THE LION OF THE VIGILANTES"": William T. Coleman and the Life of Old San Francisco

This is good reading, but it isn't good writing. It is colloquial, informal, somewhat haphazard, but it is crammed with fascinating material and it is easy entertainment and a sound contribution to better understanding of old San Francisco and the people who built her greatness and gave her color. Coleman was given the name used as the title by R. L. Stevenson, and it is eminently suitable. His story is the ideal success story of the Coast, and into it is woven the whole period of San Francisco's gropings from a ramshackle collection of huts to the queen of the west. The vigilantes, abused and feared as they were, played a part, saving the city three separate times. Scherer has made the city live, he has given stature to Coleman, and he has told a good yarn. Sure of a big sale on the Coast, it ought to be popular for its readability elsewhere.