Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1888-10-03
ALPENA WEEKLY ARGUS.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Big Foot Eds Hanging.


execution was novel one, and was
long regarded as the most surprising
ly unique affair which had ever claim
ed the attention of the then rough
people of the border-simply because
it was legal one. The lynchipg of
man would have been regarded as
very ordinary affair and would have
attracted no more attention than a
spirited dog fight or a suicide, but
the idea of man committing MUIR
der, being arrested, indicted, tried,
convicted and hanged in purely
strange legal manner was a strange
one to the inhabitants of that from
tier town. On this occasion the vic
tim was Ed. Comstock, known in
elite circles as big Foot Ed" and
the circumstances attending the crime
for which he was so oddly roped into
eternity were. as near as ] can recall
them, about as follows:
Jacob Van Vliet had long been
working placer claim near Hahn's
Peak, and had taken out what he be-
lieved to be sufficient dust to enable
him to pass over the remainder of
the journey of life very comfortably.
He resolved to go back to the States,
and with this end in view sold his
claim, loaded his dust and his per-
sonal property on pack horse and
set out across the mountains for the
nearest stage station.
Big Foot Ed had assisted the miner
in all his preparations for the journey,
and his eovetous eye had rested upon
the treasure, which was slowed away
in buckskin bags. He resolved to
secure the dust, and after Van Vliet
had taken the tortuous trail over the
range, the burly desperate went by a
shorter cut and planted himself be-
hind large rock by which the miner
must pass. When the latter reached
the spot he heard the command,
Throw up your hands," and saw a
brace of heavy revolvers looking in
his face with a cold, grim, determined
stare. Van Vliet was brave man,
and instead of stabbing the atmos-
phere overhead with trembling hands,
as many would have done, he made a
grab for his own pistol, but ere he
could draw it there was fash, a
loud report, and he fell dead on the
trail. The murderer hid the body of
his victim in the rocks, took bag of
dust for present use, cached the re-
mainder, turned the horse loose, and
returned to the camp.
The same afternoon he was a pris-
oner in the hands of the vigilance
committee. A young man who was
hunting in the mountains witnessed
the murder from place Of conceal
ment above the trail, came in and re-
ported it, and Eds arrest speedily |
followed Judge Lynch was soon in
his terrible seat, and the culprit was
arranged for trial at what the roughs
used to denominate "a law game in
which all the percentage was in favor
of the bank" When the selection
of a jury was about to begin, Tom
Hanna, a grizzly old timer, said:
"Most honorable jedge and fellow
citizens: 1t isn't me as d buck agin
the wishes O the people. 1t isn't me
as d have the onreconsturcted cheek
to even hint at anything that d turn
the tide O impromptu law from its
course through the channels O this
honorable court, but / have an idee.
Mark you, yer Honor, have an idee.
| have the interest o this town at
heart, fur | have property var, an
W at hurts the town III hurt Tom
Hanna and the fellow Christians as
hold interests var likewise.
I'VE all know that Pine City has
bin bukin' ag'in our prosperity for
an every time she makes a
point she crows till her clarion tones
penetrate the thickets away beyond
The Missoury river. Now, they hung
a man over thar last week-hung
him cordin' to the law an the pro- ,
fits arter a regular trial in the legal
court, an since then, yer Honor, an
Teller citizens, the Pine gang has been
a putin on more agony than pea
cock with his tail unfurled. They
talk to us about their progress, civ ,
lizin' advancement, the Christian
sperrit o. their acts, their transmog-
rifcation from border ignorance an
brutal instincts To refinement an
back east culture, an, yer Honor,
hey laugh at us, an say we are so
fur behind in the race that we cant
even see the dust arisin' from their I
hoofs. Now jest want
ter suggest, yer Honor, that we cant
afford to let Pine City occupy the en-.
ire area on top O. the dunghill O.
pride an progress an do all the crow
n, an | don't believe it'd reflect a
mite upon our personal characters fur
rectitude an uprighteousness to shut
Ed up till next months term O court,
an then try him an hang him with
appropriate ceremonies, an amid all
The pomp an panoply O legel justice"
The idea was new one, and Ed
was, by unanimous vote, held to
await the action of the grand jury.
This action met with the unqualified