Sam Roberts and the Hounds

Early Private Security ForcesGang members-Military Veterans-Domestic Terrorists

Yerbe Buena•San Francisco (CA) had just became U.S. territory in 1948. •Same year gold was discovered. •City of 450 residents (Mid-1947).

Gold Rush•Many captains lost crews upon arriving. •400 ships abandoned. •No official police force.•Private police protected individual establishments.•No official sanction or authority.

•1,000 residents in 1948.•Over 25,000 people in 1949.

Veterans as Private Security• Businessmen contracted with recently

discharged veterans to return runaway sailors - $25 a head. • Most veterans there as early as March

1847 from New York.• Members of Colonel Jonathan Stevenson's

regiment.• Mexican-American War (April 1846 –

February 1848).

• About sixty of the former soldiers formed the group.• Many were members of Bowery and Five

Points gangs in New York.

General Persifor Smith• Instrumental in Mexican-American War.• Commanded postwar Pacific Division in

California.• One of the last military governors of

California• Banned foreigners from taking gold from

the mines.• Declared any non-citizen who mined for

gold would be considered a "trespasser."

The Hounds• Veterans transformed into Hounds.• “Protect American citizens against Spanish-speaking foreigners.” • San Francisco “overrun with such men from the various countries and

ports on the Pacific.”• Initially, Hounds practiced military drills and demanded order. • Ultimately became nativist gang, attacking Chilenos, Peruvians and

Mexicans.• Claimed motivation was patriotism. • Contemporary nationalism typically advocates racial definition of

national identity, so Hounds would have been white supremacists.

Hounds became Regulators• Bolder, increasing attacks.• San Francisco Society of

Regulators.• Demanded protection

money.• Ordered drinks, suggested

collect from city. • Beat and robbed business

owners and citizens.

Because of a woman• Sam Roberts was in charge of the group.•Was also former member of New York Volunteer

Regiment. •Roberts become infatuated with a Chilean prostitute.• Found her with a German man, “beat him senseless

with a wooden plank.”

•Cut the unconscious man in the face with a spur.•Caused a lot of damage in town, threatening people.

The end was in sight•230 men special deputies ordered to arrest them.•Over 400 volunteer-vigilantes seized them. •Hounds scattered, only 20 members captured. •Roberts and 8 others convicted, no record of serving

sentence. • Political connections or limitations of criminal justice system.

•Other Hounds escaped, all apparently ceased their criminal behavior.