Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-12-26
MONTANA VEISiEANTES.
How Law and Order Were Secured on tne
Frontier Twenty Years Ago.

| ers of the Black Hills and OF the prospectors
of Western Colorado have hardly their equal
on the continent. It is only twenty two years
since the frst-named acknowledgements
settled, and it is to- lay well-organized, civil
liked and prosperous community. The Lane
of the Silver Bow" as the Indian name means
has had wonderfully checkered history, and
we propose to turn few of its leaves for ou
readers.
! Montana had an early era of pioneer peace, s
| turbulent era Of terrorism q swift and COM
bative era, when the order-lo loving element
rebelled, organized and in short time hanged
no less than twenty-four criminals, and an era
of subsequent social safety. TWAS in the veal
1862 that gold discoveries on the Salmon River
led hundreds of hardy mountaineers from Wa
satch Mountains and the steep Colorado "a
vines. Other discoveries were soon made neal
Deer Lodge and at Beaver Held Camp. Hwas
motley crew that assembled at The new dig
gings. There were hundreds from Californls
and Oregon, where the surface placers were IN
the last Stages Of exhaustion; others came by
way of Fort Hall and Snake River: Trappers
| drifted in from the Businesses Of the ROchles
| There were even MaXiclrs from Santa re and
| French voyageulw from the Red i.lver country
among the early Montana miners Before the
close Of 1862 large p: rites arrived from Mlnne-
sofa ami other western states.
| The almost uuqucstrned rule which the
PluMmer. Reeves, Moore and Skinner gang OF
! outlaws, maintained for months in the early
| days Of the Bannock and Virginia City settle
! mcnts fn<is hardly Parallel in mountain his
| tory. The time just after the stampede to Al
der Gulch. in june, 1853, WAC whom they mades
most Imposing diupiay. Plnmmer being sheriff
and the administration Of Justice being IN thelI
hands, while in secret they mad q road agent
band, With oili"crs spies and complete ort5anl-
cation They kept all Ike roads through the
! territory aud all the Elp'lrtain trails uIde,
close watch, so that miners or other persons
| with money were robbed and murdered by the
! dozen, stages ovcrnan,td and Tie region terror
lied They went s,,rces and 'spainted the
town scarlet whenever they chose, breaking
INTO stores, firing at, wrN:djug Or killing mel
who "ero obnoxious to 1'rm, killing Indians:
| and in some cases massacrcins the inhabitants
! of an entire Indian sett!rr.nnt Their agents
and spies ultimately completed system. oil
! which, to quote from D!lnsdae's book on the
''Nigilantcs," published at Virginia City. Mon,
in 1866 aud a rare bo1A ''The horses, men
| and coaches were market in some understood
manner to designate them lit objects for
| plumbers Their arn1s were pair of revol-
! vors a shotgun with shortened barrels and
| large knife: they were mounted ON the best OF
| horses and disguised With :naaks. There were
men among these desperadoes who confessed
| to having committed from tive to twelve muir
ders; men who have been notorious criminals
| III California, Louisiana or Missouri; there
were those also whose lives, before they came
to Montana had been in every way respectable
and hard working
There was no more atrocous crime committed
during the lawlcss than the murder of the
| loyal Magruder party. This gentleman WAC
deseryedly one of the most popular men in
| the Territory, a merchant Of lewiston, Idaho,
who had come to Virginia City, don, early in
1865 with pack train OF goods which he soon
sold out, realizing about sil, 10, and with this
money set ont on his return 10 Lewiston with
fonr friends-.Allen, the two Chalmers and
Phillips. The Plummer band OF road agents
! held council and decided to Kill the entire
party and obtain the money -Four members
Of the gang, Romalne Howard, Page and
Lowrie, offered their services to Magruder,
who had number CT horses he was taking to
Lewiston, and they were treated with tho
greatest kindness. When the party was near
the Clearwa er the mrrdercrs did their fatal
work, killing four of the FIVE while asleep
and Magruder while watching lis horses on
tie hillside. With that strange idiocy which SO
often accompanies crimes they afterwards rode
| Magrudor horses through lewiston where the
animals we're recognized, and a bold deputy
marshal then followed them to California an
arrested all four; one turned States evidence
| and three were hanged Crimes like this led
to the simultaneous formation Of vgllante
in a few days their rapid, mastery and law.
defending league extended over tho entl
Territory. Or January II, 1854, no less than
five of the leading esH-'adoes Of the Terri
| were executed in Virginia City, and the hate
tul rule of crime Was broken, for only four
days previously, at D:,nnpck City, three of
the leaders Of the road agents had met tho
same fate. The rapidty with which the Wig
ilantes got III their work is startlingly shown
by the dates of the principal executions
| One hanging occurred on December II, 1868
two on January 4, 1854, three IN January1O,
! TWO on January II, five ON January II, one Oh
January l6, one on January 10, one on January
| "a, four on January25 and one on January
e. It is not believed by any, person
who has investigated TIE. subject that in a
, single instance the vi%.l.ntes abused their
power. The execution Of BIN Hunter"
! FEBRUARY s. 1864, on q lonely tail near the
mouth Of the Gallatin. completed the distruc-
ton of the defiant and powerful Road Agent"
organization. For three months, in the
! depths Of winter, and under extraordinary Diff
| fcuties, the small but determined band OF
/ vigilantos, supported by the long terrorized
community, had gathered up evidence, pur--
| sued the criminals Unrc-" ntessy, fought
| them, captured them, tried them, and hanged
! them. The safety Of Montana was thus Sc
| cured.
! Individual cases OF crane continued to occur
| and were punished by tie still vlliSant organi-
cation of Montana ci;2'9'a IN the summer Of
! 1864 at Navada City man named Brady
was hanged in the presence of 5000
persons, and ono Kelly, VINO received fifty
i lashes on the bare back. committed murder
e few months later nn Snake River and was
! hanged. In September, 1864, the miners code,
! which LOOKS upon the theft or gold dust as q
| crime almost equal TO murder, received an IL
Illustration in the hanging Of a mar named Do
! Ian for robbiug miner Of some $40 in mug
/ gets Parties of vigianes from Highland,
Pine Grove and a dozen other camps assem-
bled, and at night on hill near Nevada Clty,
| 5000 people saw the execution. About this
time man named Rawjty, al old member Of
Plummer's gang, Attempted to reorganize q
| band of robbers ard WAS arrested, when SO
much crime was picvAt against HIM that he
! was hanged at BannCrk in September These
southern part of the Territory, but crime -four
| ished for a while in the <prick}y Pear Valley"
where Helena ROW htand5, point some IS5
miles from Virginia CITY and booming camp.
The vigiantos were forced to or
ganuo here, hanGod several 'nurdererfs.
and before tho close Of 1865 had made
| life and property as safe ss in
older communities It wa in the summer 0!
| 1865 that Idaho City vas sacked and burned by
outlaws and San or Hespeta!,peas anase e
| lance committee, which Lad long before dis.
! banded, was at once called together On July
| IS the horrible Portneuf tragedy occurred; the
| overland stage from Virginia City to Salt Lake
Was attacked, robbed Of s6o,'Nh, and four pas.
! sengers were killed and several more wounded
! One of the road agents was a'trrward captured
and executed Several criminals we're hanged
! By the resuscitated Vigilance Committee, bu,
| by the beginning of 1856 all necessity for its
! existence had passed. Like the famous Vigi-
! lante Organization of California it had been =
| called upon twice. and twice had done the
work that vas needed as truly representative
body of determined citizens oho did not take
! the law into their own hands until no other
course seemed possible