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Naval Scandal in Gold Rush San Francisco

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Title: Reply of Com. John DeCamp, to Aspersions Upon His Character Contained in an Article Published in the Charleston Mercury, of November 6, 1855, Entitled "Commander Thomas Petigru and the Naval Board."
Author: DeCamp, John
Description: 12 pp. (8vo) original wrappers. First Edition.A scarce imprint, relating a tale of Gold Rush conflict aboard a US Navy sloop, the U.S.S. Famouth, stationed at San Francisco Bay from 1849 to 1852, to "protect the new American settlements on the west coast", under the command of Thomas Petigru, with John DeCamp as his Lieutenant. Petigru, after being dismissed from the Navy, promoted an anonymous newspaper article which "cast aspersions" on DeCamp, who had charged him with the illegal arrest in Mexico of accused murderer Reuben Withers, son of a rich New York banker, who, in a drunken argument in the Bella Union gambling Saloon, had killed "Bones" Reynolds, so nicknamed "because of the instrument he played in a Negro band". Withers then fled to Mazatlan, while the San Francisco authorities offered a $3000 bounty for his capture. To collect the reward, Petigru sailed the Falmouth to Mazatlan, seized and imprisoned Withers aboard ship and returned him to San Francisco to face trial. Withers obtained a change of venue to San Jose, and was there acquitted (later to become a rich American dilettante in Paris). Petigru, charged with illegal arrest by DeCamp, was court-martialed. He too was acquitted - but was later expelled from the Navy for being habitually drunk on duty, and died two years later. DeCamp was promoted to Captain and served in the Navy throughout the Civil War, retiring as a Rear Admiral. The Withers murder case was long remembered in San Francisco - where, in 1851, it was seen as symbolic of the lawlessness that led to formation of the Vigilance Committee.
Heading: (California - Gold Rush)Place Published: No place
Publisher:
Date Published: 1856