The second result was to attract the dregs of society. The
pickings incident to demoralized conditions looked rich to these men.
Professional politicians, shyster lawyers, political gangsters, flocked
to the spoil. In 1851 the lawlessness of mere physical violence had come
to a head. By 1855 and 1856 there was added to a recrudescence of this
disorder a lawlessness of graft, of corruption, both political and
financial, and the overbearing arrogance of a self-made aristocracy.
These conditions combined to bring about a second crisis in the
precarious life of this new society.
CHAPTER XIII
THE STORM GATHERS
The foundation of trouble in California at this time was formal
legalism. Legality was made a fetish. The law was a game played by
lawyers and not an attempt to get justice done. The whole of public
prosecution was in the hands of one man, generally poorly paid, with
equally underpaid assistants, while the defense was conducted by the
ablest and most enthusiastic men procurable. It followed that
convictions were very few. To lose a criminal case was considered even
mildly disgraceful. It was a point of professional pride for the lawyer
to get his client free, without reference to the circumstances of the
time or the guilt of the accused.
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