The Wasp — 1896 — page 684: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains two historical illustrations documenting San Francisco's **Vigilance Committee justice** circa 1851. **Top image**: Shows the hanging of James Stuart, an ex-convict from Sydney who murdered Chas. Moore. The sheriff of Yolo County and several citizens participated in this extrajudicial execution at Market Street wharf on June 11, 1851. **Bottom image**: Depicts the hanging of Samuel Whittaker and Robert Mackenzie, "notorious desperadoes," by the Vigilance Committee on August 24th, 1851, near Battery Street. The large crowd suggests public participation. The surrounding text celebrates San Francisco's violent, unregulated early society—praising citizens' "thoroughness" in dealing with criminals outside legal systems. This content reflects 1880s-era nostalgia for frontier "justice" and vigilantism, presenting extrajudicial killings as heroic community action against lawlessness.