hall, the Law and Order group's headquarters, at which they chose to make their sudden departure to the newly found Fraser River gold fields in what was then called New Caledonia. They were among the first San Franciscan parties to reach the river, and their claim at Hill's Bar proved to be one of the richest. However, the great mass movement of men from California to the Fraser brought many members of the Vigilance Committee, including the individual McGowan had had the violent personal conflict with in San Francisco (a Danish doctor and dentist, Dr. Fifer). Just as the Law and Order Party had brought Magistrate Perrier under their sway, Perrier being Governor Douglas' appointee to the bench in Hill's Bar, in Yale the Vigilance Committee did what they could to subvert civil authority and dominate the corrupt local officials who administered the township. Racism behind yuletide fracas The incident that provoked the war took place when one of the men from Hill's Bar assaulted Isaac "Ikey" Dixon, Yale's American black barber, at the Christmas Dance in 1858. Some of the American miners took exception to the fact that the Christmas Dance was open to persons of all races. Dixon was a voluble wag and wit, and in time would become a familiar newspaper columnist in the British Columbia newspapers. Dixon, from Yale, laid a complaint before Yale's Justice of the Peace, Peter Brunton Whannell; and was promptly placed in "protective custody" at Yale. In the meantime, the matter was also being investigated by George Perrier, Justice of the Peace for Hill's Bar. Perrier, with the assistance of Ned McGowan, a friend of the two suspects, was of the opinion that in the interests of a fair hearing he needed to hear evidence from the victim Dixon, before proceeding to deal with the persons who had committed the assault. Perrier accordingly sent his constable, Henry Hickson, with an order to pick up Dixon and bring him back to Hill's Bar. Duelling Magistrates Meanwhile, Magistrate Whannell, induced by the men of the Vigilance Committee, issued a warrant for the arrest of the Hill's Bar man and ordered that it be served in Hill's Bar. Magistrate Perrier took exception to this and issued a warrant for the arrest of Isaac Dixon in Yale. Constable Hickson, in serving the warrant on Dixon, interrupted Whannell's court. Whannell promptly arrested and jailed Hickson for contempt