John Coffee Hays: San Francisco’s First Elected Sheriff

John Coffee Hays. Cap'n Jack. Colonel John C. Hays. Sheriff Hays. Surveyor General Hays.

Surely no other Sheriff in San Francisco's history lived as storied a life as Jack Hays. Born in Tennessee, a legendary figure in the history of Texas, and one of the founders of the city of Oakland, Hays died in Oakland, California in 1883. He is the only San Francisco Sheriff to be the subject of a published, full-length biography. His exploits as a legendary Texas Ranger could fill volumes, his later adventures and accomplishments in California only added to his dramatic legend.

This study of Jack Hays will emphasize his time as San Francisco's first elected Sheriff, although his other adventures will be summarized as succinctly as possible for those unfamiliar with his formal biography, "Colonel Jack Hays, Texas Frontier Leader And California Builder" (1952) by James Kimmins Greer.

Jack Hays' great grandfather came to the US from Ireland in 1740. Hays was born on January 28, 1817, in Little Cedar Lick, Tennessee. Hays was named for his father's US Army commander at the battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812, General John Coffee. In 1832 when he was 15, Jack Hays' parents died leaving behind Jack and his six siblings.

After the deaths of his parents, Hays took a job as a surveyor's assistant. In March of 1836, word came of the declaration of independence of Texas and the subsequent fall of the Alamo, and at the age of 19, he began his first adventure as he rode to Texas to join the Army of the Republic. After a brief stint in the army, Hays joined a newly formed group called the Texas Rangers, who were charged with maintaining law and order in the new Republic.

While still part of the Rangers, Hays continued to pursue a career as a land surveyor. In the new Texas Republic, where many new plots of land had been purchased or awarded for service, land surveyors were much in demand. But it was dangerous work since a great deal of the land to be surveyed was the territory of the original peoples-- a half dozen indigenous Native American tribes who were understandably hostile to incursions by the new settlers in the Texas Republic. In his capacity of surveyor, Hays was in dozens of deadly fights with Comanches and other Southwestern tribes. At times, Hays even joined up with groups of Native Americans to fight enemy tribes and Mexicans.

In 1840, President of the Texas Republic M. B. Lamar promoted Jack Hays to the rank of Captain of the Texas Rangers. During the next 18 months, Hays was in dozens of gunfights with Native American tribes and Mexicans up and down the Texas/Mexico border. In August 1841 the citizens of Bexar, Texas elected Hays as County Surveyor. Throughout this period, he continued to fight in many pitched battles along the frontier, mostly with Mexicans who were determined to take over San Antonio and other Texas Republic territory. In 1842, the new President of the Republic, Sam Houston, promoted Hays to the rank of Major in the Rangers.

In May 1844, Hays outfitted his Ranger company with a supply of Colt Paterson five-shot revolvers and revolving rifles from the stores of the newly decommissioned Republic of Texas Navy after Texas had won its independence from Mexico.The Paterson was an early version of Samuel Colt's classic revolver, the design of which evolved quickly thanks to Colt's insistence on using interchangeable parts and assembly line manufacturing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The five-shot 36 caliber Paterson revolver had a 9 inch barrel and it revolutionized frontier battle tactics. In June of 1844 at what became known as the Battle of Walker's Creek Col Jack Hays and fourteen Rangers, each armed with two Colt Paterson revolvers, routed a war party of 70 to 80 attacking Comanches. The Texas Rangers' amazing survival during that incident helped create the legend of the Colt revolver, and the birth of the Colt's Patent Firearms Company.

During the period from 1843 to 1846, Hays commanded various sized Texas Ranger units and participated in dozens of gunfights with Native Americans and Mexicans, personally killing scores of opponents. His Ranger units battled raiding warrior bands of Southwestern Indians, captured horse thieves who were usually shot or hanged on the spot, and brought law and justice to a wild and unpredictable frontier. Hays was an excellent horseman, a  deadly marksman and a brilliant strategist. He was also very fortunate to have survived: Hays had hundreds of arrows and gunshots directed at him, but somehow was never seriously wounded. The fighting often was furious, his units frequently outnumbered, and the nearest back-up was hundreds of miles away.

According to John Caperton, one of Hays' most loyal Rangers and his best friend, the survival rate of a Texas Ranger was not promising-- about half of the Rangers were killed off every year but their places were filled by new men. Those who brought law and order to the Texas plains were considered lucky if they were alive after more than a year or two of service

In 1845 Texas became a territory of the United States, and on February 19, 1846, the President of the Republic of Texas declared, "The Republic is no more". The United States Congress declared the Rio Grande to be the new southern boarder of America. The burgeoning western movement of citizens and immigrants to the newly acquired territory increased dramatically.

The Mexican-American War

In May of 1846, General Zachary Taylor was in command of the US Army assigned to protect the recently annexed Texas territory.  A Mexican army raiding party captured and killed a group of American soldiers and hostilities between the two countries began in earnest. President James K. Polk, who was determined to expand the United States across the continent and looking for an excuse to declare war on Mexico, used the incident to send a message to Congress on May 11, 1846, stating that Mexico had "invaded our territory and shed American blood upon the American soil." Two days later Congress declared war on Mexico.

As the Mexican-American War began, General Taylor asked Texas to provide military support, and Texas Governor J.P. Henderson directed Jack Hays to recruit a regiment of mounted Texas militia to support the US Army.

Hays was elected Colonel of the militia, and though officially named the First Regiment of Texas Mounted Volunteers, the unit was best known as Hays' Texas Rangers.  He led his men on a scouting mission into the heart of Mexico, actively pursuing the Mexican army to the city of Monterrey.

On September 20, 1846, Hays led his 250 Rangers on a combined assault of Monterrey, Mexico. A US Army command of 2,000 men, led by General W. J. Worth, attacked from the opposite side of the city. Hays led his men in a pitched battle, first attacking the city, and then fighting house to house in the streets and alleys of the city for three days. Eventually the city was taken and a surrender of all Mexican forces was negotiated. By the end of September, the tour of duty of the Rangers was over, and Jack Hays and his men returned to Texas. Tales of the exploits and heroics of Hays and the Texas Rangers made headlines around the country.

In February 1847, Texas Governor Henderson sent Hays to Washington, D.C., to urge President James Polk to provide more support in terms of money and troops to protect Texas and her borders. Hays made quite a sensation among the Washington elite, and was asked by President Polk to be Mrs. Polk's escort at a society wedding. No doubt thanks to Hays' lobbying, President Polk approved the order to raise additional troops to protect the Texas frontier regions.

In early 1847, John Coffee Hays was again called upon to recruit Rangers to support the United States as the War with Mexico continued. President Polk specifically asked that Hays lead his men to Vera Cruz where the American forces were under constant attack by Mexican guerilla units. Polk wrote,  "I suggest that the mounted Regiment from Texas under the command of Col. John C. Hays, who has high character as an officer, be ordered to proceed without delay to Vera Cruz" (Bio, p. 168). Hays and his men sailed to Vera Cruz in October 1847.  By this time, Mexico City had already fallen to US armed forces under General Winfield Scott.

Shortly after arriving in Vera Cruz, Hays and a scouting group of 12 Rangers on horseback were attacked by 200 Mexican guerillas.  Hays and his men fought the guerillas off, killing many of the attackers without any loss of Ranger lives. Hays was involved in several other fierce gun battles during the march from Vera Cruz to Mexico City, personally killing a number of the enemy while leading his Rangers in numerous battles. The Mexican army referred to Hays and his men as Los Diablos Tejanos-- The Texas Devils.

Hays and a number of US Army units then went on a two-week march, covering over five hundred miles as they captured several towns and routed many Mexican guerillas. At the end of 1847, they returned to Mexico City.

Armistice between the US and Mexico was signed in March 1848. When Jack Hays led his Rangers out of Mexico City toward Vera Cruz, they had to fight skirmishes with renegade guerilla fighters all along the route.  As the war drew to a close, Hays and his troops made their way to Vera Cruz, and just outside the city, he had a chance meeting with General Santa Anna, the deposed Mexican President. Santa Anna had been granted permission to flee the country, but had to wait for a transport ship to enter the port.  On March 28, Hays heard that a grand meal was planned for Santa Anna at the house of General Jose Duran, to which U.S. Army officers had been invited. Hays was encamped only four miles away, so he decided to make a visit to pay his respects.

Hays showed up at the dinner party and was seen by the ranking US Army Commander, Major John Kenly. Although Hays was not dressed in military garb, Major Kenly approached Hays and offered to present him to Santa Anna. When Hays was introduced to Santa Anna, the deposed general is said to have turned pale, and to have refused to even look at Hays. As soon as Hays politely stepped away, Santa Anna pronounced the entire event over, exited the room and made arrangements to be transported immediately to the coast to board the ship that was taking him safely away from Mexico to Venezuela.

It wasn't until May of 1848 that Hays finally left Mexico to return to Texas. Upon arriving back in his adopted home, Hays and a small group of Rangers traveled throughout the state and were feted at receptions and balls in celebration of his exploits.  On his first night back in Texas, a ball and reception were awaiting Hays and his men, but they had only their war-torn uniforms from Mexico to wear.  On a dare, Hays wore a purloined dress uniform from General Santa Anna to the event, to the great enjoyment of all.

Jack Hays retired from military duty and was given the job of head surveyor of roads leading west from San Antonio, and he was joined by his long time Ranger comrade Major John Caperton. Although Hays' job was to survey, he and his crew were actually exploring previously unmapped areas, looking for major passages west.  The landscape and weather were brutal and exhausting.  After 45 days, the party ran out of rations and subsisted by eating their own pack mules and any wild game they could find. Hays finally returned to San Antonio after 106 days in the wilderness, desert, mountains and treacherous territories both north and south of the Rio Grande. It was December 1848.

In early 1849, there was a brief movement to draft Hays for the office of Texas Governor, but Hays declined. He was then appointed by the federal government in Washington to serve as an Indian Agent under the jurisdiction of the newly created Department of the Interior, at a salary of $400 per year. During the summer of 1849, Hays helped lead a large military and civilian party on a trek from San Antonio to El Paso, with the ultimate destination being California. The terrain was so difficult that a portion of the travelers broke away to follow a southern route, heading for Mazatlan in order to travel to San Francisco by ship. Hays and a large contingent continued on the overland route.

Among Hays' group were former Ranger Major John Caperton, who would become San Francisco's first Deputy Sheriff, and John Nugent, a budding journalist who became the controversial editor of The San Francisco Herald newspaper. After making their way to Tucson, they stayed for six weeks while party members recovered from various illnesses and injuries. By December 5, 1849, the Hays party had reached the Colorado River, and, after crossing the river, Hays and company headed toward San Diego, California arriving at the end of December.

Shortly after reaching San Diego, Hays submitted a lengthy report to the Secretary of the Interior about the viability of the route they had traveled and of the need for protection from Apaches along the route. He also submitted his resignation as an employee of the Department of the Interior, and began his next adventure, traveling up the California coast by steamer with John Caperton and John Nugent to join the great gold rush in San Francisco.

From Texas to San Francisco

The steamship was the Colonel Fremont.  It passed through a violent four-day storm along the California coast, but after 15 days at sea, Hays sailed through the Golden Gate on January 25, 1850. Hays and his companions found lodging in the Adelphi House on the north side of Clay Street, above Montgomery Street in the burgeoning town of San Francisco.

But Jack Hays' reputation had preceded him. San Francisco's Alta newspaper announced that Hays was headed for San Francisco days before his arrival, and while Hays' intent may have been to pass through San Francisco to join in the gold rush in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, it was only a matter of days before he was approached by San Francisco civic activist Sam Brannan and others, who asked him to seek the office of Sheriff. California was about to achieve statehood, and city and county elections would be held throughout the new state as an array of newly elected officials prepared to take office for the first time. Hays was 33 years old at the time.

As San Francisco's April 1, 1850 election day approached. there was a very brief, but very lively, campaign for Sheriff. On February 1st, The Alta newspaper noted that Hays had consented to having his name put forward as a candidate. Two days later, John Townes, who had already served as an appointed Sheriff in San Francisco, announced that he would also be a candidate (2-3-50, Alta). The third formal candidate had the most money: Colonel J. J. Bryant, owner of several properties, including the Bryant's Exchange Saloon and a boarding house.

Hays decided to run as an independent even though he had been selected by the Whig party to be their candidate-- he simply declined their endorsement. As a result, the Whigs endorsed John Townes.  The Democrats selected Bryant to be their candidate. Townes took Hays to task in a paid advertisement for failing to make a public exposition of his views (Alta, 3-25-50). Other notable citizens offered up their names for the office, including a businessman named John P. Van Ness and even Chief of Police Malachi Fallon. Neither candidate's name  made it to the ballot.

While Bryant increased the expensive newspaper advertisements of his various businesses, and presented concerts from the balcony of his gambling house, Hays' supporters held rallies in the streets and in Portsmouth Square. Since Hays was a hero of the Mexican-American War, many of the local militia leaders were strongly pushing his candidacy. Hays rode through the town on a black horse and on election day rode into the plaza and captivated the crowd with his horsemanship on his dancing and rearing horse as rockets, squibs, and fire crackers hissed their way through the air (Alta, 4-1-50). After the votes were counted, Hays was the clear winner with 3,067 votes to Bryant's 1,131. Mr. Townes was a very distant third with 262 votes. 

Bryant immediately challenged the election, claiming that Hays was not eligible to be a candidate on the ground that Hays had not been a citizen of the State for six months prior to the election. But Bryant's challenge went nowhere and Hays took office as San Francisco's first elected sheriff on Tuesday April 9, 1850 (Alta, 4-4-50).

In December of 1850, Hays' wife, Susan, arrived in San Francisco from Texas. Shortly thereafter, Hays purchased Mountain Home Ranch, a 2,000-acre ranch down the San Francisco Peninsula, in the general area that is now the town of Woodside. In 1850 San Francisco County was immense, stretching from Fort Point at the Golden Gate all the way down to the Santa Cruz County border. It was not until 1856 that San Mateo County was created and San Francisco County became the 49 square miles it is today.

As the newly elected Sheriff, Jack Hays inherited the a brig floating in San Francisco Bay named the Euphemia, which was his county jail. The ship had been purchased for $3,500 in October 1849, replacing an old school house on Portsmouth Square as the city's only jail.

The Euphemia was moored near Central Wharf, an area now occupied by the intersection of Battery and Sacramento Streets. Since the ship did not have jail cells, the City Council purchased 50 sets of balls and chains at a cost of $523.80 (Gold Rush Jail, James Delgado, California History Magazine, p. 134- 141). Later, the lower deck of the ship was converted to a cellblock.

A few months into Hays' term, the prison ship that he had inherited was deemed inadequate, receiving this criticism from the City Council: "Our attention has been recently called to the condition of prison discipline in this city. The brig' and the station houses are literally filled with prisoners, and we recently heard one of our city functionaries express the opinion that if any more were incarcerated these places would rival the famous black-hole of Calcutta.  As it is, six or eight men are crowded into a single cell, scarcely large enough for one man's accommodation. It has been recommended that another brig be purchased to relieve the crowded state of our prisons" (Alta, 8-4-50).

Apparently Sheriff Hays saw the limitations of using yet another prison ship as a county jail and immediately began to work on plans for the construction of San Francisco's first permanent county jail facility.

The Sheriff, the New County Jail, and the Vigilantes

For Jack Hays, the year 1851 was consumed with efforts to raise funds to build the new county jail amid an historic citizens' uprising known as The Committee of Vigilance of 1851.

The history of the 1851 Committee of Vigilance (COV) is a complex and detailed story, but there are books and articles aplenty describing how the City's lack of law enforcement officers, and the abundance of active criminals, led to a committee of businessmen and citizens creating their own police force and court system to punish and even execute criminals.

The Committee boasted a membership of over 700 citizens. Although Sheriff Jack Hays was not a member of The Committee, he was one of the rare public officials who had the approval and assistance of the Committee of Vigilance. The man who first approached Hays about running for Sheriff, Sam Brannan, was a prime organizer of The Committee of Vigilance.

On June 11, 1850, The Committee caught and hung a thief, John Jenkins, in Portsmouth Square.  A Coroner's inquest resulted in no one being charged with a crime, even though two hundred citizens took responsibility in the local newspaper. "Hays was not called before the coroner's inquest",  W. A. Howard, a vigilante, wrote to the president of The Committee. "The Sheriff & his officers are with us Heart and Soul''  (Papers of the Committee, Mary Williams, p. 32).

Over time, progress on completing the new county jail was going so slowly that Sheriff Jack Hays contributed $1,500 of his own funds to keep the project going (Herald, 6-16-51). The building site was on Broadway at Pinkney Alley (now Romolo Place), a block east of Columbus Avenue.

Hays' untiring efforts were lauded by the Picayune newspaper: "The rapid progress towards the completion of the County jail observable under the management of Col. Hayes (sic), and his efficient assistants, gives pleasing hope that the jolly times prisoners have heretofore had of getting into prison, and getting out again, are nearly over.  Under the lately defunct dynasty, the county of San Francisco paid in the course of about eleven months, ninety thousand dollars toward the construction of the jail, and at the end of the time  and of the money  the foundation of the building was nearly completed!  The Sheriff, Col. Hays, assisted by Capt. Lambert, with a subscription of $1,000, made up by the citizens, has, in the space of seven days, done more towards the completion of the prison, than was effected by the County since the commencement of the work."  (Picayune, 6-6-1851)

A week after the lynching of Jenkins, members of The Committee of Vigilance were invited by Hays' chief deputy, John Caperton, to inspect the new Broadway Jail which was operating even though it was still under construction. 

The visit was detailed in Mary William's definitive book on the 1851 Vigilantes:

"The visitors found seven cells occupied; the largest, twelve by fourteen feet, held fourteen prisoners, and the others, six by nine feet, held six each. The keepers' room was also finished; another tier of cells needed only doors to be habitable; although a part of the building was without a roof. The subcommittee recommended the raising of funds for the completion of the prison and at a General Meeting on July 5 it was resolved that each member should secure ten subscriptions of three dollars each."

Suitable blank subscription forms were distributed within a few days, and the work of collection extended over a period of several weeks. In the meantime a further report was made on the condition of the jail.

The need to complete the jail became all the more urgent after June 22, 1851, when a tremendous fire swept through much of the City and a police lock-up on the ground floor of City Hall was lost in the flames. The prisoners housed at the lock-up were transferred to the Broadway jail and immediately filled all the available jail space. The Committee solicited funds from its members and distributed posted flyers requesting citizens to increase contributes to the jail construction fund. By September 1851, the COV had raised about $4,700, which was presented to Sheriff Hays.

Over the next several weeks the Committee operated as a shadow criminal justice agency, arresting individuals and holding them for interrogation in a makeshift jail called Fort Gunnybags at 243 Sacramento Street. Suspected criminals were occasionally turned to Sheriff Hays when the Committee felt the local officials could properly dispose of the case. In the early days of August, however, the Committee held two men who they determined should be executed. Robert McKenzie and Samuel Whittaker were notorious criminals who had confessed to many crimes, but no murders; nevertheless on August 17th, the Committee announced the two men would be hanged on August 20th.

On August 19th, California's Governor John McDougal, learning of the impending executions, rushed to San Francisco.  Arriving around midnight, Governor McDougal summoned Mayor Charles Brenham, and they located a judge who issued a warrant for immediate seizure of the two condemned men. Sheriff Jack Hays was directed to serve the warrant without delay.

According to historian Mary Williams, "Colonel Hays had no relish for the commission.  As has been said, he sustained the most cordial relations with the volunteer police headquarters on Battery Street; he had invited members of the Committee to visit his own jail; they had commended his efforts to complete the building, and had promised substantial financial assistance towards defraying the expenses he has assumed.  More than once they had delivered important prisoners into his keeping, and more than once they had frustrated his efforts to take from them men whom they were unwilling to relinquish."

"At first he thought that it was not his duty, and rather roughly declined, but the obligation could not be evaded, and he reluctantly called his deputy, John Caperton, and accompanied the Governor and the Mayor to the rooms of the Committee." (Williams, p. 295)

Fort Gunnybags, Vigilante Headquarters on Sacramento Street

August 20, 1851 was a bizarre day in the history of the City, during which the California Governor, and the Mayor and Sheriff of San Francisco made a surprise raid on the Committee of Vigilance headquarters to capture Whittaker and McKenzie and take them to the county jail. The COV had fortified an old wearhouse at 243 Sacramento Street with sandbags and logs and made it their official headquarters. The raid was accomplished without violence or resistance from the vigilantes, and the three officials actually came back to the Committee building several hours later to have a seemingly cordial meeting with the COV leaders. The Governor then published a Proclamation in the local papers calling upon citizens to abide by the law and the constitution. But the Committee had other plans.

Four days later, on August 24th, Sheriff Hays was invited by several local businessmen to attend a bullfight south of town (near Mission Dolores). According to Committee member George Schenck, the Vigilantes clearly lured Hays to the bullfight and kept watch over him while he was there (Greer, p. 227). With the Sheriff occupied elsewhere, the Vigilantes stormed the county jail at 2:30 pm, took back inmates Whittaker and McKenzie and hanged them side-by-side from a scaffold within an hour. While at the bullfight, Hays was alerted to the storming of the jail and he immediately rode back into town, but by the time he arrived, the two men had been executed.

There has never been any evidence that Sheriff Hays was aware of the intentions of the Vigilantes, but there is no question that their conduct disturbed him greatly and caused him concern for the security of his position. There is also no doubt that Hays remained a favorite of the Vigilantes.  Because of the adoption of yet another new County charter, Hays had to face reelection only weeks after the Vigilante had taken and executed prisoners from his jail. By this time, Hays was already being challenged for the office of Sheriff.  On the very night that Hays and the Governor were taking custody of Whittaker and McKenzie, the Whig party was meeting to select a slate of candidates for the September election. They endorsed Charles M. Elleard for the position of Sheriff. Elleard had served as a City constable in 1850 and at the time of the election ran a bar and oyster room.

Historian Mary Floyd Williams relates a conversation that Sheriff Hays had with prominent COV member Garrett Ryckman, in which Hays feared he would not be reelected because of a perceived neglect of duty regarding the hangings of Whittaker and McKenzie. Ryckman assured Hays of the Vigilance Committee's endorsement. The week after the jail takeover, a sub-group of the Committee of Vigilance proposed a slate of candidates for the upcoming election. The list was published in the Alta newspaper on August 28, 1851, and for several days thereafter. Sheriff John Hays was the Independent Ticket candidate for the post of Sheriff. Although the COV publicly denied that they made any political endorsements, it was clear to everyone that the Independent Ticket has the blessing of the Committee of Vigilance.

On Election Day, September 3, 1851, Jack Hays became the endorsed candidate of the Democrats as well as the Independent candidate. There was at least one concerted effort to steal the election from Hays. As the Alta reported, in the 11th precinct where 106 votes were polled the name of John C. Hays was scratched on every one, and that of Charles M. Elleard substituted. This exhibits some pretty nice electioneering  (Alta, 9-4-1851). Nevertheless, Jack Hays easily won reelection as Sheriff with 3,755 votes to his opponent's 1,928, besting Charles Elleard in every single precinct except in the 11th where Hays received no votes at all (Alta, 9-7-51).

Construction on the Broadway jail moved slowly, but by the end of September 1851, fifteen of the jail cells had been completed (Greer, p. 279). At the time, the jail population was averaging some fifty prisoners a day. During his years as Sheriff, Hays looked for other business opportunities to supplement his income.  He began purchasing property and toward the end of the year purchased a home for his family on Powell Street.  He and his chief deputy, John Caperton, also entered into a contract with the State to house State prisoners, since the State penal system was still in its infancy.

Although Deputy Caperton and Sheriff Hays were in the state prisoner housing business for only a few months, they not only managed to lose money on the deal, they were embarrassed when seventeen state convicts escaped from their custody. The convicts had leased a ship called the Wabu, which was anchored off Angel Island. The prisoners worked in a quarry on the island.  In January 1852, seventeen prisoners overwhelmed the guards and rowed away toward the East Bay. Hays and others took up pursuit and captured several of the escapees over the next few months, but many of the convicts were never retaken. 

Shortly after this incident, Sheriff Jack Hays and Deputy John Caperton canceled their contract with the state and concentrated on purchasing real estate. The two men made a major purchase in March of 1852, going in with other investors to buy thousands of acres in the East Bay district called Encinal, a Spanish word that means oak grove. This land along the estuary and around Lake Merritt eventually became Oakland. The town of Oakland was incorporated two months later. Over the next several years, Hays and Caperton sold off parcels and donated others to schools and to the fledgling municipality of Oakland. Jack Hays is widely considered one of the key founders of Oakland.

San Francisco's First Official Execution

During the first 40 years of California's statehood, it fell to each county's sheriff to implement the death penalty.  The citizens of many counties took the matter of exectuting criminals into their own hands prior to and during the first years of statehood, but as the court and justice system developed, legal executions became a relatively common occurrence. California sheriffs executed well over 230 individuals before the responsibility was transferred to the state prison system in 1892.

Sheriff Hays performed San Francisco's first legal execution on December 10, 1852. The City had seen four men executed extra judicially in 1851 by the Committee of Vigilance, much to the horror and chagrin of San Francisco's judicial and political leaders. The first man to face lawful execution in San Francisco was Jose Forner, a 32-year-old native of Spain who had been working as a cook in the Hotel Nueva Mondo for about six months. According to Forner's confession, he had stabbed to death a fellow Hispanic who had stabbed him and tried to rob him. In a matter of weeks, Forner was convicted and sentenced to be hanged.

Sheriff Hays had originally decided to perform the execution in Washington Square, but plans changed several times before the day of the hanging. It was then intended to have him executed him on Portsmouth Square, and then in front of the jail, but owing to the "repugnance of the citizens of that neighborhood, the Sheriff has fixed upon Russian Hill as the place" (Alta, 12-10-1852).  A spot on the highest point of the hill was chosen and the construction of a scaffold was begun when plans changed again. 

It seems that the chosen location at the peak of Russian Hill was the original burial ground of the settlement when it was still known as Yerba Buena, and was the gravesite of several of its earliest settlers (Alta, 12-10-1852).  On the morning of the execution, Sheriff Hays wisely had the scaffold moved several yards down the hillside, which hid it from the view of the city (Alta, 12-11-1852).

The execution itself was reasonably uneventful. In spite of a light rain, a large crowd gathered around the scaffold structure early in the day. At one o'clock, a local militia group, the Marion Rifles, pushed the crowd back and created a perimeter around the gallows, and a second militia unit, the California Guard, escorted the Sheriff, his staff and the condemned man to the site. They arrived in a wagon drawn by four black horses.

Forner was led up the gallows stairs; Sheriff Hays read the execution order and Forner was allowed to speak his last words: "My friends! You have come to see an innocent man die.  I die for having killed an assassin."  He then briefly explained his case for self-defense and ended with surprising generosity: "No doubt those that tried me acted justly, according to the testimony. They could not have known the truth. The Americans are good people; they have ever treated me well and kindly; I thank them for it. I have nothing but love and kindly feelings for all. Farewell, people of San Francisco!  World, farewell."  (Alta, 12-11-1852).

Forner's legs and arms were then tied, a black hood placed over his head, the noose adjusted around his neck and Sheriff Hays used a hatchet to cut loose the drop. At 1:30, Jose Forner was pronounced dead. Although as many as three thousand men, women and children attended the execution, not everyone was pleased with the spectacle. The Alta opined: "May our criminal records never be stained again with the history of such a dark and bloody transaction".

Final Days as San Francisco's Sheriff

One month after the Jose Forner execution, Hays took a four-month leave of absence from his post as Sheriff.  In mid-January 1853, he sailed to the East Coast and traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend the inauguration of President Franklin Pierce and to seek an appointment as Surveyor General of California.  His trip was a successful one. Four days after his return to San Francisco, Jack Hays submitted his resignation as Sheriff to accept his new appointment as Surveyor General. One of his deputies, Thomas Johnson, was appointed by the Board of Supervisors to complete Hays' term of office.

Several years later, there would be one last big gunfight in Hays' life. In 1859, when the Comstock Lode was discovered near Virginia City, Nevada, local Paiute Indians marauded and robbed local miners and settlers killing several. Hays traveled to Nevada and assumed leadership of a force of several hundred volunteers. Hays and his volunteers waged a series of running gun battles with the Paiutes for several weeks, with numerous casualties on both sides before the attacks on local settlers were stopped.

Another New Career after the Sheriff's Office

Hays served as the state's Surveyor General until late in 1856. He continued to buy and sell real estate, in partnership with his lifelong friend John Caperton. Hays and his wife Susan had five children, although two of them died at a young age. They moved to several large and beautiful tracts of land along Temescal Creek in Oakland and built their family estate there which they called Fernwood. The former location of the Fernwood site is near the intersection of Mountain Boulevard and Thornhill Drive in Oakland's Montclair neighborhood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each day, Hays rode down to the Oakland waterfront and took the ferry to San Francisco and his desk at the Surveyor's office. Occasionally, when he missed the ferry, Hays would row himself across the Bay. Jack Hays became a lifelong activist in local and statewide Democratic politics, often serving as a delegate to the State Convention and endorsing and campaigning for candidates. It is reported that during the Civil War, both the Union and the Confederate leadership solicited him to lead a military unit, but he declined, choosing to concentrate on local California issues.

Jack Hays lived another two decades, immersed in California Democratic politics and managing his vast real estate holdings. Hays was a member of the U. C. Board of Regents and a director of the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Asylum in Berkeley (precursor to the California School for the Deaf and Blind, and today the Clark Kerr Campus at UC Berkeley). He was a major stockholder in the Oakland Gas Light Company, and the founder and director of Oakland's Union National Bank.

In his later years Hays suffered from painful rheumatism and he died at the age of 66 in his Oakland home on April 21, 1883. Hays was buried in a crypt in Oakland's Mountain View Cemetery at the foot of Piedmont Avenue. A plaque was placed there by The Former Texas Rangers Association of Texas, and in 2022 the San Francisco Sheriff's Department conducted a brief formal tribute at his gravesite to honor Jack Hays on the 172nd anniversary of his election as San Francisco's Sheriff .