the assignees and obtained a judgment against them for $269,000. On
their refusal to pay over this sum, Jones and Cohen were taken into
custody. But Palmer, Cook, and Company influenced the courts, as did
about every large mercantile or political firm. They soon secured the
release of the prisoners, and in the general scramble for the assets of
Adams and Company they secured the lion's share.

It was the same old story. An immense amount of money had disappeared.
Nobody had been punished, and it was all strictly legal. Failures
resulted right and left. Even Wells, Fargo, and Company closed their
doors but reopened them within a few days. There was much excitement
which would probably have died as other excitement had died before, had
not the times produced a voice of compelling power. This voice spoke
through an individual known as James King of William.

King was a man of keen mind and dauntless courage, who had tried his
luck briefly at the mines, realized that the physical work was too much
for him, and had therefore returned to mercantile and banking pursuits
in San Francisco. His peculiar name was said to be due to the fact that
at the age of sixteen, finding another James King in his immediate
circle, he had added his father's name as a distinguishing mark. He was
rarely mentioned except with the full designation--James King of
William. On his return he opened a private banking-house, brought out
his family, and entered the life of the town. For a time his banking
career prospered and he acquired a moderate fortune, but in 1854 unwise
investments forced him to close his office. In a high-minded fashion,
very unusual in those times and even now somewhat rare, he surrendered
to his creditors everything on earth he possessed. He then accepted a
salaried position with Adams and Company, which he held until that house
also failed. Since to the outside world his connection with the firm
looked dubious, he exonerated himself through a series of pamphlets and
short newspaper articles. The vigor and force of their style arrested
attention, so that when his dauntless crusading spirit, revolting
against the carnival of crime both subtle and obvious, desired to edit a
newspaper, he had no difficulty in raising the small sum of money
necessary. He had always expressed his opinions clearly and fearlessly,
and the public watched with the greatest interest the appearance of the
new sheet.

The first number of the _Daily Eveni