Jamestown alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1878-1882, 1879-09-11
From our Regular Correspondent.
HELENA, MONTANA TERRITORY, }
August 27lE, 1879

|
Those that have read Mark Twain's /,
"Roughing 1t" will remember the account
of his first meeting with the celebrated
desperad" Slade Perhaps sml!a i'll be
eau ed by the remembrance Of Marks
dreadful awe Of Slade and his earnest en-
davors to please him when Sladc obliged
Mark to accept his share Of show gull
iou". The readers Of Roughing l. will
also not have forgotten the account OF
Slade's life and adventures that follows.
Iu connection with this history, mention
is 1nade Of a highly interesting little book
of the lives and cllmes ut these earlv DAYS
Rul al s, and til 'ir subsequent punishment
= the hands of 1'sat strong organ iza''o'' t
The V.9ilan1es l was fortunate as
to find a copy of this book, a few days ago:
The book reads like vcri,able dime IL, vrl,
YET have been assured that if the book is
poorly written. it the style wretched, it
u assesses the virtue Of absolute truth.
L t'ave no intention of giving the history
OF these Road agents, nor yet Of The vi
gilantes However shall draw a mere
SKI tch Of, the Vigilantes, nd show =" Lat
they accomplished. al
Before the organization was made there
was really no such thing as law III ,he
Territory. Grimes were Committed with
impun,ty, even in broad day light, and no
man dared 10 raise his hand, knowing that
to seek for redress would be but to sign
his own death sentence. Things had come
to this pass when few brave, determined
men formed the plan OF muklng and car
ying int" effect their own law, to the ex
termination OF the d,sperados that intest.
cd the Territory. A society was formed
under the name Of 1he v'gllsntes, which
gained it's end only by tie most admirable
bravery md tearlcssuc>s ol Its IN, m|ers.
| When the society was first formed it was
as much 40 a mans lite was worth to belong
to The V'giIantcs; each mepher knew
this we'll, yet the honest men Tucked TO
its standard, fearing nothing. but daring
all things to the utter determination Of the
Road Agefts. To tell the method of
their success would be too long story, it
is enough to repeat that they succeed
through their stern, determined bravery.
| have had the good fortune to meet one
of the first and leading M NIB rs Of the
former Vigilantes-at present wealthy
lawer Of Helena. Bravery IS ever modest,
and as know he would object to having
his name appear in THE ALERT, let us call
him Mr. s. From his own lips, as may be
supposed, have never heard mention of
hi, own deeds, and not even of The Vigi.
lantes, but from Others heard many &C
counts OF courage and wonderful coolness
SIade, who is said to have killed 26
men, once threatened to shoot Mr.. s., and
openly declared bis purpose, but at the
chance Of fulfilling his threat his courage
failed him, conquered hy the bravery and
coolness of the man he meant to murder
and whom be had at every disadvantage.
Let us relate one incident that will il
lustrate the courage and determination OF
nv acquaintance The first Roa agent
} c.ptured by The Vigilantes, and the first
that had trial with all form was the noto
rious George Ives. Mr.. s, undertook tht
: proecution. Without hesitation he die
his duty, and brought all his powers t
, bear to prove Ives guilty Of the crimes hi
Was accused Of: Without giving an &C
| count of the trial, let it suffice, he succeed
f ed IN proving the prisoners guilt, anc
| when the jury brought in their verdict, h
mounted y wagon box-the trial tool
t place in the open air,-and moved tha
, the prisoner be immediately hanged
l This was novel proposition, and dan
: gerous one also. for 10 the crowd assem-
, bled there were many friends Of Ives, ant
anv one of these men would have felt hon
: ored by becoming the murderer ofthe fear
| less man that stood before Il. Let 1t b
remembered that previous to this, in tn
: farcial trials Of the Road agents, the pros
2 ecuting attorney, made tlnlid by tn
. knowledge Of being surrounded BY hosrt
1 of rufiians aud friends Of the prisoner
E had been in the habit of making to tn
jury speech something like this
I 't3cntlcmen, you have just heard oil tn
E facts of this case related. Il Is for you {,
i, say If the prisoner is guilty or not. # b
| is guilty you should say SO, but If not j