Committee of Vigilance: Revolution in San Francisco, 1851: An Account of The Hundred Days when Certain Citizens Undertook the Suppression of the Criminal Activities of the Sydney Ducks.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1964. Reprint ed.. Hardback octavo, dustjacket, very good condition (in very good dustjacket), black & white drawings, map, diagram, dark navy top edge, rough cut fore-edges, minor edgewear jacket, base spine & bottom edges slightly rubbed, pages lightly toned, minor annotation (small biro mark inside rear cover), protected by removable semiarchival plastic sleeve (Brodart). 339 pp. George Stewart relates the story of the 103 men who operated outside the letter of the law and managed to preserve its spirit.. The Sydney Ducks were a group of convicts who had come to America from Australia legitimately or otherwise in search of gold. They found mining was not easy or as profitable as they thought, and many of them fell back to their old habits, and supported themselves by robbery. The author has based this book on a highly dramatic and significant episode in American history. He has constructed a narrative which combines tension and evocative detail with great attention to detail and authenticity.