nd thefts occurred in late 1850 and early 1851 (Hofstadter 458). Levi says that "the city was plagued with roving bands of hoodlums . . . who were not adverse to setting the city on fire . . . or carrying out acts of depredation in broad daylight" and Hofstadter says that over 100 persons were murdered within a space of a few months (1; 458). In a contemporary account by resident Minor King, "for a long time the city has been under the control of the vilest of creatures, desperadoes of every caste, the gambler, the thief, the murderer and the assassin" (Hofstadter 458). Particularly dangerous were the Sydney Ducks, escaped Australian ex-convicts, who controlled the waterfront area, Sydney Town and Kearny Street. Hollon says that "by the spring of 1851 conditions had become so intolerable that the regular courts of law were helpless in combating crime and violence" (72). Some recent historians question whether crime was really as rampant as the supporters of the Vigilance Committee of 1851 assert (Senkewicz 75).
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