News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-10-16
THE LYNCHINGs IN MONTANA.
Many 0fthe Victims Believed to be Fugitives
from the CGur d.Alene Mines.

A dispatch from Eagle City, Idaho,
says:-The men who are being lynched
as cattle thieves in this and Montana
Territories are for the most part fugi'
tives from the Ceur d'Alene mines.
When the great break up OF the gold
swindle occurred hundreds of desperate
fellows scattered in all directions. They
were without money, and they were
compelled to steal or starve. From ac'
counts received here it is thought great
injustice has been done to many ol
them, for they were not all hardened
offenders, though they have been treated
as such.
u Ike comparatively few men now IN
the Coeur d'Alene district who have
enough food to satisfy hunger have o
good deal of sympathy for these refu-
gees. Many of them have been driven
out of this camp because self-preserva-
tion demanded it, but in the country
where they now have scattered they
might have obtained assistance. There
are good many of these back-door call
ers here now. They are afraid to start
out for the settlements, for they have no
means, and they have heard SO many
reports of the hangings that they think
they could not escape.
Under the circumstances the miners
here have not the heart to drive any
more of them away, but something will
have to be done before winter sets in.
1t is frontier tradition that beat can
eat twice as much as any ordinary man,
and where provisions are as high as they
are here it amounts to a severe tax to
be compelled to feed many of them. An
effort will be made after while to give
them q safe conduct to the railroad and
get them out of harms way. 1t has
come to that pass that any man who ap-
pears to be out at the elbows, and has
no money, is likely to be hanged as a
horse thief, whether there is any evi-
dence other than his poverty against
him or not.
One of the owners of mining property
here who has just returned from trip
down the Northern Pacific road in Mon
tana, reports that the lynchings which
have taken place in that Territory are
for the most part downright murders.
A few notorious horse thieves have been
dispatched, but the cowboys in theil
eagerness for excitement, and taking ad
vantage of the license given them, have
killed many men who were simply
trying to get back to civilization withou
money. No one denies that they ma1
have been guilty of some depredations
because they were without supplies, anc
they had to help themselves or starve
The misery caused by the senseles'
gold craze, of which this town was thu
centre, seems almost without end
Thousands lost all their money an6
much valuable time, and only got away
after experiencing hardships of incredi-
BILE severity, while hundreds, not even
SO fortunate as they, have been hunted
through the wilds of Montana by man
slayers like so many wild beasts. 1t is
known that forty or fifty of these
wretches have been driven across the
line in the Canadian northwest, where
unless they come in contact
with some outpost of civiliz alton,
they are certain to perish before
long. In all the accounts of the
wholesale lynchings that have taken
place the names of very few of the vic
tins have been given. 1t has been pre-.
tended that the cowboys were too busy
to make any report, and by hearsay it
has been recorded that this or that gang
had been exterminated. No doubt now
exists that the majority of these victims
were broken-down adventurers seeking
to make their way back to the States.
Many missing mon may thus be &C
counted fer