Richard Summers. Vigilante (1949) 211 pp.
Publisher’s description: “The scene is San Francisco in 1856, during a revival of Vigilante activity in the face of increasing lawlessness and corruption. The man in the foreground is Lucky Langmeade, a hard-bitten successful mine-owner, down from Sacramento for a little fun and relaxation. When a hotel runner catches him at his favorite bar and hands him an urgent message from Secretary 33 of the Vigilantes, he is ordered to get after David C. Broderick, Gold Rush millionaire and politician, and an aspirant to the Senate of the United States. This sets off a gripping and swift tale of what leads to a sordid waterfront room, to a mansion on Telegraph Hill, to a gold-camp brawl, a fixed election, and the unearthing of California’s famous ‘Scarlet Letter.’ It is a tale of strange loyalties, of political twists and turns, of a woman’s unfathomable love, of fabulous frenzied Frisco in the 1850’s and the men who ran it.”
Baird & Greenwood 2383