San Francisco Committee of Vigilance of 1856 -- History; Vigilance committees -- California -- San Francisco
Billy Mulligan was the incarnation of fearlessness, fight and
frolic--dangerous frolic it was sometimes to any he did not like. Of low
stature, slight frame, active as a cat, the expression of a
bull-terrier, and as, quick to an, encounter, Mulligan was not a man to
pick a quarrel with--the other party invariably second best. He had
served under Colonel Jack Hays in his troop of Texan Rangers, and
Colonel Hays gave the praise that he was one of the bravest, pluckiest,
most daring and desperate fighters he had ever had in his command. Billy
had his full share of the vices of drinking, gambling, fighting and a
fast life. He was active in politics and "went in to win." But he had
the virtue not to lie; and he would not betray any confidence reposed in
him, turn faithless to any promise he made. He was bold, frank, manly,
magnanimous except towards those he despised as well as hated, and to
these he was implacable and merciless. The world's wealth couldn't
seduce or bribe him from the support of the men he liked, no matter how
poor they might be; and he would on every occasion interpose to protect
the helpless and defenseless from the violence or maltreatment of
others. Crime of any degree was never alleged to his account. He had
faithfully served as collector of moneys for the County Treasurer two
years, and fully accounted for every dollar that he received. Beyond his
fighting bouts and his conduct in elections--about the same as prevails
now--there was nothing to warrant his arrest and banishment. But the
terrors of Fort Gunny Bags did not intimidate Mulligan. One of the
committee remarked to me, on the occasion of his death by the rifle shot
of a policeman while he was wild with delirium tremens, that he was the
only prisoner ever put in the committee cells who did not "weaken." He
was a character the community could well spare; but he had given the
committee no offence to justify his banishment.
Yankee Sullivan's character is notorious. He was a professional
prize-fighter--ready to try conclusions in the fistic ring with any in
the world; but he feared a pistol or a knife as an ordinary man would
fear a blow from his powerful arm. He had helped Mulligan and Casey in
some of their election operations, and for that he was arrested. There
was no charge of any other nature than this and his fighting quality to
warrant his arrest. His courage or spirit broke down while confined in
the close cell, and one morning his lifeless body was found stiff in the
cell. He had opened a vein in his arm and bled to death. The rumor at
the time was--and it is still believed--that he was driven to the deed
by the remark made by one of the Vigilance guards outside the cell, but
spoken in tone calculated for Sullivan to hear it, that he was to be
hanged the next morning. To escape the ignominy of such a death, he
anticipated it by his own hand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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