Excerpt from Celebrated Criminal Cases of America The hundred and ten cases presented in this volume should prove interesting to the general reader because of the psycho logical and, in many cases, the historical interest which attaches to them. This book also contains a brief history of the San Fran cisco Police' Department from the date of its organization; an accurate history of the far-famed Vigilance Committee; the Kearney riots; the life of Chief Justice Terry, including the famous duel in which he killed United States Senator Broder ick and his tragic death while assaulting Justice Field of the United States Supreme Court; also a synopsis of the police and municipal history of the great earthquake and fire, which contains much information which has not heretofore been published. While this volume will show that in some instances fabu lous amounts of money have been unlawfully obtained, it will also show that retribution invariably overtakes the professional criminal and brings with it untold misery and degradation. Although there are isolated cases where the perpetrator of an atrocious crime succeeds in escaping the iron hand of the law, there is one court he cannot escape, and that is the one whose findings are incontrovertible and whose sessions are held in the chambers of his own breast. The dread of discovery is constantly with him by day and by night, and who can doubt but that he finally concludes that even an ignominious death on a scaffold would be preferable to such a miserable existence. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.