AMERICAN NEWS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 220, 17 September 1877, Page 4

AMERICAN NEWS.

A REIGN OF TERROR IN SAN FRANCISCO. The San Francisco correspondent of the HT. Z. Herald writes as follows under date August 15: — The "Vigilants I"— what are they ? What tha Covenanters were. What Cromwell's cropped warriors were in their days, so are the modern peace protectors in the eyes of the lust-loving hoodlum and his partners in dirty vice. What is a hoodlum ? Something after the image of man, with all his worst and vilest passions. Something in the nature of a beast, with the temperament of a devil. A thing to be avoided —a savage cur — an unlicked bear, aod ao utterly worthless, useless, combination of being and doing. Not always confined to the dregs of life, but always drifting thither. Not born to the ultimate surroundings of his life, but guided there by the forcing instincts of his depraved nature. Not always at first exhibiting wickedness in bis face, or crime in his thoughts, but for ever carrying with him the deadly disease of sin, tbat sooner or later makes its mark upon the most noble features. As a class he is represented by a vocabulary of oaths — the swagger of the rowdy, the loud guffaw of the bully, generally tall, lanky, and slouching, hair plastered to skull, falling in a greased muss over a dirty neck; face generally shaved close, notcleao; clothed ii the loudest patterns, and heavily freighted with large-sized jewellery, his heeltops equal to stilts, his boots of the smallest, and his hat of the tallest. Chewing tobacco in his mouth, aud pistol in his pocket, he is the terror and dread of the unarmed of all classes. A bully and a coward alwayp, yet has he his admirers, and many otherwise respectable girls have not scorned to cast the eye of admiration on the swaggering bruie, because of some fancied physical superiority. In his own clhse — where the female hoodlum is as dan^erou?, because more courageous, or l»-ss devoid of fear than her male companion — he bas plenty of "gale," nnd when tie sexes take it into their hands to «o on the jomhorte, the wild excesses into which they plunge are only hv the orgies of the 1 ,jm>sl savagt-s. Of such is tbe king to =. of the H.io Mu ■.;. During ih« past momh San HVaroißoo has parsed through an ordeal of «error, —not of the fear that, bends (h • quaking body, not of the pesileuce that blights out li>e, — but the "terror-fear of the unknown," — that speet'al evil whose shroud of nijht onvl ignorance serves but to intensify its dangpr and its fear. For nearly ten days the city quivered in this mortal fear. Nor is there ought ignoble in quailing before an unseen, but not unfelt danger — of a danger that has its grip upon your throat — and yet you cun conceive of.it only as upon any other throat rather than your own. The fire-fagot — the cruel blaze, the angry peal of the sobbing bell, the harsh cry of the puzzled fireman, the false alarm, the murderous shot, and the deep datkness o( a clouied night. These were tho " fear-d<-moiip," the offspring of a vile social evil, which made the good burgheis of 'Frisco feel that alarm, which iB all the more kecn'y felt, because of the impossibility a of describing it. The telegraph has told you of the great strikes and the scenes of bloody riot that have disgraced tbe Eastern cities, and which have brought Repullicanism, as manufactured in America, into contempt. Very likely the working men, who struck for their rights, were right, but they were not the men who precipitated the fight in which many good men fell. In all the cities of America, there is ever presaut a terribly potent element for evil, in the

pot-house legislator, who is very useful during a political campaign, but ia the veriest pariah-dog at aU other times. These are the men who inflame the passions of better men —yell and bully, and buster and bolt. Of such we have some thousands in thia the Qieen City of the Pacific. We call them hoodlums. As the pebble dropped in the centre of the lake senda rippling ring after ripple until the whole water is encircled by a series of concentric rings, so an evil deed or an evil wish loudly voiced strikes upon the waves of human thought — breaking here and there only again and again with renewed force to unite to oover (he land with a knowledge of evil— firing the wicked heart everywhere ; until men ces.se to be human ; and becoming suddenly less than brutes, act as demons. Thus has it been here. Day after day brought to our city sensational telegrams tellino of the victories of the strikers. The demagogues were aroused ; San Francisco must not lag behind. True, her labourers and mechanics had nothing to complain of, but it would not do to let the East have all the fun. Oh, no ; we must have an excitement of some kind. Three hundred hoodlums were got together, and, under the influence of the latest news from Chicago, rushed through our city, pursuing one unfortunate Chinaman with yells and shouts strongly suggestive of "that other place," well, the Chinaman escaped, but the mischief had begun. This was about eight o'clock at night, aud within an hour the city was in the hands of an armed mob, which in the name of that oft-insulted goddess Liberty, proceeded to wreck Chinese houses, roast Chinese men, and burn or otherwise iestroy their properly. Employers of Chinese labour were ordered tj clear out. Every public place in the city city was threatened. Fire broke out in a dozen places at once. During the whole night long the people sat in their homes, as the children of Egypt must have done, waiting for another plague. The morning came at lasf, and with the blessed suu came strength and purpose. The arm of the old Vigilante had not been shortened. The cry for volunteers went out. It echoed through every honest heart, and within a" few hours 3000 strong men and true stood to orders, rendy to meet death, but not its hungry ghost— uncertainty. Armed, drilled and determined, these men took over the frightened city — took it under their strong protection. From that moment the terror of the trouble was killed. But the dirty devils hud still their work to do. That night tbe Pacific Mail Docks were fired, without success, but several hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property was Destroyed. The hoodlums (ired a large timberyard close to the dock, and, taking advautage of a hill overlooking the sceue of their fiendish utterapts, assaulted from their vantage ground the firemen who were (oiliDg to extinguish the tire — hurling blocks of stone at them — firing at them — cutting the hose, and in every way impeding th-ir progress until the Vigilantes, who were present to tbe extent of 100, charged and completely routed the rufliinly gang, but not without serious loss of iife on hoth sides. Failing their design on the Pacific mtil, the hoodlum force broke up into small gan^s, spreading thiough the various outwuyt, of the city, a^aiu destroying Chiuese laundries,, and here and there killing an unoffending Celestial. But the Vigilantes were after them, and such was ihe wholesome fear inspired by the tread of righteously armed men, that th« Immau rats qui kly took refuse in their holes. Largo uumlers were captured, and several of t':ieoi will ewing. It is estimate! that the injury d >ne the diy by thesa human off ,1 will not be cove ed by one milliou diilbirs. Tho Vigilantes remained in force ior at>out ten days, thoroughly cowing out the turbulent spirit of the hoodlum bully. Of course, sustaining such a lar^w force cost money, hut, this was frebly subscribed; indeed, 80,000 •lolUis w. re paid into the " Committee of S'af. ty " within a fnw hours of the need h- ing k.,own. In the ranks of ihrt Vigilantes (or Committee of Safety) were to he found all the leadii g tnri, ol the city, capitalists, bankers, merchants, p>ets, literary men— every e'asa of or ler-loviug people. New Zealand, Noi tii cud South. was fully represents. l. Many old N>uv Z-mlanders were iu the row, atid the hoodlums would have been much obliged to them if they had made their abseuce conspicuous.