What were committees?

In the Old West, there was often insufficient police presence to deter the bad guys (robbers, rustlers, rapists and so on) so citizens set of "Committees of Vigilance" or what we today would call Neighborhood Watches to do the policing themselves.

The members of such committees were sometimes called "vigilantes," that being the Spanish name for someone who watches.

In drama, vigilantes are almost always depicted as Out of Control, and accused of that most damning of state accusations, "taking the law into their own hands." No doubt many vigilantes made hasty judgments or used their power to exact personal vengeance, but where there was no official law, the committees of vigilance performed an important and civilizing function.