Above the eye
was the word, Committee,--beneath, Vigilance; then the name, San
Francisco. Around the edge of the seal ran the legends: "Fiat Justitia
Ruat Coelum. No creed; no party; no sectional issues." While not
constituted exactly like the Court of Areopagus, yet the Vigilance
Committee of San Francisco did for a time exercise authority over
life and death like the Athenian judges on Mars' Hill. The shaft of
lightning first fell on an ex-convict who was caught stealing. Eighty
members of the Committee tried and convicted him, and on the same
night he was hanged in Portsmouth Square in view of the saloons. A
thrill ran through the whole community, and when, the next morning,
the people read the names of the prominent citizens who served on
the Committee, their action made a deep and salutary impression. The
Vigilance Committee prosecuted its work till the city was purged of
its evils, and it exercised from time to time its authority until the
year 1856. As a result of its firmness, its promptness in punishing
criminals, and its high-minded aims, the land had rest for twenty
years.
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