Show how bad men were handled in the early days vigilante justice worked wonders in the pioneer camps by jas D hill As an individual henry plummer was not a man of outstanding courage nor was there anything phenomenal in his manipulation of a six shooter an authority making selections for an all american team of old time gunmen could not conscientiously give him a position on the third squad he had none of the dash and personal bravery of billy the kid new medicos cos premier outlaw wes hardin whose bluff the famous wild bill hickok was afraid to call could have I 1 given plummer a two second start on the draw and then pa played ayed with him as does a cat with a mouse and sam bass who has the unique distinction of being the only man who successfully shot it out with a detail of texas rangers would not have admitted that he and plummer were members of the same profession but to revert to the all american idea there are many third rate football players who later won fame as coaches and there we find an analogy to plummers Pl position As a gunman he could not be given liono honorable rable or should it be dishonorable mention for a mythical mythic al team of old time desperadoes but in the selection of a coach for this aggregation his name could not be overlooked he would stand head and shoulders above all competitors he was a genius at organizing outlaws he was the napoleon of northwestern little if anything is known of his life prior to his arrival in california as one of the gold seekers of the early fifties by 1856 he had settled in nevada city and had been elected city marshal before his term of office was over he was tried and convicted of murder then penalty was set at ten years of imprisonment a very severe sentence for the lax courts of that day but he was pardoned by the governor because of his alleged failing health A second murder and a stage robbery brought other trials in in both of which he was acquitted arrested and thrown ill in jail on a strong suspicion that he was the doer 0 of f a fourth crime in that vicinity he effected an all escape from jail and carried another murderer by the name of mayfield with him together they fled to oregon where they parted company and plummer stopped all search that was being made for him along his route of flight by causing to be published in the press of california a number of news stories telling of his death in the northern part of that state plummers Pl reign at bannock in 1862 the fame of bannock city montana carried plummer and a new partner jack cleveland a notorious outlaw on his own right to that flourishing district these two immediately established themselves as the leaders oi of the outlaws that were rapidly ga gathering catherin therin g at the new diggings though plummer also catered to the bett better er element of polished gentleman a role th that at the camp by posing as a lie he enacted very successfully by leading this double life lie he succeeded in getting elected sheriff of bannock and his first action after taking the oath of office was the appointment of two of his road agents as deputies in the meantime challenging Pl plummer s jack cleveland had begun 6 position as chief of the outlaws which ended in C cleveland lev elands s death in a shooting affray in the streets of bannock there was a trial immediately afterward but plummer w was as acquitted at once because the jury considered Clev elands language Z just before the shooting decidedly irritating in undisputed command of the outlaws and so situated ed in the district government that lie he could defeat justice for the paneling impaneling im of men for jury duty was in the hands of the sheriff plummer settled down to a happy regime as ruler of both stratas of bannock society then a cloud appeared on the horizon the strike at virginia had caused the organization of a district government there and the election of an honest sheriff his activities promised to cramp those of the bannock outlaws plummer proved equal to the situation his solution of the problem was as simple as it was effective he merely rode over to virginia and informed the new sheriff that he would live much longer if he would resign in his favor fearing assassination sassi nation the new virginia officer did as he was told and plummer became sheriff of both towns the heyday of montana gunmen the heyday of the montana gunmen was at hand they robbed murdered and stole with impunity and the crimes were committed with an efficiency that only organization can give the band had a corresponding secretary a man by the name of brown who kept a roster of the personnel a rec record ord of the activities of the organization and assisted plummer in the distribution of the spoils liaison was maintained between the various units of the gang which were nvere scattered along the highways between salt lake city and the montana mines stages leaving bannock and virginia bore secret marks that indicated to the outlaws along the route whether or not a robbery of the coach would yield returns that were commensurate with the risk with pay dirt being struck every day in the mining camps the secret symbol indicated the affirmative more frequently than the negative 6 the exact number of plummers Pl band will never be known but it must have been large the indignant 6 vigilantes subsequently hanged nearly twenty of the most notorious characters and banished from montana a number 01 of r others who were just as bad tut ut who had turned informers in order that their punishment might be mitigated these informers stated that the outlaw organization numbered not less than one hundred and thirty active members though not all were actual killers to say the least the band was so large and widely scattered that its individual members were not acquainted with each other they identified themselves to one another by signs and a password As marks of distinction they wore a tie in a sailor knot chin whiskers and a mustache their password must have been selected by a man with a sense of humor it was innocent during this period of non lion molestation plummers Pl gail gaigg 6 killed in the process of holding up stages and the execution of other robberies no less than one hundred and twenty men between the montana gold diggings and salt lake city then came the day of reckoning after the heyday there came the day of reckoning and strange en enough ough it began not as the result of a major crime performed by orders from plummer but because of sonic some comparatively mi minor nor plundering activities of a few subordinates it so happened that george ives and six other men 0 of f plummers Pl gang murdered a dutchman for a few mules and a paltry sum of money at a time when the miners of nevada and junca junction ion city districts montana were organizing themselves into vigilance committees to combat plummers Pl depredations all seven men were captured but only ives john french and hilderman were kept under arrest A miners court was immediately convened in each of the adjoining districts for the trial of the culprits as both districts claimed jurisdiction over them the vigilantes did not intend that justice should be delayed because of any technicalities as to jurisdiction hence they ordered that the two courts be consolidated so that it consisted of two judges acting with authority co and twenty four jurors and thus they functioned in one of the most unique procedures in the bistor history y of anglo saxon jurisprudence j uris prudence for two days the court sat in session not a man worked in the mines not a drop of whiskey was sold in the town plummer began to mobilize his men in those two camps to overawe justice while sturdy vigilantes fingered their pistol butts and watched the proceedings with an eagle eye for two days the trial dragged which was just forty eight hours too longin the estimation of the miners particularly since french had turned states evidence at the very outset and george ives was identified by other witnesses with a number of other crimes any one of which was justification enough for the death penalty toward the close of the second day the executive coin committee of the vigilantes secretly instructed the court to reach a verdict by three and that neither the lawyers of the prosecution nor those of the defense could take more than an hour in pleadings the verdict was twenty three for hanging and one for acquittal evidently the court ruled that it took at least two of a twenty four man jury to keep the penalty from being enforced for ives was called before the bar and told that he would be hanged that evening while miners with drawn guns frustrated attempts of his fellow ruffians to save him from justice shortly after dark the miners again assembled but this time at a half finished house a crossbeam cross beam of which was to serve as a gallows A dry goods box was ended up for a platform with the noose about his neck the desperado des parado continued to proclaim his innocence with regard to the Dutch mans death but in doing so gave the vigilantes many valuable alu able clues relative to other crimes of plummers Pl band in addition to those garnered from french and hilderman both of whom had been released the former for his evidence against ives and the latter because he was an old man more or less of an imbecile and merely a tool of plummer and his lieutenants after ives words had been noted and he had assigned a few choice epithets to the names of the most prominent of his prosecutors a miner kicked the box from under him and he was left suspended from the rafter vigilantes clean up the state ives execution marked the beginning of a reform wave which swept over the entire territory of montana and inundated every settlement therein vigilante on organizations animations sprang full grown in a single night lawyers lawyer s who had made a specialty of protecting criminals were banished and road agents particularly those desperadoes of plummers Pl gang were systematically and relentlessly pursued ives had been hanged in the evening of december 21 before the new year of 1854 was asherd in two more members of the band red yager and brown the secretary were captured by a well conducted P posse osse and in their summary trial and hanging full details as to the activities and personnel of the organization were learned mexican frank was killed in bannock january 11 while resisting arrest in a house that belonged to 0 plummer Plum nier shortly afterward dutch john wagner was captured in the vicinity of bannock and escorted to that camp but before for he could be tried stinson ray and plummer himself who were to be in town from virginia for only a few minutes preparatory to fleeing from the country were arrested upon the request of the virginia committee which had just uncovered enough evidence to make a successful case against the robber chief all four after a brief trial were hanged upon a gallows that plummer and his road agent deputies had constructed during the first months of their tenure of office on plummers Pl person was found a document directing future movements of his followers that implicated no less than eighty other men still in the territory january 14 jack gallegher frank parrish george lane haze lyons and boone helm were adrai arraigned 6 ned before a committee of the vigilantes in virginia and confronted by incontestable evidence all pleaded guilty to sundry crimes and were hanged from a beam in a building that was being constructed at wallace and van buren streets the following day a posse of twenty four vigilantes set out from nevada city intent upon rounding up the remainder of the most outstanding members of the band the capture of steve marshland texas bob bill bunton skinner and alex carter was the immediate result all were subsequently hanged with the exception of texas bob against whom there was insufficient evidence at the time though when his record finally came to light he proved to be as guilty as any As it was he escaped with banishment from montana whiskey bill graves johnny cooper george shears bob zachry and bill hunter were next captured briefly tried and executed in rapid succession then the vigilantes rested their work had been accomplished complis hed how some bad ones died during these wholesale hangings hannings hang ings it became stylish among the nis to make certain picturesque utterances that might be accepted by posterity as a key to their co courage ti r one alex carter was congratulatory 6 toward his exe cautioners cution ers you have done right he com commended commande mende d not an innocent man hanged yet but most of them were vindictive jack gallegher who in lurid profanity hoped that forked lightning b will strike everyone of you was typical boone he helm irn was perhaps the most philosophical As he watched the mus muscular izular contortions of gallegher dangling at his side he was heard to remark kick away old fellow ill be in hell with you in a few minutes every man to his own principles for gross indifference george shears outdistanced all competition he alured his captors that having never been hanged before he did not know exactly what he should do and wondered if he was supposed to jump juall off or slide off on being told to jump lie he did so plummer made the most despicable showing 6 of all upon the approach of punishment he begged to be put in c hains chains for forsfe life prom pa 01 ased to leave the country forever if spared cried like a child and told his captors that he was too wicked to die |