William Tell Coleman

He first emerged as a leading figure in the 1851 Committees of Vigilance in the aftermath of a speech imploring the mob to conduct a formal, albeit illegal, court rather than lynch its targets immediately.

After a protest in sympathy with the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 turned into an anti-Asian riot, Coleman again mobilized troops to quell the unrest.

Coleman's concern was less for the well-being of the local Chinese community than fear that a working class party would take power in San Francisco.

[8] During the 1880s, Coleman was the owner of the Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley, operating famous twenty mule teams to carry the product from 1883 to 1889.

[11] The actor Gregg Palmer was cast as Coleman in 1958 episode, "Empire of Youth", on the syndicated television anthology series, Death Valley Days, narrated by Stanley Andrews.

In the story line, Coleman shuns gambling and prospecting for gold but devotes his talents elsewhere and makes several fortunes in farming and the mining of borax.