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Sacramento July 14th 1851
 
My Dearest Mother

Last mail brought me a very kind and interesting letter from you dated May 1st and though I have put off the moment of replying until within a few hours of the sailing of the steamer and consequently shall not be able to write you such a letter as I wish to, yet such an one as I can write will perhaps be better than to wait and keep you waiting two weeks longer. You can by no means estimate the value of such a letter to me and a thousand thanks are due to you for the time and labor that it required. I fear though that you felt it a wearisome task in the state of health that you were then in and that you kept on writing for the sake of my gratification when prudence would have dictated a postponement to a more favorable time. I regret very much to hear by your own and a letter from Jos written from W.S. about the same time that your health was very poor.  Jo seemed to think that the attack was similar to the severe one you were afflicted with several years ago and which resulted in long, long months of suffering and close confinement. I hope however he was mistaken and that it has ere this proved to be but a temporary inconvenience. From the account which father gave no longer since than the mail before last, of your health, I was strongly inclined to believe that the unpleasant and painful symptoms which have so long troubled you had in a great measure finally disappeared and would trouble you no more. But we endeavor in vain to inquire 



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into and scrutinize the motives of a mysterious Providence. To our limited vision they seem to be regulated by no principle and sometimes appear arbitrary and cruel. But we have the assurance oft repeated that our Father delights not in our chastisement and visits us with afflictions and disappointments for our own immediate and everlasting welfare. With these assurances we must be content; - farther inquiry is useless and unavailing; and though while on earth we may be often cast down and overwhelmed with woes, yet the reflection that at some future period of our immortal existence they are each to be the germ of some new delight and enjoyment which is never to cease, will be sufficient to enable us to bear them with patience and hope.

I know not how I conveyed the impression in some of my former letters that up to the 1st of March I had rcd. but one letter from yourself and father. If I wrote so I was certainly mistaken, for I have rcd. a letter from W.S. every month and I am included to think almost every mail. There are but few persons I suspect in California who have been as much favored with letters from home as I have. With the exception of Homer & Elias (whom I have now stricken from the list of my correspondents!) I have regularly rcd. letters from each member of the family. For this attention I return all thanks. And I have endeavored to be faithful and punctual in replying, and have written many more, - perhaps twice as many letters, as I have received. I suppose a certain proportion of them are in some unaccountable manner lost.

You know, mother, that I have always insisted when writing to correspondents that they should punctually reply; unless for some good reason, -- when I am always ready to excuse non-performance of the [times?]. When for a long time I fail 



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to receive any acknowledgment of my letters, it is to me a very broad hint that I have failed to make myself interesting enough to be entitled to an answer - which is undoubtedly often the case; but as I usually try to interest, if I don't succeed after a fair trial, I think I had better drop off. From Elias & Homer each I have rcd. one letter. I have replied to both, to H's half a dozen times, directly & indirectly, -- yet thus far there is no sign of a response from either of the gentlemen. In these circumstances I shall wrap myself up in my dignity & recognize them as having an existence no longer. Don't you think I am perfectly right?

My health continues uninterruptedly good. That of the city and surrounding country and of the whole state, so far as I know, is the same. The weather is delightful with the exception of a few hours in the heat of the day when it is excessively warm. But from sunrise till eleven and from four till dark the air is the most balmy and delightful imaginable. Occasionally the sea breezes from the [hole in paper] raises rather too much dust in the city but out on the [hole] plain among the venerable oaks it is delightful. Clouds never obscure the sun. Thunder never disturbs the quiet of nature by its harsh discordance. Lightning is never seen except occasionally during winter when it flashes from the clouds that cap the "Sierra" and the other mountains. The sky ever wears the same soft, bright blue face except when it darkens into the deeper blue of night bespangled with myriads of glittering unclouded stars that blaze on till morn unobscured by even the lightest vapor. But although thus far the climate of California has been like that of Eden I am not lulled entirely into a belief that it is always so. When next winter comes I expect many a dreary day in place of the lovely ones we had last winter, and am inclined yet to think that the climate of Mo. is still endurable.

The complexion of society here is about the same that it has been - neither better nor worse. Murders, robberies etc still go on in all parts of the state. The Law is almost powerless. In San Francisco 



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the citizens despairing of keeping their lives or their dwellings in safety have laid aside the ordinary forms of Law and have taken it upon themselves to protect their rights. The courts of Justice are permitted to try inferior offences, but if a man is murdered or a large amount of property stolen or any other grave offence committed, the offender is taken from the officers of Justice before the "Vigilance Committee" and summarily tried and if guilty punished. This "Vigilance Committee" numbers 600 men - men of the highest standing in the city. They are thoroughly organized and well and constantly armed and are ever on the watch for the scoundrels that infest the state. When a criminal is condemned, a signal bell which can be heard all over the city, calls together the members to carry the sentence into execution. They hung a man a day or two since who has been the terror of the state for 12 months and though imprisoned several times has always escaped until he got into their power. The courts sent their writs to the committee ordering him to be give up to the sheriff. This was refused and the courts had no power to take him by force. A few days after, 

[postmarked:] Sacramento City Cal. 14 Jul

[addressed:] Mrs. Fanny E. Winchell
West Springfield
Shelby County
Missouri




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the "committee" tried him & sentenced him to death. The sentence was submitted to a crowd of several thousand who had assembled & unanimously approved. The "Death Bell" was tolled, the "committee" 600 strong armed with Colt's Revolvers formed in order and in the most perfect silence and decorum marched the criminal out to the end of one of the long piers that extend into the bay and there suspended [him] over the dark waters. The affair created a great sensation but no confusion. The people of the whole state approve the course of the "Vigilance Committees" and it is believed it will have a very beneficial effect. In our own city last week four men sprang upon a miner and took from [him] 300 dolls worth of gold dust. This was about 2 o'clock P.M. and not more than a quarter of a mile from the heart of the city. The scoundrels were immediately arrested & would have been hung before dark had not the mayor of the city and the District Judge pledged the crowd that the criminal court would be convened the next day for the trial. They then dispersed. Next day the court met 



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impanelled a grand jury & the men were regularly indicted. The Law gives the criminal two days to prepare for trial & the Court adjourned. When this was known the crowd assembled had speeches etc and finally sent word to the court that if the trial did not go on at once the criminals should be hung. Court then met at 8 o'clock and sat until eleven - then to bed. Next morning met again and at 5 P.M. the jury brought in a verdict of guilt against the 1st one & fixed his punishment at ten years imprisonment. The trial of the 2nd commences this morning. The Law makes this offence punishable with death in the discretion of the Jury & the probability is that the remaining three will be hung. It will take all this week to try them and then our fair city will behold another of those horrid spectacles that are so common in California. You can have no idea of the horrible state of things here. I have hoped it would grow better but this hope seems to be destroyed.

I must close. I saw John Chick yesterday. You mention that his wife is indifferent to him & his father-in-law his enemy. From John's words I should think not. He speaks of the strong friendship of Mr. McCarty & of the affection of his wife and seems to be much attached to them both. With his own family friends he is at enmity. He thinks they have treated him badly & I am inclined to think he is right. Mr. Simonis[?] is his only friend among them - & he seems to be a true one. John speaks with tears of the affection of Simonis - of his mother and of his wife. If his wife is estranged from him it will be a sound blow for he does not dream of it. He deserves better treatment for whatever his conduct may ever have been in this land of vice he seems to have improved.   He is industrious, steady, faithful, honest, kind. He has been working for Mr. Hoyt several months. They like him very much.

Let me hear from you dear mother as often as you are able to write. Give my best love to all. Believe me to remain as ever your most affectionate son Elisha.