Show THE VIGILANTE SENATOR the put part that colonl colonel sanders played ia in I 1 the th euly early day days of montana Monta I 1 W yeav york sun tin 1 1 the republicans of the montana I 1 Ligi legislature slature have unanimously and on the first ballot elected col co I 1 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 aisy E SANDERS of helena 1 L to represent the new state in the united states senate if col I 1 BANDERS gets bis his seat he will be one of the most interesting figures I 1 in public life at washington he I 1 can tell stones in the cloak room I 1 that will make the hair of his big cols col k leagues stand perpendicular he I 1 can draw upon bis his own frontier experience peri ence for narratives that will make the pule pulse odthe of the hon WILLIAM WILI I 1 MAXWELL evar evarra ra beat I 1 quicker and well nigh ceidle the I 1 blod in the veins veins of the HOD eon I 1 GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR the western career of col PAN I 1 mm covers every successive phase of a community now risen to statehood I 1 in a score of years there has been crowded into his life all I 1 I 1 that goes between the extremes of civilization centuries of evolution i on I 1 in bodies politic of slower growth than that which inhabits the rocky mountain region drained by the I 1 three forks of ot the missouri ool SANDERS was born in cat C tar augus county in this state 11 fifty years ago he studied law I 1 in ohio fought in the union army and went west in 1863 to montana then part of idaho concerning the r reasons lot fot his adventurous ami emigration g ration more than one story bag has be been told he settled first at ban I 1 nack city end and undertook to practice his profession i ion i in in a mining camp COMP fd pd with desperadoes from 1 every part of the world and fearing no law except JUDGE 1 the scene of th the e campaign in in which col SANDERS bore a conspicuous A 8 part was in what is now the e corner of montana a hundred mileson miles or more south of I 1 be the cities of helena and 11 butte and northwest of he the yel low stone atone park among the mountains directly on the great main divide to understand abs ailua I 1 vo ilion it should be remembered that 1 1 M montana antana was invaded and settled 4 from the west side of the 1 C the sy approach was from california 1 1 and oregon or from salt lake city at the south bannack on grasshopper creek greek was the first 4 considerable mining camp on the eastern slope of the rocky mountains k 41 ains and it was only about a year 0 old col SANDERS arrived C the rich discoveries in this new 11 goldi country were the signal for 11 the stampede of first to Graeb gnu shopper opper creek then to the newer diggings ot virginia city 1 and nevada city close by then 1 down the deer lodge valley and gradually across to laet last chance gulch where the town of helena I 1 now stands the centres bentres of turbid turbulence crice and of population were at bannack city V and virginia city and no livelier settlements a existed at that time on t the be face of the earth california gamblers and cutthroats cut throats mexican desperadoes deserters from both the northern and southern admits fugitives from the justice of a dozen different countries bullies and roughs boughs graduated in the claes I 1 pr prostitutes and thieves and murder ers ere picked by natural selection I 1 lb from the forlorn hope of advancing civilization poured into the new 0 gold country along with the honest I 1 miner and the peaceable immigrant I 1 a there was absolutely no government no law no protection for 1 1 I 1 life or property other than that I 1 which the shotgun affords the community comm community unit was doubly iko it dated I 1 from the east by distance and by the tremendous fact of the civil I 1 war the pacific coast pave gave it ita its worst champagne was 12 a hottie hottle hoti I 1 in gold and generally speaking theol was on the region which col WILBUR FISKE chose as the field for bis his pro fes ional labors his first public appearance was as the prosecutor of GEORGE ivra ives a renowned member of HENKY HENRY I 1 gang of road agents and murderers band was vas the only well organized power of any tort in the community it was organized for crime it consisted of two dozen armore or more of the vile t then with a full fall duoto of spies scouts decoy decoys and out in every part of the i gold producing region it bad a perfect system of communication between between the tile various members of the band of des designation ig nation of suitable objects of plunder r and of rescue I 1 and support in incase case of trouble the road agento agents wore mustaches and k chin whiskers and they knotted their neckties in a peculiar way in ac action tion they covered their faces with black silk handkerchiefs or a bit of blanket they had bad early in telli gence of every shipment of treasure or freight caravan out of the tile territory and they did not disdain to waylay and rob the arriving emigrant for the sake of the few dollars in his pockets they I 1 held up coaches and express wagons in the approved fashion of the frontier too well known to require description on their own account the members of PLUM MEns band swaggered bullied robbed and murdered without check they fired at women to frighten them butchered and scalded inoffensive indians in pure wan shot and killed men for vengence for personal dislike and sometimes merely for luck respectable citizens lived jived always in terror everybody knew the authors of the crimes that followed each other I 1 in daily succession but nobody uttered his suspicions or proclaimed bis his knowledg knowledge e to speak out was to invite buld n death there was no law to appeal to the only constituted authority was a mcallef so called I 1 fihe riff nothing better illustrates the conditions of society at bat A I 1 I 1 I 1 A ikla I 1 I 1 1 ab 4 t L I 1 I 1 x time and place than then the circum stance that the tile office of sheriff both at bannack and rind at virginia waa was held by HENRY PLUMMER himself and that hia his deputies dep utie were BUCK NED RAY and JAKE callagher three accomplished desperadoes selected on civil service reform principles from his own ba d of highwaymen the remarkable chief of this gang was a man of wily address and mild polite manners nan nerg who had emigrated to bannack from california early in the stampede lie he had bad served as city Alar marshal of a california town had bat received a nomination for the assembly had taken part in an attack on WELLS WELLI bullion express had bad murdered not lees lea than three men in that slate state PLUMAR had a reputation aa as i lady killer aud and by hia his own sex he be waa was respected us es the quickest and surest revolver shot in the mountains it was E eaid mid that he could draw his pistol and empty its five chambers within three sec see ends londs making every bullet tell he was ambidextrous with the revolver this consummate villian maintained almost up to the end of his career the semblance of a amicable relations with law and order and it was one of the polite conventions of life at bannack to consult him as sheriff in cases of violent crime he met on equal and friendly terms during the day themen he be had bad already marked as the victims of that nights enterprise when SAU T HAUSER long aate afterward president of the first national bank of helena and governor of the territory started for the states with a train of treasure PLUMMER pressed upon him a woolen neck comforter and urged him to protect hia his throat well ir from om the chilly night air down the road PLUMMERS highwaymen were already waiting for a roan man with a woolen scarf when J al BOZEMAN and others started for salt lake city with about in gold PLUMMER had bad already stationed dutch JOHN and STEVE MARSLAND in ambush in black tail deer canyon when OLIVERS salt lake coach rolled into bannack having been held up and robbed on the road from vir pinia ginia city by GEORGE IVES BOB ZACHARY ZACHAR Y and whisky chiky BILL it was PLUMMER himself who first interviewed the passengers to as certain what clues there might be to identify the highwaymen lu ju a hundred ways PLUMMERS social and official relations enabled him both to plan and to cloak the crimes hi gang committed under masterly lade nhip were associated besides the tile men already mentioned ERASTUS YAGER known as red I 1 G W BROWN GEORGE LANE or club foot GEOROE FRA FRANK ax PARISH HAZE LYONS BOONE HELM CYRUS SKINNER BILL HUNTER ALECK CARTER JOE or Gre greaser seer JOE and many other desperadoes whose names are famous in the early annals of mon alon tana the gang had bad its bead head quarters at rattlesnake rauch and its and places of everywhere the reign of terror had bad reached the stage where no mans life was safe for fbi a single sin gle day in the few months preceding the time of the first uprising against the power of HENRY PLUM MER not less than one hundred and two known murders had been charged to the account of this gang the extent of of the list of undiscovered or unproved crimes of die di appearances where the fate of th the e victim was never known and hi ins s corpse never found can only be a matter of conjecture the murder of a german named NICHOLAS in the stinking watervalley water valley forthe for the sake of the price of two mules which he had been sent to buy was the imme diate cause of the organization of the montana vigilantes GEORGE was caught red handed twenty five citizens dragged him out of a wakemup near ranch and escorted him to nevada city it was characteristic of the times that on their nay way back to town the party should organize a series of scrub races in which captors and prisoner compared the speed of their in the most friendly way and during which IVES almost escaped the news of impending proceedings spread rapidly and people flocked into nevada from every part of the sur rounding country the situation was not regarded as serious for IVES least of all by the murderer himself prosecutions under such circumstances had ended in a farce over and over again this time the miners sent for col SANDERS to take charge of the prosecution A miners jury jury of twelve men from nevada city and twelve men from junction was appointed the trial occurred late in the afternoon of dec 21 1863 before a huge boll bonfire fire in the open air and in the presence of the whole body ot citizens IVES was chained with a logging chain to two other men accused of participation inthe in the murder of the judge sat in a wagon with an ability and a courage that are still remembered io in montana col SANDERS presented the case against the murderer and when the tile verdict was re turned moved that IVES be hanged on the spot the prosecutors hold on life seemed for a time even more precarious than that fiat of the prisoner for the crowd around the bonfire was full of the frienda friends of the gang and PLUMMERS arrival from bannack with a rescuing force torce was momentarily expected part of the mob made an attempt at rescue but it was repulsed A forty fl foot oot pole was run through the window of ilai an unfinished bouse house close by and as one fastened to its end in lifty eight minutes after bid conviction ivesa I 1 body wa was swung from the end of the pole the campaign of extermination S against HENRY PLUMMERs gang had begun col SANDERS and his associates lost no time five men in virginia city one in nevada city and col CAA SANDERS and three others in ban nack started the organization of the montana vigilantes a secret tribunal which for more mord than twenty years continued to exert a powerful influence upon the conditions of life hithe io the territory in I 1 I 1 I 1 11 11 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 two weeks the ramifications of the new dew I 1 league extended to every set demche clement in the region and its power was wag supreme in a litte little more than thirty days the vigilantes had bad captured sentenced to death and hanged banged twenty two members of band including tho the chieftain there were no more public trials the hand band of ven deanee dec decender ended directly without warning wardi n g border justice was dealt outa out with i t h a speed and a vigor which have no parallels in th the 0 hi history is t 0 of f america the methods by ort winch w ch it was administered are not to be justified except by the tile plea of abi ab solute necessity it was a question of killing kill or being killed and pub benin lie lio sentiment benti ti gent ment in Alon montana taus at that time and long afterward supported proceedings which under any any other uther condition would have been iti intoner in toler able the story of the subsequent pro pros ce edings of the montana antes in in the early months of 1864 has been told with great minuteness in a little book published eight or ten years ago in virginia city and purporting to be written by a prof J DIMSDALE this name is believed to conceal the identity cofone of one of the principal actors in the e events vents about which col SANDERS could tell so much the terrible brevity of the first campaign of the vigilantes vigil lates ales cannot be exhibited in a more striking form than by this table of the names dates and places of execution of PLUMMERS men Is W georgre ive ives nevada city de dec 21 IM era yager alias ked e stin kingwater valley vall e jan 1 I 4 1861 1864 0 W brown stink I 1 n j j jn valley jan 4 1864 henry plummet plummer bannack city jan 10 ned B a y It annack Bannack city jan huck buc k bannack annack li city jan 10 1861 john W aroner 0 n e alias dutch dlag W b john J 0 rAn Bannack city jan 11 ia Xii joe anthis bannack city jan 11 ibal george lane all alia arre C club I 1 root foot virginia city jan jn it m frank parish virginia city jan 11 awl kaze lyons virginia city jan 14 jack callagher virginia city jan JanUl Mil boone llella virginia city jan 14 steve marsland bl hole bianch jan 16 ISM will william laul bunton lk ier I er lodge valley jan 19 ia george shears jan 21 24 C cyrus s ski skinner er hell gate jan al alexander lander carter hell gato gate jan 25 1161 14 john cooper hell gate jan 25 mi robert zachary hell gala jan vim win G grave raves alias whisk alsky bill fort owens jan 26 IW william z hunter unter 8 1861 the incidents attending this series of illegal executions in the interest of law and order afford material for a hundred romances of frontier life when a murderer or thief was caught bis big face was settled in this manner the capitain of the party of vigilantes would say all in favor of hanging this man or these men step to th the IS right aide side of the road an and d those who are for letting them go stand on the left when red YAGER was hanged he be shook haida with all of his executioners execution ers and said goodby good by boy boys god bless blem you youre on a good undertaking he ile was left swinging by the road roa side with the legend pinned to his big coat red road agent and messenger PLUMMER weakened when in the hands bands of col SAN DEI BS ss vigilantes and the once formidable I 1 personage begged for his life declaring with tears tirs and sighs that he be was too wicked to die a it man time to brayl were his last words BOONE HELM died game telling JACK gallagner GALLAG GALL AGnEn IIER who was cursing and crying at the gallows not to make a damned fool of himself As the vigilantes pushed the box away from under GALLA GHERS feet BOONE HELM shouted to bis his late associate kick away old fellow ill be in hell with you in a minute minu tel then he added just as ashi his own aown rope twanged twan ged every man for his principles hurrah for JEFF DAVISI let her rip one of the most frightful tales which col SANDERS can tell bis big colleagues in the united slates states senate is that which recites his experience peri ence at the execution of JOE known as the greaser at bannack city the bannack vigilantes had bad determined to ar rest this mexican desperado A party started for his cabin which stood |