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Text and wood-engraved images on two outer pages of 4-page letter sheet on blue wove paper. 27x21 cm. (10½x8¼").

Rare and important pictorial letter sheet, depicting and describing the events surrounding the formation and activities of the second Vigilance Committee of 1856. 

As elucidated by James Hart, “Vigilance Committees arose in California during the gold rush to act speedily on crimes. [The second] Vigilance Committee came into being in San Francisco in 1856, following the murder of Gen. William H. Richardson by Charles Cora and of James King of William by James Casey.... On May 18, 2,500 armed vigilantes seized Cora and Casey from the unresisting sheriffs, took them from jail, tried them hastily, and publicly hanged them four days later. Following a fight in which the vigilantes seized arms from the state militia, the Committee held a parade of 6,000 followers and then disbanded [on August 21].” This letter sheet with the two blank pages filled with two letters from two brothers (one being J.W. Cudworth) to another brother, dated June 4th, 1856. The letters cover the normal family communication, but to refer to the crucial events that are the subject of the letter sheet: "...Edwin is pretty much interested not to say excited in the affairs of the city he is a member of the Vigilance Committee goes armed to the teeth with colt revolver and minnie rifle..." Baird 4.