" The marshal stopped and,
accompanied by the crowd, took the man to the place indicated, where
the money was recovered; and the thief was then made to carry it back
to the woman and apologize for stealing it. The marshal then
consulted the sentence, and, finding that it prescribed fifty lashes
at any rate, he marched the wretch back to the tree and gave him the
balance, which was his due.
But the case which made the greatest impression upon the people, and
did more to confirm my authority than anything else, was the
following: There was a military encampment of United States soldiers
on Bear River, about fifteen miles from Marysville, known as "Camp
Far West." One day an application was made to me to issue a warrant
for the arrest of one of the soldiers for a larceny he had committed.
It was stated that a complaint had been laid before the local Alcalde
near the camp; but that the officer in charge had refused to give up
the soldier unless a warrant for that purpose were issued by me, it
being the general impression that I was the only duly commissioned
Alcalde in the district above Sacramento. On this showing I issued my
warrant, and a lieutenant of the army brought the soldier over. The
soldier was indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced to be publicly
whipped with the usual number of lashes, and the officer stood by and
saw the punishment inflicted.
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