PBA Galleries

Autograph letter, signed. 3½ pp. on 4-page conjugate lettersheet of lined paper. 25.5x20 cm (10x8").

Detailed, well-written, and quite legible letter from a miner in the hills of Downieville to his wife back in Philadelphia, with opinions on the San Francisco Vigilance Committee and its causes, comparing it to the Philadelphia Nativist Riots in 1844 sparked by the influx of Irish Catholic immigrants. "...The people of Phila. it appears do not favor the proceedings of the San Francisco Vigilance Committee... they favored the... riots in 1844 which was in their own town. Because there was necessity for prompt decisive action to put down the insulting and outrageous conduct of foreigners. But they are so far from California that they cannot see or feel the necessity for the course of action the people of San Francisco have been compelled to take in their own defense. No people ever had greater cause to take up arms... for their own rights, for the safety of their persons and property... Usurpt [sic] by the most infamous set of rascals and scoundrels that ever infested any city on the face of the earth. No other mode of action left... the elections was a mere mockery carried out by bullies and false ballot box... how does this infamous set of villains to be got rid of only by a revolutionary movement. The committee have acted with great wisdom in all their movements. They have given every one a fair trial who have been arrested and brought before them..." And much more on that and other matters, including the poisoning of the writer's brother by the brother's wife, and "she has been imprudently social with a certain man. Than man it is supposed furnished her with the poison..."