I used to work in the San Diego City Clerk’s Office and a number of years ago I was going through some old documents and found a law from the 1860’s that prohibited the gathering of more than, I think it was, 2 Indians at a time on a public street.
Sometimes it was the law that were the criminals in old San Diego. I also came across a report from a special investigator for the governor that reported on how the local citizens, including a number of local leaders in government and business, in 1912 forced some union organizers (the IWW or Wobblies) to walk a gauntlet. Some were also tarred and feathered. The state investigator compared the city government to czarist Russia because of its brutal policies and suppression of free speech. One good account is http://sandiegohistory.org/journal/1973/january/speech/