Item #34441 DR. SCOTT, THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE AND THE CHURCH. A LECTURE BY W. CARROLL, DELIVERED IN MUSICAL HALL, SAN FRANCISCO, OCT. 12, 1856. Conrad Wiegand.

DR. SCOTT, THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE AND THE CHURCH. A LECTURE BY W. CARROLL, DELIVERED IN MUSICAL HALL, SAN FRANCISCO, OCT. 12, 1856.

San Francisco: Whitton, Towne & Co, 1856. 52pp. Disbound with light to moderate foxing, Good+.

Wiegand, who entered the copyright, was the 25-year old assayer of the U.S. Mint in San Francisco. He published this Lecture, under the pseudonym ' W. Carroll,' in order to answer the "vituperations" of his critics; and to raise money for himself "on the eve of being turned out of office for the exercise of my constitutionally guaranteed rights as a free American citizen."
Wiegand had come to the defence of Reverend Scott who, virtually alone among area clergy, had denounced the Vigilance Committee and its "Lynch law court." Though he supports the Committee, Wiegand opposes the harsh proscription of Dr. Scott. In the course of this lengthy lecture, he arraigns "the lamentable corruption of our public Press" and many powerful people, including federal authorities. These include especially his boss, J. Ross Browne, who would fire him, and "those poor miserable drivellers, the Gwins, the Wellers, and the minor lights, who tormented Mr. Browne into such action."
Wiegand's combative nature evidently was unnoticed when he later moved to Nevada. In the Appendix of 'Roughing It', Mark Twain calls him a "lamb."
FIRST EDITION. Cohen 4205. Rocq 12820. Cowan 682. Greenwood 788. Not in Eberstadt, Decker, Soliday. OCLC 58933504 [1- CA State Lib.] as of December 2021. Item #34441

Price: $1,250.00

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