Vigilance Committee

in the United States, an organization of citizens to put down lawlessness. A vigilance committee differs entirely from a mob. In case crime becomes rampant and it is impossible to control the criminal class by ordinary process of law, an orderly assemblage of citizens and the formal selection of a public committee to enforce the law are considered a legitimate procedure. In the early days of San Francisco, for instance, thugs, thieves, gamblers, and other disreputable people, attracted by the mining camps, filled up the city and overrode the law. The police were terrorized. Citizens were shot down in the streets. No one's life or property was safe. Crime ran riot. In this emergency the bolder citizens convened and organized a committee known as the vigilantes. This committee went after the lawless element and made short, sharp work of the desperadoes. Murderers and other desperate characters were haled out of the saloons and resorts and were hung to the nearest tree or lamppost. Those who were not caught fled. Within a few days order was restored and the city resumed its usual aspect.