Hetherington had previously proclaimed his innocence, claiming that the
Doctor had shot first and he had simply shot in self-defense, but his
previous record was bad, he having killed a Doctor Baldwin in 1853 and
had run a gambling joint on Long Wharf, and eye witnesses claimed that
he not only provoked but shot first.

Brace was of a different nature, he was a hardened criminal of a low
type. The charge against him being the killing of Captain J. B. West
about a year previous, out in the Mission, and of murdering his
accomplice. He had also confessed to numerous other crimes.



Hanging of Hetherington and Brace.

Thousands of people were on the house-tops and in windows and on every
available spot from which a view of the gallows was to be had. The
prisoners mounted the scaffold, being accompanied by three Vigilance
Committee officers who acted as executioners and a Rev. Mr. Thomas.
After the noose had been adjusted, Hetherington addressed the crowd,
claiming to be innocent, and ready to meet his Maker. Brace, every once
in a while, interrupted him, using terrible and vulgar language. The
caps were adjusted, the ropes cut and the two dropped into eternity.
They were left hanging 40 minutes, after which the bodies were removed
by the Committee to their rooms and afterwards turned over to the
Coroner. They were both young men - Hetherington 35, a native of
England, had been in California since 1850, while Brace was but 21, a
native of Onandaigua County, N. Y.