d devious ways the Vigilantes were harassed, opposed; windows of shops
were broken; men returning to their homes were set upon from ambush;
long-standing business accounts were diverted or withdrawn. Even
socially the feud was felt. For the Southerners were more or less the
arbiters of society. Wives of Vigilante members were struck from
invitation lists in important affairs. Whispers came to them that if
their husbands were persuaded to withdraw, all would be well.

A few, indeed, did hand their resignations to the committee, but more
set their names with eagerness upon its roster.

The hanging of James Stuart was impressive and conducted with extreme
decorum. Stuart, tried before twelve regularly impaneled talesmen and
defended by an advocate, cut matters short by a voluntary confession of
his crimes. In fact, he boasted of them with a curious pride. Arson,
murder, robbery, he admitted with a lavishness which first aroused a
doubt as to his sanity and truth, but when in many of the cases he
recited details which were later verified, all doubt as to his evil
triumphs vanished.

On the morning of July 11 he was sentenced. In the afternoon his body
swung from a waterfront derrick at Battery and Market streets.

"Get it over with," he urged his executioners, "this 'ere's damned
tiresome business for a gentleman." He begged a "quid o' terbacker" from
one of the guards and chewed upon it stolidly until the noose tightened
about his neck. He did not struggle much. A vagrant wind blew off his
hat and gently stirred his long and wavy hair.

When Benito next saw Broderick he asked the latter anxiously if all were
well with him. The latter answered with a wry smile, "I suppose so. I
have not been ordered to leave town so far."

"You've remembered what we told you--Alice and I?"

"Yes," said Broderick, "and it was good advice. Tell your wife for me
that woman's intuition sometimes sees more clearly than man's
cunning.... It is nearer God and truth," he added, softly.

"I shall tell her that. 'Twill please her," Benito replied. "You must
come to see us soon."

Brannan joined them rather anxiously and drew Benito aside with a
brusque apology. "Do you know that Governor McDougall has issued a
proclamation condemning the Vigilance Committee?... I happen to know
that Broderick inspired this." He gave a covert glance over his
shoulder, but the Lieutenant-Governor had wandered off. "So far he's
taken no part against us. And we