? Well, take for example Norway which is doing better than us as far as Capitalism goes. Because they have less restrictions than we do, and the fact that Norway is almost completely supported by their nation's oil production.

In 1969, the Phillips Petroleum Company discovered petroleum resources at the Ekofisk field west of Norway. In 1973, the Norwegian government founded the State oil company, Statoil. Oil production did not provide net income until the early 1980s because of the large capital investment that was required to establish the country's petroleum industry. 

Yes, the Norwegian government founded a Norwegian government owned oil company. Can you just imagine how Democrats here would crap themselves if the United States government actually created its own oil company?  

Around 1975, both the proportion and absolute number of workers in their efforts peaked. Since then the government has outsourced labor and services, such as mass production and shipping, to private corporations. Yes, that word American Democrats hate -- "Corporations."

In 1981, a Conservative government replaced the Socialist Labor Party with a policy of stimulating the "stagflated" economy with tax cuts, economic growth, and deregulation. As recent as 2013, the Norwegian parliament is still a Conservative government. 

Can you imagine if Democrats would allow us here in America to produce enough oil to completely fund most of our Social programs like Norway does? Most of Norway’s per capita GDP is based on oil revenues. And yes, Norway has the revenue to take care of a population about the size of Wisconsin just off their oil revenue. 

So yes, fact is Scandinavian nations have Capitalist business structures. As for the Socialism that is very present in those nations, it appears not what most folks thing it is. For example, Scandinavian nations not as oil fortunate as Norway, like say Sweden, the Socialists of their Social Democrat Party had to admit failure and were forced to reduce its welfare state and even went so far as privatizing public services and goods.

And by the way, from what I've read, Scandinavians themselves are often not as convinced that "Scandinavian Socialism" works at all. Sweden’s own ex-Prime Minister Carl Bildt pronounced it "a failure."

Today, Sweden's government is not influenced by Karl Marx -- but instead more by Milton Friedman who was a Conservative American Economist who was an economic adviser to Republican President Ronald Reagan and Conservative British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Milton Friedman received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

Scandinavian countries have relatively low poverty rates but Scandinavians have not eliminated poverty. According to one report that I've read, there is an interesting question as to whether the low poverty rates there are thanks to some sort of Social/Conservative economic system or thanks to Scandinavians being hard-working thrifty disciplined people. 

Fact is Scandinavians are known as some of the hardest working people in the world, and in spite of the availability of enormous social benefits  in the form of unemployment and welfare programs, all which create incentives to avoid work, Sweden has a labor force participation rate that is one of the highest in Europe.

While that's a tribute to Scandinavians as a whole, right now their welfare and social programs are being drained because of the influx of hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees who all want everything for nothing. Yes, just like what Bernie Sanders is promising his supporters here during this election.

Of course the irony for Bernie Sanders, who preaches the greatness of Socialism, is that he is learning what Socialism is really about because of the Super Delegate process of the primary election. In the New Hampshire where Sanders won the Primary, Hillary Clinton got all of the Delegates even though she lost. Yes, Bernie Sanders learned the unfairness of Socialism where all of his work was for nothing! Bernie Sanders supporters talk about how they feel the burn, but it was Bernie who got burned in New Hampshire in a true Socialist/Communist fashion.   

And friends, because of that availability of enormous social benefits in the form of unemployment and welfare programs, Muslim refugees are using these benefits as incentives to avoid work. 

Because of this, Scandinavian people want to know where is the fairness in Socialism? The hard working folks there are finding it offensive to support the lazy ass refugee who somehow feels entitled simply because it is available. 

Folks in Scandinavian countries are now asking themselves if it is morally right that one person should work while another able bodied person refuses to? Just because they can and the benefits are available for them to do so, why should they be permitted to do so? And yes, there is the ultimate failure of Socialism and subsequently Communism -- the abuse by some while others toil.

In Socialism, there is a point when the farmer who wakes every morning at the crack of dawn and works the plow all day sees that he's getting less than the lazy ass who refuses to work.  That is the moment of failure for a Socialist society. When that farmer refuses do anything because he feels he too is entitled to reap those benefits and not do anything for them -- the system is in trouble. When that happens, no one will eat -- not the farmer nor the lazy ass who simply wants to take what others provide. That is the result of Socialism. It rewards the lazy and the unproductive.

That is its inherent failure. It has everything to do with abuse, greed, laziness, corruption, apathy, and a system that is meant to help those truly in need -- but is often violated by those not in need. And all the while, the good citizen carries the load. 

And yes, that's just the way I see it.

Tom Correa 

Thank You So Much -- For Your Over One Million Visits

Dear Friends,

When I first started my little blog, as a friend called it, I was excited over getting 20 visits. Then when my blog got 10,000 visits, I was celebrating as if I had hit the lottery.

Well, imagine my excitement this morning when I logged in and saw that my little blog got over 36,000 visits in one night to push my blog over the One Million mark. I was ecstatic and immediately called my wife over to show her what took place.

After she saw why I was so excited, I called my older brother Ray. On the phone with him, he logged in to see what my excitement was about.

On the other end of the phone, he watched as the globe under my Visitor counter was lit up and people from all over were visiting my site. After explaining to him that over 36,000 people logged in during the night on Sunday, he too understood why I was so amazed at what was happening.

I then called my friend Terry McGahey, who is a contributing writer/historian for my site. A little over a year and a half or so ago, Terry sent me a story about his battle with City Hall in Tombstone Arizona. I was so taken by his story that I ran it on here to get his story out.

After his story ran its course, Terry and I talked and I mentioned that I liked what he had to say. I then asked if he'd be interested in doing a "Monthly" article for my blog.

I let him know up front that I couldn't pay him because my blog isn't a money making venture, but I can give him a microphone to get his thoughts and opinions out. And no, I did not restrict him at all. Some sites require that a contributing write tow the line and only write what their Editor wants. I told him that it didn't matter what subject he'd want to write about.

Terry McGahey is one of those no nonsense Cowboys that made America great. He is American individualism, and he speaks his own mind. I respect that. After getting to know Terry, I was very comfortable knowing that Terry and I are on the same page, very like-minded, on most things including politics, Conservatism, our love for America, and how we approach History.

We are both Traditionalists and not Revisionists historians in that we just look at the facts surrounding an event and/or subject, and really try to leave our personal feelings out of our assessments of what took place. We both approach looking at history as objective Crime Scene Investigators instead of subjective fans who cannot bear to acknowledge some fact that might throw a different light on some historic figure and/or event.

Well, Terry agreed and immediately sent me a number of articles to edit and publish here. There were actually so many articles that his "Monthly" immediately turned into a "Weekly". So yes, that's why I immediately called him this morning to let him know that the American Cowboy Chronicles can now say that it has over One Million visits! And yes, I want to thank Terry publicly for being a big part of this.

Saying "Thank you" seems not enough. But friends, from the bottom of my heart, Thank You! I want to thank every one of you for coming to visit me and Terry, and a few other Conservative writers from time to time. Thank you for coming to my site for the Old West History, American History, that others would rather not publish.

Also, thank you for making me feel vindicated. You see, I once had a College teacher who told me that I should give up on my passion of researching and writing. He told me that I couldn't write, and that I would never write anything anyone would want to read. That was from a teacher.

So from my section on Old West History, to my sections on Guns and Horses, to the section with Terry McGahey's commentaries and stories, I'm pleased that I can offer you something that you do want to read and find both informative and entertaining. Yes, thank you for allowing me to entertain you, to help inform, and maybe even inspire.

Yes, inspire. You see that's the way I see American History. It inspires. It shows us where we have gone wrong, but it also tells us how we have fixed those wrongs. It inspires me when I read about pioneers who fought the odds, just the same way as when I read about Americans like my parents and grandparents who weathered the Great Depression and made it though. Knowing that others have had it tough should inspire! As Americans, toughness is in our blood!

After all, America is a land of opportunity and goodness. American History should not be used to hang over our heads as if we should be ashamed of who we are or what we've done. American History, like our great nation itself, should be celebrated for enriching the world, feeding the hungry, empowering those who have lived under totalitarian regimes in Communist and Socialist countries, for lifting people and encouraging those who want to do greatly. America speaks to the heart of all and says "We are a people who can do greatly if one wants to!"

As I state in the description at the bottom of my blog: As for my writing style? I'm an informal writer. You'll find I write the same as if we were talking over a cup of coffee. Why write this blog? Well, my wife and I believe we should celebrate and defend our American culture, values, heritage, our country lifestyle, and all that makes us proud Americans. 

Now that you have visited my little blog over One Million visits, I think you like what I'm doing. And for my knowing that, I cannot Thank You enough!
Thank you for stopping in. Thank you for your support, your comments, and your emails.

From my wife and I, may God Bless you and yours.

Tom Correa
Blogger/Editor/Publisher
The American Cowboy Chronicles

How Dumb Are Supporters Of Socialism?

Bernie Sanders

With Super Tuesday's results in, there appears to be no doubt that Hillary Clinton will be the Democrat Party's candidate. That is if she is not in jail for not securing classified information on her server.

But let's be frank here, since she hasn't been arrested yet, then it looks as though Obama's Justice Department is indeed protecting her and an arrest is not in her future.

She has broken laws pertaining to the handling of National Security information -- a crime in which you and I would have already been arrested for.

Fact is, when the FBI first noted that just one Classified Document was mishandled -- that would have been plenty enough for any one of us ordinary Americans to find ourselves in Federal custody nevertheless Federal Court. And please don't kid yourself, what is going on with Hillary Clinton reeks of favors and politics all which place her above the law.

She has broken laws pertaining to National Security and if she were a Republican -- she would have been arrested long ago. And if she were a Republican, just imagine the firestorm over why she hasn't been arrested. Imagine the news media wanting to get a jailhouse interview with her. Yes, there is a double standard. But also, there is a lesson here for all the world to take note of.

The lesson: Clinton and Obama are showing the word that America is just the same as any Third World Socialist nation where the powerful and politically connected escape justice. Yes, Obama and the Clintons have show the world that if you belong to a favored Political Party and have friends in high places -- then you too can break the law with impunity!

As for Bernie Sanders, that old Communist is getting a taste of real Socialism/Communism these days. It is coming in the form of the Democrat Party rigging their nomination in such a way that even if Hillary Clinton loses a Primary -- she still gets the Delegates. Imagine that?

Sort of like Socialist football played by Democrats where the team that scores has to turn over its points to the team that isn't trying to score!

Yes, the tenants of Socialism dictate that you will be rewarded even if you do not deserve or earn what you are being given as a freebie. Now Bernie Sanders, the man who wants a Socialist America, is finding out that Socialism in America favors the Party elite the same as it did in the former Soviet Union or as it still does in Communist Cuba and places like Venezuela. And even if Sanders thought he was part of the Party elite, he is now finding out that he is not part of the elite of Socialism's hierarchy in the Democrat Party as he thought he was.

Fact is, he is just an old brainwashed Communist foot soldier. He is just a crazy old Marxist who hates everything about America -- except of course what he can get from America. On the other hand, Bill and Hillary Clinton are certainly the Democrat Party's Socialist elite.

By the way, I listened to a speech by Bernie Sanders the other day. Yes, I did!

The whole time, while I shook my head in disbelief at what I was hearing, I couldn't help but wonder if his parents were also Communists? I wondered how an avowed Communist for most of his life, a guy who now wants to re-brand his Communism as some sort of "Democratic Socialism" was elected to office in America?

Of course I wondered how a 74 year old Draft Dodger of the Vietnam War, a man who claimed Conscientious Objector status to stay out of America's military, can now be qualified to be America's Commander & Chief of all military forces? Conscientious Objectors are individuals who have claimed the right to refuse to perform military service on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, disability, and/or religion. Sanders, like other greedy cowards, claimed to be a Conscientious Objector to get out of serving America  -- yet he is a man who wants all sorts of Free Stuff from America. Imagine that!

And yes, as I listened to Sanders, I couldn't help but wonder where he was when President John F. Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country!" 

Friends, any day now, I expect Bernie Sanders to get red faced and start waving his hands and shout, "Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country can do for you!"

In a speech at Convention Hall in Philadelphia, PA, on October 31st, 1960, John F. Kennedy said:

"I believe in an America where the free enterprise system flourishes for all other systems to see and admire -- where no businessman lacks either competition or credit, and where no monopoly, no racketeer, no government bureaucracy can put him out of business that he built up with his own initiative."

Yes, after listening to Sanders, I couldn't help but wonder if Bernie Sanders ever really comprehend what President Kennedy said? I wondered if he understood that we should give instead of take? But frankly, since it is in direct opposition to Socialism/Communism which Sanders prescribes to -- I'm betting Sanders does not understand that concept at all.

You see, I don't understand how anyone cannot see that Socialism/Communism is a failed attempt to enslave people. And my friends, I really thought human beings were pass doing that sort of harm to themselves -- especially in America.

Why am I so against Socialism/ Communism? Well, let's jump right into it.  First off, free market Capitalism is the savior of the world because it GIVES power and independence to people. Socialism TAKES power and independence from the individual and GIVES it to the government. In Socialism, the government assumes the role of Slave Owner and citizens are treated as Slaves. Socialism is the supreme form of paternalism.

With Capitalism, no matter if young or old, someone from a wealthy family or someone brought up poor, White, Asian, Hispanic, or Black, literate or not, Capitalism is like an incoming tide that lefts all boats. The only things that Capitalism requires is for a person to get off his or her ass and put their boat in the water. That, my friends, requires hard work, one's desire to accept responsibility for his or her own actions, one's ability to have a dream that is positive, to want more in life, and have a genuine want to be more than they are.

I've known all sorts of College educated people who were useless twits because they didn't want to get out of High School. When they entered College, they simply remained in their High School mode by going to College. Today, these are your Bernie Sanders supporters -- the so-called "Millennials" who apparently want everything free while not doing anything to deserve or earn that which they want so badly.

Sanders plays down the fact that everything in life is earned. His Socialist supporters want free, free, free! Free college educations, free healthcare, free food, free liquor, free condoms, free cellphones, free cars, free gas, free clothing, free housing, free pot, free meth, free drugs, free everything! Yes, they want the Communist Dream where a lazy ass can get as much as a hard worker.

I blame their parents and people like Sanders and Obama who push the concept that everything in life should be free -- as long as someone else pays for it. The lazy party, the Democrat Party, those who most likely couldn't answer the basic question of defining what Socialism really is? Or can't tell anyone if indeed Karl Marx did in fact say that Socialism is the first step to Communism?

Who are Bernie Sanders supporters? They are people who want to be stuck in go nowhere jobs and then blame others for not making more money. They are the lazy and the unmotivated, the spoon fed and the babied, the coddled and the whiner. They are slackers who ride their way through College on Mommy and Daddy's money and see the world as one big "freebie!"

They feel they deserve handouts and someone caring for them simply "because" -- and no, they can't answer exactly why they feel so entitled? They believe the same as Bernie Sanders does in that education should be free, housing should be free, cars and food and healthcare and travel and vacations and liquor and cigarettes and pot and cocaine and meth and anything else imaginable should be all free! They see no need to work or strive because jackasses like Sanders and Obama have told these idiots that someone else, some "corporation", some middle-class American, will pay for their freebies.

And why shouldn't they think that way since those "Millennials," those students, who follow Sanders and Obama have had a free ride most of their collective lives. 

Am I saying that there are no working students? No, not at all. But it has been my experience that the students who are working are usually older and come from less well off families. Many of these older students are more Conservative because they have had to work hard to make ends meet. They have seen their paychecks shrink because the Government keeps taking more and more in taxes to pay for free stuff for some lazy student who refuses to get off his ass and find a job to pay his or her way.

Many of these older students already have families and jobs. Many are doing exactly what I did in that they returned to school to take courses so they'd be able to get ahead at work. Of course, many attend Community Colleges for degrees and certifications to follow a dream. I did. While holding down a full load, I worked a full-time job and two part time jobs which meant that I was working over 60 hours a week while going to school.

As for the less well off students, as was the case for me, many do not qualify for the loans that minority students do very easily. Subsequently they have to struggle for whatever assistance they can find it -- or hold two jobs to pay their own way. That's exactly what happened to me. 

Go to Community Colleges around the nation and you can check out how many returning students are taking night classes to get that promotion at work, or may be there simply to better themselves, or are there to advance themselves and be more qualified in the job market. Many are there to get what they need so that they can move on from where they are. And yes, while you're at it take a gander at the skin color of the kids waiting tables, busing tables, or doing jobs that some say only minorities are doing. Those jobs are the jobs that wealthy kids who don't have to work, and minority kids who qualify for assistance, don't have to do. 

Dose this sound like class warfare? No, I'm just stating my own experiences from 35 years ago and what people are writing to tell me is going on today. The many students who read my little blog write me all the time. From youngsters raising a pig for 4H to those in college who are looking for the other side of what their Communist instructor or professor is telling them -- a lot of students are writing me here and on Facebook to hear the other side. 

And yes, don't kid yourself, many are not fooled by fakes like Bernie Sanders. Many of those who write me want to know how, for example, University professors can receive huge salaries and always want higher pay and perks -- yet tell their students that they shouldn't have to pay for a College education? Many want to know why Socialist professors don't simply refuse the big salaries and educate their classes for free as good Socialist would do?

Many are writing to ask how is it that Black Lives Matter students can pass courses that they are not attending? And yes, they ask why students who are White, Asian, Hispanic, and Black, but are Conservatives, being held to a different standard than Liberal and Black students these days?

As for what goes on in Colleges, I tell them about the time an Ultra-Leftist College teacher refused to allow me back into his Political Science class until I "leave my American flag outside" his class! Yes, tolerance and the touchy-feely-hearts of Democrats may be there for murderous sons-of-bitches like Che Guevara and murderers on death row or abortionist who sell dead baby parts, but they have no tolerance for those who defend America -- especially in the classroom. 

And as for Black Lives Matter and the pass that they receive because of their skin color. Fact is, that pass only renders their Diplomas even more worthless because they weren't achieved through scholastic achievement -- but instead as some sort of political gift. 

Yes, I worked a 60 plus hour a week job as a Security Supervisor/Investigator/ Strike Coordinator, the whole time that I was going to College carrying a full load. I felt at times as if I had to eat my text books to understand the subjects, but like others -- I got what I put into it. No, I never did receive a "pass" of any sort.

And that leads me to my problem with Socialism and Communism as a whole. No, I'm not going to talk about the refugees that I saw fleeing South Vietnam back in 1975 when the Communist overthrew the Republic of Vietnam. And no, I'm not going to talk about the "Communist Re-education Camps" that were in fact set up by the Communist right after they overrun the South. And no, I'm not going to talk about the three million South Vietnamese people who were slaughtered in those camps -- all because they would not accept the Communist doctrine of being slaves to the government.

No, I'm not going to talk about the millions of innocents who were killed in the former Soviet Union, in Communist China, the thousands killed in Cuba and other Communist nations. No, I'm not going to talk about our loss of jobs to China who still uses slave labor camps, or the murderers running Cuba, the Communist turmoil in "Socialist" Venezuela, and those dictators in former Iron Curtain nations who ruled with an iron fist and killed their own people in the hundreds of thousands to keep their Socialist states from grumbling. 

I will talk about how "Economic Equality" is flourishing around the world and yet we here in the United States have old Communists jerks like Bernie Sanders who believe Capitalism makes "Economic Inequality".

Please understand that that is the complete opposite of what the entire world is experiencing, but Old Communists don't give up on spreading the lie that the role of government is act as a Salve Master and make sure the slaves are all fed and treated equally.

Of course, they never mention that as with any Slave State propped up by a Police State, the slaves that don't produce are gotten rid of and replaced with other slaves. That is what takes place in China where political foes to Communism are sent to the slave labor camps, and of course Muslim nations still use Black and Christian slaves today. The ones that work hard are rewarded by being allowed to live -- the ones that don't are killed.

Socialists like to say that Capitalism means "greed"! They also like to say that a society like ours with the free market has "Economic winners and losers". Friends, fact is there are winners in Capitalism. They are those who work hard to get ahead. They are those who work hard even if that means taking any job as a stepping stone to raise up from where you are economically.

As for losers? Well, they're those who do not want to work, who refuse a job because of pride or their desire to remain unemployed instead of taking a lesser position and working for a lesser wage. Some don't like "starting over" and working their way up the ladder again after being laid off. And yes, there are those who are content with being discontented about where they are. 

Now, before you send me a letter saying that you have been out of work for 7 years during Obama's Economic Recovery and would work instead of depending on the government for help. Please don't because I've been there -- and frankly, I took anything as long as it was a job.

Do I believe the government should have a role in caring for some folks such as with Social Security benefits or with Veterans benefits? Absolutely yes they should!

Those programs were paid for by Americans -- they are not freebies. As for Social Security benefits, all of us who have held jobs paid into that fund. We have all put into the fund since we all started working -- and what we get back will never match what we put in over the years. As for Veterans Benefits, that program is certainly not a freebie either. What it is is a Social Contract as old as time. The contract is one that we Americans make with our military.

The contract: If you my Soldier, Sailor, Airmen. and Marine, fight for me and my family, our nation, to protect our way of life and keep us safe, we as a nation will care for you if you return wounded in some way, shape, or form.

Yes, that's the contract. Fact is, for thousands of years civilized societies are known to have cared for those who stepped forward to be their champions in battle. And friends, make no mistake about it, our military is our champions. For very little compensation, they protect us when the wolf is at the door. They stand on the wall and stop others from attacking us.

So now, how about all of the thousands of other programs in our Federal government? Being frank, some are great while others are a waste because more money goes into the bureaucracy managing those programs than what goes into helping those the programs are supposed to address. And yes, that waste and bureaucracy is the biggest problem today. But also, there is the fact that in many cases today, we have thousands of social programs employing millions of people in both the Federal government -- and in 50 State governments all to address the same problem. 

The problem: Redundancy is rampant and wasteful. And yes, those who need help are still not being served by either the Feds or the State which they live. This waste and bureaucracy and redundancy takes place in Socialist governments all of the time. The reason is that it is one way for those in power to employ people. They employ them in the government to the point where more taxes go to paying for those government employees than to the people which are supposed to be helped. 

Career politicians like Sanders, Clinton, and Obama, have never ran businesses and have never had to take the risk of doing so. They live and work in the government where they never have to admit failure, private businesses do. In government, there are all sorts of wasteful programs that the government keeps throwing money into to make wrong -- even when the program does not work and everyone knows it.  

So now, let's talk about what is a "con man"? Dictionaries define a "con man" as a person who swindles another by means of a confidence game, by tricking them. being dishonest. Short for a "confidence man" who is a person who swindles others. A "confidence game," also known as a "con game," is the swindle in which the swindler, after gaining the confidence of the victim, robs the victim by cheating his victim. 

Con games are also known as scams, Ponzi schemes, bait-and-switch, cheating, chicanery, deception, defrauding someone or a group, extortion, fraud, racket, rip off, a shakedown, a shell game, trickery, and a swindle. All have one thing in common -- to swindle you by gaining your confidence first. 

The oldest "Con Game" is the common mousetrap. The cheese is the lure to gain the mouse's interest. Since it is out in the open, the mouse has confidence that it will get something for free. The swindle, the trick, the scam, takes place when the mouse tries to get the cheese and the trap is sprung and it kills the mouse.

So who is the real "Con Men" in today's politics? Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and the rest of the Democrat Party comes in second to hardcore Socialist/Communist like Bernie Sanders. And of course, some Republicans spend taxpayer money like drunken Democrats -- so they are just as bad, but Bernie Sanders is the worse! 

Obama and Clinton and the Democrat Party lie to get votes, but Sanders is actually swindling others to help him introduce his political ideology -- an ideology that support slavery and is against our freedoms and liberties. And yes, those too dumb to know better are all for it. 

You see, Bernie Sanders paints the picture that all we have to do is raise taxes on the rich who already pay 60 to 70 percent of what they make to the government in taxes. What he is not saying is that everyone -- yes, everyone -- will be forced to pay higher taxes so that we can all give him his idea of Communist Utopia where everything is supposedly free. And yes, that is part of the swindle.

There is more, you see Bernie Sanders and other Communists have never talked about the hungry, the lack of food production, and the long lines for food in Socialist nations. They don't talk about the reality of Socialism in a society that runs out of other people's money -- like say the nation of Greece today. 

And while we are being frank, let's call a spade a spade. Bernie Sanders calls himself a Socialist, but he is a full blown Communist who has been affiliated to Communist organizations all of his adult life. He likes to talk about "giving" free college and "giving" free medical and so on to "everyone". Yes, there's the cheese. There's the lure. 

But no, he doesn't mention a word about the trap of total Socialism and eventual Communism. Bernie Sanders doesn't want to talk about how the government will pick who it will sent to Colleges, what courses a student will be compelled to take like it or not, where they live, how they dress, or even who they can and can't associate with. 

It is amazing how Communist leave those "little" things out when talking about how a Socialist government rules the lives of people by placing them under their thumb. If the government runs on the model of Karl Marx and his Communist idealism, Bernie Sanders will have successfully swindled the American people, his supporters, into believing that they can get "free" things for "free" -- all while knowing that all of that free stuff comes with strings attached. 

If the so-called "Millennials" believe Sanders, then they are either naive at best or terribly dumb at worse.

And yes, while this rant may be way too long, that's just the way I see it! 

Tom Correa

Trump's Popularity

by Terry McGahey

Associate Writer/Historian

The majority of politicians on the left and right side of the political spectrum cannot seem to grasp why Donald Trump is surging ahead in the polls, not only within individual states but also doing very well in the national polls. 

Of course the Democrats in power want nothing to do with Trump because of their Socialist leaning policies, and the Republicans want nothing to do with him because he is not part of the good old boy system and realize they cannot control him or expect him to toe the party line which amounts to politics as usual and mediocrity.

The American people are sick and tired of politics as usual because neither the left nor the right has done anything in the past many years to bring decent paying jobs back into our country, nor have they stood up against illegal immigration, just to name a few of the hot topics with which we Americans are fed up. 

For years now the delegates from both sides talk a big story in order to get elected but have done nothing to back up their campaign promises once elected, and the average American citizen has had a belly full of it.

I believe Donald Trump is running as a Republican because the right side of the aisle fits his beliefs closer than the Socialist left which is a good thing. But, it's my belief that Mr. Trump is actually an Independent more so than a Republican. In other words, in my opinion, he is smart enough to realize that running as a Republican gives him a better chance of winning the nomination than actually running as an Independent and this is what drives the GOP establishment insane.

If you notice, the American people who stand behind Mr. Trump call themselves Trumpers, not Republicans. Although most of them are Republicans there are also a lot of long time Democrats as well as many Independents who have become Trumpers. Reason being, they are fed up with business as usual within the political system, and many are now reaching out to the Trump campaign in hopes of saving our country from falling into the bottomless pit of the One World Order, Socialist/Communist movement, which Mr. Obama seems to endorse by his inactions of standing up for America first.

Taking a look at the other candidates within both parties I also suspect the reason so many Americans are behind Trump is a very simple one. Ted Cruz does not have the kind of numbers it takes to become the nominee. Marco Rubio claims to be somewhat of a political outsider but he is not. Rubio has been being groomed by the GOP for several years now, and no matter what he says, he would just become another GOP puppet. 

Then there is the other side of the coin, the Democratic front runners. Bernie Sanders, a self- proclaimed Socialist. I have heard some of the younger generation state that being a Democratic Socialist is different. No, it is not! A Socialist is a Socialist is a Socialist, period! 

Last but not least, we have Hillary Clinton. This woman is also a Socialist underneath of it all, just not outwardly. She has been proven to be a liar time and time again as well as a cheat and a thief. She cheated in the stock market with insider trading, then she and Bill stole items from the White House and were forced to return them. 

So, here are our choices. Rubio the probable puppet, Cruz who does not have the numbers, Sanders the Socialist, or Clinton who is exactly what this country doesn't need, a liar, cheat, thief, and an elitist.

I find it rather odd that the long time political establishment on both sides of the aisle, as well as the biased media, cannot understand why so many of the American people are standing behind Trump in mass. I am no genius by any stretch of the imagination, but common sense tells me the reasons I have mentioned within this article cover Donald Trump's popularity with a large number of the average American citizens.

Think about this for one moment before you vote. The political establishment has resorted to not only calling Donald Trump names but also the American people who support him. Trump supporters have been called stupid, brown shirts, and racists by the professional politicians and media. 

I don't know about you, but if the old establishment is against Trump then I am for him, because with Mr. Trump we at least have the chance to bring America back from sliding down the slippery slope into Socialism and or mediocrity, with which the old guard seems to be perfectly happy.

That's the way I see it.

Terry McGahey

The Vigilantes Of California, Part Four

by Emerson Hough

1905

If opinion was divided to some extent in San Francisco, where those stirring deeds occurred, the sentiment of the outlying communities of California was almost a unit in favor of the Vigilantes, and their action received the sincere flattery of imitation, as half a score of criminals learned to their sorrow on impromptu scaffolds.

There was no large general organization in any other community, however.

After a time some of the banished men came back, and many damage suits were argued later in the courts; but small satisfaction came to those claimants, and few men who knew of the deeds of the "Committee of Vigilance" ever cared to discuss them. Indeed it was practically certain that any man who ever served on a Western vigilance committee finished his life with sealed lips. Had he ventured to talk of what he knew he would have met contempt or something harsher.

A political capital was made out of the situation in San Francisco. The "Committee of Vigilance" felt that it had now concluded its work and was ready to go back to civil life.

On August 18, 1856, the Committee marched openly in review through the streets of the city, five thousand one hundred and thirty-seven men in line, with three companies of artillery, eighteen cannon, a company of dragoons, and a medical staff of forty odd physicians. There were in this body one hundred and fifty men who had served in the old Committee in 1851.

After the parade the men halted, the assemblage broke up into companies, the companies into groups; and thus, quietly, with no vaunting of themselves and no concealment of their acts, there passed away one of the most singular and significant organizations of American citizens ever known.

They did this with the quiet assertion that if their services were again needed, they would again assemble; and they printed a statement covering their actions in detail, showing to any fair-minded man that what they had done was indeed for the good of the whole community, which had been wronged by those whom it had elected to power, those who had set themselves up as masters where they had been chosen as servants.

The "Committee of Vigilance" of San Francisco was made up of men from all walks of life and all political parties. It had any amount of money at its command that it required, for its members were of the best and most influential citizens. It maintained, during its existence, quarters unique in their way, serving as arms-room, trial court, fortress, and prison.

It was not a mob, but a grave and orderly band of men, and its deliberations were formal and exact, its labors being divided among proper sub-committees and boards. The quarters were kept open day and night, always ready for swift action, if necessary.

It had an executive committee, which upon occasion conferred with a board of delegates composed of three men from each subdivision of the general body. The executive committee consisted of thirty-three members, and its decision was final; but it could not enforce a death penalty except on a two-thirds vote of those present. It had a prosecuting attorney, and it tried no prisoner without assigning to him competent counsel. It had also a police force, with a chief of police and a sheriff with several deputies. In short, it took over the government, and was indeed the government, municipal and state in one.

Recent as was its life, its deeds to-day are well-nigh forgotten. Though opinion may be still divided in certain quarters, California need not be ashamed of this "Committee of Vigilance." She should be proud of it, for it was largely through its un-thanked and dangerous safeguarding of the public interests that California gained her social system of today.

In all the history of American desperadoism and of the movements which have checked it, there is no page more worth study than this from the story of the great Golden State. The moral is a sane, clean, and strong one.

The creed of the "Committee of Vigilance" is one which we might well learn to-day; and its practice would leave us with more dignity of character than we can claim, so long as we content ourselves merely with outcry and criticism, with sweeping accusation of our unfaithful public servants, and without seeing that they are punished.

There is nothing but manhood and freedom and justice in the covenant of the Committee. That covenant all American citizens should be ready to sign and live up to:

"We do bind ourselves each unto the other by a solemn oath to do and perform every just and lawful act for the maintenance of law and order, and to sustain the laws when faithfully and properly administered. But we are determined that no thief, burglar, incendiary, assassin, ballot-box stuffer or other disturber of the peace, shall escape punishment, either by quibbles of the law, the carelessness of the police or a laxity of those who pretend to administer justice."

What a man earns, that is his -- such was the lesson of California. Self-government is our right as a people -- that is what the Vigilantes said. When the laws failed of execution, then it was the people's right to resume the power that they had delegated, or which had been usurped from them -- that is their statement as quoted by one of the ablest of many historians of this movement. The people might withdraw authority when faithless servants used it to thwart justice -- that was what the Vigilantes preached. It is good doctrine today.

-- end of The Vigilantes Of California.

Editor's Note:

As with other Vigilante groups, both big and small in both other parts of California and around the nation, the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance was about the restoration of law and order by the Citizenry. When the law failed, when abuse of political office was conducted on a daily basis, when government corruption and neglect for the law was rampant, when security and justice for the people was not looked upon as a primary concern by the local government, the people exerted their right to assume control of an out of control situation.

I believe, like what is going on in Europe today with the formation of Vigilante groups, it is what happens when servants of the people believe they are above the law and use their power to impose tyranny upon the citizens. It is what happens when our laws are not enforced and favoritism is given to a select few in a population. It is what takes place when criminals rape, pillage, and blunder, create lawless zones, and the people are frightened for their own safety.

This was the American West. This was the "Far West" of California.

I find it amazing that thousands of San Franciscans participated in the Vigilante committees at the time. As for the idea that none of this "should" be necessary, it appears We The People time and time again prove that we better take care of ourselves when the government is too corrupt and fails at it's number one responsibility of providing security for our nation.

While law enforcement in America is tasked with maintaining order, they were born out of a need for security. And while that is the case, their ability to provide security is limited. Subsequently, We The People must be willing to accept that fact that we are ultimately responsible for our own security.

And yes, if that means we should band together to create Vigilante groups, Citizen Committees, to provide our own security -- especially in a society where the government has failed to do so, or the corrupt are in control, or where the police are outnumbered -- then it is our duty to do so.

And yes, that's just the way I see things. 

Tom Correa
Editor
The American Cowboy Chronicles

The Vigilantes Of California, Part Three

by Emerson Hough, 1905

The Vigilante Committee now arrested two more men, not for a capital crime, but for one which lay back of a long series of capital crimes -- the stuffing of ballot-boxes and other election frauds.

These men were Billy Mulligan and the prize-fighter known as Yankee Sullivan. Although advised that he would have a fair trial and that the death penalty would not be passed upon him, Yankee Sullivan committed suicide in his cell.

The entire party of lawyers and judges were arrayed against the Committee, naturally enough. Judge Terry, of the Supreme Court, issued a writ of habeas corpus for Mulligan. The Committee ignored the sheriff who was sent to serve the writ. 

They cleared the streets in front of headquarters, established six cannon in front of their rooms, put loaded swivels on top of the roof and mounted a guard of a hundred riflemen. They brought bedding and provisions to their quarters, mounted a huge triangle on the roof for a signal to their men all over the city, arranged the interior of their rooms in the form of a court and, in short, set themselves up as the law, openly defying their own Supreme Court of the state. 

So far from being afraid of the vengeance of the law, they arrested two more men for election frauds, Chas. P. Duane and "Woolly" Kearney. All their prisoners were guarded in cells within the headquarters building.

The opposition to the Committee now organized in turn under the name of the "Law and Order Men," and held a public meeting.

This was numerously attended by members of the Vigilante Committee, whose books were now open for enrollment. Not even the criticism of their own friends stayed these men in their resolution.

They went even further. Governor Johnson issued a proclamation to them to disband and disperse. They paid no more attention to this than they had to Judge Terry's writ of habeas corpus. The governor threatened them with the militia, but it was not enough to frighten them. General Sherman resigned his command in the state militia, and counseled moderation at so dangerous a time.

Many of the militia turned in their rifles to the Committee, which got other arms from vessels in the harbor, and from carelessly guarded armories. Halting at no responsibility, a band of the Committee even boarded a schooner which was carrying down a cargo of rifles from the governor to General Howard at San Francisco, and seized the entire lot.

Shortly after this they confiscated a second shipment which the governor was sending down from Sacramento in the same way; thus seizing property of the federal government. If there was such a crime as high treason, they committed it, and did so openly and without hesitation.

Governor Johnson contented himself with drawing up a statement of the situation, which was sent down to President Pierce at Washington, with the request that he instruct naval officers on the Pacific station to supply arms to the State of California, which had been despoiled by certain of its citizens.

President Pierce turned over the matter to his attorney-general, Caleb Gushing, who rendered an opinion saying that Governor Johnson had not yet exhausted the state remedies, and that the United States government could not interfere.

Little remained for the Committee to do to show its resolution to act as the State pro tern pore. That little it now proceeded to do by practically suspending the Supreme Court of California. In making an arrest of a witness wanted by the Committee, Sterling A. Hopkins, one of the policemen retained for work by the Committee, was stabbed in the throat by Judge Terry, of the Supreme Bench, who was very bitter against all members of the Committee.

It was supposed that the wound would prove fatal, and at once the Committee sounded the call for general assembly. The city went into two hostile camps, Terry and his friend, Dr. Ashe, taking refuge in the armory where the "Law and Order" faction kept their arms.

The members of the Vigilante Committee besieged this place, and presently took charge of Terry and Ashe, as prisoners. Then the scouts of the Committee went out after the arms of all the armories belonging to the governor and the "Law and Order" men who supported him, the lawyers and politicians who felt that their functions were being usurped.

Two thousand rifles were taken, and the opposing party was left without arms. The entire state, so to speak, was now in the hands of the "Committee of Vigilance," a body of men, quiet, law loving, law-enforcing, but of course technically traitors and criminals. The parallel of this situation has never existed elsewhere in American history.

Had Hopkins died the probability is that Judge Terry would have been hanged by the Committee, but fortunately he did not die. Terry lay a prisoner in the cell assigned him at the Committee's rooms for seven weeks, by which time Hopkins had recovered from the wound given him by Terry.

The case became one of national interest, and tirades against "the Stranglers" were not lacking; but the Committee went on enrolling men. And it did not open its doors for its prisoners, although appeal was made to Congress in Terry's behalf -- an appeal which was referred to the Committee on Judiciary, and so buried.

Terry was finally released, much to the regret of many of the Committee, who thought he should have been punished. The executive committee called together the board of delegates, and issued a statement showing that death and banishment were the only penalties optional with them.

Death they could not inflict, because Hopkins had recovered; and banishment they thought impractical at that time, as it might prolong discussion indefinitely, and enforce a longer term in service than the Committee cared for. It was the earnest wish of all to disband at the first moment that they considered their state and city fit to take care of themselves, and the sacredness of the ballot box again insured. To assure this latter fact, they had arrayed themselves against the federal government, as certainly they had against the state government.

The Committee now hanged two more murderers -- Hetherington and Brace -- the former a gambler from St. Louis, the latter a youth of New York parentage, twenty-one years of age, but hardened enough to curse volubly upon the scaffold.

By the middle of August, 1856, they had no more prisoners in charge, and were ready to turn the city over to its own system of government. Their report, published in the following fall, showed they had hanged four men and banished many others, besides frightening out of the country a large criminal population that did not tarry for arrest and trial.

-- end of Part Three, The Vigilantes Of California

The Vigilantes Of California, Part Four

Editor's Note:

The picture above is of the headquarters of the San Francisco Vigilantes of 1856. The building was nicknamed Fort Gunny Bags. It was burned to the ground during the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. The building was located at 243 Sacramento Street.

I hope you are enjoying the historical accuracy of what took place in California. Sadly, for some odd reason, a number of people think the Old West was only located back East in Kansas or out that way. Sadly, what took place in California during the Old West is not talked about very much.

Tom Correa
Editor
The American Cowboy Chronicles

The Vigilantes Of California, Part Two

by Emerson Hough

1905

It was difficult material out of which to build a civilized community. The hardest population of the entire world was there; men savage or civilized by tradition, heathen or Christian once at least, but now all Californian.

Wealth was the one common thing. The average daily return in the work of mining ranged from twenty to thirty dollars, and no man might tell when his fortune might be made by a blow of a pick.

Some nuggets of gold weighing 25 pounds were discovered. In certain diggings men picked pure gold from the rock crevices with a spoon or a knife point. As to values, they were guessed at, the only currency being gold dust or nuggets.

Prodigality was universal. All the gamblers of the world met in vulture concourse. There was little in the way of home; of women almost none. Life was as cheap as gold dust. Let those who liked bother about statehood and government and politics; the average man was too busy digging and spending gold to trouble over such matters. The most shameless men were those found in public office.

Wealth and commerce waxed great, but law and civilization languished. The times were ripening for the growth of some system of law which would offer proper protection to life and property. The measure of this need may be seen from the figures of the production of gold. From 1848 to 1856 California produced between 500-600 million dollars in virgin gold. What wonder the courts were weak; and what wonder the Vigilantes became strong!

There were in California three distinct Vigilante movements, those of 1849, the San Francisco Vigilantes of 1851, and the San Francisco Vigilantes of 1856, the earliest applying rather to the outlying mining camps than to the city of San Francisco.

In 1851, seeing that the courts made no attempt to punish criminals, a committee was formed which did much toward enforcing respect for the principles of justice, if not of law. On June 11th, they hanged John Jenkins for robbing a store. A month later they hanged James Stuart for murdering a sheriff.

In August of the same summer they took out of jail and hanged Whittaker and McKenzie, Australian ex-convicts, whom they had tried and sentenced, but who had been rescued by the officers of the law.
Two weeks later this committee disbanded. They paid no attention to the many killings that were going on over land titles and the like, but confined themselves to punishing men who had committed intolerable crimes.

Theft was as serious as murder, perhaps more so, in the creed of the time and place. The list of murders reached appalling dimensions. The times were sadly out of joint. The legislature was corrupt, graft was rampant -- though then unknown by that name -- and the entire social body was restless, discontented, and uneasy.

Politics had become a fine art. The judiciary, lazy and corrupt, was held in contempt. The dockets of the courts were full, and little was done to clear them effectively. Criminals did as they liked and went un-whipped of justice. It was truly a day of violence and license.

Once more the sober and law-loving men of California sent abroad word, and again the Vigilantes assembled. 

In 1853 they hanged two Mexicans for horse stealing, and also a bartender who had shot a citizen near Shasta.

At Jackson, they hanged another Mexican for horse stealing, and at Volcano, in 1854, they hanged a man named Macy for stabbing an old and helpless man. In this instance vengeance was very swift, for the murderer was executed within half an hour after his deed.  The haste caused certain criticism when, in the same month one Johnson was hanged for stabbing a man named Montgomery, at Iowa Hill, who later recovered.

At Los Angeles three men were sentenced to death by the local court, but the Supreme Court issued a stay for two of them, Brown and Lee. The people asserted that all must die together, and the mayor of the city was of the same mind. The third man, Alvitre, was hanged legally on January 12, 1855.

On that day the mayor resigned his office to join the Vigilantes. Brown was taken out of jail and hanged in spite of the decision of the Supreme Court. The people were out-running the law. That same month they hanged another murderer for killing the treasurer of Tuolumne County.

In the following month they hanged three more cattle thieves in Contra Costa County, and followed this by hanging a horse thief in Oakland. A larger affair threatened in the following summer, when thirty-six Mexicans were arrested for killing a party of Americans.

For a time it was proposed to hang all thirty-six, but sober counsel prevailed and only three were hanged; this after formal jury trial. Unknown bandits waylaid and killed Isaac B. Wall and T. S. Williamson of Monterey, and, that same month U.S. Marshal William H. Richardson was shot by Charles Cora in the streets of San Francisco.

The people grumbled. There was no certainty that justice would ever reach these offenders. The reputation of the state was ruined, not by the acts of the Vigilantes, but by those of unscrupulous and unprincipled men in office and upon the bench.

The government was run by gamblers, ruffians, and thugs. The good men of the state began to prepare for a general movement of purification and the installation of an actual law. The great Vigilante movement of 1856 was the result.

The immediate cause of this last organization was the murder of James King, editor of the Bulletin, by James P. Casey. Casey, after shooting King, was hurried off to jail by his own friends, and there was protected by a display of military force. King lingered for six days after he was shot, and the state of public opinion was ominous. Cora, who had killed Marshal Richardson, had never been punished, and there seemed no likelihood that Casey would be.

The local press was divided. The religious papers, the Pacific and the Christian Advocate, both openly declared that Casey ought to be hanged. The clergy took up the matter sternly, and one minister of the Gospel, Rev. J. A. Benton, of Sacramento, gave utterance to this remarkable but well-grounded statement: "A people can be justified in recalling delegated power and resuming its exercise."

Before we hasten to criticize sweepingly under the term "mob law" such work as this of the Vigilantes, it will be well for us to weigh that utterance, and to apply it to conditions of our own times; to-day is well-nigh as dangerous to American liberties as were the wilder days of California.

Now, summoned by some unknown command, armed men appeared in the streets of San Francisco, twenty-four companies in all, with perhaps fifty men in each company.

The Vigilantes had organized again. They brought a cannon and placed it against the jail gate, and demanded that Casey be surrendered to them. There was no help for it, and Casey went away handcuffed, to face a court where political influence would mean nothing.

An hour later the murderer Cora was taken from his cell, and was hastened away to join Casey in the headquarters building of the Vigilantes. A company of armed and silent men marched on each side of the carriage containing the prisoner. The two men were tried in formal session of the Committee, each having counsel, and all evidence being carefully weighed.

King died on May 20, 1856, and on May 22nd was buried with popular honors, a long procession of citizens following the body to the cemetery. A popular subscription was started, and in a brief time over thirty thousand dollars was raised for the benefit of his widow and children.

When the long procession filed back into the city, it was to witness, swinging from a beam projecting from a window of Committee headquarters, the bodies of Casey and Cora.

-- end of Part Two, The Vigilantes Of California 

The Vigilantes Of California, Part Three

Editor's Note:

Emerson Hough was born in 1857 and passed away in 1923. He was an American author, Western Historian, best known for writing western stories and historical novels. One such novel is titled The Story of the Outlaw which was first published by the Curtis Publishing Co. in 1905 and then published again by the Outing Publishing Company, New York, in 1907.

As with all of his books, from outlaws to border wars, from vigilantes to lawmen, The Story of the Outlaw includes historical narratives of the American West. The Vigilantes Of California is a chapter in that novel. Because of my Blog's limited space, I'm posting this chapter in four parts. Since Emerson Hough is known to have written factual accounts, I hope you enjoy the historical accuracy of what took place in the American West.

Tom Correa
Editor
The American Cowboy Chronicles

The Vigilantes Of California, Part One

Right now, there are Vigilante groups forming throughout the European Union in response to the failure of governments in Europe to provide security for the people there. Since we Americans are now being forced to accept refugees who many worry are a security risk, we may be forced into a similar position whether we like it or not.

Because of this, I feel compelled to talk about the history of Vigilante groups in the Old West.

So with that, for the next week, I will put other interest aside so that I may focus on the history of a few of the larger Vigilante groups that were present in the American West.

I'll be using as many sources as I can, including such sources as Emerson Hough who was a writer and American Historian during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

I hope you see a correlation between the threats felt by the people in the Old West to what people are feeling today in both Europe and here.

I feel that by examining the history of some of these groups, we can better understand why people resorted to forming "Citizen Committees". Many may see one reoccurring theme in that when a government fails to provide security for their people -- citizens will pickup that touch for themselves.

The Vigilantes Of California, Part One
by Emerson Hough
1905

The world will never see another California. Great gold stampedes there may be, but under conditions far different from those of 1849. Transportation has been so developed; travel has become so swift and easy, that no section can now long remain segregated from the rest of the world.

There is no corner of the earth which may not now be reached with a swiftness impossible in the days of the great rush to the Pacific Coast.

The whole structure of civilization, itself based upon transportation, goes swiftly forward with that transportation, and the tent of the miner or adventurer finds immediately erected by its side the temple of the law.

It was not thus in those early days of our Western history. The law was left far behind by geography and wilderness travel. Thousands of honest men pressed on across the plains and mountains inflamed, it is true, by the madness of the lust for gold, but carrying at the outset no wish to escape from the watchfulness of the law. 

With them, went equal numbers of those eager to escape all restraints of society and law, men intending never to aid in the uprearing of the social system in new wild lands.

Both these elements, the law-loving and the law-hating, as they advanced farther and farther from the staid world which they had known, noticed the development of a strange phenomenon: that law, which they had left behind them, waned in importance with each passing day. The standards of the old home changed, even as customs changed. 

A week's journey from the settlements showed the Argonaut a new world. A month hedged it about to itself, alone, apart, with ideas and values of its own and independent of all others. A year sufficed to leave that world as distinct as though it occupied a planet all its own. For that world the divine fire of the law must be re-discovered, evolved, nay, evoked fresh from chaos even as the savage calls forth fire from the dry and sapless twigs of the wilderness.

In the gold country all ideas and principles were based upon new conditions. Precedents did not exist. Man had gone savage again, and it was the beginning. Yet this savage, willing to live as a savage in a land which was one vast encampment, was the Anglo-Saxon savage, and therefore carried with him that chief trait of the American character, the principle that what a man earns -- not what he steals, but what he earns -- is his and his alone. 

This principle sowed in ground forbidding and unpromising was the seed of the law out of which has sprung the growth of a mighty civilization fit to be called an empire of its own. The growth and development of law under such conditions offered phenomena not recorded in the history of any other land or time.

In the first place, and even while in transit, men organized for the purpose of self-protection, and in this necessary act, law-abiding and criminal elements united. After arriving at the scenes of the gold fields, such organization was forgotten; even the parties that had banded together in the Eastern states as partners rarely kept together for a month after reaching the region where luck, hazard and opportunity, inextricably blended, appealed to each man to act for himself and with small reference to others. 

The first organizations of the mining camps were those of the criminal element. They were presently met by the organization of the law and order men. 

Hard upon the miners' law came the regularly organized legal machinery of the older states, modified by local conditions, and irretrievably blended with a politics more corrupt than any known before or since. Men were busy in picking up raw gold from the earth, and they paid small attention to courts and government. 

The law became an unbridled instrument of evil. Judges of the courts openly confiscated the property of their enemies, or sentenced them with no reference to the principles of justice, with as great disregard for life and liberty as was ever known in the Revolutionary days of France. 

Against this manner of government presently arose the organizations of the law-abiding, the justice-loving, and these took the law into their own stern hands. The executive officers of the law, the sheriffs and constables, were in league to kill and confiscate; and against these the new agency of the actual law made war, constituting themselves into an arm of essential government, and openly called themselves Vigilantes.

In turn, criminals used the cloak of the Vigilantes to cover their own deeds of lawlessness and violence. The Vigilantes purged themselves of the false members, and carried their own title of shameful conduct, the "stranglers," with unconcern or pride. 

They grew in numbers, the love of justice their lodestone, until at one time they numbered more than five thousand in the city of San Francisco alone, and held that community in a grip of lawlessness, or law, as you shall choose to term it. They set at defiance the chief executive of the state, erected an armed castle of their own, seized upon the arms of the militia, defied the government of the United States and even the United States Army. They were, as you shall choose to call them, criminals, or great and noble men. 

Seek as you may today, you will never know the full roster of their names, although they made no concealment of their identity; and no one, to this day, has ever been able to determine who took the first step in their organization.

They began their labors in California at a time when there had been more than two thousand murders-- five hundred in one year -- and not five legal executions. Their task included the erection of a fit structure of the law, and, incidentally, the destruction of a corrupt and unworthy structure claiming the title of the law.

In this strange, swift panorama there is all the story of the social system, all the picture of the building of that temple of the law which, as Americans, we now revere, or, at times, still despise and desecrate. 

At first, the average gold seeker concerned himself little with law, because he intended to make his fortune quickly and then hasten back East to his former home; yet, as early as the winter of 1849, there was elected a legislature which met at San Jose, a Senate of sixteen members and an Assembly of thirty-six. In this election the new American vote was in evidence. 

The miners had already tired of the semi-military phase of their government, and had met and adopted a state constitution. The legislature enacted 140 new laws in two months, and abolished all former laws; and then, satisfied with its labors, it left the enforcement of the laws, in the good old American fashion, to whomsoever might take an interest in the matter. This is our custom even today.

Our great cities of the East are practically all governed, so far as they are governed at all, by civic leagues, civic federations, citizens' leagues, business men's associations -- all protests at non-enforcement of the law. This protest in '49 and on the Pacific Coast took a sterner form.

At one time the city of San Francisco had three separate and distinct city councils, each claiming to be the only legal one. In spite of the new state organization, the law was much a matter of go as you please. Under such conditions it was no wonder that outlawry began to show its head in bold and well-organized forms. 

A party of ruffians, who called themselves the "Hounds," banded together to run all foreigners out of the rich camps, and to take their diggings over for themselves. A number of Chileans were beaten or shot, and their property was confiscated or destroyed. This was not in accordance with the saving grace of American justice, which devoted to a man that which he had earned. 

A counter organization was promptly formed, and the "Hounds" found themselves confronted with two hundred "special constables," each with a good rifle. A mass meeting sat as a court, and twenty of the "Hounds" were tried, ten of them receiving sentences that never were enforced, but which had the desired effect. 

So now, while far to the east, Congress was hotly arguing the question of the admission of California as a state, she was beginning to show an interest in law and justice when aroused thereto.

-- end of Part One, The Vigilantes Of California 

The Vigilantes Of California, Part Two

Editor's Note:

Emerson Hough was born in 1857 and passed away in 1923. He was an American author, Western Historian, best known for writing western stories and historical novels. 

One such novel is titled The Story of the Outlaw which was first published by the Curtis Publishing Co. in 1905 and then published again by the Outing Publishing Company, New York, in 1907.

As with all of his books, from outlaws to border wars, from vigilantes to lawmen, The Story of the Outlaw includes historical narratives of the American West. The Vigilantes Of California is a chapter in that novel. Because of my Blog's limited space, I'm posting this chapter in four parts.

Since Emerson Hough is known to have written factual accounts, I hope you enjoy the historical accuracy of what took place in the American West.

Tom Correa
Editor
The American Cowboy Chronicles

Media and Republican Debates, Shameful

By Terry McGahey

After the last debate, and now with Donald Trump winning South Carolina, is it just me who feels that the Republican debates have been turned into a circus by the media and their so called moderators?

I don't know about you but when I watch the debates I expect to hear an honest discussion over the candidates policies, not the arguments over what he said or she said.

Ever since the very first debate and each one since, these debates have been more about character assassination than true substance of the issues that lay ahead for the next president of our country.

It's almost as though the media, including Fox, is trying to disrupt the Republican debates in order to have another Democrat voted into office. If that is not their intention then they are either blind, just plain stupid, or so biased that they should be banned from holding these debates.

Again, I don't know about you, but I would rather see the average American people asking these candidates the hard questions about their policies instead of the media promoting the circus which resembles the phony world of professional wrestling more so than the seriousness of electing our next president.

In reality, we only have three candidates in the Republican party who actually have a chance at winning the nomination, Trump, Cruz, and Rubio, in that order at this time. It is time that the RINOs like Bush step out because all they are doing is promoting more of the dissension which the media seems to be thriving upon.

It seems to me that the reason these other candidates are hanging in there, even though they don't stand a chance, is to attack Trump because the establishment of good old boy's within the GOP can't control the man, and they are afraid of a non-establishment president who will not follow their own policies of hypocrisy.

Yes, I am for Trump, and the reason being is simple. I am sick and tired of professional politicians who promise the world but yet deliver nothing but token policies which have done nothing to bring better paying jobs back to this country, as well as allowing our Constitution to be slowly eroded over these past many years. And do not fool yourself, both sides of the isle have been allowing this to happen.

The only difference is that the Democrat progressives have made it happen in a more aggressive manner while the RINO Republicans have done little more than stand back and watch it take place. Enough is enough!

No matter the outcome we the people are just as much to blame as the media when it comes to the debates and nomination process. On Facebook as well as other outlets, I notice that people who do stand on the side of the Republican isle are also calling the candidates whom they do not support names and other horrible things.

It's time to stop the name calling because someone changed their opinion on a certain subject or policy over the years, human nature is to grow, and each and every one of us has changed our outlook on a certain subject at one time or another during our lifetime as well.

No matter if you agree with me or not that is your right, but please understand this. No matter who wins the Republican nomination, be it Trump, Cruz, or Rubio, we will have no choice but to vote for that person if we want to keep the self proclaimed socialist, Bernie Sanders, or the proven lying, cheating, elitist, Hillary Clinton, out of the White House.

With that in mind lets look at some of the positive sides of the top three candidates instead of only the negative sides. So yes, by all means stand by your candidate, but remember this, we may have to vote for one of the others before this is over.

I don't know about you, but that's the way I see it.
Terry McGahey