William Tell Coleman

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William Tell Coleman

William Tell Coleman (1824–1893) was an American pioneer in the settlement of California.[1]

Early life

William Tell Coleman was born in Cynthiana in Harrison County, Kentucky on February 29, 1824.[2] He was educated at St. Louis University in Missouri.

Committees of Vigilance

In 1849, Coleman arrived in California and eventually settled in

Committees of Vigilance in the aftermath of a speech imploring the mob to conduct a formal, albeit illegal, court rather than lynch its targets immediately. Owing to the respect earned from this role, Coleman would be chosen to lead the larger 1856 Committee of Vigilance, which usurped civic power in order to drive out the Democratic Party machine and ostensibly to establish law and order in the aftermath of the assassination of controversial newspaper editor James King of William. Under Coleman, these committees ignored habeas corpus, conducted secret trials, lynchings, and deportations, and raised a militia. The committee would confront city leaders and even Governor J. Neely Johnson with threats of usurping state government and pursuing an independent course bordering on secession, however, Coleman would successfully override Committee radicals.[3]

Thus, the 1856 Committee of Vigilance disbanded, but not before transferring power to the new People's Party, which soon merged with the Republican Party and controlled San Francisco until 1867.[4][5]

Shipping

Wm. T. Coleman & Co (House flag)
A Young America clipper sailing card, issued by its agent Wm. T. Coleman & Co.

After opening a branch in New York City, Coleman established a steamship line between that city and San Francisco in 1856. In 1857 he moved to New York and conducted his business from that city until 1864.

One of Coleman's most noteworthy achievements was the embellishment and extension of the town of San Rafael, California.

Committee of Safety

After a protest in sympathy with the

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
.

Regaining notoriety for his role in the Committee of Safety, Coleman was briefly floated as a candidate in the 1880 Democratic National Convention.[7]

Borax mining

Clipper card for the William Tell

During the 1880s, Coleman was the owner of the

twenty mule teams to carry the product from 1883 to 1889. The borax works in Death Valley were subsequently acquired by Francis Marion Smith to form the Pacific Coast Borax Company. The town named Lila C, California was at the Lila C mine, named by its owner William Tell Coleman, for his daughter, Lila C. Coleman. Following a decrease in tariffs upon the importation of borax, Coleman would lose over $2,000,000, filing for bankruptcy on May 7, 1888.[8]

Death

William Tell Coleman died at his home in San Francisco on November 22, 1893.[9]

Legacy

The mineral Colemanite was named in his honor.[10]

The

syndicated television anthology series, Death Valley Days, narrated by Stanley Andrews. In the story line, Coleman shuns gambling and prospecting for gold but devotes his talents elsewhere and makes several fortunes in farming and the mining of borax.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ Thelma Taylor. "William Tell Coleman". The Official Site of Cynthiana, Kentucky.
  2. ^ The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. VIII. James T. White & Company. 1924. p. 336. Retrieved January 24, 2021 – via Google Books.
  3. ISBN 0517595737
    . Retrieved May 22, 2023.
  4. ^ What is a Vigilante Man? by Mike Davis.
  5. ISBN 978-0-520-23001-9
    . Retrieved December 5, 2007.
  6. ^ Philip J. Ethington, "Vigilantes and the Police: The Creation of a Professional Police Bureaucracy in San Francisco, 1847–1900," Journal of Social History, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Winter, 1987), pp. 197-227.
  7. ISBN 9780520908888 – via Google Books
    .
  8. ISBN 9780786497355 – via Google Books
    .
  9. ^ "William Tell Coleman". The San Francisco Call. November 23, 1893. p. 6. Retrieved January 24, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ISSN 0022-2860.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  11. Internet Movie Database
    . Retrieved January 7, 2019.

External links
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