At the present day all manner of gambling games are allowed by the State laws and are licensed by the towns and cities. In the original document, preserved in the old Gold Hill book of records, there are given several additional sections, but as they relate to matters not of interest to the general reader I have omitted them. One of these provides that “No Chinaman shall hold a claim in this district.”
Whereas, The isolated position we occupy far from all legal tribunals, and cut off from those fountains of justice which every American citizen should enjoy—renders it necessary that we organize in body politic for our mutual protection against the lawless and for meting out justice between man and man, therefore we, citizens of Gold Hill, do hereby agree to adopt the following rules and laws for our government—
Rules and Regulations.
Sec. 1. Any person who shall wilfully and with malice aforethought take the life of any person, shall, upon being duly convicted thereof, suffer the penalty of death by hanging.
Sec. 2. Any person who shall wilfully wound another, shall upon conviction thereof, suffer such penalty as the jury may determine.
Sec. 3. Any person found guilty of robbery or theft, shall, upon conviction, be punished with stripes or banishment, as the jury may determine.
Sec. 4. Any person found guilty of assault and battery, or exhibiting deadly weapons, shall, upon conviction, be fined or banished, as the jury may determine.
Sec. 5. No banking games, under any consideration, shall be allowed in this district, under the penalty of final banishment from the district.
At the present day all manner of gambling games are allowed by the State laws and are licensed by the towns and cities. In the original documents, preserved in the old Gold Hill book of records, there are given several additional sections, but as they relate to matters not of general interest to the reader I have omitted them. One of these provides that “No Chinaman shall hold a claim in this district.”
As may be seen, the laws of the first settlers were few and to the point; they were for use, not for ornament or the puzzling of the common understanding.[understanding.] In each settlement were in force some such “rules and regulations” as these. The man who broke one of the “rules” was sure to suffer a strict enforcement of the “regulations.”