spent time in nearly every camp (including Bodie) from Mexicornto Alaska, was asked shortly before she died if she had everrnfeared for her virtue while trekking from one strike to anotherrnand living in nearly all-male camps. She replied: “Bless yourrnsoul, no! I never have had a word said to me out of the way.rnThe ‘boys’ would sure see to it that anyone who ever offered torninsult me could never be able to repeat the offense.”rnToday, a rape occurs every five minutes. There are more thanrn100,000 rapes a year. More than 4,100 of them occur in LosrnAngeles County alone. The New York and Detroit metropolitanrnareas add another 3,100 each; Houston, 1,900; Dallas,rn1,800; Philadelphia, 1,700; and Atlanta, 1,600. The rape raternin the United States per 100,000 inhabitants is 42. The townrnwhere we all sent our box tops when we were kids. BattlernCreek, Michigan, has a rate of 140. Nonetheless, it pales inrncomparison with Benton Harbor, Michigan, which has a rate ofrn415!rnThe armed state of the people and their willingness to enforcerncertain moral codes clearly protected women. The presencernof armed citizens also made robbery, burglary, and theftrninfrequent events. However, because of the weapons theyrncarried, when men fought men the results were often deadly.rnDuring their boom years, there were some 50 homicides in Aurorarnand Bodie, and most of these occurred in fights. Most importantly,rnnearly all those killed were not innocent victimsrnbut willing combatants. Some were professional gunmen, butrnmost were miners, teamsters, bartenders, carpenters, gamblers,rnand the like. They were usually young and single, and alwaysrnbrave. These ingredients, often laced with alcohol, frequentlyrnled to fights over who was the better man, real or imaginedrninsults, and challenges to pecking order in the saloon.rnTypical was the fight in the Shamrock Saloon between AlexrnNixon, the powerfully built president of the Bodie Miners’rnUnion, and Tom McDonald. When a dispute arose over whornwould pay for the next round of drinks, Nixon unleashed a viciousrnblow that caught McDonald in the eye and sent him tornthe floor. As McDonald rose to his feet the Shamrock’s burlyrnbartender tried to separate the men and cool their tempers, butrnMcDonald drew a gun and asked the bigger Nixon if he wouldrngive him “even chances.” “Yes, by God,” answered Nixonrnwhile drawing his own gun. Both men opened fire. Nixon’srnfirst shot missed McDonald by inches, but McDonald’s hitrnNixon in the side, and the big miner staggered backward andrnfell to the floor. With blood freely flowing from the wound, hernlifted his gun and fired two more rounds that narrowly missedrnMcDonald. McDonald returned the fire. The rounds torernholes in the wooden planks of the Shamrock’s floor but leftrnNixon untouched. It hardly mattered. Less than two hours laterrnNixon died from the effects of McDonald’s first shot.rnSuch shootings troubled few in Aurora or Bodie. The menrninvolved were both young, healthy, armed, and willing. Mostrnresidents thought that the fight could have been avoided: onerndid not need to spend the late hours of the evening armed,rnstanding at the bar, drinking, and issuing challenges to others.rnIf one chose to do so, one should be ready to fight and ready tornsuffer the consequences. Although McDonald was arrested, hernwas released on bail, and the grand jury later failed to indictrnhim. It was clearly a case of justifiable homicide. Dozens ofrnkillings in the towns followed a similar pattern.rnWhen an innocent victim was shot down in cold blood,rnonly once in Aurora and once in Bodie, then the response of therncitizenry was immediate and took the form of vigilantism. InrnAurora, vigilantes hanged four men; in Bodie, one. The vigilancerncommittees were organized not because there were no establishedrninstitutions of law enforcement and justice, but becausernthose institutions could not be relied upon to punish thernguilty. That was not greatly troubling when the homicidernvictim was a rough or a bad man, or a man who had chosen tornfight, but was unacceptable when the victim was an innocentrnparty. Contrary to the popular image of vigilantes as an angry,rnunruly mob, the vigilantes displayed military-like organizationrnand discipline and proceeded in a quiet, orderly, and deliberaternfashion. In both towns the vigilantes waited until the coroner’srnjury had rendered a verdict before they acted. They didrnwhat they thought they had a right to do, defend their community.rnAgain and again the vigilantes of Aurora and Bodie, asrnwell as those of other communities throughout the West, arguedrnthat they had a “right to self-preservation.”rnIn retrospect the Old West does not look too bad. Yes,rnmen (and some women) went about armed and male combatantsrnkilled each other, mostly in fights where there werernsomewhat “even chances.” On the other hand, the young, thernold, the female, and those who chose not to drink in saloonsrnand display reckless bravado were rarely the victims of crime orrnviolence. Moreover, dirty, low-down scoundrels got their justrndeserts. “We can’t go back to that.” Why not?rnIgrew up in a Los Angeles that had very little crime. Wcrnlocked the door to our house with a skeleton key, when wernremembered. I often think of the contrast with today when listeningrnto rebroadcasts of the Dragnet radio series that originallyrnaired in the early 1950’s. It was one of my favorites then andrnstill beats TV now. Jack Webb stuck close to real cases and wasrna stickler for detail. As Sergeant Joe Friday, he went after murderersrnand robbers, to be sure, but much of the time he wasrntracking such public enemies as shoplifters, bicycle thieves,rncheck forgers, drag racers, teenage rowdies, and the like. Callrnthe LAPD today and report that your bicycle has been stolen!rnCars are stolen so often (nearly 200 a day) that the LAPD doesrnnothing more than list the vehicle on a “hot sheet” and wishrnthe victim good luck. Korean merchants complain that customersrnbrazenly walk out of their stores without paying for merchandisernbecause they know that the police will not respond torna call for help. The police are simply overwhelmed by the volumernof crime and are kept more than fully occupied by murder,rnarmed robbery, and rape.rnIn Joe Friday’s day the city of Los Angeles had a populationrnof some two million. Today it has three and a half million. Everythingrnelse being equal, crime should have increased by 75rnpercent. Instead, crime has increased by 350 percent for rape,rn1100 percent for auto theft, 1350 percent for murder, andrn1540 percent for robbery. The raw numbers are shocking. Inrnthe early I950’s the city of Los Angeles averaged about 70 murdersrna year. Today the city averages more than 90 murders arnmonth. In 1952 there were 81 murders. In 1992 there werern1,092 murders. The month of August alone had 119. In 1952rnthere were 572 rapes reported to the LAPD. In 1992 there werern2,030 reported. During the same years robbery increased fromrna reported total of 2,566 to 39,508, and auto theft from 6,241rnto 68,783.rnThe LAPD (as well as the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department)rnused to solve more than 90 percent of the murders. Todayrnthe figure is barely over 60 percent. Detectives complainrnthat the case load is too great to conduct the kind of thoroughrn18/CHRONICLESrnrnrn