Felipe Alvitre is Hanged Twice and Dave Brown is Lynched Once With a Used Rope

On October 13, 1854, one David Brown killed Pinckney Clifford in sleepy Los Angeles.  The violence reportedly causing great excitement.  A public meeting on the next day was appeased only by the mayor's promise that if the law should fail, he would resign and help to punish the murderer.  Brown was tried November 30.  The District Court, Benjamin Hayes, Judge, sentenced him to be executed on January 12, 1855.

On October 26, 1854, Felipe Alvitre, was arrested for the murder of James Ellington, at El Monte, and he was hanged January 12, 1855.  The same day had been fixed by that court for the execution of Brown.  Brown's counsel, J. R. Scott and J. A. Watson, had obtained a stay of execution from the Supreme Court.  Public expectation waited for the stay, but it did not arrive.  

This still more inflamed the native Californian and Mexican portion of the population.  The fatal day arrived, and with it a gathering at the county jail of a great multitude of all classes.  The expectation of the hanging of two men contributed to a very festive time.  The crowd grew to more than a thousand witnesses all gathered at courtyard of the jail.   In addition the Los Angeles mayor had resigned, lending support to the undercurrent of a lynching if the stay arrived in time. 

Sheriff Barton posted within the jail yard an armed guard of forty men.  The Sheriff and his deputies soon brought Alvitre out from his cell, frog walked him to the top of the gallows and centered him across the trap.   The noose was tightened around his neck and the unhooded Alvitre was dropped, hung and the rope broke.  He fell to the ground.

"Arriba! arriba! " (Up! up!) was the cry from outside.  New rope was immediately broght forth.  This was the noose intended for Brown.  Alvitre was pulled up to the top of gallows for a second time.   The noose was instantly adjusted and the law's sentence carried into effect.   This time the process worked well.  Alvitre dropped and there was audible crack as his neck was broken.  His feet jerked and his body began to spin counter clockwise.   He circled three times and then spun back.  

Words fail to describe the demeanor then of that mass of eager, angry men.   The suspense was soon over.   The dilemma now was whether there would be the execution of Brown or would Sheriff Barton honor the Governor's stay. 

Persuaded by personal friends, the odds against him seeming too great, Sheriff Barton withdrew the guard.  The gate was crushed with heavy timbers, blacksmiths were procured, and the iron doors were forced.  Within the next hour Brown was dragged from his cell to a corral across the street. 

The crowd produced the rope used for Alvitre.  Amidst the shouts of the people, he uttered some incoherent observations.  The mayor intervened, placed the hood over his head and then the noose.  Brown was quickly hung from a beam of the corral gate. 

Another cell held a third person condemned for a later day, but him the crowd did not molest.  He was finally allowed a new trial, by the Supreme Court, and at Santa Barbara he was acquitted.  It was stated that a week after the lynching an order of the Supreme Court in favor of Alvitre, was received, it having been delayed by various causes.