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THE VIGILANTES OF MONTANA OR POPULAR JUSTICE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS
Thos. J. Dimsdale
PAPHOS PUBLISHERS
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This book is a work of nonfiction and is intended to be factually accurate.
All rights reserved. Aside from brief quotations for media coverage and reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form without the author’s permission. Thank you for supporting authors and a diverse, creative culture by purchasing this book and complying with copyright laws.
Copyright © 2016 by Thos. J. Dimsdale
Interior design by Pronoun
Distribution by Pronoun
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE.
THOMAS JOSIAH DIMSDALE
CHAPTER I.: Introductory—Vigilance Committees.
CHAPTER II.: The Sunny Side of Mountain Life.
CHAPTER III.: Settlement of Montana.
CHAPTER IV.: The Road Agents.
Names, Place and Date of Execution.
CHAPTER V.: The Dark Days of Montana.
CHAPTER VI.: The Trial.
CHAPTER VII.: Plummer Versus Crawford.
CHAPTER VIII.: A Calendar of Crimes.
CHAPTER IX.: Perils of the Road.
CHAPTER X.: The Repulse.
CHAPTER XI.: The Robbery of Peabody & Caldwell’s Coach.
CHAPTER XII.: The Settlement of Virginia City, and the Murder of Dillingham.
CHAPTER XIII.: The Robbery of the Salt Lake Mail Coach by George Ives, Bill Graves alias Whiskey Bill, and Bob Zachary.
CHAPTER XIII.: The Opening of the Ball—George Ives.
CHAPTER XV.: The Formation of the Vigilance Committee.
CHAPTER XVI.: The Deer Lodge Scout.
CHAPTER XVII.: Dutch John (Wagner).
CHAPTER XVIII.: The Arrest and Execution of Henry Plummer, the Road Agent Chief, Buck Stinson and Ned Ray.
CHAPTER XIX.: The Execution of “the Greaser” (Joe Pizanthia), and Dutch John (Wagner).
CHAPTER XX.: The Capture and Execution of Boone Helm, Jack Gallagher, Frank Parish, Haze Lyons and Club-Foot George (Lane).
CHAPTER XXI.: The Deer Lodge and Hell Gate Scout—Capture and Execution of Stephen Marshland, Bill Bunton, Cyrus Skinner, Aleck Carter, Johnny Cooper, George Shears, Robert Zachary, and William Graves (Whiskey Bill).
CHAPTER XXII.: Capture and Execution of Bill Hunter.
CHAPTER XXIII.: The Arrest and Execution of Captain J. A. Slade, With a Short Account of His Previous Career.
CHAPTER XXIV.: The Execution of James Brady, for Shooting Murphy, at Nevada.
CHAPTER XXV.: The Snake River Scout—Capture and Execution of Jem Kelly.
CHAPTER XXVI.: Arrest and Execution of John Dolan, Alias John Coyle, Alias “Hard Hat,” for Robbing James Brady of $700 in Gold.
CHAPTER XXVII.: Capture and Execution of R. C. Rawley.
CHAPTER XVIII.: The Trial and Death of John Keene, Alias Bob Black, the Murderer of Harry Slater.
CHAPTER XXIX.: Capture and Execution of Jake Silvie, Alias Jacob Seachriest, a Road Agent and Murderer of Twelve Years’ Standing, and the Slayer of Twelve Men.
CHAPTER XXX.: Henry Plummer.
CHAPTER XXXI.: Boone Helm.
George Ives.
Bill Bunton
Aleck Carter,
Cyrus Skinner
Bill Hunter.
Stephen Marshland
James Daniels.
CHAPTER XXXIII.: Conclusion.
INTRODUCTORY
CHAPTER I.: Early History.
MONTANA.
CHAPTER II.: The First Charter.
CHAPTER III.
First Timber Reserved by William Sturgis.
CHAPTER IV.: The Lost City.
CHAPTER V.: First Probate Judge.
CHAPTER VI.: Jeff. Davis Gulch.
Buffalo Currency.
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VIII.: Ranching.
Horse Prairie.
Bird in Hand Ranch.
On Beaverhead.
Land on the Stinking Water.
CHAPTER IX.: Judge M. H. Lott.
CHAPTER X.: Mining’ Laws.
Claims.
CHAPTER XI.: Notes From Old Court Records.
Sue’s Letter.
CHAPTER XII.: Incidents in the Life of Augustus F. Graeter.
CHAPTER XIII.: W. B. Carter Story.
CHAPTER XIV.: Incidents in the Life of John F. Bishop.
CHAPTER XV.: John C. Innes, an 1862 Man.
Sanders’ Quotation—From King Lear.
CHAPTER XVI.: Story of James Kirkpatrick.
CHAPTER XVII.: Incidents of Beaverhead County.
A Promissory Note.
Miners’ Meetings.
Toll Bridge.
Settling a Partnership Quarrel.
Findings Were as Follows.
First White Child Born.
Women in Bannack.
At the Big Hole Bridge.
Scholars of First School in Bannack—1863.
CHAPTER XVIII.: The Grey Horse.
CHAPTER XIX.: First Meeting of County Commissioners in Montana.
Sheriff’s Fees:
Recorder’s Fees.
Governor Edgerton.
An Incident.
First Idaho Legislature.
First Legislature.
Governor White.
CHAPTER I.—ALDER GULCH.: Bill Fairweather.
CHAPTER II.: Alder Gulch.
Mines.
CHAPTER III.: Ranching.
The Stinkingwater District.
CHAPTER IV.
First Court House.
CHAPTER V.: Charles Beehrer.
Soon After the Port Neuf Canyon Robbery.
CHAPTER VI.: Incidents in Beehrer’s Life—Flour Riot.
An Incident With Skinner.
Two Men Hang a Man.
How the Young Man Got Free.
CHAPTER VII.: George Lovell.
Fourth of July, 1864.
CHAPTER VIII.: Incidents.
Last Chance.
Montana City.
From Montana Post. (First Issue August 27th, 1864.)
County Officers Madison County.
City Council Virginia City.
Montana Financial Relations.
A Trip to the States.
Actually the First Meetings of Alder Gulch on the Road From Bannack.
Vigilante Oath.
Organization of First Court.
ROAD AGENTS. List by Prof Garver of State Normal School.
A Bull Fight.
CHAPTER IX.: Jeff Durley to J. X. Beidler.
CHAPTER X.: The Men of Bannack and Virginia.
The Vigilantes of Montana
Or Popular Justice in
The Rocky Mountains
Being a correct and impartial narrative of the Chase, Trial, Capture and Execution of HENRY PLUMMER’S ROAD AGENT BAND,
together with accounts of the Lives and Crimes of many of the
Robbers and Desperadoes, the whole being interspersed
with sketches of Life in the MINING CAMPS
OF THE “FAR WEST.”
BY PROF. THOS. J. DIMSDALE
FOURTH EDITION
PREFACE.
THE OBJECT OF THE WRITER in presenting this narrative to the public is twofold. His intention is, in the first place, to furnish a correct history of an organization administering justice without the sanction of constitutional law; and secondly, to prove not only the necessity for their action, but the equity of their proceedings.
Having an intimate acquaintance with parties cognizant of the facts related, and feeling certain of the literal truth of the statements contained in this history, he offers it to the people of the United States, with the belief that its perusal will greatly modify the views of those even who are most prejudiced against the summary retribution of mountain law, and with the conviction that all honest and impartial men will be willing to admit both the wisdom of the course pursued and the salutary effect of the rule of the Vigilantes in the Territory of Montana.
It is also hoped that the history of the celebrated body, the very mention of whose name sounded as a death-knell in the ears of the murderers and Road Agents, will be edifying and instructive to the general reader. The incidents related are neither trivial in themselves, nor unimportant in their results; and, while rivalling fiction in interest, are unvarnished accounts of transactions, whose fidelity can be vouched by thousands.
As a literary production, the author commits it to the examination of the critical without a sigh. If any of these author-slayers are inclined to be more severe in their judgment than he is himself, he trusts they will receive the reward to which their justice entitles them; and if they should pass it by he cannot but think that they will exercise a sound discretion, and avoid much useless labor. With all its imperfections, here it is.
THOS. J. DIMSDALE.
THOMAS JOSIAH DIMSDALE
IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE summer of 1864 that the first leading character in Montana journalism appeared on the stage in that role. On August 27th of that year, one John Buchanan published the first number of the first newspaper printed in the Territory. It was called the Montana Post. Mr. Buchanan’s connection with the Post was very brief. It may be said to have ended with the first issue, for the second number bore the imprint of D. W. Tilton & Co., publishers and proprietors, though the services of its founder were retained in the editorial department for a few weeks thereafter. The management of its columns was intrusted to Prof. Thomas Josiah Dimsdale, whom the reading people of the state doubtless know more familiarly as the author of “The Vigilantes of Montana.”
Professor Dimsdale was an English gentleman of fine scholarly attainments, having received his preliminary education in the preparatory school of Rugby, made famous by Hughes’ well known novel, “Tom Brown of Rugby”. He was born near Thirlsby in north England, and came of a family noted as being among the leading iron-masters, engineers and contractors of public works in that part of the country. Thomas J. was not of robust physique and as he himself expressed it was the “runt of the family,” so his parents designed him for the Church and he was sent to Oxford to complete his education for the ministry.
But financial disaster came to the family because of the failure of a scheme to utilize the sewage of the city of London in the reclamation of barren lands and he was compelled to give up university work in his sophomore year. He then emigrated to Canada, locating at Millbrook, Ontario, where he experienced many vicissitudes of fortune. On the discovery of gold in the Rocky Mountains he joined the throng of adventurers travelling hitherward.
In the winter of 1863-64, being unable to work in the mines, he sought to make a livelihood in Virginia City by teaching, and as there were no schools yet established, and people were willing to pay liberally (enormously it would be called in these days, $2.00 per week) for tuition, he succeeded fairly well in his vocation.
When the Territory of Montana was created in the spring of 1864, the professor attracted the attention of Governor Sidney Edgerton, and that official tendered him the office of territorial superintendent of public instruction, which he accepted. While filling this position, the Montana Post was established, and Messrs, Tilton and Dittes, recognizing the ability of the professor, installed him as editor-in-chief, and he filled both these positions with satisfaction to all concerned, until a short time before his death, which occurred two years later.
Professor Dimsdale was not an editor to the manner born. Indeed, it is doubtful whether, if the place had not been tendered him under the conditions then existing, he would ever have entered the sanctum. He was not of strong physique, and was diffident to a degree, pouting like a child when subjected to blame, and blushing like a school girl when receiving praise. Many who were present when friends presented him with an ivory-handled, silver-mounted pistol as a testimonial of appreciation of his work in publishing the “Vigilantes of Montana” (then running as a serial in the Post) will remember the bashful hesitancy with which he accepted the gift. And more yet will remember the almost boyish glee with which he started in to learn how to “shoot it off.” And still more remember the trepidation with which they watched him sallying forth to practice with the unwonted weapon; and how they trembled the while for the safety of the children and the family cow! And how elated he was when he got proficient enough in handling the gun to be able to hit an oyster can at ten steps once in ten times.
But this is digressing. Professor Dimsdale could not have made an all around editor in times of hot political controversy. He was not “built that way.” The domain of politics was terra incognita to him. But he was a man of acute perceptivity, a thorough master of the English language, a ready and quick observer and a fluent descriptive writer. So he edited the Post quite acceptably. The void in the political education was filled by able assistants, some of whom have risen to prominence in the Republican party. Luckily, for more than a year the Post held the newspaper field without a rival, and the absence of political discussions from its column elicited no tokens of disapproval. If the editorial utterances savored more of literary talent than a genius for political polemics, it was so much the better, for the country was full of hotheads from Union and secession ranks, and the paper’s magnanimous (?) abstinence from unpleasant remarks about them brought ducats to the treasury and good will from all sides to the profit of the proprietors and the enhancement of Dimsdale’s reputation as an unbiased and impartial political writer.
As soon as the paper was fairly established, Professor Dimsdale set about the publication of the “Vigilantes” in its columns. It was an immense drawing card for the subscription department, and the circulation ran up at a rapid rate. The work was a recital of the doings of the famous organization which stamped out the carnival of crime that had been running riot in the embryo Territory for a year previous to the capture and execution of George Ives, December 21st, 1863. It was a graphic description of the robberies and murders committed by the road agents whose crimes made life a dreary burden to the inhabitants of the region; the measures of their arrest and extinction and the tragic fate which befell the thugs and assassins at the hands of the self-constituted ministers of justice. Its publication at once stamped its author as a writer of promise, and the professor began to indulge in day dreams of wealth from its reputation in more substantial form,—dreams, alas, which were doomed never to be fulfilled.
While Professor Dimsdale was revising and preparing his “Vigilantes” for the press, in 1865, he was assisted in his editorial duties by H. N. Maguire. When the last installment of the work appeared in the Post, the author resumed his editorial chair.
By this time, a democratic newspaper had been started in Virginia City, and an exciting political controversy was inaugurated.
Professor Dimsdale began to feel that the burden of shaping the course of the paper was becoming more arduous and onerous. His retiring disposition rebelled at the exchange of phillipics and expletives with rival editors which was forced upon him by the change in the situation, and he was often on the verge of surrendering his position to someone less thin-skinned and sensitive. But a degree of pride and a dread of humiliation, coupled with some injection of spinal stamina by his intimate friends, together with a deep sense of family responsibility, for he had taken to himself a wife, sustained him in his work, and he continued to edit the paper. His work was intermittent, however, for the disease from which he suffered had taken fatal hold and the following summer saw him confined to his room by nervous prostration, aggravated by pulmonary troubles of old standing. He succumbed to his ailments September 22nd, 1866, and passed from life to death, leaving his wife, the only relation in this country, to mourn his loss.
In his sickness, his long-tried and staunch friend. Col. W. F. Sanders, was an almost constant attendant at the bedside, and it may be said that the departing journalist literally died in the arms of his friend, at the age of 35.
Professor Dimsdale was a public-spirited citizen of the highest type. He was an ardent worker in the cause of education, often over-taxing his strength in his labors. He filled the office of superintendent of public instruction for two years with signal ability and credit to himself. He was, also, a churchman of the Protestant Episcopal faith, and conducted the first service of that denomination in Virginia City. The initial meeting was held in the office of Judge William Y. Lovell, on Christmas Day, 1865, Professor Dimsdale acting as lay reader. He was a member of the Montana Lodge No. 2, A. F. & A. M. and was buried with imposing ceremonies by that order September 24th, 1866, a large concourse of members of the fraternity and other friends attending the funeral.—(From the Rocky Mountain Magazine, March, 1901.)
TOM BAKER.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY—VIGILANCE COMMITTEES.
“The teeth that bite hardest are out of sight.”—Prov.
The end of all good government is the safety and happiness of the governed. It is not possible that a high state of civilization and progress can be maintained unless the tenure of life and property is secure; and it follows that the first efforts of a people in a new country for the inauguration of the reign of peace, the sure precursor of prosperity and stability, should be directed to the accomplishment of this object. In newly settled mining districts, the necessity for some effective organization of a judicial and protective character is more keenly felt than it is in other places, where the less exciting pursuits of agriculture and commerce mainly attract the attention and occupy the time of the first inhabitants.
There are good reasons for this difference. The first is the entirely dissimilar character of the populations; and the second, the possession of vast sums of money by uneducated and unprincipled people, in all places where the precious metals may be obtained at the cost of the labor necessary to exhume them from the strata in which they lie concealed.
In an agricultural country, the life of the pioneer settler is always one of hard labor, of considerable privation, and of more or less isolation; while the people who seek to clear the farm in the wild forest, or who break up the virgin soil of the prairies are usually of the steady and hard-working classes, needing little assistance from courts of justice to enable them to maintain rights which are seldom invaded; and whose differences, in the early days of the country, are, for the most part, so slight as to be scarcely worth the cost of a litigation more complicated than a friendly and, usually, gratuitous, arbitration—submitted to the judgment of the most respected among the citizens.
In a marked contrast to the peaceful life of the tiller of the soil, and to the placid monotony of his pursuits are the turbulent activity, the constant excitement, and the perpetual temptations to which the dweller in a mining camp is subject, both during his sojourn in the gulches, or, if he be given to prospecting, in his frequent and unpremeditated change of location, commonly called a “stampede.” There can scarcely be conceived a greater or more apparent difference than exists between the staid and sedate inhabitants of rural districts, and the motley group of miners, professional men and merchants, thickly interspersed with sharpers, refugees, and a full selection from the dangerous classes that swagger, armed to the teeth, through the diggings and infest the roads leading to the newly discovered gulches, where lies the object of their worship—Gold.
Fortunately the change to a better state of things is rapid, and none who now walk the streets of Virginia would believe that, within two years of this date, the great question to be decided was, which was the stronger, right or might?
And here it must be stated, that the remarks which truth compels us to make, concerning the classes of individuals which furnish the law defying element of mining camps, are in no wise applicable to the majority of the people, who, while exhibiting the characteristic energy of the American race in the pursuit of wealth, yet maintain, under every disadvantage, an essential morality, which is the more creditable since it must be sincere, in order to withstand the temptations to which it is constantly exposed. “Oh, cursed thirst of gold,” said the ancient, and no man has even an inkling of the truth and force of the sentiment, till he has lived where gold and silver are as much the objects of desire, and of daily and laborious exertion, as glory and promotion are to the young soldier. Were it not for the preponderance of this conservative body of citizens, every camp in remote and recently discovered mineral regions would be a field of blood; and where this is nvi so, the fact is proof irresistible that the good is in sufficient force to control the evil, and eventually to bring order out of chaos.
Let the reader suppose that the police of New York were withdrawn for twelve months, and then let them picture the wild saturnalia which would take the place of the order that reigns there now. If, then, it is so hard to restrain the dangerous classes of old and settled communities, what must be the difficulty of the task, when, tenfold in number, fearless in character, generally well armed, and supplied with money to an extent unknown among their equals in the east, such men find themselves removed from the restraints of civilized society, and beyond the control of the authority which there enforces obedience to the law?
Were it not for the sterling stuff of which the mass of miners is made, their love of fair play, and their prompt and decisive action in emergencies, this history could never have been written, for desperadoes of every nation would have made this country a scene of bloodshed and a sink of iniquity such as was never before witnessed.
Together with so much that is evil, nowhere is there so much that is sternly opposed to dishonesty and violence as in the mountains; and though careless of externals and style, to a degree elsewhere unknown, the intrinsic value of manly uprightness is nowhere so clearly exhibited and so well appreciated as in the Eldorado of the west. Middling people do not live in these regions. A man or a woman becomes better or worse by a trip towards the Pacific. The keen eye of the experienced miner detects the impostor at a glance, and compels his entire isolation, or his association with the class to which he rightfully belongs.
Thousands of weak-minded people return, after a stay in the mountains, varying in duration from a single day to a year, leaving the field where only the strong of heart are fit to battle with difficulty, and to win the golden crown which is the reward of persevering toil and unbending firmness. There is no man more fit to serve his country in any capacity requiring courage, integrity, and self-reliance, than an “honest miner”, who has been tried and found to be true by a jury of mountaineers.
The universal license that is, at first, a necessity of position in such places, adds greatly to the number of crimes, and to the facilities for their perpetration. Saloons, where poisonous liquors are vended to all comers, and consumed in quantities sufficient to drive excitable men to madness and to the commission of homicide, on the slightest provocation, are to be found in amazing numbers, and the villainous compounds there sold, under the generic name of whiskey, are more familiarly distinguished by the cognomens of “Tangle-leg”, “Forty-rod,” “Lightning,” “Tarantula-juice,” etc., terms only too truly describing their acknowledged qualities.
The absence of good female society, in any due proportion to the numbers of the opposite sex, is likewise an evil of great magnitude; for men become rough, stern and cruel, to a surprising degree, under such a state of things.
In every frequent street, public gambling houses with open doors and loud music, are resorted to, in broad daylight, by hundreds—it might almost be said—of all tribes and tongues, furnishing another fruitful source of “difficulties,” which are commonly decided on the spot, by an appeal to brute force, the stab of a knife, or the discharge of a revolver. Women of easy virtue are to be seen promenading through the camp, habited in the gayest and most costly apparel, and receiving fabulous sums for their purchased favors. In fact, all the temptations to vice are present in full display, with money in abundance to secure the gratification of the desire for novelty and excitement, which is the ruling passion of the mountaineer.
One “institution,” offering a shadowy and dangerous substitute for more legitimate female association, deserves a more peculiar notice. This is the “Hurdy-Gurdy” house. As soon as the men have left off work, these places are opened, and dancing commences. Let the reader picture to himself a large room, furnished with a bar at one end—where champagne at $12 (in gold) per bottle, and “drinks” at twenty-five to fifty cents, are wholesaled (correctly speaking)—and divided, at the end of this bar, by a railing running from side to side. The outer enclosure is densely crowded (and, on particular occasions, the inner one also) with men in every variety of garb that can be seen on the continent. Beyond the barrier sit the dancing women, called “hurdy-gurdies,” sometimes dressed in uniform, but, more generally, habited according to the dictates of individual caprice, in the finest clothes that money can buy, and which are fashioned in the most attractive styles that fancy can suggest. On one side is a raised orchestra. The music suddenly strikes up, and the summons, “Take your partners for the next dance,” is promptly answered by some of the male spectators, who paying a dollar in gold for a ticket, approach the ladies’ bench, and—in style polite, or otherwise, according to antecedents—invite one of the ladies to dance.
The number being complete, the parties take their places, as in any other dancing establishment, and pause for the performance of the introductory notes of the air.
Let us describe a first class dancer—“sure of a partner every time”—and her companion. There she stands at the head of the set. She is of middle height, of rather full and rounded form; her complexion as pure as alabaster, a pair of dangerous looking hazel eyes, a slightly Roman nose, and a small and prettily formed mouth. Her auburn hair is neatly banded and gathered in a tasteful, ornamented net, with a roll and gold tassels at the side. How sedate she looks during the first figure, never smiling till the termination of “promenade, eight,” when she shows her little white hands in fixing her handsome brooch in its place, and settling her glistening earrings. See how nicely her scarlet dress, with its broad black band round the skirt, and its black edging, sets off her dainty figure. No wonder that a wild mountaineer would be willing to pay—not one dollar, but all that he has in his purse, for a dance and an approving smile from so beautiful a woman.
Her cavalier stands six feet in his boots, which come to the knee, and are garnished with a pair of Spanish spurs, with rowels and bells like young water wheels. His buckskin leggings are fringed at the seams, and gathered at the waist with a U. S. belt, from which hangs his loaded revolver and his sheath knife. His neck is bare, muscular and embrowned by exposure, as is also his bearded face, whose sombre hue is relieved by a pair of piercing dark eyes. His long black hair hangs down beneath his wide felt hat, and, in the corner of his mouth is a cigar, which rolls like the lever of an eccentric, as he chews the end in his mouth. After an amazingly grave salute, “all hands round” is shouted by the prompter, and off bounds the buckskin hero, rising and falling to the rhythm of the dance, with a clumsy agility and a growing enthusiasm, testifying his huge delight. His fair partner, with practised foot and easy grace, keeps time to the music like a clock, and rounds to her place as smoothly and gracefully as a swan. As the dance progresses, he of the buckskins gets excited, and nothing but long practice prevents his partner from being swept off her feet, at the conclusion of the miner’s delight, “set your partners,” or “gents to the right”. An Irish tune or a hornpipe generally finishes the set, and then the thunder of heel and toe, and some amazing demivoltes are brought to an end by the aforesaid “gents to the right,” and “promenade to the bar,” which last closes the dance. After a treat, the barkeeper mechanically raps his blower as a hint to “weigh out”, the ladies sit down, and with scarcely an interval, a waltz, polka, shottische, mazurka, varsovinne, or another quadrille commences.
All varieties of costume, physique and demeanor can be noticed among the dancers—from the gayest colors and “loudest” styles of dress and manner, to the snugly fitted black silk, and plain white collar, which sets off the neat figure of the blue-eyed, modest looking Anglo-Saxon. Yonder, beside the tall and tastily clad German brunette you see the short curls, rounded tournure and smiling face of an Irish girl; indeed, representatives of almost every dancing nation of white folks may be seen on the floor of the Hurdy Gurdy house. The earnings of the dancers are very different in amount. That dancer in the low-necked dress, with the scarlet “waist,” a great favorite and a really good dancer, counted fifty tickets into her lap before “The last dance, gentlemen,” followed by “Only this one before the girls go home,” which wound up the performance. Twenty-six dollars is a great deal of money to earn in such a fashion; but fifty sets of quadrilles and four waltzes, two of them for the love of the thing, is very hard work.
As a rule, however, the professional “hurdles” are Teutons, and, though first-rate dancers, they are, with some few exceptions, the reverse of good looking.
The dance which is most attended, is one in which ladies to whom pleasure is dearer than fame, represent the female element, and, as may be supposed, the evil only commences at the Dance House. It is not uncommon to see one of these sirens with an “outfit” worth from seven to eight hundred dollars, and many of them invest with merchants and bankers thousands of dollars in gold, the rewards and presents they receive, especially the more highly favored ones, being more in a week than a well-educated girl would earn in two years in an Eastern city.
In the Dance House you can see Judges, the Legislative corps, and every one but the Minister. He never ventures further than to engage in conversation with a friend at the door, and while intently watching the performance, lectures on the evil of such places with considerable force; but his attention is evidently more fixed upon the dancers than on his lecture. Sometimes may be seen gray-haired men dancing, their wives sitting at home in blissful ignorance of the proceeding. There never was a dance house running, for any length of time, in the first days of a mining town, in which “shooting scrapes” do not occur; equal proportions of jealousy, whiskey and revenge being the stimulants thereto. Billiard saloons are everywhere visible, with a bar attached, and hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent there. As might be anticipated, it is impossible to prevent quarrels in these places, at all times, and, in the mountains, whatever weapon is handiest—foot, fist, knife, revolver, or derringer—it is usually used. The authentic, and indeed, literally exact accounts which follow in the course of this narrative will show that the remarks we have made on the state of society in a new mining country, before a controlling power asserts its sway, are in no degree exaggerated, but fall short of the reality, as all description must.
One marked feature of social intercourse, and (after indulgence in strong drink) the most fruitful source of quarrel and bloodshed is the all-pervading custom of using strong language on every occasion. Men will say more than they mean and the unwritten code of the miners, based on a wrong view of what constitutes manhood, teaches them to resent by force what should be answered by silent contempt.
Another powerful incentive to wrong-doing is the absolute nullity of the civil law in such cases. No matter what may be the proof, if the criminal is well liked in the community, “Not Guilty” is almost certain to be the verdict of the jury, despite the efforts of the Judge and prosecutor. If the offender is a moneyed man, as well as a popular citizen, the trial is only a farce—grave and prolonged, it is true, but capable of only one termination—a verdict of acquittal. In after days, when police magistrates in cities can deal with crime, they do so promptly. Costs are absolutely frightful, and fines tremendous. An assault provoked by drunkenness frequently costs a man as much as thrashing forty different policemen would do, in New York. A trifling “tight” is worth from $20 to $50 in dust, all expenses told, and so on. One grand jury that we wot of presented that it would be better to leave the punishment of offenders to the Vigilantes, who always acted impartially, and who would not permit the escape of proved criminals on technical and absurd grounds—than to have justice defeated, as in a certain case named. The date of that document is not ancient, and though, of course, refused and destroyed, it was the deliberate opinion, on oath, of the Grand Inquest, embodying the sentiment of thousands of good citizens in the community.
Finally, swift and terrible retribution is the only preventive of crime, while society is organizing in the far West. The long delay of justice, the wearisome proceedings, the remembrance of old friendships, etc., create a sympathy for the offender, so strong as to cause a hatred of the avenging law, instead of inspiring a horror of the crime. There is something in the excitement of continued stampedes that makes men of quick temperaments, uncontrollably impulsive. In the moment of passion, they would slay all around them; but let the blood cool, and they would share their last dollar with the men whose life they sought a day or two before.
Habits of thought rule communities more than laws, and the settled opinion of a numerous class is, that calling a man a liar, a thief, or a son of a b——h is provocation sufficient to justify instant slaying. Juries do not ordinarily bother themselves about the lengthy instructions they hear read by the court. They simply consider whether the deed is a crime against the Mountain Code; and if not, “not guilty” is the verdict, at once returned. Thieving, or any action which a miner calls mean, will surely be visited with condign punishment, at the hands of a Territorial jury. In such cases mercy there is none; but, in affairs of single combats, assaults, shootings, stabbings, and highway robberies, this civil law, with its positively awful expense and delay, is worse than useless.
One other main point requires to be noticed. Any person of experience will remember that the universal story of criminals, who have expiated their crimes on the scaffold, or who are pining away in the hardships of involuntary servitude—tells of habitual Sabbath breaking. This sin is so general in newly discovered diggings in the mountains that a remonstrance usually produced no more fruit than a few jocular oaths and a laugh. Religion is said to be “played out,” and a professing Christian must keep straight, indeed, or he will be suspected of being a hypocritical member of a tribe, to whom it would be very disagreeable to talk about hemp.
Under these circumstances, it becomes an absolute necessity that good, law-loving, and order-sustaining men should unite for mutual protection, and for the salvation of the community. Being united, they must act in harmony; repress disorder; punish crime, and prevent outrage, or their organization would be a failure from the start, and society would collapse in the throes of anarchy. None but extreme penalties inflicted with promptitude are of any avail to quell the spirit of the desperadoes with whom they have to contend; considerable numbers are required to cope successfully with the gangs of murderers, desperadoes and robbers who infest mining countries, and who, though faithful to no other bond, yet all league willingly against the law. Secret they must be, in council and membership, or they will remain nearly useless for the detection of crime, in a country where equal facilities for the transmission of intelligence are at the command of the criminal and the judiciary; and an organization on this footing is a Vigilance Committee.
Such was the state of affairs, when five men in Virginia, and four in Bannack, initiated the movement which resulted in the formation of a tribunal, supported by an omnipresent executive, comprising within itself nearly every good man in the Territory, and pledged to render impartial justice to friend and foe, without regard to clime, creed, race or politics. In a few short weeks it was known that the voice of justice had spoken, in tones that might not be disregarded. The face of society was changed, as if by magic; for the Vigilantes, holding in one hand the invisible yet effectual shield of protection, and in the other, the swift descending and inevitable sword of retribution, struck from his nerveless grasp the weapon of the assassin; commanded the brawler to cease from strife; warned the thief to steal no more; bade the good citizen take courage, and compelled the ruffians and marauder who had so long maintained the “reign of terror” in Montana, to fly the Territory, or meet the just rewards of their crimes. Need we say that they were at once obeyed? yet not before more than one hundred valuable lives had been pitilessly sacrificed and twenty-four miscreants had met a dog’s doom as the reward of their crimes.
To this hour, the whispered words, “Virginia Vigilantes” would blanch the cheek of the wildest and most redoubtable desperado, and necessitate an instant election between flight and certain doom.
The administration of the lex talionis by self-constituted authority is, undoubtedly, in civilized and settled communities, an outrage on mankind. It is there wholly unnecessary; but the sight of a few of the mangled corpses of beloved friends and valued citizens; the whistle of the desperado’s bullet, and the plunder of the fruits of the patient toil of years spent in weary exile from home, in places where civil law is as powerless as a palsied arm, from sheer lack of ability to enforce its decrees—alter the basis of the reasoning, and reverse the conclusion. In the case of the Vigilantes of Montana, it must be also remembered that the Sheriff himself was the leader of the Road Agents, and his deputies were the prominent members of the band.
The question of the propriety of establishing a Vigilance Committee depends upon the answers which ought to be given to the following queries: Is it lawful for citizens to slay robbers or murderers, when they catch them; or ought they to wait for policemen, where there are none, or put them in penitentiaries not yet erected?
Gladly, indeed, we feel sure, would the Vigilantes cease from their labor, and joyfully would they hail the advent of power, civil or military, to take their place; but till this is furnished by Government, society must be preserved from demoralization and anarchy; murder, arson and robbery must be prevented or punished, and road agents must die. Justice, and protection from wrong to person or property, are the birthright of every American citizen, and these must be furnished in the best and most effectual manner that circumstances render possible. Furnished, however, they must be by constitutional law, undoubtedly, wherever practical and efficient provision can be made for its enforcement. But where justice is powerless as well as blind, the strong arm of the mountaineer must wield her sword; for “self-preservation is the first law of nature.”
CHAPTER II.
THE SUNNY SIDE OF MOUNTAIN LIFE.
“The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel.”—Shakespeare.
In the preceding chapter it was necessary to show to the reader the dark side of the cloud; but it has a golden lining, and though many a cursory observer, or disappointed speculator may deny this fact, yet thousands have seen it, and know to their hearts’ content that it is there. Yes! Life in the mountains has many charms. The one great blessing is perfect freedom. Untrammelled by the artificial restraints of more highly organized society, character developes itself so fully and so truly, that a man who has a friend knows it, and there is a warmth and depth in the attachment which unites the dwellers in the wilderness, that is worth years of the insipid and uncertain regard of so-called polite circles, which, too often, passes by the name of friendship, and, sometimes, insolently apes the attributes, and dishonors the fame of love itself. Those who have slept at the same watch-fire, and traversed together many a weary league, sharing hardships and privations, are drawn together by ties which civilization wots not of. Wounded or sick, far from home, and depending for life itself upon the ministration and tender care of some fellow traveller, the memory of these deeds of mercy and kindly fellowship often mutually rendered, is as an oasis in the desert, or as a crystal stream to the fainting pilgrim.
As soon as towns are built society commences to organize, and there is something truly cheering in the ready hospitality, the unfeigned welcome, and the friendly toleration of personal peculiarities which mark the intercourse of the dwellers in the land of gold. Every one does what pleases him best. Forms and ceremonies are at a discount, and generosity has its home in the pure air of the Rocky Mountains. This virtue, indeed, is as inseparable from mountaineers of all classes, as the pick and shovel from the prospector. When a case of real destitution is made public, if any well-known citizen will but take a paper in his hand and go round with it, the amount collected would astonish a dweller in Eastern cities, and it is a fact that gamblers and saloon keepers are the very men who subscribe the most liberally. Mountaineers think little of a few hundreds of dollars, when the feelings are engaged, and the number of instances in which men have been helped to fortunes and presented with valuable property by their friends is truly astonishing.
The mountains also may be said to circumscribe and bound the paradise of amiable and energetic women. For their labor they are paid magnificently, and they are treated with a deference and liberality unknown in other climes. There seems to be a law, unwritten but scarcely ever transgressed, which assigns to a virtuous and amiable woman a power for good which she can never hope to attain elsewhere. In his wildest excitement, a mountaineer respects a woman, and anything like an insult offered to a lady would be instantly resented, probably with fatal effect, by any bystander. Dancing is the great amusement with persons of both sexes, and we might say all ages. The comparative disproportion between the male and female elements of society ensures the possessor of personal charms of the most ordinary kind, if she be good natured, the greatest attention, and the most liberal provision for her wants, whether real or fancied.
If two men are friends, an insult to one is resented by both, an alliance, offensive and defensive, being a necessary condition of friendship in the mountains. A popular citizen is safe everywhere, and any man may be popular that has anything useful or genial about him.
“Putting on style,” or the assumption of aristocratic airs, is the detestation of everybody. No one but a person lacking sense attempts it. It is neither forgotten nor forgiven, and kills a man like a bullet. It should also be remembered that no people more admire and respect upright moral conduct than do the sojourners in mining camps, while at the same time none more thoroughly despise hypocrisy in any shape. In fact, good men and good women may be as moral and as religious as they choose to be in the mining countries, and as happy as human beings can be. Much they will miss that they have been used to, and much they will receive that none offered them before.
Money is commonly plentiful; if prices are high, remuneration for work is liberal, and, in the end care and industry will achieve success and procure competence. We have travelled far and seen much of the world, and the result of our experience is a love for our mountain home that time and change of scene can never efface.
CHAPTER III.
SETTLEMENT OF MONTANA.
“I hear the tread of pioneers.
Of nations yet to be;
The first low wash of waves, where soon
Shall roll a human sea.”—Whittier.
Early in the spring of 1862 the rumor of new and rich discoveries on Salmon River flew through Salt Lake City, Colorado, and other places in the Territories. A great stampede was the consequence. Faith and hope were in the ascendent among the motley crew that wended their toilsome way by Fort Hall and Snake River, to the new Eldorado. As the trains approached the goal of their desires they were informed that they could not get through with wagons, and shortly after came the discouraging tidings that the new mines were overrun by a crowd of gold-hunters from California, Oregon and other western countries; they were also told, that finding it impossible to obtain either claims or labor, large bands of prospectors were already spreading over the adjacent territory; and finally, that some new diggings had been discovered at Deer Lodge.
The stream of emigration diverged from the halting-place where this last welcome intelligence reached them. Some, turning towards Deer Lodge, crossed the mountains, between Fort Lemhi and Horse Prairie Creek, and taking a cut-ioff to the left, endeavored to strike the old trail from Salt Lake to Bitter Root and Deer Lodge Valley. These energetic miners crossed the Grasshopper Creek, below the Canon, and finding good prospects there, some of the party remained, with a view of practically testing their value. Others went on to Deer Lodge; but finding that the diggings were neither so rich nor so extensive as they had supposed, they returned to Grasshopper Creek, afterwards known as the Beaver Head Diggins—so named from the Beaver Head River, into which the creek empties. The river derives its appellation from a rock, which exactly resembles, in its outline, the head of a beaver.
From this camp—the rendezvous of the emigration—started, from time to time, the bands of explorers, who first discovered and worked the gulches east of the Rocky Mountains, in the world-renowned country now the Territory of Montana. Other emigrants, coming by Deer Lodge, struck the Beaver Head diggings; then the first party from Minnesota arrived; after them came a large part of the Fisk Company who had travelled under Government escort, from the same State, and a considerable number drove through from Salt Lake City and Bitter Root, in the early part of the winter, which was very open.
Among the later arrivals were some desperadoes and outlaws, from the mines west of the mountains. In this gang were Henry Plummer, afterwards the Sheriff, Charley Reeves, Moore and Skinner. These worthies had no sooner got the “lay of the country,” than they commenced operations. Here it may be remarked, that if the professed servants of God would only work for their Master with the same energy and persistent devotion as the servants of the Devil use for their employer, there would be no need of a Heaven above, for the earth itself would be a Paradise.
CHAPTER IV.
THE ROAD AGENTS.
“Thieves for their robbery have authority
When judges steal themselves.”—Shakespeare.
It may easily be imagined that life in Bannack, in the early days of the settlement, was anything but pleasant. The ruffians whose advent we have noticed served as a nucleus, around which the disloyal, the desperate, and the dishonest gathered, and quickly organizing themselves into a band, with captain, lieutenants, secretary, road agents, and outsiders, became the terror of the country. The stampede to the Aider Gulch, which occurred early in June, 1863, and the discovery of the rich placer diggings there, attracted many more of the dangerous classes, who, scenting the prey from afar, flew like vultures to the battlefield.
Between Bannack and Virginia a correspondence was constantly kept up, and the roads throughout the Territory were under the surveillance of the “outsiders” before mentioned. To such a system were these things brought, that horses, men and coaches were marked in some understood manner, to designate them as fit objects for plunder, and thus the liers in wait had an opportunity of communicating the intelligence to the members of the gang, in time to prevent the escape of the victims.
The usual arms of a road agent were a pair of revolvers, a double-barreled shot gun of large bore, with the barrels cut down short, and to this they invariably added a knife or dagger. Thus armed and mounted on fleet, well-trained horses, and being disguised with blankets and masks, the robbers awaited their prey in ambush. When near enough they sprang out on a keen run, with levelled shot-guns, and usually gave the word, “Halt! Throw up your hands, you sons of b——s!” If this latter command were not instantly obeyed, there was the last of the offender; but, in case he complied, as was usual, one or two sat on their horses, covering the party with their guns, which were loaded with buck-shot, and one dismounting, disarmed the victims, and made them throw their purses on the grass. This being done, and a search for concealed property being effected, away rode the robbers, reported the capture and divided the spoils.
The confession of two of their number, one of whom, named Erastus Yager alias Red, was hung in the Stinkingwater Valley, put the Committee in possession of the names of the prominent men in the gang, and eventually secured their death or voluntary banishment. The most noted of the road agents, with a few exceptions, were hanged by the Vigilance Committee, or banished. A list of the place and date of execution of the principal members of the band is here presented. The remainder of the red calendar of crime and retribution will appear after the account of the execution of Hunter:
NAMES, PLACE AND DATE OF EXECUTION.
George Ives, Nevada City, Dec. 21st, 1863; Erastus Yager (Red) and G. W. Brown, Stinkingwater Valley, January 4th, 1864; Henry Plummer, Ned Ray and Buck Stinson, Bannack City, January 10th, 1864; George Lane (Club-foot George), Frank Parish, Haze Lyons, Jack Gallagher and Boone Helm, Virginia City, January 14th, 1864; Steven Marsland, Big Hole Ranche, January 16th, 1864; William Bunton, Deer Lodge Valley, January 19th, 1864; Cyrus Skinner, Alexander Carter and John Cooper, Hell Gate, January 25th, 1864; George Shears, Frenchtown, January 24th, 1864; Robert Zachary, Hell Gate, January 25th, 1864; William Graves alias Whiskey Bill, Fort Owens, January 26th, 1864; William Hunter, Gallatin Valley, February 3d, 1864; John Wagoner (Dutch John) and Joe Pizanthia, Bannack City, January 11th, 1864.
Judge Smith and J. Thurmond, the counsel of the road agents, were banished. Thurmond brought an action at Salt Lake, against Mr. Fox, charging him with aiding in procuring his banishment. After some peculiar developments of justice in Utah, he judiciously withdrew all proceedings, and gave a receipt in full of all past and future claims on the Vigilance Committee, in which instance he exhibited a wise discretion—
“It’s no for naething the gled whistles.”
The Bannack branch of the Vigilantes also sent out of the country H. G. Sessions, convicted of circulating bogus dust, and one H. D. Moyer, who furnished a room at midnight for them to work in, together with material for their labor. A man named Kustar was also banished for recklessly shooting through the windows of the hotel opposite his place of abode.
The circumstances attending the execution of J. A. Slade, and the charges against him, will appear in full in a subsequent part of this work. This case stands on a footing distinct from all others.
Moore and Reeves were banished, as will afterwards appear, by a miners’ jury, at Bannack, in the winter of 1863, but came back in the spring. They fled the country when the Vigilantes commenced operations, and are thought to be in Mexico.
Charley Forbes was a member of the gang; but being wounded in a scuffle, or a robbery, a doctor was found and taken to where he lay. Finding that he was incurable, it is believed that Moore and Reeves shot him, to prevent his divulging what he knew of the band; but this is uncertain. Some say he was killed by Moore and Reeves, in Red Rock Canyon.
The headquarters of the marauders was Rattlesnake Ranche. Plummer often visited it, and the robbers used to camp, with their comrades, in little wakiups above and below it, watching, and ready for fight, flight or plunder. Two rods in front of this building was a sign post, at which they used to practise with their revolvers. They were capital shots. Plummer was the quickest hand with his revolver of any man in the mountains. He could draw the pistol and discharge the five loads in three seconds. The post was riddled with holes, and was looked upon as quite a curiosity, until it was cut down, in the summer of 1863.
Another favorite resort of the gang was Dempsey’s Cottonwood Ranche. The owner knew the character of the robbers, but had no connection with them; and, in those days a man’s life would not have been worth fifteen minutes’ purchase, if the possessor had been foolish enough even to hint at his knowledge of their doings. Daley’s at Ramshorn Gulch, and ranches or wakiups on the Madison and Jefferson, Wisconsin Creek, and Mill Creek, were also constantly occupied by members of the band.
By discoveries of the bodies of the victims, the confessions of the murderers before execution, and reliable information sent to the Committee, it was found that one hundred and two people had been certainly killed by those miscreants in various places, and it was believed, on the best information, that scores of unfortunates had been murdered and buried, whose remains were never discovered, nor their fate definitely ascertained. All that was known was that they started, with greater or less sums of money, for various places, and were never heard of again.
CHAPTER V.
THE DARK DAYS OF MONTANA.
“Will all Neptune’s Ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand?”—Macbeth.
Henry Plummer, a sketch of whose previous career will appear in a subsequent part of this narrative, came to Montana Territory from Orofino. He and Reeves had there got into a difficulty with another man, and had settled the matter in the way usual in the trade—that is to say, they shot him.
Plummer—who, it seems, had for a long time contemplated a visit to the States—made at once for the river, intending to go down by boat; but finding that he was too late, he came back to Gold Creek, and there met Jack Cleveland, an old acquaintance, and former partner in crime. They made arrangements to pass the winter together at Sun River Farm. Plummer was to attend to the chores about the house, and Jack Cleveland was to get the wood. The worthy couple, true to their instincts, did not long remain in harmony, but quarreled about a young lady, whom Plummer afterwards married. Neither would leave, unless the other went also, and at last they both started, in company, for Bannack.
This town originated from the “Grasshopper Diggings,” which were first discovered in the month of July, by John White and a small party of prospectors, on the Grasshopper Creek, a tributary of the Beaver Head. The discoverer, together with Rudolph Dorsett, was murdered by Charley Kelly, in the month of December, 1863, near the Milk Ranche, on the road from Virginia City to Helena. Wash Stapleton and his party came in a short time after, and were soon joined by others, among whom were W. B. Dance, S. T. Hauser, James Morley, Drury Underwood, F. M. Thomson, N. P. Langford, James Fergus, John Potter, Judge Hoyt and Dr. Hoyt, Chas. St. Clair, David Thompson, Buz Craven, Messrs. Burchett, Morelle, Harby, J. M. Castner, Pat Bray and brother, Sturges, Col. McLean, R. C. Knox, and other well known citizens of Montana. The name, “Bannack,” was given to the settlement, from the Bannack Indians, the lords of the soil. It was the first “mining camp” of any importance, discovered on the eastern slope of the Mountains, and as the stories of its wonderful richness went abroad, hundreds of scattered prospectors flocked in, and before the following spring the inhabitants numbered upwards of a thousand.
It is probable that there never was a mining town of the same size that contained more desperadoes and lawless characters than did Bannack, during the winter of 1862-3. While a majority of the citizens were of the sterling stock, which has ever furnished the true American pioneers, there were great numbers of the most desperate class of roughs and road agents, who had been roving through the mountains, exiles from their former haunts in the mining settlements, from which they had fled to avoid the penalties incurred by the commission of many a fearful crime. These men no sooner heard of the rich mines of Bannack, than they at once made for the new settlement, where among strangers, ignorant of their crimes, they would be secure from punishment, at least until their true character should become known.
During their journey to Bannack, Cleveland often said, when a little intoxicated, that Plummer was his meat. On their arrival at their destination, they were, in mountain phrase, “strapped;” that is, they were without money or means; but Cleveland was not thus to be foiled; the practice of his profession furnishing him with ample funds, at cost of a short ride and a pistol cartridge. In February, 1863, a young man named George Evans, having a considerable sum of money on his person, was hunting stock belonging to William Bates, beyond Buffalo Creek, about eight miles from Bannack, and this man, it is believed, was shot by Cleveland, and robbed, as the murderer—who had no money at the time—was seen riding close to the place, and the next day he had plenty. Evans’ partner, Ed Hibbert, got a horse from J. M. Castner, and searched for him in vain, returning impressed with the belief that he had frozen to death. In a short time, a herder named Duke, a partner of Jemmy Spence, was also hunting cattle, when he found Evans’ clothes tucked into a badger hole. A body, which, however, was never fully identified, was found naked in the willows, with a shot wound in the right armpit. It seems as if the victim had seen a man about to shoot, and had raised his arm deprecatingly.
