Narrative of Edward McGowan

the long version

Edward McGowan (1807-1893) left behind a controversial career as a former Pennsylvania legislator and police superintendent when he came to San Francisco in 1849. There he entered Democratic politics and earned the nickname "the ballot box stuffer." He was acquitted when the Vigilance Committee indicted him for complicity in the killing of James King of William in 1856, but his power in California was at an end. He later served in the Confederate Army and had brushes with the law in Canada before returning to San Francisco in his old age. Narrative of Edward McGowan (1857; reprinted 1917) presents his version of his role in James King's shooting by James Casey in May 1856. Next he discusses the subsequent creation of the Vigilance Committee and his flight from the vigilantes and his life as a fugitive in the Santa Barbara area. He closes with a lengthy discussion of the promise that prompted him to emerge from hiding to stand trial.