Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1884-11-15

Many ofthe Victims Believed tobe Fugitives
from the Ceur d. Ale ne -s3tne..

Many ofthe Victims Believed tobe Fugitives
from the C1ur d. d.Aiene14ines.
! 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 Cnur d'Alene mines.
When the great break up of the gold
! swindle occurred hundreds Of desperate
fellows scattered in all directions. They
wers 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 Of
them, for they were not all hardened
offenders, though they have been treated
as such.
The comparatively few men now in
the Cpur d'Alene district who have
enough food to satisfy hunger have
good deal of sympathy for these refu-
gees. Many of them have been driven
out of this camp because elfpreserva-
ton 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 tLinF
they could not escape.
I'D ho nv
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 severe tax to
be compelled to feed many of them. An
effort will be made after while to give
them safe conduct to the railroad and
get them out of harms way. It 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 their
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 without
money. No one denies that they may
have been guilty of some depredations
because they were without supplies, ane
they had to help themselves or starve
; The misery caused by the senseless
, gold craze, of which this town was tht
, centre, seems almost without end
Thousands lost all their money ant
much valuable time, and only got ava,
after experiencing hardships of incredi
BILE severity, while hundreds. not ever
so fortunate as they, have been huntet
. through the wilds of Montana by man
slayers, like 80 many wild beasts. It i
known that forty or fifty ot thes
:. wretches have been driven across th
line in the Canadian northwest, wher
unless they come in contac
with some outpost OF civilization
. they are certain to perish befor
long. In all the accounts of th
Wholesale lynchings that have take
place the names OF very few of the vic
: TINS have been given. 1t has been pre-
tended that the cowboys were too bus
: to make any report, and by hearsay
has been recorded that this or that gan
had been exterminated. No doubt no.
exists that the majority Of these victim
were broken-down adventurers seekin
to make their way back to the State.
Many missing mon may thus be "a
counted fer.
4 Run. Down Farm