money, in which case he was to receive only
fifty lashes. As soon as the sentence was written down the marshal
marched the prisoner out to a tree, made him hug the tree, and in the
presence of the crowd that followed, began inflicting the lashes. The
man stood it for awhile without flinching, but when he had received
the twenty-second lash he cried out, "Stop, for God's sake, and I
will tell you where the money is." The marshal stopped and,
accompanied by the crowd, took the man to the place indicated, where
the money was recovered; and the thief was then made to carry it back
to the woman and apologize for stealing it. The marshal then
consulted the sentence, and, finding that it prescribed fifty lashes
at any rate, he marched the wretch back to the tree and gave him the
balance, which was his due.

But the case which made the greatest impression upon the people, and
did more to confirm my authority than anything else, was the
following: There was a military encampment of United States soldiers
on Bear River, about fifteen miles from Marysville, known as "Camp
Far West." One day an application was made to me to issue a warrant
for the arrest of one of the soldiers for a larceny he had committed.
It was stated that a complaint had been laid before the local Alcalde
near the camp; but that the officer in charge had refused to give up
the soldier unless a warrant for that purpose were issued by me, it
being the general impression that I was the only duly commissioned
Alcalde in the district above Sacramento. On this showing I issued my
warrant, and a lieutenant of the army brought the soldier over. The
soldier was indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced to be publicly
whipped with the usual number of lashes, and the officer stood by and
saw the punishment inflicted. He then took the soldier back to camp,
where it was afterwards reported that he received an additional
punishment. But before the lieutenant left me that day, and while we
were dining together, he took occasion to say that, if at any time I
had any trouble in enforcing the law, I had but to send him word and
he would order out a company of troops to support me. This offer I
permitted to become known through the town; and people said--and with
what effect may be imagined--"Why here is an Alcalde that has the
troops of the United States at his back."

I have already stated that I had the banks of the Yuba River graded
so as to facilitate the landing from ves