was ludicrous in the extreme,
and caused hearty laughter and many jokes at their expense. In addition
to the offenders those secured in the Rooms of the Committee, there were
many others at liberty for whom a quiet but unremitting search was kept
up. When any one was found, on the street or in any of his usual haunts,
he was very sure to surrender at the first summons of the officer,
probably for the reason humorously assigned by one of the most bitter
opponents of the Committee, who, after an envenomed tirade against it,
was asked, "Suppose, while talking on Montgomery Street, some one should
tap you on the shoulder, and say, you are wanted at the Vigilance
Committee Rooms, should you go?" "Of course I should," said he,
"Indeed," said the other, "I should not, from your talk, have expected
it." "Why," said he, "you don't think me such a consummate fool as to
attempt to buck up against two thousand men." Sometimes, however numbers
gave confidence to the rowdies, and they ventured, regardless of the
lessons of experience, to indulge in their old practices in public.
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