Ballot Box Stuffing.

The ballot boxes that had been used by Casey and his ilk were of a
peculiar construction, having false slides on the sides and bottoms that
could be slipped out and thereby letting enough spurious votes drop into
the box to insure the election of their man or men. It was claimed that
nearly the entire set of municipal officers then holding office had
secured their election through this man. They were afterwards requested
by the Vigilance Committee to resign their offices, but at the first
election that was held on November 4th, they were all displaced by men
selected by a new party (the People's party) that was the outcome of the
efforts of the Vigilance Committee.



Billy Mulligan.

William Mulligan was shipped out of the State on the steamer "Golden
Age" on June 5th, 1856, with instructions never to return under penalty
of death. However, after three or four years of absence he returned to
San Francisco. He was often seen on the street, but was not molested
until sometime in the summer of 1862 when he got a crowd of boys around
him on the crossing of Prospect Place and Clay street, between Powell
and Mason streets. It was not long before he had trouble with them and
shot into the crowd, injuring a boy, however, not seriously. The police
were soon on the ground, but Mulligan had made his way into the old St.
Francis Hotel on the corner of Clay and Dupont streets which was vacant
at that time. The police came and they were directed to the building
where Billy could be found. When the police entered they found they were